and English puritans; and thus, though episcopacy were the legal establishment, the reformation of Ireland had chiefly a presbyterian foundation. It being thought advisable that, in imitation of other churches, some articles of their common faith should be framed, and legally sanctioned, it was moved in convocation to adopt the articles of the English church: but the convocation came to a resolution of forming a confession of their own. Such a confession was accordingly framed by Dr. James Usher, then provost of Dublin College, and afterwards lord primate, and approved by the houses of convocation. It passed both houses of parliament; and, being sent over to the English court, was approved in council, and ratified in the king's name, by the lord-lieutenant Chichester. The title of it is, "Articles of Religion agreed upon by the archbishops and bishops and the rest of the clergy in Ireland, in the convocation holden at Dublin, in the year of our Lord 1615, for the avoiding of diversities of opinions and the establishing of consent touching the true religion." This confession continued in force till the year 1634, when, by the influence of archbishop Laud, and the earl of Strafford, it was set aside, and the thirtynine articles established in its place.

CHAP. XV.

THE CONFESSION OF FAITH OF THE ANABAPTISTS.

MOSHEIM's elaborate, though concise account of the Anabaptists, (Cent. XIII. Pars. II. ch. 3), is, perhaps, the best, which has yet appeared of this important denomination of christians. He mentions in it, that they are deducible from the waldenses, petrobussians and other ancient sects.

Before," (to use his own words, Cent. XVI. c. III. sect. 2.), "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 doctrines, 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 on 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 transgressions. This maxim is the true source of all the peculiarities, that are to be found in the religious doctrine and discipline of the anabaptists, and it is most certain, that the greatest

of those, who before the dawn of the reformation, entertained the notion, already mentioned, relating to the visible church of Christ." Persons of this sect were not likely to be satisfied with the system of reformation introduced by Luther. They looked upon it as much below the sublimity of their views, and proposed to found a new church, entirely spiritual and truly divine.

The most remarkable of their religious ritual related to the sacrament of baptism; they contended that it ought to be administered only to persons grown up to years of understanding, and should be performed, not by sprinkling them with water, but by dipping them into it. For this reason, they condemned the baptism of infants, and rebaptised all, whom they admitted into their society. This gave them the name of Anabaptists.

In this ceremony, there was nothing inconsistent with the order of civil society or civil government: but they held tenets absolutely incompatible with either," that all things ought to be in common among the faithful; that taking interest for the loan of money, tythes and tribute ought to be entirely abolished, that, in the kingdom of Christ, civil magistrates were absolutely useless, and that God still continued to reveal his will to chosen persons by dreams and visions." (Mosheim, Cent. XVI. c. III. sect. 5.)

At first they contented themselves with employing the arts of persuasion, to propagate their

doctrines; but they soon had recourse to violence, and involved many parts of Switzerland, Holland, and Germany, in tumult and violence. Their zeal frequently amounted to frenzy; and many sovereign states enacted severe edicts against them, and strove to repress them by capital punishments: but, for a long time, the attempt was fruitless; the unhappy objects of the edicts preferring death, in its most terrible forms, to a retractation of their errors. The scenes, which were were exhibited at Munster, are generally known. In that city, and many other parts of Germany and Holland, they committed, to use the language of Mosheim, "all the enormous crimes and ridiculous follies, which the most perverse and infernal imagination could suggest." But the recapture of the city of Munster, the painful and ignominious death, inflicted on John Bockhold, the mock monarch of it, and the sanguinary persecutions, in almost every part of Europe, of these fanatics, greatly lessened their numbers, and introduced a better spirit among the survivors.

Two things, however, should not be forgotten. In the persecution of the anabaptists religious principles were too often received as evidence of the actual commission of crime; and, even when the ferment was at its utmost height, there were not wanting among them, many, who, while they' admitted the religious tenets, condemned and deplored the disorganising principles and rebellious

Among these, was the celebrated Simon Menno, a roman-catholic priest, who embraced the anabaptist communion. By his eloquence, learning, conciliating manners, and indefatigable exertions, he obtained the confidence of its members, and availed himself of it to restore them to social and peaceful habits. The guarded manner, in which he himself expressed and accustomed his followers to express their doctrines, disposed the public mind to view them, if not with kindness, at least with pity. Such was the reverence, in which he was held by them, and the space which he filled in the public eye, that, on the continent, they received from him the name of Mennonites, and are more frequently called on the continent, by that, than by the name of anabaptists. In this state, they are said by Mosheim to be descendants of the original anabaptists, but to be purged from the fanaticism, by which these were disgraced. Soon after Menno's decease, they branched into two divisions, the refined and the gross, or the rigid and the moderate. The former are few in number; the latter are numerous, particularly in Holland. There, under the protection of William, the first Prince of Orange, and Maurice his son, they obtained a considerable degree of legal toleration.

They have published several confessions of faith. Five of them were printed at Amsterdam, in 1675, in one volume 8vo. The most remarkable of these, is the confession composed by John de Ries, assisted by Lubert Gerard, in 1580, and that