Du Culte des Dieux Fetiches (1760), and is derived either from the Portuguese fetisso, a block adored as an idol, or, according to Winterbottom, from feticzeira, an enchantress. The Portuguese gave this name to the idols of the negroes, on the Senegal, and afterwards the word received a more extensive meaning. The general signification now given to fetish seems to be an object worshipped, not representing any living figure. Hence stones, arms, vessels, &c. are fetishes. The negroes of Guinea suppose a fetish to preside over every canton or district, and one also over every family, and each individual, which the individual worships on the anniversary of his birth-day. Those of the better sort have, besides this, weekly festivals, on which they kill a cock or sheep. They believe the material substances which they worship, to be endowed with intelligence, and the power of doing them good or evil; and also that the fetishere, or priest, being of their council, is privy to all that those divinities know, and thence acquainted with the most secret thoughts and actions of men. The household, or family fetish, narrowly inspects the conduct of every individual in the house, and rewards or punishes each according to his deserts. The rewards consist in the multiplication of the slaves and wives of the worshipper, and the punishment in their diminution; but the most terrible punishment is death. At Cape Coast there is a public guardian fetish, supreme in power and dignity. This is a rock which projects into the sea from the bottom of the cliff, on which the castle is built. To this rock annual sacrifices are presented, and the responses given through the priests are rewarded by the blinded devotees.

FEUILLANTINES, a reformed order of Cistertian monks, who went barefoot, lived only on herbs, and practised astonishing austerities. Their congregation was afterwards divided into two by Pope Urban VIII. in 1630, who separated the French from the Italians, and gave them two generals.

FIDELITY, faithfulness, or the conscientious discharge of those duties of a religious, personal, and relative nature, which we are bound to perform. See an excellent sermon on the subject in Dr. Erskine's Sermons, vol. ii. p. 304.

FIFTH MONARCHY MEN, were a set of enthusiasts, in the time of Crom

well, who expected the sudden appearance of Christ to establish on earth a new monarchy or kingdom. In consequence of this illusion, some of them aimed at the subversion of all human government. In ancient history we read of four great monarchies, the Assyrian, Persian, Grecian, and the Roman; and these men, believing that this new spiritual kingdom of Christ was to be the fifth, came to bear the name by which they were called. Their leader was Thomas Venner, a wine-cooper, who, in his little conventicle in Coleman-street, warmed his admirers with passionate expectations of a fifth universal monarchy, under the personal reign of King Jesus upon earth, and that the saints were to take the kingdom to themselves. To introduce this imaginary kingdom, they marched out of their meeting-house, towards St. Paul's Churchyard, on Sunday, Jan. 6th, 1660, to the number of about fifty men, well armed, and with a resolution to subvert the present government, or to die in the attempt. They published a declaration of the design of their rising, and placed sentinels at proper places. The lord mayor sent the trained, bands to disperse them, whom they quickly routed, but in the evening retired to Cane Wood, between Highgate and Hampstead. On Wednesday morning they returned, and dispersed a party of the king's soldiers in Threadneedlestreet. In Wood-street they repelled the trained bands, and some of the horse guards; but Venner himself was knocked down, and some of his company slain; from hence the remainder retreated to Cripplegate, and took possession of a house, which they threatened to defend with a desperate resolution; but nobody appearing to countenance their frenzy, they surrendered after they had lost about half their number. Venner and one of his officers were hanged before their meeting-house door in Colemanstreet, Jan. 19th; and a few days after nine more were executed in divers parts of the city.

FILIAL PIETY, is the affectionate attachment of children to their parents, including in it love, reverence, obedience, and relief. Justly has it been observed, that these great duties are prompted equally by nature and by gratitude, independent of the injunctions of religion; for where shall we find the person who hath received from any one benefits so

great, or so many, as children from their parents? And it may be truly said, that if persons are undutiful to their parents, they seldom prove good to any other relation. See article CHILDREN.

FILIATION OF THE SON OF GOD. See SON OF GOD.

FILIOQUE, a term signifying" and from the Son," which the Greeks accuse the Latin Church of introducing into the ancient creed relative to the procession of the Holy Spirit: the former maintaining that his procession is from the Father only. At what time this introduction took place cannot be ascertained, but Augustine has the expression, procedere ab utroque; and the synod of Toledo, in 589, declares every one to be a heretic, who does not believe, a patre filioque procedere Spiritum sanctum. Every attempt to reconcile the two churches, with respect to this point, has proved abortive, so that it continues to be a mark of distinction between them.

FIRE PHILOSOPHERS. See THEO

SOPHISTS.

FIRST FRUITS, among the Hebrews, were oblations of part of the fruits of the harvest, offered to God as an acknowledgment of his sovereign dominion. There was another sort of first fruits which was paid to God. When bread was kneaded in a family, a portion of it was set apart, and given to the priest or Levite who dwelt in the place. If there were no priest or Levite there, it was cast into the oven, and consumed by the fire. These offerings made a considerable part of the revenues of the priesthood. Lev. xxiii. Exod. xxii. 29. Chron. xxiii. 19. Numb. xv. 19, 20.

The first fruits of the Spirit are such communications of his grace on earth, as fully assure us of the full enjoyment of God in heaven. Rom. viii. 23. Christ is called the first fruits of them that slept; for as the first fruits were earnests to the Jews of the succeeding harvest, so Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection, or the earnest of a future resurrection; that as he rose, so shall believers also rise to happiness and life. 1 Cor. xv. 20.

First fruits are mentioned in ancient writers as one part of the church re

venue.

First fruits, in the Church of England, are the profits of every spiritual benefice for the first year, according to the valuation thereof in the king's book.

FIVE POINTS, are the five doctrines controverted between the Arminians and Calvinists. See CALVINISTS.

FLACIANS, the followers of Matthias Flacius Illyricus, who flourished in the sixteenth century. He taught that original sin is the very substance of human nature; and that the fall of man was an event which extinguished in the human mind every virtuous tendency, every noble faculty, and left nothing behind it but universal darkness and corruption.

FLAGELLANTS (from the Latin flagellare, to beat), the name of a sect in the thirteenth century, who thought that they could best expiate their sins by the severe discipline of the scourge. Rainer, a hermit of Perugia, is said to have been its founder, in 1260. He soon found followers in nearly all parts of Italy. Old and young, great and small, ran through the cities, scourging themselves, and exhorting to repentance. Their number soon amounted to 10,000, who went about, led by priests, bearing banners and crosses. They went in thousands from country to country, begging alms. In 1261, they broke over the Alps in crowds into Germany, showed themselves in Alsatia, Bavaria, Bohemia, and Poland; and found there many imitators. In 1296, a small band of Flagellants appeared in Strasburg, who, with covered faces, whipped themselves through the city, and at every church. The princes and higher clergy were little pleased with this new fraternity, although it was favoured by the people. The shameful public exposure of the person by the Flagellants offended good manners; their travelling in such numbers afforded opportunity for seditious commotions, and irregularities of all sorts; and their extortion of alms was a tax upon the peaceful citizen. On this account, both in Germany and in Italy, several princes forbade these expeditions of the Flagellants. The kings of Poland and Bohemia expelled them with violence from their states, and the bishops strenuously opposed them. In spite of this, the society continued under another form in the fraternities of the Beghards, in Germany and France, and in the beginning of the fifteenth century, among the Brothers of the Cross, so numerous in Thuringia (so called from wearing on their clothes a cross on the breast and on the back,) of whom ninety-one were burnt at once at Sangershausen, in 1414. The

council, assembled at Constance, between 1414 and 1418, was obliged to take decisive measures against them. Since this time nothing more has been heard of a fraternity of this sort.

FLAGELLATION has almost always been used for the punishment of crimes, Its application as a means of religious penance is an old oriental custom admitted into corrupt churches, partly because self-torment was considered salutary as the mortifying of the flesh, and partly because both Christ and the apostles underwent scourging. From the first century of Christianity, religious persons sought to atone for their sins, and to move an impartial Judge to compassion and pardon, by voluntary bodily torture. Like the Abbot Regino, at Prum, in the tenth century, many chose to share in the sufferings of Christ, in order to make themselves the more certain of forgiveness through him. It became general in the eleventh century, when Peter Damiani of Ravenna, abbot of the Benedictine monastery near Gubbio, afterwards cardinal bishop of Ostia, zealously recommended scourging as an atonement for sin, to Christians generally, and in particular to the monks. His own example, and the fame of his sanctity, rendered his exhortations effective. Clergy and laity, men and women, began to torture themselves with rods and thongs and chains. They fixed certain times for the infliction of this discipline upon themselves. Princes caused themselves to be scourged naked by their father confessors. Louis IX. constantly carried with him, for this purpose, an ivory box, containing five small iron chains, and exhorted his father confessor to scourge him severely. He likewise gave similar boxes to the princes and princesses of his house, and to other pious friends, as marks of his peculiar favour. The wild expectation of being purified from sin by flagellation prevailed throughout Europe in the last half of the thirteenth century. But these penances soon degenerated into noisy fanaticism, and a sort of trade. After the council of Constance (1414-18), both clergy and laity by degrees became disgusted with the scourge. The Cordeliers observed the practice longest. It was considered as equivalent to every sort of expiation for past sins. 3000 strokes, and the chanting of thirty penitential psalms, were deemed sufficient to cancel the sins of a year; 30,000 strokes

the sins of ten years, &c. An Italian widow, in the eleventh century, boasted that she had made expiation by voluntary scourging for 100 years, for which, as the requisite number, she had inflicted on herself no fewer than 300,000 stripes. The opinion was prevalent, likewise, that, however great the guilt, hell might be escaped by self-inflicted pain, and the honour of peculiar holiness acquired. By this means, flagellation obtained a charm in the sight of the guilty and ambitious, which raised them above the dread both of sinning and suffering, till the vain deceits of hypocrisy vanished before the clearer light of civilization and knowledge.

FLAMINES, an order or class of priests among the ancient Romans, instituted, according to Plutarch, by Romulus, and according to Livy, by Numa. They were chosen by the people, and their inauguration was performed by the sovereign pontiff. Their number was originally three, but was afterwards increased to fifteen, the three first of whom, being taken from the senate, were called Flamines Majores; and the twelve others, taken from the people, Flamines Minores. When the emperors were deified, they also had flamens, as flamen Augusti. Their ordinary duties were, to see that the ancient and customary honours were paid to the publicly acknowledged deities, and that all due respect was paid to the religion of the state; but, in the opinion of the superstitious, they were invested with interest and influence with the gods, which enabled them to maintain and exercise a powerful dominion over the minds of the vulgar.

FLATTERY, a servile and fawning behaviour, attended with servile compliances and obsequiousness, in order to gain a person's favour.

FLEMINGIANS, OR FLANDRIANS, a sect of rigid Anabaptists, who acquired this name in the sixteenth century, because most of them were natives of Flanders, by way of distinction from the Waterlandians. See WATER

LANDIANS.

FO, FOE, FOHI, is revered in China as the founder of a religion, which was introduced into China in the first century of the Christian era. According to tradition, he was born in Cashmere, about the year B. C. 1027. While his mother was in travail, the stars were darkened, and nine dragons descended from hea

ven. He was born from her right side, and immediately after the birth she died. At the moment of his entrance into the world, he stood upright on his feet, stepped forward seven paces, and pointing one hand to heaven, and the other to the earth, spoke distinctly these words:"None in heaven or earth deserves adoration besides me." In his seventeenth year he married three wives, and became the father of a son; but in his nineteenth year he left his family, and went with four wise men into the wilderness. When thirty, he was deified; and, confirming his doctrines by pretended miracles, collected an immense number of disciples round him, and spread his doctrines throughout the East. His priests and disciples were called in China Seng, in Tatary Lamas, in Siam Talapoins, and in Europe Bonzes. In the seventy-ninth year of his age, perceiving that his end was approaching, Fo declared to his disciples, "That hitherto he had spoken only in enigmatical and figurative language; but that now being about to take leave of them, he would unveil to them the mysteries of his doctrine. Know then," said he, "that there is no other principle of all things but the void and nothing; that from nothing all things have sprung, and to nothing all must return; and there all our hopes must end." This final declaration of Fo divided his disciples into three sects. Some founded on it an atheistical sect; the greater part adhered to his ancient doctrines; while others made a distinction between an exoteric and an esoteric doctrine, which they endeavoured to bring into harmony. The exoteric doctrine of Fo contains his system of morality. It distinguishes between good and evil: he who has done good during his life will be rewarded after death; and he who has done evil will be punished. He gave his followers only these five precepts:-Not to kill any living creature; not to take the property of another; to avoid impurity and unchastity; not to speak falsely; and to abstain from wine. They are taught the practice of charity; the merit accruing from the building of temples and convents; and the punishment of their souls entering into the bodies of the vilest and most unclean animals if they commit sin. The principal esoteric or secret doctrines, into which but few are initiated, are the following :-The origin and end of all things is the void

and nothing. The first human beings have sprung from nothing, and are returned to nothing. The void constitutes our being. All things, living and inanimate, constitute one whole; differing from each other not in essence, but only in form and qualities. The original essence of all things is pure, unchangeable, highly subtle, and simple, and, because it is simple, the perfection of all other beings. It is perfect, and therefore exists in an uninterrupted quiet, without possessing virtue, power, or intelligence; nay, its very essence consists in the absence of intelligence, activity, and want or desire. Whoever desires to be happy, must constantly endeavour to conquer themselves, and become like the original essence. To accomplish this, he must accustom himself not to act, desire, feel, nor think. The great precept was endeavour to annihilate thyself; for, as soon as thou ceasest to be thyself, thou becomest one with God, and returnest into his being. The other followers of Fo adopt the doctrine of the void and nothing, and the transmigration of souls; but teach that they enter ultimately the class of Samancans, and finally appear in the bodies of perfect Samanceans, who have no more crimes to expiate, and need no longer to revere the gods, who are only the servants of the Supreme God of the universe. This Supreme unoriginated Being cannot be represented by any image; neither can he be worshipped, because he is elevated above all worship; but his attributes may be represented, adored, and worshipped. Hence the source of the worship of images by the natives of India, and of the multitude of particular tutelary deities in China. All the elements, the changes of the weather, &c. have each its particular genius; and all these gods are servants or officers of the Supreme God, Seng-wang-Man. The public worship of Fo, which became a national religion, is called, in India, Brahmanism.

FOLLY, according to Mr. Locke, consists in the drawing of false conclusions from just principles, by which it is distinguished from madness, which draws just conclusions from false principles. But this seems too confined a definition. Folly, in its most general acceptation, denotes a weakness of intellect or apprehension, or some partial absurdity in sentiment or conduct. See EVIL, SIN.

FOOD. Questions concerning meats and drinks have occasioned much angry

and bitter contention, both in the Jewish and Christian Church. Undue importance has often, no doubt, been attached to certain distinctions in these matters, and many have been scrupulously nice about what they might eat and drink, while they seem to have forgotten that the kingdom of heaven consisted of righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Others, however, have erred on the other hand, by despising all attention to such things, as too trifling to

He

deserve regard. But it must certainly be admitted, that the food by which man is supported and nourished, is not in itself of small importance. He who made all things for the use of man, best knows what is good for food, and what is fitted to serve other purposes. has an undoubted right to grant or to withhold the use of his creatures; and if he has interfered in this matter, it becomes us to bow with deference to his authority. That particular kinds of food may be productive of certain physical and moral effects on the human constitution, is not to be denied; in this point of view, therefore, the importance of divine enactments respecting their use may be shown. And if distinctions in the use of animals were connected with important religious institutions, and intended to illustrate some interesting doctrines of morality, their propriety may be still further defended. That laws and regulations have been given by the Almighty to guide mankind in this affair, must be obvious to every man who looks into the Bible; and an investigation of the nature of these laws will be found interesting both to the philosopher and the Christian.

To enter into minute details on this subject would swell this article beyond all due bounds; but we shall endeavour to take a general view of the law respecting food, during the Adamic, Noahic, Jewish, and Christian dispensations, in which we shall endeavour to ascertain the nature of the liberty enjoyed, and the restrictions which were imposed during these several periods.

That we may have the whole subject before us at once, it may be proper to place, under its proper head, the several grants or laws which have been made on these matters at the different times.

Grant to Adam.

"Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is on the face of all

the earth; and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed-to you it shall be for meat, Gen. i. 29. Of every tree in the garden thou shalt freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat." Ch. ii. 16. Grant to Noah."

be meat for you; even as the green herb "Every moving thing that moveth shall But flesh, have I given you all things. with the life thereof, which is the blood

thereof, shall you not eat.” Gen. ix. 3, 4.

Jewish Law.

"And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood, I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and I will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar, to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." Lev. xvii. 10, 11.

Christian Law.

"For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which, if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well." Acts xv. 28, 29.

Jewish Restrictions.

"Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is cloven-footed, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that shall ye eat, &c. Whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, that shall ye eat. And all that have not fins and scales shall be an abomination unto you. And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten-they are an abomination: the eagle," and nineteen others. "All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you. These also shall be unclean among the creeping things that creep upon the earth-the weasel" and seven others. "Whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and whatsoever goeth upon all four, or whatsoever hath more feet, and all creeping things, them ye shall not eat; for they are an abomination. This is the law of the beasts, and of the fowl, and of every living creature that moveth in the waters, and of every creature that creep