Pistdchm U)clx.dh,
Many terebinths remain to this day objects of vene- ration ill their neighborhooii, and Ihe favorite burving- jilace of a Ik-dawin sheik is under a solitary tree. Ea>-.t- ern travellers will recall the "Mother of rags" on the outskirts of the desert— a terebinth covered with the votive offerings of superstition or affection. The "oak of Mamrc,"near Hebron, was said to be a terebinth, which remained till the 4lh century (.Jerome, T>e Loc. Ilih. 87; Sozomen, Pedes. Hist, ii, 4; conip. Josephus, W'dr. V, it, 7), and on its site Constantine erected a church, tlie ruins of which still remain. It is said that the tree <lried up in the reign of Thcodosius the Young- er; but that the trunk produced a new tree, from which Hrocard (vii, 64), Salignac (x, 5), and other old travel- lers declare that they brought slips of the new and old wood to their own country (Zuallart ]'iyij(if/e de Jeru- salem, iv, 1). The tree was accidentally destroyed by lire in A.D. 1G4() (^lariti, p. n20). Its modern repre- sentative, however, is a true oak, as is proved both by its leaves and actual acorns. The tree on which Ju- das hanged himself is said to have been a terebinth, and its descendant is yet shown to the credulous, over- hanging the valley of Hinnom. Towards the north of Palestine the tree becomes more scarce; but in an- cient jMoab and Ammon, and in the region around neshl)on. it is the only one that relieves the monot- ony of the rolling downs and boundless sheepwalks; and in the few glens south of the Jabbok there are many trees of a larger size than others which remain west of the Jordan (Tristram, Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 401). In Turkey the burial-grounds of Christians, particularly the Armenians, are planted with terebinth- trees, the cypress being reserved for the Mohammed- ans (Calcott [Lady], Scrijit. Herbal, p. 504). See Turpentine-tree.
Te'resh (Heb. id. HJjR, prob. Pers. strictness ; Sept. [in some copies only] Oapa? or Oappag ; Vulg. Thirres), the second-named of the two eunuchs who kept the door of tlie palace of Ahasuerus, and who were hanged, their plot to assassinate the king being discovered by Mordecai (Esth. ii, 21; vi, 2). B.C.^479. Josephus calls him Theodestes {QeoCeaTijc, Ant. xi, 0, 4 and 10), and says that, the conspiracy having been detected by Barnabazus, a servant of one of the eunuchs, who was a Jew by birth, and who revealed it to jMordecai, the con- spirators were crucified.
Tenninism and the Terjiinistic Controversy. The word Terminisni has reference to the terminus of the period of grace accorded to man as an individual or in the mass. The basis of the dispute which arose upon this matter was the Middle -Age, Augustinian theory, that the end of this earthly life is in every in- stance the end of gracious opportunity, so that even unbaptized children become at death the prey of hell. The Reformation led the consciousness of Christians back to the dynamic conditions of salvation, namely, on the one hand, to the free grace of God, and, on the other, to the internal, religious, and moral state of re- pentance. In the light of the former condition it was possible to suppose that the terminus (jratin; might be extended beyond the terminus vita: ; under tlie latter it could be contracted to even narrower limits than the duration of earthly life. A recognition of the possibil- ity of widening the period of grace led to the develop- ment of the doctrine of the Apocatastasis (q. v.), while its contrary gave rise to Terminism.
The leading jiromulgators of Terminism were the Friends, who taught that every person has a sjiecial day of visitation, which is but transient and may end before the close of the life of earth (see Winer, Cmnp. Darstellung, p. 87). The Pietists also contributed to- wards the growth of that idea by their depreciation of the worth of repentance late in life. The controversy upon the subject was fairly opened by the appearance of a work by J. G. Bose, deacon at Sorau (died 1700), entitled Terminus Peremptorius Salutis Humance. etc.
TERMS
285
TERRITORIAL SYSTEM
(1G98). A number of responses were written, the more important of them by Neumann, iircifessor at Wit- tenberg, Diss, de Term. Sulut. etc. (Viteb. 1700), and Diss, de Tempore Gratia, etc. (1701); also Ittig, pro- fessor at Leipsic, Vortrdrje lib. d. prophet., apostul. u. evang.-luth. Lehre, etc., with other works. Kechenberg, the son-in-law of Spener, came to the assistance of Biise with iiis I>iss. de Gnit. Revocatricis Termino ( Lips. 1700). The dispute was dropped on the death of Ittig, in 1710, and the advance of rationalism deprived the question of interest. For the theology of our time, the only importance of the discussion lies in its possible in- tliience in occasioning profonnder determinations witti regard to the possibility of becoming hardened against grace in this life, and the infinite consequences depend- ing upon the hour of death and the free sovereignty
of Cic.d.
The literature of the controversj' is largely given in the works of Kechenberg and Ittig. See also Winer, Theol. Lileratur, p. 44(5; Bretschneider, Systemnt. Ent- ivickl. p. 693. On the dispute itself, see Einem, Kirchen- gesch. d. 18. Jahrh. ii, 7o7 ; \\'alch, Kinl. in d. Religicns- streiti(/L d. eeaiu/.-luth. Kirche, ii, 551 sq. ; Baumgarten, Geschiciite d. Rt'ligionsparteien, p. 1282 sq. — Herzog, Real-Eiicyklop. s. v.