Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological & Ecclesiastical Literature

West, John (1) a Methodist Episcopal minister, was born in Charles City County, Va., April 20, 1768. He joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1784, was licensed to preach in 1787, entered the traveling connection in 1790, and was appointed to Greene Circuit, in Tennessee. In 1802 he was transferred from the Virginia to the Baltimore Conference, his connection with that body lasting until 1825, when, at its organization, he became a member of the Pittsburgh Conference. For fifty-seven years (forty-four of which he was effective) "Father West" labored in the itinerant ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, "and in every station his onerous and important duties were discharged with a fidelity but seldom equaled and perhaps never surpassed." He died July 22, 1847. "Modesty, innocence, and punctuality were prominent traits in the character of Father West." His death was as triumphant as his life was serene. See *Minutes of Annual Conferences, *4:238.

West, John (2) a Welsh Congregational- minister, was born in 1808. He studied 'privately for the ministry, was ordained, and for some years preached in several English counties with acceptance and success. In 1839 he was received by the Colonial Missionary Society, and was sent to Tasmania under its auspices. He not only did good work as a minister, but as a political leader he did much for Tasmania, and his stirring appeals were a strong element in the resistance that finally triumphed over the imperial government. In 1854 he became chief editor of the *Sydney Morning Herald, *and labored in this capacity until his death, Dec. 11, 1873. See (Lond.) *Cong. Yearbook,* 1875, p. 373.

West, Jonathan Renshaw a Methodist Episcopal minister, was born in Jackson County, Ala., Aug. 31,1806. He experienced religion in 1825, was licensed to exhort in 1827, and to preach in 1832, and in 1846 or 1847 joined the Missouri and Arkansas Conference. During the war, he was compelled to leave the South for personal safety. In 1864 he went to Kansas, where he preached until his death, June 15, 1874. See *Minutes of Annual Conferences, *1875, p. 23.

West, Nathaniel, D.D. a Presbyterian divine, was born in Ulster, Ireland, in 1794. He was educated under Drs. Chalmers and Turner; entered the ministry in the Independent Connection in Hull, England, in 1821; came to the United States in 1834, and was pastor of Presbyterian churches successively at Meadville, Pa.; Monroe, Mich.; North East, Pittsburgh, MacKeesport, Belmont, Hestonnville, and Philadelphia, Pa., besides being engaged in various benevolent agencies. He was senior chaplain in the Satterlee United States Military Hospital, West Philadelphia, from May, 1862, until his death, Sept. 2, 1864. He published, *The Ark of God the Safety of the Nation (1850): — Popery the Prop of European Despotisms (1852): — Babylon the Great *(ibid:): *Right and Left-hand Blessings of God, or a Cure for Covetousness *(Phila. 1852, 18mo): *— Complete Analysis of the Holy Bible, Containing the Whole of the New and Old Testaments, Collected and Arranged Systematically into Thirty Books; Based on the Work of the Learned Talbot *(N. Y. 1853, royal 8vo; 7th ed. 1855, royal 8vo, 1035 pp.): *— The Overturning of Tyrannical Governments *(preached before and published at the request of Louis Kossuth when in the United States, and by his order and at his cost translated into Magyar): — *Lecture on the Causes of the Ruin of Republican Liberty in the Ancient Roman* *Republic, *etc. (Phila. 1861, 8vo): *— History of the Satterlee U. S. Army Genesis Hospital *(West Phila., Hospital press, 1863,12mo, 30 pp.). "Dr. West was a man of marked peculiarities-and abundant labors." See Allibone, *Dict. of Brit and Amer. Authors, *s.v.; Wilson, *Presb. Hist. Almanac, *1865, p. 134. (J. L. S.)

West, Richard, D.D. an English clergyman, was born in 1671. He became a commoner in Merton College, Oxford, in 1688; was afterwards elected fellow of Magdalen College; became prebendary of Winchester in 1706; archdeacon of Berks in 1710; and died Dec. 2, 1716. He published some essays, sermons, and other works. See Allibone, *Dict. of Brit and Amer. Authors, *s.v.

West, Robert Athow an American writer, was born at Thetford, England, in 1809. He immigrated to the United States in 1843; was the official reporter of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1844, and published the debates; was editor of the *Columbia Magazine *(N. Y.) from 1846 to 1849; coeditor of the *N. Y. Commercial Advertiser *in 1845, and editor-in-chief in 1850. He was the author of, *Sketches of Wesleyan Preachers *(N.Y. 1848). — *A Father's Letter to his Daughter *(1865). He was also one of the compilers of the *Hymn-book of the Methodist Episcopal Church, *and contributed to its pages, besides writing poetry and prose for periodicals.

West, Samuel (1), D.D. an American Unitarian minister, was born at Yarmouth, Mass.. March 3, 1730 (O. S.). He labored on the farm until he was twenty years of age; graduated at Harvard College in 1754; was ordained minister of a part of Dartmouth (now New Bedford and Fair Haven) June 3, 1761; was a zealous patriot during the American Revolution, encouraging the people in public addresses, entering the army as chaplain, and adding all the weight of his great learning to the American cause; withdrew from his ministerial labors in June, 1803; and died at the house of his son in Tiverton, R. I., Sept. 24, 1807. He was a man of extraordinary physical and mental powers, and was esteemed the most learned man of his time in New England. He was a vigorous preacher, and was noted for the complete mastery of his subject. He was the author of *Essays on Liberty and Necessity *(1793 and 1795, 2 pts.), and several single *Sermons *preached on various occasions. See Sprague, *Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, *8:37 sq.

West, Samuel (2), D.D. an American Unitarian minister, was born at Martha's Vineyard, Nov. 19,1738 (0. S.). He spent his early years at hard labor; entered Harvard College in his twentieth year, and graduated in 1761; became chaplain to the garrison of Fort Pownal at Penobscot, Me., November, 1761; returned home in 1762; spent some time in the study of divinity at Cambridge; was settled as pastor at Needham in 1764; became pastor at the Hollis Street Church, Boston, March 12, 1789; withdrew entirely from public labor in 1805; and died April 10,1808. He was the author of a series of articles in. the *Boston Sentinel, *over the signature of "The Old Man" and several single *Sermons. A Biographical Sketch *has been published by the Rev. Thomas Thacher. See Sprague, *Annals of the Amer. Pulpit*, 8:50 sq.

West, Stephen, D.D. an eminent Congregational minister, was born in Tolland, Conn., Nov. 13,1735. He graduated at Yale College in 1755; taught at Hatfield, Mass.; studied theology with Timothy Woodbridge; became chaplain at Hoosack Fort; and was ordained as successor of Jonathan Edwards in the Indian Mission at Stockbridge in 1759. In a few years he gave up the Indian portion of his charge, and confined himself to the increasing body of English. He was dismissed in August, 1818, and died May 15, 1819. Dr. West in, appearance resembled a Puritan of the old school. He was most exact and uniform in his habits and work. His Christian character was one of strength, purity, simplicity and tenderness; his preaching was able, earnest, and eminently didactic-five hundred and four persons united with the Church during his pastorate. In theology, Dr. West was a Hopkinsian; in metaphysics, a Berkeleyan. He was a contributor to theological periodicals, and, besides several *Sermons, *the following are his publications: — *An Essay on Moral Agency *(1772; enlarged ed. 1794). Dr. Woodbridge calls this "one of the most extraordinary specimens of subtle metaphysical reasoning." — *Duty and Obligation of Christians to Marry only in the Lord (1779): — An Essay on the Scripture Doctrine of the Atonement *(1785): "less metaphysical and more popular than that on Moral Agency. It enjoys a high measure of favor with profound theologians" — *An Inquiry into the Ground and Import of Infant Baptism (1794): — Dissertation on Infant Baptism; Reply to Rev. Cyprian Strong (1798): — Life of Rev. Samuel Hopkins, D.D. (1806): — Three Sermons on the Mosaic Account of the Creation (1809): — Evidence of the Divinity of Christ, collected from the Scriptures *(1816). See Sprague, *Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, *1, 548-556; *Cong. Quar. *1859, p. 41.

West, William (1), D.D. an American Episcopal clergyman, was born in Fairfax County, Va., near Mount Vernon, about 1739. He was ordained and licensed for Virginia by the bishop of London, Nov. 24, 1761; became rector of St. Margaret's, Westminster parish, Ann Arundel County, Md.; rector of St. Andrew's parish, St. Mary's County, Nov. 17,1767; incumbent of St. George's parish, Harford County, in 1772; incumbent of St. Paul's parish, Baltimore County, June 7, 1779; was five years (1780-85) employed to officiate every third Sunday in. St. Thomas's Parish Church; took a prominent part in; the organization of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America after the Revolution; was chosen president of' the Diocesan Convention in May, 1790; and died March 30,1791. He was a Whig during the Revolution, and left no published works. He ordered his sermons to be burned, stating that they were not worthy of preservation. See Sprague, *Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, 5, *208 sq.

West, William (2) an English Wesleyan minister, was born in Ireland He was converted in early life; entered the itinerancy in 1779; was totally blind for many years; became a supernumerary in 1817; and died in Aberdeen, Scotland, Sept. 2, 1822, in the eightieth year of his age. West was a man of strict integrity, piety, and of no mean gifts. See *Minutes of the Conference, *1823; *Wesl. Meth. Magazine, *Oct. 1822, p. 686.

Westall, Thomas an early Methodist preacher, labored forty years in England, from 1740 until worn out. He retired to Bristol about 1780. He had some exciting experiences, one of which Atmore records. It was connected with Gwenap, famed in the history of early Methodism. He was at the Third Conference in 1746. He died in Bristol, April 20, 1794. He was a pattern of Christian simplicity and humble love. See Atmore, *Meth. Memorial*, s.v. *Minutes of the Conference, *1794; Stevens, *Hist. of Meth. *1, 174, 315; 3, 89.

Westbrook, Cornelius D., D.D. an early and distinguished minister of the Reformed (Dutch) Church, was a descendant of both Puritan and Huguenot stock. His father was a Revolutionary soldier; his mother died in his infancy. He was born at Rochester, Ulster Co., N. Y., in 1782; graduated at Union College in 1801; studied theology with Dr. Theodoric Romeyn, and was licensed in 1804 by the Classis of Albany. He was settled at Fishkill, N. Y., twenty-four years (1806- 30). Then for three years he was the first editor of the *Christian Intelligencer, *which had just been established as a weekly paper in place of the old *Monthly, *the "Magazine of the Reformed Dutch Church." After this he became rector of the grammar school of Rutgers College in 1833; but returned to the pastorate in 1836 at Cortlandtown, N. Y., where he remained fourteen years (1836-50), and then retired from active service to Kingston, N.Y., where he died in 1858. Dr. Westbrook was in every respect a man *sui generis. *He was original in thought, speech, writing, and action. He stereotyped nothing, for he could never be anything but himself. He was learned and scholarly in his tastes, but could never endure rigid system, nor follow in the tracks of others. His mind was quick, intuitively springing to conclusions which others reached only by slow reasonings. His intellect and heart and will all acted impulsively, and often at a white heat. He studied topics, not treatises and systems. His preaching was molded in the same way, by generous and noble impulses, by large views of truth, by intense and fervid conceptions, and by the genius, which often shone in his illustrations and peculiar modes of expression, as well as by the piety, which warmed his childlike heart. In prayer also he was himself, natural, trustful in God, reverential, and devout. At the grave of Washington among the veterans of the War of 1812, whose chaplain he was, he prayed so that no eye was dry in that assembly of gray-haired heroes. His social qualities were unique and attractive. He was a Nathanael in whom there was no guile, but he was also as cheerful and happy and exuberant as a boy. His heart never grew old. "He was always a boy." His pupils, parishioners, and friends loved him just because he was Dr. Westbrook, unlike any one else, and always genial, gentle, great-hearted, honest, simple-minded, single-eyed, and unselfish, full of sympathy for the weak and suffering, full of generosity and labors for the cause of Christ. His very frailties grew out of the simplicity of his large nature, and doubtless they added much to his experiences of the grace of God. See Corwin, *Manual of the Ref. Church, *p. 264,265. (W. J. R. T.)

Westbrooks, James M. a Southern Methodist Episcopal minister, was born March 10,1827. He professed conversion in his twentieth year; began preaching in 1852; and in 1853, was received into tile North Carolina Conference, wherein he labored faithfully until compelled to retire from active service by severe illness a short time previous to his death, which occurred Jan. 28, 1856. Mr. Westbrooks possessed a fervent but unobtrusive piety, and, though smitten down in the morning of life, he left abundant evidence of his ability as a preacher, his diligence as a pastor, and his consistency as a Christian. See *Minutes of Annual Conferences of the M. E. Church, South, 1856, *p. 694.

Westcott, Lorenzo a Presbyterian minister, was born in Southern New Jersey, and belonged to a large connection known in that part of the state. He was a graduate of Princeton College and entered the Theological Seminary in 1852, where he remained three years and graduated. He was ordained in Green Avenue Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, R.I. and was installed pastor of the Church at Warrior Run, Pa., in 1859. He was called to a professorship in Lincoln University in 1865, and remained at that post until transferred to a professorship in Howard University. He was deeply interested in the education and elevation of the colored race in this country, and gave to this important matter his stores of learning and unceasing labors. He died at Germantown, June, 1879. See *Presbyterian, *June 14, 1879. (W.P.S.)

Westcott, William Augustus a Presbyterian minister, was born in Orange County, N.Y., in 1814. After receiving an academical education, including the languages, he became a clerk in a mercantile house in New York City. While thus employed he united with the Church, and soon after turned his attention to the ministry; but not being able to bear the expense of an education, he studied medicine. He was, however, dissatisfied, feeling it his duty to preach. His way was opened to enter Princeton Seminary, which he did in 1841, and spent there two years in study. On April 17, 1845, he was licensed to preach, and for some time supplied the pulpit of the F Street Church, Washington, D. C., and afterwards that of the Church of Ramapo, N. Y. He was ordained an evangelist by the Hudson Presbytery, and was called to the Church at Florida, where he was installed pastor in 1849. Here he labored eleven years with marked success. At the dissolution of the pastorate he was called to the Church at Bloomingburg, where he was installed in 1868. After laboring here three years, he was called to the Centreville Church, and he remained here until he died. Feb. 23, 1876, beloved and regretted by all. (W. P. S.)

Westen, Thomas of a missionary among the Lapps or Finns down to the year 1727. This man wasone of the most noteworthy characters in the history of Protestant missions. The people among whom he labored dwelt from latitude 64° northward, chiefly in the marshes of Finland and in the North country, but to some extent also among the Norwegians. Their number is now reduced to from 4000 to 7000 souls. They speak a language resembling that of the inhabitants of Finland, proving that they belong to the same stock. As they have not made any considerable advancement in civilization, they are greatly despised by Norwegians and Swedes. In the period of the Christianizing of those regions, they heard the Gospel and were forced to receive baptism. The preachers were not able to traverse all the country and reach all the people, and hireling adventurers, intent only upon the securing of gain, came to occupy many of the parishes. In many instances persons were denied the privileges of religion because too poor to pay the amounts demanded by their ministers as a yearly contribution. The Norwegians, too, were guilty of overbearing and unjust; conduct in their intercourse with these people. The result was what might have been expected; the Finns returned to their former heathenism, though outwardly observant of the forms of Christian worship. Baptized children were washed on their return from Church in order that their baptism might not take effect on them, and a sort of counter-baptism was administered, etc. A Finnish name was given the child, which was carefully concealed from the preachers, etc. The forgiveness of the heathen gods was invoked whenever participation in the sacrament of the Lord's supper became necessary. In morals, the use of alcoholic liquors had done great harm. Drinking- shops stood in church-yards and at church-doors, and even ministers of the Church carried on a profitable traffic in the business of providing for the general thirst for fiery potions, and used persuasion to induce unwilling persons to drink. In time, no ceremony could be conducted without the use of alcoholic drink. Marriages were sealed with it, and it was sprinkled over the graves of the dead as a sort of holy water. After a time, the Norwegians came into the possession of the Finnish lands and property, and even children. The Danish- Norwegian Church was not, however, altogether unconcerned about the needs of this people. Bishop Eric Bredahl visited it repeatedly and won a few individuals over to Christianity. Isaac Olsen, a schoolmaster, spent fourteen years at Varanger, on the Russian frontier, and under the 70th degree of latitude engaged in apostolic toils, enduring apostolic sufferings for the cause of Christ, and succeeding so far as to see some of his pupils excel their Norwegian competitors in a knowledge of Christian doctrines in the annual visitation of churches and schools. In 1707, king Frederick IV of Denmark ordered an investigation of the condition of schools and churches in Nordland and Finmark, and in 1714 he ordered the newly founded Collegium de Promovendo Cursu Evangelii to make preparation for a mission among the Finns. The result of the measures taken in consequence of these orders was the selection of Thomas of Westen to be the superintendent of the proposed mission. Westen was born at Trondhjem, in 1682, and was obliged in early life to contend with want and difficulties of every sort. His father refused to permit him to study, and, when benevolent effort made a university career possible, induced him to study medicine instead of theology. Just as he was about to take the degree of M.D., his father died and left him penniless; but poverty did not deter him from entering on the study of Theology, and particularly of Oriental languages. He was able to get food of very inferior quality, and only on alternate days; and he shared with his roommate in the ownership of an old and poor black coat, which compelled him to remain indoors when the garment was away. A call to Moscow as professor of languages Land rhetoric, which was extended to him at this time by Peter the Great, was withdrawn without result, and he accepted instead the post of librarian at Trondhjem without salary, but with a prospect of ecclesiastical preferment. In 1710 he became pastor of the parish of Wedoen, and after six years of successful labor was made lector and notary of the Trondhjem chapter, and soon afterwards vicar and manager of missions among the Finns. In the capacity of lector he was called on to preach several sermons in each week, to deliver daily lectures on moral and positive theology, and also to guide the school, which was designed to become a nursery for the Finnish mission. Westen's first missionary tour among the Finns was undertaken May 29, 1716, and was protracted through West Finmark, East Finmark, and Nordland until autumn, when he returned in open boats, often at the risk of being drowned in the stormy inland waters, to Trondhjem. He brought the worn-out Olsen with him, and afterwards recommended him for the post of Finnish teacher and interpreter in the missionary college. He had left a chaplain as missionary in East Finmark, and had appointed a number of itinerant teachers, besides encouraging the building of churches by all the natives whom he could persuade to that work. He also brought to Trondhjem a number of Finnish children to be trained for missionary work, and in time sustained a seminary for such children in his own house. The bishop, Krog, endeavored to prevent the success of Westen's plans, but was defeated through the favor of the king. In 1717 the seminary was securely established, and royal edicts were issued providing for the erection of churches and chapels within the field of the mission, and settling the relations and duties of catechists and teachers and similar matters. A second missionary tour was begun by Westen, in company with several assistants whom he had gained, in June, 1718. He was already permitted to note progress in the work he had so recently begun. Several churches were in course of erection, and a number of children were secured for instruction in the principles of Christianity. The volunteers who accompanied him were left as pastors in different places, and not only became useful laborers in the preaching of the Word, but also valuable contributors to the literature of the country. Erasmus Raehlew translated Luther's *Catechism, *and wrote a *Grammatica Lapponica, *and a *Specimen Vocabularii Lapponici. *Martin Lund rendered similar service with his pen. Westen was unable to return to Trondhjem in the autumn of this year, and contented himself with rendering a written report, which led to his being summoned to Copenhagen in the following spring that he might give fuller information. He was presented to the king, and was permitted to submit for examination a list of whatever things he might consider necessary to the promotion of success in his work. Corresponding arrangements were then made and new missionaries enlisted. On Westen's return for a third missionary tour, begun June 29, 1722, he found a great awakening among the young people of his charge. They clamored for education and read the Bible. The population of certain places which he had not previously visited were, however, bitterly hostile. At Siumen the people had threatened to take his life; but when he preached to them, they were subdued and won. On the rock Overhalden lived a population of 283 souls who never came into the valleys, and who had never been visited by a preacher of the Gospel. When they heard that Westen intended to visit them, they were seized with mortal terror, and held a magical mass to deter him; but he came and gained their good-will and submission to the Gospel. Similar experiences awaited him in Snaasen, where lie remained two months, and, after his return to Trondhjem, in May, 1723, in Stordalen and Merager, in the immediate vicinity of that center. He purposed visiting the Finns, also, who dwelt within the bounds of the diocese of Christiania, but was hindered by its bishop. In 1725 the district of Salten contained 1020 newly converted Christians, and that of Finmark 1725. During these years Westen wrote many works in the interest of his mission, chiefly of a practical nature. A history of the Finnish-Lapp mission was completed, but has never been published, and is now probably lost. His last days were troubled with poverty. He died April 9,1727, leaving behind him a widow who had been a helpmeet for him indeed, and continuing to live in the recollection of the people whom he had served as "the lector who loved the Finnish man." See *Acta Hist. Eccles. *3, 1111; 5, 922; 10:867; Hogstrom, *Description of Lapland *(German ed. 1748); also Rudelbach, in Knapp's *Christoterpe *(1833), p. 299-380; and Hammond, *Nord. Missionsgesch. *(Copenh. 1787). — Herzog, *Real-Encyklop. *s.v*.*

Westeras (or Vesteras) a town of Sweden, capital of the laen of Westmanland, sixty miles west- northwest of Stockholm. An imperial diet was held here in 1527, in which the Protestant controversy was brought to a crisis. Liberty was granted for the "preachers to proclaim the pure Word of God," a Protestant definition being coupled with this phrase. The property of the Church, with the authority to regulate ecclesiastical affairs, was delivered into the hands of the king. The Protestant churches retained their revenues and the ecclesiastical property fell, for the most part, to the possession of the nobles. See Fisher, *Hist. of the Reformation, *p. 176.

Westergaard, Niels Ludwig a Danish Orientalist, was born Oct. 27,1815. at Copenhagen, where he also commenced his linguistic 'studies, which he continued from 1838 to 1839 at Bonn, Paris, London, and Oxford. From 1841 to 1844 he traveled through India and Persia, and after his return was appointed in the latter year professor of Indian philology at Copenhagen, where he died, Sept. 9, 1878. Of his writings we mention, *Radices Linguce Sanscritae *(Bonn, 1841): *— Sanscrit Formlaere, *together with *Sanskrit Laesebog *(Copenh. 1846). He also published the critical edition of the *Zendavesta *(ibid. 1854): — and the *Bundehesh *(ibid. 1851). His two treatises *De aldste Tidsrum i den indiske Historic *and *Buddhas Dsaar: *(ibid. 1860) have been translated into German (Breslau, 1862). (B. P.)

Westerlo, Eilardus, D.D. the successor of Theodorus Frelinghuysen in the Reformed Church of Albany, was born in Groningen, Holland, in 1738, his father, Rev. Isaac Westerlo, being pastor of the Church at that place. Consecrated by his parents from his early boyhood to the ministry, after spending six years at the Latin school of Oldenzaal he entered the University of Groningen at the age of sixteen; spent six full years in preparation for his holy office; and at twenty-two was admitted to its vows in 1760. Just at that time he unexpectedly received and accepted the call to Albany; was installed as pastor of the Church in March, and arrived in the autumn of that year in the city where he spent his ministerial life. About eight years after coming to Albany he fell into a state of religious despondency, which proved to be an eventful period of his spiritual life. Relief came only with much prayer and struggle of soul, but it seemed like "life from the dead." In 1775 he married the widow of Stephen Van Rensselaer, patron of the manor of Rensselaerwyck, and resided with her at the manor-hoilseunntil.1784, when they removed to the parsonage on Broadway. Dr. John H. Livingston's wife was the sister of Mrs. Westerlo. The relationship between these two eminent clergymen grew in strength and usefulness with their years and services for Christ's kingdom. Both of them were ardent supporters of the independence of the American Church from that of Holland, and were known as peacemakers and leaders during all the strifes, which ended in the triumph of their principles. Both of them were equally bold and influential patriots during the Revolutionary War. When Burgoyne was moving towards Albany in 1777, Dr. Westerlo took his family to a place of safety, but came back to his home, directed his church to be opened, and held daily religious services for a week, with fervent prayers for the army and animating exhortations to those who remained in the city. Dr. Livingston aided him in these patriotic services, which continued until the surrender of Burgoyne and his army. When Washington visited Albany in 1782, Dr. Westerlo delivered the address of public welcome. Until 1782 he preached only in the Dutch language, and at his death stated services in that tongue ceased in his church. But at the period named he began to preach on a part of each Sunda in English, and continued to do so with acceptance until Dr. Bassett became his colleague, in June, 1787, about three years before his own decease. He was a man of fine personal presence, mild and persuasive in manner, yet dignified and commanding. He was beloved by his own people, and a favorite in the community among all denominations of Christians. An excellent classical and theological scholar, he was familiar with the best learning of his times. He wrote well in Hebrew and Greek, and president Stiles of Yale College, with whom he corresponded, said that he wrote Latin with greater purity than any man he ever knew. He left a Hebrew and Greek lexicon, prepared apparently for publication, in his own neat manuscript. Among his papers was found an interesting autobiography, written in Dutch, up to May, 1782, and in English up to Dec. 4, 1790. This work, he says, was written "for his own edification and the remembrance of God's mercies." During his last illness, a brief period of despondency was followed by the most cheerful and happy serenity of soul. "His people came from all parts of the city to see him when he was near his end, and he left them with his blessing in such a solemn manner that it was thought he did as much good in his death as in his life." He will always be remembered among the great and good ministers of the Church of his fathers. He died Dec. 26, 1790. "So omnipresent was his religion, so engrossing his piety, that his habitual state of mind seemed to be 'one continued prayer,' and his life 'one unbroken offering of praise.'" See Rogers, *Historical Discourse, p. *31, 32; Corwin, *Manual of the Ref. Church, *p. 265, 266; Sprague, *Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, *9:2931. (W.J.R.T.)

Western Church. *SEE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH*.

Westervelt, Alfed L. a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born about 1820, of pious parents. He received a careful religious training; experienced conversion in his nineteenth year: began preaching soon after, and subsequently joined the Ohio Conference; served three years as junior preacher and three as senior; and died of cholera, July 31, 1849. Mr. Westervelt was a man of deep piety and respectable talents. See *Minutes of Annual Conferences, *1849, p. 388.

Westervelt, John P. a Reformed (Dutch) scholar, was born at Paramus, N. J., Nov. 7,1816. He was a teacher in Lafayette Academy, Hackensack, in 1838, and afterwards in private seminaries in New York and vicinity until 1844. He then studied theology for one year under the Rev. Albert Amerman. After engaging in various pursuits, he joined the Presbytery of Albany in 1855, and removed to Princeton, N. J., where he gave much time to the study of languages and Biblical criticism. He was familiar with the ancient languages. Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and spoke fluently the German, French, and Dutch. Especially was he skilled in the last, and held familiar intercourse with the theologians and poets of the Low Countries. He preached as fluently in the Dutch language as in his own. Bilderdyk, his favorite poet, he esteemed equal to any of our English poets. When Dr. Cohen Stuart came from Holland to attend the Evangelical Alliance, so great had the fame of Mr. Westervelt become as a Dutch scholar that Dr. Stuart visited Paterson, to which place Mr. Westervelt had moved in 1866, in order that he might see the renowned scholar. Dr. Stuart afterwards spoke of his "eminent attainments being equaled only by his modesty." By request of the doctor, Mr. Westervelt was made a member of the Leyden Society of Netherlandish Literature, June 16, 1876. Although Mr. Westervelt was in doctrine a Calvinist, yet he was one of the most catholic of men. Among his brethren his opinion of difficult passages of Scripture was considered sufficient authority. His piety was fervent and deep, his character pure and spotless, his faith trustful and strong; and in his last hours, when utterance was difficult, he declared Christ to be his satisfaction. He died Jan. 15, 1879. He published a *Translation from the Dutch of Van der Palm's Life and Sermons *(1865). He contributed to the *Princeton Review *articles on Van der Palm (1861), Bilderdyk (1862), Strauss, and Schleiermacher (1866); also articles to this *Cyclopaedia. *See Corwin, *Manual of the Ref. Church in America, *p. 550. Westervelt, Ralph, a (Dutch) Reformed minister, studied under his father-in-law, the Rev. S. Froeligh. He was licensed by the Ciassis and served at Paramus in 1801, at Rochester and Wawarsing from 1802 to 1807, at Clove in 1808, at Bethlehem and Coeymans until 1816, and at Wynantskill from 1816 to 1822, in which latter year he died. See Corwin, *Manual of the Ref. Church in America, *s.v.

Westervelt, Samuel D. a Presbyterian minister, was born in Schralenburg, N. J., April 21,1813. He was converted in his eighteenth year; educated in the New York University; studied theology privately; was licensed by the New York Classis; and ordained, October, 1839, as pastor of a church in King Street, N. Y, known as the True Reformed Dutch Church. In 1852 he transferred his ecclesiastical relation to the Second Presbytery of New York, and in 1853.was installed pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Yorktown, where lie continued to labor almost until the close of his life. He died Nov. 15, 1865. He was a good scholar, a clear and instructive preacher, and an acceptable writer. He published one of the best articles on dancing as a fashionable amusement that have ever appeared in print. It was quoted in all the religious journals, republished in London, and highly spoken of by the London press. See Wilson, *Presb. Hist. Almanac, *1867, p. 215.

Westfall, Benjamin B. a minister of the Reformed (Dutch) Church, was born at Claverack, Columbia Co., N. Y., in 1798. His early life was spent on a farm. Religious convictions seized his mind when quite young. He graduated at Union College, N.Y., in 1823, and at the New Brunswick (N. J.) Theological Seminary in 1826. He was licensed by the Classis of New Brunswick in 1826. He was missionary at Sand Beach, N. Y., in 1827-28. Then he was made pastor of Rochester, part of which time Clove was connected with it. In this field he labored from 1828 until 1838, during which time he saw, as the fruits of his labor, about three hundred souls brought into the Church. His last charge was Stone Arabia and Ephratah, where he toiled from 1838 until his death, in 1844. He was a man of fervent piety and deep and strong convictions. His sermons, breathing his own high convictions of truth, were addressed both to the consciences and understandings of his people. He lived only to save men. His death was caused by excessive labor in revival and, other meetings for the benefit of the people. See Corwin, *Manual off the Ref. Church in America, *s.v.

Westfall, Simon V. E. a minister of the Reformed (Dutch) Church, was born at Rhinebecl, Dutchess Co., N.Y., in 1802. He graduated at Rutgers College in 1831, and at the New Brunswick Seminary in 1834. He was licensed by the Classis of Rensselaer in 1834. He was pastor of the Hyde Park Church, Dutchess Co., N.Y., from 1834 to 1837, and Union and Salem from 1837 to 1847. At this time he went as missionary to Illinois, and in that capacity he labored for about two years, from 1847 to 1848. In 1849 he undertook the trying task of building u p an "eminent Dutch Church" in the young city of Pelin, Tazewell Co., Ill., where, with the exception of one year (1853), in which he labored at Vanderveer, Morgan Co., he ministered until 1856. His task was long and arduous, but fruitless. He left Pekin in 1856, and returned to his native East to spend his declining days. He had scarcely got settled in his new house and engaged to supply the Second Church of Rotterdam, when he was taken sick, and died, in 1856. During the short time he was sick, he repeatedly uttered the word "Ecstasy!" while visions of glory passed before his mind. He was a man of settled purpose, inflexible integrity, and of a modest and diffident spirit. See Corwin; *Manual of the Ref. Church in America, *s.v.

Westfield, Thomas an English prelate, was born at Ely in 1573. He was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, and afterwards became a fellow; was assistant to Dr. Nicholas Felton, at St. Mary-le-Bow. London, and then presented to the same Church; afterwards presented to St. Bartholomew's, made archdeacon of. St. Alban's, and finally made bishop of Bristol, on account of his piety and wisdom. He suffered under the Revolution, was ejected from his bishopric, and died June.25, 1644. He left, no published works, but two volumes of his *Sermons *appeared after his death.

Westgate, George Lewis a Methodist Episcopal minister, was born at Fall River, Massachusetts, April 12, 1844. He graduated from Wesleyan University, Connecticut, in 1865; studied two years in Union Theological Seminary, N.Y., and in 1867 joined the Providence Conference, in which and afterwards (1874) in the New York East Conference he occupied important stations until his election, in 1880, as professor of social science in his *alma mater, *a position which he retained until his death, June 28, 1885. See *Alumni Record of Wesleyan University, *1883, page 212; *Minutes of Annual Conferences, *1886, page 83.

Westhoff, Elbert Wilhelm a Roman Catholic theologian of Germany, as born in 1801 at Dolberg. He studied at Münster and in the Collegium Germanicum at Rome, where he received holy orders in 1828, and where he was promoted as doctor of theology. In 1829 he, was called to the Church at Sunninghausen, and in 1833 to Diestedde. In 1851 he was called to Cologne as regent of the clerical seminary, which position he occupied until 1868, when he retired on account of feeble health. He died May 6, 1871, in the Alexian Monastery at Neuss. He is the editor of the ascetical writings of Avancinus, Augustine, Bellecius, Gregory the Great, etc. He also published new editions of Ballerini's writings on the position of the popes to the general councils, on the primacy of the popes, and their *infallibilitus in definiendis controversiis fidei. *(B. P.)

Westlake, Burrows a Methodist Episcopal minister, of whose birth, and early history nothing definite can be learned, joined the Ohio Conference in 1814. The last nine years of his life and labors were in connection with the Indiana Conference. He died of epidemic erysipelas, April 17, 1845. Mr. Westlake possessed a strong, well-stored mind, and a tender, devout heart. See *Minutes of Annual Conferences, *1845; p. 658.

Westlake, Charles an English Wesleyan minister, was born at Launceston, Cornwall. He was converted under the ministry of Henry Cheveston, entered the sacred work in 1831 and died suddenly of apoplexy, Nov. 18, 1858, aged fifty-three years. See *Minutes of the Conference, *1859.

Westley *SEE WESLEY*.

Westley, James R. an English Wesleyan missionary, was converted under a sermon preached at Kingisland Road, London, by Holloway. He was received by the Conference in 1846, and died at Kingston, Jamaica, Nov. 29, 1847, aged thirty years. He was diligent studious, and unremitting in his pastoral duties. See *Minutes of the Conference, *1848.

Westminster (Assembly's) Annotations By this name is commonly designated a work bearing the title of *Annotations upon all the Books of the Old and New Testaments, by the Assembly of Divines *(Lond. 1651, 2 vols. fol.; 3d and best ed. 1657). It was the conjoint work of several eminent ministers, but was in no respect the product of the Westminster Assembly, except as it is executed in the spirit of their publications, and by persons some of whom had been members of it. The notes on the Pentateuch and on the four gospels are by Ley, subdean of Chester; those on Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther by Dr. Gouge; those on the Psalms by Meric Casaubon; on Proverbs by Francis Taylor; on Ecclesiastes by Dr. Reynolds; and on Solomon's Song by Smallwood. The Larger Prophets fell to the lot of the learned Gataker; the Smaller, in the first edition to Pemberton, in the second to bishop Richardson. The eccentric Dr. Featley undertook the Pauline epistles, but did not complete his work; and Downham and Reading were both employed on the work, though what they did has not been specified. The work is more than respectable; some parts, especially those entrusted to Gataker, are done with superior learning and ability; and the whole, though of various merit, does credit to the piety, scholarship, and judgment of the authors.

Westminster Abbey the venerable pile around which the city itself (now included in London) originally sprang. (The following account is taken from the *Globe Encyclopaedia, *s.v.) The foundation of the first Abbey on a spot formerly surrounded by the waters of the Thames and called Thorney Island is involved in mystery, but here was certainly one of the earliest Christian churches in England Sebert, king of the East Saxons, who died in 616, is believed to have completed a sacred edifice dedicated to Peter, which was destroyed by the Danes. Edward the Confessor in its place built a structure of great splendor for his time, and endowed it with a charter of ample powers and privileges. Henry III pulled down a portion and enlarged the plan of this ancient Abbey, adding a chapel dedicated to the Virgin, and the incomparable Chapter house. Henry VII built the magnificent chapel to the east of the Abbey, which bears his name. After his reign the building fell into decay until renovated by Sir Christopher Wren, who designed the upper part of the two western towers. The restoration of the Chapter house was undertaken by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1863. The Abbey is in the form of a Latin, cross, its exterior length being 416 feet, or, including Henry VII's Chapel, 530 feet. Its interior length is 375 feet, and its greatest, interior breadth 200 feet. The breadth of the nave and aisles is 75 feet, and their interior height, to which the Abbey owes much of its stately appearance, is 101 feet. The best view of the Abbey is from the west door between the towers. In the interior is a, noble range of pillars terminating towards the east by a sort of semicircle enclosing the Chapel of Edward the Confessor. The fabric is lighted by a range of windows supported by galleries of double columns on the arches of the pillars, by an upper and under range of windows, and four capital windows, the whole of the lights being admirably arranged. Twenty-two windows are enriched with stained glass. The new choir, 155 feet by 35 feet, was executed in 1848. 'The fifty- two stalls exhibit a great variety of carving and tracery. The reredos, completed under the direction of Sir Gilbert Scott, is an elaborate and splendid work. The names of the, various chapels, beginning from the south cross and passing round to the north cross, are in order as follows: (1) St. Benedict's; (2) St. Edmund's; (3) St. Nicholas's; (4) Henry VII's; (5) St. Paul's; (6) St. Edward the Confessor's; (7) St. John's; (8) Islip's Chapel, dedicated to John the Baptist; (9) St. John, St. Michael, and St. Andrew's; The Chapel of Henry VI is adorned without with sixteen Gothic towers, beautifully ornamented and jutting from the Abbey at different angles. Here is the magnificent tomb of that monarch and his queen. In the south transept is the well-known Poet's Corner. Every English sovereign since the Conquest has been crowned in Westminster Abbey, and the coronation-chairs and the coronation-stone of Scotland are in the Chapel of Edward the Confessor. Thirteen kings (George II being the last) and fourteen queens are buried in its precincts. Here also are the remains of Chaucer, Spenser, Ben Jonson, Dryden, Cowley, Addison; Congreve, Prior, Gay, Dr. Johnson, Garrick, Sheridan, Campbell, and Macaulae; of Handel, Blow, and Purcell; of Pitt, Fox, Wilberforce, Grattan, Canning, and Peel — a multitude of the illustrious departed. Palmerston, Charles Dickens, Lytton, and Livingstone are among the latest of the glorious company. There are also memorials to Shakespeare, Milton, Goldsmith, Thackeray, John and Charles Wesley, and many others whose remains lie elsewhere. Some of the monuments, such as that to John, Duke of Argyll, are very imposing. The Abbey fills a great place in the political and religious history of England. The Chapter-house was used for three centuries as the meeting-place of the House of Commons, and was thus the Cradle of representative government, and the scene of the chief acts which laid the foundation, of the civil and religious liberty of England. The Westminster Assembly, of Divines sanctioned in the Abbey, the Confession of Faith, which is the recognized creed of the Presbyterian Church (1643- 52), and the final alterations in the Book of Common Prayer were made by the bishops in the Jerusalem Chamber in 1662. Roman, Anglican, and Puritan theologians have in turn preached in these walls. In recent times, under the enlightened rule of Dean Stanley, the national character of the Abbey has been well maintained. Officially called the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, it is governed by the dean, a chapter and eight prebendaries, and other officers. See Neale and Brayley, *History and Antiquities of Abbey Church of St. Peter, Westminster *(Lond. 1818, 2 vols.); Stanley, *Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey *(ibid. 1876, 4to); *Historical Description of Westminster Abbey *(1878), printed for the Vergers.

Westminster Assembly of Divines a name given to the synod of divines called by Parliament in the reign of Charles I, for the purpose of settling the government, liturgy, and doctrine of the Church of England. The Westminster Synod or *Assembly of Divines *derived its name from the locality in London where it held its sessions, and owed its origin to the ecclesiastico-political conflict between the "Long Parliament" and king Charles I, which resulted in the decapitation of Charles, the protectorate of Cromwell, and the events consequent on those changes. This conflict was, in its religious aspects, a struggle of Puritanism or radical Protestantism against a semi-Romish Episcopal hierarchy and liturgy; in its political bearings, a contest for parliamentary privilege, anti popular freedom against the monarchical absolutism of the Stuarts. The final result of the struggle was a constitutional monarchy and a moderate episcopacy, with an Edict of Toleration in favor of Protestant Dissenters. After some unsuccessful attempts to obtain the sanction of the king, a joint resolution of the houses of Parliament was passed, June 12, 1643, which convoked a synod "for settling the government and liturgy of the Church of England, and for vindicating and clearing of the doctrine of said Church from false aspersions and interpretations," and, furthermore, for bringing about a more perfect reformation in the Church than was obtained under Edward VI and Elizabeth, by which a closer union of sentiment with the Church of Scotland and the Reformed churches of the Continent might be secured. It was intended that it should include, among its members adherents of all the chief parties among English-speaking Protestants, except the party of archbishop Laud, whose innovations and despotic tendencies had been one main cause of the troubles in. Church and State. Parliament appointed to membership in this synod 121 clergymen taken from the various shires of England, ten members of the House of Lords, and twenty of the Commons. The General Synod of Scotland, August 19, 1643, elected five clergymen and three lay elders as commissioners to the Westminster Synod. These, it will be seen, were simply a committee raised, by Parliament and amenable to its authority. About twenty of the members originally summoned were clergymen of the Church of England, and several of them afterwards bishops; but few of the Episcopal members took their seats. The bishops of the English Church never acknowledged its claims, and the king forbade its sessions under extreme penalties, June 22, 1643; but it nevertheless became, if measured by the far-reaching consequences of its work, the most important synod held in the history of the Reformed faith. The synod convened July 1, 1643, in Westminster Abbey, in the presence of both houses of Parliament. On the opening of the Assembly sixty-nine of the clerical members were in attendance, and at different times ninety-six of them were present, though the usual attendance ranged between sixty and eighty. The great body of the members, both clerical and lay, were Presbyterians; ten or twelve were Independents or Congregationalists; and five or six styled themselves Erastians. Nearly or quite all were Calvinists. The purposes for which, according to the ordinance, the Assembly was convoked were, as above stated, to vindicate the doctrine of the Church of England, and to recommend such further reformation of her discipline, liturgy, and government as "might be agreeable to God's holy word, and most apt to procure and preserve the peace of the Church at home, and nearer agreement with the Church of Scotland and other Reformed churches abroad." But when the Parliament, feeling their need of Scottish aid, acceded to the Solemn League and Covenant, and urged the Scotch to send their deputies to the Assembly, its objects were extended; and in order to carry out the covenanted uniformity, it was empowered to prepare a new confession of. faith and catechism, as well as directories for public worship and Church government, which might be adopted by all the churches represented. It retained to the last, however, its advisory character. The Church of Scotland threw all its influence in favor of strict Calvinism and Presbyterianism. Before electing delegates to the Westminster Assembly, in compliance: with the request of Parliament, it adopted, Aug. 17, 1643, the so-called Solemn League and Covenant, *SEE COVENANT, SOLEMN LEAGUE AND*, which bound the Scottish nation to the defense of the Reformed religion in Scotland, the furtherance of the Reformation in England and Ireland in doctrine, worship, Church organization, and discipline; the establishing of ecclesiastical and religious uniformity in the three realms; the extirpation of papacy and prelacy, of heresy and all ungodliness; and the support of all the rights of Parliament and of the rightful authority of the king. This document was immediately transmitted to Parliament, and thence to the Westminster Assembly, and was formally endorsed by each of those bodies, but was condemned by the king. The Assembly sought to gain the fraternal sympathies of the Reformed churches on the Continent also, and to that end addressed to them circular letters which drew forth more or less favorable responses, and which the king endeavored to neutralize by issuing a manifesto in Latin and English, in which he denied the intention charged upon him of re- establishing the papacy in his realm. The opening sermon was preached by Dr. William Twisse, who had been chosen prolocutor, and immediately thereafter the Assembly was constituted in the Chapel of Henry VII. The meetings continued, to be held in this chapel till after the arrival of the Scottish commissioners, and were chiefly occupied with the revision of the first fifteen of the "Articles." On Sept. 15 four Scottish ministers and two lay-assessors were, by a warrant from the Parliament, admitted to seats in the Assembly, but without votes, as commissioners from the Church of Scotland The Solemn League and Covenant, binding the ecclesiastical bodies of the two nations into a union, had been passed in Scotland, Aug. 17, was subsequently accepted by the Westminster Assembly, and ordered by the English Parliament to be printed, Sept. 21, and subscribed Sept. 25, when the House of Commons, with the Scottish commissioners and the Westminster Assembly, met in the Church of St. Margaret, Westminster. The House of Lords took the "Covenant" Oct. 15. The manner of proceeding is thus described by Baillie, one of the Scotch commissioners: "We meet every day of the week but Saturday. Ordinarily there will be present about threescore of their divines. These are divided into three committees; in one whereof every man is a member. No man is excluded who pleases to come to any of the three. Every committee, as the Parliament gives order in writing to take any purpose into consideration, takes a portion, and in their afternoon meeting prepares matters for the Assembly, sets down their mind in distinct propositions with texts of Scripture. After the prayer, Mr. Byfield, the scribe, reads the propositions and Scriptures, whereupon the Assembly debates in a most grave and orderly way. No man is called up to speak; but who stands up of his own accord, he speaks, so long as he will, without interruption. They harangue long and learnedly. They study the questions well beforehand, and prepare their speeches, but withal the men are exceedingly prompt and well spoken. I do marvel at the very accurate and extemporal replies that many of them usually make." The question of Church government occasioned the most difficulty, and seemed for a time impossible to be settled. Many of the most learned divines who were entirely on the side of Parliament were yet in favor of what they termed primitive episcopacy, or the system in which the presbyters, and their president governed the churches in common. Then there were the Scotch commissioners and the more radical Puritans who were at the opposite extreme; and, in order to reach a conclusion, these differences must be reconciled. It was accomplished after much discussion and long delay by the adoption of the Presbyterian form of government. The subjects relating to the form of public worship and the statement of doctrines occasioned less difficulty. Early in 1644 each of these was assigned to a small committee for the preparation of materials, after which they were to be brought first before the larger committees and then before the Assembly. The *Directory for Public Worship *was prepared in 1644. The question of *Church Government, *so far as it referred to ordination, was submitted to Parliament April 20, 1644, and ratified by that body Oct. 2, the same year. This *Directory *was completed during the following year, but the printing of it was delayed till 1647. In 1645 to 1646 the *Confession of Faith *was elaborated, and finally put into the shape in which it is still printed in Scotland The *Larger Catechism *was sent to the House of Commons Oct. 22, 1647; the *Shorter Catechism, *Nov. 25, the same year. In the autumn of 1648 both houses of Parliament ordered the printing and publishing of the *Shorter Catechism, *but the House of Lords was discontinued before it had acted on the *Larger Catechism.* The other papers issued by the Assembly consisted only of admonitions to Parliament and the nation, controversial tracts, letters of foreign churches, etc. The last of the Scotch commissioners left the Assembly Nov. 9, 1647. On Feb. 22, 1649, after it had held 1163 sittings, lasting each from 9 o'clock A.M. to 2 P.M., the Parliament, by an ordinance, changed what remained of the Assembly into a committee for trying and examining ministers, and in this form it continued to hold weekly sittings until the dissolution of the "Long Parliament," April 20, 1653. A monthly day of fasting and prayer was regularly held in union with the houses of Parliament. In this time it had framed and adopted a complete standard of doctrine, government, and worship for the Reformed churches of the three kingdoms. Its labors were approved by Parliament, and, their results elevated into laws of the State, though with certain modifications in the disciplinary arrangements. A perfect execution of these decrees was, however, impossible, because a large number of the English people adhered to the Episcopal establishment and liturgy, and the great majority of Irishmen were of the Roman Catholic faith. Scotland alone gave them an unqualified obedience, which has been continued almost intact down to the present day. From Scotland the Westminster standards were transmitted, with unimportant modifications of statement, to the different Presbyterian bodies of North America. After completing its labors, the synod was perpetuated in the character of a board of examination and ordination until March 25, 1652, when the dissolution of Parliament by Cromwell ended its existence, without any formal adjournment having been had. The official records of the Assembly are supposed to have been lost in the great fire of London in 1666, though it is said that Dr. McCrie, the younger, recovered a portion of them. Extensive private reports by members of the synod are yet extant, however, c. *g. *Lightfoot's *Journal of the Proceedings of the Assembly of Divines *(Lond. 1824), Robert Baillie's *Letters, *and three manuscript volumes of Goodwin's *Notes. *Clarendon's *History of the Puritan Rebellion *is, biased and insufficient; but Neal's *History of the Puritans, *pt. 3, ch. 2-10, has a very full and, upon the whole, trustworthy report. See also Hetherington. *History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines *(Edinb. 1843; N. Y. 1856); *History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines *(Presb. Board of Publ., Phila. 1841); *Minutes of the Sessions of the Westminster Assembly of Divines *(Edinb. 1874); Gillespie *(Works, *vol. 2), *Notes of the Proceedings of the Assembly of Divines *(ibid. 1844); Fuller, *Church History, *and *Worthies of England; *Palmer, *Nonconformists Memorial; *Price, *History of Protestant Nonconformity; *Hetherington, *History of the Church of Scotland; *Reid, *History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland; *Stoughton, *Ecclesiastical History of England; *Rutherford, *Letters; Hanbury, Historical Memorials of the Independents; *Brook, *Lives of the Puritans; *Reed, *Lives of the; Westminster Divines; *Smith, *Lives of English and Scottish Divines; *Wood, *Athenae Oxonienses; *Marsden, *Early and Later Puritans; *McCrie, *Annals of English Presbytery; *Stanley, *Memorials of Westminster Abbey; *and Skeats, *History of the Free Churches of England.*

Westminster Catechism These are two in number; the *Larger Catechism *being designed for use in public worship, the *Shorter *for the instruction of the young. They are probably, next to the *Heidelberg Catechism, *the most widely circulated of Reformed catechisms, and differ from it in being more decidedly Calvinistic, and more logical in arrangement and' intelligible in statement. The substance of the questions is steadily repeated in the answers and the use of the third person is maintained throughout. The *Shorter Catechism *is simply an abridgment of *the Larger.*

Westminster Confession of Faith that body of doctrines proposed by the Westminster Assembly, and adopted by Parliament in 1646 as the creed of the English Church, and now-the doctrinal basis of almost all Presbyterian churches, A committee, consisting of about twenty-five members, was appointed by the Assembly to prepare matter for a joint Confession of Faith about Aug. 20, 1644. The matter was prepared, in part at least, by this committee, and the digesting of it into a formal draught was entrusted to a smaller committee on May 1-2, 1645. The debating of the separate articles began July 7, 1645, and on the following day a committee of three (afterwards increased to five) was appointed to take care of the wording of the *Confession *as the articles should be adopted in the Assembly. On July 16 the committee reported the heads of the Confession, and these were distributed to the three large committees to be elaborated and prepared for discussion. All were repeatedly read and debated in the most thorough manner possible in the Assembly. On Sept. 25, 1646, a part of the Confession was finally passed, and on Dec. 4 the remainder received the sanction of the Assembly, when the whole was presented to the Parliament. That body ordered the printing of six hundred copies for the use of members of Parliament and of the Assembly, and that Scripture proofs should be added to the Confession, which was accordingly done. In 1647 the Confession was approved by the Church of Scotland in the form in which it had passed the Assembly, and it was ratified afterwards by the Scotch Parliament. It was passed by the English Parliament in 1648, under the title of *Articles of Christian Religion, *but with certain changes. The basis of the Confession is doubtless those Calvinistic articles which are supposed to have been prepared by Usher, and in 1615 were adopted by the convocation of the Irish Church. In the formation of this symbol *the *Assembly at first undertook to revise the Thirty-nine Articles of the Anglican Church, and proceeded with that work until fifteen articles had been revamped with elements of a more pronounced Calvinistic character and provided with Scripture proofs. The only important change made in this process was the omission of Article VIII, concerning the authority of the three ecumenical symbols. The intention of the synod was to ground every statement directly on Scripture as the only rule of faith, while the Church of England, under Edward VI and Elizabeth, conceded to Catholic tradition, if not in conflict with Scripture, a regulative authority. The Scottish commissioners, however, induced the Assembly to undertake the formation of an entirely new symbol. In the order and titles of many of its chapters, as well as in the language of whole sections or subdivisions of chapters, and in many single phrases occurring throughout the Confession, the Westminster divines seem to have followed the articles adopted by the Irish convocation. They very seldom determined points, which that body had left open. Their purpose was to express their views in such a way as to obviate objections and secure union rather than division. Hence they introduced nothing into the Confession, which had not been taught in England, Ireland, and Scotland before. The Confession, under the title of *The Humble Advice of the Assembly of Divines, not by Authority of Parliament sitting at Westminster, concerning a Confession of Faith, *etc., was printed in London in December, 1646, without proofs, and in May, 1647, with proofs, for the use of the houses of Parliament and the Assembly. A copy of this last edition was taken to Scotland by the commissioners, and from it three hundred copies were printed for the use of the General Assembly there. After being approved by that body, it was published in Scotland with the title of *The Confession of Faith Agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines, *etc., and while the House of Commons were still considering it, a London bookseller brought it out under the same title in 1648. In the same year it was, with the omission of parts of ch. 20 and 21 and the whole of ch. 30 and 31and with some minute verbal alterations, approved by the two houses, and published under the title *Articles of Christian Religion, Approved and Passed by both Houses of Parliament after Advice had with the Assembly of Divines, *etc. But, notwithstanding this legal sanction, the latter form is not common; and the Confession continues to be printed in Great Britain in the form in which it was drawn by the Assembly and approved by the Church of Scotland. The Confession ranks as one of the best Calvinistic symbols. It is clear, incisive, compressed, and provided throughout with Scripture proofs. It treats in thirty-three chapters of all the important doctrines of Christianity, beginning with the Scriptures as the only rule of faith, and ending with the Last Judgment. It has almost entirely superseded the *Confessio Scotica of 1560*, and is in use among the Presbyterian churches of Great Britain and its colonies, as well as of orthodox Congregationalists and Independents. In America the Confession is received by all similar bodies, with the exception of Article III of ch. 23, which treats of the civil power, *and *is altered to conform to American conditions. For the doctrines of the Confession and their exposition, see Cunningham, *Historical Theology *(1862); Hodge, *Commentary on the Confession of Faith *(1869); Shaw, *Exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith *(1847); Stark, *Westminster Confession *(2d ed. Lond. 1864).

Westminster Directory for the Public Worship of God contains no formulas, but merely general directions for the guidance of the worship of the Church. Parliament substituted this *Directory *for the Anglican liturgy, but the latter was restored on the accession of Charles II, and Scotland alone retained the Westminster.

Xantes Pagninus *SEE PAGNINUS, SANCTES*.

Xanthicus *(*Ξανθικός*), *the name of the sixth month among the Seleucid Syrians (2 Macc. 11:30, 33 38 [12:1]), i.e., in the Macedonian calendar (Ideler, *Handb. d. Chronol. *1:392 sq.). Josephus makes it parallel with the Jewish *Nisan (Ant. *1:3, 3; 3:10, 5; comp. *War, *5:3, 1). *SEE MONTH*.

Xanthopulos *SEE NICEPHORUS CALLISTUS*.

Xaverius Society This is the name of a missionary society founded in 1822 by some laymen at Lyons, in honor of Francis Xavier. This society is found all over the globe. Its income was, in 1869, five millions and a half in francs. See Aloys, *Statist. Jahrbuch der Kirche, *1:179-182; Marx, *Generalstatistik der Kathol. Vereine *(Trier, 1871). (B.P.)

Xavier, Francis one of the most celebrated members of the Order of the Jesuits, was born of noble parentage at the Castle of Xavier, in Navarre, April 7, 1506. He was the youngest child of a large family, and fondly loved by his doting parents. Early developing remarkable talents, and devoted to literary pursuits, he was sent, at the age of eighteen, to the College of St. Barbara in Paris. The straitened circumstances of his parents threatened to cut short his course of study; but the affection of his eldest sister, and her almost prophetic insight into his wonderful future career, prompted to the practice of the strictest economy in home expenditures that this gifted brother might have the means to complete his collegiate education. It was not long before, as a public teacher of philosophy, he was able. to procure the means for his own support and begin to make that impression in the world for which he afterwards became so renowned. It was at this time that he became acquainted with Ignatius Loyola, who threw around the brilliant young man the fascination which he was unable to resist, and in due time he was enrolled as a member of the Society of Jesuits. He followed his leader with an unquestioning obedience to Rome, and united with him in his effort to raise a band of devoted missionaries, who should go forth in all directions to extend the triumphs of the Church and bring the nations under the sway of the Christian faith. After the discoveries of Vasco de Gaama, the Portuguese had sent out colonies to India. By them the city of Goa was founded. Acting in accordance with the spirit of the age, John III, king of Portugal, resolved to set up the Christian Church in his Eastern territories, and by the suggestion of Loyola and of his own envoy at Rome, Govea, he selected Xavier to commence the enterprise. "A happier selection could not have been made, nor was a summons to toil, to suffering, and to death ever so joyously received." He embarked in a ship, which bore a regiment of a thousand men, sent out to reinforce the garrison of Goa. A long, dismal, sickly, and in many instances deadly, voyage was the fearful experience through which they were destined to pass. Xavier, although himself weakened by constant sea-sickness, was an angel of mercy and kindness to his fellow-voyagers, and "lived among, the dying and the profligate the unwearied minister of!consolation and peace." Five months were passed in this dreary voyage when the ship reached. Mozambique. Here Xavier was brought to the borders of the grave by: a raging fever, and so slow was the return of his strength that it was months before he set foot in the city of Goa. A dismal moral scene met his eve, and a less heroic spirit would have been appalled in view of the mighty task he had undertaken to perform. But with apostolic zeal he commenced and prosecuted his work. Wearing the coarsest garments, and pale and haggard with his long sickness, he traversed the gay streets of Goa, swinging a large bell in his hand, and calling everywhere upon the parents whom he met to place their children under his spiritual care. Gathering these little ones under his tuition, he taught them the rudiments of religion, and sent them to their homes to carry to their parents the lessons which they: had been taught by the missionary of the Cross. The wretched and the diseased were not forgotten by him. He frequented the most loathsome- hospitals, and had words of sympathy and kindness for the suffering ones whom he found there. More than a year did he remain in Goa; and when his work there was done, the city was not what it was when first he took up his abode within its walls. On the coast of Malabar there was, then, as there is now, a pearl fishery. Those engaged in this dangerous business formed a low and degraded caste, which seemed to be forsaken of God and man. Thither Xavier directed his steps. Once more were heard the tones of his ringing bell calling the rude, neglected children to his side and giving them such religious instruction as he had to impart. He prepared for them a catechism, from which they could learn the elements of Christian doctrine. He remained among these degraded pearl fishers for fifteen months, sharing in all the hardships of their abject lot, and living among them in the humblest and most self-sacrificing way, if by any means he might win them to the acceptance of the faith, which he taught. He found inexpressible joys in his missionary work. "I have nothing to add, thus he wrote to Loyola, "but that they who came forth to labor for the salvation of idolaters receive from on high such consolations that, if there be on earth such a thing as happiness, it is theirs." His mission on the coast of Malabar accomplished, Xavier moved on -to make other conquests for the Church. The kingdom of Travancore was next entered, and the most marvelous success followed his labors. He tells us that in one month he baptized ten thousand natives. With a zeal and energy not surpassed by any missionary of the Cross, he explored the islands of Mora, Manez, Ceylon, the Moluccas, and every part of the Indies which had been made known to the world by European travelers. "Weak and frail he may have been, but from the days of Paul of Tarsus to our own the annals of mankind exhibit no other example of a soul borne on so triumphantly through distress and danger in all their most appalling aspects." In 1549 he landed on the shores of Japan, and was soon able to preach to the natives of that great island the Gospel as he believed it. The story of the labors of Xavier and his associates among the Japanese is one of the most marvelous in the annals of missionary adventures. The details of this story are too long to be recited in a sketch like this, and the reader must look elsewhere to find them. With his ambition as a missionary still ungratified, and resolved to find a still larger field within which to operate, he turned his eye towards the great empire of China, and resolved to make that vast country the scene of his consecrated toil. Overcoming obstacles which would have terrified any other man, he embarked in the "Holy Cross," and at length reached Sancian, an island near the mouth of the Canton River, where the Portuguese had a commercial factory. Here he was prostrated by a disease which proved fatal. His iron frame was worn out by -his ten years and a half of incessant work, and he was compelled to bow before a Power whose mandate he could not withstand. He died Dec. 2, 1552. His last words were, "Inte, Domine, speravi; non confundar in aeternum" ("In thee, 0 Lord, have I put my trust; let me never be confounded"). His body was removed to Goa, where it was deposited in the Church of St. Paul. In 1619 he was beatified, and in 1622 was canonized as a saint. The "festive day" of Xavier in the calendar of the Romish Church is Dec. 3. See Stephens, *Miscellanies, *s.v. "Ignatius Loyola and his Associates;" *The Life and Letters of St. Francis Xavier *(Lond. 1872, 2 vols.); *Christian Review, *June, 1842. (J. C.S.)

Xenaeans a Monophysite sect which held a middle line between the *Aphthartodcetae *(q.v.) and the *Phthartolatrae *(q.v.), maintaining that Christ truly became maln, with the same capacities for suffering and the same human sensations as men in general, but that he did so of his own free will and choice, and not by the physical necessity of his human nature. This doctrine originated with Xenaias, of Tabal, in Persia, afterwards known as Philoxenus of Mabug (q.v.). The Xenean party was strongly opposed, in common with the other Monophysites, by Flavian, the patriarch who succeeded Peter the Fuller.

Xenaias *SEE PHILOMENUS OF MABUG*.

Xeniades a Greek philosopher, was a native of Corinth. The age in which he flourished is uncertain. Our knowledge of him is derived chiefly from Sextus Empiricus, who represents him as the most ultra sceptic, maintaining that all notions are false, and that there is absolutely nothing true in the universe.

Xenocrates a Greek philosopher, was born in Chalcedon, 396 B.C. He was originally a pupil of Eschines, the Socratic philosopher, and afterwards of Plato. His intimate connection with Plato is indicated by the account that he accompanied that master to Syracuse. After the death of Plato he betook himself, with Aristotle, to Hermias, tyrant of Atarneus and Assus, and, after his return to Athens, was repeatedly sent on embassies to Phlilip of Macedonia, and at a later time to Antipater, during the Lamian war. The want of quick apprehension and natural grace he compensated by persevering and thorough-going industry, pure benevolence, purity of morals, unselfishness, and a moral earnestness which compelled esteem and trust even from the Athenians of his own age. Yet even he experienced the fickleness of popular favor, and being too poor to pay the μετοίκιον*, *or protection money, is said to have been saved only by the courage of the orator Lycurgus, or even to have been bought by Demetrius Plialereus, and then emancipated. He became president of the academy, 339 B.C., even before the death of Spensippus, and occupied the post for twenty-five years. He died in 314 B.C. Xenocrates' doctrines were discussed by Aristotle and Theophrastus, and he was held in high regard by such men as Panaetius and Cicero. Diogenes Laertius gives a long list of his writings, but the works themselves have perished. With a more comprehensive work on dialectic there were connected separate treatises on science, on divisions, on genera and species, on ideas, on the opposite, and others, to which probably the work on mediate thought also belonged. Two works on physics are mentioned, as are also books upon the gods, on the existent, on the One, on the indefinite, on the soul, on the affections, on memory, etc. In like manner, with the more general ethical treatises on happiness and on virtue, there were connected separate books on individual virtues, on the voluntary, etc. His four books on royalty he had addressed to Alexander. Besides these, he had written treatises on the state, on the power of law, etc., as well as upon geometry, arithmetic, and astrology. We know little of the doctrines of Xenocrates, but we may infer that he exhibited his opinions in a systematic form, and not in dialogues, like his master, Plato. To him is attributed the division of philosophy into logic, ethic, and physic, or physics. He occupied himself principally with attempting to reduce the ideal doctrines of Plato to mathematical elements. He predicted three forms of being — the sensuous, that which is perceived by the intellect, and that which is compounded and consists in opinion. In his positions we see the tendency of the academy towards the Pythagorean doctrines of number. Unity and duality he considers as the gods which rule the world, and the soul as a self-moving number. Other like conceits are attributed to him. Xenocrates considered that the notion of the deity pervades all things, and is even in the animals which we call irrational. He also admitted an order of daemons or something intermediate between the divine and the mortal, which he made to consist in the conditions of the soul. In his ethical teaching he made happiness consist not in the possession of a virtuous mind only, but also of all the powers that minister to it and enable it to effect its purposes. How decidedly he insisted, not only on the recognition of the unconditional nature of moral excellence, but on morality of thought, is shown by the declaration that it comes to the same thing whether one casts longing eyes or sets his feet upon the property of others. His moral earnestness is also expressed in the warning that the ears of children should be guarded against the poison of immoral speeches. See Van de Wynpersee, *Diatribe de Xenocrate Chalcedonio *(1822); Diogenes Laertius, *Xenocrates; *Ritter, *Geschichte der Philosophie, *2; Ueberweg, *History of Philosophy, *1:133 sq.; Smith, *Dict. of Greek and Rom. Biog. and Myth. *s.v.

Xenophaneis a Greek philosopher, was born at Colophon, Ionia, probably about 570 B.C. He was the son of Orthlomenes, or, according to others, of Dexius. He left his native land as an exile, and betook himself to the Ionian colonies, Sicily, Zancle, and Catana. There can be no doubt that, as the founder of the Eleatic school, he lived for some time at least in Elea (Velia, in Italy, founded by the Phocieans about 536 B.C.), the foundation of which he had sung. His death occurred probably about 480 B.C., though amid the conflicting statements concerning his age it is best to say that he lived between the times of Pythagoras and Heraclitus, for he mentions the one and is mentioned by the other. Xenophanes was a poet as well as a philosopher. He wrote an epic of two thousand verses on the founding of Elea, and a poem on the foundation of his native city, Colophon. His philosophical doctrines were expressed in poetic form, and from the few fragments of his poetry which remain, and the brief notices of him by other writers, we collect what we know of his doctrines. He attacked Hesiod and Homer, in hexameter verses, elegiacs, and iambic verses, for their representations of the deities, to whom those poets attribute all the vices and weaknesses of men. He taught that God was one, unlike men either in form or mind. He pointed out the fact that men, in their representations of the gods, depict them as having bodies like their own, and declared that if animals could make representations of the deity, they would make them like themselves. Assuming that the deity is the most powerful of beings, he proves that he must of necessity be one, all alike, all endued with equal powers of seeing, comprehending, and hearing. He asserted that the deity is of a spherical form, neither limited nor unlimited, neither moving nor at rest. God rules and directs all, and things as they appear to us are the imperfect manifestations of the One eternal. He maintains that God's true nature cannot be known. He has been charged with being a pantheist, but from this accusation Cousin takes some pains to defend him. In the early history of philosophy the language of the science was not well defined, so that many expressions which have since come to mean certain things did not then have those meanings. Certain expressions of Xenophanes have been quoted by modern writers to prove his pantheism; but other quotations, as, for example, those of Aristotle, show that he speaks of God as a Being eternal, and distinct from the visible universe. See Diogenes Laertius, *Xenophanes; *Ritter, *Geschichte der Philosophie, *volume 1; Cousin, *Nouveaux Fragmens Philosophiques, *art. *Xenophane; *Simon Karsten, *Xenophanis Colophonii Carminum Reliquae, de Vita ejus et Studiis Dissernit, Fragmenta Explicavii, Placita Illustravit; *Smith, *Dict. of Greek and Rom. Biog. and Myth. *s.v.

Xenxi a sect of materialists in Japan, who believe in no other life than the present.

Xeodoxins are a sect among the Japanese who acknowledge a future state, and believe in the immortality of the soul. Amidas is their favorite deity, and the bonzes of this sect go up and down the public streets and roads, summoning devotees by the sound of a bell, and distributing indulgences and dispensations, constantly crying in a chanting tone, "**O **ever blessed Amidas, have mercy upon us."

Xerophagia (Ξηροφάγια, from ξηρός*, dry, *and φαγεῖν*, to eat) *were fast-days in the early ages of the Christian Church, on which they ate nothing but bread and salt, and drank water; but afterwards pulse, herbs, and fruits were added. Epiphanius says, "throughout the Holy Week people continue to use dry food, viz. bread and salt, using water only in the evening" *(Compend. Doct. Cath.). *This great fast was kept six days of the Holy Week for devotion, and not by obligation; so that the Church condemned the Montanists, who, of their own private authority, would not only oblige all people to observe the xerophagia of the Holy Week, but also other fasts that they had established, as well as several Lents. The Essenes, whether they were Jews or the first Christians of the Church of Alexandria, observed xerophagia on certain days; for Philo says that they put nothing to their bread and water but salt and hyssop. During Lent fish was the only animal food permitted; but, according to some authorities, fowls were afterwards added.

Xerxes (Ξέρξης*; *Pers. *Kheshwershe, *or *Ks'harsa ; *according to Benfey, *K'hshyarshe), *king of Persia, is chiefly known for his gigantic but unsuccessful invasion of Greece (Herod. 7:8; Diod. Sic. 11). He was the son of Darius Hystaspis, and of Atossa, daughter of Cyrus. He succeeded his father, 485 B.C., having been declared heir to the kingdom of Persia a short time before his father's death, who preferred him before his elder brother Artabazanes, because the latter was born while Darius was a private individual; but Xerxes was born after his elevation to the throne. He was the "fourth" king prophesied of in Da 11:2: "Behold there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia (Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius, son of Hydaspes), and the fourth (Xerxes) shall be far richer than they all; and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece." Xerxes, on his accession, showed himself very friendly to the Jews of the captivity, and confirmed all the favors granted to them by his father; indeed, Josephus *(Ant*. 11:5) ascribes to Xerxes the letter in behalf of the returning Jews given in Ezr 7:11-26. He began his reign by conquering Egypt; and rapidly subdued the Phoenicians, Ciliiaa, Pamphylia, Pontus, Pisidia, Lycia, Caria, Myria, Troas, Bithynia, the Hellespont, and the Isle of Cyprus. Four years previously the forces of Darius had been defeated by the Greeks under Miltiades at the battle of Marathon, and the interval had bees passed in preparing for a second expedition. These preparations Xerxes continued on a scale of magnificence almost incredible, and in the spring of 480 I3.C. he commenced his march from Sardis: his army was moved forward with great deliberation, and being numbered on its arrival in Europe was found to muster 1,700,000 foot, and 80,000 horse, besides camels, chariots, and ships of war. These numbers, and the undisciplined crowds who must have attended them, to supply their necessities, are perfectly bewildering on to the Xmaginationi; and they become still more so when their varied costumes, the silken and gilded tents, the standards, the costly armor, and the variety of national weapons are considered. One of the political parties of Greece, it must be borne in mind, was in league with the Persian court, and the terror of the country verged upon despair of maintaining their liberties. Themistocles, however, while the pass of Thermopylae was defended by Leonidas and his Spartans, succeeded in rallying his countrymen, and, having created a navy, defeated Xerxes at the battle of Salamis. This great event took place in the year of the expedition, 480 B.C. The Persians were allowed to retreat in such order as they could, but Mardoniums, one of the principal commanders, reserved a more manageable army, the best he could pick from the flying host, and with these he was defeated by the combined Greeks the year following. After the return of Xerxes from his unsuccessful campaign, he ordered the demolition of all the Grecian temples in Asia; that of Diana at Ephesus alone being spared. He had been instructed in the religion of the magi by Zoroaster, and was inspired with a horror of idolatry; wherefore he also destroyed all the idols in Babylon; thus fulfilling the prophecies of Jer 6:2; Jer 51:44-47. *SEE BABYLON*. Xerxes was assassinated by Artabanus, one of the great officers of his court, who aspired to found a new dynasty in Persia, 465 B.C. See Smith, *Dict. of Class. Biog. *s.v. *SEE PERSIA*. This prince was, according to most interpreters (see especially Scaliger, *Enaend. Temp. *6:587, 596), the *Ahasuerus *(אֲחִשׁוֵרוֹשׁ *) *of the book of Esther (q.v.), an identification which the whole romantic story of Esther goes to confirm (see Rosenmuller, *Alterth. *I, 1:338 sq.; Havernick, *Einl.* *ins A.T. *II, 1:339 sq.; Baumgarten, *De Fide Libri Esth. *page 123 sq.; Rodiger, in the *Halle Encyclop. I, *38:295 sq.). The enumeration of his resources (Es 1:2; Es 2:16) agrees with the statement of Herodotus (7:7 sq.) respecting the rallying of his forces against Egypt; and the date of the great feast, the third year of his reign (Es 1:3), tallies with the successful conclusion of that expedition which took place in his second year, the luxurious character of the carousal, moreover, being consistent with Persian customs (Herod. 1:133). Between the dismissal of his sultana Vashti, resulting from that feast, and the reception of Esther into his harem in his seventh year (Es 2:16), falls appropriately the Greek campaign which Xerxes, after several years of preparation, undertook in his fifth year (Herod. 7:20. The duration of the expedition, from the crossing of the Hellespont by Xerxes [ibid. 7:33 sq.], to the return to Susa, is disputed by chronologers [see Baumgarten, 1.c. page 142 sq.]; but two years is a most probable interval [see Clinton, *Fasti Hellen. *2:28; *L'Art de Verifier les Dates, *2:387 sq.]). Again, the extent of the dominions (Es 1:1 sq.) corresponds with the classical description of Xerxes; he occupied Ethiopia, which Cambyses had already attempted (Herod. 3:20 sq.; moreover, the Ethiopians served in Xerxes' armies, ibid. 7:69 sq.), as well as India, to which Darius Hystaspis had advanced (ibid. 4:44 sq.). Moreover the voluptuousness and imperiousness of women (Es 5:3; Es 7:3 sq.; 8:3 sq.; 9:12) in the time of Xerxes are well known (Herod. 9:10 sq.). But especially does the vexation which Xerxes experienced from the failure of his expedition to Greece explain why, while living entirely for his own pleasure (Cicero, *Tusc. *5:7), he should not only abandon the most important affairs of state to an upstart (Es 3:15), but also give his assent to deeds of violence, now on this side, and now on that (3:10 sq.; 7:10; 8:8); all of which facts characterize, according to our ideas, a senseless (Herod. 7:35), godless (8:109), and cruel despot (7:37 sq.). Finally the raising of a large tax (Es 10:1) may readily have followed the exhaustion of the royal treasury by the disastrous expedition into Greece. *SEE AHASUERUS*.

Ximenes, Francisco de Cisneros cardinal-archbishop, grand-inquisitor of Castile, and regent of Spain, was descended from a family belonging to the inferior nobility of Castile, and originally resident in the town from which its appellative was derived. He was born in 1436, and named *Gonzales, the *name Francisco being a later monastic substitute. Early destined for the Church, he studied ancient languages at Alcala, at the age of fourteen entered the University of Salamanca, and six years later became bachelor of both civil and canon law. He was driven by poverty to engage in the practice of law at Rome. On the death of his father, however, he returned home, having in the meantime obtained a papal brief assuring to him the first benefice which might become vacant in the archdiocese of Toledo; but the archbishop took offence at the interference of the pope in the affairs of his see, and had, besides, another candidate for the benefice. He accordingly imprisoned Ximenes to compel a renunciation of his claim, and did not liberate him until after six years. In 1480 a chaplaincy was obtained which removed him from under the jurisdiction of the archbishop and afforded him opportunity for the study of theology and also of the Hebrew and Chaldee languages; and soon afterwards he became vicar to Mendoza, bishop of Siguenza, and administrator of the estates of Court Cisuentes, who was a captive among the Moors. His fortunes seemed to be assured for life when he suddenly renounced all his emoluments and entered himself in the order of Franciscan Observants at Toledo as a novice, and devoted himself to ascetical practices excelling in rigor the harsh requirements of the monastic rule. Ere long he had won extraordinary fame as a preacher and confessor, and multitudes thronged to his confessional; but he turned away from these vibrant prospects also, and buried himself in the hermitage of the Madonna of Castannar in a hut erected with his own hands. Three years afterwards he was ordered by his superiors to the monastery of Salzeda, where he soon became guardian, and stimulated the monks by his example to strict performance of their vows. In 1492 he was made confessor to the queen, Isabella, but with the proviso, insisted on by himself, that he should be allowed to fulfill his monastic obligations and reside in his convent. Two years later he was chosen to be provincial of his order for Castile, and after a visitation of the convents made on foot, in which he noted the lax discipline everywhere prevailing, he induced the queen to procure a brief from pope Alexander VI directing a reformation. In 1495 the archbishop of Toledo died, and Ximenes was promoted to his post, an appointment from which he vainly sought to escape by flight, and which had no effect whatever over his ascetical habits after it was accepted. He was ultimately ordered from Rome, under date of Dec. 15, 1495, to live in a style comporting with his rank; but, though he obeyed in outward appearance, he persisted in wearing the coarse gown and cord of St. Francis and in sleeping on a bench by the side of his luxurious bed. In the influential position he now held, he was able to prosecute the reformation among the monks and secular clergy more energetically, and to compel its success despite the violent opposition raised against it. He caused Albornos, a delegate to Rome who was to accuse him to the pope, to be arrested by the Spanish ambassador at Ostia and returned as a prisoner of state. Several thousand Franciscans are said to have sought relief from his rigorous rule in other lands. The general of the order invited Castile and complained bitterly, but to no purpose, against Ximenes. After his return to Rome, he caused the appointment of a number of coadjutors to share with Ximenes in the work of reform; but the latter paid no attention to this commission, and was even able, through the influence of the queen, to evade a papal bull, dated Nov. 9, 1496, which prohibited their Catholic majesties from proceeding with the reform until its operation had been investigated by the curia. A like spirit of unfaltering sternness was exhibited by Ximenes in connection with the conversion of the Moors. Talavera, archbishop of Granada, was distinguished for liberality of view and for zealous interest in the peaceful conversion of the Moors; but Ximenes, acting as the leader of the fanatical party, insisted upon more energetic measures. He attempted, indeed, at first to convince the Moorish scholars by way of argument and also by donations, and so successfully that he was able to baptize three thousand Saracens on a single occasion; but when he encountered opposition, his violent spirit asserted itself. He disregarded all pledges, burned all Arabic books he could seize, though he saved three hundred medical works for his University of Alcata, and irritated the Mohammedans beyond endurance and until they rebelled. Talavera and others persuaded them to lay down their arms; but the revolt was punished, nevertheless, by a revocation of all pledges previously given them, and by compelling them to choose between conversion or banishment. About fifty thousand Moslems submitted to baptism on these terms, and all the land was astonished at the ability with which Ximenes had been able to convert a hostile people to Christianity in so short a time. The character of the conversions will appear most clearly in the light of the fact that Ximenes rabidly opposed the publication of even fragmentary portions of the Scriptures or of expositions of the mass in the Moorish language. He insisted that the Scriptures should be preserved within the three languages in which, by the order of God, the inscriptions at the head of Christ's cross were written, urging that the common people despise what they understand, but venerate what is hidden from them and beyond their reach, and that wicked persons would bring the Catholic Church low whenever the Bible should be spread among the people in a form intelligible to them. In other respects the work of Ximenes was often beneficial to the world, e.g. when he protected the poor and discharged unworthy officials, and when he remodeled the financial system of Castile, whose grand-chancellor he was, so that taxation became at once more tolerable to the subject and more remunerative to the State. He was the faithful spiritual adviser of the queen while she lived, and after her death secured to Ferdinand the government of Castile, a favor which was rewarded by the bestowal upon him of a cardinal's hat and of the post of general-inquisitor (1507). He had already begun the erection of buildings for the University of Alcala in 1498, which were completed ten years later, and had given to it a faculty of forty- two professors, the ablest men to be found, and set apart fourteen thousand ducats for its annual support. His greatest literary undertaking was the *Compluteansian Polyglot, *begun in 1502 by the accumulation of available manuscripts. The Old-Test. portion of the materials upon which that work was based have recently been transferred to the University of Madrid (see Tregelles, *Account *[1854], p. 12-18). The *Polyglot *(in 6 vols.) was finished in 1517. *SEE POLYGLOT BIBLES*. Ximenes was also engaged in the preparation of an edition of the works of Aristotle, which was interrupted by his death, and he labored for the preservation of the Mozarabic liturgy. Ximenes was not possessed of uncommon learning, and his instincts were rather those of a soldier than a scholar. He wished to renew the Crusades, and actually did bring about the capture of the piratical harbor of Mozarquivir and of the town of Oran, being personally present at the storming of the latter place. He has been credited with having originated the Inquisition in Castile, and charged, on the other hand, with having opposed its rule. Both statements are, however, erroneous. He came to the court twelve years after the Inquisition was introduced, and he protected Talavera, archbishop of Granada, against the charge of heresy by appealing the case from the Inquisition to the pope. As grand-inquisitor he issued instructions, to enable new converts to protect themselves against the suspicion of relapse, and even provided for their education in Christian knowledge. He also restricted the authority of subordinate inquisitors. On the other hand, he refused to allow causes before the tribunal of the Inquisition to be tried in public, and in general showed himself to be in thorough harmony with the spirit of that institution. A moderate estimate fixes the number of persons burned at the stake during the ten years of his supreme administration at above two thousand He also erected a new tribunal of the Inquisition and transplanted the Inquisition itself to Oran, the Canary Isles, and America. He was unable to attend the Lateran Synod held under Leo X, but counseled the pope by letter, and promulgated the decisions of the synod before its members had dispersed. He also endorsed Leo's plan for improving the Julian calendar. But he did: not, on the other hand, hesitate to condemn the sale of indulgences as involving an enervation of the discipline of the Church and a dangerous liberality. When king Ferdinand died (1516), Ximenes was made regent of Castile until Charles (V) should reach his majority, a position which he filled during twenty months with great ability. He preserved for the crown, against the opposition of the nobility, the grand-mastership of the order of Sandiago di Compostella; transferred the seat of government to Madrid; had Charles proclaimed king over the votes of the assembled council; restrained the nobles by organizing an armed militia throughout all Spain, and deprived them of a portion of the property they had acquired by violence or fraud. With this money he paid all debts incurred by Ferdinand and Isabella, strengthened the army and navy, erected fortifications and established arsenals, and supplied the mercenary greed of the court with funds. He took measures to improve the condition of the natives of America, and appointed Las Casas to be protector over the American colonies. The introduction of African slavery into the colonies, which was proposed by some, was positively forbidden by him. On the return of Charles to Spain, he found Ximenes dying. The end came Nov. 8, 1517. The principal source for Ximenes' life is Gomez, *De Reb. Gestis a Fr. Ximenio Cisnero. Libri Octo, *in *Rerum Hisp. Scriptores Aliquot *(Frankf. 1581), vol. 2. Other Spanish works on Ximenes are given in Prescott. A French life was written by Flechier, bishop of Nismes. See also Hefele, *Der Cardinal Ximenes, etc. *(1844); Prescott, *Ferdinand and Isabella; *Saint- Hilaire, *Hist. d'Espagne depuis les Premiers Temps Historiques' jusqua la Mort de Ferdinand VII *(new ed. 1852, 6 vols.); Lavergne, *Le Cardinal Ximenes, *in *Rev. des Deux Mondes, *1841, 2, 221 sq.; Herzog, *Real- Encyklop *s.v. **Y**

Xisuthrus (or Xisithrus) the Chaldeaan *Noah. SEE DELUGE*.

Xt, Xtian, Xtmas are abbreviations for *Christ, Christian, *and *Christmas, *respectively. Other abbreviations of a similar character are used: *Xmas, *or *Xm., *for Christmas; *Xn, *for Christian; *Xmty, *or *Xty, *for Christianity.

Xuarez, Juan an early Roman Catholic prelate in America, was a native of Valencia, Spain, and entered the Franciscan order in the province of St. Gabriel, established by Martin at a time when, by the zealous reforms of cardinal Cisneros, the Franciscans of Spain were full of fervor and piety. When Cortez applied for Franciscan missionaries to undertake the conversion of the thickly settled towns in the kingdom just reduced by his arms, a Spanish father, Francis de los Angeles, had just been elected general of the order of St. Francis. For the leader of the twelve missionaries chosen, he selected Martin de Valencia, and fourth among their number was Juan Xuarez. With his superior, he embarked at San Lucar, January 15, 1524, and on May 13 they reached the castle of San Juan de Ulloa, before Vera Cruz, and met Cortez at Mexico. Father Xuarez was placed at Huegocongo, and as the result of his labors there the temple, where human sacrifices had often been perpetrated, was destroyed. After laboring here two years he returned to Spain, in 1526, accompanied by some of his Indian pupils, and sent out six more missionaries. In 1527 Xuarez was assigned to the expedition then fitting out by Pamphilo de Narvaez, which was intended to establish in Florida a settlement to rival that of Mexico. Xuarez was not only made commissary of his order, but was nominated bishop of Florida, his diocese to extend from the Atlantic to Rio de las Palmas, Mexico. With four Franciscan fathers and other priests, he sailed from San Lucar, June 17, 1527, and reached Florida in April. Misfortune attended this ill-starred expedition. The people were fierce and hostile, and the force, thinned by disease and constant engagements, crept along the northern coast of the gulf of Mexico. The brave Narvaez was driven out to sea, and never again heard of. The party then scattered, and many perished on an island called Malhado, probably that called Massacre Island by the French. There is no record of the death of bishop Xuarez and his companion, John de Palos. Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, with three others, reached a Spanish post in Sonora, but has left no details. They either perished of hunger or at the hands of the Indians, about the close of 1528. The portraits of the original twelve Franciscans of Mexico have been preserved, and that of Xuarez appears in the relation of Cabeza de Vaca. See (N.Y.) *Catholic Almanac, *1872, page 67.

Xylolaters (literally, *worshippers of the wood) *was a term of reproach applied by the old iconoclasts; to the orthodox Christians, who reverenced both the symbol of their faith and representations of sacred persons and objects.

Xylon *(the wood), *i.e., the *Cross *on which our Lord was crucified.

Xylophoria *SEE WOOD-CARRYING, FEAST OF*.

Yaalah *SEE ROE*.

Yaanah *SEE OWL*.

Yacna (literally, *sacrifice), *in Parsee philosophy, is a book of the Zend Avesta (q.v.).

Yadayim *SEE TALMUD*

Yael *SEE WILD GOAT*.

Yaen *SEE OSTRICH*.

Yahalom *SEE DIAMOND*.

Yahgan Version Of The Scriptures Yahgan is the language spoken by a tribe in the south of Tierra del Fuego. The Reverend T. Bridges, of the South American Missionary Society, who has been laboring among this people for the last eleven years, and has taught them to read and write their own tongue, written according to Ellis's phonetic system, has prepared the gospel of Luke in the above language, spoken by about three thousand people. This is the only part of the Bible which has been published in Yahgan by the British and Foreign Bible Society, and appears for the first time in the seventy-sixth report (1880), in the table of languages. (B.P.)

Yaks are a species of daemons recognized as remnants of the primitive superstition of the Singhalese in Ceylon. They are supposed to be the authors of diseases and other misfortunes, and the *Yakadura, *or devil- dancer, is almost invariably called upon to overcome their malignity by his chants and charms. In these exorcisms the performers wear horrible masks, which have beaks, and are, in fact, caricatures of birds' heads. These daemons are believed to marry, and delight in dances, songs, and other amusements. They have great strength, and some of them are represented as possessing splendor and dignity.

Yalden (or Youlding), Thomas, D.D. an English divine and poet, was born at Exeter in 1671. He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and chosen fellow in 1700. He entered into holy orders the following year, became rector of Willoughby, in Warwickshire, and was chosen lecturer of moral philosophy. In 1706 he entered the family of the duke of Beaufort, and soon after became rector of Chalton and of Cleanville, in Hertfordshire. He also had the sinecure prebends of Deans, Hains, and Pendles, in Devonshire. In 1713 he was chosen preacher of Bridewell Hospital, on the resignation of Dr. Atterbury. He was arrested and tried for complicity in what is known as Bishop Atterbury's Plot, in 1722, but was soon released for want of evidence. He died July 16, 1736. He published an *Ode for St. Cecilia's Day *(1693): — *On the Conquest of Namur, *a Pindaric ode (1695): — *The Temple of Fame, *a poem (1700): — *A Hymn to Darkness: *— *A Hymn to Light, *and other works, chiefly poetical. See *Johnson, British Poets; *Dryden, *Miscellanies, *volume 3, 4; Linton, *Miscellanies; *Chalmers, *Biog. Dict.; *Allibone, *Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, *s.v.

Yale, Elihu, F.R.S. was born at New Haven, Connecticut, April 5, 1648, but removed to England with his parents at ten years of age, and-never returned to America. In 1678 he went to the East Indies, became governor of Madras, amassed a fortune, and returned to England where he died (in London), July 22, 1721. He gave above $2000 in books and money to found a college at his birthplace, which therefore took his name.

Yale, Elisha, D.D. a Presbyterian divine, was born at Lee, Massachusetts, June 15, 1780. He was converted in 1799; pursued his classical and theological studies, under the Reverend Dr. Perkins, at West Hartford, Connecticut; was licensed to preach by the North Association of Hartford County in February 1803, and ordained and installed pastor of the Church at Kingsborough, N.Y., May 23, 1804, where he remained until 1852. He was chosen a corporate member of the American Board of Foreign Missions in 1838. He died January 9, 1853. Dr. Yale was an excellent classical and general scholar. His discourses were always rich in substantial and well-matured thought, and in nothing was he more remarkable than his devotion to the cause of missions and to the preparation of young men for the ministry. He published, *Divine Method for Raising Charitable Contributions *(Boston, 1845): — *Select Verse System, for the Use of Individuals, Families, and Schools *(Rochester, 1853). He also published single sermons and articles in periodicals, and left in MS. *A Review of a Pastorate of Forty-eight Years *and *Helps to Cultivate the Conscience. *See Sprague, *Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, *4:348; Allibone, *Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, *s.v.

Yang and Yin (or Yen) are terms used in Chinese philosophy to indicate the two phases under which the ultimate principle of the universe displays itself in the phenomenal world. They were generated by *Tai-ki, *or the supreme principle — Yang being a perfect, subtle, celestial, luminous nature; Yin being matter, imperfect, crude, earthly, obscure. From this duality of opposite essences, called the two *Ke, *all created existences have sprung. Gardner *(Faiths of the World, *s.v.) quotes from Hardwick as follows: "According to the different proportions in which Yang and Yin are blended is the character of every created existence. Everything is Yang and Yin together. For the highest actual manifestation in which Yang preponderates we look to heaven itself, which is, accordingly, to be esteemed the aptest image cognizable by the senses of the ultimate and all-embracing principle. Earth is, on the contrary, the highest form of Yin. The same duality, where one or other of the factors operated, either for the purpose of transforming or uniting, issued in the first production of the innate essences, which constitute the five elements of water, fire, wood, metal, and earth. A transcendental union and coagulation now takes place of the ultimate principle, the two essences, and the five elements. The positive essence becomes the masculine power, the negative essence the feminine poweri conceived in which character the former constitutes the heavenly mode, or principle; the latter the earthly mode, or principle. By a mutual influencing, the two produce all things in the visible, palpable world, and the double work of evolution and dissolution goes on without end — Yang evincing its peculiar force in every kind of progress, Yin in every kind of retrogression; Yang determining commencement, Yin completion; Yang predominant in spring and summer, and the author of all movement and activity; Yin more visible in the autumn and the winter, passive, drooping, and inert." The same idea pervades their notions of rational as well as irrational beings. In the ethical system of the Chinese, evil is *Yin *of the moral world, and good is *Yang. SEE CHINA*.

Yanshuph *SEE OWL*.

Yantis, John Lapsley, D.D. a Presbyterian minister, was born at Lancaster, Kentucky, September 14, 1804. He studied privately, was licensed to preach in 1829, became pastor at Stanford and Lancaster in 1830 removed to Saline County, Missouri, in 1833, and thereafter labored alternately as teacher and pastor in various places, especially Danville, Kentucky, where he died, May 28, 1882. See Nevin, *Presbyterian Encyclop. *s.v.

Yao Version Of The Scriptures This language is spoken by the Yaos, occupying the country to the east and south of Lake Nyassa, including the Scotch stations Blantyre and Livingstonia. The Reverend Chauncy Maples, of the Universities' Mission, after working three years at Masasi, in Africa, with bishop Steere, prepared a translation of the gospel of Matthew into that language, which was printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society in London in 1880, at the recommendation of bishop Steere, the translator himself carrying the work through the press. (B.P.)

Yariba (or Yoruba) Version Of The Scriptures Yariba is an African language spoken by the tribes on the right, or west, bank of the Niger. A translation into this dialect is of recent date. The first part printed was the epistle to the Romans, translated by the Reverend S. Crowther, a native of the country. It was published in 1850. In the following year the gospel of Luke, the Acts of the Apostles, together with the epistles of James and Peter, were printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Other parts were added from time to time, and at present the Yorubas enjoy the entire New Test., together with the books of Genesis to Ruth, Psalms, and Daniel, of the Old Test., in their vernacular. (B.P.)

Yarn (מַקוֶה *mikveh, *a *collection *or מַקוֵא , *mikve). *The notice of yarn is contained in an extremely obscure passage in 1Ki 10:28 (2Ch 1:16): "Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn; the king's merchants received the linen yarn at a price." The Sept. gives Θεκονέ*, *implying an original reading of מַתּקוֹעִ; the Vulg has *de Coa, *which is merely a Latinized form of the original. The Hebrew received text is questionable, from the circumstance that the second *mikvah *has its final vowel: lengthened as if it were in the *status constructus. *The probability is that the term does refer to some entrepot of Egyptian commerce, but whether Tekoah, as in the Sept., or Coa, as in the Vulg., is doubtful. Gesenius *(Thesaur. *page 1202) gives the sense of "number" as applying equally to the merchants and the horses: "A *band *of the king's merchants bought a *drove *(of horses) at a price;" but the verbal arrangement in 2 Chronicles is opposed to this rendering. Thenius *(Exeg. Handb. *on 1Ki 10:28) combines this sense with the former, giving to the first *mikveh *the sense "from Tekoah," to the second the sense of "drove." Bertheau *(Exeg. Handb. *on 2Ch 1:16) and Furst *(Lex. *s.v.) side with the Vulgate, and suppose the place called *Coa *to have been on the Egyptian frontier: "The king's merchants from Coa (i.e., stationed at Coa) took the horses from Coa at a price." The sense adopted in the A.V. is derived from Jewish interpreters. *SEE LINEN*,

Yashpeh *SEE JASPER*.

Yates, Andrew, DD.D. a (Dutch) Reformed minister, was born at Schenectady, N. Y., Jan. 10, 1772. He graduated with honor at Yale College in 1793; studied theology under Dr. John H. Livingston, and was licensed in 1796 by the Classis of New York. In 1797 he was made professor of Latin and Greek in Union College, and held this chair until 1801, when he became pastor of a Congregational Church in East Hartford, Conn., After thirteen years of efficient service (from 1801 to 1814), he again accepted a professorship in Union College (mental and moral philosophy), which he held eleven years (from 1814. to 1825), and for eleven years more was the principal of a high-school at Chittenango, N. Y. (to 1836). From that time until his death he devoted himself with untiring zeal and great usefulness to the assistance of no less than thirteen feeble churches.. During his life as a teacher, he was constantly engaged in preaching wherever he was wanted. He was the chief instrument in founding a mission among the Indians at Mackinaw, about 1823. He organized a Church at Chittenango, and was its pastor while he had charge of the high school. His death was the result of illness contracted in his missionary labors. His last effort was the establishment of a Mission Church among a poor people at Day, or Sacondaga, Schenectady Co., N.Y., of which his sister, an aged and benevolent lady, was the chief supporter. But ten days before its dedication, and on a Sabbath, Oct. 13, 1844, he died without a struggle. His epitaph is inscribed on the bell of the little church, which is only one of the many monuments of his apostolic spirit and toils. At East Hartford his pastorate was greatly blessed with revivals and constant ingatherings. There he began, and at Schenectady continued, to teach theology to young men, of whom thirty entered the ministry of Christ. Among these were president Wayland, of Brown University; Dr. Mark Tucker, of Wethersfield; and Dr. B. B. Wisner, of Boston. Dr. Yates was an accurate scholar, a thorough theologian, an effective evangelical preacher, an accomplished college professor and officer, a man of great public spirit and Christian enterprise. He was in the best sense a Christian gentleman, and "a good minister of Jesus Christ." His publications consisted of a few occasional *Sermons *and fugitive pieces. He preferred to let his active- works speak for him, for he was not ambitious of distinction. "I allow myself to do nothing," said he, "for the purpose of being superior to my neighbors. Ambition is a bad motive; the Bible does not appeal to it." The dew falls silently, nobody hears it, but the fields feel it. The attraction of gravitation makes no noise." So he lived and died, a happy Christian, and "a workman that needed not to be ashamed." Dr. Sprague has given an unusual space to his memory in his *Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, 9:*126-138; see also Corwin, *Manual Of the Ref. Church, p. *2 25, 276. (W. J. R. T.)

Yates, John Austin, D.D. a (Dutch) Reformed minister, son of the preceding, was born at East Hartford, Conn., May 31, 1801. He graduated at Union College in 1821, and studied theology at the Seminary of the Reformed Church' at New Brunswick, N. J., for two years, when he accepted a tutorship in his alma mater at Schenectady, N.Y. He was licensed to preach in 1824; continued as tutor until 1827, and was then made professor of Oriental literature in the same institution. To complete his preparations for this chair, he went to Europe, studied at the University of Berlin, visited Italy and other countries, and returned at the end of two years to his post (in 1829). He was never settled as a pastor, but supplied various churches in Schenectady, Albany, and elsewhere during his collegiate life of twenty years. He had, however, accepted a call to the First Reformed Church of Jersey City, and had informally begun his labors with enthusiasm and great popularity. He died very suddenly of Asiatic cholera, Aug. 26, 1849, while on a visit to Schenectady, and his funeral sermon was preached in his church in Jersey City on the evening that had been set apart for his installation. Dr. Yates was a highly accomplished man, attractive in manners, of genial spirit, and possessed of that magnetic power which is so irresistible in social and public life. He was a man of genius, literary and polished to a high degree, and an enchanting public speaker. His sermons, being prepared during his professional life, were written with great care, and often were the fruits of long previous study and repeated revision. His delivery was animated and graceful, with a subdued earnestness, and free from all stage effects or merely popular sins. He was as simple as a child, and singularly free from duplicity or suspicion. He passed through many trials, to some of which his natural temperament added new pangs and complications. His students and friends loved him unto death with the most ardent affection, while those who opposed him in some of his difficulties were equally decided in their feelings. His sudden death found him at peace with God and ready for his change. He left no printed remains. (W. J. R.T.)

Yates, Richard, D.D. an English clergyman, was born at Bury St. Edmund's in 1769. He was chaplain of Chelsea Hospital from 1798, and rector of Ashen, in Essex, from 1804 until his death Aug. 24, 1834. He published, *An Illustration of the Monastic History and Antiquities of the Town and Abbey of St. Edmund's Bury *(1805): *— The Church in Danger, *etc. (1815): — and other Works. See Allibone, *Dict. Of Brit and Amer. Authors, *s.v.

Yates, William, D.D. a Baptist missionary, was born at Loughborough, Leicestershire, England, Dec. 15,1792. He was educated at Bristol College, and went to Calcutta as a missionary in 1815. He settled at Serampore, where, after the death of Dr. Carey, he devoted himself entirely to translating, and to preparing textbooks. He visited England and the United States in 1827-29, and in 1845 embarked for England on account of his health, but died on the Red Sea, July 3 of that year. He translated the whole Bible into Bengalee; the New Test and most of the Old into Sanskrit, and the New Test. into Hindee and Hindostanee. Amonghis most important publications were, *A Grammar of the Sanscrit Language on a New Plan *(*1820*)*: — Sanscrit Vocabulary *(*cod.*)*: — Introduction to the Hindostanee Language *(*1827*)*: — Dictionary, Hindostanee and English *(*1836*)*: — Biblical Apparatus, *in four parts (1837): *— Theory of the Hebrew Verb; *and *Introduction to the Bengalee Language *(posthumous; edited by J. Wenger, 1847). A *Memoir *(1847) of him has been written by Dr. James Hoby. See Allibone, *Dict. Of Brit. and Amer. Authors, s.v.*

Yatum the religion of the Yatus, a name given to the enemies of Zoroaster in the Zend-Avesta. These were overthrown by Darius, the son of Hystaspes, and the religion of Zoroaster re-established. See Lenormant, *Chaldaean Magic, *page 219.

Year (שָׁנָה, *shanah, *lit. *repetition, *kindred with שֵׁנַי, *second; *ἔτος)*, *the highest ordinary division of time, marked by the solar revolutions of the seasons. *SEE TIME*. **I. ***Years, properly so called*. — Two years were known to, and apparently used by, the Hebrews. *SEE CALENDAR*. **1. **A year of 360 days, containing 12 months of 30 days each, is indicated by certain passages in the prophetical Scriptures. The time, times, and a half, of Daniel (7:25; 12:7), where "time" (Ch. עַדָּן, Heb. מוֹעֵד) means "year," evidently represent the same period as the 42 months (Re 11:2) and 1260 days of the Revelation (Re 11:3; Re 12:6), for 360 x 3.5 *= *1260, and 30 x 42=1260. This year perfectly corresponds to the Egyptian Vague year, without the five intercalary days. It appears to have been in use in Noah's time, or at least in the time of the writer of the narrative of the flood, for in that narrative the interval from the 17th day of the 2d month to the 17th day of the 7th of the same year appears to be stated to be a period of 150 days (Ge 7:11,24; Ge 8:3-4; comp. 13), and, as the 1st, 2d, 7th, and 10th months of one year are mentioned (7:11; 8:4, 5,13, 14), the 1st day of the 10th month of this year being separated from the 1st day of the 1st month of the next year by an interval of at least 54 days (8:5, 6, 10, 12, 13), we can only infer a year of 12 months. Ideler disputes the former inference, arguing that as the water first began to sink after 150 days (and then had been fifteen cubits above all high mountains), it must have sunk for some days ere the ark could have rested on Ararat, so that the second date must have been more than 150 days later than the first *(Handbuch, *1:69, 70, 478, 479). This argument depends upon the meaning of the expression high mountains, and upon the height of "the mountains of Ararat," upon which the ark rested (Ge 8:4), and we are certainly justified by Shemitic usage, if we do not consider the usual inference of the great height attained by the flood to be a necessary one *(Genesis of the Earth and of Man, *2d ed. pages 97, 98). The exact correspondence of the interval mentioned to 5 months of 30 days each, and the use of a year of 360 days, or 12 such months, by the prophets, the latter fact overlooked by Ideler, favor the idea that such a year is here meant, unless, indeed, one identical with the Egyptian Vague year, of 12 months of 30 days and 5 intercalary days. The settlement of this question depends upon the nature and history of these years, and our information on the latter subject is not sufficiently certain to enable us to do more than hazard a conjecture. A year of 360 days is the rudest known. It is formed of 12 spurious lunar months, and was probably the parent of the lunar year of 354 days, and the Vague year of 365. That it should have continued any time in use would be surprising were it not for the convenient length of the months. The Hebrew year, from the time of the Exodus, as we shall see, was evidently lunar, though in some manner rendered virtually solar, and we may therefore infer that the lunar year is as old as the date of the Exodus. As the Hebrew year was not an Egyptian year, and as nothing is said of its being new, save in its time of commencement, it was perhaps earlier in use among the Israelites, and either brought into Egypt by them or borrowed from Shemite settlers. The Vague year was certainly in use in Egypt in as remote an age as the earlier part of the 12th dynasty (cir. 2000 B.C.), and there can be no reasonable doubt that it was there used at the time of the building of the Great Pyramid (cir. 2350 B.C.). The intercalary days seem to be of Egyptian institution, for each of them was dedicated to one of the great gods, as if the innovation had been thus made permanent by the priests; and perhaps rendered popular as a series of days of feasting and rejoicing. The addition would, however, date from a very early period, that of the final settlement of the Egyptian religion. As the lunar year and the Vague year run up parallel to so early a period as that of the Exodus, and the former seems to have been then Shemitic, the latter then, and for several centuries earlier, Egyptian; and probably of Egyptian origin, we may reasonably conjecture that the former originated from a year of 360 days in Asia, the latter from the same year in Africa, this primitive year having been used by the Noachians before their dispersion. **2. **The year used by the Hebrews from the time of the Exodus may be said to have been then instituted, since a current month, Abib, on the 14th day of which the first Passover was kept, was then made the first month of the year. The essential characteristics of this year call be clearly determined, though we cannot fix those of any single year. It was essentially solar, for the offerings of productions of the earth, first-fruits, harvest-produce, and ingathered fruits were fixed to certain days of the year, two of which were in the periods of great feasts, the third itself a feast reckoned from one of the former days. It seems evident that the year was made to depend upon these times, and it may be observed that such a calendar would tend to cause thankfulness for God's good gifts, and would put in the background the great luminaries which the heathen worshipped in Egypt and in Canaan. Though the year was thus essentially solar, it is certain that the months were lunar, each commencing with a new moon. There must, therefore, have been some method of adjustment. The first point to be decided is how the commencement of each year was fixed. On the 16th day of Abib ripe ears of corn were to be offered as first-fruits of the harvest (Le 2:14; Le 23:10-11): this was the day on which the sickle was begun to be put to the corn (De 16:9), and no doubt Josephus is right in stating that until the offering of first-fruits had been made no harvest-work was to be begun *(Ant. *3:10, 5). He also states that ears of barley were offered (ibid.). That this was the case, and that the ears were the earliest ripe, is evident from the following circumstances. The reaping of barley commenced the harvest (2Sa 21:9), that of wheat following, apparently without any considerable interval (Ru 2:23). On the day of Pentecost thanksgiving was offered for the harvest, and it was therefore called the Feast of Harvest. It was reckoned from the commencement of the harvest, on the 16th day of the 1st month. The 50 days must include the whole time of the harvest of both wheat and barley throughout Palestine. According to the observations of modern travellers, barley is ripe, in the warmest parts of Palestine, in the first days of April. The barley-harvest, therefore, begins about half a month or less after the vernal equinox. Each year, if solar, would thus begin at about that equinox, when the earliest ears of barley must be ripe. As, however, the mouths were lunar, the commencement of the year must have been fixed by a new moon near this point of time. The new moon must have been that which fell about or next afte'r the equinox, not more than a few days before, on account of the offering of first-fruits. Ideler, whose observations on this matter we have thus far followed, supposes that the new moon was chosen by observation of the forwardness of the barley-crops in the warmer parts of the country *(Handbuch, *1: 490). But such a method would have caused confusion on account of the different times of the harvest in different parts of Palestine; and in the period of the Judges there would often have been two separate commencements of the year in regions divided by hostile tribes, and in each of which the Israelitish population led an existence almost independent of any other branch. It is more likely that the Hebrews would have determined their new-year's day by the observation of heliacal or other star-risings or settings known to mark the right time of the solar year. By such a method the beginning of any year could have been fixed a year before, either to one day, or, supposing the month-commencements were fixed by actual observation, within a day or two. We need not doubt that the Israelites were well acquainted with such means of marking the periods of a solar year. In the ancient Song of Deborah we read how "They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river. the river Kishon" (Jg 5:20-21), The stars that marked the times of rain are thus connected with the swelling of the river in which the fugitive Canaanites perished. So, too, we read how the Lord demanded of Job, "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Kimah, or loose the bands of Kesil?" (Job 38:31). "The best and most fertilizing of the rains," in Palestine and the neighboring lands, save Egypt, "fall when the Pleiades set at dawn (not exactly heliacally), at the end of autumn; rain scarcely ever falling at the opposite season, when Scorpio sets at dawn." That Kimah signifies the Pleiades does not admit of reasonable doubt, and Kesil, as opposite to it, would be Scorpio, being identified with Cor Scorpionis by Aben-Ezra. Therefore it cannot be questioned that the Israelites, even during the troubled time of the Judges, were well acquainted with the method of determining the seasons of the solar year by observing the stars. Not alone was this the practice of the civilized Egyptians, but, at all times of which we know their history, of the Arabs, and also of the Greeks in the time of Hesiod, while yet their material civilization and science were rudimentary. It has always been the custom of pastoral and scattered peoples, rather than of the dwellers in cities; and if the Egyptians be thought to form an exception, it must be recollected that they used it at a period not remote from that at which their civilization came from the plain of Shinar. It follows, from the determination of the proper new moon of the 1st month, whether by observation of a stellar phenomenon, or of the forwardness of the crops, that the method of intercalation can only have been that in use after the captivity, the addition of a 13th month whenever the 12th ended too long before the equinox for the offering of the first- fruits to be made at the time fixed. This method is in accordance with the permission granted to postpone the celebration of the Passover for one month in the case of any one who was legally unclean, or journeying at a distance (Nu 9:9-13); and there is a historical instance in the case of Hezekiah, of such a postponement, for both reasons, of the national celebration (2Ch 3:15-30:1). Such a practice as that of an intercalation varying in occurrence is contrary to Western usage; but the like prevails in all Moslem countries in a far more inconvenient form in the case of the commencement of every month. The day is determined by actual observation of the new moon, and thus a day is frequently unexpectedly added to or deducted from a month at one place, and months commence on different days at different towns in the same country. The Hebrew intercalation, if determined by stellar phenomena, would not be liable to a like uncertainty, though such may have been the case with the actual day of the new moon. The later Jews had two commencements of the year, whence it is commonly but inaccurately said that they had two years, the sacred year and the civil. We prefer to speak of the sacred and civil reckonings. Ideler admits that these reckonings obtained at the time of the second temple. The sacred reckoning was that instituted at the Exodus, according to which the 1st month was Abib; by the civil reckoning the 1st month was the 7th. The interval between the two commencements was thus exactly half a year. It has been supposed that the institution at the time of the Exodus was a change of commencement, not the introduction of a new year, and that thenceforward the year had two beginnings, respectively at about the vernal and the autumnal equinoxes. The former supposition is a hypothesis, the latter may almost be proved. The strongest point of evidence as to two beginnings of the year from the time of the Exodus, strangely unnoticed in this relation by Ideler, is the circumstance that the sabbatical and jubilee years commenced in the 7th month, and no doubt on the 10th day of the 7th month, the Day of Atonement (Le 25:9-10), and as this year immediately followed a sabbatical year, the latter must have begun in the same manner. Both were full years, and therefore must have commenced on the 1st day. The jubilee year was proclaimed on the 1st day of the month, the Day of Atonement standing in the same relation to its beginning, and perhaps to the civil beginning of the year, as did the Passover to the sacred beginning. This would be the most convenient, if not the necessary commencement of a year of total cessation from, the labors of agriculture, as a year so commencing would comprise the whole round of such occupations in regular sequence from seed-time to harvest, and from harvest to vintage and gathering of fruit. The command as to both years, apart from the mention of the Day of Atonement, clearly shows this, unless we suppose, but this is surely unwarrantable, that the injunction in the two places in which it occurs follows the regular order of the seasons of agriculture (Ex 23:10-11; Le 25:3-4,11), but that this was not intended to apply in the case of the observance. Two expressions, used with reference to the time of the Feast of Ingathering, on the 15th day of the 7th month, must be here noticed. This feast is spoken of as הִשָׁנָה בַּצֵאת, "in the going out" or "end of the year" (Ex 23:16), and as תּקוּפִת הִשָׁנָה [at] the change of the year" (Ex 34:22), the latter a vague expression, so far as we can understand it, but quite consistent with the other, whether indicating the turning-point. of a natural year, or the half of the year by the sacred reckoning.. The rabbins use the term תּקוּפָה to designate the commencement of each of the four seasons into which they divide the year *(Handbuch, *1:550, 551). Our view is confirmed by the similarity of the 1st and 7th months as to their observances the one containing the Feast of Unleavened Bread, from the 15th to the 21st inclusive; the other, that if Tabernacles, from the 15th to the 22d. Evidence in the same direction is found in the special sanctification of the 1st day of the 7th month, which. in the blowing of trumpets resembles the proclamation of the jubilee year on the Day of Atonement. We therefore hold that from the time of the Exodus. there were two beginnings of the year, with the 1st of the 1st and the 1st of the 7th month, the former being the sacred reckoning, the latter, used for the operations of agriculture, the civil reckoning. In Egypt, in the present day, Moslems use the lunar year for their religious observances, and for ordinary affairs, except those of agriculture, which they regulate by the Coptic Julian year. **3. **We must here notice here theories of the derivation of the Hebrew year from the Egyptian Vague year, as they are connected with the tropical point or points and agricultural phenomena, by which the former was regulated. The Vague year was commonly used by the Egyptians; and from it only. if from an Egyptian year, is the Hebrew likely to have been derived. Two theories have been formed connecting the two years at the Exodus. **(1) **Some hold that Abib, the 1st month of the Hebrew year by the sacred reckoning, was the Egyptian Epiphi, called in Coptic, Epepi, and in Arabic, by the modern Egyptians; Abib, or Ebib, the 11th month of the Vague year. The similarity of sound is remarkable, but it must be remembered that the Egyptian name is derived from that of the goddess of the month, PEP- T or APAP-T (?) whereas the Hebrew name has the ense of "an ear of corn, a green ear," and is derived from the unused root אָבִב, traceable in אֵב, "verdure," Chaldee, אֵב**, **"fruit," Arabic, *ab, *"green fodder." Moreover, the Egyptian P is rarely, if ever, represented by the Hebrew ב**,** and the converse is not common. Still stronger evidence is afforded by the fact that we find in Egyptian the root AB, "a nosegay," which is evidently related to Abib and its cognates. Supposing, however, that the Hebrew. calendar was formed by fixing the Egyptian Epiphi as the 1st month, what would be the chronological result? The latest date to which the Exodus is assigned is about 1320 B.C. In the Julian year 1320 B.C., the month Epiphi of the Egyptian Vague year commenced May 16, 44 days after the day of the vernal equinox, April 2, very near which the Hebrew year must have begun. Thus, at the latest date of the Exodus, there is an interval of a month and a half between the beginning of the Hebrew year and Epiphi 1. This interval represents about 180 years, through which the Vague year would retrograde in the Julian until the commencement of Epiphi corresponded to the vernal equinox, and no method can reduce it below 100. It is possible to effect thus much by conjecturing that the month Abib began somewhat after this tropical point, though the precise details of the state of the crops at the time of the plagues, as compared with the phenomena of agriculture in Lower Egypt at the present day, make half a month an extreme extension. At the time of the plague of hail the barley was in the ear and was smitten, with the flax, but the wheat was not sufficiently forward to be destroyed (Ex 9:31-32). In Lower Egypt, at the present day, this would be the case about the end of February and beginning of March. The Exodus cannot have taken place many days after the plague of hail, so that it must have occurred about or a little after the time of the vernal equinox, and thus Abib cannot possibly have begun much after that tropical point half a month is therefore excessive. We have thus carefully examined the evidence as to the supposed derivation of Abib from Epiphi, because it has been carelessly taken for granted, and more carelessly alleged in support of the latest date of the Exodus. **(2) **We have founded an argument for the date of the Exodus upon another comparison of the Hebrew year and the Vague year. We have seen that the sacred commencement of the Hebrew year was at the new moon about or next after, but not much before, the vernal equinox the civil commencement must usually have been at the new moon nearest the autumnal equinox. At the earliest date of the Exodus computed by modern chronologers, about the middle of the 17th century B.C., the Egyptian Vague year commenced at or about the latter time. The Hebrew year, reckoned from the civil commencement, and the Vague year, therefore, then nearly or exactly coincided. We have already seen that the Hebrews in Egypt, if they used a foreign year, must be supposed to have used the Vague year. It is worth while to inquire whether a Vague year of this time would further suit the characteristics of the first Hebrew year. It would be necessary that the 14th day of Abib, on which fell the full moon of the Passover of the Exodus, should correspond to the 14th of Phamenoth, in a Vague year commencing about, the autumnal equinox. A full moon fell on the 14th of Phamenoth, or Thursday, April 21, 1652 B.C., of a Vague year commencing on the day of the autumnal equinox, October 10, 1653 B.C. A full moon would not fall oil the same day of the Vague year within a shorter interval than twenty-five years, and the triple near coincidence of new moon, Vague year, and autumnal equinox would not recur in less than fifteen hundred Vague years *(Encyclop. Brit. *8th. ed. "Egypt," page 458). This date of the Exodus, 1652 B.C., is only four years earlier than Hales's, 1648 B.C., and only six years later than that adopted in this *Cyclopcedia,* 1658 B.C. In confirmation of this early date, it must be added that in a list of confederates defeated by Thothmes III at Megiddo, in the twenty-third year of his reign, are certain names that we believe can only refer to Israelitish tribes. The date of this king's accession cannot be later than about 1460 B.C., and his twenty-third year cannot therefore be later than about 1440 B.C. Were the Israelites then settled in Palestine, no date of the Exodus but the longest would be tenable. *SEE CHRONOLOGY*. **I ***Divisions of the Year*. — **1. ***Seasons*. — Two seasons are mentioned in the Bible, קִיַוֹ, "summer," and חֹרֶŠ " winter." The former properly means the time of cutting fruits, the latter, that of gathering fruits; they are therefore, originally, rather summer and autumn than summer and winter. But that they signify ordinarily the two grand divisions of the year, the warm and cold seasons, is evident from their use for the whole year in the expression קִיַוֹ וָחֹרֶŠ, summer and winter" (Ps 74:17; Zec 14:8; perhaps Ge 8:22), and from the mention of "the winter house" (Jer 36:22) and "the summer house " (Am 3:15, where both are mentioned together). Probably חֹרֶŠ, when used without reference to the year (as in Job 29:4), retains its original signification. In the promise to Noah, after the flood, the following remarkable passage occurs: "While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" (Ge 8:22). Here "seed-time," זֶרִע, and "harvest," קָצַיר, are evidently the agricultural seasons. It seems unreasonable to suppose that they mean winter and summer as the beginnings of the periods of sowing and of harvest are not separated by six months, and they do not. last for six months each, or nearly so long a time. The phrase "cold and heat," קֹר וָחֹם, probably indicates the great alternations of temperature. The whole passage, indeed, speaks of the alternations of nature, whether of productions, temperature, the seasons, or light and darkness. As we have seen, the year was probably then a wandering one, and therefore the passage is not likely to refer to it, but to natural phenomena alone. *SEE SEASON*. **2. ***Months*. — The Hebrew months, from the time of the Exodus, were lunar. The year appears ordinarily to have contained 12, but when intercalation was necessary, a 13th. The older year contained 12 months of 30 days each. *SEE MONTH*. **3. ***Weeks*. — The Hebrews, from the time of the institution of the Sabbath, whether at or before the Exodus, reckoned by weeks, but, as no lunar year could have contained a number of weeks without a fractional excess, this reckoning was virtually independent of the year as with the Moslems. *SEE WEEK*. **4. ***Festivtals, Holy Days, and Fasts*. — The Feast of the Passover was held on the 14th day of the 1st month. The Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted 7 days; from the 15th to the 21st; inclusive, of the same month. Its first and last days were kept as Sabbaths. The Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, was celebrated on the day which ended 7 weeks, counted from the 16th of the 1st month, that day being excluded. It was called the Feast of Harvest, and Day of First-fruits. The Feast of Trumpets (lit. "of the sound of the trumpet") was kept as a Sabbath on the 1st day of the 7th month. The Day of Atonement (lit. "of Atonements") was a fast, held the 10th day of the 7th month. The Feast of Tabernacles, or Feast of Gathering, was celebrated from the 15th to the 22d day, inclusive, of the 7th month. Additions made long after the giving of the law, and not known to be of higher than priestly authority, are the Feast of Purim, commemorating the defeat of Haman's plot; the Feast of the Dedication, recording the cleansing and re-dedication of the Temple by Judas Maccabaeus; and four fasts. *SEE FESTIVAL*. **III. ***Sacred Years. *— **1. ***The Sabbatical year, *הִשׁמַטָּה שׁנִת, "the fallow year," or, possibly, "year of remission," or שׁמַטָּה alone, kept every seventh year, was commanded to be observed as a year of rest from the labors of agriculture and of remission of debts. Two Sabbatical years are recorded, commencing and current, 164-3 and 136-5 B.C. *SEE SABBATICAL YEAR*. **2. ***The Jubilee Year, *שׁנִת הִיּוֹבֵל , "the year of the trumpet," or יוֹבֵל alone, a like year, which immediately followed every seventh Sabbatical year. It has been disputed whether the jubilee year was every forty-ninth or fiftieth; the former is more probable. *SEE JUBILEE*.

Year, Ecclesiastical. The present arrangement of the ecclesiastical year is one which has grown up and developed during the course of a long time, representing the wisdom of successive ages. It was but natural that the anniversaries of the chief events of our Lord's life, and of the day on which the Holy Ghost came down upon the Church, should be observed by the disciples. Accordingly, it is not surprising that one of the very earliest questions debated in the Church was as to the time of keeping Easter. As early as A.D. 158, Polycarp went to consult Anicetus at Rome on this question, and the controversy, which they could not settle, was brought to a close by the Council of Nicea. Similar early testimony may be found as to other festivals and solemn days. The anniversary of our Lord's death, Good Friday, must have been kept from the first. So, too, Epiphanius *(Haeres.* 75; *AErian. *6) speaks of St. Paul as keeping the feast of Pentecost, and quotes Ac 20:16, in that connection. We find notices of the Epiphany as early as A.D. 200. Augustine observes that it, with other anniversary solemnities, was either instituted by the apostles themselves or by plenary councils. Next after these "days which the Lord hath made," there arose the commemorations of the saints and martyrs of the Church. These are of very high antiquity. In the epistle of the Church at Smyrna to the Church at Philomelium (Eusebius, *Hist. Eccles. *4:15), the Christians of Smyrna tell their brethren where Polycarp's body was entombed, and how they intended to assemble at that place and celebrate his birthday with joy and gladness. The festival of St. Peter is traced back to the 3d century, and no doubt was observed much earlier as a festival of Peter and Paul. Origen names the Commemoration of the Holy-Innocents, and Chrysostom the Festival of All Martyrs, which was kept on the octave of Pentecost. Then, in course of time; other festivals were introduced; such as the Encaenia (q.v.). Bishops were also wont to keep the anniversaries of their consecrations, and particular churches had special days of thanksgiving for great mercies and deliverances vouchsafed to them from God. Ordination was gradually limited to the Ember (q.v.) season, that thus there might be a special time of prayer and fasting on behalf of the newly ordained. Marriages were forbidden in certain parts of the year; as from Advent Sunday to Epiphany, from Septuagesima to the octave of Easter, three weeks before the feast of St. John, and from Rogation Sunday to Trinity Sunday. The special times for baptism were Epiphany, Easter, and Whitsuntide, but chiefly the latter two. During certain festal seasons kneeling at prayers was forbidden, as from Easter to Whitsuntide inclusive, as ordered by the twentieth canon of Nicema. On the Lord's day the standing posture was also adopted, in memory of our Lord's' resurrection. Thus gradually were ordered and harmonized the seasons of the Church. Kurtz says: In the East, the symbolical relation between the natural and the ecclesiastical year was ignored, except so far as implied in the attempt to give to the Jewish feasts a Christian adaptation. To some extent, indeed, Western ideas lid been imported in reference to the great festivals, such as Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, but not, in connection with the ordinary sum and feast days. At first the ecclesiastical year in the East commenced with Easter, afterwards with Quadragesima or with Epiphany, and ultimately in September, as under the old dispensation. The year was divided into four parts, according to the 'lectio continua' of the gospels, and the Sundays obtained corresponding names. The κυριακὴ πρώτη τοῦ Ματθαίου took place immediately after Pentecost. The Latin ecclesiastical year commenced in Advent, and was divided into a 'Semestre Domini' and a Semestre ecelesiae.' But the idea underlying this arrangement was only carried out in reference to the 'Semestre Domini ' Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, with the Sundays which they included, indicating the commencement, the development, and the completion of the history of redemption. In reference to the 'Semestre ecclesiae,' only the commencement of a symbolical arrangement was made. Thus the Feast. of Peter and Paul, on June 29, represented the foundation of the Church by the apostles; the Feast of Laurentius, the *martyr, *on August 10, the contest awaiting the 'Church militant;' and the Feast of Michael, the archangel, on September 29, the complete success of the 'Church triumphant.' That these feasts were intended to form the basis of three cycles of festivals we *gather *from the circumstance that the Sundays after Pentecost had been arranged as 'Dominicae post Apostolos, post Laurenti, post Angelos.' But the idea was not developed; the frequency of saints' days not only made this arrangement impossible, but rendered it even necessary to encroach on the 'Semestre Domini.' The principle of attempting to Christimaize the worship of the heathen was authoritatively sanctioned by Gregory the Great, who, in 601, instructed the Anglo-Saxon missionaries to transform the heathen temples into churches, and the pagan into saints' festivals or martyr days, 'ut durae mentes gradius vel passibus non antem saltibus eleventur.' Saints now took the places of the old gods, and the ecclesiastical was made in every respect to correspond with the natural year, only in a Christianized form." "Ecclesiastical festivals became seasons of home enjoyment; holy days were turned into holidays; the Church's children learned, in private life, to think and to speak in the Church's way.... The governors of the state fell almost unconsciously into the times and seasons of her who is not of this world; sheriffs were pricked on the morrow of St. Martin; lawyers reckoned by Hilary or Trinity term; every class was subject to the same moulding influence.... It was the same influence always and everywhere at work; sometimes beautifully, sometimes amusingly, sometimes extravagantly, but always really" (Neale, *Essays, *etc., page 508). *SEE CALENDAR*.

Yebamoth *SEE TALMUD*.

Yedinovertzi a name signifying co-religionists, was given to some members of the Russian sect of the *Starovertzi, SEE RUSSIAN SECTS*, I, 4, in the reign of the emperor Alexander (1801-25), when strong hopes were entertained of regaining them to the orthodox communion. They assume for themselves the name of *Blagoslovenni, *or, *The Blessed.*

Yelek *SEE LOCUST*.

Yellow *SEE COLOR*.

Yemim *SEE MULE*.

Yeomans, Edward Dorr, D.D. a Presbyterian minister, was born at North Adams, Massachusetts, September 27, 1829. He spent one year in Princeton Theological Seminary, N.J., and became stated supply at New Columbia, Pennsylvania, from 1847 to 1849; was principal of the academy at Danville, from 1847 to 1850; ordained by the Presbytery of Northumberland, November 29, 1854; pastor at Warrior Run from 1854 to 1858; of the Fourth Church of Trenton, N.J., from 1859 to 1863; at St. Peter's Church, Rochester. N.Y., from 1863 to 1867; of Central Church, Orange, N.J., in 1867 and 1868, and died there, August 25 of the latter year. See *Genesis Cat. of Princeton Theol. Sems.* 1881, page 160.

Yeomans, John William, D.D. a Presbyterian divine, was born at Hinsdale, Mass., Jan. 7, 1800. He graduated at Williams College in 1824; studied theology in the seminary at Andover, and was ordained and installed pastor of the Church at North Adams in November, 1828. In 1832 he became pastor of the First Congregational Church of Pittsfield; in 1834 of the First Presbyterian Church of Trenton, N. J.; in 1841 accepted the presidency of Lafayette College, Easton, Pa.; and in 1845 became pastor of the Mahoning Church, Danville, where he continued to labor until his death, June 22, 1863. Dr. Yeomans was a man of strong and original mind. His profound thought and logical power were acknowledged by all who knew him or read his writings, As a preacher, he was instructive, impressive, and often highly eloquent. Above all, he was a man of faith and prayer, of deep, intelligent, and scriptural piety. He published, an *Election Sermon *(Boston, 1834, 8vo): —*Dedication Sermon *(1840, 8vo): — *Inaugural Address *(1841,8vo): — and was co-author of a *Hist. Of the County of Berkshire, Mass. *(Pittsfield, 1829, 12mo, 468 pp. in 2 pts.). Besides these, he was a frequent contributor to the *Biblical Repertory *and other religious periodicals, and had for several years been engaged in writing *Commentaries *on the Epistle to the Romans and the Gospel of John, both of which were left in an unfinished state. See Wilson, *Presb. Hist. Almanac, *1864, p. 207; Allibone, *Dict. of Brit and Amer. Authors, *s.v. (J. L. S.)

Yesterday (prop. אֶמֶשׁ*, e'mesh; *but frequently תּמוֹל*, aforetime; *χθές) is sometimes used in Heb. to denote all time past, however distant; as today denotes time present, but of a larger extent than the very day on which one speaks. "If the ox was wont to push with his horn in time past" (Ex 21:29; Heb. *yesterday). *"And it came to pass, when all that knew him before time (Heb. *yesterday); *whereas thou camest but yesterday" (2Sa 15:20). "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Heb 13:8). His doctrine, like his person, admits of no change; his truths are invariable. With him there is neither yesterday nor tomorrow, but one continued today. Job says (Job 8:9), "We are but of yesterday, and know nothing; because our days upon earth are a shadow."

Yew Sunday is a term used in some parts of England to designate Palm-Sunday (q.v.).

Yew-tree an evergreen tree of the genus *taxus, *allied to the pines, and valued for its wood or timber, is very commonly found planted in the old English churchyards; and was formerly much used to decorate churches at Christmas, Palm-Sunday, and Easter.

Yezidis an ancient sect of unknown origin, forming a tribe with a distinct nationality, in the neighbor hood of Mosul, in Asiatic Turkey. This obscure race appears to be a relic of the ancient Chaldaeans, and their religion seems to be a confused mixture of Gnostic Christianity, grafted upon the Chaldsean superstitions, including Magianism, and then adulterated with Moslemism. They are generally called devil-worshippers, but profess to take their name from Azad, the ancient name for God in the Yezidi dialect. "We are Yezidis," they say, "that is, worshippers of God." 'The following account is taken from Layard's *Nineveh and its Remains *(New York, 1849), 1:245 sq.: "The Yezidis recognize one Supreme Being, but, as far as I could learn, they do not offer up any direct prayer or sacrifice to him. Sheik Nasr endeavored to evade my questions on this subject, and appeared to shun, with superstitious awe, every topic connected with the existence and attributes of the deity. The common Mohammedan forms of expression — half-oath, half-ejaculationare nevertheless frequently in the mouths of the people, but probably from mere habit. The name of the evil spirit is, however, never mentioned, and any allusion to it by others so vexes amid irritates them that, it is said, they have put to death persons who have want only outraged their feelings by its use.. So far is their dread of offending the evil principle carried that they carefully avoid every expression which may resemble in sound the name of Satan, or the Arabic word for 'accursed.'... When they speak of the devil they do so with reverence, as *Melek Taus *(king Peacock) or *Melek el-Kut *(the mighty angel). Sheik Nasr distinctly admitted that they possessed a bronze or copper figure of a bird, which, however, he was careful in explaining was only looked upon as a symbol, and not as an idol. It always remains with the great sheik, and is carried with him wherever he may journey.... This symbol is called Melek Tauis, and is held in great reverence.... They believe Satan to be the chief of the angelic host, now suffering punishment for his rebellion against the divine will, but still all-powerful, and to be restored hereafter to his high estate in the celestial hierarchy. He must be conciliated and reverenced, they say, for as he now has the means of doing evil to mankind, so will he hereafter have the power of rewarding them. Next to Satan, but inferior to him in might and wisdom, are seven archangels, who exercise a great influence over the world: they are Gabrail, Michail, Raphail, Azrail, Dedrail, Azrapheel, and Sheinkeel. Christ, according to them, was also a great angel, who had taken the form of a man. He did not die on the Cross, but ascended to heaven. "They hold the Old Test. in great reverence, and believe in the cosmogony of Genesis, the Deluge, and other events in the Bible. They do not reject the New Test. nor the Koran, but consider them less entitled to their veneration. Still, they always select passages from the latter for their tombs and holy places. Mohammed they look upon as a prophet — as they do Abraham and the patriarchs. They expect the second coming of Christ, as well as the reappearance of Imaum Mehdi, giving credence to the Mussulman fables relating to him. Sheik Adi is their great saint.... "It is difficult to trace their ceremonies to any particular source. They baptize in water, like the Christians; if possible, within seven days after birth. They circumcise at the same age and in the same manner as the Mohammedans; and reverence the sun, and have many customs in common with the Sabreans.... They are accustomed to kiss the object on which its beams first fall; and I have frequently, when travelling in their company at sunrise, observed them perform this ceremony. For fire, as symbolic, they have nearly the same reverence: they never spit into it, but frequently pass their hands through the flames, kiss them, and rub them over their right eyebrow, or sometimes over the whole face. The color blue, to them, as to the Sabaeans, is an abomination, and never to be worn in dress, or to be used in their houses. Their Kubleh, or the place to which they look while performing their holy ceremonies, is that part of the heavens into which the sun rises, and towards it they turn the faces of their dead. In their fondness for white linen, in their cleanliness of habits, and in their frequent ablutions, they also resemble the Sabaeans.... "They have four orders of priesthood, the Pirs, the Sheiks, the Cawals, and the Fakirs; and what is very remarkable, and, I believe, unexampled in the East, these offices are hereditary, and descend to females, who, when enjoying them, are treated with the same respect and consideration as the men. "The *Pirs, *or saints, are most reverenced after the great sheik, or religious head of the sect. They are believed. to have power, not only of interceding for the people, but of curing disease and insanity. They are expected to lead a life of great sanctity and honesty, and are yolked up to with great reverence... "The *Sheiks *are next in rank. They are acquainted with the hymns, and are expected to know something of Arabic, the language in which the hymns are written. Their dress should be entirely white, except the skull-cap beneath their turbans, which is black. As servants of sheik And they are the guardians of his tomb, keep up the holy fires, and bring provisions and fuel to those who dwell within its precincts, and to pilgrims of distinction.... "The *Cawals, *or preachers, appear to be the most active members of the priesthood. They are sent by sheik Nasr on missions, going from village to village as teachers of the doctrines of the sect. They alone are the performers on the flute and tambourine, both instruments being looked upon, to a certain extent, as sacred.... "The *Fakirs *are the lowest in the priesthood. They wear coarse dresses of black or dark-brown cloth or canvass, descending to the knee and fitting tightly to the person, and a black turban, across or over which is tied a red handkerchief. They perform all menial offices connected with the tomb, trim and light the votive lamps, and keep clean the sacred buildings." For many interesting particulars concerning this strange sect, see Layard, *Nineveh and its Remains, *volume 1, chapter 9; *Nineveh and Babylon, *page 92; Badger, *Nestorians and their Ritual, *1:105-134.

Ygdrasil in Norse mythology, is the tree of the world, an enormous ash, whose branches touch the sky and stretch out over the entire surface of the earth. Three roots feed it: one extends to the assembling place of the gods, Asgard; another into the giant country, Jotunheim; and the third reaches down to Niflheim (infernal regions). By the spring, Urdarborn, live the three holy destinies of fate, who daily water the roots with the water from the spring. This fountain is in the country of the Asas. By the other root, in Jotunheim, is the well of Minvers, and in the kingdom of Hel is the spring Hwergelmer, from which the hellstreams flow. The tree is inhabited by different animals. The two harts, Dunair and Duratoor, eat the buds of the tree. In the peak of the tree lives an eagle, who carries the hawk Wedurfolner between his eyes; at the bottom of the tree the reptile Nidhogr lives, and gnaws at the root of the tree; between both there travels up and down a squirrel, Ratatosker, that seeks to cause discord between the eagle and the snake. The harts bite its branches to destroy it, but the tree is preserved by watering, and will be preserved till the destruction of the earth, up to which time the gods will assemble daily in its shade to seek advice — and even at the end of the world it will not be destroyed, but only receive a heavy shock. *SEE NORSE MYTHOLOGY*.

Yih-king "the book of changes," is the oldest of the sacred books of the Chinese. It was written by Fohi, the reputed founder of Chinese civilization, and is described as a very mysterious and almost unintelligible work, treating chiefly of the nature of the universe in general, the harmonious action of the elements, and periodic changes of creation. These ideas were expressed by means of eight peculiar diagrams, which constitute the basis of natural philosophy as well as of religion. Some contend that in Fohi and his family we may recognise Noah and the second parents of our race. Many commentaries have been written on the *Yih-king, *and very varied have been the expositions, so that, from being regarded originally as a cosmological essay, it came to be looked upon as a standard treatise on ethics.

Ymer in Norse mythology, is the giant from the separate parts of whose body the world was created. The heat at Muspelheim made the ice in Niflheim melt, which caused the creation of the great giant Ymer and the cow Audumbla, from whose milk the former was nourished. The cow satisfied her hunger by licking the salt-stones, by which means the first man, Bure, was created. Ymer himself created the frightful dynasty of the Hrymthussen. But he did not live long, for Bure's nephews, sons of Bors—Odin, Wile, and We — killed Ymer, and of his blood they made the sea, of his flesh, the earth, of his bones, the rocks and hills, of his skull, the firmament, of his brain, the clouds, and of his eyelashes, the battlements about Asgard.