Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/64

ÆP ÆPINUS,, a distinguished German reformer of the sixteenth century, and for many years the leading theologian of the Lutheran church in Hamburg and north Germany. He was born in the Mark of Brandenburg in 1499. His family name was Hoch or Hoeck, meaning high, for which he substituted the Greek—. He studied at Wittemberg under Luther, and returned to his native province full of youthful zeal. But his countrymen were not yet ripe to receive his doctrines, and the preacher was thrown into prison. After his release he repaired to Stralsund, where he was for some time at the head of a private school, but was commissioned by the magistrates, in 1525, to carry through an evangelical reform both of the churches and public schools of the city. In 1529 he removed to Hamburg, to take the pastoral charge of the church of St. Peter. The Reformation had been established that very year in Hamburg, under the guidance of John Bugenhagen or Pomeranus, pastor of Wittemberg, who had been permitted by the elector of Saxony to leave his own charge for a time, for the purpose of rendering that important service to the evangelical cause in one of the chief cities of the empire, Æpinus was soon found to be the best qualitied man to build upon the foundation which had been laid by the reformer of Wittemberg, and for the next quarter of a century he was the most prominent and influential of the theologians of north Germany. In 1532 he was appointed, by Bugenhagen's recommendation, superintendent of the churches of Hamburg, and first reader in theology, in which event the reformation of Hamburg and its adjacent territory may be considered to have been completed. In 1533 he was promoted to the degree of doctor in theology, along with Cruciger and Bugenhagen, in presence of the young elector, John Frederick, and his court, at Wittemberg. These were the first three evangelical doctors of the protestant church. In 1534 he was sent into England, along with other envoys from the protestant princes of Germany to Henry VIII., who had recently opened up negotiations for a closer union with them in the great struggle with the papal power. In 1538 Æpinus signed the articles of Schmalkald, and in 1539 attended the Convents of Frankfort and Naumburg. After the death of Luther, he took a prominent part in opposing the "Interim" which the Emperor Charles V. attempted to force upon the evangelical states. The confession and declaration on the Interim given forth in 1548 by the superintendents, pastors, and preachers of Lubeck, Hamburg, and Luneburg, was drawn up by his pen, and was subscribed by the evangelical ministers of almost all the cities and towns of Lower Saxony. In the controversies excited immediately after, by what was called the "Leipzig Interim," he took part with Flaccius Illyricus against Melancthon and the other divines of Wittemberg, but was favourably distinguished from Flaccius by the moderation and charity with which he conducted his part in the dispute. It was not his fault that the controversy became so embittered, and so unhappy in its consequences to the Lutheran church. In the controversy raised by the friends of Osiander on the subject of justification, Æpinus drew up in 1552, in concert with his colleague Westphal, a theological judgment, which was signed by twenty-one preachers of Hamburg and twelve of Luneburg,—a document which was equally marked by decision on the side of truth as opposed to the teaching of Osiander, and by a tone of moderation and a love of peace. But these qualities did not exempt Æpinus, even in his own immediate sphere of action, from the troubles of polemical strife. Having published in 1544 a commentary on the 16th Psalm, in which he taught, after Luther and Thomas Aquinas, that the descent of Christ into hell was to be regarded as the lowest step of his humiliation, and, as such, an indispensable part of the ransom paid for human redemption, this doctrine was publicly challenged by four of his colleagues in the ministry of Hamburg, who declaimed against it with such violence from their pulpits, and produced so much excitement in the minds of the community, that the senate were obliged in 1550 to obtain a judgment from the theologians of Wittemberg upon the subject, in order to allay the public uneasiness. Melancthon's judgment, by leaving the question undecided and open, had the effect of at least acquitting Æpinus of the charge of heretical or dangerous teaching; and when his antagonists, in spite of this, proceeded to renew the pulpit war, three of them were summarily deposed by the senate and banished the city. The doctrine of Æpinus upon this point, which he stated and defended more fully in his commentary on the 68th Psalm, was afterwards taken up and pressed very warmly by Flaccius. Æpinus was much disturbed during the last years of his life by these unhappy disputes. He died on the 13th May, 1553. Besides the writings already mentioned, he left several other works, including a "Book of Church Order for Hamburg," published in 1551. Several of his descendants rose to eminence in the duchy of Mecklenburg as men of learning: one of these was Francis Albert Æpinus, a distinguished philosopher and theologian, who died in 1750; another was his son, Francis Ulrich Æpinus, professor at Rostock and Bützow, a writer on physical science.—P. L.  ÆRIUS, a disciple of Arius, who lived in the fourth century, and added to the doctrine of his master, that a bishop was not superior to a priest, and that Easter, festivals, and fasts, were superstitious observances, savouring of Judaism. He also condemned prayers for the dead. His disciples were banished from their churches, and were obliged to assemble in woods and caves. He was a contemporary of St. Epiphanius.—F.  ÆRTSEN,, surnamed from his stature, "Long Peter," a Dutch painter, was born at Amsterdam in 1519, and died in 1573. When only eighteen, this artist rendered himself remarkable for a certain boldness of style peculiar to himself. He possessed great skill in perspective as well as in the arrangement of drapery, and the adjustment of his figures. His earliest works represented interiors which he depicted with singular truthfulness; but he was no less successful as an historical painter, and some of the paintings he executed in Amsterdam were of great value. Unhappily, several of his finest productions were destroyed during the civil wars.—F.  ÆRTSZ,, a Dutch historical painter, called "Ryk met de stelt," or "Dick with the wooden leg," from the circumstance that, by an accident that he met with when young, he was maimed for life. He was the son of a poor fisherman, and when unable to amuse himself otherwise, he was accustomed to draw with charcoal on the floor, and the taste and ability he displayed led to his becoming a painter. He went first to Haarlem, where he received instruction and found employment. Subsequently he removed to Antwerp, where he was chosen a member of the Academy of St. Luke. Ærtsz was born at Wyck in North Holland in 1482, and died at Antwerp at the age of 95.—J. B.  ÆSCHINES, the great rival of Demosthenes, was born in Attica in 389. It is very difficult to ascertain the real facts of his life, as the principal sources are the depreciatory statements of Demosthenes, or his own too laudatory counterstatements. His parents were certainly poor, and his father supported himself and family by teaching a school, in the duties of which Æschines at an early age took a share. When eighteen years old, the Athenian youths became soldiers, and were employed as a kind of patrol in guarding various fortified places on the frontiers of Attica. Æschines informs us he had to submit to this duty. Probably immediately after this, he became scribe to the orator Aristophon, and afterwards to Eubulus, in whose employment he became thoroughly acquainted with the constitution and laws of Athens. Subsequently he took to the stage, but without any marked success. He then joined the army again, and in several expeditions won distinction, and even a crown, if we are to believe his own story. Before his last military expedition, he had spoken in the public assembly at Athens, and he soon perceived that this was his proper sphere. It was here that he met Demosthenes. At first, Æschines felt that all his endeavours should be directed to check the influence of Philip—but in the course of time he began to think that the only hope for Greece lay in submission to the Macedonian king. On this point Demosthenes differed from him, and tried to bring over the Athenians to his side. Hence their quarrel, which was embittered by several occurrences. In the end, Æschines was defeated by Demosthenes in his celebrated speech "On the Crown," and retired to Asia, where he taught rhetoric. From Asia he went to Rhodes, and established a rhetorical school there. He left Rhodes for Samos, where he died in 314. Æschines is often accused of having received bribes from Philip, and of having sacrificed his country to his own aggrandizement. He is not certainly free from blame, but he seems to have erred more through mistakes of head than corruption of heart. He published only three of his speeches, which are masterpieces of eloquence.—J. D.  ÆSCHRION, a physician of Pergamus, who lived, it is probable, in the second century of the Christian era. Galen, who ranks him among the empirics, cites from him a remedy for madness, of which the principal ingredient consists of pulverized 