Neo-Platonists. See Neo-Platonism. Neo-Pythagoreans. See Pythagoueans, Neo-Sabellians. See Sabellians. Neo-Samosatians. See Samosatians.
Neostadiensium Admonitio Christiana de
LiBRO CoNCORDi.E, queiii rocaiif, a quibusdam theologis nomine, quorumdam ordinum Augnstance confessivnis edito (Neostad. in Palatinatu, 1581). Under this title the Reformed theologians assembled bj' Johann Casi- mir at Neustadt published a work against the Lutheran Formula of Concord. Most of tliese theologians were driven out of Heidelberg by elector Ludwig, who sided with the Lutheran party, but were well received by the zealous Calvinist John Casimir. He appointed a num- ber of them to the gymnasium at Neustadt, which re- mained a Reformed seminary as long as Heidelberg con- tinued Lutheran, i. e. from 1576 to 1583. This Admo- nitio, composed by Ursinus, and therefore also contained in the Ursini Opera (ii, 486 sq. [Heidelb. 1612]), is the most important of the Lutheran protests against the Formula of Concord, and closely connected with the Bistoria der Augsburger Confession (published at Neu- stadt in 1580). It consists of a lengthy introduction on the evils of party feeling, the unavoidableness of doc- trinal differences, etc., and of twelve chapters, treating, 1, on the person of Christ and restoration of the true doctrine; 2, same concerning the Eucharist; 3, reply to the false accusations against our Church on account of certain dogmas; 4, on the authority of the Confession of Augsburg ; 5, on the true meaning of that confession ; 6, of the authority of Luther; 7, of the unjust judgment passed on our doctrine in the Book of Concord ; 8, of the false assertions contained in that work; 9, of the con- tradictions contained in it; 10, of the conduct of the theologians concerning the Formula of Concord, and of the duty of the Christian state in ecclesiastical contro- versies; 11, of the evils attending the carrying out of the Formula of Concord; 12, exposition of the true and correct manner of establishing unity in the Christian Church. It is a remarkable work. Thus on page 115 we read :
VL-0 o o
"The importance of the Confession of Augsburg is sometimes greatly ex.iggeiated, as when it is held that any one who dei)arts even from the letter of it is a heretic. Betides, we do not dissent from its real meaning. The canonical books alone are divine, and Ibrni the sole rule of doctrine. All other works on doctrine may indeed pos- sess ecclesiastical authority, but not divine, and can only be received in so far as they agree with the Scriptures. Among them are oecumenical works which no one has a right of his private authority to alter, while there are others peculiar to some churches which are less to be ob- served, as one can be a meml)er of the Universal Church without endorsing them, and becau.«e other churches have the same right of drawing up particular confessions ac- cording to their requirements. They do not abolish the decisions of the Universal Church ; nor do they decide on what is truth or what error, but only on what does or does not agree with the doctrines of their Church. They therefore cannot be looked upon as symbols, as is at- tempted to be done concerning the Confession of Augs- burg and the Formula of Concord, which would then be obligatory for all Christians. It is neither possible nor advisable to impose on all churches the same formula; it is therefore better to allow every Church liberty to draw up its own confession according to its requirenients and to the neces!<ities of controversv, provided they all hold fast to the fundamental truths'of Christianity. This is the case with seveial confessions of the present time, which are all necessary, and the Confession of Augsburg has no privilege over any other, however good it may be in itself. Neither of it nor of any other can it be said that whosoever rejects it is a heretic. It was framed in the early days of the Reformation, when light was only beginning to struggle against papal obscuration, and many points were yet imperfectly defined. It were both wrong and absurd to forbid learned teachers, and even the framers of the confession themselves, from making the doctrines profit by their increased experience, or eveu establishing them in a clearer and better manner. Be- sides, this confession is only the work of a few, and f]-amed under the pressure of circumstances amid a dis- turbed Diet ; consequently under fear of danj^er, and the necessity of dealing most gently with papal abuses. It is therefore neither as full nor a's explicit as many would desire, and requires subsequent improvemeuts."
This extract suffices to show that the Admonitio Neost. is yet worthy of a careful perusal. The chapter on the authority of Luther is especially remarkable for its true evangelical character, but it is least read by those whom it may benefit most. The party of the Formula of Concord attacked the Admonitio, and it was defended by the opponents of the formula, particularly by Ursinus himself {0pp. vol. ii). — Herzog. Real-Ency- klopddie, x, 263 sq. See Krauth, The Conservative Ref- ormation and its Theology, p. 288 sq. (J. N. P.)
Neot, St., a learned English monastic of the Anglo- Saxon period, noted as the preceptor as well as kinsman and friend of king Alfred,was born towards the middle of the first half of the 9th century. He is believed to have been first bred for a soldier's life, but while j-et a youth to have grown tired of the world, and retired to the ab- bey of Glastonbury, about 850, for a solitary' and devoted life. He studied assiduously, and it is said that even there he became eminent for his literary attainments, and that the fame of his learning drew to Glastonbury a great number of scholars eager to profit by his instruction. The Anglo-Saxon Life ofNiot seems to indicate tVat at this period of his life he made several visits to Rome. After a residence of some years at Glastonbury, Neot was seized with an eager desire to live in greater soli- tude, and he quitted his abbey, accompanied by a single attendant named Barius, to seek a place suitable to liis purpose. At length he settled among the woods of Cornwall, in a beautifully retired spot, near a village previously known by the name of Ham-Stoke, but after- wards called from him Neot-Stoke, and in more modern times distinguished by the simple appellation of St. Neot's. He there built himself a hermitage, and re- mained in it with his single companion during seven years, at the end of which period he began again to conceive the idea of returning to the world. His biog- raphers tell us that he went to Rome to consult with the pope, by whose advice he returned to his once solitary dwelling, and founded there a small monastic house, into which he gathered some monks, and was himself constituted their first abbot. According to his biogra- phers, he at this time received frequent visits from his