Erasmus John  was born at Soltwedel, in the Old Mark of Brandenburg ; and was known among the CryptoSocinians of Altorf by the name of Desiderius Ulricus. He studied at Leipzic, and afterwards went to Geneva, where he had frequent opportunities of seeing and conversing with Theodore Beza. During his stay at Geneva, the exact time of which is not known, he imbibed Antitrinitarian opinions, either from Lelio Socin, or some of the Italian associates of that great man, who were then to be met with in almost every part of Switzerland. From Geneva he went into Holland, where he was the first person, who attempted to excite public attention to the cause of Antitrinitarianism. His eminence as a Hebrew scholar caused him to be appointed Rector of the Grammar School at Antwerp; and while he was in this situation, he published anonymously a little work, in defence of Arianism, entitled, "The Manual of a Christian Man, compiled from the more remarkable Passages of Scripture, and divided into fifty-two Sections." This was printed at Antwerp in 1583, 16mo., with the motto, "If ye know these things, happy will ye be if ye do them;" and was the precursor of a larger work, entitled, "A Discourse, in which it is shewn, that the Reign of Antichrist commenced immediately after the Times of the Apostles, and therefore that all the Councils, not excepting even that of Nice, were infected with that Pest." A French translation of this work was published, but few copies got into circulation, as it was suppressed by public authority. Brandt gives the following summary of its contents.

The design of this Discourse was to shew, as well from the Epistles of Paul, as from the history of the primitive Churches, that even the first five hundred years were not free from Antichristian errors; and ought therefore to be regarded as forming part of the Kingdom of Antichrist. He further inferred, that, unless we should pass by the whole series of fifteen hundred years, which have elapsed since the days of the Apostles, there could be no true, or lasting reformation: that, in order to procure such reformation, it would be necessary to conform to the true Apostolic Churches, both in doctrine and discipline; and that, in so doing, it would be better to abolish, and keep entirely out of view the new phraseology invented by the Fathers, and to confine ourselves to that simplicity of expression, in matters pertaining to religion, of which Christ and his Apostles have left us an example. He adds, that no one ought to conclude, from his exposing the errors of the Fathers, that he aimed at condemning them, or rejecting their books ; but that we should not confine ourselves or others, much less the Church of Christ, to any of the writings or expressions of the Councils and Fathers, as if any man were obliged to speak and believe just as they did ; and as if all were heretics, who did not use their language. He concludes with these words. "If then any one thinks himself indispensably obliged to make use of new and strange terms, in order to express his belief in matters of religion, so that the words of Prophets and Apostles cannot serve him; it is most certain, that not only the words, but the doctrine and religion, are new, else he could not fail to discover in the Scriptures expressions adapted to convey his meaning." Brandt adds, "This book was not well received, but construed as if the author aimed at calling everything in question, and setting himself at the head of a party, and disturbing the national Church. It was likewise resolved to seize upon the books, and the writer too. But such care and discretion were used in pursuing him, that he was sought for in one town after another, and even the very place where they knew he lodged the night before; in so much, that they only obliged him to go off privately, and leave the country."

Archdeacon Blackburne, alluding to the liberties which Erasmus John took with antiquity, says, "the times were not yet ripe for the toleration of these sentiments, and the poor man, who was hardy enough to venture them with the public, was obliged to fly his country."

From Holland he went into Poland, and passed thence into Transylvania, where the office of Pastor of a Church at Clausenburg was committed to him, on condition that, in his public discourses, he should not touch upon the subject of Christ's preexistence. He was known to entertain opinions on this point, at variance with the great body of Unitarians in Poland and Transylvania; and silence upon this topic was the only restriction laid upon him.

In 1584, the year in which he left Antwerp, and very soon after he had settled at Clausenburg, he went to Cracow, and requested permission to offer to the Unitarian Churches in Poland the reasons, which kept him from embracing the opinion, that there was no only-begotten Son of God before the man Jesus of Nazareth was born of the Virgin Mary. The permission sought was granted, and, by Erasmus's own consent, the Churches committed the province of answering his arguments to one of their brethren. The individual selected for this purpose was Faust Socin, who disputed with him two days, in a calm and friendly manner. Erasmus, during his stay at Cracow, drew up, and sent to Socin, the heads of this debate ; but Socin, on reading them, found that Erasmus had mistaken some things advanced by him, and had not given a perfectly correct representation of others. This induced him to draw up a refutation of the arguments and reasonings offered by Erasmus, to prove that Christ was the only-begotten Son of God before he was born of the Virgin Mary. It was printed at Racow in 1595, 8vo., and dedicated to Jerome Moscorovius. To this work was added a letter of Erasmus, with Socinus's reply. Erasmus's own account of the arguments brought forward in this disputation was printed by Alexius Rodecki at Cracow, in 1585, under the title, "Antitheses of the Doctrine of Christ and Antichrist concerning the true God." The name of the author was not prefixed to this book ; but we learn, from a letter of F. Socinus to Matthew Radecius, that it was the production of Erasmus John. It is mentioned by Bayle ; and Schelhorn erroneously supposed it to be the same as the volume printed at Antwerp.

The rest of the life of Erasmus John appears to have been spent in the discharge of his pastoral duties at Clausenburg, where he probably died about the close of the sixteenth century. That he was living in 1590 appears from a letter, which he addressed to Faustus Socinus in that year ; and in which he requests his correspondent's opinion concerning " A Treatise on the Causes of Eternal Life," which he had forwarded to Cracow, for his perusal.

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