Waldenses were the first objects of its cruelties. Thousands were tormented and put to death. The havoc made by the Inquisition, from the year of its establishment 1206, to the year 1228, had been so extensive, that "certain French bishops complained of the number of its victims being so great, that it was impossible to defray the charge of their subsistence, or even to supply stone and mortar to build prisons for them." A crusade against Count Raymond and his subjects, was soon solemnly proclaimed by the pope, as had been customary against the Saracens. It promised remission of sins and paradise to the holy pilgrims who should bear arms for forty days against the heretics. At this call, three hundred thousand pilgrims assembled, and filled the country with carnage and confusion for many years, and great numbers of the people suffered martyrdom. Their country fell finally under the sceptre of France. In all their different retreats, and in the valleys on both sides of the Alps, the Waldenses were hunted out, and pursued with military violence, during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; and, on many occasions, during the fifteenth, and even the sixteenth centuries. The persecuted wanted not, at this time, a divine poet to sing their wrongs. Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold O'er all the Italian fields, where still does sway A hundred fold, who, having learn'd thy way, The earliest account of this people of God, who thus "fell by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil for many days," is taken from an ancient poem called the Noble Lesson'.' If any one," it is said "love those who love God 66 'From the date of this Poem, many have argued for the existence of the people afterwards called Waldenses, before the time of Waldo. But it merely says, "eleven hundred years are now gone past, s nce then it was said, these and Jesus Christ; if he will neither curse nor swear, nor act deceitfully, nor live in lewdness and injustice, nor avenge himself of his enemies, they presently say, The man is a Vaudes; he deserves to be punished; and iniquitous methods are then used to rob him of the fruits of his industry. Such a one, however, consoles himself with the hope of eternal salvation." "Their first principle," it is said, is" to honour God the Father, to implore the grace of his glorious Son, and the Holy Ghost, who enlightens us in the way of truth. This is the Trinity, full of all power, wisdom, and goodness, to whom we ought to pray for strength to overcome the devil, the world, and the flesh, that we may preserve body and soul in love. To the love of God, the love of our neighbour ought to be joined, which comprehends the love even to our enemies." The same character is disclosed at a later period. "When Lewis XII., importuned by the calumnies of informers, sent two respectable persons into Provence, to make inquiries, they reported, that on visiting their parishes and temples, they found no images or Roman ceremonies; but that they could not discover any marks of the crimes with which they were charged; that the sabbath was strictly observed; that children were baptised according to the rules of the primitive church, and instructed in the articles of the Christian faith, and the commandments of God. Lewis having heard the report, declared, with an oath, "They are better than myself and my people." Thuanus, an enemy, describing them in a valley of Dauphiny, says, "Their clothing is of skins of sheep; they have no linen; they inhabit seven villages. Their houses are constructed of flint stones, with a flat roof covered with mud, which being spoiled or loosened rains, they smooth again with a roller. In these they live. with their cattle, separated from them, however, by a fence. They have two caves set apart for particular purposes, in one of which they conceal their cattle, in the other themselves, when hunted by their enemies. They live on milk, and venison, being by constant practice good marksmen. Poor as they are, they are content, and live separate from the rest of mankind. One thing is astonishing, that persons externally so savage and rude should have so much moral cultivation. They can all read times are the last." But this might be loosely said of any period in the twelfth century, and the reference is probably to the Epistle of St. John, which was written very late in the first century; and eleven hundred years would exactly reach the period of the first effects of Waldo's preaching. R and write; they understand French so far as is needful for reading the Bible and for singing the Psalms. You can scarce find a boy among them who cannot give you an intelligible account of the faith which they profess; in this, indeed, they resemble their brethren of the other valleys. They pay tribute with a good conscience, and the obligation of this duty is particularly noted in the Confession of their faith; if, by reason of the civil war, they are prevented from doing this, they carefully set apart the sum, and, at the first opportunity, pay it to the king's tax-gatherers'." Such, even from the mouths of their enemies, is the character of a people who dwell in certain districts, from the borders of Spain throughout the south of France, for the most part among and below the Alps, along the Rhine, on both sides of its course, and in Bohemia. The churches of Piedmont, however, on account of their superior antiquity, were regarded as guides of the rest; so much so, indeed, that they frequently received from thence their pastors, whom they called Barbs. In a book concerning their pastors, we have the following account of their vocation. "All who are to be ordained as pastors among us, while they are yet at home, entreat us to receive them into the ministry, and desire that we would pray to God that they may be rendered capable of so great a charge. They are to learn by heart all the chapters of St. Matthew and St. John, all the canonical epistles, and a good part of the writings of Solomon, David, and the prophets: afterwards, having exhibited proper testimonials of their learning and conversation, they are admitted as pastors by the imposition of hands. The junior pastors must do nothing without the license of their seniors; nor are the seniors to undertake any thing without the approbation of their colleagues, that every thing may be done among us in order. We pastors meet together once every year to settle our affairs, in a general synod. Those whom we teach afford us food and raiment, with good will and without compulsion. The money given us by the people, is carried to the said general synod; is there received by the elders, and applied partly to the supply of travellers, and partly to the relief of the indigent. If a pastor among us fall into any gross sin, he is ejected from the community, and debarred from the function of preaching." Such is the manner of choosing the Barbs, and such was the plan of church-govern The Waldenses maintained the grand position of the Protestant faith almost in the words of our Sixth Article: 66 That we ought to believe that the Holy Scriptures alone contain all things necessary to our salvation; and that nothing ought to be received as an article of faith but what God has revealed to us." They affirm that "there is only one Mediator, and therefore that we must not invocate the saints,"" that there is no purgatory; but that all those who are justified by Christ go into life eternal." "They receive two sacraments, baptism and the Lord's supper." "All masses, they affirm, are damnable." They deny the supremacy of the pope," "and admit no other degrees except bishops, priests, and deacons." "They condemn the popedom as the true Babylon; allow the marriage of the clergy, and define the true church to be those who hear and understand the Word of God." They unquestionably received the Athanasian Creed; and in regard to the Pelagian leaven, they were free. "God created Adam after his own image; but through malice of the devil, and the disobedience of Adam, sin entered into the world, and we became sinners in and by Adam. Christ is our life, and truth, and peace, and righteousness; our Shepherd and Advocate, our Sacrifice and Priest, who died for the salvation of all who should believe, and also rose again for our justification." The Confession of the Bohemian Waldenses, published in the former part of the sixteenth century, is very explicit on these articles. They say, "that men ought to acknowledge themselves born in sin, and to be burdened with the weight of sin; that they ought to acknowledge that, for this depravity, and for the sins springing up from this root of bitterness, utter perdition deservedly hangs over their heads; and that all should own that they can no way justify themselves by any works or endeavours, nor have any thing to trust to but Christ alone. They hold that by faith in Christ, men are, through mercy, freely justified, and attain salvation by Christ, without human help or merit. They hold that all confidence is to be fixed in him alone, and all our care to be cast upon him; and that for his sake only God is pacified, and adopts us to be his children. They teach also, that no man can have this faith by his own power, will, or pleasure; that it is the gift of God, who, where it pleaseth him, worketh in man by his Spirit." "They assert that all who have been and shall be saved, have been elected of God before the foundation of the world; and that whosoever upholds free-will, absolutely denies predestination and the grace of God'." All this is so like the language of the first reformers, that one might be tempted to suppose that the Waldenses had relighted their lamp from the fire which came down from heaven in the days of Luther and Calvin. But Mr. Milner observes, "It is remarkable that an ancient Confession of Faith, copied out of certain manuscripts, bearing date 1120, that is, forty years before Peter Waldo, contains the same articles in substance, and, in many particulars, in the same words, as those of which an abridgment has been given, and which was approved in the sixteenth century. The conclusion from this fact is, that though Waldo was a most considerable benefactor to the Waldensian churches by his translation of the Scriptures, his other writings, his preaching, and his sufferings, he was not properly their founder. Their plan of doctrine and churchgovernment, particularly in Piedmont, was of prior date; nor can any other account of the existence and light of a church so pure and sound, in ages so remarkably corrupt, be given, than this, that the labours of Claudius, archbishop of Turin, in the ninth century, had, under the blessing of God, produced these effects"." We have pursued this history of Waldo and his followers, from the time of his ministry to the era of the Reformation; or rather, perhaps, of a people who had long subsisted distinct from the Roman community, and who, about the time of Waldo, animated by the same Spirit that had stirred up the mind of the merchant of Lyons, began to assume a more conspicuous station in the view of general history, and spreading far and wide their religious principles, accidentally received the name of one of their more successful teachers. But whatever injury the faithful testimony of the Waldenses had done to the church of Rome, she boasted that she had subdued them; or at least had reduced them so low, by the persecutors she had let loose upon them, that their opposition to her dominion was now contemptible, and beyond their obscure valleys scarcely attracted the notice of mankind3. 1 Morland, in Milner. The date of this MS. on which Mr. Milner grounds his remark, has been shewn to be probably erroneous. His general inference, however, may still not be destitute of truth. See Mr. WILLIAM JONES'S Account of the Waldenses. Father Paul. |