Abbot, Ezra, LL.D., an American scholar, born at Jackson, Maine, in 1819, died at Cambridge, Mass[achusetts]., March 21, 1884. He graduated at Bowdoin College in 1840; taught in various academies until 1847, when he took up residence at Cambridge, where he was a teacher in the High School until 1852. He devoted himself especially to private studies in philology and bibliography, reading in the libraries in and around Boston. In 1856 he was appointed Assistant Librarian in Harvard College, his special duty being that of classifying and cataloguing the books of the library. He occupied this position until 1872, when he was made Bussey Professor of N[ew] T[estament] Criticism and Interpretation in the Harvard Divinity School. His especial forte was bibliography, upon which subject he was perhaps the best-acknowledged American authority, and he had few equals in other countries. Most of his literary labor appears in the form of contributions to editions of the collected works of others, or in periodicals of the day. For Worcester's Dictionary he laboriously revised the pronouncing vocabulary of Greek, Latin, and Scriptural Proper Names, which, says Worcester, "will, it is believed, be found to be more correct than any before published." His Prolegomena to Tischendorf's eighth edition of his New Testament is of high critical value. The historico-critical volume on The Authorship of the Fourth Gospel (1880) is his main separate work: for his exhaustive Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life (1864), though equivalent in bulk to a moderate volume, was prepared merely as an Appendix to Wiliam Rounseville Alger's Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life. This work of Mr. Abbot contains the titles of more than 5000 books and treatises upon the general subject, all classified under suitable heads. In the preface to this work Mr. Abbot says:
In deciding upon the form of a Bibliography, I could not hesitate to prefer a classed catalogue, with the titles of each section arranged chronologically... The subjects embraced in the Bibliography--the Nature, Origin, and Destiny of the Soul--belong partly to Philosophy, and partly to Religion. They are accordingly discussed not only in the special treatises relating to them, but in general works on the metaphysics, on natural religion, on Christian doctrines, and on various religions and superstitions. The question of materialism and the relation between the human and the brute mind are also treated of by the writers on physiology and natural history.
To include in the catalogue all of these general works was, of course, impossible; but many of the more important have been noticed. This is particularly the case in that part of the bibliography which relates to the opinions concerning the soul, which have prevailed among heathen nations. That works on the Hindu philosophy and religion have been given with a good degree of fulness will not excite surprise, since the doctrine of transmigration lies at the centre of both Brahmanism and Buddhism. The books held sacred by the followers of Confucius, on the other hand, contain very little concerning the future life, a subject on which that philosopher discouraged inquiries. But for the convenience of the student who may wish at least to verify that remarkable fact, it appeared desirable to include them in the catalogue.
As to special treatises on the subject of the bibliography, written in Greek or Latin, and in the principal languages of Europe (except those of the Slavic family), I have intended to admit the titles of all of any importance which have fallen under my notice. This remark, however, does not apply to a few classes of works only incidently connected with the proper subjects of the catalogue: as those on Death, the Descent of Christ into Hades, the Resurrection of Christ, and modern "Spiritualism," under which heads merely a selection of titles is purposely given. Single sermons have been for the most part omitted, unless the production of eminent writers, or belonging to a controversy, or remarkable for some pecularity. As to Oriental works I have, for the most part, contented myself with noticing the best translations.
While some may regret that a single pamphlet has been neglected, others probably will complain of excess. "What is the use," it may be said, "of collecting the titles of so many old obsolete books?" I answer: The study of fossil remains in theological and metaphysical literature is as interesting and as instructive to the philosopher as palæontology is to the naturalist. In pursuing his researches in this field, one may indeed disinter strange monsters, but these representatives of tribes now extinct doubtless fulfilled their place in the economy of Providence, and were suited to the times in which they appeared, as truly as the great geological saurians. We marvel at the follies and superstitions of the past; but when the philosophy and theology of the nineteenth century shall have become petrified, posterity may regard some of their phenomena with equal wonder. I have therefore aimed to give a full exhibition of the subject, without partiality towards the Old or the New.--Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life.
Abbot, Ezra. Born in Jackson, Maine, 1819; died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1884. He taught in the Cambridge High School about five years, and in 1856 became assistant librarian of Harvard University. In 1872, he was made Bussey Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation in Harvard Divinity School. He was an acknowledged authority on bibliography. He revised for Worcester's Dictionary the pronouncing vocabularies of Greek, Latin, and Scriptural proper names. His prolegomena to Tischendorf's eighth edition of the New Testament is of high critical value. He wrote a historico-critical volume on "The Authorship of the Fourth Gospel," 1880; and "Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life," a bibliography for the "History of the Doctrine of the Future Life," by W. R. Alger, 1864.
Abbot, Ezra. Born in Maine, 1819-1884. A Unitarian biblical scholar of much prominence, who was for many years a professor in the Divinity School of Harvard University, and widely known for the extent of his bibliographical acquirements. Writings: Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life; Authenticity of the Fourth Gospel; The Fourth Gospel and other Critical Essays. With H. B. Hackett, infra, he prepared the American edition of Smith's Bible Dictionary. See Memorial of, 1884. Published by George H. Ellis, Boston.