[Image] [Hi-Res Image]
Page 169
189 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Erdmaaa Ernest I. gius died in 1541 and was succeeded by Martin Ondermark, who completed the former's work. In general it may be said that the preachers were well disposed to the reformed religion, while the people held to the old and only gradually adapted themselves to the new. During the Schmalkald War the land remained true to the Gospel. After 1530 Ernest was the most influen tial prince of North Germany. He sent Rhegius to Hanover when the Reformation there threat ened to become revolution and restored order. In the cities of Westphalia he strengthened the Protestant party against both the Roman Catholics and the enthusiasts, although his efforts were vain in Munster. His influence was also felt in Pom merania and Mecklenburg, in Hoya, and in East Friesland. His moat effective work probably was accomplished by his restless activity for the Schmal kald League. He induced the North German cities, Hamburg, Bremen, Brunswick, GiSttingen, and others to join, and he often became the suc cessful mediator when a rupture was threatened between the overcautious elector of Saxony and the headstrong Philip of Hesse. While Ernest sometimes used harsh measures to accomplish his will, and was actuated by a desire to exalt his position as ruler as well as by higher motives. yet, on the whole, he was faithful to his motto, aliis inseruiendo corcsumor. His four sons at his death were still minors, but the Protestant Church of Luneburg was so firmly established that it could survive the regency and the unhappy time of the Schmalkald War, and to this day the church life of Lilneburg bears the character im pressed upon it by Ernest the Confessor. (G. Uahsolurt.) BIHLIOaa.1P8r: J. G. Bertram, Daa Leben Erneati, Bruns wick, 1719; J. K. F. Schlegel, Kirchen- and Reformatione geechichte van Norddeutachland and Hannover, vol. ii., Hanover, 1829; w. Havemann, Gexhschte der Laude Braunaehweip and Liineburg, vol. ii., G6ttingan, 1855; lives of Urbanua Rhesus by H. C. Heimbilrger, Goths, 1861, and G. Uhlhorn, Elberfeld, 1881; A. wrede, Die Einfnhrang der Reformation in Lflneburp durcA Heraop Ernst den Bekenner, G6ttingen, 1887; G. Uhlhorn, in Zeib erhrift den hietmroaehen Yereine for Niedersachsen, Hsn over, 1897, pp. 22 eqq.; AD.B, iv. 260 eqq. ERNEST, ELECTOR OF COLOGNE. See GEB sean II. ERNEST L, THE PIOUS: Duke of Saxe-Gotha and Altenburg; b. at the castle of Altenburg (26 m. 8. of Leipsic) Dec. 25, 1601; d. Mar. 26, 1675. Early left an orphan, he was brought up in a strict manner, and gifted and precocious, but not physically strong, he soon showed traits of the piety of the time. As ruler, by his character and governmental ability as well as by personal atten tion to matters of state, he introduced a golden time for his subjects after the ravages of the Thirty Years' War. By a wise economy, which did not exclude fitting generosity or display on proper occasions, he freed his land from debt, left at his death a considerable sum in the treasury, and reduced taxation. The public security and an incorruptible and efficient judiciary received much of his care, and his regulations served as models for other dates. He did not rise far enough above
his time to do away with torture, though he restricted it, and in the century of trials for witchcraft he yielded to the common delusion, though otherwise not inclined to superstition and a foe of alchemy. He prohibited dueling and imposed the death penalty for a mortal result.
His laws were not conceived in the spirit of modern ideas about individual liberty; they forbade secret betrothals, tried to regulate dress, and extended even to the stable, kitchen, and cellar. Nevertheless his regulations promoted agriculture, commerce, learning, and art. His palace of Friedenstein in Goths was rebuilt, and its collections owe their origin to Ernest; the library became one of the largest in Germany. Churches were built and by his Schulmethodua of 1642 Ernest became the father of the present grammar-school. It was a popular saying that his peasants were better instructed than the townsmen and nobles elsewhere, and at his death, it was said, no one in his land was unable to read and write. He made the gymnasium in Goths a model school which attracted pupils not only from all German lands, but from Sweden, Russia, Poland, and Hungary. In like manner he fostered the university at Jena, increasing its funds and regulating its studies, with too much emphasis on the religious aide. The same fault attaches to his efforts in church affairs, which won him the name of " Praying Ernest "; but an excuse is found in the fearful demoralization caused by the war. The Bible was his own everyday book and he strove unceasingly to make his people religious after a strict Lutheran pattern. Religious instruction, consisting in catechetical exercises without Bible history, was kept up even to advanced years and not unnaturally the rigid compulsion in some cases defeated its purpose. Ernest's system has maintained itself surprisingly; it still exists legally though somewhat modified or disregarded.
His efforts for Protestantism were not confined to his own land. He interceded with the emperor for his Austrian coreligioniata, and wanted to establish them in Goths. He became a benefactor to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Germans in Moscow and entered into friendly relations with the Czar. He even sent an embassy to introduce Lutheranism into Abyssinia, but failed to accomplish his purpose. His rule of his family is a miniature of his government of his land. The strictest discipline prevailed at court. Its life was simple ahd industrious, regu aced on all aides by religious exercises. Rules were added to rules. No detail was overlooked which could promote the spiritual and physical development of his children, and their religious education was carried to excess. Nevertheless his children all turned out well and Ernest died with the name of "father and savior of his people." Oliver Cromwell counted him among the moat sagacious of princes; in him was embodied " the idea of the Protestant patriarchal prince and of a Christian governor of State and Church truly caring for both." For the edition of the Bible which he planned (the so-called " Ernestine Bible ") see BIBLES, AMarsmZn, ertn BIBLE SUMMARIES,
I, § 1. G>coaa LosscaE.