ard work. This respectable historian, in giving an account of the Waldenses, in the 12th century, 5th chapter and 11th section of his work, writes as follows: 11. "Of all the sects that arose in this century, none was more distinguished by the reputation it acquired, by the multitude of its votaries, and the testimony which its bitterest enemies bore to the probity and innocence of its members, than that of the Waldenses, so called from their parent and founder, Peter Waldus. This sect was known by different denominations. From the place where it first appeared, its members were called the poor men of Lions, or Leonists; and from the wooden shoes which its doctors wore, and a certain mark that was imprinted upon these shoes, they were called Insabbatati, or Sabbatati. The origin of this famous sect was as follows: Peter, an opulent merchant of Lions, surnamed Valdenses, or Falidisius, from Vaux, or Waldum, a town in the marquisate of Lions, being extremely zealous for the advancement of true piety and Christian knowledge, employed a certain priest, about the year 1160,in translating from Latin into French the Four Gospels; with other books of holy scripture, and the most remarkable sentences of the ancient doctors, which were so highly esteemed in this century, But no sooner had he perused these sacred books with a proper degree of attention, than he perceived that the religion which was now taught in the Roman church, differed totally from that which was originally inculcated by Christ and his Apostles. Struck with this glaring contradiction between the doctrine of the pontiffs and the truths of the gospel, and animated with a pious zeal for promoting his own salvation and that of others, he abandoned his mercantile vocation, distributed his riches among the poor, and forming an association with other pious men, who had adopted his sentiments and his turn of devotion, he began, in the year 1180, to assume the quality of a public teacher, and to instruct the multitude in the doctrines and precepts of Christianity. The archbishop of Lions, and the other rulers of the church in that province, opposed with vigour, this new doctor in the exercise of his ministry. But their opposition was unsuccessful; for the purity and simplicity of that religion which these good men taught, the spotless innocence that shone forth in their lives and actions, and the noble contempt of riches and honours which was conspicuous in the whole of their conduct and conversation, appeared so engaging to all such as had any sense of true piety, that the number of their disciples and followers increased from day to day. They accordingly formed religious assemblies, first in France, and afterward in Lombardy, from whence they propagated their sect throughout the other provinces of Europe with incredible rapidity, and with such invincible fortitude, that neither fire nor sword, nor the most cruel inven tions of merciless persecution, could damp their zeal, or entirely ruin their cause. 12. "The attempts of Peter Waldus and his followers were neither employed nor designed to introduce new doctrines into the church, nor to propose new articles of faith to Christians.All they aimed at was, to reduce the form of ecclesiastical government, and the lives and manners both of the clergy and people, to that amiable simplicity, and that primitive sanctity, that characterized the apostolic ages, and which appear so strongly recommended in the precepts and injunctions of the divine author of our holy religion. In consequence of this design, they complained that the Roman church had degenerated, under Constantine the Great, from its primitive purity and sanctity. They denied the supremacy of the Roman pontiff, and maintained that the rulers and ministers of the church were obliged, by their vocation, to imitate the poverty of the Apostles, and to procure for themselves a subsistence by the work of their hands. They considered every Christian as, in a certain measure, qualified and authorized to instruct, exhort, and confirm the brethren in their Christian course, and demanded the restoration of the ancient penitential discipline of the church, i. e. the expiation of transgression by prayer, fasting, and alms, which the new invented doctrine of indulgences had almost totally abolished. They at the same time affirmed, that every pious Christian was qualified and entitled to prescribe to the penitent the kind and degree of satisfaction or expiation that their transgressions required; that confession made to priests was by no means necessary, since the humble offender night acknowledge his sins and testify his repentance to any true believer, and might expect from such the counsels and admonitions that his case and circumstances de manded. They maintained, that the power of delivering sinners from the guilt and punishment of their offences, belonged to God alone; and that indulgences, of consequence, were the criminal inventions of sordid avarice. They looked upon the prayers, and other ceremonies that were instituted in behalf of the dead, as vain, useless, and absurd, and denied the existence of departed souls in an intermediate state of purification; affirming that they were immediately upon the separation from the body received into heaven, or thrust down to hell. *Though we believe that the souls of the righteous, immediately upon the separation from the body, are received into heaven, or into a state of happiness, where they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them; (Rev. 14: 13.) yet we do not believe that their happiness and felicity is so consummate and complete as it will be after the reunion of soul and body in the resurrection of the dead at the day of judgment; For the widowed, lonely spirit, Longs to triumph in the flesh." Then, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be These, and other tenets of a like nature, composed the system of doctrine propagated by the Waldenses. Their rules of practice were extremely austere; for they adopted, as the model of their moral discipline, the sermon of Christ on the Mount, which they interpreted and explained in the most rigorous and literal manner, and of consequence prohibiting and condemnbrought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory: O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 1 Cor. 15: 54, 55-Then, when the Righteous Judge shall say to those on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; and they shall thus go into life eternal; (Matth. 25: 34, 46.) then will they be crowned with life and immortality, with joys ineffable and full of glory, at God's right hand for ever and ever. And, We also believe, that the souls of the wicked, immediately upon the separation from the body, are thrust down to hell, or into a state of misery, where they are reserved in everlasting chains of darkness unto the judgment of the great day; (Jude 6.) and a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation; (Heb. 10: 27.) yet, notwithstanding, we do not believe that their misery is so great and tormenting as it will be after the re-union of soul and body, in the resurrection at the day of judgment. Then, when the Righteous Judge shall pronounce the just sentence, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his an gels, (Matth. 25: 41.) what will then be the horror and consternation of those guilty wretches, when they are cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, and be tormented day and night for ever and ever! (Rev. 20: 10.) where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. Mark 9: 44. "Hark the shrill outcries of the guilty wretches! Lively bright horror, and amazing anguish, Stare through their eye-lids, while the living worm lies. Gnawing within them!" |