EMMONS
180
EMPEROR
•ecular as well as religious affairs. He was a man of authority in his parish, faithful, often stem, yet be- loved.— It is as an author, however, that he has exert- ed his greatest influence on the churches. He pub- lished during his life more than seven thousand copies of nearly two hundred sermons, besides four elaborate dissertations and more than a hundred essays for the magazines of his day. He must have preached nearly or quite six thousand times, and at his death a part only of his discourses were collected and published in six octavo volumes ; to these a seventh volume was afterwards added. At a still subsequent period a new and eularged edition of his sermons was published in six volumes. The tirst edition of his works was intro- duced with a memoir by his son-in-law. Rev. Jacob Ide, D.D., of Medvva}', Mass. ; the second edition with a memoir bj' E. A. Park, of Andover, Mass. — He be- gan to study in 1762 ; he ceased to preach in 1827 : during these sixty-five years he was an earnest, pa- tient, and singularly metliodical applicant to books. During ten of the years which followed his resigna- tion of his active pastorate he continued to be an as- siduous reader, although he relaxed his habits of in- tense energetic stud//. It may be safely affirmed, then, that he devoted seventy-five j'ears to the perusal of books, the meditation on their contents, and the writ- ing on themes suggested by them. He was accustom- ed to spend ten, twelve, or fourteen hours dail}' in his room with his book or pen in hand. He had a place for everj-thing, and kept everything in its place. He was temperate in his diet, regular in all his habits, and, although he took no phj'sical exercise, he enjoj'ed uninterrupted health during his long and laborious life. He was distinguished for his punctuality, pre- cision, definiteness, and sharpness of mind, keen analy- sis, self-consistency, wit, frankness, honest^', profound reverence for the truth. He was tenacious of old usages, and went so far as to continue to wear the an- tique dress, even the three-cornered hat, as long as he appeared in public. He was an original tliinker, and formed his theological system with rare independence of mind. He coincided in opinion with Dr. Samuel Hopkins, of Newport, more nearly than with any pre- ceding divine. A sketch of his theological system will be given in the subsequent notice of Dr. Hopkins. It may be here remarked, however, that he considered himself not a high, nor a low, but a consistent Calvinist; and, so far as his speculations were novel, they were mainly designed to make the Genevan scheme consist- ent with itself. On one Sabbath, for instance, he would use so bold language in advocating the doctrine of decrees as might induce some to call him a Fatalist; and on a following Sabbath he would use so bold language in advocating the doctrine of free-will as might induce some to call him a Pelagian ; and on a third Sabbath he would employ his ingenuity in recon- ciling his statements on the agency of God with his statements on the free agencj' of man. This ingenui- ty in harmonizing such views as are often pronounced irreconcilable, was a main source of the interest excit- ed in him. — Dr. Emmons died on the 23d of September, 1840, at the age of ninetj'-fivc years and five months. He retained his faculties to a surprising degree until Lis death, and few men have ever left the world with a more unfaltering and solid faith in Christ. — In 1775 he was married to his first wife, who, with her two chil- dren, died in 1778. In 1779 he was married to his sec- ond wife, by whom he had five children, two of whom survived liim. She was the step-daughter of Rev. Dr. Samuel Hopkins, of Hadley, Mass., and thus he became the brother-in-law of Rev. Dr. Spring, of Newburyport, Mass., Rev. Dr. Austin, president of Burlington Col- lege, Rev. Leonard AVorcestcr, and Rev. Mr. Riddel, four strong Hopkinsian divines. In 1831, when he was eightj'-six j-ears of age, he was married to his third wife, the widow of his former friend, Rev. Mr. Mills, of Sutton, Mass. (E. A. P.)
Em'mor ('Ei^i.i6p v. r. 'Efifiioo), a Grrecized form (Acts vii, l(i) of the name of Hamor (q. v.), the father of Shechcm (Gen. xxxiv, 2).
Emperor (Lat. imperator, general), a title common (in its Lat. form) to all governors wlio had paramount jurisdiction within a given province (Smitli, Diet, of Class. Aniiq. s. v. Imperium), but technically assumed as a prainomen lirst by Julius Cajsar (Sueton. Jvl. 7G), as affecting supreme power, and historically attributed to his successors, the heads of the so-styled Roman Empire (q. v.). They were also designated as Cae- sar (q. v.). We are here chiefly concerned with them ' as they came in contact with the Christian religion in the character of persecutors or patrons. See Perse- cution. (See Jiiildwin, Edicta vett.principum Roman, de Chrisfianis, Hal. 1727 [also in Heineccii Jurispr. Rcrni. i, 1374 sq.] ; Crause, De Romanorum imperatori- bus hcereticis, Ziz. 1674; Hebenstreit, De j)rimis Chris- tianis imperalor'ibiis, Jen. 1702; Heineccius, De minis- tris Ccesarum Christianis, Hal. 1712; also Hirt, De im- peratorum ante Constant, erga Christianos favore, Jen. 1758 ; Koepke, De statu Chtistianorum sub imjjp. Berol. 1828).