whose faith and practice were directly opposed to those of Rome, they left no means untried to overcome and compel these separatists to submit to the yoke of spiritual despotism. Perceiving, however, that neither force nor fraud was sufficient to effect their purpose, they had recourse to the civil power, and demanded its aid in crushing heretics so contumacious. For some time the princes and nobility of the adjacent countries refused to interfere; but ecclesiastical authority and tyranny at length prevailed, and the inhabitants of Piedmont were subjected to all the horrors of persecution. Turin, especially, was the scene of numerous cruelties, and many eminent servants of the Redeemer there sealed their testimony with their blood. To avoid the storm of persecution, multitudes of the Piedmontese fled from their native valleys, and, crossing the Alps, sought refuge among the inhabitants of the surrounding countries. In Italy, Germany, France, and England, to which they retreated in the hope of finding an asylum, they not only succeeded in preserving the pure doctrines of their own secluded valleys, but, for a time, were the means of producing extraordinary effects upon the manners and character of the

different people among whom they took up their abode.

Though these eminent witnesses for the truth are now termed generally WALDENSES and ALBIGENSES, yet they were formerly known by a variety of names, some derived from their teachers, some from their manner of life, some from the places where they resided, some from the fate they suffered, and some from the malice of their enemies. The valleys of Piedmont, situated between Mount Viso and the Col de Sestrieres, first gave them the name of Vallenses, Waldenses, or Vaudois, a name which has since been employed to distinguish them as a primitive Church. Those in the south of France were termed Albigenses, or poor men of Lyons, from their residence in or about Albi and Lyons. In like manner, they were called Picards, Lombards, Bohemians, Bulgarians, &c. from the countries in which they dwelt. The epithets Cathari and Paterines, were applied to them as terms of reproach; and that of Lollards, either from the same cause, or from a Waldensian pastor, Walter Lollard, who flourished about the middle of the thirteenth century. They also received the names of Josephites, Arnoldists,

Berengarians, &c. from some of their principal teachers; and, in order to render them odious in the eyes of the world, their enemies branded them with the names of several ancient heretics.

That there were differences of opinion among these various classes of men, is readily acknowledged; and that some of them did not hold the doctrine of the gospel in the same purity as others did, is equally true; but of all of them it may be affirmed, that they ardently opposed the absurdities of the Romish Church, and the tyranny of the Papal See, and boldly preached, according to their light, "the truth as it is in Jesus." Whatever might be the errors which were held by some of these branches, the parent stock, however, the Waldenses of the valleys of Piedmont, never deviated from the pure doctrines

of the word of God.*

Having made these remarks concerning the various branches of opponents to the Romish Church, who have all been denominated by the

* In addition to some account of the doctrines of the Waldenses, especially of those who inhabit the valleys between the Pelice and the Clusone, which will be given afterwards, a more particular statement of their principles, chiefly extracted from their own writings, will be found in the Appendix.

They

general term Waldenses, we shall now take notice more particularly of a number of sincere and humble Christians, who, in the beginning of the twelfth century, attracted the notice of the Papal See, and who, among other names, were by their enemies termed Cathari. were found chiefly in the south of France, Savoy, and Milan, and in Cologne, Flanders, and Lombardy. Their doctrines resembled, in many particulars, those of Claudius of Turin; and it is not at all improbable that they were the fruit of his labours, and had existed from the age in which he lived. These heretics, as they were called by their enemies, were accused of holding the most detestable opinions; and many of them were put to death in the cruellest form, by the supporters of the Romish hierarchy. That the reader may perceive what these opinions were, the following account of them is given by Evervinus of Stainfield, in Germany, one of their avowed adversaries, who cannot be supposed to speak any thing in their favour.

"There have been lately some heretics discovered among us near Cologne," says Evervinus, in a letter to Bernard, abbot of Clairval, dated about the year 1140,

though several of them

have, with satisfaction, returned again to the Church. One of their bishops, and his companions, openly opposed us in the assembly of the clergy and laity, in the presence of the Archbishop of Cologne, and of many of the nobility, defending their heresies by the words of Christ and the Apostles. Finding that they made no impression, they desired that a day might be fixed, upon which they would bring their teachers to a conference, promising to return to the Church, provided they found these teachers unable to answer their opponents; but that otherwise they would die rather than depart from their judgment. Upon this declaration, having been admonished to repent for three days, they were seized by the people, in their excess of zeal, and burnt to death! and, what is most astonishing, they came to the stake, and bare the torment of the fire, not only with patience, but even with joy. In this case, O holy father, were I present with you, I should be glad to ask you, how these members of Satan could persist in their heresy with such constancy and courage as is rarely to be found among the most religious in the faith of

Christ.

"Their heresy is this: They say that the