A and Q (Rev. i. 8, xxi. 6, xxii. 13; cf. Is. xii. 4, xliv. 6). The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, used to express the eternity of GOD. Its form belongs to St. John's Revelation, but its meaning is found already in Isaiah. It was used by the Jews later to express the comprehensive nature of GOD. The symbol is generally assigned to our LORD. In the first passage, the symbol may refer to the TRINITY, but it is better (in view of the fact that in xxii. 13, our LORD gives this title to Himself) to hold that it is one of our LORD's titles, implying for Him all the attributes of the Godhead, as being the Source, Upholder, and End of all things. These two letters passed into early Christian use, being found in the catacombs; and into ecclesiastical Latin poetry (vide Prudentius, Cathem. ix. 10), and so into liturgical use. It is often used as a monogram in church decorations. (Vide Bishop Wordsworth's New Testament, Archbishop Trench's Commentary on the Epistles to the Seven Churches, for thorough discussion of the meaning of AQ in the Revelation.)

A

Aaron, the brother of Moses and the first High-Priest under the Law. His father was Amram, and his mother was Jochebed; his wife was Elisheba, daughter of Nahshon, of the tribe of Judah. He was three years older than Moses, and apparently, since GOD Himself called him the Levite," he was of priestly dignity in his family. His was a far weaker character than his brother's. Able to speak well, ready, and not wanting in courage, he was given to Moses to be his mouth-piece, as Moses was the mouth-piece of GOD, i.e., the Prophet. In then his being first the Prophet and then the High-Priest Aaron becomes a type of CHRIST. He went willingly with Moses upon the mission. They twain went to the people and gathered their elders. Aaron apparently does the evidential signs before

them instead of Moses, and after they had been acknowledged by the people, the two brothers go before Pharaoh. Throughout the first part Aaron acts for Moses: Aaron casts down the rod that becomes a serpent; he smites the Nile, stretches the rod over the streams, smites the dust. The two sprinkle the ashes of the furnace. Thence till the last stroke Moses acts. He stretches the rod toward heaven, for the storm of hail; over the land, for swarms of locusts. But the LORD reserved to Himself without stroke of rod or word of prophet the two death-plagues at the set time: the murrain wasted the herds of Egypt; at midnight there was the great cry. Aaron is withdrawn from the prominent place in the narrative till the Israelites reach the wilderness of Sin. Moses bids him prepare the people for the miracle of the manna. Aaron bears up Moses' hand with the rod till Amalek is discomfited. He draws near with Moses to the summit of Sinai, but does not enter the Fire and the Cloud. Now left to himself, he shows the weakness of his character. The murmuring of the people upon the long absence of Moses, and their cry for some god to go up before them, led him to collect the offerings of their golden ear-rings and to cast the molten calf. It shows him to be a facile and popular leader rather than a deeply-principled master of men. The worship of the molten calf with the rites due to the LORD perversely offered before it led to the sin of licentiousness. The end of it was the shame and shrinking on Aaron's part, the indignant discipline inflicted by Moses, and then his wonderful, loving intercession for the sinning people and his erring brother. The forgiveness was complete, for Aaron was immediately consecrated to the High-Priesthood, and it was conferred by a perpetual grant to his family alone. Here we have to call attention to the typical character of his office. It

was his right to enter into the Holy of Holies once in the year, on the great Day of Atonement, with the blood of the goat and the bullock. He made the atonement when he stood between the living and the dead, and stayed the fire that burst from the LORD's anger. It was his right to offer asylum for his lifetime to the manslayer fled to the city of refuge. He could not share in funeral rites. The intercessory, expiatory, and ever-living work of our LORD are typified in these rites. Whatever defects in his private character marred its evenness, in his official character he was between JEHOVAH

and JEHOVAH's people. Aaron appears again when he murmured against his brother. His commission, its grandeur, and its awful duties dazzled him. His sister presuming upon her office as prophetess showed herself jealous of Moses also. In fact, Miriam was the chief in the resistance to the Lawgiver's authority. Its vindication by God Himself was a severe lesson. Again, when Korah's rebellion ended in his destruction and Aaron had used his priestly function of making an atonement, then, as a further attestation to his office, the LORD chose to give the people the sign of his rod, with buds, blooms, and fruit, a sign that was laid up together with the pot of manna before the ark testimony. Then GOD gave a special charge to Aaron that he and his sons, and his father's house, should "bear the iniquity" of the sanctuary, and he and his sons should "bear the iniquity" of the priesthood (cf. Ps. lxxxix. 50, 51, and the Agony in the Garden). His were to be the tithes, the peace-offerings, the waveofferings, the first fruits, the devoted, the redemption-money of the first-born, of man and beast, for he and his sons were to have no inheritance in the land, but to be separate to the LORD. Aaron's character appears again markedly in sharing his brother's impatience at the rock, when he smote when he should have only spoken. Miriam by this time was dead, and the weary journeying was drawing to a close; now at the very end when the longed-for land was almost in sight, to be forbidden. He seems to have acquiesced in the decree. And when the command came for him to climb the Mount Hor, and there upon its top to have his priestly garments taken from him and put upon his son, and then to lie down and die there, in the sight of the congregation, his submission did not fail him. The Lawgiver, the faithful servant, despoiled his loved brother of the sacred vestments with which he had, at the outset of their journeyings so many years before, adorned him, "And Aaron died then in the top of the mount, and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount." The real greatness of Aaron's character is overshadowed by the splendor of his brother's, but he was, with all the weaknesses so faithfully recorded in Holy Scripture, a far more perfect man than many others who are in their careers more prominently, not more really, types of

CHRIST. His own shortcomings may have taught him that compassion which our Great High-Priest had learned, not from taint of sin, but by contact with and suffering from its loathsome effects. In Aaron's descendants flowed the blood of their mother, a daughter of the tribe from which our LORD took His Flesh.

Abaddon (Job xxxi. 12, Destruction). In Job xxvi. 6, the Chaldee paraphrast makes it mean the "house of destruction;" in Job xxviii. 22, its Chaldee equivalent is the angel of Death. It was also applied later by the Jews to the Christian schools Be' Abidan. In Rev. ix. 11 it is a title of the "Angel of the bottomless pit," whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon (i.e., destroyer). There is much Jewish trifling upon the name. It is, however, one of the titles of Satan. The woe in Rev. ix., where Abaddon is spoken of, is interpreted usually of the Saracens, and he is named as their king.

Abba (Syriac). A peculiarly tender form of FATHER. Our LORD (Mark xiv. 36)

uses it in His Prayer in the Garden. St. Paul uses it twice (Rom. viii. 15; Gal. iv. 6), in referring to our adoption as Sons through the HOLY GHOST (vide Confirmation). Selden and other writers say that the Jews had a law which forbade bondservants to use the term father to their masters, so Paul used a term tender and expressive of filial reverence. In the Palestinian and Egyptian Churches it became an ecclesiastical title, and so probably passed into the West as Abbot.

Abbess. The Mother or Superior of an abbey of nuns, or female persons living under religious vows and discipline.

They

Abbey. The building in which a society devoted to religion dwelt; a monastery whose head was an Abbot or Abbess. were quite numerous in England before the Reformation, and the title still clings to some of the churches. Westminster is better known as Westminster Abbey than as St. Peter's. In Cathedral Abbeys the Bishop was the Abbot, and the presbyteral Superiors of these establishments were styled Priors. Cranmer and Latimer tried hard, at the dissolution of the monasteries, to save some of the abbeys from confiscation to put them to reformed use, but did not succeed.

The

Abbot. The Father or Superior of a body of men living under religious vows. derivation of the word is from Abba (Med. Lat. Abbas). The word Father, in its forms Abbas, Papa, Father, has been ever applied to the Christian presbyter as a title of respect, except in the later history of the English Church. An Abbot was elected either by all the members of the monastery, or by a part of them as a chapter. Abbots were divided into two ranks, Abbots and Mitred Abbots. There were in England twentyfive Mitred Abbots, who sat and voted in the House of Lords. Abbots were subject to

their diocesan; but special exemptions were granted, for favors or by purchase, to many monasteries, some owning obedience to the See of Rome, others to the Crown, and so exempted from episcopal visitation and reformation. The Abbot received confirmation of his office and benediction from his diocesan, and vowed canonical obedience to him. (Dugdale's Monasticon, Willis's Mitred Abbots, Encyclopædia Britannica, sub voce.)

Abjuration. A solemn act of renouncing all false or heretical doctrines which a person had formerly held. There is no authorized form in use in the English Church, though public abjuration has been made by persons at different times. A form was put forth by one of the houses of Convocation, 1714, but it did not receive royal sanction.

Ablution. A liturgical term for any ceremonial washing of the person or of sacred vessels. I. Person.-The washings of the priests in the Mosaic Law previous to consecration, and after it frequently in their ministration. The washing of the feet, after our LORD's example, and according to St. Paul's question as to the character of a widow needing church aid if she have washed the feet of strangers; also the early ritual use of washing the hands before and after the celebration of the Holy Communion. II. Things. -So the ablutions in the ceremonial of the law. In early liturgic use a reverent ablution of the vessels with a little water for the consumption of every portion of the consecrated elements.

Abraham. The Father of the Faithful (Rom. iv. 16). The Friend of GOD (Is. xli. 8). The Heir of the World (Rom. iv. 13). The Solitary in the religion and worship of JEHOVAH. The grandest of the men of the Old Testament save his great descendant, Moses. The man through whose faith the world has received the blessings of CHRIST the LORD. The man whose name was changed by GOD as a sign of His blessing. He in his life and conduct stands forth as almost unapproached in true courtesy, noble loftiness, and simplicity. The patriarchal life he led is accurately portrayed in Holy Scripture, and can be, even yet, verified in the customs and habits of the Arabs, some of whom are his descendants.

He was the son of Terah, an idolater. Though Abram's name is first in the list, he was probably the second son. The sons of Terah were Haran, who died before the migration, Abram, and Nahor, who remained in Ur. Terah died in Haran, and Abram became the head of the family. The life of the patriarch is divided into four chief eras:

I. The migration from Ur to Haran (Charran, Gen. xi. 81; cf. Acts vii. 2-4). Here Terah died, and then (Gen. xii.) the command was given to Abram to remove from Haran to a land GOD would show him, and then he would be blessed, and of his descendants should be made a great nation, and a solemn promise of protection was added. He obeyed, and removed with Lot, his

nephew. He first settled near Bethel, and there built an altar to the LORD; thence he went down to Egypt. It is strange as we read it, but in reality it was most natural, that he should have unconsciously distrusted the full meaning of the promise of protection. He was afraid that his wife would be taken from him, and he framed a deceit by having her say she was his sister. Sarah was taken from him, but Pharaoh was plagued of the LORD because of her, and restored her to him, and he was dismissed. From Egypt he returned to Bethel, and there upon the altar he had built he renewed his worship of JEHOVAH (Gen. xiii. 1-4). A wealthy, prospering man, with a large retinue, and a kinsman with him who also was wealthy, he was sufficiently strong to be safe from attack. But this very wealth, and the need of room, caused a strife between their followers, and they found it prudent to separate. Lot chose the plain of Jordan, near Sodom, and Abram remained in the hilly region. Here he received a renewal of the promise, which was a little more clearly and fully expressed, and he was directed to walk through the length and breadth of the land, for it should be his. Upon this command he removed to Mamre (Hebron), and there built an altar and worshipped. At this point occurs one of the most vivid of the incidents of his life. While crushing the revolt of the subject Sodomites Chedorlaomer carried off Lot and his family. Abram, with his three hundred and eighteen servants, planned a night surprise, which was completely successful. He apparently slew the king in the fight. Upon his victorious return, Melchizedec, the mysterious king of Salem, priest of the Most High GOD, met him with bread and wine, and blessed him. Abram paid him tithes and received his blessing as from a superior. Abram's refusal to receive any part of the spoil was a nobly proud act on his part.

II. The second period of his life is from this event and the renewed promise which followed till the third covenanted promise with direct promise of Isaac. This second renewal was still more full, and was sealed with a sacrifice and a solemn sign of a horror of great darkness in his sleep. He was told of the servitude in Egypt, of the deliverance and the establishment of his descendants in the land GOD promised him. To accomplish this promise Sarah persuaded him to take her Egyptian maid as a concubine; but the act was both a proof of his yet defective trust and of the evil of taking accomplishments into his hands. Hagar's insolence and Sarah's jealousy drove the concubine to run away from her mistress Hagar was ordered to return and to submit to Sarah. She became the mother of Ishmael.

III. And yet again the promise was renewed when Abram was ninety-nine years old. GOD appeared to him, promised that Sarah should bear him a son, changed his name to Abraham, and gave him the cove

nant sign of circumcision. Still its fulfilment was delayed. Here occurred the touching visit of the JEHOVAH Angel with two attendants to Abraham, their warning him of the impending destruction of Sodom, and his earnest, persistent plea in its behalf. It was a proof of his growth in faith and in a trusting confidence. Again, however, he shows his distrust when among the Philistines. Afraid of being deprived of her (despite GoD's promise that Sarah should give him a son), he called her his sister, and King Abimelech sent and took her. GOD protected her, and warned the king of his error, who restored Sarah, with a just reproach to Abraham for his deceit. After this Sarah bore Abraham a son, and she called him Isaac, or Laughter, in reference to Sarah's laugh of joy when she heard the promise that she in her old age should have a son and also to his own happiness.

IV. The last main period begins with the great trial of faith to which Abraham was subjected. He was tempted, was proved in the highest form in the command to offer up Isaac. How could the promise be fulfilled if Isaac was offered, and how could a human sacrifice be acceptable to the GoD of Life? The command was couched in words which showed how precious Isaac must be: "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest." The Patriarch had learned that nothing could fail of all that JEHOVAII had promised, and he obeyed. His obedience and its result were thenceforth the very crown of faith and of the truth of GOD's promises, and became the type of the sacrifice of His sinless Son upon the Cross. It was so wonderful a proof of His trust that the gift was given him that the spiritual blessing he had should be given to all nations upon earth, and the Son of Abraham is the heir of the world, by that act in verity upon the Cross, which was done by figure upon the altar in the Mount Moriah. It was done, it is well to note, when Isaac could understand what was to be transacted, and his obedience, therefore, must not be overlooked. Was it now that Abraham saw the day of CHRIST and was glad?

Sarah died at an advanced age at Kerjath Arba, to which Abraham removed from Beersheba, some time after the offering of Isaac. The whole account of the death, the purchase of a burying-place in the land which had all been given to him, his courtesy and stately mode of preferring his request, and the high respect paid to him by the Hittites, and the simplicity of the whole narrative, make it one of the most touching passages in the record of his life.

He lived nearly thirty years longer, and married Keturah. It was, perhaps, not, we should suppose, fit for so holy and exalted a personage,-one so blessed and prospered, but Abraham was living at a different era, with ideas current around him far other than those we are habitually using and living in.

He is a person, to us, so conjoined to the faith that he displayed that we cannot think of him as a man who, in that Eastern life, needed the care of some woman's hand to minister to him. At the age of a hundred and seventy-five years he died, and was buried by his sons, Isaac and Ishmael. Abraham is for us the type of the solitariness of the man of faith. Others, as Job, as Melchizedec, were servants of GOD and of great holiness, but he had still greater and more enduring blessings because of his faith. And this faith grew; it was disciplined and developed. The clash between this faith and his conduct that occurs in his career was rather the result of not seeing how trustfulness must penetrate the lower planes of our daily life and work. He believed that GOD would not forsake him; still, the emergencies seemed so pressing that he deemed he must do something, and he acted as he did. The consequences bore evil fruit for him and his children in the first instance, as the Egyptian maid gave him so much trouble, and a thousand years later Ishmael sorely distressed Israel. And, too, the daily life and authority of a man of lordly means, while it was a constant proof of GOD's blessing, tended to withdraw him from the finer, subtler interconnection of his religious life with the slightest parts of his daily life. But this he evidently outgrew. Again, to him we owe our salvation. To him, more than to any one man, we owe our Christian privileges. The children of Abraham (according the faith he had, before circumcision) we are heirs with him of the world, not only of this visible, but of the world unseen. From him came the LORD JESUS CHRIST, through whom he, as well as we, received all the promises, and in whom they are fulfilled.

The more Abraham's life and conduct are studied the more thoroughly human do they appear. He was a great man, endowed with large capacities, with deeply religious and meditative characteristics, with power of will to rise to the height of the demands made upon him, and with a loving and a sympathetic strain throughout. His abilities and weight were early acknowledged by the peoples in whose neighborhood he dwelt. It was only by deep pondering and prayer that he could have been strengthened to meet the discipline GoD put upon him. The influence Sarah had over him and his deep affection for Isaac are proof enough of that best of all domestic bonds,-a loving nature.

Absolute. In theology, a perfect unalterable condition, e.g., Divine goodness is absolute; so Divine justice and mercy, without imperfection or defect. The absolute gift of redemption will be at the resurrection. Its gift is conditional here and now.

Absolution. The authoritative act of declaring GOD's forgiveness of a penitent. Cf. P. B., "Hath given power and commandment to His ministers to declare and pronounce to His people being penitent the