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SEYMOUR, si'mor, GEORGE FRANKLIN



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SEYMOUR, si'mor, GEORGE FRANKLIN: Prot­estant Episcopal bishop of Springfield, Ill.; b. in New York City Jan. 5, 1829; d. at Springfield, Ill., Dec. 8, 1906. He was graduated from Columbia College (A.B., 1850) and the General Theological Seminary (1854). He was ordered deacon in 1854 and was priested in 1855. From that year until 1861 he was rector of Holy Innocents, Annandale, N. Y. (1855 61), where he founded St. Stephen's College, of which he was the first warden. He was then rector at St. Mary's, Manhattanville, New York City (18612), Christ Church, Hudson, N. Y. (1862 63), and St. John's, Brooklyn (1863 67). In 1865 he was appointed professor of ecclesiastical history in the General Theological Seminary, of which he was chosen dean in 1875 and there he remained until 1879. In 1878 he was consecrated bishop of Springfield. Theologically he described himself as "an American Catholic bishop in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church of Christ." He was a deputy from the American Church to the Old Catholic Congress at Vienna in 1897. He wrote Some Considerations why the Name of the Protestant Episcopal Church should be changed (Milwaukee, 1888); What is modern Romanism? (1885); Amuse­ments in their Relation to Religion (Lima, Ind., 1890);

An Open Letter to Bishop Doane in Reference to the

Consecration of Bishop Brooks (Milwaukee, 1892); The Transfiguration: The Place of the Feast of the Transfiguration (in collaboration with J. H. Egar; New York, 1893) ; Marriage and Divorce (Milwaukee, 1893); The Church Idea of the Family (Springfield, Ill., 1899); and The Sacrament of Baptism, Related Ordinances, and the Creed (New York, 1903).

BIHLiOfiRAin87: W. S. Perry, The Episcopate do America,

p. 257. New York, 1895.

SHAFTESBURY, shafts'buR i, ANTHONY ASH­LEY COOPER, THIRD EARL OF. See DEISM, L, § 8.


SHAFTESBURY, ANTHONY ASHLEY COOPER, SEVENTH EARL OF: English philanthropist; b. in London Apr. 28, 1801; d. at Folkestone (60 m. s.e. of London) Oct. 1, 1885. He was educated at Harrow and at Christ Church, Oxford (M.A., 1832; D.C.L., 1841); entered parliament in 1831 and sat as a commoner 1830 31, 1833f16, and 1847 51, in that year taking his seat in the house of lords by succession to his father. His rank, connections, and abilities entitled him to a high place in government, but in the interest of his philanthropic enterprises he preferred to remain unhampered by the requirements




385 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Se wsll

Shamaniem

of office and of strict adherence to party politics. His first humanitarian activity was directed to the alleviation of the situation of lunatics, the result of which was not only parliamentary regulation of the care of a class badly treated but the directing of the attention of medical men to sounder methods. He also secured legislation limiting the hours during which employees in mills and factories should be kept at work, and agitation covering over ten years was necessary to obtain the relief which finally came. Conditions in collieries and mines also attracted his attention, the awful conditions under which women and even tender children worked for eighteen hours being by him brought to the notice of parliament with the result that legislation eliminated the worst of the evils. The apprentices of the chimney sweeps labored under quite similar harsh conditions, and their situation was alleviated. The "ragged schools" were also benefited by his championship, and he was chairman of the Ragged School Union for thirty­nine years. Under the stimulus of his exposure of lodging house and other evils, conditions in these institutions and in the tenement houses were made much better. Besides the interests already men­tioned, he was active in the counsels of the British and Foreign Bible Society, of which he was long president, in the London City Mission, in the Church Missionary Society, and in the Young Men's Chris­tian Association. He was a faithful attendant of the Church of England, but his sympathies were with evangelicalism wherever found.

BIBIdoaRAPHY: E. Hodder, Life and Work of the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, 3 vols., London, 1888; G. H. Pike, Shaftesbury, His Life and Work, ib. 1894; The Good Earl: Career of the Seventh Lord Shaftesbury, ib. 1888; DNB, xii. 133 137.

SHAHAN, THOMAS JOSEPH: Roman Catholic; b. at Manchester, N. H., Sept. 11, 1857. He was educated at Montreal College, Montreal (1872 78), the American College, Rome (1878,82; D.D., Col­lege of the Propaganda, Rome, 1882), the University of Berlin (1889 91), the New Sorbonne and the In­stitut Catholique, Paris (1891). Ordained to the priesthood in 1882, he was chancellor and secretary of the diocese of Hartford, Conn. (1883 88), and since 1891 has been professor of church history and patristics at the Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C., also president since 1909. He likewise lectured on the history of education in the Catholic University Institute of Pedagogy, New York City, in 1902 03, and since 1895 has been editor of the Catholic University Bulletin. Besides being one of the editors of the Catholic Encyclope­dia, he has written The Blessed Virgin in the Cata­combs (Baltimore, 1892); Giovanni Battista de Rossi (New York, 1900); The Beginnings of Christianity (1903); The Middle Ages (1903); and The House of God, and other Addresses and Studies (1905).

SHAKERS. See COMMUNISM, II., 10.

SHALLUM, shal'Ium: Fifteenth king of Israel, successor of Zachariah whom he slew, thus ending the dynasty of Jehu. He reigned only a month, probably in the year 740 B.c. (though the old chron­ology placed him in 771), when be was himself slain by Menahem (q.v.), who seized the throne (II Kings xv. 10 15). A reference to this unsettled period is X. 25



seen by several commentators in Zech. xi. 8 (cf. J. F. McCurdy, History, Prophecy and the Monu­ments, i. 357, New York, 1894).

SHALMANESER. See ASSYRIA, VI., 3, §§ 3, 7, 10.
SHAMANISM, shd'man izm: The name for a com­plex of practises and beliefs connected in some parts of the world with an animistic stage of culture. "Shaman" is of Hindu Persian origin, and denotes "idolater." The term is much in need of redefini­tion, being used loosely and applied vaguely to usages which are properly placed under other heads. Shamanism is often defined as the "religion" of certain tribes, mainly Mongolian or Finno Tataric, in northern Asia. The area thus indicated must be extended to America, where the medicine man of the Indians has in great part the same functions and beliefs and follows the same practises as the shaman of Asia. Shamanism is not a religion; the term, used properly, represents certain religious concom­itants and practises, just as do the terms "magic" and "taboo" (see COMPARATIVE RELIGION, VI., 1, a, § 5, c). The shaman is a functionary who is in part displaced by the priest and the doctor in more advanced stages of culture. Other of his func­tions than those included under the priestly and the medicinal fall into desuetude with advancing culture. In part, also, the functions of the shaman are exercised by the fetish doctor under fetishism. While the shaman may be described as priest and doctor in embryo, the chief characteristic of shaman­ism is discerned in distinguishing between shaman and priest. The priest beseeches favor of gods (or spirits), the shaman believes himself able to com­mand spirits, and is not seldom spirit embodied. The connection with animism is shown in the idea of disease entertained by shamans, this being regarded as the work of spirits who must be mastered.

The functions of the shaman are summed up in the securing of good for those who retain his services and the averting of evil from them. This includes the direction of ceremonial, arrangement of dances and feasts, healing of the sick, guarding from sorcery, securing rainfall, and divining. In these various performances ecstasy is often employed by the shaman, and is induced either by narcotics or by self hypnotism. The means by which these various functions are performed are held to be mysterious, known only to the user, or if known to another yet dangerous for him to employ. In the healing of the sick there are often combined an empirical herbarium and the supposed control of spirits. Deception of the patient and identity of means employed charac­terize the operations of shamans in the old world and the new, where they frequently diagnose illness as caused by foreign substances introduced into the body by spirits or sorcerers, and these substances they pretend to remove by manipulation and suc­tion, having previously " palmed " or otherwise concealed them about their own persons.   Knowl­edge they pretend to gain by sending forth the "dream spirit" (one of four spirits possessed by them) on a search for the cause of ill or means of good. The compulsion of spirits is accomplished by the "word of power" incantations consisting of unintelligible formulas and often of mere gibberish,






Shammai THE NEW SCHAFF HERZOG 386

9hebna


in which, however, the shaman has full confidence.

As with the fetish priests, some shamans are special­

ists, confining their activities to particular domains,

as the healing of cattle. A belief in sympathetic

magic (see COMPARATIVE RELIGION, VI., 1, a, § 5)

is a normal accompaniment of shamanism.

The shaman may come to his powers either by

prenatal endowment derived from an ancestor, by

gift from a favoring spirit, especially one seen in

the puberty watch, or from training by an experi­

enced practitioner. Upon the shaman his profes­

sion entails a crude morality, since the control of

the spirits is not easy and imposes rules of conduct

which the shaman must observe. These frequently

include a sort of asceticism, anticipating that prin­

ciple in the religious development of a later stage of

culture. GEO. W. GILMORE.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: For the western continent a thesaurus of

materials is found in the Reports of the Bureau of Amer­

ican Ethnology, an annual published by the Smithsonian

Institution, Washington, D. C. Consult further: G.

RoskoH, Dos Relipionaweaen der rohesten Naturoolker,

Leipsic, 1880; W. Radloff, Das Schamanentum and sein

%ultus, ib. 1885; Priklonskii, Dos Schamanentum der

Jakuten, Vienna, 1888; T. Achelis, Moderns Vdlkerkunde,

Stuttgart, 1896; Anthropological Institute of Great

Britain and Ireland, Journal, xxxi (1901); J. Stadling,

Through Siberia, London, 1901; C. Lumholtz, Unknown

Mexico, New York, 1902; J. Sheepshanke, My Life in



Mongolia and Siberia, London, 1903.

SHAMMAI, aham'm6 or sham's ai: Jewish

rabbi of the first century B.c., contemporary and

opponent of Hillel (q.v.). He appears to have been

a Palestinian, a man of somewhat violent temper

who yet realized his shortcoming, but also of great

modesty. His religious views were strict even

to severity. He founded a school antithetical to

that of Hillei, and the proverb arose, "Hillel looses

what Shammai binds."

BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Graetz, Geachichte der Judder, iii. 213­

214, 256, Leipsic, 1888 Z. Frankel, Hodopetica in Misch­



nam, pp. 39 40, ib. 1859; JE, xi. 230.

SHANAAHAN, EDMUND THOMAS: Roman

Catholic; b. in Boston, Mass., Nov. 22, 1868. He

was educated at Boston College (A.B., 1888), the

Roman Academy and Seminary and the College of

the Propaganda, Rome (S.T.D., 1893), and the

University of Louvain (1895). In 1894 he was

instructor in philosophy and theology in the Amer­

ican College, Rome; associate professor of theology

in the Catholic University of America, Washington,

D. C. (1895 98). Since the latter year he has been

Shakespeare Caldwell professor of theology in the

same institution, where he has also been dean of

the faculty of theology since 1901. He was a lec­

turer before the American University Extension

Society, Philadelphia, in 1897, and lecturer in philos­

ophy at the University of Pennsylvania in 1898 99.

SHARP, GRANVILLE: English philanthropist;

b. at Durham Nov. 10, 1735 (old style); d. at Ful­

ham, London, July 6, 1813. Disapproving of the

government action relating to the American colonies

he resigned his position in the ordnance office, July,

31, 1776, and devoted himself to study. Before

this he became famous for his course in befriending

and successfully defending the negro slave James

Somersett from his master, which finally led to the



momentous decision "that as soon as any slave sets

his foot upon English territory, he becomes free." He thenceforth devoted himself to the overthrow of slavery and the slave trade. He conceived the idea of a colony for the liberated slaves, 1783, which afterward materialized in the settlement of Sierra Leone. During the last years of his life he took a prominent part in the founding of the British and Foreign Bible Society and was identified with a number of promotive societies. He was a good linguist and a pious man. He wrote, A Representa­tion of the Injustice of Private Property in the Persons of 3len (London, 1769), followed by an Appendix (1772); A Declaration of the People's Natural Right to a Share in the Legislature (1774), in behalf of the American Colonies; and his chief later work, Re­marks on the Uses of the Definitive Article in the Greek Text of the New Testament (Durham, 1798).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: P. Hoare, Memoirs of Granville Sharp, London, 1820; J. Nichols, Literary Anecdotes of the 18th Century, 9 vols., ib. 1812 15; J. Stephen, Essays in Eccle­siastical Biography, 2 vols., 4th ed., London, 1860; DNB, li. 401 404.

SHARP, JAMES: Archbishop of St. Andrews; b. in the castle of Banff (40 m. n.n.w. of Aberdeen) May, 1618; assassinated on Magus Muir, near St. Andrews (31 m. n.e. of Edinburgh), May 3, 1679. He was educated at Aberdeen (M.A., 1637) ; in 16 10 was professor of philosophy in St. Leonard's College, St. Andrews; presented to the Church of Crail, 1618; was made a prisoner by Cromwell's forces and con­fined in the Tower, 1651 52; was chosen to plead the Presbyterian cause before the Protector, 1657; and when George Monk marched upon London, 1660, he was sent over to Charles II. at Breda, to secure the royal confirmation of "the government of the Church of Scotland, as it is settled by law., without viola­tion," as well as of the act of the resolutioners. The former, of course, was understood in the Presby­terian sense. Sharp, being of the party of resolu­tioners and selected for his mediating position be­tween Charles and the Presbyterians, was charged with duplicity and with finally betraying the latter for his own interests. At any rate, in 1661, the Scot­tish parliament annulled all the parliaments held since 1633, with all their proceedings, and thus totally abolished all the laws made in favor of the Presbyterian Church. The "Church of Scotland" thus became the old Episcopal Church; and Sharp, in Dec. 12, 1661, was in London consecrated arch­bishop of St. Andrews. With the zeal of a convert he persecuted his former allies. Invested with the title and style of primate of Scotland, he re erected the court of high commission in 1664, which severely punished, some even with death, those who in any way interfered with the prelatical designs, and exe­cuted nine persons after the king had required the persecutions to cease. His perfidy and cruelty led to his assassination by a band of Covenanters who encountered the prelate's carriage while lying in wait for his chief agent, Carmichael.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Life of James Sharp, Archbishop of St.



Andrews . . . first printed in 1678, to which is added, an

Account of his Death, by an Eye Witness. Edinburgh,

1719; The Life of Mr. James Sharp . . . to his Instal 

ment in the Archbishoprick of St. Andrews, ib. 1719; A

True Account of the Life of . . . James Sharp, London,

1723; T. Stephen, Life and Times of Archbishop Sharp,

ib. 1839; R. Keith, Historical Catalogue of the Scottish






887

RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA

Bishops, new ed., Edinburgh, 1824; W. M. Hetherington, Hist. of the Church of Scotland, prim, New York, 1881; W. Beveridge, Makers of the Scottish Church, passim, 1908; DNB, li. 404 407.

SHARP, JOHN: Church of England archbishop of York; b. at Bradford (8 m. w. of Leeds), York­shire, Feb. 16, 1644 45; d. at Bath Feb. 2, 1714. His father was a puritan, his mother an ardent mem­ber of the Church of England, and from both he de­rived corresponding elements of character. He received his education at Christ's College, Cam­bridge (B.A., 1663; M.A., 1667); was made deacon and priest, 1667, and soon after became tutor in the family of Sir Heneage Finch at Kensington House, in 1673 being made archdeacon of Berkshire on Finch's nomination; in 1675 he became prebendary of Norwich and incumbent of St. Bartholomew's Exchange, London, and in 1679 lecturer at St. Law­rence, Jewry, in 1675 exchanging the incumbency for the rectorship of St. Giles's in the Fields; in addition, in 1681 he was made dean of Norwich; named in 1686 chaplain in ordinary to King James II., he was provoked by attempts of Roman Catho­lies to convert his parishioners, preached two ser­mons which were construed as reflecting upon the king, and his chaplaincy was not allowed until 1687 ; further evidence of his independent spirit was shown by his refusal to read the declaration of indulgence of 1688, and by his prayers for King James before the prince of Orange in 1689; he became dean of Canter­bury in 1689; declined to receive any of the sees of the Nonjurors (q.v.), but in 1691 became arch­bishop of York. In this position he showed himself an able and diligent administrator; he investigated the history and rights of the see, leaving the work in manuscript; he was active in repairing the minster after the fire of 1711, dealt with his clergy kindly but firmly, insisted upon sound and instructive preaching, and aimed to eliminate polemics against dissenters. Under Queen Anne he became still more influential, acted as her almoner, and was her counselor, showing great wisdom in this unofficial position. He was interested in the continental dispute between Lutherans and Calvinists, in this cause correspond­ing with Daniel Ernst Jablonski (q.v.), and the cor­respondence appeared in French translation and in the appendix to the Life (see below). Archbishop Sharp left the impression of being one of the great men of the Church of England, independent in 'opinion, straightforward in action, kindly in dis­position, liberal in education and tastes, with nu­mismatics as his diversion, leaving a collection of coins and a manuscript on the coinage of England as evidences, He left in print a large number of oc­casional sermons, as well as Fifteen Sermons Preached on Several Occasions (London, 1700; several edi­tions). His Works appeared in 7 vols. (1754) and in 5 vols. (Oxford, 1829).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: His Life was written by his son Thomas, but was not printed till 1825, when it was edited by T. Newcome, and is founded upon the diary of the arch­bishop. Consult further: C. J. Abbey, The English Church and its Bishops, 1700 1800, i. 103 105, London, 1887; J. H. Overton, The Church in En,



gland, vol. ii., passim, ib. 1897; W. H. Hutton, The English Church (1686 1714), ib. 1903; A. Plummer, English Church His­tory, from the Death of Charles 1. to the Death of William ill., Edinburgh, 1907; DNB, li. 4088 411.

SHARPE, SAMUEL: Egyptologist and Biblical translator; b. at London Mar. 8, 1799; d. there July 28, 1881. He was a banker, 1814 61; and, up­on retirement from business, devoted himself, with­out university training, to Biblical study, 1861 81. In 1821 he turned from the Established to the Uni­tarian Church. He early became interested in Egyptology, and published Egyptian Inscriptions (1st and 2d series, London, 1836 56); History of Egypt from the Earliest Times till A.D. 640 (1846; 6th ed., 2 vols., 1876). To Biblical literature he con­tributed The New Testament, a translation from J. J. Griesbach's text, with notes (1840; 5th ed., 1862); The Hebrew Scriptures, a revision of the authorized version of the Old Testament (3 vols., 1865); The Holy Bible (1881), a revision of the authorized English translation; and History of the Hebrew Na­tion, and Literature (1869).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: P. W. Clayden, Samuel Sharpe, Egyptolo­gist and Translator of the Bible, London, 1883; DNB, li. 425 427.



SHAW, JOHN BALCOM: Presbyterian; b. at Bellport, N. Y., May 12, 1860. He received his education at Lafayette College (B.A., 1885; M.A., 1888) and Union Theological Seminary, New York City (graduated 1888); was ordained to the ministry 1888, and was pastor of the West End Presbyterian Church, New York City, 1888 1904; and has been in charge of the Second Presbyterian Church in Chicago since 1904. He has also been president of the Presbyterian Council of the Brotherhood of Andrew and Philip since 1895, besides serving on the boards of various educational institutions. He has written The Difficult Life (Chicago, 1904); Life that follows Life (1907); and Vision and Service (1907; sermons).
SHAW, WILLIAM ISAAC: Wesleyan Methodist; b. at Kingston, Canada, Apr. 6,1841; was graduated from Victoria University, Cobourg, Canada (A.B., 1861; LL.B., 1864), at McGill University, Montreal (M.A., 1880); engaged in the ministry of the Wes­leyan Methodist Church of Canada, 1864 77; and in 1877 became professor of exegesis and church history in the Wesleyan Theological College, Montreal, of which he is principal. He is the author of Discussion on Retribution (Toronto, 1884); Digest of the Doc­trinal Standards of the Methodist Church (1895).

SHEBA. See ARABIA, III.; and TABLE Oh THE NATIONS, § 6.
SHEBNAA (SHEBNAH): A high official in the palace of Hezekiah, mentioned in Isa. xxii. 15 25, xxxvi. 3, 11, 22, xxxvii. 2; II Kings xviii. 18, 26, 37, xix. 2, and made the object of Isaiah's severe pro­phetic menace in the passage first mentioned. These eleven verses all refer to Shebna, as nearly all com­mentators agree; but though the text is free from corruption and the language is relatively clear, the passage is not without obscurity. While Isa. xxii. 20 sqq. refers to Eliakim, in verse 25 the prophet probably returns to Shebna. The place to be given Eliakim as Shebna's successor was plainly one of high rank, and Shebna himself was "over the house" (verse 15; cf. Gen. xli. 40; I Kings xviii. 3 sqq.), thus being, as it were, a major domo. He is marked




Shebna THE NEW SCHAFF HERZOG 388

l3hekinah



as an upstart by the triple "here" in verse 16, as

well as by the omission of his father's name; and in

the account of the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib

in 701 B.C. (Isa. xxxvi. 3,11, 22, xxxvii. 2; II Kings

xviii.18, 26, 37, xix. 2) he appears in the subordinate

position of an official scribe or mere minister, while

Eliakim occupies the rank of the highest state of­

ficial. There is no reason for surprise that the very

Shebna whom the prophet had threatened with

dismissal and death in exile (Isa. xxii. 17 19) should

accompany his superior, Eliakim, to treat with the

Assyrian envoys at Hezekiah's command, and should

even request the intercession of Isaiah (Isa. xxxvii.

2; II Kings xix. 2); and as it is improbable that

there were two high officials during the reign of

Hezekiah both of whom bore the name of Shebna,

this same man is doubtless to be understood

throughout. While it is evident from such passages

as Jer. xviii. 7 aqq. that Isaiah's menacing words,

which did not in the least constitute a formal proph­

ecy, did not require a literal fulfilment, there is no

doubt that they were essentially realized in Shebna's

degradation and his replacement by Eliakim.

Since, in Isa. xxii. 20 21, Eliakim is described as a

servant of the Lord, and as destined to be "a father

to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of

Judah," it would appear, by implication, that

Shebna was lacking in the fear of God and guilty of

gross oppression, thus abusing his official position;

and even were this the fault of his favorites, the evil

influence of his band of parasites would necessarily

end on his downfall. An erroneous exegesis assumes

that Isaiah accuses Eliakim of nepotism and

threatens his overthrow at the very moment of his

rise to power; but, rightly understood, the phrase

"in that day," in verses 20, 25, implies the simul­

taneous nature of Eliakim's elevation and Shebna's

fall. In describing the prestige which Shebna was

to confer upon his family, Isaiah compares him to

a "nail in a sure place" (verses 23 24), likening the

subordinate members of his house to various earthen

vessels, which would be shattered if the nail should

break. It has been maintained by B. L. Duhm (Das

Buch Jesaia iibersetzt tutd erkldrt, G6ttingen, 1892,

ad loc.) that only Isa. xxii. 15 18 are genuine, the

remainder of the passage in question being added

later, 19 23 by a friend of Eliakim, and 24 25 by one

of his enemies; but the truth is that the whole pas­

sage is a genuine prophecy of Isaiah, who branded

the powerful functionary at the head of the reigning

house as its disgrace (verse 18), probably on the

occasion of viewing the magnificent tomb which

Shebna had built for himself.

A. KAMPHAUsEN.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: The full discussion of the subject is by A.

Kamphausen in Zeitschrift fur Pastoral Theologie, xxiv.

557 573, 631 640, Eng. transl. in AJT, 1901, pp. 43 74;

E. KSnig, in NXZ, 1902, pp. 621 631.

SHEDD, JOHN HASKELL: Missionary to

Persia; b. at Mt. Gilead, Ohio, July 9, 1833; d. at

Urumia, Persia, Apr. 12, 1895. He was the son of

the Rev. Henry Shedd, one of the pioneer home mis­

sionaries in Ohio; was graduated from Marietta

College (1856) and from Andover Theological Semi­

nary (1859), was ordained Aug. 3, 1859, and sailed

the same month on his way to Persia. as a mis 



sionary of the American Board in the Nestorian Mis­sion. He served as a missionary from 1859 to 1870 under the American Board and from 1878 to 1895 under the Presbyterian Board, to which in 1870 the work for the Nestorians was transferred. From 1872 to 1878 he was a professor in Biddle University, Charlotte, N. C. Urumia, Persia, where he died, was his home during the whole of his missionary work.

Dr. Shedd's missionary work deserves special record along four lines. On his arrival on the field as a young missionary of unusual energy and ability he was restive at the limitation of the work to the Nestorians and he sought hard to have it extended to the Armenian and Moslem population of the field. Only the sudden break down of another missionary prevented his opening a new station at Van, Turkey. These efforts, though not successful at the time, were among the influences that prepared for the later wide extension of the work, which has made the mission to the Nestorians a mission to Persia and given it a wider scope than yet belongs to any other of the missions to the oriental churches. Although his own work was confined mainly to the  Nestor­ians, he always planned and worked with the larger field in view. A second line was the effort to evangelize the mountain Nestorian tribes. No more difficult missionary field exists than the mountain region bounded by lines connecting Urumia, Van, Jezireh, and Mosul. Dr. Shedd was a worthy suc­cessor of Dr. Asahel Grant and the Rev. S. A. Rhea in this work. Between 1860 and 1870 he made no less than eighteen journeys through this wild and dangerous region, preaching, organizing, and plan­ning. It would be unjust to say that these efforts resulted in failure, but the success was small. An­other line of work in which Dr. Shedd's memory and influence will be lasting was the training of native workers. He always conceived of this as the primary purpose of missionary educational work, and largely for this reason he gave himself with energy from 1878 till his death to the work of Urumia College. The love and respect of his pupils for him were great and abiding. But the chief service he rendered the cause of missions was in the organiza­tion of the native Syrian Evangelical Church. In his plans and principles in this work he was ahead of his time. When a young missionary he criticized severely the policy of the mission in not placing responsibility on the natives. While averse to any violent break with the old Nestorian Church and never giving up hope of its revival, he thoroughly believed in an organized Evangelical body; and the organization of the Evangelical church provides for its complete ecclesiastical autonomy with an adapted Presbyterian government. It also provides for organized cooperation of the native church and the foreign missionaries in the work of all settled preach­ers and all village schools. This is carried on by executive boards of the native church, which con­trol the work concurrently with the mission.

W . A. SHEDD.


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