Islands of the Blessed were, according to a very old (ireek myth, certain happy isles situated to- wards the edge of the Western Ocean, where the favor- ites of the gods, rescued from death, dwelt in joy, and possessed everything in abundance that could contribute to it.— Cliambers, Cycloji. v, G48.
Islebians is the name by which the followers of John Agricola (q. v.) are designated, in distinction from all other Antinomians (q. v.). The name is derived from their master, who was also known as the maijisler Islebius, because a native of Eisleben, also the birth- place of Luther, with whom he was a contemporary. Sometimes the Islebians are called Nomomachi (q. v.).
Islip, SiJiox, an English prelate, flourished in the llth century. But little is known of his early histo- ry. He became archbishop in 1349, having previous- ly been canon of St. Paul's, dean of the Arches, and a member of the privy council of the king. He is espe- cially celebrated as the founder of the college of Can- terburj' (now a part of Christ Church, Oxford). "He built it," says bishop Godwin, in his account of Islip, •' and endowed it with good possessions, appropriating unto the same the parsonages of Pagham and Maj'field." Perhaps more noteworthy still is his conduct towards Wickliffe, related by Neander {Ch.Hist. v, 135-6, where the name is by mistake spelled Islep, and so even in the English translation by Torrey). Islip, says Neander, was a firm friend of the reformer, and in 13G3 showed his predilections for Wickliffe by appointing him over- seer over the Canterbury college, characterizing him " as a man in whose circumspection, fidelity, and activ- ity he had the utmost confidence, and to whom he gave this post on account of his honorable deportment and his learning." Of course, after Islip's death in 13G6 (Apr. 2G), Wickliffe was deprived of his place (comp. Le^vis, Life of Wickliffe, 1820, p. 9 sq.). See Hook, Ecclesias- tical Biography, vi, 2G5. . (J. H. W.)
Ismachi'ah (Heb. Yismah/ah' , hut only in the pro- longed form Yismachya'hu, '.1^n^p7, supported by Je- hovah ; Sept. Sa^axia), one of the Levites charged by Hezekiah with the superintendence of the sacred offer- ings under the general direction of the high-priest and others (2 Chron. xxxi, 13). B.C. 726.
Is'niael, a Grsecized form of the name Isiimael (q. v.), found in the A.Y. of the Apocrypha.
1. {'lafiai]\.') The son of Abraham (Judith ii, 23).
2. (IfffiuiiXoc) One of the priests who relinquished their Gentile wives after the Captivity (1 Esdr. ix, 22).
Ismael, the elder son of Jaafer Saduk, the sixth imaum, in a direct line, from Ali Ben-Ali Talcb (who married Mohammed's daughter Fatima, and founded the Ali sect, also known as Fatimites, and more generally as the Shiites, q. v.), was to have been the sevcntli imaum of the Shiites, but, as he died during his father's lifetime, Jaafer appointed as his successor his younger son Kau- zim. This many of the Shiites opposed, holding that, as the imaum is an incarnate emanation of the Deity, only a descendant of the direct line could assume the responsibilities of this high office, and claimed the dis- tinction for the sons of Ismael, who alone, of the descend- ants of Jaafer, were entitled to be imaums. This con- tention caused a schism among the Shiites about the 2d century of the Hegira (8th century of our a?ra). and gave rise to a new sect, under the name of IS^MAEIi- ITES, or IsjiAELiAxs. The Abbassidre (friends and followers of Abbas, the uncle of Mohammed), whose in- terest it was to foster all divisions between the power- ful Shiites, in order to assume the government them- selves, sided with the Ismaelites. But the Persians, among whom the Ismaelites at first mainly prospered (generally known as Talimis, from /o/jhh', "learning," because they afterwards held, contrary- to the orthodox IMussulmans, that man can arrive at the truth of any- thing only by continued study), soon comi.rehended the designs of the Abbassidw, and' thcv warred alike agauist
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