CHAPTER II.

THE UNITARIANS AND CHRISTIANS.

1. The Unitarians.

THE character of Christ early became an object of earnest investigation and inquiry in the Christian church. Arius has generally been regarded as the great heresiarch of ancient times. He was a presbyter of Alexandria, and, about the year 318, dissented from the common doctrine of the supreme divinity of Christ, and taught that he was a creature, though the most noble and exalted of all the creatures of God, and preeminently the image of his Maker, and the son of his bosom. His opinions were condemned by the council of Alexandria in 320, and by that of Nice in 325, and both he and his followers subjected to severe trials and persecutions. Though condemned and banished, he found means to promulgate his doctrines still, and gained many powerful adherents. Among others, Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, was favorable to his views, and desired them to be tolerated. But toleration was not the order of the day. The doctrine of Christian love and the rights of human nature were not yet understood. Arius died suddenly, in 336, some supposed by divine judgment, when he was being restored to the Catholic communion. After his death, his party received great accessions, and the emperor Constantine received baptism from an Arian bishop a short time before his death.

The Arian controversy was continued, with various fortunes, for three hundred years, one party sometimes gaining the ascendency, and sometimes the other; but the Catholic party generally having the advantage, on the whole, when it was terminated by

the complete ascendency of the Catholics, in 662. From this time the controversy concerning the character of Christ was considered as settled, and permitted to rest for nearly a thousand years, till it was revived by Laelius Socinus and his followers, in 1539. The opposers of the orthodox doctrines respecting the divinity of Christ, in the sixteenth century, were called, after their distinguished leader, Socinians. They encountered violent persecution, and furnished distinguished martyrs and confessors. They became numerous, however, in Poland, and in several other parts of Europe, and their connection is still one of the four great connections recognized by the Austrian government in Transylvania, where their government is the consistorial. The Socinians agreed in rejecting the doctrine of the supreme divinity of Christ, but they did not agree with respect to his character. Some adopted the Arian doctrine of a nature far superior to that of man or angel; and others supposed him to be only man, but largely endowed and inspired by the Holy Spirit with the love, knowledge and power of God. Considerable diversities of this kind had existed among the Arians of 320-660, and had been a principal cause of their defeat in the long contest which they maintained with the Catholics, and of their decline. Besides the Socinian churches, the Socinian doctrines found their way into the Presbyterian churches of Switzerland, France, Holland, England and Ireland, and to some extent, into the church of England, and the other great churches of the reformation.

Grotius, LeClerc and Wetstein, in Holland, and Whiston, Samuel Clarke, Lardner, Locke, Newton and Milton, in England, are all reckoned among the rejecters of the supreme divinity of Christ. A list of more illustrious names, and more eminent Christians, could hardly be found. In process of time, the title of Socinians was gradually abandoned, as an appellation of the rejecters of the divinity of Christ, and that of Unitarians adopted in its place.

Latterly the prevalence of Unitarianism has considerably de

clined in the church of England, but in the Presbyterian churches of England, Wales and Ireland, and in those of Switzerland, France and Holland, it is extensively prevalent.

Unitarianism was introduced into New England as early as 1756, and began to find disciples and advocates among the New England Congregationalists. Emelyn's Inquiry, propagating Unitarian views, was favored by Doctor Mayhew, pastor of the West church in Boston, in that year.

One of the three Episcopal churches of that city went over en masse to Unitarian views in 1785, and in 1805 a distinguished Unitarian was appointed to the professorship of divinity in Harvard College. The Congregational churches, however, did not divide on the subject, or prohibit Unitarian views to their membership, till 1816. They then divided, and the Orthodox Congregationalists, after much debate, withdrew from all fellowship with Unitarianism, and denounced it as, in their opinion, a fundamental departure from the doctrine of the Scriptures, not to be tolerated in the Christian church. Many were opposed to this policy at the time, both as unscriptural and inexpedient; but the exclusionists generally prevailed. The number of Unitarians in the United States is estimated at thirty thousand, with two hundred and forty-five churches, and two hundred and fifty ministers.

This denomination, as heretofore, is characterized by great diversity of faith, and of religious character. Some approximate as nearly as possible to the Orthodox creed, admitting Christ to be almost divine, like the elder Arians; others regard him as a man. Latterly a large portion of this order is believed to incline strongly to the Orthodox faith; and many of their prominent clergymen have always inculcated the duties of practical religion with great earnestness and ability. The government of the Unitarian churches in America is generally Congregational.

The Christians.

The Christians originated with the Episcopal Methodists, in Virginia and the Carolinas, in 1793, under the title of Republican Methodists. Persons from other denominations joining them, they abandoned the name of Methodists, and assumed that of Christians, as the scriptural and proper name of all the followers of Christ. They repudiate extended creeds, and admit members on a general profession of faith in Christianity. Their church officers are ministers and deacons; their church government is Congregational; and their highest judicatory, a church meeting, in which the pastor presides. The churches and ministers usually meet in conferences, though they are not obliged to do so. The conferences consist of: 1. The ministers or elders, who administer the ordinances of the church. 2. Licentiates, who are authorized to preach, but do not administer the sacraments. 3. Delegates from the churches in the state, of one for every twenty-five members. Licenses to preach are given by churches, but conferences admit licentiates to their connection at their discretion.

The conferences hold general conventions to consider the general interests of their churches. They have several institutions of learning, several periodicals, and a denominational book

concern.

They have six hundred and seven churches, four hundred and ninety-two clergymen, and thirty-three thousand and forty communicants.

CHAPTER III.

THE SWEDENBORGIANS, AND LATTER-DAY SAINTS.

1. The Swedenborgians.

THE church of the Swedenborgians was formed by the followers of Emmanuel Swedenborg. Swedenborg was born at Stockholm, 1688, and was the son of a Lutheran bishop, by whom he was educated in the doctrines and practices of the Lutheran body. He received a liberal education in his own country, and then travelled extensively, in pursuit of knowledge, through other countries of Europe. He devoted much attention to the natural sciences, and wrote an elaborate work on them. He also published treatises on several other subjects, which attracted the attention of the government, and, with his other services, procured his elevation to the Swedish nobility, in 1719, aged thirty-one.

He first entered on his supposed intercourse with the spiritual world in A. D. 1743, aged fifty-five. At this time, he says, the eyes of his inward man were opened to see heaven, hell, and the spiritual world, in which he conversed, not only with his deceased friends and acquaintances, but with the most distinguished personages of ancient times. In 1747, at the age of fifty-nine, he resigned an office which he had long held in the mining college of Sweden, and devoted himself to his supposed divinelyappointed religious mission, of mediating between the visible world and the world of spirits.

The king of Sweden continued him his full salary as a pension. From this time he resided alternately in Sweden and in England. He wrote voluminously, and printed his theological works at his own expense. In private life he was an example of gen