HEERMANN, JOHANNES, a German poet and divine, born at Raudten, near Wohlau, Silesia, October 11, 1585; died at Lissa, province of Posen, February 17, 1647. He was the fifth and only surviving child of a furrier of Raudten ; and during a severe illness in his childhood his mother vowed that if he recovered she would educate him for the ministry, even though she had to beg the necessary money. He passed through the schools at Wohlau; at Fraustadt; the St. Elizabeth gymnasium at Breslau; and the gymnasium at Brieg. In 1609 he accompanied two young noblemen, to whom he had been tutor at Brieg, to the University of Strassburg; but an affection of the eyes caused him to return home in 1610. The following year he was appointed diaconus of Köben, and was promoted the same year to the pastorate there. In 1634, in consequence of a painful affection of the throat, he ceased preaching, and in 1638 he retired to Lissa, where he remained until his death. Much of his manhood was spent amid the distressing scenes of the Thirty Years' War. Köben was plundered four times between 1629 and 1634, and was devastated by fire in 1616 and by pestilence in 1631. He lost all his movable property several times; was nearly sabred twice; was a fugitive on one occasion for seventeen weeks; and while crossing the Oder in a frail VOL. XIII.-7

and overloaded boat he heard the bullets of his pursuers whistle over his head. Amid these trials, and borne down with sickness and domestic troubles, he wrote his finest hymns. His principal work is his Devoti Musica Cordis (1644), better known by its German title as Haus und Hertz Musica (House and Heart Music). Other works are: Exegesis Fidei Christiana (1609); Gebetbuch (1609); a volume of religious poems entitled Andachtige Kirchenseufzer oder Reimen (1616); Heptalogus Christi (1619); Leichenpredigten (1620), being five volumes of funeral orations; Epigrammatum Libri IX. (1624); Erklärung aller Sonn und Festtagsepisteln (1624), being an explication of all the Sunday and feast-day epistles; Poetische Erquickstunden für Angefochtene Kranke und Sterbende (1656), a book of poems for the sick and the dying.

"As a hymn-writer," says Julian, in his great work on hymnology, “Heermann ranks with the best of his century, some indeed regarding him as second only to Gerhardt. His hymns are distinguished by depth and tenderness of feeling; by firm faith and confidence in face of trial; by deep love to Christ, and humble submission to the will of God. Many of them became at once popular, passed into the hymn-books, and still hold their place among the classics of German hymnody."

"His hymns and other lyrical poems," says Gostwick and Harrison in their Outlines of German Literature, "express the religious discontent --the contrast between this life and a higherthat supplies the key-note for a great part of the sacred poetry written during the Thirty Years' War."

O GOD, THOU FAITHFUL GOD.

O God, thou faithful God!

Thou well-spring of all blessing!
In whom we all exist,

From whom we're all possessing!
Give me a body sound;
And in it, builded well,
Let an unblemished soul
And a good conscience dwell.

Afford me will and strength
To do the work assigned me,
Whereto, in my true place,

The law may call and find me.
Let it be timely done,

With eager readiness; And what is done in Thee Have ever good success.

Help me to speak but that

Which I can stand maintaining;

And banish from my lips

The word that's coarse and staining;

And when the duty comes

To speak with earnest stress,

Then grant the needed force
Unmixed with bitterness.

When trouble shall break in,
Let me not turn despairer;

But give a steadfast heart,

And make me a cross-bearer, When health and comfort fail, Send to my side the Friend,

Who closer than a brother,

Shall watch the sorrow's end.

-Translation of N. L. FROTHINGHAM.

HEGEL, GEORGE WILHELM FRIEDRICH, a German philosopher, born at Stuttgart, Würtemberg, August 27, 1770; died in Berlin, November 14, 1831. When eighteen years of age he entered the University of Tübingen as a student of theology; but the classics attracted him more than theology or philosophy. After receiving his certificate in 1793, he became a private tutor, first at Berne, and afterward at Frankfort-on-the-Main. Here he turned to the study of Christianity, and wrote a life of Jesus, in whom he saw not a sacrifice for the sins of the world, but a man conscious of union with God, and hence suffering death with tranquillity. A small inheritance from his father in 1799, gave Hegel an opportunity to resume a studious life. In January, 1801, he went to Jena, and during the next winter gave his first course of lectures on logic and metaphysics. In 1805 he became Professor Extraordinary of Philosophy in the University, but in 1806, on the capture of Jena by Napoleon, he went to Bamberg, where he published his Phenomenology of the Mind. For eighteen months he was editor of the Bamberger Zeitung, during which time his Phenomenology appeared (1807). From 1808 to 1816, he was Rector of the Gymnasium of Nuremberg, and published his Science of Logic (1812-16). He was called to the chair of Philosophy at Heidelberg in 1816, and two years later, after the death of

Fichte, to Berlin. At Heidelberg he brought out the Encyclopædia of the Philosophical Sciences (1817). This exposition of his system he enlarged in 1830 to twice its original size. For the thirteen remaining years of his life he gave himself entirely to his work. He published The Philosophy of Right and The Philosophy of Religion in 1821; The Philosophy of History in 1827. Others of his works are on Psychology, Ethics, Esthetics, and The History of Philosophy.

THE BRAHMINS.

Brahma (neuter) is the Supreme in Religion, but there are besides chief divinities Brahma (masc.) Vishnu or Krishna-incarnate in infinitely diverse forms— and Siva. These formed a connected Trinity. Brahma is the highest; but Vishnu or Krishna, Siva, the Sun; moreover, the Air, etc., are also Brahm, i.e. Substantial Unity. To Brahm itself no sacrifices are offered it is not honored; but prayers are presented to all other idols. Brahm itself is the substantial Unity of All. The highest religious position of man, therefore, is being exalted to Brahm. If a Brahmin is asked what Brahm is, he answers: "When I fall back within myself, and close all external senses, and say ôm to myself, that is Brahm." Abstract unity with God is realized in this abstraction from humanity. An abstraction of this kind may in some cases leave everything else unchanged, as does devotional feeling, momentarily excited. But among the Hindus it holds a negative position toward all that is concrete; and the highest state is supposed to be this exaltation, by which the Hindu raises himself to Deity. The Brahmins, in virtue of their birth, are already in possession of the Divine. The distinction of caste involves, therefore, a distinction between present deities and more limited mortals. The other castes may likewise become partakers in a Regeneration; but they must submit themselves to immense self-denial, torture, and penance.

This elevation which others can only attain by toil