Wolzogenius John Ludwig , (or Von Wolzogen,) by birth an Austrian, was a Free Baron of Tarenfelt, St. Ulrich, &c.; and of the family, or line of Messingdorf. He was born about the year 1599, and brought up in the principles of the Reformed Church. His wealth and large estates gave him considerable influence; and his literary and scientific attainments, adorned as they were with the charms of eloquence, recommended him to the notice of the Emperor, who held out to him the promise of the highest offices in the Empire, provided he would first embrace the Roman Catholic religion. As this was a condition with which he could not comply, he left Austria, and went into Poland: but whether his expatriation was voluntary, or compulsory, has not been decided.

On his arrival in Poland, he read the works of Faust Socin, and conversed upon religious subjects with the followers of that eminent reformer; and was thus led to embrace Unitarian views, and enrol himself among the members of the Socinian body.

Lauterbach states, that Wolzogenius was employed on two separate embassies ; first, in 1625, when George William, Elector of Brandenburg, sent his sister Catharine to Gabriel Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania, to whom she had been affianced; and afterwards, in 1638, when Vladislav, King of Poland, sent him on a mission to Paris, to take charge of his bride, Louisa Maria. After this, he lived in various parts of Poland, on the borders of Brandenburg and Silesia, and at Dantzic. On the 9^th of February, 1644, Abraham Opalinski, Palatine of Posnania, writing to Ruarus, supposes him either to be at Dantzic, or to have been there very recently. He was respected and beloved by the Princes and Magnates of Poland, who, availing themselves of their acquaintance with him, and of his learning andprudence, sometimes entrusted him with the management of affairs of the greatest moment. Florian Crusius married his sister. In the Manuscript Synodical Acts, important events, affecting the interests of the Socinian body, are recorded, in connexion with which his name is frequently mentioned. In 1647, agreeably to the tenor of a resolution passed by the Assembly at Daszow, Ruarus persuaded Wolzogenius to undertake a journey into foreign parts, with a view to the spread of Unitarianism. In compliance with another resolution of the Assembly of Raszcow, in 1649, Ruarus advised him not to publish any theological work, without first submitting it to the Brethren for revision. When John Henry Hottinger, on being invited from Zurich to Heidelberg, in 1655, held a public disputation On the free Justification of the Sinner by Christ, preparatory to taking his highest degree in Theology at Basle, Wolzogenius acted as respondent in that academical conflict. 

The last years of his life he spent at a small town, called Schlichtingheim, the property of the Schlichtingii, situated near Fraustadt, in Prussian Poland. While residing there, Jeremiah Gerlach, Elder for the time being, endeavoured to convert him to the Trinitarian faith ; but the attempt proved unsuccessful. A short time before his death, he sent for Gerlach, and told him, that he was resolved to remain true to the principles which he had adopted, as long as his life was spared.

Sandius says, that he died near Breslau, in Silesia, about the year 1658; but Reinhart, who is more particular, and in this case no doubt more accurate, mentions Sept. 16^th, 1661, as the day of his death. The latter statement is corroborated by the inscription on the portrait prefixed to the Works of Wolzogenius, in which he is said to have died at the age of sixty-two. Underneath this portrait are the following lines.

Quem pia simplicitas, fides, facundia ccelo,
Inl'ractusquc malis mens animusque piis, Commendat, pictor facie novisse docebit.
Muta tamen facies gaudia nulla parit. At calamo, post fata loquens, oracla reclusit.
Heu quod non potuit pandere cuncta volens. 

It is said, that Wolzogenius, when he perceived that his end was approaching, sent for a Lutheran Minister, who had obtained no inconsiderable celebrity as a mathematician, and conversed with him on a difficult mathematical problem ; and that when the Minister reminded him of the short time that he had to five, and advised him to look to the salvation of his soul, Wolzogenius replied, "I have purposely entered upon this mathematical discussion at the present juncture, to shew that I am still in full possession of my reasoning faculties." It is added, that, when he had made this allusion to the sound and collected state of his mind, he declared, that he did not retract anything which he had advanced in his published writings, but that, even in that extremity, he deemed their contents to be true ; on which, the Minister, it is said, commended him to the divine mercy.

The exegetical, didactical and polemical works of Wolzogenius, published in the sixth and seventh Volumes of the "Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum," are as follow.

1. A Commentary on the Four Gospels, with Prolegomena and Appendices on Portions of Matthew. (Vol. VI. Fol. 1—1038.) The Commentary on John was left imperfect, but the parts wanting in the autograph of Wolzogenius (viz. Ch. vi.—x.) were supplied by Joachim Stegmann, Jun., who translated the whole from German into Latin. Subjoined to the Commentary on the Gospels is one on the Acts of the Apostles, by A. W. (that is, Andrew Wissowatius). (Vol. VII. Fol. 1—176.)

2. A Commentary on Part of the Epistle to the Romans. This occupies only two folio pages, (177, 178,) and consists of a short introduction to the Epistle, and a sketch of the life of Paul ; and subjoined to it are Annotations on the Epistles of James and Jude by A. W. (Fol. 179—238.) Sandius informs us, (B. A. p. 138,) that Wolzogenius wrote Commentaries upon the Epistles of Paul in German, and that they are mentioned by Gisselius in his Ecclesiastical History ; but that the autograph of these, as well as that of the Commentaries on the Gospels, was committed to the flames by certain persons, who consulted their own interests rather than those of the public. 

3. A Preparation for the useful Reading of the Scriptures, in  which the Nature and Properties of the Kingdom of Christ are considered. (Fol. 239—356.) In the former Part of this work the author treats upon the Kingdom of Christ, and the Christian Religion generally; and the reader is informed, at the close, that a few things are wanting to render it complete. The latter Part relates to the doctrine of the Trinity. The work was written in German, and afterwards translated into Latin. A Dutch translation appeared in 1676, 8vo., by Dr. Peter Langedult, with Wolzogenius's " Three Sermons on John xvii. 3," also rendered into the Dutch language, with Additions by the translator. (Vide No. 6.)

4. A Summary of the Christian Religion. (Fol. 1—14.) Mention is made of this Summary in a letter from Florian Crusius to Joachim Peuschel, written July 21st, 1628, and inserted in Zeltner's " Hist. Crypto-Soc." pp. 805—808. Like most of the works of Wolzogenius, it was written originally in German, and afterwards translated into Latin.

5. A View of two contrary Opinions concerning the One God the Father, and One God in Essence and in Persons three. (Fol. 15—40.) This was first published anonymously, and under a somewhat different form, in German, 1646, 4to., at Amsterdam, according to John Fabricius ; but at Thorn, according to Reinhart. 

6. Three Sermons on John xvii. 3. (Fol. 41—63.) The last of these Sermons is imperfect. A Dutch version of them by Daniel a Lcenen appeared in 1673, 12mo.; and another, with additions, by Dr. Peter Langedult in 1676, 8vo. (Vide No. 3.)

7. Annotations on Schlichtingius's Questions concerning Magistracy, War, and Self-Defence. (Fol. 64—78.)

8. Annotations on the Metaphysical Meditations of Renatus Des Cartes. (Fol. 79—90.) These Annotations were first published at Amsterdam in 1657, 4to., by John Henry ; and were translated into Dutch by M. K., and puoiished at Amsterdam by Frederick Klinckhamer, 4to.

9. A Reply to Schlichtingius's Annotations on the " Annotations concerning Magistracy, War, and Self-Defence." (Fol. 91—132.)

In addition to the above works, which were published in the "Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum," Wolzogenius wrote the following.

10. An Explanation of Passages in the Old and New Testament, alleged in Proof of the Doctrine of the Trinity. 1684, 4to. Germ. This was translated into Latin by Jeremiah Felbinger, but not published in the Bibl. Fratr. Polon., although Bock describes it as having a place among the collected works of Wolzogenius. (Hist. Ant. T. I. p. 348.) It is classed by John Benedict Scheiben and James Burckhardt "among the rarest, and weightiest writings of the most subtle Socinians."

11. The Church of our Lord triumphant here on Earth. Germ.

12. A Letter to John Amos Comenius in Defence of Melchior Schaeffer, inserted in Comenius's Work published by Jansson at Amsterdam, A. D. 1659, 8vo. Wolzogenius also wrote in German a Defence of Schaeffer against Comenius, which is mentioned in the Acts of the Assembly of Kreutzberg, in Silesia, A. D. 1663, but which probably perished with other writings of the author.

13. Letters to Daniel Brenius and others. MSS.

14. Twenty-two Sermons in the German Language. MSS. Fol. These, as we learn from Sandius, (p. 139,) were translated into Dutch by Anthony Van Hoek, into whose hands they fell after the death of their author.

15. A German Translation of John Crellius's Book, "De Uno Deo Patre." 1645, 4to.

16. Bock infers from the Manuscript Synodical Acts, A. D. 1636, that Wolzogenius wrote a German work under the title of "A Dissection of Licinius."

(Vidend. Sandii B. A. pp. 137—140. Bock, Hist. Ant. T. I. pp. 1030 —1039. Ruari Epp. Cent . ii. N. 78. Toulmin't Mem. of F. Socinus, App. ii. pp. 423—426. Vogt, Catal . Libr. Rarior. p. 729, etc.)

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