RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Reinkens Relic
auss und in Jetiova durch den Glavhen haben (n.p., 1701) and preparing a translation of the New Testament (Offenbach, 1703) which was colored by his peculiar views. In 1702-04 he was director of a Reformed Latin school at Siegen, but was removed for attending meetings for private devotion. He then wandered for some years from place to place, finally becoming administrator for the widowed princess of Nassau-Siegen, then residing at her castle of Wisch, near Terborg. Finally, in 1711, he went to Wesel, where, having wearied of his former extravagances and returned to orthodoxy, he set up a successful Latin school, over which he presided until his death.
The chief work of Reitz was his collection of brief biographies entitled Historie der Wiedergeborenen (7 parts, 3d ed., Berleburg, 1724-46), and his writings also include: Geoffneter Himmel, Erklarung der sonderbarerijGeheininisse des Himmelreichs (Wetzlar, 1707); and the posthumous Nachfolge Jesu Christi (Leipsic, 1730) and Verborgene Offenbarung Jesu Christi aus dreien Bilchern, der inner en und ausseren Natur, und der Schrift erklart (Frankfort, 1738). In all these wide scope is given to the " inner light," as among the Anabaptists and Quakers, as well as, under the influence of Cocceius, to contempt of the observance of Sunday and disparagement of the Old Testament. Creeds and an ordained ministry are also lightly regarded as secondary in importance, restorationism is taught, all sorts of mystical ideas are advanced, and it is maintained that Christ assumed, not the flesh of the first Adam, but, as Paul taught, the peccable nature of fallen man.
(F. W CuNot.)
Bibliography : M. Gobel, Geschichte des christlichen Lebens in der rheinisch-westphdlischen evangelischen Kirche, vol. ii., Coblentz, 1852; C. W. H. Hochhuth, H. Horche und die- philadelph. Gemeinden in Hessen, Giitersloh, 1876; F. W. Cuno, Gedachtnisbuch deutscher Fiirsten und Filrstinnen reformirten Bekenntnisses, vol. ii., Barmen, 1883; E. Sachsse, Ursprung und Wesen des Pietismus, Wiesbaden, 1884; T. G umbel, Geschichte der protestantischen Kirche der Pfalz, Kaisersloh, 1885.
RELAND (REELAND, RELANT), ADRIAN:
Dutch orientalist and geographer; b. at Rijp (a village near Alkmaar, 20 m. n.n.w. of Amsterdam) July 17, 1676; d. at Utrecht Feb. 5, 1718. He was educated at Amsterdam (1686-88) and Utrecht (1688-93), completing his studies at Leyden. In 1699 he was appointed professor of physics and metaphysics at Harderwijk, but in the following year was called to Utrecht as professor of oriental languages and sacred antiquities, retaining this chair until his death. His studies ranged over classical philology, Persian and Arabic literature, the languages of India and Farther India, China, Japan, and South America. He devoted special attention, however, to the Bible and cognate subjects. His writings of theological interest were as follows: Analecta Rabbinica (Utrecht, 1702); Antiquitates sacrce veterum Hebrceorum (1708); Dissertationes qwinque de nummis veterum Hebrmorum qui ab inscriptarum literarum forma Samaritani appellantur (1709); Palwstina ex monumentis veteribus illustrate, (1714); and De spoliis tenvpli Hierosoymitani in arcu Titiano (1716), as well as a number of essays in his Dissertationes miscellanea (3 parts, 1706-08).
The Palcestina is still indispensable. He was the
author also of the De religione Mohammedica libri
duo (Utrecht, 1705; Eng. transl. by A. Bobovius,
3 parts, London, 1712). (H. Guthe.)
Bibliography: Niceron, Memoires, i. 339-349, x. 62-63;
K. Burmann, Trajectum eruditum, pp. 293-301, Utrecht,
1738; L. G. Michaud, Biographie universelle, xxxvii. 308-
311, Paris, 1824 sqq.; A. J. Van der Aa, Biographisch
Woordenboek der Nederlanden, x. 45-47, Haarlem, 1874;
R. Rohricht, Bibliotheca geographica Palastince, pp. 296—
297, Berlin, 1890.
RELIC: The body, or some part of the same, of a saint, or an object supposed to have been connected with the life and person of Christ, a saint, or a martyr, and preserved for religious veneration, especially in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Churches. The term was received from the classical Latin meaning " remains from dead bodies " (reliquio3 = " ashes "), and was applied to relics from the martyrs. Later it was extended to include the bodies themselves (Vita Sancti Maxentii; ASM, i. 567) and everything that had come into contact with the saints or their bodies (Gregory the Great, Dialogorum, II., xxxviii.). In "The Epist. of the church at Smyrna concerning the martyrdom of Polycarp " (xviii.; Eng. transl., ANF, i. 43) the bones of the martyr, after the body was consumed in the fire, are represented as " more precious than the most exquisite jewels, and more refined than gold " and (xvii.; Eng. transl., i. 42) many " desired to become possessors of his holy flesh." In the next century Cyprian and Dionysius of Alexandria bear witness that congregations considered it their right and duty to bury the bodies of their martyrs (Cyprian, Epist., viii. 3, xii. 1; Eng. transl., ANF, v. 281, 315; Eusebius, Hist, eccl, vii. 11, 22; Eng. transl., NPNF, ser. 2, i. 301, 307). The possession of the body, or at least the relics, was taken as securing a continuation of fellowship with the deceased. This view throws light upon the custom of assembling at the graves of the martyrs to celebrate the agape and the Eucharist (Epist. de martyrio Polycarpi, xviii.; Eng. transl., ANF, i. 43; Cyprian, Epist., xxxix. 3; Eng. transl., ANF, v. 313), and of the desire for burial in the vicinity of the martyr. The aversion to touching the bodies of the dead apropos of the survival of the ceremonial law of the Jews could not long impede this development.
The transition from the veneration of entombed bodies to that of relics occurred during the latter half of the third and the beginning of the fourth centuries, and evidently falls into connection with the persecutions under Decius, Valerian, and Diocletian. In Egypt the dead bodies of saints were not buried but retained for veneration in the houses (Vita Antonii magni, xc; ASB, ii. 120-141). Optatus (De schismate Donatistarum, i. 16) speaks of a certain Lucilla of Carthage, who kissed the bone of a martyr; and of the Christians at Tarragona it is said that after the death of Fructuosus (q.v.) and his associates each one appropriated, so far as possible, some of their ashes (Acta Fructuosi, vi.; ASB, ii. 339-341). In each of those three instances the act was disapproved by the church leaders, but in spite of this the veneration became general. In addition it was soon believed that the inanimate
Relic Religion