CHRISTIANITY. 157 



of its members were the first settlers of Plymouth, New England. 

 Another church was formed in England, in 1616, under Mr. Jacobs ; 

 and the name Puritans, previously applied to various dissenters, 

 was afterwards applied to this denomination. 



The name Baptists, is applied to those Christians who require 

 that baptism should be performed by immersion, as an essential 

 requisite to church communion. Like the ancient Anabaptists, they 

 object to the baptizing of infants. Their peculiar doctrines have been 

 maintained by individuals, from the earliest ages ; but they first became 

 prominent, at the Reformation, among the Mennonites, or followers of 

 Menno, a reformer, who began to preach in Germany, in 1537. In 

 England, the sect of General Baptists arose as early as 1611, under 

 Mr. Smith ; but the Particular or Calvinistic Baptists appear to 

 have separated from the Independents, in 1638, under their leader, 

 Mr. Jesse. The first Baptist Church in the United States was 

 founded by Roger Williams, at Providence, Rhode Island, in 1639; 

 and the Baptists are now the most numerous denomination in the 

 United States. 



The Methodists, are the followers of Mr. John Wesley, who 

 first organized a class of this sect in 1739, aided by Mr. Whitefield. 

 Their doctrines are mostly those of the Church of England ; but 

 leaning rather to Arminianism ; though Mr. Whitefield favored the 

 doctrines of Calvin. They acknowledge the authority of bishops, 

 and style themselves the Methodist Episcopal Church. The name 

 Methodist was first applied to Mr. Charles Wesley, from the sedate- 

 ness and regularity of his life ; and the Methodists aspire to moral 

 perfection or freedom from sin. The first Methodist class in the 

 United States, was formed in the city of New York, by Mr. Philip 

 Embury, in 1766; and the Methodists now rank second in numbers, 

 among the religious denominations of our country. 



The Unitarians, in opposition to the Trinitarians, maintain that 

 Christ was a created being, dependent on the Father ; that the Holy 

 Ghost is not a distinct person or essence ; and that the Father alone 

 is truly and properly God. The Socinians, or followers of Laelius 

 Socinus, who died in 1562, and of Faustus Socinus, his nephew, 

 who died in 1604, maintain farther that Christ was a mere man, 

 who had no existence before he appeared on earth ; and they 

 acknowledge him only as a moral teacher, though divinely ap- 

 pointed. Many of the Unitarians are also Socinians. They all 

 reject the doctrine of Christ's atonement for the sins of men ; 

 making our own good works the sole ground of divine acceptance ; 

 and many of them believe that all men will be saved. These prin- 

 ciples date back to the time of Arius and Pelagins ; but the Unita- 

 rians first appeared as a modern sect, in Poland, about 1565; in 

 England, under Mr. Biddle, as early as 1660 ; and in the United 

 States, under Dr. Mayhew, as early as 1756. The Universalists 

 generally believe in the Trinity; but maintain that all mankind 

 will be saved, however sinful their lives may have been. Those 

 who believe that the wicked will be punished for a certain time, 

 before they are beatified, are called Restorationists ; and their doc- 

 trine has been attributed to Origen, one of the Christian Fathers. 







