THOMAS
367
THOMAS
ing telegram to Dr. Schaff, who was then at Stuttgart, announcing his death, together with his last words:
"Ham.k, June 10,1877. "This day, at4 o'clock P. M., my dear husband, Dr. Au- gust Thohick, after long suffering, i;ei]tly entered into that blessed rest for which lie had l)een longing from the days of his yi)Ulh. Through the grace of God, his life, which was often threatened with an early termination, has been prolonged in indefatigable and fruitful labors to the age of seventy-eight years, "two months, and ten days. Under the heavy pressure and painful anxiety of the last year, his friends around him were permitted to observe, in various ways, the growing assurance of his faith and the victory of love in his heart. His last iiilelligent words were a cheerful profession of the cross of Clirist in view of approaching death: 'I am not afraid; Christ died for me' {Ich f'urchte mich nielit; denn Christus titarh fur micli)."
It was a fitting close of a long and useful career which was devoted to Clirist. The sum and substance of his theology was that Jesus lived and died for the salvation of sinners. To him as tlie only Master he led his in- numerable pupils. His lecture-room and his pulpit were a school of Christ. Herein lie his signiticance and fame in the history of German theology and religion. The New Yo7-k Observer (Aug. 16, 1*S77) thus announced Tholuck's death to its readers: "The greatest theolog- ical light of (lermany has just been extinguished;" while the Lntheran Observer (Aug. 8, 1877) winds up an article on Tholuck in the following words :
"Although Tholuck is dead* he nevertheless, like Abel, 'yet speaketh.' He spealcs on earth throui^h the recol- lection of his conversations, exhortations, and sermons; speaks in the notes taken of his lectures; speaks in his articles published in theolotrical reviews; speaks in the lirinted volumes written with his own hand; speaks through the sentiments, character, and labors of his stu- dents who have tinished their course; speaks through the faith, writiufiR, and efforts of his students who still live; speaks throuirh the moulding influence exerted upon the University of Halle, and the evangelical le.iveu infused into the institutions of Europe : speaks through the res- urrection of doctrinal orthodoxy, experimental piety, and religious activity in the Lutheran and other Protestant churches; yea, speaks in his whole life as a Christian man, as a popular writer, as a learned theolojiian, as an eloquent preacher ; and, over and above all, ' he yet speak- eth,' and will ccmtinue to speak as the studeiiten-prufesnor till time shall be no more."
We have not as yet a complete biography of Dr. Tholuck, who will till some cliapters in the Church his- tory of tlie I'.lth coutur_v. A sketch was published by Dr. Schatt', in liis Gernumy : its Unicersitics, Tkeolo(ji/. and Relujion (Fhila. 1857), p. 278 sq. Another sketch is given in the Theoloijisches Universal- Lexikon, s. v. Our present article is made up from different necrologies. As to Tholuck's works, it would be useless to try to enu- merate them. Ziudiold alone {Hibl. Theol. ii, 1332 sq.) gives four pages. His Commentaries have been trans- lated into English, and so also have some others of his works. The last of these, so far as we are aware, is Hours of Christian Devotion (Edinb. 1870), a work which has repeatedly been edited in Germanj'. (B. P.)
Thom'as (Goi/mf), one of the twelve apostles. A.D. 27-29.
1. His Xam.e. — This is evidently a Groecized form of the Aramaic X^XD, T'o^mu, which means the twin; and so it is translated in John xi, 16: xx, 24; xxi, 2, o Ai- ft'/tof, which has passed into a name, IHili/m.ns (q. v.). Tliis name occurs also on Phoenician inscriptions in a form which reminds us of the colloquial English ab- breviation, viz. SIXn and CKr. (Geaemns, Monti me7ita, p. 356). In Heb. also (Cant, vii, 4) it is simply DXP, teum, almost exactly our "Tom." The frequency of the name in England is derived not from the apos- tle, but from St. Thomas of Canterbury. Out of the signification of this name has grown the tradition that he had a twin-sister, Lysia (Patres Apost. p. 272), or that he was a twin-brother of our Lord (Thilo, ,4 c/o Thomce,\).Q\) ; which last,again, would confirm his iden- tification with Jude (comp. Matt. xiii. 55). with whom Eusebius expressly identifies him [Hist. Ecdes. i, 13 ; so
also the Acta T/iotmc). This may have been a mere confusion witii Thaddieus (^q. v.), who is menlioued in the extract. But it may also be that Judas was his real name, and that Tliomas was a surname.
2. History and Character from the New Test. — (We here chiefiy adopt Stanley's art. in Smith's Diet, of the Bible'). In the catalogue of the apostles he is coupled with Mattiiew in Matt. x,3; Mark iii, 18; Luke vi, 15; and with Philip in Acts i, 13.
All that we know of him is derived from the Gospel of John ; and this amounts to three traits, wiiich, how- ever, so exactly agree together that, slight as tliey are, they place his character before us with a precision which belongs to no otlier of the twelve apostles, ex- cept Peter, John, and Judas Iscariot. This character is that of a man slow to believe, seeing all the difiicul- ties of a case, subject to despondency, viewing things on the darker side, and yet lull of ardent love for his Master (see Niemeyer, Clmrakt. i, 108).