The followers of Arius, a presbyter of the church of Alexandria, about A. D. 315, who held that the Son of God was totally and essentially distinct from the Father; that he was the first and noblest of those beings whom God had created, the instrument by whose subordinate operation he formed the universe, and, therefore, inferior to the Father, both in nature and dignity; also, that the Holy Ghost was not God, but created by the power of the Son. The Arians owned that the Son was the Word, but denied that Word to have been eternal. They held that Christ had nothing of man in him but the flesh, to which the Word was joined, which was the same as the soul in us. In modern times, the term _Arian_ is indiscriminately applied to those who consider Jesus simply subordinate to the Father. Some of them believe Christ to have been the creator of the world; but they all maintain that he existed previously to his incarnation, though, in his preëxistent state, they assign him different degrees of dignity. (See Matt. 4:10; 19:17; 27:46. Mark 5:7; 13:32 John 4:23; 14:28; 20:17. Acts 4:24. 1 Cor. 1:4; 11:3; 15:24. Eph. 1:17; 4:6. Phil. 1:3, 4, &c.) SOCINIANS. A sect so called from Faustus Socinus, who died in Poland, in 1604. There were two who bore the name of Socinus,—uncle and nephew,—and both disseminated the same doctrine; but it is the nephew who is generally considered as the founder of this sect. They maintain that Jesus Christ was a mere man, who had no existence before he was conceived by the Virgin Mary; that the Holy Ghost is no distinct person; but that the Father is truly and properly God. They own that the name of God is given, in the holy Scriptures, to Jesus Christ, but contend that it is only a deputed title, which, however, invests him with a great authority over all created beings. They deny the doctrines of satisfaction and imputed righteousness, and say that Christ only preached the truth to mankind, set before them, in himself, an example of heroic virtue, and sealed his doctrines with his blood. Original sin, and absolute predestination, they esteem scholastic chimeras. Some of them likewise maintain the sleep of the soul, which, they say, becomes insensible at death, and is raised again, with the body, at the resurrection, when the good shall be established in the possession of eternal felicity, while the wicked shall be consigned to a fire that will not torment them eternally, but for a certain duration, proportioned to their demerits. (See Acts 2:22; 17:31. 1 Tim. 2:5.) HUMANITARIANS. The Humanitarians believe in the simple humanity of Christ, or that he was nothing more than a mere man, born according to the usual course of nature, and who lived and died according to the ordinary circumstances of mankind. SECTARIANS.