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ication; a letter; -- applied usually to formal, didactic, or elegant letters. A madman's epistles are no gospels. Shak.

A writer of epistles, or of an epistle of the New Testament. M. Arnold.

or a time not universally received, but which are now considered canonical. These are the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistles of James and Jude, the second Epistle of Peter, the second and third Epistles of John, and the Revelation. The undisputed books are called the Homologoumena.

ch holds as canonical several books which Protestants reject as apocryphal. -- Canonical epistles, an appellation given to the epistles called also general or catholic. See Catholic epistles, under Canholic. -- Canonical form (Math.), the simples or most symmetrical form to which all functions of the same class can b…

taining to, or affecting the Roman Catholics; as, the Catholic emancipation act. Catholic epistles, the espistles of the apostles which are addressed to all the faithful, and not to a particular church; being those of James, Peter, Jude, and John.

A decretal epistle. Ayliffe.

t of commending; praise; favorable representation in words; recommendation. Need we . . . epistles of commendatiom 2 Cor. iii. 1. By the commendation of the great officers. Bacon.

Appertaining to a decree; containing a decree; as, a decretal epistle. Ayliffe.

Constituting or serving as a dedication; complimental. "An epistle dedicatory." Dryden.

canon, or ecclesiastical writing of inferior authority; -- said of the Apocrypha, certain Epistles, etc.

Destitute of that which interests or amuses; barren; unembellished; jejune; plain. These epistles will become less dry, more susceptible of ornament. Pope.

Pertaining to epistles or letters; suitable to letters and correspondence; as, an epistolary style.

One who writes epistles; a correspondent. Mary Cowden Clarke.

One of the clergy who reads the epistle at the communion service; an epistler.

A little epistle. Lamb.

Pertaining to letters or epistles; in the form or style of letters; epistolary.

To write epistles.

A writer of epistles.

The art or practice of writing epistles.

moral feelings or duties; containing percepts of morality; moral; as, ethic discourses or epistles; an ethical system; ethical philosophy. The ethical meaning of the miracles. Trench. Ethical dative (Gram.), a use of the dative of a pronoun to signify that the person or thing spoken of is regarded with interest by some…