THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
more influence over him, in spite of the efforts of Joachim's mother. He became general superintendent and visitor of Brandenburg, Later Life, administering confirmation and ordination, though he himself had never received any kind of ordination. When the Schmalkald League took up arms against the emperor, Agricola attacked them in his sermons as disturbers of the peace, and gave thanks for the emperor's victory at Muhlberg, utterly failing to see the danger to the evangelical cause. It flattered his vanity when he was chosen as the Protestant theologian on the commission appointed at the Diet of Augsburg (1547-48) to draw up an interim; and he had the thankless task of endeavoring to persuade his fellow Protestants to accept it. The more strongly and increasingly they rejected it, the more animosity was concentrated on Agricola, who attempted to vindicate his Lutheran standing by the part which he took in the controversy with Osiander (q.v.); and the common cause brought him once more closer to Melanchthon. It fell to him to give judgment between Stancaro and Andreas Musculus (q.v.); and he pronounced in favor of the latter. The controversy on the necessity of good works raged for years in Brandenburg, and Agricola stoutly opposed the Philippists. For a while they seemed to prevail with Joachim, but the court swung round again to Agricola's side; and in 1563 he was able to hold a thanksgiving service in Berlin for the final victory over his opponents— a victory for strict Lutheranism won mainly by the man whom Luther had despised. He died three years later, during an epidemic of the plague. He was undoubtedly a gifted man, though his rightful development was hindered by bis vanity, which brought about the breach with Luther, and by the temptations of court life, which, as he himself recognized when too late, he had not sufficient strength of mind to resist.
(G. Rawer Atr.) Bibliography: G. Kawerau, Johann Agricola von Eisleben, Berlin, 1881.
AGRICOLA, STEPHAN (originally Castenpauer) : A follower of Luther; b. in Abensberg (18 m. s.w. of Regensburg), Bavaria; d. at Eisleben Easter, 1547. He studied at Vienna, joined the Augustinians, gained fame as a preacher and teacher, and was promoted doctor of theology in 1519. Imitating St. Augustine, he preached on entire books of the Bible in Vienna in 1515, as lector in the Augustinian monastery at Regensburg in 1519-20, and in other places. His sermons brought him under suspicion. He was accused of preaching heretical, inflammatory, and offensive dogmas; of having recommended Luther's writings on the Babylonian captivity and on the abolition of the mass; of having spoken offensively of the Roman see, bishops, and clergy; and of having demanded the abolition of all ceremonies. He was imprisoned in 1522; thirty-three charges were made against him; and his answer, denying dependence upon Luther and making appeal to Augustine and the Scriptures, was of no avail. He prepared for death, and wrote Ein kostlicher gutter notwendiger Sermon vom Sterben (1523), which his friend Wolfgang Russ published.
He escaped, however, found a home with the Carmelite Johann Frosch of Augsburg in 1523, and preached there from time to time. Not long after 1523 he published under the name of " Agricola Boius " Ein Bedencken wie der wahrhafftig Gottesdienst von Gott selbs geboten und aussgesetzt, mocht mit besserung gemeyner Christenheyt widerumb aufgericht werden, a kind of reformation-programme. Protected by the city council, he labored with Rhegius and Frosch for the Reformation in Augsburg, and became pronounced in his adherence to Luther's views as against Zwingli. By translating into German Bugenhagen's polemical treatise against Zwingli's Contra novum errorem de sacramentis (1525), he won over the Augsburg congregation to the Lutheran side. At the invitation of the landgrave Philip, he took part in the Marburg Colloquy and signed the articles agreed upon. In 1531 he left Augsburg as he was opposed to Butzer's Zwinglian tendency and went to Nuremberg, where he stayed with Wenceslaus Link. In 1537 he attended the Schmalkald Diet and signed Luther's articles. When the Reformation was introduced into the Upper Palatinate, he accepted a call to Sulzbach where he preached the first evangelical sermon June 3, 1542. He afterward went to Eisleben. (T. Kolde.) Bibliography: C. Spangenberg, Wider die bose Sieben in Teufels Karnoffelspiel, Eisleben, 1562; H. W Rotermund, Geschichte des auf dem Reichstage zu Augsburg im Jahre 1530 . Glaubensbekenntnisses, Hanover, 1829; Datterer, Des Kardinals und Erzbischofs von Salzburg Matthaus Lang Verhalten zur Reformation, Erlangen, 1892.
AGRICULTURE, HEBREW : Palestine is praised
in the Old Testament as a " land flowing with
milk and honey "; and, indeed, with
Field and little labor it yielded what the in- Garden habitants needed. Of cereals, wheat
Products, was and is the most important product; the Ammonite country appears to have been specially noted for it (II Chron. xxvii. 5). The best wheat to-day is that of the Hauran and Belka, and of the high table-land between Tabor and the Lake of Tiberias. Much wheat was raised by the Hebrews in the time of Solomon, and then and later it was one of the chief articles of export (I Kings v. 11; Ezek. xxvii. 17). Barley was equally common and in the earlier time was the chief material for bread (Judges vii. 13; II Kings iv. 42). With progress in culture and the settled life its use was limited to the poorer classes (John vi. 9, 13; Josephus, War, V. x. 2). To-day it is used for fodder only; it was also so used in the ancient time (I Kings iv. 28), and its value appears to have been about one-half that of wheat (II Kings vii. 1). There is no evidence in the Old Testament that beer was made from it. A third and less important cereal (Heb. kussemeth; LXX, olyra, Ex. ix. 32; Isa. xxviii. 25; Ezek. iv. 9; erroneously rendered " rye " in A. V.) was probably spelt. Rye and oats are not mentioned. The chief legumebearing plants were beans (II Sam. xvii. 28; Ezek. iv. 9) and lentils (Gen. xxv. 34; II Sam. xvii. 28, xxiii. 11; Ezek. iv. 9). Both were ground into meal, and were used for bread in time of scarcity (Ezek. iv. 9). Leeks, onions, and garlic were used as seasoning and to give relish to bread. Cucum-