OlOT
326
O'KELLY
were in some solid form, but whether in an unctuous state or in that of powder cannot be ascertained. A process of making ointment, consisting, in part at least, in boil- ing, is alluded to in Job xli, 31. The charge of preserv- ing the anointing oil, as well as the oil for the light, was given to Eleazar (Numb, iv, 1(3). The quantitj- of oint- ment made in the tirst instance seems to imply that it was intended to last a long time. The Rabbinical writ- ers say that it lasted 900 years, i. e. till the captivity, because it was said, " Ye shall not make an}- like it" (Exod. XXX, 32) ; but it seems clear frt>m 1 Chron. ix,30 that the ointment was renewed from time to time {Cht- riilh, i, 1). The prodigious quantity of tliis holy oint- ment made on the occasion which the text describes, being no less than 750 ounces of solids compounded with five quarts of oil, may give some idea of tlie profuse use of perfumes among the Hebrews. The ointment with which Aaron was anointed is said to have tiowed down over his garments (Exod. xxix, 21 ; Psa. cxxxiii, 2 : "skirts," in the latter passage, is literally " mouth," i. o. the opening of the robe at the neck ; Exod. xxviii, 32). This circumstance may give some interest to the follow- ing anecdote, which we translate from Chardin {Voi/- U(jes, iv, 43, ed. Langlcs). After remarking how prodigal the eastern females are of perfumes, he gives this in- stance :
" I remember that, at the solemnization of the nuptials of the three princesses royal of Golconda, whom the king, their father, who had uo other children, married in one day, in the year 1679, perfumes were lavished on every in- vited guest as he arrived. They sprinkled them upon those who were clad in while; but jrave them into the hands of those who wore colored raiment, because their garments would have beeu spoiled by throwing it over them, which was done in the following manner. They threw over the body a bottle of rose-water, contaiuin'j' about halt' a pint, and then a larger bottle of water tinted with saffron, in such a manner that the clothes would have been stained with it. After this, they rubbed the arms and the body with a liquid perfnine of ladanuni and ambergris, and they put round the throat a thick cord of jasmine.
1 was thus perfiuned witli :^;lftVon in many great houses of this country, and in other places. This attf ution and hon- or is a universal custom among the women who have the means of obtaining this luxury."
See Unguent.
Kings, and also in some cases prophets, were, as well as priests, anointed with oil or ointment; but Scripture onlv mentions the fact as actually taking place in the cases of Saul, David, Solomon, .lehu. and Joash. The Kabbins say that Saul, Jehu, and Joash were only anoint- ed with common oil, while for David and Solomon the holy oil was used (1 Sam.x,l; xvi,l,13; 1 Kings i, 39;
2 Kings ix, 1, 3, 6; xi, 12; Godwyn, Moses and Aaron, i, 4 ; Carpzov, Apparaliis, p. 56, 57 ; Hofmann, Lex. s. v. Unguendi ritus; Jerome, Com. in Osee, iii, 134). It is evident that the sacred oil was used in the case of Solo- mon, and probably in the cases of Saul and David. In the case of Saul (1 Sam. x, 1) the article is used, "the oil," as it is also in the case of Jehn (2 Kings ix, 1); and it seems unlikely that the anointing of Joash, performed by the high-priest, should have been defective in this respect. See Consecration.
In the Christian Church the ancient usage of anoint- ing the bodies of the dead was long retaineil, as is no- ticed b}^ Chrysostom and other writers quoted by Suicer, s. v. tXatov. The ceremony of chrism or anoint- ing was also added to baptism. See authorities (piofed by Suicer, /. c, and under BtiTrrifr/m and Xplrr/ja. See CiiRis.M ; Unction.
Oiot, a great god am(mg the Indians of California.
Oisel, I'liiLip, a German Protestant minister, was born at Dantzic in 1G71. He was an excellent Hebrew scholar, and ])ublished several theological works. He died at Frankfort-on-the-Oder in 1724.
O'Kelly, James, one of the most noted of American Methodist pioneer preachers, and the father of the first schism among them, was born about 1757. He was con- verted while yet a youth, shortly after joined the INfeth- odists, and was licensed Jis a local preacher. He began
his ministry in an old colonial church in the southern part of Virginia about the middle of the lievolutionary war. One writer, noticing this early work of O'Kelly's, says: "The people flocked to hear him, and great was the work of God under his powerfid exhortations and earnest prayers." In 1778 he was admitted into the travelling connection, and he soon took a prominent po- sition among the Methodist preachers of Virginia. He was a warm-hearted Christian and a zealous preacher — he would rise at midnight and pour out bis soul in prayer, crying, "Give me children, or I die." He was ordained elder at the organization of the Church in 1784. For several years afterwards he filled high sta- tions in the Church — acting as eklcr at the head of the South Virginia District: there he was useful, and had much influence. One of O'Kelly's contemporaries de- scribes him as "laborious in the ministry, a man of zeal and usefulness, an advocate for holiness, given to prayer iind fasting, an able defender of the Methodist doctrine and faith, and hard against negro slavery in private and from the press and pulpit." He was a member of the first council that met in 1789. In 1790 he addressed a letter to Mr. Asbury, Avith whom he had been ac- quainted since 1780, complaining of his power, and bid- ding him halt in his episcopal career for one year, lest he should have to use his influence against him. As this appeal was ignored, Mr. O'Kelly moved in the Con- ference of 1791, "That if any preacher felt himself ag- grieved or oppressed by the appointment made by the bishop he should have the privilege of appealing to the Conference, which sliould consider and finally deter- mine the matter." This resolution was lost. Thereupon O'Kelh', and a few who thought like him, withdrew from the Conference. Efforts were at once made to con- ciliate them : a committee was appointed to wait on O'Kelly and his party, and if possible induce them to resume their seats, but the effort utterly failed. Even Dr. Coke's personal appeal was powerless. The Gen- eral Conference closed Nov. 14, 1792, and on the 26th of that month Asbury presided at the Virginia Conference. The question was raised whether O'Kelly and his adhe- rents of the ministry were to be continued in the Con- nection. Mr. Asbury at once pleaded for their retention, and even proposed tliat the Conference pay Mr. O'Kelly £40. For a while this money was accordingly paid, but O'Kelly, finding that the Conference was not dis- posed to take much notice of his schemes, refused any longer to receive this pay, and thus broke the last link that bound him to Methodism. O'Kelly now sought to impress his views on the jNIethodists of Vir- ginia, but he was firmly opposed by Nicholson. Leroj', Cole, and M'Kendree, the latter, although at first in- clined towards O'Kelly, having now become fully sat- isfied that the exceptions to Asbury 's administration were utterly groundless. They met O'Kelly in public discussion, and saved the Church in Portsmouth from a violent rupture. In the section where he had so long labored he was more successful in his bad work. Some societies were entirely led away by his specious plans; a few travelling and a large mmiber of local preachers followed him, and the O'Kelly schism became a fact in the history of Methodism. At the Conference of 1793 the names of James O'Kelly, Pice Haggard, John Al- len, and John Pobertson were entered as formally with- drawn from the Connection.