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CHAPTER 15
EARLY WALDENSIAN HEROES
Whenever, therefore, in the following sketches, the terms Berengarians,
Petrobrusians, Henricians, Arnoldists, Waldenses, Albigenses, Leonists, or the
poor men of Lyons, Lollards, Cathari, etc, occur, it must be understood that
they intend a people, who agreed in certain leading principles, however they
might differ in some smaller matters, and that all of them were by the Catholics
comprehended under the general name of Waldenses.1
TO NORTHWESTERN Italy, southeastern France, and northern Spain one must
look for that spiritual fortress which for centuries was invincible to the
fierce onslaughts of the medieval hierarchy. There the giant Alps had been piled
high as a mighty wall between France and Italy. In the peaceful valleys and
dales of the Alps lived the noble and heroic Waldenses. The charm of those
verdant fields was rendered more charming by the presence of a people who were
ever loyal to the gospel.
The Waldenses, while covering many lands with their Bible teachings, did
not spread into all the countries in which are found other branches of the
Church in the Wilderness. They may not have counted their members by the
millions as did other churches during the Dark Ages. Their first mention is due
to the fact that they remained the largest of any Christian group in the
struggle to preserve the Bible and primitive Christianity. When the Reformation
came, they were still protesting against ecclesiastical tyranny. Among them
truth triumphed.
It is not difficult to discern in the lines of influence emanating from
the Waldenses a force which aided the spiritual upheavals led by Martin Luther
and John Calvin. The ensign of the gospel was passed from their battle-scarred
hands to those of the Reformers, and was carried with victorious acclaim to the
Teutonic nations of northern Europe and on to the young republic in North
America.
To the Waldenses was given the task of passing the light on to the
Protestants of modem times and of penetrating the darkness of the world with the
glory of true Bible doctrine. Through the Dark Ages the Waldensian heroes kept
the faith which they had received from their fathers, even from the days of the
apostles.
Of them Sir James Mackintosh writes: With
the dawn of history, we discover some simple Christians in the valleys of the
Alps, where they still exist under the ancient name of Vaudois, who by the light
of the New Testament saw the extraordinary contrast between the purity of
primitive times and the vices of the gorgeous and imperial hierarchy which
surrounded them.2
Shut up in mountain valleys, they held fast to the doctrines and
practices of the primitive church while the inhabitants of the plains of Italy
were daily casting aside the truth.3 When one gazes upon their magnificent
mountain bulwarks, he cannot but admit that here God had provided for His people
safe and secure retreats as foretold by John in the Apocalypse.
After Emperor Constantine had declared (A.D. 325) which of the Christian
churches he recognized, and had decreed that the Roman world must conform to his
decision, there came a straggle between the Christians who refused to compromise
the teachings of the New Testament and those who were ready to accept the
traditions of men. Mosheim declares: The
ancient Britons and Scots could not be moved, for a long time, either by the
threats or the promises of the papal legates, to subject themselves to the Roman
decrees and laws; as is abundantly testified by Beda. The Gauls and the
Spaniards, as no one can deny, attributed only so much authority to the pontiff,
as they supposed would be for their own advantage. Nor in Italy itself, could he
make the bishop of Ravenna and others bow obsequiously to his will. And of
private individuals, there were many who expressed openly their detestation of
his vices and his greediness of power. Nor are those destitute of arguments who
assert, that the Waldenses, even in this age [seventh century], had fixed their
residence in the valleys of Piedmont, and inveighed freely against Roman
domination.4
Robert Oliveton, a native of the Waldensian valleys, who translated the
Vaudois Bible into French in 1535 wrote thus of the Scriptures in the Preface: It
is Thee alone [the French Reformation Church] to whom I present this precious
Treasure...in the name of a certain poor People thy Friends and Brethren in
Jesus Christ, who ever since they were blessed and enriched therewith by the
Apostles and Ambassadors of Christ, have still enjoyed and possessed the same.5 Waldenses Date Back to the Apostles
The connection between the Waldenses, the Albigenses, and other
believers in the New Testament and the primitive Christians of Western Europe is
explained by Voltaire thus: Auricular
confession was not received so late as the eighth and ninth centuries in the
countries beyond the Loire, in Languedoc and the Alps - Alcuin complains of this
in his letters. The inhabitants of those countries appear to have always had an
inclination to abide by the customs of the primitive church, and to reject the
tenets and customs which the church in its more flourishing state judged
convenient to adopt. Those
who were called Manichaeans, and those who were afterward named Albigenses,
Vaudois, Lollards, and who appeared so often under different names, were
remnants of the first Gaulish Christians, who were attached to several ancient
customs, which the Church of Rome thought proper to alter afterward.6
For nearly two hundred years following the death of the apostles, the
process of separation went on between these two classes of church members until
the open rupture came. In the year 325 the first world council of the church was
held at Nicaea, and at that time Sylvester was given great recognition as bishop
of Rome. It is from the time of this Roman bishop that the Waldenses date their
exclusion of the papal party from their communion. As the church historian
Neander says: But
it was not without some foundation of truth that the Waldenses of this period
asserted the high antiquity of their sect, and maintained that from the time of
the secularization of the church - that is, as they believed, from the time of
Constantine's gift to the Roman bishop Silvester [A.D. 314 - 336] - such an
opposition as finally broke forth in them, had been existing all along.7
These Christians of the Alps and Pyrenees have been called Waldenses from
the Italian word for "valleys," and where they spread over into
France, they have been called Vaudois, a French word meaning "inhabitants
of the valleys" in a certain province. Many writers constantly call them
Vaudois. The enemies of this branch of the Church in the Wilderness have
endeavored to confuse their history by tracing to a wrong source the origin of
the name, Waldenses. They seek to connect its beginnings with Peter Waldo, an
opulent merchant of Lyons, France, who came into notice about 1175. The story of
this remarkable man commands a worthy niche in the temple of events. However,
there is nothing in the original or the earliest documents of the Waldenses -
their histories, poems, and confessions of faith - which can be traced to him or
which make any mention of him.
Waldo, being converted in middle life to truths similar to those held by
the Vaudois, distributed his fortune to the poor and labored extensively to
spread evangelical teachings. He and his followers soon met with cruel
opposition. Finally, in desperation they fled for refuge to those Waldenses who
had crossed the Alps and had formed a considerable body in eastern France.
The great antiquity of the Waldensian vernacular preserved through the
centuries witnesses to their line of descent independent of Rome, and to the
purity of their original Latin. Alexis Muston says: The
patois of the Vaudois valleys has a radical structure far more regular than the
Piedmontese idiom. The origin of this patois was anterior to the growth of
Italian and French - antecedent even to the Romance language, whose earliest
documents exhibit still more analogy with the present language of the Vaudois
mountaineers, than with that of the troubadours of the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries. The existence of this patois is of itself a proof of the high
antiquity of these mountaineers, and of their constant preservation from foreign
intermixture and changes. Their popular idiom is a precious monument.8
Turning back the pages of history six hundred years before Peter Waldo,
there is even a more famous name connected with the Waldenses. This leader was
Vigilantius (or, Vigilantius Leo). He could be looked upon as a Spaniard, since
the people of his regions were one in practically all points with those of
northern Spain. Vigilantius took his stand against the new relapses into
paganism. From these apostatizing tendencies the Christians of northern Italy,
northern Spain, and southern France held aloof. The story of Vigilantius and how
he came to identify himself with this region is told in another chapter.9 From
connections with him, this people were for centuries called Leonists, as well as
Waldenses and Vaudois.
Reinerius Saccho, an officer of the Inquisition (c. A.D. 1250), wrote a
treatise against the Waldenses which explains their early origin. He had
formerly been a pastor among them, but had apostatized and afterward had become
a papal persecutor. He must have known as much about them as any enemy could.
After declaring on his own personal testimony that all the ancient heretical
sects, of which there were more than seventy, had been destroyed except four -
the Arians, Manichaeans, Runearians, and Leonists - he wrote, "Among all
these sects, which still are or have been, there is not any more pernicious to
the church than that of the Leonists."
He gave three reasons why they were dangerous to the Papacy: First,
because it is of longer duration; for some say that it hath endured from the
time of Pope Sylvester; others from the time of the apostles; second, because it
is more general. For there is scarcely any country wherein this sect is not.
Third, because when all other sects beget horror in the hearers by the
outrageousness of their blasphemies against God, this of the Leonists hath a
great appearance of piety: because they live justly before men and believe all
things rightly concerning God and all the articles which are contained in the
creed; only they blaspheme the Church of Rome and the clergy.10
Thus Saccho showed that the Leonists, or Waldenses, were older than the
Arians; yes, even older than the Manichaeans. Their Territory Was Not Roman
A distinction has long been recognized between the northern Italian
peninsula and the central part, so that for more than one thousand years the
bishoprics in northern Italy were called Italic, while those in central Italy
were named Roman. Or, as Frederick Nolan says, in speaking of an early Latin
Bible in this territory: "The author perceived, without any labor of
inquiry, that it [Italic Bible] derived its name from that diocese which has
been termed the Italic, as contradistringuished from the Roman."11
The city of Milan in the northern part of the Italian peninsula has
always been one of the most famous cities of history. At times it has been a
rival to Rome. Several Roman emperors, abandoning the city on the banks of the
Tiber, fixed their capital here. It was a famous meeting place for the East and
the West. One author states that the religious influence of Milan was regarded
with respect, and that its authority was especially felt in Gaul and in Spain.12
It was the chief center of the Celts who lived on the Italian side of the
Alps.13 Before it could come under the dominant influence of the Roman bishop,
the Gothic armies had completed their conquest of Italy as well as France. These
newcomers, who had been converted to Christ more than one hundred years
previously, held fast to the usages and customs of the primitive church and did
no harm to Milan.14
Since the Goths granted religious freedom to their subjects, Milan
profited by it. When from all parts of Europe newly chosen bishops came to Rome
to be consecrated, none appeared from the Italic dioceses of Milan and Turin.
They did not join in the procession. In fact, for many years after 553 there was
a widespread schism in northern Italy and adjacent lands between Rome and the
bishops of nine provinces under the leadership of the bishop of Milan who
renounced fellowship with Rome to become autonomous. They had been alienated by
the famous decree of the "Three Chapters," passed in 553 by the
Council of Constantinople, condemning three great leaders of the Church of the
East.15 The people of this region knew the straight truth. They did not believe
in the infallibility of the pope and did not consider that being out of
communion with him was to be out of fellowship with the church.16 They held that
their own ordination was as efficacious as the pretended apostolic succession of
the bishop of Rome.
While the Papacy was bringing much of Europe under her control, the two
dioceses of Milan and Turin continued independent. It was unbearable to the
Papacy that, in the very land in which was her throne, there should be a
Mordecai in the gate. Two powerful forces nullified all her efforts to annex the
Milan territory. First, the presence of the Lombard kings, unconquered until
about 800, assured religious tolerance there. Moreover, the Lombards, like the
Goths before them, rejected so many innovations brought in by Rome that they
never admitted the papal bishops of Italy to a seat in their legislative
councils.17 Therefore, they were promptly called Arians, the name given by Rome
to her opponents. Early Waldensian Heroes
Because of the desperate attempt of papal writers to date the rise of
the Waldenses from Peter Waldo, all Waldensian heroes before the time of the
crusades which largely destroyed the Albigenses, will be called
"early." This term refers to those evangelical leaders that kept
continental Europe true to primitive Christianity between the days of the
apostles and the Albigensian crusades. Such believers did not separate from the
Papacy, for they had never belonged to it. In fact, many times they called the
Roman Catholic Church "the newcomer."
To relate the godly exploits of the early Alpine heroes from the days of
Vigilantius to Waldo is to answer the thesis of the papists that the Waldenses
did not begin until about 1160. The most noted papal antagonist of the Waldenses
who has endeavored to brand them as originating at that date is Bishop Jacques
Benigne Bossuet. Bossuet, the brilliant French papist, is reckoned by some to be
one of the seven greatest orators of history. With almost undetectable
shrewdness he analyzed every item of history which he thought might give the
Waldenses an early origin, and then drew his false conclusions. Of him Mosheim
says: "This writer certainly did not go to the sources, and being
influenced by party zeal, he was willing to make mistakes."18 A casual
reader, or one partly informed, could easily be misled by Bossuet. Full
acquaintance with the records, however, exposes this bishop to the charge of a
scandalous misuse of information.
To those who lay too much stress upon Peter Waldo as being the founder of
the Waldenses, it can be said that there were many by the name of Waldo.
Particular attention has been called by a papal author to a Peter Waldo, an
opponent of the Papacy, who arose in the seventh century.19
Certain papal writers have grouped all religious bodies in Europe hostile
to Rome since the year 1000 or earlier, under the title of Waldenses.20 Their
reason for doing this can be seen when one contemplates the record of the growth
of the churches refusing to go along with Rome's innovations. Consider to what
extent the Waldenses were leaders in this policy. The teachings and organizing
ability of Vigilantius gave leadership to the evangelical descendants of the
apostles in northern Italy, southern France, and northern Spain.21 In those days
evangelical churches were unable to effect visible unity in these sections of
Europe. As those who preserved primitive Christianity multiplied on the
continent and as they contacted the Celts of the British Isles and the Church of
the East, they discovered that they were one in their essential beliefs. Then
they realized more fully the fulfillment of our Savior's prediction that His
church would be of all nations. Though great efforts were made to fix various
names on these different evangelical groups, even their enemies, at times, were
obliged to recognize that they were "men of the valleys," or
Waldenses.
The masses of the heathen naturally became a mission field for the
efforts of the two rival communions - Rome and the Church in the Wilderness.
Outwardly, the Papacy seemed dominant because of her apparent victories by law,
by the sword, and by political alliances. The evangelical churches, however,
increased in power.
The eighth century opens with strong leadership appearing in both of
these communions. The successors of Columbanus, as well as the powerful
evangelists of northern Italy and of the Celts, were making irresistible appeals
to the masses. The Council of Frankfort (A.D. 794) attended by bishops from
France, Germany, and Lombardy attests the independence shown by national clergy
to the will of Rome. In the presence of papal legates they rejected the second
Council of Nicaea (A.D. 787) which had decreed for the worship of images.22 In
the Orient, in this same century, the independent Church of the East had just
erected in the capital of China that famous monument, still standing, which
tells of the wide conquests won by consecrated missionaries in central and
farther Asia.23 Claude of Turin
One cannot be rightly acquainted with the ninth century without
recognizing a famous apostle of that time - Claude, the light of northern Italy.
Although a Spaniard by birth, his eminent talents and learning attracted the
attention of the reigning Western emperor. Claude was first called by this
prince to his capital in northern Europe, and was afterward promoted by him to
be bishop of Turin, Italy, an influential city nestled in the midst of the
Waldensian regions. When he arrived at his new post, he found the state church
in a deplorable condition. Vice, superstition, simony, image worship, and other
demoralizing practices were rampant. There is an almost unanimous testimony of
historians on this point. The Papacy was slipping back into paganism. Claude at
once undertook the almost impossible task of stemming the tide. He found that
even the evangelical churches had been obliged to struggle hard against the
prevailing influences. Claude boldly hurled defiance at the Papacy and called
the people back to New Testament faith and practice.
Evidently Claude, while maintaining that Christ was divine by nature, did
not accept the extreme speculations concerning the Godhead voted by the first
Council of Nicaea. This was true of most of the evangelical bodies which
differed from the Church of Rome.24 Nothing in the writings of the famous
reformer has ever been brought forth to inculpate him of any heresy, although a
well-known antagonist accused him after his death of heresy.25 On the contrary,
his Biblical commentaries and his other works plainly reveal him to be a New
Testament Christian. In one of his epistles Claude vehemently denies that he had
been raising up some new sect, and points to Jesus who was also denounced as a
sectarian and a demoniac. He claims that he found all the churches of Turin
stuffed full of vile and accursed images, and he at once began to destroy what
was being worshiped.26
From another opponent to this reformer can be learned the interesting
fact that Claude's diocese was divided into two parts: on the one hand, those
who followed the superstitions of the time and who were bitterly opposed to him;
on the other hand, those who agreed with him in doctrine and practice. These
evidently were the Vallenses of the Cottian Alps. This opponent, Dungal by name,
exalted by modem papal writers as a brilliant churchman, constantly accused
Claude of perpetuating the heresies of Vigilantins. The fact that such opponents
never ceased to hurl the accusation against Claude and his Vallenses that they
believed and taught the same doctrine as Vigilantins, the eminent reformer who
lived four hundred years earlier, proves the continuous chain of truth among the
inhabitants of northern Italy during the lapse of those four centuries.27
Claude cried out thus against image worship: "If a man ought not to
worship the works of God, much less should he worship and reverence the works of
men. Whoever expects salvation which comes only from God, to come from pictures,
must be classed with those mentioned in Romans 1, who serve the creature more
than the Creator." Against the worshiping of the cross he taught: "God
has commanded us to bear the cross; not to pray to it. Those are willing to pray
to it, are unwilling to bear it, either in the spiritual or in the literal
sense. To worship God in this manner, is in fact to depart from Him." When
accused of not holding to the authority of the pope, he wrote: "He is not
to be called the Apostolical,...who sits in the apostle's chair; but he who
performs the duties of an apostle. For of those who hold that place, yet do not
fulfill its duties, the Lord says, 'They sit in Moses' seat.'"28 Claude
wanted to know why they should adore the cross and not also worship many other
things - as mangers, fishing boats, trees, thorns, and lances - with which Jesus
came in contact. He also defended himself against those who reviled him because
he denounced pilgrimages. The Rise of a New Controversy
Thus the gulf was widening between those congregations descended from
the apostles and those attached to the Papacy. About this time (A.D. 831) a book
was written which widened the breach.29 It dealt in a revolutionary manner with
the subject of the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper. Perhaps this bold
venture was made because the writer knew himself to be supported in his novel
doctrine by the Papacy. The bishop of Rome had just succeeded with the help of
Charlemagne in organizing the Holy Roman Empire, and thus he had gained powerful
influence. The author, therefore, supported by the theocracy, boldly put into
print a doctrine which had been considered for some time. There had already
appeared advocates of the papal thesis that the priest had power to change the
bread and wine into the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ, but now this
startling theory was presented to the public.
Simple scriptural believers concluded that this teaching belittled the
sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Christians who were under apostolic influence
took the stand that salvation was obtained by the one and only death of the
Redeemer. If this new doctrine prevailed, they saw it would logically follow
that the Decalogue, which the Redeemer had died on the cross to uphold, would
occupy an inferior status. From that time on, strong evangelical leaders never
ceased to oppose these innovations. This revolutionary book on
transubstantiation was written about six years before the death of the noble
Claude in 839. There is no record that this reformer was acquainted enough with
this latest lapse into paganism to assail it.
Whenever from the midst of the Church in the Wilderness a new
standard-bearer appeared, the Papacy promptly stigmatized him and his followers
as "a new sect." This produced a twofold result. First, it made these
people appear as never having existed before, whereas they really belonged among
the many Bible followers who from the days of the early church existed in Europe
and Asia. Secondly, it apparently detached the evangelical bodies from one
another, whereas they were one in essential doctrines. The different groups
taken together constituted the Church in the Wilderness. It is as if one wrote
of the Washingtonians, the Jeffersonites, the Lincolnites, and the Americans;
or, as if one would describe the Matthewites, the Thomasites, the Peterites, the
Paulites, and the Christians. The grouping was not of their own originating;
instead, it was a device of their antagonist.
As Philippus Limborch writes: "And because they dwelt in different
cities, and had their particular instructors, the papists, to render them the
more odious, have represented them as different sects, and ascribed to them
different opinions, though others affirm they all held the same opinions, and
were entirely of the same sect.30
About this time John Scot, a famous Irish scholar, was called to the
court of Charles the Bald, grandson of Charlemagne. He is usually called Joannes
Scotus Erigena. In those days, the word "Scotus" definitely designated
an Irishman. "Erigena" is the Greek equivalent of Scotus. This man,
the head of the royal school at Paris, was the author of many celebrated works,
and ranks as a leading scholar of his time. He was shocked at the awful import
of the treatise advocating that the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper is
changed into the actual body of Christ by the ritual of the mass. He took up his
pen and produced a book which successfully met the new enemy of evangelism and
profoundly stirred believers in primitive Christianity. Two centuries later a
papal council condemned this work because the participants recognized the
powerful influence it long had possessed over the people. Glaring Papal Forgeries
This century also witnessed certain other new and disastrous claims
issuing from the ranks of the Papacy. The Dark Ages were already beginning to
overshadow the masses of Europe. Religious thought was poisoned by the work of
one who compiled and issued a series of falsified documents.31 The collection,
usually called the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, purported to produce early
authentic records verifying the claims of the popes to spiritual and temporal
world power. These documents were employed with powerful effect throughout the
subsequent eight centuries (A.D. 800-1520) to mislead both rulers and the ruled.
Although about seven hundred years later their perfidy was exposed, the tyranny
and dominion obtained by the Papacy through them was not surrendered. In a dull
and declining age, such fabricated decrees, clothed with an authoritative
antiquity, were used against the Church in the Wilderness. If it had not been
for its innate virility, born of the Spirit of God, the apostolic religion would
surely have gone down before the baneful influence of such falsifications. Rome
itself centuries later was compelled to drop this forgery. Eleventh-Century Waldensian Heroes
In discussing the churches of south central Europe which preserved
primitive Christianity, the greatest credit is usually given to those peoples
who lived along both sides of the Alps and in the Pyrenees. In these deep,
beautiful, secluded valleys they were often called by names which indicated
their location. Thus Ebrard of Bethune, a papal author (c. A.D. 1200) in
attempting to explain the name "Vallenses," wrote, "They are some
who are called Vallenses, because they dwell in the Valley of Tears."32
Pilchdorffius, a writer recognized by Rome, wrote this about 1250: "The
Waldenses...are those who claim to have thus existed from the time of Pope
Sylvester."33 Since Sylvester was bishop of Rome in the early part of the
fourth century, here is another witness to the claim that the men of the valleys
existed as early as 325.
Cardinal Peter Damian, one of the able builders of the papal edifice, in
his campaign (A.D. 1059) against these primitive Christians in northern Italy,
called them Subalpini.34 The word in common parlance to designate these
borderers of the Alps was "Vallenses," from which in time the V was
changed into W, one of the l's into d, and they have since the twelfth century
generally been called Waldenses.
Primitive Christianity, enlarging its influences, became such a threat to
the papal hierarchy that many synods and councils were summoned to combat it.
Evangelical dissent from the growing paganism of the Papacy was so strong that
even Rome's champions were forced to call it "inveterate."35 The
Papacy decided to challenge this new power with ruthless measures. At one synod
or council after another, either the evangelicals were brought to trial or
actions were passed against them. An example of the injustice enacted in such
courts took place in the case of the Canons of Orleans, France, in 1017. The
so-called heresy must have affected numerous provinces, because the judges
claimed that it was brought into Gaul from Italy through a missionary "by
whom many in many parts were corrupted." Papal authorities were horrified
to learn that Stephen, formerly chaplain of the queen; Heribert, who had been
one of the realm's ambassadors; and Lisoye - all famous for learning and
holiness - were members of the hated church. As prisoners, indicted for heresy,
they were arraigned before the prelates.
Four conflicting accounts come down to us of the Council of Orleans.36
Papal writers, such as Bossuet, take out of these accounts the material that
they wish, thinking thus to justify their unfounded charge of Manichaeism
against the evangelicals. Writers studying these reports cannot refrain from
noticing that the charge was not proved, and that the facts were garbled in a
ridiculous manner.37
Three things happened in connection with the Council of Orleans which
revealed the spirit of the papal judges who condemned thirteen primitive
Christians to be burned at the stake. First, Queen Constantia was stationed at
the door, and as the condemned martyrs filed out, she thrust a stick into the
eye of Stephen, who formerly had been her private chaplain, and had evidently
rebuked her for her loose conduct. For this act, her praises have been
voluminously sung by the ultramontanes. Secondly, it is known that one of the
Frankish nobility, in order to secure evidence, pretended to join the primitive
Christians as a member of their church. By means of this double dealing, he
obtained catch phrases which could be falsely turned at the trial against the
accused. Thirdly, after these martyrs were burned at the stake, it was
discovered that a certain nobleman had been a member of the hated church for
three years and had died before the trial. In anger, his body was dug up and
publicly dishonored.
The faith of those condemned at this court of injustice may be understood
from the words that they addressed to the judges at the close of eight hours of
grilling. They said: You
may narrate these doctrines to others, who are wise in worldly wisdom, and who
believe the figments of carnal men written upon animal parchment. But to us who
have the law written in the inner man by the Holy Ghost, and who know nothing
else save what we have learned from God the Creator of all things, you vainly
propound matters which are superfluous and altogether alien from sound divinity.
Put therefore an end to words: and do with us what you list. We clearly behold
our King reigning in heavenly places, who with His own right hand, is raising us
to an immortal triumph; and He is raising us to the fullness of joy celestial.38
Can this be the testimony of profligates or erratic religionists?
Eight years later (A.D. 1025) at Arras in northern France another
farcical trial was held. The defendants were accused of Manichaeism, the usual
false accusation of the Papacy against evangelicals. If the trial resulted in
anything, it revealed that these devoted missionaries were guilty of no such
demeanors.39 It made clear that the doctrine unacceptable to that unjust court
came from northern Italy. The martyrs were not called Waldenses in the report.
Their beliefs, however, were those of the martyrs of Orleans and were similar to
the teachings of the Waldenses. From the testimony obtained in these trials of
the primitive Christians, we are enabled to conclude that their churches were
numerous, with some scholars and eminent persons.
The renowned city of Toulouse in southern France is an example of how
certain communities held fast to the doctrines of the apostles from the early
days of Christianity until they aroused the fury of an exterminating crusade.
Toulouse is blamed not only as the breeding place of so-called heresy, but is
also said to have successfully housed rejecters of Rome throughout the
centuries, first in the days of Gothic Christianity, and later in tunes of the
Albigenses and Waldenses.40 None of these dissenters can be called
"reformed," because they never diverged far enough from the early
church either in beliefs or practices to necessitate a movement of reform.
As to the remote antiquity of the hated evangelicals in the city and
kingdom of Toulouse, there is a remarkable statement from the chaplain who
accompanied the bloody crusade of 1208-1218, which destroyed the beautiful
Albigensian civilization. "This Toulouse," he said, "the
completely wretched, has, it is asserted, from its very foundation, rarely or
never been free from the miasma or detestable pestilence of condemned heresy,
handing down, and successively diffusing throughout generations from father to
son, its poison of superstitious infidelity."41 Berengarius
The cruel use of fraud and force against the inoffensive and
persecuted followers of Jesus Christ only confirmed them in the conviction that
their cause was of God. The common people sympathized with the oppressed Bible
believers and prayed for deliverers. Noble and scholarly leaders arose to oppose
the oppressors. However, they were cut down before they were permitted to go far
enough in their sacrificing efforts to turn the tide of persecution and
intolerance. Among those whose protest went home with force was Berengarius of
France, who comes in to claim special attention. His followers were called the
Berengarians or earlier Waldenses.42
More church councils were probably held against Berengarius than against
anyone else. The papists hated him alive and dead. He was the second prominent
witness in whose mouth the truth was established. Joannes Scotus Erigena, a
world figure two hundred years previous, had been the first. There is a
tradition to the effect that Scotus came from one of the schools established by
Columba. Both had truly analyzed the doctrine of transubstantiation. To
Berengarius it was not simply an error of the church; it was the height of
seducing delusions. Other errors were tradition, allegorizing, abolition of the
Decalogue, disregard of the sabbath, and obscuration of the one and sufficient
sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Apostasy had strengthened since the days of
Vigilantius and Claude, and Berengarius was obliged to oppose all that they had
denounced and more. He was therefore branded as the "purveyor of many
heresies." He gathered disciples around him and committed to many groups of
trained young men the task of spreading the light everywhere. Thousands in whose
hearts lingered the love of primitive Christianity received his disciples
gladly.
Matthew of Westminster (A.D. 1087) complains that the Berengariaus and
Waldenses had corrupted all of France, England, and Italy.43 This was a full
century before Peter Waldo. Many authorities acknowledge that the resistance of
the Berengarians to the Papacy was the same as the resistance shown by the
Waldenses. Others, as Ussher and Benedict, see in Berengarius a leader of the
Waldenses.
Archbishop Lanfranc was counselor and ecclesiastical peer to William of
Normandy when he set out to conquer England. After William had added the English
kingdom to his French possessions, he offered Lanfranc the primacy of the newly
conquered lands. Lanfranc was anxious to overthrow Berengarius, whom he
considered an enemy in doctrine. He set out to destroy him by the use of his
pen, because Berengarius was too prominent and too greatly beloved to be burned
at the stake, although in the fifty years previous many believers in the
doctrines issuing from northern Italy had expired in flames. Repeatedly
condemned by many councils, Berengarius was driven into exile. Though nominally
a Roman Catholic prelate, he had doctrinally gone over to the Waldenses. From
Lanfranc it is learned that the Berengarians called the Church of Rome "The
Congregation of the Wicked and the Seat of Satan," which also the Waldenses
did. The Papacy promptly branded the thousands who rejoiced in his bright and
shining light as Berengarians. Actually they were a part of the increasing
numbers who had refused to follow Rome in departing from the teachings of the
apostles. Separation Between Greek and Latin Churches
In the midst of its attempt to overthrow the spiritual leadership of
Berengarius and its military victory in the conquest of England, the Papacy
reached its final break with the Greek Church. During these eventful years the
Roman pontiff possessed three ecclesiastical field marshals of outstanding
shrewdness. They were Lanfranc, Damian, and Humbert. The Papacy had used
Lanfranc against Berengarius. Cardinal Humbert was sent to Constantinople (A.D.
1054) to demand that the Greek Church recognize completely the world leadership
of the pontiff in the Vatican. Cardinal Damian was sent into northern Italy
(A.D. 1059), the region of the Waldenses, to bring into subjection the diocese
of Milan which had ever remained independent of the Roman see. Since the
scholarly rejection which this haughty priest met at Constantinople took place
before the mission to Milan, it greatly strengthened the Waldenses in their
resistance.
Both the Greek and the Latin churches had lost much of the spiritual
power maintained by the Waldenses. Dean Stanley reveals how much deeper the
Latin apostasy was than the Greek as late as the twelfth century: "At
certain periods of their course, there can be no doubt that the civilization of
the Eastern Church was far higher than that of the Western."44 Rome's
discontent at the lagging Eastern Church was first manifest when the king of
Bulgaria and his nation were converted to Christianity by Greek missionaries in
864. The pope noted that these missionaries had followed the example of Eastern
evangelism by translating the Bible not from the Latin Vulgate, but from the
original Greek. They also had given the Bulgarians a liturgy, or order of church
services, which was not pliable to the unscriptural Roman liturgy. The Papacy
was as determined to achieve spiritual supremacy over Bulgaria as over Lombardy
and England.
Again the Sabbath question became prominent. The churches of the East
from the earliest days had sanctified Saturday as the Sabbath, and wherever
Sunday had crept in, religious services were observed on both days.45 Bulgaria
in the early season of its evangelization had been taught that no work should be
performed on the Sabbath.46 Long before this time, migrations from the Paulician
church had reached Bulgaria. These Paulicians observed the Seventh-day Sabbath
of the fourth commandment. Consequently, they were a strong reinforcement to the
Greek attitude on this question.
Pope Nicholas I, in the ninth century, sent the ruling prince of Bulgaria
a long document elucidating political, territorial, and ecclesiastical
questions, and saying in it that one is to cease from work on Sunday, but not on
the Sabbath. The head of the Greek Church, offended at the interference of the
Papacy, declared the pope excommunicated. The Greek patriarch also sent a
circulatory letter to some leading bishops of the East, censuring the Roman
Catholic Church for several erroneous doctrines, especially emphasizing its
rebellion against past church councils in compelling its members to fast on the
seventh-day Sabbath. This fast was commanded in order that they might
unfavorably compare the austerity of the seventh day with the pleasures of the
first day. The letter rebuked the Papacy for seeking to impose this yoke on the
Bulgarians. A complete break between the churches, however, did not occur at
this time. The heat of the controversy continued, only to break out anew later.
Events conspired to drive the Greek and Latin branches of the church more
and more apart. Two hundred years later (A.D. 1054) the controversy again arose.
The Greek patriarch, Michael Cerulanius, and a learned Greek monk, both attacked
the Roman Catholic Church on a number of points, including fasting on the
Sabbath. Now the haughty Cardinal Humbert comes into the picture. While Lanfranc
was assailing Berengarius, and Cardinal Damian was preparing to gather
Waldensian territory into the fold, the pope sent three legates to
Constantinople with countercharges. Amongst others, the following charge was
made by the pope against the Greek Church: "Because you observe the sabbath
with the Jews and the Lord's Day with us, you seem to imitate with such
observances the sect of Nazarenes who in this manner accept Christianity in
order that they be not obliged to leave Judaism."47 Enraged at his failure
to bring the Greek Church under subjection, Humbert declared it excommunicated.
He found that the leading bishops of the East sided with the Greek patriarch.
The gulf between these two communions was final.
The following quotation from John Mason Neale will reveal the difference
in attitude toward the Sabbath between the Greek and the Latin Church: "The
observance of Saturday is, as everyone knows, the subject of a bitter dispute
between the Greeks and the Latins."48 The Revolution in Northern Italy
The pope immediately turned his attention to the Waldenses. Having
shaken himself loose from the Greek Church, he had now become the titular
spiritual head of Europe. He resolved to tolerate the independence of the
diocese of Milan no longer. He saw, as a new enemy, the rising tide throughout
the Continent of evangelical churches whose nerve center was northern Italy. He
resented their claim to be the only true church directly descended from the
apostles, and he detested their preaching that the Papacy was the mystical
Babylon predicted by the Apocalypse.
It never occurred to the pope that, instead of crushing the northern
Italian diocese, he might create a small but well-organized minority with
dangerous possibilities. He relied for support upon the infiltration into that
diocese of those who sided with Rome. These latter were determined to eliminate
the opponents of Vatican policies. Therefore, the shrewd Cardinal Damian was
sent to Milan in 1059 to work with the malcontents and to bring into subjection
that diocese.
Clergy and people alike were greatly stirred. They demanded to know by
what authority one diocese could invade the rights and prerogatives of
another.49 They were deeply incensed when Damian assembled a synod of the clergy
of Milan and seated himself above their archbishop, Guido. Using deceptive
documents, he cajoled, threatened, and promised. He followed the Jesuit motto,
"Where we cannot convince, we will confuse." He proposed among other
things that they adopt several doctrinal articles rejected by the Greeks,
including celibacy of the priesthood. The result was that as soon as his
legation left the city, the loyal clergy and the nobility called a council which
asserted the right of the clergy to marry. On the other hand, the papal party
had succeeded so far in their efforts that they had induced the prefect of the
city to use public threats against the Milanese. With the city torn by strife
and contest, those in favor of a married clergy concluded that the only thing
for them to do was to retire for their devotions to a separate place called
Patara, whereupon they were reproachfully called Patarines.50 "They have
given this nickname of Patarines to the Waldenses, because the Waldenses were
those Subalpini in Peter Damian, who at the same time maintained the same
doctrines in the Archbishopric of Turin."51
The maneuvering of the cardinal not only destroyed the agelong
independence of the Milan diocese, but it also transformed the Patarines into a
permanent organization of opposition. Thus, he produced a revolution. By
Lanfranc's opposition, the Papacy had publicized the preachings of Berengarius;
through Humbert's hostility, it had left on the pages of history a mighty
opponent in the Greek Church; through the work of Damian, it had transformed
Milanese dissent into the organized Patarines. Thus the imperious work of these
three papal legates not only alienated the public, but also caused large
additions to Christian congregations clinging to primitive Christianity. Three
new names were now given to the men of the valleys; namely, Berengarians,
Subalpini, and Patarines. Gregory VII, the Imperious Innovator
While the incompatibilities between tradition and the Bible, and
between apostolic and medieval Christianity, were growing in intensity, Pope
Gregory VII (A.D. 1073-1085) assumed the tiara. When chosen as supreme pontiff,
he began immediately to subject the Roman Catholic clergy more completely to the
bishop of Rome. He changed the simpler liturgies, or services of worship,
existing since primitive days to suit later corruptions; he rigidly enforced
celibacy upon the priesthood; and he brought the princes of Europe under his
iron heel.52 He is the pope who made the western emperor, Henry IV, stand
barefooted and bareheaded in the outer court of the castle at Canossa for three
days in winter imploring the forgiveness and support of the offended pontiff.
Gregory's harsh and cruel measures to make the married clergy put away their
wives finally fastened celibacy upon the Roman Catholic Church. It produced such
an opposite effect upon the evangelical groups that it hastened the coming of
the Reformation.
That primitive Christianity was growing strong enough to worry the
pontiff of Rome may be seen in the decree of Urban II, the pope who attempted to
carry on the reforms of Gregory VII. This Vatican ruler issued a bull in 1096
(nearly a century before Peter Waldo) against one of the Waldensian valleys on
the French side of the Alps for being infested with "heresy."53
In the following one hundred years, three other names were bestowed upon
the people known as the Waldenses; namely, Petrobrusians, Henricians, and
Amoldists. But these were more than mere names. Behind each appellation stood
the record of a powerful leader in evangelism. As each new apostle arose, Rome
at first was content to treat him and his followers as a "new sect,"
for by so doing she aimed to cover up the fact that the renewed evangelical wave
sweeping over Europe was another manifestation of the Church in the Wilderness.
Later, however, when primitive Christianity made devastating inroads upon her
flock, she began to persecute, and the Inquisition, the stake, and the torture
chamber followed.
Three important events occurred in the eleventh century which formed a
background for the reactions which produced famous spiritual leaders among the
primitive Christians. The first event was the conquest of England. The second
consisted in the power of Archbishop Lanfranc as spiritual overlord of England
whereby he instituted the policy designed to crash the Celtic Church in Scotland
and Ireland. The third, the Crusades which followed the conquest of England,
made Europe overnight into one vast armed confederacy, with Rome at the head of
the armies moving out of Europe into Asia to rescue Palestine from the
Mohammedans.
Pope Urban II, author of the bull denouncing the "heresy" of
the men of the valleys, summoned all kings, princes, bishops, and abbots to
seize the sword and start for Palestine in 1096. The hour was propitious, for he
had filled the Continent with tradition instead of Bible teachings. Then too,
the masses were brooding over a wrong interpretation of the Apocalypse. A
millennium having passed since the writing of the book, the hour was at hand,
they thought, for the chaining of Satan, for the descent of the Holy City, and
for the final judgment. When pilgrims, returning from Jerusalem and the scenes
of our Savior's journeyings, told the pitiful stories of Moslem cruelties upon
Christians, more fuel was added to the fire. The Vatican sent its agents up and
down the land to inflame them and to crash the Mohammedans and magnify the
leadership of the Roman Catholic Church.
In less than a century and a half there was the crashing defeat of four
Crusades. In the midst of these, Rome aroused the mob and rabble under
bloodthirsty swashbucklers to destroy the beautiful civilization of the
Albigenses in southern France. The eyes of Europe opened. They became satiated
in seeing lands rent with civil feuds and drenched in fraternal blood. Reform
movements grew. Justice depended less upon the caprice of one man. Nationalism
grew. Commerce expanded. The claims of the Roman pontiff grew weaker and weaker,
and the teachings of the Church in the Wilderness grew stronger and stronger. Peter de Bruys
The Crusades had a different effect upon the masses than the Papacy
had anticipated. The Cross was not victorious over the Crescent. The downtrodden
and defeated armies, returning from the East, exposed the folly of papal
policies. They demonstrated to the people that the teachings of Christ should be
lived in a different way. They realized that Christian victories in this life
are not gained by the sword. This drove many to a re-examination of the Holy
Scriptures, and they turned to the Waldenses, Albigenses, and Paulicians -
different names for the same primitive Christians - who had always circulated
translations of the Bible in their native language and who had adopted a simple
church service. Men of profound devotion and great learning were stirred by the
needs of the masses. The twelfth century saw the emergence of three outstanding
evangelical heroes.
First among these in point of time was Peter de Bruys. He was born in the
Waldensian valley on the French side of the Alps which Urban II had declared to
be infested with "heresy." This youth's blood ran warm with
evangelical fervor. The decrees proclaiming that no church council could be
assembled without the consent of the pope had aroused the indignation of
southern France. Peter de Bruys began his work about 1104. One must read the
writings of an abbott, a contemporary and an enemy, to secure much of what can
be learned concerning this evangelical preacher.54
For twenty years Peter de Bruys stirred southern France. There was a deep
spiritual movement among the masses. He brought them back to the Bible and to
apostolic Christianity. His message had the power to transform characters. He
especially emphasized a day of worship that was recognized at that time among
the Celtic churches of the British Isles, among the Paulicians, and in the great
Church of the East; namely, that seventh day of the fourth commandment, the
weekly sacred day of Jehovah. Five centuries later, during heated debates on the
Sabbath, a learned bishop of the Church of England referred to Sabbathkeeping of
the Petrobrusians.55 For centuries evangelical bodies, especially the Waldenses,
were called Insabbati or Ensavates, that is, Insabbatati, because of
Sabbathkeeping.56 "Many took this position," says Ussher.57 The
learned Jesuit, Jacob Gretzer, about 1600, recognized that the Waldenses, the
Albigenses, and the Insabbatati were different names for the same people.58 The
thesis that they were called Insabbatati because of their footwear is
indignantly rejected by the learned Robert Robinson.59 To show how widespread
this term, Insabbatati, was applied to the Waldenses, the following oath is
quoted which the monks directing the Inquisition would extract from prisoners
suspected of holding different religious views from those of the Church of Rome: The
oath by which a person suspected of heresy was to clear himself was this, to be
taken in public. "I, Sancho, swear, by Almighty God and by these holy
gospels of God, which I hold in my hand, before you lord Garcia archbishop, and
before others your assistants, that I am not, nor ever have been, an Inzabbatate
Waldense, or poor person of Lyons, or an heretic of any sect of heresy condemned
by the church; nor do I believe, nor have I ever believed, their errors, nor
will I believe them in any future time of my life: moreover I profess and
protest that I do believe, and that I will always hereafter believe, the
catholic faith, which the holy apostolical church of Rome publicly holds,
teaches and preaches, and you my lord archbishop, and other prelates of the
catholic church publicly hold, preach and teach.60
The worst criticism against the work of Peter de Brays was the branding
of it as a revival of Manichaeism. This has been repeatedly proved to be false.
Nevertheless, many modem historians whose thinking has been distorted by papal
documents, repeat the charge. A century or more before Peter de Brays,
Manichaeism had ceased to be a force in the world. All churches detested its
wild teachings and its idolatrous practices. To make this accusation against
innocent followers of primitive Christianity was to say all manner of evil
against the Petrobrusians. Peter de Bruys was hounded and harassed by his
enemies, and he was finally apprehended and burned at the stake about 1124. The
name, Petrobrusians, was added by papists to the other names already given the
evangelical bodies. Henry of Lausanne
Another great hero of this age is Henry of Lausanne. While the Papacy
was wasting the manpower of Europe in the Crusades, Henry of Lausanne, generally
accepted as a disciple of Peter de Bruys, was changing the characters of men.
Henry was no visionary crusader; he wielded the sword of the Spirit, not the
sword of steel.
As in the case of Peter de Bruys, much that is known of his teachings is
found in a treatise written against him by an abbot.61 To let it be seen how
little information the adversary of Henry possessed in order to write his
treatise, it is only necessary to quote his own words: After
the immolation of Peter de Bruis at St. Giles, through which the zeal of the
faithful in burning him was repaid, and that impious man has passed from
temporal to eternal fire, Henry, the heir of wickedness with I know not what
others, had not so much ammended as altered his Satanic teaching; so that he
lately published in a volume, said to have been dictated by him, not merely five
but many articles. Against which the spirit is stirred again, to oppose Satanic
words with holy speeches. But because I am not yet fully confident that he so
believes and preaches, I will postpone my reply to such a time when I am fully
confident concerning the things reported concerning him.62
This writer confesses that his knowledge comes from hearsay. He
discourses generously about the doctrines of the followers of Peter de Bruys and
of Henry, and at the same time admits that his information is inadequate. This
book of Henry, mentioned by Peter of Cluny, could hardly have failed to
influence both Arnold of Brescia and Peter Waldo, two reformers who followed
after him.
As Henry traveled, labored, prayed, and preached to raise the masses to
triumphant truth, he was assailed by the most commanding figure in the papal
world. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, was the only man with force enough to whip
superstitious Europe into the frenzy of a second crusade. The first crusade had
flickered out so disastrously that the Papacy was compelled to subpoena the
services of Bernard. The word of this champion was powerful enough to decide
even the choice of popes. A number of his poetical compositions, having had the
good fortune to be set to charming music, have been placed by his admirers in
Protestant hymnbooks. He entertained and directed the Irish bishop who did more
than any other man to betray the Celtic Church in Ireland. He trained the Irish
monks who returned home to overthrow the followers of Patrick. He is called
"the oracle of those times." It was this Bernard who poured forth his
biting invectives against Henry. Though he could determine the choice of popes,
though he could throw crusading armies of Europe into Asia, though he could help
to direct the Normanizing and the Romanizing of the Celtic Church in the British
Isles, he could not cower the indefatigable Henry. Bernard summoned the count of
St. Giles to stop Henry by imprisonment and death. He said: How
great are the evils which I have heard and known that the heretic Henry has done
and is daily doing in the churches of God! A ravening wolf in sheep's clothing
is busy in your land, but by our Lord's direction I know him by his fruits. The
churches are without congregations, congregations without priests, priests
without their due reverence, and, worst of all, Christians without Christ.
Churches are regarded as synagogues, the sanctuary of God is said to have no
sanctity, the sacraments are not thought to be sacred, feast days are deprived
of their wonted solemnities.... This man, who says and does things contrary to
God is not from God. Yet, O sad to say, he is listened to by many, and he has a
following which believes in him.... The voice of one heretic has put to silence
all the prophets and apostles.63
Bernard was a relentless persecutor of Peter de Bruys, Henry of Lausanne,
and Arnold of Brescia. Besides assailing them in particular writings, he took
occasion to launch forth his diatribes against the whole evangelical movement of
his day. A letter from a neighboring clergyman in Germany, namely, Evervinus,
bishop of Cologne, asked Bernard to explain why these so-called heretics went to
the stake rejoicing in God. When Bernard wrote an answer to this question, he
called these heretics Apostolicals, giving as his reason for so naming them that
no one could trace them back to the name of any particular founder. He admitted
that the Arians had Arius for a founder; that the Manichaeans had Mani (or
Manes); and the Sabellians had Sabellius; the Eunomians had Eunomius; and the
Nestorians had Nestorius.64 He recognized that all the foregoing bodies bore the
name of their leaders, but he could find no such founder under whom he might
tabulate the hated churches he was fighting, unless, as he concluded, they were
the offspring of demons. The fact that Bernard declared the name of these
Christians to be Apostolicals and that they called themselves after no human
founder, singles them out as descendants of the early primitive church.
The unity of these believers in essential doctrines and the fact that
they were the forerunners of Luther and Calvin has been recognized by eminent
authorities. Thus, Francois Mezeray indicates that there were two sorts of
"heretics": the one ignorant and loose, somewhat of the nature of the
Manichees; the other, more learned and less disorderly, maintaining much the
same doctrines as the Calvinists, and called Henricians and Waldenses.65
Allowance must be made for the papal attitude of this writer. He did not clearly
bring out the fact that the followers of Peter de Bruys and Henry were probably
confounded with the Manichaeans by the bishop and clergy.
There is also the remarkable statement by Gilbert Genebrard who states
definitely that the spiritual fathers of the Calvinists were the Petrobrusians,
the Henricians, and the Albigenses.66
The numerous disciples raised up by Peter de Bruys and Henry of Lausanne
occasioned the calling of ecclesiastical councils to combat the rising tide of
evangelism. In 1119 Pope Calixtus assembled a council at Toulouse, France, in
which "the sentence of excommunication was thundered out against a sect of
heretics in those parts, condemning the eucharist, the baptism of infants, the
priesthood, all ecclesiastical orders, and lawful marriages."67 By lawful
marriages the papists referred to the opposition of the evangelicals to calling
marriage a sacrament, and requiring it to be performed only by a priest.
When Pope Innocent II held a council at Pisa, Italy, in 1134, "the
doctrines taught by a hermit named Henry, were declared heresies and condemned
with their author and all who taught or held them."68 This same pope
convened a general council in Rome five years later to which all the princes of
the West were summoned, and it was a large council. "By the twenty-third
canon of the present council the opinions of Arnold of Brescia were declared
repugnant to the doctrine received by the Catholic Church, and condemned as
such."69 Naturally, such a council would not be held unless it was to deal
with large propositions. As all of these councils were held many years before
Peter Waldo appeared on the scene, the reader can see that evangelism had grown
to be a mighty force before Waldo's time. Arnold of Brescia
To Arnold of Brescia belongs the glory of openly denouncing the
overgrown empire of ecclesiastical tyranny. In his soul were the spirit of both
the evangelist and the general. Arnold was from Brescia, a city with an
independent spirit like Milan and Turin. From there comes the beautiful
Brixianus manuscript, exemplar of the beloved Itala, the first translation of
the New Testament from Greek into Latin, three centuries before Jerome's
Vulgate. Born amid such traditions, Arnold needed only to sit at the feet of the
renowned Abelard to receive the full flame of freedom which was already glowing
within him. From his studies under Abelard he returned to Brescia where his
voice was with power. His words were heard in Switzerland, southern Italy,
Germany, and France. In this latter land, the sensitive ears of Bernard detected
an ominous note in his teachings.
Arnold was far ahead of his age. In fact, he did what the reformers
failed to do. He attacked the union of church and state. Arnold's idealism and
eloquence aroused the people to a high pitch of enthusiasm. Papal bishops and
clergy combined against him. A church synod - ever a potential enemy of progress
- was called, and in 1139 Arnold was condemned to silence and to expulsion from
Brescia.
He fled to Zurich, Switzerland, and again took the field against the
wealth, luxury, and the temporal power of the clergy. He called for a democratic
type of ministry, and he mightily stirred those regions. Even the papal legate,
a future pope, came over to his side. Bernard of Clairvaux promptly reduced that
prospective pope into submission. The bishop of Constance came out for Arnold,
but Bernard frightened him out of any further participation in Arnoldism. The
lordly Cistercian monk demanded that all of Arnold's books and writings be
burned. This was done.
But in spite of this bitter opposition, Arnold labored on. The soil was
good, and the reformer scattered the seeds far and wide. Who knows but that the
future strength of Switzerland in her stand for freedom and religious liberty
was due in some measure to the sowing of Arnold. The papists could not forgive
his opposition to certain doctrines. He preached against transubstantiation,
infant baptism, and prayers for the dead.70 Because of this, Bernard of
Clairvaux continually pressed for the execution of Arnold.
Meanwhile events were taking place in Rome. That city had come out for
civil government. The pope fled, but as he went out, Arnold came in. The people
welcomed him in a frenzy of enthusiasm. Here is where Arnold compromised his
truly evangelical lead by sanctioning, if not directing, the masses in using
force. Here is where a flaw affected his vision. Possessing unopposed
leadership, however, he divorced religion from the civil government in the city.
He restored the Roman senate. The old glories of Italy returned. His opposition
to tradition, to unacceptable ceremonies, and to unscriptural doctrines
encouraged the believers in the New Testament. Primitive Christians lifted up
their heads, and their followers multiplied everywhere. Papal writers promptly
declared that a new sect had been founded, whom they called the Arnoldists.
Then the pope and the emperor leagued against Arnold. He soon learned
that they who take the sword shall perish by the sword. The fickle crowd
deserted him and his political friends took to cover. After the pope at the head
of an army had driven Arnold out of Rome, he was taken by the armed forces of
the emperor. His body was burned and his ashes were thrown into the Tiber River.
Thus perished a fearless leader who, single-handed, dared to denounce the
unholy union of church and state. He had no visible support upon which to rely
except the vigorous assent of the human mind to the greatness of his message.
His effect upon future generations was far-reaching. "The Waldenses look up
to Arnold as to one of the spiritual founders of their churches; and his
religious and political opinions probably fostered the spirit of republican
independence which throughout Switzerland and the whole Alpine district was
awaiting its time."71
That the provinces of southern France were crowded with the followers of
Peter de Bruys and Henry long before Waldo or his followers began to labor there
is seen in the letter written about 1150 by the archbishop of Narbonne to King
Louis VII: "My Lord the King, we are extremely pressed with many
calamities, amongst which there is one that most of all affects us, which is,
that the Catholic faith is extremely shaken in our diocese, and St. Peter's boat
is so violently tossed by the waves, that it is in great danger of
sinking."72
Still further testimony is given by Pope Leo, as is recorded in The
Annals of Roger de Hoveden in the year 1178 as follows: Wherefore,
inasmuch as in Gascony the Albigeois, and other places inhabited by the heretics
whom some style "Catam," others "Publicani" and others
"Paterini," and others call by other names, their damnable
perverseness has waxed so strong that they practice their wickedness no longer,
in secret as elsewhere, but publicly expose their errors, and draw the simple
and weak to be their accomplices, we do decree them and their protectors and
harborers to be excommunicated.73 The Nobla Lecon
If no spiritual movement among men is great unless it has produced a
glorious literature, then the message of the Waldenses can be called great.
Among other products remaining from the writings of this martyred and wonderful
people mention should be made of the Nobla Lecon (Noble Lesson) written
in the Romaunt tongue, the common language of the south of Europe from the
eighth to the fourteenth century. Its opening words claim that the date of the
composition was 1100. On it the people to whom the treatise belongs is
definitely called the Vaudois, and this is nearly a century before Peter Waldo.
Much study has been made to determine whether the statement regarding 1100 is
from the author or authors of the Nobla Lecon, or is from another hand.
There has also been considerable thought given to the commencement of the 1100
years.
The Nobla Lecon begins, "Hear, oh brothers, a Noble
Lesson." Then there appears before the reader a sublime presentation of the
origin and the story of the plan of redemption. The Nobla Lecon stands
for the eternal moral obligation of the Ten Commandments, and in that light it
presents the great expiation on the cross. One is led along step by step in
considering what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon man in such divine
provisions for his ransom from the fall. Its soft and glowing terms stir the
soul. No one can read the chapter by Peter Allix in which he analyzes and
presents the message of the Nobla Lecon without feeling that a great
contribution has been made to the world's literature. Peter Waldo
Mention is now made of that famous individual, Peter Waldo. Some
authorities claim that the name Waldo was derived from the Waldenses because of
his prominent work among them. Whether this is true or not, we do know that from
his time on the name Waldenses was more generally used to indicate those large
reforming bodies which had previously been called "men of the
valleys," or Vallenses, Albigenses, Insabbatati, Berengarians, Subalpini,
Patarines, Petrobrusians, Henricians, Arnoldists, and other names.
Peter Waldo of Lyons, France, began his work somewhere between 1160 and
1170. He was a wealthy merchant who gave away all his goods and began to preach
the genuine doctrines of the New Testament. He claimed the Papacy to be the
"man of sin," and the beast of the Apocalypse. He devoted much time to
translating and distributing the Bible. |