vaiseth up the sick, or the tree from which this oil flows, on account of the sickness of thy father? This is not to be found now. Go, therefore, autl tell thy father that after the accomplishing of 5500 years from the creation of the world, then shall come into the world the only-begotten Son of God, being made man ; and he shall anoint him with this oil, and shall raise liim up, and shall baptize with water and with the Holy Spirit both him and those out of him, and then shall he be liealed of every disease; but now this is impossible. When the prophets and the patriarchs heard these words, they rejoiced greatly."
In the Apocryphal literature Seth plaj's a protnincnt role, and even in Reynard the Fox Seth is mentionetl as seeking for the oil of compassion:
" Die drei gcgrabenen Nanien Brachte Seth der Fromme vom Paradiese heruieder, Als er das Oel der Barmhcrzigkeit suchte."
See Fabricius, Cod. Pseudepirjr. V. T. i, 139 sq. ; ii, 49 sq. ; Syncellus, Chronogr. p. 10 ; Selden, Diss, de Ilorto lledt- nis in his Olid Theolog. p. GOO ; Baring-Gould, Leg- ends of the Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 81 sq. (B. P.)
Sethians, or Sethite.s, a sect of the Ophites (q. v.), of the 2d century, who paid divine honor to Seth, believing him to have reappeared in the person of Jesus Christ. Thej- taught that Seth was made by a third divinity, and substituted in the room of the two families of Abel and Cain, destroyed by the deluge. They were thus distinguished from the Cainites (q. v.), who assigned the highest place to Cain. The Sethians regarded Cain as a representative of the Hylic, Abel of the Psychical, and Seth, who was finally to reappear in the person of the Messiah, of the Pneumatic principle. See Neander, Church Hist. (Torrey), i, 448.
Se'thur (Ileb. Sethur','\ira, hidden; Sept. lla^ovp), the son of Michael, of the tribe of Asher, and one of the twelve spies sent by Moses to view the promised land (Numb, xiii, 13). B.C. 1657. See Van Sarn, Obs. Light- footiana de Nomine Sethur (in the Miscell. Duisb. i, 482 sq.).
Set-off (or Offset), the part of a wall, etc., which is exposed horizontally when the portion above it is reduced in thick- ness. Set-offs are not unfrequently covered, and in great measure con- cealed, by cornices or projecting mouldings, but are more usually plain. In the latter case, in classi- cal architecture, they are generally nearly or quite flat on the top, but in Gothic architecture are sloped, and in most instances have a pro- jecting drip on the lower edge to prevent the wet from running down the walls : this is especially ob- servable in the set-offs of buttress- es.— Parker, Glossary of Architect- ure, s. V.
Se ton aphthiton monarciien (Ss tov lip^irov /.lovapxtji', Thve the Everlasting King) is the beginning of a hymn written £('<; Xpicrnh' (to Christ) by Gregory of Nazianzum (q. v.). 'J'lie first few lines of this hymn run thus in Mrs. Charles's version:
"Hear us now, Eternal Monarch, Grant us now to hymn and praise thee — Thee the King, and thee the Master! By whom are our hymns and praises, By whom are the choirs of angels, By whom flow the ceaseless ages, By whom only shines the sun, By whom walks the moon in brightness, By whom smile the stars in beauty. By whom nil the race of mortals Have received their godlike reason, And thine other works outshone."
For the original (Jreek, togetlier with a German transla- tion, comp. Biissler, .4 ?/s?/v7A/ ultchristlicher Lieder, p. 10, 156; Rambach, Anthologie christlicher Gesdnge. i, 48 sq.; Fortlage, Gesdnge christlicher Vor-zeif, p. 23, 361 ;
SETON
598
SEVEN
Mrs, Charles, The Voice of Christian Life in Song, p. 62 sq. (B. P.)
Seton, Elizabeth Ann, founder of the Sisters of Cliarity in the United States, was born in New York city, Aug. 28, 177-1. She was the daughter of Dr. Rich- ard Bayley, and in her twentieth year married William Seton, whom she accompanied to Italy in 1803. Upon his death, in Pisa, in 1804, she returned to New York and entered the Roman Catholic Church, March 14, 1805. Left, by her husband's misfortunes, without re- sources, she opened a school in Baltimore in 1805-08. With her sisters-in-law, Harriet and Cecilia Seton, she took the veil as Sister of Charit}-, Jan. 1, 1809. at Em- raettsburg, Md. (being the first members of that order in the United States). A conventual establishment was opened at Emmettsburg, July 30, 1812, with "Mother Seton'' as superior-general. She died at Emmettsburg, Jan. 4, 1821. See White, Life of Eliz. A . Seton (N. Y. 1853; 5th ed. Baltimore, 18*65); Seton [Rev. Robert], Memoir, Letters, etc., of K. A . Seton (N. Y. 1869, 2 vols.). See Sisters of Chauitv.
Settlements, 'Violent, took place when a patron in Scotland presented a clergyman whom the people would not have, but whom the ecclesiastical courts were determined, in spite of all opposition, to ordain. In such cases the parish sometimes rose to oppose the settlement by force, and obstructed the presbyter}'. The military were occasionally called to protect the presbytery. Such scenes happened in many parts of the country. See Eadie, Eccles. Cyclop), s. v.
Seven (S-'S'^, sheba). The frequent recurrence of certain numbers in the sacred literature of the Hebrews is obvious to the most superficial reader; and it is al- most equally obvious that these numbers are associated with certain ideas, so as in some instances to lose their numerical force, and to pass over into the province of symbolic signs. This is more or less true of the num- bers three, four, seven, twelve, and forty ; but seven so far surpasses the rest, both in the frequency with which it recurs, and in the importance of the objects with which it is associated, that it may fairly be termed the representative symbolic number. It has hence attracted considerable attention, and may be said to be the key- stone on which the symbolism of numbers depends. The origin of this symbolism is a question that meets us at the threshold of any discussion as to the number seven. Our limits will not permit us to follow out tliis question to its legitimate extent, but we may briefly state that the views of Biblical critics may be ranged under two heads, according as the symbolism is attrib- uted to theoretical speculations as to the internal prop- erties of the number itself, or to external associations of a physical or historical character. According to the former of these views, the symbolism of the number seven would be traced back to the symbolism of its component elements three and four, the first of which = Divinity, and the second == Humanity, whence seven = Divinity -hllumanit}', or, in other words, the union be- tween God and man, as effected by the manifestations of the Divinity in creation and revelation. So again the symbolism of twelve is explained as the symbolism of 3x4, or a second combination of the same two ele- ments, though in different proportions, the represent- ative number of Humanity, as a multiplier, assutning a more prominent position (Biihr, Symholik, i, 187, 201, 224). This theory is seductive from its ingenuity and its appeal to the imagination, but there appears to be little foundation for it. For (1) we do not find any in- dication, in early times at all events, that the number .seven was resolved into three and four, rather than into any other arithmetical elements, such as two and five. Bengel notes such a division as running through the heptads of the Apocalypse (Gnomon, at Rev. xvi, 1), and the remark undoubtedly holds good in certain instances, e. g. the trumpets, the three latter being distinguished from the four former by the triple "woe" (Rev, viii, 13);