It appears to me morally certain that the Seventh-day Baptists may trace through the Waldenses, at least that portion of them who were never united to the Church of Rome, an uninterrupted succession to the apostolic age. Indeed, of all the multitude of writers who have treated of this people, all, without exception, are unanimous in declaring that they rejected all the feasts and festivals of the church, as well as infant baptism, and would not observe any ordinance which they did not read of in Scripture. Others, especially the ancient Catholics, accuse them of Judaism, because, according to their testimony, they kept the Jewish Sabbath. The Council of Lombez derided the Good Men of Lyons as Sabbatharians. They were condemned by the Lateran Council of 1139 for refusing to observe the festivals of the church,[27] and the same accusation was brought against them in canons, synods, chronicles, conferences, decrees, sermons, homilies, bulls, confessions, creeds, liturgies, &c. It is hardly possible that all this concurrent testimony, published at different times and in different countries, could have been fabricated. It is barely possible that such men as Evervinus, of Steinfield; Peter, Abbot of Clugny; Ecbertus Schonangiensis, a very celebrated author in his day; Ermengendus, a ruler both spiritual and temporal; Alexander III., in council; Alanus Magnus; Izam, the troubadour, and an inquisitor; Favin, Mazeray, Reineirus Saccho, etc., could have been mistaken upon this point. But we are not to conclude that no persons bearing the name of Waldenses saw and imitated the practices of the Catholics, in the observance of the holydays of the church. That many of them, particularly those branches that seceded from the Church of Rome, paid a superstitious veneration to the Dominical day, we are ready to admit. We have no data for tracing the extent of those persons who held the truth unsophisticated. A considerable portion of the writers to whom reference has been made were Catholics,—men high in office in that church, and justly distinguished for natural and acquired abilities. As this class of men placed great reliance upon tradition and custom for the defence of their forms and ceremonies, and laid no claim to Scripture testimony or command to sanction the rites of their church, it is not strange that they should be open and unreserved in all their details of the facts, and in the freedom of their comments on ancient affairs, which go to prove the Sabbatarian character of the heretical sects. With modern writers, particularly those of English and German extraction, the case is materially different, as they belong to a class which repudiates all arguments from any source but the Scriptures for Sunday-keeping, and who take unusual pains to date the origin of Sabbatarianism as late as possible. Indeed, as it appears that the term Sabbatharians was first bestowed upon this very ancient and holy people, I must consider it as a most honourable appellation when applied to our denomination. I am surprised, that though Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and every other class of Protestant dissenters, have striven to establish an affinity with the old Waldenses, our own denomination have remained so inert upon the matter. Can it be possible that among all our ministers not one was acquainted with the facts bearing upon this case?
I must confess that it gives me inexpressible pleasure to think that we have conclusive testimony, that, for so many centuries, in the midst, too, of Catholic countries, God had reserved to himself such a goodly number who had not bowed the knee to Baal, and whose mouths had not kissed him; for certainly next to idolatry is that sin which would substitute for doctrines the commandments of men, and neglect the Sabbath of God's appointment, giving preference to a man-made institution.
There is something extremely ridiculous in the manner in which modern writers attempt to explain this feature in the faith of the ancient Waldenses, and in this particular they are highly favoured by the popular prejudices of the day. They bring long quotations from ancient Roman authors to prove that the Waldenses rejected every ordinance not commanded in the Scripture, but are very careful not to inform their readers that in the opinion of the same authors, Sunday-keeping was one of those ordinances. "Because they would not observe the festivals of Christ and the saints," says an author of this stamp, "they were falsely supposed to neglect the Sabbath also." However, he suppresses the fact that, whatever title Sunday may bear in modern phraseology, in the times of which we are speaking it was neither spoken of nor regarded as the Sabbath, but as a festival of the church the same as Easter or Christmas. All authorities are unanimous in declaring that the Waldenses had been from time immemorial in the possession of the Holy Scriptures, and that all, even the children, were deeply read in them. The French Bible was translated from the original manuscript which the Waldenses had retained, according to the testimony of the translators, from the times of the Apostles, and which they handed down, in their native tongue, from generation to generation. The following quotation may serve to give some idea of their proficiency in the Scriptures:—
"In the time of a great persecution of the Waldenses of Merendol and Provence," says Perrin, "a certain monk was deputed by the Bishop of Cavaillon to hold a conference with them, that they might be convinced of their errors, and the effusion of blood prevented. But the monk returned in confusion, owning that, in his whole life, he had never known so much of the Scriptures as he had learned during the few days that he had been conversing with the heretics. The Bishop, however, sent among them a number of doctors, young men who had lately come from the Sorbonne, which, at that time, was the very centre of theological subtlety at Paris. One of these publicly owned that he understood more of the doctrine of salvation from the answers of little children in their catechisms, than by all the disputations he had ever heard before." A Dominican inquisitor declared that for the first time in his life he heard the ten commandments of the Decalogue from the mouth of a Waldensian heretic.
That the deportment and daily walk of the Waldenses was conformable with their religious profession and scriptural knowledge, we have every reason to believe. Reinerus Saccho declares that they live righteously before men, believing rightly concerning God in every particular, and holding all the articles contained in the Apostle's Creed. "The first lesson," says he, "that the Waldenses teach those whom they bring over to their party, is to instruct them what kind of persons the disciples of Christ ought to be, and this they do by the doctrine of the evangelists and apostles, saying that those only are the followers of the apostles who imitate their manner of life."
An ancient inquisitor gives of them the following account:—
"These heretics are known by their manners and conversation, for they are orderly and modest in their behaviour and deportment. They avoid all appearance of pride in their dress; they neither indulge in finery of attire, nor are they remarkable for being mean and ragged. They avoid commerce, that they may be free from falsehood and deceit. They get their livelihood by manual industry, as day labourers or mechanics, and their teachers are weavers or tailors. They are not anxious about amassing riches, but content themselves with the necessaries of life. They are chaste, temperate, and sober. They abstain from anger. Even when they work they either learn or teach. In like manner, also, their women are modest, avoiding backbiting, foolish jesting, and levity of speech, especially abstaining from lies or swearing."
It may be interesting to notice in this connexion some of the peculiarities of their religious practices.
They constantly appealed to the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament, as their only guide and rule of faith and practice as to religious duties. They are perpetually accused by Catholic writers of rejecting all human institutions, traditions, and inventions, and both friends and foes are unanimous in confessing that there was scarcely a person among them, either man, or woman, or child, that was not better acquainted with Holy Writ than the doctors of the church. They were likewise accused of being without priests. This must be understood as applying to the absence among them of a certain class of men paid or pensioned by yearly salaries for discharging the ministrations of the gospel. An old historian who was intimately acquainted with their affairs, observes, "That they severely denounce the whole body of the clergy on account of their idle course of life, and say that they ought to labour with their hands, as did the Apostles."
Another says—"Their preachers are weavers and mechanics, who get their own living, and are not chargeable upon their hearers." The same author goes on to say that even their missionaries were accustomed to travel from place to place in the character of travelling merchants; and this, he assures us, subserved to good purposes; first, they were enabled to support themselves; and second, they gained thereby readier access to persons of rank and fortune.