INCENSE

a term given to various substances which when burnt give off a sweet smell—generally used in religious worship. It was used in many ancient Oriental worships, particularly in Egypt, as appears from various monuments. It was common, too, in ancient India, where its use still survives—even among Mohammadans, who elsewhere do not use it much—and in Persia and Babylonia; it is also used in Buddhist countries. The ancient Greeks burnt I. to their gods, and it was employed in Rome on festal occasions. Among the Jews the burning of I. accompanied animal sacrifices, and in the Temple its object was partly fumigatory to overcome the stench of the plood of the slaughtered beasts. In the Christian Church its use is not definitely proved before the V. cent., as the Early Fathers do not refer to it, but it was certainly used in the catacombs at Rome, though this may have been for sanitary reasons. Its use was regular in the Middle Ages, and is enjoined at certain portions of sung Ma in the Rom. Mi al. It is likewise common in the Gk. and Eastern Churches, where there are liturgical for mule for the censing of the bread and wine. In England, according to the uses of Sarum and Bangor, the altar was to be censed during Ma , but at the Reformation its use was generally abandoned. It was revived together with so many other ancient customs in the XIX. cent. sexual intercourse between persons who could not marry on account of affinity.