ABELITES, b'bel-Bits (ABELIANS, ABELONIANS) A sect mentioned by Augustine (Haer., lxxxvii.; cf. Praedestinatus, i. 87) as formerly living in the neighborhood of Hippo, but already extinct when he wrote. Their name was derived from Abel, the son of Adam. Each man took a wife, but refrained from conjugal relations, and each pair adopted a boy and a girl who inherited the property of their foster-parents on condition of living together in like manner in mature life. They were probably the remnant of a Gnostic sect, tinged perhaps by Manichean influences. [The name grew out of a wide-spread belief that Abel though married had lived a life of continence.]

G. KRUGER.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. W. F. Walch, Enhourf einer vollstandigen Historie der Ketzereien, i. 607-808, Leipsic, 1762.

ABELLI, a-bel'li, LOUIS : French Roman Catholic; b. 1603; d. at Paris Oct. 4, 1691. He was made bishop of Rhodez, southern France, in 1664, but resigned three years later and retired to the monastery of St. Lazare in Paris. He was a vehement opponent of Jansenism. His numerous works include: Medulla theologica (2 vols., Paris, 1651), a treatise on dogmatics; La Tradition de l'-Eglise touchant la devotion envers la Sainte Vierge (1652); Vie de St. Vincent de Paul (1664); De l'obeissance et soumission due au Pape (ed. Cheruel, 1870); and two volumes of meditations, La Couronne de 1'annee chretienne (1657).

ABEN EZRA (Abraham ben Meir ibn Ezra): Jewish poet, grammarian, and commentator; b. in Toledo, Spain, 1092; d. Jan. 23, 1167. He left Toledo about 1138 and is known to have visited Bagdad, Rome (1140), Mantua and Lucca (1145), Dreux (45 m. w.s.w. of Paris; 1155-57), and London (1158); in 1166 he was in southern France. His poems show a mastery of the metrical art but have no inspiration, his grammatical works are not logically arranged, and his commentaries lack religious feeling. His exegetical principle was to follow the grammatical sense rather than the allegorical method of the Church; yet he resorts to figurative interpretation when the literal meaning is repugnant to reason. His critical insight is shown by hints that the Pentateuch and Isaiah contain interpolations (cf. H. Holzinger, Einleitung in den Hexateuch, Freiburg, 1893, pp. 28 sqq.; J. Furst, Der Kanon des Alten Testaments, Leipsic, 1868, p. 16), though he lacked the courage to say so openly. His chief importance is that he made the grammatical and religio-philosophical works of the Spanish Jews, written in Arabic, known outside of Spain. His commentaries (on the Pentateuch, Isaiah, the Minor Prophets, Job, Psalms, the five Megilloth, and Daniel) are usually found in rabbinic Bibles. His introduction to the Pentateuch has been edited by W. Bacher (Vienna, 1876); the commentary on. Isaiah, with Eng. trans. and two volumes of Essays on the Writings of Abraham ibn Ezra, by M. Friedlander (4 vols., London, 1873-77). His poems have been published by D. Rosin (4 parts, Breslau, 1885-91) and J: Egers (Berlin, 1886). (G. DALMAN.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Zuns, Die synagogale Poesie des Mittelalters, Berlin, 1855; S. I. Kampf, Nichtandalusische Poesie andalusischer Dichter, i. 213-240, Prague, 1858; M. Eisler, Vorlesungen uber die fudische Philosophie des Mittelalters, i. 113-120, Vienna, 1876; W. Bacher, Abraham ibn Ezra als Grammatiker, Strasburg, 1882; J. S. Spiegler, Geschichte der Philosophie des Judentums. pp. 263-265, Leip-

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Abelard
Abhedananda

RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA

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sic, 1890; H. Grätz, Geachichte der Juden, vi. (1894) 184-191, 289-306, 733-735; iii. (1897) 131-140, Eng. transl., London, 1891-98; J. Winter and A. Wünsche, Die jüdiache Litteratur. ii. 184-191, 289-306, Berlin, 1894.

ABERCIUS. See AVERCIUS.

ABERCROMBIE, ab´er-crum-bi, JOHN: Scotch physician and writer on metaphysics; b. at Aberdeen Oct. 10, 1780 ; d. at Edinburgh Nov. 14, 1844. He studied medicine at Edinburgh and London, and settled in the former city as practising physician in 1804. He became one of the foremost medical men of Scotland, but is best known as the author of Inquiries concerning the Intellectual Powers and the Investigation of Truth (Edinburgh, 1830) and The Philosophy of the Moral Feelings (London, 1833), works which he wrote from a belief that his knowledge of nervous diseases fitted him to discuss mental phenomena. The books long enjoyed great popularity, but were not written in the real spirit of a truth-seeker, have little originality, and are now superseded. A volume of Essays and Tracts, mainly on religious subjects, was published posthumously (Edinburgh, 1847).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. Anderson. Scottish Nation, i. 2, Edinburgh, 1864; DNB, i. 37-38.

ABERNETHY, ab´er-neth-i, JOHN: Irish Presbyterian; b. at Brigh, County Tyrone, Oct.19, 1680; d. at Dublin Dec., 1740. He studied at Glasgow (M.A.) and Edinburgh, and became minister of the Presbyterian congregation at Antrim in 1703. In 1717, following his own judgment and desire, he chose to remain at Antrim, although the synod wished him to accept a call from a Dublin congregation. To disregard an appointment of the synod was an unheard-of act for the time, and the Irish Church was split into two parties, the "Subscribers" and "Non-Subscribers," Abernethy being at the head of the latter. The Non-Subscribers were cut off from the Church in 1726. From 1730 till his death he was minister of the Wood Street Church, Dublin. Here he again showed himself in advance of his time by opposing the Test Act and "all laws that, upon account of mere differences of religious opinions and forms of worship, excluded men of integrity and ability from serving their country." His published works are: Discourses on the Being and Perfections of God (2 vols., London, 1740-43); Sermons (4 vols., 1748-51), with life by James Duchal; Tracts and Sermons (1751).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. S. Reid, Presbyterian Church in Ireland, 2 vols., Edinburgh, 1834-37; DNB., i. 48-49.

ABERT, ä´bert, FRIEDRICH PHILIP VON: Roman Catholic archbishop of Bamberg; b. at Mümnerstadt (35 m. n.n.e. of Würzburg) May 1, 1852. He was educated at the Passau Lyceum (1870-71) and the University of Würzburg (Ph.D., 1875), and from 1875 to 1881 was active as a parish priest. In the latter year he was appointed an assistant at the episcopal clerical seminary at Würzburg, and four years later was made professor of dogmatics at the Royal Lyceum, Regensburg. In 1890 he was appointed professor of dogmatics and symbolics at Würzburg, where he was dean in 1894-95,1899-1900, and rector in 1900-01. In 1905 he was consecrated archbishop of Bamberg. He has written Einheit des Seins in Christus nach der Lehre des heiligen Thomas von Aquin (Regensburg, 1889); Von den göttlichen Eigenschaften und von der Seligkeit, zwei dem heiligen Thomas von Aquin zugesehriebene Abhandlungen (Würzburg, 1893); Bibliotheca Thomiatica (1895); and Das Wesen des Christentums nach Thomas von Aquin (1901).

ABGAR (Lat. Abgarus): Name (or title) of eight of the kings (toparchs) of Osrhoene who reigned at Edessa for a period of three centuries and a half ending in 217. The fifteenth of these kings, Abgar V., Uchomo ("the black," 9-46 A.D.), is noteworthy for an alleged correspondence with Jesus, first mentioned by Eusebius (Hist. eccl., i. 13), who states that Abgar, suffering sorely in body and having heard of the cures of Jesus, sent him a letter professing belief in his divinity and asking him to come to Edessa and help him. Jesus wrote in reply that he must remain in Palestine, but that after his ascension he would send one of his disciples who would heal the king and bring life to him and his people. Both letters Eusebius gives in literal translation from a Syriac document which he had found in the archives of Edessa. On the same authority he adds that after the ascension the Apostle Thomas sent Thaddaeus, one of the seventy, to Edessa and that, with attendant miracles, he fulfilled the promise of Jesus in the year 340 (of the Seleucidan era=29 A.D.). The Doctrina Addai (Addaeus = Thaddaeus; edited and translated by G. Phillips, London, 1876), of the second half of the fourth century, makes Jesus reply by an oral message instead of a letter, and adds that the messenger of Abgar was a painter and made and carried back with him to Edessa a portrait of Jesus. Moses of Chorene (c. 470) repeats the story (Hist. Armeniaca, ii. 29-32), with additions, including a correspondence between Abgar and Tiberius, Narses of Assyria, and Ardashes of Persia, in which the "king of the Armenians" appears as champion of Christianity; the portrait, he says, was still in Edessa. Gross anachronisms stamp the story as wholly unhistorical. Pope Gelasius I. and a Roman synod about 495 pronounced the alleged correspondence with Jesus apocryphal. A few Roman Catholic scholars have tried to defend its genuineness (e.g. Tillemont, Mémoires, i., Brussels, 1706, pp. 990-997; Welte, in TQ, Tübingen, 1842, pp. 335-365), but Protestants have generally rejected it. See JESUS CHRIST, PICTURES AND IMAGES OF. (K. SCHMIDT.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY: R. A. Lipsius, Die edessenische Abgareage, Brunswick, 1880; K. C. A. Matthes, Die edessenische Abgareage, Leipsic, 1882; ANF, viii. 702 sqq.; L. J. Tixeront, Les origines de l’eglise d'Edesse et la I’gende d'Abgar, Paris, 1888; Lipsius and Bonnet, Acts apostolorum apocrypha, vol. i., Leipsic, 1891; W. T. Winghille, The Letter from Jesus Christ to Abgarus and the Letter of Abgarus to Christ, 1891; Harnack, Litteratur, i. 533-540, ib. 1893; TU, new ser. iii., 1899, 102-196.

ABHEDANANDA, ä-bed"a-nan-dd', SWAMI: Hindu leader of the Vedanta propaganda in America; b. at Calcutta Nov. 21, 1866. He was educated at Calcutta University, and after being professor of Hindu philosophy in India went to London in 1896 to lecture on the Vedanta. In the following year he went to New York, where he has since

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remained, succeeding Swami Vivekananda as head of the Vedanta Society in America. Theologically he belongs to the pantheistic and universalistic Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. His works include, in addition to numerous single lectures, Reincarnation (New York, 1899); Spiritual Unfoldment (1901); Philosophy of Work (1902); How to be a Yogi (1902); Divine Heritage of Man (1903); Self-Knowledge (Atma-Jnana) (1905); India and her People (1906); and an edition of The Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna (1903).