RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Abbo 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 of the Doctrine of 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. critica 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 contribution 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 Tischendorf (1869); work upon C. F. Hudson's Greek and English Concordance of the New Testament (1870); The Late Professor Tischendorf, 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 of God," Acts. xx. 28, in the Bibliotheca Sacra, Apr. 1876 (like the preceding, first privately printed for the American Bible Revision Committee); Recent Discussions of Romans 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-)-.) D. S. Schaff.
Bibliography: Ezra Abbot, a memoir edited by S. J. Barrows, 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 Balliol 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, who 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 patron 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, 6 parts, London, 1655 (ed. Brewer, 1845); Biographia Britannica, 6 vols., ib. 1747-66 (contains his life by W. Oldys, reprinted by Arthur Onslow.JGuildford, 1777); W. F. Hook, Ecclesiastical Biography, 8 vols., London, 1845-52; idem, Lives of
Abbot Abdias