In modern times tlie descendants of unfortunate apos- tates, under the name of New Cliristians, have been gradually losing all traces of the religion of their ances- tors. Tlieir family names alone point them out, such
as Sequcira, Costa, Marques, Lucas, Pinto, Cardoso, Cas- tro, and many others, now borne by lioman Catholic families. There are still to be found, even in distant provinces of Portugal, some who keep up a few vestiges of former rites, especialh' the observance of the great Day of Atonement. A few families do not eat bread during the Passover, and many treasure the Jewish sacred prayer, the Sliemiwg Israel. See Lindo, History of the Jeii's of Spain and Portugal, ch. xxii sq. ; Da Costa, Israel and the Gentiles, p. 309 sq. ; Griitz, G'esck, der Juden, viii, CI sq. ; Barnum, Romanism, p. 378. (J. H.W.)
New Church. See New Jerusalkji Chuuch.
Newcomb, George, a minister of the INIethodist Episcopal Ciuirch, Soutli, was born in Quincy, Mass., Nov. 8, 1814. LTpon attaining manhood he devoted himself to teaching, which vocation he followed for many years. In 1850 he was licensed as a local preacher by the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1804, impelled by a sense of duty, he went to Beaufort, S. C, to labor among the freedmen as superintendent of schools. In 1807 he united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, decided to take active work in the ministry, and joined the South Carolina Conference. He was ap- pointed to Beaufort Circuit, where he remained three years. While laboring there he organized several so- cieties on the Combahee River and Ladies' Island. At the Annual Conference of 1870 he was made presiding elder, and assigned to St. John's District, Fla. He knew from experience what privations and hardships mean ; but, bold in the strength of God, he braved storms of opposition, surmounted difficulties, and in the pine lands and river bottoms, as well as in the crowded streets of the busy town, his voice was heard heralding forth the words of truth and soberness. The work proved too great for his physical strength, and he was finally obliged to relinquish it. and went North to regain his health. On his way, while at Beaufort, S. C, he fell a victim to yellow fever, and died Oct. 12, 1871. George Newcomb " occiqiicd a large place in the hearts of all who knew him." See Minutes of Annual Confer- ences ef the Meth. Episc. Church, South, 1871, p. 10.
Newcomb, Harvey, D.D., a noted Congrega- tional minister, was born at Thetford, Yt., in 1803. In 1818 he removed to Alfred, Yt., and in the following year, though still quite young, he commenced teaching school, and continued in that OQCupation most of the time for eight years. In the spring of 1820 he became publisher and editor of a newspaper in Westfiold, N. Y. Two years later he removed to Buffalo, as editor of the Buffalo Patriot. In 1830 and 1831 he publisl.cd the Christian Herald at Pittsburgh, Pa., and a paper for children, and for nearh' ten years from that period was mainly engaged in writing Sabbath-school boolcs. In 1840 he was licensed to preach, and the following year was made pastor of the Congregational Church at AVest Poxbury, Mass., and subsequently ministered to the churches at AYest Needham and Grantville. In 1849 he returned for a season to editorial life, being assistant editor of the Daily Traveller for about a year, and of the New York Observer for two years. In the fall of 1859, having spent several years in writing, establishing mis- sion Sabbath-schools in Brooklyn, N. Y., and preaching to the Park Street Mission Church of that city, he was installed over the Congregational Church in Hancock, Pa., where he continued to labor as long as his health allowed him to remain in active life. He died at Brook- lyn, N. Y., Aug. 30, 18G2. Dr. Newcomb was an able and useful Christian laborer, whose memory will be re- vered for many generations yet to come. He labored especially with his pen, and was the author of not less tlian 178 volumes, a great majority of which had special reference to the wants of children and youth, and had a large circuliition; among these were fourteen volumes of Church history. According to a calculation made in 1853, the circulation of his works had then reached
NEWCOMB
NEW CREATION
nearly sixty-five million pages. His largest work was the Cfjclopcedia of Missions (Xew York, 1854, 8vo ; 4th ed. 185(5), a book of great value to the student seeking information on American missions, though of assistance also in the general field which it seeks to cover. At the time of its publication it proved a welcome guest, not only on this side of the Atlantic, but also in Great Britain, where it has been freely used in compilations requiring statistics of missions. In our own pages the work is frequently quoted, and its usefulness often made apparent by the lengthy extracts which it affords us. Revised and brought down to date, it would still rank as the best cyclopaidia of missions in the English tongue. See Allibone, Did. of Brit, and A mer. A uthors, ii, 1410 ; Drake, Diet, of A mer. Biog. p. G56 ; Congreg. Quarterly, 18G3, 352 sq. (J. H. W.)
Newcomb, Peter, an Anglican clergjTnan of note, flourished very near the opening of the last cen- tury. He was vicar of Aldenham, Hertfordshire, and died about 1722. Four separate sermons of his were published in 1705, 1710, 1715, 1737, and another four to- gether in 1719; also fifty-two discourses, constituting a catechetical course upon the Church Catechism for the whole year (2d ed. 17C2; 1712, 2 vols. 8vo). His son, of like name, born in 1717, was rector of Shenley, in the same count v, and died in 1797. He wrote. History of the Abbey 'of St. Alban, 793-1539 (Lond. 1793-1796, 2 vols. 4to).