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Unless I was convinced, learned reader, that it is in your interest to know accurately at least some of the things discussed in this small book, I would rather have cast it into the flames of truth than expose myself to the prejudices that such endeavors often provoke. For what usually deters anyone individually from these studies, all these reasons now present themselves to us en masse. But since for many years now, this life has been assumed by me in my vows and thoughts, through which I might somehow be useful to those studious of heavenly wisdom and divine truth, against those 'μορμολόκεια' [phantoms], whose access to the minds of even the least evil of men is ready, I thought it necessary to strengthen my spirit. I know the strength of that immense one in 'the way of the lion' (as mentioned by the most excellent in divine and human wisdom), which scares the lazy from their duty; and I am less disturbed by them the more I have already experienced them. Nor is it a matter of one place or even one age, to which that one refers all his ferocity, when the augmentation of spiritual light progressing day by day towards perfection is seriously deliberated. Although therefore the prejudices of many minds may have slowed down the perception of the fruits of any commendable endeavor, yet with these at least removed by posterity, what we undertake with divine help and support to illuminate the truth will not lack desired success, there can be the greatest hope and expectation. Each age has its own labor in this work; and it often happens that from the studies of those who have passed away, to which they approach without the causes of envy, emulation, hatred, and party spirit, men reap a richer harvest than from those who, looking only to themselves and their own benefit, are almost unaware that they will be useful to posterity. For it is not new that the fairness of deeds should be the envy of a man's neighbor. But indeed, that infinite wisdom which governs all, with the sweetest disposition and inscrutable connection of all things and ages, decided to meet in such a way that mortal vices would not in any way obstruct the preordained increments of divine truth. Therefore, no one sincerely engaged in these studies should cease from a rightly begun endeavor, either fearing detractors or yielding to prejudices. The hinge of our duty does not turn on these things. Nor would he be a servant of Christ, whose sole determination was to please men. It also often conveniently happens for the consolation of those laboring in the Lord's field, by the good providence of God so disposing, that the seed cast into the ground, harrowed with slanders, and covered with the muck of revilings, grows more successfully and abundantly, to the one who from the most putrid 'ἀμετρίας τῆς ἀνθολκῆς' [excess of flattery], is sweetly breathed upon by the popular breeze. But since from the time I set my mind to write these things, my foremost concern has been to let the speeches of men pass by, provided I help those who earnestly seek to 'ἀληθεύειν ἐν ἀγάπῃ' [speak the truth in love], all those things which some 'δοκησισοφία' [pretended wisdom], others 'τύφος ζηλωτικός' [zealous arrogance] proclaim or portend to be feared, I have foreseen in thought, and moreover considered necessary. Nor indeed, as I hope, have I taken up a matter that is odious and prone to detraction, or alien to the office, which by the grace of God I have long sustained in the church. The purpose of the work undertaken, the book's title itself will indicate, without my saying. It truly investigates the nature of theology; and how that investigation can be holily initiated by others, it sets forth the way and mode. How far I have followed the mind of Christ in this or that part of the work, it is yours, pious and learned reader, for to you these things pertain, to weigh carefully. But that I might more fully share with you the rationale of my studies in this work, some things must be recounted a little more deeply, and those things remembered which, since they have been an obstacle to many studious in theology, have offered me the opportunity to bring these thoughts forward, or even seemed to impose a certain necessity. For we are taught by reason itself, by which we are men, that we are not born for ourselves alone; and the Gospel announces that we will one day give an account of all things given to us freely by Christ. If anyone thinks that I have imprudently fallen into thorny places somewhere, let him consider that I approached these things with no other intention than to extricate those whom I saw stuck in them at the goals, and he will perhaps not be an unfair judge of our efforts, where, as if pointing the way out with a finger to those who have strayed, he cannot deny.

However, there are those, to speak of them first, who consider any thorough investigation of divine wisdom to be utterly superfluous; they do not think there are any sufficiently serious reasons to focus the mind's sharpness on it. They also have certain shadows of reasons for their persuasion, or rather madness, which to pursue all here would be too long and would take us far from our purpose: whatever they may pretend outwardly, inside lies a hatred for true piety and the gospel truth. To contend with someone like that, as he says, would be to place one's effort too uselessly. Those who lack the mental strength for more useful pursuits, and who have nothing else at home to do or from which to sustain themselves, these men would be the authors of committing themselves to this study; as they deem it unfair that those who are carried to higher things by a vigorous nature of the mind and sharpness of intellect should be depressed under its barren yoke. Moreover, they never even dream that this divine wisdom should be sought, or could be sought, for any other fruit or end than for wealth, riches, honors, popular veneration, or the favor of leading men. Hence, they wish all its inquiry to be confined within limits accessible to the laziest, most occupied, even the most wicked of mortals; whatever is beyond that, they decree to be counted among the vain, fictitious, curious, and uncertain. Although they consider the matter itself in some way necessary for the conduct of life, they think that its exact and diligent pursuit brings with it inconveniences, against which it is of great interest to the public peace and that religious affection, which ignorance produces, to quickly counteract.

Our defense against the onslaught of these beasts is easier than to sweat greatly over it. In a word, 'ὅπʼ σὑκ οἴδασι βλασφημοῦσιν' [they blaspheme what they do not understand], neither understanding what the nature of theology is, nor what its end is, nor how important it is not to perish eternally. I admit that hypocrites have said, 'What a weariness!' and 'What profit is it?' (Mal. 1:13, 3:14). But those who seriously consider that God applies no greater severity in His commandments, or grace in His promises, than when He demands this knowledge of Himself from us, will feel the same, unless they too are oppressed by the dominion of sin. Indeed, there are very few, either slaves of little labor or openly impious, who openly and with 'γυμνῇ, [bare]' as they say, 'τῇ κεφαλῇ [head]' condemn all diligence placed in the study and inquiry of heavenly truth. Yet those who really count whatever time is spent on it among losses, are neither few nor would they want to seem impious. I am not speaking only of those whose interest it is in this matter not to be strangers or guests, as much as their own soul's salvation, which is the condition of all men, but also of those who profess to dedicate themselves to the study of this wisdom and declare themselves initiates of its sacred mysteries. Hence, after theology has been a pretense for several years for other studies, more politicians, doctors, poets, orators, historians, philosophers come forth; or I wish they would, when they are nothing less than what they most want to appear. For habits or peculiar garments, gait, faces composed and feigned for a false and shadowy appearance of modesty, which transparently cover vanity, insolence, obstinacy more than a sieve, degrees and dignities, and other names of leisure, wealth, domination, do not make theologians, as we have long discovered by experience. And this happens because they truly neither care for nor love the mysteries of this wisdom; and although they shamelessly use its name for other ends, they are in deep enmity with its celestial and spiritual power, purity, and efficacy. But let us leave this number: they have their reward. Nor does this discussion pertain to those who are variously hindered in the study of theology, to those who are their own only impediment. Indeed, the greatest obstacle to students in this matter is the native and vicious blindness of the human mind; which unless lifted by the efficacy of His Spirit, who once said 'let light shine out of darkness,' will be hunting the wind, whoever devotes study and effort to the investigation of this wisdom. But since we must deal with it extensively in the book itself, passing over it here, we will only follow those things which, for various particular reasons, greatly hinder the method of these studies. These, however, pertain to two heads, one of which concerns the students, the other the studies themselves. We will briefly touch on the former with one or another example, and will treat the latter as much as the cause and our purpose satisfy.

Firstly, we are confronted with this laziness, by which we see no small, indeed not the smallest part of students, become lethargic. It would indeed be easy to accuse this vice; and, if I tried to express everything that could be said against it, the speech would be immense. But when it is so infamous that they think they must consult for themselves and their own reputation only by at least verbally disapproving of it, even the most lazy will gladly relieve us of this burden. I will briefly bring to light its hidden causes, so that whoever does not think compensating for the loss of the entire fruit of life with the softness of one vice is better, can better confront them. The main one is the efficacy of innate concupiscence, itching for the love of pleasures. For it is impossible for a mind dedicated to lust, hindered by love, desire, craving, luxury, to seriously think about those things in which unless you are diligent and frugal, labor is in vain. All servitude softens the spirits, especially that which is of sin. But when the mind addicted and given to concupiscence, because it is occupied by a vice of nature and held in darkness, deeply abhors all labor of the mind, thus it most deeply abhors him who undertakes to handle divine and spiritual things. Hence, after having acquired in the servitude of sin a new ἕξιν [habit] of vices, which is inherent in depraved nature, you see many bound by many names to the study of divine truth, who, like tired horses, cannot be forced by any spurs to continue on the appointed path; especially after having achieved those things for whose sake they perhaps for a while bore that heavy burden. For someone to be both φιλήδονος [fond of pleasure] and φιλόθεος [fond of God] at the same time is impossible. And yet among many there is the most foul defect from the most holy doctrine of Christ, that they are not at all content to carelessly, securely, and negligently oppose themselves to those incentives of lusts, which the world, set in evil, continually suggests to all; but they also diligently and with care pursue those things which are kindling for their own and others' pleasures, and enticements to sin. From this pernicious progeny, which sprouts from this root in all human life, is this laziness, which forces souls first cast down from all arduous, excellent, divine things, and enslaved to vain, foul, perishing things, to perish eternally. I know that some, while boiling with excessive desire for earthly things, wish to undergo the tedium of studies; and from that they temporarily take heart, which will soon cut all the nerves of industry. And indeed, some of them persist in this opinion, until they achieve their goal; that is, having acquired wealth or honors, which is the goal of all their studies; but many more gradually, by far, sink into the most inactive and most disgraceful idleness. Therefore, we see so many who profess to have dedicated themselves to the study of good arts, and even to divine wisdom itself, become lethargic in neglect and laziness, mainly because they do not care to subjugate the vicious and carnal affections of the mind to the Spirit and grace of Christ. For it is vain to expect that a mind sick with vices will undertake any honorable efforts, or persist long in anything worthy of praise. And nothing more absurd and contrary to the nature of things can be imagined than that someone who indulges in pride, ambition, avarice, or any concupiscence of a corrupt nature, should think that they can rightly and fruitfully dedicate themselves to the study of the most holy revelation of the mind of God in Christ, or persevere in that shadowy exercise which, with a most unjust mind, they temporarily tolerate.

Furthermore, there is in many an incurable defect of intellect, which, devoid of hope of progress, ends in senseless inactivity. For it is extremely rare that those whose interest it is most, in the education of students, select talents. Pedagogues hired for a salary, indiscriminately offer their services to all, and it matters not who is brought to the schools, as long as there is something to count. The same rule applies in academies.

Hence, many walk around in academic gowns, as suited to studies as foxes to the plow. Countless are the things that transfer these men, sterile and unproductive after several attempts by nature, into idleness and sloth. And it would be well if they would cease from the good arts they have undertaken in vain, if they did not proceed to the bad. But being driven from those tasks for which perhaps they were equal, by undertaking those to which they are utterly unequal, when they tire of these labors and are ashamed to return to the former, they often plunge themselves into vices. To these we can add the example of the age, openly failing in all the institutes of the most holy religion of Jesus Christ, and not so much prone as precipitate into vices. As soon as the contagion of this, like a plague, invades the youth dedicated to studies, despising the care of industry, modesty, piety, self-denial, preparation for bearing the cross, their immediate goal is, distinguished by I know not what flashy trappings of the undisciplined world, to be as similar as possible in all other respects to it. Hence they flow into luxury and idleness, become proud, squander, lightly esteem good examples, scorn the evangelical life—indeed all moderation—and yet do not doubt that wisdom will fall into their laps as they act thus towards heaven. But what else should be expected from such men, than that, gradually relaxing all effort in studies, they cover the forces of their intellect with sloth? Unless students vigilantly and promptly resist these destructive causes of laziness, however much, from some vain swelling of the mind, which the fever and custom of the age inflate, they may be Suffeni to themselves, no prudent person will ever allow themselves to hope for their progress, which is of any real worth or significance.

Moreover, as I address in the second place those who are not destroyed by pleasures and sloth, they are led astray by the studies of sects and parties, and thus are greatly hindered in the pursuit of truth. The existence of sects in religion is established by the diversity of opinions, augmented and strengthened by many other reasons. However, the greatest deception is found in them. For you will find no one more slavishly devoted and enslaved to a sect than those who, because they belong to the part that is numerically superior in the corner of the world where they happen to live, consider nothing more commendable in themselves than that they condemn all sects as wicked and foolish. It seemed to most that sects are constituted not by the minds of men, but by a lack of number; nor does that name arise from the nature of things, but from the distinctions of places; when in reality, wherever there is a slavish, and so to speak, sectarian spirit, whether for any secular reasons, consent to a formula of agreement increases the perniciousness of the sect. But I am not now dealing with exposing the nature of sects or attacking their vices; I will only say how their study poses obstacles to the study of true wisdom. Indeed, this happens because many consider it a sin to think beyond the beliefs of the sects, containing within them, as part of their faction, all knowledge, piety, doctrine, wisdom, as if a cornucopia. It cannot be said what evils afflict weak minds, prone to evil affections, and prone to unjust suspicions; all these slow down the judgment of men in the search for truth; and worse, they induce a habit of mind that is corrupt, arrogant, and disputatious, into which the Holy Spirit does not wish to mix His gifts. 'The man who fears Jehovah, He will teach him the way he should choose; Jehovah's secret is with those who fear Him, that they may know His covenant,' Ps. 25:12, 14. Those who are truly not native to the sect of opinions, but use it for their own and their affairs' advancement, sweetly enjoy the blind zeal and folly of others, and nevertheless favor the honor of the sect, or swear by its utility, and no less show contempt for others, as those hatred. No heavier prejudice exists in the study of divine truth, nor anything that more darkens the mind impeded by evil affections, than what arises from the fact that someone, either by the condition of their birth, or the education of others, or the desire for earthly things, before they know how to exercise sincere, free, and mature judgment, is inserted into numerous sects in religion, especially those that serve as bait for wealth, honors, and popular veneration. For these people, the sect is the norm and measure of truth and all studies; and they use no more reliable guide in the things they undertake than the most religious caution, lest they inadvertently fall into the beliefs of other sects; and thus they might borrow some light from others, at the expense of their most welcome, and often most useful, errors. In the meantime, they consider themselves alone to be learned, intelligent, prudent, pious, doubtless with a certain sense, wisdom, and piety common to the sect; that is, with a coal miner's faith. From this also arise quarrels, hatred, lawsuits, and eternal disputes, from which all Christian charity and gentleness are far removed. Kings return to favor more quickly after mutual great calamities than theologians inflamed by the zeal of parties. Nor can anything so absurd, unlearned, futile, even almost impious in religious matters be vomited forth, but if it proceeds from him who leads, accompanies, follows a numerous family, immediately as a shield fallen from heaven that is embraced by the admirers of the sect; who in this one thing vigilantly watch, how to defend the wrongly said things of their own, and to attack the well said things of others. If they finally admit in their minds that someone who is not of their parties is not foolish or wicked, which happens very rarely, they immediately engage in hostilities with all; and there is no one who would not most gladly triumph over him, even in a trivial matter, or not rejoice to be triumphed over by others. Most miserable little men, who while condemning others with great arrogance for errors, ignorance, even heresy and schism, relying on the sect, perhaps the worst, which is not a sect to them alone, often adopt all these things as their own special property, unless none of these can be said about them, because their stupidity surpasses all these things. With such men in the matter of promoting divine truth, I think I have nothing in common. They all know the limits of wisdom, and how far the boundaries of divine truth extend; that is, the beliefs of the sect. For they will not venture to navigate into unknown lands, who have enough gold at home, or do not consider anything more valuable than gold. Therefore, from the practices of these men, our purpose is so far diverted that I never came into any hope that what we have set out to discuss would in any way contribute to their benefit or be to their taste. Especially those I considered to be omitted or neglected, whose blind love of themselves and their sect has extinguished the light of reason so much, that they do not understand that they engage in hostilities with all, as they indeed pretend, for no other reason than that the one to which they have enslaved themselves alone may dominate. Nor are these things said by me as if it were not necessary for every believer to join some assembly professing faith in Christ and the worship of God prescribed by Him, unless he would prefer to be considered ἄτοπος [out of place] and ἄτακτος [disorderly]; but it almost infinitely matters with what spirit someone joins any of them. He who, having first dedicated himself to our Lord Jesus Christ, applies himself to one of those who with the study and profession of divine truth and the observance of the commandments of the Lord Jesus, holily cultivates true piety, sobriety, justice, modesty, separation from the world, so that, having become a participant in the spiritual privileges of the church and the gifts of the Holy Spirit in it, he also does his part in promoting the building up of the body of Christ in faith and love, in my judgment, has acted rightly, and according to the requirement of our duty owed to Christ in the Gospel. We only accuse of suppressing the truth those who, for wicked, secular, or no reasons, but as if by some chance, or by the impulse of external things in which they are entangled, carried to the edges of the sect, perhaps elevated by its carnal prerogatives, regard all others as if they had never been born. But let us abandon further consideration of these men, whose mental illness is utterly incurable without special grace from God; since in it they not only greatly please themselves, but seriously triumph; and they think that those who would free them from the superstitious frenzy with which they are agitated, do not want to save them, but to kill them.

Let us proceed to those studies by which the talents of men are polished, sometimes to be dedicated to the investigation of heavenly wisdom. For ἀρχὴ παντὸς ἔργου μέγιστον [the beginning of every work is the most important]. However, I fear that in these there may lurk vices, by which minds occupied are heavily burdened in the study of divine truth. I do not wish here to recall any of those things which learned men, experienced in practical affairs, have written about teaching disciplines differently than is commonly done; since I am weary of the custom of the age, by which if anything of this kind is produced, it is immediately dragged into the περιεργίας [superfluous disputations] of quarrels and the fuel of idle chatter; and, if it has risen a little higher, even into envy. It pertains to our purpose to deal with those things which are in use everywhere. But for the student of theology, besides what we will say elsewhere about grace and the Spirit of Christ, there is a need for a subdued judgment, a candid, sincere, and unprejudiced mind, pious affections, and honest morals. Here we will say briefly those vices at the common entrance of studies, which unless quickly restrained, are apt either to deprave affections and corrupt morals, or to entangle the very mind itself with the snares of errors and vain reasonings, from which anyone will hardly be able to extricate themselves. Let us begin with poetry, by which in ancient times literature laid its foundations; and whence many still commence their studies. It has its own praises and laurels, which I will not begrudge it. That in singing the praises of the living God, it pleased holy men of old to use it, has earned it a praise that eternity will behold. There is also a certain authority and reverence of antiquity itself; especially since, in order not to become obsolete, it has, through the ages, found the greatest talents to exercise in it. It must also be admitted that the ancient cultivators of poetry were versed in depicting the vices of human behavior with a lively ingenuity and subtle sagacity, and furthermore, used such a skill in inventing probabilities, by whose imitation the talents of others may be exercised in the investigation of truth itself, that it is not surprising if they have spread the fame of their name throughout almost the entire world. There is also undoubtedly a great charm in the very art, which however, the wisest of the pagans did not hesitate to compare with the pleasure of flute players, whom uneducated men hire at a price to cheer up their spirits at banquets, since they cannot be pleasant to each other in their own conversations due to their lack of skill. But everything that serves to soothe the senses of men and to charm minds, by encompassing the allurements of speech, prepares easy access to the affections of the mind for things themselves, and fixes them tenaciously in memory. But it is not now my task to say what may be the use of poetry, or of the ancient poets, which I admit is great; but what is their abuse, which I consider to be greater. For I have not departed from the opinion of the orator, who recognized no solid utility in poetry, and affirmed that all its pleasure is childish. But I think that no man is unaware of the stain, indeed the filth, with which it has been contaminated from its very beginnings among the Gentile sages. For if you take away the ἀποθέωσιν [deification] of wicked men, the adulteries, murders, quarrels, robberies, unspeakable sins of ἀνθρωποφυέων [anthropomorphic] gods; the lies, impure loves, cunning, cruelty, ambition, tyranny, atrocities, nefarious, superstitious rites of idolatry, and even the worship of the devil in humans, whom they propose as models for imitation; the books in which ancient poetry reigns, which now proceed with gigantic bulk, will be dwarfed and stunted. To these, old comedy added βωμολοχίαν [buffoonery]; with which, along with the vituperation of ἀκάκων [innocent] men, τὸ γελοῖον [the ridiculous] dominated; which the wit, or rather the slander, of the most wicked of bipeds, with which many today are greatly delighted, was abolished by the power of the Macedonians. He who so exposes these with art and care, who so shamelessly and immodestly, that he leaves stings in the minds of readers, and kindles similar affections, is considered, if not to lead the field, at least to stand out among others. Unhappy youth are imbued from infancy with these disgraceful tales, which, while they meditate, breathe, and carelessly utter them, they induce in their minds a vicious (and often invincible) ἕξιν [habit]. They are commanded to hold dear from their tenderest years, to cherish in their bosom, to handle night and day, those whom all the pagans, who in any way opposed themselves to a world rushing into worse, lest the morals of the human race be completely ruined, judged to be banished far from the company of all good men. The wise denied that anyone among the Greeks could have been a wise man or just, however much he wished, since they lent their ears to poets teaching all other things; as Philostratus reports in the Life of Apollonius. For as most young men use the vices of others, the Comic poet shows in his Chærea; about which example Augustine says much in his books on the City of God. It is also well known that Socrates in Plato's ideal city of good men expelled poets; others, no less learned than he, approved the act. “Do you see,” says Marcus Tullius, “what harm poets bring? they bring in lamenting the bravest men, they soften our minds: they are then so sweet that they are not only read, but also learned by heart. Thus, when poets have been added to a bad domestic discipline and a life of shadows and delicacy, they break all the sinews of virtue. Therefore, rightly are they expelled by Plato from that city which he formed, when he sought the best morals and the best state of the republic. But we, of course learned from Greece, learn these things from childhood, and consider this education liberal and instructive.” But either these things were said by them carelessly and without reason, or most of us are less wise than they, and less concerned about the honesty of morals; or the reasons on which they relied do not pertain to us as much as to them; which is an easy and light controversy, which anyone may resolve without difficulty.

It is true that the Stoics twisted poetic fables to a natural interpretation, others to a moral one, absurdly attributing to the storytellers things that never occurred to them, as Eusebius has shown in many books in his 'Preparation for the Gospel,' and before him, Marcus Tullius: 'Whether,' he says, 'the poets corrupted the Stoics or the Stoics gave authority to the poets, I cannot easily say; for both speak of monsters and atrocities.' But what does this have to do with children, hardly removed from the cradle, who, while seeking pleasure and praise in these most putrid fables, often pour out their wretched souls, tainted with evil poison, to the applause of those whose duty it is to instill true reverence for God in tender years. But, they say, children can be taught in a word that the things they learn in fables are monstrous and to be avoided, many of which are celebrated by the authors they read. But surely, no one is so unfortunately stupid as to not prefer to be without a rotten ulcer than to have an ointment, and to be free from deadly poison than to have an antidote. If what the poets recount is most false, what they celebrate most disgraceful, why do we hasten not so much to educate but to ruin tender age with the knowledge and praises of these things? The efficacy of evils is more certain than that of remedies; thus this matter is conducted at the very edge of the well. 'Deceitful above all things are the hearts of men and desperately wicked.' We know what the human mind is like, not yet illuminated by divine grace; how it is carried away into the embrace of the allurements of desires; how slow, sluggish, and stubborn it is when better and healthier things are suggested; and how easily it lapses into the most putrid imaginations. Whoever would deny that its innate vanity must be restrained by all means from all incentives of pleasures and desires is utterly unworthy of the Christian name. For I am disgusted with that kind of Christianity, which has nothing in common with the genuine article except the name. 'But it is necessary,' they say, 'to imitate the ancients.' But to contaminate the minds of the young, not yet mature in judgment, with the filth of fables and vices, is a crime and the utmost folly, not instruction for useful imitation. 'Do not be deceived,' says the apostle, 1 Cor. 15:33. 'Evil company corrupts good habits;' which words he quoted from Menander, or rather from Euripides, as Jerome says, so that with a proverb known to them as if it were their own, he might kill them with their own sword. Many indeed claim that they have admitted nothing of stain or dishonor from their first instruction in the books of the poets, and therefore think that they should learn for themselves to old age what it is shameful only for boys not to have learned. But not all are equipped with such an amulet that they can mingle with the pestilence secure of their safety; nor are all those placed between the altar and the stone covered by a Homeric cloud. Those who know themselves, the innate depravity of the human mind, the holiness of the Gospel; who believe that they will eventually render an account to God of all their studies, may be of another opinion. Indeed, either that is not what we read in the Gospel, or the pride of these men, and their δοκησισοφία [pretended wisdom], exalting themselves in contempt of divine grace and self-denial, without sincere repentance will go to judgment. We do not deny that poetry can have some place among other secular disciplines, which is no other than the cultivation of the natural faculties of the soul, placed in the elicitation and exercise of innate principles, to broaden the mind's comprehension of things, sharpen perception and the power of discernment, increase memory. But unless it is declawed and defanged, we do not think it right to grant it citizenship in the Christian community. How this can be done, and how the legitimate use of this art can be restored, discarding those allurements of depraved affections, and even all masters of impurity, with which many seem to spend their time either too long or too negligently, neither wary enough of the poison they offer, nor sufficiently instructed in the proper use of it, if there is one, is not for this place to describe. We have proven, I think, and nothing further is demanded by the purpose of our present undertaking, that incautious youth, exercising no or very weak judgment in the discrimination of truth, engaged in the reading and study of poets without distinction, often suffer damage from the contagion of fables and atrocities, not easily repaired. It would be easy to transcribe here what the most learned of the ancients have written on this subject; Clement, Origen, Tertullian, Jerome, Augustine, and others; but these are not unknown to the learned. And this is the great preparation of literature, from whose impure heat many apply their smoking minds to the study of the mysteries of the Gospel and heavenly wisdom. The divine truth, its sacred oracles, to be opened up for defilement by such assailants, to be despised by the august, to come into any hope, is nothing but the height of madness. For sacred theological dignity will never be so thrown away on vain men as to share its secrets with those who are so far from earnestly desiring to experience its heavenly power, that they give themselves almost entirely to affections and studies that suck all the blood, juice, and vigor of even common decency.

Nor is the philosophical herb without its snake. It is an old complaint of learned men that some of the early Christians put on Christ in such a way that they did not sufficiently take off Plato. And it cannot decently be denied by anyone that they twisted the most profound mysteries of the Gospel to fit philosophical senses, not without great loss to divine truth and harm to the church. But that calamity of the faith was light and tolerable, as few were guilty; these were related, and in very few did they use that excessive license, compared with what was later suffered from the mixture of almost all with Peripatetic philosophy in everything. We have shown this elsewhere. What vices are rubbed into the minds of studious youth, through the tortuous twists and turns and monstrously cobbled patches of the common mode of that study, rushing to other vices, I have decided to mention here with one or perhaps two examples. And here first presents itself to us the unhealthy theorems of popular ethics; that happiness, which we pursue by virtue, to be obtained in this mortal life, is the whole basis and foundation of the entire structure; then only to say that someone is happy after he has met his fate, Aristotle pronounces to be utterly absurd. But he, rejecting miserable happiness, to which virtue and industry would have to serve as their own rewards, establishes it as needing external prosperity, and thus incapable of supporting the weight of calamities, which can be taken away from the unwilling and undeserving, uncertain in the meantime (as if these things were mutually exclusive) whether he would attribute it to some god or to virtue. He would undoubtedly think our Job miserable, wretched, and unhappy, unlike Marcus Tullius, who felt differently about his Regulus. But almost no one is ignorant of how far removed whatever can be understood about that happiness, which he extols, is from that communion with God, with which alone the future happiness of the saints here begins; and from all that by which the Gospel pronounces us blessed, unless the Gospel itself is hidden to him. Furthermore, the virtue which he imagines with a certain madness to consist in the mean of evils, he uses as a rule and prescription, which will certainly make sure that no one ever knows for certain what virtue is, what vice. For having rejected the proper agitation of the rational soul, and the careful investigation that pleased Socrates, referring students to I know not what arbitrary definitions of the prudent, he has taken great care to ensure that they find nothing firm or stable where they might set their foot, nothing that would stop the perpetual vacillation of the human mind. To avoid this vice, to have fallen into a greater one, asserting that a man can be perfectly wise, not ignorant that he who is perfectly wise is God, will be judged. That Roman Fabricius, who as a legate to King Pyrrhus found the speech of Cineas the Thessalian astonishing, that he dared to assert that he was a wise man among the Greeks, is surely to be considered to have kept himself more within the limits of modesty and human understanding. And to pass over innumerable other things wrongly said about virtues, whoever has departed from his opinion, confining the most divine exercise of the virtue of fortitude to military matters, will have to deny not only the most earnest and wisest of the Gentiles, but also Christ himself and the holy martyrs, their praise of it: the δίκαιον νομικόν [legal right], situated in the discretion of lawmakers, and distinct from the φυσικῷ [natural right], a fiction devised to the contempt of religion and the ruin of the state, he establishes as the principle and norm of divine worship, from which men learn who God is and how he is to be worshiped. We also know to what extent, not without loss to celestial truth, many of his statements about involuntary actions, about justice, and other things, are drawn, not unwillingly, by some into theology. Finally, if we may contemplate the very reason of virtue, which he explains, by which alone access to happiness is compared, we will perceive it to be rather a proud opinion selling a shadow of virtue, than the disposition of mind which befits the human condition and dependence on the highest God. For well done to that virtue, if it is preferred to vices, whose end is not the glory of God, nor grace the beginning; nor the rule, either the nature of things, or the revelation of the divine mind; but which, arising from men, relies solely on their industry in progress, and finally ends in them. The mind of young men entangled in the net of such hypotheses, will hardly find how to extricate itself from its snare and entanglements. The Gospel teaches all other things. But indeed it is a very laborious thing and not for the negligent man, to root out from the bottom the dogmas of persuasion with which the fresh mind is imbued; especially where there is no one who deliberately teaches them to be false. Nor is it possible, with conflicting principles and motives of reason, for the mind to assent at the same time. Hence, tossed by a kind of ebb and flow of various thoughts, uncertain of the truth, attacked as if by contrary winds, they would be thrown into the whirlpools of atheism by δυσωπία ἀμφίζολος [ambiguous difficulty], unless, which is the condition of most, clinging to the bark of words on both sides, they never seriously strive to experience the force and efficacy of the things themselves. For since the most celebrated theorems of moral philosophy and the mysteries of the Gospel do not live at peace with each other, it is necessary that those who, joining faith to them, render their minds conformable to them, are utterly incapable of the latter. It is indeed a miserable kind of consolation that in such a large crowd of students very few are deeply imbued with that moral doctrine. But it is so, learned reader, it is indeed so; the studies of youth are so composed for the ghosts of quarrels or the shadows of dreams, that full of terms, distinctions, definitions, they scarcely taste the things themselves with their foremost lips, as they say; and those who approach ethics with the intention that they themselves become prudent, just, sober, brave, and truly σπουδαῖοι [earnest].—

"Gentile moral philosophy was practical in the integrity of morals and a serious instruction, according to the best rules of virtue they knew; slippery indeed and very uncertain, but still, the best they could conceive. For they were not like us, who would prefer to eat acorns after finding wheat. Οὑ γὰρ ἵνʼ εἰδῶμεν τί ἐστιν ἀρετὴ [For we do not consider in order to know what virtue is], σκεπτόμεθα [says Aristotle], ἀλλʼ ἵνʼ ἀγαθοὶ γενώμεθα [but in order to become good]; ἑπεὶ οὑδὲν ἂνή ὄφελος αὑτῆς [for otherwise, there would be no benefit from it]. Ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι σκέψασθαι τὰ περὶ τὰς πράξεις [It is necessary to consider the actions], πῶς πρακτέον αὑτάς [how they must be performed]. And again, ἅμα γὰρ εἰδῆσαι βουλόμεθα [For we want to know], καὶ αὑτοὶ εἶναι τοιοῦτοι [and to be such ourselves]. But how many are there, who in the study of this science, have already made this decision for themselves? A raw young man, inexperienced in affairs, intent on all other things, perhaps full of wine, sleep, vices, in order to make an erudite noise in the schools as usual, hastens to complete some course in ethics, rapid indeed and precipitate, in a year and a half, or even six months. But let us leave these things, which are the fault of the men themselves; we are speaking of the thing itself. If, therefore, to those false opinions which we mentioned above, whose sum is in agreement with the innate pride of the human mind and the most foolish αὑτοθεισμῷ [self-deification], someone ignorant of any ἀνακεφαλαιώσεως [recapitulation] in Christ attaches their mind, they will scarcely believe the Gospel teaching them in all other things that they are nothing, can do nothing; but are blind, foolish, corrupt, miserable, and must receive all light, wisdom, virtue, happiness from God through Christ. But if he does not embrace these things with faith, nor cares to institute his life according to their norm, it would be well if, having diligently occupied himself in them, he lost nothing else but his labor and oil. Although therefore I admit that the use of those things, which some of the ancient philosophers elaborated in that moral discipline with a wonderful ambit of genius and turn, and many night watches, is very great and most beautiful, for those who have their senses exercised by habit to discern both good and evil διὰ τὴν ἕξιν τὰ αἰσθητήρια γεγυμνασμένα πρὸς διάκρισιν καλοῦ τε καὶ κακοῦ [having their senses exercised to discern both good and evil]; yet he does not, in my opinion, act rightly who diverts those who, by the greatest benefit of God, are able to use the most certain and infallible rule of all virtues, and the only one potent to be engendered in the minds of men, to uncertain, fluctuating, and most vain studies of true wisdom, seeking a holy and honorable way of living to God. And Aristotle himself would not bear a teacher of morals unless he taught with the intention that life be instituted at the same time according to his norm. But I do not wish to say more about these things here, whose consideration will again occur in our progress. Therefore, the speech will proceed to other things."

Surely, no one slightly discerning in these matters can be pleased with the common method of teaching philosophy, full of contentions and disputes. Having rejected all other ancient philosophy, almost only that which is most apt for quarrelsome circles is retained. For once a man, placed beyond all risk in matters of intellect, decided to attack the opinions of others in philosophy, he became excessively cautious and wary in all doctrine; lest by chance he might fall imprudently into those snares which he easily foresaw future generations would construct following his example. Thus, he treads carefully in all philosophy, as if walking on deceitful ashes; and he forges definitions more to ensure they are safe from others' objections and fortified on all sides than to bring to light the very things he undertakes to explain. Hence, many things in his philosophy are arranged for perpetuating fights and disputes. Especially as cultivated by the Arabs, after it pleased men who were very sharp in their own judgment, and solely intent on domination in schools through endless disputations, all knowledge immediately, entangled in thorny subtleties, turned into material and cause for quarrels and contentions. For several centuries, the study of philosophy was nothing other than the most foolish preparation for that futile itch for disputing which dominated the schools. But this empty method of captious litigation never had Aristotle as its author. Indeed, he handed down some theses for his students to defend, as did his successor Theophrastus, for a contest of eloquence and sharpness; but in their disputes, there was nothing similar to those contentious λογομαχιῶν [word fights], and captious circumscriptions with which, as a most learned man says, unhappy youth are today trained to hardness of forehead. Whatever is still sweated over in philosophy by many is only preparation for a victim to be sacrificed to that art of litigation. Whether what they read, learn, teach is true or false; whether it has a foundation in the nature of things or are vain speculations of idle men, they do not care, as long as they are suitable for altercations, and (if they want to be wise, to be unlearned), they increase the skill in quarreling. But if someone, well trained in jests, taunts, insults, spittings, finally ascends to that level of knowledge, or rather impudence, where he makes no end of arguing, he is considered learned, to his great misfortune. Many such are seen every day, who from their past life in exercises of disputation, you would think abound in the precepts of dialectic and philosophy. But when it comes to serious matters, which require the most skill in these sciences, they fall utterly silent. This I have often wondered at greatly to myself, until I found that among other causes, this too contributed: that the true and sound use of the art of logic, and of all solid philosophy, while they strive to crucify themselves and others with thorny subtleties and a heap of futile terms, they are utterly ignorant.

From this also arises another vice in studies; and it is by far the greatest. Students do not consider the ends and limits of knowledge to be those set by the nature of things, but rather the writings of a few men, who would never have been any wiser than them, had they not availed themselves of the benefit of relying on their own senses, which they deliberately deprive themselves of. They spend their lives learning what others have felt; always trusting others, they never return to themselves, never call themselves to counsel. For to their great disadvantage, the corrupted nature of the human mind is so arranged that men most willingly trust themselves and, on the contrary, the one upon whose help and assistance they should depend in everything; but to others like themselves, as if they were not endowed by God with any gifts, they completely enslave themselves; by the one vice showing unfaithfulness, by the other foolishness, and by both an ungrateful spirit against God. But it cannot be said how much this and other things of this kind, which accompany the common method of studies, by which many think they are being shaped towards wisdom, actually impede the mind occupied with vain reasonings in the search for truth; although in some the barriers may be broken by the vigor of the intellect, diligence, and experience of things; yet to all they are an impediment, holding back the slower and more sluggish under the shameful yoke of ignorance, at least at the threshold of letters.

Finally, let us consider theology; there are few who set for themselves the legitimate goal and proper end in its study. Many engage in this study only for the purpose of seeking wealth, riches, honors, and a certain popular veneration. Therefore, their sole desire is to acquire from theological books the expertise by which they, and others, deem them fit for these earthly things. Hence, they approach divine things and the most profound mysteries of the Gospel with the same mindset and resources they use to acquire secular knowledge; all the while, they do not doubt that they are Christians, when nothing could be more alien to the Gospel than this. We will teach that theology is a spiritual wisdom engaged in the mysteries of the Gospel. Nor was the theology of the Gentiles anything other than a certain wisdom in the mysteries of the religions they professed. Therefore, it is necessary that he misses the mark who has set for himself any other goal in this study than to become wise and spiritually skilled in the mystery of the Gospel. But how many aim for this goal? I fear that there are more who despise these things, not realizing that they are thereby insulting the Gospel. Where students do not set for themselves the right goal, it is impossible for them not to also err in the choice of means. Indeed, even if they happen upon those means which are naturally quite suitable for that end, since they are directed elsewhere, they deprive themselves of their true use and benefit. But they often regard the most necessary means as nothing; indeed, they reject them with the utmost contempt. From the darkness of these errors, in place of evangelical theology, has long been produced a scientific knowledge, not unlike those taught by common philosophy. For theology is said to be a systematic structure of theses, definitions, arguments, objections, answers, distinctions, which is a confused μιξοφιλοσοφοθεολογία [mixed philosophy-theology]. Nor are these things taught 'in words which the Holy Spirit teaches,' by which 'we compare spiritual things with spiritual'; but in terms and notions of distinctions, which without the slightest loss to itself, all wisdom, both human and divine, could have done without, had they not, I do not know how, come into Aristotle's mind. Let the most practiced theologians teach what the Gospel is, what faith, regeneration, justification, adoption, holiness; immediately a definition is forged, not one most apt to bring spiritual light to the understanding of the faithful, but one carefully, with precise words, so constructed that those of another opinion will not easily find how, according to the principles that dominate in the schools, they could fall into it; in which alone lies the greatest artifice of Aristotelian definitions. And thus they say that philosophy is the handmaid of theology, when in reality it dominates and insolently lords over it. Where it serves the polishing of the mind, and the use, exercise, and strengthening of the intellectual faculties, where it investigates the traces of divine wisdom and power impressed in the natures of things, it can be said to be the handmaid of all wisdom, and even of theology itself. But the reduction of the thorniest questions about things irrelevant to the knowledge of God to the ends of theology, the suppression of spiritual truth by the chains and bonds of subtle terms, the prejudice against the mind itself, introduced by the habit of the most vain reasonings, which accompany many other innumerable evils in its common use, indicate not service but dominion. Hence it happens that the most excellent glory of divine truth and its beautiful splendor are obscured in many ways for many people. We know how thin and obscure was that shadow of truth which the philosophers once revered. We know that they were seized by such love and admiration for it that at times in its contemplation they experienced a kind of ἔκστασις [ecstasy]; although they saw not it naked and open, indeed scarcely any appearance of truth at all. For the rays of natural truth that shone on them are no more compared to all the most profound mysteries of all truth, which the one who came forth from the bosom of the Father, who is 'the way, the truth, and the life,' has revealed to us, than the twinkling of the smallest star at night to the rays of the midday sun. Therefore, let us boldly pronounce him a stranger to theology, who is not inflamed with the love of divine truth. Let him have tired himself greatly and for a long time with the ventilation of thorny questions, let him have been the greatest devourer of theological books; yet it is a very strong argument that the native beauty of truth itself has never even through a lattice shone upon his mind, that he does not burn with love for it, is not carried away in admiration of its beauty. But where in the world, I ask, among students, is such a disposition of mind to be found? How many are there who do not seek the bait for their studies from elsewhere? Who has the intention, and has firmly resolved, how to make truth, amiable, most beautiful, beloved, known and familiar to himself, and to conform himself to it? Most are of a completely different opinion; they think they take upon their shoulders a heavy burden in its study, from which they have something to sustain themselves; if any other way to wealth and honors more expedient in any way offers itself, immediately that ungrateful labor will hear, 'Hail and farewell forever.' Alas, the wretched condition of theology! Which, driven from the noble, heavenly, spiritual contemplation of supernatural truth and the mysteries of the Gospel, is forced into a dry, sterile, contentious science, and is sought and cultivated by those who are most fiercely opposed to it, for the most putrid reasons; who, pursuing foreign and futile things all day, all year, seek it only as a procurer of wealth and dignities. But when, first fleeing hunger and poverty, then gaping for riches and vain glory, they knock at the doors of this divine wisdom, they strive to grasp only as much as they can of what it has in common with other sciences in the vestibules and propylaea, most remote from the divine sanctuaries themselves; which pertain to life, the soul, and heavenly δύναμιν [power], whose knowledge would be salutary for themselves and useful to others, they utterly neglect. I will finally speak freely and without hesitation what I think; there are very few engaged in theological studies who seem to have dedicated themselves to them, enticed by the beauty of this daughter not of time but of eternity, or who care to experience its heavenly power and efficacy with a pure heart and sincere mind. And hence it happens that after long and vain hopes, from most we gather 'labruscas' [wild grapes] instead of 'uvas' [grapes]; and as those who 'ought to be teachers for the time, again often need to be taught what are the first principles of the oracles of God.' But from these men, when the faithful Christian people expect them to announce the mysteries of the Gospel and the unsearchable riches of Christ, piously, solidly, learnedly in words which the Holy Spirit teaches, for the conversion, instruction, edification, and consolation of souls, they thrust upon them I know not what empty declamations, adorned with the most foolish rattling of words, worthy of being banished from all right institution of human life, to the stage. The Lord Jesus will demand an account at the appointed time of this contamination of His most holy institutions, and contempt of the Gospel. But I do not want to add here what just indignation has almost forced out; the reader will find, I hope, these things considered elsewhere with the greatest calmness of mind.

So what then, you ask, reader? Do you consider yourself equal to uprooting these harmful tares from the Lord's field? Are you planning a new method of teaching disciplines, the abolition of old institutions, a reformation of studies? Good words, Christian reader; the apostle taught us to avoid evil suspicions. Indeed, if you like to suspect, no one can stop you, as your suspicion is not in another's power; you will one day give an account of it to God, just as I am now sharing with you the account of these studies; just make sure you regard it with fairness and goodwill! For that is your only concern. I am not attempting to move the immovable, nor am I pushing a new method of study; I am not so conceited; nor, because I am nothing or hide in obscurity, does it follow that others do not sin or err in the investigation of celestial truth. Nor, as far as I know, am I the only one forbidden to share my thoughts on the nature and study of theology with the learned and pious; others have done so, and they were good men. I will speak about the best of things, as an orator about the worst; 'When has this not been done? When has it been criticized? When not allowed? When finally was it that what is permissible was not permissible?' Therefore, if you allow it, learned reader, I will inform you of the entire purpose. Put aside your ill suspicions, your bad talk; I will state the matter itself. When I first set my mind to write these things, I had no other intention but to propose to your judgment some theses on the nature of evangelical theology. You will find these, which I had meditated on for that end, cast into the final part of the work. What needed to precede their exposition, which I had decided to complete in a few words at the beginning, has grown into this mass, which you see, although beyond our intention, I hope not beyond the matter itself. I do not think it necessary to review in detail here the order and entire rationale of the work. I will summarize everything in a word. After setting forth general notions pertaining to the name and nature of all theology, we have decided in the earlier books to narrate the course it took from its first origin, which we explain, through various degrees of divine revelation, with many apostasies and errors arising from it, and the variation of church worship according to its norm, along with the multiple apostasy of the same church and its gracious restoration, up to the final and definitive rejection of the Jews, paying attention to the series of events, which we distinguish in solemn periods. In pursuing this purpose, many things most worthy of consideration presented themselves to us from all sides; especially that remarkable reform of the returned Jewish church by Ezra, on the occasion of which we had to discuss many things about the antiquities and rites of that church. Finally, we undertake to explain evangelical theology itself. For we show from the Scriptures what it is and what constitutes its nature; who are suitable for its study, who alone attain it, and in what way; what chiefly hinders it; together with the nature, institution, and fortunes of the church founded and based on it; and the whole work concludes with a dissertation on its study. Whether you decide to deal with me with absolute right, or equitably and kindly, is your choice, learned reader, for it is the same to me; provided you remember that evangelical instruction, Matt. 7:21, and weigh the matters themselves; for I care nothing for the hunters of words. Whatever they are, which we bring forth conquered by the love of truth, in these and all other things, committing myself, a most miserable sinner, weary with the evils of the age and my own, to the grace, mercy, forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ the only Savior, with all the prayers, sighs, tears, faith I can muster through His grace, I willingly submit to the judgment and censure of His holy ones wherever they are fighting. FAREWELL.