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    penpaaV observation or the informa * tioa of others has made me acquainted , 1 forbear to mention in so brief a Memoir , and therefore pass on to a hint or two as to the means of promoting the welfare of this valuable class of our fellow-christians . They are

    clearly in want of pecuniary aid 5 and such is the benevolent disposition of British Christians , that to mention this feet is quite enough . Yet , however anxious that they should not be overlooked in this age of beneficence , I am fully aware , that , since there are

    magnificent institutions in the country which have a much higher claim upon Christian liberality , donations are chiefly to be hoped for from persons whose affluence enables them , after subscribing to larger societies , to spare something . for others of an

    inferior description . Very many such persons are to be found , and one caanot for a moment suppose that they will permit this interesting people , so eminently protected by the English iu the eighteenth , to be neglected in the nineteenth century . There was a time when the Waldenses did not

    so much receive as impart benefits . Their college of Angrogne sent forth zealous missionaries to convey pure religious knowledge to several parts of Europe , then involved in ignorance and superstition . They were , indeed ,

    according to the import of their armorial bearings , a light shining amidst thick darkness . * If , in these latter days , something of the ancient splendour of their piety should , through divine grace , re-appear , those Christians will have reason to esteem

    themselves very happy , who , by their generous efforts , may be in some degree honoured as instruments of the revival . It is unquestionably the duty of believers to endeavour to promote and to pray for such a revival of vital piety in churches once renowned , as well as the diffusion of divine truth

    among the heathen . I am sensible that this appeal in behalf of the Waldenses is in no respect worthy of the cause it undertakes to advocate 5 yet since ,

    howler unadorned ^ it has at least the simplicit y of truth , and the importance of the subject to recommend it , J could willingly cherish the hop © that it will secure for this excellent

    . * ' ' * Liix ft teneWis " 'die arms of the wwn <> f Luzern « which once belonged td

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    people a warm interest in the best affections of their fellow-Christians . Of this I am very sure , that if , instead of seeing their condition through the medium of an imperfect memoir , they found themselves actually in the valleys , and , holding a historv of the

    Vaudois in their hands , cast the eye around spots consecrated by the sufferings of so many disciples of the Lord Jesus , they would be filled with esteem for the people , and a desire to promote their happiness . The evening before I quitted them , a solitary

    walk afforded me full scope to indulge such a train of feelings : —a sacred luxury it may well be termed , since the sensations of delight were really such as neither the treasures of art deposited in the Louvre , nor the stupendous views of nature unfolded in

    the cantons of Switzerland * had possessed in an equal degree the magic to impart . All around seemed to hava a tendency to foster the disposition j a torrent rushed by on the left ; tha evening was so mild that the leaves

    scarcely stirred ; and the summits of the mountains , behind which the sun had just set , appeared literally above the clouds . The emotions produced by the scenery and recollections associated with it * will not be soon

    effaced : it might be the last time I should see those mountains , which had been so often the refuge of the oppressed—those churches , wheretha doctrines of the gospel had been so long and so faithfully maintainedand those friends , from whom a

    stranger from a distant land had received so many proofs of affectionate regard ! Full of such thoughts as I walked along , I arrived at length at the house of one of the pastors , to pass the night . The next day be accompanied me to the limits of his parish , on

    the Col de Croix , which separates Piedmont from Dauphine . The walk being long and tedious , he had brought bread and a flagon of wine , and observed , as he gave me the refresh * - ment , U was ** une espece de communion "— -might be almost considered a sort of communion . We then parted

    with expressions of Christian esteem - and , descending the other side of the mountain , I soon lost sight of the lands * belonging to the Vaudois- * -descendants of a class of men who were ^ for a series of ages , " destitute , afc fleeted , tormented , " but " of whorm the world was not * wthjr »"

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    V * i . v

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    Memoir respecting the Waldenses . 1 ST

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1816, page 137, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2450/page/9/