From 1566 to 1688, the importation of Socinian books was prohibited, and Bartholomew Legate, who suffered martyrdom in the reign of James I. (1611) extorted the testimony of his implacable adversary, to the faultless purity of his life. The piety and fortitude of these holy men in their last moments, sunk deeply into the minds of the beholders, so that it was judged expedient to punish the asserters of the Divine Unity, by leaving them to perish in secret dungeons. The story of their virtues and their sufferings has perished with them; but there is a hand, we doubt not, which has consecrated their memories in immortal characters, and enrolled their names in the book of life.

The short-lived triumph of the Dissenters, after the death of Charles I. was generally favourable to religious freedom, excepting as it related to Unitarians. John Biddle, a man whose virtues were worthy of all imitation, roused the vengeance of the Presbyterians, by assembling a small body of Christian Unitarians in his house; and, after the restoration of Charles II. died in prison.

The revolution of 1688, which raised William III. to the throne of England, settled the national religion on a secure basis, and Parliament extended toleration to every class of Protestant nonconformists, but the Unitarians. They were treated with extreme rigour, and by the Statute 8 and 9 of William III. severe penalties, restrictions, and incapacities, were imposed upon them.*

In the 17th century, 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 Scriptures, is conspicuous among the asserters of the Oneness of Deity. His treatise on the "Reasonableness of Christianity," and "Notes on St. Paul's Epistles," have greatly contributed to a sound exposition of the Sacred Writings. Thomas Firmin also, an opulent citizen of London, to whose munificent benefactions, few charitable institutions of that period do not bear their testimony. The Unitarian controversy was at that period warmly agitated, and this excellent man

* This Act, however, was "mildness and lenity," compared to those passed by the Parliament of Scotland. By an Act, passed in the reign of Charles II. (1661), and by another, in the first Parliament of William III., a denial of "any of the persons of the blessed Trinity," made the denier liable to "be punished with death, as an obstinate blasphemer."

lent his aid to the printing and distribution of many learned expositions and apologies, which still hold a high rank amongst Unitarian works. Firmin and several contemporary Unitarians remained within the pale of the Establishment. We deeply regret this. It is not for us to sit in judgment on their motives for so doing; but it certainly lessens the weight of their testimony to the truth.

In the same century, a large body of the English clergy looked forward with confidence to a reform in the articles and creeds. They did not secede from the Church, but they refused to sanction, by a renewed subscription, those public tests to which all, when they enter upon office, are required to conform; and, consequently, threw up all future preferment. They enjoyed their opinions without molestation. Not so William Whiston, a man revered for his piety, learning, and integrity. In 1710, for his vindication of the Unity of God, he was deprived of his mathematical professorship in the University of Cambridge, and expelled the College.

Dr. Samuel Clarke's work on the Trinity, prepared the minds of many for his proposed revision of the Ritual of the Church. He expunged from the Liturgy, all those expressions of religious worship, which were not appropriated to the Father; and, with some other alterations, the Liturgy is used by several Unitarian congregations in England, and by one in the United States of America.

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 his belief in the Unity of God, and defended it in his valuable dissertation on the spurious text of 1 John v. 7.

A petition was, in 1771, presented to Parliament, by clergymen of the Established Church, praying that, for subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles, the Scriptures might be substituted. Their prayer was rejected, and many Unitarians retired from the Church and the Universities. Among the most distinguished, were Wakefield, Jebb, Evanson, and Disney: the first, for his genius and classical acquirements, celebrated throughout Europe.

Theophilus Lindsey (honoured name!) relinquished, for the love of truth, not only his benefice, but all the honours which were within his reach; exposing himself to poverty,

and willing to expose himself, if need had been, to want. The Chapel in Essex-Street, London, was shortly afterwards opened; and Dr. Clarke's improved Liturgy, revised by Lindsey, was adopted in the worship. This, it is believed, was the first edifice in England, consecrated from its foundation, to the adoration of the One God, the Father. The present pastors are, the Rev. Thomas Belsham, formerly professor of theology in a college of Calvinistic dissenters, and the Rev. T. Madge.

We have thus far glanced at the progress of Christian Unitarianism in the English Church. The Dissenters were divided into three sects: Presbyterians, Independents, and Baptists. Those who originally dissented from the Establishment, were almost all 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 who 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 treatises by which he had defended his cause, induced many to embrace the same faith.

Freedom of investigating truth commenced with the Presbyterians, among whom were more learned theologians, and a more liberal church discipline, than among the Independents or Baptists. In 1718, the Rev. James Pierce, minister at Exeter, who followed up the plan of Locke, by a commentary on Paul's Epistles, was compelled, by the bigotry of some of his Presbyterian brethren, publicly to declare his dissent from the commonly received doctrine of the Trinity. Many imitated his example; and, to prevent farther discord, a council of dissenting clergymen in London was determined on, and more than a hundred assembled. The attempts of those who wished to impose subscription to the Trinity, as it is expressed in the 1st and 2d Articles of the English Church, were frustrated. The opinions of Pierce were not confuted, but farther disseminated, by this contest; and the result was, that the greater part of the Presbyterians in the Western counties of England, gradually embraced all the doctrines of Unitarianism.

The writings of Dr. Lardner contributed essentially to the diffusion of these sentiments among the Presbyterians. In his work on the Credibility of the Gospel History, he

has left a lasting monument of his erudition, industry, and candour. In his Letters on the Logos, and in his Sermons on Philip. ii. 6, he has proved himself an equally powerful antagonist to the corrupters and the opposers of Christianity. Almost all the Presbyterian Dissenters in England, now worship the Father only.

(To be Continued.)

THE CHRISTIAN PIONEER.

GLASGOW, October 14, 1826.

THE friends to the progress of Free Inquiry and Christian Unitarianism in Scotland, will be glad to learn, that, in consequence of a second edition having been called for of our First Number, we have issued a larger impression of the present one. We need not, we are sure, urge our friends in the various districts, to obtain as many Subscribers as they can, seeing, as they must, that the permanent prosperity of the Magazine depends on regular Subscribers, more than on a casual sale.

WE have pleasure in stating, that the Lancashire and Cheshire Unitarian Missionary Society, who are desirous of engaging a competent person, as a Missionary, have lately secured the services, for three months, of Mr. John Ashworth of Newchurch, Rossendale, Lancashire. This praiseworthy man has long been engaged in preaching, with other meritorious fellow-labourers, to the Congregations at Newchurch, Rochdale, Oldham, Padiham, Rawtonstall, and Todmorden; and is the author of a most interesting account of the rise and progress of the Unitarian doctrine in these Societies, formerly in connexion with the Wesleyan Methodists. They became Unitarians, solely from the perusal of the Bible, and judging for themselves.

The Apocrypha.-The contest between the former supporters in Scotland of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and its present Committee, respecting the Apocrypha, continues with unabated vigour. The Presbytery of Glasgow, at their meeting here, on the 4th October,

unanimously resolved, that, disapproving of their proceedings in regard to this subject, "they did not feel themselves justified in resuming their annual collection in aid of the funds of the Society." So bitterly set against the Apocrypha was one reverend gentleman, that he declared, that "his Bible had the Apocrypha, but he got it taken out some time ago!" We cannot avoid suggesting, that a perusal of "the Wisdom of Solomon," would be quite as profitable as the study of "the Song of Solomon;" and that the Catholics, who if they have not the Apocrypha, will not have the Bible, cannot be much injured by the perusal of chapters bearing such tables of contents as, "They are vain who worship any of God's works as gods, but most wretched who worship men's works""Men about to sail, pray to their idols, who are less able than their ships, to save them"-" An acknowledgment of the true God: the folly of idol makers."

66

Belfast Institution.-We observe that, at the meeting of the General Synod of Ulster, held at Ballymena, in June last, no small irritation was manifested, in consequence of "the serpent of Arianism" having made rapid and destructive progress" among the students in the College. One speaker remarked, that "the Institution rose like the sun, but was afterwards overspread by the cloud of Arianism. That old snake had insinuated itself into that garden of Eden." It appears that some of the Professors in the Institution, are charged with holding Arian opinions; and the mischievous effects which this circumstance is likely to produce to the cause of orthodoxy, is illustrated by another speaker, who "adverted to Mr. Simpson, professor of divinity in Glasgow College, above a century ago, who not only did great harm in Scotland, but also spread his sentiments so widely among the Presbyterians of Ulster, as to lead to the removal of the Presbytery of Antrim out of the Synod, in 1726; and, he asked, if Professor Simpson, single-handed, did so much mischief, what might not be expected to arise from more than one holding similar sentiments at Belfast?"

It appears, that, at the meeting of the Synod in 1825, a resolution was passed, expressive of their desire, that "none but persons of orthodox sentiments," should hereafter be elected as professors in the Belfast Institution; and they wished the Proprietors of the College to recog