HENRY, a German divine, was born at Embden, in 1583. His father was minister of the church of Embden, and early destined his son to the same profession. In the year 1602, after a grammatical course he was sent to the university of Herborn: there he studied with so much assiduity and success, that he soon had the honour of being a preceptor. Qualified by the vigorous exertions of his talents, he was appointed tutor to the three young counts of Nassau, Solms, and Isenburg, who studied with the elector prince palatine, first at Sedan, and afterwards at Heidelberg. A proper discharge of the duties of a lower station generally paves the way for a higher. For he was appointed preceptor to the prince in 1608: and in consequence of his assiduity and success, he was chosen to accompany the elector into England. Among the number of celebrated men to whose acquaintance he was introduced in England, was the famous Dr Abbot, archbishop of Canterbury. In 1613, Alting returning to Heidelberg after the marriage of the elector with the princess of England, received his degree of doctor of divinity, and was appointed director of the college of Wisdom. The increased knowledge and invigorated talents of Alting, were always receiving renewed opportunities of exertion; thus his elo-

ALTERNATE, in Heraldry, is said in respect of the situation of the quarters. Thus the first and fourth quarters, and the second and third, are usually of the same nature, and are called alternate quarters.

ALTERNATE, in Botany, when the leaves or branches of plants arise higher on opposite sides alternately. quence and learning obtained full scope in the synod of Dort, to which he had been deputed by the Palatinate, along with two other divines.

It was but reasonable for Alting to expect high pre- ferment and high advantages from the avowed patronage of the elector; but in this he was greatly dis- appointed, and he had only to participate in his misfor- tunes. In 1622, Count Tilly took the city of Heidel- berg, and devoted it to plunder. In order to escape the fury of the soldiers, Alting endeavoured to pass by a back door into the chancellor's house, which was put under a strong guard; but the officer who guarded the house, as he was entering said to him; "with this bat- tle-axe I have to-day killed ten men, and Alting, if I knew where to find him, should be the eleventh; who are you?" Alting with a singular presence of mind re- turned an evasive answer, which saved his life. "I am (said he) a teacher in the college of Wisdom." The of- ficer took him under his protection; but the Jesuits un- fortunately taking possession of the house, the next day, left the generous officer no time at his departure to take care of the teacher of the college of Wisdom." Alting evaded the hands of the Jesuits, by hiding himself in a garret, and a cook of the electoral court supplied him with food, who happened to be employed by Count Til- ly in the kitchen occupied by him in the chancellor's house. In this perilous situation he remained until an opportunity offered of making his escape to Heilbron, whither his family had been conducted before.

But ecclesiastical intolerance harassed Alting, as much as he was formerly endangered by military hos- tility. With the permission of the duke of Wirtem- berg he retired for a few months to Schorndorf after the desolation of the Palatinate by the victorious forces of Count Tilly. It was reasonable to expect that a welcome and hospitable reception might have been giv- en, among Protestants, to one who had just escaped the flames of a Popish war. But the doctrine of mutual forbearance and candour seems to have been little at- tended to by the Protestants, at this period, whatever was their progress in the knowledge of the other doc- trines of Christianity. The Palatinate being in the vic- inity of the duchy of Wirtemberg, the professors of Tubingen and Heidelberg frequently attacked each other in polemic writings and theological disputations. The natural consequence was, that a settled jealousy and enmity existed between the two schools and their respective vicinities. The injuries which Alting had suffered from the common enemy were not sufficient to secure him a friendly reception among the Lutheran ministers of Schorndorf, who were involved in these feuds, and therefore murmured at the permission which the duke had given to a professor of Heidelberg to reside there. The mischievous effects of religious dissensions have been universally felt.

In 1623, Alting retired with his family to Embden, and afterwards followed to the Hague his late pupil, now king of Bohemia. Such was the unfeigned at- tachment of his master to him, that he still retained him as a preceptor to his eldest son; and prevented him from accepting the charge of the church at Embden, and likewise of a professorship at the university of Fra- neker. In 1627 his importunity prevailed upon his patron, and he obtained leave to remove to Groningen, and there ascended the divinity chair; and continued to lecture with increasing reputation until the day of his death. The ardent desire and repeated endeavours of several universities to appropriate to themselves the honour and benefit of his services, is the most unequivocal proof of the general esteem in which his character was held. The states of Groningen positively refused to give their consent to this removal, when the univer- sity of Leyden solicited him to come and labour among them. But some time after, the prospect of extensive usefulness in re-establishing the university of Heidelberg, and restoring the churches of the Palatinate, determined him to accept the office of professor of divinity and ec- clesiastical senator, presented to him by Prince Lewis Philip. In the year 1634, amidst numerous hardships, to which the existing war exposed him, he set out for Heidelberg, and pursued his journey as far as Franc- fort: when the battle of Norlingen, in which the imper- ialists were victorious, rendered his farther progress impracticable, and therefore with great difficulty he re- turned to Groningen.

Domestic affliction and personal sufferings embittered the remaining years of this excellent man's life. De- prived of his eldest daughter by death, such was his great affection for her that it brought on a settled mel- ancholy, attended with a bodily disease which was with great difficulty removed; but after an interval of four years a settled and irrecoverable melancholy seized him, in consequence of the loss of an amiable and beloved wife, which, together with a return of his bodily dis- ease, in a few months put a period to his useful life in the year 1644.

Alting was a man of eminent talents and extensive learning, possessed of amiable dispositions, which induced him to be more solicitous to serve the public than to benefit himself. The amiable character and extensive learning of Alting, cannot fail deeply to interest every reader, in consequence of his misfortunes. He was a- verse to quarrels and disputes about trifles, although no friend to the innovations introduced at this period by the Socinians. According to his own judgment, ad- hering to the plain doctrine of Scripture, he was equally desirous to avoid fanatical scrupulousness and sophisti- cal subtlety. The productions of his pen are, Notae in Decadem Problematum Jacobi Behm, Heidelbergae, 1618; "Notes on a Decad of Jacob Behmen's Pro- blems." Loci Communes; "Common Places." Prob- lema ta; " Problems." Explicatio Catacheseos Pala- tinat.; "Explanation of the Palatine Catechism." Exegesis Augustanae Confessionis, &c. Amst. 1647; "Commentary on the Augustan Confession." Metho- dus Theologiae Didacticae et Catecheticae, Amst. 1650; "A Method of Didactic and Catechetic Theology." The Medulla Historiae Prophane, "Marrow of Pro- fane History," published under the name of Paracus, was written by Alting. (Gen. Biog.)

Alting, James, son of Henry Alting, was born at Heidelberg in 1618. After the usual course of grammatical studies, he became a student, and soon af- ter professor of divinity in the university of Groningen. The Oriental languages were his favourite studies at an early period of his life; and in 1638 he put him- self under the tuition of a Jewish rabbi at Embden. Determining to take up his residence in England, he arrived there in 1640, and was admitted to clerical orders, by Dr Prideaux bishop of Worcester. By an offer of the Hebrew professorship in the university of Groningen, he was soon induced to alter his plan of life, and consequently again returned to Germany in 1643. His active assiduity in these languages, and his knowledge in other sciences, procured him universal esteem, and great reputation as a scholar. About this time he received many academic honours; he was admitted doctor of philosophy, academic preacher, and at last in conjunction with a colleague, Samuel des Marets, was chosen professor of divinity. These professors followed different methods of teaching, and adopted different systems. Des Marets was an admirer and follower of the subtleties of the scholastics; and by the ingenuity with which he pursued the scholastic plan of instruction had acquired great reputation and considerable influence. Alting spent his time in the study of the Scriptures, and in the pursuit of Rabbincal learning; and he delivered a course of lectures on divinity, which gained him great popularity. As it might naturally be expected, a mutual jealousy arose between the two professors: and their respective partisans in the university carried their animosity to an undue height. Established opinion, and the weight of authority, marshalled on the side of Des Marets. By the permission of the curators of the university he appeared as public accuser of Alting, and produced a long list of erroneous propositions to the divines of Leyden for their opinion. The judgment of the divines upon the dispute shows a great degree of moderation and good sense: they pronounced Alting innocent of heresy, but imprudently fond of innovation; and they declared Des Marets deficient in modesty and candour. If the superiors had not prohibited the farther discussion of these subjects in the consistories, classes, and synods, they would have occasioned as much mischief as they had excited general attention. Such was the protection given to Alting, that whenever any of the order of ecclesiastics proposed any further measures against him, they were immediately rejected by the civil power; nay, the penalty of deprivation was decreed against those clergy who should revive the Maresio-Allingian controversy. Whatever might be the advantages resulting to Alting from this protection, the magistrates certainly did wrong in proceeding so far in prohibiting a free discussion from the press, either for or against the judgments of the divines of Leyden. Although a kind of reconciliation was attempted by their common friends while Des Marets lay upon his death-bed, yet the breach between Des Marets and Alting was never perfectly healed. Dr Alting died of a fever in 1679. The fondness which he shewed for Rabbincal learning gave birth to the general report, that he was inclined to become a Jew. His opinions, which seem to have excited more general attention than they deserve, may be seen at large in his writings, which were collected a few years after his death, and published in five volumes folio, by his cousin Menso Alting, who wrote a good description of the Low Countries, under the title of Notitia Germaniae Inferioris. (Gen. Biog.)