modified form: the Greeks had their tutelary demon, and the Latins their genius. ANGEL OF THE CHURCH. Rev. i. 1. By this individual we are to understand the messenger or person sent by God to preside over the church. In this office there is supposed to be an allusion to the officer of the synagogue among the Jews, called the Messenger of the Church, whose duty it was to pray, read, and teach. In the epistles to the seven churches, the angel, or chief pastor, or bishop, is addressed; but the epistle describes the state of the church, and administers suitable advice or reproof. The minister had the principal government of the church, and was responsible to God on its account. : too soon, without reflection; when ANIMAL. An organized body, endowed with life and sensation. The animals were originally named by man, the name being given, in all probability, from their size, form, disposition, or cries. The Hebrews distinguished animals as clean and unclean; or those which might be eaten and offered in sacrifice, and those which might not. Some have considered this distinction as sym ANGEL OF THE LORD. The Angel Jehovah. The common title of Christ in the Old Testament. See and compare the following scriptures :Gen. xvi. 7; Exod. iii. 2, 14; xxiii. 20; Acts vii. 30, 32, 37, 38. It is evident that the three dispensations are founded upon the same principles; the fall of man, and his recovery by a divine Redeemer. Christ is the Jehovah of the Patriarchal, the Mo-bolical, as an intimation to avoid the saic, and the Christian dispensations; yet invariably described as a different person from the Jehovah who sends him. ANGEL OF HIS PRESENCE is another title of Christ. Isai. lxiii. 9. qualities for which the unclean animals were remarkable. Others have thought the arrangement had reference to idolatry, and that they were commanded to kill and eat animals which the Egyptians deemed sacred, and were taught to look with abhorrence upon others which they reverenced. Others have found a reason in the unwholesomeness of the flesh of the creatures pronounced to be unclean; so that they resolve the whole into a sanitary regulation. The division of animals into clean and unclean existed, however, before the Mosaic law was enacted, and even before the flood. The foundation of it was clearly sacrificial. It could not have reference to health before the deluge; for animal food was not used. It is also remarkable, that when Noah received the animals into the ark, the clean were received by sevens, the unclean by two of a kind. This view is also greatly strengthened and confirmed by the prohibition of blood for food, after animals had been granted to man for food along with "the herb of the field." "I have given it upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls." See Lev. xvii. The plain reason for the prohibition is found in this passage. Blood is the life. "The life of the flesh is in the blood." In the original prohibition the same reason is given: "The flesh with the blood, which is the life thereof, ye shall not eat." The manner in which Moses introduces the subject, shows that he was merely renewing a prohibition, and not publishing a new doctrine; for he does not teach the people that God had then given or appointed blood to make atonement; but he prohibits them from eating it, because he had made this appointment without reference to time, and as a subject with which they were familiar. The case then is thus. The distinction of clean and unclean animals existed before the flood, and was founded upon the practice of animal sacrifice, affording demonstration of the antiquity of the practice and of the divinity of the institution and appointment, since God gives laws for its acceptable performance. Then, if animal sacrifice was of divine appointment, it must be considered as typical, and designed to teach the great doctrine of divine atonement, and to direct the faith to the only true sacrifice which could take away the sins of the world. ANISE. A plant of the same family as DILL. It grew abundantly in Judæa, and was tithed. Matt. xxiii. 23. ANNA. A widow, of the tribe of Asher. She was the daughter of Phanuel, and a prophetess. Luke ii. 36, 37. She had lived only seven years with her husband, and continued, without ceasing, in the temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer. Anna was eightyfour years old when the mother of Christ came to present him in the temple; and entering during the time that Simeon pronounced his thanksgiving, she also broke forth in strains of praise to God for the fulfilment of his promise, and spoke of the Christ to all who waited for redemption in Israel. ANNAS. High-priest of the Jews. The Jews had ordinarily only one high-priest. In Luke iii. 2, it is said, "Annas and Caiaphas being highpriests." Annas was made high-priest and remained in office eleven years: he was, however, deposed by the Romans. Three of his sons in succession were put into the office, and then his son-in-law, Caiaphas, who continued high-priest through the administration of Pilate. Annas retained the honorary title, though deposed, and had great influence and rank. When our Saviour was apprehended by the mob, they took him first to Annas, in order to secure his favour and sanction. John xviii. 13–24. ANOINTING. The earliest use of anointing of which we read is in Gen. xxxi. 13. Here the word signifies the pouring of oil on the stone which had been Jacob's pillow. Its principal design was for the purpose of consecration, or designation to the service of God. To this may be referred the anointing of the high-priests and sacred vessels. Exod. xxix. 29; xxx. 26. On this account, the king was called "the Lord's anointed." The ingredients to be used in preparing the oil for this ceremony are most carefully pointed out, and it could not be used on an ordinary occasion. Exod. xxx. 23-33. Anointing was also used on festive occasions. The anointing of our Saviour's feet by "the woman who was a sinner," led to the remark, that the host himself had neglected to anoint his head. Luke vii. 38, 46. This shows that it was a mark of attention paid to guests. Hence arose the phrase, "anointed with the oil of gladness." In Egypt it was customary for a servant to attend every guest as he seated himself, and to anoint his head. That the Jews anointed themselves on ordinary occasions is plain, from the fact that the omission was deemed a sign of mourning. Not only was oil used for the head, but also for the skin. Psal. civ. 15: "Oil to make the face to shine." In many countries the use of oil for the body is believed to strengthen it, and especially to protect it from the heat of the sun, from which, where little clothing is worn, persons would be liable to suffer. The pores of the skin were thus closed, | gard neglects it; he allows the summer and excessive perspiration, which was to pass, and the harvest to end, while thought greatly to weaken the body, he is indulging in sloth and idleness. prevented. It was also customary to The mistake has arisen from the great anoint the sick. The healing proper- similarity, both in shape, size, and ties of oil are well known, and it is colour, of the chrysalis of the ant to a employed in the East at the present grain of corn, and from ants being time medicinally. The seventy dis- observed to carry them about, and to ciples anointed the sick. Mark vi. 13. open the cuticle to let out the enclosed The sick man is directed by James to insect. It is now ascertained that no send for the elders of the church, who European ants feed on corn. The should "pray over him, anointing opinion is that they are carnivorous, him with oil in the name of the preying indiscriminately on the soft Lord." With regard to the disciples, parts of other insects, upon worms, the cures were clearly miraculous, and small birds or animals. Huber, though they used the ordinary means. in his "Natural History of Ants,' If it could be proved to have been an shows that they are particularly fond authorised religious rite as to the of the exudation from the body of the apostles, it is no precedent for us; and aphides, or plant-lice. The aphides the absurdity of the application of oil fix their suckers between the fibres in the case of the Papists is apparent. of vegetables, and find a most subBy their own confession, extreme stantial nutriment, which they retain unction is an essentially different rite a considerable time if no ant apfrom this. It is not given for heal-proaches. The ant has the talent of ing: it is postponed till there is no procuring it from the aphides at hope of life, and is an absurd anoint-pleasure. It approaches the aphis, ing to death, which, neither as a symbol, nor as a means of benefit, bears any resemblance to the cases of anointing described in the Epistle by James, and practised by the early Christians. The bodies of the dead were often anointed to preserve them from corruption. It appears to have been the Jewish mode of embalming. Mark xiv. 8; xvi. 1; Luke xxiii. 56. ANT. A small insect, remarkable for industry, economy, and architectural skill. Prov. vi. 6; xxx. 25. It is proposed as a pattern of commendable frugality to the profuse, and of un-regular stories, sometimes to the ceasing activity and diligence to the indolent. Many fanciful things have been said respecting the ant by ancient writers. Horace, in his first Satire, commends the ant as provident for the future, and as adding daily to the store which it heaps up. Bochart has collected a variety of testimonies to prove that the ants, in collecting grain for future use, are careful to nibble off the germ to prevent it from sprouting. Modern entomologists have proved that this is entirely fanciful, as well as the supposition that they lay up grain for the winter. Solomon only affirms that the ant improves the propitious opportunity, but the slug strikes it gently and repeatedly with its antennæ, when it instantly discharges the juice by two tubes, which stand out from the body. These creatures are thus the milch-kine of the ants. By a remarkable providential arrangement, the ant and the aphis become torpid at the same degree of cold, and are revived by the same degree of warmth. It seems as though this insect was made for the use of the ant. The habits of the ant are remarkable. The habitations of the ant of Asia are constructed with number of thirty or forty, and have large chambers, and long galleries, with pillars of just proportions. The materials they employ, such as earth, leaves, and fragments of wood, are tempered with rain, and then dried in the sun. The buildings are so firm and compact, that they are almost impervious to the rain. Their edifices are remarkably large and commodious. They have "no guide, overseer, or ruler," yet they all have one object, the welfare of each other. They are particularly attentive to their young, The egg is licked and cleaned, and gradually expands under this treatment till the worm is hatched; it is then tended and fed with the utmost care. The attention is continued to the pupa or chrysalis. These they heap up, so that they greatly resemble grains of corn piled together. They carry them out to enjoy the sun, and move them to different situations in the nest, according to the required degree of temperature. At the proper moment they open the pupa, and liberate the new-born insect. ANTICHRIST. Compounded of ávri, against, Xploròs, Christ. An adversary of Christ. St. John, in whose Epistles the word occurs, says, "There are many Antichrists." The error of Antichrist is declared to be "a denial of the Father and the Son," or denial "that Christ is come in the flesh." The Gnostic heresy seems here to be pointed out, which did serious mischief in the church in St. John's time. It appears also to mean a great power that should arise at a period succeeding the apostolic times, and which would oppose, with great virulence and blasphemy, the doctrines and disciples of Christ. The same power is supposed to be pointed out, 2 Thess. ii. 3, 8, 9; Rev. xvii., xviii. Many Protestant writers apply to the papal church, and to the pope at the head of it, the several marks and signatures of Antichrist described in the Apocalypse, which would imply Antichrist to be not a single person, but a corrupt society, or a long series of persecuting pontiffs. ANTI-LIBANUS. The range of mountains east of Libanus. See LEBANON. ANTINOMIANS. A sect which originated with John Agricola, in 1538, who taught that the Law is in no wise necessary under the Gospel; that good works do not promote salvation, nor ill ones hinder it; and that repentance is not to be preached from the decalogue, but from the Gospel. This sect sprung up in England during the Protectorate, and extended the system of libertinism much further than Agricola. Some maintained that, as the elect cannot fall from grace nor forfeit the divine favour, the wicked actions they commit are not really sinful, and are not to be considered as instances of the violation of the divine law; and that consequently they can have no occasion to confess their sins, nor to break them off by repentance. The elect can do nothing displeasing to God. The dangerous sentiments contained in Antinomian writings have been exposed by the Rev. John Fletcher, in his "Checks to Antinomianism." governors of the eastern provinces. | the buildings constructed of mud and straw, and bears the name of Antakia. 2. Antioch in Pisidia, in Asia Minor. Here Paul and Barnabas preached; a violent persecution was raised against them, and they were compelled to leave the city. Acts xiii. 14, et seq. There were several other cities in Asia Minor called Antioch, built by the Seleucidæ, the successors of Alexander in that country. de ANTIOCHUS. An outline of the deeds of the kings of Syria in war and peace, down to Antiochus Epiphanes, is given in Dan. xi., in which Epiphanes and his father are the two principal figures. The wars and treaties of the kings of Syria and Egypt, from B.C. 280 to B.c. 165, are scribed there minutely and truly. Verses 6-36. Epiphanes has the chief claim on the attention of students of the Bible: he is prominent in the books of the Maccabees, as well as in Daniel. Our space forbids us even to attempt an outline of the facts of his history: we must content ourselves by referring the reader to history. See Rollin, vol. v. ; and Smith's "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography." The following table will furnish a list of the names of the kings of this dynasty :— It was, at one time, a place of great occupied and ruined by Bibars, sultan 1. Seleucus Nicator, B.C. 312-280. 2. Antiochus Soter, his son, B.C. 280 3. Antiochus Theus, his son, B.C. 261-247. 4. Seleucus Callinicus, his son, B.C. 247-226. 5. (Alexander, or) Seleucus Ceraunus, his son, B.C. 226-223. 6. Antiochus the Great, his brother, B.C. 223-187. 7. Seleucus Philopator, his son, B.C. 187-176. 8. Antiochus Epiphanes, his brother, B.C. 176-164. 9. Antiochus Eupator, his son, (a minor,) B.C. 164–162. 10. Demetrius Soter, son of Seleucus Philopator, 162-150. 11. Alexander Balas, a usurper, who pretends to be the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, and is acknowledged by the Romans, B.C. 152–146. [12. Antiochus Theus, or Alexander, (a minor,) son of the preceding. He |