Imprisonment. See Prison; Punishments. Improperia (Lat. taunts). (1.) Reproaches of Jesus against the Jewish people. See Capernaum ; Jerusa- LE.M. (2.) In the Eoman Catholic ritual, certain verses which reproach the Jews with ingratitude, and which, while the priest and other ecclesiastics present kiss the cross, are chanted by two singers personifying Christ, in such a manner that after each verse one chorus replies in the Greek and another in the Latin,^raises to God ; or the accusation as uttered by the priests is repeated on the part of the choir. — Pierer, Unit: Lex. viii, 838. (J.H.W.)
Impropriation, in Great Britain, a parsonage or ecclesiastical living, the profits of which are in the hands of a layman ; in which case it stands distinguished from appropriation, which is where the profits of a benefice are in the hands of a bishop, college, etc., though the terms are now used promiscuously in England.
Impulse. The desires or sensations of the soul are manifested by impulses, which tend either to tlie reali- zation of some idea, the acquirement of S(»mething ex- terior to ourselves, or the repulsion of somethuig disa- greeable or hiurtful. The impulses accompanying divers thoughts and feelings may, according to their expres- sion, be corporeal, spiritual, or intellectual. We must be carefid how we are guided by impulses in religion. "There are many," as one observes, "who frequently feel singular impressions upon their minds, and are in- clined to pay a very strict regard unto them. Yea, seme carry this point so far as to make it almost the only rule of their judgment, and will not determine any- thing until they find it in their hearts to do it, as their phrase is. Others take it for granted that the divine mind is notified to them by sweet or powerful impres- sions of some passages of sacred writ. There are others who are determined bj' visionary manifestations, or by the impressions made in dreams, and the inteqiretations they put upon them. All these things, being of the same general nature, may very justly be considered together; and it is a matter of doubt with many how far these things are to be regarded, or attended to by us, and how we may distinguish any divine impressions of this kind ■ from the delusions of the tempter, or of our own evil hearts. But whoever makes any of these things his rule and standard, forsakes the divine word ; and noth- ing tends more to make persons unhappy in themselves, imsteady in their conduct, or more dangerously deluded in their practice, than paying a random regard to these impulses, as notifications of the divine will." — Buck, Thc- olorj. Dictionary, s. v. ; Kant, Grundlegnng z. Metaphysik der Sitten (pref. p. 10, 63) ; Evanrj. Kirchenzeittim/ (1853, No. 15) ; Ersch u. Gruber, EncyUopddie; Herzog, Real- Encyklopddie, ii, 126. See Enthusiasm ; Providence.
Impurity, want of that regard to decency, chastity, or holiness which our duty requires. Impurity, in the law of IMoses, is any legal defilement. Of these there \vere several sorts: some were voluntars-, as the touch-
ing a dead body, or any animal that died of itself; or any creature that was esteemed unclean ; or touching things holy by one who was not clean, or M-as not a priest; the touchmg one who had a leprosy, one who had a gonorrhoea, or who was polluted by a dead carcass, etc. Sometimes these impurities were involuntarj^, as when any one inadvertently touched bones, or a sepul- chre, or anything polluted ; or fell into such diseases as pollute, as the leprosy, etc. The beds, clothes, and mov- ables which had touched anything imclean, contracted also a kind of impurity, and m some cases communicated it to others. These legal pollutions were generally re- moved by bathing, and lasted no longer than the even- ing. Tlie person polluted plunged over head in the water, and either had his clothes on when he did so, or washed himself and his clothes separately. Other pol- lutions continued seven days, as that which was con- tracted by touching a dead body. Some impurities last- ed forty or fifty days, as that of women who were lately delivered, who were unclean forty days after the birth of a boy, and fifty after the birth of a girl. Others, again, lasted till the person was cured. Many of these poUii- tions were expiated by sacrifices, and others by a certain water or lye made with the ashes of a red heifer sacri- ficed on the great day of expiation. When the leper was cured, he went to the Temple and offered a sacrilice of two birds, one of which was killed, and the other set at liberty. He who had touched a dead body, or had been present at a funeral, was to be purified with the water of expiation, and this upon pain of death. The woman who had been deUvered offered a turtle and a lamb for her expiation ; or, if she was poor, two turtles, or two young pigeons. These impurities, Avhich the law of IMoses has expressed with the greatest accuracy and care, were onlj'^ figures of other more important impurities, such as the sins and iniquities committed against God, or faidts committed against our neighbor. The saints and prophets of the Old Testament were sen- sible of tliis ; and our Saviour, in the Gospel, has strongly inculcated that they are not outward and corporeal jwl- lutions which render us unacceptable to God, but such inward pollutions as infect the soul, and are violations of justice, truth, and charity. — Buck, Theol. Dictionary, s.\. See Uncleanness.