18 July 1534 A.D. Zachary Ursinus Born—German Reformer & Co-Author of the August Heidelberg Catechism
We have a dispute on the date over 18 or 28 Jul 1534, but we proceed.
Chalmers.
“Ursinus, Zachary.” 1812 Chalmers’ Biography / UV / Zachary Ursinus (1534–1583) [vol. 30, p. 159]. N.d. http://words.fromoldbooks.org/Chalmers-Biography/uv/ursinus-zachary.html. Accessed 17 Jul 2014.
Ursinus, Zachary
, one of
the most celebrated Protestant divines of the 16th century, was born at Breslau, in Silesia, July 28, 1534. He had already made a considerable progress,
for one so young, when he was sent to Wittemberg in 1550, where he studied
seven years, and, as his father was not rich, he was assisted by gratuities
both private and public, and by the profits of taking pupils. At the same time,
he applied himself so closely to study, that he acquired great skill both in
poetry, lan-r guages, philosophy, and divinity. Melancthon, who was the
ornament of that university, had a particular esteem and friendship for him.
Ursinus accompanied him in 1557 to the conference of Worms, whence he went to Geneva, and afterwards to Paris, where he made some stay, in order to learn French, and
improve himself in Hebrew under the learned John Mercerus. He was no sooner returned to Melancthon at
Wittemberg, than he received letters from the magistrates of Breslaw in September 1558, offering him the mastership of their great school;
and having accepted it, he discharged the duties of his employment | in so laudable a manner, that he might have continued in
it as long as he pleased, had he not been prosecuted by the clergy, the instant
they perceived he was not a Lutheran. When he explained Melancthon’s book, “De examine ordinandorum ad Ministerium,” he handled the subject
of the Lord’s supper in such a manner, as made the demagogues or factious
orators (for so the author of his Life calls them) term him Sacramentarian. He wrote, however, a justification of himself, in which
he discovered what his opinions were with regard to Baptism and the Lord’s Supper; and when he found that this did
not pacify his adversaries, he obtained an honourable leave from the
magistrates; and as he could not retire to his master Melancthon, he being dead
a little before, in April 1560, he went to Zurich, where Peter Martyr, Bullinger, Simler, Gesner, and some other eminent personages, had a great
friendship for him. From this place he was soon removed by the university of Heidelberg, which was in want of an able professor; and in September 1561 was settled in the Collegium Sapientiae (College of
Wisdom) to instruct the students. He also attempted to preach, but finding he
had not the talents requisite for the pulpit, he laid that aside. As a
professor, he evinced, in the most eminent elegree, the qualifications
requisite: a lively genius, a great fund of knowledge, and a happy dexterity in
explaining things, and therefore, besides the employment he already enjoyed, he
exercised the professorship of the loci communes, or common places in that
university. To qualify him for this place, it was necessary for him, agreeably
to the statutes, to be received doctor of divinity, and accordingly he was
solemnly admitted to that degree the 25th of August, 1562, and he was professor of the common places till
1568. It was he who wrote the Catechism of the Palatinate, which was almost universally adopted by the Calvinists,
and drew up an apology for it by ordtr of the elector Frederic III. in
opposition to the clamours which Flacius Illyricus, Heshusius, and some other rigid Lutherans, had published in 1563. The elector, finding himself
exposed, not only to the complaints of the Lutheran divines, but likewise to
those of some princes, as if he had established a doctrine concerning the
Eucharist, which was condemned by the Augsburg Confession, was obliged to cause to be printed an
exposition of the une doctrine concerning the Sacraments. Ursinus the | following year was at the conference of Maulbrun, where
he spoke with great warmth against the doctrine of Ubiquity. He afterwards
wrote on that subject, and against some other tenets of the Lutherans. The plan and statutes which he drew up for the elector,
for the establishment of some schools, and several other services, raised him
so high in his esteem, that finding him resolved to accept of a professorship
in divinity at Lausanne in 1571, he wrote a letter to him with his own hand, in
which he gave several reasons why it would not be proper for him to accept of
that employment. This prince’s death, which happened in 1577, produced a great
revolution in the palatinate; prince Lewis, his eldest son, who succeeded him,
not permitting any clergyman to be there, unless he was a sound Lutheran; so
that Ursinus and the pupils educated by him in the Collegium Sapientiae were
obliged to quit it. He retired to Neustadt, to be divinity-professor in the
illustrious school which prince Casimir, son to Frederic III. founded there at that time. He
began his lectures there the 26th of May, 1578. He also taught logic there in his own apartment;
published some books, and was preparing to write several more, when his health,
which had been frequently and strongly attacked, occasioned by his incredible
application to study, yielded at last to a long sickness, of which he died in
Neustadt, the 6th of March, 1583, in the forty-ninth year of his age. His works
were collected after his death, by the care of his only son, a minister, and by
that of David Pareus and Quirinus Reuterus, his disciples; and to the last of
these we are indebted for the publication of them in 1612, 3 vols. folio.
Ursinus was not
unknown to our English divines, and some of his works were translated into
English as, his “Catechism,” or rather, his lectures upon
the catechism, entitled “The Summe of the Christian Religion,” translated by Henry Parrie, 1587, 4to. There were also at least two abridgments of it;
and a translation of “A collection of learned Discourses,”
1600, &c. Ursinus was a very laborious student; and, that
no interruption might be given, he caused the following inscription to be
placed on the door of his library:
Amice, quisquis hue venis
Aut
agito paucis, aut abi.
Sir Philip Sidney, while at Heidelberg, was particularly anxious to cultivate the friendship of
Ursinus. “From this | eminent scholar,” says Dr. Zouch, “Mr. Sidney learned to estimate the value of
time: he learned how criminal it is to waste the hours of life in unedifying
discourse, and much more so in vitious pursuits or guilty indulgences.” Dr. Zouch observes, that Ursinus’s moral character was
still more excellent than his literary one. He was all humility, attributing
nothing to himself, and perfectly uncorrupted by avarice or ambition.
Among other authors
of the same name, was John Henry Ursinus, a learned Lutheran
divine, superintendant of the churches of Ratisbon, where he died May 14, 1667, leaving “Parallela Evangelii”
“Comment, in Joel, Amos, Jonam, Ecclesiasten” “Sacra Analecta;” “De
Christianis Officiis” “Arboretum Biblic.” “Exercitationes de Zoroastre, Hermete, Sanchoniatone,”
Norimbergae, 1661,8vo; “Sjlva TheologiaB Symbolicae,”
1685, 12mo; “Jeremiae virga vigilans;” “De Ecclesiarum Germanicarum origine et progressu,” 1664, 8vo. &LC. His son, George Henry Ursinus, a learned philologist, who died Sept. 10,
1707, aged sixty, left the following works: “Diatribe de Taprobana,
Cerne et Ogyride veterum” “Disputatio de locustis”
“Observationes Philologies;” “De variis
vocum etymologicis et significationibus,” &c. “De
Creatione mundi” “Notulce Criticae ad Eclogas Virgilii”
“Annotationes in Senecae Troada;” “De primo
et proprio Aoristorum usu” “Dioiiysii Terrse orbis
descriptio cum notis.” He must be distinguished from George Ursinus, a learned Danish divine, who acquired honour by
his “Hebrew Antiquities.” 1
1
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