Upon the doctrine of the Church Wessel differed from Wycliffe and Huss in that he did not define the Church to be a communio pra-destinorvm, but a communio sanc- torum. The circumstances of his age obliged him to look for the visible Church within the papacy, and he accordingly conceded a jw-isdictio papalis ; but he re- stricted its operations altogether to externalities, and denied that a papal excommunication has power to con- trol God. He even asserted that a pope is entitled to be the director of the faith of the Church only when his own faith is correct; and he rated the authority of the universities higher than the authority of the clergy. But he esteemed the Scriptures even above the uni-
versities, and addressed to them the final appeal. The Scriptures, he held, are simplv the Holy Ghost speak- ing to man. They are clear and self-explanatory and also sufficient. Tradition, however, was not rejected, and the regulafidn was ap[)arently placed on an equal- ity with Scripture by him.
With respect to the sacraments, Wessel denied that they are of themselves effectual means of grace. The infusion of love into the heart constitutes true baptism, and God is himself the administrator, according to his view; the priest, of whatever degree he may be, is sim- ply a minister, and not able to contribute anything whatever to the gracious power of the sacrament. The sacrament of penance was not allowed by him to possess any vital connection with inward purification, and the priest's agency in connection with it was lim- ited to the calling-forth of proper dispositions through the employment of instruction, exhortation, etc. This view carried with it the rejection of indulgences as a matter of course, for they were the fruitage of the sac- rament of penance as held by the Church. Wessel does not hesitate to term them swindles, and plenary indulgences abominations. In connection with the Lord's supper, he contended against the opus operainm, or bringing of masses in behalf of particular individu- als. He held that the mass has value for him who hun- gers and thirsts for the bread of life, the eating of which constitutes the sole value of the sacrament. The idea of sacrifice has no place whatever in his view.
In eschatology Wessel held firmly to the existence of purgatory, but as a place of purgation rather than satisfaction. The fire which burns there is the fire of piety, and, more particularl}', of love. Christ himself is there to preach his Gospel among the dead, and to make of purgatory a place of delights. Wessel did not paint the state of the lost, and therein left his descrip- tion incomplete.
The fanatical hostility of the mendicant monks pre- vented the immediate publication of Wessel's writings. Luther's collection of these writings, entitled Farrago Rerun, Theoloyicarum Uberrima, appeared in 1521, and was followed by repeated editions in 1522 and 1523. The last edition was that of Strack (Giessen, 1617), fol- lowing a complete edition of Wessel in 1614. The Far- rago contains the following books: De Benignissima Dei P rovidentia ; De Causis, Mysteriis et EJJectibus Do- minicm Incarnationis et Passionis ; De Dignitate et Potes- tate Ecclesiastica ; De Sacramento Panitentice ; Qiice sit Vera Communio Sanctorum; De Purgatorio ; and a number of letters, among which one, De Tnd?ilgentiis, ad- dressed to Hoeck, deserves special mention. The com- plete edition contains, in addition, the tract D^ Eucha- ristia,vi\\\ch Luther had omitted for dogmatic reasons, and also an extended essay, De Cuusis Incarnationis et de Magnitudine Dominica Passionis, in two books; and three ascetical works entitled, respectively, De Ora- tione, Scula Meditationis, and Exemjila Scalm Medita- lionis. The impression made by a reading of the Far- rago is that Wessel was a man who lived with pen in hand, and who for that very reason seldom undertook the composition of an extended work. It is, accordingly, not remarkable that statements with respect to lost writ- ings from his pen do not harmonize. For information respecting such writings and also concerning Wessel's life, see Hardenberg; Suffridus Petri De Scriptoribus Fi-isice ; Ubbo Emmius, Historia Rei-um Frisicarum ; the Effigies et Vitce Professorum Academim Gi-oningce (1654); and especially Muurling, Conunentatio Hist. Theol.de Wesseli, e.ic. (Traj. ad Khen. 1831); id. Z'e Wesseli Gansfortii, etc. (Amstelod. 1840) : and Ullmann, Reformatoren vor der Reformation (Hamb. 1841). See also Schmidt, A ngustin's Lehre i-on der Kirche, in Jahr- biich.filr deutsche Theologie, vi, 210 sq. ; Benthem, Hol- land. Kirchen- und Schul-Staat. ii, 178; Herzog, Real- Enci/klop. s. V.
Wessel, Johann (2), a Dutch theologian, was born at Emden, Oct. 20, 1671. For some time he was
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preacher and professor at Rotterdam. In 1712 he was called as professor of theology to Leyden, where he died, Jan. IG, 1745. He is the author of, Dissertationes Sacrce Leid. ad Sdecta qucpdam I', et N'. T. Loca (Ley- den, 1721): — Ncstorianismus et Adoptianismus liedivi- vus Coiifutatus, s. de Chrlsto Unico et Propria Dei Filio, non Metuphorico, Liber Sinff. in quo Nestorii Pelagiani- zantis Veterumque A doptianor. Sententia ex Veter. Monu- mentis Eruititr, etc. ( Rotterdam, 1727). See Winer, Handbuch der Ikeol. Lit. i, 30, 191, 572, 045; FUrst, Bill. J«(Z. iii, 50(3. (B. P.)
Wesseling, Peter, a German philologist, was born at Steiiifiirth, Jan. 7, 1692, of an old and wealthy Westplialian family celebrated in literarj' circles. He was educated at the University of Leyden, and after- wards at Franeker, where in 1718 he was received as a candidate for the ministry. In 1719 he was made pro-rector of the school at Middelburg, in 1721 rector of the gymnasium at Deventer, in 1723 professor of elo- quence and history at Franeker, and in 1735 filled the same chair (with the addition of canon law in 1746, and the librarianship in 1749) at Utrecht, where he died, Nov. 9, 1764. He wrote, Epistola ad H. Venemam de A quilce in Scriptis Philonis Jud. Fragmentis et Pla- tonis Epistola XI [I (Utrecht, 1748): — Observationum Variarum Libri (Amst. 1727) : — LHatribe de Judceorum Archonfibus ad Inscriptionem Berenicetuem. et Disserta- tio de Eoangdiis Jussu fmperatoris A nastasii non Emen- datis, etc. (Utrecht, 1738): — Dissertationes de Origine atque Usii Nunimorum apud Ilebrmos (ibid. 1750): — Dissertationes in Epistolam JeremicB (ibid. 1752). See Winer, Handbuch der theol. Literatur, i, 52. 560 ; Flirst, Bibl. Jud. iii, 506 ; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generate, s. v. (B. P.)