On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (2)
-
( 326 )
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
No . II . John Campanus is said to have been the first avowed advocate of the Unitarian doctrine among the Reformed . He was a native of Juliers , and settled at Witteroberg , A . D . 1528 . At first he professed himself a follower of Luther ; but differing from the great Reformer on the subjects of the Eucharist and the Trinity , he separated from him at the end of two years , and , according to Moreri , formed a sect of his own . This statement of Moreri ' s ,
however , is not strictly true ; for Campanus , as Mosheim observes , was not so far encouraged by the number of his followers , or the indulgence o $ his adversaries , as to be in a condition to form a regular sect . He is said U > have taught that the Son was inferior to the Father , and that the Holy Ghost was not a distinct person ; and the first article of the Augsburg Confession is supposed to have been framed with a direct reference to these opinions , which Campanus was engaged in propagating at Wittemberg at the very time that the Diet was sitting at Augsburg . Melancthon , who was no less distinguished by the mildness of his disposition than by his great learning ,
was the author of this Confession , which he contrived to draw up in terms as little offensive to the Roman Catholics as a regard to truth and consistency would admit . On its completion , it was submitted to the inspection of some Popish divines , by the order of Charles V . ; and after they had scrutinized its contents , and objected to some of its articles , Melancthon revised it , softening down some of its expressions , expunging others , and giving to the rest the mildest and most favourable construction which they would bear . Such indeed was the anxiety displayed by the Reformed party , on this occa ^ sion , to smooth down the differences which existed between them and their
Roman Catholic brethren , that they seem almost to have lost sight of the grounds upon which they had seceded from the Church of Rome , and to have been inveigled into concessions at utter variance with the true Protestant principle . In accordance with this time-serving spirit , the doctrine taught by Campanus was openly condemned , and a formal censure pronounced upon all who were friendly to its dissemination . The majority of those who have written commentaries upon the Confession of Augsburg
supp ose that , in the words Damnant Samosatenianos Neotericos , Servetus and his . followers are the persons denounced ; and this opinion is favoured by ancient and respectable testimonies . In an anonymous edition of the Augsburg Confession , published at Rostoch as early as the year 1562 , the following observation is subjoined by way of note upon the words Veteres et Neotericos : " Michael Servetus , of Arragon in Spain , who was burnt at Geneva , in Savoy , Oct . 17 , 1553 , has revived in our age the heresy of Paul of Samosata , by his writings , published in Germany and France . " Melanctbon himself also , in a conference held at Worms , A . D . 1540 , addresses Eccius
to this effect : ' There is no controversy concerning the first article , in which it is evident that our churches have faithfully defended the commonly received doctrine , against Servetus and others . " There are nevertheless good reasons for supposing that Melancthon , with all his caution , has here fallen into a slight anachronism ; for at the time that the Confession was drawn up , Servetus ' s opinions had not been openly promulgated in Germany . It seems probable , therefore , that the doctrine in question was that taught by Campanus , who was actively employed in disseminating it at Wittemberg , before Servetus had published any thing on the subject of the Trinity , and
( 326 )
( 326 )
Untitled Article
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF EMINENT CONTINENTAL UNITARIANS , r
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1831, page 326, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2597/page/38/
-