measure himself with Calvin in dialectics, and of
fered to make complete retractation. On Apr. 7
he was permitted to escape, either to guard the
archbishop and other noted friends of Servetus
against further embarrassment, or to save the In
quisition from being made a catspaw for Calvin.
The trial, however, continued, and on June 17
Servetus was condemned to the stake, his books and
his effigy being burned in his stead.
Meanwhile Servetus, being unsuccessful in reach
ing the Spanish line, sought to go to Italy by way of
Switzerland, his route taking him through Geneva.
Learning that his enemy was in the city, Calvin had
him arrested on Sunday, Aug. 13, and
5. Before had his secretary, Nicolas de la Fon
the Court taine, take the legally requisite duty of
at Geneva. plaintiff, the charge being the circula
tion of dangerous heresies, for which
the defendant, a fugitive from justice, had already
been imprisoned. Calvin drew up for De la Fontaine
thirty eight counts against Servetus, the special
charges being antitrinitarianism and anabaptism.
On Aug. 15 Servetus was brought to trial. As
to the Trinity, he admitted that he used the
term "Person" in a different sense from his con
temporaries; he declared himself ready to retract his views on infant baptism; but he maintained that Calvin was guilty of grave errors of doctrine. Calvin now found himself obliged to come forward as the plaintiff, and on Aug. 17 the two opponents came for the first time face to face. In the beginning Servetus proved himself more than a match for Calvin, but so strong were his pantheistic expressions that the Council, feeling that the outcome would prove a tragedy, determined to get further information from Vienne. During the days of waiting which ensued, Calvin wrote Farel (Aug. 20) that he hoped Servetus would be sentenced to capital punishment, though not by a painful death; while Servetus (Aug. 22) vainly protested to the Council against being treated as a criminal, contrary to the tenets of the Apostles and the early Church. On Aug. 24 the prosecutor general, Claude Rigot, presented a list of thirty charges which, ignoring the differences between Servetus and Calvin, and laying little stress on the Trinitarian problems, attacked primarily the basal ideas of the Restitulio that all Christianity which had previously existed was corrupt, that the Reformation was unChristian, and that all who differed from Servetus were damned, likewise casting suspicion on the private life of the accused. In reply the latter maintained that his intention was good, that he had the highest veneration for the Scriptures, and that he must consider his tenets to be true until they were proved to be false. On Aug. 31 an answer was received from Vienne with a request for the surrender of the fugitive; but Servetus, when offered his choice, preferred to stand trial at Geneva, especially as Calvin was already involved in his struggle with the Libertines. Exhausted by hearing a theological debate between the two principals on Sept. 1, the council determined that the remainder of the controversy should be carried on in writing, and on the following day Calvin declared that the Geneva preachers were ready to prove thirty eight passages from Servetus to be either heretical, or blasphemous, or contrary to the Word of God and the teaching of the Church. Evidently learning of Calvin's dispute with Philibert Berthelier (see CALVIN, JOHN, § 13), Servetus changed his tone to one of more boldness. The council hesitated to condemn him, and on Sept. 19 determined to send the minutes of the proceedings to Bern, Basel, Zurich, and Schaffhausen, and to ask the advice of both the theologians and the councils of these four cities. At this juncture Servetus formally charged Calvin with deliberate suppression of Christian truth and the like, and demanded that the Geneva theologian be banished and his property confiscated in behalf of the plaintiff, requests which were naturally refused.
On Oct. 19 answers were received. from the four Swiss cities unanimously condemning the doctrines of Servetus and urging the obviation of a peril which threatened the entire Reformed Church, though without direct allusion to the death penalty. The Geneva council now proceeded to final action, and on Oct. 26 Servetus was condemned, not to a merciful death, as Calvin and the other Genevan ministers had wished, but to the stake. The antitrinitarian implored pity from Calvin, who replied
873 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA 8 rvet'"
that he had never been actuated by vindictiveness, and urged him to seek the divine forgiveness and
mercy. On the following day the sen6. The tence was carried out, since Farel, whom Execution Calvin summoned to accompany the and Opin condemned, was unable to induce Ser
ions Re vetus to retract. The execution of garding it. Michael Servetus involved Calvin in
obloquy in his own and in succeeding generations, an obloquy partly merited and partly undeserved. Almost immediately after the event, in Feb., 1554, Calvin published his Defensio orthodoxce fulei de sacra hinitate, which was followed by Beza's De haretieis a civili magistrate puniendis, issued in September of the same year; while. the dissatisfaction with the execution was voiced by the writings of Sebastianus Castellio (q.v.). On the 350th anniversary of the burning of Servetus an "expiatory monument" was erected near the scene of his execution. [A monument to Servetus was erected at Annemasse (4 m. from Geneva), on the French border. It represents Servetus in prison and has on it an extract from one of his prison letters. Professor Odhner of the Swedenborgian Seminary at Bryn Athyn, Pa., has discovered that Servetus in a remarkable manner anticipated the teachings of Swedenborg.]
(EUGEN LACHENMANN.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sources are Calvin's Opera, ad. Baum et al., viii. 453 872, xiv. 58 sqq., and xxvi.; T. Beta, Calvini Vita, Geneva, 1554; the " Acts " of the trial at Vienne, ed. D'Artigny, Paris, 1749; and the " Acts " of the trial at Geneva, ed. J. H. A. Rilliet, Geneva, 1844. Besides the literature on Calvin, much of which discusses at length the relations of Servetus and Calvin and the execution of Servetus, consult: F. Tracheal, Michael Serud and seine Vorpdnger, Heidelberg, 1839; W. K. Tweedie, Servetus and Calvin, London, 1848; F. C. Baur, Die christliche Lehre von der Dreieinipkeit and Mersschwerdunp Gottes, iii. 54 103, Tiibingen, 1843; 1. A. Darner, Lehre von der Person Christi, ii. 649 880, Berlin, 1853; E. Saisset, Mhlanpes d'histoire, pp. 117 227, Paris, 1859; K. Brunnemann, Michael Servet, Berlin, 1865; A. Chauvet, i0tude our le systlme thkolopiquue de Servet, Strasburg, 1887; H. G. N. Tollin, Luther and Servd, Berlin, 1875; idem, Melanchton and Servd, ib. 1876; idem, Charakterbild Michael Servets, ib. 1878; idem, Dae Lehrsystem Michael Servets, 3 vols., Giitersloh, 1876 78• idem, Michael Servet and Martin Butter, Berlin, 1880; G. C. B: Ptinjer, De M. Serudi doctrtna, Jens, 1878; M. M. Pelayo, Hist. de las Heterodoxua Espanjolea, ii. 249 313, Madrid, 1877; A. Roget, Hiat. du peuple de Genave, vol. iv., Geneva, 1877; R. Willis, Servetue and Calvin, London, 1877 (the classic work); A. von der Linde, Michael Servd, een Brandoffer der GereJormeerde Inquisitie, Groningen, 1891 (hostile to Calvin); F. Buisaon, S. Castellion, set vie et son ssuvre, 2 vols., Paris, 1892• J. E. Choisy, La Theocratic a Gendve au temps de Calvin, Geneva, 1901; idem, in Revue chrtdienne, 1903; L. Monod, in Revue chrilienne, 1903; A. Dide, Michel Servet et Calvin, Paris, 1908; W. Osler, Michael Servdus, London and New York, 1909; C. T. Odhner, Michael Servetus; his Life and Teachings, Philadelphia, 1910; Schaff, Christian Church, vol. vii., chap. xvi (where a discriminating list of literature, with notes, is supplied); and in general the works on the church history of the period.
SERVIA: A kingdom (after 1879) situated in the Balkan peninsula, in southeastern Europe, between Austria Hungary on the north and Turkey on the south; area (estimated) 18,757 square miles; population (1905) 2,683,025, belonging mainly to the eastern Orthodox Church. This, according to art. 3 of the constitution of 1901, has the same dogmas as the Eastern Ecumenical Church, but is
independent and autocephalous. The Eastern Orthodox confession is the religion of the State, which the king and his children must profess Q 7). By the terms of art. 33, proselyting is forbidden as an offense to the state religion; yet, according to the same paragraph, complete tolerance is practised, since it is stated that freedom of conscience shall be unrestricted. All recognized religious societies are legally protected, so far as their religious exercises do not violate public order and morality. According to § 98, all foreign religious societies may conduct themselves according to their own tenets, with the stipulation only that no manner of correspondence may be carried on between the church authorities of such religious societies and those abroad, without permission of the minister of worship. In like manner, no act of such foreign church authorities may be published in the kingdom without the same consent. It is thus not difficult for the officiating minister of worship to construe his power against communications between the pope and the Servian Roman Catholic clergy.
The independence .and autonomy of the State Church grew up by degrees. The first foundation was granted by the sultan in Constantinople; when, in 1786, he created a vladika, or superior bishop, in Belgrade and abolished the former patriarchate of the Servian population in Turkey, previously located at Ipek in northern Albania. The vladika being a Phanariot, however, was amenable to the patriarch of the capital, and through him also to the sultan. Yet it was a form of church rule with its seat at Belgrade, and as such it might have asserted itself longer, had not the bribery and oppression of the Phanariot party proved too irritating; for the Greek metropolitans pursuing.. their own interests placed themselves actually in opposition to the efforts of the Servians for independence from Turkish despotism. In consequence, after many acts of violence by the Servian Prince Milosh, there resulted in 1852 the recognition of an independent metropolitan by the patriarchate; the latter only requiring the approval of the metropolitan by the patriarch, who was also to be regularly remembered in the prayers of the Church, and the recognition of the episcopal oversight of the patriarch by the annual contribution to him of 1,200 dinars ($234). But with the establishment of the Servian kingdom, all this was annulled.
The metropolitan and bishop of Belgrade now rules the State Church independently, which has a well defined representative constitution; for the degrees of its order are in its representative bodies. The highest is the archihierarchical synod conducted and represented by the metropolitan. To this belong the other two bishops; namely, of Nish and Schitscha (a cloister near the Ibar, though the bishop resides at Techatschak), also the two archimandrites (abbots), and the archpriests, one for each of the twenty one eparchies (civil districts). It elects the metropolitan, subject to royal approval, and the archimandrites (priors of the cloisters), and is the bishops' court of justice. The intermediate ecclesiastical court is the appellate consistory, whose members are proposed by the metropolitan from the total body of clergy to the minister of worship,
9ervia THE NEW SCHAFF HERZOG 874
Seth
and require royal approval. The measures and
resolutions passed in the eparchies are subject to
the acceptance of their synodical convention, which
also takes cognizance of appeals. The eparchical
consistories are composed of five popes (or Greek
parish priests) and monks, under the bishop's direc
tion. Their function is to promote religion among
the people, to care for the church property, to settle
matrimonial disputes, and to exercise discipline
over the clergy. The clergy comprises the regular
monastic clericals, from among whom the bishops
are taken, and the married priests, or popes. Many
of the latter, however, are qualified merely to assist
at mass and to dispense a few sacraments. The
bishops appoint all the priests independent of the
State, which does not contribute for their support,
but only a certain part for the bishops and the arch
priests. The fifty two to fifty four cloisters have
sufficiently afuent revenues to discharge the pas
toral duties even without state assistance. The
training of the clergy requires four years in the
gymnasium and four years in the seminary. For
the people education was made obligatory in 1882,
and there are thirty eight intermediate schools.
The Roman Catholic Church numbers about 24,000,
mostly inhabiting the banks of the Save and the
Danube, with more than 6,000 in Belgrade. They
are under the Croatian bishop of Djakovar, who
also bears the title of bishop of Belgrade and Be
mendria. The Evangelical congregation is incon
spicuous and small in numbers; and has placed
itself under the superior church council of Berlin.
WILHELM GOTz.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: P. Coquelle, Le Royaume de Serbie, Paris,
1894; W. Miller, The Balkans, London and New York,
1896; N. Ruiicig, Das kirehlich relipidse Leben bei den
Serben, Gottingen, 1896; H. Vivian, Servia, the Poor Man's
Parodies, London, 1897; E. Lazard and J. Hogge. La
Serbi d'aujourd'hui, Brussels, 1901; M. E. Durham,
Through the Lands of the Serb. London, 1904; F. Banitz,
Daa %dnigreich Serbien and das Serbenroolk. 2 vols., Leip
sic, 1904 09; Prince and Princess IAszarovich Hrebelian
under the jurisdiction of the primate of the Servian
Church in Austria, the metropolitan of the Ortho
dox Church of Dalmatia, the Holy Synod of Servia,
and the metropolitan of Montenegro. The earliest
immigration to the United States was that of the
seafaring Dalmatians, whom the gold fever of 1849
brought to California, and the early "Austrian"
colonies in New Orleans, Mobile, and San Francisco
were doubtless theirs. Servians at present are to be
found throughout the United States and Alaska.
The first Servian church was built in Jackson, Cal.,
1894, by the Archimandrite Sebastian Dabovitch,
who later, in 1905, established his headquarters in
Chicago as the administrator of the Servian Ortho
dox Church in North America, under the jurisdic
tion of the Russian archbishop of New York City.
There are, according to moderate calculations, about
80,000 Servians in the United States, their clergy
consisting of one archimandrite and nine priests,
and they have churches at Chicago and South Chicago, Ill.; MacKeesport, Wilmering, South Pittsburg, and Steelton, Pa.; Jackson and Los Angeles, Cal.; Kansas City, Kansas; St. Louis, Mo.; also in Douglas, Alaska; Butte, Mont.; Barberton, Ohio; and Bisbee, Ariz., in care of visiting priests, and those at Pueblo, Cal., and Buffalo, N. Y., in charge of Russian priests.
The Supreme Council of the Servian Orthodox
Society with a membership of 6,500 has its head
quarters in Pittsburg, and there exists also the Ser
vian Federation "Slogs," the aim of which is to
consolidate the various Servian organizations in
this country. A. A. ST.uuocLl.
SERVICE, JOHN:Church of Scotland; b. at Campsie (10 m. n. of Glasgow) Feb. 26, 1833; d. at Glasgow Mar. 15, 1884. He studied at the University of Glasgow irregularly from 1858 to 1862; was engaged in editorial work, 1857 62; became minister at Hamilton 1862; but resigned after ten months, on account of ill health, and retired to Melbourne, Australia, 1864 66; was minister at Hobart Town, Tasmania, 1866 70; returned home, 1870, and was minister of the parish of Inch, Wigtownahire, 18721879; and of Hyndland Church, Glasgow, 1879 84. He wrote a novel which appeared in Good Words under the title Novantia, and was published as Lady Hetty (3 vols., London, 1875); Salvation Here and Hereafter (1877), which caused a sensation in Scotland on account of its Broad church views; Sermons (1884); and Prayers for Public Worship (1885).
BIsLTOa$AP87: A biographical notice is prefixed to the
volume of Sermons, 1884; DNB, li. 259.
SERVITES (Servi beats; Mario Virginia): A Roman Catholic order devoted to the glorification and service of the Virgin through prayer and asceticism. On the feast of the ascension of the Virgin (Aug. 15), 1233, seven leading citizens of Florence, who had previously belonged to a society for her praise, were filled with a desire to devote themselves entirely to her service. The names of the seven were Bonfiglio Monaldi, Bonagiunta Manetti, Manetto dell' Antella, Amideo Amadei, Ricuere Lippi Uguccioni, Gerardo Sostegni, and Allessio Falconieri. With Monaldi as their head, they lived first at the Campo Marzo near Florence, and then (about 1236) on Monte Senario. Their habit then consisted of an ash gray cloak and a haircloth shirt. In 1239 the cardinal legate Gottfried of Castiglione gave them a milder Augustinian rule and the name of Brothers of the Passion of Jesus. Their habit was now changed to a white mantle, black hood and scapular, and leathern girdle. The order was confirmed by Alexander IV. in 1255, and was extended to France (where the habit was a white mantle and white clothing), and to Holland and Germany (1267 85). Innocent V. (1276) forbade them to receive novices but Honorius IV. (1285,87) gave them many privileges, to which Martin V. (1424) added those of the mendicant orders. Later they spread to Poland and Hungary, and in 1567 were in importance the fifth mendicant order. In 1411 Antonio of Sienna founded the Observantine Servites, who became extinct in 1568. In 1593 Bernardino de Ricciolini founded the congregation of Hermit Servites, which spread
875 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Service
Seth in Italy and in Germany. The Servite monks possess houses in Italy (Rome, San Marcello, Bologna, Florence, Naples, and Palermo), in Austria (nine monasteries in the Tyrol province and eight in the Austro Hungarian), England .(especially London), and the United States (two in Chicago and one in Milwaukee).
Servite nuns, or "° Black Sisters," were founded by
Benizi, and were especially numerous in Italy and
southern Germany; while tertiary Servite nuns
were established by Juliana Falconieri (d. 1341) at
Florence, were confirmed by Martin V. in 1420,
and were spread throughout Germany by the Arch
duchess Anna Juliana Catharine (d. 1622). Paul V.
made these German Tertiaries a separate congrega
tion. (0. Z6CBLERt.)
BiBLCoGaernr: The most important sources are in course of preparation under the care of P. M. Soulier and A. Morini, Monuments ordinis Servorum S. Maria, Brussels, 1897 eqq. Consult further: M. Poccianti, Chroniwn verum folios sacri ordinis Servorum beats Maria!, Florence, 1616; A. Giani, Annales sacri ordinis Servorum beater Maria, Florence, 1618, extended by A. M. Garbi and P. Bonfrizzeri, 3 parts, Paris, 1719 25; P. Florentini, Dialopus de origine ordinis Servorum, in I. Lami, Delicia eruditorum, vol. i., Florence, 1736; P. Tonini, 11 Santuario delta santissima Annunziata di Firenze, Florence, 1876; Mist. de l'ordre des Servites de Marie, . . It30 1310, par un amt des Servites, 2 vols., Paris, 1886; P. M. Soulier, Vie de S. Philippe Benizi, propagateur de rordre deer Sees vites, ib. 1886; idem, Life of St. Juliana Falconieri, Foundress of the . . . Religious of the Third Order of Servites, London, 1898; B. M. Sp6rr, Lebeasbilder aus dem Servitenorden, 4 vols., Innsbruck, 1891 95; Heimbucher, Orden
and %onprepationen, ii. 218 231; %L, xi. 204 212.
SESSION: The lowest court in the Presbyterian Church, composed of the pastor and elders. See PRESBYTERIANS, X., 1, § 2 (6).
SESSUMS, DAMS: Protestant Episcopal bishop of Louisiana; b. at Houston, Tex., July 7, 1858. He was educated at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn. (M.A., 1878), and at the theological department of the same institution. He was ordered deacon and priested in 1882, and, after a few months as curate of Grace Church, Galveston, Tex., in 1883, was successively curate and rector of Calvary, Memphis, Tenn. (1883,87); rector of Christ Church, New Orleans (1887 91) ; and was consecrated bishop coadjutor of Louisiana (1891); within the year, on the death of Bishop J. N. Galleher, he succeeded to the full administration of the diocese.
SETH, SETHITES.
1. Relation of the List to Non Ismelitic Tradition.
II. Relationship of the Sethite Series to the Cainite Seri. III. The General Idea of the Sethite Line. IV. Significance of the Individual Sethite Names.
V. Postcsnonical Ideas of Seth and the Sethitm. VI. Relation of Sethitea to the " Sons of God."
By Sethites.are meant the ten patriarchs named in Gen. v., namely: Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah.
L Relation of the List to Non Israelitic Tradition: An Indo Germanic origin has been mistakenly supposed, Noah being equated with nysos in Dionyaos on account of Noah's relation to the vineyard (P. K. Buttmann, Mythologus, i. 173, Berlin, 1828); also with the Sanacrit ndvaka (ndvika, "seaman"; J. Grill, Erzvdter der Menschheit, pp. 41 aqq., Leipsic, 1875) ; also with the Egyptian Menes, Greek Minos, on the basis of a supposed form Manoah (S. Lefmann, Proceedings of the International Congress of Orientalists, p. 3, 1903). These are untenable hypotheses. F. Delitzsch (Babel and Bibel, p. 32, Leipsic, 1902) relates the list with the ten antediluvian Babylonian kings. But a comparison of the names in each series (the Babylonian as given by Eusebius, Chronico n, ed. A. Sch6ne, i. 7 sqq., Berlin, 1866, from Berosus) shows practically no etymological or graphic resemblance. But it is claimed that by transformation and abbreviation and by translation the earlier could give rise to the later. F. Hommel (PSBA, 1892 93, pp. 243 aqq.; Expository Times, 1899 1900, p. 343, 1902 03, pp. 103 sqq.) reasons that Almw, Babylonian Aruru, wife of Ea, creator of man, is to be equated with Adam "mankind"; the third in the Babylonian series, Amelon, Babylonian amelu, "mankind," Enos, "mankind," and soon. The comparison, however, gives no real results; e.g., in the first case creator and created are paralleled. But it is pointed out that in each list there is a series of ten antediluvians, the last of whom is the hero of the flood; that in both lists the individuals are credited with exceedingly long lives; and that some relations may be traced by transformation or otherwise between the individual names as when Ammenon (the fourth, corresponding to Cainan) is made to mean "master workman." It may be granted that in three or four cases the Hebrew might arise by translation, as in the case of Amelon and Enos; yet even this does not prove priority for the Babylonian; rather one should affirm that the Babylonian tradition supports the view that the names of the ten kings show a Babylonizing of neutral material. The method in which the regnal years of the Babylonian kings are reckoned (the cycle of 3,600 years) speaks for this supposition; the number ten is itself against a pure Babylonian origin. Among Hebrews ten figures frequently (cf. the tenfold occurrence of "and God said" in Gen. i. 3 29; see for further illustrations NUMBERS, SACRED). On the contrary, among Babylonians the decimal system had no fundamental position, sixty (five times twelve) being the basis of their cosmic system. F. Lenormant (Lea Originea de l'histoire, i. 217 aqq., Paris, 1880) would secure an Egyptian origin for Seth through the mediation of Hittites and Hyksos. E. Meyer (Set Typhon, Leipsic, 1875) claims that the god Set had a primitive and pure Egyptian origin, his name meaning "the dark destructive night," that equalizing him with Baal as a sun deitycame about through Canaanitic influence (cf. Wiedemann, in DB, extra vol., 195), that the Hyksos identified Set with their Baal, and consequently the Hittite Baal took the name Set. Hommel incorrectly assumes a relationship of Seth with the Egyptian Set (Die altorientalischen Denkmaler, pp. 53, 56, Berlin, 1903), stating that "according to the restored oldest text of Gen. v. Seth corresponds to Adapa; the Egyptians have obscured this, making Set the brother and opponent of Osiris." Nor can the Sethite tradition be traced to Canaanitic Phenician origins. Rather should one claim that the Cainite genealogy (Gen. iv. 17 24) so corresponds to the narrative of the Phenician cosmogony as given by Eusebiua that it must be
Se a THE NEW SCHAFF HERZOG $76
credited with a Palestinian Phenician basis. But
there is the statement of Philo Byblius (in Eusebius,
Praparatio evangelica, I., x. 5 sqq.) that Ad6n
(Time) had the care of trees, while the descendants
of Aibn, viz., Phos, Pur, and Phlox (Light, Fire,
and Flame), discovered fire and its uses, and their
descendants were Casius, Lebanon, and Antilebanon,
while their mother had commerce with those whom
she met. Resemblance between this statement and
Gen. iv. 17 24 is only in the general idea of giving
the beginnings of inventions; reference is closest to
the Greek myth of the discovery of fire, and the
report of the shamelessness of woman reminds
rather of Babylonian temple prostitution than of
Gen. vi. 1 4, where the part of the women is
innocent. The use by Philo Byblius of the name
Jan, does not prove Hebrew origin, as J ge
supposes (.gtudes our lea religions snit
pp. 411 112, Paris, 1905), since that name is very old. Positive indications of Canaanitic Phenician origin of the patriarchs' names lacks specific foundation.
11. Relationship of the Sethite Series to the Cainite Series: In J only the Cainite series is complete (Gen. iv. 17 24), the Sethite is fragmentary (Gen. iv. 2526); the complete Sethite series comes from P. It is noteworthy that the names of Cainites are the same or similar to the Sethites'. Buttmann's remark (Mythologus, i. 171)that the same list appears twice with small variations in order and form has been often echoed (e.g., EB, iv. 4411); on the other hand, the independence of the lists is maintained (Driver, on Genesis, p. 80, London, 1905), and Zimmern (in Schrader, KAT, p. 542) affirms both to be very old. Probably Israelitic tradition had report of two lines of Adamic descendants.
III. The General Idea of the Sethite Line: While Ewald long held that the conception of the patriarchs among the ancestors of the Israelites was practically that of demigods (Geschichte des Volkes Israel, i. 383, Gtittingen,1865), R. Brown (cf. Beweis des Glaubena, 1893, pp. 353 354) attributed to the patriarchs an astronomical significance in relation to the zodiac; Hommel (Expository Times, 1902 03, p. 105) remarks that the Chaldeans related the last seven [Babylonian] patriarchs to the seven planets, and the Babylonians distributed them among the ten months of the world year; and Zimmern (Schrader, KAT, p. 541) thinks that the Biblical ten patriarchs were originally heroes of the months of the first world year. But no trace is left [in the Bible] of this deification of the Sethites. For the statement that Seth is a divine name F. Ulmer (Die semitischen Eigennamen, p. 26, 1901) gives no proof. If the mythological view point fails, ethnography is not more shadowed forth in the list. Lenormant (ut sup., i. 208 sqq.) would have the oldest races divided by these lists into the nomadic and the settled, or the yellow and the white. But the Old Testament makes the distinction rest upon religious moral grounds. Over against the impious Cainites were the relatively better Sethites. In J are preserved in the Sethite genealogy the relatively good descendants of Adam by whom mankind is carried through the flood. J did not intend to say that the worship of Yahweh began wit) Sethites (Gen. iv. 26b). If there were grounds for thinking that J had intended
to bring the Camite genealogy into proportionate connection with that of Seth, his intention failed in that he inserted the birth of Enos. In Gen. iv. 25 26 J laid his basis in the Sethite line, from which was to come he who, because of his relative rightness of relations with God, should lead mankind through the judgment to a better period of history. It was from the religious moral view point in the earliest Israelitic tradition that antediluvian man was divided into two lines, and so interpreters have generally understood it. If, as seems to be proved, the Hebrew narrative of primitive times is relatively independent, the question arises as to the meaning of the duality of series of patriarchs. Then the following considerations arise. (1) The religious ethical superiority attributed to the Sethites is only relative. (2) From Sethites, not from Cainites, was derived the ancestor of postdiluvian mankind; the "comfort" (Gen. v. 29) expected from Noah was based in part upon immunity from a cursing of the earth on account of sin as in the case of Adam (Gen. viii. 21 22), it can not rest wholly upon the planting of the vineyard (as Budde thinks, Urgeschichte, pp. 306309). The curse of Yahweh was not to be averted by human action. (3) While the Masoretic text brings only one Sethite down to the flood, the Samaritan brings three; but the former appears to be the original conception. (4) The Sethite genealogy of J can not be considered entirely independent of the Cainite. The double line in Hebrew tradition arose not in the fact that Adam had two sons (Budde, us sup., p. 184) but because the early tradition distinguished between two lines ethically distinct. On this ethical distinction was based, probably, the long period of life awarded to the antediluvians.
IV. The Significance of the Individual Sethite
Names: It seems that Seth, so far as he emerged
in Hebrew tradition, was the substitute for Abel,
who had perished in an outbreak of sinful power.
But it remains questionable whether P (as Dillmann,
in his commentary, on Gen. v. 3, and Budde, Urge
achichte, p.163, think) intended to make Seth Adam's
first son. The narrator's silence regarding the re
lation of Seth to preceding children of Adam does
not involve that he presupposed in his readers igno
rance of that relation; according to analogy in the
rest of the chapter, Seth is thought of as the first of
Adam's children. Yet it can not be said with as
surance that the narrator presupposed his readers'
knowledge of Cain and Abel, nor does the fact that
the name Enos means "mankind" involve for Seth
restriction to the meaning "sprout." It can not be
decided whether Cainan means "creature" or
"worker in metals." Mahalaleel is "praise of God."
Jared is regarded by Friedrich Delitzsch as mean
ing "offspring" _ WO lag das Paradie§, p. 149,
Leipsic, 1881); but it may mean "servant" or "de
scent" [i.e., to a place]. Enoch means "consecra
tion" and then "the consecrated one." Methuselah
means "man of the javelin," and Lamech "warrior"
or "conqueror." Noah means "rest." Whether
these patriarchal names along with the assured or
probable significance included each a special con
ception depends upon the answer to the question
whether the Hebrews attached to each the idea of a