A Brighter Day Begins with His Word.

John McClintock & James Strong • SECTION 714

Section 714

← McClintock & Strong Cyclopaedia — Volume 3

of New York, and after prosecuting his studies there a short time he returned to Georgia. He commenced the study of law, but after his marriage, which took place in 1811, he gave up his legal pursuits, and settled down into the life of a planter, from which he was only aroused by an appointment as colonel of a regiment to repair to Savannah in 1815. At the end of the war he returned to his studies with such intensity as to h ad to the neglect of his business and the loss of his property. In the year 1823 he removed to Augusta, and engaged in the practice of the law with flattering success, but in 1824 he was attacked with hemorrhage of the lungs, and from that time was unable to attend to the duties of his profession, and never afterwards fully regained his health. At this period of his life a great change in his character took place. Heretofore he liad been inclined to one or other of the forms of scepticii-m, but Fletcher's Appeal to Matter of Fact and Common Sense falling in his way, his scepticism was dissipated, and his heart opened to the influence of Christianity. In 1828 he was admitted on trial in the South Carolina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. " Not- withstanding he was always an invalid from the time he entered the ministrj', he performed a great amount of labor, and filled some of the most important places in the gift of his denomination. He was the projector, and for a time the president, of Emory Col- lege, at Oxford, Ga., and rendered important service to the cause of education and sound morals." The de- gree of LL.D. was conferred upon ]\lr. Few by the Weslej-an University in 1838. Dr. Few's last public act was the drawing up of the report on the division of the Methodist Church, which was adopted by the Georgia Conference in 1845. The excitement pro- duced by this eflTort was too much for his strength, and, though he partially rallied and lingered during the greater part of the J'ear, his debilitated constitu- tion sank ;.tlast, and he died in great peace at Athens, Ga., Nov. 21, 1845, and was buried in Oxford, the seat ff Emory College. He left a widow, but no children. — Sprague, Annals, vii, 739.

Fiacre, Salnt, an Irish hermit, who died at Breuil (Brie), in France, about 670. He was originalh' called in France Fefre, and, according to some writers, the name Fiacre was given to him about five or six hun- dred years after his death. Little is known about his life. According to some writers, he descended frcni an illustrious Irish family ; according to others, he was the son of a king of Scotland. He came to France with some companions while still very joung, culti- vated a tract of land, and built cells for himself and his companions, and an asylum for foreigners. An Irish or Scotch nobleman, h\ the name of Chillen, in- duced him to preach in the neighboring provinces, and his sermons are said to have had great results. He was buried in Iiis oratorj' at Breuil, and subsequently an oratory was erected on the spot. His relics became quite celebrated, as a number of miracles were ascribed to them ; as, for instance, by queen Ann, wife of Louis XIII. In the former province of Artois, where he is the object of a particular veneration, he is commemo- rated on the 13th of November. He is also the patron of the gardeners, who commemorate him on tlie 30th of August. A class of four-wheeled French carriages, which became common in the 17th century, are said by some to have been named after him, as the invent- or had on his sign the words A Saint Fiacj-e ; but oth- ers explain the origin of the word diff'erently. Some writers make mention of a letter written l)y Fiacre to his sister Syra, and containing some exhortations.—. Hoefer, Nouvelle Biofjraphie Genirale, xvi', 614. (A. J. S.)

Fichte, JoiiANN Gottlieb, a German pliiloso- pher, was born May 19, 1762, at the village of Ram- menau, near Bischofswerda, in Lusatia. The baron Miltetz, struck with the promise of the boy, assumed

FICHTE

543

FICHTE

Public-domain 19th-century biblical, theological, and ecclesiastical reference work; OCR text from Internet Archive. Historical scholarship and terminology reflect its era; OCR may contain errors. Verify quotations and current scholarly claims independently.

Project Gutenberg source record →