The Marrow of Ecclesiastical History, James Andreas
The Life of James Andreas, who died Ano Christi 1590.
JAmes Andreas was born in Waibling in the Dukedome of Wittemberg, Anno 1528.His birth and education. And when his Father had kept him three years at School (being unable to maintaine him any longer) he intended to have placed him with a Carpenter;His parents poverty: but being disswaded by Sebastian Mader, the Consul, he sent him to Stutgard to Erhard Snepfius, who was Superintendent of the Wirtembergian Churches, intreating him to grant him an exhibition out of the Churches stock for the breeding of him at School. Snepfius examining the boy, who was now ten years old,Snep…ius provides for him. found him of an excellent wit; but withall perceived that hee had been neglected at School: whereupon he agreed to allow him part of his maintenance, and his Father to make up the rest, and so placed him in the School at Stutgard, under a choice Schoolmaster, with whom (in two years space) he learned the Latine and Greek Grammar and Rhetorick,He goes to Tubing. and so An. Chr. 1541 he went to Tubing, where he so profited, that at the end of two years he was made Batchelor of Arts, and two years after that, Mr. of Arts. There also he studied Hebrew & Divinity. And An. Ch. 1546, and of his age 18,He is made Deacon. he was made Deacon, and for trial, preached in the chief Church of Stutgard in a great Auditory, and did so well perform that work, that his fame spread abroad, and at last came to the ears of Ulrick Duke of Wirtemberg, who sent for him to Preach before him in his Castle, which hee did with much applause;He preaches before the Duke. so that after Sermon, the Duke said; Whence soever this chicken came, I know that he was hatched and bred up under Snepfius. The same year at Tubing he married a Wife,His marriage. by whom hee had eighteen children, nine sonne, and nine daughters.
About that time brake forth that fatall Warre betwixt Charles the fifth and the Protestant Princes, wherein the Emperour being conquerour,Gods providence. hee seised upon the Dukedome of Wirtemberg, by reason whereof the Church was in a sad condition, yet Andreas, with his Wife remained in Stutgard, and by Gods speciall providence was preserved in the midst of Spanish Souldiers, and yet preached constantly, and faithfully all the while. And so hee continued till Anno Christi 1548, at which time that accursed Interim came forth,The accursed Interim. which brought so much mischief to the Church of God.
Andreas, amongst other godly Ministers that opposed it, was driven from his place:He is Deacon at Tubing. Yet it pleased God that the year after he was chosen again to be Deacon at Tubing, where by Catechising he did very much good.
Anno Christi 1550 Ulrick dying, his son Christopher succeeded him in the government of Wirtemberg, and affected Andreas exceedingly,He commenceth Doctor. and would needs have him Commense Doctor; which degree (having performed all his exercises) he took the twenty fifth year of his age, and was chosen Pastor of the Church of Gompping, He is made Superintendent.and was made Superintendant of those parts. About the same time he was sent for by Lodwick Count of Oeting to assist him in the reforming of the Churches within his jurisdiction, & when he took his leave of his own Prince Christopher, he charged him, and gave it him in writing, That if Count Lodwick set upon that Reformation, Note. Sacrilege abhorred.that under pretence of Religion he might robbe the Church, and seise upon the Revenues of the Monasteries, and turn them to his private use, that he should presently leave him, and come back again. He assisted also in the reformation of the Churches in Helfenstein, Anno Christi 1556.
About that time,A strange story of a Jew. hearing of a Jew that for theft was hanged by the heels with his head downward in a village hard by, having not seen that kind of punishment, he went to the place, where he found him hanging between two Dogs, that were alwaies snatching at him, tearing and eating his flesh: The poor wretch repeated in Hebrew some verses of the Psalms, wherein hee cried to God for mercy; whereupon Andreas went nearer to him, and instructed him in the Principles of the Christian Religion, about Christ the Messiah, &c. and exhorted him to believe in him; and it pleased God so to blesse his exhortation to him, that the Dogs gave over tearing of his flesh, and the poor Jew desired him to procure that he might be taken down, and baptised, and hung by the neck for the quicker dispatch, which was done accordingly.
The same year Charles, Marquesse of Baden, beganne a Reformation of the Churches within his dominions, and to assist him therein he sent for divers Divines, and amongst the rest,He helps forward Reformation. for Dr Andreas, by whose help he cast out the Popish Religion and Ceremonies, and established the true Religion according to the Augustane Confession: The like he did in Brugoia. About the same time also Doctor Andreas was sent for by the Senate of the Imperiall City of Rottenburg, because the Pastors in their jurisdiction used divers Ceremonies, so that they feared least contentions should arise about the Substantials in Divinity, whereupon by the advice of Andreas, they were united in one Confession of Faith consonant to the Word of God, and certain Ceremonies were agreed on, which all the Ministers should unanimously use for the time to come. Yea he was of such esteem, that he was sent for by divers Princes to reform the Churches in their jurisdictions. Hee was present at divers Synods and Disputations about Religion.Gods providence. Hee travelled many thousands of miles, being usually attended but with one servant, yet it pleased God that in all his journyes he never met with any affront.
Anno Christi 1552, the Chancellors place in the University of Tubing was voyd by the death of Beurlin, whereupon Prince Christopher, consulting with the Heads of the University, made Doctor Andreas Chancellor in his stead.He is made Chancellour of the University. About which time he was sent into Thuringia to compose the difference between the Divines of Jenes, Flacius Illiricus, aud Strigelius, about the power of Free-will.
Anno Christi 1580 came forth the book of Concord, which was approved and subscribed by three Electors, twenty one Princes,His great pains about the Concord. twenty two Counts, four Barons, thirty five Imperiall Cities, and eight thousand Ministers. This was set on foot by the Elector of Saxony, but carried on by the excessive labours of Doctor Andreas, who carried it from one to another, resolving all doubts, and answering all objections till he had got all those subscriptions.
The year before his death,Death foretold, and desired. hee used often to say, that hee should not live long; that hee was weary of this life, and much desired to be dissolved, and to be with Christ which was best of all.His …icknesse. Falling sick, he sent for James Herbrand, saying, I exspect that after my death many adversaries will rise up to asperse me, and therefore I sent for thee to hear the confession of my faith, that so thou mayst testifie for me when I am dead and gone, that I died in the true Faith. The Confession of his Faith.The same Confession also he made afterwards before the Pastors and Deacons of Tubing. The night before his death he slept, partly upon his bed, and partly in his chair: When the clock struck fix in the morning, he said, My hour draws near. He gave thanks to God for bestowing Christ,What he gives thanks for. for revealing his Will in his Word, for giving him Faith, and the like benefits; and when he was ready to depart, he said, Lord into thy hands I commend my spirit, and so he fell asleep in the Lord Anno Christi 1590,His death. and of his age 61.
In the discharge of his office he never spared any labour; hee never shrunk under any trouble. He wrote many Epistles to severall men upon several arguments.His Works. A learned, and rich man of Tubing after Doctor Andreas his death, said, that he had in his Library fifteen hundred bookes of his writing upon severall Arguments.