Wegelin, Josua

Wegelin, Josua a Lutheran theologian of Germany, was born January 11, 1604, at Augsburg. He studied at Tubingen, and was appointed in 1627 deacon in his native place. In 1629, when, at the command of the emperor Ferdinand III, the evangelical churches were closed and divine service was prohibited, Wegelin had to leave the city with the other evangelical ministers. He returned again in 1632, after Gustavus Adolphus had entered the city, to leave it again in 1635. He went to Presburg, in Hungary, where he died, September 14, 1640. For the benefit of his members in Augsburg, he composed Augsburger Betbuchlein (2d ed. Nuremb. 1648), and Hand-, Land- und Standbichlein (ibid. 1637). After his death, his ascetical writings were published under the title Gebete und Lieder (ibid. 1660). One of his hymns, Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein, has also been translated into English. "Since Christ has gone to heav'n, his home," in the Choral BookfoJr England, No. 64. See Hartmann; Wurtembergisches Magisterbuch, 15th series; Koch, Gesch. d. deutschen Kirchenliedes, 3:169 sq. (B.P.)