CENT. ECT. III.

XVI.

PART II.

this examination turned to their advantage; for neither Luther nor his disciples found any thing, either in their doctrine or discipline, that was, in any great measure, liable to censure; and though he could not approve in every particular, of their Confession of Faith, which they submitted to his judgment, yet he looked upon it as an object of toleration and indulgence [h]. Nevertheless, the death of Luther, and the expulsion of these Brethren from their country in the year 1547, gave a new turn to their religious connections; and great numbers of them, more especially of those who retired into Poland, embraced the religious sentiments and discipline of the Reformed. The attachment of the Bohemians to the Lutherans seemed, indeed, to be revived by the Convention of Sendomir, already mentioned; but as the articles of union, that were drawn up in that assembly, lost all their force and authority in a little time, the Bohemians, by degrees, entered one and all into the communion of the Swiss church [i]. This union was at first formed on the express condition, that the two churches should continue to be governed by their respective laws and institutions, and should have separate places of public worship; but in the following cen tury, all remains of dissension were removed in the synods held at Astrog in the year 1620 and 1627, and the two congregations were formed into one, under the title of The Church of the Dd 4 United

[h] See a German work of Carpzovius, entitled, Nachricht vonden Bohmischen Brudern, p. 46. as also Jo. Chr, Kocheri Bibliotheca Theologia Symbolicæ, p. 76.

[2] Besides Comenius, Camerarius, and Lasitius, who have written professedly the History of the Bohemian Brethren, see Loscherii Historia Motuum, part III. lib. v. cap. vi. p. 99.Salig. Hist. Confession. Aug. tom. ii. lib. vi. cap. iii. p. 520.Ad. Regenvolscii Hist. Eccles, Sclavonicæ, lib. i. cap. xiii.

xiv, xv.

CENT. United Brethren. In this coalition the reconciled XVI. parties shewed to each other reciprocal marks of PART II. toleration and indulgence; for the external form

SECT. III.

The Wal

denses,

Hungari

vanians.

of the church was modelled after the discipline of the Bohemian Brethren, and the articles of faith were taken from the creed of the Calvinists [k]. XXV. The descendants of the Waldenses, who lived shut up in the vallies of Piedmont, were naans, and turally led, by their situation in the neighbour. Transyl- hood of the French, and of the Republic of Geneva, to embrace the doctrines and rites of the Reformed church. So far down, however, as the year 1630, they retained a considerable part of their ancient discipline and tenets; but the plague that broke out that year having destroyed the greatest part of this unhappy people, and among the rest a considerable number of their pastors and clergy, they addressed themselves to the French churches for spiritual succour; and the new doctors, sent from thence, made several changes in the discipline and doctrine of the Waldenses, and rendered them conformable, in every respect, with those of the protestant churches in France [1].

The Hungarians and Transylvanians were engaged to renounce the errors and superstitions of the church of Rome by the writings of Luther, and the ministry of his disciples. But some time after Matthias Deyay, and other doctors, began to introduce in a secret manner, among these nations, the doctrines of the Swiss churches in relation to the eucharist, as also their principles of ecclesiastical government. This doctrine and these principles, were propagated in a more open and

[k] Regenvolcius, loc. citat. lib. i. cap. xiv. p. 120. [1] Leger, Histoire Generale des Eglises Vaudoises, livr. i, chap. xxxiii. p. 205, 206.-Abr. Sculetti Annales Renovati Evangelii, p. 294.-Dan, Gerdes, Hist. Renovati Evangelii, tom. ii. p. 401.

XVI. SECT. III.

PART II.

and public manner towards the year 1550, by CENT. Szegedin and other Calvinist teachers, whose ministry was attended with remarkable success. This change was followed by the same dissensions that had broke out in other countries on like occasions; and these dissensions grew into an open schism among the friends of the Reformation in these provinces, which the lapse of time has rather confirmed than diminished [m].

theran

braced Cal

XXVI. After the solemn publication of the of the Lufamous Form of Concord, of which an account has churches been already given, many German churches, of that emthe Lutheran communion, dissolved their original raced. bonds, and embraced the doctrine and discipline of Calvin. Among these we may place the churches of Nassau, Hanau, and Isenburg, with several others of less note. In the year, 1595, the princes of Anhalt, influenced by the counsels of Wolfgang Amlingius, renounced also the profession of Lutheranism, and introduced into their dominions the religious tenets and rites of Geneva; this revolution, however, produced a long and warm controversy between the Lutherans and the Inhabitants of the principality [n]. The doctrines

of

[m] Pauli Debrezeni Historia Eccles. Reform. in Hungar. et Transylvan. lib. ii, p. 64. 72. 98. Unschuld. Nachrict. A. 1738. p. 1076.-Georg. Haneri Historia Eccles. Transylv. published at Francfort in 12mo, in the year 1694.

[n] See for an account of this matter the German work of Bechman, which is thus entitled Histoire des Hause Anhalt, vol. ii. p. 133. and that of Kraft, which bears the title of Ausferliche Historie von dem Exorcismo, p. 428. 497. Though the princes professed Calvinism, and introduced Calvinist ministers in all the churches, where they had the right of patronage, yet the people were left free in their choice; and the noblemen and their vassals, that were attached to Lutheranism, had secured to them the unrestrained exercise of their religion. By virtue of a convention made in 1679, the Lutherans were permitted to erect new churches. The Zerbst line, with the greatest part of its subjects, profess Lutheranism; but the three other lines, with their respective territories, are Calvinists.

PART II.

CENT. of the Calvinist or Reformed church, more espe XVI. cially those that relate to the eucharist, were also SECT. IIL introduced into Denmark, towards the conclusion of this century; for, in this kingdom, the disciples and votaries of Melancthon, who had always discovered a strong propensity to a union between the protestant churches, were extremely numerous, and they had at their head Nicholas Hemmingius, a man eminent for his piety and learning. But the views of this divine, and the schemes of his party, being discovered much sooner than they expected, by the vigilant defenders of the Lutheran cause, their plans were disconcerted [0], and the progress of Calvinism was successfully opposed by the Lutheran ministers, seconded by the countenance and authority of the sovereign [p].

The diver

various

branches

formed church.

XXVII. It must not, however, be imagined, sity that that the different nations that embraced the reigned among the communion of the Calvinist church, adopted, at the same time, without exception, all its tenets of the Re- rites, and institutions. This universal conformity was, indeed, ardently desired by the Helvetic doctors; but their desires, in this respect, were far from being accomplished. The English, as is sufficiently known, rejected the forms of ecclesiastical government and religious worship that were adopted by the other Reformed churches, and could not be persuaded to receive, as public and national articles of faith, the doctrines that were propagated in Switzerland, in relation to the sacrament

[o] Erici Pontoppidani Annal. Ecclesiæ Danica Diplomatici, tom. iii. P. 57.

[p] That is, (for our author consistently with truth can mean no more) the designs, that were formed to render Calvinism the national and established religion, proved abor tive. It is certain, however, that Calvinism made a very considerable progress in Denmark, and has still a great number of votaries in that kingdom.

XVI. SECT. III.

PART II.

sacrament of the Lord's Supper and the Divine CENT. decrees [9]. The protestants in Holland, Bremen, Poland, Hungary, and the Palatinate, followed, indeed, the French and Helvetic churches in their sentiments concerning the eucharist, in the simplicity of their worship, and in their principles of ecclesiastical polity; but not in their notions of predestination, which intricate doctrine they left undefined, and submitted to the free examination and private judgment of every individual [r]. It may farther be affirmed, that, be

fore

[ ] It is true indeed, that the doctrine of Zuingle, who represented the bread and wine as nothing more than the external signs of the death of Christ, was not adopted by the church of England; but the doctrine of Calvin was embraced by that church, and is plainly taught in the xxviiith article of its faith. As to what relates to the doctrine of the divine decrees, Dr. Mosheim is equally mistaken: The xviith article of the church of England is, as bishop Burnet candidly acknowledges, framed according to St. Augustin's doctrine which scarcely differs at all from that of Calvin; and though it be expressed with a certain latitude that renders it susceptible of a mitigated interpretation, yet it is very probable, that those who penned it were patrons of the doctrine of Absolute Decrees. The very cautions, that are subjoined to this article, intimate, that Calvinism was what it was meant to establish. It is certain, that the Calvinistical doctrine of predestination prevailed among the first English Reformers, the greatest part of whom were, at least, Sublapsarians; in the reign of queen Elizabeth this doctrine was predominant, but after that period it lost ground imperceptibly, and was renounced by the church of England in the reign of king Charles I. Some members of that church still adhered, nevertheless, to the tenets of Calvin, and maintained, not only that the thirty-nine articles were Calvinistical, but also affirmed that they were not susceptible of being interpreted in that latitude for which the Arminians contended. These episcopal votaries of Calvinism were called Doctrinal Puritans. See Burnet's Exposition of the Seventeenth Article, &c. and Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. i. P. 579.

[r] See Grotii Apologet. eorum, qui Hollandice ante mutationem, A. 1618, præfuerunt, cap. iii. p. 54. Ed. Paris. 1640, in 12mo,