There are six volumes, containing under this title a large number of
pamphlets and treatises, for and against the new views, published about
this period. It is the first considerable body of Unitarian literature.
Its promoter was _Thomas Firmin_, a disciple of John Bidle, on whose
behalf he interceded with Oliver Cromwell, though himself but a youth at
the time. Firmin, a prosperous citizen of London, counted among his
friends men of the highest offices in the Church, some of whom are said
to have been affected with his type of thought. Apart from his
Unitarianism he is remarkable as an enlightened philanthropist of great
breadth of sympathy. Men of very different theological bent who were
fain to seek refuge in London from persecutions abroad were aided by
funds raised by him. We should notice also that, ardent as he was in
diffusing Unitarian teachings, he had no wish at first to set up
separate Unitarian chapels; his desire was that the national Church
should include thinkers like himself. We are thus pointed into a path
which for a time at least promised more for Unitarian developments than
anything very evident in the Dissenting community.
The situation is aptly illustrated by a little book of 184 pages which
is included in the first volume of the _Tracts_. This work is specially
noteworthy as one of the first English books to use the name
'Unitarian,' though the use is here so free and without apology or
explanation that we must suppose it had already attained a certain vogue
before 1687, the date of the book. The title is _A Brief History of the
Unitarians, called also Socinians_. Neither author nor publisher is
named, but the former is known to have been the Rev. Stephen Nye, a
clergyman, whose grandfather, Philip Nye, was noted in his day as one of
the few Independents in the Westminster Assembly. Stephen Nye's book
takes the form of four Letters, ostensibly written to an unnamed
correspondent who has asked for an account of the Unitarians, 'vulgarly
called Socinians.' The opening letter states their doctrine, after the
model of Socinus--God is One Person, not Three; the Lord Christ is the
'Messenger, Servant, and Creature of God,' also the 'Son of God, because
he was begotten on the blessed Mary by the Spirit or Power of God'; 'the
Holy Ghost or Spirit, according to them, is the Power and Inspiration of
God.' (We may notice here that Bidle, otherwise agreeing with Socinus,
regarded the Holy Spirit as a living being, chief among angels.) Nye,
writing as if an impartial observer, presents the Scripture argument in
support of the doctrine of the Unitarians, 'which,' says he, 'I have so
related as not to judge or rail of their persons, because however
learned and reasonable men (which is their character among their worst
adversaries) may be argued out of their errors, yet few will be
swaggered or chode out of them.' He traces the doctrine to the earliest
Christian times, and shows the stages of Trinitarian growth.
Incidentally he says that Arian doctrines are openly professed in
Transylvania and in some churches of the Netherlands, and adds that
'Nazarene and Arian Churches are very numerous' in Turkish, Mahometan,
and pagan dominions where liberty of conscience is allowed. He mentions
celebrated scholars who have 'certainly been either Arians or Socinians,
or great favourers of them,' such as Erasmus, Grotius, Petavius,
Episcopius, and Sandius--the last-named a learned historian who had made
a special point of collecting admissions by orthodox writers of the
invalidity of all the texts in turn usually quoted in support of the
Trinity. In the subsequent chapters Nye deals _seriatim_ with such
texts, and the book ends with a commendation from 'A Gentleman, a Person
of Excellent Learning and Worth,' to whom the publisher had sent it for
remark.
Upon such levels the discussion proceeded, the skill and adroitness of
the heretics contrasting with the obvious perplexity of the orthodox,
who soon fell to accusing one another of stumbling into erroneous
statements. Dons, deans, and even bishops joined in the fray, and some
of them, notably Dr. Sherlock, Master of the Temple, got into sad
trouble with their brethren. Finally, the clergy were forbidden to
prolong the discussion, which indeed promised little satisfaction to any
but the heretics who enjoyed the difficulties of the orthodox champions.
The traditional formularies were there, and these must suffice. In the
presence of the restrictions imposed by the Toleration Act speculation
outside the Church turned towards 'Deism'--perhaps the best modern
equivalent would be 'Natural Religion.' Speculation inside the Church
had to accommodate itself to the creeds and articles, and thus there
grew up an Arianism among the clergy which was really largely diffused
and produced some important books. One of these was Dr. Samuel Clarke's
_Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity_ (1712), a work which appears to have
helped many a clergyman to ease his conscience while reciting the
authorized Trinitarian expressions, though in substance his opinions
were no less heretical than those for which men had suffered under the
law.
A contemporary case of such suffering was that of _Thomas Emlyn_
(1663-1711), an Irish clergyman who was sentenced at Dublin in 1703 to
imprisonment which lasted for two years. This gross treatment, excited
keen criticism at home and in the American colonies, whither our
attention must soon turn. Emlyn was the first minister to call himself a
'Unitarian,' but under the pressure of the times, and in accordance with
the spirit of Clarke and the other Arianizing clergy, he found it
expedient to declare himself a 'true Scriptural Trinitarian.'