numerous converts being the best proof of the divine approbation. Notwithstanding the reproach and calumny of their enemies, they were the true friends of mankind. They were sent, with the invaluable treasures of the gospel, to enrich poor sinners; a summary of its blessings is contained in the commission given to the apostle Paul: To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; that they may receive the forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them which are sanctified, by faith that is in me.' ness, and of judgment; of sin, because they believe not in me; of righteousness, because I go. to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged." When persons are thus not only convicted, but. convinced, of their accumulated guilt, they will confess their sins to God; acknowledging that they have been deceived, and, renouncing all dependence upon themselves, rely on divine. mercy alone for pardon and salvation :-" For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But, after that the kindness and love How awfully deluded is the unrenewed mind! Ungodly men speak evil of what they know not, reject the message of God our Saviour toward of reconciliation, and treatChristianity with contempt; whilst, to every man in his right mind, it appears essential to human happiness. How unreasonable, criminal, and dangerous, is such a conduct! What the Redeemer addressed to the wicked, in his day, may still be said to the ungodly: "Which of you convinces me of sin (falsehood)? and, if I say the truth, why do ye not believe?" While it is plainly revealed in the word of God, and clearly demonstrated in the conduct of men, that all man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour that, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs, according to the hope of eternal life.” Whitchurch, Salop. J. H. are under sin, still, how diffi-To the Editors of the Baptist Magazine. cult it is to bring men to acknowledge, indeed, themselves It may not be uninteresting, sinners, in the scriptural sense nor unseasonable, at this present of the expression! This can juncture, to give your readers an only be effected by the power-abridged account of the proceedful energy of the Holy Spirit. ings of Oliver Cromwell, and "When he, the Spirit of Truth, this nation in general, on hearis come, he will reprove the ing of the cruel persecutions and world of sin, and of righteous- sufferings of the Waldenses, in the valleys of Piedmont, in the commencement of the year 1655; and of the liberal contributions then raised in this country for their relief, in their dispersed and distressed condition. If the following brief sketch be suitable to the pages of your useful miscellany, it is at your service. Hackney, Dec. 1815. G. B. ACCOUNT OF THE PERSECUTIONS AND RELIEF OF THE WALDENSES, IN THE YEAR 1655. ABOUT the 20th of May, 1655, an account of the duke of Savoy's proceedings against the Waldenses reached England; and it no sooner came to the ears of the protector, than he rose, like a lion, out of his place, and, by the most pathetic appeals to the Protestant princes upon the continent, he awoke the whole Christian world, exciting their hearts to pity and commiseration. The providence of God had so disposed the order of events, that the poet MILTON, at that time, filled the office of Latin secretary to Oliver Cromwell. He was an utter enemy to persecution in every form. The severe sufferings of the Waldenses touched his heart, and occasioned him to take particular interest on that affecting occasion. It devolved upon him, by office, to write letters to the heads of the different Protestant states in Europe, with the viewTM of interesting them in the affairs of the Waldenses; and his letters, on that occasion, deserve to be handed down to the remotest ages of the world, as a noble instance of a benevolent and feeling mind, worthy of the author of PARADISE LOST.One of the first of Cromwell's measures was, to appoint a day of fasting and prayer, to seek the Lord on behalf of the melancholy condition of those afflicted people. A public declaration of their distressed state was also issued, calling upon the inhabitants, throughout the land, to join in free and liberal contributions towards their succour and support; in which the protector himself set a noble example, by commencing the subscription with a donation of TWO THOUSAND POUNDS! from his own private purse. And, that no time might be lost, in testifying his good will towards the Waldenses, on the 23d of May, Sir S. Morland received orders to prepare for setting off, with a message from the English government to the duke of Savoy, beseeching the latter to recall the merciless edict of Gastaldo, and to restore the remnant of his poor distressed subjects to their homes, and the enjoyment of their ancient liberties. Andrew Gastaldo was doctor of the civil law, and conservator general of the holy faith. In observation of the orders pub Our readers will perceive, by the resolutions of the Protestant Dissenting Ministers in London, that it is recommended that this noble example should be imitated in all the dissenting congregations throughout the united kingdom. his country-that he had already expostulated with the court of Savoy, for having employed them in an affair of that nature, without his authority or command-and, that he had sent to the governor of his pro vince of Dauphiny, requesting lished against the pretended reformed religion, after stating the authority with which he had been invested by the duke of Savoy, he proceeds" to command and enjoin every head of a family, with its members of the reformed religion, of whatever rank, or condition so-him to collect as many of the ever, without exception, with- poor exiled Waldenses as he in three days after the publica- could; to treat them with gention of these presents, to with- tleness, and afford them every draw and depart with their fa protection they might stand in milies out of the respective need of." As to what replaces of their residence, and mains," continued his majesty, transported to the places al-" you were perfectly right in lowed by his royal highness, believing that I had given no during his good pleasure, &c. orders to my troops to execute under pain of death, and confis-such a business as this-nor was cation of houses and goods; pro- there the least ground to supvided always, that they do not pose, that I should contribute make it appear to us, within 20 to the chastisement of the subdays following, that they are be-jects of the duke of Savoy, who come Catholics-or, that they professed the reformed religion, have sold their goods to the while I was giving so many Catholics," &c. &c. proofs of my good will to those of my own subjects, of the same profession, whose fidelity and zeal, for my service, I have great reason to applaud; since they omit no opportunity of evincing their loyalty, even beyond all that can be imagined, and, in every thing, contributing to the prosperity and advantage of my affairs." On May the 26th, Sir Samuel Morland took his departure for the continent, being charged, on his way to Piedmont, with a letter from the protector to the French king, on the cruel massacre and sufferings of the Waldenses, in whose recent murder some French troops had been employed. The king of France lost no time in return- Having delivered the protecing a very complaisant and sa- tor's letter to the king of France, tisfactory answer to this letter; and received the preceding rein which he assures the protec- ply, Sir Samuel Morland protor, that the manner in which ceeded on his journey towards his troops had been employed, Savoy, and, on the 21st of June, by the duke of Savoy, or his mi- arrived at Rivoli, a city about nisters, was very far from meet-two miles from Turin, where ing with his approbation that the duke (who seems to have they had been sent by him into been a minor) then was, with Italy, to assist the duke of Mo- his royal mother, and all the dena against the invasion which court. Two days afterwards, the Spaniards had made upon he obtained an audience, and VOL. VIII, D introduced himself, in an ela- | subjects, whose situation had borate Latin oration; in which he painted, in strong colours, the accounts that had been received in England, of the dreadful atrocities that had been recently perpetrated upon the Waldenses by the soldiery, describing" the houses on fire, which," says he, "are are yet smoking; the mangled carcasses, and ground defiled with blood;-virgins violated, and, after being treated with brutal outrage, too indecent to be mentioned, left to breathe out their last; — men, a hundred years old, helpless through age, and bed-ridden, burnt in their beds;-infants dashed against the rocks, &c. &c. Were all the tyrants," says he, "of all times and ages, alive again, they might blush to find, that, in comparison of these things, they had contrived nothing that deserved to be called barbarous and inhuman!—The very angels are seized with horror at them! Men are amazed!-Heaven itself seems to be astonished with the cries of dying men, and the very earth to blush, being dis-person and mediation." These coloured with the gore of so plausible professions, while many innocent persons," &c. they display the usual finesse of Having finished his oration, Sir politicians, yet certainly evince Samuel presented to the duke no ordinary measure of respect the letter with which he had for the head of the English gobeen charged by his master, the vernment, and are much more lord protector. As soon as complaisant than was the style the duke and his mother were in which the same lady had preacquainted with the contents of viously addressed Major Weis, this letter, madame royal ad- the deputy from the Swiss candressed the English mister, tons. and informed him," that she could not but extremely applaud the singular charity and goodness of his highness the Jord protector towards their been represented to him as exceedingly lamentable; and she could not but extremely wonder, that the malice of men should ever proceed so far, as to clothe such paternal and tender chastisement of their most rebellious and insolent subjects, in characters so black and deformed, thereby to render them odious to all the neighbouring princes and states. She, at the same time, gave him to understand, that "she was persuaded, when the lord protector came to be more particularly informed of the truth of all that had passed, he would be so perfectly satisfied with the duke's proceedings, that he would not give the least countenance to his disobedient subjects. However, for his highness's sake, they would not only pardon their rebellious subjects, for the very heinous crimes which they had committed, but would also grant them such privileges and favours, as could not fail to give the protector full proof of the great respect which they entertained for his When, upon the very first annunciation of the persecutions and distresses of the Waldenses, Oliver Cromwell issued a proclamation for a day of national humiliation throughout England | The following Remarks, on EPHES. IV. 4-13, were delivered on the day of a young Man being called to the Ministry; and addressed to the Church, of which he was a Member. and Wales. He commanded, at the same time, that collections should be made at all the churches and chapels for their relief; and a committee, of THE design of Paul, in this about forty of the first of the section, is to place before us nobility, gentry, and clergy, was the church of Christ under the formed for conducting it. Sir figure of a human body, in orThomas Viner and Sir Christo- der to illustrate its unity, the pher Pack, aldermen of Lon- mutual dependence of one part don, being appointed treasurers.upon another, and the imporThe sum total of the collections tance of the whole. This body amounted to 38,2411. 10s. 6d. is represented in an imperfect which, if we take into our ac-state, as if passing from infancy count the relative value of mo- to maturity, which progress is ney between those and the pre-styled, "Edifying the body of sent times, must certainly give Christ, till we all come in the us a very favourable impression unity of the faith and of the of the liberality of our forefa- Son of God, unto a perfect thers. Nor is it less gratifying, man." The standard at which to witness such a proof of the it is to arrive ultimately, is humane and benevolent spirit," The measure of the stature which, as Protestants, our countrymen evinced, on an occasion that so justly called for it. For the satisfaction of the community at large, the protector and his council ordered a narrative to be published, explanatory of their proceedings, with a very minute and circumstantial account of the sums contributed, specifying the counties, the number of parishes in each, with the precise amount of their contributions, as well as of the application that was made of the same, through the medium of Sir Samuel Morland, who, to carry into effect the liberality of the English people, was ordered to take up his residence at Geneva, a city contiguous to the valleys of Piedmont, where he continued about three years. of the fulness of Christ." As if the artist were informed, that not only the style of the sculpture was predetermined, but also the proportion of every part, and the magnitude of the whole. It is equal to saying, "There is your model"-"The measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." The means appointed for the completion of this work, are the gifts which the blessed Redeemer received when" He ascended up on high," and scattered among those who belong to the church. D By the appellation Church, me mean, either the catholic body, including all believers, or, individual branches formed on the original model. In forming our ideas of the church, there are two extremes to which we are exposed; either, so to understand its unity |