anslated into so many languages."
The best edition of it is that published by Le Clerc,[036] in 1709 at
Amsterdam, in 8vo. To this edition, Le Clerc has added a curious
_dissertation_ on _religious indifference_. He presumes that the
supposed indifference is persuaded of the authenticity of the New
Testament:--He then (says Le Clerc) must ascertain,--
1. Which are the denominations of religionists which avow their
belief of it:
2. Which of these are most worthy of the name of Christians:
3. And which profess the Christian religion in most purity and with
least extraneous alloy:
4. He will find, that all Christians agree in the fundamental
articles of faith:
5. That all these articles are clearly expressed in the New
Testament:
6. That no tenet should be believed to be of faith, unless the New
Testament contains it.
7. That the providence of God is admirable in the preservation of
these tenets, amidst the confused multitude of religious opinions,
which have prevailed in the world:
8. That this confusion was foreseen by God:
9. That he permitted it as a consequence of his gift of free-will
to man:
10. That the inquirer should aggregate himself to that religious
communion, which receives the New Testament as its only rule of
faith, and does not persecute others:
11. That episcopacy without tyranny is the most antient form of
ecclesiastical government, and most to be desired; but that it is
not essential to a Christian church:
12. That these were the opinions of Grotius:
13. Finally, that it is greatly to be desired that a belief of no
dogma, not explicitly propounded in the New Testament, should be
required.
Such is the religious system propounded by Le Clerc.--Does any religious
communion really profess it?--Many Protestant churches declare, that the
Bible, and the Bible only, contains their creed: but, do they not all
mean by this--the Bible, as it is explained by the Articles, the
Formulary, or the Confession received by their church?
X. 4.
_Grotius's Treatise De Jure summarum potestatum circa sacra_.--And,
_Commentatio ad loca quaedam Novi Testamenti, quae de Antichristo agunt,
aut agere putantur_.
Nothing in the life of Grotius places him in a more amiable or
respectable point of view, than his constant attempts to put Catholics
and Protestants into good h
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