Observer of Times is the rendering in the A. V. of the Ileb. "ii"'?, meonen', Deut. xviii, 10, 14 [so also the verb. Lev. xix, 26 ; 2 Kings xxi, G ; 2 Chron. xxxiii, 6; elsewhere '•enchanter," '"Meonenim," "soothsayer"] (comp. Spencer, Leg. lit. ii, II, 3; and see Necroman- ckr; Sekr), and the superstition, intimately associated with astrology, and widely spread through the ancient world by the influence of the Oriental Magi, which dis- tinguishes and determines days as lucky or unlucky, seems to be plainly alluded to not only here, but also in the words onenini' (D'^pSi", Isa. ii, 6; Jer. xxvii, 9) and onenah' (n333?, Isa. Ivii, 3), commonly rendered " sooth- sayers" or "sorcerers" (q. v.). Deyling {Observat. iii, 128 sq.) finds it mentioned also in Job iii, 5 (iTi'1'23 Qi"^ ; but see Gesen. Thes. ii, 693). In Gal. iv, 10, Paul censures the same practice. This peculiar regard to days originated at a very early period. It had al- ready become prevalent in Greece in the age of Hesiod (^Works and lJays,ll(); comp. 768; see Ideler, C^jwio/. 1, 88), and is often mentioned by later authors, both Greek and Roman (see, e. g., Sueton. Octav. 94 ; Nero, 8; Vitell. 8). Single families had their own peculiarly unlucky days (" dies atros," Sueton. Octav. 92). Even
between different divisions and hours of the same day • a similar distinction was made (Theocr. i, 15; comp. Psa. xci, 6, in the Sept.; Hesiod, Works and Days, 710 sq. ; M&croh. Sat. i, 16). The observance of days was not unknown to the ancient Persians (Ideler, Chro- nol. ii, 540) or the early Germans (Cassar, Bell. Gal. i, 50; comp. esp. Schwebel, De Superst. ap. vett. dier. ob- serv. Onold, 1769; Potter, Greek Archceol. i, 753). The modern Jews make the second and fifth days of the week especially prominent (see Buxtorf, Synag. Jitd. p. 279). — Winer, ii, 56. See Divination.
Obsignatio is, like afpayig, siyillum, and signacu- Inm. a term used in ecclesiastical language to designate the baptism, or, better, the sealing by the Holy Spirit, as, e. g., in Ephes. i, 13, et al. Sae Baptism ; Spirit.
Ocampo, Florian d', a Spanish ecclesiastic, noted as a chronicler, was born in Zamora in the beginning of the 16th century. After finishing his studies in the University of Alcala, where he had as his teaclier An- tonio de Lcbrina, he became an ecclesiastic, was pro- vided with a canonicate, and obtained the title of histo- riographer of Charles V. In order to fulfil his duties he undertook the history of this prince, but he had the ambitious idea of going back to the deluge. "As one might foresee," says Ticknor, " he lived just long enough to finish a small fragment of so vast an enterprise, scarcely one qnarter of the first of his four grand divis- ions; but he went far enough to show that the time for such writings was past. Not that credulity was wanting — he had too much of it; but it was not the poetical credulity of his predecessors trusting to the old national traditions; it was a too ready faith in the bald impostures which bear the names of Berosus and Manetho, works discredited for half a century already, and which he employed as authorities, if not sufficient, at least probable, for an uninterrupted succession of Spanish kings from Tubal, grandson of Noah. Such credulity has no sort of chance ; and, besides, the work of Ocampo is in its form dry and tiresome, and, as it is written in a formal and heavy style, it is almost impossible to read it. It is little to be regretted that he has brought his annals of Spain only to the period of the Scipios." He died in 1555. The Chroniqite of Ocampo {Cronica ge- neral de Espar.a) appeared for the first time in Zamora (1544, fol.) ; it v/as reprinted at Medina del Campo (1553, fol.) ; the best edition is that of Madrid (1791, 2 vols. 4to). See his Life in the introductory pages of his works (edition of 1791); Don Josef de Regabal y Ugarte, Biblioteca de los escritores que han sido indivi- duos de los seis cohgios mayores. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, xxxviii, 417 ; Ticknor, Hist, of Spanish Lit- erature, i, 308.
Occam (or Ockham), Nicholas of, an English monastic of the Middle Ages, Hourished at Oxford in the first half of the 14th century. He was bred a Fran- ciscan, and was the eighteenth public lecturer of his convent in that university. He is highly praised by writers of his order for his learning, but Bale severely criticised him. See Fuller, Worthies (ed. 1840), iii, 213 ; Bale, De Scriptoribiis Britannicis, cent, v. No. 17; AUi- bonc. Diet, of Brit, and Anier. A itthors, s. v.
Occam, William of, the last of the great scho- larchs in the succession of medieval scholasticism, and assuredly one of the most acute, was the notable pre- cursor of John Wickliffe, John Huss, and Martin Lu- ther. His logical perspicacitj' and dialectical subtlety earned for him the designation of the Invincible and the Singular (unique) Doctor. He pursued the refinements of eristic disputation so far as to render it impossible to proceed farther in the same direction. "The force of reason could no farther go." But, if he " could divide a hair 'twixt north and north-west side," he never con- sented to " change hands and still dispute." He was earnest and sincere, and concealed a large fund of solid sense under the familiar forms of scholastic logomachy. If the wondrous machine of scholasticism did not actu-