NeocSri (vnoKopoi, temple -su'eepers) is the title which the olHcers bore who were attached to the pagan
! temples in ancient Greece. Their office was originally to sweep the temple, and perform other menial services connected with it. In course of time these duties were intrusted to slaves, and the Xeocori came to occupy a higher position, superintending the temples, guarding
I the treasures, and regulating the sacred rites. In some towns there was a regular college of Xeocori, and the office, having considerable honor attached to it, was
' sought by persons even of high rank. In the titne of the emperors nations and cities eagerly sought the title of Xeocori, and counted it a special privilege to have
! the charge of a temple. Thus in the Acts of the Apos- tles we learn that the city of Ephesus was Xeocoru to the great goddess Diana. See (iardner, Faiths of the World, p. 525; Broughton, Biblioth. Uistorica Sacra, s. V. See DiAXA.
I Neology (from vioc, new, and \6yoc, doctrine'), a
, term synonymous with Kaifoco^ia, Kaivoroiiia, is ex- pressive of a tendency to novelty, not from a feeling of
i its superiority, but simply on account of its newness. The word is not classically used, yet vtoXoyia would not be contrary to the analogy of language, and would
' be equivalent to the nominu mutare (as Cicero, De Fin, iii, 5, says of Zeno: "Non tam rerum inventor fuit, quam novorum verborum"). Neology, then, is an un- necessary innovation in language, thought, or usage, and dangerous in so far as it disturbs continuity and is the result of fancy. In theology the term is used espe- cially to designate the rationalistic theories opposed to revealed religion which have obtained such success among certain German and English theologians. These resort to the novel expedient of reducing the standard of the doctrine and facts of Scripture to the level of unas- sisted hinnan reason. See Rationalism. (.1. II.W.)
Neo-Manichaeans was the name of a Christian sect whicli. like the Priscilliatiists and Paulicians, de- nied the resurrection of the flesh ; and, like the Quak- ers and Swedenborgians of onr own day, thought that after death the soul became the inhabitant of a spirit- ual body. In other respects the Neo-Manicha;ans held the views of the Manichaeans (q. v.).
Neomenia or Noumenia (Gr. new moon'), a fes- tival of the ancient Greeks at the beginning of every lunar month, wliich was (as the name imports) observed upon the day of new moon in honor of all the gods, but especially of Apollo, who was called Nf oju/yj'ioc, because the sun is the lirst author of all light, and whatever dis- tinction of times and seasons may be taken from other planets, yet they are all owing to him as the original and fountain of those borrowed rays by which they shine. This festival was observed with games and pub- lic entertainmetits made by the richer class, to whose tables the poor flocked in great numbers. The Athe- nians at these times offered solemn prayers and sacri- fices for the prosperity of their country during the en- suing month in Ercctheus's temple, in tlie Acropolis, which was kept by a dragon, to which they gave a cake made of hotiey. The Jews had their Neomenia, or feast of the new moon, on which peculiar sacrifices were ap- pointed. They made on this day a sort of family en- tertainment and rejoicing. Thus David tells Jonathan, •' Behold, to-morrow is the new moon, and I shoidd not fail to sit with the king at meat," etc; and Saul, we find, took it amiss that he did not attend. The most celebrated Neomenia of all others was that at the be- ginning of the civil year, or first day of the month Tisri. No servile labor was performed oti that day; and they offered particular burnt sacrifices, and soiuided the trum- pets of the Temple. The modern Jews keep the Neo- menia only as a feast of devotion, which any one may observe or not, as he pleases. In the prayers of the syn- agogue they read from Psa, cxiii to cxviii. They bring forth the roll of the law, and read therein to four per- sotis. They call to remembrance the sacrifice that used to be offered on this day in the Temple. See New JIooN.
NEONOMIANS
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NEONOMIAXS
Neononiiaus (from the Greek vioc, new, and vu- fiov, law) is the appellation of those Christians who re- gard Christianity as a neio law, mitigated in its requi- sitions for the sake of Christ. Neonomianism has many modifications, and has been held by Arminians as well as Calvinists — persons very greatly differing from each other in the consequences to which they carry it, and in the principles from which they deduce it. One opin- ion is that the new covenant of grace which, through the medium of Christ's death, the Father made with men consists, according to this system, not in our be- ing justified by faith, as it apprehends the righteous- ness of Christ, but in this, that God, abrogating the exaction of perfect legal obedience, reputes or accepts of faith itself, and the imperfect obedience of faith in- stead of the perfect obedience of the law, and gracious- ly accounts them worthy of the reward of eternal life. Towards the close of the 17th century a controversy was agitated among the English Dissenters, in which the one side (who were partial to the writings of Dr. Crisp) were charged with antinomianism, and the other (who favored those of Mr. Baxter) were accused of neo- nomianism. Dr. Daniel Williams was a principal writer on what was called the neonomian side. He teaches as foUows :