Gluck, Ernest

Gluck, Ernest a Lutheran theologian, was born in Saxony, November 10, 1652. He studied at Wittenberg and Leipsic, and accepted a call extended to him by the general superintendent, John Fischer, in 1673, to Livonia. On his settlement in Livonia he was grieved to find that the people were still destitute of the Scriptures in their vernacular tongue. He therefore applied himself assiduously to the task of producing a translation of the entire Scriptures from the sacred originals; and with this object in view he repaired to Hamburg, there to qualify himself for the undertaking, by studying Hebrew under Edzardi, the celebrated Hebraist. After his return from Hamburg, in 1680, he was appointed military-preacher at Dunamunde, where he also adopted Catharine Badendiek, afterwards empress of Russia, as his daughter. In 1683, Glick was appointed pastor at Marienburg, in. Livonia, and translated the Bible into the Lettish, which was published at Riga in 1689, the New Test. having been published in 1685. When Marienburg was taken by Peter the Great (August 6, 1702), Gltick was transported with other citizens as prisoners to Moscow. Owing, however, to the fact that he had been the foster-father of Catharine, he was soon released, and was appointed inspector of all the high-schools of Moscow. Here he studied the Russian language, and commenced a translation of the New Test. into the Russian tongue. He died, however, May 5, 1705, before finishing his task. (B.P.)