SPITTING
959
SPITTLEB
from his alma mater, together with an honorary testi- monial in recognition of his signal lidelity to the Church. In 1859 he was once more transferred to a new field of labor, but was attacked with gastric fever soon after his removal, and died of heart-disease Se|)t. "IS. As a clergyman, Spitta was pious, thoroughly evangelical, and deeply in earnest. His temperament was genial and sociable, and he was a capable performer on the harp. But his principal claim to notice grows out of his spiritual hymns, through which his fame extended over Ciermany, and of which a number have been ren- dered into English. He had attempted poetry in his childhood days, and proved his powers in every species of poetrj-, but in time came to devote his abilities whol- ly to religious composition. In 1833 he published a collection of hymns under the title Psalter mid Harfe (•24th ed. 18(31), which was received with general satis- faction, and was followed by a second collection in 1843 (13th ed. 18t!l). A third (posthumous) collection was published by his friend, Prof. Adolph Peters, in 18G1 (2d ed. 1802). These hymns are pervaded with un- usual fervor ami simplicity, and are chaste and neat in style. Tliey are specially suited for use in household and private devotions, the second collection being per- haps inferior to the others in an artistic point of view. Peters's collection is accompanied with a portrait of the author. Of English renderings of Spitta's hymns, we mention " I know no life divided, O Lord of life, from thee," by jMassie, and the funeral hymn, " The precious seed of weeping to-day we sow once more," by Miss C. Wiukworth. See Miinkel, K. J. Ph. Spitta ( Leips. 1861) ; Messner, two articles in Neue Evangel. Kirchen- zeitung, 1860 (No. 5), 1861 (No. 25); also the preface in Peters's collection of Spitta's hj'mns. — Herzog, Real- Encyklop. s. v.
Spitting was a ceremony introduced into baptism in the early Church. The candidate was required not only to renomice the devil in word, but also by act and gesture. The catechumen was brought into the bap- tistery and placed with his face to the west: a form of words was used by which he renounced the devil; he then stretched out his hands and spat, as if in defiance of him. This was thrice repeated. He then turned to the east and entered into covenant with Christ. See Bingham, Christ. Antiq. bk. xi, ch. vii, § 5. See Spit-
TLK.
Spittle (p'^'l) irTvofid), although, like all the other natural secretions, a ceremonial impurity (Lev. xv, 18), was employed by our Lord as a curative means for blind- ness (John ix, 6). The rabbins cite it as a remedy in like
cases(see Liglitfoot, ad loc), especially the spittle of fasting persons (saliva jejii- nia), which was an- cientlj' held to be a remedy likewise against poisonous bites (Pliny, v, 2; xxviii, 7 ; Galen, Simpl. Med. Fac. x, 16; Aetius, ii, 107; see Gotze, Observat. Sacr. Med. H, i, 144 sq.; Schurig, ,&'«rt/o- lof/ia [ Dresd. 1723] ). Hut it was not re- garded as a specific in true blindness (lint see Joliren, J)e ChrLslo Medico, p. 41), although an- cient writers cite an act of Vespasian that aspect (Dion Cass. Ixvi, 8 ;
Ancient Assyrinu Smiting and Spit ting upon an Enemy (wlio is .shac kled and wears about his ueck the bavin head of a slain companion).
Tacit. Hist, iv, 81 ; Sueton. Vesp. vii). On Luke xvi, 21 we may remark that the dog's tongue has a peculiar- ly' cleansuig and soothing efl'ect upon sores. See Medi-
CIJJK.
On the other hand, the act of spitting upon a person, especially in the face (Numb, xii, 14; Isa. 1, 6; Matt. xxvi,67; xxvii, 32; Bar-Hebr. p. 169), was regarded as the grossest insult (see Harmer, Obs. iii, 37(!), and it was even held an indignity to spit towards any one (Job XXX, 10); so that an Oriental never allows himself to spit at all in the presence of one whom he respects (He- rod, i, 99; sec Arvieux, iii, 167 ; Niel)uhr, Bed. p. 26, 29). This does not proceed (as Jahn thinks, /l?-c/«. I, ii, 335) from regard merely to cleanliness, but from politeness (Josephus, War, ii, 8, 9), and hence was enforced within the precincts of the Temple (Mishna, Berach. ix, 5). Hence the ignominy in the case of the recusant goel (Dent. XXV, 9).— Winer, ii, 487.
SPITTLE IN Baptism, in the Roman Catholic Church, is that part of the ceremony of baptism which follows the " sign of the cross." The priest recites an exorcism, touching with a little spittle the ears and nostrils of the person to be baptized, and saying, "Ephphatha; that is, Be thou opened into an odor of sweetness; but be thou put to flight, O devil, for the judgment of (iod will be at hand." This ceremony is taken from the exara- jile of Jesus when he cured the deaf-and-dumb man (Mark vii, 33). See Elliot, Deiineution of Romanism, p. 125.
Spittler, Louts Tijiothkus von, an eminent ec- clesiastical historian of Germany, was born in Novem- ber, 1752, at Stuttgart, where his father was a clergy- man. His early training was obtained at the gymna- sium of his native town, where the rector, Volz, inspired him with fondness for historical studies and trained him to critical research. He entered at Tubingen as a stu- dent of theology, and became particularly interested in philosophy, everywhere applying his early habits of careful collocation of authorities and comparison of state- ments. His earliest literary productions dealt with dif- ficult questions in historical theology, which only the most painstaking and critical labors might hope to solve. His themes were, for example, the 60th canon of Lao- dicea, the decrees of Sardica, and the Capitula Angil- ramni (1777), history of the canon law to the time of the Pseudo-Isidore. In 1779 Spittler became professor in ordinary of philosophy at Giittingen, and was asso- ciated with Walch in teaching Church history, and with Plitter in German history, besides co-operating with Schliizer and (iatterer, two other eminent historians, in their work. Down to Walch's death, in 1784, he con- fined himself chiefly to ecclesiastical history, but after- wards entirely to political history. His Grnndriss der Geschichte der christlichen Kirche was accordingly pub- lished in the former period (1782), when he was thirty years of age, and constitutes almost his last contribu- tion to that branch of literature. Spittler's Church historj' was highly valued by his contemporaries, and among moderns Schelling writes of him (preface to Steffen's Nachla^s, p. xxi) as a man who " has not been excelled in political penetration by any historical schol- ar of Germany, and m breadth of view in both secular and ecclesiastical history," while Heeren and Woltmann speak of the Church history as the "true bloom of the author's mind." On the other hand, the o|)|)onents of 18th-century enlightenment, no less than the sceptical Baur (Kpochen d. kirchl. Geschichtsschreib. p. 162-178), have little to commend in that book. The truth is that Spittler iiad little regard for the history of the develop- ment of dogma, his interest being more particularly centred on the government and constitution of the Church. His rare powers of research aiul pcrl'ect mas- tery of the resultant material, j<Mned to an unusual fa- cility in grasping the salient features of an ajra and a marvellously graceful and vivid presentation of the story, were devoted to a narration of the experiences