Inhibition (Lat. inhibitin, from inhibeo, I restrain) is in some churches "a writ by which an inferior is connnanded by a superior ecclesiastical authority to stay the proceedings in which it is engaged. Thus, if a member of a college appeals to the visitor, the visitor inhibits all proceedings against the apjiellant until the appeal is determined. When the archbishop visits, he inhibits the bishop of the diocese; when the l)ishop vis- its, he inhibits the archdeacon ; which inhibitions con- tinue in force until the last parish is visited. If a lapse happens while the inhibition is in force against the bishop, the archbishop must institute ; institution by the bishop would be void, as his power is suspended." — Eadie, Ecdes. Diet. p. 337.
Iniquity (prop. "13?, aSiKta ; but represented in the A. Vers, by several other words) means in Scripture not only sin, but, by metonymy, also the pttnixhment of sin, and the expiation of it : "Aaron will boar tlie iniquities of the people ;" he will atone for tliem (Exod. xxviii, 38). The Lord " visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children" (Exod. xx, 5) ; he sometimes causes visilile effects of his wrath to fall on the children of criminal parents. "To bear inquity" is to endure the punishment of it, to be obliged to expiate it. The priests bear the iniquity of the people; that is, they are charged with the expiation of it (Exod, xxviii, 38; Lev. X. 17). — Calmet. See Six.
Initiation, a common term in the early Cliurch for baptism, having reference to the fidl instruction in the mysteries of Christianity which was given to the
baptized, but withheld from the unbaptized. The bap- tized were thus called initiati, ol fiif-ivijixtvoi, fivarai, or fiv(TTayc!iyiiroi ; and it is very common to find the fathers using the expression " the initiated will under- stand" in their preaching to mixed congregations, es- pecially when they were speaking of anything which belonged to the doctrine of the holy Eucharist. This expression is said by Casaubon to occur fifty times in the sermons of St. Chrysostom alone. — Blimt, Theolog. Diet, i, 348. Several other names were given to these persons, such as -TridToi^fideks, (pwTiL,6/.tivoi, etc. The word has sometimes been employed with reference to the supposed duty of resei-ve in communicating divine knowledge, as though the hoh' Scriptures justified the withholding instruction in Christianity from persons in an early stage of their Christian course. — Bingham, Oi'ig. Eccles. bk. i, ch. iv, § 2. See Disciplina Aecasi.
Injury, a violation of the rights of another. " Some," says Grove, " distinguish between injustitia and hijiiria. Injustice is opposed to justice in general, whether nega- tive or positive; an injury, to negative justice aloiie. See Justice. An injury is wilfully doing to another what ought not to be done. This is injustice too, but not the whole idea of it ; for it is injustice also to refuse or neglect doing what ought to be done. An injury must be wilfully committed ; whereas it is enough to make a thing unjust that it happens through a culpable negligence. 1. We may injure n person in his said by misleading his judgment, by corrupting the imagina- tion, perverting the wUl, and wounding the soul ■svith grief. Persecutors who succeed in their compulsive measures, though they cannot alter the real sentiments by external violence, yet sometimes injure the soul by making the man a hypocrite. 2. We may injure an- other in his body by homicide, murder, preventing life, dismembering the body bj' wounds, blows, slaverj-, and imprisonment, or any unjust restraint upon its liberty; by robbing it of its chastity, or prejudicing its health. 3. We may injin-e another in his name and character by our own false and rash judgments of him ; by false wit- ness ; by charging a man to his face with a crime which either we ourselves have forged, or which we know to have been forged by some other person ; by detraction or backbiting: by reproach, or exposing another for some natural imbecility either in body or mind ; or for some calamity into which he is fallen, or some miscar- riage of which he has been guilty ; by innuendoes, or indirect accusations that are not true. Now if we con- sider the value of character, the resentment which the injurious person has of such treatment when it comes to his own turn to siitfer it, the consequence of a man's los- ing liis good name, and, finally, the difficulty of making reparation, we must at once see the injustice of lessening another's good character. There are these two consid- erations M-hich should sometimes restrain us from speak- ing the whole truth of our neighbor, when it is to his disadvantage. (1.) That he may possibly live to see his folly, and repent and grow better. (2.) Admitting that we speak the truth, yet it is a thousand to one but when it is bandied about fur some lime it will con- tract a deal of falsehood. 4. We may injure a jurson in his relations and dependencies. In his servants, by cor- rupting them ; in his children, by drawing them into evil courses; in his wife, by sowing strife, attempting to alienate her affections. 5. We may he fjuilly ofinjur- inf) another in his vorldly ffoods or possessions : (1.) By doing him a mischief without any advantage to our- selves, through envy and malice. (2.) By taking what is another's, which is theft." See Grove, 3/or. Phil. ch. viii, p. 2 ; Watts, /Sermons, vol. ii, ser. 33 ; Tillotson, Ser- mons, ser. 42 ; Buck, Theological Dictionary, s. v.