P R E F A C E.

First, both for consoling the afflicted and for refuting the deceptions of adversaries, who are not ashamed to contradict the spirit of truth and the doctrine of the life-giving faith. But indeed, lest I linger any longer on the proposed praise (for there is nothing more praiseworthy than this word of God and the holy profession of it, nor anything more glorious among men), let me proceed to the second part of the preface, in which the magnitude of the heavenly grace toward the human race shines forth again. For besides the fact that He instructs man through His word, and illuminates those who were dwelling in the shadow of death, He also uses upright and faithful men as if they were angels or legates for the interpretation of His word. Through Moses, He explains the law to the Israelites, who, fearing the lightnings and thunders, could not approach the mountain more closely. Having extinguished this man, He raised up the prophets, who prophesied about the cross and glory of Christ by the breath of the Holy Spirit. And finally, He gave Apostles to His glorified Son, that they might carry the Gospel to the whole world: after these had died, there were never lacking doctors, pastors, and ministers of the church who would provide labor for restoring and building up the house of God, and who would increase others by leading them to the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, so that growing into a perfect man they might attain the measure of the full, adult age of Christ. This final and aged era of the world is indeed the most fruitful, for those who always gave effort to this one thing, that with the Popish shadows dispersed, religion might dwell in the highest and most clear light. And among these very men, He gave not the least this Andreas Hyperius of ours, a man certainly adorned with such great virtues and such great gifts of the Holy Spirit that it would be difficult to commemorate his praises and the gifts that were excellently bestowed upon him. From his native region, which was then wrapped in idolatry and superstitions, he was called by a divine voice to a more healthy place where the Christian religion had begun to flourish: not otherwise than the divine Abraham was once led out of the city of Ur of the Chaldeans, which teemed with idols, by the Spirit of God. He held the change of his native soil not as an exile, but entirely, as it was, as a divine calling. He knew that heaven would be his fatherland, but the earth a prison, in which, although he was forced to abandon his ancestral home, he would nevertheless pass to a more ample region in which it would be granted to him both to serve God more tranquilly and to profess faith in Christ with the greatest fruit and glory. Yet this province, which he obtained by divine suffrage, he administered so diligently, so soberly, so faithfully, and moderately, that he easily acquired praise and an immortal name for himself, and very few, or absolutely none, are found in this time who surpass his studies and vigils. The talent which he perceived had been given to him copiously by God, he never allowed to lie idle or sterile, but contributed it to the edification of the church and the Christian school. Hence, having been increased by doctrine and the experience of many things, he also attained an excellent faculty for teaching, which he cultivated with singular faith and diligence,