3. Turninr/ East in Baptis})i. — In the ancient bap- tisteries were two apartments : first, a porch or ante- room (TrnoavXioc oIkoc), where the catechumens made their renunciations of Satan and confessions of faith ; and the inner room (tcwnpog oIkoc), where tbe cei'o
EASTBURN
v.iony of baptism was performed. "When tlie catechu- mens were brought into the former of these they were placed witli their faces to the west, and were then commanded to renounce Satan with some gesture and rite cx])re.ssing an indignation against liim, as by stretching out their hands, or fohling tiiem, or striiv- ing tliem together, and sometimes by spitting at liini as if lie were present. The words generalh' used by the candidate were, '" I renounce Satan, and his works, and his pomps, and his service, and his angels, and his inventions, and all things that belong to him, or that are subject to him." The reason assigned by Cyril (Ctifech. Mi/stag.) for standing with the face to the west during this adjuration is that the west is the place of darkness ; and Satan is darkness, and his kingdom is darkness. That the candidate turned his face to the east, and made his solemn confession of obedience to Christ, generally in these words, "I give mj^self up to thee, O Christ, to be governed h\ thy laws." This was culled promissum, pactum, or vofiim- — a promise, a covenant, a vow. The face was turned to the. east because, as Cyril tells his disciples, since they had renounced the devil, the paradise of God, which was planted in the east, and whence our first parents were driven for their transgression into ban- ishment, was now laid open to them. — Bingham, Onff. Ecclesi bk. xi, ch. vii, § 4 ; Farrar, Ecclex. Diet. s. v.
4. It is "a curious instance of the inveteracy of popular custom that in Scotland, where everything that savored of ancient usage was set aside as popish by the reformers, the practice of burjdng with the feet to the east was maintained in the old churchyards ; nor is it uncommon still to set down churches with a scrupulous regard to east and west. In modern cem- eteries in England and Scotland no attention a])pears to be p:;id to the old punctilio of interring with the feet to the east, the nature of the ground alone being considered in the disposition of graves" (Chambers, Enc'iclop kKu, s. v.). — AVheatlj', On Common Prayer, ch. ii, § 2 ; Hook, Eccles. Diet. s. v. ; Bingham, Ori<j. Eccl. xiii, viii, 15. See Church Edifices.
Eastbiirn, J.\mks Wallis, A.M., a Protestant Episcopal minister, was Ijorn in London Sept. 2G, 1797. In 1803 he came to New York, and in 181G passed A.B. of Columbia College. In lsl8 he became rector of St. George's, Accomac County, Va., where his min- istrj' is still spoken of with great respect. In 1819 he sailed for Santa Cruz, and died on the 2d of December of the same year. He comjiosed the beautiful Trinity Sundai) Hymn; alj'ric, entitled Th" Summer Midnight; a poem, Yamoyden, a Tale of the Wars of King Philip ; and various anonymous essaj's. — Sprague, Ann. v, G35.
East, Christianity in the. See Aradia ; Asia ; China ; India ; Japan.
East Gate. See under East.
East Sea (with the art. ■'?^i;5|l C^ll, ha-yam hak-kadmoni' , the forward sen ; Sept. j) !^a\a(Taa y TrpoiTt]) is an ejiithet used in two passages (.Joel ii, 20 ; Ezek. xlvii, IS) of the Dead Sea (q. v.), because it lay on the eastern side of the Holy Land. The JMedi- terranean Sea, because lying in the opposite direction, was on a like account called the "West Sea, or the sea on the western border (Num. xxxiv, 0; Josh, xv, 12, etc.). See Sea.
East Wind (C^np, kadim', prop, the east [as oft'.'U rendered], i. e. eastern quarter; hence ellipti- cally for the wind from that direction, Job xxvii, 21 ; Isa. xxvii, 8; Jer. xviii, 17 ; Ezek. xxi.x, 20; the full expression Cip HI"! also occurs, E.Kod. x, 13, 14, 21 ; Psa. xlviii, 8 ; Ezek. xvii, 10). This is in Scripture friHiuently referred to as a wind of considerable str;'uj;th, and also of a peculiarly dry^ parching, and blighting nature. In Pliaraoh's dream the thiil cars of corn are represented as being lilnsted by an east wind, as, in a later age, Jonah's gourd was withered
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•
and himself scorched b_y "a vehement east wind" (Gen. xli, G ; Jonah iv, 8) ; and often in the prophets, when a blighting desolation is spoken of, it is associa- ted with the east wind, either as the instrumental cause or as a lively' image of the evil (Ezek. xvii, 10 ; xi.x, 12 ; Hos. xiii, 15 ; Hab. i, 9, etc.). This arose from the fact that in Egypt, Palestine, and the lands of the Bi- ble generally, the east wind, or a wind more or less from an eastern direction, blows over burning deserts, and consequently is destitute of the moisture which is necessar}' to promote vegetation. In Egypt it is rather a south-east than an east wind, whieli is com- monly found most injurious to health and fruitfiilness ; but this also is familiarly called an east wind, and it often increases to great violence. Ukert thus sums up the accounts of modern travellers on the suliject: " In the spring the south wind oftentimes springs up towards the south-east, increasing to a whirlwind. The heat then seems insupportable, although the ther- mometer does not always rise very high. As long as the south-east wind continues, doors and windows arc closed, but the fine dust penetrates ever3-where ; every- thing dries up ; wooden vessels warp and crack. The thermometer rises suddenly from lG-20° up to 30-3G°, and even 38° of Reaumur. This Avind works destruc- tion upon everj'thing. The grass withers, so that it entirel}"^ perishes if this wind blows long" (^Geogr. p. 111). It is stated liy another traveller, Wansleb, with special reference to the strong east wind emplo3'ed on the occasion of the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea, which took place shortly after Easter: " From Easter to Pentecost is the most stormy part of the j'ear, for the wind commonly blows during this time from the Red Sea, from the east" (see in Heng- stenberg's Egypt and the Books of Moses, p. 9 sq.). There is nothing, therefore, in the scriptural allusions to this wind which is not fully borne out by the reports of modern travellers ; alike bj' sea and by laud it is now, as it has ever been, an unwelcome visitant, and carries along with it many disagreeable eft'ects. — Fairbairn, s. v. See Wind.