ABSTRACT
Johann Moriaen took exactly the same attitude to the relation of private sorrows and joys. The main aim of Samuel Hartlib’s and Moriaen’s correspondence was either the coordination of projects such as the promotion of Comenius, in which both men were involved, or the exchange of information. Moriaen’s orthodoxy in doctrinal terms is, however, much more in doubt, whichever brand of ‘orthodoxy’ one cares to look for. It is not that he was given to unorthodox pronouncements, rather that he was conspicuously not given to orthodox ones. The distinctive feature of Moriaen’s writing is that he quotes the Bible, or at least refers to God and His word, in virtually every surviving letter, but without a single trace of exegesis. Uncertain as Moriaen’s private views on pretty well any specific point of Christian doctrine must remain, what does emerge quite unequivocally from his correspondence is that he did not wish to impose those views on anyone else.
