says

people, and be not partakers of her sins, that ye receive not of her plagues; for her sins are come up unto heaven, and the Lord remembereth her iniquity." The apostle the same, "Have no fellowship with unbelievers, for what communion hath righteousness with iniquity, or what agreement hath light with darkness, or what concord hath Christ with the devil, or what part hath a believer with an infidel, or the temple of God with idols? Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you, and be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."

From what has been said, we may learn wherein consisti the perverseness and wickedness of Antichrist, and that God commands his people to separate from him, and to join themselves to the holy city, Jerusalem. And since it hath pleased God to make known these things to us by his servants, believing it to be his revealed will, according to the Holy Scriptures, and admonished thereto by the command of the Lord, we do, both inwardly and outwardly, depart from Antichrist. We hold communion, and maintain unity, one with another, freely and uprightly, having no other object or purpose herein, but purely and singly to please the Lord, and seek the salvation of our own souls. Thus, as the Lord is pleased to enable us, and so far as our understandings are instructed into the path of duty, we attach ourselves to the truth of Christ, and to his church, how mean soever she may appear in the eyes of men. We, therefore, have thought it good to make this declaration of our reasons for departing from Antichrist, as well as to make known what kind of fellowship we have, to the end that, if the Lord be pleased to impart the knowledge of the same truth to others, those that receive it may love it together with us. It is our desire also, that if peradventure, others are not sufficiently enlightened, they may

receive assistance from this service, the Lord succeeding it by his blessing. On the other hand, if any have received more abundantly from him, and in a higher measure, we desire with all humility to be taught, and instructed better, that so we may rectify whatever is amiss.

The Treatise then proceeds to sketch and succinctly to canfute the numerous abominations of popery, and to shew how they all tend to subvert the faith of Christ, and destroy the souls of men; but my limits will only allow of a very abridged view of this masterly statement. "Be it known," say they, "to all in general, and to every one in particular, that these are the reasons of our separation, viz. It is for the truth's sake which we believe-for the knowledge which we have of the only true God, and the unity of the divine essence in three persons, a knowledge which flesh and blood cannot communicate it is for the worship due to that only true God-for the love we owe him above all things for the sanctification and honour which are due to him supremely, and above every name for the lively hopes which we have in God through Christ--for regene nation and the renewing of our minds by faith, hope, and charity for the worthiness of Jesus Christ, with the allsufficiency of his grace and righteousness-for the com munion of saints the remission of sins-an holy conver sation for the sake of a faithful adherence to all the commands in the faith of Christ for true repentance-for final perseverance, and everlasting life.”

"A various and endless idolatry, in opposition. to the express command of God and Christ," say they, "marks the genius of Antichrist-divine worship offered, not to the Creator, but to the creatures, visible and invisible, cor poreal and spiritual, male and female-unto which crea tures they present the worship of faith and hope, works, prayers, pilgrimages, and alms, oblations and sacrifices. of great price honoring and adoring them in various VOL. II. I

ways, by hymns and songs, speeches and solemnities, and celebration of masses, vespers peculiarly appropriated to them, with vigils and feast-days, hoping thereby to obtain that grace which is essentially in God alone, which is meritoriously in Christ, and which is obtained only by faith through the Holy Spirit.

Another feature which characterizes Antichrist is the excessive love of the world, whence springs an endless train of sin and mischief in the church, as well in those that govern as in them that officiate-both of whom sin without control. With this is connected the false hopes which Antichrist holds out of pardon, grace, justification, and everlasting life, as things not to be sought from and obtained in Christ, nor in God through Christ, but in men, living or dead-not by that true and living faith which worketh by love, producing repentance, and influencing the mind to depart from evil, and give itself up to God."

These extracts will give the reader some notion of the manner in which the subject is handled in this Treatise; and it is unnecessary to indulge in more copious extracts. The articles intituled, "The Dream of Purgatory," and "The Invocation of Saints," are discussed with equal judgment; and in the latter, especially, the doctrine of the mediation of Jesus Christ-the perfection and all-sufficiency of his sacrifice for sin-his office as high priest, advocate, and intercessor of his church, are most clearly and nobly maintained, in opposition to the papal worship. and invocation of saints. "Christ alone," say they, " hath the prerogative of interceding for his guilty people, and he obtains whatsoever he requests in behalf of those whom he hath reconciled by his death. He is the only and sole. mediator between God and man, the advocate and intercessor with the Father for sinners; and so sufficient is he, that God the Father denies nothing to any one which he asks in his name. For, being near unto God, and living

of himself, he prays to God continually for us; and “such an high priest became us, who was holy, harmless, separate from sinners, and exalted above the heavens." Hence they argue, that as there is nothing attainable at the hand of God but through Jesus the Mediator, how great is the folly of seeking any other intercessor! He having made expiation for the sins of his people, and having approached unto God for them, where he ever lives to intercede. "No man comes to the Father but by him." Hence he himself says, "Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, I will do it."-"Thou, O Lord, art worthy to receive the book and to unloose the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every tribe and tongue, and hast made us kings and priests unto our God.”*

In the year 1508, about ten years before Luther began the reformation, and during the reign of Ladislaus, king of Hungary and Bohemia, a dreadful persecution broke out against that class of his subjects who held the principles of the Waldenses. The latter, to justify themselves from several charges erroneously imputed to them by their adversaries, drew up an apology addressed to the king, which was still extant in the time of Perrin, and as he has handed down to us the substance of it, I shall here extract a few of the more interesting particulars.

1. It was said of them, by their adversaries, that a man might leave his wife when he pleased. On which they reply, that "matrimony is a bond which nothing but death can dissolve, except the crime of fornication, as saith the Lord Jesus Christ;" and also the apostle Paul, 1 Cor. vii. saith, "Let not the wife depart from her husband, nor the husband put away his wife."

2. A second calumny regards a community of goods and

* Perrin's Histoire des Vaudois, part. ii. book v. ch. 2.

wives to which they reply, "that marriage was of old ordained by God in paradise; that it was designed as an antidote against adultery; and that it is recorded by the apostle, when speaking of this subject, “Let 'every man have his own wife, and every woman her own husband.” Also, that “the husband ought to love his wife, as Christ loveth the church," and that such as are married ought to live holily together with their children in the fear of God. That as for goods, every one hath possessed his own at all times and in all places-they never having had any such intercommunity among them, as tended in the smallest degree to derogate from that lawful propriety which every one has by right to his own estate."

3. Another scandalous charge was, that they worshipped their barbs or pastors. The grossness of this calumny, indeed, sufficiently refuted itself. At one time they are represented as setting aside the necessity of the pastoral office altogether, and making its peculiar duties common to every member-at others they are charged with holding their pastors in such estimation, that they paid them divine honours. The Waldenses refer, on this subject, to their own writings, in which they have shewn that God alone is the object of worship, and that they never intended to give that to any creature. And that as to their pastors, regarding them as those by whom they have heard the word of reconciliation, they consider themselves as bound in conscience and duty to treat them with kindness, and to esteem them in love for their work's sake.

4. They have been accused of maintaining that it was in no instance lawful to swear. In reply to that, they say that "some oaths are certainly lawful, tending both to the honour of God and the edification of their neighbour," instancing Heb. vi. 17. That "men swear by a greater than themselves, and an oath made for confirmation is an end of all strife." They also allege that it was enjoined