CHAP. 1. As Waldo grew more acquainted with the Scriptures he discovered, that the general practice of nominal Christians was totally abhorrent from the doctrines of the New Testament: and in particular, that a number of customs, which all the world regarded with reverence, had not only no foundation in the divine oracles, but were even condemned by them. Inflamed with equal zeal and charity, he boldly condemned the reigning vices, and the arrogance of the pope. He did more: as he himself grew in the knowledge of the true faith and love of Christ, he taught his neighbours the principles of practical godliness, and encouraged them to seek salvation by Jesus Christ. John De Beles Mayons, the archbishop of Lyons, could not but be sensible of the tendency of these proceedings, and being jealous of the honour of the corrupt system, of which he was a distinguished member, he forbad the new reformer to teach any more, on pain of excommunication, and of being proceeded against as an heretic. Waldo replied, that though he was a layman, yet he could not be silent in a matter which concerned the salvation of men. On this reply, the archbishop endeavoured to apprehend him. But the great affection of Waldo's friends, the influence of his relations, who were men of rank, the universal regard paid to his probity and piety, and the conviction which, no doubt, many felt, that the extraordinary circumstances of the times justified his assumption of the pastoral character *, all these things operated so strongly in his favour, If Waldo's friends reasoned aright in this, as I am inclined to think they did, arguing from the necessity of the case, and the strength of that divine aphorism, "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice," let not, however, such extraordinary cases give a sanctiou to many self-created teachers, who disturb rather than strengthen the hands of faithful pastors by their irregular proceedings, See Butler's Analogy, p. 232. Oct. Edit. that he lived concealed at Lyons for the space of CENT. three years. Among other scriptural discoveries, the evils of the popedom struck the mind of Waldo; and Pope Alexander III. having heard of his proceedings, anathematized the reformer and his adherents, and commanded the archbishop to proceed against them with the utmost rigour. Waldo could no longer remain in Lyons. He escaped; his disciples followed him; and hence a dispersion took place, similar to that which arose in the primitive Church on occasion of the persecution of Stephen. The effects were also similar: the doctrine of Waldo was hence more widely disseminated through Europe. He himself retired into Dauphiny, where his tenets took a deep and lasting root. Some of his people did probably join themselves to the Vaudois of, Piedmont, and the new translation of the Bible was, doubtless, a rich accession to the spiritual treasures of that people. Waldo himself, however, seems never to have been, among them. Persecuted from place to place, he retired into Picardy. Success still attended his labours; and the doctrines which he preached appear to have so harmonized with those of the Vaudois, that with reason they and his people were henceforward considered as the same. To support and encourage the Church of Christ formed no part of the glory of the greatest and wisest princes of that age. The barbarous conduct of our Henry II. has been already noticed; and Philip Augustus, one of the most prudent and saga-' cious princes whom France ever saw, was no lessenslaved by the "god of this world." He took up arms against the Waldenses of Picardy, pulled down three hundred houses of the gentlemen who supported their party, destroyed some walled towns, XIII. CHAP. and drove the inhabitants into Flanders. I, Waldo dies Not con tent with this, he pursued them thither, and caused many of them to be burned. From the account of a very authentic French in Bohemia. historian*, it appears, that Waldo fled into GerA. D. many, and at last settled in Bohemia. There he 1179. ended his days in the year 1179, or before that time . It is evident, from good records, that the Thuan. Hist. sui temp. 457. The account which Mosheim has given us of the Waldenses, is so very different from mine, that it may seem proper that I should assign the reasons, why I presume to differ from so learned an historian in matters of fact. 1st. I have adduced ample testimonies, and the reader, who will consult Dr. Allix, may see more, to prove, that these persons existed before the time of Peter Waldo, and consequently, that he was not, as Mosheim asserts, the proper parent and founder of the sect. 2d. That his account of their insisting on the necessity of the poverty and manual labours of their pas tors is a mistake, will appear from their own declarations in the next chapter. 3d. So far was Waldo from being the founder of the Churches of the Vallies, that it does not appear that he ever was in Piedmont at all. 4th. Mosheim asserts, that he assumed the pastoral function in 1180, but it is evident from Thuanus, that he died before that æra. On the whole, the information of Mosheim concerning this people seems very scanty, confused, and erroneous. See Mosheim, Vol. I. p. 615. but he turned many to righteousness, and shall shine as the stars for ever and ever *. The word of God grew and multiplied in the places where he had planted, and even in still more distant regions. In Alsace and along the Rhine the Gospel was preached with a powerful effusion of the Holy Spirit; persecutions ensued, and thirty-five citizens of Mentz were burned at one fire in the city of Bingen, and at Mentz eighteen. The bishop of Mentz was very active in these persecutions, and the bishop of Strasburg was not inferior to him in vindictive zeal; for, through his means, eighty persons were burned at Strasburg. Every thing relating to the Waldenses resembled the scenes of the primitive Church. Numbers died praising God, and in confident assurance of a blessed resurrection; whence the blood of the martyrs again became the seed of the Church; and in Bulgaria, Croatia, Dalmatia, and Hungary, churches were planted, which flourished in the thirteenth century, governed by Bartholomew, a native of Carcassone, a city not far distant from Toulouse, which might be called in those days the metropolis of the Waldenses, on account of the numbers who there professed evangelical truth t. In Bohemia and in the country of Passaw, it has been computed that there were eighty thousand in the former part of the fourteenth century. Almost throughout Europe Waldenses were to be found; and yet they were treated as the off-scouring of the earth, and as people against whom all the power and wisdom of the world were united. But "the witnesses continued to prophesy in sackcloth t," and souls were built up in the faith, the hope, and the charity of the Gospel; and here was the faith and patience of the Saints. * Daniel xii. 3. + Matthew Paris, in his hist, of Henry III. Ann. 1223. Revelat. xi. 3. CENT. XIII. CHAP. 11. CHA P. II. THE REAL CHARACTER OF THE WALDENSES. BUT we are justly called on, in this place, to vin- Nothing can exceed the calumnies of their ad- |