Of the True Baptism

Still, in the midst of these storms and waves of antichrist, God preserved the ark of His church, so that many people still remained who, in spite of the many troubles and persecutions that came upon them for this reason, practiced and maintained the true worship of God, particularly in opposition to infant baptism, the office of criminal authority, the swearing of oaths, and nearly all the other superstitions of the Roman church.

In the year 1206. At the beginning, indeed, before the beginning of this century, and on through a number of years, the doctrine of the ancient Anabaptists increased not a little. This appeared most clearly in the year 1206, when they had so increased in many countries that the cunning and the power of the Roman church were not enough to make them apostatize, much less to wipe them out.

Concerning this, P. J. Twisck gives the following description: "The followers of the doctrine of Peter de Bruis and Henry of Toulouse, Anabaptists, mentioned under the year 1135, a doctrine which afterward was followed also by the Waldenses (see the year 1159), multiplied so greatly about this time, namely, in the year 1206, that few people were found in the provinces of Albi, Languedoc, Narbonne, Gascony, Rouergue, and Toulouse who did not hold to that doctrine, even though Pope Innocent the Third opposed it very cruelly. [n423-2] See the account for the year 1198.

The chief points of their doctrine, besides others, were these: 1. That the Roman church was the whore of Babylon. 2. That her government was impure and corrupt. 3. That the mass was a work full of wickedness, instituted neither by Christ nor for His disciples. Chron., page 523, columns 1 and 2, from Chron. Nicol. Gill., folio 286, Guil. Merul., folio 798, Henr. Boxh., folio 22.

In the year 1218. Under this year Sebastian Franck mentions the ancient Waldenses, whom he calls by three different names: the Poor, Insabbatati, and Waldenses. But that together they were only one people has already been proved. This author writes about them as follows: "These arose in the year 1218, under Emperor Louis the Fourth. They are also excommunicated in the bull of the Lord's Supper, and they hold

1. "That people ought not to swear at all, not even to the truth.

2. "That no judge who would be a Christian may put anyone to death, not even a criminal.

3. "That the pious person who holds to the faith of the Roman church cannot be saved.

4. "That an ungodly priest cannot consecrate.

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

6. "That they are not subject to the pope or to other prelates, nor do they intend to be."

Then follow several other articles of their doctrine, which we will pass over for the sake of brevity; for instance, that they held: "That outside their church there was no sacrament and no 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 as worth nothing, indeed, 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 brought forward there, from Aeneas Sylvius and other writers, as charges against the Waldenses; of which the discerning may judge. Seb. Fr. Chron. der Rom. Kett., folio 119, column 4, letter P.

In the year 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 sent support every year from other countries, that any one of them traveling from his own country to Milan could lodge every night with someone of his own persuasion, whom they knew by certain marks on the door or on the roof. P. J. Twisck, Chron., page 546, column 2, from Henr. Boxh., folio 25.

In the year 1238. Or about 1239, the Waldenses had so increased in France and Flanders that a certain Dominican monk, Robert Boulgre, sent as inquisitor by Pope Gregory the Ninth, put to death a countless multitude of them; of which more will be said later. P. J. Twisck, Chron., page 554, column 1.

In the year 1242. At this time these people had to suffer much from popery on account of their faith and religion. In the bishopric of Toulouse alone this appeared in the case of about two hundred people who held that belief and were called Waldenses; of whose imprisonment and death we shall speak later. P. J. Twisck, Chron., page 557, column 1.

In the year 1259. At this time, or about then, Gerard Sagarellas, an Italian but a doctor of Paris, wrote a book against the Franciscans, to which Bonaventura, General of the Franciscan order, replied. But of this Gerard and his belief, and of that of the Waldenses as well, we shall speak more fully later. We will only pause 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. But from the different places where they lived they received different names; the name Fratricelli, or Frerots, was given them especially because they called each other brothers in Christ. Yet in this the mouths of the scorners spoke only the truth, since Christ Himself called His disciples by that name, saying: "All of you are brothers" (Matthew 23, verse 8); and "I will declare Your name (O God) to my brothers; in the midst of the church I will sing praise to You" (Hebrews 2, verse 12).

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

In the year 1280. In this year it is recorded that these people who made the profession named above (namely, the Waldenses, then called Waldois, after Waldo and his followers, who were expelled from Lyons) so multiplied in Lombardy that their doctrine, having spread through Italy, reached even into Sicily; as the open letters issued against them by the Emperor Frederick the Second testify.

As for 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, and so on, were charged against them, as can be gathered from the writings of Reinerius, the priest: That in the matter of salvation we must believe only the holy Scriptures, and in no way depend on men. That these Scriptures contain everything that is necessary to salvation, and that nothing is to be received except what God commands. That there is only one Mediator (Christ), and therefore that the saints ought not to be called upon. That there is no purgatory, but that all who are justified in Christ enter into everlasting life, and those who do not believe will be cast into eternal death; thus denying that there is besides these any third or fourth place.

They accepted and admitted only two sacraments, namely, holy baptism and the holy Supper. They said that all masses, particularly those for the dead, should be rejected, and likewise all human institutions, and that these ought not to be considered necessary to salvation. They also taught that the chanting, the hours, the fasting tied to certain days, needless feast days, the distinction of foods, the many degrees and orders of priests, monks, and nuns, the blessings and consecrations of created things, vows, pilgrimages, in short, the vast jumble of ceremonies which in times past had been brought into use, ought to be abolished. They denied the supremacy of the pope, especially as he exercised it 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 the wolves away. "See here," says the writer, "the sum of the doctrine of the Waldoes (or Waldenses), which was attacked by the enemies of truth, and on account of which they, according to the testimony of their opponents, were persecuted." P. J. Twisck, Chron., page 605, column 2, and page 606, column 1, from the Staet der Kerchen, Jan. Cresp., folio 314, 315, 316. Merul., folio 843. Henr. Boxh., folio 19, 25.

In the year 1284. At this time the Waldenses, according to Twisck, multiplied more and more in France and in other countries of Christendom, though they were hunted with craftiness and cruelly persecuted, and though even before this every means and all diligence had been used to wipe them out completely; which greatly astonished certain bishops of that time, and also certain lawyers of Avignon, in certain consultations held against them that are still in existence. P. J. Twisck, Chron., page 611, column 2.

Concerning the form or mode of baptism, Alexander* (part 4, question 11, member 1), in this century, says: [n423-1] "Baptism shall be administered in confession of faith in the Holy Trinity." Jac. Mehr., Bapt. Hist., page 726.

Centuria 13, of the Magdeburg Centuriators, chapter 5, folio 216, 217, from Cesarius, states "That the Waldenses and Albigenses rejected baptism at this time, saying that it was powerless 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., pages 733, 734.

NOTE. In the year 1287. Probus, Bishop of Tullo, was at this time so enlightened by God that he not only opposed Pope Honorius the Fourth, but also delivered an excellent oration in which he freely exposed the errors of the papists. Compare Catal. Test., folio 654, with the 13th book van den Ondergang, page 614, column 1.

In the year 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 hateful to Boniface the Eighth, Pope of Rome, on account of their uprightness, which the papists called falseness, that he declared them heretics. But since we intend to speak more fully elsewhere of their belief and their walk among men, we will be content here with simply mentioning them; it is enough for us that these people and their doctrine existed until the very close of this century. See in the large Christen Martelaersboeck, edition of 1619, folio 471, from Trithem. Chron. Hirsaug.

Coming to the close of the century, we will end with the conclusion of Jacob Mehrning, which is a reply to A. Mellinus, who did his best to show that the Waldenses did not agree well 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 brought forward testimonies from Bernard, Peter Cluniacensis, and from the Magdeburg Centuries,* which refute and condemn this supposed error of the ancient Waldenses, namely, that they are said to have believed in infant baptism." Bapt. Hist., page 736.

AN ACCOUNT OF THOSE WHO SUFFERED IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY