Let it ever be remembered, therefore, that no man or men liave any authority whatever from Christ over the consciences of others, or to persecute the persons of any whose religious principles agree not with their own. See Lowell's Sermons ; Robinson's Claude, ii, 227, 229 ; Saurin's Sermons, vol. iii. Preface ; Locke, Government ami Toleration; Memoir of Roger Williams. — Buck, Theol. Diet. s. V. See Judgment, Private.
Intorcetta, Pfjosper, a Roman Catholic Sicilian who went to China as a Jesuit missionary, was born at Piazza in 1G25. He had first studied law, but, believing it to be his duty to serve the Church, he joined the or- der of the Jesuits, and prepared for the missionary field in China. Here he encountered many obstacles, but, notwithstanding, succeeded in making many converts. Persecuted by the Cliinese, he courageously pushed his work forward, and became one of the greatest of the Jesuitical missionaries to that country. He died Oct. 3, 1G9G. His works evince a careful and continued study of the language of the country in which he aimed to es- tablish his peculiar religious creed; and it might be well for Protestant missionaries sent to Asiatic and oth- er heathen fields of missionary work to imitate the great zeal which has animated so manj-^of the missionaries of the Romish Church, and which has secured them often- times greater promnience than the Protestant laborers. He wrote Taihio (or " the great study of Confucius and of hisdisci|.leTseu-sse"), edited, with a Latin translation, by Father Ignace de Costa (1GG2) •.—Tchoung-i/ounrj (or '•Invarial)ility in the intermediate course") ; one of the four Ixx.ks of Confucianism, preceded by a life of Confu- cius: Confucii Vifa(iU>!\, IGG!), small M.^-.—Lum/u ("the book of Confucius's philosophical discussions") (wifliout place or date, 1 vol. small fol.) :—7Vx/ ;»,„;,;„,„ ,/,. r,///,/ Sinensi (Lyon, 1700, Hvo):—Com.p,iiili;is,i Xnrrat. ili-llo Slato ihllti .)fi.<sioiie Cinesp, romiiiciiiiiilo dair anno 1581, nno ,d li;c,!) (i;omc, 1G71 or 1G72, Svo). There also re- mains still in MS. a complete paraphrase of the four books of Confucius. See lioefer, youc. Bioii. Gen. xxv 9;)l. (J. H.W.) ' '
Intrepidity is a term used to designate a disposi- tion of mind unaffected with fear at the approach of danger. Resolution either banishes fear or surmounts it, and is firm on all occasions. Courage is impatient to attack, undertakes boldly, and is not lessened by diffi- culty. Valor acts with vigor, gives no way to resist- ance, I>ut pursues an enterprise in spite of opposition. Bravery knows no fear; it runs noijly into danger, and prefers honor to life itself. Intrepidity encounters the greatest |)erils with the utmost coolness, and dares even present death. This is especially the case with the martyrs of Cliristianity. No persecution, however great. dill they fear to encounter for the sake of their religious beUcf, and death was welcomed as the crowning \irtory over error and superstition.— Henderson's Buck, Tluol
JJir/.s.v.
Introduction, IJmi.icAi., is now the technical des- ignation for works whicli aim to furnish a general view of such subjects and (piestions as are i)reliminary to a projier exposition of tlie sacred books, the corrcspoml- mg branch of Biblical science being often styled " Lsa- tiooics,' in a strict sense. Tlie word " introduction" being of rather vague signification, there was also for- merly no definite idea attached to the expression ''Bib-
lical Introduction.''' In works on this subject (as in Home's Jnti-oduction) might be found contents belong- ing to geography, antiquities, interpretation, natural history, and other branches of knowledge. Even the usual contents of Biblical introductions were so un- connected that Schleiermacher, in his Kurze Darstel- lung des Theologischen Studiums, justly calls it ein Man- ckerlei ; that is, a farrago or omnium-gatherum. Bib- lical introduction was usually described as consisting of the various branches of preparatory knowledge requisite for viewing and treating the Bible correctly. It was distinguished from Biblical history and archasology by being less intimately connected with what is usually called history. It comprised treatises on the origin of the Bible, on the original languages, on the translations, and on the history of the sacred text, and was divided into general and special introduction. An endeavor to remove this vagueness by furnishing a firm definition of Biblical introduction was made by Dr. Credner (in his Einleitung, noticed below). He defined Biblical in- troduction to be the history of the Bible, and divided it into the following parts : 1. The history of the separate Biblical books ; 2, the history of the collection of these books, or of the canon ; 3, the history of the spread of these books, or of the translations of it ; 4, the history of the preservation of the text ; 5, the history of the in- terpretation of it. The same historical idea has been advocated by Hiivernick (in his Einleit.'), and more par- ticularly by Hupfeld {Begriff u. MetJiode der hibl. Einl. 18-14). This view, however, has not generally been ac- ([uiesced in by Biblical scholars, being regarded as too limited and special a treatment, inasmuch as the end in view is to furnish a solution of such questions as arise upon the Bible as a book, yet excluding such prepara- tory sciences in general as philology, archiEology, and exegesis, the first two of which rather relate to aU an- cient writings, and the last to passages in detail. By common consent, treatises on Biblical introduction have now usually come to embrace the field covered by the articles on the several books as given in this Cyclope- dia, and the topics legitimately included in this depart- ment of Biblical science may briefly be summed up under the following heads, which may, however, some- times require to be differently arranged, or even com- bined: 1, Authorship; 2, date; 3, place; 4, inspiration ; 5, contents ; G, style ; 7, peculiar difliculties — of the sev- eral books, with the literature and commentaries ap- pended. In this way the old division of general and ■•special introduction is preserved only so far that some treatises are on all the books of the Old or New Testa- ment in order, while others take up a single book only — the latter usually as prolegomena to a separate com- mentary; and the wider topics formerly discussed are relegated to their appropriate and separate spheres, e. g. in addition to Archieology (including Geography, Chro- nology, History, and Antiquities proper), Lexicology (includuig radical and comparative philology, and syno- nymes), and Grammar (including all the peculiarities of Hebraistic and Hellenistic phraseology, poetical modes of expression, rhetorical traits, etc.) — the following more especially : the Canon, Criticism, Inspiration, and Inter- pretation (q. V. severally). With these prefatory dis- tinctions, we proceed to give a sketch of the historical development of this depprtmcnt of Biblical Science, with some criticisms upon the several works in which it has l)eon evolved. In these remarks we shall largely avail ourselves of the article on the subject in Kitto's'rV/cA;- piedia; see also Bleek's Introd. to the 0. ^.(Lond. 18G9), i, 5 sq.