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Jena, after which his collegiate studies were chiefly employed on biblical and theological learning. In the year 1646 he was appointed assistant professor of philosophy at Wittemberg; and in 1652 nominated professor of history at Jena. In the following year he was created doctor of divinity; and in 1655 he was made professor in that faculty, and preferred to the rectorship of the university of Jena. He died in the year 1668, when no more than forty-seven years of age. He was the author of "Harmo. nia Linguarum Orientalium ;"" Disputationum theologicarum Fasciculus ;""Locorum Theologicorum Epitome;" "De Sepultura Mosis Diss. ;""Consensus & Dissensus religionum profanarum;" "De Ecclesiæ Coptic Ortu, Progressu, & Doctrina ;" and other works of great erudition and merit. The subject of this article had a son, named JOHN ERNEST GERARD, who was brought up to the theological profession, and became doctor and professor of divinity at Giessen, where he died in 1707, when he was about forty-five years of age. He was the author of some learned productions, both in the Latin and German languages, of which we have not seen any enumeration; and he published a considerably enlarged edition of his father's "Loc. Com. Epitome." Moreri.

Nouv. Dict. Hist.-M.

GERARD, ALEXANDER, a learned Scotch divine and professor in the eighteenth century, was born at Garioch, in the county of Aberdeen, in the year 1728. The earlier part of his classical education he received under an excellent master at Foveran, in the same county; but upon the death of his father when Alexander was only ten years of age, and his mother's removal with her family to Aberdeen, he was sent to the grammar-school in that city. So rapid was the proficiency which he made in these schools, that when twelve years old he was judged qualified for the university; and as it is the custom in Scotland to admit young persons into the universities much earlier than in England, he was accordingly entered a student in Marischal college. Here, after devoting four years to the study of Greek, Latin, the mathematics, and philosophy, he was admitted to the degree of M.A. and then commenced his theological studies, which he prosecuted in the universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh. In 1748, just after he had completed his twentieth year, he was licensed to preach in the church of Scotland, and in 1750 was chosen assistant to Mr. David Fordyce, professor of philosophy in the Marischal college at Aberdeen. In this capacity he discharged the duties of professor

during Mr. Fordyce's absence on his continental tour; and upon the melancholy death of that gentleman, in 1752, was appointed his successor. At that period it was the practice in the colleges at Aberdeen for the same professor to carry forwards a class of students for three succeeding sessions, through all the different branches of philosophy that were then taught in them; which were logic, ontology, pneu matics, morals, politics, and natural philosophy. Mathematics and the Greek language were taught by separate professors. One class was carried by Mr. Gerard through the extensive course allotted to his department. About the year 1754, however, a very judicious alteration was made in the order of teaching philosophy in the university of Aberdeen; and in the Marischal college each professor was restricted to one department of science. On this occasion the principal and professors in that college engaged Mr. Gerard to draw up, for general information, a view of the reasons which had determined them to deviate from the arrangement that had been before observed. This task he performed in a small pamphlet, which satisfactorily points out the inconveniences of the old, and the advantages of the new, plan of academical study; and furnishes at the same time a proof of our professor's abilities, and of the estimation in which he was held by his colleagues at a very early period of life. Mr. Gerard's department was now confined to moral philosophy and logic, the duties of which he discharged with conscientious and unwearied diligence, and with equal success and reputation. He was not a friend to very early, any more than to very late, studies; but during the day his application was generally so very intense and laborious, that he could with difficulty be persuaded to take any bodily exercise. He was a member of a literary society at Aberdeen, to which Drs. Blackwell, Gregory, Reid, Campbell, Beatie, and other men of learning and abilities, belonged. This society met regularly every fortnight during the winter, when the members communicated their sentiments with the utmost freedom, and received mutual improvement from their literary discussions. In the year 1759 Mr. Gerard was ordained a minister of the church of Scotland; and in the following year he was appointed professor of divinity in the Marischal college, and minister of the Grayfriars church, in Aberdeen. About the same time, it is supposed, he was created doctor of divinity. As a clergyman, his conduct was marked with prudence, gravity mingled with cheerfulness, exemplary manners, and the

in the castle of St. Angelo. He was at that time much debilitated by age, yet he lived many years longer, and survived his faculties. The year of his decease is not exactly known, but it was probably about 1480.

George of Trebisond was a very voluminous writer, and contributed largely towards the introduction of Greek literature in the West. He translated into Latin Eusebius's Evangelic Preparation; several works of Cyril of Alexandria, of Gregory Nyssen, of Nazianzen, and of John Chrysostom; many pieces of Aristotle, Plato on Laws, Ptolemy's Almagest and Centiloquium, and an oration of Demosthenes. His translations were at first in great esteem; but since a more accurate knowledge of the Greek has obtained, they have been found very deficient in exactness and fidelity, the writer frequently omitting, altering and adding, at his pleasure, without regard to his original. He also composed many works; of which are "De Arte Rhetorica, Lib. V;" first printed at Venice in 1470; "Reflections and Commentaries on some Orations of Cicero;"" Letters," "Orations," and many pieces in controversy. He was a warm advocate for the re-union of the Greek with the Latin church. His "Comparison of Aristotle and Plato" is full of vehement invective against the latter, by which he gave great offence to the Platonists, particularly to cardinal Bessarion, who wrote an answer to him. Many of his writings still remain in MS. His Latin style was impure, and much inferior to that of his rival Gaza. Hodii Græc. illustr. Tiraboschi.-A.

GERARD, surnamed according to some authors THOм, and according to others TUNG or TENQUE, the founder and first grand-master of the order of St. John of Jerusalem, was a native of the isle of Martigues, on the coast of Provence. While Jerusalem was in the hands of the Saracens, some merchants of Amalfi, a town in the Neapolitan territory, obtained permission from the sultan of Egypt and Syria, in the year 1050, to erect a benedictine monastery near the holy sepulchre, for the convenience of the numerous pilgrims who came to visit it. Among others, Gerard arrived to pay his devotions in the holy city, where he acquired a high character with the Christians for his piety and prudence. The fanaticism of the times occasioning the number of pilgrims to increase every year, by which means the treasury of the monastery received considerable supplies, the abbot was enabled, in the year 1080, to build a hospital for the reception of the poorer pilgrims, and with accommodations for the relief

of the sick, the management of which he gave to Gerard. The chapel of that hospital was consecrated to St. John, because of a tradition among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that Zecharias, the father of St. John, had lived on the spot where it was built. After the conquest of Jerusalem by the Christians, under Godfrey of Bouillon, Gerard projected the foundation of a new religious order, in which the ecclesiastical and military characters were to be blended. This design he began to carry into execution in the year 1100, when numbers of persons associated with him under the denomination of "Hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem," who, besides the three vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, took a particular vow to devote themselves to the relief of all Christians in distress. This order, and the rules drawn up for its government, were approved and confirmed by pope Paschal II., who, by a bull which he issued, granted it various considerable privileges, and recognised Gerard as the first grand-master. Gerard died in the year 1120. Such was the commencement of that order which in succeeding times became so celebrated in history, when its members were commonly known by the name of Knights of Rhodes, and afterwards by that of Knights of Malta. Moreri.-M.

GERARD, JOHN, a learned and celebrated German lutheran divine who flourished in the seventeenth century, was born at Quedlinburg in Saxony, in the year 1582. He filled the chair of theological professor at the university of Jena for many years, with distinguished success and reputation, and died in the year 1637. He was the author of a great number of works, the principal of which were: "Commentaries," on Genesis, Deuteronomy, the Epistles of St. Peter, and the Apocalypse: "The Catholic Confession :" " A Harmony of the Four Evangelists," in three volumes folio, left by him in an unfinished state, and completed by MM. Chemnitz and Lyserus, who published it in 1646: a collection of "Common Places," in theology; a work in which he has treated of the lives and writings of the authors of the primitive church, &c. Moreri. Nouv. Dict. Hist.-M.

GERARD, JOHN, another learned German lutheran divine and professor, was born at Jena, in the year 1621. He was educated in his native place, where he went through the usual course of academic studies, and then went to Altdorf, in 1640, for the sake of receiving farther instructions in the Oriental languages. In the year 1643 he had the degree of M.A. conferred upon him at the university of

Nouv. Dict. Hist.-M.

Jena, after which his collegiate studies were during Mr. Fordyce's absence on his continental chiefly employed on biblical and theological tour; and upon the melancholy death of that learning. In the year 1646 he was appointed gentleman, in 1752, was appointed his sucassistant professor of philosophy at Wittemberg; cessor. At that period it was the practice in the and in 1652 nominated professor of history at colleges at Aberdeen for the same professor to Jena. In the following year he was created carry forwards a class of students for three sucdoctor of divinity; and in 1655 he was made ceeding sessions, through all the different professor in that faculty, and preferred to the branches of philosophy that were then taught rectorship of the university of Jena. He died in in them; which were logic, ontology, pneu the year 1668, when no more than forty-seven matics, morals, politics, and natural philosophy. years of age. He was the author of "Harmo. Mathematics and the Greek language were nia Linguarum Orientalium ;"" Disputationum taught by separate professors. One class was theologicarum Fasciculus ;"" Locorum Theo- carried by Mr. Gerard through the extensive logicorum Epitome;" "De Sepultura Mosis course allotted to his department. About the Diss. ;""Consensus & Dissensus religionum year 1754, however, a very judicious alteration anarum;" "De Ecclesiæ Coptic Ortu, was made in the order of teaching philosophy Progressu, & Doctrina;" and other works of in the university of Aberdeen; and in the Magreat erudition and merit. The subject of this rischal college each professor was restricted to article had a son, named JOHN ERNEST GE- one department of science. On this occasion RARD, who was brought up to the theological the principal and professors in that college enprofession, and became doctor and professor of gaged Mr. Gerard to draw up, for general indivinity at Giessen, where he died in 1707, formation, a view of the reasons which had dewhen he was about forty-five years of age. He termined them to deviate from the arrangement was the author of some learned productions, that had been before observed. This task he both in the Latin and German languages, of performed in a small pamphlet, which satisfacwhich we have not seen any enumeration; and torily points out the inconveniences of the old, he published a considerably enlarged edition of and the advantages of the new, plan of academihis father's" Loc. Com. Epitome.' Moreri. cal study; and furnishes at the same time a proof of our professor's abilities, and of the estimation in which he was held by his colleagues at a very early period of life. Mr. Gerard's department was now confined to moral philosophy and logic, the duties of which he discharged with conscientious and unwearied diligence, and with equal success and reputation. He was not a friend to very early, any more than to very late, studies; but during the day his application was generally so very intense and laborious, that he could with difficulty be persuaded to take any bodily exercise. He was a member of a literary society at Aberdeen, to which Drs. Blackwell, Gregory, Reid, Campbell, Beatie, and other men of learning and abilities, belonged. This society met regularly every fortnight during the winter, when the members communicated their sentiments with the utmost freedom, and received mutual improvement from their literary discussions. In the year 1759 Mr. Gerard was ordained a minister of the church of Scotland; and in the following year he was appointed professor of divinity in the Marischal college, and minister of the Grayfriars church, in Aberdeen. About the same time, it is supposed, he was created doctor of divinity. As a clergyman, his conduct was marked with prudence, gravity mingled with cheerfulness, exemplary manners, and the

GERARD, ALEXANDER, a learned Scotch divine and professor in the eighteenth century, was born at Garioch, in the county of Aberdeen, in the year 1728. The earlier part of his classical education he received under an excellent master at Foveran, in the same county; but upon the death of his father when Alexander was only ten years of age, and his mother's removal with her family to Aberdeen, he was sent to the grammar-school in that city. So rapid was the proficiency which he made in these schools, that when twelve years old he was judged qualified for the university; and as it is the custom in Scotland to admit young persons into the universities much earlier than in England, he was accordingly entered a student in Marischal college. Here, after devoting four years to the study of Greek, Latin, the mathematics, and philosophy, he was admitted to the degree of M.A. and then commenced his theological studies, which he prosecuted in the universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh. In 1748, just after he had completed his twentieth year, he was licensed to preach in the church of Scotland, and in 1750 was chosen assistant to Mr. David Fordyce, professor of philosophy in the Marischal college at Aberdeen. In this capacity he discharged the duties of professor

sermon of ordinary length. In domestic life he was amiable and exemplary; in his friendships steady and disinterested; and in his intercourse with society hospitable, benevolent, and unassuming; uniting to the decorum proper to the character of a christian pastor the good breed. ing of a gentleman, and the cheerfulness, affability, and ease, of an agreeable companion. Besides several single sermons preached on occasional subjects, he was the author of "An Essay on Taste," 1759, 8vo. to which the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh adjudged in 1756 the prize of a gold medal, offered for the best piece on that subject, and which appeared in a considerably enlarged form in 1780; "Dissertations on the Genius and Evidences of Christianity," 1766, 8vo.; "An Essay on Genius," 1774, 8vo. ; and two volumes of excellent " Sermons," published in 1780 and 1782, 8vo. In the year 1799, the author's son and successor in the divinity professorship, Dr. Gilbert Gerard, published from his father's MSS. a part of his theological course under the title of "The Pastoral Care, &c." 8vo. which is a work of very considerable merit in that class of compositions. Suppl. to Encycl.. Britan.-M.

punctual diligent discharge of his ministerial his memory to such a degree, that, in little duties. And his pulpit services, notwithstand- more than an hour, he could get by heart any ing the unavoidable labour of preparing prelections for his theological pupils, were distinguished by that excellence and accuracy of composition which secured the approbation of the ablest judges, while by their plainness and simplicity they were well adapted to promote the edification of the meanest capacities. In the year 1771 he resigned his professorship in Marischal collcge, together with his church living, and was preferred to the theological chair in the university of King's college. "As a professor of divinity," says Mr. Skene Ogilvy in a sermon on the occasion of his death," he will be long and gratefully remembered by his numerous pupils. This was his peculiar department, and in this he shone. Possessing large stores of theological knowledge, he was judicious in selecting his subjects, happy and successful in his manner of communicating instruction. He had the merit of introducing a new, and in many respects a better, plan of the ological education, than those on which it had been formerly conducted. Liberal, but not loose, in his sentiments, his great aim was, not to impose by his authority upon his pupils any favourite system of opinions; but to impress them with a sense of the importance of the ministerial office; to teach them the proper manner of discharging all its duties; and to enable them, by the knowledge of Scripture, to form a just and impartial judgment on controverted subjects. Solicitous for their improvement, he was ever ready to encourage rising merit by his warmest approbation, and reluctant to damp even unsuccessful efforts of genius by deserved censure. Having a constant eye to what is practically useful, rather than to unedifying speculations, he enjoined no duty which he was unwilling to exemplify in his own conduct. Hence that strict regard to the ministerial character which he uniformly displayed, and hence his uncommon punctuality in attending the public ordinances of religion." He continued to discharge the duties of his professorship, and to prosecute his studies, until the year 1795, when he died without a groan on his birth-day, just as he had completed his sixty-seventh year. His death was occasioned by a schirrous tumour, which had begun to appear in the year 1794, and gradually undermined his constitution, but without confining him to his house, or, with the exception of a very few weeks, interrupting his usual pursuits. Dr. Gerard's at tainments were solid, rather than brilliant; the effects of close and incessant study, and an uncommonly clear judgment. He had improved

GERARD, JOHN, an early English botanist, was born in 1545 at Namptwich in Cheshire. He was educated as a surgeon, and appears to have spent some time in foreign travel. At length he settled in London, where he was patronised by lord Burleigh, whose large and curious garden he superintended for twenty years. He had also, at his residence in Holborn, a large physic-garden of his own, which was probably more richly supplied than any other in England. He seems to have enjoyed the favour of the College of Physicians, and is spoken of with great commendation by some of his contemporaries. He arrived at the rank of master of his company, and died about 1607. Gerard's first publication was a catalogue of the plants in his own garden, entitled "Catalogus Arborum, Fruticum & Plantarum, tam indigenarum quam exoticarum, in horto Joh. Gerardi, civis & chirurgi Londin. nascentium," 4to. 1596 and 1599. The number of species contained in it is 1033, and an attestation of its fidelity is subjoined by the botanist Lobel. His great work, entitled "Herbal, or General History of Plants," folio, was published in 1597. Its foundation was a translation into English of the herbal of Dodoens (see his article), made, according to Lobel, by a Dr. Priest, which after his death came into the hands of Gerard, who was not enough skilled in Latin to have under

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taken it himself. Its distribution, however, is altered, and many new plants are added from Lobel and Clusius. The figures were procured from Frankfort, being from the blocks used in the Dutch Herbal of Tabernæmontanus. Though, from this account, Gerard's share in the work appears to have been inconsiderable, yet he has the merit of having contributed to diffuse a more general taste for botany throughout the kingdom, and to have furnished herbalists with an useful book of reference. The greatly improved edition by Thomas Johnson, in 1633, long continued to be a standard work, and is still valued. Pulteney's Sketches of Botany in England.-A.

GERBAIS, JOHN, a French divine, and esteemed writer on subjects relating to ecclesiastical discipline and the rights of the Gallican church, in the seventh century, was born at Rupois, a village in the diocese of Rheims, about the year 1629. After having received the requisite preparatory education, he was sent to the university of Paris, where, as he possessed great quickness of parts, a happy memory, and a studious disposition, he soon distinguished himself by his proficiency in the different branches of literature, and became eminent for his knowledge of canon law and ecclesiastical claims and usages. In the year In the year 1661, he was admitted to the degree of doctor of divinity by the faculty of the Sorbonne; and in the following year was appointed professor of eloquence in the College-royal of France. He was fixed upon by the French clergy as the most proper person to succeed Nicholas le Maître, nominated to the bishopric of Lombez, in editing the system of rules for the government of the regular clergy, as decreed in the assembly of 1645, illustrated with the notes of M. Hallier, bishop of Cavaillon. It was entitled "Ordinationes Cleri Gallicani circa regulares, cum Commentariis, &c." 1665, 4to. For his services in this work, that body bestowed upon him a pension of six hundred livres. In the year 1679 he published an able and spirited treatise in support of the liberties of the Gallican church, entitled "De Causis majoribus, &c." 4to. in which he maintained that the causes of bishops ought to be tried in the first instance by their respective metropolitans, and the prelates belonging to their jurisdiction. This work excited such resentment at the court of Rome, that pope Innocent XI. issued a brief in the following year, which condemned the doctrine contained in it as schismatical, suspected of heresy, and injurious to the rights of the holy see. In the assembly of the clergy

which met in the year 1631, this brief was made. the subject of discussion; when, after bestowing high praises on the author, they decreed that he should publish a new edition of his work during the following year, with some alterations, for the sake of expressing their readiness to enter into some compromise with the court of Rome; which alterations were admited into the subsequent impressions of the work. In the year 1690 M. Gerbais published "A dispassionate Treatise on the Power of the Church, and of the Princes, as exercised in imposing Obstacles to Marriage," 4to. For the titles of his other pieces, chiefly relating to matters contested between the Roman see and individual ecclesiastical communities, or the rights and regulations of particular classes among the regular clergy, we must refer to the two first of our subjoined authorities. M. Gerbais died in 1699, when about seventy years of age. For some time before his death he had filled the post of principal of the college of Rheims, to which he was a liberal benefactor. Dupin. Moreri. Nouv. Dict. Hist.-M.

GERBEL, NICHOLAS, a learned jurist, was a native of Pfortzheim. He was brought up to the study of the law, and became a professor of it at Vienna, and afterwards at Strasburg. He applied to the study of history and antiquities, and obtained great reputation by his writings. De Thou characterises him as one equally estimable for his erudition and humanity. He died at a very advanced age in 1560. His works are: "Isagoge in Tabulam Græciæ Nicolai Sophiani," 1545, afterwards augmented into seven books, comprehending a complete description of all Greece, and printed at Basil, folio, 1550: "De Anabaptistarum ortu & progressu." "Vita Joannis Cuspiniani." He corrected Cuspinian's Chronicle of the Cæsars, and Arrian's Hist. of Alexander. Freheri Theatr.-A.

GERBERON, GABRIEL, a French ecclesiastic, and voluminous writer in support of the jansenist principles, was born at Saint-Calais, in the diocese of Mans, in the year 1628. His first religious profession was made in the congregation of the Oratory, which he quitted in the year 1649, and entered among the Benedictines of the congregation of St. Maur. In that connection he taught theology for some years with considerable success, and was appointed sub-prior of the abbey of Corbie. When the controversy on the subject of grace raged between the Jansenists and the Jesuits, he wrote with much zeal and ability in support of the side of the question embraced by the former; whence the Jesuits became his determined ene

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