Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/73

 A C O N T I U S. fered in f<;me particulars from thofe of Calvin ; for he w.is a great friend to toleraJon, and maintained certain maxims which drew upon him the odium of feveral Proteflant divines [D]. We meet with few particulars relating to his life. He himfelf informs us tranfiently, that he had fpenta confiderable part of his time in ftudying Bartolus, Baldus, and fuch likr ha; barous authors ; and that he had been feveral years at court. His letter, publifhed in 1696, (hews that he had an acute ge- nius, and that he was a great mailer in true lo^ir. Ic is dated from London, June 5, 1565, and ferves to clear up an after- lion of his, which' had been cenl'ured, in regard to Sabellius. It muftbe obferved, that notwithflanding moft Proteftant di- vines hold him in the utmofl deteftation, yet by fome he has been highly applauded [E]. [D] A Proteftant minifter at the Hague, (Saldenus de Lib- is, &c. p. 337.) fpeaking of Acontius, affirms, that what was faid of Origin may be juftly applied to him, viz. "where he is right, nobody " better; and where he is wrong, no- " body worfe :" That he was a truly learned man, of a quick genius, but of too much boldnefs and freedom : That he was too much inclined to produce a kind of fcepticifm into divinity itfelf, as appears evident from his Treatife of the Stratagems of Satan, which, accord- ing to Simon Goular, (Trigland, Hifr. Ecclef. p. 13*.) is the worft of all bad books that ever were written. And Voe- tius declare!*, (Polit. Ecclef. part. iii. in indice & p. 31. 398.) that he ignorantly or djsfignedly attempted a confefiion of faith, which the very/irians miglithave fubfcribed. [E] ll'jac Juniiif, minifter of De!ft, leaked upon Acontius as in the fame clafs with Socinus and the remonftranfsj he confidered him as a man who was for reducing all fefts into one, and including them in one ark, as Noah /hut up all fort of animals in his, where they we:e preferved, though they lived on different food. (In Examine Apologias Remon- frrantium, p. 45.) Peltius laid (in De- dicatione Harmoniae) that Acontius, by reducing the points neeefl'jry for falva- tion to fo frnall a number, thereby opened a door to every herefy. He has, however, been highly com- mended, not only by Arminius and Grc- vinchovius, but allo by Amefius and George Pauli. Arminius fays, " Acon- tius eft divinum prudentiae ac moJera- tionis lumen." Amefius ("peaks of h m in thefe words : " Idem Acontius eft Su;arcara.-ro; !',' Ta~c 'yf<^^~", I'll fe'mentem e:c!efis Anglicanae caLre ct roie ca'clli Jovit lejulo." ACOSTA (URIEL), a Portugueze, born at Oporto to- wards the clofe of the fixteenth century. He was educated in the RoniiHi religion, which his father alfo fincerely profeii- ;, though delcended from one of thofe Jewifh families, who had been in a mumer forced to receive baptifm. Uriel had a liberal education, having been inftrufted in feveral fciences ; and at lad he ftudied the law. He had by nature a good temper and difpofuion ; and religion had ma 'e fo deep an impreflion oa his mind, that he ardently defired to conform to all the pre- cepts of the church, in order to avoid eternal death, which he greatly feared. He applied with great afiiduity to reading the D 3 Scripture