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JASIDIANS— JAVA (Rfxigion of).
20;
conspicuous, and attract the eyes of the de-
votees."
Uesides tlie five aiimial festivals of tlie .Japanese,
whicli are seasons of recreation rather tlian of devo-
tion, they liave also sacred processions, wliieli they
term Matsuki (which .see), wlien tliey carry their
gods in shrines constructed for the purjjose. From
the first visit of ICuropeans to .Japan in tlie sixteenth
century, frequent attempts have been made by the
various maritime nations to open up commercial com-
iiiMiiication with a people so numerous and wealthy
as the .Japanese. J'ortiigal led the way, and was
ImI lowed by Holland, lOnj^laiid, Spain, and I{ussia,
!ind finally by the United States, which recently des-
patched an expedition to Japan, under ConunodiH-e
I'crry. lOach, in succession, has failed, and to this
day Japan may be considered as shut out from tlie
fellowsliip of tlie other nations of the world, with the
single exception of a solitary Dutch vessel being
allowed annuiiUy to visit the port of Nagasaki,
liomish missionaries have from time to time attempted
to obtain a settlement in Jap.an, but to no purpose ;
and no Protestant cliurch has ever been allowed to
obtain access to the country for the dilVusion among
the natives of the knowledge of Divine trutli.
JASIDIANS. See Yezidi
JASIIRO, a name whicli the Smtouts of Japan
use to denote a Mia or temple, with all its appur-
tenances.
JASSAS.4. (.4l), Arab., the Spy, a beast whose
appearance the Mohammedans believe will be one
sign of the approach of the day of final judgment.
" When the sentence shall be ready to fall upon
them," says the ICor.an, " we will cause a beast to
come forth unto tliera out of the earth, winch shall
speak unto them." This beast, it is believed, will
make its appear.anoe in the temple of Mecca, or on
Mount Safa, or in the territory of Tayef. It is to be
sixty feet high, or, according to some, as high as the
clouds. It will appear for tln-ee days, showing only
a third p.art of its body. This monster will be com-
posed of different species of animals, having the head
of a bull, tlie eyes of a hog, the ears of an elephant,
the horns of a stag, the neck of an ostrich, the breast
of a lion, the back of a cat, the tail of a ram, the legs
of a camel, the voice of an ass, and the colour of a
tiger. This beast will bring along with it the rod of
Moses and the seal of Solomon ; with the former
smiting all believers on the face, and marking them
with the word Mumen, or believer ; witi; the latter
smiting all unbelievers also on the face, marking
them with the word Cafer, or infidel, that every one
may be fully known on the day of judgment. This
beast, which will speak in Arabic, will, in addition to
all this, demonstrate the folly of all religions except
the Mussulman.
JAUK, or Yadk, one of the five deified men
mentioned in the Koran as having been worshipped
by the ancient Arabians. They are supposed to
have been Antediluvians, who had been distinguished
for their virtues and great qualities. The Arabian!
represented Jank under the figure of a horse.
J.WA (Religion of). This island forms one ol
the largest of the Stinda Islands in the Kastern Ai-chi-
pclago. The population seem to have been of Tariar
origin, their ancestors having migrated from ih.it
quarter of the Asiatic continent lying between Siain
and China. This migration Sir Stamford Kidlles
supposes to have been of very ancient date, long
before the Burman and Siamese nations rose into
notice. It is astonishing how extensive a variety of
temples and sculptures of great anticpiity are to be
found everywhere throughout the island ; and as it is
matter of history that Mohammedanism became ihe
establi-shed religion of .lava in A. v. 1475. all these
ruins, in so far as they partake of a Pagan character.
must of eourse be referred to an e.arlier period.
Prom the peculiar appeaif.nce of the architectural
remains of the temples, and the ancient inscriptions
which are discovered on them, the conclusion has
been drawn by Rjiftles and others that they consist
of two series, an older and a more recent, the former
indicating that the religion of Budha at one time
prevailed in Java, and the latter indicating that
Budhism was superseded by the more modem system
oi Bralimanism or Hinduism, which still retains so
firm a hold of the natives, although, for four centuries
past, the Moslem faith has been the dominant religion
of the country, that they are still devotedly attached
to their ancient Pagan institutions. The true ccndition
of matters may be learned by conip.aring the state o(
the island of Java with that of the island of Bali in
its neighbourhood. The whole island of Java aji-
pears to have been converted to Moham.niedanism in
the course of the sixteenth century. The ruins 01
sacred edifices and statues which abound there are
all of a Bud/list or Hindu type, while the presen.
inhabitants profess the religion of the Koran. In
Bc'ili, on the other hand, not more than one in two
hundred of the natives are Mohammedans, and the
great body of the people profess the creed of the
Hindus, and observe its in.stitutions, although Hin-
duism has become extinct in the rest of the Indian
Archipelago. " On Java," says Sir Stamford Raffles,
" this singular and interesting system of religion in
classed among the antiquities of the i.sland. Here it
is a living source of action, and a universal rule ot
conduct. The present state of B.ili may be con-
sidered, therefore, as a kind of commentary on the
ancient condition of the natives of Java. Hinduism
has here severed society into castes; it has introduced
its divinities ; it lias extended its ceremonies into
most of the transactions of Ufe ; it has enjoined or '
recommended some of its severest sacrifices, such ad
the burning of a widow on the funeral pile of her
husband : but yet the individual retains all the native |
manliness of his character, and all the fire of the '
savage state." Jlr Crawford, who visited Bali in
1814, says that the religion of Bdli has been con- I
sidered as of two descriptions, that of Budlia, auil
T I
810
JEALOUSY (Water of)— JEHOVAH.
that of Brahma. The Budhisis are said to have
come tirst to the country. Of the Brahraans of
Sewa, or Shiva, nine generations are said to have
passed over since their arrival.
One of the most interesting and striking evidences
of the fact tliat Budhism anciently prevailed in Java,
is the temple of Boro Bodo, probably Bara Budtia,
or the great Budha, situated in tlie mountainous and
romantic territory of Kadon, immediately to the east
of Cheribon. It is a square structm-e of hewn stone,
each side 520 English feet long, and 116 feet in
height. It is built on the summit of a small hill,
and consists of a series of six enclosing walls, crowned
by a dome. The outer and inner side of each wall
is covered with a profusion of sculpture, including
between 300 and 400 images of Budlia, from whom
the temple may possibly have received its name.
At Brambanan, however, in the district of Slataram,
there is a most extensive display of ancient architec-
ture, the temples, though built of hewn stone, being
small, and clustered in groups, of wliich the largest
is that called the Thousand Temples. It occupies a
space 600 feet in length by 550 in breadth, within
which are four rows of small buildings, suri-ounding a
large central one. The -whole group has four en-
trances, each facing a cardinal point, and guarded by
two gigantic statues, each nine feet high, though in
a kneeling attitude, and eleven feet in circuit.
As a further proof that the Javanese were inti-
mately connected in religion with the Hindus, it may
be mentioned that the Kilwi, or ancient Javanese
character, and which is accounted sacred, is nearly
allied to, and iudeed has a large mfusion of, the
Sanscrit. Figures of Hindu deities, such as Brahma,
Gane-sa, Maliadeva, and others, are to be found in
abundance.
Tlie religious festivals of the Javanese now cor-
respond with those of the Mohammedans gene-
rally; but on the occasion of the funeral of a de-
parted relative, or in honour of his memory, they
observe solemnities on the seventh, fortieth, one hun-
dredth, or thousandth day after his decease. Those
who intend to observe them assemble on the preced-
ing evening, in order to read some portion of the
Koran. Before the guests partake of the meal, the
principal person present generally addresses the Al-
mighty in a prayer which alludes to the occasion,
and expresses gratitude for the repast.
JEALOUSY (Watkr of). This water, which is
described by Moses as the bitter water that causeth
the curse, was appointed by the law of Moses to
be drunk by an Israelitisli woman suspected of
infidelity to her husband, but denying her guilt.
The mode of preparation and administration of
this water is minutely detailed in Kum. xi. 5 — 29.
The priest was commanded to ^vritc the curses in a
book, and having washed those curses into the water,
it was thus said to become bitter, or impregnated
with the curse. The effect produced upon the sus-
pected woman who was called upon to drink this
water of jealousy was dreadful. If guilty, she fell
constrained to confess ; and the rabbins tell us that
a woman who confessed in such circumstances was
not put to death, but only divorced without dowry.
An ordeal of this kind was well fitted to accomplish
the purpose for which it was appointed, and could
not possibly injure the innocent.
JEBIS, the god of the sea among the Sintoists of
Japan. He is worshipped both by fishermen and
merchants, and is usually represented as sitting upon
a rock near the sea-shore, with an angling rod or hue
in one hand and a fish in the other.
JEHOVAH, the incommunicable name of the
Supreme Being, denoting his self-existence. It was
not revealed before the time of Moses, and hence the
declaration made in Exodus vi. 3, " And I appeared
unto Abraham, unto Isivac, and unto Jacob, by the
name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah
was I not known to them." It is identical with Jah,
and is intended to describe the incommunicable
essence which the Apostle Jolin expresses in the
Apocalypse by a periphrasis, " He that is, and was,
and is to come." The Jews usually substitute ior
the word Jehovah, which they are afraid to pronounce
or to write, the word Adonai, or Lord. After the
Babylonish Captivity, the Jews left off pronouncing
it, and thereby lost its true pronunciation. In our
authorised translation the word is generally translated
Lord, in capital letters. The Septuagint also renders
it the Lord. Origen, Jerome, and Eusebius, inform
us that in their time the Jews left the name Jehovah
in their copies written in the Samaritan character,
instead of the Hebrew or Clialdee, lest strangers
should profane and misapply it. The Jews,as Josephus
informs us, call this name of God the Tetrar/ramrtiaton,
or the name with four letters, and they believe that
if any man knows the true pronunciation of it, he
cannot fail to be heard by God. Simon the Just,
they allege, was the last who was acquainted with it.
They say that the angels are not at liberty to utter
the word Jehovah, and that, by virtue of this name,
which was inscribed on liis rod, Moses performed
all his miracles.
The Jewish Cabbalists attach the utmost import-
ance to the word Jehovah, which they allege not
only to be the peculiar name of the Divine essence,
but also to designate the Aziluthic world, or world
of emanation, wliich contains the ten Scphirotli.
The first of the four Hebrew letters of which it con-
sists has a twofold signification, the point of the letter
denoting the Supreme crown, which some Cabbalists
also call the central point, while the letter itself de-
notes Wisdom; the second letter, Uiulcrstanding ;
the third, which is equivalent to six, implies the next
six numerations ; and the fourth signifies the tenth
and last. Manasseli Ben Israel remarks that the
four letters may be dilVerently arranged, so as to
form twelve difl'ercnt words, all signifying " to be."
In this respect, he says, the word Jehovah Btsnda
alone, for m> other word can be found which will
JEJUMI— JEMMA.
211
admit of being so transposed, witliout a cliange of
ignitication. It is fiirllier alleged by tlie f"aljball«t8,
as we leani from an intelligent writer, that " tlie
seven nations wliicli people tlie cartli liave their
princes in heaven, who .siirround the throne of the
Eternal, as oilicers ready to execute his pleasure.
They stand around the name Jehovah, and U[)on
the tirst day of every year petition for a certain por-
tion of blessings to be conferred upon their people
during that period. This is expressive of the de-
pendance of these princes for all their knowledge in
the art of government on the Fountain and Source
of all knowledge, from whom cometh down every
good and perfect gift. It is further said that all the
knowledge and felicity destined for a particular
nation was gi'anted to the prince of that nation upon
the lirst day of every year. This circumstance dis-
tinguishes the Jews from all the other nations, be-
cause the name Jehovah is peculiar to them, and
they may, every day of the year, receive such bless-
ings as are needful. To this apply the words of the
prayer of Solomon : ' The Lord our God be with us,
as he was with our fathers ; let him not leave us, nor
forsake us. And let these my words, wherewith I
have made supplication before the Lord, be nigh
unto the Lord our God day and night.' And
David, speaking of other nations, says, ' They shall
pray unto God, and he shall not save them.' That
is, the nations shall supplicate their princes for
additional blessings to those granted mito them upon
the first day of the year, but they shall supplicate in
vain." " The Cabbalists also teach," says the same
writer, " that when God treats with the heathen
nations, he assumes all his splendour and majestic
greatness ; but when he condescends to treat with
the Jews, he appears in all his unveiled amiableness,
and converses in a familiar manner, or gives fiUl
manifestations of the ii ^le Jehovah. ' They that
know thy name will put \e[r trust in thee.' Ac-
cordingly, the wise men say th.at the name Jehovah
is pronounced and written in the temple in a proper
manner, but in the proWnces it is only expressed by
sirnanies and circumlocutions, obviously teaching the
plain truth, that the Jews knew God better than the
other nations, and tliat this name will appear in all
its divine and luminous splendour to the saints and
angels in the state of full perfection and glory.
" These mysterious Cabbalists have another method
of developing the mysteries contained in the name
Jehovah. They attribute to each of the letters a
specific value, which depends upon their local station
from the letter Jod, and form significant combinations
of these letters. They form a name of the value of
twelve, another of forty-two, and a third of seventy-
two, and to each of these they assign a particular
angel, invested with particular power to avert cala-
mity and to confer favours. They conclude this part
of their system by stating the vast importance of
acquiring proper conceptions of the name of God,
and the various significations of the sam^ in order
to pray in an acceptable manner, lest man should
sup))licatc for wrath and vengeance when lie wished
to supplicate for pardon and mercy. And they be-
hove that the highest measure of knowledge and
perfection is to know the whole import of the in-
cll'ablft name of Jehovah."
J K.I U MI, figure-treading, a ceremony observed
annually among the Japanese, of trampling upon the
crucifix, the Virgin Mary, and other saints. It is under-
stood to be observed at Nagasaki down to the present
day, and is probably designed to express the abhor-
rence which this singular people entertain for Christia-
nity, or at least for that form of it which the Jesuits of
Rome had several times, though without success,
attempted to introduce into the kingdom of Japan.
The images used in Kampfer's time were about a
foot long, cast in brass, and kept in a particular box
for the purpose. The ceremony took place in the
presence of the street officers. Each house was
entered by turns, two messengers carrying the box.
The images were laid upon the bare floor, and the
list of the household being called over, they were
required iu turn to tread upon them. Young chil-
dren, not yet able to walk, were held in their
mothers' arras, so as to touch the images with their
feet. It has been asserted tliat the Dutch were
obliged to engage in this ceremony, but the state-
ment is incorrect.
JEKIRE, an evil spirit among the Japanese,
which they expel by exorcising, a ceremony which
Kiimpfer describes, telling us that " in one of his
voyages he met with a vessel full of penitents, who
all roared out Namanda as loud as they could stretch
their throats, in order to procure relief to their
afflicted townsmen, who were visited with a malig-
nant fever. At the same time they had recourse to
their grand chaplet, which, in time of public distress,
they always say sitting, young and old, promiscuously
together in a circle. The chaplet slides apace
through the fingers of the devotees, and at every
great bead each of them hollows out Namanda, with
all the external testimonies of unfeigned soitow and
sincere repentance. If, notwithstanding the.se their
pious endeavours, the contagion spreads fartlier, the
.same divine service and humiliation is appointed to
be performed in all their pagodas."
JEMMA, the judge of the wicked after death
among the Japanese, who beholds in a large looking-
glass all the most secret transactions of mankind.
If, however, the priests intercede with Amidas for
the sinner, and the relations of the deceased are
sufficiently liberal in their offerings to the priests,
Amidas has sufficient infiuence with Jemma to pro-
cure a mitigation of punishment, or even a complete
discharge, so that the sinner may return to the world
again before the term allotted for his punishment has
fully expired. When they have suffered all that has
been appointed for them, the wicked are supposed by
the Japanese Budsdoists to return into this world,
and to animate the bodies of unclean beasts, euch a»
212
JERUSALEM (New) CHURCH— JESUITS.
toads, serpents, and such-like animals. The trans-
migration goes onward, until, in process of time, tliey
return to human bodies, again to pass tln-ough
another series of changes. There is a temple con-
secrated to Jemma a short distance from Miako,
situated in a very delightful grotto, in which likewise
there is a convent. The figure of Jemma, the king
of the devils, is monstrous, and on each side of him
are two large devils, one acting as his secretary, and
registering in a book all tlie sins of mankind ; while
the other reads them distinctly, or rather dictates
wliat the secretary is to record. The walls are em-
bellislied with frightful pictures of tortures wliich the
wicked are supposed to undergo. This temple is
resorted to by crowds of people from all parts, with
oblations and money in their hands, to redeem their
souls from the punishments inflicted by so formidable
a judge.
JERUSALEM (New) CHURCH. See Sweden-
BORGIANS.
JESSEANS, a name which Epiphanius says was
given to the early Christians ; either from .Jesse, the
father of David, or, which is more probable, from the
name of the Lord Jesus.
JESUATES. See Apostolic Clerks.
JESUITS, a religious order of the Romish Church,
which was established in the sixteenth century under
the name of the Society of Jesus. Its founder was
a distinguished Spanish knight, Ignatius Loyola, who
was born at Guipuzcoa A. D. 1491. At an early age
he was sent as a page to the court of Ferdinand and
Isabella, where he acquired all the polish and refine-
ment of manners wliich such a situation was so well
fitted to afford. It was not until he liad completed
his twenty-ninth year that this man, destined to act
60 conspicuous a part in the world, first emerged
from private into public life. The border provinces
between France and Spain had long been a source of
keen contention between the two countries. In 1521
Francis L, king of France, had despatched a large
nriny across the borders into Navarre, which, con-
trary to treaties, was then heM by Cliarles of Aus-
tria. The French army liaving laid waste the pro-
vince of Guipuzcoa, proceeded to lay siege to Pam-
peluna, the capital of Navarre. It was on this
occasion that we find Loyola in the ai-my of his
country bravely defending the beleaguered garrison.
Here he was severely wounded, and carried to the
Head- quarters of the French general, who generously
ordered him to be safely conveyed to the paternal
mansion near Pam]ieluna. The wounded man reached
liome, but, notwilhstanding the care and attention
bestowed upon him, falal symptoms began to show
themselves. He became gradually worse, and deatli
seemed to be at hand. The jiliysician pronounced
the case to be hopeless, and tlie priest was summoned
to perform the last oflices of religion, according to
the rites of the Church of Rome. This was the eve
of Saints Peter and Paul, and at dead of night, as
Romish writers tell us, the Prince of the Apostles
actually appeared in vision to the dying man, aiu
from that hour his recovery commenced.
A considerable period elapsed before Loyola could
leave his sick chamber, and the time was chiefly
passed in devoutly perusing those marvellous legends
and lives of saints with which Roman Catholic lite-
rature abounds. Naturally of an enthusiastic tem-
perament, his mind was thrown into a state of
feverish excitement by the wonders which he read,
and he vowed, in his zeal, to renounce the world, to
make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and to devote him
self to the service of God and the Virgin. These
resolutions were strengthened and confirmed by a
vision which he alleged he had seen of the Virgin
Mother, with the infant Jesus in her arms. Mean-
time he gathered strength both of body and mind,
and he longed to enter upon that course of self-
denying austerities which he had marked out for
himself. Holiness, in his view, consisted not in the
renovation aud moral exaltation of his nature, but in
the crucifixion of that nature. His heart was set not
so much upon the creation, and growtli, and perfec-
tion of the new man, as upon the annihilation of
the old man. Loyola had proclaimed war against
himself, resolving to deny liimself to the indul-
gence of all the affections, and princijdes, and ten-
dencies of his nature indiscriminately. He set him
self nightly to chastise himself with the scourge,
thinking, by the torment of the body, to purge away
the sin of the soul.
Before he had yet fully recovered his health, Loyola
left the paternal home, intending to put in practice the
resolution he had formed of making a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem. But preparatory to entering upon tin's
long journey, he paid his devotions at the celebrated
shrine of the Virgin Mary at Montserrat, near Bar
celona. On reaching the neighbourhood of Bar-
celona, he learned that a pestilence was raging in the
town, and he judged it prudent, therefore, to take up
his residence for a short time at Manresa, about nine
miles distant from Barcelona. Here he subsisted by
begging from door to door, applied the lash three
times every day to his bare shoulders, spent seven
hours out of the twenty-four in private devotion,
besides thrice attending public prayers at church ;
and every week he confessed to a priest, and received
the sacrament. Soon, however, he began to feel the
wretchedness of that destitution and beggary to
which he had voluntarily reduced himself. In vain
did he practise still more severe austerities and bodily
mortifications. His body only became weaker, and
his mind more perplexed and distracted. The sins
of his past life rose uj) in array before liini, and to
his other painful anxieties were added the pangs o(
an awakened conscience. " A black despair," says
Mr. Isaac Taylor. " seized him in the nndst of this
spiritual wretchedness; and the thought even of self-
destruction crossed his mind. At that time he occu-
pied a cell in a convent of the Dominicans, from tho
window of which lie had been impelled to throw
JESUITS.
213
nimself. He was, however, witlilield fiom tliis pur-
pose by tlie ])ivine mercy ; but he resolved, with the
liope of viuuiui.sliiii;^ or of plaeatiiif; tlie IJivine jus-
tice, to abstain absohitoly from all food, until he
chould will back the peace aud joy that had thus left
liim. Interriiittiiig no sacred services and no pen-
ances, he fasted a day — and two days — and three —
and four — nay, an entire wectc ; and he would have
persisted in his resolution had not the priest, his
confessor, and wlio had already sounded the depths
of Ids heart, interposed, aiul straitly commanded
him to abandon so presumptuous an endeavour as
that of contending with the Almighty; in fact he
threatened him with a denial of the communion,
should he persist. Alarmed by a tin-eat so terrific,
he took food therefore; and, for a time, regained
some tranquillity. Yet speeilily he relapsed into the
same condition of inward distress, and was tenii)ted
ftt once to renounce his ascetic purposes, aiui to
return to the world and to its enjoyments. With
this temptation, also, he grapjiled successfully ; and
at length, and as if by a convul.'^ive plunge, he extri-
cated liimself at once, and for ever, from these dan-
gerous entanglements."
During the year wlilch Loyola spent in Manre.-.a,
he composed his remarkable work, " The Spiritual
Exercises," a production whieh is lield in the highest
estimation in the Churcli of Kome as a book of devo-
tion and a guide to religious conduct. In the spring
of 1523 he sailed from Barcelona for Italy, and, after
a stormy passage of five days, he reached Gaeta,
whence he walked to Rome, worn out with fa-
tigue and hunger. After kissing the feet and re-
ceiving the benediction of Pope Adrian VI., he pro-
ceeded on his journey, and arrived at the Holy City
on the 4th of September 1523. He felt that he was
now privileged to tread on sacred ground, and ear-
nestly did he wish that he might remain for a
lengthened period in this favoured spot, and realize,
if possible, his fondest day-dreams — the restoration
of the schismatic Greeks to the communion of Kome,
and the conversion to Christianity of the followers of
Mohammed. But the monks of Jerusalem refused
to allow the zealous Spaniard to protract his stay
in Palestine, and he was compelled to turn his back,
however reluctantly, upon the land of apostles and
prophets, and to return without delay to Europe.
On reaching home, Loyola resolved to prepare
himself for the sacred office by passing through a
regular system of instruction at Barcelona. In early
life, he had not even received the first rudiments of
education ; but, with the most laudable decision of cha-
racter, he took his place in a class of boys at school,
engaging in all their exercises, and even submitting
to the usual discipline of the institution. After
having made some progress in the acquisition of the
Latin language, he quitted the school, and entered
the university of Alcala, which had been founded by
the learned Cardinal Ximenes. Here again he was
indebted for support wholly to the alms of the
charitable. Instead of devoting liimself with un-
divided attention to the pursuit of his college studies,
the enthusiastic Loyola burned with a yearning desire
for the conversion of careless souls. Both in private
and in public, in the streets and in the college lialln,
he pleaded with men about their immortal interests,
and called upon them to subdue the flesh by penances
and mortifications of every kind. The hearts of
many were touched by the discourses of the zealous
student. The susjiicions of the holy office at Toledo
were excited by what they heard of the doings ol
Loyola, and for six weeks he was committed to
prison ; nor was he liberated without the condition
being laid down that he should abstain from preach-
ing or teaching others until he had finished his studies.
It was impossible for Loyola to submit to such
restrictions, and therefore, on being liberated from
prison, he set out, with several like-minded com-
panions, for Salamanca, where, meeting with similar
treatment as at Alcala, he determined to repair to
Paris, with the view of completing his academic
course at the university. In the depth of winter, he
travelled on foot, alone, and without a guide. He
spent several years in preparing for the priestly
office, studying philosophy and the languages at
Montague College, and attending a course of theology
with the Dominicans. He had now passed six years
in fitting himself, by a regular course of training, for
public usefulness. Thus equipped, he endeavoured
not only to convert the profligate, but those also whom
he considered involved in fatal heresy, as having
imbibed the opinions of Luther and the Keformation.
This great work, he felt persu.ided, could not possibly
be accomplished by his single unaided eflorts. He
therefore strove to win over to his opinions some o(
the most distinguished students then attending the
luiiversity of Paris. His first convert was Peter
Faber, a Savoyard. The celebrated Francis Xaviei
was the next. James Lainez, Alphonso Salmeron,
Nicolas Alphonso, surnamed Bobadilla, Simon Rod-
riguez d'Arevedo, Claude le Jay, John Codure, and
Pasquier Brouet, joined the company which gave
origin to the Society of Jesus.
This band of zealous associates gathered round
Loyola, animated by his ardent and devoted spirit,
and impressed with the firm conviction that they and
their leader were called by God to the discharge of
a great work. On the i5th of August 1534, being
the Festival of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary,
the company assembled in the church of Jlontmartre,
and there solemn! v dedicated themselves to the ser-
vice of the Saviour, partaking togetlier of the Holy
Eucharist, and biiuling themselves, by a solemn oath,
to a profession of poverty, a renunciation of the
world, and absolute devotion to the service of God
and the good of souls; adding at the same time some
other special resolutions, — namely, to attempt a mis-
sion to Palestine, or, if frustrated in that design, to
throw themselves at the feet of the sovereign pontill
without reservation, stipulation, or cocditiou of any
•214
JESUITS.
kind, offering to undertake any service wliich he, the
vicar of Cln-ist, should call thera to perform. Several
of the members of the Society had not yet finished
tlieir studies. Three years, therefore, were allowed
fur this purpose, and it was agreed that they should
meet in January 1537, to carry into effect the designs
tliey had formed. That year, accordingly, the com-
panions of Loyola left Paris, and proceeded through
France, Germany, and Switzerland into Italy. At
Venice they met with their spiritual guide and
instructor, who had gone by another route, and
arrived before them. It was liere that the Society
was fully constituted, and its rules drawn up and
agi-eed to. The members distributed themselves
among the hospitals of the city, and freely gave their
services to the sick and the poor. Their object,
however, was still kept in view, to carry out their
proposed journey to Palestine. But before setting
out for the Holy Land, Loyola despatclied Iiis com-
panions to Rome, for the purpose of casting them-
selves at the feet of Pope Paul III., and obtaining
his permission and benediction. They were cour-
teously received by the pontiff, all their wishes were
gratitied, and they were amply supplied with gold
from the Papal treasury. They returned to Venice,
and rejoined their master, when both he and they
received priest's orders from the nuncio there, and
bound themselves anew to the service of God, of the
church, and their fellow-men. Tlie next town they
visited was Vicenza, where they engaged in preacli-
ing the Gospel with such unwearied diligence and
devoted earnestness, that the citizens regarded them
with the utmost respect and even veneration. Their
powerful addresses on the public streets not only
drew tlie attention, but reached the hearts, of their
hearers, and many who came to mock remained to
pray.
It was while the Fathers were at Vicenza that they
laid down the plans of their society. In the com-
mencement of the great work to which they deemed
themselves to be called, they decided to make a new
proffer of themselves and tlieir services to the Apos-
tolic See. For this purpose Loyola, Faber, and
Lainez set out for Rome, leaving the rest of their
companions to disperse themselves as missionaries
over the northern parts of Italy. While journeying
goutliwards on foot, Loyola was favoured with one of
those remarkable visions which he was so often per-
mitted to beliold. The Eternal Father appeared to
him in a trance, and by his side stood Jesus, bearing
a large cross, and uttering these words as he received
Loyola from the Father : " I will be favourable to
you at Rome." From the date of this vision, it was
resolved that the name of the religious order which
they had formed should henceforth be the " Society
Df Jesus." On the arrival of the three asso-
ciates at Rome in 1537, they were admitted to an
mdience of the I'ope, who readily gave his solemn
lanction to their undertaking. They now devoted
themselves to public preaching and private dealing
with souls. Two of them officiated as professors of
theology in the Gymnasium, while Loyola laboured
in hospitals, schools, and private houses, besides ad-
ministering the discipline of the "Spiritual Exercises"
to a number of persons of high rank both in church
and state. After Loyola and his two companions
had laboured thus assiduously for a time, it was
resolved to organize the Society, and for this purpose
the whole of the Fathers were summoned to Rome
from the different towns of Italy where they were
diligently prosecuting their missionary work. When
they had all assembled, they renewed their vows of
poverty, chastity, and unconditional obedience to the
Pope, and, after solemn deliberation, fasting, and
prayer, they elected Loyola to the responsible office
of general of the order. A petition was now pre-
sented to Paid III. for a formal recognition of the
Society. His Holiness was personally disposed to
favour the new order, and more especially as their
ministrations were so highly appreciated in all the
comitries where they were known, that applications
reached Rome from all quarters, requesting them to
undertake spiritual and even secular offices. John
III., the king of Portugal, had long entertained the
project of forming a mission in India, and his atten-
tion having been directed to the newly-established
order, as likely to afford suitable agents for conduct-
ing this great work, he asked and obtained two mem-
bers of the order to engage in this service. One of
these was Francis Xavier, who earned for himself
the title of the prince of Romish missionaries.
The Pope now decided that the time had arrived
for giving his formal sanction and confimiation to
the new order. He issued a bidl accordingly, dated
27th September 1540, didy constituting the order
under the name of the Company of Jesus ; and in
April of the following year, Ignatius Loyola was in-
stalled as General of the Order. At first the Society
was limited by the arrangement of the Pope to sixty
members ; but it was soon found to be necessary to
remove this restriction, and vast accessions were
yearly made to its numbers. Loyola was not long
in discovering that the influence of the body was
destined to extend far and wide, not only in all
countries, but among all classes of men, from the king
to the humblest cottager. Within a few years from
its first establishment, houses of the Order were es-
tablished in many countries, in Spain, Portugal,
France, Germany, Italy, Sicily, and even on the re-
mote shores of India. To maintain a constant and
close communication with the centre of influence,
provincials were ap))ointed in all Romish countries,
through whom the General at Rome was made con-
stantly aw.ire of all that concerned the interests of
the Churcli and the Order. The Constitutions of
the Society were carefully revised and digested,
and preparations were made for establishing Jesuit
colleges in different countries for the purposes of
general education,
j In 1550, Loyola wrote an earnest letter to thii
JESUITS.
21!
«enior Fathers of tlie Society, requesting to bo re-
lieved from tlio guneralsliip wliich lie h;ul held for
nine years, and tlie duties of wliich lie felt himself
scarcely ahle adequately to discharge. All of them,
with one exception, refused to accept his resignation,
which, accordingly, in deference to the wishes of his
colleagues, he withdrew. The Society had spread
its intrica e raniilications over the whole of the Kom-
ish church, but Jjoyola was the mainspring of the
movement ; and nowhere did his endeavours to pro-
mote the progress of the Order meet with greater
opposition tlian in France. In that country the
clergy eiitei'taiiied a deep-rooted jealousy and suspi-
cion of the Jesuits. The faculty of theology in tlie
Sorbonne issued a decree against the Society, but
Loyola maintained a prudent silence, and amid all
the obstacles which impeded its progress, the new
Order silently and secretly diffused its principles
among all classes of the people, and in process of time
it gained as tirm a footing in France as in any otlier
country.
The accumulated labours and anxieties of his
office as General of the Jesuits, coidd not fail in the
course of years to weaken the naturally vigorous
constitution of Loyola. The members of the Order
therefore elected as his coadjutor a Spanish Jesuit
named Jerom Nadal, who relieved the General of the
business connected with the Society, and left him at
liberty to devote himself in the evening of his days
to his favourite employment, the care of the sick.
He did not long survive, however, his retirement
from active duties, but daily declining, he died on
the last day of July 1556, in the sixty-fifth year of
liis age. In 1669 the Jesuits prevailed on Paul V.
to admit Ignatius Loyola to the privileges of Beati-
fication (which see).
The most famous Jesuit next to the founder of the
Order was undoubtedly Francis Xavier, wlio, by his
almost incredible labours in foreign countries as a
missionary, did as much to advance the fame of
Jesuitism abroad, as Loyola by his almost miraculous
exertions at home. The apostle of India, as he has
frequently been termed, was by birth a Spaniard, and
having been selected by Loyola as a suitable person
to undertake the work of a foreign missionary, he
sailed from Lisbon in April 1541, but did not reach
the shores of India until May 1542. First at Goa,
and then on the coast of Malabar, he laboured
strenuously to turn the heathen from pagan idolatry
to the reception of Christianity in the form of Ro-
manism. And his success seems to have been mar-
vellous. He writes home, " that in one month were
baptized several thousand idolaters, and that fre-
quently in one day a well-peopled village was indi-
vidually baptized." Thus, in the view of this Jesuit
missionary, baptism seems to have been identical
with conversion. The next scene of his labours was
Japan, which has always been emphatically a coun-
try wholly given to idolatry. Thither he sailed in
1549, and though he resided among the Japanese
only two years and four months, he succeeded in
winning over many even of the most bigoted wor-
shippers of idols to the profession of an adherence to
the Church of Kome. This he contrived to accom-
plish by compromise, combining heathen tradition!
with the facts and doctrines of Christianity.
Kncouraged by the marked success which had
hitherto attended liis missionary efforts, Xavier now
formed tlie bold design of attempting the conversion
of China. To that country he directed his course
with only two companions, in 1552. AVhile on hi"
way thither the vessel in which he sailed was seized
and dismantled. Though thus disappointed in his
object, he made another attempt to secure a passage
to China, but without success. The failure of his
favourite scheme preyed upon his mind and affected
his bodily health. He languished, sickened, and
died in the forty-sixth year of his age.
After the death of Xavier, several Romish mis-
sionaries, chiefly of the Dominican order, succeeded
in penetrating into China, and indeed that country
down to the present time has been a constant field
of Romish missions. In all parts both of the Old
World and the New, the Jesuits, from the first es-
tablishment of the Order, have prosecuted the work
of missionaries with a zeal and energy the most
exem|ilary and unwearied. But while thus actively
carrying forward their missionary operations in for-
eign parts, they have always been equally alive to
the necessities of those under their immediate in-
spection; for it is a remarkable fact, that at the
very time when Loyola was despatching Xavier on
his mission to the East, he was planning the estab-
lishment of Jesuit colleges in the ditlerent parts of
Europe. His biographer, Ribadeneira, speaks of no
fewer than fifty-two collegiate establishments on a
larger, and twenty-four others on a smaller scale.
The immediate successor of Loyola in the gen-
eralship of the Order was Lainez, who commenced
a system of policy which changed the whole charac-
ter of Jesuitism. He had represented the Society at
the council of Trent, where in all the deliberations
he took high ground on the subject of the Pope's
authority, and indeed acted as papal legate. It was
quite in keeping with his character, therefore, that,
on his accession to the office of General, he should
claim to be invested with absolute authority, and to
have prisons at his command that he might have it
in his power to punish the refractory with temporal
penalties. Thus the high-toned spirituality which
Loyola had ever sought to connect with Jesuitism,
was exchanged for a system of mere human policy.
Instead of the discipline of the '• Spiritual Exercises,"
the new General put in force the discipline of the
" Constitutions." It was Lainez and not Loyola
that first stamped upon the Order that jicculiar fea-
ture which it has ever since maintained, that of im-
plicit submission to the will of the Superior, and
entire surrender of the body, mind, conscience, and
indeed the whole man to his undisputed control.
sts
JESUITS.
Tlie strict discipline enforced upon the members
of the Society by Lainez, was rendered, if possible,
still stricter by his successor, Francis Borgia, who,
austere himself, demanded the utmost ansterity from
others. During the ten years which had elapsed
since the iirst establishment of tlie Order, the Je-
suits had thrown off much of tliat appearance of
piety, which, under the training of Loyola, attracted
the respect and even admiration of the world. It
was the aim of Borgia to arrest them in their course
of degeneracy, and to insist upon their observance of
tlie outward proprieties, at least, of a religious order.
But witli all this anxiety to reform his Order, Borgia
is charged, and not without reason, witli being one
of the principal instigators of tlie cruel massacre of
St. Bartholomew, though he was not spared long
enough to witness that dreadful event, having been
cut off about three weeks before it took place.
The next General of the Order was Mercuiran, by
birth a Spaniard, under whose rule Jesuitism added to
its unbounded ambition a system of casuistry, which,
bv means of sophistry and quibbling, would seek to
neutralize the plainest laws of the Decalogue. At
this period of their history the Jesuits commenced
to intermeddle with the political affairs of nations.
The first government on wliicli they practised their
intrigues was tliat of Sweden, using all their endea-
vours to bring it into subjection to the see of Rome.
Tlieir efforts, however, were wholly imsuccessful, and
Sweden remains a Protestant country to the present
day. Tlie popes now began to see more clearly than
ever the high value of the Jesuit Order in upholding
and increasing the papal authority. Gregory XIII.,
accordinglv, who was the then reigning Pope, contri-
buted largely from the treasures of the church to re-
plenish the coffers of this useful Order. Their insti-
tutions of every kind were liberally endowed, and
every attempt was made to promote the wealth and
influence of the society.
The Jesuits, as we have already remarked, had
no small difficulty in obtaining a footing in France,
in consequence of the jealousy with which they were
viewed by the French clergy. But having once
established tliemselves in the coum.-y, they busied
themselves in fanning the flame of di.scord between
the Roman Catholics and the Huguenots, and to
their interference is mainly due those scenes of bar-
barous and inhuman cruelty which mark the his-
tory of the Protestant churcli of France. The rise
of the Jansenists, in the sixteenth century, following
hard upon the Protestant Reformation in Germany,
rendered it still more difficult for the Jesuits to hold
their ground among the French clergy and people.
Tlie Sorbonne had always viewed them with suspi-
cion, and now it demanded their expulsion from the
country. Henry IV. passed a decree to this efl'ect
in 1594, but it continued in force for only a few
years. In 1G03 they were recalled, and spread with
fcuch rapidity, that in a few years cstablisliinents be-
longing' to tlic Order were to bo found in every pro-
vince, and in almost every town in the kingdom
struggling hard to destroy the liberties of the Gal
lican church, and to propagate their ultramontane
principles among all classes of the people.
It was at this period in the history of the Jesuits,
that the disciples of Loyola were confronted with
such overwhelming ability and power by the follow-
ers of Jansenius. ' The Provincial Letters' of Pas-
cal, one of the keenest and most cutting satires that
has ever issued from the press, spread terror and
dismay among the ranks of the Jesuits, and for a
season their cause was considered as hopeless. But
in course of time the pungency of Pascal's wit, and
the force of his logic, were alike forgotten, and the
Jesuits succeeded in recovering their influence. The
reign of Louis XIV. was their golden age. They
presided both in tlie palace and at the council-board,
moving the springs of government, and directing the
consciences of the rulers.
It is unnecessary, after what has been said in the
article Jansenists, to do more than simply to allude
to the keen contest which ensued between that
party and the Jesuits in regard to the work of Fa-
tlier Quesuel. Long and bitter was the controversy,
but it terminated in the triumph of the Jesuits, and
tlie consequent flight of tlie Jansenists into Holland
and other Protestant countries. Jesuitism now ob-
tained a complete ascendency in France, and the na-
tural fruits of the system speedily began to appear
Voltaire and the French Encyclopjedists gathered
around them a large and influential school of infidels
whose principles spread far and wide among the peo-
ple. To infidelity and irreligion succeeded anarchy
and revolution. The Jesuits were expelled in 17G4
with the consent of Louis XV. All the governments
of Europe soon followed the example of France.
They were banished from Spain and Sicily in 17G7
from Malta and Parma in 1768 ; and from Rome by
Clement XIV. in 1773.
The rejection of the .Jesuits by the Roman Catho-
lic governments, and even by the supreme Pontifl
himself, was felt to be a fatal blow aimed at the very
existence of the Order. Some of them, discouraged
and almost in despair, threw off the name and dress
of the Society of Jjsus, and attempted to conceal
themselves under new appellations, such as those oi
" Fathers of the Cross," or " Fathers of the Faith ; "
but the great mass of them scorned to adopt such a
subterfuge, and resolved to continue to wear even in
public the insignia of Loyola. In one state, the
kingdom of Prussia, tlie Jesuits paid no regard to
the papal brief for their siqipression. Their conduct
in tills matter met witli the entire approval of the
reigning sovereign, Frederic the Great. The conse-
quence was that, shut out from other countries,
they fled to Prussia, and soon became numerous
there, monasteries being built for their reception,
and superiors elected over them. The bishop ol
lircslau interposed in behalf of the papal sec,
whose authority was thus attempted t" be set al
JESUITS.
217
jouglit, but Fredei'ic threw tlio shield of liis royal
protection over the rebellious Jesuits, mid ordered
that they sliould remain umuolested in liis dominions.
[n vain did the I'ope Pius VI. remonstrate with the
Prussian monarch ; ho refused to yield more than to
allow the Jesuits to abandon tliodr('Ss of their Order,
but in all other jioints ho declared it to be his sov-
ereign will that they should remain inviolate. The
Prencb inlidel school, more especially D'Alembert,
was earnest with Frederic to expel the Jesuits, as
the other European monarchs bad done. But the
great Frederic was inexorable, he was resolved to
retain a class of men whom he regarded as useful to
liim in many respects, chiefly on political grounds.
His motives, however, were entirely misunderstood
by tlie Jesuits themselves, who, imagining that he
lipproved their religious principles, made a formal
Bpplicatiou to him to declare himself opcidy the pro-
tector of their Order. This request, however, he
politely declined, stating " that it was for the Pope
to make whatever reforms he pleased in his own
states without the interference of heretics."
The Jesuits, in their state of exile, received the
protection also of Catherine II., empress of Russia,
who looked upon them as political auxiliaries. On
this ground she retained them in White Russia,
which was an ancient Polish province, and prohi-
bited the proclamation of the brief of Clement XIV.
in all the Russias. Encouraged by the support
which they received from Catherine they sent a de-
putation to Pius VI., who, as he was secretly dis-
posed to favour the Order, gave way to his own
personal feelings in the matter, and wliile he openly
ir.aintained the suppression of the Society, neverthe-
less encouraged their growth in Russia. The nur-
sery of the Jesuits, accordingly, was kept up in
White Russia ; but after some years they began to
display an indiscreet zeal in proselytising, and were
in consequence expelled from the kingdom wdiich
had so long aftbrded them an asylum. ]5ut happily
for tliem they no longer required an asylum in the
north. Pius VII. relieved them from their degra-
dation, and by a bull, dated 7th August 1814, he
revoked the brief of Clement XIV., and re-estab-
lished the Order of Jesuits throughout the world.
From this period, having been restored to the full
enjoyment of the papal sanction, the Jesuits made
their appearance openly in the Roman C.atholic
countries of Europe, claiming to be regarded as a
valuable and almost indispensable portion of tlie
organization of the Ro?iiish church. In France they
lought to fill the principal situations in colleges and
schools, with the view of training the youth in high
ultramontane views. A loud cry arose against them
in 1824; and in 1845 they were ordered to leave
the country. IJut without any formal enactment in
their favour tliey have returned in great numbers,
and are fast pervading the minds of the clergy and
members of the Gallican church with ultramontane
prhiciples of the strongest kind
In Rome, too, the Jesuits have completely re-
covered the proud position they once lield. Pius IX.
has confirmed the restoration of the Order. "Tbiy
enjoy," says Mr. Grinlield, in his historical sketch,
entitled 'The Jesuits,' " the complete command of
the Roman college, and of most of the collegiate
establishments in ' the Eternal City.' They are
again active in Spain and Portugal, and have renewed
their elTorfs in Austria, Bavaria, Silesia, and Prussia
in Hanover, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, and
France. In China and the South Seas, as well as
Australia and New Zealand, they are rapi<lly in-
creasing. In every part of the American provinces
they are awakening the alarm of Protestants. In
Canada, they have been restored to a large college,
and have numerous seminaries in every ])art of the
province. Numbers of them are employed in the
education of youth, and they are connected with a
large missionary establishment — a branch of the
Roman Propaganda. In the East and West Indies,
as, indeed, in all English colonies, they are numerous
and active. For the English who may travel abroad,
they have colleges at Douay, Eiege, Valladolid, Lis-
bon, Brussels, Naples, Paris, Rome, Boulogne, I^atis-
bon, and in many other places. Over these, some
Jesuits are regularly placed."
On 1st January 1854, the total nmnber of the
members of the Society of Jesus, not including the
affiliated, amounted, according to the report of the
general's office at Rome, to 5,000, and it is highly
probable that since that time, tlieir number must
liave becoine much larger Ribadaneira says, that,
in 1608, the Society numbered 10.581 members.
The members oftbe Society of Jesus aredividcd in-
to four classes : 1. The Professed, or those who take
the four vows, namely, that of perfect obedience, of
voluntarv poverty, of perpetual chastity, and of ab-
solute submission to the Pope. 2. The Coadjutors,
who are either spiritual or temporal, that is, eccle-
siastics or lay brethren. They aid in carrying for-
ward the designs of the Society, but are bound only
by the three simple vows of obedience, poverty, and
chastity. 3. The Scholars, whose position is to be
determined by their individual qualifications. They
are bound by the three former vows, but are allowed
to take the last with consent of their superiors.
They may become either spiritual coadjutors, or
simple priests of the Society. 4. The Novices, who
are admitted indiscriminately, and are considered
only as candidates upon trial. A probation of two
years is required before taking the vows of the tem-
poral coadjutors, and of the scholars who are to be-
come spiritual coadjutors. Another probation of a
year precedes the vows of the professed.
At the age of fourteen a young man may be pro-
posed for admission into the Order as a Novice; but
before he is formally accepted, a minute investiga-
tion takes place into his temper, talents, station in
society, and prospects in life. Nor is the scrutiny
limited to the individual himself; it extends also to
218
JESUITS
his relatives and connections, both near and remote.
If the examiners are fully satisfied with the results
of their inquiry, he is forthwith admitted into the
noviciate ; if they are only partially pleased, he is
pat on further probation ; but if they find the youth
to be unpromising they dismiss him as unsuitable.
Supposing the youth to become a Novice, he is put
under a course of special training, with the view of
teaching him to yield implicit submission to his su-
periors, merging his own wiU wholly in theirs. The
duty is inculcated upon him of abandoning his patri-
mony, and devoting it to the poor or to the church.
During the whole period of his noviciate, he is pre-
vented from holding intercourse with his friends or
relatives, except under certain conditions, to which
he must strictly adhere. His eveiy movement is
narrowly watched, and at the confessional he must
reveal the inmost secrets of his heart.
Should the young man approve himself as a Ncmke
during a two years' probation, he next becomes a
Scholar, and in this capacity he must pass a month
in self-examination, confession, and meditation ; a
month in begging from door to door ; he must wait
*n the sick in some of the hospitals ; he must do the
duties of a menial in the convent ; he must employ
himself finally in teaching and in preaching. After
two years thus spent, be is promoted to the rank of
a coadjutor, and in another year to that of a. professed
brother. The grand aim towards which the whole of
this protracted course of training is directed, goes to
the entire subjection of the whole man to the will of
the superior. " If you would immolate your whole
self wholly unto God," says Loyola, " you must offer to
him not the bare will merely, but the understanding
also ; to think just what the superior thinks, and
take his judgment for your own, so far as it is possi-
ble for a devoted will to bend the understanding. It
is impossible to deny that obedience includes not
only the doing of what is commanded, and the will-
ing of what is done, but the submission of tlie judg-
ment also, that whatever is commanded should be
thought right and true ; for obedience is a holocaust
wherein the whole man, without any part reserved
whatever, is immolated to his Creator and his Lord
by the bands of his ministers.
" The noble simplicity of blind obedience is gone,
if in our secret breast we call in question whether
that which is commanded be right or wrong. This
is what makes it perfect and acceptable to the Lord,
that tlie most excellent and most precious part of
man is consecrated to him, and nothing whatsoever
of him kept back for himself.
" And let every man bo well persuaded that he
who lives under obedience ought, under the provi-
dence of God, sincerely to be governed and behave
exactly as if he were a coi"pse, wliich sufl'ers itself to
be tunied in all directions and dragged every where ;
or as if he were an old man's staff, to be used where-
soever and in whatsoever lie wishes who holds it in
hiB hand."
At an early period, so early, indeed, as the meet-
ing of the Council of Trent in 1545, the Jesuits were
suspected of tending, in their doctrinal sentiments,
towards Pelagianism. Accordingly, the deputies
wliich they sent to the council, Lainez and Sal-
meron, were watched by the Augustinian party with
the greatest jealousy, and although tliey attempted
to conceal their real opinions under a mass of cum-
brous erudition, it was plain that they were entirely
opposed to the principles of Father Augustin in re-
gard to the vital doctrines of justification by faith,
the fallen condition of man, and the insufBcienoy of
good works to merit pardon and salvation. Another
point, also, on which the Jesuit deputies gave great
oflence to the assembled bishops, was the boldness
with which they avowed ultramontane principles, not
only in regard to the supremacy of the Pope, but in
regard to his being the source of aU episcopal autho-
rity, alleging, as they did, that " the divine hierarchy
of the church was concentrated on the head of liiiu
to whom they had made a special vow of obedience.''
The doctrine of the Jesuits on this point is, that the
Pope, as head of the church on earth, is infallible ; that
he is the only visible source of that universal and un-
limited power wliich, in their view, Christ has granted
to the church ; that all bishops and subordinate
rulers derive from him alone the authority and juris-
diction with which they are invested ; that he is not
bound by any laws of the church, nor by any de-
crees of councils ; that he alone is the supreme legis-
lator of the church ; and that it is in the highest
degree criminal to oppose or disobey liis edicts and
commands. Such are the strong views which the
Jesuits and ultramontanists generally entertain of
the power and authority inherent in the Pope as the
vicegerent of Christ on earth hi the government of
the church.
The controversy with the Jansenists, towards the
middle and end of the sixteenth century, developed
the Pelagian opinions of the Jesuits more fully than
even the debates in the council of Trent. The Au-
gustinian tlieology on the doctrine of grace had been
substantially taught in the " Augustinus" of Janse-
nius, and ably defended by the writers of Port Royal.
The Jesuits, however, as they had formerly done in
opposition to the Dominicans, so now in opposition to
the Jansenists, contended earnestly in favour of the
Pelagian views, modified somewhat by the introduc-
tion of the scientia media, or perfect prescience of
the future, on which the Divine predestination was
supposed to proceed. This latter modification of
Pelagianism was suggested by the Jesuit Molina,
in his celebrated work on the Concord of Free-
will witli Divine Grace, published in 1558. The
Janscnist controversy was carried on with great
bitterness for many years, but at lengtli in 1G42 the
Jesuits succeeded in obtaining from Urban VII 1. a
bull condemning the work of Jansenius; and in
1(15.'? and ICiG Innocent X. and Alexander VII.
issued bulls denouncing as heretical and impious five
JESUITS IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
219
propoRitions alleged to be contained in tliat woi-k.
(See Jansknists.) At the instillation of the Je-
suits, a lioi'co persecution of the JiiiiBonists took
place, which, although suspended for a time under
the pontilicate of t'lenuMit IX., wa.s soon recom-
menced, and many of the Jansenists lied from
France to lind an asylum in other jiarts of Km'ope.
The Jesuits raised another persecution against the
rival body in tlie followini:; century, whi('h ended in
the complete depression of their enemies, and tlieir
own triumph for a time, but, as we have already
seen, the day of retribution at length arrived, and tlie
Jesuits were suppressed in 177.3.
The moral doctrines of the Jesuits were perhaps
more objectionable than their theological, tending as
they did to corrupt the minds and hearts of multi-
tudes. They taught, for example, that it was of no
consequence from what motives men obeyed the
commandments of God, yet that wicked actions might
be justified by good intentions. Pascal, in the ' I'ro-
vincial Letters,' exposes their system of morals with
the most cutting irony, and with exquisite humour.
Many of the Komisb as well as Protestant writers
have i)een violent in their opposition to Jesuit
morality. Some of their pernicious maxims were in
fact condemned in 1G59 by Pope Alexander VII.;
and in 1G90 the article relating to Philosopliical Sin
was condemned, but without effect, by Alexander
VIII. Reference has already been made, under the
article CAStllSTS, to some of their ethical tenets, par-
ticularly their doctrine of Probability, which, along
with that of Philosophical Sin, has stamped the
Jesuits as perverters of the principles of morality.
' According to the doctrine of the Jesuits," says
Professor Ranke, " it is enough only not to will the
commission of a sin as such : the sinner has the more
reason to hope for pardon, the less he thought of
God in the perpetration of his evil deed, and the
Tiore violent was the passion by which he felt him-
self impelled : custom, and even bad example, inas-
much as they restrict the freedom of the will, avail
ui excuse. What a narrowing is this of the range
of transgression I Surely no one loves sin for its
own sake. But, besides this, they admit other
grounds of excuse. Duelling, for instance, is by all
means forbidden by the Church ; nevertheless, the
Jesuits are of opinion, that if any one incur the risk of
being deemed a coward, or of losing a place, or the fa-
vour of his sovereign, by avoiding a duel ; in that case
he is not to be condemned, if he tight. To take a false
oath were in itself a grievous sin : but, say the Je-
suits, he who only swears outwardly, without in-
wardly intending it, is not bound by his oath; for he
does not swear, but jests. These doctrines are laid
down in books which expressly profess to be moder-
ate. Now that their day is past, who would seek to
explore the further perversions of ingenuity to the
annihilation of all morality, in which the propounders
of these doctrines vied, with literary emulation, in
outdoing each other ? But it cannot be denied that
the most repulsive tenets of individual doctors wer«
rendered very dangerous through another principle
of the Jesuits, namely, their doctrine of ' proba
bility.' They maintained that, in certain cases, »
man might act ujjon an opinion, of the truth of which
he was not convinced, provided it was vindicated by
an author of credit. They not only held it allow-
able to follow the most indulgent teachers, but they
even counselled it. Scruples of conscience were to be
despised; nay, the true way to get rid of them, wa»
to follow the easiest oiiinions, even though their sound-
ness was not very certain. How strongly did all this
tend to convert the most inward and secret prompt-
ings of conscience into mere outward deed. In the
casuistic manuals of the Jesuits all possible contin-
gencies of life are treated of, nearly in the same
way as is usual in the systems of civil law, and exa-
mined with regard to their degree of veniality : one
needs but to open one of these books, and regulate
himself in accordance with what he finds tliere, with
out any conviction of his own mind, to be sure of
absolution from God and the Church. A slight turn
of thought unburthened from all guilt whatever.
With some degree of decency, the Jesuits them-
selves occasionally marvelled how easy the yoke of
Christ was rendered by their doctrines!" Philoso-
phical sin, that is, sin committed through ignorance
or forgetfulness of God, is in the eye of the Jesuits
of a very light and trivial nature, and does not de-
serve the pains of hell.
The Society of Jesuits is a regularly organized
body, being governed by a General at Rome, who
has four assistants, but who is responsible to none
but the Pope alone. He nominates all the func-
tionaries of the Order, and can remove them at plea-
sure. By means of the confessional, the closest
surveillance is maintained over families and indivi-
duals, and an arbitrary power is exercised over the
consciences and the conduct of men, which it is im-
possible for the victims to resist.
JESUITS IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRE-
LAND. In the twelfth century, Pope Adrian IV.,
an Englishman by birth, made a grant of Ireland to
Henry II., King of England, on condition that the king
should pay him a yearly tribute for each house in
Ireland, that the Catholic religion should be restored
to its ancient splendour, and the people to a com-
mendable propriety of conduct. In 1174, Henry
was acknowledged to be lord paramount of all Ire-
land. Nothing connected with the Jesuits occurred
till the reign of Henry VIII., when the Pope of
Rome, Paul III., of Jesuit notoriety, took Ireland
under his immediate patronage. The German Re-
formation, which ditl'used the principles of Protes-
tantism throughout every other country in Eurojie,
left Ireland untouched. Nay, a rebellion broke out
avowedly in defence of the Pope's authority, but the
power of the king of England bore down all opposi
tion. Statutes were passed in the Irish parliament
abolishing papal authority, and declaring Henry
220
JESUITS IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
head of the Irish Church, as well as gi-anting him
the tirst-fruits of all ecclesiastical benefices. Partial
insurrections followed, but they were speedily sup-
pressed. Parliament and tlie Iri.^-h chieftains were
all on the side of Henry ; their country was raised
to the rank of a kingdom, and the English ascen-
dency, by tlie admission of Dr. Lingard, tlie Roman
Catholic historian, rested on a firmer basis than it
had ever done since the invasion of the island by
Henry II.
Such was the state of matters in Ireland, when
two Jesuit envoys were despatched thither by
Paul III. Tlie persons selected for this mission were
Brouet and Salmeron ; the one a Frenchman, and
the otlier a Spaniard. They were invested with the
powers of papal nuncios, and before leaving Rome,
tliey received special written instructions from Loy-
ola, as to the manner m which they should conduct
themselves in fulfilling tlieir difficult and delicate
task. Joined by a papal functionary named Zapata,
they set out on their expedition in September 1541.
On their way tliey visited Scotland, wliere they so
wrought upon the mind of the reigning monarch,
James V.. that they withheld liim from joining
Henry VIII. in his resistance to the Papal power,
and his acceptance of the Reformation. From Scot-
land the Jesuit envoys hastened to Ireland, where,
liy their bland and plausible manners, they succeeded
ill gaining the confidence of the Irish people. They
reported to Rome that they had scoured the whole
island in thirty-four days, and had found the people
in the most deplorable state both as to religion and
morality. They had resolved, however, not to give
way to discouragement, but to try what could be
done by means of masses, indulgences, and confes-
sions. It was soon ascertained, of course, that the
Jesuits, instead of confining themselves to the exer-
cise of their spiritual duties, were actually attempting
to plot against the government ; and, in consequence,
a price was set upon their heads, and confiscation
and the penalty of death were proclaimed against
every individual who should harbour them. Finding
tlieinselves thus in danger of falling into the hands of
Henry VHI., they left Ireland in haste, .and, on their
way to France, again visited Scotland; but they saw
enough to discourage them from prolonging their
stay in that country, and, contrary to tlie express
wishes of the Pope, they fled to France, where they
had the misfortune to be imprisoned at Lyons as
Spanish .spies. They had intended, it is .said, boldly
to .appear at the English court, and plead the cause
of Romanism, but they judged it better to return to
liome without delay. Thus ended the first expedi-
tion of the Jesuits to Ireland.
Notwithstanding the failure of this scheme, the
Jesuits watched tlicir ojiportunity for etl'ccting a
settlement in liritain. A suitable occasion seemed
to present itself on the death of ICdward \'I. and the
accession of Mary to the English throne, who, being
Herself a Roman Catholic, wished to undo all that the
Reformation had effected, and to restore the olc
religion to its former position in the country. At
this apparently favourable period a proposal was
made to Cardinal Pole to establish a branch of the
Society of Jesuits in England; but the proposal waf
unexpectedly declined, the cardinal being by no
means friendly to the Jesuits. It was not, indeed,
till the death of Mary, and tlie accession of Elizabeth,
tliat a second Jesuit expedition to Ireland was planned
at Rome. Tlie individual selected for this important
mission was an Irislinian by birth, named David
Woulfe. Before setting out, he was invested bv
Pius IV. with the powers of Apostolic nuncio, and
furnished with instructions to proceed to Ireland, for
the purpose of taking all possible steps to undermine
the authority of Elizabeth in Ireland, and subjecting
the Irish Church to the Papal dominion. After five
months spent on the journey, 'Woulfe readied Cork,
in the south of Ireland, where he was received,
according to his own account, with great joy by the
Roman Catholics. At first, he was peculiarly zealous
and active in the discharge of his mission, and wrote
to Rome the most encouraging accounts of his
success ; but at length he gradually relaxed in his
exertions, and ended by conducting himself so im-
jiroperly, that it was found necessary to dismiss him
from all connection with the Society of Jesus. Thus
terminated the second expedition of the Jesuits to
Ireland.
The Pope, however, and the Jesuits had strong
confidence that, amid all discouragements, they woulil
yet succeed in effecting a lodgment in the Emerald
Isle. Only three years, accordingly, had elapsed
from the period of Woidfe's unfortunate failure, when
three more Jesuits were despatched to Ireland, with
an archbishop, to erect colleges and academies — iiav-
ing been invested with full power from the Pope to
make use of the ecclesiastical revenues for that object.
At the same time an English Jesuit was sent from
Rome to his native country, " for the good of his
health, and for tlie consolation and aid of the Catho-
lics." Thomas Cliinge, for such was his name, is
said to liave been successful in converting some ol
the nobility to tlie Romish faith, but, in the court-e
of a year, his labours were cut short by death.
While thus watching over the interests of tin;
Romish Church in England and Ireland, Pius IV. did
not neglect to seek the promotion of llie same cause
in Scotland. In 1562, Nicholas Gaudan, a Jesuit,
was sent to Mary Queen of Scots, for the pui-pose of
comforting her in the midst of her dill'iculties, and
confirming her in her adherence to the faith of Ronic.
The mission which he had undertaken was one of
extreme dilliculty. Nowhere had the principles of
the Reformation found a more congenial soil than in
Scotland. There, accordingly, these ]irinciiiles were nc
sooner preached, than they found thousands of willing
minds and hearts by whom they were understood and
appreciated. At tlie time when Gaudan appeared at
the court of Mary, tlie Reformed opinions had l>eeD
JESUITS IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
221
ixtensively embraced by all classes of the people, and
A'hatover savoured of Rome was repelled with imliK-
liation and disgust. Such was the .state of feeling in
Scotland when tlie Jesuit (Jaudan entered the couiury
in the disguise of a liawkei" of common pedlar. ()i\
learning by a secret messenger the arrival of this
emissary from the Pope, the queen contrived to
iidmit him to a private interview; not once only, but
on three separate occasions, when she solemnly pro-
tested to the Papal mmcio her determination to up-
hold the Cluirch of Rome to the utmost of her power,
jmd her readiness to sutler in its support, should she
be eallcil to do so. The report soon spread that a
.lesuit had found access to the palace, and the utmost
excitement began to prevail. His steps were tracked;
a price was set upon his head ; and Gaudan ipiitted
Scotlaiul in the utmost haste, carrying witli him,
however, several youths belonging to noble families,
to be educated in Flanders, tliat they might return
to their native land as apostles of the faith of Rome.
The r.ipid progress of the Reformation in Scotland
awakened no small anxiety at Rome, and an opp<ir-
tunity was eagerly looked for of restoring the Papal
supremacy in that country. In 1567, accordingly,
wlien Mary had given notice to the Pope, Pius V.,
of her marriage with Darnley, his Holiness instantly
despatched a Jesuit named Kdminid Ha\', under the
pretence of congr.Uulating her on the happy event,
Imt in reality to counsel with and advise lier as to
(he best mode of subjecting her kingdom to the See
of Rome. So an.xious was the Pope to efl'ect this
re-conquest of Scotland, tliat he declared, in a letter
lo the queen, wliich he sent by the bauds of Hay, aiul
which was written in the holograph of his Holiness,
that he would sell the last chalice of the church in the
cause. And tlie Jesuit was, moreover, instructed to hold
out to Mary the Hattering prospect of Elizabeth being
yet dethroned by the iuHuence of Rome, and herself
being placed on the throne of England. And it is
not unlikely that such an expectation was really en-
tertained by the Pope, as we find him in 1570, only
three years after this signiticant message to Mary,
issuing a bull of deposition against the queen of Eng-
land, thus endeavouring to excite her subjects to
rebellion. The English Roman Catholics held this
bull in as little respect as the Protestants did ; but
that in other quarters a ditferent result was antici-
pated, is evident from tlie fact, that on the person of
a Scottish Jesuit, of the name of Creighton, who was
apprehended and imprisoned in 1584, was found a
paper giving detailed reasons to show the easiness of
rtn invasion of England, and appealing to the general
wish and expectation of the English Catholics. The
Jesuits had taken an active part in establishing a
college at Douay, in French Flanders, for the pur-
pose of training missionaries to be sent into England.
William Allen, a zealous English Romanist, was the
main instrument in planning, and for many years
carrying on, this missionary college. At the instiga-
tion of a party in Douay however, the magistrates
dismissed Allen and his associates, who immediately
transferred their services to a similar institution at
Rheiins in France. Another establishment of the
same kind w.is founded at Rome by Gregory XHl.
Thus, at the Seminaries, as they were called, ot
Douay, Rheinis, and Rome, were trained the Senii-
nary-jnicsts, many of them Englishmen by birth, who
were to propagate the Romish faith in England and
Ireland. It was soon discovered, however, that
various individuals among the Seminary-priests were
using their endeavours to seduce the English subjects
from allegiance to the queen, and thus carrying out
the design of the bull of Pius V. Several English-
men of good families entered the Society of the
Jesuits. In a single year, 1578, Flanders alone gave
the Company twelve select Englishmen, who had
been exiles, and their number increased from year to
year, until at lengtli Mercurian, a general of the
Jesuits, exclaimed, " Now it seems God's will that
the Company should march to battle against the
heresy of England, since he sends to her such a
mnnerous and valiant host from England." Thither,
accordingly, several Jesuits repaired, who, along with
the Seniinai-y-priests, attempted to sow the seeds of
disloyalty and disaffection among the people. This
conduct, of course, could not be tolerated, and the
government forthwith issued a proclamation to the
following effect : " That whosoever had any children,
wards, kinsmen, or other relations in the parts be
yond the seas, sliould, after ten days, give iji their
names to the ordinary, and within four months call
them home again, and when they were returned,
should forthwith give notice of the same to the said
ordinary. That they should not, directly or in-
directly, supply such as refused to return with any
money. That no man should entertain in his house
or harbour any priests sent forth of the aforesaid
seminaries, or Jesuit^, or cberi.sh and relieve them
And that wdiosoever did to the contrary, should be
aecoimted a favourer of rebels and seditious persons,
and be proceeded against according to the laws of
the land."
About three years before this proclamation was
made, the Pope had sent an expedition to invade
Ireland. It was headed by a person of the name of
Stukely, whom the Pope made I'.is chamberlain, and
created him Jlaripiis of Leinster, furnishing him at
the same time with both money and men. Stukely
set out, and on reaching the Tagus, where he ex-
pected to be joined by the king of Spahi with a large
army, he allowed himself to be persuaded to join
in an expedition against the Turks, and perished in
the battle of Alcazarquiver. A fleet had been wait-
ing on the coast of Ireland to give Stukely a wami
reception, but it was of course recalled. And yet
though Stukely was diverted from the first object of
his expedition, it was afterwards carried out by an
Irish refugee called Fitzmaurice, with a few Irish
and English exiles and Spanish soldiers. Dr. San-
ders accompanied them as Papal legate, carrying
Z22
JESUITS IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
with him a bull which constituted the invasion a
regular crusade, with all its privileges. A landing
was made near Kerry, but the whole attempt at
invasion turned out a total failure, and the invaders
and insurgents were treated with the most barbarous
cruelty.
The boldness of the Jesuits seemed to increase
with every fresh repulse which tliey received.
Scarcely had the news of the disastrous failure of
tlie Irish expedition reached Rome, when tliey re-
solved, nothing daunted, to attempt the establishment
of a branch of tlieir Society in England, and the per-
sons selected for this enterprize were two resolute
and entliusiastic members of tlie Order, Father Par-
sons and Fatlier Campion, both of tliem natives of
England. They left Rome in 1580, with strict
charges given to them not to interfere in the sliglitest
degree witli any political interests in the affairs of
England. Parsons, who was a man of fierce, blus-
tering disposition, was appointed head of the expedi-
tion, which numbered in all thirteen persons, seven
of whom were priests. Passing through the Con-
tinental states, this party of Jesuit missionaries had
a conference with Beza at Geneva. Parsons, leav-
ing Campion to follow, resolved to enter England
before his companions. He passed himself off as a
military officer retuniing from Flanders to England;
ind the wily Jesuit dressed himself accordingly, be-
sides interlarding his conversation with profane oaths,
to render the deception all the more complete. Cross-
ing to Dover, he journeyed on towards London, not
without some fear of detection, in consequence of the
suspicion prevailing against strangers. Campion
followed, in the dress of a pedlar or merchant. On
reaching the metropolis, a meeting of the Jesuits and
missionary priests was held, at which Parsons pre-
sided. As instructed at Rome, he declared, and
even solemnly took oath, that, in coming to England,
he had no political designs whatever, but solely
Bought the conversion of the country to Rome, with
the co-operation of the secular priests.
Notwithstanding the solemn disavowal of political
motives with wliicli tlie mission of the Jesuits was
thus commenced. Parsons and Campion travelled
through England under various forms of disguise,
filling the minds of Roman Catholics with the most
seditious and treasonable principles, urging, in no
very obscure or unintelligible language, the necessity
of deposing the queen. Intelligence of such pro-
ceedings could not fail to reach the government, and,
accordingly, inquiries of the most searching nature
were set on foot to discover the Jesuits. Severe
denunciations were published against all wlio should
harbour them, and against all who quitted the king-
dom without the license of the queen ; and rewards
were ofTered for the discovery of the offenders.
Parsons and Campion now addressed a letter in con-
cert to the privy council, complaining of the general
persecution, as well as the suspicions entertained
"tgaijQst what they termed the most blessed company of
Jesuits, and asserting the loyalty of the Catholics to
be greater than that of the Protestants, but especially
of the Puritans. Campion challenged the Protestant
theologians to a controversy on tlie subject of the
true faith; but the Jesuit's challenge and defiance
were disregarded. The Jesuits now felt that the
publication of the edict had rendered their position
dangerous. Spies were everywliere in search of
them, and they were under the necessity, in order tt
escape detection, of frequently changing their dis-
guises, their names, and places of residence. " My
di-esses are most numerous," writes Campion, " and
various are my fashions; and as for names, I have an
abundance." Parsons, by his extraordinary dex-
terity and uiiscrupulousness, had less difficulty than
his colleague in eluding the pursuit of his enemies.
It cannot be denied that the presence of the
Jesuits in England, and the revolutionaiy principles
which they were diligently spreading among the
people, roused the queen and her ministers to the
adoption of severe measui'es against the English
Romanists. Up to this time, they had been readily
admitted to com't ; some occupied situations of high
honour and trust ; and the Roman Catholic nobility,
thougli excluded from the House of Commons, still
sat and voted in the House of Lords. Now, however
that the Jesuits and Seminary-priests were perverting
the minds of English Romanists, and alienating them
from the government of their country, the most de-
cided steps were adopted by the queen and her minis-
ters to repress the treasonable spirit which began to
manifest itself. Laws were passed, subjecting to the
penalties of high treason all who possessed or pre-
tended to possess the power of absolving or of with-
drawing others from the establislied religion, or suf-
fered themselves to be so withdrawn. Those who
said mass, and those who attended it, were hable to
be punished with fuie and imprisonment. Another
act provided, that to prevent the concealment of
priests as tutors and schoolmasters in private families,
every person acting in that capacity without the
approbation of the ordinary, should be liable to a
year's imprisonment, and the person who employed
him to a fine of £10 per month. These enactments,
severe though they undoubtedly appeared to be,
were at first seldom put in execution ; but at length
the storm of persecution broke out, and the prisons
in every country were filled with persons suspected
a.s priests, or harbourers of priests, or transgressors
of the enactments. Meanwhile the Jesuits meanly
skulked about from place to place, allowing the
vengeance of the government to fall not upon them-
selves, the real culprits, but upon multitudes of un-
offending persons, upon whom the suspicion of the
authorities happened to rest. " At length, thirteen
months after liis arrival," to quote from Steinmetz,
" Campion was betrayed by a Catholic, and seized
by the officers of tlie crown. He was found in a
secret clo.set at the house of a Catholic gentleman.
They mounted him on horseback, tied his legs luider
JESUITS IN GUICAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
223
,'he horse, bound his arms beliind him, and set a
pajicr on liis liat witli aii inscription in great capitals,
inscriliud — Campion tlie Seditious Jesuit. Of course
lie was racked and tort ureil— words that do not con-
vey the hideous reality. Imagine a frame of oak,
raised three feet from the ground. The prisoner was
laid under it, on his back, on the floor. They tied
his wrists and ancles to two rollers at the end of the
frame : these were moved 'by levers in opposite
directions, until the body rose to a level with the
frame. Then the tormentors put questions to tlie
wretched prisoner; and if his answers did not prove
satisfactory, they stretched him more and more, till
his bones started from their sockets. Then there
was the Scavenger's Daughter — abroad hoop of iron,
witli which they surrounded the body, over the back
anil under the knees, screwing the hoop closer and
closer, until the blood started from the nostrils, even
from the hands and feet. They had also iron gaunt-
lets, to compress the wrists, and thus to suspend the
prisoner in the air. Lastly, they had what they
called 'little ease' — a cell so small, and so con-
structed, that the prisoner could neither stand in it,
walk, sit, nor lie at full length."
Parsons, learning that his colleague was appre-
hended, and condemned to die, fled to the Continent,
knowing well that a similar fate assuredly awaited
iiim if he remained in England. On reaching a place
of safety, the restless Jesuit commenced anew to plot
for the advancement of the interests of Mother
Church. The scheme which he now devised was
nothing less than the conversion to the faith of Rome
of dames VL, king of Scotland, the son of the un-
fortunate Mary Queen of Scots, who was then im-
prisoned in England. To carry out this project.
Parsons sent an embassy to the young king, then in
jis fifteenth year. This embassy was headed by the
Jesuit Ci'eighton, who was completely outwitted by
James. The young Scottish monarch, keenly alive
to his own interests, sought to tiu-n the whole afl'air
to his own account, pretending to connive at the
proposed introduction of Romish missionaries, on
condition that his exhausted treasury was replenished
by the Roman Catholic powers. Creighton eagerly
accepted the royal conditions, and he and Parsons
hastened to Paris for the purpose of holding a con-
sultation on the subject with some warm and in-
Huential friends of the Romish See. It was agreed
that an attempt should be made to rescue Mary from
her C4iptivity, and to associate her with her son on
the Scottish throne, and that, meanwhile, James
should be relieved from his pecuniary embarrass-
ments by a grant from the Pope and the king of
Spain. The money matters were easily settled, but
the first part of the project was of more difficult
accomplishment. A French Jesuit, Samnier, was
despatched from Paris to hold a secret consultation
with Mary. He entered England in the disguise of
an officer, " accoutred in a doublet of orange satin,
slashed, and exhibiting green silk in the openings.
At his saddle-bow he displayed a pair of pistols, a
Kword at his side, and a scarf round hig neck." The
design of this .Jesuit embassy was to excite a secret
revolt against Elizabeth on the part of some of the
Roman Catholic nobles. The plot, however, was
discovered, and, by the activity of the government,
completely defeated ; while the young king of Scot-
land, instead of becoming a dupe of the Jesuits, was
thrown wholly into the hands of the Protestant
party.
The failure, however, of this project of the Jesuits
did not prevent them from forming another. A
secret consultation, accordingly, was again held at
Paris, with the view of devising a plan for the liber-
ation of Marj'. It was resolved that the Duke of
Guise should land with a French army in the south
of England, while James, with a Scottish army, was
to enter by the north, and those of the English who
were favourable to the Stuarts were to be invited to
lend their assistance. The plan was communicated
to Mary by the French ambassador, and to James
by Holt, the English Jesuit. This scheme also
failed, and Mary refused to lend her sanction to it.
Soon after, the Jesuit Creighton was apprehended,
and committed to the Tower, where he disclosed all
the particulars of the projected invasion.
Many were the schemes and plots devised against
Protestant England by the Jesuits, but, through tlv
vigilance of Elizabeth and her ministers, they were
all of them imsuccessful ; and the alarm which they
excited only led to more stringent and oppressive
treatment of the Roman Catholics. The queen was
highly oflended with the cruelty shown in many
cases. Camden tells us that " she commanded the
inquisitors to forbear tortures, and the judges to
refrain from putting to death." She commuted the
sentence of death into transportation in the case of
seventy Romish priests, one of whom was Jaspar
Haywood, son of the first Jesuit that ever set foot
on English ground.
The Jesuhs made use of Mary Queen of Scots as
a convenient tool for stirring up from time to time
fresh conspiracies against the Protestant throne ol
England. One of the most active of their auxilia
ries in these plots was Philip II. of Spain, and there
is too good reason to believe that Mary, probably in
her natural anxiety for deliverance from her pro-
tracted captivity, was cognizant of, if she did not
participate in, these plots of the Jesuits. At all
events these crafty priests were her advisers and
ghostly confessors down to the time of her execution,
which took place in 1587. The death of the un-
happy queen of Scots, produced a deep impression
on the minds of the adherents of Rome throughout
the whole of Europe, and Philip II. of Spain, in par-
ticular, hastened to carry out his long-contemplated
descent upon England with the glorious Armada.
Pope Sixtus V. gave his warm approval of the
scheme, and created the Jesuit Allen a Cardinal, for
the purpose of accompanying the expedition in the
224
JESUITS IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
character of papal legate, with a commission to re-
noHcile England to the commimion of Rome, and to
lonfirm tlie conquest to the Spanish crown should
the expedition prove successful. This enormous
fleet consisted of 135 ships of war, manned by 8,000
sailors, and canying 19,000 soldiers, and high were
the hopes of tlie Jesuits wlien this mighty armament
.'^ot sail for tlie coasts of England. Allen carried
with him an " Admonition to the nobility and people
of England," which he had got printed at Antwerp,
and wliicli was intended to be extensively distributed
among the people on the arrival of the Armada.
This document, the authorship of which has usually
been assigned to the Jesuit Parsons, was tilled with
the most scurrilous and abusive language against
Elizabeth, and called upon her subjects to rise in
rebellion and hurl her from the throne. But the
Jesuits were utterly mistaken as to the real state of
feeling in England, even among the Roman Catho-
lics, wlio were at this very time visited with the
most bitter persecution. No sooner did the news
arrive of the project of Philip with his invincible
Annada, than botli Catholics and Protestants alike
tlew to arms, resolved to defend tlieir coimtiy against
tlie Spanish invader. All warlike preparation, how-
ever, was unnecessary. A tempest arose, and in one
iiiglit the Annada with her mighty legions was swal-
lowed up by the boiling flood. Thus terminated the
boasted enterprize of PhiHp, planned by the Jesuits,
and sanctioned by the Pope. From that date Spain
lias simk into the position of a second or a third rate
power in Europe.
Father Parsons seems to have now despaired of
crushing Protestant England by any machinations
carried on within the country; and being himself
located on the Continent, he directed all his efforts
to rouse the Roman Catholic governments to attack
Elizabeth, and deprive her of her crown. AVith this
view he published in 1591 his answer to the edict of
tlie queen against the Jesuits. The book was mul-
tiplied in various parts of the Continent, and a
new edition appeared at Rome in 1593. This
production was well fitted to excite feelings of ha-
tred against Elizabeth, both among her own sub-
jects and among foreigners, and it is not sm-prising,
therefore, that the public mind was agitated at this
time by rumours of plots against the life of the
queen. Tlie foreign seminaries, which supplied mis-
sionary priests to England, were mainly under tlie
control of Jesuits, who thus incessantly moved tlie
springs which were to regulate the thoughts and feel-
ings and conduct of the English Romanists. Parsons
and Allen, in seeking to restore the Roman Catholic
religion to its former position of influence and autho-
rity in lOngland, considered the best means of efl'ect-
iug tliis to be the placing of a Roman Catholic
monarch on tlie throne. These two Jesuit leaders
looked to the daughter of the king of Spain as a
suilabU; person, and to recommend her to the Eng-
lish nation. P«s«on8 publislied in 1594 his " Confer-
ence about tlie next succession." We learn from
Dr. Lingard that this tract excited an extraordinary
sensation botli in England and on the Contiiieiu.
Parsons was in fact the accredited agent ot ."^pain,
employed expressly by Philip to support the preten-
sions of the Infanta to the Englisli throne. With
the exception of Creighton, wlio was decidedly fa-
vourable to the claims of James VI. of Scotland,
tlie Jesuits were unanimously supporters of the
daughter of the king of Spain, for whose benefit
tliey promoted the second Spanish invasion, which
was equally disastrous with the first, and, what is
remarkable, from precisely the same cause. In 1598
we find an attempt made by Squires and tlie Jesiut
Walpole to poison Elizabeth, which, tliough it pro-
videntially failed, showed all too plainly that the
opinions which Parsons so diligently spread on the
subject of regicide, had been readily imbibed by
some members of the so-ciilled Society of Jesus.
The rebellion which had for several yeai-s been
raging in Ireland, headed by the daring O'Neil, was
well known to have been planned and organized by
the Jesuits, more especially by their general, Aqua-
viva. In 1599, Spain furnished a supply of money
and ammunition for the insurgents, witli a promise
of men. And tlie Pope also, to show his entire
approbation of the insurrection, sent O'Neil a con-
secrated plume and a bull, granting him and his ad-
herents the same indulgences as had been granted to
the Crusaders who had fought for tlie recovery of
the Holy Land. The Irish rebellion, however, was
suppressed, and the Spanish fleet, which had been
sent to aid the insiu-gents, was compelled to return
home, to announce to the ambitious monarch their
complete and inglorious defeat. But Parsons, and
those who favoured the Spanish pretensions, though
foiled in all the attempts they had hitherto made to
effect their purpose, were still determined to per-
severe. Another invasion was planned in ICGl, and
adopted by Philip III. of Spain; but it was suddenly
frustrated by the death of Elizabeth, and the unani-
mous acknowledgment of James VI. of Scotland as
her successor. A short time before her death, the
queen and her ministers had come to the knowledge
of the projected invasion, and of its being favoured
and encouraged by Garnet, the English provincial of
the Jesuits. One of the last acts, accordingly, ol
the reign of Elizabeth was to issue a proclamation
banishing the Jesuits from the realm, not only be-
cause they refused to acknowledge and obey the
queen, but entered into conspiracies of all kinds
against her person, and into alliances with enemies
of the kingdom, in order to effect her downfall.
To the mortification of Parsons and his friends, not-
withstanding all the efforts they had made to set
aside the Scottish succession, James was proclaimed
king of England with the joyful shouts and acclama-
tions of the people. It was now evident that the
.lesuits had wholly miscalculated the extent of their
inffuence ; they had fondly expected that the death
JESUITS IX GREAT liUITAIN AND IKKJ.AND.
22.')
of Elizabclli would be tlie signal for a civil war in
Englfind ; but no accession coiilil be more pcaccfnl
tlian tlmt of tlie Scottisb inoniirch to tlie tlirone of
England. As soon as tidings of tlie event readied
Parsons, lie lost no time in writing a letter to a party
in tlic English court, witli a view to its being shown
to the new king, in which lie attempted, in the most
crafty and deceitful nianrier, to show that he and the
eonfijiany to which lie lielonged had been in favour of
the Scottish king. The original of this precious
document is in tlic library of the Uritish iMusenm.
Sanguine ho]ies were entertained tliat , lames, now
that he had succeeded to the English throne, would
modify, if lie did not entirely repeal, the laws which
Elizabeth had passed against Jesuits and priests.
But only a few months sufficed to dispel the delusive
hopes of the Romanists. The restrictive enactments
of which they complained were not only confiiined
by James, but ordered to be put in rigorous execu-
tion. The Romish missionaries were banished from
the kingdom, and the |ienalties for recusancy, besides
being continued, were made to extend backward
thronghout the time which had elapsed since the
new king arrived in London. Such unexpected
severity was felt deeply by the Roman Catholics in
England. Many families found themselves suddenly
plunged into a state of extreme destitution, in con-
sequence of the heavy tines to which they were
subjected. One enactment after another passed of
the most oppressive, exacting, and even persecuting
character. All magistrates and judges were com-
manded, on pain of royal displeasure, to execute the
laws against Roman Catholics, both priests and lay-
nen, with the most stern and uncompromising rigour.
The consequences were most disastrous. The rich
v.-ere reduced to poverty, the jioor were thrust into
prisons, the goods of multitudes were confiscated,
some were banished, and others were publicly exe-
cuted.
Ill such circumstances as these the desperate con-
spiracy was planned which is usually known by the
name of the Gunpowder Plot. The scheme was one
of fearful revenge, being nothing less than to blow up
the House of Lords with gunpowder at the open-
ing of Parliament; and thus to destroy, at one
blow, the King, the Lords, and the Commons. For
more than a year the plan was secretly in process of
concoction, and meanwhile government were putting
in force measures of redoubled severity against the
adherents of the Church of Rome. The fatal day
drew near, but providentially some person or other,
who was privy to the plot, disclosed it, thus prevent-
ing the execution of one of the most atrocious con-
spiracies which the history of any country records.
The conspirators, eight in number, were apprehended,
tried, and executed, while among the accomplices
m the preparation, it was discovered that three noted
Jesuits, Garnet, Gerard, and Greenway, were impli-
cated, while every one of the conspirators belonged
to the Jesuit faction. Gerard and Greenway con-
trived to elude detection, and escaped to the con
tinent. Garnet forwarded a strong protestation ol
his innocence to the council, and though for a week
he attempted to secrete himself, his hiding-place was
discovered, and after frequent examinations, in which
he e([uivocatcd in the most disgraceful manner, he was
tried, convicted of complicity in the conspiracy, to the
extent at least of guilty knowledge and concealment
thereof, and in consequence he wa.s publicly executed.
Many have been the efforts made by Romish writers lo
exculpate Garnet from all concern in, or even know-
ledge of, the Gunpowder Plot, but his own admissions
on his trial, as well as the evidence adduced on the
part of the crown, brought home the charge to the
wretched Jesuit priest and provincial so clearly, as,
in the view of every impartial person, to put the fact
of his implication in the conspiracy beyond the reach
of doubt. To display the innocence, however, of this
member of the Society of Jesus, miracles were al-
leged to have attended his execution. One, in par-
ticular, produced great excitement for a time among
the more ignorant and superstitious of the EnglLsh
Romanists. An English student belonging to the
Jesuits alleged, that he was standing by whilst the
executioner was quartering the dead body of Ganiet,
when a straw, spotted with blood, came, he knew not
how, into his hand. Subsequently, a man's face
was seen depicted on the straw, and on examination
it was pronounced the genuine picture of Ganiot
most perfectly displayed in the single drop of blood.
It affords a melancholy view of the low state of in-
telligence in England at the time, that such a storv
should have not only been currently reported, but
extensively believed by Romanists both at home and
abroad.
The discovery of a conspiracy so horrible a,s the
Gunpowder Plot, and the fact which was fullv
brought out, that it was originated by Romish Je-
suits, only exasperated the king and the government
still more against the English Roman Catholics, who,
though innocent as a body of all connection with tlie
nefarious transaction, were, nevertheless, visited with
still more cruel treatment than they had hitherto ex-
perienced. Enactments of the most stringent de-
scription were passed against them, and to test thcit
allegiance an oath was framed which was to be
taken by every Romanist of the age of eighteen and
upwards, and in which the temporal authority of the
Pope was plainly and explicitly denied. A contest
now ensued among the Roman Catholic leaders as
to the legality of taking this oath. A number of
the clergy and laity readily admitted its legality, and
took it without liesitation. When a copy of the
oath, however, was received at Rome, the Pope is-
sued two apostolic letters addressed to the English
Romanists, condemning the oath as unlawful. The
appearance of this papal decision threw the body
into gi-eat perplexity. Bellarmine, Parsons, and
other Jesuits on the continent were the chief oppo-
nents of the test ; but the English clergy were quite
226
JESUITS IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
divided in opinion on the subject. All the Roman
Catholic peers, with tlie exception of Lord Teyn-
liam, took the oath in the House of Lords ; and out
of the whole body of English Romanists, there were
only 1,944 recusants, of whom the great majority
belonged to the humbler classes.
At the earnest request of Henry IV. of France,
the Pope, Paul V., sent a secret envoy to England
with letters to King James, urging the adoption of
milder measures than those which had been recently
resorted to by the legislature. James received the
envoy with apparent kindness, gave him the usual
gi-atuity, but sent him away with no definite answer
to the Pope's letters. The slight thus put upon his
holiness made him all the more ready to listen to
the persuasions of the English Jesuits in Flanders,
who despatched a deputation to Rome, calling for
fome speedy and energetic measures against the
English king. The Pope, yielding to the pressure
from without, issued a brief, forbidding the Eng-
lish Romanists to attend Protestant churches, and de-
claring the oath to be unlawful, and to contain many
things contrary to faith and salvation. James, on
learning that this papal document had reached Eng-
land, and feeling assured that it was a contrivance of
the Jesuits, resolved to act with the utmost decision ;
and forthwith, to show his indignation at this inter-
ference of the Pope with the infernal government of
the country, he ordered the oath to be administered
to all Roman Catholics indiscriminately. The per-
secution now raged with renewed fury, which the
Jesuits endeavoured to allay by the offer of a sum of
money.
It was not a little annoying to the Pope to learn
that his late brief had been, to a great extent, disre-
garded by the English Romanists, many of them
having taken the oath in spite of the papal prohibi-
tion. Another brief, accordingly, was issued con-
firmatory of the former, but before it reached Eng-
land, Blackwell, the archpriest of the Romanists, was
in prison, having been deposed from his office at the
instance of Bellarmine and Parsons, for taking the
Oath of Allegiance, and also by a public letter re-
commending his people to follow his example.
King James, always partial to theological contro-
versy, now entered the field against the Romish Je-
suits on the subject of the temporal power of the
Pope, and published a tract entitled ' An Apologie
for the Oath of Allegiance.' A war of pamphlets
now ensued ; divines, both Romish and Protestant,
published their sentiments on this much disputed
point ; and during the greater part of the seventeenth
eenlury the question was agitated on both sides witli
tlie most bitter keenness. James was resolved to
enforce the oath in face of all opposition, and three
Uoniish priests who refused to take it were con-
demned to the gallows. The Romanists were divided
among themselves in the midst of all the sufferings
which they were called to endure. Dissensions from
witliin and oppi-ession from without rendered the
situation of many of them, peculiarly painful. Th«
penalties for recusancy were enforced with increasing
severity, and in 1610 all Roman Catholics were or-
dered to quit London within a month, and all priests
and Jesuits were commanded to leave the kingdom
within the same period.
But if Romanists in England were punished, on
the one hand, by the Protestant government for
refusing to take the oath of allegiance, they were
punished, on the other, if they took the oath, by the
Pope, under the influence of the Jesuits. In this
strange position eight clergymen, prisoners in New
gate, appealed to the Pope, imploring him, by the
blood of the martyrs, and by the bowels of their
Redeemer, to take pity on them in their affliction,
and to specify those parts of the oath which rendered
it unlawful to be taken. To this appeal, affecting
though it was, his Holiness made no reply. Nor
did Parsons and the Jesuits content themselves with
harsh and cold-blooded neglect of their fellow-Ro-
manists in England in the time of sore persecution
they resisted also every attempt on the part of others
to instruct and comfort them. The Benedictine
monks of Spain had resolved to establish a mission
in England, but the Jesuits offered the most deter-
mined opposition to the scheme, and it was not imtil
the cardinal-archbishop of Toledo pronounced the
allegations of the Jesuits on the subject of the pro-
posed mission to be false, and the design itself to be
worthy of all encouragement, that the Jesuits allowed
the plan of the mission to be carried into execution.
All the seminaries for the training of missionaries
to England, with the single exception of the college
at Douay, were under the direction of the Jesuits;
and even Douay itself was gradually subjected to
their control, through the crafty management ot
Father Parsons. The missionaries now poured into
England from these colleges were of the most illiterate
description, being prepared by only a few wrecks' or
months' training to enter on the duties of the mission.
Accordingly, we learn that, in the course of the four
years ending at Christmas 1608, no fewer than forty-
one missionaries were despatched to England from
Douay alone. Thus, to the other evils of the period,
in so far as Romanists were concerned, was added an
ignorant, degraded, and, in many cases, immoral
clergy. The idea began now to be started of the
necessity of episcopal oversight, in order to remedy
the evils which had crept into the system. Two
deputies had been despatched to Rome in 1606, to
endeavour to prociu-e a bishop from the Holy See
Their evil genius, however, the notorious Parsons,
contiiHied still to haunt them, and, at his instigation,
the petition was rejected, and the liopcs of the Eng-
lish Romanists disappointed. The clergy made
another application to the Pope for the appointment
of a bishop over them, but Parsons again foiled them,
and prevailed upon the Pope to decree that, " until
every mendier of the clergy should concur not only
in ))etitioning for an episcopal su])erior. but also in
JESUITS IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
227
reeommcuiliii;; tlie pai'ticular individual to bo pre-
feiTed to tliat dignity, no proposal on tlie siily'ect
woidd be entertained." Siicli a decision from tlie
sovereign pontuV was siifTieiently diseonraging to the
Englisli Korimiists. Ncvertlieless, they resolved to
senil another deputation to Rome, to consult the
I'ope on the whole state of their affairs. The envoys
were favoured \vitli an interview with the Pope, the
result of which was, that they obtained a confirmation
of the prohibition against the interference of the
Jesuits in the government of the archpriest. Par-
sons was not a little mortified at the partial success
of the envoys, but he set himself with the utmost
energy to counteract their efforts, first, by endeavour-
ing to procure their recall, and, when that failed, by
so slandering their character as to destroy their in-
tluence with the Pope. This cunning and uniirin-
cipled Jesuit pretended to be their confidential ad-
viser and friend, and yet, all the while, he was
sedulou.sly employed in secretly frustrating every
appeal which tbcy made to the supreme pontiff.
Early in the following year, 1610, Robert Parsons
was cut off by a sudden death, and thus a final
termination was put to the wicked schemes of one
of the basest and most unscrupulous men that ever
belonged to the Society of the Jesuits. His life
seemed to be one continued series of acts (if dupli-
city, treachery, and atrocious wickedness. To this
man, and his intriguing machinations, are to be
traced almost all tlie calamities which, for many a
long year, visited the Roman Catholics of England.
He was tlieir mortal enemy, though he professed to
he their sworn and devoted friend. " Father Par-
sons," says one of themselves, " was the principal
author, the incentor, and the mover of all our gar-
boils botli at home and abroad." The death of such
a man might, therefore, have been considered as
likely to bring relief to the English Romanists; but,
unfortunately, the spirit to which he had given rise
still survived. For ten years longer, the clergy con-
tinued to urge, with unremitting eaniestness, the
appointment of a bishop, but the Jesuits as vigor-
ously opposed them. At length, in 1G'20, the Pope
declared his willingness to accede to their request.
The Jesuit.s, thus foiled at Rome in their opposition
to the measure, endeavoured to prevent it from being
put in execution by awakening, through secret in-
fiuence, the fears and jealousies of King James; and
in this they were so successful, that he solemnly
declared that a Roman Catholic bishop should never
be admitted into the country. The king, however,
soon discovered that he had been duped by the
Jesuits, and learning that only the spiritual inspec-
tion of the clergy was desired, he withdrew his op-
position, and Dr. William Bishop was forthwith
appointed Vicar- Apostolic of England and Scotland,
but nominally Bishop of Chalcedon in partibus in-
fidelinm.
One grand object which the Jesuits have inces-
santly kept in view from the period of the first in-
stitution of their Order, has been the aggrandisement
of the Society, and the establishment of their in-
fluence in every part of Christendom. But to no
country have their .amliitious designs been more
sedcdously directed than to England. They liave
attempted to operate upon it by all possible means
both direct and indirect. AVe have found them,
during the reign of James I., re-sorting to a thousand
different plans to accomplish their designs; and wdiile
their plans were uniformly fru.strated by the vigilance
of the king and his ministers, they were secretly, but
diligently, raising up, by means ot the English Col-
lege at Rome, of which they had acquired the com-
plete control, a band of young men thoroughly trained
up in the princiiilcs of the Order, and from whose
labours as missionaries in England they expected a
va.st accession to the influence of the Jesuits in that
country. Hence it happened, that of forty-seven
persons who left the English College at Rome during
the seven years preceding 1G2.3, no fewer than thirty-
three entered the Order of the Jesuits. So com-
pletely, indeed, did that Engli.sh seminary become a
prey of the Jesuits, that the Pope found it necessary
to interfere, and to lay it down as a strict regulation
that, for the future, no student educated on the foun-
dation was to enter any religious order or company
without special license from his Holiness; and, be-
sides, each scholar, on his admission, was to take an
oath to that effect, and to be ready, at the command
of the protector or the propaganda, to take orders
and return to England on the mission.
The English Roman Catholics experienced no little
annoyance, in the early part of the seventeenth cen-
tury, by the institution of a new Order of religious
ladies, with the assistance of the Jesuit Roger Lee.
These nuns were to hve in community, but without
any obligation of being shut up in a nunnery. They
were bound to take upon themselves the instruction
of young ladies, and to ramble over the country,
nay, even to the Turks and infidels, to seek the
conversion of soids to the Romish faith. The
Jesuits, we are infomied, mainly supported their
cause, and took gi-eat pains to obtain them an estab-
lishment. These English Jesuitesses, as they were
often called, caused so much scandal to the Romish
mission, that the English clergy memorialized the
Pope on the subject, urging upon his Holiness that
the Jesuits were expressly forbidden, by their rule.s,
to meddle or mix in the government of women, and
that, notwithstanding this regulation, the Jesuitesses
were in the habit of making use of the Jesuits alone
in all their concerns in England and abroad, so that
they seemed to think it a crime to permit any other
priest to hear the secrets of their conscience in con-
fession. In spite of all opposition, these English
nuns besieged the Pope with petitions for the con-
firmation of the Order; but, in 1630, Pope Urban
VIII., instead of confimiing, wholly suppressed the
sisterhood.
After the banishment of the Jesuits from England
•ita
JESUS.
in 1604, we hear little ;iinre of tliein until the reign
of James II., who aimed at the establishmeni of the
Romish Church in his dominions. Jesuit schools
were opened ; the Jesuit Petre was raised to the
lionour of a privy councillor; the Pope was urged by
the king to make the Jesuit a bishop, but declined
to grant the royal request. The Revolution of 1688,
however, and the conferment of the throne of Eng-
land on the Prince of Orange, changed the wliole
aspect of alfairs, and threw the Jesuits once more
into the shade. From that period till the date of the
suppression of the Order by Ganganelli, Pope Cle-
ment XIV., in 1773, the history of tlie Jesuits in
England is little more than a blank. The Order
still survived the Papal deed of suppression, and
while the successor of Clement XIV. connived at
their continued existence, they found an asylum in
Prussia, and were pennitted to open a novitiate in
Russia. But none of tlie foreign Jesuits appear to
have souglit shelter in either Great Britain or Ire-
land. The English members of the body continued
to prosecute their mission as before. Nay, it is
affirmed that at the very time when the suppression
took place, the English goveniment secretly patron-
ised the Jesuits for state purposes.
The restoration of the Order, as we have already
seen (see Jesuits), was the act of Pope Pius VII.,
with the design, as is believed, of upholding ultra-
rnontanism in Prance. The bull of revival and res-
toration was passed in 1814, and soon after, the
Jesuits were found in great numbers in all the Con-
tinental countries; but their late exptilsion from
Switzerland, their banishment from Bavaria, Austria,
Naples, and even, througli the decision of Pope
Pius IX., from Rome itself, drove many members of
the Order to take refuge in England, along with
their general, Rooth;uin. Through the liberality of
Mr. Tlionias Weld, a wealthy Roman Catholic gentle-
man, the Jesuit refugees were presented with the
domain of Stonyhurst. Stcinmetz gives the following
account of this seminary belonging to the English
Jesuits : " The college of Stonyhurst must receive,
on an average, at least £6,000 per amuim from pupils
— the ninnber being about 120, at forty guineas per
annum, for boys under twelve years of age; for those
above that age, fifty guineas ; and for students in
philosophy, one hundred guineas. Besides this, the
college po.ssesses and farms some thousand acres of
good land, over wliich one of the fathers presides as
procm-ator. The Jesuits are highly esteemed in the
neighboiu'Iiood : their handsome church is thronged
on Sundays and festivals; and on stated occasions
they distribute portions of meat to the ])Oor, besides
supporting a small school for their children. Hence
they have iullucnce in those parts, as any member of
Parliament will llnd to his cost, shoidil he not make
friends with the Jesuits.
" The English Fathers have no less than thirty-
three establishments, or colleges, residences, and
missions in England. Of course Stonyhur.st is the
principal establishment, where the Provincial of Eng
land resides. The college, ni 1845, contained tweniv
priests, twenty- six novices and scholastics, and four-
teen lay-brothers.
" Of the 806 missionary priests in Great Britain,
including bishops, the Jesuits alone can say how
many are enlisted under tlie banner of Ignatius,
though, doubtless, this knowledge is shared by the
' Vicars- Apostolic' of the various districts in which
they ai-e privileged to move unmolested. The Jesuits
are muffled in England ; it is difficult to distinguish
them in the names of the Catholic lists annually
published. Tliey have established a classical and
commercial academy at Mount St. JIary's, near Ches-
terfield; and the prospectus of the establishment,
after describing the suit of clothes that the pupils
are to bring, simply infonns the world that ' the
college is conducted Dy gentlemen connected with
the college of Stonyhurst.' These 'gentlemen' are
generally sent out in pairs by the provincial, accord-
ing to the constitutions, and thus may charm by
variety; for the quantity of work on hand in the
various Jesuit missions in England is by no means
so evident as the speculation for more, by this con-
stitutional provision. The secular priests are doubled
and tripled by the necessities of the mission ; the
Jesuits are doubled, tripled, and quadrupled, by the
requirements of the constitutions and the prospects
before them." The Romanist English colleges are
six in number: — Stonyhurst, near Whitley, Lanca-
shire ; St. Lawrence's, Ampleford, York ; St. Gre-
gory's, Downside, Bath; St. Edward's, Everton, near
Liverpool ; College of the Immaculate Conception,
near Loughborough ; St. Mary's, near Chesterfield.
These are understood to be chiefly, if not entinly,
tnider the care of Jesuits.
The vice-province of Ireland mimbered sixty-tliree
Jesuits in 1841, and seventy three in 1844. They
possess in Ireland the colleges of Conglowes, Tolla-
beg, and two seminaries in Dublin. The Irish Ro-
manists have been much diminislied in nimibers by
famine, pestilence, and, above all, extensive emigra^
tion to America, Australia, and other foreign coun-
tries. The Jesuits carry on their work with as
much secrecy as possible, endeavouring to advance
the interests of Rome, and especially of their own
Order, among all classes of the people. See Romk
(Church of).
JESUS, a name given by Divine appointment to
the second person of the Bles.sed Trinity, as the
Saviour, which is the import of the Greek word.
That a special importance was attached to this ap-
pellation of our Lord, is evident from the circum-
stance that he was so named by the angel before his
birth, for we find it recorded that the angel said
luito Mary, " Fear not ; for thou liast found favour
with God. And behold, thou slialt conceive in thy
womb, and bring forth a son, and thnu shalt call his
name Jesus." And the angel wlui appeare<l to .Joseph
in a dro.am gave the same aniuniuccnu'nt, with the
JETSIRA— JEWS (Ancient).
223
iiiterprctiitioii of tlie ii.iinc, " Tlioii «lialt cull his
namo Jcsiis ; fur he sliall save his ])CO|)le from their
sins." The reason was thus unfolded why the Son
ot (lod was ahont to assume human nature into union
witli the divine — that he niii^ht be .Jehovah the
Saviour. Jesus was hy no means an unfrcquent
name among the ancient Jews. The first person to
whom we tind it applied in the (M Testament was
Joshua, the son of Xun, whose olhee it was, hy
Divine a[)poinlment, to conduct the Israelites across
the Jordan into the land of promise. In anticipa-
tion, no doubt, of his S(dection for this ]ieculiar
office, he bore originally the appellation of Oshea, or
Moshea, tlui Saviour; hut in Num. xiii., we find it
stated that Moses, before sending out spies to examine
the promised land, changed the name of one of them,
hy making a very important addition to it, which
brought the type into a complete identity in name
with the great Antitype. Thus it is said, v. IG,
" And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua;"
the first designation signifyingSaviour, and thesecond,
Jehovah the Saviour. The Holy Ghost tluis taught
that, while Joshua should be the deliverer of the
people, it w.is not by his own arm that he should
accomplish their deliverance, but by the arm of Je-
hovah. And in the interpretation given by the angel
of the name Jesus, as applied to the Redeemer, it is
said " for he ;" in the original the pronoun is em-
phatic; "he himself shall save his people from their
sins." lie, then, is the very Jehovah implied in the
name given to him as to tlie typicid Joshua. And
that he is indeed Jehovah, we learn from tlie language
which the evangelist Matthew employs, inunediately
after describing the appearance of the angel to Jo-
seph : " Now all this was done, that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the
prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child,
and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his
name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God
with us." These words obviously convey the idea
that the Emmanuel, God with us, mentioned by
Isaiah, is the same with Jehovah-Jesus our Saviour.
The Son of God may be considered as Jesus the
Saviour in a threefold aspect — as making known the
way of salvation, as purchasing salvation for bis
people, and as bestowing it upon them when pur-
chased.
JETSIRA, the Book of Creation, one of the most
celebrated of the Jewish Cabbalistic writings. See
Cabbala.
JEWS (Ancient). The name of Jews was
usually given to the Hebrews, especially after the
period of the Babylonish captivity, when the na-
tion was chieHy limited to the line of the patri-
arch Judah, the ten tribes having been almost
entirely absorbed in other nations, and thus hav-
(ng disappeared from the page of liistory. The
Jewish people are the most ancient, the most re-
markable and interesting of all the nations of the
earth. Though for nearlv eighteen hundred years
they liave nowhere been found existing in a national
capacity, but mingled among the people of all coun-
tries, yet they have continued sejjarat' and distinct,
so that they can be readily recognized by certain
peculiar characteristics. This cannot be aHlrined of
any other people on the face of the cartli. Amid
the various changes and revolutions which have oc
curred in the course of the world'i* history, even the
jiroudest nations of antiquity have become so coni-
jiletely merged in more modern nations, wliich have
s|u-img out of them, that it is impossible to trace the
ccjurse of their history with the slightest approach
(0 distinctness. But here is a nation, which, not-
withstanding the numberless vicissitudes it has
undergone, has from its origin to the present Iiour
continued a se|iarate people, whose career is capal;le
of being distinctly traced. It is the only nation,
besides, which can with certainty point to the fa-
mily, and even the precise individual, from whom
they originated. They claim to be descended from
Abraham, Isiiac, and Jacob — a claim which is estab-
lished by the pen of inspiration, and has never for a
moment been doubted. And to put their descen*
beyond the reach of question, tliey hear about with
them a standing memorial of it in the ordinance of
circumcision.
From its very origin, the nation of Israel, as it is
called, in more ancient times, was separated from
other nations for a special and most important pur-
pose, that from them might spring the Saviour of the
world. And to bring about this great result, a spe-
cial providence evidently watched over them. The
promise given to Abraham in regard to this nation,
which was to descend from him, was renewed to
Isaac and to Jacob. The family of Jacob, by the
overruling providence of God, obtained a residence
in Egypt, until they became a great nation. Aftei
dwelling in Egypt upwards of four centuries, they
were delivered by the instrumentiility of Moses, and
being conducted in their forty years" journey through
the wilderne.ss by the special guidance of their
covenant-God, tliey were landed safely in Canaan
under the care of Joshua. We are infonned in the
Sacred Scriptures, that 430 years elapsed from the
call of Abraham to the deliverance from Egypt, and
during the first 215, the Israelites had increased to
only 70, or as Stephen the martyr, following the
Septuagint, asserts, 75 souls, but during the latter
half of the same period, they had multiplied to more
than 600,000 fighting mtn, or including the aged, the
women, and the children, to probably upwards of
2,000,000.
There appears to have been a succession of twelve
kings during the time the Israelites were residing
in Egypt, and it is not a httle remarkable that an an-
cient historian mentions the ninth king of this series
to have been the head of a new dynasty or race of
kings. A revolution had happened in the country.
A new family had ascended the throne, and as might
have been exjiec'ed m the case of an entire change
230
JEWS (Ancient).
of goveniiiient, it is said of the Pharaoh who tlien
reigned, that '-he knew not Joseph." Not tliat he
was wholl_v iijnorant of the wise and wonderful poUcy
by which Joseph had consoUdated the power of the
Egyptian nionarchs, but tlie meaning of tlie expression
seems to be, that he held in no esteem the name and
the services of so eminent a benefactor to his country.
Joseph having been the servant of a difierent family
from that which now ruled, all his wise and well-laid
schemes for the adNancement of the country's wel-
fare were viewed with an evil eye by the stranger
who had intruded himself into the throne of the Pha-
raohs. He knew not Joseph, nor did he regard with
any favour the nation to which Joseph belonged, but
summoning an assembly of the Egyptian people, lie
laid before them the danger which, in his view,
threatened the country from the enormous increase
of the Israelites. The new monarch began to trem-
ble for the stability of his throne. The Israelites
had gone down to Egypt, and risen there to a high
degree of prosperity under a different race of kings
from that which now reigned. Tlie most fertile
part of the country had been assigned to them, and
the wealth and influence wliich they had acquired
were such as might well excite the jealousy and the
fears of an usurper. But the language in which the
king speaks of their numbers and power shows the
extent of his own fears, rather than the real state of
the Israelitish people. "Behold the people," says
he, "of the children of Israel are more and miglit-
ier tlian we." Such language was evidently exag-
gerated, but he dreaded lest by their numbers and
their energy they should bring about a counter-revo-
lution and deprive him of his kingdom. They had
hitherto been a peaceful and inoffensive race of
shepherds, who reckoned themselves mere temporary
sojourners in a strange land, and therefore, they were
not likely to interfere iu the political arrangements
of the country. But the policy of the monarch evi-
dently was to lind an excuse for oppressing a people,
whose religion he hated, whose prosperity he envied,
mid whose wealth he coveted. Besides, it is not at
all unlikely, from various incidental remarks which
occur in the Old Testament history, that the Israel-
ites were at this period beginning to be reconciled
to, and actually to imitate, the idolatry of the Egyp-
tians. Thus it is stated in Josh. xxiv. 14, "Now
therefore fear tlie Lord, and serve him in sincerity
and in truth : and put away the gods which your
fathers served on the other .side of the flood, and
in Egypt ; and serve ye the Lord." In these cir-
cumstances it i.s not surprising that they were sub-
jected to severe trials, and in all probability the
Egyptian monarch was made an instrument in the
hand of God to chastise his erring people.
The obvious design of the king of Egypt in op-
pressmg the Israelites was to afflict and impoverish
them, to break down their spirits, and to check their
rapid mcrease. Accordingly, they were now re-
duced 10 a state of slavery, as complete as the Fel-
lahs of modern Egypt, and they were declared to be
the absolute property of the crown. Tlie whole o(
the male population were doomed to toil at public
works under severe Egyptian taskmasters, who are
represented on the Egyptian monuments, armed
with long whips, and driving bands of Hebrew slaves
like cattle in the fields. They were compelled to
dig clay from the banks of the Nile, to make bricks,
and to build cities walled and fortified for the safe
keeping of the royal stores. The Egyptian king
and his people, however, were completely disap-
pointed in their attempts to weaken and dispirit the
Israelites, and thus to prevent their increase. In
the midst of the cruel oppression to which they were
exposed, they continued daily to grow in numbers,
and their enemies, inwardly gi-ieved at the advancing
prosperity of this wonderful people, resolved to
adopt still more relentless modes of oppression.
" They made them to serve with rigour, and made
their lives bitter with hard bondage, iu mortar or in
clay, and in brick, and in all manner of service in
the field," or in all kinds of agricultural labour.
Such means, however, of preventing the increase of
the Israelites were completely defeated ; and the
Egyptian tyrant fuiding himself unsuccessful in his
first scheme of open violence, resorts to a secret
stratagem by which he hoped to accomplish his un-
hallowed purpose. He issued a cruel order that
every Hebrew male child should be thrown into the
Nile. This barbarous and inhuman edict extended
to the Hebrew families indiscriminately, and it is
painful to think what deeds of horror must have been
perpetrated in execution of the royal mandate. Many
a mother's heart must have been toni with deepest
anguish when her helpless babe was ruthlessly
snatched from her arras, and witliout mercy con-
signed to the waters of the sacred river. To what
extent the bloody statute was executed, or how long
it was in force, we are not informed ; but during the
cun'ency of its operation, Moses, the deliverer of
Israel, was bom. He was the son of Amram and
Jochebed, and it would appear that some extraordi-
nary impression rested on the minds of his parents
as to the future greatness of their child. It is said,
" his mother saw him that he was a goodly child;"
and the word which the martyr Stephen uses in
describing him is a very strong one, " he was fair to
God, or divinely fivir." The apostle, in the Epistle
to the Hebrews, calls him " a proper child," being
the same word as is employed by Stephen, mean-
ing " a fair child." Josephus also speaks in high-
ly-coloured language of the beauty of Moses.
There can be no doubt, therefore, that there had
been something peculiarly attractive in tlie outward
appearance of the child which operated powerfully
in leading his jiarents to use all efforts for the
preservation of his life. The prevailing motive,
however, which actuated the godly parents of Mo-
ses, was faith in the Divine promises. Some
have supposed that they were favoured with an
JKWS (Ancient).
281
6xpri)88 revelation from lieaveii in reference to
tlie presorviition of their eon. lint it is (|iiite uinio-
cessary to make any such suppoftilion, tlie proiniHos
in wliicli tlicy believed heing, in all pruljability, those
which referred to the deliverance of the Israelites
from K^'vptian bondage. A very general expecta-
tion existed among the Hebrews, about the period of
the birtli of Moses, that the termination of tlieir bon-
dage was drawing near, and his parents, in all pro-
bability, indulged the fond lioiiu that their child,
from his peculiar ap|)earanee, was destined to be the
future deliverer of their countrymen. Ilence they
resolved to conceal the child, and "were not afraid of
the king's commandment." Thus for three months
they contrived to evade the cruel edict, but knowing
that any plan of conccahnent could only be tempo-
rary, thoy at length came to the resolution, guided,
no doubt, by heavenly wisdom, to cast their child
upon the overruling Providence and ever watchful
care of their covenant God. Tliey formed an ark of
bidrushes, in which they jilaced the child, and having
sccm-ed the frail bark by daubing it witliin with
slime, and without with pitch, they prepared to com-
mit it to the waters of the sacreii river. The joyful
festival of the Nile was drawing near. Towards the
beginning of July the expectations of the inhabitants
of Kgypt are turned towards the river in theanxiou-;
hope that it will rise to a sufficient height to overtlow
its banks and fertilize the country. The gradual rise
of the river is eagerly watched and carefully mea-
sured, and when it has reached a certain height, a
jubilee is held throughout the land. Egyptians of all
ranks and classes repair in companies with music
and dancing to the banks of the river and bathe in its
waters — a practice which was in ancient times inva-
riably attended with various idolatrous rites and cere-
monies. It was on some such occasion that the pa-
rents of Moses deposited the ark, in which lay the infant
Moses, among the flags or thick reeds which abound
on the banks of Egypt's precious river. Among
those who came to bathe in the river at this joyful
season was the daughter of the king, who providen-
tially rescued the child, and thus Moses was reared
amid all the refinements and luxuries of a palace.
He was educated also in the wisdom and knowledge
of the Egyptians, and thus fitted for the arduous,
important, and responsible otfice which in course of
time he was destined to fill.
The time was rapidly approaching wlien the Lord
was to visit his people and rescue them from Egyp-
tian bondage. He remembered the covenant which
he had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and
mercifully interposed to accomplish for them a glo-
rious deliverance. By ten successive displays of
judgment he made known his power in the sight of
Pharaoh and his people, and brought out the Israel-
ites from the land of bondage with their whole sub-
stance, not one hoof being left behind. During the
lorty years which elapsed between their deliverance
by the hand of Moses, and their safe entrance into
Canaan, they experienced many signal intcrposi-
tioiia of the Divine Providence in their belialf.
lint of all the events which compose the history
of this important period, the most remarkable,
without doubt, wag the giving of the law from
Mount Sinai directly from the mouth of God, and
its inscrijition afterwards by the finger of God
on two tables of stone. Israel was thus consti-
tuted the depository of the Divine law, and
Moses invested witli the high honour of being the
lawgiver. In connection with the exalted privi-
lege thus bestowed upon God's favoured people
and their distinguished leader, may be mentioned
another remarkable arrangement of Providence in
the erection of the Tabernacle, and the establishment
of the numerous institutions of the ceremonial law,
all of which were obviously designed to constitute a
distinct line of separation between the nation of
Israel and the other nations of the earth, besides
preparing them for the coming of the expected
Messiah, by keeping constantly before their minds
the great truth that without shedding of blood there
is no remission.
Once established in the Promised Land, the Is-
raelites were marked out from all the other nations
of the earth by a rigid adherence to the worship ol
the one living and true God. The land of Israel, it has
been well said, was at that time the only lucid spot,
for darkness covered the earth and gross darkness the
people. In this respect the Israelites long con
tinned to maintain the most exemplary character,
manifesting the utmost abhorrence of idolatry in all
its forms. Tlie sacred historian, accordingly, has
placed on record the pleasing statement, that " Is-
rael served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all
the days of the elders that outlived Josluia, and who
bad known all the works of the Lord that lie had
done for Israel." Under the Judges, liowever, they
maintained more familiar intercourse with the rem-
nant of the idolatrous nations that was left among
them, and were thus led to turn aside to the worship
of false gods. The consequence was, that they
were frequently exposed to the Divine chastise
ments through the instrumentality of the neighbour-
ing nations, by whom they were again and again
oppressed and brought low ; but no sooner did they
repent and seek to return to the Lord than they
were straightway delivered. For a time they were
under the charge of the prophet Samuel, during
which they acknowledged no king but God. But
when, in his old age, Samuel committed the manage-
ment of the national atfairs to his sons, the people
became extensively dissatisfied, and entreated that a
king should be appointed to rule over them as in the
other nations round about them. With the conduct
of Israel in this matter God was much displeased,
regarding their desire for a king as in fact amount-
ing to a rejection of God as their king. He granted
their petition, but in anger, that they might be con-
vinced bv their own experience of the folly as well
232
JEWS (Ancient).
as sinfulness of their request. Under the govern-
ment of Saul they had ample reason to repent of the
choice they had made.
A new and a brighter era in tlie history of Israel
now commenced. Under the reigns of David and
Solomon the nation attained a higher degree of pros-
perity than it has ever reached either before or since.
Not only did they triumph over their enemies, and en-
ioy outward peace and security, but they were signally
blessed with a great revival of i-eligion tliroughout
the land. David was the sweet psalmist of Israel,
and both he and Solomon wrote some of the most
precious portions of Holy Scripture. The reign of
the latter monarch was marked by a most important
event, the building and dedication of the Jewish tem-
ple. In the following reign, that of Rehoboam, the
kingdom was rent into two parts, the tribes of Jiidah
and Benjamin adhering to Rehoboam, tlie son and
legitimate successor of Solomon ; and the other ten
tribes erecting a new and independent kingdom un-
der Jeroboam, who headed a rebellion against the
lawfid monarch. To prevent his subjects from re-
turning to Judah, Jeroboam set up idols at the two
extremities of the country, Dan and Beersheba, thus
commencing liis reign with an act of rebellion against
the God of Israel. A kingdom thus founded in the
worship of dumb idols was not likely to prosper.
Accordingly, in tlie long catalogue of its kings, not
one is to be found who feared the Lord and sought
faithfully to serve him. Yet the Lord had still a
remnant even in this apostate kingdom. Even in the
house of Jeroboam there was a young Abijah, in
whom there was some good thing towards the Lord
God of Israel. Of the people there were seven
thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal. The
prophets Elijah and Elisha were sent to warn them
of coming judgments, but they set at nought all their
warnings, and in the reign of Hoshea, Shalmaueser,
king of Assyria, invaded the country, took Samaria,
the capital of the kingdom, and carried the great
body of the people into captivity.
The kmgdom of Judah survived that of Israel
some years ; and although their line of kings is dis-
figured by the names of many who encouraged idola-
try and iniquity, yet there were some, as for exam-
ple, Jehoshapliat, Josiah, and Hezekiah, who sought
to reform abuses, and to establish the worship of the
rue God tliroughout the land. Under such exem-
plary princes there was no doubt a temporary revival
of religion, but in a short time the people relapsed
into idolatry ; so that, after repeated warnings by
the prophets I.saiah and Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, invaded Judah in the reign of Zede-
kiah, took Jerusalem, and carried the king, the no-
bles, and the great body of tlie people captives to
Babylon, where for seventy long years they hung
their harjis upon the willows and wept when they
remembered Zion.
On their return from Babylon, tlie Jews rebuilt tlie
lemjjle of Jerusalem amid u uch o|)positioii from the
Samaritans, and a remarkable revival of religion took
place, as we learn from the books of Ezra and Ne-
hemiah. About this time, by Divine appointment,
arrangements were made, under the direction oi
Ezra, for the more extended ditfusion among the
people of a knowledge of the Scriptures. For this
purpose the Levites were distributed through the
country, and employed themselves in reading and ex-
pounding the Word of God on the Sabbath-days.
It is supposed, too, that, about this time, synagogues
were erected for public worship ; and the Scripture^
were collected in one volume to be kept by the
priests as a precious deposit. Yet, notwithstanding
the religious advantages which were thus increasingly
bestowed upon them, we learn from Malachi, the last
of the Old Testament prophets, that a time of great
degeneracy had come upon them, and his closing
prophecy is wholly dedicated to reproofs for their
wickedness, exhortations to I'epent of their sins, and
warnings of coining judgments. Nearly four hundred
years elapsed between the time of Malachi and the
coming of Christ, during which the voice of prophecy
was no longer heard, and the Jews passed tlu-ough
a lengthened period of darkness, and oppression,
and sore persecution at the hand of their enemies.
So severe and protracted, indeed, were the trials to
wliich they were at this time exposed, that had they
not been watched over by a special Providence they
would certainly have been exterminated from the
earth. This was remarkably exemplified at an ear-
lier period, in the memorable deliverance wliich was
wrought for them by the instrumentality of Morde-
cai and Queen Esther ; and another signal instance
of the Divine interposition in behalf of the Jews
occurred about fifty years after the days of Malachi.
Alexander the Great, in prosecuting his ambitious
conquests in Asia, advanced with a numerous army
to lay siege to Jerusalem. The Jews had no forces
sufficiently large to defend themselves against so
formidable an enemy. In this extremity they com-
mitted themselves to the care of Jehovali, Israel's
God, and the high priest, arrayed in his priestly
robes, and attended by a large company of priests
dressed in white, set out from Jerusalem to meet
Alexander at the head of his army. As the proces-
sion drew near the warrior dismounted, and prostrat-
ing himself before the high priest, declared that
before he left Macedon he saw in a dream a pei'son
dressed like the high priest, who had encouraged
liim to come over and assist in the conquest of I'er-
sia. Immediately Alexander gave up all thoughia
of besieging Jeru.salem, and accompanying the priests
in peaceful procession into the city, he otl'ered Uji
sacrifices according to the law through tlie miuistra-
tion of the high priest. Alexander's attention was
then called to a remarkable pas.sage in the prophecy
of Daniel, where it is foretold that a prince of Grecia
should overturn the kingdom of Persia. This tin
Macedonian conqueror rightly interpreted, as refer-
ring to liiniscilt', and ever after cherished a gren<
JEWS (Anciknt).
233
respect for the Jewish peojilo. The ruijjii of Alex-
tiuU;r was of sliort iluration, exti;ii(Iiii'» to lillle more
Ihiin six yeiirs ; iinil liiiviiij; no son to Kiicceed liiin,
four of his [)riiici|iiil (itlicers (iivideil his (loiiiiiiioiis
anioiif; tliemselves. In this division Scleucus ob-
tained Babylon and Syria. The successor of Seleii-
cus was Antiocliiis Epiphanes, wlio entertained a
l)itter liatred of the Jews He took tlie city of
Jerusalem, massacred tliousands of tlie inhabitants,
and talking away great nuniljers of them as cjijitivcs,
compelled thcin by torture to renounce their own
religion, and worship the lieathen gods. Many of
the Jews, however, submitted to torture, and even
to death, rather than disclaim the worship of the
true God. In those trying circumstances God was
pleased to raise up for them a deliverer in the person
of Judas Maccabeus, tlirough whose instrumentality
Judea became an independent kingdom, the temple
was purged from idols, and the worship of tlie true
God restored. So linn a standing did the Jews thus
obtain in their own country, that neighbouring na-
tions souglit their alliance. Even the Romans, who
were at that time ri.sing in national gi"eatness, formed
a league with the Jews. In this .state of indepen-
dence, with the high priest as their civil as well as
spiritual ruler, the Jews continued for about a cen-
tury, when they once more became the tributaries of
i foreign nation. By the victorious ai-ms of I'om-
pey, a Koman general, the city of Jerusalem was
captured, and the Jews compelled to submit to the
Roman yoke. This event happened about B. C. 63.
Herod, usually styled the Great, the last king of Ju-
dea, was a foreigner, being an Idumean by birth, and
was permitted by the Romans to exercise royal
authority over the Jews. It was this prince who
ruled in Judea when our blessed Lord was born, and
at that time he displayed his barbarous cruelty and
inhumanity in the massacre of the children at Beth-
lehem. At the death of Herod, which happened
soon after, Judea became a province of the Roman
empire, thus fultilling the prophetic declaration of
Jacob, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,
nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh
come ; and to him shall the gathering of tlie peo-
ple be."
On the death of Herod, Palestine was divided
amongst his three surviving sons — Archelaus, An-
tipas, and Philip. Archelaus was appointed ethnarch,
or governor of Judea, Idumea, and Samaria, which
formed the largest |iart of the province. Antipas
was named tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip tetrarch of
Trachonitis. Archelaus was deposed by the Roman
Emperor Augustus, in consequence of repeated com-
plaints from his subjects, and a Roman governor ap-
pointed in his room, subordinate to the prefect of
Syria. Various governors of the same description
succeeded, and among these Pontius Pilate was the
first who took up his residence in Jerusalem, all the
rest having dwelt in Csesarea. " The condition of
the Jews," says Dr. Welsh, " under the Roman go-
vernors was miserable in tlie extreme. The extor-
tions of the publicans, whose office it was to collect
the revenue, were excessive; and the whole of their
proceedings was vexatious ami ojipressivc. It was
vain to hope for redress from the governors, whose
avarice and injustice were proverbially gieat. The
very fact of paying tribute to a heathen government
was felt to be an intolerable grievance. And tin-
Roman soldiers, quartered over the whole country,
though they prevented a general insurrection, yet.
by their very presence, and by the ensigns of their
authority, exasperated the minds of the Jewish
people, and led to many tumults, and seditions, and
murders. A numerous party existed in Judea, who.-e
religious prejudices were opposed to the idea of
paying taxes to a foreign power, and who cheri.shed
the vain hope of restoring the Jewish kingdom.
Attempts were made by ditferent individuals, and
l)articularly by Judas the Gaulonite, to instigate the
Jews to a general revolt, which were repressed as
they arose. But the fanatical principles were widely
spread, and led to excesses to whicli, in no small
degree, may be ascribed the final destruction of Jeru-
salem. The party was distinguished by the n.aine of
Zealots."
The clouds, betokening a storm of insurrection
against the Roman authority, were evidently gather-
ing in the time of Pilate, and they were nearly burst-
ing forth under Caligula, who endeavoured to comjiel
the Jews to profane the temple by placing his statue
in it. It was under Gessius Floras, however, that
the Jews broke out into open rebellion ; and, under
Nero, those wars arose between Rome and Judea
which terminated, A. D. 70, in the destruction of
.lerusalem by Titus. Josephus tells us that the
Roman gener.il, standing on the ruins of the demo-
lished city, exclaimed in triumph, " It is, in truth, a
god who has given us the victory, and driven the
Jews from a position from which no human power
could ever have dislodged them." The same Jewish
historian relates that the enormous number of
1,100,000 men perished during this fatal war. An
immense number of prisoners, men, women, and chil-
dren, were either sold into slavery, crucified, or thrown
to wild beasts.
Three days before the close of the memorable year
on which Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed
by the hands of the Romans, the Emperor Vespasian
and his son Titus entered Rome in triumph, clothed
in purple, and crowned with laurel, and, amid the
acclamations of a delighted people, they made their
way to tlie Temple of Victory. Among the proud
trophies which were borne along in the procession
were the sacred vessels of the Jewish temple, the
golden table, the seven-branched candlestick of gold,
and the book of the law of Moses. A temple was
dedicated to the goddess of peace, in honour of this
joyful day, and a medal was struck representing
Judea as a weeping female resting her head on her
hand at the foot of a palm-tree, while the tierce
S34
JEWS (Modern).
Roman soldier stands by unmoved. The marble
arch of Titus still remains to us at Rome, having
survived the desolations of eighteen centuries, and
exhibiting a faitlif'ul representation, among other
objects, of the holy vessels of the temple. " Even
to this day," says Dr. Da Costa, himself a converted
Israelite, " the Jews in every country of their exile
and dispersion have continued to observe the 9th day
of the month Ab in memorial of both the first and
second destruction of their city and sanctuary. Next
to the great day of atonement, it is the most strictly
kept of their fasts. Even the day before, the pious
Israelite takes nothing beyond what absolute neces-
sity requires : he seats himself on tlie ground, either
at home or in the synagogue, by tlie dim light of a
small candle, and the evening service commences
with the 138th Psalm : — ' By the waters of Babylon
we sat down and wept.' Mournful and penitential
psalms are chanted in succession throughout the day,
especially the Lamentations of Jeremiah, of which
so many striking features, once fulfilled in the taking
-f Jerusalem by the Babylonians, were still more
signally accomplished in its destruction by the Ro-
mans."
Tluis closed the history of the ancient Jews, one
of the most eventful, interesting, and instructive
which the records of the world's history anywhere
contains.
JEWS (Modern). The period of transition, we
conceive, from the history of the ancient to that of the
modern Jews is the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Romans A. D. 70, and the consequent dispersion of the
Jews. Nothing worthy of notice occurred in the his-
tory of this remarkable people for nearly forty years
after the destruction of their city. The ruins of Jeru-
salem were occupied by a Roman garrison, to prevent
any attempt being made to rebuild it ; but, though ex-
cluded from the holy city, large connnunities of Jews
were gradually formed in different parts of tlie
country. And even in Jerusalem itself, the towers
of Hippious, Phasael, and Mariamne, the only three
which remained standing out of the ninety towers
which formerly guarded its walls, became again
strongholds of the Jews.
At the end of half a century after the destruction
of Jerusalem, we find the whole of Judea in a state
of rebellion. The leader of tliis revolt was a false
Messiah called Barcochab, attended by his companion
or prophet Akiha. In the reign of the Emperor
Trajan, the Jews began to give fresh signs of a de-
termination to resist the authority of the Romans,
particularly those Jews who resided on the coast of
the Mediterranean, in Cyprus, Egypt, and Cyrene.
Tlie insurrection spread to the banks of the Eu-
phrates, when Trajan hastened to Antioch, with the
Yiew of checking its progress, but, being seized with
sudden illness, be died on his way to Rome. Adrian,
wlio succeeded him, quelled the disturbances among
tliB Jews of Asia and of Egypt ; but in the latter
years of his reign a fresh revolt of the Jews took
place in Palestine. This event was uo doubt ha«
tened on by the injudicious conduct of Adrian him
self, who passed a decree that Jerusalem should be
made a Roman colony under the name of ^lia Capi-
tolina, and that circumci.sion, the distinctive Jewisli
rite, should be prohibited. The smouldering flame of
discontent among the Jews now burst into a furious
conflagration. Thousands flocked to Betldioron from
all parts, and hailed Barcocheba as their Prince and
Messiah of the house of David. Thus constituted
the leader of a numerous host, the impostor .ad-
vanced into Syria, persecuted the Christians, and
took possession of Jerusalem, where he changed the
form of the Samaritan coins, adding his own name to
them, with the title of Nasi or Prince. Tlie contest
continued for nearly four years, and at length the
Romans were successful ; and about A. D. 134, Judea
was again made desolate, about half a million ha\ing
fallen by the sword in the course of the war, besides
those who perished by fire, famine, and sickness.
Tliose who escaped were reduced to slavery by thou-
sands. Tlie remnant was transported into Egypt,
and Palestine was left almost without an inhabitant.
The Jews were now prohibited from entering Jeru-
salem, or even looking upon it from a distance ; and
tlie city now called jElia was inhabited only by Gen-
tiles, or such Christians as renounced the Jewish
ceremonies.
Jerusalem being now a Roman town, and no longer
the metropolis of the Jewish religion, Tiberias was
fixed upon as the head-quarters of the Jews, and
there they first drew up the Mishna or oral law
Christianity had now taken the place of Judaism in
the cliief places of the Holy Land. JEA\a, Capitolina
became the seat of a Christian bishop, who, in course
of time, received the appellation of the Bishop ot
Jerusalem. Helena, the mother of Constantino
founded Christian churches at Bethlehem and on
the Mount of Olives, besides thirty other churches
which the same Empress is said to have erected in
diflei'ent parts of Palestine. In the reign of Julian
the Apostate, the city of Jerusalem was again
brought into notice, in connection with a strange
proposal which this heathen Emperor made to the
Jews, that tliey should join him in tlie impious
attempt to belie tlie prophecies of Scripture by
rebuilding tlie Temple. Ammianus JIarcellinus, a
historian of the period, informs us, that to accom-
plish this great work Jews assembled from all quar-
ters in Jerusalem, and in festival garments, with
richly ornamented tools, commenced digging the
foundations of the new sanctuary ; but while thus
(■inployed, balls of fire suddenly issued from beneath
the ground, accompanied witli an earthquake and
violent hurricanes of wind, which compelled them
to desist from the prosecution of their work ; and the
death of Julian in A. D. 410 put an end to all
thoughts of resuming it. Under the long series of
Christian Emperors who .succeeded Julian, Jerusa-
lem became the scene of innumerable pilgrimages,
JEWS (Modern).
2J6
mill cuiitui-les al'ter, tlie possession ot tlio 8ei)iilchre
of Clirist and of tlie otlier lioly places by tlie Moliain-
medans, gave rise tu the Crusades (which see).
In the year a. d. G.'36, Jerusalem passed into the
hands of the followers of the false prophet, and Omar
founded a inosqiio on Mount Moriah. Charlemagne,
however, lOmperor of the West, received from the
Caliph, Al-Kaschid, the lusys of the Holy Sepulchre ;
but no long time elapsed when they were resumed
by the Muhainmedan powers of Asia, against whom
for centuries the Crusaders fought with desperate
valour, though with varied success, commencing
their expedition usually with a massacre of the
Jews, and wlieii they succeeded in taking Jerusalem,
they uniformly signalized their triumph by the nuir-
der of all the Jews who might happen to be resident
in the city. In 1510, the Holy City was once more
retaken by the Ottomans under Selim I., and from
that time to the present it has continued to form a
part of the Pashalio of Damascus. " Truly impos-
ing," says Da Costa, " is the aspect which the city
now presents ! Its buildings, its ruins, and its me-
morials, connected with so many people, periods,
and hallowed associations ! Tlie mosque of Omar
now stands where once was raised the temple of
Solomon. David's tomb remains, beside a convent
of Minorites. The site of Herod's Palace and the
traditional abode of Pontius Pilate are still pointed
out, while we must not entirely overlook the resi-
dence of the Protestant Bishop of Jerusalem, and
the English Church, in which its own services are
read in the Hebrew tongue. The Mahometans,
Christians, and Jews have each their separate quar-
ter ; here, as elsewhere, the most despised and miser-
able belongs to the Jews. Yes! even in the city of
their kings, the children of the kingdom are east
into outer darkness."
It is remarkable that the Jews have continued to
preserve their national character, though they have
lost their city and their temple, and so completely
have they been scattered and peeled, that they have
not a country they can call their own. They carry
about with them the outward sign of their descent
from Abraham, which no tyrannical prohibition, no
cruel persecution, has ever prevailed upon them to
forego. Constituted of old the custodiers of the
sacred oracles, they have scrupulously maintained
their adherence to the Hebrew Scriptures, and
though by Rabbinical comments and glosses they
have, in too many instances, perverted the meaning,
they have ever entertained the most scrupulous re-
gard to the integrity of the text. No sooner had
they been driven from Jerusalem, than the great
council of the Israelitisli Rabbins was established at
Tiberias in Galilee. Thence issued the two great
storehouses of Rabbinical lore, first the Mishna, and
afterwards the Talmud, being, as the Jews allege, the
oral law, received by Moses from the mouth of
God, during the forty days which he spent on Mount
Sinai. This oral law was transmitted by Moses to
Joshua, and conveyed down from generation lo
generation. A complete collection of all the oral of
traditional commandments was made about A. I). 190
by Rabbi Judah the Holy. It is composed of sij
treatises, called the Mishna, which lia.s received
many a<lditioiis and commentaries from the later
Kabbins, under the name of tlie Gemara. Tiie Mioh-
na or text of the oral law, combined with the Gemara
or commentaries, form together the Talmiids, the more
ancient of which is the Jerusalem Talmud, completed
in Palestine towards the end of the third century ;
while the later is the I'abylonian Talmud, compiled
in the schools of Babylon and Persia, in the com-
mencement of the seventh century. Thus the reli-
gion of the modem Jews became, like that of the
Pharisees in the time of our Lord, a combination of the
written with tlie oral law, both being regarded as of
equal authority. The Sadducees who resisted the
combination disappeared as a separate sect after the
destruction of Jerusalem ; and with the exception of
the small sect of the Cakaitks (which see), the
Jews to this day, those of them at least who have
not embraced infidelity, are rigid adherents of the
Talmud. In addition to the Talmud, however
there are two other works of Jewish tradition, the
one called the Masora, and the other the Cabbala,
both of which are regarded by the modem Jews as
of gi-eat importance in establishing the meaning of
the Old Testament writings.
The history of the modem Jews, or those of the
Dispersion, may be handled under a twofold divi-
sion, that of the Asiatic or Eastern, and that of the
European or Western Jews. The question as to
the " Captivity of the East," as it is tenned by the
R;ibbiiis, has given rise to much fruitless discussion.
The two classes of Jews now to be considered have
been almost uniformly for many centuries the vic-
tims of iiice.s.sant oppression and injustice at the
liaiids of the people among whom they have been
scattered.
From the reign of Adrian to that of Constantino,
the Jews enjoyed a season not merely of rest from
persecution, but of actual prosperity. In many cases
they were treated with the utmost favour by the
heathen Emperors as an olTset to the Christians,
who were of course hated alike by the Jews and the
heathens. During the ten persecutions of the Cliris-
tiaiis in the Roman Empire, the Jews looked on
with complacency, and even triumph, at the barbar
ous cruelties inflicted on the followers of the Naza-
rene ; and it afforded them no small satisfaction to
see the hated Christians taking shelter in the cata-
combs from the fury of the lieathen, while their sy-
nagogues were flourishing throughout every part of
the bind of Edom, and their schools at Jamnia and
Tiberias were rising in influence and authority every
day.
^^"ith tlie establishment of Christianity under Con-
stantine. however, a remarkable change took place
in the condition of the Jews. Formeriy, their in-
235
JEWS (Modern).
tense hatred of ClivistiHiiity was a passport with tlie
Roman emperors to places of trust and authority,
but now that tlie emperors had themselves become
Christian, the Jews became a condemned and perse-
cuted sect. The elevation of Julian the Apostate to
the imperial throne gave them some slight hope of
the restoration of brighter days, but tlie death of
Julian, alter a short reign, disappointed all tlieir ex-
pectations. The Christian emperors who succeeded
afforded the Jews entire toleration to observe their
ceremonies, tlieir feasts, and their Sabbaths, secured
to them tlieir property, their slaves, and their lands,
but at the same time called upon the Christians to
hold no intercourse with them, and to be on their
guard against the doctrines of the synagogue. In
the tifth century, the Jews throughout the Roman
Empire, both in its eastern and western divisions,
were not only deprived of toleration, but exposed to
injurious and cruel treatment. But in the reign of
Justin, and that of Justinian, Jewish oppression re-
ceived the sanction of law. Justin passed an edict
.\. D. b2?>, prohibiting all Jews, Samaritans, and
Pagans, from holding office in the State ; while Jus-
tinian in his Code, as well as in his Novels, excluded
the Jews from all civil rights, and any attempt at
proselytism was declared a capital crime. The result
of such oppressive enactments was a series of succes-
sive insurrections on the part of'the Jews, which dis-
turbed Justinian throughout his whole reign. The
most violent of these outbreaks was caused at Con-
stantinople by the sight of the holy vessels which
had been carried by Titus from Jerusalem to Rome,
Riid had found their way to the capital of the Greek
Ivnpire. To quell this tumult, which was of a very
serious description, Justinian sent the holy vessels
from Constantinople to Jerusalem, and, froin what-
ever cause, they have never been heard of since that
time.
The Jews, soon after the dispersion, and the con-
sequent destruction of their wliole ecclesiastical po-
lity, longed for the restoration of some degree of
order and government. This led to the institution of
the Jewish patriarchs, the first of whom was Simeon,
the third, who lived in tlie reign of Adrian. In his
family the line of patriarchs continued until the fifth
century, when they began so to pervert their office,
th.at a law was passed by the Emperor Theodosius
to restrict tlieir power; and thi.s proving ineH'ectual,
the patriarchal dignity, in A. D. 429, was wholly
abolished, and thus, as Da Costa remarks, " the link
was broken which connected the different synagogues
of the Eastern Empire." About this time an exten-
sive emigr.atioii of learned Jews, devoted to the study
of the Talmud, took place from I'alostine and the
Hyzantinc ICmiiire to Babylonia and Persia — a cir-
cumstance which led to the compilation of the Baby-
lonian Talmud.
The rise of the Mohammedan jiowcr in Asia in
the seventli century led to the severe oppression and
de;;radation of the Jews in the East. Previous to
that period, the Jews in Arabia seem to have been
numerous, powerful, and free. It is even asserted
tliat there existed at one time in that peninsula a
Jewish kingdom under Jewish kings ; and even so
late as the sixth century, a Jewish king reigned in
Arabia. When Mohanmiod first commenced his
mission as a prophet, he seems to have met with
some coimtenance from the Arabian Jews, who may
possibly have supposed him to be the Messiah. But.
in the course of a few years, they began to entertain
unfavourable views of the prophet, and from that
time he looked upon them with tlie most bitter
hatred, stigmatizing them as " unbelievers," and
" murderers of the prophets," and applying to them
similar opprobrious epithets. Accordingly, there has
existed a strong feeling of enmity down to the present
day between the Mussulman and the Jew. And yet
it is impossible to read the pages of the Koran with-
out being struck with the close connection which
may be traced between its doctrines and those of
modern Judaism, as developed in the Talmud and
the Jewish traditions.
After the capture and destruction of Jerusalem by
Titus, the Jews emigrated in great numbers to the
coasts of the Red Sea, so that cities and even entire
districts belonged to them. They waged war and ne-
gotiated treaties with their neighbours, and were fast
rising into political importance in Arabia; but from
the seventh century, when Mohammed promulgated
his religion, they gradually sunk in influence and
power; and though considerable numbers of them
are still found in that country, they are held in great
contempt among the Mohammedans. Colonies oi
Jews have long existed in the most remote parts oi
the interior of Asia and on the coast of Malabar
There is also a peculiar race of Jews in the neigh
bourhood of Bombay, who call themselves Beni
ISR.iEL (which see), but claim no relationship with
the rest of the Jews in Eastern countries; and while
they strictly adhere to the chief portions of the Jewish
ritual, they have also mingled Hindu superstitions
with their religious observances. These Beni-Israel
Dr. AVilson of Bombay considers to be probably
descendants of the Ten Tribes. The Chinese Jews
are numerous, and are supposed to have originally
settled in the Celestial Empire between the time ol
Ezra and the destruction of the second temple.
This is confinned bv the fact, that they hold Ezk-'
in as great veneration as Moses, and appear to he
quite ignorant of the Pharisaical traditions of the
Talmud. They are called by the Chinese " the people
that cut out the sinew;" and a groat number of tliem
seem to have exchanged Judaism for the religion oi
the Koran.
The Jews have almost always in Europe been a
despised, oppressed, and ]iersecuted people. Thus,
by the Council of Vamies, a.d. 405, Christians were
forbidden to eat with Jews. Some years later, the
Council of Orleans prohibited marriage between Jews
and Christians. The Council of Beziers. A.D. 124G,
JKWS (Modern).
237
cfuBed permiBsion to consult a Jcwisli physician.
For ceiitiirici* tliorc yxistc<l in France a public ollicer
called tlie " I'rotecfor of tlic Jews," wlio was chosen
from among the nobles of the land, and who, in some
cases, instead of being the friend, was the bitter
enemy of the very people wliom he was appointed to
defend. In the south of France, trade was for a
long period chielly in the hands of the Jews, yet they
were, all the while, regarded as the outcasts of
society. At Toulouse, so late as the thirteenth
century, a Jew was compelled to receive in Easter
week every year a blow on the face before the doors
of the principal church. At lieziers, the bishop
yearly, on Palm Sunday, exhorted the people to
avenge the death of the Saviour upon the Jews of
the place ; and after the year IKiO, exem|ition from
this insult was purchased by the paynieut of an
annual sum of money. It is a strange circumstance,
however, that in no part of France did Hebrew
learning flourish more than in the south. Mont-
pellier, Marseilles, Narbonno, Beziers, and other
towns, were celebrated for their synagogues and
academies, as well as for their Rabbinical writers,
commentators, and grammarians. The Jews have
never been found in great numbers in Norwa)', Swe-
den, and DenniMrk ; but in all the other countries of
Europe, they have existed amid much discourage-
ment and persecution down to the present day.
The Jews who were banished from Spain in A. D.
1492, aiul friiin Portugal in A. n. 1407, are known by
the name of Srpliardim, or Spaniards, and maintain
their identity as a separate class of Jews among their
iiwn brethren in all parts of the world. They look
upon themselves as a higher order of Israelites. One
peculiar point of distinction which marks them out
from other Jews, is their daily use of the old Spanish
language, whicli is handed down from generation to
generation, and with which they are so familiar, that
their own Scriptures are better known to them in the
old Spanish version than in the original Hebrew.
Down to the commencement of the present century,
the Sephardim used both the Spanish and the He-
brew tongues in the daily intercourse of life, in their
private correspondence, and even in the public wor-
ship of the synagogue, excepting what was included
in the Liturgy. The Sephardim look back upon the
history of their ancestors during the fourteen cen-
turies of tlieir residence as exiles in the Spanish
peninsula with the most romantic interest. " This
remarkable people," says Mr. Prescott, " who seem
to have preserved their unity of character unbroken
amid the thousand fragments into which they have
been scattered, attained perhaps to greater considera-
tion in Spain than in any other part of Europe.
Under the Visigothic Empire the Jews multiplied
exceedingly in the country, and were permitted to
acquire considerable power and wealth. After the
Saracenic invasion, which the Jews, perhaps with
reason, are accused of having facilitated, they resided
ni the conquered cities, and were permitted to mingle
with the Arabs on nearly equal terms. Their com-
mon Oriental origin produced a siuiilarity of tastes,
to a certain extent not unfavourable to such a coali-
tion. At any rate, the early Spanish Arabs were
characterized by a spirit of toleration towards both
.Jews and Christians — ' the i)eople of the book,' as
they were called — which has scarcely been found
among later Moslems. The Jews, accordingly, under
these favourable auspices, not only accumulated
wealth with their usual diligence, but gradually rose
to the highest civil dignitv, and made great advances
in varicjus departments of letters. The schools ot
Cordo\a, Toledo, Barcelona, and Granada, were
crowded with numerous disciples, who emulated the
Arabians in keeping alive the flame of learning
during the deep darkness of the middle ages. 'What-
ever may be tliought of their success in speculative
philosophy, they cannot reasonably be denied to have
contributed largely to practical and experimental
science. They were diligent travellers in all jiarts
of the known world, compiling itineraries which have
proved of extensive use in later times, and bringing
home hoards of foreign specimens and Oriental drugs
that furnished important contributions to the do-
mestic pharmacopccia. In the practice of medicine,
indeed, thev became so expert, as in a manner to
monopolize that profession. They made great pro-
flciency in mathematics, and particularly in astro-
nomy; while, in the cultivation of elegant letters,
they revived the ancient glories of tlie Hebrew muse.
This was indeed tlie gcildeu age of modern Jewish
literature. The ancient Castilians of the same pe-
riod, very ditTerent from their Gothic ancestors, seem
to have conceded to the Israelites somewhat of the
feelings of respect which were extorted from them by
the superior civilization of the Spanish Arabs. We
hud eminent Jews residing in the courts of the
Christian princes, directing their studies, attending
them as physicians, or, more frequently, administer-
ing their finances."
The Jews seem to have had a settlement in Spain
long before the destruction of the second temple. It
is remarkable that this portion of the dispersed ot
Judah allege that they are descendants of the house
of David. Not that they are able to produce any
document whereby to establish this claim, for the
Israelites, since their dispersion, have not continued
their genealogical tables ; but their high pretension
to be sprung from Da\id is wholly founded on tra-
dition. For many centuries, the Jews earned on the
whole traffic of the kingdom of Spain ; and members
of their body were usually chosen to occupy places j
of trust and honour at court. As in the East the
Jews were governed by the Resh Glutha, or Prince
of the Captivity (see Aichmalotarch), so in the
Sjianish peninsida they were ruled by an Israelite
called the Rabbino ma\'or, who was appointed by the
king. This magistrate, who took cognizance of all
Jewish atTairs, bad under him a vice-rabbino mayor,
a chancellor, a secretary, and several other ofllccrs
238
JEWS (Modern).
wliile two different orders of rabbins, or judges, acted
iMider him in the towns and districts ot" tlie Icingdom.
But the honour in wliicli t)ie Jews were held by the
iiiiig and the higher orders botli in cliurcli and state,
did not make them altogetlier free from oppression
and persecution. On the contrary, the free burgliers,
the inferior clergy, and especially the common people,
were their inveterate enemies. From time to time
the most severe enactments were passed against
them, and they were subjected to persecution of
every kind.
Nowhere has Hebrew learning been more exten-
sively cultivated than among tlie Jews of the Penin-
sula. In early times, and even during the rule of the
Saracens, their youth were trained in the famous
schools of Babylon and Persia ; but at an after
period, an entirely new and independent school of
Hebrew theology was established in Spain. The
circumstances which led to the removal of the seat
of modern Jewish science from the East to the West
are thus detailed by Da Costa : — " Four learned Is-
raelites of Pumbeditha were in a ship, which was
captiu-ed by a Moorisli pirate from Spain, A. d. 948.
One of them, named Rabbi Moses, after having seen
his wife cast herself into the sea, to escape the fero-
city of the captain, was, with his son, carried prisoner
to Cordova. The Israelitish inhabitants of that town
soon effected their deliverance by means of a ransom.
After remaining some time unnoticed, a learned dis-
cussion in the synagogue became the means of raising
Rabbi Moses high in the esteem of all, and renewing
the interest his fate had before excited. He was
soon chosen head of that synagogue and judge of the
Jews ; and becoming known, while holding this office,
to Rabbi Chasdai Ben Lsaac, the great protector of
his nation, at the court of Miramolin, he obtained in
marriage for his son a daughter of the powerfid house
of Peliag, thus laying a prosperous foundation both
for his own descendants and for the Jewish schools
of Spain. When the Persian school of the Geonim
came to an end in the eleventh century, in the person
of Rabbi Hai Bar Rab Scherira, the schools of the
Spanish Rabbanim took its place, as the centre of
Jewish civilization and learning. Soon Toledo and
Seville, then Saragossa, Lisbon, and a great number
of other cities, shared in the glory of Cordova. At
Toledo alone, the number of students in Hebrew
theology is said to liave sometimes amounted to
twelve thousand : the number is no doubt exagger-
ated, but the exaggeration itself proves the high idea
that was formed of the extent to which the study of
Hebrew literature was carried on in the ancient
capital of Castile."
Thus the reputed founder of the new school of
Hebrew literature at Cordova was Rabbi Moses '/
Pumbeditha ; but the first age or generation of the
Spanish Rabbanim did not begin with him, or even
with his son, but with Rabbi Samuel Ilallevi, sur-
named Hanragid, or the Prince, who ia considered
as the first Rabbino M.ayor, or Prince of the Capti-
vity in Spain, A. D. 1027. From that date till th»
end of the fifteenth century, nine generations ol
Rabbanim are reckoned, each deriving its nam«
from a head of the synagogue, or some distinguishefl
student of the age.
The most distinguished of all the Spanish Rab
banim were Aben Ezra and Maimonides, both O'
them gifted with remarkable abilities, learning, ano
wealth. The first of them, Aben Ezra, usually sur-
named Hachacham, the wise, was born at Toledo in
the beginning of the twelfth century. He is best
known as a commentator on the Old Testament, his
labours in this department having been valued not
only by Jews, but also by many Christians. Mai-
monides was a native of Cordova, having been born
there in A. D. 1139. He was a voluminous and a
versatile writer, his works, which amount to more
than thirty in number, being on a great variety of
different subjects. The most remarkable of his
writings is his Moreh Nevochim, or Guide to the
Doubtful, a work in which he interprets, with great
clearness, the Law and the Talmud. The great aim
of Moses Maimonides, in the twelfth century, was,
like that of Moses Mendelssohn in the eighteenth
century, to find a basis for the principles of tradi-
tional Judaism in philosophy rather than in revela-
tion. No sooner were the views of this remarkable
man given to the world in the Moreh Nevochim, than
a cry of heresy was raised both against the book and
its author. The synagogues of Spain were now
divided into two parties, the one favouring, and the
other opposing, the views of Maimonides. His ad-
mirers, however, obtained the decided superiority
both in numbers and influence ; and though Rab-
binism still continued to exercise dominion over the
synagogue, the discussions occasioned by the writ-
ings of Maimonides tended, in no sinall degree, to
deliver the minds of many Jews from the trammels
of traditional authority. Accordingly, about a cen-
tury after, we find the Rabbins of Spain complaining
of the progress of infidelity caused by the influence
of Greek philosophy.
The Sephardim or Spanish Jews have not only
produced able writers on theological subjects, but
also distinguished poets, astronomers, and mathe-
maticians. Amid the honours which they gained,
however, in the walks of literature and science,
often was the sword of intolerant persecution un-
sheathed, and the records of the Inquisition in
Spain tell us of multitudes of victims belonging to
the despised Jews no less than to the Christian hero-
tics. At length, in A. D. 1492, after the reduction o)
the last Moslem kingdom in the Peninsula, an edict
was promulgated for the expulsion of the Jews from
Spain, four months being allowed them to prepare
for their departure. In vain did they ofl'er iiiunense
sums of mimcy to be allowed to remain ; they were
transported by ships to the coast of Africa. Many
of them endured such extremity of Buffering that
they returned to Spain and renounced the faith of
JKWri (MODKKRy.
239
flioir fathers. Othors found an Jisylum in Portugal,
wlicrc, in consideration of the payment of a liigh
(■•■ipitation tax, tliey were invested with various pri-
vileges, bcini; allowed to celebrate their feasts, prac-
tise their ceremonies, and continue the full exercise
of tlieir relisious worship. A Ralibinical school was
formed at Lisljon, which soon rose to considerable
distinction, and during the five years which elapsed
between the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, and
their banishment from Portugal, this school became
the centre-point of Jewish literature and science.
The most distinguished of the Portuguese Jews was
Abarbariel, whose fame, as a theological writer, is
still cherished among the Jews. In 1497, an edict
was published banishing the Jews from I'ortugal, as
tliey had a few years before been banished from
Spain ; and from this date the Sephardim were scat-
tered over every ijuarter of the globe, still, however,
preserving their identity separate and apart from all
the other races of the Jewish nation. In America, n
Africa, in Asia, and many countries of Europe, they
found refuge, and enjoyed toleration ami peace. But
the countiy which has afTorded them the warmest
hospitality, since the close of the sixteenth century,
has been the Protestant republic of the Low Coun-
tries.
The first settlement of the Jews at Amsterdam
was made in A. n. 1.594, and in the course of four
years they erected a synagogue. Ten years after, the
increase of the Jewish population led to tlie forma-
tion of a second, and in A. D. 1G18 of a third syna-
gogue. In 1G.39 the three synagogues were united
to form one single community of Spanish and Por-
tuguese Jews, which founded, in lfi75, a handsome
synagogue for the whole body. About the same
time the German and Polish Jews had established
tlieir synagogues in the capital of Holland. Though
excluded from public offices, and also from all guilds
or companies, except those of the physicians and
brokers, the Israelites were secured in the full posses-
sion of liberty of conscience, the free exercise of their
religion, the practice of their own laws and traditions,
and even, with few exceptions, the observance of
their national customs. Among the Jews in Hol-
land there have been various authors and learned
men, one of the most noted of whom was Rabbi
Menasseh ben Israel, who wrote several exegetical
and dogmatical works, besides several books relating
to the Jewish Liturgy, the worship of the synagogue
and Rabbinical ordinances. Contemporary with this
learned author was another man of a strongly specu-
lative turn of mind, Uriel da Costa, who threw off at
once all belief in the Divine authority of the Old
Testament, and in the traditions of the Rabbins.
The appearance of this bold infidel in the synagogue
of Am.sterdam, and the open avowal of bis dangerous
doctrines, led to a keen struggle between the modern
sect of the Pharisees and that of the Sadducees. In
t work wdiich ho publislied explanatory of bis opi-
nions, Uriel declared his rejection of all tradition, and
his denial of the resurrection of the dead and the life
to come. The chief magistrate of Amsterdam deem-
ed it his di'ty to take cognizance of the matter, and,
accordingly, the author was arrested, and the affair
was compromised by the payment of 300 florins, and
the confiscation of the books. From this time Uriel
da Costa became both in opinion and practice an
open Deist ; but at length, weaiy of a struggle in
which he stood alone, he sought and obtained recon-
ciliation with the synagogue. Again lie avowed his
deistical opinions, and for seven years he was cast
ofl' by his brethren. A second time he songht recon-
ciliation to the synagogue, which was only granted
after the infliction upon the unhappy man of the
well-known forty .stripes save one ; and a few days
after submitting to this degradation, he put an end
to his existence, having previously written his auto-
biography, which was afterwards published by Lim-
borch.
Anotlier individual of great note among the Jewn
in Holland was Benedict Spinoza, who, in his theolo-
gical writings, taught a system of complete Pan-
theism, not by substituting the whole universe in
place of the living God, but by attributing real ex-
istence to God alone, and admitting of no other
existence, material or immaterial, unless as a modifi-
cation of that one only Being. This amiable but
erring philosopher was a native of Amsterdam, hav-
ing been born in that city in A. D. 1632. His pecu-
liar opinions were chiefly founded on the writings ot
Des Cartes (see Idealists), wliich exercised a re-
markable influence on the thinkers of his age. The
views wliich Spinoza bad been led to form were com-
pletely at variance with those of bis fellow-Israelites,
and as a natural result he began to neglect the pub-
lic services of the synagogue, and to dispute with the
Rabbins on religious subjects. At length his opi-
nions drew down upon him the censure of his breth-
ren, and he was not only expelled from the synagogue,
but he found it necessary, in order to save his life, to
fly from Amsterdam, and, after wandering from one
place to another, he settled at the Hague. Here ha
lived in seclusion, but maintaining an extensive cor-
respondence with learned men both in Holland and
elsewhere. In the course of a few years he was cut
oft" by consumption.
Next to Amsterdam, nowhere have the Jews been
more prosperous than at the Hague. In that city
many of the finest houses have been built and in-
habited by Jews, and their synagogue is in one of
the best quarters of the to«Ti. Members both of
tlie German and Portuguese synagogues in Holland
were frequently preferred to fill confidential posts in
matters of diplomacy ; and such has been tlie respect
uniformly shown to the Jews in that country, that
till the reign of William V. inclu.sivc, no stadtholdei
of Holland had ever failed to pay at least one formal
visit to each of the great synagogues of Amsterdam.
During the eighteenth century, the Jews in Hol-
land, and indeed throughout the Continent generally
no
JEWS (Modern).
partook of tlie degeneracy in religion which so ex-
tensively prevailed. The intidel literature and phi-
losophy of France exercised a most peniicious
influence over botli Jews and Gentiles in every
country of Europe ; wliile Voltaire and his followers
intensely hated the Jews, because the very existence
of that people constituted an incontestable proof of
the historical truth both of the Old and New Tes-
taments.
The Jews appear to have found an entrance into
llussia during the reign of Peter the Great, but they
were banished from the country in 1745, for liaving
maintained a con-espondence with the exiles of
Siberia. They liave always, however, kept their
ground in Poland as well as in the Ukraine, both of
which belong to the government of the Czar. The
Polish Jews are looked upon by their bretluen in
otlier countries as a superior race, both in intellect
and learning. " Nowhere else," says Da Costa, re-
ferring to Poland, " do we find in so great a degree,
among the dispersed nation, a life of so much social
activity combined with a remarkable bent towards
religion and contemplative philosophy ; nowhere else
so wide a separation between science and theolog)',
and, at the same time, such great capacity for scien-
tific knowledge; nowhere else such deep national
debasement, resulting from ages of ignoble occupa-
tion and servile subjection, with a character so highly
respectable, both in its moral qualities and domestic
relations ; in a word, nowhere do so many remains of
ancient nobility, and, at the same time, of the most
wretched degeneracy, appear even in the expression
of countenance and stature of body. These singular
and original characteristics of the Polish Jew are to
be found, not only in the mystic theosophy which
usually distinguishes their schools and their theolo-
gians, but even in the existence of Caraites amidst
these synagogues, in otiier respects buried, if we
may so express it, in the study of the Talmud."
In the synagogues of Poland, the Jewish sect of the
SAiinATHAlSTS (which see), found many supporters ;
and in the same synagogues the Chasidim (which
see), had their origin in 1740.
An Anti-Talmudic sect sprimg up among the Pol-
ish Jews, originated in 1760 by Jacob Frank. This
new Jewish sect completely cast oli'the Talmud, and
adopted the Cabbalistic book of Zohar as the basis
of its confession of faith, and hence they assumed to
theuisolvcs the name of Zoiiaritks (which see).
They plainly declared their belief in the doctrine of the
Trinity. At first the followers of Frank were looked
upon as belonging to the Christian rather than to
the Jewish faith, and they were [)ersecuted by the
synagogue for their Christian dogmas. In a short
time, however, they were persecuted, on the contrary,
by the Roman Catholic church, on account of their
.lewish Cabbalistic views. In these critical circinn-
stances, exposed to the hostility both of Christians
and Jews, many of the Zoharites emigrated to Tur-
key, where they were treated with the utmost harsh-
ness and cruelty by the populace. Frank, with
whom the sect originated, entertained many senti-
ments approaching to Christianity, and he considered
that he had received a mission to uniie lugetliur all
religions, sects, and confessions. His followers no
longer form a separate denomination, but niunbers ot
them still exist in Poland, belonging to the Koman
Catholic Church, though distinguished by certain
remains of Judaism, and some of them secretly re-
taining a firm belief in the religion of the synagogue.
They are said to have taken a share in the Polish
insurrection in 1830, and it has even been asseited
that the chief of the Frankists was a member of the
Diet of Poland, and afterwards obliged to take refuge
as a political exile in France.
But while the Jews in the southern and eastern
jiarts of Europe were agitated by the prevalence
among them of Cabbalistic opinions, a movement of
a difl'erent kind was commencing in the north-western
parts and in Germany. While Jacob Frank was
actively propagating his peculiar views in Poland,
Moses Mendelsohn was inculcating on the Jews in
Prussia a .system of opinions composed of a hetero-
geneous mixture of the teachings of Plato and of
jMaimonides. This remarkable man was bom in
1729, at Dersace, of poor parents. In early life lie
exhibited many tokens of possessing an energetic
and inquiring mind. The writings of Maimonides.
and especially the Moreh Nevochim, were his favour-
ite subjects of study. His ovm philosophical writing!"
soon gained for him a high reputation both among
Christians and Jews. His chief anxiety was to re
form the religion of the Jews, while lie maintained
an outward respect for the fonns of Rabbinical Ju-
daism. On one point be expressed himself verj
strongly — in reference to the authority of the syna
gogue. He would not allow the synagogue or anij
other religious community to impose any restriction
whatever on the rights of thinking and teaching
Through the influence of Mendelsohn, all respect (vt
the Talmud began to disappear among the German
Jews, and a large party was formed avowing tlieni-
selves Anti-Talmudists. This eminent Jewish philo-
sopher died in 1786, but the impress wliicli he had
made upon the religion and literature of the Hebrew
nation continued to be felt long after his decease.
Three intimate friends, who long survived him, and
who actively propagated his opinions, were Ilartwig
Wessely, Isaac Euchel, and David Friedlander.
The year 1789 proved the commencement of n
new era in the history of the modern Jews. With
the French Revolution a .system of political theories
and opinions arose which agitated all the nations of
luirope. Nor were the disp(!rsed of Israel uiialVected
l)y tlie wide-sprcaii spirit of change. Throwing ofl
their own ancient nationality, they directed all their
elVorts from this period to be reckoned fcUow-couii
tiymen with the Christian nations. Taking advan-
tage of the great political outburst in France, the
Jews called loudly for the application in their cus«
JEWS (Modern).
241
of the principles of liberty, fraternity, and equality.
Tlieir demand was aoknowledf^ed to be just, and in
1791 complete equality was pmelaiined for all Jews,
without exception and distinction, who would accept
the rights and fullil the duties of French citizens.
The rights which the Revolution had thus obtained
lor the Jews were conlirmed by Napoleon Bona-
parte. In consequence, however, of the prevalence
of usury among the Jewish population in the pro-
vinces of the Rhine, an Imperial edict was published
in 1808, imposing on every Jewish creditor who
should go to law again.st a debtor the obligation to
procure a certilicate of good character, attested by
the local authorities, declaring that the said creditor
was not in the habit of taking usury, or pursuing
my disgraceful trafllc. This severe decree was
limited in its continuance to ten years; but before
the expiry of that period it was revoked, in conse-
quence of the restoration of the liourbon family. In
Rhenish Bavaria and Rhenish I'riissia it was con-
tinued and strictly enforced after the ten years had
come to a close.
Napoleon I., in his anxiety to promote the welfare
of the Jews scattered throughout his dominions, con-
voked at I'arij a large assembly or sanhedrim of
Israelites. This council, which consisted of 110
members, met on the 28th of July 180C. It was
constituted by order of the Emperor, and three Im-
perial commissioners were introduced during the
sittings, with twelve questions, which the sanhedrim
were requested to answer for the satisfaction of
Napoleon and the government. These questions,
which chiefly referred to the Jewish laws concerning
marriage and usury, were after mature deliberation
answered by the assembly to the following effect, as
related by Da Costa : " That the .Jew, though by the
law of Moses lie had permission to take several
wives, was not allowed to make use of this liberty in
tin; West, an obligation to take only one wife hav-
ing been imposed upon them in the year 1030, by an
Assembly, over which Rabbi Gerson, of Worms,
presided, — that no kind of divorce was allowed
among the Jews, except what was authorized by the
law of the country, and pronounced judicially, — that
the Jews recognised not only Frenchmen, but all
men as their bretliren, without making any difference
between the Jew and him who was not a Jew, from
whom they differed not as a nation, but by their re-
ligion only. With respect to France, the Jew, who
had there been rescued from oppression, and allowed
an equality of social rights, looked upon that country
as more especially his own, of which he had already
given manifest proof on the field of battle ; — that
since the revolution no kind of jurisdiction in France
or Italy could control that of the Rabbins ; — that the
Jewish law forbade all taking of usury, either from
strangers or their own brethren ; that the command-
ment to lend to his Israelitish brother, without in-
terest, was a precept of charity, which by no means
detracted from the justice, or the necessity of a law-
II.
ful interest in matters of commerce ; finally, that the
Jewsh religion declared, without any distinction oi
persons, that usury was disgraceful and infamous ;
but that the use of interest in mercantile afl'airs,
without refererice to religion or country, was legal,—
to lend, without interest, out of pure charity towards
all men, was prai.seworthy."
The Imperial government declared their entire
satisfaction with the replies of the sanhedrim, and
another assembly of the same kind was convoked by
the Emperor in 1807, to which Jews from othei
countries, and especially from Holland, were invited,
with the view of giving to the principles of the first
sanhedrim the force of law among the Jews in all
countries. The second meeting, called the great
Sanhedrim, to which was intrusted the formation of
a plan of organization for all the synagogues through-
out the Empire, met the following year. The prin-
ciples laid down by the sanhedrim were strongly op-
posed by the Jews of other countries, particularly
those of Germany and Holland. But the social and
political equality which the Jews enjoyed in France,
leu to their settlement in gi-eat numbers in that
countiy; so that in the course of two years after the
assembling of the sanhedrim, the Jewish population
resident within the boundaries of the French Em-
pire amounted to 80,000 souls, of whom 1,232 were
landed proprietors, exclusive of the owners of houses
in towns.
The Jews in France, from the date of their eman-
cipation by Napoleon I., have under every successive
government been eligible to the highest offices, both
civil and military, and so well have they acquitted
themselves in every office which they have occupied,
that in 1830 the Minister of Public Worship, M.
M(^rilhou, gave the strongest official testimony in
their favour. The extent, however, to which the
social equality of the Jews in France has been car-
ried, has not only tended to destroy the national
spirit which has generally characterized the Jewish
people, but has introduced among them that spirit
of religious indifference, and even infidelity, which is
rapidly diffusing itself among Continental Jews gen
erally.
The Revolution introduced into the Netherlands
from France in 1795, giadually led to the emancipa-
tion of the Jews in that country also. But while a
few hailed the new institutions, the gi'eat mass con-
tinued devotedly attached to the house of Orange, and
keenly opposed to the revolutionary spirit of the age.
The difference of opinion which thus existed among
the Jews on pohtical matters, brought about at length
a schism in the synagogue. Those wlio had im-
bibed the new ideas assembled separately for reli-
gious worship, and founded a synagogue named
Adath Jeshurun, which continued apart from the
ancient synagogue of the Netherlands till the reign
of Wilham I. Soon after the revolution in Holland
in 1795, Jews began to be admitted to the muniti
pality and the tribunal of Amsterdam, and even to iha
X *
212
JEWS (Modern),
National Assembly at the Hague. These privileges
were continued first under Louis Napoleon, and then
under the house of Orange, as well as under the differ-
ent constitutions of 1813, 1815, 1840, and 1848. At
this day, accordingly, Jews in Holland are not unfre-
quently found holding municipal offices in towns, and
places of trust and influence under the Crown. In
Belgium also, the Jews enjoy entire liberty, and are
eligible to all situations of a secular kind, on the same
footing with the members of other religious bodies.
In Germany the Jews had a long struggle for
emancipation. No doubt the French Revolution,
and the influence of the French Imperial government
under Napoleon I., were favourable to the Jews in
various parts of Germany. But it was not until the
reign of King Frederick William III. that the Jews
became entitled to rank as Prussian citizens. This
was secured to them by an edict published on the
11th of March 1812, which, while it granted the
right of citizenship, encumbered it with so many
exceptions and provisional regulations, that it was
rendered almost nugatory. These restrictions, how-
ever, were removed in the year 1848, when the re-
volutionary spirit spread over almost every country
of Europe.
In Roman Catholic countries various remarkable
changes have been effected in the relation of the Jews
to the governments. The reigning Pope, Pius IX.,
at an early period of his Pontificate, set an example of
liberality by his regulations in favour of the Jewish
subjects of the church. The Ghetto of the Jews at
Rome was solemnly opened on the evening of the
17th of April 1847. It had been customary for four
elders of the sj-nagogue annually to approach the
Pope with an humble supplication that he would
grant the Jews permission as a nation to reside in
Rome. This degrading custom, Pius IX. abolished,
and granted a complete and unrestricted toleration.
Tbroughout every part of the world Jews are to
be found, "There is not a country," says Dr. Keith,
"on the face of the earth, where the Jews are un-
known. They are found alike in Europe, Asia,
Africa, and America. They are citizens of the world
without a country. Neither mountains, nor rivers,
nor deserts, nor oceans, which are the boundaries of
other nations, have terminated their wanderings.
They abound in Poland, in Holland, in Russia, and
in Turkey. In Germany, Spain, Italy, France, and
Britain, they are more tliinly scattered. In Persia,
China, and India, on the cast and on the west of the
Ganges, they are few in number among the licathcn.
They have trod the snows of Siberia, and the sand of
the burning desert ; and the European traveller hears
of their existence in regions which he cannot reach,
even in the very intciior of Africa, south of Timbuc-
too. From Moscow to Lisbon, from Japan to Bri-
tain, from Borneo to Archangel, from Ilindostan to
Honduras, no inliabitant of any nation upon the
earth would be kno^vIl in all the intervening regions,
but 1 Jew alone."
Properly speaking, the modern Jews have no sym-
bol or profession of faith, but allege the Word of
God contained in the Old Testament to be the
standard of their belief and practice. Maimonides,
however, reduced the doctrines of Judaism to a
limited number of fundamental principles, which are
usually known by the name of the Thirteen Articles,
and are regarded by the Jews as exhibiting a view ol
their peculiar system. These articles wliich form
the creed of the modern Jews are as follows : —
" I. I believe with a perfect faith, that the Creator
(blessed be his name) is the Creator and Governor of
all creatures, that he alone has made, does make,
and will make all things.
" II. I believe with a perfect faith, that the Creator
(blessed be his name) is only one, in unity to which
there is no resemblance, and that he alone has been,
is, and will be our God.
" III. I believe with a perfect faith, that the Crea-
tor (blessed be his name) is not corporeal, nor to be
comprehended by an understanding capable of com-
prehending what is corporeal ; and that there is
nothing like him in the universe.
" IV. I believe with a perfect faith, that the Crea-
tor (blessed be his name) is the First and the Last.
" V. I believe with a perfect faith, that the Crea
tor (blessed be his name) is the only object of ado-
ration, and that no other being wliatever ought to be
worshipped.
" VI. I believe with a perfect faith, that all the
words of the prophets are true.
" VII. I believe with a perfect faith, that the pro-
phecies of Moses our master (may he rest in peace)
are true ; and that lie is the father of all the wise
men, as well of those who went before him, as ot
those who have succeeded him.
"VIII. I believe with a perfect faith, that the
whole law which we have in our hands at this day,
was delivered by Moses our master, (may he rest in
peace).
" IX. I believe with a perfect faith, that this law
will never be changed, and that no other law will
ever be given by the Creator, (blessed be his name).
" X. I believe with a perfect faith, that the Crea-
tor (blessed be Ids name) knows all the actions ot
men, and all their thoughts, as it is said; 'He fasli-
ioneth all the hearts of them, and undcrstaudeth all
their works '
" XI. I believe with a perfect faith, that the Crea
for (blessed be his name) rewards those who observe
his commands, and punishes those who transgress
them.
"XII. I believe with a perfect faith, that tie
Messiah will come, and though he delays, neverthe-
less I will always expect him till he come.
" XIII. I believe with a perfect faith, that the
dead will be restored to life, when it shall be so
ordained by the decree of the Creator; blessed be
his name, and exalted be his remembrance for ever
and ever."
JEWS (Modern).
243
The articles of Maiiiionidos have beiMi approved
iiid Siuictioiied Iiy aliiioHt alJ llie ItiibbiB I'ur the last
live hundred years. They have been i)ubliidy adopted
w the creed of the 8yiia,;,'0f^iie, and liave liecn inserted
in the prayer books as fundamental jxiints, which all
Jews are expected to believe, and are recpiired to
repeat every day. The precepts of tlie Jewish reli-
gion are considered as amounting to G13, of whicli
the aliirmative are 2-18, and the negative 3G.'). " In
the tonoonnnandnients," saysa writer on this subject,
" there are Ol.'t letters, and each letter stands for one
command ; and in the whole law of Moses there are
613 commandments; and such was the power of
these two tables, that it contained the complete law
of Moses. Thus far it is proved tliat a perfect God
gave ft perfect law." The negative precepts are
obligatory on every Israelite at all times ; but of the
alhrmative, some are opti(}nal, some are restricted to
certain seasons, and others to certain otrices ; some
ijan only be performed in ralestine, and others are
limited to the regulation of such ceremonies and
services as have been discontinued since the destruc-
tion of the temple. Tlio obligations imposed on
Jewish females by the affirmative precepts are very
few. The lialjbis hold that before maiTiage a woman
has nothing to do witli religion, and is not required
to observe any of the commandments ; and after
marriage, she has only to observe three: (1.) tlie
purifications of women; (2.) to bless the Sabbath
bread — that is, to take a small piece of dough, re-
peat a prayer over it, and throw it into the lire ; and
(3.) to light the candles on the eve of any Sabbath,
or of any festival, and repeat a prayer whilst doing it.
Every Jewish father is bound to instruct his sons
in the knowledge of the law, but not his daughters,
and women are not required to learn the law them-
selves, neither are they obbged to teach it to their
children. The process of education followed in the
case of Jewish children is thus described by Dr.
M'Caul in his ' Judaism and the Jews :' — " At four
or iive years of age, the Jewish child begins to learn
the Aleph Beth. As soon as he can read the Hebrew
text with points, tlie work of translation commences.
There is no learning of gi'ammar. The Melammed
teaches the translation at once. He pronounces the
Hebrew word, and tells the meaning, and repeats a
given portion in this way until the child knows it.
Thus, without grammar or lexicon, without any
reference to roots or conjugations, the Jowi.sh chil-
dren learn the language of their forefathers; and it is
surprising to see the progress which they make in
the course of a year. When the child can translate
tolerably, he then begins the Pentateuch again, with
the ' Commentary' of R. Solomon Jarchi. The style
of this commentator is concise, and often obscure.
Rut the oral instruction clears away the difficulties.
The Melammed repeats the words, giving the sense
as before, and the child repeats after him until he has
learned his task, which is for a week — either the
whole weekly portion of the law, or a part of it,
according to his abilities. When lie has mastered
Iiaslii, he begins the Talmud. At first, the oral
method is used as before ; but very goon the child is
left to sliift for himself; and usually, at ten years of
age, he is able to make out the sense by the help ol
Jarchi's ' Commentary.' At thirteen he becomes a
bar miUvah, the son of the commandment, and is
then responsible for his ovni sins, which, up to that
time, the father has borne ; and is expected to ex-
pound some difficult passage of tlie Talmud publicly
in the synagogue. Of course all Jewish chililren
do not pursue these studies so far as the Talmud and
its commentaries. The mass of the people are very
poor, and many are therefore obliged to rest satisfied
with a knowledge of the Pentateuch. Others stop
at Kashi's ' Commentary.' Others exhibit no taste
for learning. But still, after deducting all these
classes, a greater proportion of Jewish children
receive a learned education than amongst Christiana.
Poor youths of promise find a seminary and books in
the Beth Ilammedrash, or house of instruction, which
exists in every large congregation, where the Itabbi
presides and superintends the studies. They are
supported by voluntai-y contribution, and wander
about from one celebrated liabbi to another in order
to complete their studies ; and, it must be added,
everywhere find a home and a supply of the neces-
saries of Ufe. One of the most pleasmg traits in the
Jewish character is the hospitality with wliich they
treat all strangers of their nation, but particularly
wandering students."
A strange idea prevails among the modern Jews,
that if a child cannot repeat the Kodesh in the
synagogue, the soul of the deceased parent remains
in purgatory. The gi-eatest reproach, besides, that
can be cast upon a Rabbinical Jew is, that he neglects
the education of his children, more especially the
male children, on whom double attention is bestowed.
So little account is taken of females among the Jews,
that a thanksgiving is inserted in all the prayer-
books, and forms a part of the daily devotions of
every male member of the synagogue : " Blessed art
thou, 0 Lord our God ! King of the universe ! who
hast not made me a woman !"
From the dispersion to the latter end of the last
centuiy, Rabbinism prevailed universally amongst
the Jews, with the exception of the small sect of the
Caraites (which see). The distinguishing feature
of the Rabbinical system is, that it asserts the trans-
mission of an oral or traditional law of equal autho-
rity with the written law of God, at the same time
that it resolves tradition into the present opinions of
the existing church. In consequence of the intro-
duction of Rabbinical glosses, the great doctrines of
Scripture are completely perverted. Thus the fun-
damental tenet of original sin is denied by the Jews;
and Maimonides bjldly affirms that the idea of man
being born with an inherent principle of sin or
holiness, is as inconceivable as Ids bemg born an
adept in any art or science. On the other hand, the
244
JEWS (Modern).
Talmudists, and otlier Jewish writers, frequently
speak of an evil principle, wlucli they represent as
the internal cause of all the sins that men commit.
Some Rabbis speak of two principles in man, the one
evil, the other good ; the former born with him, the
latter implanted 8.t the age of thirteen.
The modern Jews are without priest, altar, or
sacrifice, and, in their view, the only atonement is
sincere repentance, and the only ground of acceptance
is a perfect conformity to the law of Moses. This is
the doctrine set forth by Maimouides, but the general
doctrine of the synagogue appears to be, that there
are other substitutes as well as repentance, such as
the sufferings and supererogatory merits of reputed
saints and martyrs. The doctrine of divine influence
is taught by some Rabbis, but not by others ; and the
self-determining power of the human will to good or
evil is clearly asserted in a maxim laid down in the
Talmud, that everything is in the power of God
except the fear of God. Tlie notion is very generally
entertained among modern Jews, that the ceremonial
observances gone through annually on tlie Great Day
of Atonement serve as an expiation for all the sins of
the preceding year. Some Rabbis inculcate that
repentance ought to be accompanied with bodily
mortification and penance ; and it is very generally
believed that the bodily pains which they sufier are
expiations for sins. The doctrine of the metempsy-
chosis, or that one human soul animates several
bodies in succession, is adopted by many Jewish
writers.
It is maintained by the Jews that, after death,
those who have been righteous in this life are happy,
and ascend immediately into the holy place ; but in
the case of a wicked man, all his sins which stand near
him go before him to his grave, and trample upon his
body. The angel Duma likewise rises, attended by
those who are appointed for the beating of the dead
— a process which is called Chibbut Hakkefer
(which see), and is performed in the grave. Seven
judgments are undergone by the wicked, which are
hus described by a Rabbinical writer : — " The first
s when the soul departs from the body. The second
IS when his works go before him, and exclaim against
him. The third is when the body is laid in tlie
grave. The fourth is Chibbut Ilakhfer — that is, the
beating in the grave. The fifth is the judgment of
the worms. When his body has Iain in the grave
three days, he is ripped open, his entrails come out ;
and his bowels, with the sordes in them, are taken
and dashed in his face, with this address, Take what
thou hast given to thy stomach, of that which thou
didst daily eat and drink, and of which, in all tliy
daily feastings, tliou distributedst nothing to the poor
and needy ; as it is said, ' I will spread upon your
faces tlie dung of your solemn feasts.' Mai. ii. 3.
After the three days, a man receives judgment on
his eyes, his hands, and his feet, which have com-
mitted iniquities, till tlie thirticlli day; and in all
these thirty days tlie soul and body are judged
together. Wherefore the soul during this time
remains here upon earth, and is not sufi'ered to go to
the place to which it belongs. The sixth is the
judgment of Hell. The seventh is, that his soul
wanders, and is driven about the world, finding no
rest anywhere till the days of her punishment are
ended. These are the seven judgments inflicted upon
men ; and these are what are signified in the threat
ening, ' Then will I walk contrary unto you also in
fury ; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for
your sins.' Lev. xxvi. 28." The Jews, we have
said, hold the doctrine of trans-migration, some pass-
ing into human bodies, others into beasts, others into
vegetables, and others still into stones.
It would occupy too much space to enumerate the
idle and frivolous ceremonies enjoined by the Rabbis
in dressing and undressing, washing and wiping the
face and hands, and otlier actions of daily life. To
instance one, which is mentioned by Buxtorf : "A
Jew ought to put on the right shoe first, and then
the left ; but the left shoe is to be tied first, and the
right afterwards. If the shoes have no latchets or
strings, the left shoe must be put on first. In un-
dressing, the left shoe, whether with or without
latchets or strings, is in all cases to be taken ofi
first." But passing to matters of more importance,
those which concern the public worship of the Jews,
we remark that a congregation, according to the de-
cisions of the Rabbis, requires at least ten men who
have passed the thirteenth year of their age ; and it
this number is found in any locality, they may pro-
cure a Synagogue (which see) , or, as it is often
termed, a little sanctuary.
Various fonns of prayer are prescribed to be used
in the synagogue as well as in private devotion. The
prayers are appointed to be said all of them in He-
brew, and the most important of them are called She-
inoneh Esreh, or the eighteen prayers, to which an-
other has been added, directed against heretics and
apostates, thus makingthe number of prayersnineteen,
though they are still called by the original name. In
addition to these prayers, the daily service consists of
the reading of three portions of Scripture, an exer-
cise which is termed Kiriath Shema, or reading of
the Shema, which is the commencing word of the
first of these three portions in the Hebrew Bible.
All except women, servants, and little children, are
enjoined to read these passages twice every day.
The Shema and the nineteen prayers are never to be
omitted at the stated seasons of devotion. There
are also numerous sliort prayers and benedictions
which every Jew is expected to repeat daily. The
members of the synagogue arc required to repeat, at
least, a hundred benedictions every day. The htur-
gies adopted by the Jews vary, in some few particu-
lars, in difterent countries, but iu the main body of
the prayers thoy all agree. It is customary to chant
the prayers rather tlian ri'ad them.
Among the modern Jews tlie ancient mode of com-
puting tlie day, from sunset on one evening to sunset
JEWS (Modern) in America.
24S
Bri tlie fullowiiig evening, is still retained. Their
Salilmth commeiicos at sunset on I'ridiiy, and teiini-
natcH at sunset on Saturday. Notliing o»t;lit to be
undertaken on a Friday, uidcss it can be (inislied Ije-
foro tlie evening. In the aftonioon of tliat day tliey
wasli and cle.'in themselves, trim their hair, and pare
their nails. They begin witli the left hand, but deem
it improper to cut the nails on two adjoining fingers
in succession. As to the parings of tlie nails, the
Talmud declares, " He that throws them on the
ground is an impious man ; ho that buries them is a
just man ; he that tlu'ows them into tlie ilre is a pious
and perfect man."
The writings of the Rivbbis contain numerous re-
gulations concerning meats and drinks. For exam-
ple, the Jews are not permitted to taste the flesli of
any four-footed animals but those which both chew
the cud and part tlie hoof; as sheep, oxen, and
goats. They are forbidden to eat rabbits, hares, or
Bwine. They are allowed to eat no (ish but such as
have both scales and fins, no birds of prey, nor any
reptile. They are prohibited from eating the blood
of any beast or bird, and also from eating of any
creature that dies of itself. Mr. Allen, in his ' Mo-
dern Judaism,' thus describes the mode in which
animals designed to be eaten by Jews are slaugh-
tered : " Cattle, for their use, are required to be
slaughtered by a Jew, duly qualified and specially
appointed for that purpose. After an animal is
killed, he examines whether the inward parts are
perfectly sound. If he find the least blemish of any
kind, the whole carcase is rejected as unfit for Jew-
ish tables. If it be found in the state required, he
atfixes to it a leaden seal, on one side of which is the
word Cosher, which signifies right, and on the other
the day of the week in Hebrew characters. At every
Christian butcher's, who sells meat to the Jews, there
is a Jew stationed, who is appointed by the riders
of the synagogue to superintend it. When the ear-
case is cut up, he is also to seal the respective pieces.
" Of those beasts which are allowed, they are not
to eat the hind quarters unless the sinew of the
thigh is taken out, which is a troublesome and ex-
pensive operation, requiring a person duly qualified
and specially appointed for that particular purpose ;
and therefore it is rarely done.
" Previously to boiling any meat, they are required
to let it lie half an hour in water and an hour in salt,
iiUil then to rinse off the salt with clean water. This
Is designed to draw out any remaining blood."
From the prohibition in the Law of Moses against
seething a kid in his mother's milk, the Jews infer
that they must not eat meat and butter together.
Hence the vessels used for meat must not Ije em-
ployed for things consisting either wholly or part of
milk, and for eating and dressing vessels they are
obliged to use dilTerent utensils. They purchase
their kitchen utensils perfectly new, lest they may
previously have been in the possession of Gentiles,
»iid may have been used for forbidden meats.
JEWS (Moder.n) in Amf.rica. Jews from the
Spanish Peninsula appear to have settled in America
shortly after its discovery by Columbus. In the end
of the fifteenth century they were found in Drazil
under the name of New Christians. They obtained
considerable accessions to their numbers in that
country by the arrival of emigrants from France.
At length Brazil was conquered by the arms of
Holland, and forthwith considerable bodies of Dutch
Jews crossed the Atlantic, accompanied by two Itjib-
bins, and founded a Jewish colony in Brazil. Soon
after their settlement in the country, they rose to
great prosperity and infiuence under the fostering care
of the Dutch govermnent, which encouraged them
by the entire toleration of their religion, while the
.lews, in their turn, rendered essential service to the
State, by defending the country against the Sjianiards
and Portuguese. But in 1054 the Dutch lost pos-
session of Brazil, that part of South America having
again become a colony of Portugal ; and in conse-
quence the Jews were under the necessity of seeking
a settlement elsewhere. A considerable portion of
them established themselves in another part of the
New World, the Dutch West Indian Company hav-
ing, in 1G59, aribrded them a place of residence at
Cayenne. Their number was speedily increased by
the arrival of several families of Portuguese .lews
from Lisbon. The progress of tlie colony, how-
ever, was hindered by a war, first with Portugal, and
then with France, which in 1GG4 took the coiuitry,
and scattered the Jews who had settle'l there.
A more prosperous and lasting settlement was
effected by Portuguese Jews at Surinam. This co-
lony was planted by Lord Willoughby in the time of
Charles II., the charter beiag dated in lGtJ2, and at
the invitation of its founder the colony was joined
by a number of industrious, and even distinguished,
Israelites, who had left Cayenne. The Jews were
here placed on a footing of entire equality with the
English, while they were left at perfect liberty in all
matters of religion. In a few years the colony
passed from the hands of the English into those of
the Dutch, and a considerable number of Jewish
families at this period went along with the English
to form a colony at Jamaica. Many Jews, however,
preferred to remain under Dutch protection at Suri
nam, where several individuals belonging to Hebrew
families distinguished themselves, first in defence of
the colony in 1089 against the French, and after-
wards, both in that and the succeeding century,
against the Indians and Negroes. The prosperity of
the synagogue at Surinam, however, was considera-
bly diminished by internal disputes, which arose
among the Jews themselves. They were afterwards
joined by some German Jews, but the decayed con-
dition of the colony, for many years past, has not a
little retarded the progress of the Jewish population.
Another settlement of Jews has long existed at
Curafoa, which, though originally a Spanish colony
has for a very long period been in the hands of th»
246
JEWS (Modern) in Britain
Dutch. It was not till the eighteenth century, how-
ever, that they possessed a synagogue, wliich, in a
ehort time, was followed by a second. The Jewish
population of the colony is now reduced to less than
J, 000 souls.
Jews are found in every portion of the United
States of North America. Probably the first Jew-
ish settlement was formed at New Amsterdam, when
it was under the Dutch government about 1660. But
the number of the Israelites seems to have increased
more slowly than in any other part of the world, as
we find that till 1827 only one Jewish synagogue was
required in the city of New York. Since that period
five other congregations have been formed, and all
their places of v/orship are often crowded. The
number of Jews in the city of New York was cal-
culated a few years ago to amount to 10,000 ; but
Jewish emigrants arrive so rapidly fi'om all parts of
the Old AVorld, that their number, in all probability,
much exceeds the calculation now referred to. In
the United States, the Jews were lately computed at
60,000 males, from thirteen years and upwards. The
whole Jewish population of the United States, in-
cluding women and children, may, therefore, be said
to reach 150,000. In a few of the synagogues in
North America, the service is conducted in the Eng-
lish language, but these are rare exceptions, the He-
brew being almost universally the language used in
public worship. The Jews enjoy perfect liberty in
the United States, and in consequence they are often
found in places of tmst, and their names may be
seen on the rolls of both the upper and lower houses
of Congress.
JEWS (Modern) in Britain. Jews appear to
have settled in England so far back as the time of
the Saxon Heptarchy. Accordingly, a reference to
them occurs in an ecclesiastical canon of Egbert,
archbishop of York, in A. D. 7-10, which prohibited
Christians from taking any part in the Jewish festi-
vals. By the laws of Edward the Confessor, the
Jews are declared to be tlie property of the king.
When William the Conqueror came over from Nor-
mandy to England, many Jews accompanied him ;
and they are mentioned in the time of William Rufus,
the second king of the Norman line, as being pos-
sessed, in various instances, of great wealth, living
in splendid mansions in London and other towns,
and having wliole streets named after them.
In the twelfth century, the Jews were treated with
great cruelty and inhumanity in England. They
were bani.shed from the kingdom in the reign of
Henry II. At the coronation of Kichard Coeur-de-
Ijion, they were prohibited under heavy penalties
from appearing in the streets, and some having ven-
tured to disobey the royal order were discovered by
the populace, and rudely as-saulted. Both in Lon-
don and the provinces the utmost indignities and
insults wore heaped Ufion the poor despised children
of Abraham. It was at length reeolved to make a
general massacre of the entire Jewish population iii
England. They offered to ransom their lives witt
money, — a privilege which was denied them, so thai
being rendered desperate, many of them slew theii
wives and children, declaring that it was better to
die courageously for the Law than to fall into the
hands of Christians. They then committed their pro-
perty to the flames, and madly slew one another.
The same system of policy, in reference to tiie
Jews, was pursued by John, the brother and succes-
sor of Richard. At the commencement of his reign,
A. D. 1199, he bestowed upon them all the privileges
they could desire ; but these plausible enactments
were only intended to conceal his real designs. He
seized upon the treasures of the Jews, and compelled
them, by the most cruel tortures, to pour their wealth
into the royal coffers. His son Heniy III, followed
in the footsteps of his father, persecuting the Jews
in reahty, while passing decrees in their favour.
Worn out at length by the ill-treatment which they
had endured during several reigns, the Jews ear-
nestly petitioned to be allowed to leave the country.
Tills, however, was not granted, and their suffer-
ings were protracted for some years longer, when in
1290 Edward I. banished them from the kingdom.
The Jews now, with their families and all the pro-
perty which they had been able to rescue from the
hands of their spoilers, quitted the country to tha
number of about 16,000. Many of the exiled He-
brews threw themselves into the sea in despair, and
others with difficulty reached the Continent in a
state of extreme destitution.
For three centuries and a-half the Jews were pro»
hibited from setting foot on the shores of England,
although the other European powers, both Protestant
and Romish, gave them free access to their different
countries. Oliver Cromwell, however, who, on reli-
gious groimds, was not unfavom'able to the Jews,
became deeply convinced of the impolicy of exclud-
ing this industrious and enterprising nation from all
connection with the English people. Probably
aware of the good inclinations of the Protector to-
wards them, the Jews on the Continent despatched
Manasseh ben Israel on a mission to the English
court, with a request to be allowed to reside and
freely to exercise their religion in any part of Eng-
land, Scotland, and Ireland. On receiving this pe.
tition, Cromwell summoned a meeting of clergy, law-
yers, and merchants, to state theirviews on the sub-
ject. The Protector himself on this occasion pleaded
eloquently on behalf of the Jews, urging on Scrip-
tural as well as other grounds, the high expediency
of rc-adniitting the Jews into England. But the
majority of the meeting, particularly the clergy and
merdiants, declared themselves wholly opposed to
the propo.sal, and thus the question was meanwhile
deferred. Without any formal enactment in theii
favour, however, the Jews were tolerated in Great
Britain, though not as English subjects, or as form-
ing a Jewish synagogue. In the reign of Charles II
the Jews obtained leave to erect a synagogue iu
JINA3-JIN3.
247
r^niidoii, and to exercise their religion with Unre-
stricted (Voedom. And it is a somewliat reinarkahle
fact, talieii in connection willi tliis tolerant enactment,
th.'it tlie negotiations for the m.arriago of Charles
witli the Infanta, Catherine of Portugal, were carried
on hy General Monk, through tlie mediiun of a Por-
tuguese .Tew ; and tlie Infanta was accom]ianicd to
England hy two hrolhers, who both of them openly
professed the religion of Moses. From th.at time
the Portuguese .syn.agogue in London began to flou-
rish, its numbers being increased by the emigration
of distinguished Jcwi.sh families from Spain and Por-
tugal, but especially from the Netherlands. These
families have lived and prospered in London, parti-
cularly since the reign of King William in the end of
the seventeentli century.
The .Jews, from the period of the Revolution of
1G88, when numbers came over with the Prince of
Orange from Holland, have ever proved themselves
loyal and obedient subjects of the English govcrn-
fiient, readily aiding in every emergency, both in
person and with their capital ; and in the rebellion
l)f 1745, they gave ample proof of their fidelity to
the reigning Protestant dynasty. Accordingly, the
government, appreciating the exemplary conduct of
the Jews, brought a bill into Parliament in 1753,
"granting to all Jews, who had resided in Great Bri-
tain or Ireland for the space of three years, the
rights of English citizenship, with the exception of
patronage and admission to Parliament." The bill
passed, though violently opposed both in the House
and in the country ; but such was the excitement
produced by the success of the measure, and so many
were the earnest petitions for its repeal, tliat the
Parliament was at length compelled to yield to the
wishes of the people, and to accede to a propositi
introduced by ministers with that view. The Jews
themselves had expressed no great anxiety for such a
law in their favour, fearing, as they did, th.at when
thus placed on a footing with the Christians, some
of the Israelites might be induced to renounce the
religion of their fathers.
From the period of the first Revolution in France,
a liberal and tolerant sjiirit has made great progress
in England, and efforts have, from time to time, been
made towards the absolute emancipation of the Jews.
The ancient laws relative to Israel have not been
formally repealed, but they have been allowed si-
lently to fall into desuetude. They possess the
right of voting, and are eligible for the office of
magistrates in towns. A Jew has been Lord Mayor
of London, and another has been sheriff of the city.
In the face of the law, which excludes Jews from
Parliament, Baron Lionel Rothschild, an Israelite,
has been elected again and again as one of the mem-
ners to represent the city of Loudon in Parliament.
This striking popular demonstration, in favour of the
Jews, has led to the introduction of a bill into the
House of Commons, with the sanction of the govern-
ment, to change the form of the oath which is ad-
ministered to members on taking their seats. A
clause which occurs in the oath contains the words,
"on the faith of a Christian," which, of course, can
not 1)0 conscientiously used by a Jew, and must, as
long as they are retained, form an effectual barrier
to the entrance of a Jew into the House of Com-
mons. Almost every session, for some years past,
a bill for the modification of the oath, by the exclu-
sion, in the case of the Jews, of the obnoxious clause,
has been p.assed by the House of Commons, and
rejected by a majority in the House of Lords. In tlie
course of the present year (18.58), however, the lords
have yielded, and the Jews are now eligible as mem-
bers of Parliament, and allowed to occujjy the high-
est offices in the government. Many conversions
from Jud.aism to Christianity have taken place of late
years in Great Britain, and some converted Jews are
at this hour exercising their gifts as Christian min-
isters in connection with the Church of England.
JINAS, saints among the J.^INS (which see) in In
dia. A saint is called aJina, as being the victor over
all human passions and infirmities. He is supposed to
be possessed of thirty-six superhuman attributes, four
classes of which regard the person of a Jtita, such as
the beauty of his form, the fragrance of his body,
the white colour of his blood, the curling of his
hair, its non-increase, and the beard and nails, his
exemption from all natural impurities, from hun-
ger and thirst, from infirmity and decay — properties
which are considered to be born with him. He can
collect around him millions of human beings, gods,
men, and animals, in a comparatively small space ;
his voice is audible to a great distance, and his lan-
guage is intelligible to animals, men, and gods. The
back of his head is encircled with a halo of light,
brighter than the sun, and for an immense interval
around him wherever he moves, there is neither
sickness nor enmity, storm nor dearth, plague nor
war. Eleven attributes of this kind are ascribed
to him. The remaining nineteen are of celestial ori-
gin, as the raining of flowers and perfumes, the sound
of heavenly drums, and the menial offices rendered
by Indra and the gods.
The Jinas, twenty-four in number, though similar
in their general character and attributes, are distin-
guished from each other in colour, stature, and longe-
vity. Two of them are red, two white, two blue,
two black, the rest are of a golden hue, or a yellow-
ish brown. In regard to stature and length of life,
they undergo a gradual decrease from Rishabha the
first Jina, who was five hundred poles in stature, and
lived 8,400,000 great years, toMahavira, flietwentv-
fourth Jina, who had degenerated to the size of man,
and was not more than forty years on earth. It is
not improbiible, as Professor H. II. Wilson suggests,
that these Jain legends, as to their Jinas or saints,
are drawn from the legendary tales as to the seriea
of the ancient Budhas.
JINS, an intermediate race, according to the Mo-
hammedans, between angels and men. They believe
248
J]SU— JOIIANNITES
tliem to be made of fire, but with grosser bodies than
tlie angels. The Jim are said to propagate tlieir
kind, and, tlioiigh long-lived, not to be immortal.
These beings are supposed to have inhabited the
earth previous to tlie creation of Adam, under a
succession of sovereigns. Mohammed professed to
be sent as a preacher to tliem as well as to men ;
and in tlie chapter of the Koran which bears their
name, he introduces them as uttering tliese words :
" Tliere are some among us who are upriglit, and
there are some among us who are otherwise ; we are
of dirt'erent ways, and we verily thought that we
could by no means frustrate God in the earth, neither
could we escape him by flight : therefore, when we
heard the direction, we believed therein. There are
Jloslems among us, and others who swerve from
rigliteousness."
JISU, a god among the Japanese, whose office it
is to convey souls to the infernal regions.
JOACHIMITES, the followers of the famous
Joachim, abbot fii-st of Corace, then of Floris in
Calabria, in the twelfth centuiy. Tliis remarkable
man was supposed by the common people to be
divinely inspired, and equal to the ancient prophets.
Ilis predictions, which were numerous, were most of
them included in a work which bore the name of
' The Everlasting Gospel.' This strange treatise
consisted of tlu-ee books, and was full of enigmatic
and ambiguous predictions. An Introduction to this
book was wTitten by some obscure monk, wlio pro-
fessed to explain its prophecies, applying them to
tlie Franciscans. Botli tlie university of Paris and
Pope Alexander IV. condemned the Introduction,
and ordered it to be burned. This latter production,
wliich belongs to the middle of the thirteenth cen-
tury, has been ascribed to John of Parma, general of
the Franciscans ; or more probably to a Franciscan
monk named Gerhard, who adhered to tlie party of
tlie S/iiritiials, and is known to have faxoured the
opinions of the abbot Joachim. ' The Everlasting
Gospel' describes in strong language the growing
corruption of the church, and Pascbalis holds a pro-
minent place in the picture. The Popes in general
come in for a large share of reproach, on account of
the Crusades, by which Joachim alleges they had
exhausted the nations and resources of Clu'istendoin
among barbarous tribes, under the specious pretence
of cai-rying to them salvation and the cross. " Grief
over the corruption of the church," says Neander,
" longing desire for better times, profound Christian
feeling, a meditative mind, and a glowing imagina-
tion, such are tlic peculiar characteristics of his spirit
and of his writings. Ilis ideas were presented for
the most part in tlie form of comments and medita-
tioiig on the New Testament ; but the Language of
the Bible furnished him only with such hints as
might tuni up for the matter wliicli he laid into
(liem by his allegorizing mode of interiirelation ;
all hough the types which he supposed he found pre-
tiiiiieil in the Scriptures, reacted in giving sliaiJC to
his intuitions. As his writings and ideas found great
acceptance in tliis age among those who were dis-
satisfied with the present, and who were longing
after a difi'erent condition of the cluuxli ; and the
Franciscans, who might easily fancy they discovered,
even in that which is certainly genuine, in Joachim's
writings, a prophecy referring to their order, so a
strong temptation arose to tlie forging of works under
his name,- or the interpolating those which really
proceeded from him. The loose connection of the
matter in his works, made it easy to insert passages
from other hands ; and this character of the style
renders a critical sifting of them difficult."
The title of Joachim's book, 'The Everlasting
Gospel,' is borrowed from Rev. xiv. 6, and by this
expression he understood, following the view of
Origen, a new spiritual apprehension of Christianity,
as opposed to the sensuous Romish point of view,
and answering to the age of the Holy Spirit. A
great excitement was produced by the publication in
1254 of the ' Introductory to the Everlasting Gos-
pel,' which claimed all the prophecies of Joacliim,
as referring to the Franciscan order, and alleged that
St. Fi'ancis was that apocalyptic angel whom John
saw Ajnug in the midst of heaven. Joachim had
taught that two imperfect ages or dispensations were
past, those of the Father and of the Son ; and that
a third more perfect was at hand, that of the Holy
Spirit. The 'Introductory' of Gerhard, however,
alleged that the gospel of Christ would be abrogated
in the year 1260, and the new and eternal gospel
would take its place, and that the ministers by whom
this new dispensation would be introduced were to
be itinerant barefooted friars. Tlie commentary thus
grafted upon the writings of Joachim by a Francis-
can monk, excited the utmost indignation against
the mendicant monks, and the University of Paris
complained so loudly against the ' Introductory,"
that by order of the Pope it was publicly burnt.
JOGIS. See Yogis.
JOHANNITES, a sect which arose in Constanti
nople in the beginning of the fifth century, deriving
their name from John Chiysostom, the validity of
whose deposition they refused to acknowledge. On
Sundays and festival days they held their private
meetings, which were conducted by clergymen
who thouglit like themselves, and from these alone
they would receive the sacraments. So keenly did
they feel in regard to the deposition of their bishop,
that sanguinary tumults ensued. This schism spread
more widely in the church, and many bishops and
clerg)'men joined the party. They were encouraged
by the Roman church, which constantly maintained
the innocence of Chiysostom. Atticus, the second
successor of the deposed, being of a conciliatory spi-
rit, introduced the name of Chrysostom into the
church prayers olTcred in behalf of bishops who had
died in She orthodox faith. Through the influence
of the same benevolent jm^late, a universal anmesty
was obtained for all the adliercnts of Clirysostoni
JOHN (St.) n.vi'Tisr's Day— JORDAN (Batiiisg in the).
248
bmong tlio clerRy. Thus a slill mure extensive
schism was oljviiitcil ; Imt a sjiiall party of .Johan-
uiteH Ktill coiitiiiueil (o hold their ^;r(jimil at Cunhtaii-
thioi)lo. The first wlio succcciIlmI in piittin;; an end
to tlio scliism in tliat city was the patriarch I'ro-
chis, who pri^vailed upon tlie emperor 'I'heodo.sius
II. in A. t). 4.'!8, to allow the remains of Chrysostom
to be brought back to Constantinople, and to be
buried there with solemn pomp; and having thus
gratilied the remnant of the Johannites, he persuaded
I hem to connect themselves once more with the
dominant church.
■lOlIN (St.), Ciiiii.sTiANS OK. See Mknii.kans.
.lOIIN (St.) Kai'TISt's Dav, a Christian festi-
val, which is Iraccil back to the tifth century. It
was instituted in coMunemoralion uf the nativity of
John the llai)tist ; the only nativity besides that of
our Lord celebrated in the cluucli, hut allowed on
account of its special coimection with the birth of
the Saviom-. It is held on the 24th of June. In
a. 1). 50G it was received among the great feasts like
ICaster, Christmas, and other festivals ; and was cele-
brated with equal solemnity, and in much the same
nuumer.
JOHN (St.) Baptist's Mahtykdom, a festival
celebrated in the Greek church on the 29th of
August.
JOHN (St.) Evangelist's Dav, a Christian
I'estival celebrated in connnemoration of John the
beloved disciple. It is observed on the 27th of
December. In the Greek church, the 2Gth of Sep-
tend)er is consecrated to the Assumption of the
l?ody of St. John the Evangelist. The same church
has also a festival in honour of this evangelist,
which is celebrated on the 8tli of May.
JOHNSONIANS, the followers ' of Mr. John
.lolmson, who was for many years a Baptist minister
in Liverpool, in the eighteenth century. His jjecu-
liar sentiments may be thus brielly stated. He
held that faith is not a duty wliicli God requires of
man, hut a grace which it is impossible to convert
into a duty, and which cannot be required of any
created being. The want of faith, therefore, in his
view, was not a sin, but a mere vacuity or nonen-
tity. The principle of faith then was regarded by
Mr. Johnson as a work not wrought by man, but the
operation of God, ami hence it is not tlie soul of man
which believes, but the principle (jf grace within
him. He maintained that the holiness of the first
man Adam was inferior to that of the angels, much
more to that of the saints, who are raised above the
angels in glory. He regarded it as not the duty of
the ministers of the gospel to preach the law, or to
incidcate moral duties upon their peojile, seeing they
are appointed not to preach the law, but the gospel.
Still further, Mr. Johnson held that the blessings of
spiritual grace and eternal life being secured in Christ
prior to the fall, were never lost, and consequently
could not be restored. This excellent lkii)tist minis-
ter entertained high supra-lapsarian notions on the
subject of the Divine decrees, and he admitted the
universality of the death of Christ. On the doctrine
of the Trinity, his followers seem to have endjraccd
the I.SDWKi.MNC Sciii;mi-; (which see), with Cal
vinistic views of justification and the atonement.
In the last Census, that of 1851, no congregations
of this body are rejiorted as now existing in Eng-
lam). It does not a|ipear that the Jiiliiixonians ever
bad a footing in cither Scotland or Ireland.
JORDAN (liATiiiNu IN Tin;), an aimual ceremony
observed by the Syrian Christians, as well as by
(! reeks, Nestorians, Copts, and many others, whii
pluiig(! naked into the river at the sujjpo.sed sjiot
where the miraculous passage of the Israelites wab
ellcctcd, and where also our blessed liOrd was bap-
tized. It is pert'ornied at Easter by pilgrims who
have come from all [larts, and encountered the utmost
privations and difliculties, in order to purify them-
selves in the sacred waters. Not unfrequently the
nundier of pilgrims on such occasions amounts to
several thousand people of both sexes and all
nations. " Once a-year," says Mr. Stanley, in his
' Sinai and Palestine,' " on the Monday in Passion
Week, the desolation of the plain of Jericho is
broken by the descent from the Juda;an hills of (we,
six, or eight thousand pilgrims, who are now, from
all parts of the Byzantine Empire, gathered within
the walls of Jerusalem. The Turkish governor is
with them, an escort of Turkish soldiers accompanieii
them, to protect them down the desert hills against
the robbers, wlio, from the days of the good Samaritan
downwards, have infested the solitary pass. On a
bare space beside the tangled thickets of the modern
Jericho — distinguished by the square tower, now the
castle of its chief, and called by pilgrims ' the House
of Zaccheus' — the vast encampment is spread out,
recalling the image of the tents which Israel here
first pitched by Gilgal. Two hours before dawn, the
rude Eastern kettle- drum rouses the sleeping mul-
titude. It is to move onwards to the Jordan, so as
to accomplish the object before the great heat of the
lower valley becomes intolerable. Over the inter-
vening desert the wide crowd advances in almost
perfect silence. Above is the bright Paschal moon —
before tnem moves a bright flare of torches — on each
side huge watch-fires break the darkness of the night,
and act as beacons for the successive descents of the
road. The sun breaks over the eastern hills as the
head of the cavalcade reaches the brink of the Jordan
Then it is, for the first time, that the European
traveller sees the .sacred river, rushing through its
thicket of tamarisk, willow, and agnus-castus, with
rapid eddies, and of a turbid yellow colour, like the
Tiber at Rome, and about as broad — sixty or eighty
feet. The chief features of the scene are the white
cliti's and green tnickets on each bank, though at this
spot they break away on the western side, so as to
leave an open space for the descent of the pilgiinii.
Beautiful as the scene is, it is impossible not to feel
a momentary disappointment at the conviction, pr<v
250
JOKMUXGAND— JUBILATION (The Gut of).
duced by the first glance, thai it cannot be the spot
either of the passage of Joshua or of the baptism of
Jolni. The high eastern banks (not to mention tlie
other considerations named before) preclude both
events. But in a few moments the great body of
pilgrims, now distinctly visible in the breaking day,
appear on the ridge of tlie last teiTace. None, or
liardly any, are on foot. Horse, mule, ass, and camel,
in promiscuous confusion, bearing whole families on
their backs — a father, mother, and three children
perhaps on a single camel — -occupy the vaciuit spaces
between and above the jungle in all directions.
" If the traveller expects a wild burst of enthu-
siasm, such as that of the Greeks when they caught
the first glimpse of the sea, or the German armies at
(he sight of the Rhine, he will be disappointed.
Nothing is more remarkable in the whole pilgrimage
to the Jordan, from first to last, than the absence of
any such chsplays. Nowhere is more clearly seen
that debberative business-like aspect of their devo-
tion so well described in Kothen, unrelieved by any
e.vpression of emotion, unless, perhaps, a slight tinge
of merriment. They dismount, and set to work to
perform their bathe ; most on the open space, some
farther up amongst the thickets; some plunging iu
naked — most, however, with white dresses, which
they bring with them, and which, having been so
used, are kept for their windhig-sheets. Most of
the bathers keep within the shelter of the bank,
where the water is about four feet in depth, though
with a bottom of very deep mud. The Coptic pil-
grims are curiously distinguished from the rest by
the boldness witli which they dart into the main
current, striking the water after their fashion alter-
nately with their two arms, and playing with the
eddies, which hurry them down and across, as if they
were in the cataracts of the Nile ; crashing through
(he thick boughs of the jungle which, on the eastern
bank of the stream, intercepts their progress, and then
re-crossing the river higher np, where they win wade,
assisted by long poles which they have cut from the
opposite thickets. It is remarkable, considering the
mixed assemblage of men and women in such a scene,
there is so little appearance of levity and indecorum.
.\ primitive domestic character |)ervades in a singular
form the whole scene. The families which have come
on their single mule or camel now bathe together
with the utmost gravity, the fatlier receiving from
the mother the infant, which has been brought to
receive the one innnersiun which will sullice for the
rest of its life, and thus, by a cm'ious economy of
resources, save it from the expense and danger of a
future pilgrimage in after years. In about two hours
the shores are cleared; with the same quiet they
remount their camels and horses ; and before the
noonday heat has set in, are again encamped on the
upper plain of Jericho. At the dead of night, the
drum again wakes them for their homeward march.
'I'he torches again go before ; behind follows the vast
inullitudf, mounted, passing in profound silence over
that silent plain — so silent, that but for the tinkling
of the drum, its departm-e would hardly be per-
ceptible. The troops stay on the ground to the end,
to guard the rear, and when the last roll of the drum
announces that the last soldier is gone, the whole
plain returns to its perfect sohtude."
From the time when our Lord was baptized in the
Jordan, this river has always had a peculiar sacred
interest attached to it. Hence, as we leani from the
writer whom we have just quoted, "In the mosaics
of the earliest churches at Rome and Ravenna, before
Christian and Pagan art were yet divided, the Jordan
appears a river-god, poiu'ing his streams out of his
uni." It was the earnest wish of Constantine, the
first Christian Emperor, and has been the wish ot
multitudes since his time, to be baptized in the
waters of the Jordan ; and for this purpose not Ro-
manists and Greeks oidy, but many Protestants also,
have carried oft' and carefidly preserved water taken
from the sacred river.
JORMUNGAND, the Midgard serpent of Hip
Scandinavian mythology, begotten by Loki. The
Prose Edda relates that Thor fished for this serpent,
and caught him. (See Hyjiir.) Thor gains great
renown for killing the Midgard serpent; but at the
same time, recoiling nine paces, falls dead upon the
spot, suflbcated with the floods of venom wliich the
dying serpent vomits forth upon him. See Scan-
dinavians (Religion of the Ancient).
JOTUN, the giants of the ancient Scandinavians.
JOTUNHEIM (Giants' home), the region of the
giants in the old Scandinavian cosmogony.
JOY OF THE LAW (Festival of the), a
name given to the ninth day of the Feast of Taber-
nacles among the Modern Jews. " On this day,"
says Mr. Allen, " three manuscripts of the Penta-
teuch are taken out of the ark, and carried by the
Cliassaii and two other persons round the altar.
Then they are laid upon the desk, and three portions
are read by three different persons, one portion from
each manuscript. The first of these portions is the
last section, or thirty-third and thirty-fourth, chapters
of Deuteronomy ; for this is the day on which the
annual reading of the law is concluded. But as soon
as this course is finished, it is immediately recom-
menced. The second portion now read consists oi
the first chapter, and first three vei'ses of the second
chapter, of Genesis. ' The reason of which,' it is
said, ' is to .show that man should be continually
employed in reading and stiulving the Word of
God.'
" On this day those odices of the synagogue
which are annual arc put np to public auction for
the year ensuing, and assigned to the best bidder.
The whole of these nine days is a season of great
joy and festivity, and the last is the most joyful and
festive of all."
JUBILATION (The Gift of), a luivilege alleged
by theurgic mysticism to be granted to emineni
Iioniish saints, wlierebv thev are eu'diled in their
,TTIUILl!;i:-J UBILKK (RomisiO.
251
lust iMuinciits to siiij; a triuinijliiiiit ileiilli-soiif^. Tims
Alalia of Oigiiys, wlieii on tlic point of deatli, sang,
we are told, without remission, for tlirce days and
ni,L;lils, lier ecstatie swan-song.
.lUlilLKE, a season of festival and rcslitiition
among tlic ancient Jews, wliieli followed seven Sab-
liatic years, thus oeeurring every fiftieth year. The
name is supposed by Calniet to bo derived from a
Hebrew word liohil, which means to restore; because
lands which liad been alienated were restored to their
original owners. The Septnagint translates the word
yi)})il by remission, and Jo.sepluis by liberty. The
Scriptural warrant for the observance of the jubilee
by the Jews is contained in Lev. xxv. 8 — 13, and
runs as follows : " And thou shalt number seven
.^abbaths of years unto thee, seven tunes seven year-s:
.iiid the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be
unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou
cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the
tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atone-
ment shall ye maUe the trmnpct sound throughout
.■dl yoiu- land. And ye shall hallow the liflieth year,
and proclaim liberty throughout all tlu^ laud unto all
the inhabitants thereof: it shall bea jubilee untoyou:
and ye shall return every man unto his possession,
and ye shall return every man unto his family. A
jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall
not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in
it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed.
l''or it is the jubilee : it shall bo holy unto you : ye
shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. In
the year of this jubilee ye shall return every man
unto his possession." The return of the year of
jubilee was amiounced by sound of trumpet on the
tenth day of the month Tisri, answering to our Oc-
tober. The first jidjilee occurred on the sixty-fourth
year after the Israelites entered into the land of
Canaan. From that period seventeen jubilees wore
reckoned until the Babylonish captivity, which fell
out in the end of a Sabbatical year, and the thirty-
sixth year of the jubilee. After the return of the
Jews from Babylon, and the rebuilding of the Temple,
the jubilee festival seems never to have been ob-
served.
It has been much disputed among the Jews whe-
ther the fiftieth or the forty-ninth year was the year
of jubilee. Jlaimonides maintained the lormer,
while many eminent Rabbis have declared in favour
of the latter. There were two special advantages
which arose from the year of jubilee, — the manumis-
sion of servants, and the restoration of families to
their ancient possessions. Servants were not abso-
lutely freed from bondage until the tenth day of
1 isri, which, as we have seen, commenced the year
of jubilee ; but fornine days before, they spent their
time in festivities and amusements of every kind, and
wore garlands upon their heads in token of joy for
their approaching liberty. But the most remarkable
privilege which the jubilee brought along with it, was
Ihfi restoration of houses and lands to their original
owners. The Jews, it is well known, were remarkably
strict in preserving their genealogies, that each family
nnght be able to establish its right to the inheritanec
of its ancestors ; and thus, although an estate might
change hands a hundred times, it of necessity returned
every fiftieth year to itsoriginalowner. In purchasuig
an estate, accordingly, the practice among the Jews
was to consider how many years had passed since the
last jubilee, and then to purehasc the profits of the
remaining years till the next. No man was allowed
to sell his house or his field till the time of jubilee,
uidcss constrained by poverty to do so ; and eve
after he had sold it, the purchaser must surrender
the estate should the original owner, before the year
of Jubilee, be in such circumstances that he can re
deem it. Nay, even a near relative could redeem
the land An- the benefit of the original proprietor.
Hebrew servants sold to strangers or into the family
of proselytes, had the privilege of redemption either
by themselves or their relatives. Josephus informs
us that in the later periods of the Jewish history
there was a general cancelling of debts at the return
of jubilee. The political advantages of such an ar-
rangement as that of the jubilee are obvious. The
Hebrew government was thus made to rest on an
ecpial agrarian law. It made provision, as Dr. Graves
remarks, in his ' Lectures on the Pentateuch,' for the
support of 000,000 yeomamy, with from six to
twenty-five acres of land each, which they held in-
dependent of all temporal superiors, and which they
might not alienate, but on condition of their revert-
ing to the families which originally possessed them,
every fiftieth year.
JUBILEE (Romish), a ceremony celebrated by
the Church of Rome at stated periods, with gi'eat
pomp and splendid preparations. It was fii'st insti-
tuted by Pope Boniface VIII. , at the close of the
thirteenth century. In the year 1299, a notion
was extensively propagated among the inhabitants of
Rome, that those who should, in the course of the
following year, visit the church of St. Peter's, would
obtain the pardon of all their sins, and the same
privilege would be enjoyed on every hundredth year
In conformity with this popular expectation and
belief, he sent an epistle throughout Christendom,
which contained the assertion that a jubUee of in-
dulgences was sanctioned by the ancient ecclesias-
tical law, and therefore he decreed that, on every
hundredth year, all who should confess and lament
their sins, and devoutly visit St. Peter's chm-ch at
Rome, shoidd receive a plenaiy indulgence ; or, in
other words, a complete remission of all sins, past,
present, and to come. An indulgence of this kind
had hitherto been Hmited to the Crusaders. The
consequence was, that multitudes crowded to Rome
from all parts on the year of jubilee, and it was
estimated that 2,000,000 people visited Rome iii the
course of the year 1300. Mr Gibbon, in his 'De-
cline and Fall of the Roman Empire,' thus describee
the state of matters on that occa-sion : — " The wpI-
252
JUDAISM -J UDE-rf DAY (St.).
come sound," says lie, " was [iropagated througliout
Cliristemloin, ami at tirst t'roiu the nearest provinces
of Italy, and at length tVoni tlie remote kingdoms of
Himgary and Britain, the highways were thronged
with a swarm of pilgrims, wlio .sought to e.\piato
their sins in a journey, however costly and laborious,
which was exempt from the perils of military service.
All exceptions of rank or .sex, of age or infirmity,
were forgi'tten in the conmion transport; and in the
streets an.l churches many were trampled to death
by the ea.^erncss of devotion. The calculation of
their numbers could not be easy or accurate, and they
liave probably been magnified by a dexterous clergy,
well apprised of the contagious etiect of example ;
yet we are assured by a judicious historian, who
assisted at the ceremony, tliat Kome was never
replenished with less than two hundred thousand
.strangers ; and another spectator has fixed at two
millions the total concoiu'se of the year. A trifiing
oblation from each individual would acciunulate a
royal treasure ; and two priests stood day and night
with rakes in their hands, to collect, without count-
ing, the heaps of gold and silver that were poured on
the altars."
The experiment far exceeded the expectation of
either the Pope or tlie people, and the treasury was
so amply replenished by the contributions of the
|iilgrims, that a century was naturally thought too
distant an interval to secure so obvious an advantage
for the Church. Clement VI., therefore, repeated
the jubilee in A. i). 1350; and Urban VI., in A. u.
1.380, reduced the interval to thirty-three years, the
supposed length of time to wliich the life of our Lord
on earth extended. Finall}', Paid II., in 1475, estab-
lished that the festival of the jubilee should be cele-
brated every twenty-five years, which continues to be
the interval at which this great festival is observed.
As a recent specimen of a jubilee bull, we make an
extract from that whieli was issued by the Pope in
18'24, appointing the jubilee for the following year :
•' We have resolvc'd," says he, " by virtue of the
authority given to us from heaven, fully to nnlock
that sacred treasiu'c composed of the merits, sufl'er-
ings, and virtues of Christ otu' Lord, and of his virgin
mother, and of all the saints which the author of
human salvation has intrusted to our dispensation.
To you, therefore, venerable brethren, patriarchs,
primates, archbishops, bishops, it belongs to explain
with porsjiicuily the power of indulgences: what is
their cliicacy in the remission not only of the cano-
nical penance, but also of the temporal punishment
due to the divine justice for past sin; and what
succour is afforded out of this heavenly treasure,
from the merits of Christ and his saints, to such as
have departed real penitents in (iod's love, yet before
they had duly satisfied by fruits worthy of penance
for sins of commission and omission, and are now
[lurifying in the fire of Purgatory." The last jubilee
took place in 1850, under the auspices of the jn'esent
I'ojv! Pius IX.
JUDAISM, the system of doctrine and practic.
maintained by the Jews. See Jiiws (Ancient)
Jews (iModern).
JUDAIZING CHRISTIANS. The Christian
chinch, at its first formation, was composed of two
seiiarate and distinct classes of converts — those drawn
from the ranks of the Jews, and those drawn from
the ranks of the heathens. The converts from Ju
daism brought with them into the Christian church
many strong prejudices in favour of Jewish rites and
observances, which they were most unwilling to re
gard as of temporary and not permanent obligation.
Accordingly, we find tlie Judaizing party, at a very
early period, making an effort to persuade Paul to
yield to their views in circumcising Titus, though a
Gentile convert. The Apostle firndy resisted their
demands in this matter; but soon afterwards, some
persons belonging to the same party followed liim to
Antioch, where they had almost succeeded, by their
intemperate zeal, in raising a schism in the church.
The points in dispute were referred to a meeting ol
the apostles and elders which was held at Jerusalem,
wliere, after the most careful deliberation, it was
agreed that circumcision should be declared not to be
binding upon the Gentiles, and nothing farther was
exacted than the abstaining from meats offered to
idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and
from fornication ; and by this arrangement, which
was obviously intended for a transition state of the
church, the opposition between the Jewish and Hel-
lenist parties was broken down. (See Blood.) By
the decision of the brethren at Jerusalem, harmony
was restored in the church at Antioch. The Judaiz-
ing party, however, gradually increased to such an
extent, that all the churches which Paul had planted
were agitated by controversy, so that the Apostle's
peace of mind was disturbed, and even his life en-
dangered. In the heat of the controversy, the
labours of the great Apostle of the Gentiles were
brought to a close.
The ministry of the Apostle John in Asia Minor
went far to reconcile the contending parties ; but
still the opposition of the Judaizing Christians was
not wholly suppressed, and in the middle of the
second century, the controver.sy raised by these
zealots for the Mosaic law continued to be carried
on with nearly as much vigour as in apostolic times
Nay, a church founded on Judaizing principles
existed at Pella down to the fifth century. That
there were other churches of the same kind in dif-
ferent places is in the highest degree probable, from
the tenacity witli which many Jewish converts ad-
hered to the observance of the law of Moses. All
Judaizers, however, in course of time, as we learn
from Irena:iis, came to be known by the name of
Kmionites (which see).
JUDAS (St.) Ai.i'iiEUS (Dav of), a festival
celebrated in the Greek church on the 10th June.
J (IDE'S DAY (St.). See Si.mun (,St.) and Judk
(St.), Dav of.
ICiJGAI tINT-DAY— .1 UIXJM EST (Cfat-rai,).
253
,I[Jl)a\[ICN'r-DAV'. 'I'lie time of tho gerieml
jiiil^'mont is a scicret wliioli (iod liafl rosorvi'd for
liiiiiseir. Hence we are exiiressly iiifonned hy
tlie Iteiloemor, " Of that day and liniii- Jiiiowetli no
njan, tio, not tlio angels (jf licavcn." I'nini vanons
exjjressiiins wliicli occur in the Apostolle Kpisth's, it
would appear that, at a very early period in I lie
history of the Christian church, an idea hegan to he
entertained by some that the day of the J^ord was
near. Thus, in the Second I'-pistle to the Thessalo-
nians, I'aul beseeches them not to be shaken in mind
or troubled, as if the day of Christ were at liand. It
is called a day, but that term in Scripture is often
used indelinitely, sometimes for a longer, sometimes
a shorter period. What is to he the duralion of the
Judgment- Day wo are in utter ignorance ; but of one
thing we are assured, that whereas " it is appointed
inito all men once to die, after death conielh Ihe
judgment."
JIJDG.MKNT-HALL oi' I'lMTK. The solemn
scene of our liord'.s appearance in the judgment-hall
of the Uomau governor, is represented in the coinse
of the Romisli ceremonies which are annually held .at
Rome during Holy Week. Mr Seymour thus de-
scribes it from personal observation : — " The gospel
is read by three priests. One of them personates
the evangelist who wrote the gospel ; and his part is
to read the narrative as detailed. A second per-
sonates Pontius Pilate, the maid at the door, the
priest.'!, the Pli.ariseos; and hi,s p.irt is to read those
sentences wliieh were spoken hy tliem. The third
personates our Lord Jesus Christ ; and bis part is to
read the words which were uttered by him on the
occasion. To give the greatcjr effect to the whole,
the choir is appointed to undertake those parts which
were the words of the multitude. The dilVerent voices
of the priests reading or intoning their dilVerent parts
— Pilate speaking in one voice, Christ in another,
while the choir, breaking forth, fill the whole of the
vast church with tlie shout, ' Crucify him ! Crucify
him r and again witli the cry ' Not this man, but
Harabbas !' produce a most singular elTect."
J UnCaiHNT (Glnriiai.). That there will be a
period of lin.al retribution, when men shall be siun-
moned to impartial judgment, according to their
character and actions, is a doctrine botli of reason
and revelation. The simple notion of a Supreme
Heing necessarily supposes him to be jiossessed of
perfect justice, as well as the other moral attributes
which are essential to bis ch.aracter as the ruler of
the universe. On contemplating, however, the state
of matters around us, we cannot fail to be struck
with the evident inequality of Ihe distribiuion of the
goods and ills of this life. The wicked may often be
seen to spend their days in prosperity, and the
righteous in adversity and sorrow. Such an anoma-
lous arrangsment as this seems plainly to point
to a period of future adjustment, when each man
shall receive his linal recompense, according to the
deeds done in the boilv, whether thev have been
good, or whether they have been evil. If there Ih h
just (iod, who sits upon Ihe throne of the miivcrse,
the inference is undoubted, that it mu^t ultimately be
well with the righteous, and ill wiih Ihe wicked.
Hence, among the unenlightened heathen, in all agCB,
the belief has imifurinly prevailed of a general judg-
ment. In ancient times, the idolaters of Oreece and
Rome believed that when the souls of men left their
bodies at death, tliey appeared before certain judges —
Minos, Khadamanthus, and Mucus — who, after an
impartial investigation, pronounced sentence lipon
them, consigning them either to the abodes of bliss,
or to the regions of torment. The notions of the
heathen, however, referred sidely to a private and
inilividual, not to a public and general JLulgment.
It is to the Holy Scriptures alone that we are in
debtcd for the knowledge of a general judgment,
which will lake place in the sight of an a.'-.sembled
universe. The following passages, among others,
clearly establish this point: Acts xvii. 31, "Be-
cause he hath appoinleil a day, in the which he
will judge tha world in righteousness by that miuj
whom he hath ordained; whereof he bath given
assurance unto all men, in that be hath raised him
from the dead ;" 2 Cor. v. 10, " For we must all
appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; that every
one may receive tho things done in his body, accord-
ing to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad;"
Mat. XXV. 31, 32, "When the Son of man shall come
in his glory, and all Ihe holy angels with him, then
shall he sit upon the throne of bis glory: and before
him .shall be gathereil all nations : and he shall sepa-
rate them one from another, .ns a shepherd dividetb
his sheep from Ihe goats." " A general judgment,"
saj's Dr. Dick, "at which all the descendants of
Adam will be present, scc^ns necessary l<i the display
of the justice of God, to such a manifestation of it as
will vindicate bis government from all the charges
which impiety has brought against it, satisfy all
doubts, and leave a conviction in th.e minds of all
intelligent creatures that he is righteous in all bis
ways, and holy in all bis works. It is expedient
that, at the winding up of the scheme, all its parts
should be seen to be worlhj' of Him by whom it was
arranged and conducted. In this way, those who
have witnessed, with many disquieting thoughts, the
irregularity and disorder in the present system, will
have ocular evidence that there never wa.s Ihe
slightest deviation from Ihe principles of equity, and
that Ihe cause of perplexity was the delay of their
full operaticin. They will see the good and the bad
no longer mingled together, and apparently treated
alike, but sep.araled into two classes, the one on the
riglit hand of the Judge, aiu] the other on his left,
and distinguished as much at least by their respective
sentences as by the places which they occujiy. We
perceive, then, the reason that the judgment {<as.sed
upon each individual at tho termination of bis life
will be solemnly ratified at Ihe end of the world.
There may be auotlier reason h r the public exerciiic
254
JUDICIUM DKI— JUGGERXATII.
of justice in the final allotment of the lunnan race.
It may be intended to be a spectacle to the universe;
It may be an act of the divine administration, which
will extend its influence to all the provinces of his
empire. AVe are sure that angels will witness it ;
and if there are other orders of rational creatures, it
may be a solemn lesson to them, by wliich thoy will
be contirmed in fidelity to their Creator, and tilled
with more profound veneration of his inlinite excel-
lencies."
The Day of Judgment is tlie last article in the
creed of the Mohammedans. It will be ushered in,
as they believe, by the angel Israfil, who will sound
a trumpet, the tir.st blast of which will not only
overthrow cities, but level mountains; the second,
that of extermination, will annihilate all the inhabi-
tants of earth, and lastly the angel of death; and at
the third, or blast of resuiTection, they will be
restored to life, and rise to the final judgment. All
will appear naked ; but those who are designed for
Paradise will receive clothes, and, during the trial of
the wicked, will surround the throne of God. The
judgment, according to the Moslem notions, is thus
described in Algazali's creed : — " He shall also be-
lieve in the balance wherein, with the weights of
atoms and mustard seeds, works will be weighed
with the utmost exactness. Then the books of the
good works, beautiful to behold, will be cast into the
scale of light, by which the balance shall be depressed
according to their degrees with God, out of tlie
favour of God and the books of evil deeds into tlie
scale of darkness, by which the balance shall lightly
ascend, by the justice of the Most High. It must
also be believed that there is a real way extended
over the middle of hell, sharper than a sword, and
finer than a hair, on wliich, by the divine decree, the
feet of unbelievers shall slip, so tliat they shall fall
into the tire, while the feet of believers will remain
firm on it, and they will be led into an habitation
that will last. It must also be believed that the
faithful will then drink out of Moliammed's lake,
which will prevent tlieir tliirstiiig any more. Its
breadth is a month's journey, and the water is whiter
than milk and sweeter than lioney ; the cups placed
round are as numerous as the stars, and it is supplied
by two pipes from the river Cauther. Men must
also believe in the iinal reckoning, which will be
strict with some, with others more indulgent, while
they who are near to God will enter the garden
without any. Then God will question any of his
proj diets whom he pleases concerning his mission,
and whom he pleas^.i of the unbelievers the reason
of their accusing is liars those who were sent to
tliem. He will also interrogate heretics concerning
the Sonnah, and the Moslems concerning their
works."
Throughout almost the wdiole of the teiilli century,
ICiirojie was agitated with the expectation that the
lay of general judgment and final consummation was
at band. The idea was founded on Itev. xx. 2 — 4,
" And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent,
which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a
thousand years, and cast him into the bottondrss
pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that
he should deceive the nations no more, till the thou-
sand years should be fulfilled ; and after that he mr.st
be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and
they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto
them : and I saw the souls of them that were be-
headed for the witness of Jesus, and for the word ol
Goil, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither
bis image, neither had received his mark upon their
foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and.
reigned with Christ a thousand years." This passage
was interpreted to mean, that after a thousand years
from the birth of Christ, Satan would be let loose.
Antichrist would appear, and the end of the world
would come. Accordingly, the utmost excitement
and alami prevailed. Many, transferring their pro-
perty to the churches and monasteries, set out fur
Palestine, where they supposed Christ would come
down from heaven to judge the world. Others
gave up their all to the priests and monks ; while in
many instances the deed of gift distinctly bore as its
reason these words, " The end of the world being
now at hand." Not before the close of the century
did the delusion finally pass away. From that [leriod
down to the present day, individuals have occasion-
ally been found who have persuaded themselves, and
sought to convince others, that the final judgment
was near. But the precise time v/iien that great
event will happen is wisely concealed, that men may
be always on the watch, seeking ever to be ready ;
for at such an hour as we think not the Son of man
Cometh.
JUDICIUM DEI. See Ordeal.
JUGA, or JuGALis, a .surname of Juno (which
see), as presiding over marriage. She had a temple
under this name in the forum at Rome.
JUGATINUS, a god of marriage among the an-
cient Romans.
JUGGERNATH, or Jagat-Nath (the lord
of the world), a popular object of worship in the
district of Cuttack, on the sea-coast of Orissa, in
Hindustan. This Hindu deity is a form of Vitlinti.
The pagoda or temple dedicated to the worship
of Juggernath stands close to the sea-shore, and,
from its peculiar prominence, serves as an impor-
tant sea-mark in guiding mariners to the mouth
of the Ganges. The image is a carved block of
wood, of frightful aspect, painted black, with a dis-
tended mouth of a bloody colour. On festival days,
the throne of the idol is placed upon a stupendous
moveable tower, sixty feet high, resting on wheels.
Juggernath is accompanied with two other idols, of a
white and yellow colour, each on a separate tower,
and sitting upon thrones of nearly an equal height.
Attached to the principal tower are six ropes. In
which the people drag it along. The othciating high
priest is stationed in front of the idol, and all aninnd
.irin.i'.s .ii;mi'f,u.s.
255
it aro tlioiisaiiils of massive sculptures, which cm-
blorniifically ropi'osoiit those scenes of revolting iii-
ilecency ami hoi-i'id cruelty which arc the essential
characteristics of tliis worship. Tlie procession of
tlic idol is thus (k'Hcrihed hy Mr. Stia'lin;^, in his
' Account of Orissa :' — " On tlic .■ippointcil day, after
various prayers and ceremonies, tlie images aro
brought from thi'ir throne to the out.side of the Lion-
gate, not with decency and reverence, but a cord
being fastened round their necks, they are dragged
by the priests down the steps and lhron','h the mud,
while others keep their tigm'es erect, and help their
movements by shoving from behind, in the most in-
dilferent and unceremonious maimer. Thus the mon-
strous idols go, rocking and pitching along, through
the crowd, until they reach the cars, which they are
made to ascend hy a similar process, up an inclined
platform, reaching from the stage of the machine to
the ground. On the other hand, a powerful sen-
timent of religious enthusiasm pervadi^s the admiiing
nudtitudi; of pilgrims when the images lirst make
thiMr appearance through the gate. They welcome
them with shouts and cries; and when the monster
luggernaut, the most hideous of all, is dragged forth,
the last in order, the air is rent with .acclamations.
After the images have been safely lodged in their
vubicles, a box is brought forth, containing the golden
or gilded feet, hands, and ears of the great idol, which
aro lixed on the proper parts with due ceremony, and
a scarlet scarf is carefully arranged round the lower
part of the body, or pedestal. The joy and shouts
of the crowd on the first movement of the cars, the
creaking sound of the wheels, as these ponderous
machines roll along, the clatter of hundreds of harsh-
sounding instruments, and the general appearance of
such an immense mass of human beings, produce an
astounding effect."
As the car moves with its monstrous idol, nund)ers
of devotees cast themselves imder its wheels, and are
instantly crushed to pieces ; widle such instances of
self-immolation are hailed witli the acclamations of
applauding thousands. The worship of this idol in
his temple exhibits only a scene of the most disgust-
ing obscenity. The temple of Juggernatli is regarded
as the most .s.aerod of all the Hindu places of worship,
and immense crowds of pilgrims resort thither an-
nually, calculated by the late Dr. Carey to amount
to 1,200,000, multitudes of whom die by the way
from want, disease, or exhaustion. At fit'ty miles'
distance, the sands are whitened with the skulls and
bones of pilgrims, who have perished before reaching
the sacred spot.
The temple of tlii-^ deity at Orissa is undoubtedly
the most cek'hrated ofall the buildings erected for his
worship, but many other shrines .sacred to Jugger-
natli are found througliout Hindustan. "As there
are numbers of sacred rivers in Indi.i," says Dr. Dutf,
" but the Ganges, from being the most sacred, has
acquired a monopoly of fame — so there are many
shrines of .luggernath in India, though the one at
i'uri, from being the largest and most venerated, han,
in like manner, acquired exclusive celebrity. In
hundreds, or rather thousands of places, where llieie
aro no temples, properly so called, there are still
images and cars of .Juggernatli, fashioned after the
model of the great prototypes at Orissa. 'I'here i.s
scarcely a large village in all liengal without its car
of .Juggernatli. In Calcutta and its neighbourhood
there are scores of them — varying in size from a few
feet lip to thirty or forty in height. What a view
imist ojiiui up to you of the fearful extent anil mag-
nitude of this destructive superstition, when you try
to realize the fact, that, on the anniver.sary occasion
of the car-festival, all the millions of liengal are in
motion ; that, when the great car at Puri is dragged
forth amid the shouts and acclamations of hundreds
of thousands assembled from all parts of India, on
the very same day, and at the very same hour, there
are hundreds of cars rolled along throughout the
widely scattered districts and cities and villages ol
the land; so that there are not merely hundiedsol
thousands, tut literally millions, simultaneously en-
gaged ill tne celebration of orgies, so stained with
licentiousness and blood, that, in the comparison, we
might almost pronounce the Hacchanalia of Greece
and Koine innocent and jnire !"
JUIILICS, a name given to aerial spirits or demons
among the Laplanders, from whom they receive a
sort of adoration, though no statues or images of them
exist. This spirit-worship is conducted under par-
ticidar trees. On Christmas Eve, and the d.iy fol
lowing, they celebrate what is called the Festival o(
the Juhles. On this occasion there is a strict absti
iienoe from animal food ; and of the articles used foi
refreshment, they carefully reserve some fragments,
which are thrown into a box made of birch, and sus-
pended from the branch of a tree behind the house,
that the spirits may have an opportunity of feasting
upon thein. Schclfer considers this festival as par-
taking partly of a Christian and partly of a I'agan
character.
JU-JU. See Fetish- Worship.
JUMALA, the supreme deity of the inhabitants
ol Lapland. He was represented by a wooden idol
in human form, seated on a sort of altar, with a crown
on his head and a bowl in liis lap, into which the
devotees threw their voluntary oblations. See L.\r'-
L.VNDERS (Kr.r.IGION Ol-').
JUMXOUTKl, a village on the banks of the rivei
Jumna, and considered by the Hindus a.s a spot o(
remarkable sanctity — Hindus who perforin the pil-
grimage to this place iVuin the low countries being
themselves almost deilled after this adventure. Along
the lianks of this river are a r.ace of Hindus who, like
the I'aisees, worship the sun. The devout among
them will on no account taste food while the orb is
above the horizon, and many are found who refuse to
sit down during the day while the sun is visible.
JUMl'KUS, a name given to those who practised
jumping or leaping as an e\e"cise of divine worship
!!66
JUNO— JUSTICERS (Itinerant).
and expressive of holy joy. This strange practice
was commenced about the year 1760 in the west-
ern part of Wales, among the followers of Han-is,
Rowland, Williams, and others, who were instru-
mental in giving rise to a serious awakening among
the people in that district. The novel custom was
disapproved by not a few of those who waited on the
ministry of tliese pious and zealous men ; but it was
seriously defended in a pamphlet published at the
time by Mr. William Williams, who is generally
termed the Welsh poet. The arguments of this
singular production were chiefly drawn from Scripture.
The practice wliich gave rise to the name of Jump-
ers, spread over a great part of Wales, and it was no
uncommon thing to find congregations when engaged
in solemn wcirship disturbed by individuals groaning,
t.ilking aloud, repeating the same words thirty or
forty times in succession ; some crying in Welsli,
glory, glory, others bawling Amen witli a loud voice,
and others still jumping until they fell down quite
exhausted. Mr. Evans, in his Sketch of the Deno-
minations of the Christian world, describes a meet-
ing among Jumpers which he himself witnessed.
" About the year 1785," says he, " I myself happened
very accidentally to be present at a meeting, which
terminated in jumpiii(i. It was held in the open air,
on a Sunday evening, near Newport, in Monmouth-
shire. The preacher was one of Lady Huntingdon's
students, who concluded his sermon with the recom-
mendation of jumping ; and to allow him the praise
of consistency, he got down from tlie chair on which
he stood, and jumped along with them. The argu-
ments he adduced for this purpose were, that David
danced before the ark — that the babe leaped in the
womb of Elizabeth — and that the man whose lame-
ness was removed, leaped and praised God for the
mercy which he had received. lie expatiated on
these topics with uncommon fervency, and then
drew the inference, that tliei/ ought to .show tn'milar
expressions of joy, for the blessings which Jesus
Christ had put into their po.ssession. He then gave
an empassioned sketch of the sufferings of the Sa-
viour, and hereby roused the passions of a few
around him into a state of violent agitation. About
tiine men and seven women, for some little time,
rocked to and fro, groaned aloud, and then jumjml
with a kind of frantic fury. Some of the audience
dew in all directions; otliers gazed on in silent
amazement ! They all gradually dispersed, except
the junijKrs, who continued their exertions from eight
in the evening to near eleven at night. I saw the
conclusion of it ; they at last kneeled down in a
circle, holding each other by the band, while one of
them prayed with great fervour, and then all rising
up from olV their knees, departed, liut previous to
their dispersion, they wildly pointed up towards the
sky, and reminded one another that they should
soon meet thei'C, and be never again separated ! I
quitted the spot with astonishmenl." Such scenes as
that now described could only have occurred among
people of a warm, fervid, enthusiastic temperamenl
whose feelings had been wrought up to a high pitch
of religious excitement.
JUNO, a heal lien goddess regarded by the an-
cient Romans as the Queen of Heaven. She cor-
responds to the IIi:ra (which see) of the Greeks
This female divinity was worshipped at Rome from
very early times, and at a later period she had a
temple reared to her honour on the Aventine hill.
She was the special protector and patron of the fe-
male sex, and presided over all connected with mar-
riage. Women sacrificed to her on their birth-day,
but more especially at the festival of the Mutronaliu,
on the 1st of March. The month of June, which
received its name from this goddess, was considered
in ancient times as a particularly .suitable period for
marriage. A law was passed at Rome in the reign
of Numa, that no prostitute .should be allowed to
touch the altar of Juno, and if she did happen to
touch it, that she should appease the oft'eiuled god-
dess by oft'ering a female lamb in sacrifice.
JUPITER, the lord of heaven among the ancient
Romans, who jiresided over all celestial phenomena,
such as thunder, rain, hail, and all atmospheric
changes. He was the hu.sband of Juno (which
see.) When the people wished for rain, they di-
rected their prayers to Jupiter. He was regarded
.as the best and greatest of the gods, and therefore
his temple occupied a conspicuous position on the
summit of the Capitoline hill. He was the special
guardian and protector of Rome ; hence the first offi-
cial act of a consul was to sacrifice to this god, and a
general who had been successful in the field offered
up his special thanks to Jupiter. The Roman games
and Ferioe were celebrated in his honour. All hu-
man events were under the control of this deity, and,
accordingly, Jupiter was invoked at the commence-
ment of any undertaking, whether sacred or secular.
Rams were sacrificed to Jujiiter on the ides of everj
month, and in the beginning of every week. He
was the guardian of law, and the patron of justice
and virtue. The white colour was sacred to him,
and white animals were sacrificed to propitiate him.
The Jupiter of the Romans was identical with the
yieus of the Greeks, and the Ainmmi of the Egyp-
tians.
JUSTICE, an essential attiibute of the Divine
Being as he is described in the Word of God, where
we are informed that he is "just and true in all his
ways," as well as " holy in all his works." This
moral attribute of Deity has been distinguished into
absolute and relative, universal and ))arlicular. The
one refers to the absolute rectitude of his nature, the
other to his character and actings as a moral gover-
nor. The one, therefore, regards what he is in Inm-
self, the other what ho is in relation to his creatures.
JUSTICERS (Itinkhant), ofliccrs appointed by
Richard Cceur de Lion, king of England, to watch
over the interests of the Jews resident within the
kingdom. They were instructed to protect the He
JUTURNA— KAAliA.
251
Drews against all oijpiession, to secure them in tlieii'
interests anil prnjii'ily, to (leciile all controversies or
(]iiarrols between llii'iri iuiil the Clirislians, to keep
tlio seal of llieir corporal ion, and the keys ol' their
public treasury. The .luslicers. in short, were (o
superintend the civil alliiirs of the ,)ews throughout
all parts of England.
JUTIJKNA, the nymph of a well in J.,atiimi, the
water of which wa.s considered so [leculiarly sacrefl,
that it was used in almost all sacrilices. A chapel
was dedicated to this nymph at ifnme in the Campus
iMartius, and sacrilices were ofVered to her on 11th
■lanuary hoth by the state and hy private iiidiviilualK
.lUVKNTAS. See lli:i.i:.
K
KAAH.\, a building at Mecca, in Arabia, wbicli
has long been famed as tlie annual resort of mul-
titudes of iMohannnedan pilgrims. The legendary
history of its origin is curious. When Adam .and
Kve were driven out of I'aradise, Adam fell on the
mountain in Ceylon which is still known by tlie
name of .\dam's Peak, where the print of Adam's
foot is still shown ; and the mountain is regardeil as
sacred both by the Rudhists and Mohammedans,
Hve, on the other hand, fell on the shore of the Ited
Sea, where the fort of Jeddah now stands, and the
tomb of Eve, at the gate of the town, is one of the
sacred places to be visited in the Hadj. For two
lumdred years our lirst parents are said to have wan-
liered over the earth in search of each other, and at
length they met together on Mount Ararat. De-
lighted at discovering his beloved partner, Adam
lifted uj) his hands in thanksgiving to God, and im-
plored that another of the blessings he had lost might
be restored to him, namely, the shrine in Paradise at
which he had been wont to worship, and round which
the angels used to move in a<li]ring processions. His
prayer was heard, and a tabernacle formed of radiant
clouds was lowered down by the hands of angels,
towards which Adam thenceforth turned in prayer,
and walked round it daily seven times, in imitation
of the sacred processions of the angels.
When Adam died, the tabernacle of clouds was
again taken np into heaven, and another similar in
form was built of stone and clay in the .same place by
Seth, the son of Adam. The Deluge, of course,
washed this building away, and it is said to have
been rebuilt by Ishniael, assisted by bis father Ab-
raham. While engaged in rearing this building, the
angel Gabriel brought them a stone, saiil to have
been one of the precious stones of Paradise, which
they inserted in a corner of the outer wall of the
Kaaba, where it remains to this day, to be devoutlv
kissed by the Hadi or pilgrim to Mecca. The pre-
sent Kaaba is of no great antiipiity, having been
renewed no fewei than eight times, and, as far as
could he, with the old materials, a reddish .sandstone.
The singular appearance of the structure, however,
alVords strong evidence tlial it has been scriii)ulon»ly
restored after the original design. The last building
was nearly w.ashed away by a torrent which inun-
dated the town, and the present was erected so late
as lO'il by .\inurath IV. It was rebuilt before Mo-
hammed had commenceil his public career, and it it
cm-ious that he shoulil have been the person chosen
to lift the black stone into its place.
The appearance of the Kaaba is thus described by
15m-ckhardt the traveller: — "It contains but one
small apartment, then level with the ground, but now
raised so much above it, that it can only be entered
by a moveable ladder. The walls are hung with a
rich red silk, interwoven with flowers and silver in-
scriptions, which was replaced by the Pasha, and the
old hangings were cut up and sold to devotees at
enormous prices. 'J"he room is opened oidy three
days in the year, and many pilgi-ims never enter it,
for it is not obligatory : it can receive very few at a
time, and a fee is exacted, to the indignation of the
(H'vout, who regard it as desecrating the holiest spot
upon earth. It is customary to pray on entering, and
I overheard ejaculations which seemed to come from
the heart : — ' 0 God of the Koran, forgive me, my
parents, and my children, and deliver our necks from
hell tire.' The Kaaba must have a singular appear-
ance, for it is visible for no more than a fortnight,
being constantly clothed with a black damask veil,
in which pr.iyers are embroidered, and as this mate-
rial, an animal product, is unclean, it is lined with
cotton. Openings are left for the sight of the black
and while stones. Both are said to have been once
of the same colour, which the first is reported to have
lost in conscrjueiice of sin; but the surface has pro-
bably been blackened by time, aided by the kisses
and touches of a long succession of pilgrims. It is
an irregular oval, seven inches in diameter, appa-
rently a mass of smaller stones conglomerated in a
cement, and encircled by a silver baud. It is pro-
bably an aijrolite, and owes its reputation, like many
others, to its fall from the sky. This house of God,
as it is called, is said to have been first clothed by
the Hamyarite kings of Yemen, seven centuries be
2J8
KABIR PANTHIS.
fore the birtli of tlie Piopliet ; and tliese covers used
to be put on one over another, till the end of the first
century of Islam. It has since been yearly renewed,
and the old cover cut up. The privilege of clothing
it, which was assumed by Kelan, Sultan of Egypt, on
tlie conquest of that country by Selim, passed over
to liim and his successors. An adequate idea of the
building may be formed from the views in Reland
;iud Sale, and especially that in D'Ohson's work. It
stands in an oblong square 250 paces by 200, but as
it has been enlarged, it no longer occupies the centre.
It is nearly enclosed by a circle of slight pillars at a
little distance, around which are the four stations for
the orthodox sects."
The Mohammedans generally believe that if all
the pilgrims were at the same moment to visit the
Ivaaba, the enclosure would contain them all. Burck-
hardt calculates that 35,000 might attend, but he
never could count more of them than 10,000.
IvABIR PANTHIS, the followers, among the
Hindus, of Kabir, whom they allege to have been the
incarnate Deity, who, in the form of a child, was
foimd floating on a lotus in a lake or pond near
Benares, by tlie wife of a weaver named Nima, who,
with her husband Nuri, was attending a wedding
procession. The Kabir I'anthis believe tliat their
founder was present in the world three hundred years,
or from A. D. 1149 to A. n. 1449. The probability
is, that he lived at the latter of these two periods,
more especially as Nanak Sliah, who began to teach
about A. D. 1490, and who originated the Hindu sect
of the SlMis, is considered to have been deeply in-
debted to the writings of his predecessor Kabir.
The Moslems claim Kabir as having been a professor
of the faith of Islam, and a contest is said to have
arisen between them and the Hindus respecting the
disposal of his corpse, the latter insisting on burning,
the former on burying it. In the midst of this dis-
pute, Kabir himself is said to have appeared, and
desiring them to look under the cloth supposed to
cover his mortal remains, immediately vanished ; but,
on obeying his instructions, they found nothing under
the cloth but a heap of (lowers, one-half of which
was removed to l>eiiares, and burnt, whilst the head
of the Moli.ammedan party erected a tomb over flie
other portion at tlie place where Kabir had died.
The Kdhir Pantliis being chiefly favourers of
Vishnu, are iricludod among the Vaishnava sects ;
but it is no part of their faith to worship any Hindu
deity, or to observe any of the riles or ceremonies of
the Hindus, whether orthodox or schismatical. Those
ot the members of the sect who mingle with the world,
confonn outwardly to all the usages of their tribe and
caste, and some of them even pretend to worship the
Hindu gods, though this is not considered consistent
with their tenets. Those, however, who have retired
from the world, and given themselves up to a life of
seclusion, abslaiii from all the onlinary practices of
the Hindus, and employ themselves chiefly in chant-
ing hymns to the invisible Kabir. They use no
Mantra nor fixed form of salutation ; they have no
peculiar mode of address. The frontal marks, if
worn, are usually those of the Vaishuuva sects, or
they make a streak with sandal-wood or gopichandana
along the ridges of the nose. A necklace and rosai')'
of Tidasi are also worn by them ; but all these out-
ward signs are considered of no importance, and the
inward man is the only essential point to be attended
to.
Professor II. II. Wilson thus explains some of the
characteristic doctrines of the Kabir Panthis: — "They
admit of but one God, the creator of the world ; and
in opposition to the Vedanta notions of the absence
of every quality and form, they assert that he has
body, formed of the five elements of matter, and that
he has mind endowed with the three Guiias, or qua-
lities of being ; of course of inefl'able purity and irre-
sistible power : he is free from the defects of human
nature, and can assume what particular shape he
will : in all other respects he does not difftr from
man, and the pure man, the Sddh of the Kabir sect,
is his living resemblance, and after death is his asso-
ciate and equal; he is eternal, without end or begin-
ning, as, in fact, is the elementary matter of which
lie Consists, and of which all things are made, residing
in himliefore they took their present form, as the
parts of the tree abide in the seed, or flesh, blood,
and bone may be considered to be present in the
seminal fluid : from the latter circumstance, and the
identity of their essenti.al nature, proceeds the doe-
trine, that God and man are not only the same, but
that they are both in tlie same manner, every thing
that lives and moves and has its being: other sects
have adopted these phrases literally, but the followers
of Kabir do not mean by them to deny the indivi-
duality of being, and only intend these tests as asser-
tions of all nature originally participating in common
elementary principles." " The moral code of the
Kabir Panthis," says the same eminent Orientalist,
"is short, but, if observed faithfully, is of a rathev
favourable tendency. Life is the gift of God, and
must not, therefore, be violated by his creatures.
Humanity is, consequently, a cardinal virtue, and
the shedding of blood, whether of man or animal, a
heinous crime. Truth is the other great principle
of llieir code, as all the ills of the world, and igno-
rance of God, are attribulable to origiiiid falsehood.
Retirement from (he world is desirable, because the
passions and desires, the hopes and fears, which the
social state engenders, are all hostile to lrau(|uillii v
and puri(y of spirit, and prevent (hat undisturbed
meditation on man and (Sod which is necessary to
their comprehension. The last great point is the
usual sum and substance of every sect amongst the
Hindus, implicit devotion in word, act, and thought
to the Guru, or spiritual guide: in this, however, the
characteristic spirit of the Kabir Panthis appe.irs, iind
(he pupil is enjoined (o scrutinize his teaclier's doc-
trines and acts, and to be first satisfied that he is tlu
sage he pretends to be, before he resigns him df ti
TvADR (Ai,)— K'AI-'l'llIS fliij.rcKiN of tuk).
259
liis control. This sect, indeed, is rcin.irkably liberal
Ml this respect, and the most fre(iuciitly reeurriii;;
I(!xt8 of Kabir are those which enforce an attentive
examination of the doctrine that he otVers to his
disciples, 'riie chief of each comnuniity has absohile
authority over his de|ieiidants: tlu^ only piniishinents
he can award, however, are moral, not physical —
n'rofjnlar comluct is visited by reproof and admoni-
tion : if the oll'ender does not reform, the (lin-ii
refuses to receive his salutation; if still inein-able,
the only finthcr inlliclinn is (expulsion fmni the
fraternity."
The sect of Kaliir I'.inthis is very wiilely dilVnscd
throughout Hindustan. It is siilit into a variety of
subdivisions, and there are actually twelve branches
of it traced up to the foinider, among whom a dif-
ference of opinion as well as descent prevails. Of
he establishments of this sect, the Kabir Chaiu'a at
Benares is pre-eminent in dignity, and it is constantly
visited by wandering members of the .sect. The
Kabir Panthis are very numerous in all the provinces
of Upper and Central India, excejit, perhaps, in
Ikng.al itself. Their doctrines are taught in a great
variety of works in diU'erent di.alects of India ; but
the great authority to which they are wont to refer
IS the Vijek, which, however, rather inveighs .against
other systems than explains its own.
KADR (Ai,), the title of the ninety-seventh chap-
.er of the Koran, which contains an account of God's
tending down the Kor.an to Mohannned from heaven.
Hence it represents God as saying, "The night of
W Ka(h' is better than a thousand months." Mo-
hammedan doctors are by no means agreed what
night Al Kadr really is, but the majority of them
consider it to be one of the ten last nights of the
Ramadan. They believe that in this night the
divine decrees for the ensuing 3-e,ar are annually fixed
and settled.
KAFFIRS (Rp.r.iGiox or Tin:). The word Kaffir,
which signifies unbeliever, is now confined to the in-
habitants of KafTnland, in South Africa. It was
given, however, by the Moorish navigators of the
Indian Oce.an to the inh<abifants of the south-eastern
coast of Africa, and was borrowed from them by the
Portuguese. The Kaftirs form one tribe of the great
Rechuana family, and their country, which lies be-
yond the Fish River, is bounded by the oce.an on the
south, and a range of mountains on the north, .and
beyond them lie the Amapondo and Zoolu tribes.
The Kaflirs are in personal apiiearance a remarkably
handsome race of men, bolil and warlike in their
character, of lofty stature and graceful deportment.
They wear no clothing but a clniik of skin. They
are a pastoral people, and their Hocks .and herds
constitute their chief care. They have been gene-
rally alleged to be altogether destitute of a form of
religion of any kind, and th.at the utmost which can
De said of them in this respect is, that they ret.ain
a few unmeaning rites .and ceremonies of a supersti-
tious kind. It is of importance, however, to remark,
that, for fifty years past, the Kaflirs have been in
contact with Christian missionaries and colonistH, and
thus have been learning something about God; so
that it is now dillicult to distingui.sh between tlicir
former ami their present knowledge. .Mr. .MofTat
says that they are utterly destitute of theological
ideas. Dr. Vamlerkemp, the first missionary who
labocned among them, gives this testimony as to the
extent of tluur religious knowledge: — " If iiy religiori
we mean reverence for God, or the external action
by which that reverence is expressed, 1 never conld
perceive that they had any religion, or any idea o(
the existence of {!od. 1 am sjieaking nationally, for
there are many individuals who h,ave some notion oi
bis existence, which they have received from .adjacent
nations. A decisive proof of the truth of what I
here say with respect to the n.ational .atheism of the
Kaliirs is, that they have no word in their language
to express the idea of the Deity, the individuals just
mentioned calling him 'Thiko, which is a corruption
of the name by which God is called in the language
of the Hottentots, literally signifying, one that in-
duces pain."
We learn, however, from .Mr. Mofi'at, who has
laboured for many years as a missionary in South
Al'rica, that the K.aftirs use the word UliUnnjaio de-
note the Supreme Being; but the lirob.ahilily is, that
the god whom they describe by this name is no other
than a deified chief or hero, who at some remote
period had aft.ained distinction in their country.
Their ideas of the most elementary religions truths
are undoubtedly obscure and indistinct, and yet they
have some superstitious rites which deserve to be
noticed. Mr. Laing, a mission.ary now labouring in
Kaflirland, has kindly connnunicated to us .an accounl
of their present customs, which we present in his
own words: — " 1. Circumcision. Young men are
circumcised about the age of puberty. I could never
observe anything of a religious nature connected wiih
this custom. When the rite is performed, the young
men are separated from society, and paint themselves
white. A hut is made for them, and they live a few
months apart from the rest of the people ; but at the
various kr.aiils from which they come, dances from
time to time are held, the young men being p.ainted
white, and dressed in a short kilt m.ade of the leaves
of a particular tree, which are kept const<antly shaking
by the motions of the body. AVhen the term of sepa-
ration comes to an end, the young men, .after burning
their clothes .and hut, and performing certain washings,
are .admitted into the society of men, and treated as
such. This seems to fix the Kaffir circumcision as a civil
rite. A person who liJis not been circumcised, though
a man by years, was formerly, and in heathen dis-
tricts is still, despised. A number of Christian young
men, who left ofV the custom of circumcision so far
as I know, are able to maintain a respectable position
in life even in the eyes of their he.athen neighbours,
though uncircumcised. There .are immoial practices
connected with the dances which, not to speak of the
260
KAIOMORTS— KALI (Maha).
apostolic letter which frees us from this burden,
render this custom incompatible with Christianity.
" 2. Tsivivane. Any traveller going throu-h Katfir-
land, will see here and there heaps of stones thrown
down, without any reference to order. Some of these
heaps are large, indicating, I tliink, that the Katfirs
must have been a considerable time in possession of
tlie country. What are these Tsivivane? They are
lasting proofs tliat the Kaflirs sought success in their
enterprises from some unseen being. When out on
a journey, they were accustomed to throw a stone to
one of these Tsivivane, and to pray for success in
their expedition. They could, however, give no de-
finite account of the nature of the being from whom
they sought aid. Along the paths it is not uncom-
mon to see the tall grass knotted. This I understand
to be a custom similar to the Tsivivane, viz., a means
of seeking good speed in their journey.
" 3. Witchcraft. In common with many, perliaps
all nations in some period of their history, the Kaffirs
believe in witchcraft, and have been in tlie habit of
punishing witches in the most cruel manner. They
looked on these characters as the most wicked of
maidvind, and not fit to live. I never could find that
they had a correct idea of the general depravity of
man, and their view of sin is best explained by our
word crime. They would often deny that they had
sin, but as to witches being sinners they never had a
doubt. They connected the eH'ects of witchcraft with
certain substances, such as hair, blood, nail-parings,
or other fragments of the human body, and this thing
which bewitclied tliey called Ubuti. Other sub-
stances were u.sed, as they held, for the purpo.se of
bewitching. These witches (I mean the word to be
applied to men and women) were believed to exert
a powerful though unseen influence over their vic-
tims, even to the depriving them of life.
" 4. Idini — Sacrifice. This rite is performed to the
ancestors of the Kaffirs, not to the Supreme Being.
They .seem to think that by burning fat, or rather
bones to them, they can appease their anger. Thesi'
Minis, so far as I know, were seldom oft'ered. The
idea of sacrifice seems to be comiected with them, as
they were practised for the purpose of averting evil.
" 5. Hero worship. I have heard an intelligent
man, yet a rude heathen, avowing that he and his
peojde were worshippers of famous ancestors. There
must have been some traces of such idolatry, fn>ni
what I have heard; but this kind of worship ap))e.u>
to have been dying out about llie time the mission
aries arrived.
" G. Future state. When we .spoke to the Kaffirs
as to the innnorlality of the soul, they told us th.'U
they knew nothing of its existence after the death of
the body. From some exj)ressions which they make
use of to the dying, or in reference to them after they
are dead, it seems that at one time they must have
believed in the inmiorlalily of the soul. For exam|ile,
to a person who is aI)out to die they will s.ay, ' 'I'nu
are going home to day — look on us
'■ 7. Hy touching a dead body, they become iin
clr.-lll.
" H. When a husband dies, bis wife or wives gc
out to the field or woods for a time."
From all tliat can be ascertained on the religion oi
the Kaffirs, it seems that those of them who are still
in their heathen state have no idea, (1.) of a Supreme
Intelligent Ruler of the universe ; (2.) of a Sabbath ;
(.'5.) of a day of judgment ; (4.) of the guilt and
pollution of sin ; (5.) of a Saviour to deliver them
from the wrath to come.
KAIOMOUTS,the primitive man, according to the
Zendavesta, of the ancient Persians. See Abf.sta.
KALA (Maiia), the male form of the Hindu god
Shiva, in his character of Time, the great destroyer
of all things.
KALENDERS (pure gold), wandering Dei-viuhe-^
among the Mohammedans, whose souls are supposed
to be piu-ified by severe penances. To this degraded
class belong the spies, the assassins, and the plun-
derers that we read nf among tlie Dervishes; and
from tbem also have sprung numerous false prophets
at different times. Their pretensions, however, are
encouraged only by the lowest ranks of society, and
they are not acknowledged as brethren by the mem-
bers of the regular confraternities. In India these
Mussulman mctKlicants are not numerous, and thev
ai'e held in little esteem. They wear in that country
a peculiar costume, consisting of a conical felt hat
worked into chequers of white, red, and black ; and
their gown, which descends from the neck to the call
of the leg, is of diamond-shaped patches of the same
colours. A few gourds for earn-ing water are bung
over the shoulder or at the waist; and usually i)
bright steel rod, sometimes headed with a trident,
completes their equipment. They never marry, but
are of habits exceedingly dissolute and debauched,
and are always most sturdy and importunate beggars.
They regard themselves as olijccts of the special
favour of Heaven.
KALI (i\lA)iA), a Hindu goddess, the persoiulled
energy or consort of Shiva imder a peculiar form.
This is the most cruel arid revengefid of all the
Hindu divinities. Such is her thirst for blood, that
in one of her forms she is represented as having
" actually cut her own throat, that the blood issuing
thence might spout into her mouth." Images of this
disgusting spectacle are at this day to be seen in
some districts of Bengal. All torlmvs which a de-
votee can possibly inflict upon himself are considered
as agreeable to her. If he should cut ofi' a portion
(pf bis own flesh, and present it as a burnt sacrifice,
the offering would be most acceptable. Ur. Diifl
informs us that " by the blood drawn from lishesand
tortoises tlie goddi-ss is jjleased one month ; a croco-
dile's bhjod will please her three; that of certain
wild .animals nine; that of a bull or guana a year;
an antelope or wild boar's twelve years ; a butlalo's,
rhinoceros's, or tiger's, a hundred ; a lion's, a rein-
deer's, or a man's (mark the combination), a thousand
KALI-AGB— KANTlANfJ.
261
Hut by tlie blood of tliree men slain in Bacrilicc bIig
is pleaseil a liiiinlreil llK>ll^aIlll yt^ars." Kolibers,
(liii!Ves, anil niunliMciH, lawless dt'siicrailocs, in slioit,
of every kind, wurslii]! Kali an tlieiravowud |)atnine.s«,
and ollbr bloody nacrilices to (H'opitiatu the Cavoiii'
and secure Ibe proteclion of I be goddess. Tbe
Thii(j«, in partieular, conduct tlieir sanguinary de|jre-
dalions under lier s[iccial auspices. In bonour of
Kdli, one of tlic most popular of tbe Hindu festivals
is annually observed willi great pomp and ceremony
— tbe CllARAK I'u.lAll (wliicb see), or swinging fes
tival. Private sacrilices are sometimes olVered to
Kali, .an instance of wliicb is (pioted by Dr. Dull',
from tbe statement ol' a llritisb oliicer of liigb cliar-
acter: — " A Hindu Fa(|uir, dressed in a fantastical
garb, worked upon tlic mind of a wealtby Iiigb-caste
lirabnian woman, to tbe extent of making ber believe
tbat be was ber s]iiritual guide, ebargcd willi a nies-
.sage from tbe goddess, demanding a bnman sacrilice.
Sbe declared berself ready to obey tbe divine order,
and asked wbo was tlio victim. Tbe Faquir pointed
to ber own son, a young man about twenty-five years
old, tbe beir to tbe family property. Tbe deluded
motber waited till tbe unconscious youtb was asleep,
and in tbe silence of tbe nigbt slio struck liim on tbe
bead witb an axe, and killed liim. Tbis done, sbe
tut up llio body, inider tbe direction of ber siiiritual
guide, tlie Faquir — presented a part, boiled witb rice,
as a peace otl'ering, witb tbe usual ceremonies, to tbe
image of tbe goddess ; part to tbe wretcb wbo per-
Bouitied tbe spiritual messenger: tlie rest sbe buried
witb so little care, tliat tbe place of its deposit was
discovered by tbe vidtures bovering over tbe ground,
and tbus brougbt to tlie notice of tbe Englisb com-
inissioner by tbe police."
KALI-YIJG, tbe last of tbe cbronological cycles
of tbe Hindus, tbrougli wbicb tbe world is said to be
lit present passing, wben tbe powers of darkness and
disorder liave become predominant in tbe soul of man,
and when external nature groans beneath the burden
o}' iniquity.
KALUv.V I'UUAXA, one of tbe divine writings
of the Hindus, which is chieHy devoted to a recital
of tlie ditVerent modes of worshipping and appeasing
the goddess Kai.i (which see).
KALKI AVATAR, the tenth and last of the
AvATAUS (which see), when Vishnu, in human form
and seated on a white horse, shall give the signal for
the destruction of tbis visible universe.
KALl'A, in Hindu chronology, a day oi Brahiixi,
equal to four thousand three hundred and twenty
millions of golar years.
IvAMAC, the god of love among the Hindus.
KAMIMITSI. t^ee Sintoi.sts."
KAMlSIiNIO, a garment of ceremony among the
Japanese, worn on festivals and other solemn occa-
sions. It consists of two parts, a short cloak, with-
out sleeves, called katageno, and a sort of petticoat
called valcama, fastened about the waist by a band.
ISoth arc of a particular form, and of coloured stufl's.
They are used only on days of ceremony and at
funerals.
KAMT.SCHADALK.S (KDi.KiiuN ok). See SilA-
MAMSTS.
KAMYlI-MUiajMJ (desire for death), modes
of suicide formerly prescribed in the i^haBlras or
Sacred Kooks of the Hindus. Tbe commonest mode
is drowning in tbe Ganges, but somctiineB the self-
murderer submits to being buried alive. In certain
tenqiles in India there was formerly an instrument
by which a pcM'son could decapitate himself. It con-
sisted of a sharp crescent- shaped inslrinnent, witb a
chain and Hiirriip at each horn. Tbe devotee placed
the sliarji edge on tbe back of his neck, and his feet
in the stirru|i8, then gave a violent jerk witb bis
legs, and bis bead was instantly severed from his
body.
KAN'CHICLIVAS, a sect of Hindus which is said
to be not uncommon in the south of India, and whose
worship is tbat of Siiltii, tbe personilicd energy of the
divine nature in action. It is said to be distinguished
by one peculiar rite, the object of which is to con-
found all tbe ties of female alliance, and to enforc»
not oidy a community of women amongst tbe votaries,
but disregard even to natural restraints.
KANTIANS, .1 sect of German thinkers in tbe
last century, who adopted the philosophical principles
of iMnmanuel Kant. Tbis eminent philosopher was
born at Kcinigsberg in 1724. His mind early dis-
played a taste for the study of abstract truth, which
rendered bini so conspicuous in tbis department, thai,
while yet a coinparati\ely young man, be was ap-
pointed ])rofessor of logic and metaphysics in tbe
university of bis native town. In the course of a
long life, be made such valuable discoveries in ab-
stract science, that be gave rise to a new school of
German philosophy, tbe influence of which has ex-
tended down to tbe present day. Tbe work in which
he first developed his own jieeuliar principles was bis
' Critique of I'ure Reason,' which be published in
1781, following it np by various other treatises ex-
planatory of bis jdiilosophical ."iystein in its ditl'creni
bearings.
The Kantian pbiIoso|ihy was designed, in the iirst
instance, to meet and to neutralize tbe sceptical
principles set forth by David Hume, who, by attempt-
ing to trace all truth to experience, unsettled the
foundations of bnman knowledge. Tbe philosoplicr
of Kijnigsberg, however, showed that, independently
altogether of experience, there are a ^Wor; principles
which originate solely from the operation of tbe mind
itself, and are distinct from any sensible element.
Thus Kant pointed out the very important distinction
between a priori m\d a posteriori knowledge.
Another distinction of great importance was tirsi
clearly developed by Kant, that, namely, between
analytic and synthetic judgments. In the fomier, as
be showed, the attribute or predicate is necessarily
contained in tbe sulject ; while in the latter it is not
contained in, but is distinct from tbe subject. The
2G2
ICANTIANS.
foniierjudgments, therefore, are a pn'on, and tlie latter
iire some of them a f/cwri and others a posteriori. Hu-
man knowledge, according to this system, is composed
of two elements, the empirical or a jmsteriori element,
and the transcendental ora^»v'ori element, which is de-
rived from theintelhgence. In the Kantian philosophy
there are three faculties: Perception, which has to
Jo with single objects; Understanding with notions;
and Reason with ideas. Time and space are the
universal forms of things. Understanding thinks
and judges according to certain categories which are
not in the objects, but in the mind itself. Reason
has the ideas, universe, soul, Ciod ; but, as Kant be-
lieved, the existence of these ideas cannot be proved.
Dr. Kahnis gives a rapid sketch of the Kantian prin-
ciples in these words: — "The human mind has, in
its a priori medium, forms to which miiversality and
necessity belong (in opposition to scepticism), but
only a subjective one ; but it cainiot claim to know
objective being — the thing in itself (in opposition to
dogmatism). If, then, our theoretical reason must
allow the things external to it not to be cognizable,
practical reason has a firm, iinmoveable ground. It
demands, with absolute necessity {categorical impe-
rative) : Act as a general being, i.e., as a inember of
the universe, as a rational being. But man has within
himself desires, the common aiin and object of which
is the gratification of self. While practical reason
.'iays. Act as a general rational being, the desires say,
Act as a particular being, in an arbitrary way. lie
only is virtuous who, in his actions, is not determined
by desires, but by reason. But virtue would be
without a sphere, unless objects of action were
brought to it by the desires. The territory of virtue,
and that of desires, mutually require one another.
Now, it is here that the idea of God, which was given
up on the territory of pure reason, obtains its right
as a postulate of practical reason. The domain of
virtue, and that of desires, are heterogeneous worlds,
but yet ordained for one another. Hence there must
be a power which has harmonized both of these do-
mains, and that power is God. As virtue does not
reach the highest good in this world, which highest
good consists in the unity of that which reason and
the desires seek after, i.e., worthiness ami happiness,
this ideal must needs be realised in another life after
death. The theological results of his criticism, Kant
has developed in his ' Religion within the limits of
reason.' He rejects any staml-point which places
itself ill opposition to the positive in Christianity
(naturalism), but is in favour of a ration.al faith
(ratiomili.im) connecting itself with it. Tliis connec-
tion he gained by changing, by means of an allego-
rical exposition, the doctrine of the Scriptures and
the Church into moral religion."
Thus Kant held that pure reason has no power to
make any certain .statement concerning supernatural
truths, and that the existence of God, liberty, and
iimiiortality, are postulates of practical reason. Thus
it was that Rutionaliim, which from that time formed
a constant opposition to Snpra-naturolism, had i(»
origin in the critical philosophy of Kant, wliich
limited itself within an order of ideas purely subjec-
tive, from which it could not iind an outlet without
having recourse to practical reason, whicli again was
founded on ideas drawn from speculative reason.
Religion, in the view of Kant, consists in this, that
in reference to all our duties, we consider God the
legislator, who is to be reverenced by all. He com-
bated the idea that reason is competent to decide
what is, and what is not, revealed. He introduced the
systein of moral interpretation according to which
Scripture ought to be explained, apart from itn
original historical meaning, in such a manner as is
likely to prove beneficial to the moral condition ol
the people.
The opinions of Kant on the subject of the Divine
existence are thus noticed by Hagenbach in his
' History of Doctrines :' — " In his opinion the exist-
ence of God can be proved on speculative gromids
only in a threefold manner; either by the physico-
theological, or the cosmological, or the ontological
argument. These are the only modes of argumenta-
tion, nor is it possible that there should be more.
The ontological proof is not admissible, because its
advocates confound a logiciU predicate with a real.
' A hundred real dollars do not contain anything
more than a hundred possible. . . . But in reference
to my property, a hundred real dollars are more than
the mere idea of that sum {i.e., of its possibihty).'
..." The idea of a Supreme Being is in many
respects a very profitable idea ; but because it is a
mere idea, it cannot by itself enlarge our knowledge
of that which exists;' for ' a man might as well in-
crease his knowledge by mere ideas, as a merchant
augment his property by adding some ciphers to the
sum-total on his books.' In opposition to the cos-
mological proof, he urged that its advocates promise
to show us a new way, but bring us back to the old
(ontological) proof, because their argument is also
founded on a dialectic fiction. In reference to the
physico-theological proof he said, ' This argument is
always deserving of oiu' respect. It is the earliest,
clearest, and most adapted to common sense. It
eidivens the study of nature, from which it also de-
rives its existence, and through which it obtains new
vigour. It shows to us an object and a design where
we should not have discovered them b}' independent
observation, and enlarges our knowdedge of nature by
making us acquainted with a particular unity whose
principle is above nature. But this knowledge exerts
a reacting inlluence upon its cause, viz., the idea
from which it derives its origin, and so confirms tiie
belief in a supremo Creator, that it becomes an irre
sistihle conviction. Nevertheless this argument can-
not secure apodictical certainty; at the utmost it
might prove the existence of a builder of the world,
but not that of a creator of the world. Morality and
a degree of happiness corresponding to it are the two
elements constituting the supreme good. But the
KAI'ALIKA -KARENS (Keligion or;.
203
virtuous do not always attain it. There must, tliere-
fnre, |je a compcnsatiim in llie world to come. At
I lie same lime tlKTc must be a lieinL,' tliat |)ussesseH
Iwtli tile rcqiiisile iMlelliguuec and llie will to biin;^
'tbout tliis conipensation. llenee tlio existence of
(Jod is a poslidate of praetical reason.'"
Kant held the doctrine of innate evil in in.ui, but
be did not under.stand by it original sin in the sense
in which that expression is used by theologians gene-
rally. Ill his opinion the Scriptural narrative of
.Ydam's fall is only a symliol, which ho explains
according to the iirinciples of moral interpretation.
The proposition, " Man is by nature wicked," he
explains as meaning simply, " lie is wicked because
he belongs to the human race." Hence he comes to
the conclusion, "That which man, considered from
the moral point of view, is, or is to be, whether good
or bad, depemls on his own actions." In connection
with the doctrine of original sin, Kant maintaini'd
the restoration of man by means of his liberty. To
reach this end, man stands in inicd of an ideal, which
is presented to him in the Scriptural doctrine con-
cerning Christ, whom ho regards as the personified
idea of the good principle. The idea has its seat in
our reason; for the practical purposes of an example
being given, a character is sullicicnt which rcsendjles
the idea as much as possible.
Kant considered the death of Christ as having
only a .symbolico-moral significance, and he main-
tained that man must, after all, deliver himself. '■ A
substitution, in the proper sense of that word," .'■'ays
he, " caimot take place. It is ini[iossiblo that liabi
lities should be transmissible, like debts. Neither
does the amendment of our life pay off former debts.
Thus man would have to expect an infinite punish-
meut on account of the infinite guilt which he has
contracted. Nevertheless the forgiveness of sin i.^
possible. For inasnuich as, in consequence of the
contrast existing between moral perfection and ex
ternal hapjiiness, he who amends his conduct has to
undergo the same sufferings as he who perseveres in
his evil course, and the former bears those suli'eririgs
with a dignified mind, on account of good, he will-
ingly submits to them as the punishment due to his
former sins. In a physical aspect he continues the
same man, but, in a moral aspect, he has become a
new man ; thus the latter suffers in the room of the
former. But that which takes place in man himself',
as an internal act, is manifested in the person of
Christ (the Sou of God) in a visible manner, as the
personified idea; that wliich the new man fakes upon
himself, while the old man is dying, is set forth in
the representative of mankind as that death which he
Butfered once for all."
In regard to the mode of man's deliverance from
sin, Kant held that man possesses the power of
amending his conduct by his own efiorts, and at the
same time he plainly states in his ' Religion within
the Boundary of Pure Reason' — " The moral culture
of man must not commence with the amendment of
his conduct, but with a complete cliangc of IiIh mude
of thinking and the establishment of bis character."
The importance of faith was also maiiitaineil by the
Kijiiigsberg pliilosopher, but he made a distinction
between failh in the doctrines of the chinch and the
faith of religiim ; tiiat is, in bis view, llie religion ol
reason, ascriljing only to the latter an influence upon
morality, lie pointed out the importance and necK?-
sify of a society ba.sed upon moral principles, or the
esfablishment of the kingdom of God upon earth,
which he viewed in no higher than a merely moral
a.-'pect.
The philosophy of Kant was completely o|iposed
to the boasted piinciides of llbiminism, which had
dilfused themselves so widely in Germany towards
the middle of the eighteenth century. Variom
writers, accordingly, among whom may be mentioned
I'jbei'hai'd and .Mendelssohn, hastened to protest
•■igainst the Kantian doctrines. A large circle of
pupils, however, gathered around the sage of Kiinigs-
berg, and, in their enthusiasm, they eagerly sought
to make the abstract doctrines of their masler intel-
ligible and agreeable to the public mind. But the
most inlluential organ of the new philosoiihy was the
'Jenaischc Ijitcraturzeitung,' or Jena Literary Ga-
zette, edited by Schiitz. Nor was the admiration ol
I he Kantian .system confined to literary circles; the
iheologians also expounded its doctrines from the
puljiit, and the whole country rang with the praises
of Kant. Accordingly, the R.-lTfO.N.\LlSTS (which
see), who had arisen out of the Kanliaiis, soon be
came a numerous and influential class in Germany,
placing human reason far above divine revelation,
and bringing down the theology of Heaven to a
level with the weak and erring fancies of men.
KAl'ALIKA, a sect of Hindus who, seven or
eight centuries ago, sacrificed hum;m victims to Kali,
and other hideous personifications of the SaLti of
S/iiva. The Kopalilca is thus described in one of the
Hindu records : " His body is smeared with ashes
from a funeral pile, around his neck hangs a string of
human skulls, his forehead is streaked with a black
line, his hair is woven into the matted braid, his
loins are clothed with a tiger's skin, a hollow skul'
is in his left band for a cup, and in his right he
carries a bell, which he rings incessantly, exclaiming
aloud, //(/.' Samb/tu B/iuinira — Ho! lord of A'k//."
K.\.riLA, a celebrated Hindu sage, supposed by
many of his followers to have been an incarnation of
Deity. He was the founder of the Sankhya school
of philosophy. See S.\XKHV.\ Systkm.
K.VRA LINGIS, a sect of Hindu ascetics, found
only occasionally among the most ignorant portions
of the community. They wander up and down in a
state of uudity, and are professed worsliippere of
Sliii'ii.
KARAITES. See Caraites.
ILVRENS (Rkligion of). The Karens are a
race of aboriginal inhabitants of the hilly jiarts in thf
south and east of Burmah. Numbers of tliHin are f
■25i
KAlvEXS (KuLiGioN ui\)
be found also in Siam and Laos. Tliey are a quiet,
intelligent people, living chiefly by iigiiciilture. The
first notice of this interesting race is found in tlie
travels of Marco Polo, in the fourteenth century.
The Kev. E. Kincaid, who visited them so recently
as 1837, fells us tliat they regard themselves as the
first and most extensive of all the races in the world.
It is a curious fact, that in their oral songs are to be
found remarkable traditions in reference to the crea-
tion of the world and of the human race, the apos-
tasy of man, the loss of divine knowledge, and pro-
mises in reference to their future enliglitenment ; all
of them beautifully accordant with the Mosaic records.
" When America," says Mr. Kincaid, " was inha-
bited only by savages, and our ancestors in Britain
and Germany were dwelling in the rudest tents, and
clothed witli the skins of beasts, and, in dark forests
of oak, practising the most cruel and revolting forms
of heathenism, the Karens stood firm in the great
truth of one eternal God, the Creator of all things,
and the only rightful object of adoration. From age
to age, they chanted songs of praise to Jehovah, and
looked, as their songs directed, towards the setting
sun, from whence white men were to come with the
f/ood book, and teach them the worship of the living
God. Buddlrism, claiming to embody all science
and literature, and all tliat pertains to the physical
and moral world — propounding a system of morals
admirably suited to carry the understanding, while it
fosters tlie pride and arrogance and selfishness so
deeply seated in fallen humanity — reaching back in
its revelations through illimitable ages, and obscurely
depicting other worlds and systems, and gods rising
and passing away for ever — surrounding itself with
pagodas and shrines and temples and priests, as im-
posing as pagan Komo, and a ritual as gorgeous as
Kome papal — has failed to gain an ascendancy over
the Karen race. Arbitrary ]ujwer, surrounded by
imperial pomp and splendour, has neitlier awed nor
seduced them from their simple faith. The preser-
vation of this widely-scattered people from the de-
grading heathenism which darkens every part of this
vast continent, is a great and unfathomable mystery
of God's providence. They have seen the proudest
monuments of heathenism rise around them — many
of them glittering in the sun like mountains of gold,
and in their con.struction tasking the energies of an
empire; still they chanted their oral songs, and
looked towards the setting sun for white men to
bring the promised book of Jehovah. They have
seen dynasties rise aiul fall, age after age, and yet
their faith has never failed them."
This remarkable peojile, though widely scattered
over the Hurnian 10mi)ire, are completely distinct
from the Uurmans, by whom they are looked upon
lis inferiors and slaves, whom they are entitled to
treat with harshness and cruelty. To escape from
their oppressors, the Karens are often compelled to
wander from place to place, and establish temporary
Jwellliig- places In remote districts. Tliev have no
outward form of religion nor established priesthood
but believe in the existence of God and a state ol
future retribution. Among their ancient traditions,
which they fondly cherish, and carefully transmit
from sire to son, are some strange prophecies, which
predict their future elevation as a race, and that
white strangers from across the sea would come to
bring them the Word of God. Accordingly, when,
about tliirty years since, Mr Boardnian, an American
missionary, appeared among them, they were quite
prepared to listen to his preaching,and evinced a pecu-
liar interest in the truths of the Gospel. I'he tidings
of the arrival of a white teaclier soon spread among
the Karens, and great lunnbers flocked to the house
of the missionary. Mr. Newcomb, in his ' Cyclo-
paedia of Missions,' relates an interesting story of the
deified book, which, taken in connection with the
brief career of Mr. Boardman, shows the Karens in a
very favom'able light : — " It had been left in one of
their villages some twelve years before by a travelling
Mussulman, who was understood to have told the
people it was to be worshipped as sacred. Though
entirely ignorant of its contents, tlie person with,
whom it was left carefully preserved it, and, in virtue
of possessing it, became a kind of sorcerer, of great
importance among the people. It was brought one
day to Mr. Boardman, and on being unrolled from
the coverings in which it was enveloped, it proved to
be the ' Book of Common Prayer and the Psalms,
printed at Oxford. From this period Mr. Boardman
devoted the remnant of his too brief life almost ex-
clusively to labours among the Karens. Early in
1829, he made an excursion to the jungle and moun-
tains where their villages were most numerous, and
saw much of their condition and modes of life in their
native wilds. lie also conferred with the British
Commissioner fur the district, and formed liberal
plans for schools, and other agencies of civilization,
while he gave a large part of every day to preaching
and conversation among the people. In the summer
of 1830, however, his strength had become exceed-
ingly reduced by repealed attacks of hecmorrhage of
the lungs, and he sailed for Maulmain. Here he
regained a temporary strength, and after a few months
returned to Tavoy, where he found many converts
waiting to be baptized, and still many more daily
visiting the zayat for religious inquiry and instruction.
.\ large number were baptized by Moung-Ing, one ol
the native ISurman preachers, under the direction of
Mr. Boardnum. Just at this time Mr. and Mrs.
Mason arrived at Tavoy as auxiliaries to the mission,
and in their conqiany, and that of Mrs. Boardman,
this excellent mi.>-sionary made an excursion info the
country for the purpose of meeting and baptizing a
large mniiber of converts, who had often visited him
in the city. The journey of three days was accom-
plished, and the baptism of thirty-fom- persons was
lierformed in his presence by the Kev. Mr. Mason. But,
ere he could reach Ins home in Tavoy, he sunk be-
neath the exhausting malady which had long pretcoil
KAKMA— KASI.
!26b
iipun his cuiistitutioii. His tomb is at Tavoy, and
tlie niiirblc slal) which covers it is iiiscriljcd willi a
simple cpitapli, whicli recoi'ds liis heroic Kerviccs
for tlie ICareiis of llic iiciglibouriiig forests and nioim-
taiiis."
Tlio laljoiirs of iMr. lioarchnaii were followed up
by Mr. Mason, liis successor iu the mission ainons
the Karens, and it is gratifyini; to know that a i>eoplc
to whom so uMieh interest has attached, have received
the Gospel with far greater readiness than the l!iu'-
nians among whom they live. In 1832, Mr. iMason,
writing from a Karen village, says — " I no longer
date from a heathen land. Heathenism has lied these
banks. 1 eat the rice and fruits cultivated by Chris-
tian bands, look on the liclds of Christians, see no
dwellings but those of ('bristian families. I am
seated in the midst of a Christian village, surrounded
by a peoply that love as Christians, converse as
Christiana, act like Clu'islians, and, iu my eyes, look
like Christians."
The Karens, though many of them are acquainted
with the liurnian language, have, nevertheless, a
language of their own, which, however, previous to
the arrival auujng them of the American missionaries,
had not been reduced to writing. Accordingly, the
missionaries, with the aid of some Christian Karens,
nuide an alphabet of its elemental sounds, compiled
a spelling-book of its most conunon words, and trans-
lated two or three tracts. This was the begiiniing
of a most useful and important work, which has
since been carried onward with activity and zeal, and
the Karens now rejoice iu a written Language taught
iu their schools, and in a Christian literature, at least
iu its rudimental state. A number of villages have
been formed wholly composed of Christian Karens,
who are supplied with churches and ministers of the
(lospel, who are several of them converted natives.
In 1840, nearly two hundred of these simple-hearted
and interesting people were baptized, and diu-iug the
year 1844, upwards of 2,000 professed their faith,
and were admitted to bajitism. An entire change
came over the population of the district in which the
missionaries laboured, and tlie people generally as-
sumed an aspect of higher civilization. Tn 1843 they
were subjected to cruel persecution on the part of
their Ikirman opijressors. T>arge numbers of the
CIn'istian Karens were seized, and chained together,
and conveyed to distant prisons, from wdiich they
were liberated oidy by the payment of a large ran-
som. These surterings were endured with heroic
fortitude, and with so firm and unHinching adherence
to the faith which they bad embraced, that many
were thereby induced to join the ranks of the Chris-
nan*. Worn out with the violence of the persecu-
tion, large companies of the Karens left their homes,
and tied across the nioimtaius to Arracan, where they
obtained a peaceful settlement, and attracted no small
symjiatby from the Europeans who were resident iu
that quarter. Karly in 1840, the Karen mission was
separated from the Biirnian mission, and organized
II
on an independent footing. From this date botli
these missions greatly extended the sphere of their
inlluence, and in ISM the Karen churches at Maul-
niain were reported as containing upwards of 1,700
inembers. A theological school was formed for
educating Karen preachers, and a nornjal school for
training teachers, besides a nundjer of other schools.
In the mission at Tavoy, which has been established
.ihncjst exclusively for the Karens, there were in that
same year stated to bo twenty-seven churches, con-
taining about 1,800 mcndjers. The Arracan mission
consisted of two stations. In the Sandoway mission,
which was designed for the Karens in its immediate
vicinity, and also for those beyond the mountains in
Hurmah proper, where the gospel could not be
preached, theniunber of churches was thirty-six, and
the wliole number of church members about 4,500.
In the commencement of 1852, war broke out
between Great ]5ritain and Burmah, and in the end
of the same year the entire southern portion of the
kingdom of Burmah, including the ancient province
of Pegu, v.-.as incorporated with the territories o(
British India. A change was now eflected in the
whole aspect of affairs in so far as the Karens were
concerned. They were no longer exposed to per-
secution, and multitiules of them, no longer deterred
by the tyrainiy of priests or riders, eagerly embraced
the gospel. In consequence of the changes etVected
by the war, the American missions in Burmah have
been entirely re-organized, ami such has been the
success of missionary work anujng the Karens, that
there are about 12,000 church members, ami a Chris-
tian population little short of 100,000.
KAKMA, a tenn used in the system of the
lludlikts to denote action, consisting both of merit
and demerit ; that is, moral action, which is con-
sidered as the power that controls the world. When
a human being dies, his Karma is transferred to some
other being, reculating all the circiuustances of his
existence. Pee Budhists.
KAUMA-WIS.WA, one of the four things which,
according to the Budbist system, cannot be under-
stood by any one who is not a. Budlia. This point,
called Kdniin-v'iswja, denotes bow it is that eflects
are produced by the instrumentality of Karma
(which see). The other three things which only a
lUidha can comprehend are, {\.) Irdhi-vmiya^hovi
it was that Budha could go, in the snapping of a
linger, from the world of men to the Brahiimlohas ;
(2.) Loha-wisaya, the size of the universe, or how it
was first brought into existence ; (3.) Budha-wisuya,
the power and wisdom of Budha.
KARTIKEYA, the son of <S7(!Va or Ma/iadeva,
the Hindu god of war He is famous for having
destroyed a demon named Tarika, who set himself
up against the gods.
K.\.SI (the magnificent), the ancient name of
Bi;n.\i;i:s (which see), and the name by which it is
still called among the Brahniaus. The Hindu priest*
are fond of extolling the glory of the holy city, and
•A *
26B
IvASlNA.
lience tliey sedulously propagate among the people
legends of the striuigest desciiption, which they
allege have come to them from the gods. Thus, in
reference to the origin of Kasi, they give the follow
iug description : — " The world itself, since the day of
its creation, has remained supported upon the thou-
sand heads of the serpent Ananta (eternity), and so
it will continue to be upheld until the connnand of
Bralima shall be proclaimed for it to be for ever en-
veloped in the coils of that interminable deity. Now,
when the judgment takes place, the city of Kasi,
with a circumference of seven kos (about ten miles)
from its centre, will alone remain tirm ; for it rests
not upon the hsads of Ananta, but is fixed npon tlie
three points of the trident of Siva or Maliadeo, to
whose care it will be entrusted. All who now die
witliin its walls are blessed, and those who are found
within it cm that eveutfid day shall be blessed a
thousandfold. Ages before the Mahonnnedan con-
quest of this city by Sultan Mahoramed, which hap-
pened in tlie eleventh century ; ages before it was
made subservient to the I'atans, which was a hundred
centuries earlier ; ages before Kasi was the second
capital of the Hindoo kingdom of Kanaoj, which was
the case a hundred centuries before that; ages before
history has any record, Siva built this wonderful
city — of the pm'est gold, and all its temples of pre-
cious stones ; but, alas ! the iniquity of man conta-
minates and destroys the beauty of everything divine;
in consequence of the heinous sins of the people, the
precious material of this sacred place was deteriorated,
and eventually changed into stone, by permission of
the founder Siva." Kasi is emphatically a city of
priests, for it has been computed that out of the
000,000 souls who form its population, 80,000 are
officiating Ijrahnians attached to the temples, exclu-
sive of the thou.sands who daily visit it from other
parts of the country. The greater number of the
temples are dedicated to Shiva, or to his son Gancsa,
and are endowed some of them with overflowing
fluids for their support, while to others are attached
the revenues of large tracts of land.
KASINA, an ascetic rite among the Budhists, by
which it is supposed that a miraculous energy may
be received. There are ten descriptions of this rite.
I. Pat/uiwi, earth; 2. Ajm, water; 3. Trjo, tire;
4. Wayn, wind ; 5. Nila, blue ; 6. Pita, golden ;
7. Loliitii, blood-red; 8. Odata, white; 9. Aloka,
light; 10. yl/,-((j!(j, Kjiace.
The priest who performs the first of these kinds of
Ki-t-niia nmst form a small circle, which he can easily
lix his eye upon. The circle nuist be formed of clay
of a light-red colour, placed upon a frame made of
four sticks, covered over with a piece of cloth, a
skin, or a mat, upon which the clay must be spread,
free from grass, roots, pebbles and sand. The clay
nuist be kneaded into a proper consistency, and
formed into a circle one sjian and four inches in
iliametcr. The ))ricst must now take water that falls
Irom ft rock, and reudei- the clay jierfectly smooth ;
then, having bathed, he must sweep the place where
the frame is erected, and place a seat, which must be
quite smooth, and one span four inches high, at the
distance of two culjits, and one span from the frame.
Kemaining upon this seat, he must look steadfastly
at the circle, and engage in meditation on the evils
arising from the repetition of existence, and tlie best
modes of overcoming them ; on the benetits received
by those who practise the dhjamis and other modes
of asceticism ; on the excellencies of the three gems ;
and he must emleaxour to secure the same advantages
He must notice the colour of the circle, and not only
think of it as composed of earth, but remember that
the earthy particles of his own body are composed ol
the same element. He must continue to gaze and
to meditate until the niudtta be received, that is,
inward illumination, by which all scepticism will be
removed, and purity attained.
The Ajm-Kasina is performed by catching a por
tion of water in a cloth as it falls from the sky in
rain, before it has reached the ground; or, if rain
water cannot be procured, any other water may be
used. The water is poured into an alms-bowl or
similar vessel, and the priest, having chosen a retired
place, must sit down and meditate, gazing upon the
water, and reflecting that the perspiration and other
fluids of his own body are composed of the same
material.
The Tejo-Kasina is practised by taking wood, dry
and firm, cutting it into small pieces, and placing it
at the root of a tree, or in the coml of the wi/iani,
where it must be ignited. He must then take a mat
nuide of shreds of bamboo, or a skin or a cloth, and
making in it an aperture one span and four inches in
diameter, he naist place it before him, and looking
through the aperture, be nuist meditate on the fire,
and reflect tliat the lire in his own body is of a
similar nature, flickering and inconstant.
The WayaKasina is performed by sitting at the
root of a tree, or some other convenient place, and
thinking of the wind passing through a window or
the hole of a wall ; the Nila-Kasina by gazing on a
tree covered with blue flowers, or a vessel tilled with
blue flowers, or a blue garment covered with flowers;
the Ptta-Kasimi by gazing on a golden-coloured
object; the Lo/iilu-Kasiiia on a circle made with
vermilion ; and in Odota-Ktminu on a vessel of lead
or silver, or the orb of the moon. In AIi)l-a-Kasiiia,
the priest must gaze upon the liglit passing through
a hole in the wall, or, better still, U])on the light
which passes through a hole made in the side of an
earthen vessel which has a lanqj placed within it
When the Akaso-Kfisimi is practised, the sky is
looked at through a hole in the roof of a hut, or
through a hole of the prescribed dimensions made in
a skin.
From the practice of Kastiia in any one of ils
forms, a Uudhist priest expects to derive many ad
vantages. More particularly, he acquires the jiowei
of working miracles according to the species o( h'asina
KASWA (Al)— KEITHIANS.
267
practised. Tims Mr. Speiice Iliirdy, in lii.s ' Eastern
Monacliism,' informs us of the kind of power received
from eaili : — " liy tlie practice of I'athawl-Ktuiiiiii,
the priest will receive the power to multiply himself
many times over, to pass throuj^li the air, or walk
nu the water, and to cause an earth to he made on
which he can walk, stand, .sir, and lie. liy A/m-
KiisiiKi he can cause the earlh to float, create rain,
river.s, and seas, shake the earlh and rocks, and the
dwellings thereon, and cause watcu- to proceed from
all parts of the hody. By 'I\jo-Kn«ina he can cause
smoke to proceed from all parts of the hody, and hre
to comB down from heaven like rain, hy the ;,din-y
that proceeds from his person ; he can overpower that
which comes from the person of another; he can
dispel darkness, collect cotton or fuel, and other
comhustibles, and cause them to burn at will ; cause
a light which will give the power to see in any place
as with divine eyes; ami when at the point of death,
he can cause his body to be spontaneously burnt.
IJy Wai/n-K(uiiiia he can move as lleetly as the wiiul,
cause a wind to arise whenever he wLshes, and can
cause any substance to remove from one place to
anotluu- without the intervention of a second person.
Hy the other Ktufinan respectively, the priest who
practises them in a proper manner can cau.se liguris
to appear of dilVerent colours, change any substance
whatever into gold, or cause it to be of a blood reil
colour, or to shine as with a bright light ; change
that wlilcli is evil into that which is good ; cause
things to appear that are lost or liidden ; see into the
midst of I'ocks and the earth, and penetrate into
them ; pass through walls and solid substances ; and
drive away evil desire."
KASWA (Ai.), the favourite camel on which Mo-
hammed entered Mecca in triumph.
KE, one of the entities and essences in the dualis
tic .system of the Chinese pliilosophers. It consists
of matter most ethereal in its texture, and may be
styled the ultimate material element of the universe,
the primary matter which acts as the substratum oji
which things endued with form and other qualities
rest, or from which they have been gi-adually evolved.
The Ke, when resolved into its constituent element.^,
gives birth to two opposite essences, to I'aHi/and Yin,
which are the phases under which the Ultimate Prin-
ciple of the universe displays itself in the plienomenal
world. From the constant evolution and interaction
of these opposite essences resulted every species ot
formal matter and the mixed phenomena of the
world.
KEBLA, or Knii,.\, the name which the Mo-
hammodans give to that jiart of the world where the
temple of Mecca is situated, towards which the face
of the Moslem worshipper is turned wdieu he recites
his prayers. In the Koran, the express command is
given by the Arabian jirophet, "Thou shalt turn thy
face towards the sacred temple of Mecca." In
another passage, however, are these words, " God is
I .ord of the east and west, and which way soever you
turn your face in prayer, yon will lind the pretence
of dod."
KEITIIFAN'S, an ofl'slioot from the Society oi
I'ricnils or Quakers in North America. They de-
riveil their name from their originator, George Keith.
This individual was a native of Scotland, a man o(
considerable ability and literary attainments, and for-
merly a rigid I'resbyterian. lie was educated at the
university of .Vberdeen, where he took the degree of
M.A. The circumstances attendant on his conver-
sion to the opinions of the Friends c.iunot now be
discovered, but it is well known that for many years
he was sul)j(!ct<-d to sore trials, long imprisonmeulH.
ami heavy lines, because of his zeal in the cause
which he had conscientiously embraced. His acute
•■md powerful mind tilled him peculiarly for public
disputations, and, accordingly, he was not unfre
quently employed in defending the Society from
unjust aspersions. lie wrote also .several powerful
treatises in support of the doctrines of the Friends.
About the year 1 082, he left Scotland to conduct
a Friends' school at Ivhnonton, in the county ol
Middlesex; but the pi'rsecution to which he was
here exposed led hiju to remove to London, where,
however, instead of receiving the protection he had
looked for from priestly domination, he was im-
prisoned for live months in Newgate. It was
at this time that George Keith began to im-
bibe some strange speculative opinions, chiefly de-
rived from the writings of Van llelmont. Among
other absurd notions, he enibi^jed the doctrine of
tlie transmigration of souls. lie helil some curious
notions respecting our first parents, and alleged that
much of the Mosaic narrative in the Old Te.stament
was to be regarded as allegorical. In a work which
he published in 1G.J4, entitled, ' Wisdom advanced
in the correction of many gross and hurtful errors.'
he gave to the world some of the wild fancies in
which he now indulged. His opinions found no
favour with Friends in I'.ngland, and probably from
this cause, as well as from a desire to escape per-
secution, he emigrated to New Jersey in America.
After being employed for a time in determining the
boundary line between East and AVest Jersey, he
removed to Philadelphia, where he vias intrusted
with the head mastership of the grammar school,
which, however, he retained for only a single year,
at the end of which he began to travel as a minister
111 rsew England. In waiulering from place to place,
he engaged in public disputalions, but, in conducting
them, he evinced so much acrimony, that he injured
perhaps rather than advanced the cause which he
professed to advocate.
Naturally proud and \ain-gloriou8, George Keith
soon began to find fault with the Society, more espe-
cially in the matter of discipline. Friends treated
him with great forbearance and tendeniess, but he
became increasingly captious and self-willed, and at
length he quitted the Society, along with several
other Friends who adhered to him. The unhappy
26S
KEITIIIANS.
apostasy of George Keith gave rise to a spirit of
discord among Friends in Pennsylvania, wliicli gave
much concern to tlie members of tlie Society, not
only in America, but also in ICngland. Some Friends
in Aberdeen who had long known George Keith, ad-
dressed an earnest appeal to him on the subject of the
ditl'erences to which he had given rise in the Society.
An admonitory letter was also sent from Frienils in
England to Friends in America on the points in dis-
pute. Nothing, however, would move the unhappy
man, but proceeding from bad to worse, he and his
adherents set up a separate meeting of their own,
under the designation of Clu-istian Quakers and
Friends.
Rut though George Keith had now assumed an
independent position, he did not cease on that ac-
count to harass and annoy the Society at large, pre-
ferring charges of unsoundness against them. At
the Quarterly Jteeting of Ministers, held in January
1692, Keith accused them of meeting "to cloak
heresies and deceit, ' aud maintained " that there
were more damnable heresies and doctrines of devils
among the Quakers than among any profession of
Protestants." Sucli audacious and unmeasured abuse
could not be passed over in silence. Two Friends
were appointed to visit Keith, and to call upon him
to retract his words. He receis'ed the deputation
with the utmost haughtiness, and instead of listening
to their counsels, he told them that " he trampled
upou the judgment of the meeting as dirt under his
feet." All hopes of a reconciliation were now gone,
and the Society came to the resolution of issuing a
declaration of disunity with him. The testimony
issued on the occasion was drawn up in the form of
an address to the Society, in which the grounds of
the proceeding were set forth. Before publishing
the document, it was thought right to give George
Keitli or those of his party who might wish, an oppor-
tunity of perusing it. He declined the otl'er, however,
and not only so, but he maliciously published to
the world that in the proceedings with respect to
liini, all gospel order and Clu-istian kindness had
been violated. Against the judgment of the Quar-
terly Meetiug of Ministers, Keith determined to ap-
peal to the ensuing Yearly Meeting. Meanwhile he
published several pamphlets in vindication of him-
self, which excited so strong a feeling in his favour,
that many Friends united with him and Ids party,
and a wide and distressing schism ensued. Sejiarate
meetings were set up at Philadel[)hia, Burlington,
Neshaminy, and other jdaccs. Families were divided,
and the ties o( friendship broken. Husbands and
wives, professedly of the same faith, no longer wor-
shipped in the same house, and seldom, in short, has
a more painful spirit of division prevailed in any
Cln-istian body than was displayed on this occasion.
At the Yearly Meoling in 1GI)2, wdiieli was held
at Burlington, it was fidly expected that George
Keith would follow up the appeal which he had taken
against the judgment of the Quarterly Meeting.
When, however, the Yearly Meeting bad convened
instead of proceeding in the usual course of the dis
cipline, he aud his party met separately, callinj*
themselves the Yearly Meeting, and proceeded to
give judgment in favour of their leader, and issued
an epistle to that effect. Tliey also drew up a Con-
fession of Faitli, with the view of vindicating their
claim to genuine Quakerism. In these circumstances
Friends judged it right to give forth a testimony in
condemnation of the conduct of Keith, and a fiaper to
that purport was signed by two hundred and fourteen
Friends. Siuiilar testimonies condemnatory of Keith
and his adherents were given forth at the Yearly
Meeting in New England, in Maryland, and in Long
Island.
Finding his conduct so generallj' condemned in
America, Keith resolved to seek the judgment of the
Yearly Meeting of London on his case. Thither
accordingly, be proceeded in 1694, and after a full
investigation of the whole matters in dispute, a com-
mittee was appointed to prepare a document em-
bodying the sense and judgment of the meeting on
the case, with the special injunction that those "that
have separated be charged in the name and power ot
the Lord Jesus Christ, to meet together with Friends
in the love of God." The document having been
drawn up, and approved by the Yearly Meeting,
was communicated to George Keith as the deliberate
judgment of Friends, but instead of receiving it in
a proper spirit, he asserted that the advice was that
of a party, and not of the Society itself. He sought
also to attract sympathizers and friends, but in vain ;
only a few evinced the slightest feeling in his favour.
The Yearly Meeting in London perceiving that the
decision affected not Keith alone, but all those in
America who had separated with him, addressed a
Christian exhortation to them in reference to their
separation from Friends as a body, and calling upon
them to seek a reconciliation with their brethren.
All efibrts to accomplish an object so desirable were
utterly unavailing. At the next Yearly Meeting in
London, the unsatisfactory conduct of George Keith
was again brought under notice. He was allowed to
read a written statement in vindication of his eon
duct, concluding, however, with an offer to prove that
tlie writings of Friends contained gi-oss errors. On
his withdrawal the meeting decided not to own nor
receive him nor his testimony while he remains
therein, but to testify against him and his evil works
of .strife and division. On the following day Keith
was admitted to hear, and if ho inclined, to reply to
the decision of the meeting. On this occasion he
broke forth into the most bitter and intemperato
language towards Friends, and left the meeting
abruptly. The Yearly Meeting now unanimously
agreed no longer to recognize this turbulent man as
one in religious profession with them. Accordingly
they issued the following minute : " It is the sense
and judgment of this meeting, that the said George
Keith is gone from the blessed unity of the peace-
KELAM— KERnELA.
209
dble Spirit of our Lord Jesiis Christ, niid hath tliere-
by Boparatcd himself from the. holy fellowsliip of the
Church of Christ ; and tliat wliilst he is in an iiiiro-
concilud and uiicliarilaljlo state, lie oiif^ht not to
preacli or pray in any of Friends' nieetinf^s; nor be
owned or received as one of us; until, by a public
anil hearty acknowledgment of the f;reat ofl'ence he
hath {;iven, and hurt he hath dcjue, and eondennia-
tion of liimself, therefore, he f^ives proof of his uii-
fei2;ned repentance, and does his endeavour to remove
and take oli' tlie reproach he hath brought upon
Truth and Friends ; which, in the love of (lod, we
heartily desire for his soul's sake."
George Keith was thus formally cut off from the
Society of Friends, as no longer wortliy of church
fellowship, and he therefore comnneneed holding se-
parate meetings at Turner's Hall in London, where
he attracted crowds for a time to hear his discourses,
which were full of the most bitter invectives againsi
Friends. While this factious individual was thus
endeavouring to gain adiicrents in England, his par-
lizans in America were busily engaged in disturbing
the jieace and unity of Friends in that country. In
a short time, however, the Transatlantic Keitliians
Wcanie divided among themselves, and were .split
Into ditl'erent sections. "The Separatists," say Friends
from Philadelphia in 1G98, "grow weaker and weak-
er; many of them gone to the Baptists, some to the
Episcopalians, and the rest are very inconsiderable
lind mean, some of whom come now and then to onr
/ueetings, and some have lately brought in letters of
condemnation." The following year they had so far
dwindled away that we find Friends declaring tliem
to be almost extinct. Li an account of this sect
written by Edwards, he makes a similar statement
in regard to them. " They soon declined," he says ;
" their head deserted them, and went over to the
Episcopalians. Some followed him thither; some
returned to the Penn Quakers, and some went to
other societies. Nevertheless many persisted in the
separation. These, by resigning themselves, as tliey
.said, to the guidance of Scrijjture, began to find
water in the commission. Matt, xxviii. 19 ; Bread and
Wine, in the command. Watt. xxvi. 2G, 30; Com-
munity of goods, love feasts, kiss of charity, right
hand of fellowship, anointing the sick for recovery,
and washing the disciples' feet, in other texts. — The
Keithian Quakers ended in a kind of transformation
into Keithian Baptists. They were called Quaker-
Baptists, because they still retained the language,
dress and maimers, of the Quakers. But they ended
in another kind of transformation into Seventh-day
ISaptists, though .some went among the First-day
Baptists, and other societies. However, these were
the beginning of the Sabbatarians in this province."
For some years after he had been disowned by the
body, Keith continued to wear the garb and to use
the language of a Friend, but about the year 1700
he laid aside these peculiarities, and joined the Epis-
copal Church, accepting ordination at the hands of a
bishop. In the course of two years after his ordina-
tion he proceeded to America as a miKsioniiry, under
the aus]iices of the "Society for the I'ropagation oi
the (jiospel ill Foreign Parts." One of the chief ob-
jects of his mission he declared to be to "gatliei
Qu.ikers from Quakerism to the Mother Church,''
and during the two years he now spent in Aineriea, lie
freipiently engaged in public disputation with Friends
on their peculiar tenets. Al h'liglh he returned tc,
ICngland, where he Ijoasted of the remarkable succesi
which had attended his labours on the other side ol
the Atlantic. Whether true or false, his statementf
were credited, and gained for him such favour thai
he was rewarded with the living of Edburton in Sus-
sex, lie did not long survive to enjoy his promo-
tion, for in 1714 his labours in the work of the min-
istry were brought by de.ath to a final termination.
It is said that his last hours on earth were disturbed
with feelings of bitter remorse on account of the
turbulent life he had led. He was even alleged to
have given utterance to these words, " I wish I had
dierl when I was a Quaker; for then I am sure it
would have been well with my soul." Before the
death of their founder the Keilhians had been wholly
scattered, some having joined the Baptists and other
denominations of Christians, while the great majority
returned to the Society of Friends.
KELAM, the science of the Word, a term used by
the Mohammedans to describe their scholastic divi-
nity. On this part of their system the writings ol
Mohammedan doctors are very numerous, their opi
nions being much divided.
KKKAMIANS, a Mohammedan sect, who main
tained that (iod was possessed of a bodily form.
They derived their name from the originator of the
sect, Mohammed ben Keram.
KEH.\KI, a Hindu sect who worshipped Deri in
her terriiic forms, and were wont to otVer up humar.
saerifiees. The onl)' votaries belonging to this sect
still remaining in India are those who inflict upon
themselves bodily tortures, and pierce their flesh
with hooks or spits, following such practices as are
carried on in Bengal at the Charaic Puja (which
.see).
KERBELA, a place esteemed peculiarly sacred by
the SciliiTES (which see), in consequence of the tomb
o( Ifcisscin the son of -4// having been erected there.
It is a favourite place of pilgrimage to the Persian
ilohammedans, who are wont even to cany off a
small portion of the sacred soil, and to put it in pads
or bags for the purpose of jjlacing it before them at
their devotions, that their foreheads may rest upon
it as they prostrate themselves. Tliey thus flatter
themselves that they are worshipping on holy ground.
The Schiite pilgrims resorting annu.ally to Kcrhela
are estimated at 80,000, and the stream is incessant,
for this pilgrimage has not, like that to Mecca, a tiied
season. Another peculiar diti'erence is the succes-
sion of caravans of the dead carried in cofVins to be
interred at Kerbela ; and the revolting custom is pro-
270
KER[ and KETIB— Keys (Power of the).
moted by tlie idea that by this act of postlninioiis
merit they shall atone for the greatest crimes. Eiglit
thousand corpses are said to be brought annually from
Persia. Kerbela rivals the Kaaba as a place of pil-
grimage, the former being tlie favourite resort of the
Schiites, tlie latter of the Somn'tex.
KERI and KETIB (Ileb. read and written). In
many Jewish manuscripts and printed editions of the
Old Testament, a word is often found with a small
circle attp^hed to it, which is called Kelili or written ;
or with an asterisk over it and a word written in the
margin of the same line, this being tlie Kcri or read-
ing. The intention of tliese two Masoretic marks is
to give direction to write in this manner, but read in
that manner. They are supposed by some Jewish
writers to have been invented by Ezra ; but others
maintain, with much greater probability, that their
origin is to be dated no farther back than the time
of the Masorites. Where there occurs a various
reading, the wrong reading, the Kelib is written in
the text, and the true reading, the Keri is written
on the margin. The Jews do not always insist that
as an invariable rule, we should follow the Keri ; on
the contrary they hold that we .should prefer the
Ketib when it is authorized by the ancient versions
and gives a better meaning.
KETUBIM. See H.^giograpii.v.
KEYS (The Power of the). This expression,
which has, since the Reformation, formed the sub-
iect of a keen controversy between the Romanists
and the Protestants, i.s derived from Mat. xvi. 19,
" And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom
of heaven : and whatsoever thou shall bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt
loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." The key
is often used in Scripture metaphorically as a sj'm-
bol of government, power, and authority. Thus I.'^-a.
xxii. 22, " And the key of the house of David will I
lay upon bis shoulder; so he shall open, and none
shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open."
In the East, a key was generally worn by the stew-
ards of wealthy families as a symbol or token of their
ortice. To give a person a key was therefore frequently
used to denote the investing him with a situation of
authority and trust. Hence, when our Saviour as-
sures Peter that be would give him the keys of the
kingdom of heaven, many Protestant writers inter-
pret his words as implying the power of preaching
\he gospel oliicially, of administering the sacraments
fts a steward of the mysteries of God, and as a faith-
ful servant whom the Lord hath set over his house-
hold. Other Protestant divines again allege that to
Peter personally and exclusively was assigned the
power of the keys, that is the honour of opening the
gates of the kingdom of heaven, or in other words,
the Christian or gospel dis])ousation to the Jews at
the day of Pentecost, and then to the Gentiles when
he went down to Cornelius at Ca-sarea. The Roman
Catholics, on the other hand, maintain that by the
power of the keys we must under.stand a special au-
thority given to Peter over the cluirch of Christ,
supreme ecclesiastical jurisdiction which they allege
belongs also to the Pope, as being the successor ol
Peter, and, therefore, having the power of excommu-
nicating and absolving, as well as of opening and
shutting the gates of Paradise at pleasure.
The ancient Jewish Rabbis or Doctors, if we mav
credit the statements of later Jewish writers, received
a key in entering upon their office as an emblem of
the grand ofiicial duty which it was incumbent upon
them faithfully to discharge, that of opening the
meaning of the law by their public teaching. The
expression, " the power of the keys," is exegetically
explained by the phrase, " binding and loosing,"
which Lightfoot, Schoetgen, and others skilled in
Rabbinical lore, explain as denoting the power ot
declaring what was binding on men's consciences ;
and that from the obligation of which they were
loosed or free. It is worthy of notice, that the
power of binding and loosing which is mentioned by
our Lord as an exercise of the power of the keys in
Mat. xvi. 19, already quoted, is stated elsewhere as
having been conferred not on Peter alone, but on all
the apostles. Thus in Mat. xviii. 18, Jesus says,
addressing the whole apostolic college, " Verily I say
unto you. Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall
be boimd in lipa\en: and whatsoever ye shall loose
on earth .shall be loosed in heaven." The Fathers
also generally agree in ascribing to all the apostles
the power of the keys. Jesus claims for himself the
power of the keys when he .s.ays, " I am he that hath
the key of David, that openeth and no man shutteth,
and shutteth and no man openeth." Such expres-
sions plaiidy indicate that Christ has sole power and
authority in his church. Whatever may therefore
be the extent of the power which is given to the
apostles in conferring upon them the power of the
keys, it must be something essentially difierrnt froui
the kingly power and authority of Christ.
The power of the keys as exercised by the apos-
tles and their associates was peculiar to themselves.
They sometimes inflicted miraculous punishment
u]ion notorious ofl'enders, as upon Ananias and Sap-
lihira, and Elymas the sorcerer. And in many cases
also they loosed ]iersons from supernatural diseases
But the power of the keys, in so far as it has de-
scended to the Christian ministry, simply implies
two things — ,an authority to jireach the gospel, and
an authority to administer discipline in the churdi
by binding and loo.sing, by inflicting and removing
censures. And their proceedings, when conducted
agreeably to Scripture, are believed to be ratilied in
heaven.
The Church of l!(jme considers the power of the
keys as extending beyond the infliction of churcn
censures to the remission or retention of sins. Ac-
cordingly, in the Roman Pontifical a prayer occiu-s
in the consecration of a blshoji, beseccbiiig that th«
power of the keys, of remitting and retaining sins
mif;hl be given to every one ordained to that oliice
KHAKIS K II ATA.
271
The Council of Trent also confirms this view of the
inatiRr by their decision, which flechires the power of
(Ik; keys to have been left l)y Ohiist to "nil priests
his vicars as presidents and jndf;cs, to whom all
iriortal sins were rel'ened into which llie faithful
niiglit fall." Dens again says, "That I'eler did not
receive the keys as a private [lerson, but as sn|jrenie
pastor, and for the benefit of the Chnrch ; and from
liim, by ordinary rij^lil, the ])ower of the keys is de-
rived to other superiors, bi.sliops, and ])astors of the
Church." The theory of tlu" I'apacy, however, which
is taught by many Komish divines, is, that the power
of the keys, which was conferred upon I'eter, belongs
to the I'ope as the successor of I'eter; and even ad-
mitting that it was given by Christ to all the apostles,
and therefore has desceiuled to the priests and bishops
their successors, they hold that it must bo principally
Vested in the Pope as the bishop of bishops, and the
head of all ecclesiastical inlluenco and authority in the
rluu'ch on earth. Tims Romanists seek to vest in the
i'ope a supremacy over the church, and in the highest
sense in which the words can apply to any one on
earth, in him is vested the power of the keys. In
npimsition to this claim which Uonianisis allege for
the I'ope, Protestants contend that it rests on a series
of unfounded assumptions; for instance, on the su-
premacy of Peter, his having actually been bishop of
Rome, and the transmission of his power to all fiittu'e
bishops of Rome.
KHAKIS, one of the Vaishmwa sects of Hindus,
founded by Kil, a disciple, though not immediately,
of Ramanand. The history of the sect is not well
known, ami it seems to be of modern origin. Its
niendjers, though believed to be numerous, appear to
be either confined to a few particular districts, or to
lead a wandering life. The Khakis are distinguished
from the other Vaishnavas by the application of clay
and ashes to their dress or persons. Those who
reside in fixed establishments generally dress like
other VaisJinavas, but those who lead a wandering
life, go either naked, or nearly so, smearing their
bodies with the pale gray mixture of ashes and earth.
They also frecpiently wear the Jata, or braided hair,
alter the fashion of the votaries of Shira, some of
whose characteristic practices they follow, blending
them with the worship of Vishnu, of Sita, and par-
ticularly of Hanuman. Many Kliakk are found about
Parakhabad, but their principal seat is at Hanuman
Gerk, in Oude.
KHALIP. See C.vlipii.
KHAND.VS, the elements of sentient existence
among the Budliists, of which there are five con-
stituents:— (1.) The organized body, or the whole of
being, apart from the mental processes ; (2.) Sensa-
tion ; (3.) Perception ; (4.) Discrimination ; (5.) Con-
sciousness. The four last Khdnilns are results or
properties of the first, which nuist be understood as
including the soul as well as the body. At death,
the Budliists believe the Khandas entirely vanish.
Gotama says that none of the Khandas, taken sepa-
rately, are the self, and that, taken conjointly, they
are not the self. There is no such thing as a soul
apart from the five Khandas.
KHAND(JUA, an incarnation of -S'A/w, the same
which is called also PillAlHAV (which see). The
[jrincipal temple of Khuiidiha is at Jejiu'i. It was
I'udowed by Ilolkar with an annual sum of 10,0(X)
rupees, and the Peshwa's government granted a like
sum. A large sum also accrues to the temple from
its oUcrings, jiart of which were demanded back by
government, till, on Christian principles, this branch
of revenue was abandoned by Sir Robert Grant. A
fraternity of Vira, amounting to about fifty nn/n, is
attached to the temple, besides a sisterhood of twice
the nundjer of Murali. One of the Vira is required
at the annual festival to run a sword through his
thigh, and afterwards to walk through the town as if
nothing had happened to him. The Murali arc un-
married females, consecrated by their parents to the
god, and sent, when they grow nj), to the temple at
Jejuri, that they may lead a life of sacred pros-
titution.
KHARE.HTES, orrevolters, a Mohanuncdan sect
who originally withdrew from Ali, and maintain that
the Imam need not be of the tribe of Korcish, nor
even a freeman, provided he be just and qualified
They maintain too, that if unfit he may be deposed,
and that the ofiice itself is not indispensable.
KIl.VTA, or ScARi' of Blessincs, an article
which is considered in Thibet as conveying to the
individual on whom it is bestowed many blessings
from above. It is thus described by M. Hue, in his
' Travels in Tartary, Thibet, and China :" — " The
Khata is a piece of silk, nearly as fine as gauze, and
of so very pale a blue as to be almost white. Its
length about triples its breadth, and the two extre-
mities are generally fringed. There are Kliatas of
all sizes and all prices, for a Khata is an object with
which neither poor nor rich can dispense. No one
ever moves unless provided with a supjjly. AVIicn
you go to pay a visit, when you go to ask a favour,
or to acknowledge one, you begin with di.^playing the
Khata; you take it in both hands, and otier it to the
l)erson whom you desire to honour. When two
friends, who have not seen each other for a long
time, meet, their first proceeding is to interchange a
Khata ; it is as much a matter of course as shaking
hands in Europe. When you write, it is usual to
enclose a Khata in the letter. We cannot exiiggcrate
the importance which the Thibetians, the Si-Fan, the
Iloung-Mao-Eul, and all the people who dwell to-
wards the western shores of the Blue Sea, attach to
the ceremony of the Khata. With them, it is the
purest and sincerest expression of all the noblest
sentiments. The most gracious words, the nuisi
magnificent presents, go for nothing, if nnaccompaniid
with the Khata; whereas, with the Khata, the com-
monest oVyects become of infinite value. If any one
comes, Khata in hand, to ask you a favour, to refuse
the favour would be a great breach of propriety
i;7i!
KIIATIB— KHONDo.
riiis Tliibetiaii custom is very general among tlie
I'artai's, and especially in their Lamaseries ; and
Kliatas, accordingly, form a very leading feature o(
commerce with the Chinese at Tang-Keou-Eul. The
'rhibetian embassy never passes through the town
without purcliasing a prodigious number of these
articles."
KHATIB, an ordinary Mohannnedan priest, wlio
conducts the worship of tlie mosque on the Fridays.
He recites the prayers, and often preaches a sermon.
KHATMEII, a recitation of the whole Kuraii,
whicli occupies about nine hours, and is customary
at tlie funerals, weddings, and public festivals of
.Mohammedans, being regarded as meritorious in
those who bear the expense.
KHEMAH, one of the principal female disciples
of BuDHA (which see).
KHIKKHAH (Arab., a torn robe), a name given
lo the dress generally worn by Dervishes (which
see). The Mussulmans pretend that it was the dress
of the ancient propliets.
KHLESTOVSHCIIIKI (from Slav., khlestat, to
Hog), a sect of dissenters from the liiisno- Greek
church. Tliey are a kind of Fktijdlants, and a
branch of the Skopt/.i (which see). They impose
upon themselves flagellation and some otlier pen-
ances, and tliey are said to have mysterious doc-
trines and rites, marked by the wildest superstition.
They are accused of the same guilty extravagances
which were ascribed to the Adamites (which see).
The police of Moscow, it seems, surprised one of
their meetings in 1840, and it was proved, by the in-
vestigation which followed on this discovery, that
the KIdestovshcliUd are only a lower or preparatory
grade of the Skophi; that they have a community
of women, although, in order to conceal it, they live
in couples, married by priests of the established
clun-ch. At their meetings they often jump about
until they fall down from exliaustion ; a practice
not alto-ether unknown even in England. (See
Jumpers.)
KHONDS (RELIGION OF the). Tlie Khonds are
a wild aboriginal tribe in Orissa, that iiortion of Hin-
dustan wbicli lies between the mountains of the
Oekkan and tlie sea-coast. Their religion is very
peculiar, and in its whole features entirely distinct
from Hinduism. Their supreme god is called BuuA-
I'ennou (whicli see), the god of liglit, who created
for him.self a consort, the earth-godde.ss called Turi-
Pciinou, the source of evil in the world. The god of
light arrested the action of physical evil, while lie
lett man at perfect liberty to reject or receive moral
evil. They who rejected it were deified, while the
great mass of niankind who received it were con-
demned to all kinds of physical sufTering, with death,
besides being deprived of tlie immediate care of the
Creator, and doomed to the lowest slate of moral
degradation. Bura-Pennou and liis consort, mean-
while, contended for superiority, and thus I he ele-
ments of good and evil came to be in constant collisinn
both in the heart of man and in the world around
him. At this point the Khonds diverge into two
sects, which are thus described by Major Macpliersoii
in an interesting memoir read before the Asiatic
Society, and inserted in tlieir Journal : — " One sect,"
says lie, " holds that the god of light completely
conquered the earth-goddess, and employs her, still
the active principle of evil, as the instrument of his
moral rule. That he resolved to provide a jiartial
remedy for the consequences of the introduction of
evil, by enabling man to attain to a state of moderate
enjoyment upon earth, and to jiartial restoration to
communion with the Creator after death. And that,
to eflect this purpose, lie created those classes o(
subordinate deities, and assigned to them the office —
first, of instructing man in the arts of life, and regu-
lating the powers of nature for his use, upon the con-
dition of his paying to them due worship ; secondly,
of administering a system of retributive justice
through subjection to which, and through the prac-
tice of virtue during successive lives upon earth, the
soul of man might attain to beatification. The other
sect hold, upon the other hand, that the earth-god-
dess remains unconqnered; that the god of light
could not, in opposition to her will, carry out his
purpose with respect to man's temporal lot; and
that man, therefore, owes his elevation from the state
of physical suffering into which he fell through the
reception of evil, to the direct exercise of her power
to confer blessings, or to her permitting him to receive
the good which flows from the god of light, through
the inferior gods, to all who worship them. AVitl
respect to man's destiny after death, they believe
that the god of light carried out his purpose. An(\
they believe that the worship of the earth-goddess
by human sacrifice, is the indispensable condition on
which these blessings have been granted, and their
continuance may be hoped for; the virtue of the rite
availing not only for those who practise it, but for all
niankind.
" In addition to these human sacrifices, which still
continue to be ofi'ered annually, in order to appease
the wrath of Tari, and propitiate her in favour of
agriculture, there is a fearful amount of infanticiilc
among the Khoiid people. It exists in some of the
tribes of the sect of Boora to such an extent, that no
female infant is spared, exccjit when a woman's first
child is female; and that villages containing a hun-
dred houses may be seen without a female child."
The revolting rites of human sacrifice and female
infanticide have prevailed from time immemorial
among these barbarous people. The Briti.'ili goveni-
mcnt, however, has happily succeeded in almost coni-
plctidy aboli.shing these bloody rites. Many children,
who had been stcilen from their parents, and sold to the
Khonds for sacrifice, have been rescued from a cruel
death, and put into asylums for Christian education
.iiul training. The manner in which the revolting
human sacrifices were conducted by the Khonds is
thus described by Mr. Fry, a gnverumcnt agent, who
KIIORS-KIIOTBEII.
273
•18 rescued mnnberii from tlie Bacril'icial Unite : —
' The victim," he informs us, " is surrounded by a
crowd of liidt'-intoxicated Klionds, and is dragged
around some open space, wlu'ii llie savages, witli
loud siiouts, rush on the victim, cutting the Hving
llcsli piecenu^d from the bones, till nothing remains
but the head aiul bowels, which are left untouchi'd.
Oi^atli has by this time released thi^ unhappy victim
from his torture; tho luiad and bowels are then
burnt, and tho ashes mixed with grain." These
Ab^riah sacrilicos, as they arc called, are almost
aliolislicd.
KHOKS, a god worshipped by the ancient Slavo
niaus, an image of whom existed at Kiotf before the
introduction of Christianity. They were wont to
oiler to this deity the Icnrovaij, or wedding-cake,
and to sacrillce hens in honour of him.
KIIOTBEII, a prayer which Mohammed was
accustomed to recite, and in which example bo was
followed by his successors. It consists of two parts.
The tirst is appropriated to tho Deity, the prophets,
the iirst four caliphs and their contemporaries. Tho
second includes tho prayer for the reigning sovereign.
Tho Kliotbeh at present in use on tho Fridays in tlie
Mohammedan mosques in Turkey is as follows : —
" Thanks be to the Most High, that supreme and
immortal Being who has neither wife nor children
nor equal on earth or in the heavens, who favours
acts of compunction in his servants, and pardons
their iniquities. We believe, we confess, we bear
witness, that there is no God but (jod alone, the solo
God, who acbnits no association. Happy belief, to
which is attached heavenly blessedness. We also
believe in our Lord our support, our master Moham-
med his servant, bis friend, his prophet, wdio has
been directed in tho true way, favoured by divine
oracles, and distinguished by marvellous works. May
tho divine blessing be on him, on his posterity, on
his wives, on bis disciples, on the orthodox klialifs
endowed with doctrine, virtue, and sanctity, and on
the viziers of his age, particularly on the Imam, the
true khalif of God's prophet, the prince of believers,
Abubekr, the pious certilier, pleasing to theEtenial;
on the Imam, the true khalif of God's prophet, the
prince of believers, Omar, the pure discriminator,
pleasing to God; on tlie Imam, the true khalif of
God's propliet, the prince of believers, Othman, the
possessor of the two lights; on the Imam, the true
khalif of God's propliet, the prince of believers, Ali,
the generous, the upright, pleasing to God ; on the
two great Imams, perfect in virtue and doctrine, dis-
tinguished in knowledge and in works, illustrious in
race and in nobility, resigned to the will of God and
the decrees of destiny, patient in reverses and mis-
fortunes, the princes of the heavenly youth, the pupils
of the eyes of the faithfid, the lords of true believers,
Hassan and Ilossein, pleasing to God, to whom may
all be equally pleasing. O ye assistants, 0 ye faith-
ful, fear God, and submit to Him. Omar, pleasing
to God, has said, The prophet of God pronounced
II.
these words : Let there be no actions but those
foinided on good intentions. The prophet of God is
trnlhful in what he .said. He is truthful in what he
said. Ali, the friend of God, and tho minister of tho
heavenly oracles, said, Know that the best word is
tho Word of God, most powerful, most merciful, most
coinpashionate. Hear his holy connnandment. When
you hear tho Koran, listen to it with respect, and in
silence, for it will be made to yon piety. I take
refuge with God from the stoned devil. In the name
of God, the merciful, the compassionate in truth,
good deeds efface bad ones."
Here the iireacher repeats several verses of the
Koran, to which the muc:::dm chant Amen. He tiien
commences tho second Klwlbch, which runs thus: —
" In honour to his prophet, and for distinction to iiis
liuro soul, this high and gi-eat God, wlio.se word is an
order and a command, has said. Certainly God and
his angels bless tho prophet. Bless him, ye believers,
addi'oss to him pure and sincere salutations. O God,
bless Moliannned, the Emir of Emirs, the chief of the
prophets, who is perfect, accomplished, endowed with
eminent qualities, tlie glory of the human race, our
lord and the lord of both worlds, of temporal and o
elornal life. 0 ye who are enamoured of his beauty
and of bis fame, address to him pure and sincere
salutations. Bless, O God, Mohammed, and the
posterity of Mohammed, as thou hast blessed Abra-
ham and tho posterity of Abraliam. Certainly thou
art adorable, thou art great ; sanctify Mohammed,
and the posterity of Mohammed, as thou hast sanc-
tified Abraham and the posterity of Abraham. Cer-
tainly thou art adorable, thou art great. 0 God,
have pity on the orthodox khalifs, distinguished by
doctrine, virtue, and heavenly gilts, with which thou
hast laden those who have acted with truth and
justice. 0 God, assist, sustain, and defend thy ser-
vant, the greatest of sultans, the most eminent of
khalifs, the king of Arabs, and Ajene, the servant of
the two holy cities, sultan, son of a sultan. Sultan
, whose khalifat may the Supreme Being make
eternal, and perpetual his empire and power. Amen.
O God, exalt those who exalt religion, and lower
those who lower religion. Protect the Moslem sol-
diers, the orthodox armies, and grant us health, tran-
quillity, prosperity to us, to pilgrims, to the military,
to citizens, as well to those at home as to those who
travel by land and sea; tinally, to the whole Moslem
lieople. Health to all the prophets and all the
heavenly messengers. Etemal praises to God. the
Creator and Governor of the universe. Certainly
God commands equity and benevolence, he com-
mands and recommends the care of our relations, he
prohibits unlawful things, sins, prevarications. He
counsels you to obey his precepts, and to keep them
carefully in your memory."
A Khotbeh, in substance the same, i.s used on the
tirst Friday after the New Year. Besides the bene-
diction on the prophet, his four successors, and ttie
two sons of Ali, a blessing is invoked on their mother
2a
274
KllUMBANDAS— KIRCHENTAG.
Fatiraah, and grandmotlier Khadijah ; Ayesha, the
mother of the faithful, and the rest of the prophet's
pure wives ; on tlie six who remained of the ten
noble and just persons who swore allegiance under
the tree, Talha, Alzobier, Saad, Said, Abdulrahman,
Ibn Auf, and all the companions, and the two suc-
ceeding generations. This prayer, and frequently a
moral discourse, is delivered from the pulpit by the
Khatib. who holds a wooden sword reversed, a cus-
tom said to be peculiar to the cities taken from the
unbelievers.
KHUMBANDAS, an order of beings among the
Btidfikts, who are believed to be the attendants of
Wiriidha, who is one of the four guardian deicas.
The Khumbandas have blue garments, hold a sword
and shield of sapphire, and are mounted on blue
horses. They form one of the thirteen orders of in-
telligence, exclusive of the supreme Bitdhas. They
are monsters of immense size and disgusting form.
KID- WORSHIP. A remarkable prohibition oc-
curs in three difierent passages of the Old Testament,
couched in these words, " Thou shalt not seethe a
kid in his mother's milk." This precept has been
supposed to be intended to guard the Hebrews
against some idolatrous or superstitious practice of
the neighbouring heathen nations. In this explana-
tion some of the Jewish expositors coincide, though
they have not been able to cite any instance of such
a practice. Dr. Cudworth, however, in his Treatise
on the Lord's Supper, states, that in an old Caraite
commentary on the Pentateuch, it is mentioned as
having been a practice of the ancient heathens when
they had gathered in all their fruits, to take a kid
and boil it in the milk of its dam, and then in a
magical way to go about and besprinkle witli it their
trees, fields, gardens, and orchards ; thinking that by
this means they would fructify and bring forth fruit
more abundantly the following year. Horace seems
to allude to a custom of this kind. Abarbanel also
refers to such a practice as followed, in some parts of
Spain, even in his time. Spencer mentions a similar
rite as in use among the Sabians. Bloody sacrifices
of cocks and kids are wont to be ofl'ered to the Hindu
god Vishnu.
KIBW, a holy city among the ancient Slavonians.
It was situated on the right bank of the Dnieper or
Borysthenes. In this city nearly all the gods of the
Slavic race were at one time assembled. The inhab-
itants of Kiew, in their aimual voyages to the Black
Sea in the month of June, were wont to disembark
on an island, at the distance of four days' jounicy
from the mouth of the river, and there they ofl'ered
'.heir sacrifices under an oak.
KILHAMITKS. Sec Mi:tiiodist (AVksleyan)
Nkw Connexion.
KING, the canonical sacred books of the Chinese,
which arc believed to be the most ancient literary
monuments of China, and to possess an authority far
higher than any other ancient writings. All these
productions of the shwQ-jin, or holy man, are consi-
dered to be absolutely and infallibly true. The old-
est of the sacred books is the Yih-king, said to have
been written by Fuh-he, the reputed founder of the
Chinese civilization. The second of the Chinese
sacred books is the Shoo-lcing, which is chiefly his-
torical, stretching from the reign of Yaou, one
of the very earliest emperors, to the life-time of
Confucius. Tlie She-ldmj is the third of the sacred
books, comprising 311 odes, and other lyrics, gen
erally breathing a moral tone. Inferior in autho
rity to these three, but still regarded as a sacred
book, is the Le-lcc, the Chinese book of rites and
manners. The four just mentioned, along with the
Tsun-tsew, a historical work by Confucius, form the
Woo-king or Five Sacred AVritings of the Chinese,
the monuments of the "holy men" of antiquity, and
hence regarded as the foundation of all history and
ethics, politics, philosophy, and religion in China.
KING OF SACRIFICES. See Rex Sacror
L'M.
KINIAN SUDDAR. See Cloth (Purchask
OF the).
KINSMAN. See Avenger of Blood.
KIRCHENTAG (Ger. church diet), a free asso-
ciation of pious professors, ministers, and laymen of
Protestant Germany, for the discussion of the reli-
gious and ecclesiastical questions of the day, and for
the promotion of the interests of practical Chris-
tianity embraced under the term Inner Mission
(which see). It was originated in 1848, and meets
annually in one of the leading cities of Germany.
Its doctrinal basis is the Bible as explained by the
ecumenical symbols and evangelical confessions of
the sixteenth century. It comprehends four Protes-
tant denominations, the Eutheran, German Reform-
ed, United Evangelical, and the Moravian, but it
holds fraternal intercourse with all foreign Evangeli-
cal Societies and Churches, who hold the basis of the
Diet, and may choose to send delegates to represent
them at its meetings. All parts of Germany, espe-
cially Prussia and Wurtemberg, send delegates to this
body; but it is discountenanced and disowned by
the rationalists and semi-rationalists as well as the
rigid Lutherans.
This German Cliurch Diet originated with the
most eminent evangelical ministers and laymen of
Germany, headed by a true Christian nobleman, von
Bethmann Ilollweg, who has presided at every one
of its meetings. The first Kirchentag, which consisted
of five hundred members, met on the 21st of Septem-
ber 1848 in Wittenberg, and in that \ery church to
the doors of which Luther affixed his ninety-five
theses. "It was indeed," says Mr. T'.iomas II. Glad-
stone, " a new and interesting sight to behold the
learned professor seated side by side with the simple-
minded Christian, the dignified ecclesiastic taking
brotherly counsel with the humble lay-missiwuary or
jirovincial school teacher. It was no less a strangely
novel spectacle to see the strongest upholders of the
respective orthodoxies, Lutheran and Reformed, for-
lURCIIENTAG.
276
ycttin;; doctriiiiil (litVurenccs in tlie lianiioiiy of
Cliristian purpose and Cliriatian love; still more to
see the olycct of their common jealousy, the ' Unit-
ed' Church, as well as the Moravian and other dis-
senting communities, coiniiletin^ the picture of Chris-
tian union and brotherly love by being admitted to
their association witliout question of their ecclesias-
tical polity or church rule. All seemed to point to
the dawning of a better day. And the tempest of
persecution with wliich the church was assailed, ap-
peared already converted into a blessing, in tlie re-
cognition of its essential unity, and the sense of the
mutual depciulence of its parts as members of that
mystic bddy wliich is one in its living Head. This
feeling of Christian fellowship was heightened to the
sublime, and received an expression too deeply af-
fecting over to be erased from the memory of those
who witnessed the scone, when, at a solemn moment
on the last day, the earnest Kruinmaclier, in one of
liis fervent addresses, pledged the members to stand
true to one another in the day of persecution, wliich
seemed about to bur>t upon them, and received in
the prolonged affirmation of the whole assembly, the
assurance that they would bear each other as mem-
bers of one family in their hearts and prayers, would
receive each other in the day of persecution to house
and home till the storm should be overpast, and
would account as their own sisters and their own
children the widows and orphans of the brother who
should seal his testimony by the martyr's death."
This first meeting of the Kirchentag lasted for
three days, and the result of its deliberations, which
were conducted with the greatest order and solem-
nity, was that two veiy important resolutions were
unanimously passed : —
" 1. That an invitation should be addressed to all
the Protestant churches of Germany, to hold on the
.5th of November 1848, the Sunday following the
anniversary of the Reformation, a day of general
prayer and humiliation, in order to begin the work
of the regeneration of Protestantism with the same
spirit of true evangelical repentance, with which
Luther commenced the Reformation, and which he
so clearly expressed in the very first of his ninety-
five theses.
" 2. A resolution to form a confederation of all
those German churches which stand on the gi-ound
of the reformatory confessions, not for the purpose of
an amalgamation of these churches and an extinction
of their peculiarities and relative independence, but
for the representation and promotion of the essential
unity and brotherly harmony of the evangelical
churches ; for united testimony against every thing
unevangelical ; for mutual counsel and aid ; for the
decision of controversies ; for the furtherance of ec-
clesiastical and social reforms, especially Inner Mis-
sion ; for the protection and defence of the divine
mid human rights and liberties of the evangelical
church ; for forming and promoting the bond of
Bnion with all evangelical bodies out of Germany."
The Kirchentag, like the Kvangelical Alliance, is
not a union of churches, but a union of Chrintians,
both ministers and laymen. It is not a legislativo
assembly, but a meeting of Christians from all parta
of the world, for the purpo.se of consulting about the
common interests of the Redeemer's kingdom. But
at the same time it ditlers from the Evangelical Al-
liance in one point, that from its first formation it
contemplated a confederation of the churches of the
Reformation.
From its first formation in 1848, the Kirchentag
has met every year except 185.5, when it would have
met, as had been fully arranged, at Halle, bad not the
cholera broken out in that city. Its two lirst meet-
ings took place at Wittenberg, but ever since they
have been held at difi'erent towns, and the attend-
ance of members lias of course varied in amount.
The meetings of the lurchentag continue for four
days, two of which are devoted to the congress oi
Inner Mission. Each session is opened and closed
with devotional exercises, and the business is exclu-
sively of a spiritual character, and separate sessions
are held early in the morning, and late in the even-
ing for special objects of a practical kind, such as
Sabbath observance, prison discipline, the establish-
ment of houses of refuge, the cultivation of religious
art, and similar matters.
The meeting of the Kirchentag at Berlin in 1853,
was perhaps the most important of all the meetings
which have been held. On that occasion the Augs-
burg Confession of 1530 was unanimously adopted as
the fundamental symbol of the entire Evangelical
Chiu'ch of Germany in all its branches, with the dis-
tinct luiderstandhig, however, that the tenth article
on the Lord's Supper should not exclude the Re-
formed doctrine on the subject, and that this whole
act should not interfere at all with the peculiar posi-
tion of those churches which never adopted the
Augsburg Confession. Two thousand members ot
the Kirchenta(i solemnly gave their assent to this
decision, which was bailed by the king of Prussia,
and the pious Protestants of Gennany, as a most
gratifying testimony of the doctrinal miity which
prevailed in thegi'eat sections of German Protestant-
ism, while at the same time it was a most powerful
protest against both Romanism and Rationalism.
The meetings which have been held since 1853
have been characterized by a spirit of union and
Christian love. Questions of gi-eat practical import-
ance have been discussed -ivitli the utmost indepen-
dence of mind, and yet with the most commendable
meekness and forbearance. Thus the Kirchentag
has exercised a most salutary Christian influence,
not only upon the cities in which its meetings are
held, but even upon the renjotest parts of Germany.
It has promoted the cause of Christian union both at
home and abroad. But tbe impulse which it has
given to the work of Inner Mission (which see),
may well be regarded as the crowning act of thu
Kirchentag, and though it is possible that the pro-
276
KIRIATII SHEMA— KISS OF PEACE.
gress of a high-clmrch Lutheran si^irit may ultimately
break up this friendly confederation of Chiistian
ministers and laymen, tlie benefit which has already
accrued from it to the cause of ijractical Christian-
ity and Christian philanthropy will not soon be for-
gotten.
KIRIATII SIIEMA (Heb. tlie reading of the
Shema), the recital by the Jews of certain passages
of the Old Testament Scriptures called Siiema
(which see).
KIRIN, a monster which occupies a conspicuous
place in the fabulous legends of the Chinese and the
Japanese. It is supposed to be not only gentle, in-
nocent, and inoflensive, but virtuous and holy. It is
never seen, therefore, but at the appearance of a par-
ticular constellation, and at the nativity of some
worthy benefactor of his race. The Kirin of Japan
IS a di-agon with three claws, and that of China with
five.
KIRK (Ger. Icirchc, Gr. Icm-iakc, Sax. or Tent.
kerlce), a place set apart for divine worship. It is
also applied to the congregation which assemljles in
one place, and to the various congregations which in
their collective capacity form one commmiion.
KISLAR AGA, the chief of the black eunuchs
in Turkey, who is intrusted with superintendence of
all the mosques.
KISSING (S.iCREn). The ancient heathens were
accustomed to kiss the hands, the feet, the knees, or
even the mouths of the gods. It was also accoimted
a pait of devotion to kiss the doors of the temples,
the pillars and the posts of the gates. Among ido-
laters, in times as remote as the days of Job, it
seems to have been a customary act of woi-ship to
their distant or unseen deities to kiss the hand. To
this there is an evident allusion in Job xxxi. 26, 27,
" If I beheld the sun when it sliined, or the moon
walking in briglitness ; and my heart liath been se-
cretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand."
At the inauguration of the ancient Jewish kings, the
principal men of the kingdom, as an expression of
their homage to the new monarch, kissed either his
feet or his knees. A reference to this act of homage
seems to be made in Ps. ii. 12, " Kiss the Son, lest
he be angry, and ye ))erish from the way, when his
wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed arc all they
that put their trust in liim." An Oriental shows his
respect to a superior by kissing his hand and putting
it to his forehead; but if the superior be of a kind
and condescending turn of mind, he will snatch
away his hand as soon as the other has touched it ;
then the inferior puts his own fingers to his lips, and
afterwards to his forehead. The Mohammedan pil-
grims, as a religious duty, kiss the black stone in the
Kaara (which see) at Mecca. Kissing as a mark
of idolatrous reverence is referred to in Ilosea xiii.
2, " Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves ;" and
I Kings xix. 18, "And every mouth which hath not
kissed him," that is, TJaal. The Roman Catholics
make very freipitnt use of this ceremony in religious
worship. Thus they kiss the crucifix and the relics
of saints. In sprinkling the holy water, the priest
kisses the asperrjillum or sprinkling brush ; and at
the procession on Palm-Sunday the deacon kisses the
pahn which he presents to the priest. In the rite of
ordination, as laid down in the Romish Pontifical,
the ordained priests kiss the hand of the Pontitt'-
On numberless occasions the ceremony of kissing as
a religious rite is practised among Romanists. One
of the most extraordinary instances, however, of the
use of this mode of expressing sacred homage and re-
.spect is that of kissing the Pope's foot or toe, which
has been required by Popes as a token of respect from
the secular power since the eighth century. The
first who received this honour was Pope Consfantine
I. It was paid him by the Emperor Justinian II. on
his entry into Constantinople in A. D. 710. But the
first Pope who made it imperative was Valentine I.
about A. D. 827, who required every one to kiss his
foot ; and from that time this mark of reverence ap-
pears to have been expected by all the Popes.
When this ceremony is to be performed, the Pope
wears a slipper with a cross upon it which is kissed.
KISS OF PEACE. One of the most conspi-
cuous features in the character of the early Chris-
tians, was the love which they bore one to another ;
and in token of Christian afl'ection they were accus-
tomed when they met together to kiss each other.
Tliis outward expression of love was manifested in
their private houses, at their public meetings, and on
all suitable occasions. Such a practice, however,
was avoided on the public streets, lest it should be
misunderstood and misrepresented by their lieatlien
fellow-citizens. When they met their pastor they
were accustomed to bow their heads, and to receive
his benediction, but afterwards, when gi'eater rever-
ence was attached to the clerical ofiice, the practice
was introduced of kissing the hands of their pastor,
and embracing his feet. In the early Christian
church after baptism had been administered to a con-
vert, he was received into the church by the fir.st
ki.ss of Christian brotherhood, the salutation of peace,
and from that time he had the right of saluting all
Christians with this fraternal sign. But Clement of
Alexandria complains that even in his day the kiss
of peace had become a mere fonn, a matter of out-
ward disjiLiy, which excited the suspicion of the
heathen. This early Father objects to such a cere-
mony on the ground that love shows itself not in the
brotherly kiss, but in the disjiosition of the heart.
This outward fonn of salutation, however, as a token
of Christian afi'ection, ajipe.ars to have been an apos-
tolic custom, as it is frequently mentioned in the
writings of the apostles. Thus, for example, it is
referred to in Rom. xvi. 16, 1 Cor. xvi. 20, 2 Cor
xiii. 12, 1 Thess. v. 26, and 1 Pet. v. 14. This
practice continued in use for several centuries. It
was usual after baptism, Iwlli in the ca.se of infnits
and adults, as late as the fifth ccntm-y, but after that
lime it seems to have been superseded by the .simple
KITCIir MANITO-KNKICLING IN PRAYER.
277
Balutatioii, Pax tecum, Peace be witli you. 'I'lie kiss
of peace was also one of the rites of the Bacramental
service, ami not only so, but it was observed on com-
mon occasions of public worship. Jt was omitted on
(lood Friday in commemoration of the traitorous
kiss of .Judas Iscariot. To prevent the abuses which
might natm'ally arise out of this practice, the dilVcr-
ent sexes were not permitted to interchange this
salutation with one another. Tlie kiss of peace was
ol'ton a matter of taunt and reproach on the part of
the enemies of Christi.inity, but it w.as still con-
tinued through the eightli and ninth centuries, even
to the thirteenth, when it appears to have ceased.
According to the canons of the council of Laodiiea,
the presbyters were appointed first to give this kiss
to tlie bishop, and then the laity were to exchange
it among themselves. At the ordination of a bishop,
it was customary after his consecration for all the
bishops and clergy present to salute him with a holy
kiss in the Lord. The solemn kiss formed also an
essential part of the ceremony of espousals or be-
trothal among the ancient Christians. Such impor-
tance, indeed, did Constantine attach to this token
of contract between the parties betrothed to each
other, that he laid it down as a law, and it was
afterwards embodied in the Code of .Justinian, that
if a man betrothed a woman by the intervention of
the kiss, then if either party died before marriage,
the heirs of the deceased party were entitled to half
the donations, and the survivor to the other half;
but if the contract was made without the interven-
tion of the solemn kiss, then upon the death of either
party before marriage, the whole of the espousal
gifts must be restored to the donor or his heirs at
law. A corrupt practice crept into some places,
but was strictly forbidden by the canons, — that
of giving the kiss of peace to the dead ; and such
a practice receives a favourable mention from the
author who calls himself Dionysius the Areopa-
gite. It was evidently the ofl'spring of a blind su-
perstition, and accordingly, when it began to creep
into France about a. d. 578, the council of Auxerre
piissed a decree declaring it unlawful to give the kiss
of peace to the dead.
KITCMI MANITO, the n.ame by which the
Great Spirit was known among various tribes of the
old American Indians. This is the foremost mem-
ber in the series of good divinities. See Manitoes.
North American Indians (Religion of the).
KITO, a god wdiom the Chinese soldiery honour
as their patron.
KITOO, a particular prayer which is used by the
Japanese in all seasons of public distress.
KITU, homage or reverence paid by one person
to another, among the natives of Japan. Inferiors
being seated on their heels according to the Japanese
fashion, testiiied their respect for their superiors by
laying the palms of their hands on the Hoor, and
bending their bodies so low that their foreheads
almost touched the gi-ound. This is called the A'(V/(.
The superior responded by laying the palms of liil
hands upon his knees, and nodding or bowing, more
or less low, according to the rank of the other party.
KNHF.hKKS. See Ge.nufi.ectentk.s.
KNKFLING IN PRAYER. This seems to be
a proper and becoming attitude in devotion, and
abundant authority for the practice is found in Scrip-
ture. Thus we find it distinctly mentioned in
2 Chron. vi. 13, Dan. vi. 10, Luke xxii. 41, Acts vii.
CO, and Kph. iii. 14. The expression to bow the
knee, is referred to in 1 Kings xix. 18, as denoting
to perform an act of worship ; and in this sense it is
used in the Hebrew, in Isa. Ixvi. .3, "lie that wor-
siiips idols," is literally " lie that bows the knee" tf
them. In the early Christian church, the act of
kneeling was reg.arded as a sign of humiliation before
God ; hence it was uniformly required of all who
had fallen under the censure of the church for their
oflences. Basil calls it the lesser penance, in dis-
tinction from the act of prostration which w;is termed
the greater penance. Constantine, followed by Thco-
dosius, enacted a law that on festival days prayers
were to be offered by the congregation not kneeling
but standing. The primitive Christians conducted
their devotions in a kneeling posture during six days
of the week, but in a standing attitude on the Lord's
day. Justin Martyr accounts for the difierence
thus, " Forasmuch as we ought to remember both
our fall by sin, and the grace of Christ, by which wa
rise again from our fall ; therefore we pray kneeling
six days as a symbol of our fall by sin ; but our not
kneeling on the Lord's day is a symbol of the resur
rection, whereby, through the gi-ace of Christ we are
delivered from our sins, and from death, that is mor-
tified thereby." The standing attitude, instead of the
kneeling, was adoptedalso during the time of Pentecost.
The practice, however, of refraining from kneehng
on the Lord's day, and the time of Pentecost, seems
not to have been uniformly observed by aU the
churches, for we find the council of Nice decreeing,
" Because there are some who kneel on the Lord's
day, and in the days of Pentecost ; that all things
may be imiformly perfoimed in every parish or dio-
cese, it seems good to the holy synod that prayers
be made to God standing." Hilary also speaks of it
as an apostolical practice, neither to last nor worship
kneeling on the Lord's day, or the fifty days between
Easter and Pentecost. Jerome reckons it among
the traditions of the universal church. Cassian says
of the Egyptian churches, that from Saturday night
to Sunday night, and all the days of Pentecost, they
neither kneeled nor fasted. On all other occasions
kneeling was a common and ordinary posture of de-
votion, so that prayer was often termed bendmg the
knees. It is the almost miiversal practice of Chris-
tians to kneel in private prayer, and even in the
public devotions of the sanctuary ; some churches
prefer the kneeling, while others prefer the standing
attitude.
KNEPH. SeeCNEPH.
!!78
KNIGHTHOOD (Ecclesiastical Orders of)— KORAN (Al).
KNIGHTHOOD (Ecclesiastical Orders of).
During the time of tlie Crusades (wliioli see), a spi-
rit of chivalry developed itself in various parts of
Europe, which accounted it the highest of all deeds
of piety to do battle with the infidels. The warlike
spirit came to be combined with the monastic, and
from this apparently incongruous union arose the
several Orders of Christian Knighthood.
In A. D. 1119, nine knights of Jerusalem first con-
gtituted themselves into an ecclesiastical order, under
Hugh de Payens as grand-master. Tliis new order
of knighthood attracted tlie notice and the approval
of St. Bernard, who quickly spread their fame
throughout the western world; and in 1128 they
received the sanction of the church through a decree
of the synod of Troyes. This of com'se led to tlieir
rapid increase in numbers, wealth, and influence.
Their example was speedily followed by the brethren
of the Hospital of St. John in Jerusalem. Both
orders having been invested with special privileges
by the Pope, were not long in attaining property and
power. A spirit of jealousy, however, arose be-
tween them, and they showed themselves to be more
zealous for the honour and advantage of their re-
spective orders, than for the Holy Land. Com-
plaints, accordingly, began to arise in all quarters on
the immorality, faithlessness, and pride of these
knights, particularly the Templai'S. After the con-
quest of Ptoleraais in 1291, they first withdrew to
Cyprus. Then the Hospitallers in 1309 settled in
Rhodes. The Templars, however, repaired to the
west, and took up their abode chiefly in Paris.
In the twelfth century, other lesser orders of eccle-
siastical knighthood sprung up, which were for the
most part connected with the order of the Cister-
cians (which see). During the siege of Ptolemais,
in A. D. 1190, the Order of German or Teutonic
knights came into existence; but having, in 1226,
withdrawn into Prussia to conquer the Pagan inha-
bitants of that countrj', they joined in 1237 with the
Order of the Brethren of the Sword against the in-
fidel Livonians. Another minor order of knights
was formed, under the direction of the Dominicans,
for conducting the war against the Albigenses in the
south of France. Afterwards, this order settled in
Northern Italy, and was known by the name of the
Rejoicing Brothers. The three principal orders of
Christian knighthood, however, wliich were formed
in the twelfth century for the defence of Christianity
against the infidels, were, 1. The Knights of St. John
of Jerugjilem, whose primary object was to relieve
and assist the crowds of pilgrims who visited the
Holy Land. 2. The Knights Templars, who were a
strictly military order, intetuled to guard tlie roads,
and to protect the Christians from the assaults of the
Mohannnedans. 3. The Teutonic Knights of St.
Mary, whose office it was to care for and specially
tend the soldiers wounded in the holy wars. The
two latter orders have been long extinct, the Templars
having been abolislied by Pope Clement in 1311 ;
but the Knights of St. John have found an asylum
in the island of Malta, where they still exist.
KNIPPERDOLINGS, a section of the Anabap-
tists (which see) who appeared in Germany in the
sixteenth century, deriving their name from their
leader, Bertrand Knipperdoling. They are alleged
to have denied original sin, and justification by faith,
and to have rejected infant baptism. They are also
accused of having alleged the right of every Chris-
tian to preach and administer the sacraments, and to
have held that all things ought to be in common.
KODESH, a certain prayer in the daily monung
service of the Jewish synagogue, so efficacious, in
the opinion of the modem Jews, that when the son
says it publicly, he delivers his father and his mother
out of hell. Hence, in the case of a Jewish funeral,
when the relatives return home, and the prayers for
the dead have been repeated, the sons of the deceased,
or his nearest male relatives, repeat the Kodesh.
This prayer, which is supposed to be possessed of
the most wonderful efficacy, runs as follows : — " 0
may the mighty power of the Lord be now magnified,
as thou hast declared, saying, 0 Lord! remember thy
tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses, for they
have been of old. May his great name be exalted
and sanctified throughout the world, which he hath
created according to his will. May he establish his
kingdom in your lifetime, and in the lifetime of the
whole house of Israel ; soon, and in a short time, and
say ye Amen — Amen. May his great name be
blessed and glorified for ever and ever. May his
liallowed name be praised, glorified, exalted, magin
fied, honom'ed, and most excellently adored : blessed
is he, far exceeding all blessings, hymns, praises, and
beatitudes, that are repeated throughout the world ;
and say ye Amen. May our prayers be accepted
with mercy and kindness. May the prayers and
supplications of the whole house of Israel be accepted
in the presence of their Father who is in heaven :
and say ye Amen. Blessed be the name of the Lord,
from henceforth and for evermore. May the fulness
of peace from heaven, with life, be granted unto us
and all Israel : and say ye Amen. My help is from
the Lord, who made heaven and eai'th. May he who
maketh peace in his high heavens, bestow peace on
us and on all Israel : and say ye Amen."
KODOM (Sommona), another name for Budha
Gotama (which see).
KOHATIIITES, a division of the Levites, who
were of the family of Kohath. Their special duty,
as laid down in Num. iv. 1 — 15, was to carry the
ark and sacred vessels of the Tabemacle dmlng the
marches of the Israelites. See Levites,
KOIVE, the high-priest of the Pagan inhabitants
of ancient Prussia. When it thundered, they be-
lieved that tlieir Koive was conversing with their god
Pekun (which see), and hence they fell down in
adoration of tliat deity, and implored of him to semi
them more propitious weather.
KORAN (Al), (Arab., the Reading), the smied
KORAN (Al).
279
book of tliG Moliammodaiis, wliicli prohalily derives
its name from the ii:iBsaf,'e wliicli the aiif;el (ialjriel
is Hiiid to have first revealed to tiic jiropliet : " Uead!
ill tlie name of tliy Lord wlio lialli ereateil tlieo, wlio
liatli eroated man of congealed Idood — read ! for tliy
Lord is most bounteous. lie it is who lias taught by
tlio pen, who has taught man what he did not know."
The Koran claims to bo possessed of a higher iiis|)ira-
tion than the Christian Scriptures, inasmuch as in
tlieir case the inspiration was conveyed through the
medium of holy men, wliilc in the Koran fjod himself
is the only speaker. This book is said to have been
delivered not all at once, but in successive portions,
extending over a p(U'iod of twenty-three years. To
accoiuit for this, it has been alleged that the Koran
liad existed from eternity with God, and had been
conveyed from the preserved table in the divine
presence to the lowest lie.aven, from which it was
communicated in greater or less portions, as needed,
by the angel Gabriel. In one passage, indeed, the
Koran professes to have been sent down in a iiiglit,
the blessed night of Al Kadr ; but the numerous
contradictions which occur in the book, afford ample
proof that it must have been written at different
times, if not by different persons. Thus in prayer
the faithful are ordered in one pas.sage to turn to-
wards .Jerusalem, and in another passage they are
coramanded to tuni towards Mecca, while in a tldrd
they are taught tliat it is of no importance in what
direction they turn in prayer. Idoliiters are ordered
in one passage to he tolerated, and in another to be
exterminated, iiiit passing from the internal evi-
dence, which the book itself affords, that it is not
eternal, but must have been created, some Moham-
medan doctors are accustomed to argue against its
eternity, on the gi-ound that there cannot be two
etenial Beings, the Deity Jind the Koran ; and the
Caliph Almamun held this opinion so firmly, that
he persecuted those wlio declared the Koran to be
uncreated and eternal. After a protracted contro-
versy on the subject, both parties came to acquiesce
in the opinion of Algazali, wliicli he thus expressed :
— " The Koran is pronounced with the tongue, writ-
ten in books, and kept in the memory, and yet is
eternal, subsisting in the Divine essence, .and not
separate from it."
In the preparation of this .sacred book, it li.ns been
generally alleged th.at wliile the uniformity of style
which characterizes it, and the frequent recurrence
of the same identical terms .and phrases, show it to
have been the production of one man, it is not un-
likely that for niiiny of the facts and ide.is, at .ill
events, Mohammed was indebted to other persons.
Hence the Mohanimed.an authors mention several
assistants, and in particular Salman, a Persian, who
conmiunicated to him from the Zend Avesia some of
the Zoroastrian doctrines, such .as the description of
heaven and hell, but more especially of the niirrow
bridge Ai. Sirat (which see), and of the houris or
black-eyed damsels which enhance the joys of the
Moh.ammedan Paradise. The early Christian writern
again speak of a Nestorian monk called SergiuB hi
lending Mohammed valuable assistance in the com-
position of the Koran. There ia no satisfactory evi
dence, however, that Mohammed received aid in iiiii
great work, but there is every reason to believe that
he was its sole author. AV'lien the prophet died, the
record w.as left in the utmost confusion. Not being
able himself to write, he was under the necesBity
of employing a secretjiry or amanuensis. Of these
he is said to have had in the course of his life no
fewer than lifteen, the most eminent of them being
Abnbekr and Othniiui, both sons-in-law, and both in
succession reaching the Caliphate. Jt would appear
tluat even while Mohammed lived, the faithful were
allowed to make copies for their owti use, while
many people committed them to memory. Wlien
the prophet, accordingly, had closed his earthly
career, the Koran consisted simply of scattered leaves,
which had never been brought together, and many
p.ass.ages existed only in the memories of some of the
faithful. Abubekr was the first who collected the
scattered fragments into a volume, without regard to
date, but putting only the long chapters first. It
w.as soon discovered, however, that other copies, at
least of portions, were in circuLation, having a variety
of ditferent readings. To secure an accuriite text,
therefore, Othman, in the thirtieth year of the Ilegira,
ordered .all the versions to be submitted to a com-
mittee of learned men, who were directed, whenever
they difVered aliout a word, to transl.ate it into its
equivalent in the Koreishite dialect of the Arabic,
wliich w.as the origin.al language in which the book
was written. Having thus secured a perfect text,
Othman published a new and st.andard edition of the
Koran, ordering all others to be destroyed. Hence
there are no various readings of any consequence,
though some minor discrepancies are still found, in
consequence of the text having been .anterior to the
use of vowels and signs.
JIohammed.an doctors have in many cases been
puzzled to account for the evident inconsistencies
and direct contradictions which occur occasionally
tliroughout the Koran. Unless satisfactorilyexpLained,
these must necess.arily niilit.ate against the alleged
ch.aracter of the book as being directly inspired. To
obviate this serious objection, accordingly, an inge-
nious theory b.as been devised, which is termed the
doctrine of abrogation. I^eanied Mussulmans have
alleged three kinds of .abrog.ation, to which all pas-
s.ages in the Koran may be referred :■ — 1. Where the
letter is abrog.ated, though the sense remains. 2
Where the sense is abrogiited, but the letter remains;
and, 3. Where both the letter and tlie sense are in
palpable contradiction to some other letter .and sense
in some other chapter, or else to the known practice
of tlie faithful. A convenient doc'rine of this kind
enables a commcnt.ator on the Koran to reduce its
most contr.adictory passages to complete order and
consistency ; not, however, by explaining, but by
280
KOUNBOUM.
explaining away the difticulties; not by unloosing,
but by summarily cutting the knot.
The Koran consists of 114 portions or cliapters,
Bome very long, others containing no more than two
or three sentences. The introductory chapter, called
the " Opening," consists of seven verses, and is used
by Mohammedans as frequently as the Lord's Prayer
by Christians. The rest of the volume is arranged
according to the length of the chapters, which, as a
whole, are called Asivai: Each chapter is desig-
nated by a name drawn from the subject, or from a
prominent word. The title of each chapter states
where it was revealed to the prophet ; and thus we
leam that eighty-three of these chapters were re-
vealed at Mecca, twenty-eight at Medina, and three
are doubtful. There is a marked difference between
the first class of these chapters and the second.
Those revealed at Mecca are full of admonitions ;
those at Medina are full of commands, evidently dic-
tated with the authority of a sovereign.
The literary merit of the Koran is undoubtedly of
a high order, considering the time of its produc-
tion, and the circumstances of its author. The
materials have been drawn from a variety of sources,
Jewish, Christian, and Zoroastrian, and the style is
somewhat obscure from its elliptical character ; but
many of those skilled in Arabic literature have not
hesitated to regard it as on the ■whole a work of
wonderful merit. To the English reader, who has
■iccess only to the translation of Sale, nuicli of its
beauty disappears from tlie foolish legendary stories
and the tiresome repetitions with which it abounds.
Even Gibbon declares, speaking of the Koran, "The
European infidel will peruse with impatience the
endless incoherent rhapsody of fable and precept and
declamation which seldom excites a sentiment or an
idea, -which sometimes crawls in tlie dust, and is
sometimes lost in the clouds. The Divine attributes
exalt tlie fancy of the Arabian Missionary, but his
loftiest strains must yield to the sublime simplicity
of the book of Job." From the pen of the sceptical
historian, this estimate has at all events the merit of
impartiality. The Koran, indeed, can never, even as
a literary composition, stand a comparison with the
Scriptures, whether of the Old or the New Testa-
ment. Yet the matchless beauty of the Koran is
regarded by the followers of the I'rophet of Arabia
as an article of faith, which it is heresy to deny or
even to doubt.
The Mohammedan looks upon the Koran as the
Word of God, and therefore he regards it with a re-
verence which degenerates into superstition. The
Faithful consider it not only as containing a .sacred
message, but as in itself a sacred object. They dare
not touch it with unwashcn hands, and the warning is
generally written upon the cover, " Let none touch
it but those who are purified." They hold it with
great care and I'espect while they read, keeping it
above their girdles. All of them who understand
the Arabic language are in the habit of reading it.
In the schools it is the schoolbook which they leam
to read, and a title equivalent to "Rememberer" is
given to those who have committed it wholly to
memory. It is a high rehgious act to transcribe the
entire book ; and sovereigns have accounted it an
honourable and sacred employment to perform this
laborious task. On festivals, at fimerals, and other
public occasions, its recital by hired readers is es-
teemed an act of piety, beneficial alike to the living
and the dead. For the guidance of public reciters,
it is divided into sixty portions, or into thirty sec-
tions, each of which is subdivided into four.
The Koran is often used or rather abused for su-
perstitious purposes. Thus the whole volume is
sometimes transcribed in a very small character,
put in a case, and hung round the neck as a charm.
Some favourite chapters are worn about the person,
and considered to carry good fortune with them, as
well as to deliver from diseases and calamities of
every kind. Fourteen chapters when recited require
prostration. Two are reconnnended on the authority
of Mohammed, according to tlie Traditions, as the
best for repeating in prayer, namely the 113th and
the 114th chapters; both of which the commenta-
tors say were revealed to free Mohammed from the
incantations of a Jew and his daughters. The 112tli
chapter, that on the unity of God, is said to be worth
a third of the Koran.
Mohammed admitted that there had been divine
revelations before his time, among which were the
Law given to Moses, the Psalter to David, and the
Gospel to Jesus; but all former communications
from God to men are considered by the Faithful as
having been abrogated by the Book given to the
Arabian Prophet. The contest is still carried on
among Mohammedan theologians as to the origin of
the Koran, whether it was eternal like God himself,
or created at the moment of its revelation ; and the
very continuance of such a controversy clearly shows
the higli estimation in which the Book is held, not
only among the great mass of illiterate Moslems, but
even among the learned portion of the Mohamme-
dans, who have made the study of the Koran the
object of their lives. See Mohammed Mohamme-
dans.
KOUNBOUM (Thibetian, ten thou.sand images),
a place in the country of Anido in Thibet, where
grows a wonderful tree, known by the name of the
Tree of Ten Thousand Images. According to a
legend which is credited by the people, this wonder-
ful tree sprung from the hair of Tsong-Kaba, h
celebrated liudliist reformer, who founded the great
monastery of Khal-dan, near Lliassa. in 1409. and by
whose inlluence a niunbcr of changes was effected
both in the administration and the ritual system ot
Thibetian iiudhism. (See Lamaists.) The Tree
of Ten Thousand Images is thus described by M.
Hue, who personally visiled it : "At the foot of the
mountain on which the Lamasery stands, and not fai
from the principal Buddhist temple, is a great squur*
KOURKN OF THE THOUSAND LAMAS— KRISHNA.
281
enclosure, formed by brick walls. Upon entering
this we were able to examine at leisure the marvellous
tree, some of the branches of which had already
manifested themselves above the wall. Our eyes
were tirst directed with earnest curiosity to the
leaves, and we were tilled with an absolute conster-
nation of astoniHlinient at llndjni; that, in [mint of
fact, there wrre upon each of the leaves well-formed
Thibetian characters, all of a green colour, some
darker, some lighter than the leaf itself. Our tirst
impression was a suspicion of fraud on the part of
the Lamas ; but, after a minute examination of every
detail, we could not discover the least deception.
The characters all appeared to us portions of the
leaf itself, equally with its veins and nerves ; the
position was not the same in all ; in one leaf they
would be at the top of the leaf, in another, in the
middle ; in a third, at the base, or at the side ; the
younger leaves represented the characters only in a
partial state of formation. The bark of the tree and
its branches, which resemble that of the plane tree,
are also covered witli these characters. AVhen you
remove a jiiece of old bark, the young bark under it
exhibits the indistinct outlines of characters in a
germinating state, and, what is very singular, these
new characters are not unfrequently ditferent from
those which they replace. We examined everything
with the closest attention, in order to detect some
trace of trickery, but we could discern nothing of
the sort, and the perspiration absolutely trickled
down our faces under the intluence of the sensations
which this most amazing spectacle created. More
profound intellects than ours may, perhaps, be able
to supply a .satisfactory explanation of the mysteries
of this singular tree ; but as to us, wc altogether give
it up. Our readers possibly may smile at our igno-
rance ; but we care not, so that the sincerity and
truth of our statement be not suspected.
" The Tree of the Ten Thousand Images seemed
to us of great age. Its trunk, which three men
could scarcely embrace with outstretched arms, is
not more than eight feet high ; the branches, instead
of shooting up, spread out in the shape of a plume
of feathers, and are extremely bushy ; few of them
are dead. The leaves are always green, and the
wood, which is of a reddish tint, has an exquisite
odour, something like that of cinnamon. The Lamas
informed us that in summer, towards the eighth
moon, the tree produces large red Howers of an ex-
tremely beautiful character. They informed us also
that there nowhere else exists another such tree;
that many attempts have been made in various La-
maseries of Tartaiy and Thibet to propagate it by
seeds and cuttings, but that all these attempts have
been fruitless.
" The Emperor Khang-Hi, when upon a pilgrimage
to Kounboum, constructed, at his own private ex-
pense, a dome of silver over the Tree of the Ten
Thousand Images ; moreover, he made a present to
the Grand Lama of a fine black horse, capable of
travelling a thousand lis a day, and of a saddle
adorned with precious stones. The horse is dead,
but the saddle is still shown in one of the Buddhist
temples, where it is an object of special veneration,
lielbre quitting the Lamasery, Khang-Hi endowed
it with a yearly revenue, for the support of 360
J.,amas."
The Lamasery of Kounboum, in which there arc
nearly 4,000 Lamas, is so famous, that the worship-
pers of Hudha resort thither in pilgrimage from all
parts of Tartary and Thibet, so that not a day passes
in which there are not pilgrims amving and depart
ing. On the four great festivals, particularly the
Feast of Flower.s, which takes place on the fifteenth
day of the tirst moon, the congregation of strangers
is immense.
KOUREN OF THE THOUSAND LAMAS,
a celebrated Lamasery in Tartary, which dates from
the invasion of China by the Mantchous. When the
founder of the now reigning dynasty in China was on
his way to I'ekin, he met a Thibetian Lama who en
couraged him in his warlike enter|irize by predictin^l
his success, whereupon the Mantchou chief invited
the friendly Lama to visit him when he should be
installed in the imperial palace iit I'ekin. The re-
sult of the war was, as the Lama had foretold, fa-
vourable to the Mantchous, and in token of gratitude
the new Emperor presented the Thibetian priest with
a large extent of land on which to construct a Lama-
sery, and revenues suflicient for the maintenance of
a thousand Lamas. The Lamasery has made such
progress in prosperity, liowever, from the time of its
erection that it now contains more than four thou
sand Lamas. The Grand Lama of this Lamasery is
also the govenior of the district, who makes laws,
administers justice, and appoints magistrates. When
he dies his subjects go in search of him in Thibet,
where he is understood to pass into another person
who is to be his successor.
KRISHNA, the eighth of the Avatars (which
sec), or incaniations of Vislmu. His name does not
occur in the Big- Veda, the earliest of the Vedas, so
that he cannot be considered as a deity of the Vai-
dic period. The first appearance of Krishna- worship
is in the Biiagavat-Gita (which see), a work whicii
Mr. J. C. Thomson, its recent editor and translator,
is disposed to place no farther back than between
1!. c. 100 and A. d. 300. In this poem, which chietly
consists of a conversation between two friends, Ar-
junaand Krishna, the latter of them plainly declares
concerning himself, " ' I am the cause of the produc-
tion and dissolution of the whole imiverse. There
exists no other thing superior to me. . . On me is
all the universe suspended, as numbers of pearls on
a string ; ' adding also, that he was the mystic syl-
lable AuM (which see) in all the Vedas." Arjuna,
recognizing the divinity of Krishna, olTers up to him
the following remaikable prayer : " The universe, 0
Krishna ! is justly delighted with thy glory, and de-
voted to thee. The Rakshasas [evil spirits] flee,
282
KRISHNA
atfrighted, to the divers quarters of heaven, and all
the multitudes of the Siddhas [derai-gods] salute
thee. And, indeed, why should they not adore thee,
0 great one ! thee, the first creator, n:ore important
even than Brahmd himself? 0 infinite king of gods !
habitation of the universe ! thou art the one indivi-
sible, the existing and not existing [spirit and matter],
tliat wliieh is supreme. Thou art the first of the
gods, the most ancient person. Thou art the supreme
receptacle of this universe. Thou knowest all, and
mavest be known, and art the supreme mansion.
By thee is this universe caused to emanate, 0 thou
of endless forms. . . Thou All ! Of infinite power
and immense might, thou comprehendest all ; there-
fore thou art All. As I took thee merely for a
friend, I beseech thee witliout measure to pardon
whatever I may, in ignorance of this thy greatness,
have said from negligence or affection, such as, 0
Krishna ! 0 son of Yadu ! 0 friend ! and everything
in which I may have treated thee in a joking man-
ner, in recreation, repose, sitting, or meals, whether
in private, or in the presence of these, eternal One !
Thou art the father of the animate and inanimate
world."
In the earlier avatars, Vishnu had only exhibited a
portion of his godhead, but Krishna was a full mani-
festation, an actual incarnation of the preserving
deity. But although the Bhaf/avat- G ila plainly
acknowledges Krishna as Vishnu in human shape,
and claiming all the attributes of Supreme Deity,
being even called "the Lord of the world," "the
Creator," " the Lord of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva,"
yet ages elapsed before Krishna- worship became a
prominent feature in the Hindu system. Lassen
thinks it was introduced in the hope of counter-
balancing the influence of Budhism at a time when
that system was threatening to overspread the whole
of Hindustan ; and this view coincides with that of
Elphinstone, who refers this and all the other forms
of worship addressed to particular incarnations, to a
period later than the beginning of the eighth century
of our era. Even then indeed Krishnaism, if we
may so speak, was in a comparatively undeveloped
form, and it was not till several centuries after, that
the legend of Krishna came to exhibit the fullness
and completeness in which it appears iti the Hindu
Purdnils.
Several Orientalists of high name have been struck
with the remarkable coincidences of the legend of
Krishna and the narratives of Holy Scripture. To
account for these. Sir William Jones advances the
supposition that "spurious Gospels which abounded
in the first age of Christianity had been brought to
India, and the wildest part of them repeated to the
Hindus, who engrafted them on the old fable of
Cesava, the Apollo of Greece." This theory has
been adopted by other writers, who have pointed
out the Gospel of St. Thomas, better known as the
" Gospel of Infancy," wbidi was circulated at an
early period on the coast of Malabar. And when we
reflect that the Bhagavat-Gita in which Ki-ishna is
set forth in his highest aspect, as an incarnation oi
and identical with the Supreme Being, is generally
believed to be a production of an age long posterior
to the publication of the Sacred Volume, it is quite
possible that some of the ideas of the Hindu legend
may have been borrowed from the narratives of tlie
Clu'istian Scriptui-es.
Krishna-worship prevails to a great extent among
the Hindus of the Vaishnava sects, particularly
among the wealthy and the women. Another form
of this worship, however, which is more popular still
is the Bala Gopala, the infant Krishna, the worship
of whom is very widely diffused among all ranks ol
Indian society. This species of worship is called from
the title of its teachers, the religion of the Golcu-
last'ha Gosains ; and in their temples and houses
the image of Krishna represents a chubby boy o(
the dark hue of which Vishnu is always representee^
and eight times a-day the homage of the votaries of
this god is paid to the image. The eight daily cere-
monials are thus described by Professor H. H. Wil-
son: '^ 1 . Mangala : the morning levee. The image
being washed and dressed, is taken from tlie couch,
where it is supposed to have slept during the night,
and placed upon a seat, about half an hour aftet
sunrise : slight refreshments are then presented to it.
with betel and Pan: lamps are generally kept burn
ing during this ceremony. 2. Smigdra: the image
having been anointed and perfumed with oil, cam-
phor, and sandal, and splendidly attired, now holds
his public court : tliis takes place about an hour and
a half after the preceding, or when four Ghetis of the
day have elapsed. 3. Givala : the image is now visit-
ed, preparatory to his going out to attend the cattle
along with the cow-herd ; this ceremony is Iwld about
forty-eight minutes after the last, or when six Gheria
have passed. 4. Raja Bhoga : held at midday,
when Krishna is supposed to come in from the pas-
tures, and dine ; all sorts of delicacies are placed be-
fore the image, and both those, and other articles of
food dressed by the ministers of the temple, are dis-
tributed to the numerous votaries present, and not
unfrequently sent to the dwellings of worshipppi's
of some rank and consequence. 5. Uttlaipan: tliu
calling up. The summoning of the god from his
siesta: this takes place at six Gheris, or between
two and three hours before sunset. 6. BhSga; the
afternoon meal : about half an hour after the pre-
ceding. 7. Sandhya; about sunset: the evening
toilet of the image, when the ornaments of the day
are taken oft', and fresh unguent and perfume ap
plied. 8. Sayan ; retiring to repose : the image,
about eight or nine in the evening, is placed upon a
bed, refreshments and water in proper vases, toge-
ther with the betel-box and its appurtenances, are
left near it, when the votaries retire, and the temjile
is shut till the ensuing morning."
On each of these occasions similar rites are gone
through, flowers, perfumes, and food being presented
KRITA— KUTUCHTA.
283
before tlie image, while the praises of Krishna are
repeated in Sansltrit stanzas, accompanied with a
variety of prostrations and obeisances.
KKITA, or Satya Aon, tlie age of trntli, accord-
ing to tlie Hindu system, being tlie earliest in the
history of the human race, in which man sprung
from the hand of his Creator, pure and sinless, not
divided into conllicting orders, and with all his facul-
ties working together in harmony.
KSIIATTKYA, tlie military caste of the Hindus,
sprung from the arm of IJrahma, whose ollice it is to
defend their fellows from internal violence and out-
ward assault. The duties of this caste as laid down
in the Code of Menu are to defend the people, give
alms, and read the Vedas ; and at any age up to
twenty-two and twenty-four, they must be invested
with the mark of the caste. Tlie Kshattrya caste is
extinct, or in other words, it is no longer found as a
distinct division of society. But the whole country of
Itajputana claims to be inhabited by Kshattryas, al-
though they want the sacrificial thread with which
the members of this caste were originally invested.
KTISTOLATR^. See Aphthartodocites,
Creaticola:.
ICULIKA, one of the chiefs of the Narjas or ser-
pents (see Serpent-Worship), in the Hindu my-
thology, who complained to the Lord of the wiiverse
that for no fault of his he was continually tomiented
by the Suras or inferior gods. In answer to the
prayer of Kulika, or Kulik^tu, as he is sometimes
tenned, Brahma is said to have enjoined that he
should henceforth receive adoration like the devas
from each human being, and that mortals who re-
fused to pay such worship to him, should be cut ofV
by some unnatural death, and deprived of the power
c*" rising higher in the scale of created beings. In
regard to the right intei-pretation of this myth, Mr.
Hardwick, hi his 'Chnst and other Masters,' ingenious-
ly remarks : " It directs us to behold in Kuhketu an
emblem of the earth before it had been subjected to
human culture, when it felt itself toi-mented by the
Suras, or, in other words, assaulted by the amiies of the
firmament — the rain, the lightning, and the tempest.
In the midst of this disorder, man, who had been
hitherto regardless of the soil on which his lot is
cast, and the material out of which his body is con-
structed, was bidden by the Lord of creation to ren-
der homage to the powers and processes of nature,
to propitiate the ungenial elements, and welcome in
all forms around him the immediate presence of
Divinity. According, therefore, to this myth, the
serpent was not absolutely and directly charged with
the origination of all evil ; yet suspicions of such
agency were nevertheless implied from first to last
in the conception of the story. There was lurking
under its fantastic imagery an idea that matter, in
the whole compass and duration of it, was intrin-
sically evil, and might therefore be identified with
that which was the recognized embodiment of the
evil principle."
KUMANO-GOO, a species of ordeal in use among
the Japanese for the detection of crime. The Goo
is a piece of paper, formally sealed with the signet
of the Ja.mmai!OS (which sec), whereon are drawn
several mysterious characters, and the figures of
ravens as well as other ill-omened birds. Thi.s
charm, they imagine, defends them against the at-
tacks of all malicious spirits ; and for this reason
every houselioldcr nails one of them upon the street
door. All Guos, however, have not an equal ellicaey.
The most powerful, and those which are most dreaded
by the demons, come from a place called Kumano.
The ordeal of Kmimno-Goo consists in making tht
party accused swallow a small piece of Goo in a
certain quantity of water. If he be really guilty,
the Goo twinges and gripes him in the most violent
manner, till he is obliged to confess his guilt.
KUSA, the sacred grass of the Hindus. On the
Kusa, the Yogi, or Hindu ascetic, whose business is
the restraining of his passions, must sit, with his
mind fixed on one object alone, keeping his head,
his neck, his body, steady without motion, his eyes
fixed upon the point of his nose, looking at no other
place around.
KUSALA, merit among the Budhists, which is
included in Karma (which see). " There are three
principal meanings," says Mr. Speiice Hardy, " of
the word kusala, viz., freedom from sickness, exemp-
tion from blame, and reward; but as used by Uudha,
its primary idea is that of cutting, or excision. It
has a cognate use in the word kusa, the sacrificial
gi-ass that cuts with both its edges the hand of him
who lays hold of it carelessly. That which is cut by
kusala is kldsha, evil desire, or the cleaving to exist
ence. Akusala is the opposite of kusala. That
which is neither kusala nor akusala is awydkrata ;
it is not followed by any consequence ; it receives no
reward, either good or bad."
KUTUCHTA, the chief priest of the Calmuc
Tartars and Western Jlongols. In foiTner times he
was subject to the Dalai-Lama (which see) of
Thibet, but in course of time, being far distant from
his superior, he made a schism among the Lainaists,
and established himself as an independent ecclesias-
tical ruler, on an equal footing with the Dalai- Lama
himself. The chief magistrates and persons of dis-
tinction are alone allowed to approach his sacred
presence; and when he gives them his blessing, he
lays his hand upon their foreheads, having a chaplet
in it at the same time, similar to those carried by the
Lamas. The Kutuchta never exposes himself to
public view, but on some particular days when lie
comes forth surrounded with the utmost pomp and
ceremony. He is carried in procession to a tent,
covered with Chinese velvet, where he sits cross-
legged on a throne, erected on a large square emi-
nence, surrounded with a large number of cushions
on which are seated the subordinate Lamas. On
either side of the chief pontiti" are placed two idols,,
which represent the Divine essence. As soon as th*
284
KWAMBAK— KYRKO UAU.
Kutuchta has taken \\U Beat upon the tlirone, tlie
music with wliich he was ushered into the tent ceases,
and the whole assembly iirst prostrate themselves on
the ground, and then burst forth into loud acclama-
tions of praise to the Deity, and lofty eulogiums upon
the Kutuchta. The Lamas now throw odoriferous
herbs into their censers, and with these they perfume
the idols, the pontit}', and the whole congregation.
As soon as this ceremony is over, each Lama depo-
sits his censer at the feet of tlie pontift', and the
leading one of their number takes seven separate
cups tilled with ditierent ingredients, such as milk,
honey, tea, or brandy, presenting them as an otfering
to the idols. Then he takes seven other cups, filled
with the same ingredients, and presents them to the
Kutuchta. During this part of the ceremony, the
crowd of people present rend the air with their cries
in praise of tlie sovereign pontitl', who first tastes
the oblations, and then distributes the remainder to
the heads of the several tribes. Tlie Kutuchta now
withdraws with the same pomp and pageantry as he
entered. " To the idea of immortality," says Picart,
" wliich these people entertain of their Kutuchta,
another is added, which is altogether as whimsical
and extravagant, and, no doubt, as deeply imprinted
on their imaginations as the former; viz. that after
the Kutuchta is grown old with the decrease of the
moon, he renews his youth at the change of the same
planet. The whole mystery of this fantastical no-
tion consists in the holy father sutlering his beard to
grow from one new moon to another, and never
shaving himself, but at her first appearance ; at which
time he dresses himself in all his splendour, paints
his face ; and besmears it all over with white and
red, as is custom.ary among the Moscovites. As to
the notion of this grand pontirt"s immortality, the
origin and foundation of it is this. All these Tartars
hold the metempsychosis, or transmigi'ation of souls ;
and this received opinion induces them to imagine,
tliat the soul of the expiring Kutuclita enters, imme-
diately after his decease, into the body of his succes-
sor; or, at least, that the soul of tlie latter receives
all the operations, and is endowed with all the powers
and faculties of tlie soul of the deceased. For which
reason, he who is intended to be the old pontiff's
successor, must constantly attend him, tliat the sold
of the holy father may qualify the young one, if I
may be allowed the expression, for his approaching
godhead ; tliat the young soul may eveiy day have
familiar converse witli tlie old one, possess all her
qiialitie::, and become, as it were, tlie very same."
K\VA.MI'..\K, the first officer at the court of the
Da nil (which see) in Japan, and represents that
pontiff when the dignity devolves on a woman or a
child.
KWAN-Sni-IN, one of three divinities unknown
to the original Budliists, but worshipped in China as
scarcely inferior to Gautama Budlia himself. He is
also known by the name of Padma-pani, or lotus-
bearer, and he is considered as the author of all joy
and happiness in the family circle, and has even been
deputed to admini.ster the government of the whole
earth. In many districts of Thibet he is incarnate,
under the name of Padma-jmni, in the person of the
Dalai-Lama (which see), and no cry so often meets
the ear of the traveller in that country as Om !
Mani-Padme! Hum. — " Gloiy to the lotus-bearer,
Hum !" Both in Thibet and in Mongolia this deity
is represented sometimes with innumerable eyes and
hands, and sometimes with as many as ten heads, all
bearing crowns, and rising conically one above another.
Throughout GMma, Kwan-shi-in is exhibited with a fe-
male figure, and decorations usually worn by females.
KYllIE ELEISON (Gr., 0 Lord, have mercy),
a response made by the people, and an earnest sup-
plication for mercy, introduced at an early period
into the Christian church. According to Augustin,
it was in use in the Syriac, Armenian, and other
Oriental languages. The Council of Vaisen, A. D.
492, ordered its introduction into the churches o(
France in both the moniing and evening prayer and
the commmiion service ; and in the preamble of the
decree, it is declared to be a veiy useful and agree-
able custom in the Roman Church, and all the pro-
vinces of Italy and tlie Ea.st. Gregory the Great
introduced a threefold foi-m : L 0 Lord; 2. Lord,
have mercy ; 3. Christ, have mere)'. And each, it
would seem, was to be thrice repeated with reference
to the sacred Trinity.
KYRKO-HANDBOK, the ritual of the Swedish
Church, revised and published in 1811. It is divided
into fifteen chapters, containing the Psalms ; the
morning prayer and commmiion service; the evening
prayer and the holy-day service ; the Litany ; the
forms of baptism, conrinnation, marriage, and church-
ing of women ; the funeral service ; the forms of con-
secration of churches and of bishops ; the form ot
ordination of priests, &c.
KYRKO-ORDNINGEN, a work first published
in 1G8G, containing the laws regulating the govern-
ment and discipline of the Church of Sweden.
KYKKO-RAD (Swed. church council), a church
court in Sweden, inferior to the diocesan consistories,
and nearly answering to a presbytery. It is com-
posed partly of laymen, who arc elected by the par
i-iauiifis. See Sweden (Church of).
LAHADISTS— LABRADOK and GUEliNLAND.
285
LABADISTS, a sect wliich arose in IIoll:iiicl in
llio seventeenth century, originated by .lolm Ija-
badio, a Frciiclnnan, of an ardent and enthusiastic
temperament. Ori^jinally reared in connection witli
the Church of Rome, lie entered tlie order of tlie
Jesuits, from whicli, liowever, he was dismissed in
lO.'J'J. He now joined tlie Kefornied cluu'cli, and
became a devcjtcd and exemplary pastor, jierforming
the ministerial functions witli reputation in France,
Switzerland, and Holland. At lengtli he began to
[jreach and to propagate new and peculiar opinions,
which resembled in many points the doctrines of the
Mystics (which see). He speedily gathered around
him a number of fullowers, wlio were called Lahadhts,
and who resided first at Middleljnrgh, in Zealand,
and afterwards at Amsterdam. In IfiTO the sect
settled at Herworden, in Westphalia, under the
special patronage of the Princess Elizabeth, daughter
of the Elector I'alatiue. After a time, Labadie was
compelled to remove his establi-shment to Altona,
in South Holland, where its founder died in 1G74,
when the conmiunity finally removed to Wiewert,
in North Holland, and soon after sunk into ob-
livion.
The Labadists agreed with Schwenkfeld and the
Anabaptists in attaching great importance to internal
revelation, by which the external revelation is ren-
dered intelligible, and from which it receives its
authority. They also entertained very strong views
as to the purity of the visible church, maintaining
that it ought not to consist of professing disciples of
Christ, but of really sanctitied Christians, striving
after perfection in holiness.
EABAKUM, the military standard of the fir.st
Christian Emperor, Constantine. The circumstances
wliich led to his adoption of the Labarum are de-
tailed by Eusebius, and are in substance ae 'oUows.
Constantine had resolved to make an attempt to
deliver Rome from the tyranny of Maxentius, but
feeling that he needed a higher than human aid, he
prayed earnestly to God that he would assist him in
the difficult enterprise in which he was engaged.
About mid-day, when crossing the country with his
lirmy, he ofTered up this prayer, and inmiediately
there appeared in heaven near the sun a bright
ehiuing cross, on which was inscribed these words in
the Greek language : " By this sign. Conquer." This
sign, which was seen in tlie sky both by the soldiers
and their leaders, was followed by a secret vision, in
which the Son of God appeared to the Emperor,
holding in his hand the symbol of the cross, and
commanded him to form a standard on the same
model, under which his soldiers would march to
victory. Constantine hastened to obey the solemn
command, and forthwith a standard was framed by
the most skilful artificers, under the immediate direc-
tion of the Emperor himself. It was in the form ol
a long spear, overlaid with gold, and having a cross
beam towards the top. Ujion the summit there was
a golden crown, enclosing the two first letters of the
name Christ intersecting each other. From the cross
beam was suspended a silken veil, in wliich were
inwrought images of the Emperor and of his chil-
dren.
The name given to this standard was Labarum, a
word the literal meaning and correct derivation of
wliich are miknowii. The monogram containing the
two initial letters of the name of the Messiah, and
wliich were so formed as also to represent a cross,
was afterwards engraved upon the shields of the
soldiers, and fixed upon their helmets. Fifty men,
chosen for their strength, valour, and piety, were
appointed to the care of the Labarum, which long
continued to be carried at the liead of the Roman
army, and to be considered the sure token of victor)-.
It is only right to state that the account of the mira-
culous sign is related by Eusebius alone, and that the
information of the historian was derived from the tes-
timony of Constantine himself, continned by an oath.
Eusebius considers the testimony of the Emperor as
.satisfactory, but at the same time he states that if
the narrative had been given by any other person,
he would not easily have been believed.
LABIS, the name which the modem Greeks give
to the spoon used in administering the consecrated
bread and wine to the laity.
LABORANTES, a name sometimes applied in
the early Christian writers to the CoriAT^ (which
see).
LABRADOR and GREENLAND (Religion
of). These remote countries, bordering on the
Arctic regions, are deeply interesting in a religious
aspect, being the seats of two missions of the United
Brethren, which liave been maintained in these cold
inhospitable regions for more than a hundred years.
Hans Egede, a Danish missionary, who is often
styled the Apostle of Greenland, first took up hi^
abode in that country in 1721 ; and from that timt
down to the present day. have the Moravians con-
tinued to send thither laborious and self-denying
missionaries, who, amid the severest privations, and
almost insuperable difficulties, have carried on th«
286
LABRADOR AND GREENLAND (Religion oi).
work of evangelization among the benighted natives
of these desolate regions. It would appear that so
early as the end of the tenth century, a colony from
Iceland, headed by Eirek, surnamed the Red, settled
in Greenland. Leif, the son of Eirek, having made
a voyage to Norway, was there persuaded to embrace
Christianity, and on his return he was accompanied
by a priest to convert the new colony. The settle-
ments in Greenland adopted Christianity, and con-
tinued to increase and flourish. They were divided
into the East and the West Bygd or inhabited dis-
tricts, the uninhabited country being termed Ubygd.
At a later period the West Bygd contained ninety
faniis, with four chmxhes ; the East Bygd, one hun-
dred and ninety farms, and two towns, with one
L-athedral, eleven churches, and three monasteries.
The fli-st bishop was ordained in A. D. 1121, the seven-
teenth and last in 1404. After this nothing more is
known of the first Greenland colonies. " The learned
men of the seventeenth centuiy," says Mr. Blackwell
ui his valuable edition of Mallet's ' Northern Anti-
quities,' " when they recalled to mind that a Chris-
tian community had existed on these remote shores
for upwards of four centmies, coiUd only account for
its extinction by a sudden catastrophe. Some sup-
posed that the settlements had been ravaged by the
pirates who infested the north seas at the close of
the fourteenth century; others, that the great pesti-
lence of 1348, caUed the Black Death, had swept off
the greater part of the population, and that the sur-
vivoi-s had been massacred by the Esquimaux. But
it seems very unlikely that pirates would have di-
rected their marauding expeditions to such a poor
countiy as Greenland, and although the colony may
probably have been visited by the terrible scourge
so graphically described by Boccaccio in the intro-
duction to his Decameron, we believe there is no
documentary evidence to show that this was actually
the case. We know at least that upwards of half a cen-
tury later there was still a bishop at Garda, and may
therefore conclude that the colonists were able to
resist the attacks of the Esqiumaux, with whom they
appear to have been in constant hostility. The real
cause of the gi-adual decay and final extinction of
these settlements was, no doubt, the peniicious sys-
tem of commercial policy pursued by the raotlier
country."
Along with the first colonics their rebgion seems
also to have disappeared, for when Egede settled on
(he West coast of Greenland in 1721, he found the
people in a state of darkness and heathenism, having
no other priests but angekoks, who were little better
than sorcerers. The Grcenlanders, when Egede
came among them, held that there was a spiritual
Being, whom they called Torngarsuk, to whom they
ascribed a supcrtuitural power, though not recogniz-
ing him as the Creator. Tlie (ingckoks were divided
in the ideas which they entertained of this great
Being. Some alleged that be is without form or
•hape; others gave liim the form of a bear; others
pretended tliat be had a large body and only one aiin
while others still considered him so small that he was
no larger than the finger of a man's hand. Some con-
sidered him as immortal, while others believed that a
puff of wind could drive him out of existence. They
assigned him his abode in the lower regions of the
earth, and they said also that he lived in the water.
They maintained that a spirit resided in the air, which
they named Inncrtii-rirsok ; and another called Er-
loersotok, who fed upon the intestines of the dead,
and was said to have a ghastly, haggard counte
nance, with hollow eyes and cheeks. Each elemeni
they believed had its governor or president, which
they called Innucc, and from these the angekoks re-
ceived their torngak or familiar spirits, which again
in the case of others were simply their own deceased
parents.
The angekok or conjuring priest is thus described
by Egede : — " If one aspires to the office of an an-
gekok, and has a mind to be initiated into these
mysteries, he must retire from the rest of mankind,
into some remote place, from all commerce ; there he
must look for a large stone, near which he must sit
down and invoke Torngarsuk, who, without delay,
presents himself before him. This presence so ter-
rifies the new candidate of angekokism, that he im-
mediately sickens, swoons away, and dies ; and in this
condition he lies for three whole days ; and then be
comes to life again, arises in a newness of life, ani
betakes himself to his home again. The science o
an angekok consists of three things. 1. That be
mutters certain spells over sick people, in order t(r
make them recover their former health. 2. He com-
munes with Torngarsuk, and from him receives in-
struction, to give people advice what course they are
to take in affairs, that they may have success, and
prosper therein. 3. He is by the same informed of
the time and cause of any body's death ; or for what
reason any body comes to an imtimely and uncom-
mon end ; and if any fatality shall befall a man."
These impostors persuade the poor ignorant people
that with then- hands and feet tied they can momil
up to heaven, or descend to the lower regions of
the eaith, where the fierce Torngarsuk holds his
court. A young angekok can only undertake this
journey in the fall of the year, because at that time
the rainbow, which they believe to be the lowennost
heaven, is nearest to the earth. Tin's wonderful feat
is thusperfoimed : " A number of spectators assemble
in the evening at one of their houses, wliere, after it
is grown dark, eveiy one being seated, the angekok
causes himself to be tied, his head between bis legs
and bis hands behind his back, and a drum is laid at
his side ; thereupon, after the windows are shut and
the light put out, the assembly sings a ditty, which,
they say, is the composition of their ancestors ; when
they have done singing the angekok begins with
conjuring, muttering, and brawling; invokes Torn-
garsuk, who instantly presents himself, and conversei
with him (lierc the masterly juggler knows how to
LAIJKADUK AND (iUEBM.ANI) (I{ki,i(;i..n ok).
287
play Ills trick, in changing the tone of liis voice, and
countorlViting one rllfforent from hi« own, whicli
makes the too-crcdiilons liearer.s believe, tliat tliis
counterfeited voice is tliat of Tonigarsiik, wIjo con-
verses witli tlic angekok). In the nicanwliile he
works himself loose, and, as they believe, mounts up
into heaven tln-ough the roof of the house, and passes
through the air till he arrives into the highest of
heavens, where the souls of angekok poglit, that is,
the chief angekoks, reside, l)y whom be gets infor-
mation of all ho wants to know. And all this is done
in the twinkling of an eye."
The atxjekoks pretend to cure all kinds of diseases,
simply by muttering inarticulate somids or blowing
upon the sick. One mode in which they exercise
their medical power is, by laying the patient upon
bis back, and tying a ribbon or string round his
head, liaving a stick fastened to the other end of the
siring with which they lift up the sick person's head
from the ground and let it down again ; and at every
lift the angekok communes with his Torrjak ov fami-
liar spirit about the state of the patient whether he
shall recover or not; if the head is heavy, it is a
sign of death, and if light, of recovery. These ab-
siu'd conjurers actually persuade sick persons, in
some cases, that they have the power to create within
them new souls, provided they are sufficiently re-
munerated for their trouble. The heathen Green-
landers are very credulous, and therefore much
addicted to the use of amulets or charms, whieli they
wear about their arms and necks. These potent
spoils consist of some pieces of old wood, stones or
hones, bills and claws of bii'ds, or anything else which
they suppose to be efiicacious hi jireaerving them from
diseases and other calamities, or m bringing them
success in their tislung expeditions.
Strange notions as to the origin and creation of all
things a):e entertained by the inhabitants of these
northern regions. TheLi' own people they believe to
have spriuig from the ground, but foreigners, whom
they call Kahluncet, they suppose to have descended
from a race of dogs. The dead, as they imagine,
pass into the land of souls ; some go to heaven, and
others to the centre of the earth, which last they re-
gard as a delightful country, where the sim sliines
continually and the inhabitants are supplied with an
inexhaustible stock of all sorts of choice provisions.
The centre of the eai'th, besides, being the residence
of Torngarsuk, is also inhabited by a notorious fe-
male personage, whom the missionary Egedc thus
describes, along with the mansion in which she holds
her residence : " She is said to dwell in the lower
parts of the earth imder the seas, and has the empire
over all fishes and sea-animals, as unicorns, morses,
seals, and the like. The bason placed under her
lamp, into which the train oil of the lamp drips down,
ewanns with all kinds of sea fowls, swimming in and
hovering about it. At the entry of her abode is a
totys de garde of sea dogs, who mount the guard,
Bnd staud sentinels at her gates to keep out the
crowd of petitioners. None can get admittance tiiere
but angekoks, provided they are accompanied by
Ihcir Toriigak, or familiar si)irit«, and not otherwise.
In their journey thither Ibcy first pass through the
mansions of .'dl the souls of the deceased, which look
as well, if not better, than ever they did in this
world, and want for nothing. After they have
passed through tins region, they come to a very
long, broad, and deep whirlpool, which they are to
cross over, tliere being nothing to pass upon but a
great wheel like ice, which turns about with a sur-
[irising rapidity, and l)y the means of this wheel the
spirit helps bis angekok to get over. Tltis diffi-
culty being sunnounted, the next thing they en-
counter is a large kettle, iji which hve seals are put
to be boiled ; ;uid at last they an-ive, with much ado,
at the residence of the devil's grandame, where the
familiar spirit takes the angekok by the band
through the strong guard of sea dogs. The entry is
large enough, the road that leads is as narrow as a
small rope, and on both sides nothing to lay lu^ld on,
or to support one ; besides that, there is midenieath
a most frightfid abyss or bottomless pit. AVithin
this is the apartment of the infernal goddess, who
oli'ended at this unexpected visit, shows a most
ghastly and wrathfid countenance, pidling the hair
off her head : she thereupon seizes a wet wing of a
fowl, which she lights in the fire, and claps to their
noses, which makes them very faint and sick, and
they become her prisoners. But the enchanter or
angekok (being beforehand instructed by his Tonigak
bow to act his part in tliis dismal expedition) takes
hold of her by the hair, and drubs and bangs her so
long, till she loses her strength and yield* ; and in
this condjat his familiar spirit does not f-tand idle,
but lays about her with might and main. Konnd
the infernal goddess's face bangs the agleiTutit,
which the angekok endeavours to rob her of. For
this is the charm by which she draws all fishes
and sea animals to her dominion, wliicb no sooner is
she deprived of, but instantly the sea animals in
shoals forsake her, and resort with all speed to their
wonted shelves, where the Greenlanders catch them
in great plenty. When this great business is done,
the angekoks with their Tonigak, proud of .succesB,
make the best of their way home again, where they
find the road smooth, and easy to what it was before.
" As to the souls of the dead, in their travel to
this happy country, they meet with a sharp-pointed
stone, upon which the angekoks tell them they must
slide or glide down, as there is no other passage to
get through, and this stone is besmeared with blood;
perhaps, by this mystical or bieroglypnical image,
they thereby signify the adversities and tribulations
those have to struggle with who dcsue to attain to
happiness."
It was to a people whose whole religion thu«
consisted of a mass of absurd superstitions that
the apostolic Egede devoted twenty-five years of
active missionary work. For ten weary years,
288
LABKAIJUU AND GREENLAND (Keligion oi-j.
after first entering upon his work, he persevered
iu liis labours, with very little apparent success. But
at length a new era began to dawn upon benighted
Greenland. In 1731, two baptized Greenlanders,
who had been taken to Denmark, gave such inter-
esting mfurmation as to the state of their country-
men, that a little band of devoted Christian brothers
was sent from the congi-egation at Ilerrnluit as a
reinforcement to the Danish mission to Greenland.
On reaching their destination, they fixed upon a
place of settlement, to which they afterwards gave
the name of New Herrnhut. Having made all neces-
sary preparations, they engaged in their missionary
work with the utmost diligence and assiduity. Nor
did they labour in vain. By the Divme blessing,
they soon succeeded ui gathering around them a
small company of Cliristian converts, who, feeling the
power of the truth on their own hearts, sought to
communicate tlie glad tidings of salvation to others
also. Thus the mission prospered more and more.
From time to time, the hands of the missionaries
were strengthened, and their hearts encouraged, by
the arrival of other brethren, who came to aid them
in their glorious work. Two settlements were in
course of time formed, where a goodly company of
Christian Greenlanders composed the church. In
the winter of 1768, an aged aiigekok renounced his
mode of life, and confessed that he and the other
sorcerers had deceived the people. This unexpected
event gave a new impulse to the good cause, and so
extensive was the awakening among the natives, that
in httle more than twelve months 200 Greenlanders
were added to the cliurch by baptism. From this
period the work was carried on with redoubled
energy. In 1774, a third settlement was formed in
the south of Greenland, at a place which they termed
Lichtenau. Here the labours of the missionaries
met with remarkable success, so that in the course
of a few years the numbers of church members ex-
ceeded those at either of the otlier stations.
In 1801, so great had been the progress made in
tlie work of the mission at all the stations, tliat tlie
people on the western coast of Greenland had nearly
all embraced Christianity, and of tlie women, the last
one that remained in heathenism was baptized in
January of this year. Numbers were now added to
the membersliip of the church from time to time.
The year 1823 was rendered remarkable by the
printing and circulation of the first complete New
Testament in the Greenland language. At this time
tlie three congregations under the care of the
Brethren consisted of 1,278 persons. In the follow-
ing year a new Moravian settlement was formed at
the most southern extremity of Greenland, at a place
called ijy the missionaries Frcdericksthal. Of this
station the missionary had the gratification of writ-
ing, und(!r date October 1825 — " Since our arrival
here in June 1824, 104 heathens have been bap-
tized." Thus four Moravian settlements are now in
successful operation in Greenland. Tlie missionaries,
however, have been not a Httle discouraged by the
conduct of the Danish government, in repeatedly
issuing prohibitions to the Greenland converts against
their residing in communities near the Moravian
settlements. The obstacle thus put by the govern-
ment in the way of the success of the mission has,
iu the good providence of God, been overruled for
good. It has led to the formation, in 1851, of a
seminary at New Herrnhut for training native assist-
ants. The most recent reiiort of the Greenland Mo-
ravian mission conveys the gratifying statement that
there are in all twelve missionaries, and that the
churches contain 842 communicants, while the nuni
ber of persons under instruction amounts to 2,001
The mission to Labrador commenced at a con-
siderably later period than that to Greenland. An
attempt was made, indeed, in 1752 to establish a
settlement in the country, but it proved unsuccess-
ful, and it was not until 1769 that George III. pre-
sented 100,000 acres of land to the Moravian brethren
to aid them in commencing a mission on the coast oi
Labrador. The same year a society was established
in London to assist in the prosecution of the same
impoWant object. The enterprise was headed by
Jens Haven, who had previously laboured as a mis-
sionary in Greenland. The spot on which the settle-
ment was established received the name of Nain, and
is situated on the east coast of Labrador. The Es-
quimaux showed themselves uniformly friendly to the
missionaries from the date of their first arrival in the
country. The aiigckols here, as in Greenland, pos-
sessed gi-eat influence over the people, who were, hi
fact, ferocious savages, habituated to the gratification
of the most brutal passions. But no sooner did the
inissionai-ies commence operations, than, to their
agreeable surprise, they found the people ready and
even eager to receive instruction. In the course o(
a few years two additional settlements were estab
lished, one at Okkak, about 150 miles north of Nain,
and another at llopedale, some distance to the south
of Nain. The cause now made rapid progress among
the Esquimaux, and in the spring of 1804, the hearts
of the devoted missionaries were refreshed by the
manifestation of a decided revival of religion, which
commenced at Nain, and soon spread to the other
stations. This work of grace continued several
years, and many, both old and young, were added
to the church of Christ. Early in 1811, thenorthern
coast of Labrador was explored, with a view to the
formation of a settlement in tliat quarter; but, after
five months spent in minutely examining the country,
tlio idea was abandoned, and has never since been
revived. About the year 1820, portions of the New
Testament were translated and printed in the Esqui-
maux language by the British and Foreign Bible
.Society, and so higlily was the gift jirized by the
people, that they began, of their own accord, to
collect seals' blubber, by way of niakirg up a small
ciiiitribution towards the expenses of that society.
Ill Labrador, as in Greenland, the hdioiirs of tlio
LACE OF BLUE— LAMAISM.
889
missioiiiiiiftB have, from the beginning, bueii carried
on iimiii iiiiuiy discouragements and privations; but
tlieir trials have been borne with patience and resig-
nation, wliile tlieir hearts are cheered by the ample
tokens wliich they are from time to time receiving
that tliey are not labouring in vain, nor spending
tlieir strength for nought or in vain. From recent
accounts, the state of the mission is very encouraging.
There are (ilteen missionary brethren carrying on
tlieir operations in these inhospitable regions. The
communicants in the churches amount to 394, and
those under instruction to 1,357 persons.
LACK OF BLUE, or Sacrkd Fringe. No
small importance, both among the ancient and the
modern Jews, has been attached to the hem or
border of the upper garment. On turning to the
law of Moses, we find, in Num. xv. 38 — 40, the
command given, " Speak unto the children of Israel,
and bid them that they make them fringes in the
borders of their garments througliout their genera-
tions, and that they put upon the fringe of the bor-
ders a ribband of blue : and it shall be unto you for
a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all
the conunaudments of the Lord, and do them ; and
that ye seek not after your own heart and your own
eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring : that ye
may remember, and do all my commandments, and
be holy unto yoiu' God." In Exodus xxviii. 28, in
the directions for the dress of the high-priest, it is
said, " They shall bind the breastplate by the rings
thereof unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of
blue, that it may be above the curious girdle of the
ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed from
the ephod." The Pharisees were blamed by om-
blessed Lord for ostentatiously making broad the
borders of their garments. Among the modem
Jews, every male is obliged to have a garment with
ftinges at the four corners ; and every morning when
he puts on this garment, he must take the fringes
in his hands, and say, " Blessed art thou, O Lord
our God, king of the uiuverse ! who hath sanctitied
us with his commaiulments, and commanded us the
commandment of the fringes." Our Lord, in ful-
filling all righteousness, wore also the garment with
the fringes, and this being the part of the dress
which more peculiarly marked out the Israelite, the
sick often sought to touch it, that they might be
healed.
LACERATIONS. See Cuttings in the Flesh.
LACHESIS (from Gr. lanchaiw, to allot), one of
the Fates (which see) among the ancient Greeks
and Romans. The olfice of Lachesis was supposed
to be to turn the wheel of fate, and thus to determine
the fortune of life.
LACHRYMATORIES, small glass or earthen
vessels, in which, among the ancient heathen, were
put the tears which surviving friends or relatives
wept for the dead. These, with their contents, were
buried with the urns and ashes of the deceased.
LACINIA, a surname of Juno (which see), under
wliich she was worshipped in the neighbourhood ot
Croton, where she liad a sanctuary.
JjACTURCIA, a goddess among the ancient
Romans, who preserved the tender plants with Iheif
milky juice.
LACTURNUS, an ancient Roman divinity, who
was believed to protect the young fruits of the field.
Some have considered Laclumus to bo a surname ol
Saturn.
LADY-DAY. See Annunciawon.
LAFS-AL-JEMIN (Ileb. the thief on the right
hand), a festival observed by the Syrian Christians
in commemoration of the penitent thief. Thig faU»
upon the Octave of their Easter.
LAG, the name given by the modem Jews to the
festival of the thirty-third of Oiner, the Hebrew word
Lay representing the number thirty-three. See
Omkr (Festival of the TiiiuTY-THrni) of).
LAIIA, a tablet suspended in a Budhist Wihara
(which see) in Ceylon, upon which any matter might
be written, about which it was intended that the
priests should be informed.
LAITY (Gr. laos, people), a term used, from an
early period in the history of Christianity, to denote
the body of the church in contradistinction from the
clergy. The word is not found in the New Testa-
ment, but it occurs in ancient Christian writers.
According to Rheinwald and Gieseler, the distinc-
tion between laity and clergy was unknomi till the
second century. Previous to this, all performed
the office of priests as they had occasion, and even
after that time laymen were sometimes heard in the
public assemblies. See Clergy.
LAKSHANA, characteristic beauties or signs of
a supreme Budha. These were divided into three
kinds: 1. The 216 Mangabja-lakshana, of which
there were 108 on each foot. 2. The 32 M»ha-
punisha-lakshana or superior beauties. 3. The 8
Anawyanjana-lahshana or inferior beauties.
LAKSHMI, a Hindu female divinity, one of the
many consorts of Vishnu, and therefore worshipped
by the Vaishnava sects, but particidarly the followers
of Ramamija. In the Mahubhurut, all divine beings
are alleged to proceed from Krishna, and among
these Lakshvii comes from his mind ; but in one of
the Puranas, Ganesa is represented as calling her
the great Lakshmi, the mother of the world, who
was made from the left side of Jiud/ia, the favourite
consort of Vishnu. This goddess is usually described
as possessed of singular beauty and grace, and she is
considered as the goddess of wealth.
LAMAISM, the name which Budhism has assumed
in Thibet. It seems to have found its way into that
country at nearly the same date, — the first century
of our era, — as it was introduced into China, where it
is known by the name of Foism. In Thibet, how-
ever, the divinities, which were worsliip|)ed before
the entrance of Budhism, namely, the genii of thf
hills and valleys, and woods and rivers, are stiU
adored by the poorer classes with the express sanc-
2b*
m
LAMAISM.
lion of the Lamas : but while these remnants of the
.■incient religion are still tolerated, Budhism, which
found a ready acceptance at an early period among
the great mass of the Thibetans, has, since the middle
of the seventh century, continued with scarcely a
single inteiTuption to be recognized as the religion
of the whole country. Hence the extensive preva-
lence in Thibet of a system of religious mendicants.
Laraas or monks are to be found swarming in every
town and district. In their official ceremonies they
wear silken vests, adonied vrith images, and have a
lettered border of sacred texts woven into the scarf.
At every turn the traveller meets some of these
Budhist priests, each of them cairying in his hand
the Tchu-chor or prayer-cylinder, a single revolution of
which is considered to be equivalent to a roll of prayers.
In every family, one at least of the children is trained
up to the priestly office. And the pecuhar modili-
cation which Budhism has assumed in passing into
the form of Lamaism, fully accounts for the enor-
mous increase in the number of Thibetan and Tartar
Laraas over those of other Budhist countries. In
Tartaiy we learn that, with the exception of the eldest
son of each family, all the rest of the children are
reared as Lamas, and accordingly the Lamaseries of
that country are built so large as to contain ten,
twenty, and even thirty thousand of these mendicant
monks. In consequence of the enormous number of
priests which are found in Thibet and Tarlary, the
ordinary law of Budhism m Ceylon and elsewhere,
which prohibits mendicants from earning their bread
by any manual employment, is totally abandoned in
both these countries, so that the Lamas are allowed
to follow various trades even while residing in the
convents.
The most important of all the modifications wliich
have been introduced into Budhism in Tartary and
Thibet is the doctrine of the Grand or Dalai-Lama
(which see). This liigh official ruler, who in former
times was the sole depositary both of temporal and
spiritual power, is believed to be an incarnation of
Gautama Budha, whose spirit still wanders about in
successive birllis and deaths from Lama to Lama.
While each of tlie ordinary priests is a chaberon or
incarnate Budha (see Budha, Living), this is more
especially and in a still higher sense true of the
Dalai-Lama, who sits in the shrine of the temple
and is worshipped as a deity, while his supremacy is
acknowledged by all the otlier inmates of the Lama-
series in Tliibet, Tartary, and China. This notion
of hereditary incarnations seems to have existed
several centuries before it was introduced into tliose
countries. Tlius Major Cunningham, in his work on
the History and Statistics of Ladak, tells us of one
Urgyan Rinpoche, wlio, in the eiglitli century, was
Invited into Thibet, and founded the confraternity of
red Lamas, and who, the Major alleges, was believed
to have been an incaniation of the Budha Amilahha
or 0-nie-to. the fourth of the celestial Budhas of that
rrgion. We have no mention of any other incarna-
tion until the commencement of the iifteenth cen-
tm'y, when Tsong-Kaba, the Budhist reformer, ap-
peared, who was regarded as an incarnation either of
0-me-to, or of Manjusri. It was not, however, till
the latter half of the same centiuy that the idea of
perpetual incarnations was fuUy matured. " Then it
was," says Mr. Hardwick, in his ' Christ and other
Masters,' " that one chief abbot, the ' perfect Lama,'
instead of passing, as he was entitled, to his ultimate
condition, determined for the benefit of mankind to
sojourn longer on the earth and be continuously new-
born. As soon as he was carried to his grave in
1473, a search was instituted for the personage who had
been destined to succeed him. This was found to be
an infant, who established its title to the honour by
appearmg to remember various articles which were
the property of the Lama just deceased, or rather
were the infant's O'svn property in earlier stages of
existence. When the proofs of such identity were
deemed irrefragable, the new candidate was formally
promoted to the vacant chair : and in the fifth abbot
of this series originated the famous hierarchy of the
Dalai-Lamas (in 1640). So fascinating grew the
theory of perpetual incarnations, that a fresh succes-
sion of rival Lamas (also of the yellow order) after-
wards took its rise at Teshu-laraby, whUe the Dalai-
Lamas were enthroned in Lhassa ; and at present
every convent of importance, not in Tibet only, but
in distant parts of Tatary, is claiming for itself a like
prerogative. Each confraternity believes that the
departed abbot is still actually present with his sub-
jects though enslu'ouded in a different body. Con-
scious of the dark malignity of demons, quivering at
the thought of men who practise demoniacal arts and
lead astray by their enchantments, these Tibetians
are 'in bondage to fear;' their only refuge is the
presence and superior holiness of one who, by his
mastery over all the adverse forces of creation, is
believed to rescue his true followers from the rage of
their oppressor. The reUgion of Tibet is thus from
day to day assimiing all the characteristics of man-
worship. Anxious cravings after some invincible
protector, there impel the human spirit to fashion for
itself a novel theory of salvation; and the sight o'
one who styles himself incaniate deity excludes all
living faith in God and in the things invisible."
The Budhism of Thibet in the form of Lamaism is
not the Budliism of Chakia-Mouni (which see), nor
is it the Budhism of the earliest race of its disci-
ples as it is seen in Ceylon. The doctrine of an
Adi-I'udha (which see), or a Supreme Creator,
evidently a modern graft upon the ancient system oi
Budhism, which is essentially atheistic, is found in
Nepdl and portions of Thibet, borrowed probably
from the adjacent Brahmanism of India. And this
origin of the theistic notion of an Adi-Budha is still
further confirmed by the fact that other ideas liave
been derived from the mystical system of the Hindu
Tanlri^ts, such as the theory of the Budhist Salclis,
or the female energies of the Dhydni Budhas. Froni
LAMAISM.
291
the essence of tlie Adi-Budlia aie believed to have
spontaneously emanated five intelligences of tlie first
order, called celestial Uiidli.as, which in turn give
origin to other five intelligences of the second order
called BODIIISATWAS (which see). These last, which
are called in China Pusas, and are esteemed by the
ordinary Foists as gods, are sim|ily links connecting
the Supreme Being or Adi-Bud/ia with the lower
orders of created beings.
nie Chakya-Mouni of the Mongoli;ui Tartai's ha-s
indeed his votaries in Thibet, not only as the Shakya-
Thubba of Ladak, but as the Sommona-Kodom or
Gautama of other regions. The Thibetan sacred
books, which extend to one hundred volumes, are
called Kd-gyur, that is, translation of Commandment,
on account of their being translated from the Sanskrit,
or from the ancient Indian langiuige, by which may be
understood the Pracrita or dialect of Magadha, the
principal seat of the Budhist faith in India at that
period. These sacred books were imported into
Thibet, and translated there between the seventh and
thirteenth centuries of our era, but mostly in the
ninth. They are in substance the same as the sacred
books of Ceylon, though the account of their origin
is widely ditferent.
There is undoubtedly a nearer approximation to
the truth in regard to the nature of the Divine Be-
ing, in the Lamaisni of Tartary and Tliibet than in
the Budhism of Ceylon. Another peculiar feature
of Lamaism, is that there su^e iiuiumerabic liv-
ing Budhas, at the head of which is the Dalai-
Lama. Budha is, nevertheless, the sole sovereign
of the universe, with a body, a spiritual sub-
stance, without beginning and without end. But
while there is thus evidently at the foundation of
the system of Lamaism a firm belief in the existence
of one Supreme Being, invisible and incorporeal, it
is mixed up in the doctiine of living Budhas with a
«trange species of msui-worship, which is so preva-
lent and so engrossing, as to make the great mass of
the people lose sight of all higher notions of the
Divine Being.
Among the Lamaists of Thibet, the doctrine of
metempsychosis occupies a prominent place in their
religious creed ; so that in tlieir opijiion to kill any
living creature whatever is to incur the danger of
homicide, since the smallest insect may happen to
be the transmigration of a man. But while the Thi-
betan Lamaists are thus strict in this matter, the
Foists of China have little or no scruple on the sub-
ject of destroying animal life; and yet to show
some regard for the great Budhist principle, they
now and then dedicate some pigs to Budha, which
are permitted to live their usual terra, and die a na-
tural death.
A remarkable analogy has sometimes been pointed
out in rites and customs between the Lamaism of
Thibet and the Christianity of the Middle Ages. This
has been particularly noticed, and partly accounted
for by M. Hue, himself a Romanist missionary, in his
' Travels in Tartary and Thibet : ' " Upon the most
superficial examination," says he, " of the reforms
and innovations introduced by Teong-Kaba into the
Lamanesque worship, one must be struck with their
affinity to Catholicism. The cross, the mitre, the
dalmatica, the cope, which the Grand Lamas weaj
on their journeys, or when they are performing some
ceremony out of the temple ; the service with double
choirs, the psalmody, the exorcisms, the censer, sus-
pended from five chains, ajid which you can open or
close at pleasure; the benedictions given by the
Lamas by extending the right hand over the heads
of the faithful ; the chaplet, ecclesiastical celibacy,
spiritual retirement, the worship of the saints, the
fasts, the processions, the litanies, the holy water,
all these are analogies between the Budhists and
ourselves. Now, can it be said that these analogies
are of Christian origin ? We think so. We have
indeed found, neither in the traditions nor in the
monuments of the coimtry, any positive proof ol
their adoption, still it is perfectly legitimate to put
forward conjectures which possess all the character
istics of the most emphatic probability.
" It is known that, in the fourteenth century, at
the time of the domination of the Mongol emperors,
there existed frequent relations between the Euro-
peans and the peoples of Upper Asia. We have al-
ready, in the former part of our nan-ative, refeiTed to
those celebrated embassies which the Tartar con(|uer-
ors sent to Rome, to France, and to England. There
is no doubt that the barbarians who thus visited Eu-
rope must have been struck with the pomp and splen-
dour of the ceremonies of Catiiolic worship, and must
have carried back with them into the desert enduring
memories of what they had seen. On the other hand,
it is also known that, at the same period, brethren of
various religious orders undertook remote pilgrim-
ages for the purpose of introducing Christianity into
Tartary ; and these must have penetrated at the
same time into Thibet, among the Si-Fan, and among
the Mongols on the Blue Sea. Jean de Montcorvin,
Archbishop of Peking, had already organized a choir
of Mongol monks, who daily practised the recitation
of the psalms, and the ceremonies of the Catholic
faith. Now, if one reflects that Tsong-Kaba lived
precisely at the period when the Christian religion
was being introduced uito Central Asia, it will be no
longer matter of astonishment that we find, in re-
formed Buddhism, such striking analogies with Chris-
tianity."
It is not a little remarkable that these strikmj
points of similarity between Lamaism and Romanism
are confined to the countries of Tartary and Tliibet.
Lamaism, it must be borne in mind, is not older
than the thirteenth century of the present era. Bud-
hism was, no doubt, unknown in Thibet 600 years
before ; but it was only under Kublai-Khan, A. D.
1260, that the adherents of that system were reduced
under the dominion of a regular hierarchy, by the
appointment of the first Grand Lama At this very
292
LAMAS.
time, when tlie introduction of the new liierarchy was
likely to be accompanied with other changes and
raoditications, the Thibetians were brought into com-
munication with Christiiuiity, more especially in the
(orm of Romanism. The Khans had at their court
not only Jews, Mohammedans, and Budhists, but
Roman Catholic and Nestorian missionaries ; and in
the fourteenth century, the arrival of a strange Lama
from the far west is said to have made great changes
in the aspect of rehgious worship in Thibet. Hence
in all probability those pecidiar analogies, wliich have
b«en so distinctly noticed by the Abb^ Hue. M.
Abel-R^musat, in his ' Melanges Asiatiques,' thus
explains the processes by which the innovations re-
ferred to may have been introduced into Lamaism.
" At the time," he says, " when the Budhist pa-
triarchs established themselves in Thibet, the por-
tions of Tartaiy which adjomed that countiy were
full of Christians. The Nestorians had founded
cities there, and converted wliole nations. At
a later period the conquests of the followers of
Ginghis-Khan collected there strangers from all
countries ; Georgians, Armenians, Russians, French,
Mussulmans, sent thither by the caliph of Bagdad ;
Catholic monks, charged with important missions by
the sovereign Pontiff and by St. Louis. These last
carried with them church ornaments, altars, and re-
lics, ' to see,' says Joinville, ' if they could attract
those people to our faith.' They celebrated the
ceremonies of their rehgion in the presence of the
Tartar princes. These gave them an asylum in their
tents, and permitted them to rear chapels, even with-
in the precincts of then- palaces. An Italian arch-
bishop, estabUshed in the imperial city by order of
Clement V., had built a church there, in which
three bells summoned the faithful to worship, and
he had covered the walls with pictures representing
religious subjects. Syrian Christians, Roman Ca-
thohcs, Schismatics, Mussulmans, Idolaters, all lived
mingled and confounded together at the court of the
Mongol emperors, who were always ready to receive
new modes of worship, and even to adopt them, pro-
vided that they demanded on their part no belief,
and more especially provided that they imposed upon
them no constraint. We know that the Tartars
passed willingly from one sect to another, embraced
a new faith with the utmost ease, and just as readily
renounced it to relapse again into idolatry. It was
in the midst of these changes that the new seat of
the Budhist patriarchs was founded in Thibet. Is it
at all wonderful, then, that interested in multiplying
the number of their followers, anxious to impart more
splendour to their worship, they should have appro-
priated to themselves some liturgical practices, some
of those foreign pompous ceremonies which attracted
the crowd ; that tliey should have even introduced
some of those institutions belonging to the West,
wliicli tlie ambassadors of the caliph and of tlie sov-
ereign Pontiff united in praising so highly, and which
circumstances disposed them to imitate. The coin-
cidence of places and times authorizes this conjecture,
and a thousand peculiarities, which I cannot men-
tion here, would convert it into demonstration."
The Lamaists of Thibet are strict in their atten
tion to religious observances of all kinds. Pilgrim-
ages, noisy ceremonies in the Lamaseries, prostra-
tions on the tops of their houses, we favourite
exercises ; and even when engaged in ordinaiy busi-
ness, they carry about with them rosaries, which
they are ever tm'nuig and twisting while they are
incessantly murmuring prayers. Hue mentions
that at Lha-Ssa, where the Dalai-Lama resides,
the people are in the habit of gathermg together in
groups in the evenmg in the principal parts of the
town, and in the pubhc squares, where they kneel
down and chant prayers, which vary according to the
seasons of the year. The prayer, however, which
they repeat on the rosary is always the same, and
consists only of six syllables. Om! Mcmi-Padme,
Hum, or as it is generally called by way of abbre-
viation simply Mani. This sacred formida is
regarded as of such importance that it is in every
one's mouth, and inscribed on the walls and public
places, as well as in the houses.
LAMAS, the Budhist priests of Tartaiy and Thi-
bet. They are regarded as incarnations of Budha or
living Budhas, and are presided over by the Dalai-
Lama, who possesses a readily acknowledged spirit-
ual authority over the whole priesthood, and until a
recent period was possessed of large tracts of coim-
try, over wliich he exercised undisputed temporal
sovereignty. Formerly, indeed, the Dalai-Lama
was the supreme ruler of the nation, but at length
one of the royal family, at the death of the principal
Lama, declared that the spirit of the deceased eccle-
siastic had entered into his body, and by tliis means
he regained the power which had been usurped by
the priests. The dress of the Grand Lama is yel-
low, and that of other Lamas of inferior' rank is
red. The Lamas of Chinese Tartary are so numer-
ous, that they amount to about a third of the entire
population ; and being under a law of celibacy, the
Chinese government readily encourage their increase
by gifts and endowments of every kind to check the
growth of the population of tlie Mongolian Tartars
from a natural fear that, as formerly, they may yet
again revolutionize the empire. The Lamas reside
in convents called Lamaseries, which are built round
about the Budhist temples, like the wiharas of Cey-
lon ; and their time is chiefly spent in prayers fot
the people, which are generally conducted by the
Tcnu-CHOR (which see) or prayer cylinder, and in
pursuing the occujiation of mendicants to increase
the revenues of the Lamasery. These convents,
which generally contain thousands of priests, are so
liberally endowed, that nearly two-thirds of the pro-
ductive lands of Thibet are said to be appropriated
to the support of the priesthood.
M. Hue represents the Lamas as generally distiii
guished by their skill in the decorative arts both ol
LAMAS.
293
painting and sculpture. On tliis subject he says :
"Tlie Lamas are tlie only artists wlio contribute to
the ornament and decoration of the temples. The
paintinf^s are quite distinct from the taste and the
principles of art as understood in Kurope. The fan-
tastical and the grotesque predominate inside and
out, both in carvings and statuary, and the person-
ages represented, with the exception of Buddha, have
generally a monstrous and satanic aspect. The
clothes .seem never to have been made for the per-
sons upon whom they are placed. The idea given
is that of broken limbs concealed beneath awkward
garments.
" Amongst these Lama paintings, however, you
sometimes come across specimens by no means des-
titute of beauty. One day, during a visit in the
kingdom of Gechekten to the great temple called
Allon-SomnS (Temiile of Gold), we saw a picture
which struck us with astonishment. It was a large
piece representing, in the centre, Buddha seated on
a rich carpet. Around this figure, which was of life
tize, there was a sort of glory, composed of minia-
tures, allegorically expressing the Thousand Virtues
of Buddha. We could scarcely withdraw oui'selves
from this picture, remarkable as it was, not only for
ihe purity and grace of the design, but also for the ex-
pression of the faces and the splendour of the colour-
ing. All the personages seemed full of life. We
asked an old Lama, who was attending us over tlie
place, what he knew about this admirable work.
' Sirs,' said he, raising his joined hands to his fore-
head in token of respect, ' this picture is a treasure of
the remotest antiquity ; it comprehends within its
surface the whole doctrine of Buddha. It is not a
Mongol painting ; it came from Thibet, and was exe-
cuted by a saint of the Eternal Sanctuary.'
" The artists here are, in general, more successful
in the landscapes than in the epic subjects. Flowers,
birds, trees, mythological animals, are represented
with great truth and with infinitely pleasing efiect.
The colouring is wonderfully full of life and fresh-
ness. It is only a pity that the painters of these
landscapes have so very indifferent a notioa \s to
perspective and chiaro-oscuro.
" The Lamas are far better sculptors than paint-
ers, and they are accordingly very lavish of carv-
ings in their Buddhist temples. Everywhere in and
about these edifices you see works of this class of
art, in quantity bespeaking the fecundity of the
artist's chisel, but of a quality which says little for
his taste. First, outside the temples are an infi-
nite number of tigers, lions, and elephants crouching
upon blocks of granite ; then the stone balustrades
of the steps leading to the great gates are covered
with fantastic sculptures representing birds, reptiles,
and beasts, of all kinds, real .and inia;^'inary. Inside,
the walls are decorated with relievos in wood or
stone, executed witli great spirit and truth."
The Lamas are considered as of two parties, which
»re known by the names of Eed Cap Lamas and
Yellow Cap Lamas. The former are by far the
most ancient of the confratenn'ties, having originated
a.s early as the eighth century after Chrint ; while
the latter did not exist until the middle of the
fourteenth century, when they arose under the aus
pices of the great Budhist reformer Tseng Kaba.
By degrees the Yellow Caps became the predomi-
nant sect, and the reforms proposed by Tseng JCaba
were adopted throughout Thibet, and afterwards be-
came, by imperceptible degrees, established in all the
kingdoms of Tartary. The Bonze-i of China still
retain the ancient rites, with the exception of some
innovations which belong to particular localities ; but
the distinction between the two classes of Lamas is
retained in China, those who adhere to the reformed
faith of Tsong Kaba being known as the Yellow,
while those who cleave to the old worship are termed
the Grey Lamas. These two sects were at one time,
doubtless, violently opposed to each other, but now
they live together in perfect harmony.
From the immense numbers of Lamas found in
Tartary and Thibet, the traveller cannot fail to be
struck with the difficulty of meeting the expenses of
such a large staff of priests by public endowments.
In addition to the lands which go towards their
maintenance, the authorities make a distribution of
meal every third month to all the Lamas without dis-
tinction, but the quantity is altogether inadequate ;
and, accordingly, this government grant is supple-
mented by the voluntary offerings of the pUgi-ims,
which, however, are divided among the Lamas ac-
cording to the position which each holds in the hier-
archy, and, accordingly, there are many who receive
nothing at all from this source. In addition to the
offerings which are made, cither in tea or money,
the Lamas earn a subsistence for themselves by
some handicraft trade or by engaging in commerce ;
and some of them by printing and transcribing the
Lamanesque books. The art of medicine, also, is
wholly in the hands of the Lamas, chiefly from an
impression which prevails among the Tartars, that
every disease is caused by the visitation of a demon,
who must, therefore, be expelled by a priestly exor-
cism before the patient can possibly recover.
The Materia Medica of the Lamas is almost wholly
limited to pulverized vegetables, either in the form
of infusion or pills ; but if no medicine should hap-
pen to be at hand, the Lama, not in the least dis-
concerted, simply writes the names of a few reme-
dies upon scraps of paper, which having moistened
he rolls up into the form of pills, administering them
to the patient, who confidently swallows them, be-
lieving that to swallow the name of a remedy is
equally efficacious with swallowing the remedy itself.
Having acted the physician, the Lama next proceeds
to act the priest, repeating prayers suited to the
rank of the Tchutgour or demon to be expelled. If
the patient be poor, the exorcism is a brief offhand
process, but if he be rich, the process is lengthened
out by numerous prayers and ceremonies. M. Hue
294
LAMAS.
mentions the case of a wealthy chiefs aunt, who
having fallen sick, a Lama was sent for, who in-
stantly declared that tlie patient was under the in-
fluence of a demon of considerable rank, who must
be forthwith expelled at wliatever cost. Eiglit other
Lamas were called in, who set about constructing
from dried herbs, a large figure which they called the
Demon of Intermittent Fevers, and which when
completed they placed on its legs by means of a stick
in the patient's tent.
" The ceremony," says M. Hue, " began at eleven
o'clock at night ; the Lamas ranged themselves in a
semicircle round the upper portion of the tent, with
cymbals, sea-shells, bells, tambourines, and other
instruments of the noisy Tartar music. The re-
rtiaiuder of the circle was completed by the members
of the family, squatting on the gi-ound close to one
another, the patient kneeling, or rather crouclied on
her heels, opposite tlie Demon of Intermittent Fevers.
The Lama doctor-in-chief had before him a lai'ge
copper basin filled with millet, and some little images
made of paste. The dung-fuel threw, amid much
«moke, a fantastic and quivering light over the
strange scene.
" Upon a given signal, the clerical orchestra exe-
cuted an overture harsh enougli to frighten Satan
himself, the lay congregation beating time with their
liands to tlie charivari of clanging instruments and
ear-splitting voices. The diabolical concert over, the
Grand Lama opened the Book of Exorcisms, which
he rested on Iiis knees. As he chanted one of the
forms, he took from the basin, from time to time, a
handful of millet, wliich he threw east, west, north,
and south, according to the Rubric. The tones of
his voice, as he prayed, were sometimes mournful
and suppressed, sometimes vehemently loud and
energetic. All of a sudden, he would quit the re-
gular cadence of prayer, and have an outburst of ap-
parently indomitable rage, abusing the herb puppet
with fierce invectives and furious gestures. The
exorcism terminated, he gave a signal by stretching
out his arms, right and left, and the other Lamas
struck up a tremendously noisy chorus, in hurried,
dashing tones ; all the instruments were set to work,
and meantime the lay congregation, having started
up with one accord, ran out of the tent, one after the
Dther, and tearing round it like mad people, beat it
at their hardest with sticks, yelling all the wliile at
the pitch of their voices in a manner to make ordi-
nary hair stand on end. Having thrice performed
tliis demoniac round, they re-entered the tent as pre-
cipitately as they had quitted it, and resumed their
seats. Then, all the others covering their faces with
their hands, the Grand Lama rose and set fire to the
herb figure. As soon as the liames rose, he uttered
a loud cry, which was repeated with interest by the
rest of the company. The laity immediately rose,
seized the burning figure, carried it into the plain,
away from the tents, and tliere. as it consumed,
liiathematized it with all sorts of imprecations ; tlie
Lamas meantime squatted in the tent, tranquilly
chanting their prayers in a grave, solemn tone.
" Upon the return of the family from their valor-
ous expedition, the praying was exclianged for joy-
ous felicitations. By-aud-by, each person provided
with a hghted torch, the whole party rushed simul-
taneously from the tent, and formed into a proces-
sion, the laymen first, then the patient, supported on
either side by a member of the family, and lastly, the
nine Lamas, making night hideous with their music.
In this style the patient was conducted to another
tent, pursuant to the orders of the Lama, who had
declared that she must absent herself from her own
habitation for an entire month.
" After this strange treatment, the malady did not
return. The probability is, that the Lamas, having
ascertained the precise moment at which the fever-
fit would recur, met it at the exact point of time by
tliis tremendous counter-excitement, and overcame
it."
The Lamas are invited also to officiate at funerals,
not, however, in every case, but only when the de-
ceased is wealthy, and in consequence the process of
burning the corpse is conducted with great solemnity.
On such occasions the Lamas suiTound the tomb
during the combustion and recite prayers. The pro-
cess of burning being completed, they destroy the fur-
nace, and cany the bones to tlie Grand Lama, who
reduces them to a fine powder, and having added to
them an equal quantity of meal, he kneads the
whole with care, and constructs with his own hands
cakes of diflerent sizes, wliich he places one upon the
other in the form of a pyramid. These cakes thus
prepared by the Grand Lama are conveyed with
great pomp to a little tower whicli has been built
beforehand to receive them.
In the ordinary prayers in the Budhist temples,
the Lamas having been summoned by the loud sound
of a sea-conch, enter barefooted and in solemn si-
lence, and after three prostrations to the living
Budha, take their seats on a divan cross-legged and
always in a circle. The whole service consists of
prayers, which are murmured with a low voice, and
psalms which are sung in a grave, melodious tone,
interrupted, however, at certain intervals by instru-
mental music, so loud and harsh and dissonant as to
be altogether out of keeping with the rest of the
exercises.
The Lamas, though all of them possessing a sa-
cred character, and held in great reverence by the
people, are by no means uniform in their mode of
life. Some of them, under the name of Domesti*
Lamas, either settle in the small Lamaseries, or live
at lionie with their families, retaining little more of
their ]iriestly office than its red and yellow dress.
Another class consists of Wandering Lamas, who
travel from place to place all over their own and the
adjacent countries, subsisting on what jirovisions
ihey may pick up on their journey. A third class
is composed of the Lamas who live in commmiitv.
LAMASERY.
29i
And pay more attention than the other Lamsxs to
prayer and study. Tliese I'orrn the inmates of a
IjAMASKkv (which see). In Tiutary ihe Lamas do
not criiljrace the profession of the pnesthood from
intelligent and deliberate choice, but are destined to
it from birth by their parents. As they gi'ow up
they become accustomed to the life of a Lama, and
iu course of time they come generally to prefer it to
every other. Some are foimd to retire to places of
seclusion, and pass tlioir days iu comtemplation and
devotion. Such contemplative Lamas, however, are
by no moans numerous.
LAMASEKY, a collection of small houses built
around one or more Budhist temples in Tartary and
Thibet as a residence for the Lamas. Its size and
elegance is wholly dependent on the means of the
proprietor. In Tartaay the Lamaseries are all con-
structed of brick and stone. Only the poorest
Lainaa build their dwellmgs of earth, and even these
are so well whitewashed that it is difficult to distin-
guish them from the rest. In some cases gi-ants ai'e
made from the pubhc treasmy to assist in the erec-
tion of Budhist temples, with their accompanying
Lamaseries, but the gi'eater part of the expense is
defrayed by voluntary subscription. Lama collec-
tors go forth properly attested to gather the neces-
sary funds, carrying with them a sacred basin for
the purpose. " They disperse themselves through-
out the kingdom of Tartary, beg alms from tent to
tent in the name of the Old Buddha. Upon enter-
ing a tent and explaining the object of their jouiuey,
by showing the sacred basin in which the ofl'erings
are placed, they are received with joyful enthusiasm.
There is no one but gives something. The rich
place in the ' badir' ingots of gold and silver; those
who do not possess the precious metals, ofl'er oxen,
horses, or camels. The poorest contribute according
to the extent of their means ; they give lumps of
butter, furs, ropes made of the hair of camels and
horses. Thus, in a short time, are collected innnense
sums. Then, iu these deserts, apparently so poor,
you see rise up, as if by enchantment, edifices whose
grandeur and wealth would defy the resources of the
richest potentates."
Some of the Tartar Lamaseries are so large — for
example the Great Kom-eu — that they are capable of
accommodating 30,000 Lamas. The plain unassuming
residences of the Lamas contrast strongly with the
elegance of the temples around which they are
placed. The houses of the superior, however, difl'er
from those of the other Lamas, by having each of
them a small pagoda or tower, at the top of which
dies a triangular flag of some gay colour-, with the
rank of the inmate inscribed upon it in letters of
gold. Blue Town in Tartary is more particularly
noted for its Lamaseries, there being within its walls,
five great buildings of this kind, each inhabited by
more than 2,000 Lamas, besides fifteen lesser estab-
lishments, connected with the former. In that single
city reside no fewer than 20,000 regular llamas, not
to speak of a multitude in ditierent quartern of tb«
town engaged in commerce. The fiuest of all the
Lauiaseries iu Blue Town, is that which in termed
tlie Lamasery of the Five Towers, in which the
Jlobiltjan lives, that is, a Grand Lama, who after
having been identified with the substance of Budha,
has already undergone several times the process of
transmigration.
The Lamaseries in Tartary have generally endow-
ments from the public funds, and at certain seasons
of the year the revenues are divided among the
Lamas according to their ecclesiastical dignity. The
Chahcrons or Livliirj BudUas are generally placed at
the head of the most important Lamaseries, and to
receive the benediction of one of these incarnations
of Budha, is imagined to convey so many advantages,
that the couvent in which he resides soon becomes a
place of gi-eat resort, and rapidly rises to fame in the
country. " There is no Tartar kingdom," says M.
Hue, the only authority on the subject, " which does
not possess, in one of its Lamaseries of the first
class, a living Buddha. Besides this superior, there
is always another Grand Lama, who is selected from
the members of tlie royal family. The Thibetian
Lama resides in the Lamasery, like a living idol,
receiving every day the adorations of the devout,
upon whom iu retmn he bestows his blessing. Every-
thing wliich relates to prayers and liturgical cere-
monies, is placed under his immediate superinten-
dence. The Iilongol Grand Lama is charged with
the administration, good order, and executive of the
Lamaseiy ; he governs whilst his colleague is con
tent to reign.
"Below these two sovereigns, are several subal-
tern ofiicers, who du-ect the details of the adminis-
tration, the revenues, the sales, the purcliases, and
the disciphne. The scribes keep the registers, and
draw up the regulations and orders which the gover-
nor Lama promulgates for the good keeping and
order of the Lamasery. These scribes are generally
well versed in the Mongol, Thibetian, and some-
times in the Chinese and Wantchou languages.
Before they are admitted to this employment, they
are obliged to undergo a very rigorous examination,
in presence of all the Lamas and of the principal
civil authorities of the country.
" After this staff of superiors and ofiicers, the in-
habitants of the Lamasery are divided into Lama-
raasters and Lama-disciples or Chabis; each Lama
has under his direction one or more Chabis, who live
in his small house, and execute all the details of the
household. If tlie master possesses cattle, they take
charge of them, milk the cows, and prepare the but-
ter and cream. In return for these services, the
master directs his disciples in the study of the
prayers, and initiates them into the Uturgy. Every
morning the Chabi must be up before liis master :
his first task is to sweep the chamber, to light a
fire and to make the tea; after that he takes his
prayer-book, presents it respectfully to his master
296
LAMIjE— LAMPADON HEMERA.
and prostrates himself thrice before him, without
Baying a single word. This sign of respect is equi-
valent to a request that the lesson he has to learn in
the course of the day may be marked. The master
opens the book, and reads some pages, according to
the capacity of his scholar, who then makes three
more prostrations in sign of thanks, and retm-ns to
liis afiairs.
" The Chabi studies his prayer-book, when he is
disposed to do so, there being no iixed period for
that ; he may spend his time, sleeping or romping
with the other young pupils, without the slightest
interference on the part of his master. When the hour
for retiring to bed has amved, he recites the lesson
assigned him in the morning, in a monotonous man-
ner ; if the recitation is good, be is looked upon as
having done his duty, the silence of his master being
the only praise he is entitled to obtain ; if, on the
contrary, he is not able to give a good account of his
lesson, the severest punishment makes him sensible
of his fault. It often happens, that under such cir-
cumstances, the master, laymg aside liis usual gra-
vity, rustles upon his scholar, and overwhelms him
at once with blows and ten'ible maledictions. Some
of the pupils, who are over maltreated, run away
and seek adventures far from their Lamasery ; but
in general they patiently submit to the punishment
inflicted on them, even that of passing the night in
the open air, without any clothes and in full winter.
We often had opportunities of talking with Chabis,
and when we asked them whether there was no
means of leaniing the prayers without being beaten,
they ingenuously, and with an accent manifesting
entire conviction, replied, that it was impossible."
Among the Budhists, a devotee acquires peculiar
merit by making the circuit of a Lamasery, prostrat-
ing himself with his forehead to the gi'ound, at every
step he takes. This ceremony must be performed
witliout intermission, so strictly that the pilgrims are
not permitted, on pain of losing all spiritual benefit,
to pause for even a single moment. Each prostra-
tion must be perfect, so that the body shall be
stretched flat along the ground, and the forehead
touch the earth, while the aiTQs are sp'-ead out in
front, and the hands joined as if in the exercise of
prayer. Before rising the pilgrim describes each
time a semicircle on the ground by means of a goat's
horn, which he holds in either hand, the hne being
completed by drawing the arm down to the side.
All devotees, however, do not subject themselves to
this diilicult and even painful exercise. Sometimes,
instead of prostrating themselves while they are per-
forming the circuit, they carry with them instead, a
load of prayer-books, and in this case, when they have
completed the circuit with their lieavy burden, they
are considered to have recited all the prayers con-
tained in the books they have carried. Another
mode of performing the pilgrimage round a Lama-
lery is by simply walking the circuit, while the de-
votee employs himself in counting the beads of his
long chaplet, or turning the wheel of liis Tchu-Chm
or prayer-cylinder.
Lha-Ssa in Thibet is the chief seat of Budhist
worship, being the residence of the Dalai-Lama. In
this district alone there are counted more than thirty
large Lamaseries, the principal of which, those ot
Khaldan, of Preboung, and of Sera, contain each of
them nearly 15,000 Lamas. The last mentioned oi
these convents is remarkable for three large temples
of several stories high, all the rooms of which are
entirely gilt. Hence the name Sera, which in Thi-
betian signifies golden. In the chief of these three
temples is contained the famous Tortche (which
see), or sanctifymg instrument, which is held in
great veneration, and at the New Year's festival is
carried in procession with great pomp to Lha-Ssa to
be adored by the people.
LAMB OF GOD. See Agnus Dei.
LAMB PASCHAL. See Passovek.
LAMBETH ARTICLES. See Articles (Lam-
beth).
LAMIjE, evil spirits, believed by the ancient
Greeks and Romans to assume the form of beautiful
women, and to entice away young children for the
purpose of devom-ing them. The notion was thought
to have had its origin in an ancient legend, which
represented Lamia, a Libyan queen of singular
beauty, to have attracted tlie regards of Zeus, and
thus brought upon herself the jealousy of Hera, who
in revenge robbed her of her childi'en. Lamia, in
revenge and despair, robbed others of their children,
and cruelly devoured them. Hence ai-ose the story
of Lamice or cruel spirits, who excited great alarm.
Horace mentions them in his Art of Poetry.
LAMMAS-DAY, a festival celebrated in the
Romish church on the 1st of August, annually, in
memory of the imprisonment of the Apostle Peter.
LAMPADARY, an oflicer in the Greek church,
whose duty it is to light up the church as occasion
requires, and supply the lamps with oil.
LAMPADEPHORIA, (Gr. lampa.% a torch, and
phero, to carry), games among the ancient Greeks,
wliich consisted in carrying an unextinguislied torcli
through certain distances by a successive chain of
runners, each taking it up at the point where another
left it. The fu'st, after running with it a certain
distance, handed it to the second, and the second, in
like manner, to the third, those who let the torcli go
out, losing the game. It is difficult to ascertain what
was the precise origin of these games ; but in all pro-
bability they were connected with the worshiji of
Prometheus, wlio was alleged to have been the first
wlio brought fire down from heaven for the use of
man. But as the race-course extended from the
altar of the three gods, who were the patrons of
lire, namely, Prometheus, Athena, and Hephaistos, to
the Acropolis, the Lampadepho-ria were, no doubt,
intended to do honour to these three deities, who
had given and tauffht men the use of fire.
LAMPADON HEMERA(Gr. the day of torches),
LAMP— LAMPETIANS.
2!rt
the name given to the fiftli day of tlie IOlbusinian
Mystekiks (which see), because on tliat day the
initiated marclicd two and two in procession, each
witli a torch in liis hand, into tlic temple of Ceres at
I'jleiisis. In this procession the Dadiicli with a large
torch led tlie way. The torches were passed from
liand to hand, and the smoke and flames whicli they
caused were believed to impart a purifying inlhionce
upon all around. The use of torches on this occa-
sion is supposed to have originated from the circum-
stance that Ceres, while wandering through the
earth in search of lier lost child, lighted her path by
torclies.
LAMP (The), a ceremony practised by the Ma-
RONITE Cnuitcil (which see), by way of anoint-
ing for the sick. They make a cake somewhat
larger than the consecrated wafer of the llomanists,
and put upon it seven pieces of cotton twisted with
little pieces of straw, and put all together into a ba-
son with some oil. Having read a portion of one of
the gospels and epistles, with some prayers, they set
fire to all the cottons. They now anoint with this
oil the forehead, breast, and arms of every one pre-
sent, and particularly of the sick person, saying at
each unction, " May the Almighty, by this sacred
unction, pardon all thy sins, and strengthen thy
limbs as he did those of the poor man who was trou-
bled with the palsy." Then they let the lamp burn
till all the oil is exhausted. This rite is administered
not to the dying, as in the case of the extreme unc-
tion of the Romish church, but to those who are
sick, even though not mortally.
LAMPS. In all ages we find lamps used in the
religious rites and customs of various nations. A
burning lamp is mentioned at a very early period in
connection with the ratification of the covenant made
with Abraham. Thus Gen. xv. 17, " And it came to
pass, that when the sun went down, and it was dark,
behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that
passed between those pieces." In illustration of this
very ancient mode of ratifying a covenant, Roberts
remai-ks, " It is an interesting fact, that the bunting
lamp or tire is still used in the East in conlinnation
of a covenant. Should a person in the evening make
a solemn promise to perform something for another,
and should the latter doubt his word, the former will
Bay, pointing to the flame of the lamp, ' That is the
witness.' On occasions of greater importance, when
two or more join in a covenant, should the fidelity of
any be questioned, they will say, ' We invoke the
lamp of the Temple.' Wlien an agi-eement of this
kind has been broken, it will be said, ' Who would
have thought this, for the lamp of the Temple was
hivoked.'"
The Jews were accustomed in ancient times to
light lamps at their festivals, and particularly at the
feast instituted by Judas Jlaccabsus, which, from
that circumstance, received the name of the Feast of
Lights. Herodotus, the father of profane history,
mentions a feast under this name, which was cele-
brated among the ancient Egyptian*. " They also
meet," ho says, " at Sais to offer sacrifice during a
certain night, when every one lights in the open air
a number of lamps around his house. The lamps
consist of small cups filled with salt and oil, having
a wick floating in each, which burns all ni<^ht. This is
call(;d the ' Feast of the burning of Lamps.'" In the
M'li/nwas of the Singhalese Hudhists, where the sacred
books are read, lamjis and lanterns are suspended in
great profusion and variety, and it is accounted an
act of merit for the people to hold lamps in their
hands or upon their heads while the priests are
reading. In many ancient nations the sepulchres
wore wont to bo lighted up with lamps, which were
kept constantly burning. This is still the custom in
Jai)an, where, in the case of a wealthy man who has
died, 150 lamps are kept constantly burning in his
tomb. Lamps, indeed, have in all ages been a com-
mon ornament in the temples of the heathen, espe-
cially on festivals. TertuUian and Lactantius both
of tliera speak of this custom as prevailing among
the heathen. The Christians, also, seem to have
learned this custom from the idolaters around them.
Hence we find one of the AposUitical canons forbid-
ding Christians to carry oil to any heathen temple,
or Jewish .synagogue, or to set up lights on their fes-
tivals under penalty of excommunication. In a
canon also of the council of Eliberis, Cliristians are
prohibited from setting up lamps in public under the
same penalty. It is plain, therefore, from the very
existence of such canons, that some tendency must
have been shown by the Christians to imitate the
heathen in the use of lamps as an essential part of
certain religious rites.
LAMPS (Festival of), celebrated annually iu
Rajast'han, in honour of the Hindu goddess Laksh-
Mi (which see). Tliis brilliant festival is called the
Dewali, when every city, village, and encamiiment
exhibits a most brilliant spectacle. For weeks be-
fore workmen are busy night and day in the
manufacture of lamps for the occasion, and all ranks,
from the palace to the cottage, provide thcm.'elves
with these means of illumination in a form more or
less costly. Stuft's, pieces of gold, and sweetmeats,
are carried in trays, and consecrated at the temple
of Lakshmi, to whom the day is consecrated. The
Rana, on this occasion, honours his prime minister
with his presence at dinner, and this chief oflicer of
state, who is always of the mercantile caste, pours
oil into a terra cotta lamp, which his sovereign holds ;
the same libation of oil is permitted by each of the
near relations of the minister. On this day it is in-
cumbent upon every votary of LaJcshmi to try the
chance of the dice, and from their success in the
dewali, the prince, the chief, the merchant, and the
artizan foretell the state of their cofl'ers for the en-
suing year.
LAMPETIANS, an early Christian sect who
maintained that the Sabbath ought to be held as a
fast. Another sect, bearing this name, was founded
2c
298
LAMPTER— LANTERNS (Chinese Feast of).
in the seventeenth century by Lampetius, a Syrian
monk, wlio seems to liave embraced opinions unfa-
vourable to monastic vows. lie lield tliat as man is
bom fi-ee, no Clu-istian ought to do any thing com-
pulsorily or by necessity. Hence he denied the
lawfidness of all vows, even those of obedience.
LAMPTER, the torchbearer, a surname of Dio-
nysvs. under which he was worshipped at Pelleue, in
Acliaia, where a festival called Lampteria was cele-
brated in lionour of this god.
LANITHO, a demon of the air, wor.shipped among
the inliabitants of the Molucca islands.
LANTERNS (Chinese Feast of), a festival ob-
served on the first full moon of the New year. Its
chief characteristic seems to be, that it aft'ords a display
of ingenuity and taste in the construction and meclia-
nism of an infinite variety of lanterns made of silk,
varnish, horn, paper, and glass, some of them sup-
plied with moving figures of men galloping on horse-
back, figliting or performing various feats, together
with niunerous representations of beasts, birds, and
other living creatures, the whole in full motion. The
moving principle is a horizontal wheel turned by the
draught of air created by the heat of the lamp. The
circular motion is communicated in various directions
by fine threads attached to the moving figures. The
following is a grapluc description of the gay specta-
cle which a Chinese town presents on this strange
festival : " The scene by night was sufficiently gay
and exciting. Thousands upon thousands of large
transparent lanterns of all colours, and covered with
figures and large black Chinese characters, lined the
sides of the street, in which men, women, and chil-
dren were walking to and fro, dressed in their gay-
est and best holiday suits. Here Chinese music
broke on the ear as some merry parties went by in
hired carriages, and here a stationary orchestra sent
forth still louder and more joyous strains. Here was
a theatre, quite open in front and on both its flanks,
on which grotesquely attired actors were performing
popular comedies and farces ; and here a highly ex-
cited group was listening attentively to a street-
reader or itinerant story-teller, who was reciting some
great and marvellous incident that occurred thou-
sands of years ago. Other groups of Chinamen were
listening with eager ears to inventive fortune-tellers,
who were promising wealth, health, long life, and
unalloyed happiness, to all such as could afl'ord to
pay well for the predictions. Children belonging to
the upper classes, decked out in the gayest-coloured
and most fantastic clothing, were slowly drawn about
in little low carts, and increased the universal hub-
bub with their shrill voices. Here an immense crowd
was amused \vith the tricks of a lad dressed up as a
tiger, with a monstrous head and two glaring lamps
for eyes, who crouched, sprang, and jumped about
like the real wild beast, to the accompaniment of a
most unearthly music; and here a still greater crowd
was collected round several men, who had their bo-
dies painted like tigeis, a tail stuck on behind, and
a chain round tJie waist, which was held by other
men supposed to be their keepers. This was the
true Chinese ' game of tigers.' The fellows, mus-
cular and exceedingly nimble, imitated the move-
ments of the wild beast admirably, and some of them
so fully entered into the character and worked them-
selves up to such a pitch of excitement, that they
seized and tore to pieces with their teeth a live kid
that was thrown among them. The profession is
hereditary : there are whole families that bear the
soubriquet of ' Tigers,' and in which the boys, as soon
as tliey are strong enough to bear the fatigue, are
taught by their fathers to personate the animal, and
imitate its every action or movement.
" Tlie brilliantly illuminated junks were gliding
over the tranquil bosom of the lake, and innumera
ble kites, with small bright lanterns appended to
them, were flying in the calm blue heavens, now
surmounting and now crossing each other like so
many gigantic fire-flies ; and as kite-flying is not in
China solely a juvenile amusement, many of these
toys or playthings were put up and held by men of
mature age and with portentous pig-tails. In a sort
of amphitheatre, lighted up with lanterns and torches,
other men, young and old, were busily engaged in
shuttle-cock, using, not their hands and battledores
as we do, but their feet.
" In another enclosure were quail fights and cock
fights, with people betting desperately on the issue.
But gambling of some kind or other was rife in
nearly eveiy quarter, as was also the noxious prac-
tice of opium-smoking. On either side of the streets
were low stalls, illumuiated with coloured lamps, be-
hind which were seated the retjiilers of all manner of
sweets and confectionery, who, to attract the passers-
by, knocked two pieces of wood together, and pro-
claimed with stentorian voice the excellence of their
commodities ; and from the pathway on this side
and on that, merry parties were seen in the open
shops, enjoying themselves with cards, dice, songs,
ifistruraental music, frolics and games, and other
amusements. Unhappily, besides the opium-smoking
and the gambhng, other vices were exhibited in the
most barefaced manner, and scenes occurred which
made the good missionary thrill with horror, and feel
more than ever how blessed a thing it would be to
instil into these benighted profligate people the pre-
cepts of the gospel and the saving spirit of Chris-
tianity."
The Chinese ascribe the origm of this strange fes-
tival to a misfortune which befell a certain mandarin
whose daughter, as she was walking one evening on
the bank of a river, accidentally fell into the water
and was di-owned. The disconsolate father ran to
her assistance, attended by all liis domestics. In order
to discover the body of his child, he put out to sea
along with the inhabitants of the place, bearing each
in his hand a liglitc-J lantern. The wliole uight ivas
.spent in search of the corpse, but in vain. The
year following, on the same day of the month, the
_
LANTERNS Japanese Feast op)— LAPLANDERS (Rehoion of).
299
banks of the river were again lighted up with num-
berless lanlenis, and from tliat time tlie custom was
annually observed, of holding a Feast of Lanterns.
The classicjil reader, in jierusing the accoHiil of this
Cliinese festival, will probalily call to mind the Ce-
radm of the ancient Komans, when women ran up
and down with lighted torches in memory of the
niodo in which Ceres wandered in search of her
daughter Proserpine. It has been suppo.sed, how-
ever, that the Chinese boiTowed the notion of this
festival from a similar practice adopted by the an-
cient Egyptians in honour of Isis. (See Lamps.)
Another Chinese legend gives a different origin to
the feast, deriving it from an extravagant project of
one of their emperors, who shut himself up with Ids
concubines in a magniiicent palace, which he pur-
l)osely erected, and lighted up with immense lan-
Icms suspended from the roof, that he might always
have a serene and luminous sky over his bead, wliich
might, in course in time, make liim forget the va-
rious revolutions of the old world. The subjects of
the foolish emperor, enraged at bis conduct, rose in
rebellion, and demolished bis splendid palace. In
order to transmit to posterity this event in their liis-
tory, the Chinese instituted the Feast of Lanterns,
wliich has been ever since recognized as an estab-
lished festival.
LANTERNS (Japanese Feast of), the fifteenth
flay of the seventh Japanese month is set apart as a
festival devoted to the honour of parents and ances-
tors. Every Japanese, whose parents are still alive,
considers this a happy day. On the evening of the
thirteenth, the Ifays (which see), are taken from
their cases, and a repast set before them of vegeta-
bles and fruits. In the middle is set a vase in which
perfumes are burnt, and other vases containing
flowers. Towards evening lantenis suspended from
long bamboos, are lighted before each gi'avestone,
and a supjily of provisions laid down for the refresh-
ment of the spirits of the dead. The same cere-
mony is repeated on the fifteenth day of the month.
Before daybght on the sixteenth, the articles placed
at the graves are packed into small boats of straw,
provided with sails of paper or cloth, which are car-
ried in procession with vocal and instrumental music
to the water-side, where they are laimched by way
of dismissing the soids of the dead who are supposed
now to retum to their graves. " This festival," says
Titsingh, speaking of its celebration at Nagasaki,
" produces a highly pictiu'esque eflect. Outside the
town, the view of it from the island Desiraa is
one of the most beautiful. The spectator would
almost imagine that he beheld a toiTent of fire pour-
ing from the hill, owing to the immense niunber of
small boats that are carried to the shore to be timied
adrift on the sea. In the middle of the night, and
when there is a brisk wind, the agitation of the
water causing all these lights tc dance to and fro,
produces an enchanting scene. The noise and
bustle in the town, the sound of gongs and the
voices of the priests, combine to form a discord t)i«t
can scarcely be conceived. Tlie whole bay seems to
be covered with irjtifn falui. Though these barkH
have sjiils of paper, or stronger stuO' very few oi
them pass the place where our ships he at anchor.
In spite of the guards, thou.sands of paupers rush
into the water to secure the small copper coin and
other thuigs placed in them. Next day, they strip
the barks of all that is left, and the tide uirries them
out to sea. Thus terminates this ceremony."
LANTHILA, a malignant deity worshipped by
the inhabitants of the Molucca Islands. To this
evil being all the Nitos or wicked spirits are subject.
LAOSYNACTES, officers in the Greek church,
whose duty it is to collect together the deacons and
the people.
LAO-TSE, the founder of the Chinese sect of the
TjIOISTS (which see).
LAPHR7EUS, a surname oi Apollo at Calydon.
LAPHRIA, a surname of Artemis at Calydon. It
was also a surname of Athena.
LAPHRIA, a festival celebrated every year at
Patrse in Acliaia, in honour of Artemis. Pausanias
gives a minute description of the mode of its cele-
bration. Aroimd the altar of the goddess were
placed a number of pieces of green wood, each six-
teen yards long, and steps were made to lead up to
the altar. The festival opened with a gorgeous pro-
cession, which marched to the temple of Artemis,
followed by the priestess, who rode in a chariot
drawn by stags. On the second day animals of dif-
ferent kinds were sacrificed, by being thrown aUve
on a pile of dry wood, wliich had been previously
laid upon the altar, and was now set on fire. Thus
the animals were consumed.
LAPHYSTIUS, a surname of Zeus, ajid also of
Dionysus, probably derived from a mountain in
Boeotia.
LAPIS (Lat. a stone), a surname of Jupiter at
Rome, a stone being sometimes set up as a sj-mbol
of the god, and in several representations of this
deity be was made to carry a stone in his hand in-
stead of a thunderbolt.
LAPLANDERS (Religion of). This country
is the most northendy part of Eui-ope, bordering in-
deed upon the Arctic Ocean. Both the Lapps and
the Finns appear to have occupied a much larger
portion of Scandinavia than they at present possess.
These two people, however, are supposed to belong
to distinct races, characterized by diflerent physiolo-
gie^'d and psychological peculiarities. The Lapp is
remai-kable for his obstinacy, suspicion, and child-
ishness, while the Firm is noted for his energy and
austere earnestness. The Lapps consider it an hon-
our to belong to the Fuins, but the Finns look upon
the Lapps with the most contemptuous disdain. It it
not unlikely that the Lapps were the aboriginal in-
habitants of Finland and Esthonia; aud that at
some remote period they had been conquered by the
Finns. The whole country of Lapland is divided
300
LAPLANDERS (Religion op).
into three parts, bearing the name nf Russian, Swed-
ish, and Norwegian Lapland and Finmark.
The rehgion of the Lapps approaches at various
points to that of the Finns. (See Finns, Religion
OF.) They seem to have had the same Supreme
Deity, under the name of Jumala, who was probably
the same with Thor, whom thev wor.shipped in con-
jtmction with Storjunhare and Baiva, the latter being
considered as the god of the sun or tii'e. They wor-
shipped also Ajeka, whose image was of wood, and
Stourra Phase, who was always represented under the
figure of a stone. Ajeka was adored as the author of
life, and the supreme ruler of the human race. His
image was usually kept in a sort of rustic temple, form-
ed of branches of fir and birch, and raised in the rear
of their huts. A rude table placed in the middle of
the sanctuary served at once for an altar and a
pedestal for the idol, which was the trmik of a birch-
tree. In selecting the special tree for the purpose,
a birch with a round root was sought as being best
adapted to represent a human head. For the con-
venience of the deity, a nail with a small flint was
put into the hand of the idol that he might strike a
light whenever he chose. Behind him, and round
the edge of the table, the horns of the deer that had
been sacrificed to his honour were arranged in heaps,
and immediately in front was placed a box filled
with small pieces of flesh, taken from every part of
the victim, with melted grease pom-ed over them.
The Laplanders held Stourra Passe as a favourite
household deity, every family having an image of
him in the foim of a rough stone, which they might
happen to have found in the mountains, with a re-
Bemblance, however remote, to a human figure, which
they imagined to have been impressed upon it by the
god himself. The stone, which was usually large,
was placed upon a little mound with a pile of rein-
deer's horns behind it ; other smaller stones were
ranged around the large one, that which was nearest
in size to it being called the wife of the god, the third
in degree his son or daughter, and the rest his ser-
vants. Regnard, a Frenchman, who travelled in
Lapland in 1681, mentions having seen such stones
as those now described, which he alleges were still
secretly worshipped by the Laplanders, though at
that time they were avowedly Christians. It was
plain to Regnard that they regarded these stones
with reverence, from the alarm which they mani-
fested on his attempting to carry them away. They
expressed great dread of the vengeance of the of-
fended god, and their fears were instantly quieted
when the traveller desisted from liis threatened
spoliation.
The Laplanders usually sacrificed to their deities
at the fall of the year, and none but men were allowed
to officiate or even be present on such occasions.
It was usual at these sacred times to erect a new
statue to Ajeka, who was allowed one every year.
Before sacrificing a deer to the deity, they inquired
by means of the magic drum (see Drum, Sacred),
whetherthe intended victim would be acceptable or not
to the god. The mode of solving this important qiies-
tion was by fastening to one of their magic rings a
few hairs taken from the neck of the victim, and by
laying them upon the head of the drum, which wa.^
then beaten by one of the party. If, in consequence
of the concussion, the magic ring should turn and
point to the figure of the god who was to be propi-
tiated, such a movement was regarded as an infal
lible sign that he would be well pleased with the
oblation. But if, notwithstanding the violent con
cussion made by beating the drum, the magic ring
remained motionless, it was considered to be an un-
favourable omen in so far as that particular deity
was concerned. The offeruig, therefore, was devoted
to another deity, and the same ceremony was re
newed, with the hope of better success.
In their sacrifices the Laplanders presented the
homs of the reindeer as an oblation to the deity, and
the mouth of the idol was smeared with fresh blood.
When the image was placed on the top of an inac-
cessible height, the victim was sacrificed at the foot
of the mountain, and a stone dipped in its blood was
thrown as far as possible towards the image. By this
ceremony they imagined that they had fully acquitted
themselves of their duty to the god. Another pe-
culiar custom was to place branches of trees upon
the consecrated stones twice a-year, pine branches
in the summer, and birch branches in the winter.
While thus engaged, they were in the habit of judg-
ing of the disposition of the god by the weight o)
the stone which represented him. If it was light,
the god was thought to be propitious, but if it was
so heavy as to be immovable, the god was imagined
to be angr}', and his vengeance was dreaded. The
spots where these idols of stone were found wero
called holy mountains, a name wliich some of them
retain to this day. The Laplanders seem to have had
no official priesthood, but any one who wished to pro-
pitiate a deity, consulted the drum, and performed
the sacrifice himself. Reindeer were their principal
offerings, but in some cases dogs were also used as
sacrificial victims. Divine honours were anciently
paid in Lapland to the sun, and also to the spirits of
the dead, but neither the one nor the other was
worshipped under any material representation. Wlien
victims were destined to be sacrificed to Baive or the
sun, they were distinguished by a white thread ; and
when they were destined to be devoted to the spirits
of the dead, they were marked by a string of black
wool. In most cases it appears that a part of the
deer oflered in sacrifice was eaten by the worship-
pers ; sometimes it was buried, but little seems to
have ever been given to the gods except the bones
and horns, and occasionally a portion of the en
trails.
Besides the spirits of the dead, the Laplander!
believed in the exi.stence of Juhles (which see), or
aerial spirits, and paid them a sort of adoration,
Schefier supposes that the idea of these spirits ii
LAPSED CHRISTIANS.
301
coniiected witli tliu appearance of the angels to tlie
slieplieids of IJetiilehcm at the biitli of our blessed
Lord. At ChristMi.as Eve, the Juhln are supposed
to (loat in the air in greater numbers, and the re-
mainder of the articles of food used on that occasion
are put into baskets and suspended on the branches
of trees for the refrosbment of these spirits.
LAPSED CHRISTIANS, a name given to those
among the early Christians who, amid the severe
persecutions to which they were exposed, lost their
courage, and resorted to measures which were re-
garded as a virtual denial of the faith, and which
sctually excluded them from the communion of the
church. Many of these were afterwards seized with
strong feelings of remorse, and made earnest appli-
cation for restoration to the fellowship of the faith-
ful. Hence numerous cases of this kind came under
tlie consideration of the church, which from their
novelty and delicacy led to considerable dilVerence of
opinion. The state of the controversy in the third
century on the subject of the restoration of the
lapsed is thus clearly stated by Neandcr : " The
question now arose, whether their wishes should be
complied with : — was their petition to be absolutely
rejected, or should a middle course be inu-sued, by
holding out to them, indeed, the hope of being I'e-
Btored to the fellowship of tlie church ; but before
the privilege was actually granted them, by subject-
ing their conduct to a longer probation, and requiring
evidence of continued penitence ? Should the same
course be pursued with all the lapsed, or should the
treatment be varied according to the dillerence of
circumstances and the character of the offences?
The CliMch at this time was still without any gen-
erally acknowledged principles of Church penance in
cases of this sort. There was one party who were
for refusing to grant absolution, on any conditions,
to such as bad violated their baptismal vow by one
of the so-called mortal sins. Following that Jewish
principle which did not allow aZ? duties to be regard-
ed alike as duties to God, and all sins alike, as sins
against God, men made an arbitrary distinction, —
for which they cited as their authority the passage
1 Samuel ii. 25, — between sins against God and
against man ; and to the former was reckoned every
act of denying the faith, though the degree of guilti-
ness, if the denial was simply a yielding to the weak-
ness of sense, might be far inferior to that involved
in some of the so-called sins against man. Cyprian,
who was in the habit of calling Tertullian especially
his teacher, might perhaps, from the study of that
father's writings, have received a bias towards the
principles of the more rigid party with regard to
pecance.
" But if Cyprian was an advocate of this principle
when he iirst entered on the episcopal office, yet,
cherishing as he did the heart of a father towards
his church, ho could not fail to be shaken by the
great multitude of the lapsed, who, sometimes with
bitter teai-s of repentance, entreated him to giant
them ab.solution. Must all these, many of whom, a*
for example, the libe.lkilici, had fallen only from de
feet of knowledge, and others from siinjily yielding
to the flesh under the severity of their tortures, re
main for ever excluded from tlic blessed comnuinity
of their brethren, and, in Cyprian's view, from that
Church in which alone was to be found the way to
heaven ? The paternal heart of the bishop revolted
at the thought, but he dared not act here upon his
own responsibility. In this stale of indecision he
declared that the fallen should be received and ex-
horted to repentance ; but that the decision of theii
fate should be reserved to that time when, on the
restoration of peace, the bishops, clergy, and churches,
in joint and cautious deliberation, after having exa-
mined the question in all its bearings, should be able
to unite on some common principles, in relation to a
matter where every Christian was so deeply inter-
ested. Besides, there was a great ditVerence between
the offences of these fallen brethren. While some,
merely to avoid the sacrifice of their worldly posses-
sions, had, without a struggle, even hastened up
to the altars of the gods ; others had fallen only
through ignorance, or under the force of torture.
The disorders of the times made it impossible to
examine carefully into the dillerence of offences, and
the dillerence of moral character in the individuals.
Moreover, those that had fallen sliould, by practical
demonstration of their penitence, render themselves
worthy of re-admission to the fellowship of the
Church, — and the persecution itself presented them
with tlic best opportunity for this. ' He who can-
not endure the delay,' says Cyprian, ' may obtain
the crown of martj-rdom.' "
While some pastors were disposed to adopt very
severe measures in the case of the lapsed, the great
majority agreed in following a uniform course of
discii)line which subjected the lapsed penitents to a
term of probation, shorter or longer according to the
aggravation of their fall. Those who had been com-
pelled against their will to engage in idolatrous
practices were restored immediately on application.
Those who apostatized as soon as they were brought
before a heathen tribunal, or who after boldly avow-
ing their belief in Christianity, lapsed into idolatry
while confined in prison, were subjected to a proba-
tion varied according to circumstances. Those, how
ever, who deceived the magistrates by purchasing
an indulgence, or by allowing their slaves to be tor-
tured instead of them, were visited with a heavier
discipline. But those of the lapsed who underwent
the most rigorous treatment were the Traditores, as
they were called, who had given up their Bibles to
be burned by the heathen. This was accounted a
most heinous otVence, and such as were convicted of
it were excluded from the church for ten, twenty,
and even thirty years; nay, some were not admitted
to the fellowship of the faithful till they had reached
their dying bed. It sometimes happened that lapsed
Christians, who had been sentenced by the church
802
LARARIUM— LARES.
to a protracted probation, became impatient under
tlie infliction, and procured testimonials in tlieir
favour from faifliful confessors who liad boldly con-
fronted martyrdom in the cause of Christ, and whose
certificate would naturally carry great weiglit with
it in the estimation of their fellow-Christians. This
practice, in course of time, gave rise to great abuse,
exciting in the minds of the confessors themselves a
feeling of spiritual pride, which was deeply injurious
to tlieir progress in tbe divine life, and leading some
of them to indulge the unscriptural notion, that by
their sufferings they had expiated their sins. Some
of them, accordingly, in their certificates to the
lapsed, expressed themselves with a tone of autho-
rity as if their word was sulBcient to exculpate and
discharge their fallen bretlu-en.
Cyprian took a determined stand against the ex-
aggerated reverence paid to these confessors, and the
false confidence which men put in their intercession.
But while thus faithfully protesting against the un-
due respect shown to the confessors, Cyprian was so
inconsistent as himself to yield to the prevailing
spirit of the midtitude, which was not a httle en-
couraged by the countenance received from the Ro-
man church. In A. D. 251, a council was held of the
North African cluu'ch, to which Cyprian belonged,
and the vexed question of the lapsed having been
carefully considered, it was resolved to adopt a mid-
dle course between that excessive severity which
cut them off from all hope, and a lax indulgence in
complying with their wLshes. In regard to those,
however, who evinced no signs of repentance in their
conduct, but who first expressed a desire for the
communion wlien on their sickbed, the .synod de-
clared that such a desire should not be granted.
The guilt of the Lapsed Christians was more or less
heinous according to circumstances. Hence the
distinction into the Thurijkati, the Sacrificati, and
the Libellatici, whose different characters led to dis-
putes upon the 6ul>ject of discipline in the early
Christian church.
In the case of clergymen who lapsed in time of
persecution, it was laid down as a rule that they
might on repentance be restored to the peace of
the church as laymen, but they were not allowed
to officiate or communicate as ecclesiastics any
longer. Cyprian says, that tliis was the rule at
Rome and over all the world, if bishops or any
other lapsed in time of persecution, to admit them
to do penance in the church, but withal to remove
them from the function of the clergy and hon-
our of the priesthood. It was accounted a heinous
crime in any minister to refuse to receive and recon-
cile penitent lapsers after they had made canonical
satisfaction. The clergyman who was guilty of such
manifest abuse of ministerial authority was to be
deposed, because he was thereby guilty of grieving
Christ, who said, " There is joy in heaven over one
linner that repenteth." See Apostasy, Censukes
iECCLliSIASTICAI,).
LARARIUM, that part in the interiorof an ancient
Roman house which was appropriated to the Lares
or household gods, and where the moniiug devotions
were wont to be offered up.
LARENTALIA, a festival among the ancient
Romans, which was held in honour of AcCA La-
EENTiA (which see), the nurse of Reraulus and Re-
mus. It was also observed in honour of the Lare*
generally.
LARENTIA (Acca). See Acca Laeentia.
LAKES, the household gods of the ancient Ro-
mans. The word is most probably derived from hr,
friendly, because families regarded them as spe-
cially watching over their interests. The Lares, as
tutelary spirits, were sometimes confounded with the
souls of deceased persons. Thus Apuleius considers
the private or domestic Lares to have been the spirits
of the dead who had acquitted themselves well in
this world ; while the spirits of the unhonoured dead
wandered about, frightening people under the name
of Larvm or Lemures. The Lares were believed to
watch over the interior of every man's household,
and to preserve from injury both his family and his
property. Yet they were not regarded as divinities
like the Penates, but as guardian spirits, whose place
was the chimney-piece, and whose altar was the
domestic hearth, on which each individual made
offerings of incense to them in his own house. Ovid
Bjjeaks of only two Lares, and these, like the Pen-
ates, were worshipped in the form of little figures or
images of wax, earthenware, or terra cotta, and of me-
tal, especially silver. Their dress was short, to indi-
cate their readiness to serve, and they held a sort ot
horn of plenty in their bands, as the emblem of hos-
pitality and good housekeeping. Tatius, king of
the Sabines, is said to have built a temple to the
Lares. Plutarch distinguishes them, like the genii,
into good and evil ; and they were also divided into '
public and private. The public Lares were placed at
the intersection of roads, and on the highways, being
esteemed the patrons and protectors of travellers.
There were Lares of the cities, and Lares of the
country. When the Roman youth laid aside the
bull, which was a heart-shaped ornament wom till
they were fourteen years of age, they dedicated it to
the Lares. Slaves, also, when they had obtained
their freedom, hung up their chains to these deities.
At an early period the Romans offered young people
in sacrifice, both to the Lares and Penates ; but in
course of time human sacrifices were abolished, and
animals substituted, jjarticularly hogs, in the case of
public offerings ; while in private, wine, incense,
poppy-heads, woollen bandages, and images of straw
were presented. The Lar familiaris was regarded
as an essential part of the household furniture, and
was carried with the family wherever they went.
Servius Tidlius is said to have instituted the wor-
ship of the public Lares, and though for a time it
declined in importance, it was renewed by Augus-
tus. There was a temple to the Lares at Rome lb
LAT— LATIN CHURCH (Eabtebn).
303
the Via Sacra, !n which there were two images, sup-
posed to be those of Romulus and Remus, with the
stone liguie of a dog placed in front of them. Tlie
iipartment in a wealthy Iiouse where the images of the
Lares stood, was called the Lauaiuum (wliich see).
Pious people prayed to them every day, but they
were more especially worshipped on the Kalends,
Nones, and Ides of every montli. When a Roman
liouseliold sat down to meals, a portion of the food
was offered to the Lares. On any joyful occasion
wreaths of flowers were tastefidly thrown around their
images. When a bride entered the house of her
husband for the first time, she made a solemn sacri-
fice to the Lares, invoking them to be propitious to
her throughout her married life.
That the practice of having household gods or
Lares existed in early times is plain from the ier-
aphim, which were in the possession of Lahan in
Mesopotamia, as we find noticed in Gen. xxxi. 19,
" And Laban went to shear his sheep : and Rachel
had stolen the images that were her father's." These
teraphim, which are mentioned frequently in the
Old Testament, are alleged by the Jewish writers to
have been images in the shape of men, or at least with
a human head, and to have been placed in niches in
the wall with lamps burning before them. See Tek-
APHIM.
LAT (Al). The deity having this name, whicli
means in Arabic, " the goddess," was worshipped by
the ancient Arabian tribe of Thakif, who dwelt at
Taif to the eastward of Mecca. The temple of Lat
was at a place called Naklah.
LATERANUS, a deity mentioned by Amobius
as presiding over hearths made of bricks. Some
have supposed him to be identical with Vulcan.
LATIALIS, a surname of Jupiter, as the presid-
ing deity of Latium. In his honour the Latin Ferice
were annually observed on the Alban Mount.
LATINiE FERI^. See Feri^ Latins.
LATIN CHURCH. See Rome (Church
of).
LATIN CHURCH (Eastern). In those parts of
the East where the Latin tongue was spoken, Chris-
tianity had many of its early converts, and Csesarea,
which was the Roman capital of Palestine, gradually
rose in ecclesiastical importance mitil it asserted a
superiority even over Jerusalem. In the fourth cen-
tury, when Christianity became the established reli-
gion of the Roman Empire, multitudes of devout pil-
grims resorted to the Holy Land, that they might
visit the hallowed scenes of Bible history; and
when raonasticisra was introduced from Egypt into
Syria, various establishments of monks were formed
in difterent parts of the country. These institutions
were available both for the Eastern and the West-
ern churches. But when the Monophysite contro-
versy, toward the end of the sixth century, divided
the inmates of these Syrian monasteries into different
reUgious parties, and the eager contest for superiority
wai) commencing between the bishop of Constantino-
ple and the Pope of Rome, Gregory VIII. raised «
liospice at Jerusalem for the special aeconnnodation
of the Western pilgrims. One effect of the crusades
was to advance the interests of Ronjc in the East,
while the professed object of these expeditions was
to liberate the Christians of the Greek or Eastern
church. Thus has the Latin clmrch ever maintained
a branch in close communion wiili lier in the East,
but in comparison of the Orthodox Apostolic or
Greek church, it has always been a feeble remnant.
The only remains, indeed, of the church of the cru-
sades are the monasteries of the Terra Santa, whose
inmates are Franciscan monks, to whom are intrusted
both the guardianship of the holy places, and the
spiritual superintendence of that small part of the
population which adheres to the Latin ritual. The
superior of these monks, who bears the title of tho
" Most Reverend Warden," holds his appointment
directly from Rome. The support of the monasteries,
wliich are twenty-two in number, is derived from
the Society tie Propaganda Fide, as well as from
the gratuities bestowed by the travellers who avail
themselves of the hospitality which these institu-
tions afford. Besides these monks of the TeiTa
Santa, there are otlier monastic establisbments in dif-
ferent parts of Palestine. On Mount Carmel is
found the convent of Elias, which is among the
largest, most substantial, and best regulated in the
land, and the high altar of the chapel is reared over
the reputed cave where Elijah dwelt. The former
building was recently destroyed by Abdallah Pasha,
but it has been reconstructed on a more magnificent
scale. The Carmelite friars have had an institution
on this mountain from time immemorial. The Ca-
puchins, also, have missions at Beiriit, Tripoli, Da-
mascus, Aleppo, and on Mount Lebanon, where also
the Jesuits have long had a residence. Besides all
these, the Lazarites have four missions in Palestine,
and there is an apostolic vicariate of Aleppo. The
Jesuits, in various parts of the East, aware of the
unpopidarity which attaches to their name, assume to
themselves the denomination of Lazarists, and other
titles, which may conceal their real character. Since
the origin of the Society, the Jesuits have had mis-
sions among the Eastern Christians, where, by the
establishment of schools and other means, they have
succeeded in gaining over large numbers to Rome.
Dr. Wilson , in his ' Lands of the Bible,' gives an
account of the state of the Eastern Latin church at
Smyrna : " There are in Smyrna one Roman Catho-
lic bishop (archbishop) and sixty-seven priests. Of
the latter, forty are secular or parish clergy, nuie are
Capuchins, seven are Zoccalonti, ten are Lazarists,
and one is a Dominican. . . . There are also
twelve ' Sisters of Charity.' In Smj-rna there are
three large churches and two chapels. One of the
latter is in the French Seamen's hospital. There is
also a church at Bujah, and another at Baniabit.
The churches in Smyrna are usually known by the
names of French, Austrian, and Lazarist. The re
504
LATITUDINARIANS— LAVER.
gularly officiating clergy in the French church are the
Capuchins ; in the Austrian, the Zoccalonti ; and in
the Lazarist, tlie Lazai'ist priests. The Capuchins
and the Zoccalonti have each a monastery. Tlie La-
zarite priests have an elementary school of about three
hundred boys. The ' Sisters of Charity' have a
school of about three hundred girls. . . The col-
lege of the Propaganda is under tlie direction of the
bishop, and contains about two hundred pupils, fifty
of whom board in the establishment. Most of the
professors are of the secular clergy. Among them
are tlu-ee Armeuo-Catholic priests. Languages are
chiefly taught in the Propaganda. . . Few con-
versions to the Koman Catholic faith, as far as we
know, occm- in Sraynia and the vichiity. The sys-
tem is principally aggressive, we apprehend, by
means of the schools. Considerable numbers of
youth, even Protestant youth, are thus brought un-
der the influence of the Roman priesthood ; and the
result will probably be, either that they will become
papists, or be indid'erent to all religions. Among
the Protestants there are few who are decided-
ly anti-Roman Catholic. Of the papal popula-
tion in Sm}Tna and the adjacent villages, we cannot
speak with certainty. There are probably from
eight to ten thousand. This estimate does not in-
clude a few papal Armenians and Greeks."
At Antioch there are Maronite, United Greek, and
Syrian patriarchs, and elsewhere an Armenian and
a Chaldean patriarcli, all in communion with Rome,
and it is calculated that in Asiatic Turkey alone
there are not fewer than 1,000,000 who acknowdedge
the supremacy of Pope Pius IX. The adherents of
the Latin chiu"ch at Constantinople are under the
apostolic vicar of that place, and enjoy tlie civil pro-
tection of the European ambassadors, not being con-
sidered as direct subjects of the Porte. The con-
verts from the Greek to the Latin church form a
distinct religious conununity under the name of the
Gh-eek- Catholic or Melchite Church (whicli see).
LATIN VERSIONS. See Bible.
LATITUDINARIANS, a term applied to those
divines in England, who, in the seventeenth century,
endeavoured to bring Episcopalians, Presbyterians,
and Independents into one communion, by compro-
misuig their dift'erences. Among these may be men-
tioned the highly respected names of Cliillingworth,
Cudworth, Tillotson, and Stillingfleet. These men,
and others who agreed with them, were zealous sup-
porters of the Cliurch of England, without, however,
regarding the Episcopal form of Church government
as essential to the constitution of the Clu'istian
church. They were not disposed, therefore, to ex-
clude from the communion of the church those who
simply preferred other forms of worship and disci-
pline. Attaching less imporlaiice than many of
their brethren to a strict adherence to creeds and
confessions, they were ready to merge the Arminian-
ism which tlicn prevailed in the Cliurcli of England,
and the Calvinism which prevailed among the Pres-
byterians and Independents, in the v/ider and more
comprehensive designation of Christians. Hence the
rise of the name Latitudinarians, wliich was applied
to those men who, lamenting tlie divisions which
existed among Clmstians, were disposed to extend
the baud of Christian brotherhood to all who held
those points which they regarded as essential to sal-
vation.
LATONA. See Leto.
LATRIA, that species of worship which by Ro-
manist writers is regarded as due to God alone. It
is yielded also to the host or consecrated wafer.
See Adoration.
LATTER-DAY SAINTS. See Mormons.
LAUDISTI, a society which was instituted in
Florence a. d. 1316, for the performance of religious
lauds. This society still exists, and is in active
operation.
LAUDS, the name which was given to llie ser-
vice whicli followed next after the nocturn before the
Reformation. The Lauds ai'e now merged in the
Matins. The term Lauds is also frequently apphed
to hymns in church music. In the Church of Rome
Lauds are appointed for cock-crowing, or before
break of day. (See Canonical Hours.)
LAUD'S LITURGY. See Covenanters.
LAURA, a name given to a cluster of small cells
in which monks in ancient times lived together in a
desert, each monk occupying a separate cell. Tiie
most celebrated Lauras mentioned in ecclesiastical
history were situated in Palestine.
LAUREL, a plant wliich was sacred to Apollo tlie
god of prophecy, and much used by those who pre-
tended to inspiration. The heads of ancient seers
were usuaUy adorned with lam'el wreaths, while they
carried in their hand a laurel branch by way of a
magic wand.
LAURENCE (St.), Regular Canons of, a
Romish Order of Rehgious in the province of Dau-
phin^ in France. It is said to have been founded by
St. Benedict, in the sixth century, and to have con-
tinued to flom-ish for a considerable time. At length
the irruption of the Vandals destroyed the monastery,
but it was rebuilt in the middle of the eleventh een-
tuiy, and granted by Odo, Count of Savoy, to a monk
of the name of Gerard, and his canons. This donation
was confirmed in 1065 by Cumbert, bishop of Turin,
who added to it above forty additional churclies. By
this means the Order was considerably enlarged, and it
speedily became so important that the Popes and the
Counts of Savoy bestowed upon it various special
privileges. It had formerly thirty priories.
LAVACRUM. See Font.
LAVER, one of the vessels of the ancient Jewisli
tabernacle, used by the priests to wasli their liands
and feet before entering upon their holy ministra-
tions. No detailed account is given in Sacred Scrip-
ture of its form or dimensions, but reasoning by
analogy from the brazen sea in the temple, it has
been generally supposed that the laver was of a cir-
LAVER OP REGENERATION— LAWYERS.
305
cular form. It stood between tlie table of the con-
!;rc?;atioii and the altar, and is described by Moses as
having liad a fnot, tliat is a basis or pediment upon
wliicli the Uwev rested. Tliis vessel was constructed
from tlie brazen ornaments whicli tlie women liad
presented for the use of the tabernacle. It is gen-
erally believed that the laver stood upon another
l)asin more wide and shallow, like a cup on a saucer;
and that the latter received from several spouts in
the upper basin the water which was allowed to
escape when the priests washed themselves with the
water which fell from tlie upper basin. IIow the
priests washed their hands and theii' feet at tlie laver
is uncertain. " That tliey did not wash," says the
■editor of the Pictorial Bible, " in either the laver or
its base seems clear, because then the water in which
they washed would have been rendered impure by
those who washed before or with them ; and as we
know that Orientals do not like to wash in a basin,
after our manner, in which the water with which we
uommence wasliing is clearer than that with which
we linisli, but at a falling stream, where each sncces-
Bive affusion is of clean water, we incline to think
that the priests either washed themselves with the
stream as it fell from the spouts into the base, or
else received in proper vessels so much water as
they needed for the occasion. The Orientals, in
their wasliings, make use of a vessel with a long
spout, and wash at the stream which issues from
thence, the waste water being received in a basin
which is placed underneath. This seems to us to
illustrate the idea of the laver with its base, as well
as the ablutions of the priests. The laver had thus its
upper basin, from which the stream fell, and the under
basin for receiving tlie waste v/ater; or it is quite
compatible with the same idea and practice to sup-
pose that, to prevent too great an expenditure of
water, they received a quantity in separate vessels,
using it as described, and the base receiving the
water which in washing fell from their hands and
feet. This explanation, although it seems to us pro-
bable, is, necessarily, little more than conjectural.
The Jewish commentators say tliat any kind of water
might be used for the laver ; but that the water was
to be changed every day. They also state that ab-
lution before entering the tabernacle was in no case
dispensed with. A man might be perfectly clean,
might be quite free from any ceremonial impurity,
and might even have washed his hands and feet be-
fore he left home, but stiU he could by no means
enter the tabernacle without previous ablution at the
laver."
In the temple of Solomon there was a veiy large
laver of brass, called the molten sea, which was ten
cubits in diameter, five deep, and thirty in circum-
ference. In addition to the brazen sea, there were
ten smaller lavers of brass, which were situated five
on the north side, and five on the south side of the
court. The Hesh of the \actims that w^ere sacrificed
wa.s washed in these smaller lavers, wliich were each
four cubits in circumference, and rested od base*
and wheels of brass.
In the second temple the laver stood between the
altar and the porch, not directly before the altar,
but removed towards the north. The size and mea-
sure of this ve.ssel is not described in the Sacred
Writings, but the Jewish Itabbis have professed to
give a minute account of it. The mode in which the
process of bathing in the laver was conducted is thus
described. The priest laid his right hand upon his
right foot, and his left hand upon his left foot, and
while the water ran from the spout he stood in a
stooping posture and washed his hands and feet. He
that went about the service with unwashen hands
and feet in the morning was liable to death by the
hand of God ; and if a priest was clean before, yet
he durst not officiate before he had bathed. During
the service he must stand upon the bare pavement ;
his body must be bathed in cold water before he en-
tered ; then he was to wash his hands and feet, and
stand in thin linen and on the cold pavement all the
time of his ministration.
The typical design of the laver was obviously to
teach the necessity of the inward purification of the
soul, under the outward emblem of the washing of
the body ; and if this inward purity was necessary to
all who would serve God faithfully, more especially
was the cultivation of it incumbent upon those who
were officially engaged in the ministrations of the
sanctuary. Thus while the altar on which the vic-
tims were offered was a symbol of justification, the
laver with its purifying foimtain was a symbol ot
sanctification.
LAVER OF REGENERATION, a name some-
times given in the early Christian church to the or-
dinance of Baptism (which see).
LAVERNA, the Roman goddess, who patron-
ized thieves and fraudident persons of every kind.
LAVIPEDIUM. See Pedilavium.
LAW, a tenn which is used in the Sacred Writings
under a variety of diiferent significations. Sometimes
it is employed, as in the Book of Psalms, to denote
the whole of the revealed will of God as contained in
the Bible. On some occasions it implies the whole
rehgion of the Jews, and on other occasions it is
limited to their ritual or ceremonial observances, and
also in a still more restricted sense to the Decalogue
or Ten Commandments. In some passages, however,
it signifies the Law of Nature inscribed on the con-
sciences of men, and therefore binding upon them by
the authority of their Creator.
LAW (Joy of the). See Joy of the Law.
LAW (Oral). See Okal Law.
LAW (Written). See Bible.
LAW^'ERS, a term applied by the Jews to those
who interjireted and expounded the Mosaic Law,
more especially the Traditionary or Oral Law. A
lawyer and a scribe were evidently synonymoug
words, as is evident from a comparison of Mat. ixii.
35, and Mark xii. 28, the same person being styleo
?06
LAY BAPTISM— LECHEATES.
in the former passage a lawyer, and in the latter a
scribe. Basnage regards the lawyers as identical
with the modem Caraites (which see), inasmuch
as they adhered closely to the text of the Law, and
totally disregarded all traditions. Dr. Macknight,
hrwever, alleges that the duty of the Jewish lawyers,
Btn tly so called, was to give themselves up to the
private study of the Law, while the employment of
the scribes was to expound the Law in public.
LAY BAPTISM. In the early Christian church
it was required that none should dispense the ordi-
nance of baptism in ordinary cases, except the regu-
lar inisters, but in cases of extremity, where an
ordained minister was not at hand, and the candidate
was thought to be near death, a layman was allowed
to baptize. This doctrine is still maintained in the
Church of Rome, and even a midwife is allowed,
where a priest is not within reach, to baptize an in-
fant in its dying moments. Considerable difference
of opinion exists in the Church of England on the
§ubject of Lay Baptism.
LAY BROTHERS. See Brotheks (Lay).
LAY CHANCELLORS. See Chancellors.
LAY COMMUNION. See Communion (Lay).
LAZARITES, an order of monks instituted in
France in the seventeenth century by M. Vincent.
They have a seminary in the suburbs of Paris. The
Jesuits assume this name in vai-ious parts of the
Continent to conceal their real character.
LAZARUS (St.), Day op, a festival of the
Church of Rome, observed on the 21st day of Febru-
ary, in memory of Lazarus a painter, who lived in the
fourteenth century, in the reign of Tlieodosius Icono-
dastes. This saint was distinguished as a painter
of images, and on this account he incurred the re-
sentment of the Emperor. No sufferings, however,
could deter him from his favourite employment, and
in spite of persecution, therefore, he persisted in
painting images. On this account his raemoi-y is
held in veneration by Romftnists.
LE, the ultimate immaterial element of the uni-
verse, according to the philosojihical system of Confu-
cius, the Chinese sage. It is the Absolute regarded
in association with material essences, and manifest-
ing itself in virtue of such association as the cause
of organization and of order. With this principle
the spirit of man is strictly one and consubstantial.
The />e therefore is identical with the Tae-lceih, the
Absolute or literally the Great Extreme. Beyond it
as the highest ]iinnacle of heaven, the one ultimate
power, the entity without an opposite, no human
thought whatever is capable of soaring. Itself in-
comprehensible, it girdles the whole frame of nature
animate and inanimate. From it alone, as from the
foiintainhead of being, issued everything that is.
Creation is the periodic flowing forth of it. "The
Absolute is like a stem shooting upwards ; it is
parted into twigs, it puts out leaves and blossoms ;
forth it springs incessantly, until its fruit is fidly
npe ; yet even then the power of reproduction never
ceases to be latent in it. The vital juice is there
and so the Absolute still works and works indefi
nitely. Nothing hinders or can hinder its activitj
until the fruits have all been duly ripened and acti
vity gives place to rest."
LEADER (Class), a lay-officer among the Wes-
leyan Methodists. Every person connected witii
the denomination is a member of some class ove!
which there is a Leader, whose duty it is to see eaclj
person in his class at least once a-week, in order t(i
inquire into their spiritual condition, and to give sucll
exhortations, consolations, warnings, or reproofs, ai
may be suited to their peculiar condition and circum-
stances. He must also receive what each is willing to
give to the poor, or to the support of gospel ordinances
The Leader is required to meet the minister and
stewards of the society once a-week, in order to in-
form the minister of any that are sick, or of any that
walk disorderh', and will not be reproved. It is his
busmess also to pay to the stewards every week what
he has received from Iiis class in the week preceding,
and to show his account of what each person has
contributed. Tlie Class-Leaders being the most
numerous officers in the whole communion, have
great influence, more especially from their permanent
residence, not being Hable to removal as the minis-
ters are. No person can be admitted into the Wes-
leyan Society if he is objected to by the Class-
Leaders ; nor can any one be excluded from church
fellowship without their concm-rence. Females are
also in many cases Class-Leaders, the members of
their class being females. See Methodists (Wes-
leyan).
LEADERS' MEETING, the lowest of the infe-
rior courts among the Wesleyan Methodists. It is
composed of the travelling preachers stationed for
the time being in tlie circuit, along with the Stewards
and Class-Leaders whether male or female. In
every chapel, congregation, and society, there is a
Leaders' meeting. The consent of this court is
necessary to the admission of a member into the so-
ciety, or the appointment or removal of a Leader or
Steward. Along with the Trustees of the chapel,
the Leaders' meeting has the power of determining
whether or not the sacrament of the Lord's Supper
shall be dispensed there ; and they have the charge
of the fund for the reUef of poor and distressed
members of the society. See Methodists (Wes-
leyan).
LEAGUE AND COVENANT (The Solemn).
See Covenant (The Solemn League and).
LECANOMANCY, a species of divination per
formed by means of a bason with wedges of gold or
silver marked with certain characters. The wedgel
were suspended over the water, and the demon for
mally invoked, when he gave tlie response in a low
hissing sound passing through the fluid. See Divi-
nation.
LECHEATES, a surname of Zms, under wliich
he was worshipped at Aliphera. The name w;is
LECTERN— LEGENDS (RoMisn).
307
applied to liim aa tlie fatliei' of Athena, and the pro-
rector of women ill cliildljed.
LECTERN, tlie rcjuliii,i;-deslc in ancient clnirdies
in England. It was generally constrncted of wood,
but at a later period it was connnorily made of brass,
and formed in the shape of an eagle with out-
stretched wings.
LECTIO AKI I, a name sometimes given to the
C0PIAT>« (which see).
LECTIONAUIUM, a calendar of lessons to be
read during Divine service in Christian churches.
The most ancient work of this kind is generally
thought to be Hippolytus's Canon Paschalis, which,
however, points out only those lessons suited to the
festivals. There exists a Lectioncn-ium which has
been attributed to Jerome, but is generally believed
to have been the production of a much later writer,
ome time after, however, there were several calen
dars composed for the use of the French churches,
the oldest of which is the Lectionarium Gallicanum.
See Lessons.
LECTISTERNIUM, a ceremony observed by the
ancient Greeks and Romans on occasion of extraor-
dinary solenniities. It was performed by placing
the images of the gods on couclies, with a rich feast
set before them. The most remarkable ceremony of
this kind was the Epidum Jovis or Feast of Jupiter
lit Rome, which was celebrated in the Capitol where
the image of Jupiter was made to recline on a couch,
while the statues of Juno and Minerva were placed
on chairs by his side.
LECTORS. See Readers.
LECTURERS, a term applied before the Refor-
mation to persons who were appointed to read lec-
tures before the universities. Afterwards the word
was used to denote ministers in England who, deriv-
ing a stipend from a sum of money mortified by some
wealthy individual, or from voluntary contributions
under the license of the bishop, preached in parish
churches at such times as not to interfere with the
ministrations of the regular hicumbent. The appoint-
ment of lectureships, both in London and through-
out the country, was one of the modes by which
the Puritans sought in the reign of EUzabeth, and
that of James I., to supply the lack of ability and
piety in the established churches. The High Church
party looked upon these efficient lecturers with great
contempt, and Archbishop Laud regarded them with
feelings of jealousy and no little uneasiness, more es-
pecially as many of the nobles retained private lec-
turers in their mansions, and employed them to preach
on their estates and in the neighbouring towns. At
Laud's suggestion the king instructed the bishops
to suppress lectures if preached in parish churches
in the afternoon, and to substitute catechetical lec-
tures in their place. Nay, the archbishop went
farther, and procured an act to be passed in 1633.
confiscating to the king's use the money which had
been appropriated to the support of these lecture-
elups. This enactment, however, did not succeed in
abolishing these useful institutions, and in 1C37
Laud persuaded the king to issue instructions pro-
hibiting lecturers from preacliing unless they would
consent to say the Common I'rayer in hood and sur-
plice— a condition with which of course they refused
to comply. During the Commonwealth, lecturers
were favoured, and consequently increased in num-
ber. After the Restoration, however, the Act of
Uniformity indicted a heavy blow upon the system
of lectureships, enacting as it did that no person
should be allowed or received as a lecturer unless he
declared his unfeigned assent and consent to the
Thirty-Nine Articles and the Book of Common
Prayer, and to the use of all tlie rites, ceremonies,
forms, and orders therein contained. The same acl
enjoined that prayers should always be read before
a lecture was delivered. Lecturers of parislies in
England are now generally chosen by the vestry or
principal inhabitants, and are usually afternoon
preachers. There are also lecturers in connection
with most cathedral churches, and various lecture-
ships have been founded by private individuals, such
as the Boyle, the Bampton, and the Hidsean Lec-
tures.
LEGATE, a cardinal or bishop whom the Pope
sends as his ambassador to sovereign princes. He is
the vicegerent and representative of His Holiness,
invested with plenary powers to act in his stead at a
foreign comt. There are three kinds of Legates.
1. Legates a latere, sent from his side, or directly
from him, invested with most of the functions of the
Pope himself. They can absolve excommunicated
persons, call synods, grant dispensations in cases re-
served to the Pope, fill up vacant dignities or bene-
fices, and hear ordinary appeals. Cardinal Wolsey,
and also Cardinal Pole were legates of this kind.
2. Legati Nati, such as hold their commission by
virtue of office. Before the Reformation the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury held this species of legatine
authority in England. 3. Legati Dati, special Legates
holding thek authority from the Pope by special
commission. For the time being they are superior
to the other two orders. Such legates began to be
appointed after the tenth century, and they often
stretched their authority to a most miwarrantable
extent. They held councils, promulgated canons,
deposed bishops, and issued interdicts at their dis-
cretion. The functions of a Legate cannot be exer-
cised until he is forty miles distant from Rome.
LEGENDS (Romish), wonderful narratives pro-
fessing to treat of the lives and supernatural doings
of the saints of the Romish calendar. The Legend was
originally a book used Id the Roman Catholic church,
containing the lessons that were to be read at divine
service. Hence the Hves of saints and martyrs came
to be called Legends, because chapters were to be read
out of them at matins, and in the refectories of the re-
ligious houses. The Golden Legend is a collection of
the lives of the saints, composed by John de Vors-
gine, vicar-general of the Dominicans, and afterwards
308
LEGION (The Thundering).
arcbbishop of Genoa, who died ia 1208. The Bre-
viiry abounds in Legends of saints, wliich every Ro-
mish priest is bound daily to peruse. For the edifi-
cation of the laity of the church of Rome, Alban
Butler's laborious English work, entitled ' Lives of
the Saints,' contains Legends of more than 1,500
saints, male and female. The grand treasury of Ro-
mish Legends is the gigantic work of the Bollan-
dists in Latin, entitled ' Acta Sanctorum,' the Acts
of the Saints, which has already reached more than
fifty folio volumes, and will probably, before it is
completed, contain at least 30,000 saints. This
work was begun by a Jesuit of the name of BoUan-
dus, and was continued at Brussels by a succession of
editors, imtil the breaking out of the tirst Prencli
Revolution, towards the end of the last century,
when it had reached its fiftieth volume. An addi-
tional volume has since been published. A recent
addition has been made to the Legends of the Ro-
mish church by the publication, in 1846, of the
lives of five saints who were canonized in 1839.
This latest contribution to Romish Legends was the
work of Cardinal Wiseman, who has thus employed
liimself in giving currency to stories which savour
more of the literature of the Middle Ages than of
the enlightened hterature of the nineteenth centuiy.
See Breviart.
LEGION (The Thundering), a name given to
a legion of Christian soldiers in the army of Marcus
Antoninus in his war against the Marcomanni, in
A. D. 174. Eusebius, on the authority of Ai)ollina-
rius and Tertullian, relates that the soldiers of this le-
gion, being reduced to extremities by a severe and
protracted drought, fell down upon their knees, and
prayed to God, when immediately a violent thunder
storm came on which dispersed the aflriglited Ger-
mans, and tlie copious showers which fell refreshed
the soldiers of the emperor. The result was, that
the Roman army was victorious, and in commemora-
tion of the event, the emperor conferred upon the
Christian soldiers the name of the thundering legion,
while he himself ceased to persecute the Christians.
The miraculous event as recorded by Eusebius, has
given rise to considerable difi'erence of opinion among
the learned, some attributing it to supernatural, and
otliers to natural causes. The following view of this
much-controverted subject is given by Neander:
'• In this account, truth and falsehood are mixed to-
gether. In the first place, it cannot be true that the
emperor was lad to put a stop to the persecution of
the Christians by any event of this time ; for the
bloody perisecution at Lyons did not take place till
three years afterwards. Again, the ' thundering
legion,' or ' the twelfth of the Roman legions,' had
borne this name from the time of the Emperor Au-
gustus. The fact at bottom, namely, that the Ro-
man army, about that time, was rescued from a
threatening danger by some such remarkable provi-
dence, is undeniable. The heathen themselves ac-
knowledged it to be the work of Ileaven; they
ascribed it, however, not to the Christian's God, noi
to their prayers, but to their own gods, to their Ju-
piter, and to the prayers of the emperor, or of the
pagan army ; to say nothing of the blind superstition
which attributed the storm to the spells of an Egyp-
tian necromancer. The emperor, it is said, stretched
forth his hands, in supplication to Jupiter, with the
words, ' This hand, which has never yet shed human
blood, I raise to thee.' There were paintings in
which he was represented in the attitude of prayer,
and the array catching the ram in their helmets.
The emperor has expressed his own conviction ot
the matter upon a medal, where Jupiter is exhibited
launching his bolts on the barbarians, who he stretch-
ed upon the ground ; and perhaps, also, at the close
of the tu-st Book of the Monologues, where he men
tions, among the things for which he was indebted,
not to himself, but to the gods and his good fortune,
what had happened among the Quades. It is cer-
tain, therefore, that this remarkable event can have
had no influence in changing the disposition of tlie
emperor towards the Christians. But it by no
means follows that the latter are to be charged with
making up a false story. The matter admits of a
natural explanation. It is not impossible that, in
the thmidering legion, there were Christians ; per-
haps a large number of them ; for it is certain that
it was but a party among them who condemned the
military profession. And although it was dilBcult
for Christians at all times, and especially under an
emperor so unfavoiu-ably disposed, to avoid partici-
pating, while connected with a Roman army, in the
rites of paganism, yet they might succeed in doing
so under particular circumstances. The Christian
soldiers, then, resorted, as they were ever wont to do
on like occasions, to prayer. The deliverance which
ensued they regarded as an answer to their prayers ;
and, on their retimi home, they mentioned it to their
brethren in the faith. These, naturally, would not
fail to remind the heathen how much they were in-
debted to the people whom they so violently perse-
cuted. Claudius ApoUinaris, bishop of Hierapolis
in Phrygia, might have heard the story, soon after
the event itself, from the Christian soldiers belong-
ing to this legion, which had returned to its winter
quarters in Cappadocia ; and he introduced it, either
in an apology addressed to this emperor, or in other
apologetical works. Tertullian refers to a letter of
the emperor, addressed probably to the Roman Se-
nate, in which be owns that the deliverance was due
to the Christian soldiers. But this letter, if it con-
tained, in so many words, a .statement of this sort,
must, as appears evident fron\ the above remarks,
have been either a .spurious or interpolated one. It
may be a question, however, wjiether the letter con-
tained any distinct a,lfirmation of this sort, — whether
the emperor may not have spoken simply of soldiert,
and Tertullian explained it, according to his own be-
lief of Christian soldiers. lie expresses himself, at
any rate, with some degree of hesitation. How the
LEIBNITZ (Philosophy of)— LENT.
309
ChriHlians might possibly sometimes interpret the
rolijjious profession of the Iipathens according to the
principles of their own faitli, is shown by another
account of this event, wliich we lind in Tcrfiillian.
It is in these words : ' Marcus Aurelius, in the Ger-
man expedition also, obtained, throuf^h the prayers
olVered to God by Christian soldiers, showers of rain,
during that time of thirst. When has not the land
been delivered from drought, by our goniculations
and fasts ? In such cases, tlie very people, when they
cried to the God of gods, who alone is mighty, gave
our God the glory, under the name of Jupiter.'"
LEGISTS. See Decketists.
LEIBNITZ (Philosophy of). This eminent
German metajihysician was bom at Leipzig in 1648,
and died in 1716. His philosophy was throughout
a system of pure idealism. (See Idealists.) Spirit
was divorced from matter, soul from body, and the
sole principle of connection between the two was
that of a pre-established harmony, which enabled
them mysteriously to move in concert without in-
fluencing each other. Change, therefore, whether
occurring in matter or in mind, is caused not by an
influence ft-om without, but by an internal moving
influence from witliin. Thought, therefore, while it
corresponds with external objects and events by a
imiversal law of harmony, is simply a consciousness
of changes which are taking place in the soul itself.
At the head of the whole system of Monads, which
constitute the material and spiritual worlds, Leibnitz
[)laced the Deity, whom he termed the Monad of
Monads. Each of these monads is in some degree a
mirror of the universe ; aU of them are acting spon-
taneously, for it is the property of aU beings to act,
and yet they are all of them subordinate to the order
of the best possible universe, for Leibnitz regarded
optimism as essential to the veiy notion of God.
Thus liberty is in tlris system combined with neces-
sity.
While Leibnitz sought to invent a philosophical
system which should harmonize all the apparent dis-
cordances of the universe, he aimed also at a recon-
ciliation between philosophy and Christianity, in
opposition to the sceptical dualism of Bayle, against
whom he wrote his Theodicee. He held with Des
Cartes and Spinosa, that clearness is the measure of
truth. The true, he alleged to be that which does
not contradict itself, and that for which a sufficient
reason can be adduced. The first principle proves
the possibility, and the second the reality. The first
is the criterion of necessary matter, and the second
of contingent matter.
Leibnitz, however, though he laid down several
important principles, had been prevented from re-
ducing the whole to a regular system. This task
was reserved for Christian Wolfl", his distinguished
correspondent and friend, who, on the death of his
master, was regarded as the most eminent expositor
of the Leibnitzian philosophy. While professing to
follow in the footsteps of his great predecessor,
Wolff considerably modified the system of mooadb.
80 as to establish a decided difi'erenee between mat-
ter and mind in their real essence; and while he
retained the theory of pre-established liannony, he
confined it to the nuittial influence of soul and body.
In conducting his philosophical researches, this dis-
tinguished commentator on Leibnitz adopted the
geometrical method, and considered all truths as
holding to each other relations analogous to those of
numbers. Thus mathematical demonstration came
to be applied to questions of pure metaphysics, and
following the example of AVollV, a school arose which,
though it flourished for a time, speedily gave way to
a more rational method of handling metaphysical
topics.
LE-KE, one of the Sacred Books of the Confuci-
aniiti of China. It is the acknowledged guide to
rites and manners, prescribing rules for all the rela-
tionships of life, and the established orders of so-
ciety. See KtNG.
LEMURES, spirits of the dead, which were be-
lieved by the ancient Romans to return to the world,
and annoy and torment the living, more especially in
the darkness of the night. Certain ceremonies were
resorted to annually on the 9tli, 11th, and 1.3th of
May, in order to avert the evils arising from the
visits of these mischievous spectres. The master of
the house rose at midnight, and going outside the
door made certain signs. He then washed his hands
in spring water, and turning round took black beans
into his mouth, which he afterwards threw behind his
back tliat the Lemures might gather them. He then
uttered some words, again washed his hands, made a
noise, and called to the spirits nine times to be gone.
Prom this time they lost their power to do injuiy.
On the three days set apart for these ceremonies, all
the temples were shut, and it was accounted unlucky
for women to many not only during the thi'ee days
of the Lemvralia, as they were called, but through-
out the whole of the month of May.
LENJEA. See Dionysia.
LEN^US, a surname of Dionysus (which see),
as being the god of the Lenos or vintage.
LENT, a season of fasting which precedes the fes-
tival of Easter, and is supposed to have been intro-
duced with the view of commemorating our Saviour's
temptation, and his fasting forty days in the wilder-
ness. At first it seems to have been a voluntaiy
fast, continuing forty hours, corresponding to Friday
and Saturday before Easter, and comprising the en-
tire period during which our Redeemer lay in the
grave. In process of time this fast underwent con-
siderable changes, and from a voluntary it became a
regularly prescribed fast, observed not by penitents
and catechumens only, but by Christians generally.
In the fifth and sixth centuries the fast was extended
to thirty-six days. The four days which were after-
wards added to make it forty days, were introduced
either by Gregory the Great in the sixth centjuy, or
by Gregory II. in the eighth. This fast, styled ths
iJlO
LEIPSIC CONFERENCE— LEOPARD-WORSHIP
carnival, from caro vale, ' farewell-flesh,' began with
Ash-Wednesday, and ended with the Saturday be-
fore Easter, which was observed with great solem-
nity, and was denominated the great sabbath. The
entire week before Easter was termed the Great
week, and Passion week- The forty days of the
Fast of Lent are sometimes accounted for by refer-
ring to the example of Moses, Elias, and our Lord,
all of whom fasted forty days. The Fast of Lent
does not include all the days between Ash- Wednes-
day and Easter, the Sundays not being counted be-
cause the Lord's Day has always been held as a fes-
tival, and not as a fast. See Easter.
LEIPSIC CONFERENCE, a disputation wHcb
took place at Leipsic in 1631, between certain Lu-
theran and Reformed divines in Germany, with a
view to the accomplishment of a union between the
two chuiohes. They discussed all the articles of the
Augsburg Confession, to which the Reformed were
ready to subscribe, and also set forth a formula of
union, or rather an exposition of the articles in
controversy. The Conference, however, led to no
satisfactory result.
LEIPSIC DISPUTATION, a pubUc discussion
which was held at Leipsic in 1519, between John
Eckius on tlie one side, and Carlstadt and Luther on
tlie other. It began on the 27th of June, and con-
tinued till the 1.3tli of July. During the iirst week
Eckius and Carlstadt disputed respecting free-will.
During the second week Eckius disputed with Lu-
ther respecting the primacy of the Pope. In the
third week Eckius again disputed with Luther on
repentance, pui-gatory, indulgences, and priestly ab-
solution. The last three days were spent in dispu-
tations between Eckius and Carlstadt. The univer-
sities of Paris and Erfurt were proposed and accepted
as judges of the disputation. Luther, however, re-
served to himself the power of appeal from the uni-
versities to a coimcil. But no decision was come to
on the discussion, and every one commented on it
according to his own feelings. " At Leipsic," said
Luther, " there was great loss of time, but no seek-
ing after truth." This important discussion, how-
ever, was not without fruit. The arguments of
Lutlier, though they failed in convincing his oppo-
nent, sunk deep into the minds of not a few, who
were simply present as hearers. Poliander, the
secretary and friend of Eckius, was won over by this
discussion to the cause of the Reformation. Jolm
Cellarius, a learned professor of Hebrew, who liad
been one of the most violent opponents of tlie Re-
formed doctrines, underwent a complete change in
his religious views. Prince George of Anhalt, then
oidy twelve ye^rs old, was so convinced b)' Luther's
reasonings, that he fearlessly ranged himself on the side
of the Gospel. The elVect upon tlie minds of the
students also was so strong, that great numbers of them
repaired to Witlemberg that they migh^ sit at the feet
of Lntlier. The Leipsic disputntinii, however, accom-
plished, above all, a signal lienclit to the cause of truth,
in the holy impulse which it gave to Melaiicthon
"From that hour," says D'Aubign^, "his extensive
learning bowed before the Word of God. He re-
ceived the evangelical truth with the simplicity of a
child; explained the doctrine of salvation with a
gi-ace and perspicuity that charmed all his bearers ;
and trod boldly in that path so new to him, for, said
he, ' Christ will never abandon his followers.' Hence-
forward the two friends walked together, contending
for hberty and trnth, — the one with the energy of
St. Paul, the other with the meekness of St. John.
Lutlier has admirably expressed the difference of
their callings. ' I was bom,' said he, ' to contend on
the field of battle with factions and with wicked
spirits. This is why my works abound with war
and tempests. It is my task to uproot the stock
and the stem, to clear away the briars and under-
wood, to fill up the pools and the marshes. I am
the rough woodman who has to jirepare the way and
smootli the road. But Philip advances quietly and
softly ; he tills and plants the ground ; sows and
waters it joyfully, according to the gifts that God
has given him with so liberal a hand.' " The gi'eat-
est efl'ect of the discussion, however, was that which
was produced on the mind of Luther himself.
" ' The scales of scholastic theology,' said he, ' fell
then entirely from before my eyes, under the trium-
phant presidence of Doctor Eck.' The veil which
the School and the Church had conjointly drawn
before the sanctuary was rent for the reformer from
top to bottom. Driven to new inquiries, he ai-rived
at unexpected discoveries. With as much indigna-
tion as astonishment, he saw the evil in all its mag-
nitude. Searching into the annals of the Church,
he discovered that the supremacy of Rome had no
other origin than ambition on the one hand, and ig-
norant credulity on the other. The narrow point oi
view imder which he had hitherto looked upon the
Church was succeeded by a deeper and more ex-
tended range. He recognised in the Christians of
Greece and of the East true members of the Catho-
lic Church ; and instead of a visible chief, seated on
the banks of the Tiber, he adored, as sole chief of
the people of God, an invisible and eternal Redeem-
er, who, according to his promise, is daily in the
midst of every nation upon earth, with all who be-
lieve in His name. The Latin Cluirch was no longer
in Luther's estimation the universal Church ; he saw
the narrow barriers of Rome fall down, and exulted
in discovering beyond them the glorious dominions
of Christ."
LEONES (Lat. lions), a name which, according
to Porphyry, was given to the priests of Mithrat
among the ancient Persians.
LIOONISTS, an apjiellation given sometimes to
the Waldicnses (which sec), because of their con-
nection witli Leoua or Lyons in France.
LEOPARD-WORSHIP. The leopard is a for-
midable animal, and is bold in great dread by the
natives of dift'erent parts of Africa. It is all the
LERNiiEA— LESSONS.
3U
niore dreaded in consequence of a superstitious no-
tion which prevails, particularly in Southern Guinea,
that wicked men frequently metamorphose them-
selves into tigers, and commit all sorts of depreda-
tions without the liability or possibility of being
killed. Large villages are sometimes abandoned by
their inhabitants, because they are afraid to attack
these animals on account of their supposed superna-
tural powers. In Daliomey this animal is accounted
so sacred that if any one shoidd kill it, he would be
held to have committed sacrilege, and would bo of-
fered up in sacrifice to propitiate the olVonded god.
The people of that country look upon the leojiard as
representing the supreme god, whom they call Sell,
worshipping him with the utmost reverence. Should
any man be killed by a leopard, his relatives, in-
stead of lamenting over the event, rejoice that he
has been taken, as they believe, to the land of good
spirits ; and in token of their satisfaction, they treat
the animal with the utmost kindness. Leopards
seem to have abounded in Egypt, as on the monu-
ments the priests otfering incense are usually clothed
in a leopard's skin. Sir John G. Wilkinson tells us
that this leopard-skin dress was worn on all the
principal solemnities, and that the king liiniself
adopted it on similar occasions.
LERNjEA, mysteries celebrated at Lerna in Ar-
golis, in honour of Demeter (which see).
LESSONS, portions of Scripture appointed in
many chm'ches to be read in the course of Divine
service. In the ancient Jewish church the reading
of the Old Testament Scriptures formed a most
important part of the worship of the synagogue.
The Books of Moses were divided for this purpose
into fifty-four sections, corresponding to the Sab-
baths in a year, one being allowed for their in-
tercalated years in which there might be fifty-four
Sabbaths. These sections were read successively one
on each Sabbath. When a less number of Sabbaths
occurred in a year, two sections were read together
as one on the last Sabbath, so that the whole Penta-
teuch might be read in the course of a year. Selec-
tions were also made from the historical and prophet-
ical books, which received the general name of the
Prophets. One of these selections was read every
Sabbath-day along with the corresponding portion of
the Law. Hence in Acts xiii. 15, we find the Jews
ni Antioch in Pisidia reading the Law and the Pro-
phets. In the early Christian church the reading of
the Scriptures was an essential part of public wor-
ship, at which all persons were allowed to be present.
The portions read were partly taken from the Old
Testament, and partly from tlie New. Justin Mar-
tyr is the first who mentions the reading of the
Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles together with
the Scriptures of the Old Testament. This writer
also mentions a special officer in the church called a
Reader, whose duty it was to read the Scriptures,
after which an exhortation or exposition bearing on
the passages read was delivered by the minister.
The Apostolical Constitutions enjoin the reading ol
the Scriptures as an important part of public wor-
ship. At first there was no established order for the
reading of them, but afterwards the bishop appointed
the lessons. Even as late as the fourth and fifth
centuries, instances occur of such appointments by
the bishop. "The earliest division of the New Tes-
tament," .says Coleman, " was into the gospels and
the epistles, coiTesponding to the law and the pro-
phets of the Jewish scriptures. This division aji-
pears in the writings of Tcrtullian and Irenaius, and
must, accordingly, have been anterior to their time.
The reading was directed according to this division,
one lesson from each being read alternately. Be-
tween the reading of these Psalms were sung, or
selections from the Old Testament were read. When
there was nothing peculiar to direct the reading, the
scriptures were read consecutively, according to
their established order ; but this order was inter-
rupted on their festivals, and other occasions. At
Easter the account of the resurrection was read from
each of the evangelists successively. The season of
Pentecost, from Easter to Whitsuntide, was set
apart for the reading of the Acts of the Apostles.
The Western church connected with this the read-
ing of the Epistles and of the Apocalypse. During
Lent Genesis was read ; and as early as the third
century the book of Job was read iii Passion-week.
In a word, though we have no complete order of the
lessons read through tlie year, it is to be presumed
that the reading was directed by an established rule
and plan, especially on all the principal festivals and
solemnities of the church."
At the close of the lesson in the ancient church, the
audience knelt down and prayed in some such words
as these, " Lord have mercy upon us." The reading
began and closed with a set fonn. Cyprian alleges
that the reader saluted the audience by saying, " Peace
be with you." This, however, was afterwards used
only by the presbyter or bisho]) at the commence-
ment of pubUe worship, and before the sermon. It
was customary for the reader to awaken attention at
the outset by saying, " Thus saith the Lord," in the
Lesson from the Old Testament or from the Gos-
pels, or " Beloved brethren, in the Epistles it is
wTitten." At the close of the Lesson the people
frequently responded by saying, " Amen," or " We
thank thee, Lord," "We thank thee, 0 Christ." This
custom, however, gave rise to so many abuses, that the
people were foi'bidden to respond, and the minister
closed the reading of the Epistles by saying, " Bless
ed be God," and that of the Evangelists by saying,
" Glory be to thee, O Lord." At first the reading
was performed fiom the Ambo (which see), but
afterwards the Gospel and the Epistle, out of rever-
ence for these parts of Scripture, were read, the for-
mer on the right hand, and the latter on the left of
the altar. It was the duty of the subdeacon to read
or chant the Epistles : and of the deacon to rehearse
the Gospels. The apostolical constitutions recom-
312
LETHE— LEUCOPHRYNE.
mend both minister and people to stand during the
reading of the Gospels, wliile, diu-ing the reading of
other portions of the Scriptiu'e, they sat. Particu-
lar Lessons from tlie Gospels and Epistles were
read on certain Sabbaths and festival days. These
special Lessons were tenned Pericopm. Their ori-
gin has been much disputed among the learned.
Some have traced them to apostolic times ; others
allege that they origuiated in the fourth century ;
while others still trace them back no farther than
the eighth century.
The arrangements of the Church of England, in
reference to the Lessons appointed to be read in
public worship, are thus described by Dr. Hook :
■' For all the first Lessons on ordinary days, she
directs to begin at the beginning of the year with
Genesis, and so continue till the books of the Old
Testament are read over, only omitting Chronicles,
wliich are for the most part the same with the books
of Samuel and Kings ; and other particular chapters
in other books, either because they contain the
names of persons, places, or other matters less pro-
fitable to ordinary readers. The com-se of the first
Lessons for Sundays is regulated after a different
manner : from Advent to Septuagesima Sunday,
some particular chapters of Isaiah are appointed to
be read, because that book contains the clearest pro-
phecies concerning Christ. Upon Septuagesima
Sunday Genesis is begun ; because that book, which
treats of the fall of man, and the severe judgment
of God inflicted on the world for sin, best suits with
a time of repentance and mortification. After Gene-
sis follow chapters out of the books of the Old Tes-
tament, as they lie in order ; only on festival Sun-
days, such as Easter, Whitsunday, &c., the particular
history relating to that day is appointed to be read ;
and on the Saints' days the Church appoints Les-
sons out of the moral books, such as Proverbs, Eccle-
siastes, &c., and also from the Apocrypha, as con-
taining excellent instructions for the conduct of
life. As to the second Lessons, the Church observes
tlie same course both on Sundays and week-days ;
reading the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles in
tlie morning, and the Epistles in the evening, in the
order tliey stand in the New Testament ; excepting
on Saints' days and Holy-days, when such Lessons
are appointed as either explain the mystery, relate
the histoiy, or apply the example to us." Thus the
Scripture Lessons are arranged throughout the year
with a view to the reading of all Scripture publicly
or privately, according to the calendar, and the Les-
sons for Sabbath are such as to alTord continuous
Scriptural instruction, and to lead the worshipper to
tlie personal reading of tlie Bible for his own edifi-
cation.
In the Romish missal each mass has two Scrip-
ture Lessons; the one called 'the Epistle,' and the
other ' the Gospel.' The Lessons from the apo.sto-
lic epistles are generally mucli shorter than from the
(Cospels. The Scripture Lessons of the church of
Rome are, for the most part, taken from the Vulgat*
version, the version of Jerome. In the Breviary oi
Prayer-Book of the Romish priests, there are selec-
tions given from Scripture by way of Lessons, which,
however, are neither continuous nor complete, though
the theory of the Breviary, undoubtedly, is that all
Seriptme should be read through in the course of a
year.
LETHE, the personification of oblivion among
the ancient Greeks and Romans. They gave also
the name of Lethe to a river in the infernal regions.
See Hell.
LETHON, the goddess of childbearlng, known
by various names among ancient heathen nations.
She was worshipped by tki Greeks under the name
of Artemis, while the Scythians termed her Tomyris,
and at a later period she was admitted into the mytho-
logy of Egjiit under the name of Lethon. She is sup-
posed to have been identical with the Latona of the
Romans. In Egypt this goddess was represented by
a frog, probably on account of its prolific power ; but
soon afterwards .slie was worshipped under the name
of Biito, and was thouglit to have the power of driv-
ing away frogs. On the monuments she is some-
times called Tene, and also Buto, and at other times,
in a compound form, Tene-Buto. At first she ap-
pears with the head of a frog, and afterwards witli
tlie head of a vulttu-e, and armed with a bow and
arrows.
LETHRA, now Leire, in the island of Zealand,
the city of the gods among the ancient Danes. Thii
was the holy place where the nation assembled Jn
offer up their sacrifices, to present their prayers, and
to receive the choicest blessings from the gods.
LETO, the wife of Zeus, by whom she was the
mother o( Ajjollo and Artemis. She was only wor-
shipped in conjunction with her children. Hera bo
ing jealous of her, as being a favourite of Zeus, pro-
cured her expulsion from heaven, and liaviiig been
changed into a quail, she foimd a resting-place in
Delos, where her cliildreu were born, and she and
they were afterwards worshipped.
LETTERS CANONICAL. See Canonical
Letters.
LETTERS DOIISSORY. See Dimissory Let-
ters.
LETTERS OF ORDERS. When a bishop in
England ordains a clergyman, either as a priest or
deacon, he gives him a certificate which is termed
Letters of Orders. Churchwardens are entitled to
demand a sight of these letters when any one offers
to officiate in a parish church.
LEUC^iUS, a surname of Zeits, under wliich ho
was worshipped at Lepreus in IClis.
LEUCOPETRIANS, a class of people in connec-
tion with the Greek church, who adopted the views
of Leucopetrus, which jiroceeded on an allegorical
interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures.
LEUCOPHRYNE, a surname of Artfviii. undoT
whicli she was worshipped at Leucophrys in Phry-
LEVANA— LEVITES.
813
gia, where she liad a temple, as well a8 at Magnesia,
on the Maeaiider.
LIOVANA (from levare, to raise), a Roman god-
dess, who presided over tlie rearing of new-born
children.
LEV[RATE, a law among the ancient Hebrews,
in virtue of which, when a man died without issue,
it became the duty of his next surviving brother to
marry his widow, with the view of raising up a first-
born son to succeed to the inheritance. Michaolis
derives the name from an old Latin word kmr, which
is said to signify a husband's brother. The law was
more ancient than the time of Moses, having been in
operation in Palestine among tlie Canaanites and the
ancestors of the Israelites. Moses indeed, in Lev.
xviii. 16. ex])lieitly forbids a man to marry his bro-
ther's wife, but he lays down an important exception
to this law in Deut. xxv. 5 — 10, and the reason of
this exception was, that families and iidioritances
might be preserved unbroken until the coming of
Messiah. The law, as it previously existed, was not
changed by Moses, but simply modified in various
respects. Thus he expressly prohibited the mar-
riage of a brotlier's widow, if there were children of
his own alive. He, no doubt, allowed, and, indeed,
enjoined tlie brother to marry the widow of his child-
less brother, but if he was disinclined to take such a
itep, he was not to be compelled to do so, but had
oidy to declare in court that he had no inclination
to marry his brother's widow, and then he was at
liberty. But if the brother did not choose to marry
her, she was not allowed to marry another man until
he had first set her at liberty. This ceremony of
giving a brother's widow leave to marry again is
called Caliza (which see), or the loosing of the
hoe. When there were several brothers, the Mish-
na states, that if the eldest refused, application must
be made to each of the younger brothers, and if none
of them would comply, the eldest was to be com-
pelled either to marry the widow, or to submit to
the indignity involved in the Caliza. By the Ge-
mava, both the obligation and the liberty of marry-
mg the wife of a deceased brother, are restricted to
the eldest of the surviving brothers. Among the
modern Jews, the rabbies invariably enjoin their
disciples to refuse compliance with the precept, and
notliing remains of the original institution except the
iieremony of releasing both parties from a connection
.vhicli is never permitted to be formed.
LEVITES, the descendants of Levi, the son of
fudali, and forming one of the twelve tribes of Is-
rael. Not having joined in the worship of the golden
calf, they received the high honour of being chosen
by Jehovah to be the priests of the Hebrews instead
of the first-bom. From the tribe of Levi, Aaron
and his posterity were consecrated to the office of
the priesthood. The high-priest ranked as the head
both of the priests and Levites. The other Levites
discharged inferior religious duties, but for the more
menial employments they were allowed servants.
n.
It would appear from Numb. viii. 5 — 22, that in the
first instance the Levites were solemnly separated
from the rest of the Israelites, and set apart for their
special sacred duties by a peculiar ceremony. Hav-
ing washed and shaved the whole body, they brought
a bullock, with a meatoffering and oil, to the altar
for a burnt-olVering, and another bullock for a sin-
ofl'ering. Moses then sprinkled them with water,
after which the chief of the Israelites laid their
hands upon them, and thus consecrated them to the
work of the Lord. The Levites, in the presence of
the people, prostrated themselves before God in
token of entire surrender of themselves to his ser-
vice, liisiiig from the ground they laid hands upon
the bullocks, and then slew them. Such were the
ceremonies attending the consecration of the whole
body of the Levites. They were not enjoined to
wear any particular dress, but in the time of David
those who removed the ark were dressed in white
robes.
The duties of the Levites consisted in giving to
the priests all necessary assistance in the discharge
of their duties, and in keeping guard round the Ta-
bernacle, and afterwards round the Temple. When
journeying through the wildeniess, it was the office
of the Levites to carry the Tabernacle and all
Its sacred utensils. They had the charge of the
sacred revenues, and purchased all needful supplies
of wine, oil, frankincense, and other articles used for
religious purposes. In the more recent periods of
the Jewish state, they slew the victims for the altar,
and after the time of David they seem to have acted
as singers and players on instruments in the Tem-
ple. The Levites were divided into three families,
the Kohathitcs, the Gershonites, and the Merarites,
each of wliom bore different parts of the Tabemacle
and its furniture during the journey through the
wilderness. The laborious duties which devolved
upon the Levites were only discliarged between the
ages of thirty and fifty, while the lighter duties were
performed between twenty-five and thirty, or be-
yond the age of fifty. In later times they com-
menced the performance of the easier duties at
twenty' years of age.
From the date of the building of the Temple an
entire change took place in tlie an'angements made
as to the duties of the Levites. They were calcu-
lated to amount to 38,000, and were divided into
four classes ; 24,000 being set apart to assist the
priests. 4,000 as porters, 4,000 musicians, and 6,000
judges and genealogists. On the division of tlie
land of Canaan, the Levites had forty-eight cities
assigned to them as ])laces of residence, thirteen of
which were appropriated to the priests, along with
the tithes of com, fruit, and cattle. The Levites
paid to the priests the tenth part of all their tithes.
In the ancient Christian church the deacons were
sometimes called by the name of Levites, to show
the harmony which existed between the Jewish and
Christian churches, the bishop corresponding to th«
2d*
314
LHA-SSA-MOROU— LIBELLI PACTS.
liigh-priest, tlie presbyters to the priests, and the
deacons to tlie Levites.
LHA-SSA-MOROU, a festival observed annually
by the Lamas of Thibet on the tliird day of the first
moon. It is thus described by tlie Abb^ Hue: "All
the Buddhist monasteries of the province of Oui
open their doors to tlieir numerous inhabitants, and
you see great bodies of Lamas, on foot, on liorse-
back, on asses, on oxen, and carrying their prayer-
books and cooking Htensils, amving tumultuously by-
all the roads leading to Lha-Ssa. The town is
soon overwhelmed at all points, by these avalanches
of Lamas, pouruig from all the surrounding moun-
tains. Those wlio cannot get lodgings in private
houses, or in public edifices, encamp in the streets
and squares, or pitch their little travelhng tents in
the country. The Lha-Ssa-Morou lasts six entire
days. During this time, the tribunals are closed,
the ordinary course of justice is suspended, the min-
isters and public functionaries lose in some degree
their authority, and all the power of the government
is abandoned to this formidable army of Buddliist
monks. There prevails in the town an inexpressi-
ble disorder and confusion. Tlie Lamas rim through
the streets in disorderly bands, uttering frightful
cries, chanting prayers, pushing one another about,
quarrelling, and sometimes having furious contests
with their fists. Although the Lamas generally
show little reserve or modesty during tliese festive
days, it is not to be supposed that they go to Lha-
Ssa merely to indulge in amusements incompatible
with their religious character ; it is devotion, on the
contrary, wliich is their chief motive. Their piu--
pose is to implore the blessing of the Tal^-Lama,
and to make a pilgrimage to the celebrated Buddhist
monastery called Morou, which occupies the centre
of the town. Hence the name of Lha-Ssa-Morou
given to these six festive days."
LIBAMINA, a name given by the ancient Romans
to denote the bunch of hair which was cut from the
forehead of a victim about to be sacrificed, and
which was thrown into the fire as a kind of first-
fruits.
LIBANOMANCY (Gr. libanos, frankincense, and
manteia, divination), a species of divination, which
was performed by throwing a quantity of frankin-
cense into the fire, and observmg the manner of its
burning, and the smell which it enntted. If it
burned quickly and sent forth an agreeable smell, the
omen was favom-able, but if the reverse liappcncd, it
was unfavourable.
LIBATION, a practice followed from early times
of pouring liquors, generally wine, upon sacrificial
victims. The quantity of wine used among the an-
cient Hebrews for a libation was the fourth part of
a hin, or rather more than two pints, which were
poured upon tlie victim after it was killed, and the
Beveral pieces of it were laid upon the altar ready to
be consumed by the flames. (See Minciia.) Li-
batione have among all heathen nations also formed
a part of the sacrificial ritual, and no true worshippei
presumed to touch the cup with his lips before tlie
presiding divinity had his share. In regard to tlie
ancient Egyptians, Sir J. G. Wilkinson says: "A
libation of wine was frequently oS'ered, togethei' with
incense ; flowers were often presented with them
and many sacrifices consisted of oxen or other ani-
mals, birds, cakes, fruit, vegetables, ointments, and
other things, with incense and libation. Wine was
frequently presented m two cups. It was not then
a libation, but merely an ofiering of wine ; and since
the pouring out of wine upon the altar was a preli
miliary ceremony, as Herodotus observes, common
to all their sacrifices, we find that the king is often
represented making a libation upon an altar covered
with oft'erings of cakes, flowers, and the joints of a
victim killed for the occasion. The Egyjitian artists
did not bind themselves to one instant of time in
their representations of these subjects. The liba-
tion, therefore, appears to be poured over the mass
of oft'erings collected upon the altar ; but the know-
ledge of their mode of drawing, and the authority of
Herodotus, explain that the libation was poiu-ed out
before the oft'erings were placed upon it ; and in-
stances are even found in the sculptures of this
preparatory ceremony. Two kinds of vases were
principally used for libation, and the various kinds
of wine were indicated by the names affixed to
them."
Among the ancient heathens bloody sacrifices
were usually accompanied with libations, which were
performed by tlu-owing wine and incense upon the
flesh of the animal, while it was burning upon the
altai'. In forming a treaty with a foreign nation,
libations always accompanied the sacrifices which
were ofi'ered on such occasions. But libations were
sometimes made independently altogether of sacri-
fices. Thus at entertainments it was customary to
pour out a portion of wine as an ofiering of thanks-
giving to the gods. The wine nsed in libations was
always unmixed with water, but sometimes they
consisted of milk, honey, and other fluids, either pure
or diluted with water.
LIBELLATICI. In the persecution of the Chris
tians by Decius Trajan, an edict was issued A. D.
2,50, requiring Christians to conform to the ceremo-
nies of the pagan religion, and if they declined to
sacrifice to the gods, threats and afterwards tortures
were to be employed to compel submission. Many
heathen magistrates, either from avarice or a desire
to spare the Christians, exempted them from sacri-
ficing, provided they jnirchased a certificate or libel
as it was called, attesting that they had satisfactorily
complied with the requisitions of the edict. Those
wlio procured sucli a certificate received the name of
Lihcllatici. See IjAI'sed Cukistians.
LIBELLI PACIS (Lat. certificates of peace). In
the persecutions under the Roman Emperors, it too
often liapjiencd that Christians through fciu' of man
denied tlie faith of Christ. Many persons in these
LIBELLI PCENITENTIALES— Lin RRTINE3.
315
eircuinataiiccs (imlini; themselves excluded IVom the
privileges of tlic eliiii'cli, were seized with remorse, and
eagerly longed for restoration to the fellowship of
the faithful. In order to facilitate their re-admis-
Bion, some resorted to individuals who liad earned a
high Christian character by their readiness to endure
martyrdom for Christ's sake, and sought from tlieni
certificates of church fellowship, whicli they imagined
would lead to their speedier recovery of their lost
position among their fellow-Christians. These cer-
tificates granted hy confessors to lajised Christians,
were called by the njuno of Uhelli pacis, and gave rise
to a keen controversy, in which Cyprian took au ac-
tive part.
LIBELLI PfENITENTIALES (Lat. certificates
of penitence), documents which came to be fre-
quently issued in the eighth century by tlie Romish
priesthood, granting' immediate absolution to those
who confessed their sins to the priest, and declared
themselves ready to fidiU the appointed penance,
even though thpy were not prepared to partake of
the communion. At the time when great offoris
were made for the improvement of the church, as
was especially the case in the age of Charlemagne,
it was a main object with the church reforiners of
the period to abolish the libelli j'cenitenttales, which
had led to so many corruptions, and to restore the
primitive laws of the church to their proper autho-
rity and force.
LIBENTINA, a surname of Veims among tlie
ancient Romans, as the patroness of licentiousness.
LIBER, the name used by the Roman poets to
denote the Greek Dionysus or the Bacdais of their
own prose writers. The name, however, properly
belongs to an ancient Italian divinity, who, along
with the corresponding goddess. Libera, presided
over vineyards and fruitful fields. The worship of
these two deities was often combined with that of
Ceres ; and all tln-ee had a temple at Rome, near the
Circus Flaminius. hificra was considered by the
Romans as identical with Cora or Persephone, the
daughter of Demeter.
LIBERA. See Liber.
LIBERALIA, a festival observed annually by the
ancient Romans on the 17th of March, in honour of
LiBEU (which see). It was ranch more innocent
and simple in its character than the Bacchanalia;
and, accordingly, it continued to be celebrated at
Roine after that festival was suppressed. On the
day on which the Liberalia were held, a procession
of priests and priestesses wearing ivy garlands,
marched through the city bearing wine, honey, cakes,
and sweetmeats, along with a portable altar, having
in the middle of it a firepan in which sacrifices were
burnt. On this joyful occasion the Roman youths,
who had reached their sixteenth year, were invested
with the tor/a virilis, or dress of manhood. Angus-
tin complains that in his time the Liberalia were
celebrated with no little immorality and licentious-
Bees.
1j11!ICKAT(_)K, a surname of Jujiiter, under wliich
a temple was reared to him by Augnstim on the
Aventino hill.
LIBERTA.S, a personification of liberty, worship-
ped as a goddess by the ancient Romans. Tiberius
Sempronius Gracchus built a temple to her honour
on the Aventine hill.
LIBERTINES. In Acts vi. 9, we find mention
nuide of a synagogue at .lerusalein belonging to a clas*
of (lersons who are called Liherlincs. The word Liber-
tini among the ancient Romans, denoted those persons
who had been released from legal servitude ; and it
is not unlikely that the Libertines who had a syna-
gogue at Jerusalem may have been slaves of Jewish
origin, or proselytes after manumission. By Gro-
tius, Vitringa, and other writers, they are supposed to
have been the descendants of Jewish caittives carried
to Rome by Pompey and others, but who bad obtained
their liberty. That large numbers of such people
existed at that time in Judea, is rendered highly pro-
bable from a passage which occurs in the second
book of the Annals of Tacitus, where the historian,
while he describes a certain class of persons as being
of the race of Libertines or freedmen, and infected,
as he calls it, with foreign, that is with Jewish super-
stition, tells us at the same time that they were so
numerous in the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, that
four thou.sand of them, who were of age to carry
arms, were sent to the island of Sardinia ; and tliat
all the rest of them were ordered either to renounce
their religion, or to depart from Italy before a cer-
tain day. This statement of Tacitus, confirmed by
Suetonius, enables us to accoimt for the number of
Libertines in Judea, and also for their having had a
synagogue in Jerusalem at the period of which Luke
was speaking, which was about fifteen years after
their banishment from Italy by the edict of Tiberius.
LIBERTINES, a sect which arose in Flanders in
the sixteenth century, caUing themselves Spirituals.
It was founded by certain persons of extravagant
views, headed by Pocquet and Quintin. Though
originated in Flanders, the sect made its way into
France, where it found favoiu- with many of the Re-
formed, and more especially with Margaret, the
queen of Navarre, aud sister of Francis I. They
held that God works all things in all men, or is the
cause and author of all human actions, and, therefore,
they maintained that the distinction which is com-
monly alleged between good and bad actions is un-
warranted, inunorality or sin being impossible. They
taught that true religion consists in the union of the
soul with God, and if any man shall succeed in at-
taining this by means of habitual contemplation on
spiritual and divine things, he may thereafter impli-
citly follow the instincts of his own nature, and
whatever he may do he will be free from sin in this
world, and united to God in the world to come.
Mosheim supposes this sect to have been descended
from the Beghards, or from the Brethren of the Fret
Spirit, both of which flourished in Flanders in the
iil6
LIBETHRIDES— LIGHTS OF WALTON.
fourteeiitli and fifteenth centuries. Calvin devoted
a special treatise to the exposure of the errors of the
Libertine.-; whicli were spreading rapidly among the
Reformed both in Flanders and in France. By his
faithfulness, in pointing out the erroneous nature of
tlieir opinions, Calvin gave great offence to the
queen of Navarre, who, though she had neither im-
bibed their sentiments nor joined their sect, was
favoLU'ably inclined towards the leaders, whom she
regarded as good men. As soon as the Reformer
understood that liis exposure of the Libertines had
offended the royal lady who had conferred so many
benefits upon tlie Church of Clnnst, he replied to
her with great meekness and moderation, at tlie same
time frankly censuring her imprudence in hospita-
bly receiving men whose opinions were opposed to
religion and sound morality, and not only so, but in
admitting them to be authorized ministers of Christ.
The Treatise of Calvin was successful in checking
tlie progress of the Libertines in France, and limit-
ing their influence to the coimtry which gave them
origin.
The sect which we have thns briefly described has
sometimes been confounded with tlie Libertines of
Geneva, with whom Calvin maintained an almost im-
interrupted warfare throughout the whole of his min-
isterial life. The Genevan Libertines were not, how-
ever, speculative heretics like the Libertines of Flan-
ders ; they were practical infidels, who disliked the
strictness of Calvin's discipline, as much if not more
than his sound theology. From such men the stern
and uncompromising Reformer received violent op-
position, and even bitter persecution.
LIBETHRIDES, a name given to the M^ises, de-
rived, as some suppose, from a well called Libethra
in Tlirace, or as others think, from a mountain in
TlH-ace, where there was a grotto sacred to the Nine.
LIBITINA, a goddess among the ancient Italians
who presided over funeral rites. In later times she
seems to have been identified with Persephone, pro-
bably in consequence of her connection with the in-
terment of the dead. The temple of Libitina at
Rome, contained ever}' kind of article that was re-
quired at funerals. Probably from this circumstance
these articles were called Libitina, but particularly
the bed on wliich the dead body was burned; and
the undertakers at funerals were called Libitinarii.
In the Roman poets the word Libitina is often used
for death. At the temple of this goddess a register
was kept of the names of all who died, and a small
registration fee was demanded.
LIBRA (Lat. a pound), a name applied formerly
to the suffragans of the Bishop of Rome, because
they amounted in number to seventy, being the num-
ber of solidi in a Roman Libra. These assessors of
•he Roman bishop constituted liis ]irovincial council.
LIBKI CAROLINI, a celelirated treatise which
ii])pfarcd A. n. 790, by way of protest against the
decrees of the. Second Nicciic council in favour of
iMAnn-WoRSllIP (which see). It was published in
the name of Charlemagne, but it is generally sup-
posed that he was assisted in the preparation of the
work by various theologians of his time, particularly
by the famous English monk. Alcuin.
LIFTERS, a small sect in the West of Scotland
in 1783, which held that the " lifting"of the elementa
before the consecration prayer is an essential part of
the ordinance.
LIGHT (Friends of). These Lichtfreunde, as
they are called in Germany, are a few independent
rationalistic congregations in the Saxon province of
Prussia. They owe their origm to the excitement
caused between 1841 and 1848, by Ulich of Magde-
burg, a preacher of eloquence and talent, but of the
lowest religious views. These Friends of Light as-
sumed a completely political aspect, and were bitter
in their opposition to the Prussian government, but
at length they were entirely swept away by the Re
volution of 1848.
LIGHT (Inward). See Friends (Society of).
LIGHT (Old) ANTIBURGHERS. See Old
Light Antiburghers.
LIGHT (Old) BURGHERS. See Old Light
Burghers.
LIGHTS (Feast of), a name applied by Jose
phus to the Jewish Feast of Dedication (which
see).
LIGHTS (Feast of), an appellation given by
the Greek cliurch to the festival of Epiphany
(which see), because on that day Jesus was baptized,
and the ordinance of baptism is with them often
called an Illnmination.
LIGHTS IN BAPTISIVI. In the ancient Chris-
tian church the practice seems to have existed of
the baptized, after the ceremony was ended, carrying
lighted tapers in their hands. Gregory Nazianzen
mentions this among other cei'emonies as following
the administration of baptism. "The station," says
he, " when immediately after baptism tliou shalt be
placed before the altar, is an emblem of tlie glory of
the life to come ; the psalmody with which thou
shalt be received is a foretaste of those hymns and
songs of a better life ; and the lamps which thou
shalt light are a figure of those lamps of faith
wherewith bright and virgin souls shall go forth to
meet the bridegroom." Others suppose it to be an
emblem of the illumination of the Spirit in baptism,
and designed to be an allusion to our Saviour'fi
words, " Let your light so shine before men, that
others seeing your good works may glorify your
Father which is in heaven." In the bapti.sjn of per-
sons of high rank, it sometimes liaiiiiened that not
only the baptized parties thcmsclvos, but the whole
of their retinue and attendants, were clotliod in white
garments, and carried lamps in their hands.
LIGHTS OF WALTON, a class of enthusiasts
who appeared in tlie seventeenth century at Walton-
on-Tliamcs, Snrrey, England. The story of the rise
of this jieople is curious. In tlie beginning of
Lent 1649, Mr. Fawcet, then minister of Walton,
LIGHTS ON THE ALTAR— LILITH.
317
havinji; preached in tlie afternoon, when he liad con-
oliidt'd, it was nearly dai'lt, and six soldiers came in-
to the church, one with a liglitcd candle in a lantern,
and Ibnr with candles unlightcd. The iirst soldier
addressed the people, declarini; that he had been fa-
voured with a vision, and had received a message
from God, which they nuist listen to and be-
lieve on pain of diunnation. This message con-
sisted of live liglits : 1. The Sabbath is abolished;
and here, said he, " I shoidd put out my first light,
but the wind is so high that I cannot light it."
2. Tithes are abolished. 3. Ministers are abolished.
4. Magistrates arc abcjlished, repeating the same con-
cluding words as he had uttered under tlie first head.
Then taking a Bible from his pocket, lie declared
that it also was abolished, as containing only beg-
garly elements, which were unnecessary now that
Christ was come in his glory with a full measure of
his Spirit. Tlien taking the lighted candle from his
lantern, he set fire to the pages of the Bible, after
which, extinguishing the candle, he added, " and
liere my fifth light is extinguished." This closed
the scene on the Lu/hU of Walton.
LIGHTS ON THE ALTAR. An ancient cus-
tom, we learn on the testimony of Jerome alone,
existed in the Eastern churches of carrying lights
before the Gospel when it was to be read. They
lighted candles, he tells us, partly to demonstrate
their joy for the good news which the Gospel
brought, and partly by an outward symbol to repre-
sent that light of which the Psalmist speaks when
he says, " Thy word is a light unto my feet, and a
lamp unto my path." Though Jerome declares that
in his time no such custom existed in the Western
Cluuxh, it came at length to be the universal prac-
tice of that church to have lighted caudles on the
altar, as well as before pictures or images of the
Virgin and other saints. In the reign of King Ed-
ward VI., we find the injunction issued in 1547, that
"all deans, archdeacons, parsons, vicars, and other
ecclesiastical persons, shall sutler from henceforth no
torches nor candles, tapers or images of wax, to be
set before any image or picture. But only two
lights upon the high altar before the sacrament,
which for the signification that Christ is the very
true light of the world, they shall sutler to remain
still." In the reign of Elizabeth, however, injunc-
tions were given to the ecclesiastical visitors of 1559
to remove from the parish churches in England all
crucifixes, relics, and lighted tapers, although her
Majesty long retained in her own chapel both the
crucifix and lighted tapers. Lights, however, still
j continued to be used on the altar in many of the
parish churches in England, notwithstanding the
prohibition, and at this day they are found in some
churches, while the Tractarian party defend the prac-
tice by alleging that as no Act of Parliament or
Act of Convocation ever repealed the injunction of
Edward VI. in 1547, to which we have referred, it
is still in force, and therefore, the practice of having
two lights upon the altar is enjoined by the lawg and
sanctioned by the usage of the Church of England.
LIKNON, a long basket in which the image of
DionyKm was carried in the festivals of ancient
Greece, which were called Dionysia. The Lilcnon
was the winnowing van into which the com wan
received after thrashing, and therefore being con-
nected with agriculture, it was naturally used in the
rites of both Bacdius and Ceres. It was also em-
ployed to carry the instruments of sacrifice, and the
first-fruits or other ollerings.
LIKNOPHOROS, the person whose duty it was
to carry the LiKNON (which see), in the Dionysiac
processions. See Canepiioros.
LILITH, the first wife of Adam, according to
Rabbinical tradition among the Jews. The strange
story is thus related in Jewish legends. " When the
blessed God created the first man, whom he formed
alone, without a companion, he said, It is not good
that the man should be alone : and therefore he
created a woman also out of the ground, and named
her Lilith. They innnediately began to contend
with each other for superiority. The man said : It
behoves thee to be obedient ; I am to rule over thee.
The woman replied : We are on a perfect equality ;
for we were both formed out of the same earth. So
neither would submit to the other. Lilith, seeing
this, uttered the Shem-ham2>horas7i" that is, pro-
nounced the name Jehovah, " and instantly flew away
through the air. Adam then addressed himself to
God, and said : Lord of the universe I the woman
whom thou gavest me, has flown away from me.
God immediately dispatched three angels, Sennoi,
Sansennoi, and Sammangeloph, to bring back the
fugitive : he said to them : If she consent to return,
well ; but if not, you are to leave her, after declaring
to her that a lumdred of her children shall die every
day. These angels then pursued her, and found her
in the midst of the sea, in the mighty waters in
which the Egyptians were to be afterwards destroy-
ed. They made known to her the divine message,
but she refused to retm-n. They threatened, unless
she would return, to drown her in the sea. She
then said : Let me go ; for I was created for no other
piu-pose than to debilitate and destroy young infants ;
my power over the males will extend to eight days,
and over the females to twenty days, after their
birth. On hearing this, the angels were proceeding
to seize her and carry her back to Adam by force :
but Lilith swore by the name of the living God, that
she would refrain from doing any injury to infants,
wherever and whenever she should find those angels,
or their names, or their pictm-es, on parchment or
paper, or on whatever else they might be written or
drawn : and she consented to the punishment de-
nounced against her by God, that a hundred of her
children should die every day. Hence it is that
every day witnesses the death of a hundred young
demons of her progenj'. And for this reason we
write the names of these angels on shps ot paper oi
318
LIMA— LINGA.
parchment, and bind tliein upon infants, tliat Lilith,
on seeing tliem, may remember lier oatli, and may
abstain from doing our infants any injury." An-
otlier rabbinical writer says : " I have also lieard that
when the child laughs in its sleep in the niglit of the
sabbatli or of the new moon, the Lilith laughs and
toys with it ; and that it is proper for the fcithcr, or
mother, or any one that sees the infant laugh, to
tap it on the nose, and say, Hence, begone, cursed
Lilith; for thy abode is not here. Tliis sliould be
said three times, and each repetition should be ac-
companied with a pat on the nose. Tliis is of great
benefit, because it is in the power of Lilith to de-
stroy children whenever she pleases."
To the modem Jews, Lilith is an object of great
dread, more especially when a child is about to be
born, because they imagine that she has been trans-
formed into a female demon, and takes delight in
injuring and even destroying young children.
Hence when a Jewish woman approaches the period
of her coniinemeut, the husband inscribes on each of
the walls or partitions around the bed, along with the
names of Adam aud Eve in Hebrew characters, the
words Chuts Lilith, that is, " begone Lilith." (See
Birth.) On the inside of the doors also he writes
the names of three angels, which it is believed will
defend the child from the injuries which it might
otherwise receive from Lilith.
LILY (Sacked). See Lotus-Worship.
LIMA, a goddess among the ancient Romans,
who protected the threshold of their houses.
LIMBUS INFANTUM, a place to wliich, ac-
cording to some Romish divines, tlie souls of those
childi-en go who die without liaving been baptized,
and where they endure the eternal punishment of
loss, tliough not of sense. As no unbaptized child,
according to their view, can enter heaven, this place
will never be evacuated.
LIMBUS PATRUM, a place in which Roman
Catholic divines allege the souls of the ancient patri-
archs remained until the advent of Christ, who before
his resurrection appeared to them, and opened for
them an access to heaven. It is the same with
paradise or Abraham's bosom. " It is in Scripture
called 'hell,' or 'the lower parts of the earth.'
(Psalm xvi. 10 ; Eph. iv. 9.) The Rhemish anno-
tators, on Luke xvi. 22, describe it as follows : —
' The bosom of Abraham is the resting-place of all
them that died in perfect state of grace before Christ's
time, heaven before being shut from men. It is
called in Zacliary " a lake without water," and some-
times "a prison," but most commonly of the Divines
Limbus Patrum, for that it is thought to have been
the higher part or brim of hell, the places of punish-
ment being far lower than the same, which, there-
fore, be called Infernum Inferias, " the lower liell."
Where this mansion of tlio Fathers stood, or whether
it be any part of hell, Augustine doubteth ; but that
there was such a place, neither he nor any Catholic
man ever doubted : as all the Fathers make it most
certain, that cm- Saviour, descending to hell, weu(
thither specially, and dehvered the said Fathers out
of that mansion.' Papists say that this place it
now tenantless, as purgatory hereafter will also be.''
See Purgatory.
LIMENIA, a surname of several ancient lieatben
deities, botli male and female, such as Zeus, Artemis.
Aphrodite, Priapus, and Pan.
LIMENTINUS, the god among the ancient Ro-
mans, who presided over the tlu'esholds of their
houses, to which they always attached a pecuhar
importance approaching to sacredness.
LIMINA MARTYRUM (Lat. thresholds of the
martyrs), an expression sometimes used by Jerome
to denote Christian churches.
LIMNATIDES, inferior divinities wbo presided
over lakes in the ancient heathen mythology.
LIMNETES. a surname of several deities among
the ancient heathens, as for example, Dionysus at
Athens, and Artemis at Sicyon.
LIMUS, an article of dress worn around the
loins by the ancient Roman popa, or oiEciating priest
at the sacrifices.
LIMUS, a Grecian god corresponding to the Ro-
man Fames, the personification of Hunger. Accord-
ing to Hesiod, Limits was sprung from Em; and
Virgil places Fames among the monsters at the en-
trance of the infernal regions.
LINDIA, a sm-name of Athena, derived from a
town of the same name in Rhodes, where a temple
was erected to !ier honour.
LINEA, an article of clerical dress, mentioned in
the Life of Cyprian, the precise nature of which ia
not known. Baronius conjectures it to have been
the bishop's rochet, but of this there is no proof, and
the only thing that can be said is, that it was pro-
bably some garment made of linen.
LINGA, the emblem of the fertility and produc-
tiveness of nature, being one of the principal forms,
and indeed almost the only form, under which Shiva
has been woi'shipped in Hindustan for at least a
thousand j'ears past. It is perhaps the most ancient
object of worship adopted in India posterior to the
period of the Vedas, which inculcate almost exclu-
sively the worship of the elements, particularly fire.
It is doubtful how far the Vedas sanction the wor-
ship of the Linr/a, but it forms the chief subject of
several of the Puranas. According to Creuzer, tlie
Trimurtti v as the first element in tlie faith of the
Hindus, and the second was the Limja. The extent
to which the Linga-worship prevails throughout
India is thus noticed by Professor H. H. Wilson in
the 'Asiatic Researches:' "Its prevalence through-
out the whole tract of the Gancje-'^, as far as Baiares,
is sufiiciently conspicuous. In I'cngal, the teniplef
are commonly erected in a rai.gc of six, eight, Of
twelve, on each side of a Ghat, leading to the river.
At Kalna is a circular groujie of one hundred and
eight temples, erected by the liaja of Bardwan
Each of the temples in Bengal consists of a siuglo
LION-WORSIIIP.
31'J
chamber, of a square form, suriiicninteil hy Ji ]iyratni-
dal centre ; tlic area of eacli is very small, the
Linga, of black or white marble, occupies tlie cen-
tre ; tlie olVcrings are presentefl at the threshold.
Benares, liowevcr, is the peculiar scat of this form
of worship : the principal deity, Viaweswara, is
a Li»(/a, and most of the chief objects of the pil-
grimage are similar blocks of stone. Particular
divisions of the pilgrimage direct visiting forty-
seven Linijas, all of ]irc-eminent sanctity ; but there
are hundreds of inferior note still worshipped, and
thousands whose fame and fashion have passed away.
If we may believe Siva, indeed, he counted a hun-
dred Pardrrdhyas in Kasi, of which, at the time he
is supposed to tell this to Devi, he adds sixty croro,
or six hundred millions, were covered by the waters
of the Ganges. A Pardrrdhya is said, by the com-
mentator on the Kasi Khanda, in which this dialogue
occurs, to contain as many years of mortals as are
equal to fifty of Brahma\'i years."
There can be no doubt of the universality of this
species of worship at the period of the Moliammedan
Invasion of India in the eleventh century. At that
time there were twelve great Lingas set up in
various parts of India, several of which were
destroyed by the early Mohammedan conquerors.
One of them, demolished by Mahmud of Grhizni,
was a block of stone of four or five cubits long, and
proportionate thickness. It was called tlie idol of
Somnath, which was said by some historians to have
been carried from the Kmiba on the coming of Mo-
hammed, and transported to India. The Brahman-
ical records, however, refer it to the time of Krishna,
implying an antiquity of 4,000 years, — a statement
which must be considered as savouring of Oriental
exaggeration. It is very probable, however, ^that
the worship of Shiva, under the tj'pe of the Linga,
prevailed throughout India as early as the fifth or
sixth century of the Christian era.
One of the forms in which the Linga worship ap-
pears is that of the Lingayets, LingawanU, or Jan-
GAMAS (which see), the essential characteristic of
which is wearing the emblem on some part of the
dress or person. The type is of a small size, made
of copper or silver, and is commonly worn suspended
m a case round the neck, or in the turban. The
morning devotions of the worsliippers of the Linga,
as an emblem of Shiva, is thus described by Dr.
Duff in his ' India and India Mission : " After as-
cending from the waters of the river, they distri-
bute themselves along the muddy banks. Each
then takes up a portion of clay, and, beginning to
mould it into the form of the Lingam, the symbol of
his tutelary deity, devoutly says, ' Reverence to
Ilara (a name of Shiva), I take this lump of clay.'
Next addressing the clay, he says, ' Shiva, I make
thy image. Praise to Salpani (Shiva, the holder of
the trimda, or trident). O god, enter into this image ;
take lite within it. Constant reverence to Maliesa
(Shiva), whose form is radiant as a mountain of sil-
ver, lovely as the crescent of the moon, and resplen
dent with jewels ; having four hands, two bearing
weapons (the mace and the trident), a third con-
ferring blessing, and the fourth dispelling fear;
serene, lotus-seated, worshipped by surrounding
deities, and seated on a tiger's skin. Reverence to
the holder of the pinaca (a part of the Lingam).
Come, O come ! vouchsafe thy jiresence, vouchsafe
thy presence : approach, rest, and tarry here. The
Lingam, or symbol of Shiva, being now formed, he
presents to it water from the Ganges, and various
offerings, saying, ' Lave thy body in the Ganges, 0
lord of animals. I offer thee water to wash thy feet.
Prai.se to Sliiva. Take water to wash thy hands ;
smell this sandal-wood ; take these (lowers and
leaves ; accept this incense, and this flame ; con-
sume this ottering of mine (consisting of plantains,
cucumbers, oranges, plums, and other fruits) ; take
one more draught of this stream ; raise thy mouth,
and now take betel-nut' (with various other roots
and vegetables). He then worships, rehearsing the
names and attributes of the god ; and offers flowers
all round the image, commencing from the east, —
ad<ling, ' Keceive, 0 Shiva, these offerings of flowers.
I also present these fragrant flowers to thy consort,
Durga. Thus do I worship thee.' As an act oi
merit, he repeats, as often as he can, the names ol
Shiva ; counting the number of times on his fingers.
Again and again he worships and bows, beating his
cheeks, and uttering the mystical words, horn, bom.
He last of all throws the flowers into the water
prays to Shiva to grant him temporal favours and
blessings ; twines his fingers one into the other ;
places the image once more before him ; and then
flings it away." It may at first view appear incon-
sistent that Shiva, the god of destruction, should be
worshipped under an emblem denoting life-giving
productiveness, but this is explained by referring to
the doctrine of Metempsychosi-i, which is a promi-
nent feature of Hinduism, and according to whicli,
to destroy is only to regenerate in a new form. The
Linga was venerated also among the ancient Greeks
and Romans under a different name. See Phallus.
LINGAYETS. See Jangamas.
LION- WORSHIP. In all ages the lion has been
looked upon as the noblest of animals, the king of
the forest, the most powerful of the beasts of prey.
We find very frequent references to this animal in
the Old Testament Scriptures. It was the symbol
of the tribe of Judah, and in the writings of the
Jewish prophets it is frequently introduced to give
force and significance to their figurative language.
There is the most satisfactory evidence that the lion
anciently inhabited the deserts of Egypt, though it
is no longer found there. To what extent it was an
object of worship in Egypt may be seen from the
following remarks of Sir J. G. Wilkinson : " The
worship of the lion was particularly regarded in the
city of Leontopolis; and other cities adored thii
animal as the emblem of more than one deity. I*
320
LION-WORSHIP.
was the symbol of strengtli, and tlieref'ore typical of
the Egyptian Hercules. With this idea, the Egyp-
tian sculptors frequently represented a powerful and
victorious monarch, accompanied by it in battle,
though, as Diodorus says of Osymandyas, some sup-
pose the king to have been really attended by a
tame lion on these occasions. Macrobius, Proclus,
Horapollo, and others, state that the lion was typi-
cal of the sun ; an assertion apparently borne out by
the sculptures, which sometimes figure it bonie up-
on the backs of two lions. It is also combined with
other emblems appertaining to the god Re. In the
connexion between the lion and Hercules may be
traced the relationship of the sun and tlie god of
strength.
" Macrobius pretends that the Egyptians employed
the lion to represent tliat part of the heavens where
tlie sun, during its annual revolution, was in its great-
est force, ' The sign Leo being called the abode of the
sun;' and the different parts of this animal are re-
puted by him to have indicated various seasons, and
the increasing or decreasing ratio of the solar power.
The head he supposes to have denoted the ' present
time,' which Horapollo interprets as the tj-jje of
vigilance : and the fire of its eyes was considered
analogous to the fiery look which the sun constantly
directs towards the world. In the temple of Dak-
keh, the lion is represented upon the shrine or sacred
table of the ibis, tlie bird of Hermes ; and a monkey,
the emblem of the same deity, is seen praying to a
lion with the disk of the sun upon its head. Some
also believed the lion to be sacred to the Egyptian
Minerva ; and .lElian says the Egyptians conse-
crated it to Vulcan, ' attributing the fore part of this
animal to fire, and the hinder parts to water.' Some-
times the lion, the emblem of strength, was adopted
as a type of the king, and substituted for the more
usual representation of royal power, the sphinx ;
which, when formed by the human head and lion's
body, signified the union of intellectual and physical
strength. In Southern Ethiopia, in the vicinity of
the modern town of Shendy, the lion-headed deity
seems to have been the chief object of worship. He
holds a conspicuous place in the great temple of
Wady Owdteb, and on the sculptured remains at
Wady Benat ; at the former of which he is the first
in a procession of deities, consisting of Re, Neph,
and Pthah, to whom a monarch is making offerings.
On the side of the propylajum tower is a snake with
V lion's head and human arms, rising from a lotus ;
atul in the small temple at the same place, a god
with tliree lions' lioads and two pair of arms, holds
the principal place in the sculptures. This last ap-
pears to be peculiarly marked as a type of physical
strength ; which is still fartlier expressed by the
choice of the number three, indicative of a material
or physical sense. The lion also occurs in Ethiopia,
devouring the prisoners, or attacking the enemy, in
Company with a king, as in the l''gy]itian sculptures.
According to Plutarch, ' the lion was worshipped by
the Egyptians, who ornamented the doors of theii
temples with the gaping mouth of that animal, be-
cause the Nile began to rise when the sun was in
the constellation of Leo.' Horapollo says, lions
were placed before the gates of the temples, as the
symbols of watchfulness and protection. And ' be-
ing a type of the inundation, in consequence of the
Nile rising more abundantly when the sun is in Leo,
those who anciently presided over the sacred works,
made tlie water-spouts and passages of fountains in
the form of lions.' The latter remark is in perfect ac-
cordance with fact, — many water-spouts terminating
in li(ms' heads still remaining on the temples. .(Elian
also says, that ' the people of the great city of He-
liopolis keep lions in the vestibules or areas of the
temple of their god (the sun), considering them to
partake of a certain divine influence, according to
the statements of the Egyptians themselves, and
temples are even dedicated to this animal.'
" The figure of a lion, or the head and feet of that
animal, were frequently used in chairs, tables, and
various kinds of furniture, and as ornamental devices.
The same idea has been common in all countries,
and in the earliest specimens of Greek sculpture.
The lions over the gate of Mycense are similar to
many of those which occur on the monuments of
Egypt. No mummies of lions have been found in
Egypt. Tliey were not indigenous in the country,
and were only kept as curiosities, or as objects o(
worship. In places where they were sacred, they
were treated with great care, being ' fed with joints
of meat, and provided with comfortable and spacious
dwellings, particularly in Leontopolis, the city of
lions ; and songs were sung to them during the hourfc
of their repast.' The animal was even permitted to
exercise its natural propensity of seizing its prey, in
order that the exercise might preserve its health, for
wliich purpose a calf was put into the enclosure.
And having killed the victim thus offered to it, the
lion retired to its den, probably without exciting in
the spectators any thought of the cruelty of grant-
ing this indulgence to their favourite animal."
Mithras, which is a solar god, was represented
with a lion's head. In his mysteries the second de-
gree was that of the lion. At a later period the
armorial bearings of Persia have been a lion with
the sun rising on its back, and the Shah distributes
to his most honoured servants the order of the lion.
Adad, the god of the Syrians, was seated upon the
back of a lion, which represents his solar nature. In
South America the first discoverers found atTaba."ico
an image of a lion, to which the natives oftered hu-
man sacrifices, whose blood flowed into a reservoir,
on the margin of which stood the statue of a man in
stone, who was represented looking attentively at
the blood.
Dr. Livingstone, in his 'Travels in Africa,' men-
tions a tribe who believe that the souls of their chiefa
enter into lions, and. therefore, they never attempt
to kill them ; they even believe that a chief niaj
LITiE— LITERS FORMATjE.
321
metamorphose liimself into a lion, kill any one lie
chooses, and then return to the human I'orni ; there-
fore, when they see one, they commence clapping
their hands, which is their usual mode of salutation.
LIT^E, a personilicalion of the prayers of peni-
tence among the ancient Greeks. Homer mentions
them as being daughters of Zcua.
LITANIKS. This word was anciently used to
denote all kinds of prayers, whether oll'ered publicly
in the church, or privately by individuals. Euse-
bius and Ghrysostom, as well as other early writers,
use it in this general sense. In a law made by Ar-
cadius, in the fourth century, against Arians, that
liereticjil sect was forbidden to make Lilanks within
the city, either by night or by day, evidently refer-
ring to the whole exercises of their religious assem-
blies, including hymns and psalmody, as well as
prayers. Special prayers, under the name of Lita-
tiie-i, appear to have been used in the Eastern Church
in the foiwth and lifth centuries ; while in the West-
ern Church such prayers received the name of Ko-
gtitions, which was afterwards exchanged for that
of Litanies.
In this limited sense, Litanies are said to have been
first introduced by Mamercus, bishop of Vienna, in
France, about the year 450. It is probable, how-
ever, that they were in use before his time, and that
the merit of the French bishop consisted in the ap-
plication of them to Rogation days. The first coun-
cil of Orleans, A. D. 511, established three days of
solemn fasting, and ordered them to be kept with
Itogations or Litanies. In the Spanish churches
decrees in regard to the use of Litanies were passed
by several councils of Toledo ; and in A. D. 694, the
seventeenth council held in that city ordain-
ed that Litanies should be used in every month
throughout the year. By degrees they became more
frequent, and at length these soleinn supplications
were employed on Wednesdays and Fridays, the an-
cient stationary days in all churches.
Litanies were divided into two classes in former
times, the Greaterand the Lesser Litany. The Greater
Litany was originated by Gregory the Great, who
appointed it for the twenty-fifth day of April, imder
the name of the seven-formed Litany, because on
that day he ordered the church to go in procession
in seven distinct classes ; first, the clergy, then the
laymen, next the monks, after them the virgins, then
the married women, next the widows, and last of
all the poor and the children. French writers
allege that the Litany of JIamercus, and not that
of Gregory, was termed the Great Litany. As to
the Lesser Litany, Bingham conjectures it to have
been simpiv the Kijvie Elason, or Lord have mercy
upon us, which short form of supplication was used
in all churches, and as a part of all their daily offi-
ces. The Greater Litany was sometimes tei-med
ExoMOi.OGEsrs (which see).
It occasionally happened, as early as the time of
Chrysostom, that the Christians went barefoot in
II
processions into the open fields, wh re they made
their Ijilanjes, c;irrying crosses upon their shoulders
as the badge of their profession. The laws of Jus-
tinian expressly appointed that these Litanies should
not be celebrated without the bishop or the clergy,
and that the people on these occisions should be
dressed in a simple and plain manner. In the J>itan-
ies of the ancient church no prayers or invocations
were made to saints or angels as in the modem
Litanies of the Romish church.
The Litany of the Church of England, though not
copied from any ancient form, is evidently of great
antiquity. At one time it formed a distinct service,
but afterwards it was combined with the morning
jirayer, though occupying a separate place in the
I'rayer-Book. Formerly it was appointed by the
rubric that, "after moniing prayer, the people being
called together by the ringing of a bell, and assem-
bled in the church, the Engli.sh Litany shall be said
after the accustomed manner," and it was also re-
quired that " every householder, dwelling within
half a mile of the church, should come, or send some
one at the least of his household, fit to join with the
minister in prayers." The practice wa.s formerly
observed, and, indeed, still exists in some English
churches, of holding morning prayer at eight o'clock,
and the Litany and communion at ten.
LITAOLANE'. The Bechuanas in South Africa
have a curious tradition, that a monster of an im-
mense size, at a very remote period of time, swal-
lowed up all mankind, with the exception of a single
woman, who conceived miraculously, and brought
forth a son, to whom she gave the name of Litao-
lan^. This progeny of the woman attacked the
monster, who swallowed him up alive, but being
armed with a knife, he cut open an outlet for himself
friini the belly of the monster, and thus he and all
the nations of the earth in him obtained deliverance.
But though rescued from death, men sought to de-
stroy their deliverer, who, however, defies all their
threats. In this tradition there seems to be a remote
allusion to the Deluge, and also to the Messiah.
LITERiE CLERICS (Lat. clerical letters), a
name given by Cyprian to letters written by a bishop
in ancient times to a foreign church, and which were
sent by the bands of one of the clergy, usually a
subdeacon.
LITERS FORMATS (Lat. formed letters), let-
ters of credence given by a bishop or pastor in the
early Christian church, to such members of the
church as proposed to travel to foreign countries.
They were called Fnrmatte, or formed, because they
were written in a peculiar form, with some particular
marks or characters, so that they could be easily
distinguished from counterfeits. It was the sole
prerogative of the bishop to grant these letters, which
were generally of three kuids : — 1. Commendatory
Letters, those ,v! idi were gi-anted to persons of
quality, or to persons whose reputation had been
called in qnestion, or to the clergy who had occasion
2e*
522
LITHOMANCY— LlTURGIEo.
to travel into foreign countries. 2. Canonical Let-
ters, those which were granted to all who were in
the peace and communion of tlie church. 3. Divm-
sory Letters, tliose which were only granted to the
clergy when the)' removed from one district to an-
other.
LITHOM ANCY (Gr. lilhos, a stone, and manteia,
divination), a species of divination performed by
means of stones. The stone used for this purpose
was washed in spring water by candle light, and the
person engaged in divining, having purified himself,
covered his face, repeated a form of prayer, and
placed certain characters in a certain order. Tlien
tlie stone was said to move of itself, and in a soft
gentle murmur to give the answer. By this sort of
divination Helena is said to liave foretold the de-
struction of Troy.
LITURGIES. The Greek word leiturgm occurs
frequently in the New Testament under the sense
of public ministry, including all the ceremonies
belonging to Divine service. It was probably used
in the same signification by Cln-ysostom and Tlieo-
doret. Both in the Eastern and Western churches
it became the practice to apply the word in a re-
stricted meaning to the sacrament of the Lord's Sup-
per. In many modern Protestant churches, it has
come to denote the common prayer, and among
Romanists the mass.
Mr. Riddle, in his ' Manual of Christian Anti-
quities,' divides the Liturgies which have been used
in different churches into four families or classes.
(1.) The great Oriental Liturgy, which seems to have
prevailed in all churches, from the Euphrates to the
Hellespont, and thence to the southern extremity of
Greece. (2.) The Alexandrian or ancient Liturgy of
Egypt, Abyssinia, and the country extending along
the Mediterranean Sea to the West. (3.) The Ro-
man, which prevailed throughout the whole of Italy,
Sicily, and the civil diocese of Africa. (4.) The
Gallican, which was used throughout Gaul and
Spain, and probably in the exarcliate of Ephesus un-
til the fourth century.
The earliest known Liturgy is the Clementuie,
found in the Apostolical Constitutions, which are not
supposed to date farther back than the fourth cen-
tury, Epiphanius being the first author who mentions
such a production by name. There is no evidence
whatever that before that time a Liturgy, or set form
of prayers, existed in the Christian church ; but sev-
eral ecclesiastical writers allege, that for three, if not
for four centm-ies, the Lord's Supper was adminis-
tered by a traditional form derived from the apos-
tles, which, however, in consequence of the strict
maintenance of the Akcani Discitlina (which see),
was not allowed to be committed to writing lest the
Christian myHteries should be revealed to the Hea-
then. In this way the fact has been attempted to
be explained, that although the Clementine Liturgy
is the model on which all poi.terior Liturgies were
framed, it was never used by any chui'ch, even after
the churches came to employ written Liturgies ic
public worship. This then, which is believed to be
the most ancient Liturgy, is supposed to be the old
traditional form used in all churches before that form
was committed to writing in any one church. But
when the several churches began to put their Litur-
gies into writing, they adopted such a step without
being sanctioned by the decree of any general coun-
cil, or without agreeing upon one specific form for
all churches, as they did upon one common creed in
the first four general councils. Each church, in
fact, composed a Liturgy for itself.
Next in antiquity to the Clementine Liturgy it
that of St. Basil, which can be traced, with some de-
gree of certainty, to the fourth century. He is sup-
posed to have been the first who compiled a commu-
nion-office in writing for the use of his own church
His Liturgy was not only used in Csesarea, of which
place he was archbishop, but it was received by sev-
eral other churches, and used by them along with
their own, not constantly, but on some particular
occasions. Thus, in the Greek church, the Liturgy
of St. Basil is used upon all the Sundays of Lent,
except Pahn-Sunday, upon the Thursday and Satur-
day of Passion-week, upon Christmas-eve, and the
eve of the Epiphany, and upon St. Basil's-day. The
use of this Liturgy by the patriarchs of Constantino-
ple, and the churches under their care, is to be ex-
plained by the fiict, that from a period before the
council of Chalcedon, A. D. 451, the patriarch of
Constantinople became possessed of the jurisdiction
which had anciently belonged to the exarch of Cse-
sarea. " This was the form," says Mr. Riddle," which
soon prevailed tlu-oughout the whole exarchate of
C.nesarea and the patriarchate of Constantinople,
where it has remained in use ever since. This was
the form which was received by all the patriarchate
of Antioch, translated into Coptic, revised by the
patriarchs of Alexandria, and admitted into their
church, used alike by the ortliodox and heretics. At
this day, after the lapse of near fifteen hundred years,
the Litiu'gy of Basil prevails, without any substantial
variety, from the northern shores of Russia to the
extremities of Abyssinia, and from the Adriatic and
Baltic Seas to the farthest coast of Asia. In one
respect this Liturgy must be considered as the most
valuable that we possess. We can trace back the
words and expressions of the greater poition to about
the year 370 or 380. This is not the case with
any other Liturgy. The expressions of all other
Liturgies we cannot certainly trace in general be
yond the fifth century."
The Liturgy of Basil, however, as used in the
Greek church, contains some interpolated passages,
as is admitted on all hands ; and when it was intro-
duced into the patriarchate of Alexandria, it seems
to have undergone several alterations, intended, as is
probable, to accommodate it to the ancient Alexan-
drian or Egyptian Liturgy, which was attributed to
the Evangelist Mark. The Liturgy which is in
LITURGIES.
323
daily use in the Greek church is that of Chrydon-
tom, in which the order followirif; iiiiiiieiliately after
the dismissal of catechumens is identical witli that of
Basil. Another liturgy bearing the name of tlie
Apostle James is still used also in the Greek cluu ch,
but only on the festival of St. James's day. This
Liturgy, which was anciently used in tlie patriarchate
of Antioch, bears a close resemblance to the Clemen-
tine Liturgy. It is believed to have been the ati-
cient Liturgy of the church of Jerusalem, of wliich
James, the brotlier of our Lord, was the first bisliop
or pastor. One passage which occurs in it, and in
no other Liturgy, seems to give strong coufirmatiiin
to this supposition. Thus in the beginning of tlie
prayer for the clmrch universal, it is said, " Wc
oft'er also to thee, O Lord, for thy holy |ilaccs whiith
thou hast glorified with tlio Divine presence of thy
Christ, and the appearance of thy most Holy Spirit ;
but chiefly for glorious Sion, the Mother of all
churches."
The great Oriental Liturgy includes the Liturgies
of James, of Basil, and of Chrysostom. I5ut another
Liturgy of great antiquity, and differing from the
Oriental oidy in the order of its parts, was used
throughout the patriarchate of Alexandria. Though
attributed to Mark, and bearing his name, it was
probably of no earlier date than the end of the fourth
or the beginning of the fifth century. It was en-
larged by Cyril of Alexandria, and known among the
Monophysites by his name, while the orthodox still
continued to use the name of St. M,ark. This Li-
turgy was received by the churches of Egypt, Libya,
and Pentapolis, and accordingly, there occurs in the
general intercession those remarkable words, " Raise
the waters of the river to their just heiglit," which
evidently refer to the waters of the Nile. In this
Liturgy, as in the others already noticed, there are
various obvious interpolations.
In the Abyssinian church, a peculiar liturgy in the
old Ethiopic language is used, which resembles con-
siderably the Alexandrian liturgy, but fixes its locality
by mentioning the Abwm or Patriarch by name, and
also the King. Tliere occur in it, besides, the names
of a number of their own saints, and a petition that
the prayers of the angels may be heard in our behalf.
The Nestorians also had a Liturgy of their own, in
which a passage is introduced favouring their pecu-
liar views in regard to the person of Christ. TIius
in the eucharistic prayer, these words occur, " He
took the form of a servant, perfect man, of a rea-
sonable, intelligent, and immortal soul, and human
flesh subsisting, and joined it to himself, uniting
it with himself in glory, power, and honour." The
last clause in the mouth of a Nestorian was in-
tended to deny the personal union of the Divine
and human natures in Christ. The Monojihysite
churches of the East have also an ancient Liturgy,
which has fewer interpolations than any of the
other Liturgies extant ; it has one peculiarity, how-
ever, that after the words of institution in mak-
ing the oblation, the prayer is directed to the Son.
and not to the Father. The Cojitg have an entire
Liturgy or Communion office, in which every peti-
tion is directed to the Son.
Of the Western Liturgies the Gothic or Gotliico-
Gallican was used in that part of Gaul which wa»
anciently called Gallia Narboriensis, including the
jirovinces of Xarbonne, Languedoc, Provence, and
Savoy. The Gallican Liturgy was used in the other
provinces of Gaul until the time of Charlemagne,
when (t was exchanged for the Roman by a decree
of that ]n-ince. Mr. Palmer, the author of the
' Origincs Liturgicie,' thinks that this ancient liturgy
originated with the church of Lyons, which was in-
timately connected with the churches of Asia and
Phrygia. Nearly allied to the ancient Gallican wai
the Mozarabic Liturgy, which was used probably
from the fifth century in the Spanish churches. This
Liturgy is attributed by Isidore to the Apostle Peter.
It was abolished in Spain by Gregory VII. about
1080. The ancient Gallican form seems to have
been adopted in the early British church. From the
time of Patrick, A. D. 4,S2, the Iri-sh are thought to
have used the Roman Liturgy, and, about a century
after, the ancient British Liturgy was introduced.
The Roman Liturgy has been generally attributed
to Gregory the Great in the latter jiart of the sixth
century ; some writers, however, allege that he
merely revised an old liturgy, which was then iu
use in the Latin church. The Ambrosian Liturgy
indeed is supi.osed to have been prepared by Am
brose, archbishop of Milan, so early as the fourth
century, and when Gregoiy's Missal was appointed
to be used in all the "SA' esteni churches, the church
of Milan in.sisted on maintaining an independent
po.sition, and persisted in using its own liturg)-, tak-
ing shelter under the high authority of St. Ambrose.
Some Romish writers allege their Canon or Liturgy
to be more ancient than the time of Gregory, and
attribute its composition to Pope Gelasius, who flou-
rished about the end of the fifth century. Others
ascribe it to Musseus, a presbyter of Marseilles, about
the year 4.'J8, and others still to Voconius, bishop ot
Castille, in Mauritania, about 460. And yet it is
very unlikely that the Church of Rome should have
adopted a Liturgy prepared by a French presbyter,
or an African bishop, while the churches of theur
own respective countries refused for centm-ies to ac-
knowledge it. But if the Missal was not wholly com-
posed by Gregoiy, at all events he introduced .sev-
eral alterations in it ; more especially he added the
Lord's Prayer, which had not been used before in the
Canon of that church. The probability is, that the
Missal even though it were established as a certainty
to be the sole production of Gregory the Great, has
since that time undergone considerable alterations.
And down to the date of the council ot Trent in the
sixteenth century, the Roman Canon was used in
various forms, and accompanied with different ritei
and prayers in dillerent churches.
.124
LITURGIES (Jewish)— LOCULUS.
The Anglo-Saxon Liturgy, which differed from
tliat of the British Cliurcli, was fonned from the
Sacramentary of Gregory, which was brouglit over
by the monk Augustine and his companions at the
end of the sixth century. " As, however," observes
Mr. Riddle, " each bishop had the power of making
some improvements in the Liturgy of his cluirch, in
process of time different customs arose, and several
became so established as to receive the names of
their respective churches. Thus gradually the
'Uses' or customs of York, Sarum, Hereford, Ban-
gor, Lincoln, Aberdeen, &c., came to be distinguish-
ed from each other." The Roman Liturgy continued
to be used with occasional modifications in England
until the Reformation ; in France, Italy, and Ger-
many, from the days of Charlemagne until tlie pre-
sent time ; and in Spain from Gregory VII. until
now.
LITURGIES (Jewish). The modern Jews
have three Liturgies, the German, the Portuguese,
and the Italian, but all in Hebrew. The litm-gical
eervice used in the sjiiagogue worship is said to be of
great antiquity. The most solemn and indispensable
part of it consists of the Shemoneli Esrah or the
Eighteen Prayers. The Kiriath SJteina, or reading
of tlie Slienia, is also regarded as an important part
of Divine service. It must be repeated twice a-day,
and is generally attempted to be recited by a Jew as
a confession of faith in his last moments. Those
present with the dying man will repeat the tirst
verse, and "Jehovah is God," till he expires, that
he may be said to die in the faith.
LITURGY (English). See Common Prayer
(Book op).
LITURGY (Liverpool), a Liturgy which was
published at Liverpool in 1652. It was the compo-
sition of some Presbyterians who thought proper to
lay aside extem|)oraneous prayer for a set form.
Mr. Orton styles it scarcely a Christian Liturgy, and
says that the name of Christ is hardly mentioned in
the Collect, and the Spirit quite banished from it.
LIVER, a word which occurs in Exod. xxix. 13,
in the directions there given for the sacrifice at the
consecration of the Jewish priests. Calmet supposes
that the ancients were in the habit of eating the liver
covered with or wrapped in the caul, and he thinks
it probable that in ofi'ering sacrifice, the liver was in
the same manner enfolded in the caul before it was
laid upon the altar. Professor Bush translates the
expression, instead of " the caul above the liver," as
it is in our version, " the lobe over or by the liver,"
meaning thereby the larger lobe of the liver includ-
ing the gall-bladder. In Ezek. xxi. 21, among sev-
eral modes of divination practised by the king of
Babylon, it is said, " he looked in the liver." This
was the portion of the intestines of a sacrificial vic-
tim wliich diviners chiefly inspected. (See Caput
ExTOiiUM.) Divination by tlie liver was termed
Hrpalo^c/tpiii, and so important did the augurs ac-
count this pKrt of the victim, that theit attention
was directed to it in the first instance, and if it aiv
peared very unhealthy, no observations were made
on the other parts, as it was judged unnecessary, the
omen being accounted decidedly unfavourable.
If the liver exhibited its natural healthy colour and
condition, or if it was double, or there were two livers,
and if tlie lobes inclined inwards, the signs were highly
fjivourable, and success in any proposed object was
deemed to be insured ; but nothing but dangers and
misfortimes were foreboded when there was too much
dryness, or a band between the parts, or if it was
without a lobe, and still more when the liver it.self
was wanting, which is said to have sometimes hap-
pened. The omens were likewise considered full of
evil when the liver had any blisters or ulcers ; if it
was hard, thin, or discoloured ; had any humour upon
it ; or if, in boiling, it l)ecame soft, or was displaced.
The signs which appeared on the concave part of the
liver concerned the family of the person offering the
sacrifice ; but those on the gibbous side affected his
enemies; if either of these parts were shrivelled,
corrupted, or in any way unsound, the omen was
unfortunate, but the reverse when it appeared sound
and large. jEschylus makes Prometheus boast of
having taught man the division of the entrails, if
smooth and of a clear colour, to be agreeable to the
gods ; also the various forms of the gall and the liver.
Among the Greeks and Romans it was considered
an unfortunate omen if the liver was injured by a
cut in killing the victim.
ijIVING, a term often used in England to de
note a Benefice (which see).
LOANGO (Religion of.) See Fetish- WOK
SHIP.
LOCALES, a name anciently given to ecclesias
tics, who were ordained to a ministerial charge in
some fixed place. Thus in the coimcil of Valentia
in Spain, a decree was passed that every priest he-
fore ordination should give a promise that he would
be localis. Ordination at large, indeed, was not re-
garded as valid, but null and void.
LOCHEIA, a surname of Artemis, as being the
guardian of women in childbirth.
LOCI COMMUNES (Lat. common places), a
body of divinity published by Melancthon in 1521,
being the first Protestant Sj'stem of Theology which
appeared in Germany. It was held in such high
repute in tlie sixteenth century, and even long after,
that it was regarded as a model of doctrine for profes-
sors and students, as well as for all who desired a
clear systematic view of Divine truth. This cele-
brated work passed through sixty editions in the life
time of the author, and was the means of greatly
advancing the cause of the Reformation.
LOCULUS, a name given to a coffin among the
ancient Romans, which was frequently made of
stone. Sometimes it was formed of stone from As-
sos in Troas, which consumed the whole body, with
the exception of the teeth, in fin'ly days. Hence it
was called Sarcophuyua or llesh-consumer, a name
LOEMIUS— LOKI.
325
vwhicli came to be applied to a colliii ol' any kind, or
even a tonil).
LOEMlUri, a surname of Apollo, as delivering
t'roiM a plague. Under this name he was worshipped
at Ijindiis in Rliodes.
LOGOS (Gr. Word), a term applied by the Kvan-
gelist John to the second Person of the Blessed
Trinity. The intention of the sacred writer in
using such an epithet in speaking of Christ was pro-
bably twofold ; first, to denote His essential presence
in the Father, in as full a sense as the attribute of
wisdom is cs.scntial to Him ; secondly, to denote His
mediatorship as the Interpreter or Word between God
and His creatures. It has been a favourite conjecture
with many writers, that the idea of the Logos was
borrowed by John from the Platonic philosophy, or
that it was the result of a combination of the Alex-
andrian-Jewish theology with the Christian doctrine.
This supposition, however, is at utter variance with
the fact, that the notion of the Logos commended
itself not only to those Christian teachers in the
early church who were in favour of Platonism, but
also to those wlio were disposed to look with suspi-
cion upon every doctrine derived from that quarter.
It was admitted by church-fathers of all views, and
even of the most opposite tendencies. Nay, even
some heretics received it only to pervert it for tlie
purpose of doing away with the notion of the Son's
personality. Such was the error of Paulus of Samo-
sata and Marcellus ; who from the fleeting and
momentary character of a word spoken, inferred that
the Divine Word was but the temporaiy manifesta-
tion of God's gh)ry, in the man Christ Jesus. And
it was to counteract this tendency that the Fathers
speak of Him as the permanent, real, and living
Word.
At a very early period, the doctrine of the Lo-
gos gave rise to much controversy. Thus the
Monarcliians either refused to receive the doctrine,
or those who did consent to admit it, understood by
the Logos simply a divine energy, the divine wisdom
or reason whicli illuminates the souls of the pious.
In opposing this heretical view, both the Western
and the Kastern churches looked upon the Logos
from a ditferont stand-point. In the latter, the doc-
trine of the subordination of the Persons in the Blessed
Trinity was established in connection with the hy-
postatical view of the Logos. The etibrts of the
former, on the other hand, were directed to the es-
tablishment of the unity of the Divine essence in
coiniection with the distinction of the hypostases.
Origen, in accordance with his strong tendency to
allegorical explanations of Scripture, alleged both the
designations of the Logos, and the name Logos itself,
to be symbolical. He strove to banish all notions of
time from the notion of the generation of the Logos.
It was in his view an eternal now, and the genera-
tion a timeless eternal act. Origen, in all probability,
was indebted for these notions to his education in the
Plutonic school. To maintain the principle of subor-
dination, ho allirrned, that wo are not to conceive ot a
natural necessity in the case of the generation of the
Son of God; but as in the cfi.se of the creation, we
must conceive of an act flowing from the Divine will.
And further, in opposition to the Monarchians, Ije
held the personal independence of the Logos; while
they considered the name of God the Father to be a
designation of the primal divine essence, and all be-
sides this to be something derived. Sabellius, how-
ever, taught that tlie Father, Logos, and Holy Ghost
are designations of three dilTerent phases, under
which the one divine essence reveals itself. The
Logos is first hypcstatized in Christ, but only for a
time. The divine power of the Logos appropriated
to itself a human body, and by this appropriation
begat the Person of Christ, and after having accom-
plished the great object of his manifestation, the
Logos will return back again into oneness with the
Father, and thus God will be all in all.
In the Western churcli, again, Tertullian looked up-
on the Logos from a totally different point of view, and
maintained the doctrine of one divine essence, shared
in a certain gradation by three persons most inti-
mately connected. " The Son, so far as it concerns
the divine essence," says Neander, " is not numeri-
cally distinct from the Father ; the same essence of
God being also in the Son ; but he differs in degree,
being a smaller portion of the common mass of the
divine essence. Tims the prevailing view in the
Western church came to be this : one divine essence
in the Father and the Son ; but, at the same time, a
subordination in the relation of the Son to the Fa-
ther. Here were conflicting elements. The process
of development must decide which of the two should
gain the preponderance. This, then, constituted the
difference between the two churches : — that while,
in the Eastern church, the prominence given to the
distinctions in the Triad did not leave room for the
consciousness of the unity ; in the Western church,
on the other hand, the unity of essence, once decid-
edly expressed, caused the subordination element to
retire more into the back-ground."
LOGOTHETES, an ofiicer in the Greek Church,
who is intendant of the Patriarch's household, and
another who is a kind of inspector-general of the
church.
LOKI, the evil principle of tlie ancient Scandina-
vians, whom they regarded also as a deity. The Edda
calls him " the calumniator of the gods, the grand
contriver of deceit and fraud, the reproach of gods
and men. He is beautiful in his figure, but his mind
is evil, and his inclinations inconstant. Nobody ren-
ders him divine honours. He surpasses all mortals
in the arts of perfldy and craft." He has had many
children, besides three monsters who owe their birth
to him, the wolf Fenrir, the Midgard serjient, and
Hela or Death. The Edda contains an account ol
the exploits of Loki, his stratagems against the gods,
their resentment, and tlie vengeance which they
sought to inflict upon him, seizing and shutting him
326
LOLLARDS.
up in a cavern formed of tliree keen-edged stones,
where he rages witli such violence, that he causes aU
the eartliquakes that happen. There, we are told,
he will remain till the end of the ages, when he shall
be slain by Heimdall, tlie door-keeper of the gods.
LOLLARDS, the name given to various Chris-
tian fellowships, which arose at first around Ant-
werp in the Netherlands, about the commencement
of the foui-teenth century. The object of these fel-
lowships was the revival of serious practical piety,
and at their origin, as we learn from Gieseler, they
associated together for the purpose of waiting upon
patients dangerously sick, and burying the dead.
They were held in high estimation, and increased
rapidly in numbers. Gregory XL, in 1377, issued
a bull for their protection, acknowledging that there
were among them such as lived humbly and lion-
estly, in pureness of faith, decent raiment, poverty
and chastity, and devoutly fi-equented the places of
worship. Boniface IX., in a buU dated 1394, de-
clares conceniing them, in terms of high commenda-
tion, that " they receive into their domiciles tlie
poor and wretched, and to the utmost of their power
practise other works of charity, inasmuch as when
required, tliey visit and wait upon the sick, minister
to their wants, and also attend to the burial of the
dead." Acting thus in a spirit of true beneficence
and charity, tlie Lollards, like the Berjhards and Be-
gumcs, difi'used a healthful influence all around them.
Gradually, however, they seem to have degenerated,
and in course of time they are said to have laid them-
selves open to the charges of an aversion to all use-
ful industry, along with a propensity to mendicancy
and idleness, an intemperate spu-it of opposition to
the church, and a sceptical and more or less pan-
theistical mysticism. From the cells in which they
lived, the Lollards were sometimes called Cellitf.s
(which see). So strongly did they commend them-
selves to jiublic notice by their deeds of charity that
Cliarles, duke of Burgundy, in 1472, obtained a bull
from Pope Sixtus IV. by which they were ranked
among the religious orders delivered from the juris-
diction of their bisliops ; privileges which were ex-
tended still farther by Julius II. in 150G.
LOLLARDS, a term of reproach applied to the
followers of Wyclille in tlie fourteenth century.
This eminent forerunner of the Reformation in Eng-
land was born in 1324, at a small village near Rich-
mond, in the county of York. He was educated at
the university of Oxford, where he distinguished
himself by his talents, and the zeal and diligence
with wliich he prosecuted his studies, both in philo-
sophy and theology. In the former department ho
subsequently signalised himself as an ardent defender
of the Realists in opposition to the Nominalists, who
had revived since the time of William Occam. His
mind was chielly directed to rehgious matters, more
especially in connection with the existing corrup-
tions. He had studied the prophecies of Joachim,
which was at that time a favourite work with those
who longed after the regeneration of the church.
With a mind naturally earnest and practical, he ap-
plied himself to the subject, and gave to the world
his views in a treatise, " On the last times of the
Church," the first work in wliicli he appeared before
the public. In the commencement of his career as
a Reformer, Wyclifl'e found a sympathizing friend in
Islep, archbishop of Canterbury, who showed him
much favour, and promoted him to an honourable
office in connection with the university of Oxford.
His kind patron, however, soon after died, and a man of
a very different stamp having succeeded him, Wyc-
liffe was displaced, and the monks who had been ex-
pelled from the college were restored. Thinking
himself wronged, Wyclifle appealed to the Roman
chancery, but in the meantime the course of events
called forth his reforming tendencies into such pro-
minence, that he was not likely to receive any coun-
tenance from the Roman see. The English paidia-
ment, in 1365, resolved to resist the claim of Pope
Urban V. who attempted the revival of an annual
payment of 1,000 marks as a tribute or feudal ac-
knowledgment, that the realm of England was held
at the pleasure of tlie Pope. His claim was founded
upon the surrender of the crown by King John to
Pope Innocent III. The payment ha-d been discon-
tinued for thirty-three years, and now that Urban
again urged tlie claim, a keen controversy arose.
The mendicant friars, and particularly the Francis-
cans, who had long distinguished themselves as va-
liant defenders of Rome, called upon King Edward
to pay the tribute, alleging that if he failed to accede
to the Pope's demands, the sovereignty of England
was forfeited.
In these circumstances Wyclifl'e boldly met the chal-
lenge of the friars, and published a treatise, in which
he not only asserted the right of the king supported by
his parliament to repudiate the Pope's claim for quit
rent or tribute, but maintained also that the clergy,
neither as individuals nor as a general body, were
exempted from civil jurisdiction. In conducting his
argument in this remarkable production, one great
principle lay at the foundation of the whole, that the
Sacred Scriptures formed the ultimate standard of
all law. The ability and stem independence with
which he bad defended the rights of the crown against
the aggressions of Rome made WyclitJe an object of
warm admiration among his countrymen, and Ed-
ward III., in recognition of the valuable service which
he had rendered to the nation, appointed him one of
tlie royal chaplains. In 1372 he was made Doctor of
Theology, and his influence was rapidly increasing
Many a withering exposure of the corruptions of the
church now issued from liis pen. The mendicant
monks in particular allied forth from him the most
hitter invectives. Nor were his writings neglected by
his countrymen. They were eagerly i)cruscd by mul
titudcs,and men of all ranks hailed him as the dauntless
and unflinching enemy of those flagrant ecclesiastical
alnises whicli >~<u'e fast undermining the influence of
LOLLARDS.
327
tho pricstliood, and were likely soon, if not refonned,
to render religion itself an object of mockery and
contempt. For some time tlie goveniment of Eng-
land had attempted by nej^otiation to obtain from
tlio Pope a redress of some of tliu most promi-
nent ecclesiastical grievances. All eflTort.s of this
kind, however, were utterly ineffectual, and it was
at length resolved, in 1374, to .send an embassy com-
posed of seven persons to I'ope (4regory XL to con-
fer with him on thi.s subject. Wycliffe was one of
the seven commissioners nominated by the crown for
this purpose. The conference took place at Bruges,
and lasted two whole years without attaining to any
great extent the obiect for which it had been held. It
had a powerful intluence, however, upon the thought-
ful mind of Wyclitfe, and did much to prepare him
for the responsible position which lie was destined
in the providence of God to occupy as the morning
star of the Refonnation. His eyes were now opened
to the true character of the papacy, and from this
time he spoke and wrote against its worldly spirit,
and its injurious etlects both upon individuals and
communities. Its corruption he chiefly traced to its
cupidity.
After his return to England Wycliffe was present-
ed to tho rectory of Lutterworth in the county of
Leice.ster, ofliciating also as teacher of theology at
Oxford. As a pastor he laboured indefatigably,
seeking by ardent and prayerful study of the Bible
to instruct the people in divine things. The Ro-
mish priesthood had long been accustomed to give
the sermon a subordinate place in public worship,
but Wycliffe restored it to its due importance as a
means of suppljdng the religious wants of the peo-
ple. With him originated the idea of travelling
preachers, men who went about barefoot in long
robes of a russet colour, preaching salvation through
the cross of Clirist. These men styled themselves
" poor priests," and were subsequently called Lol-
lards, a name similar to that of the Beghards
(which see). These men associated themselves to-
gether for the purpose, says Wycliffe, " of following
to the utmost the example of Christ and his apos-
tles; of labouring where there was the most need as
long as they still retained the vigour of youth, with-
out condemning other priests who faithfully did tlieir
duty."
By these exertions for the diffusion of the Gospel
among all classes of the people, Wychtle attracted
some friends, but many enemies. A numerous
body, especially of the begging monks, as he him-
self intimates, sought his death. No means were
left untried to check the spread of his opinions and
to destroy bis rajiidly advancing popularity and in-
fluence. In 1376 they extracted from his lectures,
writsngs, and sern ons, nineteen propositions which,
as being in their view heretical, they forwarded to
Rome for papal condemnation. These had refer-
ence chiefly to the unlimited power of the Pope ;
the secular possessions of the chm-ch; the rights of
laymen over priests ; the power of the key*, and
the conditional validity of excommunication. In
consequence of the representations thus made to him,
Gregory XL, in 1377, issued three bulls against
Wyclifle, which he sent to England by a nuncio, one
of them being addressed to King Edward III. The
propositions forwarded to his Holiness by the priests
were condemned with various quali/ications. The
Pope cJilled the special attention of the king to the
doctrines promulgated by the Reformer, as being
not only opjiosed to the Catholic faith, but subver-
sive of good order in tho country. He complained
that such opinions should have been allowed to gain
ground among the people, and commanded that
Wycliffe should be forthwith thrown into chains and
imprisoned ; that he sliould be examined as to hii
doctrines, and the answers reported to Rome, after
which directions for his further treatment should
bo waited for from that court. The papal bulls,
however, met with no favour in England, except
from the bishops.
The death of Edward HI. and the succession of hia
son, Richard II., tended to strengthen the cause which
Wycliffe had so ably espoused. The parliament was
now decidedly in favour of a determined resistance
to the pecuniary demands of the Pope. Two noble-
men of gi-eat power and influence in the coimtry,
John Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, and the marshal
Henry Percy, had ranged themselves on the side of
the Reformer, and came opeidy forward as his
avowed patrons and supporters. He had a numerous
band of adherents also among the people, and these
were every day on the increase. In such circum-
stances it was found to be impossible to execute the
papal bulls literally ; but the archbishop of Canter-
bury and the bishop of London summoned Wycliffe
to appear before them at a court which they set up
at Lambeth. The Reformer attended, accompanied
by his two noble patrons, and the court was obliged
to be satisfied with the explanations which he gave
of the nineteen propositions.
One of the greatest services which Wyclifle con-
ferred upon the cause of true religion in England,
was the publication of his translation of the Bible
in 1380. Being ignorant of both the Hebrew and
Greek languages, his translation was founded upon
the Vulgate, but even under this disadvantage, the
preparation of a vernacular version of the Sacred
Writings was at the time an inestimable blessing to
the people, enabling them to read in their own lan-
guage the words of eternal life. The priests were
indignant that the laity should thus have it in their
power to draw their religious opinions directly from
the Bible, and with the utmost virulence they as-
sailed the reputation of the undaunted Reformer.
But the opposition of the clergy only roused him to
go forward in exposing the errors both in doctrine
and practice which had crept into the church. Id
1381, he appeared as the opponent of transubstantia-
tion, contending against every mode of a bodily pro
S28
LOLLARDS.
sence of Christ, and maintaining tliat the bread and
wine are nothing more than symbols of Ciirist's body
and blood, with the additional explanation that in
the case of believers they were active symbols, plac-
ing those wlio partook of them with real, living faith,
in the position of an actual union with Christ. The
theses which the Reformer published on this point,
were couclied in these terms, "The right faith
of a Christian is this, that this commendable sacra-
ment is bread and body of Clu-ist, as Christ is true
God and true man ; and this faith is founded on
Christ's ovm words in tlie Gospels." The sympathy,
however, which lie had met with in attacking other
abuses and errors failed to attend him in this con-
test. The chancellor of the University of Oxford
summoned twelve doctors to consider the point, .and
with their concurrence he published a solemn judg-
ment declaring the theses put forth by Wycliife on
the doctrine of transubstantiation to be heretical ;
and the preaching of these views was forbidden on
penalty of imprisonment and excommunication.
Undeterred by the opposition which assailed him
and his doctrines, Wycliffe went forward steadily in
the accompHshment of his great mission as a church
reformer. Every day he became more violent in
attacking the mendicants, declaring that their whole
mode of life was at variance with the life of Clirist,
and that instead of giving themselves up to idle-
ness and inaction, they ought rather to employ
themselves in preaching the gospel of Christ wher-
ever duty called them. This interference with the
vows of the friars gave great offence to the Duke of
Lancaster, who had been one of the Reformer's early
patrons and friends ; but neither the favour nor the
frowns of the great could persuade this earnest-
minded champion of the truth to deviate by one
hair's breadth from the path of rectitude. A council
was convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury to
examine into the heresy of Wycliffe ; but its pro-
ceedings were interrupted by the occurrence of an
earthquake, which gained for it the name of the
earthquake-council. By this council a number of
Wyclitfe's propositions were condemned either as
heretical or erroneous ; and through the influence of
the archbishop. King Richard was induced to issue a
command to put all persons under an arrest who
taught WyclifBte doctrines.
The spread of the reformed opinions taught by
Wyclifl'e received considerable impulse from a papal
scliism wliich took place about this time, two rival
popos being busily engaged contending for the mas-
tery. Rome and Avignon were issuing their fierce
fulminalions agiunst each other. The question, who
was the true Pope, was agitating the whole of Chris-
tendom, and in a paper on the schi.«m, Wycliffe says,
" Trust we already in the help of Christ, for he hatli
begun already to lielp us graciously, in that he liath
clove the head of anticliri.st ; and made the two parts
li;;ht one a^'ainst tlie oilier "
The death of the great forerunner of the Refor-
mation was now at hand. While hearing maes on
the day of the Holy Innocents in 1384, in liig own
church at Lutterworth, he was suddenly seized with
an attack of apoplexy, which rendered him speech-
less, and after lingering a short time he was cut off,
and his useful life brought to a sudden close. Con-
sidering the age in which he lived, this eminent man
had remarkably clear views of Divine truth on some
points, mingled no doubt with not a few errors. The
great Protestant principle, of Christ the only author
of salvation, in opposition to the woi-ship of saints,
occupied a prominent place in his theological system.
But at the same time he admits, that those saints
ought to be worshipped who are known to be such
from the Word of God. He believed that in the
early church two orders of the clergy were sulBcient,
priests and deacons ; in the time of Paul, bishop and
presbyter were the same. Scripture in his view was
the rule of reformation, and every doctrine and pre-
cept ought to be rejected which does not rest on
that foundation. He held that conversion is solely
the work of God in the heart of a sinner; that
Chi-ist is the all in all of Christianity ; that faith is
the gift of God, and the one essential principle of
s|)iritual life is communion with Christ. In the es-
timation of this faithful servant of the Lord Jesus,
the sublimest calling on earth is that of preaching
the word of God. The true church he maintained to
be Christ's believing people, and their exalted Re-
deemer the best, the only true Pope, but the earthly
Pope is a sinful man, who might even be condemned
on the great day. With far-seeing sagacity lie pre-
dicted that a monk would yet arise from whom should
proceed the regeneration of the church.
The death of Wycliffe showed the immortal power
of his principles. His followers, if not strong in
numbers, were earnest and energetic in their efibrts,
and having set themselves to the work, they met
with such amazing success, that to use the words of
D'Aubign^, " England was almost won over to the
Reformer's doctrines." In 1396, a petition was pre-
sented to Parliament praying the House to "abohsh
celibacy, transubstantiation, prayers for the dead,
ofl'eruigs to images, auricular confession, the arts
unnecessary to life, the practice of blessing oil, salt,
wax, incense, stones, mitres, and pilgrims' stafls."
" All these," the petitioners declared, " pertained to
necromancy and not to theology." The clergy were
alarmed by this bold step on the part of the Wick-
liflites or Lollards, and urged upon the king to inter-
pose. Richard took up tlie matter with great prompt-
ness, forbade parliament to entertain the petition,
and having summoned into the royal presence the
most distinguished of its siqiporters, he threatened
them with death if they continued to defend the
reformed doctrines. At this critical moment, how-
ever, when the hand of the king was lifted up to
smite the followers of WyclilVp, a sudden rebellion
anise which liiirlcd him from his tlirnne, and con-
signed him to a prison where he ended his days.
LONGINTIS'S (St.) DAY— LORD'S DAY
323
Richard was succeeded on the throne by liis cou-
sin, the Hon of tlie famous Duke of I^jincaster, who
had been the friend and jiatron of Wycliffc. Tlie
Ijollards, thei-oforc, naliirally expected to find in
the new I<ing a warm sniniorter of their prineijiles.
In this, however, tliey wore bitterly disappointed.
'I'o gratify the priests, a royal edict was issued, or-
liering every incorrigible heretic to be l)uriit alive,
anil accordingly, a i)ious priest, named William Saw-
tree, was coininittod to the ilatnes at Smithfiold in
March 1401. Encouraged by the royal countenance,
the clergy drew up the well-known Constitutions of
Arundel, wliich forbade the reading of the Bible, and
asserted the Pope to be " not of pure man, but of
true (jod, here on earth." Persecution now rageil in
England, and a prison in the archiepiscopal j^alace
at Ijambetli, which received the name of the Lol-
lards' tower, was crowded with the followers of
Wyclillb, who were doomed to iini)risoninent for al-
leged heresy ; and Lord Cobham, who had caused
WyclilTe's writings to be copied and widely circu-
lated, having been formally condemned to death, was
burnt at the stake in December 1417. The prisons
of London were now filled with Lollards, and multi-
tudes who escaped the vengeance of the persecnting
clergy were compelled to hold their religious meet-
ings in secret, and to bear with silent um-epining sub-
mission the obloquy and ontempt to which they
were exposed. From this time until the Reforma-
tion their sufi'erings were severe. Their principles,
however, had taken deep root in England, and during
the fifteenth century tlie Pajial iiifiuence gradually
decreased, preparing tlie way for the Reformation,
which in the succeeding century establi-shed the
Protestant faitli as tlic settled religion of the country.
LOLLARDS OF KYLE, an opprobrious name
applied to the supporters of Iveformed principles in
the western districts of Scotland diu-ing the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries. Robert Blacater, the first
archbishop of Glasgow, prevailed on Jaines IV. to
summon before the gi'eat council, about thirty per-
sons, male and female, belonging to the districts of
Kyle, Carrick and Cunningham, who were accused of
holding doctrines opposed to the Catholic faith.
This memorable trial took place in 1494. They
were charged with condemning the worship of the
Virgin Mary, the worship of saints, relics, images,
and the mass. The king himself presided at the
trial, and the result was, that the Lollards were dis-
missed with an admonition to beware of new doc-
trines, and to adhere steadfastly to the faith of the
church.
LOMBARDISTS. See Skntentiarii.
LONG FRIDAY. See Goon Friday.
LONGINUS'S (St.) DAY, a festival of the Rom-
ish church observed at Rome on the 15th of March.
According to the legend, Longinus was an emanci-
pated slave, a soldier in the Roman army, and almost
blind. He is said to have been the soldier who
pierced the side of our Saviour with his spear as he
hung upon the cross; and while the blood flowed
fioin tiio wound, some of it fell upon his eyes and
inunediately he recovered his sight. This miracle ii
alleged to have led to his conversion to Christianity;
when forsaking his military profession, and being
instructed by the apostles, he lived a monastic life
in Cxsarea of Cappadocia, and was the means,
both by his conversion and examjile, of converting
many to the Christian faith. He is alleged to liave
been a faithful, devoted, and consistent believer, and
to have closed his cjvreer by sullering martyrdom in
the cause of his Divine Ma.ster.
LORD, a title very frecpiently applied in the
Sacred Scripture to the Supreme Being. Two He-
brew words are thus translated in the Ohl Testa-
ment. Adonai, the Lord, is exclusively ajiiilicd to
God. The Hebrew word Jehovah is also very often
translated in our version by the English word Lord,
in conformity with the ordinary custom of the .lews
in reference to the inefl'able name, which they never
pronounce. When the term Lord in our Bibles
answers to the Hebrew word Jehovah, it is always
printed in small capitals for the sake of distinction.
See AuoNAi, JniiovAii.
LORD'S DAY, a name given to the first day of
the week, which has been observed among Chris-
tians by Divine authority as a day set apart for reli-
gious services, more especially in commemoration ol
the resurrection of Christ from the dead. At a very
early period in the history of the Cln'istian cbm-ch,
this d.ay was appropriated to public worship instead
of the Jewish Sabbath. Tlie first intimation of the
change occurs in Acts xx. 7, where we find the
cluirch assembled on the first day of the week ; and in
Rev. i. 10, this sacred festival is expressly termed
" the Lord's Day." The early Christian writers make
frequent mention of this as a day of meeting among
Christians. Thus we are informed by Justin Mar-
tyr, that " on Sunday all the Christians living either
in the city or country met together" for reading the
Scriptures, prayer, and the breaking of bread. Tliat
they considered it as possessing a holy character, is
plain from the circumstance that they uniformly
spoke of it as the Lord's Day, and regarded it as a
weekly festival on which fasting and every appear-
ance of sorrow was to be laid aside as inconsistent
with the character and design of the day. It was
wholly dedicated to the exercises of religious worship,
which are tenned accordingly, by TertuUian, " the
solemnities of the Lord's Day." And not only was
public worship perfoi-med on this day, but it was kept
holy throughout, and the thoughts and feelings of be-
lievers were required to be in accordance with its
sacredness. Thus Clement of Alexandria says, " A
true Christian, according to the commands of the
gospel, observes the Lord's Day by casting out all
bad thoughts, and cherisliing all goodness, honouring
the resurrection of the Lord which took place on
that day." " This day," s.ays Eusebius, " Christians
throughout the world celebrate in strict obedieuce to
2p
330
LORD'S DAY.
the spiritual law. Like the Jews, they offer the
morning and evening sacrifice with incense of
sweeter odour. The day," he adds, " was univer-
Bally observed as strictly as the Jewish Sabbath,
whilst all feasting, drunkenness, and recreation was
rebuked as a profanation of the sacred day." Igna-
tius says, that all who loved the Lord kept the
Lord's day as tlie queen of days — a reviving, life-
giving daj', the best of all our days. Such epithets
abound in the ancient homilies of the fathers.
The mode in which the early Christians spent the
Lord's Day is thus described by Dr. Jamieson in his
' Manners and Trials of the Primitive Christians :
" Viewing the Lord's Day as a spiritual festivity, a
season on which their souls were specially to magni-
fy the Lord, and their spirits to rejoice in God tlieir
Saviour, they introduced the services of the day with
psalmody, wliich was followed by select portions of
tlie Propliets, the Gospels, and the Epistles ; the in-
tervals between which were occupied by the faith-
ful in private devotions. The plan of service, in
short, resembled what was followed in that of the
vigils, though there were some important differences,
which we shall now describe. The men prayed with
their heads bare, and the women were veiled, as be-
came the modesty of their sex, both standing — a pos-
ture deemed the most decent, and suited to their
exalted notions of the weekly solemnity, — with their
eyes lifted up to heaven, and their hands extended in
the form of a cross, the better to keep them in remem-
brance of Him, whose death had opened up the way
of access to the divine presence. The reading of the
sacred volume constituted an important and indispen-
sable part of the observance ; and the inore effectually
to impress it on the memories of the audience, the
lessons were always short, and of frequent recur-
rence. Besides the Scriptures, they were accus-
tomed to read aloud several other books for the edi-
fication and interest of the people — such as treatises
on the illustration of Christian morals, by some pas-
tor of eminent reputation and piety, or letters from
foreign churches, containing an account of the state
and progress of the Gosjiel. Tliis part of the ser-
vice,— most necessary and valuable at a time when
a large proportion of every congregation were imac-
(piainted with letters, was performed at first by the
presiding minister, but was afterwards devolved on
an officer .ajipointed for that object, who, when pro-
ceeding to tlie discharge of his duty, if it related to
any part of the history of Jesus, exclaimed aloud to
tlie people, ' Stand up — the Gospels are going to be
read;' and then always commenced with, 'Thus
saitli the Lord.' They assumed this attitude, not
only from a conviction that it was the most respect-
ful posture in which to listen to the counsels of the
King of kings, but with a view to keep alive the at-
tention of the people — an object which, in some
chm-clies, was sought to be gained by the minister
stopping in the middle of a Scriptural quotation, and
U*'. ing the people to finish it aloud. The discour-
ses, founded for the most part on the last portion cl
Scripture that was read, were short, plain, and ex-
temporary exhortations, — designed chiefly to stir up
the minds of the brethren by way of remembrance
and always prefaced by the salutation, ' Peace be
unto you.' As they were very short — sometimes
not extending to more than eight or ten minutes'
duration, — several of them were delivered at a diet,
and the preacher was usually the pastor of the place,
though he sometimes, at his discretion, invited a
stranger, or one of his brethren, known to possess
the talent of public speaking, to address the assem-
bly. The close of the sermon by himself, which was
always the last of the series, was the signal for the
public prayers to commence. Previous to this so-
lemn part of the service, however, a crier commanded
infidels of any description that might be present to
withdraw, and the doors being closed and guarded,
the pastor proceeded to pronounce a prayer, the bur-
den of wliich was made to bear a special reference to
the circumstances of the various classes who, in the
primitive church, were not admitted to a full parti-
cipation in the privileges of the faithful. First of
all, he prayed, in name of the whole company of be-
lievers, for the catechumens — young persons, or re-
cent converts from heathenism, who were passing
through a preparatory course of instruction in the
doctrines and duties of Christianity, — that their un-
derstandings miglit be enlightened — their heaits re-
ceive the trutli in the love of it — and tliat tliey might
be led to cultivate those holy habits of heart and
life, by whicli they might adorn the doctrine of
God llieir Saviour. Next, he prayed for the peni-
tents, who were uiulergoiiig the discipline of the
church, tliat they niiglit receive deep and permanent
impressions of the exceeding sinfuhiess of sin, — that
they might be filled with godly sorrow, and miglit
have grace, during the appointed term of their pro-
bation, to bring fortli fruits meet for repentance. In
like manner, he made appropriate supiihcations fur
other descriptions of persons, each of wliom left the
church when the class to which he belonged had
been commended to the God of all grace; and then
the brethren, reduced by these successive departures
to an approved company of tlie faiihful, proceeded to
the lioly service of comnuinion."
From the time that Chiistianily became the es-
tablished religion of the Ruiiian Empire, laws were
frequently passed by the state in reference to the
careful observance of the Lord's Day. " No sooner
was Constantine come over to the church," says
Cave, " but his principal care was about the Lord's
day ; he commanded it to be solemnly observed, and
that by all persons whatsoever. And for those in
his army who yet remained in tlieir paganism and
infidelity, he commanded them upon Lord's days to
go out into the fields, and there pour out their soids
in hearty prayer to God. He moreover ordained, that
there should be no courts of judicature open upon tine
day ; no suits or trials in law ; but, at the same time.
LORD'S PRAYER.
331
any works of mercy, such as emancipating slaves,
wen^ (ioi,l.iii!il lawful. Tliaf there sliould be no suit»
nor demanding debts upon this day, was conlirnie<l
by several laws of succeeding emperors. Tlieodosius
the Great, (a. d. 380,) by a second law ratified one
which he had passed long before, wherein he ex-
pressly prohibited all i)nblic shows upon the Lord's
day, that the worship of God might not be con-
founded with those profane soloiimities. This law
the younger Theodcjsius some few years after con-
firmed and enlarged ; enacting, that on the Lord's
day (and some other festivals then mentioned) not
only Christians, but even Jews and heathens, should
be restrained from the pleasure of all sights and
spectacles, and the theatres be shut up in every
place. And whenever it might so happen that the
birthday or inauguration of the emperor fell upon
that day, lie eomuianded that then the imperial
solemnity should be put otT and deferred till another
day. Subsequently those matters were arranged by
councils."
Tliose churclies which in early times were com-
posed chiefly of Jewish converts, while they ob-
served the first day of the week as the Lord's Day,
retained also their own Sabbath on the seventh day.
It was tlie practice of Christians not only to exclude
fasting I'rom the observances of the Lord's Day, but
also to maintain the standing position in prayer. To
fast in token of sorrow on this day of joy, and to
kneel while commemorating the day on which our
Lord arose, was accounted a breach of Christian pro-
priety, which uniforndy called forth the disapproba-
tion of tlie church and the anathemas of her coun-
cils. See Sabbath (Jewish).
LORD'S PRAYER, the prayer which Jesus
Christ taught his disciples as recorded in Mat. vi.
9 — 13, Luke xi. 2 — 4. We have no evidence from
the writings of the Apostles that this prayer was
used as a form in public worship in their times ;
neither does any reference to it in this view oceiu- in
the earliest Christian writers immediately succeed-
ing the age of the Apostles. When we pass, how-
ever, from the Apostolic Fathers to the writers of
the second and third centuries, we find the public
use of the Lord's Prayer in the church fully estab-
lished by the testimonies of TertuUian, Cyprian, and
Origen, who devoted each an entire treatise to the
exposition of this prayer. Terlullian, in express
terms, declares it to have been prescribed by Clirist
as a form for all ages of the church, and he alleges
that it contains the substance of all prayer, and is
an epitome of the whole gospel. Cyprian follows in
nearly the same strain, acknowledging TertuUian as
his guide and instructor ; and describing the Lord's
Prayer, he calls it " our public and common prayer."
Origen also affirms this to have been a prescribed
form, containing all that the true Christian ever has
occasion to pray for. Numberless authorities to the
same effect might be adduced from writers of the
fourth and fifth ;enturics. By Chrysostom, it is
styled " the prayer of the faithful," its use being
restricted to the faithful in full communion with
the church, and denied to catechumens, on the
ground that believers oidy were able iii the true
spirit of adoption to say, "Our Father, whicli art in
heaven." The full mystical meaning of this prayer
was not ex[)laincd to any until after their baptism,
each of its petitions being considered as having ref-
erence to the Christian mysteries or esoteric doc-
trines of the church, which, according to the Arcani
Discii'LiNA (which see), were carefully concealed
from the catechumens.
The doxology at the conclusion of the Lord's
Prayer, which is now found in the Gospel of St.
i\Iatthew, is generally supposed by critics not to have
fonned part of the original text of the Evangelist,
not being found in the earliest and best MSS. of
that Gospel, according to the testimony of Mill,
Wetstcin, Bengel, and Griesbach. It is found in the
Apo4olical Canstitulioruf, and may probably have
been thence transferred to the text of the Gospel.
The ancient liturgies of the Greek Church contain
a doxology to the Lord's Prayer, recognizing the
doctrine of the Triinty as implied in the prayer,
" Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, both now and for ever, world
without end." This doxology has been ascribed to
Basil and to Chrysostom.
In the Apostolical Constitutions, believers are
enjoined to repeat the Lord's Prayer three times
every day; a practice which was afterwards estab-
lished by the laws of the church Newly baptized
persons were also required to repeat this prayer
along with the Creed, immeaiately on coming out of
the water. In the case of infant baptism, the .spon-
sors at first repeated the Lord's Prayer and Creed
on behalf of the child ; but afterwards this was dis-
pensed with, and the officiating minister alone re-
peated the formularies. The first writer who men-
tions the Lord's Prayer as having been used in the
dispensation of the Lord's Supper is Cyril of Jerusa-
lem. Augustine also alludes to this practice. The
Ordo Romanus prefixes a preface to the Lord's
Prayer, the date of which is micertain. It contains
a brief exposition of the prayer. All the R' man
breviaries enjoin that Divine service sliould com-
mence with the repetition of the Lord's Prayer; but
this custom can be traced no farther back than tike
thirteenth century, when it is said to have been in-
troduced by the Cistercian monks. The practice of
using the Lord's Prayer before commencing sermon
in public worship receives no countenance from the
writings of the ancient Christian Fathers. In ref-
erence to the use of this prayer as a foi-m, Augus-
tine says, " We are free to ask the same things that
are desired in the Lord's Prayer, sometimes in one
manner of expression, and sometimes in another."
And TertuUian, speaking expressly of prayer, and of
the Lord's Praj'cr particularly, says, " There are
many things to be asked according to the varioxw
332
LORD'S SUPPER.
circumstances of men;" and again he says, "We
pray witliout a monitor (or set form) because we
pray from the heai't."
The obvious design of our blessed I^ord in pre-
senting liis followers with this short, beautiful, and
corapreliensive model of prayer, was to teach tliera
to pray in the Spirit. Tliere is no express reference
in it to the work and the name of Cin-ist. This omis
sion, however, is easily accounted for. Jesus was now
exhibiting for the tirst time, clearly and without a
figure, the trne nature and design of the kingdom of
God. But the facts in the providence of God on
whicli the kingdom rested, the events in the history
of the Redeemer which were yet to happen, and
which were to be evolved by the free agency of man,
He refrains from explaining. Tlie great doctrines,
however, as to the work of Christ, and tlie efficacy
of His atonement, are contained in this prayer by
implication, though not directly. The one grand
idea to which the wliole prayer tends is, the ardent
longing of the believer for the coming of the king-
dom of God. This tliought runs through the whole
prayer, from its preface to its conclusion, just as tlie
unfolding of the nature of the kingdom runs through
the whole of the sublime sermon on the moinit.
The Lord's Prayer then, viewed in this aspect, may
be divided into two parts, the one referring to the
relation of God to man, and the other of man to
God. The one portion of the prayer breathes a wisli
tliat God Himself would establish His kingdom in
the hearts of men, and the other breathes a wish that
all the obstacles to the establishment of this king-
dom in tlie hearts of men, may be removed ; while
the concUision expresses a firm hope and belief
founded on the nature of God, that the prayer will
be heard and answered.
LORD'S SUPPER, a solemn Christian ordinance
instituted by our blessed Lord on the night of his
betrayal, and designed to commemorate his Media-
torial sufl'erings and death. An account of its first
institution is thus given by the Evangelist Mattliew,
"And as they were eathig, Jesus took bread, and
blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples,
and said, Take, eat ; this is my body. And lie took
tlie cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to tliem, .say-
ing, Drink ye all of it ; for this is my blood of the
new testament, which is shed for many for the re-
mission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink
henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day
when I drink it new with you in my Father's king-
dom." Jesus had just celebrated liis last I'assover
on eartli, liis conchiding act of observance of tlio
Jewish ceremonial law. The type had served its
purpose, and now gave way to the antitype. Ac-
cordingly, the Passover having been in past ages a
standing representation of that death which he was
about to endure, Jesus proceeded to institute a cor-
responding ordinance, that of the Lord's Supper, to
be a standing mcmurial :r. all future ages of tlie same
solemn event. Having feasted on the typical Pass-
over, Jesus took the remains of the Paschal bread,
and of the Paschal wine, and consecrated them anew
as the elements of that gi-eat feast which his people
were Iienceforth to observe in commemoration oi
himself as their Passover sacrificed for them.
No name is given to this Christian feast by the
Evangelists who record its institution, but it is
styled by the Apostle Paul in 1 Cor. xi. 20, "the
Lord's Supper," as having been appointed by Christ
on the night in which he was betrayed by Judas
into the hands of the Jewish chief priests and elders.
Tlie name by which this sacrament has been desig-
nated in all ages of the church, and among all its
various sections, is the Comml'nion (which see).
It lias also been termed the Eucharist, as being a
symbolical expression of thanksgiving for redeeming
mercy.
The strict connection between the Lord's Supper
and tlie Jewish Passover was so strongly recognized
by the early converts from Judaism to Christianity,
that, as Epiphanius has shown, they continued for
many years to observe both festivals, and even in
the Christian church generally, the Lord's Supper
was celebrated with peculiar solemnity at the festi-
val of Easter, which corresponded to the Passover.
That the two ordinances, however, were in reality
separate and distinct from each other, is plain from
the fact, tliat the Apostle Paul, in 1 Cor. xi., makes
no mention of the Passover, while he minutely de-
scribes the nature and institution of the Lord's Sup-
per, speaking of it as a customary rite in these
words, " As often as ye eat this bread, and drink
this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come."
The question has been raised. Whether Christ
himself partook of this holy ordinance at its first in-
stitution. No light is thrown upon this point either
by the narrative in the Gospels, or by that in First
Corinthians. Considerable diversity of opinion, ac-
cordingly, has existed on the subject even from
early times. Clirysostom and Augustine maintain
the affirmative, but it appears very unlikely that
Jesus, though he partook of the typical feast of the
Jewish passover, would partake of a feast which was
not designed for Him but for His people. He
speaks of the bread as " broken for you," meaning
fur his disciples, and in regard to tlie wine, he says
" Drink ye all of it." Both the sacramental ele
ments and the sacramental actions liave throughout
a reference to the Supper as a feast, not /or him, but
iqmn him, a feast of which He was the object to bft
partaken of, and in no sense a partaker.
Another inquiry has been started, as to which
theologians have been in all ages divided in opinion,
namely. Whether Judas the traitor partook of the
l^ord's Supper. The Apostolical Con.stitutions af
firm that he was not present on the solemn occasion.
The advocates of this opinion rely chielly on John
xiii. 30, " He then having received the sop went im-
mediately out : and it was night." Those who hold
the contrary opinion appeal to Luke xxii. 1], " And
LORD'S SUPPER.
33.<t
ye ohall say unto the k'^')''"'''"' of 'lio lioiisc, The
Master saith unto tlieo, Whore is tlie giieslchamber,
wliere I sliiill eat the passover witli my disciples?"
and also to the saying of onr Lord wlien he delivered
the Clip into the hands of his disci|jle8, "Drink ye
aH of it," implying, as is snjjposed, tliat the twelve
disciples all partook of the sacramental elements.
The prevailing sentiment of the church in all ages
has been 'hat Judas was both present at the sacra-
mental I'esist, aiul partook of the elements along with
the other disciples.
It is somowhat strange that, in consulting the
writings of the Apostolical Fathers, no mention
is found of the Lord's Sujiper by Barnabas, Poly-
carp, or Clement of Rome, but only in the writ-
ings of Ignatius is there any reference to the
subject, and even supposing the passages to be
genuine, which has been dotdjted, the allusions are
slight and very general. Most of the early apolo-
gists for Christianity also are silent as to this ordi-
nance. Justin Martyr, however, has given two
descriptions of the ordinance in nearly the same
words, "On Sunday," he says, "we all assendjle in
one place, both those who live in the city and they
who dwell in the country, and the writings of apos-
tles and prophets are read so long as the time per-
mits. When tlie reader stops, the president of the
assembly makes an address, in which he recapitu-
lates the glorious things that have been read, and
exhoi-ts the people to follow them. Then we all
stand up together and pray. After prayer, bread,
wine, and water, are brought in. The president of
the meeting again prays according to his ability, and
gives thanks, to which the people respond. Amen.
After this, the bread, wine, and water, are distributed
to those present, and the deacons carry portions to
such as are necessarily detained from the meeting.
Those who are able and willing contribute what they
please in money, which is given to the president of
the meeting, and is appropriated to the support of
widows and orphans, the sick, the poor, and whom-
soever is necessitous." In the dialogue with Try-
pho the Jew, which is usually ascribed to Justin,
we find such expressions as these, " the offering of
the bread of thanksgiving, and of the cup of thanks-
giving," " the eucliaristic meal of bread and wine,"
but no account is given of the mode in wliich the
ordinance was celebrated. Irenseus, in his contro-
versial writings, contends that the eucharist should
be regarded as a sacritice, in opposition to tlie Gnos-
tics, who alleged that all sacrilices had ceased. He
takes care, however, to distinguish it from the Jew-
ish sacrifices, alleging it to be of a higher and nobler
character than these mere typical ordinances. Cle-
ment of Alexandria, Origen, TertuUian, and Cyprian,
all make frequent references to the Lord's Supper as
a standing ordinance in the church. The Ajwstolicol
Constitution-'', however, which is the oldest liturgical
document extant, and forms the foundation of all the
Uturgies both of the Eastern and Westcni churches,
atlords the most important informatior in reference to
the liord's Supjier, as observed in the early Christian
church. We are indebted to Ur. Jamieson for the
following admirable view of the whole service among
the ])rimitive Christians : "The peculiar service of
the faithfid was commonly introduced by a private
and silent prayer, which was followed by a general
sup])lication for the church and the whole family of
mankind, and then each of the brethren came for-
ward to contribute a free-will olTering, according to
his ability, to the treasury of the church, the wealthy
always being careful to bring ]iart of theirs in arti-
cles of bread and wine. Out of this collection both
the sacramental elements were furnished; the one
consisting, from the first, of the common bread that
was in use in the country, and the other of wine
diluted with water, according to the tunversal prac-
tice of the ancients. Preliminary to the distribution
of these, two ceremonies were always observed with
the greatest punctuality, — the one emblematical of
the purity that became the ordinance, the other ot
the love that should reign among all the disciples o
Christ. The deacons brought a basin of water, in
which the presiding ministers washed their hands in
presence, and on behalf, of the whole congregation —
a practice founded on the words of the Psalmist,—
' I will wa.sh my hands in innocence, and so I will
compass thine altar;' and then, on a given signal, the
assembled brethren, in token of their mutual amity
and good will, proceeded to give each other a holy kiss,
ministers saluted ministers, the men their fellow-men,
and the women the female discijjles that stood beside
them. At this stage of the service another prayer ot
a general nature was offered, at the conclusion of
which the minister, addressing the people, said, ' Peace
be unto you,' to which they responded in one voice,
' and with thy spirit.' Pausing a little, he said, ' Lift
up your hearts to God,' to which they replied,
' We lift them up unto God;' and then, after an-
other brief interval of silence, he proceeded, ' Let us
give thanks to God,' to which they returned the
ready answer, ' It is meet and just so to do.' These
preliminary exhortations being completed, the min-
ister oti'ered up what was called the great thank.sgiv-
ing for all blessings, both temporal and spiritual,
especially for the unspeakable love of God as mani-
fested in the death, resurrection, and ascension of
Christ, and for that holy ordinance in which, in gra-
cious adaptation to the nature of man, he is evi-
dently set forth as crucified and slain ; concluding
with an eaniest desire that intending communicants
might particip.ite in all the benefits it was designed
to impart, to which all the people said aloud, ' Amen.'
As the communicants were about to advance to the
place appropriated for communion, — for up to that
time it was unoccupied, — the minister exclaimed,
' Holy things to holy persons' — a form of expression
equivalent to a practical prohibition of all who were
unholy; and the invitation to communicants wa."
given by the singing of some appropriate Psalms,
334
LORD'S SUPPER.
sucli as the passage in the 34t!i, ' 0 taste and see
that God is good;' and the 133d, beginning 'Be-
hold ! how good and liow pleasant it is for bretln-en
to dwell together in nnityl' The elements having
been consecrated by a prayer, which consisted chiefly
of the words of the institution, the minister took up
the bread, and breaking it, in memorial of Christ's
body being broken, distributed to his assisting breth-
ren beside him, and in like manner the cup, both of
which were carried round by the deacons to the com-
municants in order ; and while they presented them
in this simple form, ' the body of Christ,' ' the blood
of Christ,' each communicant, on receiving them, de-
voutly said, ' Amen.' The manner in which they re-
ceived the element was, by taking it in the riglit hand,
and placing the left underneath to prevent any of it
from falling. The act of communion being finished, a
thanksgiving hymn was sung, and an appropriate
prayer offered, after which the brethren again gave
each other the salutation of a holy kiss, and having
received the blessing of their pastor, were exhorted
to ' Go in peace.' "
The Lord's Supper was originally instituted in the
evening, or at niglit, and in the apostolic age it
seems to have been sometimes observed during the
night, and at other times during the day. Justin Mar-
tyr makes no mention of the precise time of its cele-
bration. Tertullian speaks of Easter Eve as a spe-
cial period for the administration of this ordinance.
This practice continued througliout the fourth and
fifth centuries, and even as far onward as to the
ninth century. In the eleventh and twelfth cen-
turies it was transferred to the evening, and then to
the afternoon of the day before Easter, and after-
wards to the morning of the same day. The cele-
bration of the communion on Christmas eve conti-
nued to a late period. To this ancient custom of
observing this ordinance by night is probably to be
traced the modern practice of burning lighted tapers
on such occasions. As early as the fifth century
nine o'clock in the morning became the canonical
hour, and it was arranged that the Lord's Sujiper
sliould be celebrated on Sundays and high festivals
at this hour, and at twelve o'clock on other occa-
sions. In the primitive church it was an univer-
sal custom to administer this ordinance on Thursday
on Easter week, that being the day of its original
institution ; and some even contended tliat the ordi-
nance ought to be restricted to an annual celebration
of this day, though the prevailing sentiment of tlie
church was in favour of frequent communion. Weekly
and even daily communion appears to have been
practised to a considerable extent in the early church.
The first day of the week, indeed, often received the
name of dies panls, the day of bread, with evident
allusion to the observance of the sacrament on that
day. That daily communion was practised by the
ap /Sties has been sometimes inferred from Acts ii.
42, 4G, " .Viid they contiinied stedfastly in the apos-
'les' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of
bread, and in prayers. And they, continuing daily
with one accoi'd in the temple, and breaking bread
from house to house, did eat their meat with glad-
ness and singleness of heart."
The Lord's Supper was instituted at first in the
upper room of a private house, and from a passage
of the Acts of the Apostles just quoted, it would
appear that the communion was celebrated by the
early followers of Christ in the houses of believers.
But from 1 Cor. xi. 20, it is plain that the Corin-
thians must have had a separate place devoted to tlie
observance of this rite, and to the exercises of pub-
lic worship. In times of persecution, the early
Christians observed the Lord's Supper wherever it
could be done with safety, in secret places, in the
cemeteries, in dens and caves of the earth. But
whenever practicable, they celebrated this solemn
ordinance in the buildings appropriated to public
worship, and the consecration of the elements in pii-
vate houses was expressly forbidden by the council
of Laodicea.
Nothing is said in the New Testament as to the
person by whom the Lord's Supper is to be admin
istered. Our Lord himself was the first who dis
pensed the ordinance, and it is probable that the
same office was afterwards discharged by the apos-
tles. We learn from the writers of the second and
third centuries, that it was the special office of the
bishop or president of the assembly to administer
the eucharist. According to Justin Martyr's ac-
count of the rite already quoted, the president of the
brethren pronounced the form of prayer and praise
over the elements, and the deacons distributed them
among the communicants who were present, and
conveyed them to those who were absent. Ignatius
informs us that the ordinance could not be adminis-
tered in the absence of the bishop. In the Aposto-
lical Constitutions the dispensation of the eucharist
is ascribed at one time to the chief priest, at another
to the bishop. He is directed to stand before the
altar witli the presbyters and deacons, and to jier-
form the office of consecration. For a long period
it was forbidden to a presbyter to consecrate the
elements if the bishop was present, that duty he-
longing to the bishop alone. But in the middle
ages the bishops seldom officiated at the table of the
Lord. The general rule in the primitive church was,
that the bishop consecrated the elements, assisted by
the presbyter, that the presbyter distributed tlie
bread, and the deacon presented the cup. In the
absence of the bishop the duty of consecration de-
volved upon tlie presbyter, and in such a case both
the bread and the cup were distributed by the dea-
cons. Sometimes the deacons took upon tlicmselvea
the office of consecrating the elements, but this prac-
tice was forbidden by repeated ecclesiastical coun-
cils.
During the celebration of the Lord's Supper in
the early Christian church, none but believers in
full connnunion with the church were allowed to bn
LOKU'S SUPPER.
335
jjrusciit ; and all who were present partook of the
ordiiianco. Tlu: consecrated elements were also sent
by the hands of the deacons to such of the hrelhren
Bs from sickness or imprisonment were nnable to
attend. The custom at Icngtli arose which, for a
long period, prevailed in the ancient cluircli, of ad-
ministerini; the sacrament to infants. (See Com-
munion, Infant.) Nay, oven the ordinance was
frequently administered to the sick when in the de-
lirium of fever, and to penitents when on their dealli-
beds. Some were accustomed also to carry home a
portion of the consecrated bread, and to lay it up
for future use in a chest appropriated for the jiur-
pose, and when tliey had no opportunity of attend-
ing the morning service, they partook of a portion of
the bread, and if a Christian stranger came to sliaro
in thoir hospitality, one of the first acts of kindness
was to produce a portion of tlie sacramental bread,
and break it between them, thereby hallowing their
social intercourse, by joining together in a solemn
ordinance, which they lield in the most profound re-
verence, and the observance of which they regarded
as necessary to tlioir happiness both here and here-
after.
In the .ancient Christian church, as we have seen,
all the faithfid were communicants, and the rule of
St. Ambrose was regarded as admitting of no excep-
tion : "All Christians ought on every Lord's Day
to partake of the Lord's Supper." It was not
until tlie sixth century that the distinction came to
be recognized between communicants and non-com-
municants. From this it afterwards became cus-
tomary to keep consecrated bread, called Eulogia
(which see), for the purpose of offering it to such
persons as chose to partake of it, instead of uniting
in regular communion with the church. These per-
sons were called Ilalf-waij communicants. After
the general introduction of infant-baptism, the eu-
charist continued to be administered to all who had
been baptized, whether infants or adults. The Afri-
can church were accustomed to administer tlie ordi-
nance to the dead, and even to bury with them some
portion of the consecrated elements. Communicants
in the early cliurch wore a peculiar dress when par-
taking of the sacrament, probably white raiment;
and the women wore white veils, called dominicalia.
All the faithful were required to bring certain obla-
tions or presents of bread and wine. The bread was
wrapped in a white linen cloth, and the wine was
contained in a vessel called ama or amula. These
offerings were brought to the altar after the deacon
had said, " Let us pray," and while the assembly
were engaged in singing a hymn suited to the occa-
sion. This custom was abolished in the twelfth cen-
tury.
On the authority of Augustine we learn that dur-
ing the celebration of the Lord's Supper, the com-
municants stood witli their faces towards the east.
The clergy first received the elements, then the men,
and last of all the women. Tlie communicants ad-
vanced to the table two at a time. They took the
bread and the cup in their hands, and repeated after
the minister the sacramental fommlary, concludirig
with a loud Amen. The men received the elcmcnt«
with uncovered hands previously washed ; the wo-
men made use of the dominical. From the iiintli
century the bread began to be [uit into the mouths
of the communicants by the officiating minister, to
prevent them from carrying it home. The practice
of kneeling during the consecration, and distribution
of the elements, was first introduced in the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries, and did not become general
till a period consideiahlj' later.
Ill regard to the nature of the bread which ought
to be used in the Lord's Supper, a keen controversy
was long carried on between the Greek and Latin
churches, the former contending for the use of lea-
vened, and the latter of unleavened bread. From
the seventh century the Church of Rome began to
use unleavened bread, a practice which was discon-
tinued by Protestants at the Reformation, with the
exception of the Lutherans. The eucharistic bread
of the Romanists is styled the Host (which see).
The wine wliich our Lord used in the Supper was,
of course, the common wine of Palestine, but the an-
cient churches universally mixed water with the
sacramental wine. The Armenians used wine alone,
and the Aquarians water alone, but both were re-
garded as heretics. The proportion of water mixed
with the wine varied at different times, being some-
times one-fourth, at other times one-third. The
Western church mixed cold water only ; the Greek
church did the same at first, but afterwards added
warm water just before the distribution. In the
third or fourth centuiy it became customary in the
Eastern church to hold up the consecrated elements
before the people, in order to excite their veneration
for the sacred mysteries of the sacrament. In the
middle ages the host of the Latin church came to be
worshipped in consequence of the dogma of tran-
substantiation being believed. This dogma was in-
troduced into Gaul in the twelfth centuiy, and into
Germany in the thirteenth.
Botli elements were univer.eally administered to
both clergy and laity until about the twelfth century,
when in the Western church the cup began to be
gradually withdrawn fi-om the laity. (See Chalice.)
The Greeks retain substantially the ancient custom,
and Protestants universally give the sacrament to
both clergy and laity in both kinds. A certain
form of words was used from early times in deliver-
ing the elements to the people, to which the people
answered. Amen. The words spoken by the offi-
ciating minister were simply, " The body of Christ,"
and " The blood of Christ," to each of which expres-
sions the people subjoined. Amen. The author of
the A])oslolical Constitutions speaks of the form in
this manner : " Let the bishop give the oblation,
saying, ' The body of Christ,' and let the receiver
answer. Amen. Let the deacon hold the cup, and
33G
LORETTO (Holt House at)
when he gives it, say, ' The blood of Christ, the cup
of life,' and let him that drinks it, say Amen." In
the time of Gregory the Great, we find the form
somewhat enlarged, thus, " The body of our Lord
Jesus Christ preserve thy soul ;" and before the time
of Alcuin and Charlemagne it was augmented into
this form, " The body of our Lord Jesus Christ pre-
serve thy soul unto everlasting life."
Li the primitive Christian cliurch, the Lord's Sup-
per was retained in the simphcity of its original in-
stitution, and the ordinance was regarded as a me-
morial of the sufferings and death of Cluist, and a
means of strengthening the faith and increasing the
love of his followers. In course of time highly figura-
tive language began to be used, which implied, if
understood literally, tlie bodily presence of Christ.
During the Eutychian controversy, the notion was
broached by some, that there was a union between
Christ and the elements similar to that between the
divine and human nature in the person of Christ.
It was not, however, until the ninth century that the
doctrine was promulgated of a real change of the
substance of the elements in the Lord's Supper.
(See Tr.vnsubstantiation.) Tliis, of course, na-
turally led to the worship of Christ in the sacrament.
(See Host, Adoration op the\ and the kindred
dogma, that the Eucharist is a true and proper sacri-
fice for the sins of the living and the dead, or the
Bouls in purgatory. (See :Mass.) At the Reforma-
tion, in tlie sixteenth century, these dogmas of Rome
were renounced by the Protestant party ; but Lu-
ther, still cleaving to the literal interpretation of our
Saviour's words, " This is ray body," introduced the
doctrine of Consubstantiation (which see), sig-
nifying that although the elements remain unchanged,
the real body and blood of Christ are received by the
communicants along with the symbols. Zwingli, how-
ever, disapproving alike of the Romish doctrine of
Transuhstantialion and the Lutheran doctrine of Con-
snhatantiation, maintained that the bread and wine were
no more than a representation of the body and blood
of Christ, and that there was nothing in the ordi-
nance but a memorial of Christ. The Helvetic Re-
former, however, in thus explaining the matter, has
perhaps scarcely described the true nature of the
Lonl's Supper as it is understood l)y most Protestant
churches. Tlie elements are, doubtle.ss, recognized
as symbols or signs, but to the true believer they
are something more, for they are seals of the cove-
nant of grace, ratifying and confirming all its bless-
ings as given over by Christ to his people, and re-
ceived on tlieir part by the exercise of a living faith.
LORD'S TABLE. See Com.munion Table.
LORETTO (Holy House at), a house at Lo-
retto, a small town in the States of the Church in
Italy, wliich is held in great veneration by Roman-
i.sts, as being the place where the Virgin Mary was
born, and also the infant Jesus. The story of this
wonderful house is implicitly believed by many Ro-
manists. The outlines are brielly these : Helena,
the mother of Constantine the Great, found it at
Nazareth about three centuries after the incarnation.
It was carried by angels through the air in May 1291,
and laid down by them on a little eminence in Dalma-
tia, where it attracted great attention, and performed
miracles of healing. Doubts having arisen as to its
character, the blessed Virgin, surrounded by angelic
spirits, appeared to a priest, named Alexander, when
OP- a sickbed, and informed him that in that house she
was born, lived, received the message of Gabriel,
and conceived the Son of God. She further told
the priest, that the apostles had converted this house
into a church ; that Peter had consecrated its altar ;
that because insulted in Nazareth by infidels, and
neglected by Cliristians, it was carried over by angels
to Dalmatia ; and tliat as a miraculous proof of all
this, his health should be immediately restored. On
awakening, Alexander found himself restored to
health. The Dalmatians, however, were not long
permitted to enjoy the gift of the house. On the
night of the 10th December 1294, some shepherds,
who were watching their flocks, beheld a house sur-
rounded by uncommon splendour flying across the
Adriatic, which sejiarates Dalmatia from Italy. The
holy house rested in a district called Lauretum, and
hence the name, " The House of Loretto," which it
retains'to this day. Soon it became very famous as
a place of pilgrimage, to which thousands resorted
for devotion and miraculous cures. Tlie number of
pilgrims, however, greatly diminished in consequence
of the bands of robbers which infested the neighbour-
hood ; and the house again moved to a small hill near
the road where the faithful might liave access to it
without being exposed to robbers. This new miracle
greatly increased the reverence in which the house
was held. The hill on which it now stood was tho
joint property of two brothers, who quarrelled about
the rent they were to receive. Accordingly this
miraculous house was once more transferred, and
placed in its present site, a very short distance be-
yond the property of the unworthy brothers. And
there the house remains till the present day.
The House of Loretto is thus described by one
who visited the spot: "This holy house, that can
thus fly or walk at pleasure, is about thirty-two feet
long, tliirteen feet wide, and eighteen feet high, with
a chimney and small belfry. The walls are of stone.
There is in it a small altar, the one dedicated by
Peter; and on it is an antique wooden cross. On
the right of the ahar is an image of the Virgin Mary,
with the infant on her arm, with the hair of ejich
divided after the manner of the people of Nazareth.
This image is surrounded with golden lamps, by
whose constant glare and dazzle it is somewhat con-
cealed. The Virgin and Son are most gorgeously
decorated, and are brilliant with precious stones.
This holy image was carried to I''rance in 1796, but
it was brought back with pious jiomp ; and welcomed
by the discharge of cannon and the ringing of bell.s,
it was borne to the holy liouse on a rich frame, car-
LOTS (Casting op)— LOTUS- WORSHIP.
337
ried by eiglit bishops, on the 5th day of January,
1803.
"And the miracles wrouglit by this lioly liouse
are numerous and wonderful. It is hung round by
the votive olferings in gold, silver, wax, and other
materials,' presented by those on whom miracles
were performed. I'ictro IJarho was there miracu-
lously healed, and was informed by the Virgin that
he would he elected I'ope ! He was .so elected, and
assumed the name of Taul II. He issued a bull,
dated November 1, 14C4, in which he speaks of ' the
great wom/frs and injiiiili; miracles^ wrought by
means of tlie Holy Virgin in this house. This house
has been the pet of many a I'ope, who have ex-
pended treasures upon it I And there it stands at
the present hour, ' the most celebrated sanctuary in
Italy' — hung round by votive olVerings of great value,
visited by pilgrims from all parts of the world, and
with a regular establishment of priests, sustained at
an enormous annual expense, mainly collected from
the beggar pilgrims. There also is the ' holy por-
ringer,' in which pap was made for the infant Sa-
viour, and wliich imiiarts wonderful sanctity to every
thing that is put into it !" The Mtauy to the " Lady
of Loretto" may be found in the "Garden of the
Soul," and in most other Komish prayer-books.
LOTS (Casting of), a mode of determining an
nncertain event by an appeal to the providence of
God, which is made by casting or throwing some-
thing. Among the ancient Hebrews, the lot was
resorted to frctiuently in disputes about property.
It was in this manner that the land of Canaan was
divided by Joshua, and frequent allusions occur
throughout the Old Testament to this mode of set-
tling disputed matters. Thus in Prov. xvi. 33, it is
said, "The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole
disposing thereof is of the Lord ;" and in xviii. 18,
" The lot oauseth contentions to cease, and parteth
between the mighty." From these passages it is not
iuiprobable, that the lot was employed in courts of
justice in the days of Solomon. In criminal cases,
as in Josh. vii. 14 — 18, we tind the sacred lot called
Urim and Thummim, resorted to in order to discover
the guilty party. In many matters of great public
interest, as in the election of Saul to the kingdom,
appeal was often made to the lot. It is also referred
.0 in Esther iii. 7, "In the first month, that is, the
month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus,
they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from
day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth
month, that is, the month Adar;" and Bishop Fa-
trick remarks on the passage, " It was customary in
the Ea.'.t, by casting lots into an urn, to inquire what
days would be fortunate, and what not, to undertake
any business in. According to this superstitious
practice, Haman endeavoured to find out what time
in the year was most favourable to the Jews, and
what most unlucky. First he inquired what month
was most fortunate, and found the month Adar,
which was the last month in the year, answerable to
our February. There was no festival during thin
month, nor was it sanctilicd by any peculiar riteo
Then he inquired the day, and found the thirteenth
day w;is not auspicious to them. (v. 13.) Some
think for every day he drew a lot ; but found none
to his mind mitil he tame to the last month of all,
and to the middle of it. Now this whole business
was governed by Providence, by which these lots
were directed, and not by the Persian gods, to fall
in the last month of the year; whereby almost a
whole year intervened between the design and its
execution, and gave time for Mordecai to acquaint
Esther with it, and for her to intercede with the
king for the reversing or suspending his decree, and
disappointing the conspiracy."
Not only in Old, but also in New Testament
times, the practice of appealing to the lot is men-
tioned. Thus in the election of an apostle to fill the
place of Judiis, it is said. Acts i. 26, "And they
gave forth their lots ; and the lot fell upon Mat-
thias; and he was numbered with the eleven aplas-
tics." Even at this d.ay, as travellers inform us, the
casting of lots is practised in the East in doidjtfid
matters which it may be difiicult otherwise to deci<le.
Among the Moravians, also, in questions of impor-
tance recourse is had to the lot. This, however, is
never resorted to but after mature deliberation anrl
fervent prayer; nor is anything submitted to its de-
cision which does not, after being thoroughly weigh-
ed, appear to the assembly eligible in itself.
LOTS (Divination by). See Divination.
LOTS (Feast of). See Puri.m.
LOTUS-WORSHIP. This flower, the Nymphtjca
Lotus of Linnseus, and the Sacred Lily of the Egyp-
tians, is an object of veneration in various heathen
countries. The gods are frequently represented
sitting on the flower of a lotus. Sir J. G. Wilkin-
son informs us, that Ehoon, the Egyptian god of
day, is thus represented on the monuments. " He
is then," says he, " supposed to signify the sun in the
winter solstice, or the rising sun ; and the crook and
flagelluni, the emblems of Osiris, which he some-
times carries, may be intended to indicate the influ-
ence he is about to exercise upon mankind. The
vase from which the plant grows is a lake of water,
and the usual initial of the word ma or moo, water.
' They do indeed,' says Plutarch, ' characterize the
rising sun as though it sprang every day afresh out
of the lotus plant ; but this implies, that to moisture
we owe the first kindling of this luminary.'" With
respect to the lotus plant on which the deity is re-
presented seated, Sir John Gardner Wilkinson,
remarks, that "it is always the Kymphaa Lotus, and
in no instance the Nchanbe. And though this last
is mentioned by several ancient authors among the
plants of Egypt, it is never introduced into the
sculptures as a sacred emblem, nor indeed as a pro-
duction of the country ; a fact which goes far to dis-
prove one of the supposed analogies of the Egyptian
and Indian objects of veneration. With regard to
338
LOVE-FEASTS— LOXO
the common lotus, so frequently represented as a
favourite flower in the hands of the Egyptians, (as
the rose or others might be in the hands of any
modern people,) there is no evidence of its having
been sacred, much less an object of worship."
Among the Hindus the lotus has been generally
recognized as the symbol of Brahma, the creator of
the world, who, poised upon a lotus leaf, floated upon
the waters, and all that he was able to discern with
his eight eyes, for he had four heads, was water and
darkness. The lotus, accordingly, C(mtinues to be
revered in the temples of the Hindus, as well as
among the Budhists of Thibet and Nepaul ; and a
Nepaulese bowed reverently before this plant as he
noticed it in entering the study of Sir William Jones.
The lotus is the emblem of the generative power of
nature, and hence it is found accompanying the
images of all the Hindu gods, wlio personify the idea
ot creation or generation. Tlie symbol of the lotus
has been can-ied by Budhism from India into China,
and even into Japan, where the god Canon (which
see) is represented sitting upon a lotus.
LOVE (Family of). See Familists
LOVE-FEASTS. These feasts, as they were
practised among the primitive Christians, have been
fully described in the article Agap.-e (which see).
Imitations of the custom are found in a few modem
churches. Thus the Moravians have from time to
time meetings of the Brethi-en, at which refresh-
ments are handed roimd, while addresses are delivered
upon religious subjects, varied with singing hymns,
and reading the Scriptures. Love-feasts are held
imong the Wesleyan Methodists quarterly, to which
persons are admitted by ticket or a note from tlie
superintendent. The meeting begins with singing
and prayer, afterwards small pieces of bread or plain
cake with water are distributed, and all present eat
and drink together in token of brotherly love. After
a few addresses, a collection is made for the poor,
and the meeting is closed with praver.
LOW CHURCHMEN, a nanie often given to
the Evangelical party in the Church of England,
who are generally understood to hold and to teach
the pure doctrines of tlie Protestant Reformation.
They disavow all sympathy with tlie Tractarian or
Romanizing party. (See Anglo-Catholics.) A
party existed in the reign of Queen Anne, beaiing
the name of Low Cliurchmen. They were under-
stood, however, to be latitudinarian in their senti-
ments, and their doctrinal teaching had a tendency
towards Socinianism. But the Low Churchmen of
the present day have received their name in conse-
(juence of the low views which they are believed to
entertain on the subject of the authority of the
church, and tlie apostolical dignity of the clergy.
Their theological views are generally considered to
he more strictly Calvinistic than either the High or
the Broad Church party. The Low Churchmen are
at present a minority in the Church of England, but
occupy a high iilacc in public estimation. Their zeal
and activity in the support of missions both at home
and abroad, are sliown in the warm support whicl
they lend to the Cliurch Missionary and Pastoral
Aid Societies, as well as to religious and benevolent
institutions generally. "The Evangelical party in
the Church of England," says Mr. Marsden, " claims
to represent, both in Church polity and doctnnai
theology, the principles of the Reformation, as the
Reformation was understood and practised, down to
nearly the close of the reign of James I. Amongst
them are to be found some who hold the Divine riglit
of episcopacy and the necessity of an apostolical
succession ; but these are the exceptions. In general
they maintain, rather, that episcopacy is a wise and
ancient form of government than that it is essential
to the constitution of a church. They do not hesi-
tate to recognize Presbyterian Churches, nor do they
deny the claims of orthodox dissenters. Orders may be
valid, though irregular, and churches may be defec-
tive in many points and yet possess all that is essen-
tial to constitute a church. The unity of a church
consists in the spiritual dependence and vital union
which each member of it possesses with Christ, the
church's head. In doctrine, the Low Church party
place justification by faith only, in the foreground;
tliey preach the total fall of man in Adam, and the
necessity of the new birth ; and they differ from High
Churclimen in asserting that this new birth, or re-
generation, does not of necessity take place in bap
tism, and they deny that it is insepai'able from it
Of both the sacraments, indeed, they hold that they
do not necessarily convey grace ; but only to thosa
who partake of them aright. In their ministrations
the doctrines of redemption are made prominent.
They have occasionally been charged with neglect-
ing to inculcate the ordinary duties of life ; but An
tinomianism, which would be the result of such
neglect, seldom makes its appearance in their flocks.
The party is often termed Calvinistic ; but the word
is not very accurately employed. Many are Evan-
gelical Arminians, and not a few, who are content
to accept the name of Calvinists, hold, in fact, the
disputed points nearly as Arminius held them. It
is singular, perliaps, that amongst the evangelical
clergy the writings of Calvin should be little read,
and, indeed, scarcely known. A society was formed
within the last few years for the publication of Cal-
vin's works; it met with little encouragement, and
entailed, we have understood, a heavy loss on its
projectors. About the same time the Parker Society
was instituted, for republishing the divines of the
English Reformation, and met with complete suc-
cess."
LOW SUNDAY, the octave of the first Sunday
after Easter-day, as being a festival, though of a
lower degi-ee. It is called in the Roman church the
Dominica in Alhis.
LOXIAS, a surname of Ajwlh as the intei'preter
of Zeus.
LOXO, asumame of the Grecian goddess Artemis
LUA— LUCRINA.
339
LOYOLA. (IfjNATius). See Jksuits.
LUA, one of tlie ancient Italian goddesses, to
whom the arms of a conqnered enemy were dedicated
and l)iirnt as a sacrifice in lier liononr.
LUCAR, Cviur,, (Conpkssion or), a remarkable
Cimfcssion of Faith drawn np by Cyril Lncar, pa-
triarch of Constantinople, and published at Geneva
in 1G30, in the Latin langnage. It is divided into
separate articles, with Scriptnre proofs appended to
each. Lnoar had hrmly resisted the ])roiect of unit-
ing the Greek with the Latin cluirch, and his de-
sign in publishing the Confession appears to have
been to bring about, if possible, a union of the Greek
with the Reformed church. It agrees in almost
every point with the doctrine and discipline of Cal-
vin, and shows evidently, on the part of the author,
a strong desire to bring about a reformation of the
Greek church. The Greeks to this day strenuously
deny the authenticity of Lucar's Confession, but
there is a mass of positive testimony in its favour,
which places it beyond a doubt. A second edition
was published by the author, with some additions
Rud improvements, during the year 163.'?. Various
editions appeared also after his death, particularly in
Holland, where it attracted much notice.
LUCKRIA, a surname of Jiino, as the giver of
light, the name being derived from Lat. lux, light.
LUCERIUS, a surname o( Jupiter among the an-
cient Romans.
LUCERNARIUM (from Lat. hiccrm, a lamp),
a name given to the evening service, in the early
Christian Church, because it commonly began when
darkness came on, and it was necessary to light up
the apartment.
LUCIA'S (St.) DAY, a festival observed by the
Cluirch of Rome on the 13th of December.
LUCIANISTS, the followers of Lucian, a presby-
ter of Antioch, in the beginning of the fourth cen-
tury, who held opinions in regard to the Person of
Christ akin to those which were afterwards main-
tained by the Semi-Arians. The school which be
fiinnded at Antiocli became famous, and amongst his
.loholars were several of the heads of the Arian party,
particularly Eusebius of Nicomedia, Maris, andTheog-
nis. It is doubtful wliether Lucian himself held
Arian opinions, but historically speaking, Dr. New-
man thinks that he may almost be considered as the
author of Arianism. Epiphanius says, that he con-
sidered the Word in the Person of Christ as the sub-
stitute for a human soul; and although he suffered
martyrdom at the hands of heatlieu persecutors, a. d.
311, there is too much reason for believing, that his
theological views were far from being ortliodox, as
there is clear evidence that he was under excommu-
nication during three successive patriarchs. It is
pleasing, however, to know that ten or fifteen years
before liis martyrdom he was reconciled to the
church, and in all probability at that time he would
renounce the heretical sentiments he may have pre-
viously entertained. Chrysostom's panegyric on the
festival of his martyrdom 18 still extant, and both
RufTinus and Jerome speak of him in terms of high
eulogium. But whatever may have been the charac-
ter of the man, it is an undoubted fact, tliat the
Semi-Arians adopted Ins creed, which is extant
During the interval which elajised between the Ni-
cene council in .32.0 and the death of Constantius in
3G1, Antioch was the metrojiolis of the heretical, as
Alexandria was of the orthodox party. From An-
tioch originated the attack u])on the churcli after the
decision of tlie council of Nice. In Antioch the
heresy first showed itself in the shape of Semi-
Arianism when Lncian's creed was produced. There,
too, in this and subsequent councils, negotiations
on Arianism were conducted with the Western
churcli. At Antioch lastly, and at Tyre, a suffra-
gan see, the sentenceof condemnation was pronounced
upon Athanasius. The Lttcianists, therefore, may
well be considered as having exercised an influence
which long survived the death of their leader.
LUCIFERIANS, tlie followers of the famous
Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia, in the fourth
century. The first appearance which this keen and,
indeed, somewhat intemperate opponent of the Ari-
ans makes in ecclesiastical history, is as legate along
with Eusebius of Vercelli, from Pope Liberius to
the great council of Milan, which was held in 355.
Tlie Emperor Constantius presided, and so offensive
to the Arian emperor was the violence of Lucifer,
that he was first cast into prison, and then driven
from place to place as an exile. The many hard-
ships and cruelties, however, to which he was ex-
posed, had little or no effect in subduing his fieiy and
irascible temper, which at length alienated from him
both the eastern andwestem clergy,and even Athana-
sius himself, whose cause he had so wamily espoused.
His followers, who received the name oi Luciferians,
were few in number, but they regarded themselves
as constituting the only pure church on earth. A
rooted aversion to Arianism was the one prevailing
sentiment which bound them together as a body.
They held that no Arian bishop, and no bishop who
had in any measure yielded to the Aj-ians, even al-
though he repented and confessed his errors, coidd
enter the bosom of the chui-ch without forfeiting his
ecclesiastical rank, and that all bishops and others
who admitted the claims of such persons to a full
restoration of their privileges, ought to be regarded
as outcasts from the Christian communion.
LUCINA, the goddess among the ancient Ro-
mans who presided over childbearing, and in this
character, also, a surname of Juno and Diana. On
the occasion of the birth of a son in families of rank,
it was not unusual to have a Lectisternium, in hon-
our of Juno Lucina.
LUCRINA, a surname of Vemis derived from the
Lucrine lake, near which stood a temple to her hon-
our.
LUDI APOLLINARES. See Apollin4re3
LUDI.
340
LUDI FUNEBRES— LUSTRATION.
LUDI FUNEBRES (Lat. funeral games), cele-
brated at the funeral pyre of distinguished persons
among the ancient Greeks and Romans. They were
private entertainments given by survivors in lionour
of their deceased friends, and were sometimes con-
tinued for two or three days. See Funeral Rites.
LUDI LIBERALES. See Dionysia.
LUDI MAGNI. See Circensian Games.
LUDI MARTIALES (Lat. martial games), ce-
lebrated every year among the ancient Romans, in
the circus, on the 1st of August, in honour o{ Mars,
the god of war.
LUKE'S (St.), DAY, a Romish festival held on
the 18th of October in honour of Luke the Evange-
list. It is observed in the Greek church on the same
day.
LUNA, the moon, worshipped both among the
ancient Greeks and Romans. The latter are said to
have received this mode of worship from the Sa-
bines, in the time of Romulus. Servius Tullius
built a temple in honour of this goddess on the Aven-
tine hill, wliich was followed afterwards by another
on the Capitoline, and a third on the Palatine hill.
See Moon-Worship.
LUPERCA, a goddess among the ancient Ita-
lians, who was said to have nursed Romulus and Re-
mus in the form of a she-wolf She was the wife
of Licpercus, and has sometimes been identified with
AccA Larentia (which see).
LUPERCALIA, one of the most ancient festivals
celebrated by the Romans on the 15th of February
every year in honour of Luperous, the god of ferti-
lity, or as various writers, both Greek and Roman,
allege, in honour of Pan. Plutarch calls it the feast
of wolves, and declares it to have been of a lustral
or ceremonially purifying character. He adds that
it was the generally received opinion, that the Ar-
cadians, at the period of their immigration into Italy
under the conduct of Evander, introduced it among
the natives. But in whatever way it may have first
come among the Romans, it was in some way or
other connected with the well-known legend that
Romulus and Remus, the first founders of Rome,
were suckled by a she-wolf, and, accordingly, the
rites of the Ltqwcalia were observed in the Luper-
cal, which was supposed to have been the place
where tliis strange nursing was carried on. On the
appointed day of the festival, the Luperci (which
see), assembled and offered sacrifices of goats and
young dogs. The ceremony which followed was of
ii peculiar kind, and difficult of explanation. Two
youths of high rank were led forward to the Luperci,
who, having dipped a sword in the blood of one of
the victims which had been sacrificed, touched their
foreheads %v!th it ; after which some of the other
priests advanced forward and wiped off" the l)lood
with a piece of woollen rag which had been dipped
in milk. The youths now burst into a fit of laugh
tcr, and forthwith the general merriment which char-
acterized tliis festival liegan. The priests having
feasted themselves, and indulged freely in wine,
covered their bodies over witli the skins of the goata
which they had sacrificed. Thus fantastically dress-
ed they ran up and down the streets brandishing
thongs of goat-skin leather, with which they struck
all they met, particularly women, who hailed the
infliction of the sacred lash as a species of ceremo-
nial lustration. This festival was long observed in
commemoration of the founding of Rome, but hav-
ing been neglected in the time of Julius Csesar, it
was revived by Augustus, and continued to be cele-
brated until the reign of the Emperor Anastasius.
LUPERCI, the most ancient order of priests
among the Romans. They were sacred to Pan, the
god of the country, and particularly of shepherds,
whose flocks he guarded. Plutarch derives the
name from htpn, a she-wolf, and traces the origin of
their institution to the fabulous she-wolf which suck-
led Romulus and Remus. They formed originally a
college, consisting of two classes, the Fahn or Fa-
hiani, and the Quinctilii or Quinctiliani. In regard to
their precise number originally, we have no cei'tain
information. It is most probable that their office
was not for life, but only for a certain time. They
were held in great honour among the people. Julius
Caesar instituted a third class of Luperci vmder the
name of JiiUi or Juliani, endowing them with cer-
tain revenues, of which, however, they were after-
wards deprived. At first the Lnperci were taken
from the higher classes of society, but in course of
time the whole order fell into disrepute.
LUPERCUS, an ancient Italian god, worshipped
by shepherds, under the idea that he protected thcif
flocks from wolves, and also rendered the sheep
more fruitful. He has not unfrequently been iden-
tified with the god Pan. In honour of Lvpercus,
the ancient festival Lupercalia (which see), wae
annually celebrated.
LUSTRATION, purification from ceremonial de-
filement. Tliis was effected from very earlv times
by Ablution (whicli see) in water. Among the
ancient Greeks and Romans, sacrifices were generally
accompanied by lustrations, which were performed
by sprinkling water by means of a branch of laurel
or olive, or by means of the aspergillum, as it was
called among the Romans, or chernips among the
Greeks. Individuals, cities, and even states under-
went solemn lustration when defiled by crime, or, as
was often done, with a view to call do\vn the blessing
of the gods. Fields were lustrated at the Ambak-
valia (which see), and sheep at the Palilia
(which see). The armies of the Romans were lus-
trated before taking the field, and their fleets before
setting sail. On all these occasions .sacrifices were
offered, and the victims cut into pieces wore carried
throe times round the objoct to be lustrated ; prayers
being all the while ofi'ered to the gods. When-
ever Rome itself, or any other city in the empire,
was visited with any calamity, the uniform practice
was forthwith to subject it to lustration. The wholn
LUTEI— LUTHER (MAurrN).
341
UuiiKiii people, indeud, iiriderweiit liistnition every
live years, when sacrifices cjdlcd SuovcUmrilia were
olVered, consisting of a pig, a slieep, and an ox. The
people assembled on the occasion in the Campus
Martins, and sacrifices having been olVcrcd, the vic-
linis were carried thrice round the niuUiludc. This
ceremony was cjiUed a luMrnin, and being a ipiin-
ipieniiial rite, the word was ofleii used to denote the
sjiace of five years.
LUTKI (Lat. earthy), a term of reproach applied
by the Orifjenisls to the orthodox in the ancient
CIn'istian church.
LIJTIIIOR (M.aktin). This illustrious lieformer
was born at Eisleben in Saxony, on the 10th Novem-
ber 1483, and on the following day he was baptized
by the name of Martin, in honour of the .saint on
whose festival he was born. His parents were at
that time in humble circumstances, but of industrious
habits, and correct moral character. Martin was sent
to school at a very early age. His father was
a man of warm unatVected piety, and might often be
heard praviug beside the bedside of his son, that the
Lord would make him partaker of his gi'ace, and fit
him for usefulness in propagating the pure doctrine of
Christ. To his dying hour Luther spoke with tlie
greatest respect of his parents, but at the same time
he was wont frequently to say that they had acted
towards him with too much severity in Ins child-
hood. " My parent.s," he confesses, " treated me
with so much strictness, that I became perfectly
spirit-broken, ran away to a monastery, and became
a monk ; their intentions were good, but they knew
not how to apportion the punishment to the oft'ence."
He remained under his father's roof till he had at-
tained his fourteenth year, when he was sent to
^^agdeburg to prosecute his studies. Here he re-
mained only a year when he removed to Eisenach,
where his mother's relatives resided. In this place he
became connected with a choral school, at which the
sons of indigent persons were received and instructed
gratis, while in return they were expected to sing
during Divine worsliip in the churches, and also from
house to house when they solicited contributions,
and thus aided the funds of the institution. Such a
mode of earning his bread was sufiiciently humiliat-
ing to yomig Luther, and it gave him no small relief,
therefore, when a pious woman of the name of Cotta
took him into her house, where he was enabled to
apply to his studies without being distracted by
anxiety about his worldly support. In his eighteenth
year, in 1501, Martin Luther went to study at the
University of Erfurt, where liis father, whose cir-
cumstances had before this time undergone consider-
able improvement, supported him, though with great
personal exertion and sacrifice. Having studied
philosophy with diligence and success, he began to
turn his attention to the subject of jurisprudence.
While thus engaged in the acquisition of useful
knowledge, he met with a Latin Bible in the library
at ErI'urt, which on careful exan^anation he found to
bo a treasure of divine knowledge. His attention
waH particularly attracted by the history of Hannah
and her son Samuel, whicli lie read with peculiar
delight. This perliaps tended to give him a reli8h
for the Word of God, and an earnest desire to be
more fully acquainted with its precious contents.
Liilher now devoted himself to the study of scho-
lastic divinity, in which every educated man of tliat
time was expected to be versed. Nor was this to
him an inqjrolit.able acquisition, preparing him as it
did for fighting all the more successfully the battltB
of the Keformation. His health, however, was not
a little injured by the assiduity with which he pro-
secuted his researches into the doctrines of the
schoolmen. In conse(iuence of excessive mental
exertion, a deep shade of melancholy settled upon
his spirits, and rendered his youthful days unhappy.
Struggling against this painful dejiression, he perse-
vered in his studies, and obtained from the univer-
sity the degree, first of Bachelor, and then of Doc-
tor of Philosophy. He now began to give public
lectures on various subjects, particularly on the
physics and morals of Aristotle. While thus im-
mersed in secular pursuits, a singular and awful
event occurred which suddenly gave a new direction
to his whole future Hfe. This was the sudden death
of his intimate friend Alexius, who, while standing
by his side, was killed in a moment by a flash of
lightning. An event of this kind jiroduced a power-
ful effect upon the susceptible mind of Luther. He
resolved to assume the monastic profession, and ac-
cordingly, he was enrolled in a monastery of Augus-
tine friars. The motives by which he was actuated
in taking this apparently precipitate step, he thus
explained sixteen years later : — " I was never in
heart a monk, nor was it to mortify the lust of
fleshly appetites, but tormented with horror and the
fear of death, I took a forced and constrained vow."
The order which Luther joined was marked for its
discipline and regidarity. His ardent wish in be-
coming a monk was to obtain peace with God by
religious exercises, but in this he was disappointed,
and he sought in vain amid profound darkness to
obtain the light of life. His fomial enti-y into the
convent took place in 1506. He continued a few
years in the monastery, where all his time whicli
was not spent in exercises of devotion or penance
was employed in ardent study. At tliis period Lu-
ther perused with diligence the writings of Augus-
tin. The strictness and abstemiousness of his mo-
nastic life undemiiued his naturally strong constitu-
tion. Fits of depression frequently came over him.
Once on an occasion of this kind, he locked himself
into his cell for several days, refusing to admit any
one ; and at last his door being broken open, he was
found in a state of insensibility, from which he was
recovered by means of music, of which he was pas-
sionately fond, and which was his sole recreation.
In 1508, Luther was invited to occupy a chair o(
philosophy at Wittenberg ; but although he accepted
342
LUTHER (Maktin).
this office, he still retained his monastic connection,
and accordingly, he took up his residence in a house
of the same order in Wittenberg. His lectures both
on physics and moral philosophy were much admired
aiul well attended. In a short time, however, after
he had taken up his residence at the university, he
was called by tlie senate to fill the office of preacher,
which, though he shrunk from it at first on account
of its heavy responsibility, he was at length pre-
vailed upon to accept. With great diffidence he first
made trial of his powers in the monastery, then in
the private chapel of the castle, and publicly in the
parish cluirch. His pulpit addresses, which were
characterized by much unction, and very frequent
appeals to the Word of God, were received with un-
usual approbation. Not long after this he was in-
vested with the honoiu-able title of Bachelor of
Theology, and at the same time he acquired the
right to give theological lectures. This was the
position best suited to his inclinations and peculiar
gifts. He now felt himself in his proper sphere, and
therefore, he devoted his whole energies to the high
duties of his sacred calling. He gave lectures on
the Old and New Testaments, which displayed so
minute an acquaintance with the Word of God, as
well as with the writings of the Fathers, that he
speedily earned for himself a high reputation as a
theological lecturer.
Tlie estimation in which Luther was held among
the Augustinian monks led Staupitz, the vicar-general
of the order in Germany, to select him as a suitable
person to imdertake a mission to Rome. The ob-
ject of this mission, according to some writers, was
the settlement of disputes which had arisen in his
order; according to others, to obtain permission for
invalid brethren to eat meat in cases of great bodily
weakness. Whatever may have been his errand, he
set out for Rome in 1610. His feelings on coming
in sight of the great city he thus describes : " When
I first beheld Rome, I fell prostrate to the earth,
and raising my hands, exclaimed, God save thee
Rome, thou seat of the Holy One ; yea, thrice holy
from the blood of the sainted martyrs, which has
been shed within thy walls." The veneration, how-
ever, with whicli he first looked upon the city,
speedily gave place to very diflerent feelings. The
frivolity and corruption of the lower grades of the
clergy, and the infamous lives of the superior orders,
awakened in his mind the utmost indignation, and
even contempt. Yet in spite of all these enormities,
he still considered Rome a place of extraordinary
sanctity, and he returned home to Germany a firm
believer in the Holy Father. As an acknowledg
ment of Luther's merit as a lecturer, as well as on
accoimt of the skilfid execution of his Roman nns-
sion, the title of Doctor of Divinity was conferred
on him at the instigation of Staupitz. In Witten-
berg, his popularity and inlluence daily increased.
Such was the confidence reposed in him, that he was
intrusted with the superintendence and visitation of
about forty monasteries, which were subject to the
jurisdiction of the vicar-general. This office afforded
him ample opportunity of becoming acquainted with
the vices and defects of a monastic life, and thus
tended to prepare and qualify him for afterwards
undertaking the responsible duties of a Reformer.
The different offices, both secular and spiritual,
which he was now called upon to discharge, formed
also an admirable training for his future sphere oi
action. Meanwhile, he was a most devoted son of
the Romish church, and firm believer in the infalli-
bility of the Pope.
Till the year 1517, Luther had continued quietly
to prosecute his work as a preacher of the gospel,
and a lecturer on Theology, to the edification ot
many, who eagerly longed for a clear and intimate
acijuaintance with Divine truth. An event, how-
ever, occurred at this time, which opened up for him
an entirely new career. The Papal treasury had
become well nigh exhausted, and the sale of indul-
gences was resorted to with the view of opeinng new
resources. John Tetzel, a Dominican friar, was
selected as an active agent in carrying on this lucra-
tive trade. Travelling through Germany, this un-
scrupulous monk liad reached Jtiterbock, in the
neighbourhood of Wittenberg, when Luther, dis-
gusted at the shameless traffic in indulgences,
preached against them as tending openly to encour
age immorality, and he even published a sermon on
the subject. He had now entered the field against
the abuses of the Church of Rome, and on the 31si
of October 1517, he took a still bolder step by affix-
ing to the church of the castle of Wittenberg, ninety
five Theses or sentences on the sale of indulgences,
challenging any man to a public disputation on the
point. " This," says Pfizer, " was the first electric
flash from the torch that was kindled at the martyred
Huss's funeral pile, and, reaching the remotest
corner of the land, gave the signal of mighty future
events." " In less than fourteen days," writes a con-
temporary, " these Theses were read through every
part of Germany ; and ere four weeks had elapsed,
they had overspread the whole of Christendom, as if
the angels of heaven had been the messengers to
exhibit them to universal gaze." The wonderfid
effect produced by the publication of Luther's Theses
moved Tetzel to attempt a reply. He issued accord-
ingly, at Frankfort on the Oder, a series of one hun-
dred and six propositions, designed to establish the
authority of the Pope, as well as of all the clergy
deputed by him, to forgive sins. In this production
of the Dominican monk, the Propositions of Luther
were one and all condemned as an accursed heresy.
In the beginning of the year 1518, a meeting of
Augustine monks took place at Heidelberg, at which
Luther, according to invitation, attended. Here, be
fore a large assembly, he disputed against five doctors
of divinity upon twenty-eight theological and twelve
philosophical Propositions, and the argumentative
power, as well as scriptural research, which he
LUTHEK (Maktin).
343
brought to bear upon the traditionary dogmas of the
church, showed liim to be a polemic of no common
order. On his return to Wittenberg, be wrote, in
nnswer to Tetzel's Counter-l'ropositions, liis Heso-
lutions or exijlanations of his Theses, a treatise in
wliich lie brought prominently forward the truth that
no man could be justilied but by faith ; and defend-
ing himself with great ability against the charge of
heresy, lu; declared his intention of keeping to the
Holy .Scriptures, the resolutions of Councils and the
Papal decrees. This ])ublication lie sent to the
I'ope, Leo X., accompanied by a very bumble let-
ter, dated .'iOtli May 1518. The enemies of Luther
now assailed him on every side, but he stood his
gniiuid with intrepid manfulncss. At the conclusiun
of one of the ]iamphlcts, which he published at this
time, he breaks forth in these impassioned words:
" Now, farewell, thou blasphemous, corrupt, unholy
liome I At length the wrath of God is coming over
thee, as thou hast deserved ; because, notwithstand-
ing the many prayers that have been so continually
olVered for thee, it has been thy unceasing endeavour
to become more abominable. \Vc would have healed
Babylon, but she is not healed; forsake her, that
she may become the habitation of devils, aiul the
bold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean
and hateful bird; wild beasts of the desert shall be
there ; their houses shall be full of doleful creatures,
and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance
there, and tlie cormorant and bittern shall possess it ;
and let the line of confusion be stretched out upon
it, that it may remain full of idolaters, perjurers,
a|}ostates, and nmrderers ! Beloved reader, fare thee
well ! forgive that warmth, with which grief and
indignation of heart have tilled my speech."
The keenness with which the controversy was
maintained on both sides, awakened so wide an in-
terest among all classes of the people, that the Em-
peror Maximilian wrote a lellrtr to the Pope claim-
ing his interference, and otVering to secure the
thorough execution of his decree whatever it might
be. Leo, however, though seated in the Pontifical
chair, was too indifferent to all tliat regarded reli-
gion to take any active concern in what he consi-
dered as a mere monkish quarrel. At the instiga-
tion of others, he called upon the Elector of Saxony
to withdraw his protection from Luther, and as a
proof of his obedience to the papal chair, to deliver
the heretical monk to the Cardinal legate Thomas
Cajetan, to whom his Holiness had given the fol-
lowing explicit instructions : — " The Cardinal shall
immediately summon Lutlier, who is to be regarded
as a contirmed heretic, and compel him to appear
before him, and in case of need to call in the assist-
ance of the civil power. When in Rome, he shall
be kept in safe custody, till further orders are given
to bring bim before the Apostolic chair. But if he
shall humble himself, and give true signs of repent-
ance before the Cardinal, and freely and spontane-
ously beg forgiveness, the Cardinal is empowered to
receive him again into tlie boaom of the church.
Should he liowevcr persist in obstinacy, and the le-
gate not succeed in seizing his person, he is com-
manded to declare Iiim, and all who adhere to and
follow him, heretics, excommunicated, and accursed
All the members of the emjiire are connnanded,
under [lain of anathema and interdict, to lend a.'^sist-
ance to the legate, in tlie execution of his commis-
sion."
Luther was forthwith summoned to Rome to
answer to a charge of heresy, but he refused to obey
the sunmions, declaring his readiness, however, to
appear and to defend his cause before pious, impar-
tial, and learned judges in Germany. The univer-
sity of Wittenberg, and others friendly tohirn, inter-
ceded with the Pope, and accordingly the citation to
Rome was changed into a summons to Augsburg,
which Luther declared his intention to obey. Some
kind friends, concerned for the safety of his valuable
life, attempted to dissuade him from his purpose, but
regardless of danger, and confiding in the protection
of heaven, he set out for Augsburg, which he reached
unharmed, and took up his lodgings in an Augustine
convent. He had three interviews with the Cardi-
nal Cajetan, the Pope's legate, at each of which he
used all the arguments he could eonnnand to induce
Luther to renounce his heresies ; but all was una
vailing. Th.at nothing might be left undone to
eflect a settlement of the dispute, Luther addres.'^ed
two letters to the Cardinal, ollering to remain silent
on the controverted points, provided equal silence
were imposed upon his adversaries. But to neither
of his letters did he obtain a reply ; and accordingly,
he quitted Augsburg. The legate complained bit-
terly to the Elector of Luther's sudden departure,
and entreated Frederic either to send Luther to
Rome, or to expel him from his dominions. Find-
ing that the prince, who had so generously thrown
the shield of his protection over him, might now on
his account be brought into collision with the Pope,
he resolved that rather than bring the Elector into
trouble, he would leave his territories, and commit
his way unto the Lord. This determination, how-
ever, was changed, and the Elector rejected the Car-
dinal's proposal to expel him from his dominions.
Notwithstanding the urgent representations of
Cajetan, the Pope took no active steps against Lu-
ther, but contented himself with issuing a general
decree, in which the Papal doctrine respecting indul-
gences was confirmed, and every tenet to the con-
trary was forbidden under pain of excommunication.
Leo finding that Cajetan had failed in accomplishing
the object of his instructions, dispatched a new agent
in the person of Charles John Miltitz, Papal Nuncio
and Privy Councillor, with general instructions to
adopt whatever steps he might consider best fitted to
put an end to the dispute. This papal emissary
arrived in Saxony towards the close of 1518, bringing
with him the Golden Rose, as a present from the
Pope to the Elector Frederic. Miltitz had the saga-
341
LUTHER (MARTIN).
city to perceive that matters were in a very different
state ill Germany from wliat had been represented at
Rome. He soon saw the general popularity of Luther's
cause, and the necessity therefore of adopting con-
ciliatory measures. He solicited a meeting with him
tlierefore at Altenburg. The Elector consented to
tliis arrangement, and Luther appeared on the day
appouited. The nuncio was favourably impressed
with tlie aspect and address of the Reformer, con-
versed with him with tlie utmost apparent candour,
and was seemingly affected even to tears. Luther
declared his readiness to listen to the proposals of
tlie nuncio, and at his suggestion he addressed a let-
ter to Pope Leo, promising to be silent on the sub-
ject of indulgences, if silence were Ukewise imposed
on Ilia adversaries, and declaring that he would
admonisli the people zealously to honour the Roman
cliurch.
Thus the controversy seemed on the point of
being amicably terminated, but an event occurred
almost immediately after, wliicli rendered Luther's
reconciliation with Rome ahiiost hopeless. Dr. Eck,
the author of the Obelisken, had challenged Carl-
stadt to a public disputation on the conJested points
of theology, and in thirteen Theses which he had
written in preparation for the discussion, lie attacked
Luther's declaration on indulgences. Luther op-
posed these by thirteen other Theses, in which he
declared that the assumption of the Church of Rome
to be the head of all other churches is contradicted
by the approved liistories of eleven hundred years,
by the text of tlie Holy Scriptures, and by the reso-
lutions of the council of Nice. A public discussion,
accordingly, was held in Leipsic, between Eck on
tlie one side, and Carlstadt and Luther on the other.
The first week the dispute was between Eck and
Carlstadt on the subject of Free- Will; and on the
second week the discussion was between Eck and
Luther on the primacy of the Pope. In the third
week, Eck again disputed with Luther on repen-
tance, purgatory, indulgences, and the power of the
priesthood to forgive sins. Tlie last three days were
spent in discussions between Eck and Carlstadt.
The universities of Paris and Erfurt were projiosed
and accepted as arbiters in the dispute, but Luther
reserved to himself the power of appeal from the
universities to a council. Li the course of the de-
bate, the Reformer made a concession of which he
afterwards repented, acknowledging tlie Pope as
Lord of the church by human consent. He had
said enough, liowever, to rouse the anger of his op-
ponents, who lost no time in laying before the
Elector of Saxony serious complaints respecting
Luther's heresies. Tliis led to a counter declaration
on the part of Luther and Carlstadt ; and besides,
Luther was called to ]nibHsli a reply to the Francis-
cans, who charged him with liaving written fifteen
heretical propositions. Wliile thus engaged in sharp
contention, and harassed by opposition from many
quarters, tlie heart of the Kefumcr was cheered by
learning that his conduct in the Leipsic disputation
was warmly approved, and that his writings had
been very favourably received both in Italy and
France. The Hussites of Bohemia addressed to him
letters of congi-atulation on the noble stand which he
had made against the corruptions of the church.
Thus encouraged to proceed in the work of Refor-
mation, Luther published several treatises on points
of theology, which attracted great attention, and in-
creased his popularity. Among these may be men-
tioned a Sermon on the Sacrament of the Body and
Blood of our Lord, witli a frontispiece representing
the sacramental cup. In this production the Romish
doctrine of the efficacy of the sacraments ex oprre
ojierato was assailed with great ability, and the neces-
sity of faith on the part of the communicant was
clearly proved from Scripture. In regard to the de
nial of tlie cup to the laity, Luther maintained that the
Bohemian church was guilty of no heresy in admin-
istering the sacrament in both kinds, and that it was
by all means desirable to celebrate the sacrament
exactly as Christ had instituted it when on earth.
The publication of this sermon caused a great sensa-
tion, not only in Saxony, but in various otlier parts
of Germany, and particularly in Bohemia, where il
was the means of adding no fewer than six thousand
persons to the body of the reformed.
Miltitz, the Papal nuncio, was exceedingly anxious
to bring to a satisfactory settlement the dispute be-
tween Luther and the Pope. To effect if possible
this object, he had frequent interviews with the
Reformer, but without success. Towards the end o(
August 1520, the Augustines held a general chapter
in Eisleben, at which the nuncio attended, and pre-
vailed upon them to use their influence with Luther
to induce him to make formal submission to tlie
Pope. A bidl of excommunication was daily ex-
pected from Rome, and more especially as Eck, the
violent enemy of Luther, had proceeded thither a
few months before. The enemies of the Reformei
were unwearied in their attempts to injure him, by
propagating calumnies and misrejirespntations in re-
gard both to his motives and sentiments. To obviate
the evil inthience of these rumours upon the minds
of rulers and men of power, he addressed explanatory
letters to several, and among others to Charles V.,
who had been shortly before chosen Emperor of
Germany.
About this time, Luther publl.shod a Treatise on
Good Works, in which he set forth Faith in contra-
distinction to Works, as the sole ground of man's
justification before God. This of course struck at tlie
root of the Romish doctrine on the subject of justifi-
cation, and placed Luther in an attitude of complete
antagonism to the creed of the church. He was in
duced by Miltitz, however, to take one more step to
bring about a reconciliation, by addressing a lettoi
to the Pope, along with a short Essay which he had
written on Christian T-iborly. His letter to Leo X.
breathed so strong a spirit of iiul('|ioiideiicc, that tli«
LUTHER (Martin).
345
riily rcfliilt wliicli was likely to flow from it was,
thai iimtters must ore long come to a crisis. " Al-
tlioiigli I Iwive been compelled," says the bold and
intrepid Rcrormer, "by some of your uuchristiaii
/latterers, who have utterly without provocation as-
sailed me, to appeal to a free and Christ ian council ;
I have still never suH'ered my mind to be so far
estranged from you, as not froiTi my inmost heart to
have wished the best things for you and the I'apal
chair, and rnaile them the subject of iny earnest daily
prayer to God. I supplicates you. Holy Father I^eo,
ro acaipt my apology, and believe mo to be a man,
who would be far from any attempt to be undutil'nl
towards your person, and be assured that I am rather
filled with the warmest .sentiments of regard and
veneration. To every man I am prepared to give
way in all things, but the word of God I dare neither
abandon nor deny. Yet it is true I have handled
the liomisli court rather roughly, but neither you,
nor any man on earth, can deny it to be viler and
more abominable than ever was Sodom, Gomorrali,
or Uabylon ; and so far as I am perceive, its wicked-
ness is neither to be reformed nor rooted out, but is
practised so shamefully in the face of day, that the
Romish church, in former times so holy, is now be-
come a den filled with every crime, a .«ink of all
iniquity, the metropolis and empire of sin, deatli, and
everlasting destruction. While you, most Holy
Father Leo, sit like a lamb among wolves, and like
Daniel among the lions, or Ezekiel among the scor-
pions, what can you, who are but an individual, do
against such a host of monsters ? And althougb you
might chance to have the coimtenance of three or
four learned and pious Cardinals, what are they
amidst so great a host? Sooner would you fall by
poison, than succeed in checking so vile a pestilence.
Tlie glory of the Pontificate is departed. The wrath
of God is come upon it for ever. Hostile to a gen-
eral council, unwilling to receive correction, or sub-
mit to be reformed ; still a violent unchristian de-
meanour will not prevent the fulfilment of what has
been declared respecting the mother of harlots the
ancient Babylon. 'We would have healed Babylon,
but she is not healed, forsake her.' — Jer. li. There-
fore it has always grieved me. Oh, pious Leo, that
you have become Pope in such a time as this. You
were worthy to have been Pope in better days. The
Romish chair is unworthy of you, the Evil Spirit
should rather be chosen to fill it, for he assuredly
has more influence in Babylon than you."
Before this letter was written, a bull of excommu-
nication against Luther, containing a formal condem-
nation of his writings, had been despatched from
Rome by the hands of Eck, and the language of the
letter just cited was not likely to induce its recall.
The Papal bull met with little encouragement in
Germany, and independently of the nature of the
document, great oflence was taken that the personal
enemy of Luther was chosen as its bearer. The
Reformer now drew up an appeal from the Pope to
a council ; and in a letter to Spalatin, he cayB, " I
despise it, and pull it in pieces as a wicked, lying,
and infamous bull." The people in some places now
began to burn the writings of Luther, and in retuni
he caused the papal decretals to be committed to the
flames in the presence of a crowd of doctors, masters
of arts, and students; and throwing the bull of ex-
comnuinication into the fire with his own hands, he
exclaimed, " Because thou hast grieved the saints of
the Lord, so niayest thou be grieved and condemned
bv the everlasting fire." After this decisive step by
which he openly threw off the Papal yoke, lie pub-
lished a decl.aration vindicating his coiuluct.
Luther now felt as if entirely set at liberty, the
tie which had so long bound him to Rome being
finally and for ever severed. From this time he as-
sumed the attitude of an open and uncompromising
foe of the Pope and all his emissaries. Not that he
was insensible of, or indilVerent to, the danger of hie
position, but he was so firmly impressed with the
belief that the truth of God was on his side, that he
felt no inclination to .shrink from the responsible
work which he had undertaken. He acquired fresh
stimidus by the issuing of a bull from the Pope.
With indefatigable industry he wrote pamphlet after
pamphlet, exposing the errors both in doctrine and
practice of the Clun-ch of Rome. His enemies were
enraged, and such was the madness of their resent-
ment, that had not a special Providence watched
over his valuable life, it would have been sacrificed
without remorse.
About the middle of the year 1520, Luther pub-
lished an address to the Christian nobles of Ger-
many, containing proposals for a comprehensive
reform of the church, and exhibiting a lively por-
traiture of the abuses which in the course of time
had crept into its constitution and government.
When Luther wrote this address, he did not regard
a total breach with the Pope and the church as
necessary, but trusted, or at least hoped, that a com-
plete refoi-mation of abuses might yet be effected.
But on the 3d of January 1521, the Papal bull of ei-
communication against him was repeated, and the pre-
vious conditional sentence was converted into an un-
conditional decree. The young Emperor of Germany,
Charles V., was to preside at the Diet of Worms,
which was at hand, and he requested the Elector ot
Saxony to send Luther thither, promising to have
him examined by wise and learned men, and to per-
mit no injury to befall him. The Elector, however,
in his anxiety to preserve Luther from danger, de-
clined the Emperor's proposal, but at the same time
requested to have the opinion of Luther on the
point. The reply of the Reformer was firm and de-
cided : " If I am summoned," said he, " I will go
even though I must needs be can-ied there in my
bed, for I cannot doubt that the Emperor's call is
hkewise God's call." He received a formal citation
to appear at the Diet, along with an Imperial safe
conduct, and accordinglv, he travelled to Wormn m
'2r.
34fi
LUTHER (Martin).
the beginning of April 1521. Many were the at-
tempts made by his friends to dissuade him from
prosecuting this journey, but remaining proof alike
against the anxiety of his friends, and the threats of
his enemies, he replied, " If they were to make a fire
between Wittenberg and Worms, which would reach
to the heavens, I would still appear in the name of
the Lord, and enter the jaws of Behemoth, and
treading between his great teeth, confess Christ, and
leave him to do all his pleasure;" and when his
anxious friend Spalatin sent a messenger to urge him
not to come to Worms, he answered, " If there were
as many devils in Worms as there are tiles on the
roofs I would still enter it."
Luther reached Worms on the IGth April 1521.
Many of the nobility went to meet him, and as he
entered the city, more than two thousand people
accompanied him to his lodgings. There he was
visited by many persons of gi'eat rank, who admired
his calmness and undaunted courage. The day after
his arrival he was summoned to appear before the
Diet, and having committed himself and his cause to
God in secret prayer, he proceeded to the place of
meeting. As he passed into the hall, many of the
inembers addressed to him words of comfort and en-
couragement. His writings having been produced,
the question was put to him whether he acknow-
ledged them to be his, whereupon Luther immedi-
ately replied in the affirmative. He was next asked
if he would recant their contents, and in reply to
this question he craved time for reflection, and the
Em])eror having granted him a day for consideration,
the assembly broke up. The following day he was
again entreated to recant, but he plainly and firmly
refused to do so, adding that he could not retract his
opinions unless he were convinced of their falsehood ;
nor could he consent to their being tried by any other
rule than the Word of God. Finding the Reformer
inexorable, liis enemies called upon the Emperor to
violate the s<afe-conduct, and thus imitate the con-
duct of the council of Constance in the case of John
IIuss. Charles, however, finiily refused to act so
treacherous a part, and Luther was permitted to
depart in safety. A few days after he left the city,
a severe edict was published in name of the Emperor,
and by authority of the Diet, depriving him of all
the pi'ivileges which rightly belonged to him as a
subject of the empire, forbidding any prince to har-
bour or protect liim, and requiring all to concur in
seizing his person as soon as the term specified in
his safe-conduct was expired.
This Edict of Worms, rigorous though it was, led
to no evil consequences in so far as Luther was con-
cerned. It proved indeed a dead letter. I5ut the
sudden disappearance of the Uefonner occasioned no
small anxiety to his friends, and triumi)b to his
enemies. The Elector of Saxony, who had ever
proved his warm and steady friend, no sooner heard
that be had left Worms, and was in danger of falling
iiito the liands of his enemies, than lio bethought
himself of adopting a prudent precaution to secure
his safety. The plan to which the Elector resorted
is thus described by Dr. Robertson in his History
of the Reign of Charles V. : " As Luther, on his
return from Worms, was passing near Altenstein in
Thuringia, a number of horsemen in masks rushed
suddenly out of a wood, where the Elector had ap-
pointed them to lie in wait for him, and suiTounding
his company, carried him, after dismissing all his
attendants, to Wartburg, a strong castle not far dis-
tant. There the Elector ordered him to be supplied
with every tiling necessary or agreeable, but the
place of his retreat was carefully concealed, until the
fury of the present storm against him began to
abate, upon a change in the political situation of
Europe. In this solitude, where he remained nine
months, and which he frequently called his Patmos,
after the name of that island to which the Apostle
John was banished, he exerted his usual vigour and
industry in defence of his doctrines, or in confutation
of his adversaries, publishing several treatises, which
revived tlie spirit of his followers, astonished to a
gi-eat degree, and disheartened, at the sudden disap-
pearance of their leader."
During his residence in the Wartburg, Luther was
frequently visited with severe attacks of bodily ill-
ness and mental distress. "Believe me," he says, in
a letter to a friend, " I am delivered over to a thou-
sand imps of Satan in this solitude ; and it is much
easier to contend with incarnate fiends, that is,
men, than with spiritual wickedness in high places."
His distresses, however, were not wholly of a per-
sonal nature ; he was deeply concerned for the de-
graded state of the church and clergy. " I sit here
the whole day," he writes to Melancthon, " picturing
to myself the state of the church, and repeating from
the eighty-ninth Psalm, 'Wherefore, 0 Lord, hast
thou made all men in vain?' O Lord God, what a
frightful glass of divine wrath, is the cursed king-
dom of the Roman anticlu-ist, and I curse my hard-
ness of heart, that I am not melted to tears, and my
eyes become fountains of tears, to weep for the de-
struction of my people ; but there is no one who will
arise, and stand in the breach against God, or make
himself as a wall for the house of Israel, in these last
days of divine wrath. Do thou therefore hold out
to the end, as a servant of the Lord, and build up the
walls and towers of Jerusalem, until they attack
thee. Thou knowest thy calling, and thy gifts ; 1
pray for tliee, and for thee alone ; if my prayers,
which indeed I do not doubt, avail aught, do thou
the same for me, and so we will jointly bear the
Ijurden. We alone stood togetlier on the arena, and
they will seek for thee after me."
During his confinement the opinions of Luther
continued to gain ground in almost every city of
Saxony, but more particularly in Wittenberg, where
his doctrines had taken deep root ; and there accord
ingly the first stc]i was taken towards an alteration
in the established forms of worship, by aboUshin^
LUTHER (Mahtin).
347
the celebration of private masses, and by doing away
witli the celebration of tlie communion in only one
kind. Hut to avail ourselves of tlie clear and accu-
rate statements of Dr. Robertson : " Whatever con-
solation the courafje and success of his disciiiles, or
the profjress of bis doctrines in bis own country,
afforded Luther in bis retreat, be there received in-
formation of two events which considerably damped
bis joy, as they seemed to lay insuperable obstacles
in the way of propagating bis principles in the two
most powerful kingdoms of Europe. One was, a
solemn decree, conilemning his opinions, published
by the university of Paris, the most ancient, and, at
that time, the most respectable of the learned socie-
ties in Europe. The other was the answer written
to his book concerning tlie Babylonish captivity by
Henry VHI. of England. That monarch, having
been educated under the eye of a suspicious father,
who, in order to prevent bis attending to business,
kept him occupied in the study of literature, still
retained a greater love of learning, aiKl stronger
habits of application to it, than are connnon among
princes of so active a disposition, and such violent
passions. Being ambitious of acquiring glory of
every kind, as well as zealously attached to the
Romish church, and highly exasperated against Lu-
ther, who had treated Thomas Aquinas, his favourite
author, with great contemjit, Henry did not think it
enough to exert his royal authority in opposing the
opinions of the Reformer, but resolved likewise to
combat them with scholastic weapons. With this
view he published his treatise on the Seven Sacra-
ments, which, though forgotten at present, as books
of controversy always are, when the occasion that
produced them is past, is not destitute of polemical
ingenuity and acutoness, and was represented by the
flattery of bis courtiers to be a work of such wonder-
ful science and learning, as exalted him no less above
other authors in merit, than he was distinguished
among them by his rank. The Pope, to whom it
was presented with the greatest formality in full con-
sistory, spoke of it in such terms, as if it had been
dictated by immediate inspiration ; and, as a testi-
mony of the gratitude of the church for his extraor-
dinary zeal, conferred on him the title of Defender of
the Faith, an appellation which Henry soon forfeited
in the opinion of those from whom he derived it,
and which is still retained by his successors, though
the avowed enemies of those opinions, by contend-
ing for which he merited that honourable distinction.
Luther, who was not overawed, either by the autho-
rity of the university, or the dignity of the monarcli,
soon published his animadversions on both, in a
stv'le no less vehement and severe, than be would
have used in confuting his meanest antagonist. This
indecent boldness, instead of shocking his contem-
poraries, was considered by them as a now proof of
his midaimted spirit. A controversy managed by
disputants so illustrious, drew universal attention ;
»iid such was the contagion of the spirit of innova-
tioti, diffused through Europe in tliat age, and so
powerful the evid(rnce whicli accompanied the doc-
trines of the Reformers on their first publication
that, in spite both of the civil and ecclesiastical
powers combined against them, they daily gained
converts both in France and in England."
The residence of Luther in the solitary castle of
the Wartburg tended more, perha|is, than almost
any other event of his history, to mature bis viewn
as to the nature and extent of the reforms which the
condition of the Romish church required. ]t was in
this retirement also that he commenced the greatest
and the most useful of all his works — the translation
of the Bible into the German language. In his Rat-
mos, as he was wont to call it, be actually finished
the New Testament. But though thus usefully em-
ployed, the bold and restless spirit of the Reformer
longed to be at liberty, and to return to active duty.
This wish became all the stronger when he learned
the unhappy excesses to which the Anabaptists or
new prophets, as they called themselves, were push-
ing bis doctrines respecting go.spel liberty. In their
extravagant enthusiasm, these men were busily pro-
pagating the notion that Luther's attempt at refor-
mation was neither suf!iciently extensive nor radical.
They rejected infant baptism, and boasted of being
favoured with immediate revelations from heaven.
Under the influence of fanatical zeal, they were ex
citing tumults, and had succeeded in gabiing over to
their side Luther's old friend and colleague Carl-
stadt.
The excesses and disorders introduced by the
Anabaptists were far from being favourable to the
progress of the Reformed cause, and Luther's fears
were strongly aroused lest, 0)i the contrary, the work
which he had so much at heart might be thereby
seriously imperilled. Unable, therefore, any longer
to endure the solitariness of his retreat, he left Wart-
burg on the 3d of March 1522, resolved to take his
place onee more in the arena of active warfare. The
return of the intrepid German monk excited the
greatest rejoicings in Wittenberg, and produced an
immediate restoration of tranquillity. He addressed
a letter to the Elector, explaining the reasons of his
return, and without delay set himself to an exposure
of the Zwickau prophets, and the extravagancies of
Carlstadt. Nor were his attempts to allay the tu-
mults of the public mind wholly unsuccessful; by
his means peace and order were restored at Witten-
berg.
Leo X., who had long and ably filled the papal
chair, died on the 1st of December 1521, and bis
successor Adrian VI., who professed a strong desire
to bring about a reformation of the church, awakened
such bitter feelings of enmity against himself in
Rome, that his death, which occurred in September
1523, has been attributed to poison. The pontifical
chair was next occupied by Clement VII., who was
devoted to the French party, and to some extent
favourable to the Reformation. In the meantime.
d48
LUTHER (Martin).
Luther and his fellow-hibourers, especially Melanc-
tlioii, were scatteriiiL; the seed of the new doctrine in
all directions, and in a short time reformed principles
pervaded the whole Electorate of Saxony. A new
Elector succeeded to the government in 1525, and
under his autliority, Luther was permitted to intro-
duce the new and simple mode of worship in the
chapel of the castle at Wittenberg. The Reforma-
tion now began to exercise its due practical influ-
ence. The cloisters in various places were abandoned
by the monks and nuns. In 1523, Luther mentions,
hi a letter to Spalatin, the escape of nine nuns from
their convents, among whom he mentions the name
of Catharine von Bora, who afterwards became his
wife.
The estates of Grermany assembled in Diet at Nu-
remberg in 1524, and declared their desire to com-
ply with the edict of Worms, as far as possible, at
the same time urging the necessity for a general
council. Towards the end of the following year, a
new Diet was held at Augsburg, and afterwards re-
moved to Spires. The object of this Diet was declar-
ed by the emperor to be the extirpation of the Lu-
theran heresy, and the execution of the edict of
Worms. Such was the opposition, however, ofl'ered
by the evangelical princes, that the Niii-emberg de-
cree alone was renewed in Augsburg, and the estates
were recommended to take steps for having the Word
of God, according to the true meaning and doctrine
of the Universal Church, taught throughout their
lands without innovation or tumult.
In the Diet at Spires, which was a prolongation of
that at Augsburg, the reform party so tar prevailed,
that the emperor's demand for the enforcement of
the edict of Worms was rejected ; and the resolu-
tion was adopted to send an embassy to the emperor,
requesting him to come to Germany and call a coun-
cil, and that, in the meantime, each government
was to conduct the affairs of religion as they could
answer to God and the emperor. In 1529, a Diet
was held at Spires, when it was decided by a ma-
jority that he should once more be requested to sum-
mon witliin a year either a general council or a na-
tional synod, and himself to preside. Those states
of the empire, which had hitherto obeyed the edict
of Worms, were enjoined to persevere in the obser-
vation of it, and the other states were prohibited
from attempting any further innovations in religion,
particularly from abolishing the mass before the
meeting of a general council. The favourers of the
new doctrine entered a solemn protest against this
decree, as unjust and impious. From this circum-
stance they received the name of Protectants. " Not
.satisfied with this declaration of their dissent," says
Robertson, " from the decree of the Diet, the Pro-
testants sent ambassadors into Italy, to lay their
grievances before the enqieror, from whom they met
with the most discoura'.'ing reception. Charles was
Ht that time in close uniim with tlic Pope, and soli-
citoui to attach him inviolably to his interest. Dur-
ing their long residence at Bologna, they held manj
constiltations concerning the most eti'ectual means oi
extirpating the heresies which had sprung up in Ger-
many. Clement, whose cautious and timid mind the
proposal of a general council filled with horror, even
beyond what Popes, the constant enemies of such
assemblies, usually feel, employed every argument
to dissuade the emperor from consenting to that
measure. He represented general councils as fac-
tious, ungovernable, presumptuous, formidable to
civil authority, and too slow in their operations to
remedy disorders wliich required an immediate cure.
Experience, he said, had now taught both the em-
peror and himself, that forbearance and lenity, in-
stead of soothing the spirit of innovation, had ren-
dered it more enterprising and presumptuous ; it
was necessary, therefore, to have recourse to the
rigorous methods which such a desperate case re-
quired ; Leo's sentence of excommunication, toge-
ther with the decree of the Diet at Worms, was to
be carried into execution, and it was incumbent on
the emperor to employ his whole power, in order to
overawe those on whom the reverence due either to
ecclesiastical or civil authority had no longer any
influence. Charles, whose views were veiy dift'er-
ent from the Pope's, and who became daily more
sensible how obstinate and deep-rooted the evil was,
thought of reconciling the Protestants by means less
violent, and considered the convocation of a council
as no improper expedient for that purpose ; but pro-
mised, if gentler arts failed of success, that then he
would exert himself with rigour to reduce to the obe-
dience of the Holy See those stubborn enemies of
the Catholic faith."
The emperor caused himself to be crowned by
the Pope in 1529, and summoned a Diet to be held
the following year at Augsburg. The Reformation
had already obtained many su]iporfers, and various
petty princes of the German states had declared
themselves its decided partizans. It had found its
way also into Denmark and Sweden. In Switzer-
land (see Helvetic Reformed Churches), under
the guidance of Zwingli, it had, before this time,
made very extensive progress. The Smss and Ger-
man Reformers, however, differed widely from each
other on the subject of the presence of Christ in the
Lord's Supper. Several attempts were made, but in
vain, by private individuals, to reconcile the two
parties, but the landgrave, Philip of Hesse, influenced
by political motives, proposed a religious conference
to be held at Jlarburg between Luther and Zwingli.
The discussion, accordingly, took )ilace, and while
both parties, as is usual in such cases, claimed the
victory, articles were drawn up and published, in
wliich the Swiss conformed generally to the Lutheran
views, excepting on the subject of the sacrament.
The man who, more than any otlier, had influenced
the mind of Zwingli, was Erasmus, who had doiif
enough in the cause of the Reformation to irritaiM
and oll'end the partizans of Rome, but was too timid
LUTHER (Mautin).
34»
to appreciate the warm and impaHsioned zeal of Lu-
tlior. Tlic«e two men, each ilistitif^uislicd in liis own
spliorc, were, nevertlielcHs, widely dilFcrciit from each
other. D'Aiihigii(5 justly says, " Erasmus and Lu-
ther are tlie representatives of two great ideas rela-
tive to a Kefonnation, — of two great parties in their
age and in all ages. The one class are men of a
timid prndence; the other those of active courage
and re.'-olution. These two great bodies of men ex-
isted at this period, and they were personified in
those two illustrious heads. The former thought that
the cultivation of theological science would lead gra-
dually and without violence to the Kcforrnation of
the Church. The more active class thought that
the spread of more correct ideas among the learned
would not put an end to the gross superstitions of
the people, and that to reform such or such an abuse
was of little importance, so long as the life of the
Church was not thoroughly renovated." The same
eloquent writer well depicts tlie character of Eras-
nnis : " Erasmus was dcHcient in courage. But
courage is as necessary to ell'eet a reformation as to
capture a city. There was much timidity in his
character. From his youth he trembled at the men-
tion of death. He took the most extraordinary care
of his health. He would avoid, at any .sacrilice, a
place where contagion prevailed. His relish for the
comforts of life surpassed even his vanity, and this
was his reason for declining more than one brilliant
offer. Thus it was that he did not preteiul to the part
of a Reformer. ' If the corrui)ted morals of the court
of Rome reipiire a great and speedy remedy,' said
he, ' it is not for me, or such as me, to effect it.' He
had none of that strength of faith which animated
Luther. Whilst the latter was ever ready to lay
down his life for the truth, Erasmus, with great in-
genuousness, could say, ' Let others affect martyrdom ;
for my part, I think myself unworthy of that hon-
our. I fear, if a tumult arose, I should be like Peter
in his fall.'
" Erasmus, by his writings and his discourses, had,
more than any other person, hastened the Reforma-
tion ; and yet he trembled when he saw tlie tempest
he had raised approaching. He would have given
every thing to restore the former calm, even with
its heavy vapours. But it was too late, — the dam
was broken down. It was no longer possible to stay
the violence of the torrent that was at once to cleanse
and fertilise the world. Erasmus was powerful, so
long as he was an instrument in God's hands. When
he ceased to be that, he was nothing." No wonder
that Luther wrote concerning him : " I fear he fol-
lows Christ with a divided heart, and is ignorant of
the grace of God. Carnal feelings are stronger in
him than siiiritual influences. Though reluctant to
judge him, I still feel it my duty to warn you, not to
read and receive all without due discrimination. For
these are dangerous times ; and I clearly see that a
man is not necessarily a good Christian, because he
is a good Greek or Hebrew scholar. But I anxiously
keep this opinion secret, lest I Hhould encourage hii
enemies. The Lord may, pcradveiiture, reveal him-
self to him in bis own time." Erasmus continued
to halt between two opirjions, to the great annoy-
ance of Luther, and at length showed himself the
enemy of the Reformation, although at an earlier
period of his life he had powerfully contributed to
its triumph.
Luther had quitted the monastery, and laid aside
the monk's cowl towards the end of the year 1524,
and in June of the following year, he married Ca-
therine de Bora, one of the nuns, to whom we have
already referred, as having with his assistance escaped
from the convent of Nimptschen. As a Imsband
aiul a father Luther was most exemplary, and in his
domestic relations he was blessed with much happi-
ness.
The far-famed Diet of Augsburg was held in 1530,
and although it was not deemed safe or expedient
that the Reformer sliould be present in person, his
protector, the elector of Saxony, having been spe-
cially urged by the emperor to attend, proceeded
thither with a numerous retinue. The emperor en-
tered the city on the evening of the 15th June, be-
ing the day preceding the festival of Corpus Christi.
The Protestants received an imperial command to
join the religious procession on the following day,
but they firndy refused to comply. The Diet was
opened on the 20th with the saying of mass, in
which the evangelical princes would take no share.
At the commencement of the business, four electors
and forty princes were present. The Romish party
declined making any declaration of their faith, and
avowed their intention to abide by the edict of
Worms. The Protestants were ordered by the em
peror to produce the articles of their creed against a
certain day. These had been drawn up by Melanc-
thon, and submitted to the examination of Luther,
who had declared bis unqualitied approbation of
them as a faithful exhibition of Protestant doctriive.
On the appointed day this Confession of Faith was
read, and produced a very favourable impression, and
after some discussion, it was agreed to submit the
Confession, in the first instance, to the examination
of the Romish divines, and to await their answer.
In the course of a few days they handed in a refuta-
tion of the Protestant Confession, but it was couched
in language so bitter and reproachfid, that the em-
peror refused to accept it, and ordered it to be drawn
up anew. The second document penned by the
Romish divines was produced and read in less than
a month after the rejection of the first ; and the em-
jieror expressed himself so pleased with this revised
refutation, that be insisted that the elector and his
adherents should immediately and unceremoniously
adopt and abide by it. This request, however,
though accompanied with threats, had no effect in
subduing the lirmness of the Protestant party. Me-
lanctbon immediately commenced a detailed refuta
tion of the Reply which had been made to the Pr«»-
350
LUTHER (Martin).
testant Confession, and tliis able Apology for tlie
Augsburg Confession (which see), is inserted
among tlie symbolical books of the Lutheran Church.
Various attempts were made by the emperor to
bring about an adjustment of the diflerences between
the two parties, but these attempts were wholly un-
successful, and the Protestants demanded a general
council. The Diet had sat for six montlis, and the
emperor was impatient to bring its proceedings to a
close. He inveighed against, and even threatened
the elector of Saxony, but the good man was inflexi-
ble, and left Augsburg indignant at the conduct of
his imperial majesty. The Diet still continued its
sittings, after several of the Protestant members liad
left, and at length, on the 19th of November, published
a resolution, which in plain teiTns condemned the
doctrines and regulations of the Protestants ; com-
manded whatever had been altered to be restored to
its former state ; and further determined that the
emperor and the estates should risk their lives and
influence in protection of the ancient constitution of
the church, and summon the refractory before the
supreme court of judicature. At the same time a
promise was given that a council should be sum-
moned within six months. Throughout the impor-
tant proceedings of the Diet of Augsburg, Luther
was residing at Cobourg, watching the course of
events, and carrying on an active correspondence
with the elector of Saxony, Melancthon, and others,
who were present at the Diet as guardians of tlie
Protestant interest. In his letters to Melancthon,
he evinces the warmest regard for the man, but de-
clares his decided disapproval of the attempts at
compromise with the Romanists, perceiving, as he
did, that the opposition both in principle and spirit
between the two parties was too great to expect any-
thing like a solid reconciliation. We learn from
Pfizer that " Luther had drawn up during the Diet,
a regular statement respecting the disputed points ;
marking out how far concession could, or ought to
be carried : declaring first, that if the opposite party
persisted, as hitherto, in refusing all compliance,
there was no possibility of treating with them at all ;
but, as the emperor bad desired to know in how far
the Protestants could concede, he would go through
the individual points : — First, as regarded their doc-
trine, which their opponents had in no ways been
able to invalidate, they could yield nothing ; but
were ready to atl'ord explanation of individual ex-
pressions respecting faith as the sole ground of jus-
tification, and respecting satisfaction, and merit. In
the Article respecting abuses, the sentiment that the
withholding the cup from the laity might be regarded
M indifferent, could not be agreed to ; neither could
they at all consent, that marriage should be prohi-
bited to any order of society : and equally inadmis-
sible was the re-establishment of private masses,
und the canon law. With regard to the monaste-
ries, it might be conceded, tliat the present inmates
»hould continue to enjoy the bcnelit they alYord,
but without adhering to the celebration of the miiss
or other rules of their order; and alluding to the
jurisdiction of the bishops, ]ie declared thus: 'As-
suredly, if they will sutler our doctrine, and cease to
persecute it, we will in no ways interfere with their
jurisdiction or dignity, or what you may please to
term it ; for we, assuredly, do not desire to be either
bishops or cardinals, but only good Christians, who
are, and should be poor.'"
Though absent from the Augsburg Diet, Luther,
by his letters to the chief members, was the con-
trolling spirit of the Protestant party in that ce-
lebrated assembly. With the half measures of
Melancthon he was much dissatisfied, and only
on one point did he agree with his concessions —
the continuation of the papal power as a human
establishment. On this point alone did the stern
German Reformer appear ready to enter into a com-
promise. In all other matters the beneficial in-
fluence of bis masculine mind was seen in the deter-
mined perseverance which the elector and the other
Protestants manifested pending the negotiation, as
well as in afterwards opposing the demands and
threats of the emperor.
A political ari'angement was about this time entered
into by Charles V. which it was feared would prove
seriously detrimental to the interests of Protestant-
ism. Tliis was the nomination of his brother Ferdi-
nand to be chosen as his successor ; and that prince,
who had been previously invested with the govern-
ment of the German hereditary states and duchy of
Wirtemberg, being well known to be decidedly hos-
tile to the new opinions, his proposed exaltation to
the imperial throne was viewed by the Protestant
princes and people with the utmost anxiety and
alarm. Steps were immediately taken to effect a
closer union among them.selves, and for this purpose
a treaty of defensive alliance was entered into at
Smalcald on the 29th March 1531, the provisions of
the treaty having been drawn up by Luther. (See
Articles op Smalcald.) When the treaty was
subscribed by the Protestants, Melancthon still
maintaiued his former sentiments, which were now
renounced by Luther, as to the lawfulness of a Pope,
provided he rested his claims solely on expediency
and the consent of the church. An article embody-
ing the opinions of Melancthon on this point was
appended to the Articles.
The league of Smalcald, though at first limited to
Protestant electors, princes, and states, was after-
wards extended so as to include those who, what-
ever might be their religious sentiments, were op-
posed to tlie Emperor, and protested against the
election of Ferdinand. In this view it was joined
by the dukes of Bavaria, and also by the kings of
France and England. ]{y this accession to their
political .strength, the Protestants were enabled to
occupy a high vantage ground in their negotiations
with tlie Emperor for peace. Tliese negotiations led
at length to the treaty of Nuremberg, wliicli wnt
MJTHICR (Martin).
361
finally ratifiod at the Diet of Itati.sbon in I.'j.'i2. The
conditions were, that none should commence hostili-
ties on account of their belief, or any other cause;
but in case of violence bein,i< olTered, they should
render mutual assistance, and all should conduct
themselves with true Christian love till the next
council should meet. A diliiculty, however, aro.se
as to the interpretation of the conditions, whether
they applied to all who should hereafter subscribe
the Augsburi; Confession, or nnist be limited to such
as now professed its tenets. The Protestant depu-
ties at first insisted on the extended interjjretation ;
but the Elector, persuaded by Ijuther, insisted on
the limited view of the treaty, while, contrary to the
advice of Luther, he persevered in his opposition to
the election of Ferdinand.
None of the deputies at first approved of the con-
ditions of peace, and more especially the Landgrave
of Hesse insisted on those being included who might
subsequently express a wish to join their league.
He wrote a letter to the Elector censuring him in
strong langu.age for separating from the rest of the
Protestant party. In the inc.'intimc the good Elec-
tor died, anil his succes.sor John Frederic, surnamed
the Generous, replied to the letter of the Landgrave
with considerable rudeness, and proposed to settle
their disputes by arbitration. The arbiters advised
a mutual reconciliation, and as all the other Protes-
tants were of the same opinion, the Landgrave had
no other alternative but to accejit tlie terms of peace.
Pope Clement VH. died in 1.534, but his succes-
sor Paul HL continued the negotiations about the
long-expected council. With this view he dispatched
his own ambassador, Paul Vergerius, to hold an in-
terview with Luther. The interview took place, and
a council was proposed to be held under the autho-
rity of the Pope at Mantua. The Elector, however,
and the Smalcald confederates refused to assent to
the proposed council, and resolved to raise a formi-
dable army. But the Pope summoned the council
to meet at Mantua in May 1537 ; and one object of
its being assembled was stated to be, the entire root-
ing up of the poisonous and pestilential Lutheran
heresy. After such a declaration, the Protestants
could expect no justice in such a council, and they,
therefore, refused to countenance or attend it. Dur-
ing this time, Luther drew up the Articles of Smal-
cald, which were afterwards received among the
symbolical writings of the Lutherans. The Protes-
tant confederacy was every day receiving fresh
accessions to its members, and the Romanists in
1538 formed a defensive league, called the holy
league for the preservation of the holy religion.
This movement on the part of their opponents led
the Protestants to renew the league of Smalcald till
the year 1547.
The policy of the Emperor in regard to the Pro-
testants seemed to have now assumed a peaceful
tendencv, and with the view of bringing about, if
possible, a common understanding on religious mat-
ters, he proposed a conference to be held at Spires in
June 1540. It took placehowevcratHagenau, Spires
being at that time visited with the plague; but
neither the chiefs of the Protestant confederacy, noi
the master spirits of the Kefornjation were present,
Melaticthon being ill, and Luther having no inclina
tion to enter into negotiations of peace with Uonie
'1 he meeting was fruitless, and tlie discussion was
adjourned for some months. It was renewed in
January 1541, but after a controversy for four days
on Original Sin, an order arrived from the Emperor
to terminate the proceedings, and defer any further
steps till the Diet of Katisbon, which was near at
band. At this Diet rapid a]]proaches were made
towards a settlement, and in thirteen days four Arti-
cles had been agreed upon, but at this stage the con-
ference was abandoned.
A deputation, with the knowledge and concurrence
of the Emperor, now waited upon Luther, and urged
upon him the necessity of his being satisfied with
the adoption of the doctrine of justification by faith
on the part of the Diet of Katisbon, at the same time
assiu'ing him of their earnest hope that the other
abuses would of themselves disappear when this
fundanient.al article was once established. To this
representation, Luther replied, that while he was
gratified to learn that the four articles had been
finally settled, he finuly bebeved that unless the
Emperor could bring their o])ponents to a serious and
honest arrangement on all the other points inclu ed
in the Augsburg Confession, the whole attempt at a
reconciliation between the Protestants and Roman-
ists would be in vain. This determination to adhere
strictly to the Confession, was declared by the
Elector of Saxony to the other princes of the Diet,
and he declined at the s.ime time to .sanction the
Four Articles. Thus the whole fruit of the negotia-
tions was destroyed.
At the next Diet at Spires in 1542, the Pro-
testants took a more decided position. The Elec-
tor of Saxony charged his ambassador to enter
into no negotiations for a settlement in religion, and
to consent to no council summoned by the Pope, nor
show him any mark of honour. Trent was proposed
as the place of meeting, and meanwhile peace was
guaranteed for five years. The Romish party ac-
cepted the proposal of the Pope to hold a council at
Trent, but the Protestants handed in a written pro-
test against it. The Emperor held a new Diet at
Ratisbon in regard to the afl'airs of the church, but
after an angiy discussion it was broken off without
any result. The council met at Trent in 1545, with-
out the slightest countenance from the Protestants,
and drew up a lengthened series of canons and de-
crees, which, along with the creed of Pope Pius IV.
founded on them, forms a very imijortant part of the
symbolical books of the Church of Rome.
The days of the Great Reformer were now near a
close. On the 23d January 1546, he left Witten-
berg for Eisleben, to use his influence in procuring
352
LUTHERAN CHURCHES.
ail amicable ari'angemeiit between the dukes of Mans-
feld, who had quarrelled about some property. He
had only been about three weeks in this place, where
he had been born and baptized, when, after a very
brief illness, he was summoned to his eternal reward
on the 18th February 1546. At the special request
of the Elector of Saxony, the body of Luther was
removed to Wittenberg, and buried in the castle
chapel; and the Elector took under his care the
widow and family.
Thus terminated the useful career of one of the
greatest and noblest heroes this world has ever seen,
one who manfully defended the rights of conscience,
asserted the grand principles of civil and religious
liberty, contended earnestly for the faith once deli-
vered to the saints, and one of whom it may well be
said, many generations have arisen, and are yet
destined to arise, who shall call him blessed.
LUTHERAN CHURCHES. After the death
of Luther, a religious war broke out in Germany.
The Emperor Charles V. saw that all his attempts
to produce a reconciliation of the Protestants and
Romanists were utterly fruitless, and that the asso-
ciates of the Smalcald League persevered in refusing
to acknowledge the council of Trent ; he resolved,
therefore, as a last resource, to have recourse to
arras. In a short time he was so successful that he
issued an imperial edict, which is generally known by
the name of the Augsburg Interim, granting certain
seeming concessions to the Protestants until a coun-
cil slioiUd be called for a settlement of the contro-
versy. This edict led to the preparation of an
Interim, which though it proved satisfactory to nei-
ther party, was drawn up chiefly by Philip Melanc-
thon, who succeeded Luther as the head and leader
of the Lutheran party. It was designed to point
out the Adiaphora or things indifi'erent, which might
be admitted to please the Emperor, and at his com-
mand. As soon as this document was promulgated,
Maurice, Elector of Saxony, appointed a conference
of the divines of Wittenberg and Leipsic in the lat-
ter city, with Melancthon at their bead, in order to
ascertain liow far in their opinion the Interim ought
to be enforced. After long deliberation, they came
to the conclusion, that in things inditVerent obedience
ought to be rendered to the imperial edict. This
ambiguous conclusion was arrived at chiefly through
the influence of Melancthon. Hence arose the
Adiaphoristic controversy, which raged in Germany
for many years ; and which gave rise to other and
perhaps more imjjortant controversies. Among the
chief of these was a contest, which lasted for some
time, respecting the necessity of good works to sal-
vation. Major, a divine of Wittenberg, adopting
the views of Melancthon, maintained the aflirmative,
while Nicholas Ainsdorf, defending the old Lutheran
theology, maintained the negative. The discussion
wag carrieil on until 1.079, when it was terminated
by the publication of the Book of Torgau or Form of
Concord.
Anotlier controversy which arose out of the dif-
ferences in opinion between Melancthon and Luther,
is commonly known by the name of the Synergistic
controversy, which discusses the question whether or
not man co-operates with God in the work of con-
version. The leading parties in this dispute were
Victorin Strigel on the one side, and Matthias Fla-
cius on the other. The latter, who was appointed
Professor of Theology at Jena in 1557, was a stern
and uncompromising defender of the opinions of
Luther, more especially on those points in which he
was opposed to Melancthon and his followers, the
Philippists, as they were called. But in the excess
of his zeal, Flacius argued so intemperately against
Strigel in the Synergistic controversy, that he
broached the strange opinion bordering on Mani-
cheism, that original sin is of the very subst.'ince of
a man. This notion was keenly opposed by the
great majority of the divines of the Lutheran church,
while it was espoused and ably defended by a few.
Another class of controversies which agitated the
Lutheran church, soon after the death of its illus-
trious founder, rose out of the heretical views pro-
pagated by Andrew Osiander. This man held the
singular notion that the second Person of the Trinity
was that image of God after which man was fashion-
ed ; that the Son of God would have become incar-
nate even although man had not sinned ; and that
repentance consisted in abhorrence of sin and forsak-
ing it, without faith in the gospel. He confounded
justification and sanctification, alleging the former to
be not a forensic act on the part of God, acquitting
the believer from a charge of shi and liability lo
punishment, but a gracious Divine operation in the
soul, which conferred personal holiness. Justifica-
tion in the eye of law, through the imputed righ-
teousness of Christ, he denominated redemption, and
this he supposed always preceded what he called jus-
tification. The mode of justification was in his view
by the indwelling of Christ in the soul, producing
there a moral change. These confused sentiments
held by Osiander were strenuously opposed by Me-
lancthon and the principal divines of the Lutheran
church ; and after his death, which happened in
1552, the controversy came to an end.
One of the keenest opponents of Osiander was
Francis Stancar, professor of Hebrew at Konigsberg,
who, in arguing against the doctrines held by his
colleague, fell into equally fiagrant errors of au op-
posite kind. He maintained that the divine nature
of Christ took no jiart in the work of man's redemp-
tion, and that it was his human nature alone which
made the atonement. So violently were the opinions
of Stancar controverted by the Lutheran theologians,
tliat he deemed it prudent to leave Germany and re-
tire to Poland, where he died in 1574.
It was cliiefly during the life of Melancthon that
these different disjiutes agitated the Lutheran chuivli.
On the death, however, of this timid and somewhat
undecided Reformer, a prospect was opened up ol
LUTHERAN CHURCHES
363
n end being put to tliese unseemly eoiilest.s. A
L'onCei'enco was held acconiiiif^ly at Altenljurg in
I5(;H, but unliap]>ily it was attended witli no good
results. Another mode was now a<loiited, and with
better success, tor healing the divisions of the Lu-
theran church, namely, the preparation of a liook in
which all the various controversies which had arisen
since the death of Luther should be fully and satis-
factorily liaTidled. This task was committed to
Andreas, a Professor at Tubingen, who produced in
1579 the Book of Torgau or Form of Concord. (See
Concord, Form oi^) Through the influence of the
Elector of Saxony, this new Confession was adopted
by the churches in all parts of his territories, and
the example was followed gradually in other districts
of Germany. Several Lutheran churches, however,
refused to acknowledge this docnment, and Frederic
IL of Denmark, on receiving a copy of it. Hung it
unceremoniously into tlie lire. Never did a for-
nuila, which was designed to heal dissensions, tend
more etlectually to foment them ; aiul accordingly,
It has never been universally adopted by the IjU-
theran churches, though some regard it as one of the
Btaridards of their faith. This Fornuila put an end
to all prospect of union between the Lutheran and
Refonned churches, who only differed from each
Dther at that time on tlie presence of Christ in the
Lord's Supper, and on the Person of Chri.st. In re-
gard to the first point, the Tjutheran church main-
tained firndy the opinions of Luther, who rejected
the Romish dogma of Transubstautiation, but held
the almost equally unintelligible dogma of Consub-
Btantiation. The doctrine relating to the Person of
Christ, however, was not viewed in the same way by
M the Lutheran divines. Luther never maintained
(hat the man Christ Jesus was always and every-
where present, but merely that he could be present
whenever the execution of his mediatorial office and
the fullihuent of his promise required, and of course
at the celebration of the Lord's Supper. In this
view he was followed by the divines of Upper and
Lower Saxony. But tlie theologians of Swabia and
Alsace maintained the absolute omnipresence of
Christ's human nature ; and this view of the subject
was embodied in the Form of Concord, though not
to the entire exclusion of that held by Luther. Thus
the points of controversy between the Lutheran and
Reformed churches were increased, and their hostil-
ity to each other was rendered more bitter by the
publication of the very document which professed to
promote their union.
The prosperity of the Lutheran chitfch in Ger-
many was not a little affected by the secession, first
of Maurice, landgrave of Hesse, and then, of John
Sigismund, elector of Brandenburg, both of whom
went over to the Reformed communion. The con-
tentions of the two churches excited an earnest de-
sire in the minds of many excellent men on both
sides, to look about for some means of bringing about
a union. The first public attempt to accomplish
this most desirable object was that of James I.,
king of England, who for this purjiose made use of
I'eter du Moulin, a distinguished divine of the
Frencli Reformed Church. The next was the decree
of the synod of Charenlon A. D. IC.'il. In the same
year certain Saxon theologians held a conference at
Leipsic with certain Hessian and Brandenburg di-
vines. The discussion included all the articles of
the Augsburg Confession, to which the Reformed
were ready to subscribe, and they even drew up a
fonnula of union, but such was the feeling of jca-
lous\- which arose in the minds of both parties, that
the disputants separated without accomplishing any-
thing. And another conference haviirg the same ob
ject in view, was held at Thorn in 1G45, umler thi
auspices of Uladislaus IV., king of Poland, which wat
likewise unsuccessful, more especially as it sought to
comprehend in the proposed imion, not only the
Lutheran and Reformed churches, but the Romish
church also. With more success a conference was
held at Cassel in IGGl, but though a friendly spirit
was manifested by the disputants themselve.s, it
failed to extend itself to the two rival Protestant
churches. Various individuals on both sides made
strenuous and persevering efforts to bring about a
reconciliation, but in vain. The polemical spirit,
and dogmatic exclusiveness of the seventeenth cen-
tury, defeated all attempts to realize the unity ol
evangelical Protestantism. In the eighteenth cen-
tury, particularly tlie latter part of it, the controversy
between the Lutherans and the Reformed was com-
pletely lost sight of in the fiood of indifferentism
and infidelity which overran the whole Continent of
Europe. The elTorts winch have been made to
wards a union during the first half of the nineteenth
century have been already noticed in the article
German United Evangei-icai, Church.
Lutheranism is the prevailing fonn of the Pro-
testant faith in Saxony, Prussia, Wirtemberg, Han-
over, and great part of Northern Gennany, as well
as in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. There are
also Lutheran churches in Holland, Russia, Po-
land, Hungary, and the United States of America,
but of all the Protestant universities in Gennany
and Switzerland, veiy few are Lutheran. The sym-
bolical books of the Lutheran church are the Augs-
burg Confession, with Jlelancthon's Apologj', the
articles of Smalcald and the Larger and Smaller
Catechisms. These standards, however, are regard-
ed as strictly subordinate to the Holy Scriptures,
which are declared by Lutherans to be the only rule
of faith and practice. The only point of importance
in which they differ from tlie Reformed is the rejil
presence of Christ in the eucharist.
The constitution of the Lutheran church IB sim-
ple, and approaches very nearly to Preshyterianisni,
there being no hierarchy, and bishops not being re-
cognized, except in Denmark and Sweden, as an or-
der in the church. The archbishop of Upsal, who
is primate of Sweden, is the only Lutheran arch-
354
LUTHERANS (Old).
bishop. Lutherans acknowledge the head of the
Btate as the supreme visilile ruler of the church.
The supreme direction of ecclesiastical affaii-s is vest-
ed in councils or boards generally appointed by the
sovereign, and termed consistories, consisting of both
clergymen and la^nnen. The Lutheran established
churches are usually interwoven with the state, and
entirely dependent on it, and are almost destitute of
disciphne, while in some places, as in Sweden, they
altogether exclude dissent. "The congregations,"
says Dr. Schaii', " remained almost as passive as in
the Roman church. They have in Europe not even
the right of electing their pastor. They are exclu-
sively ruled by their ministers, as these are ruled by
their provincial consistories, always presided over by
a layman, the provincial consistories by a central
consistoiy, or oherkirchenrath, and this agam by the
minister of worship and public instruction, who is
the immediate executive organ of the ecclesiastical
supremacy of the crown."
Various liturgies are in use among the Lutheran
churches, each state generally having one of its own.
Festivals or saints' days are seldom much attended
to. The festivals which commemorate the nativity,
death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord, and
the day of Pentecost, are deemed sacred in the Lu-
theran churches. In regard to rites and ceremo-
nies, the Lutherans, in opposition to the Reformed,
hold the lawfulness, if not the usefulness, of images
in churches, the distinguishing vestments of the
clergy, the private confession of sins, the use of
wafers in the administration of the Lord's Supper,
the form of exorcism in the celebration of baptism,
and other ceremonies of the same kind. They have
removed, however, the sacrifice of the mass, and the
idolatrous invocation of saints, while they have po-
pularized the services of public worship, by cele-
brating tliem in the vernacular language, and giving
to the sermon a central and conspicuous place.
The modern Lutherans have widely departed in
theological doctrine from their great founder ; and in-
stead of insisting, as he did, on justification by faith
alone, as the grand article of a standing or a falHng
church, they have degenerated, in too many cases, in-
to a cold Arminianism. It was not long, indeed, after
the death of Luther, before his sim|)le theology gave
place to a system of obscure metaphysical theories.
Among these may be mentioned the doctrines of the
Syncuetists or Calixtins (wliich see). In oppo-
sition to these mystical philosophical divines arose
the school of the Pietists, headed by Sponer, which,
amid much extravagance it may be, were, neverthe-
less, instrumental in reviving vital religion in Ger-
many towards the end of tlie seventeenth and be-
ginning of the eighteenth centuries. The Lutherans
have since that time had to struggle with infidelity,
rationalism, and utter indifi'erence to all religion.
The present state of practical ])iety among the Ger-
man Lutherans is thus noticed by Dr. SchalT: " Lu-
theran picly has its peculiar charm, the charm of
Maiy, who ' sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word.' Ii
it is deficient in outward activity and practical zeal,
and may leam much in this respect from the Re-
formed communion, it makes up for it by a rich in-
ward life. It excels in honesty, kindness, afiection,
cheerfulness, and that GemuthlidJceit, for which other
nations have not even a name. The Lutheran
church meditated over the deepest mysteries of divine
grace, and brought to light many treasures of know-
ledge from the mines of revelation. She can point
to an unbroken succession of learned divines, who
devoted their whole life to the investigation of sav-
ing truth. She numbers her mystics who bathed in
the ocean of infinite love. She has sung the most
fervent hymns to the Saviour, and holds sweet, child-
like intercourse with the heavenly Father."
Lutheranism prevails in great strength in Sweden
and Denmark. In the latter country almost the
whole population, amounting to 2,000,000, with the
exception of less than 20,000 Dissenters, is Luther-
an. The people of Sweden, numbering more than
3.000,000, are, with a few exceptions, also Lutheran.
In France there are about 250 Lutheran congrega-
tions. In the Protestant states of Germany, Luther-
anism prevails, though, through the exertions of the
present king of Prussia, a union has been efl'ected
between the Lutheran and Reformed churches, un-
der the name of the United Evangelical Church.
LUTHERANS (Old), a sect of Dissenters from
the Evangelical Church of Prussia, which took its
rise in opposition to the union of the Lutheran and
Reformed churches in 1817. They adhere to all
the tenets of the Lutheran symbolical books with
the most scrupulous tenacity, and they look upon
the Reformed churches as essentially heretical and
rationalistic, while they have a still more intense
hatred at the United Evangelical Church. The
members of this sect are found in greatest numbers
in Silesia, Saxony, and Pomerania. They were at
first fined, imprisoned, and persecuted in various
ways under Frederick William III. Several of theit
leading ministers emigrated with their people to the
United States. All persecution against these sece-
ders ceased on the accession of the present king of
Prussia ; and by a decree of 23d July 1845, they
were formally recognized as a dissenting sect, with
full liberty of worship. Their number amounts to
from 20,000 to 30,000 souls. Their largest congre-
gations are in Breslau and in Berlin. The Old Lu-
therans in America, like those in Germany, hold
strictly by the whole Lutheran symbolical books
but more especially the Form of Concord, to which
they attach peculiar value. They are divided into
two parties, the synod of Missoin-i and the synod of
ButValo, which are bitterly opposed to each other in
their views of the clerical office ; the one holding the
common Protestant view, which makes the clerical
office only the organ of the general priesthood; the
other holding the Romanising doctrine of a separate
clerical office, resting on ordination, and specilically
LYjEUS— MACCATJEES (Fea8T op).
356
dillerent from the general priest liorjd of tlm l)!i[)-
tizeil. The I'eiinsylvatiia synod of tlic Old l>iitlii;r-
aiis stands by tlic Auj^'sburg Confession, and tlio
smaller Catechism of Luther. Within tlio territory
of the Pennsylvania synod there are an Kast I'eim-
sylvania and a West Pennsylvania synod (hvided on
the subject of new measures. The Old Lutherans In
America have a liturgical altar-service, even with
crucifixes and candles burning in the daytime. In
all such matters they cleave to historic;U tradi-
tion.
fjYTEUS, a surname of Bacchus, tlie god of wine.
This was also a surname of Zeiui.
LYCRA, a festival among the Arcadians, cele-
brated in honour of Zeiis Lycjcua. It is said to have
oeen instituted by Lycaon, the son of Pelasgus, who
sacriticed a child on the occasion, and sprinkled the
altar with its blood. It is not unlikely that human
sacrifices were ofiered by the Arcadians to Zens Ly-
KSus down to a late period. Plutarch says, that the
LycJea were celebrated in somewhat tlic same man-
ner as the Konjan Liipercalia.
LYCKGK.VKS, a surname of Apollo, probably
from his being born in Lyeia.
LYCLIA, a surname of Artemix.
LYCKIU.S, a surname of yl;»to, supposed to \m
derived from Gr. IuIcuh, a wolf, because his inothir
Lutona came to Delos in the form of a she-wolf, and
was conducted by wolves to the river Xanthus.
LYCOATIS, a surname of Arlemw, on account of
her having been worshiiiped at Lyeoa in Arcadia.
LYtJOIJlCUS, a surname of Apollo, because he
was worshipped at Lycoreia, on Mount Paniassus.
LYSIUS, a surname u( Dionysus, under which he
was worshipped at Corinth, and also at Sicyon.
LYSIZONA, a surname under which the people
of Athens worshipped Artemis and Eileitliyia.
LYTEKIUS, a surname of Pan, under which he
was worshipped at Troezene, because he had re-
vealed the best mode of curing the plague.
M
MA, a name applied to Rhea by the Lydians, who
sacrificed bulls to her as the fruitfid motlier of all.
MACARIANS, the followers of two contempo-
rary monks of the fourth century, who exercised a
great influence on the monastic life of the period,
and were held in high veneration. The one was
called Macarius the Egyptian, and the other Maca-
rius of Alexandria. Both dwelt in the Libyan de-
sert, and were remarkable for the extent of their as-
ceticism, in which, of course, they regarded Christian
perfection as consisting. The Egyptian, who is some-
times termed the Great or the Elder Macarius, lived to
a very advanced age, and he has been canonized both
by the Greek and Latin churches, the former hold-
ing his festival on the 19th, the latter on the 15th
January. The Alexandrian Macarius is said to have
surpassed the other in austere practices. The Ma-
carians were remarkable for the rigidity and strict-
ness of their monastic habits.
MACARIANS, the followers of Macarius, who
was patriarch of Antioch in the seventh century, and
who held the opinions of the Monotiielitks (which
see). He attended the sixth general council held at
Constantinople A. D. 680, where he boldly avowed
his peculiar opinions, asserting that Christ's will was
that of a God-man ; and persevering in the mainten-
ance of this heretical sentiment, he was deposed and
banished. He published an Ecthesis, or Confession
of Faith, adherence to which was maintained by his
followers as a test of orthodoxy.
MACCABEES. See Asmoneans.
M.-VCCABEES (Fea.st of), a festival celebratea
annually in the ancient Christian church, in honour
of the seven Maccabees, who signalized themselves
by their opposition to the tyrant Antiochus Epiplia-
nes, and who died in defence of the Jewish Law.
This feast is mentioned particularly in the fourth
century. Chrysostom has three homilies prepared
for the occasion, in which he speaks of the festival
of the Maccabees being celebrated at Antioch.
Augustin says that the Christians had a ciiurcb in
that city called by the name of the Alaccabees, and
he himself has two sermons upon their festival, in
which he shows they were regarded as Christian
martyrs. This feast appears to have been observed
in the African churches, for Augustin begins his
first homily with these words : "This day is made a
festival to us by the glory of the Maccabees."
Gregory Nazianzen has a sermon upon the same oc-
casion ; and others are found in the writings of dif-
ferent authors, from which it ap])ears evident that
the festival in question was celebrated throughout
the whole church. The reason of its observance is
given by Gregory Nazianzen, who alleges that the
Maccabees were really admirable in their actions;
yea, more admirable in one respect than the martyrs
that came after Christ. " For," says he, " if they
sutfered martyrdom so bravely before Christ's com
ing, what would they not have done had they lived
after him, and had the death of Christ foi their ei-
/
356
MACEDONIANS— MADAGASCAR (Religion of).
ample." It is not certain on what day tlie festival was
held, but the Roman martyrology places it on the
1st of August.
MACEDONIANS, a heretical sect wliich arose in
the fourth century, deriving its origin from Macedo-
nius, partriarch of Constantinople. During the
Arian controversy, a vacancy in the patriarchate of
Constantinople usually gave rise to bitter contention
between the Orthodox and the Arian parties. It
was amid the tumult of a disputed election that the
Arians chose Macedonius to the office of patriarch of
Constantinople, A. D. 342. He retained quiet pos-
session of this see till a. d. 348, when Constans pre-
vailed upon Constantius to deprive him of his eccle-
siastical dignity. In the course of two years, bow-
ever, he was restored to his office, and commenced a
vigorous persecution of his opponents, banishing or
torturing them, sometimes even to death. Accord-
ingly, when the orthodox obtained the ascendency,
these individuals wlio had been persecuted by the
Arians were looked upon as martyrs, and their me-
mory is still reverenced both by tlie Greek and Latin
churches ; by the Greeks on the 30th of March, and
by the Latins on the 25th of October. The harsh-
ness and severity with which Macedonius treated
the opposite party, brought him into no slight odium
with men of both parties, and this feeling of hostility
which his cruel conduct had awakened, was mucli
increased by an event which occurred about the
same time. He had removed the body of Constan-
tine the Great from the Church of the Apostles in
v/hich it had been buried, and such was the supersti-
tion of the people, that a serious tumult arose, in
which many persons were killed. Constantius was
deeply offended with the conduct of IMacedonius in
this matter. At the council of Seleucia A. D. 359, a
split took ])lace between the Acacian or pure Arian,
and the semi-Arian parties, and it was fully expected
that some accusations would have been publicly
lodged against Macedonius. No steps, however,
were taken against him on that occasion, but in the
course of the following year a council was held at
Constantinople, he was depo.sed by the Acacians,
and from that time he united himself with the Semi-
Arians.
Tlie term Macedonians was at first used to denote
the Semi-Arians, who held that the Son was liomoi-
ousios, or of like substance with the Fatlier. Their
opinions on this mysterious subject gradually under-
went a cliauge, and at length many of the party ap-
proached nearer to the Nicene creed, in regard to the
nature and dignity of the Son, until, in A. D. 367,
several of their bishops drew up a confession in
wliich they admitted that the Son was Iiomoowiios,
of the same substance with the Father. Tlie opin-
ions, however, of the Macedonians on the II0I3'
Spirit were decidedly heterodox. They denied the
divinity of the Holy Spirit, on account of which they
received from the Greeks the title of Pnannatomadd,
Contenders against the Holy Simit. This heresy
was formally condemned by the second general 01
first Constantinopolitan council, which met A. D. 381.
The heresy of the Macedonians assumed a variety oi
ditferent sliades. Some affirmed that the Holy Spi-
rit was not a person in the Godhead, that he was not
what tlie Father and the Son are, and therefore no
divine honours, were due to him. Some held the
Holy Spirit to be a creature, and therefore did not
deny his personality. Others denied his personality,
and regarded him as a mere attribute of God. In
condemning tlie Macedonian heresy, the council of
Constantinople found it necessary to make an addi-
tion to the article in the Nicene Creed, which says,
" I believe in the Holy Ghost," expanding it thus,
" I believe in the Holy Ghost, tlie Lord, the Author
of life, who proceeds from the Father." The Nicene
Creed thus modified, which is commonly known by
the name of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed,
was received by the Catholic church ; and the coun-
cil of Ephesus afterwai-ds decreed that no addition
should be made to it.
The members of the Macedonian sect were gener-
ally upright and honourable in their lives, and, by
the favoiu- which they showed for the monastic life,
they acquired a high distinction for piety. After
tlieir separation from the Arians, they attempted to
effect a union with the orthodox party, but this being
found impracticable, they spread themselves through-
out various parts, especially in Thrace, along the
Hellespont, and in Phrygia. None of them were
found in the western provinces. At Constantinople
they had their own churches and bishops. BuJ
when their opinions were formally condennied by the
church, they were visited also with civil penalties.
In the statutes of the elder Tlieodosius they are
mentioned by name, and in those of the younger
Tlieodosius tlieir worship is only tolerated in the
principal cities. The persecution to which they
were thus exposed soon succeeded in exterminating
the sect.
MACHAZOR (Ileb. a cycle), a collection of
prayers used among the Jews in their great solenmi-
ties. The prayers are in verse, and very concise.
There are many copies of this Book printed in Italy,
Germanv, and Poland.
MACMILLANITES. See Reformed Presbv-
TERIAN CHUUCH,
MACTATIO (Lat. macto, to kill), the act of kill-
ing the victim in Roman sacrifices. This in most
cases was done not by the priests, but by an officer
called ^m^ra, who struck the animal with a hammer
before tlie knife was used. See Sacrifice.
MADAGASCAR (Religion of). Madagascar,
one of the largest islands of the world, is situated in
the Indian Ocean, on the eastern coast of Al'rica,
from which it is separated by tlie Mozambique
Channel. Comparatively little was known until
within the last twenty years about this island. Thi'
Malagasy, as the native inhabitants are called, seen:
to consist of different tiibes under independent
MADAGASCAR (Rklioion of).
357
eliiefiiiiiiH ; but both in language and in general man-
ners there is an obvious resemblance among those
tribes, which indicates that they arc to a certain
extent related to one another. Circumcision, tor
example, is universally prevalent in the island,
though the ceremonies attending it vary considerably
m diti'erent localities. Divination is practised too
among all the tribes though under dill'erent forms.
The religion of this singular i)eople consists in a
great measure of the use of charms or odij, as they
call them, by which they believe that the will of
some superior power is ascertained. It is thus that
the art of the diviner is exercised on all occasions.
To begin with their treatment of children, on this
subject Mr. Ellis, in his ' History of Madagascar,'
relates the following curious facts, chiefly in regard
to the welcome of the little stranger : " After the
birth of an infant, the relatives and friends of the
mother visit her, and oft'er their congi-atulations.
The infant also receives salutations, in form resem-
bling the following: 'Saluted be the otfspring given
of God ! — may the child live long I — may the child
be favoured so as to possess wealth!' Presents are
also made to the attendants in the household, and
sometimes a bullock is killed on the occasion, and
distributed among the members of the family. Pres-
ents ot poultry, fuel, money, &c., are at times also
sent by friends to the mother. A piece of meat is
usually cut into thin slices, and suspended at some
distance from the floor, by a cord attached to the
ceiling or roof of the house. This is called the
Kitoza, and is intended for the mother. A fire is
kept in the room, day and night, frequently for a
week after the birth of the child. At the expiration
of that period, the infant, arrayed in the best cloth-
ing that can be obtained, is carried out of the house
by some person whose parents are both still living,
and then taken back to the mother. In being car-
ried out and in, the child must be twice carefully
lifted over the fire, which is placed near the door.
Should the intant be a boy, the axe, large knife, and
spear, generally used in the family, must be taken
out at the .same time, with any implements of build-
ing that may be in the house : silver chains, of na-
tive manufacture, are also given as presents, or used
in these ceremonies, for which no particular re;ison
is assigned. The implements are perhaps used chiefly
as emblems of the occupations in which it is expected
the infant will engage when it arrives at niaturer
years ; and the whole may be regarded as expressing
the hopes cherished of his activity, wealth, and en-
joyments."
One of the first acts of the father, or a near rela-
tion, is to report the birth of the child to the native
astrologers, who pretend, by peculiar ceremonies, to
ascertain its destiny ; and should that be declared to
be favourable, the child is reared with the utmost
care and attention. When the child has reached its
second or third month, on a lucky day, a cereinony
takes place, which Mr. Elhs thus describes under the
name of ' Scrambling : ' " The friends and relatives ol
the child assemble; a portion of the fat taken from
the hump on the Itack of an ox is minced in a rice-
|ian, cooked, and mixed up with a quantity of rice,
milk, honey, and a sort of grass called voamjiainoa,
a lock of the infant's hair is also cast into the above
mrf'lange; and the whole being tlioroughly well mix
cd in a rice-pan, which is held by the youngest female
of the fan)ily, a general rush is made towards the
pan, and a scramble for its contents takes place,
especially by the women, as it is supposed that those
wlio are fortunate enough to obtain a portion njay
confidently cherish the hope of becoming mothers,
liananas, lemons, and sugar-cane are also scrambled
for, under the belief that a similar result may be aii-
ticijiated. The ceremony of scrambling, however,
only takes place with a first-bom child. The head
of the mother is decorated, during the ceremonial,
with silver chains, while the father carries the infant,
if a boy, and some ripe bananas, on his back. The
rice-pan used on the occasion becomes, in their esti-
mation, sacred by the service, and must not be taken
out of the house during three subsequent days,
othervnse the virtue of those observances is supposed
to be lost."
Shoifld the destiny of the child be declared b)'
the sikidy, or astrologer, to be evil, the poor helpless
babe is doomed to destruction. The practice of in-
fanticide has been long prevalent in Madagascar;
and although during the reign of Kadama it was
abolished, since the death of that king the inhuman
custom has again revived.
The Malagasy believe in God, without howevet
attaching any definite, intelligible meaning to the
word. The terms by which they designate the Su-
preme Being are Andi-ia-rnanitra and Zanahary, the
former being generally regarded as the male god,
and the latter the feinale. Whatever is great, wliat-
ever is new, useful, and extraordinarj', is called
god. Silk is regarded as god in the highest de-
gree. Rice, money, thunder and lightning, their an-
cestors both when alive and dead, all are dignified
with this exalted title. Some believe in a number
of spirits, each of whom is intrusted with the can
of a suigle individual, or an entire class of men.
Equally vague and indistinct are their views of tho
soul of man and its future destiny. " They have no
knowledge," says Mr. Ellis, " of the doctrine of th(
soul as a separate, immaterial, immortal principle in
man, nor has their language any word to exprest
such an idea. They speak of the saina, but mean
by this the intellectual powers. They speak also ol
the fanahy, the nearest term found to express spirit ,
but it seems, in their use of it, to imply principally
the moral qualities or dispositions. In almost the
same breath, a Malagasy will express his belief
that when he dies he ceases altogether to exist,
dying like the brute, and being conscious no more,
and yet confess the fact, that lie is in the habit
of praying to his ancestors ! If asked, were hit
358
MADAGASCAR (Religion of).
ancestors not human beings like himself, and did
they not cease altogethei- to exist when they died —
how then can it be consistent to pray to them when
tliey have no longer any being ? he will answer, True,
but tliere is their matoatoa, their ghost ; and this is
supposed to be hovering about the tomb when the
body is interred. And there is also the ambiroa, or
apparition, supposed to announce death, to visit a
person when about dying, and to intimate to him,
and sometimes to others, liis approaching dissolu-
tion, an idea by no means peculiar to Madagascar, as
it corresponds with the popular superstition of most
European coimtries, tliat the funeral, or apparition
of a person still living, is permitted to be seen as a
supernatural intimation of his approaching death."
Tlie religion of Madagascar, in its heathen condi-
tion, has always been essentially idolatrous. In the
neighbourhood of Tananarive, there are twelve or
fifteen idols which are held in great veneration by
the people. Four of these are looked upon as pub-
lic and national objects of worship ; the others be-
long to particular clans or tribes. Mr. Ellis gives
the following account of one of the most noted idols
worshipped in the island, and renounced on the intro-
duction of Christianity : " Amongst the idols thus
renounced, was one which had belonged to several
clans or families who resided about sii miles from
the capital ; it was considered as the more imme-
diate property of the head-man, or chief of the dis-
trict, in wliose family it had been kept for many
generations ; but most of the people in the neigh-
Dourhood were its votaries and united in provid-
ing the bullocks and sheep that were sacrificed to
it, or the money given to its keepers. " The idol
is a most unmeaning object, consisting of a num-
ber of small pieces of wood, ornaments of ivory,
of silver, and brass, and beads, fastened togetlier
with silver wire, and decorated with a number of
silver rings. The central piece of wood is cir-
cular, about seven inches high, and three quarters
of an inch in diameter. This central piece is sur-
rounded by six short pieces of wood, and six hol-
low silver ornaments, called crocodile's teeth, from
their resemblance to the teeth of that animal. Three
pieces of wood are placed on one side of the central
piece of wood, and three on the side opposite, the
intervening space being filled up by the three silver
and brazen ornaments. These ornaments are hol-
low, and those of brass were occasionally anointed
with what was regarded as sacred oil, or otlier un-
guents, which were much used in tlie consecration of
charms and other emblems of native superstition.
Tlio silver ornaments were detached from the idol,
filled with r.mall pieces of consecrated wood, and
worn upon the persons of tlie keepers when going to
war, or passing through a fever district, as a means
of preservation. Besides the pieces of wood in the
crocodile's tooth, small pieces of a dark, clcse-grained
wood cut nearly square, or oblong, and about half
Ml inch long, were strung like beads on a cord, and
attached to the idol, or worn on the person of those
who carried the silver ornaments. The chief of the
district, who had the custody of the idol, bad two
sons, officers in the army. To one of these, with
another individual, he delegated the authority to sell
these small pieces of consecrated wood, which were
supposed to be pervaded with the power of tlie idol,
and to preserve its possessors from peril or death, in
seasons of war, or regions of pestilence. This was
a source of great emoltmient, for such was the re-
puted virtue or potency of the charm, that a couple
of bullocks, the same number of sheep, of goats,
fowls, and dollars, besides articles of smaller value,
were frequently given for one or two of the small
pieces of wood attached to the idol."
Every household has its charm or fetish, corres-
ponding with the Teraphim of the Old Testament,
or the Lares and Penates of the ancient heathens.
Every individual, indeed, has his ody or charm, and
sometimes one individual lias many, and wears them
about his person. Crocodile's teeth are frequently
worn as charms. A few villages scattered up and
down throughout the island are esteemed by the
people Hasina, or sacred, because there an idol is
kept in some ordinaiy house, without any priesthood
or worsliippers. The man in whose house the idol
is kept issues its pretended orders, and answers all
questions which aye put to it. It is acknowledged
as a principle among the Malagasy that the idols are
under the sovereign's special support. To the
sovereign the keepers apply for new velvet in which
to fold the idol, for bullocks to sacrifice to it, and
for whatever is required for it. Snakes or serpents,
which abound in the island, are supposed to be the
special agents of the idols, and are, therefore, viewed
with superstitious fear by the people. The sick
apply to the idols for a cure, the healthy for charnn
and the knowledge of future e ents. To sanctify
the idol, in order to prepare it for the prayers of the
worshippers, its keeper secretly takes it from the
case in which it is kept, and pours castor oil upon
it. The public idols are usually smjdl images wrap-
ped in a red cloth, but most of the household gods
are literally blocks, without any pretensions to a
human shape. Instead of the people going to the
idol to worship it, the idol is brought to the people.
The idols are also carried about pubUcly at occa-
sional, not fixed periods, in order to drive away dis-
eases, to protect the people against storms and light-
nings, and to give virtue to springs and fountains.
They are also carried to the wars in order to inspire
the soldiers with courage.
Tliere are many occasions on which the idols are
publicly exhibited, and on some of these the cere-
mony of sprinkling the people is followed, either to
avert calamity, or to obtain some public blessing.
" On one of tliese occasions," Mr. Ellis infomis us
" the assembly consisted of at least six thousand
people. They were ordered to squat on the giouud
in such a way as to admit those bearing the idol to
MADIIAVIS— MADIIWAC1IAKI3.
359
pasH to and fro througlLoiit the as.scmbly, and all
ivero especially coinmaiided to sit with their shoul-
ders uncovered. The idol was thou carried through
the multitude in dilVerent directions, followed by a
man hearing a horn of honey and water. As they
proceeded, tlie man sprinkled the people on each
side of him by shaking his wisp of straw towards
them, after it had been dipped in the lirpior. A
blessing was at the same time pronounced by the
bearer of the idol, in words, which, given by a na-
tive writer, may be thus translated : — ' Cheer up and
fear not, for it is I who am the defence of your lives,
and I will not let disease approach. Cheer up,
therefore, on account of your children and wives,
your property, and your own persons, for ye j)OS-
sess me.' "
The utmost importance in all the affairs of life is
attached by the Malagasy to the silddy, or divina-
tion by means of beans, rice, straw, sand, or any
other object that can be easily counted or divided.
Ft is a process as regular as a game of chess, and is
Bupposed to have been communicated supernaturally
to their ancestors. The object for which the sikubj
Is worked, is to ascertain what must be done in cases
of real or imaginary, present or apprehended evils.
The occult science of casting nativities prevails
among the Malagasy. Trial by ordeal is also exten-
sively in use, and is practised in various ways, such
as passing a red-hot iron over the tongue, or plung-
ing the naked arm into a large earthen or iron pot
full of boiling water, and picking out a pebble thrown
in for the special purpose of the trial ; and, in either
case, to sustain no injury is viewed as a demonstra-
tion of innocence. But the practice which has ob-
tained most generally, is that of drinking the Tan-
gena, a powerful poison. It is calculated that up-
wards of 3,000 persons annually perish by this bar-
barous practice. Mamosavy or witchcraft is looked
upon as the cause of all crime, from the idea which
universally obtains in Madagascar, that no one could
perpetrate such deeds, unless he were really be-
witched. Ancestor worship is practised also among
the natives.
Missionary operations were commenced in this is-
land by the London Missionary Society in 1818, and,
during the first fifteen years of the mission, the
whole Bible was translated, corrected, and printed in
the native language. About one hundred schools
were established with 4,000 scholars ; and during
that period 10,000 to 15,000 had received the bene-
fit of instruction in these schools. Two printing-
presses were established, and a Malagasy and Eng-
lish Dictionary was published in two volumes.
Two large congregations were formed at the ca-
pital, and nearly 200 jiersons applied for admis-
sion to the church. Christianity had evidently taken
root in the island, and a most beneiicial change
was gradually taking place in the b.ibits and cus-
toms of the people. The government, however,
looked upon the labours of the missionaries with
jealousy and siisjiicion, and the queen, more espe-
cially, was strongly prejwssessed in favour of the
idolatrous party. In a short time, accordingly, g
bitter persecution was commenced against the Chris-
tians, and for seventeen years the most ojjiiressive
policy was pursued. Many hundreds were degraded
and im[/overished ; hundreds more doomed to sla-
very; not less thaTi one hundred have been put to
death, and a large number are still sufl'ering exile,
bonds, and degradation. Yet, in a most em|)halic
sense, it is true of Madagascar, that the blood of the
martyrs has proved the seed of the church. Not-
withstanding tlie persecuting measures of the fjueen
and the government, the numbers of the Christian con-
verts are amuially on the increase, and among them
are included some of the most intelligent and respec-
table men in the community. The young prince,
who is heir to the throne, and his wife, are both
inembers of the Christian church, and devoted friends
of the persecuted flock, whom they assist with their
advice and their money on all occasions. The hos-
tility of the queen and her ministers continues una-
bated, but Christianity is secretly making extensive
progress in many parts of tl.\e island.
MADIIAVIS, an order of Hindu mendicants,
founded by Madho, an ascetic. They travel up and
down the country soliciting alms, and playing on
stringed instruments. Their peculiar doctrines are
not known.
MADHWACHARIS, a division of the Vaishnava
sect of the Hindus. It is altogether imknown in
Gangetic Hindustan ; but in the peninsula it is most
extensively to be found. Its foimder was Madhwjt-
cbarya, a Brahman, who was born A. D. 1199, in
Tuluva ; he is believed by his followers to have
been an incarnation of Vdyu or the god of air, who
took upon him the human form by desire of Nd-
rdi/ana, and who had been previously incarnate.
He wrote a commentary on the Bhagawat Gi't^,
and he erected and consecrated a temple at Udipi,
where he deposited an image of Krishna. This
place has continued ever since to be the head-
quarters of the sect. After this he established
eight additional temples, in which he placed images
of different fomis of Vislnm. These establishments
still exist, and in accordance with the regulations
laid down by the foiuider, each of eight Sanydsis in
turn officiates as superior of the chief station at
Udipi for two years or two years and a half. The
whole expenses of the establishment devolve on the
superior for the time being, and as the expenses
generally exceed the income, the Sanydsis travel
from place to place le\'ying contributions on their
votai-ies. The appearance and doctrines of the mem
hers of the sect are thus described by Professor H.
II. Wilson : " The ascetic professors of Madlnvdch^-
rya's school, adopt the external appearance of Dan-
dis, laying aside the Brahmanical cord, carrying a
start' and a water pot, going bare-headed, and wear-
ing a single wrapper stained of an orange colour with
<60
MADONNA— MADUWA.
»u oehry clay: they are usually adopted into the
order from their boyhood, and acknowledge no social
affinities nor interests. The marks common to them,
and the lay votaries of the order, are the impress of
the symbols of Vishnu, upon their shoulders and
breasts, stamped with a hot iron, and the frontal
mark, which consists of two perpendicular lines
made with Gopichandana, and joined at the root of
the nose like that of the Sri Vaisknavas ; but instead
of a red line down the centre, the Mddhwdclidris
make a straight black line, with the charcoal from
incense offered to Narayana, terminating in a roimd
mark made with turmerick.
■■ Tlie essential dogma of this sect, like that of the
Vaislmavas in general, is the identitication of Vishnu
with the Supreme Spirit, as tlie pre-existent cause of
the universe, from whose substance tlie world was
made. This primeval Vishnu, they also affirm to be
endowed with real attributes, most excellent, al-
thougli indefinable and independent. As there is one
independent, however, there is also one dependent,
and this doctrine is the characteristic dogma of the
sect, distinguishing its professors from the followers
of Rcim^nuja as well as Sankara, or those who
maintain the qualified or absolute unity of the deity.
The creed of the Madhwas, is Dwaita, or duality.
It is not, however, tliat they discriminate between
the principles of good and e\'il, or even the differ-
ence between spirit and matter, which is the duality
known to other sects of the Hindus. Their distinc-
tion is of a more subtle character, and separates the
Jimitma from the Paramatma, or the principle of
life from the Supreme Being. Life, they say, is one
and eternal, dependent upon the Supreme, and in-
dissolubly connected with, but not the same with
him. An important consequence of this doctrine is
tlie denial of Mokslia, in its more generally received
sense, or that of absorption into the universal spirit,
and loss of independent existence after death."
The different modes in which this sect express
devotion to Vishnu, are marking the body with his
symbols, especially with a hot iron, giving his names
to children and other objects of interest, and the
practice of virtue, in word, act, and thought. Their
sacred writings consist, besides the works of their
founder, of the four Vedas, the Mah^bh^rat, the
Pancharitra, and the genuine or original Rt-tmay-
ana.
MADONNA (Ital. My Lady), a name given to
representations of the Virgin Mary in Roman Ca-
thohc countries. See Mariolatuy.
MADUASSES, colleges in Mohammedan coun-
tries where priests are trained who are to officiate in
the mosques.
MADUWA, the place in which the Bana or sa-
cred books of the IJudhists are publicly read. It is
usually a temporary erection, the roof having several
breaks or compartments gradually decreasing in size
i» they approach the top, in the form of a pagoda,
or of a pyramid, composed of successive platforms.
There is one of these erections in the precincts o)
nearly all the Wiharas (which see). In the cen-
tre of the interior area is an elevated platform for the
convenience of the priests, and the people sit around
it upon mats spread on the ground. The platform
is sometimes occupied by several priests at the same
time, one of whom reads a portion of one of the
sacred books in a tone between singing and reading.
" Upon some occasions," as we learn from Mr. Spence
Hardy, " one priest reads the original Pali, and an-
other interprets what is read in the veniacular Sin-
ghalese ; but this method is not veiy frequently
adopted. It is the more usual course to read the
Pali alone, so that the people understand not a word
that is said ; and were the advices of even the most
excellent description in themselves, they would be
delivered without profit to the people assembled. A
great proportion of the attendants fall asleep, as they
commonly remain during the whole night ; whilst
otliers are seen cliewing their favourite betle. As
might be supposed, there are evidences of unconcern
in that which ought to be the principal object of the
festival ; but there is none of that rudeness which
would be exhibited in a promiscuous assemblage o^
people in some countries that are much higher in the
scale of civilization. Near the reading-hall thera
are booths and stalls, in which rice-cakes, fruits, and
other provisions, and occasionally cloth and earthen-
ware, are sold ; and the blind and the lame are there,
with their stringed instruments, sitting by the way-
side to receive alms ; so that the festival is regarded
as an opportunity for amusement, as well as for ac-
quiring merit, and answers the general purpose of a
wake or fair. Whenever the name of Budha is
repeated by the officiating priest, the people call out
simultaneously, 'sddhu!' the noise of which may
be heai-d at a great distance ; and the effect is no
doubt pleasing to those who have not been taught
that it is in vain for the unlearned to say Amen,
when they know not the meaning of that which is
spoken. The readings are most numerously attended
upon the night of the full moon, when a light is thrown
upon the landscape in Ceylon that seems to silver
all things visible, from the tiny leaflet to the tower-
ing mountain, and a stillness sleeps in the air that
seems too deep to be earthly ; and were the voices ol
the multitude that now come forth at intervals other
than from athei.st lips, the spirit might drink in a
rich profusion of the thoughts that come so plea-
santly, we can scarcely tell whether the waking
dream be a reality, or a vision of some brighter land."
The Maduwa is used for otlier purposes besides
reading the sacred books. In it there is a labyrinth
made of withs ornamented with tlie cocoa-nut leaf ;
and the people amuse themselves by finding their
way through its intricate mazes. In some instances
lines are drawn upon the ground in an open space,
and these lines are regarded as the limits of the re-
gions assigned to particular demons, the last being
appropriated to Budlia. A few dancers are now in
MiEMACTEUIA— MAfilC.
361
trodimeil, one of whom advancing towards tlie first
limit, calls out, in a defiant tono. the name of the
demon to whom the region belongs, and, using the
most insulting language, tlircatens to cross llie limit,
and invade the demon's territory. lie then ])asse8
the limit with the utmost Ijoldness, and goes through
the same process with the other demons, until he
approaches the limit of ISudha's region ; but the
moment he attempts to cross this limit he falls down
as if dead, it being 8upi)0sed that he is suflering the
punishment of his intrusion on the realms of Kudlia,
and tlio spectators applaud his boldness.
MyKMACTEUlA, a festival celebrated at Athens
in honour of Zeus, as the god of storms.
MyK.MACTKS, a surname of Zims, as being the
stormy god from whom originate all the convulsions
of nature.
MiENADES. See Bacch^.
MAGDALENS, an order of nuns in the Romish
church, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene. They
consist chiefly of penitent courtezans. The Reli-
gious of St. Magdalene in Rome wp-e established by
Pope Leo X., and a revenue w.is settled on tliem by
Clement VI 11., who ordered that the elVects of all
prostitutes who died intestate should fall to this
order, and that the testaments of all others should be
invalid unless a fifth part of their effects were be-
queathed to them.
MAGDEBURG CENTURIES. See Centu-
ries (Magdeburg).
MAGI, the ancient priests of the Persians and
Medians. The word is rendered in Mat. ii. 1, " wise
men." The country from which these wise men or
Magi came is not precisely pointed out by the Evan-
gelist, but only described in general terms as east-
ward of Palestine, and in all probability was either
Persia or Mesopotamia.
MAGIANS, a sect of ancient philosophers which
arose in the East at a very early period, devoting
much of their attention to the study of the heavenly
bodies. They were the learned men of their time,
and we find Daniel the prophet promoted to be head
of this sect in Chaldea, and chief governor over all
the wise men of Babylon. The Magians were in
complete antagonism to the Tsabians, who worship-
ped the heavenly hosts ; and they seem to have wor-
ihipped the Deity imder the emblem of fire. In all
their temples, as well as in their private houses,
they had fire continually burning upon their altars.
Tliey held in the greatos' abliorrence the worship of
images, which prevailed among other nations, and
they held fire in the highest veneration as being the
purest symbol of the Divine Being. The great mass
of the Persian worsliippers, however, adored the
altar-fii'es themselves without rising to the Great
Being whom they symbolized. The Magian sect
was in danger of passing into utter extinction in the
reign of Darius Hystaspes, had it not been revived
Rnd reformed by Zoroaster in the sixth century, the
\bstract principles of whose system have been al-
ii.
ready noticed in the article AltlcSTA. In spite of
the violent opposition of the Tnfibimig, Zoroaster
succeeded in bringing over Darius to a finn belief in
his reformed system, and from that time Magiaiiihui
became the national religion of the country, until it
was supjilanted by that of Mohammed. Rcmtjants
of this sect are still found in Persia under the name
of G/irhrr.s, and in India under that oi Purseet.
M.VGIC, a science snjiposcd to depend on the in-
fluence of evil spirits, or the spirits of the dead.
Balaam seems to have been a pretender to skill in
this art; and in Jer. xxxix. 3, we read of the rah
mag or chief of the magicians. In early times all
who engaged in the study of natural phenomena were
accounted magicians, the term being thus used in a
good sense, nearly equivalent to the word philoso-
phers. Magic has been divided into natural, which
consists in the application of natural causes to jiro-
dnce wonderful phenomena ; planckay, which assigns
either to the planets or to sjiirits residing in them
an influence over the affairs of men ; and dkiholicul,
which invoftes the aid of demons to accomi)lish
supernatural effects. All practices of this kind were
forbidden by the Law of Moses as being connected
with idtlatry ; yet in every period individuals were
found among the Israelites who were strongly ad-
dicted to magical arts. Magicians are frequently
mentioned in the Old Testament in connection with
Egypt. Thus it is said in Exod. vii. 11, "Then
Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers ;
now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in hke
manner with their enchantments." " Now we find
in Egyptian antiquity," says Hengstenberg, " an or-
der of persons, to whom tliis is entirely appropriate,
which is here ascribed to the magicians. The priests
had a double oftice, the practical worship of the
gods, and the pursuit of that which in Egypt was
accounted as wisdom. The first belonged to the so-
called prophets, the second to the holy scribes.
These last were the learned men of the nation ; as
in the Pentateuch, they are called wise men, so the
classical writers named them sages. These men
were apphed to for explanation and aid in all thingi
which lay beyond the circle of common knowledge
and action. Thus, in severe cases of sickness for
example, along with the physician a holy scribe was
called, who, from a book, and astrological signs, de-
tenuined whether recovery was possible. The in-
terpretation of dreams, and also divination, belonged
to the order of the holy scribes. In times of pesti-
leiKe, they applied themselves to magic arts to avert
the disease. A passage in Lucian furnishes a pecu-
liarly interesting parallel to the accounts of the Penta-
teuch concerning the practice of magic arts : ' There
was with us in the vessel, a man of Memphis, one of
the holy scribes, wonderful in wisdom and skilled in
all sorts of Egyptian knowledge. It was said of
him, that he had hved twenty-three years in subter-
ranean sanctuarie.s, and that he had been there in-
structed in magic by Isis.' "
9 n *
362
MAGISTER DISCIPLINE— MAHABHAKAT A..
Both in Egypt and in Babylon the office of magi-
cian belonged to the priestly caste. In the later
periods of Jewish history, many pretended to skill
in the occult science of magic, using incantations of
various kinds, and professing even to evoke the
spirits of the dead, with the view of drawing forth
from them secrets otherwise unattainable. Sorcerers
and magicians are mentioned by Josephus as
abounding in his time, and exercising gi-eat influence
over the people. The Jews called magicians. Mas-
ters of the Name, the Sliemhamphorash, or ineffable
name of God, that is, Jehovah, by the true pronim-
ciation of which wonders could be accomplished.
They allege tliat this was tlie secret by which our
Saviour performed his miracles wliile on earth. In
the Sepher ToMath Jeshu a strange story is related
of the manner in which Jesus became possessed of
the inefiable name. It mentions that the name
was found by Da\'id, engi"aven on a stone, when
digging the foundations of the temple, and that he
deposited it in the sanctuary ; and lest curious young
men sliould leam this name, and bring devastation
upon the world by the miracles it woidd enable them
to perform, the wise men of the time made, by
magical arts, two brazen lions, which they stationed
l)efore the entrance of the Holy of Holies, on each
side ; so that, if any one entered the sacred place,
•nd learned the ineflable Name, the lions roared at
him so fiercely when he came forth, that. In liis
fright, he entirely forgot it. But they say that om-
Lord, by magical arts and incantations, entered the
sanctuaiy undiscovered by the priests, saw the sacred
Name, copied it on parclnnent, which, having made
an incision in his body, lie slipped imder his skin.
The roai'ing of the lions when he came out caused
him to forget the name, but tlie parchment mider his
skin enabled him to recover it, and thenceforward to
refi-esh his memory when needful ; and by the power
of this name it was that all his miracles were per-
formed.
Josephus also represents the Jews as eflecting
wonderful cm-es by invoking the name of Solomon.
In the Talmud a curious legend is related concern-
ing a signet-ring, by which he ruled the spirits, and
which came down from heaven to liim in a cloud,
liaving the name Jehovah engraved upon it. By the
magic influence of this signet-ring, he summoned
both good and evil spirits to aid him in building the
temple. Various different modes of incantation are
mentioned by Josephus as having been used by So-
lomon. The magical art is well known to have been
extensively practised by the ancient heathens; and
Pythagoras, as well as other Greek philosophers,
made it a subject of study. Ephesus was particularly
famed for tlie number and the skill of its magicians,
and when the apostle had preached in that city the
pure doctrmes of the gospel of Christ, the effect is
thus stated Acts xix. 19, " Many of them also which
used cin-ious arts brought their books togetlier, and
burned them before all men : and they counted the
price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of
silver." So celebrated was Ephesus for the magic art,
that certain amulets witli strange chai-acters Lnitcribed
on them, which were woni about the person, received
the name of Ephesian letters. On the same princi-
ple were formed the magical letters called Abraca-
DABKA (which see), which were invented by the Ba-
silidians. It is stated by Augustine, as having been
generally believed by the heathen, tliat our blessed
Lord was the author of several books on magic,
which he wrote for the use of his disciples. Celsus
and others pretend that our Saviour studied magic
in Egypt, and Suetonius calls the Christians the men
of the magical superstition.
The practice of magical arts was viewed by the ear
ly Christians as sinful, and no sooner did any one,
who had acquired a knowledge of these mysteries,
embrace Christianity, than without hesitation he
burned the books on magic, which happened to be in
his possession. By the Theodosian Code, all magi-
cians are branded as malefici, or evil-doers, and if de-
tected they are appointed to be put to death. The
laws of the church were veiy severe against all who
were guilty of indulging in magical practices. The
comicil of Laodicea condemns them to be cast out of
the church. The council of Ancyra prescribes five
years' penance for any one that receives a magician
into his house. Tertullian goes the length of say-
ing, that there never was a magician or enchanter
allowed to escape unpunished in the church.
MAGISTER DICIPLINE (Lat. Master of Dis-
cipline), an officer in the church of Spain in the end of
the fifth century. At that time it was customary
for parents to dedicate their children, while yet very
young, to the service of the cliurch ; in which case they
were taken into the bishop's family, and educated
under him by a presbyter selected for the purpose,
called Magister DiscqMnm, because his chief business
was to watch over their moral conduct, and to in-
struct them in the rules and discipline of the church.
MAGLANTE, a god worshipped in the Philip-
pine Islands as the deity who hurls the thunder.
MAGNA MATER. See Rhea.
MAGNIFICAT, the hymn of the Virgin Mary.
" My soul doth magnify the Lord, my spirit dotli
rejoice in God my Saviom-," &c. It is first men-
tioned in the sixth century as having been publicly
used in the Frencli churclies. In the rubric of the
Church of England, it is appointed to be said or sung
in Engli.sh after the first lesson at evening prayer,
unless the ninetieth Psalm, called Cantate Domino,
" Sing ye to the Lord," i.s used.
M AGUSIANS, a sect of the ancient Zoroastrians,
which con.sidered absolute Dualism (which see), as
the staiting point of the system, or the original
mode in which Deity manifested himself
MAIIABIIARATA, the second great Sanskrit
epic of the Hindus. It celebrates the wars of the
two rival families known as the Pandus and the
Kurus, a tale of the Lunar dynasties of kings.
MAHA BKAIIMA— MAJORRS (Dii).
363
MAIIA lUiAIIMA, the rules of a superior celes-
tial world, aecorfliiig to tlie system of ISiulliiKiii.
MAIIADEVA, one of the names of Sliiixc, a
member of tlio Hindu Trimurtti.
MAIIAN-ATMA, the Great Soul, a name applied
.0 Bkaii.m (which see).
MAIIANT, the superior of a Hindu monastery or
MaCh, of which ho has the entire control. He is
usujilly elected from the senior and more proficient
of the ascetics. In some instances wliere the Mu/iaid
has a family, the oflice descends in the line of his
posterity, but where an election is to be made, it is
conducted with great solemnity. Professor H. Wil-
son gives an account of the mode of election :
"The Mdt'hx of viu-ious districts look up to some
one of their own order as chief, and they all refer to
that connected with their founder, as the common
head : under the presidence, therefore, of the Ma-
hant of that establishment, wherever practicable, and
in his absence, of some other of acknowledged pre-
eminence, the Mallards of the different MaClis as-
semble, upon the decease of one of their brethren, to
elect a successor. For this purpose they regularly
examine the Chela.s, or disciples of the deceased, the
ablest of whom is raised to the vacant situation :
should none of them be qualitied, they choose a Ma-
liant from the pupils of some other teacher, but this
is rarely necossaiy, and luiless necessary, is never
had recourse to. The new Mahant is then regularly
installed, and is formally invested with the cap, the
rosary, the frontal mark, or Tiku, or any other
monastic insignia, by the president of the assembly.
Under the native government, whether Mohamme-
dan or Hindu — the election of the superior of one of
these establishments was considered as a matter of
sufficient moment, to demand the attention of the
governor of the province, who, accordingly, in per-
son, or by his deputy, presided at the election : at
present, no interference is exercised by the ruling
authorities, and rarely by any lay cliaracter, although
occasionally a Raja or a Zcmimhir, to whose liberal-
ity the Mat'h is indebted, or in whose lands it is
situated, assumes the riglit of assisting and presid-
ing at the election. The Mahants of the sect, in
which the election takes place, are generally assisted
by those of the sects connected with them : each is
attended by a train of disciples, and individuals of
various mendicant tribes repair to the meeting ; so
that an assemblage of many huiulreds, and some-
times of thousands, occurs : as far as the resources
of the Mat'h, where they are assembled, extend, they
are maintained at its expense; when those fail, they
must shift for themselves ; the election is usually a
business of ten, or twelve days, and diuing the period
of its continuance, various points of polity or doc-
trine are discussed in tlie assembly."
MAHASOOR, the chief of the Asouras or HnJc-
ehaans, malignant spnits among the Hindus.
MAHA YUG, an age of the gods in Hindu
Mironology, including 12,000 years of the gods, each
of which comprehends 360 solar years. Thus the
entire duration of a maJia-ywf is equal to 4,320,000
years of mortals.
MAHDI (Arab, the director or guide), a title
given to the last Im.'im of flie race of All. See
Imams (Twki.vl).
MAIIESA, one of the names of the Hindu god
Shiva (which see).
MAHOMI-yr. See Mohammed.
MAHOMETANS. See Mohammedans.
MAHUZZIM, the god of forces, as the word is
translated in Dan. xi. ,38, " But in his estate shall he
honour the God of forces : and a god whom his fa-
thers knew not shall he honoiu- with gold, and sil-
ver, and with precious stones, and ple;isant things."
Commentators have been much perplexed to explain
who this deity is. The Greek text of Theodotion's
version, and also the Vulgate, give the word Malmz-
zim without interpreting it. Some understand it as
referring to the Antichrist, and others to Antiochus,
the great enemy of the Jews. Nicholas de Eyra,
Bellarmine, and some others, regard it as the name
of the idol and demon which they think is to be
served by Antichrist. Theodoret believes it to be
the name which Antichrist will assiune. Grotius
supposes it to be the BaaUamin of the Phoenicians,
and that Antiochus Epiphanes ordered this idol to
be worshipped. Some imderstaiid the word Mahuz-
zim to be mediating spirits between God and man.
Jurieu thinks that it denotes the Roman eagles, or
Roman JjUip' ,e, to which Antiochus woidd do hom-
age, the Roman eagles being a kind of deities, before
which tlie soldiers bowed down.
MAIA, an ancient Roman goddess often associated
with Vulca7i, and sometimes spoken of as his spouse.
A sacritice was offered to her on the fii-st of May,
which has been supposed to have derived its name
from this divinity. She has been identified also with
the Bona Dea (which see).
MAJOLI, St., (Regular Clerks of). See
Clerks (Regular) of St. Majoli.
MAJORES, a title by which the Jewish ministers
are frequently designated in the Theodosian Code.
The same title is also applied by Augustin to the
ministers of the Ccelicol^ (which see), a sect which
is supposed to have been composed of apostates from
the Jewish religion.
MAJORES (Dii), the twelve superior gods of the
ancient Romans, who were believed to have a princi-
pal share in the government of the world. They
were styled the Dii Selecti, the select gods, of whom
twelve were admitted into the councils of Jupiter,
and hence denominated Consentes (which see).
These twelve deities, who presided over the twelve
months of the j-ear and the twelve signs of the zo-
diac, were Jupiter, Juno, Vesta, Minerva. Ceres,
Diana, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Apollo, and Vulcan.
To these twelve, wlio were consented, must be added
Janus, Satm-n. Genius, Sol, Pluto, Bacchus, Teira,
and Luna, and thus we tind that the Dii Majorei
364
MAKOS— MALAKANES.
amount to twenty, wlio are usually classified from
their place of residence, as Celestial, Terrestrial, Ma-
rine, and Infernal gods.
MAKOS, a god of the ancient Sclavonians, who
was represented partly as a man, partly as a fisli
At a later period, he presided over rain, and was
invoked when the fields were in want of water.
MALACIIBEL, a god of the ancient Syrians, the
king of the earth.
MAL AKANES, one of the most remarkable sects
of dissenters from the Eusso- Greek Church, who are
thus named in derision from the Russian word ma-
lako, milk, because they use milk as an article of
food on fast-days. Tlie name which they themselves
adopt is Istinneeye Christiane, true Christians. No-
thing is known as to their origin ; but the following
circumstances brought them into notice about the
middle of the last century. A non-commissioned
Prussian officer, who happened to be a prisoner of
war in Russia, settled in a village of the government
of Kharkow. Being a man of great piety, and ani-
mated by an earnest desire to do good among tlie
peasantry, he went from house to house reading and
expounding the Word of God, and continued to fol-
low this practice till his death. No further particu-
lars have been ascertained in regard to the history ri
this excellent and devoted man ; and the only thing
which is known is, that he resided in a village in-
habited by the Malakanes. A community holding
similar principles was discovered about the .same time
in the government of Tambof This sect is not nu-
merous. About 3,000 of its members, however, are
settled in the govermnent of the Crimea, where they
were visited in 1843 by Baron Haxthausen, who
gives the following description of their creed : "They
acknowledge the Bible as the AVord of God, and the
unity of God in tln-ee persons. This triune God,
uncreated, self-existent, tlie cause of all things, is an
eternal, immutable, and invisible Spirit. God dwells
in a pure world ; He sees all, lie knows all, He
governs all ; all is filled with Him. He has created
all things. In the beginning, all that was created by
God was good and perfect. Adam's soul, but not
his body, was created after the image of God. This
created immortal soul of Adam was endowed with
heavenly reason and purity, and a clear knowledge of
God. Evil was unknown to Adam, who possessed
a holy freedom, tending towards God the Creator.
They admit the dogma of the fall of Adam, the birth,
death, and resurrection of Clirist, in the same man-
ner as other Christians, and expound the ten com-
mandments in the following maimer : — ' The first and
second forbid idolatry; therefore no images are to
he worsliipped. The third shows that it is sinfid
to take an oath. The fourth is to be observed by
spending Sundays and other festivals in prayer, sing-
ing praises to God, and reading the Bible. Tlic
fifth, by ordering to honour parents, enjoins to be
obedient to every authority. The sixth prohibits
two kinds of murder, — first, the Ixiilily, by a weli)0n.
poison, &c., which is a sin, except in case of war
when it is not sinfid to kill in defence of the Czar and
the country ; and, second, the spiritual murder
which is committed by seducing others from the
truth with deceitful words, or enticing them by bad
example into sin, which leads them to everlasting
perdition. They also consider it murder when one
injures, persecutes, or hates his neighbour ; accord-
ing to the words of St. John, " He who hates his
brother is a murderer." With regard to the seventh
commandment, they consider as a spiritual adultery
even a too great fondness of this world and its tran-
sient pleasures ; and, therefore, not only unchastity,
but also drunkenness, gluttony, and bad company,
should be avoided. By the eighth they consider
every violence and deceit as theft. By the ninth
commandment, every insidt, mockery, flattery, and
lie, is considered as false witness. By the tenth,
they understand the mortification of all lusts and
passions.' Tliey conclude their confession of faith
by the following words : — 'We believe that whoever
will fulfil the whole of the ten commandments of
God will be saved. But we also believe that since
the fall of Adam no man is capable of fulfilling these
ten commandments by his own strength. We be-
lieve that man, in order to become able to perform
good works, and to keep the commandments of God,
must believe in Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son
of God. This true faith, necessary for our salvation,
we cannot find any where else but in tlie Word of
God alone. We believe that the Word of God
creates in us that faith which makes us capable of
receiving the grace of God.' With regard to the
sacrament of baptism, they say, — ' Although we
know that Christ was baptized by John in the river
Jordan, and that the apostles have baptized others,
namely, as Philip did with the eunuch, — yet we un-
der.stand by b.aptism, not the earthly water, wliich
only cleanses the body but not the soul, but the
spiritual living water, whicli is faitli in the triune
God, without contradiction, and in submission to his
holy AVord ; because the Saviour says, " AVhosoever
believeth in me, from his body streams of living wa-
ter will flow ;" and John the Baptist says, "A man
can take nothing which is not given him from hea-
ven;" and Paul says, " Christ has not sent me to
baptize, but to preach." We therefore understand
by the sacrament of baptism, the spiritual cleansing
of our soul from sin through faith, and the death ot
the old man witli his works in us, in order to be
newly clad by a pure and holy life. Although, after
the birth of a child, we cleanse with real water the
impurities of his body, we do not consider it as bap-
tism. With regard to the Lord's Supper, it was a
commemoration of Christ ; but the words of the gos-
pel are the spiritual bread of life. Man lives not by
bread alone, but by every word of God. The Spirit
gives life ; flesh is of no use. The receiving of the
earthly bread and wine is therefore unnecessary."'
Tills peculiar sect, wliich roscnibles somewhat in
MALEATES— MAMMILLAKIANS.
365
principle the Society of Frieiuls, ia composed cliicfly
of Kiissiiiii peasants, most of tliiMn quite illitcriite,
Ijiit cliaractcr'zed by reiiiiultulily devout, pious dispo-
sitions and cliaracter. Tlieir favourite author is the
German Mystic, Jung Stilling, whoso writings have
been translated into the Russian language. The
Malakanes, who dwell with great delight on tlie
prospect of the Millennium, were roused to a state
of great excitement in 1833, by an attempt, on the
part of one of their ministers, to convince them that
the Millennium was near at hand. Count Krasinski
thus relates the details of this singular movement :
" Terentius IJeliorelV began to preach repentance,
announcing that the millennium should begin in
thirty months, and ordered that all business, and
all kinils of work, except the most indispensable,
should be abandoned ; but that people should spend
tlieir whole time in prayer and singing. He declared
himself to be the prophet Klias, sent to ainiounce
the coming of the Lord, whilst his companion Enoch
was sent with the same mission to the west. He
announced the day when he was to ascend to heaven,
in the presence of all. Several thoiisaiuls of Mala-
kanes assembled from dilfercnt parts of Russia. On
the appointed day, he appeared on a cart, ordered
the assembled crowd to pray on their knees, and
then, spreading his arms, he jumped from the cart,
and fell on the ground. The disappointed Mala-
kanes delivered the poor entluisiast to the local police
as an impostor. He was imprisoned, but having for
some time remained in confinement, he spoke no
more of his being the prophet Elias, but continued
to preach the millennium in prison, and after liis
release, till his death. He left a considerable num-
ber of followers, who often assemble to spend days
and nights in continual prayer and singing. They
introduced the community of goods, and emigi'ated,
with the permission of the government, to Georgia,
where they settled in sight of Mount Ararat, waiting
for the millennium, and where a colony of Lutherans
from Wurtemberg had settled before, for the same
purpose." Tlie strange vagaries of this fanatic,
however, ought not to be charged upon the Mala-
kanes, whose spiritual principles and regard for the
truths of the Bible entitle tliera to the respect of all
good men. The principal seat of this sect is the
Crimea, though they are found scattered through
diti'erent parts of Russia. They resemble the Du-
CUOBOliTZl (which see) in maintaining the spiritual-
ity of God's worship and ordinances, but they differ
from them in admitting the atoning work of Christ,
holding the lawfulness of a stated ministry, and ob-
serving the Christian Sabbath as a day set apart for
the worship of God. The better to prepare for the
sacred duties of the Lord's Day, they hold meetings
for prayer on the Saturday evenings.
MALEATES, a surname of vlyjoHo, derived from
Malea, a cape in Laconia. Under this name he was
worshipped at Sparta.
MALEC, the principal angel who, according to
the Mohammedans, presides over hell. In the Ko-
ran, it is said, " And they," meaning the tnibelicvcrg,
" shall cry aloud, saying, 0 Malcc, intercede for uh,
that the Lord would end us by annihilation. And
he shall answer, Verily, ye sliall remain here for
ever. We brought you the trutli heretofore, mid ya
abhorred the trutli." Some Mohammedan doctors
allege that the answer of Malcc sliall not be given
till after a thousand years have expired.
MALEKITES, the third of tlie orthodox Moham-
medan sects in importance, but the second in the
order of time. It was originated by Malec-ebn-Aiis,
a native of Medina, in the days of Hanin-al-Iiaschid.
The doctrines of this sect, which prevail chiefly in
ISarbary and some other parts of Africa, proceed on
the literal acceptation of the prohibitory precepts.
MALTA (Knights of). See Knighthood
(Ecci,i-.si.\STicAL Orders of).
M.VLUK DASIS, a sid;division of the Rama-
nandi Vaishnuvas of Hindustan, and a sect of com-
paratively imcertain origin and limited importance.
The founder of the sect is supposed to have lived in
the reign of Akbar the Great in the sixteenth cen-
tury. The modifications which Maluk D& intro-
duced into the Vaishnava doctrines were trifling,
amounting to little more than the adoption of hia
name by the sect, and a shorter streak of red upon
the forehead, while their teachers are of the secular
order. Vishnu, in his character as Rama, is the ob-
ject of their practical adoration, and their principles
partake of the spirit of quietism which pervades the
sects of the Ramanandi school. Their chief autho-
rity is the Dliagavat Gita. The adherents of the
sect are said to be numerous, especially among the
servile and trading classes, to the latter of which
Malnk Das belonged. The principal establishment
of this VaMmava sect is at Kara Manikjnir, the
birth-place of the founder, and still occupied by Ids
descendants ; and besides this establishment they
have six other Mafhs at Allahabad, Benares, Bin-
draban, Ayudhya, Lucknow, and Jagunnath, which
last is of great repute as rendered sacred by the
death of Maluk Das.
M ALUMIGISTS, a sect of Mohammedans, accord-
ing to Ricault, who teach that God may be known
perfectly in this world by the knowledge which men
have of themselves.
MAMACOCHA, a deity worshipped by the an-
cient Peruvians.
MAMAKUKS, a kind of bracelets worn by the
natives of the Moluccas or Spice Islands, particularly
Amboyna, and which the women regard as preser-
vatives against all enchantments.
MAMERS, the Oscan name of the ancient hea-
then god Mars. By Varro, however, it is regarded
as the Sabine name of the same deity. Mamers
again was a rural deity among the Romans. Among
the Greeks also Slamertus was sometimes used as a
surname of Ares.
MAMAHLLARIANS, a sect of Anabaptists
366
MANA— MANT.E.
(which see), whicli arose at Haarlem m Holland in
the sixteenth century.
MANA, an ancient Italian divinity, supposed to
be identical with Mania (which see)
MANABOSHO, a deity worshipped by the Chip-
pewa Indians of North America. Various strange
legendaiy tales are related concerning this god. It
is said that his mother having been killed by her own
husband, Manabosho, to avenge his mother's death,
made war upon his father, and so assailed liim with
black stones, that he was glad to sue for peace,
and in order to appease the anger of his son, lie pro-
mised him a place in heaven, on condition, however,
that he would destroy the monsters or giants called
Windigos, who devoured men. His &'st battle was
with the king of the fishes, whom he slew. His next
engagement was with the serpents and their queen,
who made him pay dear for his victory by letting
forth the waters of the deluge upon him. He found
refuge on a tree, commanded the waters to subside,
and created the world anew, assisted by certain ani-
mals, who at his order pliuiged into the billows
until a beaver or a musk-rat recovered a small por-
tion of the earth. In this legend Manabosho is the
same as the Litaolane of the Bechuanas, and the
whole stoiy may be considered as an obscm'e tradi-
tion of the deluge.
MANAGARM, a formidable giant mentioned in
the Scandinavian Prose Edda, as destmed to be tilled
with the life-blood of men who draw near their end,
and will swallow up the moon, and stain the heaven
and the earth with blood. Then shall the sun grow
dim, and the winds howl tumultuously.
MANAH, the tutelary god of the Hodhail and
other tribes of ancient Arabia, occupying the coun-
try between Mecca and i\Iedina. The idol was a
large stone, the worship of which consisted of the
slaughter of camels and other animals. Though the
idol was destroyed by order of Mohammed, the rite
is contmued as a pait of Islam, at Manah, on the way
to Mecca.
MANDRjE, a name often applied to monasteries
in the East, whence originated the term Archiman-
drite, used to denote the abbot or superior of a
Greek convent.
MANDYAS, a vestment worn by a Greek archi-
mandrite, which somewhat resembles the cope of the
Romanists, but is fastened in front, and has bells at
the lower edge like the gai-ment of the Jewish high-
priest.
MANES, a term used among the ancient Romans,
to denote the souls of the departed. Sacrifices were
offered in lionour of the Mamies at certain seasons,
and an annual festival called Fekalia (which see),
dedicated specially to the Manes, was celebrated on
the 19th of February.
MANGO-CAPAC, the foimder of the ancient
Peruvian Empire, who was after his death woi-ship-
ped as a god, altars being reared to his honour. 15oth
he and his wife were regarded as childi'en of the
Sun, who had been sent from heaven to earth thai
they might found a kingdom. The Peruvians held
Mango- C'ajjcu: in so great veneration, that they paid
a kind of worship to the city of Cuzco, because it
was erected by this great monarch, who had taughl
them the worship of the sun, the moon, and othei
heavenly bodies
MAN-HO-PA, the Great Spirit worshipped by
the North American Indians, whom they propi-
tiate by presents, and by fastijig, and lamentation
durmg the space of from tlu-ee to five days. This
Great Being they acknowledge as the disposer of
all good, their supreme guide and protector. They
believe him to be possessed, like themselves, of cor-
poreal form, though endowed with a nature infinitely
more excellent than theirs, and which will endure for
ever without change. Tliey have a tradition, that
the gi-eat waters divide the residence of the Great
Spirit from the temporary abodes of his red children ;
but a very general belief prevails, that the Great
Spirit resides on the western side of the Rocky
Moimtains.
MANI, the name given to the moon among the
ancient Scandinavians. The following account is
found in the Prose Edda of tins mythological
being : " There was formerly a man, named Mun-
dilfari, who had two children so lovely and grace-
ful, that he called the male, Jlilni (moon), and the
female, S(51 (sun), who espoused the man named
Glenm-. But the gods being mcensed at Mundilfari's
presumption took his children and placed them in
the heavens, and let S6l drive the horses that draw
the car of the sun, which the gods had made to give
light to the world out of the spai-ks that flew from
Muspellheim. These horses are called Ai'vak and
Alsvid, and under their withers the gods placed two
skins filled with air to cool and refresh them, or, ac-
cording to some ancient traditions, a refrigerant sub-
stance called isariikid. Mdni was set to guide the
moon in liis course, and regulate his increasing and
waning aspect. One day he carried off from the
earth two children, named Bil and Hjuki, as they
were returning from the spring called Byrgir, cariy-
ing between them the bucket called Sasgr, on the
pole Simul. Vidrinn was the father of these chil-
dren, who always follow M;ini (the moon), as we
may easily observe even from the earth."
MANTA, a goddess among the ancient Etruscans,
who belonged to the infernal divinities, and was said
to be the mother of the Manes. We leam from
Macrobius that images of Mania were Imng up
at the house doors to ward off danger. At the fes-
tival of the Compitalia (which s«!), boys are iiaid
to have been sacrificed to this goddess. The bar-
barous practice of ofiering U]) human sacrifices on
this occasion was at length abolished, and ofl'enngs
of garlic and popjiy heads substituted in place of
them.
MANIyE, certain ancient divinities, believed to
be the same with the Eumenides (which see).
MANICIIEANS.
367
MANICIIKANS, a heretical sect which arose
towards tlie close of tlic third century, orif;iriatiii£; in
»n attempt on tlie part of tlie Persian Mtini or
Manes, to comhine Christianity vvitli tlie Oriental
I'aj^an religions. The system of doctrines thus
formed was strictly dualistic. It supposed two ori-
ginal and ahsolutely opposite principles; the one
being God, the source of all good ; the other evil, the
source of all confusion, disorder, and destruction.
The two kingdoms thus at antagonism were at first
wholly separate from one another. In connection
with the Sujn-eme God, and emanating from him,
were certain yEnnn, who, in strict suhordination to
the Great Source of light and goodness, diffused these
precious blessings among all other beings. The
powers of darkness are engaged in a struggle among
themselves, until approaching the kingdom of light
they are subdued by intermingling with it, and at
length are rendered utterly powerless. From the
Supremo Being, who rules over the kingdom of
light, issues the ^on, mother of light, who generates
the primitive man with a view to oppose to him the
powers of darkness. The primitive man, in conjunc-
tion with the five pure elements of physical nature,
enters into the conflict, but feeling his position to be
critical and dangerous, he asks for, and obtains, the
living spirit by which he is raised once more to the
kingdom of light. A process of purification is now
commenced by the same living spirit, which goes on
in the physical as well as in the moral world, both of
them indeed being confounded in the Manicheaii
system. " As the religious system of the Persians,"
to use the language of Ncandcr, " assigned an impor-
tant place to the sun and moon, in the conlhct in the
physical and S]jiritual world between Ormuzd and
Ahriman, and in carrying forward the universal pro-
cess of development and pm-ification ; so was it also
in the system of Mani. Very nearly the same
that the system of Zoroaster taught concerning
Mithras, as the Genius (Ized) of the Sun, Mani
transferred to his Christ, — the pure soul sending
forth its influence from the sun and from the moon.
Representing the soul as having sprung from the
primitive man, he interpreted in this sense the bibli-
cal name, ' Son of Man,' and distinguishing between
the pjtre andyj'cc soul enthroned in the sun, and its
kindred soul diffused throughout nature, and cor-
rupted by its mixture with matter. So, too, he dis-
tinguished a son of man superior to all contact with
matter, and incapable of suffering, from a son of man
crucified, so to speak, and suffering, in matter.
Wherever the scattered seed pushed upward out of
the dark bosom of the earth and unfolded itself in a
plant, in its blossom and its fruit, Mani beheld the
triumpliant evolution of the principle of light, gra-
dually working its way onward to freedom from the
bondage of matter ; he beheld how the living soul,
which had been imprisoned in the members of the
Prince of Darkness, loosens itself from the contine-
oient, rises in freedom, and mingles with its conge-
nial element the pure air, where the souls completely
purified ascend to those ships of light (the sun and
moon) which are ready to transport them to their
native country. Hut whatever still bears upon it
various blemishes and stains, is attracted to them
gradually, and in portions, by the force of heat, and
incorporates itself with all trees, with whatever is
planted and sown."
Man is now created, the image, in this world of
darkness, of the primitive man, and destined to ex-
ercise dominion over nature. In him are seen united
the powers of the kingdom of darkness and of light,
a mirror in which are exhibited the powers of heaven
and of earth. His soul is derived from the kingdom
of light, and his body from the kingdom of dark-
ness. The two maintain a constant struggle with
each other, and to deliver the soul from the power
of darkness, giving it a complete victory over the
evil principle, the spirit of the sun, which purifies
all nature, must become incarnate, not uniting him-
self to a material body, with which he could have no
communion, but clothing himself in a shadowy, sen-
sible form, and thus the death of Christ was not a
real, but otdy a seeming crucifixion.
The aim of the whole Divine arrangements, accord-
ing to the theory of the Manicheans, was to effect a
total separation of the light from the darkness, and
the reduction of the darkness to utter powerless-
ness. They held that the highest, most authorita-
tive, and only infallible system of truth, was that
which was taught by the Paraclete or Mani, and by
wliicli all doctrines, wherever found, were to be test-
ed. To these the Holy Scrijitures of truth were sub-
ordinated, and they held that it was by the teachings
of Mani, the true was distinguished from the false,
in the New Testament. They refused to admit, for
example, that Jesus was born of a woman ; that he
was circumcised as a Jew, that he was meanly bap-
tized, led into the wilderness, and miserably tempt-
ed of the devil. Mani claimed to be a divinely au-
thorized church-reformer. He held that the Ma-
nichean was the only true Christian church ; and
that within it there were two distinct orders of
members, — the exoterics, called Auditors, who were
permitted to read the writings of Mani, and to
hear his doctrines stated in their mythical form,
■without, however, receiving any explanation of
their hidden meaning ; and the esoterics, called the
Elect or Perfect, who were the priestly order of the
church, and formed the connecting link between the
earth and the kingdom of light. The latter class
were forbidden to hold property, and required to lead
a life of contemplation, to abstain from marriage,
from all intoxicating drinks, and even from animal
food. They must not kill, nor even injure an ani-
mal, nor must they pull up an herb, or pluck a fruit
or a fiower. The Auditors were ordered to pay
them all due reverence as superior beings, and to
provide them with suitable means of support ; thev
were to look upon them also as mediators b«ween
368
MANICHEANS.
tliem and the kingdom of light. From tliis body of
tlie Elect were cliosen the presiding officers of the
chiirch, wlio, hlce the apostles, were twelve in num-
ber, and under the name of Magistri were the rulers
of the sect. To these twelve was added a thirteenth,
who, representing Mani, presided over the rest. Sub-
ordinate to these superior officers were sixty-two
bishops, under whom were presbyters, deacons, and
finally ti-avelling preachers. Tlie Lord's Supjier was
strictly limited to the Elect, and it is generally ad-
mitted, that they used wine in tlie ordinance.
Tlie Sun being the Christ of the Manicheans, they
observed Sunday as a festival in honour of him ; and
on a particular day in the month of March, they cele-
brated a festival in commemoration of the martyr-
dom of Mani, when a splendidly adorned pulpit, as-
scended by five steps, was erected, and before it all
the Manicheans prostrated themselves. At its first
origin the members of the sect were persecuted by
the Roman government. Tlie Emperor Dioclesian,
A. D. 296, issued a decree, that the leaders of the
Manicheans should be burned at the stake, and their
followers subjected to decapitation, and the confisca-
tion of their property. Notwithstanding this severe
enactment, the sect made rapid progress, and in the
fourth century it ensnared many, including even Au-
gustine for a time. In the year 372, Valentinian
the elder forbade their holding meetings, and laid
tlieir ministers mider heavy penalties. In the year
381, Theodosius the Great pronounced them infa-
mous, and deprived them of the rights of citizens.
To escape the severity of these laws, the Manicheans
endeavoured to shelter themselves under a variety of
different names. From the affinity of the doctrines
of Mani to those of Zoroaster, in no country did the
Manichean heresy find a firmer footing than in Per-
sia ; and in the sixth century it became so powerful
in that coimtry as to seduce the son of Cabadas the
monarch ; and the consequence was, that, by royal
command, many of them were slaughtered. In the
East generally, from the Oriental character of their
system, the Manicheans made rapid progress for sev-
eral centuries, though often subjected to penal enact-
ments of the most oppressive kind. Towards the
ninth century the sect became merged in the Pauli-
CIANS (which see).
Ecclesiastical historians generally have recognized
the Oriental character of the Manichean system ;
but the work of Dr. Baur, published at Tubingen in
1831, has traced, in the most satisfactory manner, the
close relationship which exists between tlie doctrines
of Mani and tliose of Budha. Neander, pursuing the
same train of thought, has pointed out some very
striking analogies between the two systems. Thus
he remarks : " It is in the highest degree probable,
that in the public appearances of Mani two epochs
are to be distinguished, — and this view of the matter
is also confirmed by indications in tlie historical
notices, — the first when his aim was simply to re-
concile and blend together Parsisra and Ohristianity ;
the second, after he had become acquainted in his
travels with Buddhaism, from which a new liglit
arose within him, and he supposed that he first at-
tained, from this new position, to a better under-
standing of the truth in all tlie three religions.
Dualism, with him, must now gi-adually pass over
more completely into pantheistic Monoism. For
we cannot help considering Buddhaism, although the
fact has been denied by many in modem times, as
one phase of the appearance of Pantheism ; since
indeed we mu.st consider as such every doctrine
which does not recognize God as a self-conscious,
free causality of existence, acting with a view to cer-
tain purposes or ends. The Duahsra of the Buddha
system is of altogether another kind from that of the
Parsic. It is rwt a positive kingdom of evil that
stands opposed to the kingdom of good, and with a
corrupting influence mixes into its creation ; but
by Dualism here nothing else is expressed than
that the Divine Being is under the necessity ot
passing out of itself, and over into nranifestation ;
— and the problem then is, how to return back
from this manifestation into pure being. There
are two factors, the Spirit-God, ajid nature, or
matter. When the spirit passes out from itself into
nature, then springs into existence the phenomenal
world, the world of appearance, of Sansara — the
Maya. The Spirit becomes ever more coagulated in
nature, more completely estranged from itself, even
to entire unconsciousness. In man, it returns back
through various stages of development and purifica-
tion once more to itself ; till, wholly released from
the bonds of natural force, after being stripped of all
limited, individual existence, it becomes conscious of
its oneness with the primal Spirit, from which all
life has flowed, and passes over into the same. This
is becoming Nirwana. The antithesis is obvious —
the Spirit, in its estrangement from itself, the world
of manifestation or of appearance (Sansara, Maya) ,
and the pure being of the Spirit (the Nirwana). It
is a characteristic mark of the Buddhaist mode of
contemplation, and an evidence of the Monoism ly-
ing at the root of this Dualism, when we find it de-
scribed as the highest stage of perfection, that the San-
sara and the Nirwana become one for consciousness ;
the Spirit is no longer affected at all by the appear-
ance, can energize freely in connection with it, and
amidst the woi-ld of appearance, recognizing this as
appearance and in its necessity, holds fast only the
pure being — the entire oneness of the world on tliis
side, and the world bei/ond time. Thus Buddlia lets
himself down to the world of Sansara for the redemp-
tion of the souls therein confined, and both are one
to him."
'J'he Manichean heresy appears to have been r
combination of ditTerent systems, but more especially
those of the Chrixiiana, the Parsee-'!, and the Biui
ImU, all of which develop thcmselve.s more strongly
in this than in any other system of doctrines which
ecclesiastical history contains.
MANIPA— MANWANTARA.
3(;s
MANIPA, a goddess worsliipped by tlie Monf;ol
Tartars. Slie is represpntcd by an idol with nine
heads, whicl) form a kind of pyramid. Slie is lilic-
wiso r(>|)reflonted under a liiiman sliapc, and tlioiiglit
to dehglit in murder.
MANIPLK, a portion of tlie dress of a Romisli
priest in celebrating mass, worn npon the left arm.
It was originally a narrow strip of linen suspended
from the left arm ; in course of time it was embel-
lished, bordered with a fringe, and decorated wiili
needle-work. The Greek priests have two mani-
|iles, called epimnnida, one for the right band, and
another for the left. The patriarch alone is allowed
to wear both. No maniple is worn by tlie clergy of
the Church of Kngland.
MANITO, a name used among the North Ameri-
can Indians to denote a spirit, hence the Great Spirit
is called in various tribes Kitchi-Manito, and the Kvil
Spirit, Matchi-Manito. When used simply without
any e])ithet prefixed, the title lifanito is restricted to
a minor emanation from tlie Great Spirit, which the
American Indian conceives to be comnnmicated to
some well-known bird or beast or other object, fit-
ting it to be his guardian deity, liis councillor, pro-
tector, and friend. But wdiile thus reposing with
confidence on the assistance of bis own Manito, be is
constantly visited with painful apprehensions, lest
his neiglibour's Manito may prove more powerful
than bis own, and may, perlia])s, assaidt and injure
him. The world, they imagine, is governed by
J\(anUoes, both good and evil, who are ever conflict-
ing together, and thus give rise to the moral confu-
sion and disorder wdiich eveiy where prevail. The
constant dread of these powerful spirits haunts the
North Aiuerican savage of the woods, until, by death
or transmigration, be passes beyond their reach.
When they go to battle or the chase, the image of
their tutelary spirit is carried with them as an indis-
pensable part of their equipment. When they perform
a solemn sacrifice, they put upon a pole the head of
a man carved in wood, which they place in the mid-
dle of the house. A smaller image of the same kind
is carried about with them suspended round their
necks. " Every savage," says Chateaubriand, " has
bis Manito, as every Negro has his Fetish : it is either
a bird, a fish, a quadruped, a reptile, a stone, a piece
of wood, a bit of cloth, any coloured object, or a
European or American ornament." One Indian, as
the Moravian missionaries inform us, has, in a dream,
received the sun as bis tutelary spirit ; anotlier the
moon ; a third, the owl ; a fourth, the buffalo.
MANNUS, a god worshipped by the ancient Ger-
mans. He was the son of Tuisco.
MANSIONARII. See Ostiarii.
MANTEIS (Gr. prophets), seers connected with
the ancient oracles of Greece and Rome. They
were believed to foretell future events under the in-
fluence of the gods, particularly of Apollo. This
privilege was in some cases supposed to belong to
particular famihes, who handed it down from lather
to son. The mantcis made their revelations on any
great emergency, when considted by others, or when
they themselves considered it to be for the public
advantage, to make known the will of the pods.
These interpreters of the will of heaven were publicly
protected and honoured by the Athenian government,
and their presence was deemed important in all as-
semblies of the people. See Aruspices, Augurs,
Divination, Okaclks.
MANTELUiM (Monasticum), (I>at. a monk'k
mantle). See Mandyas.
MANTIS (The Praying), an insect said to have
been formerly worshipped by the Hottentots. It
derives the peculiar name it bears from the erect
position and motion it assumes wlien alarmed. Con-
siderable doubt exists whether this parlicidar form
of idolatry was ever practised among the Hottentot
tribes at any time. All that is known with cer-
tainty is, that the insect in question was regarded by
the more superstitious of the people as a creature of
bad omen, and to kill, or even to injure it, was
looked upon as in the highest degree unlucky, and
sure to be followed by some great misfortune.
MANTRA, a secret, the communication of which
forms the chief ceremony of initiation in all Hindu
sects. It generally consists of the name of some
deity, or a short address to him ; it is conveyed by
the teacher to the disciple in a whisper, and when
once known, it is carefully concealed from all the
uninitiated. Professor H. Wilson says, that Hindus
above prejudices in other respects, find it so difficult
to get over that of communicating the Mantra, that
even wlien they profess to impart it, their sincerity
can scarcely be admitted without a doubt. — The
word Mantra is also employed generally to denote
a spell or enchantment, and also a hymn or a
prayer.
MANU (Code of), the authoritative Law-Book
of the Hindu Brahmans. This production is of later
origin than the Upanishads (which sec), but
teaches the same religious doctrine and precepts,
with various important additions, the whole being
divided into eighteen books. The Code was com-
piled by Manu, the son of Brahma, and other sacred
personages — detailing all manner of duties connected
with the worship of God, and all the possible rela-
tions that can subsist between man and man.
MANUS, a legendary race of monarchs in the
system o( Hinduism, who lived about 2,000,000,000
of years ago. The first of tliem came down with hia
spouse from one of the higher heavens to rule over
the earth. The entire line of Manus amounted to
fourteen, each of them, with his posterity of sons and
grandsons, is supposed to have been invested with
the sovereignty of the earth during a Manwantara
(which see), or a cycle of time.
MANWANTAJRA, a grand period of time in
Hindu chronology, including seventy-one maha-yugt
or divine ages, being the reign of one ^fanu, wit}'
bis posterity of sons and grandsons. The reigne ol
2i
370
MAPHRIDA— MARCIOOTTES.
the fourteen Manus, who reigned in succession, ex-
tended to 1,000 maha-yugs or one Kalpa.
MAPHRIDA, the second dignitary of the JACOB-
ITE Church (which see) in the East.
MARABOUTS, insane persons in Algiers, Mo-
rocco, and other countries in the North of Africa,
who are reputed saints, and exercise great influence
over all classes of the people. Gifts of every kind
are heaped upon these foolish impostors. A Mara-
bout performs the duties of a priest, pretends to ward
off evil from any one, and to cause misfortune to
those with whom he may happen to be offended.
He employs himself in manufacturing amulets and
charms. He has the privilege of being able to ac-
cord sanctuary to any criminal whether innocent or
guilty, and even under the ban of sovereign displea-
sure, who may have succeeded in crossing the thresh-
old of the Marabout's chiosk. The grand Marabout
is one of the principal officers at the court of the
Dey of Algiers, and presides in matters of reli-
gion.
MARAE, the name given in the South Sea Islands
to a heathen temple. All were uncovered and re-
sembled oratories rather than temples. They are thus
described by Mr. Ellis in his ' Pol3Tiesian Researches :
" The form of the interior or area of their temples
was frequently that of a square or a parallelogram,
the sides of which extended forty or fifty feet. Two
sides of this space were enclosed by a high stone
wall ; the front was protected by a low fence ; and
opposite, a solid pyramidal structure was raised, in
front of which the images were kept, and the altars
fixed. These piles were often immense. That
which formed one side of the square of the large
temple in Atehuru, according to Mr. Wilson, by
whom it was visited when in a state of preservation,
was two hundred and seventy feet long, ninety-four
wide at the base, and fifty feet high, being at the
summit one hundred and eighty feet long, and six
wide. A flight of steps led to its summit; the bot-
tom step was six feet high. The outer stones of
the pyramid, composed of coral and basalt, were
laid with great care, and hewn or squared with im-
mense labour, especially the tiava, or corner stones.
"Within the enclosure, the houses of the priests,
and keepers of the idols, were erected. Ruins of
temples are found in every situation : on the sum-
mit of ;i hill, as at Maeva, where Tane's temple,
nearly one hundred and twenty feet square, enclosed
with high walls, is still standing, almost entire ; on
the extremity of a point of land projecting into the
sea ; or in the recesses of an extensive and over-
shadowing grove. The trees growing within the
walls, and around the temjilc, were sacred; these
were the tall cypress-like casuarina, the tamami, or
callophylluni, miro or thespesia, and the toti, or
cordia. TlicHC were, excepting the casuarina-frecs,
of large foliage and exuberant growth, their inter-
woven and dark umbrageous branches frequently
excluding the rays of the fun ; and the contrast be-
tween the bright glare of a tropical day, and the
sombre gloom in the depths of these groves, was
peculiarly striking. The fantastic contortions in the
trunks and tortuous branches of the aged trees, the
plaintive and moaning sound of the wind passing
through the leaves of the casuarina, often resembling
the wild notes of the Eolian harp — and the dark
walls of the temple, with the grotesque and horrific
appearance of the idols — combined to inspire extra-
ordinary emotions of superstitious terror, and to
nurture that deep feeling of dread which character-
ized the worshippers of Tahiti's sanguinary deities."
MARANATHA. See Anathema.
MARATONIANS. See Macedonians.
MARCELLIANS, the followers of Marcellus,
bishop of AncjTa in Galatia, in the fourth century.
He had from the beginning keenly opposed the
Arlans, and warmly supported the Honwousia of the
Nicene creed. All subordination of Persons in the
Sacred Trinity he believed to be Ai-iani?m, and in
the course of a work in refutation of the Sophist
Asterius, the founder of the Semi-Arian school, he
fell into an error approaching to the Sabellian or
Samasotenian heresy, that of maintaining the unity
of the Son with the Father, losing sight of the per-
sonal distinction between them. He was answered
not only by Asterius, but by Eusebius of Cssarea,
and Acacius. Eusebius wrote two works against
him, and at an assembly of EuseKans held at Constan-
tinople A. D. 336, Marcellus was formally deposed from
his bisliopric, to make way, as was supposed, for the
Semi-Arian Basil. Notwithstanding the suspicion
of heresy which now attached to him, the orthodox
party defended him for some time, and the council
of Sardica acquitted him, and restored him to hig
see. In course of time his heretical views assumed
a more definite shape, so that bis friends were com-
pelled to abandon him as a confirmed heretic; and
this view of his character was rendered all the more
certain by the unshrinking boldness with which Ins
pupil Photinus developed the Marcellian here.sy in
all its extent, but under a new name derived from
liimself. (See Photinians.)
MARCIANISTS. See Euchites.
MARCIONITES, a Gnostic sect which arose in
the second century, deriving its name from Mai-cion,
a native of Sinope in Pontus, where bis fatlier waa
bishop. From early life he seems to have been
animated by an ardent love of Divine truth, and
a strong reluctance to submit to human tradition.
The tendency in his mind towards an ascetic spirit
was seen in the fact, that in the first ardour of
Christian love he resolved to renounce every earth-
ly possession, and to give himself up to a course
of rigid abstinence, presenting to the church at
the same time a sum of two hundred tcstertia.
He grasped the peculiar doctrines of Christian-
ity, and more especially the fact of redemption,
with so firm a bold, and took so absorbing a view
of the God of the gospel, that he conceived him
MARCIONITES.
371
to be a Heing altogetlier distinct from the God of
nature. From sucli a train of tliinking, lie naturally
paused to the idea that tliore was a com]ileto con-
trariety between the Old Testament and the New.
The God of the one was jealous, severe, and inexor-
able, while the God of the other was only mercy and
love. The Messiah of the one had a kingdom, but
wholly of this world ; the Christ of the otiier liad a
kingdom also, hut essentially Sfjiritual, and not of
this world.
From the character of his niiiul, Marcion was op-
posed to the allegorical interpretation of the Bible,
which was so prevalent in the early ages of the
church ; on the contrary, lie adhered to the lit-
eral meaning, and entertained an earnest desire to
restore Christianity otice more to its simple and pri-
mitive form, by rescuing it from the Jewish element
with which it had been confounded. Excommuni-
cated from the cluircli at Sinopc, he repaired to
Rome, where he hoped to meet with more sympathy
in consequence of !iis strong anti-Judaizing tenden-
cies. His expectations, however, of countenance
from the Roman church were disappointed, and he
now conceived the design of founding an indepen-
dent church. lie attached himself, accordingly, to a
teacher from Antioeh in Syria, by name Cerdo, who
taught a system of pure Dualism (see Cerdonians),
and to whose instructions he was indebted for a con-
(idorable number of his opinions. Though every-
where looked upon as a heretic, he devoted himself
throughout his whole life to the active propagation
of his peculiar views, not communicating tliem, as
many of the other Gnostic teachers did, to a limited
number of followers, but to all Christians with whom
he came in contact. It is alleged by Tertullian, that
Marcion towards the end of his life repented of the
schism to which he had given rise, and ssught to be
restored to the fellowship of the church — a request
which was granted on condition that he should bring
back those whom he had seduced from the church ;
but his premature death prevented the fulfilment of
the condition, and thus he died in a state of excom-
munication.
The doctrines inculcated by Marcion, and held by
his followers the Marcionites, were fundamentally the
eame with the other Gnostics. Three primary prin-
ciples were laid down as the basis of the entire sys-
tem: 1. The Hyle, or matter existing from all eter-
nity. 2. God, a Being of infinite perfection, holi-
ness, and love. 3. The Demiurge, the Creator of
the world, the God of the Jews, and of the Old Tes-
tament, who holds a middle place between good and
evil, and is engaged in a constant conflict with mat-
ter, seeking to Subject it to his will, but meeting
with steady resistance. From the ever -resisting
matter originated evil, which became concentrated
in Satan, the Evil One. The moral operations of
the Demiurge are thus developed by Neander :
" The Demiurge of Marcion does not work after the
(wttem of higher ideas, of ^vhich, though uncon-
sciously, or even against his will, he i« the organ ;
bul he is the absolutely independent, self-subsistenl
creator of an imperfect world, answering to liis own
limited essence. To this world Marcion reckoned
also the nature of man, in which he did not ackiiow.
ledge, like other Gnostics, the existence of another
element besides. The Demiurge — so he taught —
created man, his highest work, after his own image,
to represent and reveal himself. Man's body he
formed of matter, — hence evil desires; to this body
he gave a soul in affinity with himself and derived
from his own essence. lie gave him a law, to try
his obedience, with a view cither to reward or to
punish him, according to his desert. But the limited
Demiurge had it not in his power to give man a god-
like principle of life, capable of overcoming evil.
Man yielded to the seductions of sinfid lust, and thui
became subject, with his whole race, to the dominion
of matter, and of the evil sjiirits which sprang out of
it. From the entire race of fallen humanity, the
Demiurge selected only one people, for his special
guidance ; to this people, the Jews, he made a spe-
cial revelation of himself, and gave a religious polity,
answering to his men essence and character, — con-
sisting, on the one hand, of a ceremonial confined to
externals ; on the oOier, of an imperative deficient
svstem of morals, without any inner godlike life,
without power to sanctify the heart, without the spi-
rit of love. Those who faithfully observed this re-
ligious law, he rewarded by conveying them at death
to a state of happiness suited to their limited na-
tures, in the society of their pious forefathers. But
all who suffered themselves to be seduced by the
enticements of the Hijle to disobey the Demiurge,
and all who abandoned themselves to idolatry — a
system to be traced to the influence of this Hyle, he
hurled down to perdition."
According to the views of Marcion, Christ was
the self-manifestation of the Father, and the human
body in which he appeared on earth was not a real
but a seeming body. The Christ of the New Testa-
ment was wholly distinct from, and even in many
respects opposed to, the Messiah of the Old. The
true believer in Christ became a partaker, even in
this world, of a divine life above the power of the
Demiurge and the Hyk, and under the special guid-
ance of the God of love. Such a man Marcion con-
ceived must be an ascetic, seeking to be delivered
from all contaminating influence of matter; and if
any one was not capable of leading this kind of life,
he ought to be kept in the class of catechumens, but
in his present state could not be admitted to bap-
tism. He is said to have held the doctrine of vica
rious baptism of the living, for catechumens who had
died.
With the exception of the epistles of Paul. Mar-
cion rejected the whole New Testament, substituting
for the writings of the four Evangehsts a pretended
original Gospel, which he maintained was the record
of the gospel history used by Paul himself, buf
172
MARCOSIANS— MARIOLATRY.
which probably was nothing more tliau the Grospel
according to Luke, mutilated to suit Marcion's pecu-
liar views. The great aim of this famous Gnostic
teacher appears to have been to restore the primitive
church, designed by Christ, and founded by the
Apostle Paul. Hence in many places he founded
communities of his own ; to the members of which
he prescribed numerous fastings and other austeri-
ties, such as abstinence from marriage, wine, flesh,
and all that was pleasing to the natural appetite.
The followers of iMarcion, however, introduced vari-
ous modifications of his opinions, mingling them up
witli the doctrines taught by the other Gnostics.
Hence arose out of the Marcionite heresy other sects,
such as the Marcosians (which see), and Apel-
LEANS (wliich see), which differed widely from tlie
original sect.
MARCOSIANS, a sect of Gnostics which sprung
up in the second century, having been originated by
Marcus, a disciple of Valentinus. (See Valenti-
NIANS.) Both Irenaeus and Epiphanius treat of
this sect at great length. Their opinions seem to
have been founded chiefly on the Gnostic doctrine of
^ons ; and according to Irenseus, the knowledge of
these ^ons, and of the formation of the universe, was
derived by a revelation from the primal four in the
system of jEons, who appeared to Marcus in tlie
form of a female. The Marcosians seem to have
acknowledged the canonical Scriptures, and to have
received also many apocryphal books. Neander in-
forms us, that after the Jewish cabalistic method,
Marcus hunted after mysteries in the number and
positions of the letters. He maintained two kinds
of baptism, a psychical baptism in the name of Jesus,
the Messiah of the psychical natures, by which be-
lievers obtained pardon of sin, and tlie hope of eter-
nal life in the kingdom of the Demiurge ; and
pneumatic baptism, in the name of the Christ from
heaven united with Jesus, by which the spiritual
nature attained to self-consciousness and to perfec-
tion, entering into fellowship with the Pleroma.
According as the candidate was to be admitted
among the psychical or the pneumatical Christians,
both the ceremony and the formula of baptism dif-
fered. The latter, which was tlie higher baptism,
was conducted with great pomp and rejoicing, the
chamber in which the ceremony was performed
being adorned as for a marriage. " One baptismal
formula for the Pneumatics," Neander says, " ran
thus: 'In the name which is hidden from all tlie
divinities and powers (of the Demiurge), the name of
truth, which Jesus of Nazareth has put on in the
liglit-zones of Christ, the living Christ, through
the Holy Gliost, for the redemption of the angels,
— the name by which all things attain to perfec-
tion.' The candidate then said, ' 1 am established
and redeemed, — I am redeemed in my soul from this
world, and from all that comes from if, by the name
of Jehovah, who has redt'crned the soul of Jesus by
the iirii'.g Christ.' The whole assembly then said,
' Peace (or salvation) to all on whom this name rests.'
Next they bestowed on the person baptized the sign
of consecration to the priestly office, by anointing
with oil, customary also in the church ; but the oil
in this case was a costly balsam ; for the precious,
far-spreading fragrance was intended to be a symbol
of that transcendant bliss of the Pleroma which had
been appointed for the redeemed."
The Marcosians seem to have been the first who
practised the ceremony of extreme unction. The
dead were anointed with balsam mingled with water,
and a form of prayer was pronounced over them, to
the intent that the souls of the departed might rise
free from Demiurge, and all his powers, to their mo-
ther, the Sophia. This sect used also a mystical
table which symbolically represented their system.
MARDAITES. See Maronites.
MARGARET'S (St.) DAY, a festival of the
Romish church, celebrated on the 21st of February.
A festival dedicated to another saint of the same
name, who is represented as a virgin and martyr, is
celebrated by the Romish church on the 20th of
July.
MAKGARITES, a word used by the Greek church
to denote the small particles of bread which adhere
to the chalice or the patin, after consecration, in the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper. They receive the
name of Margarites or Pearls from the transparent
appearance which they assume when exposed to the
moisture.
JIARICA, an ancient Roman goddess worshipped
at Minturn*, and to her a grove was consecrated on
the river Liris. She has sometimes been considered
as identical with Aphrodite (which see). Hesiod
confounds her with Circe. Virgil makes her the
wife of Faunus, and the mother of Latinus, an an-
cient king of Latium.
MARINE DEITIES, gods worshipped by the an-
cient Greeks and Romans as presiding over the sea.
The principal of these was \.\\& Poseidon of the Greeks,
and Neptune of the Romans, and to him must be
added Nereus, Triton, Proteus, the Sirens, Sea-
Nymphs, and Achelons.
MARIOLATRY, the worship of the Virgin Mary.
In the fourth century, in consequence of the pre-
valence of the ascetic spirit, the most extravagant
opinions began to be entertained of the merit of vir-
ginity, and Mary, the mother of our blessed Lord,
was venerated as the ideal of the celibate life. About
this time an opinion arose that there were in the tem-
ple at Jerusalem virgins consecrated to God, among
whom Mary grew up in vows of jierpetual virginity.
In the end of the fourth century, it became custom-
ary to apply to Mary the appellation, " Mother of
God." Until this time, however, there is no trace
of the worship of the Virgin. l$ut the first appear-
ance of Mariolatry was among a small sect of wo-
men, who came from Thrace and settled in Arabia,
and who, from cikes or wafers which they conse-
crated to Mary, were called Coi.i.YiiiniANs (whirh
iMARIOLATRY.
373
tae). Tlieso were keenly opposed liy tlie IIelvi-
DiANS or Antidica-Maiuanitks (wliicli sec). But
the worsliippers of Mary prevailed, and in tlie tiftli
century images of tlio Virgin were placed in tlie
churclies liolding the infant Jesus in lier arms. Once
introduced, this species of worship spread rapidly,
and Mary became a eonapiciions object of veneration
m the churches, both of the Kast and West. To-
wards the close of the tenth century the custom be-
came prevalent among the Latins, of celebrating
masses, and abstaining from flesh on Saturdays, in
honour of Mary. Alxnit the same time the daily
ollice of St. Mary, which the Latins call the lesser
oftice, was introduced, and it was afterwards con-
iirmed by Pope Urban IL in the council of Cler-
mont. The liosary also came into use, consisting of
fifteen reiictitions of the Lord's I'raypr, and one
hundred salutations of St. Mary ; and tiie Crown of
St. Mary, as it was called by the Latins, consisted
of six or seven repetitions of the Lord's Prayer, and
sixty or seventy salutations according to the age
ascribed by ditferent authors to the Holy Virgin.
Mariolatry now became an established doctrine
and practice in the clun'oh of Rome, and down to
the present day lias continued to occupy a very con-
spicuous place in her ritual ; while with equal in-
tensity Mary receives the worship of the Oriental
church, under the name of Panagia, or all-holy.
Adopting the distinction drawn by Thomas Aquinas,
Romanists allege that they honour the Virgin, not
with Latria, or the worship due to God only, but
with a liigh degree of veneration, which they term
Ifi/perdulla, and which occupies an intermediate
place between the Latria due to God, and the Dtdia
due to saints and angels. But even with this quali-
fication it cannot be denied that in Romish books of
devotion, prayers to the Virgin occupy a prominent
place. Thus, wliat prayer is in more constant use
than the " Ave Maria," or " PLail Mary," which, after
quoting a passage from the Salutation of the An^'el
Gabriel to the Virgin, adds those words, " Holy
Mary, Mother of God, pray for ns sinners now, and
in the hour of our death. Amen?" Again, in another
prayer, the Virgin is tlius addressed, " We fly to
thy patronage, 0 Holy Mother of God ; despise not
our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us from
all dangers, 0 ever glorious and blessed Virgin."
The " Salve Regina" runs thus, " Hail ! Holy Queen,
mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our
hope ! to thee we cry, poor banished sons of Eve, to
thee we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in
this valley of tears ; turn, then, most gracious advo-
cate, thy eyes of mercy towards us, and after this
our exile is ended, show unto us the blessed fruit of
thy womb, Jesus, — 0 clement ! O pious ! 0 sweet
Virgin Mary." She is cjilled " Mirror of Justice,"
" Seat of Wisdom," " Cause of our Joy," " Tower of
David," "Ark of the Covenant," " Gate of Heaven,"
" Morning Star," " Refuge of Sinners," and many
other such terms which plainly shows tlie very high
place which Mary occupies in the devotions of the
Romish church. The Romish Breviary, also, of
which every priest must read a portion each day in
private under pain of mortal sin, uses the following
strong language as to the Virgin, — " If the winds of
tcmjitation arise, if thou run upon the rocks of tri-
bulation, look to the star, call upon Mary. If thou art
tossed upon the waves of pride, of ambition, of detrac-
tion, of envy, look to the star, call upon Mary. If
anger or avarice, or the temptations of the flesh toss
the bark of thy mind, look to Mary. If disturbed with
the greatness of thy sins, troubled at the defilement
of thy con.science, affrighted at the horrors of the
judgment, thou beginnest to be swallowed up in the
gulf of sadness, the abyss of despair, think upon Mary
— in dangers, in difficulties, in doubts, think upon
Mary, invoke Mary." The Council of Trent declares
prayer to the Virgin to be " good and wholesome."
But if we would know how strong is the hold which
devotion to the Virgin has taken of the true Roman-
ist, let us listen to the following undisguised avowal
of an Italian Jesuit, as made to the Rev. Hobart
Seymour, and recorded in his deeply interesting
work, ' Mornings with the Jesuits.'
"The feeling of devotion to the Virgin," said this
bigoted Romanist, " has a mysterious something in
it, that will ever linger about the heart of the man
who has ever felt it. It is one of those feelings that,
once admitted, can never afterwards be totally obli-
terated. There it still clings around the heart, and
though there may be coldness to all other religious
impressions, — though there may be infidelity or even
scorn upon all our faith — though there may be tlie
plunging into the wild vortex of every sin, yet still
there will not unfrequently be found even among the
very worst of our people, a lingering feeling of de-
votion to the blessed Virgin. It is as a little thread
tliat still keeps hold of the soul, and it will yet draw
him back. All else may be broken ; but this thread,
by which the blessed Virgin holds Iiim, still clings to
his soul. Even in the most wild, wicked, and des-
[lerate men — even among the bandits in their worst
state, there is always retained this devotion to Mary ;
and when we cannot get at their hearts in any othei
way — when every other argument or truth or prin
ciple or feeling of religion fails to make any impres-
sion, we frequently find access opened to their hearts,
by this one feeling still lingering about them ; and
thus we find by experience that a devotion to the
blessed Virgin proves often the means by which we
are able to lay hold of their hearts, and win them
back to our holy religion."
So enthusiastic, accordingly, have been the vo-
taries of the Blessed Virgin, that Buenaventura hag
blasphemously applied some of the most sublime,
devotional passages in the Psalms, to the Virgin
Mary, and St. Liguori goes so far as to say, that " all
is subject to Mary, even God himself." In "The
Glories of Mary," by St. Alphonso de Liguori, who
was canonized bv the Church of Rome onlv a few
J74
MAKIOLATRY.
years ago, we fiiid tlie vision of St. Bernard recorded
with approbation, in which he beheld two ladders
extending from earth to Iieaven. At the top of one
ladder appeared Jesus Christ. At the top of the
other ladder appeared the Virgin Mary. While those
who endeavoured to enter into heaven by the way
of Christ's ladder, fell constantly back and utterly
failed ; those, on the other hand, who tried to enter
by the ladder of Mary, all succeeded, because she
put forth her hands to assist and encourage them.
But it is not necessary to go so far back as Buona-
ventura, or St. Bernard, or St. Liguori ; we may re-
fer to Pope Gregory XVI., who thus speaks in an en-
cyclical letter issued on entering on his office : — " Let
us raise our eyes to the most blessed Virgin Mary,
who alone destroys heresies, who is our gi'eatest
hope, yea, the entire ground of our hope." Nay, the
enthusiasm waxing gi-eater as time advances. Dr.
CuUen, the archbishop of Dublin, in a pastoral issued
a few years ago, breaks forth into the following
strains of laudation : —
" Her body, which had been the temple of the
Holy Ghost, and given human fiesh to the Redeemer,
exempted from the lot of the other descendants of
Adam, is not condemned to moulder into dust, but
uiited again with her pure soul, is, by the Divine
yower, translated into heaven, and placed at the
right hand of her eternal Son. Here, to use the
words of Scripture, she appears ' bright as the morn-
ing rising, elect as the sun, beautiful as the moon,
teiTible as the array of battle.' — (Cant. vi. 9.) The
angels and saints of heaven, filled with astonishment
at the splendour of her majesty, cry out, ' Who is
she that cometh up from the desert flowing with
charms and delights, leaning upon her beloved?' —
(Cant. viii. 5.) With what raptures do all the celes-
tial spirits receive their queen ! With what exulta-
tion do the patriarchs and prophets, and all the
saints, rise up to greet her through whom they re-
ceived their Redeemer, and to whom they were thus
indebted for their glory 1 Oh, how on this happy
occasion the earth itself rejoices ! its fruits are no
longer the fruits of malediction. ' The land that was
desolate and impassable shall be glad,' says the
Scripture, 'and the wilderness shall rejoice and shall
flourish like the lily. It shall bud forth and blossom,
and shall rejoice with joy and praise.'" — (Isa. xxx.)
That the worship of the Virgin is universally prac-
tised by Romanists, travellers in Roman Catholic
countries universally attest. Churches are built to
her honour, while her shrines are crowded with en-
thusiastic devotees. Her name is the first which the
infant is taught to lisp, and to her is cast the last
look of the dying. The soldier fights under her ban-
iier,and the brigand plunders under her protection. In
Italy and Spain robbers wear a picture of Mary hung
round their neck. If overtaken suddenly by death,
they kiss the image and die in peace. Sania Maria,
Holy Mary, is the Romish devotee's all in all. One
Uail Mary is worth ten Paternosters, and Mr. Sey-
mour tells us that a Romish priest in Italy declared
to him his firm belief, that God hears our prayers
more quickly when they are offered through the
Blessed Virgin than when oS'ered through any one
else. It has also been maintained by some Roman-
ists, that the adoration of the Virgin is in accordance
with the principles of human nature. Thus Mr. Sey-
mour describes an interview on tliis subject with a Je-
suit priest at Rome : "He stated, that there was a great
difference in the bent and habit of mind, between
English Protestants on the one hand, and Italian
Romanists on the other ; that Protestants habitually
let their minds dwell on Christ's teaching, on Christ
working miracles, and especially on Christ's suffer-
ing, bleeding, dying on the cross, so that in a Pro-
testant mind, the great object was Christ iu the ma-
turity of his manhood ; but that Romanists habit-
ually dwelt on the childhood of Christ ; not on the
gi'eat events that were wrought in maturity and man-
hood, but on those hiteresting scenes which were
connected with his childhood. He then went on to
say that this habit of mind led to the great differ-
ence, that as Protestants always dwelt on the suffer
ing and dying Christ, so Christ in a Protestant mind
was always connected with the cross ; and that as
Romanists constantly meditated rather on the child-
hood of Christ, so Christ in a Romanist's mind was
usually associated with his mother, the Virgin Mary.
He then continued to say that the constant dwelling
of the mind in contemplation of the child, naturally
led to more thought, more contemplation, more affec-
tion, and finally, more devotion for the mother ; that
when one thinks of all the little scenes of his child-
hood, dwells on the little incidents of interest between
the child Jesus and the mother Mary, recollects that
she had him enshrined in her womb, that she used
to lead him by the hand, that she had listened to all
his innocent prattle, that she had observed the open-
ing of his mind ; and that during all those days of
his happy childhood she, and she alone of all the
world, knew that that little child whom she bore in
her womb, and nursed at her breasts, and fondled in
her arms, was her God — that when a man thinks,
and habitually thinks of all this, the natural re-
sult is, that his affections will be more drawn out,
and his feelings of devotion more elevated towards
Mary. And he concluded by stating tliat this habit
of mind was becoming more general, and that it was
to it that he would attribute the great increase, that
late years had witnessed in the devotion to the Vir-
gin Mary."
In accordance, therefore, with the inqiortance at-
tached to the worship of the Virgin in the Cimrch of
Rome, we find in its prescribed offices and ritual
not only prayers ofl'ered to the Almighty in her
name, pleading her merits, through her mediation,
advocacy, and intercession, but prayers ottered di-
rectly to herself", beseeching her to employ her in-
tercession with the Eternal Eather and with her Son
in behalf of her petitioners ; and proceeding a step
MARK'S (St.) DAY— MARNAS.
378
farther, we find prayers to her for lier protection
roin iill evil.f, S|jii'itiial and bodily; for lier guidance
and aid, and for tlic inlluoncos of her grace. In adch-
tioii to all this, divine praises are ascribed to her in
()ions acknowledgment of her attributes of power,
wi.sdoin, goodness, and mercy, and of her exalted
state above all the spiritg of life and glory in hea-
ven ; and for her share in tho redemption of the
world, and the benefits conforreii by her on tho indi-
vidual worshipper.
In Komisli coiintiies the whole month of May is
annually devoted to the Virgin, and is called by way
of eminence. " Mary's Month." In Paris, for ex-
ample, a service in her honour is perl'ormod with
great ceremony every evening throughout the entire
month. Temporary altars are raised to lier sur-
rounded by flowers and evergreens, and profusely
adorned with garlands and drapery, her image usually
st.anding in a conspicuous place before the altar.
The chief part in these religious festivities is per-
formed by societies or guilds, which are expressly
instituted chiefly for the celebration of the Virgin's
praises. A collection of liymns is in regular use
by the fraternities in Paris, many of them being
addressed directly and exclusively to the Virgin.
One of the most remarkable works in praise of Mary
is the Psalter of Bonaventura, a Franciscan monk
of the thirteenth century. In this work the author
so changes tlie commencement of each of the Psalms
of David as to address them all to the Virgin Mary ;
interspersing in some of them much of his own com-
position, and then adding the Gloria Patri to each.
Appended to Uonaventura's Psalter are various
liymns to the Virgin, being alterations of prayers
addressed to God in Scripture. The Athanasian
Creed is employed in the same manner to declare
belief in the divinity of Mary, and in course of this
modification of the creed, the assumption of the Vir-
gin into heaven is specified as one of the points to
be believed on pain of forfeiting all hopes of salva-
tion.
The works of Bonaventura gave great impulse to
the worship of Mary in the Romish church. Others
followed in the same strain, among whom may be
mentioned Gabriel Biel, a schoolman of great cele-
brity in the fifteenth century, and Peter Damiani,
whose works were published under the authority of
the Pope in the beginning of the seventeenth century.
At length, to such an extent had the veneration for
the Virgin Mary been carried, that able and learned
Roman Catholic writers came forward to moderate
the extravagancies of their brethren, and to modify
and reduce the worship of the Virgin within reason-
able bounds. To effect this object, Theophilus Ray-
naud, a Jesuit of Lyons, produced a work entitled
'Diptvcha Mariana,' in which he strongly disap-
proved of some of the sentiments which had been put
forth by preceding writers on the subject, particu-
larly those which ascribed to Mary attributes and
ticts which properly belong to God the Father, or to
Christ the Son. To such an extent, indeed, had the
desire been carried of setting aside Jesns, and substi-
tuting Mary in his room, that in the sixteenth cen
tury the Christian era was made, by some Romish
writers, to begin, not from the " birth of Christ," but
from " the Virgin Mother of God."
At the present day the worship of the Virgin Mary
occupies a conspicuous place in the ritual of the Ro-
mish church. The Ave Maria, or Hail Mary, has,
since the fifteenth century, been the favourite prayer
to tho Virgin, and always accompanies the Pater-
noster in the stated devotions of a Romanist. In the
' Litany of the Blessed Virgin' there are more than
forty invocations of the Virgin, designating her by as
many varieties of title. The favourite hymn or
prayer, called Salve lier/ina, is addressed exclusively
to the Virgin, as is also the hymn Ave Maria Stella,
Hail, Mary, star of the sea. St. Alphonsns Liguori,
who was canonized by Pope Gregory XVI. in 1839,
published a work entitled the ' Glories of Mary,' in
which she is extolled far above mortals, and invested
with attributes and authority of the highest order.
The Most Holy Father, to whom we have just refer-
red, granted in 1840 an indulgence of 100 years to
every one who should recite a prayer to the Virgin
to this effect, " O immaculate queen of heaven and
of angels, I adore you. It is you who have deli-
vered me from hell ; it is you from whom I look for
all my salvation." Pius IX., in his encyclical let-
ter of date 1846, says, " In order that our most mer-
ciful God may the more readily incline his car to our
])rayers, and may grant that which we implore, let us
ever have recourse to the intercession of the most
holy mother of God, the immaculate Virgin Mary,
our sweetest mother, our mediatrix, our advocate, our
surest hope, and firmest reliance, than whose patron-
age nothing is more potent, nothing more eflectual
with God." In the allocution of the same ' Most
Holy Father,' pronounced in the secret consistory at
Gaeta, 1849, he says, " Let us have recourse to the
most holy and immaculate Virgin Mary, who, being
the mother of God, and our mother, and the mother
of mercy, finds what she seeks, and cannot be frus-
trated." In 1854 his Holiness issued a decree, de-
claring the immaculate conception of the Virgin to
be henceforth an article of faith in the Romish
Church, and thus a very important step in advance
has been taken towards investingthemother of Jesus
with the honours of divinity. She is henceforth to
be viewed by every Romanist as taken out of the
category of sinful mortals, and ranged among sinless
beings.
MARK'S (St.) DAY, a festival observed both by
the Romish and the Greek churches on the 25th of
April. On this day the Great or Septiform Litany
is read, and a procession takes place. See Litah-
lES.
MARK (St.), Liturgy of. See Liturgies.
MARNAS, a deity anciently worshipped at Gaia,
one of the lordships of the Philistines. This god if
37U
MARONITE CHURCH (The).
Raid to have migrated into Crete, and become the
Cretan Jupiter.
MARONITE CHURCH (The), one of the Ori-
ental churches, which fraternizes with Rome. It de-
rives its name eitlier from a Syrian monk named
Maro, wlio Uved on the banks of the Orontes about
A. D. 400, or from one Marun or Maro, who was
their patriarcli of Antioch, and flourished about A. D.
700. Tlie Maronites appear to be the descendants
of tliose Syrian Cliristians wlio, on the Mohamme-
dan invasion in the seventh century, found an asy-
lum in tlie mountains of Libanus and Anti-Libanus,
wlience they frequently sallied forth on predatory
incursions to the great annoyance of the Saracens or
Ai-abs. Great numbers of them, so many it is said
as 12,000, were seized and carried off as prisoners
by Justinian III., the Greek emperor. This proved
an effectual check to their marauding propensities.
During the Crusades the extent of their teixitory was
much reduced, and by frequent wars with the Otto-
mans they were diminished in numbers, and at length
put under tribute.
The Maronites at an early period of their his-
tory seem to have maintained the heresy of the
MONOTHELITES (whicli See), alleging that in the
Person of Christ there were two natures and one
will. For five centuries the Maronite chmxh held
an independent position, but in the twelfth cen-
tury it was united with the Romish church in the
reign of Baldwin IV., and their patriai-ch was pre-
sent at the Lateran council held by Pope Innocent
III. Tliough nominally subject to Rome, this Ori-
ental church still retains so much of its original in-
dependence, that its patriarch styles himself Peter
the patriarch of Antioch, thus claiming to be the
spiritual descendant and representative of the Apos-
tle Peter in the East. The fact is, that Rome has
had the utmost difficulty in maintaining its authority
over the Maronites, both because of their tendency
10 fall into heresies of different kinds, and also be-
cause of their unwillingness to part witli their an-
cient independence. To effect their more complete
subjugation to the Papal see, Gregory XUI. founded
a college at Rome for the education and training of
Maronite missionaries, who might be instrumental in
diffusing among their countrymen an ardent attach-
ment to the Romish church. All the schemes de-
vised, however, to bind the Maronite church to the
Roman pontiff have been hitherto unsuccessful ; for
Borne of them refuse, at this day, to recognize tlie
alliance with the Latin church. To arrange the affairs
of the Maronite church. Pope Clement XII. summoned
the Great Council of Lebanon, which was held on the
30th of September 1736. It was attended by eigh-
teen bishops, of whom fourteen were Mai'onites, two
Syrian, and two Armenian. Tlie abbots of several
monasteries were also present, along with a multi-
tude of tlie priests and chief pcojile of the country.
I)y the decrees of this council the church of the
Maronites is regulated to tliis day.
The seat of the Maronites is the mowitainous dis-
trict of Lebanon, from about Tripoli to Tyre. The
main body of the range called Libanus is inhabited
by nearly 2-40,000 Maronites, calculated, however, by
Dr. Wilson, at not more than 150,000. The patri-
arch of the body is elected by the bishops, who
must all be monks, but he receives his robe of in-
vestiture from Rome, in acknowledgment of the sub-
jection of his church to the Papal see. He is held
in the highest veneration by the people among whom
he lives. His income amounts to about £2,000 a-
year. His jurisdiction extends over nine metropoli-
tan sees, the occupants of which, chosen by the
people, but consecrated by the patriarch, are called
JSIetrdns or Metropolitans. The patriarch has two
vicars or assistants, one of them connected with the
temporal, and the other with the spiritual affairs of
the church. He has also an agent at Rome, and
three presidents at the prmcipal monasteries or col-
leges. The agent of the patriarch at Rome reported
in 1844, that, exclusive of convents, there were 356
Maronite churches in Syria, to which were attached
1,205 priests, under the authority of their bishops
and patriarch. The number of priests, however,
was stated by the American missionaries in 1845 at
between 700 and 1,000.
Dr. Wilson, in his ' Lands of the Bible,' quotes
from a communication of Mr. Graham of Damascus,
the following description of the Maronite convents :
" In Lebanon the conventual system is in tlie most
vigorous operation. In most other countries these
institutions have been on the decline since the era
of the Reformation ; but on the goodly mountain,
fanaticism and superstition, hke the power of its
vegetation, have been increasing and multiplying
jvith startling luxuriance. . . . Division perverts
their councils, and fanaticism stains their conduct,
and the heathenish Druze and the superstitious Ma-
ronite are hardly distinguishable from each other in
the moralities and charities of life. In tlie extensive
district of Kasrawdn a Protestant would not be al-
lowed to settle ; and, if he could be permitted to
pass tlirough it without insult or injury, he might be
very thankful. This is the result o*' the Monastic
Institutions, for the peasants are a quiet, tranquil,
and industrious race. Tlie whole mountain is filled
with convents. Their numbers I do not know ; but
it must be prodigious. Some of them, like that of
the Deir el-Kalla, are very rich, possess the choicest
old wines of the country, and the reputation of in-
dulging in the unnatural enormities which brought
destruction on the cities of the |)lain. Many of the
monks are totally ignorant, and can neither read nor
write. In such circumstances, it may easily be ima-
gined how incompetent their motives, hopes, and
fears must be to control, not tlie vices of our nature
only, but its very principles also ! Apostolic moral-
ity is not sufficient. They aim at the supposed
angelic excellency of the celibate, and they fall ir.to
pollutions below the level of the brutes."
MARRIAGE.
377
Tlio Muioiiite clergy, tliough connected witli
Rome, disaent from her regiiliitioiis in regard to the
celibacy of tlie priestliood, most of tliem being mar-
ried men. On tlii.s point, accordingly, the I'oiie has
been obliged to make a compromise with tham, and
to allow them to retain their wives when they liap-
pen to have married before taking priest's orders.
They are not, however, allowed to marry after hav-
ing entered into the priesthood, or to remarry sliould
they be deprived of their wives while in the priest-
hood. In Divine service, the Arabic language is
used in reading the Gospels and Kpistlcs. and the
Syriac in performing their masses and liturgicid ser-
vices. The parish priests are elected by the people,
and ordained by the diocesan bishops or the patri-
arcli. They are not allowed to follow any secular
profession. It is no part of their duty to preach,
but simply to read the offices. The priests have
parsonage houses, but the produce of their glebes is
applied to defray the ordinary expenses of their
churches. Their income ranges from 2,000 to 9,000
piastres. The unmarried priests are not generally
elected to the ministerial charge of parishes, but are
usually connected with convents, either as superiors,
or in subordinate offices. The Maronites consider
preaching to have been one of the peculiar offices of
our Saviour, and a preacher is therefore held in the
highest respect. Before a priest can venture to
undertake the responsible duty of preaching, he must
have a written permission from the patriarch or the
bishop of the diocese. Occasionally permission is
given to laymen to officiate as preachers. The
Romish church, unwilling to lose the hold she has
got over the Maronites, allows them to retain several
customs and observances at variance with her ritual
arrangements. A few of these are thus adverted to
by Dr. Wilson : " They have been allowed to main-
tain most of their own customs and observances,
however much at variance with those which Rome
is usually content to sanction. They are allowed
to preserve their own ecclesiastical langui^e, the
Syriac, while Rome has shown her partiality for
the Latin rite, by bringing it into use wherever
practicable. They dispense the communion in both
kinds, dipping the bread in wine before its dis-
tribution among the people. Though tliey now
observe the Roman calendar, as far as the time
of feasts and fasts is concerned, they recognise
local saints which have no place in its commemora-
tions. They liave retained the custom of the mar-
riage of their clergy previous to their ordination.
Thougli they profess to be zealous partizans of
Rome, it dare not so comit upon their attachment as
to force upon them all that in ordinary circumstances
it thinks desirable. In order to secure its present
influence over them, it is subjected to an expense of
no small magnitude."
The Maronites are an active industrious people,
and amid their rocky dwellings they carry forward
their agricultural labours with such zeal aud success.
that ere long the prophecy bids fair to be fulfiUtd,
" Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful lield."
,\I.\KRL\GK. The origin and institution of the
nuptial contract dates from the creation of man, for
no sooner bad Adam sprung from the hand of IjIh
Creator, than God was pleased to declare, " It is not
good for man to be alone," and accordingly he cre-
ated Eve, and brought lier to the man, wlio gaid,
"This is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh
Therefore shall a man leave father and mother, and
cleave unto his wife: and they twain shall be one
flesh." Among the earliest nations, accordingly, we
find the marriage relation ninformly held in respect.
The Jews, indeed, in Old Testament times, not only
regarded the married state as honourable and right,
inasmuch as it was a fulfilment of the Divine com-
mand, " He ye fruitful and multijily, and replenish
the earlli," but from the expectation of the advent
of the Messiah, which prevailed among them from
tlie earliest period of their nation's history, there
was felt to be as it were a sacred obligation resting
upon all to marry. Hence it was esteemed the duty
of every male who had reached eighteen or twenty
years of age to enter into the marriage union, and it
was esteemed a reproach in any man to lead a life of
celibacy ; nay, even it was viewed as a sin, since lie
might by remaining unmarried frustrate the great
promise of the Redeemer, that the seed of the wo-
man should bruise the head of the serpent. Hence
among the Jews marriages were usuallv contracted
at an early age, the ordinary period fixed by tlie
Rabbins being eighteen in the case of males, and
twelve in the case of females.
Maiinonides alleges that marriage was contracted
ill the time of the patriarchs with little ceremony,
but it is plain from various passages of the Books of
Moses, that a regular contract was made in the
house of the bride's father, before the elders and
governors of the place, after which she was conveyed
with considerable pomp to the house of her husband.
The Jews allege that after her espousals or betroth-
ment she was allowed to remain for a certain period,
at least ten months, in lierparents'liouse, that she might
make suitable preparations for tlie marriage cere-
mony. The wedding was celebrated wiih a feast of
seven days. The bride was adorned on the occasion
with as much care and elegance as her station in hte
permitted, and a nuptial crown was placed upon her
head. During the marriage-feast, the bridegi'oom
and his party entertained themselves in one apart-
ment, while the bride and her companions were
similarly employed in another. " On the last dav,"
to quote from Dr. Nevin in his 'Biblical Antiqui-
ties,' " the bride was conducted to the house of the
bridegroom's father. The procession generally set
off in the evening, with much ceremony and pomp.
The bridegroom was richly clothed with a marriage
robe and crown, and the bride was covered with a
veil from head to foot. The companions of each at-
tended them with songs and the music 01 instru-
378
MARRIAGE.
ments ; not in promiscuous assemblage, but each
company by itself; while the virgins, according to
tlie custom of the times, were all provided with
veils, not indeed so large and thick as that which
hung over the bride, but abundantly sufficient to
conceal their faces from all around. The way, as
they went along, was lighted with numerous torches.
In the meantime, another company was waiting at
the bridegroom's house, ready, at the first notice of
their approach, to go forth and meet them. Tliese
seem generally to have been young female relations
or friends of the bridegi'oom's family, called in at
this time, by a particular invitation, to grace the
occasion witli their presence. Adorned witli robes
of gladness and joy, they went forth with lamps or
torches in their hands, and welcomed the procession
with the customary salutations. They then joined
themselves to the marriage train, and the whole
company moved forward to the house. There an
entertainment was provided for their reception, and
the remainder of the evening was spent in a joyful
participation of the marriage supper, with such social
merriment as suited the joyous occasion. None
were admitted to this entertainment beside the par-
ticular number who were selected to .attend the wed-
ding; and as tlie regular and proper time for their
entrance into the house was when the bridegroom
went in whh his bride, the doors were then closed,
and no otlier guest was expected to come in." Such
were the ceremonies which attended the celebration
of a marriage among the ancient Jews. In the time
of Ruth no other ceremony seems to have attended
a marriage than the pronouncing of a solemn bless-
ing, by the nearest relations, on tlie parties, who
agreed in their presence to become husband and
wife. Thus Boaz merely declared in presence of
the elders assembled at the gate of the city, that he
had resolved to take the daughter of Naomi to be his
wife. " And all the people that were in tlie gate,
and the elders, said. We are witnesses. The Lord
make the woman that is come into thine house like
Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house
of Israel : and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be
famous in Bethlehem. So Boaz took Ruth, and slie
was Ilia wife : and when he went in unto her, the
Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son."
The marriage ceremony of the modern Jews dif-
fers considerably from that of the ancient. It is
thus described by Mr. Allen in his ' Modern Juda-
ism:' "On the day fixed for the solemnization of
the nuptials, the bride and bridegroom are conducted
to the place appointed for the celebration of the
ceremony. The bride is escorted by women, and
the bridegroom by men. The company is generally
large, inchuling most or all of their friends and
aci]naiiitances. Ton men, at least, must be present;
or tlie marriage is null and void. The chief-rabbi
and clia8.san of the synagogue form part of the
company.
"A velvet canopy is brought into the room, and
extended on four long poles. The bride and bride-
groom are led to their station under this canopy;
the bridegroom by two men ; and the bride by two
women, her face being covered with a veil. These
two men and two women are always the parents oi
the bride and bridegroom, if they happen to be liv-
ing : otherwise this office is performed by their near-
est kindred ; a man and his wife for the bride, and
another man and his wife for the bridegi'oom ; though
the bridegi'oom is led by the men, and the bride by
the women. The parties are placed opposite to each
other, and then tlie person who performs the cere-
mony, takes a glass of wine in his hand, and says :
' Blessed art thou, 0 Lord our God, King of the
universe ! who createst the fruit of the vine. Blessed
art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe I
who hast sanctified us with thy commandments and
hast forbidden us fornication, and hast restrained us
from the betrothed, but hast permitted us those who
are married to us, by means of the canopy and wed-
lock. Blessed art thou, 0 Lord ! who sanctifiest
Israel.' The bridegroom and bride then drink of the
wine ; after which the bridegroom takes the ring,
and puts it on the bride's finger; saying, 'Behold
thou art wedded to me with this ring, according to
the law of Moses and Israel.'
" Then the marriage contract is read, which speci-
fies that the bridegroom A. B. agrees to take the
bride C. D. as his lawful wife, according to the law
of Moses and Israel ; and that he will keep, main-
tain, honour, and cherish her, according to the man-
ner of all the Jews, who honour, keep, maintain,
and cherish their wives ; and that he will keep her
in clothing decently, according to the custom of the
world. This instrument also specifies what sum he
settles upon her in case of his death ; and he obliges
his heirs, executors, and administrators, to pay the
same to her out of the first produce of his efl'ects.
" After the reading of this instrument, the person
performing the ceremony takes another glass ol
wine, and repeats seven benedictions. Then the
bridegroom and bride drink the wine ; after wliich
tlie empty glass is laid on the floor, and the bride
groom, stamping on it, breaks it to pieces. This
part of the ceremony is said to be intended as an
indication of the frailty of life. Tlien all the com-
pany shout, Good luck to you. The ceremony is
followed by a contribution for the poor of the laud
of Canaan. — The nuptial feast is as sumptuous as
the parties can afibrd, and continues for seven days."
In tlie early ecclesiastical writers, no account is
given of the mode in which marriage was solemnized
among the members of the primitive Christian church.
It was not until the ninth century, indeed, that the
propriety or necessity of marriage being celebrated
with religious exercises was recognized by the civil
law, but so early as the second century, such reli-
gious rites were required by the church. The cere-
mony appears to have been conducted with the ut-
most simplicity in these days of primitive Christian-
MAimiAGR.
379
ity. The purple fillet witli which the hair of urnnar-
rieii females was bound, was lirst removed from tlie
head of tlie bride, and a veil thrown over her jiersoii.
The pastor then addressed suitable admonilions to the
parties, at the close of which they both partook of the
communion. This solemn service having been gone
through, they were required to join their right hands,
when the minister pronounced them to bo married per-
sons, and prayed for a blessing upon the union thus
formed. The parties were now adorned with garlands
of flowers, and walked in procession to their homo.
The evening was closed with a marria^je feast, at
which the relatives and friends of the brideL;room
and bride were present. The ceremony of crowning
the parties, which was the commencement of the
whole service, has been already described under the
article Ckown (Nuptial).
The marriage procession which conducted the
bridegroom with great pomp to the house of liis fu-
ture bride, is universal in the East, and is alluded to
in the Talmud and in the parable of tlie Ten Vir-
gins, recorded in Matth. xxv. 1 — 10. We find a
modern illustration of the custom in Messrs. Bonar
and M'Cheyne's Travels in Palestine : " The bride-
gi-oom was on his way to the house of the bride.
According to custom, he walked in procession through
several streets of the town, attended by a numerous
body of friends, all in their showy eastern garb. Per-
sons bearing torches went first, the torches being
kept in full blaze by a constant supjily of ready wood
from a receiver, made of wire, fixed on the end of a
long pole. Two of the torch-bearers stood close to
the bridegroom, so that we had a view of his person.
Some were playing upon an instruinent not unlike
our bagpipe, others were beating drums, and from
time to time muskets were fired in honour of the
occasion. There was much mirth expressed by the
crowd, especially when the procession stood still,
which it did every few paces. We thought of the
words of John, ' The friend of the bridegroom, which
standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because
of the bridegroom's voice.' At length the company
arrived at the entrance of the street where the bride
resided. Immediately we heard the sound of many
female voices, and observed by the light of the
torches, a company of veiled bridesmaids, waiting on
the balcony to give notice of the coming of the
bridegroom. When they caught a sight of the ap-
proaching procession, they ran back into the house,
making it resound with the cry, ' Halil, halil, halil,'
and music both vocal and instrumental commenced
within. Thus the bridegroom entered in ' and the
door was shut.' We were left standing in the street
without, 'in the outer darkness.' In our Lord's
parable, the virgins go forth to meet the bridegroom
with lamps in their hands, but here they only waited
for his coming. Still we saw the traces of the very
scene described by our Lord, and a vivid representa-
tion of the way in which Christ shall come and the
muriage supper of the Lamb begin."
Among the ancient Greeks marriage was looked
upon as an important and even solemn transaction.
On the day before the marriage was celebrated, sacri-
fices or oflerings were made to the deities who presided
over the marriage relation, particularly to Ilera and
Artemis. Botli bride and bridegroom cut olf a por-
tion of their hair, and dedicated it as an ofl'ering to
one of the gods. On the wedding-day the parties were
both of them subjected to careful ablution. Towards
evening the bride was conveyed from her father's
house to that of the bridegroom in a chariot, accom-
l)anicd by the bridegroom and a companion chosen
by him for the occasion, and usually called the para-
nipuph. Crowds of attendants marched in proces-
sion carrying lighted torches, while music, both vocal
and instrumental, saluted the bridal train as it moved
along. The bride was veiled, and both she and the
bridegroom wore chaplets on their heads. As the
parties entered the house of the bridegroom, sweet-
meats were sliowered plentifully over their heads,
denoting a wish that abundance of good things might
ever attend them. The marriage was not celebrated
with any special rites, either civil or religious; but
when the parties had reached the house of the bride
grooin, or of his parents, a nuptial feast was held, at
which both women and men were present, seated,
however, at separate tables. At the conclusion of
tlie feast, and when the parties had retired to their
own apartments the epitltalamium or maiTiage hymn
was sung before the door. On the day following the
marriage, it was customary for the friends to send
presents to the newly married pair.
An ancient Roman marriage differed in various
particulars from a marriage among the ancient
Greeks. The wedding-day was not fixed without
first consulting the auspices. Certain days were
avoided as milucky, especially the Kalends, Nones,
and Ides of each month. On the occasion of the
marriage, the bride was dressed in a long white robe
with a purple fringe, or adorned with ribands, and a
girdle was woni round the waist, while a veil of a
bright yellow colour was thrown over the head,
and shoes of the same colour were worn upon the
feet. Her hair was divided on this occasion with
the point of a spear. Among the Komans no mar-
riage was celebrated with religious rites except the
CONFARREATio (which sce). In the evening of
the marriage the bride was conducted to the house
of her husband, carrj-ing in her hands a distafl
and a spindle with wool. Three boys accompanied
her dressed in the praetexta, one bearing a torch
before, while the other two walked by her side.
The procession was also attended by a large com-
pany of the friends both of the bridegroom and the
bride. On reaching the house of the bridegroom,
the entrance of which was ornamented with flow-
ers, the utmost care was taken that the bride should
not strike her foot against the threshold, which
would have been an unlucky omen. To prevent
this she was carried into the house. Before enteriog,
•HSO
MARRIAGE.
however, slie wound a portion of wool round the
door-posts, and anointed them witli hird ; after which
her future husband met her with fire and water,
which she was required to toucli. She then advanced
forward and took lier seat lipon a sheepskin prepared
for tlie purpose, when tlie keys of the house were
formallv presented to Iter. A marriage feast closed
ihe wliole proceedings. On the day following the
marriage, or at least on an early day thereafter, sacri-
fices were olTered to the Penates or household gods.
The marriage ceremonies among the ancient Scan-
dinavians were very simple, and cliiefly consisted in
feasting. " Tlie bridegroom," says Mr. Mallet, " hav-
ing obtained the maiden's consent, together with
that of her parents and guardians, appointed the day ;
and having assembled his own relations and friends,
sent some of them to receive in his name the bride
and her portion from her father. The friends were
answerable for the charge that was committed to
them, and if they abused their trust, the law amerced
them in a sum treble to what was paid for murder.
The fatlier or guardian of the young woman attend-
ed her also to the husband's house, and there gave
her into his liands. After this the new married pair
sat down to table with their guests, who drank to
their healths along with those of the gods and heroes.
The bride's friends then took her up and bore her
on their shoulders, which was a mark of esteem
among the Goths ; her father afterwards led her to
tlie nuptial bed, a great number of lights being car-
ried before her ; a custom known to the Greeks and
Romans, and still in use in some parts of the North.
The marriage being consummated, the husband made
his wife several presents, such as a pair of oxen for
the plough, a harnessed horse, a buckler, together
with a lance and a sword. ' This was to signify,'
says Tacitus, ' that she ought not to lead an idle and
hixurious life, but that she was to be a partaker with
him in his labours, and a companion in dangers,
which they were to share together in peace and
war.' He adds that 'the women, on their parts gave
some arms ; this was the sacred band of their union,
these their mystic rites, and these the deities who
presided over tlieir marriage.' The yoked oxen, the
cajiarisoned liorse, and the arms, all served to in-
struct the women how they were to lead their life,
and how perhaps it might be terminated. Tlie arms
were to be carefully preserved, and being ennobled
by the use the husband made of them, were to be
consigned as portions for their daughters, and to be
handed down to posterity."
In the Greek church the marriage ceremony con-
sists of three parts, the betrothal, the coronation,
and the dissolving of the crowns. Hence the cere-
mony is complicated and protracted. In the course
of the service many prayers are olTered not only for
the married parties, but also for the bridesmaids.
Henedictions of great beauty and solemnity are pro-
nounced upon the newly married couple.
The modes of cclubrating marriage amon<r mo-
dern heathen nations are very different, and BOm«
of them very peculiar and deeply interesting. We
select a few taken from the accounts of travellers.
Among the Japanese a marriage is conducted aftei
this manner: " On the day fixed for the marriage,
an intelligent female servant of the second class is
sent to the house of the bride to attend her, and the
bride's father, having invited all his kinsfolk, enter-
tains them previous to the bride's departure. The
bridal party sets out in norimons or litters, the me-
diator's wife first, then the bride, then the bride's
mother, and, finally, her father. The mediator has
already preceded them to the bridegroom's house.
The bride is dressed in white (white being the colour
for mourning among the Japanese), being considered
as thenceforward dead to her parents.
" If all the ceremonies are to be observed, there
should be stationed, at the right of the entrance to
the house of the bridegroom, an old woman, and on
the left an old man, each with a mortar containing
some rice-cakes. As the bride's norimon reaches
the house, they begin to pound their respective mor-
tars, the man saying, ' A thousand years ! ' the wo-
man, 'Ten thousand!' — allusions to the reputed
terms of life of the crane and the tortoise thus in-
voked for the bride. As the norimon passes be-
tween them, the man pours his cakes into the woman's
mortar, and both pound together. What is tlius
pounded is moulded into two cakes, which are put
one upon another and receive a conspicuous place in
the toko of the room where the marriage is to be
celebrated.
" The norimon is met within the passage by the
bridegroom, who stands in his dress of ceremony
ready to receive it. There is also a woman seated
there with a lantern, and several others behind her.
It was by the light of this lantern that formerly
the groom first saw his bride, and, if dissatisfied
with her, exercised his right of putting a stop to
the ceremony. The bride, on seeing the bridegroom,
reaches to him, through the front window of her
norimon, her marmon, which is a small square or
oblong bag, containing a small image of metal,
used as an amulet, and he hands it to a female ser-
vant, who takes it into the apartment prepared for
the wedding, and hangs it up. The bride is also
led to her apartment, the woman with the lantern
preceding.
" The marriage being now about to take place, the
bride is led, by one of her waiting women, i*ito the
room where it is to be celebrated, and is seated there
with two female attendants on either side. The
bridegroom then leaves his room and comes into this
apartment. No other persons are present except
the mediator and his wife. The formality of the
marriage consists in drinking saki alter a particular
manner. The saki is poured out by two young girls,
one of whom is called the male butlerlly, and the
other the female butterfly, — ap]iellations derived
from their tusu, orsaki-jugs, each of which is adorned
MARRIAGE.
SSI
with A paper butterfly. As these insects always fly
about in pairs, it is iiitpnded to intimate tliat so tlie
husbanil and wife ouglit to be continually togethpr.
The male butterfly always pours out the saki to bo
dnmk, but, before doing so, turns a little to the left,
when the female butterfly pours from her jug a little
saki into the jug of the other, who then proceeds to
pour out for the ceremony. For drinking it, three
bowls are used, placed on a tray or waiter, one within
the other. The bride takes the uppermost, holds it
in both bands, while some saki is poured into it,
sips a little, three several times, and then hands it
to the groom. lie drinks throe times in like man-
ner, puts the bowl under the third, takes the second,
hanils it to be filled, drinks out of it three times, and
passes it to the bride. She drinks three times, puts
the second howl under the first, takes the third, holds
it to be filled, drinks three times, and then hands it
to the groom, who does the same, and afterwards
puts this bowl under the first. This ceremony con-
stitutes the marriage. The bride's parents, wlio
meanwhile were in auother room, being infontied that
this ceremony is over, come in, as do the bride-
groom's parents and brothers, and seat themselves in
a certain order. The saki, with other refreshments
interspersed, is then served by the two butterflies, to
these relations of the married parties in a prescribed
order, indicated by the mediator ; the two families,
by this ceremony, extending, as it were, to each
other the alliance already contracted between the
bride and bridegroom."
Mr. Ellis gives .an interesting account of the mar-
riage ceremony in Mad.igascar : " When tlie prelimi-
naries are determined, and the time fi.xed, viz., a good
or lucky day, according to the sikidy or diviner, the
relatives of the bride and bridegroom meet at the
houses of the parents of the respective parties. All
are attired in their best apparel, and decorated with
their gayest ornaments. At the appointed hour, the
relatives or friends of the bridegi-oom accompany him
to the house of the bride. These pay or receive the
dowr)', which being settled, he is welcomed by the
bride as her future husband ; they eat together, are
recognized by the senior members of the family as
nusband and wife ; a benediction is pronoimced upon
them, and a prayer offered to God, th.at they may
Iiave a numerous oflspring, abundance of cattle, many
slaves, gi'eat wealth, and increase the honour of their
respective families. They then repair to the house
of the parents or friends of the bridegroom, and again
cat together, when similar benedictions are jiro-
nounced by the senior members of the family, or the
bead man of the village, who is usually invited to
the ceremony. The nuptial bond is, in some in-
stances, now regarded as complete : general feasting
ensues, after which the parties return to their re-
spective homes, and the newly married couple to the
residence prepared for them. But if, as is generally
the case, the houses in which the parties have met
U belcw the bill on which their village is built, the
bride is placed on a sort of cliair, under a canopy,
and borne on men's shoulders up the sides of tli«
hill to the centre of the village. Occasionally llio
bridegroom is carried in the same manner. The re-
latives .and friends of the parties follow the proces-
sion, cliijiping their hands, and singing, as the bearers
ascend. On reaching the village, they halt at what
is called the parent-bouse, or residence of the oflicer
of the government; a liasina, or piece of money, is
given to the attending officer, for the sovereign, the
receiving of which is considered a legal official rati-
fication of the engagement, as the marriage cannot
afterwards be annulled, except by a legal act of
divorce in tlie presence of witnesses. No ring, or
other emblem of the married state, is used on such
occasions, or woni afterwards ; nor is there any
badge by which the married may be distinguished
from the unmarried women in Madagascar, when
their husbands are at liome ; but during the absence
of their husbands, especially in the service of gov-
ernment, a necklace, of silver rings, or beads, or
braided hair, is worn, to denote that they are mar-
ried, and that consequently their persons are sacred.
Thus the wives of the officers composing the late
embassy to England were distinguished during the
absence of their husbands."
Turning to the South Sea Islands, we find the
following description given of a maiTJage in that
quarter of the world by Mr. Williams in his Mission-
ary Researches : " A group of women seated under
the shade of a noble tree which stood at a short
distance from the house, chaunted, in a [ileasing arid
livelv air, tlie heroic deeds of the old chieftain and
his ancestors; and opposite to them, beneath the
spreading branches of a bread-fruit tree, sat the
newly purchased bride, a tall and beautiful young
woman, about eighteen years of age. Ilcr dress was
a fine mat, fastened round the waist, reaching nearly
to her ankles ; while a wreath of leaves and flowers,
ingeniously and tastefully entwined, decorated her
brow. The upper part of her person was anointed
with sweet-scented cocoa-nut oil, and tinged partially
with a rouge prepared from the turmeric root, and
round her neck were two rows of large blue beads.
Her whole deportment was pleasingly modest.
While listening to the chaunters, and looking upon
the novel scene before us, our attention was at-
tracted by another company of women, who were
following each other in single file, and chaunting as
they came the praises of their chief Sitting down
with the company who had preceded them, they
united in one general chorus, which appeared to be
a recital of the valorous deeds of Malietoa and his
progenitors. This ended, a dance in honour of the
marriage was commenced, which was considered one
of their grandest exhibitions, and held in high esti-
mation by the people. The performers were tour
young women, all daughters of chiefs of the highest
rank, who took their stations at right angles on the
fine mats with which the dancing-liouse was eprekd
382
MARROW CONTROVERSY.
for the occasion, and then interchanged positions
with slow and graceful movements both of their
hands and feet, while the bride recited some of the
mighty doings of her forefathers. To the motions
of the dancers, and to the recital of the bride, three
or four elderly women were beating time upon the
mat with short sticks, and occasionally joining in
chorus with the recitative. We saw nothing in the
performance worthy of admiration, except the ab-
sence of every thing indelicate — a rare omission in
heathen amusements. We were informed that most
of tlie wives of the principal chiefs were purchased ;
and that if a sufficient price is paid to the relatives,
the young woman seldom refuses to go, though the
purchaser be ever so old, and unlovely."
Hindu maiTiages are conducted with great pomp,
and often at an enormous expense. " It often hap-
pens tliat a parent will expend his whole fortune
upon a marriage entertainment, and pass the rest of
his days in the most pitiable destitution. The nup-
tial ceremonies continue many days. On the third
day tlie astrologer consults the zodiac, and pointing
out to the married party a small star in the constel-
lation of Ursa Major, near the tail, directs them to
offer their devotions to it, declaring it to be Arund-
hati, wife of one of the seven rishis, or penitents.
The wedding- dinner is invariably furnished with an
immense number of guests, and if the entertainers be
rich, is always extremely magnificent. Upon this
occasion only, the bride sits down to partake with
her husband of the luxuries provided ; indeed, both
eat out of the same plates. This, however, is the
only time in her life that the wife is allowed such a
privilege ; henceforward she never sits down to a
meal with her husband. Even at the nuptial feast,
she eats what he leaves, unless she be too much of
an infant to be sensible of the honour to which she
has been exalted. Upon the last days of the festi-
val, the bridegroom offers the sacrifice of the Homaii,
the bride throwing parched, instead of boiled rice
into the fire. This is the only instance in which a
woman takes part in that sacrifice, considered by the
Hindoos the most sacred of all except that of the
Yajna. These ceremonies being concluded, a pro-
cession is made through the streets of the town or
village. It commonly takes place at night, the
Etreets being brilliantly illuminated with innumer-
able torches, which gleam through the darkness with
a dazzling but unnatural glare. The new-married
pair are seated in the same palanquin facing each
other. They are magnificently arrayed in brocaded
stuffs, and adorned with jewels presented to them by
the fathers of each, and if their fathers are unable to
do this, the gems are borrowed for the occasion.
Before the palanquin marches a band of musicians,
who drown every other sound in the braying of
horns, the clamour of drums, pipes, and cymbals.
As the procession moves onward, the friends .and re-
latives of the bride and bridegroom come out of their
houiea to express their congratulations as they pass.
offering them various presents, for which, however,
they expect a more than adequate return."
The marriages of the Chinese are, like those of the
Hindus, celebrated at great expense. The bride,
locked up in a red quilt sedan, borne by four men,
and sometimes followed by an immense train gaily
dressed, with music, banners, and other parapherna-
lia, is carried by night to the house of the bride-
groom. Here the parties pledge each other in a
cup of wine, and together worship the ancestral
tablets, besides sometimes prostrating themselves be
fore the parents of the bridegroom.
MARROW CONTROVERSY, a dispute which
arose in the Church of Scotland in the beginning of the
eighteenth century, caused by the re-publication of a
book called the ' Marrow of Modern Divinity.' The
book here referred to had been originally published
in 1646, with the view of explaining and estabhsh-
ing the perfect freeness of the gospel salvation ; of
leading tlie sinner to come to the Saviour, all guilty,
polluted, and undone as he is, and to embrace witli-
out hesitation the offered mercy. The author of the
'Marrow' was an Englishman, named Mr. Edward
Fisher, who had been educated in the University of
Oxford. To prevent the first part of the book from
being misunderstood or perverted, a second part was
added showing the Christian uses of the Law, and
steering a middle course between the Antinomiafis
on the one hand, and the Neonomians on the other.
A copy of this production having been accidentally
carried to Scotland in the knapsack of an old soldier,
fell into the hands of Mr. Thomas Boston, then
minister of Simprin, who acknowledged himself
deeply indebted to it for clear views of Divine truth.
The prevailing tone of theology in Scotland at that
time was lamentably lax, and even semi-Arminian
in its character. Amid the darkness, however,
which covered almost the whole church and country,
there were a few pious and devoted ministers of
Christ, who sighed and prayed for a revival of the
Lord's work in the land. Among these men of God
was Mr. James Hog, minister at Carnock, who, anx-
ious to diffuse a purer theology, issued an edition
of the 'Marrow' in 1717, with a recommendatory
preface. Immediately on its publication in Scotland,
the book was assailed from various quarters as being
unsound in doctrine, and Mr. Hog found it necessary
to send forth two difterent pamphlets on the subject ,
the one, a 'Vindication of the Doctrine of Grace
from the charge of Licentiousness;' the other, an
' Explication of the Passages excepted against in the
Marrow;' both of which appeared earlv in the year
1719.
The Scottish puF its now resounded with denun-
ciations of the 'Marrow' and its doctrines. Among
others. Principal Hadow of St. Andrews, in a ser-
mon preached before the synod of Fife, and after-
wards published at their request, attacked the ' Mar-
row' as a book fraught with the most odious Antino-
mianism. In addition to this sermon, Hadow «00B
MARROW CONTROVERSY.
»83
after piibliBliod a pamphJot, wliicli lie fityled, 'The
AiitinoMiianisin of tlie Marrow dofocted.' A host of
polemical piccen on both sidcn of the question now
a|i|iparod in ra[iid siiccessifni, and for four years the
Marrow Controversy ratted in Scotland with unabated
violence and fury, llie numerous misrepresenta-
tions of tlie doctrines of the ' Marrow' which were
given to the public by its opponents, led to the pub-
lication in the course of a few years of another
edition of the book with copious and very valuable
explanatory notes from the able pen of Thomas
Boston of Rttrick.
The controversy was not long limited to the gen-
eral public ; it soon found its way into tlie Gener.il
Assembly. That Court in 1719 issued instructions
to its Commission to inquire into the puhlishin;; and
spreading of books and pamphlets tending to the
dill'iision of doctrines contrary to the Westminster
Confession of Faith. The Commission, accordingly,
at its first meeting, proceeded to take action in the
matter by appointing a Committee, under the im-
posing name of " The Committee for Purity of Doc-
trine," and to ripen the affair for the Assembly,
several avowed supporters of the Marrow doctrines
were summoned before this Committee in April
1720, and subjected to a series of searching ques-
tions in regard to the obnoxious book. An overture
was now prepared with great care and introduced
into the General Assembly in May, condemning the
' Marrow' under five difVerent heads : (1.) The nature
of faith, under which the charge is that assurance is
made to be of the essence of faith. (2.) Universal
atonement and jiardon. (3.) Holiness not necessary
to salvation. (4.) Fear of punishment and hope of
reward not allowed to be motives of a believer's obe-
dience. (5.) That the believer is not imder the Law
as a rule of life. These alleged charges were supported
by a number of passages selected from the ' Marrow.'
The subject was discussed at some length by the
Assembly, and the deliverance of the Court was, that
the said passages and quotations are contrary to the
Holy Scriptures, and our Confession of Faith and
Catechisms. " And therefore the General Assem-
bly do hereby prohibit and discbarge all the minis-
ters of this church, either by preaching, -writing, or
printing, to recommend the said book, or in discourse
to say anythhig in favour of it." "This decision,"
says Dr. M'Crie, "which seems to have been hastily
adopted, without any due examination of the book,
under a vague alarm, excited by certain paradoxical
expressions taken apart from their connection and
exhibited in the most odious light, gave great oflence
in different quarters of the church. A representa-
tion prepared by Ebenezer Erskiue, and signed by
twelve ministers, remonstrating ag.iinst the decision
as injurious to vanous points of evangelical truth,
was presented at next meeting of Assembly. The
Purity of Doctrine' committee, on the other hand,
tunied the cannon against them,' by preparing
twelve queries,' which, as if they had taken aim at
each of them separately, they directed against the
'twelve Itcprescnters.' The controversy tliu» an-
Bumed the strange aspect of two parties cnargin^'
each other respectively with defection from ilia
truth, each equally confident of being supported by
Scripture and the standards of the church. So far
as the orthodoxy of the ' Marrow' was concerned, the
Kepresenters were less careful to vindicate the book
than to uphold those precious truths which had been
endangered by its condemnation. The ' I'urity of
Doctrine' men seized on certain phrases, which they
insisted should be 'sensed' according to other parts
of the book ; while the Kepresenters, condemning
the sentiment as thus 'sensed,' maintained that no
such propositions were to be really found in the
book. Hut on the doctrines evolved by the queries,
the Kepresenters boldly took their stand; and in
their answers, which are drawn up with great ability
and precision, they unquestionably succeeded in de-
monstrating that the Assembly had, unwittingly on
the part of many, given their sanction to some very
grave errors in Christian doctrine."
In 1722, the General Assembly brought the mat-
ter judicially to a conclusion, by condemning the
Representation, and ordering the Kepresenters to be
rebuked and admonished at their bar, which was
done by the Moderator; whereupon the Kepresent-
ers tendered a solemn protest, which, though refused
by the Assembly, was afterwards pubhshed. In this
document they protested against the Act 1720 con-
demning the ' Marrow,' as contrary to the "Word of
God, and the standards of the cluircb, and our cove-
nants, and declared that " it shall be lawful to us to
profess, preach, and bear testimony unto the truths
condemned by the said Acts of Assembly, notwith-
standing of the said Acts, or whatsoever shall follow
thereupon." This being a protest against a decision
of the Supreme Court, might have subjected all the
parties signing it to severe ecclesiastical censure, if
not to summary deposition, but such a sentence was
averted bv the earnest solicitations of government,
and " had not this influence been exerted," says the
elder M'Crie, " there is reason to think that the sen-
tence would have been more severe, and in that case
the Secession would have taken place ten years
earlier than it actually happened." That this un-
happy controversy paved the way for the Secession
of 173.3, there cannot be the shadow of a doubt.
The attachment of multitudes of the Christian peo-
ple to the Church of Scotland was seriously shaken,
and the fact was too obvious to be denied that
the evangelical purity of doctrine which charac-
terized her standards, was far from characterizing
the teaching of the great majority of her ministers.
All whose doctrines savoured of the 'Marrow' were
looked upon with suspicion, and the Kepresenters
in particular were subjected to annoyance in various
ways by their respective synods and presbyteries.
The Man-ow Controversy was not long limited to
Scotland ; in a short time it was transferred to Eng-
A84
MARS— MARTIXTSTS.
land. The views of the Marrowmen were embraced
by Mr. Hervey, particularly on the subject of the ap-
propriating assurance of faith, and not only did he
p've expression to his sentiments in his well-known
' Theron and Aspasio,' but he spoke of the ' Marrow'
in terms of the highest eulogium. His writings
were assailed with great bitterness and severity by
Mr. Robert Sandeman, who gave rise to the sect
known by the name of Sandemanians (which see).
Thus commenced a controversy which lasted for a
long time, and extended even to America. The
theology of the Marrow- Jlen in its characteristic fea-
tures is thus ably delineated by the younger M'Crie :
" Its leading principles may be comprised in two
words — full atonement and free salvation. On these
two pillars, like the Jachin and Boaz of the ancient
temple, was the whole fabric built and upheld. In
their system, the atonement of the Saviour stood
forth in all its plenitude, as a complete satisfaction
given by tlie Surety of sinners in tlieir room, securing
pardon and life for all whom he represented. They
did not consider it necessary to abridge its virtues
and merits, in order to extend them to all men, or to
furnish ministers with a warrant to ofler them to all.
They found their warrant to do so in the ofl'ers of
the gospel; nor did they deem it essential to find
out a warrant for God to justify /am in making these
offers. They saw no inconsistency in preaching a
full Clirist, as well as a free Christ to mankind at
large, and sinners of all kinds ; for they found this
already done to their hand by Christ himself and his
apostles. Some members of his synod having de-
nied that there was any gift of Cln-ist as a Saviour to
sinners of mankind, Ebenezer Erskine rose, and
with a tone and manner which made a deep impres-
sion, said, ' Moderator, our Lord Jesus said of him-
self, " My Father giveth you the true bread from hea-
ven : " this he uttered to a promiscuous multitude, and
let me see the man who dare say he was wrong.'
Much did they delight in pointing the behever to
the special love of Clirist in dying for his own; but
equally careful were they to point the sinner to tlie
death itself, as the proper and only object of saving
faith. To the believer they said. Think on the love
of the Saviour, fixed upon you from all eternity,
shedding his blood for you, drawing you to himself,
and fitting you for the kingdom he hath purchased
for you. To the sinner they said. Look not to tlie
secret purposes of God, or to the intention of the
priest in offering himself, but look to the sacrifice
offered, wliicli is sufficient for all. We do not say,
Christ died for thee;' this would imply a know-
ledge of the secret purposes of the Most High, and
secret things belong not to ns ; but we may say,
' Christ is dead for thee,' that is, he is exhibited as
crucified and slain for thee — for thy benefit, for thee
to look to for salvation, as the .'crpeiit was lifted up
for the wounded Israelite to look to for healing, — •
for thee to llee to, .as the city of refuge wa.s appointed
(oj ilie raauslayer to (lee to for safely."
MARS, a deity held in the highest estimation
among the ancient Romans. He was identified at
an early period as the god of war, with the Greek
Ares (which see). He was one of the three tute-
lary divinities of Rome, and had a temple dedicated
to his worship on the Quirinal Hill, wlience he re-
ceived the surname of Quirinua. As the deity pre-
siding over war, females were not allowed to engage
in his worship. He is usually represented with a
fierce aspect, clothed in armour, and brandishing a
spear in his right hand. He sits in a chariot, drawn
by two horses. The Romans were wont to boast
that they were descended from this warlike deity ;
Romulus, tlie founder of their kingdom, being the
son of Mars by the goddess Rhea. Besides the
temple inside the city dedicated to Mars Quirimis,
they had one outside the city to Mars Qradivus.
That portion of the city also which was set apart for
athletic games and martial exercises, was named
from this god Campus Martius. Not only, how
ever, was Mars considered as patronizing war, but
also the peaceful art of agriculture, and iu this char-
acter he received the name of Silvamis. The wolt
and the horse among animals, and the woodpecker
among birds, were accounted sacred to Mars,
MARTINA'S (St.) DAY, a festival observed in
the Romish church on the 30th of January.
MARTINISTS, a sect of Russian Dissenters,
which arose in the beginning of the present century.
It derived its name from the Chevalier St. Martin, a
native of France, who, while infidel philosophy was
exercising almost imdisputed sway over the public
mind of that country, set himself with his whole
heart and soul to diffuse the doctrines of a pure prac-
tical Cliristianity, though undoubtedly tinged with a
considerable admixture of mysticism. To spread hii
principles the more widely, he made use of the ma-
sonic lodges, but met with comparatively little success
in France, except in the lodges of Lyons and Mont-
pellier. The doctrines of St. Martin were imported
into Russia by Count Grabianka, a I'ole, and Ad-
miral Pleshcheyeff, a Russian, both of whom were suc-
cessful in introducing them into the masonic lodges
in that country, where they soon met with very
wide acceptance. The Martinists at length became
a numerous sect, including in the list of their mem-
bers some names of rank and influence. The fa-
vourite authors, whose writings they chiefly con
suited, were, besides St. Martin himself, tliose o(
the German Pietistic school, such as Arndt and
Spener. But the object of the sect was not so much
to cultivate a speculative as a practical Christianity,
by seeking to do good to all within the sphere of
their influence, not only performing deeds of charity
to the poor, but promoting, as far as jiossible, the
progress of education and literature. The jirincipal
scat of the Mnrtini--<U was the city of Moscow, where
they established a typographic society for the en-
couragement of learning; and to accomplish thit
impoitjint object, they purchased all the manu
MARTINMAS -MARTYRS (Worship of).
385
•cripts, wlietlier in prose or poetry, which were of-
fered to them, publishing, liowever, only such as
appeared worthy of eceing the light. Their coun-
tenance was chiefly given to those writings which
liad a religious or moral tendency. Many of the
works i)ul)lishcd by this society were translations
from foreign laugu.iges, but some very valuable ori-
ginal works, literary, scientific, and religious, were
issued with their sanction. They established also a
large library, chiefly consisting of religions books, to
which all were admitted who were sincerely desirous
of acquiring information. A school was founded at
their expense, and deserving young men were as-
sisted in carrying forward their studies either in the
country or at foreign urn'versities. To the seasona-
ble aid thus afforded, Karamsin, the talented Rus-
sian historian, was indebted for his education at
the university of Moscow. Many of the Martin-
ists, unable to contribute money in order to carty
out the plans of the society, devoted their time and
talents to works of benevolence, and more espe-
cially to the alleviation of human suH'ering. Some
of this noble cla^s of men sacrificed large fortunes,
and even submitted to great privations, in order to
fulfil the designs of this charitable and useful insti-
tution.
The Afarti'nixts became in process of time a nu-
merous and highly respected body of men, and their
influence was daily diffusing itself more and more
widely among the Russian people. Men of all ranks,
both in church and state, hastened to join the lodges
of this noble band of Free Masons, which bade fair,
had it been permitted to continue its ojierations, to
be eminently instrumental in promoting the cause of
Cln-istianity and true civilization throughout the
whole Russian Empire. But the rapidly increasing
fame and influence of this noble sect, and more espe-
cially of their typograpliic society at Moscow, which
was working wonders by means of the press, awaken-
ed suspicions and jealousies in the mind of the Em-
press Catharine 11. She resolved, therefore, to put
forth her utmost efforts to crush the sect. Novikofl",
one of its leading and most active members, was im-
prisoned in the castle of Schlusselburg ; several of
the nobles who belonged to it were banished to their
estates, and several religious books which it had
issued were seized and burnt, as being subversive of
the good order of the country. At the death of
Catharine, the Emperor Paul, who succeeded her on
the throne of Russia, liberated Novikoff, whose tra-
gic story is thus briefly told by Count Krasinski :
" He recovered his liberty, but found a desolate
home : his wife was dead, and bis three young chil-
dren were a prey to a terrible and incurable disease.
The Emperor Paul, whose mad outbursts of despo-
tism were the result of a mind diseased by a keen
sense of wrongs inflicted upon him by his own mo-
ther, but whose natural character was noble and
jhivalrous, demanded of Novikoff, when he was pre-
tented to him on his liberation from the fortress, how
n
he might compensate the injustice that had been done
to him, and the sufTerings to which be had been ex-
posed. ' liy rendering liberty to all those who were
imprisoned at the same time when I was,' was Novi-
kofl's answer."
The labours of the Afartinidts its a body were com-
pletely checked by the persecution which they had
suffered under Catharine, and they contented them-
selves, dining the reign of I'aid, with quietly propa-
gating their opinions in their individual capacity.
Under Alexander I., however, who was somewhat
inclined towards religious mysticism, the Martinists
recovered for a time their influence in Russia, and
Prince Galitzin, one of their number, was intrusted
by the emperor with the ministry of religious affairs
and public education. Tlie imperial councils were
now guided by men of piety and of patriotism.
Bible Societies were openly promoted by the govern-
ment, and religious works published with the sanc-
tion of the emperor. But matters completely changed
on the death of Alexander. His brother, Nicholas,
who succeeded him, adopted a different line of act-
ing. He suppressed Bible Societies, discouraged
the progress of liberal and religious tendencies, and
by his whole course of policy he put an effectual
check upon all the operations of the Martinists, and
led to the total disappearance, from the face of Rus-
sian society, of a sect or body of men, of whom any
civilized country might well be proud.
M.\RTINMAS, a festival formerly observed iii
the lltli of Novendjcr, in hoiirur of St. Martin,
liishop of Tours in France, who died A. D. 40f1.
MAUTYRARII. See Osti.mui.
M.VRTVRIA, a name given in the ancient Chris-
tian church to those churches which were built over
the graves of martyrs, or built in memory of these
witnesses to tlie truth.
M.\RTYRS (Feast of all tiieI. See All
Saints' Day.
MARTYRS (Festivals of the). See Anni-
versaries, Birthday.
MARTYRS (Worship of). This kind of wor-
ship did not fully develop itself until the fourth cen-
tury. At an early period these confessors of tlie
truth were held in great respect among Christians,
and special festivals were celebrated on the anniver-
sary of their martyrdom. Each successive genera-
tion, as it removed from the times in which these holy
men lived and suffered, cherished their memory with
ever-increasing regard, and approached their tombs
with almost idolatrous vetieration. Animated bv
such feelings, men naturally began to show respect
to their bones or mangled remains, as the dust of
heroes who bad died for the cause of Christ. These
natural and innocent feelings, however, soon passed
into superstitious reverence ; and in course of time
religious homage was paid to the martyrs as men,
who, by their holy character and heroic deeds, had
earned a title to the homage and th; adoration of the
Christian church. " The more remote," says Gie.se-
2k *
(580
MARUTA (St.) Liturgy op— MASORA.
ler, " the times of the martjTS, tlie greater the ador-
ation paid to tliem. The lieathen converts, naturally
enough, transferred to them the honours they had
been used to pay their demigods, while the horror of
creature-worship, which had hitherto operated as a
check on the growing superstition, had been gra-
dually dying away since the extinction of paganism.
As men had long been accustomed to assemble for
public worsliip at the graves of tlie martyrs, the
idea of erecting chmxhes over them would readily
occur. In Egypt the Christians began to em-
balm the bodies of reputed saints, and keep them
in their houses. The commiuiion with the martjTS
being thus associated with the presence of their
material remains, these were dug up from the graves
and placed in the churches, especially under the
altars ; and the popular feeling, having now a visi-
ble object to excite it, became more extravagant
and superstitious than ever. Tlie old opinion of the
efficacy of their intercession who had died a martyr's
death, was now united with the belief that it was
possible to communicate with them directly — a be-
lief founded partly on the popular notion that de-
parted souls always lingered around the bodies they
liad once inhabited, and partly on the views enter-
tained of the glorified state of the martyrs, a sort of
omnipresence being ascribed to them. These no-
tions may be traced to Origen, and his followers were
the first who apostrophized the martyrs in their ser-
mons, and besought their intercession. But though
the orators were somewliat extravagant in this re-
spect, they were far outdone by the poets, who soon
took up this theme, and could find no expressions
strong enough to describe the power and the glory of
tlie martyrs. Their relics soon began to work mira-
cles, and to be valuable articles of trade. In proportion
as men felt the need of sucli intercession, they sought
to increase the number of their intercessors. Not
only those who, on account of services rendered the
church, were inscribed in the Diptycha, but the pious
cliaracters from the Old Testament, and the most
distinguished of tlie monks, were ranked among the
saints. Martyrs before unknown announced them-
selves in visions, others revealed the place of their
burial. From the beginning of the fifth century the
prayers for the .saints were discontinued as nnbefit-
fing their glorified state. Christians were now but
seldom called upon to address tlieir prayers to God,
tlie usual mode being to pray only to some saint for
his intercession. With this worship of the saints
were joined many of the customs of the heathen.
Men chose their patron saints, and dedicated churches
to their worship. Tlie heathen, wliiim the Chris-
tians used to rcproacli with worshipping dead men,
found now ample opportunitv of retort."
This tendency to excessive veneration for the
mariyrs begHii to dis|)lay itself at an early period, for
we liiid Tertullian, when a Montaiiist, contending
Against the superstitious practice, and Cyprian con-
<)emniii(f !t as a hpathenisli oiistoin.
MARUTA (St.), Liturgy of, one of the twelve
Liturgies contained in the Missal of the Maronites,
published at Rome in 1592.
MARUTS, ancient Hindu deities mentioned in the
Veclas. They were personifications of the winds,
and represented as attendants upon Jtuh-a. Some-
times the " soma wine" and sacrificial food are pre-
sented to Indra alone, but at other times to Iiidra
and the Martds conjointly.
MARY (Virgin). See Mariolatry.
MASBOTHEANS, the disciples of Masbotlieus,
who is said by some of the ancients to have been a
follower of Simon Magus. See Si.monians.
MASORA. Immediately after the destruction
of the city and temple of Jerusalem by the Romans,
the Great Council of the Israelitish Rabbins was
established at Tiberias in Palestine. This celebrated
school of learned Jews undertook the important
task of revising the sacred text, and issuing an ac-
curate edition of it. For this purpose they collected
together all the critical remarks which had been
made by difi'erent Rabbins upon the Hebrew Bible
at diflerent times, digesting, arranging, and adding to
them witli a view to fix tlie reading and interpreta-
tion of tlie sacred books. Tliis collection is called
J\fasora, which signifies Tradition, while the Rab-
bins themselves give it the name of Pirke Avoth,
which means Fence or Hedge of the Law. It was
probably executed gradually, and accordingly, though
it was commenced sometime before the Talmud,
it was not finished till a long time after.
The Masora consists of critical remarks upon the
verses, words, letters, and vowel-points of the He-
brew Text ; and tliough the preparation of such a
work undoubtedly involved much learned and labo-
rious trifling, it was a contribution of some value to
the cause of sacred literature. The Masorites were
the first who distinguished the books and sections of
books into verses ; and to prevent interpolation or
omission on the part of transcribers, they carefully
numbered the verses of each book and section, plac-
ing the exact amount at the end of each in numeral
letters, or in some symbolical word formed out of
them. Not contented with these labours, which did
immense service to tlie cause of Biblical criticism,
and more especially to the preservation of the in-
tegrity of the Hebrew Text, the compilers of the
Masora went still further, counting the number of
words and letters in each verse, and marking tlic
middle verse in each hook, noting the verses where
they supposed any omission was made, tlie words
which they believed to be changed, the letters whieli
they thought superfiuous, the cases in which the
same verses were repeated, the dillcrcnt readings of
the words which are redundant or defective, the num-
ber of times that the same word is found at the be-
ginning, middle, or end of a verse, the ditVcrcnt sig-
nifications of the same word, the agrecnieiit or con-
junction of one word with another, what letters are
pronounced, wliat are inverted, and what hang per-
MASS.
M7
pendicularly, marking the exact number of each,
riiey also reckoned whiuli is tlie middle letter of tlio
E'eiitateiieh, wliicli is tlie iiiidille claiiKc of each Ijook,
and iiow iiiaiiy times each letter of tlie alphabet oc-
curs tliroii;;hoiit the Hebrew Uible.
The M<u<ora is written in Chaldee, and is usually
divided into Great and Small. The Great is partly
on the top .and bottom of the martjins of the text ;
and sometimes in the m.argin underncalh the com-
mentaries, while anything which had been omitted
was added at the end of the text, and was called the
final Masora. The Small Masora is written upon
the inner margin, or sometimes on the outer m^argin
of the Bible. It is an abridgment of the Great Ma-
sora written in small characters. In some copies of
the Hebrew Uible with the Masoretic notes, the
transcribers liave formed the marginal lines of the
Masora into various fanciful devices, as of birds,
beasts, and other objects.
The precise date when the Ma.sora was composed
cannot now be ascertained, but the most generally
received opinion is, that the Masorites lived about
the fourth or iifth century. Bishop Walton .attri-
butes the prepariition of the work to a succession of
grammarians extending through several centuries.
" They lived at ditl'erent periods," he s.ays, " from
the time of Ezra to about the year of Christ 1030,
when the two famous Rabbins, Ben Aslier and Ben
Naphtali flourished ; since whose time little more
has been done than to copy after thein, without
making any more corrections or Masoretical criti-
cisms." Aben Ezra supposes the Masorites to have
been the inventors of the Hebrew vowels or accents ;
others again trace the invention Imck as far as the
return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity.
MASS, the service observed in the Romish church
in the celebration of the eucharist. Dr. Chaloner,
in the ' Catholic Christian Instructed,' says, that it
" consists in the consecration of tlie bread and wine
into the body and blood of Christ, and the otfering
up of this same body and blood to God, by the min-
istry of the priest, for a perpetual memorial of
Christ's sacrifice upon the cross, and a continuation of
the same until the end of the world." Considerable
difference of opinion exists as to the origin and deri-
vation of the word. Some consider it as a corrup-
tion of the Hebrew word missach, which signifies " a
voluntary offering ;" others derive it from miisio or
misia, alluding to the dismission of the catechumens
and congregation generally, before the Lord's Sup-
per was dispensed in the early Christian Church.
The officiating minister, at this part of the service,
lironounced the words " Ite, missa est" and imme-
diately the catechumens and others dispersed, the
faithful or members of the church alone remaining.
Hence it is alleged the eucharistic service came to be
denominated Missa or the Mass.
To under.stand what is meant by the Romish doc-
trine of the sacrifice of the Mass, it must be borne
in mind, that the canons of the Coimcil of Trent ex-
plicitly declare, "If any one shall nay, that a tru«
and proper sacrifice is not offered to God in the
mass ; or that what is to be offered is nothing tUe
than giving Christ to us to eat; let him be accur«ed.
If any one .shall wiy that the mass is only a service
of juaise and thanksgiving, or a bare commemoration
of the sacrifice made on the cross, and not a propi-
tiatory offering ; or that it only benefits him who
receives it, and ought not to bo offered for the living
and the dead, for sins, punishments, satisfactions, and
other necessities ; let him be accursed." The Cate-
chism of the Council of Trent, published by com-
mand of Pope Pius v., is equally explicit on the
same subject : " We confess that the sacrifice of the
mass is one and the same sacrifice with that upon
tlie cross : the victim is one and the same, Christ
Jesus, who offered himself, once only, a bloody sacri-
fice on the altar of the cross. Tlie bloody and un-
bloody victim is still one and the same, and the obla-
tion of the cross is daily renewed in the eucharistic
sacrifice, in obedience to the command of our Lord,
' This do for a commemoration of me.' The priest
is also the same Chribt our Lord : the ministers who
offer this sacrifice consecrate the holy mysteries not
in their own but in the person of Christ. This the
words of consecration declare : the priest does not
say, ' This is the body of Christ,' but, ' This is my
body;' and thus invested with the character of Christ,
he changes the substance of the bread and wine, into
the substance of his real body and blood. That the
holy sacrifice of the mass, therefore, is not only a
sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, or a commemor-
ation of the sacrifice of the cross, but also a sacrifice
of propitiation, by which God is ai)peased and ren-
dered propitious, the pastor will teach as a dogma
defined by the unerring authority of a General Coun-
cil of the Church. As often as the commemoration
of this victim is celebrated, so often is the work of
our salvation promoted, and the plenteous fruits of
that bloody victim flow in upon us abundantly through
this unbloody sacrifice."
The celebration of the mass in the Romish church is
an intricate and complicated ceremonial. On this pe-
culiarly solemn occasion the ofliciating priest is cloth
ed with certain vestments which are designed to be
emblematical of the diflerent circumstances connected
with the closing scene of our blessed Lord's life upon
the earth. The altar, too, is so fitted up as to repre-
sent the cross on which our Saviour hung ; and on the
altar stands the chiilice or cup which is to contain
the wine mingled with a little water, and covering
the cup is the patten or plate intended to hold the
cake or wafer ; while there are also seen upon the
altar, wax tapers, an incense pan, a vessel for holy
water, a crucifix and a bell. At the commencement
of the service, the priest first appears standing at the
foot of the altar. Making the sign of the cross he
bows to the altar, and then again at the foot of it :
rising, he ascends and kisses it ; moves to the middlt;
of the altar ; where he repeats, " Have mercy on u»,"
388
MASS.
uddressed to each of tlie Persons of the Trinity ; three
times in succession a hymn follows, and then a bene-
diction is pronounced upon the people. " Bowing
down before the middle of the altar, he commences the
reading of the Gospel, when both priest and people
make the sign of the cross on the forehead, mouth,
and breast, to signify their confession of Christ cru-
cified, and their allegiance to him. After certain
recitations, the priest offers up the bread and the
wine. With the wine there is mingled water, in
emblem of the water and blood that issued from
Jesus' side on the cross. In this act he prays that
the offering may be accepted as a sacrifice for the
sins of all the faithful, living and dead. The ele-
ments are then blessed with the sign of the cross.
Thereafter the priest washes the tips of his fingers,
in token of the purity with which the eucharist
should be celebrated. Again, bowing at the middle
of the altar, he craves the divine acceptance of the
oblation, and the intercession of the saints. After re-
newed prayers and other ceremonies, the priest again
spreads his hands over the bread and wine, prays God
to accept the oblation for eternal life, blesses them,
signs the cross, again prays that the oblation may be
accepted. Next comes the awful act of consecration.
The priest pronouncing the words hoc est corpus
vieurn, " This is my body," the bread is converted
into the body of Christ ; in like manner, by a separ-
ate act, the wine is changed into his blood. The
bell rings thrice ; the bread, under the name of the
host or sacrifice, is lifted up in view of the congrega-
tion; and tlie people, kneeling, adore. Thrice again
the bell tinkles as tlie host is set down. Repetitions
follow of prayers for the salvation of the living and
the dead, through the sacrifice now presented. The
host is broken, in imitation of Christ's breaking the
bread, and a particle of it is mixed with the wine, to
denote the reuniting of Christ's body, blood, and
soul, at his resurrection. Three times the priest
strikes his breast in token of repentance ; then fol-
low three prayers ; and thrice again the priest, kneel-
ing, strikes his breast ; he then, with prayers be-
tween, partakes of the bread in the form of a wafer,
and next of the cup. After this the people receive
tlie communion of the bread ; and the ceremony closes
with the priest pouring a little wine into the cup,
and a little on his fingers over the cup, as a means
to prevent any particle of the consecrated wafer from
being lost or profaned."
The wafer of the Romish church, used in the mass,
^ composed of unleavened bread. It is made thin
and circular, and bears upon it either the figure of
Christ or the initials 1. 11. S., whicli moan Jesu Homi-
num Salvator, Jesus the Saviour of men, or as some ex-
plain it, the three first letters of the name of Jesus in
Greek. The mass is termed by Romanists an un-
bloody sacrifice, in op])Ogition to the bloody sacrifice
of the cross ; and they allege, tliat wliile Christ's sacri-
fice upon the cross was sufncient tool)tain p.ardon for
Jlie Bins of the whole world, the sacrifice is to be re-
peated in order that the benefits of the first sacrifice
might be applied. The sacrifice of the mass ia ground-
ed on the dogma of transubstantiation and the real
presence, and is believed to possess a propitiatory
merit both for the living and the dead, which was the
doctrine laid down in plain terms by the Tridentine
fethers. Some of the more moderate Romish writers,
as, for example, Father Bossuet, attempt to modify
and explain the propitiatory character of the sacri-
fice of the mass, by representing it as commemora-
tive and intercessory. But it must appear obvious
to every thoughtful mind, that a sacrifice cannot be
at once propitiatory and commemorative, the two
qualities being necessarily inconsistent, and even con-
tradictory. In the Ordinary of the Mass the follow-
ing account occurs of the mode in which the wafer is
given to the communicant : " The priest, in giving
the consecrated wafer to the conmiunicant, says,
' Behold the Lamb of God ! Behold Him who taketh
away the sin of the world!' Then he and the com-
municant repeat thrice, ' Lord, I am not wortliy thou
shouldest enter my roof; speak, therefore, but the
word, and my soul shall be healed,' the communicant
striking his breast in token of his unworthiness.
Then, says the Directory, having the towel raised
above your breast, your eyes modestly closed, your
head likewise raised up, and your mouth convenient-
ly open, receive the holy sacrament on your tongue,
resting on your under lip ; then close your mouth,
and say in your heart, ' Amen, I believe it to be the
body of Christ, and I pray it may preserve my soitl
to eternal life.' "
Numerous, in the estimation (jf the Romanist, are
the advantages to be derived from the sacrifice of
the mass, not only to the Hving, but to the dead. It
is by the saying of masses that souls are delivered
from purgatory. Mr. Seymour, in his ' Pilgrimage
to Rome,' informs us, " that in Italy the parish
churches are much neglected, and in indifferent state
of repair, and the parochial clergy, whose duty is the
cure of souls, are too often found in poverty and
destitution, while the establishments of the conven-
tual and cathedral clergy, whose main duty is to say
masses for the delivery of souls from purgatory, are
exceedingly wealtliy, being enriched by large dona-
tions and bequests." Of late years, what are called
Purgatorian Societies have been established in London,
Dublin, and other places, whose members regularly
contribute sums of money to defray the expenses of
" procuring masses to be offered up for the repose ol
the souls of deceased parents, relations, and friends,
of all the subscribers to the institution in particular,
and the faithful departed in general." It is not un-
usual to find in the Roman Catholic Directories such
notices as these : — Monthly masses will be said for
such benefactors as will aid in paying oO' the debt on
such and such chapels and schools; and masses will
be sjviii every quarter for those who are interred ni
such and such a burial-ground. " It is taught and
believed in Italy," says Mr. Seymour, " tliata number
MASSALIANS— MATERIALISTS.
389
of ' daily masses,' of ' liif;'' itiaBSfls,' of ' remembrance
masses,' of ' voluntary offerings,' can release siirtcring
souls, or diminish the intensity of their sufferings in
the friglitful abode of purgatory, and thus tend to
translate them to a state of rest in the regions of the
blessed. The monks and friars of the inferior and
mendicant orders avail themselves of this belief, and
profess a readiness to offer, in the church of the con-
vent, the re(iuiRite number of masses, provided a
connnensnrate donation or gratuity be given to the
convent, for the maintenance of the poor brethren.
I have myself witnessed tlic bargain and arrangement
for this, and have seen the masses purch.i.sud, the
money paid and received, at tlie modiTate charge
of about 2s., to secure tlie release of a smd." High
mass is so called as being accompanied by all the
ceremonies wliich custom and authority have annex-
ed to the celebration of mass.
MASSALIANS, a name sometimes given to the
IIksyciiasts (which see).
MASSILIAXS. See Semi-Pelagians.
MATAIIITI (Maoa Kaa), the ripening or com-
plctitig of the year, a festival regularly observed in
Iluahine in Polynesia. "In general," says Mr. El-
lis, " the men only engaged in pagan festivals ; but
men, women, and children, attended at this : the
females, however, wore not allowed to enter the sa-
cred enclosure. A sumptuous banquet was held an-
imally at the time of its observance, which was
regulated by the blossoming of reeds. Tlieir rites
and worship were in many respects singular, but in
none more so than in the ripening of the year, which
was regarded as a kind of annual acknowledgment
to the gods. When the prayers were finished at the
marae, ami the banquet ended, a usage prevailed
much resembling the popish custom of mass for souls
in purgatory. Each individual returned to his
home, or to his family marae, there to offer special
prayers for the spirits of departed relatives, that they
might be hberated from the po, or state of night, and
ascend to rohutunoanoa, the mount Meru of Polyne-
sia, or return to this world, by entering into the
body of one of its inhabitants. They did not sup-
pose, according to the generally received doctrine of
transmigi-ation, that the spirits who entered the body
of some dweller upon earth, would permanently re-
main there, but only come and inspire the person to
declare future events, or execute any other commis-
sion from the supematural beings on whom they
imagined they were constantly dependent."
MATATIIS'I, the god of fishing-net makers among
the natives of the South Sea Islands, particularly
the Tahitians.
MATERIALISTS, a name usually applied to
those speculative thinkers who attempt to explain
the whole theory of the imiverse, and even the phe-
nomena of life and thought, by the laws of matter
and motion. The Materialist denies the separate
existence of matter and of mind, and thus obviates
>Jie necessity of propounding any question as to
their mutual action and influence upon eadi other,
and yet the liypothesis of the Materialists is itscl)
an intrusion upon a province from which man is ex-
cluded. We know nothing of mind or of matter but
by their properties ; the essential nature of either it
is impossible in our present state we can ever dis-
cover. On a prima facie view of the subject, the
presumption seems to be against tlie Materialist.
What two tilings are apjiarently more completely
distinct in their nature than thought and matter?
All that we know of matter is, that it is inert, sense-
less, and lifeless, but that any modilication of matter
should give rise to thought, seems inconsistent with
all that we can learn of its modifications as far as
they are ever effected by human power. " It was
never supposed," to use the language of Dr. Samuel
Johnson, " that cogitation is inherent in matter, or
that every particle is a thinking being. Yet if any
part of matter be devoid of thought, what part can
we suppose to think? Matter can differ from matter
only in form, density, bulk, motion, and direction o(
motion ; to wliich of these, however varied or com-
bined, can consciousness be annexed? To be round
or square, to be solid or fluid, to be gi'cat or little, to
be moved slowly or swiftly, one way or another, are
modes of material existence, all equally alien from
the nature of cogitation. If matter be once without
thought, it can only be made to think by some new
modilication, but all the modifications wliich it can
admit are equally unconnected with cogitative
powers." If this then be the proper conclusion to
which our knowledge of matter necessarily leads us,
there is the strongest presumption against the opin-
ion of the Materialists. But then it may be alleged,
the mere existence of a violent presumption against
the theory is no reason why it should be rejected.
^Vere the theory supported by actual facts, which
went far to establish its truth, no mere presumption
could be of any force. But the subject is not such
as to admit of being established by facts, any more
than it admits of being opposed by facts. AVhetlier
the mind be material or immaterial is a question
which no collection of facts can ever either prove or
disprove ; and in this state of the case the force of
the theoiy is sufficiently obviated by opposing to it
a powerful analogical argument, which, though it
does not show that the theory is false, shows at all
events that it is extremely improbable. All the
modifications of matter which the chemist or the
mechanical philosopher have ever discovered have
been devoid of cogitative power, and is it not in the
highest degree unlikely that the modification of mat-
ter, which constitutes the body of man, should be
the single solitaiy exception in the whole univer.-e
of matter and its infinite modifications?
Lord Bacon seems to have entertained very liigh
notions of the extent of the human faculties, when
he declared his opinion that in process of time man
would discover the essences of material objects. The
fact is, that though, since the days of Bacon, physical
390
MATERIALISTS.
philosophy in all its Jopartments has made astonish-
ing progress, the essence of no one substance in na-
ture has been liitherto discovered. And without
any inordinate depreciation of our intellectual consti-
tution, we may jn'onounce the discovery beyond the
reach of man. Tlie human understanding is limited,
and to solve the question as to tlie materiality or
immateriality of the thinking principle, transcends
these limits. " "We have the ideas of matter and
thinking," Locke wisely remarks, " but possibly shall
never be able to know whetlier any mere material
being thinks or no." " By the mind of a man," says
Dr. Reid, " we understand that in liim which thinks,
remembers, reasons, wills ; the essence both of body
and mind is unknown to us." And Mr. Stewart,
speaking of the "occasional causes" of Malebranche
and Leibnitz, observes, " The chief objection to the
doctrine of occasional causes is, that it presumes to
decide upon a question of which human reason is
altogether incompetent to judge — our ignorance of
the mode in which matter acts upon mind, or mind
upon matter, — furnisliing not the shadow of a proof
that the one may not act directly and immediately
on tlie other, in some way incomprehensible by our
faculties."
On reflection it must appear unreasonable in t! e
extreme to deny the existence of mind, and yet re-
tain our belief in the existence of matter. Both
rest on evidence equally powerful and undeniable.
On this point Lord Brougham justly remarks : " The
evidence for the existence of mind is to the full as
complete as that upon which we believe in the ex-
istence of matter. Indeed it is more certain and
more irrefragable. The consciousness of existence,
the perpetual sense tliat we are thinking, and that
we are performing the operation quite independently
of all material objects, proves to us the existence of
a being diflerent from our bodies, with a degree of
evidence higlier tlian any we can have for tlie exist-
ence of those bodies themselves, or of any other
part of the material world. It is certain — proved,
indeed, to demonstration — that many of the percep-
tions of matter which we derive througli the senses
are deceitful, and seem to indicate tliat wliich has no
reality at all. Some inferences which we draw re-
specting it are confounded with direct sensation or
perception, for example, the idea of motion ; other
ideas, as those of hardness and solidity, are equally
the result of reasoning, and often mislead. Thus we
never doubt, on the testimony of our senses, that the
parts of matter touch — that different bodies come in
contact with one another, and with our organs of
sense ; and yet nothing is more certain than that
there still is some small distance between tlie liodies
wliich we think we perceive to touch. Indeed it is
barely possible tliat all the sensations and percep-
tions wliich we have of the material world may be
only ideas in our own minds : it is barely possible,
therefore, that matter should have no existence.
But that mind — that the sentient principle — that the
thing or the being which we call ' /' and ' we' ana
which thinks, feels, reasons — should have no exist-
ence, is a contradiction in terms. Of the two ui
istences, then, that of mind as independent of matter
is more certain than that of matter apart from mind."
Among the ancient Greek philosophers, the lead-
ing Materialists were Democritus and Epicurus,
both of whom admitted nothing in mind but sensa-
tions, and nothing in nature but bodies, and alleged
the primary component princijdes of all tilings to be
indivisible, eternal, and indestructible atoms. But
while these two schools of ancient Materialists agreed
together as to tlie materia prima or original mat-
ter of the universe, they diflered as to the mode
in which the atoms operated, so as mechanically to
construct the universe. Democritus alleged, that
atoms were put in motion in a right line in the in-
finite void. Epicurus, however, dissatisfied with this
explanation, endowed the particles with a second
motion in an oblique line, by which, being carried in
every direction, they would come by their successive
contacts and separations to produce the diti'ereni
phenomena which present themselves in the uni.
verse. In the system of Democritus mind is simply
an aggregate of images conveyed from external ob-
jects, and coming into contact with the inner organi-
zation of man. Epicurus, pushing still farther his
materialistic views, regarded the mind as composed
of a more refined matter than the body, but so united
to it that the dissolution of the one involves the dis-
solution of the other. The school of Epicurus con
tinued for ages to propagate its materialist opinions,
without, liowever, giving rise to a single individual
who could be said to emulate the fame of its founder.
AVith the single exception, indeed, of the brilliant
poem of Lucretius, " De Natura Eerum," on the
nature of thing.s, this mechanical system of philoso ■
pliy has left no trace of its existence among the spe-
culative theories of antiquity.
It has been strangely alleged by some writers that
the Christian Fathers of the first centuries held
materialist views. To understand, however, what
were their true sentiments on this subject, we must
bear in mind the circumstances in which they wrote.
The early Christian Church had to contend witli va-
rious systems of doctrine which sought to mingle
themselves up with the Christian scheme. Hence
arose the Neo-Platonism of the Alexandrian school,
and the variety of Gnostic sects, some of them per-
vaded by Judaism, and others by the Oriental sys-
tems of philosophy. These various corruptions of
Christianity, instead of claiming the slightest affinity
with materialism, partook largely of the characters
of the opposite system of spiritualism. It is not to
be wondered at, tlierefore, that in combating the high
Spiritualist views of the Alexandrian and Gnostic
schools, a few of the early Christian writers should
have expressed themselves in such a way as to lay
themselves open to the imputation of materialism.
But the tendency of their writings, as a whole, is fa
MAT'H.
391
from favouring any views wliich attadied Iiigh im-
portance to matter, so as to excliule minil or spirit.
Oil tlie contrary, they viewed matter as an inert and
passive substance at tlie lowest stage of exi.stence ;
and St. Augustine even goes so far as to call it an
rilinost non-existence, and he says tliat if there were
a word which at once siguilied something which is,
and something wliich is not, he would give that name
to matter.
In the Middle Ages materialist opinions were ex-
tensively dill'used by the secret societies which aro.sc
in Syria and Kgypt ; one of the initiatory maxims
inculcated upon their members being, tliat there was
no other God than material nature. But the lirst
ilevelopinent of materialism, as a philosophical sys-
tem in modern times, is due to Spinoza, who taught
that thought, like extension, could be only a pro-
perty of a material substance, and that intelligence
and will are simply modifications of the human or-
ganism. Materialism, however, in its grossest and
most repulsive form, was set forth by the author of
the ' Systeme de la Nature' — a work which obtained
a wide circulation, not only on the Continent of
Europe, but in Great Britain, and also in America,
undermining the religious principles of multitudes,
and diffusing among all classes of society a bold, un-
blushing infidelity. " The universe," says this leader
in the ranks of modern Materialists, " that vast as-
semblage of all that exists, exhibits nowhere any-
thing else than matter and motion." The same doc-
trine has been more recently revived by M. Comte,
in what is termed the Positive Pliilosophy, which
explains all natiu'al phenomena whatever, whether
material, mental, or moral, as merely the necessary
results of the laws of extension or of motion. The
eperations of mind or spirit are thus resolved into
the laws of matter, and the necessity is obviated of
having recourse to a Great First Cause, personal,
spiritual, all-creating, and all- controlling. This form
of materialism, accordingly, in its very nature and
results, terminates in Atheism. Yet Dr. Priestley,
though holding substantially the same opinions with
D'Holbach and Comte, avows in his writings his
firm belief in a personal God, a resurrection from
the dead, and a future state of final retribution.
The same inconsistency marks the theories of not a
few of the Positivists and other Materialists of our
own day. Some of the recent Spiritualists in America,
to uphold their views of clairvoyance and magnetic
influence, put forth a modilled form of materialism,
alleging the soul to be composed not of gross matter,
but of a subtle, ethereal, impalpable substance like
light, heat, or electricity. The same theory was
broached by Hartley, followed up by Abraham
Tucker, the ingenious author of the ' Light of Na-
ture pursued,' and more fully developed by Dr. Ma-
son Good in his ' Life of Lucretius,'' prefixed to his
EnLjlish poetical translation of the celebrated poem of
that ancient writer, who was himself an avowed and
gross Materialist. "This," as Dr. Jamss Buchanan
well remarks, " is a new and very singular phase ot
materialism. It is widely difTcrent from the doctrine
which was taught by the infidel writers of the l;i-t
century. They had recourse to the theory of mate-
rialism chiefly with the view of excluding a world of
spirits, and of undermining the doctrine of a future
state : here it is applied to prove the constant de-
velopment and indestructible existence of minds
generated from matter, but destined to survive the
dissolution of the body ; nay, every particle of mat-
ter in the universe is supposed to be advancing, in
one magnificent progression, towards the spiritual
state. The danger now is, not that religion may be
undermined by materialism, but that it may be sup-
planted by a fond and foolish superstition, in which
the facts of mesmerism and the fictions of clairvoy-
ance are blended into one ghostly system, fitted to
exert a powerful but pernicious influence on over-
credulous minds." Though there may be some foun-
dation for the apprehension here expressed by Dr.
Buchanan, yet the tendency which has so strongly
appeared of late years in England among too many
cultivators of science to favour such works as those
of Oken and Comte, and the ' Vestiges of Creation,'
renders it not improbable, that for some time to
come, writers on Christian apologetics will find it
necessary to contend earnestly against a rapidly
increasing school of materialist philosophers. See
Atheists, N.4turalists.
MAT'H, the residence of a monastic community
among the Hindus. It consists of a number of build-
ings, including a set of huts or chambers for the
Mahaiit or superior, and his resident Chelas or disci-
ples; a temple sacred to the deity whom they wor-
ship, or the Samddh, or shrine of the founder of the
sect, or some eminent teacher ; and one or more
sheds or buildings for the accommodation of the men-
dicants or travellers who are constantly visiting the
Mat'/i, both ingress and egress being free to all.
The number of permanent pupils in a ^fofh varies
from three or four to thirty or forty ; besides whom
there is also a considerable number of out-door mem-
bers. The resident Chelas are usually the elders of
the body, with a few of the younger as their atten-
dants and scholars. The superior is usually elected
from the senior or more proficient of the pupils.
The manner in which the Hindu convents are sup-
ported is thus pointed out by Professor H. H. Wil-
son : " Most of the MaChs have some endowments
of land, but with the exception of a few established
in large cities, and especially at Bcnare^ the indivi-
dual amount of these endowments is, in general, of
little value. There are few Mat'hs in any district
that possess five hundred bigahs of land, or about one
hundred and seventy acres, and the most usual quan-
tity is about thirty or forty bigahs only : this is
sometimes let out for a fixed rent ; at other times, it
is cultivated by the Mat'h on its own account; the
highest rental met with, in any of the returns pro-
cured, is six hundred and thirty rupees per ammiii
892
MATHEMA— MATSURI.
Although, however, the individual portions are trlf-
linc;, the great number of these petty establishments
renders the aggregate amount considerable, and as
the endowed lands have been granted Mafi, or free
of land tax, they form, altogether, a serious deduc-
tion from the revenue of each district.
" Besides the lands they may hold, the Maths
liave other sources of support : the attachment of
lay votaries frequently contributes very liberally to
their wants : the community is also sometimes con-
cerned, though, in general, covertly, in traffic, and
besides those means of supply, the individual mem-
bers of most of them sally forth daily, to collect
alms from the vicinity, the aggregate of which, gen-
erally in the shape of rice or other grains, furnishes
forth the common table : it only remains to observe,
that the tenants of these MaChs, particularly the
Vaishnavas, are most commonly of a qniet inoffen-
sive character, and the Mahants especially are men
of talents and respectability, although they possess,
occasionally, a little of that self-importance, which
the conceit of superior sanctity is apt to inspire :
there are, it is true, exceptions to this innocuous
character, and robberies and murders have been
traced to these religious establishments."
MATHEMA (Gr. a Lesson), a name usually given
in the ancient Greek writers to the Creed, probably
because the catechumens were obliged to learn it.
MATIIEMATICI, a term applied to astrologers
both in the Justinian and Theodosian codes.
MATHURINI, a name given to the Brethren
OF THE Holy Trinity (which see), because their
church in Paris has St. Mathurinus for its tutelar
saint.
MATINS, the ancient name used in the Christian
church to denote early morning prayers, which
usually began about day-break. The office of ma-
tins or morning prayer, according to the Church of
England, is an abridgment of her ancient services,
for matins, lauds, and prime.
MATKAGYKT^, an appellation given to the
Agyrt^ (which see), or priests of Cyhele, because
they gathered oblations for the Great Mother.
MATRALIA, an annual festival celebrated at
Rome on the 11th of June, in honour of the goddess
Matuta. Roman matrons alone took part in the
ceremonies, olVering cakes baked in pots of earth-
enware. A feiTiale slave was next introduced into
the temple, who received a blow on the cheek from
one of the matrons, and was driven with scorn from
the sacred building. It was custoiriary for the ma-
trons at this festival to carry the children of their
sisters instead of their own into the temple, and to
offer up prayers to the goddess in their behalf, whose
statue was then crowned with a garland by one of
the matrons whose husband was still alive.
MATRKS SACRORUM (I.at. mothers of the
sacred things), priestesses ot Mitlirns, the Persian
god of the Sun, after his worship had been intro-
duced ijito the Roman I'.nipire.
MATRICULA, a term used by the council ol
Agde, to denote the Canon (which see) or catalogue
of the clergy in the ancient Christian church.
MATRICULARII, subordinate ecclesiastical offi-
cers among the ancient Christians. They were in-
trusted with the care of the church, in which they
were accustomed to sleep. They had also a specific
office to perform in public processions.
MATRIMONY. See Marriage.
MATRONALIA, an ancient Roman festival cele-
brated annually on the Kalends of March, in honour
of Mars. It was kept by the matrons alone ; hence
the name. It was instituted either on account of the
peace which was concluded between the Romans and
Sabines by the mediation of women ; or because
the founder of Rome was the son of Ilia and Mars.
MATSURI, a public spectacle exhibited at Naga-
saki in Japan, on the birthday of the god Suwa, the
patron of the city. It consi?ts of processions, plays,
dances, and other amusements, which are celebrated
at the expense of the inhabitants of ten or eleven
streets uniting each year for that purpose. Proces-
sions pass through the principal streets, and specta-
cles are exhibited in a temporary building of bamboo,
with a thatched roof, open towards the square on
which it is erected. The festival is thus described
by Kampfer, who himself witnessed it : " Everything
being ready, the Sinfo clergy of the city appear in
a bod\', with a splendid retinue, bringing over in
procession the Mikosi of their great Smva, as, also,
to keep him company, that of Symios. Murasaki
is left at home, as there is no instance in the his-
toiy of his life and actions from which it could be
inferred that he delighted in walking and travelling.
" The Sinto clergy, upon this occasion, style them-
selves Ootomi — that is, the high great retinue — their
pompous title, notwithstanding the alms-chest is one
of the principal things they carry in the procession,
and, indeed, to very good purpose, for there is such a
midtitude of things thrown among them by the
crowds of superstitious spectators, as if they liad a
mind out of mere charity to stone them.
" When they come to the place of exhibition, the
ecclesiastics seat themselves, according to their
quality, which appears in good measure by their
dress, upon three benches, built for them before the
front of the temple. The two superiors take the
uppermost bench, clad in black, with a particular
head ornament, and a short staff, as a badge of their
authority. Four others, next in rank, sit upon the
second bench, dressed in white ecclesiastical gowns,
with a black lackered cap, something different from
that worn by their superiors. The main body takes
possession of the third and lowermost bench, sitting
promiscuously, and all clad in white gowns, with a
black lackered cap, somewhat like those of the Je-
suits. The servants and jiortcrs ajipointed to carry
the holy utensils of the temple, and other jieopls
who have anything to do at this solemnity, stand
next lo the ecclesiastics, bareheaded.
MATTHEW'S (St.) DAY— MAUI.
39.3
" On tlie otlior side of the square, opposite to the
ecclesiastics, sit tlie deputies of llic governors, under
a tent, upon a fine mat, soniewliat raised from the
ground. Kor magnilieence salie, and out of respect
for this holy act, tlioy liavc twenty pikes of state
planted before them in the ground.
"The public spectacles on these occasions area
sort of plays, acted by eight, twelve, or more per-
sons. The subject is taken out of the liistory of
their gods and heroes. Tlieir remark.able adven-
tures, heroic actions, and sometimes their love in-
trigues, put in verse, are sung by dancing actors,
wliilst others play upon nuisical instruments. If the
subject be thouglit too grave and moving, there is
now and then a comic actor jumps out unawares upon
the st.age, to divert the audience with his gestures
and merry discourse in prose. Some of their other
|)l!iys are composed only of ballets or dances, like the
performance of the mimic actors on the Koman stage.
For tlie dancers do not speak, but endeavour to ex-
press the contents of the story they are about to
represent, as naturally as possible, both by their
di'css and by their gestures and .actions, regulated
according to the sound of musical instruments. The
chief subjects of the play, such as fountains, bridges,
gates, houses, gardens, trees, moiuit-olns, animals, and
the like, are also i-epresented, some as big as the life,
and all in general contrived so as to be removed at
pleasure, like the scenes of our European pl.ays."
MATTER (Eternity of). See Eternity of
TUF, World.
MATTHEW'S (St.) DAY, a festival of the Rom-
ish church, kept on the 21st of September, in honour
of the Evangelist Matthew. This festival is observed
in the Greek church on the Ifith of November.
MATTHEW'S (St.) I-ITURGY, one of the
twelve Liturgies of the Maronites cout.ained in their
Missal.
• MATTHIAS'S (St.) DAY, a festival observed by
the Romish church, on the 24th of February, in
honour of Matthias, who was elected to the apostle-
ship in room of Judas.
MATUTA, a surname of Juno, under which the
festival Matrama (which see) was observed in her
honour.
MATUTINA, the new morning service of the
ancient Gallican church, so called in contradistinc-
tion to tlie old morning service which was always
early before day ; whereas this w,as after the day was
begun. When this was admitted among the canoni-
cal hours to niiike up the number of seven times a-
day, the Psalms appointed for the service were the
fifty-first, the sixty-tliird, and ninetieth.
MAUI, a legendary hero of the Polynesian my-
thology. There is not a single gi'oup of islands in the
whole range of Oceanica, where Maui was not held
in constant veneration under one or other of his nu-
merous appell.ations, but the more special seat of his
worship was New Ze.iland, which was supposed to
have emerged from the ocean at his command ; and
in the Tonga islands he is said to have fished up
these islands out of the sea with a hook and line.
"The stories tell," says Mr. Hardwick in his 'Christ
and other Masters,' "that Maui was the last-born
chilli of Tara-hunga or Taranga, being descended
also, after many generations, from Tu-mata-uenga,
one of the unnatural sons of Heaven and Earth.
Though finally admitted to the number of the gods,
and though at times confounded even with the
highest members of the ancient pantheon, he is not
unfrequently declared to be of purely human origin.
His youthful pranks, betokening always an cxu-
borance of life and vigour, and occasionally inter-
mingled with proceedings of more than dubious
morality, remind us of the early feats ascribed to
the heroic Krishna; while his struggles with a huge
sea-monster (Tunuriua) furnish some additional poijits
of contact or comparison with the Hercules alike of
India and of Greece. On this account it was that
he acipiired a lasting hold on the affections of the
ancient Maori, and was scrupulously invoked by
them as their own tutelary genius on many grand
occasions, and especially when they were setting out
upon some fishing expedition.
" Very many of the strange adventures which are
told of Maui indicate his vast superiority over his
five elder brothers in strength, in cunning, in good
fortune. To astonish or to overreach them he
would voluntarily assume the form and other quali-
ties of a bird; and once, in this disguise, appears to
have succeeded in gaining admittance to the subter-
ranean world, in which his parents were detaineii.
Ere long, however, it was found that the myste-
rious visitor was a man, or rather was 'a god,' and
■when his mother finally beheld in him her own
Maui (' Maui possessed of the topknot, or power, ot
Taranga'), her delight at the discovery was rapturous
and uiil)ound>'d. 'This,' she exclaimed, 'is hideed
my child. By the winds and stomis and wave-up-
lifting gales he was fashioned and became a human
being. W'elcome, O my child, welcome : by thee
shall hereafter be climbed the threshold of the house
of thy great ancestor, lline-nui-te-po (the goddess of
the world invisible), and death itself shall thence-
forth have no power over man.' With the express
intention of achieving the fulfilment of tliis hopeful
prophecy, the hero of New Zealand entered on the
last and greatest of his labours. He h.ad noticed
how the sun and moon, which he was instigated to
extinguish, were immortalised, because it was their
wont to bathe in some living fountain : ' he deter
mined, therefore, to do the same, and to enter the
womb of Hine-nui-te-po, that is Hades, where the
living water — the life-giving stream — was situated.
Hine-nui-te-po draws all into her womb, but per-
mits none to return. Maui detei"rained to try, trust-
ing to his great powers ; but before he made the
attempt, he strictly charged the birds, his friends,
not to laugh. He then allowed Great Mother Night
to draw him into her womb. His head and sbuul-
21,
394
MAUI FATA— MAUR (St.), Conqregatiok of.
ders had already entered, when that forgetful bird,
the Piwaka-waka, began to laugh. Night closed
her portals : Maui was cut in two, and died. Thus
death came into the world, [or rather, in accordance
with a second and more congruous version, kept its
hold upon the world]. Had not the Piwaka-waka
laughed, Maui would have drunk of the living stream,
and man would never [more] have died. Such was
the end of Maui ! ' "
MAUI FATA, altar- raising, a religious ceremony
in Polynesia. No human being was slain on this
occasion, but numbers of pigs, with abundance of
plantains, were placed upon the altars, which were
newly ornamented with branches of the sacred mii-o,
and yellow leaves of the cocoa-nut tree. These
rites extended to every marae in the island, and were
designed to secure rain and fertility, for the country
gained by conquest or recovered from invasion.
MAULAVI, the name usually given to a Mo-
liammedan priest in India.
MAUNDY THURSDAY, the Thursday before
Easter ; supposed by some to allude to the manda-
tum or commandment which Clu-i.^t gave to his dis-
ciples on that day, to love one another as he had
loved thera ; while by others it is supposed to be
derived from mandatum or command, that being the
first word of the anthem sung on that day, " A
new commandment I give unto you." Others again
allege that the name arose from the maunds or bas-
kets of gifts, which it was an ancient custom for
Christians to present to one another at this time, in
token of the mutual afl'ection wliich our blessed
Lord urged upon his people. On Maundy Thursday,
in ancient times, in some of the Latin churches, the
communion was administered in the evening after
supper, in imitation of the first communion. Au-
gustine take? notice of the same custom, and also
observes tliat the communion in some places was
administered twice on this day; in the morning for
the sake of such as could not keep a day of fast, and
in the evening for those that fasted till evening,
when tliey ended their fast and received the com-
munion after supper. On this day the competcntes or
candidates for baptism publicly rehearsed the Creed
before the bishops or presbyters in the church. It
was customary also for servants to receive the com-
munion on this great and holy fifth day of the Pas-
sion Week. After the ancient love-feasts were dis-
continued, this day was observed as a feast of love.
On Maundy Thursday the Romish church cele-
brates the burial or entombment of our blessed Lord.
It may appear strange that Good Friday being consi-
dered the ainiiversary of our Saviour's death, the pre-
ceding day sliould bo cliosen to represent his funeral ;
but the reason assigned by Romanists for this seem-
ing inconsistency is, that the church has preferred to
represent it hy anticipation on 'I'Inn-sday, rather than
on tlie following day in wliich the clun-ch is in profound
mourning on account of bis death. On this occasion,
we Icnrn, on the testirnnnv of an eve-witness, that
two hosts are consecrated, one of which is consumed
as usual by the officiating cardinal, and the other is
carefully placed in a clialice, and covered with a
paten and napkin. This is called the chalice of the
Sepulchre, and is very handsome, being of rock crys-
tal, set in silver gilt, and adorned by figures of the
twelve apostles. " The procession," it is added,
" set out in the usual manner, the Pope being last of
all, and on this occasion walking bareheaded, having
the canopy borne over him by eight bishops, and
carrying in his hand the chalice, containing the host.
The procession passed tlirough the vestibule to the
Pauline Chapel, which was illuminated by five hun-
dred and sixty-seven wax lights — producing a blaze
of light almost intolerable to the eye. The altar
was prepared as a sort of sepulchre, and there the
Pope deposited tlie host, in a small wooden box as
in the tomb, and the sepulchre was locked by the
sacristan, and the key delivered to the cardinal peni-
tentiary, who was to perform the service of next
day."
Another ceremony observed at Rome on Holy
Thursday is the washing of the feet of thirteen
pilgrims by the Pope, in imitation of the act of
humility and condescension which our Lord per-
formed in washing the feet of His disciples. An-
other singular ceremony which belongs to this day
is the washing of the high altar with wine ; a cere-
mony which, as well as tliat of uncovering the altar,
has already been described under the article Altar.
Tlie Pope also pronounces a solemn anathema on
Maundy Thiu'sday against all heretics and enemies
of the church (see Anathe.ma), being the Bull in
ccena Domini. On this day alone of all the festival
days in the year, the ceremony is performed of
blessing the catechumenal and chrismal oils, and the
oil of the sick.
MAUR (St.), Congeeoatiox of, one of the
reformed congregations of Benedictine monks, which
originated in the seventeenth century. It was form-
ed under the authority of Gregory XV. in 1621,
and endowed with various privileges and rights by
Urban VIII. in 1627. The object of this Congrega-
tion, which is widely extended throughout France, is
to revive the spirit of St. Benedict in the observance
of his rule, and with this view much attention is paid
to tlie training of young religious. To effect this the
more completely, there are houses for novices, from
which tnose who are to be admitted to profession
are removed to other cloisters, where they arc trained
for two years to acts and exercises of worship.
Then they study human learning and theology
for five years, after which they spend one year in
special preparation for tlieir sacred duties. The
Benedictines are accustomed to speak in very high
terms of the eminent services wliich the CongregR-
tion of St. Maur have done to the cause of literature,
most of their time and attention li.iving been directed
to the pursuit of learning. This devotion to the
study of sacred and secular knowledge was strongly
MAURI— MAYA.
aiif-
objected to by some who admired the ancient mo-
nastic discipline. Hence a cotitrovor.sy aro.se in
France on tlio question, " How far is it «iiilab!o for a
monk to cultivate literature?" IJut the monies of
St. Maur refused to yield to the prejudices of some
of tlie French bi8hoi)S, and to the petty jealousies of
the Jesuits ; tlicy have continuc<I, accordingly, to
issue from tlie press works of great interest and im-
portance. Their celebrated editions of the Father.s,
extending to ten Greek and twelve Latin Fathers;
their ' Gallia Christiana,' in thirteen vohnnes folio,
not yet completed; tlieir 'Ilistoire Littcraire de la
France,' which has been carried on from 1733 down
to the present day ; and an ■^dmirable compendious
work, also continued down to the present time, under
the title, 'L'Art de verifier les Dates des Faits Ilis-
toriques,' have all of them proved valuable acces-
sions to literature both sacred and profane. Such
names as Mabillon and Montfancon, both of whom
belonged to the Congregation of St. Maur, are suffi-
cient to show that among the monks of this order
have been enrolled some men of distinguished ta-
lents and profound learning, men who by their la-
borious researches have thrown a flood of light upon
tlie history and antiquities of tlie Christian church.
MAUUI, an inferior order of supernatural beings,
according to tlio belief of the South Sea Islanders,
riiey were considered the most malignant of beings,
exceedingly irritable and implacable. They were
not coniined to the skulls of departed warriors, or
the images made for them, but were occasionally
supposed to resort to the shells from the sea-shore,
especially a beautit'ul kind of murex, called the
murex ramoces. These shells were kept by the sor-
cerers, and the peculiar singing noise perceived on
applying the valve to the ear, was imagined to pro-
ceed from the demon it contained.
MAURO UIt.\, the red sash, a very sacred relie
held in the highest estimation by the natives of
Tahiti in the South Sea Islands. It is thus de-
scribed by the late lamented missionary, John AVil-
liams : " This was a piece of network, about seven
inches wide and six feet long, upon which the red
feathers of the paroquet were neatly fastened. It
was used at the inauguration of their greatest kings,
just as the crown is with us, and the most honour-
able appellation which a chief could receive was.
Aril man ura, ' King of the Red Sash.' A new
piece, about eighteen inches in length, was attached
at the inauguration of every sovereign; to accom-
plish which several human victims were required.
The first was for the 7nan raa tit!, or the stretching
it upon pegs in order to attach to it the new piece.
Another was necessary t'or tho/atu raa, or attaching
the new portion ; and a third for the pin raa, or
twitching the sacred relic olV the pegs. This not
only invested the sash itself with a high measure of
solemn importance, but also rendered the chiefs who
wore it most noble in public estimation."
MAUSOLEUM, a name originally applied to the
majnificcnt sepulchre erected by Artemisia to the
memory of Mausolus, king of Caria ; but now need
to denote generally any splendid tomli. See Cimk-
TEIUKS, TOMIIS.
MAYORS. See Mails.
MAYA, a term used in Hinduism to denote the
personification of lirahm's fruitless longing for some
being other than his own. In the Vaidic period
Maya meant no more than the desire of evolution.
In its full development, however, the word always
implies illusion, and hence all forms assumed by
matter are held to bo not only transient, but illusive
and essentially non-existent. Dr. Duff explains
Maya as the actuating principle or efficient cause of
illusion ; — the illusory energy. " It is Maya," says
this able and learned missionary, " that delusively
exhibits all the diversified appearances which com-
[lose what is ordinarily called the visible external
universe. These have no exterior material basis
or substantive form, neither have they any interior
spiritual basis or substratum, either in the Universal
Soul, or in the human soul before which they are
displayed. In both these respects, they dill'er essen-
tially from the subtile types or models of all things
wliich Plato supposed to exist in the divine mind
from all eternity, — and to which he gave the name
of ' ideas, or intelligible forms,' because apprehended
solely by the intellect. These Platonic ideas as-
not mere conceptions. They are real immutable be-
ings, subsisting in the divine mind as their proper
seat. They are unchangeable patterns or exemplars,
which, by the power of God, issue forth from the
fountain of his own essence, — and, becoming united
with matter previously without any form, they im-
press their own form upon it, and so render visible
and perceptible the whole range of individual sensi-
ble objects presented to us in the external universe.
These forms, thus impressed on contingent matter,
are exact copies of tliose that are invariable. But
sensible things are perpetually changing. Their
forms, consequently, cannot be the proper objects of
contemplation and science to the enlightened and
purified intellect. Hence, says Plato, they are the
ideas, or intelligible forms, etern.ally and immutably
subsisting in the divine mind, which alone can be
the real objects contemplated by the expanded rea-
son of man.
" Unlike, too, the ' ideas' of Malebranclie ; which,
though contained only in the one great Omnipresent
Mind, and perceived by other spirits therein, had yet
corresponding external objects ; — unlike the ' sensi-
ble species,' or ph.antasms, or shadowy films of Aris-
totle, which, though transformed by the active and
passive intellect into intelligible species fit to be the
objects of the understanding, were yet only resem-
blances or pictures of outward substances ; — unlike
the ' ideas' of Berkeley, which, though representing
no material forms, were not mere states of the indi-
vidual mind, but separate spiritual entities, wholly
independent of it, and imperishable, — capable of
396
MAYITRI— MEAT-OFFERING.
existing ill iliute minds, but reposing cliiefly on tlie
bosom of the infinite ; — unlilce any, or all of these,
the ' ideas' or images of the Hindu theology float in
utter vacancy, — challenging no separate or indepen-
dent existence. They are mere illusive appearances
presented by Maya, — having no ' species' in the hu-
man intellect ; no ' substantial exemplars' in an exter-
nal world ; no 'intelligent forms' in the divine mind
for their antitypes. Neither do they depend, in any
degree, for their origin on any power or faculty of
the soul itself. They spring from no anterior act of
the soul — no more than the shadow in water is pro-
duced by an active power resident in the water. If
you could suppose the water percipient, it would
perceive the shadow in its own bosom, though wholly
passive in the manifestation thereof ; so, of the per-
cipient soul. It does not originate any of the illu-
sive appearances that flit before it. It is only the
passive recipient as well as percipient of them. In
your ignorance, you conclude that an image or sha-
dow necessarily jiresupposes some counterpart sub-
stantial form. But know that it is the prerogative
of Maya, the divine energy, to produce images and
shadows without any corresponding reaUty, — to pro-
duce and exhibit, for example, the image of a sun, or
the shadow of a tree, in tlie bosom of a limpid
stream, though there be no luminary in the firma-
ment, no tree on the verdant bank. And tlius it is
that Maya does produce images and forms, and ex-
hibits them to tlie soul as before a mirror, though
there be no counterpart realities. It is from the
liabit generated by ignorance that you talk of sensa-
tions and perceptions in the soul, as if these neces-
sarily implied the existence of external objects as
their exciting causes.
" It is true, say the Hindu theologians, that so long
as the power of Maya is exerted, the soul is deceived
into the belief of its own distinct individuality, as
well as of the real existence of material phenomena.
In other words, the soul — in consequence of the two-
fold operation of Maya, first, in subjecting it to ig-
norance of its real nature and origin, and secondly,
in exposing it to illusive sensations and perceptions
— cannot help being impressed with a conviction of
its own separate identity, and the independent exist-
ence of external forms. And so long as this double
belief, the compound result of ignorance and delu-
f-ion. continues, — so long must the soul act, 'not
according to its essential proper nature, but accord-
ing to the unavoidable influences of tlie ignorance
and illusive appearances to which it hath been ex-
posed,'— or, in the words of the Shastra, ' so long
must it be liable to virtue and vice, to anger and
hate, and other passions and sensations, — to birth
and death, and all the varied changes and miseries
of this mortal state.'"
MAYITKl, a future Budha, who is destined to
appear at the end of five thousand years from the
death 01 Gotama Biidha, and will continue forages
to be tl:e teacher of the human race.
MEAT-OFFERING, a part of the apjiointed ol-
ferings of the ancient Hebrews. There were fivt
kinds of meat-offerings, all of which are minutely
described in Lev. ii. They were (1.) of fine flour
unbaked. (2.) Of flour baked in a pan. (3.) Baked
in a fryhig-pan. (4.) Baked in an oven. (5.) Oi
barley-meal without any oil or frankincense. The in-
gredients in general consisted of flour, barlev-meal, or
gi-een ears of com, oil, frankincense, and salt. The
most ancient meat-oft'erings were those which were
composed of fine flour unbaked. The ofl'ering of
Cain is supposed to have been of this description.
It was prepared in tliis way. A quantity of oil hav-
ing been put into a vessel, some flour was mixed with
it, and an additional quantity of oil was poured ovei
it. The mixture was then put into the holy vessel,
in which it was to be carried to the altar, and oil
was poured upon it again, and a quantity of frank-
incense. The ofl'ering thus prepared was carried to
the altar, where it was waved and salted, and part of
it laid upon the fire. The rest was eaten by the
priests. When the Hebrews had entered Canaan,
where this meat-oftering was appointed to accom-
pany all the voluntaiy bumt-oflerings of beasts, as
well as the daily morning and evening sacrifice, a
certain quantity of wine was substituted instead ol
frankincense. All the priests who attended on this
occasion, received an equal share of the meat-ofi'er-
ing ; but the baked meat-ofl'erhigs belonged to the
priest alone who ministered at the altar. The un-
baked meat-oftering was called an offering made by
fire, although by some writers it has been supposed
to have been an expiatory sacrifice, because wliat re-
mained was to be eaten by the priests.
The second species of meat-oflferiug, which we have
characterized as baked in a flat pan, consisted of fine
flour unleavened, kneaded with oil, thus fonning a
cake which was divided, part of it being oflered to
God, and part given to the priests. In the case of
the third species, which was baked in a frying-pan,
the oil was not kneadi-d with the flour, but simply
mixed with it, thus forming a moist cake, a part
of which was separated from the rest by the priest,
who burned it upon the altar before the other part
was eaten. The fourth species, which was baked in
an oven, consisted of two kinds, being either thick
unleavened cakes, or thin like wafers. In thick
cakes the flour and the oil were kneaded ; but if they
were thin, the oil was spread upon them in the form
of the Greek Icappa, before they were baked, or, as
some suppose, after they came out of the oven.
No meat-ottering laid upon the altar was allowed
by the law of Moses to be leavened ; nor was honey
to be mingled witli it, but simply a small portion ol
salt, that it miglit be seasoned. The mcat-on'crings
were generally combined with other sacrifices, such
as burnt-ollcrings or pcace-ofl'erings, but never with
sin-ofl'erings. The fifth species of meat-ofl'ering,
which was presented alone, was either used in a e&fD
of extreme jioverty, when the offerer \> hs iiuhI W Io
MECCA— MECCA (Pilguimaok to).
187
procure any otiicr victim, or in tlie case of a wife
siispeclcil of iirifaitlifiilness to licr marriage vows.
'I'lii.i, wliicli was a lumiljler kiiul of meatolVeriiig,
consislod of the tontli ]iart of an epliali of Irarlcy-
mcal, witlioiit any oil or frankincense. It was sub-
Btilutod in tlie case of tlie poor for a sin-olVering.
Meat-oiTerings were eillier public or private. The
public in eat -offerings were tbroo in number: (1.)
The twelve loaves of s/iew-breml, which were set be-
fore the Lord every Sabbalh, and when removed
were eaten by the priests. (2.) Tlio two wave-
li)aves olfered at Pentecost. (.3.) The first-fruiis of
the harvest. (See Hakvkst, Fr.sTiVAi, ok.) Tlie
meat-oflerings for private persons included the daily
meat-olforiug of the high-priest ; the nieat-otfering
of initiation, which every priest was appointed to
bring when bo entered upon his ollice ; the poor
man's meat-oiVeriug, whicli was accepted instead of
R Bin-ort'ering ; and the meat-oflering of the suspected
wife.
MEATS (Difference of). See Animals (Clean
AND Unclean).
MECCA, the cliief city of Arabia, and from time
immemorial the sacred city of the Arabs. It has
been alleged to liave been built in the time of the
patriarchs shortly after Ilagar and her son had been
dismissed from tlie house of Abraham. The Ania-
lekites are said to have founded tlie city, and to have
taken I.shmael and his mother under their protec-
tion. In a sliort time the Amalekifes were expelled
by the proper inhabitants of the place, and Isliniael,
having married tlie daughter of the ruling prince,
gave origin to the ancestors of the Arabs. Mecca
is specially remarkable as containing the Beitullah
(whicli see), or celebrated temple in which stands the
Kaara (which see). The city is also particularly
famous as having been the birth-place of Moliammed,
the founder of the faith of Islam. Among the an-
cient Arabians it was the resort of pilgrims from all
parts of the peninsula, and such was the importance
attached to this rite of pilgrimage, that four months
in every year were dedicated to the observance.
Business w,as suspended, wars ceased, and multitudes,
clad in the garb of pilgrims, repaired to the sacred
city, went round the Kiinha seven times, in imita-
tion of the angelic host, touched and kissed the
sacred stone, drank and made ablutions at the well
of Zemzem, in memory of Ishmaol, and having per-
formed these hallowed ceremonies, the pilgrims re-
turned liome to resume their wonted occupations.
Mohammed, accustomed from his childhood to re-
vere the pilgrimage, and to attach a special sacred-
ness to any one who had performed it, adopted the
ceremony as a part of his own system, specially com-
manding his followers to regard Mecca as holy
ground, and to observe the pilgrimage as a sacred
duty, if in tlieir power to perform it. The city is
thus described by Burckliardt : " Mecca is in a nar-
row, sandy valley, within hills of moderate elevation,
barren, and wholly destitute of trees. Still it is
more cheerfid than most eastern cities, because the
streets have jiurjjosely been made wide for the pan-
sage of the pilgrims, but the only open space is tho
sacred enclosure. It is strange that a city that ex-
ists only for pilgrims has no caravanserais to accom-
modate tlieni. The far-famed Kaaba, so called as
being nearly a cube, towers above all the low, flal-
roofed dwellings, though no more than forty feet
high. From time immemorial a jiLice of pilgrimage,
its erection is traced up to Adam. 'I'he Deluge of
course wa^hed it away, and it is said to have been
rebuilt by Abraham. Still the actual edifice has not
the prestige of antiquity, for it has been renewed
eight times, and as far as could be with the old ni:i-
terials, a reddish sandstone. Its unique appearance
bears out the tradition that it has been scrupulously
restored after the original design. The Last was
nearly washed away by a torrent wliicli inundated
the town, and the present was erected as late as
1624, by Amurath IV. ; and indeed wliatever dig-
nity it derives from the enclosing arcade it owes to
the piety of the Turkish Sultans. It was rebuilt
while Mohammed was a private individual, and it is
curious tha't he should liave been the person chosen
to lift the black stone into its place."
MECCA (I'lLGiu.MAGH to), a sacred ordinance of
the Mohimmedun religion, required to be observed
at least once in a in.an's life, but only provided he has
sulBcient means to defray the expenses of the jour-
ney. It is expressly commanded in the Koran, and
such was the importance whicli the Arabian prophet
attached to the performance of this duty, that he
declared a believer neglecting this pilgrimage, if it
was in his power to undertake it, might as well die a
Jew or a Christian. From all parts of the East,
accordingly, thousands of Mobammedan devotees,
having made all due preparation on the month
Diilkaada, set out on their journey to Mecca. AVheu
within a few stages of the sacred city, they assume
the Ihrain or sacred dress, consisting of one piece of
cloth wrapped round the loins, and another thrown
over the shoulders. Some are clothed in this fashion
from the very commencement of their jouniey, but
it is not imperatively required until the pilgrim ap-
proaches the city. He commences the ceremony
with bathing and shaving the head. He then makes
a prayer of two inclinations, asks a blessing on his
undertaking, and ends with the Lehik, or a declara-
tion of readiness to obey, which ought to be conti-
nually in his mouth during the perl'ormance of the
pilgrimage. He must kill no animals, not even the
smallest insect, otherwise he must expiate bis sin
by the sacrifice of a sheep. The head must be un-
covered, unless in the case of old age or sickness. Tin
pilgrims are of both sexes, the only ground of ei
emption from the Iladj being inability to undertake
the journey, and it is declared by Moslem casuists,
that even where a believer is incapable he must per-
form the duty by deputy, and pay all his expenses.
To have accomplished the pilgrimage, and thus earned
J9ft
MEDIATOR.
-he title of Hadji, is accounted one of the Iiighest
honours a man can attain in tliis world. For nearly
a quarter of a century the pilgrimage was rendered
impossible by the outrageous conduct of a heretical
Mohammedan sect, called the Carmathians (which
Bee), who attacked the caravans, plundered the holy
city, and carried off the blacli stone. It was again
interrupted at a more recent period by the Waliaheea,
who destroyed the tomb of the prophet, and commit-
ted other acts of violence. Mohammed Ali, how-
ever, tlie energetic pacha of Egypt, reduced this re-
bellious tribe to subjection, and restored the pilgrim-
age, wliich had for a time been discontinued.
The numbers of pilgrims who annually resort to
the sacred city has been variously estimated, some
rating them at 30,000, and others as high as 100,000.
Burckhardt calculated their amount when he was
present at 70,000, and Lieutenant Burton at 50,000,
the latter adding, that, in tlie following year, the
number was reduced one half. The first act of the
pilgrim when he finds himself within the gates of
Mecca, is to visit tlie mosque, where he commences
his sacred exercises. On entering, he prays with
four rahaats to salute the mosque, and in gratitude
for having reached the holy city. He then goes for-
ward and touches, and if the crowd permits his com-
ing near enough, he kis.^es the black stone. He
then commences the circuit, which is repeated seven
times, the first three rounds at a quick, and the
other four at a more moderate pace, repeating all the
while certain prayers, and at each circuit kissing
both stones. Having completed the appointed cir-
cuits, he stands with outstretched arms and prays for
the pardon of his sins ; he then performs two ralcaats
at Abraham's station, and drinks of the well of Zem-
zem. " He is now conducted," borrowing the ac-
count of Burckhardt the traveller, " to a small ascent,
called the hill of Safa, to take the sat, that is, a walk
along a level street, six hundred paces long, to Me-
rona, a stone platform. He has to walk quick, and
for a short space to run, and during the course,
which is also repeated seven times, he must pray
aloud. He may now shave his head; but as tlie
course is fatiguing, that ceremony is generally post-
poned. Tlie course is in imitation of Hagar's run-
ning backward and forward. It is indispensable to
visit, on the ninth day. Mount Arafat, or knowledge,
80 called because Adam and Eve are said to have
met here, after their long separation, on their expid-
sion from I'aradi.se. It is meritorious to perform
this expedition of six hours on foot ; some were en-
gaged in reciting tlie Koran or prayers, wliile the
worldly and impenitent quarrelled with tlieir camel
drivers. The hill was entirely covered, for in addi-
tion to the pilgrims, the irihal)itants of Mecca and of
Jidda consider it their duty to attend. At three in
the aftoniooii tlie Kadhi took his stand, and read a
serrnon till sunset, at intervals stretcliing forth liis
hands to invoke the divine blessing on the immense
multitude, who rent the air with shouting in return
the Lebtk, ' Here we are at thy disposal, 0 God !
Some were crying and beating their breasts, and
confessing themselves to be grievous sinners, in tlie
style of an American camp-meeting, while others
mocked them, or smoked with oriental gravity, and
some to intoxication with forbidden hemp. Tlie
Kadhi's shutting his book was the signal for a gen-
eral rush down the hill, as it is thouglit meritorious
in pilgrims to quicken their pace. The tents had
been previously packed up, and the caravan was
ready to return. According to a tiaditioii, there are
600,000 beings present, angels making up the defi-
ciency of human attendants. The night was passed
at an intermediate station, Mazdahfa, in prayer and
reciting the Koran, and here a shorter sermon was
read, between the dawn and sunrise. The multitude
then returned to the valley of Mina, where each
pilgrim throws, in three places, seven small pebbles,
in imitation of Abraham, whom God is said to have
instructed thus to drive away the devil, who eniJea-
voured to interrupt his prayer, and to tempt him to
disobey the command to sacrifice his son. This
ceremony over, they slay their victims, and feast on
them with their friends, giving what remains to the
poor, but using no sacrificial rites, only saying, ' In
the name of the merciful God ! ' and ' God is
great ! ' " Burckhardt calculated that the pilgrims, on
the occasion to which he refers, must have sacrificed
8,000 sheep and goats.
After spending two days more on the sacred spot,
on each of which they repeat the throwing of the
pebbles, they now prepare for closing the pilgrim-
age by shaving their heads, cutting their nails, and
burying the hair and parings, after which they make
a circuit of the Kaaha for the last time, and perforin
once more the hurried walk from the hill of Safa.
The devotional spirit which the pilgrims display is
often deeply touching, and amidst the thousands who
are assembled every year in Mecca, there are num-
bers who have come in the full expectation of being
cured of their diseases, and not a few who, feeling
their end approaching, wish to die within sight of
the Beitullah, or house of God, or to breathe out
their last sigh on holy ground.
MECCA (Temple ok). See Beitullah.
MEDIATOR, one who interposes between two
parties who are at variance, with the view of effecting
a reconciliation. In Sacred Scripture it is applied
to the Lord Jesus Christ, who came in as a daysman
or Mediator between sinful man and his offended
Creator. Thus in 1 Tim. ii. 5, we are assured that
" there is one God, and one mediator between God
and men, the man Christ Jesus." No trutli is more
strikingly developed in all the various forms of Pagan-
ism, both ancient and modern, than this, that there
is a settled conviction in the mind of man of the
necessity of a Divine Mediator. In all ages, and in
all nations, such an impression lias invariably pre-
vailed. The scrijitural principle, that without shed-
ding of blood there is no remission of sins, is a re
MEDAL (MiuAcuLOUS)— MICDINA.
39S
eognizod principle of the religion of nature, as well
as of revelation. The early prevalence of sacrifice,
not only among the llebrewn, but among the Canaan-
ites, and otlier heathen nations, showed in the plain-
est and the most convincing maimer, that the uni-
versal belief of man has ever been, that it is only by
the surrender of life that man can be again restored
to the favour and friendship and fellowship of his
God. " Whence then," says Mr. Fabcr, " could
originate this universal practice of devoting the first-
born either of man or beast, and of ofl'ering it up as
a burnt-oll'ering? Whence but from a deep and an-
cient consciousness of moral depravation? Whence
but from some i)ervertcd tradition respecting the
true Sacrifice, to be once offered for the sins of all
mankind ? In the oblation of the first-born originally
instituted by God himsolf, and faithfully adhered to
both by Jew aiul Gentile, we behold the death of
Ilim who was the first-born of his virgin-mother, ac-
curately, though obscurely exhibited. Ami in the
constant use of fire, the invariable scriptural emblem
of wrath and jealousy, we view the indignation of
that God who is a consuming fire, averted from our
guilty race, and poured upon the immaculate head of
our great Intercessor and Mediator."
We find the idea of a Mediator pervading the
most ancient forms of heathenism. Thus in the an-
cient religion of Persia, if Orimtzd and Ahriman are
essentially at variance and struggling for the mas-
teiy, Mithras acts as Mediator between the two, de-
fending man against AJiriman and his devs, who are
ever seeking to injure .and even destroy him. In the
early religion of India, we find in the Ilig-Veda, the
myth of Afini, the mediator of the Aryans of the
Indus. " He is the immortal among mortals, their
companion, their cherished friend, their near kins-
man, who seats himself beside their fires, and upon
whom they found their hopes as upon a fire." Here
then is a mediator God, who becomes man for the
good of humanity, the friend of mankind, their king,
their prophet, their life, their sacrificer, their inter-
cessor. There was no period, indeed, in the history
of the Indo-Aryan people, when altars were not
reared and sacrifices oftered. In the Brahmanic
period, the notion of an external Medi.ator, who
should manifest himself in hum.an form, is conveyed
in the avatars or incarnations of Vishnu. The saint
of the Chinese, who forms the principal subject of
one of the books of Confucius, involves the same
idea, being a man who, by his humility, his charity,
his moral perfection, h.as become a God. He was a
Divine man, the mediator between heaven and earth,
who oflered himself in sacrifice to conquer evil and
take away sin from the world. Numberless in-
stances might be adduced from the religions both of
ancient and of modem times, which clearly point to
the notion of a Mediator, as deeply embedded in the
human mind.
MEDAL (Miraculous), a medal which is exten-
nlvely circulated among Romanists, both in Europe
and America, as accomplishing wonderful cures
'i'lie origin of this medal is thus described by the
Abbe I.,e Guillon, in a work devoted to the subject,
which was published at Komc in 1835 : " Toward
the end of the year 18.30, a wcll-boni young female,
a noviciate in one of those conservatories which are
dedicated in Paris to the use of the poor and the
sick, whilst in the midst of her fervour during her
prayers, saw a picture representing the most Holy
Virgin (as she is usually represented under the title
of the Immaculate Conception), standing with open
and extended arms : there issued from her hands rays
of light like bundles, of a brightness which dazzled
her : and amidst those bundles, or clusters of rays,
she distinguished that some of the most remarkable
fell upon a point of the globe which was under her
eye. In an instant she heard a voice, which said,
' These rays are symbolical of the graces which Mary
obtains for men, and this point of the globe on wliich
they fall most copiously is France.' Around this
picture she read the following invocation, written in
letters of gold : — ' 0 Mary, conceived without sin,
pray for us who have recourse to you.' Some mo-
ments .after, this painting tunied round, and on the
reverse she (the Estatica) distinguished the letter M,
surmounted by a little cross, and below it the most
sacred hearts of Mary and Jesus. After the young
girl bad well considered the whole, the voice said,
' A medal must be struck, and the persons who wear
it, and who shall say with devotion the inscribed
short prayer, shall enjoy the very special protection
of the Mother of God.' "
This supernatural intimation accordingly was
obeyed, and, under direction of the archbishop ot
Paris, a medal was struck, and a large supply was
ready against the invasion of the cholera. The
Abb^ gives a full account of the cures which the
medal had effected, and the wonders it had wrought,
winding up the whole by the statement, " Finally,
from all parts we hear the most consoling facts.
Priests full of the spirit of the Lord tell us, that
these medals are reviving religious feeling in cities
as well as country places. Vicars-Gener,al, who en-
joy a well-merited consideration, as well for their
piety, and even distinguished bishops, inform us that
' they have reposed every confidence in these medals,
■and they regard them as a means of Providence foi
awakening the faith which has slept so long in this
our age.' "
MEDINA, a town in Arabia, held in considerable
veneration among the disciples of IsUm, as being the
burial-place of Mohammed. It occupies a far infe-
rior place to Mecca in the estimation of the faithful.
There is no obligation upon the pilgrims to visit Me-
dina, and accordingly, few do so except the Turks in
whose route it lies. The great mosque, which in-
cludes the prophet's tomb, is described as very
splendid, being surrounded by numerous pillars of
marble, jasper, and porphyry, on which letters ot
gold are inscribed in many places. The tomb itseL'
400
MEDITRINA— MELCHISEDEK (The Order df).
Is plain, and on each side of it are the tombs of the
two early Cahphs, Abubekr and Omar. Near this
«pot also repose the aslies of Moliammed's beloved
daughter, Fatimah, and of many of liis companions
who are revered as saints. A visit to Medina is no
doubt quite voluntary, but such a visit raises the
reputation of a pilgrim.
MEDITIUNA "(Lat. mederl, to heal), a goddess
worshipped by the ancient Romans, as presiding
over the healing art. An annual festival was cele-
brated in her honour. See next article.
MEDITRINALTA, a festival observed by the
ancient Romans, every year on the 11th of October,
when for the first time the new wine was drunk,
which was supposed to have a healing power, and
therefore to be connected with the goddess Medi-
TRINA (which see).
MEDU.SA, one of the Gougons (which see).
MEGABYZI, described by Strabo as eunuch
priests in the temple o( Artemis at Ephesus.
MEG^RA. See Eumenides.
MEGALESIA (Gr. MegaU theos, great goddess),
a festival celebrated at Rome in ancient times, in
honour of Cybele, the mother of the gods. It was
observed annually in the month of April. The
statue of the goddess was first introduced at Rome
in B. C. 20.3, but the festival did not begin to be held
until B.C. 191, at the comjiletion and dedication of
the temple in honour of Cybele. The Megalesia,
consisting of games, feasting, and rejoicing, com-
menced on tlie 4th of April, and continued for six
days. To such an extent, however, did some Roman
families carry their luxury and extravagance on this
occasion, that it was found to be neces.sary for the
government to issue a public decree limiting the ex-
penditure to a certain amount. The Megalesian
differed from the Circensian games in being chiefly
tlieatrical. The third day of the festival, indeed,
was wholly devoted to scenic representations. At
tlie games, which were presided over by the curule
lediles, slaves were not allowed to be present, and
the magistrates were dressed in purple robes.
MEGALOCHE.\II, the highest rank of monks,
or the order of the Perfect in the Greek church.
MEGARA (School of), a school of philosophy
in ancient Greece. It was founded about B. c. 400,
by Euclid, who, while he had chiefly cultivated the
logic of his master Socrates, had previou.sly studied
with the Eleatics, and imbibed their principal doc-
trines. He is said to have limited truth to identical
propositions. The Megaric school held all existence
to be included in the primitive unity, but consider-
ing the subject rather in a moral than in a metaphy-
sical aspect, they maintained the absolute being to
be the absolute good. But their speculations, char-
acterized rather by acuteness and subtlety than ac-
curacy of thinking, appwr to have produced no per-
ceptible iufluence on the mind of Greece.
MEGILLOTII, a division of the Hebrew Scrip-
tures adopted by the Jews, and including the Song
of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and
Estlier, which they term the five rolls or volumes.
There is a Targum on the Megilloth, which, how-
ever, probably belongs to a late period, not earlier
indeed tlian the sixtli century. See T.'iKGUM.
MEGMA, an assembly or council of Imitms oi
Doctors of the Law, among the Mohammedans.
IMEHDIVIS, a Mohammedan sect in India, who
take their name from believing their Wall or saint
to have been the promised Mehdi or Maiidi (which
see). This pretender, wlio claimed to be descended
from Hossein, the son of Ali, was born at a small
town near Benares, in the year of tlie Hegira 847,
and declared himself at the black stone at Mecca
about A.H. 900, to be the Mahdi or twelfth Imdm,
an expi ctation of whose appearance prevails among
the Mohammedans all over the East. After his
death, which took place in Khorasan A. H. 910, his
followers dispersed without however surrendering
their belief in the reappearance of their deceased
leader as the long-expected Mahdi. This sect was
subjected to a severe persecution by Aurungzebe.
They are still found in small communities in various
parts of India, as in Gnjerat, the Deccan, and
Sindh.
MEILICHIUS, a surname of Zens, as the god
that can be propitiated, under which name altars
were reared to him in various towns of Greece. It
was also a surname of Dionysus, uiuler which lie was
worshipped in the island of Naxos. The term was
applied, besides, to several deities, who were wont
to be propitiated by sacrifices ofl'ered at niglit.
MEIRUN, the term used to denote the oil of
Chrism (which see), in the Greek church.
MELiENIS, a surname of Aphrodite, under which
she was worshipped at Corinth.
MELANjEGIS, a surname of Diouysiis, under
which he was worshipped at Eleutlierae and at
Athens.
MELANCTHONIANS. See Adiapiiokists.
MELCARTHUS, a god anciently worshipped by
the Tvrians, being, as the word signifies, Lord of the
citv. From Herodotus we learn, that his temple was
built at the same time with the city, and was en-
riched with so many donations, and was so famous,
that he went thither on purpose to see it.
MELCHISEDEK (The Order of), an order of
priesthood mentioned by the Apostle Paul, in the
Epistle to the Hebrews, as liigher as well as more
ancient than the order of the Aaronic priesthood
under the Mosaic economy. Melchisedek appear.'
to have been the only individual who held the office of
high-priest by Divine appointment before the giving
of the law. And in the statement of the apostle that
Jesus Christ was "a priest for ever after the order
of Melchisedek," may be perceived a beautiful pro-
in-iety, for, unlike the Lcvitical priesthood, the sacred
office was comliined with regal authority in the case
of Melchisedek, thus clearly pointing him out .as a
striking type of our High Priest, of whom it was pro
MELCinSKDEKIANS-MELCIHTK CIIUUCII.
40t
pliesieil by Zocliariah, " He sliall bo a priest upon
his throne;" nut], besiiies, tlie pricslliood of Mel-
cliisoflek was more lionourabie, beiiij; instituted pre-
viiiiis to, anil iniJepeiiilent of, tlie Mosaic economy,
*nd one to wliicli, as we learn from tlio reason-
ing' of tlie apostle in lleb. vii., tlie Lovitical priest-
hood was distinctly subordinate; for separated, as
Melchisedck is declared to have been in point of de-
Bcuntfrom all around him, lie is considered as receiv-
ing tithes from those who, though not yet born, were
represented by their progenitor Abraham. "And,"
says the apostle, " as I may so say, Levi also who re-
ceived tithes, paid tithes in Abraham;" thus ilisiinct-
ly admitting the superiority of the priesthood of Mel-
ihisedek to their own ; and the reasonim; in the sub-
eeqiient verses displays to us still more clearly the
striking propriety of our liOrd's connection with this
order in preference to that of Aaron. " For if," he
argues, " perfection," or, in other words, the perfec-
tion of the whole Divine economy in regard to our
(vorld, "bad been by the Levitical priesthood," under
whom they received the law, in which they seemed
to rest as the consummation of the whole scheme;
if such had been the case, " what further need was
there that another priest should rise after the order
of Melchisedck and not after the order of Aaron."
If the Divine purposes are fully accomplished in
the law, why change the order of the priesthood,
eince such a cliange, as the apostle remarks, must
bring along with it a " change also of the law." 15y
this mode of reasoning we are not only taiiglit that
the whole of the .Jewish economy has been abrogated
by the gospel, but we are presented with a most in-
teresting view of the priesthood of Christ, lie was
not called after the order of Aaron, for this simple
reason, that he would have thereby formed a part of
an imperfect and symbolical system, and thus the
antitype would have been confounded with the
type. And by his connection with the order of Mel-
chisedek, our High Priest was identilied with an
economy independent of the temporary institutions
of Moses, and, accordingly, it is said, " He was
made not after the law of a carnal commandment,
but after the power of an endless life." And tluiugh
the law having accomplished its purposes was abro-
gated, and, of course, the institution of the priest-
hood destroyed, this man, beuig independent, not
merely of death, by which the functions of individual
priests were terminated, but being independent of
the whole order of the Levitical priesthood, notwith-
standing of its dissolution, " this man," it may well
be said, " because he continueth ever hatli an un-
changeable priesthood." And in the very nature of
his consecration was involved the everlasting dura-
bility of his priestly office, for the decree of appoint-
ment by Jehovah was couched in these words :
Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Mel-
/hisedek;" and being contiinied in this everlasting
appointment by the oath of Him with whom there
is no variableness neither shadow of change, we are
brought to the comfortable and delightful conclusion
that we have an everlasting and unchangeable High
Priest, appointed of (Jod as was Aaron, but called
afli/r the order of Midchiscdek.
Mi;LCIIIrtKDI';KIANS,a sect of Christians which
arose in the second century, deriving their name
from the fact that they held Melcbisedek to be the
power of God, and superior to Christ ; and that he
sustained the office of an intercessor for the angels
in heaven as Christ for men on earth. This sect
was afterwards revived in Egypt by the Hikhacitks
(which see), who maintained still further that .Mel-
chisedck was the lldlv (ihost.
MKLCHITECIIUKCH, a n.une a|/plied to the
Greek-Catholic church, or to those lionianists in
Asia who are attached to the riti.'S and ceremonies
of the Greek church. The American missionaries
estimate the total number of the Melcbitcs at be-
tween .30,000 and 40,000 souls, having 12 bishops
and 180 priests. The term Melchites, which is du-
ri\ed from the Syriac word meldia, a king, was
applied in the sixth century as a term of reproach
by the Jacobites to the orthodox Greeks, implying
that they were king-followers, or that it was impe-
rial influence alone which led them to subscribe
to the canons of the council of Chalcedon, con
deiniiing the Eutychian heresy. The n,ame thus com -
nienced in scorn has been appropriated to those con
verts to Rome who still observe the ceremonies of
the Greek ritual. This community probably origi-
nated in the labours of the Jesuits at Aleppo, in the
seventeenth century, who perceiving the unwilling-
ness of their converts to conform to the Latin church,
with their usual duplicity and cunning, persuaded
the Pope to sanction a compromise, whereby the
Melchile church should acknowledge the authority of
Rome, but adhere to the liturgical rites and ceremo-
nies of the Eastern church, renouncing, however,
the characteristic dogma of the Greeks, that the pro-
cession of the Holy Spirit is from the Father only.
In all other points they conform to the Eastern
church. They keep tinnly by the " old style," and
regulate all their feasts and fasts by the Oriental
calendar. In all their churches in Syria they con-
duct Divine service in the Arabic, which is the ver-
nacular tongue. They receive the communion in
both kinds, and use unleavened bre.ad in the Lord's
Supper. Their priests are permitted to marry before
ordination ; but their bishojis must remain unmar-
ried. No restriction is put upon the laity in the use
of the Sacred Scriptures. Dr. Wilson, in bis ' Lands
of the Bible,' mentions them as " amongst the most
liberal and intelligent native Christians in the East."
The adherents of the Melchite church are chiefly
found at Aleppo and Damascus, particularly at the
latter town, where the patriarch resides. Their ca-
thedral at Damascus, which is remarkably splendid,
is thus described by Mr. Graham in a letter to Dr.
Wilson : " The building inside is elegant, and on
festival days, when brilliantly lighted up, the scene
4J2
MELETE— MELETIANS AT ANTIOCH.
is grand and iiniiosing. Tlie floor is beautifully varie-
gated marble. The roof is ornate and lofty, is sup-
ported by a row of stately marble columns on either
hand as vou go in, and between these and the ex-
terior walls are the female galleries. Seats there
are none, save a few chairs around the walls and en-
circling the altar. Hundreds, I might almost say a
thousand, silver lamps till the house with insufferable
brightness ; while priests, clothed in rich Oriental
costume, are walking in solemn procession, and fill-
ing the house with incense almost uisufterably pleas-
ing, and accomplishing the service before the altar
and in the neighbouring recesses. The people, mean-
time, are not idle. There is no order. They go
and come just as they please. Some are kneeling
and beating their brows before the picture of a fa-
vourite saint ; otliers are gazing on the Virgin and
her infant, and muttering inarticulate prayers ; some
are squatting on the marble, crossing, and bowing,
and adoring before a hirsute monk of the olden
time ; some are standing upward making awkward
genuflections, and at intervals prostrating their fore-
heads on the stone floor; some are talking with one
.another; all are intent, each at his own business
whatever it is, and all is done aloud or in a mumb-
ling muttering voice. Quiet silent prayer is not
known or practised in the East. The bells are ring-
ing, the priests are reading the service with a loud
voice, and with the rapidity of lightning the censers
are waving to and fro, filling the liouse with odours ;
the people are kneeling, standing, sitting, muttering
prayers, talking, prostratmg, weeping, sighing, beat-
ing their breasts, making the common prayer (so
called,) — a scene of sound and confusion without par-
allel, save in the synagogues of Safed and Tiberias."
There are two orders of monks among the Greek
Catholics in Syria, and connected with the monastic
establi.shments there are no fewer than 250 monks
and 90 nuns, while the number of regular priests be-
longing to the body, in so far as Syria is concerned,
does not exceed fifty-five. The people are more
generally able to read than the other Christians,
though the Greek Catholics have few schools of
their own. Some years ago a college was founded
for the sect, but the building having been destroy-
ed during the Druze war, it lias never been re-
built. Dr. Wilson mentions having found a section
of the Melchite church in Egypt also ; and at Cairo,
he tells us, he was introduced to their bishop, who
is said to have under his superintendence about 4,000
souls.
In other parts of the East the Greek Catholics
conform to the Komish church more completely than
their brethren in Syria, and in public worship they
use not the Greek, but tlio Latin ritual. At Con-
Btantinople tliere are 500 families belonging to this
sect, chiefly the remains of Italian conquests in the
East, and most of them emigrants from foreign coun-
tries. Unwilling to acknowledge the authority of
the Armenian Catholic patriarch, wlio, by his firman,
is head of all the Catholics, they made application to
the Porte for permission to choose a head of their
own. Tlie petition w-as granted, and thus the Greek
Catholics became an independent sect in Turkey,
and chose a Mussidman as their deputy to commu-
nicate in their behalf with the Porte. Thus docu
ments are issued in the name of the community
called Latins ; they follow the Roman rite ; and Ko-
inan priests baptize, confess, and bury them, though
they are recognized subjects of the Turkish govern-
ment. They are independent both in civil and ec-
clesiastical afl'airs, being ruled civilly by a Mussul-
man, and ecclesiastically by an Italian bishop and
vicar-apostolic sent from Rome to be their ruler in
spiritual matters under the Pope.
MELETE, the name of one of the JIusES (which
see).
MELETIANS AT ANTIOCH. Amid the vio-
lent dissensions caused throughout the East by the
Arian controversy in the fourth century, the Church
of Antioch was subjected for a long period to the
most agitating trials. About A. D. .^30, Bustathius,
bishop of Antioch, had been deposed from his oflice
by the Eusehians, a branch of the Aiiti-Nicene party,
but a majority of the members of the church still ad-
hered to him. A series of Arian bisliops, however,
succeeded the deposed prelate, and the Christians of
Antioch were split into two parties, some separating
themselves meanwhile from the church, and worship-
ping as a distinct community, under the name o(
EuSTATHlANS (which See), while others, though
mainly agreeing in sentiment with the seceders, pre-
ferred submitting to the Arian bishops who were
thrust upon them against their will. Athanasiiis,
when passing through Antioch on his return from
his second exile, acknowledged the Eustathians as,
in his view, more consistent in their actings than the
Arianizing party. On the translation of Eudoxius,
A. D. 360, from the bishopric of Antiocli to that of
Constantinople, Meletius, then bishop of Sebaste in
AiTOenia, was chosen as his successor. Tliis man,
who had risen to considerable fame, had been brought
up in the communion of the Aiians, and as one of
their party, he had been appointed to tlie see of Se-
baste, and now promoted to the see of Antioch,
chiefly at the instigation of Acacius. Being natu-
rally of a mild, amiable, and benevolent disposition,
taking no part in the angry controversies which wore
carried on around him, but calmly and faithfully
labouring in his ministerial woi-k, the Arians and
Arianizers of his day mistook his silent and gentle
demeanour for an acquiescence in their heretical
views. But Meletius was not long in undeceiving
them. The circumstances in which he unexpectedly
showed bis entire sympathy with the orthodox party,
are thus detailed by Dr. Newman in his 'Arians of
the Fourth Century:' "On the new patriarch's arri-
val at Antioch, he was escorted by the court bishop^
and his own clergy and laity, to tlio cathedral. iJe-
sirous of solemnising the occasion, the Emperor liim-
MELKTIAXS IN EGYPT.
403
lelf had coinJescended to give tlio text, on which tliu
KsHc'inhled prelates were to comment. It was tlio
celebrated passage from the Proverbs, in which Oii-
gpii has piously detected, and the Ariaiis perversely
stilled, the groat article of our faith; 'the Lord halli
created [possessed] Me in the beginning of His ways,
uefore His works of old.' George of Laodicea, who,
on the departure of Euxodius, had rejoined the Eu-
sebians, opened the discussion with a dogmatic ex-
planation of the words. Acacius followed with that
ambiguity of language, which was the characteristic
of his school. At length the patriarch arose, and lo
the surprise of the assembly, with a subdued manner,
Knd in measiu'ed words, avoiding indeed the Nicene
Homoousion, but accurately fixing the meaning of
his expressions, confessed the true Catholic tenet, so
long exiled from the throne and altars of Antioch. A
icene followed, such as might be expected from the
excitable tem])or of the Orientals. The congregation
received his discourse with shouts of joy ; when the
Arian archdeacon of the church nnniing up, placed
Ids hand before his mouth to prevent his speaking ;
on which Meletius thrust out his hand in sight of
the people, and raising first three fingers, and then
one, symbolized the great truth which he was unable
to utter. The consequences of this bold confession
might be expected. Meletius was banished, and a
fresh prelate appointed, Euzoius, the friend of Arius.
But an important advantage resulted to the orthodox
cause by this occurrence ; the Catholics and heretics
were no longer united in one communion, and the
latter were thrown more into the position of schisma-
tics, who had rejected their own bishop. Such was
the state of things, when the death of Constantius
occasioned the return of Meletius, and the convoca-
tion of the council of Alexandria, in which his case
was considered."
Thus scarcely a month had elapsed after liis en-
trance on the see of Antioch, when Meletius found
himself deposed and in exile. Eusfathius in the
meantime had died, but his party suspecting Mele-
tius of Arianism, from the character of the persons
who had prociu-ed him his bishopric, remained aloof
• from him, and continued as a separate body under
the presbyter Paulinus, who had officiated for some
time as their pastor. Lucifer of Cagliari, who was sent
to Antioch to heal the disputes, widened the breach
among the orthodox by ordaining Paulinus as bisliop
of the Eustathians. Tluis was laid the foundation of
a schism of the most important kind, the Western
and the Alexandrian churches declaring in favour of
Paulinus, and the Oriental church chiefly in favour
of Meletius. It had been the earnest desire of the
Alexandrian council to combine the two sections of
the orthodox party by uniting the Eustathians and
the Meletians, but their wishes and their exertions
were frustrated by the rash conduct of Lucifer, who
afterwards gave rise to another schism, founding a
separate party in the church, called the Ldciferians
(wliicli see), which lasted about fifty years.
The Meletian schism continued for a long pe-
riod. Athanasius and the Egyptian churches fra-
ternizi^d with the Eustathians, and all the more
as Meletius refused to communicate with Atliana-
sius. In this opposition to the Meletians, the
Egyptian were joined by the Western churches
and those of Cyprus. The Eastern Christians, on
the contrary, adhered firmly to the Meletian party.
Meletius presided at the second general council at
Constantinople A. D. 381, and from his venerable
age, as well as his consistent opposition for many
years to the Arian heresy, he was selected by the
Emperor Theodosins to consecrate Gregory of Na-
zianzen bishop of Constantinople. iJuring the sit-
tings of the council, Meletius died, and Chrysostom
deeming this a favourable time for putting an end to
the unseemly schism which had for many years rent
in twain the orthodox party, successfully exerted his
influence with the Egyptian and Western churches
in favour of Flavian, the successor of Meletius, and
thus terminated the Meletian schism.
MELETIANS IN EGYPT, the name of a party
which existed in the Christian church in Egypt in
the third and fourth centuries, and which was headed
by Meletius, bishop of Lycopolis, in the Thebaid.
The dispute which led to the formation of this
schism had regard to the best mode of proceeding
ecclesiastically in the case of those Christians who
had fallen away during the Diocletian persecution.
The subject had been already discussed under the
Decian persecution, and Cyprian had laid down the
principle (see Lapsed Christians), that all who
had in any way departed from the faith should be
excluded from the fellowship of the churcli until
peace was completely restored, and if up till that
time they had manifested a spirit of sincere contri-
tion, they should then, but not before, be delivered
from church censure. Meletius, who had been
thrown into prison for the cause of Christ, main-
tained among his fellow-prisoners the principles
which had been previously taught bj' Cyprian ; while
Peter, bishop of Alexandria, pleaded for a more
lenient course, particularly towards Christian slaves,
who had been compelled by their masters to offer
sacrifice instead of them. This latter prelate had
for some special reasons abandoned his flock for
a time, and Meletius having obtained his freedom
from prison, exercised his authority in Egypt as the
second metropolitan, in the absence of the bishop
Peter, and travelling through the whole diocese of
the Alexandrian patriarch, he ordained and excom-
municated at pleasure. " lie did not recognize,"
says Neander, " the official power of those to whose
charge, as Periodeutce, or visitors, the bishop Peter
of Alexandria had committed the destituie commu-
nities. Their different views respecting the proper
mode of treating those who had fallen, or who had
become suspected of denying God in some way or
other, was here, too, probably made a subject of dis-
cussion, or at least used as a pretext ; since th«
404
MELIBCEA— MEXANDRIANS.
Meletians boasted of representing the pure church
of tlie martyrs. Four Egyptian bisliops, among the
imprisoned confessors, declared tliemselves firmly
against tlie arbitrary proceedings of Meletius, wlio,
however, took no notice of this protestation. The
bishop Peter of Alexandria issued a writing to the
.Alexandrian churcli, wherein he bade all avoid fel-
lowship with him, until the matter could be more
closely investigated in connection with other bishops ;
and at length lie excluded him — probably after his
own return — from the functions of the episcopal
office, and from the fellowship of his church, as a
disturber of the peace of tlie communities. Also,
subsequently to the martyrdom of the bishop Peter,
A. D. 311, and in the time of the bishop Alexander,
luider whom the Ai-ian controversies broke out, this
echism still continued to exist."
Epiphiinius says, that when Meletius was deliver-
ed from prison, he was banished to the mines of
Phsenon in Arabia Petrsa ; and it would appear that
even while tluis labouring as a slave, he diffused his
principles among his fellow-bondmen. He ordained
bishops, presbyters, and deacons, and kept his fol-
lowers a distinct body under the title of ' the Church
of the Martyrs.' At length the council of Nice,
A. D. 325, found itself necessitated to take into con-
eideration the best mode of putting an end to the
Meletian schism. The subject was fully discussed,
and after careful deliberation, the council decided
that Meletius should still be permitted to hold the
title of bisliop of Lycopolis, without, however, hav-
ing power to ordain either in the city or the country.
It was arranged, however, that the clergy who had
been already ordained by Meletius should retain
their offices, but should be regarded as inferior in
rank to those who had received ordination at the
hands of the bishop of Alexandria. Meletius died
soon after the council of Nice, and his followers hav-
ing after their leader's death refused to submit to the
decrees of the council, were persecuted by the bishop
of Alexandria. John Arcaph was chosen to succeed
as leader of tlie sect, and under him the schism con-
tinued. But it was not very creditable to the Mele-
tians, nor favourable to their reputation for ortho-
doxy, that they co-operated with the Ai-ians in
opposing Athanasius. This schism did not termi-
nate before the fiftli century. In the account we
have given of the Meletian schism, we have chiefly
followed the statements of Epii>lianius, in preference
to those of Athanasius, who was the avowed enemy
botli of Meletius and his party.
MELIBffiA, a surname of Plr.skpiione (which
see).
MELTCERTES. See Pal^.mon.
MELINiEA, a surname of Apiiuoditk (which
see).
MELISSA, a priestess of tlie Delphian Apollo.
It was also a surname of Artemis as the goddess of
the moon.
MELISS.iE, the nymphs wlio nursed the infant
Zevs. The word came afterwards to be applied to
priestesses in general, and more especially to those
of Demeter.
MELITENIAN LEGION. See Legion (Tiik
Thundering).
MELITOXIANS, a heretical Christian sect which
arose in the early part of the fifth century, founded
by a person named MeHto, of whom all that has been
ascertained is, that he taught the strange doctrine
that God is corporeal, having a body hke man, and
this he founded on the statement of Sacred Scripture,
that man was originally created in the image ot
God. See Anthropomorphites.
MELLONA, a divinity among the ancient Ro-
mans, who was believed to be the protector of
honey.
MELPOMENE, one of the nine Muses (whicli
see).
MELPOMENUS, a surname of Dioii>/siis at
Athens.
MEMORIA, a name given among the ancient
Christians to a churcIi built over the grave of a mar-
tyr, and intended to be a memorial of him.
MEAIRA, a word often used by the Chaldee Para-
phrasts on the Books of Moses. It denotes literally
the Word, and is substituted instead of the sacred
name of Jehovah, while they attribute to it all tha
attributes of the Deity. Some suppose tliat by the
Meinra they meant the Second Person of the Tri-
nity, more especially as it was Memra, they tell us,
who appeared to Abraham at Mamre, to Jacob at
Bethel, and to Moses on Mount Sinai.
MEN, a god among tlie ancient Phrygians, who
presided over the months.
MENiEON, a Service-Book in the Greek church,
which contains the hymns and particular services for
the saints, and for the festivals as they occur in the
year according to the calendar. It includes also an
account of the life and actions of eacli saint added to
his particular office. The whole work consists of
twelve volumes folio, being one volume for each
month.
MENAGYRT.1E, a name applied to the Agykt^.
(which see), or priests of the goddess Cijhele, because
every month (Gr. men,) tliey made their collections
from the people.
MENANDRIANS, the followers in the first cen-
tury of Menander, the disciple and successor, as wa«
alleged, of Simon Magus. From the testimony of
Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, and Tertullian, we learn that
Menander claimed to be one of the yEuns sent from
the upper world, or the Pleroma, to succour the souls
which were enduring here in material bodies, and to
enable them to bear up against the machinations and
the violence of those demons by whom the world is
governed. He promised to his follovrers that if
bajitized in liis name, thoy would be incorru|itible
and immortal, and liave the benefit of an immediale
resurrection. Epiphanius says, that this heresy vim
so absurd that it never prevaikxl to any great exteul
MENDiEANS.
405
lis founder died A. i). 80, and tiotliiiig more was
heard of liis Ktraiigc doctrines. See Simonians.
MENDil'^AN'S, or Mkndai Ijaiii, disciples of
John the Baptist, soineliines called also Christians
of St. John, but l)L'tlo.r known in ecclesiastical his-
tory as Jlemero-Iiiijitial.i, or daily H;ipti»ls, from their
frequent washings. In 1780, M. Norbcrg, a Swede,
read to the Koyal Society of Gottingon a memoir in
reference to tliis sect, which was supplemented in
the following year by some observations from M.
Walcli, tending to prove their identity with the dis-
ciples of John the Baptist. Their language ap-
proaclics that of the Tahnndical Jews, being evi-
dently a dialect of the Chaldcc or Syriac. There
are found near Buasora, a city between Arabia and
Persia, from 20,000 to 25,000 families belonging to
this sect. On inquiry M. Norbcrg ascertained that
there was a branch of the Mendaeans still existing in
Syria at VA Merkali, about a day's journey east of
Mount Libanus. They call themselves Galileans,
and their number is said to amount to about 14,000.
M. Norberg received an interesting account of this
people from Germanus Conti, a Maronite of Mount
Lebanon, who was deputy of his patriarch in Syria.
We quote the words of Conti as taken from his own
mouth by M. Norberg: "These Galileans formerly
dwelt, in sufficient wealth and plenty, in that which
is called tlie Holy Land ; but about a century and a
half ago, they quitted that country to settle in a
tract of Libanus called Mercab. They claim John
the Baptist as their founder, and seem to hold a mid-
dle station between Jews and Christians. The fol-
lowing are their rites. He who presides in sacred
things, wears a vest and tiara both of camel's skin.
They also take honey and locusts, alternately, sacra-
mentally : which are distributed as consecrated ele-
ments to tlie worsliippers present, and are sent to the
absent, equally, as a religious rite : botli these kinds
of food being taken with the greatest reverence.
The day on which this is done is held sacred. It is
proper to abstain from worldly occupations, whether
bf business or of pleasure. A few words are allow-
ed, but those pious : and if more, they relate to the
same subject. So also, once a-month, they have an
exhortation in their place of worship ; and to this
they flock with eagerness. The chief topic of tliis
discourse is the ' Light of the World,' always intro-
duced with sentences like those of the Evangelist,
' In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God.' This they apply
to John, and deny to Jesus, Messiah ; whom they do
not allow to be Son of God, but a prophet, and a fol-
lower of John. Their places of worship are void of
all ornament. They contain neither pictures nor
statues.
" Baptism, the rite of initiation, is performed in
the open air, in a large vessel, a mat serving as a
Rcreen to the place, at the earliest dawn of day : the
middle part of the day is proper to honey and locusts:
*iiJ, at the close, at the time of divine worship, they
light lamps and candles, and solemnly repeat tlie»e
words : ' John, whom we here worship as our father,
(institutor) we beseech thee to be propitious to us;
to protect MS from every hostile power, and to en-
lighten our minds with the light of the true religion,
as thou hast commanded us to light these lumina-
ries.' After discharging this duty, whoever can
proceeds fo partake of the sacrament already de-
scribed. 'I hose also who are detained at home do
the same; although the duty bo done in private.
Twice a-week, i. e. on Simday and Thursday, this k
never omitted. And the priest, whether standing at
the altar, or going up into the pulpit, puts on his
official clothing for the .shoulders and the head.
He also holds in his hand a staff; and delivers an
exhortation beginning in the Galilean language, but
jirocecding in Arabic. Of their ancient language
all, except the priests, and a few who have learned
it, are extremely ignorant. But they can say prayers
by memory, and can repeat certain jjassages from
the sacred volume; during which time the doors are
closed, and pro|ier persons are placed at the entrance.
During the whole time the utmost respect and silence
is preserved: the head of the devout is inclined for-
wards, and the hands are folded together.
" Besides this, they also dedicate to John four fes-
tival days in a-year. On the first, which is his
birth-day, they dress wlieat, they eat grapes, nuts,
honey, and locusts, with other things intermingled.
And this, in large dislies tilled to the brim, it is cus-
tomary freely to offer, or to [dace before one another.
Nor do they take any other food than this during
this day. After this, the whole having been well
[irepared, having been sanctified by |)i'ayer, and
liaving gone round the whole congregation (of which
every person present takes part of this vegetable
fare into his own dish, raising his head and singing)
they all make a liberal donation to the priest.
" On that day, when John instituted his Baptism,
they repeat this sacred ordinance. They proceed in
a body to tlie water, and among them one who bears
a standard ; also, tlie priest, dressed in his camel's
hair ornaments, holding a vessel of water in his hand
{hydria in manu exl) he sprinkles each person singly
as he comes out of the river, saying, ' I renew your
baptism in the name of our father and saviour John:
who in this manner baptized the Jews in the Jordan,
and saved them ; he shall save you also. Last of all,
he immerges himself in the water, for his own salva-
tion. After this, the whole assembly resort to the
place of worship, singing hvmns, where they partake
of honev and locusts, administered by the priest.
" And further, on the day on which John was de-
capitated, every one laments at the place of worship
in these mournful terms : ' Our most excellent leader
was on this day slain by command of Herod, and liia
cruelty !— well he deserves to be consumed (by fire),
0 God, hear ns !'
" Finally, On that day when, as it is believed, John
slew a dragon of wonderful size, which issued fnim
406
MENDES— MENDICAJfT ORDERS.
the Lake of Tiberias, and did much mischief, they
practise a ceremony of leading their cattle and sheep
in troops round the place of worship, with great joy.
But the memory of this miracle is celebrated in Ga-
lilee by those who have ability and wealth sufBoient ;
they resort to the spot barefooted ; taking their siek
witii them, who hope to recover health by favour of
their patron ; and when arrived there, they lay them
In the place of worship. This they do in their old
residence, which is distant a day's jouniey from
Jlount Tabor."
De la Valla supposes that these Christians may
possibly be the remains of the ancient Jews who re-
ceived the baptism of John the Baptist. They
allege, indeed, that from him they received their
faith, their religious books, and their customs. But
their religion seems to bear a later date, being evi-
dently a compoimd of the Jewish, Clu-istian, and
Mohammedan systems, and the Arabian prophet is
actually mentioned by name in some of tlieir books.
The chief of their sacred writings is called Divan,
which, however, contains no history of the sect, but
chietiy moral and spiritual treatises. M. Norberg,
after an investigation of the subject for forty years,
published five volumes quarto of their writings, —
1815—1818.
MENDELSOHNIANS. See Anti-T.\lmudists,
Jews (Modern).
MENDES, a deity worshipped among the ancient
Egyptians in the town of Mendes, which was si-
tuated at the Mendesian mouth of the Nile. . This
god was worshipped under the emblem of a goat,
which, according to Jablonski, denotes the genera-
tive power of nature, especially of the sun. There
is no doubt, however, that the term Mendes was
used to describe both the hieroglyphical goat and the
holy city of Pan. The worship of Mendes was
afterwards transferred from Northern to Southem
Egypt, and the name of the deity was changed to
Mont.
MENDICANT ORDERS. In the beginning of
the thirteenth century, two men, in different places
about the same time, conceived the idea of founding
a new religious society on an entirely novel princi-
ple, wliich was, that all the members should subsi.^t
wholly upon alms. To establi.'^h this kind of con\-
muiiism, Francis of As.sisi organized an institution of
Mendicant friars in Italy under the name of Fran-
CISCAN.S (whicli see) ; and a short time afterwards
Dominic, a native of Castile in Spain, formed an-
other fraternity of th.e same kind in the south of
France, which received the name of Dominicans
(which sec). Both these communities bound them-
selves to possess no property, cither indiviiiu.ally or
in common, but to depend for their livelihood en-
tirely upon begging, and never to acquire even in
this way more than was suflicient for the supjily of a
single day. The see of Rome, at first, declined to
countenance the movement, but it was so generally
Kfriu-ded with favour by the people, that in a. d. 120.3,
Innocent III., foimd himself obliged to sanction th(
society and rule of the Franciscans ; and in A. D.
121G, his successor, Honorius III., confinned the
order of the Dominicans. These societies rapidly
obtained extensive popularity. The Jlendicant
monks found ready access to all classes of society,
even the humblest. They knocked at every door,
entered every cottage, accommodated themselves to
the manners and even the prejudices of the working
classes. To extend their influence still more widely
they adopted the plan of admitting the laity to a
connection with their society under the name of Ter-
tiaries, such persons being bound by no monastic
vow, but simply pledged to promote, as far as possi-
ble, the interests of the order to which they had be-
come attached, while they themselves were living in
the world and engaged in their ordinary occupations.
In the middle ..f the thirteenth century there was
almost no place, certainly no province, in which the
Dominicans and Franciscans had not their Tertiaries,
and thus the Mendicants exceeded in influence all
other monks.
The high estimation in which the new orders were
held led to the increase of their numbers to such an en-
ormous extent that all Europe swarmed with begging
monks, and they became a burden, not only to the
people, but to the church itself. It soon appeared
to be absolutely necessary to check the enormous
growth of these monastic establishments. Pope
Gregory X., accordingly, in a council which he as-
sembled at Lyons in 1272, decreed the suppression
of all the religious orders which had sprimg up since
the days of Innocent III., and thus the "extravagant
multitude of Mendicants," as Gregory described
them, was reduced within narrow limits, including
only the Dontinkans, the Franciscans, the Carmel-
ites, and the hermits of St. Augustine ov Aiiguxtinian
Monies. And the reason for this papal interference
had become .so strong as to force itself upon the at-
tention even of the most careless observer. Their
progress, both in numbers and influence, was not only
rapid, but for a time wholly unimpeded. Young
men, even of the higher classes of society, eagerly
connected themselves with one or other of the Men-
dicant orders. They threatened, in fact, to overthrow
the established constitution of the church and the fun-
damental rules of the universities. One seat of learn-
ing, however, that of Paris, at length .set itself to resist
the unreasonable encroachments of the Mendicants
Pope Alexander IV, issued several bulls deciding ni
their favour against the Parisian university, which,
in its turn, was ably defended by William of St,
Amour, who denounced the monks as precursors of
Antichrist, as mock-saints and liy)iocrites, having no
other aim th.an to bring the whole influence of the
church under their control. A controversy now
ensued, the cause of the Mendicants being supported
by some of their most distinguished men, such «>
Bonaventura, Albertus Magnus, and Thomas Aqui-
nas. The monks prevailed, ami the work which
MENDICANT ORDERS.
4M
William of St. Amour wrote against tlifim wan con-
(icmiiod by Alexaniler IV. in r2f)5, while lie liim-
solf was baiiisliod from France, but was afterwiiids
Drought back from exile under Clement IV. The
contest on the subject of the Mendicant friars now
passed away, but the university of Paris still main-
tained the same spirit of freedom whiuli had long
characterized its learned men.
Abuses of the most flagrant kind .sprung up among
the Mendicants, which attracted the notice even of
their warmest admirers and friends. Thus Honaven-
tur.a, when appointed in 12.")6 general of his order,
pulilished a circular letter addressed to the jiresiding
ollicers in the several provinces, calling upon them
to do their utmost to remove the abuses which had
crept in. Amid all the corruptions, however, which
were gradu.-vlly introduced into the Mendicant orders,
the main idea on which they were founded, that of
evangelical poverty, became so predominant in its in-
fluence, that multitudes of people refused to receive
the sacrament at any other hands than those of tlie
Mendicants. Thus the ordinary priests were complete-
ly superseded, and for three centuries the two chief
orders professing tlie vow of poverty, the Domini-
cans aiul Franciscans, exercised absolute control
both in church and state, tilled the most distinguished
offices ecclesiastical and civil, taught in the universi-
ties and churches with undisputed authority, and
advanced the interests of the Papal government
with the utmost zeal and success.
Notwithstanding the prestige which thus attached
to the Mendicant monks, we find Nicholas of ( .'le
mangis, in his book on the Corruptions of the
Church, composed in 1401, representing these very
monks as the genuine successors of the Pharisees
described in the gospels, who, under a show of holi-
ness, concealed all manner of wickedness They
were ravening wolves, he says, in sheep's clothing,
who put on, for outside show, severity of life, chas-
tity, humility, holy simpHcity, but in secret aban-
doned themselves to the choicest pleasures, to a
dainty variety of luxurious enjoyments. Such was
the character of the beggarly friars, who were over-
runnin;j; every country of Europe in the thirteenth
century, and found their way even into England,
where they spread with alarming rapidity. Their
progress was resisted, though with little success, by
the university of Oxford and the parish priests, who
6aw their rights encroached upon by the spiritual
labours of these monks. In this contest Archbishop
Richard of Armagh distinguished himself by his
freedom of thought. One of the first symptoms of
the reforming spirit which displayed itself in Eng-
land was hostility to the begging-monks. From the
first, WyclilVe was their avowed enemy, and they, on
the other hand, were the most zealous and the most
influential organs of the Romish hierarchy. They
were, beyond all question, the fiercest enemies of the
intrepid English reformer. In the year 137C they
extracted from his lectures, writings, and sermons
nineteen propositions, which they marked as hereti-
cal, and sent them to Rome that they might there
be condemned. In the course of the following year,
accordingly, Gregory XI. issued three bulls, declar-
ing the nineteen proposition* to be heretical, and
some of them to be not only inconsistent with the
Catholic faith, but subversive of public order. Thus,
at the instigation of the Mendicant friars, the Pope
called upon the king, the bishops, and the univer-
sity of Oxford to proceed against WyclilTe, and had
not the duke of Lancaster placed himself at the head
of his protectors the reformer's career would have
been brought to an immediate and violent termina-
tion. To the U^ be loudly protested against the
Mendicant orders. As he lay on a sick-bed in 1.379,
they dispatched a deputation to admonish him in
view of death to retract what he had said against
them. Too weak to rise from his bed, WyclilTe caused
his attendants to raise him up, and collecting his last
energies, he addressed the monks in these words .
" I shall not die, but live, and ever continue to ex-
pose the bad practices of the begging-monks." Hi>
valuable life was prolonged contrary to the expecta
tions of his friends ; and as time rolled onward h.
became more vehement every day in his oppositioi
to the Mendicants. In a paper put forth in 138*^
he declared that be could point out fifty heresies al
more in their orders. He charged them with set
ting up ordinances of men above the commandments
of the living God, following a mode of life which
was wholly at variance with the example of Christ,
abridging the liberty wherewith Christ had made his
people free, and disturbing the regular parish priests
in the exercise of their sacred calling.
Both the Lollards in England, and the Hu.fsiles in
Bohemia, found the Mendicants to be their bitteres'
and most violent opponents. The monks themselves,
however, in turn were viewed with the utmost suspicion
and dislike, not only by the bishops and priests, but
even by the pontiffs. This was more particularly
the case with the Dominicans and Franciscans. The
more rigid of the latter order, who were commonly
called Frntricdli, revolted from the Pope and the
Romish church, bringing down upon themselves the
thunders of the Vatican. About the middle of the
fifteenth century, Nicolaus V. violently persecuted
them, and even committed many of them to the
flames. Succeeding pontifls followed the same course,
but none of them more resolutely than Paul II., who
punished numbers of the rebellious Fratricelli with
imprisonment and exile. The two leading sects of
the Mendicants abounded in every part of Europe,
and by their arrogance and impudence, their super-
stition and cruelty, they alienated the minds of the
people generally from them. They held the highest
offices in the church, were ghostly confessors in
the courts of all the kings and princes of Europe,
filled the principal chairs in the universities and
schools ; and yet by their persecution of the learnet"
and the good, for example, Erasmus, Reuchlio, anc
406
MENE— MEXNONITES.
nthers, by the promotion of their own interests at
llie expense of otliers, by their pride, insolence, and
disgraceful conduct, these very Mendicant Orders,
wliicli had once occupied a high place in the estima-
tion both of the church and the world, were mainly
instrumental in driving multitudes to seek deliver-
ance from the tyranny of Rome, and to demand the
reformation of a corrupt and degraded hierarchy.
From the very first institution of their societies,
the Mendicant Orders had carried on an unceasing
warfare among themselves, and with other monastic
institutions, particularly the Jesuits. No sooner liad
the Dominicans and Franciscans been deprived of
their respective founders by death, than that most un-
seemly rivalry and contention commenced between
them for precedence, which continued for centuries.
Tliis protracted warfare had been preceded by a
tliirty years' controversy between the Sorbonne and
the Mendicants, which was only terminated by the
interference of the Pope, ordering the university to
concede all the demands of the monks. The Moli-
nist controversy also between tlie Dominicans and
the Jesuits, the keen dispute among the Franciscans
about the original rule of St. Francis, and afterwards
about the prophecies of Joachim, and last of all the
tierce opposition of the Fratricelli to the power and
autliority of tlie Papal See, all show that Rome has
had no worse enemies than the Mendicant Orders,
which for a time she fondly nursed, until warmed
into life and vigour, they have souglit the ruin of
their benefactor and friend. But amid all the wrongs
which they have inflicted upon the Romish church,
multitudes of these lazy mendicant friars are found beg-
ging in every Roman Catholic country, and claim-
ing a character for sanctity founded on their rags and
wretchedness. St. Francis was wont to call the
begging of alms " the table of the Lord." At one
time maivy of the cities of Europe were portioned
out into four parts, the first being assigned to the
Dominicans, the second to tlie Franciscans, the third
to the Carmelites, and tlie fourth to the Augusti-
nian monks. Luther himself, when he belonged to
the last-mentioned order, was obliged to beg alms
daily in the town of Erfiirtli. Though professing to
adhere to their vow of poverty, the rapacity of the
mendicant monks in many places excited general dis-
gust. In the famous petition, called ' the Supplica-
tion of Beggars,' presented to Henry VIIL, com-
plaining of the encroachments of the mendicant friars,
their revenues are stated at £43,3.33 per annum,
besides their temporal goods ; and the supplicants
add, that " four hundred years past these friars liad
not one penny of this nione)'." Tlie same grasping
avaricious spirit has characterized the Mendicant
Orders down to the present day. Travellers in
Jldinish countries generally, but more esjiecially in
Italy, are eloquent in their denunciations of these
indolent, useless monks, who devote themselves to a
'ife of mean and sordid dependence upon the indus-
trious portion of the cominuiiily.
MENE, a goddess in ancient Greece, who presided
over the months.
]\IENELiEIA, a festival celebrated at Therapna
in Laconia, in honour of Menelaus and Helena, both
of whom were ranked among tlie gods by the Lace-
demonians.
MENI, a word which occurs in Is. Ixv. 11, "But ye
are they that forsake the Lord, that forget my holy
mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and
tliat furnisli tlie drink offering unto that number"
(Meni). It has been regarded by many commentators
as referring to a heathen god. Professor Jahn thinks
it may mean fate or destiny, or perhaps may be iden-
tical with the god Manah (which see), worshipped
by the ancient Arabians. The term liowever means
" number," as in the liandwriting on the wall in Bel-
sliazzar's palace, and in this view some Jewish writ-
ers interpret tlie passage in Isaiah as implying, "you
till your mixed liquors for Mcni" that is, you oH'er
many cups of this delicious wine according to your
number of guests.
MENNONITES, a sect of Anaraptists (which
see), originated in Holland in the sixteenth century
by Meiino Simonis. This individual, who beciime
famous in his day, was born in 1505 at Witmarsum
in Friesland. Having been educated for the churcli,
lie was ordained in his twenty-fourth year as a Rom-
ish priest. On one occasion while performing mass,
he was seized witli doubt whether the bread and
wine even after consecration could be the real body
and blood of Christ. At first he tried to dismiss tin
thought as a temptation of the devil, but it often re-
curred with increasing strength. He applied himself
to the perusal of the New Testament, and in course
of time his views coin|ileteIy changed, and he began
to preach evangelical doctrines to the great edifica-
tion of his hearers. His attention having been di
rected to the subject of infant baptism, he came t'
the conclusion, after much study and earnest prayer,
that there is no direct warrant for such a practice in
the Word of God. In 1536 he resigned his priestly
office, and renounced all connection with the Church
of Rome. Tliough Meiiiio thus felt himself neces-
sitated to abandon Romanism, lie was not jirejiared
to sympathize cordially with all those who like him-
self had lifted their protest against corruption and
error. To his peaceful and conciliatory disposition
it was deeply painful to witness the extravagancies
into which too many of the Anabaptists had run.
The disturbances of Munster particularly distressed
him. Upon inquiry, however, he learned that mul-
titudes of the Anabaptists themselves, while agree-
ing with their brethren in regard to their views of
the doctrine of Scripture, refused to co-operate with
tliem in those turbulent and insurrectionary prac-
tices which had no other effect than to bring disgrace
upon the cause they espoused. A considerable num
ber of godly and peaceable per.>;()iis, accordingly, huld-
ing lirnily the religious iirincijik's of tlie Anabajilists,
urged eanicslly upon Menno to become their ttJicher
MENNONITES.
iU-j
\t Ioiif;tli lie consented, siiiil for many years lie con-
tinueil, amid many dangers ami (llscoiiragemcnts,
miicli jioverty and jirivation, I'aillifully to discharge
llii^ duties of this ollice. Animated by fervent zeal
he lalionred with unwearied activity in Frie.sland,
(jriieldorland, Ilollaml, and (Jcrniany, as far as Li-
vonia, either plantinij; and strenj;tliening Anal)ap-
tist cimrchos, or rediicini^ them to order, imtil in
15fil he died at Oldesloe, in the duchy of llolstein.
The Mennonites had now become a large and
flourishing sect. The warm piety, the indomitable
energy, and the uidjending integrity of their fotmder,
coinmanded everywhere the highest respect, and by
the combination in his own person of so many esti-
mable qualities, he succeeded in gathering round
liim a numerous body of devout and consistent Cliris-
tians drawn chiefly from among the more moderate
Anabaptists. Those who still bear the name of
Mennonites claim to be descended from a party of
the Waldenses, who, driven by persecution, left
Piedmont in the end of the twelfth century, and fled
into Flanders, Holland, and Zealand. But the Men-
nonites, properly so called, can be traced no farther
back than Menno Simonis in the sixteenth century,
and while they undoubtedly sprung from the Ana-
baptists, they dissented in several important particu-
lars from the general body bearing that name. They
disowned all expectation of a kingdom of Jesus
Christ to be set up in the world by violence and tlie
destruction of civil authority. They disclaimed the
expectation of another Pentecostal efl'usion of the
Holy Spirit, by which the church would be restored
to its original purity. They condemned the licen-
tiousness of polygamy and divorce. They renounced
all belief that the Holy Spirit would impart to be-
lievers in these latter days the extraordinary gifts
which belonged to apostolic times. The common
doctrines held by the Anabaptists were retained by
the Mennonites, such as the unscriptural and in-
valid cliaracter of infant baptism, the doctrine of the
Millennium or thousand years' reign of Christ before
the end of the world, the inadmissibiUty of magis-
trates in the Christian church, and the unlawfulness
of wars and oaths.
Towards the middle of the sixteenth century a
controversy arose among the Mennonites on the sub-
ject of excomnmiiication, a party having arisen among
them, who maintained that all transgressors, even
though penitent, should be at once expelled from the
clmrch without previous admonition, and in addition
to this they held that the excommunicated ought to
be deprived of all social intercourse with even their
nearest and dearest relatives. The consequence of
this dispute was, that the Mennonites were split into
two sections, called respectively by the names of
die Feinen, the Fine, and die Gi-ohen, the Coarse.
The latter section inhabited chiefly a district in
North Holland, called Waterland, and hence they
were often called Waterlanders. They were also
termed Jolumnites, from John de Ries, who, in 1580,
II
was mainly instrumental in [jreparin'.' a Confession
of Failh, declaring the opinions of the body, though
it was never admitted as an authoritative document.
The severer i^ect, again, called the Fine, chiefly in-
h.iliilcd Flanders, and hence they received the name
of FkndiKjs or Ftitiidrinnn. A dispute soon after
arose among the Flandrians themselves, as to the
ofl'ences which properly incurred excommunication,
and in consequence two sects arose out of the Fine
Mennonites, who were called respectively Flaudriant
and Frieslandas. A third sect, who had chiefly
come from Germany and settled in Holland and the
Netherlands, received the name of Gennaiis. In
course of time, however, the greater number of the
Frienlandf.rs, the Flandriwis, and the Germans bc-
cjime merged in the Waterla/ulers, while only a very
few remained as a separate body mider the name ol
Old Fleming Daptints. Of these there are only thref
congregations still existing in Holland.
From their connnencement, the sect properly call
ed j\fennoiiites were exposed to frequent persecution,
and conqjelled to flee from one country to another.
They were dispersed accordingly over dill'erent parts
of ]Mwope, particularly Russia, Prussia, and Poland,
though their principal seat has always continued to
be Holland. Many were obliged also, at an early
period, to emigrate to America, where a considerable
number of the body are still found.
The Mennonite Confessions of Faith which have
appeared are far from exhibiting a unity of doctrine.
Thus on the important article which regards tha
Person of Christ, the Confession of the United Flem-
isli, Friesland, and other Mennonites, adopted A. D.
1032, exhibits no deviation from the sentiments of the
orthodox churches; but in a 'Summary of Christian
Doctrine,' published by the Rev. J. Gan, the Men-
nonite minister at Ryswick, we find an exhibition o
undisguised Arianism in these words : " The incar-
nate Son of God is set forth to us as inferior to tht
Father, not only in his state of humiliation, but in
that of his exaltation, and as subject to the Father.
It must, however, be kept in view, that notwithstand-
ing the incarnate Son of God is inferior to the Fa-
ther, he is, nevertheless, according to the purposes ol
the Most High, partaker of glory with the Father, and
an object of religious trust and conlidence in like man-
ner as the Father." Such a statement all too plainly
shows, that a party, at least, of the Mennonites had
sadly fallen away from the purity of their more ancient
Confession of 1G32. And not only do some a])])ear to
have held Arian views, but the ' Summary' contains
also low Arminian views on the doctrine of juetilica-
tion. Thus " God is so well pleased with the perfect
obedience of the sinless Saviour, that he will consider
the anguish and pain to which the Saviour freely
submitted, and particularly the death of the cross, as
equivalent to the punishment the guilty had de-
served ; and, as the reward of the Saviour's merits,
he will bestow upon those whom the Saviour acknow-
ledges as his own, an abundant share of bliss here
On*
4lO
MENNONITES.
ifter. This is the effect of God's previous mercy
and love. The sufferings of the Saviour in no re-
spect tended to move God to a favourable disposi-
tion towards mankind; but these suffermgs were
endured to show his holy aversion to sin, and to give
to the world the strongest proofs of his mercy ; and
thus to inspire the penitent with a perfect confidence
in hira their heavenly Father. Christ died for all
men in this sense ; and that all men without excep-
tion might partake, upon conversion and faith, the
salvation obtained by him. Tliis salvation is uni-
versally and unrestrictedly offered in the preaching
of the gospel : none are excluded but by their own
fault. That which makes us partakers of the benefits
of his death and sufferings is the union we have in
his sufferings, his merits, and in his glory."
One of the distinguishing tenets of the Mennon-
ites, as indeed of all the Anabaptists, has always
been the denial of the validity of infant baptism.
They delay the administration of the ordinance until
children reach the age of eleven or twelve, wlien
they usually perform it by pouring water upon the
head of the person baptized. In some respects this
sect resembled the Society of Friends. Thus they
reckoned it unlawful to take oaths in any circum-
stances, or to bear arms. They held the doctrine of
non-resistance to injury, and maintained that it is
improper to engage in lawsuits, even to obtain de-
liverance from wrong. They considered it to be
Inconsistent with the Christian character to aspire
after worldly dignity, or to accept of the office of a
civil magistrate. Their views on these matters have
undergone considerable modification.
The churches of the Dutch Mennonites are con-
stituted on the Congregationalist model, acknow-
ledging no other ecclesiastical authority than that of
the ministers and deacons of each churcli. Most of
their places of worship are endowed, but they ac-
cept no support from the State. The number of
deacons in each church varies from six to twenty,
according to the number of the members, and they
are appointed sometimes for life, and sometimes for
five or six years. There are also deaconesses in
each church, whose duty it is to attend to the female
poor. Divine service is conducted in the same way
as in the Reformed churches, and in some cases a
collection is made in the middle of the sermon, two
bags being carried from pew to pew by the deacons,
the one bag being for the poor, and the other for the
expenses of public worship.
The Mennonites in Holland form one undivided
Christian body, and associations of churches are held
chiefly about the time of Easter at different places.
In North Holland they were formerly convened
every year, but their meetings are now held less fre-
quently, and some of the churches decline all con-
rection with the Associations. There is a Mennon-
ite college at Amsterdam, in which some of their
ministers are educated, while others have not en-
joyed the privilege of a liberal education. The
pastors are elected in some places by the members of
the church, and in others by the elders and deacons.
Many of the churches have no pastors, but are sup-
plied either by their own elders, or by the neigh-
boaring ministers. Occasionally one minister sup
plies several churches.
The difference which exists both in doctrines and
practices among the Mennonites are thus noticed by
Mosheim : " The opinions and practices which divide
the principal associations of Mennonites, if we admit
those of less importance, are chiefly the following: —
I. Menno denied that Christ received from the Vir-
gin Mary that human body which he assumed ; on
the contraiy, he supposed it was produced out of
nothing in the womb of the immaculate Virgin, by
the power of the Holy Ghost. This opinion the
Fine Anabaptists or the old Flemings still hold tena-
ciously, but all the other associations have long since
given it up. II. The more rigid Mennonites, after
the example of their ancestors, regard as disciplinable
offences, not only those wicked actions, which are
manifest violations of the law of God, but likewise
the slightest indications either of a latent inclination
to sensuality, or of a mind disposed to levity and
inclined to follow the customs of the world ; as, for
example, ornaments for the head, elegant clothing,
rich and unnecessaiy furniture, and the like ; and
they think that all transgi'essors should be excom-
municated forthwith and without a previous admoni-
tion, and that no allowance should be made for the
weakness of human nature. But the other Mennon-
ites hold tliat none but contemners of the divine law
deserve excommunication, and they only when they
pertinaciously disregard the admonitions of the
church. III. Tlie more rigid Mennonites hold that
excommunicated persons are to be shunned as if
they were pests, and ai-e to' be deprived of all social
intercourse. Hence the ties of kindred must be
severed, and the voice of natm-e must be unheeded.
Between parents and their children, husbands and
their wives, there must be no kind looks, no conver-
sation, no manifestation of affection, and no kind
offices, when the church has once pronounced them
imworthy of her communion. But the more moder-
ate think that the sanctity and the honour of the
church are sufficiently consulted, if all particular in-
timacy >7.Ji the excoiimiunicated is avoided. IV
The old Flemings maintain that the example of
Christ, which has in this instance the force of a
law, requires his disciples to wash the feet of their
guests in token of their love ; and for this rea-
son, they have been called Podoniptse [Feet-wash-
ers]. But others deny that this rite was enjoiued by
Christ."
Towards the middle of the seventeenth century,
a party of Mennonites in Fi-iesland obtained some
celebrity under the name of CEckewallists, being so
called from their leader, who taught not only that the
strict discipline of Menno ought to be retained, but
that there is some reason to hope for the salvation ot
MENNONITES IN AMERICA— MENS.
411
Judas and the othera who laid violent hands on our
Saviour. The errors here referred to are no longer
held by any church or congregation among the Men-
nonites. The Waterlanders have in great measure
renounced the rigid opinions of the early followers
of Menno, and indeed scarcely difl'er cither in opin-
ion or practice from oilier Christians. Tliey exist
in two communities in Holland, called iho Prksland-
ers and the Wnlerhindcrs. The Fleming Clun'ch in
Amsterdam was split in 1604 into two parties, called
from their respective leaders, Galenists and Apos-
toolians. Some years after, the Watcrlander Church
in Amsterd:im united with the Galenists — a i)arty
wliich still exists, but refuses to take the name of
Mennonites.
The whole body of Mennonites in Holland does
not exceed 150 congregations. In Prussia they
number about 14,000 persons, and live principally
in the regions of the Lower Rhine. The Dutch
Mennonites are chiefly Arminian in their theo-
logy, and some have degenerated into Socinian-
ism, and even scepticism. A branch of the body
exists in Alsace, mostly in the department of Lcs
Vosgcs. A liamlet called Salin is exclusively in-
habited by them. They are almost all employed in
agricultiu'e. They wear a peculiar dress, use neither
buckles nor buttons, and let tlie beard grow. Un-
married women wear the hair loose, but married wo-
men gather up the hair and bind it round the head.
They baptize youth at the age of eleven or twelve,
not by pouring as the other Mennonites do, but by
sprinkling. In Russia, there are a few Mennonite
churches, lumibering not more than 6,000 or 6,000
members in all.
MENNONITES IN AMERICA. Mennonite
churches exist in considerable numbers in the United
^ States. Many followers of Mcimo, on the invitation
of William Ponn, transported themselves and their
families into the province of Pennsylvania as early
as A. D. 1683. The emigrants of that year, and those
who followed in 1G93, belonging to the same body,
settled in and about Germantown, where they erected
a school and meeting-house in 1708. For some
years after, a yearly supjily of Mennonite emigi-ants
landed on the shores of America, and before 1735
there were nearly 500 families settled in Lancaster
county. The views of the sect were much misrepre-
sented for a time by their Transatlantic brethren,
but the prejudices which had been entertained
against them were to a great extent allayed by the
translation into English, and publication of the
Mennonite Confession, which had been originally
prepared in 1632 at Dort. Tliis Confession is en-
tirely free from the heretical views which have been
generally attributed to their founder, as well as from
those errors which were avowed at a later period in
the Confession issued by Mr. Gan of Kyswick.
The Mennonites in America have three orders of
church-officers — bishops, elders or ministers, and
''eacons. All of these are chosen bv lot. Their
pastors receive no salaries, nor remuneration of anj
kind for preacliing the gospel.
The Mennonites liave spread over a great portion
of Pennsylvania, and throughout the United .States
generally, its well as in Canada. The congregations in
Pennsylvania are divided into three general circuits,
within each of which half-yearly conferences are held
for the purpose of consulting together, and devising
means to advance the prosperity of the entire body.
A similar conference is held in Ohio, where the
Mennonites are very numerous, being chielly com-
posed of foreign immigrants. The members of the
congregations in Indiana are chiolly from Switzer-
land. The whole Mennonite population in the United
States may probably amount to 120,000, but as they
keep no records of membership, it is difficult to
state tlie number of persons actually in communion
with the body. It has heen calculated, that in all
America, they have about 240 ministers, 400
churches, and from 50,000 to 60,000 members.
MENNONITES (Reiok.med) in AlunitiCA, anew
Society of Mennom'lex which arose in Lancaster coun-
ty, Pennsylvania, in 1811. It arose in consequence
of various individuals belonging to the body having
become deeply impressed with the thought, that
their brethren had fallen away from tlieir original
purity, and did not carry into effect the doctrines
they had formerly taught and profe.<:sed. At first
the number who formed a plan of reforming the
body was small, but it gradually increased, and aftef
much deliberation and prayer, they chose John Herr
as their fu-st pastor. They published a Confession
of their Faith, which, though more condensed than
the Mennonite Confession of 1632, does not mate-
rially difter from it in doctrine, and maintains the
same views as to baptism, the Lord's Supper, foot-
washing, excommunication, and other practical points.
The chief difference between the Reformed and the
other Jlennonites, seems to be, that the former are
more strict and rigid in resisting no evil whatever,
in abstaining from oaths of any kind, in separating
themselves from all excommunicated persons, and
other practices on which Menno Simonis particu-
larly insisted. Like the other Mennonites they do
not deem themselves at liberty to keep an account
of their members, both from a wish to avoid display
or boasting, and also in order to avoid the sin and
punishment of David in the matter of numbering the
people. The Reformed Meimonites, however, are
known to have congregations scattered over many
parts of the United States and Canada.
iMEN OP UNDERSTANDING. See Hommes
dTntelligence.
MENOLOGION, the c^dendar of the Greek
churcli.
MENS (Lat. mind), a deity worshipped by the
ancient Romans as a personilic-ation of mind. She
had a teni])Ie built to her honour on the capitol,
and a festival which was celebrated on tlie 8th of
June.
412
MEPHITIS— MERIA-PUJAH.
MEPHITIS, a goddess among the ancient Ro-
mans, who had a temple in the Esquihse, on a spot
wliich it was considered dangerous to approacli.
Little is known concerning this divinity, though she
may possibly have had some connexion with the
mephitio exhalations which aboimd in some parts of
the Roman States.
MERAGE, LEILAT AL (Arab, the night of the
ascension), a night accounted sacred by the Moham-
medans as being that on which the prophet made his
journey to heaven. They commemorate this ascen-
sion on the 28th of the month Regeh.
MERARITES, a family of the Levites on whom
devolved the duty of carrying the boards of the Ta-
bernacle, and the bars, and pillars, and sockets be-
longing to it, as well as the pillars of the court, tlie
sockets, pins, cords, and other utensils. This family,
as well as the Gershonites, was under the care of
Ithamar ; and for their convenience they were al-
lowed to have four waggons and eight oxen.
MERCAVA, one of the divisions of the Jewish
Cabbala (which see). It treats of the knowledge
of the Divine perfections, and of the celestial intelli-
gences. Masters were not permitted to explain the
Mercava to their scholars.
MERCURY, a god who presided over merchandise
among the ancient Romans. A temple was erected
to him near the Circus Maximus, and a festival was
celel)rated in his honour on the 25th of May, chiefly
by mercliants. In later times Mercury was identi-
fied with the Greek Hermes (which see). He was
also the god of eloquence ; hence the people of Lys-
tra, as we read in Acts xiv. 12, supposed Paul to be
Mercury in disguise.
MERCY (Fraternity of), a Romish Society at
Lisbon in Portugal, instituted for the purpose of
saying masses for the faithful generally, but cliietly
for its own members.
MERCY-SEAT, the covering of the ark of the
covenant hi the ritual ceremony of the Jews. It
was made of pure gold, and was of the same length
and breadth as the ark itself At its two extremi-
ties were placed two cherubim, with their faces
turned towards each other, and somewhat inclined
towards the mercy-seat. It appears plain from sev-
eral passages in the epistles of the Apostle Paul,
that the mercy-seat was designed to be a typical re-
prosentation of Jesus Christ as the grand medium
of expiation for the sins of men, as well as the chan-
nel through whicli God holds communion and fel-
lowsliip with all his believing people.
MERIA-PU.IAH, an animal festival among the
Khnmls in Orissa, in wliich Inunan sacrifices were
offered until lately, when the barbarous practice was
forliidden by tlie I'.rilish government. The victims,
which are called meriiis, consist of Ilindns jirocnred by
purchase in the jilains by the Panwas, a class of Hin-
du servitors, who were chielly emiiloyed in su[iplying
victims for their masters, the Khotids. Tlie design
tt this cruel ceremony is to propitiate Buka-Pen-
NOU (which see), their earth-god, and thus to secure
a favourable harvest. The festival was celebrated
at Goomsoor, and is thus described in a Madras
paper in 1838 : " When the appointed day arrives,
the Khonds (inhabitants of the hill country) assem-
ble from all parts of the country, dressed in their
finery, some with bear-skins thrown over their shoul-
ders, otliers with the tails of peacocks flowing be-
hind them, and the long winding feather of the
jungle-cock waving on their heads. Thus decked
out, they dance, leap, and revel, beating drums, and
playing on an instrument not unlike in sound to the
Highland pipe. Soon after noon the Jani, or pre-
siding priest, with the aid of his assistants, fastens
the unfortunate victim to a strong post, firmly fixed
into the ground, and then standing erect, the living
sacrifice suffers the unutterable torture of having the
flesh cut off from his bones in small pieces by the
knives of the savage crowd who rush on hiin and
contend with each other for a portion of the gory
and quivering substance. Great value is attached to
the first morsel thus severed from the victim's body,
for it is supposed to possess superior virtues, and a
proportionate eagerness is evinced to acquire it.
" Women are sacrificed as well as men. A female
found her way into the collector's camp, at Patrin-
gia, with fetters on her limbs, who related that she
had been sold by her brother !
" The Khonds are in the habit of sacrificing chil-
dren annually at sowing time, in a most cruel man-
ner, for the purpose of propitiating the demon of
their worship, and of securing, as they suppose, a
good harvest by the blood of their victims.
" In January, just before the turmeric shrub is
planted, the Khonds make the sacrifice alluded to.
They select as their victims, male children who are
devoted from infancy to this purpose, and are sold to
the chiefs of the diPi'erent villages. When the ground
is ready, the victim is led forth, bound to bamboos
for the better security, and taken into the open plain.
The cultivators assemble, and at the supposed auspi-
cious moment, commence the dreadful carnage by
hacking with knives the body of the truly pitiable
creature ; each cutting off a part as quickly as pos-
sible, and hastening with it to the field whose ferti-
lity is the object to be secured. The blood, in wliich
the Khonds imagine the virtue of the spell to subsist,
is then made, by pressure of the hand, to (all in drops
upon the soil ; and the flesh, not yet cold, is cast into
the same ground. In hewing the body great care is
taken not to touch a vital part, for should death oc-
cur before the blood is dropped on the field, the
charm, according to the notions of the people, would
be lost.
" Some of the Khonds, on being expostulated with,
asked what else they could do, as they should have
no crops if they neglected to perform this ceremony."
Through the combined efforts of the government
agent, J. P. Fryo, Esq., and the missionaries, great
nnmbers of the meria victims have been rescued from
MERODACH— MERU.
413
the saoriticial knife. In the Report of the General
Baptist Missionary Society for 1849, it is staleii lliat
Mr. Frye hail been instnnnonlal in rescuing lOG
victims from the horrid death to whicli tliey were
doomed. In the same report the fullowin;^ interest-
ing details are given : "Tlie last full moon had been
fixed upon for a very great sacrifice, in anticipation
of the agent's arrival, (it is the time for sacrificing
through the whole sacriHcing country,) but he was
happily in the midst of them twelve days before the
appointed time, and the fearful waste of human life
was mercifully prevented. The torture with which
the revolting rite is performed in this part of the
Khond country exceeds, if it be possiljle, the worst
that has been heard of anywhere. The victim is
(urroundod by a crowd of half-intoxicated Khonds,
and is dragged round some open space, when the
savages, with loud shouts, ru.sh on the victim, cut-
ting the living flesh piece-meal from tlie bones, till
nothing remains but the head and bowels, which are
left untouched. Death has, by this time, released
the unhappy victim from his torture; the head and
bowels are then burnt, and the ashes mixed with
gi-ain. Tlie efforts of the government to suppress
the abhoiTed rites of human sacrifice and female in-
fanticide among these barbarous people, and in these
hills and jungles, are in a high degree creditable to
its character. The revolting rites of sacrifice and
female infanticide have prevailed from time imme-
morial in the impenetrable jungles and inaccessible
hills of tlie Khond country. No one can tell where
they originated, or compute the frightful waste tliey
have occasioned, but it is estimated that, allowing
lliese bloody rites to have prevailed from the com-
fnencement of the Christian era, as they were found
to prevail when the district was discovered a few
years since, on a moderate computation the awful
aggregate would exceed three millions. We have
thought, and talked, and prayed about the Khonds,
and God has answered our supplications, though in a
way we did not expect. Who can calculate the re-
sults of so many being brought under Christian in-
fluence?" The report of the same Society for 1853,
mentions the baptism of fourteen of these rescued
children, after giving evidence of sincere conversion
to Christ ; and it states also that during the year
Col. Campbell, tlie government agent for the sup-
pression of human sacrifices, had rescued 120 vic-
tims, and that the chiefs and headmen of the villages
had signed an agreement to abandon the inhuman
practice.
MERODACH, the name of a divinity worsliip-
ped by the ancient Babylonians. The prophet Jere-
miah, when speaking of the destruction of Babylon,
thus refers to this deity, " Declare ye among the
nations, and publish, and set up a standard ; pub-
lish, and conceal not : say, Babylon is taken, Bel is
confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces ; her idols
are confounded, her images are broken in pieces."
Nothing is known concerning the god Merodach;
but wo find his name mentioned in Scripture com-
pounded with otlier words to form pro|)cr nameii,
as Evil-Merodach and .Merodach-Iialadan.
MEUU, the oM or mythic name among the Hin-
dus of the Himalaya mountains, especially the most
elevated parts of them, called the Dwalgiri. This wa«
the world-mountain of the Hindu system of cosmo-
gony, and the most sacred habitation of the gods.
The physical universe, as it sprung from the Mun-
dane Egg, was said to consist of three worlds — hea-
ven above, the earth below, and the interambicnt
ether. According to a minute division, the universe
consists of fourteen worlds, seven inferior or descend-
ing below the world which we inhabit, and seven
superior or ascending above it, our world being the
first of the ascending series, and its habitable portion
consisting of seven circular islands or continents,
each surrounded by a difi'erent ocean. The central
island, destined to be the abode of man, is called
Jwnha-Dwip, and from its centre shoots up the holy
mountain j\feru, rising to the height of several hun-
di'od thousand miles. This mountain, says Dr. DufT,
is "in the form of an inverted pyramid, — having its
summit, which is two hundred times broader than
the base, sui-mouiited by three swelling cones, — the
higliest of these cones transpiercing upper vacant}'
witli three golden peaks, on which are situate the
favourite residences of the sacred Triad. At its
base, like so many giant sentinels, stand four lofty
hills, on each of which grows a mango tree several
thousand miles in height, — bearing fruit delicious as
nectar, and of the enormous size of many hundred
cubits. From those mangoes, as they fall, flows a
miglity river of perfumed juice ; so communicative
of its sweetness, that those who partake of it, exhale
the odour from their persons all around to the dis-
tance of many leagues. There also gi'ow rose apple
trees, whose fruit is ' large as elephants,' and whose
juice is so plentiful, as to form another mighty river,
that converts the earth, over which it passes, into
purest gold ! "
The base of Meru was supposed to rest upon the
abyssof the world-fountain; and regarding the moun-
tain as the cradle of the world, the Hindus not only
attached to it peculiar sanctity, but on the sides they
excavated little Merus, and inscribed the inside with
the hieroglyphical symbols of their faith and Iiojiks.
" It was their firm conviction," says Jlr. Gross, " that
a portion of the essential attributes of the true God-
head lay concealed in the bowels of this Oriental
Alp, and that its profound chasms attested his pre-
sence and proclaimed his energy. This idea, appa-
rently so extravagant, will cease to excite our sur-
prise, if we steadily bear in mind that this mountain
is the Hindu world-mountain ; ay, the infinite niim-
dane pillai-, or Siva-pillar, in which the divinity o(
Siva was cosraogonically embodied, and from which
the god went forth in the disiday of his omnipre-
sence and power : as the sun, he rose and set on
Meitt, and during his reign above the horizon, he
414
MESATEUS— MESSIAH.
was the south pole ; while in his subterranean orbit,
he represented or expressed the north pole of the
Meru-world. Within the profound recesses of tliis
mysterious and wonderful mountain, the gods pre-
pared the hfe-drink, the prima materia or atomic
germs of organic life. Pervaded and animated by
au invisible, divine power, it was here that the em-
bryo-world originated, which, when it was fully de-
veloped, revealed God in space as the nature of
things."
When Shiva first appeared in the beginning of
the Kali age, he had come down in a pillar of fire
to settle a dispute among the gods upon the subject
of precedence. To commemorate this event, the
god converted his pillar of fire into the mountain of
Merti, that it might be a symbol of his divine pre-
sence and protection. The Budhists, also, have
transferred to their system the myth of Meru, which
they hold, according to the doctrines of the Pura-aas,
is in the centre of the earth, and under it they believe
the Amrs, or giants of Budhism, reside, while the
Yalcds or demons dwell upon it. The Tamul na-
tions of Ceylon believe, that, in the earliest wars of
the gods, three of the peaks of Meru were thrown
down, and driven to different parts of the world ; one
of them is Trincomalee, which became equally with
Kailasa the abode of Shiva. The Hindu tradition is
somewhat diiierent. It alleges that at the mai-riage
of Shiva and Parvati, all the gods were present, and
the heavens were left empty. Seizing tliis opportu-
nity, the god of the winds flew to Meru, broke the
summit of the mountain, and hurled it into the sea,
when it became the island of Lankd or Ceylon. The
Budhists allege, that around and above the summit
of Meru are the dewa and hrahma lokas, the abode
of those beings who, in their different states of ex-
istence, have attained a superior degree of merit.
MESATEUS, a surname of Dionysus, derived
from the town Mesatis, where he was said to have
been educated.
MESAULION. See Atkium.
MESCHIA AND MESCHIANEE, ancestors of
the human race, according to the system of the an-
cient Persians. Ahriman and Ormuzd were the
primary principles of creation, and from the antago-
nism which the universe thus presented man was tlie
only exception. Ahriman, the evil principle, liad
no other resource but to slay Kaiomorts, the primi-
tive humiin being, who was at once man and woman.
From the blood of Kaiomorts, when put to death,
sprang, by means of transformations, Meschia and
Meschianee, who were soon seduced by Ahriman,
and became worshippers of the Dcivs, to whom they
olTered sacrifices. Thus was evil introduced into the
world, and the conflict between the good and evil
principles exteiuied also to man.
MESONYCTION (Gr. mesos, middle, nyx, the
night), the midnight service of the Caloycrs or Greek
monks, which occupies two hours.
MESSALIANS. See Euchites.
MESSAPEUS, a surname of Zeus, under which
he was worshipped between Amyclse and Mount
Taygetus.
MESSIAH (Heb. the Anomted), an appellation
given to our blessed Lord in the Old Testament
Scriptures, answering to the Greek word Christ
(which see) in the New. The advent of the Mes-
siah was the frequent and almost favoui-ite subject
of ancient prophecy, and at the time of his appear-
ance, a very general expectation prevailed through-
out the world, that a remarkable Personage would
soon appear in the East, whose coming would be a
blessing to mankind generally. In several Pagan
writers, accordingly, we find reference to such an in-
dividual. Thus Virgil, who lived about the com-
mencement of the Christian era, addresses a poem to
his patron, PolUo, who at that time held the office
of consid, and in that poem he describes with some
minuteness a child who was expected to be born
during his consulate, and whose nativity would be
an important era in the history of the world. Tha
child was to be of heavenly descent, to bestow uni-
versal peace, and to command the whole world ; he
was to destroy the serpent, and to confer blessings
even upon the brute creation. The general expec-
tation to which we have referred, is very strikingly
noticed by Suetonius and Tacitus. " An ancient and
settled persuasion," says the former writer, " pre-
vailed throughout the East, that the Fates had de-
creed that Judea about this period was to give birth
to such as should attain universal empire;" and al-
most to the same effect Tacitus says : — " Many
were persuaded that it was contained in the ancient
books of the priests, that at this very time the East
should prevail, and that some power should proceed
from Judea and possess the dominion of the world."
While a vague expectation of an important Per-
sonage likely to appear, was thus entertained by
the heathen, the Jews also fondly cherished the
idea of a coming Deliverer, to I'escue them from the
oppression of the Idumean Herod and his Roman
allies. Their views of the approaching Messiah were
not a little coloured by the peculiar circumstances
in which they were placed. This is ably pointed
out by Neander in these words : " By the conscious-
ness of the declining condition of the Theocracy, it
is true, that the yearning after the promised epoch
of its glorious restoration, and by the feeling of dis-
tress under the yoke of foreign and domestic tyrants,
the longing after the Deliverer, after the appearance
of Ilim from whom that glorious restoration was to
come, the Messiah, had been iu'ouscd to greater ac-
tivity. But the same grovelling sense which led to a
misaiiprehension of the nature of the Theocracy gen-
erally, could not fail to lead also to a misapprehension
of this idea, which foiTns the central point and mai'k to-
wards which the whole Theocracy was aiming. From
that worldly sense which was attached to the idea of
the Theocracy, and that worldly turn of the religious
spirit generally, could only result a secidarizing alsa
MESSIAH.
416
i)f the idea of tlio Messiah. As the great mass of
the people were howeil down by the sense of out-
ward much more than of inward wretchedness, dis-
Rnice, and bondage, it was chiefly a deliverer from
the fonnnr whom they expected and yeanicd after,
in the Messiah. The inclination to the supernatural
took here an altogether worldly shajie; the super-
natural, as it pictured itself to the imaginatinii of
the worldly heai-t, was but a fantastic imitation of
the natiu'al niagniliod to the monstrous. Thus the
deluded Jews, destitute of a sense for the spiritual
apprehension of divine things, expected a Messiah
who would employ the miraculous power, with which
lir was divinely armed, in the service of theii' earthly
lusts ; who would free tlipm from civLl bondage,
execute a severe retribution on the enemies of the
Theocratic people, and make them masters of the
world in a universal empire, whose glory it was their
special delight to set forth in the fantastic images
suggested by their sensuous desires."
When the Messiah actually appeared in the com-
niencomcnt of the last year of the reign of Herod
the Great, the circumstances connected with his
birth corresponded in a remarkable degree with tlie
predictions of the .Jewish prophets. Thus lie be-
longed to the tribe of .Judah, ,and was of the house
of David. The prophet Micah liad fixed upon Beth-
lehem as the place of the birth of the Messiah, and
events over which his earthly parents had no con-
trol, led to the litcr.il fulfilment of this specific pro-
phecy. Daniel had pointed out the precise time
when the Messiah should come, and when Jesus
Christ appeared, the seventy prophetic weeks were
appro.aching to their termination. The prophet
Isaiah had foretold that Messiah should be born of
a virgin, that he should be " despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;"
and to whom did these predictions apply, but to
.lesus of Nazareth? "The correspondence," says
Bishop M'llvaine, " between the several particulars
related of the death of Christ, and the predictions
scattered through the Bible, is extremely striking.
The evangelists, in this respect, are but echoes of
the prophets. I can give but a riipid sketch. These
predictions include the treachery and awful end of
Judas ; the precise sum of money for which he be-
trayed his Master ; and the use to which it was put.
They specify not only the sufieriiigs of Christ, but
of what they should consist. That his back should
be given to the smiters, liis face to shame and spit-
ting; that he should be put to death by a mode
which would cause his hands and his feet to be
pierced ; that he should be wounded, bruised, and
scourged; that, in his death, he should be numbered
with transgressors, and in his suflerings, have gall
and vinegar given him to drink ; that his persecu-
tors should laugh him to scorn, and shake their
heads, reviling him, and saying : ' He trusted in the
Lord that he would deliver him ; let him deliver
him.' Although it was the custom to break the
bones of those who were crucified, and although the
bones of the thieves crucified with him were broken,
yet it was predicted that ' not a bone of him should
be broken ;' and moreover, that liis garments should
be divided, and lots cast for his vesture ; that while
he shoidd 'make his grave with the wicked,' as he
did in being buried like the wicked companions of
his death, under the general leave for taking down
their bodies from the cross — he should at the same
time make his grave ' with the rich,' as was done
when they buried him in the sepulchre of Joseph of
Arimathca."
In .Ipsus Christ, and in Him alone, have all the
Old Testament predictions conceniing the Messiah
been fulfilled to the very letter; so that all pretended
Messiahs are convicted of imposture. Only one
Messiah is spoken of throughout the whole Jewish
Scriptures, from the first promise in Genesis to the
closing predictions of Malachi. Nor have the pro-
phets limited themselves to general statements, but
they have descended to minute particulars, detailing
with precision what the Messiah was to do and to
suffer. In addition to the character of the incidents
and events which compose the history of the life
and death of the promised Messiah, they have also
connected them with certain times and places, thus
making it next to impossible that they could be imi-
tated by a false Messiah. "It was requisite, for
instance," as has been well remarked, " that the
true Messiah should come into the world before the
destruction of the second Temple, because he was to
teach there. It was necessary that he should lay
the foundations of the church in Jerusalem, because
from Mount Sion it was to be diffused over the
whole world. It was necessary that the Jews should
reject him before their dispersion, because such dis-
persion was to be the punishment of their wilful
blindness. Finally, it was necessary that the con-
version of the Gentiles should be his work or that of
his disciples, since it is by this visible mark that the
prophets point him out. Now that the Temple is
no more, Jerusalem is possessed by strangers, the
Jews are dispersed, and the Gentiles are converted,
it is clear that the Messiah is come ; but it is not
less manifest that no one else can repeat the proofs
which he has given of his coming ; and consequently,
no one else can accomplish what the prophets foretold
would be fulfilled by the Messiah."
Besides, it is plainly intimated in the Old Testa
ment Scriptures, that when the Messiah shoidd ap-
pear, the sacrifices and rites of the law of Moses
would come to an end. Now, it is a well-known fact,
that since the death of Christ, both sacrifice and obla-
tion have ceased. That this is an actual reality no
Jew can possibly deny, and he finds it impossible to
give a satisfactoiy explanation, except on the suppo-
sition that the Messiah has already appeared. Many
moderate Rabbis, accordingly, admit that the Mes-
siah is come, but that on account of the sins of the
Jews he lies concealed. Others issue an anathema
416
MESSIAHS (False).
against every man who shall venture to calculate the
date of his coming. Some Jewish writers allege,
that a twofold Messiah is to be expected ; one wlio
shall appear in a state of poverty and suflfering, and
another who shall appear in grandeur and glory.
The first, it is alleged, will proceed from the tribe of
Ephraim, fight against Gog, and be slain by Armil-
lus ; the second will arise from the tribe of .Tudah
and family of David, will conquer and kill Ar-
milhis, bring the first Messiah to life again, gather
together all Israel, and rule over the whole world.
MESSIAHS (False). The prominence which
the Jews Iiave always given to the notion of a Mes-
siah, and the constant state of expectation in which
they have professed to live, have given rise to many
.attempts at fraud and imposture, by individuals, who,
from time to time, have assumed the title of Messiah,
and have, in consequence, found numerous followers
among the Jews. That such impostors would appear,
our blessed Lord expressly predicted in these words,
Matth. xxiv. 11, "Many false prophets shall arise, and
shall deceive many." The first in time, as well as the
most distinguished in power and influence, was Bak-
CHOCHAE (which see), who, assisted by Rabbi Akiha,
revolted against the Emperor Hadrian. In the fifth
century, another false Messiah appeared in the island
of Crete, who received the name of Moses Cretensis.
Tliis audacious impostor gave himself out as another
Moses, who had come down from heaven to deliver the
Jews, by leading them through the sea to the Pro-
mised Land. It is scarcely credible that such preten-
sions should have met with the slightest encourage-
ment. Yet we are informed by the historian Socrates,
that so great was the infatuation throughout the
towns and villages of Crete, that multitudes followed
in the train of this would-be deliverer. On an ap-
pointed time, Moses having collected his followers on
tlie top of a rock, multitudes of the men, women, and
children plunged headlong into the sea, expecting to
be miraculously preserved. But as, of course, many
perished in the waters, those who were still safe be-
came awai-e that they had been the dupes of a fla-
grant imposture. Meanwhile, Moses found it con-
venient to secure his own safety by a hasty retreat,
leaving liis followers to wonder at their own cre-
dulity.
During the reign of the Emperor Justinian, in
A. D. 530, a false Messiah arose in the person of Ju-
lianus, whom the Jews and Samaritans set up as
their king. Justinian, however, having attacked the
rebels, killed many of them, and taking their pre-
tended Messiah prisoner, beheaded him. In the
commencement of tlie seventh century, Mohammed
appeared in Arabia, and finding the Jews a very
powerful people in that country, he endeavoured to
win ihem over to his side by professing to be their
long-expected Messiah. As long as he had any hope
of enlisting the Jews among his followers, he made
the site of Jerusalem the spot to which they
ihould turn in prayer; but when he despaired of
receiving countenance or support from the Jews, he
appointed tlie Kaaba to be the sacred place towards
which the worshippers should ever look. When the
Jews rejected him, he fell from his claims to be the
Messiah, and declared himself to be the prophet of
God sent to restore the only pure faith, that of Abra-
ham, the father at once of their nation and of his
own.
Another false Jlessiah appeared in Spain in the
eighth century, mider the name of Sereniis, who at-
tracted numerous followers, promising to conduct
thera to Palestine. The career of this impostor
however, was speedily cut short, he and many of his
followers having been put to death by the Saracens.
After this no similar pretender appeared for a long
period. At length, in the twelfth century, several
false Messiahs successively arose in different coun-
tries. In A. D. 1137, one appeared in France, and
at about the same time another in Persia. Both of
them were successful in attracting crowds of ardent
admirers, who, however, were speedily dispersed, and
the impostors themselves slain. At Cordova in
Spain, a Jewish enthusiast occasioned no small com-
motion in A. D. 1157, by claiming to be the Messiah;
and in A. D. 1167, the Jews, in the kingdom of Fez,
were visited with severe persecution, in consequence
of the appearance of another individual who made
similar pretensions, while, in the same year, an Ara
bian impostor attempted to support his claims to thg
Messiahship, by pretending to work miracles. Many
were caught in the delusion and subjected to severe
punishment. Soon after a false Messiah arose be-
yond the Euphrates, who founded bis pretensions on
the circumstance, that he was cured of a leprosy in a
single night. In A. D. 1174, a magician and impos-
tor, called David Almasser, arose in Persia, who
alleged that he was the Messiah, and as a proof of it,
he pretended that he could render himself invisible.
Notwithstanding this power of escaping from the
hands of his enemies, however, be was soon taken and
put to death, and a heavy fine was laid upon the
Persian Jews. Another of these false Christs made
his appearance in Moravia in 1176, and his impos-
ture being readily detected, he was slain. In 1199,
a learned Jew came forward in Persia calling himself
the Messiah. This impostor, who was called David
el David, headed an army, but was taken and im-
prisoned, and having escaped he was afterwards
arrested and beheaded. Maimonides mentions an-
other Jew who made similar claims ; but he enters in-
to no detivils as to the history and doings of tliis pre-
tender. It would appear that, in the course of the
twelfth century, no fewer than ten false Messiahs
arose and brought severe trials and persecutions up-
on the Jews in dilTcrcnt parts of the world.
After this period several impostors from time to
time appeared, who claimed to be the Messiah pro-
mised to the fathers, but they made little imjiression
on the minds of tbeir brethren the Jews. Thus a
Jew, named Ismael Sophus, deceived a few personi
MICSS-JOIINS— MliTIIUDISTS.
417
in Spain in 1497, but he soon ijcrished, and IiIb ftw
followers wore disporscil. Three yeinn iiftcrwards a
(icnnan Jew, called Kahlii Jjeinlcni, declared him-
self to 1)0 the foicrinmer of tho Messiah, and pro-
mised his brethren that in the conrso of a year they
should jje transferred in a body to Palestine. The
disappointment of his expectations in this matter
ellectually cured him of his delusion. In ISOit, a
Jew of Cologne alleged himself to bo the Messiah ;
and tho same claim was put forth by Kabbi Solomon
Malcho, but his fraudulent pretensions were visited
with capital punishment by Charles V., the king of
Spain. In 1G15, a false Alessiah arose among tho
Portuguese Jews in Hindustan; and another ap-
peared in tho Low Countries in 1624, who ni.ido
groat pretensions, promising to destroy Rome, and
to overthrow tho kingdom of antichrist and tho
Turkish empire.
It is a remarkable fact in the history of the mo-
dern Jews, that there are calculated to have arisen
since the dispersion no fewer than sixty-four false
Messiahs. Tlio most remarkable perhaps of the whole
number was Sabbathai Sevi of Smyrna, who declared
himself publicly A. D. 1(348, to be Messiah of the
house of David, who sliould soon deliver Israel from
the dominion of Christians and Mussulmans. " The
Messiah," he declared, " is at band, and ere long
will assume the turban and crown of the Sultan as
the Cabbala has declared. Then, for some time be
will disappear, to seek, in com]iany with Moses, the
ten tribes hidden beyond the river Sabbation, and to
bring them back. Then, riding on a lion, descended
_from heaven, whose tongue is like a seven-headed
serpent, he will enter Jerusalem in triumph, after
having destroyed a multitude of his enemies by the
breath of his mouth. Then will take place the
descent of the Jerusalem from on high, adorned with
gold and precious stones, in which Messiah himself
will otter sacrifices ; then shall happen the resurrec-
tion of the dead, with many other events wliich can-
not now be revealed." The fame of the false Mes-
siah of Smyrna spread rapidly throughout both
Europe and Asia, so that the Jews unwittingly ful-
tilled the declaration of the true Messiah, John v.
43, "I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive
me not : if another shall come in his own name, him
ye will receive." Sabbathai Sevi ended with em-
bracing the faith of Islam, which lie openly pro-
fessed for ten years before his death. From this
man arose a sect combining Cabbalistic Judaism with
Mohammedanism, under the name of Sabbatuaists
(wliich see), who survived their founder more than
a centmy ; and from them sprung the Chasidim
(which see) or saints.
The last false Messiah who attracted any consi-
derable number of followers was Kabbi Mordecai,
a German Jew, who fii'st set forth liis claims in 1682.
For a time he succeeded ui deluding many, but the
fraud was soon detected, and he was under the ne
eessity of escaping from Italy to Poland, where he
II.
was lost sight of, and his history from that period if
unknown.
MICSS-JOIINS, a name given formerly in Eng.
laud to cha|jlains who resided in the houses of the
wealthy.
MICTAOKITNIA, a festival celebrated at Melite
by olVcruig sacrifices to ApoUo, and supposed to be
kept in memorial of the emigration from Melite to
Diomis.
MICTANGISMONITES. See IIikracitks.
MlCTATllON, an angel frequently mentioned by
the llabbinical writers, and to whom they ascribe
more illustrious prerogatives than to any others of
the heavenly liost. One Itabbi says, " The angel
McUdron is the king of angels." Another alleges
that this angel "ascends up to the throne of glory
above nine hundred lirmaments to carry up the
prayers of the Israelites." lie is supposed to have
been the angel who conducted the Israelites through
the wilderness. It has been alleged by some writers
that the lliibbies must have regarded the Metatron
as a divine and eternal subsistence, in essence and
quality corresponding with what Christians under-
stand by the second personality of the Godhead.
Various Kabbies consider Enoch to have been Meta-
tron, and one tells us, that when this ancient prophet
was in the course of ascending to heaven, the vari-
ous orders of angels " smelled the scent of him 5,380
miles otT, and were somewhat displeased at the in-
troduction or intrusion of a human being into their
superior world, till God pacified them by explaining
the cause of his translation."
METAWILAH, a heretical sect of Mohamme-
dans, who maintain that the allegorical and not the
literal meaning of the Koran is to regulate the opi-
nions of the faithful. These Mohammedan allego-
rists are principally to be foimd in the district lying
to the south and east of Tyre. Some of them are
found also in the regions contiguous to the sources
of the Jordan, and in Coelo-Syria proper. Like the
Persians they are Sclnttes, and recognize the supreme
h\\&msX6 oi AIL Dr. Wilson tells us that they are
nearly as scrupulously observant of the rites of caste
in regard to cleanness and uncleaniiess as the Hin-
dus.
METEMPSYCHOSIS. See Transmigration.
METHODISTS, a name of considerable anti-
quity. It was applied in the first mstance to a class
of physicians who arose about a century before the
Christian era, and were so-called because they in-
troduced greater precision and order into the science
of medicine. The word was not introduced, how-
ever, into ecclesiastical use until the seventeenth
century, when it came to be apphed to a class of
Komanists, who sought to be more precise in their
controversies with Protsstants. In the same cen-
tury, we find the terra used to denote also certain
Protestants who were more strict and regular in
their general bearing. Dr. Calamy says, " TheJ
called them who stood up for Gud, Methodist*. "
2 N
il8
METHODIST (African) EPISCOPAL CHURCH IX AMERICA.
For more than a century past the word Methodists
is used to denote certain specific societies or deno-
minations of Christians in Great Britain and America.
METHODIST (African) EPISCOPAL
CHURCH, IN AMERICA. This church is com-
monly known by the name of the Zion Wesley
Methodist connection. The mother church of this
denomination was founded in the city of New York
in 1796. It arose in consequence of the coloured
members coimected with the Methodist Episcopal
Church in New York feeUng their privileges and
usefulness diminished by the prejudices entertained
against coloured people by the whites. After bear-
ing for a time their degraded situation among their
fellow-Christians, they resolved to have a separate
meeting on an independent footing. Bishop Asbury
gave his consent to the movement, and a temporary
place of worship for the coloiu-ed people connected
with the Methodists was speedily obtained, where the
services were conducted statedly by three licensed
preachers in the interval between the Sabbath ser-
vices in the white Methodist Chiu-ch. In this way
they avoided all interference with the regular hours
of worship among their brethren, wliile they en-
joyed the privilege of a separate service of their own.
At length in 1799, the number of coloured members
had increased to such an extent, that they resolved
after mature deliberation to form themselves into a
separate and distinct religious body, under the name
of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, though
still under the governiuent of the Methodist Episco-
pal Church. A place of worship was erected by
them accordingly in New York by the name of the
Zion Church.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church having
been now estabhshed as a separate religious body,
an agreement was formally entered into, whereby
they were rendered distinct from the whites in their
temporalities, but under the spiritual control of the
wliite General Conference. Matters continued in
this state for a number of years, and the coloured
Methodists rapidly increased botli in numbers and in-
fluence. At length, in 1820, the General Conference
of the Methodist Episcopal Church passed a resolu-
tion, the effect of which would be, were it carried
into effect, to give the preachers more power over
the temporalities of the church. This resolution was
received with great dissatisfaction by a large body of
the white Methodists, and it was viewed with still
greater alarm by the coloured Methodists, who felt
convinced that it would prove a serious hindrance to
their prosperity and success, by transferring their
I)roperty into the hands of Methodist preachers in
Conference. To protect themselves, accordingly,
against this dreaded result, the coloured Methodists
lost no time in withdrawing Zion church from the
control of the white bishops and Conference.
Thus rendered entirely independent of their white
brethren, the African Methodist Episcop.al Church
proceeded to make their own ecclesiastical arrange-
ments. Not having ordained ministers among them
to take pastoral charges, they elected elders to act
in place of ministers. At the same time they ap-
pointed a committee to form rules of discipline drawn
from those of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The
body was now joined by several other churches, and
on the 21st June 1821, the fu-st Annual Conference of
the African Methodist Episcopal Church was held in
Zion church in New York. The number of ministers
in attendance was twenty-two, and the number of
members reported at the Conference was 1,426. At
the next Conference elders were ordained by the lay-
ing on of hands. In 1838, the Conference elected
the Rev. Christopher Rush totheofBce ofpennanent
superintendent for four years ; and the office has
been continued ever since, the superintendent being
elected every four years by the suffrage of the mem-
bers of the General Conference.
The doctrines of this body of American Methodists
are of a low Arminian character. Tluis, in their au-
tlioritative statement of principles, they mention
Christ as " having made fiJl redemption for all men,
on the condition of obedience to God." They say
also, that " we produce good works as our duty to
God ; and then the merits of Christ are bestowed up-
on us." Among the sacraments they enumerate
holy matrimony, placing it on the same footing with
baptism and the Lord's Supper. They practise en-
tire temperance, all use of spirituous liquors being
prohibited, except in case of necessity. They bind
themselves to avoid all traffic in slavery in any way.
The General Conference of the body, which meets
every four years, is composed of all the travelling
ministers of the connection. The Annual Confer-
ence consists of the travelling ministers of a dis-
trict. There is an Annual Conference held in New
York ; another in Pliiladelphia ; a third in Boston ;
and a fourth in Baltimore. There is also a Quar-
terly Conference, a Monthly Meeting of the trustees
of each church, and a Leaders' Meeting, which meets
monthly, and is composed of all the class leaders
and class stewards.
The ecclesiastical functionaries of this church are,
1. The superintendent. 2. The elder. 3. Deacon.
4. The licensed preacher. 5. The exhorter. 6. The
class leader. Besides these there are trustees and
stewards, who are strictly temporal functionaries.
METHODIST (African) EPISCOPAL
CHURCH IN AMERICA. This church was found-
ed in Pliiladelphia in 1816. Its organization was
effected in a convention held for ecclesiastical pur-
poses by a large number of coloured persons who
had seceded from the Slethodist Episcopal church,
both in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Like the church
described in the last article, tin's cluu-ch had its ori
gin in the oppression and ill-treatment which thi
coloured Methodists endured at the hands of theii
white brethren. For maTiy years, indeed, they wers
stil)ji:cted to a .systematic persecution on the part o(
those who professed to be their fellow-Christians
METHODISTS (Calvinibtic)
41S
At last a General Convention was lield in Pliiladel-
pliia, wliicli was largely attended by coloured peojile
from Ilaltlmorc and other places, and taking into
consid(;ration tlieir gi-icvances, they jiassed a resolu-
tion that the people of Philadelphia, lialliniore, and
all other places, who should miile with them, should
become one body under the name and style of the
" African Methodist Episcopal Church."
As the separation of this church from the Method-
ist Episcopal Church involved no dill'erence in doc-
trine or practice, the Convention held in Philadel-
phia in 18IG, adopted the same doctrines, discipline,
and general government as the church they had left.
They differ only in a few not very important parti-
culars. Thus they have no presiding elders, siinply
because they are not able to maintain them. Their
local preachers, also, are eligible to membership in
the Annual Conference, and as such are entitled to
all the privileges of the itinerant members. The
most important point of distinction, however, between
tlie African Methodist Episcopal Church and the
church from which it seceded, is, that their local
preachers have a seat, voice, and vote in the General
Conference, when sent there as delegates from the
Annual Conferences to represent the lay members of
the church. For every four hundred lay members
there is one local preacher in the General Confer-
ence.
The first Annual Conference of the body was held
lit Baltimore in 1818, when the whole number of
preachers in the connection was twenty-three, and
the whole number of members was 6,778. In 1847
there were upwards of 300 preachers, seven Annual
Conferences, and upwards of 20,000 members, ex-
tending over thirteen States.
METHODISTS (Calvinistic), a class of Method-
ists in England which derive their name from their
profession of adherence to the Calvinistic views of
Whitefield, as opposed to the Arminian views of
Wesley. Both these eminent servants of Clirist,
animated with an earnest desire to revive the cause
of true vital godliness in the laud, laboured with un-
broken harmony for several years in preaching the
gospel, and labouring for the conversion of souls,
both in Britain and America. It was not, indeed,
until 1748, that the two great founders of Methodism
separated from one another, thus dividing the So-
ciety of Methodists into two distinct communities.
Mr. Wliiteiield had all along been known to entertain
those opinions on the great doctrines of Christiiinity,
which are usually termed, in their aggregate form,
CdMnisjn ; but Mr. John Wesley, in the course of
his preaching tours, often avowed Arminian senti-
ments, and even boldly attacked the doctrine of elec-
tion. For a time various attempts were made to re-
concile their conflicting opinions, and bring about a
complete agreement between the parties, but this
was found to be impracticable, and an open rupture
took place, AVesley steadily and skilfidly constructing
the elaborate system of Wesleyan Methodism, and
Whitclield prosecuting his great work as an itinerant
missionary of the cross, without the slightest desire
to be the founder of a sect. Though separated from
his former coadjutor in the evangelistic work, he con-
tinued to labour with the utmost ardour and assi-
duity, while thou.sands flocked to listen to his power-
ful ministrations, and he was thus the means ol
eidarging the congregations of maiiy dissenting min-
isters, as well as evangelical clergymen in the Estab-
lished Chinch. On one occasion he preached at
Moorfields in the midst of the multitudes who weie
assembled there at the fair on Whit- Monday, and so
manifestly did the Eord bless his labours, that he
says in speaking of it, " We retired to the Taberna-
cle with my pockets full of notes from persons
brought under concern, and read them amidst the
praises and spiritual acclamations of thousands, who
joined with the holy angels in rejoicing that bo many
sinners were snatched in such an unexpected, un-
likely place and manner, out of the very jaws of the
devil. This was the beginning of the Tabernacle
Society."
In the winter of 1755, Mr. Wliitefield v/as asked
by some friends to preach regularly at a licensed
chapel in Long Acre. He consented to preach
twice a-wcek and to read prayers. Crowds attended,
and the enemies of the truth were so enraged that
they made systematic efforts to annoy and insult the
preacher. In consequence of the difficulties thus
thrown in his way, it was resolved by some of liie
friends and followers to build a place of worship
sufficient to accommodate a large number of people,
and where he might ofiiciafe without any likelihood
of being disturbed in the proclamation of his Mas-
ter's message. Tottenham Court Chapel, accord-
ingly, was erected, and formally opened for public
worship in November 1756. In addition to the two
gi-eat chapels thus built in the metropolis by the
followers of Whitefield, additional places of worship
in the same connection have since been built in dif-
ferent towns throughout England, in many of which
the Enghsh Church Service continues to be read.
After the apostolic labours of Mr. Whitefield had
been brought to a close by his death in New Eng-
land in 1769, the Calvinistic Methodi.sts not being
united into a sect, continued individually, or in se-
parate congregations, to hold the opinions of their
founder. It has been alleged by Dr. Haweis, that
their numbers in 1800 amounted in the aggregate to
as many as the Arminian Methodists. The congre-
gations are formed on the Independent principle,
each defraying its own expenses and managing its
own concerns. The Tabernacle in Moorfields, and
the Tottenham-court chapel, are managed by trus-
tees ; but their affairs are arranged on the Congre-
gationalist plan. It is difficult indeed to distinguish
the body generally from the Cungregationalist Dis-
senters.
With the exception of the few separate congrega-
tions scattered throughout difterent towns in Eng-
i'ZU
METHOUISTS (Camp)— MKTHODIST EPISCOPAL CHIIUCH.
land who hold the Calvinistic principles of Wliite-
field, his followers are fomid under two distinct
denominations ; the one called IIUNTrNGDON's
(Countess of) Connexjon (which see), and the
other the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists. See
ETHODisTS (Welsh Calvinistic).
METHODISTS (Camp), a name given to those
members of the Methodist body in the Western
States of North America, particularly Kentucky,
who towards the beginning of the present centiu'y
adopted Camp-Meethigs as a means of promoting
revivals of religion. Dr. Miller of Piinceton Col-
lege states it as his opinion that these meetings
began in the Presbyterian church ; that they were
first adopted from a kind of necessity in a country
where houses for public worship were few and of
small size, and of com'se altogether insufficient for
receiving the gi'eat crowds which collected on par-
ticular occasions, and who were in a state of mind
which prompted them to remain a number of
days at the place of meeting. In such circum-
stances encampment in the open air seemed to be
unavoidable. But what was begun from neces-
sity was afterwards continued from choice ; Camp-
Meetings being foimd to furnish admirable means
for the propagation of strong excitement. The Me-
thodists in Kentucky adopted the practice from their
Presbyterian brethren, and retained it for many
years, thus giving rise to the name of Camp-Metho-
dists. The meetings which gave origin to the name
were often scenes of the most painful excitement.
Persons were occasionally seen to fall to the ground
as suddenly as if they had been pierced through the
heart with a bullet or a sword ; others when falling
would utter a shriek and lie diu-mg hours still and
silent ; others would weep and moan moimifully.
Tlu-ougbout the United States, Camp-Meetings are
far more rarely resorted to even in seasons of revi-
val than tliey were in the early part of the present
century.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN
AMERICA. Methodism may be considered as hav-
ing arisen in America at as early a period as in
England. Both the foimders of IVIethodism, John
Wesley and George Whitefield, laboured for a long
time as clergymen of the Episcopal Chiu'ch in Geor-
gia. The first Methodist Society in America was
established in New York in 176G. Tlie circum-
stances which led to its original fonnation are deeply
interestmg. Tliey are thus described by the Rev.
Dr. Bangs : " A few pious emigi-ants from Ireland,
wlio, previously to their removal, had been members
of the Methodist society in their own country,
landed in this city. Among their number was Mr.
Philip Embury, a local ])rcacber. Coming among
strangers and finding no pious associates with whom
they could confer, they came very near making
shipwreck of faith and a good conscience.' In
this state of religious declension they were found the
next year on the arrival of another family from Ire-
land, among whom was a pious ' mother in Israel,' to
whose zeal in the cause of God they were all in-
debted for the revival of the spirit of piety among
tliem. Soon after her arrival she ascertained tliat
those, who had preceded her, had so far departed
from their ' first love,' as to be mingling in the frivo-
lities and amusements of the world. The knowledge
of this painful fact excited her indignation ; and,
with a zeal which deserves commemoration, she sud-
denly entered the room in wliich they were assem-
bled, seized the pack of cards with wliich they were
playing, and threw them into the fire. She then
addressed herself to them in terms of expostulation,
and turning to Mr. Embury, she said: 'You must
preach to us, or we shall all go to hell together, and
God will require our blood at your hands!' This
pointed appeal had its intended effect, in awakening
his attention to the peril of their condition. Yet, as
if to excuse himself from the performance of an ob-
vious duty, he tremblingly replied : ' I cannot preach,
for I have neither a house nor congregation.'
' Preach in your own house fh-st, and to our own
company,' was the reply. Feeling the responsibility
of his situation, and not being able any longer to
resist the importunities of his reprover, he consented
to comply with her request, and accordingly he
preached his first sermon ' in his own hu-ed house,'
to five persons only. This, it is believed, was the
first Methodist sermon ever preached in America.
" As they continued to assemble together fot
mutual edification, so then- numbers were gradually
increased, and they were comforted and strengthened
by ' exhorting one another daily.' Notwithstanding
the fewness of their number, and the secluded man-
ner m which they held their meetings : they veiy
soon began to attract attention, and they accordingly
found that they must either procm-e a larger place,
or preclude many from their meetings who were de-
sirous to attend.
" This led them to rent a room of larger dimen
sions in the neighbourhood, the expense of which
was paid by volimtary contributions. An event
happened soon after they began to assemble in this
place, wliich brought them into more pubhc notice,
and attracted a greater number of heaixrs. This
was the arrival of Captain Webb, an officer of the
British ai-my, at that time stationed in Albany, in
the State of New York. He had been brought to
the knowledge of the truth, under the seai'cliing
ministry of the Rev. John Wesley, in the city of
Bristol, England, about the year 1765; and, though
a militai-y character, such was his tliii'st for the sal-
vation of immortal souls, that he was constrained to
declare imto them the lovuig kuidness of God.
"His first appearance as a stranger among the
' fittle flock' in the city of New York, in his military
costume, gave them some uneasiness, as they feared
that he had come to 'spy out their liberties,' or to
interrupt them in their solemn assemblies ; but when
♦Jiey »aw him kneel in prayer, and otherwise parti-
I
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN AMERICA.
421
cipate with tliem in tlie worship of God, tlieir fears
were exchanged for joy, and on a farther acquaint-
ance tliey found Captain Wclib liad ' partaken of
like precious faitli' with theniKclvos. He was ae-
crirdingly invited to preach. Tlie novelty of liiH
Bpjiearance in the badges of a military oihcer, excited
no httle siu'piise. This, together with tlie energy
with which he spoke in the name of the Lord Jesus,
drew many to the place of worship, and hence the
room in which they now assembled, soon became too
small to acconunodato all who wished to assemble.
But what greatly encouraged them was, that sinners
were awakened and converted to God, and added to
the little Society.
"To accommodate all who wished to hear, they
next hired a rigging-loft in William Street, and fitted
it up for a place of worship. Here they assembled
for a considerable time, and were edified in fivith and
love, under the labours of Mr. Embury, who was
occasionally assisted by Captain Webb.
" While the Society was thus going forward in
their ' work of faith and labour of love' in New York,
Captain Wcbl) made excm-sions upon Long Island,
and even went as far as Philadelphia, preaching
wherever he could find an opening, the gospel of the
Son of God; and success attended bis labours, many
being awakened to a sense of their sinfulness through
his pointed ministry, and were brought to the ' know-
ledge of salvation by the remission of sins.' In con-
■ sequence of the accession of numbers to the Society,
and the continual increase of those who wished to
hear the word, the rigging-loft became also too
small, and they began to consult together on the
propriety of building a house of worship.
" But in the accomplishment of this pious under-
taking many diflicullies were to be encoimtered.
The members in the Society were yet but few in
number, most of them of the poorer class, and, of
course, had but a limited acquamtance and influence
in the community. For some time they were in
painful suspense. But while all were deliberating on
the most suitable means to be adopted to accomplish
an object so desirable, the elderly lady, whose pious
zeal has been already mentioned, while earnestly en-
gaged in prayer for direction in this important enter-
prise, received, with inexpressible sweetness and
power, this answer, I, the Lord, will do it. At the
same time a plan was suggested to her mind, which,
on being submitted to the Society, was generally ap-
proved of, and finally adopted. They proceeded to
issue a subscription paper, waited on the mayor of
the city and other opulent citizens, to whom they
explained their object, and received fi'om them such
liberal donations, that they succeeded iii purchasing
several lots in Jolm Street, on which they erected a
house of worship sixty feet in length, by forty-two
in breadth, calling it, from respect to the venerable
(bunder of Methodism, Wesley Chapel. This was
the first meeting-bouse ever erected for a Methodist
congregation in America ; this was in the year 1768 ;
and the first sermon was [ireached in it October 30,
1708, by Mr. Embury. This, therefore, may be con-
sidered as the bogmning of Methodism in this coun-
try."
While this church was in course of being built,
the members of the Methodist body in New York
addressed a letter to Mr. Wesley, urging upon him
to send from Europe a sujqjly of preachers. Twr
were accordingly despatched to America, namely,
Richard Boardman and Josejih I'ilmore. These
wore the first regular itinerant preachers who crossed
the Atlantic. On their arrival, Mr. Boardman was
stationed in New York, and Mr. Pihnore in Phila-
delphia, from which cities they made occasional ex-
cursions into the suiTounding country. About tho
same time, Mr. Robert Strawbridge, another local
preacher from Ireland, emigrated to the United
States, and settled \n Frederick county, Maryland
The Methodist cause now made rapid progress, and
in 1771 Mr. Wesley sent over from England Mr.
Francis Asbury and Mr. Richard Wright to tha
help of their brethren in America. The arrival of
these energetic and efficient labourers lent great ad-
ditional impulse to the work. Mr. Asbuiy in par-
ticular, by itinerating through the country, and
preaching in the cities, roused his fellow-labourers
to greater earnestness and activity ; and hence many
new Methodist Societies were established in various
parts of the country.
Thus the good work went on until the anival of
Mr. liankin, who having been appointed to supersede
Mr. Asbury as general superintendent, held the first
Conference in Philadelphia on the 4th of July 177.3,
at which time there were ten travelling preachers,
and 1,160 members m the various societies. At this
Conference they adopted the Wesleyan plan of sta-
tioning the preachers, and taking minutes of their
proceedings. Matters now went steadily forward,
and a Methodist meeting-house was built in the city
of Baltimore early in the year 1774. Year after
year the Conference reported an increase to the
number both of preachers and of members. Towards
the commencement of the American war of inde-
pendence, persecution arose against the Methodists
throughout the States generally. The ostensible
pretext for annoying them was that most of the
preachers were from England, and that some ol
them had openly avowed their want of sympathy
with the American movement, while Mr. Wesley
the foimder of Methodism had himself written
against the American principles and measures. So
violent in fact did the persecution become, that all
the English preachens, except Mr. Asbury, returned
to England before the end of the year 1777, and Jlr.
Asbury also was obliged to retire from public notice
for nearly a whole year. Nor was the persecution
confined to the native Englishmen ; the native
Americans also who had laboured as itiner.ant preach-
ers among the Methodists were exposed to the
most cruel treatment, and even imprisonment. But
422
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN AMERICA.
amid all opposition the cause flourished, and at the
Conference of 1783, when the war of the revolution
had come to a close, the body consisted of 43
preachers, and 13,740 members.
The year 1784 was the commencement of a new
era in the history of Jlethodism in America. The
American colonies had declared themselves indepen-
dent ; and the Episcopal Church in America being
thus entirely dissevered from that of England, Mr.
Wesley felt that the difficulties of the case could
only be met by a departure from the usual church
order. He, therefore, though only a Presbyter of
the Anglican Church, on his own responsibility in
1784 ordained Dr. Coke bishop or superintendent of
his American Methodist Societies, and by this act
gave them the character of an independent religious
body, which has since borne the name of the Metho-
dist Episcopal Church. At the same time, Mr.
Wesle)-, who had already reached the advanced age
of eighty, made an abridgment of the Common
Prayer Book and tlie Thirty-Nine Articles, as a
directory for the worship and doctrine of this new
ecclesiastical Society.
Thus furnished with proper credentials, Dr. Coke,
in company with Messrs. Whatcoat and Vasey,
sailed for America ; and on their arrival a Conference
was held at Baltimore, in which the measures de-
vised by Mr. Wesley were unanimously approved
of; Dr. Coke acknowledged as superintendent; Mr.
Asbury consecrated as joint superintendent ; twelve
of the preachers were consecrated as deacons and
elders, and three others as deacons. At the same
Conference Mr. Wesley's Abridgment of the Book
of Common Prayer was adopted, and also twenty-five
articles of religion which he had sent along with
various other rules for the regulation of the ministers
and members of the newly-formed church. Thus the
Methodist Episcopal Church of America was fully
organized.
The first General Conference of the body was held
In the year 1792. It was composed of all the tra-
velling elders in full connection, who were appointed
to meet in Conference every four years, with power
to devise rules for tlie regulation of the church. At
this General Conference a secession took place,
neaded by James O'Kelly, a presiding elder in Vir-
ginia, because he was dissatisfied with the power
which the bishop claimed of stationing the preach-
ers, and pleaded for an appeal to the Conference.
O'Kelly had influence enough to cause consider-
able disturbance in some parts of Virginia and
North Carolina ; but the excitement was only for a
time, and his influence having gradually diminished,
his party became scattered, and finally disajipeared,
while the Methodist Episcopal Church rapidly in-
creased both in numbers and influence, having on its •
roll, soon after, 2G6 travelling preachers, and 65,980
church members. Circuits were now formed, and
societies established throughout nearly every State
»ud Territory in the Union, and also in Upper Canada.
The number of travelling elders was every year on
the increase, and in tlie coittse of a short time the
General Conference became so large that it was
judged expedient to reduce the number. This was
done by adopting the representative system. The
first delegated Conference assembled in the city of
New York in 1812, in which year an increase of
members was reported to the amount of 10,700.
This Conference was composed of one member for
every five members of each annual conference. In
1819 the Missionary Society of the Methodist Epis
copal Church was formed, its declared object being
" to assist the several aimual conferences to extend
their missionary labours throughout the United
States and elsewhere." This department of their
work has been prosecuted with remarkable energy
and success. It comprises missions to those who
speak the English language in the destitute or new
portions of the country; and also missions to foreign-
ers who have settled together in various portions of
the country, and in particular quarters of cities. In
addition to these, there is an interesting mission to
New Mexico. Of the various Domestic Missions of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, those to the Germans
are the most numerous and successful ; but they
have also missions to the Swedes, Danes, Norwe-
gians, Welsh, and French, who have settled in the
United States. Missions have also been established
in Oregon and Califoniia, and with such success,
that they have each of them been organized into a
regular independent annual Conference.
The prosperity of this energetic Christian deno-
mination in America has not however been un-
clouded. From time to time within her pale, indi-
viduals have arisen who have ofl'ered strong objec-
tions to the government, and some of the usages ol
the church, and finding that theii" views met with no
general response, they have seceded and attempttd
to form separate communities. Besides the seces-
sion already referred to under O'Kelly, the most
considerable of these secessions has been that which
took place in 1830, and which led to the formation
of the ' Methodist Protestant Church.'
Since 1847 the Methodist Episcopal Chinch in the
United States has been divided uito two almost
eipial parts, a Northern and a Southern. These have
broken off all communion with one another, and
have recently had a vexatious lawsuit about the
division of the common property. The sole cause
of the separation was slavery. The Methodists ol
the Northern and Western States are mostly aboli-
tionists, and they refused to permit their brethren in
the South to hold, buy, and sell slaves. A separa-
tion accordingly took place, and an independent
Society was set up called the Methodist Episcopal
Churcli, South.
The government of this Methodist body, as may
be learned from its name, is strictly Episcopal ; and
in its general arrangements it almost entirely conform!
to the rules laid down by Mr. Wesley for the Metho
METHODIST (PjiiMiTivE) CONNEXION.
423
dist Societies in England. " All the members arc re-
ceived into the cluireli on a probation of six months;
during whicli time they have amjile opportunity to
make themselves acquainted with all the doctrines
and usages of the church ; and the cliurch has also an
opportunity of becoming acipiainted with the Chris-
tian experience and the general character of tiie pro-
bationers: at tlie end of the probation, if there is a
mutual agreement between the probationers and the
ehurch, they are received into full connexion; but in
case there is a disagreement, probationers can with-
draw, or the church can drop them without the for-
mality of a church trial.
" Whenever tliero is a sufTicient lunnber of per-
sons in a place, who wish to unite with the Metho-
dist Episcojial Church, it is customary for the
preacher to form them into a class, and to appoint
one of their number a leader, whose duty it is to take
a special oversight of them, and to meet them once
a-week for the purpose of religious instruction and
improvement. Classes thus formed are united into a
church, and the church is placed uiulerthe charge of
a travelling preacher. The churches are situated on
circuits or stations, and thoy are annually supplied
by a [ireacher from the conference.
" On eacli circuit or station there is a quarterly
conference, consisting of the presiding elder of the
district, all the travelling and local preachers, ex-
horters, stewards, and leaders of the circuit or sta-
tion, and none else. This conference possesses an
appellate jurisdiction over the members of the
church ou the circuit or station, who may have ap-
pealed from the decisions of the church, and its de-
cisions in all cases are final. It also attends to the
general business of the church, both temporal and
spiritual, which cannot so well be attended to by the
members of the church in their more private avpa-
city. It is properly a connecting link between the
church and the annual conference, and all the busi-
ness of the clau'ch with the annual conference is pre-
pared and forwarded by this body.
" A number of circuits and stations form districts,
over which an elder is appointed to preside. And a
number of the districts form a conference, which
meets annually for the transaction of its appropriate
business. And then, again, delegates from these
several annual conferences form a general conference,
which meets once in four years.
" Tliere are three orders of ministers recognised
in the Methodist Episcopal church ; bishops, elders,
and deacons ; and the duties pertaining to each are
plainly defined in the DiscipUne." (See Metho-
dists, Wesleyan.)
According to the last census, the Methodist Epis-
copal denomination in the United States has 12,404
church edifices, with accommodation for 4,209,333
persons. Up to 1831 this church had no foreign
missions except that to the North American Indians.
That year, however, they commenced a mission to
Liberia in Africa, and since that time they have
establiBlied miesionsin Africa, China, and South Amer-
ica, besides recently making arrangements for new
mission stations in Turkey and Hindustan. In tha
year 1843 — the year before the division of the church
— the number of foreign missionaries in connection
with the body was about CO. After the division th«
Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, was formed, its operations being con-
ducted independently a\ton the same general princi-
ples as the original Society. In 18.04 the Methodist
iCpiscopal Church, in both its northern and southern
divisions, had seventy-eight missionaries labouring
in foreign parts.
It is remarkable to what an extent Methodism
flourishes in the United States. In seventy years
the whole body of .Methodists in that country luis
grown from 13,000 to 1,200,000 members, besides
the many hundreds that have died during that time.
" The Methodist," says Dr. Schaff, •' is one of the
most numerous denominations in America, perhaps
the most numerous, and in the state of Indiana if
even controls the political elections. It has uncom-
mon energy and activity, and enjoys an organization
eminently fitted for great general enterprises, and sys-
tematic, successful co-operation. Its preachers have,
in general, little or no scientific culture, but, on an
average, a decided aptness for popular discourse and
exhortation, and they often compensate by fidehty and
self-denial for their want of deeper knowledge. They
are particularly fitted for breaking the way in new
regions, for aggressive missionary pioneer service, and
for labouring among the lower classes of the people.
Theii' zeal, however, is very frequently vitiated by im-
pure motives of prosely tism, and indulges in the boldest
aggressions on other churches, thinking that it alone
can really convert. Amongst the negroes, too, both
free and slave, Methodism has most influence, and
seems, with its emotional excitements, well adapteii
to their sanguine, excitable temperament. Fonnerly,
appealing to the apostles and evangelists of the primi-
tive church, it used to condemn learning and theo-
logy from principle, as dangerous to practiciil piety ;
and to boast, that its preachers had ' never rubbed
their backs against the walls of a college,' and yet
knew the better how to catch fish in the net of the
kingdom of God. But in this respect a considerable
change has been, for some years, going on. The
Methodists are now beginnmg to establish colleges
and seminai-ies, to publish scientific periodicals, and
to follow the steps of the culture of the age. But it
is a question whether they will not thus lose more
in their peculiar character and influence with the
masses than they will gain in the more cultivated
circles." In 1853 there were enrolled in the Me-
thodist Episcopal Chiu-ch, South, 1,G59 travelling
preachers, 4,036 local preachers, and 529,394 mem-
bers ; while the same church, North, enrols 5,100
travelling preachers, 6,061 local preachers, and
732,637 members under seven bishops.
METHODIST (Primitive) CONNEXION, a
424
METHODIST (Peimitive) CONNEXION.
Society of Methodists which arose in England out of
the revivals of religion which took place about the'
commencement of the present century among the
workmen at the potteries in Staffordshire. One of
the pious and worthy men with whom this denomi-
nation of Christians originated was William Clowes,
who was himself engaged in the potter\' business.
Throughout his apprenticeship he seems to have
pursued an unbroken career of sin and folly, not,
however, without occasional misgivings, and inward
strivings of the Spirit. In his twenty-fifth year he
was brought under the saving influence of the truth
as it is in Jesus ; and this joyful event in his histoiy
was speedily followed by the conversion of his wife.
The house of this humble pair now became the re-
sort of the godly and devout among their neighbours.
William became emphatically a man of prayer, and
the peace of God flowed through his soul like a
mighty river. " My soul feasted," he says, when
speaking in his Journals of this period of his spirit-
ual history, " on the hidden manna, and drank the
wine of the kingdom. My soul rose in spiritual
greatness, and I felt withal sucli a burning sj-mpathy
for souls, and saw their lost and perishing condition
with such vividness, that I went into the streets
among the licentious and profane, and addressed
them in the name of the Lord. The rebels against
God were struck with surprise and astonishment
whilst I bore witness against them, and cleared my
soul of their blood. Indeed, the tire of God's love
became so hot in my soul, as frequently to constrain
me to shout and praise aloud, as I went along the
road. On one occasion I was praising my God
aloud, as a happy inhabitant of the rock, (it was near
midnight,) and a woman, who had formed the dread-
ful resolution to drown lierself, was actually approach-
ing the water-side for tlie purpose, when hearing me
shouting glory to God, she was instantly arrested in
her purpose. She reflected upon the rash and awful
deed she was about to perpetrate ; 'and said to her-
self, ' Oh what a wicked wretch am I, and what a
happy man is he that shouts and praises God yonder ! '
This poor creature was, therefore, mercifully diverted
from her intention, and returned home. My soul
enjoyed sucli ecstasy, both niglit and day, that the
time I spent in sleep was comparatively trifling, not-
withstanding my daily labours and religious exer-
cises were very great ; for, after the toil of the day,
I attended a meeting every evening, and usually la-
boured till my strength failed. My Sabbatli labours
were also unremitting. In the first place, tliere was
the prayer-meeting at six o'clock in the morning;
another followed at nine ; preaching at eleven ; band-
meeting at one ; preaching at two ; visiting the sick
at four ; preaching again at six ; afterwards a prayer-
meeting at my own house, — besides reading the
Scriptures, family and private prayer, and other oc-
casional duties. In the midst of .all this ponderous
labour, I felt strong, active, and unspeakably happy
in God."
The prayer-meetings which were held about thii
time at William Clowes' house were attended by
great inimbers of people, many of them under deep
spiritual concern. The work of God now made ra-
pid progress among the workpeople at Tunstall,
Han'iseahead, and the neighbourhood. At this period
two other kindred spirits, Daniel Shubotham and
Hugh BouiTie, became frequent visitors at the house
of William Clowes, for the purpose of conversing
upon spiritual and divine things. Finding that the
prayer-meetings were blessed to not a few, William
and some of bis praying friends resolved to make
still further efforts to accomplish the conversion of
sinners. With this view they " agreed that the
person who should first address the throne of grace
should believe for the particular blessing prayed for,
and all the other praying labourers should respond
Amen, and believe also ; and if the blessing prayed
for was not granted, still to persevere pleading for
it, until it was bestowed. We conceived we were
authorized and justified by the Scriptures in praying
and believing for certain blessings, and receiving
them in the act of believing ; but that it could not
answer any useful purpose in the exercise of praying
to God, to ask perhaps for hundreds of blessings, and
finally to go away without receiving any." As the
result of this plan, " we began," says Clowes, " to
see immediate good done m the name of the Lord,
acting in accordance with those views of the word
of God which it is calculated to inspire ; for seldom
a meeting took place but souls were saved and be-
lievers sanctified to God."
In addition to the prayer-meetings, a local preach-
ers' meeting was also estabhshed for mutual improve-
ment, and the discussion of theological subjects.
Tliis meeting was very profitable, serving as a school
in which many preachers were trained for more en-
larged splieres of usefulness than they occupied be-
fore. Clowes now became a class-leader at a place
called Kidsgi'ove, where, through his instrimienfality,
many of the roughest colliers were brought to God.
Hugh Bourne was also much prospered in his la-
bours at Ilarriseahead, and one of his earliest con-
verts, Daniel Shubotham, was eminently useful as
a class-leader in the district. One of the most im-
portant moral results which followed, on the earnest
exertions of these humble but devoted men, was the
suppression, to a considerable extent, of Sabbath-
breaking, which was a very prevalent vice in the
Staflbrdshire potteries. An association was formed
for this important object, and speedily a powerful
check was put upon Sunday trading, and otlicr vio-
lations of the Christian Sabbath. A tract-distribut-
ing Society was organized in the town of Burslem,
which sent pious men, two and two, round both
town and country, to deliver Bibles, Testaments, and
Tracts, to all who would receive them, iind a'fter
wards to call again and exchange the tracts for fresh
ones. On these occasions the tract distributors em-
braced the opportunity of conversing with the pec-
I
METHODIST (Primitive) CONNEXION.
425
pie on the necessity of directing their thoughts to
their spiritual concerns, generally concluding their
visit with eiirnest prayer for the conversion of every
inmate of the house. By such means a spirit of
inquiry was excited, first prayer-meetings were estah-
lished, then class-meetings, and sul)sequently preach-
ing stations set up. Much opposition was offered,
but the work of conversion went forward, promoted
not a little by the arrival in the district of a remark-
able individual named Lorenzo Dow, who preaclied
with power and great success.
At this point in the history of the work of revival,
it was resolved to hold a camp-meeting after the ex-
ample of the American Methodists in Kentucky.
Such a meeting, accordingly, was announced to take
place on Salibath, May .31, 1807, on Mow-hill, near
the boundary-line which divides Cheshire from Staf-
fordshire. This was the first camp-meeting ever
held in England, and from its close bearing on the
rise of Primitive Methodism, we quote an account of
it as given by William Clowes, who was himself pre-
sent : " The morning, a rainy one, was unfavourable.
On my arrival about six o'clock, I found a small
gi'oup of people assembled under a wall, singing. I
immediately joined them, and several of us engaged
in prayer. When we had concluded the singing and
praying services, a Peter Bradburn preached, and an
individual from Macclesfield followed. The people
now began to be strongly affected, and we began an-
other praying-service. During the progress of these
labours the people continued increasing in large
numbers, but as they came from various places to
the hill, many did not know to wliat point they
should make. At last a person named Taylor, from
Tunstall, suggested that a flag, or something of the
kind, should be hoisted as a guide and rallying point.
Accordingly, E. Anderson, from Kilham, in York-
shire, unfurled something like a flag, on a long pole,
in a conspicuous and elevated position, which be-
came the centre of attraction. It was about this
time that I stood upon the stand to address the peo-
ple. I began my address by giving the people a
statement of my Christian experience, and an expla-
nation of the motives whicli had influenced me to
attend the meeting ; then I followed with an exhor-
tation for all immediately to look to the Lord by
faith for a present salvation ; and whilst I was warn-
ing sinners to flee from the wrath to come, Jones,
from Burslem, a man in the crowd, cried out, ' That's
right, Clowes, clear thy blood of them ! ' During
this period of the meeting, the unction of the Holy
Spirit rose with great po%ver. Several appeared in
distress ; and the praying labourers engaged most
zealously in pleading with the mourners. But this
movement in the meeting did not stay the word of
exhortation ; it rather gave greater energy and effect.
Accordingly, a second stand was fixed, and a person
from Ireland gave an exhortation. When this indi-
vidual had concluded, Edward Anderson, already
referred to, followed ; reading a part of his life and
experience in verse, interspersed with sentences o(
exhortation. As the jieojile still increased, a third
stand was fixed, and in the afternoon, a fourth was
erected ; and all were occupied with preachers,
preaching at the same time ; at this period the wea-
ther was very fine, and the crowds of people im-
mensely large. The first day's praying on Mow-hill
then presented a most magnificent and sublime spec-
tacle. Four preachers, sinudtancously crying to sin-
ners to flee from the wratli to come ; thousands lis-
tening, alTected with ' thoughts that breathed, and
words that buni'd;' many in deep distress, and
others pleading with Heaven in their behalf; some
praising God aloud for the great things which were
brought to pass, whilst others were rejoicing in the
testimony they had received, that their sins, which
were many, had been all forgiven. The camp-meet-
ing continued full of glory and converting power.
About four o'clock in the afternoon, the numbers of
people were prodigiously large ! but after this time
many began to move oli', and homewards ; yet the
power of the Highest continued with undiminished
force and effect to the very last. Towards the con
elusion, the services were principally carried on by
praying companies, and at the close, which took
place about half-past eight o'clock in the evening,
several (six) souls were set at liberty. The glory
that filled my soul on that day far exceeds my power
to explain. Much of the good wrought at this great
meeting remains ; but the full amount of that good,
eternity alone will develop to the myriads of the
angelic and sainted inhabitants, who will everiast-
ingly laud the eternal Majesty on account of the
day's praying on Mow-hill 1 "
A second camp-meeting was held at the same
place on the 19th of July ; and a third at Norton on
the 2.3d of August. The design of these two latter
is described as having been to " coimteract the effects
resulting from the 'wakes' or annual parish feasts,
at which much riot and sensuality usually took place ;
and at such seasons, not unfrcquently, professors of
religion were drawn from their steadfastness. To
stay the torrent of evil, to preserve God's people,
and to effect the conversion of sinners to God, were
the ruUng motives which influenced us in arranging
these meetings."
All the persons who were mainly concerned in
planning and conducting these camp-meetings were
thus far connected with the Wesleyan Methodist So-
ciety, but their proceedings met with decided disap-
probation from the Wesleyan preachers in the Buis-
lem circuit, who after a time expelled them from
their body, simply on the ground that they attended
camp-meetings, which were alleged to be contrary
to the Methodist discipline. This act was regarded
as being in accordance with a minute passed by
the Wesleyan Conference in 1807, which declared,
" It is our judgment, that even supposing such
meetings to be allowed in America, they are highly
improper in England, and likely to be productive of
426
METHODIST (Primitive) CONNEXION.
considerable niiscliief ; we disclaim all connexion with
them." William Clowes, thus driven out from the
Wesleyan body, still continued along witli his friends,
to labour with unwearied energy in preacliing, hold-
ing prayer-meetings, and other operations of a na-
ture fitted to advance the spiritual good of men.
Tlie burden, however, of the camp-meetings which
were held from time to time, chiefly rested upon H.
and J. Bourne, and exposed them to much obloquy,
besides involving them in various difficulties, and
almost ruining them in their worldly circumstances.
The brethren carried on their classes and mission-
ary labours with great zeal and success, but in se-
parate and detached parties, without any particular
bond of union or organization. On the 30th of May
1811, however, the work assumed, for the first time,
a regular connexional aspect, for at that date quar-
terly society tickets were ordered to be printed, and
given to the members of all the classes, and regular
visitations of all the societies to take place. The
introduction of tickets was followed by a regulation
tending still more to unite the various Societies which
liad now become both numerous and wide-spread.
Hitlierto the whole expenses of the missionary and
other operations bad been borne by four individuals,
tut as these men were wholly dependent for their
siqiport upon the labour of their bands, it had now
become necessary to devise some other means of
raising money to meet the increasing expenses of
the movement. The people generally were quite
willing to assist, but had never been called upon to
subscribe. A general meeting, accordingly, was held
at Tunstall on the 26th of July 1811, when it was
resolved tliat money should in future be regularly
raised in the Societies to meet the expenditure of
the Connexion. A preachers' plan about this time
was foi-med, and preaching appointments regularly
arranged. There were now on the list 2 travelling
preachers; 15 local preachers; 200 members, and
17 preaching places.
Early in the following year a meeting was held at
Tunstall, which is thus noticed in Hugh Bourne's
Journal, "Thursday, Februaiy 13, 1812, we called
a meeting, made plans for the next quarter, and
made some other regulations; in particular, we took
the name of the Primitive Methodist Connex-
ion." The reason assigned for taking this name is
stated to have been, " because we wish to walk as
closely as we can in the steps of John Wesley." An
attempt was now made by the Wesleyan body in the
Burslem circuit, to persuade the newly-formed Society
to return to the Old Connexion, assigning as an in-
ducement that it would be for the glory of God, and
would spread more tlw kingdom of Christ in the
world. The letter containing this invitation was
taken into serious consideration, and the proposal
was respectfully but firmly declined.
The Primitive Methodic Conncrion was now or-
ganized as a separate and independent body of
Christiang. Arrangements were made for holding
regular quarterly meetings for the management of
their affairs. A code of rules was drawn up for tli«
u!ie of the Connexion at large, and having been sub
mitted for approval to the Societies by the preachers,
they were carefully revised according to the sugges-
tions made and printed in their authorized form early
in 1814. In this same year an important step in
advance was made by the establishment of the office
of Superintendent Preacher. The Connexion was
now extending its labours over a wide extent ol
country, but particularly in Derbysliire, where it
was joined by large numbers of the labouring popu-
lation. At Belper, in that county, several prayer
meetings were conducted with gi-eat success. Hugh
Bourne tells us, that " when these veiy powerful
meetings were closed, the praying people in return-
ing home were accustomed to sing through the
streets of Belper. "This circumstance," he says,
" procured them the name of Ranters ; and the name
of Ranter, which tirst arose on this occasion, after-
wards spread very extensively." It is very impro-
per and utterly unchristian to apply opprobrious
terms to any class of men who are seeking according
to the light given them to advance the cause o(
Christ. The Primitive Methodists as a body, have
ever shown themselves to be an earnest, laborious,
self-denying class of men, whose effisrts have doubt-
less been blessed in many cases to the conversion of
souls.
The missionary labours of William Clowes now
extended into Nottinghamshire, and thence into
Leicestershire. The camp meetings, however, which
in their commencement had been so successful, be-
gan about this time to decline in their influence and
usefubiess. Hugh Bourne, who had hitherto taken
a special interest in this department of the work,
carefully examined the matter to discover if poBsible
the causes of this decline, and coming to the conclu-
sion that too much importance was attached to
preacliing, and too little to praying, he resolved to
take a hint on this point from the American Camp
Meetings, and, accordingly, he arranged that each
hour devoted to preaching, should be followed by an
hour devoted to prayer, and that this practice should
be continued throughout the whole day. This change
restored in a gi'eat measure the former efficiency of
the meetings, which were attended by thousands oi
people.
In 1819, the work extended into Yorkshire, and
to carry forward operations ui this quarter, William
Clowes was stationed at Hull. At this time was in-
troduced the system of dividuig circuits inio branches,
which could easily, when judged proper, be formed
into new circuits. And as the entire connexion was
increasing rapidly, another important step was taken
in advance by the institution of regular Annual
Meetings, the first of which was held at Hull on the
2d of May 1820. These were appointed to consist
of three delegates from each circuit, one of whom
was to be a travelling preacher. The report of the
METHODIST (PiiiMiTivi;) CONNICXION.
427
connexion now stood as follows : — 8 circuits ; 48 tra-
velling iii'eachors, 277 lociil preachers, and 7,842
members. At the Conference in 1821 several im-
portant resolutions were adopted. It was decided
tliat a printing-press should be established for the
connexion, and also a ISook-room. The cause was
now making such encouraging progress, that at the
Conference in 1822 the number of members was re-
ported to have risen to 2.5,218.
Mr. Clowes, by his ardent missionary zeal, had
rendered the Ilnll circuit one of the most prosperous
in the whole body, and having been so successful in
Vorkshire, he extended his o|ierations into Northum-
berland, and afterwards into Cumberland. In 1824,
he proceeded to London, but the work went heavily
and slowly on in the metropolis. He next proceeded
by invitation into Cornwall, and after labouring
there for a time, returned to the northern counties
of England, where he was so prospered in liis mis-
sionary etibrts, that great numbers were enrolled as
members of the Society, and not a few seemed to
give evidence of having been savingly converted.
The doctrines of the rrimitivo Methodists are
declared in their Deed Poll to be " those contained
in the first four volumes of AVesley's Sermons, and
certain Notes by him on the New Testament."
In the leading articles of Christianity, therefore,
they agi'ee with the Wesleyan Methodists as set
forth in their published standards. The charac-
teristic doctrine, however, of Primitive Methodism,
is, as one of the body alleges, " that of a full, free,
and present salvation," and they believe in the
doctrine of instantaneous conversions. In defending
this doctrine, they argue that " sudden conversions
are in accordance with Scripture. In the Acts of
the Apostles, we find that ordinarily conversions
were sudden under their ministry. The 3,000 con-
versions on the day of Pentecost all appear to have
taken place during the sittings of one assembly ; and
all the subsequent outpourings of the Spirit with
which the first f.ge of Christianity was blessed .seem-
ed to have been characterized by conversions of this
sort. Though Saul was three days seeking the
Lord, yet the jailer of Philippi and all his house
were converted in one hovr! And we have reason
to believe that such conversions were every day tak-
ing place under the ministry of the apostles. Not
only the example of Scripture, but the general spirit
and genius of the Bible are favourable to sudden
conversion. The Bible calls upon men to repent
now! It does not instruct them to adopt a course
of action preparatory to their doing so, but allows of
no delay. Its language is, ' Behold, now is the ac-
cepted time; behold, nmo is the day of salvation.'
udden conversions are neither unpliilosophical, un-
Bcriptm'al, nor unusu.al."
This body of Christians, at least the great majo-
rity of its preachers and members, is unfavourable to
all national establishments of religion. They main-
tain the doctrine and follow the practice of infant
baptism, but they reject the dogma of baptismal re-
generation. One of the comiexional rules is, " that
the preachers and members use every prudential
means to encourage Temperance Societies;" and
another that " none of the preachers shall be allowed
to make speeches at parliamentary elections, or at
political meetings."
Tlie condition on which members are admitted into
the Society of the Primitive Methodists, is simply
that the applicant is animated by "a desire to flee
from the wrath to come." Three months' probation
is required before full admission is granted into fel-
lowshii). Members can only be excluded from com-
munion by a proved wilful immorality ; or absence
from class four weeks successively without assigning
sufEcient reason for such absence. The Connexion
is composed of classes, one member of which is called
the Leader, and usually another called the assistant.
The members of each class have their names entered
in a class-book ; and further, each member holds
Society ticket which is renewed quarterly. A mem-
ber removing from one place to another is furnished
with credentials. The lay-officers of the body are,
the " Leader," corresponding to the " Elder" of the
New Testament ; and the " Society Steward," corres-
ponding to the " Deacon." It is regarded as an in-
dispensable qualification of a preacher among the
Primitive Methodists, that he give satisfactoiy evi
dence of a scriptural conversion to God, and of a
Divine call. In the induction of preachers to the
ministerial office, there is no ceremony or laying on
of hands as in the case of ordination in otliei
churches. From the period of a preacher being
" called out," he enters on a probation of four years
after which, if successful, he is admitted into full
connexion. The salary allowed to a preacher of the
gospel is proverbially small, so that there is no temp-
tation to any one to undertake the ministerial office
from mere worldly motives.
The object of the Primitive Methodist Connexion
is "to aid in extending the kingdom of Christ
throughout the world by preaching the gospel in
the open air, private houses, and public edifices, and
by holding various religious services throughout its
societies, congregations, circuits, branches, and mis-
sions." The constitution of the body is thus de-
scribed by Mr. Church in his 'Sketches of Primitive
Methodism:' "A number of societies or classes in
different places form what is called a mission ; or
when self-supporting, a circuit. This generally in-
cludes a market town, and the circumjacent viUages,
to the extent of ten or twenty miles. Two, three, or
more preachers, are annually appointed to a circuit;
one of these is called the superintendent. This cir-
cuit is their sphere of labour for at least one year,
and not exceeding three years ; while the superin
tendent may probably remain five or six years in the
same circuit. This constant change of preachers is
an excellent rule. ' Some indeed, have imagined
that this is a hindrance to the work of God; bat
428
METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH IN AMERICA.
long experience in every part of tlie liingdom proves
to the contrary.
" A number of circuits, from five to ten, more or
fewer, according to circumstances, compose a dis-
trict. Tlie Primitive Metliodist Connexion is divid-
ed into 14 districts. Each district has an annual
meeting, preparatory to the Conference. It is at-
tended by a travelUng preacher, or a lay delegate
from eacli of the circuits belonging to the district,
and also by a delegate from tlie general or ' Coniiex-
ional Committee.' ' The district meeting,' according
to the Various Reguktions of 1836, 'inquires re-
specting the conduct and success of each travelUng
preacher; and whether any trespass on the rules
respecting preaching, or are neghgent in ministerial
family visiting, or in other duties, and notes the
same on the minutes.'
" Six delegates from each district attend the Con-
ference. 'They shall consist,' says the Deed Poll,
' of the travelhng preachers, one-tliird ; and the
other two-thirds shall consist of those members who
shall sustain each the office of local preacher, class-
leader, or circuit steward.' The majority, therefore,
is as two to one in favour of the people. Laws made
at the Conference govern the Connexion. The Con-
ference is the supreme church court. It also exa-
mines the number of members, finances, &c., and
stations the preachers for the ensuing year."
Open-air worship is frequently practised by the
Primitive Methodists. At the risk of imprisonment
and persecution they " go out into the highways and
liedges to compel soiJs to come in," and be saved.
Love-feasts are observed from time to time, at which
bread and water are distributed in token of Christian
fellowship. Watch-nights also, after the manner of
the vigils of the ancients, are held on the last night
of the year ; and on these occasions the services
consist of prayer, praise, and exhortation by preach-
ers. Silence is usually observed a few minutes be-
fore midnight, and until the new year has commenced,
when the services are ended. Protracted meetings,
which originated in America, were introduced into
England by a Primitive Methodist preacher in 1838,
and they have ever since been resorted to by the
body generally, as a favourite means of bringing
about a revival of religion. Tlie ordinary worship of
tlie Society is characterized by great liveliness and
excitement, the people being accustomed to utter
liearty responses with loud voices in the course of
the devotional exercises. In not a few of their con-
gi'egations instrumental music has been introduced,
though others are much opposed to what they regard
as an unwarranted innovation on the primitive sim-
phcity of Christian worship.
The Priinitivo Methodists have from their first
rise admitted of a practice which is unknown in
other dononiinatior/', with the exception of the
Friends, that of female preacliing. It has been some-
times argued in defence of this practice, that it ig
not epecifically condenuicd in Scripture, and lias in
many cases b^en blessed for the good of souls. But
while in sevoral circuits females are still employed
occasionally as local or lay preachers, female preach-
ing is gi-eatly on the decline throughout the Con-
nexion generally. In this and a few other particulars
the Primitive Methodists differ from other churches,
but wiih all their pecuharities, they are a body of
simple-hearted and devoted Christians, whose pre-
doniii:/»nt desire is to win souls to Christ.
The Primitive Methodist Magazine commenced in
1818. Subsequently it was edited by Hugh Bom-ne
until 1S43, when a new series was begun imder the
editorship of Jolm Flesher, and under the present
arrangement a new editor is appointed every five
years. " Hitherto," says Mr. Church, referring
to 18*4, " the Connexion has been isolated in its
missionary operations. Each circuit, which has
been able, has employed a missionaiy, and, with
few exceptions, has had to support him with its own
resources. In the youth of the Connexion this plan
appears to have been best adapted for the diffusion
of its energies through tlie land ; but growing events
seem to demand a different state of things, and hence
arrangements were made at the Conference to con
centrate our missionary energies in part, that we may
try, on a partial scale, whether the plan is not better
siuted to the altered condition of the Connexion.
In April, two missionaries set out for America.
Duiing the same month an association of Sunday-
scholars was formed to support a missionary to and
at Adelaide, South Australia." The following year
an association of Sunday-scliool teachers was formed
to sustain a missionary in New Zealand. The Con-
nexion now organized a foreign missionary Society,
adopting Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, as
theii- fields of labour. The total number of their
foreign missionaries throughout the world is at present
40 ; of whom 22 are in Canada, 14 in Australia, and
4 in New Zealand. The whole number of members
ill their foreign stations is 3,363. From the General
Minutes of the Annual Conference held in June
1857, we leam that the travelling preachers of the
whole Connexion amount to 598, the local preachers
to 10,205, and the members, including the Home and
Foreign Missions, in connection with the Briti.sli
Conference, to 110,683. The Primitive Methodists
have uniformly taken a very lively interest in the
religious education of the young. Their Sabbath
scliools were reported at the last Annual Conference
to be 1,092, with 25,403 teachers, and 139,480
METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH IN
AMERICA, a respectable body of seceders from the
Mellwduit Episcopal Church, who formed themselves
into a regularly organized churcli in 1830, the first
General Convention of the body having been held in
that year in the city of Baltimore, State of Mary-
land. It would appear that at an early period in tlie
history of Methodism in America, exception was
taken by not a few members of the body to a pecu-
MliTllUDIST I'KOTESTANT CJIUJiCU IN AMEUICA.
429
liar feature in the government adopted by the Con-
furence in 1784, which consisted exclusively of
preacliers. Tlie oljnoxious feature was tliat whieli
secured to the itinerant ministers the entire exercise
of the lei;islative, executive, and judicial powers of
the cliurch to the exclusion of all other classes of
ministers, as well as the whole nicnibersliij) of tlie
body. The spirit of dissatisfaction which so soon
manifested itself, continued every year to gain ground,
until at lenglli, in 1820, the feelings of the Reform-
ing partv found vent in a periodical which was insti-
tuted, called the ' Wesleyan Repository.' Numer-
ous petitions were now presented to the Conference
from all (juartcrs of the country, praying for a repre-
sentation of both ministers and laymen in the ride-
making department ; but no change either in the
principles or practical operations of the body could
he obtained. At length, at the close of the Con-
feretice in 1824, a meeting of the reforming party
was held in Baltimore, at which it was determined
to publish a periodical pamphlet, entitled ' The Mu-
tu.al Rights of the Ministers and Members of the
Methodist Episcopal Church,' for the purpose, as was
alleged, of giving the Methodist community a suita-
ble opportunity to enter upon a calm and dispa.ssion-
■ate discussion of the subjects in dispute. The meet-
ing also determined to resolve itself into a Union
Society, and recommended similar societies to be
formed in all parts of the United St.ates, in order to
ascertain the number of persons in the Methodist
Episcopal Church friendly to a change in her gov-
ernment. These steps exposed the reformers to
much persecution and annoyance, but their views
were adopted by a large body of zealous Methodists.
The further history of the controversy, until the
secession actually took place, is thus stated by the
Rev. Thomas P. Norris : " Sometime during the
spring of the year 1820, the Baltimore Union So-
ciety recommended state conventions to be held in
the several States, for the exclusive purpose of mak-
ing inquiry into the propriety of making 07ie united
petition to the approaching General Conference of
1828, praying for representation ; and to elect dele-
gates to meet in a General Convention for the pur-
pose. Conventions were accordingly held, and dele-
gates elected ; in consequence of wliich, reformers, in
different parts of the country, were made to feel the
displeasure of men in power. In North Carolina, sev-
eral members of the Granville Union Society were
expelled for being members thereof. In the fall of
1827, eleven ministers were suspended, and fin.ally
expelled from the Methodist Episcopal Church in this
church in Baltimore, and twenty-two laymen, for
being members of the Union Society, and supporters
of mutual rights. The members expelled, and others
who saw fit to secede, organized under Mr. Wes-
ley's general rules, taking the title of Associated
Methodists.
" In November 1827, the General Convention as-
sembled in Baltimore, composed of ministers and
lay delegates, elected by the State Conventions and
Union Societies. This Convention prepared a me-
moriid to the General Conference of May 1828, pray-
ing that the govcniment of the church might be
made representative, and more in accordance with
the mutual rights of the ministers and people. To
this memorial the General Conference replied, in
a circular, claiming for the itinerant ministers of
their church an exclusive divine right to the same
unlimited and unamenable power, which they had
exercised over the whole church from the establish-
ment of their government in 1784. Soon after
the rise of the General Conference, several refoiiners
in Cincimiati, Lyncliburg, and other places, were ex-
pelled for being members of Union Societies and
supporters of the mutual rights.
" The reformers, now perceiving that all hope of
obtaining a change in the government of the church
had vanished, withdrew, in considerable numbers, in
different parts of the United States, and called an-
other General Convention to assemble in Baltimore,
November 12, 1828. This Convention drew up
seventeen 'Articles of Association,' to serve as a
provisional government for the Associated Methodist
churches, until a constitution and book of discipline
could be prepared by a subsequent Convention to lie
held in November 1830."
The first General Convention, accordingly, at
which the Methodist Protestant Church was regulai'-
ly organized, was held at Baltimore in 1830. The
meeting commenced on the 2d of November, and con
tinued in session till the 23d inclusive. It was attend
ed by eighty-three ministerial, and a large number of
lay representatives of about 5,000 members of the
respective associated Methodists, a large majority of
whom had already withdrawn from the Methodist
Episcopal Church on account of her government and
hostility to lay representation. In this important
Convention, a form of constitution and discipline for
the newly organized church was considered and
approved. The principles on wliich the Secession
proceeded are tlius stated in the preamble and arti
cles which precede the constitution : " We the repre-
sentatives of the Associated Methodist churches in
General Convention assembled, acknowledging the
Lord Jesus Christ as the oidy head of the church,
and the Word of God as the sufficient rule of faith
and practice, in all things pertaining to godliness;
and being fully persuaded, that the representative
form of church government is the most scriptural,
best suited to our condition, and most congenial with
our views and feelings as fellow-citizens with the
saints, and of the household of God ; and whereas a
written constitution, estabhshing the form of govern-
ment, and securing to the ministers and members of
the church their rights and privileges, is the best
safeguard of Christian liberty : We. therefore, trust-
ing in the protection of Almighty God, and acting in
the name and by the authority of our constituents,
do ordain and establish, and agree to be governed by
430
METHODIST (Reformed) CHURCH IN AMERICA.
the following elementary principles and constitution :
" 1. A Christian church is a society of believers
in Jesus Christ, and is a divine institution.
" 2. Christ is the only Head of the church ; and
the Word of God the only rule of faith and conduct.
" 3. No person who loves the Lord Jesus Clirist,
and obeys the gospel of God, our Saviour, ought to
be deprived of church membership.
"4. Every man has an inalienable riglit to private
judgment, in matters of religion ; and an equal right
to express his opinion, in any way which will not
violate the laws of God. or the rights of his fellow-
men.
"5. Church trials should be conducted on gospel
principles only ; and no minister or member should
be excommunicated except for immorality ; the pro-
pagation of unchristian doctrines ; or for the neglect
of duties enjoined by the Word of God.
" 6. The pastoral or ministerial office and duties
are of divine appointment ; and all elders in the
church of God are equal ; but ministers are forbidden
to be lords over God's heritage, or to have dominion
over the faith of the saints.
" 7. The church has a right to form and enforce
such rules and regulations only, as are in accordance
with the Holy Scriptures, and may be necessary or
liave a tendency to carry into eftect the great sys-
tem of practical Christianity.
" 8. Whatever power may be necessary to the for-
mation of rules and regulations, is inherent in the
ministers and members of the church ; but so much
of that power may be delegated, from time to time,
upon a plan of representation, as they may judge
necessary and proper.
" 9. It is the duty of all ministers and members of
the church to maintain godliness, and to oppose all
moral evil.
" 10. It is obligatory on ministers of the gospel to
be faithful in the discharge of their pastoral and min-
isterial duties ; and it is also obligatoiy on the mem-
bers, to esteem ministers highly for tlieir works'
sake, and to render them a righteous compensation
for their labours.
"11. The church ought to secure to all lier official
bodies the necessary authority for the pui-jioses of
good government ; but she has no right to create any
distinct or independent sovereignties."
Lay representation being adopted as an essential
element in the constitution of the Methodist Pro-
testant Church, its General Conference, which meets
every seventh year, is composed of an e(|ual number
of ministers and laymen, being one minister and one
layman for every thousand persons of its member-
ship. The Annual Conferences consist of all the
ordamed itinerant ministers, and of one delegate from
each circuit and station within the bounds of the
district, for each of its itinerant ministers The
Quarterly Conferences are the immediate official
meetings of the circuits and stations. The leaders'
meeting, and, indeed, i>ll tjie other arrangements, are
similar to those of the clmroh from which they se-
ceded. The only difference between the two churches
lies in government, the Methodist Episcopal Church
rejecting lay representation, and adopting an unli-
mited episcopacy, while the Methodist Protestant
Church admits lay representation, and a parity in
the ministry.
METHODIST (Reformed) CHURCH IN
AMERICA. This body sprung out of a feeble se-
cession which took place from the Methodist Episco-
pal Church in 1814. The original seceders amounted
to no more than fourteen persons belonging to the
towns of Wliitiiigham and Readsborough, Vermont,
who felt straitened in (heir religious rights and pri-
vileges under the Episcopal mode of church govern-
ment. Having represented their grievances to the
General Conference, and meeting with no favoura-
ble answer, they formally separated from the church,
and on the 16th of January 1814 met in convention
at Readsborough. At this Convention they formed
themselves into a church under the name of the
"Reformed Methodist Church," and appointed a
Conference to be held on the following 5tli of Feb-
ruary, at which they adopted articles of religion and
rules of church government.
The Reformed Jlethodists agree with the Method-
ist Episcopal Church in regard to the fundamental
doctrines of the gospel. Their system of church gov.
enmient is essentially Congregational in its character,
all power being considered as vested in the primary
bodies, the churches. The leading men among the
Reformed Methodists have generally maintained,
that the same faith would produce the same effects it
did in primitive times. They believe that the church
has apostatized ; that as all blessings given in an-
swer to prayer are suspended upon the condition
of faith, therefore, faith is the restoring principle.
They dare not limit faith except by a " thus saith
the Lord," and hence they believe that the sick aie
often restored to health in answer to their prayers.
Another peculiar tenet which they maintain is, that
it is possible for a believer to attain perfection in
this world or complete sanctiiication of heart and life
through faith in the atoning blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They hold that the church of Christ is a
spiritual body, and tli.it members ouglit to be admit-
ted into tlie church, not by subscribing certain doc-
trines, but by exhibiting clear evidence of the for-
giveness of their sins, and tlie renewal of their heart.
Tliey are conscientiously opposed to war, both offen-
sive and defensive, and also to slavery and slavehold-
ing. An article has been added to their Discipline
excluding all apologists for slavery from church mem-
bership.
Reformed Methodism was planted in Upper Can-
ada in 1817 or 1818, and its introduction was sig-
nalized by a remarkable revival of religion. Both in
Canada and the United Stales it has made steady
progress ; but it bad no periodical organ until 1837,
when the 'South Cortland Luminary' was started by
METHODIST SOCIETY IN AMERICA— METHODISTS (Romish).
431
the Now York Conferenco, in the first instance, and
Bftcr a short time became the organ of tlie whole
cliurch. In 18.39 this periodical changed its name
to that of the ' Fayettoville Luminary.' In 18 U .-m
association was formed between the lieforined Me-
thodists, Society Methodists, and local bodies of
Wesleyan Methodists, tlie oliject of wliicli was har-
moniously to co-operate, without, however, merging
the various bodies into one church. By tlie terms
of the association the name of the ' Luminary' wa-s
again clianged to that of the ' Methodist Reformer,'
which became the organ of the association, wliile the
property of the periodical still belonged to the Re-
formed Methodists. After the organization of the
Wesleyan Methodist Church in America in 184.3,
the subscription list of tlie ' Jletliodist Reformer,'
by an arrangement on the association principle be-
tween the Refoniied Methodists and tlie Wesleyans,
was transferred to the periodical eaUed the ' True
Wesleyan,' publislied at Boston, Massachusetts, as a
preliminary step to the union of the two bodies.
Latterly the Reformed Methodists Iiave become com-
pletely merged in tlie Wesleyan Methodist Chureli.
METHODIST SOCIETY IN AMERICA
(The). This body of Christians was first composed
of a small body of seceders from the Methodist Epis-
copal Cluirch in the city of New York in 1820.
The point on which the Secession arose, was the
circumstance of the ruling preacher, so called, in-
sisting on receiving the money collected in the dif-
ferent churclies under liis charge, tlirough stewards
of his own appointment, instead of by the trustees
appointed according to law, and in accordance with
the practice of the churcli in all time previous. In
addition to this objectionable practice, the Seceders
dissented from certain resolutions passed by the New
York Annual Conference of ministers, to petition the
legislature for a law recognizing the pecuharities of
the church discipline, by which the whole property of
the church would have been placed under the super-
vision and control of the body of ministers, who, ac-
cording to their discipline from the bishop down-
wards, are to take charge of the temporal and spirit-
ual business of the cluirch. Having left the ^le-
thodist Episcopal Church, the Seceders erected a
new place of worship, and a congregation of about
■300 members was organized under the Rev. William
M. Stilwell, who withdrew from the travelling con-
nexion, and became the pastor of this new church.
The brief history of the Jlethodist Society is thus
slated by Mr. Stilwell : " In the course of the three
years following their first formation as a separate
body, they had erected two other places of worship,
and formed a discipdine, in which the general prin-
ciples, as taught by the Methodists, were recognized
but in the government of the church there was a
difference : 1. No bishop was allowed, but a presi-
dent of each Annual Conference was chosen yearly,
by ballot of the members thereof 2. All ordained
ministers, whfither travelling or not, were allowed a
seat in the Annual Conferences. 3. Two lay dele-
gates from each Quarterly Conference could eit in
the Annual Conference, with the ministers. 4. No
rides or regulations for the church could be made
unless a majority present were lay members. 5. A
preacher could remain with a congregation as long
as they agreed. 6. Class meetings, love feasts, &c.,
were to be attended ; the leader of each class being
chosen by the members. 7. Tlie property of the
Societies to be vested in trustees of their own choice,
and the minister to have no oversight of the tem-
poral alVairs of the church. They prospered greatly
for a few years, when some of the preachers and
people, being desirous to have a more itinerant con-
nexion, thought it best to unite with a body of Se-
ceders from the Methodist Episcopal Church, who
held a Convention in Baltimore, and took the name
of Protestant Methodist Church : since which the
Methodist Society have not sought to enlarge their
body so mucu. as to supply such congregations as
may feel a disposition to enjoy a liberty, which the
other bodies of dissenting Methodists, as well as the
Jtethodist Episcopal Church, do not see fit to grant
to the laity."
METHODISTS (Romish). This name was ap-
plied to certain Romish Controversialists in the seven-
teenth century, wlio arose in France, and attempted
by ingenious sophistry to silence the Huguenots in
argument. These Methodists are arranged by Mo-
sheim under two classes. The first class attempted
to foreclose the argument by demanding from the
Protestants a direct proof of their doctrines, and
calling upon them to adduce explicit declarations
of the Holy Scripture. By this mode of con
ducting the argument, it was assumed at the very
outset of the controversy, that the Church of Rome
was an ancient church, and in possession of a
system of doctrines which she had held unmolest-
ed for ages ; and, therefore, the Protestants, be-
ing on this theory innovators in religion, the bur-
den of proof lies upon them, and it behoves there
to adduce not indirect and inferential, but direct
and positive statements of the Bible in favour ol
tlieir novel doctrines. To this class of Romish Me-
thodists belonged Veron, Xihusius, and Peter and
Adrian von Walenburg. The second class of Con
troversialists of this kind refused to encounter the
Protestants, by arguing with them on the various
points in detail, but they sought to overwhelm them by
urging certain great principles or general arguments
involving the whole subject. One of the most dex-
terous reasoners of this class was the celebrated
Peter Nicole, the .lansenist, and the illustrious Car
diual Richelieu. The most distinguished, however,
of all these Romish Methodists was Father Bossuet,
the author of the ' Histoire des Variations des Eg-
lises Protestantes,' who lays it down as a fundamen-
tal principle, that whatever church frequently modi-
fies and clianges its doctrines, lias not the Holy
Spirit. The ingenious author seems to have been-
432
METHODISTS (Welsh Calvinistic).
blinded to the important fact, that the weapon wliich
he had so carefully forged against Protestantism bore
with equal, if not more, efleet against Romanism.
This is very ably and conclusively shown in a work
entitled ' Variations of Popery,' compiled as an an-
swer to Bossuet by the late Rev. S. Edgar, one of
the ministers of tlie Presbyterian Church in Ireland.
METHODISTS (Welsh Calvinistic). This
large and efficient body of Methodists dates its ori-
gin from 1735. A gentleman of Trevecca in Breck-
nockshire, by naine Howel Harris, had entered one
of the colleges of Oxford with the view of taking
holy orders in the Church of England. Disgusted
with the immorality and unprincipled conduct which
then prevailed at that seat of learning, he left it and
returned home. His own mind being deeply im-
pressed with a sense of divine things, he began to
visit from house to house in his native parish, press-
ing home upon the people the necessity of attendiitg
without delay to the things which belonged to their
eternal peace. Not confining his labours to house-
hold visitation, he commenced public preaching.
Crowds flocked to hear him, and many individuals,
as well as whole families, were spiritually awakened.
He now established a school at Trevecca, which was
largely attended, and where the young were care-
fully instructed in the great truths of the gospel.
Feeling that his labours for the good of both old and
young met with the most encoiu-agmg success, he
proceeded to establish meetings for religious conver-
sation in various places ; and thus commenced those
Private Societies which have ever formed a promi-
nent feature in the arrangements of the Welsh Cal-
vinistic Methodists. Mr. Harris now devoted much
of his time to preaching, being engaged in tliis im-
portant work three, four, and even five times a day.
And liis labours were eminently successful, multi-
tudes being awakened, and not a few savingly con-
verted. A spirit of opposition now arose against
this devoted man. "The magistrates threatened to
punish him; the clergy preached against him; and
the common rabble were generally prepared to dis-
turb and to pelt liim." In the midst of persecut on,
however, the cause continued to prosper, and in 1739,
tliough he had laboured only four years, and that
too single-handed and alone, he had established about
.300 Societies in South Wales. The revival which
had thus commenced among the Methodists attracted
the attention of good men in all Christian denomi-
nations, and Mr. Harris's haiuls were eminently
sfrongtliened by tlie efiicient assistance which he
received from the Rev. Daniel Rowland of Llan-
geitlio, Canligansliire, whose popularity and elo-
quence attracted crowds from great distances to wait
upon his ministrations. In a short time several pious
ministers of the Establishment seceded and joined
the Methodists. A considerable band of itinerant
missionaries was now formed, who, with apostolic
zeal, wandered from place to place tliroughout the
principality, proclaiming the glad tidings of salva-
tion through a Redeemer. A revival of a most re-
freshing kind now took place among the different
religious denominations ; and tlie new sect daily
rose in popularity and influence, being joined in
seven years from its commencement by no fewer
than ten ministers of the Church of England.
The first chapel built by the Welsh Calvinistic Me-
thodists was erected in 1747 at Builth in Brecknock-
shire. In the following year two others were built in
Carmarthenshire. The cause made steady progress
in South Wales ; but it was much hindered in Nortli
Wales by the keen opposition to wliich its ministers
and adherents were exposed. Shortly after this time
Providence raised up one who was made an eminent
instrument in advancing the spiritual interests of
large masses of the Welsh population. We refer to
that devoted servant of Christ, the Rev. Thomas
Charles of Bala, Merionethshire, to whose exertions
and influence the Societies of Calvinistic Methodists
in North Wales are chiefly indebted for tlieir organi-
zation and present flourishing condition. Tliough in
liis early days he had experienced occasional serious
impressions, it was not until his eighteenth year that
he was brought to a saving knowledge of the truth,
through the powerful preaching of Mr. Rowland.
His thouglits were now turned towards the ministry,
and having passed through the usual preparatory stu-
dies, he entered upon a curacy, the salary of which
was only forty-five, and was afterwards reduced
to thirty pounds. The fervent piety and devotedness
with which he discharged the duties of the ministe-
rial office gave great oft'ence to many of the careless
and ungodly among the people. On this account he
was under the necessity of removing from place to
place, and at length, in 1781, he resolved to leave a
church which was fettered with so many forms, and
to enjoy the free air and the open fields of Method-
ism. The Welsh principahty was at this time one
vast moral wilderness, and although, by the labours
of Harris, Rowland, and the other Methodist preach-
ers, much good liad been effected, the most lamenta-
ble ignorance and ungodliness still pervaded the
great mass of the people. A Bible could scarcely
be found in any of the cottages of the peasantry, and
in some parishes very few persons were able to read
it. Such was the state of the principality when Mr.
Charles commenced his labours in connexion with
the Calvinistic Methodists.
The manner in which this faithful and earnest min-
ister of Christ entered upon the wide field of Christian
effort which was thus opened up for liim, showed tlie
comprehensiveness of liis mind, and liis anxiety to
overtake the spiritual destitution of the country in a
systematic way. He inquired into the moral statis-
tics of the entire principality, and set himself to de-
vise a system of spiritual machinery suited to the
peculiar condition and habits of the people. On a
strict examination into the whole matter he resolved
to establish " circulating schools," which might be
transplanted from one place to another at the end ol
METHODISTS (Welsh Calvinistic).
4J3
a definite period, say nine or twelve montlis. Two
serious dillictilties, liowcver, prcaeiiled tliomselves,
tlie want of money and tlie want of teachers. But
IVIr. CliHrlca could not easily be deterred by any
obstacles from carrying out liis benevolent plans.
lie trained the first teachers himself, and went to
England, where he succeeded in raising a considera-
ble sum towards defraying the expenses of his pro-
ject. The mode in wliich he managed to establish
his circulating schools, and the benefits which ac-
crued from them, be afterwards described thus :
" In my travels through dill'crent parts of North
Wales about twenty-throe years ago, I perceived that
the state of the poor of the country in general was
so low as to religious knowledge, that in many
parts not one person in twenty was capable of reading
the Scriptures, and in some districts hardly an indi-
vidual could be found who bad received any instruc-
tion in reading. I found then and still do find daily
proofs of the ignorance of the poor people who can-
not read, and have never been calechetically instruct-
ed, even where constant preaching is not wanting.
This discovery pained me beyond what I can ex-
press, and made me think seriously of some remedy,
ellectual and speedy, for the redress of this grievance.
I accordingly proposed to a few friends to set a sub-
Bcription on foot to pay the wages of a teacher, who
was to be moved circuitously from one place to an-
other ; to instruct the poor in reading, and in the
first principles of Christianity by catechising them.
This work began in tlie year 1785. At first only
one teacher was employed. As the funds increased,
so in proportion the number of teachers was enlarg-
ed, till they amounted to twenty. Some of the first
teaoliers I was obliged to instruct myself; and these
afterwards instructed others sent to them to learn to
be schoolmasters.
" The fruits of these circulating schools are our
numerous Sunday Schools all over the country ; for
without the former, we could not have found teachers
to cany on the latter. Although, through the pre-
sent general prevalency of Sunday Schools, con-
ducted by gratuitous teachers, the circulating schools
are not so much wanted as formerly, yet I still find
we cainiot go on without some of them. There are
yet many dark places in dilferent parts of the coun-
try, where none are found able or willing to set up
Sunday Schools. My only remedy therefore is, to
send there the cu'culating schools, with a view of
raising up by degrees Siniday Schools to succeed
them, and to keep on the instruction after they are
removed. Besides, I find it absolutelj' necessary
that the circulating schools shoidd occasionally re-
visit those places where the Sunday Schools are kept,
to revive them and reanimate the teachers and peo-
ple in the work of carrying them on ; else, in time,
they gradually decline in country places, where the
children are scattered far from one another. So that
now I constantly employ from six to ten teachers ;
and several more might be usefully employed did
u.
our finances enable us to engage an additional num
bcr."
The schools were soon highly appreciated by the
people. Both parents and children in many cases
eagerly availed themselves of the opportunity thus
allbrded of obtaining instruction. The Sunday
Schools in particular proved a singular blessing to
multitudes of children, and through them to tlitir
parents. At Bala in 1791, the Sunday Schools were
made instrumental in giving rise to an awakening.
Seasons of revival indeed were experienced in dill'cr-
ent parts of the country ; and it is remarkable that
there was something of a periodical character in
many of these awakenings, for several of them oc-
curred at the interval of seven years.
In 1709, a religious periodical entitled 'The Spiri-
tual Treasury,' was started by Mr. Charles, which,
as the people had now acquired a taste for reading,
was intended to supjjly them with interesting and
useful information, wholly of a religious nature.
Hitherto there had been a lamentable scarcity oi
Bibles in North Wales in the vernacular language,
and the desire of supplying this want led to the for-
mation in 1804 of the British and Foreign Bible
Society. No sooner was this invaluable institution
organized, than it issued an edition of Welsh Bibles
and Testaments, which were eagerly received
throughout the I'rincipality as a boon of the mo.st
precious kind. For several years longer, Mr. Charles
continued to prosecute the work of a laborious min-
ister and evangelist, but in 1814 his labours were
brought to an end, and the country was called to
mourn the loss of one of its greatest benefactors, one
who had done more than almost any other man to
advance the cause of the Redeemer in North Wales.
In the organization of the Welsh Calvinistic Me-
thodist Society, Mr. Charles took an active and
prominent part. At an Association held at Bala in
1790, he drew up certain Rules for conducting the
Quarterly Meetings of the North Wales Association,
consisting of the preachers and leaders ; which Rules
form the basis of the present system of church gov-
ernment of the whole Society. In 1801, 'Rules of
Discipline' were iirst published, laying down the
order and form of the church government and disci-
pline. To these were added several regulations m
1811, which were framed chietiy with the view of
rendering the denomination permanently indepen-
dent, in its organization and ministry, of the Estab-
blished Church.
In 1823 the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists adopted
and published a Confession of Faith, which was
unanimously agreed upon at the Associations of
Aberystwith and Bala. The doctrines of this Con-
fession are decidedly Calvinistic, and accord with
the Tliirty-Nine Articles and the Westminster Con-
fession in all the essential points of Christian doc-
trine and practice. Their church government ig
neither Episcopalian on the one hand, nor Congre-
gationalist on the other, but approaches somewhat to
2 o *
4.H
ilEriiODlrii' (The Tkue Wesleyan) CHURCH— METHODISTS (Wesletan).
fhe Presbyterian form. The private Societies are
subordinate to the Monthly Meetings, and these
again to tlie Quarterly Associations, at wliich tlie
general business of the body is transacted. Their
preachers itinerate from one place to another, and
being rarely men of education, they are generally de-
pendent on some secular employment for tlieir sub-
sistence.
In the course of the revivals which occurred
so frequently in Wales during the last half of the
eighteenth century, the practice seems to have been
occasionally followed of "jumping, accompanied
by loud expressions of praise, during the solemni-
zation of public worship." (See Jumpers.) This
practice, however, has never been encouraged by the
preacliers of the Connexion, but is affirmed to be
" a mere accident or non-essential of Welsh Calvin-
istic Methodism;" and it is now of rare occurrence,
though the members of the Connexion have not
given it a direct opposition. Of late years the
Welsh Methodists have turned their attention to-
wards the importance of an educated ministry. Ac-
cordingly in 1837 a college for the purpose of train-
ing theological students was established at Bala, and
in 1842 another was established at Trevecca.
The ministers of the Connexion are selected by
the private Societies, and reported to the Monthly
Meetings, which examine them as to their qualifica-
tions, and permit them to commence on trial. A
certain number only who must previously have been
preachers for at least five years, are ordained to
administer the sacraments, and this ordination takes
place at the Quarterly Associations. The preachers
are expected each to itinerate in a particular coun-
ty ; but generally once in the course of a year they
undertake a missionary tour to different parts of
Wales, when tliey preach twice every day, on each
occasion at a different chapel. Their remuneration
is derived from the monthly pence contributed by
the members of each congregation; out of which
fund a trifling sum is given to them after every ser-
mon. Some have a stated stipend.
Tlie number of chapels returned at the Census of
1851 as pertaining to tlie Welsh Calvinistic Metho-
dist body, amounted to 828, containing accommoda-
tion for 211,951 persons. In 1853 the number in
ministers was reported to be 207, and that of preach-
ers 234, while the number of communicants was
mated to be 58,577.
In 1840, this active and energetic body of Chris-
tians formed an association for sending missionaries
to tlie lieathen, and towards tlie end of that same
year, a mi.ssion was commenced among one of the
hill-tribes in the north-east part of Uengal. They
have also a mission station in Brittany, south of
France, the language of that country being a sister
dialect of the Welsh ; and they have besides a mis-
sion to the Jews. Tlie operations of the Home Mis-
sion of this denomination are carried on among tlie
English population inhabiting the borders between
England and Wales. There are several Societies in
England belonging to the Connexion, for instance, in
London, Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, Chester,
Shrewsbury, whose worship, public and private, is
performed in the Welsh language. There is also a
small congregation among the Welsh miners in
Lanarkshire in Scotland, who have the gospel
preached to them in their own language. Id some
parts of Wales, and on the borders of England
where the English language is most prevalent, wor-
ship is conducted in that tongue.
METHODIST (The True Wesleyan)
CHURCH IN AMERICA. This Methodist body
was constituted at a convention held at Utica, New
York, on the 31st May 1843. The convention was
composed of ministers and laymen who were sum-
moned to meet for the purpose of forming a Wes-
leyan Methodist Church free from bishops, intem-
perance, and slavery. After a lengthened and har-
monious deliberation, a Discipline was drawn up,
called " the DisoipUne of the Wesleyan Methodist
Church in America," granting to all men their rights,
and making them free and equal according to the
Word of God, and the preamble of the Declaration
of Independence of the United States. They also
organized six annual Conferences, including the chief
portions of the Northern and Eastern States. This
church thus differed in several pomts from both the
Episcopal and Protestant Methodist Churches. From
the former, it differed in holding that aU elders in
the church of God are equal, and from the latter, in
disowning all connection with slavery as it exists in
America. The Articles of Faith maintamed by this
Christian denomination are in accordance with those
Iield by orthodox churches generally. The six Con ■
ferences of which it consists, include about 300 min-
isters and preachers who itinerate, and upwards ot
300 other ministers and preachers to whom stations
have not been allotted, and about 20,000 comraimi-
cants.
METHODISTS (Wesleyan), a very large, ener-
getic and influential body of Christians, originated
by a great religious movement which commenced at
the beginning of the second quarter of last century.
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism in Eng-
land, was born at Epworth in Lincolnshire in 1703,
his father being rector of that parish. While yet a
child he experienced a remarkable providential deli-
verance, having narrowly escaped from destruction
in the flames of his father's house, which was on fire.
This Divine interposition in his behalf made a deep
impression on ins mind, which seems never to have
been effaced during life. The lirst rudiments of his
education were received from his mother, who was
the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Anncsley, an eminent
nonconforming minister ; and it is highly probable
that from this devoted Christian woman he imbibed
those religious principles and feelings which through-
out his whole life so eminently characterized him.
At the age of eleven lie was sent to Charter House
METHODISTS (Wesleyan).
43e
Bchool in London, where lie signiilizcrl himself ahove
his fellows hy diligence and progress in his studies.
Being destined for the church, he proceeded, along
with his brother Charles, to the University of Oxford.
After prosecuting his studies with the most exem-
plary diligence and success, John Wesley was or-
dained a di!acon in 1725, and in the following year,
he was chosen Fellow of Ijncohi College, and ob-
tained priest's orders. After assisting his father at
Kpworth for a short time, he returned to Oxford in
1729. Here the two brothers first began to exhibit
that earnestness in religion which was ever after so
marked a feature in their character. Associating
themselves with a few of their fellow-students who
were like-minded, they held meetings for prayer and
religious conversation. The marked propriety and
strictness of their behaviour made them objects of
ridicule and reproach among the irreligious and un-
godly, who were accustomed to taunt them with
being Methodists, a name which was meant to indi-
cate that they were precise and scrupulously atten-
tive to religious duties and exercises. Among those
who shared with the Wesleys in this obloquy were
James Ilervey and George Whitfield, to whose after-
labours in their Master's cause, evangelical religion
in England owes a deep debt of obligation.
John Wesley continued to reside at Oxford till
the death of his father, which took place in 1735;
and although his friends wished him to apply for
the living at Epworth, which was in the gift of the
chancellor, he declined to yield to their entreaties,
however urgent. About this time an event occurred
whicli opened up for him a wide sphere of usefulness
in a distant land. A colony had just been founded by
Governor Oglethorpe in Georgia, who, having con-
cluded a treaty with the Creek Indians, was anxious
to establish a mission among them. John and
Charles Wesley were prevailed upon to undertake the
management of the mission, and in October of the
same year in wliich their father died, they left Eng-
land for America. On reaching the colony they enter-
ed upon their missionary labours with much zeal, but
unexpected obstacles were thrown in their way, and
after spending two years in fruitless endeavours to
carry the gospel to the Indians, they abandoned the
mission and returned home in 17.38. While resident
in Georgia, however, John Wesley had become inti-
mately acquainted with several .settlers who belonged
to the Moravian church, and in particular with David
Nitschman, a bishop of that persuasion. The prin-
ciples and practices of this interesting community
attracted his special favour, and suggested doubtless
to his mind many of those an-angements which he
afterwards laid down for the regulation of the Me-
thodist Societies.
The intercourse which John Wesley enjoyed with
the Moravians in Georgia led to more serious im-
pressions of divine things than he had ever before
experienced. He tells us tli.at one thing he had
learned by his mission to the Indians, that he who
had gone to America to convert others had ncvei
been converted himself. The anxiety which he now
began to feel about his own personal state continued
to agitate his mind throughout his voyage homo-
ward ; but through the instructions of Tcter Bolder,
a Moravian minister in London, he was enabled to
exercise a simple faith in the merits and mediation
of Jesus. He dated his conversion from the 24th of
May 1738, and having obtained peace and joy in be-
lieving, he burned with ardent desire that others
should become partakers of like precious faith. The
momentary relief whicli he himself had obtained un-
der the teaching of Biihler, led him to entertain
the opinion which he afterwards delighted to pro-
claim of the possible instantaneousness of conver-
sion— a doctrine wliich, as held by the followers of
Wesley, only impHes that they maintain the act of
conversion to be sometimes, though not always, in-
stantaneous.
John Wesley now sought access to the pulpits of
some of the most evangelical ministers of the Esta-
blishment, and wherever he was permitted, he
preached justification by faith in the Lord Jesus,
which had now become his favourite doctrine. One
after another, however, excluded him from their pul-
pits. Private meetings, accordingly, were forced up-
on him. About fifty persons agreed to meet once
a-week in small companies or bands of from five to
ten persons each for mutual conversation, with occa-
sional love feasts. "The first rise of Methodism,"
says Wesley, "was in November 1729, when four of
us met together at Oxford; the second was at Sa-
vannah ni April 1736; the thu-d at London on this
day. May 1st, 17.38."
A small society of earnest religious persons met
in Fetter Lane, London, and of this little band Whit-
field and the two Wesleys were members. To be-
come still better acquainted with the rules and habits
of the Moravian Brethren, Jolin Wesley paid a visit
to their settlement at Herrnhut in Germany. On
his retiu-n to London, he and his followers were as-
sociated at Fetter Lane with the Moravians ; but
several Societies wholly coaiposed of Methodists
met in London, Bristol, and other places. Whit-
field and Wesley now commenced outdoor preach-
ing, and with the most wonderful success. Wher-
ever they went crowds flocked to hear from theii
mouths the glad tidings of salvation through a Re-
deemer. In his diary, Wesley frequently mentions
that thousands waited upon his mhiistry in the open
fields, and although the service might commence
amid annoyance and persecution, he generally suc-
ceeded ere long in subduing his audience to quiet-
ness and attention. Thus was Methodism at iti
fir.^t outset beset with difficulties and much oppo«i-
tion. But the great founder of the system was un-
wearied in his exertions to advance the good cause.
For a time he took particular pleasure in co-operat-
ing with the Moravians, whose simplicity of faith
and purity of life he had learned to admire. But
436
METHODISTS (Wesleyan).
the more closely he examined the doctrines and
precepts of the Brethren, his admiration diminished,
and at length he became disgusted with then- mys-
ticism, their exclusiveness, and their tendency to
Antinomianism. He therefore published a protest
against their tenets and practices, and retired with
his followers to the Foundry in Moorfields.
About the same time Wesley separated from
Whitfield in consequence of a diflerence of opinion
which arose between them on the subject of election.
Tlie Wesleys had for some time evinced a decided
leaning towards Arminian views, while Wliitfield
entertained a strong partiality for Calvinistic senti-
ments. The contest was carried on with the utmost
ardour, and even unseemly bitterness, on both sides,
though not by the leaders in the controversy, at
least by their subordinates. John Wesley was most
unwilling that a rupture should take place, and to
prevent such an unhappy result, he drew up certain
statements in regard to the three disputed points,
unconditional election, irresistible grace, and liie final
perseverance of the saints, hoping that both he and
his opponents might still have it in their power to
continue their united labours in the cause of Christ.
The difference of opinion, however, was found to be
such as to call for their friendly separation, which
accordingly took place in 1740, witliout however
diminishing the respect and esteem which Wesley
and Whitfield entertained for each other.
Up to this period, the great founder of Wesleyan
Methodism seems never to have contemplated the
formation of a church or separate denomination of
Christians. Strongly attached to the Church of
England, he continued to minister within her pale
as long as he was allowed to do so, and even when
prevented from officiating in her pulpits, he recom-
mended his followers to adhere to her doctrines and
worship. In forming Societies, his primary wish
seems to have been to gather togetlier little bands of
earnest Christian men, whose simple design was mu-
tual edification. The Societies were at first accord-
ingly separate and detached, with no other uniting
bond than a common object or end. As they in-
creased in number, however, certain regulations were
framed for their guidance. Tliese are regarded by
the Wesleyan Methodists as binding upon the body
to this day. In the preamble to the Rules, Mr.
Wesley thus describes the origin of the Societies :
" In the latter end of the year 17.39, eight or ten per-
sons came to me in London, who appeared to be
deeply convinced of sin, and earnestly groaning for
redemption. They desired (as did two or three
more the next day) that I should spend some time
with them in prayer, and advise them liow to floe from
tlie wrath to come, which they saw coiitiimally hang-
ing over their heads. That we might have more
time for this great work, I appointed a day when
they might all come together, which from tlu^nco-
forward they did every week, viz., on Tliursday in
the evening. To these, and as many more as desir-
ed to join with them (for their number increased
daily), I gave those advices from time to time which
I judged most needful for them, and we always con-
cluded our meetings with prayer suitable to their
several necessities."
Methodism under Mr. Wesley now began to as-
sume a regularly organized system. Money was col-
lected ; meeting-houses were built or rented in dif-
ferent places for the accommodation of the members
of the United Society ; and that each individual
might be an object of careful instruction, the Socie-
ties were divided into classes of twelve persons, each
class having its distinct superintendent or class-
leader, whose duty is thus laid down. 1. To see
each person in his class once a-week, at least, in
order to inquire how their souls prosper ; to advise,
reprove, comfort or exhort, as occasion may require ;
to receive what they are willing to give towards the
poor, or towards the gospel. 2. To meet the minis-
ter and the stewards of the Society once a-week, in
order to inform the minister of any that are sick, or
of any that walk disorderly and will not be reprov-
ed ; to pay to the stewards what they have received
of their several classes in the week preceding ; and
to show their account of what each person has con-
tributed.
The only condition required of any person who
wishes to be admitted into a Methodist Society, is, in
the words of Wesley, "a desire to flee from the
wrath to come ; to be saved from their sins." Such
a desire, wherever it truly exists, will of course mani-
fest itself by its fruits, and accordingly those who
in joining the Methodist Societies declare that they
are animated by a desire for salvation, are expected
to give evidence of it by the following traits of char-
acter and conduct :
" First, hy doiiig no harm ; by avoiding evil in
every kind ; especially that which is most generally
practised, such as taking the name of God in vain ;
the profaning the day of the Lord, either by doing
ordinary work thereon, or by buying or selling ;
drunkenness; buying or selling spirituous liquors, or
drinking them, unless in cases of extreme necessity ,
fighting, quarrelling, brawling; brother going to law
with brother; returning evil for evil, or railing for
railing ; the using many words in buying or selling ;
the buying or selling uncustomed goods ; the giving
or taking things on usury; i. e. unlawful interest.
" Uncharitable or unprofitalile conversation ; par-
ticularly speaking evil of magistrates or of ministers.
" Doing to others as we would not they should do
mito us.
"Doing what we know is not for the glory of
God; as the putting on gold or costly apparel; the
taking such di\ersions as cannot be used in the name
of tlio Lord Jesus.
" The singing those songs, or reading those books,
whicli do not lend to tlie knowledge or love of God;
softness and needless soll'-iiululgcnce ; laying up
treasure u]ion the earth ; borrowing without a pro-
METHODISTS (Wesleyan).
437
bability of paying, or fakini; up goods witliout a
probability of paying for tlieiii.
"It is expected of all who continue in these Socie-
ties tliat they should continue to evidence their de-
sire of salvation, —
"Secondly, hy i/inng r/nod ; by being in every kiuil
merciful after tlieir jjower, as they have opportunity ;
doing good of every possible sort, and as far as pos-
sible, to all men ; to their bodies, of the ability
which God giveth ; by giving food to the Iiungry, by
clothing the naked, by visiting or helping them that
are sick, or in prison ; to their souls, by instructing,
reproving, or exhorting all we have any intercourse
with ; trampling under foot that enthusiastic doctrine
of devils, tliat, ' We are not to do good, unless oiu-
hearts be free to it.'
" I!y doing good, especially to them that are of
the household of fiiith, or groaning so to be ; employ-
ing them preferably to others ; buying one of an-
other; helping each other in business; and so much
the more, because tlie world will love its own, and
them only ; by all possible diligence and frugality,
that the gospel be not blamed ; by rumiiiig with pa-
tience the race set before them, denying themselves,
and taking up their cross daily ; submitting to bear
the reproach of Christ ; to be as the tilth and otf-
Bcouring of tlie world, and looking that men should
say all manner of evil of them falsely for the Lord's
sake.
" It is expected of all who desire to continue in
these Societies, that they should continue to evi-
dence their desire of salvation, —
" Thirdly, by attendrnt} on all the ordinances of
God; such are, the public worsliip of God ; the
ministry of the word, either read or expounded ; the
supper of the Lord ; family and private prayer ;
Searching the Scriptures ; and fastirjg and absti-
aence."
Such were the general rules drawn up for the Me-
thodist Societies by John and Charles Wesley. No
formal creed was adopted, and persons of all deno-
minations were welcome to join the body provided
simply they were willing to conform to the regula-
tions now stated. As yet it is quite plain that
Wesley had no intention to form a separate sect.
His whole feelings were in favour of the Church of
England, and it would have afforded him peculiar
satisfaction if the clergy of that church would have
taken the members of the Methodist societies
throughout the country under their spiritual over-
sight. The greatest coolness, however, was mani-
fested on the part of the Established clergy towards
Wesley and his followers. Hence the necessity
arose for lay agency in order to secure the instruc-
tion and supervision of the converts. Pious and
experienced men were accordingly selected to dis-
charge this important duty. At first they were
permitted only to expound the Scriptures in a plain
familiar style ; but in course of time lay preaching
was reluctantly sanctioned. Thus there was Bent
forth a large staff of zealous men, who proclaimed
the glad tidings of salvation with such energy and
success, that many new converts were added to the
ranks of Methodism. Several clergymen also con-
nected themselves with the movement, who, along
with Wesley and a large body of lay assistants, car-
ried on a regular system of open-air preaching, which
was attended everywhere by immense crowds of
eager and attentive hearers.
The rapid growth of the Methodist Society called
for some further steps towards union and system.
By the invitation of the Wesleys, therefore, tho
leaders were invited to meet in London, and in June
1744 the first Conference was held. See CONFER-
ENCB (Wesleyan). Hitherto the preachers had
carried on their operations simply under the direc-
tion of Mr. Wesley, but without any intercourse with
one another. But by uniting them in Conference
they were enabled to adopt a regular and systema-
tic arrangement. At the finst Conference only six
persons were present, of whom five were clergymen
of the Established Church. With this small Con-
vention originated a thoroughly organized ecclesias-
tical structure, which has proved itself one of the
most potent influences in the religious history of
England. The Methodist movement was now re-
duced to order. The country was divided into cir-
cuits, each with its assistant or superintendent. All
chapels were conveyed to lay trustees ; travelling
preachers were allowed a stated sum for support,
and regulations were laid down for the guidance
of the different officers of the Society ; all, however,
being imder the undisputed control of John Wesley,
Charles, his younger brother, having withdrawn from
the active management of affairs in consequence of
his disapproval of lay-preaching.
The Conference met regularly every year, and one
improvement after another was introduced into the
system of Methodism according as peculiar circum-
stances seemed to demand. One point Wesley kept
in view in all his arrangements, to prevent if possible
the separation of the Societies from the Church of
England. It was with the utmost reluctance that
he deviated even in the .slightest degree from church
order. Even when the numbers of his adherents
were very large, and their preachers had obtained
great influence over the people, the sacraments were
received only in the parish churches. JIany years
elapsed before the sacraments were administered, or
pastoral authority exercised by the Wesleyan preach-
ers. This of itself is a sufficient indication how un-
willing Mr. Wesley was to dissever his adherents
from the Church of England, or to establish a se-
parate and independent sect.
How rapidly the Methodists increased in number
after the organization of the body, may be seen from
the fact, that, in 1749, there were twenty circuits in
England, two in Wales, two in Scotl.and, and seven
in Ireland. In 17G5 the circuits in England had in-
creased to twenty-five, those in Scotland to four, and
^»
METHODISTS (Wesleyan).
those in Ireland to eight. Methodism had now be-
come an impoi'tant agency in reviving Cliristianity
hi England, and both in doctrine and discipline it
had assumed a regular and consistent form, not by
any preconcerted plan on the part of Mr. Wesley,
but simply by the leadings of Providence. " Our
venerable Foimder," says the Conference of 1824,
" kept one end only in view, — the diffusion of scrip-
tural Christianity throughout the land, and the pre-
servation of all who had believed, through grace, in
the simplicity of the Gospel. This guiding princi-
ple he steadily followed ; and to that he surrendered,
cautiously, but faithfully, wliatever, in his precon-
ceived opinions, lie discovered to be contrary to the
indications of Him whose the work was, and to wliom
he had yielded himself up, implicitly, as his servant
and instrument. In the further gi-owth of the So-
cieties, the same guidance of providential circum-
stances,— the same ' signs of the times,' — led to that
full provision for the direction of the Societies, and
for tlieir being supplied with all the ordhiances of
the Christian Church, and to that more perfect pas-
toral care which the number of the members, and the
vastness of the congregations, (collected not out of
the spoils of other churches, but out of ' the world'
which ' Keth in wickedness,') imperatively required.
Less than this, the demands of piety and conscience
would not allow ; more than those interests required,
has not been aimed at. The object has, at no time,
been to make a sect, but to extend the Christianity
of the Scriptures throughout the land ; not to give
currency to a mere system of opinions, but to bring
men everywhere under the effectual influence of the
' truth which is according to godliness;' and, in the
degree to which God should give his blessing to
these efforts, to fold the gathered flock from danger,
and to supply to it wholesome and sufficient pasture.
These, beloved brethren, are the principles which
lead us to God alone, wlio has made us 'a people
who were not a people,' — and which constantly re-
mind us of the purposes for which we were thus
gathered in His name, and that our only business on
earth is to show forth the praises of Him, ' who hath
called us out of darkness into marvellous light.'"
The year 1784 constituted one of the most impor-
tant eras in the history of Wesleyan Meihodism. It
was at this period that, in order to secure 'he stability
and government of the connexion after his removal,
Mr. Wesley got a " Deed of Declaration" drawn uji
and regularly enrolled in the High Court of Chan-
cery, which established a legal description or defini-
tion of the term " Conference of tlie people called Me-
thodists." Without this legal instrument the Confer-
ence woi'Jd have become, at Wesley's ieatli, a com-
plete nonentity in the eye of law. But another event
which, by its importance and manifold bearings, sig-
nalized the year 1784, was, that, in the course of it,
Mr. Wesley, for the first time, assumed and exer-
cised the power of ordination in the case O. Dr.
Coke, whom he appointed superintendent of the Me-
thodist Societies in North America. In this act ha
was assisted by other ordained ministers ; and in
taking upon himself this power, though only a pres-
byter of the Church of England, he justified himself
by an appeal to the exigencies of the case, many oi
his adherents in the southern provinces of North
America being greatly distressed for want of min-
isters to administer the sacraments of baptism and the
Lord's Supper according to the usages of the Church
of England. On the same principle, in 1787, three
of the English preachers were ordained for Scotland.
Happily for the interests of Wesleyan Methodism,
its founder lived till he had reached the advanced
age of eighty-seven, and thus enjoyed the high pri-
vilege of seeing the cause which he had originated
fully consolidated, and in vigorous operation, exercis-
ing an influence over the religion of the English peo-
ple second only to that of the National Establishment
itself. Wesley's death, in 1791, necessarily pro-
duced a great alteration in the relations of the peo-
ple and the Conference. Throughout his life he had
acted as the arbiter between these two parties, and
such was the respect, and even veneration in which
he was held, that his decisions invariably commanded
instant and cordial submission. The Conference na
turally imagined that after his death the power and
authority which he possessed might safely be exer-
cised by them ; but there being no one now to mo-
derate or restrain its exercise, considerable dissension
existed from 1792 to 1797, when at length certain
rules, a portion of which were called " The Rules of
Pacification," were agreed to by the Conference,
placing some limitation upon the power of the preach-
ers, and increasing that of the people.
Tlie death of the founder of Methodism was deeply
deplored by the whole connexion. It was felt by
multitudes to be the loss of their spiritual father.
He was the final arbiter in all disputes which arose
throughout the body, and even the Conference itself
had been wont to bow with implicit submission to his
will. No wonder, therefore, that the removal of such
a man, — a man so universally honoured, respected,
and beloved, — should have been mourned as an almost
irreparable loss. And all the more deeply was his
departure regretted, that no sooner was he withdrawn
from them than the most painful dissensions broke out
among his followers. Difficulties began to arise as to
the rights of trustees over tlie chapels, and over the ap-
pointment of ministers ; and a questio.n was now agi-
tated for the first time as to the right of the laity to
participate in the spiritual and secular government of
the body. It had been the anxious desire of Wes-
ley throughout his life, to obviate any chance of a col-
lision between the Methodists and the Established .
Church. No such delicacy, however, was felt by his
followers after his decease. The people urged upon
the Conference their " right to hold public religious
wor.sliip at sucli hours as were most convenient, with-
out being restricted to the nu^re intervals of the hours
appointed for service hi the Established Church.'
J
METHODISTS (Wesleyan).
43S
And not only so, but the popular (lemfinfls rose Btill
^ligher. The members of the Metliodint body were
no longer contented with occupying the compani-
tively luunble position of i\ Society, beyond which
the ambition of their founder bad never risen; they
demanded that Methodism should bo recognized as
a chnrch, ordaining ministers, dispensing sacraments,
and administering discipline.
For several years the Methodist Societies were in
a state of the utmost confusion and insubordination ;
and tliis was aggravated by an attemjit, on the part
■ if the travelling preachers, to exercise over the peo-
ple the same power which Wesley bad exercised dur-
ing his life. Year after year the Conference had
under their serious consideration the alarming state
iif matters in the body generally, and the necessity
of discovering some cfBoient remedy. At length, in
1795, a Plan of Pacificfvtion was devised by the Con-
ference, which, for a time at least, allayed the wide-
spread discontent, by yielding to a certain extent to
the demands of the people. Thus it was decided,
that the ministerial office .shoidd no longer be limited
in its duties to the preaching of the gospel, but
should include also the dispensation of the sacra-
ments, by those only, however, who were authorized
by the Conference, and at such times and in such
manner only as the Conference should appoint. In
regard to the claims of the chapel trustees and the
laity generally, the Plan of Pacification declared the
absolute right of the Conference to appoint preach-
ers, and the inability of the trustees to refuse their
admission into the chapels. While thus resisting, to
a certain extent, the demands of the trustees, the
Conference formed a new court, for purposes of Dis-
cipline, consisting of all the preachers of the dis-
trict and all the trustees, stewards, and leaders of
the circuit ; and before this court any accusation
against a preacher could be laid, while it had power
to suspend him from his office until next Conference,
to whom the case must be referred.
The Plan of Pacification thus framed in 1795 con-
tiiuies in force among the Wesleyans down to the
present day. Tlie framework of Methodism was
now set up, and the body thoroughly organized,
though great numbers of its people still remain-
ed in communion with the Church of England. The
following concise and comprehensive view of the
entire system of Wesleyan Methodism is given by
the Rev. R. Spence Hardy, in his ' Memorials of
Jonas Sugden : " No one is regarded as a member
of this church who does not meet in class. Each
class consists of from twelve to twenty persons, who
are under the care of a leader. They meet together
every week to relate their spiritual exercises, and
receive advices from the leader, commencing and
concluding with singing and prayer, and, at the same
.ime, a sm.all sum is given towards the sustentation
of tfie ministry. The class-meeting is regarded as
the most precious and efficient of the arrangements
peculiar to Methodism ; its safeguard, its power, and
its hope. The leaders of each Society meet toge-
ther weekly, and then pay in the contributions they
have received to their own steward. Another meet-
ing is held quarterly, of local preachers, leaders,
stewards, and trustees of chapels^ from all the So-
cieties in the circuit, when the Society-stewards
hand over the contributions from the classes to the
circuit-stewards, through whom the ministers re-
ceive their stipend. A circuit comjirises the por-
tion of country under the care of the same ministers
who officiate alternately in all the chapels with-
in its limits. They are assisted by local prcacliers,
a useful and honourable class of men, who, without
fee or earthly reward, preach the gosjiel on the Sab-
bath, but on the week-days follow a secular calling.
They are more numerous than the ministers ; there
being at present in the Keighlcy circuit, three min-
isters and thirty- five local preachers. No minister
can remain in the same circuit more than three
years. Several circuits form a district, all the min
isfcrs and circuit-stewards of which meet together
annually, for the transaction of business [jrejiaratoiy
to the Conference ; and the ministers, in a commit-
tee of their own, examine character, receive candi-
dates for the ministry, and ini|uire into the spiritual
state of each circuit, taking account of the number of
members in Society. In England there are 4,39 cir-
cuits and 29 districts. The minister having charge of
a circuit is called the superintendent ; and of a dis-
trict, the chairman. The highest ecclesiastical court is
the Conference. It meets annually in one or other of
the principal towns in England, and is attended by
from three to five hundred ministers. At this time
ministers are admitted and ordained ; every minister's
name in the whole connexion, in whatever part of
the world resident, is read aloud, and relative to
each the question is asked, if there be any objection
to his character, and the representative of the dis-
trict in which be lives must return an answer, foimd-
ed on pre\ious investigation, in each separate case ;
cases of discipline are examined ; the ministers are
appointed to the circuits in which they are to la-
bour during the following year ; each of the con-
nexioual Institutions and Societies passes under re-
view; officers and comnn'ttees are appointed; and
all business is transacted that relates to the t-enerd
interests of this branch of the Church of Christ.
Previous to the sitting of the Conference, all matters
connected with finance are arranged, in preparatory
committees, composed of ministers and of the princi-
pal laymen in the Connexion. To the uninitiated
stranger, Methodism may appear like a tissue of
meaningless anomalies ; but on a nearer acquaint
ance he would find that it is a wonderful system of
nice adjustment and adaptation ; in no other church
is lay agency employed to the same extent, and yet
in no other church are the ministers more indepen
dent of any influence that might deter them from the
declaration of unwelcome truth, or the exercise of a
godly discipline ; and its efficiency is made manifest
440
METHODISTS (Wesleyan).
in nearly every place in which its course is not ob-
Btructed by those who have previously rendered
themselves amenable to the censure of its courts, or
by the members of other churches who would seek
to assimilate it to their own institutions."
Besides the Classes, to which the Wesleyan Me-
thodists attach much importance as the very life of
tlieir system, there are also still smaller collections of
four or five persons called " Bands," which were first
established by Mr. Wesley in 1742. These little
companies were instituted to afford an opportunity
to the members of the Society of a more private
and unrestrained confession to each other, in accord-
ance with the Apostolic exhortation, " Confess your
faults one to another." The persons forming each
" band" are all of the same condition ; either mar-
ried women or single women, married men or single
men. The rides of the "Bands" are (1.) That no-
thing spoken in the Society be spoken again ; (2.)
That every member submit to his minister in all in-
different tilings ; (3.) That every member bring once
a-week, aU he can spare to a common stock. The
four following questions are to be proposed to the
members separately at every weekly meeting: 1.
What known sins have you committed since oui- last
meeting? 2. What temptations have you met with?
3. How were you delivered? 4. What have you
thought, said, or done, of which you doubt whether
it be a sin or not ?
The classes attached to each Wesleyan chapel are
termed as a whole, a " Society," which corresponds
to a church or congi-egation in other denominations ;
and a number of Societies within a certain range are
termed a " circuit." In each circuit there are two
descriptions of preachers, regular and local. The
regular are separated entirely to the work of the
ministry, and are supported by the weekly and quar-
terly contributions of members in their classes, and
the proceeds of what are called Quarterly Collec-
tions, made in every congregation once in three
months. From one to four " itinerant preachers,"
as the regular ministers are called, are appointed for
a term not exceeding three years in immediate suc-
cession to the same circuit. They are expected not
to confine their ministry to one place, but to itinerate
throughout the circuit. There are probal)ly about
1,000 Wesleyan itinerant preachers in Great Britain.
The local preachers follow a secular calling, and
preach on the Sabbaths according to a plan which is
laid down every quarter. The number of these local
preachers is about 15,000.
The public worship of the Wesleyan body varies
considerably in ditt'erent places. In some, more
especially of the larger chapels in London, and other
large towns in England, the Liturgy of the CInu'ch
of England is in regular use ; while in many chapels
the service is conducted wholly in an extemporaiy
form. When tlie Liturgy is used, it is according to
a revised form, which was prepared by Wesley for
his adherents. The thirty-nine articles also of the
Church of England are reduced in the hands of th«
Wesleyans to twenty-five. The rite of confirma
tion is not practised by the body, but many parents
belonging to the Connexion send their children to be
confirmed by an English bishop. The Lord's Sup-
per is usually administered according to the rubric
of the Church of England. Love Feasts are occa-
sionally celebrated ; and a solemn Watch-night or
midnight meeting at the close of each year is regu-
larly observed. Tliere is also a practice observed in
the beginning of tlie year, called the "renewing of
the covenant," when the members of the Society de-
dicate themselves anew to the Lord. The hymn-
book fonns an important element in the worship of
the Wesleyan Methodists, and where instrumental
music is used in any of their chapels, the utmost care
is taken that the congregation be encouraged to join
with heart and voice in suiging the praises of God.
A quarterly fast is enjoined to be kept by each mem-
ber of the Society.
No feature of Wesleyan Methodism has given nsa
to more frequent and more violent disputes than the
exclusively clerical composition of the Conference.
Towards the end of the last century, when a love of
change and an impatience of restraint was so strongly
engendered by the French Revolution, a class ot
people arose among the followers of Wesley, who
enthusiastic for liberty, demanded that the laity
should be represented in the Conference as well as
the clergy. And this cry for popular rights was
not only raised without, but also within the Con-
ference, and under the leadership of Mr. Kilham a
secession on this account took place in 1796. The
question as to the admission of lay-delegates was
carefully discussed at the next meeting of Confer-
ence, and after mature deliberation it was decided
" that they cannot admit any but regular travelling
preachers into their body, either in the Conference
or in district meetings, and preserve the system of
Methodism entire ; particularly the itinerant plan
which they are determined to support." This de-
cided refusal on the part of the Conference to allow
the introduction of the lay element into their body,
gave rise to the formation of a new society of Me-
thodists, commonly known by the name of Kilham-
ites, or as they styled themselves, the Methodist
(Wesleyan) New Connexion (which see).
The agitation of the subject of lay delegation, and
the secession which followed, led the Conference to
gi-ant several concessions, handing over a portion ot
the authority which they themselves had hitherto ex ■
ercised in financial and other secular matters, to the
quarterly and district meetings. The laity were also
admitted to a sliare in the exercise of discipline both
in the matter of the admission and tlie expulsion ot
members. In consequence of these concessions, har-
mony was restored, and for tlurty years ))eace reign-
ed throughout the whole of the original Connexion.
Every year the Wesleyans increased in numbers,
and grew in influence and political importance. In
METHODISTS (Webleyan).
441
Kfiveral public questions tlioy toolc an active interest,
iMore L'Hjiecially i" tlie supiiression of the slave trade,
anil in the eniancipation of tlio slaves.
In 1827 a controversy arose, which gave rise to
niMcli unseemly contention. The trustees of a
cliaiiol in Leeds being desirous of introducing an
organ, made application to the District Meeting
for permission to do so, which, however, was re-
fused. Accordingly, tlie Trustees ajipealod to the
Conference, who reversed the decision of tlic Dis-
trict Meeting, and grunted the request. A discus-
sion now commenced throughout the Society on
the question, whether the Conference possessed
the right of overriding the decision of a District
Meeting. About tlie same time the question was
revived and keenly discussed as to the power df
preachers to expel members from the Society ; and
as this power was both claimed and exercised by the
preachers, several thousand members left the Con-
nexion.
A still more serious secession took place from the
Wesleyan Methodists in 1835, giving rise to the
Wesleyan Methodist Association. This additional
rupture arose out of the case of Dr. Warren, who,
in consequence of his active opposition to some moa-
siu'es adopted by Conference, was suspended by the
Manchester District Meeting. Against this sen-
tence he appealed to the Court of Chancery, wdiich
decided against him, and affirmed the power of the
District Meeting to suspend, and declared that in the
circumstances they had acted legally. The Con-
ference, in a formal resolution, recorded their fer-
vent gratitude to the Great Head of the Clun-ch
for the gracious interpositions of his providence in
this decree of the Court of Chancery, " securing to
the preachers appointed by the Conference the in-
alienable occupation of our pulpits ; recognising the
pastoral supervision and authority of the Conference
as the supreme tribunal of Methodism, through the
medium of its district committees, and aflbrding the
ample security of British law to the general economy
of Wesleyan Methodism."
Not even by this third secession was the inherent
strength or vitality of Methodism to any consider-
able extent diminished. The year 1839 was cele-
brated as the centenary of the Society, and during
the hundred years which had passed since its foun-
dation, the number of regular chapels had risen to
the large number of 3,000, in addition to the numer-
ous preaching stations where no chapels had been
built. The ministers of the Wesleyan body were
reported in that year to amount to 1,019, the local
preachers to about 4,000, and the members to 296,801.
Such is the vigour and efficiency of this compact
body of Christians, that on the occasion of celebrat-
ing their centenary, they contributed a sum amount-
ing to £210,000, which was expended in the erection
of the Theological Institutions, the Centcnaiy Ilall
and Mission House in London, and the Centenary
Chapel in Dublin; the purchase of a Missionary
II.
ship; the reduction of Chapel-debts to a large ex-
tent ; the formation of the Education Eund for the
extension of Day-schools, and of the Worn-out Min-
isters and Ministers' Widows Fund, with otiier im-
portant objects.
Amid all the rejoicings and congratnktions of the
jubilee year, however, new trials were preparing for
Wesleyan Methodism. The idea very generally pre-
vailed throughout the Societies that the legitimate
influence which bad once belonged to the Leaders'
Meetings and the Quarterly Meetings was seriously
abridged, and that the Conference, or rather a email
party in the Conference, ruled with uncontrolled
and despotic authority. The feelings of discontent
and dissatisfaction which were entertained in many
quarters, found vent in several tracts, which ajipeared
at intervals between 1844 and 1848, under the name
of the ' Fly Sheets." These tracts, which were pub-
lished anonymously, were evidently the production
either of a member of Conference, or at all events
of one who was acquainted with all its proceedings ;
and their chief object seemed to be not a change in
the constitution of the Wesleyan body, but a change
in the mode of its administration. Such severe and
even scurrilous attacks as were contained in the
' Fly Sheets,' were fitted only to produce irritation in
the minds of those whose proceedings were so freely
canvassed, and the Conference therefore proceeded to
take steps for the discovery of the persons who had
been implicated in the preparation and publication of
the ' Fly Sheets.' To facilitate the discovery of the
guilty parties, the question was put to each of the
suspected parties, whether he was the author of the
obnoxious tracts. Tluree of the brethren declined
to reply to the question, and were in consequence
expelled, while two other ministers were censured
and degraded from the office of superintendent, but
not expelled. These prompt and decisive measures
appeared for a short time to restore order and quiet
throughout the Societies ; but in the course of two
years more the Conference found it necessary to ex-
pel another minister for countenancing the " un-
righteous agitation." The general prosperity of the
body, however, was unimpaired by all that had hap-
pened, the members actually admitted having in-
creased by 9,000 in the year 1850, while 20,000 more
had been taken on trial.
A serious crisis now seemed to be rapidly approach-
ing. The agitation which had so long been spreading
secretly among the people, found vent in numerous
memorials to the Conference, which were only an-
swered by an avowal of the determination of that
court to adhere to the true principles of Methodism.
Four hundred delegates from the discontented parties
throughout the kingdom held a meeting in London
previous to the meeting of Conference, and when the
supreme court assembled, petitions, with more than
50,000 signatures, were laid upon the table, praying
for the redress of certain grievances, and the conces-
sion of certain rights. Finding that matters had
2 P *
442
METHODISTS (Wesleyan).
assumed an aspect so alarming, the Conference re-
solved to act with firmness, and, accordingly, with
an unsparing hand, they cut off from all connexion
with the Society eveiy individual who had been in
any way concerned in the meeting of delegates, and
all even to the extent of whole classes and societies
who had been accessory to those disturbances which
were threatening the very existence of Methodism
in England.
The Conference of 1851 conducted its proceedings
in a spirit of undiminished firmness. The delegates
again assembled and sought an interview with the
supreme com-t, but were refused. Still a step in
advance was gained, for several memorials having
been presented from the disaffected, the Conference
appointed a large committee of their number to " ex-
amine the suggestions contained in them, and to
report on the same." The president was also au-
thorized, if he saw fit, to invite a number of suitable
laymen " to confer with them on the results to
which they had attained." It was all the more
necessary to adopt such conciliatory measures, the
Connexion having lost in the course of the year the
enormous number of 56,000 members by expulsion
and secession.
With so large a body of members alienated from
her communion in the com-se of a single year, the
Wesleyan Methodist Cliurch had now evidently
reached a crisis in her history. But the Conference
refused to be driven from the position they had
taken up, and in their annual address they declared
their determination " to hold the pastoral crook with
steady and unfaltering hand." Firmness, however,
did not avail to check the growing dissatisfaction.
A large assembly of members and office-bearers of
the Society was held at Birmingham in December
1851, to deliberate upon "the present disastrous
state of Methodism;" and on this occasion a docu-
ment was signed by more than 700 trustees, le<adeis,
and local preacliers, containing a detailed enumera-
tion of the grievances which it was expected the
Conference would take steps to redress. Yet the agi-
tation, far from being repressed, was as violent as ever
when the Conference met at Sheffield in 1852, de-
tennined, althougli in the course of two years the
Societies had lost 77,000, still to preserve the spirit
of resistance by which it had hitherto been ani-
mated. The Declaratiouists, who had now reached
the large number of 2,000, presented a respectful
petition to the Conference praying to be heard by
deputation. This request was refused, and the irri-
tation thereby excited was aggravated by the cir-
cumstance that the President, while he had invited
745 laymen to meet with the Committee of Con-
ference, had carefully excluded from the number
every individual whose name was attached to the
Birmingham declaration. By tlio conjunct labours
of the Committee, and the laymen thus selected to
deliberate along with tliem, several aherations were
made with the view of conciliating the agitators.
But aU was of no avail; the breach only became
wider and wider as time rolled on. Another protest
was issued in December 1852, denying "the right of
itinerant ministers to excommunicate members with-
out the sanction of the church or of its local officers ;
nor to depose officers without the sanction of their
peers." " We cannot admit," it is added, " the right
of either ministers, jiastors, or others to select whom
they please for special conference on matters upon
which all are equally concerned. We cannot admit
the right of any class of men to fetter all other
classes in the church for the prevention of a free and
honest expression of opinion on matters of church
polity and discipline, put forth in a peaceable and
godly manner." This protest, which was laid upon
the table of the Conference at its meeting in 1853,
was rejected, though the secession had been enlarged
in the course of the previous year by the addition to
its numbers of 10,000 Methodists.
The shock which the Wesleyan body has received
of late years by the large secessions which have from
time to time been thinning its ranks, shows the mas-
culine strength and vigour of the Society, which after
all continues to be one of the most powerful and in-
fluential religious denominations in England. The
seceding bodies of Methodists are evidently dis-
posed to maintain their position with firmness and
perseverance ; but none seem to push their distinc-
tive principles to so great a length as the Wesleyan
Reformers, a class of people wliich, though they have
not assumed the form of a regular sect, hold opi-
nions which are completely at variance with the
fundamental principles of Wesleyan Methodism, as
these are understood by the Conference. Thus they
assert that the right of admitting members into the
church, and excluding them from it, is vested only in
the church-members, who are entitled to be present
at all meetings in which the business of the church
is transacted. They hold also that it belongs to the
church to nominate and elect all office-bearei's, and
that the local courts should be independent of the
Conference, and their decisions reckoned final. The
Reformers still account themselves as Wesleyan
Methodists, and instead of seceding from the Society
and forming a new sect, they direct their whole ef-
forts towards a complete change in the constitution
of the original Connexion ; and insist, as essential to
the restoration of peace and harmony, that all preach-
ers, officers, and members, who have been expelled
in consequence of recent proceedings, should be re-
stored. But although by the dissensions of late
years Wesleyan Methodism is calculated to have
lost 100,000 members, or one-third of the whole, the
Conference and the remanent body maintain that
the proceedings of Conference have been thoroughly
in accordance with the constitution of the Society as
laid down in the poll-deed, and besides, carry with
them the warrant of Scripture. Such assumptions,
of course, are strongly denied by the various seced-
ing bodies, and the Conference is condemned as ex-
METHODIST (Wesleyan) ASSOCIATION.
443
ercising a clerical despotism fi-om wliicli tlie mind of
Wesley would have revolted, and which is thought
at variance not only with special passages, hut with
tlio whole spirit and tenor of the Word of God.
The Wesleyan Methodist Society is rapidly repair-
ing tlie losses it has sustained by tiic retirement and
expulsion of so many of its members, the number at
present in communion with the Society being, ac-
c.ordhig to the latest accountB in Great Britain,
270,095, being an increase during the last year of
G,2G0. The number of ministers in Great Britain is
reported on the same autliority to be 1,205, and
preachers on trial, 83. In Ireland the members are
19,287, tlie ministers, 107, and the preachers on
trial, 18. " The Wesleyan missions were commenced
in 178G, and were until 1813 confined chiefly to
British North America and the West Indies. In
tlie December of that year, however. Dr. Coke, ac-
companied by a band of young missionaries, em-
barked for India. Up to this period. Dr. Coke had
mainly raised the funds needed to carry on the Me-
thodist Missionary operations. The additional evan-
gelistic enterprise now entered upon made new ar-
rangements and exertions necess.ary. Various plans
were suggested ; but that which originated with the
late Rev. George Morley and the Kev. Dr. Bunt-
ing, then stationed in Leeds, and sanctioned by sev-
eral of the ministers in that town and neighbour-
hood, was adopted by the ensuing Conference.
Tliat scheme has been greatly owned of God. In
1814 tlie income of the Missionary fund was below
£7,000 ; there were 70 Missionaries, and the number
of members under their care was 18,747. Now, there
are, according to the last returns, 114,528 accredited
church-members, besides 6,922 on trial for member-
ship, under the care of 632 Missionaries ; and the
income is £119,205 8s. 2d."
METHODIST (Wesleyan) ASSOCIATION.
riie most frequent source of the dissensions which
have agitated the Societies of the Wesleyan Method-
ists has involved the question. Where lies the power of
expelling members from the body ? Is it with the
preachers solely ? as the Conference affirms ; or with
preachers and class leaders jointly ? as the movement
party maintain. The controversies which have been
raised upon this point have almost uniformly termi-
nated in a secession. One of the most recent of these
disputes led to the formation of the Wesleyan Method-
ist Association. In 1834 a discussion commenced as
to the propriety of establishing a Theological Institu-
tion, and a minister, named Dr. Warren, having pub-
licly expressed his disapproval of the measure, and
pubn'shed a pamphlet against it, was expelled from
the Connexion by the District meeting at Leeds.
Several parties who held and avowed similar senti-
ments were also cut off. Such summary proceed-
ings, on the part of the local courts, led to a keen
controversy throughout the Wesleyan Societies
generally, affecting the government of the church.
Matters had now assumed so threatening an aspect
that the Conference in 1835 took action on tlie nub
ject. Thoy refused to yield the point which they
had always maintained, that the ministers have the
exclusive power of passing sentence on convicted
members ; but at the same time they deemed it expe-
dient to introduce certain limitations which tended
to modify the disciplinary authority which they held
as essentially belonging to the pastoral office. The
limiting clauses enacted at this time professed to
guard accused members against unfair treatment.
Tlius it was enacted (1.) That the sentence should
not be pronounced till a week after the trial. (2.)
Tliat in difficult cases the superintendent should con-
sult the leaders and others. (3.) That cases of pro-
posed expulsion should be brought before the weekly
meeting of preachers ; and (4.) That an appeal
should be allowed by either party to a " minor dis-
trict meeting," composed of five preachers, two se-
lected by the superintendent, two by the accused,
the fifth being universally the chairman of the
district. Other conciliatory measures were also
passed by the Conference, which, however, left the
entire government of the Connexion, at least in all
essential matters, exclusively in the hands of the
ministers. The movement party, therefore, having
failed to obtain the reforms they sought, seceded,
and in 1835 became a separate and independent Me-
thodist Society.
The Wesleyan Methodist Association differs from
the original Connexion neither in doctrine nor wor-
ship, but solely in constitutional arrangements. The
principal peculiarities are thus stated in their own
published 'Regulations:' "The Annual Assembly
(answering to the Old Wesleyan Conference) is
distinguished by the introduction of the laity as
representatives. It consists of such of the itiner-
ant and local preachers, and other official or pri-
vate members, as the circuits, societies, or churches
in union with the Association (and contributing
£50 to the support of the ministry) elect. Tlie
number of representatives is regulated by the num-
ber of constituents. Circuits with less than 500
members send one ; those with more than 500
and less than 1,000 send two ; and such as have
more than 1,000 send three. The Annual Assem-
bly admits persons on trial as preachers, examines
them, receives them into full connexion, appoints
them to their circuits, and excludes or censures
them when necessary. It also directs the applica-
tion of all General or Connexional Funds, and ap-
points a committee to represent it till the next As-
sembly. But it does not interfere with strictly
local matters, for 'each circuit has the right and
power to govern itself by its local courts, without
any interference as to the management of its inter-
nal affairs.'"
It is a distinctive feature in the ecclesiastical goy-
emment of the " Association," that in matters cf dis-
cipline the laity are permitted to exercise more in-
fluence than in the original Wesleyan Connexion.
444 METHODIST (Wesletan) NEW CONNEXION— METHODIST (TVesleyan) REFORMERS.
Accordingly, it is provided that " no member shall
be expelled from the Association except by the
direction of a majority of a leaders' society, or
Circuit Quarterly Meeting." The Methodist As-
sociation has made rapid progress, and is now a
large and increasing body. In 1857 there were in
England ninety-three preachers. The members in
England and Scotland were 20,873 ; in Wales, 250 ;
in Ireland, 34 ; and on foreign stations, 1,185.
METHODIST (Wrsleyan) NEW CONNEX-
ION. Tliis large body of seceders from the Wes-
leyan Methodist Society owes its origin to the Rev.
Alexander Killiam. This Methodist minister, who
was a native of Epworth in Lincolnshire, tlie birtli-
place of the Wesleys, first rendered himself conspi-
cuous by claiming the right of the people to meet for
worship in church hours, and to receive the sacra-
ments from their own ministers. In a pamphlet which
he publislied under the name of the ' Progress of Li-
berty,' he advocated warmly the necessity of the laity
being admitted to a share in the government of the
church. The expression of such opinions rendered
him obnoxious to tlie Conference, who, in 1796, ex-
pelled him from the Connexion. A large number of
Wesleyan Methodists, amounting to 5,000, sympa-
thized with the sentiments of Kilham, and his ex-
pulsion accordingly led, in 1797, to the formation of
a separate body, called the New Connexion. The
New agrees with the Old Connexion in doctrine, and
in all its distinctive features. It has the same ec-
clesiastical machinery, including classes, circuits,
districts, and the Conference. The chief difference
between the two lies in the degree of power allowed
in each communion to the laity. In the Original
Connexion all authority is virtually vested in the
preachers, who not only exclusively compose the
Conference, but exercise the chief influence in the
inferior courts. Tlie New Coimexion, on the con-
trary, admits in all its courts tlie influence of tlie
laity, giving them a share along with the preachers
in all matters of church government ; candidates for
membership must be admitted, not by the minister
alone, but with the consent of the whole of the ex-
isting members ; members cannot be expelled even
on a cliarge of immorality, without the concurrence
of a leaders' meeting ; officers of the body, whether
leaders, ministers, or stewards, are elected by tlie
church and ministers conjointly ; and both in Dis-
trict Meetings and the Annual Conference lay dele-
gates to the same number as ministers are present,
freely chosen Ijy the members of Societies.
In 1847 the Jubilee of the New Connexion was
celebrated, and in honour of the occasion a large sum
of money was raised, which has to a great extent
reduced the debt on their chapels, and tlius removed
a heavy incumbrance from their congregations.
They have a Magazine published monthly, which has
a circulation of several thousands; a 'Juvenile In-
structor' for the use of the young, and a weekly
uewspaper called the ' Methodist Pilot,' which is the
organ of the denomination. At the Conference of
1857 there were reported as being in England 10
districts, 52 circuits, and 4 missions, 112 preach-
ers, and 19,247 members ; and in Canada 57 circuit
preachers, and 4,405 members. Both in England
and Canada this denomination is steadily on the in-
crease.
METHODIST (Wesleyan) REFORMERS, a
considerable party of Methodists, who, though they
have not formally seceded from the Original Wes-
leyan Connexion, nor formed themselves into a se-
parate sect, occupy the position of a party who have
been expelled by Conference from the Society, yet
protest against their expulsion as illegal, and de-
mand the restoration of all preachers, officers, and
members, who have thus been, in their view, con-
trary to law and justice excluded. Tlie proceedings
of Conference which led to the formation of this
party, took place in 1849, several ministers having
been in that year expelled in consequence of their
real or supposed connexion with the publication of a
series of pamphlets called ' Fly Sheets,' in which
some points of Methodist procedure were discussed
in strong and, as it was deemed, scurrilous language.
See Methodists, (Wesleyan.) The chief point
on which the complaints of the Reformers who sym-
pathize with the expelled ministers turns, refers
to ministerial authority in matters of church disci-
pUiie. On tliis point their opinions are at complete
variance with those of the Conference. In 1852
they published a ' Declaration of Principles,' which
is as follows :
" (1.) That ' the Church of Christ is the v:lioh hochj
of true believers.'
" (2.) That Christ is head over all things to His
church, and His Word the only and sufficient rule
both of its faith and practice.
" (3.) That no rules or regulations should be adopt-
ed but such as are in accordance with the Holy
Scriptures, and have received the full concurrence of
the church.
" (4.) That the admission of members into the
church, the exercise of discipline upon them, and
their exclusion from the church, are rights vested
solely in the hands of cliurch members, to be exer-
cised by them, either directly or representatively ;
and that it is the right of members to be present at
all meetings for the transaction of the general busi-
ness of the church.
" (5.) That the nomination and el.ectioii of all of-
fice-bearers is the inalienable right of tlie church.
" (6.) That, while desirous of maintaining the con-
nexional principle, we hold tliat all local courts
should be independent, and their decisions affecting
internal economy fni.al.
" (7.) That any restriction upon discussion and
free interchange of opinions on matters allbcting the
interests of the cluircli is an unwaiTantcd interfer-
ence witli its liberties and with the i-ights of private
judgment.
METHYMNiEUS— METROPOLITAN.
44S
" (8.) Tliat preachers of tlie Gospel are not ' lorda
over God's lieritage,' for 'one is your master, even
Christ, and all ye are brctliren.'
" (9.) Tliat tlie restoration of all preachers, officers,
and niombors who had been expelled in consequence
of the recent proceedings of the Conference is essen-
tial to the future peace and prosperity of the Con-
nexion."
In accordance with these principles, they have set
in operation a distinct macliincry of Metliodisin,
though still claiming to be considered not as a .seced-
ing body, but as Wesleyan Methodists who have
been illegally excluded from the Society. The Cen-
sus in 18.51 reports 339 eh.apels as then in connec-
tion with the movement, but this gives a very imper-
fect idea of the re.il state of the Reforming party,
which in its present state is calculated to include at
least one-half of the 100,000 members which the
Wesleyan Methodist Connexion has lost in conse-
quence of the controversies wliich have successively
agitated the denomin.ation for many years past.
METIIYMNjEUS, a surname of Dionysus, sup-
posed to be derived from Methymna, which was
rich in vines.
METONIC CYCLE. At the beginning of the
Common Prayer Book of the English Church are
several astronomical tables, most of them simply
jalculations of the day on which Easter will fall on
iny given year, as well as the moveable feasts which
depend upon it. In the early Christian church, as
wo have already shown under the article Easteu
(which see), disputes arose on this point between the
Eastern and the AVesteni Churches. The subject
was brought under the consideration of the council
of Nice in the fourth century, when they came to a
decision on which the following rule was founded ; —
" Easter-d.a)' is always the first Sunday after the full
moon, which h.ippens upon or next after the twenty-
iirst day of March ; and if the full moon happens on
a Sunday, Easter-day is the Sunday after." Pro-
ceeding on this rule, it is necessary in the first in-
stance to discover the precise time of the full moon,
and to calculate accordingly. This would be an easy
matter if the solar and the lunar years were exactly
of equal length, since in such a case Easter would
always fall on the same day. But the lunar year
being shorter than the solar by eleven days, Easter
must for a course of years alw.ays fall at a dili'erent
time in each successive year. Accordingly, the
council of Nice adopted the Meionic Cycle, which
enabled them to calculate these changes with toler-
able accuracy. From the high value attached to
this cycle, its numbers were usually written in letters
of gold in the calendar, and hence it was called the
Golden Number.
METROPOLITAN, the bishop who presides over
the other bishops of a province. In the Latin
Church it is used as synonymous with an archbishop.
In England, the archbishops of Canterbury and York
are both Metropolitans. In the Greek Church it is
applied only to a bisliop whose see is a civil metro-
polis. This, it is probable, was the ciirlicst use of
the word, those bishops being exclusively so termed
who presided over the principal town of a district or
province. The title was not in use before the coun-
cil of Nice in the fourth century. What li.'is beeu
termed by ecclesi.'istical historians the Metro[iolitan
Constitution, in all probability arose gradually in the
Christian church. Proclaimed first by the Apostitu
in cities, Christianity was thence spread to the othei
provincial towns. Thus naturally the churches of a
province came to constitute a whole, at the head of
which stood the church of the metropolis, whose
bishop would of course occupy an honourable place
among the bishops of the province. The progress
of the Metropolitan Constitution in the fourth century
is thus detailed by Neander: "On the one hand, to
the metropolitans was conceded the superintendence
over all ecclesiastical affairs of the province to
wdiich their metropolis belonged ; it was decided that
they should convoke the assemblies of provincial
bishops, and preside over their deliberations; but,
on the other hand, their relation to the entire colle-
gium of the provincial bishops, and to the individuals
composing it, were also more strictly defined, so as to
jirevent any arbitrary extension of their power, and
to establisli on a secure footing the independence of
all the other bishops in the exercise of their func-
tions. For this reason, the provincial synods, which
were bound to assemble twice in each year, as the
highest ecclesiastical tribunal for the whole province,
were to assist the metropolitans in determining all
questions relating to the general aftairs of the
church ; and without their participation, the former
were to be held incompetent to undertake any busi-
ness relating to these matters of general concern.
Each bishop was to be independent in the adminis-
tration of his own particular diocese, although he
could be arraigned before the tribunal of the pro-
vincial synods for ecclesiastical or moral delinquen-
cies. No choice of a bishop could possess vaUdity
without the concuiTcnce of the metropolitan ; he
was to conduct the ordination ; yet not alone, but
with the assistance of at least two other bishops;
and all the bishops of the province were to be pre-
sent at the ordination of the metropohtan."
The rise of the authority of Metropolit;ins seems
to have taken place without any distinct interference
on the part of the church. The council of Nice was
the first to give an express deliverance on the sub-
ject, particularly with reference to the Alexandrian
church. The sixth canon of that council ran in
these terms : " Let the ancient custom which h.as
prevailed in Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis, that the
bishop of Alexandria should have authority over all
these places, be still maintained, since this is the
custom also with the Roman bishop. In like man-
ner, at Antioch, and in the other provinces, the
churches shall retain their ancient prerogatives."
This canon refers evidently not to the ordinary per-
446
MEVLEVIES.
son of a Metropolitan, but to a peculiar dignity or
rank which seems to have been awarded to Alexan-
dria, along with Rome and Autioch, the three great ca-
pital cities of the Roman Empire — a rank which was
afterwards recognized under the name of Patkiaechs
(which see). It is not improbable that the power
of the Metropolitans would have become excessive
had it not been checked by the rise of the patriarchal
system, which, thougli its foundation was laid before
tlie fourth century, was not fully developed until the
middle of the fifth. The appointment of patriarchs
i;ave to the Metropolitans a subordinate place. But
what tended above all to weaken the Metropolitan
constitution was the disorganization of the Roman
Empire by the descent of the barbarous tribes upon
Italy. This, of course, introduced confusion into the
limits of Metropolitan provinces. Difficulties also
arose to prevent the redistribution of ecclesiastical
provinces, which had thus become necessary for the
maintenance of the Metropolitan system. A revival,
indeed, of the Metropolitan authority was attempted
by Pepin and Carloman ; and it took effect in France
and Germany with certain limitations and restric-
tions. But this institution, though on a reform-
ed footing, never took firm root in the new states ;
partly in consequence of the dominant power of the
sovereign, and partly in course of time, because it
was overshadowed by the rising power of the Pope.
Thus the Metropolitans gi-adually lost their power
over the diocesan bishops of their provinces, and
became little more than their titular superiors.
Many of the bishops, accordingly, were quite pre-
pared to throw off tlieir authority, more especially as
they were frequently chargeable with an unjust in-
terference in diocesan affairs. In sucli a state of
matters, tlie principles of the false decretals were the
more readily adopted, as these laid down the doctrine
tliat it belonged to the Pope alone to take cogni-
zance of affairs in wliich bishops were concerned.
The Metropolitan power now underwent a rapid
decHne ; and ere long the Metropolitans were placed
merely in the position of papal delegates, and only
retained so far as they promoted the interests of the
Roman see. " Tlie popes often, at pleasure," says
tlie Rev. J. E. Riddle, in his ' History of the Pa-
pacy,' " interfered with their ancient right of conse-
crating provincial bishops. As late as the eleventh
century, this was regarded as the indefeasible right
of Metropolitans, which could not be questioned or
disturbed. Even Gregory VII., altliough lie conse-
crated some provincial bi.shops under peculiar circum-
stances and as exceptional cases, made no attempt
to invade the right of Metropolitans in this respect ;
BO tiiat, for example, wlicn Robert entreated liini to
consecrate a new bishop of Malta, he wrote back
word to him, that he must first show him that Malta
did not belong to the Metropolitan province of Reg-
gio, since in that case he would be unable to comply
with his request, inasmuch as by so doing he would
be infringing the right of the archbishop, and give
inexcusable offence to all his brethren the bishops
Under the successors of Paschal II., however, it be-
came a common practice for bishops elect to run to
Rome for consecration from different provinces ; and
the Popes now began to perform the ceremony with
out even offering an apology to the Metropolitan foi
so doing. The right of Metropolitans to consecrate
provincial bishops was not denied ; but as soon as it
was maintained that the right belonged also to the
Pope, ' from the fulness of his power,' it was, to a
great extent, taken practically out of their hands.
Some Metropolitans sought to indemnify themselves
for their loss by exercising an immediate jurisdiction
within the dioceses of their provincial bishops ; but
the bishops found themselves protected from this in-
vasion by Rome; and such attempts at immediate ju-
risdiction were expressly prohibited by Innocent III."
MEVLEVIES, the most remarkable of the rigid
orders of Mohammedan monks. A thousand and
one days is the mystic number prescribed by the
noviciate, and the candidate receives his preliminary
training in the kitchen of the convent. During his
noviciate he is called " the scullion," and he is pre-
sented by the head-cook to the abbot or superior foi
admission into the order. The cook assists at the
ceremony of initiation, holding the head of the no-
vice while the superior pronounces some verses over
him ; a prayer is then clianted, after which the chief
or abbot places upon the head of the novice the
cylindrical cap worn by the Mevlevies ; the candi-
date then sits down beside the cook, while the supe-
rior pronounces a form of admission, enumerates the
duties incumbent upon him in connection with th(>
order, and recommends the new member to the
prayers and wishes of his brethren.
The doctrines of this order of Moslem monks are
chiefly those of the Persian SuFis (which see). In
accordance with their extravagant opinions they
have adopted not only new, but even forbidden
practices. Thus music and dancing were strictly
prohibited by the Prophet; but the Mevlevies
insisted that the exercise of these in a mystic
sense was an acceptable form of devotion. The
mystic dances of the Mevlevies dift'er from those of
other orders of Jlohammcdan monks. They are
thus described by Dr. Taylor in his History of Mo-
hammedanism : " Nine, eleven, or thirteen of the
fraternity squat down on sheep-skins in a circle ;
the floor of the dancing-room is circular, its design
being manifestly borrowed from a tent. They re-
main for nearly an hour perfectly silent, with their
eyes closed, as if absorbed in meditation. The pre-
sident then invites his brethren to join in reciting
the first chapter of the Koran, ' to the honour of
God, his prophets, especially Mohammed, the saints,
Mohammed's wives, disciples, and descendants, the
martyrs, the Klialiphs, the founder of the order,
&c.' Prayers are then recited in chorus, and after
wards the dance begins. All quitting their places
at the same time, range themselves on the left of
MEXICO (Relioion of Ancient;.
447
tlieir superior, and slowly advance towards him, with
folded arms and dow7icast eyes. Wien the first of
tlie Dervishes comes nearly opposite the president,
he salutes, with a low bow, the tablet in the wall
over his head, on which is engraved the name of the
fonndor of tlie ordor; he then with two sjirings g(!ts
to the right side of tlie president, and having hum-
bly sainted him, begins his dance. This consists in
turning on the heel of the left foot, with closed eyes
and extended arms, advancing slowly, and making
as it were insensibly the romid of the apartment.
He is followed by the second and third Dervishes ;
after which all begin spinning on the foot, and mov-
ing round, taking care to keep at such a distance
that they may not interfere with each other's mo-
tions. This fatiguing process continues two hour.s,
interrupted only by two brief pauses, during which
the Superior chants some short prayer. When the
performance draws toward a close, the Superior
joins in the dance, and the whole concludes with a
prayer for the royal family, the clergy, the members
of the order, and the faithful throughout the world."
The Mevlevies are the best endowed of all the
orders of Moslem monks; yet they use only the
coarsest fare and the plaine.st raiment, while they
distribute their superabundant revenues to the poor.
These Mevlevies or Maulavies are the Dancing
DervisJies of Turkey, who date their origin from
the early part of the thirteenth century. They
chiefly consist of the higher class of Turks, and
have a large monastery at Galata, and another at
Teonium.
MEXICO (Religion of Ancient). Before the
.irrival of Columbus and the Spaniards in South
America, Mexico formed the most powerful and
populous, and with one doubtful exception, the
most civilized empire of the western world. The
traditions of the Toltecs, handed down by the Az-
tecs or Mexicans proper, inform us that they mi-
grated from an miknown country called the primitive
Tlapallan, about A. d. 544, and advancing southwards
settled in Mexico about A. d. 648. The Mexicans
[iroper, issuing from the fai' north, did not reach the
borders of Anahuac till the beginnuig of the thir-
teenth century, and only fixed their habitation near the
principal lake in 1325. At the beginning of the six-
teenth century, just before the arrival of the Spaniards,
the Aztec dominion reached across the continent
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Li regard to the
religion of the ancient Mexicans, the question has
been raised, whether they were worshippers of many
gods or of only one God. One thing is certain, that
they had a general name for the Divine Being whom
they termed Teo-tl. The kindred word Teot was
used by the aboriginal population of Nicaragua to
denote both the superior gods and also the Spaniards.
That the Teo-tl of the Mexicans was the invisible,
incorporeal Being, the Supreme Spirit, the Cause of
causes, and the Father of aU things, is plain from
the fact that he was identified with the Teo-tl or
»un-god. This one God of highest perfection and
purity was only recognized by superior minds, but
never worshipped by the great mass of the people.
Hence Mr. Prescott remarks, "The idea of unity, of
a being with whom volition i» actiony who has no
need of inferior ministers to execute his purposes —
was too simple or too vast for their understandings;
and they sought relief as usual in the plurality of
deities, who presided over the elements, the changes
of the seasons, and the various occupations of man."
The chief divinities of the ancient Mexicans were
thirteen in number, at the head of whom stands
Tezcatlipoca, almost equal in rank vnlh Teo-tl, the
Supreme Being, and liis name being inteqiretcd
" shining mirror," he is represented on the monu
ments, and in the paintings, as encircled by the disc
of the sun. It is not improbable, indeed, that this
deity was an impersonation of the generative powers
of nature, and hence tbp Mexican legend represents
him as united to the primitive goddess, and first wo
man CliUtuaeohuatl, who is always accompanied by
a great serpent. The highest emblem of Tezcatli-
poca was the sun, and annually, in the month of
May, a human being, m the vigour of youth and of
unblemished beauty, was offered up in saciifice, and
the heart of the victim still palpitating was plucked
from his bosom, held up towards the sun, as if to pro-
pitiate him, and then thrown down before the image
of the great divinity, while the people were engaged
in solemn worship. The national divinity, however,
of the Aztecs or Mexicans proper, was the terrible
Huitzilopochtli, whose name Milller derives from
huitzilin, a humming-bird, and opocldli, on the left ;
and in accordance with this name his gigantic image
liad always some feathers of the humming-bird on
the left foot. This was the mighty warlike god who
was recognized as the guardian of the country, which
seems to have received the appellation Mexico, from
one of bis titles, Mexitli. His wife was called Teo-
yamiqui, from miqiii, to die, and teoyao, divine war,
because she conducted the souls of warriors, who
died in defence of the gods, to the house of the sun,
the Elysium of the Mexicans, where she transformed
them into humming-birds. " The numerous altars
of Huitzilopochtli,^' says Mr. Hardwick, in his ' Christ
and other Masters, "reeked continually with the
blood of human hecatombs, and that in cities where,
amid some cheering gleams of moral sensibility, the
conquerors fowid no lack of goodly structiu-es and
of gracefiU ornaments, to indicate the progress made
by the ferocious Aztec in the arts of social life.
These desperate efforts to secure the favoiu- of the
gods by offering human victims were indeed by no
means limited to ancient Mexico ; for all the wild
tribes of America had been wont from ages immemo-
rial to sacrifice both children of their own and pri-
soners taken in their savage conflicts with some
neighbom'ing people. Acting also on the rude be-
lief, that such oblations would conduce to gratify
the animal wants of their divinity, as well as to ap-
448
MEXITLI— MEZUZZOTH.
pease his wi'ath, they teid contracted the vile habit
of feasting on the remnant of these human sacrifices,
and at other times proceeded to indulge in the most
brutish forms of c<annibahsm. But when the Aztec
rule eventually prevailed in every pare of Anahuac,
the sacrificing of all foreign enemies became a still
more solemn duty. We 'are told that ' the amount
of victims immolated on its accursed altars would
stagger the faith of the least scrupulous believer ; '
while cannibalism, that dark accompaniment of hu-
man sacrifice in almost every country, was in Mexico
peculiarly rife, and from the partial efforts to disguise
it, had become peculiarly revolting."
Tlie enormous extent to which human sacrifices
were oflered to the national god, appears from the
startling fact, that l.^SjOOO human skulls were found
by the companions of Cort(?s within the temple of
Huitzilopochtli. Such was the importance attached
to the favom* and protection of this deity, that, in
the migi-ations of the Aztec tribes, a wooden image
of the god was carried on the shoulders of four
priests.
The water-god of the ancient Mexicans was Tlaloc,
on whose altars children were usually offered. To
his wife, Chalchincueje, all infants were presented
immediately after birth for purification. One of the
most important divinities, however, of the Aztec
pantheon, was QuelzalcoatI, who appears, indeed, to
have been worshipped at an earlier period by the
Toltccs. His birth is said to have been miraculous,
and he was destined to become the high-priest of
Tula, the metropolis fomided by the Toltecs when
they passed into Mexico. Great were the benefits
which he conferred upon the nation, constructing an
equitable code of laws, reforming the calendar, in-
structing the people in the arts of peace, and setting
his face against all war and bloodshed. This was
the golden age of Anahuac, when all was prosperity,
and comfort, and peace. But such a state of things
was of short duration. The god Tezcatl/poca direct-
ed all his etTorts towards undoing all tliat Q.uetzakoatl
had accomplished, and compelled him to quit the
scene of liis benevolent labou}'s. On his departure he
wandered towards Cholula, where, for some years,
he carried out his plans for the civihzation and im-
provement of the peojile. It was at this place that
lie was first worshipped as a god, a temple being de-
dicated to his honour. lie appears to have been a
personification of natural energies, and his symbols
were the sparrow, the fire-stone, and the serpent.
lie was worshiiipcd by all persons concerned in traf-
fic. Forty day.s before the festival of the god, tlie
merchants purchased a licautlful slave, who, during
tliat time, represented the deity, and was obliged to
assume an appearance of mirth, and to dance and
rejoice while devotees worshipped him. On the
feast day they sacrificed him to (liietzalcoatl. At
Cholula tliis deity was worshijiiied in a manner
. somewhat diflerent, five boys and five girls being
eacrificed to him before any martial expedition was
entered upon. It appears from the monuments that
the Mexicans exhibited their deities in temples under
the symbols of serpents, tigers, and other fierce and
destructive animals, wliich inspired the mind with
gloomy and tenible ideas. They sprinkled their
altars with human blood; sacrificed in the temples
eveiy captive taken in war, and employed various
other means to appease the vengeance* of their angi-y
deities.
MEXITLI, one of the principal gods of the an
cient Mexicans. See preceding article.
MEZUZZOTH, schedules for door-posts among
the modern Jews. A Mezuzza is a piece of parchment
on which are written, Deut. vi. 4 — 9, " Hear, 0 Israel :
The Lord our God is one Lord : and thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words,
which I command thee this day, shall be in thine
heart : And thou shalt teach them diligently unto
thy childi'en, and slialt talk of them when thou sit-
test in thine house, and when thou walkest by the
way, and when thou liest down, and when thourijest
up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine
hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine
eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of
thy house, and on thy gates ; " and xi. 13 — 20, " And
it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently
unto my commandments which I command you this
day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him
with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will
give you the rain of your land in his due season, the
fii'st rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather
in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will
send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou may-
est eat and be full. Take heed to yourselves, that
your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and
serve other gods, and worship them ; and then tho
Loi-d's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up
the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land
yield not her fruit : and lest ye perish quickly from
ofl" the good land which the Lord giveth you.
Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your
heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign up-
on your hand, that they may be as frontlets between
your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children,
speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house,
and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest
down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt
write them upon tho door-posts of thine house, and
upon thy gates." The parchment is rolled up with
the ends of the lines inward, the Hebrew word S/iad-
dai is inscribed on the outside, and the roll is put
into a cane or a cylindrical tube of lead, in which a
hole is cut, that the word Shaddai may appear.
This tube is fastened to the door-post by a nail at
each end. The fixing of it is preceded by the repe-
tiliou of the following benediction* "Blessed art
thou, 0 Lonl our God, King of tho universe ! who
hast sanctified us with thy precepts, and commanded
us to fix the Mezuzza." The most minute injuno-
5^
FOR REFERENCE
NOT TO BE TAKEN FROM THE ROOM
f J CAT. NO. 23 012 "*
1
c
000 407 142 9