The Life of the Truly Eminent and Learned Hugo Grotius: Containing a Copious and Circumstantial History of the Several Important and Honourable Negotiations in Which He Was Employed; together with a Critical Account of His WorksBurigny, M. de (Jean Lévesque)
History
The Life of the Truly Eminent and Learned Hugo Grotius: Containing a Copious and Circumstantial History of the Several Important and Honourable Negotiations in Which He Was Employed; together with a Critical Account of His Works
Burigny, M. de (Jean Lévesque)
Grotius, Hugo, 1583-1645
The great argument of those who wanted to hinder the success of his[494]
book was, that the author sufficiently shewed his inclination to
Socinianism by his silence concerning the Trinity. He opens his mind
about this matter to his brother, September 25, 1638, "The book of the
truth of the Christian Religion will live and flourish in spite of the
envy of my enemies. It was not proper for me to speak directly of the
Trinity; and such as have heretofore brought their arguments to prove it
from natural reason or the authority of Plato, have done more hurt than
service to Christianity." The men who since Grotius's time have acquired
the greatest reputation in France by writing for the truth of the
Christian Religion, such as Abbadie and Houteville, have followed his
example, and avoided the discussion of questions which suppose the
Divinity of the Scriptures.
Grotius had the satisfaction to find the Roman Catholics very well
pleased with this treatise: he writes to his brother[495], December 4,
1638, "My book of the Truth of the Christian Religion, which the
Voetians look upon as Socinian, is so far from being Socinian here, that
Roman-Catholic Monks are translating it into Persian, in order to make
use of it in converting the Mahometans. I have not attempted a direct
proof of the Trinity (he writes to Gerard Vossius[496]) for I always
remembered what I heard Junius your father-in-law say, who was a great
man, that Du Plessis, and those who, like him, in their disputes with
Atheists, Pagans, Jews, and Mahometans, endeavoured to establish the
Trinity by arguments drawn from the light of nature, and by passages
from Plato often misapplied, acted very imprudently, because they ought
first to have convinced them of the truth of the Scriptures, which alone
contain the doctrines which God has been pleased to reveal."
A new edition of the book on the truth of the Christian Religion, with
considerable additions, was published in 1639, which Grotius dedicated
to his illustrious friend Jerom Bignon; and this great Magistrate, in
returning him his thanks[497], gives the most favourable testimony to
the work. He says,[498] that tho' the subject had already been well
handled by several learned men, none of them had acquitted himself so
well, nor discovered so great knowledge of the learned languages, and so
much erudition, as Grotius. He admires the order and conciseness of the
work, and congratulates himself on living in Grotius's time, and sharing
in the friendship of so great a man. Some time after the publication of
this work, an Englishman[499] who had lived long in Turky, came to see
Grotius, and acquaint him that he had translated it into the Turkish
language, thinking no book more proper for instructing Christians who
live in Turky, and converting the Mahometans. He promised to use his
endeavours to get it printed in the Turkish language in England.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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