66 nance of baptism; and limits its proper effi- reconcile St. Augustine with himself:cacy to those who are comprehended, as the "The heresy of Pelagius being suppressed, heirs of eternal life, in the decree of the the catholic doctrine in that point became Almighty. Many, however, of those who more settled and confirmed by the opposistrictly adhere to him in other parts of his tion; such freedom being left to the will of doctrinal system, desert him at this point. man, as was subservient unto grace, coBishop Bedell speaks thus in disparagement operating in some measure with those heaof his baptismal views, in a letter to Dr. venly influences. And so much is confessed Ward: "This I do yield to my Lord of by St. Augustine himself, where he asks this Sarum most willingly, that the justification, question, Doth any man affirm that free sanctification, and adoption which children will is perished utterly from man by the have in baptism, is not univoce the same with fall of Adam?' And thereunto he makes that which adulti have. I think the empha- this answer: Freedom is perished by sin; tical speeches of Augustine against the Pela-but it is that freedom only which we had gians, and of Prosper, are not so much to be ' in paradise, of having perfect righteousness regarded (who say the like of the eucharist 'with immortality.' For, otherwise, it apalso) touching the necessity and efficacy in pears to be his opinion, that man was not the case of infants; and they are very like merely passive in all the acts of grace which the speeches of Lanfranc and Guitmund of conduced to glory, according to the memoChrist's presence in the sacrament, opposing rable saying of his, so common in the mouths veracitèr and verè to sacramentaliter; which of all men, He who first made us without is a false and absurd contraposition. The our help will not vouchsafe to save us at opinion of the Franciscans out of Scotus and last without our concurrence.' If any Bernard, mentioned in the council of Trent, harsher expressions have escaped his pen, seems to be the true opinion; for they make (as commonly it happeneth in the heats of a the sacraments to be effectual, because God disputation,) they are to be qualified by this gives them effectus regularitèr concomitantes,' last rule, and by that before, in which it was and to contain grace no otherwise than as an affirmed, that God could not with justice effectual sign; and that grace is received by judge and condemn the world, if all men's them as an investiture by a ring or staff, 'sins proceeded not from their own free will, which is obsignando. Consider that if you but from some over-ruling providence will aver, that baptism washes away other-which inforced them to it." Another wise than sacramentally, that is, obsignato- admirer of this father offers the following as rily, original sin; yet you must allow that an attempt at reconciliation: St. Augustine manner of washing for future actual sins; denied that the co-operation of man is at all and you must make two sorts of justification, exerted to produce the renewal of our naone for children, another for adulti; and ture; but, when the renewal had been pro(which passes all the rest) you must find duced, he admitted that there was an exersome promise in God's covenant, wherein he cise of the will combined with the workings binds himself to wash away sin without faith of grace. In the tenth chapter of his work or repentance. By this doctrine, you must against the Manichæans, the Bishop of also maintain that children do spiritually eat Hippo thus expresses himself: Who is it the flesh of Christ and drink his blood, if 'that will not exclaim, How foolish it is to they receive the eucharist, as for ages they ' deliver precepts to that man who is not at did, and by the analogy of the passover they liberty to perform what is commanded! And may; and sith the use of this sacrament 'how unjust it is to condemn him who had not toties quoties must needs confer grace, it 'power to fulfil the commands! Yet these seems it were necessary to let them commu- unhappy persons [the Manichees] do not nicate, and the oftener the better, to the 'perceive that they are ascribing such injusintent they might be stronger in grace: 'tice and want of equity to God. But what which opinion, though St. Austin and many greater truth is there than this, that God more of the ancients do maintain, I believe 'has delivered precepts, and that human you will not easily condescend unto, or that spirits have freedom of will?' Elsewhere children dying without baptism are damned." he says, 'Nothing is more within our power These remarks are important, as proceeding 'than our own will. The will is that by from the pen of the personal friend of Father 'which we commit sin, and by which we Paul, who wrote the History of the Council live righteously.' Nothing can be plainer of Trent. than that the writer of these passages admitted the liberty of the human will, and the necessity of our own exertions in conjunction with divine grace. How this is to be reconciled with his general doctrine, is perhaps indicated in the following passage from his book De Gratia et lib. Arbitrio, c. 17. Speaking of grace he says, 'That we may 'will God works without us; but when we 'will, and so will as to do, he co-works with us; yet unless he either works that we may In the various discussions which have arisen concerning predestination and the doctrines with which it is connected, some modern divines have quoted the arguments of St. Augustine against the Manichees, and others those which he employed against the Pelagians, according to the discordant views which the combatants severally entertain on these controverted points. One of them has thus expressed himself, in his endeavour to will, or co-works when we do will, we are 'utterly incapable of doing any thing in the "good works of piety." "These are but very slight specimens of the mode in which learned and ingenious men have tried to give a kind of symmetrical proportion to this father's doctrinal system. Several large treatises have been published with the same praiseworthy intention; the pious authors of them either entirely forgetting, or having never read, the rather latitudinarian indulgence of opinion which St. Augustine claims for himself in his "Retractations," in which he has qualified the harshness of his previous assertions on many subjects. If, however, an estimate may be formed of what this father intended in his various pacificatory doctrinal explanations from what he has actually admitted and expressed, it may be safely affirmed that no systematic writer of theology seems so completely to have entered into the last and best views of the bishop of Hippo, or so nearly reconciled the apparent discordances in them, as Arminius has done; and few other authors have rendered more ample justice to his sentiments, talents, and character, than the famous Dutch Professor. Many were the theological labours to which he was invited by the most eminent of his contemporaries; and hastily as some of his lucubrations were executed, it is not surprising that among two hundred and seventytwo treatises on different subjects some are of inferior value and unworthy of the fame which he had acquired in the church. After a life of various changes, and of a mixed character, he died A.D. 430, in the seventysixth year of his age; having been harassed at the close of life by seeing his country invaded by the Vandals, and the city of which he was the bishop besieged. Though those barbarians took Hippo and burned it, they saved his library, which contained his voluminous writings. St. Augustine was a diligent man in the sacred calling; and that the office of a bishop even in that age of the church was no sineeure, is evident from several notices in his letters. At the close of one addressed to Marcellinus he gives the subjoined account: "If I were able to give you a narrative of the manner in which I spend my time, you would be both surprised and distressed on account of the great number of affairs which oppress me without my being able to suspend them. For when some little leisure is allowed me by those who daily attend upon me about business, and who are so urgent with me that I can neither shun them nor ought to despise them, I have always some other writings to compose, which indeed ought to be preferred, [to those which Marcellinus requested,] because the present juncture will not permit them to be postponed. For the rule of charity is, not to consider the greatness of the friendship, but the necessity of the affair. Thus I have continually some thing or other to compose which diverts me from writing what would be more agreeable to my inclinations, during the little intervals in that multiplicity of business with which I am burdened either through the wants or the passions of others." He frequently complains of this oppressive weight of occupation in which his love of his flock had engaged him, by obeying the apostolical precept, which forbids Christians from going to law before pagan tribunals. In reference to this employment his biographer, Posidonius, says: "At the desire of Christians, or of men belonging to any sect whatever, he would hear causes with patience and attention, sometimes till the usual hour of eating, and sometimes the whole day without eating at all, observing the dispositions of the parties, and how much they advanced or decreased in faith and good works; and when he had opportunity he instructed them in the law of God, and gave them suitable advice, requiring nothing of them except Christian obedience. He sometimes wrote letters, when desired, on temporal subjects; but looked upon all this as unprofitable occupation, which drew him aside from that which was better and more agreeable to himself." The character of this eminent father has been much misrepresented both as a man and as a writer. Whoever looks into his writings for accurate and enlarged views of Christian doctrine, looks for that which could not be expected in the very infancy of biblical criticism. He was a rhetorician by profession, and the degenerate taste of that age must be blamed, rather than the individual who wrote in the style which then prevailed. The learning of St. Augustine, and particu larly his knowledge of Greek, have been disputed; and hence the importance of his biblical criticisms has been depreciated. In the account of the early part of his life he confesses his great aversion to the study of that language; and as he tells us, in his maturer age, that he read the Platonists in a Latin version, it has perhaps been too hastily concluded that he never made any great proficiency in it. But though it be allowed that his comments on scripture consist chiefly of popular reflections, spiritual and moral, or allegorical and mystical perversions of the literal meaning; yet the works of this father are not wholly destitute of remarks and critical interpretations, that are pertinent and judicious: to such, after a series of extracts from his writings, Dr. Lardner has referred his readers. With regard to his knowledge of Greek, this impartial and candid author is of opinion, that he understood that language better than some have supposed; and he has cited several passages from which it may be perceived, that St. Augustine frequently compared his copies of the Latin version with those of the Greek original. Le Clerc himself allows that he sometimes explains Greek words and phrases in a very felicitous manner. Indeed, the commencement of his correspondence with St. Jerom proves him to have been no contemptible critic. In this he besought him, in the name of all the African churches, to apply himself to the translation into Latin of the Greek interpreters of scripture, rather than to enter upon a new translation from the original Hebrew; and to point out those passages in which the Hebrew differed from the Septuagint, as he had previously done in the book of Job. Voltaire and other profane wits have, in the exercise of their buffoonery, impeached his moral conduct; but their charges, when impartially examined, will be seen to be founded in ignorance or in malice. They resemble those which the same parties prefer against prophets, apostles, and against Christ himself. Mosheim observes that Augustine's high reputation filled the Christian world; and "not without reason, as a variety of great and shining qualities were united in the character of that illustrious man. A sublime genius, an uninterrupted and zealous pursuit of truth, an indefatigable application, an invincible patience, a sincere piety, and a subtile and lively wit, conspired to establish his fame upon the most lasting foundations." Such a testimony as this far outweighs the vituperative remarks and petty sneers of a thousand infidels See PELAGIANS and SEMI-PELAGIANS. AUGUSTUS, emperor of Rome, and successor of Julius Cæsar. The battle of Actium, which he fought with Mark Antony, and which made him master of the empire, happened fifteen years before the birth of Christ. This is the emperor who appointed the enrolment mentioned Luke ii. 1, which obliged Joseph and the Virgin Mary to go to Bethlehem, the place where Jesus Christ was born. Augustus procured the crown of Judea for Herod, from the Roman senate. After the defeat of Mark Antony, Herod adhered to Augustus, and was always faithful to him; so that Augustus loaded him with honours and riches. AVEN, a city of Egypt, afterwards called Heliopolis, and On, Ezek. xxx. 17. Herodotus informs us that in this city there was an annual assembly in honour of the sun, and a temple dedicated to him. It appears, how ever, highly probable, by the behaviour of Pharaoh to Joseph and Jacob, and especially by Joseph's care to preserve the land to the priests, Gen. xlvii. 22, 26, that the true religion prevailed in Egypt in his time; and it is incredible that Joseph should have married the daughter of the priest of On, had that name among the Egyptians denoted only the material light; which, however, no doubt they, like all the rest of the world, idolized in after times, and to which we find a temple dedicated among the Canaanites, under this name, Joshua vii. 2. AVENGER OF BLOOD. He who prosecuted the man-slayer under the law was called the avenger of blood, and had a right to slay the person, if he found him without a city of refuge. See GOEL. AVIMS, a people descended from Hevus, the son of Canaan. They dwelt at first in the country which was afterwards possessed by the Caphtorims, or Philistines. The scripture says expressly, that the Caphtorims drove out the Avims, who dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah, Deut. ii. 23. There were also Avims, or Hivites, at Shechem, or Gibeon, Joshua xi. 19; for the inhabitants of Shechem were Hivites. Lastly, there were some of them beyond Jordan, at the foot of Mount Hermon. Bochart thinks, that Cadmus, who conducted a colony of the Phoenicians into Greece, was an Hivite. His name, Cadmus, comes from the Hebrew Kedem, "the east," because he came from the eastern parts of the land of Canaan. The name of his wife Hermione was taken from Mount Hermon, at the foot whereof the Hivites dwelt. The metamorphosis of the companions of Cadmus into serpents is founded upon the signification of the name of Hivites, which, in the Phoenician language, signifies serpents. AZARIAH, or UZZIAH, king of Judah, son of Amaziah. He began to reign at the age of sixteen years, and reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; his mother's name being Jecholiah, 2 Kings xv. Azariah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord; nevertheless he did not destroy the high places; and, against the express prohibition of God, the people continued to sacrifice there. Having taken upon him to offer incense in the temple, which office belonged entirely to the priests, he was struck with a leprosy, and continued without the city, separated from other men, until the day of his death, 2 Chron. xxvi. Josephus says, that, upon this occasion, a great earthquake happened; and that the temple opening at the top, a ray of light darted upon the king's forehead, the very moment he took the censer into his hand, and he instantly became a leper; nay, that the earthquake was so very violent, that it tore in sunder a mountain west of Jerusalem, and rolled one half of it over and over to the distance of four furlongs, till at length it was stopped by another mountain, which stood over against it; but choked up the highway, and covered the king's gardens with dust. This is what Josephus adds to the history related in the Chronicles; but the truth of it may be justly suspected. We know, indeed, that there was a very great earthquake in the reign of Uzziah; for Amos, chap. i. 1, and Zechariah, chap. xiv. 5, make mention of it: however, it is not certain that it happened at the very time that Uzziah took upon him to offer incense. During the time that Uzziah was a leper, his son Jotham, as his father's viceroy, took the public administration upon himself, and succeeded him after his death, which happened in the fifty-second year of his reign, A. M. 3246. He was not buried in the royal sepulchre; but in the same field, at some distance, on account of his leprosy. The first part of Uzziah's reign was very successful: he obtained great advantages over the Philistines, Ammonites, and Arabians. He made additions to the fortifica tions at Jerusalem, and always kept an army on foot of three hundred and seven thousand men, and upwards, 2 Chron. xxvi. ; and he had great magazines, well stored with all sorts of arms, as well offensive as defensive; and he was a great lover of agricul ture. BAAL, BEL, or BELUS, denoting lord, a divinity among several ancient nations; as the Canaanites, Phoenicians, Sidonians, Carthaginians, Babylonians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians. The term Baal, which is itself an appellative, served at first to denote the true God, among those who adhered to the true religion. Accordingly, the Phoenicians, being originally Canaanites, having once had, as well as the rest of their kindred, the knowledge of the true God, probably called him Baal, or lord. But they, as well as other nations, gradually degenerating into idolatry, applied this appellation to their respective idols; and thus were introduced a variety of divinities, called Baalim, or Baal, with some epithet annexed to it, as BaalBerith, Baal-Gad, Baal-Moloch, Baal-Peor, Baal-Zebub, &c. Some have supposed that the descendants of Ham first worshipped the sun under the title of Baal, 2 Kings xxiii. 5, 11; and that they afterwards ascribed it to the patriarch who was the head of their line; making the sun only an emblem of his influence or power. It is certain, however, that when the custom prevailed of deifying and worshipping those who were in any respect distinguished amongst mankind, the appellation of Baal was not restricted to the sun, but extended to those eminent persons who were deified, and who became objects of worship in different nations. The Phoenicians had several divinities of this kind, who were not intended to represent the sun. It is probable that Baal, Belus, or Bel, the great god of the Carthaginians, and also of the Sidonians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, who, from the testimony of scripture, appears to have been delighted with human sacrifices, was the Moloch of the Ammonites; the Chronus of the Greeks, who was the chief object of adoration in Italy, Crete, Cyprus, and Rhodes, and all other countries where divine honours were paid him; and the Saturn of the Latins. In process of time, many other deities, besides the principal ones just mentioned, were distinguished by the title of Baal among the Phoenicians, particularly those of Tyre, and of course among the Carthaginians, and other nations. Such were Jupiter, Mars, Bacchus, and Apollo, or the sun. The temples and altars of Baal were generally placed on eminences: they were places inclosed by walls, within which was main B tained a perpetual fire; and some of them had statues or images, called in scripture "Chamanim." Maundrell, in his journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, observed some remains of these enclosures in Syria. Baal had his prophets and his priests in great numbers; accordingly, we read of four hundred and fifty of them that were fed at the table of Jezebel only; and they conducted the worship of this deity, by offering sacrifices, by dancing round his altar with violent gesticulations and exclamations, by cutting their bodies with knives and lancets, and by raving and pretending to prophesy, as if they were possessed by some invisible power. It is remarkable that we do not find the name Baal so much in popular use east of Babylonia; but it was general west of Babylonia, and to the very extremity of western Europe, including the British isles. The worship of Bel, Belus, Belenus, or Belinus, was general throughout the British islands; and certain of its rites and observances are still maintained among us, notwithstanding the establishment of Christianity during so many ages. A town in Perthshire, on the borders of the Highlands, is called Tilliebeltane or Tulliebeltane; that is, the eminence, or rising ground, of the fire of Baal. In the neighbourhood is a Druidical temple of eight upright stones, where it is supposed the fire was kindled. At some distance from this is another temple of the same kind, but smaller; and near it a well still held in great veneration. On Beltane morning, superstitious people go to this well, and drink of it; then they make a procession round it nine times. After this they in like manner go round the temple. So deep-rooted is this heathenish superstition in the minds of many who reckon themselves good protestants, that they will not neglect these rites, even when Beltane falls on the Sabbath. In Ireland, Bel-tein is celebrated on the twenty-first of June, at the time of the solstice. There, as they make fires on the tops of hills, every member of the family is made to pass through the fire; as they reckon this ceremony necessary to ensure good fortune through the succeeding year. This resembles the rites used by the Romans in the Palilia. Bel-tein is also observed in Lancashire. In Wales, this annual fire is kindled in autumn, on the first day of November; which being neither at the solstice nor equi nox, deserves attention. It may be accounted for by supposing that the lapse of ages has removed it from its ancient station, and that the observance is kept on the same day, nominally, though that be now removed some weeks backward from its true station. However that may be, in North Wales especially, this fire is attended by many ceremonies; such as running through the fire and smoke, each participator casting a stone into the fire. The Hebrews often imitated the idolatry of the Canaanites in adoring Baal. They offered human sacrifices to him in groves, upon high places, and upon the terraces of houses. Baal had priests and prophets consecrated to his service. All sorts of infamous and immodest actions were committed in the festivals of Baal and Astarte. See Jer. xxxii. 35; 2 Kings xvii. 16; xxiii. 4, 5, 12; 1 Kings xviii. 22; 2 Kings x. 19; 1 Kings xiv. 24; xv. 12; 2 Kings xxiii. 7; Hosea iv. 14. This false deity is frequently mentioned in scripture in the plural number, Baalim, which may intimate that the name Baal was given to several different deities. There were many cities in Palestine, whose names were compounded of Baal and some other word whether it was that the god Baal was adored in them, or that these places were looked upon as the capital cities,lords of their respective provinces,-is un certain. - BAAL-BERITH, the god of the Shechemites, Judges viii. 33; ix. 4, 46. BAAL-PEOR. Peor is supposed to have been a part of Mount Abarim; and Baal was the great idol or chief god of the Phonicians, and was known and worshipped under a similar name, with tumultuous and obscene rites, all over Asia. He is the same as the Bel of the Babylonians. Baal, by itself, signifies lord, and was a name of the solar or principal god. But it was also variously compounded, in allusion to the different characters and attributes of the particular or local deities who were known by it, as BaalPeor, Baal-Zebub, Baal-Zephon, &c. BaalPeor, then, was probably the temple of an idol belonging to the Moabites, on Mount Abarim, which the Israelites worshipped when encamped at Shittim; this brought a plague upon them, of which twenty-four thousand died, Numb. xxxv. Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, to whom Solomon erected an altar, 1 Kings xi. 7, is supposed to have been the same deity. Baal-Peor has been further supposed by some to have been Priapus; by others, Saturn; by others, Pluto; and by others again, Adonis. Mr. Faber agrees with Calmet in making BaalPeor the same with Adonis; a part of whose worship consisted in bewailing him with funereal rites, as one lost or dead, and afterwards welcoming, with extravagant joy, his fictitious return to life. He was in an eminent degree the god of impurity. Hosea, speaking of the worship of this idol, emphatically calls it "that shame," Hosea ix. 10. Yet in the rites of this deity the Moabite and Midianite women seduced the Israelites to join. BAAL-ZEBUB, BEELZEBUB, or BELZEBUB, signifies the god of flies, and was an idol of the Ekronites. It is not easy to discover how this false deity obtained its name. Some commentators think that he was called Baal-samin, or the lord of heaven; but that the Jews, from contempt, gave him the name of Baal-zebub. Others with greater reason believe that he was denominated "the god of flies" by his votaries, because he defended them from flies, which are extremely troublesome in hot countries; in the same manner as the Eleans worshipped Hercules under the appellation of 'Aruvios, the fly-chaser. Pliny is of opinion, that the name of Achor, the god invoked at Cyrene against flies, is derived from Accaron, or Ekron, where Baal-zebub was worshipped, and where he had a famous temple and oracle. Winkelman has given the figures of two heads, "both of them images of Jupiter, called by the Greeks 'Aróμvios, and by the Romans Muscarius; that is to say, fly-driver; for to this Jupiter was attributed the function of driving away flies." It is evident that Beelzebub was considered as the patron deity of medicine; for this is plainly implied in the conduct of Ahaziah, 2 Kings i. The Greek mythology considered Apollo as the god of medicine, and attributed also to him those possessions by a pythonic spirit which occasionally perplexed spectators, and of which we have an instance in Acts xvi. 19. Apollo, too, was the sun. Hence we probably see the reason why Ahaziah sent to Beelzebub to inquire the issue of his accident; since Beelzebub was Apollo, and Apollo was the god of physic. The Jews, who changed Beelzebub into Beelzebul, "god of a dunghill," perhaps had a reference to the Greek of pytho, which signifies putrefied. In scripture Beelzebub is called "the prince of devils," Matt. xii. 24; Luke xi. 15; merely, it would seem, through the application of the name of the chief idol of the heathen world to the prince of evil spirits. This was natural, since the Jews were taught in their own scriptures to consider all the idols of the heathens "devils.” Those commentators who think that the idol of Ekron himself is intended, have indulged in an improbable fancy. See HORNET. BAAL-ZEPHON, or the god of the watchtower, was probably the temple of some idol, which served at the same time for a place of observation for the neighbouring sea and country, and a beacon to the travellers by either. It was situated on a cape or promontory on the eastern side of the western or Heroopolitan branch of the Red Sea, near its northern extremity, over against Pihahiroth, or the opening in the moun |