vengeance of the Presbyterian doctors, by assembling a small body of unitarian christians in his house; and after the restoration of Charles II. he died in prison.* The revolution, which elevated William III. to the English throne, settled the national religion upon a firm basis, and Parliament, by an act of unwonted liberality, extended toleration to all protestant nonconformists, with an express exception of unitarians. A few years after, they were treated with greater rigour; and by the statute of William III. which was repealed at last in 1813, severe penalties, restrictions, and incapacities were imposed upon all, who should deny any one of the persons in the trinity to be God. Towards the close of the seventeenth century, two names are conspicuous among the assertors of the divine unity. The first is that of John Locke, the champion of toleration and civil liberty, who not only developed the nature and operations of the human mind, but recalled reason to its legitimate office, the interpretation of the word of God. His treatise on the "Reasonableness of Christianity," and "Notes on St. Paul's Epistles," have contributed greatly to a sounder exposition of the sacred writings. The name of the other is Thomas Firmin, an opulent citizen of London, to whose munificent benefactions, few charitable institutions of that period refuse their testimony. The unitarian controversy was even then warmly agitated; and this excellent man lent his aid to the printing and distribution of many learned expositions and apologies, which, at the present day, Biddle was seized while engaged in divine worship with a small number of his friends. They were all taken before a magistrate, by whom they were sent to prison, where Biddle was treated with so much severity, by the cruel order of the judge, that he died in less than five weeks afterwards. Toulmin's Life of Biddle, p. 109. ED. hold a high rank in the collection of Unitarian Tracts. Firmin, and several contemporary unitarians, remained within the pale of the establishment, and although it is not for us to animadvert upon men of acknowledged piety, yet we regret that this circumstance has diminished the weight of their testimony in the cause of truth.* During the seventeenth century, a large body of the English clergy looked forward with confidence to a reform in the articles of faith. Although they did not secede from the church, yet they refused to sanction, by a renewed subscription, those public tests to which all, when they enter upon office, are required to conform; and thus forfeited all claims to future prefer ment. They enjoyed their opinions, however, without molestation. But in 1710, William Whiston, a man revered for his piety, learning, and integrity, was, for his vindication of the doctrine of the Divine Unity, deprived of his mathematical professorship in the university of Cambridge, and banished from the college. Dr. Samuel Clarke's learned treatise on the doctrine of the trinity excited universal attention, and prepared the minds of many for his proposed revision of the for *There is a well written biography of Firmin, by an anonymous hand, which was published soon after his death. His whole life was spent in deeds of philanthropy, kindness, and charity. He was an intimate friend of Archbishop Tillotson, who celebrates his great virtues in his sermon on the death of Mr. Gouge. See Tillotson's Sermons, vol. ii. p. 128. After Tillotson had published his Sermons on the Trinity, he told Mr. Firmin in conversation, that "nobody's false imputations should provoke him to give ill language to persons, who dissented conscientiously, and for weighty reasons; that he knew well this was the case with the Socinians, for whose learning and dexterity he should always have a respect, as well as for their sincerity and exemplariness." Life of Firmin, p. 13. ED. mularies of the church. He removed from the Liturgy all those expressions of religious worship, which were not appropriated to the Father; and, thus corrected, the Liturgy has been received, with a few unimportant alterations, by several unitarian societies in England and the United States.* Among the Unitarians, who flourished at this period, was Sir Isaac Newton, the most illustrious of philosophers. A sincere and humble christian, he devoted himself habitually to the study of the Scriptures. He uniformly professed a belief in the unity of God, and defended it in his valuable dissertation upon the spurious text of the three witnesses in the first epistle of John. In 1771, a petition was presented to parliament by certain clergymen of the church of England, praying to be relieved from the necessity of subscribing to the Thirty Nine Articles, and that a belief in the Holy Scriptures might be the only test required. Disappointed in their hopes, many unitarians retired from the church and the universities.t Of these the most dis The only Unitarian Congregation in the United States, where a Liturgy is used, is the Rev. Dr. Freeman's at King's Chapel, Boston. Although this Liturgy is constructed after the general plan of Dr. Clarke's improvements, yet it does not conform to it in all respects. It contains additional prayers from Dr. Paley, Dr. Johnson, Bishop Taylor, Dr. Enfield, and others; and also an Appendix with services taken from the Liverpool and Salisbury Liturgies. The Societies in this country, which are professedly unitarian, it is believed universally adopt the congregational mode of worship. ED. + In the English universities, where men are tied down by trinitarian subscriptions, and actuated with the desire of academical favours and ecclesiastical benefits, it is not to be expected, that many should be induced to engage in unitarian disquisitions. In Cambridge, however, several turned their thoughts to these subjects. Among this number were Robert Tyrwhitt, A. M. and John Jebb, M. D. ever memorable for their learning and virtues. The former openly defended the tinguished were Wakefield, Jebb, Evanson and Disney, the first of whom for his genius and erudition is celebrated throughout Europe. The resignation of his benefice by Theophilus Lindsey excited the attention and interest of the public. He relinquished, for the love of truth, all the honours, which were within his reach, exposing himself to poverty, and willing to expose himself, if need had been, to want. Shortly after his retirement, the chapel in Essex Street, London, was erected, and Clarke's improved liturgy, revised by Lindsey, was adopted in the religious services. This, it is believed, was the first edifice in England, consecrated from its foundation to the worship of God the Father. It is, and ever has been, the resort of persons distinguished for wealth, office, rank, and elo unity of God in St. Mary's Chapel. He was the first, who proposed a repeal of the statute, by which subscription was enjoined upon all candidates for academical honours; and in this proposal he was seconded by a large portion of the most learned members of the university. Jebb, the intimate friend of Tyrwhitt, honestly resigned his ecclesiastical benefits and prospects, and delivered public lectures on the Greek Testament, until wearied with fruitless disputes, he repaired to London, and applied himself to the practice of physic. United with these in mutual friendship and common pursuits was Edmund Law, Bishop of Carlisle, and master of Peterhouse. As he was devoted to metaphysical disquisitions, and aided the English Unitarians of that day in their researches, he first received the title of Arian, although, before his death, he deviated from the Arian scheme. During the year 1787, 8, 9, many followed in their footsteps. In this number were Wm. Frend, A. M. tutor and fellow of Jesus college; John Hammond, A. M. fellow of queen's college; Robert Edward Garnham, A. M. fellow of trinity; George Dyer, A. B. of Emmanuel; with several others. These, both in their writings and public testimony, maintained the unitarian doctrines, and firmly oppos ing themselves to subscriptions, they either retired from their respec tive stations in the church and university, or continued to pursue their studies by conforming to such statutes only, as their consciences would allow. quence in the senate, and at the bar. Their present pastor is the Rev. Thomas Belsham, formerly professor of theology in a college of calvinistic Dissenters. The writings of this gentleman, whether in defending the credibility of the Gospel and the truths of unitarianism, or in repelling the wanton and insolent attacks made upon his brethren, or in vindicating the honours of the dead against those who seek to tarnish them, equally prove him to be learned, temperate, and acute; while the integrity of his life, the suavity of his manners, and his diffusive benevolence, endear him to the wise and good. We have thus far traced the progress of the unitarian faith in the English church. Among the Dissenters, who were separated into three sects, and called Presbyterians, Independents, and Baptists, although the progress of unitarianism was very considerable at the beginning of the eighteenth century, it was nevertheless impeded by the pertinacity, with which almost all persons adhere to opinions, which they have embraced after a laborious research; and more especially, if they perceive, that by reason of their opinions, they are excluded from civil offices. Those, who first dissented from the English church, were almost ali trinitarians, so that of the two thousand ministers, who, in the reign of Charles II. were ejected from their benefices by the Act of Uniformity, William Manning was the only one that rejected the doctrine of the trinity. The persecution, which his friend, Thomas Emlyn, a clergyman of Dublin, had suffered from his colleagues on account of his opinions respecting this doctrine, and the small treatises by which he had defended his cause, induced many at that time to embrace the faith of the divine unity.* *Emlyn and Manning were both made to embrace the unitarian faith by reading Dr. Sherlock's Vindication of the Trinity. They. |