Jesus was put to death by the Jews contrary to the intention of the divine Being, who meant that he should be their king; and that since his resurrection and ascension he is placed in a state in which he is totally unacquainted with every thing that passes in the world, and consequently that he cannot be the proper object of religious worship. Socinus was sent for to convince Francis David of his error; but, not being able to accomplish his purpose, and he still persisting to teach, both publicly and privately, that to worship Jesus Christ was exactly the same thing as worshiping the Virgin Mary and other saints, was thrown into prison by order of the prince of Transylvania, where he died soon afterwards, a melancholy proof that persecution is not limited to any party. Socinus himself, though a great and good man, is not altogether clear from the suspicion of having been accessary to the sufferings of Francis David.

It was the uniform opinion of the Socinians, that the Holy Spirit was the energy of God exerted in the miraculous gifts and powers communicated to the apostles and primitive believers, and not a conscious intelligent agent, either created or divine.

Against the doctrine peculiar to the Socinians it has been objected, That the personal ascent of Jesus into heaven is not in itself probable, and is indeed founded upon the puerile supposition that heaven is a particular district of the universe where God resides and manifests his glory in a peculiar and sensible manner;-that, had this local ascent and descent been a literal fact, there can be no doubt that other evangelists would have mentioned it besides John, as they have related his temptation and his transfiguration;-that such a local ascent could be of no use, as the divine Being might have communicated the knowledge of his will to Jesus while he lived in this world, as easily and as distinctly as if he had been transported to

the

the remotest regions of the universe ;-that the phrases ascending to,' and 'descending from, heaven,' as applied to Jesus, are peculiar to St. John, and that there is no great difficulty in explaining them in a mystical and figurative sense, like many other of the bold and metaphorical expressions which occur so frequently in the writings of that evangelist.

Also, that the advancement of a human being to the government of the whole created universe, exalting him above all the supposed orders of the celestial hierarchy, and making him the proper object of religious worship, and this for doing nothing more than any other human being, aided by the same power, might have done, is a fact, in its own nature, barely possible, and in its circumstances in the highest degree improbable, contrary to all experience and analogy, not to be admitted but upon the most explicit and irresistible evidence; and though not involving a contradiction so palpable as the Athanasian doctrine, it is nevertheless almost equally incredible, and would, if it were taught in the New Testament, constitute one of the strongest objections against the truth and divine authority of the christian religion.

These objections are so obvious, and of such weight, that the Socinian doctrine now is universally exploded, at least in this country.

The doctrines of the old Socinians are contained in the Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum; including the works of Faustus Socinus, Crellius, Slichtingius and Wolzoge-nius: also, in those of Przipcovius, and Brenius. See also Dr. Toulmin's Life of Socinus.

SECTION

SECTION III.

THE LOW ARIAN SCHEME.

THIS hypothesis maintains that the soul which animated the body of Jesus was a pre-existent spirit, but of what order or degree of the celestial hierarchy is not known. It is however denied that he had any concern in the formation of the world, or in the administration of providence antecedent to his supposed incarnation. It is maintained, that in consequence of his sufferings and death he is now advanced to great personal dignity and authority, and that he will hereafter appear to raise the dead and to judge the world. The Low Arians in general deny that the death of Christ was a satisfaction for the sins of men; and some of them maintain that he died only as a martyr and an example, and that his death is an expiation for sin solely as being a means of virtue: while others use language upon this subject which seems to imply that this event had some mysterious design, and answered some purposes under the divine government which they do not, or cannot, explain.

They are unanimous in rejecting the worship of Christ, and the personal existence of the Holy Spirit.

This denomination of christians is in the strictest sense Unitarian they ascribe neither attributes, nor works, nor honours to Christ, which reason and revelation appropriate to God; and they differ from other Unitarians solely, or chiefly, in assigning an earlier date to the existence of Jesus.

The Low Arian hypothesis is founded upon a literal acceptation of those texts in which Jesus is said to have

descended

descended from heaven, while, at the same time, a figurative sense is annexed to those passages which are by the great body of christians understood to represent him as the creator, or former, the supporter and governor of the world, and the medium of all the moral dispensations of God to mankind.

This hypothesis is improperly called Arian, having no affinity with the true Arian scheme in any article but the comparatively unimportant one, of the pre-existence of Christ. In all other respects it coincides with proper Unitarianism. And to the title of Unitarians the advocates of simple pre-existence, however erroneous in this particular, have an unquestionable right.

This hypothesis has been embraced by many learned and respectable individuals; but it has not yet found a learned public advocate. The following are the principal objections against it:

1. That this doctrine is perfectly novel in the history of opinions concerning the person of Christ; it was never heard of before the eighteenth century.

2. The hypothesis itself is of no use, and therefore it is in theory incredible. A pompous miracle is supposed to be performed to introduce a spirit of a superior order into the world, to accomplish no purpose but what might, for any thing that appears, have been equally well accomplished by a human being acting under a divine commission.

3. It seems very arbitrary and unreasonable to take those texts in a literal sense which speak of the descent of Jesus from heaven, and to give a figurative interpretation to those passages which, in language equally direct and explicit, represent him as the maker and governor of all things, and the medium of divine dispensations.

4. The phrase 'descending from heaven' was certainly in use at the time when the New Testament was writ

ten,

ten, to express the divine authority of a person or doctrine, (see Luke xx. 4;) and that the disciples of Christ understood it in this sense, is evident from their not expressing any astonishment at the discovery of so extraordinary and unexpected a fact, as that of the superior nature and dignity of their Master, and from their having continued to converse with him after this supposed discovery upon the same terms of ease and familiarity as before.

5. The expression 'descending' or 'coming down from heaven,' even if it were to be understood literally, would not necessarily prove the pre-existence of Christ, but might be explained either upon the principles of the Polish Socinians, who supposed that Christ was really taken up to heaven to be instructed in the duties of his office, or upon the hypothesis of some modern Unitarians, who have thought that Christ, like Paul, was favoured with a visionary scene, in which he imagined himself to be transported into paradise.

SECTION IV.

THE PROPER OR HIGH ARIAN HYPOTHESIS.

THIS

HIS hypothesis maintains that the Son of God, who is also called the Logos, is a creature made out of nothing, inferior to the Father, and in all respects dependent upon him and subject to him: that the Logos was the instrument of God, some say, in the creation of all things, others in the formation of this world from matter already created by God; some add, of this planetary system, and some, of all worlds and systems; and that he is the Maker

of