Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/640

618 Prussia conferred upon him the honorary title of a privy- councillor. In 1S08 he obtained the degree of doctor in divinity, which was given him as a reward for his theo logical writings. He died Ja7iuary 6, 1809. Eberhard s attainments in philosophy and literature were extensive and profound. He was master of the learned languages, spoke and wrote French with facility and correctness, and understood English, Italian, and Dutch. He had read a great deal, was thoroughly versed in the philosophical sciences, and possessed a just and discriminat ing taste for the fine arts. He was a great lover of music, and was himself a proficient in. the art.

1em  EBERT, (1791–1834), a very eminent bibliographer, was born at Taucha, near Leipsic, July 9, 1791. He received his early education partly from his father, preacher to the Georgenhaus at Leipsic, and partly at the Nicholas School. At the age of fifteen he was appointed to a subordinate post in the town library of Leipsic, in which his literary tastes, early awakened, were fostered and strengthened. He studied theology for a short time, first at Leipsic and afterwards at Wittenberg, but, by the advice of a friend, renounced it in favour of history. After the close of his academical studies, he made his appearance as an author by the publication in 1811 of a work on public libraries, and in 1812 of another work entitled Ilierarchice in religionem ac literas commoda. In the following year he took part in the reorganization of the Leipsic University Library, and in 1814 was appointed secretary to the Royal Public Library of Dresden. The same year he published F. Taubmann sLeben und Verdienste, and in 1819 Torquato Tasso, a translation from Ginguene with annotations. Anxious to turn to good account the rich resources open to him in the Dresden library, he undertook the work on which his reputation chiefly rests, the A llgemeine n bibliographisclie Lexicon, the first volume of which appeared in 1821, and the second in 1830. This was the first work of the kind produced in Germany ; but nevertheless it had a higher aim and a more scientific character than its non-German precursors. In 1823 Ebert was called to the post of chief librarian and professor at Breslau, and at the same time was offered that of librarian to the duke of Brunswick at Wolfeubiittel. He accepted the latter. But early in 1825 he returned to Dresden as public librarian; he was soon after named private librarian to the king, and in 1828 chief librarian and aulic councillor. Among his other works are Die Bildung des Bibliothekars (1820), Geschichte und Beschreibung der Koniglichen o/entlichen BibliotlieJc in Dresden (1822), Zur Handschriftenkunde (1825-27), and Culturperioden des obersaclisischen Mittelalters (1825). Ebert was a contribu tor to various journals and encyclopaedias, and took part in the editing of Ersch and Gruber s great work. He died at Dresden, November 13, 1834, in consequence of a fall from the ladder in his library a few days before.  EBINGEN, a town of Wiirtemberg, in the circle of the Schwarzwald, on the Schmieha, a left-hand tributary of the Danube, 22 miles south of Tubingen and 37 miles west of Ulm. It has rather more than 5000 inhabitants, who are engaged in woollen-weaving, stocking-weaving, hat-making, bleaching, and cattle-dealing.  EBIONITES, a Christian sect which was separated from the general Christian church about the end of the 2d century. The origin of the name has been much disputed, some deriving it from Ebion as the founder of the sect, and others from the Hebrew word (i^?^?) meaning poor. For the former opinion the authority of Tertullian is quoted, who makes references to the existence of such a person as Ebion ; but as counterbalancing these references there has to be considered 1st, that Tertullian being careless and inaccurate, and having no knowledge of Hebrew, may have merely fallen into the error of assuming that the sect took its name from that of a person; 2d, that no mention is made of the existence of such a person either by Irenaeus or by Origen, and that any references to him by Epiphanius and later writers are probably borrowed from Tertullian; and 3d, that the name Ebionites had a very general signifi cation, and represented a natural Judaizing tendency which must have had a more comprehensive beginning than that originating in an individual influence. Those who derive the name from the Hebrew word explain it in two ways as applicable either to the poverty of the doctrines of the Ebionites, or to the poverty of their circumstances. Un doubtedly the name was applied to them with the former significance by their enemies, but it is more probable that they employed in a bad sense a name already existing, than that they coined it to suit their purpose. That the term was originally applied to the circumstances of the Ebionites seems the only probable supposition ; and the argument in support of it may be stated thus : That the early Christians, both Jewish and heathen, were designated the poor; that the poverty of the Jewish Christians continued longer than that of the heathen Christians, and Origen states that they in particular were named the poor (E/Juoratot XpTjfjLOLTL^ova-LV ol O.TTO JouScuaji/ Tov lijcrovv &amp;lt;Ls X/3&amp;lt;.o~rov TrapaSe^a/xevot) ; and that, as the Judaizing Christians came gradually to be the only Jewish Christians who required to be distinguished from the heathen Christians, they retained the name. The fathers show a very imperfect knowledge of the origin, history, and doctrines of the Ebionites, but there cannot be any doubt that at first all Judaizing Christians went under that name. In the New Testament there is evidence of the existence of such a party, though it had not then developed into a recognized sect. This apparently did not happen till after the second destruction of Jerusalem and the founding of the heathen colony of ^lia Capitolina, when the emperor Hadrian banished from the neighbourhood all Jews who still retained their national peculiarities. As to the particular opinions of the Ebionites the statements of the fathers are somewhat contradictory, and this for the threefold reason that by the isolation of the Ebionites from the general church the information obtain able regarding them could only be imperfect ; that undoi 