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OBE due time the great work was accomplished. The road was opened in 1770, and the bridge erected in its course still bears the name given it by Oberlin—the Bridge of Charity. To restore the potato crop fresh seed was introduced, the mode of sowing and planting was improved, and so successful were the pastor's agricultural improvements, that in a few years the valley which had been almost reduced to a wilderness was enabled to send potatoes of superior quality to Strasburg market. The collection of sewage, leaves, and other refuse for manure, the irrigation and drainage of the land, the removal of rocks, and the tilling up of bogs were amongst the multifarious objects of the pastor's care. So remarkable were his improvements that in 1818 the Royal Agricultural Society of Paris voted him its gold medal, with the acknowledgment that "by his extraordinary exertions he had averted from his parishioners the horrors of approaching famine, and that his life had been devoted to agricultural improvement and the diffusion of useful knowledge amongst the inhabitants of a wild and uncultivated district." Nor was the "manufacturing interest" less cherished by this universal benefactor. He got the more promising lads apprenticed from home, thus introducing into the valley skilled artisans, masons, carpenters, shoemakers, farriers, cartwrights, &c. As a preacher Oberlin was animated and impressive, full of charity and piety, adapting his discourse to the condition of his hearers. His sermons were often composed in part of homely narrative, upon which he would make the most lively and instructive applications. He was singularly free from bigotry and intolerance; and to avoid giving offence to his neighbours who were Roman catholics, he dropped the title of Protestant, and styled himself Evangelical Catholic. His reasons are given at length in one of his own pithy documents, which concludes thus:—"Thus the hatred and repugnance which so long caused us sorrows of every kind, have by little and little given place to brotherly love, as our works and our doctrines are seen to be those of the true catholic church, that is, the christian." During the French revolution, when public worship was prohibited by the national convention, and a public orator required to be appointed to enforce the principles of "liberty," Oberlin conformed to the letter of the law, and proved that although the forms of worship and religion might be suppressed, the substance was beyond the power of man's interference. Nothing can be conceived more strongly illustrative of the prudence of the serpent and the innocence of the dove combined, than Oberlin's conduct at this critical juncture. Of course he was chosen popular orator, and he enforced with all his profound and enlightened wisdom the true principles of "liberty;" and exhorted his people to rise against the only "tyrants" they had to complain of in their peaceful valley, "the tyrants of hatred, impurity, selfishness, and impiety in their own hearts." He thus, as popular orator, continued his functions as minister of religion, his congregation meeting at church on Sundays as usual, under the name of a club. When called upon to declare his sentiments and how he was aiding the Revolution, he said that he endeavoured to make his people good, patient, brave, and exemplary in every way: as to the surplice and bands he had long since laid them aside, as he always disliked such vain distinctions. During the Empire Oberlin had been nominated for the legion of honour; the ordinance conferring that distinction was signed by Louis XVIII. in 1819. We cannot here allude to other interesting circumstances in Oberlin's life, or to do justice to a character combining in so eminent a degree the discretion and sagacity of the man of the world, with the simplicity, disinterestedness, and faith of the true christian. His tomb bears this inscription—"Here rest the mortal remains of John Frederick Oberlin, pastor of the parish of Waldbach; born 31st August, 1740; died 1st June, 1826. He was during fifty-nine years the father of the Ban-de-la-Roche. 'They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever.'"—T. C.  OBERWEG,. See.  OBRECHT,, a distinguished German jurisconsult and philologist, was born at Strasburg in 1646. In the universities of Montpellier and Altorf he devoted himself to the study of law, and ancient as well as modern languages, and soon distinguished himself by his erudition and intelligence. He then accompanied a son of the Russian ambassador Kellermann as tutor to Italy, and after his return obtained the chairs of eloquence and history in his native town. After the annexation of Alsace by the French, Obrecht embraced the Roman catholic faith, and was sent on a diplomatic mission to Frankfort by Louis XIV. Exhausted by his labours, he returned to Strasburg, where he died 6th August, 1701. He has left a number of learned editions, dissertations, and notes on law and history.—K. E.  OBSEQUENS,, was the author of a book entitled "De Prodigiis Libellus," a work on portents or prodigies, such as were regarded by the Romans as supernatural warnings. It is a fragment of a larger treatise, and embraces only the period from 190. to 11. The date of the author is uncertain, but he seems to have been subsequent to the Augustan age. His materials were chiefly derived from the historian Livy. The best edition is that of Oudendorp, Leyden, 1720.—G.  OCAMPO,, a Spanish chronicler, was born early in the sixteenth century, and studied at Alcona. He entered the church and obtained a canonry; but being appointed historiographer to Charles V., the cortes petitioned the king to afford him facilities for writing a history of Spain. Instead, therefore, of a contemporary life of the emperor, we have a fragment of a history of Spain, commencing with the days of Noah and coming down to the age of the Scipios. The work was published at Zamora, 1544, and Medina del Campo, 1553. The best edition is that of Madrid, 1591, with a life of the author. As a whole it is insupportably tedious; but Ochoa praises its graphic delineations of remarkable events and characters.—F. M. W.  OCCAM or OCKHAM,, the Invincible Doctor, the greatest leader of Nominalism in the middle ages, a renowned logician, and the ecclesiastico-political, theological, and philosophical reformer of the fourteenth century, was born in the reign of Henry III., about 1270, of humble parents, in the village of Occam in Surrey. The exact date of his birth is uncertain; and of the early years of this renowned English schoolman little is known. He is said to have studied at Merton college, Oxford—a society which boasts also of the names of Scotus and Bradwardine. He afterwards entered the Franciscan order, of which his may be regarded as one of the most illustrious names. Quitting Oxford, he studied under Scotus at Paris early in the fourteenth century, and listened to doctrines of which he became the most conspicuous antagonist, in the controversies which followed between the Scotists and Occamists. At Paris his strength of intellect and will were soon felt, and the name of Occam became famous. The opening years of the fourteenth century were disturbed by the quarrel between Pope Boniface VIII. and Philip the Fair of France. Philip had subjected the French clergy to taxation, and forbid the pope to levy contributions in his dominions. The highest powers were then claimed by the papacy, and the liberty was resented by Boniface, who passed sentence of excommunication against the king. Occam interposed with characteristic energy in the quarrel, and warmly espoused the side of the civil power. One of his most notable works, entitled "Disputatio super potestate ecclesiasticâ prælatis atque principibus terrarum commissa," was called forth by this controversy. Pope Boniface had incurred the resentment of the Franciscan order, and Occam maintained to the full the rights of the temporal power, refusing to acknowledge papal authority in secular affairs. The death of Boniface in 1305 induced some cessation of the strife, which Occam some years afterwards renewed with his successor. Pope John XXII. In the interval he professed theology in Paris. The progress of events seems to have brought him into collision with Pope John and with his order, as he vindicated the vow of poverty with vehement courage against both, about 1320 and the following years. Occam with his associates, Michael de Cesena and Bonagratia, were at length summoned before the papal court at Avignon. In 1328 they made their escape to the dominions of Louis of Bavaria, the patron of the Franciscan antipope, Peter of Corbaras. There Occam haughtily received the papal condemnation and excommunication, and also that of his own Franciscan order. In Bavaria he seems to have spent the remainder of his days, scorning the papal persecution. He died at Munich about 1347. In theology and philosophy Occam was not less strong than in the politico-ecclesiastical contests of his generation. He was the leader of the theological and philosophical rationalism of that time. His writings illustrate the kind and amount of free opinion which maintained itself in an age, according to popular opinion, of intellectual torpor and traditionalism. Occam was on the whole the greatest logical writer of the middle ages. His logical doctrine is presented in his "Tractatus Logicæ," published at Paris in 1488. His editor declares that if the gods used logic, it would be the logic of 