THOLUCK, FRIEDRICH AUGUST. 



THOMAS. 



only nineteen real usurpers Cyriades, Macrianus, Balista, Odenathus, 

 and Zenobia, in the eastern provinces ; Posthumus, Lollianus, Victori- 

 nua and his mother Victoria, Marius, and Tetricus, in Gaul, Britain, 

 and the western provinces in general ; Ingenuus, Regillianua, and 

 Bureolus, in Illyricum and the countries about the Danube ; Saturni- 

 nus, in Pontus ; Trebellianus, in Isauria ; Piso, in Thosealy ; Valens, 

 in Acbaia; JErnilianus, in Eirypt : and Celsus, in Africa. The majority 

 of these usurpers were persons of low birth, without any talent or 

 virtue, and scarcely any one of them died a natural death. The best 

 among them were Piso and Odenathus, and the latter, who maintained 

 himself at Palmyra, received the title of Augustus from the Roman 

 senate, and was enabled to bequeath his empire to his widow, the 

 celebrated Zenobia. (Trebellius Pollio, Triyinta Tyranni; Gibbon, 

 Jlist. of the Decline and Fall, chap. x. ; Manso, Leben Constantin's des 

 Groaen, p. 433, &c.) 



THOLUCK, FRIEDRICH-AUGUST-GOTTTREU, ono of the 

 most distinguished of modern German theologians, was born at Bres- 

 liui, on the 30th of March 1799. It was at first intended that he 

 should follow his father's business of a goldsmith, but an early 

 developed inclination for science led to his being placed in the uni- 

 versity of his native town, whence he removed in a short time to that 

 of Berlin. At Berlin, under the orientalist Yon Diex, he diligently 

 studied the eastern languages, and, partly from association with a 

 circle of religious friends, and partly from the influence of Neander, 

 he devoted himself to theological studies, of which the first fruit was 

 ' \Vahre Weihe des Zweiflers,' which has been translated into English 

 by Ryland, and into French, Danish, Swedish, and Dutch, and of 

 which the seventh German edition, in 1851, changes the title to ' Die 

 Lehre vom Sunder und vom Versohncr ' (The Doctrine of the Sinner 

 and of the Mediator). In 1824 he was made professor extraordinary 

 of theology in Berlin University. In 1825 he travelled at the expense 

 of the Prussian government to England and Holland, and on his return 

 in 1826 was made professor of theology in the University of Halle. 

 Within a twelvemonth, his health failing, he was forced to quit Halle, 

 and received tho appointment of chaplain to the embassy at Rome, 

 where he entirely recovered, and in 1829 returned to his professional 

 duties at Halle, He has ever since been indefatigably occupied by 

 his lectures, by his personal intercourse with the students, and by his 

 writings ; and as a preacher in promoting a warm and truly devotional 

 Christianity united with a tempered and wise philosophy. His 

 writings have been very numerous, and are conbidered of great value, 

 not only by his own countrymen, but by English authors. Among 

 them are ' Praktischen Commentar zu den Psalmen,' and ' Ueberset- 

 zung und Auslegung der Psalmen ' (Translation and Exposition of the 

 Psalms) ; ' Commentar zum Briefe an die Hebriier ;' ' Commentar zurn 

 Romerbrief;' ' Philosophisch-Theologische Auslegung der Bergpre- 

 dicht' (Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount) ; ' Glaubwiirdigkeit 

 der evangelische Geschichte' (Authenticity of the Evangelical History), 

 a work written in opposition to the ' Leben Jesu ' of Strauss ; ' Pre- 

 digten iiber die Hauptstiicke des Christlichen Glaubens und Lebens* 

 (Sermons on the Chief Phases of the Christian Faith and Life), ' Stun- 

 den der Andacht ' (Hours of Devotion) ; and ' Literarischen Anzeiger 

 i'iir Christlicbe Theologie und Wissenschaft iiberhaupt' (Literary 

 Guide for Christian Theology and Science in General), in which he has 

 most clearly stated his theological views. Several of the preceding 

 works have been translated into English. His labours in the Oriental 

 tongues have also enabled him to produce ' Ssufismus, sive theosophia 

 Persarum pantheistica,' in 1821 ; the ' Bliitensammlung aus der Mor- 

 genlandischen Mystiker' (Collection of Flowers from the Eastern 

 Mystics), 1825; and ' Speculative Triuitiitslehre des spiitern Orients ' 

 (Speculative Doctrines of a Trinity of the later Orientals), in 1826. 

 He has also contributed to theological history in his ' Vermischten 

 Schriften, grosstentheils apologetischen Inhalts/ 1839 ; 'Der Geist der 

 Lutheranischen Theologen Wittenbergs im 17 Jahrhundert,' 1852 ; 

 and ' Das akadcmische Leben des 17 Jahrhundert,' 1853-54, the last 

 forming at the same time the first division of a ' Vorgeschichte der 

 Rationalismus.' 



THOM, JAMES, who acquired considerable temporary celebrity as 

 a sculptor, was born in Ayrshire in 1799. He was brought up as a 

 stone-mason, and taught himself the art of sculpture. Some small 

 figures which he carved illustrative of the poetry of Burns secured 

 him a local fame, and he was tempted to try his chisel on others of 

 life-size. He accordingly produced in sandstone statues of Tarn 

 O'Shanter and Souter Johnnie, which had a surprising run of popu- 

 larity. After being successfully exhibited in Scotland they were 

 brought to London, where they proved equally attractive, and the 

 Bclf-taught sculptor found himself for a time ' a lion.' He was com- 

 missioned to carve more than one repetition of these figures, and 

 small plaster models of them were produced in great numbers. There 

 is undoubtedly a good deal of humour and spirit in the figures, but 

 they arc rude and iuartisti'-al in conception and execution, and their 

 excessive popularity was of evil influence upon the sculptor himself. 

 He afterwards executed a statue of ' Old Mortality ' and several other 

 works ; but he appeared to be falling into comparative obscurity 

 when, about 1836, the misconduct of an agent whom he had employed 

 to manage an itinerant exhibition of his ' Tarn O'Shanter ' and ' Old 

 Mortality ' in the United States, led Thorn to proceed to America. 

 Eventually he determined to remain in New York, where he found 



considerable professional employment. He also devoted some time to 

 architecture ; took a farm, on which he erected a house from his own 

 designs, and became a tolerably prosperous man ; but he seems to 

 have gradually abandoned the use of his chisel. He died at New 

 York on the 24th of April 1850. The original figures of Tain 

 O'Shanter and Souter Johnnie are placed in a building attached to 

 the Burns monument on the banks of the Doon ; there are copies of 

 them in England, and at Mr. Colt's, Paterson, New Jersey. His group 

 of ' Old Mortality ' stands at the chief entrance of the Laurel llill 

 Cemetery, near Philadelphia. 



THOM, WILLIAM, the weaver-poet of Inverury, was born at 

 Aberdeen in 1799. At ten years of age, with barely the elements of 

 education, he was bound for four years apprentice to a weaver, and 

 during this time, as he narrates himself, " picked up a little reading 

 and writing," trying at the same time to acquire Latin, but being 

 " defeated for want of time." At the end of his apprenticeship he 

 was engaged at another factory, where he worked for seventeen years, 

 learned to play the German flute, and to know " every Scotch song 

 that is worth singing." He married about 1829, had a family, and after 

 some other removals settled for a time at Newtyle, near Cupar- Angus 

 in Forfarshire. He was there when the great commercial failures in 

 America occurred, one consequence of which was the cessation of 

 employment for the poor hand-loom weavers. With a wife and four 

 children, without work, in a neighbourhood where nearly all were aa 

 poor as himself, and in a country where the poor-laws were not yet 

 introduced, the sufferings of the family were extreme, and in a cold 

 spring day of 1837 they resolved to set off to walk to Aberdeen, in 

 hopes that there he might procure employment. Of this journey 

 he has given a vivid and pathetic narrative. One child died on the 

 way. To obtain the means of progressing he had recourse to his flute, 

 which sometimes brought him a trifling gift, and he made his first 

 attempt at song-making in an address to his flute. This he had 

 printed, and by presenting a copy of it at the genteeler houses pro- 

 cured sufficient to enable the family to reach Aberdeen. He obtained 

 work, first in that town, and then at Inverury. In November 1840 his 

 wife, whose health had been weakened by her late sufferings, died in 

 childbed. His new affliction again drove him to poetry, realising 

 Shelley's assertion, that poets " learn in suffering what they teach in 

 song." He sent one of his compositions, ' The Blind Boy's Pranks,' to 

 the ' Aberdeen Herald,' where it was inserted with much commenda- 

 tion. It attracted the notice of Mr. Gordon, of Knockespoch, a gentleman 

 in the neighbourhood, who relieved and patronised him. He had other 

 poems by him, which were produced and admired, and he was brought 

 to London, feasted at a public dinner, and received that sort of 

 patronage which had so injurious an influence in the case of Burn?, ;v 

 patronage that only enhances the bitterness of the fate to which its 

 objects are almost inevitably consigned. Thorn returned to Inverury, 

 resolving, he said, not to be too much elated by the applause he had 

 received, but it is difficult to withstand the seductions to which ib 

 leads. He published in 1841 at Aberdeen, a small volume of poems, 

 ' Rhymes and Recollections of a Hand-loom Weaver,' which had but a 

 moderate success. His poetical powers were not great : the chief merit 

 of his verses consists in the exact reproduction of feelings he had 

 himself experienced, with a melody of versification and a correctness 

 of taste remarkable in one of so extremely limited an education. Ho 

 married a second wife, was often subjected to the extremest need, and 

 at last died in great poverty in March 1850. His widow died iu the 

 July following, and a subscription was raised of about 2501. for his 

 destitute children. 



THOMAS, o^cls, HENn (in Greek Al5v/j.os : John, xi. 16 ; xx. 24), 

 one of the twelve apostles of Christ. (Matt. x. 3.) The Hebrew and 

 Greek names both signify a twin. St. Thomas is presumed to have 

 been a Galilean ; but no particulars of his birth-place or call to the 

 apostleship are giveu, and the first notice of him individually is in 

 John xi. 40. Christ having expressed an intention of returning to 

 Judaea, in order to raise his friend Lazarus from the dead, Thomas 

 encouraged the other apostles to attend him, although he regarded 

 death as the certain consequence of this step. The impulsiveness of 

 character thus indicated was not long after very differently displayed. 

 Thomas happened to be absent when Christ, after his resurrection, 

 first appeared to the apostles ; and when made acquainted with tho 

 fact, he expressed an incredulity which could only be satisfied by tho 

 manual evidence of inserting his finger in the holes which the spear 

 and nails had made in the body of his crucified master. Eight days 

 after, when Christ again appeared, Thomas was present ; and the re- 

 action in his mind was very strongly expressed by him, when he 

 was pointedly called upon by Jesus to stretch forth his hand and take 

 the desired proof. (John xxi. 24-29.) Thomas is not again mentioned 

 in the New Testament. Doubtless he laboured, like the other apostles, 

 in the propagation of the Christian doctrines : and ecclesiastical 

 traditions make him one of the apostles of tho Gentiles. It is alleged 

 that he travelled eastward, and laboured among the various nations 

 which then composed the Parthian empire. (Kuseb., iii. 1 ; llufin., x. 

 9 ; ' Recoguit.,' ix. 29.) There is a singular concurrence of Oriental 

 and Western testimony (which may be seen in Assemanni and Baro- 

 uius), to the effect that St. Thomas extended his labours farther east- 

 ward, and then southward, until he reached the coast of India and 

 Malabar, where, having exercised his apostolic labours with success, 



