MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF RELIGION IN SCOTLAND.

From the view which has now been given of the various denominations of professing Christians in Scotland, it must appear that much is done in that country to impress upon the minds of its inhabitants the great doctrines and precepts of religion; and the general effect cannot fail to afford the truest pleasure to every sincere friend of Christianity. Although there be not the same austerity of religious profession which marked the period immediately succeeding the Reformation, attachment to Christian doctrines and external duties is still very extensively cherished and exhibited. The Lord's day is, with few exceptions, observed with a reverence admirably calculated to secure the gracious purposes of its institution; a wonderful knowledge of Divine truth, and a high sense of character, prevail even amongst the poorest ranks of the community; a deep interest is taken in all the beneficent schemes that have recently been adopted or proposed for extending the knowledge and influence of Christianity throughout the world; and the great proportion of parents, in every station of life, strongly feel that a virtuous and religious education is the best inheritance which they can give to their children.

All this, under the blessing of Heaven, is very much to be ascribed to that close connection which subsists between pastors of every persuasion and those who attend on their ministrations. In the Established Church, the ministers of the several parishes, residing among their people, and taking a tender concern in their welfare, are very generally regarded with a degree of affection and veneration, which gives a powerful effect to their instructions. The Episcopal clergy, devoting themselves to the spiritual improvement of their hearers, living in the midst of them, and exerting the most salutary influence over a great proportion of the higher classes, illustrate the practical excellence of the ecclesiastical polity which they venerate; whilst the ministers of the Presbyterian and other Dissenters, bringing character, and many of them also learning and talents, to the discharge of their duty, zealously join in inculcating the doctrines which render the Gospel a religion of mercy to a sinful world. The intolerance of other times has happily given place to the forbearance and benevolence of the Christian spirit; the members of all sects live in harmony; and, when they have opportunity, cordially perform acts of kindness to those who differ from them. And, could those classes of Presbyterians, who still adhere to their

-ANTS.] PRESENT STATE OF RELIGION IN SCOTLAND. 185 Covenants, be prevailed on to cast them "to the moles and to the bats," we might then hope, for a continuance of this happy state of things; we might expect that no change of circumstances would shake that loyalty and that good will towards others, which they now practically exhibit in common with all sects and parties around them; and, we should think more highly of their Reformation-attainments.

In the larger towns, and in some extensive manufacturing establishments, there is, it is painful to remark, an increasing carelessness about religion; owing, in a great degree, to inadequate accommodation in parish churches.

Many, no doubt, who cannot get access to these churches, by connecting themselves with Dissenters, preserve the pious principles which they had been taught to revere; but numbers become indifferent to religious duties, absent themselves. from the public worship of God, spend the Lord's day in idleness and dissipation, and thus gradually imbibe the profane and corrupting tenets, which the profligate or the discontented eagerly disseminate.

Yet, after making full allowance for that evil, and for all those instances of ungodliness and vice which, in the present state of human nature, will always be found amongst a numerous population, it may be truly asserted that the inhabitants of Scotland are a religious people and a reference to their case places it beyond a doubt, that faith in the Gospel tends, by improving the character, to strengthen the foundations of society, and that it imparts resignation and comfort in seasons of trial and calamity; whereas, were infidelity to prevail, all would be overspread with the gloominess of despondency or the anguish of despair *.

• For a further extension of these remarks, and for much new and valuable matter on the most important subjects, I here beg leave to refer the reader to an interesting and valuable work that has just issued from the pen of the learned Dr. Cook of Laurencekirk, entitled, "A General and Historical View of Christianity, comprehending its Origin and Progress, the leading Doctrines and Forms of Polity founded on it; and the Effect which it has produced on the Moral and Political State of Europe." 3 vols. 8vo. 1822.

MISCELLANEOUS

SECTS AND DENOMINATIONS.

THE MENNONITES, OR DUTCH BAPTISTS.

NAMES.

THE members of this communion, rejecting the name of Anabaptists, by which they were formerly known, and which has long been an obnoxious term, have been called Baptists, Teleiobaptists, or Antipædobaptists. In Holland they are also called Doops-gesinden. The name of Mennonites by which they have been long known in Church History, and which they still retain, they assumed, in order to distinguish themselves from the Munster Baptists, and, in compliment to Menno Simons, who joined them in 1536, and, becoming their leader, contributed much to the good order, discipline, and respectability of their society.

RISE, HISTORY, &c.

The Dutch Baptists are said to be descended from that branch of the Waldenses, who, to escape from the persecution to which they were exposed in the valleys of Piedmont, fled, in the latter part of the twelfth century, into Flanders, and into the provinces of Holland and Zealand, where they lived simple and exemplary lives.

From the history of the old Dutch Waldenses of that period, and from the doctrines they then held, and during the following centuries, a striking similarity is apparent between them and the ancient and later Dutch Baptists. And though there is no particular reference to baptism in any of the confessions of faith of the Waldenses, it is maintained, on the authority of Hieronimus, Verdussen, Cligny, and other Roman Catholic authors, that the Dutch Waldenses rejected the baptism of children, and applied the ordinance to adults alone.

"In the beginning of the 16th century, the Dutch Wal

denses, or, as they were then called, the Anabaptists, perceiving that many learned men exposed the ignorance, errors, and superstition of the people, no longer hid themselves, but began the dissemination of purer religious knowledge, that they might annihilate, as far as possible, the power of the Romish superstition. They were so successful in drawing persons to baptism from the Roman communion, that the civil rulers issued strict orders against their persons; who, however, still multiplied, till they were at length joined in this opposition to Rome by other reformers. This was before even the name of Luther was known as a reformer.

"Had the Anabaptists at that time possessed men truly learned, how great must have been the harvest arising from the good seed which they then sowed! From their communion would probably have arisen, and that much earlier than it did, all that light which now beams upon Europe. But there was not one person among them qualified to become a reformer of the Roman Church; not one who possessed sufficient learning to obtain that influence as a writer, as that he might be looked up to as an universal guide. For since the twelfth century, not one person distinguished for learning had appeared amongst them. The renowned Peter Waldus, known in their history, may be considered as the first and the last individual among them who was eminently learned; hence they were despised by the Romish Church. They were in fact little known: they lived in retirement, cultivating only those virtues which distinguished them as good citizens, and as a pure Christian community. They have this latter testimony from very early Roman Catholic writers, who were willing to do homage to the truth.

"From hence it will appear, how greatly the Dutch Waldenses, or the so-called Anabaptists, would rejoice when Luther and his followers began the Reformation: they avowed their approbation of it, praising God that he had raised up brethren with whom they might unite in the essential points of the Gospel.

"There were then two sects amongst them: the one called the perfect, and the other the imperfect. The former professed to have a community of goods, so that none should be rich while the others were poor. Some carried the principle so far, that they sometimes suffered from want and nakedness. The Imperfect lived less strict, and indulged in a greater intercourse with mankind. Both these sects were spread all over Germany, Switzerland, and Holland.

"Fanatical persons among the followers of Luther and

Zuinglius, took advantage of the simplicity of many of the first sect, called the Perfect, and urged them to assist in acts of outrage and insurrection. Among the followers of Luther thus acting were Storck and Muntzer; and among those of Zuinglius were Lodowyk, Hetzer, B. Habmer, and others, By far the greater part of the first sect, the Perfect, and the whole of the second, were certainly the most pious Christians the church ever saw, and the worthiest citizens the state ever had. History removes every doubt upon this subject.

"It is certain, that these worthy Anabaptists, or who may be better called Baptists, were found in great numbers in the Netherlands, not only in Holland, Friesland, Groningen, but especially in Flanders; consequently in those provinces wherein we have related that the Waldenses, their ancestors, had established themselves in and after the twelfth century.

"And here they had the good fortune, in the year 1536, that their scattered community obtained a regular state of church order, separate from all Dutch and German Protestants, who at that time had not been formed into one body by any bonds of unity. This advantage was procured them by the sensible management of a Friezland Protestant, Menno Simons, born at Witmarsum, and who had formerly been a popish priest. This learned, wise, and prudent man chosen by them as their leader, that they might, by his paternal efforts, in the eyes of all Christendom, be cleared from that blame which some of them had incurred. This object was accomplished accordingly: some of the Perfectionists he reclaimed to order, and others he excluded, and gave up to the contempt of their brethren. He purified also the religious doctrines of the Baptists *."

DOCTRINES.

was

The Rev. J. Gan, the Mennonite minister at Ryswick, has given the following statement of the leading articles of their belief, in his "Summary of Christian Doctrine."

66

Of the fall of man. In the fall man lost his innocence; and all his posterity are born with a natural propensity to evil, and with fleshly inclinations, and are exposed to sickness and death. The posterity of Adam derive no moral guilt from his fall sin is personal, and the desert of punishment cannot

The above is a quotation, at second hand, from the first volume of a work published at Breda, in 1819, by Dr. Ypeij, principal teacher of Theology at Groningen, and by the Rev. J. J. Dermont, secretary to the synod of the Dutch Reformed Church, preacher at the Hague, and chaplain to the king of the Netherlands, as given by Mr. Ward in his "Farewell Letters," 2d edit. 1821, p. 254, &c.