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Page 9

 

RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA

pointed librarian of the Fraterhuis, and in the same year the Synod of Dort a-signed him a part in the new revision of the Dutch translation of the Old Testament. The committee of translators and revisers, which convened at Leyden in 1633-34, made Revius secretary. He likewise took an active part in the establishment of the Athenaeum at Deventer in 1630, and was influential in calling the first professors. In 1641 he accepted a call to Leyden as regent of the state college, and held this position for the remainder of his life. His closing years were embittered by the rise of Cartesianism, to which he was intensely opposed. A rare Hebrew scholar, Revius was also a prolific writer. He showed, however, a domineering disposition and exercised a vehement polemic, as shown in his struggle with Cartesianism and the Remonstrants. Against the latter he wrote, Schriftuurlijk tegen Bericht van de Leere der Gereformeerde Kerken sengaende de goddelijke Predestinatie ende andere aen-clevende Poineten (Deventer, 1617); against the former he wrote especially his Statera philosophise Cartesiante (Leyden, 1650); and Theke, hoc eat levitas defensionia Cartesian) (Brief, 1653). The rights of the Church he defended in his Examen . . . seu de potestate magistratuum reformatorum circa res erelesiastieas (Amsterdam, 1642), and his Uittreksels . . . over de macht der merheid in het afzetten van predikanten (Leyden, 1650). While endeavoring to avoid the contemporary controversy whether men might wear long hair, he was obliged to defend his moderate position

REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 3. Theology of these Revivals. 4. Later Revivals. Asahel Nettleton (§ 1). Charles Grandison Finney (¢ 2). I. Theory of Revivals. II. Early Revivals. In Biblical Times (§ 1). Protestant Revivals (¢ 2). III. In America. 1. Revivals under Edwards. Revival of 1734-35 (§ 1). Great Awakening, 1740 (§ 2). Revival under Criticism (¢ 3). James Davenport (§ 4). 2. Revivals about the Year 1800.

The phrase " revivals of religion " is ordinarily applied to the spiritual condition of a Christian community, more or less limited in extent, in which a special interest is very generally felt in respect to religious concerns, accompanied with a marked manifestation of divine power and grace in the quickening of believers, the reclaiming of backsliders, and the awakening, conviction, and conversion of the unregenerate.

I. Theory of Revivals: The progress of Christianity in the world has rarely, for any length of time, been uniform. Its growth in the individual and in the community is characterized by very obvious fluctuations. Like all things temporal, it is subject to constant change, exposed to influences the most varied and antagonistic. Now it makes rapid advances in its conflict with sinful propensities and developments; again it is subjected to obstructions and reverses that effectually check its onward course, and result in spiritual declensions.

Reveaz Revivals of Religion

in his Libertas Christiana circa usum capillitii defenaa (1647).

While he was regent, no less than 576 disputations took place at Leyden. In 1623 Revius published at Leyden his own Greek and Latin translation of the Belgic Confession, a revised and enlarged edition appearing four years later as Belgiearum eeclesiarum doetrana et ordo. Copies of this were widely circulated among the Orthodox Greeks and won the approval of Cyril Lucar (q.v.), whose own " Confession " may thus have been materially influenced by the Belgic Confession. Revius also conferred a considerable service on science by editing 300 letters of the famous Joseph Juste Scaliger (q.v.) under the title Epiatres frangoises des personnages illustres et doctea d M. Joseph Juste de la Scala (Harderwijk, 1624). His main work entitled him to prominence among historical writers, Daventrite illustratte, sive historice urbia Daventriensis libri sex (Leyden, 1651). Revius was also one of the best poets of his time, publishing Over-Ymselsche Sangen en Dichten (Deventer, 1630; enlarged ed., Leyden, 1634), and De CL Psalmen Davids . . . in sin en de rijmen gebetert (Deventer, 1640).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sources are his own sketch in his Daventria illuetrat2, ut sup., pp. 725-728; and J. Hoombeek, Mis-

cellanea sacra, pp. 575-591, Utrecht, 1676. Consult: J. van Vloten, Het Leven en de uitgelezen zangen en diehten van Jacobus Reviue, Schiedam, 1863; E. J. w.. Posthumus Meyjee, Jacobus Revius, zijn Leven en Werken, Amsterdam, 1895.

In General ($ 1). Benjamin Fay Mills (¢ 2). Reuben Archer Torrey (§ 3). J. Wilbur Chapman (§ 4).

IV. The Welsh Revivai of 1904-1906. The Welsh People (¢ 1).

The Revival Described (¢ 2). Its Origin (¢ 3).

Work in the Revival (§ 5). Occult Phenomena (§ 6).

V. Roman Catholic Mission.

Growth in grace is attainable only by ceaseless vigilance, untiring diligence, unremitting conflict, and a faithful improvement of the opportunities and means of spiritual advancement. Any relaxation in the strife with moral evil tends to spiritual retardation: the evil gets the advantage over the good; the religious fervor abates; the soul becomes lukewarm, cold, dead. As with the individual believer, so is it with the community. A church, a sisterhood of churches covering a large section of country, by reason of the predominating influence of some worldly interests-the greed of gain in a season of great commercial prosperity, the strife of party during a highly excited political campaign, the prevalence of a martial spirit in time of war, or the lust of pleasure in a time of general worldly gaiety and festivity, or any absorbing passion for mere temporal good-may be so diverted from the direct pursuit of holiness, and the prosecution of the work of advancing the kingdom of Christ, as to