RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Vaughan Veghe
his rule the Minster community prospered, and the union with the affiliated houses in other cities was regulated and strengthened. In 1481, finding the duties of his position with the many journeys made necessary by visitations and colloquies too arduous for his strength, Veghe resigned and was made confessor and rector of the sister-house at Niesink near Minster. Mimster in Veghe’s time was a center of humanism not only for Westphalia, but for all Germany. Under the scholarly bishops, Henry of Schwarzburg (1454-94) and Conrad of Rietberg (1497-1502), and under the efforts of Proyost Rudolf of Langen (b. 1438; d. 1518) in behalf of education it became the home of a number of noteworthy men all permeated with the spirit and learning of the Renaissance. Veghe occupied a prominent position in this circle and the references to him in their writings show the esteem in which he was held. His uprightness and comprehensive learning are especially praised (cf. Franz Jostes, Johannes Veghe, pp. XxXvi—xxvii., Halle, 1883). The numerous citations in his sermons testify to the extent and breadth of his study, covering the classics, Church Fathers, and mystics.
Veghe’s writings, which have been the subject of painstaking study in recent years, include two religious poems (published by B. Hélscher in his Niederdeutsche geistliche Lieder, pp. 132-133, Berlin, 1854, and by Jostes, ut sup., p. 392) and a collection of twenty-four sermons (published by Jostes, ut sup.) made by the sisters in Niesink, before whom they were delivered apparently in the year 1492. These last are rather long, and do not follow the scholastic model of a theme developed artistically; instead they are free addresses springing spontaneously from religious experience, with earnest exhortation intermixed. This was indeed the chosen manner of the Brethren of the Common Life, whence they preferred to call their discourses “ collations ”’ rather than “‘ sermons.’’ Veghe takes his subject usually from the Gospel for the day and proceeds in a style which is popular without overstepping the bounds of good taste. He makes skilful use of Bible stories, introduces incidents from saints’ lives less often, and deals sparingly in other stories and anecdote. He draws illustrations from familiar things of nature and experience, his comparisons are apt and striking, and at times he displays a genial humor. The Church he regards from the point of view introduced among the Brethren by Gerhard Groote and familiar from the Imitatio Christi of Thomas 4 Kempis. Veghe’s sermons are truly Scriptural; yet the Roman doctrine of the Church is very evident in their contents. He speaks of the merit of one’s own works in the current fashion; concerning indulgences he says that no indulgence can be won for departed souls; but faith which is counted for righteousness is nowhere emphasized. If indulgences are futile, still mercy, which is the greatest and most meritorious of works, with prayer, penitence, alms, and the mass can help the miserable souls in purgatory. Without the grace of God man can not be saved; but the grace of God is insufficient without man’s individual accomplishment. For other writings by Veghe (the “‘ Vineyard of the Soul,’ ‘‘ Consolation of Mary,” “ Spiritual
Vehicles, Hebrew Veni, Creator
Hunt,” and ‘“ Flower-garden’”’) consult Jostes in the Historische Jahrbticher for 1885, Krause in the Rostocker Zeitung for 1885, L. Schulze in ZKG for 1890, and A. Béhmer, in Aus dem geistigen Leben und Schaffen in Westfalen, pp. 111 sqq. (Minster, 1906). (L. ScHULZE.)
BrstiogRapuy: To the literature named in the text add
H. Triloff, Die Traktate und Predigten Veghes, Halle, 1904.
VEHICLES, HEBREW: War-chariots (see War) were known by the Hebrews long before they used them, these vehicles being employed by the Egyptians (Ex. xiv. 6 sqq.) and the Canaanites (Josh. xi. 4; Judges i. 19); they were constructed in whole or part of iron (Josh. xi. 9). After the time of Saul, trade in horses and vehicles sprang up between Israel and the Hittites and Syrians, though the most of the trade seems to have been with Egypt (I Kings x. 28; II Chron. i. 16), a horse costing 150 shekels and a chariot 600. The import of these things was opposed by the prophets (Isa. xxx. 2, 16; Ezek. xvii. 15) as evidence of greater trust in man than in God (Hos. i. 7), so that in Messianic times they were not to be used (Zech. ix. 10). In post-exilic times the war-chariot was used by Syria (Dan. xi. 40). During peace the use of war-chariots was a prerogative of the great (Gen. xli. 43; II Sam. xv. 1; I Kings i. 5). Probably the horses of the sun (II Kings xxiii. 11) belonged to chariots.
Vehicles for riding and transport of goods differed greatly from chariots of war. In spite of the fact that in very early times routes for commerce trayersed Palestine, the region was not suited for vehicles, though clumsy carts or wagons with two or four wheels were probably in use from an early time, with wheels either solid or with six or eight spokes, and drawn by oxen (Num. vii. 3; I Sam. vi. 7, 10) by a yoke attached to the pole. Probably the wagons of Num. vii. 3 were vehicles with removable body (cf. the description of the bases of brass in the Temple, I Kings vii. 27-37). The threshing-wagon of Amos ii. 13, cf. Isa. xxviii. 27, may have been an instrument with rollers underneath (cf. the illustration in Benzinger, Archdologie, p. 142). The carriage for personal use had either two or four wheels, and sometimes contained seats. (R. ZEHNPFUND.) BrisiiograpHy: A. Jeremias, Das Alte Testament im Lichte
des alten Orients, p. 206, Leipsic, 1906, Eng. transl., The
Old Testament in the Light of the Ancient East, 2 vols.,
London and New York, 1911; F. Sengstake, in Globus, lx.,
no. 5; DB, i. 357,372; EB, i. 724-731; JH, iii. 666-667.
VENABLES, GEORGE: Church of England; b. at Hampton Gay (6 m. n. of Oxford) Apr. 23, 1821; d. at Burgh Castle (17 m. e. of Norwich) Dec. 30, 1906. He was educated at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, and was ordered deacon in 1850 and ordained priest 1852. He was curate of Nether Warton and Deddington, Oxfordshire (1850-53), and Broadwater, Sussex (1853-54); and vicar of St. Paul’s, Chatham, Kent (1854-58), Friezland, Yorkshire (1858-69); St. Matthew’s, Leicester (1869-74), and Great Yarmouth (1874-86). After 1888 he was rector of Burgh Castle, Suffolk. He was also chaplain of Shoreham Union in 1853-54, rural dean of Flegg in 1878-86, select. preacher at Cambridge in 1883, and honorary canon of Norwich after 1881.