were made for its extinction. It was for a time in the east the reigning religion. After all, Arius fell a victim to the fury of his persecutors. Dr. Maclaine in his Translation of Mosheim, remarks," it appears to me extremely probable that this unhappy man was a victim to the resentment of his enemies, and was destroyed by poison or some such violent method. A blind and fanatical zeal for certain systems of faith has in all ages produced such horrible acts of cruelty and injustice."

or

Arius owned Christ to be God in a subordinate sense, and considered his death to be a propitiation for sin. The Arians acknowledge that the Son was the word, though they deny its being eternal; contending, that it had only been created prior to all other beings. Christ, say they, had nothing of man in him, except the flesh, with which the Logos, word, spoken of by the apostle John, was united, which supplied the rest. The Arians, though they deny that Christ is the eternal God, yet they contend against others for his pre-existence. His preexistence they found on the two following passages, among many others:-BEFORE Abraham was I am. And the prayer of Jesus-" Glorify me with that glory which I had with thee BEFORE the world began. These and other texts of a similar kind, are, in their opinion, irrefragable proofs that Christ did actually exist in another state before he was born of the Virgin Mary in the land of Judea. This matter has

been argued by various writers; and names of the first character have distinguished themselves in the Arian controversy. It has also been urged by the advocates of Arianism, that the pre-existent dignity of Christ, accounts for that splendid apparatus of prophecies and miracles, with which the mission of the Messiah was attended. In modern times, the term Arian is indiscriminately applied to those who consider Jesus simply subordinate to the Father. Some of them believe Christ to have been the creator of the world; but they ALL maintain that he existed previous to his incarnation, though in his pre-existent state they assign him different degrees of dignity. Hence the appellation High and Low Arian.

That valuable practical writer, Mr. Job Orton, though he never published any thing explicitly on the Trinity, is supposed, during the latter period of his life, to have entertained these sentiments of the person of Christ. He used to recommend the two following tracts, as having given him the most satis. faction on that subject-A Sober and Charitable Disquisition on the Importance of the Doctrine of the Trinity, by Simon Brown; and An Essay towaras a Demonstration of the Scripture Trinity, by Dr. Scott; a new edition of which was published by the late venerable Samuel Goadby, brother to the author of Illustrations of the Bible. Of the system of Arianism, Dr. Clarke, in his Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity, Mr. Henry Taylor (for many years vicar

of Portsmouth) in his learned work entitled Ben Mordecai's Apology, Mr. Tomkins, in his Mediator, and Mr. Hopkins, in his Appeal to the Common Sense of all Christian People, have been deemed able advocates. Mr. Whiston, the astronomer and translator of Josephus, revived this controversy in the beginning of the last century. Soon after, Dr. Clarke published his celebrated treatise, entitled the Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity, which was disapproved of by the convocation, and answered by Dr. Waterland, who had been charged with verging towards Tritheism. "Erasmus (says the Encyclopædia Britannica), seemed to have aimed in some measure to restore Arianism at the beginning of the 16th century, in his Commen. taries on the New Testament. Accordingly he was reproached by his adversaries with Arian interpretations and glosses, Arian tenets, &c. to which he made little answer, save that there was no heresy more thoroughly extinct than that of the Arians." But Erasmus is known to have been timid in his disposition, and confessed in one of his letters to a friend, that he possessed not the spirit of a martyr. Of the truth of this declaration, there were many proofs.

The history of the Arian controversy, in modern times, may be found in a pamphlet, entitled " An account of all the considerable Books and Pamphlets that have been wrote on either side, in the controversy concerning the Trinity, from the year 1712; in which is also contained an Account of the Pamphlets

written this last year on each side by the Dissenters, to the end of the year 1719:" published at London, 1720.

Thomas Emlyn, a pious and learned divine, should be mentioned here, since he has been rendered me. morable for his sufferings in the cause of Arianism, He was a dissenting minister in Dublin, and there shamefully persecuted on account of his religious sentiments. He rejected the common notion of the Trinity, but firmly maintained the pre-existence of Christ. He died in London, 1741; and his works were published by his son, an eminent counsellor, in three volumes; to which are prefixed memoirs of the author.

Dr. Price, in his sermons on the Christian doctrine, has taken much pains in explaining and defending the principles of Arianism. He states at large the nature of the doctrine, and enumerates the advantages arising from it in the explication of the Scriptures. To these discourses, the reader is re ferred, and whatever he may think of the arguments urged in favour of that system, he must admire the Christian spirit with which they are written. The reader is also referred to a more recent work, entitled Lectures on the Works of Creation and the Doctrines of Revelation, by the Rev. B. Carpenter; particularly the second volume,*

*This second volume is dedicated to the late REV. HuaS WORTHINGTON, who was a zealous Arian, and meant, had

Some few Arians, and most Anti-trinitarians, add to their creed the doctrines of Necessity, Materialism, and Universal Restoration, though these tenets are by no means peculiar to them. Towards the close of this Sketch will be found an explanation of Universal Restoration; some account shall be here given of Necessity and Materialism.

NECESSARIANS.

THE doctrine of Necessity regards the origin of human actions and the specific mode of the divine government. It teaches that all actions, both good and bad, are strictly necessary-thus every circumstance cannot be otherwise than it is throughout the creation of God. Much controversy has there been on this abstruse subject. Collins, Priestley, and Crombie; Palmer, Price, and Gregory, are authors who have distinguished themselves in the controversy; the three former being for, and the three latter against Necessity. The opponents of Necessity strenuously

his life been spared, to have written in its vindication. This good man and eloquent preacher died 26th of July last, 1813, at Worthing, in the 61st year of his age. See a SERMON on the decease of the Rev. H. Worthington, preached at Worship-street, Aug. 15, 1813, by J. Evans, second edition, with a list of the publications of the deceased.