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EZRA ABBOT (1819-1884)

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 23 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EZRA See also:ABBOT (1819-1884)  , See also:American biblical See also:scholar, was See also:born at See also:Jackson, See also:Waldo See also:county, See also:Maine, on the 28th of See also:April 1819 . He graduated at See also:Bowdoin See also:College in 184o; and in 1847, at the See also:request of Prof . See also:Andrews See also:Norton, went to See also:Cambridge, where he was See also:principal of a public school until 1856 . He was assistant librarian of Harvard University from 1856 to 1872, and planned and perfected an alphabetical card See also:catalogue, combining many of the advantages of the See also:ordinary See also:dictionary catalogues with the grouping of the See also:minor topics under more See also:general heads, which is characteristic of a systematic catalogue . From 1872 until his See also:death he was Bussey See also:Professor of New Testament See also:Criticism and See also:Interpretation in the Harvard Diyinity School . His studies were chiefly in See also:Oriental See also:languages and the textual criticism of the New Testament, though his See also:work as a bibliographer showed such results as the exhaustive See also:list of writings (5300 in all) on the See also:doctrine of the future See also:life, appended to W: R . See also:Alger's See also:History of the Doctrine of a Future Life, as it has prevailed in all Nations and Ages (1862), and published separately in 1864 . His publications, though always of the most thorough and scholarly See also:character, were to a large extent dispersed in the pages of reviews, dictionaries, concordances, texts edited by others, Unitarian controversial See also:treatises, &c.; but he took a more conspicuous and more See also:personal See also:part in the preparation (with the Baptist scholar, Horatio B . See also:Hackett) of the enlarged American edition of Dr (afterwards See also:Sir) See also:William See also:Smith's Dictionary of the See also:Bible (1867-187o), to which he contributed more than 400 articles besides greatly improving the See also:bibliographical completeness of the work; was an efficient member of the American revision See also:committee employed in connexion with the Revised Version (1881-1885) of the See also:King See also:James Bible; and aided in the preparation of Caspar Rene See also:Gregory's Prolegomena to the revised See also:Greek New Testament of See also:Tischendorf . His principal single See also:production, representing his scholarly method and conservative conclusions, was The Author-See also:ship of the See also:Fourth See also:Gospel: See also:External Evidences (188o; second edition, by J . H . See also:Thayer, with other essays, 1889), originally a lecture, and in spite of the See also:compression due to its See also:form, up to that See also:time probably the ablest See also:defence, based on external See also:evidence, of the Johannine authorship, and certainly the cornpletest treatment of the relation of See also:Justin See also:Martyr to this gospel .

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Abbot, though a layman, received the degree of S . T . D. from Harvard in 1872, and that of D.D. from See also:Edinburgh in 1884 . He died in Cambridge, See also:Massachusetts, on the 21st of See also:March 1884 . See S . J . Barrows, See also:Ezra Abbot (Cambridge, See also:Mass., 1884) . ABBOT, See also:GEORGE (1562-1633), See also:English divine, See also:archbishop of See also:Canterbury, was born on the 19th of See also:October 1562, at See also:Guildford in See also:Surrey, where his See also:father was a See also:cloth-worker . He studied, and then taught, at Balliol College, See also:Oxford, was chosen See also:master of University College in 1597, and appointed See also:dean of See also:Winchester in 1600 . He was three times See also:vice-See also:chancellor of the university, and took a leading part in preparing the authorized version of the New Testament . In 16o8 he went to See also:Scotland with the See also:earl of See also:Dunbar to arrange for a See also:union between the churches of See also:England and Scotland . He so pleased the king (James I.) in this affair that he was made See also:bishop of See also:Lichfield and See also:Coventry in 1609, was translated to the see of See also:London a See also:month afterwards, and in less than a See also:year was raised to that of Canterbury .

His puritan instincts frequently led him not only into harsh treatment of See also:

Roman Catholics, but also into courageous resistance to the royal will, e.g. when he opposed the scandalous See also:divorce suit of the See also:Lady Frances See also:Howard against the earl of See also:Essex, and again in 1618 when, at See also:Croydon, he forbade the See also:reading of the See also:declaration permitting See also:Sunday See also:sports . He was naturally, therefore, a See also:promoter of the match between the elector See also:palatine and° the Princess See also:Elizabeth, and a See also:firm opponent of the projected See also:marriage of the See also:prince of See also:Wales with the infanta of See also:Spain . This policy brought upon him the hatred of See also:Laud (with whom he had previously come into collision at Oxford) and the See also:court, though the king himself never forsook him . In 1622, while See also:hunting in See also:Lord See also:Zouch's See also:park at Bramshill, See also:Hampshire, a See also:bolt from his See also:cross-See also:bow aimed at a See also:deer happened to strike one of the keepers, who died within an See also:hour, and Abbot was so greatly distressed by the event that he See also:fell into a See also:state of settled See also:melancholy . His enemies maintained that the fatal issue of this See also:accident disqualified him for his See also:office, and argued that, though the See also:homicide was involuntary, the See also:sport of hunting which had led to it was one in which no clerical See also:person could lawfully indulge . The king had to refer the See also:matter to a See also:commission of ten, though he said that "an See also:angel might have miscarried after this sort." The commission was equally divided, and the king gave a casting See also:vote in the archbishop's favour, though See also:signing also a formal See also:pardon or See also:dispensation . After this the See also:arch-bishop seldom appeared at the See also:council, chiefly on See also:account of his infirmities . He attended the king constantly, however, in his last illness, and performed the ceremony of the See also:coronation of See also:Charles I . His refusal to license the See also:assize See also:sermon preached by Dr See also:Robert See also:Sibthorp at See also:Northampton on the 22nd of See also:February 1626-1627, in which cheerful obedience was urged to the king's demand for a general See also:loan, and the See also:duty proclaimed of See also:absolute non-resistance even to the most arbitrary royal commands, led Charles to deprive him of his functions as See also:primate, putting them in commission . The need of summoning See also:parliament, however, soon brought about a nominal restoration of the archbishop's See also:powers . His presence being unwelcome at court, he lived from that time in retirement, leaving Laud and his party in undisputed ascendancy . He died at Croydon on the 5th of See also:August 1633, and was buried at Guildford, his native See also:place, where he had endowed a See also:hospital with lands to the value of £300 a year .

Abbot was a conscientious See also:

prelate, though narrow in view and often harsh towards both separatists and Romani*ts . He wrote a large number of See also:works, the most interesting being his discursive Exposition on the See also:Prophet See also:Jonah (1600), which was reprinted in 1845 . His See also:Geography, or a Brief Description of the Whole See also:World (1599), passed through numerous See also:editions . The best account of him is in S . R . See also:Gardiner's History of England .

End of Article: EZRA ABBOT (1819-1884)
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