APO
( Hi )
APO
Sio'uTd "exprefs himfelf after the manner of "the Prophets, whole Style is ufually figurative.
Of all their Objections againft the Authority of this Book, that feems the beft grounded which is drawn from thofe Words in Cap.ii. ver. 15. Write to the Angel of the Church of Thyatira : There was not, fay they, any Chri- stian Church at tbyat ira at that time St. Epiphamus,
who grants 'em this Point, is forced to have recourfe to the Prophetic Spirit) as if St. John had forefcen there would be a Church there in courie of time.
Some late Authors have made a good amendment to St. Epiphanius's Anfwer : "Tis probable, in the time of that Father, the Catalogue of the Bilriops, with other Acts, which {hew that there had been a Church eltablifh'd there from the time of the Apoftlcs ; might not be known. Gro- tius adds, that tho there was not, indeed, any Church of Gentile Converts at I'hya'.ira when St. John wrote ; yet there was one of Jews', as there had been another at Thef- falonica before St. Paul preached there.
Several Orthodox Writers have rejected the Apcalypje as a Book which countenanced she Reveries of Cerinthus touching the carnal Reign of Chrift on Earth. See Ce- rinthians, and Millenaries.
Tho *Diwyfim Alexandrinus allow'dthe Apocalypft for an infpired Writing ; yet he took it for the Work ot another John, beftde St. John the Evangeitft ; which he endeavours to make appear from the Diverfuy of Style. But we all Inow how precarious the Arguments are, which are drawn
trorn the mere Confideration of Style 'Tis true, in molt
of the antient Greek Copies, both ptinted and manufcript, we find the Name Jehu the "Divine at the Head thereof; but they who put this Title, meant no more thereby than to denote the Apoflle St. John, whom the Greek Fathers call the Divine, by way of Eminence, to diftinguifli him from the other Evangeliits. See Evangelist.
There have been feveral other Works publifhcd under
the Title of ApocalyPfes Sozomeu mentions a Book ufed
in the Churches of 'Paleftiue, call'd the Apocalypfe, or Re- velation of St. 'Peter. He alfo mentionsan Apocatyfft of St. 'Paul ; which the Copht£ retain to this day. Eujebitts
alfo fpcaks of both thefc ApocalypJ'es St. Epiphamus
mentions an Apocalypfe of Adam : Nicephorus, of an Apo- calypfe of Efdras : Gratian and Cedremts, of an Apoca- lypj'e of Mofes, another of St. L'hemas, and another of St. Stephen.
'Porphyry, in his Life of Plotin, makes mention of the Apocalypfes or Revelations of Zoroafter, Zoflrian, Nico- thdiis, Allogenes, i£c.
APOCHYL1SMA, among Phyficians, Lifptffation; the boiling and thickening of any Juice with Sugar and Honey, into a kind of hard Conliitcnce. See Inspissation,
APOCOPE, a Figure in Grammar, wherein the laft Letter or Syllable of a Word is cut off. See Figure and Word.
The Word is derived from the Greek &n.*.\im<*, to cut of 5 which is form'd from the Prepofition a.-m, and the Verb
- .W\v, I CUt.
A like Retrenchment at the beginning of a Word is call'd Aphterefis. See Aph^resis.
APOCRISIARIUS, or ArocpisARius, in Antiquity, an Officer appointed to carry or deliver the Meffages, Or- ders, and Anfwers of a Prince He afterwards became
his Chancellor, and kept the Seal. In the bafer Latin we fometimes meet with Afecreta, Secretary, for Apocrijary.
Zozimus defines ihe Apocrifavius, Secretary for foreign .Affairs ; being the fame with what Vofifcus in the Lite of Aurelian calls Notarius Steretortm.
The Title and Quality of Apocrifary became at length appropriated, as it were, to the Pope's Deputy or Agent, who redded at Conflantinople to receive the Pope's Orders, and the Emperor's Anfwer St. Gregory wis Apocri- fary of Pope Pelagius, at the time when he compofed his Morals on fob.
The Apocrifary did the Office of the modern Nuntio's. See Nuntio.
Sometimes, however, he had the Rank and Quality of the Pope's Legate. See Legate.
The Herefy of the Monothelites, and aftetwards that of the Ieonoclafies, broke off the Culiom of having a Papal Apocrifary at Confitmtinople.
The Word is form'd from the Greek iL-xlieiT,!, R fpen- fum, Anfwer Hence he is ufually call'd in Latin, Re-
CponfaliS. , , ,
APOCROUSTICS, Medicines intended to flop the
Flux of malignant Humours, to a part difeafed. See
Repellent.
They are ufually cold, affringent, and confiding of large
Particles; wherein they differ from drawing Medicines,
which are hot, and coniiit of more fubtile parts. See Ripe-
The Word is derived from cLm.x.$xv, fulfo, pello, I drive, APOCRYPHAL, fomething dubious-, or that comes from an uncertain Author, whereon much credit cannot be repofed;
Thus we fay, an Apocryphal Book, Paffage, Hiflory, {? c _
meaning, fuch as are of fufpetted Authority In Matters
of .Dudlrine, the Writings of Hereticks, Schifinaticks, &c. are held Apocryphal.
l/ij]ius o'oferves," that with regard to the facred Books none are to be accounted Apocryphal, except fuch as have neither been admitted into the Synagogue, nor the Church, fo as to be added to the Canon and read in public. See Canon, Bible, &c.
The Word is detived from the Greek etJrcxpuW/s/i'j to hide * becaufe the Origin of fuch Books was unknown, or becaufe
they conrain'd fome Mylteries not fit to be known p or
this reafon, the Books of the Sybils were antiently call'd^,,. crypbat, as being committed to the Truft of the 'Decemviri alone : and tor the like reafon the Annals of the Egyp. tians and Tyriims were call'd by the fame Name. See Sv- bil, Decemvir.
Before the Septuagint Verfion, the Books of the Old Teftamentwere all Apocryphal in this fenfe— But in procefs of time, the fenfe of the Word was changed, and thofe Books alone were call'd /pocryphal, which were of doubt- ful or fufpetted Authority.
In the original meaning of the Word, all the Writings depofued in the Temple were call'd Apocryphal; by reafon they were kept fectet from the People.
When the Jews publifh'd their facred Books, they only gave the Appellations of Canonical and Divine to fuch as they thus made public ; and fuch as were fiill retain'd in their Archives, rhey call'd Apocryphal, for no other rea. fon, but becaufe they were not public ; fo that they might be really Sacred and Divine, tho not promulged as fuch.
Thus, in refpeft of the Bible, all Books were call'd A- pocryphal, which were not inferted in the Jcxifb Canon of Scripture ; and 'tis in this fenfe St. Epiphanius is to be underft ood, when be fays, That the Apocryphal Books are not put in the Ark among the other infpired Writings. Scs Ark.
There has been a great Difpute between the Romanifts and the Reformed, about the Authority of thole Books, now call'd, by the latter. Apocryphal ; as, Judith. Tobit, Efdras, Maccabees, i£c. the one having the Opinions of many of the Primitive Fathers for their Vouchers, and tho others, the Tradition of their Church.
M. Simon contends, that they mull have been read, in Greek, even by the Apoftles themfelvcs ; which he infers
from divers Paftages in their Writings He adds, that the
Church recciv'd them with the other Books of Scripture, from the Hellenifl Jews ; and that if the Churches of Pct- leftine never admitted them, 'twas not for their accounting them Apocryphal in the fenfe the Word is now ufed, but becaufe they read none but what were writ in Hebrew.
To this we oppofe the Authority of a great number of Ecclefiaflical Writers, particularly among the Greeks ; who make a precife DiftincHon between the Books now call'd
Apocryphal, and thofe contain'd in the Jewtifb Canon
St. Jerom, in particular, is very full upon the Head ;~and even fpeaks of his Opinion as the common Opinion of the Church at that time.
APODICTICAL Argument, or Syllogifm, fignines a clear, convincing Proof, or Demonstration of a Thing. See Demonstration, Argument, Sic.
The Word is form'd of the Greek a.Tr,fimr<>fjM, I demon- Jlrate, I pew clearly.
APOGEE, Apocjeum, in Aflronomy, that Point in the Orbit of the Sun, or a Planet, which is furtheft diftant from the Earth. See Orbit and Earth.
The Apogee is a Point in the Heavens, at the Extreme of the Line oi the Apfides ; in which the Sun, or a Planet, is at the greatcft Diftance that it can be at, from the Earth, in its whole Revolution. See Apsis, Earth, Planet, He.
The oppofite Point hereto, is call'd the 'perigee. See Perigee.
The antient Aflronomers regarding the Earth as the Centre of the Syftem ; chiefly confider'd the Apogee and Perigee : The Moderns, making the Sun the Centre, change the Apogee and Perigee for Aphelion and Perihe- lion. See Aphelion and Perihelion. See alfo Sy- stem.
The Apogee has a Motion ; the Quantity of which is found by comparing two Obfervations thereof made at a great diftance of time ; converting the difference into M nutes, and dividing it by the number of Years elaptea between the two Obfervations. The Quotient gives the
annual Motion of the Apogee .Thus, from an Obler-
vation made by Hipparcbus in the Year before drift 1+O1
whereby the Sun's Apogee was found 5 , 50' of B ; f™
another
