MANICH^US 



MANILA 



21 



hand/ of the powers of Darkness, and out of this 

 they formed, after the ideal of the Man of Light, 

 mortal man. But even the small fraction of light 

 left in him, broken in two souls, would have pre- 

 vailed against them, had they not found means to 

 further divide and subdivide it by the propagation 

 of this man. Thus man was originally formed in 

 the image of Satan, but contained within him a 

 spark of the heavenly light, which awaits its final 

 deliverance by separation from the enveloping dark- 

 ness. The demons sought to obscure it further by 

 sensuality and dark forms of belief and faith, such 

 M I ':iu;imsm and Judaism ; but the spirits of Light 

 are constantly engaged in drawing out the dimmed 

 and buried light hidden in the world, by opening 

 up to men the true gnoxis of nature, and weaning 

 them away from sensuality and error. Thus there 

 appeared in the world a succession of teachers, as 

 Adam, Noah, Abraham, and probably Zoroaster 

 and Buddha. Jesus also was such a teacher, but 

 he was neither the historical Christ of Christianity, 

 nor the Messiah of the Jews, but a phantasmal 

 Jesus (Jexux iiH/intiliilia), who did not actually 

 suffer, as he seemed, on the cross, but only allowed 

 himself to become an example of endurance and 

 passive pain for his own, the souls of light. Since 

 veil his immediate adherents, the apostles, were 

 not strong enough to sutler as he had commanded 

 them, he promised thorn a Paraclete, who should 

 complete liis own work. This Paraclete was Mani, 

 wlio surrounded himself, like Christ, with twelve 

 apostles, and sent them into the world to teach 

 and to preach his doctrine of salvation. The end 

 of the world will be fire, in which the region of 

 Darkness will be consumed. 



To attain to the region of eternal light, it 

 is necessary that Passion, or rather the Bwly, 

 should be utterly subdued ; hence rigorous absti- 

 nence from all sensual pleasures asceticism, in 

 fact, to the utmost degree is to be exercised. The 

 believers are divided into two classes the Electi 

 (Perfecti] and the Cateckumeni ( A uditores ). The 

 Elect have to take the oath of abstinence from evil 

 and profane speech (including ' religious terms such 

 as Christians use respecting the Godhead and 

 religion'), and from flesh, eggs, milk, fish, wine, and 

 all intoxicating drinks ; from the possession of 

 riches, or, indeed, any property whatsoever ; from 

 hurting any being animal or vegetable ; from 

 heeding their own family, or showing any pity to 

 him who is not of the Manichiean creed ; and 

 finally, from breaking their chastity by marriage 

 or otherwise. The Auditors were comparatively 

 free to partake of the good things of this world, 

 but they had to provide for the subsistence of the 

 Elect, and their highest aim also was the attain- 

 nient of the state of their superior brethren. In 

 this Manicluran worship, the Visible Representa- 

 tives of the Light (sun ami moon) were revered, 

 but only as representatives of the Ideal, of the 

 Good or supreme God. Neither altar nor sacrifice 

 was to be found in their places of religious assem- 

 blies, nor did they erect sumptuous temples. Fasts, 

 prayers, occasional reading in the supposed writ- 

 ings of Mani, were all their outer worship. The 

 Old Testament they rejected unconditionally ; of 

 the New Testament they adopted certain por- 

 tions, as revised and redacted oy the Paraclete. 

 Sunday, as the ilav on which the visible universe 

 was to be consumed, the day consecrated to the 

 sun, was kept as a great festival ; and the most 

 solemn day in their year was the anniversary of 

 the death of Mani. 'The later Manichx-ans cele- 

 brated mysteries analogous to the Christian sacra- 

 ments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. St 

 Augustine lielonged to the sect for about nine years, 

 and is our chief authority on this subject. 



The outward history of the sect is one of almost 



continuous persecution. Yet it spread rapidly from 

 Persia and Mesopotamia to Syria, northern Africa, 

 and even Constantinople and Rome, drawing ad- 

 herents from the remnants of the old Gnostic sects, 

 especially from the Marcionites, and on the other 

 hand from men of a rationalistic temperament who 

 were repelled by such dogmas as that of the Incar- 

 nation. Both the Roman and Byzantine emperors 

 enacted stringent laws against "the Manicho?ans, 

 the most severe being Valentinian III. and Jus- 

 tinian. Pope Leo the Great persecuted them in 

 Rome, and in northern Africa they were exter- 

 minated by the Vandals. But their peculiar doc- 

 trines lingered on into the middle ages, and 

 influenced many sects, as the Priscillianiste, Pauli- 

 cians, Bogomiles, Catharists, and Albigenses. 



See Beausobre, Hut. critique de Manichfe ft du Mani- 

 chfisme (1734); Baur, Das Manich. Religionsxtistcm 

 (1831); Flugel, Mani (1862); Kessler's Untersuchung 

 zur Otne*i des Afanich. Jtelir/ionssystem (1876), and his 

 excellent articles, ' Mani ' and ' Manichaer,' in vol. ix. of 

 Herzog-Plitt's Jteal-f'ncyrlopadie; Geyler, Das Syster.i 

 dei Maniehtfitmn* (1875); also Harnack's admirable 

 article in the Encyclopedia BriUtnnica. 



llanihiki Islands, a group of low, wooded 

 atolls, scattered over the central Pacific, between 

 tlic> Marquesas ami Union groups; total area, 55 

 so,, m. ; pop. 1600. Mostof them (Caroline, Maiden, 

 Starbuck, Penrhyn, &c. ) belong to Britain. 



Manila ( by English people often speltJI/in ///), 

 chief town of the Philippine Islands (q.v. ) and, 

 till the blockade by a L nited States fleet in May 

 1898 and the subsequent American occupation of 

 the Philippines, capital of the Spanish possessions 

 in eastern Asia, stands on the east side of a wide bay 

 on the SW. coast of Luzon, 650 miles SE. of Hong- 

 kong, with which it is connected by telegraph (1881 ). 

 It is divided into two portions by the little river 

 Pasig. On the south bank stands the sleepy old 

 town (founded in 1571 by Legazpi), surrounded by 

 crumbling walls, with tolerably wide straight streets 

 crossing each other at right angles. Here are the 

 archbishop's palace, numerous churches and monas- 

 teries, the cathedral, mint (closed in 1889), univer- 

 sity, Jesuit observatory, arsenal, and the barracks 

 of the Spanish garrison. On the north bank are 

 the modern suburbs, Binondo, &c. , the commercial 

 and native quarters, with the palaces of the governor- 

 general anil the admiral of the station. The city is 

 liable to visitations of earthquakes, typhoons, and 

 thunderstorms of exceptional violence : for instance, 

 a violent earthquake did great damage in 1880, 

 whilst a hurricane in 1882 ruined half the city. 

 For this reason many of the old stone houses and 

 churches are in ruins^ and most of the newer houses 

 are built of wood above the ground floor. The native 

 houses are generally constructed of bamboo and 

 thatched with the leaves of the nipa palm. Glass is 

 not used in the windows, but the flat shell of a large 

 oyster, and the window-frames all slide horizontally. 

 This is to exclude the great heat, the mean for the 

 year being 82 F. ; but during the rainy season ( May 

 to November) it ranges from 65" to 68*. Since 1893 

 the city and suburbs have been lighted by elec- 

 tricity. The total |>opulation is estimated at about 

 300,000, for the most part native Tagals, though 

 there are some 25,000 Chinese, large numbers 

 descended from these two races, and about 5000 

 Spaniards. The people are fond of dancing and 

 music ; but the predominant passions of the native 

 population are cock lighting, carried on in licensed 

 cockpits, which yield a large revenue to the govern- 

 ment, and betting and gambling. Almost the only 

 indi; -*ry is the manufacture of cigars, which employs 

 21,000 women and 1500 men. The harlwur is not 

 very safe during south-west and north-east winds, 

 although shelter is afforded by a small breakwater, 

 and improvement works were in operation for ten 



