RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Newman Nibhaz
was good. It is possible that this Calvinistic trend gave Cowper's works a gloomy cast; on the other hand, it may have been the tonic which he required.
Bibliography: In an edition of Newton's Works, Edinburgh, 1827, is a life by R. Cecil; The Authentic Narrative, ut sup., is of course a first-hand source, while the Letters and Cardiphonia contain much that is biographical. Consult Letters and Conversational Remarks, ed. J. Campbell, London, 1808; DNB, xl. 395-398; S. W. Duffield, English Hymns, pp. 248-255, New York, 1886; Julian, Hymnology, pp. 803-804; and the literature under Cowper, William, particularly the editions by Wright of the Correspondence.
NEWTON, RICHARD: Protestant Episcopalian; b. in Liverpool, England, July 25, 1813; d. in Philadelphia May 25, 1887. He accompanied his parents to America in 1823, and received his early training in Philadelphia and in Wilmington, Del.; he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1836, and from the General Theological Seminary, New York, 1839; was ordained, and became rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity, West Chester, Pa., 1839; was rector of St. Paul's Church, Philadelphia, 1840-62; of the Church of the Epiphany, Philadelphia, 1862-81; and from 1882 of the Church of the Covenant in the same city. He was remarkably successful in his sermons for children and young people, which have been most widely translated.
He was the author of: The Wonder Case (6 vols., Bible Wonders; Nature's Wonders; Leaves from the Tree of Life; Rills from the Fountain of Life; Jewish Tabernacle; and Giants and Wonderful Things, New York, 1856-74); The Jewel Case (6 vols., Best Things; King's Highway; Safe Compass; Bible Blessings; Great Pilot; Bible Jewels; 1859- 1868); Illustrated Rambles in Bible Lands (Philadelphia, 1875); Rays from the Sun of Righteousness (New York, 1876); Life of Jesus Christ; for the Young (in 40 parts, Philadelphia, 1877); The King in his Beauty (New York, 1878); Pebbles from the Brook: Sermons to Children (1879); Pearls from the East: Stories and Incidents from Bible History (Philadelphia, 1881); Covenant Names and Privileges (New York, 1882); Bible Promises: Sermons to Children (1884) ; Bible Portrait Gallery (Philadelphia, 1885) ; Heroes of the Reformation (1885); Bible Warnings: Sermons to Children (New York, 1886); Bible Animals and the Lessons Taught by them (1888); Heath in the Wilderness: Sermons to the People; to which is added the Story of his Life and Ministry by W. W N. (1888); Heroes of the Early Church (Philadelphia, 1888); Five Minute Talks for Young People: or, the Way to Success (1891).
NEWTON, RICHARD HEBER: Protestant Episcopalian, son of the preceding; b. at Philadelphia Oct. 31, 1840. He entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1857 but left at the close of his sophomore year; then entered the Protestant Episcopal Divinity School, Philadelphia, from which he was graduated in 1863. He was ordered deacon in 1862 and was assistant at St. Paul's, Philadelphia (1862- 1863) and the Church of the Epiphany, Philadelphia (1863-64), and in charge of Trinity Church, Sharon Springs, N. Y. (1864-66), until his ordination to the priesthood in 1866. He was then rector of St. Paul's, Philadelphia (1866-69), and of All Souls', New York City (1869-1902). He belongs to the Broad-church party. His larger works are: The Children's Church (New York, 1870); The Morals of Taste (1873); Studies of Jesus (1880); Womanhood (1880); Bight and Wrong Uses of the Bible (1883); The Book of the Beginnings (1884);
Philistinism (1885); Social Studies (1886); Church and Creed (1891); Christian Science (1898); and Parsifal (1904).
NEWTON, WILLIAM WILBERFORCE: Protestant Episcopalian, brother of the preceding; b. at Philadelphia, Nov. 4, 1843. He was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania (B.A., 1865) and the Protestant Episcopal Divinity School, Philadelphia (1868). He was assistant at the Church of the Epiphany, Philadelphia (1868-70), rector of St. Paul's, Brookline, Mass. (1870-75), Trinity, Newark, N. J. (1875-77), St. Paul's, Boston, Mass. (1877-81), and St. Stephen's, Pittsfield, Mass. (1881-1900), chaplain of the English Church at Dinan, Brittany (1903-04), and rector of the Church of the Ascension, Wakefield, R. I. (1905-06). He was editor of The American Church Sunday School Magazine (1885-1906). In theology he is a Broad Churchman. Among his publications special mention may be made of his Gate of the Temple: or, Prayers for Children (New York, 1875); six volumes of sermons for children (1877-90); Essays of To-day (Boston, 1879); The Voice of St. John (poems; New York, 1880) ; Priest and Man: or, Abelard and Heloisa (novel; Boston, 1883); Summer Sermons from a Berkshire Pulpit (Pittsfield, Mass., 1885); The Life of Dr. Muhlenberg (New York, 1890) : A Run through Russia (Hartford, 1894); and Philip Mac Gregor (novel; 1895).
NIBHAZ: The name of one of the two deities or idols mentioned in II Kings xvii. 31 as set up by the Avvites (A. V Avites), one of the foreign peoples settled by Sargon in the territory of the northern kingdom after the deportation of the Israelites. The reading is questionable, both the Hebrew and the Greek giving variants. Some Hebrew manuscripts read Nibhan (cf . the same reading in Sanhedrin 63b), while those which have the ordinary reading point the word differently. Greek texts indicate a goddess, and have the forms Eblazer, Eblaiezer, Abaazer. No deity corresponding to any of these forms is known even in the cuneiform records, the nearest suggestion that comes is from the Mandean, in which there is mention of a demon Nebaz. The passage in Sanhedrin (ut sup.) connects the word with nbh, " to bark," and supposes the idol to have had the form of a dog. But nothing is known of a dog-shaped idol in the region except the dog-headed Anubis of Egypt, and that seems out of the question here. The reading Nibhan seems to have arisen from a mistake in reading the last letter of the original text. Nor is any light shed on the subject by considering the people who set up the idol. Possibly the implied 'Avvah of II Kings xvii. 31 is the same as the ' Ivvah of II Kings xviii. 34, xix. 13; Isa. xxxvii. 13. But even then nothing is known of such a place as a Syrian or Babylonian region or city, and consequently there is no knowledge of its deities. Geo. W. Gilmore.
Bibliography: J. Selden, De dis Syris, London, 1617, Eng. transl., The Fabulous Gods Denounced in the Bible, Philadelphia, 1881; C. Iken, Dissertatio de Nibchaz idelo Awaorum, Bremen, 1726; F. Munter, Die Religion der Babylonier, pp. 108-110, Copenhagen, 1827; P. Schols, Gotzendienst und Zauberwesen bei den alten Hebraern, pp. 399 sqq., Regensburg, 1877; Schrader, KAT, p. 484; EB, iii. 3405-3406; and the conmentaries on the passage.
Kiceea