SECTION IV.
SEMI-JUDAISERS—THEIR ORIGIN, HISTORY, ETC.
We have already seen that the different branches of the great Waldensian community were known under a variety of names, which were generally significative of some distinguished leader among them, the country whence they came, or something descriptive of their peculiar tenets.
The epithet of Semi-Judaisers, which was applied as a term of reproach to a sect which flourished in Transylvania, Holland, and some parts of Germany, and even extended itself into Russia and Poland, in the latter part of the fourteenth and during the commencement of the fifteenth centuries, is of itself sufficient to show the Sabbatarian character of the people it was designed to distinguish. To Judaise, Judaising, and Judaisers, being synonymous terms of reproach, or rather terms appellative,—the former to signify the action of sabbatizing, and the latter to designate the person by whom the Sabbath was thus observed. Of this we have abundant testimony. The Council of Laodicea, in 350, passed a decree, in which Christians are reproved for Judaising. "If any be found Judaising, let him be anathematized," was the language of these pretended fathers of the church.[32] Athanasius says, "We assemble on Saturday, not that we are infected with Judaism;" thus repelling a charge which, in every age and country, has been affixed as a stigma to Sabbath-keepers.
The first glimpse that I have been able to obtain of this sect is given by an old German author, whose works were published at Antwerp, in 1667. In speaking of the religious parties and factions which agitated the country, he says: "As to the people called by their enemies the Semi-Judaisers, it is certain that they originated from a colony of the persecuted Waldenses, who fled from Lombardy into Bohemia about 1450, and thence removed into Transylvania, which subsequently became their headdquarters. They say that the law of Moses is binding upon Christians, and, accordingly, solemnize divine service upon Saturday, or the old Sabbath."
As to the outward circumstances of this people, they were generally among the industrious poor,—mechanics and husbandmen. They were never in squalid wretchedness or beggarly destitution, when left to enjoy the fruits of their industry. Many of them, both male and female, became inmates of the households of the great, in the capacity of nurses and servants, and were greatly esteemed on account of their sobriety, intelligence, and faithfulness. Others settled on the outskirts of the neglected domains of the nobility, where they soon converted the barren wastes into productive fields, and reared new and flourishing settlements, to the great satisfaction of the landlords.
From the very brief and imperfect accounts that I have been able to obtain concerning them, there does not appear to have been anything strange or singular in their manner of worship. They took the Scriptures for their guide, rejected all Popish ceremonies, inventions, and institutions, administered baptism by immersion, and contended that the church of Christ should be inaccessible to unholy and unregenerate persons. Their ministers were allowed no salaries, and were not distinguished from the lay brethren by any superior authority or attainments. All who felt disposed to do so were permitted to teach, "or prophesy," and in this particular they seem to have strongly resembled the Quakers.
That they possessed a decided missionary spirit is evident from the fact that their doctrines were secretly and silently, but very effectually, disseminated throughout many parts of Europe, where they took deep and lasting root.
Subsequent to their removal into Bohemia, they became incorporated with the United Bohemian Brethren, whose numbers were considerable in every part of the empire. Scarcely, however, were they reduced to order, when a terrible persecution was set on foot by the Catholic party, and they were called upon to prove the strength of their faith by endurance and perseverance to the end. They were compelled to forsake their towns and villages in the depths of winter. The sick were cast into the fields. Hundreds expired in flames, or on the rack. The public prisons were filled with suspected persons. Such as effected their escape retired into the caves and deserts of the country, where they held religious assemblies, elected teachers, and decided upon their future course.
About 1500, a large company of the Semi-Judaisers removed into Transylvania, where they experienced many vicissitudes until the dawn of the Reformation in Germany. At this time they had many large and flourishing congregations, and being generally of the poorer class, and withal extremely peaceable and inoffensive in their manners, they were suffered by the princes and nobility of the country to live upon their estates without molestation. In 1565, they first appear in history as a people obnoxious to the rulers of Transylvania; and then it was chiefly in consequence of the success which had attended the propagation of their doctrines, and the conversion of Francis Davidis, superintendent of the Socinian churches in that country, to their creed. Davidis, to eminent talents and great learning, united the most ardent zeal and untiring perseverance. Besides taking advantage of every opportunity to disseminate his own peculiar views, he boldly attacked the doctrines of the adverse party, disputing in person with the Socinian doctors, and contending that the ten commandments of the Decalogue were of a moral and immutable nature, and, consequently, that the seventh day of the week should be observed as a sabbatical rest. His views were highly offensive to Christopher Bathori, prince of Transylvania, who threw him into prison, where he died in 1579, at an advanced age. His doctrines, thus brought into public and general notice, spread rapidly, and were embraced by several men of eminence. Of these the most distinguished were Christiern Francken, who disputed in public for three days with Faustus Socinus, upon the question of the Sabbath, and John Somers, Master of the Academy of Clausenberg. The violent contentions that ensued made a noise in all parts of Germany, and reached the ears of Luther, who wrote a book upon the subject. In 1585, Jacob Paleologus, of the isle of Ohio, was burned at Rome for Judaism. At his trial, he declared that the ten commandments were moral and immutable in their nature. In other countries executions of a similar character took place; and the Semi-Judaisers were persecuted from region to region, like the vilest of mankind. Many of them fled into Poland, Lithuania, and Russia, where, mingling with the other dissenters from the established churches, they formed congregations, and became quite numerous. Under the mild reign of Udislaus II., king of Poland, their numbers greatly increased, and many persons of wealth and respectability united in their communion. A Polish writer informs us that their churches were numerous and flourishing in many parts, but particularly in the Palatinates of Polotsk, Witepsk, Nuislaw, Mohilev, and Minsk. At Dorpat, in Livonia, there was a church containing five hundred members, where, in 1816, a small remnant still resided. From Poland they extended themselves into the middle and southern provinces of Russia, where they remained in a state of general peace until the year 1638, when a persecution began in Poland, through the instigation of the Catholics, extended to this country, and multitudes of dissenters of all ranks and classes were barbarously put to death. At this time the Semi-Judaisers were known in these countries under the name of Sabbaton, a name sufficiently descriptive of their peculiar and distinguishing tenets. In consequence of these terrible persecutions, they retired into the most obscure and unfrequented districts, and their history is wrapped in a great degree of obscurity, until the reign of the Empress Catherine II., when they are again brought into view as a people obnoxious to the government. Under her persecuting edicts, their churches were demolished, their congregations broken up and scattered, and the more eminent for piety and learning put to death by a variety of cruel tortures. But a remnant was saved to perpetuate the truth. Since that period they have experienced many vicissitudes, but, upon all and every occasion, they have found their safety in obscurity. They are distinguished for their ardent love of the Holy Scriptures, for their opposition to the use of images or pictures, and for their uniformly pious and consistent conduct. They have no paid or salaried body of ecclesiastics. They consider the invocation of saints to be idolatry, and insist upon the right of private judgment in the interpretation of Scripture; a circumstance that renders them highly obnoxious to the Russian priests. They only admit professing believers to the rite of baptism. In their sentiments concerning the Trinity they are said to be Arian.
In 1824, a large community of these Christians were found by a celebrated French traveller settled on the banks of the river Moskwa. They numbered several thousand, and wore the Armenian costume, which people they strongly resembled in manners and customs. He gives as their peculiarities that they accounted as no better than fable whatever was preached without Scripture proof, and affirm that the traditions of the church are no better than the traditions of the Pharisees. They look upon a church built of stone as no better than any other building; neither do they believe that God dwells there. They say that to suppose that God is found in churches, monasteries, and oratories, any more than in any other place, is limiting the divine majesty. Their prayers and sermons are extempore. Their ministers, like themselves, are generally mechanics or labourers; nor is there any difference of rank among them. They admit all the sacraments instituted by Christ, but none others. They regard the ten commandments as moral and immutable, and, moreover, are conscientious observers of the old Sabbath, or Saturday.