THE BULWARK OF CHRISTENDOM 145
society at large, denying all allegiance to the state and observing the rules of
manual labour, common property, absolute equality, and pacifism. Their
renown was propagated by their Academy, which in the early seventeenth cen-
tury boasted over one thousand pupils from home and abroad; by their tireless
printing-presses; and principally by their Catechism, which ran into scores of
editions and was translated into almost every European language. Modern
scholars pay attention to the Polish Brethren from an interest in the prehistory
of modern communism, but contemporaries were mainly concerned with the
theological aspect. In the eyes of Christian Europe, whether Catholic,
Orthodox, or Protestant, the 'Racovian Catechism' smacked strongly of blas-
phemy. It must be regarded asa seminal text not merely of Unitarianism in par-
ticular but of radical thought in general. In England, for example, the early Latin
editions circulated discreetly among theologians (Moscorovius's Edition of
1609 was dedicated to King James I). Yet the popular English edition of 1652.,
published in Amsterdam, aroused the ire even of Cromwell's Rump Parliament,
which ordered the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex to seize all copies and to
burn them. The eight chapters were composed in the form of Platonic dialogues,
and the passages which seem to have given the greatest offence were those which
dealt with the divinity of Christ:
Interrogatio: Quid est lesus Cbristus, filius Dei?
Responsio: Est Homo, mediator noster apud Deum*
and with the Unity, as opposed to the Trinity, of God:
Q. What are the things that pertain to the essence of God, and are simply necessary to
salvation?
A. These: that God is; that he is but one; that he is eternal; that he is perfectly just, per-
fectly wise, and perfectly powerfull.Q. And who is this one divine Person?
A. That one God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Q. How prove you that?
A. By the most evident testimony of the Scripture. Thus Christ himself, John 17.3, saith
'This is life eternall that they may know Thee (Father), the onely true God.. .'
Q. But Christians commonly hold that not onely the Father, but also the Son and the
Holy Spirit, are persons in One and the same Deitie.
A. I know it well, but they are grievously mistaken, producing arguments for it out of
Scriptures ill understood.^20
In Poland-Lithuania, the existence of the Polish (Arian) Brethren proved a
severe test of the Republic's boast to be Europe's 'Haven of Toleration'. As the
only sect to be specifically excluded from the terms of the Confederation of
Warsaw, it was natural that the Arians should be the champions of religious lib-
erty. It was no accident that the most vehement defence of the principle of
* (Question: What is Jesus Christ, the Son of God? Answer: He is a Man, our mediator before
God.)