THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
He was graduated from Yale College, 1755; pursued his theological studies with Rev. Timothy Woodbridge of Hatfield, Mass.; was called in 1757 to be the military chaplain at Hoosac Fort; in 1758 he was invited, by the commissioners for Indian affairs in Boston, to succeed Jonathan Edwards in the Indian mission at Stockbridge, and was ordained pastor of the church at Stockbridge in 1759; here until 1775 he preached to the Indians in the morning and in the afternoon to the white settlers; after that year he confined his labors to the latter. Early in this pastorate he adopted the views of Jonathan Edwards; he then preached a series of sermons, which were afterward published in the form of an Essay on Moral Agency (New Haven, 1772, 2d ed., 1794). He next published his Essay on the Scripture Doctrine of the Atonement (1785; 2d ed., with appendix, 1815). After he had passed his eightieth year he issued his Hvidence of the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, Collected from the Scriptures (1816). He attracted to himself many theological pupils, who resided in his house, and uniformly spoke of him in terms of the highest admiration. At least five of them became eminent as preachers and writers; among them may be noted Samuel Spring (q.v.), of Newburyport, and John Thornton Kirkland, president of Harvard College.
West was not only a man of great diligence in study, but was also noted for practical insight and activity. It was partly in recognition of this that in 1793, when Williams College was incorporated, Dr. West. was named as one of the trustees, and at the first meeting of the board was elected vice-president of the institution. He was one of Samuel Spring’s chief counselors in forming the Creed and Associate Statutes of Andover Theological Seminary. He was also a pioneer in the organization and operation of various missionary and charitable institutions.
Brpuiocrapuy: W. B. Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit, i. 548-556, New York, 1859; W. Walker, in American Church History Series, vol. iii. passim, ib. 1894; F. H. Foster, New England Theology, pp. 204 saq., Chicago, 1907.
WESTCOTT, BROOKE FOSS: Church of England, bishop of Durham; b. near Birmingham Jan. 12, 1825; d. at The Castle, Bishop Auckland (9 m. s.s.e. of Durham), July 27,1901. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A., 1848; fellow, 1849; M.A., 1851; B.D., 1864; D.D., 1870); was ordained deacon and priest (1851); assistant master at Harrow School (1852-69); examining chaplain to the bishop of Peterborough (1868-83); canon residentiary (1869-83); rector of Somersham with Pidley and Colne, Hunts (1870-82); honorary chaplain to the queen (1875-79); select preacher at Oxford (1877-80); in 1870 became regius professor of divinity, Cambridge; in 1879, chaplain in ordinary to the queen; in 1882, fellow of King’s College, Cambridge; in 1883, examining chaplain to the archbishop of Canterbury; in 1884, canon of Westminster; and in 1890, bishop of Durham. During 1881-83 he served as a member of the royal commission on ecclesiastical courts; and was also a member of the New Testament Revision Company (1870-81). He is one of the brightest examples of English scholarship and industry, and is as remarkable for the fine quality of his work as for the num-
RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
West Westen
ber of volumes which he produced. He will probably be longest remembered for his joint production with Fenton John Anthony Hort (q.v.) of The New Testament in the Original Greek (2 vols., 1881). But the range of his studies was far wider than this, covering the New Testament canon, contributions on philosophy, and exegetical work of the highest rank. He was hardly less noted as a preacher than as a scholar. He was in demand as a speaker on topics of national, industrial, and social interest, and in 1892 almost alone succeeded in securing settlement of a dispute between coal-miners and employers which threatened to wreck the industries and works of transportation in the United Kingdom. He was a valued contributor to William Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible (1863) and to the same editor’s and Dean Henry Wace’s Dictionary of Christian Biography (1877-87). His independent publications, some of which passed through numerous editions, comprise:
Elements of Gospel Harmony (Cambridge, 1851; Norrisian essay); A General Survey of the History of the Canon of the New Testament during the First Four Centuries (London, 1855); Characteristics of the Gospel Miracles (1859); Introduction to the Study of the Gospels (1860); The Bible in the Church (1864); The Gospel of the Resurrection (1866); A General View of the History of the English Bible (1868); Christian Life Manifold and One (sermons; 1872); Some Points in the Religious Office of the Universities (1873); The Revelation of the Risen Lord (London, 1882); The Gospel according to St. John (1882); The Historic Faith (lectures on the Apostles’ Creed (1883); Epistles of St. John, Greek Text, Notes, and Essays (1883); Revelation of the Father: Titles of the Lord (1884); Christus Consummator: Some Aspects of the Work and Person of Christ in Relation to Modern Thought (sermons; 1886); Social Aspects of Christianity (1887); Victory of the Cross: Sermons in Holy Week (1888); Epistle to the Hebrews: Greek Text, with Notes (1889); Gifts for the Ministry: From Strength to Strength: Three Sermons (1890); Gospel of Life: a Study of Christian Doctrine (1892); Bishop Lightfoot (1894); The Incarnation and Common Life (1894, 2d ed., 1908); Christian Aspects of Life (1897); Some Lessons of the Revised Version of the New Testament (1897); Lessons from Work (1901); and the posthumous Words of Faith and Hope (1902); Christian Social Union Addresses (1903); Peterborough Sermons (1904); Village Sermons (1906); and The Two Empires; the Church and the World (1909).
BreuiocrRapHy: A. Westcott, Life and Letters of Brooke Foss Westcott, 2 vols., London, 1903, abridged ed., 1905; Mrs. H. Porter, Secret of a great Influence: Notes on Bishop Westcott’s Teaching, ib. 1905; J. Clayton, Bishop Westcott, in Leaders of the Church, 1880-1900, ib. 1907; H.S. Holland, Brooke Foss Westcott, ib. 1910.
WESTEN, ves’ten, THOMAS: Apostle to the Norwegian Finns; b. in Trondhjem, Norway, Sept. 13, 1682; d. there Apr. 9, 1727. The people to whom he went live in the region, partly in Norway, north of 64 degrees north latitude; their present number is given as about 30,000, of whom 21,000 are in Norway; but earlier they must have been more numerous. By the Norwegians they are called Finns, which name they prefer; but the Swedes call them Lapps, with sinister suggestion. Their speech shows them related to the inhabitants of Finland. Christianity had earlier been imposed upon them, but heathenism had remained their preferred practise. The character of the ministrations had not been such as to win them to a regard for Christian beliefs. But before the time of Westen something had been done for the Finns by the Danish-Norwegian church. When Erich Bredahl,
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bishop of Trondhjem, had been driven from his diocese in 1658, he became vicar of Trondenis, whence he undertook several journeys to the Finns; some he won to Christianity; in 1703 the schoolmaster Isaac Olsen went to East Finnmark, where the provost Paus recognized his worth and made him teacher at Waranger, where he labored faithfully for fourteen years in all sorts of perils and dangers. Under Frederick IV. of Denmark and Norway in 1707 a commission was given to Paul H. Resen to investigate the condition of schools and churches in the north; the direction following this to the bishop of Trondhjem to better conditions was disregarded in fact. In 1714 the king directed a mission to the Finns to be undertaken, entrusting the task to the Collegium de promovendo cursu Evangelii, and the choice of an agent fell on Westen.
Preliminary training in the school of poverty and hardship had rendered Westen fit for the work. He had studied medicine at his father’s command, but after his father’s death (just as he was taking his degree) he studied theology under great privations; Frederick IV. appointed him a librarian without pay, 1707, and in 1710 he became pastor at We6 in Romsdalen; then in 1716 the Collegium made him vicar and chief of the mission to the Finns, and the same year he undertook his first journey among his people, while Bishop Krog of Trondhjem attempted to nullify his work. Westen settled missionaries, provided for houses of worship, gathered data, and laid the foundations for further work. On his return he founded a seminary for children of the Finns, at his own cost, and this had much to do with later success. Bishop Krog’s hostility pursued him, but the king and the collegium supported him, so that new helpers came to his assistance in the persons of Arvid Bistok, Elias Heltberg, Martin Lund, and Erasmus Rachlew. With these in 1718 he began a new tour among the Finns, leaving his helpers settled in various places to do steady work, himself preaching, teaching, overcoming opposition wantonly placed in his way, and gaining the hearts of his people, who came to call him “‘ the good man.” The reports of Westen’s labors caused a desire to hear from him in person, and he was called to Copenhagen, where to the king he related what was being done and what was necessary. He gained new helpers, and in 1722 began his third great missionary circuit. He found a thirst for knowledge and for the Gospel awakened, and established new schools, while the assistants gained the complete confidence of their people, who gave up their idolatry. On this journey Westen entered virgin territory, going among those who had sworn to kill him and his companions, and gained them for the Gospel.
From that time till his death Westen was permitted to see the fruits of his labors in the upbuilding of his people’s faith. His travels and hardships had so undermined his health that he was unable to take long journeys, but he continued to make short visits to the nearer points, while his literary activities were continually employed in furthering the interests for which he had worked, though his story of the missions was not published and seems to have been lost. The opposition to which he was exposed by Bishop Krog increased and aggravated
Westminster Assembly