1. On entering upon the
details of the eleventh century, we are called to realize
emotions of joy and sorrow; joy, because a succession of pious
men are raised up to advocate the cause of truth and virtue;
sorrow, because their labor of love everywhere is attended with
opposition and suffering; though the prospect of death itself
does not appear to have checked their work of faith and patience
of hope. One of the earliest names, as a reformer, in France,
is LEUTARD, who arose (1000), and preached to the people
in the bishopric of Chaalous. This man gained many followers.
[Mezeray’s Fr. Hist., p. 228. C. 10, p. 94] The labors of
the Paulician Albigenses, or Vaudois, with Leutard, are noticed
by Gerbertus, who became a disciple, and died 1003. [Allix’s
Rem. Albig. Ch.] The zealous and commendable exertions of these
puritans were the means of collecting religious societies, one of
the earliest on record was brought thus prominent by the
sufferings they experienced from their enemies. "The first
religious assembly which the Paulicians had formed in Europe, is
said to have been discovered at Orleans, in the year 1017, under
the reign of Robert. A certain Italian lady is said to have been
at the head of this sect." [Female teachers were allowed in
these churches. The advantages and benefits to religion, from
their devoted efforts, are shown by several writers.
M’Crie’s Reform. in Italy, p. 187, &c.] Its
principal members were twelve canons of the cathedral of Orleans;
men eminently distinguished by their piety and learning, among
whom Lisosius and Stephen held the first rank; and it was
composed, in general, of a considerable number of citizens, who
were far from being of the lowest condition. A council, held at
Orleans, employed the most effectual methods that could be
devised, "to bring these people to a better mind;" but
all endeavors were to no purpose: they adhered tenaciously to
their principles, and therefore were condemned to be burnt alive
[Mosh. Ch. Hist., v. ii., p. 225]; which sentence thirteen
actually realized.
2. These puritans, that
came into France from Bulgaria, were murdered without mercy. They
held that baptism and the Lord’s supper possessed no virtue
to justify. [Jortin’s Remarks, &c., vol. v.p. 226]
"These worthy clergymen," observes Archbishop Usher,
"affirmed that there was no virtue capable of sanctifying
the soul, in the Eucharist or in baptism." They are charged
with denying baptism and the sacraments; they denied baptism to
confer grace, and denied the ordinance to children. All those who
practised the baptism of infants at this period considered the
ordinance as conferring grace, which is allowed by Dr. Wall.
[Wall’s Hist. pt. 2, c. 6, p. 105, and pt. 2, c. 10, ~ 2, p.
451] Their denial of the infant rite was enough, in those times,
to occasion their enemies to say they denied the ordinance.
[Danver’s Hist. p. 295] These people’s characters were
blackened with shocking crimes; but Mosheim allows, that even
their enemies acknowledged their sanctity, and that the
accusations were evidently false. [Hist. of the Ch. v. ii. pp.
225-6]
A synod was held at Toulouse,
to consider the most effectual method to rid the province of the
Albigenses; [Allix’s Rem. Ch. Albig. c. 11, p. 95] and
though the whole sect was in 1022 said to have been burnt, yet
the emigrants from Bulgaria, coming in colonies into France, kept
the seed sown, the churches recruited, and soon after, the same
class of people was found inhabiting Languedoc and Gascony.
[Mezeray’s Fr. Hist. p. 229] It is recorded that
Leuthericus, Archbishop of Sens, and who was a disciple of
Gerbertus, advocated those views which afterwards were charged on
Berenger. [Allix’s Rem. Ch. Albig. c. 10, p. 93] Leuthericus
died in 1032. Three years after, we become possessed of two names
which resounded through Europe, and whose labors were accompanied
with those beneficial effects and permanent results, as to be
well worthy of the name of Reformers. BRUNO and BERENGER,
or BEREGARIUS, were reformers in France, A.D. 1035; almost as
early as Gundulphus appeared in Italy, with whom probably they
were in correspondence. Berenger, by his discourses, charmed the
people, and drew after him vast numbers of disciples. Some men of
learning united themselves with him, and spread his doctrines and
views through France, Italy, Germany, and other kingdoms.
[Mezeray’s Fr. Hist. p. 229] The effect of these
Reformers’ preaching was not only enlightening the ignorant,
but it gave encouragement to the dissenters to come more
prominently into society. The alarm was great to the Catholics:
one of their prelates, Deodwin, Bishop of Leige, states that
"there is a report come out of France, and gone through
Germany, that Bruno, Bishop of Angiers, and Berengarius,
archdeacon of the same church, maintain that the host is not the
Lord’s body; and as far as in them lies, overthrow the
baptism of infants." Matthew of Westminster speaks of
Berenger as having corrupted all Italy. "It means,"
says Dr. Allix, "that his followers, who were of the same
stamp with the Paterines, kept to the primitive faith of the
church, which it was the object of the popes to remove them from;
and in their opposing the church of Rome, they were called
heretics and corrupters, though this name and practice belonged
rightly to the popish party." [Allix’s Pied. c. 14,
pp. 122-3] His followers were so numerous, that old historians
relate, that France, Italy, Germany, England, the Belgic
countries, &c., were infected with his principles. [Usher in
Bp. Newton’s Diss. on the Proph. v. ii. p. 245; Facts
Opposed, &c., p. 42; Usher in Danver’s, p. 288] This
proves that persons existed in these provinces in the profession
of his sentiments, and who readily gave him support so soon as he
appeared in the character of a reformer. Berenger, in his zeal
against the corruptions of the church, calls the Roman community
"a church of malignants, the council of vanity, and the seat
of Satan." He was required by the pope to abjure his errors,
and burn his writings, which he actually did; and yet, while he
lived, he wrote and spoke in the same severe strain.
4. One VALDO was a chief
counsellor of Berenger’s, and was remarkable for purity of
doctrine. He was an eminent man, and had many followers;
[Mosh. Ch. Hist. v. ii., p. 320, note. Rob. Res. p. 303] but,
from unknown causes, no further reference is made to Bruno or
Valdo. Berenger is said to have followed the views of
Leuthericus, Archbishop of Sens, who, as before stated, was a
disciple of Gerbertus. Berenger began the work of reformation
when young, and continued to preach for fifty years. He died
1091, aged 80.* Notwithstanding his versatility of mind, he left
behind him, in the minds of the people, a deep impression of his
extraordinary sanctity; and his followers were as numerous as his
fame was illustrious. [Mosh. v. ii. p. 216] His views of religion
appear to have been scriptural. His followers were called GOSPELLERS
for one hundred years, and many of them suffered death for their
opinions. On his followers being examined, they said
"baptism did not profit children." [Usher in Danv., p.
288] Many Berengarians suffered death for their opinions, and for
opposing infant baptism. [Montanus, p. 83. Baronius’ An.
1223] Bellarmine says, "the Berengarians admitted only
adults to baptism, which error the anabaptists embraced;"
[Facts Opposed, &c., p. 42] and Mezeray declares Berenger to
have been head of the Sacramentarians, or Anabaptists. [Fr. His.
p. 229] The Berengarians were of the same stamp with the
Paterines. [Dr. Allix’s Ch. Pied., c. H, p. 123] The
Berengarians, from the identity of doctrines, were called
Albigenses; Berengarians and Vaudois were equivalent terms.
[Facts ubi. sup.] Morell declares, it was computed in 1160, that
above eight hundred thousand persons professed the Berengarian
faith. [Mem. p. 54 in Bap. Mag. v.i.p. 435] "Thus it cannot
be supposed," says Dr. Allix, "that the Albigenses were
the disciples of Peter Waldo; and consequently they are to be
considered originally as a colony of the Vaudois." [Ch. of
Albig. c. 11. p. 114]
[* Wall’s Hist. pt. 2,
p. 216; Mezeray, p. 229: Paedobaptists of late days confine
Berenger’s views to transubstantiation; but were not
baptizing in a state of nudity, and conveying sanctified water to
the unborn with giving the abluent waters to the dying and dead,
equally as offensive as eating the body and drinking the blood of
Christ?]
5. About the year 1110, in
the south of France, in the provinces of Languedoc and Provence,
appeared PETER DE BRUYS, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of
heaven, and exerting the most laudable efforts to reform abuses,
and remove the superstitions which so awfully disfigured the
beautiful simplicity of gospel worship. [Mosh. Ch. Hist. v.
ii. p. 198; Allix’s Albig. Ch. c. 14, p. 121] His labors in
the good cause, we are told, were crowned with abundant success.
He was made the honored instrument of awakening the attention of
many to the great concerns of eternity, and pointing them to
"the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world."
He was under the protection and favor of a nobleman, named
Hildephonsus. [Clark’s Martyrol. p. 79] He is said to have
been a priest of Toulouse; but after his conversion and union
with the Albigenses, he became one of their chief ministers.
During his ministry the Catholics were busy in erecting temples
for worship. The opulent contributed their wealth, while the poor
cheerfully performed the services allotted to beasts of burden.
Each expected, from his labors and gifts, a reward of Paradise;
[Mosh. Hist. c. 12, p. 2, c. 3, ~ 2] but the Albigenses preached
that gold was not the means of building, but rather of destroying
the church. [Allix’s Albig. Ch. p. 39]
6. The religious
sentiments of Peter de Bruys are not fully known; but the
following particulars are handed down to us by historians:--that
the ordinance of baptism was to be administered only to adults;
[Mezeray’s Hist., p. 276] that it was a piece of idle
superstition to build and dedicate churches to the service of
God, who, in worship, has a peculiar respect to the state of the
heart, and who cannot be worshipped with temples made with hands;
that crucifixes are objects of superstition, and ought to be
destroyed; that, in the Lord’s supper, the real body and
blood of Christ were not partaken of by the communicants, but
only represented in the way of symbol or figure; and lastly, that
the oblations, prayers, and good works of the living, can in no
way be beneficial to the dead. [Mosh. Hist. v. ii. p. 315]
Prateolus, Mezeray, and Bellarmine record that Peter de Bruys
held baptism to be useless to children who wanted the exercise of
reason. [Facts Op. Allix’s Albig. c. 14, p. 124] The
Petrobrussians, those who withdrew from the church of Rome, did
reckon infant baptism as one of the corruptions, and accordingly
renounced it and practised only adult baptism. "All those
baptized (immersed) in their infancy were re-baptized," says
Dr. Wall, "before they could enter their churches."
[Hist. Inf. Bapt. pt. 2, c. 7, ~ 8, p. 250] Peter de Bruys
held, that persons baptized in infancy are to be baptized after
they believe; which is not to be esteemed re-baptization, but
right baptism. [Danver on Bap. p. 290, from Osiander. In this
century they plunged the subject in baptism three times in the
sacred font. Mezeray’s Fr. Hist., 12 cent. p. 288] His
followers were called PETROBRUSSIANS, and were very
numerous in France and the Netherlands. [Lon. Ency. Art.
Petrobruss] From him the Albigenses were called Petrobrussians.
7. The place where Peter
de Bruys first raised his voice against corrupt practices is now
called Dauphine. The clergy were aroused, and by their
influence he and his companions were expelled from that province.
Other provinces and kingdoms shared in his itinerant labors. [Facts
Opposed to Fiction, p. 45] His doctrines were readily
received among the mountaineers (Vaudois), the villagers, and
they found numerous advocates among the country people and in
populous towns, particularly about Toulouse. His crime was, in
influencing the people to leave the Romish church. The people
were re-baptized; the churches were profaned; the altars dug up;
of their sacred wooden crosses the Petrobrussians made a fire,
and roasted their meat on Good Friday, in defiance of the fast;
priests were scourged, monks imprisoned, &c., &c.,
[Wall’s Hist., pt. 2, p. 251] while it is allowed that the
purity of their morals found friends among the clergy and laity.
[Dr. Allix’s Albig. Ch. c. 20, p. 188]
8. The Petrobrussians, to
justify themselves from the calumnies of Peter of Clugny and
others, sent forth a work in answer to the question, "WHAT
IS ANTICHRIST?" It is generally supposed to have been
the production of Peter de Bruys, and is said to have been
written so early as 1120. It bears internal evidence of
having been composed for the purpose of vindicating the writer
and his friends in their separation from the church of Rome.
In reference to the ordinance, it declares, "A third work of
Antichrist consists in this, that he attributes the regeneration
of the Holy Spirit unto the mere external rite, baptizing infants
in that faith, teaching that thereby baptism and regeneration
must be had; on which principle he confers and bestows orders,
and indeed grounds all his Christianity; which is contrary to the
mind of the Holy Spirit." [Jones’s Lect. v. ii. p. 262]
This view was supported by a confession of their faith, in
fourteen articles, published about the same time. In this
confession they acknowledge the apostles’ creed; believe in
the Trinity; own the Canonical books of the Old and New
Testament; scriptural character of God, of Adam, and his fall;
work of Christ as Mediator; abhorrence of human inventions in
worship; that the sacraments were signs of holy things, and that
believers should use the symbols or forms when it can be done;
though they may be saved without those signs; they own baptism
and the Lord’s supper; and express their obedience to
secular powers. [Hist. of the Ch. Church, by W. Jones, v. ii. p.
53; Gilly’s Narrative, Appendix 12]
Peter de Bruys continued
his labors during a period of twenty years, when he was called to
seal his testimony with his blood. He was committed to the flames
at St. Giles, a city of Languedoc, in France, by an enraged
populace, instigated by the clergy of the catholic church, who
very justly apprehended their traffic to be in danger from this
new and intrepid reformer. [Allix’s Albig. ch. c. 14, p.
124, and Jones’s LLect. v. ii. p. 207]
9. Within five years of
Bruys’s martyrdom, HENRY, of Toulouse, who had been a
disciple of his, appeared as a reformer. He travelled through
different provinces, and exercised his ministerial functions in
all places, with the utmost applause from the people. He
declaimed with great vehemence and fervor against the vices of
the clergy, and the superstitions they had introduced into the
church. [Mosh. Hist. v. ii. p. 316. p. 27] Contemporary with
Bruys, Henry, and Arnold, was that extraordinary man, BERNARD,
abbot of Clairval in France, whose learning and sanctity
rendered him an object of general admiration, whose word appears
to have regulated almost every court in Europe, and whose
counsels decided the policy of the Catholic community, from the
pope to the peasant. Though Bernard fully concedes the points of
corruption in the hierarchy, and of children being promoted to
dignities in the church, [Claude’s Del. of the Reform. v. i.
c. 2] yet his influence was fully given to uphold the man of sin,
by all the severe measures of the times. We do not wish to
detract from his excellencies; but all those features of sanctity
about him, were placed in direct opposition to those good men who
strove to reform abuses in the Catholic community, as we now
exhibit. Writing to the Count of St. Giles, Bernard thus
describes the state of affairs: "How great are the evils
which we have heard and known to be done by Henry, the heretic,
and what he is still every day doing in the churches of God! He
wanders up and down in your country in sheep-clothing, being a
ravenous wolf! but according to the hint given by our Lord, we
know him by his fruits. The churches are without people--the
people without priests--priests without reverence--and lastly,
Christians without Christ. The life of Christ is denied to
infants, by refusing them the grace of baptism, nor are they
suffered to draw near unto salvation, though our Saviour tenderly
cried out on their behalf, ‘Suffer,’ &c. O most
unhappy people! at the voice of an heretic all the voices of the
prophets and apostles are silenced, who, from one spirit of
truth, have declared that the church is to be called by the faith
of Christ, out of all nations of the world; so that the divine
oracles have deceived us." [Allix’s Albig. Ch. C. 14,
p. 127, and c. 11, p. 117, and c. 20, p. 185] The archbishop of
Narbon, writing to Louis the 7th, king of France, about the same
time, details the desolations of the Catholic community, he says,
"My Lord, the King, we are extremely pressed with many
calamities, amongst which, there is one that most of all affects
us, which is, that the Catholic faith is extremely shaken in this
our diocese, and St. Peter’s boat is so violently tossed by
the waves, that it is in great danger of sinking." Similar
statements and complaints reached Bernard, respecting the
prevalency of persons holding Baptist sentiments in Germany,
where, in a future section, we shall give particulars. [See on
Sect. 12, ~ 4] We can from these extracts discover the perturbed
and anxious state of mind among the clergy, at the success
attending Henry’s preaching. "At this very period, in
the Catholic community, the night of ignorance," says Bishop
Newton, "was so thick and dark, that there was hardly here
and there a single star to be seen in the whole hemisphere."
[Diss. on the Prophe. v. ii. p. 170] Yet such was the disposition
of the supporters of establishments at this time, that they would
have extinguished every star, had not Providence thrown its aegis
around it. We may discover in these Paedobaptists the prevailing
of a false charity, for while they express their solicitude for
the rising race, they can run from those chitty acts of kindness,
and with reviling and denouncing language, assign the parents,
with all repudiators of the infant rite, to the regions of misery
and death.
10. To recover the strayed
flocks, Bernard, with other clergy of note, visited those parts
of France which were most infected with Henry’s sentiments.
Henry was found in the territory of the Earl of St. Giles, and
though he fled and remained secreted for some time; yet it is
supposed he was afterwards arrested by some Catholic bishop. What
end Henry came to is unknown, though Allix remarks, it is said he
was a martyr at Toulouse. [Wall’s Hist. pt. 2, p. 254, and
Allix’s Albig. Ch. c. 14, p. 128] Henry’s views are
recorded under eleven heads by the Magdeburghs, who declare with
Mosheim that he denied baptism to children. [Danver’s, p.
293. Ec. Hist. v. ii. p. 316] Peter de Bruys and Henry denied
baptism to children, and verbally and practically administered
the ordinance only on a profession of faith. [Stennett’s
Ans. to Rus. p. 83] "Peter and Henry were two
Antipaedobaptist ministers," says Dr. Wall. [Hist. Inf. Bap.
pt. 2, c. 7, ~ 8] Henry’s followers, the Henricians, are
said by Catel to have been the forerunners of the Albigenses.
[Allix’s Albig. Ch. c. 18, p. 172] Henry and Peter de Bruys
were two principal doctors of the Albigenses. [Mezeray’s Fr.
Hist. p. 276] Bernard says, "the Albigenses were called
Henricians, from this person;" "they boast," he
adds, "that they are the true successors of the apostles,
and the faithful preservers and followers of their doctrine: they
are simple men, and rude in their manners, yet many clergymen,
bishops, and lay princes condescend to favor them. [Facts,
&c., 45]
11. From the zeal and
assiduity of Gundulphus and Arnold in Italy, with Berenger, Peter
de Bruys, and Henry in France; the followers and disciples of
these reformers became sufficiently numerous to excite alarm in
the Catholic church, before Waldo, of Lyons, appeared as a
reformer. They were in different kingdoms known by different
names, and are supposed at this period to have amounted to eight
hundred thousand in profession. [Bap. Mag. v.i.p. 435.
Wall’s Hist. pt. 2, p. 228; Clark’s Martyr. p. 76] The
success of these reformers may suggest the inquiry how they
gained so firm a footing in so dark a period, and in the face of
all opposing powers. We know they, like the Paulicians, went
forth, regulated by the precepts and promises of the New
Testament, with a simple and humble dependence on the SPIRIT of
truth for direction and support. Their living together in large
mansions, in social and brotherly compact, enabled them to carry
on their secular work and religious duties unobserved. In all
those associations, their great object was the promotion of
undefiled religion. They were very assiduous to their callings,
all their leisure hours being spent either in the instruction of
youth, or about necessary things. The ministers ("for they
had a regular succession of elders," [Allix’s Pied. Ch.
c. 24, p. 242] who emanated from these colleges or churches) did
not content themselves in exhorting their hearers on the
Sabbath-days, but went all the week to instruct the people in the
neighborhood, preaching also in the fields to the keepers of
flocks. [Perrin’s Hist. p. 16] They considered every
Christian as in a certain measure qualified and authorized to
instruct, exhort, and confirm the brethren in their Christian
course. All orders of teachers were to resemble exactly the
apostles of our Saviour, and be like them, poor, and throw their
possession into a fund for the support of the sick; while the
healthy were to pursue some trade to gain a daily subsistence.
[Mosh. Hist. v. ii. p. 321] To effect the greater good, many of
them led a wandering life throughout the various provinces of
Europe, and such itinerants realized considerable success in
gaining the affections of the multitude, while some in their
travels were called to martyrdom. [Id. p. 224] Various colonies
were sent out from these old interests, particularly from Italy,
who spread like an inundation through all the European provinces.
[Id. p. 226] They consequently formed in different parts a vast
number of religious assemblies, whose discipline and officers
were the same as found in the primitive church, [Allix’s
Albig. Ch. c. 20. p. 183] who adhered tenaciously to their
doctrines. [Mosh. Hist. C. 11, p. 2, ch. 5, ~ 2] The success and
number of dissidents, with the desolated state of the Catholic
community, prior to the Lyonese reformer, are admirably shown by
Dr. Allix, in his remarks on the ancient churches of the
Albigenses. [C. 14, pp. 117--120]
If we allow eight hundred
thousand persons to profess the Berengarian faith (Bap. Mag. v.
i. p. 435), and allow to each professor three adherents, these
two numbers, 800,000 and 2,400,000, make 3,200,000 persons
holding evangelical views; but if we allow infants to share in
this calculation, it at once lowers the credit of the evangelical
party, and places them in practice on a level with the Catholic
church, while it would leave them sadly behind in enumeration;
but there is no proof of paedobaptism, at this time, out of the
Roman and Grecian hierarchies, while these professors were of the
Berengarian class, i.e., holding only believers’ baptism.]
12. Not being able to
ascertain the inward arrangements of the Albigensian mansions,
the popes complained of them as not being under their regulation,
and concluded they must be seats of sin, like their own abodes,
and therefore sent forth their expressions of pious detestation
in repeated anathemas; consequently, measures were now adopted of
a vigorous character to stop the growing evil. The censures
of men, the bulls of popes, and the decrees and anathemas of
councils, which shall be given hereafter, follow now in rather
close succession, at the same time, all bearing their
expression of strong aversion towards those who deny the rite to
infants. The councils we allude to were held in different
parts of Europe; it must appear strange that those assemblies
should all express themselves so strongly and decidedly against
antipaedobaptists, unless persons did exist to a considerable
extent holding those sentiments.
13. Whilst anarchy and
confusion awfully prevailed in the Roman community, strife,
rebellion, and conflict between popes and emperors, cardinals,
clergy, and councils on the claims of contending pontiffs, a
person was called by divine grace to advocate the cause of truth.
PETER, an opulent merchant of Lyons, in translating from
Latin into French the four gospels, perceived that the religion
which was taught in the Roman church differed totally from that
which was originally inculcated by Christ and his apostles.
Struck with the glaring difference, and animated with a pious
zeal for religion, he abandoned his mercantile vocation,
distributed his riches among the poor, and formed an association
with other pious men. He adopted the sentiments of the
Waldenses of Piedmont, and from them borrowed those reforming
notions which he diffused so successfully over the continent.
[Mosh. Hist. v. ii. p. 321, note; Dr. Allix’s Albig. Ch. c.
11, p. 114, and Pied. Ch. c. 19, p. 182; Leger’s Hist. Tom.
1, p. 12, &c.] In 1165, he assumed the character of a public
teacher in the city of Lyons. [Jones’s Lect. v. ii. p. 235]
He maintained at his own expense several persons, who were
employed to recite and expound to the people those translations
of the Scriptures he had made, [Gilly’s Narrative, p. 20]
which proved of unspeakable service to the cause he espoused. The
rules of practice adopted by Peter of Lyons or Peter Waldo and
his followers, were extremely severe. They took for their model,
to regulate their moral discipline, Christ’s sermon on the
mount, which they interpreted and explained in the most literal
and rigid manner, and consequently prohibited war, law suits, and
all attempts towards the acquisition of wealth; the infliction of
capital punishments, self-defence against unjust violence, and
oaths of all kinds. [After adopting such a rigid view of the laws
of Zion, is it possible that Waldo could practice infant baptism,
which rite has no place in the New Testament? Their creed is a
denial of the rite among them, and the same can be established of
the churches of Piedmont.] [Mosh. Hist. v. ii. p. 322]
14. The followers of
Waldo, like himself, renounced all worldly property and interest,
making common stock with the poor of the church. From this
circumstance, the enemies termed them "THE POOR OF LYONS,"
and from the city where Waldo commenced his labors, they were
named LIONISTS; but in general they were mixed up with
the WALDENSES, their sentiments being the same, [Id. c. 12,
p. 2, c. 5, S 11, note] and were known in general by that
name. They are said to have been men of irreproachable lives.
[Bp. Jewel, in Facts, &c., p. 41] They were the pious of the
earth. [Mosh. ubi sup] Their views of the ordinance were, says
Reiner, "that the washing (immersion) given to children,
does no good." [Wall’s Hist. pt. 2, c. 7, p. 233] Dissenters
were called by various names, as the Poor of Lyons, Lionists,
Paterines, Puritans, Arnoldists, Petrobrussians, Albigenses,
Waldenses, &c., &c., different names, expressive of one
and the same class of Christians. [Allix’s Pied. c. 14,
pp. 122-8; Wall’s ib. p. 220, &c. Jones’s Lect., v.
ii. p. 276] "However various their names, they may be,"
says Mezeray, "reduced to two, that is, the Albigenses (a
term now about introduced), and the Vaudois, and these two held
almost the same opinions as those we call Calvinists." [Fr.
Hist., p. 278] Their bards or pastors were every one of them
heads of their churches, but they acted nothing without the
consent of the people and clergy. Deacons expounded the gospels,
distributed the Lord’s Supper, baptized, and sometimes had
the oversight of churches, visited the sick, and took care of the
temporalities of the church. [Allix’s Pied., c. 2, pp. 8, 9]
15. The Albigenses,
"whose religious views had been a considerable time
established, [Dr. Allix’s Rem. Albig. Ch., c. 11, p. 116]
gave their entire support to Waldo, so soon as he appeared in
public. The archbishop of Lyons, with other rulers of the
church in that province where the new reformer arose, opposed
with vigor this new doctrine in Waldo’s ministry, but their
opposition was unsuccessful; for the purity and simplicity of
that religion which these Lionese taught, the spotless innocence
that shone forth in their lives and actions, and the noble
contempt of riches, which formed a complete contrast with other
teachers; appeared so engaging to all such as had any sense of
true piety, that the numbers of their disciples and followers
increased from day to day. [Mosh. Hist. C. 12, p. 2. c. 5, ~ 11]
In reference to the character of this class, Jacob de Riberia,
secretary of the king of France, has these words in his
collections of Toulouse. "The Waldenses or Lugdenses lived
first in the diocese of Albi. They disputed more subtlety than
all others; were afterwards admitted by the priests to teach
publicly, not for that they approved their opinions, but because
they were not comparable to them in wit. In so great honor was
the sect of these men, that they were both exempted from charges
and impositions (taxes) and obtaining more benefit by will and
testaments of the dead, than the priests. A man would not hurt
his enemy if he should meet him upon the way, accompanied with
one of the heretics--insomuch that the safety of all men seemed
to consist in their protection. [Danver’s Hist., p. 20, from
Du Plessis, Inquisitor] Reiner, in the ensuing century, bears the
following testimony: "They were in manners composed and
modest, no pride of apparel, because they are therein neither
costly nor sordid. They transact their affairs without lying,
fraud, or swearing, being most upon handicraft trades; yea, their
doctors or teachers are weavers or shoemakers, who do not
multiply riches, but content themselves with necessary things.
These Lionists are very chaste and temperate both in meats and
drinks, who neither visit taverns or stews. They do much curb
their passions; they are always either working, teaching, or
learning. They are very frequent in their assemblies and worship,
&c. They are very modest and precise in their words, avoiding
scurrility, detraction, levity, and falsehood. Neither will they
say so much as verily, truly, nor such like, as bordering too
much on swearing, as they conceive; but they usually say, Yea and
Nay." [Danver’s Hist., p. 21]
16. The pontiff, on being
made acquainted with the Lionists’ proceedings, and the
inadequacy of his clergy’s opposition, anathematized Waldo
and his followers. The severity of those measures adopted by
his enemies compelled him to retire; leaving Lyons, he passed
through different provinces, preaching the word with great
acceptance. His kindness to the poor being diffused, his love of
teaching, the love of many to learn, awakened mutual solicitude
and devotion, and strengthened each other’s anxiety and
exertion from day to day, so that a crowd came about him in every
place, to whom he explained the scriptures, which his learning
and piety enabled him profitably to do. On being forced from
France, particularly Dauphine and Picardy, in which places Waldo
had been very successful, he first retired into Germany, with
many of his followers, who were called Picards, carrying along
with him, wherever he went, the glad tidings of salvation: and at
last settled in Bohemia, where he arrived safely, and where we
shall mention again his name and his concluding labors. In 1181,
Lucius III issued a decree, stating, "We declare all
Puritans, Paterines, Poor of Lyons, &c. &c., to lie under
a perpetual curse for teaching baptism and the Lord’s Supper
otherwise than the church of Rome." [Jones’s Lect., v.
ii., p. 241] In furtherance of the pope’s object, Philip
II of France, is said to have razed three hundred mansions, and
destroyed several walled towns, to stop the growth of these
reforming opinions. [Lon. Ency., art. Waldo] Numbers of
Waldo’s followers fled for an asylum into the valleys of the
Piedmont, taking with them the new translation of the Bible.
[Jones’s Lect. v. ii., p. 238] Others removed into Germany,
while some of his opinions are to be traced in the Netherlands.
[Bap. Mag., v. xiv. p. 51] His doctrines were carried into
Flanders, Poland, Spain, Calabria, and even into the dominions of
the grand Sultan. [Lon. Ency., v. xviii., p. 447, art. Reform]
Consequently, it was found that Waldo and his followers had, in a
few years, drawn multitudes from the bosom of a corrupt church,
and their doctrines made a great noise in the world. [Mosh.
Hist., C. 12, p. 2, c. 5,~14]
17. By the assiduous and
unceasing efforts of the elders and teachers, to instruct and
qualify every member of the community, to inform the ignorant of
the way of salvation; and by their system of local itinerancy,
while others undertook more extensive journeys, these united
efforts of the whole body were attended with incalculable good,
and such organized exertions promised fair to evangelize the
world; and if this object is ever attained, similar means must be
used by men of disinterested virtue, whose love of souls shall
rise superior to the love of gain and ease. From their combined
endeavors to promote the knowledge of Christ, "The sects of
the Catharists, Waldenses, Petrobrussians, and others," says
Mosheim, "gathered strength from day to day, spread
imperceptibly throughout all Europe, and assembled numerous
congregations in Italy, France, Spain, and Germany. The number of
these dissenters, from all hierarchies, was nowhere greater than
in Narbonne, Gaul, and the countries adjacent, where they were
received and protected in a singular manner by Raymond, Earl of
Toulouse, and other persons of the highest distinction; and where
the bishops, either through humanity or indolence, allowed them
to form settlements, and multiply prodigiously from day to day.
They formed by degrees such a powerful party as rendered them
formidable to the Roman pontiffs, and menaced the papal
jurisdiction with a fatal overthrow. "The pontiffs,
therefore, considered themselves as obliged to have recourse to
new and extraordinary methods of defeating and subduing enemies
who, both by their number and rank, were every way proper to fill
them with terror." Innocent III devised such methods, and
executed such cruel measures against these worthy people, which
occasioned the greatest astonishment in all Europe. His bold
designs and achievements will come under consideration in our
next section. [Mosh. Hist., Cent. 13, p. 2, ch. 5, ~ 2, 3]
18. The opinion conveyed
by many writers is, that these dissenters in France originated
with Waldo; and even Robinson and Jones appear to admit, that the
Vaudois or Puritans in France were in a low state at the time
Waldo appeared as a teacher. Dr. Allix has shown with
Mosheim, that these French dissenters descended from the
Catharists and Vaudois; while their paucity in numbers, or
laxity, is rather difficult to reconcile with Bernard and other
writers’ statements, as to the desolation in the Catholic
church from Peter de Bruys, Henry and Arnold’s preaching,
which last terminated his labors, only twenty-three years before
Waldo appeared. The old Baptist interests no doubt were
resuscitated and increased with members, new ones to a great
extent were raised by Waldo and his worthy fellow-laborers; and
these old and new interests together became formidable to the
pontiff, and awakened their enemies to vigorous and barbarous
measures; consequently, from this period the Vaudois became more
known, and more prominent from their sufferings, and from
recorded events by the catholic writers.
_____________________________
APPENDIX TO SECTION VIII
We shall now record some of
those measures devised against the Anti-paedobaptists. "It
is very remarkable" says Dr. Allix, "that Egbert,
Alanus, Giraldus, and others, should accuse them of one custom,
as belonging to all, if a distinction could be made. [Ch. Pied.,
ch. 17, p. 155]
The voice and authority of
the pope was feeble in the early ages of Christianity; nor was
his power feared during the governments of the Goths and
Lombards; but at the expiration of their dynasties, his character
becomes apparent, and his pretensions are in some measure
acknowledged; but in this (12th) century, the kings of the earth
gave him their power, and the united power made war with the Lamb
and his saints.
In 1050, Leo IX commanded
that young children should be baptized, because of original sin.
[Danver’s Hist., p. 290]
In 1070, Gregory VII decreed,
that those children, (foundlings) whose parents are unknown,
should be baptized according to the tradition of the Fathers.
[Id. p. 297. Rob. Hist. Bap., p. 314]
In 1139, Peter de Bruys, and
Arnold of Brescia, were condemned by Innocent II in a Lateran
council, for rejecting infant baptism. [Wall’s Hist., pt. 2,
ch. 7, ~ 5, p. 242. Appendix to Section VIII 199]
In 1163, Alexander III, in a
synod, made a canon against the Albigenses, to damn that heresy,
that had so infected, as a canker, all those parts about
Gascogne. [Danver’s Hist., p. 299] "These
heretics," says Mezeray, "held almost the same
doctrines as the Calvinists, and were properly Henricians and
Vaudois." [Fr. Hist., p. 248. 40]
In a council held at Lombez,
in Gascogne, 1175, the good men of Lyons, or Albigenses, were
condemned; one reason assigned was, they held that infants are
not saved by baptism? [Jones’s Lect., v. ii., p. 240]
To suppress the heresy that
was strengthened by Waldo’s ministry, the pontiff sent a
cardinal and three bishops, in 1176, as commissioned inquisitors
against the believers--Lionists, Paterines, good men, &c.,
with a creed requiring all persons suspected of heresy, to
subscribe to its contents. One of its articles ran thus: "We
believe that none are saved, except they are baptized; and that
children are saved by baptism, and that baptism is to be
performed by a priest in the church." [Hovenden’s Ann.
fol. p. 319, 6] Many Albigenses, refusing the terms, were burnt
in different cities in the south of France. [Jones’s Hist.
of the Christian Church, v. ii., p. 21] The commissioners, on
examining those people, found them to deny the utility of infant
baptism. [Milner’s Ch. Hist., cent. 12, ch. 4]
In the same year, a Gallican
council was called to convict and condemn the Albigenses. In the
third canon, they were judged and condemned of heresy, for
denying baptism to children. [Danver’s Treat., p. 300]
In 1177, the kings of France
and England, from a desire to stop heresy, first resolved to
attack the Albigenses by military force, but afterward thought it
would be more prudent to send preachers first; accordingly, the
archbishops of Berry and Narbonne, with Reginald, bishop of Bath,
and others of figure, appeared among these people. These
preaching commissioners exacted an oath of the Catholics, that
they should give information of and against the Albigenses. Great
numbers were in consequence discovered; and, on being cited
before these bishops, a confession of the Catholic faith was
submitted to them, and they were required to swear to their
belief of it; but the Albigenses refused to swear or take any
oath. Consequently, the Albigenses, Paulicians, or Waldenses, in
Gascogne and Provence, were excommunicated; and all persons under
the fear of the pontiff were forbidden to entertain them in their
houses or country. The severity of this measure drove many into
other kingdoms, others were led to abjure their opinions, and the
rest the princes were requested to banish out of their dominions.
[Mezeray’s F. Hist., p. 250; Allix’s Albig., ch. 15;
Collier’s Ecc. Hist., v.i., b. 5, p. 389; Miln. Ch. Hist.,
C. 12, c. 4]
In 1178, Cardinal Chrysoginus
was sent as an inquisitor among the heretics about Toulouse, that
had evil sentiments about the sacraments. He called a synod the
same year, which was held at Toulouse, and the Albigenses were
condemned to expulsion. [Danver’s Hist., p. 300;
Jones’s Lect., v. ii., p. 240]
In 1179, Alexander III, in a
council, condemned and anathematized the Puritans about Gascogne,
Albi, and other parts of Toulouse, for denying baptism to
children: and Favin, in his history, confirms the testimony of
their Anti-paedobaptist views, by declaring that the Albigeois do
esteem the baptizing of children superstitious. [Danver’s
Hist., p. 301]
In 1181, Pope Lucius III held
his general council at Verone; at which the Albigensian sect and
heresy were damned, for teaching otherwise than the Church of
Rome about baptism.
In 1199, Innocent III, in
answer to a letter from the bishop of Aries, in Provence,
represented the heretics as teaching "that it was to no
purpose to baptize children, since they could not have
forgiveness thereby, as having no faith, charity," &c.
[Wall’s Hist. of Inf. Bap., pt. 2, ch. 7, S 5, p. 242]
Extracts of evidence taken from the acts of the inquisition of
Toulouse support these views of their denominational character.
[Allix’s Albig. Ch., ch. 18, p. 161. &c.]
These severe methods prove
anabaptists to have been a powerful body; and though these
measures disturbed their local establishment, yet they did not
impair the main body, since they remained sufficient to menace
the papacy with a fatal overthrow. There could be no propriety in
every synod, council, and assembly, making severe rules to
enforce baptism on infants, unless a considerable body of
Baptists existed, to thwart this vestige of the man of sin, which
rite "his holiness" evidently considered as a palladium
to his interest.
At the same time, it would be
difficult to trace the extent of those persons in the early ages
among the Albigenses, who held the truth unsophisticated;
[Allix’s Pied., Ch., c. 2] yet, amidst all the diversity of
names and opinions charged upon them, no early author records
infant baptism as practiced among them; indeed, every early
testimony charges them with the error of Anti-paedobaptism and
Ana-baptism.
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