REFORMED CHURCH, the Churches in Switzerland, Holland, Scotland, and elsewhere under Calvin or Zwingle, or both, separated from the Lutheran on matter of both doctrine and policy, and especially in regard to the doctrine of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

REFRACTION.  Light travels in straight lines; but when a ray travelling through one medium passes obliquely into another of either greater or less density it is bent at the point of incidence.  This bending or breaking is called refraction.  The apparent bend in a stick set sloping in a sheet of water is due to this phenomenon, as are also many mirages and other optical illusions.

REGALIA, the symbols of royalty, and more particularly those used at a coronation.  The English regalia include the crown, the sceptre with the cross, the verge or rod with the dove, St. Edward’s staff (in reality dating from Charles II.’s coronation), the orbs of king and queen, the sword of mercy called Curtana, the two swords of spiritual and temporal justice, the ring of alliance with the nation, bracelets, spurs, vestments, &c.  These are to be seen in the Tower of London, and are valued at L3,000,000.  The regalia of Scotland consist of the crown, the sceptre, and sword of State, and are on exhibition in the Crown-room in Edinburgh Castle.

REGENERATION, THE, “new or second birth” required of Christ before any one can become a member of His kingdom, and which, when achieved, is a resolute and irreversible No to the spirit of the world, and a no less resolute and irreversible Yea to the spirit of Christ, the No being as essential to it as the Yea.  For as in the philosophy of Hegel, so in the religion of Christ, the negative principle is the creative or the determinative principle.  Christianity begins in No, subsists in No, and survives in No to the spirit of the world; this it at first peremptorily spurns, and then disregards as of no account, what things were gain in it becoming loss.  A stern requirement, but, as Carlyle says, and knew, one is not born the second time any more than the first without sore birth-pangs.  See HIS “EVERLASTING NO” IN “SARTOR,” LAST PARAGRAPH.

REGENERATION, BAPTISMAL, the doctrine that the power of spiritual life, forfeited by the Fall, is restored to the soul in the sacrament of baptism duly administered.

REGENSBURG.  See RATISBON.

REGGIO (24), an Italian seaport; capital of a province of the same name; occupies a charming site on the Strait of Messina; built on the ruins of ancient Rhegium; is the seat of an archbishop; manufactures silks, gloves, hose, &c.

REGICIDES, murderers of a king, but specially applied to the 67 members of the court who tried and condemned Charles I. of England, amongst whom were Cromwell, Bradshaw, Ireton, and others, of whom 10 living at the time of the Restoration were executed, and 25 others imprisoned for life.

REGILLUS, LAKE, celebrated in ancient Roman history as the scene of a great Roman victory over the Latins in 496 B.C.; site probably near the modern town of Frascati.