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55 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA nitualism Riving thirty Mennonite families from Canton Basel, Swit zerland, on account of long persecution. The voy age was disastrous, one of the ships with the goods of the emigrants being lost. One company, inclu ding Jacob Engle and his brother John, settled near the Susquehanna River in the southeastern part of Lancaster County, Pa. A revival in 1770, conducted by Lutherans, Mennonites, and Baptists, including Philip William Otterbein (q.v.), Boehm, and the Engles, resulted in many conversions. Differences arose among the converts respecting the mode of baptism and separate movements were the result. The Engles held to trine immersion and those who were of the same mind formed the denomination known simply as the River Brethren, which grad ually spread to Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, New York, and other states, and to Canada. In 1862 the de nomination sought a legal status as a body holding to the principle of non-resistance. Some of its mem bers had been drafted for the army in the Civil War, and a legal status was needed to protect them from a violation of their principles. At the same time they adopted the name " Brethren in Christ," which is also claimed by a small Mennonite body. The River Brethren have suffered division. Differences on minor points led to the withdrawal of the Yorker Brethren in 1843 and in 1852 of the " Brinsers " or United Zion's Children. The River Brethren have no formulated creed. They accept the doctrines known as Evangelical, and hold to Trine Immersion (q.v.) as the only proper form of baptism, to confession of sins to God and man, and to the ceremony of foot-washing in connec tion with the eucharist. Non-resistance is one of their cardinal principles. There are bishops, minis ters, and deacons. The deacons have charge of the business of the churches, serve at the communion table, and do some pastoral visiting. Ministers are the teaching body, do parish work, and in the absence of the bishop administer the communion. The bishops preside at all council meetings and exercise all the functions of the ministry. District councils and the general conference are composed of ministers and laymen. The latter meets annually and has charge of the missionary work of the Church. The denominational headquarters are at Harrisburg, Pa. The differences between the three bodies are slight. In the United Zion's Children in the cere mony of foot-washing one person both washes and wipes; in the other branches one person washes and another wipes. The three bodies in 1908 reported 201 ministers, 98 churches, and 4,114 communicants. The Brethren in Christ, the main body, has 174 ministers, 65 churches, and 3,675 communicants. H. K. CARROLL. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Consult the literature under MENNONITES. RIVET, rt-v"e', ANDRE (ANDREAS RIVETUS): Huguenot; b. at Maixent (27 m. s.w. of Poitiers), France, Aug., 1572; d. at Breda (28 m. s.e. of Rotterdam), Holland, Jan. 7, 1651. After com pleting his education at Bern, he studied theology privately at Bern and La Rochelle, and from 1595 to 1620 was at Thouars, first as chaplain of the duke of La Tr6mouille and later as pastor; in 1617 he was elected president of the Synod at Vitr6; and in 1620 he was called to Leyden as professor of the-
ology. In 1632 Frederick Henry appointed Rivet tutor of his son, later William II., while the university made him honorary professor. In 1641 he attended the prince on his visit to England, and in 1646 was appointed curator of the educational institution in Breda, where he passed the remainder of his life.
A rigid Calvinist and an uncompromising enemy of the Roman Catholic Church, Rivet was in his day the most influential member of the theological faculty of Leyden; and together with his colleagues he drew up, in 1625, the Synopsis purioris theologize, which discussed the entire field of Reformed dog matics in fifty-two disputations. At Leyden Rivet labored also in Old-Testament exegesis. His nu merous writings are divided among the provinces of polemics, exegesis, dogmatics, and edification. They were collected in three volumes (Rotterdam, 1651-53), the most important being the Isagoge ad scripturam saeram Veteris et Novi Testamenti (Dort, 1616). (S. D. vAN VEEN.) BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Meulsius, Athena Batavep, pp. 315 sqq.,Leyden, 1625; Les Dernihres Heures de M. Rivet, Delft, 1651, Eng. transl., The Last Houers of . . Andrew Rivet, The Hague, 1652; B. Clasius, Godgeleerd Nederland, iii. 180-186, 's Hertogenbosch, 1851-56; E. and E. Haag, La France protestante, ed. H. L. Bordier, viii. 444-449, Paris, 1877 sqq.; Lichtenberger, ESR, mi. 238-241.
RIVIUS, riv'1-us, JOHANNES: German humanist and theologian; b. at Attendorn (42 m. n.e. of Cologne) Aug. 1, 1500; d. at Meissen (15 m. n.w. of Dresden) Jan. 1, 1553. In 1516 he entered the University of Cologne, and later, after studying manuscripts in Rhenish monasteries, went to Leipsic, where he found friendly reception with Kaspar Borner. After teaching at Zwickau for a short time, he went to Annaberg, Marienberg, and Schneeberg, and in 1537 was called to Freiberg as director of the Latin school and tutor to Duke August. With the latter, in 1540, he visited the University of Leipsic, and he also accompanied his pupil to Dresden after the death of Duke Henry. In the latter city Rivius was employed in church and school administration, and when Duke Maurice departed for the Turkish war in 1542, he was made a member of the bureau of spiritual affairs. In 1544 he was appointed inspector of schools at Meissen, where he evinced excellent administrative gifts. In 1545 he was made assessor in the newly established consistory of Meissen, and occupied this position until his death.
The literary activity of Rivius was directed primarily to the humanistic sphere. Here belong collections of notes on Terence, Cicero, and Sallust, and an edition of the last-named, as well as the long popular De its disc£plinis quce de sermone agunt, ut sunt grammatiea, dialectica, rhetorica libri duodeviginti (Leipsic, 1539). Far more important, however, were his theological writings, in which the elegant diction, Biblical and ecclesiastical learning, and hilosophic training make him appear a pupil of Erasmus. He was sometimes regarded with suspicion by Luther. His polemic writings in behalf of the new doctrines show an honorable and exact mode of discussion of the problems involved, and he did not hesitate to quote from his opponents in the course of his arguments. To this class of works belong his De instaurata et renovata doctrina eccle-