It is a high privilege to
have been allowed to provide a translation of the Demonstratio; for in
default of a better it must for some time fill the vacant place in English
bookshelves beside the noble edition of the Praeparatio, which was the
work of Archdeacon Gifford's declining years.
Yet it is an appalling
thought that this translation, continuing as it does the work of Gifford,
should in any sense be thought to seek comparison with it. The writer has but
endeavoured according to his powers, and amid other absorbing duties, to fill a
recognized gap, by giving a faithful rendering of the words of Eusebius, so
that it may be possible for the English student to become acquainted with all
that remains of the work to which the Praeparation was the Introduction.
He has erred perhaps
rather in the direction of literal exactness than of free paraphrase,
especially in doctrinal sections, thinking it primarily necessary to make it
clear what Eusebius actually said.
Limitations of space
have made it impossible to reproduce the long passages from the Old Testament
upon which Eusebius based his arguments. To have retained them in full would
have been interesting because of their variations from the text of the LXX :
but this consideration was hardly important enough to make their inclusion
essential.
The translator would
gratefully record his indebtedness to the Rev. W. K. Lowther Clarke, the
Secretary of S.P.C.K., for his constant interest, scholarly guidance, and
invaluable suggestions during the progress of the work: but for his help it
would be far more imperfect than it is.
W. J. FERRAR.
East Finchley.
Easter, 1920.