Having turned his thoughts to theological subjects, and becoming dissatisfied with the established religion, he went to Vincenza,whence, after the dissolution of the society, he proceeded to Switzerland, an exile on account of his sentiments. After his settlement at Zurich he made occasional tours to other countries, especially to those where the principles of the Reformation were admitted and professed. In the year 1551 he made a journey to Poland, which he visited again about 1558. On the former occasion, he became acquainted with Francis Lismanin, a Corsican monk, who at that time resided at Cracow in the capacity of confessor to Bona Sfortia, the queen of Sigismund the First. Lismanin had already been partly gained over by the Polish Reformers; his conversation with Lælius Socinus completed his conversion to the Unitarian sentiments of his instructor, and determined him to quit his habit and withdraw from the communion of the Roman Church*. Another very important accession was made to the Unitarian party at this period by the conversion of Gregory Paul, a divine of extensive learning and great talents, who officiated as the minister of a Reformed church in the suburbs of Cracow, Thus far the dissemination of Unitarianism in Po cinianismi. But the observations of that writer (p. 321, note) comprise merely an intimation that this alleged origin of Socinianism in Italy had not been sufficiently examined, and deserved to be further investigated. * Lubieniecii Hist. Refor. Pol. p. 40. Bock, ubi supra,tom. ii. p. 594, in Vita Lælii Socini. land land seems to have been effected by means of conver◄ sation, or discussions of a more private kind, and by occasional publications from the press. The first person who appears to have stood forward in a public assembly to impugn the doctrine of the Trinity was Peter Gonezius, or Conyza, who, at a synod of the reformed clergy held at Seceminia in 1556, asserted the supremacy of the Father over the Son and Holy Spirit, and contended that the Apostles' Creed ought to be received as the sole rule of faith, denouncing the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds as mere human compositions of no authority. The sensation produced by this discourse on the minds and feelings of the Trinitarian clergy is described to have been very great; and the immediate effect of it was an agreement to reconsider the subject at a future meeting, and in the mean time to obtain the opinion of Melancthon.on the disputed points*. In the year 1558, at a synod held at Pinczow, then the principal seat of the Antitrinitarians, the name of Blandrata occurs as being present. George Blandrata was a native of Piedmont, of the medical pro fession. Having embraced the sentiments of Servetus, he quitted his native country and went to Poland, where, through the interest of Lismanin, he was appointed physician to the queen, Bona Sfortia. He after this returned to Piedmont, but soon removed his residence to Geneva. Disagreeing here with Cal * Sandii Biblioth. Antitrin. p. 41. Lubieniecii Hist. Refor. Pol. p. 111. vin, and dreading his resentment and power after the recent fate of Servetus, he went a second time to Poland in the year 1558, and was appointed one of the elders of the reformed church of Cracow*. From Poland he removed to Transylvania, in connexion with which country his name will again occur in the course of this history. At another synod held at Pinezow in 1563, we find John Valentine Gentilis holding a public disputation on the doctrine of the Trinity, maintaining that the Father alone was God, and that he had created before all worlds a mighty spirit, who afterwards became incarnate in the human body of Jesus. Gentilis was a native of the south of Italy, and joined himself, as we have seen, to the little society of Vincenza. After quitting Italy he settled in Moravia; but removing to Berne, in Switzerland, he was there arrested, tried for heresy, condemned, and beheaded in 1566 †. Up to this period all the synods held in Poland were composed indiscriminately of the members and ministers of all the reformed churches of every communion, Lutheran, Calvinistic, and Antitrinitarian. The consequences of the discordant opinions which were held by the parties forming these assemblies, were, as might be expected, continual disputations, which were frequently conducted with great warmth and violence. Several attempts were made by persons who felt scandalized by such proceedings, to proBock, ubi supra, tom. ii. Sandii Biblioth. Antitrin. p. 28. pp. 470 et seqq. Sandii Biblioth. Antitrin. p. 26. Bock, tom. ii. p. 427. mote mote peace, and to reconcile the differences, especially between the Trinitarians and their Unitarian opponents, which were the chief causes of disunion; but all without success. The last effort of this kind was tried at a public conference held by appointment for this purpose at Petricow in the year 1565, which was attended by the chief persons of all the reformed churches. The Trinitarians finding themselves unable to silence their opponents, who were availing themselves of every opportunity to promulgate their sentiments, and perceiving that they were on this occasion the more numerous and powerful party, came to a resolution wholly to exclude them thenceforth from their public assemblies *. From this time, therefore, the Unitarians formed a separate religious body in the country, having their churches, their collegiate and other establishments, exclusively to themselves. Notwithstanding, however, this separation of the Unitarian from the Trinitarian reformers, it is not to be understood that all the individuals comprised under the former denomination were perfectly agreed in their religious opinions. They all concurred in maintaining the supremacy of the Father: but with respect to Jesus Christ, some thought him to be a God of inferior nature, derived from the supreme Deity; others held the doctrine of Arius, conceiving him to have been the first created spirit, who became -incarnate with the view of effecting the salvation of mankind; while a third party believed him to be a * Lubieniecius, ubi supra, p. 201. human human being. These last were again divided into two classes; the one believing the miraculous conception of Jesus, the other considering him to have been the son of Joseph, as well as of Mary. Another point on which they differed among themselves was the worship of Jesus Christ;-some, even of those who believed in his simple humanity, maintaining that he was entitled to divine honours on account of the high rank and authority with which he had been invested after his resurrection, as the king and lord of the church; whilst others held that divine worship was to be paid to the Father alone. In relation to the Holy Spirit, it was the common opinion among them that it was not a Person, but the power or operating energy of God, displayed in the miracles which were wrought by Christ and his apostles as the evidence of their divine mission and authority. They differed, besides, upon some other points of minor importance, which cannot be enumerated in this general sketch. Though these Antitrinitarian reformers have been occasionally styled UNITARIANS in the preceding narrative, in conformity with modern usage, it must be observed that they were not known by this designation in Poland. At the period now under review, they were called by various denominations, arising chiefly from local or temporary circumstances. They were first distinguished by the name of PINCZOVIANS, from the town of Pinczow, where they had their earliest settlement. Some of the body were afterwards called FARNOVIANS, from Stanislaus Farnovius, who held the Arian doctrine concerning the person of Christ. |