attending any of the larger conferences in which relig- ious and ecclesiastical matters were discussed, but he maintained a steady correspondence with most of the Reformers, particularly Jlelancthon, Bucer, and Capito. His advice was sought with reference to the desired settlement of the sacramental difficulty, which was at- tempted in the Concord of Stuttgart in 1534, and sought to be confirmed by the Wittenberg Concord. The latter document was signed by Schwebel and his colleagues, but with the reservation implied in the words '• Vidimus et legimus exemplar coneordi;v." He was essentially a man of peace, and not disposed to let usages and cere- monies cause divisions in the Church (see Cent. Epist. p. 297, 351). In few words, Schwebel occupied a posi- tion in dogmatics largely identical with that of Melanc- thon as represented in the Loci Communes and the Latin edition of his Articles oj" Visitation ; and in Church or- ganization he held to the Reformed system of a presby- terial and synodal constitution emanating from the con- gregation. If such organization was left uncompleted in his day, he had at least prepared the way for its ul- timate consummation. He fell a victim to tlie plague when scarce fifty years of age, May 19, 1540, and his wife died two days later.
Schwebel's printed works are, Oj)era Theohgicorum (pt. i, Biponti, 1595, 8vo) : — Centiiria Ejnstolarum (ibid. 1597, 8vo) : — Scripta Theologica, etc., a mere reprint of the two previous works, with preface omitted (ibid. 1G05, 8vo) : — Teutsche Schriften (Zweibriick. 1598) : — Ermah- nung zu d. Quest, abzustellen iiberfliiss. Kosten (1522) : — Sermon on the Good Shepherd (1524). — Herzog, Real- Encyklop. s. v.
Schwebel, Johann (2), a supporter of the Refor- mation in Strasburg, was born at Bischoffingen, near Breisach, in 1499, and was for a time a Cistercian monk at Thennenbach. He left the convent in 1524, and, because of his familiarity with ancient languages, se- cured the position of teacher at Strasburg, where he died, in 15G6. See R(3hrich, Gesch. d. Ref. im Elsass, i, 255; ii, 55; Vierordt, Gesch. der had. Ref. i, 12G. — Herzog, Real-Encyklop. s. v.
Schwedler, .Johann Ciiristopii, a Lutheran min- ister of Germany, was born at Krobsdorf, Silesia, Dec. 21, 1G72. He studied at Leipsic, and in 1697 was ap- pointed assistant deacon in Niederwiese, in Upper Lu- satia. In 1701 he was appointed to the pastorate of that place, and died Jan. 12, 1730. He is the author of about 500 hymns, the most beautiful of which is his " Wollt ihr wissen, was viein Pi-eis," translated into English in Ilgmnologia Chi-istiana, No. 620, "Ask ye what great thing I know." See Wezel, Ili/mnop. iv, 4G3 sq. ; Otto, Lexikon oberlausitzischer Schriftsteller, III, i, 248 sq.; Koch, Gesch. d. deutsch. Kircheniiedes,v, 225 sq. ; Knapp, Evangel. Liederschatz, s. v. (B. P.)
Schwegler, Albert, a German rationalist, per- haps, after Baur, the leading representative of the mod- ern Tubingen school. His father was pastor in the vil- lage of Michelbach, Wlirtemberg, and there Albert was born, Feb. 10, 1819. His early instruction was directed bj' his father, and was supplemented by the schools of Schwabisch-Hall and Schuntlial, so that he entered the evangelical seminary at Tubingen in 1836 with rare preparatory acquirements. He immediately entered on the study of the Hegelian philosophy, and was so fasci- nated that he could find no pleasure in the study of Schleiermacher, which he had also undertaken, and con- sidered the relation of that theologian to Clirisiianity as evidence of his intellectual narrowness. Philosoph- ical speculation was less suited to his mind, however, than historical inquiry. He was consequently mightily impressed on its appearance with Strauss's Ltben Jesu, which he regarded as the culmination of the entire ten- dency in which the relation of theology to philosophy had been developed. Tlie measures taken by the au- thorities against Strauss served only to heighten Sch weg- ler's enthusiasm for that author. Tlie longer he studied
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that work, however, the more reason cVkI he find for doubt. He believed that the text of the (iospels would afford a more solid historical basis than Strauss had found. His philosophical opinions, too, were becoming uncertain ; he came to believe that the Hegelian sj'stem did not concede sufficient importance to the factor of personality, and questioned whether philosophy might not become more largely Christian than it then was; anil in the end he acknowledged that he could not be certain that he should not become a pietist at last.
While in this state of uncertainty he became a disci- ple of F. Chr. Baur, in whom he imagined that he had found what he desired. He thoroughly mastered that theologian's theory of the conditions of early Christian- ity, and subsequently elaborated it in various essaj's and treatises. While a student, he solved two problems set by the theological facultj'— one of which concerned the relation of the ideal to the historical Christ, and the other the Montanist heres}-— and obtained both prizes. A brilliant examination, supplemented by the reception of a first prize in homiletics and another in catechetics, brought his student life to a close in 1840. He re- mained at Ti'ibingen, employed in literary labors, diir- iug nine months longer. In 1841 he published his prize essay on Montanism iu an enlarged form, under the title Der Montanismus t(. d. christl. Kirche d, 2ten Juhrhundtrts, and afterwards travelled through Ger- many to Holland and Belgium, with the result that he was confirmed in the tendency he had begun to culti- vate. On his return to Tubingen in 1842, he was obliged to assume charge of the affairs of the Church at the neighboring village cf Bebenhausen ; but he had deter- mined on a literary and academical career, and contin- ued in that relation less than a year. In the autumn of 1843 he qualified himself for a tutorship in the theo- logical seminary by reading before the philosophical faculty an essa}' on the Symposium of Plato, but with- out obtaining the desired place. In 1844 he, with a number of friends, founded the Jahrhilcher der Gec/m- u-art, and became the actual editor. His rejection from the theological seminary had the effect to intensify his devotion to the system of Baur, as appears from the ■ivork entitled Das nacha2Wstol. Zeitulter (Tub. 184(5). This work was finished in six months, and is far inferior to the earlier work on Montanism. Its fundamental proposition is, that primitive Christianity was simple Ebionitism. In 1847 Schwegler published the Clemen- tine Homilies, and in 1852 the Ecclesiastical IIisioi-y of Eusebius. All his subsequent works are outside the field of theology — Aristot. Metaphysik (1847): — Gesch. d. Philosophic {\8-iS) •.—Evmische Gesch., of which vol. iii appeared in 1858, carrying the description forward to the Licinian laws. This volume is preceded by a life of the author, from which the data for this article are oljtaincd. Schwegler had in 1848 been made ex- traordinary professor for Roman literature and antiqui- ties, and afterwards obtained also the chair of ancient history. He died suddenly, Jan. 5, 1857. — Herzog, lieal-Encyklop). s. \.