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argue the case , for the whole account has beeit proved to be fabulous . * From Mulhausen , Ochin soon passed into Poland , where he hoped to settle himself . But the agents of the Pope
had taken measures to disappoint hia expectations , and availing themselves of a law which had been recently passed to exclude all foreigners who held doctrines at variance with the
established creed , they procured an order for his banishment . Some of the nobility who respected his character and commiserated his sufferings , offered to procure for him permission to reside in Poland . Bat he declined the
proposal , alleging that he thought it right to obey the ruling powers , though he should die upon the road , or perish among the wolves in the forests . On quitting Poland , he took the road to Moravia , but before he reached Pinczow he was seized with
the plague . Notwithstanding the nature of his malady , he was here most kindly received by Philippovius , one of the Unitarian brethren , whose humane attentions he gratefully acknowledged . He lost from this fatal disease his two sons and a daughter , but
recovered sufficiently himself to prosecute his journey as far as Slacovia ; here , at the end of three weeks , in the year 1564 , he terminated his sufferings and his life . Other accounts have been given of the . place and manner of Ochinus ' s death , but they are
undeserving of credit . This may be asserted particularly of the statement of Boverius , the annalist o £ the Capuchins , who affirms that he died at Greneva , after having quitted' the Protestants , and been re-admitted to the communion of the Church of Rome .
With respect to the opinions of Ochin , there are but two points that seem entitled to notice in this sketch : the first is , whether he is justly
chargable with libertinism , as his enemies allege , in his treatise upon Polygamy ; and the second , whether his observa ^ tions on the Doctrine of the Trinity afford sufficient ground for ranking him among Antitrinitarian g ?
Nothing certainly but the most perverse and inveterate disposition to calumniate could ever have construed any part of Ochin ' s writings as favouring licentiousness . — - ? Bock , II . p . 507 .
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Italian Reformation . . 663
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The accusation rests chiefly or wholly uponjtUe Dialogue on Polygamy , * aqd is sufficiently refuted by the perusal of the piece . It is by no means a < Jefence of the practice , designed , as has been represented , to prove that " it
is not only permitted but even commanded that Christiana should many as many wives as they please . ' * At the commencement a perso » is described as consulting the author on a case of conscience , who states that he
is desirous of having children ; that he has a barren and sickly wife , whose temper is unsuited to his own , and whom he is therefore unable to love ; and he asks whether he may lawfully marry another wife without divorcing the first ? In the course of the
Dialogue the applicant adduces numerous reasons in favour of Polygamy , but Ochin in every instance opposes them ; , and supports the negative of the ques ~ tion . But if it be admitted that the arguments adduced in favour of Polygamy are occasionally but feebly met by the objections ; and it should appear
that Ochin thought Polygamy in such a case might be allowed ^ this wo uld not expose him to a charge of licentiousness , for the whole subject i $ treated with great gravity and serious - ness . It seems probable that the Dialogue was occasioned by a circumstance which at the time
formed a subject of general conversation . The Landgrave of Hesse hpd recently consulted some celebrated German divines upon a parallel case and they had declared their judgment that he might marry a second wife in the life-time of the iirst i
Ochin ' s object might possibly have been to shew the grounds upon which such an opinion might be supported . That Ochin disbelieved the commonly received doctrine of the Trinity towards the close of his life , seems
placed beyond all question by his two Dialogues on the subject . The topics of them are thus stated by himself : -f Dialogue xix . : Ostenditur tres esae divinas personas , Patrem et Filium , et Spiritum Sanctum , reipsa distinctas tametsi consubstantiates , et cosetern&g , et ad eos literarum locos et
argumen-Dialogues , II . 186 . , y t Idem , pp . 1 , &c . By an error of the press they are numbered in the Volume , xviii . iix .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1822, page 663, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2518/page/7/
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