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6. Eccl. ix. 50. The evidences of re-frailty, from inadvertency, or mistake pentance are, faith, humility, prayer, in matters of small consequence.-4. and obedience, Zech. xii. 10. The ne- We should never reprove unseasonably, cessity of repentance appears evident as to the time, the place, or the circumfrom the evil of sin; the misery it in- stances.-5. We should reprove mildly volves us in here; the commands given and sweetly, in the calmest manner, in us to repent in God's word; the pro- the gentlest terms -6. We should not mises made to the penitent; and the ab- affect to be reprehensive: perhaps solute incapability of enjoying God here there is no one considered more trouor hereafter without it. See Dickin- blesome than he who delights in finding son's Letters, ict. 9; Dr. Owen on the fault with others. In receiving reproof 130th Psalm; Gill's Body of Divi- it may be observed, 1. That we should nity, article Repentance; Ridgley's Bo- not reject it merely because it may dy of Div. question 76; Davies's Ser- come from those who are not exactly mons, ser. 44. vol. iii; Case's Sermons, on a level with ourselves.-2. ser. 4; Whitefield's Sermons; Saurin's should consider whether the reproof Sermons, ser. 9. vol. iii. Robinson's given be not actually deserved; and Translation; Scott's Treatise on Re- that, if the reprover knew all, whether pentance. the reproof would not be sharper than what it is.-3. Whether. if taken humbly and patiently, it will not be of great advantage to us.-4. That it is nothing but pride to suppose that we are never to be the subjects of reproof, since it is human to err.

REPROACH, the act of finding fault in opprobrious terms, or attempting to expose to infamy and disgrace. In whatever cause we engage, however disinterested our motives, however laudable our designs, reproach is what we must expect. But it becomes us not to retaliate, but to bear it patiently; and so to live, that every charge brought against us be groundless. If we be reproached for righteousness' sake, we have no reason to be ashamed nor to be afraid. All good men have thus suffered, Jesus Christ himself especially. We have the greatest promises of support. Besides, it has a tendency to humble us, detach us from the world, and excite in us a desire for that state of blessedness where all reproach shall be done away. REPROBATION, the act of abandoning, or state of being abandoned, to eternal destruction, and is applied to that decree or resolve which God has taken from all eternity to punish sinners who shall die in impenitence; in which sense it is opposed to election. See ELECTION and PREDESTINATION. REPROOF, blame or reprehension spoken to a person's face. It is distinguished from a reprimand thus. He who reproves another, points out his fault, and blames him. He who reprimands, affects to punish, and mortifies the offended. In giving reproof, the following rules may be observed: 1. We should not be forward in reproving our elders or superiors, but rather to remonstrate and supplicate for redress. What the ministers of God do in this kind, they do by special commission, as those that must give an account, 1 Tim. v. 1. Heb. xiii. 17.-2. We must not reprove rashly; there should be proof before reproof.-3. We should not reprove for slight matters, for such faults or defects as proceed from natural

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RESENTMENT, generally used in an ill sense, implying a determination to return an injury. Dr. Johnson observes, that resentment is an union of sorrow with malignity; a combination of a passion which all endeavour to avoid, with a passion which all concur to detest. The man who retires to meditate mischief, and to exasperate his own rage, whose thoughts are employed only on means of distress and contrivances of ruin, whose mind never pauses from the remembrance of his own sufferings, but to indulge some hope of enjoying the calamities of another, may justly be numbered among the most miserable of human beings; among those who are guilty; who have neither the gladness of prosperity, nor the calm of innocence.

RESIGNATION, a submission without discontent to the will of God. The obligations to this duty arise from, 1. The perfections of God, Deut. xxxii. 4. -2. The purposes of God, Eph. i. 11. |-3. The commands of God, Heb. xii. 9.-4. The promises of God, 1 Pet. v. 7.-5. Our own interest, Hos. ii. 14, 15.-6. The prospect of eternal felicity, Heb. iv. 9. See articles AFFLICTION, DESPAIR, and PATIENCE; Worthington on Resignation; Brooks's Mute Christian; Grosvenor's Mourner; and the books under AFFLICTION.

RESTITUTION, the act of justice by which we restore to our neighbour whatever we have unjustly deprived him of, Exod. xxii. 1. Luke, xix. 8.

Moralists observe respecting restitution, 1. That where it can be made in

kind, or the injury can be certainly valued, we are to restore the thing or the value.-2. We are bound to restore the thing with the natural increase of it, that is, to satisfy for the loss sustained in the mean time, and the gain hindered.-3. Where the thing cannot be restored, and the value of it is not certain, we are to give reasonable satisfaction, according to a middle estimation.-4. We are at least to give by way of restitution what the law would give, for that is generally equal, and in most cases rather favourable than rigorous. -5. A man is not only bound to restitution for the injury he did. but for all that directly follows upon the injurious act. For the first injury being wilful, we are supposed to will all that which follows upon it. Tillotson's Serm. ser. 170, 171; Chillingworth's Works,

ser. 7.

RESURRECTION, a rising again from the state of the dead; generally applied to the resurrection of the last day. This doctrine is argued, 1. From the resurrection of Christ, 1 Cor. xv2. From the doctrines of grace, as union, election, redemption, &c.-3. From Scripture testimonies, Matt. xxii. 23, &c. Job, xix. 25, 27. Isaiah, xxvi. 19. Phil. ii. 20. 1 Cor. xv. Dan. xii. 2. 1 Thess. iv. 14. Rev. xx. 13.-4. From the general judgment, which of course requires it. As to the nature of this resurrection, it will be, 1. General, Rev. xx. 12, 15. 2 Cor. v. 10.-2. Of the same body. It is true. indeed, that the body has not always the same particles, which are continually changing, but it has always the same constituent parts, which proves its identity; it is the same body that is born that dies, and the same that dies that shall rise again; so that Mr. Locke's objection to the idea of the same body is a inere quibble.-3. The resurrection will be at the command of Christ, and by his power, John, v. 28, 29.—4. Perhaps as to the manner it will be successive; the dead in Christ rising first, 1 Cor. xv. 23. 1 Thess. iv. || 16. This doctrine is of great use and importance. It is one of the first principles of the doctrine of Christ the whele Gospel stands or falls with it. It serves to enlarge our views of the divine perfections. It encourages our faith and trust in God under all the difficulties of life. It has a tendency to regulate our affections and moderate our desires after earthly things. It supports the saints under the loss of near relations, and enables them to rejoice in the glorious prospect set before them. See Hody on the Resurrection; Pear

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son on the Creed; Lime Street Lect. ser. 10; Watts's Ontology; Young's Last Day; Locke on the Understanding, 1. ii. c. 27; Warburton's Legation of Moses, vol. ii. p. 553, &c. Bishop Newton's Works, vol. iii. p. 676, 683.

RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. Few articles are more important than this. It deserves our particular attention, because it is the grand hinge on which Christianity turns. Hence, says the apostle, he was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification. Infidels, however, have disbelieved it, but with what litle reason we may easily see on considering the subject. "If the body of Jesus Christ," says Saurin," were not raised from the dead, it must have been stolen away. But this theft is incredible. Who committed it? The enemies of Jesus Christ? Would they have contributed to his glory by countenancing a report of his resurrection? Would his disciples? It is probable they would not, and it is next to certain they could not. How could they have undertaken to remove the body? Frail and timorous creatures, people who fled as soon as they saw him taken into custody; even Peter, the most courageous, trembled at the voice of a servant girl, and three times denied that he knew him. People of this character, would they have dared to resist the authority of the governor ? Would they have undertaken to oppose the determination of the Sanhedrim, to force a guard, and to elude, or overcome, soldiers armed and aware of danger? If Jesus Christ were not risen again (I speak the language of unbelievers,) he had deceived his disciples with vain hopes of his resurrection. How came the disciples not to discover the imposture? Would they have hazarded themselves by undertaking an enterprise so perilous in favour of a man who had so cruelly imposed on their credulity? But were we to grant that they formed the design of removing the body, how could they have executed it? How could soldiers armed, and on guard, suffer themselves to be over-reached by a few timorous people? Either, says St. Augustine, they were asleep or awake: if they were awake, why should they suffer the body to be taken away? If asleep, how could they know that the disciples took it away? How dare they then, depose that it WAS STOLEN?"

The testimony of the apostles furnishes us with arguments, and there are eight considerations which give the evidence sufficient weight. 1. The nature of these witnesses. They were not men

cret of never contradicting themselves or one another, and of being always uniform in their testimony. It must be supposed that the most expert courts of judicature could not find out a shadow of contradiction in a palpable imposture. It must be supposed that the apostles, sensible men in other cases, chose precisely those places and those times which were most unfavourable to their views It must be supposed that millions madly suffered imprisonments, tortures, and crucifixions to spread an illusion. It must be supposed that ten thousand miracles were wrought in favour of falsehood, or all these facts must be denied; and then it must be supposed that the apostles were idiots ; that the enemies of Christianity were idiots; and that all the primitive Christians were idiots."

of power, riches, eloquence, credit, to impose upon the world; they were poor and mean.-2. The number of these witnesses. See 1 Cor. xv. Luke, xxiv. 34. Mark, xvi. 14. Matt. xxviii. 10. It is not likely that a collusion should have been held among so many to support a lie, which would be of no utility to them.-3. The facts themselves which they avow; not suppositions, distant events, or events related by others, but real facts which they saw with their own eyes, 1 John, i.-4. The agreement of their evidence: they all deposed the same thing.-5. Observe the tribunals before which they gave evidence: Jews and heathens, philosophers and rabbins, courtiers and lawyers. If they had been impostors, the fraud certainly would have been discovered.-6. The place in which they bore their testimony. Not at a distance, where they might not easily have been detected, if false, but at Jerusalem, instructions. Here we see evidence of the synagogues, in the pretorium.-7. The time of this testimony: not years after, but three days after, they declared he was risen; yea, before their rage was quelled, while Calvary was yet dyed with the blood they had spilt. If it had been a fraud, it is not likely they would have come forward in such broad day-light, amidst so much opposition.-8. Lastly, the motives which induced them to publish the resurrection: not to gain fame, riches, glory, profit; no, they exposed themselves to suffering and death, and proclaimed the truth from conviction of its importance and certainty.

The doctrine of the resurrection of Christ affords us a variety of useful in

divine power; prophecy accomplished; the character of Jesus established; his work finished; and a future state proved. It is a ground of faith, the basis of hope, a source of consolation, and a stimulus to obedience. See Saurin's Sermons, ser. 8. vol. ii. Robinson's Translation; Ditton and West on the Resurrection; Cook's Illustration of the general evidence establishing the reality of Christ's resurrection, p. 323, Ecc. Rev. vol. 4. but especially a small but admirable Essay on the Resurrection of Christ. by Mr. Dore.

RETIREMENT, the state of a person who quits a public station in order to be alone. Retirement is of great advantage to a wise man. To him "the hour of solitude is the hour of medita

"Collect," says Saurin, "all these proofs together; consider them in one point of view, and see how many extravagant suppositions must be advanced, tion. He communes with his own heart. if the resurrection of our Saviour be de- He reviews the actions of his past life. nied. It must be supposed that guards, He corrects what is amiss. He rewho had been particularly cautioned by joices in what is right: and, wiser by their officers, sat down to sleep; and experience, lays the plan of his future that, however, they deserved credit life. The great and the noble, the wise when they said the body of Jesus Christ and the learned, the pious and the was stolen. It must be supposed that good, have been lovers of serious remen, who have been imposed on in the tirement. On this field the patriot most odious and cruel manner in the forms his schemes, the philosopher purworld, hazarded their dearest enjoy-sues his discoveries, the saint improves ments for the glory of an impostor. It must be supposed that ignorant and illiterate men, who had neither reputation, fortune, nor eloquence, possessed the art of fascinating the eyes of all the church. It must be supposed either that five hundred persons were all deprived of their senses at a time, or that they were all deceived in the plainest matters of fact; or that this multitude of false witnesses had found out the se

himself in wisdom and goodness. Solitude is the hallowed ground which religion in every age has adopted as its own. There her sacred inspiration is felt, and her holy mysteries elevate the soul; there devotion lifts up the voice; there falls the tear of contrition; there the heart pours itself forth before him who made, and him who redeemed it. Apart from men, we live with nature, and converse with God." Logan's Sermons, vol.

judgment, and affections of men. The Old Testament abounds with the finest specimens of history, sublimity, ane interesting scenes of Providence. The facts of the New Testament are supported by undoubted evidence from enemies and friends. The attestations to the early existence of Christianity are numerous from Ignatius, Polycarp, Irenæus, Justin Martyr, and Tatian, who were Christians; and by Tacitus, Sueton, Serenus, Pliny, &c. who were Heathens. [See CHRISTIANITY.]-7. The revelations contained in our Bible are divinely inspired. The matter, the manner, the scope, the predictions, miracles, preservation, &c. &c. all prove this. [See INSPIRATION.]-8. Revelation is intended for universal benefit. It is a common objection to it, that hitherto it has been confined to few, and therefore could not come from God who is so benevolent; but this mode of arguing will equally hold good against the permission of sin, the inequalities of Providence, the dreadful evils and miseries of mankind which God could have prevented. It must be farther observed, that none deserve a revelation; that men have despised and abused the early revelations he gave to his people. This revelation, we have reason to believe, shall be made known to mankind. Already it is spreading its genuine in

h. ser. 2. Blair's Sermons, ser. ix. vol. i. Bates's Rural Philosophy; Brewster's Recluse; Zimmerman on Solitude. REVELATION, the act of revealing or making a thing public that was before unknown; it is also used for the discoveries made by God to his prophets, and by them to the world; and more particularly for the books of the Old and New Testament. A revelation is, in the first place, possible. God may, for any thing we can certainly tell, think proper to make some discovery to his creatures which they knew not before. As he is a Being of infinite power, we may be assured he cannot be at a loss for means to communicate his will, and that in such a manner as will sufficiently mark it his own.-2. It is desirable. For, whatever the light of nature could do for man before reason was depraved, it is evident that it has done little for man since. Though reason be necessary to examine the authority of divine revelation, yet, in the present state, it is incapable of giving us proper discoveries of God, the way of salvation, or of bringing us into a state of communion with God. It therefore follows,-3. That it is necessary. Without it we can attain to no certain knowledge of God, of Christ, of the Holy Ghost, of pardon, of justification, of sanctification, of happiness, of a future state of rewards and punish-fluence. In the cold regions of the ments.-4. No revelation, as Mr. Brown observes, relative to the redemption of mankind could answer its respective ends, unless it were sufficiently marked with internal and external evidences. That the Bible hath internal evidence, is evident from the ideas it gives us of God's perfections, of the law of nature, of redemption, of the state of man, &c. As to its external evidence, it is easily seen by the characters of the men who composed it, the miracles wrought, its success, the fulfilment of its predictions, &c. [See SCRIPTURE.]-5. The contents of revelation are agreeable to reason. It is true there are some things above the reach of reason; but a revelation containing such things is no contradiction, as long as it is not against reason; for if every thing be rejected which cannot be exactly comprehended, we must become unbelievers at once of almost every thing around us. The doctrines, the institutions, the threatenings, the precepts, the promises, of the Bible, are every way reasonable. The matter, form, and exhibition of revelation are consonant with reason -6. The revela tion contained in our Bible is perfectly credible. It is an address to the reason,

north, in the burning regions of the south, the Bible begins to be known; and, from the predictions it contains, we believe the glorious sun of revelation shall shine and illuminate the whole globe.-9. The effects of revelation which have already taken place in the world have been astonishing. In proportion as the Bible has been known, arts and sciences have been cultivated, peace and liberty have been diffused, civil and moral obligation have been attended to. Nations have emerged from ignorance and barbarity, whole communities have been morally reformed, unnatural practices abolished, and wise laws instituted. Its spiritual effects have been wonderful. Kings and peasants, conquerors and philosophers, the wise and the ignorant, the rich and the poor, have been brought to the foot of the cross; yea, millions have been enlightened, improved, reformed, and made happy by its influences. Let any one deny this, and he must be an hardened, ignorant infidel, indeed. Great is the truth, and must prevail. See Dr. Leland's Necessity of Revelation. "This work," says Mr. Ryland, "has had no answer, and I am persuaded it

never will meet with a solid confutation." Halyburton against the Deists; Leland's View of Deistical Writers; Brown's Compendium of Natural and Revealed Religion; Stilling fleet's Origines Sacre, is, perhaps, one of the ablest defences of revealed religion ever written. Delany's Revelation examined with Candour; Arch. Campbell on Revelation; Ellis on Divine Things; Gale's Court of the Gentiles. REVENGE means the return of injury for injury, or the infliction of pain on another in consequence of an injury received from him, farther than the just ends of reparation or punishment require. Revenge differs materially from resentment, which rises in the mind immediately on being injured; but revenge is a cool and deliberate wickedness, and is often executed years after the offence is given. By some it is considered as a perversion of anger. Anger, it is said is a passion given to man for wise and proper purposes, but revenge is the corruption of anger; is unnatural, and therefore ought to be suppressed. It is observable that the proper object of anger is vice; but the object in general of revenge is man. It transfers the hatred due to the vice to the man, to whom it is not due. It is forbidden by the Scriptures, and is unbecoming the character and spirit of a peaceful follower of Jesus Christ. See ANGER.

REVEREND, venerable; deserving awe and respect. It is a title of respect given to ecclesiastics. The religious abroad are called reverend fathers; and abbesses, prioresses, &c. reverend mothers. In England, bishops are right reverend, and archbishops most reverend; private clergymen, reverend. In France, before the revolution, their bishops, archbishops, and abbots, were all alike, most reverend. In Scotland, the clergy individually are, reverend; a synod is, very reverend; and the general assembly is, venerable. The Dissenters, also, in England have the title of reverend; though some of them suppose the term implies too much to be given to a mere creature, and that of God only it may be said with propriety, Holy and reverend is his name,' Psalm cxi. 4.

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REVERENCE, awful regard; an act of obeisance; a submissive and humble deportment. See LORD'S NAME TAKEN IN VAIN.

RIGHTEOUSNESS, justice, holiness. The righteousness of God is the absolute and essential perfections of his nature; sometimes it is put for his justice. The righteousness of Christ de

notes not only his absolute perfections, but is taken for his perfect obedience to the law, and suffering the penalty thereof in our stead. The righteousness of the law is that obedience which the law requires. The righteousness of faith is the righteousness of Christ as received by faith. The saints have a threefold righteousness. 1. The righteousness of their persons, as in Christ, his merit being imputed to them, and they accepted on the account thereof, 2 Cor. v. 21. Eph. v. 27. Isaiah, xlv. 24.-2. The righteousness of their principles being derived from, and formed according to the rule of right, Psalm cxix. 11.-3. The righteousness of their lives, produced by the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit, without which no man shall see the Lord, Heb. xiii. 14. 1 Cor. vi. 11. See IMPUTATION, JUSTIFICATION, SANCTIFICATION; Dickinson's Letters, let. 12; Witherspoon's Essay on Imputed Righ. teousness; Hervey's Theron and Aspasia; Dr. Owen on Justification; Watts's Works, p. 532, vol. iii. oct. ed. Jenks on Submission to the Righteousness of God.

RITE, a solemn act of religion; an external ceremony. (See CEREMONY.) For the rites of the Jews, see Lowman's Hebrew Ritual; Spencer de Heb. Leg. Durell on the Mosaic Institution; Bishop Law's Theory of Religion, p. 89, 6th ed. Godwyn's Moses and Aaron; Edward's Survey of all Religions, vol. i. ch. 9. Jennings's Jewish Antiquities.

RITUAL, a book directing the order and manner to be observed in performing divine service in a particular church, diocese, or the like.

ROGEREENS, so called from John Rogers their chief leader. They appeared in New England about 1677. The principal distinguishing tenet of this denomination was, that worship performed the first day of the week was a species of idolatry which they ought to oppose. In consequence of this, they used a variety of measures to disturb those who were assembled for public worship on the Lord's day.

ROMISH CHURCH. See CHURCH, and POPERY.

ROSARY, a bunch or string of beads on which the Roman Catholics count their prayers.

ROSICRUCIANS, a name assumed by a sect or cabal of hermetical philosophers, who arose, as it has been said, or at least became first taken notice of, in Germany, in the beginning of the fourteenth century. They bound them

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