opposite to those now mentioned. As might have been anticipated, there
were some who, having adopted the sentiments of Lælius Socinus as to the
simple humanity of Christ, deduced from this tenet consequences which
appeared to them obviously to flow from it, although these had not been
perceived or admitted by Lælius himself. A striking example of this took
place in the time of Faustus Socinus. Francis David, a man of
considerable influence among the Unitarians, being the superintendent of
their churches in Transylvania, maintained that, as Christ was born just
like other men, so he continued, notwithstanding his exaltation, to be
merely a human being; and that therefore all invocation of him, and
worship paid to him, were to be shunned as impiety or idolatry. Socinus
inveighed with the utmost warmth against this opinion; he used every
method to induce David to renounce it; and, at the desire of one of his
friends, he resided for a considerable time at the house of his
opponent, that the subject at issue might be fully and calmly discussed.
He failed, however, in accomplishing his object. David persisted, as he
had, upon the ground which he had taken, good reason to do, in asserting
the doctrine which he had announced; and he was soon after this thrown
by the prince of Transylvania into prison, where he lingered for several
years, and then died at an advanced age. It has been insinuated that
Socinus was accessary to this cruel deed of detestable persecution; and,
although attempts have been made to wipe off the imputation, there is
too much cause to think that it is not wholly unfounded. Most certain it
is, that he had it much at heart to root out what he viewed as the
heresy of David, and that the support of it after the death of the
unhappy sufferer by some distinguished Unitarians gave him much
uneasiness. It is not unlikely that the zeal which he thus displayed
arose from his apprehension that the tenets which he opposed would
supplant his own, and from the difficulty that he must have experienced
in turning aside the inferences which were affirmed to follow from what
he admitted. If such was the case, and it seems in many respects more
probable than the conjecture of Mosheim, that it is to be attributed to
the dread of rendering the sect more odious than it actually was, we
have a striking proof of his discernment, though at the expense of his
candour; for the present creed of Unitarianism approaches much nearer to
that of David than to the doctrines of the founder of Socinianism
himself.
But, while he was thus disquieted by opposition which, after the liberty
with which he had himself departed from the faith of the most ancient
and numerous Christian churches, should have created no surprise, he was
highly gratified by the zeal and the establishment of his followers.
Under the protection of the ample toleration which they enjoyed in
Poland they were sedulous in their attempts to imprint their tenets upon
those among whom they lived, and to send these tenets abroad to foreign
nations. The Anti-trinitarians in Poland had early translated the
Scriptures, and their successors under Socinus composed many works with
the design of defending the principles of their faith. They also sent
missionaries to propagate their views and to disseminate the books which
supported them, anticipating success similar to that which had
accompanied their efforts in Transylvania. But in Hungary and in Austria
they were successfully opposed by the united and cordial efforts of
Catholics and Protestants. In Holland they were more fortunate; and in
England they established only one congregation, which differed in some
points from the parent sect, and which soon dwindled away.
These failures, which the ardour, the ability, and the high rank of many
who engaged in the diffusion of Socinianism were unable to prevent, were
soon followed by their expulsion from the country in which they had so
long remained in security and peace. Toward the middle of the
seventeenth century some of the students attending the academy at Racow,
wantonly insulted the feelings and the principles of the Catholics, by a
contemptible act of outrage against a crucifix, which, with stones, they
threw down from the place in which it had been erected. By men warmly
attached to their own religion, and who had at all times regarded the
Socinians as undermining its foundation, this youthful excess was
represented as confirming all the charges that had been made against the
community to which the perpetrators belonged, and they determined to
exert themselves to procure their punishment or extirpation. The
supporters of the established religion accordingly applied to the diet
at Warsaw; and, notwithstanding the powerful influence used in favour of
the Socinians, a cruel edict was passed, abolishing their academy at
Racow, banishing the learned men who had taught in it, breaking the
printing presses, and shutting up the churches. This edict was carried
into effect with much severity; but it did not exhaust the enmity now
cherished against the sect; for within a few years after, by a solemn
act of the Polish diet, they were banished from the territories of the
republic, and, with sad departure from the tolerant and beneficent
spirit of the Gospel, death was denounced against all who held their
opinions, or who even sheltered and protected those who entertained
them. A short time was allowed to the unfortunate victims to arrange
their affairs before they bade an eternal adieu to scenes which all the
ties of human life must have endeared to them; but this period was
abridged. Some, however, had escaped the operation of the law, and had
remained in Poland; but three years after the edict was renewed, and the
Socinians who still lingered in their beloved country were driven from
it with a rigour and an inhumanity reflecting infamy upon those who were
guilty of them, and leading to the most melancholy reflections upon that
dismal perversion of all that is amiable in our nature, which has so
often been effected by a mistaken zeal for a religion breathing the
tenderest concern for the happiness of mankind. The principles of
Socinus were, notwithstanding, secretly fostered, and various causes
tended to perpetuate them even where in profession they were abjured.
The propensity, so natural to man, of dissipating every shade of
mystery, and casting the light of his own understanding around the
subjects of his contemplation, did not cease to operate; and the
application of this principle, so gratifying to the pride of human
reason, carried many farther than even Socinus had probably anticipated.
The Socinians hold, that Jesus Christ was a mere man, who had no
existence before he was born of the virgin Mary; that the Holy Ghost is
no distinct person; but that the Father only is truly and properly God.
They own that the name of God is given in Scripture to Jesus Christ, but
contend that it is only a deputed title; which, however, invests him
with a great authority over all creatures. They deny the doctrine of
satisfaction and imputed righteousness, and say, that Christ only
preached the truth to mankind, set before them in himself an example of
heroic virtue, and sealed his doctrines with his blood. Original sin
they esteem a mere scholastic chimera. Some of them, likewise, maintain
the sleep of the soul, which, they say, becomes insensible at death, and
is raised again with the body at the resurrection, when the good shall
be established in the possession of eternal felicity, while the wicked
shall be consigned to a fire that will torment them, not eternally, but
for a certain duration, proportioned to their demerits.
SODOM, the capital of Pentapolis, which for some time was the residence
of Lot, the nephew of Abraham. The history of its destruction is given
in the book of Genesis. See ABRAHAM, LOT, and DEAD SEA.
SOLOMON, or SALOMON, son of David and Bathsheba, was born A. M. 2971.
The Lord loved him, and sent Nathan to David to give Solomon the name of
Jedidiah, or, “beloved of the Lord,” 2 Sam. xii, 24, 25. This was
probably when Nathan assured David that his son should succeed him, and
that he should inherit those promises which had been made to him some
years before, when he had conceived the design of building a temple to
the Lord; for then God declared, by the prophet Nathan, that the honour
of building a temple should be reserved for his son, 2 Sam. vii, 5, &c.
Solomon, being confirmed in his kingdom, contracted an alliance with
Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and married his daughter, A.M. 2291. He brought
her to Jerusalem, and had apartments for her in the city of David, till
he should build her a palace, which he did some years afterward, when he
had finished the temple. It is thought that on occasion of this
marriage, Solomon composed the Canticles, which are a kind of
epithalamium. The Scripture speaks of the daughter of Pharaoh, as
contributing to pervert Solomon, 1 Kings xi, 1, 2; Neh. xiii, 26; and it
is very likely, that if at first this princess might seem converted to
the Lord, she afterward might retain her private disposition to
idolatry, and might engage her husband in it.
Solomon, accompanied by his troops and all Israel, went up to Gibeon,
where was then the brazen altar, upon which he offered a thousand
burnt-offerings. The night following, God appeared to him in a dream,
and said, “Ask of me what thou wilt.” Solomon begged of God a wise and
understanding heart, and such qualities as were necessary for the
government of the people committed to him. This request pleased the
Lord, and was fully granted by him. Solomon returned to Jerusalem, where
he offered a great number of sacrifices on the altar before the ark of
the Lord, and made a great feast for his servants. He enjoyed a profound
peace throughout his dominions; Judah and Israel lived in security; and
his neighbours either paid him tribute, or were his allies; he ruled
over all the countries and kingdoms from the Euphrates to the Nile, and
his dominions extended even beyond the former; he had abundance of
horses and chariots of war; he exceeded the orientals, and all the
Egyptians, in wisdom and prudence; he was the wisest of mankind, and his
reputation was spread through all nations. He composed or collected,
three thousand proverbs, and one thousand and five canticles. He knew
the nature of plants and trees, from the cedar on Libanus to the hyssop
on the wall; also of beasts, of birds, of reptiles, of fishes. There was
a concourse of strangers from all countries to hear his wisdom, and
ambassadors from the most remote princes.
When Hiram, king of Tyre, knew that Solomon was made king of Israel, he
sent ambassadors to congratulate him on his accession to the crown. Some
time afterward, Solomon desired him to supply wood and workmen, to
assist in building a temple to the Lord. Hiram gladly undertook this
service, and Solomon, on his part, obliged himself to give twenty
thousand measures of wheat, and twenty thousand measures of oil. The
Hebrew and the Vulgate have only twenty measures of oil; but the reading
ought no doubt to be twenty thousand. Solomon began to build the temple
in the fourth year of his reign, and the second after the death of
David; four hundred and eighty years after the exodus from Egypt. He
employed in this great work seventy thousand proselytes, descendants of
the ancient Canaanites, in carrying burdens, fourscore thousand in
cutting stones out of the quarries, and three thousand six hundred
overseers of the works; beside thirty thousand Israelites in the
quarries of Libanus.
The temple was completed in the eleventh year of Solomon, so that he was
but seven years in performing this vast work. The dedication was made
the year following, A. M. 3001. To make this ceremony the more august,
Solomon chose for it the eighth day of the seventh month of the holy
year, which was the first of the civil year, and answered to our
October. The ceremony of the dedication lasted seven days, at the end of
which began the feast of tabernacles, which continued seven days longer;
so that the people continued at Jerusalem fourteen or fifteen days, from
the eighth to the twenty-second of the seventh month. When the ark was
placed in the sanctuary, while the priests and Levites were celebrating
the praises of the Lord, the temple was filled with a miraculous cloud,
so that the priests could no longer stand to perform the functions of
their ministry. Then Solomon, being on his throne, prostrated himself
with his face to the ground; and rising up, and turning toward the
sanctuary, he addressed his prayer to God, and besought him that the
house which he had built might be acceptable to him, that he would bless
and sanctify it, and hear the prayers of those who should address him
from this holy place. He besought him also to fulfil the promises he had
made to David his servant in favour of his family, and of the kings his
successors. Then turning himself to the people, he solemnly blessed
them. Fire coming down from heaven consumed the victims and burnt
sacrifices on the altar, and the glory of the Lord filled the whole
temple. On this day the king caused to be sacrificed twenty-two thousand
oxen, and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep for peace-offerings. And
because the altar of burnt-offerings was not sufficient for all these
victims, the king consecrated the court of the people.
Solomon afterward built a palace for himself, and another for his queen,
the king of Egypt’s daughter. He was thirteen years in finishing these
buildings, and employed in them whatever the most exquisite art, or the
most profuse riches, could furnish. The palace in which he generally
resided was called the house of the forest of Lebanon; probably because
of the great quantity of cedar used in it. Solomon also built the walls
of Jerusalem, and the place called Millo in this city; he repaired and
fortified Hazor, Megiddo, Gezer, the two Bethhorons, Upper and Lower,
Baalath, and Palmyra in the desert of Syria. He also fortified the
cities where he had magazines of corn, wine, and oil; and those where
his horses and chariots were kept. He brought under his government the
Hittites, the Hivites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, which remained
in the land of Israel. He made them tributaries, and compelled them to
work at the public works. He fitted out a fleet at Ezion-Geber, and at
Elath, on the Red Sea, to go to Ophir. Hiram, king of Tyre, furnished
him with mariners, who instructed the subjects of Solomon. They
performed this voyage in three years, and brought back gold, ivory,
ebony, precious wood, peacocks, apes, and other curiosities. In one
voyage they brought Solomon four hundred and fifty talents of gold, 2
Chron. ix, 21. About the same time, the queen of Sheba came to
Jerusalem, attracted by the great fame of the king. She brought rich
presents of gold, spices, and precious stones; and proposed several
enigmas and hard questions, to which Solomon gave her such satisfactory
answers, that she owned what had been told her of his wisdom and
magnificence was far short of what she had found. The king, on his part,
made her rich presents in return.
Solomon was one of the richest, if not the very richest, of all princes
that have ever lived; and the Scripture expressly tells us he exceeded
in riches and wisdom all the kings of the earth. His annual revenues
were six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, without reckoning
tributes from kings and nations, or paid by Israelites, or sums received
for customs. The bucklers of his guards, and the throne he sat on, were
overlaid with gold. All the vessels of his table, and the utensils of
his palaces, were of gold. From all parts he received presents, vessels
of gold and silver, precious stuffs, spices, arms, horses, and mules;
and the whole earth desired to see his face, and to hear the wisdom
which God had put into his heart. But the latter actions of his life
disgraced his character. Beside Pharaoh’s daughter, he married wives
from among the Moabites, Ammonites, Idumeans, Sidonians, and Hittites.
He had seven hundred wives, who were so many queens, beside three
hundred concubines. These women perverted his heart in his declining
age, so that he worshipped Ashtoreth, goddess of the Sidonians, Moloch,
idol of the Ammonites, and Chemosh, god of the Moabites. To these he
built temples on the Mount of Olives, over against and east of
Jerusalem, and thus insulted openly the Majesty he had adored.
Solomon died after he had reigned forty years, A. M. 3029. He might be
about fifty-eight years of age; for he was about eighteen when he began
to reign. Josephus makes him to have reigned eighty years and to have
lived ninety-four years; but this is a manifest error. The history of
this prince was written by the prophets Nathan, Ahijah, and Iddo. He was
buried in the city of David; and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.
Of all the ingenious works composed by Solomon, we have nothing
remaining but his Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Canticles; that is,
every literary monument respecting him has perished, except those
written under inspiration--the inspired history which registers his
apostasy, and his own inspired works, which, in all the principles they
contain, condemn his vices. Some have ascribed to him the book of
Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus; but these were written by Hellenistic Jews.
SOUL, that immortal, immaterial, active substance or principle in man,
whereby he perceives, remembers, reasons, and wills. See MATERIALISM.
SOWING. Our Lord, in his parable of the sower, says, “Some seeds fell by
the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them.” Buckingham, in his
Travels in Palestine, remarks, “We ascended to an elevated plain where
husbandmen were sowing, and some thousands of starlings covered the
ground, as the wild pigeons do in Egypt, laying a heavy contribution on
the grain thrown into the furrows, which are not covered by harrowing,
as in Europe.” The sowing “beside all waters,” mentioned by Isaiah,
seems to refer to the sowing of rice, which is done on low grounds
flooded, and prepared for sowing by being trodden by oxen and asses,
mid-leg deep; thus, they send “forth thither the feet of the ox and the
ass.”
SPARROW, צפור, Gen. vii, 14, and afterward frequently; ϛρουθίον, Matt.
x, 29; Luke xii, 6, 7; a little bird every where known. The Hebrew word
is used not only for a sparrow, but for all sorts of clean birds, or for
those the use of which was not forbidden by the law. That the sparrow is
not intended in Psalm cii, 7, is evident from several circumstances; for
that is intimated to be a bird of night, one that is both solitary and
mournful; none of which characteristics is applicable to the sparrow,
which rests by night, is gregarious and cheerful. It seems rather to
mean a bird melancholy and drooping, much like one confined in a cage.
See SWALLOW.
SPEECH. See LANGUAGE.
SPIDER, עכביש, Job viii, 14; Isa. lix, 5. An insect well known,
remarkable for the thread which it spins, with which it forms a web of
curious texture, but so frail that it is exposed to be broken and
destroyed by the slightest accident. To the slenderness of this filmy
workmanship, Job compares the hope of the wicked. This, says Dr. Good,
was “doubtless a proverbial allusion; and so exquisite, that it is
impossible to conceive any figure that can more fully describe the utter
vanity of the hopes and prosperity of the wicked.”
“Deceiving bliss! in bitter shame it ends,
His prop a cobweb, which an insect rends.”
So Isaiah says, “They weave the web of the spider; of their webs no
garment shall be made; neither shall they cover themselves with their
works.”
SPIKENARD, נרד. By this was meant a highly aromatic plant growing in the
Indies, called “nardostachys,” by Dioscorides and Galen; from whence was
made the very valuable extract or unguent, or favourite perfume, used at
the ancient baths and feasts, _unguentum nardinum_, _unguentum nardi
spicatæ_, [the perfume or unction of spikenard,] which it appears from a
passage in Horace, was so valuable, that as much of it as could be
contained in a small box of precious stone, was considered as a sort of
equivalent for a large vessel of wine, and a handsome quota for a guest
to contribute at an entertainment, according to the custom of antiquity:
_Nardo vina merebere:
Nardi parvus onyx eliciet cadum._
“Bring you the odours, and a cask is thine.
Thy little box of ointment shall produce
A mighty cask.”
FRANCIS.
St. Mark, xiv, 3, mentions “ointment of spikenard very precious,” which
is said to be worth more than three hundred denarii; and John, xii, 3,
mentions a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly; the house was
filled with the odour of the ointment; it was worth three hundred
denarii. It is not to be supposed that this was a Syrian production, but
the true “atar” of Indian spikenard; an unguent, containing the very
essence of the plant, and brought at a great expense from a remote
country.
SPIRIT, in Hebrew, רוח, in Greek, ϖνεῦμα, and in Latin, _spiritus_, is
in the Scriptures sometimes taken for the Holy Ghost, the third person
of the Holy Trinity. The word signifies also the reasonable soul which
animates us, and continues in existence even after the death of the
body: that spiritual, thinking and reasoning substance, which is capable
of eternal happiness, Num. xvi, 22; Acts vii, 59. The term spirit is
also often used for an angel, a demon, and a ghost, or soul separate
from the body. It is said, in Acts xxiii, 8, that the Sadducees denied
the existence of angels and spirits. Jesus Christ appearing to his
disciples, said to them, Luke xxiv, 39, “Handle me and see, for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” And St. Paul calls the
good angels “ministering spirits,” Heb. i, 14. In 1 Sam. xvi, 14; xviii,
10; xix 9, it is said that an evil spirit from the Lord troubled Saul:
and we have also the expression unclean spirits. Add to this, spirit is
sometimes put for the disposition of the heart or mind: see Num. v, 14;
Zech. xii, 10; Luke xiii, 11; Isa. xi, 2. Discerning of spirits, or the
secret character and thoughts of men, was a gift of God, and placed
among the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. xii, 10; 1 John iv,
1.
STAR, in Hebrew, בוכב. Under the name of stars, the ancient Hebrews
comprehended all the heavenly bodies, constellations, and planets; in a
word, all the luminaries, the sun and moon excepted. The number of the
stars was looked upon as infinite. And the Psalmist, to exalt the power
and magnificence of God, says, that he numbers the stars and calls them
by their names; and so are they put to express a vast multitude, Gen.
xv, 5; xxii, 17; Exod. xxxiii, 13.