PART II.

CEN T.not to have adopted any doctrines inconsistent XII. with the spirit of true religion; and the principles upon which he acted were chiefly reprehensible from their being carried too far, applied without discernment and discretion, and executed with a degree of vehemence which was as criminal as it was imprudent. Having perceived the discords and animosities, the calamities and disorders that sprung from the overgrown opulence of the pontifs and bishops, he was persuaded that the interests of the church, and the happiness of nations in general required, that the clergy should be divested of all their worldly possessions, of all their temporal rights and prerogatives. He, therefore, maintained publicly, that the treasures and revenues of popes, bishops, and monasteries, ought to be solemnly resigned and transferred to the supreme rulers of each state, and that nothing was to be left to the ministers of the gospel but a spiritual authority and a subsistence drawn from tythes, and from the voluntary oblations and contributions of the people [b]. This violent reformer, in whose character and manners there were several things worthy of esteem, drew after him a great number of disciples, who derived from him the denomination of Arnoldists, and, in succeeding times, discovered the spirit and intrepidity of their leader, as often as any favourable opportunities of reforming the church were offered to their zeal.

The origin

and history

XI. Of all the sects that arose in this century of the Wal, none was more distinguished by the reputation it acquired, by the multitude of its votaries, and

denses.

the

[b] See OTTO Frising. de gestis Frederici I. lib. ii. cap. xx.— S. BERNHARDUS Epist. 195. 196. tom. i. p. 187.—BOULAY Histor. Acad. Paris. tom. ii. p. 157.-MURATORII Droits de l'Empire sur Etat Ecclesiastique, p. 137.-HENR. DE BUNAU Vita Frederici I. p. 41.-CHAUFEPIED Nouveau Diction. Hist. Crit. tom. ii. p. 482.

XII. PART II

the testimony which its bitterest enemies bore to C E N T. 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 [c], or Lionists, 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 [d]. The origin of this famous sect was as follows: PETER, an opulent merchant of Lions, surnamed Vuldensis, 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 [e], 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

[c] They were called Leonists from Leona, the ancient name of Lyons, where their sect took its rise. The more eminent persons of that sect manifested their progress toward perfection by the simplicity and meanness of their external appearance. Hence among other things, they wore wooden shoes, which in the French language are termed sabots, and had imprinted upon those shoes the sign of the cross, to distinguish themselves from other Christians; and it was on these accounts that they acquired the denominations of sabbatati and insabbatati. See Du Fresne Glossarium Latin medii ævi, vi. voce Sabbatati, p. 4.-NICOL. EUMERICI Directorium Inquisitorum, part III. N. 112, &c.

[d] See STEPH. de BORBONE De septem donis spiritus sancti, in ECHARD & QUETIF Bibliotheca Scriptor. Dominicanor. tom. i. p. 192.-ANNONYM. Tractatio de Haresi Pauperum de Lugduno, in MARTENE Thesauro Anecdotor. tom. v. p. 1777. [] This priest was called STEPHANUS DE EVISA.

XII.

CEN T. was originally inculcated by CHRIST and his PART II apostles. Struck with this glaring contradiction between the doctrines of the pontifs 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 [f], 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 [g]. They accordingly formed religious assemblies,

[f] It was on this account that the Waldenses were called Pauvres de Lyons, or Poor men of Lyons.

[g] Certain writers give different accounts of the origin of the Waldenses, and supposed they were so called from the Vallies in which they had resided for many ages before the birth of PETER WALDUS. But these writers have no authority to support this assertion, and, besides this, they are refuted amply by the best historians. I don't mean to deny, that there were in the Vallies of Piedmont, long before this period, a set of men, who differed widely from the opinions adopted and inculcated by the church of Rome, and whose doctrine resembled, in many respects, that of the Waldenses; all that I maintain is, that these inhabitants of the Vallies abovementioned are to be carefully distinguished from the Waldenses, who, according to the unanimous voice of history, were originally inhabitants of Lyons, and derived their name from PETER WALDUS, their founder

and

XII.

assemblies, first in France, and afterwards in Lom-CENT.
bardy, from whence they propagated their sect PART!!.
throughout the other provinces of Europe with
incredible rapidity, and with such invincible for-
titude, that neither fire nor sword, nor the most
cruel inventions of merciless persecution, could
damp their zeal, or entirely ruin their cause [b].
XII.

and chief. We may venture to affirm the contrary, with
the learned BEZA and other writers of note; for it seems evi-
dent from the best records, that VALDUS derived his name
from the true Valdenses of Piedmont, whose doctrine he adopted,
and who were known by the names of Vaudois and Valdenses,
before he or his immediate followers existed. If the Valdenses
or Waldenses had derived their name from any eminent teacher,
it would probably have been from VALDO who was remarkable
for the purity of his doctrine in the IXth century, and was the
cotemporary and chief counsellor of BERENGARIUS. But the
truth is, that they derive their name from their Vallies in Pied-
mont, which in their language are called Vaux, hence Voidois,
their true name; hence PETER or (as others call him) John of
Lyons, was called in Latin, Valdus, because he had adopted their
doctrine;
and hence the term Valdenses and Waldenses used by
those, who write in English or Latin, in the place of Vaudois.
The bloody inquisitor REINERUS SACCO, who exerted such a
furious zeal for the destruction of the Waldenses, lived but
about 80 years after Valdus of Lyons, and must therefore be sup-
posed to know whether or not he was the real founder of the
Valdenses OF Leonists; and yet it is remarkable that he speaks of
the Leonists (mentioned by Dr MOSHEIM in the preceding
page, as synonimous with Waldenses) as a sect that had flourished
above 500 years; nay, mentions authors of note, who make their
antiquity remount to the Apostolic age. See the account
given of SACCO's book by the Jesuit GRETSER, in the Bib-
liotheca Patrum. I know not upon what principle Dr Mo-
SHEIM maintains, that the inhabitants of the Vallies of Pied-
mont are to be carefully distinguished from the Waldenses; and
I am persuaded, that whoever will be at the pains to read at-
tentively the 2d, 25th, 26th, and 27th chapters of the first
book of LEGER'S Histoire Generale des Eglises Vaudoises, will
find this distinction entirely groundless.-When the Papists ask
us, where our religion was before LUTHER? we generally an-
swer, in the Bible; and we answer well. But to gratify their
taste for Tradition and human authority, we may add to this an-
swer, and in the Vallies of Piedmont.

[b] See the following ancient writers, who have given acfounts of the sect in question, to wit, SACHONI Summa contra Valdenses.

CENT.
XII.

PART II.

The doc

views of the Waldenses.

XII. The attempts of PETER WALDUS and his followers were neither employed nor designed to introduce new doctrines into the church, nor to trine, dis- propose new articles of faith to Christians. All cipline, and 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 characterised 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 pontif, 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 transgressions 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

Valdenses.-MONETE Summa Contra Catharos et Valdenses, published by RICHINI.-Tr. de Haresi Pauperum de Lugduno, published by MARTENE, in his Thesaur. Anecdot. tom. v. p. \ 1777.-PILICHDORFIUS contra Valdenses, t. xxv. B. B. Max. Patr. Add to these authors, Jo. PAUL PERRIN Histoire de Vaudois, published at Geneva in 1619.-Jo. LEGER, Histoire Generale, des Eglises Vaudoises. livr. i. ch. xiv. p. 136.-UsSERII De successione Ecclesiarum Occidentis, cap. viii. p. 209. —Jac. Basnage Histoire des Eglises Reformées, tom. i. period iv. p. 329.-THOM. AUGUST. RICHINI Dissertat. de Valdensibus, prefixed to his edition of the Summa MONETE, P. 36.— BOULAY Histor. Acad. Paris. tom. ii. p. 292.