Sources. — Semler's Selbstbiogrnphie (1781, 2 pts.); Eichhorn, Lebeii Semlers in the Bibliothek, pt. v ; Tho- luck, Verm. Schriften, ii. 39; Schmid, Die Theologie Semlers (1858). — Herzog, Real- Encyklop. s. v. See Katioxalism.
Semne {^ifivi], revered), a Greek term for a nun. Semniou {'S.kuvwv), a Greek term lor a monas- tery.
Semnium (St^n'slov, a temple'), a name given by Philo to places of worship of the TherapeutiB (q. v.). He says, "In every one of their dwellings there is a sacred house or chapel, which they call their semnium, or monastery, where they perform the religious mys- teries proper to their holy lives" (Bingham, Christ. An- tiq. vol. vii, ch. ii, § 11). Monasteries came afterwards to be called semnia, as Suicerus shows out of Balzamon, Methodius, and Suidas. — Bingham, Christ. Antiq. vol. vii, ch. ii, § 14.
Semzios {'S.ifivno), a Greek term for a monk. Sempecta, a term for a monk who had passed fif- ty years in a monastery. He was excused from regu- lar duties, and at Westminster and Crowland lived in the infirmary and had a young attendant. — Walcott, Sacred A rchanl. s. v.
Semphycrates, in Grreco- Egyptian mythology, was a being which represented Hercules in combina- tion with the Egyptian Harpocrates. It has been re- garded as sj'mbolical of the germinating period, in and through which germs make their api)earance, or of the union of time and life. — Vollmer, Wvrterb. d. Mythol. s. V.
Sempiternitas (Lat. semper, "alwaj's," and eter- nitas, "eternity"), an everlasting state of existence, hav- ing a beginning, but no end. It is used in speaking of angels and the souls of men in distinction from the eter- nity of God. — Hagenbach, Hist, of Doctrines, § 166.
Semple, Robert Baylor, a Baptist minister, was born at Kose Mount, King and Queen Co., Ya., Jan. 20, 1769. After completing his academical course, he com- menced the study of law; but having been induced to join the Baptist Church, he turned his attention to the ministry, and on Sept. 20, 1790, he was ordained pastor of Bruington Church, King and (Jueen County, which position be held until his death, Dec. 25, 1831. He is identified with the earliest efforts of the Baptist Cliurch to send the (Jospel to the heathen. He was a member of the first Baptist (Jeneral Convention; president for a number of years of the Virginia Baptist IMissionary Society; was often moderator of the General Associa- tion of Virginia, and president of its board of managers. He was also an earnest friend of the Colonization Soci- ety; and when the Columbian College in the District of Columbia became involved, he accepted the charge of its financial concerns (in 1827), accomplishing his dif- ficult task with great discretion and energy. He pub- lished a Catechism (1809): — a History of Virginia Bap- tists (1810) : — and various Memoiis and Letters. See Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Puljnt, vi, 305.
Sena Panthis, a Hindu sect which was estab- lisheil by Sena, the third of the disciples of Kamanand, but is now almost, if not quite, extinct. For some time, however, Sena and his descendants were the fumiW gu- rus of the rajah of Bandoogur, and from that circum- stance enjoyed considerable authority and reputation. — Gardner, Faiths of the Wo7id, s. v.
Sen'aah [some Sena'ah^ (Heb. Senaah', nxSO, thorny ; Sept. 'S.tvaa, "Zavava, 2aaya, etc.), the name of a man (B.C. ante 445) whose descendants, or (more probably), if a town (but none like it is elsewhere men- tioned), whose inhabitants (given in various numbers, all apparently exaggerated by erroneous transcription) returned from Babylon (Ezra ii, 35 ; Neh. vii, 38) and rebuilt the Fish -gate at Jerusalem (Neh. iii, 3, Heb. with the art. has-Senaah' ; Sept. 'Aaavad ; A. V. " Has- senaah").
Senagen, in Hindu mythology, is a king belonging to the race of Children of the Sun, who is connected with the fables relating to the tyrant of Ceylon (Lan- kal, the noted Ravana, and consequently with the story of Rama. Eavana having demanded a vessel filled with blood from certain holy devotees, it was afterwards bur- ied by the gigantic demon in the territories of Senagen because it brought him trouble. Senagen found it, and discovered in it a beautifid child which he recognised as an embodiment of the goddess Lakshmi. She was subsequently married to Rama, an incarnation of her consort Vishnu. — Vollmer, WOrterb. d. Mythol. s. v.
Senate (yepovaia, eldership, used by classical writ- ers for a deliberative or legislative body, and by the Sept. for the collective mass of the Jewish elders, and later for the Sanhedrim) is used once in the New Test. (Acts V, 21) for some portion of the Sanhedrim, appar- ently the elders, who constituted its main element. See Eluer; Sanhedrim.
Senatorium, a place in some churches where are the seats appropriated to the use of emperors, kings, magistrates, and other persons of distinction. Some think that it is so called because the bishop and pres- byters, who form the senate of the church, were seated there.
Senault, Jean Francois, a French preacher and religious writer, was born at Anvers, near Pontoise, in 1601. After studying at Douai, in 1618 he entered the then young congregation of the Oratory, and being des- ignated to the office of preaching, he prepared himself by an earnest study of the Scriptures, the Church fa- thers, and the best French authors. For forty years he preached with success at Paris, to the court, and in the provinces. He was made superior of the Seminary of St. Magloire, and in 1662 was elected superior-general of the Oratory, an office which he administered gratu- itously and with great prudence till his death, Aug. 3, 1672. He wrote several religious biographies and prac- tical works, for which see Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generule, s. v.