they answered they were Christians and followers of the apostles. After that, being questioned upon the Creed, their replies were very orthodox a- to the Trinity and incarnation. But (says Rapin) if the historian is to be depended on. they rejected baptism, the Eucharist, marriage, and the communion of saints. Tiny showed much modesty and meekness in their whole behavior. When they were threatened with death, in order to oblige them to renounce their tenets, they only said, 'Blessed are they that sutler for righteousness1 sake.'" There is no difficulty in understanding what were their sentiments on these heretical points. When a monk says they rejected the Eucharist, it is to be undt rstood they rejected the doctrine of transubstantiation ; when he says they rejected marriage, he means thai they de- nied it to be a sacrament, and maintained it lobe a civil institution ; when he says they rejected the communion of saints, nothing more is to be understood than that they refused to hold communion with the corrupt Church of Rome; and when he says that they rejected baptism, we understand by it thai they rejected the bap- tism of infants. These were the errors for which they were branded with a hot iron in their forehead-. See Lvimey, Hist, of th Baptists, i, ."id sq. ; Brown, Relig. Cyclop. s.v.
Publius (Gnecized noVXioc), the (hid' man- probably the governor of Melita, or Malta, who re- ceived and lodged Paul and hi- companions on the oc-
casii f their being shipwrecked off that island (Acts
xxviii. 7 i A.M. 55. It soon appeared thai he was en- tertaining an angel unawares, for Paul gave proof of his divine commission by miraculously healing the father of Publius of a fever, and afterwards working other cures on the sick who were brought to him. Publius possessed property in .Melita: the distinctive title given
lo him is "the lir-l (irp&TOQ) of the island;" and two inscriptions— one in Greek, the other in Latin— have been found at Civita Vecchia, in which thai apparently official titleoccurs. An inscription found in Malta d( s'ig- naies the governor of the island by the same title. (See I.ewin's St. /'mil, ii. •Jul", where the originals ai
-bowing this to be tin ly natural interpretation.)
Publius may perhaps have been ihe delegate of the Ro- man praetor of Sicily, to whose jurisdiction Melita, or Malta, belonged. The Roman martyrologies asserl that be was the first bishop of ihe island, and thai be was afterwards appointed to succeed Dionysius as bishop of \ i In ii-. .brume record- a t radii ion thai he was crowned with martyrdom i /'• Viris Illust.xix; Baron, I/./."/, i. 554 . Smith. See Walch, /'• Publio ~\h<t<i> MelUen- sium (Jen. L755 ,
Pucci. FbANI i -i .1 I, ai. l'nr, ;,,.<>. an Italian theolo- gian, noted as the founder oi a heretical school. Nourished in ihe 16th century, lie was a native of Flort in e, ami belonged to a noble and ancient family which produced three cardinals. He went to Lyons to engage in com- merce, but having assisted in the religious dis]
PUCCIANITES V
frequent at that epoch, he left his country to give him- self to the study of theology. From Lyons he went to England, and in 1574 he took the degree of master of arts at Oxford. In adopting the greater part of the opinions of the Reformation, he expected to make ample use of that most precious conquest, liberty of search ; he joined himself to no sect, or, rather, he took from each that which best accorded with his own mind, nat- urally bold and restless. This independence created for him enemies and disputes in all the countries which he visited ; he led a wandering life, and instead of passing for a person of troubled mind in search of truth, he was loaded with invectives and charged with fanaticism. At Oxford, being a candidate for a chair, he was advised to write a thesis Be Fide in Deum qitce et qua/is sit, and raised the opposition of all his future colleagues, less by the scruples which he had shown of the method of com- prehending God than because he had openly combated the dogmas of Calvinism. Pucci then went to Basle, and there made the acquaintance of Faustus Socinus, but a dispute that he had with him about the first man, and his ideas of universal mercy, exposed him anew to persecution. Exiled from Basle in 1578, he returned to London, where his opinions, too frankly expressed, caused him to be imprisoned. After his release, he took refuge in the Low Countries ; but always studying, writ- ing, and disputing, he did not rind his halting-place un- til he reached Poland. At Cracow he encountered two Englishmen — John Dee and Edward Kelly, companions of John a Laski ; they won Pucci to the study of oc- cult science, and persuaded him that by familiar inter- course with spirits he would have the privilege of dis- covering much that was unknown. The attraction of the marvellous, and the novelty of the phenomena that John Dee seemed to control, were strong enough to attach Pucci for four years. The papal nuncio at Prague became acquainted with Pucci, and by his per- sonal influence drew him into the bosom of the Romish Church in 1586. In 1592 Pucci wrote a book dedicated to pope Clement VIII, under the title Be Christi Salva- toris Efficacitate (Gouda, 1592), in which he used new arguments in support of the doctrine of the universal atonement as follows: "Christ having made an atone- ment for all men by his death, no other means are now necessary for salvation than those which are pro- A-ided by natural religion, and not only those who bear the name of the Saviour, but all honest men, can be saved, even in paganism." The doctrine thus espoused was not likely to please the pontiff, though he was hon- ored by the dedication, and Pucci was made so uncom- fortable that in 1595 there came from him a public re- traction of his preceding opinions. He then received sacerdotal ordination, and became secretary of cardinal Pompey, with whom he passed the last years of his life in peace. He died in 1600. He had composed the fol- lowing couplet to be engraved upon his tomb :