Lyser
Lyser (also LEISER or LEYSER), an eminent Lutheran theologian, was born at Winnenden, in Würtemberg, March 18, 1552, and was educated at the University of Tübingen. In 1573 he became pastor at Gellersdorf, in Austria, where he soon distinguished himself as a preacher. He often preached also in Vienna, and thus became acquainted with the emperor Maximilian II. He was made D.D. by the University of Tübingen July 16, 1576, being then under 25 years old. After remaining for two years at the court of the elector August of Saxony, he became pastor and professor at Wittenberg. After the adoption of the "Formula Concordiae," he and J. Andrea devised a new organization for the university; he was also commissioned to revise the text of the Lutheran translation of the Bible, etc. After the death of the elector August in 1586, Calvinism began to regain the ascendency in Saxony, and Lyser left Wittenberg, generally regretted by the university and the community, to accept a call to Brunswick as coadjutor or vice-superintendent. He, however, returned to Wittenberg in 1592, and shortly after became preacher at the court of Dresden. Here he continued in the faithful discharge of his arduous duties, honored not only by the prince, but also by the emperor Rudolph. He died February 22, 1610. His principal works are a continuation of Chemnitz's Harmonia IV Evangelistarum (which was completed by John Gerhard), Erlauterungen u. drei Fragen (1598), and a number of Predigten, particularly Vier Landtags-predigten (1605). See Polhyc. Leyser III, Officium pietalis, quod C.D. Polyc. Leysero debuit et persolvit pronepos (Lpz. 1706); Gleich, Annales ecclesiastici; Adami, Vit. theol.; Spizel, Templ. hon.; Erdmanns, Lebensbeschr. d. Wittenb. Theol. etc.; Herzog, Real-Encykl. 8:628 sq.
