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long survived him, and Arnoldist, became another name for a friend of liberty and religion.

The wide extent to which sentiments similar to those of Arnold of Brescia had spread, may be learned from a celebrated letter, which was written in the year 1140, and which Dr. Allix has translated. He says, "Mabillon has preserved the letter of Evervinus Præpositus, of Steinfield, in the diocess of Cologne. Evervinus first describes a class manichæans; then another order of heretics. These latter, he charges with denying, 1st, that the body of Christ is made on the altar, 2d, asserting that the apostolical dignity had been lost by the wickedness of the priesthood, 3d, denying the sacraments, except baptism, which they give only to those who are come of age, alleging that place of the gospel, "whosoever believeth and is baptized shall be saved; "4th, rejecting the mediation of saints, 5th, the virtue of fasting, 6th, denying the doctrine of Purgatory, and, 7th, asserting this great principle, "all other things observed in the church, which have not been established by Christ himself or his Apostles, they call superstitious." After calling on St. Bernard to aid

* Page 145.

+ This letter of Evervinus, may be found, in the Latin language, in Gieseler's Ecclesiastical History, vol. II, p. 360,

in resisting these mischievous principles, he says, "I let you know also, that those of them who have returned to our church, told us, that they had great numbers of their persuasion scattered almost every where, and that amongst them, were many of our clergy and monks; and as for those who were burnt, they in the defence they made for themselves, told us, that this their heresy, had been concealed from the times of the martyrs until now, and that it had been preserved in Greece and some other countries."* Who is not struck with admiration at the thought, that the hand of Providence should have brought down to these days, so clear a testimony to the characters of those faithful ones, who, in ages of the grossest superstition, never bowed their knees at the shrines of papal idolatry? Here we have the testimony of a learned ecclesiastic, given seven centuries ago, that men, who, we know, if they were now living would be called by our name, declared in

note. In his text, however, Gieseler does not, like Allix, mark the distinction which Evervinus makes between these two orders of heretics. The latter class were Orthodox Baptists. When it is said, that they denied all the sacraments except baptism, it must be remembered that the catholics have seven sacraments, and they considered a man as giving up the Lord's Supper, if he denied transubstantiation.

* Dr. Allix, p. 143. Lond. Ed. 1690.

their own behalf with their dying breath, that they had broached no innovation, but held those principles which had been handed down from the age of primitive christianity. Here the persecutors, the apostates, and the martyrs, unite in leaving a memorial in honor of "a great cloud of witnesses, of whom the world was not worthy."

From facts like these, it is clear that those have reason for their opinion, who say that the Baptists may trace the history of their sentiments through the old Waldensian churches. Mosheim, who was far from having any bias in favor of such a position, justly observes, that before the rise of Luther and Calvin, there lay concealed in almost all the countries of Europe, persons who adhered tenaciously to the principles of the modern Dutch Baptists.* The various representations given of the Waldenses by different writers, may be easily accounted for, if we remember that perfect liberty of conscience was cherished amongst them, that they worshipped not the idol of uniformity, and that they furnished a shelter, as far as they could, for all dissenters who were persecuted by the established church.† Their opponents not only

* Ecc'l History, Cent. XVI, sect. III, P. II, c. 3, § 2. + Robinson's Ecclesiastical Researches, P. 440.

followed them with menaces and groundless calumnies, but distorted the confessions which they made under the influence of intimidation. But the most learned historians of Europe are setting this point in a clearer light; and touching it, I quote a name of high authority when I mention that of Starck, court preacher at Darmstadt, who says in his history of baptism, that “if instead of looking only at particular confessions, we follow out their general mode of thinking, we find that they not only rejected infant baptism, but rebaptized those who passed from the Catholic church to them, and that although the anabaptists held a connexion with Munzer, Storck, Grebel, Stubner, and Keller, the WALDENSES WERE THEIR PREDECESSORS."

A century before Arnold of Brescia, Berengarius, Archdeacon of Angiers, and Bruno, his Bishop, made some attempts at reformation. It is evident that their efforts excited much attention, and spread a feeling of alarm amongst the clergy. The Bishop of Liege wrote to Henry I, King of France, saying, "there is a report come out of France, and which goes through all Germany, that these two do maintain that the Lord's body (the host) is not the body, but a

* Starck's History of Baptism, p. 115, 118. Leipsic, 1789.

shadow or figure of the Lord's body ;* and that they do disannul lawful marriages, and as far as in them lies, overthrow the baptism of infants."† About the same time, too, it is evident that the spirit of nonconformity was abroad in Italy, for according to Dr. Allix, D'Achery informs us, that in 1025, a Synod was held at Arras, by Gerard, Bishop of Cambray and Arras, to examine some disciples of Gundulphus, whose doctrines had spread into the diocess of Liege and Cambray, in the low countries. It appears that they rejected all authority in religion except that of Christ and the Apostles, and all the peculiarities of the Romish church. The Bishop said, the reason these men gave for rejecting infant baptism was this: "Because to an infant that neither wills nor runs, that knows nothing of faith, is ignorant of its own salvation and welfare, in whom there can be no desire of regeneration or confession, the will, faith and confession of another, seem not in the least to appertain."‡ Such a mode of reasoning on the ground of religious faith, apart from the authority of the

* Luther held to consubstantiation. He therefore regarded Berengarius as a heretic, while the disciples of Calvin praised him.-Gieseler's Ecc'l Hist. II, p. 111.

+ Wall, II, 216. Allix, 123.

The great stress laid by the Romanists on baptism, prob. ably led some of them to disregard it entirely. See Allix, 95.

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