Opinions of Ancient Waldenses, Opinions of Modern Waldenses, 6. "He forbade service unto idols." Nobla Leyçon. 6. "That those who are already in possession of eternal "The work of Antichrist life by their faith and good perverts the worship properly works, ought to be considered as due to God alone, by giving it to the creature, to saints deceased, to images, carcases, and relics, to things senseless, and insensible." Treatise on Antichrist. saints and glorified persons, and to be praised for their virtues, and imitated in all good actions of their life, but neither worshipped nor prayed unto, for God only is to be prayed unto, and that through Jesus Christ.' Confession of 1655. " "Dost thou adore or worship any other thing? No. Because of the commandment, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." Catechism now in use. K Some of Reiner's marks, &c. 7. "They do not honour the sepulchres of the saints, and they deny that masses, prayers, or oblations, can profit the dead." Opinions corresponding, &c. 7. "Therefore when she understood that the pious bishop (Ambrose of Milan) had forbidden honour to be paid at the graves of departed believers, lest it should seem to be in imitation of the superstitious practices of the Gentiles, she willingly abstained." Quoted as a record of the opinion of Ambrose bishop of Milan. Conf. Aug. lib vi. cap. 2. 8. "They maintain that it is sinful to take an oath, and cite Matthew, v. 34. against all swearing." 8. Chromatius, bishop of Aquileia, in the fifth century, maintained that the Gospel forbids all kinds of swearing. See Serm. 2. p. 168. and Bib. Patr. tom. 5. P. 976. "Since all oaths are forbidden to Christians, it is highly reprehensible that priests should compel others to do that, which they ought to avoid themselves. For Christ says, I say unto you swear not at all." Atto, bishop of Verceil, A.D. 950. Spicil. Dacherii. vol. 8. p. 50. Opinions of Ancient Walden- Opinions of Modern Walden ses, &c. ses, &c. 7. "A dead faith is to believe in other things besides 7. "The priest promises him pardon, and tells false tales, about saying mass for him and Christ: that is to say, in relics his ancestors." Nobla Leyçon. of the dead, in worshipping, "The errors and impurities of honouring, and serving the Antichrist, are pilgrimages, ob- creature by prayers, by fasting, lations, sacrifices of great price, by sacrifices, by donations, by celebrations of masses, vespers, offerings, by pilgrimages, by vigils, intercessions, deliverances invocations, &c." Ancient Cafrom purgatory." Treatise on techism now in use. Antichrist. SECTION IV. THE PURITY OF THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH, AND THE TESTIMONY OF THEIR OWN DOCUMENTS. THE only fair and correct estimate which can be made of the doctrine and discipline of a religious community, is that which is formed upon their own documents and declarations-" Judge of us, not from the articles of faith which our enemies have drawn up in our name, but from those which we ourselves have deliberately framed, of which we have signified our approbation, and which we have solemnly and publicly avowed." This is what every Christian body has a right to demand, and the Waldenses, happily for their own sakes, and for the cause of truth, can point to treatises, to confessions of faith, to catechisms, and other instruments of unquestionable authenticity, and of great antiquity, by which they are willing to be tried. "These," say they, "contain the sentiments of our forefathers, and our own-they are of seven hundred years standing at the least, and herein is be found a plain exposition of the belief, the discipline, and the morality of the Waldensian Church. "The Noble Lesson,-" The Ancient Confession of Faith,"-" The Catechism of the Ancient Waldenses," and "The Treatise of An tichrist'," are the principal documents to which an appeal is made. These are believed by the Vaudois themselves to -belong to the beginning of the 12th century, and to have been composed between 1100, and 1120. The dates were found on some old parchment copies, which were saved from destruction during the persecutions of the seventeenth century. Competent judges, admitting the antiquity of some, have been inclined to question the age of others of these MSS. but, after having given my best attention to the subject, I cannot come to any other conclusion than this; if any of the copies, bearing upon the face of them the dates 1100 and 1120, contain internal evidence that they were written in the 13th or 14th centuries, they also contain internal proof of consisting, in part, of transcripts from MSS. of an age quite as remote as any for which we would contend. It is likely, that some of the treatises were originally composed in 1100 and 1120; that, from these, transcripts were occasionally made at after periods, which contained, in addition to their original matter, certain interpolations, such as divisions of Scriptural passages by chapter and 1 See Leger's Histoire des Eglises Vaudoises, and Morland's "History of the Evangelical Churches of the Valleys of Piemont," for copies of these expositions. It is there stated that several copies of very ancient appearance have been preserved, with dates noted upon each, some of 1100, others of 1120, one of 1126. |