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those divine ? who persist m applying their name to the Unitarians of the present day , merely because the name has come down loaded with the odium of successive generations of orthodox believers * The work is inscribed , " Catechism
of the Churches of Poland , which con- » fess , according to the Scriptures , one God , the Father , hia only begotten Son , Jesus Christ , and the Hol y Spirit / ' The compilers set out with a noble declaration in favour of
religious liberty : « Whilst we compose a Catechism , we prescribe nothing to any man ; whilst we declare our own opinions , we oppress no one . Let every person enjoy the freedom
of his own judgment in religion ; only let it be permitted to us also to exhibit pur view of divine things , without injuring and calumniating others . For this is the golden Liberty of Prophesying which the sacred books of the New Testament so
earnestly recommend to us , and wherein we are instructed by the example of the primitive Apostolic Church . " Pref . p . xcvi . We recommend the Sections of Chap . I . relating to the Holy Scriptures , to all those that are in the habit
of accusing such as they denominate Socinians of setting up reason against the Bible . Hie true argument for the authenticity of the sacred volume is here well stated . The following note of the Commentator , whose name is affixed , is very judicious and satisfactory .
" What is asserted here , and in some answers that follow , as well as the truth of the Christian religion generally , may , without adverting to other arguments , be in this manner clearly demonstrated : No person of sane mind wiU deny that some things were done antecedently to his both , and when he could not have been
a present spectator : but he can know this in no other way than by testimony and historical relatiou . Now if any history be worthy of credit , certainly that o / Jesus of Nazareth and his disciples may safely be considered in this light ; a history which has through ao many ages been
confirmed ^ by the constant and unanimous testimony of an uninterrupted succession of witnesses of such high respectability , existing among tfll Hxe various nations of the eaith , aita differing widely from each other in their language and manners , and fa their opinions on other PJHttts : no one , besides , during the whole of this interval , having been able to im-
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peach the credit of the religion itself , by substantiating against it a charge of false hood , while almost all have been labour ** ing to extirpate it by force * It is apparent , as will he shewn in the sequel , that these witnesses could not have been instigated
to give then * testimony , by any prospects of worldly advantage ;—rand yet ( and bi this consists , the force of the argument ) an immense host of them , like a cloud * reaching from the earliest age down to our own time , may be produced . The reader who wishes- to see the truth of
Christianity discussed more at length , may consult the work of Faustus Socinus on , the Authority of the Holy Scriptures , Grotius ' s book on the Truth of the Christian Religion , Joachim Stegman , junior ' s Brevis Veritatis Religionis Christiana De
monstratiO ) ( Brief Demonstration of the Truth of the Christian Religion , ) inserted in the works of Brennius , and Henry M ore ' s Magni Mysterii Pietatis Explanationes , Lib . Sept . —Benedict Wissowavius /'—P . 9 .
We cannot forbear giving also part of the additional Note of the present English Translator ; the subject being at this time particularly interesting ,
and the facts here stated being the best answer to the charges preferred by the bigot and the unbeliever ( par nobile fratrum I ) against Unitarians as not beBeyers in the Scriptures .
€€ Socinus ' s work above referred to , is not so well known to the English reader as it ought to be , considering Its great merit . It contains a clear and compre ^ hensive summary of the arguments in
favour of the genuineness ancj . credibility of the Scriptures , and of the truth of the Christian , religion : and its utility has been superseded by no publication of more recent date . The best Latin edition
is that printed without the author ' s nameu at Steinfurt , in 1611 , under the editorial direction of Vorstius , whose pious labour drew on htm the heavy censures . of the hjgojts of tlje time , who did not believe , it jseeina , that ' any good thing could come out of JIacow . ' This edition Is
now exceedingly scarce . An English translation of | t was published in 1731 , in a , thin octavo volume , by Mr . Edwanfl Combe , a divine of the Church of England who prefixed a dedication to the Queen . This translation is also scarce : it is moreover -of rather uncouth execution :
and , on these accounts , he would deserve well of the Christian world , who should # ive the work to the English public in a inore pleasing and inviting dress . " Grotius ' s treatise is better known , both to the scholar and t £ > the mere English reader ; # ie ^ tin ^ mg W \ w ^ usttal scriool
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Review . —Dr . 7 * . Reee ' s Rqcovian Catechism . 10 ft
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vol . xv . " p
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1820, page 105, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2485/page/41/
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