Knutzen, Matthias, a noted German atheist, was born at Oldensworth, in Schleswig-Holstein. in the early part of tlie 17th century, and was educated at Kcinigsberg and Jena Universities. He was the fomider of tlie Conscientiarians, advocating the doctrine that reason and conscience are sufficient to guide all men ; besides conscience, he asserted there is no other God, no other religion, no other laA\-ful magistracy. He gave the substance of liis system in a short letter (preserved in the edition of J/icralii syntagma historic ecehsiasti- cw [1G99]), dated from Rome, the contents of which may be reduced to the followhig heads: '"First, there is neither a God nor a devil ; secondly, magistrates are not
KOA
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to be valued, churches are to be despised, and priests rejected; thirdly, instead of magistrates and priests, we have learning and reason, which, joined with conscience, teach us to live honestly, to hurt no man, and to give every one his due ; fourthly, matrimony does not differ from fornication ; lifthly, there is but one life, which is this, after which there are neither rewards nor punish- ments; the holy Scripture is inconsistent with itself." Knutzen boasted of numerous followers in the principal cities of Europe; and, as he prided himself in having found adherents to his doctrine at Jena, I'rof. John Mu- sreus attacked and refuted him, mainly to dispel the im- pression which Knutzen had sought to make that Jena was likely to become a convert to his views. He died about 1G78, or later. See Bayle, Hist. Diet. s. v. ; Gen. Biofj. Did. s. v.: Kossel, in Stud, und Krit. 18M; Hall, EncjUop. vol. Ix vi. ( J. H. W.)
Ko'a (Hcb. id. ^"Ip, Sept. '\xouk v. r. }Lov^, Kov^'e, Aove ; \w]^.principes), a word that occurs but once, in the prophetic denunciations of punishment to the Jewish peo])le from the various nations whose idolatries they had adopted : " Tlie Babylonians and all the Chakteans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assj-rians with them: all of them desirable young men, captains and riders, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses" (Ezek. xxiii, 23). The Sept., Symmachus, The- odotion, Targums, Peshito, and Engl. Vers., followed by many interpreters, regard it as a proper name of some province or place in the Babylonian empire ; but none such has been found, and the evident paronomasia with the preceding terna in the same verse suggests a sym- bolical signification as an appellative, which appears to be furnished by the kindred Arabic kua, the designation of a he-camd or stallion for breeduig (a figure in keep- ing with the allusions in the context to gross lewdness, as a type of idolatry), and hence tropically a prince or noble. This is the sense defended by J. D. Michaelis {Siippl. 2175), after Jerome and the Heb. interpreters, and adopted by Gesenius (Thesaur. Heb, p. 1207). See SnoA; Pekod.
Koach. See Ciiameleox.
Kobavius, Andreas, a noted Jesuit, was born at Cirkwitz in 151)4, and died at Trieste Feb. 22, 1644. Of his personal history nothing further seems to be known. He wrote Vita B. Jvhannis fumlatoris frutruni miseri- cordice. — Allgem. Hisior. Lex. iii, 43.
Kobler, John, an early Methodist Episcopal minis- ter, was born in Culpepper Co., Ya., Aug. 29, 17G8; was converted in 1787; entered the itinerancy in 1789; vol- unteered as missionary to the North-western Territory', and for eighteen years labored with great success in that vast and varied field. In 1809 his health obliged him to locate, but he labored as his strength permitted till his death. In 1839 the Baltimore Conference, unsolicit- ed, placetl his name on its list as a superannuate. The remainder of his life was spent with great usefulness at Fredericksburg, Va., where he died July 20, 1843, full of years and honored labors. — Minutes of Con f. iii, 465.
Kobuda'isi, a celebrated Buddhist pilgrim of Ja- pan, was born in the year 774. In earl}' j'outh he be- gan studying the Chinese and Japanese writers, and. in order to have more time to indulge in his studies, he embraced religious life at the age of twenty. Having become high-priest, he accompanied a Japanese ambas- sador to China in 804, to study more thoroughly the doctrines of Chakia. A learned Indian named Azari gave him the information he desired, and presented him with the books he had himself collected in his pilgrim- ages. Another hermit of northern Hindustan gave him also a work he had translated from the Sanscrit, and several jMSS. on religious subjects. With these Kobu- da'isi returned to Japan in 806, where, by his preaching and miracles, he succeeded in converting tlie religious emperor of Japan, who embraced Indian Buddhism, and was baptized according to the rite of Chakia. Encour-
aged by his success, Kobuda'isi published a number of ascetic works, and a treatise in which he exposed the fundamental dogmas of Buddhism. According to Ko- buda'isi, the four scourges of humanity are hell, women, bail men, and war. There is no end to the number of miracles he is said to have wrought, or to the number of pagodas he caused to be built. He also caused tlie foundation of three chairs of theology for the interpre- tation of the sacred writings. He died in 835. See Tit- Sing, Bibliotkeque Juponaise ; Abel ^evmx^t, Nouveuux Melanges Asiatiques; Hoefer, A o«f. i)to^. Gener. xxvii, 935. (.J. N. P.)