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John George

(Encyclopedia)John George, 1585–1656, elector of Saxony (1611–56). A drunkard, he nonetheless ruled the leading German Protestant state during the Thirty Years War. He vacillated in his policy between support o...

Presbyterianism

(Encyclopedia)Presbyterianism, form of Christian church organization based on administration by a hierarchy of courts composed of clerical and lay presbyters. Holding a position between episcopacy (government by bi...

Bow Bells

(Encyclopedia)Bow Bells bō [key], in the church of St. Mary-le-Bow (Bow Church), Cheapside, London, England. The church is located in mid-London, and tradition says that only one who is born within sound of the Bo...

Anglican Communion

(Encyclopedia)Anglican Communion, the body of churches in all parts of the world that are in communion with the Church of England (see England, Church of). The communion is composed of regional churches, provinces,...

minstrel show

(Encyclopedia)minstrel show, stage entertainment by white performers made up as blacks. Thomas Dartmouth Rice, who gave (c.1828) the first solo performance in blackface and introduced the song-and-dance act Jim Cro...

Boston Public Library

(Encyclopedia)Boston Public Library, founded in 1848, chiefly through the gift of Joshua Bates, and opened to the public in 1854. It is the oldest free public city library supported by taxation in the world and the...

Roberts, Benjamin Titus

(Encyclopedia)Roberts, Benjamin Titus, 1823–93, American clergyman, one of the founders of the Free Methodist Church, b. Gowanda, N.Y. In 1858 he was expelled from the Genesee Conference of the Methodist Episcopa...

Aglipay, Gregorio

(Encyclopedia)Aglipay, Gregorio grāgōˈrēō äglēpīˈ [key], 1860–1940, Philippine clergyman. A priest who joined the revolutionary forces of Emilio Aguinaldo, he was excommunicated (1902). He took his follo...

Methodism

(Encyclopedia)Methodism, the doctrines, polity, and worship of those Protestant Christian denominations that have developed from the movement started in England by the teaching of John Wesley. John and Charles ...

Fredericia

(Encyclopedia)Fredericia frĭᵺərēˈtsyä [key], city, Vejle co., central Denmark, on the Lille Bælt. It is a ...