U N I 



U N 1 



the one be forcibly ftruck, it communicates motion, by the 

 air, to the other ; and both being equidiunial in their vibra- 

 tions, that is, finifhing them preeifely together, the motion 

 of that other will be improved and heightened, by the fre- 

 quent impulfes received from the vibrations of the firft, 

 becaufe given preeifely when that other has finiftied its 

 vibration, and is ready to return : but if the vibration of 

 the chords be unequal in duration, there will be a croffing 

 of motions, lefs or more, according to the proportion of the 

 inequality ; by which the motion of the untouched ftring 

 will be fo checked, as never to be fcnfible. And this we 

 find to be the cafe in all confonances, except unifon, oAave, 

 and the fifth. See Chohd. 



UNISSONI, Ital. This word written at full length, 

 or abridged over an empty ftaff in a fcore, if over the fecond 

 violin, implies that it is to play in unifon with the firft ; 

 if over the firft viohn in vocal mufic, that it is to play in 

 unifon with the voice. 



UNIT, Unite, or Unity, in Arithmellc, the number one, 

 or one fingle individual part of difcrete quantity. See 

 Number. 



If a number confifts of four or five places, that which is 

 outermoft towards the right end, is called the place of units. 



Number, in general, is by Euclid defined to be povaiVv 

 ■TToo-oTn;, a multitude, or aggregate of units ; but, in this 

 fenfe, unity is not a number. 



UNITARIANS, in Ecclefmpcal Hiflory, a name given 

 to thofe who confine the glory and attribute of divinity to 

 the One, only great and fupreme God, and father of our 

 Lord Jefus Chrift ; and who maintain, that this one fupreme 

 God is the only objeft of religious worfhip. 



This denomination is fometimes applied to thofe that are 

 otherwife called Arians ; but it is now more commonly ap- 

 propriated to the Socinians, who maintain that the Father alone 

 18 the God of the univerfe, the only true Go3 ; that our Lord 

 Jefus Chrift was a mere man, with a reafonable foul and human 

 body, who had no cxiftence before he was born, either in the 

 ordinary courfe of nature, or by the immediate operation and 

 miraculous power of God, at Bethlehem, and who, in the 

 courfe of his hfe and niiniftry, death, refurreftion, and exalta- 

 tion, was honoured with pecuHar and extraordinary tokens of 

 the divine influence and favour ; and that the Holy Spirit was 

 not a perfon, or diftinft intelligent agent, but only the power, 

 influence, and energy of God. Some, in imitation of Socinus, 

 allow that Chrift is an objeft of worftiip ; but moft of the mo- 

 dern Unitarians reftritl prayer and divine worihip to God 

 alone : and this conftitutes the diftinftion between Unitarians 

 and other Cliriftians, though many of the modern Socinians, 

 renouncing that difcriminating diftin<ftion, have appropriated 

 the appellation, without fufficient reafon, to themfelves. 



For an account of the progrefs of Unitarianifm in our 

 own country, fee an Hiftorical View of the State of the 

 Unitarian Doftrine and Worftiip from the Reformation to 

 our own Times, by Mr. Lindfey, 8vo. 1783. 



UNITAS Fratrum, or United Brethren, a name dif- 

 tinguiftiing thofe Chriftians who are frequently called abroad 

 Hermhuters, and with us Moravians. 



To thofe who are acquainted with the hiftory of this fcft, 

 it is well known, that their moft approved writers have 

 taken great pains to derive their origin from thofe formerly 

 diftinguiftied by the appellation of Moravian or Boliemian 

 Brethren, and who were afterwards denominated Huflites. 



Moflieim, however, obferves, that they may be faid with 

 more propriety to imitate the example of that famous com- 

 munity, than to defceud from thofe who compofed it : for, 

 he adds, it is well known, that there ace very few Bohemians 

 and Moravians in the fraternity of the Hermhuters ; and it 

 is extremely doubtful, whether even this fmall cumber fliould 



9 



be confidered as the pofterity of the ancient Bohemian 

 brethren that diftinguifhed themfelves fo early by tlieir zeal 

 for the Reformation. But from the Moravian writers, and 

 from Crantz in particular, ubi infra, we are furnilhed with 

 a circumftantial account of the rife and progrefs of this feft 

 from the ninth century, when the Bohemians and Mo- 

 ravians, and the whole Sclavonian nation, were firft pro- 

 felyted to the faith of Ciiriftianity, to the revival of it by 

 count ZinzendorfF. To this purpofe they allege, that when 

 by the inftrumentality of Methodius and Cyrillus, two Greek 

 monks, Bogaris, king of Bulgaria, and king Suatopluck, 

 in Moravia, were converted, tliey and their refpetlive coun- 

 tries united with the Greek church ; Methodius being the 

 firft biftiop, and Cyrillus having tranflated the bible into the 

 Sclavonian language. After various ftruggles, the Greek 

 Chriftians were conftrained to fubmit to the fee of Rome. 

 Some few, however, ftill adhered to the rites of the Greek 

 church, who, in 1176, being joined by the Waldenfes and 

 inftrufted by them, alTociated in afts of worlliip, and fent 

 mifiionaries into many countries. In tliis ftate they con- 

 tinued for more than two hundred years, till a fevere perfe- 

 cution was commenced againft them in 1391. In the be- 

 ginning of the next century they acquired the denomination 

 of Huflites, and were alfo called at different periods Fratres 

 Legis Chrifli, or Brethren of the Law of Chrift ; Unitas 

 Fratrum, or the Unity of the Brethren ; or Fratres Unitatis, 

 United Brethren. .Notwithftanding very fevere treatment, 

 they maintained ftri6t church difciphne among themfelves ; 

 and, at the iynod of Lhota in 1467, chofe twenty, and out 

 of tliefe nine perfons, of whom they appointed three by lot 

 for elders. 



Having, at this time, no bifhops of the Bohemian church 

 who had not fubmilted to the fee of Rome, they obtained 

 confecration for three of their priefts of Stephen, bifhop of 

 the Waldenfes in Auftria ; and thefe, on their return, or- 

 dained ten co-bifliops, or confeniors, from among the reft 

 of the preibyters. After many intervals of perfecution and 

 of peace, towards the beginning of the fixteenth century, 

 there were two hundred congregations in Bohemia and Mo- 

 ravia, which had the bible tranflated into the Bohemian 

 tongue, firft from the Vulgate, and afterwards another from 

 the original text. 



In 1523, after the dawn of the Reformation, a friendly 

 correfpondence commenced between the Brethren and 

 Luther, and afterwards with Calvin, and others of the re- 

 formers. This correfpondence involved them in a fevere 

 perfecution, which greatly opprefTed and difpirited them. 

 The diffenfions alfo that prevailed amongll themfelves 

 threatened their ruin, which were, at length, happily ter- 

 minated at.the fynod of Scndomir, in 1570, when the three 

 Tropujfes, [i. e. thofe who held different tenets and rites with 

 regard to non-eflentials,) viz. the epifcopal brethren, the 

 Lutheran, and reformed, or followers of Calvin, agreed 

 that they would perform divine fervice and communicate to- 

 gether. In 1575 they obtained an edift for the public 

 exercife of their religion, which was confirmed in 1609, 

 when they obtained leave to ereft new churches. But, in 

 1612, a civil war broke out in Bohemia; and, in 1621, a 

 violent perfecution occafioned the difperfion of their mi- 

 nifters, and great diftrefs to the Brethren in general. AmOEg 

 the minifters was one John Amos Comenius, bifliop of the 

 church of the Brethren. Crantz has given the fucceffion 

 of the Bohemian, Moravian, and Polilh biihops from Ste- 

 phen, in 1467, to the renewal of the church of tlie United 

 Brethren in this century. In 1662, Comenius confecrated 

 Peter Figulus, commonly called Jabloniky ; and, in 1699, 

 his foil, l3aniel Erneft Jablonflty, was confecrated bifliop ; 

 and by him, it is faid, the epifcopal ordination has been 



com- 



