Dedication by the Editor

This biography of James Arminius was written in Latin by Caspar Brandt, published by Gerard Brandt in 1724, and translated to English by John Guthrie in 1854.
--------------------

[Dedication by the editor, Gerard Brandt.]

To the eminently pious and learned Lambert Drost and George A Zonhoven,

the faithful pastors of the Remonstrant Church at Haarlem and Leyden;

Gerard Brandt

Greeting:

Reverend Sirs,

Special reasons exist, over and above the common interest you feel in literature and learned men, which have induced me to dedicate to you, in particular, the life, composed by my father, of James Arminius — a name of no mean lustre in Holland during the last century. For whether I reflect on the degree of veneration with which you hold sacred the memory and the doctrine of that incomparable man, or recal to mind the very close tie of friendship which you contracted with the author while he lived, or consider, finally, the favourable regard toward me personally which you have repeatedly evidenced by no dubious proofs, I shall have no difficulty in satisfying any competent judge that I have the best reasons indeed for dedicating to you this production of my father.

For, if to acknowledge favours may be regarded as part of a grateful return, what can better become me than to bear public testimony to the kindness which you have thrown around me from my tender years. Not unfrequently have you counselled me, in the slippery period of youth, to contemplate, as in a mirror, the lives of my ancestors, that thence I might derive examples of virtue and learning, and that, roused from the slumber of inaction by the trophies of hereditary fame, I might ply my studies with alacrity in the liberal arts. You have not hesitated by your counsels, admonitions, and every variety of kind offices, to lighten the burdens of orphanage, yea, and to admit me in my riper years into your intimate friendship; in short, you have at no time suffered any advantage to be shut in my face.

But to crown all, by getting your names prefixed to this work, I flatter myself that I have found fit defenders of Arminius; for not only is it your endeavour, from a regard at once to your office and to conscience, to maintain and defend his doctrine; but, that the good cause may not lack advocacy, you have, in concert with others, undertaken the care and charge of examining, and elevating to sacred functions, the young men who, as the hopes of the Remonstrant Church, are in course of training under the auspices of the illustrious Cattenburg.

I might enlarge, were it not that I have found you to be as loath to admit these commendations, as I have found other men willing to hear them; for virtue has in itself this distinguishing feature, that it would rather be honoured with a quiet admiration, and commended in silence, than eulogised in fulsome terms. Accept, then, this memorial, such as it is, of my regard and esteem for you, which, in token of a grateful spirit, I adorn with your names. Should you be kindly disposed to honour it with your patronage, I shall have the satisfaction of reflecting that a debt has been discharged to the memory of Arminius, to the labour of my father, and to my own earnest wishes. It only remains that I pour out a heartfelt prayer to the ever blessed God, that he would long spare you in health, most excellent Sirs, for the good of your church, and of all the Remonstrants: and that you may grant me a continuance of your favourable regard.

AMSTERDAM, May 1, 1724.