EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY 



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EVOLUTE 



prove his claim ; but the other 

 side can call for them and put 

 them in to disprove it. 



There are a few exceptions to 

 the rule against hearsay, i.e. in 

 pedigree cases, the statements 

 made by a deceased member of 

 the family before the litigation 

 was mooted. For example, the 

 question being whether Harry 

 Smith is the son of John Smith of 

 Chichester, a member of the 

 family can say, " My mother was 

 John Smith's sister. She is now 

 dead. I often heard her say that 

 her brother John married, and had 

 a son he called Harry after my 

 grandfather." On this principle, 

 entries in family Bibles, and even 

 inscriptions on tombstones can be 

 called into play. Another class of 

 hearsay admissible is " declara- 

 tion against interest" by a de- 

 ceased person. Thus, a deceased 

 solicitor's bill, receipted, but not 

 otherwise, is admissible in evi- 

 dence to prove the facts set out in 

 it. Yet another class of hearsay 

 admissible is any entry made by a 

 person, since deceased, which it 

 was his duty to make when he 

 made it. 



At one time, the English com- 

 mon law did not allow any person 

 who was interested in an action to 

 give evidence, whether his interest 

 arose from blood or was pecuniary. 

 This restriction has now been done 

 away with. The only remnant of it 

 remaining is that in a criminal case, 

 except in a case of bigamy, a 

 husband or wife cannot give evi- 

 dence for the prosecution, unless it 

 is on a charge brought by one 

 spouss against the other. See 

 Jurisprudence ; Law. 



Evidences of Christianity, A 

 VIEW OF THE. Theological work by 

 William Paley first published in 

 1794, containing (1) the direct his- 

 torical evidences of Christianity ; 



(2) the auxiliary evidences ; and 



(3) a consideration of some popular 

 objections. Largely based on But- 

 ler's Analogy of Religion and Na- 

 thaniel Lardner's Credibility of 

 the Gospel History, the work, in its 

 time hailed as a crushing reply to 

 scepticism, has come to be regarded 

 as inadequate. 



Evil. In the theological and 

 ethical sense the absence of good, 

 or unsatisfied desire. But neither 

 definition is satisfactory. To say 

 that evil is the absence or the 

 opposite of good at once raises the 

 question, " What is good ? " ; and 

 the answer must depend largely 

 upon the standpoint of the in- 

 dividual. To define evil as un- 

 satisfied desire pre-supposes that 

 the desire itself is not evil. If it is, 

 its frustration is good rather than 

 evil. To find the supreme good in 



the satisfaction of desire, and evil 

 in its frustration, ignores the pos- 

 sibility of a higher and external 

 moral imperative taking prece- 

 dence over mere personal desire. 



From the theological point of 

 view, the definition of evil is com- 

 paratively simple. It is that which 

 does not conform to the Will of 

 God. But the Will of God is mani- 

 fested by both direct command 

 and by permission. Evil, like all 

 other things, can only exist by 

 divine permission ; and in this 

 sense its existence is not contrary 

 to the Will of God. But the thing 

 in itself and the fact of its existence 

 are not the same thing. The Will 

 of God may permit the existence 

 of an evil which is itself directly 

 opposed to that Will ; and such 

 permission in no sense makes God 

 the author or the cause of evil. 

 The Problem of Relativity 



Why evil is permitted to exist 

 has always been a perplexing pro- 

 blem ; and it is not greatly helped 

 by the counter question, " Does 

 evil exist ?" If evil is a mere nega- 

 tion or absence of good, it has no 

 real existence, and is nothing at all. 

 What really happens is that the 

 good exists in a less degree than 

 is to be desired. The existence of 

 so-called evil, therefore, resolves 

 itself into this that the universe 

 is not perfect. Viewing evil as 

 merely imperfection, the problem 

 of its existence becomes less diffi- 

 cult. It is no reflection on the 

 goodness of God that He is pleased 

 to let the world progress through 

 imperfection to perfection. Such a 

 process of progression and growth 

 is analogous to what is seen in the 

 world of animal and vegetable life. 



Another element in the problem 

 of evil is that of relativity. In 

 certain circumstances and in some 

 relations a thing may be evil which 

 is not necessarily evil in itself. 

 But we are not in a position to 

 judge the circumstances or to 

 weigh the relations ; for the simple 

 reason that only a portion of the 

 world of reality lies within our 

 ken. We only see part of the 

 machine ; and those parts which 

 appear inappropriate or superflu- 

 ous may be essential or beneficial 

 to the part of which we know 

 nothing. See Ethics. 



Evil Eye. Faculty of causing 

 material harm by means of a 

 glance. In Shakespeare, and in 

 modern rural England, it is called 

 overlooking. From its ancient 

 Roman name fascinum comes the 

 word fascination. Distinguishable 

 from the subjective influence of 

 the eyes of snakes, it denotes a 

 form of witchcraft, owing its origin 

 to the presumption that the eye is 

 capable of operating at a distance. 



It may be exerted, voluntarily or 

 involuntarily, upon human beings 

 and domestic animals, especially 

 when young, besides crops, dwel- 

 lings and other objects. Envy 

 (Lat. invidia, on-looking) is a 

 potent incentive of evil eye. 



The belief is traceable to the 

 beginnings of recorded history, 

 and its widespread survival in 

 primitive culture attests its prime- 

 val origin. Various curative and 

 preventive measures are employed. 

 Prevention is sought by spitting, 

 muttering counter-charms, making 

 offensive figures or gestures, giving 

 to children opprobrious names, 

 wearing knotted cords, or display- 

 ing amulets, many of which are 

 specific for evil eye. They include 

 representations of eyes such as 

 the ancient Egyptian uza hands, 

 horns, teeth, shells, nuts, lunar 

 crescents such as the camel- 

 ornaments of Judges 8 red and 

 blue objects, and magical or sacred 

 texts. Evil eye is referred to by its 

 technical name in the N.T. in Gal. 3, 

 where it is translated " bewitched." 

 The Greek belief is enshrined in the 

 mythical gorgon Medusa, whose 

 glance turned its victims to stone ; 

 the use of the gorgon's head as a 

 preventive amulet persists in 

 modern doorknockers. See Divin- 

 ation ; Magic ; consult also Evil 

 Eye, F. T. El worthy, 1895. 



Evil-Merodach (d. 560 B.C.). 

 King of Babylon. The name is the 

 Biblical spelling of the cuneiform 

 Amel-Marduk, servant of Marduk. 

 He succeeded his father, Nebu- 

 chadrezzar II, and after a career 

 of tyranny and unrestraint was, 

 within two years, violently slain 

 by his brother-in-law, the Nergal- 

 sharezer of Jer. 39, who seized the 

 throne. In II Kings 25 he is said 

 to have shown special clemency to 

 Jehoiachin, king of Judah, after 

 37 years of rigorous imprisonment. 



E volute (Lat. e, from, out ; 

 volvere, to roll). In geometry a 

 curve which is the path of all 

 points that are the centres of 

 curvature of a second curve called 

 the involute. To measure the cur- 

 vature of any involute we find a 

 circle which coincides with the 

 curve for a short distance. If the 

 curvature to be measured is great 

 this circle of curvature can only 

 have a small radius because it will 

 accompany the first curve only a 

 small way. If the curvature is 

 small the radius of the circle will 

 be correspondingly larger. The 

 centre of this circle at any point on 

 the curve is the centre of curvature 

 at that point. It is clear that there 

 will be a number of these circles 

 for any curve. When their centres 

 are all joined up they form the 

 evolute. See Circle : Geometry. 



