_Socinian Boast_ (Vol. ii., p. 375.).--The following lines "De Ruinâ
Babylonis" occur in the works of a Socinian writer, one Samuelis
Przipcovius, who died in 1670, and evidently have reference to those quoted
by Dr. Pusey:-- {413}
"Quid per Luterum, Calvinum, perque Socinum,
Funditus eversam jam Babylona putas?
Perstat adhuc _Babylon_, et toto regnat in orbe
Sub vario primum nomine robur habens.
Ostentat _muros_, jactat sublimia _tecta_
De _fundamento_ quis metus esse potest?
Ni Deus hanc igitur molem disjecerit ipse
Humano nunquam Marte vel arte ruet."
Przipcovius was a Polish knight, and cotempory the author of _Hudibras_. In
a tract entitled _Religio Vindicata a Calumniis Atheismi_, he thus alludes
to the spiritual Quixotism which induced Butler to "crack the satiric
thong:"
"Sæpe audivi quod in _Angliâ_ (quæ regio sicut in multis aliis rebus,
sic præcipue in religionibus totius mundi compendium est) de ejusmodi
fanaticis perhibetur, quod ita sui suarumque irrationabilium opinionum
sint amantes, ut audeant propter eas divinam Providentiam angustis
Ecclesiarum suarum (quæ ex angustis cujuslibet Penatibus constant)
terminis circumscribere.... Et quemadmodum omnes isti miseri aperte
delirant, præcipue ii quos zeli æstus eousque deducit, ut tanquam
bacchantes aut cerriti per plateas, domos, templa, absque ullo ordine
et respectu cursitantes concionentur, et interdum _anseres, equos, vel
oves_ (cujus rei ibi satis frequentia exempla occurrunt) dum eis
homines aures præbere nolunt, ad suas opiniones convertere tentent."