her brood. For the Arabian fables of the bird racham, see Bochart, Ilieroz. iii, 5G. The Percnopterus is some- what singularly' classed, both in Lev. and Deut., along with aquatic birds; and it may be questioned whether an}' animal will eat it, since, in the parallel case of Vul- tur aura, the turkey-buzzard or carrion-crow of Amer- ica, and even the ants, have been found abstaining fronr its carcass, and leaving it to dry up in the sun, though swarming around and greedy of every other animal substance. — Kitto, s. v. See Vulture. The Rev. G. E. Post, IM.D., of Tripoli, Syria, suggests (Am. ed. of Smith's Diet, of the Bible, s. v.) that the racham of Moses ma}' rather be a kind of pelican {Pelecana ono- cratabis), found in great numbers in Egypt and about lake Iluleh, and which he saj's is likewise called by the Arabs racham; but this needs confirmation. See Pelican.
Gie.seler, Johann Karl Ludwig, one of the greatest of modern Church historians, ivas born at Pe- tershagen, near Minden, March 3, 1793. His father and grandfather, from both of whom he received in- struction in ciiildhood, were Lutheran ministers, some- what of the Pietistic school. In 1803 he went to study at the Latin school of the Orphan House at Halle, and was afterwards made one of the masters. In 1813 he entered the "liberating" army as a volunteer; at the peace in 1815 he returned to his mastership ; in 1817 he became co-rector of the gj'mnasium at jMin- den ; in 1818 rector of that in Cleves; and in 1819 professor ordinarius of theology in the newly-founded University of Bonn. For this rapid success he was indebted to his Historisch-kritischer Versuch i'tber die Enfstehung und diefriihesten Schicksale der schrifl li.chen Erangelicn (Historico-ciitical Essay on the Origin and earliest History of the written Gospels). In 1824 he began the publication of his Lchrhuch dzr Kiixhmge' schichte (Text-book of Church History), a further ac- count of which is given below ; and his studies were thenceforward almost wholly devoted to this science. In 1831 he accepted a call to the U niversit}' of Gottin- gen, where he spent the remainder of Ids life. The university repeatedlj' conferred on him the dignity of pro-rector, and he was almost uninterruptedly a mem- ber of one or more of the academical boards. He was devoted to the interests of the Gottingen Orphan House, of which he was curator, and which he visited almost daily. He also gave much time and labor to a masonic lodge of which he was a member. In these various offices his high administrative talent found full plaj'. He died July 8, 1854. His Church History is the chief work on which his reputation rests. The 4th ed. of vol. i appeared in 1844 and 1845 ; the 4th ed. of vol. ii, carrj'ing.tlie historj' down to A.D. 1409, ap- peared in 184G-49; vol. iii, reaching to 1G48, appeared in two parts in 1840 and 1853. The ivth vol. (1G48- 1814), the vth (1814 to the present time), and the vith, containing Dogmnigesckichle (History of Doc- trines), were issued posthumously, 1855-1857. The histor}', as a whole, is, beyond question, the most learned, faithful, and impartial compendium of Church History that has ever appeared. Its most marked features are the judicious arrangement of the periods of histor}'; the close, compact narrative in the text; and, most of all, the abundant sources of information given in the notes. In this last particular no other work resembles it ; it does not merely uive references, but on all difficult or controverted points the quotations bearing on the subject are given at length, thus ena- bling the reader who has not at command the treasures of a vast library, to consult, in no slight degree, the original sources for himself. It is true, however, that Gieseler moves tlirough the field of Church Historj' "with critical acumen and cold intellect" (Scliaff), and not, like Neander, in the spirit of faith and devo- tion. The rationalism of the age in which he Avas ed- ucated leaves its traces, if not in his pages, at least between the lines. But his biographer, Redepenning,
GIFFEN
GIFT
denies that he ever was a Rationalist in the ordinar}' | sense of tlic term, and affirms that from the beginning to the end of his career he held fast tlie fundamental \ Cliristian doctrine of justilicatioii by faith alone. A translation of the first tiirce vohimes of the Church JJiston/, b_y Cunningham (Philadel. 183G, 3 vols. 8vo), was made from tlie earlier editions, and has been su- perseded by a new one from the fourth edition by Da- vidson (^Eiiiiih. 1848^50), of wliich five volumes have appeared. A better edition still is the American one, ; edited bj- Dr. H. 13. Smitii, of wliieh four volumes have appeared (X. Y., Harper and Brothers, 8vo). Of his otlier works, we mention those on the disturbances in the Dutch Kefornied Church between 1833 and 183!) (JJnruhen in der nied.-ref. Kirche, etc., Hamb. 18-10) ; on tlie Lchnin (q. v.) prophecy {Ueber d. Lehninsche Weissarjuuff, Gotting. 1840 ; and Z'.'e Lehninsche Weis- sagung als ein Gedicht des Alts von Ihiysbruch nachge- wiesen, Elberfeld, 1849) : on the difficulty between the archbishop of Cologne and the Prussian government (^Ueber die koln. Angdegenheit, Leipz. 1838). He was also one of tlie assistant editors of the Shidien und Kritiken, one of tlie best theological journals of Gei-- niany. — Kedepenning, in vol. v of the Church History, translated in the Journal of Sacred Littrature, Jan. 1856 ; Herzog, Real-Encgkloj). v, 152 sq.