Preussius John

Preussius John,  (Germ. Preussen,) was a native of Lübben, in Lower Lusatia, and therefore a Saxon; but seems to have borne the surname  Marchicus, because he spent much of his time in the Marquisate of Brandenburg. He was born about the year 1620. In the list of Konigsberg Students, September 17^th, 1644, during the Rectorship of Weier, his name is entered as " Johannes Preussius, Cruciburgo Silesius;" and the next name on the same list is "Adamus Dudithius, Cruciburgo Silesius," without doubt the grandson of Andrew Dudithius, a name of great celebrity among the Socinians. These two young men seem to have gone together to the University of Konigsberg: but why Preussius called himself a Silesian, of Kreutzburg, it is difficult to conjecture. Perhaps he did so, on account of his having been brought up among the Socinians of that place, and having imbibed his religious opinions there. Lauterbach expressly states, that he studied, when a young man, both in Prussia and Belgium; and that his father was a tanner at Lübben.

The first mention of his name in the Synodical Acts is in the account of the Assembly of Raszcow, A. D. 1650, when he obtained permission from the Church to go abroad, and had an allowance of a hundred dollars granted to him for that purpose. But he either did not undertake this journey, or soon returned; for in the year following, at the Assembly of Czarcow, he received an order to serve the Churches collected in Volhynia, in the capacity of a Preacher. In 1652, he was appointed ordinary Minister of a Church in the Palatinate of Kiovia, apparently that of Iwanitz; and it was at the same time determined, that his ordination and inauguration should be performed by the Ministers of Volhynia, as stated in the Acts of the Assembly of Czarcow. But it appears, from the Acts of the Assembly of Siedliski, that he was at length ordained at Siedliski, in 1653, with Christopher Crellius, by Paul Rynievicius, Karnievius, Siedlecius and Wissowatius; and that he was at the same time appointed Minister of the Church of Luclavice. In 1654, by a resolution of the Assembly of Czarcow, he was sent to officiate to the Unitarians at Meseritz, and was enjoined, by the Assembly of Rasczow in 1655, to make frequent excursions into Silesia, Lusatia, the Marquisate of Brandenburg, and other countries, and everywhere, as far as he could, to sow the seeds, or watch the growth of Socinianism. Nor is there any reason to doubt, that he acted up to the full spirit of this injunction, and laboured with all diligence to diffuse the doctrines of his Church, particularly in the Marquisate of Brandenburg; for he endeavoured to bring over his own brother, and other subjects of those states, as is proved by a letter which he addressed to Sturmius, Primary and Consistorial Pastor of Lübben. Whether he was thrown into prison at this time cannot with certainty be determined: but he speaks of bonds, and being detained in prison, in his letters to his Dutch friends. In a letter written October 26th, 1659, and addressed to Bartholomew Stoss, First Court Preacher of Brandenburg, he mentions his fourth banishment, his extreme poverty and distress, his nine children, his wife in a state of pregnancy, and numerous calamities incurred on account of his belief in the One God the Father; but makes no allusion to bonds and imprisonment. Nor does it seem probable, that he was imprisoned at Custrin just at that time. But in 1664, he was imprisoned, and sent to Custrin, for his repeated attempts to make converts to his own opinions among the inhabitants of Brandenburg. When his examination by the Commissaries in that place was finished, a full report of it was transmitted to Berlin, with an intimation that he should be banished from the territory of Brandenburg. By the sentence of the Elector, however, passed with the concurrence of the clergy of Berlin, he was restored to liberty, on condition that he should abstain from preaching publicly within the territory of Brandenburg, under pain of banishment.

After the Polish exile in 1662, he was commissioned, along with Stanislaus Lubieniecius, to undertake a journey to Fredericksburg; and there, as well as in other places, to seek a union with the Arminians, and at the same time to salute by the way the Brethren dispersed throughout the Marquisate of Brandenburg, and to confirm them in the opinions which they had embraced. At that time he was discharging the ministerial office at Zullichau, and had the care of the Polish exiles on the borders of Brandenburg and Silesia. But either he did not perform this journey at all, or returned in a short time, as the circumstances above related shew.

He died in the month of February, 1696, at the age of more than sixty. Samuel Crellius married his daughter, and Sigismund Reinhart calls him "Vir certe acuti ingenii." His writings, which are of great rarity, were as follow.

1. A Letter to Sturmius, Primary and Consistorial Pastor of Lübben, written May 3rd, 1656 or 1657.

2. Sacred Songs in German, bearing the following title. Hertzliches Saytenspiel, oder geistreiche und schriftmassige Lieder: von Johann Preussen, Diener der Gemeine J. C. am Worte Gottes. Im Jahr 1657; druckte es Erasmus Rossner zu Frankf. a. d. Oder. 8vo.

3. A Letter written at Crossen, Dec. 17th, 1661, and sent to Berlin; probably addressed to Bartholomew Stoss, and relating to the death of Jonas Schlichtingius.

4. Sacred Prayers in German, bearing the following title. Geistlicher Weyrauch Gotte zum Opfer und siissen Geruch, dem Nächsten aber, (vornemlich den Einfältigen,) zu Erweckung inbriinstiger Andacht angeziindet von Johann Preussen, Diener der Gemeine J. C. am Worte Gottes. 1662, 8vo. A former edition had been printed at Thorn in 1645, without any mention of the place. The last edition, or that of 1662, was printed in Pomerania. The work contains no form of prayer addressed to the Holy Spirit.

5. A Confession of Faith, bearing the following title. Glaubensbekänntniss, der allgemeinen Christlichen Warheit zu Steuer, zu Rettung aber seiner eigenen Unschuld, an den Tag gegeben von Joh. Preussen. Im Jahr nach der Geburth des Sohnes Gottes, 1662, 4to. The place of printing is not mentioned; but we learn from Reinhart that it was in Pomerania. In Article iv., the author says, "I believe that the Holy Spirit, of which mention is made in Scripture, and which is given to men, is the power of the Most High God, by which he moves the hearts of men, illumines the perception and the intellect, and leads them into all truth."

6. Letters to Dutch Friends, respecting his Apprehension and Detention in Prison. 1664. MS.

7. On Liberty of Conscience. MS.

8. A Poem on the Death of Michael Servetus. Polon. MS. Mosheim endeavoured, by the aid of La Croze, to obtain possession of this Poem from Samuel Crellius, and thus rescue it from oblivion, but the attempt appears to have been unsuccessful. Allwoerden alludes to a manuscript account of the death of Servetus, written by John Preussius, which he suspects to have been compiled from the "Dialogue between Calvin and Vaticanus." He further states, that, in compiling his own "History of M. Servetus," the copy of the "Christianismi Restitutio," which he used, was a manuscript one, written out partly by John Preussius, partly by Jeremiah Felbinger, and partly by some third and unknown person; and that this copy was made from a printed one, which Daniel Mark Szent-Ivani, Superintendent of the Transylvanian Churches, had procured in England, and had lent to Preussius, on his return to his own country through the Marquisate of Brandenburg, probably some time between the years 1660 and 1670.

9. A Poem on Pride, shewing its Genealogy. MS. Polon.

10. Sacred Songs in German, bearing the following title. Fasten-Speise, krancke Gewissen damit zu erquicken, von einem wohlerfahrnen bekehrten Sunder, vor busfertige und zerknirschte Hertzen zubereitet, auf freyen Tisch getragen. 1678, 8vo.

11. Theologia, oder Gesprache von unterschiedenen Artickeln der Christlichen Religion, u. s. w. 1682, Freystadt in Verlegung der Authoren, 4to. This work, which was clandestinely printed at Lübben, was publicly proscribed, and a heavy fine imposed upon Christopher Gruber, the printer. The reason why it is not mentioned by Sandius is, because it was printed after that writer's death, which happened in 1680. The Preface purports to have been written by the printer, (who assumes the name of John Dienstel,) and is dated Freystadt, Aug. 1st. In this Preface, the work is said to have been offered to him by two Ministers of the Church, for the purpose of printing, which he would not undertake before he had weighed its contents with his confessionary, which intimated, that its publication would not be injurious to the truth, although the arguments were such as might be perverted. Two persons hold a conversation together, Martin, a tailor, who, under the character of a perfectly simple-minded man, defends the orthodox faith, and Christian, a shoemaker, who undertakes, with a great show of learning, to defend the Arian and Socinian parties. When they have proceeded too far to extricate themselves, they seek the aid of their respective Pastors, who dispute together for three days: but as neither is disposed to give in, the dispute remains unsettled. At the close of the conference between the two Ministers, ten undoubted criteria are proposed, from which, as the writer thinks, it may be determined, with the greatest certainty, that the Polish Brethren, who were banished from their country, July 10^th, 1660, and who receive their denomination from none but Christ, are in possession of a genuine and uncorrupted Confession of Faith, and of divine truth. At the end of the book is a conversation, in the form of A Catechism, on the Christian Faith, the Communion of Saints, Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

12. Progress in the Study of the Knowledge of God the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: or, A Consideration of "The Consideration of certain Words, Terms and Phrases, used by Divines in Reference to the Doctrine of the Trinity, by a Lover of Truth and Peace, published in 4to. at Cosmopolis;" submitted to the Judgment of the Lovers of Truth and Piety, by their Friend and Ally, whom if you wish to know, You are wise in a true Sense [in Vero Sensu Sapis:—by transposition, Johannes Preussius], Alethopolis, 8vo. To this treatise are appended,

13. Two Letters to a Friend, without date, or author's name; but written, as the editor informs us, by John Preussius.

14. Manuscript Letters addressed to various Correspondents. Some of these fell into the hands of Bock, who particularizes one, in German, written to Barth. Stoss, at Custrin, (or, as Preussius calls it, at Patmos,) Oct. 26th, 1659; and containing a short history of Socinianism in Poland.

(Vidend. Sandii B. A. pp. 163, 164. Bock, Hist. Ant. T. I. pp. 647 —666. Attiooerden, Hist. Mich. Serveti, Prooem. § iv. pp. 126. 181, 182.Vofft, Catal. Historico-Crit . Libr. Rar. pp. 554—556.)

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