Si. Sii'isnuiud.
SIGMARINGEN
(35
SIGNET
contest was that the Reformed Church obtained legal recognition. Soon after his entrance into the Reformed communion the elector published his Confession of Fail h (Joh. Sifjism, Confessio Fidei), May, 1614. It claims to deal with points at issue between Evangelical Protes- tants only. Its introduction disclaims the intention of introducing novelties, but asserts the necessity for re- moving certain remainders of popery, and concludes with a recognition of the sole authority of the Word of God and an approval of the "Apostolical, the Athana- sian, and the Nicene, Ephesian. and Chalcedonian sym- bols;" to which list is added the Augsburg Confession of 1530, but as afterwards revised and improved. The Confessio rejects all later Lutheran additions — as the ubiquity of Clirist's body, the involving of Christ's De- ity in his passion, and the ascription of omnipotence to his humanity, etc. The remaining articles relate to the sacraments and the election of grace, and are entirely in accord with the ordinary Reformed, Calvinian view. See Hering, Nist. Xackr. i\ d. ersten A rfange d. evang,- ref Kirche in, Brandenh. u, Pi-eussen (1778); Kllster, A lies u. N^eues (Berlin) ; Von Miihler, Gesch. d. evanf/el. Kirchenverfassung in d. Mark Brandenburg (184t)); Moller, Joh. Sig. Uehertritt zum ref, Bekenntniss, in the Deutsche Zeitsclir. (Berlin, 18.58), p. 189 sq. ; and vari- ous Fssays by prorector Schmidt, of Schweidnitz, etc. — Herzog, Real-Encyklop. s. v.
Sigmaringen, Finnuss of, properly Marc Rei, a Capuchin monk, was born at Sigmaringen in 1.577, and educated at Fribourg. He was sent as a missionary to the Grisons, by whom he was murdered at Senis, April 24, 1622. He was canonized by Benedict XIV in 1746. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Genirale, s. v.
Sigmund Wolsungssohn, in Norse mythology, was a celebrated hero who was invulnerable and proof against poison, and who drank the cup of poison intend- ed for his brother without injury to himself. He be- came the father, by the beautiful Danish queen Borg- hild, of Helgi Hundingstodter and Sigurd Fafnirstodter. — Vollraer, Wijrterh. d. Mgthol. % v.
Sign is the rendering in the A. V. of several Heb. and Gr. words, especially nx, o//;, ar)jxuov, which usu- alU' denote a miraculous or, at least, divine or extraor- dinary token of an event, generally in the future. See Miracle. In Biblical language a sign is a token, or whatever serves to express or represent another thing. Thus the Lord gave to Noah the rainbow as a sign of his covenant ((Jen. ix, 12, 13), and for the same purpose he appointed circumcision to Abraham (xvii, 11, see also Exod. iii, 12 ; Judg. vi, 17). In Isa. vii, 18 the word is used for a prophetic similitude: "Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel" (see also Ezek. iv, 8). Signs and wonders, as they are usualh' connected, sometimes denote those proofs or demonstrations of power and au- thority which were furnished by miracles, and by other tokens of the divine presence (John iv, 48, Matt, xii, 38; Acts ii, 22), sometimes those unusual ajipearances which betoken the approach of great events (Luke xxi, i 1, 25), and at other times tokens or pledges as evidences of fulfilment (ii, 12 ; 1 Cor. i, 22). This word is emphat- ically used in Scripture for a miraculous appearance, which would attest the divine authority of a prophet or teacher. The .Jews asked our Lord for "a sign from heaven" (Matt, xvi, 1), meaning, thereby, the appear- ance of the Messiah coming in the clouds of heaven, which Daniel had foretold (vii, 13), and which "the traditions of the elders," as appears from the Talmud, had declared to be the only certain sign of the advent of the promised inheritor of David's throne and deliv- erer of the .Jewish nation. So our Lord refers to " the sign of the Son of man" (Matt, xxiv, 30), as prefigured by the national overthrow of the Jews (see Zettner, Be Astre Judceis quondam Ominoso [Alt. 1724], and the monographs cited by Hase, Lehen Jesu, p. 187). See
ESCHATOLOGY.
SIGN, a term used in defining a sacrament to describe the relation existing between an external ordinance and that which it represents. The former is called the " out- ward part, or sign," the latter the " inward part, or thing signified." See Signs.
SIGN OF THE Cross. See Cross, Sign of; Sig- NUM Crucis.
Signe, in Norse mythology, was a daughter of queen Bera of Zealand. Hagbart of Drontheim, the bold son of Hake and a celebrated viking, came to Zealan<i with the intention of challenging the queen's sons, Alf and Alger, to single combat in order to measure strength with them. He saw and loved Signe, but her cruel mother hated him and prevented their union. Alf fell in the duel, and Hagbart recklessly suffered himself to be made a prisoner, because he trusted in his strength, but a lock of Signe's hair bound him fast. He was doomed to death, and the archers were prepared to ex- ecute the queen's decree, when the victim took his own life. Signe was rescued from her blazing dwelling by her brother Alger, but only in order to die beside the corpse of her lover, for she had taken poison. Comp. (EhlenschUtger's touching tragedy, in which he has elaborated this material, entitled Hagbart og Signe. — Vollmer, Worterb. d. Mythol. s. v.