ABB 



ABB 



be obftrveJ, that St. Paul and St. Mark ufcd the Syriiic 

 nbia, which was uiidcrftood in the fynagogucs and primitive 

 airembUes of Chrillians, but added to it, when writing to 

 foreigners, by way of interpretation, the tcnn father. The 

 Jews affumed this denomination as a title of dignity ; in 

 allufion to which, our Saviour forbade his difciples to call 

 any man their father on earth. 



It was alfo anciently ufcd as a title of honour, which 

 fome great men, it is faid, ftill retain in the I'yrenean 

 mountains. 



Abba, Aba, or Akba, is more particidarly ufed in 

 the Syriac, Coptic, and Etliiopic churches, as a title which 

 the people give to their biiliops. 



The biihops themlclvcs bellow the title abha, more emin- 

 ently, on the patriarch of Alexandria ; which occafioned the 

 people to give him that of baba, or papa, that is, grand- 

 father ; a title which he bore before the bifhop of Rome. 

 It is a Jewith title of honour, given to certain of that clafs 

 of Rabbins called Tanaites ; and it is alfo particularly ui'cd 

 by fome writers of the middle age, for the fuperior of a 

 nionailcry, ufually called abbot. 



ABBADIE, James, in Biography, an eminent proteftant 

 divine, was born at Nay in Berne, in 1654, or 1658. He 

 ftudiedin various places, but received his degreeof Doflor of 

 Divinity at Sedan. Difcouraged from the exercife of Iiis pro- 

 feffion in France, on account of the diilreiTed circuiviftances 

 of the proteftants, he firft fettled at Berlin under the pa- 

 tronage of the EleSor of Brandenburg, about the year 

 1680 or 1 68 1, where he refided for many years with great 

 reputation. In 16S8 the Eleftor died, and he accompanied 

 Mar/hal Schomberg, firft to Holland, and then to England 

 with the Prince of Orange. Lofing his patron, whom he 

 attended to Ireland, in 1690, he returned to England, and 

 became minifterof the French church at the Savoy. He after- 

 wards removed to Ireland, and, by the recommendation of King 

 William, he obtained the deanry of Killaloo, witli fome 

 other preferments. He was ftrongly attached to the caufe 

 of his royal mailer, as appears by his elaborate defence of 

 the Revolution, and his hiftoiy of the afTairnKition-plot. In 

 1726 he removed again to England, and died in the pariih 

 of Mary-le-bonc, in London, in the following year, at the 

 age, as fome lay, of 69, and according to others 73. He 

 was a zealous.proteftant, and oiicof the moil eloquent men of 

 the period in which he Hved. But his imagination and me- 

 moiy, M hich was lingularly retentive, as well as his learning 

 and eloquence, feem to have been fuperior to his judgment. 

 His works were numerous, and much approved at the time of 

 their publication : the cliief of them were the following, -viz. 

 Traite dc la Veritc de la RchgionChretieniie, Rotterdam 1 684, 

 2 tomes 8vo; which work has been tranflated into Englifh 

 and High Dutch, and has paffed through feveral editions. 

 Mr. Bayle commends this book, as one of the moft perfeft 

 in its kind. — Traite de la Divinite de notre Seigneur Jefus 

 Chrift, Rotterd. 1689, 8vo. — L'Art de fe connoitre foi- 

 meme, ou la Recherche des Sources de la Morale, Rot. 1692, 

 I2mo. — Defence de la Nation Britannique, &c. a Londres, 

 1692, -8vo. — Hiftoire de la Confpiration derniere d'Angle- 

 teiTe, &c. Londres, 1696, 8vo. This book was written 

 by order of King William III. and the original papers for 

 compilingit were furniflied by the Earl of Portland and Sir 

 \Villiam Trumball, fecretary of ftate. — La Vcrite de la Re- 

 ligion Refonncc, Rot. 1 718, 8vo. 2 torn. — La Triomphe 

 de la Providence et dc la Religion, ou I'Ouverture des fept 

 Sceaux per le Fi!s dc Dieu, &c. Amil. 1723, 4 vols. izmo. 

 Biog. Brit. 



ABBA-GUMBA, \n Ornithology. See Erkoom. 

 ABBAISSEUR, in Anatomy, a name given by Win- 



flow, a'>d other French writers, to one of the nnifclcs of liic 

 eye, called by others the depriment and hnmi/is ; and by 

 Fabricius, the retliis inferior ; Cowper and Albinus call it 

 the depre£or oculi : and it is one of the qiialuor reili oculi of 

 the lall author. 



ABBAS, in Biographv, fon of Abdahnotalleb, and uncle of 

 Mahomet, was at firll holllle to his nephew as an inipoftor and 

 traitor to his counlrv ; but being taken priloner in tlie fecond 

 year of the Hegira, at the battle of Beder, and a large ranfom 

 being demanded, he reprcfented to Mahomet that the pay- 

 ment of it would ruin him, and reduce his family to dif- 

 honour. Mahomet, however, had lieard that lie had Itcrcted 

 money, and mquired f(n- the purfes of gold which he had 

 left with his mother at Mecca, ylbbas was thus led to re- 

 gard him as a prophet, and to embrace his religion. He 

 afterwards faved i\is life at the battle of Honain, foon after 

 the reduftion of Mecca. Abbas was not only a great com- 

 mander, but an eminent doftor of the Muflulman law, and 

 read kftures upon ever)' chapter of the Koran, as Mahomet 

 pretended to receive them from heaven. He died in 653, 

 and his memoiy is held in veneration among the MulTulmcn 

 to this day. 



Akbas AflDAtLAH, Ebn, was the grandfon of Abdal- 

 motalleb, and the mod confiderablc of all the doftors among 

 the Muffulmen. He is faid to have acquired from the an- 

 gel Gabriel a perfefl knowledge of the Koran, when he was 

 ten years of age, and was honoured with the title of Tar- 

 giuman al Koran, or interpreter of the Koran. He died in 

 the 68th year of the Hegira, and was very much lamented. 



Abbas I. Shah, fnrnumcd the Great, was the third fon 

 of Khodabandeh, and the 7th king of Perfia of the race of 

 the Sofis. He fucceeded Ilhmacl III. v.ho had murdered 

 their eldefl brother Amir Hamzch, and who was himfclf 

 put to death after a fhort reign of eight months, in the year 

 1585. Thefe two princes are not commonly reckoned it» 

 the number of Perfian kings. His firil thoughts and aftions, 

 after he aicended the throne, if we exccjit the irmrder of his 

 tutor Miu-fliid, to whom lie was indebted for his life and crown, 

 were direfted to the reeoveiy of thofe provinces which the 

 Turks and Tartars had taken from his predecLifors. By a 

 feries of vidlories, he defeated Abdallah, khan of the Uf- 

 becks, who invaded Khorazan, and the Othman Turks, from 

 whom he took Tauris ; fubdued the provinces of Shirwan 

 and Ghilan ; took ponefiion of the kingdom of Lar, coni- 

 priiing a great part of Perfia proper ; invaded and fecnrcd 

 Georgia, and captured Bagdat, and Ornuiz in the Pcrfian 

 gulf. After a profperous reign of 43 years, during which he 

 confolidattd the divided provinces of the Perfinn empire, and 

 confiderably enlarged its extent, he was fcized with a dan- 

 gerous diflemper at Ferab.ad, in the proviixe of Mazan- 

 deran, fuppofed to have been the effeft of pcifon, and clofcd 

 a life of 70 years in 1628. Having appointed his grandfon 

 for his fucceflbr, he ordered his death to be concealed till 

 the throne was fecured to him ; and for this purpofe he 

 direfted his funeral obfequies to be performed at three dif- 

 ferent places at once, and that his body (hould be expofcd 

 every day in the hall of jnllice, feated in a chair of ftate, 

 with the eyes open, and his i)ack to the hangings, behind 

 which flood a perfon who contrived to anfwer any queftions 

 that were propofed. By this artifice his death was kept 

 fecret for fix weeks. The memoiy of Shah Abloi has been 

 held in high veneration by the Perfians, and they fpeak of 

 him as the greateft prince their country has produced for 

 many ages. He was wife and valiant, attentive to the poor, 

 and rigorous in the adniiniftration of juftice. He adopted 

 all poffible meafir.es for promoting the wealth and good go- 

 vernment of Ui3 dominions ; and took great pains to intro- 



C 2 duce 



