INCENSE (Heb. Litter, and kitturotk), a perfume, the odor of which is evolved by burning, and the use of which, in public worship, prevailed.in most of the ancient religions. The incense at present in use consists of some resinous base, such as gum olibanum, mingled with odoriferous gums, balsams, etc. There is no regular formula for it, almost every maker having his own peculiar recipe. The ingredients arc usually olibanum, benzoin, styrax, and powdered cascarilla bark. These materials, well mingled, are so placed in the censer or thurible as to be sprinkled by falling on a hot plate, which immediately volatilizes them, and diffuses their odor through the edifice.
Among the Jews, the burning of incense was exclusively employed as an act of worship, and, indeed, would appear to have been in itself regarded in the light of a sacred offering. The same would also appear for the religion of Egypt; but the Per sian sculptures exhibit the burning of incense as one of the marks of honor offered to royalty.
In the Catholic church, both of the west and of the cast, incense is used in public worship, more particularly in connection with the eucharistic service, which is regarded as a sacrifice; but writers are not agreed as to the earliest date at which its use can be traced. St. Ambrose, in the western church, alludes to incense in terms which suppose
the practice of burning it to be an established one; and in later writers, it is mentioned familiarly as a part of ordinary public worship. In the Roman Catholic church incense is used in the solemn (or high) mass, in the conareration of churches, in solemn consecrations of objects intended for use in public worship, and in the burial of the dead. There are also minor incensations of the celebrating bishop or priest and inferior ministers; of prelates, princes, and other dignitaries officially present at the public service, and a general incensation of the whole congregation.
In the reformed churches, the use of incense was abandoned at the same time with other practices which have been laid aside by them as without " warrant of Scripture."