Commentarii D. Andreae Hyperii, doctissimi ac clarissimi theologi, in omnes D. Pauli Apostoli epistolas, atque etiam in epistolam D. Iudae: Commentarii D. Andreae Hyperii, doctissimi ac clarissimi theologi, in epistolas D. Pauli ad Galatas & Ephesios. ...

TO THE MEN MOST FAMOUS FOR NOBILITY OF BIRTH AND VIRTUE, DR. ADOLPHUS HERMANN, GEORGE, JOHN, VOLPERT, CONRAD, RIEDLFN IN EYSENBACH, HEREDITARY ARCHMARSHALS OF HESSE, THEIR LORDS TO BE REVERENTLY OBSERVED. GREETINGS FROM JOHN MYLIUS.

Decorative initial letter O featuring floral and foliate scrollwork.Those noble and most distinguished men who bring forth hidden treasures and precious gems from the secret places of the earth are accustomed to proclaim the use and power of them, so that the value and dignity of the thing may not become cheapened among those to whom they sell it. By equal reasoning, it is accepted by use and custom among men of the Christian profession to commend to the Church not only their own but also the work of others, which they bring into the light after having hidden them for some time, and bring them forth, as it were, from the shadow into the sun and common use of life, and to select eminent men to whose patronage they commit them, lest, deprived of protection, they be left to be agitated by the calumnies and lust of malevolent men. For although truth is well-roofed by God himself and has little need of the protection and recommendation of men, and contains enough praise and glory in itself, and is fortified by the protection of the Holy Spirit, yet, since God gives his servants to men—and most especially to believers—who, like foster-fathers 1 Kings 18; Isaiah 49 protect the pious and the worshippers of truth against the furies of the wicked; and furthermore, because one must meet the most corrupt judgments and calumnies of wicked men with just defense and refutation, I do not consider it at all alien to the duty of a Christian man to defend a glorious thing in itself from calumnies and to decorate it with worthy praise, so that God’s honor may be preserved and the faith and reputation of the Church may be increased. Moreover, in these laudations, three things must be considered above all: the dignity and benefit of the thing which is praised; then the study and diligence of him who was occupied in explaining the mysteries of truth; and then also the virtue of those to whose patronage the elaborated work is donated, to which is also added the cause of the dedication. Therefore, I think I will have done work worthy of the price if, in this proposed commendation of the most learned Commentaries which the most illustrious theologian Andreas Hyperius left to the school and Christian Church upon the two Pauline epistles—the one to the Galatians, the other to the Ephesians—and which have been published under the protection of your most magnificent name, I shall also embrace those three things in a few words. And certainly, in the beginning, I think there is no one so stupid who does not see and understand that the word of God, around the exposition of which this work revolves, possesses its own divine amplitude and breadth, inasmuch as it derives its origin and eternity from God himself.