URSINUS, ZACHARIAS: German Reformed; b. at Breslau July 18, 1534; d. at Neustadt-on Hardt (21 m. s.s.w. of Worms) Mar. 6, 1583. He received his first training in the Elisabethschule at Breslau, and was matriculated at Wit

Educa- tenberg Apr. 30, 1550, where a muni

tion and cipal allowance and some support by

Early Career. well-to-do patrons, including Johann Krafft (q.v.), afforded him his means of subsistence. He studied here until 1557, and became closely associated with Melanch thon, the vindictive attacks to which the latter was exposed filling him with aversion f or the quarrelsome

disposition of many theologians. This antipathy

was increased when, in Sept., 1557, just as he was beginning an extensive academic journey, he witnessed the shameful contentions between the Protestants present at the religious conference in Worms. From Worms Ursinus went, by way of Strasburg, Basel, and Lausanne, to Geneva, where Calvin received him kindly, and he then remained for some time in Paris to study Hebrew under Jean Mercier. On his return Ursinus visited Zurich, after which he returned to Wittenberg, where, in Sept., 1558, he received a call from the Breslau Council to teach in the Elisabethschule. Here he gave open expression to his theological convictions, which ranged him, as he had discerned on his journey, on Calvin's side in regard to the doctrine of the Lord's Supper; and being attacked as a "sacramentarian," he made a clear exposition of his tenets in his Theses complectentes . . . summam verge dodrince de socramen tis (Breslau, 1559). The work was prohibited in Breslau, and Ursinus was dismissed. Provided with traveling expenses by Krafft, he started for Zurich toward the end of June, 1560, by way of Wittenberg, Heidelberg, and Basel, reaching his destination Oct. 3.

In the following year, when Elector Friedrich III., the Pious (q.v.), was seeking to obtain a capable Reformed theologian for the directorship of the Heidelberg Collegium SaPientice, which had been transformed into a sort of theological seminary, Peter Martyr Vermigli (q.v.) recommended Ursinus, who, after considerable wavering, accepted the call, taking office Oct. 13, 1561. Here, besides the guid ance of the institution, he had to supply the chair of dogmatics from Aug., 1562, to 1568; and in addi tion to all this he was obliged, beginning with 1563, to deliver a catechetical sermon every Sunday and to collaborate in preparing the new Palatine liturgy. His part in the drafting of the Heidelberg Catechism and his preliminary works for this purpose (the Summa theologise and the Catechismus minor) have already been indicated in Heidelberg Catechism, § 2. It was Ursinus who had to conduct the philo sophic vindication of the Catechism At against the vehement attacks of Lu Heidelberg. theran theologians, this constraining him, much against his inclination, to engage in ever new theological feuds. It was Ur sinus, in like manner, who was obliged to undertake the advocacy of the Palatinate party in connection with the embittered literary disputes at the Maul bronn colloquy (see Maulbronn). In 1566, he sought to confute, in his Avgsburger Konfession . . . mit ihren eigenen Women in Fragstiick gestellt, and in his Articul, in denen die evangelischen Kirchen im Handel, des Abendmahls einig oder spanig sired, the assertion that the Palatines had fallen away from the Augsburg Confession, and were, therefore, to be excluded from the religious treaty of. peace. It was with reluctance that Ursinus had become a con testant in this dispute, and he longed for the time when he could retire from the arena. His official position alone claimed his powers beyond rightful bounds, and, owing to the frequent lack of an assist ant, he was often compelled to take sole charge of the seventy pupils. In Feb., 1568, he was relieved of his dogmatic lectures by the call of Zanchi (q.v.),

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but the overpressure still continued, the result being impaired health and increasing melancholy. In Aug., 1571, he was called to a theological professorship at Lausanne, but could not accept because the elector would not release him. Before long there arose new heated contentions within the Palatinate church itself, and Ursinus, who took a very pessimistic view of the prevalent ecclesiastical and moral conditions in the Palatinate, deemed it absolutely necessary that a church discipline should be introduced there after the pattern of the one ruling in Calvinistic churches abroad. He boldly promulgated this conviction in his Monita Ursini, which he submitted to the elector May 26, 1568, but while Olevianus (q.v.) and Zanchi concurred with him, other influential men, especially Thomas Erastus (q.v.), spoke decidedly against the project. Within a short time Ursinus withdrew from the strife, hopeless of practical results from the inauguration of the church discipline under Palatinate conditions. Prompted, however, by the attitude of Pastor Adam Neuser of Heidelberg, and of Inspector Johann Silvanus of Ladenburg, who belonged to the most zealous opponents of the church discipline, and who not only combated the doctrine of the Trinity, but also sought alliance with the sultan of Turkey, Elector Friedrich nevertheless procured the introduction of the discipline, on July 13, 1570, and of the presbyteries. The report of the Heidelberg theologians, leading to the execution of Neusen Dec. 23, 1572, bears the signature of Ursinus, as well; and when, in 1573, Jakob Andrea (q.v.) rejected the Heidelberg theologians on the ground that their teaching led to Islam, they defended themselves in their Bekanntnuss . . . von dem einigen Gott in dreyen Personen, of which, no doubt, Ursinus was one of the chief authors.

After the death of Friedrich III., Ursinus had to leave Heidelberg. On Oct. 3, 1577, the Collegium Sapientice was dissolved, since none of the sixtythree pupils would accept the Lutheran Smaller Catechism; and a week later Ursinus was dismissed. He found a new sphere of labor, however, at Neustadt-on-Hardt, together with Daniel Toussain (q.v.), Zanchi, and others, in the Collegium Casimi-

rianum, a school founded by Palsgrave The Johann Casimir, Friedrich's younger Closing son. He began his functions on May Years. 23, 1578, with lectures on Isaiah, and here, in 1581, he wrote his last fairly considerable work, De Libro Concordice Admonitio Christiana, which he later revised and expanded in German, the work being intended to vindicate the Reformed doctrinal concept at the signing of the Formula of Concord (q.v.). The bodily powers of Ursinus were already well-nigh completely broken when he entered upon his duties at Neustadt, and at the close of 1582 his sufferings reached an acute stage, which soon terminated his life.

J. Ney.

Bibliography: M. Adam, Vita; Gernxanorum theotogorum, pp. 529-542, Heidelberg, 1620; K. Sudhoff, K. Otevianua and Z. Ursinus, Elberfeld, 1857; J. F. A. Gillet, Crato von Cra$theim und seine Freunde, 2 vols., Frankfort, 1880; M. Gobel, Geschichte des christtichen Lebens in der rJceinisch westphalischen . . . Kirche, i. 393 sqq., Coblenz, 1862.