Citizen, private person, and calling

Meaning

The anonymous conclusion describes its speaker as a citizen and private person, not a university-trained or contemporary Aristotelian theologian. This authorial self-presentation explains both the claimed simplicity of the prose and the decision not to pursue theology further than his calling permits. He instead locates his education in Nature’s universal school and great wonder-book. The declaration limits institutional credentials without renouncing religious testimony: he still regards proclaiming God’s wonders and making his confession public as duties. It gives no name, occupation more precise than this, or independently checkable biography. The aligned English “citizen and private person” properly retains the modest civic designation rather than supplying a particular craft.