OSTIARII
473
OSTRICH
Church being divided into numerous parties excommu- nicating each other. It was therefore necessary to lay aside all these vexatious minor points, and to adhere firmly to the essential doctrine, for fear lest religion should be still more dishonored. The teachings even of the catechisms were more doctrinal than practical. Pastoral care was deficient. This work, exhibiting in bold relief the failings of the orthodox party, had great success, but awakened also considerable opposition. In 1702 Osterwald published a Catechism, which was trans- lated into Dutch, German, and into English, under the title of The Grounds and Principles of the Christian Religion exjilained in a Catechetical Discourse for the Instruction of Young People, rendered into English, and revised bj' George Stanhope, D.D. (Lond. 1704, 8vo). Among his other works we notice Douze Sermons sur divers Textes de VEcriture Saiute ((ieneva, 1722, 8vo) : — The Arguments of the Books and Chapters of the 0. and N. T., tcith Practical Obseri'ations, translated bj' John Chamberlayne, Esq. (5th ed. Lond. 1779) ; the ar- guments and reflections with which this was accompa- nied have been translated into most of the luiropean languages, and are much esteemed: — The Preliminary Discourse to the A rguments on the Books, etc. (ibid. 1722, 8vo) : — The Nature of Uncleanness Considered, etc. ; to which is added a Discourse concerning the Nat- ure of Chastity, and the Means of obtaining it (ibid. 1708, 8vo): — Lectures on the Exercise of the Sacred Ministi-y, translated and enlarged by Thomas Stevens, M.A. (ibid. 1781, 8vo) : — Tlte Necessity and Usefulness of .Reading the Holy Sa-iptures, and the Disposition with which they ought to be Read; translated by John Moore, A.B. (ibid. 1750, 18mo) : — An Abridgment of the History of the Bible (ibid. 1750, 18mo). See Schweizer, Gesch. der ref. Centraldogmen, ii, 759 ; Hagenbach, Hist, of Doctrines (see Index in vol. ii) : Hook, Ecclcs. Biog. vii, 481 sq. ; Hurst's Hagenbach, Ch. Hist, of the I8th and I9?/« Centuries, i, 113 sq. ; Herzog, Real-Encyklopd- die, x, 730 sq. ; Darling, Cycl. Bibliograjihica, ii, 2256. (J. N. P.)
Ostiarii (door-keepers'), the lowest of the minor or- ders in the Western Church. They are spoken of by Church writers of the 3d or 4th century. The fourth Council of Carthage prescribed as the form for their admission to ofKce the delivery of the church-kej' to them by the bishop, with the words: "Behave thyself as one who must render account to God of the things locked under these keys." They arranged catechu- mens in their places, announced the hours of service, and had charge of the church. From this word ostia- rius are derived the words hnissier and usher. The second master of Winchester is called hostiarius. The Greek Church only partially adopted the institution of porters, and soon let it die out. In the West they al- ways lived near the church. See Walcott, Sacred Ar- chceolngy, p. 418; Kiddle, Christian Antiquities (see In- dex) ; Mosheim, Eccles. Hist. vol. iii ; Westro]-), Handh. of Archeology, p. 72 ; Coleman, Anc. Christianity, p. 127, 185. See Door-keepeus.
Ostrich (|^5?'^, yaanah', always with r3, daugh- ter of the ostrich, i. e. the female ostrich. See also the cognate y^'^, yam. Lam. iv, 3. In Job xxxix, 13, the word H^iD, not sah, feathers, is wrongly rendered os- trich; while Di35"l,yemaZe ostriches, is translated pea- cocks, in the A. V.; Sept. arpov^oc, Deut. xiv, 15, but in Isa. and in Mic. i, 8, Sept. cttpijveg; see Schlcusner, Lex. s. v.). In Arabic the bird is called nea-mah, also thareds jammel, i.e. camel-bird; like the Persian sutur morgh ; comp. Greek arpov^oiccii^a]\og (Diod. Sic. ii, 50), and Lat. Struthiocamelus, in Pliny.
1. Names. — (1.) It is now generally admitted that the word yaanah should be rendered ostrich ; as the pas- sages in which it occurs require us to understand some inhabitant of the remote desert, and seem thus to exclude the owl, the usual rendering in the English Version (Job
XXX, 29 ; xxxix, 13 ; Isa. xiii, 21 ; xxxiv, 13). See Owl. The etymology of the word also accords better with the former rendering. The word T'\'^"^, yaanah', like D'^iJ'l, renanim', appears to refer to the habit of utter- ing loud-sounding cries ; and the third name, bath-ha- yaandh, " the daughter of vociferation," or " loud moan- ing," is in conformity with the others, and an Oriental figurative mode of expressing the same faculty (which exists not, we think, in the females alone, but in the whole species) ; for the ostrich has an awful voice, which, when heard on the desert, is sometimes mis- taken in the night, even by natives, for the sound of a beast. This, too, is the almost unanimous rendering of the old translators (Gesen. Thes. ii, G09), while the ref- erence of the word to the owl, supported by Oedmann (SaniniL iii, 35 sq.), rests on no early testimony. Bo- chart (ii, 830 sq.) would understand the male ostrich by C^rit^, in Lev. xi, 16; Deut. xiv, 15; but no ancient version supports this rendering. See Night-Hawk. Gesenius {Thes. s. v. HSs;^) refers the word to the root "r."^, which signifies '-to be greedy or voracious;" and demurs to the explanation given by Michaclis (Suppl. ad Lex. Heb. p. 1127) and by Rosenmiiller {Not. ad Hieroz. ii, 829, and Schol. ad Lev. xi, 16), who trace the Hebrew word yaanah to one which in Arabic de- notes " hard and sterile land :" bath-hayaanah accord- ingly would mean "daughter of the desert." Without entering into the merits of these various explanations, it will be enough to mention that any one of them is well suited to the habits of the ostrich. This bird, as is well known, will swallow almost any substance, pieces of iron, large stones, etc. ; this it does probably in or- der to assist the triturating action of the gizzard: so that the Oriental expression of " daughter of voracity" is eminently characteristic of the ostrich. With regard to the two other derivations of the Hebrew word, we may add that the cry of the ostrich is said sometimes to resemble that of the lion, so that the Hottentots of South Africa are deceived by it; and that its particular haunts are the parched and desolate tracts of sandy deserts.