Apocrypha (from the Greek, 'things concealed or spurious') is a term applied in the earliest churches to various sacred or professedly inspired writings, sometimes given to those whose authors were unknown, sometimes to those with a hidden meaning, and sometimes to those considered objectionable. The term is specially applied to the fourteen undermentioned books which were written during the two centuries preceding the birth of Christ. They were written, not in Hebrew, but in Greek, and the Jews never allowed them a place in their sacredcanon. They were incorporated into the Septuagint, and thence passed to the Vulgate. The Greek Church excluded them from the canon in 360 at the Council of Laodicea. The LatinChurch treated them with more favour, but it was not until 1546 that they were formally admitted into the canon of the Church of Rome by a decree of the Council of Trent. The Anglican Church says they may be read for example of life and instruction of manners, but that the church does not apply them to establish any doctrine. All other Protestant churches in Britain and America ignore them. The following fourteen books form the Apocrypha of the English Bible: - The first and second Books of Esdras, Tobit, Judith, the rest of the Book of Esther, the Wisdom of Solomon, the Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus, Baruch the Prophet, the Song of the Three Children, Susanna and the Elders, Bel and the Dragon, the Prayer of Manasses, and the first and second Books of Maccabees.
Besides the Apocryphal books of the Old Testament there are many other books composed in the earlier ages of Christianity, and published under the names of Christ and his apostles, or of such immediate followers as from their character or means of intimate knowledge might give an apparent plausibility for such forgeries. These writings comprise: 1st, the Apocryphal Gospels, which treat of the history of Joseph and the Virgin before the birth of Christ, of the infancy of Jesus, and of the acts of Pilate; 2d, the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles; and 3d, the Apocryphal Apocalypses, none of which have obtained canonical recognition by any of the churches. Research Apocrypha
The Bampton Lectures were a course of lectures established in 1751 by John Bampton, canon of Salisbury, who bequeathed certain property to the University of Oxford for the endowment of eight divinity lectures to be annually delivered. The subjects prescribed were mainly connected with the evidences of Christianity, and the lecturer must have taken the degree of M.A. at Oxford or Cambridge. The first course of lectures was delivered in 1780, and were delivered every year since, with the exceptions of 1834, 1835, and 1841. Among the more remarkable lectures were those by Dr. White in 1784, by Dr. Mant in 1812, by Reginald Heber in 1815, Whately in 1822, Milman in 1827, Dr. Hampden in 1832, Mr. Mansel in 1858, Canon Liddon in 1866, CanonGore in 1891. A similar course of lectures, the Hulsean, was annually delivered at Cambridge. Research Bampton Lectures
A bastard is a child begotten and born out of wedlock; an illegitimate child. By the former civil and canon laws, and by the law of Scotland (as well as of some of the United States), a bastard became legitimate by the intermarriage of the parents at any future time. But by the former laws of England a child, to be legitimate, must at least be born after the lawful marriage; it did not require that the child should be begotten in wedlock, but it was indispensable that it should be born after marriage, no matter how short the time, the law presuming it to be the child of the husband. The only incapacity of a bastard in former law was that he cannot be heir or next of kin to any one save his own issue. In England the maintenance of a bastard in the first instance formerly devolved on the mother, while in Scotland it was a joint burden upon both parents. The mother was entitled to the custody of the child in preference to the father. By the 1980's the law had evolved and illegitimacy was irrelevant. Research Bastard
Buddhism is the religious system founded by Buddha, one of the most prominent doctrines of which is that Nirvana, or an absolute release from existence, is the chief good. According to it pain is inseparable from existence, and consequently pain can cease only through Nirvana; and in order to attain Nirvana our desires and passions must be suppressed, the most extreme self-renunciation practised, and we must, as far as possible, forget our own personality.
In order to attain Nirvana eight conditions must be kept or practised. The first is in Buddhistic language right view; the second is right judgment; the third is right language; the fourth is right purpose; the fifth is right profession; the sixth is right application; the seventh is right memory; the eighth is right meditation. The five fundamental precepts of the Buddhist moral code are: not to kill, not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to lie, and not to give way to drunkenness. To these there are added five others of less importance, and binding more particularly on the religious class, such as to abstain from repasts taken out of season, from theatrical representations, etc. There are six fundamental virtues to be practised by all men alike, vizcharity, purity, patience, courage, contemplation, and knowledge. These are the virtues that are said to 'conduct a man to the other shore'. The devotee who strictly practises them has not yet attained Nirvana, but is on the road to it.
The Buddhist virtue of charity is universal in its application, extending to all creatures, and demanding sometimes the greatest self-denial and sacrifice. There is a legend that the Buddha in one of his stages of existence (for he had passed through innumerable transmigrations before becoming 'the enlightened') gave himself up to be devoured by a famishing lioness which was unable to suckle her young ones. There are other virtues, less important, indeed, than the six cardinal ones, but still binding on believers. Thus not only is lying forbidden, but evil-speaking, coarseness of language, and even vain and frivolous talk, must be avoided. Buddhist metaphysics are comprised in three theories - the theory of transmigration (borrowed from Brahmanism), the theory of the mutual connection of causes, and the theory of Nirvana. The first requires no explanation. According to the second, life is the result of twelve conditions, which are by turns causes and effects. Thus there would be no death were it not for birth; it is therefore the effect of which birth is the cause. Again, there would be no birth were there not a continuation of existence. Existence has for its cause our attachment to things, which again has its origin in desire; and so on through sensation, contact, the organs of sensation and the heart, name and form, ideas, etc, up to ignorance. This ignorance, however, is not ordinary ignorance, but the fundamental error which causes us to attribute permanence and reality to things. This, then, is the primary origin of existence and all its attendant evils.
Nirvana or extinction is eternal salvation from the evils of existence, and the end which every Buddhist is supposed to seek. Sakya-muni did not leave his doctrines in writing; he declared them orally, and they were carefully treasured up by his disciples, and written down after his death. The determination of the canon of the Buddhist scriptures as we now possess them was the work of three successive councils, and was finished two centuries at least before Christ. From Buddhism involving a protest against caste distinctions it was eagerly adopted by the Dasyus or non-Aryan inhabitants of Hindustan. It was pure, moral, and humane in its origin, but it came subsequently to be mixed up with idolatrous worship of its founder and other deities. Although now long banished from Hindustan by the persecutions of the Brahmans, Buddhism prevails in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Nepal, Tibet, Mongolia, China, Indonesia, and Japan, and its adherents are said to comprise about a third of the human race. Research Buddhism
In geography, a canon is a deep ravine or valley with precipitous sides made by the rapid flow of a river and the action of denudation.
In religion, canon is a term given collectively to the books of the Holy Scriptures received as genuine by Christian Churches. Some books accepted as canonical by the Roman Catholics are generally rejected by Protestants. Research Canon
Canon Law is a collection of ecclesiastical constitutions for the regulation of the Church of Rome, consisting for the most part of ordinances of general and provincial councils, decrees promulgated by the popes with the sanction of the cardinals, and decretal epistles and bulls of the popes. There is also a canon law for the regulation of the Church of England, which under certain restrictions is used in ecclesiastical courts and in the courts of the two universities.
In the Roman Church these collections came into use in the 5th and 6th centuries. The chief basis of them was a translation of the decrees of the four first general councils, to which other decrees of particular synods and decretals of the popes were added. In the time of Charlemagne the collection of Dionysius the Little acquired almost the authority of laws. Equal authority, also, was allowed to the spurious 9th-century collection of decretals falsely ascribed to Isidore, Bishop of Seville. After the 10th century systematical compendiums of ecclesiastical law began to be drawn from these canons, the most important being that of the BenedictineGratian of Chiusi, finished in 1151. Within ten years after its appearance the Universities of Bologna and Paris had their professors of canon law, who taught from Gratian's work, which superseded all former chronological collections. After the appearance of the Decretum Gratiani, new decrees of councils and new decretals were promulgated, which were collected by Raymond of Pennaforte under the name of Decretales Gregorii Noni (1234); and the later decretals, etc, collected by Boniface VIII, were published as the sixth book of the Gregorian Decretals in 1298, all these having the authority of laws.
Pope Clement V published a collection of his decrees in 1313. About the year 1340 the decretals of John XXII were published (Extravagantes Johannis XXII); and at a later period the subsequent decretals, to the time of Sextus IV. (Extravagantes Communes) appeared. These Extravagantes have not altogether the authority of law. Under Pope Pius IV a commission was appointed to revise the Decretum Gratiani, the work being completed under Gregory XIII, and sanctioned by bull in 1580. The authority of the canon law in England, since the Reformation, depends upon the statute 25th Henry VIII, according to which such ecclesiastical laws as were not repugnant to the laws of the realm and the king's prerogative were to remain in force until revised. This revision was never made. A body of 141 canons was drawn up for the English church in 1603-4, and these are still partially in force, so far as concerns the clergy. Research Canon Law
Civil Law (jus civile) among the Romans was a term nearly corresponding to what in modern times is implied by the phrase positive law, that is, the rules of right established by any government. They contradistinguished it from natural law (jus naturale), by which they meant a certain natural order followed by all living beings; also from the general laws of mankind established by the agreement of all nations and governments (jus gentium). With the growth and multiplication of the edicts issued by the praetors (in whose hands was the supreme administration of justice) for the modification and extension of the positive enactments a further distinction became necessary, the whole body of this praetorian law being known by the name of jus honorarium as opposed to the strict formal law (jus civile). The latter, however, included both the private law (jus privatum), which relates to the various legal relations of the different members of the state - the citizens - and the public law (jus publicum), that is, the rules respecting the limits, rights, obligations, etc, of the public authorities.
The final digest of Roman law was made in the 6th century AD under the Emperor Justinian, but at first was only admitted as formally binding in a small part of Italy. After the llth century, in Upper Italy, particularly in the school of Bologna, the body of the Roman law, put together by Justinian, was formed by degrees into a system applicable to the wants of all nations; and on this model the ecclesiastical and Papal decrees were arranged, and to a considerable degree the native laws of the new Teutonic states. From all these the Roman law was distinguished under the name of civil law. In this sense, therefore, civil law means ancient Roman law; and it is contradistinguished from canon law and feudal law, though the feudalcodes of the Lombards have been received into the corpus juris civilis, or body of civil law. As the Roman code exerted the greatest influence on the private law of modern Europe, the expression civil law is also used to embrace all the rules relating to the private rights of citizens. Under the term civil law, therefore, in both Europe and America, is to be understood not only the Roman law, but also the modern private law of the various countries; for example, in Germany, Das gemeine Deutsche Privatrecht, in France the Code civil des Francais or Code Napoleon. In this sense it is chiefly opposed to criminal law, particularly in reference to the administration of justice, which is to be divided into civil justice and criminal justice. Research Civil Law
Common Law is the unwritten law, the law that receives its binding force from immemorial usage and universal reception, in distinction from the written or statute law; sometimes from the civil or canon law; and occasionally from the lex mercatoria, or commercial and maritime jurisprudence. It consists of that body of rules, principles, and customs which have been received from former times, and by which courts have been guided in their judicial decisions. The evidence of this law is to be found in the reports of those decisions and the records of the courts. Some of these rules may have originated in edicts or statutes which are now lost, or in the terms and conditions of particular grants or charters; but it is quite certain that many of them originated in judicial decisions founded on natural justice and equity, or on local customs. It is contrasted with (1) the statute law contained in acts of parliament; (2) equity, which is also an accretion of judicial decisions, but formed by a new tribunal, which first appeared when the common law had reached its full growth; and (3) the civil law inherited by modern Europe from the Roman Empire. Wherever statute law, however, runs counter to common law, the latter is entirely overruled; but common law, on the other hand, asserts its pre-eminence where equity is opposed to it. Research Common Law
The Council of Basel was a celebrated oecumenical council of the church convoked by Pope Martin V and his successor Eugenius IV. It was opened on the 14th of December 1431, under the presidency of the Cardinal Legate Juliano Cesarini of St Angelo. The objects of its deliberations were to extirpate heresies (that of the Hussites in particular), to unite all Christian nations under the Catholic church, to put a stop to wars between Christian princes, and to reform the church. But its first steps towards a peaceable reconciliation with the Hussites were displeasing to the pope, who authorized the cardinal legate to dissolve the council. That body opposed the pretensions of the pope, and, notwithstanding his repeated orders to remove to Italy, continued its deliberations under the protection of the emperor Sigismund, of the Overman princes, and of France. On the pope continuing to issue bulls for its dissolution the council commenced a formal process against him, and cited him to appear at its bar. On his refusal to comply with this demand the council declared him guilty of contumacy, and, after Eugenius had opened a counter-synod at Ferrara, decreed his suspension from the papal chair on January the 24th, 1438.
The removal of Eugenius, however, seemed so impracticable, that some prelates, who until then had been the boldest and most influential speakers in the council, including the Cardinal Legate Juliano, left Basel, and went over to the party of Eugenius. The Archbishop of Aries, Cardinal Louis Allemand, was now made first president of the council, and directed its proceedings with much vigour. In May, 1439, it declared Eugenius, on account of his disobedience of its decrees, a heretic, and formally deposed him. Excommunicated by Eugenius, they proceeded, in a regular conclave, to elect the dukeAmadeus of Savoy to the papal chair. Felix V - the name he adopted - was acknowledged by only a few princes, cities, and universities. After this the moral power of the council declined; its last formal session was held on May the 16th, 1443, though it was not technically dissolved until May the 7th, 1449, when it gave in its adhesion to Nicholas V, the successor of Eugenius. The decrees of the Council of Basel are admitted into none of the Roman collections, and are considered of no authority by the Roman lawyers. They are regarded, however, as of authority in points of canon law in France and Germany, as their regulations for the reformation of the church have been adopted in the pragmatic sanctions of both countries, and, as far as they regard clerical discipline, have been actually enforced. Research Council of Basel
Decretals, is a general name for the Papal decrees, comprehending the rescripts (answers to inquiries and petitions), decrees (judicial decisions by the Rota Romana), mandates (official instructions for ecclesiastical officers, courts, etc), edicts (Papal ordinances in general), and general resolutions of the councils. The decretals form a most important portion of the Roman Catholic canon law, the authoritative collection of them being that made by the orders of Gregory IX and published in 1234. A collection known as the false decretals was made in the 9th century, and for hundreds of years passed as genuine, though the greater part of it is spurious. Research Decretals
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Apocrypha
