eminent teacher, it would probably have been from Valdo, who was remarkable for the purity of his doctrine, in the ninth century, and was the cotemporary and chief counsellor of Berengarius. But the truth is, that they derive their name from their vallies in Piedmont, which in their language are called Vaux. Hence Vaudois, their true name; Hence Peter, (or, as others call him, John) of Lyons, was called in Latin Valdus, because he had adopted their doctrine; and hence the term Valdenses and Waldenses, used by those who write in English, or Latin, in the place of Vaudois. The bloody Inquisitor Reinerus Sacco, who exerted such a furious zeal for the destruction of the Waldenses, lived but about eighty years after Valdus of Lyons, and must therefore be supposed to know whether or not he was the real founder of the Valdenses, or Leonists; and yet it is remarkable that he speaks of the Leonists as a sect that had flourished about five hundred years; nay, mentions authors of note, who make their antiquity go back to the apostolic age. See the account given of Sacco's book by the Jesuit Gretser in the Bibliotheca Patrum. I know not upon what principle Dr. Mosheim maintains that the inhabitants of the vallies of Piedmont are to be carefully distinguished from the Waldenses; and I am persuaded that whoever will be at the pains to read attentively the 2nd, 26th and 27th chapters of the first book of Leger's Histoire des Eglises Vaudoises, will find this distinction entirely groundless.-When the Papists ask us where our religion was before Luther, we generally answer, in the Bible, and we answer well. But to gratify their taste for tradition, and human authority, we may add to this answer-and in the vallies of Piedmont."

To the above we may add, one of the Popish writers, speaking of the Waldenses, says, "The heresy of the Waldenses is the oldest heresy in the world.'

It is here worthy to be particularly noticed

1. That Reinerus Sacco speaks of the Waldenses, or Baptists, of his day, as a sect that had, at that time, flourished for about five hundred years; which brings the existence of the Baptists, as a religions. sect, up to the fifth century.

2. That this same Reinerus Sacco mentions authors of note, who .make the antiquity of the Waldensean Baptists go back to the apostolic

age.

3. That the Baptists are the most ancient of all the religious sects, who have set themselves to oppose the ghostly powers of the Roman.ists.

4. That, if there be any body of Christians, who have existed during the reign of antichrist, or of the man of sin, the Baptists have been this living Church of Jesus Christ.

5. The consequence of the whole is this: The Baptists have no * In President Edwards's History of Redemption, p. 267. Vol. 1. B

origin short of the Apostles. They arose in the days of John the Baptist, and increased largely in the days of our blessed Saviour and in the days of his Apostles, and have existed, under the severest oppressions, with intervals of prosperity, ever since.

But as to the Pædobaptists, their origin is at once traced to about the middle of the second century; when the mystery of iniquity not only began to work, but, by its fermentation, had produced this error of fruitful evils, namely that baptism was essential to salvation; yes, that it was regeneration. Hence arose the necessity of baptizing children. Now comes forward Irenæus, and informs that the church had a tradition from the Apostles to give baptism to infants. We are told in the Appendix to Mosheim's Church History, that one of the remarkable things which took place in the second century was the baptizing of infants, it being never known before, as a Christian ordinance for them.

What a pity it is, that good men, who have renounced the error, which was, as church history informs us, the progenitor of infantbaptism, should still retain its practical and erroneous offspring to the prejudice and marring of the church of God! Not a single sect of the Pædobaptists can find its origin nearer to the Apostles than the second century. We hence conclude, that their origin was there, and that they then and there arose in the mystery which was then working.

V. The following is the testimony which President Edwards bears in favour of the Waidenses and other faithful ones, who were scattered through all parts of Europe in the dark ages of Popery.

"In every age of this dark time, there appeared particular persons in all parts of Christendom, who bore a testimony against the corruptions and tyranny of the church of Rome. There is no one age of antichrist, even in the darkest time of all, but ecclesiastical historians mention a great many by name, who manifested an abhorrence of the Pope and his idolatrous worship. God was pleased to maintain an uninterrupted succession of witnesses, through the whole time, in Germany, France, Britain, and other countries, as historians demonstrate, and mention them by name, and give an account of the testimony which they held. Many of them were private persons, and many of them ministers, and some magistrates and persons of great distinction. And there were numbers in every age, who were persecuted and put to death for this testimony."

"Besides these particular persons, dispersed here and there, there was a certain people, called the Waldenses, who lived separate from all the rest of the world, who kept themselves pure, and constantly bore a testimony against the church of Rome, through all this dark time. The place where they dwelt was the Vaudois, or the five vallies of Piedmont, a very mountainous country between Italy and France. The place where they lived was compassed with those ex

ceeding high mountains, called the Alps, which were almost impassable. The passage over these mountainous, desert countries, was so difficult, that the vallies where this people dwelt were almost inaccessible. There this people lived for many ages, as it were alone; where, in a State of separation from all the world, having very little to do with any other people, they served God in the ancient purity of his worship, and never submitted to the church of Rome. This place, in this desert, mountainous country, probably was the place, especially meant in the xii. chap. of Revelations, 6 verse, as the place prepared of God for the woman, that they should feed her there during the reign of Antichrist."

"Some of the Popish writers themselves own that that people never submitted to the church of Rome. One of the Popish writers, speaking of the Waldenses, says, the heresy of the Waldenses is the oldest heresy in the world. It is supposed, that this people first betook themselves to this desert, secret place among the mountains to hide themselves from the severity of the heathen persecutions, which were before Constantine the Great, and thus the woman fled into the Wilderness from the face of the serpent, Revelations xii. 6. and so verse 14. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness into her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the face of the serpent. And the people being settled there, their posterity continued there from age to age afterwards, and being as it were by natural walls, as well as by God's grace, separated from the rest of the world, never partook of the overflowing corruption.”

It is hoped that the reader will very carefully and candidly compare what is testified to us by three very learned men, Dr. Mosheim, Dr. Maclaine, and President Edwards. The testimony of the first is, that the Waldenses and many others who are usually considered as witnesses of the truth in the times of universal darkness and superstition, were essentially agreed with the Baptists of modern date, as to principle and practice, or as to the great maxim, whence flow all the peculiarities of that denomination. His testimony, in short, is this; the Hussites, the Wickliffites, the Petrobrusians and the Waldenses, with other witnesses of the truth, scattered over Europe, in in the dark ages of Popery, were essentially the same with the Baytists of later times; or that they all were what we call Baptists.

Dr. Maclaine testifies that the Waldenses flourished as early as the fifth century; yes, he informs us that some authors of note carry their antiquity up to the apostolic age.

President Edwards informs us that these Waldenses were the main body of the church in the dark ages, and have been, together with their scattered brethren, the pure church of Jesus Christ, during the reign of Antichrist, and, of certain consequence, were the successors

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of the pure Church, from the days of Christ and his Apostles. The fair consequence of all this is, that the Baptists have been the uninterrupted Church of our Lord from the Apostles' day to ours.

I may, indeed, exclaim, What have I been believing, what have I been doing, with respect to the Baptists, all my days? I know, and I confess, that the history of the church assures me, that the denomination of Christians to which I have belonged, and to which I do still visibly belong, came through the church of Rome, and was broken off from the mother of harlots, and it is not greatly to be wondered at, if all her filth should not be yet wiped away. At the same time, the same history assures me, that the Baptists never have submitted to her superstitions and filthy abominations.

In this short History of the Baptists, we see the continued accomplishment of one of Christ's promissory predictions, which is, Matt. xvi, 18. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. That denomination of Christians which are called Baptists, are the only known society of professing Christians, against which Satan hath not prevailed, either in point of doctrine, or discipline, or both. This church, or old and inveterate heresy, as Satan would call it, he acknowledges, by the mouth of his servants the Romanists, that he could never subdue. It is true, Satan hath joined many of his legions to it, as he did many false brethren to the disciples in the days of the Apostles. But he hath never, no, not for an hour, prevailed upon this ancient and primitive church to give up the doctrines of grace, or the administration of the ordinances as Christ delivered them to his people.

That which she first received, she still holds fast, and will. In all the history of the church, we read of no other body of professing Christians, after which Satan hath cast such a continual flood of waters; but hitherto the earth hath helped the woman, and the flood of persecution hath not prevailed. Neither shall it ever prevail.

On keeping the Ordinances as delivered.

It will be expected, Mr. Editor, that this new stranger, when he makes his appearance, will come in the Spirit and Power of him whose name he bears. That he should be to the world "the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." But when he comes to his own, he will bring to them a word of consolation, saying, "Brethren, 1 praise you, "that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances as "I delivered them." An ordinance is a positive command of God. There are two things in which the positive and moral commands of the Deity may or do differ. First, a moral thing is commanded

because it is right to be done, but a positive command is to be obeyed only because it is commanded. They differ also in this, that a positive command may be abrogated, which a moral one can never be.

To keep the Ordinances as they were delivered, it is necessary that they be kept to the same Subjects. To believers, and them only, the Ordinances of the New Testament belong. We have equal authority to apply the promises unconditionally to the unbelieving, as to administer to them the Ordinances of God. In both cases we should take the Children's meat and cast it to the dogs. Thus run the divine Testimonies, He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved. If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized. The Ordinances of the Gospel were never delivered to such as cannot understand their design, nor as a key to enable a man to find his way into Office.

any

The Ordinances, if kept as delivered, should be confined to the original manner of administration. If ever so trifling an alteration be made in of the Institutions of God, they continue no longer his, but become ever after the Institutions of him who made the alteration. This makes it of great Importance that we attend, as it were, to the pattern shewed us in the Mount. Seeing that in the days of John, of Christ, and of his Apostles, those who were baptized all went down into the water, came up out of the water-were buried with Christ in Baptism, and arose with him to newness of life; suffer neither the pretence of indecency, the influence of tradition, nor human example to lead you, brethren, to forsake or be ashamed of the Ordinances of Christ.

Again, to keep the Ordinances as they were delivered, it is necessary that we confine them to their original design. To shew our subjection to the King of Zion-To make a public profession that we are dead to sin and alive to God, that the Death and Resurrection of Christ are the grounds of our hope of pardon and eternal life, are the ends to be accmplished by the Ordinances of Christ. If, therefore, we administer Baptism to wash away the sins of the party, or to transform a Sinner into a Saint, we lose both the end that Christ had in view in the Institution, and our own in its administration. And so of the Lord's Supper; when it leads us back to Calvary, to discern the Lord's body as broken for sin, and to behold him as the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world, and thus encourages our reliance on the efficacy of his Death, we keep to the design of the Holy Spirit. But if we convert the bread and wine into a religious dose, that will cleanse us from sin in the same manner as Medicine does from disease, and if we administer it to a dying Sinner to transform him into a Saint, we totally deviate from the design of the Institution.

For your keeping close to the letter and spirit of the divine Insti