THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
good comfort, Master Ridley. Play the man. We shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out." The flames were slow in doing their work. Again and again the martyr cried, " Let the fire come unto me. I can not burn." His lower members were first consumed, and the end came when the fire reached a bag of gunpowder which Ridley's brotherin-law had tied at his neck. Foxe has given the best account of Ridley's life and martyrdom, and describes him as " a man beautified with excellent qualities so ghostly inspired and godly learned and now written, doubtless, in the Book of Life." In his account of Ridley's administration of the episcopal office, this writer emphasizes his attention to prayer, as well as his constant industry, relieved after dinner and supper by a game of chess. His most famous saying is the one recorded during his interview with Mary before she became queen. When the Reformer expressed the hope that she would not refuse God's Word, the princess replied, " I can not tell what ye call God's Word. That is not God's Word now that was God's Word in my father's days." To this Ridley answered: " God's Word is one at all times, but hath been better understood and practised in some ages than in others." Mary in her response declared, " As for your new books, I thank God I never read any of them, I never did, nor ever will do." The few writings Ridley left behind him have been published by the Religious Tract Society, Treatise and Letters of Dr. Nicholas Ridley (London, 1830?), and by the Parker Society, Works of Nicholas Ridley, D.D. (ed. H. Christmas, London, 1841). Among the writings are a Brief Declaration against Transubstantiation, a Treatise against Image Worship, and A Piteous Lamentation of the Miserable Estate of the Church in England in the Time of the Late Revolt from the Gospel. The Parker Society volume also contains an account of his disputations at Oxford prior to his death and a reprint of Fox's account of his martyrdom. An avenue in the yard of Pembroke Hall is still known as Ridley's Walk. Quarles has a poem on Ridley in which are the lines:
" Rome thundered death, but Ridley's dauntless eye Star'd in Death's face, and scorned Death standing bye. In spite of Rome, for England's faith he stood And in the flames, he sealed it with his blood."
David S. Schaff. In 1839 there was erected at Oxford a " Martyrs Memorial," with statues of Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley, partly by way of protest against the Tractarian Movement (see Tractarianism), one of the characteristics of which was hostility to the Reformation. A. H. N.
Bibliography: The original source is J. Fox's Actes and Monuments (for editions see under Fox, John). An excellent memoir appears in H. Moule's ed. of the Brief Declaration of the Lordes Supper, London, 1895. Consult further: G. Ridley, Life of Dr. Nicholas Ridley, sometime Bishop of London, London, 1763; the memoir in the volume on Ridley in L. Richmond's Fathers of the English Church, 8 vols., London, 1807-12; G. T. Ridlon, Hist, of the Ancient Ryedales and their Descendants, pp. 419^24, Manchester, N. H., 1884; W. Clark, The Anglican Reformation, New York, 1897; J. Gairdner, English Church in the 16th Century, passim, London, 1903; DNB, xlviii. 286-289; and, in general, the works on the history of the period, secular and ecclesiastical.
RIEGER, ri'ger, GEORG KONRAD: Pietistic
preacher; b. at Cannstadt (4 m. n.e. of Stuttgart) Mar. 7, 1687; d. at Stuttgart Apr. 16, 1743. After studying theology he was private tutor at Tubingen, 1713-15; city vicar at Stuttgart and deacon at Urach, 1715-31; and from that time continued in educational and ministerial work at Stuttgart. He was one of the most gifted preachers in the Evangelical Church of Germany, and was of the school of J. A. Bengel (q.v.). He excelled all other Pietists in eloquence, emotional power, and freshness. He knew how to employ simple colloquialisms without losing in dignity and force. His preaching was marked by clearness, interest, and fluency. His imagination served him well in using illustrations. Dogmatic subjects frequently received painstaking treatment, though without pedantry. He placed himself in immediate touch with his hearers, never losing the thread of his discourse. He published collections of sermons as follows: Herzenspostille (Zullichau, 1742; Stuttgart, 1853-54); Herz- und Hand-Postille (1746; Berlin, 1852); De cura minimorum in regno gratia (Stuttgart, 1733); and Richtiger und leichter Weg zum Himmel (Stuttgart, 1744, 1844, and after). He published also Die Kraft der Gottseligkeit (1732-36). (Hermann Beck.)
Bibliography: Biographic material is contained in Rieger's Richtiger und leichter Weg (Stuttgart, 1844) ; C. G. Schmidt, Geschichte der Predigt in der evangelischen Kirche Deutschlands, pp. 196 sqq., Gotha, 1872; H. C. Stuckenberg, Lutheran Quarterly Review, xix (1889), 564 sqq.
RIEGER, KARL HEINRICH: Son of the preceding; b. at Stuttgart June 16, 1726; d. there Jan. 15, 1791. After studying theology, he was domestic tutor at Augsburg, 1747-49; vicar, 1749-50; tutor at Tubingen, 1750; deacon at Ludwigsburg, 1754-57; and until his death preacher at Stuttgart. He left the impression of a strong, firm character; and represented the traditional teaching of the Lutheran Church in opposition to the new rationalism. Through his influence the revision of the hymnal was moderate, and of the old catechism (of 1681 and 1696) conservative. He was an active member of the Christenthumsgesellschaft, founded by J. A. Urlsperger (q.v.). As a preacher, he was less spirited and forceful than his father, but possessed rare penetration, emphasis, and spirituality, moral earnestness, a quiet, clear thoughtfulness, and ease, with true Christian wisdom, and a winning grace and mildness; but his form and presentation were clumsy and awkward. After his death appeared Predigten und Betrachtungen (Stuttgart, 1794); Betrachtungen uber das Neue Testament (4 vols., 1828; 1875); and Betrachtungen uber die Psalmen und die zwblf kleinen Propheten (1835; 1859).
(Hermann Beck.) Bibliography: Christen- Bote, ed. J. C. F. Burk, i (1832), 105 sqq.; C. Grosse, Die alten Troster. Wegweiser in die Erbauungslitteratur der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche des 16. bis 18. Jahrhunderts, pp. 495 sqq., Hermannsburg, 1900.
RIEHM, rim, EDWARD KARL AUGUST: Biblical scholar; b. at Diersburg, near Offenburg (17 m. s.s.w. of Carlsruhe), Baden, Dec. 20, 1830; d. at Halle Apr. 5, 1888. He studied theology and philology at Heidelberg, 1848-50; and at Halle,