[See page image]

Page 383

limited perhaps by the diffusion of the Bible itself. But the " Life " was a book of edification and interest of the first rank for its times, not because of the atmosphere of classicism which enfolds it, rather because through that atmosphere the type of Christianity shines out which the next millennium recognized as its own.

The "Chronicles," in two books, given out not before the year 403, begins with creation and holds to the usual reckoning of 6,000 years, yet not without critical remark. Its purpose is to communicate comprehensively and briefly the history in both Testaments, and the preface justifies the continuation till the then present time.. It was an attempt to clothe the Bible in what was then modern dress. It has been called a felicitous attempt to weld together Biblical and classical studies and it displays a sober and critical sense, a rejection of typology and allegory, a free and earnest judgment of the relations of the times treated in connection with both Church and State, and at the same time discusses luminously Hebrew jurisprudence which is made intelligible in the language of Roman law. In that part which deals with post-Biblical history the work is of special value for its light upon Priscillianism (ii. 46-51; of. "Dialogues," iii. 11-13), being a source of the first rank; the impartiality here displayed assures the author honorable remembrance. Of value is the work also for the history of Arianism, and it throws light also upon oriental history, especially where other authorities are lacking. Thus in the history of the fall of Jerusalem the source used by Severus was the lost account by Tacitus, with which the socount by Josephus is at variance (cf. Scharer, Ge schichte, i. 631-632 note, Eng. tranal. I., ii. 244 aqq. note).

Entirely different in character from the "Chronicles" are the "Life of St. Martin" and the "Dialogues," with which may be placed three genuine letters which are concerned with Martin. The "Life" was written before Martin's death, but not issued till after that occurred; the two (not three) "Dialogues" belong to 405 or later. The "Life" is cast in complete accord with the contemporaneous belief in the miraculous, though passages of historical character are not entirely lacking. The critical faculty of the author is laid aside, and the work is another witness of the defenselessness of Roman culture against the barbarism which a pious faith and the fantasies of asceticism were bringing in. The wits of Aquitania and the frivolous priests were attracted not by the reconciliation of Christianity with culture, but with the stories of the saints which were to become in the dark ages the only reflectors of light. Yet the biography by Severus differed widely from those by his contemporaries in the absence of the erotic. For the conditions in Gaul in the second half of the fourth century the work is of very great value. The opposition between the monks and the secular clergy is so graphically portrayed that, with the exception of the Letters of Jerome, no other source exists which gives so clearly the difficulties and enmities which attended the naturalization of monasticism in the West. These two related works reveal monasticism as undertaking the Christianizing of the peasants. Severus shows

the secular clergy as equally earnest in their opposition to Priscillianiam and to monasticism. This especially comes out in the "Dialogues," which, calling the clergy Pharisees, attempts to hold up the mirror to their offensiveness. Yet the main purpose is to glorify Martin and to win Gallic Christianity for asceticism. Martin is compared with the Egyptian monks and shown not only to equal but to surpass them in saintliness and miraculous power. The comparison with these monks gives occasion for notable bits of information: regarding Christianity in the Cyrenaica (i. 3-4); concerning Origen (i. 6-7) and Jerome (i. 8, 21); about the different conditions of monasticism in the East and in Gaul; concerning the Gallic clergy (i. 21), and other like matters. It seems that some one had charged Severus with lying in his life of Martin, and so new details concerning him are related, in which the miraculous still abounds. In the second dialogue are the parts which deal with the Priscillianiata, and the last chapter shows Martin as the greatest Christian ascetic, whose deeds were to be recorded and heralded both in the East and in the West.

(A. HARWACB.) .

B:sraoaasraf: The critical edition of the Opera is by C. Harm in CSEL, Vienna, 1866. The best earlier edition was by H. de Prato, 2 vols., Verona, 1741-54. The editio prinoepe of the " Chronicle " was by Flacius, Basel, 1556, but the Vita Martini and the " Dialogues" appeared in print as early as 1500. The Opera are also in MPL, xx. 95-248. The one indispensable discussion is by J. Bernays, Ueber die Chronik des Sulpicius Severus, Berlin, 1861. Consult further: Hint. liwraire de la Prance, ii. 104 eqq., 742-743; Tillemont, MEmoiree, vol. ii.; W. S. Gilly, Vipilantim and his Times, pp. 35-63, London, 1844; M. Herbert, (Euvree de Sulpice SEvdre, Paris, 1847 (Fr. tranal. with notes); C. Helm, in' the Sitzunpaberichte of the Bavarian Academy, 1865, ii. 3764; J. H. Heinkena, Martin von Tours, pp. 258-274, Breslau. 1866; J. J. Ampbre, Mist. Iittiraire de la prance avant Charlemagne, i. 196 sqq., Paris, 1867; W. Gundlach, in NA, xi (1886), 291-309; A. Ebert, Allpemeine Gewhichte der Literatur des Mittelalters, i. 327-336, Leipsic, 1889; M. Manitius, in NA, xiv (1889), 165-170, xv (1890), 184-186; W. S. Teuffel, Geschichte der r6mischen Literatur, pp. 1136-39, Leipsic, 1890; Bardenhewer, Patroiopie, pp. 396-397, Eng. transl., St. Louie, 1908; Ceillier, Auteurs aacris, viii. 110-126; DCB, iv. 634-835; %L, xi. 225-227.

SEWALL, siii'al, FRANK: Swedenborgian; b. at Bath, Me., Sept. 24, 1837. He was educated at Bowdoin College (A.B., 1858; A.M., 1862) and the universities of Tiibingen, Berlin, and the Sorbonne. He was pastor of a church of his denomination at Glendale, O. (1863-69); president of Urbana University, Urbana, O. (a Swedenborgian institution), and also pastor of the Swedenborgian church in the same town (1869--86). He was then pastor of the church of his denomination in Glasgow, Scotland (1886-89); and since 1889 has been pastor of the New Church, Washington, D. C. He has likewise been general pastor of the Maryland Association of the New Jerusalem since 1893. In theology he describes himself as "a devout believer in the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg as containing the heavenly doctrines of the New Church signified by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation; . . . also a believer in the philosophical and scientific works of Swedenborg as containing the germs and the guiding rational principles of all the