agitation, and ended so fatally to the venerable confessor and martyr David. There still remained a large number who objected to the invocation of Christ, and who, when they found themselves freed from the interference and persecution of Blandrata, made no scruple of openly avowing and promulgating their opinion. In order to restrain and silence such persons, it was found necessary, by successive princes, to enact against them new and severe laws, whereby at length all who refused to worship Jesus Christ were excluded from toleration. Their faith was watched with great jealousy by the government, which obliged them from time to time to deliver in an authorized confession, agreeing in all respects with the form drawn up and subscribed by the general Synod convened by Blandrata at Coloswar on the first of July 1579*.

The

* The Confession of Faith then agreed upon and subscribed, as the standard of the doctrine authorized by law to be professed and taught in the Unitarian Churches, was as follows:

I. Credimus et confitemur Jesum illum a Nazareth esse Filium Altissimi unigenitum, dicique Deum juxta genuinum sensum S. Scripturæ propter has causas:—1. Quia conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto. 2. Quia unctus est Spiritu Sancto præ omnibus consortibus, et accepit Spiritum sine mensura. 3. Propter majestatem et gloriam; quam Pater in cælo et in terra, postquam resurrexerit a mortuis, plenarie dedit. 4. Quia Deus Pater in plenitudine temporis restauravit et condidit omnia per ipsum, deditque illum nobis, ut per illum salvemur, et vitæ æternæ hæreditatem accipiamus.

II. Hunc eundem Jesum Christum credimus colendum et adorandum esse, quia Pater dedit omnia Filio,et præcepit ut illum audiamus, in ipsum credamus, ipsum colamus et adoremus. Ideo omnes thesauros scientiæ et sapientiæ in eo abscondidit, ut ex plenitudine ejus et nos omnes accipiamus; ut scilicet colentes Fi

९

Lum,

The severe restrictions thus imposed upon its professors operated very prejudicially in checking the progress of Unitarianism, and by degrees caused the defection of most of the noble families from the Unitarian party. Few events of any consequence occur in the subsequent history of the Unitarians in this coun

lium, colamus Patrem, credentes in Filium, credamus in Patrem, qui Pater in Filio honoratur.

Hinc

III. Confitemur, quod Jesus ille verus Messias dum fuit in terris, contulit, et etiam nunc confert bona spiritualia fidelibus per verbum et spiritum, ideoque invocandus est, propterea enim a Deo Patre in ipsum bona omnia collata sunt, ut illa ab ipso confidenter in nostris necessitatibus petamus et speremus. postquam exhibitus in mundum venit, ad illum multi confugerunt, dixerunt, "Jesu, Fili David, miserere mei” Matth. xv., Marc. x. Item, "Domine Jesu! suscipe spiritum meum;" Act. vii. neque tamen ut Deus ille Pater, in quo omnia, invocatur, 1 Cor. viij. neque etiam ea forma invocationis, qua Patrem invocamus dicendo, "Pater noster," &c. sed ea ratione, ut quod Deus Pater illi contulit certi simus nobis Christum id opulenter largiturum, quemadmodum ipse promisit-" Quicquid petieritis in nomine meo, ego facium," Joh. xiv. Item, "Ego dabo vobis os et sapien tiam." Luc. xxi. Item, “ Vitam æternam dabo eis." Joh. x. Ne◄ que enim eo pacto Mediator noster est, ut nihil nobis conferat, aut quod ab eo nihil petendum, exspectandum, atque etiam sperandum sit; cum eo fine omnia a Deo Patre suo cœlesti acceperit, ut ab ipso ea omnia in nos, tanquam membra ipsius, derivarentur.

IV. Dicimus etiam eum Sacra Scriptura, quod Jesus ille Christus, qui dicitur caput nostrum, sit nunc quoque Ecclesiarum Rex, et regat per spiritum suum fideles suos. "Domineturque super vivos et mortuos" Rom. xiv. imo, quod “regat omnia verbo potentiæ suæ Heb. i. Nam Christum ideo Pater nobis dedit, ut in suis fidelibus nunc regnet, et illis vitam æternam conferat, et 66 Ipse sit solus sub cœlo, in cujus nomine nos salvos fieri oportet." Act. iv. 12. Et quamvis dicatur 1 Cor. xv. tunc habiturum finem, quando Christus tradiderit regnum Deo et Patri, et cum omnia fuerint ci subjecta; non tamen ex eo consequitur Christum nostrum Deum, Regem nunc non esse, cum ibidem dicatur, oportere illum regnare, donec illi omnia subjiciantur. Bod, ubi supra, pp. 167 et seqq.

try,

try, as far as it has been transmitted to us. Among the principal may be mentioned a calamity that befel them in the year 1716, when the Imperial soldiers occupied Coloswar. These troops took from them, and transferred to the Catholics, their church, a new College-house just erected, together with the dwelling houses of the ministers and professors, their printing-house,their vineyards and their farms*. The latest accounts from this country, which however are not very recent, report that the cause is still continued, and apparently much in the state in which it had existed many years before,-the Unitarian churches being estimated at about two hundred, and the population connected with them at about sixty thousand. Coloswar is still the metropolitan seat, and here the Unitarians have a flourishing collegiate establishment†. Poland

*Bod, ubi supra, p. 186.

+That the Unitarians of Transylvania departed, in the course of time, from the simplicity of the doctrines held by them in the days of Francis David, may be seen from the following interesting document, for the sight and the use of which I am indebted to the kindness of my esteemed friend the Rev. Robert Aspland. It is to be regretted that it bears no date, and the last public act referred to in the notes is a rescript of 1713: it is evidently prior, probably several years, to the Confession published in 1787 by professor Markos, of Coloswar, mentioned by Mr. Adam in his Religious World Displayed, vol. ii. p. 174, and which I have thus far failed to procure. The notes and illustrations that accompany the following Confession my limits oblige me to omit. But I trust the document will shortly be given entire to the public. The four received systems of religion in Transylvania noticed at the head, were the Catholic, the Lutheran, the Calvinistic, and the Unitarian, the open profession of all of which was secured by the Laws.

CONFESSIO

Poland and Transylvania are the only two countries on the continent wherein Unitarianism has obtained

an

CONFESSIO FIDEI CHRISTIANÆ secundum UNITARIOS, inter quatuor in Transylvania Religiones receptas numerata, Fundamentalibus Patriæ istius Legibus, Diplomatibus, variisque Rescriptis Cæsareis, Verbis Regiis, Capitulationibus Principum approbata, confirmata.

Credimus Unum tantum esse DEUM OMNIPOTENTEM, qui SPIRITUS est, Rerum cunctarum visibilium et invisibilium CONDITOR, CONSERVATOR, ac RECTOR. PATER omnium, super et per omnia, et in nobis omnibus; adorandus in spiritu et veritate. Quem agnoscimus esse Datorem, cum præsentis tum futuræ vita. Est enim REMUNERATOR eorum qui per fidem accedunt ad Eum et quærunt Eum. Hunc diligimus tanquam omnis bonitatis AUCTOREM, et ceu Sapientiæ Fontem, cordiumque inspectorem timemus.

JESUM CHRISTUM Præcognitum ante jacta mundi fundamenta, exhibitum autem uliimis temporibus propter nos, conceptum ex Sancto Spiritu, natum e castissima Virgine; Credimus esse DEI PATRIS unigenitum et proprium Filium, IMAGINEMQUE invisibilis DEI, in quo omnis plenitudo DEITATIS habitat, per quem cognoscimus PATREM. Is enim summi Genitoris voluntatem revelavit, et confirmavit, ut PROPHETA et MEDIATOR inter DEUM et humanum genus. In hujus sanctissimo nomine, tanquam maximi nostri Sacerdotis, invocamus PATREM; nam nullum aliud sub coelo hominibus datum est nomen, per quod servari nos oporteat. Hunc ceu æternum REGEM, ac DOMINUM nostrum (cui a DEO PATRE qui Eum a mortuis excitavit, data est omnis in cœlo et in terra potestas) supplices divino cultu adoramus, et invocamus. Et ab eo salutem æternam præstolamur, ut a JUDICE vivorum et mortuorum. Nec enim Pater quenquam judicet, sed omne judicium FILIO dedit, ut omnes Filium honorent, quemadmodum Patrem honorant. Qui FILIUM non honorat, Patrem non honorat, qui Eum misit.

Credimus SPIRITUM SANCTUM a DEO et Filio ejus manantem, vim esse Altissimi, nostrum autem CONSOLATOREM: cujus inspiratione precamur, et efficacia regeneramur. Is sine mensura a DEO, Filio ejus unigenito datus, nobis per eundem ceu DONUM ejus, et pignus æternæ hæreditatis communicatur; ut in nobis omnia bona opera efficiet, atque in omnem nos deducat veritatem. Credimus SANCTAM CHRISTIANAM ECCLESIAM, omnium elec

torum

an extensive public establishment. Various attempts were made by the Polish Socinians to introduce their doctrines into other provinces by the employment of missionaries to promulgate them from the pulpit, and to distribute their writings: but these emissaries do not appear to have laboured with much success, or to have

torem DEI (a constitutione ejus, ad finem usque mundi) congregationem, cujus caput est Dominus et Servator Jesus Christus. Norma vero, Doctrina Sanctorum ejus apostolorum. Hanc verbum DEI gubernat, Spiritus Sanctus ducit, in ea sinceri Christiani omnes versari tenentur.

REGES, PRINCIPES, MAGISTRATUS, confitemur a Deo esse. Ideoque pro iis ante omnia, coram ejusdem Divina Majestate, quotidiana devota fundimus vota: tanquam pro ministris ejus, quibus parendum est: Nam gladium gestant ut innocentes tueantur, et sontes puniant. Propterea honorem eis deferre, tributaque persolvere tenemur. Non solum supplicii metu, sed etiam propter conscientiam. Nullus autem ab hac obedientia sese eximere potest, si modo Christianus dici velit, Jesu Christi Domini et Servatoris nostri exemplum sequens; Is enim tributum persolvit ; nec jurisdictionem, dominationemve temporalem usurpavit, in statu illo humiliationis, gladium Verbi cœlestis exercens.

Credimus AQUAM IN SANCTO BAPTISMO, quem peragimus in nomine PATRIS, FILII et Spiritus Sancti, esse signum externum et visibile, nobis repræsentans illud, quod virtus DEI intus in nobis operatur: nempe, spiritûs renovationem et carnis nostræ mortificationem in CHRISTO JESU. Per sanctum enim BAPTISMUM Christo initiati, ecclesiæ membra efficimur, et per eum Fideinostræ professionem et vitæ emendationem declaramus.

SANCTAM MENSAM vel CENAM DOMINI nostri JESU CHRISTI credimus esse sacrum memoriale et gratiarum actionem, ob beneficia per Christi mortem nobis collata: in cœtu piorum, in fide, charitate, suique ipsius probatione celebrandam. Et ita sacrum PANEM et POCULUM benedictum sumendo, Christi corpori et sanguini communicare, unitatemque nostram declarare : sicuti in Sacris Scriptis edocemur.

Credimus et confitemur, totum humanum genus SUB PECCATO FUISSE, et nos porro peccatis obnoxios esse, justificari autem ex DEI (qui omnes homines servari vult, et ad veritatis cognitionem venire :)