Religion Entries

TOPIC PAGES: [Religion Entries] [Psychology Entries] [Pop Culture Entries]
                               [Canadiana Entries] [Miscellaneous Entries]

NOTE: Here is transcribed, as closely as possible (warts and all), the text as it appears in the source entries but sometimes only incomplete segments. For internet readability some discrepancies involving formatting and accents are likely. Do not always expect accuracy in the entries themselves (which is not to deny their “truth” or value or even, shall we say, occasional accuracy), but innaccuracy is often the least of their offense: what we call sexism, racism, homophobia and just a general colonial Western superiority complex pervades much of the popular knowledge of the late 19th and early to mid 20th century. I suggest, however, you resist the urge to judge too much from a position of 21st century self-righteousness, for how much has really changed? How much of our contemporary knowledge is inaccurate, dogmatic, prejudiced and offensive in ways we can and cannot even recognize?

This is a work in progress…

Bedlam,
A corruption of Bethlehem, the name of a relgious house in London, the Hospital of St Mary, Bethlehem, which was founded in the year 1246 by Simon Fitzmary, who had been one of the Sheriffs of London. It originally stood in Bishopsgate Street Without, and, on the suppression of religious houses in the reign of Henry VIII, was handed over to the corporation of London, since which time it has been an hospital for the cure of the insane. About 1644 it was determined to enlarge the hospital, but the situation had become close and confined, and a new Hospital of Bethlehem was built in Moorfields 1675-76. In 1814 the ‘new’ hospital gave way to a fitter building, in a more commodious situation, on the other side of the Thames, in the parish of Lambeth. This building in turn was enlarged in 1838. The patients of B. used to be exhibited, like wild beasts, in cages, for so much a head; and convalescent patients were sent out to beg, with badges on their arms, and known as ‘B. beggars’ or ‘Tom-o-Bedlams.’ This practice, the object of which was to raise funds for the institution, was put down in the latter part of the 17th c.
–From the The Globe Encyclopaedia of Universal Information. Vol I. A to CANN’A. Boston: Estes & Lauriat, 1876. pg 325.

Bu’ddhism, Buddha.
The religion known as Buddhism (from the title of ‘The Buddha,’ meaning ‘the Wise,’ the Englightened,’ acquired by its founder) has existed now for 2460 years, and may be said to be the prevailing religion of the world. In Hindustan, the land of its birth, it has now little hold, except among the Nepaulese and some other northern tribes; but it bears full sway in Ceylon, and over the whole Eastern Peninsula; it divides the adherence of the Chinese with the systems of Confucius and Lao-tse, claiming perhaps two-thirds of the population; it prevails in Japan (although not the estabished religion); and, north of the Himalayas, it is the religion of Tibet (where it assumes the form of Lamaism), and of the Mongolian population of Central Asia, and extends to the very north of Siberia, and even into Swedish Lapland. Its adherents are estimated at 400 millions–more than a third of the human race. Yet, until within the last sixteen years, nothing was known in Europe respecting the nature and origin of this world-religion, beyond the vaguest notices and conjectures…
     The most diverse opinions had previously prevailed as to the time and place of the origin of Buddhism. Some looked upon it as a relic of what had been the original religion of Hindustan, before Brahmanism intruded and drove it out; a relic of a wide-spread primeval worship, whose ramifications it was endeavoured to trace by identifying Buddha with the Woden of the Scandinavians, the Thoth or Hermes of the ancient Egyptians, and other mythological personages. Others held that it could not be older than Christianity, and must have originated in a blundering attempt to copy that religion–so striking are the many points of resemblance that present themselves. Although the means are still wanting of giving a circumstantial history of Buddhism, the main outline is no longer doubtful. Oriental scholars now concur in fixing the date of its origin about the beginning of the 6th c. B.C. and in making it spring up in the north of Hindustan. According to the Buddhist books, the founder of the religion was a prince of the name of Siddhartha, son of Suddhodana, king of Kapilavastu, which is placed somewhere on the confines of the Oude and Nepaul. He is often called Sakya, which was the name of the family, and also Gautama, the name of the great ‘Solar’ race of which the family was a branch. The name Sakya often becomes Sakya-muni (muni, in San., means ‘solitary,’ and is allied to Gr. monos, the root of ‘monk’), in allusion to the solitary habits assumed by the prince. To Gautama is frequently prefixed Sramana, meaning ascetic. Of the names, or rather titles, given to Siddhartha in his state of perfection, the most important is the Buddha,* [There is a confusing variety in the modes in which this name is spelled by European writers. S. Hardy, in his Manual of Buddhism, gives more than fifty forms that have come under his notice. Some of the more common are: Bud, Bod, Buth, Boodh, Bhood, Budo, Buddow, Boutta, Poota, Poth, Pot..] which is from the root budh, to know, and according to Wilson, means properly, ‘he to whom truth is known;’ it is indicative of the leading doctrine of his system. Others are–‘The Blessed’ (Bhagavat); ‘the Venerable of the World;’ ‘the Bodhisatva,’ the import of which will be afterwards explained. The history of this person is overlaid with a mass of extravagant and incredible legend; and at least one eminent Orientalist, Professor H.H. Wilson, thinks it still doubtful whether the Buddha was an actual historical personage, and not rather an allegorical figment. Agreeing that the doctrine was introduced about the time assigned, he thinks it more likely that it originated with a school formed of persons of various castes, comprising even Brahmans. But by Oriental authorities generally, the Buddha is received as the actual personal founder of the religion that goes by his name…
     Buddhism is based on the same views of human existence, and the same philosophy of things in general, that prevailed among the Brahmans. It accepts without questioning, and in its most exaggerated form, the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, which lies at the root of so much that is strange in the Eastern character. For a particular account of this important doctrine or notion, which seems ingrained in the constitution of Eastern minds, and without a knowledge of which no phase of thought or feeling among them can be understood, the reader is referred to TRANSMIGRATION; while the peculiar cosmogony or system of the universe with which it is associated, and which is substantially the same among Hindus and Buddhists, will be described under HINDUISM…
     The very idea of a god, as creating or in any way ruling the world, is utterly absent in the Buddhist system. God is not so much as denied; he is simply not known. Contrary to the opinion once confidently and generally held, that a nation of atheists never existed, it is no longer to be disputed that the numerous Buddhist nations are essentially atheist; for they know no beings with greater supernatural power than any man is supposed capable and a remarkable indication of this startling fact is to be seen in the circumstances, that some at least of the Buddhist nations–the Chinese, Mongols, and Tibetans–have no word in their languages to express the notion of God…
     Contemplation and science or knowledge (i.e. of the concatenation of causes and effects) are ranked as virtues in Buddhism, and hold a prominent place among the means of attaining Nirvana. It is reserved, in fact, for abstract contemplation to effect the final steps of the deliverance. Thought is the highest faculty of man, and, in the mind of an Eastern philosopher, the mightiest of all forces. A king who had become a convert to Buddhism is represented as seating himself with his legs crossed, and his mind collected; and ‘cleaving, with the thunderbold of science, the mountain of ignorance,’ he saw before him the desired state…
     The element in Buddhism which more than any other, perhaps, gave it an advantage over all surrounding religions, and led to its surprising extension, was the spirit of universal charity and sympathy that it breathed, as contrasted with the exclusiveness of caste. In this respect it held much the same relation to Brahmanism that Christianity did to Judaism. It was, in fact, a reaction against the exclusiveness and formalism of Brahmanism–an attempt to render it more catholic, and to throw off its intolerable burden of ceremonies. Buddhism did not expressly abolish caste, but only declared that all followers of the Buddha who embraced the religious life were thereby released from its restrictions; in the bosom of a community who had all equally renounced the world, high and low, the twice-born Brahman and the outcast were brethren. This was the very way that Christianity dealt with the slavery of the ancient world. This opening of its ranks to all classes and to both sexes–for women were admitted to equal hopes and privileges with men, and one of Gautama’s early female disciples is to be the supreme Buddha of a future cycle–no doubt gave Buddhism one great advantage over Brahmanism. The Buddha, says M. Müller, ‘addressed himself to castes and outcastes. He promised salvation to all; and he commanded his disciples to preach his doctrine in all places to all men. A sense of duty, extending from the narrow limits of the house, the village, and the country, to the widest circle of mankind, a feeling of sympathy and brotherhood towards all men, the idea, in fact, of humanity, were first pronounced by Buddha.’…
     In the characteristic above mentioned, and in many other respects, the reader cannot fail to remark the striking resemblance that Buddhism presents to Christianity, and this in spite of the perverse theory on which it is founded. So numerous and surprising are the analogies and coincidences, that Mrs. Speir, in her book on Life in Ancient India, ‘could almost imagine that before God planted Christianity upon earth, he took a branch from the luxuriant tree, and threw it down to India.’
     It would be superflous to attempt here any formal refutation of the religion of the Buddha. To the readers of this work, the fundamental errors of the theory will be apparent enough. By giving prominence to the extravagances and almost inconceivable puerilities and absurdities with which the system has been overloaded, it would have been easy to make it look sufficiently ridiculous. But this is not to depict, it is to caricature. It is only too common for Christian writers to treat heathen religions in such fashion…
–From Chambers’s Encyclopædia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge for the People. American Revised Edition. Vol. II. BEL to NUM. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company. 1875. pgs. 402-3, 405, 407, 408 & 409.

Buddh’ism (from the title of ‘the Buddha,’ the enlightened, assumed by its founder),
a system of religion founded about 2500 years ago in India, and which, though it has now disappeared from the land of its birth, is professed by 455,000,000 of people, being more than 31 per cent, of the human race, in Cashmere, Nepaul, Thibet, Tartary, Mongolia, Japan, Siam, Burmah, and Ceylon… The most striking feature in the history of B. is its power of proselytising, a power arising from the universal sympathy and brotherhood which it inculcated. By the middle of the 3d c. B.C.–i.e., in the time of Asoka–it was the established religion of the country. Missionaries were sent to other countries, who went upon a regular system of preaching, teaching, and disseminating the sacred doctrines…
     The Buddhist Holy Scriptures, containing the tenets of the system, the canon of which was said to have occupied the attention of a council held after the death of Buddha, and to have been fixed by a council in Asoka’s time, and confirmed by a council in Cashmere in the beginning of our era, are called the Tripitika (three baskets), and are divided into three classes:–(1) The Sutras, or discourses of the Buddha, not written down by himself, but by his chief followers immediately after his death; (2) The Vinaya, comprising all that has reference to morality or discipline; (3) Abhidarma, or metaphysics.
     B. can only be called a religion at all in a very peculiar sense, since it is theoretically a pure atheism. It ignores the existence of a diety. Nevertheless the moral code of the system is one of the purest in the world. The basis of its ethics, which are so inextricably mixed up with the metaphysics that the two cannot be considered separately, is what the Buddha called the Four Verities–(1) That pain exists, (2) that the cause of pain is attachment to existing objects, (3) that pain can be ended by Nirwana (‘extinction,’ but of what is still matter of dispute)), (4) the way that leads to Nirwana. The way to Nirwana consists of eight parts–(1) Right faith (orthodoxy), (2) right judgment, (3) right language (truthfulness), (4) right purpose (uprightness), (5) right practice (the pursuit of the religious life), (6) right obedience (to all the precepts of the Buddhist law), (7) right memory, (8) right meditation. The supreme controlling power of the universe is Karma, that is, a chain of linked processes, which continually and necessarily recur in uniform regularity of sequence, by which all things are determined. The Buddhist believes that he has existed in many myriads of previous births (see TRANSMIGRATION), and may have passed through all possible states of beings, from the highest to the lowest (of men, and also of animals, and even of inanimate objects), and that he is in this life under the influence of all that he has ever done in all these previous existences. This is his Karma, the arbiter of his fate…
–From the The Globe Encyclopaedia of Universal Knowledge. Vol I. A to CANN’A. Boston: Estes & Lauriat, 1876. pg 522 & 523.

Buddhism,
the system of faith introduced or reformed by Buddha. It was effective in counteracting the caste system of the Brahmans and other Aryan invaders of India. It existed in India as the principal religion for more than a thousand years, but has been almost entirely supplanted by Brahmanism. At present it is the religion of China, Japan, Tibet, Ceylon, and Burma. It has existed for more than 2,500 years and numbers as its followers from one-tenth to one-eighth of the entire human race. One of its most prominant doctrines is that Nirvana, a state of absolute release from existence, is the highest good. It is held that pain is inseparable from existence, thus it can cease only through Nirvana; and, to attan to this state, our desires and passions must be suppressed and the most extreme self-renunciation practiced, while personality must be entirely subordinated…
–From the The New World Family Encylopedia Volume Three: Billings-Cartwright. New York: Standard International Library, Inc., 1953. pg. 724-5.

Christianity
is the religion founded by Jesus Christ (q.v.), by whom, its professors maintain, the highest manifestation of God to man was made. As compared with other systems of religion–Polytheistic, Dualistic, Fantheistic–C, is to be considered Monotheistic. Here, however, a distinction is made by some between the C. of Christ and that of the Church, which latter is charged with running into Ditheism (see CHRISTOLOGY), a charge, however, always strenuously repelled by the Church…
–From the The Globe Encyclopaedia of Universal Knowledge. Vol II. CAN to EZZ. Boston: Estes & Lauriat, 1877. pg 140.

Christianity (kris-t̮i-an’i̤-ti), n.
[An alteration toward the LL. form of the earlier mod. E. christenty, <ME. cristiente, cristianitee, crystyante, cristante, < OF. chrestiente, crestientet, F. chrétienté = Pr. chrestiantat, xristiandat = Cat. christiandat = Sp. cristiandad = Pg. christiandade = It. cristianità, < LL. christianita(t-)s, < christianus, Christian: see Christian¹ and –ity.]
1. The religion founded by Jesus Christ. Christianity may be regarded as divisible into–
(a) Historical Christianity, the facts and principles stated in the New Testament, especially those concerning the life, suffering, death, resurrection, ascension, and nature of Jesus, together with the subsequent development of the Christian church, and the gradual embodiment in society of the principles inculcated by it.
          A candid but rational inquiry into the progress and establishment of Christianity
          may be considered as a very essential part of the history of the Roman Empire.
                    Gibbon, Decline and Fall, xv.
(b) Dogmatic Christianity, the systems of theological doctrine founded in the New Testament. These systems differ with different churches, sects, and schools.
          Engelhard’s method finds… the second period, that of synthetic talent,
          employed in constructing Christianity as a Univerisal system, marked
          by two tendencies, the scholatic and mystic.
                    Shedd, Hist. of Christ. Doct. VI.38.
(c) Vital Christianity, the spirit manifested by Jesus Christ in his life, and which he commanded his followers to imitate.
          Every one who lives in the habitual practice of any voluntary sin,
          cuts himself off from christianity.
                    Addison
          Christianity is a soul-power–an invisible immutable power
          in the world.
                    H.W. Beecher, Sermons, I. 388.
2†. The body of Christian believers.
          To Wayls fled the christianitee
          of olde Britons.
                    Chaucer, Man of Law’s Tale, 1. 446
3†. The Christian or civilized world; Christendom.
          Ther neuer was no better in crystiante.
                    Nugae Poet., p. 57.
4. Conformity to the teachings of Christ in life and conduct. [Rare.]–
Evidences of Christianity, also called evidences of revealed religion, or simply evidences, the proofs of the divine origin of Christianity. They are classified as external and internal evidences. The former are again chiefly two, the argument from prophecies and the argument from miracles; the latter is the argument from the character of Christ and of his teachings, from the adaptation of Christianity to the needs of man, and from the history of its effects in the world. The term does not include the proofs of the existence of a Divine Being.–
Muscular Christianity, a phrase used to denote a healthy, robust, and cheerful religion, one that leads a person to take an active part in life, and does not frown upon harmless enjoyments, as opposed to a religion which is more contemplative, and neglects to a great extent the present life. Hence also the phrase muscular Christian.
–From The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: A Work of Universal Reference in all Departments of Knowledge with a New Atlas of the World. Volume II CELT-DROOL. New York: The Century Co., 1900. pg. 985.

Christianity,
the religion based upon the life and works of Jesus Christ (q.v.), and His doctrines and precepts. Although Christians have, during some 19 centuries, divided and subdivided themselves into many sects, all agree on certain basic tenets, e.g.. that there is only one God, who is almighty, and that Jesus, His earthly-born son, is a divine agent whose earthly, and later heavenly, function was, and is, to reconcile fallen Man with God. Philosophically, Christianity represents a new concept in human history: the literal relationship of God to mankind (as evidenced by God’s providing Jesus with a human body and thus a highly personalized share in the human bloodstream and consciousness)…
–From the The New World Family Encylopedia Volume Four: Caruso-Cormorant. New York: Standard International Library, Inc., 1953. pg. 997.

Christ’s-thorn (krīsts’thôrn), n
The Paliurus aeuleatus, a deciduous shrub, a native of Palestine and the south of Europe: so named from a belief that the crown of thorns placed upon the head of Christ was made of it…
–From The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: A Work of Universal Reference in all Departments of Knowledge with a New Atlas of the World. Volume II CELT-DROOL. New York: The Century Co., 1900. pg. 986.

Confess (ko̤n-fes’), v…
I. trans. 1. To make avowal or admission of, as of a fault, a crime, a charge, a debt, or something that is against one’s interest or reputation; own; acknowledge; avow.
2. Reflexively, to make an admission or an inculpatory statement concerning; acknowledge to be; specifically, acknowledge the sins or moral faults of, as in auricular confession to a priest: as, I confess myself in error or in fault.
3. Eccles., to receive the confession of; act as a confessor to.
4. To acknowledge as having a certain character or certain claims; recognize; own; avow; declare belief in.
     Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men,
     him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
          Mat. x. 32.
II intrans 1. To make confession or avowal; disclose or admit a crime, fault, debt, etc.
2. Eccles., to make known one’s sins or the state of one’s conscience to a priest.
     The mendicant priests of Buddha are bound to confess
     twice a month at the new and full moon
          J.F. Clarke, Ten Great Religions, I. iv. § 6.
–From The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: A Work of Universal Reference in all Departments of Knowledge with a New Atlas of the World. Volume II CELT-DROOL. New York: The Century Co., 1900. pg. 1182.

Confession, Auricular,
in the strictest sense, the disclosure of sins to the priest at the confessional, with a view to obtain absolution for them. The person confessing is allowed to conceal no sin of consequence which he remembers to have committed, and the father confessor is bound to perpetual secrecy. The practice of public acknowledgment of great sins was altered by Pope Leo the Great, in 450, into a secret one before the priest, and the fourth general Lateran council (1215) ordained that every one of the faithful, of both sexes,come to years of discretion, should privately confess all their sins at least once a year to their own pastor, an ordination still binding on members of the R. Catholic Church. Confession is part of the sacrament of penance…
–From Blackie’s Modern Cyclopedia of Universal Information. A Handy Book of Reference on all Subjects and for all Readers. Vol. III. CON-FIR. Toronto: The Byrant Printing & Publishing Company, Limited, 1890. pg. 2.

Cṑn-fĕs’-sion, *Con-fes-si-oun, s.
[Lat. con-fessio, from confessus, pa. par of confiteor: con=cum=with, fully; fateor=to confess.]
I. Ordinary Language:
1. The acknowledgment of any crime, fault, or action committed. [II.]
2. The acknowledgment of the truth or accuracy of any statement.
        “Lord Beaconsfield’s own speech contained many undesigned
        confessions of this truth,…”
                —London Times.
3. A profession, a declaration, an avowal.
II. Technically:
*1. Law: The acknowledgment of a debt by the debtor before a justice; also the pleading guilty to an indictment.
2. Eccles.: [SACRAMENTAL CONFESSION.]
        “…all that could be urged in favor of transubstantiation
        and auricular confession;”
                —Macaulay: Hist. Eng., ch. xv.
III. Special phrases and compounds:
1. Auricular confession: [AURICULAR. See also Sacramental confession in this article.]
2. Confession and avoidance (Law): a term used when a plaintiff in his replication to a defendant’s plea confesses the truth of the facts in the plea; but at the same time introduces some new matter or distinction consistent with the plaintiff’s former declaration.
3. Confession of action:
Law: The confession that an action against one–as, for instance, to recover a debt–is to a certain extent just, and the payment into court of the amount which one admits to be due. (Blackstone.)
4. Confession of faith:
Theol. & Ch. Hist.: A statement in a carefully composed and well-tested series of propositions of the tenets held by the church or religious party adhering to such confession. Numerous confessions have been put forth, and among others the following:
(1) The Confession of Augsburg: [AUGSBURG CONFESSION.]
(2) Th Westminster Confession: A confession of faith drawn up by what was called an Assembly of Divines, but which had also some layment among its members, sitting by authority of the Parliament between A.D. 1643 and 1647… It is still the chief symbolic book of the Evangelical Presbyterian Churches throughout the world, though explanations or qualifications of the teaching on one or two points are permitted in some of the churches.
¶ The Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England are a confession of faith in all but the name. [ARTICLES.]
5. Confession of indictment:
Law: a confession by an accused person that he is guilty of the offense with which he is charged. (Blackstone)
6. Sacramental Confession:
Theology and Church History:
(1) Def.: “The habitual and detailed confession of sins to a priest, with a view of receiving priestly absolution, and of so becoming better prepared for a faithful and true partaking of the Holy Communion, and of attaining to a higher standard of true spiritual life.” (Bp. of Gloucester and Bristol, quoted in London Times, Oct. 27, 1877.)
(2) Hist.: Originally notorious offenders were required to confess their sins publicly before the congregation. There existed also an ancient practice of voluntary confession in public or private offenses and secret sins. In the fifth century Pope Leo the Great gave permission to confess the latter kind of sins in private to a priest appointed for the purpose. This was the origin of sacramental confession, which soon after became an institution, though confession to a priest was optional till the thirteenth century when Innocent III., at the fourth Council of Lateran, A.D. 1215, rendered it compulsory. It has since continued to be practiced in the Roman Catholic Church.
–From The Imperial Encylopædic Dictionary A New and Exhaustive Work of Reference to the English Language, Defining Over 250,000 Words, with a Full Account of their Origin, Pronunciation and Use, Comprising a General Encyclopædia of Art, Science, Invention and Discovery; a Gazetteer and Atlas of the World: A Compendious Dictionary of Universal Biography, etc. Vol. III COA-DIS. London and New York: Dictionary and Cyclopedia Co., 1901. pg. 1046

Confession,
a rite in Eastern and Roman Catholic churches, consisting of the acknowledgment of his sins by a Christian to a priest. The purpose is to achieve reconciliation with the church, which the individual has offended by a violation of its commandments. Confession developed historically from the custom of the first centuries of the Christian Church, whereby members of the community who had been excluded because of any wrongdoing were required to confess before the community. Even the clergy themselves confess before taking Communion. The power of atoning, based on certain passages in the New Testament, was given to the Apostles, and thus their successors, the priests, represent the divine capacity of judging and can pardon sins and order penitence. It is the absolute obligation of the priest not to divulge what has been told to him in confession.
     All mortal sins (peccata mortalia) must be admitted in confession, but venial sins (peccata venialia) do not need to be admitted. Sins must be confessed, whether they have been committed actually or only in thought. The conscious withholding of a sin nullifies the entire act of confession, and the sacrament of confession is thereby profaned. Members of the clergy have to confess more often than laymen, especially before they are to perform an important holy rite.
     After the confession, and by means of it, the priest is able to give absolution to the members of the community. This absolution means the readmission to Communion and is absolutely necessary for readmission.
     The Lutheran Church fought against the pratice of confession, seeing in it one of the abuses of the Catholic Church, but later on left it optional whether a member of the community wanted to make a confession to the community. Still later, the pastor confessed in the name of the community and proclaimed a general and common absolution for the community. This way, private confession became superfluous. The Church of England also exercises this general form of confession and absolution, but in addition allows, “the benefit of absolution” to people who wish it for special reasons. The Presbyterian Church has no confession.
     The Jewish religion also provides a certain form of confession, consisting of a general formula in the name of the participants in a divine service. On the eve of the Day of Atonement this ritual becomes an important part of the divine service. See also Sin.
From–The New World Family Encylopedia. Volume Four CARUSO-CORMORANT. New York: Standard International Library, INC., 1953. pgs. 1113-4.

Confession,
in Roman Catholic usage, the detailed manifestation of personal sins, committed after baptism, to a duly authorized priest, for the purpose of obtaining pardon. There is little evidence that this confession was made publicly before the congregation in the early Church, although it is known that the practice of reading a catalogue of the penitent’s sins was gradually introduced into the churches of northern Italy. This was vigorously condemned by Pope Leo the Great (c. 403-461) as contrary to the “apostolic rule,” and Leo’s vigilance in safeguarding the confidences of the penitent led subsequent pontiffs to punish severly priests who attempted to violate what has come to be known as the “seal of confession.” Although the necessity of confession was recognized from the earliest times, the rather stringent character of the public penance induced many to put off confession until death approached. However, under the influence of the Irish monks and English missionaries to the Continent, the practice of confession as the ordinary remedy for sin became fairly common, and the way was prepared for the action of the Third Lateran Council (1179), in which it was decreed that all guilty of serious sins should confess at least once a year. Thus, the Latin Church officially determined the time when the obligation of confession should bind; the obligation, however, of confessing one’s sins is held to be a divine and not merely an ecclesiastical ordinance, and theologians of the Roman Church regard this teaching as an obvious corollary from Christ’s commission (John xx:23) to retain as well as to forgive sins. Protestants, generally, have denied the sacramental character of penance although Luther recognized the ascetical value of confession. Anglo-Catholics grant the sacramental efficacy of confession but regard confession of one’s sins to a priest as one of many optional means of obtaining forgiveness. Finally, the strictly therapeutic value of confession has been recognized by many who have sought in the psychiatrist and psychoanalyst a substitute for the priest-confessor.
–From Collier’s Encyclopedia Volume 5 CHA-COP. New York: P.F. Collier & Son Corporation, 1957. pgs 583 & 584.

Confession of Faith.
Formulary setting forth the articles of faith of any church or body of believers. The term arose in Reformation times, superseding the earlier word creed. The formation of Protestant groups separated from the Roman Catholic Church, all claiming the Bible alone as the rule of faith, necessitated some authoritative statement of belief which would define the position and justify the separation.
–From Harmsworth’s Universal Encyclopedia. Volume 3 CAV-DRILL. London: The Amalgamated Press LTD, c. 1910. pg. 2202.

Confessions,
counterpart in the various Protestant churches of the Creed (q.v.) of the Catholic Church. It contains the substance of the religious belief of the various churches. Like the Creed, the Confessions went through many stages of development, but their essential substance has never changed. Historically, the first confession is the so-called Augsburg Confession (q.v.) embodying the fundamental doctrines of the Lutheran Church. Its originator was Melanchthon (q.v.), but Martin Luther (q.v.) revised it and submitted it to the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles V, at the Reichstag of Augsburg (1530).
     The Confession of Basel (1534) corresponded to that of Augsburg but represented the opinions of Zwingli (q.v.). It differed from Luther as to the meaning of the Communion–whether the body of Christ in the Communion is actually existent as Luther believed, or whether it has to be thought of as a symbol.
     Calvin’s Gallican Confession correspondingly contains Calvin’s theory as in his “institutes of Christian Religion.” However, it must be emphasized that Calvin’s concept was still more subtly formulated than the English Westminster Confession. See Calvin and Calvinism.
     The English Articles of Religion can be considered the English counterpart of the German Confessions. Their basic variance from the German theological concept is in the sense of a more Catholic position, and in contrast to Calvin they place particular emphasis on the fact of “grace.” They uphold many more Catholic rites than do Luther and Zwingli but in contrast to Catholicism they do not express belief in power of remitting sin contained in these rites.
     The Westminster Confession, the basis of the Presbyterian religion, was adopted by the Scottish Parliament in 1648. Here the strictist emphasis is laid on the Calvinistic idea of predestination and original sin.
     The Confessions of the Baptists, of the Society of Friends, both conceived in the 17th century, and finally of the Congregationalists, from the beginning of the 19th vary from those mentioned above. However, they are less important since members of the respective communities feel themselves not so strictly bound by them as the foregoing.
     The Eastern Orthodox (Greek) Church leans essentially on the Nicene Creed and on some theses taken from the Athanasian Creed. The Orthodox Confession of the Catholic and Apostolic Eastern Church was formulated in 1640 by Petrus Mogilas, metropolitan of Kiev, incidentally at about the same time when the great Protestant confessions were written. Certain shades of opinion were developed later on but did not change the essential substance of the above-mentioned creeds. See also Catechism.
From–The New World Family Encylopedia. Volume Four CARUSO-CORMORANT. New York: Standard International Library, INC., 1953. pg. 1114.

Confessions of Faith,
a statement of religious beliefs, a king of elaborate creed. (See Creed.) What is most distinctively known by this name is the document prepared by the Assembly of Divines which met at Westminster in obedience to an ordinance of parliament issued June 12, 1643. The whole number of the assembly amounted to 174 members, mostly Puritans, thrity-two being members of parliament. There were also sex Scottish commissioners appointed to consult and deliberate, but not to vote. One of the chief results of the deliberations was the framing of the Confession of Faith, which, on the return of the Scottish commissioners, was adopted by the Assembly of the Church of Scotland, August 27, 1647.
–From Blackie’s Modern Cyclopedia of Universal Information. A Handy Book of Reference on all Subjects and for all Readers. Vol. III. CON-FIR. Toronto: The Byrant Printing & Publishing Company, Limited, 1890. pg. 2.

Confessions of S. Augustine, THE.
Work by S. Augustine, bishop of Hippo, written in 397. In the first ten books, which are autobiographical, the author relates how the faults of his youth, and how from Manicheanism he became converted to Christianity. The last three books are a commentary on the first part of Genesis. Of the many English translations of the Confessions may be mentioned that by C. Bigg, 7th ed. 1909.
From–Harmsworth’s Universal Encyclopedia. Volume 4 CINQ-DRILL. London: The Educational Book CO. LTD, c. 1910. pg. 2202.

Cṑn-fĕs’-sõr, *Con-fes-sour, s.
[Lat. from confessus, pa. par. of confiteor.] [CONFESS.]
†I. Ord. Lang.: One who confesses any fault or crime.
II. Technically:
1. Ch. Hist.: The name given by the early Christians to one who manfully faced death rather than deny or conceal the Christian faith, but who had not his life actually taken away. If he were put to death he was a martyr and not a confessor. Both were deemed exceedingly honorable titles, but the martyr was the higher of the two.
        …some confessors, who had manfully refused to save themselves
        from torments and death by throwing frankincense on the alter of Jupitor…”
                —Macaulay: Hist. Eng., ch. xiv.
2. Eccles.: A priest who officially hears confessions and prescribes penance to penitents, or grants them absolution.
–From The Imperial Encylopædic Dictionary A New and Exhaustive Work of Reference to the English Language, Defining Over 250,000 Words, with a Full Account of their Origin, Pronunciation and Use, Comprising a General Encyclopædia of Art, Science, Invention and Discovery; a Gazetteer and Atlas of the World: A Compendious Dictionary of Universal Biography, etc. Vol. III COA-DIS. London and New York: Dictionary and Cyclopedia Co., 1901. pg. 1046

The Health of the Mind.
          The Question of Sex in Relation to the Growth of Well-Balanced Minds
          in Childhood:
          Country or City Life for Children?
From the care of the senses, which are the avenues of the soul, we pass to the care of the mind, the happiness of which, on some plane or other, alone makes life worth living or bodily health of any importance. Here we shall accept the profoundly true idea that “to live is to change”, and therefore that we must begin at the beginning, and care for all the stages of development if we wish for a healthy and happy mind. And then, if we are wise, we shall not relax our care, but shall seek for a normal and healthy passage of the mind from its mature to its post-mature–which need not be its “senile”–state… We begin with the child, because, though it may never be too late to mend, there will be nothing but mending unless we begin rightly…
          The cruelty of playing on the child’s susceptibility with religious terrors.
The force of ideas is tremendous in childhood. Because the child is not interested in the particular ideas which affect us, we suppose that it takes little stock in ideas at all, but that is not so. A child is as “suggestible” as an adult, and more so… All nurses, servants and so forth, who are found frightening children with stories of ghosts, or of evil spirits or of anything else, real or unreal, for good purposes or bad, should thereupon be deprived of the opportunities they so abominably abuse…
–From The Book of Popular Science The Wonders of Modern Discovery, The Triumphs of Inventive Genius, The Story of all Created Things, and the World They Live In. Volume XII. New York: The Grolier Society, 1924. pgs 4073 & 4075.

Hinduism,
the general term used to include the various social institutions and numerous religions and sects that have grown out of the Brahmanical writings, particularly BRAHMANISM; JAINISM; BUDDHISM.
–From The Source Book An International Encyclopedic Authority written from the New World Viewpoint. Volume III Erie to Indiana. Chicago, Winnipeg, Toronto: Perpetual Encyclopedia Corporation, 1924, 1926. pg. 1320.

Hinduism,
religious system prevalent among the Hindus, who form the bulk of the people of India. It is a comparatively modern development, through Brahmanism and Buddhism, influenced by non-Aryan notions, of the primitive nature worship of the earliest Aryan settlers, as exhibited in the collection of hymns called the “Vedas” (the oldest literary monuments of the country), and hence called “Vedism.” These hymns have a strong mythical character, yet there are glimpses in some of the hymns of a high and spiritual conception of the Deity, or direct mystical allusions to one Superior Being, from whom all the rest emanate; and texts are found which speak more or less explicitly of “One Supreme Spirit, the Lord of the universe, whose work is the universe.” The general character of the hymns, however, does not rise above the earthly level. Protection from the elements, from sickness, and from enemies, aspirations for the favors of nature, for increase of children and of cattle, are their main topics. The difference between the religion of the Vedas and modern Hinduism is very wide–so wide, indeed, that the two religions have little or nothing in common beyond the Vedic texts and formulas still in use. The code of Mann, a pre-Christian production, recognizes Brahma, the creative energy of the world, states the doctrine of transmigration and of future reward and punishment, and develops the caste system.
     It is in the “Puranas” that Hinduism receives its full development, Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Siva the Destroyer (or rather Regenerator) are acknowleged as the three great divinities constituting the Triad. Vishnu the Preserver was then, as now, the most popular diety, under one or other of his ten avatȧrs or descents, or, as the word is sometimes translated, incarnations. The religion of the Hindus is principally directed to the worship of three leading divinities, Vishnu, Siva, and Devi–each of whom has many names and forms. The worship of Visnu is cheerful and sensuous; of Siva, somber and severe; of Devi, terrible and disgusting. Besides these great divinities there are many others of lesser dignity and power, who have their special attributes and action. They are not the objects of any regular worship, but they are invoked and adoration is offered to them when it is desired to propitiate them and secure a favorable exercise of their powers. There are Indra, the god of the firmament and heaven; Surya, the sun; Soma, the moon; Varuna, the waters; Pavana, the wind; Agni, fire; Kuvera, wealth; Karttikeya, war; Kama, love; Yama, the god of the infernal regions and judge of the dead. Ganesa or Ganapati, the god of wisdom and the remover of obstacles, is represented as a short fat man with an elephant’s head. His image is frequently found at the entrance of temples, and he is invoked at the beginning of important works and ceremonies. The total number of gods is said to be 330,000,000.
     The Hindu religion ascribes remarkable virtues to sacrifice and faith. Austere penance, perseveringly and rigidly performed, makes even the gods subservient to the wishes of the devotee, and that quite irrespective of the object in view, so that the most impious and worthless may gain their ends by sacrifice and severe bodily torture.
–From the The New World Family Encylopedia Volume Eight: COMPERS–HOBBES. New York: Standard International Library, Inc., 1953. pg. 2286.

Ĭş’-lạm, *Ĕs’-lạm, Ĭş’-lạm-ĭşm, subset. [Arab. Islam=
(1) the true or orthodox faith among the Mohammedans,
(2) obedience to the will of God, submission,
(3) the Mohammedan religion,
(4) the Mohammedan church or community.]
[Catafago.]
A name given to Mohammedanism (q.v.).
–From The Imperial Encylopædic Dictionary A New and Exhaustive Work of Reference to the English Language, Defining Over 250,000 Words, with a Full Account of their Origin, Pronunciation and Use, Comprising a General Encyclopædia of Art, Science, Invention and Discovery; a Gazetteer and Atlas of the World: A Compendious Dictionary of Universal Biography, etc. Vol. VI INT-NER. London and New York: Dictionary and Cyclopedia Co., 1901. pg. 2384.

Jû’-dā-ĭşm, s. [Fr. juda’isme; from Lat. judaismus, from Judœus=a Jew.]
I. Ordinary Language:
1. The religious doctrines and rites of the Jews, according to the laws of Moses.
2. Conformity to Jewish rites and ceremonies.
II. Religion: One of the most important faiths of the world, which Christians, as well as Jews, consider to have been revealed by God.
(1) Ancient Judaism: The earliest form of the Jewish faith was patriarchal (q.v.) On the night of the Israelitish departure from Egypt an essential part of Judaism, in its second or more developed form, was begun by the institution of the passover (Exod. xii. xiii.). At Sinai two tables of stone were given containing the ten commandments. Subsequently there was revealed to Moses, to be by him communicated to the people, a complicated system of ceremonial observances, interspersed with judicial enactments. A splendid tabernacle–i.e.., a tent–on a divine model, was erected as the habitation of Jehovah, in the journeyings through the wilderness, to be in due time followed by a temple, when the people were permanently settled. A hereditary priesthood was consecrated, and theocratic form of government maintained, the supreme civil ruler, whether lawgiver, military leader, judge, or king, being regarded as the vicegerent of God. Ancient Judaism was the precursor of Christianity and the germ from which it sprang; and Christians generally believe that all the ceremonies, sacred personages, &c., of the older economy were types and shadows of the life and sufferings of Jesus Christ (Heb. ix., x., &c). Colenso, in common with some rationalistic writers, believes that what he terms the Levitical or Later legislation was never really put in force till after the Babylonish Captivity.
(2) Modern Judaism: After the Jews lost their independence, and especially after the destruction of Jerusalem, the judical regulations of the Mosaic law ceased to be observed. Tradition also gained increased authority, and in the latter half of the fourth century arose the Jerusalem, and in the sixth the Babylonian Talmud, containing the rules, constitutions, precepts, and interpretations intended to supplement those of the Old Testament. Notwithstanding these and other changes, modern Judaism still bears very considerable resemblance to the ancient type of the faith.
–From The Imperial Encylopædic Dictionary A New and Exhaustive Work of Reference to the English Language, Defining Over 250,000 Words, with a Full Account of their Origin, Pronunciation and Use, Comprising a General Encyclopædia of Art, Science, Invention and Discovery; a Gazetteer and Atlas of the World: A Compendious Dictionary of Universal Biography, etc. Vol. VI INT-NER. London and New York: Dictionary and Cyclopedia Co., 1901. pg. 2411

Judaism,
The sum total of Jewish experience and belief as set forth in the Jews’ sacred literature and as developed through experience over many centuries. It is more correctly applied to the way of life derived from their religion than to the religion itself, although it is often used in the latter sense. The term was first used by Greek-speaking Jews to distinguish the Hebraic from the Hellenic way of life.
     The central concept upon which Judaism rests is that of monotheism. These ways of life were differentiated, however, by more than the fact that one was polytheistic and the other monotheistic, for the Hebraic way of life emphasized the worth of the individual, freedom of will, and a type of equality before God which was foreign to the Hellenistic Greek belief and closer to the spirit of democracy. Under Judaism the idea of any other than the one God is, of course, firmly rejected, and man’s intelligence is considered to be in the “likeness of God,” as is his ethical morality. If in these respects man is in the likeness of God, clearly there can be no doctrine of original sin (q.v.), and one man cannot be above another in universal value nor in access to God. Accessibility to God, through prayer, is open to all, and not even rabbis are given special authority to speak for others.
     The basis of the philosophy of life called Judaism, then, derives from a belief in the unity of God and in the dignity of man as expressed in the Torah (the Pentateuch, or “Law of Moses”) and from the body of experience and custom attained through application of these principles to the practical problems of everyday living. Judaism must be regarded as a way of life rather than as a religious theory or ritual which may substituted for ethical conduct. It is scarcely likely, otherwise, that Judaism could have survived as a recognizable entity the extremes of geographic and cultural dispersal which have been its lot, for a ritual and dogma divorced from the life of the people would have been meaningless in adversity and prosperity alike…
–From the The New World Family Encylopedia Volume Ten: IRTYSH-LA BOURDONNAIS. New York: Standard International Library, Inc., 1953. pg. 2734.

Mind The Essence of Man.
          The Mind, Something Vastly More Than Consciousness, to be Studied in
          Lowly Ways, but Linked with the Divine:
          An Introduction to Psychology.
With certain conspicuous omissions, such as the eye and the ear, to which we shall return later, we have now discussed the body of man, “in whom there is nothing great but mind”. We have steadily climbed upward until we reached the gray bark, or cortex, of his brain, which is the characteristic organ, and which we have sliced and stained in the vain search for his soul. The truth is that “the things which are seen are temporal”, and the essential part of man has not yet engaged our attention. To that essential part our next chapter must be devoted…
          The science that reconciles the claims of both matter and spirit.
In our account of man today, therefore, we naturally proceed from his body to his mind, and, above all, from the cortex of his cerebrum to his mind. We pass from physiology to psychology, and yet we do not leave physiology. We study the mind, but we still study the body. This, of course, is what is meant by and involved in the new science of physiological psychology, which rightly claims for itself today a place second to none among the sciences. Metaphysicians and psychologists in the past — and those who, though present in the flesh, belong to the past today — would sneer at this new science as materialism, because of its continued references to the body; and the physiologists of thirty years ago had a short enough way of treating any psychology, since to them the mind was, as we have seen, a mere physiological accident. Let not the reader suppose that we are insisting unduly upon this tremendous change in the dominant thought of the recent past and today. It cannot be too much insisted upon…
–From The Book of Popular Science The Wonders of Modern Discovery, The Triumphs of Inventive Genius, The Story of all Created Things, and the World They Live In. Volume VII. New York: The Grolier Society, 1926. pgs 2359 & 2360.

Moha’mmedanism,
the religion founded by Mohammed, or, according to him, the only orthodox creed existing from the beginning of the world, and preached by all the prophets ever since Adam. It is also called Islâm, Resignation, entire Submission to the will and precepts of God. In its exclusively dogmatical or theoretical part, it is Imám, Faith; in its practical, Dín Religion (by way of eminence). The fundamental principles of the former are contained in the two articles of belief: ‘There is no God but God; and Mohammed is God’s Apostle.’ The Mohammedian doctrine of God’s nature and attributes coincides with the Christian, in so far as he is by both taught to be the Creator of all things in heaven and earth, who rules and preserves all things, without beginning, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and full of mercy. Yet, according to the Mohammedan belief, he has no offspring: ‘He begetteth not, nor is he begotten.’ Nor is Jesus called anything but a prophet and apostle, although his birth is said to have been due to a miraculous divine operation; and as the Koran superseded the Gospel, so Mohammed, Christ. The crucifixion is said to have been executed upon another person, Christ having been taken up unto God before the decree was carried out. He will come again upon the earth, to establish everywhere the Moslem religion, and to be a sign of the coming of the day of judgment… It will hardly be necessary, after what we said under MOHAMMED, to point out, in every individual instance, how most of his ‘religious’ notions were taken almost bodily from the Jewish legends; his angelology, however, the Jews had borrowed themselves from the Persians, only altering the names, and, in a few cases, the offices of the chief angelic dignitaries… A further point of belief is that in certain God-given Scriptures revealed successively to the different prophets. Four only of the original one hundred and four sacred books: viz., the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Gospel, and the Koran, are said to have survived; the three former, however, in a mutilated and falsified condition… The belief in the resurrection and the final judgment is the next article of faith. The dead are received in their graves by an angel announcing the coming of the two examiners, Monker and Nakir, who put questions to the corpses respecting his belief in God and Mohammed, and who, in accordance with the answers, either torture or comfort him. This, again, is the Jewish ‘Chibbut hakkeber,’the Beating of the Grave, a hyperbolical description of the sufferings during the intermediate state after death (purgatory)… It may, however, not be superfluous to add, that, according to the Mohammedan doctrine, it is not a person’s good works or merits which gain his admittance, but solely God’s mercy; also that the poor will enter paradise five hundred years before the rich; and the majority of the inhabitants of hell are women… For those deserving a higher degree of recompense, rewards will be prepared of a purely spiritual kind–i.e. the ‘beholding of God’s face’ (Shechinah) by night and by day. A separate abode of happiness will also be reserved for women, but there is considerable doubt as to the manner of their enjoyment. That they are not of a prominently spiritual nature, is clear from the story of the Prophet and the old woman. The latter solicited Mohammed to intercede with God that she might be admitted to paradise, whereupon he replied that old women were not allowed in paradise, which dictum–causing her to weep–he further explained by saying that they would first be made young again. The last of the precepts of pure faith taught by Mohammedanism is the full and unconditional submission to God’s decree [ISLAM], and the predestination of good and evil, which is found from the beginning inscribed on a ‘preserved table.’
     Thus far, briefly, the Iman, dogmatical or theoretucak part of Islam. The Din, or practical part, which contains the ritual and moral laws inculcates as the chief duties the following four: prayer, alms-giving, fasting, and pilgrimage…
–From Chambers’s Encyclopædia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge for the People. American Revised Edition. Vol. VI. LAB to NUM. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company. 1875. pgs. 504-505 & 506.

Psyche (sī’ ki), n.
The soul, spirit, or mind of man; the soul personified as a nymph with butterfly wings; a genus of day-flying moths, having greyish, rounded wings with no markings of the family Psychidae. (F. Psyché.) In later Greek mythology, the soul was personified as the maiden Psyche, who, after many trials, became the immortal wife of Eros, or Cupid. This word, which in Greek means life or soul, enters into the formation of several words used chiefly in sciences dealing with the mind, and in spiritualism. To a doctor, psychic (sī’ kik, adj.) and psychical (sī’ kik ȧl, adj.) mean pertaining to the mind. As the action of the mind is invisible, these words are also frequently used to mean outside physical laws, or spiritualistic. Telepathy, automatic writing, and other obscure manifestations of the activities of the mind or of a spirit world are known as psychic phenomena… The investigation of hypnotism, thought-transference, clairvoyance, apparitions, and other psychic activities and phenomena, is know as psychical research (n.)… Theologically psychic or psychical means pertaining to man’s lower or animal nature, as distinct from spiritual. The scientific study and treatment of mental diseases is psychiatry (sī’ kī’ ̇a tri, n.). Psychiatric (sī’ ki ̇ăt’ rik, adj.) treatment is given in mental institutions. A doctor who specializes in mental cases is a psychiater (sī’ kī’ ̇a tėr, n.) or alienist. Gr. = life, breath, soul.
–From The Waverley Pictorial Dictionary Volume Six Pole-Snag. Edited by Harold Wheeler. London: The Waverley Book Company, Ltd., circa 1900. pgs. 3459-60.

Psȳ-chē, s. [Lat., from Gr. psychē=breath, the soul; psychō=to blow.]
I. Ordinary Language:
1. The soul, the mind.
2. A cheval dressing-glass.
II Technically:
1. Astron.: [ASTEROID, 16.]
2. Entom,: The typical genus of Psychidæ (1) (q.v.).
3. Greek Mythol.: A nymph, the personification of the soul. Her great beauty excited the jealousy and hatred of Venus, who ordered Cupid to inspire her with love for some contemptible being. Cupid, however, fell in love with her himself, and after many persecutions by Venus, a reconciliation was effected, and Psyche was made immortal.
–From The Imperial Encylopædic Dictionary A New and Exhaustive Work of Reference to the English Language, Defining Over 250,000 Words, with a Full Account of their Origin, Pronunication and Use, Comprising a General Encyclopædia of Art, Science, Invention and Discovery; a Gazetteer and Atlas of the World: A Compendious Dictionary of Universal Biography, etc. Vol. VII NER-PUT. London and New York: Dictionary and Cyclopedia Co., 1901. pg. 3285.

Psyche, Si’ ke,
in classical myths, wife of Cupid, so beautiful that Venus found her altars deserted, while crowds flocked to worship this maid. Angered, the goddess instructed her son to inspire the beauty with love for some monster. Instead, Cupid fell in love with her himself, establishing her in a splendid palace, where he visited her only after dark, cautioning her that if she tried to discover him, he would leave her forever. One night, however, urged by curiosity that her jealous sisters had inspired, Psyche crept to her husband’s couch, lamp in hand. So surprised was she to behold a handsome god, that she spilt a drop of burning oil on his shoulder and awakened him. Instantly Cupid vanished. Heartbroken, Psyche then entered the service of Venus, hoping thus to gain her favor and, through it, recover her lost husband. One of the many difficult tasks imposed upon her by the angry goddess was to fetch some of Proserpine’s beauty. Prying into the box which she supposed contained it, Psyche was overpowered by a black sleep, from which she was awakened by Cupid, then on his way to plead her cause before Jupitor. Jove made her immortal; whereupon, Venus being reconciled to the girl, her marriage with Cupid took place mid great rejoicing.
–From The Source Book An International Encyclopedic Authority written from the New World Viewpoint. Volume VI Proverbs to Tapeworm. Chicago, Winnipeg, Toronto: Perpetual Encyclopedia Corporation, 1924, 1926. pg. 2365.

Psychic (sī’kik), a. and n. [= F. psychique, < Gr. Ψυχικός,
pertaining to the soul or to life, also (>LL. Psychicus), pertaining to mere animal life, carnal, <Ψυχή, soul, life, mind: see Psyche.]
I. a. 1. Of or belonging to the human soul or mind; mental; spiritual; psychological.
        A good third of our psychic life consists in these rapid premonitory
        perspective views of schemes of thought not yet articulate.
                W. James, Mind, ix. 15.
2. Pertaining to the science of mind: opposed to physical: as, psychic force.
3. Pertaining to the class of extraordinary and obscure phenomena, such as thought-reading, which are not ordinarily treated by psychologists: as, pyschic research.
4. Pertaining to the lwoer soul, or animal principle, and not to the spirit, or higher soul.
        The psychic, or animal, man is the natural man of this present age.
                Bibliotheca Sacra, XLVI. 399.
–From The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: A Work of Universal Reference in all Departments of Knowledge with a New Atlas of the World. Volume VI PHAR.Q.R.SALSE. New York: The Century Co., 1900. pg. 4821.

Protomartyr (Prō tȯ mar’ tėr), n.
The first martyr; the first person to suffer for any cause. (F. protomartyr. premiermartyr.) St. Stephen, whose martyrdom is described in Acts (vii, 59-60), is know as the Protomartyr. The title is also given to St. Alban, the first Christian martry in Britain, who was beheaded about the year 300, at the city now called St. Albans, for giving shelter to Amphibolus a Christian priest. From E. proto- and martyr.
–From The Waverley Pictorial Dictionary Volume Six Pole-Snag. Edited by Harold Wheeler. London: The Waverley Book Company, Ltd., circa 1900. pg. 3449.

Queer Plants
As in the animal kingdom there are strange creatures that strike the imagination on account of their great size or grotesque form, so in the vegatable kingdom there are many plants that attract attention wherever they may be seen… it is the banyan’s amazing way of life that makes it so interesting. The trunk throws out branches, and as they grow they put out hanging roots which increase in length till they reach the ground, and there take root and develop into new stems. In this way the tree spreads farther and farther all round the original trunk, with an ever growing number of stems that become as thick as the trunk itself, and at last the banyan looks more like a wood than a single tree…
     The banyan is much venerated by the Hindus, who plant it near their temples; if a village possesses no stone temple, the banyan tree itself is used as a temple, and the idol is placed under its branches. The tree, with its widely outstretched arms, is regarded as an emblem of the Creator of all things…
     A very near relative of the banyan is the bo tree, or sacred fig tree, of India and Ceylon, which is looked upon as holy plant by the Buddhists. It is said that the sites of ancient temples can always be identified as Brahmin or Buddhist according to whether there is growing near them the banyan or the bo tree…
          A living Tree That Was Planted Before Jesus Was Born
The bo tree lives to a great age. One growing at the ruined city of Anuradhapura, about eighty miles north of Kandy, in Ceylon, is said to have been planted in 288 B.C., and to have originated from a branch of the tree under which Buddha sat and meditated. In 1887 the main stem broke off during a storm. The Buddhist priest reverently gathered the fragment and cremated it with great ceremony…
–From The Book of Knowledge The Children’s Encyclopedia, The Maple Leaf Edition. Volume IX. Toronto: The Grolier Society, Limited, 1926. pgs 3261-2.

Rĕ-lĭġ’-iṓn. *Re-lig-i-oun. *Re-lyg-yon. * Re-lig-iun.
s.[Fr. religion, Prov. religio, religion, from Lat. religionem, accus. of religio=religion. Not from religio=to bird back, else it would be religation, but from religens=pious, religious, pr. par. of relego=to gather together, to collect again: re=again, and lego=to lay, to arrange, to gather; Sp. religion; Port. religiao; Ital. religione.]
    I. Ordinary Language:
1. Objectively:
(1) The outer form and embodiment which the inward spirit of a true or a false devotion assumed (Trench); a rite or ceremony practiced in the worship of God.
        “To transform
        Oft to the image of a brute adorned
        With gay religions full of pomp and gold.”
                Milton: P. L., i. 372.
(2) A system of doctrine and worship regarded by its adherents as of Divine authority, as the Brahmanic religion, the Christian religion. (Acts xxvi. 5; Gal. i.13.)
2. Subjectively: The feeling of veneration with which the worshiper regards the Being he adores.
¶ Darwin (Descent of Man, pt. i., ch. iii.) considers that the feeling of religious devotion is a highly complex one, consisting of love, complete submission to an exalted and mysterious superior, a strong sense of dependance, fear, reverence, gratitude, hope for the future, and perhaps other elements. No being, he thinks, could experience so complex an emotion until advanced in his intellectual and moral faculties to at least a moderately high level.
    II. Technically:
1. Anthrop. & Compar. Religion: Prof. C.P. Tiele (Ency. Brit. (ed. 9th) art. Religions) thus divides the faiths of the world:
I. Natural Religions:
1. Polydæmonistic Magical Religions under the control of Animism. Example, the religions of the Savages.
2. Purified or Organized Magical Religions, Therianthropic Polytheism.
(a) Unorganized. Example, the old Dravidian faith, the religion of the Finns, &c.
(b) Organized. Example, the Egyptian religion, the more organized American Indian faiths.
3. Worship of man-like but superhuman and semi-ethical beings. Anthropomorphic Polytheism. Example, the Vedic, Zoroastrian, and various Semitic faiths, the Celtic, Germanic, Hellenic, and Græco-Roman religions.
II. Ethical Religions:
1. National Nomistic (Nomothetic) Religions. Brahmanism, Judaism, &c.
2. Universalistic Religious Communities. Islam, Buddhism, Christianity.
–From The Imperial Encyclopædic Dictionary A New and Exhaustive Work of Reference to the English Language, Defining Over 250,000 Words, with a Full Account of their Origin, Pronunication and Use, Comprising a General Encyclopædia of Art, Science, Invention and Discovery; a Gazetteer and Atlas of the World: A Compendious Dictionary of Universal Biography, etc. Vol VIII PUY-SPE. London and New York: Dictionary and Cyclopedia Co. 1901. pg. 3410.

Religion,
a fundamental expression of man and society, ordinarily implying devotion to a supreme being or beings. As a basic factor in world history, as a primary and continuing attitude of man, religion has universal importance…
          The Nature of Religion.
Authorities are not agreed on what constitutes religion. J.H. Leuba in the Psychological Study of Religion (1912) and elsewhere, offered some fifty definitions, drawn from almost as many eminent authors. The multiplicity and divergence of scholarly opinion in the field may be illustrated by the citation of a few current conceptions.
    The French philosopher, Emile Durkeim (1858-1917), on the basis of researches in the primitive religions and totemism of central Australian tribesmen, developed a concept which identified religion with the idea of the sacred as distinct from the profane. He observed many religious beliefs and rites, and, by an intensive study of the mentality of groups and communities, advanced the knowledge of sociology. A serious objection to this approach was raised, however, by the psychologists of religion when they argued that modern religion is too complex and elusive to be explained on the basis of findings in primitive religion.
    During the nineteenth century, a conception of religion combining naturalism with rationalism and grounded in the evolutionary hypothesis of Charles Darwin came to the fore. It was gradually adopted in the fields of philosophy, anthropology, and general culture. Herbert Spencer in his First Principles (1862) proposed the view that the vital and constant element of religion is the sense of mystery. He suggested that religion is awe in the presence of cosmic forces and pointed to the “rhythm of motion” as one of the fundamental laws of the material universe. In his view, religion was derived from manism, that is, belief in mana, the extraphysical power that is inherent in nature, emanates from nature, and produces the order of the universe. In his Researches into Early History of Mankind (1865) and Primitive Culture (1871), Edward Burnett Tylor sought to determine the limits of animism, intending it to include “the general doctrine of souls, and other spiritual things”; according to Tylor, religion was derived from animism. In 1890 James George Frazer worked out a comprehensive study of ancient cults, folklore, and culture, which he incorporated in The Golden Bough. He described religion as “the despair of magic,” maintaining that historically it merely succeeded magic. R.R. Marett and Wilhelm Max Wundt held that religion actually grew out of magic. All these variations on the central evolutionary theme were later challenged. In 1917 John R. Swanton proclaimed the real existence of several parallel and independent lines of religious development, demonstrating at the same time that religion is one of the primary components of human nature and is not to be connected with any such specific origins as magic, death, dreaming, mana, or animism.
    Other philosophers have advanced many additional conceptions of religion. Its moral aspect is emphaszied by Immanuel Kant in his Critique of Pure Reason, in which religion is defined as the recognition of all duties as divine commandments. Friedrich Schleiermacher in Discourses found the essence of religion in “the feeling of dependence.” William James in Varieties of Religious Experience, speaking of the individual character of religion, described it as “the feelings, acts, and experiences of men in their solitude.” Others found in religion the totality of man’s yearning for wordly and over-wordly stability. Still others, taking a materialistic view, declared religion to be nothing more than a figment of the imagination. Henri Bergson, representative of those who distinguish between intellect and intuition, adopted a more subtle approach: his closed and open societies, the one mechanical and the other mystical, suggest that intellect is the source of morality and that intuition is the source of religion.
    There is no immediate answer to the question of the origin of religion. Many of its roots can be traced, but the fundamental reality is not in such individual roots, but in the purpose that underlies religion. The theistic conception of religion supposes a Creator, a superhuman being who has a purpose for man and the universe and with whom man may have communion; thus, William Adams Brown defined religion as “the life of man in his supernatural relations.” This emphasis on the supernatural also points to revelation, that is, to actual implementation of the divine purpose in nature, scripture, and prophecy. In Christianity, the Incarnation is the center of the whole scheme of revelation.
          The Core of Religious Power.
Although the true core of religious power eludes precise definition, it is possible to describe in broad outline certain channels through which religion has made its power felt.
     Worship. The nature of worship in a given religion is generally governed by the meaning attached to the Supreme Being. Magic, totemism, manism, and fetishism among primitive peoples give rise to a peculiarly crude pattern of worship. In the religions of Greece and Rome, gods in the likeness of men were worshipped in a strongly anthropomorphic style. In Hinduism, the Brahma–the great impersonal oversoul–demanded awe and adulation. In Buddhism, constrary to the founder’s injunctions, the Buddha came increasingly to be adored. The Confucianists centered their cult on the worship of ancestral spirits. In total submission before the Almighty, the Moslem worships Allah, the Meriful, the Compassionate, Lord of Heaven and Earth, who begat not nor was begotten, and with whom no one is coequal. The Jew bows in worship before the Lord God, the King of the universe, “the God of our Fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”… In the case of Christianity, religious experience, centered on worship, evokes the will to serve God, and culminates in the faith that enables man to move mountains; God’s love, revealed in the figure of Jesus Christ, offers personal regeneration and the redemption of mankind.
     Scripture. A religion is strengthened by sacred texts. Spoken by prophets and seers, written by countless scribes, surviving in many commentaries, the scriptures of the great religions embody the wisdom of the ages. Whether they be the Analects of Confucius, the Tao Tê Ching of Lau-tzu, or the Veda or Bhagavad-gita of India, hallowed writings exercise a tremendous influence on worshippers and are transmitted from generation to generation…
     Ethics. In ethics the great religions have a common ground. It is true that modern medical, psychological, and sociological research has shed new light on human behavior and has suggested that actions once condemned as immoral deserve instead to be treated with due allowance for their natural or physical causes. But the development of personality and the cultivation of character, which are outside the sphere of the exact sciences, are linked with ethics as ethics is allied with religion.
     Theology. Taken in its specific relation to thought, theology may be said to treat ultimate reality apart from the categories of philosophy and the detachment of science. The major religious systems of East Asia identify the divine with an impersonal, indeterminate, and hence utterly unknowable principle. The monotheistic religions, on the other hand, accept the divine as a self-revealing being, a creator, and an arbiter of ends… Here is met the great paradox of theology–belief in a sovereign God and admission of man’s free will… Within the confines of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic theology, Greek reason and Hebrew theism are harmonized, creating perhaps the most powerful system of religious thought that the world has ever known…
          Religions of the Modern World.
There are eight principal religions in the modern world. in East Asia, Confucianism and Taoism may be considered the product of China’s religious experience. Shinto is an expression of the national consciousness of Japan. Though Indian in origin, Buddhism long ago became a universally accepted faith in the lands of the Far East. With all of its offshoots and varitions, Hinduism sums up much that is peculiarly Indian. Three religions had their inception in the Near East: Judaism and its two daughter religions, Christianity and Islam, both of which in due course established univeral claims and were practiced on a worldwide scale. A ninth religion, Zoroastrianism, though Iranian in historic connection, is at present primarily the faith of the Parsi community centered upon the state of Bombay in India.
    Faster means of communication have brought the religions of the modern world into closer proximity, and the exchange of religious insights has proceeded on a vast scale. The thirst of the Eastern soul for reform and modernization was held in balance, however, by an unbending resistance to radical change and a firm attachment to old moorings. Nor was the ascendancy of Western Christian culture left unquestioned. The havoc and agony of two world wars, the rising tide of secularism, the impact of materialist philosophies–Fascism, Marxism, and naturalism–has had a staggering effect on the churches. The fear of an apocalytic end to civilization, occasioned by the development of ever more powerful instruments of destruction, has accelerated among the leaders of many religions the desire for concerted effort toward peace and human welfare. Jews, Moslems, Buddhists, Vedantists, Christians, and others are engaged in a re-examination of their respective positions. While perserving the claims of their own faiths, they seek to draw from their vasic differences a measure of harmony and good will…
          Inner Meaning of Religion.
No aspect of human experience which has left so indelible a mark on man’s total endowment as has religion, can be explained away on the basis of such things as fear, imagination, or quest after the truth. Its nature suggests an inner constitution and meaning, which thoughtful men over the ages have striven in vain to discover. It is a fundamental tenet of most believers that seeking and striving, in themselves, lead nowhere, that the truth that sets men free is other than, and apart from, all human striving. Among the approaches to the subject of religious truth that bring some measure of understanding of it are those afforded by the study of comparative religion and the examination of such concepts as grace and faith, the image of God, and the solidarity of mankind.
     Comparative Religion. Cultivated though it was by the ancient Greeks and medieval Arabs, the science of comparative religion, which promises to unlock the hidden treasure of religion, has not yet come to maturity… The canons of the study of comparative religion are basically three. First, any given religion is studied objectively; it is set forth in the light of its own affirmations, dogmatics, claims, apologetics, and the ethical performance that is fosters; its philosophical implications in society are fairly treated. Second, the comparative study of religion proceeds, on the basis of a thorough grounding in history, theology, and social dynamics, to describe the radical differences between the several faiths. The proper study of these differences, which are established as a necessary step toward better understanding and sounder judgement in the field, presupposes a reverent attitude, sympathy, and appreciation. Each religion is viewed as a bridge to the truth, as an evidence of man’s incurably spiritual nature. Thus, only after compliance with the first and second canons will it be possible to formulate a philosophical critique showing both the limitations and excellences of one living religion as compared with another. It is obvious, therefore, that a maximum of religious liberty and scientific inquiry is desired in this discipline. Yet neither freedom of conscience nor the scientific method allows an investigator to prejudge the merits of a given religion or to state in advance its superiority over another. To stigmatize a faith as sterile or inferior before it has been dispassionately considered is contrary to the true spirit of religion…
–From Collier’s Encyclopedia Volume 16 PHN-REY. New York: P.F. Collier & Son Corporation, 1957. pgs 640-1, 642 & 643.

Religion, Psychology of,
an attempt to understand religious phenomena in terms of human nature and of the forces operating in it. Its aim is descriptive rather than normative: that is, it does not try to determine the truth or falsity of religious beliefs, or to justify religious practices, but attempts to understand how and why they arose, and what psychological components they empbody and express. Broadly speaking, it is the attempt to relate religion to the rest of man’s intellectual, volitional, and emotional economy.
    Psychological interest in religion is not a new thing. Early Greek philosophers explained religion in terms of human sentiments, but usually confined themselves to single emotions… In the period of eighteenth century rationalism, many [Greek] theories were revivied and given fresh currency. With the rise of modern psychology, in the second half of the nineteenth century, the psychological study of religion received a new impetus, and the psychology of religion became a scientific discipline. Questionnaires and other experimental devices were employed to determine the actual content of religious men’s thought, their attituide toward traditional religion, and the extent to which they have been affected by scientific or philosophical criticism. Anthropologists such as Edward B. Taylor, Wilhelm Wundt, James Frazer, Robert R. Marett, and Lucien Lévy-Bruhl sought to understand the religious mentality of primitive people, and to relate primitive religious sentiments and forms of thought to those of higher cultures…
    A landmark in the development of the psychology of religion was William James’s Varieties of Religious Experience. James regarded religion from the point of view not of isolated interests and emotions but of the totality of personality. Influenced deeply by Sigmund Freud’s theory of the unconsicous, and by Morton Prince’s studies of dissociated personalities, James sought the roots of religion in the “subliminal consciousness” and its fruits in the sublimation of the primitive and archaic responses to life which emerged from it. James himself experimented with narcotic drugs similar to those used in primitive religions to induce religious states, and connected the mystical ecstasy experienced in the higher religions with the release of the sublimated consciousness under such stimuli. He also distinguished the religion of healthy-mindedness–i.e., a relative lack of conflict–from that of “twice-born” men, who made religious adjustment to life suddenly, under the pressure of inner tensions.
    These tensions and conflicts which emerge in religion were studied more closely and systematically by the psychoanalytic school. Its founder, Freud, laid the foundation for this psychoanalytic analysis by perceiving the connection between all neurotic conflict and the unsolved emotional problems of early childhood. His own view of religion was that it represented various wasy of externalizing, and thus easing, these conflicts, and of projecting them into the outside world. Operating with the same fundamental ideas, Freud’s pupil, Theodore Reik, studied various primitive rituals as dramatizations of unconscious, suppressed conflicts, and noted close similarities in structure and dynamic between religious dogmatism and compulsive ideas. Another pupil of Freud’s, Carl Jung, laid more emphasis on the positive and therapeutic influence of religion.
    In recent years, an applied psychology of religion has developed which has influenced not only the treatment of religiously oriented personalities by psychiatrists, but also the problems of youth and maturity, and in dealing with the sick and the dying. In this way, a closer relation between the work of the doctor and the pastor has been established.
–From Collier’s Encyclopedia Volume 16 PHN-REY. New York: P.F. Collier & Son Corporation, 1957. pg 645.

Sexual Pathology,
…One of the most misunderstood forms of activity treated under sexual pathology, is masturbation, also called onanism, after the Biblical character, Onan, son of Judah and Shuah. Onan, having been ordered to marry his brother’s widow, resorted to autoerotic practices to avoid having sexual relations with her, which “displeased the Lord: wherefore he slew him” (Gen. 38:10)…
–From Collier’s Encyclopedia Volume 16 PHN-REY. New York: P.F. Collier & Son Corporation, 1957. pg 498.

Sikhs (sēks; from a Sanskrit word meaning ‘disciple’),
a religious sect in Northwestern Hindustan which worships one only and invisible God. Its founder was Nanak Shah, born 1469 in the province of Lahore. He labored to lead the people to a practical religion, to a pure worship of God and love of mankind. He died about 1540. Of his successors Arjun-mal gave stability and unity to the religion by publishing Nanak’s writings in the Adi-Granth, the first sacred book of the Sikhs. The Sikhs had now rejected the authority of the Koran and the Vedas and thus aroused the enmity both of the Mohammedans and Brahmans. Arjun-mal was throw in prison, where he died. His son and successor, Har Govind, transformed the Sikhs from peaceful believers into valiant warriors, and under his reign began the bloody contest with the Mohammedans. The real found of the Sikh state was Govind Sinh, or Singh, the tenth ruler from Nanak. He abolished the system of castes, and gave all men equal rights. His followers, owing to their valor in the protracted contest with the Mohammedans, received the title of Sinhs or lions. Govind Sinh wrote the Dasema Padshah ke Granth, or book of the tenth prince, which, besides treating of religious subjects, contained the history of the author’s exploits. The Sikhs hold it in equal veneration with the Adi-Granth…
–From Winston’s Cumulative Loose-Leaf Encyclopedia A Comprehensive Reference Work. VOL.IX ROUSAY – SZOLNOK. Chicago, Philadelphia, Toronto: The John C. Winston Company, 1924. No page numbers.

Sikhs (si’ks],
a sect, numbering about 5,000,000 persons, that forms a religious community in India and Pakistan; the name “Sikhi” means literally “disciples.” The homeland of the Sikhs has been called the Punjab, or “region of the five rivers,” the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej, which are tributary to the Indus; the Punjab is a part of north-western India and northeastern Pakistan, its boundaries more or less indefinite, measuring about 135,000 sq. mi. In the division of British India into the Dominion of Pakistan and the Dominion (later Republic) of India, the Punjab and the Sikhs were divided by new boundaries
    Sikhism is a distinct and separate religion, an attempt to reconcile iconoclastic Islam with pantheistic Hinduism. Its offices are effectively administred by laymen. There are rivalries and sects among its adherents, and in recent years Sikhism has had no central leadership, though its most substantial progress has occurred during the last fifty years. The Sikhs are a young people, as Oriental history goes, who have sprung from a tall and sturdy racial stock. They have sacred scriptures in their original holy language, the Panjabi, or, more precisely, the Gurmukhi, or “Guru tongue.” They maintain sacred temples and gurdwaras, the most famous and conspicuous of which is the Golden Temple in the city of Amritsar, which rises from a pool that bears the name a-mrits-ar, meaning “water of immortality.”
        Origins of Sikhism.
    Sikhs first appeared in India about A.D. 1500; they were descended from middle-class, or humbler, agricultural and trader stocks, and they were followers of the Nanak (1469-1538)… Among the forerunners of Sikhism was Kabir (c.1450-1518), the influential predecessor of Nanak. Kabir was one of many Indians who shared the bhakti gospel against a background of Hindu pantheism and the Sufism of Islam. Islam had been five centuries in northern India. The Hindu bhakti movement, that of personal devotion to Krishna, Rama, Durga, Shiva, Hari, or some other concrete form of God, had developed as a new way of salvation. Sufism was for Moslems and ascetic and mystical expression of regard for Allah, which tended to interpret Allah in pantheistic or idealistic terms. Although the orthodoxy of Islam and the philosophy or theory of Hinduism differed widely, the sufi and the bhakti movements could find much in common, as Kabir himself demonstrated. The soil and atmosphere of India were conducive to the strong influence of indefinite tradition and easy-going procedure in religion in the interest of a general other-worldliness. Kabir’s own father may have been a convert to Islam, for the name is Arabic and Moslem; Nanak was thus the heir of such elements, although his own background was Hindu… Nanak set about the reconciliation of Hinduism and Islam, toward which Kabir also was working, though with a less constructive program.
    Nanak’s Mission. Nanak’s attitude was realistic, but the task he set himself was superhuman; nor did religion come to his assistance. Indeed, perhaps it was his heritage of Hindu tolerance which hindered him, for Hinduism has never had a special rigid creed; or it may have been Islamic creedal dogmatism. While Hinduism could be tolerant of Islam, Moslems despised the Hindus as idolaters and the worshipers of many gods. They had not yet come to realize, nor did Nanak seem to know it, that Mohammed himself had made provision for his followers to respect the beliefs of unbelievers who had sacred scriptures of their own. Although most Indian Moslems were converted Hindus, they followed fundamental Moslem theory and practice, and in their eyes Hindu worship was polytheistic and Hindu idols hideous. Nevertheless, reconciliation was Nanak’s goal, however difficult it might be to reach, and for the sake of it he preached a new theology in terms of one God whom he called Sat Nam (“True Name”), presumably allowing all other names for God to be included in it as the highest object of men’s though and worship. Nanak broke with caste, for there was no caste among the Moslems, and advocated interdining, as a consequence of which free kitchens have existed at the Sikh temples and gurdwaras where all who would might eat together, including Moslems. But Nanak did not break away entirely from karma, and perhaps he did not need to, for Islam also had its doctrine of qismet or kismet, or fate or destiny. Nanak did not reject completely the theory of rebirth, an idea intolerable to Moslems. For Hindus, and for Brahmans in particular, karma and rebirth have perpetuated caste, maintaining its four major, its thousands of minor, and its outcaste subdivisions, insisting that a man remain content with the status and career his birth ordained, hoping by many births and accumulated merit to rise in the scale of life, and to escape eventually from the earthly round of things. This was in strong contrast to Islam, where all Moslems were brothers at birth…
    The Successor of Nanak. Nine gurus, or religious teachers, succeeded Nanak, the line lasting until 1708. Since then the Granth Sahib, or “Lord Book,” has itself been the guru, save as the community has been self-governing in the Granth Sahib’s name…
        Rise of Sikh Power.
    During the latter half of Sikh history there came about a vigorous recovery, the persistence of fundamental elements, and remarkable development. During the nineteenth century the Singhs, especially, played a major role in war and politics…
        Modern Sikhism.
    The present-day Sikh repudiates Hindu idolatry in favor of a stern monothesism. He adores Nanak and the holy book. He rejects the caste system yet accepts Hindu doctrine of Karma and the transmigration of souls. The composite and polygot nature of Sikhism makes it almost uncommunicable. The concept of God, though theistic, is mystical in character, and the ideas concerning life after death are vague and indecisive. The Sikhs welcomed Western culture and took advangage of Western education, showing a steadily advancing rate of literacy. The government of India dealt generously and wisely with them, stimulating their improvements in morals and religion. The Sikhs themseleves had long allowed their women equal rights with men, as in their Ananda form of marriage by mutual consent. From their ranks have come administrative and cabinet officials as well as many members of the various professions. Sikhs publish newspapers and periodicals, develop irrigation, and carry out agricultural experiments and reforms. Their shrines are well maintained, and distincitve festivals are held. In short, they have established themselves as a seperate community, although lacking any centralized ecclesiastical control, and this despite the fact that fifty years ago there was a risk of a lapse back into Hinduism. A Union of Sikh States within the new India has been proposed; its area would be 11,000 sq. mi. and its population would include at least 3,000,000 Sikhs, as well as many others. Sikhism as a spiritual community lives on, in spite of the division of Sikhs between India and Pakistan. Enmity, however, persists between Sikhs and Moslems.
–From Collier’s Encyclopedia Volume 17 RHA-SOC. New York: P.F. Collier & Son Corporation, 1957. pgs 595 & 596-7.

Sōul (1), *saul, *saule, *soule, *sowl, *sowle, s. [A.S. sáwel, sáwul, sáwl, sáwle: cogn. with Dut. ziel; Icel. sála, sál; Dan. siœl; Sw. själ; Goth. saiwala; Ger. seele.]
I. Ordinary Language:
1. In the same sense as II.
2. The immaterial part of a beast, when considered as governed by and subject to human affections; the seat of life in an animal.
     “Souls of animals infuse themselves
     Into the trunks of men.”
          Shakesp.: Merchant of Venice, iv. 1.
3. The moral and emotional part of man’s nature, the seat of the sentiments and feelings, as distinct from intellect.
     “Whom my very soul abhors.”
          Shakesp.: Two Gentlemen, iv. 3.
4. The intellectual principle; the understanding.
     “For eloquence the soul, song charms the sense.”
          Milton: P.L., ii. 556.
5. The vital principle; the animating or essential part; the essence or quintessence; the chief part. [II.1.]
     “He’s the very soul of bounty.”
          Shakesp.: Timon, i. 2.
6. Hence, the inspirer or leader of any action or the like; the leader, the heart.
     “Unnamed by Hollinshed or Hall,
     He was the living soul of all.”
          Scott: Marmion, vi. 38.
7. Spirit, courage, grandeur, or any noble manifestation of the heart or moral nature.
                    “One decree
     Spake laws to them, and said that by the soul
     Only the nations shall be great and free.”
          Wordsworth: Sonnet, Sept., 1802.
*8. Internal, innate, or inherent power or principle.
     “There is some soul of goodness in things evil.”
          Shakesp.: Henry VI, iv. 1.
9. A spiritual being; a disembodied spirit.
10. A human being, a person; as, Not a soul knew of his coming.
11. A familiar compellation of a person, usually expressing some quality of the mind.
     “Now mistress Gilpin, careful soul!
     Had two stone bottles found.”
          Cowper: John Gilpin.
II. Technically:
1. Philos.: The scholastics, following Aristotle, by soul meant the primary principle of life, and held that a plant was endowed with a vegetable soul, that brutes and man had in addition a sensitive soul, while man alone had a rational and immaterial soul. They based their proof of the immateriality of the distinctively human soul on the power of the mind to form abstact ideas.
2. Script. & Theol.: The word soul is chiefly for “that spiritual, reasonable, and immortal substance in man which is the origin of our thoughts, of our desires, of our reasonings, which distinguishes us from the brute creation, and which bears some resemblance to its Divine Master.” (Cruden) All Christians admit the responsibility of the soul to God for the deeds done in the body; and the orthodox view–that of the Anglican, Roman, and Greek Churches, and of the great dissenting bodies–is that at the final judgment the lot of every soul will be irrevocably fixed, and that it will either eternally enjoy the Beatific Vision in heaven or share the endless torments prepared for the devil and his angels. Two other views–both of which have found supporters in the Church from early ages–are coming increasingly to the front: (1) That of the Restorationists, of whom there are two schools: (a) the Dogmatic, who assert, and (b) those, represented by Archdeacon Farrar, who express a hope that all men will be finally saved [RESTORATIONIST, UNIVERSALIST]; and (2) the Annihilationists or Destructionists, who hold that while the righteous will be for ever in a state of bliss, the wicked, after receiving the punishment of their sins, will be blotted out of existence. Origin, with Plato, held the doctrine of the preëxistence of souls, which was condemned by a synod at Constantinople in 543. [TRANSMIGRATION.] Two distinct views have at different times found supporters in the Christian Church: (1) That the soul is produced by natural generation [TRADUCIANISM]; (2) that each soul is separately created by God. [CREATIONISM.]
¶ Soul is largely used in composition, forming compounds, the meanings of which are in general self-explanatory: as, soul-betraying, soul-calming, soul-cheering, soul-deadening, soul-destroying, soul-entrancing, soul-refreshing, soul-stirring, soul-vexed, &c.
¶ Cure of souls:
Church of England: An ecclesiastical benefice in which parochial duties and the administration of the sacraments are included, primarily vested in the bishop of the diocese, the clergy of each parish acting as his deputies.
–From The Imperial Encylopædic Dictionary A New and Exhaustive Work of Reference to the English Language, Defining Over 250,000 Words, with a Full Account of their Origin, Pronunciation and Use, Comprising a General Encyclopædia of Art, Science, Invention and Discovery; a Gazetteer and Atlas of the World: A Compendious Dictionary of Universal Biography, etc. Vol. VIII PUY-SPE. London and New York: Dictionary and Cyclopedia Co., 1901.pg. 3767.

TOPIC PAGES: [Religion Entries] [Psychology Entries] [Pop Culture Entries]
                               [Canadiana Entries] [Miscellaneous Entries]