280 LIVES' OF THE PURITANS. nicated by the contrary party. He was one of the first in the constitution of the church to which Mr. Smyth was chosen pastor; and, upon Mr. Smyth's death, he waschosen to the pastoral office. Though he did not go forwards with an equal degree of comfort and success as Mr. Smyth had done, it was acknowledged that his preaching and writings promoted the cause be espoused. The chief opposers of Mr. Helwisse and his church, according to Crosby, were the Brownists, from whom they had separated. These persons, having incw rect notions of religious liberty, wrote against them with too much warmth, calling them heretics,' anabaptists, &c. ; yet made several concessions in their favour,clearing them of thoseextravagant opinions which .distinguished the old atiabaptis+s. They acknowledged, that Mr. Helwisse and his people disclaimed the doctrine of freewill; that, though they excluded infants from baptism, they believed in infant salvation; and that they even agreedwith their opponents in the great truths of the gospel. And with respect to their morals, as our author adds, they confessed that they had attained to some degree of knowledge add godliness; that they hada zeal of God, though, in their opinion, not according to know- ledge ; and that when they found any person of their com- munion guilty of sin, they proceeded to censure him. People ofwhom these things could, withtruth, be said, ought not to have received any unkind usage from their brethren, though they differed from them about baptism, or some other subordinate points. It is extremely probable, how- ever, there was fault on both sides ; and if each party had been less influenced by a spirit of intolerance, and more by a spirit of forbearance, their history would have appeared no less honourable in the eye of a discerning posterity. Upon Mr. Smyth's death, Mr. Helwisse and his.people published a confession of their faith, entitled, " A Declara- tion of Faith of the English People remaining at Amster-, dam in Holland.". Mr. John Robinson, pastor to the' English church at Leyden, published some remarks upon it. About the same time, Mr. Helwisse began to reflect -upon himself and his brethren for deserting their countryon account of persecution. He resolved, therefore, to return home, that he might share the same lot with that of his brethren who had continued to endure the storm. Being * Crosby's Hist. of Baptists, vol. ii. Appen. p. 1-9.
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