ABBOT, EZRA. - Reformed theologian of the United States, b. at Jackson, Maine, Apr. 28, 1819, d. at Cambridge, Massachusetts, Mar. 21, 1884.
From 1856 he worked in the library of Harvard University at Cambridge, Mass., and besides an excellent alphabetical and systematic catalogue (perhaps the first of its kind), he compiled there The Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life (a list of 530 works, with notes), New York 1864. From 1871 he taught there New Testament criticism and published learned articles in journals, but especially (over 400) in the enlarged edition of W. Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible (New York 1868–70). With Hort he was a reviser of the New Testament in the Revised Version (1871–81); from 1878 until his death he assisted Gregory (v. under the preparation of the Prolegomena to the 8th edition of Tischendorf’s New Testament).
His best work is the vigorous defence of the authenticity of the Fourth Gospel (The Authorship of the Fourth Gospel: External Evidences, 2nd ed. edited by the following J. H. Thayer, Boston 1889), in which he examines the testimonies of ancient ecclesiastical writers, especially St Justin, and highlights their probative value.
ABBON, GEORGES. - English Protestant, b. at Guildford, of a cloth manufacturer, in 1562, d. Aug. 4, 1633. While still a student he became noted for his Puritan-Calvinist ideas, and when elected vice-chancellor of Oxford he saw to it that the stained-glass windows with sacred images were destroyed. He was conciliatory toward the Scottish Puritans but a bitter enemy of Catholics. While vice-chancellor he was chosen among the members of the university for the translation of the Bible, known as the “Authorized Version” (v.), with the special task, together with eight others, of revising the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Apocalypse. As chaplain to the Earl of Dunbar, treasurer of the kingdom of Scotland, and a great friend of King James I (1603–25), he went to Scotland where he was of great help in establishing the episcopate. For this the king promoted him in 1609 to the see of Lichfield, and in 1610 to that of London. At the death of the Archbishop of Canterbury, R. Bancroft (1604–10), A. was, by the king’s wish, despite his Calvinist doctrines, in reward for the work accomplished in Scotland and on the recommendation of the Earl of Dunbar, elected to the primatial see. Under his rule the Puritan party grew in numbers and importance, with sad consequences for King Charles I (1625–40) and for A.’s successor, W. Laud.