that induced the major part of the company to settle there; and were patronized by the excellent countessdowager of Oldenburg. In 1555, à Lasco removed to Frankfort-on-the-Maine, where he obtained leave of the senate to erect a church for the use of foreigners of the reformed religion, and particularly for those of the Netherlands, over which Peter Dathen was appointed minister. At length, after an absence of twenty years, he returned to Poland, where he found a friend and protector in the king, who employed him in various important affairs. He died in peace at Frankfort, January 13th, 1560. He had been twice married; his second wife survived him; and he is said to have had children by both his wives. His writings were chiefly controversial: a list of them is given by Melchior Adam, and Chalmers."

In the preceding account of John à Lasco, PETER DATHEN, OF DATHENUS, is mentioned as the first pastor of the reformed church at Frankfort-on-the-Maine. Brandt, in different parts of his History of the Reformation in the Low Countries, furnishes the following particulars respecting him. He had been a monk, who fled from the Netherlands, to avoid the danger to which he was exposed from having adopted the sentiments of the reformers. After quitting the cloister, he took refuge in the palatinate, and became chaplain to the elector-palatine, at Heidelberg; but upon the success of the Protestants in the Netherlands, returned to his own country. Prior to his return, and probably during his stay in the palatinate, he translated the PSALMS of CLEMENT MAROT and THEODORE BEZA, into Low-Dutch metre, adapted them to the French tunes and measure, and published them, with a dedication to all the Belgic congregations

(42) Melch. Adami, Vit. Theolog. Exteror. pp. 19–22,
Chalmers' Gen. Biog. Dict. I. pp. 291–298.

Strype's Memorials of Abp. Cranmer, I. B. ii, ch. xxii. pp. 336-346.
Jortin's Life of Erasmus, I. pp. 379. 381; II. pp. 77. 79,

and their pastors groaning under the cross. These Psalms soon became popular, and were used wherever the public preaching prevailed; though his ignorance of the Hebrew language occasioned a number of faults in them. They were, nevertheless, greatly extolled, and procured him much favour, since, at that time, Dutch Poetry was very little cultivated. His popularity was further increased by his address and eloquence in the pulpit, which gained him such numerous audiences, that his sermons are said to have been attended by above 15,000 auditors at once. His popularity and zeal rendered him fiery and intolerant, and having become the minister of Ghent, he so inflamed the minds of the populace against the Roman Catholics, by his discourses, that he contributed, in no small degree, to those acts of violence which were committed by the reformed in that city. When the duke of Parma took Ghent, in 1584, Dathen retired to Staden, in the dutchy of Bremen, where he assumed the name of Peter Montanus, and practised physic. After residing about a year at Staden, he removed to Dantzic, but was expelled from the city by the magistrates, at the instigation of the anabaptists, who accused him of treachery and sedition. From thence he escaped to Elbing, and continued to practise as a physician till his death, which occurred February 19th, 1590. Such was the estimation in which he was held by the inhabitants of the city in which he died, that they erected a monument to his memory, and placed his statue over it.48

The states of the United Netherlands being desirous of promoting the Reformation by gentler methods, than those to which they had been obliged to resort in their struggle for religious liberty, began, towards the close of this century, to meditate a new translation of the Bible. (43) Brandt's Hist. of the Reformation, I. B. vi. p. 172; and Abridgment, I. pp. 134-136, 188, 189. 217, 218.

The old Dutch translation having been made from Luther's German version, was deemed extremely defective and erroneous, so that Philip de Marnix, lord of St. Aldegonde, affirmed, "that out of a bad German, there had been made a worse Dutch translation." This learned gentleman having severely criticised the former translation, and being celebrated for his knowledge of the Hebrew language, was judged to be the most proper person for carrying the wishes of the states into effect, he was therefore appointed in September, 1595, to translate the Old Testament out of Hebrew into Dutch. He was allowed an annual salary of 1400 guilders, beside 300 more for the rent of his house. For this purpose he went to reside at Leyden, where he pursued his important labours for about four years, when the prosecution of the great object of the translation was prevented by his death, in 1599, in the 60th year of his age.

PHILIP DE MARNIX, lord of SAINTE ALDEGONDE, was a native of Brussels, born in 1538, of an honourable family. Having embraced the principles of Calvin, at Geneva, he became the intrepid defender of the religious liberties of the reformed, and was honoured with the confidence of the prince of Orange, who frequently employed him in embassies, and other offices demanding great political skill and judgment. In 1584, he was consul at Antwerp, and defended it against the duke of Parma. But whilst entrusted with political affairs of great importance, he never lost sight of the liberty and prosperity of the Protestant church, which he studied to promote in every possible way, and published several tracts in defence of the cause of the reformed. Among the more important of his writings, is a new Dutch translation of the PSALMS, and SONGS of the Bible, in metre. It must, however, be acknowledged to be a defect in his character, that he, with too many of his day, adopted the intolerant opinion of the lawfulness of punishing heterodox opinions with

death. A list of his writings is given by Verheiden."

Leaving the Netherlands for the present, we may now turn our attention to DENMARK, where vigorous measures continued to be pursued for promoting a general acquaintance with the Sacred Scriptures. For in two years after the publication of the Danish Bible, an edition of "the Books of Solomon" was printed at Wittemberg, 1552, 8vo. containing the PROVERBS, ECCLESIASTES, and the SONG OF SOLOMON. Luther's preface is prefixed, translated by HANS (or JOHN) SIUNESON, or SYNNING, the translator of that part of the Danish Bible now reprinted. The marginal notes of Luther were added to the text.

In 1556, an edition of the PSALMS OF DAVID was published at Lubeck, in 8vo. by ERASMUS MICHAEL LÆTUS, who was at that time pursuing his studies abroad, and was afterwards professor of divinity in Copenhagen. To this version, which is stated to be the same with that of the Danish Bible, an "Address," by Bishop Palladius, follows the translation of Luther's preface, in which he says, this edition was published in order to supersede the use of Schmaltzing's Psalter, which had met with too much acceptance in Denmark. After the address, Lætus's preface is subjoined; and at the end of the volume there is a classification of the different Psalms, according to the nature of their contents. This Psalter was reprinted in the same form, at Wittemberg, 1557; and at Copenhagen, 1558.

In 1558, an edition of the Danish New Testament made its appearance at Wittemberg, in small 4to. "cum gratia et privilegio Regiæ Majestatis." Except some slight alterations in the orthography, and the occasional introduction of expletives, this version is the same with that in the Bible. "I cannot help expressing my sus

(44) Brandt's Hist. of the Reformation, I. B. xvi. pp. 453. 478.

Verheiden, Præstantium aliquot Theologorum, &c. p. 144. Hagæ
Comitis, 1602.

picion," says Dr. Henderson, "that this is the edition of the Danish New Testament, which Le Long mentions, as printed at Wittemberg, 1551, as it is certain he has mistaken it for an edition of Christiern Pedersen's, which he says was printed at the same place, 1558. No trace of any such editions is to be found in the libraries of Copenhagen, nor do I find a single word respecting them in any Danish author."

In 1582, an edition of Christiern Pedersen's version of the PSALMS was published in Copenhagen, by Matz Viingaard, at the expense of Gregory Ulstand Fruitsön, of Solt. It was republished at the same place, in 1584; and again, in 1586. Le Long mentions, on the authority of Bartholin, a New Testament, as also having been printed at Copenhagen, in 1584, by Jonas Turreson, but no such edition is known in Denmark.

The progress of the Reformation in Denmark created an ardent desire among the inhabitants of that country, for the possession of those Oracles of Truth to which their teachers constantly referred them, as the standard by which they were to judge whether the doctrines delivered to them were of divine authority, or merely of human invention. The call for a new edition of the Scriptures became every day more loud and imperious; and happily for the Danes, Frederic II., the monarch who then swayed the sceptre, was favourable to their wishes, and appears to have been familiar with the Sacred Writings himself. The following anecdote has been related of him, as exemplifying his acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures, and his ability to quote them with judgment: "A peasant, from the island of Samsoe, had for some time been rather troublesome to his Majesty; pretending he had seen a mermaid, who enjoined him to announce to the king, that the queen would shortly be delivered of a prince, who would rise to great eminence among the potentates of Europe, but requiring, as an act of grateful