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488 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Gerbert Serhardt attracted him thither, and Winckelmann and Ment zer especially influenced him. When Hesse-Cassel, under Landgrave Maurice, accepted the Reformed doctrine he left Marburg and went back to Jena hoping to become professor. But Duke Casimir of Coburg, to whom he was highly recommended, entrusted him with the superintendency at Held burg and made him doctor of theology. He was only twenty-four years old at this time. In 1615 the duke made him general superintendent at Coburg, and in this position he was commissioned to draw up a church order. His nature and talents, however, made him long for a professor's chair, and he received calls from different universities, but Duke Casimir considered a theologian of Gerhard's importance indispensable for tis realm. At last, however, the opposition of the duke was overcome, and in 1616 Gerhard became professor at Jena. All the different phases of the academic teacher seemed to find their full development in Gerhard, and his lectures attracted crowds of students. He loved his students, in case of sickness His Char- went to their residence, and assisted acter and them in all their troubles. His con Activities. temporaries considered him the great est theologian of his time. He re ceived no less than twenty-four calls from different universities while at Jena, but he had no reason to leave. Although his salary was not large, he amassed a not inconsiderable fortune from emolu ments accruing from his connection with princes and noblemen, and moreover, he lived in peace with all his colleagues. His usefulness showed itself also in the domain of practical church work and even of politics. The theologians of Saxony had brought about conventions from which they hoped to develop gradually a supreme tribunal of the Lutheran Church at the birthplace of the Refor mation. Important conventions were held in 1621, 1624, 1628, and 1630, and in all of them Gerhard held a leading position. To many princes he was an oracle in questions of all kinds, such as the recommendations of church or school officers, princely match-makings or sponsorships, arbitra tion in disputes, and mediation in pecuniary affairs. Indeed, he himself sometimes gave financial aid to princes. His health was rather delicate and considerably affected by his numerous journeys on business. In the sphere of dogmatics two works especially made Gerhard's name famous. One of them was the Confessio catholica, in qua doctrana catholica et evangelica, quam ecclesiT Augustanee con(essioni addictw prof lerttur, ex Romano-catholicorum scrip torum sufragiis conftrmatur (4 parts, Frankfort and Leipsic, 1634-37), based upon the Catalogue testium mritatis of Flacius. It is more compre hensive than its title denotes, being at the same time an extensive apology and polemic of the Evan gelical creed. The first part is general Writings. and treats the prineipia et media nos trtE et pontifeciw religionis. The other three volumes treat the disputed articles of faith in the order of Bellarmine, the controversialist par excellence. But the chief work which established Gerhard's theological reputation is his Loci theo-
logici; he began this at the age of twenty-seven and wrote the last and ninth volume in 1622. In 1657 his son, Johann Ernst, prepared a new edition, and another (22 vols.) was issued by J. F. Cotta, professor of dogmatics in Tiibingen in 1762-89 (later eds. by E. Preuss, 33 vols., Berlin, 1863-75; 9 vols., Leipsic, 1885), Gerhard's work is distinguished from that of his predecessors like Chemnitz and Hutten by a certain progress in method. He made a more logical arrangement of the loci and distinguished different groups. He puts the doctrine concerning Scripture before his system proper, because the dogma of the canon is not really an article of faith, but the basis of the articles of faith. Over against the infallibility of the pope he sets the infallibility of Scripture. But here it becomes evident that the strongest side of the orthodox faith is also its weakest side, for in order to save the authority of Scripture Gerhard had to maintain a theory of inspiration that included even the Hebrew vowel points. This weak point was cleverly detected by the Jesuits. Nevertheless the work may be justly characterized as the consummation of Lutheran dogmatic theology as initiated by Melanchthon. Besides these two principal works may be mentioned an exegetical writing entitled Harnwnia cvangelistarum Chemnitio-Lyseriana a Jo. Gerhardo continuata et iusto commer"rio alluatrata (3 parts, Jena, 1626-27). Another production contributing to his fame was the Meditationes sacra,, which he wrote as a student in 1606. It consists of fifty-one devotional meditations, has passed through innumerable editions, and even recently several translations have appeared (Fourteen Meditations, London, 1846). A work of a similar nature and similar success was his Exercitium pietatis quotidianum quadripartitum (Coburg, 1612-15). His Schola pietatis (1622-23) was less successful. His Enchfridion conaolatorium was translated into German and edited in 1877 by C. J. B6ttcher (Leipsic, 1877). There appeared recently (Leipsic, 1898) D. Joannis Gerhardihomilite XXXj'1, seu meditationes breves diebus dominicis atque festis accommodates e manuscriptis Gerhardinis ab illustrfssima InViotheea Gothana asservatis; primum edidit Dr. G. Berbig. In his Methodus 8tudii theologici (1620) he touched the sphere of isagogics, and emphasized especially the study of Holy Scripture.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A highly satisfactory biography of Gerhard, based upon sources, some of which are no longer accessible, was prepared by E. R. Fischer, Leipsic,1723, 1727. Consult: W. Gass, Geschichte der protestantischen Dopmatik, i. 246 sqq., Berlin, 1854; G. Frank, Geschichte der protestanti8chen Throlopie i 371 sqq. Leipsic,1862; E. Troaltsch, Yernunft and Otjenbarunp bei J. Gerhard and Mslanrhthon, G&ttingen, 1891.
GERHARD TONQUE. See JOHN, SkINT, ORDER OF HOSPITALERS OF.
GERHARDT, g&r'hdrt, PAULUS: The foremost of German hymn-writers; b. at Grafenhainichen (10 m. s. w.of Wittenberg), Electoral Saxony, Mar. 12, 1607; d. at Liibben (40 m. s.w. of Frankfort-on-the-Oder) June 7, 1676. He studied at Wittenberg from 1628, but, probably owing to the disorders of war, it was not until 1651 that he