preferred him to the celebrated Maimonides. The Jews fet a high value upon what he has written to refute the arguments and objections of the Christians; and the latter, though they hold in contempt what he has advanced upon this head, yet allow great merit in his other performances, wherein he gives many proofs of his great genius, learning, and penetration. He does not blindly follow the opinions of his fuperiors, but cenfures their mistakes with great freedom. The perfecutions of the Jews, under which he had been a confiderable fufferer, affected him to a very great degree; fo that the remembrance thereof worked up his indignation against the Chriftians, and made him inveigh against them in the strongest terms: there is hardly one of his books where he has omitted to fhew his refentment and defire of revenge; and whatever the subject may be, he never fails, fome how or other, to bring in the diftreffed condition of the Jews. He was a moft affiduous man in his ftudies, in which he would fpend whole nights, and would faft for a confiderable time. He had a great facility in writing; and though he discovered an implacable hatred to the Christians in his compofitions, (e) yet, when in company with them, he behaved with great politeness, and would be very chearful in converfation. (g) His commentaries on the Scriptures, efpecially thofe on the prophets, are filled with fo much rancour against our Saviour, the church, the pope, the cardinal, the whole clergy, and all Christians in general, but in a particular manner against the Roman Catholics, that father Bartolocci was defirous the Jews ABRAHAM, the father and ftock whence the faithful fprung, was the fon of Terah. He was defcended from Noah by Shem, from whom he was nine degrees removed. Some fix his birth in the hundred and thirtieth year of Terah's age, but others place it in his father's feventieth year. 'Tis highly probable he was born in the city of Ur, in Chaldea, which he and his father left when they went to Canaan, where they re- Genefis xi. mained till the death of Terah; after which Abraham re- 31. sumed his first design of going to Palestine. The Scriptures mention the several places he stopped at in Canaan; his journey into Egypt, where his wife was carried off from him; his going into Gerar, where Sarah was again taken from him, and restored to him as before; the victory he obtained over the four kings who had plundered Sodom; his compliance. the with his wife, who infifted that he should make use of their maid Hagar, in order to raise up children; the covenant God made with him, fealed with the ceremony of circumcifion; his obedience to the command of God, who ordered him to offer up his only fon as a facrifice; and how this bloody act was prevented; his marriage with Keturah; his death at the age of 175 years; and his interment at the cave of Macphelah, near the body of Sarah, his first wife. It would be of little ufe to dwell long upon these particulars, fince they are so well known to all Chriftians. Many extraordinary particulars have been told relating to Abraham's converfion from idolatry. 'Tis generally believed that he fucked in the poison with his milk; that his father made ftatues, and taught that they were to be worshipped as Suidas in gods. Some Jewish authors relate, that Abraham followed Σαρούχο the fame trade as Terah for a confiderable time. MaimoApud Gene- nides fays, that he was bred up in the religion of the Sabebrard. in ans, who acknowledged no deity but the ftars; that his reMore Ne- flections on the nature of the planets, his admiration of their voch. cap. motions, beauty, and order, made him conclude there muft xxix. p. 3. be a being fuperior to the machine of the universe, a being Chron. who created and governed it: however, according to an old tradition, he did not renounce paganism till the fiftieth year Hift. Patri- of his age. 'Tis related that his father, being gone a jourarch, tom. ney, left him to fell the ftatues in his abfence; and that a II. p. 36. man, who pretended to be a purchafer, afked him how old he was? Abraham answered, "Fifty"-"Wretch that thou art, faid the other, for adoring, at fuch an age, a being which is but a day old." These words greatly confounded Abraham. Some time afterwards, a woman brought him fome flour that he might give it as an offering to the ftatues; but Abraham, inftead of doing fo, took up a hatchet and broke them all to pieces, excepting the largest, into the hand of which he put the weapon. Terah, at his return, afked whence came all this havock? Abraham made answer, that the ftatues had had a great conteft which should eat firft of the oblation; "Upon which, faid he, the god you fee there, being the ftouteft, hewed the others to pieces with that hatchet." Terah told him this was bantering; for thofe idols had not the sense to act in this manner. Abraham retorted these words upon his father against the worshiping of fuch gods. Terah could not ftand this raillery, but delivered up his fon to the inquifition. Nimrod was the chief inquifitor, and fovereign of the country; and, according to St. Jerome, he exhorted Abraham to worship worship the fire; and, upon his refufal, commanded him to be thrown into the midst of the flames: "Now let your God, faid he come and deliver you." Haran, Abraham's brother, was fpectator of this fcene; and he refolved to declare for Nimrod's religon, if the fire confumed Abraham; and for that of his brother, if he escaped unhurt. The tradition, according to St. Jerome, adds, that Abraham came fafe and found out of the flames; and Nimrod asking Haran who he believed in? he answered, in the God of Abraham; upon which the king ordered him to be thrown into a furnace: but, his faith not being so strong as that of Abraham's, the fire had power over him, and fcorched him fo feverely that he expired foon after. Abraham is faid to have been well fkilled in many fciences (c), and to have wrote feveral books (d). The Mahometans have related several fictions concerning this patriarch, as may be seen in the Alcoran, and in Keffæus, one of their principal authors. They fay that he took a journey to Mecca, and that he began to build the temple there. The Christians have alfo propagated idle ftories concerning Abraham; for they tell us that he planted trees of a very extraordinary nature (e). The Rabbis fay, that the (c) We are told that he was verfed in aftronomy, (Jofeph. Antiq. lib. i. c. 7.) and that he taught the Egyptians arithmetic and geometry (ib. c. 8.); and, according to Eupolemus and Artapan, he inftructed the Phanicians, as well as the Egyptians, in astronomy. (d) A work which treats of the. creation has been long afcribed to him ; 'tis mentioned in the Talmud, (Heidegger Hift. Patriarch. tom. II. p. 143.) and the Rabbis Chanina and Hofchaia ufed to read it on the eve before the fabbath. Some of the Jewish authors have denied this to be Abraham's: they have publickly afferted Rabbi Akiba to be the author, and they greatly condemn this Rabbi for prefuming to make it país for Abraham's production. (Abraham Zachut, in libro Juchafin. P. 52.) In the first ages of Christianity, according to St. Epiphanius, (Epiph. adverf. hæref. p. 286.) a heretical fect, called Sethinians, difperfed a piece which had the title of Abraham's Revelation. rigen mentions alfo a treatife fupVOL. I. pofed to be wrote by this patri- All the feveral works which cut (e) Gretzer fays, that he read in a fight 33 Bartolocci Biblioth. Rabbin,tom. fight only of a precious stone, which Abraham wore upon his neck, cured every disease; and that, after his death, God hung this jewel on the fun. They affirm that the Egyptian bondage was inflicted as a punishment for fome faults comIII. p. 562. mitted by Abraham; for his having forced the fons of wisdom to take up arms; and for having allowed those who were inftructed in the law of God to fall again into idolatry; and for delivering up thofe perfons whom the king of Sodom demanded. Ib. 529. Gruteri Critic. tom. ABSTEMIUS (Laurentius) an Italian writer, born at Macerata, in La Marca de Ancona, who devoted himself early to the study of polite literature, and made a surprising progrefs therein. He taught the Belles Lettres at Urbino, where he was librarian to duke Guido Ubaldo, to whom he dedicated a small piece, explaining fome dark paffages in i. p. 878. the ancient authors: he published it under the pontificate of Alexander VI. and another treatife alfo, entitled Hecatomythium, from its containing a hundred fables, which he infcribed to Octavian Ubaldini, count de Mercatelli. His Fables have been often printed with those of fop, Phædrus, Gabrias, Avienus, &c. He has thefe ancient mythologists generally in view, but does not always ftrictly follow their manner; fometimes intermixing his fable with a merry ftory, and now and then he is somewhat fatyrical upon the clergy (a). Some of his conjectures on particular paffages in the ancients are inferted in the firft volume of Gruterus's Thefaurus Criticus, under the title of Annotationes variæ; but they are but few in number. He wrote alfo a preface to that edition of Aurelius Victor published at Venice, 1505. (a) His 104th fable of the Talents Multiplied is a proof of this. A priest, as we are there told, was ordered by his bishop to fuperintend a monaftery, where there were five nuns, by each of whom he had a fon before the year was out. This coming to the bishop's ear, he was highly inraged; and, fending for the priest, reprimanded him feverely, calling him a perfidious facrilegious villain, for having thus defiled the temple of the Holy Ghost. "Lord, faid the prieft, thou deliveredst unto me five talents; behold I have gained, befides them, five talents. more.' The prelate was fo taken with this facetious anfwer, that he gave the priest plenary absolution. ABUCARAS 'Tis in stadt, in 4to. ABUCARAS (Theodore) a moft zealous and orthodox prelate (a), as appears by above forty differtations written by him against the Jews, the Mahometans, the heretics, and in general on religious fubjects. Genebrard published a Latin tranflation of fifteen of his differtations, and Gretfer having added these to what he and father Turrien had tranflated, published an edition of all his works, which was then thought to be a complete one; but in 1685 there appeared a trea- Greek and tife of his, never before printed, published by Arnoldus, from Latin, print a manufcript in the Bodleian library. He does not illuftrate ed at Ingolit with notes, not daring, as he tells us in the preface, to 1606. touch upon the myfteries of the incarnation and the hypoftatic union, which Abucaras examined in that treatise. Authors have not agreed in regard to the age wherein he lived; Turrien the Jefuit is of opinion he was a difciple of John Damafcenus, which places him in the eighth century. Gretfer makes him later (b), fuppofing him to be the person of that name who had fo great a fhare in the troubles of the church of Conftantinople, during the time of the patriarchs Photius and Ignatius. This Abucaras first adhered to Photius, and had undertaken to go with Zachary bishop of Chalcedon as embaffador to the emperor Lewis II. to whom he was to have presented Photius's book against pope Nicholas, and to difpofe him to fhake off the papal yoke; but he had scarce fet out, when Bafil the Macedonian having murdered the emperor Michael, and ufurped the crown, recalled him, and prevented his journey. Two years afterwards he prefented himself before the council of Conftantinople, humbly imploring pardon for taking part with Photius, and protefting that both force and ftratagem had been used to draw him into that party. His fubmiffion was received by the patriarch, who (a) Some call him Archiepifchopus Chariæ (Cave hiftoria literaria, Scriptor Ecclef. p. 557) and others Epifcopus Cariæ, Kapay Emionomos. (Spizelii fpecim. biblioth.) Arnoldus thinks that Abucaras was bishop of Haran, and Simlerus is of the fame, opinion. (Simleri epit. biblioth. Gefneri.) Dr. Cave obferves, that Photius had nominated Abucaras to the fee of Laodicea. (b) The preface of Arnoldus feems to fhew pretty plainly, that Gretfer could not advance any thing certain in regard to the age when Abucaras lived. "Gretferus vero quis fuerit Abucaras, quo fæculo floruerit, ab A learned man, with whom Ar- |