Erasmus

From THE STATE OF THE UNITARIAN DOCTRINE etc., 1783 by Theophilus Lindsey

The spreading of the true doctrine of the divine Unity at this time, among many who had not enjoyed the benefit of a learned education, was mightily promoted by the Scriptures, in the several countries of Europe, being put into the mother-tongue and printed, when, being intirely new to them, they were read with the greatest avidity and attention. And although they were handed to them somewhat tinctured with the prejudices of the learned Athanasian Divines who translated them, and a proper search into the original manuscripts of the New Testament had not led them to see some mistakes that had crept into the sacred volumes, by the ignorance or carelessness of the transcribers ;  ... ; yet the more faithful and exact publications and latin paraphrase and translation of the New Testament by Erasmus, that great light and ornament of the christian world, who was of a more candid and liberal spirit in this respect than Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, and the other Reformers, had opened somewhat of a freer vein of inquiry into these points ; which, on his works being translated and more generally known, diffused itself among the common people, who gladly pursued the track of light which he had pointed out, while the learned were overawed, and kept back in their ancient darkness and errors by their prejudices or worldly fears. This was exemplified particularly among the Dutch, his countrymen (etc).

AN HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE STATE OF THE UNITARIAN DOCTRINE AND WORSHIP,
FROM THE REFORMATION TO OUR OWN TIMES.
WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE OBSTRUCTIONS WHICH IT HAS MET WITH AT DIFFERENT PERIODS.
London : J. Johnson 1783, pages 19-20.

From SOCINIANISM IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND, 1951 by John McLachlan

It is doubtful whether antitrinitarianism in England arose as a result of Dutch anabaptist influence. The sporadic antitrinitarianism of the sixteenth century is difficult to account for on any theory of 'diffusion' from one particular source. Nevertheless, Dutch influences were not negligible in mediating heretical thought.¹   For example, several cases of antitrinitarianism during the reign of Elizabeth and James I (1579-1612) can be connected with Holland. Moreover, the writings of Erasmus¹ (1465-1536), the apostle of a new rational approach to Scripture, were not without readers who drew their own conclusions and, applying his method of biblical criticism, found their belief in the doctrine of the Trinity undermined.

      ¹   Sir Wm. J. Collins, art. 'Dutch Dissenters and English General Baptists', Trans. of the Bapt. Hist. Soc. iv, pp. 65 ff., holds that there was a close connexion between the Separatist movement in England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and Dutch Anabaptists of the Mennonite type. And W. T. Whitley admits, Minutes of the General Assembly of the General Baptists (1909), p. xxii, that the Dutch Anabaptists imbibed some Socinian teachings and were already influenced in this direction when Smyth and Helwys were in touch with them. It is not impossible that the tolerant spirit which marked Baptists from the beginning owed something to Socinian influence transmitted via the Mennonite communities in Holland. 'The separatists who crossed to Holland, especially the baptists, came under the influence of Dutch sects and through them with Castellio and his disciples.' (W. Haller, The Rise of Puritanism (1938), p. 206.
      ²   v. supra, p. 5. Sir Simonds D'Ewes (1602-50) classed Ochino, Lelius Socinus, Castellio, Servetus, and Erasmus together, as revivers of the heresy of Pelagius. (The Autobiography and Correspondence of Sir. S. D'Ewes (1845), ii. 64-5.)

Oxford 1951, p. 31.

From CHURCHILL�S History of the English-Speaking Peoples

We have now reached the dawn of what is called the sixteenth century, which means all the years in the hundred years that begin with fifteen. . . . Literature, philosophy, and art flowered under classical inspiration, and the minds of men to whom study was open were refreshed and enlarged. These re the humanists, who attempted a reconciliation of classical and Christian teachings, among the foremost of whom was Erasmus of Rotterdam. To him is due a considerable part of the credit for bringing Renaissance thought to England. . . .

New York : Dodd, Mead, 1965, page 118.