CENT. opulence, joined to his probity and purity of XVI. manners, acquired a very high degree of esteem, PART II. which he preserved till his death. The lustre SECT. III. 1 of his reputation was, however, but transitory; for, soon after his decease, which happened in the year 1556, his son-in-law, Nicholas Blesdyck, charged him with having maintained the most blasphemous and pestilential errors. The senate of Basil, before whom this accusation was brought, being satisfied with the evidence by which it was supported, pronounced sentence against the deceased heretic, and ordered his body to be dug up and to be publicly burnt. And, indeed, nothing more horridly impious and extravagant can possibly be conceived, than the sentiments and tenets of this fanatic, if they were really such as they have been represented, either by his accusers or his historians. For he is said to have given himself out for the Son of God, the Fountain of divine wisdom, to have denied the existence of angels, good and evil, of heaven and hell, and to have rejected the doctrine of a future judgment; and he is also charged with having trampled upon all the rules of decency and mo desty with the utmost contempt [r]. In all this, however, it is very possible, that there may be much exaggeration. The enthusiast in question, though a man of some natural genius, was, nevertheless, totally destitute of learning of every kind, and had something obscure, harsh, and illiberal in his manner of expression, that gave too much occasion [r] See Nic. Blesdyckii Historia Davidis Georgii à Jacobo Revio edita; as also the life of the same Fanatic, written in the German language, by Stolterforth. Among the modern writers, see Arnold's Kirchen und Ketzer Historie, tom. i. p. 750. tom. ii. p. 534, & 1183, in which there are several things that tend to clear the character of David. See also Henr. Mori Enthusiasmus Triumphatus, sect. xxxiii. p. 23.—And the documents I have published in relation to this matter, in the History of Servetus, p. 425. XVI. occasion to an unfavourable interpretation of his CENT. religious tenets. That he had both more sense SECT. III. and more virtue than is generally imagined, ap- PART II. pears manifestly, not only from his numerous writings, but also from the simplicity and candour that were visible in the temper and spirit of the disciples he left behind him, of whom several are yet to be found in Holstein, Friesland, and other countries [s]. He deplored the decline of vital and practical religion, and endeavoured to restore it among his followers; and in this he seemed to imitate the example of the more moderate Anabaptists. But the excessive warmth of an irregular imagination threw him into illusions of the most dangerous and pernicious kind, and seduced him into a persuasion that he was honoured with the gift of divine inspiration, and had celestial visions constantly presented to his mind. Thus was he led to such a high degree of fanaticism, that rejecting as mean and useless the external services of piety, he reduced religion to contemplation, silence, and a certain frame or habit of soul, which it is equally difficult to define and to understand. The soaring Mystics and the visionary Quakers, may therefore, if they please, give David George a distinguished rank in their enthusiastical community. XXV. Henry Nicholas, a Westphalian, one of The Family of Love, the intimate companions of this fanatic, though founded by somewhat different from him in the nature of his Henry Nienthusiasm, and also in point of genius and cha-cholas. racter, founded a sect in Holland, in the year 1555, which he called the Family of Love. The princi ples of this sect were afterwards propagated in England, and produced no small confusion in both nations. The judgment that has been formed with respect to David George may be applied with truth, at least, in a great measure, to his asIi2 sociate [s] See Jo. Molleri Introduct. iu Histor. Chersones. Cimbrica, P. II. p. 116. & Cimbriæ Literatæ, tom. i. p. 422. PART II. CENT. Sociate Nicholas, who, perhaps, would have preXVI. vented a considerable part of the heavy reproaches SECT. III. with which he had been loaded, had he been endowed with a degree of genius, discernment, and knowledge, sufficient to enable him to express his sentiments with perspicuity and elegance. Be that as it may, the character, temper, and views of this man may be learned from the spirit that reigned in his flock [t]. As to his pretensions, they were, indeed, visionary and chimerical; for he maintained, that he had a commission from heaven, to teach men that the essence of religion consisted in the feelings of divine love; that all other theological tenets, whether they related to objects of-faith, or modes of worship, were of no sort of moment; and consequently, that it was a matter of the most perfect indifference, what opinions Christians entertained concerning the divine nature, provided their hearts burned with the pure and sacred flame of piety and love. To this, his main doctrine, Nicholas may have probably added other odd fancies, as always is the case with those innovators, who are endued with a warm and fruitful imagination; to come, however, at a true notion of the opinions of this enthusiast, it will be much easier to consult his own writings, than to depend entirely upon the accounts and refutations of his adversaries [u]. CHAP. [t] See Jo. Hornbeck, Summa Controvers. lib. vi. p. 393. -Arnold, Kirchen und Ketzer Histoire, p. 746.-Bohm's History of the Reformation in England (written in German), book iv. ch. v. p. 541. [u] The most learned of all the authors who wrote against the Family of Love, was Dr. Henry More, in his Grand Explanation of the Mystery of Godliness, &c. book vi. ch. 12—18. George Fox, the founder of the sect of Quakers, inveighed also severely against this seraphic Family, and called them a motley tribe of fanatics, because they took oaths, danced, sung, and made merry. See Shewell's History of the Quakers, book iii. p. 88, 89, 344. I. 1. THE CHAP. IV. The History of the SOCINIANS. XVI. SECT. III. mination HE Socinians are said to have derived this CENT. denomination from the illustrious family of the Sozzini, which flourished a long time at PART II. Sienna in Tuscany, and produced several great and eminent men, and among others Lælius and The denoFaustus Sozinus, who are commonly supposed to and origin have been the founders of this sect. The for- of this sect. mer was the son of Marianus, a famous lawyer, and was himself a man of uncommon genius and learning; to which he added, as his very enemies are obliged to acknowledge, the lustre of a virtuous life, and of unblemished manners. Being forced to leave his country, in the year 1547, on account of the disgust he had conceived against popery, he travelled through France, England, Holland, Germany, and Poland, in order to examine the religious sentiments of those who had thrown off the yoke of Rome, and thus at length to come at the truth. After this he settled at Zurich, where he died in the year 1562, before he had arrived at the fortieth year of his age [w]. His mild and gentle disposition rendered him averse from whatever had the air of contention and discord. He adopted the Helvetic confession of faith, and professed himself a member of the. church of Switzerland; but this did not engage him to conceal entirely the doubts he had formed in relation to certain points of religion, and which he communicated, in effect, by letter, to some learned men, whose judgment he respected, Ii3 and [w] Cloppenburg, Dissertatio de origine et progressu 8oci. nianismi.-Jo. Hornbeck, Summa Controversiarum, p. 563.– Jo, Henr. Hottinger, Hist. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 417. CENT. and in whose friendship he could confide [*]. His XVI. sentiments were indeed propagated, in a more PART II. public manner, after his death; since Faustus, SECT. III. The term an," bears his nephew and his heir, is supposed to have drawn, from the papers he left behind him, that religious system upon which the sect of the Socinians was founded. II. It is, however, to be observed, that this "Socini- denomination does not always convey the same different ideas, since it is susceptible of different significasignifica. tions, and is, in effect, used sometimes in a more tions. The origin of Socinianism. strict and proper, and at others in a more improper and extensive sense. For, according to the usual manner of speaking, all are termed Socinians, whose sentiments bear a certain affinity to the system of Socinus; and they are more especially ranked in that class, who either boldly deny, or artfully explain away, the doctrines that assert the Divine Nature of Christ, and a Trinity of persons in the Godhead. But, in a strict and proper sense, they only are deemed the members of this sect, who embrace wholly, or with a few exceptions, the form of theological doctrine, which Faustus Socinus either drew up himself or received from his uncle, and delivered to the Unitarian brethren, or Socinians, in Poland and Transylvania [y]. III. The origin of Socinianism may be traced to the earliest period of the Reformation. For scarcely had [x] Zanchius, Præf. ad Libr. de tribus Elohim.-Beza, Epist. Volum. ep. lxxxi. p. 167. 167. Certain writings are attri. buted to him by Sandius, in his Bibliotheca Antitrinitar. p. 18. but it is very doubtful whether he was the real author of them, or not. [y] We have, hitherto, no complete or accurate history either of the sect called Socinians, or of Lælius and Faustus Socinius, its founders; nor any satisfactory account of those who laboured principally with them, and, after them, in giving a permanent and stable form to this community. For the accounts |