works contain occasional passages of great beauty and power. -Penny Cyc.

Southey.

Though, in general, we prefer Mr. Southey's poetry to his prose, we must make one exception. The Life of Nelson is, beyond all doubt, the most perfect and most delightful of his works.-Edinburgh Rev.

William Wirt.

One of the most elegant writers, as well as one of the most finished orators and lawyers, of our country. His "British Spy," a scries of essays written in early life, as well as his Life of Patrick Henry, will remain as monuments of his genius.

IX. THEOLOGY.

(A.) GREEK FATHERS,
Ignatius, first century.

A bishop of Antioch, whose writings are much appealed to in the Episcopal controversy.

Clement of Alexandria, second century.

His works are of great importance, as enabling us to judge of the state of science in his time, and because they contain fragments and accounts of lost works of antiquity. The most complete edition is that of John Potter, Oxon, "A Theatro Sheldon," 1715, reprinted Venice, 1757.

Origen, A.D. 185.

Of his works (represented as 6000), besides his book "De Principiis," directed against heretics, and in which he presents a system founded on Platonic Philosophy, there are extant only his exhortations to martyrdom, commentaries, homilies, and scholia on the Holy Scriptures, of which he may have intended to explain the whole. His work against Celsus is considered as the most complete and convincing defence of Christianity of which antiquity can boast.—Enc, Ат.

His works, complete in 4 vols. folio, were published by De la Rue, Paris, 1733-59.

Athanasius, 296.

"His life, his struggles, his genius," says Villemain,“ did more for the advancement of Christianity than all the powers of Constantine. The writings of such a man are not the works of a mere theologian. If he often contended on points of deep obscurity, his aim was to establish that religious unity, of which he well understood the value and the power." -Eschb.

The best edition of his works is that of Montfaucon Greek and Latin, Paris, 1698, 2 vols. folio.

Chrysostom, 354.

His works include 300 discourses and orations, and above 600 homilies. His discourses show an inexhaustible richness of thought and illustration, of vivid conception and striking imagery. He is sometimes too florid; he uses some false ornaments; he accumulates metaphors, and carries both his views and his figures too far.-Eschb.

His works were published by Montfaucon, Greek and Latin, Paris, 1718-38, 13 vols. folio.

(B.) LATIN FATHERS.

Clement of Rome, first century.

He is counted among the apostolic fathers, because St. Paul, in his epistle to the Philippians, mentions a Clement as co-labourer with him, and St. Peter is said to have given him the spiritual consecration. He wrote two letters to the Corinthians, of which the first is extant almost entire, but disfigured with some corruptions and interpolations; of the second, only a fragment exists.-Enc. Am.

Irenæus, second century.

The errors of the various classes of heretics and schismatics were opposed by a great number of writers, whose books are lost; but the few books of Irenæus, in which he examines and refutes the doctrines of the whole body of them, are still extant, partly in Greek, partly in a Latin version.Eschb.

The best edition is that of J. E. Grabe, Oxford, 1702, folio.

...

Tertullian, second century.

Of his writings, the most noted is his Apology for the Christian Religion, which contains much information on the manners and conduct of the early Christians, and asserts the

falsehood of the calumnies by which they were assailed, and the injustice of persecuting them.-Enc. Am.

The best edition is by Havercamp, Leyden, 1718, 8 vols.

Justin the Martyr, second century.

He is spoken of in high terms of praise by the ancient Christian writers, and was certainly a zealous and able advocate of Christianity, but mixed up too much of his early Platonism with its doctrines.-Enc. Am.

The best edition of his works is that of Oberthur, Wurtzburg, 1777, 3 vols. 8vo.

Ambrose, 340.

He is famous for his zeal in the cause of Christianity, and for his learning.-Enc. Am.

The best edition of his works is by the Benedictines, 2 vols. folio, 1681-90.

Jerome, 340.

He is famous for his eloquence, his virtues, and his extensive learning. His works, which are on all theological subjects, were edited by Erasmus, 1526, and at Paris, 1693.Blake.

Augustine, 354.

There have been fathers of the Church more learned, masters of a better language, and a purer taste; but none' have ever more powerfully touched the human heart, and warmed it towards religion. "S. Augustini Confessionum libri xiii.” were published by Augustus Neander, Berlin, 1823.-Enc. Am.

See Philosophers for notices of others.

MIDDLE AGES.

Averroes, 1160.

He regarded Aristotle as the greatest philosopher, and explained his writings with only a slight deviation from his views. Against the orthodox Arabians, he set himself up as a defender of philosophy on rational principles.-Enc. Am. Best edition of his works is that of Venice, 1608.

Aquinas, 1224.

A celebrated scholastic divine. His principal work, "Summa Theologiæ," bears a high reputation in the Roman Catholic Church, and the second section on morals is universally esteemed.-Enc. Am.

Wickliff, 1324.

He was a bold speculator both in religion and politics; and the influence of his writings on the state of public opinion in England and Germany was very great.-Enc. Am.

Occam, fourteenth century.

He was well acquainted with the Scriptures, and with the philosophy of Aristotle, and possessed a subtile genius, and much eloquence. His works, which display both wit and subtilty, were published, 2 vols. folio, Paris, 1476.—Blake.

Duns Scotus, fourteenth century.

An eminent scholastic divine. He left behind him numerous works, which were collected by Lucas Waddingius in 12 vols. folio, Lyons, 1639.- Enc. Am.

Thomas à Kempis, 1388.

His "De Imitatione Christi libri iv.," the most celebrated of his works, has been translated into all modern languages, and has been republished more than one thousand times. It penetrates so deeply into the genuine spirit of Christianity that it has been received with equal favour by the most opposite sects.-Enc. Am.

Raimond de Sebonde, 1400.

He has been said, in a treatise, to have established the first regular system of natural theology; but, even if nothing of that kind could be found in the writings of schoolmen, which is certainly not the case, such an appellation seems hardly due to Sebonde's book, which is intended, not so much to erect a fabric of religion independent of revelation, as to demonstrate the latter by proofs derived from the order of nature.-Hallam.

Ficinus, 1433.

He developed in his "Theologica Platonica" a system chiefly borrowed from the later Platonists of the Alexandrian school, full of delight to the credulous imagination, though little appealing to the reason, which, as it seemed remarkably to coincide in some respects with the received tenets of the Church, was connived at in a few reveries which could not so well bear the test of an orthodox standard. The whole of his Platonic theology appears a beautiful, but too visionary and hypothetical, system of theism, the groundworks of which lay deep in the meditations of ancient Oriental

sages. His writings were printed in Paris, 1641, in 2 vols. folio.-Hallam.

MODERN TIMES.

Erasmus, 1467.

He was the first conspicuous enemy of ignorance and superstition, the first restorer of Christian morality on a scriptural foundation; and, notwithstanding the ridiculous assertion of some modern, that he wanted theological learning, the first who possessed it in its proper sense and applied it to its proper end. His Epistles, which occupy two folio volumes in the best edition of his works, are a vast treasure for the ecclesiastical and literary history of his times.--Hallam. The best edition is by Le Clerc, Leyden, 1703, 10 vols. folio.

Luther, 1483.

This great reformer was a man of high endowments of mind, and great virtues; he had a vast understanding, which raised him to a pitch of learning unknown in the age in which he lived.-Enc. Am.

His works were published at Erlangen, 1826, 60 vols.

Melancthon, 1497.

His "Logi Theologici," which appeared first in 1521, opened the path to an exposition of the Christian creed, at the same time scientific and intelligible, and became the model to all Protestant writers of dogmatics.-Enc. Am.

His works appeared together in 4 vols. folio, at Wittenberg, 1601.-Blake.

Cranmer, 1489.

Even in that age of comparative darkness, the penetrating mind of Cranmer, though still entangled with the bewildering dogmata of papal superstitions, had learned, from an intimate acquaintance with the Scriptures in their original language, not merely to despise as useless, but to detest as destructive of the beauty and the power of religion, all those distinctions without difference, all those technical phrases without meaning, which composed the lifeless body of school divinity, and which, in some degree, are blended with the systematic religion of the present day.-Edinburgh Encyc. 4 vols. 8vo, $15 00, Oxford.

Calvin, 1509.

As a theologian, he was equal to any of his contemporaries