rately distinguishes the Valdenses from the Albigenses *. This distinction is systematically * Dr. M'Crie has fallen into the same error: and, as his Work on the Reformation in Italy relates to a comparatively modern period, most probably his mistake has originated from the same cause. In the twelfth century, says he, those Christians, known in History, under the SEVERAL names of Vaudois, Waldenses, and Albigenses, as the hereditary witnesses for the truth against the corruptions of Rome, penetrated through the Alps into Italy. Hist. of the Reformat. in Italy, chap. i. p. 4. If I rightly understand Dr. M'Crie, this passage involves yet another mistake. His language would imply; that the Vaudois or Albigenses sprang up in France, and thence migrated into Italy. Accordingly, he adds, in immediate consecution; As early as the year 1180, they had established themselves in Lombardy and Puglia, where they received frequent visits from their brethren in other countries. Whereas, in regard to the Albigenses (as they came finally to be denominated in France from the town of Albi), the course of their migration was precisely the reverse: and they had appeared in Italy at least as early as the very beginning of the eleventh century; for an emissary of theirs from Lombardy had made numerous and important converts at Orleans, both laic and clerical, in the year 1017. While, in regard to the entirely distinct Vaudois or Valdenses, the disciples of Peter the Valdo did indeed spring up in France and were themselves native Frenchmen but the proper Vaudois or Valdenses, one of whom : preserved throughout the whole of the present Work. Sherburn-House, May 26, 1836. was the Lyonese Peter, were always, from the most remote antiquity, Italians of Piedmont; though some of them, from the circumstance of their dwelling also in the Valleys on the western side of the Cottian Alps, might be deemed inhabitants of France. In consequence of this error (which, however, so far as the Vaudois are concerned, he afterward corrects, or apparently corrects, by stating that they had for centuries fixed their residence in Piedmont), he has fallen, I apprehend, into yet another error. He ascribes the rapid spread of the Reformation of the sixteenth century throughout the Milanese, among other causes, to the circumstance of its bordering upon Piedmont, the ancient land of the Vaudois. Ibid. chap. iii. p. 128, 129. The real cause was: that the Milanese had been prepared for the doctrines of the Gospel by the numerous Churches of the Paterines or Albigenses, which in the middle ages had been planted through the whole of Lombardy, and which (to the amount of sixteen, as Reinerius testifies) formed a chain that extended from Bulgaria to the Atlantic. I may add, that Dr. M'Crie similarly confounds the Valdenses and the Albigenses in his later Work on the Reformation in Spain, chap. i. p. 28. CONTENTS. Two prophetic promises, made by Christ to his Church, furnish, to the members of the Reformed Churches, matter of serious I. The first prophetic promise is one of Visible Ecclesiastical 1. The former clause of this promise imports: that Christ would found his Church upon the complex doctrine of his Human Messiahship and his Proper Divinity. p. 2. 2. The latter clause of the same promise imports: that, To the end of time, Christ will always have a Visible II. The second prophetic promise is one of Ecclesiastical 1. Advancing beyond the first promise, this second promise announces: that Christ would so be present with the Apostles and their successors, that some Visible Church or Churches would always faithfully adhere to the essential doctrines of Christianity, re- jecting those tenets and practices which stand opposed 2. That such is the true interpretation of the second prophetic promise, is evinced, both from matter of fact and from the concurrent voice of prophecy. p. 10. The prophetic promises of Christ impose, both upon the Romanist and upon the Reformed, the necessity of shewing a Perpetuity of sound Doctrine and sound Practice, in some Visible Church or Churches, from the primitive ages down to the present. p. 19. I. On this point, the Romanist, deeming it his strong-hold, usually displays much triumphant confidence. p. 19. 1. The case of Perpetuity and Purity, as made out by the Romanist on behalf of the Church of Rome. p. 19. 2. To the Reformed, the case, as made out by the Romanist for his own Church, appears in no better light II. As the Reformed rejects the case made out by the Romanist, he is bound to make out a case of his own on behalf of his own Church. p. 28. 1. The call is answered by the adduction of the two an- cient Churches of Aquitaine and Piedmont. p. 28. 2. The nature of the objection propounded by Bossuet : THE PAULICIANS OF ARMENIA. p. 31. The Paulicians of Armenia were the theological ancestors of the Albigenses of France. Hence we must begin with inquiring into the rise and doctrinal system of the Paulicians. p. 31. 1. The character and conduct and principles of himself 2. The persecution of the Paulicians, and the martyrdom of Constantine-Sylvanus. p. 43. II. An account of Simeon or Titus. p. 45. III. An account of Sergius or Tychicus. p. 48. IV. An account of the Scriptures as they were possessed by |