Grice ed Aconzio

1648. Satan's Stratagems, or the Devil's Cabinet-Council discovered...together with an epistle written by Mr. John Goodwin and Mr. Durie's letter concerning the same. The translation contains three dedications, one to the Parliament,one to Fairfax and Cromwell, and one to John Warner, lord mayor. Brunet records an octavo edition of the same year, place, and publisher, but with a variant title: Jacobi Acontii tridentini de Stratagematibus Satanæ in religionis negotio per superstitionem, errorem, hæresim, odium, calumniam, schisma, etc. libri octo.  Amsterdam,1624; Oxon., G.Webb, 1631, sm. 8vo; London, 1648, 4to; Oxon., 1650, 12mo; Amsterdam, Jo. Ravenstein, 1652, sm. 8vo; ib., 1674,sm.8vo; Neomagi, A. ab. Hoogenhuyse, 1661,sm.8vo. The Dedication of the first edition, to Queen Elizabeth, begins,with grandiloquent flattery, Divæ Elisabethæ, etc. Les Ruzes de Satan receuillies et comprinses en huit liures. Basle. P. Perne. 1565. 4to. Also, Delft,1611, 8vo, and ib., 1624, 8vo. Further, Bâle. 1647. sm. 8vo (German translation), and Amsterdam, 1662, 12mo (Dutch translation). The Satanæ Stratagemata is a book which had a considerable influence in the development of opinion. In all, I record twenty-one editions of it , five of them of English imprint , and all of them publications of about one century, 1565–1674, the era of the Reformation. Aconcio's argument was the simplification of dogmatic theology. In general, he would reduce the doctrines of Christianity to a strictly Scriptural basis. He argues that the numerous confessions of faith of different de nominations were simply the ruses of the Evil One,the 'Strata g e m s o f S a t a n ,' t o t e m p t m e n f r o m t h e t r u t h . H e p r o t e s t e d against capital punishment for heresy, and favored toleration among all Christian sects. Such liberal theology was distaste ful alike to Calvinists,who accused Aconcio of Arianism ,and to Catholics, who indexed his book. The Tridentine Index Libb. Prohibb. (1569) places Satanæ Stratagemata among anonymousbooks,buttheRomanIndexof1877describesthe book accurately.