Ripley, Samuel, son of Ezra, was born in Con- cord, Mass., March 11, 1783, and graduated from Cam- bridge in 1804. He was ordained, Nov. 22, 1809, pastor of the Church at Waltham. After the death of Rev. B. Whitman, it was proposed to unite the two U^nitarian societies ; but Mr. Ripley, thinking it too great a bur- den, resigned shortly before (Oct. 27, 1841), and soon after took the pastoral charge of the L^nitarian Church in Lincoln. In 1846 he removed to Concord, where he died, Nov. 24, 1847. See Sprague, Annuls of the Amer, Pulpit, \\u, 116.
Ripley, Thomas B., a Baptist minister, and brother of Dr. 11. J. Ripley, was born in Boston Nov. 20, 1795, and was a graduate of Brown University, in the class of 1814. He studied theology with the Rev. Dr. Staughton, of Philadelphia, and was ordained as pas- tor of the First Baptist Church in Portland, ISIe., Jidy 24, 1816, where he remained till jMarch, 1828. He removed to Bangor, ^le., and was ])astor of the First Bajitist Church in that city from Sept. 10, 1829. until, in l.So4, be resigned. After supplying two churches for a time, he removed to Tennessee, teaching and preaching in several places in that state, and performing ministerial service at Holly Springs. Jliss. He returned to Port- land, Me,, in 1852, and acted as city missionary for sev- eral years. He died May 4, 1876. " (J. C. S.) "
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Rippon, John, D.D., an English Baptist minister of distinction, was born in Tiverton, Devonshire, in 1751, and was the son of a Baptist minister. He pur- sued his studies at Bristol, and for many years was the successor of the Rev. Dr. Gill in the pastorate of the Baptist Church on Grange Koad, Soiithwark. The tes- timony of Dr. Kippon with regard to tlie stand taken by the Baptist ministers of London and vicinity in the War of the Revolution is interesting. " I believe," he remarks, in a letter to Pres. Manning, of Brown Uni- versity, dated May 1, 1784, "all our Baptist ministers in town except two, and most of our brethren in the countr}', were on the side of the Americans in the late dispute. But sorry, very sorry, were we when we heard that the college was a hospital, and the meeting-houses were forsaken, and occupied for civil or martial pur- poses. We wept when the thirsty plains drank the blood of j'our departed heroes, and the shout of a king was among us when your well- fought battles were crowned with victory. And to this hour we believe that the independence of America will for a while se- cure the liberty of this country ; but that if the conti- nent had been reduced, Britain would not long have been free." Dr. Rippon died in 1836. (J. C. S.)
Ripundshaya, in Hindu mythology, was a myth- ical king, in whose reign great religious changes are said to have been brought about. It would seem that Buddhism took root, and under his protection spread throughout all India.
Risabha, in HindA mythology, was the oldest of the twenty-three Buddhas who have appeared in India, belonging to the race of king Ikswara. He is frequently represented as an ox, though more generally as a man with the head of an ox, or as a man with horns. The ox, as a symbol of wisdom, is peculiar to him, and alwaj's accompanies him, even when he is simply represented on the altar by a variously colored head. — Vollmer, Wihierb. d. Mythol. s. v.
Risco, Manuel, a learned Spanish ecclesiastic of the Augustinian Order, was born at Haro about 1730, and died about the close of the century. He acquired such reputation for knowledge in ecclesiastical history that he was appointed by the king, Charles III, to con- tinue the history of which Florez published 29 vols. 4to. To these he added six volumes, written with equal abil- ity and liberality of sentiment. The work was entitled Espaila Sagrada. See Chalmers, Biorj. Diet. s. v.
Rishis, in Hindu mythology, are ten sons of Brah- ma, who are infinitely wise and pious, and thus resem- ble the gods, with whom they share the power to create men and gods. All things owe their existence imme- diately to these Rishis in common with the gods, and they are accordingly termed the ten ancestors, or lords, of all created beings. Their names are Daksha, Pu- lastya, Agni, Wasishta, Atri, Maritshi, Brigu, Narada, Pulagen, and Kratu. The seven Menus— Suagarabha- ra, Svaroshisha, Anttami, Tamasa, Raivatta, Chakshu- sha, and Vaivasvata — are sometimes classed with the Rishis. — Vollmer, Wdrtei-b. d. Mythol. s. v.
Rishton, Edward, a Roman Catholic ^Titer, was born in Lancashire, and died in 1580 at Louvain of the plague. He published Synopsis lucrum Ecclesiastica- rum ad Annum Christi 1577. and a Profession of Faith. He was the first publisher of Nicholas Sanders's De Ori- ffine ei Proyressu Schismatis Antjlicani (1585, 8vo), to which he added a third part ; and a fourth part, by way of appendix, appeared in 1G28. See Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and A mer. A uthors, s. v.
■Rising IN THE Air, the name of a belief (prevalent in the Middle Ages) that the bodies of holy persons were sometimes lifted up and suspended in the air dur- ing the continuance of a religious ecstasy. Calmet states in his work on apparitions that this singular phe- nomenon might be produced by the fervor of the Holy Spirit, by the ministry of good angels, or by a miracu-