from the apostles; let him be set apart to that office by a company of ministers themselves the most conformable to the scripture character, and let him be chosen by the most holy people on earth; yet, if he answer not the New Testament description of a minister, he is not called of God to that office, and is no minister of Christ, but is indeed running unsent. No form of ordination can pretend to such a clear foundation in the New Testament as the description of the persons who should be elders of the church; and the laying on of hands, whether by bishops or presbyters, is of no more importance in the mission of a minister of Christ, than the waving of one's hand in the air, or the putting of it into his bosom; for now, when the power of miracles his ceased, it is obvious that such a rite, by whomsoever performed, can convey no powers, whether ordinary or extraordinary. Indeed it appears to have been sometimes used even in the apostolic age without any such intention. See Acts xiii. 3. In a word, whoever in his life and conversation is conformable to the character which the inspired writers give of a bishop or elder, and is likewise qualified by his mightiness in the scripture,' to discharge the duties of that office, is fully authorised to administer the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper, to teach, exhort, and rebuke, with all long suffering and doctrine, and has all the call and mission which the Lord now gives to any man; whilst he who wants the qualifications mentioned has not God's call, whatever he may have; nor any authority to preach the gospel of Christ, or to dispense the ordinances of his religion. From this view of the Independent principles, which is faithfully taken from their own writers, it appears, that, according to them, even the election of a congregation confers upon the man whom they may choose for their pastor no new powers, but only a new relation between him and a particular flock, giving him an exclusive right, either by himself or in conjunction with other pastors constituted in the same manner, to exercise among them that authority which he derives immediately from Christ, and which, in a greater or less degree, is possess ed by every sincere Christian. for a respectable and increasing body of Protestant dissenters in England: a large portion of the Protestant churches of North America are also Independents; and the term will describe generically the sentiments upon church government of the Baptists in both these countries, and various other dissenting bodies in England. The hier The Independents, considered as a sect, arose in England during Elizabeth's reign. archy established by her, the vestments worn by the clergy, the book of common prayer, and, above all, the sign of the cross used in administering baptism, were very offensive to many of her subjects, who, during the perscentions of queen Mary I., had taken refuge among the protestants of Germany and Geneva. They thought that the church of England resembled in these particulars the antichristian church of Rome; and they called for a more thorough reformation and a purer worship. From this circumstance they were first stigmatised by their adversaries with the general name of Puritans. Elizabeth was not disposed to comply with their demands; and the Puritans were not united among themselves. Unanimous in nothing, but in their antipathy to the forms of doctrine and discipline established by law, they were soon divided into a variety of sects. Of these the most famous was that which was formed about 1581 by Robert Brown, a man of insinuating manners, but neither steady nor consistent in his principles and conduct. See BROWN. He did not differ much, in point of doctrine, either from the church of England, or from the rest of the Puritans; but he had fortred new and singular notions concerning the nature of a church, and the rules of ecclesiastical government. He maintained that such a number of persons as could be contained in an ordinary place of worship ought to be considered as a church, and enjoy all the rights and privileges of an ecclesiastical community. These small societies he pronounced independent, jure divino, and entirely exempt from the jurisdiction of the bishops, in whose hands the court had placed the reins of spiritual government; as well as from that of presbyteries and synods, There are two sects of Independents in Scot- which other Puritans regarded as the supreme land: the first of whom have no peculiar deno-, visible sources of ecclesiastical authority. He mination besides the general one of Independents also maintained that the power of governing each or Congregationalists. Their religious sentiments congregation resided in the people; and that are strictly Calvinistic, and they agree in general each member had an equal share in this governwith those of the English Independents. The ment. Hence all points both of doctrine and other sect is generally denominated in Scotland discipline were submitted to the discussion of Glassites, from their founder Mr. John Glas; the whole congregation; and whatever was supand sometimes in England Sandemanians, from ported by a majority of voices passed into a law. Mr. Robert Sandeman, who spread their doc- The congregation also elected certain brethren trines in England and America. Some subdivi- to the office of pastors, to perform the duties of sions have lately taken place among them: but public instruction and divine worship; reserving both sects agree in the general principles above however to themselves the power of dismissing stated with regard to church government. these ministers, and reducing them to the condition of private members, whenever they should think such a step conducive to the spiritual advantage of the community. The right of the pastors to preach was not exclusive, or peculiar to them alone. To any member who thought proper to exhort or instruct the brethren, was accorded the liberty of prophesying or preaching. The zeal with which Brown and his asso The INDEPENDENTS are a sect of protestants, so called from their maintaining that each congregation of Christians, which meets ordinarily in one place for public worship, is a complete church, has full power to regulate every thing relating to religious government within itself, and is in no respect dependent upon, or accountable to, other churches. This term is used specifically ciates propagated these opinions was doubtless intemperate. He affirmed that all communion was to be broken off with those religious societies that were founded upon a different plan from his; and treated the church of England as a spurious church, whose ministers were unlawfully ordained, whose discipline was popish and antichristian, and whose sacraments and institutions were destitute of all efficacy. The sect, unable to endure the severe treatment which followed the avowal of these sentiments, retired into the Netherlands, and founded churches at Middlebourg, Amsterdam, and Leyden; but their founder returned to England; and, having renounced his principles of separation, took orders in the established church, and obtained a benefice. The Puritan exiles, whom he thus abandoned, soon split into parties, and their affairs declined. This engaged the wiser part of them to mitigate the severity of their founder's plan, and to soften the rigor of his uncharitable decisions. The person who had the chief merit of bringing about this reformation was John Robinson, one of their pastors, a man who had much piety, and no inconsiderable portion of learning. This well-meaning reformer, perceiving the defects that reigned in the discipline of Brown, and in the spirit and temper of his followers, employed his zeal and diligence in correcting them, and in new modelling the society, so as to render it less odious to its adversaries, and less liable to the just censure of those true Christians who look upon charity as the chief end of the commandments. Hitherto the sect had been called Brownists. But Robinson having, in his Apology, affirmed, Catum quemlibet particularem esse totam, integram, et perfectam ecclesiam, ex suis partibus constantem, immediatè et Inde pendenter quoad alias ecclesias sub ipso Christo, the sect was henceforth called Independents, of which the apologist was considered as the founder. The Independents now exhibited candor and charity enough to acknowledge that true religion and solid piety might flourish in communities under the jurisdiction of bishops, or the government of synods and presbyteries. They were also much more attentive than the Brownists, in keeping up a regular ministry in their communities: for, while the latter allowed promiscuously all ranks and orders of men to teach in public, the Independents had, and still have, a certain number of ministers, chosen respectively by the congregations where they are fixed; nor is any person among them permitted to speak in public before he has submitted to a proper examination of his capacity and talents, and been approved of by the heads of the congregation. This society has produced divines as eminent for learning, piety, and virtue, as any church in Christendom. From 1642 the Independents are very frequently mentioned in our annals. The English Independents assumed this title publicly in a piece which they published at London in 1644, entitled Apologetical Narration of the Independents. But afterwards, to avoid the odium of sedition and anarchy charged on the sect, numbers of them renounced this title, and called themselves Congregational Brethren, and their religious assemblies congregational churches. The first Independent or congregational church in England was set up in 1616 by Mr. Jacob, who had adopted the religious sentiments of Robinson. The charge alleged against them by Rapin (in his History of England, vol. II. p. 514, folio edition), that they could not so much as endure ordinary ministers in the church, &c., is groundless. He was led into this mistake by confounding the Independents and Brownists. Other charges equally unjustifiable have been urged against the Independents by this historian, and others. Rapin says, that they abhorred monarchy, and approved of a republican government. This might have been true with regard to many persons among them, in common with other sects; but it does not appear, from any of their public writings, that republican principles formed their distinguishing characteristic. On the contrary, in a public memorial drawn up by them in 1647, they declare, that they do not disapprove of any form of civil government, but do freely acknowledge that a kingly government, bounded by just and wholesome laws, is both allowed by God, and also a good accommodation unto men.' The Independents, however, have been generally ranked among the regicides, and charged with the death of Charles I. Whether this fact be admitted or denied, no conclusion can be fairly drawn from the greater prevalence of republican principles, or from violent proceedings at that period, that can affect the distinguishing tenets and conduct of the Independents in our times. It is certain that the present Independents are steady friends to a limited monarchy. Rapin is further mistaken when he represents the religious principles of the English Independents as contrary to those of all the rest of the world. It appears from two confessions of faith, one composed by Robinson on behalf of the English Independents in Holland, and published at Leyden in 1619, entitled Apologia pro Exulibus Anglis, qui Brownistæ vulgo appellantur; and another drawn up in London in 1658, by the principal members of this community in England, entitled A Declaration of the Faith and Order owned and practised by the Congregational Churches in England, agreed upon and consented unto by their Elders and Messengers, in their Meeting at the Savoy, October 12th, 1658, as well as from other writings of the Independents, that they differed from the rest of the reformed in no single point of any consequence, except that of ecclesiastical government; and their religious doctrines were almost entirely the same with those adopted b the church of Geneva, During the administration of Cromwell the Independents acquired considerable reputation and influence; and he made use of them as a check to the ambition of the Presbyterians, who aimed at a very high degree of ecclesiastical power, and who had succeeded, soon after the elevation of Cromwell, in obtaining a parliamentary establishment of their own church government. But after the Restoration their cause declined; and in 1691 they entered into an association with the Presbyterians resid.ng in and about London, comprised in nine articles, that tended to the maintenance of their respective institutions. These may be found in the second volume of Whiston's Memoirs, and the substance of them in Mosheim. At this time the Independents and Presbyterians, called from this association the United Brethren, were agreed with regard to doctrines, being generally Calvinists, and differed only with respect to ecclesiastical discipline. But at present, though the English Independents and Presbyterians form two distinct parties of Protestant Dissenters, they are distinguished by very trifling differences with regard to church government. The Independents are generally more attached to the tenets distinguished by the term Calvinism than the Presbyterians. Independency was first carried to the American colonies in 1620, and, by successive puritan emigrants from England, in 1629 and 1633. One Morel, in the sixteenth century, endeavoured to introduce it into France; but it was condemned at the synod of Rochelle, where Beza presided; and again at the synod of Rochelle in 1644. On this subject, see Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, by Maclean, vol. IV.; Neal's History of the Puritans, vols. II. III. and IV.; and Burnet's History of his own Times, vol. I., &c. The Independents of the present day, it may be added, have sustained a noble part in the advocacy of Bible, Missionary, and Education Societies, of every description. INDERABIA, an island of small extent near the mouth of the Persian Gulf. It is perhaps three miles in length, low, level, and narrow, and separated from the main land by a strait, three miles in breadth, and which may be navigated without much danger: but ships running for shelter under the island must not come within a mile of its south-east end, until a tree, which stands by itself, bears W. N. W. Lat. 26° 40′ N. INDÉRGEREE, a river of Sumatra, on the north-east coast, running into the sea, in long. 103° 20' E., lat. 0° 33′ S. INDERGUR, or INDARGHUR, is the name of various hill fortresses in Hindostan, so called after one of the Han loo deities. INDERMAY POINT, a cape on the north coast of Java, in long. 108° 18' E., lat. 6° 12' S. INDESERT,' n.s. In and desert. Want of merit. This is a useful word, but not much received. Those who were once looked on as his equals, are apt to think the fame of his merit a reflection on their own indeserts. Addison. INDESINENTLY, adv. Fr. indesinenter; Lat. in and desino. Without cessation. They continue a month indesinently. Ray on the Creation. INDESTRUCTIBLE, adj. In and destructible. Lat. in and destruo. Not to be destroyed. Glass is so compact and firm a body, that it is indestructible by art or nature. Boyle. INDETERMINABLE, adj. Fr. indeterINDETERMINATE, adj. miné; Lat. in, INDETERMINATELY, adv. de, termino. INDETERMINED, adj. Not to be fixed, INDETERMINATION, n. s. defined, or settled; indeterminate, unfixed; indefinite: inde His perspicacity discerned the loadstone to respect the North, when ours beheld it indeterminately. Id. We should not amuse ourselves with floating words of indetermined signification, which we can use in several senses to serve a turn. Locke. The rays of the same color were by turns transmitted at one thickness, and reflected at another thickness, for an indeterminate number of successions. Newton's Opticks. in the description. The depth of the hold is indeterminately expressed Arbuthnot on Coins. INDETERMINATE PROBLEM, or unlimited problem, in algebra, that which admits of a great number of different answers, or of innumerable different solutions. In such problems the number of unknown quantities concerned is greater than the number of conditions or equations by which they are to be found; from which it happens, that generally some other conditions or quantities are assumed to supply the defect, which, being taken at pleasure, give the same number of answers as varieties in those assumptions. Diophantus was the first writer on Indeterminate Problems, in his Algebra, first published in 1575 by Xylander. His book being wholly on this subject, such questions have been called Diophantine Problems. Des Cartes, Fermat, Frenicle, Wallis, Euler, Grange, &c., have cultivated this branch of algebra: and Mr. J. Leslie, in the second volume of the Edinburgh Philosophical Transactions, has given an ingenious paper on the solution of Indeterminate Problems, by a new and general principle. INDEVOUT', adj. › Lat. indevotus (in, deo, INDEVOTION, n. s. votus); Fr. indevot. Not religious: a want of devotion; irreligion. He prays much; yet curses more; whilst he is meek, but indevout. Decay of Piety. Let us make the church the scene of our penitence, as of our faults; deprecrate our former indevotion, and, by an exemplary reverence, redress the scandal of prophaneness. Id. INDEX, n. s. Lat. indico. The discoverer; the hand that points to any thing, as the hour of a dial; the table of contents to a book. To such indexes, although small To their subsequent volumes, there is seen The baby figure of the giant mass Of things to come at large. Her silver head adorning Shakspeare. (Her dotage index) much she bragged, yet feigned, For by false tallics many years she gained. Fletcher's Purple Island. That which was once the inder to point out all virtues, does now mark out that part of the world where least of them resides. Decay of Piety. Tastes are the indexes of the different qualities of plants, as well as of all sorts of aliment. Arbuthnot. They have no more inward self-consciousness of what they do or suffer, than the inder of a watch, or the hour it points to. Bentley. If a book has no index or good table of contents, 'tis very useful to make one as you are reading it; and in your inder to take notice only of parts new to you. But I shall add them in a brief appendix, To come between mine epic and its index. Watts. Byron. Don Juan. INDEX, EXPURGATORY, a catalogue of prohibited books in the church of Rome. The first catalogues of this kind were made by the inquisitors; and afterwards approved of by the council of Trent, with some retrenchments and additions. Thus, an index of heretical books being formed, it was confirmed by a bull of Clement VIII. in 1595, and printed with several introductory rules; by the fourth of which the use of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue is forbidden in these words :- Since it is plain by experience, that if the sacred writings are permitted every where, and without difference to be read in the vulgar tongue, men, through their rashness, will receive more harm than good; let the bishop or inquisitor determine, with the advice of the parish priest or confessor, to whom to permit the reading of the Bible, translated by Catholic authors in the vulgar tongue, according as they shall judge whether it be most likely that such reading of the scripture may do harmi, or tend to the increase of faith and piety. Let them also have the same power as to all other writings. But if any, without such leave, shall presume to read or have them, without first showing the Bible to the ordinaries, he shall not receive the absolution of his sins. And as to all booksellers who shall sell the Bibles translated into the vulgar tongue, without such leave, or by any other method shall publish them, let them forfeit the price of the books, and let the money be given to pious uses by the bishop; and let them be subject to other punishments; at the pleasure of the said bishop, according to the nature of the offence. As to regulars, they shall not read or buy them, without leave first obtained from their prelates.' By the tenth rule it is ordained, that no book shall be printed at Rome without the approbation of the pope's vicar or some person delegated by the pope; nor in any other place, unless allowed by the bishop of the diocese, or some person deputed by him, or by the inquisitor of heretical pravity. In pope Clement's catalogue is a decree that all the books, even of Catholic authors, written since the year 1515, which was the year preceding that in which Luther began to declaim against indulgences, should be corrected; not only by retrenching what is not conformable to the doctrine of Rome, but also by adding what may be judged proper by the correctors. The duke of Alva, after this, procured another to be printed at Antwerp in 1571, which was published by Francis Junius about the year 1586. There were two others published in 1584 and 1612, by the cardinals Quiroga and Sandoval, and several others by the inquisitors and masters of the sacred palace. The most consi derable of all the indices is that of Anthony, a Sotomayor, supreme president and inquisitorgeneral in the kingdom of Spain, which was made for all the states subject to the king of Spain, and comprehends all the others. This was published, with the advice of the supreme senate of the general inquisition, in 1640, and reprinted at Geneva in 1667. To this there were many rules prefixed; and to the Geneva edition was added the index of the decrees which were made by the master of the holy palace, by virtue of his office, or by the command of the holy congregation, or by the holy congregations for the indices and holy office, after the before-mentioned index of the council of Trent. The rules of the former indices are explained and confirmed by these; and the fifth rule, which enlarges the fourth of the index of Trent, prohibits not only all bibles in the vulgar tongue, comprehending all except those that are Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Chaldee, Syriac, Ethiopic, Persic, and Arabic; but all parts of them, either printed or manuscript, with all summaries and abridgments in the vulgar language or tongue.-Limborch's History of the Inquisition, book ii., chap. 16. The INDEX OF A BOOK is that part annexed to a book, referring to the particular matters therein contained. The index is intended to to point out every important particular in a book, in its alphabetical order, that the reader may at once, and without difficulty, find out any article he wishes to be informed of, that is discussed or mentioned in the work: and as these are hardly known even to the author, till the work is finished, the index always appears with most propriety subjoined to the work. Every book of any extent ought to have both contents and index. Most modern indexes to books are very carelessly compiled. About a century or two ago very complete indexes were made to various learned works by the editors of the classics in usum Delphini, as well as by Minellius, Farnabius, Oudendorp, Ruddiman, and other literati. But now the compilation of an index, being thought too great a drudgery by authors, is often entrusted to persons very ill-qualified for the task; in consequence of which modern indexes are seldom either complete or properly arranged. And if the work is extensive, the reader is perplexed with three or four different indexes, or an index divided into so many parts, while compiled and arranged, would answer the purone complete general index, properly pose much better. INDEX OF A GLOBE is a little stile fitted on to the north pole, and turning round with it, pointing to certain divisions in the hour circle. It is sometimes also called gnomon. See GEO GRAPHY. INDEXTERITY, n. s. In and dexterity. Want of dexterity; want of readiness; want of handiness; clumsiness; aukwardness. The indexterity of our consumption-curers demonstrates their dimness in beholding its causes. Harvey. 694 INDIA. INDIA, an abridgment of Hindostan, is a name often given to that region of Asia lying to the south of Tartary, and between Persia and China, with its dependent islands. It contains, besides Hindostan, the BIRMAN EMPIRE, SIAM, COCHIN CHINA, TONQUIN, THIBET, JAPAN, and CEYLON; but is now, in its geographical features, more usually, and far more properly, described under those respective heads, which see. But we may conveniently consider, under this head, the chief occurrences, of an historical kind, connected with this interesting portion of the earth. 1. India as known to the ancients.—By the name of India the ancients understood only the western peninsula, on this side the Ganges, and the peninsula beyond it, having little or no knowledge of the countries which lie farther eastward. But though originally they were acquainted only with the western parts of Hindostan, they gradually extended the name of India over the other countries they discovered to the east; so that probably they would have involved all the rest in the same general designation, had they been as well acquainted with them as are the moderns. By whom these countries were originally peopled is a question which, in all probability, will never be solved. Certain it is, that some works in these parts discover marks of astonishing skill and power in the inhabitants; such as the images in the island of Elephanta, the rocking stones of immense weight, yet so nicely balanced that a man can move them with his hand, the observatory at Benares, &c. These stupendous works are, by Bryant, attributed to the Cushites or Babylonians; and it is possible that the subjects of Nimrod, the beginning of whose kingdom was in Shinar, might extend themselves in this direction, and thus fill the fortile regions of the east with inhabitants, before they migrated to the less mild and rich countries to the westward. Thus would be formed for a time that great division betwixt the inhabitants of India and other countries; so that the western nations knew not even of the existence of India, but by obscure report; while the inhabitants of the latter, ignorant of their own origin, invented a thousand idle tales concerning the antiquity of their tribes, which some of the moderns have been credulous enough to believe. The first among the western nations who distinguished themselves by their application to navigation and commerce, and who were of consequence likely to discover these distant nations, were the Egyptians and Phoenicians. The former, however, soon lost their inclination for naval affairs, and held all sea-faring people in detestation; though the extensive conquests of Sesostris, if we can believe them, must have in a great measure supplied this defect. He is said to have fitted out a fleet of 400 sail in the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea, which conquered all the countries lying along the Erythrean Sea to India; while the army, led by himself, marched through Asia, and subdued alt the countries to the Ganges; after which Le crossed that river, and advanced to the Eastern Ocean. Great disputes have been carried on with respect to this conqueror, and his expedition; but Dr. Robertson, in his Disquisition Concerning Ancient India, doubts whether any such expedition was ever made. Herodotus makes no mention of the conquest of India by Sesostris, though he relates his history at some length: and Diodorus Siculus, who first mentions it, informs us that he had it from the Egyptian priests; who related many things rather from a desire to promote the honor of their country than from attention to truth.' Strabo rejected the account altogether, and ranks the exploits of Sesostris in India with the fabulous ones of Bacchus and Hercules. It is certain, however, that the Tyrians kept up a constant intercourse with some parts of India by navigating the Arabian Gulf, or the Red Sea. Of this navigation they became masters by taking from the Idumeans some maritime places on the coast; but, as the distance betwixt the nearest place of that sea and Tyre was considerable, the land carriage must have been very tedious and expensive; for which reason it was necessary to become masters of a port on the east of the Mediterranean, nearer to the Red Sea than Tyre. With this view they took possession of Rhinvelura; and to that port all the goods from India were conveyed by a much shorter and less expensive route. This is the first authentic account of any intercourse betwixt India and the western part of the world: and to this we are without doubt in a great measure to ascribe the vast wealth and power for which the city of Tyre was anciently renowned; for in other respects the whole territory of Phoenicia was but of little consequence. Notwithstanding the frequency of these voyages, however, the ancients have left little account of them. The most particular description we have of the wealth, power, and commerce of ancient Tyre, is in the prophecies of Ezekiel. If the Tyrians kept any journals of their voyages, it is probable that they were lost when the city was destroyed by Alexander the Great. Though the Israelites, in the reigns of David and Solomon, carried on an extensive and lucrative commerce, yet Dr. Robertson is of opinion that they did not trade to any part of India. There are only two places mentioned to which their ships sailed, viz. Ophir and Tarshish; both of which are now supposed to have been situated on the east coast of Africa; the ancient Tarshish was probably the present Mocha: and Ophir the kingdom of Sofala, so remarkable in former times for its mines, that it was called by oriental writers the golden Sofala. See OPHIR and TARSHISH. Thus India continued long unknown to, and undisturbed by the western nations. But, soon after the destruction of the Babylonian monarchy by the Persians, we find Darius Hystaspis undertaking an expedition against the Indians. Herodotus informs us, that he sent Scylax of Caryandra to explore |