doctrines of the heretics and schismatics, always continued to be a member of the church, and lived and died in its communion; nay, according to Mr. Robinson, the followers of Claude did not quit the same communion till fifty years after the death of their founder. Here, then, we have the church · ceasing to be the true church as early as the third century, but again find the true church within its pale in the ninth. It revives; and its boundaries are extended by a dignitary of the apostate and anti-christian establishment, for such it is on the principles of Mr. Jones, and such in a qualified sense we admit it to be. While we notice this singular link in the succession, we applaud the fairness which has recourse to no art to conceal or disguise it. The author states facts correctly, and submits his theory to the judgment of his readers, without the slightest attempt to misrepresent. He relies on his hypothesis:-none are misled; and, in works of this kind, which are not destined for the learned, but for ordinary readers, this good faith cannot be too much commended. The philosophic Priestley, and the fanatics Haweis and Milner, have trodden this ground, but each comes far short of Mr. Jones in ingenuousness, and each more offensibly obtrudes his peculiar notions.

We own that, even from the period fixed by the present author, we entertain little predilection for the prominent characters in the church, and that we are much enamoured with the virtues and simplicity which belonged to the heretics but we anathematize neither the church nor the heretics, although they anathematized each other. We believe, however, that faithful ministers and true followers of Christ belonged to each communion. Claude of Turin appears to have deserved much of the praise which Mr. Robinson and this writer bestow on him. Indeed, he seems to have possessed a very enlightened mind in a very dark age, and to have shunned neither labour nor danger in his incessant attempts to dispel the obscurity and to stem the corruption with which he was surrounded. We coincide with the author in thinking that his name and character are-less known and honored in the present day than they deserve :' but we doubt whether the Waldenses sprang entirely from the preaching of Claude: a contrary supposition is warranted by the history of the times, and better agrees with the hypothesis of the present author. A dissident but continuing conformist rarely has followers beyond his own time; his labours are soon forgotten; and the public, as well as the body to which he belongs, are apt to regard him as an inconsistent or a weak brother. Clarke and Law have left no followers they are only known to curious people to have

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dissented

dissented from the tenets of the church in whose communion they lived and died; while Whiston and Lindsey, by forsaking an establishment whose principles they did not approve, have laid the foundations of new churches which boast of numerous partisans.

Of the Paterines, who enter into the author's succession from the Apostles, he gives an account from the pages of Mr. Robinson's Ecclesiastical Researches: but, though Mr. R. 'possessed great industry and penetration, he was too much under the influence of prejudice, and was too fond of paradoxes, to allow him to be regarded as an authority in these matters. He examined, however, several points of church-history with distinguished acumen; and, looking at them through the medium of his own particular views, he brought to light many things which had not before been noticed: thus enabling persons, who were less under the influence of bias than himself, to form more correct notions of these subjects.

The Waldenses come next to be considered; and the remainder of the volume is devoted to the history of the various denominations under which they appeared, or of the various sects which have been confounded with them. Mr. Jones again follows Mr. Robinson in stating the origin of the name which they bore:

"From the Latin word VALLIS," says he, "came the English word valley, the French and Spanish valle, the Italian, valdesi, the low Dutch valleye, the Provençal vaux, vaudois, the ecclesiastical Valdenses, Ualdenses, and Waldenses. The words simply signify vallies, inhabitants of vallies, and no more. It happened that the inhabitants of the vallies of the Pyrenees did not profess the Catholic faith; it fell out also that the inhabitants of the vallies about the Alps did not embrace it; it happened, moreover, in the ninth century, that one Valdo, a friend and counsellor of Berengarius, and a man of eminence who had many followers, did not approve of the papal discipline and doctrine; and it came to pass about an hundred and thirty years after, that a rich merchant of Lyons, who was called Valdus [or Waldo] because he received his religious notions from the inhabitants of the vallies, openly disavowed the Roman religion, supported many to teach the doctrines believed in the vallies, and became the instrument of the conversion of great numbers; ALL THESE PEOPLE WERE CALLED WALDENses.' This view of the matter, which to myself appears indisputably the true one, is also sanctioned by the authority of their own historians, Perrin, Leger, Sir S. Morland, and Dr. Allix.'

In a note, the author thus observes on the derivation given to the word by Mosheim, who traces it to a kind of slipper which the Waldenses wore as a distinguishing badge of the

sect:

But

But I agree with Mr. Robinson in thinking it very unlikely that people who could not descend from their mountains into neighbouring states, without hazarding their lives, through the furious zeal of inquisitors, should tempt danger by affixing a visible mark on their shoes.'

This objection has great force; while Mr. Robinson's etymology seems to be rational, and is supported by authority.

In his usual animated and concise manner, Mr. Jones next sketches the portrait of Peter Waldo, and gives a summary of his history. He is stated to have been an opulent merchant of Lyons, and the first who furnished his countrymen with the New Testament in their own language. Being obliged to fly from Lyons, he diffused his principles in Dauphiny, Picardy, Germany, and Bohemia; in the latter of which countries he is said to have ended his days. Whether this distinguished person gave his name to the Vaudois, or derived it from them, is a matter not settled: the Catholics contend for the former, while the partisans of these antient sectaries maintain the latter supposition. We wish that we could follow the author into this portion of his labours; in which, with ability and success, he details the sufferings and vindicates the princi ples of what we shall beg leave, with due submission to the Catholics, and to our jure divino Episcopalians, to call an interesting part of the flock of Christ: but we cannot do much more than refer our readers to the volume itself; which, if they have not access to Perrin, will amply repay them for perusing it. A passage, however, respecting the Waldenses of the valley of Fraissiniere, which the author borrows from the incomparable Thuanus, we cannot refrain from transcribing :

"Their cloathing is of the skins of sheep they have no linen. They inhabit seven villages; their houses are constructed of flintstone, with a flat roof covered with mud, which when spoiled or loosened by the rain, they again smooth with a roller. In these they live with their cattle, separated from them, however, by a fence. They have also two caves set apart for particular purposes, in one of which they conceal their cattle, in the other themselves, when hunted by their enemies. They live on milk and venison, being, through constant practice, excellent marksmen. Poor as they are, they are content, and live in a state of seclusion from the rest of mankind. One thing is very remarkable, that persons externally so savage and rude should have so much moral cultivation. They can all read and write. They know French sufficiently for the understanding of the Bible and the singing of Psalms. You can scarcely find a boy among them, who cannot give you an intelligible account of the faith which they profess. In this, indeed, they resemble their brethren of the other vallies. They pay tribute with a good conscience, and the obligation of this duty is peculiarly noted in their confession of faith. If,

by

a

by reason of the civil wars, they are prevented from doing this, they carefully set apart the sum, and at the first opportunity pay it to the King's tax-gatherers."'

In this age of scepticism and refinement, Mr. Jones is not ashamed to profess his adherence to the sombre creed of Calvin: but, while he pays a due tribute to the talents, learning, and indefatigable labours of that great Reformer, and professes a high veneration for his theological system, he enters his protest in glowing terms against that foul deed of persecution which has indelibly stained his reputation. It would be injustice to the present candid and judicious historian to withhold from our readers his statements under this head; and his testimony is of too much weight for us not to avail ourselves of it, at a moment when the professed enemies of the church of Rome are attempting to bring us back to cherish a spirit and maxims which disgraced the worst times of that church. In terms dictated by his own views, Mr. Jones is stating what we believe is strictly correct; namely, that several of the antient sectaries entertained notions with regard to church-government, and many points of doctrine, more consonant to those of our modern Dissenters than such as were supported by Luther and Calvin. Alluding to these Reformers, he says:

But although we may readily conceive the pleasure which it must have yielded the Waldenses, to contemplate the labours of these great men in so glorious a cause, they do not appear to have acted precipi tately in interfering with them, or solliciting a union of churches. The Reformers, with all their zeal and learning, were babes in scriptural knowledge, when compared with the more illiterate Waldensesparticularly in regard to the nature of the kingdom of Christ, and its institutions, laws, and worship in general. Luther, for instance, besides that both he and Calvin always contended for a form of national Christianity-a principle which, the moment it is received into the mind, must necessarily darken it as to the nature of the kingdom of Christ; Luther, with all his zeal against popery, was never able to disentangle his own mind from the inexplicable doctrine of transubstantiation, which he had imbibed in the church of Rome. He, indeed, changed the name, but he retained all the absurdity of the thing. He rejected the word transubstantiation, but insisted strenuously on a consubstantiation—that is, the bread and wine were not changed into the substance of the body and blood of Christ, but the body and blood of Christ were really and actually present in the clements of bread and wine, and were there'fore literally eaten and drank by the communicants! And with respect to Calvin, it is manifest, that the leading, and to me at least, one of the most hateful features, in all the multiform character of popery adhered to him through life-I mean the spirit of persecution. Holding, as I do, many doctrinal sentiments in common with Calvin, I am prompted to speak my opinion of him with the less reserve. İ

regard

regard him as a man whom the Creator had endued with transcendent talents, and have no doubt that he knew what " flesh and blood could never reveal to him." He seems to have been blessed with an extraordinary insight into the economy of human redemption, as revealed in the sacred writings; and his vast and capacious mind took a comprehensive grasp of a system which angels contemplate with wonder and amazement, and in which they study the manifold wisdom of God. No mere man, probably, ever surpassed Calvin, in his indefatigable labours, according to the measure of his bodily strength, in making known to others the unsearchable riches of Christ Jesus, both from the pulpit and the press; and his bitterest enemies cannot deny that the progress of the Reformation was wonderfully accelerated by his means. Yet with all these excellencies, Calvin was a persecutor! He had yet to learn, or at least to practise, that simple lesson of the kingdom of heaven, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them." Calvin could never comprehend, how another man could have as great a right to think wrong, as he himself had to think right! And that it is the sole prerogative of the King of Zion to punish his enemies and the corrupters of his truth. Upon this point his judgment was perverted by the principles of his education, and unhappily for his own character and the cause of truth, his conduct was founded upon this erroneous judgment. His behaviour throughout the whole affair of Servetus is too well known to need any explanation in this place; but I conceive it to be the imperious duty of every friend to toleration and the rights of conscience, to express their marked abhorrence of this part of the character of Calvin. And more especially is it the duty of those, the similarity of whose theological creed to that which he contended for, hath subjected them to the imputation of being his followers. As an obscure and humble individual of that class, I strenuously deprecate every attempt to palliate the enormity of Calvin's conduct in the instance referred to, by pleading, as many have done, that Socinus was as bitter a persecutor as himself. For until it be made apparent to my understanding how two blacks constitute one white, I must regard such pleas as extremely ill judged. The truth is, and it ought to be avowed, that the conduct of Calvin admits of no apology! It was a violent outrage upon the laws of humanity as well as upon the laws of God, and has fixed a stigma upon the character of that otherwise great man, which will never be obliterated. But let not the enemies of the truth from this take occasion, as they too often have done, to identify the spirit of persecution with the doctrines which Calvin held. His conduct, in this particular, has drawn tears of lamentation and regret from the eyes of thousands, since his time, on account of the reproach it has brought upon the way of truth, "causing it to be evil spoken of," and it will continue to suffuse with all the consciousness of shame the cheeks of thousands yet unborn.'

Various well written episodes add greatly to the value of this work; among which deserve to be distinguished the author's accounts of the sacking of Rome by Alaric, the origin and progress of Monkery, and the rise and propagation of Mohammedanism;

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