SECTION I. GENERAL HISTORY.

Transcriber's Note:

Obvious printer errors have been corrected. Hyphenation has been

rationalised.

Small capitals have been replaced by full capitals. Italics are

indicated by _underscores_.

In Chapter I, Section III (A Sketch Of The History Of The Abyssinian

Church) "Hinglar" and "Kinglar" may refer to the same individual.

A HISTORY OF THE SABBATARIAN CHURCHES.

A GENERAL HISTORY OF THE SABBATARIAN CHURCHES: EMBRACING ACCOUNTS OF

THE

ARMENIAN, EAST INDIAN, AND ABYSSINIAN EPISCOPACIES IN ASIA AND AFRICA,

THE WALDENSES, SEMI-JUDAISERS, AND SABBATARIAN ANABAPTISTS OF EUROPE;

WITH THE SEVENTH-DAY BAPTIST DENOMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

BY MRS. TAMAR DAVIS.

"The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the

remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the

testimony of Jesus Christ."—REV. xii. 17.

PHILADELPHIA: LINDSAY AND BLAKISTON. 1851.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, BY LINDSAY AND

BLAKISTON, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court, for the Eastern

District of Pennsylvania.

C. SHERMAN, PRINTER.

PREFACE.

At the present time, when the Sabbath controversy is engaging so much of

the public attention, and when Sabbath Conventions and Sabbath Unions

are being chronicled almost monthly, I consider it unnecessary to offer

any apology for the introduction of the following work to the public

notice. My reader need not fear a repetition or recapitulation of the

arguments generally employed in favour of the sabbatical institution, as

it refers either to the first or the last day of the week; neither will

his attention be wearied by prolix and verbose details. It has been my

aim to collect, collate, and condense facts, as much as appeared

consistent with perspicuity. I have not taken any new stand with regard

to the Sabbath question. The Seventh-day Baptists have, from the first,

contended that the Sabbath was changed, not by Christ or his Apostles,

but by ecclesiastical synods and councils. This could only be proved

convincingly by reference to the practice of those churches who were

removed by distance or otherwise beyond the pale of such authority. That

the Armenian, East Indian, and Abyssinian Episcopacies were so removed,

and that they absolutely refused to succumb to the authority of the

Latin or Greek prelates, sustaining in consequence the most cruel and

desolating wars, is an undeniable historical fact; no less so the truth

that during all this time they have been living witnesses against

Anti-Christ, as the observers of the ancient Sabbath, which practice

they learned from the Apostles, or their immediate successors.

With respect to the History of the Seventh-day Baptist denomination, I

am not unaware of the imperfections that may be detected in it. But I

must excuse my own defects by a just complaint of the blindness and

insufficiency of my guides; and may also observe that, with reference to

nearly every portion of the work, I have been the pioneer in the field

of research.

THE AUTHOR.

April, 1851.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

Preliminary Observations, 13

CHAPTER I. SABBATARIAN CHURCHES IN ASIA AND AFRICA.

The Armenian Church, 18

Sabbatarianism of this Church, 30

Ancient Christians of India, 33

Their Sabbatarian Character, 39

The Ethiopic Church, 40

Its Sabbatarian Character, 54

CHAPTER II. SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS IN EUROPE.

Waldenses, Albigenses, etc., 62

Their Doctrinal Sentiments, 69

Testimonies to their Sabbatarian Character, 70

Their Persecutions, 84

Further Accounts of their Sabbatarianism, 88

Semi-Judaisers—their Origin, 95

Their Sabbatarianism, 97

Their Churches in Russia, Poland, 99

Sabbatarians of Holland, 103

Sabbatarians of England, 107

The Natton Church, 114

The Cripplegate Church, 118

The Mill-Yard Church, 122

CHAPTER III. SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS IN THE UNITED STATES.

General History, 130

Churches in Rhode Island, 145

Churches in Connecticut, 162

Churches in New Jersey, 166

Central Association, 174

Western Association, 190

Southwestern Association, 198

Northwestern Association, 202

CHAPTER IV. SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS IN THE UNITED STATES, CONTINUED.

Keithian Seventh-day Baptists, 211

German Seventh-day Baptists,—General History, 215

German Seventh-day Baptists,—Particular History, 233

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

The word Sabbatarian, whether bestowed by their enemies as a term of

opprobrium upon those who observed the seventh day of the week as the

Sabbath, or whether assumed by themselves, is, nevertheless, peculiarly

appropriate, and very distinguishing of this particular tenet in their

system of religious faith. Neither do we hesitate to employ it in a very

extensive sense, as comprehending all those religious communities,

whatever may be their names, modes of worship, or forms of

ecclesiastical discipline, who refrain from secular employments upon the

last day of the week, and observe the same as holy time. There cannot,

therefore, be any impropriety in considering the Abyssinian and Armenian

Churches as sabbatarian organizations, although the former has become

greatly corrupted in worship and doctrine, and exhibits few traces of

the purity and simplicity of primitive Christianity.

We claim for sabbatarian institutions a very high antiquity, and a

multitude of the most illustrious exemplars; from that grand sabbath

proclaimed over the new-born world by the Eternal Father, and observed

by angelic and seraphic intelligences, to its second ordainment amid the

smoke and thunders of Sinai, and its subsequent observance by kings,

priests, sages, and witnesses for the truth through so many ages, to

Him, the Great High Priest of the Covenant, who sanctified the law and

made it honourable. It is incontestable that our adorable Lord and his

Apostles observed the seventh day of the week, and it was not until a

long time subsequent to the close of their earthly pilgrimages that the

reverence due to this holy time was transferred, in any Christian

community, to the Dominical day.

The first Christian church established in the world was founded at

Jerusalem under the immediate superintendence of the Apostles. This

church, which was the model of all those that were founded in the first

century, was undoubtedly sabbatarian. In the second and third centuries,

according to the testimony of Mosheim, it was very generally observed.

During the fourth and in the commencement of the fifth centuries, it was

almost universally solemnized, if the veracity of Socrates, the

ecclesiastical historian, may be depended upon.

We have every reason to believe, however, that from the first, or,

indeed, at a very early period, a superstitious veneration was paid in

some places to the first day of the week. It is certain that, before the

close of the first century, the original purity and simplicity of

Christianity had become greatly defaced and deplorably corrupted by the

introduction into its doctrines of the monstrous tenets of a

preposterous philosophy, and into its ceremonies of a multitude of

heathen rites. Identical with this was the appointment of various

festivals to be observed on particular days. These days were those on

which the martyrs had laid down their lives for the truth, the day on

which the Saviour had been crucified, and that also on which he rose

from the dead. We have no reason to suppose that the observation of the

first day dates back any earlier than that of Friday, or those

anniversary festivals which were introduced to commemorate the descent

of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, and the feast of Easter. All were

the fruits of as dark, fabulous, and superstitious times, as have ever

been since the resurrection of Christ. It seems to have been the policy

of the rulers of the church at this period, to assimilate Christianity

in its rites and festivals to the manners of Paganism, and in its

doctrines to the tenets of a corrupt yet seducing philosophy. For such a

course of conduct various reasons may be assigned. In the first place

they were pleasing to the multitude, who were more delighted with the

pageantry and circumstance of external ceremonies, and the frequency of

holidays, than with the valuable attainments of rational and consistent

piety, or with a sober and steady course of life.

In the second place, we have reason to believe that the bishops

augmented the number of the religious ceremonies and festivals in the

Christian worship, by way of accommodating it to the prejudices and

infirmities of both Jews and heathens, in order to facilitate their

conversion. These people were accustomed to a round of pompous and

magnificent ceremonies in their religious service; and, as they deemed

these rites an essential part of religion, it was natural for them to

regard with indifference, or even with contempt, any service whose forms

were divested of all specious and captivating appearances. As their

religion allowed to them a multitude of festivals, the bishops supposed,

and not without reason, that they persisted in their idolatry on account

of the ease, pleasure, and sensual gratifications thereby enjoyed,

consequently the rulers of the church adopted certain external

ceremonies, and appointed festivities, in order to allure the senses of

the vulgar, and to make them more disposed to embrace Christianity. The

effect of this course of conduct was most pernicious. It effaced the

beautiful simplicity of Christianity, and corrupted its natural purity

in order to extend its influence; thus making it lose that practical

excellence for which no popular esteem could ever afford compensation.

It may be allowable, it may even be commendable, to accommodate

ecclesiastical as well as civil institutions, in certain cases, to the

infirmities of mankind, and to make some concessions, some prudent

instances of compliance to their invincible prejudices, but all these

should be of such a nature as not to derogate from the majesty of the

divine law, or to substitute for the ordinances of God the observances

and institutions of fallible men.

The multiplication of festivals and holidays would naturally bring the

Sabbath into neglect, but what contributed more than anything else to

destroy its influence over the minds of men, was the almost universal

abhorrence in which the Jews were held. We are informed that multitudes

of Christians, in the time of Adrian, abandoned all the rites and

institutions of their religion that bore any resemblance to the Jewish

ritual, for fear of being confounded with that people, who had become

obnoxious to the prince, and were suffering the extremity of his

vengeance. "Let us have nothing in common with that odious brood, the

Jews," says Constantine, when issuing his edict for the observation of

the Dominical day. Subsequently, the sabbath was condemned for the same

reasons by synods and councils; popes and kings rose up in judgment

against it. Perhaps they feared also that its observation would remind

the people of that sacred volume, which the prelates chose, for their

own convenience, to keep from the world, and in which their

condemnation, as followers of the most detestable vices, would be so

strongly marked. Moreover they were determined, in the plenitude of

their arrogance, to give laws in both a temporal and spiritual sense; to

govern the consciences as they ruled the actions of mankind. Nor was

this all, some of these prelates actually aspired to stand, at least in

the eyes of the multitude, in the place of God,—to divert the adoration,

which should be paid to him, to themselves, or to the relics they had

blessed, and the saints they had canonized. Would not the observation of

the sabbath have tended to recall the minds of men to the Maker of all

things, as the only true and proper object for religious adoration; to

the fact that he alone was the moral governor of the universe; his laws

the standard of perfection; himself of infallibility? History presents

numerous examples of kings and tyrants, who have assumed the attributes

of Deity, and demanded the homage of mankind; but, perhaps, a more

impious imitation of his power, a more blasphemous assumption of his

prerogatives, were never exhibited than in the conduct of these

hierarchs. Did God appoint one mediator between himself and man,—behold

the saints they canonized; did he bestow the Scriptures as his revealed

will upon the world,—behold the canons of the church in which their

authority is superseded; and did he institute and command the

observation of the seventh day as a day of rest,—they substitute an

other in its place. The Sabbath is reprobated as a Jewish institution:

it is a wonder that we hear nothing of a Jewish religion, as

Christianity certainly originated with that people; of a Jewish Saviour,

since the Redeemer was of the offspring of David; and of Jewish

apostles, as not one of the twelve were of the Gentile race. We must go

to the Jews for the Bible, in which is contained the knowledge of God,

and the hope of the world; we must go to the Jews for examples of

godliness in the long, dark ages before the Christian era; why not go to

them for a sabbath likewise? The spiritual pride that opposes such a

measure will not stand in the great and burning day.

CHAPTER I. SABBATARIAN CHURCHES IN ASIA AND AFRICA.

SECTION I. HISTORY OF THE ARMENIAN CHURCH.

The religious and political history of Armenia has, from the earliest

ages, been pregnant with great events; but, obedient to necessity; I

condense within a few pages what might fill as many volumes, and content

myself with giving an outline of the subject that some future historian

may amplify and adorn. In countries where there exists a union between

the church and the state, and the prelatic dignity is supported by royal

authority, the revolutions of the former are intimately connected with

the convulsions of the latter,—the temporal with the spiritual affairs.

But the archiepiscopal see of Armenia appears to have preserved its

ancient form of discipline and doctrine in the most remarkable manner,

notwithstanding the changes of the royal and ducal dynasties in the

state, and its alternate subjection to Saracenic and Persian dominion.

The propagation of the gospel throughout Armenia is ascribed by ancient

historians to St. Bartholomew, who is said to be identical with

Nathaniel,—that Israelite indeed. In Albanopolis, a city of this

country, we are informed that the apostle suffered martyrdom; but his

blood only watered the seed of divine truth, and caused a more glorious

harvest of proselytes from the Zendavesta to the gospel,—from the

adoration of the host of heaven to the spiritual worship of their Maker,

"the King immortal, eternal, and invisible."

Notwithstanding the penal edicts of the sovereign, and the opposition of

the Magian priesthood, Christianity flourished like a tree planted by

the rivers of water, and the rising generations of Armenia reposed under

its salutary shade. Few religious sects have been extirpated by

persecution. Religion shines brightest in the night of adversity; it is

quenched and extinguished in the sunshine of courts. Zeal and

intrepidity are always stimulated by the presence of an enemy. The

Christians of Armenia received the crown of martyrdom, rejoicing that

they were accounted worthy to suffer for their attachment to the cross.

At last, however, the eloquence of a priest, named Gregory, succeeded in

converting the monarch and his principal nobility, who received the rite

of baptism, and entered into the communion of the church. In consequence

of this, Leontius, bishop of Cappadocia, consecrated Gregory bishop of

the Armenians, and their church became annexed to the episcopal

jurisdiction of the Antiochan prelate.

This circumstance, so fortunate in a temporal sense, proved highly

destructive to its spiritual repose. No longer assaulted, it became the

parent of schism; and one Eustathius, an obscure priest, has given his

name to history, by the success that attended his efforts to create an

excitement and faction in the church. The convention of a Council at

Gangra might condemn and excommunicate, but could not suppress this

faction, which poured forth legions of missionaries, and for a long time

disturbed the repose of the Eastern prelates. The doctrines of

Eustathius were neither heretical, nor his conduct in introducing them

truly reprehensible, although from their nature highly offensive to the

spiritual dignitaries, who, to judge from their habits of life, found

more solace in wine and female intercourse than in religious exercises,

and who were more solicitous to acquire wealth and preferments to enrich

their physical heirs, than solicitous about the welfare of their

spiritual progeny. Producing the example and judgment of Paul,

Eustathius boldly condemned the marriages of the priests, under any

circumstances, as productive of evil; but denounced second and third

marriages as abominable, and worthy of excommunication. The use of

wine,—in short, all sensual delights,—he prohibited, as equally

reprehensible in those who were set as exemplars and rulers of the flock

of Christ. Eustathius was succeeded by Erius, a priest, and semi-Arian,

who not only protested against the multiplied marriages of the priests,

but declared that the bishops were not distinguished from the presbyters

by any divine right, and that, according to the Holy Scriptures, their

authority and offices were identical. This tenet, of which the immediate

consequences would have been to reduce within certain limits the power

of the prelates, raised a storm of opposition from that quarter,

although it was highly agreeable to many good Christians, to whom their

tyranny and arrogance had become insupportable. Erius also condemned

fasts, stated feasts, prayers for the dead, and the celebration of

Easter; but he urged a purer morality and a stricter observance of the

Sabbath. He had many followers, whose numbers were greatly augmented by

one Paul of Samosota, from whom they were called Paulicians.

Notwithstanding the opposition of the prelates, who invoked the secular

arm to prevent the defection of their spiritual subjects, the tenets of

this sect struck deep root in Armenia and many of the eastern provinces,

and finally the great body of Christians in the former country, withdrew

from the Episcopal communion, and publicly espoused the sentiments of

the Paulicians. These were accused of breaking loose from the

brotherhood of the Christian world, and they were denounced by the

bishops as the most odious of mankind. Whatever might have been the

denunciations of their adversaries, posterity, after a candid

examination of their tenets, must concede that they were principally

distinguished for an adherence to the strict letter of the sacred text,

and for the primitive simplicity of their forms of worship. Their

ecclesiastical institutions exhibited the most liberal principle of

reason. The austerity of the cloister was relaxed, and gradually

forgotten. The standard of piety was changed from absurd penances to

purity of life and morals. Houses of charity were endowed for the

support and education of orphans and foundlings, and the religious

teachers were obliged to depend for temporal support upon the voluntary

subscriptions of their brethren and the labour of their own hands. To

these churches, famous throughout the East no less for the purity of

their worship than their exemption from ecclesiastical tyranny, myriads

of fugitives resorted from all the provinces of the Eastern empire, and

the narrow bigotry of the emperors was punished by the emigration of

their most useful subjects, who transported into a foreign realm the

arts of both peace and war. Among the mountains of Armenia, and beyond

the precincts of the Roman power, they seemed to have found a new world,

where they might breathe the air of religious freedom. The emperors,

ignorant of the rights of conscience, and incapable of pity or esteem

for the heretics who durst dispute the infallibility of holy councils,

and refused to acquiesce in their imperial decisions, vainly sought, by

various methods, to excite against them the indignation of their

sovereign and the vengeance of persecution.

During this time the Paulicians had increased in a wonderful manner. The

desire of gaining souls for God, and subjects for the church, has, in

all ages, fired the zeal and animated the activity of the Christian

priesthood. It must not be supposed that the Paulicians were less

arduous in the prosecution of their spiritual enterprises. Assuming the

character of travelling merchants, or in the habits of pilgrims, a

character to this day sacred throughout the East, they joined the Indian

caravans, or pursued without fear the footsteps of the roving Tartar.

The hordes encamped on the verdant banks of the Selinga, or in the

valleys of the Imaus, heard, with feelings of mysterious reverence, the

story of the incarnation; and illiterate shepherds and sanguinary

warriors forsook their flocks and deserted their camps to listen to the

simple eloquence of an Armenian pilgrim. Perhaps the exposition of a

metaphysical creed was no more comprehensible to the one than were

lessons of humanity and repose to the other; but both were susceptible

of the baser passions of hope and fear, and both could understand the

effect that their rejection or adoption of the gospel would exercise,

according to the popular belief, upon their destiny in a future world.

The mysterious rites of Christianity were administered to multitudes,

among whom a great Khan and his warriors were said to be included.[1] In

other regions the Paulicians were no less successful. Unwonted crowds

resorted to the banks of Abana and Pharpar, whose limpid waters seemed

particularly appropriate for the administration of the baptismal rite.

The bishops of Syria, Pontus, and Cappadocia, complained of the

defection of their spiritual flocks. Their murmurs, a principle of

policy, above all an implacable hatred against everything bearing the

semblance of freedom, induced the Grecian emperors to commence, and

continue for nearly two centuries, the most terrible persecutions

against the Paulicians. During these frightful convulsions, Armenia was

ravaged from border to border with fire and sword; its monarchy—then

held by a younger branch of the family of the Parthian

kings—extinguished; its cities demolished, and its inhabitants either

massacred by the hands of their enemies, driven into exile, or sold into

servitude. Great numbers fled for safety and protection to the Saracens,

by whom they were hospitably entertained, and who permitted them to

build a city for their residence, which was called Tibrica. This

afforded them an opportunity for returning, with interest, the miseries

that they had suffered at the hands of the Greeks; for, entering into a

league with the Saracens, and choosing for their leader a chief named

Carbeas, they prosecuted against the Greeks a war which continued during

the century, and in which the slaughter on both sides was prodigious.[2]

During these convulsions several companies of the Paulicians passed into

Bulgaria, Thrace, and the neighbouring provinces, where their opinions

became the source of new dissensions. After the Council of Basil had

commenced its deliberations, these sectaries removed into Italy, where

they became amalgamated with the Albigenses and Waldenses.

Armenia, reduced from an independent kingdom to a ducal sovereignty,

maintained a real independence, though in nominal servitude. The Roman

emperors, in the decline of their greatness, were content with the name

of homage and the shadow of allegiance. A robe of rare texture and

curious workmanship, formed of the hair or wool by which the

mother-of-pearl, a shell-fish of the Mediterranean, attaches itself to

the rock, was their annual imperial gift that purchased the nominal

fealty of the Armenian satraps. But the Church, notwithstanding this

political vassalage, preserved its independence. The Armenian priests,

in consequence of their ignorance of the Greek tongue, were unable to

assist at the Council of Chalcedon, but the doctrines of Eutyches, to

which they still adhere, were propagated among them, perhaps, with a

slight modification, by Julian of Halicarnassus. From the earliest ages

they have devoutly hated the error and idolatry of the Greeks. Like the

primitive Christians, they have ever exhibited an unconquerable

repugnance to the use or abuse of images, which, in the eighth and ninth

centuries, spread like a leprosy through nearly all Christendom, and

supplanted all traces of genuine piety in the visible church by the

grossest superstition. They are decidedly adverse to the adoration of

relics, the worship of the Virgin, or the observation of the feasts and

festivals of the Church. They regarded the Greeks as idolaters;—the

Greeks accused them of Judaism, heresy, and atheism, and to these

accusations, with the feelings they engendered, may be ascribed the

unrelenting animosity and persecution that they waged against each

other, and which terminated only when the Grecian empire ceased to

exist.

Armenia has, in all ages, been the theatre of hostile operations. Times

without number her cities have been plundered, her harvests consumed,

and her flocks slaughtered, to gratify the cupidity or to satiate the

hunger of armies, who, in the character of allies, were marching through

her territories. The empire of the East has, in many instances, been

contested upon her fields; and, though generally in servitude, seldom

has she been permitted to enjoy the tranquillity of that state. Yet

subsequent to the firm establishment of the Saracen dominion in Asia,

they enjoyed a long period of prosperity and repose. When the Saracenic

empire became supplanted by that of the Tartars, the consequences to the

Eastern Christians were most deplorable.

These ruthless conquerors destroyed, wherever they went, the fair fruits

that had arisen from the labours of the missionaries, extirpated the

religion of Jesus from several cities and provinces where it had

flourished, and substituted the Mohammedan superstition in its place.

The Armenian churches, in particular, experienced the most deplorable

evils from the ruthless and vindictive spirit of Timur Bec, or

Tamerlane, the Tartar chief. This implacable warrior, having overrun a

great part of northern and western Asia, exerted all his influence and

authority to compel the Christians to apostatize from their faith. To

the stern dictates of unlimited power he united the compulsory violence

of persecution, and treated the disciples of Christ with the most

unrelenting severity; subjecting such as magnanimously adhered to their

religion, to the most cruel forms of death, or to the horrors of

unmitigated slavery. Under the successors of Timur they were subjected

to many vicissitudes, being alternately protected and oppressed,

according as the caprice of the reigning sovereign seemed to dictate.

Nevertheless, under the rod of oppression their zeal was intrepid and

fervent, nor could the sunshine of prosperity warm in their hearts an

undue love of the world, and render them careless or indifferent to the

interests of Christianity. In numberless instances they preferred the

crown of martyrdom to the turban of Mohammed, and have sacrificed the

dearest of temporal interests,—fame, wealth, and preferments, to a

scrupulous adherence to the Christian profession, and a strict regard

for its duties. Once only within the last thirteen centuries has Armenia

aspired to the rank of an independent kingdom, and even then her

Christian kings, who arose and fell, in the thirteenth century, on the

confines of Cilicia, were the creatures and vassals of the Turkish

sultans of Iconium. About the commencement of the seventeenth century

their state experienced a considerable change in consequence of the

incursions of Shah Abbas, the great king of Persia.

This prince, justly apprehensive from the victorious approach of the

Turks, ravaged that part of Armenia which lay contiguous to his

dominions, and ordered the inhabitants to retire into Persia. It will be

perceived that these devastations were not intended to evince hostility

against the Armenians, but to retard and embarrass the advance of the

Turks. Encouraged by the monarch, the most opulent of the Armenians

removed to Ispahan, where the Emperor appropriated a beautiful suburb

for their residence, and permitted them to enjoy every civil and

religious privilege, under the jurisdiction of their own bishop or

patriarch. During the administration of this magnanimous prince these

happy exiles partook the sweets of liberty and abundance, but his death

was the signal for the triumph of their enemies. A storm of persecution

succeeded, in which the constancy of multitudes was shaken; indeed, so

general was the apostacy, that for a time it appeared probable that this

branch of the Armenian Church would be lost. These apprehensions proved

to be groundless. To the abatement of the rage of their enemies

succeeded the restoration of their political rights. Their churches, in

Ispahan and other Persian cities, that had been demolished, were

rebuilt, and their schools, which had been shut, were re-opened. It is

said that, at present, many of the most luxurious seats in Persia are

occupied by opulent Armenians. In Bagdad and Damascus they vend the

magnificent silks of Oriental manufacture, and preside over the creation

of those exquisite fabrics that are the admiration of the world. In all

these cities they have meeting-houses, with burial-grounds attached, in

which flowers of rare beauty and exquisite odours are cultivated. In

these burial-gardens, were it not for the presence of monumental marble,

one would forget the contiguity of death and decay. The splendid palms,

the glorious rose-trees, and the living song of birds, are anything but

inspiring of melancholy thoughts.

The Bible was translated at a very early period into the Armenian

language, but, in 1690, the call for the Scriptures became so great that

the manuscript copies were not sufficient to supply the demand. To

remedy this evil, it was decided by a council of Armenian bishops,

assembled in 1692, to perpetuate and multiply that Holy Book, by the art

of printing, of which they had heard in Europe. They first applied to

France, but the Catholic church objected to printing and distributing

the Bible. It was accomplished, however, through the agency of some

Armenian merchants, who had settled, for purposes of commerce, at

London, Venice, Amsterdam, and many other European cities. This Bible

agrees in a wonderful manner with the English version of the Scriptures,

to which it is not inferior in correctness of diction and beauty of

typography. The religion of Armenia has derived few advantages from the

power or learning of its votaries, but with the Bible in their native

tongue, and being permitted to read and exercise their private judgment

in its interpretation, it is not so very surprising that their church

has remained uncontaminated by Grecian, Roman, and Mohammedan

corruptions. It must not be supposed that the Roman pontiffs, ever

zealous to enlarge the bounds of their jurisdiction, were mindless of

engaging the Christians of the East to submit to their supremacy. On the

contrary, this was for a considerable time the chief purpose that

excited their ambitious views, and employed their labours and

assiduities. But these attempts were unavailing, nor could any union

between the churches ever be effected.

The residence of the Armenian patriarch is at Ekmiasin,—three leagues

from Erivan. Forty-seven archbishops, of whom each may claim the

obedience of four or five suffragans, are consecrated by his hand. Many

of these, however, are only titular prelates, who dignify by their

presence the simplicity of his court. Their performance of the liturgy

is succeeded by their cultivation of the ground; and, unlike the

prelates of Europe, the austerity of their life and the plainness of

their appearance increases in just proportion to the elevation of their

rank. Throughout the fourscore thousand villages of his spiritual

empire, the patriarch receives the tribute of a small but voluntary tax

from each individual above the age of sixteen years. But this income is

not expended on luxurious living, being employed to supply the incessant

demands of charity and tribute. The Indian caravan, laden with its

precious commodities, usually halts in the vicinity of Erivan, which,

through the influence of the wealth thus distributed, has become a

splendid and beautiful city, adorned with fountains, groves, and

splendid churches.

Besides the churches in Armenia proper, there are congregations of the

same faith and forms of worship in Barbary, Egypt, Poland, Greece, and

Turkey. They have churches also in nearly all the Oriental cities,

between which a continual intercourse and communication is carried on by

the travelling merchants or pedlars of that sect, who are distributed

all over the East. Decidedly intelligent, and frequently adepts in

Oriental literature, they are always found at the courts of the Eastern

princes, where they act in the capacity of interpreters. Armenian ladies

are generally chosen to fill the station of favourite, or companion, to

the Sultanas.

The Armenian Christians are eminently qualified for the office of

extending the knowledge of the gospel throughout the East; and the time

is not far distant when they will prove the most efficient body of

missionaries in the world. Indeed, without the name, in a multitude of

instances, they have assumed their character and acted their part. It is

true that they are unacquainted with the European habit of supporting

expensive missions in foreign countries, but like the Waldenses, they

travel as venders of merchandise, and embrace all opportunities to

impart instruction.

They carried the knowledge of the gospel into China, when that country

was inaccessible to Europeans; and long before the English obtained a

footing in India, they had erected churches in all the principal cities

of that empire, in which the worship of God was maintained upon every

ensuing Sabbath. They are familiar with the Oriental languages, and

acquainted with the habits of the people, who consequently feel no dread

of their foreign character, but regard them from the first as brothers

and friends. The first version of the Scriptures into the Chinese

language was made by an Armenian, named Joannes Lassar, whose knowledge

of Oriental literature was really surprising, and who was no less

eminent for genuine and enlightened piety.

Their ecclesiastical establishment in Hindostan is very respectable. The

bishop visits Calcutta, but he is not resident there. They have churches

in Calcutta, in Madras, and in Bombay, which contain together about two

thousand communicants. There are also churches in the interior. Of these

they have one at Dacca, another at Syndbad, and a third at Chinsurah,

that are large and flourishing. In these churches the greatest

simplicity prevails, and everything accords with the apostolic character

of the worshippers. No magnificent altar, blazing with gold and gems, no

gorgeous candelabra, no exquisite creations of painting or statuary, no

imposing ceremonies; neither genuflexions nor lustrations; neither

instrumental harmonies, nor services performed with pompous parade and

in an unknown tongue. The cross is the only ornament of their churches,

accompanied with the Bible and the liturgy.

From these prayers and texts are read by the officiating priest,

succeeded by an appropriate discourse, and the whole closes with singing

a psalm much in the style and manner of an anthem.

Baptism, among the Armenians, is administered by immersion in rivers, or

running streams, if such are convenient; when otherwise, in a room,

called the baptistery, which is always contiguous to the church. They

regard the sacrament as a memorial of the Saviour's passion,—nothing

more,—and administer it in both kinds to the laity. They reject the

observation of saints' days, or the festivals of Christ, but declare

that God, in his word, ordained the seventh day as a day of rest, which

they religiously observe.

The Armenians are not ignorant of the nature of experimental religion.

Many individuals among them have exhibited examples of genuine and

enlightened piety, and have expired in the triumphs of faith. Their

moral character, as might be supposed, far exceeds that of any other

Eastern people. The women are modest, dignified, and observant of their

conjugal relations; the men are intelligent and affable. Their general

character is that of a wealthy, industrious, and enterprising people.

Their companionship is courted all over the East.

They occupy posts of honour and profit, they monopolize commerce, and

hold the highest rank as artisans and manufacturists. Is not the hand of

God in this thing? Are they not designed, at some future period, to work

wonders in the moral renovation of mankind? For that purpose, probably,

the everlasting arm has been beneath and around them for so many ages,

and they have been preserved from the arts and allurements of the

tempter. For that purpose, probably, they have been led into the cities

and palaces of the Eastern countries.

Where are the seven churches of Asia, to whom was penned the mystic

visions of the Apocalypse? Where are the splendid cities in which they

rose and flourished? Gone, gone, with the glory of Babylon and the

triumphs of Rome. Where is the church of Laodicea, in whose gorgeous

cathedral the lordly prelates met to give laws to the Christian world

and to anathematize Sabbath-keepers? Echo might answer, "Where?" since

it is only remembered because consecrated by the historic muse. But the

Sabbath they execrated still exists; is still honoured and hallowed by

large and flourishing churches, whose members are scattered over all

parts of Asia. Churches, who have never bowed to Baal, who have remained

uncorrupted by Rome, uncontaminated by Mohammedism; who amidst the

darkness of idolatry kept the lamp of Christianity replenished and

burning; and in whose moral firmament the rays of the Star of Bethlehem

have never been obscured. That the members of these churches possess

natural facilities for the propagation of Christianity throughout the

East, that a foreigner could scarcely acquire by long years spent in

toil and study, must be evident to every discerning mind. But they are

ignorant of the art of printing; and although three editions of their

Bible have been issued at Amsterdam, and another at Venice, the supply

has by no means equalled the demand among themselves for that holy book.

What they require are facilities for printing. A mission, with printers

and printing-presses, established in the heart of that country, would

prove of incalculable advantage;—not to teach them Christianity: they

are acquainted with its doctrines already;—but to print their Bible, and

other religious books, for distribution; to enrich their travelling

merchants, who are in continual motion from Canton to Constantinople,

with the precious wares of truth and wisdom; to inspire their zeal,

awaken their energies, and secure their engagement in the glorious

enterprise. Would it not be interesting to open a communication with

these ancient churches, whose foundation on the Rock cannot be doubted,

since they have withstood the wreck and ruin of eighteen centuries,

neither extinguished by wars and desolations, nor contaminated by the

false prophet or the beast? Would it not be delightful to hold

intercourse with that venerable patriarch,—the successor of a line of

prelates extending back to the Apostle, that Israelite indeed, in whom

was found no guile? Surely that place is hallowed. Within sight of

Ekmiasin is Mount Ararat, where the world's gray fathers came forth to

witness the bow of the covenant, and whence the Sun of Righteousness

shall yet arise to the benighted nations with healing in his wings.

The Armenians, though ignorant of the art of printing, have an abundant

store of literature. In the monastery of Ekmiasin, and in some other

places, the accumulated lore of ages has been preserved in huge piles of

manuscripts, that would abundantly reward the labours of the scholar and

the antiquarian. They are not ignorant of the belles-lettres, and they

have produced some pleasing poets and rhetoricians.[3]

There are other ancient sects in the East who are represented as being

observant of the ancient Sabbath. Of these we might instance several

branches of the Nestorian fraternities, the Hemerobaptists, or

Christians of St. John, and the Jusidians. How far this may be the case,

I have no data for determining. Some authors have also ascribed the

observation of the Sabbath to the Greek Church; but this, I believe, can

only be understood in a partial and limited sense. Many have been guilty

of the incongruity of including in the term "the Greek Church" all the

Christians of the East. Strictly speaking, that term was, and is, only

applicable to those countries in which the spiritual authority of the

Constantinopolitan prelate predominated.

SECTION II. A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT CHRISTIANS OF INDIA.

The introduction, rise, progress, declension, and extirpation of

Christianity in India, is, with some partial exceptions, wrapped in

profound obscurity, yet many historians of abundant information and

unimpeachable veracity are unanimous in supposing that India received

the gospel probably before Great Britain.

Rev. C. Buchanan says, "There have lately been discovered Sanscrit

writings containing testimony of Christ. They relate to a prince who

reigned about the period of the Christian era, and whose history, though

mixed with fable, contains particulars which correspond, in a surprising

degree, with the advent, birth, miracles, death, and resurrection of our

Saviour." The same testimony is given by Sir William Jones, whose

acquaintance with Oriental literature has never been surpassed. Another

learned historian declares, "That it may be proved by the Syriac

records, that in the fourth century Christianity was flourishing in the

provinces of Chorasin and Mavaralhara; and from a variety of learned

testimony, that the gospel was introduced by the Apostle Thomas himself

into India and China, within thirty years subsequent to the ascension of

our Saviour." La Croze in the clearest manner proves the antiquity of

Christianity in those countries. In the epitome of the Syrian canons,

St. Thomas is styled the Apostle of the Hindoos. He is uniformly styled,

in the Syrian Chronicles, the first bishop of the East. Ebed Jesus says,

"India and all the regions around received the priesthood from him."

Amru, the Syriac historian, traces both Thomas and Bartholomew through

Arabia and Persia into India and China. Many of the Syrian writers

quoted by Asseman agree in stating that a few of the twelve, and many of

the seventy disciples went far and wide preaching the gospel through

Northern Asia.

The Bishop of Calcutta, Dr. Wilson, says, "That the Christians of the

Malabar Coast are the remnants of the ancient church of India, preserved

in the midst of idolatry from the days of the Apostles."

These Christian settlements are located on the Malabar coast, in the

south of India, and contain a population of probably 200,000. They are

agricultural in their mode of life, and occupy a fertile and healthy

territory. They are spread along the Cunara. In Mangalore, Onore,

Barcelore, and Carwar, they have flourishing churches. A large

settlement of these people were discovered by Dr. Buchanan in the

interior of Travancore. Their intelligence, the virtuous liberty of the

female sex, and the whole aspect of society, seemed to indicate a

Protestant country.

For the compilation of a history of this people we have scant materials.

Unknown to the world they seem to have been most happily preserved from

its troubles and dissensions. Their obscurity was the preservative of

their peace and the badge of their purity. Yet we are informed by

William of Malmsbury, that these Christians were visited, towards the

conclusion of the ninth century, by ambassadors from Alfred of England,

who paid their homage at the shrine of St. Thomas, in the vicinity of

Madras, and whose return, loaded with a cargo of pearls and the richest

gums and spices, amply rewarded the enterprising sovereign, who

entertained the noblest projects of discovery and commerce.[4] They

asserted that the pepper coast of Malabar, and even the islands of

Ceylon and Socotara, were peopled with Christians, who were in happy

ignorance of the quarrels of princes and ecclesiastics. And that the

bishops who presided over this multitude of churches were unambitious of

worldly honours, and received ordination from the patriarch of the East.

This account, however, was received as an imposition upon the credulity

of mankind, and was treated as such until the progress of modern

discovery established the fact. The Portuguese, who circumnavigated

Africa, and dared the dangers of unknown seas, in order to gather the

Indian spoils of gold and gems, found, not indeed the boundless wealth

they sought, but these companies of Christians who still preserved their

faith in its pristine purity. Superior in arts, and arms, and virtues,

to the idolaters of Hindostan, they appeared to the astonished

adventurers like another race. They occupied extremely neat and

convenient dwellings, shaded by the palm-tree, and contiguous to fields

of tropical productions. The husbandman lived in peace and plenty, the

merchant grew rich by the pepper trade, the young men were admitted to

the service and society of the nobility of Malabar; and their simple

virtues demanded and insured the respect of the king of Cochin, and the

Zamorin himself. They were in allegiance to a Gentoo sovereign, but the

real administration of their laws, even in temporal concerns, was lodged

in the hands of the bishop of Angumala, who could trace an uninterrupted

succession of prelates to the apostle himself. He still asserted his

ancient dignity as metropolitan of India, and his jurisdiction extended

over fourteen hundred churches, and embraced the spiritual care of

250,000 souls. He was assisted by a sufficient number of priests and

spiritual teachers, who administered consolation to the dying, and

reproof or correction to the living. Their meeting-houses were not

different from ordinary dwellings. They had neither pictures nor images.

The doctrine of purgatory, the invocation of saints, the merit of

relics, and the observation of the first day, was unknown among them. On

the contrary, they rested and attended to divine worship upon the

seventh day of the week, administered baptism to adults, and by

immersion, were not ignorant of the great doctrines of regeneration and

justification, and possessed authentic manuscript copies of the Holy

Scriptures, which were publicly read in the churches every ensuing

Sabbath. They were not degenerated into that softness, effeminacy, and

licentiousness of manners, which generally distinguish the natives of

Southern India. They were chaste, and observant of their conjugal

relations; adultery was a crime unknown. Their priests were permitted to

enter into wedlock once, with a pure virgin; they were scandalized and

disgraced by a second marriage, and a third could only be consummated at

the expense of excommunication.

The Portuguese were no less surprised at their profession than offended

by their simplicity; but, what appeared most unaccountable, they were

unacquainted with the spiritual and temporal majesty of Rome, and were

ignorant that, to St. Peter's successor, all the kings and prelates of

the earth owed subjection and allegiance. They adhered, like their

ancestors, to the communion of the Nestorian Patriarch; their bishops

had for ages been ordained by him at Mosul, and thence had traversed the

dangers of sea and land to their dioceses on the coast of Malabar. Their

liturgy and sacred books were in the Syriac idiom. They were acquainted

with the names of Theodore and Nestorius, were strenuous advocates of

the doctrine of the two persons of Christ, but they manifested a pious

horror, when they heard the appellation "Mother of God" applied to the

Virgin Mary. When her image was first presented to receive their

adoration, they indignantly refused, exclaiming, "We are Christians, not

idolaters; we worship God." It was the first care of the Romish

emissaries to intercept all correspondence with the Nestorian Patriarch,

to forbid their observance of the Sabbath, and to compel them to admit

the baptism of infants. Their bishops and leaders were thrown into the

dungeons of the Holy Office, which, under the auspices of Alexis de

Menezes, had been established, and was in full operation. Their towns

were filled with Portuguese soldiers, their churches with images, and

their pulpits by shaven monks. All the mighty engines of ecclesiastical

authority were brought to bear upon these defenceless people; all the

passions of the human heart were alternately assailed, in order to

consummate their conversion to the faith of Rome. Is it a wonder that

the shepherdless flock succumbed, at least, for a time? that where, for

ages, the Sabbath had been observed, strange sounds of secular

employment should be heard upon that holy day? and that the communion,

hitherto regarded as a symbolic memorial of the Saviour's passion, was

accepted as a vicarious sacrifice? "We confess our sins in prayer to

God," they exclaimed, when commanded to appear, for auricular

confession, before the priesthood. "We keep the Sabbath," they replied,

when told to observe the Dominical day. But ecclesiastical tyranny

prevailed. Menezes, archbishop of Goa, announced to the synod of

Diamper, over which he presided, that a union between the heretics of

St. Thomas and the Holy Church had been piously consummated, the

memories of Theodore and Nestorius anathematized, and the see of

Angumala bestowed upon a Jesuit, his minion and the worthy associate of

such a prelate. For sixty years servitude and hypocrisy prevailed. For

sixty years the mass was chanted on the Lord's day, and in an unknown

tongue, in the chapels of Malabar. But the day for their liberation

arrived. The Portuguese empire in the East was overthrown by the courage

and constancy of the Dutch. Of the latter, the Nestorians proved the

most valuable of allies; and no one acquainted with human nature can

wonder that they were implacable enemies of the former. The Jesuits,

though loth to resign it, were incapable of defending the power they had

abused. Forty thousand Christians in arms asserted, by the most powerful

arguments, their rights, and their attachment to the creed of their

ancestors. The Jesuits, with their minions, fled. The Indian archdeacon

was brought from a dungeon to the episcopal chair, which he filled until

a new primate could be solicited and obtained from the Nestorian

patriarch of the East.

The churches were immediately purged of images and relics. The

observation of the first day was forbidden, and that of the Sabbath

restored. And to crown the whole, a great procession was formed, in

which multitudes bearing palm-branches, and with all the ensigns of

victory and triumph, repaired to their chapels, singing the

Trisagion,[5] where the service was performed in the ancient manner.

Since the expulsion of the Jesuits the Nestorian creed has been fully

professed on the coast of Malabar, and these ancient Christians have

engaged the speculations of Europe and the civilized world. Dr. Buchanan

represents their episcopal establishment to be equally respectable with

that of the English in India, and says, moreover, that they maintain the

solemn worship of God in all their churches upon the seventh day.

Another eminent author says, that "their doctrines are those of the

Bible, and that they have been sorely tried in times past for keeping

the commandments of God."[6]

SECTION III. A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE ABYSSINIAN CHURCH.

Abyssinia, or ancient Ethiopia, comprehends a vast region in the

interior parts of Africa, whose inhabitants, previous to the

acquaintance of their Queen with the Jewish king Solomon, were involved

in a dark and gloomy superstition, resembling in many respects the

idolatrous worship of the Egyptians. The connexion and intimacy that

subsequently existed between the Jewish and Ethiopian courts resulted in

the conversion of this people to Judaism, in the profession of which

they remained until the time of our Saviour. It is also evident that

considerable intercourse was carried on between Axuma, the capital of

Ethiopia, and the royal city of Judea, no less for commercial than

religious purposes. It is highly probable that business connected with

ecclesiastical affairs, or perhaps the desire of witnessing and

participating in the solemnities of Pentecost, had induced a dignitary

of the Ethiopian court to visit Jerusalem, where, coming in contact with

Philip, he was converted to Christianity, and baptized by that apostle.

The subsequent fate of this distinguished personage, the impression

produced upon the mind of his royal mistress and her court by his

conversion, or whether the propagation of Christianity throughout the

realm was effected by his instrumentality, are all mysteries over which

time has drawn an impenetrable veil.

Ecclesiastical historians are united in their testimony that, early in

the fourth century, Christianity became the established religion of the

empire. This happy result was brought about by a train of singular

circumstances. It appears that Meropius, a merchant of Tyre, having

undertaken a commercial voyage to India, was shipwrecked on the coast of

Ethiopia, when he was barbarously murdered by the natives, and his two

sons carried as slaves before the Emperor. The intelligence, gentleness,

and peaceable demeanour of the two brothers, of whom the older was named

Frumentius, gained them many friends, and they were soon promoted to

high offices at court. The brothers, being Christians, soon began to

teach the natives, and the work of conversion went on rapidly. In a few

years, so great was their success, that the gospel had been preached

throughout the length and breadth of the land, and a thriving branch

thereby united to the great Eastern church. Frumentius subsequently

visited the Patriarch of Alexandria, who received him and the message he

bore with the greatest joy, loaded him with honours, and consecrated him

the first bishop of the Ethiopians. The system of doctrine was the same

as that received in the Alexandrian Church, of which Athanasius gives a

very succinct account. This venerable prelate was a decided opposer of

the Arian heresy, and he expresses their belief in the divinity of our

Saviour; "And we assemble on Saturday," he continues; "not that we are

infected with Judaism, but to worship Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath."

The friendly relation thus early begun between these churches, has

continued to the present time through fifteen centuries; and the office

of Patriarch of the Ethiopic Church is still bestowed upon a Coptish

priest, who receives his appointment and consecration from the Patriarch

of Alexandria.

The Abyssinian Church appears to have remained in a state of general

peace and prosperity while Numidia, Carthage, and other African

provinces, were convulsed by the faction of the Donatists. Neither do

they appear to have taken any part in the tumults and dissensions

arising from the Arian and Sabellian controversies. On the contrary,

they were counted by the most rigid as a church of orthodox Christians,

until the commencement of the seventh century, when they embraced the

Eutychian sentiments, in consequence, it is said, of the exhortations

addressed to them by the doctors of that sect who resided in Egypt.[7]

About the same time, the Saracens subduing Egypt and all the adjacent

countries, Abyssinia became isolated from the rest of the world. During

the many centuries that ensued, Christianity, though not without

adulteration, was preserved in this ancient empire, and the solemn

observance of the seventh day unchangeably continued. Toward the close

of the fifteenth century, the Portuguese, through their brilliant career

of maritime discovery, succeeded in opening a communication into the

country of the Abyssinians, who were found observing the rites and

professing the doctrine of their ancient faith. Rome, inflamed with a

bigoted zeal to extend the sphere of her spiritual triumphs, early took

advantage of so favourable an opportunity to establish a mission in this

remote quarter of the globe. Accordingly, John Bermudez, one of the most

enterprising and crafty of the sons of Loyola, was despatched into

Abyssinia, and in order to give his mission a certain appearance of

dignity, he was consecrated patriarch of that people by the Pope.

According to his own accounts of the matter, he found them sunk in the

most deplorable state of heresy and ignorance, observant of Judaical

rites and ceremonies, and unacquainted with the ritual and worship of

the true church. As Bermudez was accompanied by an embassage from the

Portuguese court, who expressed the most solicitous regard for the

Abyssinian monarch, that prince, hoping to derive some signal advantage

from such powerful succours, that would enable him to terminate

successfully a war in which he was at that time engaged with a

neighbouring prince, received them most graciously, and everything

seemed for a time to presage the most happy termination of the mission.

But their sanguine expectations were doomed to disappointment, and

though they were several times reinforced, and neither pains nor expense

were spared in the prosecution of their enterprise, it became ultimately

apparent to all that the Abyssinians were not to be engaged to abandon

their ancient faith, and the Jesuits becoming weary of such fruitless

endeavours, relinquished the enterprise and returned to Europe. But the

Pope, unwilling to renounce his pretensions in that quarter of the

world, took occasion to renew the embassy about the commencement of the

seventeenth century. As before, the mission received at first the most

auspicious encouragement from Susneius, or Segued, the reigning monarch.

This prince, whose right to the throne was fiercely contested by some

powerful adversaries, gladly embraced their overtures. Alphonsa Mendez,

through the exercise of that consummate cunning for which his order is

proverbial, succeeded in securing to himself the appointment of prime

minister of the realm, and of patriarch of the Abyssinians. The monarch,

also, in an open and public manner, swore allegiance to the Pope, and

issued a decree commanding all his subjects to embrace the Romish faith

under penalty of confiscation, mutilation, and death. The execution of

this barbarous decree was committed to Mendez, the new patriarch, who

commenced his mission by the most inconsiderate acts of violence and

oppression. Displaying in all his conduct the true spirit of the Spanish

Inquisition, he employed all the arts of persuasion and reward on the

one hand, and of terror and cruelty on the other, to compel the

Abyssinians to abandon the tenets of their forefathers, and to adopt the

doctrine and worship of Rome. In this fearful alternative, multitudes of

that people, with their priests and leaders, steadfastly adhered to the

truth, with a firmness and magnanimity that would have done honour to

the primitive ages, and resolutely met death in its most frightful

forms. Popular insurrections succeeded, and force was called in to

produce submission. Multitudes were slaughtered, and many driven into

exile. At last, however, the inhuman work of persecution disgusted the

emperor; and after a great victory over twenty thousand of his

peasantry, in which eight thousand were slain, he relinquished the

bloody task, and by a proclamation, distinguished for its frankness and

simplicity, restored religious freedom to Abyssinia.

The result is gratifying as a triumph of religious liberty, and as a

check to the extension of Roman despotism and superstition. To attempt

any details of the miseries and sufferings which the Abyssinians had

endured during this persecution, would require volumes; for beside the

horrors of the Inquisition and the evils of civil war, the worst

passions and vices of mankind, as an unavoidable consequence, were

released from all restraint. Intrepid avarice took occasion to extort

and pillage from its miserable victims; revenge wreaked the hoarded

hatred of years upon its unsuspecting objects; and the assassin and the

ravisher proceeded, without fear of punishment, to the consummation of

their crimes.

Mendez had, likewise, ordered those to be re-baptized, who, in

compliance with the will of the emperor, embraced the religion of Rome,

as if they had formerly been the votaries of Paganism, and their worship

a system of idolatry. They were also compelled to renounce the

observance of the seventh day. This the Abyssinian clergy regarded as a

most shocking insult to the religious discipline of their forefathers,

and quite as provoking as the violence and barbarity exercised upon

those who refused to submit to the Romish yoke. Besides his arbitrary

and despotic proceedings in the church, Mendez excited tumults and

dissensions in the state, and with an unparalleled spirit of aggression

and arrogance, encroached upon the prerogatives of the crown, and even

attempted to give law to the emperor himself. Many circumstances,

indeed, concur to favour the opinion that he entertained the design of

subverting the liberties of the empire, and rendering it an appendage of

the Portuguese crown. At any rate, the kingdom became torn to pieces by

intestine commotions and conspiracies, and though obliged to carry on

his machinations in secret, he filled the court with cabals which lasted

until the death of the reigning monarch, in 1632. Basilides, the son and

successor of the former, deemed it expedient to free the country from

such troublesome guests, and accordingly, in 1684, he banished Mendez,

with all the Europeans belonging to his train, from the Abyssinian

territories, commanded all his subjects to return to the religion of

their ancestors, and forbid the worship of images, or the observance of

the first day. He likewise requested the Patriarch of Alexandria to send

them a new abuna, with which request that dignitary complied.[8]

The condition of the Abyssinian church at this time was most deplorable.

The reign of the Jesuits, though short, had been attended with blighting

and fatal consequences. It had been their aim to overthrow in the minds

of the people all respect for the moral law and the revealed word of

God, and to establish in its place a preposterous veneration for the

authority of the fathers, and the canons of the church. Nor was this

all; superstition had immeasurably increased, and its accompaniments,

vice and ignorance, everywhere prevailed.

But from this period the very name of Rome, its worship, or its

pontiffs, were objects of the highest aversion to the Abyssinians; and

even the frontiers of the kingdom were guarded with the strictest

vigilance and the closest attention, lest any Jesuit or Romish emissary

might steal into their territory in disguise, and excite new commotions

in the kingdom. In vain the pontiffs made many attempts to recover what

they had lost through the insolence and misconduct of the Jesuits. For

this purpose two Capuchin monks were despatched into Abyssinia; but

these unfortunate wretches only succeeded in penetrating a short

distance into the interior, when they were discovered and immediately

put to death. The pontiffs, however, were not discouraged, though they

employed more clandestine methods of reviving the missions, and even

solicited in their behalf the intercession and influence of Louis XIV.

of France. The Jesuits were eager to obtain this employment, and,

accordingly, Poncet, a French apothecary, was despatched from Cairo by

the consul Maillet, in company with Brevedent, a respectable member of

the former fraternity. Brevedent died in Abyssinia, and, soon after,

Poncet obtained an introduction to the king, who expressed his dislike

of the Catholic religion, and his determination not to permit his people

to embrace it. M. Du Roule was afterwards deputed to the same court, but

he had advanced no further than Sennaar, when he was cruelly murdered by

the natives, at the instigation, as was supposed, of the Franciscans,

who were disgusted at seeing the mission in the hands of the Jesuits. In

1709, the throne was usurped by Ousts, who appears to have been well

affected to the Romish system, and who secretly communed with its

emissaries, although he made no attempt to influence the consciences of

his subjects. His successor, David, ordered three of these strangers to

be apprehended, who, being condemned as heretics and schismatics in a

council of the clergy, were stoned to death. Since that period, Pope

Benedict XIV. made a new attempt to effect a reconciliation with the

Abyssinian church, but his efforts proved abortive; and, so far as I am

aware, neither the pontiffs nor their votaries have been able to calm

the resentment of that exasperated people, or to subdue their enmity

against the doctrine and worship of Rome.

In 1634, the Lutherans made several attempts to establish missions in

Abyssinia, in order, as they said, to bring that benighted people to the

knowledge of a purer religion, and a more rational system of worship,

although it might appear questionable to some which church of the two

most required a reformation in its rites and doctrines. In accordance

with this design, the learned Heyling of Lubec made a voyage into

Abyssinia, where he resided many years, and acquired such a

distinguished place in the confidence and esteem of the sovereign, that

he was honoured with many important offices, and finally became prime

minister of the realm. In this eminent station he acquitted himself in

the most creditable manner, and gave many proofs of his zeal both for

the interests of religion and the public good. He finally set out for

Europe on business of importance, but never arrived there; and, as the

journey was being performed by land, it is supposed that he perished in

the deserts of Nubia. Subsequently, however, a communication was kept up

between the two countries, and Ernest, duke of Saxe-Gotha, surnamed the

Pious, on account of his sanctity and virtue, made new attempts to

diffuse a knowledge of the gospel, as taught in his church, among the

Abyssinians. This design was formed through the counsels of the famous

Ludolph, and was to have been executed by the ministry of Gregory, an

Abyssinian abbot who had resided some time in Europe. This missionary

sailed from Antwerp, in the ship Katerina, in 1657, but, in passing Cape

Horn, she was unfortunately wrecked, and all on board perished. The

mission, thus frustrated, was not designed to be abandoned; for the

prince, in 1663, entrusted the same important commission to John Michael

Wansleb, a native of Erfurt, to whom he gave the wisest instructions,

and whom he charged particularly to employ all rational and consistent

means to excite in the Abyssinian nation a favourable opinion of the

Germans, as this, more than anything else, would contribute to the

success of the enterprise. But this wise and laudable undertaking failed

through the inconstancy of the worthless man to whom it was confided,

and whose virtue was by no means equal to his ability. Instead of

continuing his journey into Abyssinia, he remained for some time in

Egypt, and finally returned to Europe without ever seeing the country he

was intended to visit. But he entertained many uneasy apprehensions of

the account that would naturally be demanded of his conduct, and of the

manner in which he had expended the large sums of money designed for the

Abyssinian expedition. These apprehensions, together with the

consciousness of guilt, made him desperate. Hence, instead of returning

to Germany, he went to Rome, and, in 1667, embraced the doctrine of that

church, at least in open profession, and entered into the Dominican

order.

Other missions have been established, or rather attempted, in this

country. In 1829, Messrs. Gobat and Kinglar were sent by the Church

Missionary Society, as missionaries to Abyssinia. After many trials,

they succeeded in reaching the place of their destination, by way of

Massowa. The ruler of Tigre, who is greatly beloved by his subjects,

received them in a friendly manner, and they were much encouraged by his

assurances of safety and protection. Mr. Hinglar died when he had just

conquered most of the difficulties of the language, but Mr. Gobat

employed his time in conversational preaching and distributing Bibles,

until, in consequence of the unsettled state of the country, he was

induced to leave for a short time. It is a fact, however, that previous

to this the Scriptures had been translated by the Abyssinians themselves

from the Arabic and Ethiopic into the Amharic language, which is the

dialect generally spoken throughout the Abyssinian empire. In 1833, Mr.

Gobat, accompanied by Mr. Isenberg, returned to his field of labour.

They took up their residence at Adowa, the capital of Tigre, six or

eight days' journey from Massowa. During Mr. Gobat's absence, the former

monarch, Sabagadis, had been dethroned, and Oobie, an avaricious and

cruel despot, reigned in his stead. It was soon perceived that he

regarded the missionaries with a jealous eye, and his suspicions were

increased by the appearance in the country soon after of many

foreigners. Mr. Isenberg was openly accused of bringing them into the

country for treasonable purposes. These accusations, and others of a

similar character, were circulated by the priests, who complained that

through the influence of the missionaries the Ethiopic church was

threatened with extinction. They also charged the missionaries with

intrigue to overthrow the government of the country, and to introduce

English troops. Oobie was no less suspicious of the political designs of

the foreigners, and it was not long before an edict came to Mr.

Isenberg, from the king, in which all foreigners were commanded to

embrace the Abyssinian creed or to leave the country. Preferring the

latter alternative, Mr. Isenberg and his associate, Mr. Blumhardt,

retired into Egypt. Mr. Krapf, a former companion of Blumhardt, removed

to Shoa, where he was favourably received and hospitably entertained for

a time. Ultimately, however, it appeared that the king wished to be

benefited by the superior knowledge of the missionaries in everything

but what pertained to the duties of religion. He said that he wanted

workmen, not priests. After Mr. Krapf had acquired the language, he

established schools, which succeeded well for a time, or until the

pupils, from their superior knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, began to

question the traditions in which they had been brought up. Here the

priesthood interfered, and through their machinations the monarch was

induced to express his decided disapprobation of the proceedings, and

the schools were, at his command, suppressed. Under these

discouragements, the missionaries, after distributing ten thousand

copies of the Bible, returned to Europe.

The empire of Abyssinia has been frequently disturbed by civil wars; and

the appointment of a new abuna, or metropolitan, is often attended by

intestine commotions. This was the case in 1715, when that dignitary, in

a convocation of the clergy, declared his opinion of the

consubstantiality of Christ, which was different from that which had

been proclaimed at the gate of the palace. The abuna represented Christ

as being "one God, of the Father alone, with a body consubstantial with

ours, and by that union becoming the Messiah." The emperor maintained,

on the contrary, that the Redeemer was perfect man and perfect God by

the union; one Christ, whose body was composed of a precious substance,

called _bahery_, not derived from his mother, or consubstantial with

ours. Many of the ecclesiastics favoured the opinion of the abuna; and,

elate with their supposed triumph, they gathered the populace,

surrounded the palace, and insulted the emperor with shouts and songs.

The enraged potentate gave immediate orders for their dispersion and

punishment. The mandate was executed by a company of pagan soldiers, who

slew about one hundred of the delinquents, and filled the streets of the

capital with slaughter. The Christian population of Shoa and Efat is

estimated at 1,000,000 souls, and that of the Pagan and Mohammedan

population of the numerous dependencies at an equal number. But this

people is chiefly interesting to us from the fact that here, for so many

ages, a national religious establishment has existed, which never

succumbed to the authority of Rome, and, consequently, which has ever

been in the observation of the holy Sabbath day.

The Ethiopic church maintains the Eutychian doctrine respecting the

nature of Christ; and it agrees with the other Eastern churches in

holding the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father only. In these

respects it differs from the Western churches. From the Romish church it

is distinguished by its doctrine regarding the supremacy of the Pope, in

which it agrees with Protestants; to the rule of faith, which it limits

to the Scriptures, including the Apocrypha; to the eucharist, which it

administers in both kinds to the laity, and regards neither as a

transubstantiation nor as a sacrifice; to the celibacy of the clergy,

who may be married; to the adoration of images, which it regards as

unlawful; to the state of the soul after death, rejecting purgatory; and

as regards several other less important and minor points. But, like

Rome, it invokes saints and angels as intercessors with God, paying

great honours to the Virgin and St. Michael, and having a copious

calendar of saints, with a corresponding number of fasts and

festivals.[9]

Their most extraordinary peculiarities are certain forms and ceremonies

retained from their ancient Jewish worship. Their churches, which are

generally small and mean, resemble precisely the Jewish temple. Like it,

they are divided into three parts; the innermost being the holy of

holies, and inaccessible to the laity, who, except on certain occasions,

are forbidden to pass the outer porch. Unbelievers, and all subject to

Levitical uncleanness, are carefully excluded. All who enter must be

barefoot, and the doorposts and threshold must be kissed in passing. The

service is performed in the ancient Ethiopic, or Geez, now a dead

language. It commences with the Jewish Trisagion, and as David danced

before the ark, so their priests caper and beat the ground with their

feet, and, with other similar antics and performances, complete a

remarkable form of devotion. They observe the Levitical prohibitions of

unclean animals, and the Pharisaical ceremonies of genuflexions and

ablutions. Like the Jews, they practise concubinage. Fasts of unexampled

strictness and extraordinary frequency are constantly observed. With

scriptural examples before them, and unenlightened by science and

philosophy, it is perhaps not surprising that they should believe in

witchcraft, magic, and sorcery.

The whole country is overspread to excess with churches, and the number

of the professedly religious in Shoa amounts to one-fourth of the

population. The aboon, or abuna, is the ecclesiastical head, and the

church confines to his hands alone the grace or virtue that makes a

clergyman, differing in this from other churches called apostolic, which

allow it to all bishops.

The Grand Prior of the monks of Debra Libanos is second in dignity; then

the bishops; next the priests and deacons. Monasteries abound, and they

are generally placed on eminences near running water, and amid scenes of

beauty and sublimity. An easy ceremony admits to the monkish order, and

the life of the professed is one of ease and indulgence, consequently

the land swarms with monks, who are in reality the greatest of pests and

plagues. Every church establishment is supported by certain lands and

villages particularly set apart for that purpose, and to these are added

various fees for baptismal, funeral, and other clerical services,

besides the voluntary contributions of the superstitious people. These

ecclesiastics, taken as a body, are ignorant, superstitious, and

immoral, fearful of innovation, hating heretics, and observant of

religious forms, some with the sincerity of devotees, and others as the

business-like followers of a gainful profession. Of the doctrines of

justification by faith or regeneration by the Holy Spirit, the

Abyssinians are said to be entirely ignorant; but it is possible, it is

even probable, that there has been some misapprehension upon that point.

It is very easy for foreigners, in a state of society so new and

strange, to misapprehend the purport of what they behold, or to arrive

at wrong conclusions, from given premises, in consequence of prejudice

and partiality. We trust that the Divine Inhabitant has not entirely

forsaken this polluted temple, and that the sacred fire is not utterly

extinguished, although the surrounding atmosphere may be impure. At any

rate, there is hope, since the Scriptures are the foundation of the

faith of the Abyssinian Church, and there is no infallible pontiff,

consecrating with his authority the manifold corruptions from which that

authority sprung, and by which it is perpetuated.

It is scarcely necessary to repeat what all authors acquainted with the

subject have been unanimous in affirming, namely, that the Abyssinian

Church observes the seventh-day Sabbath. Sandius says, "There is a

Christian empire of the Abyssinians, who adhere to Peter and Paul, and

observe the seventh day." The Jesuits affirmed "that they kept as sacred

the Jewish Sabbath." Mr. Brerewood, who wrote in 1614, declares that the

midland Ethiopians, the modern Abyssinians, reverenced the Sabbath,

keeping it solemn equal with the Lord's day.[10] James Bruce, a

Scotsman, who visited Abyssinia in 1768, testifies to their observance

of the seventh day; and these accounts have been substantiated by the

witness of modern travellers. The numerous dependencies of the

Abyssinian empire, as well as some of the neighbouring independent

kingdoms, contain Christian communities, of which some much nearer than

others approximate in their rites and ceremonies to the simplicity of

the apostolic age. Many of these have for a long period of years,

successfully held their position among mountain fastnesses in the very

midst of a Pagan and Mohammedan population. One of the most remarkable

of these seats is upon an island of the Lake Zovai, where, in the Church

of Emanuel, are deposited the silver dishes and other sacred utensils,

with numerous manuscripts, which Nebla Dengel wished particularly to

preserve from the grasp of an invading army. The islands of this lake

contain upwards of three thousand Christian houses formed of lime and

stone. They are shaded by lofty trees, and the whole has a luxuriant and

beautiful appearance. In Guragee, a dependency of Abyssinia, the

population are exclusively Christian. Twelve isolated churches

previously unheard of were discovered a few years since in a province

called Yoya. Between Garro and Metcha there is a small tract peopled by

Christians, who reside entirely in mountain caves, as a measure of

security against the heathens by whom they are surrounded. Eight days'

journey hence is Cambat, an independent Christian state, completely

studded with churches and monasteries. Wollamo, another Christian

province under an independent sovereign, lies below Cambat, and also

contains many religious houses. Skorchassie, another neighbouring state,

is peopled by Christians, and so is Sidama, and both are entirely

surrounded by Pagans. Susa is another important Christian country, whose

king, in 1842, was said to be a very wise and just ruler. The government

is liberal, and the people are, comparatively with the other African

nations, in a high state of civilization. The priests are distinguished

by antique robes and silver mitres, and the churches and religious

observances resemble those of Shoa, except as regards the saints' days,

most of which are unknown in Susa. In this country all labour is

interdicted upon the Sabbath, but the observation of any Lord's day is

unknown.

That the religion of Ethiopia should have become corrupt is not in the

least surprising, although we can only refer it to the superintending

providence of God that, amid the wreck of ages and the changes and

revolutions of time, it has survived at all. The wonder is, that,

surrounded as they are by Pagan and Moslem, together with the corrupt

propensities of the human heart, the very name and profession of

Christianity has not been long since obliterated from their minds, the

Sabbath forgotten, and the name of the Great Mediator supplanted by that

of the false prophet.

Abyssinia, notwithstanding her corruptions, is immeasurably above all

other African nations in the scale of civilization. This is plainly

enough proved by the following extract from the Narrative of the Travels

of Charles Johnston, through the country of Adel to the kingdom of Shoa,

in 1842-43:

"Arrived upon the summit, the stranger finds an extensive table-land

spread out before him, and he cannot divest himself of the idea that he

has reached some new continent. A Scotch climate and Scotch vegetation,

wheat, barley, linseed,—and yet in intertropical Africa. The country

seems highly cultivated, wheat and barley on all sides growing close to

our path, while near the farmhouses were stacks of grain, which gave the

whole country an English appearance.

"Amidst the luxuries and conveniences so abundantly supplied to the

embassy by the indulgent care of a liberal government, I almost fancied

that I had returned to the comforts of European life."

Mr. Johnston says that he was furnished with excellent wheaten bread,

and butter quite as good as any he had ever eaten, with fish, flesh,

fowl, wine, honey, and a kind of native beer, resembling English ale. He

speaks of the king as being beloved by his people, remarkably just in

all his transactions, moderate in his anger, and benevolent to his

visiters. He himself declared that he had "the fear of God before his

eyes."

The Holy Scriptures have been preserved in Abyssinia, on parchment

manuscript, and in the Geez language; but, in 1826, they were translated

by the Ethiopians themselves into Amharic, the spoken dialect of the

country. These books, our traveller declares, agree perfectly with the

Vulgate, except the book of the Maccabees, in which he discovered some

discrepancies. They also possess a commentary on each of the sacred

books, and, besides the five books of Moses, possess a sixth, which they

equally revere. The names of the books agree with ours, and appear to be

Ethiopic translations of Genesis, Exodus, &c. They also possess the book

of Enoch, which, however, according to Mr. Bruce, is the production of a

Gnostic philosopher. They have a liturgy in Ethiopic. It is said that

all the literature of the country is embraced in 120 volumes.

But we trust that great and good things are in store for this ancient

people, who, though severely tried and tempted, have persisted in

keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus; who, though

stumbling, have not wandered altogether out of the way; and who have

within themselves all the elements for moral renovation,—the Holy

Scriptures, the Sabbath, and the knowledge of the Redeemer of

mankind.[11]

Abyssinia, as an empire, has experienced alternately the contraction and

expansion common to the ancient monarchies. The Negus, as friend and

ally of Justinian, reigned supreme over seven kingdoms, prosecuted an

extensive trade with Ceylon and the Indies, and encouraged in his

country the arts and letters of Europe. Arabia, surnamed "the blest,"

and, by contrast with the neighbouring regions, considered as "happy,"

had been despoiled of her rich treasures, and led in captivity, to

gratify the avarice or ambition of an Ethiopian conqueror, whose

hereditary claim, founded on his descent from the beauteous Queen of

Sheba, was warmed and animated by religious zeal. The inhabitants of

Arabia were denominated Homerites. Their prince, Duncan, was not

insensible to the inflictions, nor inflexible to the entreaties, of the

Jews, who, powerful even in exile, persuaded him to retaliate upon the

Christians in his dominions the persecution that their people suffered

from the imperial laws. Accordingly some Roman merchants were

ignominiously put to death, and the crown of martyrdom bestowed upon

many Christians of Yemen, who refused to apostatize from their faith.

The expiring churches of Arabia invoked the name of the Abyssinian

monarch, who arose like a lion out of his place, passed the Red Sea with

a fleet and army, dethroned the Jewish proselyte, and extinguished a

royal race who, for many centuries, had exercised sovereignty over the

sequestered region of precious gums and aromatic groves. The cities of

Arabia immediately resounded with the Trisagion, chanted, with rapturous

demonstrations of joy, by the conquering army. The Negus himself

despatched a messenger to the Alexandrian prelate, announcing the

victory of the gospel, and soliciting of that dignitary an orthodox

ruler for the Arabian churches. To Justinian, this announcement

occasioned much secret gratulation, though it may be questioned by

posterity whether he exulted most in the triumph of orthodoxy, or the

flattering prospects he thereby entertained of gratifying his ambition,

securing a fortunate ally, and reaping the advantages of a lucrative

commercial intercourse. He was desirous to divert the trade of the

precious commodities of the East,—silk, balm, and frankincense,—no less

than to engage the forces of Arabia and Africa against the Persian king.

Accordingly, an embassage, under the direction of Nonnosus, was

despatched into Abyssinia, to execute, in the name of the Emperor, this

important commission. Declining the shorter but more dangerous route

through the desert regions of Nubia, he ascended the Nile, embarked on

the Red Sea, and safely landed at the port of Adulis.[12] From this port

to the royal city of Axuma is no more than fifty leagues, in a direct

line; but the winding passes of the mountains detained the embassage

fifteen days, during which journey they were astonished by the droves of

wild elephants that roamed the forests. He found the capital large and

populous, the people Christian in profession, and strictly observant of

the Jewish Sabbath. He found also many traces of Grecian art.[13] The

Negus received the ambassador with the splendid hospitality suitable to

a potent monarch, and due to the representative of an imperial friend.

Amidst a numerous and august assemblage of the ladies of the court, the

dignitaries of the church, and the princes of the empire, the Negus gave

audience in a spacious plain. Dismounting from his lofty chariot, to

which was harnessed four white elephants, superbly caparisoned, he

appeared, clad in a linen garment, with a golden tiara on his head;

while around his neck, arms, and ankles, blazed the regal circlets of

diamonds, pearls, and precious stones, interwoven with chains of gold.

He carried two javelins of rarest temper, and wore a light shield of

exquisite workmanship. The ambassador of Justinian approached with awe,

and knelt with becoming deference. He was raised and embraced by the

Negus, who received the imperial missive of which he was the bearer,

kissed the seal, perused the contents with apparent satisfaction,

accepted the imperial alliance, and, brandishing his weapons, denounced

a perpetual anathema against the enemies of his new friend and ally. But

the proposal for trade was artfully eluded, and the hostile

demonstration was not productive of a corresponding effect. The

Abyssinians were unwilling to abandon the pleasures and luxuries of

peace, with the sensual delights of their aromatic bowers, for the toils

of ambition and the benefit of a foreign potentate. Discretion is

certainly the better part of valour, and it was proved in the sequel

that the Negus, instead of extending his triumphs, was incapable of

preserving what he had already obtained. The sceptre of Arabia was

wrenched from his hands by Abrahah, the slave of a Roman merchant of

Adulis. The Ethiopian legions were seduced and enervated by the

luxurious influences of the climate. Justinian solicited the friendship

of the usurper, who returned his complaisancy with a slight tribute and

the acknowledgment of his nominal supremacy. After a long course of

prosperity, the dynasty of Abrahah was overthrown, his descendants

despoiled of their rich possessions by the Persian conqueror, and every

vestige of Christianity obliterated. This short episode of Abyssinian

history must be interesting to us, from the fact that, could a Christian

empire have been sustained in Arabia, it might have prevented the rise

of the Mohammedan imposture, and have materially changed the history of

the world.[14]

[1] According to Assemanni, Christianity was once professed by the horde

of Koraites; and their chief, who received ordination, which probably

gave rise to the legend of Presbyter, or Prester, John.

[2] Some modern theorists have severely reprehended the Paulicians, or

Armenians, for the part they bore in these sanguinary scenes. But so

long as the principle of patriotism is cherished; so long as the names

of home and country are accounted sacred; and so long as the memories of

Tell, and Wallace, and Washington, are held up to general emulation, the

laity, at least, may be excused for recognising the legitimacy of

self-defence.

[3] Those who desire a more detailed account of the Armenians may

consult La Croza, Galanus, Olearius, Chardin, Fabricius, in Lux

Evangelii, and, above all, Tavernier.

[4] I am aware that the truth of this statement has been questioned, but

after all there is nothing so very improbable in it. Alfred was a prince

of an enterprising disposition, and might have sent an embassy to India

for several reasons, and their performance of the journey was no

impossibility.

[5] The Trisagion is the hymn supposed to be chanted by the Cherubim

before the throne of glory, and commences with Holy, Holy, Holy, is the

Lord God Almighty.

[6] Authors are far from being unanimous in their accounts of this

people and their origin. It has been maintained by not a few that they

are of Syriac extraction, and that the St. Thomas, from whom their

appellation is derived, was an Armenian merchant and missionary who

flourished as their leader in the fifth century. Others, with equal

plausibility, contend that they originated from a colony of Abyssinians.

Dr. Buchanan maintains an opinion different from either. He supposes

them to be natives of India, whose ancestors were converted by

St. Thomas, the Apostle. He says, that "we have as good reason for

believing that St. Thomas died in India, as that St. Peter died at

Rome."

According to a tradition of the natives, the Apostle came first to

Socotara, an island in the Arabian Sea, and thence departed to

Cranganor, where he founded several churches. The next scene of his

labours was Coromandare, and preaching in all the towns and villages he

came to Melsapour, the chief city, where he converted the prince and a

great part of the nobility to the Christian faith. This so enraged the

Brahmins, that one of them secretly followed him into a solitary place,

where he retired for prayer, and stabbed him in the back with a spear.

[7] According to another account, their conversion to this creed was

effected by the missionaries of the Empress Theodora, which, however,

has been disputed by Assemanus.

[8] Gibbon says that "two abunas had been slain in battle."

[9] It has been supposed, and with reason, that many of these customs

were introduced by the Jesuits, and that previous to the partial

subjection of this church to the Romish authority, it was much more pure

than it has since been.

[10] The observation of Sunday was brought in by the Jesuits, who found

it easier to induce them to observe both days than to consent to a

substitution of the first for the seventh day.

[11] The Abyssinians still retain the physiognomy and olive complexion

of the Arabs, and afford an incontestable evidence that three thousand

years can neither change the colour nor the intellectual capabilities of

the human species. Under the burning sun of Africa, the Abyssinian, a

branch of the great Caucasian family, has preserved the name and

semblance of Christianity and civilization through the wreck and

revolutions of ages, and amid the tempests of foreign and domestic

dominations. Conscious of his ignorance, he once sought the fraternity

of Europe for the sake of her letters and her arts. But how is it with

the Nubian, whose unequivocal African descent is betrayed by his stupid

features, black colour, and woolly hair, yet who enjoyed equal or

superior advantages in ancient times? The history of his race would

attest to the truth in this case. He has relapsed into that barbarism

which seems to be his native element, and from which he appears

incapable of preserving himself. The only memorials of his Christianity

are a few words, of which he is incapable of understanding the sense;

the only traces of his civilization a few heaps of sculptured ruins.

[12] The negotiations of Justinian with the Abyssinians are mentioned by

Procopius, John Malala, and others. The original narrative of the

ambassador Nonnosus is quoted by the Historian of Antioch, and Photius

has given a curious extract. Justinian reigned over the Greek empire

from 527 to 565.

[13] The present village of Anuma is conspicuous by the ruins of a

splendid Christian temple, and seventeen obelisks, of Grecian

architecture. According to Alvarez, it was in a flourishing state in

1520, but was ruined the same year by the Turkish invasion.

[14] Those who desire to form an acquaintance with Abyssinian history

may consult Procopius, Baronius, Cosmos, Indicopleustus, Alvarez, Lobo,

and Bruce. In these works, the subject is very amply and ably treated.

CHAPTER II. SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS IN EUROPE.

SECTION I. WALDENSES, ALBIGENSES, PASAGINIANS, ETC.—THEIR SABBATICAL

CHARACTER EXAMINED.

It is not my design to give even an abridged account of ecclesiastical

affairs as connected with this people during the many centuries of their

existence, but confine myself to a consideration of the origin of their

distinguishing appellation, with an account of their doctrinal

sentiments and religious practices, and their terrible persecutions and

dispersion.

It is evident that the Latin word vallis has been the parent of the

English word valley, the French and Spanish valle, the Provençal vaux,

vaudois, the Italian valdesi, the low Dutch valleye, and the

ecclesiastical Valdensis, Valdenses, and Waldenses. The designation of

the word is valleys—inhabitants of valleys—neither more nor less. There

being no _w_ in the Latin language, the terms Vallenses and Valdenses

were employed long before the more modern one of Waldenses came into

use.

It appears that from the earliest ages, the inhabitants of the valleys

about the Pyrenees did not profess the Catholic faith; neither was it

embraced by the inhabitants of the valleys of the Alps; it occurred,

also, that one Valdo, in the ninth century, a friend and adviser of

Berengarius, and a man of wealth, talents, and piety, who had many

followers, possessed himself of a Bible, by which he was led to perceive

the errors and corruptions of Rome, which he severely denounced;

moreover, it came to pass that about one hundred and thirty years after,

a rich merchant of Lyons, whose name was Waldo, openly withdrew from the

communion of Rome, and supported many to travel and teach the doctrines

believed in the valleys. All these people, though different in their

origin, and different no doubt in some minor points of faith and

practices of worship, were called Waldenses as a general term. They had

also other appellations imposed upon them, which, however, were mostly

local, and which I shall subsequently take into consideration. This

accounts in a satisfactory manner for the diversity of the statements

concerning them. In Languedoc these heresies were supposed to be of

recent origin, and to have originated from Waldo, whose immediate

followers were called Waldenses. This, however, was merely the

renovation of the name from a particular cause, and not its original;

for we find that, in other districts, other branches of this same

original sect are called by other appellations, significative of some

distinguished leader. Thus, in Dauphiny, they were called Josephists,

and, in other places, Petrobrusians, from Peter De Bruys. Sometimes they

received their names from their manners, as Catharists (Puritans), Bonne

Homines (good men); at others, from the peculiarities of their religious

ordinances, as insabbathists (sabbath-keepers), and Sabbatharians,

because they contended for the observance of the original sabbath, and

denied the real presence of Christ in the eucharist.[15] By some they

were denominated Bulgarians, and by others Paulicians, and, by a

corruption of that word, Publicans, because it appears that a multitude

of that ancient sect had emigrated hither, and amalgamated with

them.[16] Sometimes they were named from the city or country in which

they prevailed, as Toulousians, Lombardists, and Albigenses.

Nevertheless all these branches were distinguished as keeping the

commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

In more recent times they were particularly distinguished in France by

the name of Albigenses, from the great numbers of them that inhabited

the city of Alby, in the district of Albigeons, between the Garonne, and

the Rhone. After the Council of Alby, which condemned them as heretics,

that name became general and confirmed. In the records of this Council

the following passage occurs: "They savour of Judaism, they practise

circumcision,[17] they observe the Jewish sabbath, but say the holy

Dominical day is no better than other days; let them be accursed."

Very laboured disquisitions have been written, and great pains taken, by

a certain class of writers, to prove that the Albigenses and Waldenses

were very different classes of Christians, and that they held different

opinions and religious principles. How far this distinction extended it

is impossible at present to ascertain; but when the popes issued their

fulminations against the Albigenses, they expressly condemned them as

Waldenses; by the legates of the Holy See they were accused of

professing the faith of the Waldenses, the inquisitors formed their

processes of indictments against them as Waldenses; the leaders of the

crusades made war upon them as Waldenses; they were persecuted on all

sides as such; nor did they attempt to rebut the charges made against

them, but readily adopted the title thus imposed upon them, which they

considered it an honour to bear.

The Pasaginians, or Passignes, were another branch of this same sect,

who derived their appellation from the country of Passau, where it is

computed that eighty or one hundred thousand of them resided. That these

were all one people is evident from the fact that the provincial

councils of Toulouse in 1119, and of Lombez in 1176, and the general

councils of Lateran, in 1139 and 1176, do not particularize them as

Pasaginians, or Albigenses, but as heretics, which shows that they

existed and were generally known before these names were imposed upon

them.

Their enemies confirm their identity as well as their great antiquity.

Father Gretzer, a Jesuit, who had examined the subject fully, and who

had every opportunity of knowing, admits the great antiquity of the

heretics, and, moreover, expresses his firm belief that the Toulousians,

Albigenses, Pasaginians, Arnoldists, Josephists, and the other heretical

factions, who, at that time, were engaging the attention of the popes,

were no other than Waldenses. This opinion he corroborates by showing

wherein they resembled each other. Among other points he mentions the

following: "Moreover, all these heretics despise the fasts and feasts of

the church, such as Candlemas, Easter, the Dominical day; in short, all

approved ecclesiastical customs for which they do not find a warrant in

the Scripture. They say, also, that God enjoined rest and holy

meditation upon the seventh day, and that they cannot feel justified in

the observance of any other."

In the decree of Pope Lucius III., dated 1181, we find the Catharists,

Paterines, Josephists, Arnoldists, Passignes, and those calling

themselves the "Poor of Lyons," all considered as one, and laid under a

perpetual anathema.

It is evident from all these testimonies that the Waldenses, as they

penetrated into different countries, became distinguished by a great

variety of appellations, which they derived from the countries they

inhabited, or from the men who became their leaders at particular

periods. Thus in Albi, Toulouse, Provence, Languedoc, and the

neighbouring countries in France, they were called Albigenses; Vaudois,

Vallenses, and Waldenses in Savoy; Pasaginians in Passau, and the

adjacent regions, with other names and titles too numerous to mention

here.

Nevertheless it appears that some distinction existed between these

different parties. The old Waldenses were not seceders from the Church

of Rome; for neither themselves nor their ancestors had ever embraced

its faith. Claudius Seyssel, a popish archbishop, declares that the

Waldensian heresy originated from one Leo, who, in the days of

Constantine the Great, led a party of heretics from Rome into the

valleys. Pope Gregory VII. observes that it is well known that in the

days of Constantine the Great, some assemblies of Jewish Christians

being persecuted at Rome, because they persisted in obedience to the law

of Moses, wandered off into the valleys, where their descendants remain

unto this day. Reiner Sacco declares that, in the opinion of many

authors of note, their antiquity could be traced to the apostolic age.

He also observes that never, within the memory of man, have they

acknowledged allegiance to the papal see. But that there were seceding

parties, who, at different times and under particular leaders, withdrew

from the communion of that church, and became amalgamated with the old

Waldenses, we have every reason to believe. That these latter, though

disposed to condemn many of the grosser superstitions of that church,

such as the worship of images, transubstantiation, the sacrament of the

mass, etc., might still hesitate about rejecting all her man-made

ordinances, is highly probable. Indeed, this very thing is mentioned by

a very ancient writer, quoted by Perrin, as producing divisions among

them.

At the head of one of these parties was Claude, Bishop of Turin, who

flourished in the commencement of the seventh century. It does not

appear that this bold reformer ever separated wholly from the Church of

Rome, but he denounced many of her corruptions and abominations in no

measured terms, and had many followers. From the death of this eminent

man until the time of Peter Waldo, of Lyons, the history of this people

is involved in much obscurity. If they possessed any writers among

themselves capable of giving their transactions to posterity, or if any

records of their ecclesiastical affairs were committed to writing, the

barbarous zeal of their opponents has prevented their transmission to

our times. To the accounts of their adversaries, therefore, we must look

for proofs of their existence, and here they are abundant. They are,

also, uniformly represented as separated in faith and practice from the

Catholic Church, and as continually multiplying in number; but further

than this we have of them very imperfect statements.

During all this period the popes appear to have been too intent upon

their own pleasures, and too much engaged by their own quarrels, to

interfere with the despised Waldenses, and it was not until the twelfth

century, that these people appear in history as obnoxious to the court

of Rome. About this time one Peter Waldo, an opulent merchant of Lyons,

in France, made an attack upon the superstitions of the Romish church,

particularly the monstrous doctrine of transubstantiation. He commenced

by causing a translation of the four gospels to be made into French,

which he circulated extensively among his countrymen, particularly those

of the poorer class. He soon became a preacher, gathered a large church

in his native city, from which, a few years after, himself and his

adherents were driven by the anathemas of the Pope. Waldo, with his

numerous followers, retired into Dauphiny, where his preaching was

attended with abundant success. His principles were embraced by

multitudes, who were denominated Leonists, Vaudois, Waldenses, etc.; for

the very same class of Christians were designated by all these different

appellations at different times, and according to the different

countries in which they appeared.

Driven from Dauphiny, Waldo sought refuge in Picardy, where, also, his

labours were abundantly blessed. Persecuted thence, he fled into

Germany, and carried with him the glad tidings of salvation. From

Germany he removed to Bohemia, where he finally finished his course in

the year 1179, and the twentieth of his ministry. The amazing success

which had crowned the efforts of this holy man, aroused the pontiff and

his legates to the most vindictive and sanguinary measures. Terrible

persecutions ensued; the bishops of Mentz and Strasburg breathed nothing

but vengeance and slaughter against them. Thirty-five citizens of Mentz

were burned in one fire at the city of Bingen, and eighteen in Mentz

itself. In Strasburg eighty were committed to the flames. In other

places multitudes died praising God, and in the blessed hope of a

glorious resurrection.

SECTION II. CONCERNING THE DOCTRINAL SENTIMENTS AND RELIGIOUS PRACTICES

OF THE WALDENSES—THEIR SABBATARIAN CHARACTER STILL FURTHER CONSIDERED.

In giving an account of the doctrinal sentiments and religious practices

of this people, we must principally depend upon the testimonies of their

adversaries of the Romish church, and their own apologies, reasonings,

and confessions, some of which have been handed down to us through the

records of the Inquisition,[18] and by the historians of that period. Of

these, Reineirus Saccho is the most celebrated. He had been for

seventeen years, in the earlier part of his life, in connexion with the

Waldenses, but apostatized from their profession, and joined the

Catholic church, in which he was raised to the eminence of chief

Inquisitor, and became the bitterest persecutor of his former friends.

He was deputed by the pope to reside in Lombardy, at that time the

headquarters of the Pasaginians, and about 1250, published a book, in

which the errors of the Waldenses were all summed up under

three-and-thirty distinct heads.[19]

To attempt any exposition of all these points would far exceed my

limits, I shall therefore confine myself to what he says in reference to

that particular doctrine by which they were allied to us. "They hold,"

says he, "that none of the ordinances of the church, which have been

introduced since Christ's Ascension,[20] ought to be observed, as being

of no value."

"The feasts,[21] fasts, orders, blessings, offices of the church, and

the like, they utterly reject."

In the sketch which Reineirus furnishes of the doctrines of the

Waldenses, there is not the slightest allusion to any erroneous opinions

regarding the doctrines and principles of the gospel; and this silence

on his part is a noble testimony to the soundness of their creed. He had

himself been among them, was a man of talents and learning, and

intimately acquainted with all their doctrinal sentiments; and, having

apostatized from their faith, and become their bitterest enemy and

persecutor, no one will suppose that he wanted the inclination to bring

against them any accusation, which bore the least similitude to the

truth. The errors of which he accuses them, are such as no Seventh-day

Baptist of the present day would shrink from the charge of holding,

since they all, in one way or other, resolve themselves into the

unfounded claims of the ecclesiastical order, or the substitution for

doctrines of the commandments of men.

In the twelfth century, a colony of the persecuted Waldenses obtained

permission to settle at Saltz, on the river Eger.[22] They are

represented as working upon, and despising, the holydays of the

church.[23] Another eminent Bohemian author, in giving an account of the

Waldenses of that country, observes, "Moreover they say that of six

days, one day is as good as another, but as God had enjoined rest upon

the seventh, mankind were bound to its observance."[24]

An inquisitor of the Church of Rome, who declares that he had exact

knowledge of the Waldenses, at whose trials he had assisted many times,

and in different countries, expressly says "that they contemn all

ecclesiastical customs which they do not read of in the Gospel; such as

the observation of Candlemas, Palm Sunday, the adoration of the cross on

Good Friday, and the reconciliation of penitents. They despise the feast

of Easter, and all the festivals of Christ and the saints,[25] and say

that one day is as good as another, working on holydays when they can do

so without being taken notice of."

The same testimony is borne of them by Eneas Sylvius, who ascended the

pontifical chair with the title of Pope Pius II. Indeed, of all the

multitude of Catholic authors of eminence, who have mentioned this

people, every one bears testimony to this peculiarity in their doctrinal

sentiments and religious practices. At a later period, and among more

modern writers, we have every reason to believe that this feature of

their faith has been purposely disguised. Nevertheless the candour of

some has led them to make very important concessions upon this point.

Mosheim expressly declares that the Pasaginians observed the Jewish

Sabbath. Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, says, "I conceive that the old

Waldenses, who rejected all the festivals of the church, and went back

to the original Sabbath, were much more consistent with themselves, than

these gentlemen, the modern Protestants, who, though they discard all

the others, still retain the Dominical day."

But, lest I weary my readers by a multiplication of testimonies, I shall

add but one more quotation, which contains a concession that, coming

from the quarter and at the time it does, I consider important. Mr.

Benedict, in his History of the Baptists, says, that during the progress

of his historical inquiries, he has met with many facts, where it seemed

as if the heretics, so called, were unsound on the doctrine of the

Sabbath, as established by law; but, he goes on, it is not certain that

all whom the ancient inquisitors accused of being Sabbath-breakers,

would come under the head of Sabbatarians.[26]

It appears to me morally certain that the Seventh-day Baptists may trace

through the Waldenses, at least that portion of them who were never

united to the Church of Rome, an uninterrupted succession to the

apostolic age. Indeed, of all the multitude of writers who have treated

of this people, all, without exception, are unanimous in declaring that

they rejected all the feasts and festivals of the church, as well as

infant baptism, and would not observe any ordinance which they did not

read of in Scripture. Others, especially the ancient Catholics, accuse

them of Judaism, because, according to their testimony, they kept the

Jewish Sabbath. The Council of Lombez derided the Good Men of Lyons as

Sabbatharians. They were condemned by the Lateran Council of 1139 for

refusing to observe the festivals of the church,[27] and the same

accusation was brought against them in canons, synods, chronicles,

conferences, decrees, sermons, homilies, bulls, confessions, creeds,

liturgies, &c. It is hardly possible that all this concurrent testimony,

published at different times and in different countries, could have been

fabricated. It is barely possible that such men as Evervinus, of

Steinfield; Peter, Abbot of Clugny; Ecbertus Schonangiensis, a very

celebrated author in his day; Ermengendus, a ruler both spiritual and

temporal; Alexander III., in council; Alanus Magnus; Izam, the

troubadour, and an inquisitor; Favin, Mazeray, Reineirus Saccho, etc.,

could have been mistaken upon this point. But we are not to conclude

that no persons bearing the name of Waldenses saw and imitated the

practices of the Catholics, in the observance of the holydays of the

church. That many of them, particularly those branches that seceded from

the Church of Rome, paid a superstitious veneration to the Dominical

day, we are ready to admit. We have no data for tracing the extent of

those persons who held the truth unsophisticated. A considerable portion

of the writers to whom reference has been made were Catholics,—men high

in office in that church, and justly distinguished for natural and

acquired abilities. As this class of men placed great reliance upon

tradition and custom for the defence of their forms and ceremonies, and

laid no claim to Scripture testimony or command to sanction the rites of

their church, it is not strange that they should be open and unreserved

in all their details of the facts, and in the freedom of their comments

on ancient affairs, which go to prove the Sabbatarian character of the

heretical sects. With modern writers, particularly those of English and

German extraction, the case is materially different, as they belong to a

class which repudiates all arguments from any source but the Scriptures

for Sunday-keeping, and who take unusual pains to date the origin of

Sabbatarianism as late as possible. Indeed, as it appears that the term

Sabbatharians was first bestowed upon this very ancient and holy people,

I must consider it as a most honourable appellation when applied to our

denomination. I am surprised, that though Presbyterians, Episcopalians,

and every other class of Protestant dissenters, have striven to

establish an affinity with the old Waldenses, our own denomination have

remained so inert upon the matter. Can it be possible that among all our

ministers not one was acquainted with the facts bearing upon this case?

I must confess that it gives me inexpressible pleasure to think that we

have conclusive testimony, that, for so many centuries, in the midst,

too, of Catholic countries, God had reserved to himself such a goodly

number who had not bowed the knee to Baal, and whose mouths had not

kissed him; for certainly next to idolatry is that sin which would

substitute for doctrines the commandments of men, and neglect the

Sabbath of God's appointment, giving preference to a man-made

institution.

There is something extremely ridiculous in the manner in which modern

writers attempt to explain this feature in the faith of the ancient

Waldenses, and in this particular they are highly favoured by the

popular prejudices of the day. They bring long quotations from ancient

Roman authors to prove that the Waldenses rejected every ordinance not

commanded in the Scripture, but are very careful not to inform their

readers that in the opinion of the same authors, Sunday-keeping was one

of those ordinances. "Because they would not observe the festivals of

Christ and the saints," says an author of this stamp, "they were falsely

supposed to neglect the Sabbath also." However, he suppresses the fact

that, whatever title Sunday may bear in modern phraseology, in the times

of which we are speaking it was neither spoken of nor regarded as the

Sabbath, but as a festival of the church the same as Easter or

Christmas. All authorities are unanimous in declaring that the Waldenses

had been from time immemorial in the possession of the Holy Scriptures,

and that all, even the children, were deeply read in them. The French

Bible was translated from the original manuscript which the Waldenses

had retained, according to the testimony of the translators, from the

times of the Apostles, and which they handed down, in their native

tongue, from generation to generation. The following quotation may serve

to give some idea of their proficiency in the Scriptures:—

"In the time of a great persecution of the Waldenses of Merendol and

Provence," says Perrin, "a certain monk was deputed by the Bishop of

Cavaillon to hold a conference with them, that they might be convinced

of their errors, and the effusion of blood prevented. But the monk

returned in confusion, owning that, in his whole life, he had never

known so much of the Scriptures as he had learned during the few days

that he had been conversing with the heretics. The Bishop, however, sent

among them a number of doctors, young men who had lately come from the

Sorbonne, which, at that time, was the very centre of theological

subtlety at Paris. One of these publicly owned that he understood more

of the doctrine of salvation from the answers of little children in

their catechisms, than by all the disputations he had ever heard

before." A Dominican inquisitor declared that for the first time in his

life he heard the ten commandments of the Decalogue from the mouth of a

Waldensian heretic.

That the deportment and daily walk of the Waldenses was conformable with

their religious profession and scriptural knowledge, we have every

reason to believe. Reinerus Saccho declares that they live righteously

before men, believing rightly concerning God in every particular, and

holding all the articles contained in the Apostle's Creed. "The first

lesson," says he, "that the Waldenses teach those whom they bring over

to their party, is to instruct them what kind of persons the disciples

of Christ ought to be, and this they do by the doctrine of the

evangelists and apostles, saying that those only are the followers of

the apostles who imitate their manner of life."

An ancient inquisitor gives of them the following account:—

"These heretics are known by their manners and conversation, for they

are orderly and modest in their behaviour and deportment. They avoid all

appearance of pride in their dress; they neither indulge in finery of

attire, nor are they remarkable for being mean and ragged. They avoid

commerce, that they may be free from falsehood and deceit. They get

their livelihood by manual industry, as day labourers or mechanics, and

their teachers are weavers or tailors. They are not anxious about

amassing riches, but content themselves with the necessaries of life.

They are chaste, temperate, and sober. They abstain from anger. Even

when they work they either learn or teach. In like manner, also, their

women are modest, avoiding backbiting, foolish jesting, and levity of

speech, especially abstaining from lies or swearing."

It may be interesting to notice in this connexion some of the

peculiarities of their religious practices.

They constantly appealed to the Scriptures both of the Old and New

Testament, as their only guide and rule of faith and practice as to

religious duties. They are perpetually accused by Catholic writers of

rejecting all human institutions, traditions, and inventions, and both

friends and foes are unanimous in confessing that there was scarcely a

person among them, either man, or woman, or child, that was not better

acquainted with Holy Writ than the doctors of the church. They were

likewise accused of being without priests. This must be understood as

applying to the absence among them of a certain class of men paid or

pensioned by yearly salaries for discharging the ministrations of the

gospel. An old historian who was intimately acquainted with their

affairs, observes, "That they severely denounce the whole body of the

clergy on account of their idle course of life, and say that they ought

to labour with their hands, as did the Apostles."

Another says—"Their preachers are weavers and mechanics, who get their

own living, and are not chargeable upon their hearers." The same author

goes on to say that even their missionaries were accustomed to travel

from place to place in the character of travelling merchants; and this,

he assures us, subserved to good purposes; first, they were enabled to

support themselves; and second, they gained thereby readier access to

persons of rank and fortune.

Their treatment of females in their religious assemblies was liberal and

courteous in the extreme. They were not only allowed to preach, but bore

an equal part with the men in all the business of the church; and the

deeper we go into antiquity the more evident does this appear.

Against war, capital punishment, and oaths, they were decided in

expressing their disapprobation. Their opposition to bearing arms, and

to war in all its operations, was unanimous and unequivocal. Whoever

commanded them to the field they refused to obey, alleging that they

could not conscientiously comply. No contingencies would induce them to

assume the weapons of death; and this peculiarity was well understood by

all the world, and made the onsets of the inquisitors and crusaders upon

these weaponless Christians the more cruel and contemptible. Concerning

oaths, they appear to have adopted the language of our Saviour in a

literal sense, where he commands his disciples, "Swear not at all."

Such were their rules. Whatever deviations there might have been were

exceptions. Such deviations, it is natural to suppose, frequently

occurred; but they generally came from those portions of the community

who had been educated in the faith of Rome.

As it relates to their Baptist character I shall produce but one

quotation, although a multitude might be given.

"As the Catholics of these times baptized by immersion, the Paterines,

by what name soever they were called, as Manicheans, Gazara, Josephites,

Pasaginians, &c., made no complaint of the mode of baptizing; but when

they were examined upon the subject, they objected vehemently against

the baptism of infants, and condemned it as an error."[28]

Of their doctrinal sentiments we can know but little, as no other

portion of their history is involved in so much obscurity. Reinerus

Saccho, however, represents them as believing rightly in everything

pertaining to God and the Apostles' Creed. And they must have been

evangelical Christians; for, when we see religious societies, century

after century, holding on to their principles, and persisting in their

religious practices, amidst the severest persecutions that were ever

experienced, there is irrefragable evidence that they were built on a

firm foundation. Indeed, it is hardly probable that among people whose

religious teachers were obliged to depend upon manual labour for a

livelihood, there would be much time wasted in unprofitable discussions

about abstract points of theology.

The locality of these Christians, before they were dispersed by

persecution, was in the principality of Piedmont, which derives its name

from the singularity of its situation at the foot of the Alps,—a

prodigious range of mountains that form a natural boundary between

Italy, France, Switzerland, and Germany. It is bounded on the north by

Savoy, on the east by the duchies of Milan and Montferrat, on the south

by the county of Nice, and on the west by France. In ancient times it

formed a part of Lombardy, but recently it has become an appanage of the

Sardinian monarch, whose capital is Turin, one of the finest cities of

Europe. It comprises an extensive tract of rich and fruitful valleys,

embosomed in mountains, which are again encircled in mountains,

intersected with deep and rapid rivers, and exhibiting, in strong

contrast, the utmost beauty and luxuriance with the most frightful

spectacles of barrenness and desolation. The country is an interchange

of hill and vale, mountain and plain, through which four principal

rivers wind their way to the Mediterranean. Besides these, there are

eight-and-twenty smaller streams, which, winding their courses in

different directions, contribute to the beauty and fertility of these

Eden-like valleys.

The Pyrenees are another huge mountain range, that separate France from

Spain, and extend from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, a

distance of at least two hundred miles by a breadth of one hundred. This

surface, like the former, is wonderfully diversified with hills and

dales, mountains and valleys, in which places, and all along the borders

of Spain, throughout the south of France, among and below the Alps,

along the Rhine, and even to Bohemia and Passau, thousands of Christians

were found, even in the darkest times, who preserved the faith in its

purity, rejected the traditions of men, took the Scripture for their

guide and rule of conduct, and were persecuted only for righteousness'

sake. This place, in the desert, mountainous country, almost

inaccessible and unknown to the rest of the world, was probably the

place especially meant in Revelation, as prepared of God for the woman,

where she should be fed and nourished during the reign of Antichrist.

These people were deeply imbued with the spirit of missions; but in

this, as everything else, they closely adhered to apostolic example.

They had none of the cumbrous machinery of modern times in their

arrangements for disseminating the light of the gospel. They knew

nothing of supporting in worldly state expensive teachers in foreign

countries, or of building costly chapels for them to preach in. But, in

the simple style of itinerating merchants or peddlers, their

missionaries travelled from country to country, carrying with them a few

pages of the Scriptures in manuscript, holding little meetings,

ordaining deacons, and sustaining the hopes and faith of the persecuted

and tempted ones.

Of their modes of worship we know but little. Their churches, however,

were divided into compartments, such as in modern times are called

associations; and these were again subdivided into congregations. They

generally assembled for worship in private houses or in the shade of

groves. Their churches contained from two to fifteen hundred members. In

times of persecution they met in small companies of six, ten, fifteen,

or twenty, but never in large assemblies. Besides these churches

established in their mountain fastnesses, the Waldenses, or

Passagines,[29] had instituted churches in nearly all the principal

cities in the south of France and the northern parts of Italy. At Modena

their place of meeting was in a large manufactory, which was owned and

worked by the brethren. In Milan they occupied almost an entire street,

and their church is said to have contained nearly two thousand

communicants. In 1056, their church in Avignon contained six hundred

members, and a remnant continued, notwithstanding various reverses of

fortune, so late as 1698. We are also informed that there were churches

of the same order at Brescia, Ferrara, Verona, Rimini, Romandiola, and

many other places. For many centuries they remained untroubled by the

state; but the clergy preached and published books against them. In the

eleventh and twelfth century they comprised the bulk of the inhabitants

of Lombardy, and several men eminent for rank, station, and talents,

belonged to their communion. It is to these that M. de la Roque refers

when he says, "We have had many worthy and pious men, well instructed in

science and the history of the Fathers, who were neither ashamed nor

afraid to adopt both the practice and defence of the observation of the

seventh day against their opponents; and, contrary to popular custom,

withstood every allurement and temptation that the enlightened and

persecuting ages could afford. The observation of the Sabbath remained

not with them a matter of doubtful disputation, as that of the first day

did with the Rev. Dr. Watts, and many others who were engaged in the

controversy upon that subject." A modern French writer, in treating the

history of the Gallican church, observes that it is well known that all

Lombardy, the south of France, and even the mountainous district in the

north of Spain, were infested by a class of heretics, who not only

derided all the festivals of the church, but kept the Jewish Sabbath;

"and I have heard," he continues, "that the primitive Waldenses were

guilty of the same practices."

From these plain facts, and a multitude of others that might be

recorded, we may conclude that a large proportion of these ancient

people were Sabbatarians,—were Seventh-day Baptists. In tracing their

peculiarities, I have been forcibly reminded of our own denominational

traits, especially at a former period.

There is no doubt but that they continued for ages, preserving a

sameness of views, and keeping the commandments of God and the faith of

Jesus. When their congregations became too numerous, they separated, and

formed new assemblies. They continually refused to observe any religious

ordinances for which they found no warrant in the Scriptures. They

refused baptism to children, only admitting to that ordinance those

persons of whose repentance and spiritual regeneration no doubts were

entertained. They maintained church discipline upon all, even their

ministers. And though cast down, they were not disheartened; though

persecuted, they were not extirpated, until the days for their

prophesying[30] were accomplished, until they had borne witness for the

truth during the time appointed, when it pleased the great Head of the

Church to permit their enemies to consummate their everlasting glory, by

bestowing upon them the crown of martyrdom, and, from being the church

militant, they were removed, almost in a body, to join the church

triumphant.

Of their Sabbatarian character there is not the least room for doubt.

Indeed, whatever novelty may be connected with this idea, I believe that

every one, upon mature consideration, will perceive its consistency.

They were planted in the valleys—if not in the apostolic age—before the

antichristian power had obtained the dominance at Rome. Robinson asserts

that there were many churches of Jewish Christians in the imperial city

during the fourth century, which well accords with the declaration of

Pope Gregory VII., that the Waldensian heresy originated from a company

of Jewish heretics, who removed from Rome thither in the time of

Constantine the Great; while a multitude of authorities, both friends

and foes, are unanimous in declaring that they were never subjected to

Rome, but persisted to the end in the abhorrence of all her feasts and

festivals.

SECTION III. CONCERNING THEIR PERSECUTIONS, DISPERSION, AND

EXTIRPATION—MORE ACCOUNTS OF THEIR SABBATARIAN CHARACTER.

It was not until the twelfth century that the Waldenses, and other

heretical parties, appear in history as a people exposed to the

persecuting edicts of Rome. And even then it seems to have been

occasioned, in a great measure, by the great success that crowned the

labours of Peter Waldo, whose followers first obtained the name of

Leonists, or Poor Men of Lyons; and who, when persecuted, fled to the

mountains, and became incorporated with the other inhabitants of the

valleys. By this means, the Waldenses were brought into collision with

the power of Rome, who, arming against them the civil authorities,

proceeded to consummate their destruction and extirpation. At this time

it appears, that under the protection and through the connivance of the

Counts of Toulouse, the Viscount of Beziers, and many others of the

French nobility, a score of the principal cities in Languedoc, Provence,

and Dauphiny, were filled with the different heretical parties. But the

civil power, and even the more summary efforts of the Inquisition,

appear to have been too slow in their operations to meet the wishes of

papal vengeance, although persecuted under the agency of Dominic, the

chief inquisitor. The Pope was dissatisfied—new schemes were projected,

apparently more mild and conciliatory, but under this pleasing exterior

was concealed the most abominable treachery. The papal legates proposed

holding a public debate, in which the points at issue between the

parties should be decided by amicable arbitration. To this reasonable

offer the unsuspecting brethren readily consented. The place of

conference agreed upon was Montreal, near Carcassone. Two umpires were

appointed from each side; those of the Catholics were the Bishops of

Villeneuse and Auxerre, and those of the opposite party, R. de Bot and

Anthony Riviere. On the part of the Albigenses, a number of the pastors

were appointed to manage the debate, of whom the principal was Arnold

Hot. He first arrived at the appointed place, accompanied by a number of

his friends. He was met on behalf of the papacy, by a bishop named

Eusas, the renowned Dominic, two legates of the Pope, and several others

of the Catholic clergy. According to Catholic historians, who are very

concise and remarkably unanimous in their accounts of this celebrated

conference, the points which Arnold undertook to prove were, that the

sacrament of the mass was idolatry, that the baptism of infants was

unscriptural, that the festivals of the church were heathen

appointments,[31] and, finally, that the Pope was Antichrist, and the

Church of Rome the harlot mentioned in Revelations. In maintenance of

these points, Arnold drew up certain propositions, which he transmitted

to the bishop, who required two weeks to answer them, which was granted.

At the appointed time the bishop appeared, and read his reply in the

public assembly. Arnold requested permission to make a verbal answer,

only entreating their patient hearing if he took a considerable time in

answering so prolix a writing. He was answered with fair speeches and

many promises of a patient hearing. He then discoursed upon the subject

for four days, with such perspicuity, fluency and precision, such order

and forcible reasoning, that a powerful impression was made upon the

minds of the audience. He finally called upon the Catholics for their

defence, when the Bishop of Villeneuse declared that the conference must

be broken up, because the army of the crusaders was approaching, and

near at hand.

What he asserted was true. The papal armies advanced, and all points of

controversy were instantly decided by fire and fagot. It is estimated

that not less than two hundred thousand of these innocent people

perished in the short space of two months. The war of extermination

continued twenty years, and one million persons were put to death. These

disastrous scenes occurred in the commencement of the twelfth century,

and three hundred years previous to the dawn of the Reformation in

Germany. During this long period, the circumstances of the Waldenses

were always afflictive, but at some times and in some countries more so

than in others. The Church of Rome, with the armies of crusaders who

were always at hand, and always ready to lend their assistance for the

extirpation of heresy, and the monks of the Inquisition, who were never

more numerous and active, seemed determined to exterminate them from the

face of the earth. But the contests of the Catholic states among

themselves, the quarrels of the popes with the secular princes, whose

affairs they attempted to control, combined with other causes, afforded

these victims of ecclesiastical tyranny some short and temporary seasons

of repose.

Of the multitudes who perished beneath the iron power of the

Inquisition, we have little account. Nevertheless some details of cases

of individual suffering have been given to the world, and multitudes of

others lie concealed among the manuscripts preserved in ancient

libraries. From records of this kind, Philip de Mornay, a French author

of some distinction, composed a work purporting to be the memoirs of

celebrated Waldensian martyrs, in which detailed and circumstantial

narratives of many trials were given, together with the interrogatories

and answers of the criminals, and the heresies of which they were

accused. According to these statements they were perpetually accused of

Judaism, of practising circumcision, and observing the Jewish Sabbath.

The former charges they repelled with disdain. Of the latter, they

generally replied that God had commanded the observance of the seventh

day, which command was binding upon Christians, as much as Jews, since

neither Christ nor his Apostles had ever commanded its abrogation.

Some of these accounts are very interesting, and the Sabbatarians

reasoned in precisely the same manner as we do now.

On the 14th of September, 1492, about thirty persons were committed to

the inquisitorial dungeons of Toulouse, upon a charge of Judaism, which,

as every one knows, was considered a mortal sin in Catholic countries.

Of these, the most eminent was Anthony Ferrar, who had been a pastor or

teacher in the Sabbatarian church of that city. After remaining in

prison ten days, he received a visit from an Italian monk named Gregory,

to whom his examination had been committed. He was accompanied by two

other monks, who were to act as witnesses. After a long conference

touching his age, property, manner of living, associates, relations, and

similar subjects, Gregory at last came to the matter in question.

_Greg._—But, Anthony, you must be a liar and a deceiver, for I have been

credibly informed that yourself, and all your friends, were of the

cursed race of Israel.

_An._—It is false, we were all honest Frenchmen, and Christians,

followers of Jesus.

_Greg._—Nay! but you were Jews, for instead of baptizing your infant

children, you have all the males circumcised.

_An._—You do very wrong to accuse us of that practice; for it is

something of which we are entirely innocent.

_Greg._—Hey! do you then baptize your children?

_An._—We do not, neither do we circumcise them.

_Greg._—Nevertheless, you must be Jews, since you say that the law of

Moses is still binding.

_An._—We say that the ten commandments are still binding.

_Greg._—Yes, and instead of observing the festivals of the Holy Church,

and honouring the holy day of the Lord, on which he arose from the dead,

you were accustomed to meet for worship upon the old Sabbath, or

Saturday.

_An._—We did, indeed, rest and attend to divine worship upon the seventh

day, even as God commanded.

My limits will not permit me to transcribe the remainder of this

interesting conversation. Anthony, with his associates in misfortune,

were subsequently burned in the marketplace in Toulouse, and all died

praising God that they were worthy to suffer for his name. Hundreds of

others, of whom the names of Jean de Borgen, Matthew Hainer, Auguste

Riviere, Philippe Nicola, and Henri Maison, have been preserved, were

accused of and confessed to the same.

"Of the many who were burned, and otherwise destroyed for Judaism,"

observes a Spanish author of the sixteenth century, "it is not probable

that one-tenth were of the race of Israel, but heretics, who, for

persisting in saying that the law of Moses was still binding, were

accused of Jewish practices, such as circumcision and sabbatizing, to

the latter of which they uniformly plead guilty."

A Dominican inquisitor, in giving an account of the proceedings of that

infernal tribunal in the north of Spain, declares that since it was

known that many of the heretics were accustomed to solemnize the old

Sabbath by religious worship, and an absolute inattention to secular

employments, it became the policy of the Holy Office to take notice of

such shops as were shut up on that day, and of such persons as were

found to be absent from worldly engagements. "The result answered my

expectations," he continues, "for when these people were arrested, and

being brought before me, were shown the rack, they generally confessed

their Judaical practices, at least so far as it related to sabbatizing,

which the holy church had expressly forbidden."

Other testimonies of this same character might be produced, but enough

has been said to prove to our own denomination, and to the world, that

at the time when the crusading armies made their frightful onsets upon

the heretical churches of Piedmont, the South of France, and Catalonia,

there were large communities of Sabbath-keeping Christians in all these

parts. But historians are unanimous in confessing that they were drowned

in blood, and driven into exile. Their race disappeared, and their

opinions ceased to influence society. In hundreds of villages, all the

inhabitants were massacred with a blind fury. Year after year new armies

continued to arrive, more numerous than were employed in other wars. It

is impossible to ascertain how many were destroyed by these dreadful

crusades, but it is certain that the visible churches of these

Christians were extirpated by fire and sword; though a bleeding remnant

escaped by flight, concealment, and Catholic conformity. Of the details

of their sufferings and miseries it is impossible to give in this place

even an abridged account. For many consecutive years they suffered every

species of cruelty, barbarity, and persecution, which the crusades and

the Inquisition could inflict. Those who remained were indiscriminately

slaughtered, and of those who fled, multitudes miserably perished by the

way. Their total extirpation was effected in 1686, at which time the

ancient Waldensian and Albigensian churches ceased to exist. It is true,

that in 1689, three years after the expulsion of the whole fraternity, a

company, sword in hand, fought their way back to the valleys of

Piedmont, of which they took possession, and in which their descendants

still reside. This company, under the command of one Amand, committed

the most frightful acts of wickedness and barbarity, and exhibited in

all their conduct a spirit entirely different from the ancient

Waldenses. Their leader acted in the double capacity of spiritual pastor

and military chieftain, and the creeds and formulas which he instituted,

and which are still observed among them, are comparatively of modern

date.

In closing these very brief and imperfect accounts of these ancient

witnesses for the truth, a few remarks may not be inappropriate, more

especially as I have made a claim regarding their denominational

character, that has never, to my knowledge, been advanced by our

friends, and which will not be readily conceded by our opponents.

If we take the Waldenses under the great variety of names which they

bore at different periods and in different locations, it appears that

they were by far the most important branch of dissenters from the Church

of Rome, and that they were divided among themselves like the present

dissenters in England. The more I have investigated this matter, the

more evident it appears; and as it would be unwise for us to attempt to

establish an affinity with all of them in the distinctive feature of our

order, it is certain that our claims at least to a due proportion can

never be disproved. That many of them observed the seventh day, and that

some of them paid a superstitious veneration to the first day, is quite

as certain as the fact that they were all persecuted by the Church of

Rome. The farther we go back into antiquity, the more distinctly does

their Sabbatarian character appear. Nothing but the blindness of bigotry

can induce any man, or class of men, who have paid the smallest

attention to the accounts of all the Catholic authors concerning them,

to deny that complaints against them for disregarding the festivals of

the church, in which they included the Dominical day, were widespread

and long-continued; and that almost equally with the former were the

accusations of their paying an undue regard to Saturday, or the Jewish

Sabbath. On the other hand, it is clear, from the terms "some of them,"

and "a part," with similar expressions employed by the writers in

question, that they did not accuse all of having fallen into this

monstrous heresy. The keeping of the first day appears to be the last

thing that is given up by those who withdraw from the old, corrupt

establishments; and nothing affords a clearer evidence of the prejudices

of education than the slow reluctance with which it is yielded, as they

find that the proofs for its support from the Scriptures fail them, and

the moral and immutable character of the ancient Sabbath comes up to

their view in its practical operations. Such has been the case in all

places where we have certain knowledge, and the probability is that it

was so in the dark ages beyond our sight.

It is not for us to claim the whole body of dissenters of the better

class; but we may claim, and I believe that candid men of all parties

will concede, upon a thorough examination of the ancient Catholic

authors, that Sabbatarian sentiments have prevailed much more

extensively among these ancient sects than has generally been supposed.

Neither my time nor my limits would allow a full investigation of this

very interesting subject. The most that I could hope to do was to make a

beginning. The field for research is very wide, and upon the Sabbatarian

question it is wholly unoccupied. And here I would remark, for the

information of those who may feel disposed to examine the subject

hereafter, that it is only by an immediate reference to the old Catholic

writers that we can ever hope to obtain much information upon this

point. These speak with great plainness, and without paraphrase,

omission, or concealment, of the rejecters of the church-festivals, and

the observers of the Jewish Sabbath. They were open and undisguised, and

were far from exhibiting the cautiousness of the moderns upon this

subject. They had no concern about the proofs for the observance of the

first day, and no fear of publishing to the world how many of the

incorrigible heretics refused to venerate it. It made no difference to

them if it was not found in the Bible, since it was in the decrees of

the councils and the bulls of the popes, which, with them, were of equal

authority with the Scripture command.

For a long time their complaints ran high on this head against many of

the seceding parties; and it is well for us that this testimony is

placed beyond the reach of modern writers, where it cannot be garbled,

mutilated, and suppressed. It is not to be expected that our first-day

brethren, even those of the Baptist persuasion, would take any pains to

prove that these apostolic communities were Sabbatarian, though

possessing the knowledge that such was the fact. It has been their

policy to represent us as insignificant in number and recent in origin.

Unfortunately, we have contributed to extend that delusion. For my own

part, I am of the opinion that in the dark ages there were many more of

our denomination than there are at present. Not that any in these ages

were called Seventh-day Baptists; no such thing: but that multitudes,

like ourselves, refused to observe the festivals of the church,

contended that the Decalogue was moral and immutable, and refused

baptism to any but professing believers. Like ourselves, they took the

Scriptures for their guide and rule of faith in everything, and were

most decided in rejecting everything for which they found no warrant in

that holy book, despising all human appointments, all priestly

traditions, and man-made institutions. For many ages the valleys formed

an asylum, to which all seceding parties from the Romish hierarchy fled

for protection. It is not strange—indeed, we might expect—that this

amalgamation with new parties would beget new customs, which in the end

might entirely change their denominational character. This was certainly

the case as it respects the discipline and government of their churches,

which for a number of the first centuries partook of all the ease and

freedom characteristic of modern Baptist communities, then was modelled

by degrees into a Presbyterian form, and finally ended in something of

the Episcopalian character. Such denominational changes are neither new

nor strange, especially when we consider the severity of penal statutes

on the one hand, and the spirit of conformity, lukewarmness, and

indifference on the other, which continually operate to prepare

dissenters for an approximation to the established church, and, finally,

for a union with it.

At the time of the Reformation these old communities were in

circumstances of peculiar trials and distress. New persecutions of

unusual severity had been stirred up against them by the Catholics,

whose resentment had been exasperated in the keenest manner, in

consequence of the new and unexpected attacks that had been made upon

the authority of the church by the Protestant reformers, and who were

thereby led to vent their spite upon all whom they found without their

pale, whatever might be their innocence, or however quiet and

inoffensive they might have been. Thus harassed and distressed, these

afflicted people were ready to submit to almost any terms, for the sake

of gaining new friends and protectors; and one company after another of

those who had been driven into exile, and were settled in Bohemia,

Germany, and the Netherlands, became associated, as an incipient

measure, and in the end were amalgamated with, the Reformed or

Presbyterian party, under the direction of Calvin and Zuinglius. Of the

fact of this union of the Waldenses with the Reformers there can be no

dispute; but the process of this confederacy, and the terms upon which

it was consummated, have never been satisfactorily decided. It is

morally certain, however, that the subject of the Sabbath was discussed

by some of these parties, since we are informed by various historical

documents that Calvin objected to the seventh day, but conceded that the

old Fathers had substituted the first day in its place, and proposed, as

an instance of Christian liberty, to reject both, and make a Sabbath of

the fifth day of the week. This overture, we are informed, was

indignantly rejected; but there is reason to believe that the observance

of the first day, together with infant baptism, were among the changes

in their denominational character which were brought about by their

union with the German reformers. In 1530, a Waldensian community,

located in Provence, sent two of their ministers, George Morrel and

Peter Masson, as deputies to the Swiss reformers, which resulted in

their union with the new party. These deputies, after their return,

declared to their brethren how many and great errors their old ministers

had kept them in, and how their new allies had happily set them right.

Subsequently a part of them, at least, became one with the Huguenots of

France, and the Protestants of Germany.

But, so late as 1823, an English clergyman, named Gilly, visited the

Vaudois in the valley of Perosa, making his journey thither by Turin,

and had an interview with Mr. Peyrani, who was then seventy years old,

and is since dead. He was the successor of a line of pastors whom

tradition would extend to the Apostles themselves. In his possession was

a library amply supplied with books, and parchments, and paper

manuscripts, accumulated by his ancestors. According to his accounts,

"in the summer, when these pastoral people are tending their cattle at a

distance from the valleys, and occupying their chalets, or temporary

cabins, upon the summits of the mountains, the clearness of the

atmosphere allows the sound of the Sabbath bells to reach them, calling

them to the worship of the Creator, beneath the canopy of heaven. They

assemble in a convenient place on the green turf, to listen to the

exhortations of their minister, who follows them on every seventh day to

their remotest pasturings." From this it appears that a portion of them,

at least, still observe the ancient Sabbath.

SECTION IV. SEMI-JUDAISERS—THEIR ORIGIN, HISTORY, ETC.

We have already seen that the different branches of the great Waldensian

community were known under a variety of names, which were generally

significative of some distinguished leader among them, the country

whence they came, or something descriptive of their peculiar tenets.

The epithet of Semi-Judaisers, which was applied as a term of reproach

to a sect which flourished in Transylvania, Holland, and some parts of

Germany, and even extended itself into Russia and Poland, in the latter

part of the fourteenth and during the commencement of the fifteenth

centuries, is of itself sufficient to show the Sabbatarian character of

the people it was designed to distinguish. To Judaise, Judaising, and

Judaisers, being synonymous terms of reproach, or rather terms

appellative,—the former to signify the action of sabbatizing, and the

latter to designate the person by whom the Sabbath was thus observed. Of

this we have abundant testimony. The Council of Laodicea, in 350, passed

a decree, in which Christians are reproved for Judaising. "If any be

found Judaising, let him be anathematized," was the language of these

pretended fathers of the church.[32] Athanasius says, "We assemble on

Saturday, not that we are infected with Judaism;" thus repelling a

charge which, in every age and country, has been affixed as a stigma to

Sabbath-keepers.

The first glimpse that I have been able to obtain of this sect is given

by an old German author, whose works were published at Antwerp, in 1667.

In speaking of the religious parties and factions which agitated the

country, he says: "As to the people called by their enemies the

Semi-Judaisers, it is certain that they originated from a colony of the

persecuted Waldenses, who fled from Lombardy into Bohemia about 1450,

and thence removed into Transylvania, which subsequently became their

headdquarters. They say that the law of Moses is binding upon

Christians, and, accordingly, solemnize divine service upon Saturday, or

the old Sabbath."

As to the outward circumstances of this people, they were generally

among the industrious poor,—mechanics and husbandmen. They were never in

squalid wretchedness or beggarly destitution, when left to enjoy the

fruits of their industry. Many of them, both male and female, became

inmates of the households of the great, in the capacity of nurses and

servants, and were greatly esteemed on account of their sobriety,

intelligence, and faithfulness. Others settled on the outskirts of the

neglected domains of the nobility, where they soon converted the barren

wastes into productive fields, and reared new and flourishing

settlements, to the great satisfaction of the landlords.

From the very brief and imperfect accounts that I have been able to

obtain concerning them, there does not appear to have been anything

strange or singular in their manner of worship. They took the Scriptures

for their guide, rejected all Popish ceremonies, inventions, and

institutions, administered baptism by immersion, and contended that the

church of Christ should be inaccessible to unholy and unregenerate

persons. Their ministers were allowed no salaries, and were not

distinguished from the lay brethren by any superior authority or

attainments. All who felt disposed to do so were permitted to teach, "or

prophesy," and in this particular they seem to have strongly resembled

the Quakers.

That they possessed a decided missionary spirit is evident from the fact

that their doctrines were secretly and silently, but very effectually,

disseminated throughout many parts of Europe, where they took deep and

lasting root.

Subsequent to their removal into Bohemia, they became incorporated with

the United Bohemian Brethren, whose numbers were considerable in every

part of the empire. Scarcely, however, were they reduced to order, when

a terrible persecution was set on foot by the Catholic party, and they

were called upon to prove the strength of their faith by endurance and

perseverance to the end. They were compelled to forsake their towns and

villages in the depths of winter. The sick were cast into the fields.

Hundreds expired in flames, or on the rack. The public prisons were

filled with suspected persons. Such as effected their escape retired

into the caves and deserts of the country, where they held religious

assemblies, elected teachers, and decided upon their future course.

About 1500, a large company of the Semi-Judaisers removed into

Transylvania, where they experienced many vicissitudes until the dawn of

the Reformation in Germany. At this time they had many large and

flourishing congregations, and being generally of the poorer class, and

withal extremely peaceable and inoffensive in their manners, they were

suffered by the princes and nobility of the country to live upon their

estates without molestation. In 1565, they first appear in history as a

people obnoxious to the rulers of Transylvania; and then it was chiefly

in consequence of the success which had attended the propagation of

their doctrines, and the conversion of Francis Davidis, superintendent

of the Socinian churches in that country, to their creed. Davidis, to

eminent talents and great learning, united the most ardent zeal and

untiring perseverance. Besides taking advantage of every opportunity to

disseminate his own peculiar views, he boldly attacked the doctrines of

the adverse party, disputing in person with the Socinian doctors, and

contending that the ten commandments of the Decalogue were of a moral

and immutable nature, and, consequently, that the seventh day of the

week should be observed as a sabbatical rest. His views were highly

offensive to Christopher Bathori, prince of Transylvania, who threw him

into prison, where he died in 1579, at an advanced age. His doctrines,

thus brought into public and general notice, spread rapidly, and were

embraced by several men of eminence. Of these the most distinguished

were Christiern Francken, who disputed in public for three days with

Faustus Socinus, upon the question of the Sabbath, and John Somers,

Master of the Academy of Clausenberg. The violent contentions that

ensued made a noise in all parts of Germany, and reached the ears of

Luther, who wrote a book upon the subject. In 1585, Jacob Paleologus, of

the isle of Ohio, was burned at Rome for Judaism. At his trial, he

declared that the ten commandments were moral and immutable in their

nature. In other countries executions of a similar character took place;

and the Semi-Judaisers were persecuted from region to region, like the

vilest of mankind. Many of them fled into Poland, Lithuania, and Russia,

where, mingling with the other dissenters from the established churches,

they formed congregations, and became quite numerous. Under the mild

reign of Udislaus II., king of Poland, their numbers greatly increased,

and many persons of wealth and respectability united in their communion.

A Polish writer informs us that their churches were numerous and

flourishing in many parts, but particularly in the Palatinates of

Polotsk, Witepsk, Nuislaw, Mohilev, and Minsk. At Dorpat, in Livonia,

there was a church containing five hundred members, where, in 1816, a

small remnant still resided. From Poland they extended themselves into

the middle and southern provinces of Russia, where they remained in a

state of general peace until the year 1638, when a persecution began in

Poland, through the instigation of the Catholics, extended to this

country, and multitudes of dissenters of all ranks and classes were

barbarously put to death. At this time the Semi-Judaisers were known in

these countries under the name of Sabbaton, a name sufficiently

descriptive of their peculiar and distinguishing tenets. In consequence

of these terrible persecutions, they retired into the most obscure and

unfrequented districts, and their history is wrapped in a great degree

of obscurity, until the reign of the Empress Catherine II., when they

are again brought into view as a people obnoxious to the government.

Under her persecuting edicts, their churches were demolished, their

congregations broken up and scattered, and the more eminent for piety

and learning put to death by a variety of cruel tortures. But a remnant

was saved to perpetuate the truth. Since that period they have

experienced many vicissitudes, but, upon all and every occasion, they

have found their safety in obscurity. They are distinguished for their

ardent love of the Holy Scriptures, for their opposition to the use of

images or pictures, and for their uniformly pious and consistent

conduct. They have no paid or salaried body of ecclesiastics. They

consider the invocation of saints to be idolatry, and insist upon the

right of private judgment in the interpretation of Scripture; a

circumstance that renders them highly obnoxious to the Russian priests.

They only admit professing believers to the rite of baptism. In their

sentiments concerning the Trinity they are said to be Arian.

In 1824, a large community of these Christians were found by a

celebrated French traveller settled on the banks of the river Moskwa.

They numbered several thousand, and wore the Armenian costume, which

people they strongly resembled in manners and customs. He gives as their

peculiarities that they accounted as no better than fable whatever was

preached without Scripture proof, and affirm that the traditions of the

church are no better than the traditions of the Pharisees. They look

upon a church built of stone as no better than any other building;

neither do they believe that God dwells there. They say that to suppose

that God is found in churches, monasteries, and oratories, any more than

in any other place, is limiting the divine majesty. Their prayers and

sermons are extempore. Their ministers, like themselves, are generally

mechanics or labourers; nor is there any difference of rank among them.

They admit all the sacraments instituted by Christ, but none others.

They regard the ten commandments as moral and immutable, and, moreover,

are conscientious observers of the old Sabbath, or Saturday.

"I was told," continues the same author, "that these people were very

numerous in many parts of Russia; and that their missionaries could

travel all over the empire, and pass every night with their brethren.

They were known to each other by a secret sign, and all their houses are

distinguished by a private mark, known only to the initiated. In

consequence of their extreme caution that none but members of their

churches should be present at their assemblies, they have been accused

of many horrid and abominable practices,—such as drinking the blood of a

child, and the indulgence of licentiousness,—their accusers not

considering that the only security for their safety is in their

avoidance of public notoriety." All testimonials concur in stating that

their numbers are considerable, but that, through fear of a recurrence

of persecution, they courted obscurity; being content with the humblest

stations, and only seeking to keep the commandments of God and the faith

of Jesus. "Of the sect called Sabbaton, who reside in Russia," says

Voltaire, "some say one thing and some another. It is evident, however,"

he continues, "that they originated from the Vaudois, who fled before

the Crusaders into Germany, Bohemia, and Poland, and thence into the

imperial territories. They pay great attention to the Bible, and but

little to the priests, for which reason, probably, they have been so

hated by the latter." Again, he observes, "that it is quite impossible

to ascertain their numbers, or the proceedings of their meetings, since,

through fear of persecution, they keep both entirely secret." A Russian

historian testifies to the same. "I have no means of determining the

numbers of the sect denominated Sabbaton, as they have been estimated by

various authorities at from 10,000 to 100,000. It is certain, however,

that they are harmless, simple, and inoffensive in their lives, and that

they avoid all publicity, having a good reason for so doing." "I have

been credibly informed," says the Rev. Joseph Wolfe, in private

correspondence, "that the Sabbatarians in Russia are quite numerous, and

are called Sabbaton." In a work entitled "The Annals of Russia," which

was published at St. Petersburg, in 1796, and afterwards translated into

French by M. de Brissembourg, we are told that these people are not only

found in the large cities, but that they had congregations in the

remotest parts of the empire,—in Siberia, and upon the northwest coast

of North America. This was proved to be the case in 1829, when the Rev.

J. S. Green, of the American Board of Foreign Missions, visited a church

of fifty communicants on the northwest coast of Russian America, who

religiously observed the seventh day. He gives rather a deplorable

picture of their ignorance, but upon one point at least he might have

learned a lesson of them.

SECTION V. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE SABBATARIANS IN HOLLAND.

In my foregoing statements I have been governed entirely by the language

and opinions of the writers from whom I derived my information, and who

are almost unanimous in supposing that the Semi-Judaisers of Bohemia and

Transylvania were descendants of the primitive Waldenses. However this

may be, we have every reason to believe that both these countries, with

different parts of Germany and Holland, were the abodes of evangelical

Christians, and probably of Sabbatarians, before the dispersion of the

Waldenses. An ancient author informs us that long before the dawn of the

Reformation in Germany, there lay concealed in all these countries,

particularly in Bohemia, a class of persons who contended for the

spiritual nature of the kingdom of Christ, and that this kingdom should

be exempt from all human institutions, of which first-day keeping is

such a principal one. It is certain, however, that they were first

brought into public notice about this time, and the probability is, that

being similar to, they became amalgamated with the persecuted Waldenses;

and as their safety lay in their obscurity, they took no pains to form

records to perpetuate their memories. This opinion is further

strengthened from the fact that many of the Anabaptists of Holland,

whose origin is confessedly hid in the remote depths of antiquity, are

known to have been Sabbatarians, and the same was true of multitudes in

the Netherlands, or Low Countries, as we learn from Father Lebo, a

Spanish inquisitor, who accompanied the Duke of Alva on his expedition

to that unhappy country, of which he wrote an account. He says, "Of all

the heretics, none were more incorrigible than a certain set, who were

quite numerous, who refused to pay any regard to the festivals of the

church, but persisted in Judaising, and openly declared that the Mosaic

ritual was still binding."

Of the origin of Sabbatarianism in Holland, however, we have no account;

neither have the names of its teachers been handed down to us. Whether

its first observers were led to its adoption by an examination of the

sacred records alone, or whether the commandments there laid down, were

argued and explained by some popular leader, I have at present no means

of ascertaining. Certain it is that the Sabbath controversy became, in

the commencement of the sixteenth century, the principal one of the age,

in all those northern Germanic countries, and engaged not only the

attention of prelates and doctors of divinity, but of princes and

sovereign states. In this controversy learning was opposed to ignorance,

and influence to obscurity. Wealth, talent, and civil power, were

arrayed on the side of the No-Sabbath doctrine. Here I would remark,

that the Sabbatarians in Europe, at this period, were engaged in a

controversy, which, originating upon different principles, required to

be managed in altogether a different manner, from the present

controversial discussions of the Sabbath question. The change of the

Sabbath at this time had not been broached. It was conceded by all that

the Dominical day was a mere festival of the church, brought in and

perpetuated by human authority, and the mass of the people, with the

so-called great Reformers at their head, contended that all sabbatical

statutes had been abrogated, and consequently that, under the present

dispensation, it was a matter of perfect expediency, whether or not any

day of rest was observed. On the contrary, the Sabbatarians maintained

that a Divine law could only be abrogated by its institutor, that the

law of the Sabbath had not been so abrogated, and consequently, that it

must be still in force. They appealed to the Scriptures; the opposite

party appealed to the sword: and though the arguments of the former

could never be answered in a satisfactory manner, their upholders could

be hushed in death or driven into exile. One of the most eminent and

learned men of this age, was a Sabbatarian, and a bold advocate of

Sabbatarian views. I refer to Grotius, who wrote and published a book,

in which he proved that the ten commandments are moral and immutable,

and consequently the law of the Sabbath is still binding. This book was

condemned in the celebrated council convened at Dort in 1618, and its

author denounced in the severest manner. But however much this

distinguished man contributed to support the Sabbatarian cause, he was

certainly not its founder. A Catholic historian, in treating of the

Anabaptists in Holland, at the commencement of the sixteenth century,

remarks, that, "these heretics, through the instigation of the devil,

for their overthrow, were divided among themselves, part teaching one

thing, and part another; for, though all unanimously rejected the holy

sacraments of the church, and refused to obey its ordinances, a certain

set were for going back to Moses for a Sabbath, in which matter, they

went so far as to form congregations, and hold meetings on the seventh

day." In another place he observes, "I never heard that they were

persecuted by their brethren, the other Anabaptists, except by the way

of jeers, scoffs, and ridicule."[33]

Again, "The followers of Moses being chiefly among the poorer classes,

they escaped for a long time the notice of the civil authorities, and so

greatly increased in numbers, that they had teachers and congregations

in all the principal cities of Holland, but when the persecutions broke

out, some fled, others conformed, and their meetings were generally

broken up." It is well known that the Lutheran princes and prelates

practised upon the Anabaptists all the cruelties to which themselves had

been subjected by the Roman hierarchs. The names of Luther, Calvin, and

Zuinglius, have been marked in this manner with an indelible stain. The

conscientious Sabbatarians neither expected nor found sympathy in the

bosoms of these men. Luther, who could send a circular to the princes of

the empire, urging them to execute summary vengeance upon the heretical

sect, and who bitterly denounced Carlostadt for sympathizing with them;

Calvin, who could smile with complacency over the tortures of those who

refused to be governed by his own opinions; and Zuinglius, who, when

questioned regarding the fate of certain Anabaptists, replied, "Drown

the Dippers,"—what sympathy could be expected from princes whose

consciences were guided, and whose opinions were influenced by such men?

and is it a wonder, that while the horrible scenes of the Inquisition

were re-enacted in Protestant countries; that while women and children,

old men and maidens, indeed, a multitude of all classes, were being

drowned, hung, burned, racked, and crowded into prisons to be literally

starved to death; is it a wonder, I say, that under all these

circumstances, posterity is beginning to inquire whether they were

reformers or deformers, and whether pure and undefiled religion was

really benefited by their services? This inquiry appears the more

rational, when we consider that it was for being baptized as baptism was

practised in the primitive church, and, so far as the Sabbatarians were

concerned, for observing the Sabbath that God had commanded, that these

frightful persecutions were carried on. Although many Sabbatarians

doubtlessly perished, the name of only one martyr known to have been of

that faith has been preserved. This was Barbary Von Thiers, who had been

baptized by a Sabbatarian minister named Stephen Benedict. At her

examination, she declared her rejection of Sunday and the holydays of

the church, but said that "the Lord God had commanded rest on the

seventh day;" in this she acquiesced, and it was her desire, by the help

and grace of God, to remain as she was, for it was the true faith and

right way in Christ. At the time when the Arminian schism was creating

such a great excitement in Holland, the Sabbatarians appear to have

become amalgamated, at least to a certain extent, with that people. Both

were equally obnoxious to the state, and that of itself would have

created a sympathy between them. It is well known that Grotius embraced

the Arminian tenets. Maurice, at that time the reigning prince, exerted

his utmost efforts to crush both parties. Inquiries were set on foot

with all the rigours of the Inquisition. The suspected were tortured not

so much to make them criminate themselves, as to betray their friends

and associates. Some were beheaded, and others escaped into foreign

countries. Of the latter class was Grotius, who, being condemned to

perpetual imprisonment, escaped his doom by flight. Their houses were

demolished, their property confiscated, and every measure that tyranny

and malice could invent, was exerted for their extirpation. Partially,

at least, these efforts were attended with success, and since that

period few Sabbatarians have been found in that country.

SECTION VI. SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS OF ENGLAND.

About sixty years after the ascension of our Lord, Christianity was

first introduced into Britain, and many of the nobility, as well as

those of inferior birth, were happily converted. As it can be proved

that, at this early period, the seventh day was observed by the

Christians in general, we may conclude that these primitive churches

were Sabbatarian. The British Christians experienced various changes of

prosperity and adversity, until about the year 600, when Austin, the

monk, with forty associates, was sent hither to subject the island to

the dominion of Rome. Various ancient authors might be quoted to prove

the Sabbatarian character of the English at this period. In the

Biography of Austin, published in the Lives of the Saints, we are told

that he found the people of Britain in the most grievous and intolerable

heresies, being given to Judaising, but ignorant of the holy sacraments

and festivals of the church. The author then goes on to relate the

prodigies wrought in their conversion.

The terms of conformity proposed to these Christians by Austin related,

among other things, to the observation of Easter and the festivals of

the Romish church. A division among the people immediately ensued, and

the different branches of the church were designated as the old and the

new. The old, or Sabbatarian Baptist church retained their original

principles; while the new adopted the keeping of the Dominical day,

infant baptism, and the other superstitions of the Romish hierarchy.

Benius' Councils, fol. 1448, says that a council was celebrated in

Scotland in 1203, in which the initiation or first bringing in of the

Lord's day was determined. Lucius says of this council, that "it was

enacted that the Dominical day should be holy, beginning at the twelfth

hour on Saturday, until Monday." "The same year," says Hoveden,

"Eustachius, Archbishop of Flay, returned into England, and therein

preached the word of God from city to city, and from place to place, and

said the command under written, came from heaven about the observation

of the Dominical day; that it was found in a letter at Jerusalem, on the

tomb of St. Simeon, which the Archbishop, after fasting, praying, and

doing penance, at length ventured to take and read, which was as

follows:

"I, the Lord, who commanded you that you should observe the Dominical

holy day, and ye have not kept it, and ye have not repented of your

sins, as I said by my gospel. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my

word shall not pass away. I have caused repentance unto life to be

preached unto you, and ye have not believed. I sent Pagans against you,

who shed your blood, yet ye believed not; and because ye kept not the

Dominical holy day, for a few days ye had famine. But I soon gave you

plenty, and afterwards ye did worse. I will again, that none, from the

ninth hour of the Sabbath,[34] until the rising of the sun on Monday, do

work anything, unless what is good, which, if any do, let him amend by

repentance.

"And if ye be not obedient to this command, amen, I say unto you, and I

swear unto you, by my seat and throne, and cherubim, who keep my holy

seat, because I will not command anything by another epistle, but I will

open the heavens, and for rain I will rain upon you stones, and logs of

wood, and hot water by night, that none may be able to prevent, that I

may destroy all wicked men. This I say unto you; ye shall die the death;

because of the holy Dominical day, and other festivals of my saints,

which ye have not kept, I will send unto you beasts having the heads of

women, and the tails of camels; and they shall be so hunger-starved that

they shall devour your flesh."

There is more of this wretched stuff; but let this suffice as a specimen

of the arts and intrigues used to impose upon the simple and

unsuspecting, by a forged letter purporting to be from heaven.

The same author goes on to state that "the king and government of

England opposed the discontinuance of the markets upon the Dominical

day, and required that those who observed it in such a way should be

brought to the king's court to make satisfaction, or otherwise purge

themselves of the observance of the Dominical day."

In this connexion I will just add a few more expedients of the Romanists

at that time to deceive the people of England into a superstitious

veneration for the first day.

"But our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we ought to obey rather than man, who,

made famous and exceedingly renowned, dedicated unto himself this day,

which we call the Dominical or Lord's day, by his birth, and by his

resurrection, by his coming, and by the sending of the Holy Spirit upon

his disciples, he raised up miracles of his virtue, and thus manifested

it upon some transgressors of the Dominical day:

"Upon a certain Sabbath, after the ninth hour, a certain carpenter in

Beverlac, making a wooden pin against the wholesome admonition of his

wife, being struck with a palsy, fell to the ground. A certain woman,

knitting after the ninth hour of the Sabbath, whilst she was very

anxious to knit out part of her work, falling to the earth, struck with

the palsy, she became dumb. And at Nosfortum, a village of Master Roger

Arundel, a certain man made for himself bread, baked under the ashes, on

the Sabbath, after the ninth hour, and eat of it, and reserved to

himself part until the morning, which when he brake, upon the Dominical

day, blood came out of it. And he that saw it hath given testimony, and

his testimony is true.

"And at Wakefield, upon a certain Sabbath, when a miller, after the

ninth hour, endeavoured to grind corn, suddenly, in the place of meal,

there issued out so great a stream of blood, and the mill-wheel stood

immovable against the vehement impulse of the water; and those who saw

marvelled, saying, 'Forgive, Lord, forgive thy people!' And at

Lincolnshire, a certain woman had prepared dough, or paste, or pudding

pie, which carrying to the oven, after the ninth hour of the Sabbath,

she put into a very hot oven; and when she had drawn it out, she found

it not baked, and she put it again into the oven, made very hot; and on

the morning, and on Monday, when she thought to have found the bread

baked, she found the dough unbaked. Also, in the same province, when a

certain woman had prepared her dough, willing to carry it to the oven,

her husband said, 'It is the Sabbath:—the ninth hour is now past. Let it

alone until Monday.' And the woman, obeying her husband, did as he

commanded, and wrapped the dough in linen, and, in the morning, when she

went to look at the dough, lest it should exceed the vessel, because of

the leaven put into it, she found, by divine will, bread made thereof,

and well baked with material fire. This is a change of the right hand of

the Most High; and although the Almighty Lord, by these and other

miracles of his power, did invite the people to the observation of the

Dominical day, yet the people, fearing more kingly and human power than

divine, and fearing more those who kill the body, and can do no more,

than Him who, after killing the body, can send the soul to hell, and

fearing more to lose earthly things than heavenly, and transitories than

eternals, as a dog to the vomit, returned to keep markets of things

saleable upon the Dominical day."

The term Sabbath, during all this period, was applied exclusively to the

seventh day. Indeed, whenever, for fourteen or fifteen centuries, that

name occurs, it must be understood as applying to the last day of the

week. Up to the present time, on the records of England, particularly on

the Journals of the House of Lords, the highest court of England, all

things entered as done on the seventh day are entered as done die

Sabbati, upon the Sabbath day. From the time of Constantine to the

Reformation, Sunday was never regarded as the Sabbath, nor called by

that sacred name. During all this time, in England, here and there, were

found individuals who observed the Sabbath—the seventh day of the

week—strictly, though exposed to many privations and frequent

persecutions. Of their numbers or their locations we have at present but

very imperfect accounts. The mass of men regarded the Sabbath as

abolished;—Sunday as no Sabbath, but merely a church-holiday, to which

they paid no conscientious regard. With the dawn of the Reformation a

new spirit of inquiry was awakened in regard to the duties of practical

godliness. Among the subjects for discussion we find the Sabbath early

introduced and thoroughly examined. There was one class of reformers

who, dwelling alone on the sufficiency of faith and the freeness of the

Gospel, trembled at the thought of imposing rules upon men, and

expressed a sort of holy horror at the term, "law." Of this description

were Luther and Calvin. It is well known that the former recommended to

Christians "to ride, dance, and feast," on Sunday, rather than to submit

to any infringement of the liberty of conscience. But there were others,

who contended that an institution given in Paradise, and enforced by one

of the commandments of the Decalogue, could not have been abolished;

yet, finding themselves in the dilemma of observing another day than

that originally appointed, they maintained that the day had been changed

so early as to justify us in allowing it. A third class contended that

an institution so early given, and so often enforced, could not have

been abolished or changed without explicit authority; that this explicit

authority had never been given; and, therefore, the seventh day of the

week, and that only, should be observed. Compared with the whole, the

number who acknowledged the perpetuity and morality of the Sabbath, and

manifested a sacred regard for either the first or the seventh day, was

small. However, they were sufficient to prove that wherever the subject

of the Sabbath has been considered, there has always been found those

who, by precept and example, have witnessed for the Sabbath of the

fourth commandment.

In 1595, a book was written and published by Dr. Bound, in which the

morality of the Sabbath, and a change of the day, was advocated in quite

a masterly manner. This excited a controversial spirit, and was soon

followed by many others, both for and against his view. The orthodoxal

doctrine of the Church of England, by bishops and historians, then was,

that the Sabbath had been abolished, and that the Lord's day, so called,

was altogether another institution, which could not be enforced by the

fourth commandment. Among the men who held this view, we may mention Dr.

Francis White, Lord Bishop of Ely, Dr. Peter Heylyn, Edward Brerewood,

Gilbert Ironsides, and others. Against these men were arrayed the

leading Puritans, who maintained the morality of the Sabbath and the

necessity of restraining men by the sanctions of the fourth commandment.

Many true Sabbatarians, however, stood opposed to both these parties,

maintaining not only the morality of the Sabbath, but the obligation to

observe the seventh day of the week. A work supporting this view, from

the pen of Theophilus Brabourne, appeared in 1628. He took the position

that the fourth commandment was simply and entirely moral; that the

seventh day of the week ought to be an everlasting holyday in the

Christian Church; and that the Sunday is an ordinary working day, which

it is superstition and will-worship to make the Sabbath of the fourth

commandment. This view was adopted by considerable numbers in England,

and has been represented from that day to this, by men of learning and

piety. Many who remained in connexion with the established church, were

conscientious observers of the seventh day Sabbath, among whom were

several ministers of piety, and authors of eminence.

About the same time, small dissenting parties began to organize churches

and to boldly maintain the worship of God upon the Sabbath. Of these the

Natton Church has been much celebrated. It is situated in the west of

England, near Tewksbury, and about fifteen miles from Gloucester,

thirty-five from Birmingham, and ninety from London. The first pastor of

this church whose name has come down to us was Mr. John Purser. He is

represented as a very worthy man, and a great sufferer for conscience

sake. He was descended from an honourable family, and was heir to a

considerable estate, but his father disinherited him because he observed

the seventh day for the Sabbath. Notwithstanding this wrong, it pleased

Divine Providence to bless him abundantly in the little that he

possessed. He became a respectable farmer, and lived at

Ashton-upon-Carrant, in the Parish of Ashchurch, in the county of

Gloucester, during the reigns of Charles and James the Second. In common

with other nonconformists, he experienced much oppression and great

opposition on account of his religion. At one time his persecutors came

upon him while he was engaged in ploughing a field, and took from him

his team and utensils of husbandry. Notwithstanding the severity of the

laws against dissenters, the officers, in many instances, far exceeded

their commission, and sometimes were made to suffer for it. Such was the

case in this instance; for one William Surman, Esq., a conformist, but

worthy man, seeing the cruelty and injustice of thus depriving an honest

man of his property and the means for procuring a livelihood, obliged

his adversaries to return the property thus wrongfully taken. It appears

from authentic testimonies that he suffered much during the persecutions

between 1660 and 1690. But he overcame all by faith and patience, and

came out of the furnace like gold doubly refined.

It is probable that Mr. Purser commenced his ministry in 1660, but did

not receive ordination until some years later. In the mean time one Mr.

Cowell was the chief preacher at Natton, and an author of some eminence,

having published a book entitled "The Snare Broken," which seems to have

occasioned considerable difficulty between the observers of the first

and seventh day. Mr. Cowell appears to have been rather wavering and

unstable, but withal a pious and well-meaning man. He departed this life

in 1680, when Mr. Purser took the principal charge of the church. The

Sabbatarians at this time were widely scattered. There was no

meeting-house, and Mr. Purser opened his dwelling for that purpose. He

also held meetings at various other private houses, in different places,

by which those living at a distance were accommodated by his labours. It

may be remarked, that although this worthy man steadily pursued the

occupation of husbandry, and reared a large family, he faithfully served

the church. While his hands were industriously employed, his meditations

were upon things above, and upon these occasions he was highly favoured

with manifestations of the divine presence. All his children and

grandchildren were also distinguished for virtue and piety, though many

of them adopted the first day for the sake of convenience, and became

worthy members of Baptist churches. Mr. Purser, through age and

infirmity, was unable to discharge the duties of the sacred office for

some time before his death, which occurred in 1720.

His successor, Mr. Edmund Townsend, was plain and unobtrusive in his

manners, but was highly respected for his candour and integrity. Soon

after his ordination he took up his residence for a time with the

Mill-Yard Church; and then, in 1727, accepted an invitation to become

the pastor of the Cripplegate fraternity, which had been left destitute

by the death of Joseph Stennett.

When Mr. Townsend left this church, he was succeeded by Mr. Philip

Jones, who discharged the duties pertaining to this sacred office for

nearly fifty years. His colleague, Mr. Thomas Boston, was a young man of

great promise and usefulness. Mr. Jones lived for several years at

Cheltenham, but held meetings at Natton, Panford, and other towns, for

the purpose of accommodating members living at each of those places. In

1731, he removed to Upton, but continued his ministry in different

places. In this way he encountered many difficulties, sometimes having

to travel in the worst of weather, and at others running great risks

from the floods of the Severn and Avon. Yet neither dangers nor

inconveniences were suffered to interfere with his duty. His character

has been thus given by a contemporary: "He was a holy man of God, and a

great and lively preacher of the gospel. Few were better acquainted with

the scriptures; for, whatever his subject was, he could have chapter and

verse to prove the whole. In short he was a living concordance; a man of

unblemished character, a sincere friend, and a faithful reformer, but

always in the spirit of meekness. Perhaps but a few living had a greater

command over the passions than he had."

Previous to the death of this worthy man, in 1770, Mr. Thomas Hiller,

his nephew, accepted the pastoral care of the Baptist church in

Tewksbury, near Natton. He was a Sabbatarian in both opinion and

practice, and consequently was invited to serve the Sabbath-keeping

church at the same time that he remained pastor of the First-day Baptist

church. He accepted the invitation, and continued to minister to both

churches until his death, a few years ago. His ministry is said to have

been successful in both Natton and Tewksbury; although in what that

success was seen it would probably be problematical to determine. The

church over which he presided has become a mere handful, in the greatest

want of spiritual strength and support. Mr. Hiller was doubtlessly a man

of worth, and deeply interested in the Spiritual welfare of both

churches, by whom his memory is still highly venerated; but the history

of his connexion with these fraternities proves that no man can

successfully serve two masters. It is barely possible that a minister of

the gospel, who is at one and the same time the pastor of one church

worshipping on the seventh day of the week, and another church

worshipping on the first day of the week, can be faithful to both. Since

the death of Mr. Hiller, the congregation at Natton have been without a

pastor. However, it has engaged the services of a worthy Baptist

minister from Tewksbury for a considerable time.

It is worthy of note, that, in 1746, Mr. Benjamin Purser, the youngest

son of Rev. John Purser before mentioned, purchased an estate in the

village of Natton, and fitted up, at his own expense, a chapel for

divine worship, adjoining his dwelling-house. It is a small room,

distinguished only for neatness and convenience. He also walled in a

corner of his orchard for a burial-place. When he died, in 1765, he

donated the house and burial-place to the church, together with ten

pounds a year out of his estate to all succeeding ministers. At the

present time the congregation is so small that the chapel is not opened

except upon extraordinary occasions, such as a funeral or the like. It

serves, however, as the depository for a small collection of rare and

valuable books.

THE CRIPPLEGATE CHURCH.

A congregation of Sabbatarians, known under that denomination, was

gathered in London by Francis Bampfield, during the reign of Charles the

Second. Mr. Bampfield was descended from an ancient and honourable

family in Devonshire, and was a brother of Thomas Bampfield, Speaker in

one of Cromwell's Parliaments. Having been designed for the ministry

from childhood, he received a classical education, at Wadham College,

Oxford, where he remained for eight years. Subsequently he was provided

with a living in Dorsetshire, and was likewise chosen Prebend of Exeter

Cathedral. Thence he was transferred to the populous town of Sherburne,

where he exerted a most extensive and happy influence among the members

of the established church. In this connexion he continued only a short

time; for beginning to doubt the authority of the church to prescribe

forms of worship, he became in the end a decided nonconformist.

Consequently he was not only ejected from the ministry, but confined in

Dorchester jail, for preaching and conducting religious services

contrary to law. During his imprisonment, which continued about eight

years, his views upon the subjects of the Sabbath and baptism were

materially changed, and he became a decided advocate of Seventh-day

Baptist sentiments. He preached his new opinions boldly to his

fellow-prisoners, and several were led to embrace them. Soon after his

release from Dorchester, Mr. Bampfield went to London, where he preached

the gospel for about ten years. In Bethnal Green, in the eastern parts

of London, he gathered a small church, whose place of meeting was in his

own hired house. This church was organized in 1676, and Mr. Bampfield

continued its pastor until 1682, when he was brought before the Court of

Sessions, on a variety of charges connected with his nonconformity. He

was several times examined, and upon each examination required to take

the oath of allegiance, which he persisted in refusing, alleging that

his conscience would not allow him to take it. This resulted in his

condemnation, the forfeiture of his goods, and a sentence of

imprisonment during life, or what was equivalent, during the king's

pleasure. The anxieties incident to this trial, combined with a

naturally feeble constitution, together with his great privations,

brought on a disease, of which he died in Newgate prison, on the 15th of

February, 1684, aged 68 years.

The imprisonment of Mr. Bampfield was followed by the dispersion of his

flock, but the times becoming more favourable, they reunited in church

fellowship in 1686, and invited Mr. Edward Stennett, of Wallingford, to

accept the pastoral care of their church. He partly complied, coming to

London at stated periods to preach and administer the ordinances, though

he still retained his connexion with the people at Wallingford. But

finding that he could not consistently serve both churches, he resigned

the pastoral care of the London church in 1689. Mr. Stennett is

distinguished as being the ancestor of the famous Stennett family, who

were all Sabbatarians, and were for several generations an ornament to

religion, and champions for the cause of Protestant dissent. Being on

the side of Parliament in the civil wars, he was exposed, in

consequence, to the neglect of his relations and many other

difficulties. Although a faithful minister, he possessed no stated

salary, but supported his family by the practice of physic. He bore a

part in the persecutions which fell upon the Dissenters of that time. In

several instances his escape seems altogether miraculous, and affords a

striking evidence of Divine interposition.

He was succeeded by his second son, Joseph Stennett, who had enjoyed the

advantages of a liberal education. He came to London in 1685, and was

employed for a time in the instruction of youth. His first appearance in

the pulpit created a great sensation. His ministry was eminently

evangelical and faithful; and while preaching constantly to his own

church upon the Sabbath, he almost always waited in the ministry upon

other congregations on the first day. Perhaps no Dissenting minister in

England, at that time, exerted a more powerful influence, or maintained

a higher standing than did Mr. Stennett. He was at different times

appointed by his brethren in the ministry to draw up letters and

addresses of congratulation to be presented to the sovereign upon

particular occasions, Mr. Stennett likewise appeared before the public

as the author of other works, which acquired considerable popularity.

Early in the year 1713, he began to decline, and on the 11th of July

fell asleep, in the forty-ninth year of his age, and the twenty-third of

his ministry.

The death of this worthy man was a particularly disastrous event to his

little flock, who remained for fourteen years without a shepherd, during

which time they generally met for worship with the Mill-Yard Church. But

in 1727, Mr. Edmund Townsend became their spiritual guide, in which

relation he continued until his death in 1763.

Subsequent to the decease of Mr. Townsend, the church, for four years,

was supplied with ministerial assistance by different Baptist ministers,

until Mr. Thomas Whitewood accepted the pastoral office, in June, 1767.

His race, however, was short; for after preaching three times, and

administering the Lord's Supper once, he was attacked by a fatal

disease, of which he died the ensuing October.

Dr. Samuel Stennett, son of Dr. Joseph Stennett, being at that period

pastor of the Baptist church in Little Wild Street, London, was

solicited to accept the pastoral office. It appears that he complied in

part, performing all the duties without accepting the nominal relation

of pastor. He administered the Lord's Supper, and preached to them

regularly on the Sabbath morning; while the afternoon service was

conducted by four Baptist ministers in rotation, among whom were Dr.

Jenkins and Dr. Rippon.

In 1785, Robert Burnside accepted the pastoral charge of this church, in

which relation he continued forty-one years. Mr. Burnside united to

great natural abilities, a kind and loving heart, by which he was

particularly qualified to impart instruction. He became tutor, at

different periods, to the sons of several of the nobility, and

discharged the duties attendant upon that difficult office in a manner

honourable to himself, and advantageous to his pupils. He also prepared

several works for the press; among which was a volume on the subject of

the Sabbath. He died in 1826, and was succeeded by John Brittain

Shenstone, whose early labours had been in connexion with First-day

Baptist churches. For more than forty years he was connected with the

Board of Baptist ministers in London, of which he appears to have been

the principal projector and main support. He commenced the observation

of the Sabbath in 1825, and upon the decease of Mr. Burnside accepted

the pastoral care of the church, which he continued to serve until his

death, in 1844. Since that event this church has been without a pastor,

and is in a very low and enfeebled condition.

THE MILL-YARD CHURCH.

This church is located in the eastern part of London, but of its

founder, or the date of its origin, our accounts are very imperfect and

unsatisfactory. The present records, in possession of the church, date

back to 1673; but as they refer to another book which had been

previously used, it is certain that the church was organized much

earlier. Indeed, we have every reason to believe that this church is a

perpetuation of the fraternity gathered by John James, the martyr, which

originally met in Bull-Steak Alley, Whitechapel. We shall therefore

consider Mr. James as the first pastor of this church. On the 19th day

of October, 1661, while in the midst of a warm and fervent discourse, an

officer entered the place of worship, forcibly ejected him from the

pulpit, and led him away to the police under a strong guard. Thirty

members of his congregation were likewise taken before a bench of

justices, then convened at a public house in the vicinity, where each

one was required to take the oath of allegiance, and those who refused

to comply were committed to prison. Mr. James underwent a long and

tedious examination, when he was committed to Newgate, upon the

testimony of several profligate witnesses, by whom he was accused of

speaking treasonable words against the king. At his trial, which came on

about one month afterwards, his apparent innocence, deep piety, and

resignation, sensibly affected a large concourse of spectators, but

could not soften the obdurate hearts of his judges, by whom he was

sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. He was unaffected by this

horrid sentence, and calmly observed, "Blessed be God, whom man

condemneth, God justifieth." While he lay in prison under sentence of

death, he was visited by several persons of distinction, who were deeply

affected by his patience and resignation, and who cheerfully engaged to

exert their utmost influence to secure his pardon. But he appears to

have been too well acquainted with the power and designs of his enemies,

to have entertained much hopes of their success.

Mrs. James, by the advice of her friends, was induced to present a

petition twice to the king, setting forth her husband's innocence, and

entreating his majesty to grant a pardon. But in both instances she was

repulsed with scoffs and ridicule. At the scaffold, on the day of his

execution, he addressed the people in a very sensible and affectionate

manner. Having finished the address, and kneeling down, he thanked God

for covenant mercies, and for conscious innocence. He then prayed for

all, both his friends and his enemies, for the executioner, for the

people of God, for the spectators, for his church, and his family, and

lastly, for himself, that he might enjoy a sense of the divine presence

and support in this his hour of trial, and entrance into glory. When he

had finished, the executioner, who was much affected, said, "The Lord

receive your soul;" to which Mr. James replied, "I thank you." A friend

then observed to him, "This is a happy day for you;" he replied, "I

thank God it is." He then thanked the sheriff for his courtesy, and bade

farewell to his friends; then saying, "Father, into thy hands I commit

my spirit," was launched into eternity. But the rage of the bigoted

tyrant did not end here. His heart was taken from his body and burned,

his body itself quartered, and the mutilated parts affixed to the gates

of the city, and his head set up in Whitechapel, on a pole opposite to

the alley in which his meeting-house stood.

At the time when the present record of this church commences, 1673,

William Sellers exercised the pastoral function. The church was then in

a flourishing condition; the members being quite numerous, and strict

discipline maintained. Mr. Sellers was probably the author of a work on

the Sabbath, in review of Dr. Owen, which appeared in 1671. His ministry

is supposed to have continued until 1678. He was succeeded by Mr.

Toursby, who was a man of considerable controversial talent, which he

exercised in defence of the Sabbath. He prepared a work for the press

upon that subject, but it is believed that it has long been out of

print. His ministry ceased in 1710.

About this time two persons named Slater preached occasionally, though

it does not appear that they were ever ordained.

Mr. Savage, in 1711, accepted the pastoral office. His colleague, the

venerable John Maulden, had long been the pastor of a Baptist Church in

Goodman's Fields, which he left on account of his having embraced

Sabbatarian principles. After the decease of these worthy men, the

pastoral office was vacant for some time, during which the preaching

brethren officiated in the ministry in a manner prescribed at the

business meetings of the church. In 1720, Dr. Joseph Stennett was

invited to accept the pastoral care of this church. He was then

presiding over a Baptist Church in Exeter, and after considerable delay

declined the call.

Mr. Robert Cornthwaite became their pastor in 1726. He had been

connected with the Established Church, but becoming convinced that the

gospel did not authorize any such establishment, he withdrew from its

communion and identified himself with the dissenters. Becoming

interested in the Sabbath controversy he soon decided for the seventh

day, and was chosen pastor of this church, in which relation he

continued until his death in 1754. He was distinguished for great mental

vigour, and a firm adherence to whatever he deemed true and scriptural.

He published several works relating to the Sabbath, which greatly

contributed to draw attention to that important subject.

Daniel Noble, his successor, was a member of a Sabbath-keeping family,

and being designed for the ministry, received the advantages of a

liberal education. His studies were pursued first in London, and

afterward at the Glasgow University. He commenced preaching occasionally

at Mill-Yard in 1752, took the pastoral charge when that office became

vacant, in which connexion he remained until his death in 1783.

At this time William Slater, a member of the church, was invited to

conduct the services. This he did with such general acceptance that he

received ordination, and became the pastor of the church. His ministry

was very successful, and continued until he died, in 1819.

For several years ensuing that event the church was without a pastor,

being supplied with ministerial assistance by brethren of other

denominations, until William Henry Black, the present incumbent, became

its spiritual guide. Through the pious liberality of one of its members,

the Mill-Yard Church enjoys the benefit of an endowment. Mr. Joseph

Davis, who united in its connexion at the time that John James suffered

martyrdom, purchased, in 1691, the grounds adjoining the present

Mill-Yard Church, erected the place of worship, and provided for the

permanency of the society. This property was conveyed to trustees,

appointed by the church, in 1700. In 1706, shortly before his death, Mr.

Davis bequeathed his property to his son, with an annual rent-charge in

favour of the Mill-Yard Church, together with seven other Sabbatarian

churches in England. He likewise provided, conditionally, that his whole

property might afterward come into the possession of the church, and be

vested in trustees for its benefit. Mr. Davis, in the earlier part of

his life, had suffered extremely from severe persecutions. He was a

prisoner in Oxford Castle for nearly ten years, from which he was

released in 1673. Subsequently he entered into business in London, where

prosperity attended him, and he not only obtained a competence, but

became a wealthy man. Few have made a more laudable use of riches, and I

would say to the reader, go thou, and do likewise.

A short account of some of the most eminent among those who embraced

Sabbatarianism previous to the organization of these churches, may be

interesting to the general reader.

Shortly after the publication of Dr. Bound's book, in which he advanced

the modern notion regarding the so-called Christian Sabbath, that it is

a perpetuation of the fourth commandment, but that the day specified

therein had been changed by divine authority, we first hear of John

Traske, who both wrote and spoke in defence of the seventh day.

He also contended that the scriptures are sufficient to direct in

religious services, and that the state has no right to prescribe any

ordinances contrary to the laws of God. For this he was brought before

the Star-Chamber, where a long discussion was held respecting the

Sabbath, in which Dr. Andrews, Bishop of Winchester, took a prominent

part. Traske could not be turned from his opinion, but received a

censure in the Star-Chamber. "He was sentenced on account of his being a

Sabbatarian," says Paggitt's Heresiography, "to be set upon the Pillory

at Westminster, and from thence to be whipped to the Fleet Prison, there

to remain a prisoner for three years. His wife, Mrs. Traske, was

confined in Maiden Lane and the Gate House Prisons fifteen years, where

she died, for the same crime."

Another distinguished advocate for the truth was Theophilus Brabourne, a

learned minister in connexion with the Established Church. He wrote a

book, which was published in London in 1628, wherein he argued that the

Lord's Day is not the Sabbath by divine institution, but "that the

seventh day is still in force." For this, and similar works, he was

arraigned before the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Court of

High Commission. His examination was conducted in the presence of many

persons of high distinction, and several lords of his Majesty's Privy

Council. For some reason, it is not possible to ascertain distinctly

what, though probably he was over-awed by the character of the assembly,

he signed a recantation and went back to the bosom of the church.

Nevertheless he continued to assert, that if the Sabbatic institution be

indeed moral and perpetually binding, the seventh day ought to be

sacredly kept.

About the same time, it appears that Philip Pandy commenced propagating

the same doctrines in the northern parts of England. He was educated in

the Established Church, of which he became a minister. He withdrew from

its communion, however, and became the mark for many shots. He held

several important disputes about his peculiar sentiments, and

contributed much to promulgate them.

James Ockford, another early advocate of the Sabbath in England, appears

to have taken part in the discussions in which Traske and Brabourne were

engaged. He also wrote and published a book in 1642, which was seized

and burned by the authorities of the Established Church.

There does not appear to have been any regularly organized churches of

Sabbatarians in England, until the commencement of the seventeenth

century, though subsequent to that period there were eleven of these

fraternities, besides many scattered Sabbath-keepers, in different parts

of the kingdom. These churches were located in the following places,

viz.: Braintree, in Essex; Chersey; Norweston; Salisbury, in Wiltshire;

Sherbourne, in Buckinghamshire; Natton, in Gloucestershire; Wallingford,

in Berkshire; Woodbridge, in Suffolk; and three in London—the Mill-Yard,

Cripplegate, and Pinner's Hall Churches. Eight of the eleven are now

extinct, and hence a complete account of them cannot be obtained.

A very interesting correspondence between the Mill-Yard Church and the

General Conference of the Seventh-day Baptists in the United States has

been carried on for the last fifty years. In 1844, George B. Utter, as

delegate from that body, visited the brethren in England, where he was

hospitably entertained. The worthy pastor of the Mill-Yard Church is, I

understand, collecting materials for a history of the Lives and Writings

of Sabbatarians in England, and likewise preparing a list of Sabbatarian

authors, together with an account of all the books which have been

published that relate to the Sabbath controversy.

From an attention to the foregoing it will be perceived that

Sabbatarianism has greatly declined in England; and that decline seems

to have been produced by the operation of a variety of causes. There are

certainly great inconveniences, particularly in large towns and cities,

connected with the observance of a day of rest so utterly at variance

with the popular custom as that of the seventh day has ever been. This,

with that spirit of conformity by which men are ever prone to accede to

established usages, together with the fact that they never instituted

any associational organization, sufficiently accounts for their early

declension, without supposing any unsoundness in their creed.[35]

We have every reason to believe that formerly, and down so late as the

commencement of the seventeenth century, Seventh-day Baptist churches,

of considerable magnitude, existed at the foot of the Grampians, and

among the Welsh mountains, but their history appears to be buried in

oblivion.

I have also been recently informed that there is a Seventh-day Baptist

church near Burton-upon-Trent, and nine miles from Derby. That a Mr.

Witt, in 1832, officiated as pastor. That they own a large brick

meeting-house, in which their meetings are solemnized every Sabbath day,

and are a very respectable body of people.

[15] Historical Annals, published in Paris, 1667, p. 230.

[16] With the former inhabitants of the valleys, whom they closely

resembled in principles and practices, and to whom, in times of

persecution, they would naturally fly for refuge.

[17] This accusation was undoubtedly false, and reminds one of the

endless charges of a community of wives, made at a later period against

the Anabaptists.

[18] Here is a vast field for research, of which the world is just

beginning to discover the importance. The martyrs, with the exception of

those who were destroyed by mobs, by clandestine malevolence, and local

crusades, were allowed formal trials according to the established usages

of law, which were generally in conformity to the Roman system of

jurisprudence. In these records of the old ecclesiastical courts, the

charges against them, with their apologies and confessions, are detailed

at length. Some of these documents have already been examined, but

multitudes of others lie concealed in the galleries of ancient

libraries.

[19] Reineirus, under the title of Waldenses, includes all the heretics

of that period, Pasaginians, Albigenses, Waldenses, Josephists,

Arnoldists, Henricians, &c., from which it appears that these names were

derived from local causes.

[20] This of course included the keeping of the first day, which the

Catholics unanimously declare originated with their church.

[21] In the time of Reineirus, and even to this day, in Catholic

countries, the Dominical day is regarded as a feast, or festival of the

church, as much as Easter, Christmas, &c.

[22] These are particularly mentioned by Crantz, in his History of the

Bohemian Brethren.

[23] This is important testimony, because the Catholics never dreamed of

attempting to establish the sacredness of the first day from the

authority of the Scriptures, but referred it at once to the power of

Holy Mother Church. Consequently, the Dominical day was regarded as a

holyday of the church.

[24] It remained for more modern theologians to discover, that the

inspired writers were mistaken, and that instead of the seventh, it was

a seventh day, or the seventh part of time.

[25] First-day doubtlessly included, which is ever spoken of, by the

Catholic writers, as a festival of Christ, and a holyday of the Church,

and regarded in no other light.

[26] Of this I would remark that the Dominical day was established by

law, not as the Sabbath, but as a festival of the church; and that

whatever uncertainty may exist about all the ancient heretics being

Sabbatarians, it is very certain that few, if any, of them were

observers of the first day, at least for a very long period.

[27] That the Catholic writers regarded the Dominical day as a festival

of the Church can be very easily proved. That they regard it as such to

this day in Catholic countries is an undeniable fact. When they speak of

the festivals of the Church, they include the Dominical day as much as

Christmas, Palm Sunday, or Easter. They smile when they hear learned

Protestant sages attempt to prove from the Scriptures either the

abrogation or a change of the Sabbath. We have also the testimony of a

host of Protestants in the earlier part of the Reformation, who

acknowledged that the observation of the first day had no other

foundation than the authority of the Church, among whom is the

celebrated John Calvin, who says—"The old fathers put in the place of

the Sabbath the day which we call Sunday. King Charles I. declares that

the celebration of the feast of Easter was instituted by the same

authority that changed the Sabbath into the Lord's day, or Sunday; for

it will not be found in Scripture where Saturday is discharged to be

kept, or turned into Sunday. Therefore, my opinion is, that those who

will not keep this feast may as well return to the observation of

Saturday, and refuse the weekly Sunday, since it was the Church's

authority that changed the one and instituted the other."

[28] Robinson. History of Baptism.

[29] All writers, both ancient and modern, concur in admitting that the

branch of the Waldenses called Passagines, were Sabbatarians.

[30] Reference to Revelation.

[31] That is, that they were adopted from the ancient heathen festivals;

and as the Dominical day was in that time regarded as a festival of the

church, of course it must have been included with the others.

[32] Will not Balaam, the son of Bozor, rise up in judgment against

these men? For, though he loved the wages of unrighteousness, he had

enough of the fear of God before his eyes to make him hesitate about

cursing those whom God had not cursed. These, however, are bold in

cursing those whom God has blessed,—such as observe his Sabbath.

[33] The Anabaptists had not the power of persecution; for their

disposition, particularly in some cases, I would not be answerable.

[34] Observe, the seventh day is called the Sabbath.

[35] I have been informed that there is at this time a small society of

Seventh-day people in the west part of England, in the vicinity of

St. Asaph, but will not vouch for the accuracy of the statement.

CHAPTER III. SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS IN THE UNITED STATES.

SECTION I. GENERAL HISTORY.

The Seventh-day Baptist churches in the United States occupy isolated

situations in different parts of the Union, and are distinguished from

other religious denominations by certain distinctive views relative to

the immutability of every precept of the moral law.

The term Sabbatarian was formerly adopted by those of the same

persuasion in England, subsequent to the Reformation, when the word

Sabbath was applied exclusively to the seventh day of the week, and

those observant of it as holy time were regarded as the only

Sabbath-keepers. This term, though highly expressive of the main Sabbath

doctrine, was, on account of its supposed indefiniteness, rejected by

the General Conference of the American Churches, in 1818, and the

appellation of Seventh-day Baptist, which was considered more generally

expressive, adopted in its stead.

The differences existing between the Seventh-day Baptists and the other

Baptist denominations, all relate to the Sabbatical ordinance. In

respect to this the former believe that no system of morality can be

complete which does not include time devoted to God and religious

worship; that the seventh day was particularly appropriated and set

apart for this purpose in Paradise, and was designed, not for any one

class or race of men, but for all mankind; that it forms a necessary

part of the moral law, which is immutable and unchangeable in its

nature, and of universal obligation; that no other day was substituted

for this by divine authority at the introduction of Christianity; that

the first day is nowhere mentioned in the sacred volume as possessing a

divine character; that whatever respect was paid to it in the primitive

ages originated from the supposition that it was the weekly anniversary

of the glorious triumph of the risen Saviour, and not from the idea of

its being the Sabbath; and that the substitution of the first for the

seventh day, as holy time, was brought about by the Antichristian power,

who, according to the word of prophecy, was to usurp the prerogatives of

the Deity, and change times and laws.

These opinions, though countenanced by Holy Writ, and perfectly

agreeable with many historical records, are directly in opposition to

the popular prejudices of the day, and, consequently, their

conscientious supporters have been exposed, sometimes, to downright

persecution in the shape of fines and imprisonment, and at others, to

the equally cruel, though less ostensible, suffering imposed by

vituperative sarcasm and disingenuous ridicule.

We have all heard of a very expressive proverb, importing that the world

will think of us just as we think ourselves. Perhaps the seventh-day

people have not made sufficient exhibitions of self-gratulation. Perhaps

they have walked too contentedly down the valley of humiliation,

involved in the shadows of obscurity. Certain it is, that they have

striven to make themselves acceptable to God rather than to men; that

they have been distinguished more for morality, good sense, and quiet,

unobtrusive manners, than for brilliant, but superficial, attainments;

and that they have been rewarded, not by outbursts of popular applause,

not by a rising upon them of the sun of worldly prosperity, but by the

sweet consciousness of doing right, and a slow but steady progress in

Christian knowledge and acquirements. The Seventh-day Baptist churches

have been blessed and honoured by the labours and example of a

succession of worthy ministers. Men, pre-eminently qualified to break

the bread of life, and administer the milk of the word;—men truly

apostolic in simplicity and purity of doctrine, in fervour of piety and

zeal. True, they have not been distinguished for the wisdom of this

world. They have not rejoiced in the learning of Bossuet, neither have

they exhibited the eloquence of Bourdalone, Massillon, or Whitefield;

but they have adhered steadily to the truth, have been uncompromising in

opposition to error, and little prone to seek worldly honours and

emoluments. Few of them have ever grown rich except in grace; indeed,

the possibility of opulence was precluded by the cost of living, and the

smallness of their salaries. The same has also operated to prevent the

accumulation of large libraries by the ministry, or their devoting much

time to learned research or literary pursuits.

Few denominations of Christians have been equally distinguished for

fraternal feeling and unanimity of sentiment;—in no one has society

assumed a more healthy and moral tone. Industry, frugality, and

integrity, are their leading characteristics; mendicity is rare among

them, and squalid poverty unknown.

Man is eminently a social being. No one perceives, perhaps no one

apprehends, how much society contributes to strengthen and perfect the

noblest virtues and highest attainments. The affections are particularly

under the control and guidance of social influences. The interchange of

the forms of hospitality and courtesy powerfully promotes the growth of

friendship and kindliness of feeling. Consequently, social worship is of

the highest importance to every Christian fraternity; and nothing is

more productive of congeniality of sentiment and unity of design between

churches of the same faith and order than frequent convocations for

mutual encouragement and edification. The Seventh-day Baptists were

aware of this, and, accordingly, when the church in Newport, R. I.,

organized a part of its members into a separate and distinct body, now

known as the First Hopkinton Church, it was stipulated that an annual

interview should take place, which was subsequently known as the yearly

meeting. Thus was formed a little confederacy, whose bounds gradually

enlarged as new churches were instituted, until it included the parent

churches of Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. These

meetings were held alternately at different places, and were usually

attended by the ministers and other leading members of the respective

churches, who generally travelled at their own expense, and spent some

time in this social and religious visit. The consequences of this

interchange of Christian sympathies and feelings were every way

delightful. The bonds of union were cemented, many pleasing

acquaintances were formed, and a warm and growing attachment to the

Sabbath, and the cause of truth, increased in the minds of all. So early

as 1800, the churches composing this denomination began to consider the

expediency of establishing some formal ecclesiastical organization. This

was considered the more necessary in consequence of certain differences

in some doctrinal sentiments that prevailed to a considerable extent.

The question was, under consideration until 1805, when, at a meeting

convened at Hopkinton, certain articles of union were agreed upon, and

subscribed by delegates from eight sister churches; and thus an

ecclesiastical body for the transaction of business was formed, which

was denominated the General Conference.

The second session of this venerable body was held at Berlin, the third

at Cohansey, now Shiloh, and the fourth again at Hopkinton. In 1808, the

Lost Creek and New Salem churches, in Virginia, united with the

Conference, which subsequently received continual and almost annual

additions.

The meetings of this body were solemnized alternately from place to

place, and were attended with the most happy consequences. Before the

venerable body, whose members were uniformly distinguished for

integrity, candour, and piety, all difficult cases were brought for

consideration and adjustment. Here divisions were reconciled, schisms

healed, and such differences as appeared likely to disturb the general

peace removed. Here, also, religious and benevolent enterprises were

projected and recommended to the churches for their action and

consideration. The authority of the General Conference was subject to

several limitations, which will be perceived by attending to the form

and government of the Sabbatarian fraternities. Every church is in

itself a distinct body, capable of transacting its own concerns, of

receiving or expelling members, of appointing its own pastor and other

officers, fixing their salaries, and suspending their ministrations in

case of impiety or gross immorality. The internal regulations of these

churches are simple and democratic, every member being equally entitled

to a vote, and the pastor, except by the superior respect attached to

his station, having no more voice, and exercising no more influence in

business affairs, than a private individual. It could not be expected

that these churches, after having experienced the benefits of their

equal and impartial government, would accede to the establishment of any

ecclesiastical organization that might tend to subvert their

independence, or to centralize in an extraneous body the authority which

was then disseminated through and exercised by the members of the

churches themselves. Accordingly, we find that the right to choose,

elect, and ordain their own deacons was still retained by the churches,

as well as the privilege of specifying from their numbers such

candidates for the ministry as appeared eligible for that sacred office,

which specification and appointment, being submitted to the Presbytery

(a board of ministers appointed for that purpose), by whom the

qualifications, talents, and character, of the candidate is examined,

which examination proving satisfactory, he is forthwith ordained by the

laying on of hands.

Neither has the Conference any right to institute a judicial

investigation of any difficulties that may arise between individual

members and the churches to which they belong, nor to attempt any

interference with dissensions between sister churches, except by special

and particular invitation, and unless the subject has been previously

laid before the respective churches, and their delegates to the

Conference instructed to take cognizance of the matter.

Such churches of the Sabbatarian order as desired admission into this

confederacy, were required to furnish a written exposition of their

doctrinal sentiments respecting regeneration by the Holy Spirit,

justification by faith, and salvation through the merits of Jesus

Christ, which, proving satisfactory, the right hand of fellowship was

extended to their delegate on behalf of the Conference. Here we may

observe that this proceeding was not calculated nor intended to

establish any inquisitorial censorship of doctrinal views, but to

perpetuate good order, unanimity of sentiment, and purity of faith.

At the time of the organization of the General Conference, there were

several churches of Seventh-day Baptists who remained aloof from that

confederacy. Of these, one was situated in a very pleasant country, on

the west fork of the Monongahela River, in Harrison County, Virginia.

This church, in 1808, sent a letter to the Conference, requesting

admission into that body, but stating their practice of receiving

first-day members. In consequence of this, their reception was

postponed, and an admonitory message upon the subject prepared and sent

to them. This church soon fell into a decline; its members removed into

other parts, and it finally became extinct.

With the exception of the minutes of the General Conference, and one or

two other works scarcely deserving of consideration, the Seventh-day

Baptists made no attempt to form a denominational literature until 1820,

when an association of ministers edited and published a periodical

designated the Missionary Magazine. About the same time a collection of

hymns for the use of the denomination was made, which met with very

general acceptance and applause. After the publication of the magazine

had been continued for two or three years, various causes contributed to

render the further prosecution of the enterprise inexpedient and

unadvisable. Upon the discontinuance of the magazine, the necessity of a

denominational literary organ was very generally felt, but engagements

in other pursuits, fears of pecuniary losses, and other causes, operated

to prevent the enterprise until 1827, when Deacon John Maxson, of Scott,

projected and brought into successful operation a weekly newspaper,

called the Protestant Sentinel, which, by untiring energy and

perseverance, he succeeded in supporting and publishing for several

years. The paper was first issued at Homer, then at Schenectady, and

finally at De Ruyter. To Deacon Maxson, the publication of this paper

appears to have been, from the first, a losing concern. His engagement

in the enterprise was not undertaken with the view of expectation of

pecuniary profit. He was influenced by considerations far more sacred

and important. No doubt in the advantages secured by that enterprise to

his brethren he feels amply repaid for all his toils and difficulties;

for a man of his benevolent heart and amiable disposition ever forgets

all personal considerations in the general good.

When the press was removed to De Ruyter, Deacon Maxson resigned the

editorial charge, which passed in a very short period through several

hands; the paper bearing the name of The Seventh-day Baptist Register.

Even here its location was not considered as the most favourable, and

many supposed that the city of New York would afford a more eligible

situation. To that place, therefore, in 1844, it was removed, and the

Rev. George B. Utter assumed the editorial chair, since which removal it

has borne the name of The Sabbath Recorder.

The denomination became early aware of the utility of tract

publications, and the General Conference in 1831, recommended the

formation of tract societies in the different churches, which should

become auxiliary to a general tract executive committee, annually

appointed by that body, to procure, examine, and publish such tracts as

in their opinion might be desirable. In compliance with this suggestion,

such organizations were instituted in nearly all the churches, and

several tracts were procured and printed. But the tract cause, like that

of the denominational paper, laboured under much discouragement and

great embarrassment. As a means for disseminating Christian truth and

knowledge, it does not seem, even yet, to be duly appreciated. The want

of available funds crippled its operations, and lessened its usefulness;

nevertheless it continued to support a nominal existence until 1843,

when it was remodelled and reorganized under the name of the Sabbath

Tract Society, since which period its activity and usefulness have been

abundantly exhibited. It has a series of stereotyped tracts, of which

editions are published according to the means and demands of the

society. In connexion with this, is a publishing society, recently

organized, that has issued several publications not connected with the

series, but all relating to the Sabbath controversy. The denominational

paper is also published under the auspices of this society; and it is

believed that whatever obstacles may have impeded the progress of our

publishing interests, they are rapidly disappearing before the

development of our literary resources.

The utility of missionary organizations engaged, at a very early period,

the attention of the General Conference. At this time it was the

practice of the individual churches to depute their ministers to make

short journeys, of which they generally defrayed the expense. The

inefficiency of this course had become painfully manifest, and it

remained for the Conference to devise some plan by which the missionary

efforts of the denomination could be concentrated. The subject was under

consideration for two or three years, and finally resulted in the

organization of the Seventh-day Baptist Missionary Society. By reference

to the constitution of this society, which bears the date of 1819, it

appears that its object was to consolidate the funds and concentrate the

efforts of the denomination, in order to promote the interests of

religion by employing missionaries and sending them to the destitute and

scattered brethren in our fellowship. This society, notwithstanding its

laudable object, was destined to meet with many difficulties and

embarrassments. The poverty of some of the churches, and the

unwillingness of others to contribute, were serious obstacles in the way

of its accomplishment of the good it had purposed to perform. Yet under

its auspices, several missionaries were annually appointed, for three,

six, or nine months, to occupy such fields of labour as appeared most

eligible, and generally embracing visitations to Sabbath-keepers who

were removed to distant localities. These journeys, though attended in

the sequel with the happiest results, often required no small share of

personal sacrifice and inconvenience on the part of the performer.

Difficulties were always to be encountered; many times dangers. These

were greatly enhanced, from the fact that the missionary field generally

lay in some new region, where the forests were as destitute of roads as

the rivers of bridges, and where the uniformity of the one might prove

quite as perplexing to the wanderer, as the swollen tides of the other

might render dangerous the unaccustomed ford. Not unfrequently

circumstances required the performance of these journeys in the winter

season, when every discomfort was proportionately increased.

These missionaries held meetings, organized churches where such a course

seemed expedient, and administered baptism to believers. Sometimes their

visits to the destitute would be attended by a gracious revival, but at

all times were accompanied with gratifying results. But the

embarrassments of the society continued, and finally, in 1841, it was

formally extinguished, in order to make room for another, whose

regulations, it was conceived, were more judicious, and which commenced

operations in 1842. To the domestic this adds a foreign field. Under its

direction, Messrs. Solomon Carpenter and Nathan Wardner, with their

wives, are labouring at Shanghai, in China, and the mission, with which

a small school, under the management of the excellent Mrs. Wardner, is

connected, is in a highly flourishing condition. The Board are

collecting funds to build a chapel for public worship, to purchase an

eligible site for which, about one thousand dollars have been already

despatched to that country.

A Seventh-day Baptist society for the dissemination of religious truth

among the Jews, took a permanent form in 1838, and Elder William B.

Maxson was appointed to labour, under its direction, with that ancient

and bigoted people. The success of this enterprise was not proportionate

to the anticipation indulged, although probably as great as could have

been expected, had all the difficulties and obstacles of the mission

been fully considered. In connexion with this society, a small work on

the prophetic character of the Messiah was published, and many copies

gratuitously distributed among the Jews. Recently this society has only

supported a nominal existence.

The attention of the Seventh-day Baptists was early called to the

subject of education, and two institutions of a high classical

character, have been established among them. Of these, one is located at

Alfred, Alleghany County, New York, and is denominated the Alfred

Academy and Teachers' Seminary; the other at De Ruyter, New York, was

founded in 1837, at an expense of near thirty thousand dollars. The

first has a charter from the state, and both have acquired a high

reputation, and furnish the means of a classical education to a large

number of students. Besides these, academic schools have been projected

and brought into successful operation in other sections, in connexion

with our denomination.

The Sabbatarians have repeatedly taken action in their ecclesiastical

bodies, against war, intemperance, slavery, secret societies, and the

like, and in favour of the great moral reforms and benevolent

enterprises of the age.

Within the last twenty years a very interesting correspondence has been

carried on with the Sabbatarians of England, through the medium of Rev.

Robert Burnside, and Rev. William Henry Black.

About 1830, the great increase of business, as well as the scattered

situation of the churches, seemed to justify, in the opinion of many,

some modification of a general annual Conference. It was therefore

proposed to divide the denomination into two Conferences, according to

their geographical position. When the subject came up for action, it was

judged most expedient to continue the Conference, but to divide the

churches into Associations, which should meet annually, to transact the

business of the churches within their own bounds, and appoint delegates

to represent them in the General Conference, which, according to a

resolution passed at one of its meetings, convened at Shiloh, in 1846,

is hereafter to meet triennially instead of annually. Five Associations

have been formed, in accordance with this plan,—the Eastern, embracing

the churches in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey,—the Central,

including those in the State of New York, east of the small lakes,—the

Western, composed of the churches in Western New York and

Pennsylvania,—the Southwestern, comprising those in Ohio and

Virginia,—and the Northwestern, including those in Wisconsin and Iowa.

The utility of this arrangement is unquestionable, and, so far as it has

been tested, has been found to answer all the purposes of an Annual

Conference without its disadvantages. But it must not be supposed that

during all this time, the sun of prosperity to this people has been

unclouded; that no difficulties have arisen in their straight and narrow

path. On the contrary, they have been subjected to many and peculiar

trials. They have been despised by the worldly and the great, have been

oppressed by law, and persecuted in more ways than one by those

professing the Christian name. Even now they are subjected to many

inconveniences from their nonconformity, and are deprived of many social

and literary privileges that they might otherwise enjoy. In

consideration of this, and the strong worldly tendencies that bind the

human heart, it is not surprising that thousands who have been brought

up to recognise the obligatory and sacred character of the fourth

commandment, and who were fully convinced of its unalterable claims,

have been induced to abandon it; while others, for the same reasons,

although fully convinced of their duty, have refused to embrace it. Yet

some have been able to appreciate the vast importance of the stake at

hand, have felt the danger of trifling in an affair on which eternal

interests depended, and have concluded that popular applause was nothing

comparative with an approving conscience, and the smiles of God. Such

have strictly adhered to the Sabbath, or have embraced it,

notwithstanding the consequences. Of the latter, we might instance

several eminent and worthy ministers, who now occupy prominent places in

the denomination. Rev. Wm. M. Jones,[36] and Rev. J. W. Morton,

Professor of Modern Languages in the De Ruyter Institute, are both

converts to Sabbatarianism.

In the history of Sabbath-keepers we have had a beautiful

exemplification of the truth of that promise, that he who soweth in

labour and with many tears, shall return rejoicing, laden with the

products of an abundant harvest. Their numbers were few, their churches

isolated, and their opportunities for sharing in the emoluments of the

world both limited and unfrequent, nevertheless the dissemination of

their doctrines has become, through Divine Providence, the means of

reclaiming many wanderers to the Bible Sabbath. The increase of the

number of the Sabbath-keeping churches may be attributed to a variety of

causes. Every society possesses within itself the principle of extension

and multiplication, by which it will ultimately quadruplicate its

numbers, when no counteracting agencies of more potent influence are at

work. In consequence of this, the numerosity of a church sometimes

became burdensome, and it was considered necessary to establish a new

fraternity from the surplus members of the old. Emigration also became a

great source for the dissemination of the scriptural doctrine of the

Sabbath, as well as indicative of the ground to be occupied by future

churches. Thus some brother, whom poverty or untoward circumstances had

forced to abandon his native state, and the Christian society of his

childhood, has been the pioneer of religious instruction to the

neighbourhood, and the honoured founder of a religious establishment.

In the third place, the perceptions of many have been enlightened by an

unprejudiced perusal of the Holy Scriptures, accompanied by the

convincing energies of the Spirit of truth. A venerable lady, resident

in the State of New York, embraced the Sabbath, to which she rigidly

adhered, notwithstanding the opposition and persecution of her husband

and kindred, although at the time unaware that any denomination of

Christian Sabbatarians existed. She had obtained her knowledge of the

Sabbath, its ordinance and obligation, from the Bible alone. A gentleman

of Maryland, with his family, embraced the Sabbath without having any

previous communication or connexion with the Sabbatarians; but the

unprejudiced perusal of the Scriptures had instructed him in the

knowledge of his duty, and he hesitated not in the performance of it. A

multitude of similar cases might be recorded; these, however, are

sufficient to show that Scripture testimony, when acting upon

unprejudiced minds, will invariably lead to a clear conviction of the

holy and sabbatical character of the seventh day.

It is well known, that in nearly every State of the Union, the

observance of the first day is enforced by law. It is certainly

remarkable that these States, so distinguished for their otherwise

liberal and enlightened policy, should retain, with such tenacity, this

hateful feature in their legislative system; thus subjecting to the

alternative of conformity, or to the liability of fines and

imprisonment, a large and respectable portion of the community. To

obtain the redress of these grievances, and the exemption from being

made amenable to civil processes served, or made returnable upon the

Sabbath, petitions were circulated for two or three consecutive years,

in the different States where the Sabbatarians reside, and then

presented to the consideration of the legislative bodies. In no case,

however, were they attended with the results anticipated, either by a

repeal of the obnoxious statutes, or by the enactment of other laws,

more conformable to the spirit of the age.

Upon several occasions, the Seventh-day Baptists have attempted to

participate with their first-day brethren, in Sabbath Conventions, and

similar convocations. But, as might have been expected, they have been

uniformly excluded from these deliberations; courteously, it is true,

and with expressions of Christian feeling and charity. In consequence of

this, they have instituted, and held, within their own bounds, several

Conventions and similar meetings, designed to advance and disseminate

the Bible doctrine of the Sabbath.