Chap. 1. verse 5. For this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting and or daine Elders in euery City as I haue appointed thee Thus you see how the Pastors of the Waldenses were chosen and maintained in their charge but to the end that their zeale may the better appeare we will insert in the Chapter following a letter which one of the said Pastors writ to one of their Churches by which it may easely appeare with how holy and sanctified affection they laboured to call the people to repentance and to instruct them in the faith CHAP. XI An Epistle of the Pastor Barthelmew Tertian written to the Waldensian Churches of Pragela Iesus be with you To all our faithfull and welbeloued brethren in Christ Iesus Health and saluation be with you all Amen THese are to aduertise and to aduise your brotherhood hereby acquitting my selfe of that dutie which I owe vnto you all in the behalfe of God principally touching the care of the saluation of your soules according to that light of the truth which the most high God hath bestowed on vs that it would please euery one of you to maintaine increase and nourish to the vtmost of your power without diminution those good beginnings and customes which haue bene left vnto vs by our ancestors whereof we are no way worthy For it would little profit vs to haue bene renewed by the fatherly instance and the light which hath bene giuen vs of God if we giue our selues to worldly diabolicall and carnall conuersations abandoning the principall which is God and the saluation of our soules for this short and temporall life For the Lord saith in his Gospell What doth it profit a man to gaine the whole world and to lose his owne soule For it should be better for vs neuer to haue knowne the way of righteousnesse then hauing knowne it to do the contrary For we shall be inexcusable and our condemnation the greater for there are greater and more grieuous torments prouided for those that haue most knowledge Let me therefore intreate you by the loue of God that you decrease not but rather increase that charitie feare and obedience which is due vnto God and to your selues amongst your selues and keepe all those good customes which you haue heard and vnderstood of God by our meanes and that you would remoue from amongst you all defaults and wants troubling the peace the loue the concord and whatsoeuer taketh from you the seruice of God your owne saluation and the administration of the truth if you desire that God should be mercifull vnto you in your goods temporall and spirituall For you can do nothing without him and if you desire to be heires of his glorie do that which he commandeth If you will enter into life keepe my commandements Likewise be carefull that there be not nourished amongst you any sports gluttony whoredome dancings nor any leudnesse or riot nor questions nor deceits nor vsury nor discords neither support or entertaine any persons that are of a wicked conuersation or that giue any scandall or ill example amongst you but let charitie and fidelitie reigne amongst you all good example doing to one another as euery one desires should be done vnto himselfe For otherwise it is not possible that any man should be saued or can haue the grace either of God or man in this world or glorie in another And it is necessarie that the conductors principally should haue a hand herein and such as rule and gouerne For when the head is sicke all the members are likewise ill affected And therefore if you hope and desire to possesse eternall life to liue in good esteeme and credit and to prosper in this world in your goods temporall and spirituall purge your selues from all disorderly waies to the end that God may be alwayes with you who neuer forsaketh those that trust in him But know this for a certaine that God heareth not nor dwelleth with sinners nor in the soule that is giuen vnto wickednesse nor in the man that is subiect vnto sin And therfore let euery one cleanse the wayes of his heart and flie the danger if he would not perish therein I haue no other thing to write at this present but that you would put in practise these things And the God of peace be with you all and accompanie vs in our true deuout and humble prayers that he will be pleased to saue all those his faithfull that trust in Christ Iesus Wholly yours Barthelmew Tertian readie to do you seruice in all things possible according vnto the will of God This Epistle of the Pastor Tertian giues vs assurance of that holy affection which they had to leade the people of God but the Confession of the faith of the Waldenses found in the bookes of those Pastors aboue mentioned shall shew vs more clearely how pure their beliefe hath bene and how farre from those heresies and errors that haue bene imputed vnto them And that therefore they haue bene very vniustly persecuted CHAP. XII The Confession of the faith of the Waldenses Article 1. Taken out of the booke intituled the Spirituall Almanack and from the Memorials of George Morel Art 2. WE beleeue do firmely hold all that which is contained in the twelue Articles of the Simbole which is called the Apostles creed and we account all that for heresie which agreeth not with the said twelue Articles We beleeue that there is one God the Father Sonne and holy Ghost We acknowledge for holy Canonicall Scripture the books of the Bible that is to say Art 3. the fiue books of Moses Genesis Exodus Leuiticus Numbers Deuteronomie The booke of Ioshua The Iudges Ruth 1. of Samuel 2. of Samuel 1. of Kings 2. of Kings 1. of the Chronicles 2. of the Chronicles 1. Esdras Nehemiah Ester Iob. The booke of Psalmes The Prouerbes of Salomon Ecclesiastes The song of Salomon The Prophesie of Isaiah The Pophesie of Ieremie The Lamentat of Ieremie Ezechiel Daniel Hosea Ioel. Amos. Obadiah Ionah Micah Nahum Habakuk Zephaniah Haggai Zachariah Malachi The Apocryphall bookes are these that follow which are not receiued of the Hebrewes but we reade them saith S. Hierome in his prologue to the Prouerbs for the instruction of the people not to confirme the authoritie of Ecclesiasticall doctrines that is to say The third booke of Esdras The fourth of Esdras Tobiah Iudith Wisedome Ecclesiasticus Baruch with the Epistle of Ieremiah Ester after the 10. chap. to the end The song of the 3. children The historie of Susanna The historie of the Dragon 1. Maccabees 2. Maccabees 3. Maccabees Here follow the bookes of the new Testament The Gospell according to S. Mathew Marke Luke Iohn The Acts of the Apostles The Epistle of S. Paul to the Romans The first to the Corinth The 2. to the Corinthians The Epistle to the Galat. The Epist to the Ephesians The Epistle to the
cleared from the calumnies contained in the former Chapter by those writings which they haue left THe Waldenses of Bohemia whether they were the remainder of that people that followed Valdo as some are of opinion that he ended his dayes in Bohemia after he had retired himselfe out of Germany and escaped the hands of the Bishops of Mayence and Strasburge or whether they were such persons as afterwards professed the same faith which the Waldenses did it is without all doubt that they were grieuously persecuted by king Ladislaus king of Hungary and Bohemia and we haue in our owne hands an Apologie of the said Waldenses which they sent vnto the king whom they called Lancelau to iustifie themselues against sundry complaints which were made against them by their aduersaries as also we haue a booke with this inscription Aiço es la causa del nostre despartiment de la Gleisa Romana That is to say Behold the cause of our separation from the Church of Rome And forasmuch as the answer to the first calumnie that is that they assembled themselues in darke corners where the candles being put out their aduersaries do affirme they committed villanons incests we haue copied out the answer of the said Apologie in their owne tearmes and language for the more certaintie and better edification This Apologie the author Iean Paul Perrin set downe in two columnes the one French the other in the language of the Waldenses which for breuity sake we set downe onely in English referring those vnto the French booke that desire to see the originall AMong other things say they they publish In the letter to king Ladislaus pa. 2. like angrie barking curres that it is a law and common amongst vs to say Yeeld thy selfe to whomsoeuer shal request thee and that we take our pleasures in darke caues and corners with whomsoeuer shall present themselues vnto vs whether they be our mothers or daughters or wiues or sisters How true this is it may appeare in that God hauing kept and preserued vs for aboue these forty yeares past it hath bene neuer knowne that there hath bene any whoredome amongst vs that hath escaped vnpunished or any such villanie committed In such sort that our liues and carriages condemne those that accuse vs. And for as much as the Waldenses speake this of themselues and to their owne praise and therefore this their iustification may seeme but weake looke a little into that which they haue written elsewhere against whordome which may suffice to shew that they were very far from this diabolicall affection to debase themselues by incests The sinne of luxury is very pleasing to the diuell Their booke of the remedie against the sinne of luxury Chap 21. displeasing vnto God and iniurious against our neighbours because therein a man obeyeth the basest part of his bodie rather then God who hath preserued it A foolish woman doth not onely take from a man his good but himselfe too He that is giuen to this vice keepes faith to no man and therefore Dauid caused his faithfull seruant to be slaine that he might enioy his wife Amon defiled his sister Tamar This vice cōsumes the heritage of many as it is said of the prodigall child that he wasted his goods liuing luxuriously Balaam made choise of this sinne to prouoke the children of Israel to sinne by occasion whereof there died twenty foure thousand persons This sinne was the cause of the blindnesse of Sampson it peruerted Salomon and many haue perished by the beautie of a woman Prayer and fasting and distance of place are the remedies against this sinne For a man may ouercome other vices by combating with them but in this a man is neuer victorious but by flying from it and not approching neare vnto it whereof we haue an example in Ioseph It is therefore our duties to pray daily to the Lord that he will keepe vs farre from the sinne of luxury and giue vs vnderstanding and chastitie See their book of Vertues in the Chapter of marriage Against the second imposture that they maintaine that a man may put away his wife when it pleaseth him they say that marriage is a knot that cannot be vntyed but by death except it be for fornication as our Sauiour Christ saith And Saint Paul 1. Corinth 7. saith That the wife is not to depart from her husband nor the husband from his wife See the booke of the Waldenses intituled of vertues in the Chapter of mariage To the third calumnie touching the communitie of goods and wiues they say concerning marriage that it was ordained by God long since in the terrestriall Paradise and that it is a good remedie against whoredome And that Saint Paul speaking thereof saith Let euery man haue his wife and euery woman her husband As also that the husband ought to loue his wife as Christ loued his Church and that the married couple ought to liue together in holinesse with their children bringing them vp in the feare of God As touching goods euery man hath possessed his owne proper substance at all times and in all places In Dauphiney It appeareth by the proces that we haue in our hands by which it appeares that Lewes the 12. of that name condemned the vsurpers of the goods of the Waldenses to a restitution It appeares by the treatises of Meneobe and other instances made by the Waldenses of Prouence when the Archbishops of Ambrun Iohn and Rostain had spoiled them of their goods when the Lord of Argentiere and Montainar and Arreas of Bonne had dispossessed the Waldenses that dwelt in the valley of Fraissimere and of Argentiere of their goods and possessions the restitution of euery mans inheritance was prosecuted by the particular persons from whom they had taken them The Waldenses of Prouence do demand at this present of the Pope the goods and lands which haue bene annexed to their demaine and taken from them by confiscation euery particular person making faith for euery part and parcell of goods and lands which had descended vpon them from their ancestors the Waldenses time out of mind they neuer hauing had any such communitie amongst them that might any way derogate from that lawfull proprietie which euery one had to his owne lands In the booke of the Waldenses intituled the Spiritual Almanacke fol. 45. The fourth calumnie was touching Baptisme which it is said they denied to little infants but from this imputation they quit themselues as followeth The time and place of those that are to be baptized is not ordained but the charitie and edification of the Church and congregation must serue for a rule therein c. And therefore they to whom the children were nearest allied brought their infants to be baptized as their parents or any other whom God had made charitable in that kind True it is that being constrained for some certaine hundred yeares to suffer their children to be baptized by the Priests of
hauing discouered the abuse which they brought into the Church they condemned them for heretickes and deliuered them to the secular power so they call their Magistrates Now this seemed vnto them a cruell simplicitie in the said Magistrates to giue faith to persons passionate and not indifferent such as the aforesaid Priests were and to put to death so many poore innocent people neuer hearing them or examining the cause The tenth calumnie was to make them odious to Kings and Princes that is to say that a lay man in the state of grace had greater authoritie then a Prince liuing in his sinnes Against this imposture they affirme In the booke of the causes of their separation frō the Church of Rome p. 41. that euery one must be subiect to those that are in authoritie obey them loue them be at peace with them honour them with double honour in subiection and obedience and readinesse paying vnto them that which is their due The eleuenth calumnie was grounded vpon that assertion of the Waldenses that the Pope had no authoritie ouer the Kings and Princes of the earth who depend immediatly vpon God alone For from thence they take occasion to call them Manichees as appointing two Princes Against this imputation they say In the booke of the treasure of faith art 2. We beleeue that the holy Trinitie hath created all things visible and inuisible and that he is Lord of things celestiall terrestiall and infernall as it is said in S. Iohn All things are made by him and without him nothing is made The beginning of this calumnie was taken out of the Extrauagantes of Pope Boniface 8. who subiecting the authoritie of Emperours vnto his saith of his owne Quicunque huic potestati resistit Dei ordinationi resistit nisi duo sicut Manichaeus fingat esse principia De Maiorit obedientia Can. Vnam sanctam l. 1. tom 8. The twelfth calumnie imports thus much that they held that whatsoeuer is done with a good intention is good and that euery one shall be saued in whatsoeuer is done with the said good intention To this imposture we need no other answer then that which the Monke Raynerius who was alwaies their back-friend saith elsewhere Rain lib. de forma haeretic art 38. that is that they maintaine that euery man is saued by his faith which he cals a Sect. It is very necessary that a lyer should haue a better memorie then to affirme things contradictorie And to shew that they made no profession of any such beleefe that may suffice that they haue said against Antichrist That he hath brought these errors into the Church vnder a colour of good intention and a shew of faith The thirteenth calumnie was that they maintaine that a man may kill or detaine from the Priests their tithes without scruple of conscience It is certaine that if the Waldenses had power to employ their tithes to some other vse then to the nourishment of those whom they find to be dumbe dogs drowsie watchmen slow bellies seducing and being seduced they had done it It appeareth by the processe against the Waldenses of Dauphiné by Albert de Capitaneis other Monkes Inquisitors but there was neuer any as yet that hath occasioned the least troubles that may be in that regard It well appeareth that in whatsoeuer depended on their owne wils they haue neuer offered more or lesse vnto those people taking no thought for their Masses and Trentals after their death the which the Priests complaine of and from thence take occasion to accuse them for heretickes And as touching reuenge heare what they say The Lord knowing that we shall be deliuered saith In the booke of the Waldenses intituled of Tribulations p. 274. Beware of men but he doth not teach or counsell any of his chosen to kill any but rather to loue their enemies When his disciples said vnto him in the ninth of S. Luke Wilt thou that we command that fire come downe from heauen and consume them Christ answered and said Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of Againe the Lord saith vnto Peter Put vp thy sword into thy sheath c. For temporall aduersities are to be contemned and patiently to be endured for there happeneth nothing therein that is new We are here the Lords floore to be beaten as the corne when it is separated from the chaffe The last calumnie of the Waldenses which we haue gathered out of the writings of their aduersaries is that which Claud. Rubis layes vpon them as a foule aspersion Claud. Rubis in his historie of Lions p. 269. in his Historie of the Citie of Lions That being retired vnto the Alpes at their departure from Lions they became like the rest of the people of that countrey beesome riders And he is not content to tie himselfe to the Vaudois onely but he addeth These are things that ordinarily follow one another Heresie and Sorcerie as it is verified saith he in our times in those Cities and Prouinces that haue giuen entertainment vnto heresie We will first iustifie the Waldenses and then answer Rubis in the behalfe of those Cities and Prouinces which he hath inclosed within this calumnie All they offend against the first Commandemēt say the Vaudois in the exposition of the first Commandement that beleeue that the Planets can enforce the will of man These kind of men as much as in them lies accompt the Planets as gods for they attribute vnto the creature that which belongs vnto the Creator Against which the Prophet Ieremie 10. speaketh Learne not the way of the heathen and be not dismayed at the signes of heauen for the heathen are dismayed at them And S. Paul in the fourth to the Galathians Ye obserue moneths and dayes and times and yeares but I am afraid of you lest I haue bestowed vpon you labour in vaine All they offend against this commandement that beleeue Sorcerers and Soothsayers for these men beleeue the diuels are gods The reason is because they aske of diuels that which God alone can giue that is to manifest things hidden and to foreshew the truth of things to come which is forbidden of God Leuit. 19.31 Regard not them that haue familiar spirits neither seeke after wizards to be defiled with them And in the 20.6 The soule that turneth after such as haue familiar spirits and after wizards to go a whoring after them I will set my face against that soule and will cut him off from amongst his people And in the last verse of that Chapter A man or woman that hath a familiar spirit or that is a wizard shall surely be put to death they shall stone them with stones their bloud shall be vpon them As touching the punishment of this sinne and the vengeance that God taketh vpon such a one we reade in the 2. Kings 1.3 that the Angell of the Lord sent vnto Elijah to meete the messengers of Ahaziah and to say vnto them
honoureth and serueth more then GOD that vnto him is God And therefore saith Saint Chrysostome vpon Mathew The euill to which a man is a seruant is to him a God So that if any man shall say I cannot know whether I loue more or lesse GOD or the thing God forbids mee to loue let him know that what a man loues least in a case of necessity is that which he is most willing to loose and that which he loues is that which he keepeth and preserueth As it is the manner of Merchants to doe if when they are in danger of drowning they willingly cast their Merchandize into the Sea to saue their liues they loue their liues better then their Merchandize So thinke thou with thy selfe that if vpon any occasion thou hadst rather loose thy temporall things or receiue any losse or hinderance in them as in thy Money thy Houses thy Cattell thy Wife thy Children yea thine owne body then commit any sinne by which thou must loose God then doubtlesse thou louest God more then all things aboue mentioned But contrarily if thou haddest rather sinne then loose these temporall things then certainly thou doest adore and serue these things more then God and thou art an Idolater And this doth our Sauiour affirme in the Gospell saying If any man come vnto me The rest touching this Commandement is before in the 1. Booke of the History of the Waldendes Chap. 4. and hateth not his Father and his Mother his Wife and Children his Brothers and Sisters yea and his owne soule hee cannot be my Disciple All such offend against this Commandement c. An Exposition of the 2. Commandement Tu ne te fer as image taillee c. Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any grauen Image c. THou shalt make thee no Image cut out of stone or wood or any other thing which may be cut into any figure or picture or in any other manner whatsoeuer that is in Heauen aboue as the Angels the Sunne the Moone the Starres nor in the Earth beneath as Men and other Creatures as the Aegyptians doe nor in the waters as the Fish For the Philistines serued Dagon which was an Idol which had a head like a Fish Nor vnder the Earth as the Diuels as they of Acheron who worshipped Beelzebub Thou shalt not worship them by doing them outward reuerence nor serue them with inward reuerence Neither shalt thou doe any worke that may tend to the honour and reuerence of them So hee manifestly forbiddeth to make any grauen Image of any thing to the end to serue and adore it And therefore it is wonderfull that there are some that frame vnto themselues Figures and Images and attribute vnto them by their ignorance and against the Commandement of God the honour and reuerence which belongeth to one onely God Obiect But there are some that say that Images are Lay-mens Bookes who not being able to reade in Bookes may see that vpon a wall which they cannot reade Answer To whom wee may answer that the Lord saith to his Disciples in the fift Chapter of Saint Matthew Ye are the salt of the Earth the light of the World For the life and conuersation of the Pastors ought to be the Booke of their Flockes And if a man should grant that they are Bookes yet they are false and ill written For if Lay-people shall take example by those Images and figures of the liues of Saints it is most certaine that it is impossible For the Virgin Mary was an example of humility pouerty and chastity and they adorne her Image rather with vestments of pride then humility So that the Lay-people doe not reade in their habits humility but pride and auarice if they conforme themselues to the said Bookes corrupted and ill written For the Priests and the people in these dayes are couetous proud and luxurious and therefore they cause their Images to be pictured like themselues And therefore saith Dauid Thou thinkest foolishly that I am like vnto thee Obiect But there are others that say We worship the visible Images in honour of the inuisible God Answer This is false For if wee will truly honour the Image of GOD by doing good vnto men we serue and honour the Image of GOD For the Image of GOD is in euery man but the resemblance or likenesse of God is not in all but onely in those where the thought is pure and the soule humble But if we will truly honour God wee giue place vnto the truth that is to say wee doe good vnto men that are made after the Image of God we doe honour vnto God when we giue meate to those that hunger drink to those that thirst cloath to those that are naked And therefore what honour doe wee giue vnto God when we serue him in a stock or a stone when we adore idle Figures without soules as if there were some diuinity in them and contemne man who is the true Image of God Saint Chrysostome vpon Mathew saith That the Image of God cannot be painted or pictured in gold but figured in man The Money of Caesar is gold but the money of God is man And therefore if the Iewes were commanded vnder the Law that they should destroy all the figures and Images and addict themselues to one onely God as it is written in the first Booke of the Kings But Samuel said to all the House of Israel If you turne vnto the Lord with all your heart and remoue from you all your strange Gods and keepe your heart vnto the Lord and serue him onely he will deliuer you from the hands of the Philistines Much lesse then ought Christians to depend vpon such signes and Images which the Iewes did not but they ought rather to lift vp their affections vnto Christ who sitteth at the right hand of God An Exposition of the 3. Commandement Tu ne prendr as point le nom du Seigneur ton Dieu en vain c. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine c. IN this Commandement we are forbidden to sweare falsly vainely and by custome as it is written Leuit. 19. The man that is accustomed to sweare shall bee filled with iniquity and the plague shall not depart from his house An oath confesseth God to know the truth and it is to confirme a thing doubtfull for an oath is an act of Gods seruice and therefore they that sweare by the Elements doe sinne This is the reason why Christ Iesus forbiddeth vs to sweare by any thing neither by the heauen nor by the earth or any thing else but that our speech bee Yea yea and No no and whatsoeuer is otherwise is sinne And Saint Iames in the fift Chapter of his Epistle saith Aboue all things my brethren sweare not neither by heauen neither by the earth neither by any other oath lest ye fall into condemnation An Exposition of the 4. Commandement Souuienne toy du iour
is contrary vnto it and the wicked haue nothing in esteeme but what is conformable to their vitious humour If the quippes of the wicked should haue bene an hinderance to the seruice we owe vnto God and to his Church we had giuen ouer this historie before we had written three lines thereof for it hath bene snarled at by diuers vpon the first bruit thereof what then may we thinke they will do when they shall see that they neuer thought we could so truly haue maintained Doubtlesse passion will extort from malignant mindes the suggestions of the malignant in counterchange whereof hauing aduertised thee gentle Reader that in the first page and inscription of this historie thou hast the name the diuision the intention the fruite and the end in a few lines I will pray to the eternall God for those that wrong vs that he would be pleased to make them know the truth and giue vnto vs whom he hath placed and planted in his house after the conflicts of this life that portion which he hath reserned in heauen by his welbeloued Sonne our Lord Iesus Christ to whom be all honour glory and power for euer and euer Amen The names of those Authors cited in this historie that haue bene aduersaries to the Waldenses Albert de Capitaneis Archdeacon of Cremona in his historie of the Waldenses and their originall Alphonsus de Castro B Baronius in his Annals Saint Bernard Bellarmin Bernard de Girard Lord of Haillan Bodin C Carpentras his Boniour Claudius Rubis in his historie of Lion Claudius Seissel The Councell of Latran The Councell of Vaur The Councell of Mompelier The Councell of Thoulouse The Councell of Vienna The Councell of Lion Constitutions of the Emperour Fredericke Barbarossa Constitutions of king Roger. Constitutions of Pope Alexander the third Constitutions of Pope Innocent the third Constitutions of Pope Honorius Constitutions of Pope Gregorie the ninth Constitutions of Pope Alexander the fourth Constitutions of Pope Clement the fourth D Dubrauius E Eccius G Gaspard Bruschius Gualter Monke a Iesuite Guichardin Guido de Perpignan Godefredus Monachus H Hosius History of Languedoc I Iaques de Riberia Iohn Bale Iohn Vuier Iohn le Maire K Krantzius L Lindanus Letters of Pope Iohn 22. Lewis 12. king of France M The Martyrologe Mathew Paris Memorials of the Archbishop of Ambrun Rostain N Noguiers P Paul Languis Paulus Aemylius Platina Peter of the valleys Sernay a Monke Peres Library R Rayncrius S The Sea of histories Sigonius Simon Deuoion Statutes of Lewis 9. Statutes of the Earle Remond the last Earle of Thoulouze T Du Thou Thomas Walden Treasury of the histories of France V Vesembecius The names of those Authors cited in this historie that haue made profession of Reformation A Aldegonde B Bullinger C A Catalogue of the witnesses of truth Chassagnon Constans vpon the Reuela E Esrom Rudiger H History of the Martyrs of our times Historie of the estate of the Church Historie of the Churches of France Holagaray his historie of Foix. I The Inuentory of Serres Ioachim Camerarius L Lauatter Lewis Camerarius Luther M Memorials of Hanibal Oliuier Vignaux Georg Morel P La Papoliniere R A Reuiew of the Councell of Trent T Theodor Beza V Viret Vignier in his Historicall Librarie THE HISTORIE OF THE WALDENSES COMMONLY CALLED IN ENGLAND LOLLARDS The first Booke CHAP. I. That God in all times hath raised vp labourers for the gathering together of his Saints At what time Valdo began to teach and with what fruite what he was and all they that from his name are called Waldenses GOD hath neuer left himselfe without witnesses but from time to time he raiseth vp instruments to publish his grace enriching them with necessarie gifts for the edification of his Church giuing them his holy Spirit for their guide and his truth for a rule to the end they may discerne the Church which began in Abel from that which began in Caine As also teaching them to define the Church by the faith and the faith by the Scriptures strengthening them in the middest of their greatest persecutions and making them to know that the crosse is profitable so long as the faithfull change by that meanes earth for heauen and the children of God are not lost when being massacred and cast into the fire by a course of iustice we may find in their bloud and ashes the seed of the Church That which hath bene obserued in all ages hath after a more particular manner appeared amongst those Christians that are called Waldenses who were raised in a time when Satan held men in ignorance hauing wrapt the greatest part of those that call themselues Christians in that great sinne of the world I meane Idolatrie Kings and Princes imploying their authoritie for the establishment thereof appointing all those to the slaughter that would exempt themselues from the wounds due vnto Idolaters This was about the yeare of our Lord a thousand one hundred and threescore at what time the punishment of death was inflicted vpon all those that did not beleeue that the words of consecration being pronounced by the Priest the body of our Lord Iesus Christ was in the Hoste vnder the accidents of the bread the roundnesse and whitenesse yea the very bodie as great and as large as it was vpon the crosse the bread vanishing and being transsubstantiated into the flesh of Christ At what time it was likewise enioyned to adore the Hoste to crouch vnto it to bow the knees before it yea it was called God and men did beate their breasts before it and locked it vp in a boxe to worship it as they still vse euen at this day This doctrine being altogether vnknowne to the Apostles who neuer spake word of any such mysterie as also in the Primitiue Church wherein there was neuer any Doctor that taught this expiatorie sacrifice for the liuing and for the dead occasioned many Christians to enter into a detestation thereof chusing rather to suffer a temporall death by resisting such Idolatrie then by consenting thereunto to suffer in hell Guido de Perignan in the flower of Chronicles Peter Valdo a citizen of Lions shewed himselfe most couragious in the opposition of this inuention taxing therewithall diuerse other corruptions which with time crept into the Church of Rome affirming that she had lost the faith of Iesus Christ that she was that whore of Babylon that barren fig-tree which our Sauiour had long before cursed That we were not to obey the Pope in as much as he was not the head of the Church That Monkerie was a stinking carrion and the marke of the Beast That Purgatorie Masses dedication of Temples worshipping of Saints commemoration of the dead were no other then the inuentions of the diuell and the snares of Auarice Valdo was so much the more attentiuely hearkned vnto See the Sea of Histories fol. 203. Claud. Rubis in his historie of the Cine of Lions p. 269. because he was in high esteeme
very ancient whereof the title is Aeyço es la causa del nostre dispartimēt de la Gleisa Romana That is to say This is the cause of our separation from the Church of Rome In this volume there is an Epistle or Apologie of the Waldenses entituled La Epistola al Serenissimo Rey Lancelau a li Ducs Barons a li plus veil del regne lo petit tropel de li Christians appella per fals nom falsamente P. O. V. that is to say Poore or Waldenses There is also a booke wherein there are many Sermons of their Barbes and an Epistle called The Epistle to our friends containing many excellent doctrines to teach all sorts of people how to leade their liues in all ages In the same volume there is a booke entituled Sacerdotium wherein is shewed what is the charge of a good Pastor and what the punishment of a wicked There is also come to our hands a booke of poetry in the Waldensian tongue wherein are these Treatises following A prayer entituled New comfort A rithme of the foure sorts of seeds mentioned in the Gospell Another entituled Barque And one called The noble lesson In his first Table p. 153. of which book Le Sieur de Saint Aldegonde makes mention We haue also an excellent Treatise entituled Vergier de consolation containing many good instructions confirmed by the Scriptures and diuers authorities of the Ancients Also an old Treatise in parchment entituled Of the Church and another called The Treasurie and light of faith Also a booke entituled The spirituall Almanacke Also a booke in parchment Of the meanes to separate things precious from the base contemptible that is to say vertues from vices Also the booke of George Morel wherein are contained all the questions which George Morel and Peter Massçon moued to Oecolampadius and Bucer touching religion and the answers of the said parties THE SECOND BOOKE OF THE HISTORY OF THE WALDENSES Containing that which is come to our knowledge of the grieuous persecutions which they haue endured for their Faith for the space of more then foure hundred and fifty yeeres CHAP. I. By whom the Waldenses haue been persecuted for what by what meanes and in what times THE Waldenses haue had no greater enemies then the Popes Rainerius of the Waldenses because saith the Monk Rainerius that amongst all those that haue raised themselues against the Church of Rome the Waldenses haue been alwaies the most dangerous and pernicious insomuch that they haue resisted him for a long time as also because this Sect saith he is more generall for there is not almost any Country in which it hath not taken footing And thirdly because all other by their blasphemies against God strike a horror into mens hearts But this on the contrary hath a great appearance of piety for they carry themselues vprightly before men and beleeue rightly touching God in all things holding all the Articles that are contained in the Simbole hating and reuiling the Church of Rome and therein saith he they are easily beleeued of the people And in another place the said Rainerius saith Rainer cap. de studio peruertendi alios mode decendi fol. 98. that the first lesson that the Waldenses giue to those whom they winne to their Sect is this that they teach them what the Disciples of Christ ought to be and that by the words of the Gospell and the Apostles affirming that they onely are the Successors of the Apostles that immitate their life Inferring thereby saith hee that the Pope the Bishoppes and Clergy that possesse and inioy the riches of this world and seek after them follow not the examples of the Apostles and therefore are not the true guides of the Church it neuer being the purpose of Christ Iesus to commit his chaste and beloued spouse to those who rather prostitute her by their ill examples and wicked actions then preserue her in that purity wherein they receiued her at the beginning a virgin chaste and without spot In hatred therefore of diuers discourses which the Waldenses haue written against the luxury auarice pride and errors brought in by the Pope they haue alwaies persecuted them to the death The meanes they haue vsed vtterly to exterminate them haue been in the first place their thunderbolts curses cannons constitutions decrees and whatsoeuer else might make them odious to the Kings Princes and people of the earth giuing them ouer asmuch as lies in their power vnto Satan interdicting them all communion and society with those that obey their lawes iudging them vnworthy and vncapable of any charges honours profits or to inherit or to make willes or to beburied in common church-yards confiscating their goods dis-inheriting their heires and where they could by any meanes apprehend them they haue condemned them to be deliuered to the secular power their houses to be razed their lands and moueables confiscated or giuen to the first conquerour And of all these sentences we haue at this day the scedule giuen by the Popes These sentences are to bee seen in the manuel of the Inquisitors with the letters of Pope Alexander the thirteenth of diuers other Popes which succeeded him with the instruments which they haue imployed to such executions as also of the commands which they haue giuen vnto Kings Princes Magistrates Consuls and People to make an exact inquisition to shut the gates of the Citty to craue the assistance and best helpe of the people to ring the Tol-bell to arme themselues and if otherwise they cannot be apprehended to kill them and to vse all manner of violence which they shall see needfull in such a case Giuing to the accusers the third part or some other portion of that which shall bee confiscated all councellors and fauourers of them being condemned to the same punishment And forasmuch as no Prince or Magistrate or any other had any power to frame a proces against any in the fact of pretended heresie commandement was giuen to the Bishops euery one in his iurisdiction to make an inquiry into their flockes and take notice how euery particular person was affected to the ordinances of the Popes and the Church of Rome So when Waldo began to complaine and to cry out against the corruptions of the said Church of Rome Alexander the third then Pope enioyned the Archbishop of Lion to proceed against him and forasmuch as the said Prelate did not banish him according and as soon as he desired This Councel was held at Latran 1180. See the 27. Chap. he speedily assembled a Councell where he excommunicated Waldo and all those that followed his doctrine though it were vnder other names But this meanes was thought to be too easie for so pressing an action as this of the Waldenses was who ceased not for all those thunderbolts to preach that the Pope was Antichrist the Masse an abomination the Hoste an idoll and Purgatory a fable Points that being receiued were sufficient to
and that not so as that it should not bee sufficient but in such a maner as that there should not remaine therein any vncleannesse but that it should bee a glorious Church in such sort that there should bee therein neither spot nor wrinckle nor any such thing but that it should bee holy and vndefiled And this testimony of washing the Spouse of Christ in his Blood is not onely currant heere vpon earth but in heauen too by those that haue obtained the actuall washing of whom it is said in the Reuelation Chap. 7. These are they which came out of great tribulation and haue washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lambe Therefore are they before the Throne of God and serue him day and night Thus you see how many purgings may be gathered out of the Scriptures to prooue that they that trauell in this life are heere purged of their sinnes In the third place we thinke it a great deale the surer way that euery man doe so liue in this present world that hee may haue no need afterwards of any purgation For it is a great deale better to doe good in this present life then afterwards to hope for an vncertaine helpe And it is a surer course that what good a man hopes shall be done vnto him by others after his death he doe it himselfe whilst he liueth being a more happy thing to depart a free-man then to seeke his liberty after he is bound Moreouer besides that which hath beene hitherto spoken we say that there is no place in Scripture to be found nor amongst the Doctours grounded vpon the Scriptures that doth make good vnto vs that the faithfull are any way bound by any necessity to beleeue or publikely to confesse as an Article of their faith that there is any such place as Purgatory after this life wherein after the ascension of Christ into Heauen the soules especially of those that shall be saued not hauing satisfied in this life for their sinnes endure sensible paines when they are departed of their bodies and thereby are purged of which soules some depart out of Purgatory sooner some later then others and some a little before others at the day of Iudgement And first as touching the Scriptures no man can prooue it by them For it is manifest that if a man shall reade the whole Law he shall neuer finde therein any one place of Scripture that bindeth a Christian necessarily to beleeue as an Article of his faith that there is after this life any place called Purgatory as some doe affirme And there is no place in the whole Volume of the Booke of God which doth so much as name it neither was there euer any soule found that hath entred the same Purgatory and came out againe There is no man bound therefore to beleeue it or to hold it to be an Article of our faith For confirmation heereof Saint Augustine in his Booke intituled A thousand words writes thus We beleeue according to the Catholike faith and diuine authority that the Kingdome of heauen is the first place wherein Baptisme is receiued The second is that wherein such as are excommunicates and strangers to the Faith of Christ endure euerlasting torments As for a third place we are altogether ignorant of any neither doe wee finde it in the Scriptures The same Saint Augustine in the same place vpon these words They shall not inherite the kingdome of God writeth thus O my brethren let no man deceiue himselfe for there are onely two places and a third is not to be found For hee that deserueth not to reigne with Christ shall without all doubt perish with the deuill And to this purpose Saint Chrysostome writing vpon those words in the 12. by Saint Matthew The Kingdome of heauen is like vnto a man that is an housholder saith thus The man that is the father of the family is Christ vnto whom heauen and earth are as a house but his families are celestiall and terrestriall for whom he buildeth a house with three Chambers that is hell heauen and earth The Combatants are they that dwell vpon the earth the vanquished in hell and the Conquerours in heauen Let vs saith hee that are in the middle roome take heed wee descend not to those that are in hell but rather mount vpward to those that are in heauen By these authorities you may plainely see that there are onely two certaine places after the ascension of Christ into heauen into which the soules departed out of their bodies doe goe and that there is no third place neither can it be found in the Scriptures And therefore forasmuch as in the whole Law of God there is no expresse mention of any such place as Purgatory is and the Apostles haue giuen vs no instructions touching the same and the Primatiue Church gouerned by the Apostles according to the Gospell haue left vs no Ordinances or Commandements but that Pope Pelagius fiue hundred fiftie eight yeeres after Christ did ordayne as wee may reade that the dead should bee remembred in the Masse it followeth that since there is no expresse proofe thereof in the Law of God there is no necessity to beleeue the sayd Purgatory as an Article of our faith or that there is any such place after this life But heere is matter of doubt because men in these dayes are strangely affected to the helpe and ayde of the dead notwithstanding that in all the Scripture there be nothing expresly taught except in the Booke of Macchabees which is no part of the Old Testament nor Canonicall And that neither Christ nor the Prophets nor the Apostles nor the Saints neere their time haue euer taught to pray for the dead but haue rather carefully taught that the people that liue vnblameably shall bee Saints And therefore answering to the doubt aboue-mentioned wee say that the principall cause of this doting affection proceedeth from the deceit and trumperies and auarice of the Priests who haue not taught the people as the Prophets of Christ nor as his Apostles to liue well but to offer much and to place their hope of deliuerance and happinesse in Purgatory CHAP. III. Of the Inuocation of Saints WEe are now to speake of prayer vnto Saints which certaine great Masters with their followers preach vnto the people extolling and publishing it with great diligence as an Article of their Faith affirming that the Saints that are in their celestiall Countrey are to be prayed vnto by vs in the selfe same manner as the Priests were accustomed to doe and other of the people by their instruction enioyning them many other things as helpes to their Inuocation By which Inuocation authorization and magnification the people carnally erroneously beleeue it Imagining that as it is the manner and practice before earthly Kings when they are angry that such as are not in choller should intercede for them and pacifie their anger so the people thinke it is so with God