Krebs, Winiam, a IMethodist Episcopal minister, was born in lialtiniore, Md., Sept. 2, 1819; joined the Church in bsl 1 , and wa,s iumiediately licensed to exhort ; and the year following joined the Baltimore Conference as pastor of Wesley Chapel, Baltimore. He died Sept.
KRECHLING
161
KRISHNA
26, 1870. "Brother Krebs was a perspicuous preacher, j logical ill method, earnest in manner, although not ve- hement, and eminently diligent in preparation. He was also a notably faithful pastor. Five years of his minis- try were spent in Washington, five in Baltimore, and one in Chicago, and everywhere the Lord owned his la- bors."— Cotrfl'rence Minutes, 1871, p. 19.
Krechling. See Anabaptists.
Krell. See Cuiiix.
Krey, Joiiaxn Beunhard, a German theologian, was born at Kostoclv Dec. 6, 1771, and was educated at the university in that city and at Jena. In 1806 lie was appointed assistant pastor at St. Peter's Church in liostock, and in 1814 became the principal pastor. He died Oct. 6, 1826. He published Beiti-age zur Mecklen- biirfjisc/icn Kirchen- u. (jdehrteii Geschickte (Rost. 1818- 1823, 3 vols, royal 8vo). For a list of his works, see Do- ring, Gdc'hrte Theol. Deulschlunds, ii, 207 sq.
KIrider, Barnabas Scott, a Presbyterian minister, was bom in 1825, in Rowan County, North Carolina ; re- ceived his education in Davidson College, N. C, where he gra^luated in 1850; and completed his theological studies in Columbia, S. C, and Princeton, N. J., semina- ries in 1855. In 1856 lie was ordained and installed as pastor of Bethany and Tabor churches, and in 1858 took charge of Unity and Franklin churches, N. C. The year succeeding he became pastor at Thyatira, where he died Oct. 19, 1865. Krider " was popular in address, j udicious and practical, and won the affection of his people." — Wilson, Presb. Historical Almanac, 18GG.
Krinon. See Lily.
Kripner, Samuel, a German divine of some note, was born at Schwabelwald, in the duchy of Baireuth, March 31, 1695; entered Jena University in 1710, and in 1727 was appointed professor of Greeiv and the Ori- ental languages at the gymnasium in Baireuth. He died Oct. 15, 1742. For a list of his writings, mainly dissertations, see During, Gekhrte Theol. Deutschlands, ii, 210 sq.
Krishna was the eighth and most celebrated of the ten chief incarnations of the god Vishnu, who, together witli I5rahnia and Siva, constituted the divine triad of the Hindu mythology. See TnniURTi. The term Krishna is a Sanscrit word signifying black, and was given to the incarnation either because the body as- sumed was of a black complexion, or, more properly, be- cause of the relation of the avatar to a deity whose dis- tinguishing color was black, as that of Brahma was red, and Siva was white ; or for a reason implied in the ci- tation from Porphyry (Eusebius, Be Prnpar. Evaiif/.'), that the ancients represented the Deity by a black stone because his nature is obscure and impenetrable by man. See further, Maurice, Indian A ntiquities, ii, 364-368 ; Prichard's Egypt. Mythol. p. 285; Maurice, Histoi-y of Ilimlostan, ii, 351.
Krishna is the most renowned demigod of the Indian mythology, and most famous hero of Indian history. It is probable that when the story of his life is stripped of its mythological accidents it will be found that he was a historical personage belonging to the Aryan race when they were making their gradual inroads south and east in the peninsula of India. It is presumable that the enemies whom he attacked and subdued were the Tura- nian races who constituted the aborigines of the coun- try [see KiiONns], and who, fighting fiercely and mer- cilessly in their primeval forests, were soon magnified into gods and demigods. See Mythology.
I. Theory of the Incarnation. — -Krishnaism, with all its impsrfections, may be accounted as a necessary and the extreme revolt of the human heart against the un- satisfying vagaries of tlie godless philosophy into which Brahmanism and Buddhism had alike degenerated. The speculations of the six schools of philosophy, as enumer- ated by native writers, served only to bewilder the mind until the word inaya, "illusion," was evolved as the ex- ponent of all that belongs to the present life, while the ^Y.— L
awfid nn-steriousness of Nirvana overshadowed the life to come. ]\Ian's nature asks for light upon the per- plexed questions of mortal existence, but at the same time demands that which is of more moment, an an- chorage for the soul in the near and tangible. The ages had been preparing the Hindu mind for the dogma of Krishna — an upheaving of something more subsi an- tial from the great deep of human hope and fear than the unstable elements of a life transitory and void. Con- sult Max MUller's Chijjs, i, 242 ; Biblioth. Sac?-a, xviii, 543-568.
The avatars preceding that of Krishna were mere emanations of the god Vishnu, but this embodied the deity in the entirety of his nature. In tliose he brought only an ansa, or portion of his divinity, "a part of a part;" in this he descended in all the fidness of the godhead, so much so that Vishnu is sometimes con- founded with Brahma, the latter becoming incarnate in Krishna as " the very supreme Brahma." See Hard- wick, Christ and other Maste?-s, i, 280, 291, note ; also Sir Wm. Jones, in Maurice's Hindostan, ii, 256. In the Bhagavat (iita, that wonderful episode of the ISIaha- bharata, Arjuna asks of Krishna that he may be favored with the view of the divine countenance. As, in re- sponse, the deity bestows upon him a heavenly eye that he may contemplate the divine glory, he indulges in a rhapsody which describes the incarnate god as compris- ing the entire godhead in all its functions. Again, Krishna says of himself, " I am the cause of the produc- tion and dissolution of the whole universe," etc. (Thom- son's edition, p. 51).