ing examined these two different accounts of the origin of the Anabaptists with the utmost attention and impartiality, I have found that neith- er of them are exactly conformable to truth.

2. "It may be observed, in the first place, that the Mennonites are not entirely mistaken when they boast of their descent from the Waldenses, Petrobrusians, and other ancient sects, who are usually considered as witnesses of the truth, in the times of universal darkness and superstition. Before the rise of Luther and Calvin, there lay concealed, in almost all the countries of Europe, particularly in Bohemia, Moravia, Switzerland and Germany, many persons who adhered tenaciously to the following doctrine, which the Waldenses, Wickliffites and Hussites had maintained, some in a more disguised, and others in a more open and public manner, viz: 'That the kingdom of Christ, or the visible church he had established upon earth, was an assembly of true and real saints, and ought therefore to be inaccessible to the wicked and unrighteous, and also exempt from all those institutions, which human prudence suggests, to oppose the progress of iniquity, or to correct and reform transgressors.' This maxim is the true source of all the peculiarities that are to be found in the religious doctrine and discipline of the Mennonites; and it is most certain, that the greatest part of these peculiarities were approved of by many of those who, before the dawn of the reformation, entertained the notion already

mentioned, relating to the visible church of Christ. There were, however, different ways of thinking among the different members of this sect, with respect to the methods of attaining to such a perfect church establishment as they had in view. Some, who were of a fanatical complexion on the one hand, and were persuaded, on the other, that such a visible church, as they had modelled out in fancy, could not be realized by the power of man, entertained the pleasing hope, that God, in his own good time, would erect to himself a church exempt from every degree of blemish and impurity, and would set apart, for the execution of this grand design, a certain number of chosen instruments, divinely assisted and prepared for this work, by the extraordinary succours of his Holy Spirit. Others, of a more prudent and rational turn of mind, entertained different views of this matter. They neither expected stupendous miracles nor extraordinary revelations; since they were persuaded that it was possible, by human wisdom, industry and vigilance, to purify the church from the contagion of the wicked, and to restore it to the simplicity of its original constitution, provided that the manners and spirit of the primitive Christians could but recover their lost dignity aud lustre.

3. "The drooping spirits of these people, who had been dispersed through many countries, and persecuted every where with the greatest severity, were revived when they were informed that

Luther, seconded by several persons of eminent piety, had successfully attempted the reformation of the church. Then they spoke with openness and freedom, and the enthusiasm of the fanatical, as well as the prudence of the wise, discovered themselves in their natural colours. Some of them imagined that the time was now come, in which God himself was to dwell with his servants in an extraordinary manner, by celestial succours, and to establish upon carth a kingdom truly spiritual and divine. Others, less sanguine and chimerical in their expectations, flattered themselves, nevertheless, with the fond hopes of the approach of that happy period, in which the restoration of the church, which had been so long expected in vain, was to be accomplished, under the divine protection, by the labours and councils of pious and eminent men.. This sect was soon joined by great numbers, and, as usually happens in sudden revolutions of this nature, by many persons whose characters and capacities were very different, though their views seemed to turn upon the same object. Their progress was rapid; for, in a very short space of time, their discourses, visions and predictions, excited commotions in a great part of Europe, and drew into their communion a prodigious multitude, whose ignorance rendered them easy victims to the illusions of enthusiasm. It is, however, to be observed, that as the leaders of this sect had fallen into that erroneous and chimerical notion,

that the new kingdom of Christ, which they expected, was to be exempt from every kind of vice, and from the smallest degree of imperfection and corruption, they were not satisfied with the plan of reformation proposed by Luther.They looked upon it as much beneath the sublimity of their views, and consequently undertook a more perfect reformation-or, to express more properly their visionary enterprise, they proposed to found a new church, entirely spiritual, and truly divine." Now,

When we observe, with reflecting minds, the history and condition of the true church of Christ, from the days of the Apostles down to the time of the Reformation, and consider attentively the many bloody persecutions, and the sufferings which its truest members had to endure, and then weigh, with attention and candour, the contents of the foregoing paragraphs, may we not reasonably infer, That the witnesses of the truth abovementioned, who were composed of different names and sects, such as Waldenses, Albigenses, Petrobrusians, and many others who adhered to the religious doctrines which these advanced, and who were dispersed and lay concealed in almost all the countries of Europe, that these were the same denominations of Christians with those of a yet more ancient date, who resided in the valleys of Piedmont, or even as ancient as those stated by the authors of note, mentioned by that bloody inquisitor, Reinerus Sacco, whose antiquity remount to

the apostolic age? For it is evident that the church of Christ, which he builded, and against which the gates of hell shall not prevail, was at no time left destitute of its true witnesses and holy members. Now, as these witnesses of the truth, and members of the true church of Christ, were persecuted with the greatest seve rity by that anti-christian power, the church of Rome, and were dispersed in different places and countries, to which they had to flee for safety, and thus lay, as it were, concealed, till the dawn of the reformation-it is no wonder, then, that at this time the drooping spirits of these persecuted sufferers revived, when they were informed that Luther, seconded by several persons of eminent piety, had successfully attempted the reformation of the church. Animated with the lively hopes of accomplishing a reforination in the church, and of seeing better times, well might they speak with openness and freedom-start up at the same time in the different countries to which they had fled, according to the word of their Lord and Master, "When they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another." (Matth. 10: 23.)-assume their Christian liberty, and evince their sincerity by aiding in the reformation. But as their doctrine, in some points, differed from that of others, particularly in that they protested against infant baptism, they were consequently denominated Anabaptists.

It is beyond a doubt, that the Anabaptists