on earth.

"

MOHAMMEDANS.-The followers of the Prophet Mohammed, who began to propagate his faith in Arabia in 611. The name which was given to this religion by its founder was Islam," one meaning of which is to submit wholly to God and to acknowledge Him only as Lord.' The entire Mohammedan faith may be briefly explained by reference to its two articles: (1) "There is no God but God," and (2) "Mohammed is His Prophet," a proposition the acceptance of which makes every doctrine of divine authority.

MOLINISTS.-There have been two sects which have borne the name of Molinists: (1) Those who agreed with Luis Molina regarding the doctrines of free will and predestination, and (2) the followers of Miguel Molinos, the Spanish mystic who taught the doctrine of the direct relationship between the soul and God. The latter were also known as Quietists. Both are extinct.

MONARCHIANS. A designation applied to those who deny the distinction of persons in the Trinity.

MONTANISTS. A 2d century sect, the followers of which believed in the divine and prophetic inspiration of Montanus of Phrygia. Extinct.

MORAVIANS.- Otherwise known as Moravian Brethren. A sect which occupies a theological position which is almost identically that of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Formerly affiliated with the Taborites, it withdrew from the communion during the 15th century.

MORELSTSCHIKI. A fanatical Russian sect whose practices are said to be in keeping with its name, which means self-immolators.'

"

MORMONS. Otherwise known as Latter Day Saints. A religious system organized by Joseph Smith, who claimed to have found his inspiration in a "Book of Mormon,' which he had unearthed and translated. The doctrines have been further extended by later revelations, one of which, the Celestial Law of Marriage," which was promulgated in 1852, and which authorized the practice of polygamy, having resulted in a reform movement which brought about the secession of a large body of Mormons who assumed the name of the "Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints." See MORMONS.

MUGGLETONIANS.- An English sect founded in 1651 by Lodowick Muggleton and John Reeve, who claimed to be the two witnesses referred to in Revelations. They insisted that they were divinely inspired and taught many doctrines peculiar to themselves. Extinct.

MYSTICS. The general designation applied to those who believe that a rapt soul may enter into union with the divine by means of ecstatic contemplation.

NAUMBERGERS.- An obscure evangelical sect which carries the simplicity of its dress to such extreme as to use hooks and eyes instead of buttons.

NAZARENES.-A 4th century sect of Jewish Christians. While observing the Mosaic ritual they accepted the divinity of Christ and looked for his early second-coming.

NECESSITARIANS.- A general designation applied to those who believe that a fixed and unchangeable law governs everything.

NESTORIANS.-The followers of Nestorius, who denied the hypostatic union of the two natures in the one person, Christ. Two sects of Nestorians, the remnants of the once-powerful denomination, still exist, one in Turkey and Persia, and the other in India.

NETOVTSCHINS. A sect of Russian dissenters who believe that antichrist has commenced the ruin of the Church and that all holiness is gradually being extinguished.

NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH. See CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM.

NEW LIGHTS. A designation sometimes applied to the Free Will Baptists and Separatists.

NIOBITES. A monophysite sect which was finally absorbed into the orthodox communion. Its members held that the human nature of Christ was lost in its union with his divine nature.

NOETIANS. The followers of Noetus, a 2d century heretic, who held that Christ was the actual embodiment of the Father and that it was the Father Himself who was born and had suffered death on the cross.

NONCONFORMISTS. A designation sometimes applied to various sects of Protestant dissenters.

NOVATIONS. An austere 3d century sect which was absorbed by the Mother Church before the 6th century, its differences having been chiefly in regard to matters of church discipline.

OAHSPE. A sect of American vegetarians, extremely primitive in character. Its tenets prohibit divorce and second marriage and its members are not permitted to have recourse to law.

OLD CATHOLIC.- A movement inaugurated in Germany as a protest against certain dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church.

OLD LUTHERANS.- The name applied to those Lutherans

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of Prussia who have refused to enter into affiliation with the United Evangelical Church.

OLD SCHOOL BAPTISTS. The name assumed by a religious sect which still maintains the strict doctrines of Calvinism.

OLD TWO-SEED-IN-THE-SPIRIT PREDESTINARIANS.- A strictly Calvinistic sect of American Baptists.

OMISH CHURCH.-The name applied to a strict sect of primitive Mennonites.

OPHITES. A Gnostic sect which held that the serpent that tempted Eve was the impersonation of divine wisdom. OSIANDRIANS.-The followers of Osiander, a 16th century theologian who taught that the attainment of the essential righteousness of Christ was necessary to justification by faith.

PANTHEISTS. The members of a philosophical school which teaches that God is in everything and that everything is God.

PARSEES, or PARSIS.-The followers of Zoroaster, who founded the ancient religion of Media and Persia, about 1000 B.C.

PAULICIANS.A sect founded in the 7th century, the members of which held that all matter is evil and that Christ had a purely ethereal body and suffered only in appearances. Extinct..

PECULIAR PEOPLE.- A sect which in almost every respect resembles the Dunkards.

PELAGIANS.-A sect which held that there was no original sin, but that each soul was created sinless and free. Extinct.

PEREMAYANOFTSCHINS.- A sect of Russian dissenters which requires the reordination of the clergy.

PERFECTIBILISTS. A name applied to those who hold that absolute perfection is attainable during the present life.

In

PERFECTIONISTS.-The name assumed by an American sect established by John Humphrey Noyes, in 1845. addition to teaching perfect holiness through complete reconciliation with God, its founder maintained the equality of the sexes and the community of goods.

PICARDS. A sect suppressed in the 15th century because of alleged immoralities. They held that salvation was obtainable only through the restoration of man's primitive innocence.

PIETISTS. A general designation applied to those who claim to be possessed of extreme piety.

PLYMOUTH BRETHREN.- A sect which holds the two doctrines of Predestinarianism and Millenarianism and which does not maintain a separate ministry.

PEMORANE.-A sect of Russian dissenters which has no separate ministry and which requires rebaptism of POPOFTSCHINS.-That branch of Russian dissenters which continues to maintain the office of priest, or pope.

converts.

POSITIVISM. A modern school of skepticism, founded by Auguste Comte. As a religion, Positivism is nothing less than the worship of humanity; as a philosophy, it teaches that nothing should be accepted as true unless it can be positively demonstrated.

PREDESTINARIANS. A general designation applied to those who believe that each soul is predestined for heaven or hell from all eternity.

PRESBYTERIANS.-The name assumed by a denomination which maintains that the ministry of the Church should consist of but one order, that of presbyters, or elders. Its creed, which has been Calvinistic since the establishment of the denomination, is now, in some places, in process of alteration.

PRINCEITES.-A small English sect established in 1840 by Henry James Prince, who professed that his person represented a new dispensation of the Holy Ghost by which the dispensation of Christ was to be superseded. It is now practically extinct.

PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.-The American representative of the Church of England, the denomination which led in the protesting reformation of the Roman Catholic Church in that country. In addition to its creeds it adopts the principles of the Thirty-nine Articles and makes use of the Book of Common Prayer. See PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

PUSEYITES.-The name sometimes applied to the High Church school in the Episcopal Church, from that of Dr. Pusey, who was one of the leaders in the "Tractarian or ritualistic movement.

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PYRRHON ISTS.- The designation applied to that school of extreme skepticism which denied the possibility of attaining with certainty any absolute truth.

Its

QUAKERS. Otherwise known as Friends, or as the Society of Friends. A sect founded by George Fox. members reject all sacraments, possess a mixed but not settled ministry which depends upon the inspiration of the Holy Spirit for its utterances, and refuse to participate in wars or to take oaths. They also maintain a peculiarity of dress and a simplicity of speech which is quite in keeping with their life of peace and meditation. See FRIENDS, THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF.

QUIETISTS.-A designation often applied to a school of mysticism, the followers of which profess to resign them

RATIONALISTS.-Those who maintain that reason is the one test of truth in matters of religious faith and who are guided by this theory in their interpretations of the Bible. REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH.- The Reformed Protestant Dutch Church which was instituted in the Netherlands during the 16th century. In 1561 it adopted a confession of faith, known as the Belgic Confession, which was prepared by Guido de Bres, who took for his model the Calvinistic confession of the Church of France. This body was the first Reformed Church instituted in the American colonies. REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, TRUE.-A sect resulting from the secession of a party led by Rev. Sol Froeligh, in 1822. They held that the Reformed Dutch Church had become erroneous in doctrine, lax in discipline and corrupt in practice. During recent years the sect has gradually dwindled away although it is still in existence.

REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH.- Founded in 1873 as a church of the reformation, or as a protest against what it termed the errors in the position and practice of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

REFORMED GERMAN CHURCH.-That portion of the Protestant Church which, being unable to embrace either the teaching of Luther or of Zwingli, endorsed instead the Melanchthonian compromise.

REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.- Otherwise known as Cameronians. A sect founded in the 17th century as a protest against what its members regarded as the "unworthy compromise of the Established Church.

RELIEF SYNOD.-A body of Scotch dissenters whose secession was the result of their opposition to the existing system of patronage.

REMONSTRANTS.-A title applied to the Arminians for the reason that they had called their creed, adopted in 1610, The Remonstrance."

RESTORATIONISTS.- A small sect the beliefs of which may be designated as Universalism in a modified form. RITUALISTS. Another designation for High Churchmen. ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.-That body of Christians who look to the Holy See for direction in spiritual things. See CATHOLIC CHURCH.

RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH.-The national Church of Russia. It differs in belief but slightly from that of the Roman Catholic Church, from which it separated about 1,000 years ago.

RUTHENIANS.-The members of the Ruthenian Church are converts and the descendants of converts from the Russian Church who now maintain obedience to the Pope in spite of the fact that they have never altered their ancient rites and discipline and still use the Greek liturgy, which they have translated into Old Slavonic.

SABBATARIANS.-Those who insist upon the strict observance of the Sabbath as a tenet binding upon all Christians.

SABBATIANS. A 4th century sect the members of which adopted the Quartodeciman rule. Extinct.

SALVATION ARMY.- A quasi-military organization formed to promote the revival of religion among the masses. It was organized in England, about 1865, by William Booth, a Methodist evangelist. At that time it was known as the Christian Mission, and it retained the title until 1878, when it was changed to that of the Salvation Army. Its theological position is thoroughly evangelical.

SAMOKRISCHTCHINS. A name which signifies "selfbaptizers," and which as applied to a sect of Russian Christians indicates its theological peculiarity.

SANDEMANIANS. A denomination founded in the 17th century by Robert Sandeman, a disciple of John Glas. Its members maintain a community of goods; abstain from blood meats and from things strangled, and participate in ove feasts and a weekly communion.

SATANISTS. The members of a strange sect which worships and prays to Satan not only because of his present power to do evil, but on account of his future power to do good.

SCHWENCKFELDIANS. A sect of German anti-sacramentalists founded at the time of the Reformation by Casper Schwenckfeld.

SCOTTISH BAPTISTS. A sect which differs from other Baptists only by being more congregational in government and having a somewhat stricter form in discipline.

SCOTTISH KIRK.-The Established Presbyterian Church of Scotland, which, founded on the ruins of the ancient Scottish Church, in the 16th century was adopted as the National Establishment by act of Parliament.

SECOND ADVENTISTS. See ADVENTISTS; also MILLENARIANS in this article.

SECULARISTS. The term Secularist is most generally applied to the members of that school of skepticism which holds that man should devote his attention only to the duties and interests of this world.

SELEUCIANS.- Followers of Seleucus, who rejected baptism by water and who taught that there would be no resurrection of the body. Extinct.

SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS.-The most primitive form

of Adventism, its members practising many of the ancient Christian rites. See ADVENTISTS.

SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS.-A sect which differs from other Baptists chiefly in the observance of Saturday, or the seventh day of the week, as its day for rest and worship. SHAFIITIES. A Mohammedan sect, one of the four branches into which the orthodox sect of Sunnites has been divided.

SHAKERS.- A sect of American millenarians founded in 1776 by Ann Lee. Although it does not impose celibacy as a necessary rule of life, married couples are not permitted to live together in its communities.

SHAKTAS. A Hindu sect, the members of which worship the divine power under its female representation.

SHIAHA. A Mohammedan sect which claims to be the one orthodox branch of the religion because they accept Ali, the first cousin of Mohammed, as the successor to the prophet, rejecting the other caliphs who are accepted by the Sunnites.

SHIITES. One of the two great divisions of Mohammedanism. Its doctrines are directly contrary to those of the orthodox sect, the Sunnites.

SHINTOISM. The state religion of Japan. It teaches the existence of both good and evil gods.

SIKHS. A sect founded in India, about 1500, upon principles of monotheism and human brotherhood. See SIKHS.

SIX-PRINCIPLE BAPTISTS.- The oldest sect of American Baptists. Its doctrines are founded upon the six principles" mentioned in the first three verses of the sixth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews: (1) Repentance from dead works; (2) faith toward God; (3) baptism; (4) laying on of hands; (5) resurrection of the dead, and (6) eternal judgment.

SKOPTZI.- A fanatical sect of Russians. Its members practise severe penances, including, it is said, self-mutilation. SMARTAS. -One of the three great divisions of the Hindu religion.

SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. See FRIENDS, THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF.

SOCINIANS. The followers of Socinius, who denied the divinity of Christ and the atonement, who rejected the sacraments and the authority of the Scriptures, and who held that the soul of man was born pure.

SOUTHCOTTIANS. The followers of Joanna Southcott, who professed to be the inspired woman of Revelation, who was predestined to give birth to the new Messiah. Although she died of dropsy 10 days after the date on which, as she had predicted, this event was to occur, her disciples maintained their faith in her supernatural gifts, and the sect still exists in small numbers in England.

SPIRITUALISM. A religious body composed of those who believe that it is possible for man to hold communication with the spirits of the departed.

STAROVERTZI.-A designation applied to those who refused to participate in the ecclesiastical reforms introduced in the Russian Church in the 17th century. The name signifies the "men of the ancient faith."

SUNNITES. -The name applied to the orthodox Mohammedans who constitute the largest sect of the Moslem world. Its members accept the books of Sunna, said to be the verbal utterances of Mohammed, as well as the Koran, as the sources of doctrine. See SUNNITES.

SWEDENBORGIANS.- Otherwise known as the Church of the New Jerusalem. A religious system promulgated by Emmanuel Swedenborg, who taught that the last judgment had taken place in the year 1757, when the "Old Church," or Christianity had given place to the new dispensation as represented by the New Church " of Swedenborg. See CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM.

SYRIAN CHURCH. A religious body still under obedience to the Pope. Its members continue to maintain the ancient Syriac rites, which are common alike to the Jacobites and themselves.

TABORITES. The members of one of the most extreme parties of Hussites. TAOISM. The materialistic religion of China. THEISTS. Believers in a personal Creator and Divinity, however conceived as related to man. The term is used as contrasted with Deists; Deism being the belief in a divine principle, not a personality.

THEOSOPHISTS.-Those mystics who affirm that they are admitted to a knowledge of the mysteries of being. on the side of nature as well as upon that of religion, by means of an internal and supernatural illumination. One of the most modern applications of the word is as a designation for the followers of Mme. Blavatsky.

TRASKITES. An early name for the Sabbatarian

Puritans.

TÜBINGEN SCHOOL.- A name applied to a certain rationalistic school of philosophy, the members of which questioned the credibility, integrity and reliability of the New Testament.

ULTRAMONTANISTS.- From a Roman Catholic point of view this name is applied to those who believe that the Pope is supreme spiritual ruler over every part of the Christian Church.

UNITARIAN. A name applied to those who deny the

distinction of persons in the Trinity and who hold that they in themselves only hold, in its true sense, the Unity of God.

UNITED BRETHREN. Otherwise known as United Brethren in Christ. A sect whose present doctrinal position is quite similar to that of the Moravians. Although never officially instituted it grew out of the attempt of William Otterbein to found a church that would unite the various Presbyterian sects as one body of Christians.

UNITED PRESBYTERIANS.—A body composed of two sects of Scotch dissenters, the Associated and the Relief synods.

UNIVERSALISTS.-Those who believe in the ultimate salvation of all mankind.

UTILITARIAN.-A designation applied to those who hold that man's actions derive their character, in a moral sense, from their consequences.

VAMAMARGIS. The name applied to those persons who, in Hinduism, worship the female side of the dual nature of Vishnu.

VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA. An offshoot from the Salvation Army resulting from a misunderstanding between the leaders of the two bodies. As in the Salvation Army both sexes participate in its meetings, and, like the older body, while it has no formulated creed, it is thoroughly evangelical.

WAHHABEES.- Followers of Abd-el-Wahhab, a Mohammedan reformer of the 18th century. They strenuously oppose all practices not absolutely sanctioned by the Koran.

A

WALDENSIANS.-A reforming body of Christians, the members of which participated in the Reformation. Waldensian church now existent in Italy numbers more than 20,000 members.

WATERLANDERS. A sect of Mennonites, similar in doctrine but less rigid in discipline than the main body. WILBURITES.- A branch of the Society of Friends who followed John Wilbur in his protests against the actions of the Society in abandoning its original principles.

WILKINSONIANS. A 19th century American sect the members of which accepted the statements of Jemima Wilkinson, who asserted that she was divinely inspired, having been raised from the dead.

YEZEEDEES. An ancient sect of unknown origin. Its members form a tribe of individual nationality located in the neighborhood of Mosul. They not only believe in God but also in Satan, whom they recognize as the chief of the angelic hosts. Admitting that he is suffering punishment now, they believe that he will eventually be restored to his originally high station. As the result, like the Satanists, they believe that it is right for man to pray to him.

ZANZALIANS.-A designation applied to the Jacobites of the East.

ZOARITES.-The name applied to a sect of American

Lutherans.

ZOHARITES. A modern Jewish sect which takes its name from the Kabbalistic book of Zohar, which is held in great veneration.

ZOROASTRIANS. See PARSEES.

JOHN R. MEADER. RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES. See ORDERS,

RELIGIOUS.

RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM. Wolfgang Menzel (1854) wrote "The picture is holy, same as the Word. The Savior himself spoke pictorially. The picture is as powerful as the word and more penetrating than words. The world was more pious while Christian symbolism was in vogue; laymen and priests were better trusted as long as everyone understood the pictures with which Art decorated the Church.

The world was more pious while it knew which symbol belonged to each season, yes, to each day of the year and that connected with the name of his Patron; while they yet recognized the symbolism of natural phenomena every season, and even that of the animals, plants and stones, as the signature of the Holy One in all Creation." We can call religious symbolism (when inspired) revealed or interpretative religion, or, as Hugo of Saint Victor (who developed Christian symbolism so greatly) says: "A symbol is the comparison of the visible forms for the showing forth of the invisible." Faced by the powers of the elements, fire, water, earth, lightning, etc., it soon became the natural instinct that primitive man should revere, fear and worship these ac

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tive (live) elements as conscious entities and that nature should take on in the primæval brain a nomenclature easiest defined in symbol form. Hence the earliest religion and the earliest symbolism may be reasonably considered as one and the same thought-development of man. All through the evolution of the religious cults from time immemorial we will find the worship of the sun and light up to the present day in some form, open or occult. To the primitive man the warmth and productive power in nature of the sun's rays has been looked upon as a beneficent agent; and light, which dissipates the hidden dangers of night or darkness, has naturally ever been held in human regard as a friend and defender of humanity against evil. The primary consider.ation of light brings flame to recognition, and we learn that the ancient Persians (as well as modern Parsees) reverenced flame as son of Ormuzd; in Rome flame was kept pure by the pure daughters (vestals) of the leading families; in Israel the Jews kept watch over it to dispel darkness and the inherent evil spirits. Fire was the Assyrian as well as the Germanic test of purity of those accused of evil; fire appealed as purifying agent on the sacrificial altar since and probably during prehistoric times. For the candles on our altars are but a continuation of those displayed in the sevenbranched candlestick in King Solomon's temple. The altar, the Latin altare (from alte, high) was any kind of an elevation on which to sacrifice, and the hill or mountain summit was preferred on which to erect it. Nearest to heaven, the mountain height has always been a reverenced symbol the world over, whether it be Mount Olympus of the Greeks or Fuji Yama of the Japanese, while the Christian devotee selects Mount Athos and other heights on which to live in prayer, and the sacred character of Mount Lebanon comes up prominently to mind.

The source of origin of religious symbolism can be definitely placed in the Orient, the birthplace of all occultism, for the primal elements of occultism are due to the study of the cosmic laws, the world's circumambient physical and spiritual powers and the part man could take in their control. The natural development and progress in such study brought the visible universe into its realm, and the planets found their place in the curriculum. Astrology gave the laws of astral motion, their cause and their power over the human race. Closer investigation evolved the science of mathematics and geometry-always as corollary and indivisible part of cosmic philosophy with symbolism as a large portion of its language. The science of medicine was an outgrowth from the master mind of Aristotle and such followers as Galen, Ibn Sina, Paracelsus, etc. Diagnosis included the functional powers of the sun, moon and planets, and idol worship of the untrained mind of the pagan was an act of gross materialism and misunderstanding of the occult purpose of symbolism as divine interpretation.

Harking back to the first stages of occultism and knowledge we get to Buddhist symbolism with its wheel, bowl, yellow robe, etc. Chinese history tells us how early the heavenly bodies received the attention of scholars and how the