the rock was Christ," &c. Some of them hold that this sacrament can only be celebrated by those that are good, others again by any that know the words of consecration. This sacrament they celebrate in their assemblies, repeating the words of the gospel at their table, and participating together, in imitation of Christ's supper. They say that a priest who is a sinner, cannot bind or loose any one, as being himself bound; and that any good and intelligent layman may absolve another, and impose penance. They reject extreme unction, declaring it to be rather a curse than a sacrament. Marriage, say they, is nothing else but sworn fornication, unless the parties live continently, and account any filthiness preferable to the conjugal rites. They praise continence indeed, but in the meantime give way to the satisfying of burning lust by any filthy means whatsoever, expounding that place of the apostle, "It is better to marry than to burn," thus: that it is better to satisfy one's lust by any filthy act, than to be tempted therewith in the heart. But this they conceal as much as possible,

• The meaning of this does not seem very obvious. The words in the original are, Quidam autem hoc dicunt tantum per bonos fieri, alii per omnes qui verba consecrationis sciunt; and the reason of the obscurity is, that, as I shall hereafter shew, they did not allow any but pastors to administer the eucharist.

There appears something like a consciousness about Reinerius, that in this monstrous accusation he was calumniating the Waldenses, for in the following words he qualifies the charge by describing them as not avowing it. The reader will presently see their sentiments on the subject of marriage, and be convinced of the foulness of this slander. I shall, therefore, at present, only quote from their own apology a short extract, in which they repel the charge of countenancing lasciviousness. "It was this vice," say they, "that led David to procure the death of his faithful servant, that he might enjoy his wife-and Ammon to defile lis sister Tamar. This vice consumes the estates of many, as it is said of the prodigal son, who wasted his substance in riotous living. Balaam made

that they may not be reproached therewith.

If any

honest woman among them that has the repute of chastity, is brought to bed of a child, they carefully conceal it, and send it abroad to be nursed, that it may not be known. They hold all oaths to be unlawful, and a mortal sin, yet they dispense with them when it is done to avoid death, lest they should betray their accomplices, or the secret of their infidelity. They hold it to be an unpardonable sin to betray an heretic, yea the very sin against the Holy Ghost. They say that malefactors ought not to be put to death by the secular power. Some of them hold it unlawful to kill brute animals, as fishes, or the like; but when they have a mind to eat them, they hang them over the fire or smoke till they die. Fleas and such sort of insects they shake off their clothes, or else dip their clothes in hot water, supposing them thus to be dead of themselves.* Thus they cheat their own consciences in this and other observances. From whence we may see, that having forsaken truth, they deceive themselves with their own false notions. According to them, there is no purgatory, and all that die, immediately pass either into heaven or hell. That therefore the prayers of the church for the dead are of no use, because those that are in heaven do not want them, nor can those that are in hell be relieved by them.

choice of this vice to provoke the children of Israel to sin, which occasioned the death of twenty-four thousand persons. This sin was the occasion of Sampson's losing his sight; it perverted Solomon, and many have perished through the beauty of a woman. The remedies for this sin are fasting, prayer, and keeping at a distance from it. Other vices may be subdued by fighting; in this we conquer by flight; of which we have an example in Joseph."-Perrin's Hist. ch. iv.

Many will think that Reinerius must have been at great loss for substantial grounds of accusation against the Waldenses, when he could condescend to enumerate such childish things as these.

And from thence they infer, that all offerings made for the dead are only of use to the clergymen that eat them, and not to the deceased, who are incapable of being profited by them. They hold, that the saints in heaven do not hear the prayers of the faithful, nor regard the honours which are done to them, because their bodies lie dead here beneath, and their spirits are at so great a distance from us in heaven, that they can neither hear our prayers nor see the honours which we pay them. They add, that the saints do not pray for us, and that therefore, we are not to entreat their intercession, because, being swallowed up with heavenly joy, they cannot attend to us, nor indeed to any thing else. Hence they deride all the festivals which we celebrate in honour of the saints, and all other instances of our veneration for them. Accordingly, wherever they can do it, they secretly work upon holy days, arguing, that since working is good, it cannot be evil to do that which is good on a holy day. They do not observe Lent, or other fasts of the church, alleging that God does not delight in the afflictions of his friends, as being able to save without them. Some heretics indeed afflict themselves with fasting, watchings, and the like, because without these they cannot obtain the reputation of being holy among the simple people, nor deceive them by their feigned hypocrisy. They do not receive the Old Testament, but the Gospel only, that they may not be overthrown by it, but rather be able to defend themselves therewith; pretending that upon the introduction of the gospel dispensation all old things were to be laid aside.* In like manner they select the choicest sayings and authorities of the holy fathers, such as Augustine, Jerome, Gregory,

This is precisely the charge which was brought against the cians; see note, vol. i. ch. iii. sect. 4. and the remarks there upon it.

VOL. II.

Chrysostom, and Isidore, that with them they may support their opinions, oppose others, or the more easily seduce the simple, by varnishing over their sacrilegious doctrine with the good sentences of the saints, at the same time very quietly passing over those parts of the writings of the holy fathers that oppose and confute their errors. Such as are teachable and eloquent among them, they instruct to get the words of the gospel, as well as the sayings of the apostles, and other holy men by heart, that they may be able to inform others, and draw in believers, beautifying their sect with the goodly words of the saints, that the things they persuade and recommend may pass for sound and wholesome doctrine; -thus by their soft speeches deceiving the hearts of the simple. And not only the men, but even their women also teach amongst them, because women have an easier access to those of their own sex, to pervert them, that afterwards, by their means, the men may be perverted also, as the serpent deceived Adam by means of Eve. They teach their disciples to speak in dark and obscure words, and instead of speaking truth, to endeavour to speak lies; that when they are asked about one thing, they might perversely answer about another, and thus craftily deceive their hearers, especially when they fear that by confessing the truth, they should discover their errors. In the same dissembling manner they frequent our churches, are present at divine service, offer at the altar, receive the sacramant, confess to the priests, ob

The reader must not understand the teaching here alluded to as referring to public teaching in the church, for the Waldenses permitted nothing of that kind in their females, and the Scriptures pointedly forbid it: but he refers to their mode of propagating their sentiments by conversation, and I shall have an opportunity of shewing, in a future section, from the writings of this same Reinerius, the very simple and striking manner in which they did this.

serve the church fasts, celebrate festivals, and receive the priest's blessing, reverently bowing their heads, though in the meantime they scoff at all these institutions of the church, looking upon them as profane and hurtful. They say it is sufficient for their salvation if they confess to God, and not to man."

Such is the view which Reinerius gave of the principles of the Waldenses, about eighty years subsequent to the times of Peter Waldo; and we must understand this description as applicable to one general class of Christians, scattered throughout the south of France, the vallies of the Pyrenean mountains, the vallies of Piedmont, and the country of the Milanese; though probably distinguished in different places by the different names of Puritans, or Catharists, Paterines, Arnoldists, Leonists, Albigenses, or Waldenses, the last of which ultimately became their more general appellation.* No doubt there were shades of differences in sentiment among them on points of minor importance, even as there are among Christians in the present day; and it is very certain that the catholic writers sometimes class under the general name of Waldenses or Albigenses, persons whose theological sentiments and religious practices were very opposite to those which were professed by the followers of Peter Waldo. "The practice of confound

"Nothing is so well known to the curious in these matters, as the following verses upon the Vaudois (Waldenses) in the year 1100

Que non vogli maudir ne jura, ne mentir,
N'occir, ne avoutrar, ne prenre de altrui,
Ne s'avengear deli suo ennemi,

Loz dison qu' es Vaudes & los feson morir,

Whosoever refuses to curse, to swear, to lie, to kill, to commit adultery, to steal, to be revenged of his enemy-they say he is a VAUDOIS, and therefore they put him to death."