ABY
Cajl. Lex. Med. p. 4.. * Menenf. Tradlat. Aurei Veller. 1. 1.
c. 7. inTheatr. Chym. T. 5. p. 274. Cajr. loc. cit. Abyss is alfo ufed metaphorically for a thing not to be known
or comprehended, on account of its inamenfe extent, or pro- . fundity. Magrl. Notiz. Vocab. Ecclef. p. 2. Trev. Did.
Univ. T. 1. p. $6.
In which fenfe it coincides with fccret, infcrutable, incom-
prehenfible, &c. — The judgments of God are called a great
Abyfs*. The fcripture is reprefented by an antient father
as an Abyfs of questions, afSoo-o-os |tjT«fwwwp b , — [ a Pfalm xxxv.
or xxxvi. v. 7. b Chryfojl. Homil. in Aci. T. 4- p. 747. J Abyss, in hydrography, is fynonymous with gulph. 0%an.
Did:. Math. p. 358. ABYSSINIAN is ufed as the name of a feci, or herefy, in the
Chriftian church ; eftablimed in the empire of Abyffinia. The Abyffiniam are a branch of the Copts, or Jacobites ; with whom (hey agree in admitting only one nature.in Jefus Chrift, and rejecting the council of Chalcedon : whence they are alfo called Monophyfites, and Eutychians.
The Abyjfiniam ftand oppofed to the Melcbites ; and are only diftinguiihed from the Copts, and other feels of Jacobites by fome peculiar national ufages a : they are charged indeed with herefy, but it is a herefy of a fubtile kind, hard to define j fome take it for a mere name, and hold them to be orthodox in reality. In effect, they themfelves deny their being Euty- chians, and even anathematize Appollinarius b , which with fome zealots is not enough c . Ludolph juftifies them of Euty- chianifm, proving that they allow Jefus Chrift to be true God and true man, without mixture and confufion ; and that if they only allow one nature in him, it is becaufe they have no clear idea of the fignification of that word •'. Their herefy, like fome others, refolves itfelf into logomachia's, and mifunderftandings about the terms, nature, perfon % &c— [* Bofii Difc. deStat. Europ. §. 29. b Le Grand. Diff. fur Lobo Voy. d'AbyfT. p. 2031. c Renaudot. Defenf. Hift. Patriarch, ap. Mem. de Trev. an. 1718. p. 661. feq. A Ludolf. Com. Hift. Ethiop. ap, Bibl. Univ. T. 21. p. ig.-Oeuv. des Scav. an. 1691. p. 73. c Le Grand. DifT. fur Lobo, p. 2032.] The Abyjfmian feci or church is governed by a bilhop, or me- tropolitan, ftilcd Abuna, (fee Abuna,) fent them by the Coptic patriarch of Alexandria refiding at Cairo, who is the only perfon that ordains priefts. The next dignity is that of Ko- mos, or Hegumenus, who is a kind of arch-prefbyter. They have canons alfo, and monks j the former of whom marry, the latter at their admiffion vow celibacy, but with a refervation. Le Grand fays, they make a promife aloud, before their fu- perior, to keep chaftity, but add in a low voice, as you hep it f . The emperor has a kind of fupremacy in ecclefiaftical matters 5 . He alone takes cognizance of all ecclefiaftic caufes, except fome fmaller ones referved to the judges, and confers all benefices, except that of Abuna h . Ludolfus', makes their hierarchy refemble that of the Englifh church, where the fupremacy in fpirituals is lodged in the fovereign. Mr. Le Grand maintains the contrary, that the Abuna de- pends only on the patriarch of Alexandria k . — [ f Le Grand ubi fupra, p. 2042. sPagit. Chriftianogr. P. 1. c. 4. p. 89. Fabric. Lux Evang. c. 45. p. 710. h Pagli, ubi fupr. ' Lu- dolf. Hift. loc. cit. Week. Mem. Ingen. N°. 5. p. 38. k Le Grand ubi fupr. p. 2041.]
The Abyffiniam have divers times exprefTed an inclination to be reconciled to the fee of Rome ; but rather out of intereft of ftate than any other motive. The emperor David, or the queen regent on his behalf, wrote a letter on this head to pope Cle- ment VII. full of fubmimon, and demanding a patriarch from Rome to be inftru£ted by. Which being complied with, he publickly abjured the doctrine of Eutychius and Diofcorus in 1626, and allowed the fupremacy of the pope '. Under the emperor Seltan Seghed all was undone again j the Romifh mif- fionaries fettled there, had their churches taken from them, and their new converts banifhed, or put to death. The con- gregation de propaganda have made fevcral attempts to revive the miffion, but to little purpofe.
It is pretended that the Abyffiniam fent embafiadors, as early as 1177, to pope Alexander III. and others fines, in 1459, t0 the council of Florence ; but this confifts ill with what others relate, that before the late miffions of the Jcfuits, the Abyffiniam do not appear to have fo much as known the pope. Some even imagine, that the embaftadors, who appeared at the coun- cil of Florence, were only impoftors, drefled up by pope Eu- genius IV. to make the Greeks believe that his authority was allowed as far as /Ethiopia m . — [} Ludolf. Comment, ubi fupra, p. 77. m V. La Croix Relat. Univ. de l'Afriq. Oeuv. des Scav. an. 1689. p. 412.]
Menefis, and other miffionaries accufe the Abyffiniam of Ju- daifm, in regard of the many Jewiih obfervauces ftill in uk among them ; fome have even doubted, whether they are more Chriftians, or Jews"? Lobo ° fays exprefsly they are only Chriftians in name : they praclife circumcifion on females, as well as males. They eat no meats prohibited by the law of Mofes. — Women are obliged to the legal purifications. — Bro- thers marry their brother's wives p, &c. They abftain from hog's flelh, blood, meats ftrangled % &c. and ohferve both Saturday and Sunday fabbath, according to the cuftom of the primitive church ' ; all of them marks of Judaifm ; tho'
A C A
by fome refolved into mere human inffitution, and ufage •. T hey celebrate the Epiphany with peculiar feftivity, in me- mory ot Chrift's baptilm ; when they plunge and fport in ponds and rivers, which has occafioned fome to affirm that they were baptized a-new every year. Among the faints-days is one con- fecrated to Pilate and his wife ; by rcafon Pilate walhed his hands before he pronounced fentence on Chrift ; and his wife defired him to have nothing to do with the blood of that juft perfon r . They have four lents " : the great one commences ten days earlier than ours, and is obferved with much feverity, many ab- ftaining therein even from fifh, by reafon St. Paul * fays there is one kind of flefh of men, and another of fifhes. They allow of divorce, which is eafily granted among them, and by the civil judge r ; nor fa their c , v ;i ] aws prohibit polygamy itfelf «. They have at leaft as many miracles, and legends of faints as the Romifh church ■ ; which proved no fmall cmbaraffrnent to the Jefuit miffionaries, to whom they produced fo many mi- racles, wrought by their faints, in proof of their religion, and thofe fo well circumftantiated and attefted, that the Jefuits were obliged to deny miracles to be any proof of a true re- ligion ; and in proof hereof to alledge the fame arguments againfl the Abyjfiniam, which Proteflants in Europe alledge againft the Papifts '-. Ludolf " allows that they believe the real prefence after the Lutheran manner, but denies that they hold tranfubftantiation : tho' Renaudot afferts, that they maintain this latter. They pray for the dead, and invoke faints and angels d ; have fo great a veneration for the virgin, that they charged the Jcfuits with not rendering her honour enough c . Images in painting they venerate, but abhor all thofe in relievo, except the cr'ofs '. They hold that the foul of man is not created, becaufe, fay they, God finifhed all his work on the fixth day «. They admit the apocryphal books, and the canons of the apoftles, as well as the apoftolical confti- tutions, for genuine \ Their liturgy is given by Alvarez, and in Englifh by Pagit ' ; their calendar by Ludolf: the an- swers of abba Gregory to certain queffions, propofed by the author laft cited, are publifhed by Fabricius, under the title of Tbeologia Mtbiopica*.—[° Le Grand, ubi fupra, p. 2024.
• Lobo, Voyag. Hiftor. d'Abyffin. ap. Bibl. Rail". T. 1. p. 56. feq. Pld. ibid. p. 60. ' Ludolf, Hift. jEthiop. 1. 3. c. r. ' Bibl. Univ. T. 21. p. 4, 16. ' La Croix, Relat. Univ. de l'Afrique. Giorn. de Lett, d'ltal. T. 3. an. 1680. p. go. ' Bibl. Univ. T. 21. p. 4. • Lett. Edif. T. 4. p. no.
• 1 Cor. c. xv. v. 39. y Ludolf, Hift. Ethiop. Week. Mem. Ingen. N°. 5. p. 37. ' Oeuv. des Scav. an. 1691. p. 78.
• Bibl. Univ. T. 21. p. 16. b Oeuv. des Scav. an. 169 1. p. 78. c Ludolf, ubi fupra, p. 656. d Le Grand, ubi fupra, p. 2040. 'Ludolf, Com. Hift. vEthiop. Bibl. Univ. T. 21. p. 16. ' Id. ap. Bibl. Univ. T. if. p. 17. ' Id. Hift. Ethiop. Week. Mem. Ingen. N". 5. p. 37. " Id. Com. Hift. Ethiop. Bibl. Univ. T. 21. p. 16. 'Pagit, Chriftianogr. P. 1. c. 5.
,.?;™; T * ?«**■ L "X Evang. c. 45. p. 716. feq.]
A^ACALIS, in the materia medica, the name given by fome au- thors, tothefiliquafylveftrisorwildCarob. DaArPbarm.p.340.
ACACALOTL, in zoology, the name of an American bird, called by fome corvus aquaticus, or the water raven. The male is four fpans long from his beak to the end of his tail, and is moderately fleftiy, his legs are a fpan and a half long. Its beak is two hands breadth long, is bent like a bow, and of a blue colour ; its head is fmall ; it is of a mixt brown and red, colour on the breaft and belly, and of a finely varie- gated hue on the back, made up of a fhining purple, black, and green ; its wings are of a lovely green, which looks very bright and glofly in the fun. It is a native of Mexico, and is common about lakes and rivers, feeding on fifh ; it is eaten, but is coarfe, and of a rank fifhy tafte. Margrave's Hift. Brafil.
ACACIA, (Cycl.) — in botany, the name of a genus of trees, the characters of which are thefe : The flower confifts only of one leaf, and is of the funnel-fafhioned kind, and ufually contains a great number of fhxmina, and the flowers are com- monly colle&ed in clufters, or little heads ; the piftil arifes from the bottom of the flower, and finally becomes a filiquous fruit divided into feveral hollows, and containing a number of roundifh feeds. Tourn. Inft. p. 605. The fpecies of Acacia enu merated by Mr. Tournefort are thefe : I. The true Acacia. 2. The white flowered ^Egyptian Acacia. 3. The IrtdianFarnefe Acacia. 4. The large leaved American Acacia, with rounded pods. 5. The broad leaved, white flowered, alopecuroideAmerican^rtfa'tf. 6. The fmooth, white flowered American Acacia, with broad flatted pods. 7. The tamarind-leaved, white flowered, prickly American Acacia. 8. The filiqua-leaved, prickly, creeping, American Acacia, with white flowers. 9. The purple flowered, wallnut-leaved, fiilDDth. American Acacia. 10. '1 'he creeping, prickly American Acacia, with white flowers and extreamly fmallleaves. n. The purple flowered, fmooth fhrub American Acacia. 12. The yellow flowered Acacia, with very long and thick white prickles.
The ./Ethiopian pepper of Mathiolus fecms to belong to this genus of plants.
The manner of propagating thefe trees, is, to fow their feeds
ona hot-bed in fpring 5 they will foon appear above the ground,
and are then to be tranfplanted. For this purpofe, another hot-
2 bed
