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and at the porape of the clergy which must be maintained by the sword ( for what care they though England s winime in blood , so they swimme in wealth and pleasure ?) therefore Mr . Webherly tells us very honestly , that Socinianisme was to be corrected and
chastised with respect to the nature of our climate . " To the real honour of Socinianisme , but to its disgrace in the eyes of this furious ecclesiastic , one of its tenets was the unlawfulness of war , and he rallies Mr . Webberly upon this point , insinuating that he " may be so far irrationall as to be of the Councel of
Warre , which no strict Socinian would allow . " Wood ( Hist , et Antiqu . Univ . Oxon . 1 . i . p . 406 & Ath . & Fast . ii . 901 ) gives the following account of this gentleman : " John Webberley , admitted of Lincoln College , 1640 , was the son
of Thomas Webberley , ofEastKirbey , in Lincolnshire ; was now esteemed by all a high-flown Socinian , and afterwards a desperate zealot for the King ' s Cause , in the time of the grand rebellion * He had translated into English several Socinian books / some of which
he had published without his name set to them , and others which were laying by him were taken out of his study by the Parliamentarian Visitors , an . 1648 , in which year he suffered much for his loyalty , by imprisonment first and afterwards by expulsion . "
Chap . r . shewes that the famous Atheists ( Anabaptists and Sectaries ) so much complained of , have been raised or encouraged by the doctrines aad practises of the Arminian , Soci-» ian and Popish party . " A curious cause of Atheism is here
stated : '« The Socinians doe deny Christ to be God , to the glory of God the Father , as they use to say , and I beleeve God the Father hath taken it jo unkindly at their hands , that he hath given them over to that cursed tfheisme whiph reigns in the heart of every man bv nature . "
There is next an attempt at argument— -take a specimen : c < The scriptores doe clearly shew that God the rather is no more God than Jesus y * rist ; hut say the Sociwians , Jesus Urist j 8 npt God . Who sees not jynat conclusion will follow ? ergo , if l ey said true , there would be no God at all . ' * * ** g Anabaptists are now brought
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upon the stage : * From whence did they suck their poison , but from the Armiuians , Socinians and Papists ? From the Arminians they received their doctrine about the fall and free-will of man ; are they not pure Arminians in that great point of
predestination ? They oppose the reformed churches in their doctrine about originall sin : the Socinians have taught them to deny that irrfants are conceived and born in sin , and thi 3 b the true reason why they deny Baptisme to infants . *'
Their beii > g of his own political party does notinclineCheynelltoany moderation towards the poor Anabaptists : " But I beleevethereason why the Anabaptists are complained of at this time , is because they are disobedient to magistrates , for it is commonly said that
they have lately taken up armes in rebellion againt the King . I must confess 1 have wondered often when I have heard of this dayly complaint , because I know that an Anabaptist doth not think it lawful to be a cutler , be thinks no sword ought to be made , because he conceives it unlawfull to
use a sword . It is well known that the Anabaptists goe to sea without any ordnance in their ships * that they travaile without any sword by their side : But if there be any fighting
Anabaptist in these dayes , 1 suppose the English Socinians have taught the English Anabaptists to deny those principles in practice which they maintain in dispute . "
The duty of mercy in the administration of penal justice is another of the well-known damnable heresies of the Anabaptists : they deserved hanging because they doubted of the
lawfulness ( in a Christian point of view ) of h anging men for common offences What a wretched , contemptible set o men , who would have superseded or narrowed the range of capital punishments ! " The Arminians and
Socinians , " says Cheynell , who had the heart of an executioner , " make a King of clouts , and put a wooden or painted sword into bis hand to affright children , for they say that he must not draw blood , no , not in a legal 1 way , for capital 1 offences . *
The connexion between Anabaptisme and Socinianisme , which is not the most fanciful of CheynelFs notions , is thus made out : " We must distinguish between the first tumults of Anaban-
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ChyenelLs " Rise , Growth and Danger of ' Socinianisme . " 499
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1815, page 499, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1763/page/35/
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