It was an early practice of the primitive Church to commemorate the martyrs on the anniversary of their death ; and when the days of persecution had come to an end the custom was extended, or continued to pre- vail in respect to others of the departed besides martyrs, such as relatives, friends, and benefactors. Indeed, in former times, untler the influence of the Romish priest- hood, it was not uncommon for dying persons, though they had children to provide for or debts to pay, to postpone all care of relatives and other considerations^ in order to secure for themselves masses satisfactorj-, anniversaries, obits, requiems, dirges, placebos, trentals, lamps, lights, and other offices to be performed daily, monthly, or yearly, as far as the sums left would afford, for the ease and help of the testator's soul. In " relig- ious houses" they had a register, wherein they entered the obits or obitual days of their founders and benefac- tors, which was thence termed obituary. Thus in many colleges the obit or anniversary of the death of the founder is piously observed. There have been since the Reformation commemoration days at Oxford and Cambridge, on which the names of all the known bene- factors to the universities are proclaimed and a special service is recited. For the offices used on the occa- sion of these commemorations in England, see the Anno- tated Book of Common Prayer, Appendix to the Burial Office, Obituary. See Obit.
Obizzini, Tojijiaso, an Italian Orientalist, who flourislicd in the first half of the 17th century, was born in Non, near Novara, He entered the Order of the Minor Brothers, and applied himself to the study of the Oriental languages. Devoted to the missions of the East, he went to Jerusalem in the capacity of apostolic commissary and guardian of a convent of his order. During his sojourn in the Holy Land he succeeded in restoring to Christian worship two churches dedi- cated to the Virgin and St. John the Baptist, of which the Turks had taken possession, and by order of pope Paul V he presided over a synod which condemned the heresies of Nestor and Eutj'ches, still influential in the East, On his return to Rome he taught for several years Arabic, Syriac, and Coptic in the monastery of St. Peter in Montorio, and formed a great number of missionaries. It was there that he died, according to Wadding, in 1638, at an advanced age; but Achille Ve- nerio, one of his disciples, saj's expressly in the dedica- tion of Thesaurus, published in 1636, that he was no longer living some time previous to that date. Obiz- zini is also known by the name of Thomas Novariensis, or Novaria. We have of his works, Isagoge id est breve introductorium A rabicum in scientiam logices, cum ver- sio7ie Latino, ac theses sanctce fdei (Rome, 1625, 4to) : — Gi-ammatica Arabica agrumia appellata, cum versions Latina et dilucida expositione (ibid, 1631, 8vo) ; this is a valuable edition of the Arabic Grammar entitled Ja- rumia, and favorably quoted by Silvestre de Sacy : — Thesaurus Arabico-Syro-Latinus (ibid, 1636, 4to) ; the printing, superintended by Achille Venerio, is very faulty ; this book was largely composed from a Syriac vocabidary whose author is Elias Barsiues, a met- ropolitan of Nisibis, of the 11th century. See Wad-
OBJECT
280
OBLATION
ding, Script. Orel. ]\finoriim; Tiraboschi, Storia della letter. Ital. vol. viii. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Ghierale, xxxviii, 403.
Object, in the language of metaphysics, is that of ■whioli any tliinking being or subject can become cogni- zant. This subject itself, however, is capable of trans- mutation into an object, for one may think about his thinking faculty. To constitute a metaphysical object, actual existence is not necessary'; it is enough that it is oonccived by the subject. Nevertheless, it is cus- tomary to employ the term ohjectice as synonymous with re(tl, so that a thing is said to be '• objectively" considered when regarded in itself, and according to its nature and properties, and to be "subjectively" consid- ered when it is presented in its relation to us, or as it shapes itself in our apprehension. Scepticism denies the possibility of objective knowledge; i. c. it denies that we can ever become certain that our cognition of an object corresponds with the actual nature of that ob- ject. The verbal antithesis of objective and subjective representation is also largely employed in the fine arts; but even here, though the terms may be convenient, the difference expressed by them is only one of degree, and not of kind. — Chambers, Cjclop. s. v.
Objections to Christianity. See Ai'ologetics.
Objective is a term which, like the preceding (i. e. oh.ject), is much used in scholastic theology for the purpose of expressing that phase of anything which comprehends its existence, but of excluding that phase of anything which comprehends our knowledge of it. Thus applied, the energy of thought may be objec- tively directed towards the Divine Nature : Objec- tivelg by contemplation of the Divine Nature as in itself, and not as in its relation to ns; i.e. our con- templation of it as " non ego ;" subjectivelg, on the other hand, by contemplation of the Divine Nature as it forms part of a system, of which "Ego" is the starting-point, if not the centre. Applying the illus- tration to faith, it will be seen that Objective faith looks to that in which we believe ; Subjective faith to that with which we believe : the first being that phase of belief in God, e. g. which fixes its gaze on (iod as its object; while the second is that phase of faith which sees the believer in God, and the operation of his mind in believing. Or again, the first represents a dogma, the second a faculty. In the same manner the terms may be applied to worship. Objective irnrslnp is ado- ration in its purest and most unselfish form ; adoration of God as its object, without reference to the person adoring. Subjective vmrship, on the other hand, is praise, prayer, or thanksgiving offered for the advan- tage of the subject, that is, the person worshipping. For a full account of the history and use of the words, see notes at the end of Hamilton's edition of Keid's Woils (Edinb. 184G).