Are congregations or societies of monasteries living under the same superior, in the same manner, and wearing the same habit. Religious orders may be reduced to five kinds, viz. monks, canons, knights, mendicants, and regular clerks. White order denotes the order of regular canons, of St. Augustine. Black order denotes the order of St. Benedict. Orders religious military are those instituted to defense of the faith, and privileged to say mass, and who are prohibited marriage, &c. Of this kind are the knights of Malta, or of St. John of Jerusalem. Such also were the knights templars, the knights of Calatrave, of St. Lazarus, Teutonic knights, &c.
Despite a stated reliance on the plain meaning of the Bible and the dictates of common sense, Buck's Theological Dictionary, first published in London in 1802, seeks to provide a textual basis for the evangelical community. By combining brief essays on orthodox belief and practice with historical entries on various denominations, Buck provided an interpretive lens that allowed antebellum Protestants to see Christianity's almost two millennia as their own history.Wikipedia
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