scholars were the children of the whites and mulat- toes ; the Indian population grows up almost without education. — Allcjemeine lieal-Encyd. iv, 1018; Vilavi- cencio, Gcographla de la liepublicu del Ecuador (N. Y. 1858). (A. J. S.)
Ed, i. c. "witness" (for Heb. id. IjJ), supplied (ap- parently on the authority of a few MSS. and also of the Syr. and the Arab, versions) in the A. V. as the name of the altar erected by the three tribes east of Jordan in commemoration of their adhesion to the oth- ers (Josh, xxii, 34). The commonly received Heb. text is literall}' as follows : "And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad called the altar [IlSTab !lN"!p'^^, Se[)t. tTTuji'uj.iaaav Kcd fiTrai^, Vulg. vocaverunf] ; for a witness is this [X^n "I^ "'S, Sept. o-i /.laprvpiuv tun, Vulg. tesiimonium^," etc., or as it may be rendered (X^p being sometimes used absolutel}' thus), "gave a name to the altar, [saying]," etc. The gloss is un- necessary (see Maurer, Comment, in loc), for the latter clause furnishes both the name and the explanation (Keil, Comment, in loc), i. e. "they named the altar (as follows), that ' This is a witness,^ " etc. See Oreb.
E'dar (Heb. E'der, ^"^'J, flock, as often rendered), the name of a tower (P'^'iTC), beyond (nsbiT2) which Jacob first halted between Bethlehem and Hebron (Gen. XXXV, 21, Sept. rat)tp,Vat. omits, ^'ulg. Eder). In jMic. iv, 8 (Sept., Vulg., and A.V. translate Troijtt- I'lov, grex, "flock") it is put for the neighboring vil- lage Bethlehem itself, and hence tropical!}' for the ro}-al line of David as sprung thence. It perhaps de- rived its name from the fact of having been erected to guard [see IMigdot.-] flocks, or else froni some indi- vidual of the name of Eder (q. v.). Jerome (who calls it turrls Ader) says it lay 1000 paces from Bethle- hem {Onomast. s. v. Bethlehem), and intimates that it contained a prophetic anticipation (comp. Targum of Pseudo-Jon. in loc.) of the birth of the Messiah on the same spot (Luke ii, 7, 8). (See Albert, De turri Eder, Lips. 1689.) See Bethlehem.
Edayoth. See Talmud.
Eddy, John Reynolds, a Methodist Episcopal minister, son of Rev. Augustus Eddy, was born in Xe- nia, Ohio, Oct. 10, 1829, obtained a liberal English ed- ucation, and made some proficiency in the classics. He commenced the study of law, but determined to devote himself to the ministry, and was admitted on trial in the North-west Indiana Conference in 1856. After filling various appointments acceptably, he ac- cepted in 1862 the chaplaincy of the 72d Indiana Regi- ment. He immediately joined his regiment at Mur- freesborough, Tenn., and commenced his laljors among the soldiers. Sunday, June 21, he preached from Prov. xvi, 32 ; Wednesday, June 24, during a fight between colonel Wilder's cavalry brigade and a rebel force he w-as instantly killed by a shell. — Min. of' Conferences, 1863.
Edelmann, Johann Christian, an infidel Ger- man writer, was born at AV^eissenfels in 1698, ayd stud- ied theology at Jena. From his j-outh he evinced an unsteadiness of mind, which afterwards led him, after oscillating between the different Christian denomina- tions, to forsake them all and become an opponent of all orthodoxy. He rejected the Christian doctrine, and considered reason as a part of the essence of God, in no wa}- different from him. For some years he ab- stained from all animal food, in order, as he expressed it, not to eat a part, of divinity. lie had previously taken part in the translation of the Bible, published at Berleliurg (q. v.\ His principal -vvorks are his Un- schullifje Wahrheiten, in which he attempts to prove that no religion is of any importance : — ^foses mil ciuf- qedecktem Angesicht (1740, 8vo) : — Christ nnd Belial (1741, 8vo):— f& Gottlichkmt d. Vermmft (1742, 8vo). lie finally went to Berlin, where Friedrich II tolerated
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his presence on the plea that he had to put up with many other fools. Edelmann died in Berlin Feb. lo, 17G7. A selection of his works appeared at Berne in 1847 (Auswahl mis E.'s Schrifttn).
"What Edelmann wished was nothing new; af- ter tlie manner of all adherents of lUiiminism, he wished to reduce all positive religions to natural re- ligion. Tlie positive heathenish religions stand, to him, on a level with Judaism and Christianity. He is more just towards heathenism than towards Judaism, and more just towards Judaism than towards Chris- tianity. Everything positive in religion is, as such, superstition. Christ was a mere man, whose chief merit consists in the struggle against superstition. Wliat he taught, and what lie was anxious for, no one, however, maj' attempt to learn from the New Testa- ment writings, inasmncli as these were forged as late as the time of Constantine. All which the Church teaches of his divinity, of liis merits, of the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit, is absurd. There is no rule of truth but reason, and it manifests its truths di- rectl}' by a peculiar sense. Wliatever this sense says is true. It is this sense which perceives the world. The realitj' of everything which exists is God. In the proper sense there can, tlierefore, not exist any atheist, because eveiy one who admits the reality of the world admits also the reality of God. God is not a person, least of all are there three persons in God. If God be the substance in all the phenomena, then it follows of itself that God cannot be thought of without the world, and lience tliat the world has no more had an origin than it will have an end. One may call the world the body of God, the sliadow of God, the son of God. The spirit of God is in all that exists. It is ridiculous to ascribe inspiration to special persons only; every one ought to be a Christ, a prophet, an inspired man. The human spirit, being a breatli of God, docs not perish ; our spirit, separated from its body liy death, enters into a connection witli some oth- er body. Thus Edelmann taught a kind of metempsy- chosis. What he taught had been thoroughlj' and in- geniously said in France and England ; but from a German theologian, and that witli such eloquent coarse- ness, with such a mastery in expatiating in blasphemy, such things were unlieard of. But as yet the faith of the Church was a power in Germany !" (Kahnis, Ger- man Frotestantism, bk. i, chap, ii, § 2). An autobiog- raphy of Edelmann wis publislied by Klose (Berlin, 1849). See Pratje, Ilistor. Nachrkhten (Hamb. 175.'), 8vo) ; Elster, Erinncrungen an Edelmann (Clausthal, 183'J) ; Ilurst, History of JRafionaHsm, ch. v.