Prev TOC Next
[See page image]

Page 490

 

tlooianr THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG 490

interest of Socinianism and attracted a great number of Socinian students from Transylvania, Hungary, and Poland. Some time after his death this hearthstone of Socinianism in Altdorf was discovered. Some of the students recanted, others were banished; the Poles were expelled, and the Socinian writings were burned. Meanwhile some Polish exiles found a refuge in Oppeln and Ratibor, Silesia, and in the territory of the duke of Brieg. There, at Kreuzburg, they held two synods, in 1661 and 1663. Also Elector Karl Ludwig of the Palatinate allowed them to settle at Mannheim, but owing to their proselytizing tendencies they were compelled to leave in 1666 and scattered in Holland, Prussia, Silesia, and Brandenburg, forming local congregations. The pastor at Konigawalde was Samuel Crell (b. 1660; d. at Amsterdam 1747), grandson of Johann Crell (ut sup.). Under the pseudonym Artemonius he published a treatise Initium Evangelii Sancti Johanni (Amsterdam, 1726), in which he sought to prove the corruption of the text of the prologue of the Fourth Gospel. He maintained that the ante-Nicene view of the Trinity differed from the post-Nicene. He wrote also a dogmatical treatise, based on Rom. v. 12 sqq., Cogitatianes nova de primo et secundo Adamo (Amsterdam, 1700). After his death Unitarianism disappeared from Brandenburg but not from the other territories of the Prussian monarchy. Toward the end of the sixteenth century Socinian congregations had sprung up near Danzig, Buskow, and Straszin. In 1640 Elector Georg Wilhelm, urged by the Prussian estates, enjoined vigilance for the expulsion of the Antitrinitar rians, Socinians, and Photinians. Frederick William of Brandenburg, the " Great Elector," seconded by his deputy in Prussia, Prince Boguslav Radziwil, seeking to make his land an asylum for Protestant refugees, pursued the principle of toleration. Soeinians consequently settled in the districts of Lyck, Rhein, and Johannisburg, without the privilege of owning land. In 1670 the estates secured a rescript for their expulsion. Upon the intercession of the elector and the king of Poland the storm was allayed; but in 1679, 1721, and 1729 the estates repeated their demands under Frederick William I. The Socinians maintained themselves in wretched conditions and in small numbers until the nineteenth century. In the Netherlands antitrinitarian ideas appeared simultaneously with Anabaptist views, and at first frequently combined with them. In 1597 and 1598 Ostorodt and Woidowaki found many adherents in Amsterdam and Leyden. In 1599 the states-general ordered the burning of the Socinian writings and the expulsion of those two men. Nevertheless, the movement spread so as to call forth appeals for restriction from the synods (1628-53), until finally the states-general laid an edict of prohibition upon Socinianism. This was not strictly enforced, however, and many refugees from the contemporaneous Polish repression found asylum in Holland. Among those of special importance were Jeremias Felbinger (b. at Brieg in Silesia, 27 m. s.e. of Breslau, 1616), who was preacher in Sraazin, and lived afterward in Poland, Prussia, and at Amsterdam, 1687. He was Arminian on the doctrine of redemption and taught the resurrection of the

wicked to judgment. Christoph Sand, the younger (b. at Konigsberg Oct. 12, 1644; d. at Amsterdam Nov. 30, 1680), was educated at Konigsberg; went to Amsterdam, 1668; and was author of Bibliotheca antitrinitariorum (Freystadt, 1684). Daniel Zwicker (b. at Danzig 1612; d. at Amsterdam 1678) was compelled to leave his native city, 1643; lived after 1657 in the Netherlands; and wrote Ircnicum Ireni corum (1658), which caused a great sensation. Reason, the correctly interpreted Scriptures, and true tradition are presented as the three fundamental norms. Socinianism in the Netherlands was ultimately absorbed by the Remonstrantp, Anabaptists, and Collegiants (qq.v.).

In Transylvania, Unitarianism spread at the same time as in Poland, owing to the activity of Blandrata (q.v.), alternating between the two countries, and the influence of Franciscus Davidis (q.v.). In 1568, by resolution of the Diet at Thorenburg, the Unitarian confession was recognized, and, toward the end of the reign of Zapolya II., it promised to become the prevailing religion of the country; but the division caused by Davidis' non-adorantism was used by the Catholic opponents to their advantage. The non-adorantea were suppressed and excluded (1638) by the Unitarians; at the same time occurred the suppression of the Babbatarian element; but a succeeding period of persecutions reduced the Unitarians themselves during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The German and Polish elements disappeared completely after the eighteenth century, leaving only the Magyar. A theological representative of later Transylvanian Unitarianism was Bishop Sentabrahami (Michael St. Abraham), 1737-1758, author of a Summa univerete theologio; chriahante secundum Unitarios (Klausenburg, 1787). From 1821 the Unitarianism of Transylvania entered into closer relations with that of England, and from 1834 with that of North America, a step which furthered its material and spiritual promotion. The Unitarians in Transylvania, inclusive of about 1,000 Hungarian Unitarians, may be estimated. at nearly 60,000.

jI, ~~__UnitAr ona. Early Socinianism is presented in its main sow. which are the works o ,AMatuL)cinua, the R& rnyi&n C&tecbism, and the writin of the foremost SWjW=_theolRgians._until about the :. Scripture. middle of the s~.v~.,.Gt;B?ri' contained in the Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum, vols. iii.-iv. It s throughout.to_ the authority of qgdRk~,re, and i&idedly Super-.. t alistic. The Christian religion is the way re v~God for the pursuit of eternal life. The Mosaic religion was incapable of breaking the. power of the flesh, since it did not announce the hope of immortality, but limited itself to the prophecy of earthly happiness. Christianity is =_&_ted Mosaism, superseding the ceremonial and juridical laws, retaining and refining more sharply the eth ical, and kindling by higher rewards the love of man to God. Though inspired, the Old T,PL . m pn . His p_r&~ti~,s,~V_,ttous and of only historical value. According to Socinus the a9R_m ®ritors Aa spi,pdr._la. the content of t(jgipya,