Samuel macauley jackson, D. D., LL. D
Скачать 17.44 Mb.
|
over a definite territory, or are merely titular abbots, their houses having fallen into decay. They are further divided according to the term of their office, which may be either for life or for three years. A special class known as mitered abbots have permission to wear episcopal insignia. The election of an abbot is commonly by vote of the professed brothers, in most cases only those in holy orders. The candidate mupt be twenty five years of age, a professed brother of the order, and a priest. Actual jurisdiction is not conferred until his con firmation either by the bishop or, in the case of exempt abbeys, by the superior in the case, fre quently the pope. His benediction is the next step, which takes place according to the office in the Ponti ficale Romanum, usually at the hands of the bishop of the diocese. He has the power to regulate the entire inner life of the abbey in accord ance with the rule, and to require obedience from his subordinates; according to the rule of St. Benedict, however, abbots are required not to exercise their authority in an arbitrary manner, but to seek the counsel of their brethren. In many particulars a quasi episcopal jurisdiction has in course of time been conceded to them. Since the eighth century they have been allowed to confer the tonsure and minor orders on their subjects, to bless their churches, cemeteries, sacred vessels. etc., to take rank as prelates, and, if generals ex ercising quasi episcopal jurisdiction, to sit and vote in general councils. The practise of granting abbeys in commendam to deserving clerics, or even to laymen, led to the creation of a class of merely titular abbots, who had nothing of this character but the name and the revenues. This practise, which was the source of many abuses, was regulated'by the Council of Trent: From it sprang the custom in France of Applying the title abbg to any prominent clergyman who might, according to the custom of the time, lay claim to such an appointment, and then to the secular clergy in general. A somewhat analogous custom existed in Italy, where many professional men, lawyers, doctors, etc., though laymen and even married men, retained some marks of the clerical character which had earlier distinguished the majority of acholarg in their dress and in the title of abbate. In some Protestant countries the title of abbot still clung to the heads of institutions that had grown out of monasteries suppressed at the Reformation. See MONABMCIBM. ABBOT, EZRA: Unitarian layman; b. at Jackson, Waldo County, Me., Apr. 28, 1819; 'd. at Cambridge, Mass., Mar. 21, 1884. He was fitted for college at Phillips Academy, Exeter, N. H., and was graduated at Bowdoin, 1840. He then taught in Maine and, after 1847, in Cambridge, Mass., also rendering service in the Harvard and Boston Athenaeum libraries. In 1856 he was appointed assistant librarian of Harvard University, in 1871 he was university lecturer on the textual criticism of the New Testament, and in 1872 he became Bussey professor of New Testament criticism and interpretation in the Harvard Divinity School. From 1853 he was secretary of the American Orien RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA sbbo Abbot tal Society. He was one of the original members of the American New Testament Revision Company (1871), and in 1880 he aided in organizing the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis. He was a scholar of rare talents and attainments. He stood first and foremost among the textual critics of the Greek Testament in America; and for microscopic accuracy of biblical scholarship he had no superior in the world. On account of the extreme attention he paid to minute details, the number of his independent publications was small, and the results of his labors have gone into books of other writers, to which he was willing to contribute without regard to reward or adequate recognition. His Literature o f the Doctrine o f a Future Life, first published as an appendix to Alger's History of the Doctrine of a Future Life (Philadelphia, 1864), and afterward separately (New York, 1871), is a model of bibliographical accuracy and completeness, embracing more than 5,300 titles. He enriched Smith's Bible Dictionary (Am. ed., 1867 70) with careful bibliographical lists on the most important topics, besides silently correcting innumerable errors in references and in typography. His most valuable and independent labors, however, were devoted to textual criticism and are in part incorporated in Gregory's Prolegomena to the Ed. viii. critics major of Tischendorf's Greek Testament; the chapter De versibus (pp. 167 182) is by him, and he read the manuscript and proofs of the entire work. His services to the American Bible Revision Committee were invaluable. The critical papers which he prepared on disputed passages were uncommonly thorough, and had no small influence in determining the text finally accepted. His defense of the Johannean authorship of the fourth Gospel (The Authorship of the Fourth Gospel; External Evidences, Boston, 1880; reprinted by his successor in the Harvard Divinity School, J. H. Thayer, 1888) is an invaluable con tribution to the solution of that question. Of his writings, besides those already adduced, may be mentioned: an edition of Orme's Memoir of the Controversy respecting the Three Heavenly Witnesses (New York, 1866); work upon G. R. Noyes's (posthumous) Translation of the New Testament from the Greek Text of Tisehendorf (1869); work upon C. F. Hudson's Greek and English Con cordance of the New Testament (1870); The Late Professor Tisehendorf, in The Unitarian Review, Mar. 1875; On the. Reading " an only begotten God," or " God only begotten," John i. 18, ib. June 1875; On the Reading " Church o f God," Acts. xz. 28, in the Bzbliotheca Sacra, Apr. 1876 (like the preceding, first privately printed for the American Bible Revision Committee); Recent Discussions of Ro mans ix. 5, an exhaustive article on the punctuation of this passage in Journal of the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, June and Dec. 1883. The four articles mentioned last, together with that on the fourth Gospel and seventeen others, were published in 1888, under the editorship of J. H. Thayer. (PHILIP SCHAFF t.) D. S. SC14AFF. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ears Abbot, a memoir edited by $. J. Bar rows, Cambridge, 1884; Andover Review, i. (1884) 554; Literary World, xv. (1884) 113. ABBOT, GEORGE: Archbishop of Canterbury; b. at Guildford (30 m. s.w. of London) Oct. 29, 1562; d. at Croydon (10 m. s. of London) Aug. 4, 1633. He studied at Balhol College, Oxford (B.A., 1582; probationer fellow, 1583; M.A., 1585; B.D., 1593; D.D., 1597), took orders in 1585, remained at Oxford as tutor, and became known as an able preacher and lecturer with strong Puritan sympathies. He was made master of University College 1597; dean of Winchester 1600; vice chancellor of the university 1600, 1603, 1605; bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, 1609; bishop of London 1610; archbishop of Canterbury 1611. His learning and sincerity can not be questioned; but he was austere, narrow, almost a fanatic. His one great idea was to crush "popery," not only in England, but in all Europe; and popery to him meant every theological system except that of Calvin. To further his purposes abroad, he meddled persistently in the foreign policy of the State and chose arbitrary, high handed, and cruel means to accomplish his ends at home. His principles allowed him to flatter the king, to help him generously in money matters, and to serve him in certain political undertakings, such as the restoration of episcopacy in Scotland in 1608 10. At other times his conscience compelled him to be just, and consequently he could not retain the royal favor. A Presbyterian at heart, he accepted episcopacy only from a love of order and sense of loyalty to constituted authority; and his appointment as archbishop was displeasing to the Anglican party, who had wanted Launcelot Andrewes (q.v.). His undiplomatic course incensed his opponents, and they pursued him relentlessly and cruelly. In 1621 he killed a gamekeeper while hunting. It was purely accidental, and he was deeply shocked and grieved; nevertheless, William Laud (his successor as archhishop and his personal enemy for years) and others seized upon the incident to annoy him and weaken his influence. Charles I., after his accession, favored Laud, whd brought about Abbot's sequestration for a year (1627 28) because he had refused to sanction a sermon by Dr. Robert Sibthorp, vicar of Brackley, indorsing an unlawful attempt by the king to raise money, and showing little sympathy with Abbot's favorite policy of support to the German Protestants. After this his public acts were few. But with all his faults and disappointments he was faithful to duty as he understood it; and he was generous with money, charitable to the poor, and a patror of learning. He was a member of the Oxford New Testament Company for the version of 1611 ; and through him Cyril Lucar (q.v.) presented the Codex Alexandrinus to Charles I. With other works, he published A Brief Description of the whole world (London, 1599; 5th ed., 1664), a geography prepared for his pupils at Oxford, containing an interesting description of America; and An Exposition upon the Prophet Jonah (1600), which was reprinted in 1845 with a life by Grace Webster. BIBLIOGRAPHY: T. Fuller, Church History, 8 parts, Loadon, 1655 (ed. Brewer, 1845); Biographic Britannica, 6 vole., ib. 1747 66 (contains his life by W. Oldys, reprinted by Arthur Onalow,lGuildford, 1777); W. F. Hook, Ecclesiastical Biography, 8 vols., London, 1845 52; idem, Lives of Abbot Abdias Archbishops, 12 vols., ib. 1860 72; S. R. Gardiner. History of England, 1603 161.2, 10 vole., ib. 1883 84; DNB, i. 5. |
