In this manner the affairs of the Brethren proceeded, until Luther began the reformation in Germany; at which time it would appear, that a continued series of persecutions had wasted the churches, and nearly exhausted the survivors of their fortitude and patience; insomuch that the Brethren appear to have been meditating a compromise with the Catholic church, under certain modifications; and actually wrote to Luther for his advice on the subject, in the year 1522. Sleidan has furnished us with the substance of the letter which Luther returned in reply, and it is of sufficient interest to merit insertion. He informs them that the name of Bohemians had been some time very odious unto him, so long as he had been ignorant that the Pope was antichrist: but that now, since God had restored the light of the gospel to the world, he was of a far different opinion, and had declared as much in his books; so that at present the Pope and his party were more incensed against him than against them; that his adversaries had many times given it out, that he had removed into Bohemia, which he oftentimes wished to have done; but that lest they should have aspersed his progress, and called it a flight, he had altered his resolution. That, as matters now stood, there were great hopes that the Germans and Bohemians might profess the doctrine of the gospel, and the same religion; that it was not without reason that many were grieved to see them so divided into sects among themselves; but that if they should again make defection to popery, sects would not only not be removed, but even be increased and more diffused, for that sects abounded no where more than among the Romanists; and that the Franciscans alone were an instance of this, who in many things differed among themselves, and yet all lived under the patronage and protection of the church of Rome. That his kingdom was, in some manner, maintained and supported by the dissensions of men; which was the reason also that made him set princes together by the ears, and afford continual matter of quarrelling and contention; that, therefore, they should have special care, lest whilst they endeavour to crush those smaller sects, they fell not into far greater, such as the popish, which were altogether incurable, and from which Germany had been lately delivered. That there was no better way of removing inconveniences, than for the pastors of the churches to preach the pure word of God in sincerity. That if they could not retain the weak and giddy people in their duty, and hinder their desertion, they should at least endeavour to make them stedfast in receiving the Lord's Supper in both kinds, and in preserving a veneration for the memory of John Huss and Jerome of Prague; for that the Pope would labour chiefly to deprive them of these two things; wherefore, if any of them should relent, and give up both to the tyrant, it would be ill done of them. But that though all Bohemia should apostatize, yet he would celebrate and commend the doctrine of Huss to all posterity. That, therefore, he prayed and exhorted them to persevere in that way which they had hitherto defended with the loss of much blood, and with highest resolution, and not cast a reproach upon the flourishing gospel by their defection. That although all things were not established among them, as they ought to be, yet God would not be wanting, in time, to raise up some faithful servants of his, who would reform what was amiss, provided they continued constant, and utterly rejected the uncleanness and impiety of the Romish papacy. * Mr. Robinson thus recapitulates the history of the Bohemian brethren. "Authentic records in France assure us that a people of a certain description were driven from thence in the twelfth century. Bohemian records of equal authenticity inform us that some of the same description arrived in Bohemia * Sleidan's History of the Reformation, p. 53. at the same time, and settled near a hundred miles from Prague, at Saltz and Laun, on the river Eger, just on the borders of the kingdom. Almost two huudred years after, another undoubted record of the same country mentions a people of the same description, some as burnt at Prague, and others as inhabiting the borders of the kingdom; and a hundred and fifty years after that, we find a people of the same description settled by connivance in the metropolis, and in several other parts of the kingdom. About one hundred and twenty years lower we find a people in the same country living under the protection of law on the estate of Prince Lichtenstein exactly like all the former, and about thirty or forty thousand in number. The religious character of this people is so very different from that of all others, that the likeness is not easily mistaken. They had no priests, but taught one another. They had no private property, for they held all things jointly. They executed no offices, and neither exacted nor took oaths. They bore no arms, and rather chose to suffer than resist wrong. They held every thing called religion in the church of Rome in abhorrence, and worshipped God only by adoring his perfections, and endeavouring to imitate his goodness. They thought christianity wanted no comment; and they professed the belief of that by being baptized, and their love to Christ and one another by receiving the Lord's Supper. They aspired at neither wealth nor power, and their plan was industry. We have shewn how highly probable it is that Bohemia afforded them work, wages, and a secure asylum, which were all they wanted. If these be facts, they are facts that do honour to human nature, they exhibit in the great picture of the world a few small figures in a back ground, unstained with the blood, and unruffled with the disputes of their fellow creatures.”* CHAPTER VI. THE HISTORY OF THE WALDENSES CONTINUED FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE FOURTEENTH TO THE CLOSE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. SECTION I. The history of the Waldenses, from the middle of the fourteenth, to the end of the fifteenth century. A. D. 1350— 1500. IN reading the history of every country, says a late noble author, there are certain periods at which the mind naturally pauses, to meditate upon, and consider them, with reference, not only to their immediate effects, but to their more remote consequences. * This remark is as applicable to the history of the christian church as it is to that of any particular country. I have endeavoured to conduct the reader through the mazes and labyrinths of that history, during a period of nearly fourteen hundred years, in which time we have traversed a dreary wilderness, through a dark and benighted season, until we are at length brought to approach the confines of light-the morning of the Reformation. In entering upon the last chapter of this book, it may be no unprofitable employ, therefore, for us to pause and take a review of the existing state of Europe, at this interesting period, in reference to the great concern of religion. The picture, indeed, has been already * Fox's History of James II.-Introduction, p. 5. VOL. II. E e sketched by an able artist, and, probably, I cannot do better than present it to the reader. "The state of religion at this time was truly deplorable. Ecclesiastical government, instead of that evangelical simplicity, and fraternal freedom, which Jesus Christ and his apostles had taught, was now become a spiritual domination under the form of a temporal empire. An innumerable multitude of dignities, titles, rights, honours, privileges, and pre-eminences belonged to it, and were all dependent on a sovereign priest, who, being an absolute monarch, - required every thought to be in subjection to him. The chief ministers of religion were actually become temporal princes; and the high-priest, being absolute sovereign of the ecclesiastical state, had his court and his council, his ambassadors to negociate, and his armies to murder-his flock. The clergy had acquired immense wealth; and, as their chief study was either to collect and to augment their revenues, or to prevent the alienation of their estates, they had constituted numberless spiritual corporations, with powers, rights, statutes, privileges, and officers. functions of the ministry were generally neglected, and, of consequence, gross ignorance prevailed. All ranks of men were extremely depraved in their morals, and the pope's penitentiary had published the price of every crime, as it was rated in the tax-book of the Roman chancery. Marriages, which reason and scripture allowed, the Pope prohibited, and for money dispensed with those which both forbad. Church-benefices were sold to children, and to laymen, who then let them to under tenants, none of whom performed the duty for which the profits were paid: but all having obtained them by simony, spent their lives in fleecing the flock to repay themselves. The power of the pontiff was so great, that he assumed, and what was more astonishing, he was suffered to exercise, a supremacy over many kingdoms. When monarchs gratified his will, he The |