Joannes Jacobus Grynaeus, Epistola nuncupatoria ad Bernardum Brandum, Basileensis reipublicae tribunum plebis

The Dedicatory Letter of JOHANN JAKOB GRYNAEUS to Bernhard Brand, Chief Tribune of the People of the Commonwealth of Basel, in which he gives an account of his edition of Irenaeus.

Although there were especially weighty reasons why learned antiquity received with great applause and agreement, and approved, that elegant saying, Γνῶθι σεαυτόν, Know yourself; and why the Amphictyons, on Plato's testimony, decided that it should be inscribed on the front of the doors of the Delphic temple, because it seemed to remind every mortal of his own goods and ills, to heal pride and despair alike, to take away immoderate self-love and self-confidence, and to exhort all to modesty: yet there are no less weighty reasons why we should not merely add, but even embrace with both hands and with our whole heart, another saying so closely akin to it that neither can rightly be understood without the other, namely Γνῶθι τὸν Θεόν, Know God. For that true and solid wisdom is set in the knowledge of God, best and greatest, and of man, made after His image, and that neither is complete without the other, may be gathered even from this, that the divine Scriptures testify that we men were made and redeemed by God to this end, that we should truly acknowledge God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, together with His only-begotten Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, call upon Him, and celebrate Him not only in the warfare of this life but also through all eternity. Therefore there is no doubt that Origen Adamantius truly declared of wisdom, in the third book Against Celsus, that it is the knowledge of things divine and human and of their causes, or, as sacred Scripture defines it, the vapour of the power of God, a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty, the brightness of eternal light, the most pure mirror of the power of God, and the express image of His goodness. And it appears that certain philosophers, who, as the apostle Paul says, more rightly than the common run of men observed the invisible things of God, that is, His eternal power and divinity, and the other things which from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood through the things that are made, although their minds were beset by the dense fog of ignorance of the true doctrine concerning the essence and will of God, and nothing was known to them of the fall of our first parents and the most grievous corruption of human nature, were nevertheless of the opinion that for candidates of wisdom the knowledge of God and of oneself is altogether necessary. I do not care now to heap up many testimonies on this matter, since that one alone can satisfy men of sense which Eusebius surnamed Pamphilus adduces in the eleventh book On the Preparation for the Gospel. He relates that a certain gymnosophist who had set out from India conversed with Socrates in the Attic city on the pursuit of wisdom: in that conversation, when the Indian had asked by what means one could become wise, Socrates answered: if one considers by what means a man

ought to live. The Indian, smiling somewhat, met this word with this elegant saying: "No one can discern human things who is ignorant of divine things," that is, no one ignorant of divine things can rightly perceive and know human things. For he judged that ethical teaching is an empty game of wits, and a clever remedy for hypocrisy, if it is not joined with a clear acknowledgement and sincere worship of God. For truly idle and useless are admonitions about the duty of man, about the beauty of the virtues, about the foulness of the vices, and finally about all the offices and parts of human life, if meanwhile the mind, ignorant of God and of His will, admires and worships itself as some deity, and does not seriously consider both that God is, and what He is, namely almighty, good, chaste, merciful, just, the avenger of crimes; and that this same God wills that we too be good, chaste, kind, just, haters of crimes. Therefore in the instruction of a Christian man the first and chief care must be that tender minds be steeped in these axioms and, as it were, first principles. The first is: men were made and redeemed to this end, that they should acknowledge and worship God the Father, together with the Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. The second is: concerning God and His will we must judge just as He has revealed Himself and His will by illustrious testimonies and the express word. Thus, moreover, has the eternal God revealed Himself to us, that, according to the opinion of the great Basil, we must be baptized as we have received; believe as we are baptized; and glorify as we believe, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Since these things were at the heart of the prophets and apostles, they thought and wrote most rightly and most weightily about wisdom, that is, about the true God and about man. Our Irenaeus too, treading in their footsteps, in these five books committed to letters and to memory many excellent things concerning God one and three, and concerning man's origin, fall, corruption and restoration. Now there stands in Irenaeus's first book a symbol (by this word the ancient Church was accustomed to call a brief and orthodox confession concerning God and man), which I am pleased to write in here not only so that the Greek-loving reader may have something to compare with chapter 2 of Book I, but also because from it one may gather that the doctrine of our Churches, received and handed down by us in this exhausted old age of the world, was once handed down with great agreement in the Churches of Germany, Gaul and Spain as well, in the age of Irenaeus, that is, about the year CLXXXV after the birth of Christ. His words are these: "For the Church," etc. And it will be of no common value to set before the eyes, in the entrance-hall of this work, a brief antithesis of sound and orthodox doctrine and of human inventions and here-

so that learned readers may see for what parts of heavenly doctrine, and in what manner, our Irenaeus fought manfully against the Valentinians, Gnostics, Encratites, and other vain talkers and deceivers of minds who turn away from the truth. For a comparison of doctrine brings much light, as the old proverb warns: Purple must be judged beside purple; and the consideration of these things causes a pious mind, looking upon the most sad contests of our age concerning religion, not to cast away the profession of the truth, nor give place to doubt and Academic suspension of judgement: but to reflect that it was most weightily said by Paul: For there must also be heresies among you, that those who are approved may be made manifest among you (1 Cor. 11:19).

Concerning the eternal God, with the holy Fathers, prophets, apostles, and orthodox doctors of the apostolic Church, Irenaeus constantly, piously, and truly teaches that God is One, if you consider the essence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; Triune, if you consider the Persons and their peculiar properties. And although this mystery concerning God and concerning the three Persons surpasses in many ways the comprehension and wisdom of all angels and men: nevertheless it befits us religiously to assent to it; because, as I warned above, concerning God we must think and determine according to the rule and prescription of His revelations. That this God is one and the same Author of the Old and of the New Testament, good and just, the Creator of heaven and earth, of angels and men, and of all things which are contained in this most ample system and theatre of the whole world, Who by His providence beholds and governs things past, present, and future, Irenaeus rightly and copiously teaches. Three Persons also in the most holy Godhead, whom the Greeks by an illustrious appellation have named hypostases, Irenaeus distinguishes from one another; and he admonishes that the first Person in the Godhead is the Father, Who beholding Himself from eternity in an unspeakable manner begot the Son, Who is the image and character of His substance: and that the second Person is the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who in respect of His divine nature is called and is the Word, Wisdom, and motherless; while in respect of His human nature He is called and is the son of Abraham and of David, fatherless, like unto His brethren, sin excepted: and that the third Person is the Holy Spirit, Who proceeding from the will of the Father and of the Son, is sent into the hearts of believers, that He may regenerate, sanctify, and quicken them, and be the seal and earnest of our inheritance.

On the other hand, the Valentinians furiously and impiously contended that there are very many and almost innumerable Gods, because it seemed strange and incredible to them that in that eternal solitude there was only one God. They denied also that there was one and the same God of the Old and of the New Testament; and because the God of the Old Testament seemed to have been severe, the avenger and punisher of crimes, they thought He should be called just, but not good: whereas the God of the New Testament, because laying aside strict justice, that is supreme rigour of law, He had promulgated and granted evangelical and gratuitous clemency to the repentant and believing, they named good, but not just. Many things also concerning the Demiurge, the framer of this world, concerning the syzygies and errors of the Aeons, and concerning other monsters of absurd opinions, they proclaimed with full cheeks, by all of which Satan, the father of lies of that sort, wickedly endeavoured to destroy and obliterate in the minds of men the true doctrine concerning God and the three Persons.

Furthermore, concerning man, Irenaeus, reverently subscribing to the same prophets, evangelists, and apostles, piously teaches that man was created by God, and furnished with many most beautiful ornaments and goods both of mind and of body, that he might be the temple and image of his Maker, serving Him in all eternity: but that circumvented by the fraud of Satan, he fell into sin, death, and the uttermost of uttermost evils with all his

posterity, which is therefore shut up under sin, that God may have mercy upon it. And since by nature all the posterity of the first Adam are children of wrath, he denies that any hope of pardon and salvation remains, except in Christ Jesus, Who therefore came into this world that He might seek that which was lost and save sinners; and therefore that those are to be restored to their former estate by the gratuitous kindness of Christ who, repenting of their sins, believe that for their sake the Son of God came into this world, that having taken human nature, suffering in the flesh He might become a victim for them, make expiation, and take away the sins of the world, having died for their sins, and having been raised again for their justification. And these indeed Irenaeus says are the peculiar people of God, a royal priesthood, the holy Church, to which has been entrusted the treasure of the oracles of God, comprised in the prophetic and apostolic books: to this assembly embracing the entire and uncorrupted doctrine of the law and the Gospel, the Son of God has exhibited and instituted the sacraments of the eternal covenant, as visible symbols and proofs of divine grace and of other heavenly things which Christ promised that He would give us together with them, the ministry of the word, that is, the most faithful dispensation of the mysteries of God, and other salutary gifts and offices; so that nothing might be wanting to the Church of those things which would serve to increase, adorn, and preserve her. Moreover, concerning the immortality of souls and the resurrection of bodies, and the salvation or eternal destruction of the whole man, Irenaeus professes the uncorrupted apostolic doctrine, and refutes the Platonic and Pythagorean ravings concerning the departure of souls into one body after another.

On the contrary, the Valentinians loudly proclaimed that men are either bad by nature, material and earthy, who even if they were ever so desirous of conversion and salvation, nevertheless could not be converted to God and be saved: or good by nature, who even when sinning most grievously are nevertheless to be deemed to do rightly. Concerning souls, and their transmigration into one body after another according to the measure of their merits and expiations, they most audaciously devised many things, in order to establish the figments of Pythagoras, by metempsychosis and metensomatosis. Some altogether denied the resurrection of bodies. Divine Scripture they partly twisted, as the saying goes, by the throttled neck to build up their own dreams; partly, mutilated and wretchedly mangled by their corruptions, they exposed it to the view of the heathens. The concord of the Church they disturbed by their dissensions and schisms. The sacraments they profaned with impure and detestable rites, as is to be seen in the narrative of Irenaeus concerning a certain Marcus the Gnostic, a magician, and a pest of the human race.

Now the very fact teaches that not one single error deceived those Gnostics, but these chiefly. The first is, that concerning God and His will they thought one should judge and determine not according to the divine revelations handed down in the word, but according to their own dreams and figments. The second, that being blind they follow not the word of God, but the mind of the flesh, when they discoursed concerning the origin, powers, fall, and restoration of man. The third, that being ignorant of the Scriptures and the power of God, they valued the dreams of Pythagoras, of Plato, and their own more highly than the Gospel of Christ; and fascinated by their own opinions, they measured the Scriptures by the leaden rule of their own tenets. For the rest, against the Gnostics, fanatical men, and to use the Pauline expression, speaking perverse things, Irenaeus, the disciple of Polycarp (him who was a hearer of John the Evangelist) and Bishop of Lyons, wrote his noble volume Of the Detection and Overthrow of Falsely So-Called Knowledge, which, as it alone survives among the many writings of that man, so is a sufficiently great proof that Tertullian said of Irenaeus not more cleverly than truly: that he was the most inquisitive explorer of all doctrines. For in the first book he recounts at length the foul and diabolical errors of the Valentinians concerning the gods, concerning the syzygies of the signs [signum, as printed], their errors and number. He subjoins

narratives concerning the dissensions of the heretics, and their heresiarchs Simon Magus, Cerinthus, Ebion, Menander, a certain Marcus, and others who by their shameful deeds and wickedness of morals profaned the life and morals of others with the leaven of their opinions, corrupted the word of God, and attempted to violate with impure rites the sacraments divinely instituted. To these he subjoins in the second book the demonstrative arguments concerning God, One, eternal, true, almighty, omniscient, uncircumscribed, beside Whom there is no other God, no deity at all. He shows also that not some fictitious Demiurge, not angels, but the eternal God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, together with the only-begotten Son (Whom Irenaeus repeatedly calls the Logos, the Word, that you may recognize a zealous student of the doctrine of John the Evangelist) and the Holy Spirit created and produced out of nothing this most ample theatre of the world, angels, men, and the other creatures of the lower orders. Next he annexes a refutation of the dogmas which were handed down by the Gnostics concerning the beginnings of the world, concerning the Demiurge, or framer and architect of all things, concerning the orders of the Aeons, and concerning metensomatosis and metempsychosis. Moreover, Irenaeus proves that souls are not only immortal, but also have their own proper character, and he tears down and tramples under foot the Platonic dreams concerning the causes of the soul's ignorance, namely the Lethaean cup and the human body. In the third book, which is partly polemical and partly narrative, at the beginning he arraigns and convicts the heretics as guilty of an inexpiable crime, namely of corrupting and mutilating sacred Scripture; next he clearly demonstrates the perpetual agreement of the prophets and apostles concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, God and man. In the fourth book, first indeed he clearly and by solid arguments proves that there is one God, the Author of both Testaments, the Old, I say, and the New, Who having promulgated the doctrine of the law and the Gospel to the whole human race, revealed Himself and His will, and that secret decree of the Godhead concerning the restoration and salvation of repentant men through the Lord and High Priest Jesus Christ. And next he disputes at length concerning human powers and our imperfection, and other things akin to these which I have mentioned. And finally in the fifth book, when he had repeated and established very many things from the preceding books, he proceeds to refute the vain talk of the Gnostics concerning the perpetual destruction of human bodies: for they introduced an utter annihilation of bodies. At length therefore and wisely does Irenaeus admonish and prove that not only will Christ raise up bodies at His second and glorious coming, but also that the bodies of the saints will be temples of God in eternal life, and are to be saved together with their souls. And it seemed good to admonish the reader of these things in a few words and more clearly, so that men of sense might see that there are two chief heads of the disputations of Irenaeus, namely God and man, and what ought to be determined concerning these matters by pious minds (to whom the most weighty judgements of the prelates of the ancient Church concerning so great matters have been wont to be most welcome). Now although in these lucubrations of our Irenaeus there are not wanting certain rough places and blemishes concerning the free will of man, concerning the time during which Christ, visibly conversing among men, taught, concerning devils, and concerning a few other things; nevertheless, since Erasmus according to his wisdom has in the arguments of the books most weightily admonished the readers concerning them, I have no mind to sing the Iliad after Homer and to reckon narrowly with the mistakes of Irenaeus. Only this it pleases me to point out, that there were weighty reasons why after Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, a man of the highest judgement, I myself also should take in hand the books of Irenaeus to be cleared of spots and illustrated to the best of my ability. Erasmus performed, as upon very many other writers, so also upon Irenaeus a labour worthy of himself, that is, by far the greatest. He first broke the ice, overcame the difficulties, and as it were the quicksands and rocks, and opened the way for us, yet in such wise that he did not yet satisfy himself: and since he was somewhat in doubt concerning the language which Irenaeus had used, he did not very greatly

approve this Latin translation which, since a Greek copy is not extant, we necessarily use in the later books, because it was both obscure and abounded on all sides with unnecessary Hellenisms. Now it came to pass by the singular kindness of God, and by the zeal of certain good and learned men, that after Erasmus began to dwell among those above, there came to light the excellent work of Epiphanius, Bishop of Constantia in Cyprus, against eighty heresies, in which, since many things were extant transcribed word for word from the books of Irenaeus, we were enabled to restore the greatest part of the first book from Epiphanius and to use the much better version of Janus Cornarius. Next, since most absurd little summaries, for the most part nothing to the purpose, prefixed both to the books and to the chapters, pointing out errors rather than the aim, were extant in this work, having removed them for the greatest part, I have added brief summaries of the chapters, that I might remind the readers of the design of Irenaeus and the states of the disputations. Lastly, having revised the whole work and cleared it from not a few faults, I collated it with other copies, noted the variant reading in the margin, and endeavoured to render clearer the monstrous opinion-madness concerning the thirty Aeons, wrapped up in a diagram. Those who will attentively consider these things, and will not begrudge comparing this our edition with others, will easily grant, I think, that our revision of the writings of Irenaeus has been undertaken both without prejudice to the name of Erasmus and with some fruit for candidates in theology, and, as the common saying goes, brought to completion.

Now as I was reflecting to what eminent patron and arbiter of virtues and learning I might offer this distinguished volume of the most ancient writer Irenaeus, not so much to be defended (for indeed Irenaeus has no need of defence, as one whom no good man does not love, and no bad man can harm by shadow-fighting while he rests in Christ) as to be read, it opportunely happened that the most illustrious gentleman Doctor Isaac Keller, an ornament of your medical college and especially of your city, meeting me out of a certain very religious friendliness, and being informed of the edition of the books of Irenaeus, exhorted me in every way that, for the sake of testifying my zeal towards your excellency, I should dedicate this noble work of Irenaeus to you, Master Bernhard Brand, most excellent sir. Following his advice therefore, I offer and by name consecrate to you what is as it were the confession of the ancient and apostolic Church written by Irenaeus and set over against the lies and errors of the Gnostics, not only that I may satisfy the judgement and wish of a most excellent and friendly man, but also that I may present to you a good deposit, that is, an excellent trust, and a form of sound words, which I do not doubt that you, in accordance with your excellent piety and prudence, are able to read through with judgement and transfer to use. I knew that in this book are extant the judgements and thoughts of the ancient Church concerning God, man, baptism, the Eucharist, sacred Scriptures, eternal life, and concerning other heads of heavenly doctrine, the knowledge of which is welcome and salutary to pious minds. I judged also that your virtues are most worthy of the congratulation, applause, and public testimonies of that sort from all good men, which although they ought to proceed from many who excel in authority, talent, and wisdom, and have not hitherto been wanting to your excellency, so that our external eulogies may seem not very necessary: nevertheless nothing forbids that I myself also should bear witness how highly our men, by no means strangers to the Muses and the Graces, esteem you, and how much they both congratulate themselves and promise themselves from your virtue and wisdom. Since the chief duties of a man truly noble and born for the advantage of his country are to guide the commonwealth by counsels, and to administer and aid it with true fortitude of mind, to protect the studies of learning against the ignorant haters of the Muses, and to advance and nourish the pious studies of teachers and learners; you to the most ample commonwealth of Basel (in which with great

fruit both to the Church and to the commonwealth you prevail in tribunician power and authority), are nowhere wanting in vigilance, fidelity, counsels, industry, and true greatness and constancy of mind: while the University of Basel, the eternal and incomparable glory of your queenly city, in whose bosom and embrace you acquired a knowledge and great practice of the liberal disciplines, ancient history, languages, and civil law, since you undertook the steering of the helm of the commonwealth, you attend with your love and patronage, and the professors of all orders and faculties with that goodwill and liberality of which men most eminent in talent, virtues, wisdom, and every kind of accomplishment are worthy. This doubtless is the reason why, just as they report that Darius, King of the Persians, of old wished for as many Zopyruses as there are grains seen in pomegranates: so all the best men both among you and in the neighbourhood of your renowned city pray to the eternal God for many Theodores and Bernhard Brands for your Basel, and congratulate themselves that those things which in former years were lost to the commonwealth of Basel, when the father of his country and most prudent consul Master Theodore

Brand, the father of your excellency, departed this life, they understand that all those things, by the singular kindness of God, have been abundantly compensated in the son, the heir not only of his father's means, but also of his father's virtues, and glorify God, Most Good and Most Great, because by the effort of yourself and of other most weighty men, and above all of your kinsman Master Henric Petri, a man who has deserved nobly of your commonwealth and of the republic of letters, He vouchsafes to cherish, guide, protect, and transmit to posterity not only good order, civil fellowship and tranquillity, courts, laws, the concord of citizens, the glory of the city, and liberty, but also the most sacred studies and the best arts in which the welcome fame of God has been spread abroad, as a kind of noble Sparta, worthy for good men to labour in adorning. May our Lord Jesus Christ grant that these goods and ornaments of the commonwealth and of the Church may be lasting, and common to other polities, universities, and Churches of Christ. Fare you well, perpetual ornament of your country, and receive the excellent writer Irenaeus auspiciously and with a serene countenance into your family and protection. Written on the Kalends of April, 1571.