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 PURITANS

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PURITANS

onlSAdarinSusa, and in other partson 14 Adar. Reuss (Gesch. des Alten Test., § 473) identifies it with " Nica- nor Day", and holds the Book of Esther responsible for the "name Purim, but this theory is refuted by the "Megillah Ta'anith" (second centurj-, a. d.), where 13 Adar is still called "Xicanor Day". Fiirst (Kanondes A. T.) and Meier (Heb. Wonerb.) identify the feast with the Persian spring festival, which the Jews are supposed to have adopted in Susa; the Book of Esther is then a mere allegory, intended to cast a national halo about the feast. Von Hammer (Wien. Jahrb. Lit., 1827) calls the Purim a trans- formation of the Zoroastrian feast Farwadigdn (Fes- tival of the Dead), observed during the last ten days of the year. Lagarde (Beitrag zur Gesch. der Religion, 1887) elaborated this theory and brought to its support linguistic considerations of little value. Gratz (Monatschr. Gesch. u. Wiss. der Jud., XXXV, 10-12) derives Purim from purah (wine- press), and accordingly identifies the feast with the observance of the Greek and Roman Bacchanalia, forgetting that the nine season is passed when the Purim is celebrated. Others, like Zimmern (Zeit- schrift filr d. alttest. Wiss., 1891), Jensen (Wiener Zeitschr. fUr die Kunde des Morgenlandes, VI, 47-209), and Wildeboer ("Comment, on Esther" in Marti's "Kurzer Handcomm.", p. 173) wish to make the Book of Esther a mere metamorphosis of mytho- logical legends. These hypotheses, however, have a very weak and doubtful historical basis.

Originally the Purim was celebrated without liturgical services. Later the Book of Esther, the Megillah par excellence, was read on the evening of the \'igil and on the morning of the feast. Wlien the name of Haman occurs in the reading, the con- gregation hisses, stamps, and gesticulates, shouting: "Let his name be blotted out! Let the name of the wicked perish!" The reader names ten sons of Haman in one breath to indicate that they died at the same moment. The \agil is observed by a strict fast called the "fast of Esther". The feast is cele- brated with great solemnity, gifts being exchanged. Sometimes, however, the feast degenerated into an occasion for debauchery and hcence, gruesome details (e. g. the burning on a gibbet of an effigy of Haman) being added to the diversions. At times a cross was burned to manifest hatred for the Christians (Cod. Theodos., XVI, v-iii, 18). When the feast occurred in an intercalary year it was celebrated twice: on 15 Adar (Little Purim) and on 15 Ve-adar (Great Purim). This feast was generally obser^'ed as early as the time of the Machabees (II Mach., xv, 37) and Josephus (Antiq., XI, vi, 13). The Purim frequently contributed to the preservation of the Jewish faith, when in imminent danger. To this fact the Cairene Purim and the Purim Vincent bear witness. The first commemorates the deliverance of the Jews in Cairo (1524); the latter in Frankfort (1616).

Greev, Hebrew Feasts (1886): Meter, De temp, et /est. hebr(c- orum; Ikex. Antiquitales hebraicjE (Bremen. 1741); Reland, Antiq. sacr. (Utrecht, 1741); Les£tre in Viaojjnoux, Diet, dela bible, 9. V. Phurim; Oppert, Commentaire d'l livre d'Esther in Annales de phitos. chrU. (Jan., 1864): ViGOCROCX, Lvi litres saints de la critique rationaliate, IV (Bth ed., Paris, 1896), 579-93; SchCrer, (lesch. desjad. Volkes im Zeilalter J. C. (4th ed., Leip-

lig. 1901-7). Charles L. Souvay.

Puritans. — One of the chief difficulties in study- ing the various movements loosely spoken of as Puritanism is to frame an exact definition capable of including the varied and sometimes mutually in- consistent forms of belief usually clas-sified under that name. In its original meaning it signified "those who strove for a worship purified from all taint of poperj'" (Maitland, op. cit. inf., .590). A more recent writer adopting and exp.anding this definition adds: "The many various .sects and persons who fall under this definition, were usually characterized both

by an aversion from gaiety and by a passionate love of civic freedom" (Trevelyan, op. cit. inf., 60). \Ve may see the first beginnings of English Puritanism in the" attitude of those who in 1563 entered into the "Vestiarian Controversy" by opposing the use, by the clergy, of the cap and gown in daily life and of the surplice in church. English exiles from Geneva were active in the cause, and by 1565 their resistance to the queen's wishes subjected some of them to loss of benefices. This controversy of rights and vestments developed into a controversy of polity, until Presby- terianism emerged in antagonism to Episcopalianism. Yet in the process the movement develo])ed on such divergent lines that Puritanism soon included three different theories of Church go\-ernment. First there were the moderates who were willing to retain government by bishops, though they preferred the title "superintendent", but who wished the usages of the Establishment to conform more nearly to Genevan practices. Those who held this system were in agreement with the Scottish Presbjierianism which had been established by John Knox. Secondly there were the strict Presbyterians who wished for the Cahdnistic form of government as well as the theology and order of worship. In England the move- ment was led by Thomas Cartwright of Cambridge, whose doctrine that there should be equality of au- thority and that bishop and presbyter were all one was soon adopted in Scotlancl. Thirdly there were the Free Churchmen or Independents who repudiated all coercive power in the Church and wished all men to be free in forming congregations. Their leader was Robert Brown, whose followers were at first persecuted by Anglicans and Presbyterians alike, but whose descendants grew in power and influence until under Oliver Cromwell they became the pre- dominant party.

The three bodies differed from one another in doctrine, in ecclesiastical polity, and in their view of toleration. The strength of Puritanism as com- mon to these three bodies lay in the results effected by the general study of the Bible, in which the Puri- tans learned the relations of man with God as ex- empUfied in the histories and parables of Holy Writ. This private study of the Scriptures was carried on by the aid of private interpretation which inevitably resulted in the multiplication of minor sects such as Fifth Monarchy men. Levellers, Diggers, and others. Thus Puritanism could never attain a rec- ognized dogmatic system. At first it shared many Calvinistic views with the theologians of the Es- tablished Church, but these were abandoned by some and Calvin's doctrines were rejected first by the Baptists and afterwards by the Quakers and the Unitarians. However, the lack of a consistent theol- ogy was the less felt because of the great stress which the Puritans laid upon "ser\'ing God in spirit and in truth" — by feeling and conduct rather than by doctrine. This spirit is most pronounced in the Puritan works which achieved the highest popularity: Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progess", George Foxe's "Jour- nal", Thomas Ellwood's "History of My Own Life" and Baxter's "Saint's Everla.sting Rest". In matters of Church government some kind of sys- tem became necessary and the Scottish Presbyterians evolved a plan, embodied in the First Book of Dis- cipline which had been drawn up in the Edinburgh As-sembly of 1.560, and which was concerned chiefly with the" congregation itself. This was supplemented by the Second Book of Discipline of 1578 which reg- ulated the dependence of the congregation on the higher courts. By it Presbyterianism was fully es- tablished; for the superintendents were abolished and all authority was transferred from individual ministers to four bodies, the Kirk Session, the Pres- bytery, the Provincial Synod, and the General Assembly,