is (6) fo candid and impartial, as to diftinguish between their real opinions, and thofe herefies which were falfly imputed to them by their enemies. 'Peter Valdo a wealthy citizen of Lyons about the year of Chrift 1170 gave name to the Waldenfes. He (as Guy de Perpignan, bishop of Elna in Roufillon, who exercifed the office of inquifitor againft the Valdenfes, hath left testi⚫fied in writing) leaving his house and goods, devoted ⚫ himself wholly to the profeffion of the gofpel, and took care to have the writings of the prophets and apostles • tranflated into the vulgar tongue-When now in a little time he had many followers about him, he sent them forth as his difciples into all parts to propagate the gofpel-Their fixed opinions were faid to be thefe: that the church of Rome, because the hath renounced ⚫ the true faith of Chrift, is the whore of Babylon, and ⚫ that barren tree, which Chrift himself hath curfed, and commanded to be rooted up; therefore we must by no means obey the pope, and the bifhops who cherish his errors that the monaftic life is the fink of the church, and an hellish inftitution; its vows are vain, and fubfervient only to the filthy love of boys: the orders of the prefbytery are the marks of the great beaft, which is mentioned in the Apocalyps: the fire of purgatory, the facrifice of the mafs, the feaft of the dedications of churches, the worfhip of faints, and propitiations for the dead, are inventions of Satan. To these the prin (6) Petrus Valdus locuples civis Lugdunenfis anno Chrifti circiter MCLXX Valdenfibus nomen dedit. Is (ut monumentis teftatum reliquit • Vidus Perpinianus præful Einenfis, , qui quæfitoris in Valdenfes munus exercuit) domo ac bonis relictis totum fe evangelicæ profeffioni devoverat, et prophetarum atque apoftolorum fcripta populari lingua vertenda curaverat— Cum jam multos fectatores exiguo tempore circa fe haberet, eos tanquam difcipulos ad evangelium promulgandum in omnes partes ablegat-Eorum hæc dogmata ferebantur; Ecclefiam Romanam, quoniam vere Chrifti fidei renunciaverit, Babylonicum meretrisem effe, et arborem illam fterilem, quam ipfe Chriftus diris devovit et revellendam effe precæpit; proinde minime parendum pontifici, et epifcopis, qui ejus errores fovent: monafticam vitam ecclefiæ fentinam ac Plutonium effe; vana illius vota, nec nifi fædis puerorum amoribus fervientia: prefbyterii ordines magnæ beftiæ, quæ in Apocalypfi commemoratur, notas effe: ignem purgatorium, folemne facrum, templorum encænia, cultum fan&torum, ac pro mortuis propitiato rium, Satanæ commenta effe. His præcipuis ac certis eorum doctrinæ capitibus alia afficta, de conjugio, rẻfurrectione, animæ ftatu poft mortem, et de cibis. Thuani Hift. Lib. 6. Sect. 16. Vol. 1. p. 221. Edit. Buckley. cipal and certain heads of their doctrin others were feigned and added, concering marriage, the refurrection, the state of the foul after death, and concerning meats.' Mezeray, the celebrated hiftoriographer of France, is thort, but full to our purpofe; for (7) he faith, that they had almoft the fame opinions as those who are now called Calvinifts.' It cannot be objected that this is proteftant evidence, for they were all three members of the church of Rome. In the thirteenth century, the Waldenfes and Albigenfes had fpread and prevailed fo far, and were prevailing ftill farther, that the pope thought it neceffary to exert his utmoft efforts to fupprefs them. For this purpose the first croifade was proclaimed of Chriftians againft Chriftians, and the office of inquifition was firft erected, the one to fubdue their bodies, the other to inflave their fouls. It is enough to make the blood run cold, to read of the horrid murders and devaftations of this time, how many of thefe poor innocent Chriftians were facrificed to the blind fury and malice of their enemies. It is (8) computed that in France alone were flain a million and what was the confequence of thefe fhocking barbarities? No writer can better inform us than (9) the wife and moderate hiftorian Thuanus. Against the Waldenfes (faith he) when exquifite pu' nifhments availed little, and the evil was exafperated by the remedy which had been unfeafonably applied, (7) avoient à peu prés les melines opinions que ceux qu'on nomme aujourd'huy Calviniftes. Abregé Chronol. Philippe Augufte. p. 657. Edit. Amfterdam. 1674. (8) Vide Mede in Apoc. p. 503. (9) Contra quos [Valdenfes] cum exquifita fupplicia parum proficerent, et remedio, quod intempeftive adhibitum fuerat, malum exacerbaretur, numerufque eorum in dies crefceret, jufti tandem exercitus confcripti funt: nec minoris molis bellum quam quod antea noftri adverfus Saracenos gefferant, contra eofdem decretum eft: cujus is exitus fuit, ut potius cæfi, fugati, bonis ac dignitatibus ubique VOL. II. fpoliati atque huc illuc diffipati fint, quam erroris convicti refipuerint. Itaque qui armis fe initio tutati fuerant, poftremo armis victi in Provinciam apud nos et Gallicæ di ionis Alpes vicinas confugerunt, latebrafque vitæ ac doctrinæ fuæ iis in locis repererunt. Pars in Calabriam conceffit, in eaque diu, atque adeo ufque ad Pii IV. pontificatum, fe continuit. Pars in Germaniam tranfiit, atque apud Bohemos, et in Polonia et Livonia, larem fixit. Alii ad occidentem verfi in Britannia perfugium habuerunt. Thuani Præfat. ad Henric IV. p. 7. Edit. Buckley, ' and their number increased daily, at length complete ' armies were raised: and a war of no lefs weight, than what our people had before waged against the Saracens, was decreed against them: the event of which was, that they were rather slain, put to flight, fpoiled every where of their goods and dignities, and difperfed here and there, than that convinced of their error they repented. So that they who at firft had defended 'themselves by arms, at last overcome by arms fled into Provence and the neighbouring Alps of the French territory, and found a fhelter for their life ' and doctrin in thofe places. Part withdrew into Calabria, and continued there a long while, even to the pontificate of Pius IV. Part paffed into Germany, and fixed their abode among the Bohe'mians, and in Poland and Livonia. Öthers turning to the weft obtained refuge in Britain.' But there were others in this age, who proceeded not fo far as the Waldenfes and Albigenfes, and yet oppofed the church of Rome in many refpects. At the beginning of this century (1) Almeric and his difciples were charged with feveral herecies, and were condemned by the fecond council of Paris in the year 1209. They might poffibly hold fome heterodox opinions; but their great offence was their denying the change of the subftance of the bread and wine in the eucharift, their oppofing the worship of faints images and relics, and their affirming that the pope was Antichrift, that Rome was Babylon, and that the prelates were the members and minifters of Antichrift: fo that these differed little from the Waldenfes and Albigenfes. William of St. Amour, a doctor of the Sorbonne, (2) wrote a treatise of the perils of the laft times, wherein he applied that prophecy of St. Paul, (2 Tim. III. 1.) This know also that in the laft days perilous times fhall come, to the mendicant orders and preachers of his time; and it was fo fevere a fatir upon the Dominicans, that pope Alexander IV. con (1) Dupin XIII. Siecle. Chap. 8. Spanhemii Hift. Chriftian Sæc. XIII. Cap. 9. Sect. 2. (2) Hift. Ecclefiaft. Magdeburg. Cent. XIII. Cap. 10. p. 588. Edit. demned demned it, as containing perverfe fentiments, contrary to the power and authority of the Roman pontiff and of the other bishops, and in fine as a book capable of caufing great fcandals and troubles in the church. Ro-. bert Grofthead or Greathead, bifhop of Lincoln, (3) in his fpeeches and writings inveighed bitterly against the corruption and fuperftition, the lewdnefs and wickednefs of the clergy in general, and the rapacity and avarice, the tyranny and antichriftianifm of pope Innocent IV. in particular. He was alfo no lefs a friend to (4) civil than to religious liberty, and ordered all the violators of Magna Charta, whofoever and wherefoever they were within his diocefe, to be excommunicated. Matthew Paris, a contemporary hiftorian, hath (5) related the fubftance of his dying difcourfes, wherein he proves the pope to be an heretic, and defervedly to be called Antichrift: and concludes with giving him the character of refuter of the pope, reprover of prelates, 'corrector of monks, director of priests, inftructor of the clergy, and in fhort the hammer to beat down the Romans and to bring them into contempt.' It is no marvel that fuch a man was excommunicated; but he (6) little regarded the cenfure, and appealed from the court of Innocent to the tribunal of Chrift. Not to mention others, Matthew Paris himself hath painted in the most lively colors the corruptions and abominations of the fee of Rome, the tyranny, fuperftition, fimony, and wickedness of the popes and clergy. A proteftant hiftorian could not more freely lafh and expofe the vices of the times, than he did who was a monk of St. Albans. As they are not all Ifrael which are of Ifrael; fo neither have all the members of the Romish church believed all her doctrins. Dante and Petrarch, the former of whom died, and the latter was born as well as died, in the (3) Vide Cent. Magdeburg. Balæum. Dupin. Cave. Tanner. &c. (4) Matt. Paris ad Ann. 1253. P. 874. Edit. Wats. 1646. director, clericorum inftructor-Romanorum malleus et contemptor. p. 876. (6) Excommunicatus appellavit a (5) Matt. Paris. ibid. Papæ re- curia Innocentii ad tribunal Chrifti, dargutor, prælatorum correptor, mo- Henr. de Knyghton. Lib. 2. inter nachorum corrector, prefbyterorum Scriptores X. p. 2436. S 2 fourteenth fourteenth century, where (7) fevere fatirifts upon the times, and wrote freely against the temporal dominion of the pope, and the corruptions of the clergy, treating Rome as Babylon, and the pope as Antichrift: and they probably did more hurt to the court and church of Rome by their wit and raillery, than others by invective and declamation. Peter Fitz Caffiodor, whether a fictitious or a real perfon, (8) addreffed a remonftrance to the church of England against the tyranny, avarice and exactions of the court of Rome, advifing and exhorting the English to thake off the Roman yoke from their necks. Michael Cæfenas and William Occam (9) expofed the various errors and herefies of John XXII to the number of 77; and fecure in the protection of the emperor, they fet at nought the thunder of the pope's excommunications. Marfilius, a famous lawyer of Padua, (1) wrote a treatife entitled the defender of peace, wherein he advanced the power of the emperor above. that of the pope in things fpiritual as well as temporal; painted in the ftrongeft colors the pride, ambition, and luxury of the court of Rome: and abundantly proved that the pope had not by divine right the least authority or præeminence over other bifhops. It is no wonder that the author and his book were condemned together. But there were other and better witneffes than thefe in this age. It was fhown before from Thuanus, that the Waldenfes and Albigenfes being perfecuted in their own country, fled for refuge into foreign nations, fome into Germany, and fome into Britain. In Germany they grew and multiplied fo faft, notwithstanding the rage and voilence of croifaders and inquifitors, that at the beginning of this century (2) it is computed, that there were eighty thoufand of them in Bohemia, Auftria, and the neighbouring territories: and they pertinaciously |