When Socinianism was at the height of its power, Andrew Fuller challenged it in its self-professed point of greatest strength --the virtue encouraged by its principles of theistic rationality. Do the extended implications of its principles compare favorably with Calvinism in the development of virtue? Using their own writings and the admissions they make concerning piety and virtue among Socinians, Fuller compared both systems in their tendency to convert profligates to a life of holiness, to convert professed unbelievers, their development of a standard of morality, to encourage love to God, candor and benevolence toward men, encourage humility and charity, promote love for Christ and veneration of Scripture, develop happiness, cheerfulness, gratitude, obedience, and heavenly-mindedness in the followers of the respective systems. If challenged that he is being judgmental and has focused on subjective criteria, Fuller replied that he is merely engaging the Socinians at the place where they have invited investigation. Fuller intended to lay bare the emptiness of the Socinian boast to virtue. The work first was published in 1793.

Excerpt from The Calvinistic and Socinian Systems Examined and Compared, as to Their Moral Tendency: In a Series of Letters, Addressed to the Friends of Vital and Practical Religion This union, however, has become an occasion of many re ections. Serious men of the established church have expressed their surprise that some dissen ters could unite With others so opposite in their relig ious principles and had the 111011 been of a religious nature, it must indeed have been surprising. Others have supposed that the main body of dissenters had either imbibed the Socinian system, or were hastily ap proaching towards it. \vhether the suggestion of Dr. Horsley, that the genuine Calvinists among our mod ern dissenters are very few, has contributed to this Opinion, or whatever be its origin, it is far from being just. Every one who knows the dissenters, knows that the body of them are what is commonly called orthodox. Dr. Priestley, who is well known to be sufficiently sanguine in estimating the numbers of his party - SO sanguine that, when speaking of the common people of this country, he reckons nine out of ten of them would prefer a Unitarian toa Trinitarian liturgy yet acknowledges, in regard to the dissenters, that Uni tarians are by far the'minority. In Birmingham, where the proportion of their number to the rest of the dissenters is greater than in any other town in the king dom, it appears from Dr. Priestley's account of the matter, that those called orthodox are nearly three to one: and throughout England and Wales they have been suoposed to be as two, if not as three to one, to the Socinians and Arians inclusive.1' About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."

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