fense des Variations in 1694. In all these works he wrote with great earnestness against Protestantism, although he was no advocate for the infallibility of the pope, or his power of deposing kings, both which pre- tensions he zealously opposed in his elaborate defence of the Four Articles promulgated in the celebrated as- sembly of the Gallican clergy in 1682, as containing the view held by the French Church on the papal au- thority. (See Gallicax Church.) It was written in 1683-84, but was not published until 1730, when it appeared at Luxembourg, in two vols. 4to, and has since been inserted in the Index Prohibitorius : it is en- titled Defensio Declnrationis celeberrimce quam de Po- testate Ecclesiastica sanxit Clerus Gallicanus 19 Martii, 1682. Bossuet refused the cardinal's hat, which was offered him by Pope Innocent XI as an inducement for him to remain silent on those points. He died at Par- is, April 12, 1704. His complete works have often been published ; the best editions are those of Paris, 1825, 59 vols. 12mo, and 1836, 12 vols, roj'al 8vo. A com- plete list of his works is given in Biog. Univ. v, 237, and by Darling, Cyclop. Bibliog. i, 372 sq. Bossuet's intellect was undoubtedly one of the grandest which has ever adorned the Roman Church. His sermons, most of which were never fully written out by himself, abound in noble thoughts, expressed in vigorous and elevated language. But his assaults on Protestantism are often as unfair and unjust as the)' are violent. His treatment of Fenelon (q. v.), and his personal share in persecuting the Protestants of France, will always re- main a blot upon his fame (see, especially, Methodist Quarterly Review, Jan. 1866, p. 127). The best life of him (which, nevertheless, is more a panegyric than a biography) is by Bausset, Hist, de Bossuet (Paris, 1828, 5th ed. 4 vols. 12mo), with Tabaraud , Supplement aux histoires de Bossuet et de Fenelon (Paris, 1822, 8vo). There is also an English life by C. Butler, in his Works, vol. iii. The History of Variations, in Eng- lish, appeared in Dublin, 1829 (2 vols. 8vo). See Quarterly Review, x, 409 ; Christian Remembrancer, xxvii, 118 ; Hare, Vindication of Luther, p. 16, 272 ; English Cyclopaedia, s. v. ; Poujoulat, Lettres sur Bos- suet f Paris, 1854); Landon, Ecclesiastical Dictionary, ii, 350.
Boston, Thomas, a Scotch Presbyterian divine and voluminous writer, was born in Dunse, Berwick- shire, 7th March, 1676. He received his school train- ing at his native place, and afterward attended the University of Edinburgh. Lie was ordained in 1699 minister of the parish of Simprin, near his native place, and in 1707 he removed to Ettrick. He was a mem- ber of the General Asscmblj' of 1703. He was op- posed to the oath of abjuration, and in general to all measures which created restrictions on the Church. He joined those who supported the doctrines of The Marrow <f Modern Divinity in the controversy in the Scottish Church on that work. He died on the 20th of May, 1732. Boston's writings are eminently popu- lar in Scotland and among the Presbyterians in Eng- land. Llis well-known Fourfold State, which was first printed in 1720, had a curious literary fate. It had been so far reconstructed bjr a person whom he had engaged to correct the press, that the author, scarcely recognising his own work, repudiated the book till he issued a genuine edition. The title of this book in full is "Human Nature in its Fourfold State: of primi- tive integrity subsisting in the parents of mankind in Paradise ; entire depravation subsisting in the unre- generate; begun recovery subsisting in the regener- ate ; and consummate happiness or misery subsisting in all mankind in the future state." In 1776 appeared Memoirs of the Life, Time, and Writings of Thomas Boston, divided into twelve periods, written by him- self, and addressed to his children. The Fourfold State, which is a strongly Calvinistic book, has passed through many editions, and is constantly reprinted. Boston wrote also other practical and controversial
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pieces, which are gathered in M'Millan's edition of the Complete Works of the Rev. T. Boston (Lond. 1852, 12 vols. 8vo).— Allibone, Diet, of Authors, i, 221.
Bostra, an ancient episcopal see of Arabia, whose first bishop is said to have been one of the seventy dis- ciples. In 241 (according to others, 247) a celebrated council was held there, under the presidency of Origen, against Bervllus, a Monarchian (q. v.) and Patripassian (q. v.). Origen not only refuted him, but brought him back from his errors. See Bozrah.
Bostrenus (Bo<n-p»fi/oc), the "graceful" river upon whose banks Sidon was situated (Dionys. Per. p. 913); being the modern Nahr eUAuhy, a stream rising in Mount Lebanon from fountains an hour and a half beyond the village el-Baruk ; it is at first a wild torrent, and its course is nearly south-west (Burck- hardt, Syria, p. 206 ; Robinson, Researches, iii, 429 ; Chesney, Euphrat. Exped. i, 4G7).
Bostwick, Siiadrach, an early Methodist Epis- copal minister, was born in Maryland, educated as a physician, and entered the itinerancy in 1791. For fourteen years he travelled extensively in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Mas- sachusetts, and Ohio. In 1798-9 he was presiding el- der on New London District, Conn. In 1803 he he- came the pioneer of Methodism on the Western Re- serve, Ohio, then a wilderness, where his labors were of great and permanent value. In 1805 he located, and resumed the practice of medicine. The "intel- lectual and evangelical power of his sermons" gave him great popularity wherever he travelled. His piety was deep, and his bearing noble. — Minutes of Conferences, vol. i (appointments) ; Bangs, History of Methodism, ii, 80 ; Stevens, Memorials of Methodism, vol. i, ch. xxvi ; Sprague, Annals, vii, 200.