felves. This might, in some measure, contribute to produce the zeal of the Calvinists against the Arminians, that of the Arminians against the Arians, that of the Arians against the Socinians, and that of Socinus himself against Francis David.

I answer, that the

It may be faid, that if the great majority of chriftians in early times were unitarians, why did they not excommunicate the inno vating trinitarians. doctrine of the trinity, was not, in its origin, fuch as could give much alarm, as I have already explained; and it was not ob truded upon the common people as an ar ticle of faith neceffary to their falvation, or indeed as a thing which they were at all concerned to know. And before it became very formidable, there was a great majority of the learned and philofophizing clergy on its fide. However, that it did give very great alarm, as it began to unfold itself, I have produced the moft undeniable evidence.

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CHAPTER

XVI.

Of the State of the Unitarian Doctrine after

the Council of Nice.

THAT the unitarians constituted the

great body of christians till the time of Justin Martyr, and that they were the majority at least of the common people till about the time of the council of Nice, has, I presume, been proved to as much fatiffaction as the circumstances of the case could be expected to admit. There is every reason to believe that it was so a priori, a great number of circumstances, applied by the clearel axioms of historical criticism, shew that it must have been so. And there is likewise the strongest positive testimony to the fact, from some of the most considerable christian writers. The unitarians were the major pars credentium, in

the

the time of Tertullian, they were the As the multitude, and the ran the multitudes of Origen, and the aw, the many of Athanafius.

According to Eutychius, who is faid to have compiled his annals from the archives. of the church of Alexandria, there must have been more unitarian bishops than the Greek historians give us any account of. He fays, that there were two thoufand and forty

eight bishops affembled at the council "of Nice, fome of whom were Sabellians, "who believed that Chrift had no being "before he was born of the virgin; others

66

faying that God was one fubftance called "by three names, but not believing in the "word, or the Holy Spirit, which," he fays, "was the opinion of Paulus Samofa

chius, found in an Arabian and chriftian writer, named Jofeph, and alfo in a celebrated Mahometan hiftorian, Ifmael Ebn Ali.

This account, though feemingly very different from that of the other ecclefiastical hiftorians, Beaufobre thinks may be reconciled with it, if it be fuppofed that the bishops of villages, prefbyters, and those who were deemed heretical, were not allowed to have a feat with the reft*. Wormius, he obferves, fays that no fectary was allowed to give his opinion in that council +.

*Hiftoire de Manicheifme, vol. I. p. 531.

+ Mittens ergo Conftantinus rex in omnes paffim regiones patriarchas et epifcopos convocavit, adeo ut poft annum et duos menfes, Niceæ convenirent bis mille quadra ginta octo epifcopi, fententiis et religionibus inter fe discrepantes.Erant qui dicerent chriftum a patre effe, inftar flammæ ignis quæ ab igne flammante dependeret, nec priorem diminuere pofterioris ab ipfo derivationem. Erat que hæc Sabellii et affectarum ipfius fententia.Alii chriftum hominem fuiffe a divinitate creatum ejusdem cum noftrum aliquo fubftantiæ, filiique principium a Maria fuiffe, ipfumque clectum qui fubftantiæ humanæ liberator effet, comitante ipfum gratia divina, et in ipfo

per

That the unitarians were exceedingly numerous in the time of Athanafius, or not long before it, especially in Africa, is evident from his complaints on the fubject. He says that" in Pentapolis of Upper Lybia,

per amorem et voluntatem habitante, ideoque appellatum fuiffe filium dei. Dicentes etiam deum substantiam unam effe, et perfonam unam quæ tribus nominibus appellatur, nec in verbum, nec in fpiritum fanctum credentes: erat hæc fententia Pauli Samofateni patriarchæ Antiocheni, ejufque fectatorum qui Pauliciani audiunt.—Alii (denique) afferuerunt divinitatem Chrifti; quæ Pauli apoftoli fententia eft, nec non epifcoporum trecentorum et octodecim. auditis ipforum fententiis miratus eft Conftantinus rex hanc difcrepantiam, domoque ipfis fepofita in qua loca ipfis paravit, difputationes ipfos habere juffit, ut perspecto apud quem vera effet fides, ipfum fequeretur. Illi ergo tercentum et octodecim in unam fidem, unamque fententiam confenferunt, cumque reliquis qui litem ipfis moverunt difputantes, illis argumentis fuis fuperiores evaferunt fidemque veram declararunt: reliqui autem epifcopi fententiis et religionibus inter fe diverfi fuerunt. Rex ergo trecentis et octodecim epifcopis iftis loco quodam proprio et amplo parato, ipfe in eorum medio confedit, acceptaque, annulum, gladium et fceptrum fuum ipfis tradidit, dicens ipfis, vobis hodie in imperium meum poteftatem conceffi, ut in eo faciatis quicquid facere vobis expedit eorum quæ ad religionem rite stabiliendam et fidelium commodum fpectant. Selden's Eutychius, p. 439, 440. 443, 444. VOL. III.

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