Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological & Ecclesiastical Literature

Whitaker, William, D.D. an eminent English divine, was born at Holme, Lancashire, in 1548. He was educated at St. Paul's School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was appointed to a fellowship; became regius professor of divinity at Cambridge in 1579; was appointed chancellor of St. Paul's in 1580; and became master of St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1586. He died at Cambridge, Dec. 4,1595. Mr. Whitaker was an able Calvinistic writer, and a powerful champion of Protestantism against the attacks of popery. He published, *The Liturgy of the Church of England, in Latin and Greek *(1596): — *Catechismus, sive Prima Institutio Discplinaque Pietatis Christiana Latine Explicata, *etc. (1570): — Ad *Rationes Decem Ednundi Campiani Jesuitce, Responsio, *etc. (1581): — *A Disputation on Holy Scripture against the Papists, especially Bellarmine and Stapleton *(first published in Latin in 1588, afterwards in English): — and other controversial works. A collection of his *Opera Theologica *was published at Geneva in 1610, 2 vols. fol.

Whitby (or Strenechal), Council Of *(Concilium Phamense). *Whitby is a seaport town of England, County of York, North Riding, on the Esk, near its mouth in the North Sea. An ecclesiastical council was held there in 664. This was properly a conference between the English and Scotch bishops on the subject of the celebration of Easter. There were present on the English side Agilbert, a Frenchman, bishop of Dorchester, with his presbyter, Agathoi; Wilfred, a young Northumbrian priest, who had studied at Rome; Romanus, who had before contended the point with Finan, late bishop of Lindistarne; and an old deacon, James, whom Paulinus had left thirty years before. On the Scotch side were Colman, bishop of Lindisfarne; and Cedda, a bishop who acted as interpreter. Oswy, king of Northumbria, was also present, who opened the proceedings, and desired Colman to explain the nature and origin of the rites which his Church had so long practiced. The Scots alleged the example of St. John, Wilfred that of St. Peter, and the latter concluded his address in the following terms: "But for you (Colman) and your adherents, if, after having heard the decrees of the apostolic see, yea, of the whole Church. and these, too, confirmed by Scripture, you refuse to obey them, you certainly are guilty of sin. For, allowing your fathers to have been holy men, is their small handful in a corner of a remote island to be compared to the Church of Christ over the whole earth? And great as that Columba of yours may have been, is he to be preferred to the blessed prince of the apostles, to whom the Lord said, 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it; and to thee will I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven?"' — This fortunate quotation from Holy Scripture determined the king in favor of the Roman custom; he, as he said, fearing to contradict one who held the keys of heaven, and might peradventure refuse to open to him when he knocked. In this council, moreover, the affair of the tonsure was discussed, the Roman fashion differing from that in use among the Scotch, which the former pretended had been derived from Simon Magus. See Mansi, *Concil.* 6:491; Wilkins, *Concil*. 1:37.

Whitby, Daniel, D.D. an eminent English divine, was born at Rushden, Northamptonshire, in 1638. He was educated at Trinity College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1657, and became a fellow in 1664; took holy orders, became chaplain to Dr. Seth Ward, bishop of Salisbury, and was made prebendary of Salisbury in October, 1668; was admitted precentor of the same church in 1672; became rector of St. Edmund's, Salisbury, about the same time, which was his last preferment, and where he died, March 24, 1726. Among his published works are, *Romish Doctrines not from the Beginning (1664): — Endeavor to Evince the Certainty of Christian Faith (1671): — Discourse concerning the Idolatry of the Church of Rome *(1674): — *Absurdity and Idolatry of Host Worship Proved *(1679); *The Protestant Reconciler Humbly Pleading for Condescension to Dissenting Brethren *(1683). This work was condemned to be burned by the University of Oxford, and publicly retracted by Whitby: — *A Paraphrase and Commentary on the New Testament *(1703): *Discourse of the Necessity and Usefulness of the Christian Revelation *(1705). Late in life he became an Arian, and engaged in a dispute with Dr. Waterland He was a voluminous writer, the above- mentioned works being only a small part of what he gave to the public. His *Paraphrase and Commentary *is considered his best work.

White (prop. לָבָן, λευκός). In Canaan persons of distinction were anciently dressed in fine linen of Egypt, and, according to some authors, in silk and rich cloth shaded with the choicest colors. The beauty of these clothes consisted in the fineness and color of the stuffs; and it seems the color most in use among the Israelites, as well as among the Greeks and Romans, was white, not improved by the dyer's art, but the native color of the wool, being most suited to the nature of their laws, which enjoined so many washings and purifications. (Indeed, so early as the days of Hesiod the Greeks considered white as the color in which the celestials appeared: men went to heaven in white clothing *[Opera et Diesi *1:198].) The general use of this color seems to be recognised by Solomon in his direction, "Let thy garments be always white" (Ec 9:8). But garments in the native color of wool were not confined to the lower orders; they were also in great esteem among persons of superior station, and are particularly valued in Scripture as the emblem of knowledge and purity, gladness and victory, grace and glory. The priests of Baal were habited in black, a color which appears to have been peculiar to themselves, and which few others in those countries except mourners would choose to wear. In all countries and all ages white has been regarded as the emblem of purity. *SEE WHITSUNDAY*. Isaiah says, " Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (1:15). See the monographs cited by Volbeding, *Index Programmatum, *page 124. *SEE COLOR*.

White (or Whyte), John (1), D.D. an English prelate, was born at Farnham, in Surrey, in 1511. He was educated at Winchester School and at New College, Oxford, of which he became perpetual fellow in 1527; soon after made warden of Winchester College; became rector of Cheyton in 1551; was imprisoned in the Tower for some months during the preceding year for his supposed correspondence with persons abroad who were opposed to Edward VI; was made bishop of Lincoln by queen Mary in 1554; translated to the 'see of Winchester in 1557; deprived, on the accession of queen Elizabeth, on account of his opposition to Protestantism; and imprisoned for a short time in the Tower in 1559 for his public attacks upon the queen. He died at South Warnborough, January 11, 1560, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral. He was the author of certain Latin poems, and some of his sermons and orations have been published.

White (Whyte, or Vitus), Richard an English historian, antiquary, and afterwards Catholic priest, was born at Basingstoke, Hampshire. He was educated at Winchester School; admitted fellow of New College, Oxford, in 1557; lost his fellowship on account of his attachment to Romanism in 1564; became regius professor of civil and canon law at Douay, in which relation he remained nearly twenty years; was appointed by that university tie chancellor, or *rector magnificus; *was created count palatine by the emperor; after the loss of his second wife, was ordained priest and made a canon of St. Peter's Church in Dotiay. He died in 1612 and was buried in St. James's Church. Among his publications were, *AElia Laelia Crispis; Epitaphium Antiquum quod in Agro Bononiensi adhuc Videtur, *etc. (1618): — *Orationes Quinque *(1596)*: *— *Notae ad Leges Decemvirorum in Duodecim Tabulis *(1597): — and *Historiae Britannicae Insulae ab Origine Mundi ad Annun Domini Octinagentesimum *(1602).

White Brethren a body of enthusiasts who appeared in Italy about the beginning of the 15th century, and were so called from being all clad in white linen robes reaching to their feet, with hoods of the same material that left only their eyes exposed. They were first collected together by a priest, whose name is unknown, among the villages on the southern side of the Alps. He led them down, a large multitude, into the Italian plains under the pretence that he was the prophet Elias. Bearing a cross at their head, he bade them follow him in a crusade against the Turks for the purpose of regaining the Holy Land; and so great was his influence that not only the peasantry, but some priests and even cardinals, are said to have enrolled themselves among his army of "penitents." They advanced in troops of ten, twenty, and forty thousand, marching from city to city, singing hymns and muttering loud prayers; and wherever they went multitudes were ready to give them alms and join in their pilgrimage. They were met at Viterbo by a body of papal troops, which had been ordered to march against them by Boniface IX under the impression that their leader intended to dethrone him and seize upon the papal dominions. The pilgrims were dispersed by the troops, and their leader taken captive to Rome and burned as a heretic, about the year 1403. Their history is very similar in many respects to that of the Apostolicals, led by Srgarenili and Dolcino a century earlier; hence some have supposed that both uprisings were by the same sect. *SEE APOSTOLICI*.

White Garments were worn by the clergy as early as the 4th century, and the use has been continued to the present time in the ritualistic churches. White garments were also worn by persons newly baptized. In the Latin Church this vesture came immediately before confirmation, but in the Greek Church immediately after. This ceremony was to represent the having put off the old man with his deeds, and having put on the new man Christ Jesus. Those who wore the garments ware called, in the Greek, λευχειμονοῦντες*, *and in the Latin, *grex Christi candidus et niveus *(the white flock of Christ). The garments were delivered to them with the following solemn charge: "Receive the white and immaculate garment, which thou mayest bring forth without spot before the tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ, that thou mayest have eternal life. Amen." These garments were commonly worn eight days, and then laid up in th urch he church. The day after Easter is mentioned as the day appointed for this purpose. That was the conclusion of the Paschal festival, and then the neophytes changed their habit; whence that day is thought to have the name of *Dominica in Albis; *and Whitsulnday (q.v.) is said to be so called from this custom of wearing white robes after baptism.' These being laid aside, were carefully preserved in the vestries of the church as an evidence against men if they afterwards violated the baptismal covenant. See Bingham, *Christ. Antiq. *book 13, chapter 8; book 12, chapter 4; and book 20, chapter 6.

White Of An Egg is the rendering adopted in the A.V. at Job 6:6 for the Heb. רַיר חִלָּמוּת', *rir challamuth *(Sept. ἐν ῥήμασιν κενοῖς [v.r.καινοῖς*], *Vulg. *quod gustatum offert mortem). *Most interpreters derive the Hebrew word from חָלִם, *chalam, to dream, *and, guided by the context, explain it to denote *somnolency, fiatuity *(comp. Ec 5:2,9), and so *insipidity *(comp. μωρςό in Dioscorides, spoken of tasteless roots). The Syriac renders it by *chalamta, *which signifies *portulacca *or *purslain, *an herb formerly eaten as a salad, but proverbial for its insipidity ("portulacca stultior," in Meidan. *Proverb. *No. 344, page 219, ed. 'Schultens). The phrase will thus mean *purslain-broth, *i.e., silly discourse. *SEE MALLOWS*. The rabbins, following the Targums, regard it as i.q. Chald. חֶלמוֹן, the coagultum of an *egg *or *curd; *and so explain the phrase, as the A.V., to mean the slime or *white of an egg, *put as an emblem of insipidity. This in itself is not ill; but the other seems more consonant with Oriental usage. See Gesenius, *Thesaur. *page 480.

White Stone *(*ψῆφος λευκή*, a white pebble), *referred to as given to the Christian conqueror (Re 2:17), is supposed by many to refer to the usage among the Greeks of absolving those that were tried on the ground of any accusation, by the use of *white balls *or *stones, *and condemning by *black *ones. The balls were thrown together into an urn, whence they were drawn and counted. But the white stone is given to the victor himself. Hence others think reference is made to the tessera given to the victor at the Olympic games, on which was inscribed the reward to be received from his native city, the value of his prize. But in these cases the white stone is wanting, and the mystic inscription which no one but the recipient could read. The reference is undoubtedly to Hebrew sources. Christians are called kings and priests unto God (Re 1:6; Re 20:6; 1Pe 2:5). On the front of the mitre or turban worn by the Hebrew high- priest was a plate of gold with the inscription "Sacred to Jehovah" (Ex 28:36). The name Jehovah was the incommunicable and secret name, which could be pronounced only by the high-priest, and was known, as the Jews say, only to him. Victors in the Christian struggle are to be exalted to the dignity of high-priests and kings. Instead of a plate of gold in their mitre they have a white stone, a pellucid or resplendent gem, with an inscription equivalent to "Sacred to Jehovah" (Re 1:4), a new name, doubtless some name of the Saviour, perhaps, "Sacred to the Logos or Word," that is, the incarnate Jehovah (Joh 1:1; Joh 19:13). The whole probably symbolizes the assurance of the faithful by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This is the pellucid gem, the seal of the living God, having the inscription of divine acceptance which no one can read but he who possesses it. *SEE SEAL; SEE STONE*.

White, Charles, D.D. a Presbyterian divine, was born at Randolph, Mass., Dec. 28,1795. He was a lineal descendant of Peregrine White of the famous "Mayflower;" graduated at Dartmouth College with the first honors of his class in, 1821; studied theology at Andover, Mass.; after licensure to preach, was settled as colleague pastor with his .stepfather, Rev. Asa Burton, D.D., at Thetford, Vt.; subsequently over the Church in Cazenovia, N.Y., and again at Owego, N. Y.; elected president of Wabash College, Ind., and entered upon his duties in October, 1841, and his presidency was of twenty years continuance. In this last relation he met the manifold responsibilities of his office with fidelity and energy. He shrank from no labor that the embarrassed condition of the college, when he entered on its presidency, demanded at his hands; and he had the satisfactions of seeing, long before his death, as one result of his labor, a larger number of students in the college classes alone than he found in all the departments when he entered upon the presidency. He died suddenly, Oct. 29,1861. Dr. White was a ripe and accurate scholar, an able teacher, an impressive preacher, and a sound theologian. He published *Essays in Literature and Ethics *(Boston, 1853, 12mo), and contributed four sermons to the *-National Preacher, *and articles (the most of which were republished in his *Essays) *to the *Biblical Repository *and *Bibliotheca Sacra. *See Wilson, *Presb. Hist. Almanac,* 1863, p. 313, Allibone, *Dict. of Brit and Amer. Authors, *s.v. (J. L. S.)

White, Francis, D.D. an English prelate who flourished in the early part of the 17th century-, was educated at Cambridge; became dean of Carlisle in 1622; bishop of Carlisle in 1626; bishop of Norwich in 1629; bishop of Ely in 1631; and died in February, 1637 or 1638. He was-the author of, *Orthodox Faith and the Way to the Church Explained and Justified against T. W. (1617): — Replies to Jesuit Fisher's Answer to Certain Questions Propounded by James I, *etc. (1624) *Treatise of the Sabbath Day against Sabbatarian Novelty *(1636): and other works. See Allibone, *Dict. of Brit and Amer. Authors, s.v.*

White, Henry, D.D. a Presbyterian divine, was born at Durham, Greene Co., N.Y., June 19,1800. He received his preparatory training in the academy at Greencastle; graduated with high honor at Union College in 1824; studied theology in the Princeton (N. J.) Theological Seminary; was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Columbia in 1826, and immediately after entered upon an agency for the American Bible Society, his field being in the Southern States. In 1828 he was ordained and installed as pastor of the Allen Street Church, New York city, where he continued until the establishment of the Union Theological Seminary in 1836, when he was elected to the professorship of theology in that institution, which office he continued to hold until his death, Aug. 25, 1850. Dr. White had naturally a strong, discriminating mind, well balanced, and abounding in practical wisdom. As a preacher, he was eminently thoughtful, clear, convincing, and pungent. As a teacher of theology, he had peculiar and almost unrivalled excellence. He published a *Sermon on the Death of John Nitchie *(1838), and a *Sermon on the Abrahamic Covenant *(1846). See Sprague, *Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, *4:691, Allibone, *Dict. of Brit. (and Amer. Authors, *s.v. (J. L. S.)

White, John (2), D.D. an English clergyman of the latter part of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century, was vicar of Eccles, and subsequently chaplain in ordinary to James I. He died in 1615. He published *The Way to the True Church, *and other works. See Allibone, *Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, *s.v.

White, John (3) a Puritan divine, known as the *Patritarch of Dorchester, *was born at Stanton, St. John, Oxfordshire, England, in December, 1574. He was educated at Winchester School and New College, Oxford, of which he became perpetual fellow in 1595; here he graduated, took holy orders, and became a frequent preacher at Oxford; became rector of Trinity Church, Dorchester, in 1606; was one of the projectors of the colony of Massachusetts in 1624; had his house plundered and his, library carried away by the soldiers of Prince Rupert; escaped to London, and was made minister of the Savoy; was appointed one of the learned divines. to assist in a committee of religion selected by the House of Lords in 1640; became a member of the Westminster Assembly in 1643; was chosen rector of Lambeth in 1645; and afterwards returned to Dorchester, where he died, July 21, 1648. He published, *The Planter's Plea; or, The Grounds of Plantations Examined, and the Usual Objections Answered *(1630)*: *— *A Way to the Tree of Life Discovered, *etc. (1647): — *Commentary on the First Three Chapters of Genesis *(1656).

White, Joseph (1), D.D. an English clergyman and eminent Oriental scholar, was born at Stroud, in. Gloucestershire, in 1746. He was the son of a weaver, and was designed for his father's calling, but having been sent to a charity-school at Gloucester, and having made rapid advancement, he was sent by a gentleman of fortune to Oxford, where he graduated at Wadham College about 1770; became a fellow of that college in 1774, was appointed to archbishop Laud's professorship of Arabic in 1775; chosen in 1783 to preach the Bampton lecture for the following year, in the preparation of which he was assisted by Dr. Parr and Mr. Samuel Badcock; became prebendary of Gloucester in 1788; was appointed rector of Melton in 1790; became prebendary of Oxford in 1802; regius professor of Hebrew at Oxford the same year; and subsequently canon of Christ Church. He died at Oxford, May 22, 1814. He was the author of *De Utilitate Linguae Arabicae in Studiis Theologicis Oratio *(1776): *— Testamenti Novi Libri Historici et Epistolce tans Catholicae quam Pauline, Versio Syriaca Philoxeniana, *etc. (1779-1803): — *A View of Christianity and Mohammedanism *(Bampton Lectures) (London, 1784): — and other works of great merit.

White, Joseph (2) (called in Spain *Don Jose Marya Blanco i Crespo), *a Roman Catholic priest, descend ed from an Irish Catholic family which' had settled in Spain, was born at Seville, July 11, 1775. Being dissatisfied with mercantile life, he was educated for the Church, and was ordained a priest' in 1799; 'soon lost confidence-in Roman Catholicism, renouncing his adherence to it in 1810, when he removed to England; joined the English Church, but did not take orders in it; became a tutor in the family of Lord Holland; settled in London, where he conducted for some years a Spanish paper called *El Espanol; *received, in 1814, a pension for life of £250 per annum, on account of services rendered the government by this paper;' lived subsequently in London as a man of letters; edited for three years (1822- 25) another Spanish journal, *Las Variedades; *was editor of the *London Review *(1829); served as tutor in the family of archbishop Whately at Dublin, from 1832 to 1835; removed to Liverpool, where he joined: tie' Unitarian Society, of which the Rev. John Hamilton was then pastor; and died May 20,1841. He was the author of a great many works, among which are *Preparatory Observations on the Study of Religion *(1817): *— Letters from Spain *(1822): *— Practical and Internal Evidence against Catholicism (1825): — Poor Man's Preservatives against Popery (1825): — Dialogues concerning the Church of Rome (1827): — Letter to Protestants Converted from Romanism (1827): — Second Travels of an Irish Gentleman in Search of a Religion *(1833) and *Life of the Rev. Joseph Blanco White, Written by Himself, with Portions of his Correspondence; *edited by John Hamilton Thom (1845, 3 vols.). "This book, at the time of its appearance, excited a good deal of interest, and is still eminently worth referring to. The curious picture it presents of a mind at once pious and skeptical, longing and sorrowing after a truth which it can nowhere find, or, finding, contrive, to rest in, has, in the present unsettled state of religious opinion, a very particular significance. Poor White's life-long search for a religion seems not to have been a successful one, and to have landed him at the last in a condition of nearly entire skepticism."

White, Nicholas a Methodist Episcopal minister, was born at Middletown, Vermont, June 8, 1786. He received a careful religious training; experienced religion in 1810; joined the New York Conference in 1813; and from that date to 1854, when he superannuated, he led an active, successful itinerant life. In 1854 he retired to Brooklyn, where he resided until his death, February 14, 1861. Mr. White was earnest and fervent as a speaker, greatly beloved as a pastor, devoted and affectionate as a husband and father. See *Minutes of Annual Conferences, *1861, page 76.

White, Robert Meadows, D.D. an English clergyman and philologist, was born about 1798. He graduated at Magdalen College, Oxford, in, 1819; was ordained in 1821; became a tutor at Oxford in 1832; Rawlinson professor of Anglo-Saxon in 1834; visited Denmark in the interests of philology in 1837; became vice- president of Magdalen College in 1838; gave considerable attention to local antiquarian research; was the annalist of his college; and was regarded a leading authority in English philology. During the latter portion of his life he was rector of Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, where he died, Jan. 31,1865. He devoted a large part of his time, for twenty years, to the editing of; *Time Ormulum, Semi-Saxon Homilies in Verse, now first edited from the Original MSS., with Notes and Glossary *(Oxford, 1852).

White, Thomas (1), D.D. an English clergyman, was born at Bristol about 1550; was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, where he graduated about 1570; took holy orders, and preached frequently; received the living of St. Gregory's in London; became vicar of St. Dunstan's, Fleet Street, in 1575; was made prebendary of Mora, St. Paul's, in 1588, treasurer of Salisbury in 1590; canon of Christ Church 'in 1591, and canon of Windsor in 1593. He died March 1, 1624. He was noted: for his benefactions in founding hospitals and almshouses, but especially for the founding of Sion College, London. His published works consist of a few sermons.

White, Thomas (2) (Lat. *Anglus ex Abis, Candidus, *or *Vitus; *otherwise called *Bianchi, Richworth, *and *Blackloe), *an eminent English philosopher and Roman Catholic priest; was born at Halton, Essex, in, 1582; was educated abroad and became a priest in 1617; was employed in teaching philosophy and divinity, residing at Douay, Rome, and Paris with occasional interruptions until 1633, when he was elected principal of the English College at Lisbon; served the duty of the English mission for some years; resided for a considerable time in the house of Sir Kenelm Digby, whose philosophy he supported; became a professor at Douay again in 1650, and vice-principal of the English College; spent his latter years in England, and died at Drury Lane, London, July 6,1676. He was a voluminous writer, and among his numerous works the following deserve mention: *Dialogues concerning the Judgment of Common Sense in the Choice of Religion *(1640): *Defundo Dialogi Tres (1642): — Institutionuum Peripateticarum ad Menteam, *etc. (1646): *— Institutiones Theologicae super Fundamentis in Peripatetica Digboena jactis Exstrudae (1652): — Questiones Theologicae, *etc. (1653): *Contemplation of Heaven, *etc. (1654): — The *Grounds of Obedience and Government *(1655): *— Religion and Reason Mutually Corresponding and Assisting Each Other *(1659): *— The Middle State of Souls from the Hour of Death to the Day of Judgment *(eod.). See Chalmers, *Biog. Dict. s.v.*; Allibone, *Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, s.v.*

White, William Spottswood, D.D. a Presbyterian minister, was born in Hanover County, Virginia, July 30, 1800. He attended Hampden-Sidney College, studied theology under Dr. John H. Rice, and was licensed to preach in 1827; labored in Nottoway, Amelia, Lunenberg, and Dinwiddie counties, Virginia; in 1832 became pastor at Scottsville, in 1834 agent of the American Tract Society, in 1836 principal of a female school, in 1848 pastor at Lexington, Virginia, and died there, November 29, 1873. See Nevin, *Presbyterian Encyclop. *s.v.

White, William, D.D. a Protestant Episcopal bishop, was born in Philadelphia, March 26,1748. He passed A.B. at Philadelphia College in 1765, and was soon after ordained in England. On his return to America in 1772, he became associate minister of Christ Church and St. Peter's, Philadelphia, where he continued till the Revolution. In 1777- he was chaplain to Congress and was elected rector of Christ and St. Peter's churches in Philadelphia. He was consecrated bishop at London in 1787, and died July 17,1836. Exclusive of periodicals, he published, *The Case of the Episcopal Churches in the United States (1782): — Thoughts on the Singing of Psalms, *etc., signed "Silas"(1808): *— Lectures on the Catechism of the P.E. Church, with Supplementary Lectures, *etc. (1813, 2 vols. *8vo): — Comparative Views of the Controversy between the Calvinists and the Arminians, *etc. (1817, 2 vols. 8vo): *— Memoirs of the P. E. Church in the United States *(1820, 8vo): *— A Commentary on Ordination, *etc. (1833, 8vo): *— An Essay: *and several *Addresses, Letters, *and *Sermons. *See Sprague, *Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, 5, *280.

Whitefield, George a pre-eminent evangelist and founder of the Calvinistic branch of the Methodists, was a native of Gloucester, England, in the Bell Inn of which town (his father being a tavern-keeper) he was born, Dec. 16, 1714. His father having died while George was yet young, the boy's education devolved solely on his mother, whose pious instructions and example had a powerful influence in imbuing his infant mind with strong religious impressions. Having resolved to cultivate the superior talents with which she saw George was endowed, she sent him to a classical school. At the age of fifteen he had distinguished himself by the accuracy and extent of his knowledge, and by his taste in Greek and Roman literature. But his mother not succeeding in the hotel, and becoming reduced to poverty, the progress of George's education was stopped, and, being driven to undertake some menial place about the establishment, his manners and morals were much injured by his association with irreligious servants. Happily his religious impressions revived, and, having been confirmed, he received for the first time the sacrament of the Lord's supper. His mother's circumstances improving, she sent him to Pembroke College, Oxford, and there he joined in forming a small select society for mutual improvement in religious knowledge and personal piety, along with the Wesleys and a few college contemporaries of kindred spirit. Dr. Benson, bishop of Gloucester, who was acquainted with his rare talents and piety, resolved to grant him ordination, and the solemn ceremony was performed at Gloucester on June 20, 1736. His first sermon, preached on the following Sabbath, produced an extraordinary sensation. From Gloucester he went to London, where he preached alternately in the chapel of the Tower and at Ludgate Prison every Tuesday. In 1737 he joined his friends the Wesleys as a missionary at the Georgian settlement; but he had only been four months resident there, when he returned to England both to obtain priest's orders and to raise subscriptions for erecting an orphan-house in that settlement. On his arrival in London, he found an outcry raised against him on account of Methodism. Bishop Benson disregarded it and ordained him a priest. But he was denied access to the pulpits of many old friends; and hence he commenced the practice of open-air preaching in Moorfields, Kennington, Blackheath, and other quarters, where his ministrations were attended by vast crowds. Having raised a fund of £1000 for his orphanage, Whitefield returned in 1739 to the American continent. At Savannah immense crowds repaired to hear him, and extraordinary scenes of excitement were enacted. On March 25, 1740,he laid the first brick of the orphan-asylum; and when the building was completed, he gave it the name of Bethesda. Although his ministry was very successful at Savannah, he sighed for his native land; and accordingly, in 1741, he returned once more to Britain, where he continued with indefatigable diligence to preach the Gospel. In prosecution of that object, he made a tour through England, Wales, and Scotland, preaching in many places, and always in the open-air, to immense crowds. While in Wales, he married Mrs. Jones, a widow to whom he had long cherished a warm attachment; and shortly after his marriage he repaired to London, where, it being winter, some of his admirers erected a wooden shed in which he preached, and which he called the Tabernacle. He was under the patronage of the countess dowager of Huntingdon, to whom he was chaplain, and whose benevolence he shared especially in the support of the community of which he was the head. At the death of that lady, her place was filled by lady Erskine. In the beginning of August, 1744, Mr. Whitefield, though in an infirm state of health, embarked again for America. At New York he was taken exceedingly ill, and his death was apprehended; but he gradually recovered and resumed his arduous and important duties. He was still very much inconvenienced with pains in his side, for which he was advised to go to the Bermudas. Landing there on March 15, 1748, he met with the kindest reception, and traversed the island from one end to the other, preaching twice every day. His congregations were large; he there collected upwards of £100 for his orphan-school; but as he feared a relapse in his disorder if he returned to America, he took passage in a brig, and arrived in safety at Deal, and the next evening set off for London, after an absence of four years. On the return of Mr. Whitefield, he found his congregation at the Tabernacle very much scattered, and his own pecuniary circumstances declining, all his household furniture having been sold to pay the orphan- house debt. His congregation now, however, began to contribute, and his debt was slowly liquidating. At this time lady Huntingdon sent for him to preach at her house to several of the nobility, who desired to hear him; among whom was the earl of Chesterfield, who expressed himself highly gratified; and lord Bolingbroke told him he had done great justice to the divine attributes in his discourse. In September he visited Scotland a third time and was joyfully received. His thoughts were now wholly engaged in a plan for making his orphan-house (which was at first only intended for the fatherless) a seminary of literature and academical learning. In February, 1749, he made an, excursion to Exeter and Plymouth, where he was received with enthusiasm, and in the same year he returned to London, having traveled about six hundred miles in the west of England; and in May he went to Portsmouth and Portsea, at which places he was eminently useful; many at that time, by the instrumentality of his preaching, being "turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." In September he went to Northampton and Yorkshire, where he preached to congregations of ten thousand people, who were peaceable and attentive; and only in one or two places was he treated with unkindness. In 1751 Mr. Whitefield visited Ireland, and was: gladly received at Dublin; his labors there were, as usual, very useful. From Ireland he proceeded to Scotland, where he also met with great encouragement to proceed in his indefatigable work. On Aug. 6 he set out from Edinburgh for London, in order to embark for America. On Oct. 27 he arrived at Savannah, and round the orphan-school in a flourishing condition. Having suffered formerly from the climate, he determined not to spend the summer in America, but re- embarked for London, where he arrived in safety. His active mind, ever forming some new plan for the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom, now turned towards the erection of a new tabernacle. The foundation was laid March 1, 1753, and was opened on Sunday, June 10, 1754. After preaching in it a few days, he again left England for Scotland, embracing every opportunity of preaching on his road till he arrived at Edinburgh; and after traveling twelve hundred miles he returned home on Nov. 25, and opened the Tabernacle at Bristol, after which he returned to London, and in September, 1756, opened his new chapel in Tottenham Court Road. His labors were immense. He preached fifteen times a week; hundreds of persons went away from the chapel without being able to gain admittance. By his unremitting attention to his congregation, at the two chapels in London, his strength was much reduced. About the end of the year, finding his health improved, he, however, determined on again visiting America. Towards the end of November he left England, and arrived at Boston the beginning of January. After spending the winter pleasantly and usefully in America, he once more embarked for his native shores and landed in England, and on Oct. 6, 1765, opened the countess of Huntingdon's chapel at Bath. Shortly after his arrival in London, Mrs. Whitefield was seized with an inflammatory fever, and became its victim on Aug. 9; and on the 14th he delivered her funeral sermon, which was distinguished for its pathos, as well as for its manly and pious eloquence. He now prepared for his seventh and last voyage to America, where he arrived in safety on Nov. 30; but his sphere of activity was fast drawing to a close. His complaint, which was asthma, made rapid inroads upon his constitution, and, though it had several times threatened his dissolution, it was at last sudden and unexpected. From Sept. 17 to the 20th this faithful laborer in the vineyard of Christ preached daily at Boston; and, though. much indisposed, proceeded from thence on the 21st, and continued his work until the 29th, when he delivered a discourse at Exeter, N. H., in the open air for two hours; notwithstanding which, he set off for Newburyport, where he arrived that evening, intending to preach the next morning. His rest was much disturbed and he complained of a great oppression at his lungs; and at five o'clock on Sabbath morning, Sept. 30, 1770, at the age of only fifty-six, he entered into the rest prepared for the people of God. According to his own desire, Mr. Whitefield was interred at Newburyport. He and Wesley, though one in heart, were divided in their theological opinions, and hence in the early part of their career their paths diverged. The friendship existing between them was not of an ephemeral character, but remained steadfast to the end. Wesley preached a funeral discourse commemorative of his virtues and usefulness. Mr. Whitefield was not a learned man, like his contemporary, Wesley; bunt .he; possessed an unusual share of good sense, general. information, knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and an accurate acquaintance with the human heart. Few ministers have been equally useful since the days of the apostles. The sermons of Mr. Whitefield were impassioned, and generally addressed to the hearts of his congregations. He was benevolent and kind, forgiving and gentle; but he was zealous and firm, and seldom allowed his feelings to overcome his judgment. He was eminently useful in having excited a greater degree of attention to religion; and millions have doubtless blessed his name, as tens of thousands revere his memory. Whitefield was no common preacher. Parties of-the most opposite character and principles, such as Franklin, Hume, and John Newton, have united in bearing testimony to the beauty and effectiveness of Whitefield's pulpit oratory. Dr. James Hamilton, of London, describing Whitefield, said, "He was the prince of English preachers. Many have surpassed him in making sermons, but none have approached him as a pulpit orator. Many have outshone him in the clearness of their logic, the grandeur of their conceptions, and the sparkling beauty of single sentences; but in the power of darting the Gospel direct into the conscience, he eclipsed them all. With a full and beaming countenance, and the frank and easy port which the English people love, he combined a voice of rich compass, which could equally thrill over Moorfields in musical thunder or whisper its terrible secret in every private ear; and to his gainly aspect and tuneful voice he added a most expressive and eloquent action. None ever used so boldly, nor with more success, the higher styles of impersonation. His thoughts were possessions and his feelings were transformations; and if he spoke because he felt, his hearers understood because they saw. They were not only enthusiastic amateurs, like Garrick, who ran to weep and tremble at his bursts of passion, but even the colder critics -of the Walpole school were surprised into momentary sympathy and reluctant wonder. Lord Chesterfield was listening in lady Huntingdon's pew when he described the sinner under the character of a blind beggar led by a little dog. The dog escapes, from some cause, and he was left to grope his way guided only by his staff. Unconsciously he wanders to the edge of a precipice; his-staff drops from his hand, down the abyss too far to send back an echo; he reaches forward cautiously to recover it; for a moment he poises on vacancy, and 'Good God!' shouted Chesterfield, 'he is gone,' as he sprang from his seat to prevent the catastrophe. But the glory of Whitefield's preaching was its heart kindled and heart melting Gospel. Without this all his bold strokes and brilliant impersonations would have been no better than the rhetorical triumphs of many pulpit dramatists. He was an orator, but he only sought to be an evangelist. Like a volcano where gold and gems may be ejected as well as common things, but where gold and molten granite flow all alike in fiery fusion; bright thoughts and splendid images might, be projected from his pulpit, but all were merged in the stream that bore along the Gospel and himself in blended fervor. Indeed, so simple was his nature that glory to God and good-will to man had filled it, and there was room for little more. Having no Church to found, no family to enrich,- and no memory to immortalize, he was simply the ambassador of God, arid inspired with its genial, piteous spirit-so full of heaven reconciled and humanity restored he soon himself became a living Gospel. Coming to his work direct from communion with his master, and in the strength of accepted prayer, there was an elevation in his mien which often paralyzed hostility, and a self-possession which made him, amid uproar and confusion, the more sublime. With an electric bolt he would bring the jester in his fool's cap from his perch on the tree, or galvanize the brickbat from the skulking miscreant's grasp, or sweep down in crouching submission and shame-faced silence the whole of Bartholomew Fair; while a revealing flash of sententious doctrine, of vivified Scripture, would disclose to awe- struck hundreds the forgotten verities of another world or the unsuspected arcana of the inner man. I came to break your head, but through you God has broken my heart was a sort of confession with which he was familiar; and to see the deaf old gentlewoman, who used to utter imprecations on him as he passed along the street, clambering up the pulpit stairs to catch his angelic words, was a sort of spectacle which the triumphant Gospel often witnessed in his day. When it is known that his voice could be heard by twenty thousand, and that ranging all the empire, as well as America, he would often preach thrice on a working day, and that he has received in one week as many as a thousand letters from persons awakened by his sermons if no estimate can be formed of the results of his ministry, some idea may be suggested of its vast extent and singular effectiveness." Whitefield published a number of sermons, journals, etc., and his entire works were printed in London in 1771-72 (7 vols. 8vo), including a *Life *by Gillies. For other literature, see Allibone, *Dict. of Brit and Amer. Authors, *s.v. The best biography is by Tyerman, *Life of George Whitefield *(Lond. 1876, 2 vols. 8vo).

Whitefield, James, D.D. a Roman Catholic prelate, wis born in Liverpool, England, November 3, 1770. Having received a good education he engaged for some time in mercantile pursuits, but abandoned this work for the study of divinity which he prosecuted under Dr. Ambroise Marechal. He was ordained a priest in 1809, settled in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1817 as minister of St. Peter's Church, and succeeded Dr. Marechal as archbishop of Baltimore May 25, 1828. He died at Baltimore, October 19, 1834.

Whitefield, J.G., D.D. a minister of the Methodist Protestant Church, was born in Virginia, September 10, 1810. He was converted when seventeen years of age; in August 1829, was licensed to preach, and in the following September went to his first appointment. For nearly fifty years he was a faithful minister of the Gospel. He was elected to the General Conferences of 1842, '46, '50, '54, '58, '62, '66, and also of 1870 of which he was president. He was a member of the conventions of 1867 and 1877, when the dissevered Church was reunited. In 1874 he became a member of the North Carolina Conference, and represented that body in the union convention held in Baltimore in May 1877. He died August 28, 1879. See *Founders of the M.P. Church, *page 378.

Whitehead, David an eminent English divine of the 16th century, was born at Tuderley, in Hampshire. He was educated at Oxford; became chaplain to Anne Boleyn; retired to Frankfort, in Germany, during the reign of queen Mary, and there became pastor to the English congregation; returned to England on the accession of queen Elizabeth, and was one of the committee appointed to review king Edward's liturgy; was selected as one of the public disputants against the popish bishops in 1559; and delined the archbishopric of Canterbury and the mastership of the Savoy. He died in 1571. The only published works left by him are *Lectures and Homilies on St. Paul's Epistles, *and several of his discourses in *Brief Discourse of the Troubles Begun at Frankfort *(1575). Wood speaks of him as "a great light of learning and, a most heavenly professor of divinity." See Chalmers, *Biog. Dict. *s.v.

Whitehead, George an eminent public preacher of the Quakers, was born at Sunbigg, in the parish of Orton,Westmoreland, England, about 1636. He was educated at the free school of Blencoe, in Cumberland; taught school for a time; began to travel as a Quaker preacher before he was eighteen years old; was several times imprisoned, and sometimes whipped for his preaching; appeared at the bar of the House of Commons in defence of his sect; was very active in behalf of Dissenters, and exercised considerable influence with Charles II. He died in March 1722. Among his numerous publications the following may be mentioned: *Nature of Christianity in the True Light Asserted *(1671): — *The Christian Quaker, *etc. (1824, 2 parts), in which he was assisted by William Penn: — *Enthusiasm above Atheism *(1674): — *The Way of Life and Perfection Livingly Demonstrated *(1676): — *An Antidote against the Venom of a Snake in the Grass *(1697): — *Christian Progress of George Whitehead, in Four Parts, with a Supplement, being Memoirs of his Life *(1725). See Chalmers, *Biog. Dict. *s.v., Smith, *Catalogue of Friends' Books, *2:884-908.

Whitehead, John, M.D. a biographer of Wesley, was born in 1740. He studied medicine, and became physician to the old Bethlehem Hospital, Moorfields, London. From 1764 to 1769 he travelled as a Methodist preacher, returning again to his professional duties. He was a Quaker for some years, but afterwards returned to the Methodists. He was chief physician to John and Charles Wesley during their last illnesses. At the request of the executors of John Wesley and the trustees of City-Road Chapel, he preached the funeral sermon of Wesley to an audience "still and silent as night," to use Crowther's words, March 9, 1791. This sermon was published, went through several editions, and realized to the Book-room a profit of £200. With Coke and Moore, Wesley appointed him literary executor. A long and unfortunate dispute ensued between Whitehead and his two brethren concerning the papers of Wesley, the former refusing to give them up for examination and a possible cremation. For this he was expelled from membership and from his office as local preacher. Whitehead, having the advantage of the possession of Wesley's papers, ationce wrote a plain and valuable account of the *Lives of John and Charles Wesley, *the first volume of which was issued in 1793. In the meantime, however (1792), Coke and Henry Moore published a hastily prepared *Life, *heavy editions of which were at once sold, thus supplanting to a large extent the more authoritative biography by the layman. In 1797, Whitehead restored the papers to his co- executors, and was reinstated in his position in the Church. Having served as physician to the Methodists for many years, he died in London, March 18, 1804. Dr. Whitehead published the following: *Essay on Liberty and Necessity *(1775, 12mo), in which Mr. Wesley's *Thoughts on Necessity *are examined and defended: *Materialismn Philosophically Examined, or the Immateriality of the Soul Asserted and Proved on Philosophical* *Principles, in an Answer to Dr. Priestley's Disquisitions on Matter and Spirit *(Lond. 1778,78 pp.): — a *Discourse *(ibid. 1791, 8vo) delivered at the New Chapel, City Road, March 9, 1791, at the funeral of Reverend John Wesley: — *A True Narrative of the Origin and Progress of the Difference concerning the Publication of the Life of Reverend John Wesley *(1792, 8vo): — a *Defence *(eod. 8vo) of the same: — a *Life of the Reverend John Wesley, M.A. *(Lond. 1793-96, 2 volumes, 8vo; reprinted in Dublin in 1806, with an Appendix by the Irish editor, and Whitehead's *Sermon *on Wesley; in Boston, Mass., with Preface by John McLeish, 1844, 8vo; in Auburn and Rochester, N.Y., 1854, 8vo), collected from his private papers and printed works, to which is prefixed some account of his ancestors and relations, with the *Life of Reverend C. Wesley, M.A., *collected from his private journal and never before published. See Stevenson, *Hist. of City Road Chapel, *pages 87, 377; Crowther, *Delin. of Methodism *(1815, 2d ed.), page 105; Wesley, *Works *(Lond. 3d ed.), 4:295, 351; 13:15; Tyerman, *Life of John Wesley *(see Index, volume 3). For the dispute about Wesley's papers, see Myles, *Chronicles Hist. of Meth. Ann. *1792; Smith, *Hist. of Wesley and Methodism *(see Index, 3:723); Advertisement in Whitehead's *Life of Wesley, *and *Life of Henry Moore *(1791).

Whitehouse, Henry John, D.D., D.C.L. a Protestant Episcopal clergyman, was born in New York city in August, 1803. He graduated at Columbia, College in 1821, and at the General Theological Seminary (Episcopal) in 1824; was ordained deacon the same year, and priest in 1827; was rector of St. Luke's Church, Rochester from 1829 to 1844, and of St. Thomas's, New York, from 1844 to 1851; was consecrated assistant bishop of Illinois, Nov. 20, 1851; was chosen to succeed bishop Chase in that diocese at the death of the latter in 1852; preached the sermon before the Pan-Anglican Council, London, in 1867, and died Aug. 10, 1874. His only publications are in the form of *Sermons, Addresses, *etc.

Whitelamb, John one of the Oxford Methodists, was born in 1707, near Wroot, Lincolnshire. He was educated in the charity-school of that place, and while residing with Samuel Wesley at Epworth, was prepared for Lincoln College, Oxford, where he graduated about 1731. In 1733 he became S. Wesley's curate, and afterwards married his daughter. In 1734 he was promoted to the rectory of Wroot, a position which he retained until his death, in July 1769. In 1742 John Wesley preached once in his pulpit, and friendly but not intimate relations existed between him and Whitelamb ever afterwards. See Tyerman, *Oxford Methodists, *page 374 sq.

Whitford (Whytford, or Whytforde), Richard an English monk of the 16th century, was educated at Oxford; subsequently joined the Order of. St. Bridget in the monastery called Sion, near Brentford, Middlesex, and styled himself "The Wretche of Syon;" afterwards became domestic chaplain to William Mountjoy. He was the author of several works, among which we note, *The Fruyte of Redempcyon *(1514): — *A Boke Called the Pype or Toune of the Life of Perfection *(1532): — and *Dyvers Instrucyons and Teachynges very Necessarye for the Helthe of Mannes Soule, *etc. (1541).

Whitford, Walter, D.D. a Scotch prelate, was first minister at Monkland and sub-dean of Glasgow, then rector of Moffat. In 1634 he was consecrated bishop of Brechin, in which see he remained until deprived by the assembly in 1638, after which he fled to England, where he died in 1643. See Keith, *Scottish Bishops, *page 167.

Whitgift, John, D.D. an eminent English prelate, was born at Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, in 1530. He was educated at Queen's College, and Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1554; was chosen fellow of Peterhouse in 1555; entered into holy orders in 1560, and was appointed chaplain to Cox, bishop of Ely, who gave him the rectory of Feversham, in Cambridgeshire; was appointed lady Margaret professor of divinity at Cambridge in 1653; became chaplain to the queen in 1565; was president of Peterhouse in 1567; became master of Pembroke Hall in April of the same year; was appointed regius professor of divinity, and yet the same year became master of Trinity College; became prebendary of Ely in 1568; vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge in 1570; dean of Lincoln in 1571; prebendary of Lincoln in 1572; bishop of Worcester, and vice- president of the Marches of Wales in 1577; was chosen the successor of Edmund Grindal as archbishop of Canterbury in 1583; was very severe in his prosecution of Nonconformists both Puritans and Catholics, and was noted for his strenuous advocacy of the constitution of the English Church; obtained a decree against liberty of printing in 1585; became privy- councilor in 1586; founded a hospital and grammar-school at Croydon in 1595; joined in the deliberations of the conferences at Hampton Court in January, 1604; and died at Lambeth Palace, Feb. 29, of the same year. *The Works of John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury *(Cambridge, 185154. 3 vols.), were edited for the Parker Society by the Rev. John Ayre. *Biographies *have been written by Sir George Paule (1612) and John Strype (1718).

Whitney, Josiah, D.D. a Congregational minister, was born at Plainfield, Connecticut, August 11, 1731. He graduated at Yale College in 1752, and was ordained at Brooklyn, Connecticut, in 1756, which charge he retained for sixty-eight years, until his death, September 13, 1824, though two colleagues successively settled with him. To extreme old age Dr. Whitney's mental faculties remained almost as keen as ever; he was social, witty, and yet had the dignity of a Christian old age. In theology Dr. Whitney was a moderate Calvinist. He published seven sermons. See *Cong. Quarterly, *1859, page 351.

Whiton, John Milton, D.D. a Presbyterian divine, was born at Winchendon, Mass., Aug. 1, 1785, He graduated at Yale College in 1805; taught an academic school in Litchfield, Conn., for one year; studied theology privately; was ordained and installed pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Antrim, N. H., Sept. 28, 1808; resigned Jan. 1, 1853, and became acting pastor of a Congregational Church in Bennington, N.H., where he continued till his death, Sept. 28, 1856. He published several single sermons, and contributed *Brief Notices of the Town of Antrim *to the *New Hampshire Hist., Coll. *4.216-224, and to the *Repository *an *Account of the Ministers of Hillsborough, N. H. *See Sprague, *Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, *4:413, note; Allibone, *Dict. of Brit and Amer. Authors, s.v.*

Whitsunday a festival of the Christian Church commemorative of the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the apostles, as "they were all assembled together with one accord in one place," on the day of Pentecost (q.v.), from which fact the name Pentecost is sometimes used instead of Whitsunday. Blunt says *(Dict. of Doct. and list. Theol.), *"The etymology of the term has been strangely confused. It has been derived (*a*) from White Sunday, in supposed allusion to the white garments of the neophytes, as Whitsuntide was one of the two chief seasons for baptism; and *(b) *from Wytsonday, i.e., Wit, or Wisdom, Sunday, in reference to the outpouring of wisdom upon the apostles. But the real White Sunday is the octave of Easter, or *Dominica in albis, *and both of these derivations must be abandoned when the proper use of the title is considered. It is not Whit Sunday, but Whitsun Day, as Easter is Easter Day; and the week is Whitsun Week, not Whit Week; and the season Whitsuntide, not Whittide. In Yorkshire, and doubtless also in other parts of England, the feast is commonly called Whissun Day, the accent being strongly thrown on the first syllable; and the two days following, Whissun Monday and Whissun Tuesday. The name is thus derived, as Dr. Neale shows *(Essays on Liturgiology, *etc.), directly from Pentecost, passing, by various corruptions, *Pingsten, Whingsten, *into the German *Pfingsten *and the English *Whitsun. *The Germans have also their *Pfingsten-Woche, *in exact correspondence to our *Whitsun Week."* Still other derivations of the term are given, Hamon L'Estrange thinking it is derived from the French *huit, *or eight; because there are eight Sundays between Easter and Pentecost. "Wheatley publishes a letter of the famous Gerard Langbain, written on Whitsuneve, 1650, in reply to a friend who had asked of him the origin of the name, in which it is attempted to be shown that the festival was so called from a custom among our ancestors upon this day to.give all the milk of their ewes and kine to the poor for the love of God, in order to qualify themselves to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; which milk being then (as it is still in some countries) called *white- meat, *therefore the day from that custom took its name." It is also suggested that all persons were required to pay their tithe of young before that day or be liable to the *wite, *or mulct. Anciently the whole period of fifty days between Easter and Whitsuntide was a sort of festival, and each was observed as a day of joy. We are told that Christians had solemn worship every day, and paid the same respect to these as they did to the Lord's day. All fasting was forbidden, and no one prayed kneeling, the standing posture being considered more in accordance with the joyous spirit of the season, which was the commemoration of our Saviour's resurrection and ascension. At these services the Acts of the Apostles were read, because they contained a history appropriate to the season; alms were freely distributed; slaves were liberated; places of worship were decorated with evergreens; and baptisms were frequently solemnized. At first all persons were baptized as opportunity served; but when the discipline of the Church began to be settled, baptism was confined, except in urgent cases, to Easter and Whitsuntide, including the fifty days' interval. In countries where Romanism has prevailed, the greatest absurdities have been practiced on this day; fire has been thrown down from elevated places, to represent the cloven tongues of fire; flowers of various hues scattered abroad, in token of the various tongues and gifts of the Spirit; and doves let loose to flutter about the church as an emblem of the Spirit's presence. The following instances are cited from Walcott's *Sacred Archaeology *(pages 612-613): "At Lichfield, 1197, on Pentecost and the three days ensuing, while the sequence was sung, clouds were by custom scattered." A circular opening still exists in the centre of the vault of Norwich, and there are similar apertures at Exeter. Through it, on Whitsunday, a man, habited as an angel, was let down to cense the rood. At St. Paul's a white dove was let to fly out of it, and a long censer, reaching almost to the floor, was swung from the west door to the choir steps, 'breathing out over the whole church and company a most pleasant perfume.' At Dunkirk, in 1662, the ceremonial was always performed during the chanting of the *Veni Creator, *as in Spain. Balsamon alludes to the loosing of the dove in the East. At Orleans, on Whitsunday, during the singing of the prose, birds, lighted tow and resin, wildfire, and flowers were thrown into the cathedral. At St. Julien's, Caen, until the end of the 16th century, seven kinds of flowers were showered down. In Sweden churches are on this festival still decorated with the wind flower and Pentecost lily — the daffodil.... In most cathedrals the country folk came in procession on this day, and Sir Thomas More mourns over the unwomanly songs of the women who followed the cross; their offerings then made were called Whitsun-farthings or Pentecostals. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in Whitsun-week the famous Whitsun plays of Chester were acted from the 14th century until 1594 on Whitsun-Wed-nesday, 'Whitsonday, the making of the Creed,' being performed. Tilts and tourneys amused knights and fair dames; the morris-dancers delighted the common folks; and in many a rural parish the church ale, a sort of parochial picnic, was kept in an arbor, called Robin-Hood's Bower, followed by dancing, bowls, and archery.... Whitsunday was also called the Easter of Roses.

Whitsun-farthings *SEE PENTECOSTALS*.

Whittaker, John William, D.D. an English divine, was born at Manchester in 1790. He was educated at St. John's College, Oxford, of which he became a fellow; was made vicar Of St. Mary's, Blackburn, and in 1852 honorary canon of Manchester. He died Aug. 3,1854. He published, *An Historical and Critical Enquiry into the Interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures *(1819): *Supplement *to the same (1820): *— Justification by Faith: Five Sermons, *etc. (1825): *— The Catholic Church: Five Sermons *(1835): — and other sermons and papers.

Whittemore, Thomas, D.D. an American Universalist minister, was born in Boston in 1800. He was apprenticed successively as a morocco-dresser, brassfunder, and boot- maker; studied theology, and in April, 1821, was settled as pastor of the Church at Milford, Mass.; removed to a Church at Cambridgeport in 1822; resigned this pastorate in 1831, but remained in Cambridge the rest of his life; was joint editor of the *Universalist Magazine; *established *The Trumpet, *a Universalist newspaper, in 1828, and was sole editor and proprietor of it for thirty years; was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, president of the Cambridge bank, and president of the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad, and died in Cambridge, March 21,1861. He was the author of, *Modern History of Universalism *(1830): — *A Commentary on the Revelation of St. John *(1838): *— Commentary on the Book of Daniel: — Plain Guide to Universalism *(1840): *— Autobiography *(1859): and other works.

Whittingham, William Rollinson, D.D., LL.D. a bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was born in New York city, Dec. 2,1805. He graduated in 1825 from the General Theological- Seminary in New York city, and was ordained two years later. St. Mark's, Orange, N, J., was his first pastoral charge, which he held from 1828 for a year and a half. In 1831 he became rector of St. Luke's parish, New York city. While there his health failed, and he made a trip to Italy, returning much benefited. In 1835 he was elected to the chair of ecclesiastical history in the General Theological Seminary. In 1846 he was elected bishop of Maryland, and was consecrated in Baltimore, Sept. 17 of that year. He died at West Orange, N.J., Oct. 17, 1879. *The Parish Library, *13 vols., was edited by him, and he was also editor of *The Churchman, *a well-known Episcopal periodical. *The Family Visitor *and *Children's Magazine *were also under his editorial supervision. Bishop Whittingham's library was considered one of the finest collections in America. See *Amer. Church Revelation *31:476.

Whittlesey, William archbishop of Canterbury, is supposed to have been a native of Whittlesey, a town situated in the County of Cambridge, and received his education at the University of Cambridge. In 1349 he became master custos of his college, the third in succession from the founder. In 1361 William Whittlesey was consecrated to the see of Rochester, and on Oct. 1., 1368, he found himself primate of all England and metropolitan by order of the pope. It seems that he was neither physically nor intellectually adequate to the exigencies of his position or the requirements of the time. His government was weak. The condition of the Church troubled him, greatly. He felt deeply his incapacity to take his proper place in the country. However, to Whittlesey belongs the merit of having put an end to the disputes which frequently arose between the University of Oxford and the bishop of Lincoln. He died in June, 1374. See Hook, *Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury, *4:221 sq.

Whosoever Psalm, a local term current in parts of England for the Athanasian Creed (q.v.).

Wicelius *SEE WITZEL*.

Wichern, Johann Heinrich father of the Inner Mission in Germany, and one of the foremost Christian, philanthropists of the century, was born at Hamburg, April 21, 1808. He studied theology at Gottingen and Berlin, and reached the degree of "candidate." On his return home, encouraged by his pious mother, he started a Sunday-school for the poorest and most wicked children in the city, and ultimately had five hundred children under his care. It was this school which gave him the idea of the institution which he opened on November 1, 1833, at Horn, a suburb of Hamburg. He called. it the "Rauhe Haus" (q.v.). In 1845 Wichern sent out his *Fliegende Blatter aus dem Rauhen Haus, *now the organ of the Inner Mission, in which he urged the duty of laying to heart the misery of our fellow-mortals, and at the same time told the story of his own institutions. In 1848, at the Church diet held at Wittenberg, Wichern presented with such extraordinary eloquence the claims of the sick, the suffering, and sinful, who were their countrymen, that from that hour a new movement on their behalf was begun. This was the so-called "Inner Mission" (q.v.), the very name of which is due to Wichern. Under Friedrich Wilhelm IV, Wichern found favor in court circles, and exerted great influence upon the aristocracy. In acknowledgment of the great services rendered to the cause of the Church, the University of Halle honored Wichern, in 1851, with the doctorate of theology, while Friedrich Wilhelm IV made him a member of the supreme consistory of Berlin. In his official capacity, Wichern was enabled to provide regular religious services in the prisons. In 1858 he founded the "Evangelische Johannisstift" in Berlin, a similar institution to the Rauhe Hans, and organized the Prussian military diaconate. In 1872 he had a stroke of paralysis, from which he never recovered, and died at Hamburg, April 7,1881. See Oldenberg, *Johann Heinrich Wichern, sein Leben und Wirken *(Hamburg, 1884), volume 1: Krummacher, *J.H. Wichern, ein Lebensbild aus der Gegenwart *(Gotha, 1882); *Monatsschrift fur innere Mission *(edited by Schafer, Gfiterslohe, 1881), 1:380 sq.; Zockler, *Handbuch der theol. Wissenschaften *(2d ed. Nordlingen, 1885), 4:450 sq.; Plitt-Herzog, *Real-Encyklop. *s.v.; Lichtenberger, *Encyclop. des Sciences Religieuses, *s.v. (B.P.)

Wicklif *SEE WYCLIFFE*.

Wideburg, Christoph Tobias a Lutheran theologian of Germany, who died at Helmstadt, December 5, 1717, is the author of, *De Inspiratione Divina: *— *De Peccato in Spiritum Sanctum: *— *De Persona Christi: *— *De Unione Personali Duarum Naturarum in Christo: *— *De Pefectione Hominis Renati: *— *De Ministerio Ecclesiastico: *— *De Ministris Ecclesiae: *— *De Obscuratione Solis in Passione Dominica ex Matthew *27:51, etc. See Jocher, *Allgemeines Gelehrten-Lexikon, *s.v. (B.P.)

Widow (אִלמָנָה, χήρα*). *The benevolent influence of the Bible is in nothing more apparent than in the superior treatment which woman has experienced among those nations where it has prevailed; especially in that most forlorn; and helpless class of females who have been deprived of the support and protection of a husband. Among pagans, on the contrary, and conspicuously in Oriental lands, the condition of widows is most deplorable. They are generally regarded with suspicion and contempt, and, in many countries, with positive abhorrence, as if the cause of their husbands' death. In India this oppression seems to have reached its culmination of misery; and the atrocious custom of widow-burning or *suttee *(q.v.), was for ages the doom of this unfortunate class. *SEE WOMAN*. **I. ***Widows among the Hebrews. *— Besides the general law against their hard treatment (Ex 22:22-24), there was special legislation respecting them. **1. **Their rights should always be respected (De 10:18; De 27:19); nor should their clothing or cattle be pledged (De 24:17), nor their children be sold for debt (2Ki 4:1; Job 24:9). According to Maimonides *(Sanedr. *21, 6) their cases must be tried next after those of orphans. **2. **They must be invited to the feasts accompanying sacrifices and tithe- offerings (De 14:29; De 16:224; 26:12 sq.). Childless priest- widows living in their fathers' houses had a right to the priests' meat (Le 22:13). In later times it was the custom that the rich sent them wine for the passover meal; in the time of the Maccabees widows were also allowed to deposit their property in the temple treasury (2 Macec. 3:10). **3. **Gleanings were left for them (De 24:19-21), and they shared in the battle spoils (2 Macc. 8:2830). Their remarriage was contemplated (Le 21:14, but the high-priest was forbidden to marry one), and only on the childless widow did the Levirate law operate (De 25:5; *SEE LEVIRATE *). The later Judaism greatly facilitated the remarriage of widows *(Jebanloth, *15:1 sq., 4 sq.; 16:4 sq.), but this was to be done not less than ninety days after the husband's demise. According *to Kethuboth, *12:2 sq.; *Gittin, *4:3, if the widow remained in her husband's house the heirs had to provide her with the necessary rooms and means for her support; but if she went to her father's home she forfeited her right to support more than was absolutely necessary, and neither she nor the heirs could lay claim to her dowry until the expiration of twenty-five years, provided she could prove by oath that she had not yet received anything of it. In order to get subsistence, widows were allowed to sell the property of their husbands, both real and personal *(Kethuboth, *8:8; 9:9; Maim. *Ishuth, *16:7 sq.). In case a man left two widows, the first wife had prior claims (ibid. *Cosj. *17:1). Betrothed women whose prospective husbands died were considered as widows, and such a one the high-priest was also forbidden to marry. In spite of these laws and regulations, complaints of the unljust treatment of the widows in Israel were heard at different times (Isa 1:17,23; Isa 10:2; Jer 7:6; Jer 22:3; Eze 22:7; Mal 3:3), and even in the New Test. period (Mt 23:14). See Selden, *De Succ. ad Leg. Ebr. in bona Defunct.; *Mendelsohn, *Rit. Gesetze, *4; Gans; *Erbrecht, *1:152 sq.; Saalschutz, *Mosaisches Recht, *831 sq., 860 sq.; Fronmuller, *De Vidua Hebraea *(Wittenberg, 1714); Dassovius, *Vidua Hebraea, *in Ugolino's *Thesaurus, *30:1025 sq.; Herzog, *Real-Encyclop. *s.v.; Lichtenberger, *Encyclop. des Sciences. Religieuses, *s.v. (B.P.) **II. ***Widows among Christians*. — **1. **In the early Church abundant and careful provision was made for them by special ministration appointed under the apostles themselves (Ac 6:1-6); and Paul gives particular directions concerning them (1Ti 5:3-16) in terms which have been understood by some commentators as ranking them in a special class of Church officials, but which rather seem to indicate their general maintenance at the expense of the body of believers, after a careful discrimination, such as the nature of the times then dictated. The writers who immediately succeeded the apostles often refer to the duty and practice of caring for the poor widows of the Church (Hermas, *AMand. *8:10; *Sin7. *1:8; 5:3; Ignlatius, *Ad Smyrn. *6; *Ad Polycarp. *4; Polycarp, *Ad Philip. *4, etc.). In still later times the *Apostolical* *Constitutions *and other authorities speak of a distinct order by this name (τὸ χηρικόν), but these appear to have held an eleemosynary office, rather than to have been themselves beneficiaries. *SEE DEACONESS*. They eventually took vows like nuns, and, in fact, devoted themselves to a conventual, or, at least, continent and actively benevolent life. See Smith, *Dict. of Christ. Antiq. *s.v. At the same time this body formed a convenient refuge for the destitute widows of those days, and in the Roman Catholic Church nunneries have largely been recruited from the ranks of bereaved or disappointed women. But, aside from this, Christian churches have in all ages exerted themselves with a praiseworthy diligence and liberality to furnish shelter and maintenance for believing widows whose relatives have been found unable or unwilling to provide for them. In more recent times special retreats, called "Old Ladies' Homes," have been established, where, for a moderate charge or entirely gratuitously, indigent widows are comfortably and pleasantly taken care of, without compelling them to become objects of public charity. *SEE POOR*.

Wiedenfeld, Karl Wilhelm a Protestant theologian of Germany, born at Hiinshoven, Prussia, April 6, 1801, was in 1824 pastor at Grafrath, and died in 1856, doctor of theology. He published, *Jeremia's Klagelieder, sneu ubersetzt und erlautert *(Elberfeld; 1830): *Kritik des Simonisnmus *(Barmen, 1832): — *De Homine Sacrae Scripturae Interprete *(Leipsic, 1835): — *Ueber die Ehescheidung unter den Evangelischen *(1837): — *Parabeln Jesu fur Kinder *(1844): — *Christlicher Hausschatz *(1847): — *Geistlicher Rssthgeber *(1848), etc. See Zucllold, *Bibl. Theol. *s.v. (B.P.)

Wieseler, Karl Georg a Lutheran theologian of Germany, was born at Altenzelle, Hanover, February 28, 1813. He studied at Gottingen, and commenced his academical career there in 1839. In 1851 he was called as professor to Kiel in 1863 to Greifswalde, was made member of consistory in 1870, and died March 11, 1883, doctor of theology. He published, *De Christiano Capitis Poenae *(Gottingen, 1835): — *Num Marc. *16:9-20 *et John *21 *Genuini Sint, *etc; (1839): — *Die *70 *Wochen des Propheten Daniel erortert, *etc. (eod.): — *Chronolo qische Synapse *(Hamburg, 1843): — *Chronologie des apostolischen Zeitalters *( Gttingen, 1845): — *Kommentar uber den Brief san die Galater *(1859): — *Untesuchung uber deno Hebrderbrief (Kiel,* 1861): — *Beitrage zur richtigen Wurdigung der Evangelien *(Gotha, 1869): — *Geschichte des Bekenntnissstandes der luth. Kirche Pommerns *(Stettin, 1870): — *Die Nationalitat der kleinasiatischen Galater *(Gilterslohe, 1877): — *Die Christenverfolgungen der Casaren *(1878): — *Zu Geschichte der neutestanzentlichen Schrift und des Urchristenthums *(1880): — *Untersuchungen zur Geschichte und Religion der alten Germanlen in Asien und Europa *(1881), etc. See Plitt-Herzog, *Real- Encyklop. *s.v. (B.P.)

Wieser, Johannes a Jesuit and professor in the university at Innsbruck, who died in 1885 at Botzen, is the author of, *Die Bedeutung der Herz-Jesul-Andacht und des Gebetsapostolates Jitir unsere Zeit *(Innsbrulck, 1869): — *Pauli Apostoli Doctrina de Justificatione ex Fide sine Operibus, *etc. (Trient, 1873): — *Die Unfehlbarkeit des Papstes und die iiinchener Erwdyungen *(1870): *— Der jesuitische Krankheitsstojf in der Kirche *(Innsbruck, 1872): — *Die Diollingerische Dreikirchenidee, *etc. (Brixen, 1875): — *Der Spiritismus und das Christenthun *(Ratisbon, 1881). (B.P.)

Wiestermeier, Franz Bogislaus a Protestant theologian of Germany, was born Aug. 22, 1773, at Flechtorf, near Brunswick. He studied at Helmstadt, and in 1799 he was called as pastor to Magdeburg. In 1810 he was made superintendent, and in 1812 member of consistory. In 1817 the Halle University conferred on him the degree of doctor of divinity, and in 1825 the king of Prussia appointed him evangelical bishop. Three years later he was made general superintendent of the province of Saxony. He died March 1, 1831. He was one of the most excellent pulpit orators of the evangelical Church, and his *Oefeentliche Religionisvortriiges *(Magdeburg, 1800) will always be regarded as fine specimens of pulpit eloquence. For his writings, see Döring, *Die gelehrten Theologen Deutschlands, *4:703 sq.; Zuchold, *Bibl. Theol. *2, 1439; Winer, *Handbuch der theol. Lit. *2, 150, 172, 173, 174, 175, 338. (B. P.)

Wife *SEE MARRIAGE; SEE WOMAN*.

Wigand, Johann a Lutheran theologian of Germany, was born at Mansfeld in 1523. He studied at Wittenberg, and was appointed pastor of his native city in 1546, superintendent of Magdeburg in 1553, professor of theology at Jena in 1560 (from which position he was discharged the next year), superintendent of Wismar in 1562, and again professor at Jena in 1569. In 1570 he accompanied the duke Johann Wilheltn to the diet at Spires, but after the death of the duke, in 1573, Wigand was expelled from Saxony. At the instance of Martin Chemnitz he was appointed professor at Konigsberg, and in 1575 he was made bishop of Pomerania. Wigand died at Liebemnihl, Prussia, October 21, 1587. He was an ultra-Lutheran, an ardent champion of Flacius (q.v.), and took part with great vehemence in all controversies of the time, persecuting with blind fanaticism any one who differed from him in opinions. At last he fell out with his own master, with whom he at one time labored for the establishment of a Lutheran popedom, and wrote against him. Wigand's autobiography is found in *Fortgesetzte* *Sammlung von alten und neuen theologischen Sachen *(Leipsic, 1738), pages 601-620, where a complete list of all his writings is also found; comp. also Zeumer, *Vitae Professorum Jenensium, *page 43 sq. Schlfisselburg, *Oratio Funebris de Vita et Obitu J. Wigandi *(Frankfort, 1591); Salig, *Geschichte der augsburg. Confession, *1:639 sq.; 3:279 sq.; Arnold, *Preussische Kirchengeschichte, *page 346 sq.; Walch, *Hist. und theol. Einleitung in die Religionsstreitigkeiten, *1:57 sq.; 4:100 sq.; Planck, *Geschichte des protest. Lehrbegriffs, *4:195 sq.; Dollinger, *Reformation,* 2:476; Preger, *Flacius, *1:82 sq.; 2:34 sq.; Frank, *Geschichte der protest. Theologie, *1:97; Schulte, *Beitrage zur Entstehungsgeschichte der Magdeburger Centurien *(Neisse, 1877); Wegele, *Geschichte der deutschen Historiographie *(1885), page 328 sq.; Wagenmann, in Plitt- Herzog's *Real-Encyklop. *s.v. (B.P.)

Wigbert, Saint the first abbot of Fritzlar, was a native of England. In 734, when Boniface had become bishop of Mayence, he invited Wigbert to come to Germany, and take charge of the Fritzlar abbey. Under the new abbot the school soon became famous. Wigbert died in 747. See Servatus Lupus, *Vita S. Wigberti, Abbatis Fritzlariensis, *in Mabillon, *Acta Benedict. *3:671 sq.; *Miracula Wigberti, *edited by Waitz in Pertz, *Monumenta Hist. German.* 6:227 sq.; Rettberg, *Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, *1:593 sq.; Wattenbach, *Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen in Mittelalter, *4th ed. 1:195; Ebert, *Geschichte der Literatur des Mittelalters, *2:206; Hahn, *Bonifaz und Lul, *page 141 sq.; Plitt-Herzog, *Real-Encyklop. *s.v.; Lichtenberger, *Entyclop. des Sciences Religieuses, *s.v. (B.P.)

Wighard an archbishop of Canterbury, was an Englishman by birth. He had been chaplain to Deusdedit, and had been educated in the Church of Canterbury. He was appointed to the see of Canterbury and metropolitan of all England some time between A.D. 664 and 668. He immediately went to Rome to be consecrated, where he died, soon after his arrival, of the plague. See Hook, *Lives of the A rchbishops of Canterbury, *1:142.

Wight, Henry, D.D. a Congregational minister, was born at Medfield, Massachusetts, in 1753, and was a graduate of Harvard College in the class of 1782. His ordination took place at Bristol, R.I., January 5, 1785, in connection with the dedication of a new house of worship. Of this church he continued to be the sole pastor for more than thirty years (from 1785 to 1815). On November 13 of the latter year, the Reverend Joel Mason was ordained as his colleague. Dr. Wight was dismissed at his own request November 11, 1828. His residence during the remainder of his life was among his own people in Bristol. He died August 12, 1837. His ministry in Bristol was a prosperous one, two hundred and thirty-eight persons being received into the membership of the Church during his pastorate. See *Harvard General Catalogue, *page 37; *Memorials of R.I. Cong. Ministers. (*J.C.S.)

Wightman, William May, D.D., LT.D. a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, was born at Charleston, S.C., January 8, 1808. He was converted at sixteen, graduated from Charleston College in 1827, entered the South Carolina Conference in 1828, and immediately sprang into position and popularity. After laboring successively on the Pedee, Orangeburg, Sumter, and Abbeville circuits, and in Charleston and Camden stations, he was appointed agent for Randolph Macon College in 1834; in 1837 was made professor of English literature in that institution; two years later presiding elder of Cokesburg District; in 1840 editor of the *Southern Christian Advocate; *in 1854 president of Wofford College; in 1859 president of the Southern University at Greensboro, Alabama; and in 1866 bishop, an office which he filled with great ability until his death in Charleston, February 15, 1882. He was singularly effective as a preacher, dignified and successful as an administrator, ardent as a friend, and modest and earnest as a Christian. See *Minutes of Annual Conferences of the M.E. Church South, *1882, page 151.

Wigram, Joseph Cotton, D.D. a bishop of the Church of England, was born December 26, 1798, being the son of sir Robert Wigram, bart. He graduated at Cambridge in 1820, and was ordained deacon in 1822, and priest the next year; in 1827 he was appointed secretary of the National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor, and in the same year became assistant minister at St. James's, Westminster; in 1835 he was appointed rector of East Tisted, Hants; in 1847 was made archdeacon of Winchester, holding that position until his appointment as bishop of Rochester, to which he was consecrated in 1860i from 1851 until 1860 he was rector of St. Mary's, Southampton. He died suddenly at London, April 6, 1867. His literary remains consist of a large number of published sermons. See *American Quar. Church Rev. *July 1867, page 346.

Wigrdr in Norse mythology, is the name of the large plain which serves the Asas and the Einheriars, the Muspelheimers with Hel, Loke, Fenris, and Jormungand, as a battle-field. It has an area of 10,000 square miles.

Wike in the mythology of the Finns and Lapps, is a child which the moon with Bil, the daughter of the Asas, exalted to heaven, in order that both might be its constant companions. Some see in this a reference to the different phases of the moon.

Wikeford, Robert De, D.C.L. an Irish prelate, was born in Essex, and was archdeacon of Winchester. For a time he was fellow of Maerton College, and was advanced to the see of Dublin, October 12, 1375; before the close of which year he was consecrated. In 1377 he was appointed chancellor of Ireland. In 1378 he had an exemplification and confirmation of the manor of Swords to him and his successors. About 1380 he had a grant to the see of all its possessions. In 1382 De Wikeford was ordered to attend a conference of the prelates, to be held at Naas. In 1385 he was again appointed lord chancellor. In 1390 he visited England, where he died, August 29 of that year. See D'Alton, *Memoirs of the Archbishops of Dublin, *page 142.

Wila in Slavonic mythology, is one of the deities worshipped by the Bohemians and Moravians, and was ruler of night and death.

Wilberforce, Samuel, D.D. an English prelate, son of William Wilberforce, was born at Clapham, Sept. 7,1805. He graduated at Oriel College, Oxford; in 1826; became curate of Chickenden, Oxfordshire, in 1828; rector of Brixton (Brightstone), Isle of Wight, in 1830; select preacher before the University of Oxford inn 1837; rector of Alverstoke, Hants, archdeacon of Surrey, and chaplain to prince Albert, all in 1839; canon of Winchester Cathedral in 1840; sub-almoner to the queen in 1844; dean of Westminster and select preacher before the University of Oxford in 1845; bishop of Oxford, to which is attached the office of chancellor of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, in November of the same year; lord high almoner to the queen in November, 1847, and bishop of Winchester in October, 1869. He was killed by a fall from his horse while riding near Dorking, July 19, 1873. He was one of the ablest debaters in the House of Lords, and for his versatility of opinions was known as "Slippery Samuel." He was very popular in the highest society, was a leader of the High-Church party, but an opponent of Ritualism. He was the author of, *Note Book of a Country Clergyman *(1833): *— Eucharistica *(1839): *— History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America *(1844): — *Heroes of Hebrew History *(1870): — and many other miscellaneous works, including sermons, charges, stories, etc.

Wilberforce, William an English philanthropist, was born at Hull, Aug. 24, 1759. His father was a merchant of that city, descended from the ancient Yorshire family of Wilberfoss. He first attended the grammar-school at Hull; but on the death of his father, in 1768, he was transferred to the care of his uncle, who placed him in a school at Wimbledon. While at this school his aunt, who was an ardent admirer of Whitefield's preaching, first led him to the contemplation of the truths of religion; but, at the same time, impressed upon him her peculiar views. His mother, fearing lest he should become a Methodist, removed him from the care of his uncle and placed him in the Pocklington Grammar-school, in Yorkshire, where his serious impressions were soon dissipated in a life of ease and gayety. In October, 1776, he entered St. John's College, Cambridge, being only seventeen years of age. He graduated in 1781, and almost immediately thereafter was elected member of Parliament from Hull. He now came to London, and entered at once into the first society. He was elected a member of the most fashionable clubs, and became intimate with the leading wits and politicians of the day. He had formed an intimacy with Pitt while at Cambridge which now became still closer. In Parliament he took but little part in the debates, but was generally opposed to Lord North's administration and particularly adverse to the American War. In 1784, while delivering an address before the freeholders of York, they suddenly decided to have him for their representative, and he was returned to Parliament from this the largest county in England. He made a tour on the Continent during 1784-85 with Mr. Pitt and the Rev. Isaac Milner, whose influence, coupled with the reading of the New Test and Doddridge's *Rise and Progress, *awakened in him those serious impressions which had been implanted by his aunt at Wimbledon, and fixed in him the determination to devote his life to God and humanity. On his return to England he began to devote himself to all reforms which opportunity permitted. But in 1787 he began a series of efforts for the reformation of manners, the suppression of vice and immorality, and especially for the abolition of the African slave-trade. He opened the debate against the traffic in May, 1789, and, during all the period that followed until the accomplishment of this great result, never lost sight of the one object of his public career. He continued to represent York until 1812, from which time until 1825 he was representative from Bramber. From the *English Cyclopaedia *(Biog. Div. 6:600, 601) we quote-the account of his efforts against the slave-traffic: "Relying more upon the, humane and religious feelings of the country than upon parliamentary support, he availed himself of the agency of a society of which Granville Sharp was the president, and Thomas Clarkson the agent. Throughout the struggle, which lasted twenty years, Mr. Wilberforce was indefatigable. Year after year his hopes were deferred. Thwarted at one time by the protracted examination of witnesses, outvoted at others, now in the Commons, now in the Lords, he never flinched from a renewal of the contest. In Parliament he supported his cause by many admirable speeches, and by -a diligent collection and sifting of evidence. One of Parliament he never lost sight of the same great object. In his conversation and his letters he conciliated the support of all parties. Cabinet ministers, opposition members, the clergy of all shades of opinion, and his own familiar friends were alike solicited to advance the cause of abolition. "Apart from the opposition which he encountered from the West India interest, the fearful excesses of the French Revolution and the rebellion of the slaves in St. Domingo led many to associate the abolition of the slave- trade with the frantic schemes of the Jacobins. For seven years this cause alone retarded the success of his endeavors. Meanwhile, though it fitted morally for the labors he had undertaken, it is marvelous how his weakly constitution enabled him to bear up against the bodily fatigues, which he was forced to endure. In the spring of 1788, when his labors were yet to come, his health appeared entirely to fail from an absolute decay of the digestive organs. The first physicians, after a consultation, declared to his family that he had not stamina to last a fortnight; and, although he happily recovered from his illness, we find him exclaiming on New-year's-day, 1790, 'At thirty and a half I am in constitution sixty.' From his infancy he had suffered much from weak eyes, and his exertions were constantly interrupted or rendered painful by this infirmity. Still, rising with new hopes and vigor from every disappointment, he confidently relied upon ultimate success. At length the hour of triumph was at hand. In January, 1807, he published a book against the slave-trade, at the very moment that question was about to be discussed in the House of Lords. The Abolition Bill passed the Lords, and its passage through the Commons was one continued triumph to its author. Sir Samuel Romilly concluded an affecting speech in favor of the bill by contrasting the feelings of Napoleon, in all his greatness, with those of that honored individual who would this day lay his head upon his pillow and remember that 'the slave-trade was no more;' when the whole House, we are told, burst forth in acclamations of applause, and greeted Mr. Wilberforce with three cheers." During this whole period he had been actively engaged in all the great questions of the times. He sacrificed friendship to the cause of truth and humanity, and never suffered an opportunity to escape for doing good. His great task, however, was the agitation of negro-emancipation, which he continued until his retirement in 1825. The emancipation act passed just before his death. "Thank God," he exclaimed, "that I should have lived to witness a day in which England is willing to give twenty millions sterling for the abolition of slavery!" He died at Cadogan Place, London, July 29, 1833, and was buried in Westminster Abbey with all the honors of a public funeral. His most important literary works are, *Speech in the House of Commons on the Abolition of the Slave-trade *(1789): *— Practical View of the Prevailing Religious Systems of Professed Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes in this Country Contrasted with Real Christianity *(1797): — *Apology for the Christian Sabbath *(1799): *— Letter on the Abolition of the Slave-trade, Addressed to the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of Yorkshire *(1807): — and others on philanthropic and religious subjects. See [by his sons Robert Isaac and Samuel] *The Life of William Wilberforce *(Lond. 1838,5 vols. 8vo); id. *The Correspondence of William Wilberforce *(ibid. 1840, 2 vols.); Gurney, *Familiar Sketch of Wilberforce *(eod.); Chipchase, *Character of William Wilberforce *(1844); Collier, *Memoir of William Wilberforce *(1855); and Hartford, *Recollections of William Wilberforce, Esq., M.P., *etc.

Wilbrord (or Willibrod), St. commonly known as, "The Apostle to the Frisians," was born in the Sax on kingdom of Northumbria about A.D. 657. He was placed in Wilfred's monastery at Ripon while still a child, and adopted the monastic profession before he was twenty years old. He then visited Ireland, where he spent thirteen years under the instruction of St. Egbert and the monk Wigbert, two members of the Anglo Irish Church, the latter of whom had preached Christianity in Friesland for two years in vain. Having determined to undertake the work which had baffled his preceptor, Wilbrord departed for Friesland in the year 690, taking with him eleven or twelve disciples. When they arrived at Utrecht, they were warmly received by Pepin the Big, who had just gained a victory over the Frisians. In 692 he visited Rome to gain the favor and influence of the pope, and in 695 made a second visit to the papal capital, and was made bishop of the Frisians with the ecclesiastical name of *Clezens. *He established his episcopal chair at Utrecht, where he built the Church of St. Savior, and restored that of St. Martin. He visited the Danes and made many converts; then, proceeding by water, he came to the island called Fositisland (probably the present Heligoland), from the name of the idol worshipped there. Here his disregard of their superstitions and of the objects by them held sacred subjected him to great opposition and a severe ordeal, in which, however, he was successful in escaping punishment. His work was largely undone by the death of Pepin in 714, and the consequent restoration of the heathen monarch Radbod. But Wilbrord enjoyed the patronage of Charles Martel, whose successes re- established him in his episcopal authority and influence. He founded the monastery of Epternach, near Treves, about 698, and there died and was buried in 738. His day in the calendar is the 7th of November. See Bede, *Historia Ecclesiastica, *5, 11:12; Mabillon, *Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti, lib. *18; Wright, *Biographia Britannica Literaria *(Anglo-Saxon Period), p. 250-262; Hoefer, *Nouv. Biog. Géneralé, s.v.*

Wilbur, Hervey, D.D. an American minister, was born at Wendell, Massachusetts, in 1787. He was pastor of his native place from 1817 to 1823; subsequently presided over several female seminaries; and died at Newburyport in 1852. He was the author of, *Discourse on the Religious Education of Youth *(1814): — *Reference Bible *(1828): — *Elements of Astronomy *(1829): — *Lexicon of Useful Knowledge *(1830): — and *Reference Testament for Bible Classes *(1831).

Wilbur, John an American minister of the Society of Friends, was born at Hopkinton, R.I., in 1774. He opposed the introduction into the society of any new doctrines or practices. In 1838 he was accused by sev eral members of the Rhode Island yearly meeting of publishing statements derogatory to the character of Joseph John Gurney, who was then visiting the United States. He was sustained in his course by his own monthly meeting, that of South Kingston; but that body having been superseded by the Greenwich meeting, he was disowned by the latter body, and its action confirmed by the higher powers. His supporters in various parts of New England united in forming a separate yearly meeting, whose members were known as "Wilburites." They maintain the strictest traditions of the sect, and claim that Quakers, as a body, are giving tip their principles. Mr. Wilbur died in 1856. He was the author of, *Narrative and Exposition of the Late Proceedings of the New England Yearly Meeting, *etc. (1845): — *A Few Remarks upon the Controversy between Good and Evil in the Society of Friends *(1855): — and his *Journal and Correspondence *have appeared since his death (1859).

Wilburites *SEE WILBUR, JOHN*.

Wilcocks, Joseph, D.D. an English clergyman, was born in 1673. He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford; chosen demy of his college at the same time with Boulter and Addison, from which circumstance this was called "the golden election;" became chaplain to the English Factory at Lisbon; returned to England, where he became chaplain to George I, and preceptor to the children of George II; became prebendary of Westminster in March, 1720; was made bishop of Gloucester in 1721; translated to the see of Rochester in 1731, and at the same time held the deanery of Westminster; and died March 9, 1756. He published some single sermons.

Wild Ass *(*פֶּרֶא*, pere.; *once [Job 39:5] עָרוד**, ***arod; *Chald. [Da 5:21] עֲרָר *ardd; *Sept. ὄναγρος*. *[ὄνος ἄγρος*]*; so the Eastern ὄνος ἄγριος, Photius, *Cod. *42:91; Philostr. *Apoll. *3:2; AElian, *Anim. *5:52), a species inhabiting the desert (Job 24:5; Isa 32; Jer 2:2,4), roaming free (Job 39:5), living on herbs (6:5; Jer 14:6), which is likewise mentioned in profane authors (Aristot. *Anim. *6:36; Oppian, *Cyneg. *3:184 sq.), and is especially made in Scripture the symbol of a nomadic life (Ge 16:12). The following is a close translation of the poetical description of the wild ass given in the book of Job (Job 39:5-8): Who sent forth [the] wild-ass free? Yea, the yoke-bonds of the onger who opened? Whom I have assigned the desert [as] his house, Even his couching-places [the sun sterile as if] salt. He will laugh at the crowd of the Sty; The hootings of the driver he cannot hear. The quest of the mountains [is] his feed; Yea, after every green [thing] will he seek. From the frequent and familiar allusions to the wild ass in Scripture, we may conclude it was much more numerous in the countries adjacent to Palestine in former times than it is at present. Though well known by name, the wild ass is rarely now found west of the Hauran (Bashan); nor do we find it in the Sinaitic wilderness. The species which is found east of Syria is the *Asinus hemippus, *or Syrian wild ass, which differs from the *A sinus hemione, *the wild ass of Central Asia, in sundry slight particulars of osteology and form. This species was undoubtedly known to the Jews, and is probably the *pere *of Scripture. The *Asinus vulgaris,. *or Onager of the ancients, the original of the tame ass, inhabits the Egyptian deserts, and must also have been known. If the species were distinguished from the Syrian one, it may probably be the *arod *of the Hebrew. Travellers have seen this ass wild in the deserts of North Africa, in small troops of four or five. When riding in the Sahara, they have detected what they took to be antelopes on a slightly elevated mound of sand; then, by their glasses, discovering they had no horns, they suspected they were the horses of Bedawin, who might be concealed behind them, till they allowed an approach sufficiently near to make them out more clearly, when, snuffing up the wind, they dashed off at a speed which the best of horses could not have approached. Tristram saw a wild ass in the oasis of Souf, which had been snared when a colt; but though it had been kept for three years in confinement, it was as untractable as when first caught, biting and kicking furiously at every one who approached it, and never enduring a saddle, on its back. In appearance and color it could not have been distinguished from one of the finest specimens of the tame ass. The Syrian wild ass *(Asinus hemippus) *in no way differs from the African in habits. All the species of wild ass are more or less migratory, travelling north and south, according to the season, in large herds. The Asiatic *(Asinus hemippus) *proceed in summer as far north as Armenia, marking their course by grazing the herbage very closely on their march. In winter they descend as far as the shores of the Persian Gulf. In the same manner the African species is only in summer seen on the confines of Egypt, retiring in winter towards the interior. Their habit of congregating at watering-places, and of standing on the watch on any rising ground, are both alluded to in Scripture (Ps 104:11; Jer 14:6). See Tristram, *Nat. Hist. of the Bible, *page 42. See Ass.

Wild Beast is the rendering of the A.V. at Ps 1:6; Ps 80:13 [elsewhere "abundance," Isa 66:11], of זַיז, *ziz, *a poetical word for any moving creature of the field. Another Heb. term, *chayah *(חִיָּה, Sept. θηρίον, ζῶον, θήρ, τετράπους, κτῆνος, ἑρπετόν, θηριάλωτος, βρωτός*; Vulg.fera, aninzantia, animal), *also rendered "beast," "wild beast," is the feminine of the adjective חִי, "living," used to denote any animal. It is, however, very frequently used specially of "wild beast," when the meaning is often more filly expressed by the addition of the word הִָֹשּׁדֶה, *has-sadeh *(wild beast) "of the field" (Ex 23:11; Le 26:22; De 7:22; Ho 2:14; Ho 13:8; Jer 12:9, etc.). Similar is the use of the Chaldee חֵיוָא, *cheyvahf *(Da 4:7). *SEE BEAST*.

Wild Beast Of The Desert is the rendering of the A.V. at Isa 13:21; Isa 34:14; Jer 1:19 [elsewhere "dwelling in the wilderness," (Ps 52:9; Ps 74:14; Isa 23:13] of the Heb. word found only in this sense in the plur. צַיַּים , *tsiyim,* although the sing. צַי***, **tsi, *occurs Nu 24:24; Isa 33:21; Eze 30:9; Da 11:30, in the sense of "ship." It is thought to denote some (or perhaps any) species of animal living in the desert, such' as jackals. ostriches, etc. The ancient versions are inconsistent (Sept. θήρια, ἰνδάλματα*; *Vulg. *bestiae, dracones). *The Targum understands *apes, *Michaelis *(Suppl. *Page 2086) *serpents, *Aurivillius *(Dissert. *page 298) *vapyraes, *Saadias and Abulwalid *wild bulls, *and others *wild cats. *See Bochart, *Hieroz. *2:211.

Wild Beast Of The Islands is the rendering of the A.V. at Isa 13:22; Isa 34:14; Jer 1:19, of the Heb. word which occurs in this sense only in the plur. אַיַּי**, ***iyim, *although it frequently occurs both in the sing. and plur. in the sense of "island." The ancient interpreters variously understand *cats *(Chald. and Kimchi) and *spectres *(Sept. ὀμπλεμταύρος*); *but later writers generally agree that the *jackal *(q.v.) is meant, from its habit of *howling *(Bochart, *Hieroz. *1:843).

Wild Bull is the rendering of the A.V. at Isa 2:20, of תּוֹא, *to *(Sept. σεύτλιον*; *Vulg. *oryx), *which is now generally thought to denote some of the larger species of *antelope *(q.v.), as the same word in a slightly longer form, תּאוֹ, *teo, *occurs elsewhere (De 14:3, A.V." wild ox"), where the ancient interpreters (Sept. ὄρυξ*; *Vulg. *oryx), *as well as the context, agree in that sense. The particular kind is probably the *oryx, *although no exact species may have been intended. Others, however, are inclined to regard the creature intended as kindred rather with the *reein, *or "unicorn" of our version. It is a singular fact that various animals of the ox kind are figured on the monuments as tribute to the ancient Assyrians. *SEE BUFFALO*.

Wild Goat is the rendering in the A.V. of two Heb. words which seem to refer to cognate species of the caprid tribe. *SEE GOAT*. **1. **The more frequent term is always found in the plur. יעֵלַים, *yeelim* (Sept. τραγέλαφοι*,or *ἔλαφοιVulg. *ibices), *which occurs 1Sa 24:2; Job 39:1; Ps 104:18; besides the fem. sing. יִעֲלָח*, yaalah* ("roe," Pr 5:19), it is not at all improbable, as the Vulg. interprets the word, that some species of *ibex *is denoted, perhaps the *Capra Sinaitica *(Ehrenb.), the *beden *or *jaela *of Egypt and Arabia. This ibex was noticed at Siniai by Ehrenberg and Hemprich *(Sym. Phys. *t. 18), and by Burckhardt *(Trav. *page 526), who (page 405) thus speaks of these animals: "In all the valleys south of the Mojeb, and particularly in those of Mojeb and El-Ahsa, large herds of mountain goats, called by the Arabs *beden, *are met with. This is the *steinbock or bouquetin *of the Swiss and Tyrol Alps. They pasture in flocks oft forty and fifty together. Great numbers of them are killed by the people of Kerek and Tafyle, who hold their flesh in high estimation. They sell the large knotty horns to the Hebrew merchants who carry them to Jerusalem, where they are worked into handles for knives and daggers.... The Arabs told me that it is. difficult to get a shot at them, and that the hunters hide themselves among the reeds on the banks of streams where the animals resort in the evening to drink. They also asserted that, when pursued, they will throw themselves from a height of fifty feet and more upon theirheads without receiving any injury." Hasselquist *(Trav. *page 190) speaks of rock goats, *(Capra cervicapra, *Linn. ) which he saw hunted with falcons near Nazareth. But the *C. cervicapra *of Linnaeus is an antelope *(Antilope cervicapra, *Pall.). The *Capra Sinaitica, *however, is not identical with the Swiss ibex or steinbock *(C. ibex), *though it is a closely allied species. The wild goat of Arabia and Palestine differs only from the European in the shape and marking of the horns and in its lighter color. It is still occasionally found in the neighborhood of Engedi, its old resort, which thence took the name (see Tristram, *Nat. Hist. of the Bible, *page 96). *SEE IBEX*. **2. **The other word rendered, "wild goat" is אִקּוֹ, *akko, *which occurs only in De 14:5, as a clean animal, and in which the Sept. and Vulg. understand to be a kind of deer *(*τραγέλαφος*, tragelphus), *and the Targums and Syriac a wild goat (יעלא). Gesenius concludes in favor of the *roebuck; *while others prefer the *chamois, *and others the *gazelle.* Gesenius derives it from Arab. *anak, *while Furst says it is to be traced to a *radix nominalis, *common to both the Sanscrit and Shemitic tongues. Schultens *(Origines Hebraicae) *conjectures that the name arose. *ob fugacitatem, *from its shyness and consequent readiness to flee; and Dr. Harris points out what he takes to be a confirmation of this conjecture in Shaw's *Travels, *which, from the translations of the Sept. and Vulg., makes it a goat-deer, or Tragelaphus, such as the *lerwi or fishtal, *by mistake referred to *Capra mambrica *of Linnaeus; whereas that naturalist *(System. Nat. *13th ed. by Gmelin) places *lerwi *among the synonyms of *Ant. cervicapra, *which does not suit Shaw's notice, and is not known in Western Asia. The *fishtal *is, however, a ruminant of the African desert, possibly one of the larger Antilopidae, with long mane, but not as yet scientifically described. Some have referred the *akko *to the *ahu *of the Persians, i.e., the *Capreolus pygargus, *or the "tailless roe" (Shaw, *Zool.* 2:287), of Central Asia. If we could satisfactorily establish the identity of the Persian word with the Hebrew, the animal in question might represent the *akko *of the Pentateuch, which might formerly have inhabited the Lebanon, though, it is not now found in Palestine. Perhaps the paseng *(Cap. cegagrus, *Cuv.), which some have taken to be the parent stock of the common goat, and which at present inhabits the mountains of Persia and Caucasus, may have in Biblical times been found in Palestine, and may be the *akka *of Scripture. It is, on the whole, as likely to have been the *beden, *or wild goat of Mt. Sinai, as any other. *SEE DEER; SEE ROE*.

Wild Grape is the rendering of the A.V. at Isa 5:2,4 of the Heb. word which occurs only in the plur. *beushim, *בּאֻשַׁים, and indicates a noxious species of plant or kind of fruit. In form the word is a pass. participle of בָּאִשׁ**, **which means to *smell offensively, *as many poisonous vegetables do; and this connects it radically with בָּאשָׁה**, ***boshah *("cockles," Job 31:40), although the two seem to denote different plants, but both useless. The Sept. gives ἀκάνθας as the Greek equivalent; which is certainly a mistake, unless they had some other reading of the original text. The rendering of Aquila is σαπρίαι*, *that of Symmachus ἀτελῆ; both of which give rather the etymological meaning or force of the original word than translate it into its Greek equivalent as a significative appellation. The rendering of Jerome is *labruscce; *and this has been followed by Luther *(Herlinge) *and the A.V. *(wild grapes). *The species of plant intended has been supposed by some to be the *Fitis labrusca, *a plant which produces small berries of a dark-red color when ripe, but sour to the taste; Hasselquist suggests the *Solanum incanun, *or gray nightshade; and Celsius contends for the *Aconiturn napellus, *wolfs-bane. It seems more probable, however, that no specific plant is referred to in the passage of the prophet; but that the word is simply used as an adjective with its substantive understood, as a designation of bad or worthless grapes. The Lord expected that his vineyard should produce grapes, but it produced only *beihshim, *vile, uneatable grapes. See Rosenmuller, *Bibl. Bot. *(Eng. transl.), page 111; and *Comment. *ad loc.; Gesenius, Henderson, Knobel, *ad loc. *See GRAPE.

Wild Ox *SEE WILD BULL*.

Wild, Friedrich Karl a Protestant theologian of Germany, who died at Kirchheim, July 3, 1869, is the author of, *Der moderne Jesuitismus *(Nordlingen, 1843): — *Gottes Wort und die Kirche *(Stuttgart, 1845): *Ein Wort gegen den ublichen Gebrauch und die herkommliche Stellung der Apokryphen in der evangelischen Kirche *(1854): — *Jacob Heilbrunner. Ein Held unter den Streitern Jesu Christi *(Leipsic, 1859). See Zuchold, *Bibl. Theol. *s.v. (B.P.)

Wild, Johann *SEE FERUS*.

Wild, Johann Christoph Friedrich a Protestant theologian, was born at Plossberg, June 13, 1803. He studied at Erlangen, was in 1830 preacher at Wassertrudingen, and in 1839 pastor at Schonberg, where he labored for twenty-nine years. In 1868 he was called to Unterschwaninlgen, in Bavaria, and died April 5, 1882. He wrote, *Ueber gottliche Strafe utnd Strafgerichte *(Anspach, 1832): — *Systematische Darstellung der Unterscheidungslehre der katholischen und protestantischen Kirche *(Nordlingen, 1842): — *Der Tod im Lichte der Offenbarung *(Nuremberg, 1847). See Zuchold, *Bibl. Theol. *2:1448. (B.P.)

Wild, Robert, D.D. an English Nonconformist divine, poet, and wit, was born at St. Ives. Huntingdonshire, in 1609. He was educated at the University of Cambridge; received his first degree in divinity at Oxford in 1642; was appointed rector at Aynhoe, Northamptonshire, in 1646; ejected, at the Restoration; and died at Oundle in 1679. He was the author of, *Tragedy of Christopher Love at Tower Hill *(1660): — *Iter Boreale *(eod.): — *Poem on the Imprisonment of Mr. Edmund Calamy in Neuwate *(1662): — *Poems *(1668): — *Rome Rhym'd to Death *(1683), being a collection of choice poems, in two parts, written by the earl of R[ochester], Dr. Wild, etc.: — *The Benefice; a Comedy *(1689). In 1870 appeared *Poems by Robert Wild, D.D., one of the Ejected Ministers of *1662; *with a Historical and Biographical Preface and Notes, *by the Reverend John Hunt.

Wilderness is in the A.V. the most frequent rendering of מַדבָּר *(midbar, *ἡ ἔρημος*),* which primarily denotes a region not regularly tilled or inhabited (Job 38:26; Isa 32:15; Jer 2:2), but used for pasturage (from דָּבִר, *to track, *referring to the cattle-paths) (Jer 9:9; Ps 65:13; Joe 2:22; Lu 15:4); mostly treeless and dry, but not entirely destitute of vegetation or fertility, such as are of frequent occurrence in the East (Robinson 2:656; occasionally cultivated in spots, Josephus, *Ant. *12:4, 6). Towers were sometimes erected in them for the protection of flocks (2Ch 26:10; 2Ki 17:9; comp. Isa 1:8). The term is likewise in some instances applied to particular barren tracts of hard arid steppes (Isa 35:6; Isa 41:18; Isa 43:20; La 4:3; Mal 1:3) overrun with wild animals (see Rosenmiller, *Morgenl. *1:88 sq.); although for such spots the words מַדבִּר שׁמָמָה (Joel 2:3; 4:19), ישׁימוֹן, עֲרָבָה (see Credner, in the *Stud. u. Krit. *1833, 3:788 sq.), etc., are usually employed. For a remarkable phenomenon of these dry wastes, *SEE MIRAGE*. Although this kind of region is not particularly characteristic of Palestine, yet the term *midbar *is applied to the following localities in it or its immediate vicinity *SEE DESERT*. **1. ***The Wilderness of Judah *also called *Jeshimon *(1Sa 23:19; 1Sa 26:1,3), is a rocky district in the eastern part of that tribe adjoining the Dead Sea and including the town of Engedi (Jos 15:61; Jg 1:16). It appears to have extended from the vicinity of the Kedron, a few miles east of Jerusalem, to the S.W. shore of the Dead Sea and to the hills of Judah. The convent of Mar Saba (q.v.) is a marked feature of one of its wild and barren dells. *SEE JUDAH, WILDERNESS OF*. On the N.W. border of the wilderness of Judah lay *the Wilderness of Tekoa *(2Ch 20:20; 2Ch 1 Macc. 9:33); as in its E. part appears to have lain *the Wilderness of Engedi *(1Sa 24:2), and in its S. part *the Wilderness of Ziph *(23:14 sq.) or *Maon *(q.v.), otherwise called *Jeruel *(2Ch 20:37). The *Wilderness of St. John *(Mt 3:1,3; comp. 11:7; Lu 1:80) is a part of the desert of Judah; although modern tradition gives that name to the neighborhood of Ain Karim west of Jerusalem. *SEE JOHN THE BAPTIST*. **2. ***The Wilderness of Beersheba *(Ge 21:14) lay south of that town on the borders of the desert Et-Tih. *SEE BEERSHEBA*. **3. ***The Wilderness of Jericho *(Jos 16:1), between that city and the Mount of Olives, or rather Bethany, was an extension of the desert of Judah, a rough and stony tract full of precipices (see Josephus, *Ant. *10:8, 2), which contains the so-called khan of the Samaritans (Lu 10:30). Its ***N, ***E. extremity is *the wilderness of Quarantana *(q.v.), and its N.W. extremity *the wilderness of Beth-aven *(Jos 18:12). **4. ***The Wilderness of Gibeon, *in the vicinity of that city, north of Jerusalem (2Sa 2:24). **5. ***The Wilderness of Reuben *(De 4:43), denotes the barren tract in the neighborhood of Bezer, on the border of the tribe towards the Arabian desert. *SEE REUBEN*. ***6. **The Wilderness of Bethsaida *(Lu 9:10), a pasture-ground adjoining that town, apparently extending on both sides of the mouth of the Upper Jordan. *SEE BETHSAIDA*. For the *Wilderness of Arabia Petraea *or of *Mt. Sinai, *including those of *Etham, Paran, Shur, *and the *Arabah, SEE WILDERNESS OF THE WANDERINGS*.

Wilderness Of The Wandering Of The Children Of Israel. This is a convenient popular designation of the wide region in which the people were led by the divine guidance under Moses, for forty years, from Egypt to Canaan. It was here, amid nature's grandest and wildest architecture, wrapped in nature's profoundest silence and solitude, far removed from the din and distraction of the world of life and action, that the people of Israel met with their God, and witnessed manifestations of his glory and majesty and power such as mortals never witnessed before, and never can witness again. There, as Stainley says, "they were brought into contact with a desolation which was forcibly contrasted with the green valley of the Nile. They were enclosed within a sanctuary of temples and pyramids not made With hands — the more awful from its total dissimilarity to anything which they or their fathers could have remembered in Egypt or Palestine. They were wrapped in a silence which gave full effect to the morning and the evening shout with which the encampment rose and pitched, and still more to the thunders, and the voice exceeding loud on the top of Horeb" *(Sin.and Pal. *page 20). The appropriateness of these natural features to the scenes recorded in the sacred narrative cannot safely be overlooked by the modern critic and commentator. They tend to demonstrate the perfect consistency of Bible history in its minutest details. In our treatment of it here we give in detail its geographical character and productions. *SEE EXODE*. **I. ***General Configuration and Features. *— **1. ***Principal Divisions. *— The country embraced in the "Wilderness of Wandering" extended from the borders of Egypt and the Mediterranean on the west, to the plateau of Arabia on the east. How much of the latter it included cannot be determined, because the eastern boundary of Edom is indefinite; and even were it minutely definied, it would be impossible to ascertain how close to or how far from it the Israelites travelled. There can be little doubt that their march was never conducted, like that of a modern army, in one dense column. It bore a far closer resemblance to the migration of an Arab tribe, whose flocks, herds, shepherds, and guards, with their families, spread over the country for many miles. Travellers in this region often pass through a moving tribe whose outer extremities are twenty miles apart. The southern limits of the wilderness were marked by the Red Sea and its gulfs; and time northern by Canaan, Moab, and Bashan. This vast tract is divided by the Gulf of Akabah, and the deep valley of the Arabah, into two great sections. The western section is triangular in form, the base being marked by the Mediterranean coast and the hills of Judah, and the apex by Ras Mohammed on the extreme south. The physical geography of this region is very remarkable, and, as it formed the chief scene of the wanderings of the Israelites, it must be described with some minuteness. From the shore of the Mediterranean a great plain extends inland. At first it is very low and studded with mounds and ridges of drifting sand. It rises gradually, and the sand gives place to a white, flinty soil, which scantily covers the limestone strata. As the elevation increases, long reaches of rolling table-land, and broad ridges with naked crowns and long gravelly slopes, stretch away far as the eye can see, while shallow, naked wadys, and bare, rocky glens, seam its surface and wind away waterless to the sea. Towards the east the tableland becomes still more uneven. The ridges rise higher and are more rugged, and the valleys are deeper and wilder. Here, however, are some smooth expanses of upland plain, and broad beds of wadys, coated with a light hut rich soil. Springs and wells also become more frequent, and occasionally a streamlet may be traced for a mile or two along its tamarisk-fringed bed. At length the plateau, having attained an altitude of about two thousand feet, breaks down abruptly, in a series of irregular terraces, or wall-like cliffs, to the great valley of the Arababh. Such are the general features of the desert of et-Tih. Its name is remarkable. Et-Tih signifies "The Wandering," and is doubtless derived from the wanderings of the Israelites, the tradition of which has been handed down through a period of three thousand years. It was at the eastern border of the plateau, in the valley of the Arabah, that the camp was pitched so long around the sacred fountain of Kadesh: and it was up the wild passes that lead from the Arabahto the table-land that an infatuated and rebellious people attempted to force their way, against the divine command, into Canaan, when they were driven back with disgrace by the hardy Amalekites (Nu 14:40-45). On the north the plateau of et-Tih rises gradually to meet the swelling hills and green vales of Palestine. On the south it, also rises in long, bare, gravelly slopes to Jebel et-Tih, which sweeps rouind like the arc of a bow, and regular as a colossal wall, from Suez to the head of the gulf of Akabah. The Arabah is a deep, wide valley, running in a straight line from the gulf of Akabah to the Dead Sea. From the latter it rises in a series of terraces, supported by wall-like cliffs, until it attains an elevation of three or four hundred feet above the level of the ocean; then it declines gently to the shore of the gulf of Akabah. The greater portion of it is a bare and barren desert, covered in part with a light, flinty soil, and in part with loose smanid. Low shrubbheries of tamarisk appear here and there, and clumps of camel-thorn are met with, but these are its only products. Fountains are almost unknown in it. That of Kadesh is the only one of any note recorded in ancient or modern times. Along its western side runs a range of bare, rugged limestone hills, from two to three thousand feet in height. The range is deeply furrowed by long, dry ravines, like rents in the rocky strata — and these form the only approaches to the plateau of et-Tih. Most of them are impassable to human feet: and as they cut far into the table-land, they effectually bar all passage along its eastern border. The Israelites, therefore, in their approach to Kadesh from Sinai, must have travelled along the Arabah, or else have treaded the interior of the plateau itself. On the east side of the valley is a mountain-range of a different character. Its southern section is granite, showing the sharp peaks and deep colors of the Sinaitic group. Te granite then gives place to sandstone, whose hues are still more gorgeous. This range formed the country of the Edomites, into which the Israelites never penetrated. They were compelled to turn back from Mount Hor, march down the Arabah, and pass round the southern and eastern sides of Edom. The desert of Arabia thus formed the scene of their last wanderings. It is a vast table-land, extending froum the mountain-range of Edom eastward to the horizon, without tree or shrub, stream or fountain. The surface is either bare rock, or white gravel mixed with flints, or drifting sand. The very Bedawin dread the passage of this "great and terrible wilderness." For days together the daring traveller who ventures to cross it must hasten onward, and should the supply of water which he is obliged to carry with him fail, all hope is gone. Wallin, one of the very few who traversed it, says, "It is a tract the most desolate and sterile I ever saw. Its irregular surface is, instead of vegetation, covered with small stones, which, shining sometimes in a dark swarthy, sometimes in a bright, white color, reflect the rays of the sun in a manner most injurious to the eyes" *(Journal of the Roy. Geog. Soc. *24:135). Mr. Palgrave, who crossed it more recently, almost in the track of Wallin, also gives a frightful account of it *(Travels in Arabia, *1:8 sq.). It is far more desolate and dreary and terrible than any part of the region west of the Arabah. **2. ***The Peninsula of Sinai*. — The twin gulfs of Suez and Akabah, into which the Red Sea separates, embrace this triangle on its west and east sides respectively. One or other of them is in sight from almost all the summits of the Sinaitic cluster, and from the highest points both branches. The eastern coast of the gulf of Suez is strewn with shells, and with the forests of submarine vegetation, which possibly gave the whole sea its Hebrew appellation of the Sea of Weeds." The "huge trunks" of its "trees of coral may be seen even on the dry shore," while at Tur cabins are formed of madrepores gathered from it, and the *debris *of con'hylia lie thickly heaped on the beach. Similar "coralline forests" are described (Stanuley, *Sinai and Palestine, *page 83) as marking the coast of the gulf of Akabah. The northern portion of the whole peninsula is a plateau bounded southwards by the range of et-Tih, which droops across it on the map with a curve somewhat like that of a slack chain, whose points of suspension are, westwards, Suez, and eastward, but farther south, some "sandstone cliffs, which shut off" this region friom the gulf of Akabah. The north- western member of this chain converges with the shore of the gulf of Suez, till the two run nearly parallel. Its eastern member throws off several fragments of *long *and short ridges towards the gulf of Akabah and the northern plateau called from it et-Tih. The Jebel Dillal (Burckhardt, *Dhelel) is *the most southerly of the continuations of this eastern member (Seetzen, *Beisein, *III, 3:413). The greatest elevation in the et-Tih range is attained a little west of the meridian 340, near its most southerly point; it is here 4654 feet above the Mediterranean. From this point the watershed of the plateau runs obliquely between north and east towards Hebron; westward of which line, and northward from the westerly member of Jebel et-Tih, the whole wady-system is drained by the great Wady el-'Arish, along a gradual slope to the Mediterranean. The shorter and much steeper slupe eastward partly converges into the large ducts of wadys Fikreh and el-Jeib, entering the Dead Sea's south-western angle through the southern wall of the Ghor, and partly finds an outlet nearly parallel, but farther to the south, by the Wady Jerafeh into the Arabah. The great depression of the Dead Sea (1300 feet below the Mediterranean) explains the greater steepness of this eastern slope. In crossing this plateau, Seetzen found that rain and wind had worked depressions in parts of its flat, which contained a few shrubs or isolated bushes. This flat rose here and there in heights steep on one side, composed of white chalk with frequent lumps of flint embedded *(ibid. *3:48). The plateau has a central point in the station Khan Nukhl, so named from the date-trees which once adorned its wady, but which have all disappeared. This point is nearly equidistant from Suez westward, Akabah eastward, el-'Arish northward, and the foot of Jebel Musa southward. It lies half a mile north of the "Haj-route,'" between Suez and Akabah, which traverses "a boundless flat, dreary and desolate" (ibid. page56), and is 1494 feet above the Mediterranean early on the same meridian as the highest point before assigned to et-Tih. On this meridian also lies um-Shimier, farther south, the highest point of the entire peninsula, having an elevation of 9300 feet, or nearly double that of et-Tilf. A little to the west of the same meridian lies el-'Arish, and the southern cape, Ras Mohammed, is situated about 340° 17'. Thus the parallel 31° and the meridian 34° form important axes of the whole region of the peninsula. A full description of the wilderness of et-Tih is given by Robinson (*Bibl. Res. *1:177, 178, 199), together with a memorandum of the travellers who explored it previously to himself. On the eastern edge of the plateau to the north of the et-Tih range, which is raised terrace-wise by a step from the level of the Ghor, rises a singular second, or, reckoning that level itself, a third plateau, superimposed on the general surface of the et-Tih region. These Russegger *(Map) *distinguishes as three terraces in the chalk ridges. Dr. Kruse, in his *Anmerkungen *on Seetzen's travels ( *Reisen, *III, 3L410), remarks that the Jebel et-Tih is the *montes nigri, *or μέλανες of Ptolemy, in whose view that range descends to the extreme southern point of the peninsula, thus including, of course, the Sinaitic region. This confusion arose from a waist of distinct conception of geographical details. The name seems to have been obtained from the dark, or even black, color which is observable in parts. The Haj-route from Suez to Akabah, crossing the peninasula in a direction a little south of east, may stand for the chord of the arc of the et-Tih range, the length of which latter is about one hundred and twenty miles. This slope, descending northwards upon the Mediterranean, is of limestone (Stanley, *Sinai and Palestine, *page 7), covered with coarse gravel interspersed with black flints aind drift (Russegger, *Map). *But its desolation has not always been so extreme, oxen, asses, and sheep having olnce grazed in parts of it where now only the camel is found. Three passes through the et-Tih range are mentioned bv Robinson *(Bibl. Res. *1:123: comp. 561-563, App. 22) — er-Rakineh, the western; el-Mureikhy, the eastern; and el-Wirsah, between the two. These all meet south of Ruhaibeh (Rehoboth, Ge 26:22?), in about north latitude 31 5', east longitude 34 42', and thence diverge towards Hebron and Gaza. The eastern is noted by Russegger as 4853 feet above sea-level. Seetzen took the et-Tih range for the "Mount Seir," passed on the way from Sinai (Horeb, De 1:2) to Kadesh Barnea by the Israelites *(Reisen, *3:28; comp. Kruse, *Anmerkungen, *3:417). It would form a conspicuous object oni the left to the Israelites, going south-eastwards nuear the coast of the gulf of Suez. Seetzen, proceeding towards Suez, i.e., in the opposite direction, mentions a high sandy plain *(Reisen, *3:111), apparently near Wady Ghurundel, whence its steep southern face was visible in a white streak stretching westwards and eastwards. Dr. Stanley *(Sinai and Palestine, *page 7) says, "However much the other mountains of the peniinsula vary in form or height, the mountains of the Tih are always alike — always faithfull to their tabular outline and blanched desolation." They applear like "a long limestone wall." This traveller saw them, however, only "from a distance " *(ibid. *and note 2). Seetzen, who crossed them, going from Hebron to Sinai, says of the view from the highest ridge of the lower mountain-line, "What a landscape was that I looked down upon! On all sides the most frightful wilderness extended out of sight in every direction, without tree, shrub, or speck of green. It was an alternation of flats and hills, for the most part black as night, only the naked rock-walls on the hummocks and heights showed patches of dazzling whiteness... a striking image of our globe, when, through Phaeton's carelessness, the sun came too near to it." *(Reisen, *3:50). Similarly, describing the scenery of the Wady el-Biara, by which he passed the et-Tih range, he says, "On the south side rose a considerable range, desolate, craggy, and naked. All was limestone, chalk, and flint. The chalk cliffs gave the steep offset of the Tih range on its south side the aspect *of a snow mountain" *(page 62). The proper entrance to the interior of this line, although not the usual one for travellers, is by Wady Wutah, which lies at the head of Wady Ghurundel, and is a fair specimen of the passes of this entire region. The other routes which traverse the peninsula are, that from Hebron to Suez along the maritime plain, at a distance of from ten to thirty miles from the sea, passing el-Arish; that from Suez to Tar, along the coast of the gulf of Suez through the Kaa: and that from Akabah, near Eziongeber, ascending the western wall of the Arabah through the Wady el-Jeib, by several passes, not far from the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, towards Hebron, in a course here nearly north-west, then again north. A modern mountain road has been partially constructed by Abbas Pasha in the pass of the Wady Hebrbn, leading from the coast of the gulf of Suez towards the convent commonly called St. Catherine's. The ascent from the trough of the Armbah (which is steeper-sided at its northwest extremity than elsewhere) towards the general plateau is by the pass el-Khurar, by which the level of that broad surface is attained. The smaller plateau rests obliquely upon the latter, abutting on the Dead Sea at Masada, where its side and that of the lower floor converve, and is reached by ascending through the higher Nukb es-Sifa. Its face, corresponding to the southern face of the Tih plateau, looks considerably to the west of south, owing to this obliquity, and is delineated like a well-defined mountain-wall in Kiepert's map, having at the south-east angle a bold buttress in the Jebel Mikhrah, and at the south-west another in the Jebel 'Araif en-Nakah, which stands out apparently in the wilderness like a promontory at sea. From the former mountain, its most southerly point, at about 30° 20' north latitude, this plateau extends northward a little east, till it merges in the southern slope of Judsea, but at about 30 50' north latitude is cut nearly through by the Wady Fikreh, trenching its area eastward, and not quite meeting the Wady Murrah, which has its declivity apparently towards the Wady el-'Arish westward. The face of mountain wall mentioned above may probably be "the mountain of the Amorites," or this whole higher plateau may be so (De 1:7,19-20). A line drawn northwards from Ras Mohammed passes a little to the west of 'Araif en-Nakah. On the whole, except in the Debbet er-Ralmleh, sand is rare in the peninsula. There is little or in one on the seashore, and the plain el-Kaa on the south-west coast is gravelly rather than sandy. Of sandstone on the edges of the granitic central mass there is no lack. It is chiefly found between the chalk and limestone of et-Tih and the southern rocky triangle of Sinai. Thus the Jebel Dillal is of sandstone, in tall vertical cliffs, forming the boundary of er-Ramleh on the east side, and similar steep sandstone cliffs are visible in the same plain, lying on its north and north-west sides (Seetzen, *Reisen, *3:66; comp. 3:413). In the Wady Mokatteb "the soft surface of these sandstone cliffs offered ready tablets" to the unknown wayfarers who wrote the "Sinasitic inscriptions." This stone gives in some parts a strong red hue to the nearer landscape, and softens into shades of the subtlest delicacy in the distance. Where the surface has been broken away, or fretted and eaten by the action of water, these hues are most vivid *(Sinai and Palestine, *pages 10-12). It has been supposed that the Egyptians worked the limestone of et-Tih, and that that material, as found in the pyramids, was there quarried. The hardness of the granite in the Jebel et-Ttur has been emphatically noticed by travellers. Thus, in constructing recently the mountain road for Abbas Pasha, "the rocks" were found "obstinately to resist even the gunpowder's blast," and the sharp, glasslike edges of the granite soon wear away the workmen's shoes and cripple their feet (Hamilton, *Sinai, the Hedjaz, and Soudan, *page 17). Similarly, Laborde says *(Comm. on Numb. *33:36): "In my journey across that country (from Egypt, through Sinai to the Ghor), I had carried from Cairo two pair of shoes; they were cut, and my feet came through; when I arrived at Akabah, luckily I found in the magazines of that fortress two other pairs to replace them. On my return to Sinai, I was barefoot again. Hussein then procured me sandals half all inch thick, which, on my arrival in Cairo, themselves were reduced to nothing, though they had well preserved my feet." Seetzen noticed on Mt. St. Catherine that the granite was "finegrained and very firm" (3:90). The name Jebel et-Tir includes the whole cluster of mountains from el-Fureia, on the north, to um-Shomer, on the south, and from Musa and ed-Deir, on the east, to Hum'r and Serbal, on the west, including St. Catherine, nearly south-west of Musa. By "Sinai" is generally understood the Musa plateau, between the Wady Leja (Stanley, *Map) *and the Wady Shueib, on its western and north-eastern flanks, and bounded north-westward by the Wady er-Raheh, and south-eastward by the Wady Sebayeh. The Arabs give the name of Tur — properly meaning a high mountain (Stanley, *Sinai and Palestine, *page 8) — to the whole region south of the Haj-route from Suez to Alabah as far as Ras- Mohammed. The name of Tur is also emphatically given to the cultivable region lying south-west of the Jebel et-Tur. Its fine and rich date-palm plantation lies a good way southwards, down the gulf of Suez. Here opens on the sea the most fertile wady now to be found in the peninsula (Burchkhardt, *Arab. *2:362; Wellsted, 2:9), receiving all the waters which flow down the range of Sinai westward (Stanley, *Sinai and Palestine, *page 19). **II. ***Interior Peaks. *— Nearly in the center of the peninsula lies a wedge of granite, grunstein; and porphyry rocks, rising to between eight thousand and nine thousand feet above the sea. Its shape resembles a scalene triangle, with a crescent cut from its northern or longer side, on which border Russegger's map gives a broad, skirting tract of old red sandstone, reaching nearly from gulf to gulf, and traversed by a few ridges, chiefly of a tertiary formation, running nearly north-west and southeast. On the south- west side of this triangle a wide alluvial plain — narrowing, however, towards the north — lines the coast of the gulf of Suez, while that on the eastern or Akabah coast is so narrow as almost to disappear. Between these alluvial edges and the granitic mass a strip of the same sandstone is interposed, the two strips converging at Ras Mohammed, the southern promontory of the whole. This nucleus of pulmnic rocks is said to bear no trace of volcanic action since the original upheaval of its masses (Stanley, 21, 22). Laborde *(Travels *page 105) thought he detected some, but does not affirm it. Its general configuration runs into neither ranges nor peaks, but is that of a plateau cut across with intersecting wadys, whence spring the cliffs and mountain peaks, beginning with a very gradual and terminating in a very steep ascent. In the present day the name Sinai. as above stated, is given by Christians to the cluster of mountains. to which we have referred; but the Arabs have no other name for this group than Jebel et-Tur, sometimes adding the distinctive epithet *Sina. *In a stricter sense the name Sinai is applied to a very lofty ridge which lies between the two parallel valleys of Sher and el- Leja. Of this ridge the northern end is sometimes termed Horeb, the southern Sinai, now called Jebel Misa, or Moses' Mount. The entire district is a heap of lofty granite rocks, with steep gorges and deep valleys. The several mountains in the peninsula seem all to ascend gradually till they reach their highest point in the group of Sinlai, which presents a wild aspect of broken, cleft, and irregular masses, with pointed tops and precipitous sides. The entire group is made up of four huge ranges, which run south and north, with an inclination eastward. The ranges are separated from each other by deep valleys or watercourses. Certain vivid impressions left on the minds of travellers seem to bespeak remarkable features for the rocks of this cluster, and they are generally so replete with interest that a few leading details of the aspect of principal mountains may find place here. Approaching the granitic nucleus from the north side, Seetzen found himself "ever between two high wild and naked cliffs of granite." All possible forms of mountains blended in the view of the group, conical and pointed, truncated, serrated, and rounded *(Reisen, *3:67, 69). Immediately previous to this he had been upon the perpendicular sandstone cliffs, which in el-Dillal bounded the sandy plain er-Ramleh on the eastern side, while similar steep sandstone cliffs lay on the north and north-west. On a nearer view small bright quartz-grit *(Quarz-kiesel), *of whitish-yellow and reddish hue, was observed in the coarsegrained sandstone. Dr. Stanley, approaching from the north-west, from Wady Shellal, through wadys Sidri and Feirin, found the rocks of various orders more or less interchanged and intermixed. In the first, "red tops resting on dark-green bases closed the prospect in front," doubtless both of granite. Contrast with this the description of Jebel Musa, as seen from Mt. St. Catherine (ibid. page 77), "the *reddish *granite of its *lower *mass, ending in the *gray-green *granite of the *peak *itself." Wady Sidri lies "between red granite mountains descending precipitously on the sands," but just in the midst of it the granite is exchanged for sandstone, which last forms the rocktablets of the Wady Mokatteb, lying in the way to Wady Feil-In. This last is full of "endless windings,"' and here "began the curious sight of the mountains, streaked from head to foot, as if with boiling streams of dark red matter poured over them, the igneous fluid squirted upwards as they were heaved from the ground. The colors tell their own story, of chalk and limestone and sandstone and granite." Besides these, "huge cones of white clay and sand are at intervals planted along these mighty watercourses (the now dry wadys), apparently the original alluvial deposit of some tremendous antediluvian torrent, left there to stiffen into sandstone" (page 71). The Wady Feiran is bounded southwards by the Jebel Nediyeh and the Jebel Serbal, which extend westwards to the maritime plain, and eastwards to the Sinaitic group, and on whose further or southern side lies the widest part of el-Kaa, previously noticed as the "Wilderness of Sin." Seetzen remarks that Jebel Feirlan is not an individual mountain, but, like Sinai, a conspicuous group *(Reisen, *3:107; comp. 3:413). **1. **Serbal rises from a lower level than the Sinaitic group, and so stands out more fully. Dr. Stewart's account of its summit confirms that of Burckhardt. The former mounted from the northern side a narrow plateau at the top of the easternmost peak. A block of gray granite crowns it and several contiguous blocks form one or two grottoes, and a circle of loose stones rests in the narrow plateau at the top *(Tent and the Khan, *pages 117, 118). The "five peaks," to which "in most points of view it is reducible, at first sight appear inaccessible, but are divided by steep ravines filled with fragments of fallen granite." Dr. Stanley mounted "over smooth blocks of granite to the top of the third or central peak," amid which "innumerable shrubs, like sage or thyme, grew to the very summit." Here, too, his ascent was assisted by loose stones arranged by human hands. The peak divides into "two eminences," on "the highest of which, as on the back of some petrified tortoise, you stand, and overlook the whole peninsula" *(Sinai and Palestine, *pages 71, 72). Russegger says "the stone of the peak of Serbal is porphyry " *(Reisen, *3:276). Dr. Stewart mentions the extensive view from its summit of the mountains "which arise from the western shore of the gulf of Akabah," seen in, the north-east, and of the Sinaitic range, "closely packed" with the intermediate Jebel Wateith, "forming the most confused mass of mountain-tops that can be imagined" (pages 114, 115). His description of the ascent of the eastern peak is formidable. He felt a rarity of the air, and often had to climb or crawl flat on the breast. It was like "the ascent of a glacier, only of smooth granite, instead of ice." At a quarter of an hour from the summit he also "found a stair of blocks of granite, laid one above another on the surface of the smooth, slippery rock" (page 113). On the northern summit are visible the remains of a building, "granite fragments cemented with lime and mortar," and "close beside it three of those mysterious inscriptions," implying "that this summit was frequented by unknown pilgrims who used those characters '' *(Sinai and Palestine, *page 72). **2. **The approach to Jebel Musa fiom the west is only practicable on foot. It lies through Wady Solam and the Nikb Hawy, "Pass of the Wind," whose stair of rock leads to the second or higher stage of the great mountain labyrinth. Elsewhere this pass would be a roaring torrent. It is amid masses of rock, a thread of a stream just visible, and here and there forming clear pools, shrouded in palms, or leaving its clew to be traced only by rushes. From the head of this pass the cliff-front of Sinai comes in sight through "a long-continued plain between two precious mountain-ranges of black and yellow granite." This is the often-mentioned plain er-Rbheh. Deep gorges enter it on each side, and the convent and its gardens close the view. The ascent of Jebel Musa, which contains "high valleys with abundant springs," is by a long flight of rude steps winding through crags of granite. The cave and chapel "of Elias" are passed on the slope of the ascent, and the summit is marked by the ruins of a mosque and of a Christian church. But, Strauss adds, "the Mount of Moses rose in the south higher and higher still," and the point of this, Jehel Musa, eighty feet in diameter, is distant two hours and more from the plain below *(Sinai and Golgotha, *page 116). The Ras Sufsafeh seems a small, steep, and high mountlain, which is interposed between the slope of Jebel Musa and the plain; and from its position, surveys both the openings of es-Sheikh north-east and of er-Raheh north- west, which converge at its foot. Opposite to it, across the plain, is the Jebel Fureia, whose peak is cloven asunder, and the taller summit is again shattered and rent, and strewn, as by an earthquake, with its own fragments. The aspect of the plain between Jebel Fureia, which here forms a salient angle, wedging southwards, and the Ras Sufsafeh, is described as being, in conjunction with these mountains, wonderfully suggestive, both by its grandeur and its suitableness, for the giving and the receiving of the Law. "That such a plain should exist at all in front of such a cliff is so remarkable a coincidence with the sacred narrative, as to furnish a strong- internal argument, not merely of its identity with the scene, but of the scene itself having been described by an eye-witness" *(Sinai and Palestine, *pages 42, 43). The character of the Sinaitic granite is described by Seetzen *(Reisen, *3:86) as being (1) flesh-red with glass-colored quartz and black mica, and (2) grayish-white with abundance of the same mica. He adds that the first kind is larger-grained and handsomer than the second. Hamilton speaks of "long ridges of arid rock surrounding him in chaotic confusion on every side," and "the sharp broken peaks of granite far and near as all equally desolate?" *(Sinai, the Hedjaz, and Soudan, *page 31). This view of "granite peaks," so thickly and wildly set as to form "a labyrinth " to the eye, was what chiefly impressed Dr. Stanley in the view from the top of Jebel Musa *(Sinai and Palestine, *page 77). There the weather-beaten rocks are full of curious fissures and holes (page 46), the surface being "a granite mass cloven into deep gullies and basins" (page 76). Over the whole mountain the imagination of votaries has stamped the rock with tokens of miracle. The dendrites were viewed as memorials of the burning bush. In one part of the mountain is shown the impress of Moses' back, as he hid himself from the presence of God (ibid. page 30); in another the hoof-print of Mohammed's mule; in the plain below a rude hollow between contiguous blocks of stone passes for the mould of the head of the golden calf; while in the valley of the Leja, which runs parallel to and overhanging by the Jebel Musa's greatest length, into er-Ratheh, close to Ras-Sufsafeh, the famous "Stone of Moses" is shown "a detached mass from ten to fifteen feet high, intersected with wide slits or cracks.... with the stone between them worn away, as if by the dropping of water from the crack immediately above." This distinctness of the mass of the stone lends itself to the belief of the rabbis, that this "rock followed" the Israelites through the wilderness, which would not be the case with the non-detached offset of some larger cliff. The Koran also contains reference to "the rock with the twelve months for the twelve tribes of Israel," i.e., the aforesaid cracks in the stone, into which the Bedawin thrust grass as they mutter their prayers before it. Bishop Clayton accepted it as genuine, so did Whiston, the translator of Josephus; but it is a mere *lusus naturae; *and there is another fragment, "less conspicuous," in the same valley, "with precisely similar marks." In the pass of the Wady es-Sheikh is another stone, called the "Sent of Moses," described by Laborde *(Sinai and Palestine, *pages 46- 48, and notes). Seetzen adds, some paces beyond the "Stone of Moses" several springs, copious for a region so poor in water, have their source from under blocks of granite, one of which is as big as this "Stone of Moses." These springs gush into a very small dyke, and thence are conducted by a canal to supply water to a little fruit-garden.... Their water is pure and very good. On this canal, several paces below the basin, lies a considerably bigger block of granite than the "Stone of Moses," "and the canal runs round so close to its side as to be half-concealed by it" *(Reisen,* 3:95). He seems to argue that this appearance and half-concealment may have been made use of by Moses to procure belief in his; having produced the water miraculously, which existed before. But this is wholly inconsistent, as indeed is any view of this being the actual rock in Horeb," with his view of Rephidim as situated at el-Hessueh, the western extremity of the Wady Feiran. Equally at variance with the Scriptural narrative is the claim of a hole in er-Rtaheh, below Ras Sufsafeh, to be the "Pit of Korah," whose story belongs to another and far later stage of the march. **3. **On Mt. St. Catherine the principal interest is in the panorama of the whole peninsula which it commands, embraced by the converging horns of the Red Sea, and the complete way in which it overlooks the Jebel Musa, which, as seen from it, is by no means conspicuous, being about a thousand feet lower. Seelzen mounted by a path strewn with stones and blocks, having nowhere any steps, like those mentioned as existing at Serball, and remarks that jasper and porphyry chiefly constitute the mountain. He reached the highest point in three hours, including intervals of rest, by a hard, steep path, with toilsome clambering; but the actual time of ascending was only one hour and three quarters. The date-palm plantation of Tauris said to be visible from the top; but the haze prevailing at the time prevented this traveller from verifying it *(Reisen, *3:89-93). "The rock of the highest point of this mountain swells into the form of a human body, its arms swathed like that of a mummy, but headless — the counterpart, a it is alleged, of the corpse of the beheaded Egyptian saint.... Not improbably this grotesque figure furnishes not merely the illustration, but the origin, of the story "of St. Catherine's body being transported to the spot, after martyrdom, from Egypt, by angelic hands *(Sinai and Palestine, *page 45). **4. **The remaining principal mountain of this central cluster is named variously ed-Deir, "the Convent: "Bestin," from St. Episteme, the first abbess of the nunnery; "Solab," from "the Cross," which stands on its summit; and the "Mount of the Burning Bush," from a legend that a sunbeam shoots down, supposed miraculously, on one day in the year, through the mountain into the chapel "of the Burning Bush": (so called) in the convent *(ibid. *page 78). In the pass of the convent rocks arise on every side, in long succession, fantastically colored, gray, red, blue, bright yellow, and bronze, sometimes strangely marked with white lines of quartz or black bands of basalt; huge blocks worn into fantastic shapes... interrupt the narrow track, which successive ages have worn along the face of the precipice, or hanging overhead, threaten to overwhelm the traveller in their fall. The wady which contains this pass is called by the name of Shueib — a corruption of Hohab, the name of the father-in-law of Moses (ibid. pages 32, 33). At the foot of a mountain near the convent Seetzen noticed "a range of rocks of black horn-porphyry, of hornblende, and black jasper, and between their scrolls or volutes white quartz." The gardens, as has been noticed, are in sight from the approach through er-Raheh. Seetzen enlarges on their beauty, enhanced, of course, by the savage wild about them; "indeed, a blooming vegetation appears in this climate wherever there is winter" *(Reisen, *3:70, 73, 87). These proved capabilities of the soil are of interest in reference to the Mosaic and to every period. As regards the convent, the reader may be referred to Dr. Stanley's animated description of its character, the policy of its founder, and the quality of its inmates *(Sinai and Palestine, *pages 51-56). This traveller took three hours in the ascent. "In the recesses between the peaks was a ruined Bedawin village. On the highest level was a small natural basin, thickly covered with shrubs of myrrh — of all the spots of the kind that I saw, the best suited for the feeding of Jethro's flocks in the seclusion of the mountain" *(ibid. *page 78). He thought the prospect, however, from its summit inferior in various ways to any of the other views from the neighboring mountains, Serbal, St. Catherine, Jebel Musa, or Ras-Sufsafeh. **5. **Three or four days' journey south from Jebel Musa lies Jebel um- Shomer, which, although not quite so high as Mt. St. Catherine (the summit being 8449 feet high), may yet be said to be the culminating peak of the entire group. It was ascended by an English party in 1862, and still later by captain Palmer, of the exploration engineers. This mountain is connected in Arab legend with a romantic story of a fairy maiden's abode there, in whose honor one of its cliffs has received the name of Hajr el- Bint. The ascent is extremely laborious, but the view from the summit is extremely fine, embracing the Red Sea, the *gulfs *of Akabah and Suez, and the peaks and ridges between them, while Mt. St. Catherine bounds the scene on the north (see Palmer's *Desert of the Exodus, *page 202 sq.). **6. **The rocks, on leaving Sinai on the east for Akabah, are curiously intermingled, somewhat as in the opposite margin of the wadys Sidri and Mokatteb. Wady Seyll contains "hills of a conical shape, curiously slanting across each other, and with an appearance of serpentine and basalt. The wady.... then mounted a short rocky pass — of hills capped with sandstone — and entered on a plain of deep sand — the first we had encountered — over which were scattered isolated clumps of sandstone, with occasional chalk.... At the close of this plain an isolated rock, its high tiers rising out of lower tiers, like a castle." Here "the level ranges of et-Tih rose in front." Soon after, on striking down, apparently north-eastwards: "a sandy desert, amidst fantastic sandstone rocks, mixed with lilac and dull green, as if of tufa," succeeded. After this came a desert strewn with "fragments of the Tih," i.e., limestone, but "presently," in the "Wady Ghuzaleh," which turns at first nearly due northward, and then deflects westward, the "high granite rocks" reappeared; and in the Wady el-Ain "the rocks rise, red granite or black basalt, occasionally tipped as if with castles of sandstone to the height of about one thousand feet... and finally open on the sea. At the mouth of the pass are many traces of flood-trees torn down, land strewed along the sand *(ibid. *pages 80, 81). **III. ***Comparative Fertility*. — A most important general question is the extent to which this "wilderness" is capable of supporting animal and human life, especially when taxed by the consumption of such flocks and herds as the Israelites took with them from Egypt, and probably though we know not to what extent this last was supplied by the manna by the demand made on its resources by a host of from 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 souls. In answer to this question, "much," it has been observed *(Sinai and Palestine, *page 24), "may be allowed for the spread of the tribes of Israel far and wide through the whole peninsula, and also for the constant means of support from their own flocks and herds." Something, too, might be elicited from the undoubted fact that a population nearly, if not quite, equal to the whole permanent population of the peninsula does actually pass through the desert, in the caravan of the five thousand African pilgrims, on their way to Mecca. But, among these considerations, it is important to observe what indications there may be of the mountains of Sinai having ever been able to furnish greater resources than at present. These indications are well summed up by Ritter *(Sinai, *pages 926, 927). There is no doubt that the vegetation of the wadys has considerably decreased. In part, this would be an inevitable effect of the violence of the winter torrents. The trunks of palm-trees washed up on the shore of the Dead Sea, from which the living tree has now for many centuries disappeared, show what may have been the devastation produced among those mountains where the floods, especially in earlier times, must have been violent to a degree unknown in Palestine; while the peculiar cause — the impregnation of salt — which has preserved the vestiges of the older vegetation there, has here, of course, no existence. The traces of such a destruction were pointed out to Burckhardt *(Arab. *page 538) only the eastern side of Mount Sinai, as having occurred within half a century before his visit; also to Wellsted (2:15), as having occured near Tur, in 1832. In part, the same result has followed from the reckless waste of the Bedawin tribes — reckless in destroying and careless in replenishing. A fire, a pipe, lit under a grove of desert trees, may clear away the vegetation of a whole valley. The acacia-trees have been of late years ruthlessly destroyed by the Bedawin for the sake of charcoal, which forms "the chief, perhaps it might be said the only, traffic of the peninsula" *(Sinai and Palestine, *page 24). Thus, the clearance of this tree in the mountains where it abounded once, and its decrease in the neighbor groups in which it exists still, is accounted four, since the monks appear to have aided the devastation. Vegetation, where maintained, nourishes water and keeps alive its own life, and no attempts to produce vegetation anywhere in this desert seem to have failed. "The gardens at the wells of Moses, under the French and English agents from Suuez, and the gardens in the valleys of Jebel Musa, under the care of the Greek monks of the Convent of St. Catherine," are conspicious examples *(ibid. *page 26). Besides a traveller in the 16th century calls the Wady er-Raheh, in front of the convent, now entirely bare, "a vast *green *plain" (Monconys). In this wilderness, too, abode Amalek, "the first of the nations," powerful enough seriously to imperil the passage of the Israelites through it, and importantly contributing to subsequent history under the monarchy. Besides them we have "king Arad the Canaanite, who dwelt in the south," i.e., apparently on the terrace of mountain overhanging the Ghor near Masada on the Dead Sea, in a region now wholly desolate. If his people were identical with the Ammorites or Canaanites of Nu 14:43; De 1:44, then, besides the Amalekites of Ex 17:8, We have *one *other host within the limits of what is now desert who fought. with Israel on equal or superior terms; and, if they are not identical, we have *two *such (Nu 14:40-45; Nu 21:1; Nu 33:40: De 1:43-44). These must have been "something more than a mere handful of Bedawin. The Egyptian copper-mines, monuments, and hieroglyphics in Surabit el-Khadim and the Wady Mughara imply a degree of intercourse between Egypt and the peninsula "in a period probably older than the Exodus," of which all other traces have long ceased. The ruined cities of Edom, in the mountains east of the Arabah, andl the remains and history of Petra itself, indicate a traffic and a population in these remote regions which now is almost inconceivable" *(Sinai and Palestine, *page 26). Even the 6th and 7th centuries A.D. showed traces of habitation, some of which still remain in ruined cells and gardens, etc., far exceeding the tale told by present facts. Seetzen, in what is perhaps as arid and desolate a region is any in the whole desert, asked his guide to mention all the neighboring places whose names he knew. He received a list of sixty-three places in the neighborhood of Madarah, Petra, and Akabah, and of twelve more in the Ghores-Saphia, of which total of seventy-five all save twelve are now abandoned to the desert, and have retained nothing save their names — "a proof," he remarks, "that in very early ages this region was extremely populous, and that the furious rage with which the Arabs, both before and after the age of Mohammed, assailed the Greek emperors, was able to convert into a waste this blooming region, extending from the limit of the Hedjaz to the neighborhood of Damascus" *(Reisen, *3:17, 18). Thus the same traveller in the same journey (from Hebron to Madarah) entered a wady called el-Jemeu, where was no trace of water save moist spots in the sand, but on making a hole with the hand it was quickly full of water, good and drinkable *(ibid. *page 13). The same, if saved in a cistern, and served out by sluices, might probably have clothed the bare wady with verdure. This is confirmed by his remark *(ibid. *page 83) that a blooming vegetation shows itself in this climate wherever there is water, as well as by the example of the tank system as practiced in Hindustan. He also notices that there are quicksands in many spots of the Debbet er-Ramleh, which it is difficult to understand, unless as caused by accumulations of water *(ibid. *page 67). Similarly in the desert Wady el-Kudeis, between Hebron and Sinai, he found a spot of quicksand with sparse shrubs growing in it *(ibid. *page 48). Now the question is surely a pertinent one, as compared with that of the subsistence of the flocks and herds of the Israelites during their wanderings, how the sixty-three perished communities named by Seetzen's guide can have supported themselves? It is pretty certain that fish cannot live in the Dead Sea, nor is there any reason for thinking that these extinct towns or villages were in any large proportion near enough to its waiters to avail themselves of its resources, even if such existed. To suppose that the country could ever have supported extensive coverts for game is to assume the most difficult of all solutions of the question. The creatures that find shelter about the rocks, as hares, antelopes, gazelles, jerboas, and the lizards that burrow in the sand (el-dsobb), alluded to by this traveller in several places (3:67; comp. 3:415-442, and Laborde, *Comm. on Numbers *33:42), are far too few, to judge from appearances, to do more than eke out subsistence, the staple of which must have been otherwise supplied; and the same remark will apply to such casual windfalls as swarms of odible locusts, or flights of quails. Nor can the memory of these places be probably connected with the distant period when Petra, the commercial metropolis of the Nabathseans, enjoyed the carrying trade between the Levant and Egypt westwards, and the rich communities farther east. There is, least of all, reason for supposing that by the produce of mines, or by asphalt gathered from the Dead Sea, or by any other native commodities, they can ever have enjoyed a commerce of their own. We are thrown back, then, upon the supposition that they must in some way have supported themselves from the produce of the soil. And the produce for which it is most adapted is either that of the date-palm, or that too which earlier parallels point, as those of Jethro and the Kenlies, and of the various communities in the southern border of Judah (Nu 34:4-5; Jos 15:3-4; 1Sa 30:27-31 ), viz., that of pasturage for flocks and herds, a possibility which seems solely to depend on adequately husbanding the water supplied by the rains. This tallies with the use of the word מדבָּר , for "wilderness," i.e., "wide open space, with or without actual pasture, the country of the nomads, as distinguished from that of the agricultural and settled people" *(Sinai and Palestine, *page 486, App. § 9). There seems, however, to be implied in the name a capacity for pasturage, whether actually realized or not. This corresponds, too, with the "thin," or rather "transparent coating of vegetation," seen to clothe the greater part of the Sinaitic wilderness in the present day *(ibid. *pages 16, 22), and which furnishes an initial minimum from which human fostering hands might extend the prospect of possible resources up to a point as far in excess of present facts as were the numbers of the Israelitish host above the six thousand Bedawin computed now to form the population of the desert. As regards the date-palm, has elquist speaks as though it alone afforded the means of life to some existing Arab communities. Hamilton *(Sinai, *page 17) says that in his path by the Wady Hebran, towards the modern Sinai, "small clumps of uncultivated date-trees rise between the granite walls of the pass, wherever the winter torrents have left sufficient detritus for their nourishment." Again, after describing the pass of the Convent, he continues, "beneath lies a veritable chaos, through which now trickles a slender thread of water, where in winter rushes down a boiling torrent" (ibid. page 19). It is hardly too much to affirm that the resources of the desert, under a careful economy of nature's bounty, might be to its present means of subsistence, as that winter torrent's volume to that summer streamlet's slender thread. In the Wady Hebran this traveller found "a natural bath," formed in the granite by the 'Ain Hebrain, called "the Christians' pool" *(ibid. *page 17). Two thirds of the way up the Jebel Musa he came upon "a frozen streamlet" *(ibid. *page 30); and Seetzen, on April 14, found snow lying about in sheltered clefts of Mt. St. Catherine, where the rays of the sun could not penetrate (3:92). Hamilton encountered on the Jeblel-Musa a thunderstorm, with "heavy rain " *(Sinai, *page 16). There seems on the whole no deficiency of precipitation. Indeed, the geographical situation would rather bespeak a copious supply. Any southerly wind must bring at fair amount of watery vapor from the Red Sea, or from one of its expanding arms, which embrace the peninsula on either side, like the blades of a forfex; while at no greater distance than one hundred and forty miles northward roll the waters of the Mediterranean, supplying, we may suppose, their quota, which the much lower ranges of the Tih and Ojme cannot effectually intercept. Nor is there any such shelter from rain-clouds on either of the gulfs of Suez and Akabah, as the long line of mountains on the eastern flank of Egypt, which screens the rain supply of the former from reaching the valley of the Nile. On the contrary, the conformation of the peninsula, with the high wedge of granitic mountains at its core, would rather receive and condense the vapors from either gulf, and precipitate their bounty over the lower faces of mountain and troughs of wady, interposed between it and the sea. It is much to be regretted that the low intellectual condition of the monks forbids any reasonable hope of adequate meteorological observations to check these merely probable arguments with trustworthy statements of fact; but in the absence of any such register, it seems only fair to take reasonable probabilities fully into view. Yet some significant facts are not wanting to redeem in some degree these probabilities from the ground of mere hypothesis. "In two of the great wadys" which break the wilderness on the coast of the gulf of Suez, "Ghurundel, and Useit, with its continuation of the Wady Tayibeh, tracts of vegetation are to be found in considerable luxuriance." The wadys leading dowin from the Sinai range to the gulf of Akuabah " furnish the same testimony, in a still greater degree," as stated by Ruiippell, Miss Martineau, Dr. Robinson, and Burckhardt. "In three spots, however, in the desert... this vegetation is brought by the concurrence of the general configuration of the country, to a still higher pitch. By far the most remarkable collection of springs is that which renders the clusters of the Jebel Musa the chief resort of the Bedawin tribes during the summer heats. Four abundant sources in the mountains immediately above the convent of St. Catherine must always have made that region one of the most frequented of the desert.... Oases (analagous to that of Ammon in the western desert of the Nile) are to be found wherever the waters from the different wadys or hills, whether from winter streams or from such living springs as have just been described, converge to a common reservoir. One such oasis in the Sinaitic desert seems to be the palm-grove of el-Wady at Tur, described by Burckhardt as so thick that he could hardly find his way through it *(Sinai and Palestine, *page 19, note 1; see Burckhardt, *Arab, *2:362). The other and the more important is the wady Feirnfm, high up in the table-land of Sinai itself" *(ibid. *pages 18, 19). Now, what nature has done in these favored spots might surely be seconded in others by an ample population, familiarized, to some extent, by their sojourn in Egypt with the most advanced agriculturists of the then world, and guided by an able leader who knew the country, and found in his wife's family others who knew it even better than he (Nu 10:31). It is thus supposable that the language of Ps 107:35-38, is based on no mere pious imagery, but on actual fact: "He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into water-springs. And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation; and sow the fields and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase. He blesseth them so that they are multiplied greatly; and *suffereth not their cattle to decrease." *Thus we may find an approximate basis of reality for the enhanced poetic images of Isaiah (41:19; 45:13). Palestine itself affords abundant tokens of the resources of nature so husbanded, as in the artificial "terraces of which there are still traces to the very summits" of the mountains, and some of which still, in the Jordan valley, "are occupied by masses of vegetation — *(Sinai and Palestine, *pages 138, 297). In favored spots wild luxuriance testifies to the extent of the natural resources, as in the wadys of the coast, and in the plain of Jericho, where "far and wide extends the green circle of tangled thickets, in the midst of which are the hovels of the modern village, beside which stood, in ancient times, the great city of Jericho " *(ibid. *page 306). From this plain alone, a correspondent of the British consul at Jaffa asserts that he could feed the whole population of modern Syria *(Cotton Supply Reporter, *June 14, 1862). But a plantation redeemed from the wilderness is ever in the position of a besieged city; when once the defence of the human garrison is withdrawn, the fertility stimulated by its agency must obviously perish by the invasion of the wild. So we may probably suppose that, from numberless tracts, this temporarily rescued from barrenness, in situations only moderately favorable, the traces of verdure have vanished, and the desert has reclaimed its own; or that there the soil only betrays its latent capacity by an unprofitable dampness of the sand. Seetzen, on the route from Hebron to Sinai, after describing an "immense flinty plain," the" dreariest and most desolate solitude," observes that, "as soon as the rainy season is over and the warm weather sets in, the pits (of rain-water) dry up, and it becomes uninhabitable," as "there are no brooks or springs here" (3:55, 56). Dr. Stewart *(Tent and the Khan, *pages 14, 15) says of the Wady Ahthi, which he would identify with Etham (Ex 13:20; Nu 33:6), "sand-hills of considerable height separate it from the sea, and prevent the winter rains from running off rapidly. A considerable deposit of rich alluvial loam is the result, averaging from two to four inches in thickness, by sowing upon which immediately after the rains the Bedawin could certainly reap a rich harvest; but they affect to despise all agricultural labor... "Yet," he adds, "the region never could have supplied food by its own natural vegetation for so great a multitude of flocks and herds as followed in the train of the Israelites." This seems rather a precipitate sentence; for one can hardly tell what its improved condition under ancient civilization may have yielded, from merely seeing what it now is, after being overrun for centuries by hordes of contemptuous Bedawin. Still, as regards the general question, we are not informed what numbers of cattle followed the Israelites out of Egypt. We only know that "flocks and herds" went with them, were forbidden to graze "before the mount" (Sinai), and shared the fortunes of the desert with their owners. It further appears that, at the end of the forty years' wandering, two tribes and a half were the chief, perhaps the only, cattle-masters. And, when we consider how greatly the long and sore bondage of Egypt must have interfered with their favorite pursuit during the eighty years of Moses' life before the Exode, it seems reasonable to think that in the other tribes only a few would have possessed cattle on, leaving Egypt. The notion of a people "scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt" (Ex 5:12), in pursuit of wholly different and absorbing labor, being able generally to maintain their wealth as sheep-masters is obviously absurd. It is therefore supposable that Reuben, Gad, and a portion of Manasseh had, by remoteness of local position, or other favorable circumstances to us unknown, escaped the oppressive consequences to their flocks and herds which must have generally prevailed. We are not told that the lambs at the first passover were obtained from the flock of each family, but only that they were bidden to "draw out and take a lamb for an house" — a direction quite consistent in many, perhaps in most cases, with purchase. Hence it is probable that these two tribes and a half may have been the chief cattle- masters first as well as last. If they had enough cattle to find their pursuit in tending them, and the others had not, economy would dictate a transfer; and the whole multitude of cattle would probably fare better by such an arrangement than by one which left a few head scattered up and down in the families of different tribes. Nor is there any reason to think that the whole of the forty years' sorjourn was spent in such locomotion as marks the more continuous portion of the narrative. The great gap in the record of events left by the statement of De 1:46, "Ye abode in Kadesh many days," may be filled up by the supposition of quarters established in a favorable site, and the great bulk of the whole time may have been really passed in such stationary encampments. And here, if two tribes and a half only were occupied in tending cattle, some resource of labor, to avoid the embarrassing temptations of idleness in a host so large and so disposed to murmur, would be, in a human sense, necessary. Nor can any so probable an occupation be assigned to the remaining nine and a half tribes, as that of drawing from the wilderness whatsoever contributions it might be made to afford. From what they had seen in Egypt, the work of irrigation would be familiar to them, and from the prospect before them in Palestine the practice would at some time become necessary: thus there were on the whole the soundest reasons for not allowing their experience, if possible, to lapse. Irrigation being supposed, there is little, if any, difficulty in supposing its results; to the spontaneousness of which ample testimony, from various travellers, has been cited above. At any rate it is unwise to decide the question of the possible resources of the desert from the condition to which the apathy and fastidiousness of the Bedawin have reduced it in modern times. On this view, while the purely pastoral tribes would retain their habits unimpaired, the remainder would acquire some slight probation in those works of the field which were to form the staple industry of their future country. But, if any one still insists that the produce of the desert, however supposably improved, could never have yielded support for all "the flocks and herds" — utterly indefinite as their number is — which were carried thither; this need not invalidate the present argument, much less be deemed inconsistent with the Scriptural narrative. There is nothing in the latter to forbid our supposing that the cattle perished in the wilderness by hundreds or by thousands. Even if the words of Ps 107:38, be taken in a sense literally, historical, they need mean no more than that, by the time they reached the borders of Palestine, the number so lost had, by a change of favorable circumstances, been replaced, perhaps even by capture from the enemy, over whom God, and not their own sword, had given them the victory. All that is contended for is that the resources of the wilderness were doubtless utilized to the utmost, and that the flocks and herds, so far as they survived, were so kept alive. What those resources might amount to, is perhaps nearly as indefinite an inquiry as what was the number of the cattle. The difficulty would "find its level" by the diminuation of the latter till it fell within the limits of the former; and in this balanced state we must be content to leave the question. Nor ought it to be left out of view, in considering any arguments regarding the possible change in the character of the wilderness, that Egyptian policy certainly lay, on the whole, in favor of extending the desolation to their own frontier on the Suez side; for thus they would gain the surest protection against invasion on their most exposed border; and as Egypt rather aimed at the development of a high internal civilization than an extension of influence by foreign conquest, such a desert frontier would be to Egypt a cheap defence. Thus we may assume that the Pharaohs, at any rate after the rise of the Assyrian empire, would discern their interest and would act upon it, and that the felling of wood and stopping of wells, and the obliteration, wherever possible, of oases, would systematically make the peninsula untenable to a hostile army descending from the north-east or the north. **IV. ***Natural History*. — The domestic cattle of the Bedawin will of course be found here, but camels more numerously in the drier tracts of et-Tih. Schubert *(Reisen, *2:354) speaks of Sinai as not being frequented by any of the larger beasts of prey, nor even by jackals. The lion has become very rare, but is not absolutely unknown in the region *(Negeb, *pages 46, 47). Foxes and hyenas, Ritter (14:333) says, are rare, but Mr. Tyrwhitt mentions hyenas as common in the Wady MughAra; and Ritter (ibid.), on the authority of Burckhardt, ascribes to the region a creature which appears to be a cross between a leopard and a wolf, both of which are rare in the. peninsula, but by which probably a hyena is to be understood. A leopard-skin was obtained by Burckhardt on Sinai, and a fine leopard is stated by Mr. Tyrwhitt to have been seen by some of his party in their ascent of um-Shomer in 1862. Schubert continues his list in the *hyrax Syriacus, *the ibex — seen at Tufileh in flocks of forty or fifty together, and a pair of whose horns, seen by Burckhardt *(Arab. *pages 405, 406) at Kerek, measured three and a half feet in length — the webr, the shrew- mouse, and a creature which he calls the "spring-mamus" *(mus jaculus *or jerboa?), also a *canis famelicus, *or desert-fox, and a lizard known as the *Agama Sinaitica, *which may possibly be identical with one of those described below. Hares and jerboa are found in Wady Feiran. Schubert quotes (ibid. note) Riippell as having found specimens of *Helix *and of *Coccinella *in this wilderness; for the former, comp. Forskal. *icones Rerum Natur. *Tab. 16. Schubert saw a fine eagle in the same region, besides catching specimens of thrush, with stonechat and other song-birds, and speaks of the warbling of the birds as being audible from the *Mimosa *bush. Clouds of birds of passage were visible in the Wady Murrah. Near the same tract of wilderness Dr. Stanley ,saw "the sky darkened by the flights of innumerable birds, which proved to be large red-legged cranes, three feet in height, with black and white wings measuring seven feet from tip to tip" *(Sinai and Palestine, *page 82). At Tufileh crows abound. On Serbal Dr. Stewart saw the red-legged partridge *(Tent and Khan, *page 117; comp. Burckhardt, *Syria, *page 354); and the bird "katta," in some parts of the peninsula, comes in such numbers that boys sometimes kick over three or four at single throw of a stick. Hasselquist, who saw it here and in Egypt, calls it a partridge, smaller than ours, and of a grayish color (page 204). Ritter (14:333) adds linnets(?), ducks, prairie-birds, heath-cocks, larks, a specimen of finch, besides another small bird, probably redbreast or chaiffinch, the varieties of falcon known as the Brachydactyblus and the Niger, and, of course, on the coast, sea-swallows and mews. Flocks of blue rock pigeons were repeatedly seen by Mr. Tyrwhitt. Seetzen, going from Hebron to Mladura, makes mention of the following, animals, whose names were mentioned by his guides, though he does not say that any of them were seen by himself: wolf, porcupine, wild-cat, ounce, mole, wild-ass, and three not easily to be identified, the *Sellek, *doe- shaped, the *Anasch, *which devours the gazelle, and the *Ikkajib, *said to be small and in shale like a hedgehog. Seetzen's list in this locality also includes certain reptiles, of which such as can be identified are explained in the notes: *el-Melledsha, Um el-Zleiman, el-Lidsha or Leja, el-Harraba *or *Hirba, Jerrar or Jarrareh, el-Dab, *otherwise *Dude, el-Hanne *or *Hanan, el-Leffea; *and among birds the partridge, duck, stork, eagle, a vulture *(rRakham), crow (el-Grab), *kite *(Hidayeh), *and an unknown bird called by him *Um-Salet. *His guides told him of ostriches as seen near *Bteiaha *on the way from Hebron to Sinai, anld he saw a nightingale, but it seems at no great distance to the south of Hebron. The same writer also mentions the edible lizard, *el-Dsob, *as frequently found in most parts of the wilderness, and his third volume has an appendix on zoology, particularly describing, and often with illustrations, many reptiles and serpents of Egypt and Arabia, without, however, pointing out such as are peculiar to the wilderness. Among these are thirteen varieties of lizard, twenty-one of serpent, and seven of frog, besides fifteen of Nile-fish. Laborde speaks of serpents, scorpions, and black-scaled lizards, which perforate the sand, as found on the eastern border of Edom near Tufileh *(Commt. on Numbers* 33:42). The MS. of Mr. Tyrwhitt speaks of starting "a large sand-colored lizard, about three feet long, exactly like a crocodile, with the same bandy look about his fore-legs, the elbows turning nut enormously." He is described as covered not only "in scales, but in a regular armor, which rattled quite loudly as he ran." He "got up before the dromedary, and vanished into a hole among some *retem." *This occurred at the head of the Wady Mokatteb. Hasselquist (page 220) lives a *Lacerta Scincus, *"the Scine," as found in Arabia Petrea, near the Red Sea, as well as in Upper Egypt, which he says is much used by the inhabitants of the East as an aphrodisiac, the flesh of the animal being given in powder, and in loth. He also mentions the edible locust, *Gryllus Arabicus, *which appears to be common in the wilderness, as in other parts of Arabia, giving an account of the preparation of it for food (pages 230-233). Burckhardt names a cape not far from Akabah, Ras Um Haye, from the number of serpents which abound there, and accordingly applied to this rergiou the description of the "fiery serpents" in Nu 21:4-9. Schubert (2:362) remarked the first serpents in going from Suez and Sinai to Petra, near el-Hudherah; he describes them as speckled. Burckhatrdt *(Syria, *pages 499, 502) saw tracks of serpents, two inches thick, in the sand. According to Riippell, serpents elsewhere in the peninsula are rare. He names two poisonous kinds, *Cerastes *and *Scytalis *(Ritter, 14:329). The scorpion has given his name to the "Ascent of Scorpions," which was part of the boundary of Judah on the side of the southern desert. Wady es-Zuweirah, in that region, swarmed with them; and De Saulcy says "you cannot turn over a single pebble in the Nejd (a branch wady) without finding one under it" (De Saulcy, 1:529, quoted in *Negeb, *page 51). The reader who is curious about the fish, mollusc;, etc., of the gulf of Suez should consult Schubert (2:263 note; 298 note; and for the plants of the same coast, 294 note). For a description of the coral-banks of the Red Sea, see Ritter (14:476 sq.), who remarks that these formations rise from in the coast-edge always in longitudinal extension parallel to its line, bespeaking a fundamental connection with the upheaval of the whole stretch of shore from south-east to north-west. A fish which Seetzen calls the *Alum *may be mentioned as furnishing to the Bedawin the fish-skin sandals of which they are fond. Ritter (14:3127) thinks that fish may have contributed materially to the sustenance of the Israelites in the desert (Nu 11:22), as they are now dried and salted for sale in Cairo or at the Convent of St. Catherine. In a brook near the foot of Serbal, Schubert saw some varieties of *Elaphrus, Dyticus, Colymbetes, Gyrinus, *and other water insects (Reisen, 2:302 note). As regards the flora of the desert, the most frequently found trees are the date-palm *(Phoenix dactylifera), *the desert acacia, and the tamarisk. The palms are almost always dwarf, as described in *Sinai and Palestine, *page 20, but sometimes the *"dom *" palm is seen, as on the shore of the gulf of Akabah (Schubert, 2:370; comp. Robinson, 1:161). Hasselquist, speaking of the date-palm's powers of sustenance says that some of the poorer families in Upper Egypt live on nothing else, the very stones being ground into a provender for the dromedary. This tree is often found in tufts of a dozen or more together, the dead and living boughs interlacing overhead, the dead and living roots intertwining below, and thus forming a canopy in the desert. The date-palms in Wady Tur are said to be all numbered and registered. The acacia is the *Mimosa Nilotica, *and this forms the most common vegetation of the wilderness. Its Arabic name is *es-Seyal, *and it is generally supposed to have furnished the "Shittim wood" for the Tabernacle (Forskal, *Deser. Plant. *Cent. 6, No. 90; Celsius, *Hierobot.* 1:498 sq.; Ritter, 14:335 sq.). *SEE SHITTAH-TREE*. It is armed with fearful thorns, which sometimes tear the packages on the camels' backs, and of course would severely lacerate man or beast. The gum arabic is gathered from this tree, on which account it is also called the *Acacia gummifera. *Other tamarisks, beside the *mannifera, *mentioned above, are found in the desert. Grass is comparatively rare, but its quantity varies with the season. Robinson, on finding some in Wady Sumghy, north-east firom Sinai, near the gulf of Akalah, remarks that it was the first his party had seen since leavinug the Nile. The terebinth *(Pistachia teirebinthus, *Arab. *Butm) *is well known in the wadys about Beersheba, but in the actual wilderness it hardly occurs. For a full description of it see Robinson, 2:222, 223, and notes, also 1:208, and comp. Celsius, *Hierobot. *1:34. The "broom," of the variety known as *retem *(Heb. and Arab.), rendered in the authorized version by "juniper," is a genuine desert plain; it is described (Robinson, 1:203 and note) as the largest and most conspicuous shrub therein, having very bitter roots, and yielding a quantity of excellent charcoal, which is the staple, if one may so say, of the desert. The following are mentioned by Schlubert (2:352-354) as found within the limits of the wilderness: *Mespilus Aaronia, Colutea haleppica, Atraphaxis spinosa, Ephedra alaba, Cytisus uniflorus, *and a *Cynamorium, *a highly interesting variety, compared by Schubert to a well-known Maltese one. To these he adds in a note (ibid.): *Dactylis memphitica, Gagea reticulata, Rumex vesicarius, Artemisia Judaica, Leyssera discoidea, Santolina fragrantissima, Seriola, Lindenbergia Sinaica, Lamium amplexicaule, Stachys affinis, Sisymbrium iris, Anchusa Milleri, Asperugo procumbens, Omphalodes intermedia, Daemia cordata, Reseda canescens *and *pruinosa, Reaumuria vermiculata, Fumaria parviflora, Hypecoum pendulum, Cleome trinervis, AErua tomentosa, Malva Honbezey, Fagonia, Zygophyllum coccineum, Astragalus Fresenii, Genista monosperma. *Schubert (2:357) also maentions, as found near Abu Suweil, north-east of Sinai, a kind of sage, and of what is probably goat's-rue, also (note, ibid.) a fine variety of *Astragalus, *together with *Linaria, Lotus Cynosurus echinatus, Bromus tectorum, *and (page 365) two varieties of *Pergularia, *the *Procera *and the *Tomentosa.* In the south-west region of the Dead Sea grows the singular tree of the apples of Sodom, the *Asclepias gigantea *of botanists. Dr. Robinson, who gives a full description of it (1:522, 523), says it might be taken for a gigantic species of the milk-weed or silk-weed found in the northern regions of the United States. He condemns the notion of Hasselquist (pages 285, 287, 288) as an error, that the fruit of the *Solanum melongela, *when punctured by a tenthredo, resulted in the Sodom apple. retaining the skin uninjured, but wholly changed to dust within (ibid. page 524). It is the *'Osher *of the Arabs. Robinson also mentions willows, hollyhocks, and hawthorns in the Sinaitic region, from the first of which the *Ras Sufsafeh, *"willowhead," takes its name (1:106, 109: Stanley, *Sinai and Palestine, *page 17). He saw hyssop *(Jadeh) *in abundance, and thyme *(Zater), *and in the Wady Feiran the colocynth, the *Kirdhy *or *Kirdi, *a green thorny plant with a yellow flower; and in or near the Arabah, the juniper *('Arar), *the oleander *(Difleh), *and another shrub like it, the *Zaknam, *as also the plant *el-Ghiddah, *resembling the *Retem, *but larger (1:110, 83; 2:124, 126, 119 and note). He also describes the *Ghurkad, *which has been suggested as possibly the "tree" cast by Moses into the waters of Marah (Ex 15:25). It grows in saline regions of intense heat, bearing a small red berry, very juicy, and slightly acidulous. Being constantly found among brackish pools, the "bane and antidote" would thus, on the above supposition, be side by side, but as the fruit ripens in June, it could not have been ready for its supposed use in the early days of the Exodus (Robinson, 1:66-09). He adds in a note that Forskal gives it *(Flor. Egypt. Arab. *page 66), as the *Peganumn retusmrn, *but that it is more correctly the *Nitraria tridentata *of Desfonltaines *(Flora Egypt Arab. *1:372). The mountain Um Shomer takes its name from the fennel found upon it, as perhaps may Serbal from the *Ser, *myrrh, which "creeps over its ledges up to the very summit" — a plant noticed by Dr. Stanley as "thickly covering" with its "shrubs" the "natural basin" which surmounts ed-Deir, and as seen in the Wady Seyal, northeast from Sinai *(Sinai and Palestine, *pages 17, 78-80). Dr. Stanley also notices the wild thorn, from which the Wady Sidri takes its name, the fig-tree which entitles another wady the "Father of Fig-trees " *(Abi Hamad), *and in the Wady Seyal, "a yellow flowering shrub called *Abeithiran, *and a blue, thorny plant called *Silleh*." Again, north-eastwards, in Wady el-'Ain were seen "rushes, the large-leaved plant called *Esher," *and farther down the *"Lasaf, *or caper tplant, springing from the clefts." Seetzen's *mesembryanthemum *is noticed by Forskal who adds that no herb is more common in sandy desert localities than the second, the *nodiflorum, *called in Arabic the *ghasul. *Hasselquist speaks of a *mesemb *which he calls the "fig-marigold," as found in the ruins of Alexandria; its agreeable saltish- aromatic flavor, and its use by the Egyptians in salads, accord closely with Seetzen's description. Seetzen gives also Arabic names of two plants, one called *Ickedum *by the guides, described as the size of heath, with blue flowers; the other named *Subbh-el-dich, *found to the north of Wady el- 'Ain, which had a club-shaped sappy root, ranged a foot high above the earth, having scales instead of leaves, and covered, when he saw it, with large, golden flowers, clinging close together, till it seemed like a little ninepin (Kegel). Somewhat to the south of this he observed the "rose of Jericho" growing in the dreamiest and most desolate solitude, and which appears always to be dead *(Reisen, *3:46, 54). In the region about Madurat he also found what he calls "Christ's-thorn," Arab. *el-Aussitch, *and an anonymous plant with leaves broader than a tulip, perhaps the *Esher *mentioned above. The following list of plants between Hebron and Madura is also given by Seetzen, having probably been written down by him from hearing them pronounced by his Bedawin guides, and some accordingly it has not been possible to identify with any known names — *el-Khurrdy, el- Bureid, *a hyacinth, whose small pear-shaped bulb is eaten raw by the Bedawin, *el-Arta, el-Dscherra, el-Sphara *(or *Zafrsa?), el-Erbian, el- Gdime, Schekera (or Shakooreeyeh), el-Metnan, *described as a small shrub, *el-Hmim, el-Schillueh, *possibly the same as that called *Silleh, *as above, by Dr. Stanley, *el-Khala *(or *Khal), el-Handeguk *(or *Handakook), el-Liddemma, el-Haddad, Kali, Addan el-Hammar *(or *'Adan el-Himar). *Some more rare plants, precious on account of their products, are the following: *Balsamum Aaronis, *or *nux behen, *called by the Arabs *Festuck el-Ban, *from which an oil is extracted having no perfume of its own, bult scented at pleasure with jasmine or other odoriferous leaf, etc., to make a choice unguent. It is found in Mount Sinai and Upper Egypt — *Cucurbita Lagenaria, *Arab. *Charrah, *found in Egypt and the deserts of Arabia, wherever the mountains are covered with rich soil. The tree producing the famous balsam called "of Mecca," is found many days' journey from that place, in Arabia Petraea. Linnaeus, after some hesitation, decided that it was a species of *Amyris. *The *olibanum *frankinceense is mentioned by Hasselquist as a product of the desert; but the producing tree appears to be the same as that which yields the gum arabic, viz., the *Mimosa nilotica, *mentioned above. The same writer mentions the *Schoenanthus officinalis, *"camel's hay," as growing plentifully in the deserts of both the Arabias, and regards it as undoubtedly one of the precious aromatic and sweet plants which the queen of Sheba; gave to Solomon (Hasselquist, pages 255, 288, 296, 297; comp. pages 250, 251, 300). Fuller details on the facts of natuial history of the region will be found in the writers referred to, and some additional authorities may be found in Sprengel, *Historia Frei Herb. *volume 2. Besides these, the cultivation of the ground by the Sinaitic monks has enriched their domain with the choicest fruit-trees, and with a variety of other trees. The produce of the former is famed in the markets of Cairo. The cypresses of the convent are visible far away among the mountains; and there is a single conspicuous one near the "cave of Elias" on Jebel Musa. Besides, they have the silver and the common poplar, with other trees, for timber or ornament. The apricot, apple, pear, quince, almond, walnut, pomegranate, olive, vine, citrus, orange, cornelian cherry, and two fruits named in the Arabic *Shelluk *and *Barguk, *have been successfully naturalized there (Robinson, 1:94; Seetzen, 3:70, etc.; Hasselquist, page 425; *Sinai and Palestine, *page 52). Dr. Stanley views these as mostly introduced from Europe; Hasselquist, on the contrary, views them as being the originals whence the finest varieties we have in Europe were first brought. Certainly, nearly all the above trees are common enough in the gardens of Palestine and Damascus. *SEE SINAI*.

Wiley, Allen, D.D. a Methodist Episcopal divine, was born in Frederick County, Va., Jan. 15,1789. He removed to Indiana with his parents in 1804; was brought into the Church under the ministry of Rev. Moses Crume in 1810; licensed to exhort Sept. 10. 1811, and to preach July-10, 1813, and was admitted on trial in the Ohio Conference in 1817. "The commencement of his itinerancy was the beginning of a career of great and permanent usefulness." Eleven years he spent in traveling extensive circuits; for fourteen years he acted as presiding elder, and for five years he was stationed in the principal large towns. He was chosen delegate to each General Conference from 1832 to 1844. He died at Vevay, Ind., July 23, 1848. Dr. Wiley was a man of God, mighty in the Scriptures, able and successful as a minister. For a number of years he read the Scriptures in the Hebrew, Latin, and Greek languages. "He was one of the active founders and patrons of the Indiana Asbury University, and held for many years the position of trustee. He wrote for the *Western Christian Advocate *a number of articles on Ministerial Character and Duties, which were subsequently collected and published in a separate work, and are now contained in the account of his *Life and Times, *written by Dr. F. C. Holliday." See *Minutes. of Annual Conferences, 4:*295; Simpson, *Cyclop. of Methodism, *s.v.; Sprague, *Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, *7:569. (J. L. S.)

Wiley, Charles, D.D. a Presbyterian minister, was born at Flatbush, L. I., May 30, 1810. He was the second son of Charles Wiley, bookseller and publisher in New York City. After the usual school preparation, he entered Columbia College in 1825, and remained as a student there until the death of his father, in 1826. He then entered the law-office of Griffen and Strong, a well-known law firm in Wall Street, and pursued the study of the law with ardor and much promise of success. During the religious revival of 1828-29 he joined Dr. Joel Parker's Church, and resolved to become a minister of the Gospel. In 1831 he entered Princeton College, and in 1832:went to the Theological Seminary at Auburn, N.Y., graduating in 1835 after a full course of three years. He became a resident licentiate there, and after spending a short time at New Haven, Conn., was in 1837 ordained and installed as pastor of the Congregational Church at Northampton, Mass., where he remained eight years. In 1845 he was installed over the Reformed Dutch Church at Utica, N.Y., where he remained until 1855. In that year he was appointed president of Milwaukee University, and held that position for several years; but the financial crisis of 1857 made it impossible for that institution to sustain competition with others earlier in the field, and the effort to build it up was discontinued. In 1858 he supplied the Presbyterian Church at Lafayette, Ind., and was rector of the high school there. In 1859 he supplied the Congregational Church at Birmingham, Conn. In 1860 he was settled 'over the Reformed Dutch Church at Geneva, N.Y., where he preached until 1866, when he removed to Hackensack, N. J., and engaged in teaching a private school. In 1871 he removed to Orange, and up to the period of his fatal illness was engaged in that region in conducting a private school, and in editing some text-books of Virgil and Caesar for school use. Dr. Wiley was a fine classical scholar. His death occurred Dec. 21,1878, at East Orange, N. J. (W. P. S.)

Wiley, Isaac William, D.D., LL.D. a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born at Lewiston, Pennsylvania, March 29, 1825. He was converted when ten years old, at eighteen began to preach, and in 1846 graduated from the medical department of the University of the City of New York. After three years of practice as a physician in Pennsylvania, he joined the Philadelphia Conference, and in 1851 went as a missionary to China. Three years afterwards he returned to America, and was engaged in pastoral work in New Jersey, including an agency for Pennington Seminary. In 1864 he was elected editor of *The Ladies' Repository, *at Cincinnati, and in 1872 bishop, an office which he held until his death, November 22, 1884, at Foo-Chow, China. He was distinguished for a calm but impressive manner, deep cordiality of disposition, and great tact and method in labor. See *Meth. Review, *January 1886; *Minutes of Annual Conferences, *1884, page 318.

Wilfrid (Wilferder), Saint is the name of four English bishops. **1. **Bishop OF YORK (which was no longer an archbishopric after the death of Paulinus; see Fuller, *Church Hist. of Britain, *1, 217). This celebrated man was born of noble parents in Northumberland, in A.D. 634. Having lost his mother in his fourteenth year, he entered a Scottish convent on the island of Lindisfarne, but afterwards resolved to study the Church and monasticism at Rome. He went thither by way of Canterbury and Lyons, and arrived in 654. From 655 to 658 he was at Lyons, and there received the tonsure at the hands of his friend, the archbishop Dalfin. He returned to England, and gained the favor of Oswy, king of Northumberland, being made tutor to the prince Alchfrid (664) and receiving the abbey of Inrhypum (Ripon). At this time a synod was assembled at Streneshale (Whitly, in Yorkshire) to discuss the Easter and the tonsure controversies, and Wilfrid succeeded in determining it to approve the usages of Rome, in consequence of which he was appointed in 665 to the then vacant see of York, and sent to archbishop Agilbert of Paris for consecration. During his absence, Ceadda (St. Chad) was ordained bishop of York at Canterbury, and Wilfrid therefore retired to-his monastery of Ripon until archbishop Theodore transferred Ceadda to Mercia (Lichfield) and restored York to Wilfrid, after which he exercised jurisdiction over the whole of Northumberland He lost the royal favor, however, in 673, by assisting queen Ethelrida to take the veil, and he was thereupon deposed and his diocese divided into three parts. He appealed to the pope, and started for Rome to plead his own cause in A.D. 678; and being driven out of his course by a storm, he carried the Gospel to the Frisians, converted many, and baptized their king, Aldegils. On his arrival at Rome, pope Agatho restored him to his bishopric, but directed that the more distant parts of his see should be erected into separate dioceses. King Egfrid threw him into prison, however, on his return to England, regardless of the justification of his cause pronounced by the pope; and he was eventually obliged to seek an asylum among the heathen people of Sussex. This banishment was utilized, however, for successful missionary labors. King Edilwalch received baptism, and evangelists were sent to the Isle of Victa (Wight), who labored with gratifying success. In 686, Alchfrid, Wilfrid's former pupil, having obtained the crown, the exiled bishop was recalled but again deposed in 692 on a charge of disobedience to the authority of Canterbury. He once more appealed to the pope from his banishment in Mercia, and at the age of seventy years undertook a journey to Rome that he might obtain justice (703 or 704). The conclave decided that Wilfrid's opponents-were base calumniators, and instructed the king to restore him to his see. While returning through Gaul, Wilfrid fell sick (705), and had a vision-in which the angel Gabriel revealed that the prayers of Wilfrid's pupils had obtained for him restoration to health, the recovery of part of his diocese, and four years of life. The king refused, on his arrival in England to obey the papal order, but died soon afterwards, and his successor, Osred, restored the see. Wilfrid died, "after four years," Oct. 12, 709, having held the bishopric during forty-four years. His remains were interred at Ripon, but ultimately at Canterbury. His importance, aside from his missionary character, lies in his association with Theodore of Canterbury as principal supporter of the papal authority and Romish customs in England The following writings are attributed to him, but without full proof of authenticity:. *De Catholico Celebrando Paschali Ritu:De Regulis Monachorum, etc. *See Heddius, *Vitaa Wilfridi; *Bede, *Hist. Eccles. *3-5, ed. Stevenson; Roger de Wendover, *Chronica sive Flores Historiarum, *vol. 1, ed. Coxe; Lingard, *Hist. of England, *5th ed. 1, 122 sq.; William of Malmesbury, *De Gest. Pontif. *3, 152; id. *De Gest. Reg. 1, *3; Godwin, *De Praesul. Angl. *p. 654; Herzog, *Real-Encyklop. s.v.* **2. **Bishop of BEVERLY and archbishop of York *(Wilfridus Junior), *a contemporary of Bede *(Hist. Eccles. 5, *5, 23; see also Roger de Wendover, *ut sup. *1, 213, 227; and *Sachsenchronik).* **3. **Bishop OF WORCESTER at the beginning of the 8th century. See *Anglia Sacra, *1, 470; Roger de Wendover, *ut sup. *1, 205; Bede, *Hist. Eccles. *5, 23. **4. **Archbishop OF CANTERBURY, 806 et sq., died 829 or 832. See Roger de Wendover, *ut sup. *1, 270; also *Sachsenchronik.*

Wilhelm, Ludwig Wilhelm a Reformed theologian of Germany, was born at Neuenhain, November 19, 1796. He studied at Marburg and Heidelberg, was in 1816 assistant preacher at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in 1818 third preacher, in 1828 second, and in 1836 first preacher at Wiesbaden. In 1858 he was made bishop of Nassau, and died May 11, 1882, doctor of theology. (B.P.)

Wilhelmina a fanatical woman of Milan, who died in 1281, pretended to be the daughter of Constantia, queen of Primislaus, king of Bohemia. She spent the last twenty or thirty years of her life in Milan in pious labors, especially in works of active charity. She had organized a band of followers (afterwards known as Wilhelminians), who reverenced her as a saint, and began in her lifetime to make her the object of extravagant and fanatical veneration. This increased after her death to an undue extreme. She had claimed that her birth was announced to her mother by the angel Raphael, just as the birth of Christ was announced to Mary by the angel Gabriel, and that the Holy Spirit became incarnate in her for the purpose of working out the salvation of Jews, Saracens, and false Christians, as that of true Christians had been wrought by Christ. She deluded her followers into the expectation, first, of her repeating in her own person the sufferings of Christ, and, secondly, of her resurrection and return to them after her death. But, with no indications of any fulfilment of such promises, a number of her followers, headed by Andrew Saramita, disinterred the recently buried body, arrayed it in costly robes, erected a magnificent monument over the grave, and proclaimed the worship of the Holy Ghost incarnate in Wilhelmina, as of equal importance with the worship of the incarnate Son of God. She had appointed a nun named Mayfreda, of Tirovano, as her vicegerent under the new dispensation of the Holy Ghost — a female pontiff to represent her as the Roman pontiffs represent St. Peter. The sect was entirely rooted out about the year 1300, the remnant of her followers having perished at the stake, and her tomb and dead body having been destroyed. See Muratori, *Antiq. Ital. Medii AEvi, *5:95 sq.; Palacky, *Literary Tour to Italy *(Prague, 1838), page 72 sq.; Mosheim, *Hist. of the. Church, *book 3, cent. 13, part 2, chapter 5.

Wilhelminians *SEE WILHELMINA*.

Wilken, Friedrich a famous historian, was born May 23,1777, at Ratzeburg, in the duchy of Lauenburg. He studied at Gottingen, at first theology, but afterwards, classic and Oriental philology and history. In 1798 he received the prize for an essay, *De Bellorum Cruciatorum ex Abulfeda Historia; *in 1805 he was appointed professor of history at Heidelberg, and in 1807 director of the university library. In 1817 he was called to Berlin as first librarian and professor in the university, and in 1819 he was made a member of the Academy of Sciences. He undertook a literary journey to Italy in 1826; in 1829 he went in behalf of the government to France and England, and in 1838 to Wiesbaden and Munich. He died December 24, 1840. His main work is the *Gesch. der Kreuzzuge nach morgenlandischen und abendlandischehn Berichten *(Leips. 1807-32, 7 volumes). He also wrote, *Gesch. der Bildung, Beraubung und Vernichtunag der alten Heidelberger Buchersammlung *( Heidelb. 1817): — *Gesch. der koniglichen Bibliothek zu Berlin *(Berlin, 1828). (B.P.)

Wilkie, Sir David a British painter of great celebrity, was born at the manse of the parish of Cults, on the banks of Edenwater, in Fifeshire, Scotland, November 18, 1785. He received a limited education at the grammar-school of Kettle, when he was sent to the Trustees' Academy of Edinburgh for the Encouragement of Manufactures. Here, in 1803, he won the prize of ten guineas for painting *Callisto in the Bath of Diana. *In 1804 he returned home, and spent some time in painting portraits and scenes of common life. He then went to London, and entered the Royal Academy as a student. His picture of the *Village Politicians, *exhibited in 1806, gained for the young artist great notoriety, and, indeed, established his fame. He now settled in London, and was busily employed in the execution of his commissions for several years. In 1811 he became a member of the Royal Academy. In 1823 he was appointed liminer to the king in Scotland. Two years later he made a tour of the Continent, spending the greater portion of the time in Italy. In 1830 he became painter in ordinary to his majesty. In 1832 hie exhibited his celebrated picture of *John Knox Preaching the Reformation in St. Andrews's, *painted for Sir Robert Peel for twelve hundred guineas. It is claimed that his greatest historical work is the picture of *Sir David Baird Discovering the Body qf the Sultan Tippo Saib, after Storming Seringapatam. *In 1840 he started for the East, making an extended tour through Holland, Southern Germany, Constantinople, the Holy Land, and Egypt. He died, on his return to England, on board the "Oriental," then off Gibraltar, June 1, 1841, His works have been made known to the world by the engravings of Raimbach, Burnet, Cousins, Doo, and C. Fox.

Wilkie, William, D.D. a Scotch clergyman and poet, was born at Echlin, Linlithgowshire, in 1721. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, where he had entered at the age of thirteen, but was compelled to leave that institution before completing the course on account of the death of his father; turned his attention to farming, where he continued his studies, and took orders in the Church of Scotland; published *The Epigoniad, a Poem in Nine Books, *in 1757, which gained for him the title of "the Scottish Homer;" printed a new edition of this work, accompanied by *A Dream in the Manner of Spenser, *in 1759; was chosen professor of natural philosophy at St. Andrew's the same year; published a volume of *Moral Fables *in verse in 1768; and died Oct. 10, 1772.

Wilkins, Ann an eminent Methodist Episcopal missionary, was born in the state of New York, June 30, 1806. She was converted in 1836, and sailed as a missionary fior Africa, June 15, 1837. She labored there until 1841, when she returned to America to recruit her health; went out again in 1842, returned with broken health in 1853; sailed again in 1854, but was once more obliged to return, in 1857. She was preparing for active service in a juvenile asylum; when she suddenly died, November 13 of the last-named year.

Wilkins, David, D.D. a learned English divine, was born in 1685. He was appointed keeper of the archiepiscopal library at Lambeth in 1715; spent the next three years in drawing up a catalogue of that collection; became rector of Mongham, Parva, Kent, in 1716, and of Great Chart and Hadleigh in, 1719; was constituted chaplain to the archbishop and collated to the rectories of Monks-Ely and Bocking; was appointed joint commissary of Bocking; became prebendary of Canterbury in 1720; was collated to the archdeaconry of Suffolk in May, 1724; and died Sept. 6, 1745. His principal publications are, *Novulsmz Testamentum Egyptiacum, vulgo Copticum, *etc. *(1716): — Leges Anglo-Saxonicae Eccitsiasticae et Civiles, *etc. *(1721): — Quinque Libri Moysis Prophetae in Lingua Egyptiaca, *etc. (1731):and *Concilia Magnae Britannice et Hibernice *(1736-37). See. Chalmers, *Biog. Dict. *s.v. Wilkins, Isaac, D.D., a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was born at Withywood, in the island of Jamaica, Dec. 17, 1742. His father, Martin Wilkins, became a judge in Jamaica, and was an. eminent lawyer. Isaac was an only son, and when about six years of age was brought to New York city to obtain better educational facilities than the West Indies afforded. In 1760 he graduated at Columbia College. What he saved from his father's estate in Jamaica, enabled him to purchase Castle Hill Neck, in Westchester County. After his graduation he resided for some time upon this farm, and occupied himself in cultivating it. In 1772 he was sent to the Colonial Legislature, and until April 18, 1775, he was an active member of that body, ready in debate and holiest in the service of his country. He was the reputed author of several political pamphlets which were obnoxious to the Whigs, and eventually it was necessary for him to leave America: and published, before sailing for England, an address to his countrymen, in which he endeavored to vindicate himself as a lover of his country. He remained in England about a year, in which time it is asserted that he endeavored to accommodate the dispute between Great Britain and the colonies. Having returned to his family at Castle Hill, which had been laid waste, he was compelled to retreat with them to Long Island. At Newtown and Flatbush he made his residence until peace was declared. His farm had not been confiscated; so he sold it in 1784, took his family to Shelburne, N. S., purchased property there, and again became a farmer. Soon after he was a member of the Assembly in that province. In 1798 he returned to New York and prepared for the ministry, and took charge of St. Peter's Church at Westchester, of which, as soon as he was ordained deacon, he became rector. On Jan. 14, 1801, he was ordained priest. The British government, in consideration of his services during the Revolution, bestowed upon him an annuity of £120 for life, and for thirty-one years he was rector of St. Peter's. He died in Westchester, N. Y., Feb. 5, 1830. His sermons were concise and forcible; his delivery was natural and effective. As a rule, his discourses were short and impressive. A number of poetic effusions of some merit are extant of which he was the author. See Sprague, *Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, *5, 462.

Wilkins, John, D.D. an ingenious and learned, English bishop, was born at Fawsley, near Daventry, Northamptonshire, in 1614. He was educated at. All Saints, at New Inn Hall, and at Magdalen Hall, Oxford; took holy orders; became chaplain, first to William, lord Say, and then to Charles, count Palatine of the Rhine; took sides with the Parliament under Cromwell, and took the Solemn League and Covenant; was made warden of Wadham College in 1648; became master of Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1659; ejected at the Restoration the following year; became preacher to the honorable society of Gray's Inn and rector of St. Lawrence Jewry, London; was chosen a member of the Royal Society; was made dean of Rip-on; became bishop of Chester' in 1668i and died at the house of Dr. Tillotson, in Chancery Lane, London, Nov. 19, 1672. He published several mathematical and philosophical works, and the following, viz., *Ecclesiastes, or a Discourse concerning the Gift of Preaching as it Falls under the Rules of Art *(1646; best ed. 1778): *— Discourse concerning the Beauty of Providence in all the Rugged Passages of It *(1649): *— Sermons, *etc. (1675): *Of the Principles and Duties of Natural Religion *(eod.).

Wilkinson, Henry eldest of those thus named, was born in the vicarage of Halifax, Yorkshire, October 9, 1566. He went to Oxford in 1581, was elected fellow of Merton College, and graduated in 1586 in 1601 became rector at Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, and died there, March 19, 1647. He was one of the Puritan divines of the Westminster Assembly, and wrote, *A Catechism: *— *Debt-book, *etc.

Wilkinson, Henry (1), D.D. an English clergyman, son of one of the same name, and known as "Long Harry,"was born at Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire, in 1609. He entered as commoner in Magdalen Hall, Oxford, in 1622, where he made great proficiency in his studies, became a noted tutor, master of the schools, and divinity reader; took orders in the Church of England about 1638, but was suspended from preaching because of views advanced in a sermon at St. Mary's in September, 1640; was restored by the Long Parliament; removed to London, where he was made minister of St. Faith's, under St. Paul's, and appointed one of the Assembly of Divines; became rector of St. Dunstan's-in-the-West in 1645; was appointed one of the six ministers to go to Oxford to establish Presbyterian forms and practices; became fellow of Magdalen College, a canon of Christ Church, and Margaret professor of divinity in 1652; was deprived at the Restoration; and died at Clapham in September, 1675. He published several *Sermons *preached before the Parliament. See Chalmers, *Biog. Dict. s.v.*

Wilkinson, Henry (2), D.D. sometimes called *Junior, *but commonly known as "Dean Harry," an English clergyman, cousin of "Long Harry," was born at Adwick, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in 1616. He began his education at a grammar- school in All-Saints' parish, Oxford; entered a commoner of Magdalen Hall in 1631, where he graduated, took holy orders, became a noted tutor, and moderator or dean of Magdalen Hall; left the university on account of his Puritan principles in 1642; removed to London, took the Covenant, and preached frequently; under the supremacy of Parliament he returned to Oxford, and became principal of Magdalen Hall and moral-philosophy reader, and suffered for Nonconformity after the Restoration while endeavoring to preach at Buckminster, Leicestershire; Gosfield, Essex; Sible - Headingham; and lastly at Connard, near Sudbury, Suffolk, where he died, May 13, 1690. He was the author of *Conciones Tres *(1654): *— Three Decades of Sermons *(1660): *Catalogus Librorium in Bibliotheca Anlce Magdalence *(1661): — *Two Treatises *(1681): — and other works.