"He has the arrogance," he fays, " to af"fert, that the Father is in no fense greater " than the deity of the Son, but only fup"poses that the nature of the Father ex"ceeds his humanity *." In this manner he must have meant to describe the Sabellians.

From these circumftances, let the reader judge, whether the unitarian heresy was extinct in the time of Theodoret, whatever it might be in his neighbourhood. His great zeal, and his power in his diocese, would probably prevent the unitarians from declaring themselves, and their acquiefcence might be called their converfion.

The Pelagians, as I have fhewn, very generally adopted the unitarian doctrine, But, befides thefe, Caffian fpeaks of other unitarians in Gaul, whom he does not clafs with Pelagians. "There have lately ri"fen," he fays, "I mean in our days, a

mei officii putavi falfitatem orationis ejus arguere. In John, lib. 1o. cap. 9. Opera, vol. 1. p. 938.

*Ad hoc arrogantiæ quidam procefferunt, inquit, ut nullo modo audire patiantur patrem, filii deitate majorem effe, fed fola humanitate naturam patris excedere arbitrentur. Cyril. Alex. vol. 1. p. 939.

poisonous

poisonous herefy, chiefly in the city of Beligæ, of a certain name, but an un"certain author, which, with a fresh head, "rifes from the old error of the Ebionites. "It is doubtful whether it can be called "old, or new. It is new in the affertors, "but old in the error, viz. that our Lord Jefus Chrift is a mere man *.”

According to Maxentius, who flourished in the year 520, the unitarians were by no means extinct in his neighbourhood. Speaking of the church as rejecting the doctrine of those who fay that "Chrift is "God by favour, and not by nature," he fays, "against this all heretics, as well those "who are manifeftly cut off and divided, 66 as those who are within the church, and "spiritually divided from it, whom the

* Nuper quoque, id eft, in diebus noftris emerfisse hærefim venenofam, et maxime Beligarum urbe confpexi. mus, certi erroris, incerti nominis: quia cum recenti capite ex antiqua Ebionitarum ftirpe furrexerit, dubium admodum eft antiqua magis dici, an recens debeat. Nova enim affertoribus, fed vetufta erroribus fuit. Solitarium quippe hominem dominum noftrum Jefum Chriftum natum effe blafphemans, De Incarnatione, lib. 1. cap. 2. p. 962.

"holy

holy charity of the church bravely tole"rates, always take up arms, and cease not "to urge it with false charges, and en"deavour to excite all they can influence

against it. As yet," he adds, "we are "in the threshing floor, corn mixed with "chaff, good men grieve at the society of "the wicked." This paffage is very fimilar to that of Facundus, and makes it extremely probable, that, in all christian coun tries, there were great numbers of unitarians, fufficiently known to be so, in communion with the catholic church, without being molested.

* Vera dei ecclefia, cui non funt hæreticorum ignota procellæ, non eft illa quæ chriftum gratia non natura deum confitetur.-Adverfus illam omnes hæretici, tam qui ab ea manifefte abfciffi atque divifi funt, quam hi qui intra eam pofiti, fpiritaliter ab ea diffentiunt (quos fortiter fancta fidelium tolerat charitas) femper arma corripiunt, eamque falfis criminationibus infeftari non definunt, atque eos quos fuis potuerunt erroribus in ejus nituntur invidiam concitare. --Adhuc, inquit in area fumus, mixta funt frumenta cum paleis, gemunt boni confortia malorum: fed fupereft flamma, non neceffariis, et parata funt horrea jam probati, in his remorari diutius fuperfluum æftimo, Bib. Pat. vol. 5: P. 499.

2

SE C

1

SECTION II.

Of the State of the Unitarians after the fixth

Century.

WE must not expect to find

any distinct account of the unitarians, or the condition they were in, in what are called the dark ages. There can be no doubt, however, but that they continued to be in the fame ftate in which they had been in the preceding period, i. e. not very conspicuous, or forming many feparate focieties, at least, fuch as the hiftorians of the time had any knowledge of; but mixed with other chriftians, though without making any fecret of their opinions. Of this, though there are no diftinct accounts, there are fufficient traces. I have noted only a few, as they happened to fall under my observation, when I was reading for other purposes.

Pope Gregory the Great, who flourished about the clofe of the fixth century, fpeaks of heretics who faid " they did not envy "Chrift

"Chrift being God, because they could "be fo if they would, confidering Christ as "a mere man, and made a God by fa"vour." These must have been unitarians, for it is a language that was never held by Arians.

In Bulgaria Sandius fays, that the Photinians remained till the time of Pope Nicholas, about the year 860. Hift. p.

117. Agobard

Agobard speaks of Avitus having written against them, but at what time does

not appear.

For fome time the unitarians were called Bonofians, from Bonofus, bishop of Serdica, in the latter end of the fourth, and the beginning of the fifth century. Mention is made of him as an unitarian, along

* Non invideo Chrifto deo facto, quoniam fi volo, et ipfe poffum fieri. Qui Jefum Chriftum dominum noftrum, non per myfterium conceptionis, fed per profectum gratiæ deum putavit, perverfa allegatione aflruens eum purum hominum natum : fed ut deus effet, per meritum profeciffe, atque ab hoc æftimans et fe quoflibet alios poffe ei coequari, qui filii dei per gratiam fiunt. In Job. cap. 35. p. 110. C

Beatus quoque Avitus, Photinianorum hæreticorum validiffimus expugnator. Adv. Fælicem, fect. 41. p. 55.

with