dition and human authority, we may add to this answer, and in the valleys of Piedmont."

From the foregoing quotations, the reader will judge how near the tenets and religious doctrines of the Waldenses, mentioned by Dr. Mosheim, agree with the subsequent Articles of Confession of Faith. It is also worthy of research and examination, to know who were the set of men, in the valleys of Piedmont, long before this time, (1660,) who differed widely from the opinions adopted and inculcated by the church of Rome, and whose doctrines resembled, in many respects, those of the Waldenses, and for whom the before-mentioned translator contends that they were the Waldenses themselves.Whom also that bloody inquisitor, Reinerus, mentions as a sect that had flourished five hundred years; and mentions authors of note who make their antiquity remount to the apostolic age. Who these men were, and what were their religious tenets, will perhaps appear somewhat more clearly, in weighing, with attention and candor, the following quotations, extracted also from Dr. Mosheim's. Eccl. Hist. 16th century, 3d chapter, where we find the history of the Anabaptists or Mennonites, as follows:

1. "The truc origin of that sect which acquired the denomination of Anabaptists, by their administering anew the rite of baptism to those who came over to their communion, and derived that of Mennonites from the famous man to whom they owe the greatest part of their

present felicity, is hid in the remote depths of antiquity,and is, of consequence, extremely difficult to be ascertained. This uncertainty will not appear surprising, when it is considered that this sect started up, all of a sudden, in several countries at the same point of time, under leaders of different talents and different intentions, and at the very period when the first contests of the reformers with the Roman pontiffs drew the attention of the world, and employed the pens of the learned in such a manner as to render all other objects and incidents almost matters of indifference. The modern Mennonites not only consider themselves as the descendants of the Waldenses, who were so grievously oppressed and persecuted by the despotic heads of the Roman church, but pretend, moreover, to be the purest offspring of these respectable sufferers, being equally averse to all principles of rebellion, on the one hand, and all suggestions of fanaticism on the other. Their adversaries, on the contrary, represent them as the descendants of those turbulent and furious Anabaptists, who, in the sixteenth century, involved Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and more especially the province of Westphalia, in such scenes of blood, perplexity and distress; and allege that, terrified by the dreadful fate of their associates, and also influenced by the moderate counsels and wise injunctions of Mennon, they abandoned the ferocity of their primitive enthusiasm, and were gradually brought to a better mind. After hav

ing examined these two different accounts of the origin of the Anabaptists with the utmost attention and impartiality, I have found that neither of them are exactly conformable to truth.

2. "It may be observed, in the first place, that the Mennonites are not entirely mistaken when they boast of their descent from the Waldenses, Petrobrusians, and other ancient sects, who are usually considered as witnesses of the truth, in the times of universal darkness and superstition. Before the rise of Luther and Calvin, there lay concealed, in almost all the countries of Europe, particularly in Bohemia, Moravia, Switzerland and Germany, many persons who adhered tenaciously to the following doctrine, which the Waldenses, Wickliffites and Hussites had maintained, some in a more disguised, and others in a more open and public manner, viz: "That the kingdom of Christ, or the visible church he had established upon earth, was an assembly of true and real saints, and ought therefore to be inaccessible to the wicked and unrighteous, and also exempt from all those institutions, which human prudence suggests, to oppose the progress of iniquity, or to correct and reform transgressors.' This maxim is the true source of all the peculiarities that are to be found in the religious doctrine and discipline of the Mennonites; and it is most certain, that the greatest part of these peculiarities were approved of by many of those who, before the dawn of the reformation, entertained the notion already

mentioned, relating to the visible church of Christ. There were, however, different ways of thinking among the different members of this sect, with respect to the methods of attaining to such a perfect church establishment as they had in view. Some, who were of a fanatical complexion on the one hand, and were persuaded, on the other, that such a visible church, as they had modelled out in fancy, could not be realized by the power of man, entertained the pleasing hope, that God, in his own good time, would erect to himself a church exempt from every degree of blemish and impurity, and would set apart, for the execution of this grand design, a certain number of chosen instruments, divinely assisted and prepared for this work, by the extraordinary succours of his Holy Spirit. Others, of a more prudent and rational turn of mind, entertained different views of this matter. They neither expected stupendous miracles nor extraordinary revelations; since they were persuaded that it was possible, by human wisdom, industry and vigilance, to purify the church from the contagion of the wicked, and to restore it to the simplicity of its original constitution, provided that the manners and spirit of the primitive Christians could but recover their lost dignity aud lustre.

3. "The drooping spirits of these people, who had been dispersed through many countries, and persecuted every where with the greatest severity, were revived when they were informed that

Luther, seconded by several persons of eminent piety, had successfully attempted the reformation of the church. Then they spoke with openness and freedom, and the enthusiasm of the fanatical, as well as the prudence of the wise, discovered themselves in their natural colours. Some of them imagined that the time was now come, in which God himself was to dwell with his servants in an extraordinary manner, by celestial succours, and to establish upon earth a kingdom truly spiritual and divine. Others, less sanguine and chimerical in their expectations, flattered themselves, nevertheless, with the fond hopes of the approach of that happy period, in which the restoration of the church, which had been so long expected in vain, was to be accomplished, under the divine protection, by the labours and councils of pious and eminent men. This sect was soon joined by great numbers, and, as usually happens in sudden revolutions of this nature, by many persons whose characters and capacities were very different, though their views seemed to turn upon the same object. Their progress was rapid; for, in a very short space of time, their discourses, visions and predictions, excited commotions in a great part of Europe, and drew into their communion a prodigious multitude, whose ignorance rendered them easy victims tc the illusions of enthusiasm. It is, however, to be observed, that as the leaders of this sect had fallen into that erroneous and chimerical notion,