Barrow, Isaac, D.I)., one of the most eminent '■ ' -' ]l h livini and a distinguished mathematician. ',m "' London, October, 1630, and was educa- ted •'' "'" Cbarl r I rouse, and at Felsted in Essex Af- terward ho wet to Cambridge, and became a pension- er of Trinity College in 1645. In 1649 he was elected fdlow of his college; but the religious and political
BARROW
troubles of the time greatly checked his progress, and induced him to leave England to travel abroad. He visited France and Italy, and proceeded as far as Smyrna, in the course of which voyage he signalized himself by his courage in a combat with an Algerine pirate. At Constantinople he remained some time, and returned to England, through Germany and Hol- land, in 1659. He was ordained by Bishop Brownrigg, and in 1660, after the restoration, obtained the Greek chair at Cambridge. In 1662 he was made Gresham Professor of Geometry, and in 1663 Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, in which capacity he had Newton as a pupil. In 1670 he was made D.D., and in Febru- ary, 1672, was nominated to the mastership of Trinity College. In his later years he gave up mathematics for divinity, feeling himself bound to this course by his ordination vows. He died in London on the 4th of May, 1677, and is buried in Westminster Abbey. His moral character was of the highest type, resting upon true religion. Tillotson says that he "came as near as is possible for human frailty to do to the per- fect man of St. James."
Barrow's intellect was of the highest order. As a mathematician he was "second only to Newton," ac- cording to English writers, though this is rather too high praise. Of his numerous mathematical writings this is not the place to speak ; his fame as a theologian rests chiefly upon his Treatise on the Pope's Supremacy, his Exposition of the Creed, and on his Sermons. Of the Supremacy, Tillotson remarks that " no argument of moment, nay, hardly any consideration properly be- longing to the subject, has escaped Barrow's compre- hensive mind. He has said enough to silence' the con- troversy forever, and to deter all wise men, of both sides, from meddling any farther with it." See Til- lotson, preface to the Theological Works of Dr. Barrow (Lond. 16S3, 3 vols. fol.). In theology Barrow was an Arminian, and his writings are, in many respects, an illustration of the Arminian system, though not con- troversially so. "His sermons," as Le Clerc observes, " are rather treatises and dissertations than harangues, and he wrote and rewrote them three or four times. They are always cited as exact and comprehensive arguments, the produce of a grasp which could collect and of a patience which could combine all that was to be said upon the subject in question. But, in addition to this, Barrow was an original thinker. From his desire to set the whole subject before his hearers, he is often prolix, and his style is frequently redundant. But the sermons of Barrow are store-houses of thought, and they are often resorted to as store-houses by popu- lar preachers and writers. Nor are they wanting in passages which, as examples of a somewhat redund- ant, but ^rave, powerful, and exhaustive eloquence, it would be difficult to parallel in the whole range of English pulpit literature." The best edition of his the- ological writings is that published at Cambridge (1859, 8 vols. 8vo) ; a cheaper and yet good one, with a me- moir by Hamilton, London, 1828 (3 vols. 8vo), reprint- ed N. Y. 1846 (3 vols. 8vo). They include seventy- eight sermons on various topics; an Exposition of the Apostles1 Creed, in 34 discourses; expositions of the ford's Supper, the Decalogue, the Sacraments; the Trea- tise on the Pope's Supremacy ; with his Opuscula Thcolo- aica, including a number of Latin dissertations, etc. See Methodist Quarterly Renew, 1846, p. 165 sq. ; Alli- bone, Dictionary if Authors, i, 130 sq. ; Hook, Eccles. Hi igraphy, i, 555.
Barrow, William, LL.D., was born in Yorkshire about 1754, and was educated at Queen's College, Ox- ford. In 1814 he was made prebendary of Southwell, and shortly afterward vicar of Farnsfield. In 1829 he was made archdeacon of Nottingham, which office he held till his death in 1836. He published Eight Ser- mons on ///■ Bampton Lecture (Lond. 1799, 8vo): — Fa- miliar Sermons on Doctrines and Duties (Lond. 3 vols. 8vo).— Darling, C:/c'. BibKogr. i, 185.
BARSABAS
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BARTHOLOMEW
Bar'sabas (Bapaafici';, a Chald. patronymic), the surname of two men.
1. Of Joseph (q. v.), mentioned in Acts i, 23.
2. Of Judas (q. v.), mentioned in Acts xv, 22.
Barsuma or Barsumas, bishop of Nisibis, a zeal- ous Nestorian of the fifth century. Having been eject- ed from the school of Edessa, he was made bishop of Nisibis A.D. 435, and devoted himself earnestly for nearly half a century to the establishment of Nestori- anism in Persia. He founded the school of Nisibis, a prolific source of Nestorianism. He advocated the right of priests to marry, and himself married a nun. See Assemanni, Bibl. Orient. Ill, ii, 77; Moshcim, Ch. Hist, i, 3G3. See Nestorians.
Barsumas, a Syrian archimandrite, head of the Eutychian party at the robber-council of Ephesus, A.D. 449. Among the Jacobites (q. v.) he is held as a saint and miracle-worker. See Ephesus, Robber- council of.