Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/71

Rh A B R A B R 55 before the prophets. It was a late development, the creed of the most spiritual teachers, not of the people generally. Abram was a distinguished Oriental sheikh, who laid aside the grossness of idolatry, and rose by degrees, through con tact with many peoples and his own reflection, to the con ception of a Being higher than the visible world, the God of the light and the sun. He was a civilised nomad, having wider and more spiritual aspirations than the peoples with whom he lived. As a worshipper of God, his faith was magnified by later ages throwing back their more advanced ideas into his time, because he was the founder of a favoured race, the type of Israel as they were or should be. 5. The leading idea forming the essence of the story re specting Abrarn s sacrifice of Isaac, presents some difficulty of explanation. The chapter did not proceed from the earliest writer, but from one acquainted with the institu tion of animal sacrifices. That the patriarch was familiar with human sacrifices among the peoples round about is beyond a doubt. Was he tempted from within to comply, on one occasion, with the prevailing custom; or did the disaffected Canaanites call upon him to give such proof of devotion to his God 1 Perhaps there was a struggle in his mind between the better ideas which led to the habitual renunciation of the barbarous rite, and scruples of the uni versal impropriety attaching to it. The persuasion that it could never be allowed may have been shaken at times. The general purport of the narrative is to place in a strong light the faith of one prepared to make the most costly sacrifice in obedience to the divine command, as well as God s aversion to human offerings. 6. It is impossible to get chronological exactness in Abram s biography, because it is composed of different tra ditions incorporated with one another, the product of dif ferent times, and all passing through the hands of a later redactor for whom the true succession of events was not of primary importance. The writers themselves did not know the accurate chronology, having to do with legends as well as facts impregnated with the legendary, which the redactor afterwards altered or adapted. The Elohist is much more chronological than the other writers. It is even impossible to tell the time when Abram lived. Ac cording to Lepsius, he entered Palestine 1700-1730 B.C. ; according toBunsen, 2886; while Schenkel gives 2 130-2 140 B.C. In Beer s Leben Abraham s his birth is given 1948 A.M., i.e., 2040 B.C. 7. The Midrashim contain a good deal aboiit Abram which is either founded on biblical accounts or spun out of the fancy. Nimrod was king of Babylon at the time. The patriarch s early announcement of the doctrine of one God, his zeal in destroying idols, including those worshipped by his father, his miraculous escape from Nimrod s wrath, his persuading Terah to leave the king s service and go with him to Canaan, are minutely told. During his life he had no fewer than ten temptations. Satan tried to ruin Mm, after the fiend had appeared at the great feast given when Isaac was weaned, in the form of a poor bent old man, who had been neglected. We can only refer to one speci men of rabbinic dialogue-making. God appeared to Abram by night, saying to him, &quot; Take thy son&quot; (Abram interrupting), &quot;Which? I have two of them.&quot; The voice of God &quot; Him who is esteemed by you as your only son.&quot; Abram &quot; Each of them is the only son of his mother.&quot; God s voice &quot; Him whom thou lovest.&quot; Abram &quot; I love both.&quot; God s voice &quot; Him whom thou especially lovest.&quot; Abram &quot; I cherish my children with like love.&quot; God s voice &quot; Now, then, take Isaac.&quot; Abram &quot; And what shall I begin with in him]&quot; God s voice &quot; Go to the land where at my call mountains will rise up out of valleys to Moriah, and offer thy son Isaac as a holocaust.&quot; Abram &quot;Is it a sacrifice I shall offer, Lord] Where is the priest to prepare it?&quot; &quot;Be thou invested with that dig nity as Shem was formerly.&quot; Abram &quot;But that land counts several mountains, which shall I ascend 1&quot; &quot; The top of the mountain where thou shalt see my glory veiled in the clouds,&quot; &c. (Beer, pp. 59, 60.) The Arabic legends about Ibrahim are mostly taken from the Jewish fountain, very few being independent and pre- Islamite. Mohammed collected all that were current, and presented them in forms best suited to his purpose. His sources were the biblical accounts and later Jewish legends. Those about the patriarch building the Kaaba along with Ishmael, his giving this son the house and all the country in which it was, his going as a pilgrim to Mecca every year, seeing Ishmael, and then returning to his own land, Syria, his foot-print on the black stone of the temple, and similar stories, are of genuine Arabic origin. The rest are Jewish, with certain alterations. The collected narratives of the Arabic historians are given by Tabari, constituting a confused mass of legends drawn from the Old Testament, the Koran, and the Kabbins. (See Ewald s Geschichte des Volkes Israel, vol. i. pp. 440-484, third edition ; Bertheau s Zur Geschichte der Israeliten, p. 206, et seq.; Tuch s Kommentar ueber die Genesis, 1838; Knobel s Die Genesis, 1852; Dozy s Die Israeliten zu Mekka, p. 16, et scq.; B. Beer s Leben Abraham nach Aujfassung der judischen Sage, 1859 ; Chronique d Abou Djafar Mohammed Tabari, par L. Dubeux, tome premier, chapters 47-60; Chwolson s Ssabier und der Ssabismus, vol. ii.) (s. D.) ABRAHAM-A-SANCTA-CLARA. was born at Krahen- heirnstetten, a village in Suabia, on the 4th of June 1642. His family name was Ulrich Megerle. In 1662 he joined the order of Barefooted Augustinians, and assumed the name by which alone he is now known. In this order he rose step by step until he became prior provincialis and definitor of his province. Having early gained a great reputation f -r pulpit eloquence, he was appointed court preacher at Vienna in 1669. There the people flocked in crowds to hear him, attracted by the force and homeliness of his language, the grotesqueness of his humour, and the impartial severity with which he lashed the follies of all classes of society. The vices of courtiers and court-life in particular were exposed with an admirable intrepidity. In general he spoke as a man of the people in the lan guage of the people, the predominating quality of his style, which was altogether unique, being an overflowing and often coarse wit. There are, however, many passages in his sermons in which he rises to loftier thought, and uses more refined and dignified language. He died at Vienna on the 1st December 1709. In his published writings Abraham-a-Sancta-Clara displayed much the same qualities as in the pulpit. Perhaps the most favourable specimen of his style is furnished in J.udas der Erzschelm. His works have been several times reproduced in whole or part, though with many spurious interpolations, within the last thirty years, and have been very extensively read by both Protestants and Catholics. A selection was issued at Heilbronn in 1845, and a complete edition in 21 vols. appeared at Passau and Lindau, in 1835-54. ABRANTES, a town of Portugal, Estremadura province, on the Tagus, about 70 miles N.E. of Lisbon, delightfully situated on the brow of a hill, of which the slopes are covered with olive trees, gardens, and vineyards. It has considerable trade with Lisbon, particularly in fruit, corn, and oil. The town is strongly fortified, and is an important military position. At the convention of Cintra it was surrendered to the British. Junot derived from it his title of Duke of Abrautcs. Population about 6000.