Prefatory Note

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.
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[Prefatory Note by the Editor, Gerard Brandt.]

BEFORE addressing yourself, courteous reader, to the perusal of this little work, there are a few things which I think it needful to state in the outset. Nearly thirty years have elapsed since my father, Caspar Brandt, of blessed memory, began to spend his leisure hours in penning a life of the celebrated James Arminius; and in order that the entire Christian world might be the better able to judge of the piety and doctrine of that great man, whose name had been bandied about in various rumours (even as citizens the best deserving, whether in the State or the Church, have not always a lot worthy of their endeavours, and envy, like an inseparable shadow, is the usual concomitant of glory and virtue), he thought it advisable to frame his narrative in Latin, in preference to doing so in his vernacular tongue. The materials of the work were furnished, not merely by the literary remains, previously published, of Peter Bertius, John Uitenbogaerdt, and other distinguished men of that century, but also by not a few manuscript papers of theirs, and of Arminius himself, of which hitherto no public use had been made. At last, having all but applied a finishing touch to the memoir, and while making arrangements for committing the work to the press, he was snatched from the stage of time, — leaving myself, and many good men, to bewail his loss. He had made me heir of almost all his manuscripts; among these was this life of Arminius, which, as I was not yet of age to manage my own affairs, was entrusted, in the usual way, to the faith and custody of a guardian, at whose death it passed into other hands, and there lay concealed for a good many years; till at last, upwards of. two years ago, I recovered it from its possessor. Impelled, accordingly, by the dictate of filial affection, and by a regard to the memory of James Arminius, I send forth to the public this fruit of my fathers mental toil. I have thought it proper to premise these things to vindicate myself from the unmerited censure of some, who, being aware that a memoir of Arminius had been drawn up by my father, accused me of nevertheless procrastinating the publication of it longer than was due. Let not these, however, I pray, expect me — in accordance with the usual practice in editing memoirs, whether autobiographical, or otherwise — to advance anything in praise either of Arminius himself, or of my father. [This is an awkward sentence in the original; and it even presents a diversity of reading in different impressions of this same edition; but young Brandt's meaning is nevertheless sufficiently apparent. — TR.]

To dwell on the merits of the former would not be at all in keeping with my condition in life; while, from any such reference to the latter, — by which I might appear desirous of imposing on others, — I am restrained by a due veneration for my father's name. It concerns me more to notice the circumstance — as fitted to enhance the reader's estimate of the utility of this work — that there was a memoir by Philip Limborch, the very eminent professor of theology among the Remonstrants, of the celebrated Simon Episcopius, originally prefixed to his sermons, which, for the benefit of foreigners, was well translated into Latin by an ardent lover of letters, and, in a form similar to that of the present work, published in this city by Gallet in the year 1701; but, by what fate I know not, copies of this edition have become so rare, that it was with some difficulty that one could be obtained for my inspection. Should the rest, however, happen to be liberated from the places of confinement in which they are said to be detained, and that life of Episcopius be subjoined to these memoirs of Arminius, the two volumes will be found to embody a record of the rise and vicissitudes of the Remonstrants during a period of forty years — a record not unworthy of the study either of Dutchmen or of Protestants in other lands. Besides, it will be evident even from this, that the genius of the Christian religion consists in meekness and charity, rather than in speculative opinions in matters of faith; and how necessary in controversies that do not peril the foundations of our faith, is mutual forbearance, to foreclose many schisms into which the Church, alas! is now cruelly rent: for, as the Emperor Justinian wisely warns, in another case — 'It is better to leave a cause untouched, than, after it is damaged, to look about for a remedy.' [L. Ult. C. in quibus caus. in integr. rest. neces. non est.]

AMSTERDAM, 1st May, 1724.