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114 UNITARIANISM rious atonement. But this rejection is more or less absolute according to the views of indi- viduals, some Unitarians accepting the doc- trine of the fall, but denying that its conse- quences destroy the innate rectitude of human nature ; and in respect of the atonement Uni- tarian belief ranges from a modified concep- tion of the redeeming office of a Saviour to the opinion that his mission was solely that of a teacher and exemplar. Beyond these beliefs Unitarianism does not formulate a special creed, but leaves the largest latitude to individual opinion. Some Unitarians regard the gospel as designed by the Deity for the redemption of a fallen race ; others as a recognition of nat- ural religion, with precepts, truths, laws, mo- tives, and hopes, exalting individual responsi- bility in character and life. Baptism and the Lord's supper are generally recognized rites, and in some congregations such festivals as Easter and Christmas are commemorated. Unitarians affirm that their belief is simply a return to the primitive Christian doctrine ; that the teaching of Christ and his apostles as conveyed in the New Testament strictly con- formed to the Hebrew tenet of the absolute unity of God ; that for more than a century the early Christians were taught and believed this tenet ; that this belief was first impaired by the speculations of the Alexandrian and Platonic schools on the mode of the divine ex- istence and manifestations ; and that the Trini- tarian dogma obtained acceptance through the cooperating influences of ecclesiastical au- thority and imperial dictation. It is also as- serted, as a matter of history, that an earnest opposition to the doctrine of the Trinity in its initiatory and developed formularies opened the most bitter controversy in the early church ; and that through the successive centuries there has been an unbroken line of individual and associated believers, who as Unitarians, how- ever differing in other points of controversy, have stood together in their opposition to Trinitarianism. Discussions on the deity of Christ were simultaneous with the earliest speculations on the Logos. Toward the close of the 2d century Theodotus and Artemon founded schools in Rome, and nearly contem- porary were Beryllus and Praxeas, who taught in the same city, and Noetus in Smyrna. In the 3d century Sabellius announced his doc- trine. Arianism originated in the 4th cen- tury, and was the parent of Socinianism, which was the progenitor of the later Unitarianism. All these teachers held to the belief in the in- divisible unity. Their differing views in re- spect of other doctrines, and the varying shades of opinion adopted by their disciples as to the degree of elevation to be ascribed to Christ as an inspired teacher, an infallible guide, an impeccable being, and a perfect human exam- ple, are shown in the articles ABIANISM, ARICS, JMoETiANs, SABELLIUS, and SOOINUS. For a long time before the reformation there was in Italy much dissent from the Trinitarian tenet The reformation developed the extent of this dissent, and its adherents were driven from the country. At the same time Ludvvig Hetzer, Johann Denk, and Sebastian Frank in Ger- many, and Claudius in Switzerland, preached monotheism and the simple humanity of Christ. In the 16th century Unitarianism was also widely disseminated in Holland and France. About 1549 Lffllius Socinus came from Venice to Zurich. In 1553, for his disbelief in the Trinity and other opinions, Michael Servetus was burned at the stake in Geneva, and after his death the Swiss Anabaptists and those who rejected the Trinity were called Servetists. (See SERVETUS.) In 1563 Bernardino Ochino published in Zurich his dialogues discussing the doctrine of the Trinity. Contemporary teachers in Geneva were Matteo Gribaldi and Giorgio Blandrata. A few years later Gio- vanni Valentino Gentilio, a Servetist, was be- headed at Bern. In 1577 Faustus, the nephew of Lrolius Socinus, who had inherited the writings of his uncle, proclaimed in Basel that the Trinity was a pagan doctrine. "With many others he took refuge in Poland, and hia writings were published in Rakow. Several exiles settled at Pinczow, and were known as Pinczovians. After years of prosperity in Poland, the Lublin church was broken up in 1627, the Rakow school was destroyed in 1638, and later the decree making death the penalty for professing Arianism drove many into the abandonment of their belief; others went to Transylvania, Prussia, Silesia, and the Neth- erlands ; and at the end of the century Unita- rians in Europe, as a body, were known only in Transylvania. In England there are traces of Unitarianism coeval with the reformation. In the time of Edward VI., George Van Paris, for denying the divinity of Christ, was burned at Smithfield, as were Francis Wright at Nor- wich in 1588, and Bartholomew Legate in Smithfield and Edward Wightman in Lichfield in 1612. John Biddle (1615-'62), by his pub- lications, preaching, and foundation of a sect called Biddellians, earned the title of "the father of English Unitarians." (See BIDDI.E, JOUN.) In 1640 the synods of London and York directed a special canon against Socini- anism. In 1652 the Racovian (Rakow) cate- chism was burned in London. According to Dr. Owen, the denial of the divinity of Christ was in 1655 common throughout England. Be- fore the close .of the 17th century Unitarians had places of worship in London. Milton's Arianism was completely established after his death. Locke indirectly favored Unitarian views. In 1705 there were "troops of Unita- rian and Socinian writers." Thomas Firmin disseminated Unitarian doctrines within the establishment. Evelyn revived Arianism in Dublin, and afterward preached it in London ; and Hartley's "Observations on Man" gave rise to the school of which Joseph Priestley was the head. The growth of the denomi- nation warranted the foundation in 1825 of