Eusebius

EUSEBIUS, surnamed Pamphilus, was born in Pa lestine, and probably in the city of Cxsarea, about the year 270. There is no certain account of his parents or other relations, nor of his early instructors ; only he himself mentions, that he received his education in his native country. He appears to have been ordained presbyter by Agapius, Bishop of Cxsarea, where he taught a public school with much reputation. In this situation he contracted an intimate friendship with Pamphilus, an eminent presbyter of that church, from whom he is supposed to have derived much assistance in his studies, and from regard to whose memory he is said to have taken the sirname of Pamphilus. During the Dioclesian persecution, when Pamphilus was im prisoned in the year 307, Eusebius assiduously attend ed him during his confinement ; and after his friend had suffered martyrdom, A. 1). 309, he removed to Tyre, where he witnessed other striking instances of unsha ken suffering in the cause of Christianity. He next went into Egypt, where the same persecution was car ried on, and where he himself was imprisoned, but afterwards released without having been subjected to any penalty ; a circumstance which, without any appa rent ground, brought upon him the charge of having made some dishonourable submission to the enemies of his faith. When the persecution ceased, he returned to Palestine, and was elected Bishop of Caesarea as is gene rally supposed in the year 315 ; but, at all events, he filled that see in the year 320. From this period, he was present at most of the synods held in that part of the world ; and was generally the advocate of mild and forbearing measures. He was one of those bishops who conceived that Arius had been severely treated by Alex ander, Bishop of Alexandria, to whom he wrote a letter in his behalf. He acted a distinguished part at the ce lebrated Council of Nice in 325, in which, by the com mand of Constantine, he was placed on the right of the throne, and opened the proceedings by an address to that Emporer. He hesitated long to admit the term .;/.608Tios, consubstantial, on the ground that it was un scriptural ; but afterwards concurred, upon condition of being allowed to subscribe it in his own sense of it, namely, " that the Son of God was not like created beings, but received his existence and his perfections from the Father in a different and in an ineffable man ner." Hence it has been keenly contested, whether he favoured the sentiments of Arius or of Athanasius. The most likely opinion is, that he assented to neither, but endeavoured to steer a middle course, which has rendered him obnoxious to the more violent disciples of both. In the year 330, he concurred with the coun cil at Antioch in deposing Eustathius, Bishop of that city ; but, though he was elected to the vacant see, which was more honourable and profitable than that of Csarea, and though he was earnestly urged by the bishops and people to accept of the succession, he per sisted in his refusal. In 335, lie was present at the Council of Tyre, where lie joined those bishops who condemned the proceedings of Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria ; and having been deputed to justify the sentence to Constantine, he pronounced his celebrated panegyric of that emperor during the public rejoicings, in the 30th year of his reign. He was honoured with very particular marks of the emperor's favour, being often invited to his table, and admitted to his private conferences ; and, after his return to Caesarea, received from him many letters, several of which he has insert ed in his life of that prince. It does not, however, ap pear, (and it is a strong testimony to his character,) that he ever employed his great influence with Con stantine, either in depressing others or raising himself. He died in the year 339 or 340, and was succeeded by his disciple and intimate friend Acacius, who wrote his life, but whose work has not been preserved. The character of Eusebius has been variously represented ; and, like most eminent men, he has had both warm friends and inveterate enemies. According to Du Pm, he was disinterested and sincere—a great lover of peace, of truth, and religion—little disposed to take an active share in the quarrels of his contemporaries, and always aiming to reconcile contending- parties. Dr Lardner also expresses his persuasion, that, though there may be some things exceptionable in his writings and conduct, yet he was a good as well as a great man. His learning, application, and knowledge of the Scrip tures, are universally admitted ; and he is at least con sidered as the father of ecclesiastical history. To his great acquisitions in literature, be joined the accom plishments of a courtier ; and was a polished speaker, as well as a voluminous writer. During the wnole course of his life he seems to have been remarkably studious ; and it has excited the astonishment of those who were themselves distinguished for literary labour, how lie should have been able, amidst the various du ties of his function, to find leisure for the composition of so many large and elaborate works. He seems,

however, to have employed his diligence merely in col lecting and arranging materials, and to have paid little attention to the formation of his style. " His lan guage," says ,Dr Jortin, " is neither elegant nor per spicuous ; and where it aims at eloquence and sublimity, it is usually turgid and perplexed." Many of the works of this learned bishop have been lost ; and, of' others, only parts or translations have been preserved. Of these may be noticed the life of l'amphilus, in three books ; a Confutation of Porphyry, in thirty books ; a Confutation and Apology, in two hooks, in which he answers the objections of the hea then against the Christian religion ; the Theophany, or Coming of the Messiah, in five books ; the Difference between the Gospels, designed to reconcile the seeming contrarieties in the accounts of the several Evangelists ; a Treatise concerning Easter ; an Apology for Origen, in six Books, of which the first only remains in a trans lation of Ruffinus ; the Topics, a kind of geographical dictionary of the places mentioned in scripture, in two books, of which the second only is extant in Greek ; the Chronicle, or chronical canons of universal history, of which there is only a Latin version by Jerome, which was first published with any degree of accuracy by Ar nauld de Pontac, bishop of Baras, at Bourdeaux, in 1604. A few fragments of the original, preserved in Greek authors, were collected and published by Joseph Scaliger at Leyden, in 1606. Of his works, which are extant and complete, the principal are, a Treatise against Hierocles, who had made a comparison of Apollonius Tyandus with our Saviour Jesus Christ ; Ten Evange lical Canons, forming a kind of harmony of the Gos pels ; an Oration in Praise of Constantine, which is highly commended for its eloquence, and which is as much an argument for Christianity as a panegyric upon the emperor'; a Description of the Church of the Se pulchre at Jerusalem ; Two Books against Marcellus, who revived the heresy of Sabellius, and whom Euse thus treats with great severity ; Three Books of Eccle siastical Theology ; the Life of Constantine, in four books, which is generally counted rather a panegyric than a history, and in one passage of which the author goes so far as to compare the three sons of that Empe ror to the Trinity ; a Commentary upon the Psalms; a Commentary upon the Prophecies of Isaiah; the Evan gelical Preparation, in fifteen books; and, the Evangcli lical Demonstration, originally in twenty books, but of which the last ten are lost ; two works which contain the most learned defence of Christianity, both against Jews and Pagans, that has been transmitted from ancient times. The argument proceeds upon the opinion, that the an cient philosophers had received many truths, either im mediately or by tradition, from divine revelation. Among the materials collected in illustration of this point, are preserved many fragments of writings which had been long lost. Of these two works, a beautiful edition was printed in Greek by Robert Stevens in 1544, in two vo lumes folio; which were reprinted at Paris in 1628, in two volumes folio, with a Latin version of the former by Donatus. The Evangelical or Ecclesiastical History, its ten books, which contains the history of the church from the birth of Christ to the death of the elder Licinius, a period of 324 years. This is accounted the most valua ble, but the least accurate, of all the larger works of Eusebius ; yet, with all its defects, it is a most important production, as furnishing the principal information which we possess concerning the first ages of Christianity, and the books of scripture then received as inspired writings. Of this work, the editio princeps, translated into Latin by Ruffinus, was printed at Utrecht 1474 ; but the best edi tion is that of Henry Valesius, who carefully revised the Greek text, and gave a new translation, with many learn ed notes, printed at Paris in 1671, at Frankfort in 1672, and at Cambridge in 1720, in three volumes folio, by William Reading, who has added to the notes of Vale sius several observations collected from modern authors, but which Le Clerc pronounces to be of very inferior character. See Valesius's Life of Eusebius, prefixed to the Eccles. Hist. Le Clerc's Lyre of Eusebius. Le Clerc's .4rs. Crit. vol. iii. Fabricius, Bib. Grcec. v. 30. Du Pin, Bib. t. ii. 1. Beausobre, Hist. i. 545. Fleury, Hist. Eccles. vii. Basnage, Ann. ii. 753. Tillemont, Euseb. vi. Mem. t. vii. Cave's H. L. vol. i. in Euseb. Jortin's Remarks on Eccl. Hist. vol. ii. p. 91. Lardner's Marks, vol. iv. p. 201. New. Biog-. Diet. Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. vol. i. p. 357. Brucker's Hist. of Phil. by Enfield, vol. ii. p. 308. (q)