holy men, fell victims to the hatred of their enemies, between the years 1524 and 1660, merely in consequence of coincidence of opinion, on the subject of baptism. This testimony, of a dignified clergyman of the church of Rome, in favour of the orthodoxy and purity of these despised followers of Menno Simons, may be fafely depended on, and may serve to counteract the obloquy that has been frequently cast upon them. Bartel Louwer, or, as his name is sometimes spelt, Lauren, was born at Goch, in the duchy of Cleves, somewhere about the year 1600; but the exact period of his birth is not ascertained. In the early part of his life, he travelled in different countries, and resided, for a considerable time, at Wilna, the capital of Lithuania. Later in life, he entered into the ministry among the Baptists, and, finally, became preacher at Amsterdam, and was an elder in the church of the united Flemmings, Friesland and German Mennonites, and colleague with the venerable T. G. Van den Wyngaard. During his residence in Wilna, in 1617, a singular interview took place, between him and some Polish nobility; the substance of which he has published in the Dutch language, of which the following is a translation: "During my residence at Wilna, I became pretty generally known, even among the nobles and leading people in the province, in consequence of my sometimes selling to them certain wares, of little value in themselves, but which were, however, acceptable to them; and, as the result of my frequent travelling, I was enabled to communicate information which gratified them. I was, one day, sent for by the countess of Samaido, whose lord filled several offices under Sigismund III. On my entering the court, where I had frequently been before, I found it full of pages and servants of different noblemen; on seeing which, I was retiring; but the servants of the countess observing it, desired me not to go away, as their lord had strictly charged them to inform him when I arrived. They did this, and I was directed to go to the count immediately. I excused myself on account of the nobles, who, I observed, were with him; but they so urged me, that I was compelled to go into the palace. "On entering, I found a number of noblemen surrounding a long table. The count was obliged to withdraw, in consequence of being seized with indisposition. I made my obeisance, respectfully, to the noble assembly; and the countess beckoned to me to approach her, which I did. The nobles looked at me, and seemed struck with my dress and outlandish appearance. Their first inquiry was respecting the place of my nativity, which I informed them was Goch, in the duchy of Cleves; with which town, two of them said they were acquainted. I was then asked, how I came into Poland? how I knew their language? and what was my religion? Was it the Catholic, Lutheran, or Calvinistic-I said, My lords, I agree with none of these. This excited their surprise. They asked, Do you attend no place of worship? I replied, Yes, frequently.Where do you go? With what people do you at tend? I said, Where I am the nearest; sometimes in the Catholic churches, sometimes in the Russian or Greek churches, and also among the Lutherans, Calvinists, &c. This information caused some expressions both of surprise and disapprobation. They asked, With which of these communities do your views coincide most?-I said, I know not. All these communities preach the gospel, in their own opinion; but, considering their communities collectively, none of them labour to live as the gospel requires, and as is our duty. This still increased their surprise, that I, a lay person, should insist on the lives of Christians corresponding with the gospel.* - "There sat at the table two monks, one of whom was the prior of a cloister in that town, which contained, at least, 150 brethren. The nobles, who had been examining me, addressed themselves to him, and said, Reverend father, do you hear what this German says? What is your opinion? The prior said, My lords, I have heard the whole, and not without surprise; but I will venture to affirm, from what stock he has sprung, merely from the de cision with which he expresses himself on religious subjects. Well, to what sect does he belong?-The prior replied, The Anabaptist; and assigned, as his reason, They have no other catechism than the scriptures, which they accustom their children to read much; and that reading produces, in young persons, a habit of reflection, and likewise exposes them to a variety of errors; and of such parents, I believe, he is a son.The question was then put to me, by two or three of the nobles at the same time, Whether I had such ancestry, or still belonged to that party?— I said, They are called so.Upon this, the nobles began to exclaim, Oh! that is a most horrible doctrine; for they de ny, contrary to the sentiments of all Christendom, the eternity of the Son of God, and yet af firm, that a Christian must follow his example in all things, which is impracticable, which also none of them do, for they live as we do, or, at least, there is but little difference; they deny the satisfaction of Christ, and maintain that the resurrection will not be universal; and, likewise, that young children are not Christians; and they went on to say, And is it a fact, that you will compare Christians with the doctrine of the gospel?-They continued, in this way, to administer reproof to me. Some of them exhorted me to become a Catholic, or, at least, class myself as one. I stated the difficulties, such as VOL. VII. *What a display of the ignorance of that age! 3 x occurred at the moment. They | fered once for all; and, as to aimed to convince me, there the resurrection, they believe, were much greater difficulties in persisting in what they concluded I believed; enlarging much on the denial of the Son of God, and opposing the sentiments of the whole Christian world. "But the prior, who had been listening to all this, said, My lords, I have paid attention to you, as well as to the German, and have heard the many charges you have brought against him, relative to the denial of Christ, which, in a certain sense, might apply to our Polish Anabaptists, but, by no means, to those of the Netherlands; although, in the opinion of some, these are in the confession of Christ, which, by no means, is my sentiment respecting them; for they firmly adhere to the words of the scripture, and reject all glosses on the same, and exclusively place dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ, and not on their good works; deriving all their hopes and consolation from him; nor do they the less maintain it to be the duty of a Christian to obey Christ with all his might, and submit to his commandments. He continued: They do not deny the satisfaction of Christ, but place all their hope of salvation in and upon his grace, and the sacrifice which he of as the holy church and all true Christians have ever believed, that it is universal, both of the evil and the good, the righteous and the unrighteous; and that, in the day of the resurrection, every one, in his own body, shall be rewarded according to his works; and hence it is their aim to keep themselves from sin, in order to obtain a reward, and a gracious Judge.*—On hearing the prior speak in this way, the nobles were not a little astonished; and one of them said, Sir, you speak of this people as if they were orthodox, and you do not conceal your attachment to them. The monk replied, I am not at all surprised, gentlemen, that what I have stated has thus excited your astonishment; but I have my reasons for thus bearing my testimony in favour of this people, and I will give them to the company. 66 Some years ago, I travelled to the Netherlands with Mr. Samatolsky, who was sent, by his majesty, as ambassador to the court of Brabant. On my arrival, I was so charmed with the country, and its inhabitants, that I resolved to continue there for some time, without, for the present, going any farther. I, accordingly, wrote to my father, for permission to study at Lou *It is certainly a matter of surprise and regret, that the true history of a people, whose orthodoxy in faith and practice is thus attested by an enemy, should be unknown in this country. As to the garbled accounts of the Mennonites in Mosheim, and some other ecclesiastical historians, they come to the real state of the case, just about as near as we may conceive the popish writers do, in their description of the Paulicians, Cathari, Petrobrusians, Waldenses, &c. the way by his placates; but I considered the emperor was no theologian; that, therefore, it did not so much rest with him as with those who would pass as divines, who ought to have attacked the errors of this people with the word of God, if, peradventure, God may give them repentance for their errors, if they were indeed guilty of them. And as the clergy had not acted thus, or conducted themselves in a way adapted to the nature of the case, I felt a great concern to converse with some of the remaining members of their churches, with the view either of rendering assistance to them, or, that they might show me a nearer way to heaven. I made inquiries of my worthy host, if he knew any of these vaine, and he granted my request. I lodged at Louvaine, with an old man, of great observation and experience, who had attentively investigated the tumults which had happened in the Netherlands. This old gentleman was used to relate to me many astonishing accounts; and, among other things, informed me of these Anabaptists, that they contended for their faith, with such decision, that they regarded neither father, nor mother; wife, nor children, nor any thing in the world: but, such was their steadfastness, that, rather than apostatize from their profession, they would yield up their lives to the fire, the water, or the sword. These things he himself had observed, in numerous instances, to the great asto-people, who informed me, they nishment of the spectators, who witnessed how cheerfully, and with what purpose of heart, they went to their fate, without discovering any inclination to seek for revenge on their persecutors.* This information, continued the monk, exceedingly surprised me, because I never rea nor had ever heard of such steadfastness, since the persecutions of the primitive church. I began to think, whether that could be the true church, which so violently persecuted others, especially such believers in Christ as these. It was, indeed, observed to me, that the emperor had prepared On were all driven to those pro- *The second part of the Dutch Baptist Martyrology is intirely composed of the accounts of the apprehension, trials, and cruel deaths of these excellent martyrs, to the amount of several thousands; but being written in the Dutch language only, the narrative of the sufferings of these worthies, is almost wholly unknown to their brethren in England, but that they did not like for they never lie. I then requestany person to make them known; ed him to inform me, in what but, at my request, he went to manner they conducted their the man, and succeeded in ob- worship? he said, We sometaining for me, an interview. times read, in secret, a chapI went to his house, and found ter, and then expound on it; a person of a very grave and and added, the Lord Jesus, he modest appearance, who, after is our only priest and pastor. the interchange of the usual But, said he, in Zealand, and, courtesies, inquired into the particularly in Holland, there object of my wishing an inter-are many, for we have public view with him. As he knew a congregations in those parts. little Latin, and I a little Dutch, Thus closed my interview with we could understand each other this man. On parting, he retolerably well; I proceeded to quested me, in conformity with state to him, that I had heard, my promise, that I would keep with surprise, of the conduct secret the place of his abode, of his brethren, and that, from and the discourse I had with this circumstance, I was de- him. I took my leave, with a sirous to know, what was the mind fully occupied with rereason of their leaving the flections. church, and why they adhered to their opinions with so much pertinacity? To the first question, he replied, that our church was so corrupt, that very few symptoms of Christianity remained; and this, he demonstrated to me, with so many reasons, that it caused me no small concern. On the second question, he said, they were afraid of a defection from their faith; in the first place, because that God was acquainted with all things, even their thoughts; and, secondly, because whoever loved any thing better than Christ, was not worthy of him. That there remained no more sacrifice for sin to apostates. I was greatly astonished at his acquaintance with the scriptures; and asked him, if he were a minister among his party? he said, No; and informed me, that there was no one at Antwerp. I believed him readily, for it is known that "On my leaving Antwerp, continued the prior, it was told me, that Klubomiersky was arrived at Brussels again, with a commission from His Majesty, to announce his will to the revolted provinces. On this I altered my intention, and, instead of returning to Louvaine, I proceeded to Brussels. On my arrival, I met my countrymen, with all those emotions of pleasure, on both sides, which are usual in natives of the same country, meeting in foreign parts. We forthwith applied for his excellency's permission to travel, under his protection, in the other provinces; and having obtained it, my companions used me as their interpreter, from my knowing something of the Dutch: my object, however, was to obtain some farther information of the faith and doctrines of these Anabaptists. On our arrival at the Hague, I left my company, |