Imatges de pàgina
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sanctify the Lord's day.-(3.) They can never be assured of the presence of church-members.-(4.) Lastly, no public act, whether it be excommunication or any thing else, can be properly performed.

"II. They receive to baptism the seed of those who are not members of the visible church; and yet, after the baptism of these individuals, they manifest no care for them as members.

" III. In the public worship of God they employ their imaginations, and use another form of prayer than that which our Lord Christ commanded in Matthew vi.

"IV. That command of Christ, in Matthew xviii, 15, 16, 17, [Go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone, &c. Tell it unto the Church, &c.] they neither observe themselves, nor suffer it to be properly observed by others.

"V. They worship God in the idol-temples of Antichrist. "VI. Their ministers are maintained in a different manner from that which Christ has appointed, in 1 Cor. ix, 14. [They which preach the gospel, shall live of the gospel.] And the mode of their maintenance is of such a description as would suffice for any sort of a priesthood, whether it were that of the Papists or any other.

"VII. Their Presbytery is annual, and not perpetual.

"VIII. They celebrate marriage in the Church, as though it formed a part of ecclesiastical administration, when its nature has regard only to civil polity.

"IX. In the act of suspending, they use a new censure, which Christ has not prescribed.

"X. They consecrate particular days to the Nativity, the Resurrection, the Ascension of Christ into heaven,' &c.

According to our judgment, and indeed because they are the subjects of debate, they have expressed these Articles without any obscurity in their Confession. For they seem to have carved out the 22d Article of their Confession to the VIth of these; the 23rd, to the VIIth; the 24th, to the Ist and IXth; the 33rd, to the Xth; the 35th and 37th, to the IInd; the 38th, to the Ist; the 39th, to the Vth; and the 45th of the Confession, to the IIIrd of these. But, on collating the Confession and these ten Articles together, it appears very plainly, that the words of the Confession cannot be interpreted, even by men of the greatest sagacity, as conveying a sufficiently explicit intimation of these articles forming the points of controversy between us and them. Besides, these ten Articles themselves require a fuller explanation, that we may understand the meaning which the authors of them intended to convey. But the exVOL. I.

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perience which we ourselves have had, while we were unable to comprehend their meaning without some explanation, will likewise be yours if you wish to understand these Articles, and to deliver your judgment on them: If you resolve to decide about them, and we be made acquainted with your determination, we will transmit to you in writing the oral explanation which we have received from themselves.

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"These are succeeded by some other expressions, in which they seem obliquely to reflect upon us, and only just avoid actually accusing us, by employing the connective particle 'if' and a conditional mode of speech, which it is easy for any prudent person to change into a simple affirmation according to their wishes and design, as on some subjects they do themselves.— They say, that the repose, about which the conversation on both 'sides has arisen, was granted to them by the Magistrates, and not by the Ministers.' This is quite correct : For the Magistrates are the guardians of the public tranquillity; and it is in their power and in that of the laws of our country, to receive whom they please into the city, and under their protection.—But they seem to insinuate, that they have obtained their present state of quiet in opposition to the wishes of the Ministers, who impeded their attempts. But on this point they are seen to bear false witness. For when we had understood that they were come to this city and were collecting a congregation, we considered it to be our duty, not only to warn them against making any attempts here without the leave of the Magistrates, but likewise to give the Magistrates notice of their meetings: This we did, not out of any unkind feeling towards them, but because we were afraid of falling under the just displeasure of the Magistrates if we kept silence. We performed this office of admonition towards them before their departure to Narda; and after their return from that place, we repeated our warning, for which at that time they returned us their thanks. Besides, since they gave no obscure indications of some dissent from our Churches, we thought it appertained to us, to learn from them in what points that difference consisted, and then to ascertain from other persons what judgment was formed of them by the English Church, and by our own [the Dutch and French congregations] in England. Our design in this was, that when we were interrogated about them, as from the manner and usage of our Magistrates we could not be ignorant would be the case, we might be able to give a certain reply. But when we were asked by the Magistrates, (which, if our recollection serve us aright, was occasioned by a certain humble petition, that they offered to the

Magistrates for obtaining leave to hold their public assemblies,) the answer we gave was what we had learned from themselves, and from the letters of others: And we tendered this information with far greater moderation and forbearance than it had been communicated to us.

"They add, that they shewed us their Confession three years ago, nay during the last year, that we might either declare our ' approval of it, or might confute it, if on any point it should 'seem to have swerved from the truth.'-This statement is quite correct: Yet they omit the answer returned by us, which was, ' that it did appear to us unnecessary for them to compose a Con'fession; and that it might be sufficient for their defence if they simply subscribed the Confession of our Churches, and in this "manner testified that doctrinal agreement with us, to which they 'made some pretence in the very petition which they presented to 'the Magistrates.'

"The charge, however, which they immediately subjoin, is much more serious- that some of us have denounced them as heretics and schismatics.'-Of this fact we declare ourselves to be entirely ignorant. We certainly endured, with such a degree of sorrow as was not improper in us, this secession of theirs from our Churches; and we signified the same in their presence, with a fraternal declaration of our sincere regret. But we did not censure their defection with any such ignominious epithets, because we were prohibited solely by our brotherly feeling towards them, and our christian sympathy. Had not these prevented us, more than one occasion would have occurred both of mourning over them, and of making a declaration of a more serious nature against them.

"They proceed to complain of us, that we have received ' certain articles which have been distributed against them, and 'which are full of lies and calumnies; and that, even when ' asked, we have not, to the present day, delivered them a copy.' -The matter stands thus: In consequence of the secession of one John de Lescluse from the Walloon Chureh in this city to the English [Independent] congregation, a letter was addressed to the French Church at London in England, that they would be pleased to give us information, not only about this John de Lescluse, who had been for some time a member of their Church, but likewise about the opinions of those Englishmen who live here in a state of exile. To this request the ministers of that Church willingly acceded. But whatever the information may be which we have received, we have kept it within ourselves: And so far are we from having published it abroad, that we have

not even communicated it to the whole of [the members of] our [two] Presbyteries. It is wonderful, therefore, whence they have been able to ascertain, that the information transmitted to us contains only calumnies and lies. And, since these articles against them have (according to their own assertion) been dispersed abroad, it is no less wonderful, that they have never been able to obtain a copy. They never requested a copy of these articles from us, until we had privately admonished them concerning a particularly grievous calumny, which they had printed and published against us in the Dutch language, in a brief Preface that they prefixed to their Confession: The latter also was so badly translated into Dutch, that its expressions might easily afford occasion to a heresy. To this our admonition they were able to oppose nothing, except a request that we would deliver to them a copy of these articles: And yet their public dispersion is the subject of complaint, through the whole of that brief Preface, and they employ words that are very bitter, and not a little injurious to our reputation. On this we could have entered an action against them for slander, and could have dealt with them according to law, had not our regard for the christian name, and our sympathy for these unhappy persons, commanded us to be content with that brotherly admonition alone.*

"But the corruptions which, they say, still remain in our Churches, are contained in these ten articles, unless perhaps they are acquainted with others. Concerning some of these, there was a discussion between them and us; yet we can with a good conscience declare, that no stain of impurity was objected by them against our Churches, which we did not completely obliterate by the aid of a good and substantial refutation. But this controversy is still undecided, each party, as is usual, pronouncing judgment in favour of itself.

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They repeat the assertion twice or thrice, that they are 'accused, in this country and every where, of heresy, schism, and sedition,' and from this circumstance they wish it to appear, that they have just cause for clearing themselves and publishing their Confession. They do this, however, to no purpose, while they attach any credit to that narrative which they prefix to their Apology as its foundation: This cannot be done legitimately by the mere production of two or three of the populace, who may have charged them with those crimes. They say, that

• What a noble and christian course did these Dutch pastors pursue! What a contrast does it present to what was passing at that very period in the metropolis of England, and to what actually transpired in Amsterdam itself, in less than twenty years afterwards, with regard to the followers of Arminius!

many persons are urgent to learn their reasons for leaving England.' If this has been the case, such persons are only some of the common people, who are not in the discharge of any public functions, and who therefore have neither the authority nor the permission of taking cognizance of their affairs. They might have given a proper answer to these persons in one short sentence, if they had said, We have reasons that are satisfactory to our'selves for our departure out of England; and we are prepared 'to disclose our reasons for it, if it be required of us by those 'to whom its cognizance properly belongs.'

"We have considered it well, to make these brief remarks on those matters which relate to us; so that, after you have ascertained the truth about them, you may with the greater certainty determine, according to your piety and prudence, what ought to be further done by you, for the good of those brethren, and for the cause of the christian church. We beseech the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He would endue you yet more and more with the gifts of his Spirit, and that he would graciously from heaven bless your holy labours to the sanctification of his name and the benefit of his church.-Farewell, most famous man, and our reverend brother in Christ! Continue to love us, who highly esteem you, only in the Lord.-AMSTERDAM, March 3, 1599.

"Yours in the Lord,

"Ministers of the Walloon and Dutch Churches,
"And in the Name of all our Co-pastors,

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The elder Brandt gives the following account of Trelcatius, in his History of the Reformation:

"On the 28th of August, 1602, Luke TRELCATIUS, Professor of Divinity and Minister of the Walloon congregation at Leyden, was hurried out of this world by the plague. He was born at Erin, near Doway, in 1542. Having been maintained at school by his aunt, who was Abbess of a Nunnery in Doway, and being afterwards sent to Paris, he perfected himself in the Languages and Sciences under the famous John Mercer and Peter Ramus, and by these means discovered the superstition and abuses of the Church of Rome. In consequence of this, he lost the accustomed assistance of his friends; but he was compensated for this loss, by some merchants of Lisle, on condition that he would officiate as minister to their persecuted church. Whilst pursuing his studies at Paris and Orleans, a new storm

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