ABSOLUTION ABULFAK AG1US. 



la 17 15. ft IB* ? tar shillings in tin- jiound was 

 levied on iill profits, tVes, pensions, &<-., dcriwd 

 from Inland, in nil cases \\hcre the persons re- 

 ceivinj: them should not reside in that country tor 

 :< months in the year; power to grunt leave of 

 oce Ix'iiin reserved to Uie crown. Jn 1753, tin- 

 tax ceased. 



ABSOLUTION. In the ancient Christian cliurch 

 absolution was a jiulic'uil act, by which Uie priest, 

 in the name of the community, invoking Uie favour 

 of God, announced to Uie penitent liis remission 

 from ecclesiastical punishment, and readmission into 

 i IK- Ixisom of the cliurch. Private absolution hav- 

 ipo liecome prevalent tor four centuries, through 

 priests acting in the place of the bishop, Uie opinion 

 was spread among the people, Uiat they had Uie 

 \<ti\\ cr of absolving by Uieir own authority, and with- 

 out the consent of Uie cliurch. But down to the 

 1,'ih century, they used only Uie formula, "may 

 (iodor ( lirist absolve thee;" which is still the 

 form in Uie Greek church, and, in the Romish, 

 makes a part of the ceremony. The council of 

 Trent, sess. xiv. cap. 3, declares the essence of Uie 

 sacrament of penance to lie in Uie words of absolu- 

 tion. Among protestants, absolution is chiefly 

 used for a sentence, by which a person who stands 

 excommunicated, is released from that, punishment. 

 The formula of absolution in Uie Romish church 

 lias been said to be absolute, in the Greek church, 

 deprecatory, and in Uie Protestant churches, decla- 

 rative ; but this is a matter strongly contested be- 

 tween protestants and romanists. The fathers of 

 the church and the best modern theologians are un- 

 animous in the belief, that Gal alone can forgive 

 and deliver from sin ; and that a judicial power over 

 the souls of Christians is conferred neither on priests 

 nor teachers. 



ABCTINKSCK, is the habit of refraining from indulg- 

 insT in certain things or articles of food, which are 

 pgreeable to our fancies or appetites. Thus the 

 Jews were commanded by the laws of Moses to re- 

 Irain from the eating ot cert:. in meats, and the 

 Mahomnirilans are forbidden, by their Alcoran, to 

 cat pork or think wine. And at the council held at 

 Jerusalem by the aposUes, the converts to the 

 diri>iian religion were enjoined to abstain from the 

 flesh of anunals which liad been strangled, as also 

 from blood, from fornication, and idolatry. By such 

 enactments it was intended to mortify and restrain 

 the passions of mankind, and thereby humble them 

 so as to awaken their minds to a due sense of reli- 

 gious devotion. But by abstinence in a genera 

 sense, is also understood a sparing indulgence in 

 diet, somewhat below what is generally considered 

 Uie usual standard. In medical writings, various 

 instances are recorded of persons, who have employ- 

 ed abstinence as a means of curing or alleviating 

 severe chronic and painfid diseases ; such as cancers 

 ulcers, obstinate headachs, &c. And a book is in 

 existence written by Oornaro, a nobleman of Venice 

 giving a very extraordinary account of his own par 

 ticolar case and of Uie great benefit he had derives 

 from the employment of abstinence ; for being, a 

 the age of forty, abandoned by his physicians, win 

 pronounced his recovery hopeless, he gave up medi 

 tine and betook himself to a very spare regimen, b; 

 means of which he was enabled to vanquish all hi 

 complaints, and attain to the age of ninety-nine years 

 thereby passing the latter lialf of his life in a degree 

 of ease and comfort which he had never before ex 

 perienced. Few persons probably are aware witl 

 what facility life may be supported upon a very 

 slender diet. The primitive Christians of the east 

 wlio were induced to fly to the desert, to escape fron 

 Uie bloodg malice of their heathen persecutors 



.(tained to \ry advanced periods of life : living 

 heertully ami healthily upon a daily allowance of 

 welve oiinci - of coarse bread, witli a beverage of 

 water only. In Uiis manner it is recorded by Cas- 

 ian Uiat St Anthony lived to Uie age of JOS, 

 lames the Hermit to 10i, Arsenius, tutor of the 

 iMiiperor Arcadius, 120, St Kpiplmnius, 115: 

 Silicon the Stylite, 112 : mid St Romuald, 120. 

 [Buchanan the Scottish historian lias recorded that 

 one Lawrence his countryman reached the ijreat ae 

 of 140 years, by the force of temperament and con 

 stant exercise. And St Kentigern, called also St 

 Vlungo or Mongay, also a Scotsman, is recorded 

 >y Spottiswood as having lived to Uie very extraor- 

 dinary age of 185 years, by the same means. And, 

 ndeed, it may be safely asserted that no persons 

 lave ever attained a very advanced age, such as a 

 century and upwards, who have not been in Uie habit 

 if practising abstinence. This was decidedly the 

 opinion of Dr Cheyne, who also states, that most of 

 the chronical diseases and short lives of Englishmen 

 may be traced up to their habits of great indulgence 

 in eating and drinking; and, that there are lint few 

 lingering maladies, which may not be either prevent- 

 ed, cured, or alleviated by a contrary course of lite. 

 Almost all the instances of persons now a days who 

 exceed a century in their existence, are found either 

 amongst the poor or at least amongst those who 

 either from necessity or inclination have adopted ; 

 very limited scale of diet. The wresUers and glad- 

 iators of the ancients, lived in perpetual abstinence 

 from all kinds of sensible pleasure so as to render 

 Uieir bodies more robust and hardy ; and when 

 they were not cut off by violent deaths are stated to 

 have lived to very advanced periods. In our own 

 country, misers (provided they do not starve them- 

 selves too much) generally live to l>e very old. It 

 is true Uiat many persons have irreparably injured 

 their constitutions by excessive parsimony ; and it 

 has been said that those who, either from design or 

 accident, have tasted too long or too often, seldom 

 enjoy good health afterwards : but this can only 

 apply to such as absolutely last altogether, not to 

 Uiose who are only very moderate in the use of food. 

 And here it may be necessary to notice that serious 

 errors have sometimes taken place in believing 

 that particular articles of food are sufficient to sup- 

 port life, when taken in small quantities, and that 

 beef-tea, mutton broth, and oUier concentrated soups 

 and gravies would be adequate for this purpose. 

 But the fact is, that fluid food alone, will not sup- 

 port human life in a state of health. Unfortunately 

 a very foolish experiment of this kind, was made 

 some years ago, in the Milbank Penitentiary in 

 London, by the committee, who put all the prison- 

 ers there on a soup diet only, and without any solid 

 meat, and the consequences were very dreadful and 

 fatal. The most terrible diseases of debility, such as 

 sea scurvy, bloodyflnx and weakness of sight, cameon, 

 and the mortality which followed was quite unprece- 

 dented. But on putting these poor unfortunate 

 wretches on a more liberal scale of diet, the pes- 

 tilence was stayed. Magistrates ought to know that 

 prisoners ( if worked ) cannot be kept in health on a 

 very low diet. 



ABSTRACTION ; an operation of the mind, by which 

 we detach from our conceptions all tJ)se circum- 

 stances that render Uiem particular, and thereby fit 

 them to denote a whole rank or class of beings. 



ABULFARAGIUS, Gregory, bishop of Lacabera, was 

 born in Armenia in 1226; died 1284. He wrote 

 various works, but is chiefly known by an Abridg- 

 ment of universal History, which was published with 

 a I^atin version by Dr Pocoeke at Oxford in 1GC>3, 

 2 vols. 4to. 



