In giving an account of the doctrinal sentiments and religious practices of this people, we must principally depend upon the testimonies of their adversaries of the Romish church, and their own apologies, reasonings, and confessions, some of which have been handed down to us through the records of the Inquisition,[18] and by the historians of that period. Of these, Reineirus Saccho is the most celebrated. He had been for seventeen years, in the earlier part of his life, in connexion with the Waldenses, but apostatized from their profession, and joined the Catholic church, in which he was raised to the eminence of chief Inquisitor, and became the bitterest persecutor of his former friends. He was deputed by the pope to reside in Lombardy, at that time the headquarters of the Pasaginians, and about 1250, published a book, in which the errors of the Waldenses were all summed up under three-and-thirty distinct heads.[19]

To attempt any exposition of all these points would far exceed my limits, I shall therefore confine myself to what he says in reference to that particular doctrine by which they were allied to us. "They hold," says he, "that none of the ordinances of the church, which have been introduced since Christ's Ascension,[20] ought to be observed, as being of no value."

"The feasts,[21] fasts, orders, blessings, offices of the church, and the like, they utterly reject."

In the sketch which Reineirus furnishes of the doctrines of the Waldenses, there is not the slightest allusion to any erroneous opinions regarding the doctrines and principles of the gospel; and this silence on his part is a noble testimony to the soundness of their creed. He had himself been among them, was a man of talents and learning, and intimately acquainted with all their doctrinal sentiments; and, having apostatized from their faith, and become their bitterest enemy and persecutor, no one will suppose that he wanted the inclination to bring against them any accusation, which bore the least similitude to the truth. The errors of which he accuses them, are such as no Seventh-day Baptist of the present day would shrink from the charge of holding, since they all, in one way or other, resolve themselves into the unfounded claims of the ecclesiastical order, or the substitution for doctrines of the commandments of men.

In the twelfth century, a colony of the persecuted Waldenses obtained permission to settle at Saltz, on the river Eger.[22] They are represented as working upon, and despising, the holydays of the church.[23] Another eminent Bohemian author, in giving an account of the Waldenses of that country, observes, "Moreover they say that of six days, one day is as good as another, but as God had enjoined rest upon the seventh, mankind were bound to its observance."[24]

An inquisitor of the Church of Rome, who declares that he had exact knowledge of the Waldenses, at whose trials he had assisted many times, and in different countries, expressly says "that they contemn all ecclesiastical customs which they do not read of in the Gospel; such as the observation of Candlemas, Palm Sunday, the adoration of the cross on Good Friday, and the reconciliation of penitents. They despise the feast of Easter, and all the festivals of Christ and the saints,[25] and say that one day is as good as another, working on holydays when they can do so without being taken notice of."

The same testimony is borne of them by Eneas Sylvius, who ascended the pontifical chair with the title of Pope Pius II. Indeed, of all the multitude of Catholic authors of eminence, who have mentioned this people, every one bears testimony to this peculiarity in their doctrinal sentiments and religious practices. At a later period, and among more modern writers, we have every reason to believe that this feature of their faith has been purposely disguised. Nevertheless the candour of some has led them to make very important concessions upon this point. Mosheim expressly declares that the Pasaginians observed the Jewish Sabbath. Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, says, "I conceive that the old Waldenses, who rejected all the festivals of the church, and went back to the original Sabbath, were much more consistent with themselves, than these gentlemen, the modern Protestants, who, though they discard all the others, still retain the Dominical day."

But, lest I weary my readers by a multiplication of testimonies, I shall add but one more quotation, which contains a concession that, coming from the quarter and at the time it does, I consider important. Mr. Benedict, in his History of the Baptists, says, that during the progress of his historical inquiries, he has met with many facts, where it seemed as if the heretics, so called, were unsound on the doctrine of the Sabbath, as established by law; but, he goes on, it is not certain that all whom the ancient inquisitors accused of being Sabbath-breakers, would come under the head of Sabbatarians.[26]

It appears to me morally certain that the Seventh-day Baptists may trace through the Waldenses, at least that portion of them who were never united to the Church of Rome, an uninterrupted succession to the apostolic age. Indeed, of all the multitude of writers who have treated of this people, all, without exception, are unanimous in declaring that they rejected all the feasts and festivals of the church, as well as infant baptism, and would not observe any ordinance which they did not read of in Scripture. Others, especially the ancient Catholics, accuse them of Judaism, because, according to their testimony, they kept the Jewish Sabbath. The Council of Lombez derided the Good Men of Lyons as Sabbatharians. They were condemned by the Lateran Council of 1139 for refusing to observe the festivals of the church,[27] and the same accusation was brought against them in canons, synods, chronicles, conferences, decrees, sermons, homilies, bulls, confessions, creeds, liturgies, &c. It is hardly possible that all this concurrent testimony, published at different times and in different countries, could have been fabricated. It is barely possible that such men as Evervinus, of Steinfield; Peter, Abbot of Clugny; Ecbertus Schonangiensis, a very celebrated author in his day; Ermengendus, a ruler both spiritual and temporal; Alexander III., in council; Alanus Magnus; Izam, the troubadour, and an inquisitor; Favin, Mazeray, Reineirus Saccho, etc., could have been mistaken upon this point. But we are not to conclude that no persons bearing the name of Waldenses saw and imitated the practices of the Catholics, in the observance of the holydays of the church. That many of them, particularly those branches that seceded from the Church of Rome, paid a superstitious veneration to the Dominical day, we are ready to admit. We have no data for tracing the extent of those persons who held the truth unsophisticated. A considerable portion of the writers to whom reference has been made were Catholics,—men high in office in that church, and justly distinguished for natural and acquired abilities. As this class of men placed great reliance upon tradition and custom for the defence of their forms and ceremonies, and laid no claim to Scripture testimony or command to sanction the rites of their church, it is not strange that they should be open and unreserved in all their details of the facts, and in the freedom of their comments on ancient affairs, which go to prove the Sabbatarian character of the heretical sects. With modern writers, particularly those of English and German extraction, the case is materially different, as they belong to a class which repudiates all arguments from any source but the Scriptures for Sunday-keeping, and who take unusual pains to date the origin of Sabbatarianism as late as possible. Indeed, as it appears that the term Sabbatharians was first bestowed upon this very ancient and holy people, I must consider it as a most honourable appellation when applied to our denomination. I am surprised, that though Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and every other class of Protestant dissenters, have striven to establish an affinity with the old Waldenses, our own denomination have remained so inert upon the matter. Can it be possible that among all our ministers not one was acquainted with the facts bearing upon this case?

I must confess that it gives me inexpressible pleasure to think that we have conclusive testimony, that, for so many centuries, in the midst, too, of Catholic countries, God had reserved to himself such a goodly number who had not bowed the knee to Baal, and whose mouths had not kissed him; for certainly next to idolatry is that sin which would substitute for doctrines the commandments of men, and neglect the Sabbath of God's appointment, giving preference to a man-made institution.

There is something extremely ridiculous in the manner in which modern writers attempt to explain this feature in the faith of the ancient Waldenses, and in this particular they are highly favoured by the popular prejudices of the day. They bring long quotations from ancient Roman authors to prove that the Waldenses rejected every ordinance not commanded in the Scripture, but are very careful not to inform their readers that in the opinion of the same authors, Sunday-keeping was one of those ordinances. "Because they would not observe the festivals of Christ and the saints," says an author of this stamp, "they were falsely supposed to neglect the Sabbath also." However, he suppresses the fact that, whatever title Sunday may bear in modern phraseology, in the times of which we are speaking it was neither spoken of nor regarded as the Sabbath, but as a festival of the church the same as Easter or Christmas. All authorities are unanimous in declaring that the Waldenses had been from time immemorial in the possession of the Holy Scriptures, and that all, even the children, were deeply read in them. The French Bible was translated from the original manuscript which the Waldenses had retained, according to the testimony of the translators, from the times of the Apostles, and which they handed down, in their native tongue, from generation to generation. The following quotation may serve to give some idea of their proficiency in the Scriptures:—

"In the time of a great persecution of the Waldenses of Merendol and Provence," says Perrin, "a certain monk was deputed by the Bishop of Cavaillon to hold a conference with them, that they might be convinced of their errors, and the effusion of blood prevented. But the monk returned in confusion, owning that, in his whole life, he had never known so much of the Scriptures as he had learned during the few days that he had been conversing with the heretics. The Bishop, however, sent among them a number of doctors, young men who had lately come from the Sorbonne, which, at that time, was the very centre of theological subtlety at Paris. One of these publicly owned that he understood more of the doctrine of salvation from the answers of little children in their catechisms, than by all the disputations he had ever heard before." A Dominican inquisitor declared that for the first time in his life he heard the ten commandments of the Decalogue from the mouth of a Waldensian heretic.

That the deportment and daily walk of the Waldenses was conformable with their religious profession and scriptural knowledge, we have every reason to believe. Reinerus Saccho declares that they live righteously before men, believing rightly concerning God in every particular, and holding all the articles contained in the Apostle's Creed. "The first lesson," says he, "that the Waldenses teach those whom they bring over to their party, is to instruct them what kind of persons the disciples of Christ ought to be, and this they do by the doctrine of the evangelists and apostles, saying that those only are the followers of the apostles who imitate their manner of life."

An ancient inquisitor gives of them the following account:—

"These heretics are known by their manners and conversation, for they are orderly and modest in their behaviour and deportment. They avoid all appearance of pride in their dress; they neither indulge in finery of attire, nor are they remarkable for being mean and ragged. They avoid commerce, that they may be free from falsehood and deceit. They get their livelihood by manual industry, as day labourers or mechanics, and their teachers are weavers or tailors. They are not anxious about amassing riches, but content themselves with the necessaries of life. They are chaste, temperate, and sober. They abstain from anger. Even when they work they either learn or teach. In like manner, also, their women are modest, avoiding backbiting, foolish jesting, and levity of speech, especially abstaining from lies or swearing."

It may be interesting to notice in this connexion some of the peculiarities of their religious practices.

They constantly appealed to the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament, as their only guide and rule of faith and practice as to religious duties. They are perpetually accused by Catholic writers of rejecting all human institutions, traditions, and inventions, and both friends and foes are unanimous in confessing that there was scarcely a person among them, either man, or woman, or child, that was not better acquainted with Holy Writ than the doctors of the church. They were likewise accused of being without priests. This must be understood as applying to the absence among them of a certain class of men paid or pensioned by yearly salaries for discharging the ministrations of the gospel. An old historian who was intimately acquainted with their affairs, observes, "That they severely denounce the whole body of the clergy on account of their idle course of life, and say that they ought to labour with their hands, as did the Apostles."

Another says—"Their preachers are weavers and mechanics, who get their own living, and are not chargeable upon their hearers." The same author goes on to say that even their missionaries were accustomed to travel from place to place in the character of travelling merchants; and this, he assures us, subserved to good purposes; first, they were enabled to support themselves; and second, they gained thereby readier access to persons of rank and fortune.

Their treatment of females in their religious assemblies was liberal and courteous in the extreme. They were not only allowed to preach, but bore an equal part with the men in all the business of the church; and the deeper we go into antiquity the more evident does this appear.

Against war, capital punishment, and oaths, they were decided in expressing their disapprobation. Their opposition to bearing arms, and to war in all its operations, was unanimous and unequivocal. Whoever commanded them to the field they refused to obey, alleging that they could not conscientiously comply. No contingencies would induce them to assume the weapons of death; and this peculiarity was well understood by all the world, and made the onsets of the inquisitors and crusaders upon these weaponless Christians the more cruel and contemptible. Concerning oaths, they appear to have adopted the language of our Saviour in a literal sense, where he commands his disciples, "Swear not at all."

Such were their rules. Whatever deviations there might have been were exceptions. Such deviations, it is natural to suppose, frequently occurred; but they generally came from those portions of the community who had been educated in the faith of Rome.

As it relates to their Baptist character I shall produce but one quotation, although a multitude might be given.

"As the Catholics of these times baptized by immersion, the Paterines, by what name soever they were called, as Manicheans, Gazara, Josephites, Pasaginians, &c., made no complaint of the mode of baptizing; but when they were examined upon the subject, they objected vehemently against the baptism of infants, and condemned it as an error."[28]

Of their doctrinal sentiments we can know but little, as no other portion of their history is involved in so much obscurity. Reinerus Saccho, however, represents them as believing rightly in everything pertaining to God and the Apostles' Creed. And they must have been evangelical Christians; for, when we see religious societies, century after century, holding on to their principles, and persisting in their religious practices, amidst the severest persecutions that were ever experienced, there is irrefragable evidence that they were built on a firm foundation. Indeed, it is hardly probable that among people whose religious teachers were obliged to depend upon manual labour for a livelihood, there would be much time wasted in unprofitable discussions about abstract points of theology.

The locality of these Christians, before they were dispersed by persecution, was in the principality of Piedmont, which derives its name from the singularity of its situation at the foot of the Alps,—a prodigious range of mountains that form a natural boundary between Italy, France, Switzerland, and Germany. It is bounded on the north by Savoy, on the east by the duchies of Milan and Montferrat, on the south by the county of Nice, and on the west by France. In ancient times it formed a part of Lombardy, but recently it has become an appanage of the Sardinian monarch, whose capital is Turin, one of the finest cities of Europe. It comprises an extensive tract of rich and fruitful valleys, embosomed in mountains, which are again encircled in mountains, intersected with deep and rapid rivers, and exhibiting, in strong contrast, the utmost beauty and luxuriance with the most frightful spectacles of barrenness and desolation. The country is an interchange of hill and vale, mountain and plain, through which four principal rivers wind their way to the Mediterranean. Besides these, there are eight-and-twenty smaller streams, which, winding their courses in different directions, contribute to the beauty and fertility of these Eden-like valleys.

The Pyrenees are another huge mountain range, that separate France from Spain, and extend from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, a distance of at least two hundred miles by a breadth of one hundred. This surface, like the former, is wonderfully diversified with hills and dales, mountains and valleys, in which places, and all along the borders of Spain, throughout the south of France, among and below the Alps, along the Rhine, and even to Bohemia and Passau, thousands of Christians were found, even in the darkest times, who preserved the faith in its purity, rejected the traditions of men, took the Scripture for their guide and rule of conduct, and were persecuted only for righteousness' sake. This place, in the desert, mountainous country, almost inaccessible and unknown to the rest of the world, was probably the place especially meant in Revelation, as prepared of God for the woman, where she should be fed and nourished during the reign of Antichrist.

These people were deeply imbued with the spirit of missions; but in this, as everything else, they closely adhered to apostolic example. They had none of the cumbrous machinery of modern times in their arrangements for disseminating the light of the gospel. They knew nothing of supporting in worldly state expensive teachers in foreign countries, or of building costly chapels for them to preach in. But, in the simple style of itinerating merchants or peddlers, their missionaries travelled from country to country, carrying with them a few pages of the Scriptures in manuscript, holding little meetings, ordaining deacons, and sustaining the hopes and faith of the persecuted and tempted ones.

Of their modes of worship we know but little. Their churches, however, were divided into compartments, such as in modern times are called associations; and these were again subdivided into congregations. They generally assembled for worship in private houses or in the shade of groves. Their churches contained from two to fifteen hundred members. In times of persecution they met in small companies of six, ten, fifteen, or twenty, but never in large assemblies. Besides these churches established in their mountain fastnesses, the Waldenses, or Passagines,[29] had instituted churches in nearly all the principal cities in the south of France and the northern parts of Italy. At Modena their place of meeting was in a large manufactory, which was owned and worked by the brethren. In Milan they occupied almost an entire street, and their church is said to have contained nearly two thousand communicants. In 1056, their church in Avignon contained six hundred members, and a remnant continued, notwithstanding various reverses of fortune, so late as 1698. We are also informed that there were churches of the same order at Brescia, Ferrara, Verona, Rimini, Romandiola, and many other places. For many centuries they remained untroubled by the state; but the clergy preached and published books against them. In the eleventh and twelfth century they comprised the bulk of the inhabitants of Lombardy, and several men eminent for rank, station, and talents, belonged to their communion. It is to these that M. de la Roque refers when he says, "We have had many worthy and pious men, well instructed in science and the history of the Fathers, who were neither ashamed nor afraid to adopt both the practice and defence of the observation of the seventh day against their opponents; and, contrary to popular custom, withstood every allurement and temptation that the enlightened and persecuting ages could afford. The observation of the Sabbath remained not with them a matter of doubtful disputation, as that of the first day did with the Rev. Dr. Watts, and many others who were engaged in the controversy upon that subject." A modern French writer, in treating the history of the Gallican church, observes that it is well known that all Lombardy, the south of France, and even the mountainous district in the north of Spain, were infested by a class of heretics, who not only derided all the festivals of the church, but kept the Jewish Sabbath; "and I have heard," he continues, "that the primitive Waldenses were guilty of the same practices."

From these plain facts, and a multitude of others that might be recorded, we may conclude that a large proportion of these ancient people were Sabbatarians,—were Seventh-day Baptists. In tracing their peculiarities, I have been forcibly reminded of our own denominational traits, especially at a former period.

There is no doubt but that they continued for ages, preserving a sameness of views, and keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. When their congregations became too numerous, they separated, and formed new assemblies. They continually refused to observe any religious ordinances for which they found no warrant in the Scriptures. They refused baptism to children, only admitting to that ordinance those persons of whose repentance and spiritual regeneration no doubts were entertained. They maintained church discipline upon all, even their ministers. And though cast down, they were not disheartened; though persecuted, they were not extirpated, until the days for their prophesying[30] were accomplished, until they had borne witness for the truth during the time appointed, when it pleased the great Head of the Church to permit their enemies to consummate their everlasting glory, by bestowing upon them the crown of martyrdom, and, from being the church militant, they were removed, almost in a body, to join the church triumphant.

Of their Sabbatarian character there is not the least room for doubt. Indeed, whatever novelty may be connected with this idea, I believe that every one, upon mature consideration, will perceive its consistency. They were planted in the valleys—if not in the apostolic age—before the antichristian power had obtained the dominance at Rome. Robinson asserts that there were many churches of Jewish Christians in the imperial city during the fourth century, which well accords with the declaration of Pope Gregory VII., that the Waldensian heresy originated from a company of Jewish heretics, who removed from Rome thither in the time of Constantine the Great; while a multitude of authorities, both friends and foes, are unanimous in declaring that they were never subjected to Rome, but persisted to the end in the abhorrence of all her feasts and festivals.