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but this is not to be underlJood in the full latitude of tlie 

 words ; but only as intimating, that the autocephali have 

 the fame authority ovtr their bilhops, that patriarchs had 

 over their archbilhops : in which fcnfc, only, they aie 

 equal to patriarchs. 



AUTOCHTHONES, from a.V, ipfi, and -/■,:■., urra ; 

 an appellation afTumed by fome nations, importing, that 

 tliey fprung-, or v.ere produced, from the fame foil which 

 they liill inhabited. In this fenfc, autochthones amounts 

 to the I'ame with Aborigines. In this fenfc it was that 

 the Greeks, and efpccially the Athenians, pretended to be 

 aiilochth'ines, and, as a badge tliertof, wore a golden grafs- 

 hopper woven in tlieir hair, an infetl fuppufed to liave the 

 fame origin. 



This favourite epithet of the Athenians, which gave de- 

 nomination to one of the tribes of Athens, fignilies only, 

 " people born in the country where they live," in oppofition 

 to ftrangers. The common people of Athens perverted 

 this to fignify people fprung from the earth. See what 

 Plato makes Socrates fay on this matter, in Menexen.p. 518. 

 See alfo Ifocr. in Paneg. p. 65. Cicero Orat. pro L. Flacc. 

 26. Ifocrates fays, that people of fenfe at Athens undcr- 

 llood by this epithet, that Athens was the moil ancient of 

 the Greek cities, and that it had been built by thofe who, 

 from time immemorial, had been ellablilhed in the country 

 known by the name of Attica. See Herod. 1. vii. ^161. 

 Suid. voc. Avlox^o-ti, t.\. p. 389. Hiilory, however, de- 

 ftroys this laft prctenfion ; as few circuir.ftances are better 

 known tlian the time of the building of Atliens. 



AUTOCRATOR, from aul,,-, and y.^-Mr,:, potuer ; a per- 

 fon veiled with an abfolute independent power, by which 

 he is rendered unaccountable to any other for his adtions. 

 The power of tlie Athenian generals, or commanders, was 

 ufually limited ; fo that, at the expiration of their ofiice, 

 they were liable to render an account of their adminittration. 

 But, on fome extraordinary occafions, they were exempted 

 from this reftraint, and ient with a full and uncontrolable 

 authority : in which cafe they were flyled avloK-.-xlo)-:. 



The fame people alio applied the name to fome of their 

 ambaffadors, who were veiled with a full power of deter- 

 mining matters according to their own difcretion, and refem- 

 bled our phnipoter.tlaries, 



AuTocRATOR was alfo a title given to the Roman empe- 

 rors, firft to Julius, and afterwards to his fucccflbrs, like that 

 of Ca;far, or Auguftus. 



AUTODIDACTUS, from o.v\o; and Ua^-<r, J hach ; 

 a perfon felf-taught. 



It is uled in divers fenfes, fometimes to denote a perfon 

 who received his knowledge immediately from iieavcn witli- 

 ont any help or fludy. In which lenfe the word occurs 

 in Homer, and Clemens Alexandrinns. — Sometimes for him 

 who acquires his knowledge without inllruction, cither by 

 word of mouth, or reading of books. Such were the in- 

 ventors of fcienccs and laws. — Sometimes, and that moll 

 ufually, for him 'vho ^irrives at learning by tlie ufe of books 

 alone, withoui the a..i.Unce ot any mailer, or inllrudion 

 •v'lvJ voce. 



AUTOGLYPHUS Lapis, a ftone, mentioned by Phi- 

 taich, and fome other of the ancients, as h-wing naturally 

 impreifed on it the figure of Cybele. It is faid to have 

 been foi.nd in Sagaris, a river of Perfia. Doubtlefs, if any 

 fuch itone ever exillcd, the priells had g n it made to de- 

 ceive the people. 



AUTOGRAPHUM, formed of «vts>-, and y(cc^-^,fcnho, 

 the very hand writing of any perfon ; or the original of a 



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treatife, or difcourfc — Tlie word is uftd in oppofition to. 

 a copy. 



Autographa, or original MSS. of the New Tellament, 

 are the firft copies of cacii book, which were written cither 

 by the apo.lles themfclves or by amjuiucnfts under their 

 immediate infpectio!!. St. Paul ufually adopted the latter 

 mode ; but to prevent thi circulation of fpurious epiflles, 

 he wrote the conchiding benediiStion with his own hand. 

 See Rom. xvi. 22. Gal. vi. 11, and 2 ThcfT. iii. 17, i8. 

 compared with ch. ii. 2. and I.Cor.xvi. 21. None of thefe 

 original MSS. are now remaining, nor could they have 

 been prelcrved, wiii-.out the interpofition of a miracle, 

 during the fpace of eigiitcen centuries. " But what benefit 

 (fays Michaehs, Intio'd to the N.T. by Mar(h, vol.i. p.247.) 

 niould we derive from the pufreflion of thefe MSS. ; what 

 inconvenience do we fuflain from their lofs i No critic in 

 claifical literature inquires after the original of a profane 

 author, or doubts of the authenticity of Cicero's Offices, 

 becaufe the copy is no longer extant which Cicero wrote 

 with his own hand. An antiquarian, or collector of ancient 

 records, will hardly maintain, that the probability of thefe 

 books being genuine, is inferior to the probability that a 

 record in his pofTenion of the twelfth century is an authentic 

 document of that period ; for though his record is only 

 600 years old, and the works of Cicero arc thrice as ancient, 

 we are more expofed to impofition in the former inllancc, 

 as the forgery of antiquities is often praiSifcd by tlioft, 

 whofe bufinefs and profit are to lead the curious into error. 

 But fiippofing that the original MSS. of Cicero, Csfar, 

 Paul, and Peter, were now extant, it would be impotfible to 

 decide whether they were fpurious, or whether they were 

 aclually written by the hands of thefe authors. The cafe 

 is different with refpeft to perfons, who have lived in the 

 two lad centuries, whofe hand-writing is known, with 

 which a copy in queflion may be compared and determined ; 

 but we liave no criterion, that can be applied to MSS. fo 

 old as the Chrillian aera. Yet admitting that thefe original 

 writings were extant, that we had pofitive proofs of their 

 authenticity, and, what is (lill more, that the long period of 

 feventeen centuries had left the colour of the letters uuiaded, 

 dill they would be no iiifallible guide in regard to the va- 

 rious readings." 



Kiiittel, in his edition of a fragment of Ulphilas, p. 129. 

 accounts for the lofs of the original MSS. of the N. T. by 

 fnppofing that the original golpels and epillles, as fooii 

 as the different communities, for whofe ufe they were 

 written had taken a copy, were returned to the authors ; 

 and he fays, that it was the general praftice among the 

 Chrillians of that age, and in fupport of the affertion appeals 

 to a patTage in Polycai-p, and another in Jeiom. But his 

 arguments, in the opinion of Michaehs, are vei'y unfalisfac- 

 tory ; and he thinks it reafonable to luppofc, that the very 

 fame accidents, which have robbed us of other ancient docu- 

 ments, have deprived us likewife of thefe originals. From 

 a paffage of Ignatius, in the eighth chapter of his epillle 

 to the Philadtlphians, it has been inferred, that fome of 

 the firll Chrillians appealed to the original MSS. at that 

 time extant, and held them in great veneration ; for which 

 they were ridiculed, as the fami paffage is thought to fug- 

 gelt, by the early fathers, and thofe who had the grcatcil 

 authority in the church. But the paffage to wli ch 

 appeal is m.ade, in order to prove the exiftence of thf or. .i- 

 nal MSS. in the time of Ignatius, is found to relate to a 

 different fuhjttl. See Avthentic. 



The early lofs of the autographa of the N. T. affords 

 juil matter of furprife, when we rcflefl that the original 



MSS. 



