Of The True Baptism.

Nevertheless, in the midst of these storms and billows of antichrist, God preserved the ark of his church, so that many persons still remained, who, notwithstanding the manifold troubles and persecutions that came upon them on this account, practiced and maintained the true worship of God, particularly in opposition to infant baptism, the office of criminal authority, the swearing of oaths, and almost all other superstitions of the Roman church.

A. D. 1206.—In the beginning, yea, before the beginning of this century, and so through a number of years, the doctrine of the ancient Anabaptists increased not a little, which appeared more particularly in the year 1206, when they had so increased in many countries, that the wiles and power of the Roman church were not sufficient to bring them to apostatize, much less to exterminate them.

Concerning this, P. J. Twisck gives the following description: “The adherents of the doctrine of Peter de Bruis and Henry of Toulouse, Anabaptists, mentioned for the year 1135, which doctrine afterwards was also followed by the Waldenses (see the year 1159), multiplied so greatly about this time, namely, A. D. 1206, that few were found in the provinces of Albi, Languedoc, Narbonne, Gascony, Rouergue, and Toulouse, who did not adhere to said doctrine, notwithstanding Pope Innocent III. very cruelly opposed it. See account for the year 1198.

The principal points of their doctrine, besides others, were these: 1. That the Roman church was the whore of Babylon. 2. That her polity was impure and corrupted. 3. That the mass was a work replete with wickedness, and instituted neither by Christ nor by his disciples. Chron. p. 523, col. 1 and 2, from Chron. Nicol. Gill., fol. 286. Guil. Merul., fol. 798, Henr. Boxh., fol. 22.

A. D. 1218.—For this year mention is made by Sebastian Franck, of the ancient Waldenses, whom he calls by three different names, The Poor, Insabbatati and Waldenses. However, that they together were but one people, has already been proved. Said author writes thus concerning them: “These originated A. D. 1218, under Emperor Louis IV. They are also excommunicated in the bull of the Lord’s Supper, and hold:

1. “That men ought not to swear at all, not even to the truth.

2. “That no Judge, who would be a Christian, may put to death any one, not even a malefactor.

3. “That the pious person who holds to the faith of the Roman church, can not be saved.

4. “That an ungodly priest can not consecrate.

5. “That the church perished at the time of Sylvester.

6. “That they are not subject, neither intend to be, to the Pope or to other prelates.”

Then follow several other articles of their doctrine, which, for the sake of brevity, we will pass over; for instance, that they held: “That outside of their church there was no sacrament nor baptism (which completely overthrows the infant baptism of the Roman church); that they denied purgatory; that they counted the mass, alms, and prayers for the dead of no value, yea, that they regarded them as the inventions of priestcraft; that honoring the saints had not the slightest merit, and that they do not hear our prayers in heaven.”

These and similar articles are adduced there, from Aeneas, Sylvius and other writers, as charges against the Waldenses; of which the intelligent may judge. Seb. Fr. Chron. der Rom. Kett., fol. 119, col. 4, letter P.

A. D. 1230.—It is stated that the Waldenses, whose good confession we have already shown, declared at this time in the proceedings which it seems they had against the Pope, that their numbers were so great in Germany, France and Italy, and especially in Lombardy—where their teachers lived, to whom they annually sent sustenance from other countries—that any one of them traveling from his country to Milan, could lodge every night with one of his own persuasion, whom they recognized by by certain marks on the door or upon the roof. P. J. Twisck, Chron., p. 546, col. 2, from Henr. Boxh., fol. 25.

A. D. 1238.—Or about 1239, the Waldenses had thus increased in France and Flanders, that a certain Dominican monk, Robert Boulgre, sent as inquisitor by Pope Gregory IX., put to death a countless multitude of them; of which more will be said hereafter. P. J. Twisck, Chron., p. 554, col. 1.

A. D. 1242.—At this time, said people had to suffer much from popery, on account of their faith 291 and religion, which in the bishopric of Toulouse alone, appeared in the case of about two hundred persons, who held said belief, and were called Waldenses; of whose imprisonment and death we shall speak in the future. P. J. Twisck, Chron., p. 557, col. 1.

A. D. 1259.—At this time, or thereabouts, Gerard Sagarellas, an Italian, but a doctor of Paris, wrote a book against the Franciscans, whereupon Bonaventura, General of the Franciscan order, replied; however, of this Gerard and his belief, as also of that of the Waldenses, we shall speak more fully hereafter. We would only stop to say that from this time on, his disciples, the Fratricelli, or Little Brothers, after the year 1285, called Dulcinists, began secretly (from fear of persecution) to hold their meetings in the mountains of Piedmont, and Novara, in Lombardy, professing the doctrine of the Waldenses. However, from the different places where they lived, they received different names; but the appellation Fratricelli or Frerots, was especially given them, because they called each other brethren in Christ; nevertheless the mouths of the scorners thus spoke only the truth, since Christ himself so called his disciples, saying: “All ye are brethren,” Matt. 23:8; and “I will declare thy name (O God) unto my brethren; in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee,” Hebr. 2:12.

A. D. 1262.—At this time the Waldenses are again mentioned, who lived in Lombardy, and in the country of Genoa, and professed a sound profession, though they were called heretics by the papists, and were oppressed and persecuted by open decrees of the Roman see; which shall be spoken of more fully elsewhere. Compare Bzov., A. D. 1262. Art. 3, ex Decret. Epist. Alexand. IV., with A. Mell., Hist., fol. 470, col. 2.

A. D. 1280.—In this year it is recorded that said people professing the above profession (namely, the Waldenses, then called Waldois, after Waldo and his adherents, were expelled from Lyons), so multiplied in Lombardy that their doctrine, having spread in Italy, penetrated even into Sicily; as is attested by the open letters emitted against them by the Emperor Frederick II.

As regards their faith, the following articles, over and above what has already been mentioned, respecting their views against infant baptism, the office of criminal authority, the swearing of oaths, etc., were laid to their charge, as can be gleaned from the writings of Reinerius, the priest: That in the matter of salvation we must believe only the holy Scriptures, and in no wise depend on men. That said Scriptures contain everything that is necessary to salvation; and that nothing is to be received but what is commanded of God. That there is but one Mediator (Christ), and, consequently, that the saints ought not to be invoked. That there is no purgatory, but that all who are justified in Christ, enter into life everlasting, and those who do not believe, shall be cast into eternal death; thus denying that there is still besides a third or fourth place.

They accepted and admitted but two sacraments, namely, holy baptism and the holy Supper. They said that all masses, particularly those for the dead, should be rejected; likewise all human institutions, and that they ought not to be considered necessary to salvation. They also taught that the chanting, the hours, the fasting connected with certain days, superfluous feast-days, distinction of food, the many degrees and orders of priests, monks, and nuns, the benedictions and consecrations of creatures, vows, pilgrimages, in short, the vast medley of ceremonies which in the times past had been brought into vogue, ought to be abolished. They denied the supremacy of the Pope, especially as exercised by him over secular government, and admitted no other degrees in church offices than bishops, teachers (then called priests), and deacons. They said that the Roman see is the true Babylon, and the Pope the fountain of all misery; that the marriage of the priests (or teachers) is good, and necessary in the church; that those who hear and rightly understand the word of God, are the true church, to which Christ has given the keys, to let the sheep in, and to drive away the wolves. “Behold here,” says the writer, “the sum of the doctrine of the Waldoes (or Waldenses), which was oppugned by the enemies of truth, and on account of which they, according to the testimony of their opponents, were persecuted.” P. J. Twisck, Chron., p. 605, col. 2, and p. 606, col. 1, from the Staet der Kerchen, Jan. Cresp., fol. 314, 315, 316. Merul., fol. 843. Henr. Boxh., fol. 19, 25.

A. D. 1284.—At this time the Waldenses, according to Twisck, multiplied more and more in France and other countries of Christendom, though they were sought with craftiness and cruelly persecuted, and even previously every means and all diligence had been employed to utterly extirpate them; which greatly astonished certain bishops of that time, and also certain lawyers of Avignon, in certain consultations held against them, and still extant. P. J. Twisck, Chron., p. 611, col. 2.

Concerning the form or mode of baptism, Alexander165 (p. 4, q. 11, m. 1), in this century, says: “Baptism shall be administered in confession of faith in the Holy Trinity.” Jac. Mehr., Bapt. Hist., p. 726.

Centuria 13, of the Madgeburg Centuriators, cap. 5, fol. 216, 217, from Cesarius, states “That the Waldenses and Albigenses rejected baptism at this time, saying that it was inefficacious and useless; which they, as Jacob Mehrning writes, understood of infant baptism, which is administered without instruction and faith; for the Waldenses had a very high regard for the baptism of Christ, as administered according to his ordinance.” Bapt. Hist., pp. 733, 734.

Note.—A. D. 1287.—Probus, Bishop of Tullo, was at this time so enlightened of God that he not only opposed Pope Honorius IV., but also delivered an excellent oration, in which he freely exposed the errors of the papists. Compare Catal. Test. fol. 654, with the 13th book van den Ondergang, p. 614, col. 1.

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A. D., 1299.—In the year 1299 certain Albigenses and Waldenses, called Fratricelli, or Little Brothers (of whose faith and life we have spoken elsewhere), became so odious to Boniface VIII., Pope of Rome, on account of their uprightness, which the papists called falseness, that he declared them heretics; but as we intend elsewhere to speak more fully of their belief and walk among men, we will content ourselves here with merely mentioning them; it being sufficient for us that these people and their doctrine existed until the very close of this century. See in the large Christen Martelaersboeck, edition 1619, fol. 471, from Trithem. Chron. Hirsaug.

Proceeding to the close of the century, we will close with the conclusion of Jacob Mehrning, which is a reply to A. Mellinus, who did his best to show that the Waldenses did not well accord with the Anabaptists in the article of baptism. Mehrning replies to him as follows: “Abraham Mellinus (in his large Nederlandtsch Martelaers book) dared to say: ‘The Waldenses would not agree with the so-called Anabaptists in the article of infant baptism.’ But the good man forgets that he himself has adduced testimonies from Bernard, Peter Cluniacensis, and from the Madgeburg Centuries,166 which refute and condemn this supposed error of the ancient Waldenses, namely, that they should have believed in infant baptism.” Bapt. Hist, p. 736.