"The reason assigned for this exposure is, because the Romanists affirm, that, as soon as a Protestant dies, satan carries him off soul and body. The Vaudois, therefore, wish to prove to all persons of common sense the malicious falsehood of their enemies, as far at least as it relates to the body. There is always an exhortation at the grave, to the bystanders."

CHURCH GOVERNMENT.

The ancient Waldenses were episcopalians; but their present church is governed by a moderator, who is a dean, and presides over their Triennial Synod, to which all ecclesiastical arrangements are submitted, for confirmation or other decision. He has an assistant and a secretary under him; and each church has a deacon, who attends to charitable objects, and likewise several elders; but their discipline is not so strict as formerly. It is, however, worthy of remark, that a pastoral visitation of each parish takes place once a year, when all the parishioners assemble at an appointed spot in the district or quarter, of which we are told there are ten in La Tour; on which occasion prayer and praise are offered, and an exhortation is given to the assembled families, who are afterwards made acquainted with the pecuniary and other succours received from England and elsewhere.

During the fine winter months, schools are established in each district, but the parochial schools continue throughout the year, and to these a Sunday-school has been recently added. One Bible and one Tract Society have existed among them for several years, and the word of life is rapidly spreading by means of both, but the use of printing is interdicted by their civil government.

COUNTRY WHERE FOUND.

Those professing the same pure doctrines with the modern Waldenses were formerly spread far and wide. Besides Piedmont, they flourished in Lombardy, Tuscany, the Genoese territory, Calabria, &c. and are said to have amounted in the year 1530, throughout Europe, to above 800,000 souls. The remnant at this day does not probably exceed 18,000, who are confined to the three valleys of Lucerne, Perouse, and St. Martin, which are left to them rather as places of exile than of enjoyment, and where they have twenty-six churches and chapels, and only thirteen pastors. The three vales comprise a space about twenty-four square French leagues, three-fourths of which consist of arid and barren soil. Beyond these limits, no Vaudois can legally possess land, or fix his habitation.

MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS.

The manners of the Waldenses are in general very correct, though of late injured by their necessary communication with the French. Their great amusements are said to be, firing at a mark, and dancing; of which last exercise they are so foud, that, though it was prohibited by the synod of 1711, the prohibition was not attended to.

I conclude this article in the words of the excellent Milner : “The Waldenses are the middle link which connects the primitive Christians and fathers with the Reformed; and by their means the proof is completely established, that salvation by the grace of Christ, felt in the heart and expressed in the life by the power of the Holy Ghost, has ever existed from the time of the Apostles till this day; and that it is a doctrine marked by the cross, and distinct from all that religion of mere form or convenience, or of human invention, which calls itself Christian, but which wants the Spirit of Christ"

"History of the Church of Christ," vol. iii. p. ult. See in that vol., from p. 437 to the end, much valuable information respecting the Waldensian Christians, And, for a more full and authentic statement of their doctrines, see their several confessions of faith, aud particularly" The Confession of Bohemia," or, as it is otherwise called, "of the Waldenses," published in 1573.

PROTESTANTISM, AND PROTESTANTS.

NAME.

THE Emperor Charles V. called a diet at Spire, in 1529, to request aid from the German princes against the Turks, and to devise the most effectual means for allaying the religious disputes which then raged in consequence of Luther's opposition to the established religion. In this diet it was decreed, by Ferdinand Archduke of Austria, and other Popish princes, that, in the countries which had embraced the new religion, it should be lawful to continue in it till the meeting of a Council; but that no Roman Catholic' should be allowed to turn Lutheran; and that the reformers should deliver nothing in their sermons contrary to the received doctrine of the church.

Against this decree six Lutheran princes (viz. John and George, the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg; Ernest and Francis, the two Dukes of Lunenburg; the Landgrave of Hesse; and the Prince of Anhalt), with the deputies of thirteen imperial towns (viz. Strasburg, Ulm, Nuremberg, Constance, Rottingen, Windseim, Memmingen, Nortlingen, Lindau, Kempten, Heilbron, Wissemburg, and St. Gall), formally and solemnly protested, and declared that they appealed to a General Council; and hence the name of Protestants, by which the followers of Luther have ever since been known. Nor was it confined to them; for it soon after included the Calvinists, and has now of a long time been applied indiscriminately to all the churches, sects, and denominations, in whatever country they may be found, which have separated from the see of Rome;-and these form the

THIRD GRAND DIVISION OF CHRISTIANS.

RISE, PROGRESS, &c.

The important period which was justly distinguished by the reformation of our religion, is not to be considered as the

period when the principles then embraced first made their appearance. No; long, very long, had purity of doctrine and discipline slept beneath the overloaded ornaments and corruptions of the Church of Rome; but there was a time when that Church herself might have boasted of her primitive purity and freedom from error, with other churches of Christ, as far as that expression is compatible with human infirmity: and there never was a time, from the date of her first departure from sound principles, wherein there were not witnesses to the truth; or some, more or less, who withstood the corruptions and depravity of their respective ages, maintained orthodox and primitive doctrine, and exhibited in their lives the genuine fruits of our most holy faith. The early spirit of reform may be traced through the dark ages, as manifested first by Claudius of Turin, in the 9th century; and then by certain churches of Italy and Gaul, which rejected some of the tenets of Popery; afterwards by the Albigenses and Waldenses, in the valleys of Piedmont; by the Lollards, or followers of Wickliffe, in England; the Hussites in Germany; the Tramontanes in Italy; and the Bohemians, the Lombards, the Turlupins, &c.*

For the rise of the Reformed Religion in 1517, and its history, till the diet of Spire in 1529, see the article "GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH," below.

At the diet of Augsburg, in the following year (1530), a clear statement of the reformed faith, drawn up by Luther and Melancthon, was presented by the Elector of Saxony to Charles V. in behalf of the Protestant members of the empire. It obtained the name of the Confession of Augsburg, and was received as the standard of the Protestant faith in Germany. The same, or next year, the Protestant princes made the famous league of Smalcald, for the mutual defence of their religion; which obliged the Emperor to grant the Lutherans a toleration, till the differences in religion should be settled in a Council, which he engaged himself to call in six months. The Protestant party gaining strength every day, instead of being viewed only as a religious sect, as hitherto, soon became to be considered as a political body of no small consequence; and having refused the bull for convening a Council at Mantua, Charles summoned a General Diet at Ratisbon, where a scheme

* See Mr. (now Bishop) Van Mildert's eighth Sermon at Boyle's Lecture. --Those of the Waldenses who fled into the Netherlands " obtained a new appellation, viz. Turilupins, i. e. the wolves of Turin."-Jones's History of the Waldenses," p. 450. See various other names that were given them by their enemies, in Milner's "History of the Church,” vol. iii. p. 446-7.

66

of religion, for reconciling the two parties, was examined and proposed, but without effect. At length, in 1545, the famous Council of Trent was opened, for accommodating the differences in religion; but the Protestants refused to attend or obey a council convoked in the name and by the authority of the pope, and governed by his legates.

The following year death interrupted the career of Luther's usefulness; but that event, however discouraging to his friends and followers, occasioned no interruption to the work of reformation which he had the honour to begin: for though Charles, having concluded a treaty with the pope for the destruction of the reformed religion and its adherents, assembled troops on all sides, and was at first successful in the field, on Maurice Elector of Saxony's appearing in arms against him, with a force which he was wholly unprepared to resist, he was checked in his career; and the consequences were, the "Religious Peace," concluded at Passau, in Bavaria, in 1552, and the complete security of religious freedom to the Protestant States in Germany, which they have enjoyed ever since.

During the course of these events—events in the accomplishment of which the most discordant passions, the most dissimilar talents, and interests the most at variance, were made to coalesce-the Reformed opinions were extending their influence in various other countries, and diffusing themselves with the rapidity of an inundation. Long before this time, they were established at Embden in East Friesland, and in Sweden; and had likewise obtained perfect toleration in Denmark, under Christian II., where they were early adopted as the doctrines of the national church.

They were also daily gaining converts in other kingdoms of Europe, and acquired many friends even in Italy.

They privately diffused themselves in Spain, notwithstanding the crowded dungeons and busy flames of the Inquisition*; while in France they had more ample success, where their abettors, who are numerous to this day, have long been contemptuously termed Huguenots +.

They were introduced into Switzerland by Zuinglius, and

* See Limborch's or Dr. Chandler's "History of the Inquisition."

+ This appellation was given to the Protestants in France in 1560, and is supposed by some to be derived from a gate in Tours, called Hugon, where they first assembled. According to others, the name is taken from the first words of their original Protest, or confession of faith, “Huc nos venimus," &c.-See other supposed derivations of it in Dr. M'Laine's note (d) to Mosheim's "Eccles. Hist." vol. iv. p. 384. ed. 1806.