neas. As a man of literature, and a friend to the arts, he also bequeathed to the royal society, two hundred guineas; to the society of antiquaries, two hundred guineas; and to the president of the society for the encouragement of arts, manufactures, &c. two hundred guineas, all for the purchase of books for the public libraries of those three respectable societies. To the Bath agricultural society he gave one hundred guineas. Wishing to add a beauty to the many which now adorn one of the finest Gothic structures in the world, he also bequeathed the sum of four hundred guineas for erecting a window of painted glass in the great west nave of Salisbury cathedral. To encourage the art he loved, and give a grateful testimony of his partiality to the Salisbury concert, he left an annual subscription of five guineas for ten years, towards its support; and a further sum of one hundred and fifty guineas for the three next triennial musical festivals at Salisbury, after his decease. Besides the above public legacies, he amply remembered his friends, and bequeathed many others, with a view to the encouragement of merit, and the reward of industry and goodness. He died the 21st of March, 1796, at his house in the Close, Salisbury; and on the 30th his remains were privately interred in the parish-church of Newton Toney, near those of his ancestors, his own positive injunctions having prevented those public marks of respect to his memory, which would otherwise have been paid on the melancholy occasion by his numerous friends.

In 1775, Mr. Earle reprinted from a scarce pamphlet, "An exact relation of the famous earthquake and eruption of Mount Etna, in 1669," to which he added a letter from himself to lord Lyttelton, containing a description of the "late great eruption of Mount Etna, in 1766." Of this he had been an eye-witness, and his description is minute, classical, and elegant.'

EATON (JOHN), an English divine, reckoned by some the founder of Antinomianism, was a native of Kent, where he was born in 1575, and studied at Oxford, being the first of Blount's exhibitioners in Trinity-college, to which he was admitted in 1590. He took his degree of M. A. in 1603, and entering into holy orders, officiated as a curate for several years, and at length, in 1625, was

1 Gent. Mag. 1796.

made minister and preacher at Wickham Market, in Suf folk, where he died and was buried in 1641. His works are, 1. "The discovery of a most dangerous dead faith," Lond. 1641, 12mo; and 2. "The Honeycomb of free justification," Lond. 1642, 4to, published by Robert Lancaster, who informs us in his preface that "the author's faith, zeal, and diligence in doing his calling, and his faith, patience, and cheerfulness in suffering for the same," were highly exemplary. It appears that he was imprisoned in the Gate house, Westminster, for his book on justification; and Neal admits that he committed some mistakes in his assertions about the doctrines of grace. Echard gives him in other respects a favourable character.'

EBERHARD (JOHN AUGUSTINE), a Swedish divine, who became professor of philosophy at the university of Halle, and died at Stockholm, Jan. 6, 1796, in the sixty-ninth year of his age, was a member of several learned societies, and owed much of his reputation to a work he published in German, called "An Inquiry into the doctrine respecting the salvation of Heathens," or "The New apology for Socrates," which was translated from German into French by Dumas, and published at Amsterdam in 1773, 8vo. It contains also a defence of Marmontel's " Belisa-. rius," which at that time had occasioned a controversy in Holland and Germany. Eberhard had among his countrymen the reputation of a man who was a powerful advocate, for revealed religion in its original simplicity.

EBERT (JOHN ARNOLD), who was born at Hamburgh Feb. 8, 1725, is ranked among the revivers of true literary taste in Germany, in which undertaking, he associated with Gartner, Schlegel, Cramer, Gellert, Rabener, Schmidt, Klopstock, &c. who used to communicate their works to each other, and diffuse various knowledge by means of periodical papers. Ebert was professor of the Carolinean Institute at Brunswick, and in high esteem with the duke, who made him a canon of St. Cyriac, and afterwards conferred on him the title of counsellor. He wrote with equal. elegance in prose and verse, and his songs are much esteemed in Germany. Besides many contributions to the periodical journals, he published two volumes of "Poems" at Hamburgh, the one in 1789, and the other in 1795, 8vo.

Ath. Ox. vol. II.-Neal's Puritans.-Echard's Hist. of England,

2 Dict. Hist,

He was well acquainted with the English language and English literature, and translated into German, Young's "Night Thoughts," and Glover's "Leonidas," both which, we are told, are well executed. This writer died at Brunswick March 19, 1795.1

EBERTUS (THEODORE), a learned professor at Francfort upon Oder, in the seventeenth century, and rector of that university in 1618 and 1627, acquired a considerablę name, among oriental scholars particularly, by his works; the principal of which are: "Juvenilia philosophica, Franc. 1616, 4to; "Poetica Hebraica," Lips. 1628, 8vo; "Elogia Jurisconsultorum et politicorum centum illus-, trium, qui Sanctam Hebræam Linguam aliasque ejus pro-. pagines orientales propagarunt, auxerunt, promoverunt," Lips. 1628, 8vo, &c. He had a great enthusiasm for the study of the Hebrew language, and the other oriental languages connected with it, and wrote this collection of eulogies in compliment to other eminent scholars who had succeeded in the same pursuit. Moreri mentions another of his works, but without giving the date, entitled "Speculum Morale." ?

EBERUS (PAUL), one of the early reformers, was born at Kitzingen in Franconia, Nov. 8, 1511, and was first educated in the college at Anspach. In 1525 he went to Nuremberg, and in 1532 the senate of that city sent him to Wittemberg, where he took his master's degree in 1536. As he wrote a fair hand, Melancthon employed him as his amanuensis, and finding in him talents of a superior order, consulted him on all his undertakings, which made him be called by some, "Philip's Repertory." In 1544 he was appointed to the professorship of philosophy, and in 1556 to that of Hebrew, and this last year he took orders. Some time after he was sent to the college of Worms, along with Melancthon; and in 1558 was appointed first pastor of Wittemberg, in the room of Bugenhagius. He took the degree of doctor in 1559, and in 1568 went to Anspach with Paul Crellius, to allay some disputes that had arisen among the clergy of that place. In this attempt he gave. so much satisfaction to prince George Frederick, that he rewarded him liberally, and settled a pension on his son.. He died Dec. 20, 1589. After the death of Melancthon, he was regarded as the first of his disciples who were

Dict. Hist.

2 L'Avocat. Moreri.

usually called Crypto-Calvinists, from being somewhat tacit and moderate in their principles. He was a man of great learning, and an eloquent preacher. The only works mentioned by his biographers are: "Expositio Evangelior. Dominicalium;" "Calendarium Historicum," Wittem. 1550, 8vo, reprinted at Basil the same year; "Historia populi Judaici à reditu Babylonico ad Hierosolymæ excidium ;" and "Hymni sacri vernaculè editi," for the use of his church, where they long continued to be sung.1

EBION, from whom the sect of the Ebionites are called, lived about the year 72, and against him, as some say, St. John wrote his gospel. Others are of opinion, that they did not derive their name from the head of their sect, but from the Hebrew word ebion, which signifies a poor despicable man; either because they were poor themselves, or because they had low and dishonourable sentiments of Jesus Christ. Irenæus, in describing the heresy of the Ebionites, takes no notice of Ebion: and the silence of this father, together with the testimonies of Eusebius and Origen, make it probable that Ebion is only an imaginary name, or might possibly belong to Cerinthus. For Epiphanius, speaking of Ebion, tells the same story of him that is told of Cerinthus, viz. that of St. John's hastening out of the bath when Cerinthus came in, for fear the building should fall upon him; and assures us also of his preaching in Palestine and Asia, which likewise agrees with Cerinthus's history.

The Ebionites maintained, that Jesus Christ was only mere man, descended from Joseph and Mary. They received no other gospel than that of St. Matthew, which they had in Hebrew, but very maimed and interpolated; and this they called the Gospel according to the Hebrews. They rejected the rest of the New Testament, and especially the epistles of Paul, looking upon this apostle as an apostate from the law for they held, that every body was obliged to observe the Mosaic law. They made Saturday and Sunday equal holidays: they bathed themselves every day like the Jews, and worshipped Jerusalem as the house of God. They called their meetings synagogues, and not churches; and celebrated their mysteries every year with unleavened bread. They received the Pentateuch for canonical scripture, but not all of it. They had a venera

Melchior Adam.-Freheri Theatrum.-Moreri.

tion for the old patriarchs, but despised the prophets. They made use of forged Acts of the Apostles, as St. Peter's travels, and many other apocryphal books. They held also the superstitions of their ancestors, and the ceremonies and traditions which the Pharisees presumptuously added to the law. The learned Mr. Jones looked upon the Ebionites and Nazarenes as differing very little from one another. He attributes to them both much the same doctrines, and alleges, that the Ebionites had only made some small additions to the old Nazarene system. 1

ECCARD, or ECKHARD (JOHN GEORGE), a German historian and antiquary, was born at Duingen in the duchy of Brunswick, Sept. 7, 1674. After studying for some time at Brunswick and Helmstadt, where he made very distinguished progress in the belles lettres and history, he became secretary to the count de Flemming in Poland; and there became acquainted with the celebrated Leibnitz, by whose interest he was appointed professor of history at Helmstadt. After Leibnitz's death, he was appointed professor at Hanover, where he published some of his works. Although this place was lucrative, he here contracted debts, and his creditors having laid hold of a part of his salary to liquidate some of these, he privately quitted Hanover in 1723, where he left his family, and the following year embraced the religion of popery at Cologne. He then passed some time in the monastery of Corvey in Westphalia; and the Jesuits being very proud of their convert, sent him advantageous offers to settle at Vienna, Passau, or Wurtzbourg. He chose the latter, and was appointed the bishop's counsel, historiographer, and keeper of the archives and library, and the emperor afterwards granted him letters of nobility. Pope Innocent XIII. seems also to have been delighted with his conversion, although his embarrassed circumstances appear to have been the chief cause of it. He died in the month of February 1730; and whatever may be thought of his religious principles, no doubt can be entertained of his extensive learning and knowledge of history. He wrote, 1. "Historia studii etymologici linguæ Germanicæ," Hanover, 1711, 8vo. 2. "De usu et præstantia studii etymologici linguæ Germanicæ." 3. "Corpus historicum medii ævi," Leipsic, 1723, 2 vols. fol. a work on which the abbé Lenglet be

1 Lardner's Works.--Mosheim's Ch. Hist. &c.