Huber, Samuel

a German theologian, was born at Berne in 1547. He studied theology in Germany, and became pastor at Burgdorf. He was much given to controversy, especially in behalf of the Lutheran doctrine on the Lord's

Supper. Censured for a speech he made on the 15th of April, 1588, he nevertheless continued to attack the doctrines of the Reformed Church, and was, in consequence, first imprisoned, and then exiled. In July 1588, he went to Tübingen, where he joined the Lutheran Church. He became pastor of Doredingen, and in 1592 professor at Wittenberg. His belief in free grace, and in the universality of the atonement, brought him into antagonism with Huminus, Leyser, and Gesner (1592); the breach between them was not healed by public discussions held at Wittenberg and Regensburg in i594. Huber has been wrongly charged with teaching the doctrine of universal salvation. He was a determined opponent of the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination, and held that the words "decree" and "election" were equivalent to "gracious invitation," which God extends to all men without distinction. "But, to make their calling and election, they must repent and believe." Driven out of Hesse-Cassel in 1594, he resided for some time at Jena, Helmstadt, and Goslar. He died March 25,1624. The most important among his numerous works are Christum esse mortuum pro peccatis ominum hominum (Tübing. 1590) — Beständiges Bekenntniss (1597) — Amnti-Bellarminus (Gosl. 1607, 6 vols.). See Acta Huberiana (Tüb. 1597; Lüb. 1598); (Götze, Acta Hub. (Lüb. 1707); Schmid, Lebensbeschreibung (Helmst. 1708); Pfaff, Introd. in Hist. Liter. Theol. pt. 2, bk. 3, p. 431; Arnold, Ketzerhistorie, 1, 952; Moshelm, Ch. History, 3, 158.