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B."
Alice and Her Friends ; or, the Crosses
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Agnes Warringtqn's Mistake, by Lucy
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Bible Lore, by Rev. 1. Comper Gray.
Brought Home, by Hesba Stretton.
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Crust and the Cake, by Edward Garrett.
Cumberstone Contest, by the Author of
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Character Sketches, by Norman Mac-
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Children of the East, by H. H. Jessup,
D.D , Missionary in Syria.
ClaiA's Little Charge, by the author of
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Christian Way (The) ; Whither it Leads,
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Gypsy's Cousin Joy, by Elizabeth Stuart
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Gypsy's Sowing and Reaping, by Eliza-
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Gypsy's Year at the Golden Crescent,
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Geoffrey, the Lollard, by Frances East-
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Hubert, by Jacob Abbott.
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King's Servants (The), by Hesba Stret-
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Wandering May, by the author of Lonely
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO
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LIBRARY I
UNIVfTT' ",'' Y OF
CALi: r O>\MA I
SAN DIEGO J
WAR WITH THE SAINTS.
COUNT RAYMOND OF TOULOCSE,
AND THE
C R U S A DJE
AGAINST THE ALBIGENSES,
UNDER
POPE INNOCENT III.
BY
CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH.
SUustvattto SEWtfon.
NEW YORK :
DODD, MEAD & COMPANY,
751 BROADWAY.
PREFACE.
TUB present volume is the last work nrhich pro-
ceeded from the pen of CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH. It
occupied much of her time and thoughts during the
last eighteen months of her life ; and the story and
her earthly existence came to a close almost at the
same moment.
The work presents a singular instance, also, of a
literary labor persevered in, and carried to a com-
pletion, under circumstances of the most painful
character. Shortly after she had commenced thia
narrative, an ailment which ultimately proved to be
cancer, showed itself, which terminated her life on
the 12th of July, 1846. Her mental vigor, how-
ever, was scarcely diminished by it, even up to the
very close of her days. In her Personal Recollec-
tions, the methods she had recourse to, during hei
illness, are thus described :
" She continued to conduct her Magazine ; and to
effect the mechanical operation of writing, she in-
t PREFACE.
vented during one of her sleepless nights, a machine
which was immediately constructed by a clever car-
penter. It consisted of two rollers on a frame ; on the
lower one many yards of paper were rolled, and a*,
fast as she filled a page, writing with the frame rest-
ing on her knees, a turn of a small winch wound off
the manuscript to the upper roller, and brought up
a ciean surface of paper. In this manner she would
write papers for the press, and letters to friends,
measuring three, or four, or six yards in length.
Dictation was very difficult to her ; no pen hvt her
own could follow her thoughts with sufficient rapid-
ity, nor did she resort to this mode of writing, un-
til absolutely compelled to it, during the two last
months of her life."
It was by the help of this machinery, that the
present volume was written. But these labors, per-
formed at such a sacrifice of physical comfort, to
which her enthusiastic soul, devoted to the cause
of Truth, impelled her, are at an end. For the
closing hours of one whose remarkable character
invested even ordinary scenes with such absorbing
interest, the reader is referred to her recently pub-
lished memoir, which closes with this paragraph :
"She also directed that no stone should be laid
over her; but that her resting-place should be
rKEFACE.
marked by a simple headstone, dictating the epi
taph, which, with the addition of the date, has bee
.bus inscribed :
HERE
LIE THE MORTAL REMAINS
OP
CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH,
THE
BELOVED WIFE
or
LEWIS HYPOLYTU3 JOSEPH TONNA.
\
WHO
91 ED ON THE 12th OF JOLT,
MDCCCXLV.
MXMUNG L'XTO
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE CHURCH OF CHRIST IN THE TWELFTH CENTURT 1
CHAPTER II.
ANTICHRIST ...... 45
CHAPTER ffi.
THE CRUSADERS ,9.
CHAPTER IV.
THE CAVERN .... ... 151
CHAPTER V.
THE LADY OK LAVAUR 179
CHAPTER VI.
THE WEARING OUT .... .319
CHAPTER VII.
CONCLUSION .... ... 259
4JTENDIX ."... , 302
WAR WITH THE SAiNTS,
CHAPTER 1.
THE CHURCH OF CHRIST IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY..
" HE doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the
children of men." So spake the inspired Prophet,
in the midst of one of the most bitter lamentations
ever uttered by mortal lip, or penned by mortal hand.
A visitation of dire wrath had overwhelmed his na-
tion ; the severity of which, in the eye of a pious
Israelite, it is scarcely possible for us even faintly to
conceive ; Jerusalem was overthrown, her palaces
destroyed ; the holy and beautiful house where her
children had worshipped, was burnt with fire, and
with it was lost a treasure such as no people on
earth had ever possessed tablets, on which the
finger of Omnipotence had traced in visible charac-
ters the great commandments of His eternal law : a
portion miraculously preserved, of what the Psalmist
calls " angels' food," the sustenance with which, for
forty years, Israel had been daily fed from heaven,
and which was laid up, by Divine command, as a
1
THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
testimony for succeeding generations ; the rod also,
whence in a night had sprouted the leaf and blossom,
and the fruit had ripened, to establish by miracu-
lous attestation the High Priesthood of Aaron and
his sons over the whole house of Israel All thcs
were lost : and with them the mercy-seat, on whicl
rested the glorious Shechinah, the visible manifesta-
tion of the Divine presence. Judah, too, was gone
into captivity, the palaces of Zion were forsaken,
her mighty bulwarks were broken down, and the
city sat solitary that had been so full of people.
To attempt a description of what was then the
agonizing affliction of those who looked upon the ruin,
alike of the land, the city, and the people, would be
to transcribe the whole of that touching Lamentation
of Jeremiah ; yet in the midst of all, his faith rises,
strong and undepressed, though his heart is wrung
with sorrow, and his eyes failed with weeping day
and night for the destruction of the daughter of his
people ; and he says, " The Lord will not cast off
forever; but though he cause grief, yet will he
have compassion, according to the multitude of his
mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve
the children of men." This is the more remarkable,
because, under the Mosaic dispensation, national ind
individual prosperity in temporal things was count 3d
as a token of the Divine favor : it was promised as
such ; its withdrawal was an express avowal of
wrath against the sufferer ; and the utter blight
that had now fall ^.n upon the Jewish people, the
IN FHt TWELFTH CEJJTURT. 3
dissolution of their polity, the extinction of their
kingdom ; above all, the profanation and wreck of
their most holy things, with their own forcible ex-
pulsion from the land that God gave unto their
fathers, was a trial of faith the most fiery that it
could be subjected to by Him, who, as a refiner of
silver, sits to judge and to purify his people-
Well, therefore, may we, when about to treat of
heavy calamities which befell the Christian church,
select tliis from among the things that happened for
examples, and which are written for our admonition
upon whom the ends of the world are come; for
we must fix our regards on times and events that no
eye can steadily contemplate, apart from the full
assurance of faith, that the Lord never did, never
could, never will forsake or overlook one trusting
soul : that, howsoever our hearts may yearn over
their miseries in the flesh, still we are authorized
to count them happy which endure ; and to remem-
ber that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be
revealed, when those who have taken up their Mas-
ter's cross, and left all for him, shall be exalted in
the sight of the universe to share his final reign.
To which be it added, they concerning whom we
are about to write, have now long, long been resting
frDrn every labor, and enjoying the blessedness se-
cured to all who die in the Lord. Although the
O
consummation of their glory be not yet come, be-
cause he has not yet taken to him his great power :
4 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
and openly reigned, still they are with him in para-
dise, havino- washed their robes from the stain even
' O
of their own martyrdom, and made them white in
the blood of the lamb.
Not as the Mosaic, was the Christian institution
in temporal things : not as the visible kingdom of
Israel was to be the invisible kingdom of Christ,
during his personal absence from his people. The
difference between the external circumstances of the
two is as wide as the difference between the unveiled
Majesty of the awfully glorious descent from the
blazing heavens on Sinai's summit, and the shroud
of woe, and darkness, and humiliation that hung over
the descent from the blood-stained cross to the grave.
Israel of old could say, " The Lord is a man of war,"
and under his banner they marched forth, to execute
vengeance upon his stubborn enemies, and to estab-
lish a visible dominion, to which appertained the
visible glory of his frequent presence, robed in the
cloud that rested on the place of which he had
vouchsafed to say, " Here will I dwell." The church
of Christ looks to her Master, and hears his word in
reference to temporal things, " If I were a king, then
would my subjects fight ; but now is my kingdom
not from hence." She knows that in order finally
tc reign, she must first suffer with him ; and though
her whole course is a warfare, it is not against flesh
Sind blood that she must wrestle with carnal weapons:
the principalities and powers and wicked spirits in
high places that pnmpt evil men to injure her. arc
IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY. A
the fres that she has to conquer ; and well do hel
children know that them they must overcome by th
blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testi-
mony, loving not their lives unto the death. In all
this there is a beauty, and a fitness, and a harmo-
nious adaptation of the various parts, each to its own
peculiar time and order of working, that we cannot
too attentively contemplate. They are portions of
the one magnificent whole which we see not yet;
but from which in its still shrouded mysteriousness a
ray of glory sometimes darts into the believing soul,
sufficient to cheer it under all sorrows, and to nerve
it into such endurance as frail humanity could other-
wise never attain to.
The worldly service, and the sanctuary, that be-
longed unto Israel, never were intended to outlast
their own supremacy, nor to pass into other hands
while they remain outcast and dispersed, reft of
their national privileges. The apostle distinctly
says, that to his brethren, his kinsmen after the flesh,
who are Israelites, pertain the adoption, and the
glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law,
and the service of God, and the promises. In all
this he plainly refers to matters in which we have
no part, under the present dispensation ; and it was
in an unauthorized, unscriptural attempt to grasp
at these external things that the Christian church,
as an ecclesiastical body, lost her balance arid fell.
She would needs have, of her own, an outward
* Adoption," .irrespective of the witnessing Spirit
1*
6 THE CHUKCH OF
within : therefore tending to grieve, to lesist and
finally to quench that Spirit: she would have a
" glory" equivalent to the divine Shechinah, though
to accomplish it she must make to herself an
imaginary divinity : she would arrogate the pos-
session of a " covenant" that left all beyond her
external pale in a state of heathen alienation from
God : she would be a " lawgiver" the word should
go forth from Constantinople, the law of the Lord
from Rome. She would have a " service ;" a tem-
ple, an altar, a sacrifice, with no better warrant than
could be shown for the golden calves at Bethel and
at Dan ; and bearing precisely the same analogy to
the scriptural worship of God, as did these royal
inventions to the holy place at Jerusalem, from
which they were effectual in seducing many to the
ruin of their own souls. She would also appropri-
ate " the promises :" and that so exclusively that
none who were not outwardly and visibly of her,
should have any part or lot in the heavenly Canaan :
and, in process of time, the self-appointed lawgiver
became also a judge and an executioner; so that the
penalty of death, imposed under the Jewish institu-
tion on apostates to idolatry, came to be denounced,
and most unsparingly carried out by her, upon all
such as should refuse to acknowledge the gods
many, and lords many, whom in the progress of her
judicial infatuation she was led to set .up. Hence
the sufferings of the true church of Christ ; whose
office it became, of imperative necessity, to bear
IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 7
witness not only for him, but against the false one
who wrongfully usurped a title not her own, and
proclaimed herself the occupant of a vacated throne,
which it was God's pleasure should remain unten-
anted, until He come whose right it is.
" I sit as a queen," said the intoxicated self-de-
ceiver, when thus she had, in her own estimation,
climbed up to heaven ; " I am no widow, and shall
see no sorrow." Far different was the language of
the true church : she has lighted her lamp, and re-
mains watching at her unpretending post, until the
cry shall be heard, " Behold, the bridegroom com-
eth !" Instead of assuming the possession of those
rich and goodly things that belonged to the former
temple ; and titles, and offices, and honors, which
could not outlive its destruction ; the members of
that lowly church declare, " We have this treasure
in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power
may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled
on every side, yet not distressed ; we are perplexed,
but not in despair : persecuted, but not forsaken ;
cast down, but not destroyed : always bearing about
in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus ; that the
life also of Jesus might be made manifest in oui
body. For we which live are always delivered unto
death for Jesus' sake ; that the life also of Jesus
might be made manifest in our mortal flesh." (2. Cor.
iv. 711.)
This, then, is the respective attitude of the two
classes whom we new are to exhibit in their most
THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
striking contrast : the one, in attempting to rise to
an inaccessible height, had fallen into grievous
apostasy, yet madly believed themselves to have at-
tained the point of their ambition : and launched
around them the flames of hell, as though they had
been the lightnings of heaven intrusted to their
disposal. The other, firmly seated on the rock
where God had placed them ; exposed to every on-
set, every wrong, and patiently abiding all, rather
than quit that firm foundation for the pit where their
fellows were plunged, until, their testimony being
severally finished, they were received into the place
prepared for them by their ascended Lord. To the
eye of man, the two might be mingled together,
and often so indiscriminately that no mortal might
distinguish them in the wild commotion of the
hour ; but times there were when they stood apart
in visible relief, as bold and as obvious as was their
actual separation in the eye of Him who knoweth
them that are his.
Yet again, we have to guard against the supposi-
tion that a state of suffering is inseparable from the
profession and possession of a true faith. " Godli-
ness is profitable unto all things, having promise of
the life that now is>, and of that which is to come."
Many a devoted follower of the Lord Jesus has
passed through life, or at least through that portion
of mortal life which succeeded his conversion to
God, with no other affliction than that which the
Struggle of inbred corruptions against sanctifying
IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY, ft
grace must occasion to every believer, Tht apoft-
tles, ia a season of severe persecution, addressed
themselves to various churches, each partaking, or
about to partake more or less in the same tribula-
tion. But even then there were periods of refresh-
ment, concerning which it is recorded, " And they
continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and
breaking bread from house to house, did eat their
meat with gladness and singleness of heart ; praising
God, and having favor with all the people." And
again, after a very fierce outbreak of persecuting
violence against the Lord's servants, " Then had the
churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and
Samaria, and were edified ; and walking in the fear
of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost,
were multiplied."
But when the enemies of Christ become active ;
when, by fraud or by force, they seek to pervert the
right ways of the Lord, and to turn away their breth-
ren from the faith, then farewell to rest and peace
and prosperity, so far as outward things are con-
cerned, on the part of his true soldiers ! They
have, perhaps, been realizing that comfortable word,
" Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers
of that which is good ?" they must now look to the
context, " But and if ye suffer for righteousness'
sake, happy are ye ! And be not afraid of their
terror, neither be troubled ; but sanctify the Lord
God in your hearts." These and similar expres-
sions, with which we are all familiar, and which
JO . THE CHUKCH OF CHRIST
may have yielded sweet comfort to ourselves under
our light afflictions, are deep wells of consolation,
proportioning the fulness and richness of their sup-
ply to the actual need of such as approach them:
and while one may have found them requisite to
yield support under the affliction of beholding a
frown on some beloved and honored countenance.,
while obeying God rather than man, by refusing to
partake in the sinful follies of the vain world ; an
other has drawn from the very same words power
to look on the lingering tortures of a dreadful death
inflicted on the dearest earthly objects of the heart's
affection, and finally 'o endure the same without
even a wish to escape the fiery trial by compromis-
ing a firm profession of the truth us it is in Jesus.
This is a solitary text ; and we who possess the full
volume of divine consolation, must not forget that in
times when, perhaps, a whole community of believ-
ers had inly succeeded in secreting among them a
single manuscript copy of one isolated Gospel or
Epistle, a value belonged to such detached portions
of an imperfect fragment which we can but faintly
appreciate ; or how " by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God, doth man live."
When the Lord declares to the favored Evangelist
his purpose to give power to his two witnesses, that
they should prophesy in sackcloth for the long space
of twelve hundred and sixty prophetic days a day
for a year we are led to expect something remark-
able, both in the great length of the afflictive iis-
UTTHfi TWELFTH CENTURY. 11
pelisation, and the given power of endurance to suc-
cessive generations of faithful men. It imports that
for so long, an enemy should reign, whose efforts
would be systematically directed to the suppression
of this persevering testimony ; and that, although
unable to silence it, they should so far prevail as to
invest the witnesses with insignia of humiliation and
of .mourning. We, therefore, are not authorized to
stretch these peculiar features of a witnessing church
beyond the period assigned ; nor to conclude that
heavy trouble is the invariable badge of God's chil-
dren. Some whom He has hot made sad, often sad-
den their own hearts by needless doubts of their
adoption into his family, when they contrast their
overflowing cup of temporal blessings with the bit-
ter sufferings of some of whom the world was not
worthy. Therefore do we preface with a few cau-
tionary words, the narrative of a truly witnessing
church throughout a period of unequalled violence
on the part of a dominant apostasy.
But as we cannot conceive of a true follower of
Christ, that in a season of prosperity in temporal
things he should lay aside the lowliness that forms
a part of the Christian character, assume the dress
and deportment of an ostentatious worldling, and
follcw the dissipated practices of the ungodly mul-
titude, just because there is no outward hindrance
to his so doing ; neither can we reconcile to the
character of a Christian community, the adoption of
xternals that have ever, from the first falling away.
12 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
been the badge of a corrupt and wicked apostasy.
Ostensibly inherited from the Jewish Church, but in
reality borrowed from the very worst forms of pa-
ganism, these ecclesiastical adornments, and arro-
gant assumptions, and unseemly luxuries, leading aa
they inevitably do to the crime of spiritual adultery,
are as far removed from the path chalked out for
that church which is the spouse of Christ, as is the
former course inconsistent with the duties of an in-
dividual member. If the Lord has put off our sack-
cloth and girded us with gladness, are we therefore
to array ourselves in purple and fine linen, to fare
sumptuously every day, and to trample in our pride
on the poor brother outside the gate of our own
costly mansion ? This is palpably the tendency of
our national church in these times, and the mourn-
ing garb of our fathers, their prison- walls, their pile
of blazing faggots, are all forgotten, in a growing
imitation of the gay attire, the goodly architecture,
the lordly rule of their ancient persecutor. Alas!
too prone also are we to forget the word of their
testimony, while learning the dulcet notes of her
song who slew them.
Happy would it be for us, could we more accu-
rately interpret, and more feelingly appropriate, that
much-abused term, " the church." There is no lack
of help so to do ; for we are repeatedly told that
the church is the body of Christ ; his bride ; the
Lamb's wife. It is described also as the temple of
God, because in each true believer, individually, the
IN THE TWELFTH CENTER*. 11
Holy Ghos.t dwells ; each is by virtue of this in-
dwelling Spirit of life made to live, in the highest
sense of the word ; so becoming a living stone ; and
while a multitude of these stones may indeed ex-
hibit a larger and more outwardly conspicuous build-
ing, two or three, yea, only one, where but one is
left in a godless community, will form a perfect
temple, and that temple is the church of the living
God. Where a sufficient number can be collected,
offices will of course be filled, a form of ecclesiasti-
cal direction and government carried out, in accord-
ance with the scriptural model, that all things may
be done decently and in order ; but to invest with
the term church the external framework, teaching
Christians to regard that of which they themselves
form the substance as a somewhat placed midway
between Christ and their consciences, a somewhat
claiming the title of their dear and holy mother, and
as such exercising parental authority over them, is
to establish a confusion of words and things, tend-
ing not only to perplex the mind but to obscure
the faith, and finally to lead into subjection to an
irresponsible human authority those who are com-
manded to try all things, and to hold fast that
which is good ; even the form of sound words de-
livered by inspired men, and opened to their under-
standings by the same indwelling pirit of God,
apart from whose direct influence a man, be his ex-
ternal privileges what they may, is none of Christ's,
When Luther, in the solitude of his monkish cell,
2
14 THE CHUKCH OF ; CHRIST :
had experienced this illumination he appears as
though the whole flood of revealing ligl t were con.
centrated on him alone. But it was not so : like
Andrew, he enjoyed a precedence in the vocation
of a ministry that was to guide the steps of multi-
tudes from the dark valley of the shadow of death,
where they sat, into the way of peace ; but God had
many hidden ones, so taught of the Holy Spirit that
they worshipped him with a pure worship, and bore,
no doubt, each in his own little sphere, the cross of
a faithful profession; though so terribly successful
had the enemy been in slaying the witnesses, that
for three years and a half no sound, no sign of life
was publicly recognizable to interrupt the triumph-
ant vaunt of an unbroken- rule. In like manner, at
the commencement of that era which seems then to
have closed, we can discover but one, and he an ob-
scure man, to whom was committed the steward-
ship of the mysteries of God ; long thrust from
view, and set at nought, until to all appearance they
were withdrawn from earth, to make room for the
swelling imposture, the mystery of iniquity that
usurped their name find place. It is a very remark-
able feature in the history of that dark period of
the Christian Church to which our attention is now
to be drawn. The world, even the world callintr it-
O
self Christian, and therefore assuming to be also the
church, in a state so dark that the lighting of a
single candle forms an epoch in its annals ; the
multiplication of lights continued under a sustained
IN THE TWELFTH CE.JTURY. 15
and vehement effort on the part of their adversaries
for more than twelve centuries and a half to extin-
guish them ; followed by the renewed though very
brief reign of that gross darkness, and the relight-
ing again from a solitary taper, of such a blaze as
has spread, more or less, into all lands, and which
certainly will not again be put out.
But the gates of hell never so prevailed as to
leave the Lord without a little company on earth, to
each of whom that gracious promise was fulfilled,
"Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of
the world." Where but two or three could be
gathered together, rightly professing his name, there
was He in the midst of them ; and if the sad expe-
rience of Paul became that of an unsupported indi-
vidual, "No man stood with me," his also was
Paul's rich consolation, "Nevertheless, the Lord
stood with me, and strengthened me." Poor indeed
is the spectacle of pomp and ceremony compared
with scenes like these, when the poor, persecuted,
harassed, helpless outcast, pursued by the world's
scorn, and well-nigh crushed beneath its cruel vto-"
lence, rises by faith above its deadly malice, and lays
hold on the Lord's strength, and reposes on his
promise : when that strength also is manifested, and
that promise fulfilled, in the super-human endurance
of the weakest trembler ; and the joyous alacrity
with which death in its most hideous forms is wel-
comed, because to depart is to be with Christ. Once
it was given to a terrified Israelite to obtain a
16 THE CUT; ECU OF CHRIST
glimpse-of the dazzling hosts of heaven, majestically
encamped around the prophet of the Lord, to de-
liver him from his pursuers : one little moment were
those favored eyes freed from the mists of earth,
and strengthened to behold the flashing brightness
of that terribly glorious array ; for " Behold, the
mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire
round about Elisha." No such open vision has been
vouchsafed during this suffering dispensation ; but
we know assuredly that still as of old, " The angel
of the Lord encampeth about them that fear him,
and delivereth them ;" and we may, as believers
we must add to the sad and sorrowful pageantry
of earth the undiscovered glories that in deep arid
true reality abide where the believer dwells, and
which wait but the moment of his mortal dissolution
to burst in all their ravishing splendor on his gaze
to wrap him in their own celestial panoply, and tc
enrol him jn their blessed company for ever.
There is yet a needful caution to be observed,
when investing any community with the name and
character of the Lord's witnessing Church. We
must not lose sight of the cautionary parable which
instructs us, that when a field has been sown with
pure wheat by the hand of the Divine husbandman,
tLr enemy will watch his opportunity to mingle as
plentifully as he can, the worthless and deceptive
tares that equally grieve and perplex the Lord's
faithful seivants. These are not, in the general
Ill THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 17
course of God's providential dealings, rooted up at
once, but are left to the great day of separation.
And not only in the parable, but in other parts oi
scripture, we are warned of the existence of such
incongruities in the composition of what, as a dis-
tinct body, we are justified in calling a truly spiritual
church, with a pointed reference too to the promi-
nent position to be occupied by that protesting and
suffering congregation. Thus in Daniel, " And they
that understand among the people shall instruct
many ; yet they shall fall by the sword, and by
flame, by captivity and by spoil, many days. Now
when they fall, they shall be holpen with a little
help, but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.
And some of them of understanding shall fall, to
try them, and to purge, and to make them white,
even to the time of the end."
And again, our Lord repeats the warning : " Then
shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall
kill you ; and ye shall be hated of all nations for
my Name's sake. And then shall many be offended,
and shall betray one another, and shall hate one an-
other. And many false prophets shall arise, and
shall deceive many : and because iniquity shall abound,
tho love of many shall wax cold."
Such, alas ! has been, and such ever will be the
case while Satun remains at large, with power to
exercise his subtle craft, by transforming himself
into the semblance of an angel of light, and his
ministers into ministers of righteousness. Is there
2*
18 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
a congregation among ourselves that would not,
if individually called over, and e?ainined with the
keen eye of a scrutinizing foe, furnish some instance
of unholy living, accompanied with a practical de-
nial of truths formally confessed by the lips, and
affording a sample sufficient to condemn the whole
company, if it could but be proved that all his fel-
low-worshippers resembled him ? When the faith-
ful preacher addresses himself to impenitent sin-
ners, hardened rebels, or hypocritical pretenders,
who yield a lip-service in which their hearts have
no part, is he ever able to persuade himself that
even amid the limited numbers then present before
him, no conscience will bear secret testimony to the
justness of such description ? If it be thus in a land
of full spiritual freedom, and where the light of
revelation encounters no intercepting clouds to bar
its free course, what must we expect to meet with,
in records penned by adverse hands, purporting to
be those of a poor limited company of witnesses
agains't the wicked spirits who then ruled in all the
high places of the earth ? Even a child may discern
at a glance that the policy of Satan was obviously
to put forward some rank tares in the field of wheat,
and to obtain a judgment of his own suggesting, not
only on their individual quality, but on their perfect
resemblance to all that grew around them : as a
justification of the sentence that doomed them :o be
all cut down together in one premature, indiscrimi-
nate harvest of death. A vast deal of learning and
IK THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 19
laborious research have been expended in controver-
sial investigations of this subject ; which is. after all,
only to be rightly apprehended by admitting freely
the pure light of Divine truth into an arena where
the respective combatants are too read)' to assail
each other in the dark, with weapons as carnal as
the hottest forge of persecuting cruelty could make
them : what else are the annals of superstitious
monks, mercenary apostates, and sanguinary inquisi-
tors, from which are drawn the particulars of this
fearful epoch ?
From such doubtful disputations we, however,
mean to stand aloof. Our business is to deal with
facts. We find a nominally ecclesiastical ruler, sit-
ting in the seat, and invested with the power and
great authority that once belonged to the pagan
emperors of ancient Rome, the unquestionable instru-
ments of Satanic cruelty, fraud, violence, and blas-
phemy. We recognize in him every mark with
which the spirit of prophecy has branded the great
Apostasy that was to work dire havoc among the
flock of Christ, and to make war with the saints, to
wear them out, to persevere for a long course of
time, even to the actual silencing, for a limited space,
their public testimony. We find the same ruler
suddenly gathering his forces, and investing with
the character of a holy war the merciless enterprise,
insomuch that to take part in it was to purchase
pardon for all the sins of a long life at the hand of
this it* pious pretender to divine authority ; we te-
20 THE , HrRCH OF CHK.ST
hold him precipitating them upon a. provirce be-
longing to one of bis ten vassal kings, carrying utter
desolation through it, " by the sword and by flame,
by captivity and by spoil," for "many days;" even
until there was none left of those who had provoked
the visitation by professing a faith consistent with
what was once delivered to the saints, and therefore
necessarily opposed to his own most blarpi.emous
perversion of that faith by means of such doctrines
and such practices as turned the truth of God into
a lie. Moreover, we find the people so " persecuted"
unto the death, uniformly "reviled" by -writers on
the adverse side ; their names " cast out as evil,"
and a sustained attempt made to render thejn " hated
of all nations" even to remote posterity, by bringing
against them accusations similar to thoso brought
against their Divine Master, who was denounced as
gluttonous and a wine-bibber ; and accused of hav-
ing a devil ; who was arraigned on a charge of com-
bined sedition and blasphemy, and put to death by
the Roman power, on such testimony as could not
even wear a semblance of agreement with itself,
much less of criminating weight against the innocent
victim. In all this we trace an accumulation of pre-
dicted signs, not to be brought together by any in-
genuity of man ; nor by such ingenuity at its utn ost
stretch to be explained away. Men who, eithei to
protect a secret ally, or to uphold some favorite
scheme of interpretation peculiar to themselves,
would draw a veil over the great papal apostasy,
IN THE TWELFTH CEXTURV. l
;onc Celling from our sight its most unmistakable
features, in order to prepare us for a different mani-
festation of the long-doomed Man of Sin, may be
tempted to avail themselves of the railing accusa-
tions brought against our martyred brethren by men
more daring than angels are (Jude 9) ; nay, gravely
tc adduce and to adopt the flagitious records of the
murderous Inquisition, noted down from the deliri-
ous exclamations of victims lying on the rack, and
echoing unconsciously, or alike unconsciously as-
senting to, the wily promptings of their diabolical
torturers ; or else duly coined, to meet any possible
emergency of future investigation, if, peradventure,
God should raise up an avenger of innocent blood,
with power to call them to account for their tremen-
dous enormities. Into no such track are we in dan-
ger of straying : we have no human system to up-
hold, or historical evidence to explain away ; but sim-
ply adhering to the fact t'.:at " thus it was written,"
and thus it behooved the people of Christ to suffer
with him, preparatory to their future participation
in his glorious reign, we would pursue the story :
rot unmindful of the farther analogy, that THEY suf-
fered also at the hand of the beast, when recently
installed in the full plenitude of that sovereignty of
old exercised by the Dragon, who condemned, and
tortured, and crucified HIM.
If the blood of the martyrs may be called the
seed of the church, the persecution that follows
fheir survivors m;iy also be regarded as the wind
22 THE CHtfKCtt 01
commissioned to scatter that seed, and to carft
it into places already prepared for its reception
" Wind and storm, fulfilling God's word," though
terrible, are precious agents in the vast, mysterious
laboratory where His unseen hand directs every
process with unerring skill. It is beautiful to_con.
template the rising of a little church, like a tender
plant, in some sequestered nook, where bright sun-
beams visit it in the morning, and gentle dews of
heaven fall softly at evening's close, and nothing in-
tervenes to check its prosperous growth through all
the early stages of vegetable life. Summer ad-
vances ; the bud is formed, the flower expands, and
many a roving bee perchance alights, extracting
nurture from its pleasant hoard, then wings his way
enriched with spoil that no rude robber's eye could
have discovered, nor the hand of plunder grasped.
Thus it flourishes, and in due season the ripening
seeds attain maturity, ready to burst their pods, and
to fall within the narrow circuit of their own light
shadow around the parent stem. But God will
propagate the goodly plant in other soils ; at his
word the f x>rmy wind ariseth ; and while the forest-
tree that sheltered it perhaps bends and breaks, and
falls to overwhelm it, the delicate germs of the
crushed flower beneath are borne aioft by the brc-aih
of that destru rtive gale, and flee before it to othsi
lands, even to the place which God hath appointed
them ; and there they fall unseen, and slowly vege-
tate beneath the surface, and spring up, men know
m THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 23
not how, in a place where nothing resembling them
hath ever been known to flourish.
If ever there was a race to which this comparison
might be said to apply, it surely was that ultimately
known as THE ALBIGENSES. A church, indeed, not
a race of men, we must account them ; for they re-
plenished many a waste place upon- the earth, not
by peopling it with successive generations of their
own stock, but by leaving here and there a root of
God's own planting, by means that he alone could
provide, which grew distinct from all around it, ful-
filled its mission, and was gone by means of his over-
ruling. And then we are left to search about for
the next manifestation of that undying power with
which He has invested the branch of his planting;
and in some distant land, perhaps, too, under a
wholly dissimilar name, we recognize this work of
his hands, in which he is perpetually glorified.
Thus it was, and thus indeed it must needs have
been throughout the dark ages of universal delusion,
when they who arrogated an exclusive title to the
name and offices of the Christian Church, made in-
quest as diligent for the true followers of the Lord
as did Herod for the infant Messiah Himself; and
with purpose no less deadly. Every plant that God
had planted, it was their business to root up ; and
the long continuance in any place of a community
essentially Christian, must have involved the inter
position of a miraculous power not openly vouch-
safed to the present dispensation. Accordingly we
24 ThB CHURCH OF CHRIST
must not, expect to meet With a church in its purity
otherwise than of a migratory character ; and where
we find one permanently abiding in populous pUv.c. e ,
we may be assured that much of alloy must Live
entered into its composition, inducing compromises)
and tolerating abuses dangerous to its very exist-
ence ; and calling for some searching process of
trial and separation. In all this we trace a worlt
divinely wise and good, by which He who taught
his apostles to be jealous over the early churches
with a godly jealousy, still preserves his spouse in
the purity of her faith and love, even though it be
by suddenly and severely snatching her out of tho
midst of perils from which she could not have ex-
tricated herself, and from temptations where no
other door of escape was set open. When the
Lord's way is altogether in the sea, and his path iu
the deep waters, so that his footsteps cannot be
known, we are bound to rest in the assurance thai
all his works are righteous, and to say, " Thou art
good, and doost good :" but it is cheering to trace
when we are permitted so to do, the course of his
providence by the gleaming light that his own word
throws upon it.
Some " plant of a noble vine, wholly a right
seed," was long secretly growing up in the heart ol
those Southern Provinces of France which after-
wards yielded so awful a harvest of blood. The
soil was perhaps not unfavorable to its reception,
torn pared with others : for. like the church of an-
IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 25
eient Britain, these dioceses had offered a prolonged
resistance to the encroaching usurpations of the
Bishop of Rome ; and though their independence
h-ad tx:en crushed, and the universal yoke kid upon
their reluctant shoulders, there lingered amongst
them, no doubt, deep traits of what is hard to eradi-
cate, where it has once been planted in faith, and
watered by prayer even that freedom wherewith
Christ had made their fathers free. Yet the revival
was attributed, and no doubt justly, to foreign influ-
ence : a people had settled among them, driven from
other lands by the persecuting sword, who worship,
ped God in spirit and in truth : being branded as
heretics by the princes of this world ; a sect every-
where spoken against, to whose charge were laid
things that they knew not, because those who sought
occasion against them could find no real fault, noth-
ing to allege but an exemplary devotion to the law
of their God, and they were therefore constrained
to heap upon them accusations utterly devoid of any
foundation ; as had been the practice of ancient
Rome in dealing with the primitive church. In-
deed, the same crimes were specified, or enormities
very similar to those attributed to the early martyrs:
Manicheism, in which they generally summed them
up, being a tissue of kindred abominations. So
sarly as the year 1165, the date of their original
settlement as enlightened believers, walking contrary
to the doctrines of the papacy, had become obscure'
3
26 fflE CHURCH Of CHRIST
their enemies could not ascertain it. In a canon o!
the council of Tours this is virtually admitted. " In
the country about Toulouse," says this document,
" there sprung up long ayo a damnable heresy, which
by little and little, like a cancer, spreading iiself to
the neighboring places, in Gascoigne, had already
infected many other provinces ; which whilst, like a
serpent, it hid itself in its own windings and twinings,
crept on more secretly, and threatened more danger
to the simple and unwary. Wherefore we do com-
mand all bishops and priests dwelling in these parts,
to keep a watchful eye upon these heretics, and un-
der the pain of excommunication, to forbid all per-
sons, as soon as these heretics are discovered, from
presuming to afford them any abode in their coun-
try, or to lend them any assistance, or to entertain
any commerce with them in buying or selling ; so
that at least by the loss of the advantages of hu-
man society they may be compelled to repent of the
error of their life. And if any prince, making him-
self partaker of their iniquity, shall endeavor to op-
pose these decrees, let him be struck with the same
anathema. And if they shall be seized by any
Catholic prince, and cast into prison, let them be
punished by confiscation of all their goods : and
lcause they frequently come together from divers
parts into one hiding place, and because they have
no other ground for dwelling together save only their
agreement and consent in error; therefore we will, that
such their conventicles be both diligently searched af-
IN THE tWELiffk CfiNTtR?. 21
ter, and when they are found, that they >e exanl
ined according to canonical severity."
In this brief extract, what a picture is presented
to the mind's eye of the adverse parties referred to i
On the one hand we have the dragon's voice, pro-
ceeding from beneath the lamb's horns, proclaiming
" that no one might buy or sell, save he that had the
mark or the number of the beast,'' which these
harmless sojourners hnd not. We see him exercis*
ing, in daring usurpation, the authority of Him who
alone i? "Prince of the kings of the earth;" and
extending this anathema with all its fearful acconi'
paniments of deposition and death, to any sovereign
who should presume to throw the shield of his royal
clemency over subjects dwelling within his own ter-
ritories ; at the same time dictating to such as were
willing to be the tools of this Antichristian cruelty,
the mode to be adopted in dealing with their prison-
ers : namely, that evidence should be sought for of
their having lived in Christian communion with
brethren, partakers of the same precious faith, and
on such evidence they were to be punished, not ac-
cording to the civil or criminal code of the country,
but with CANONICAL severity : a phrase, the full pur-
port of which we shall better understand in pursu-
ing the history.
On the other hand, we see the accused, as de-
scribed by their enemies, dwelling quietly, giving
none offence, earning their sustenance by lawfu,
merchandise, and assembling together, not to pro
88 THE cmmcM o? CHRIST
mote dissatisfaction to any constituted authority, not
to stir up strife, or to plot any mischievous device
whatsoever, but simply because there existed among
them one heart, one mind, and one faith. " They
have," says this canon, " no other ground for dwell-
ing together save only their agreement and consent
in error" -that is, in the pure doctrine of the Gos-
pel of Jesus Christ, who has left on record a mark
of true discipleship thus unwittingly recognized by
the persecutor of his church. " By this shall all
men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one
another:" and in like manner we are enabled to
account for the rapid spread of the truth by means
so silent, so unobtrusive, and to their adversaries so
inexplicable. It was in ansAver to the Redeemer's
prayer, " That they all may be one ; as thou, Father,
art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one
in us ; that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me." Holding the faith in unity of spirit, in the
bond of peace, and in righteousness of life, this
little company, as a candle of the Lord's lighting,
shone in a dark place ; and many were thereby won
to cast away the works of darkness : and to join
themselves unto them, in reality and truth; some,
no doubt, shamed or persuaded into an external
reformation of manners, rested there, unchanged in
lioart, to fall before the first temptation, when per-
secution should arise because of the word, and so
to bring scandal on the holy cause to which they
had never b*?u really devoted; and perhaps, to be-
IN THE TWELFTH CENTl RY. iJ9
come accusers of the brethren, confirming by feigned
confessions under their assumed character the cruel
calumnies of the enemy. Others, again, acted the
part so frequent in the Romish community, of which
we find an example in the ancient enemies of our
Lord, who " sent forth spies, which would feign
themselves just men, that they might take hold of
his words, so that they might deliver him to th
power and authority of the Governor. And they
asked him, saying, Master, we know that thou say-
est and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the
person of any, but teachest the way of God truly."
He to whom these deceivers came, " perceived their
craftiness, and said, Why tempt ye me ?" but nc
such heart-searching power was conferred on his
poor followers in after days, when wolves in sheep's
clothing thus entered their humble fold, and were
received by the confiding flock as being of them-
selves. Beyond what will eA'er be found cleaving
to man in the flesh, even the corrupt inheritance of
a nature striving against the sanctifying Spirit,
these masked inquisitors found nothing whereon to
ground an accusation ; but they were enabled to as-
certain the precise character of doctrines univer-
sally held by the true professors of a pure faith,
and to mark out the prominent points of their op-
position to the tenets of Rome. At the same time
they enjoyed, and no doubt made the most of,
many opportunities of speciously introducing un-
sound opinions, and teaching things contrary to the
3*
30 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
faith that they falsely professed to hold. For, b
it remembered, the emissaries chosen for such work
are always men of learning, skill, and subtilty, com-
bined with hardness of heart, and obduracy of mind,
sufficiently proved to serve as a guarantee against
the intrusion of compunctious visitings, or any fal-
tering in their wicked purpose.
Thus beset on all sides, while as yet they appre-
hended no evil, but dwelt lovingly in the midst of
a population remarkable all over the world for its
refinement, and devotion to the gentler arts ; a land
of painting and poetry and song, a land of vines
and fig-trees, and all the features of luxuriant beauty
that could combine to mould the characters of its
inhabitants into that pliability which, to the eye of
man, promises little of resistance when a sterner
force is brought to bear upon it ; the little church
of the Lord's hidden ones was marked out for an
easy prey. While the carnal weapon was whetted
to its keenest edge, other and more insidious modes
of injury were adopted, and the whole machinery
of injustice brought into such effectual operation as
proved the little sacerdotal horn to be a worthy off-
shoot from the forehead of the original Beast, the
mighty pagan empire, which was not only strong
and terrible to break in pieces and to devour, but
also remarkable for stamping the residue under his
defiling feet. As the voracious serpent draws his
unclean saliva over the victim that he is about to
devour, so with the polluting exudations of its ca
IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 31
lumnious tongue, did this destroyer besmear its des-
O /
tined prey. History finds it still in a measure ad-
hering to the memory of the dead who died in the
Lord ; and with it finds also the emphatic solution
of what mifjht otherwise be embarrassing. " The
O ff
disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant
above his lord : it is enough for the disciple that he
be as his Master, and the servant as his lord. If
they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub,
how much more must they call them of his house-
hold ? Fear them not, therefore : for there is noth-
ing covered that shall not be revealed, nor hid that
shall not be known."
Abundantly supplied as the public is with the de-
scriptions of modern travellers, and familiarized too
to a great extent by personal observation, with the
theatre of this most unholy war, it would now be
superfluous to enter upon a minute geographical
detail. True it is, that some of our most entertain-
ing tourists, who excel in the minutiae of descrip-
tion, contriving to bring the reader acquainted alike
with the features of a landscape and with the individ-
uals who people it, have roamed and rested, looked,
and sketched, and written for days together, in the
heart of that scenery where it might be supposed
that every hill and valley, every streamlet and plain,
every old gray ruin, and rugged mountain-pass,
must necessarily, yea, unavoidably, call up the most
Ihrillingly-ta aching reminiscences in the mind of a
82 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
Protestant, pervading the narrative with congenial
thoughts and images ; yet have they passed over,
as things unknown or unworthy to be remembered,
all that related to the " slaughtered saints" of old.
We read the familiar names of Toulouse and Foix,
of Bezieres and Carcassonne, and perhaps feast our
eyes on some spirited sketch of their general out-
lines and venerable remains : but in vain do we seek
for a passing allusion to what invests them with an
interest so deep and dear. This is one of the wor^t
signs of that indifferentism which is eating out the
very life of our national religion, and smoothing the
way of approach for an enemy as insidiously noise-
less now, as formerly he was terrific in the broad
display of his unbridled ferocity.
However, with so many sources of local informa-
tion open to all, we need merely to glance at the
outline map of those territories through which the
sword of bitter persecution cut its sanguinary way.
This lay within the Duchies of Aquitaine, Gas-
coigne and Narbonne ; the Marquisates of Toulouse
and Provence, with a small portion of Beam, and of
Basse Navarre. It included the petty sovereignties
of Saintonge, Limosin, Perigord, Auvergne, Velay,
Agen, Quercy, Rouergue, Gevaudan, and.Alby, in
Aquitaine ; Bourdelois, Armagnac, P'ezensac, As-
tarac, Bigorre, Comminges, and Conserans, in Gas-
coigne ; Uzes, Nismes, Lodeve, Maguelonne, Be-
ziers, Agde, Narbonne, Fenouilledes, and Roussil-
lon, in Narbonne ; Toulouse, Carcassonne, Rozes,
IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 33
and FoiA, in Toulouse ; and in Provence, Viennois,
Valentinois, Vivarois, and Aries. The southern
boundary of this memorable district is lost among
the mountain masses of the Pyrenees, and the wa-
ters of the Golf de Lion : clusters of those majestic
heights also stretching along the eastern borders of
Toulouse and Aquitaine, and cutting across the lat-
ter towards the north-west, in a wild, irregular
ridge : Narbonne, and the eastern side of the boun-
daries in Provence, are likewise mountainous : the
remaining, and by far the larger portion of the scene
of war, is comparatively a level.
Although these lands all lay within the limits of
France, the powerful lords who divided them among
themselves yieTded allegiance, some to England, but
the greater number to the Spanish king of Arragon.
This, however, matters little to our purpose : the
contest was not between rival monarchs, nor was its
object the occasion of territorial dominion. Not the
king of France, but the bishop of Rome, unfurled
the standard of exterminating war ; and although
o o
it ended in establishing the rule of the former over
a desolate, depopulated country, it opened with no
other purpose than to hunt and destroy the scat-
tered sheep of Christ's fold : in scriptural language,
" the beast made war with the saints to overcome
them."
Fertile, beautiful, and undisturbed by internal dis-
sensions ; the land was as the garden of Eden com-
p-ired with wlnt its destroyers made it. There was,
34 THE CHUKCH OF CHRIST
indeed, too much of outward peace, too much of
carnal security , and of the luxuiious indulgences
that always prove inimical to the spiritual welfare
of those who long recline in the sunshine of cloud-
less prosperity. The Prdvencals had become fa-
mous throughout Europe for the refinement of their
taste, and their unrivalled attainments in all that
art and literature could boast in an age of over-
spreading darkness, the natural result of monkish
superstition and prostration of intellect beneath the
despotism of ecclesiastical usurpation. This enlight-
enment had spread into surrounding districts, and
blended as it was with higher, purer rays of spirit-
ual brightness, unknown in other lands, we cannot
marvel that its brilliancy attracted the frowning gaze
of those who hated every light that emanated not
from the sparks of their own kindling : sparks of a
fire that burns, but cannot illuminate, either the
spirit or the mind.
The various nobles among whom the land was
partitioned, though they did homage to the mon-
arch, each reigned as a king over his own portion.
His palace was a castle, generally in a fortified
town, the capital of his little state. He marshalled
an army of disciplined vassals and free citizens, with
their knightly commanders and officers ; exercising
alike in military and in civil matters an authority
that scarcely brooked the intervention of any higher
power, save that terrible engine of universal tyranny,
" the Church," as it was falsely called. Neither
IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 85
befcre the sceptre of France, nor that of England,
nor of Arragon, nor of imperial Germany, did the
spirit of those princely nobles quail : allegiance they
owned, and each was ready, on demand, to head an
armed force, and march to his sovereign's aid ; or
to assist in his councils, or promote in any way
his royal interests. But to cow them into trem-
bling submission, to herd them together like frighted
deer, or to intimidate them severally into the sur-
render of their just rights, and the abandonment of
their lawful heritages to a foreign spoiler, it was
needful to unfurl the banner of the cross against
them : to invade their territories by a company of
cowled priests ; or to address to them a pastoral
exhortation from one who called himself " servant
of the servants of God." There were few, if any,
among them, who feared man ; there were few, it is
to be apprehended, who feared God ; but if there
was one who caused it to be surmised that he feared
not the bishop of Rome, we shall presently read his
name and history in characters traced by his own
warm life-blood.
In this characteristic feature of the chiefs, their
people participated just in proportion as the light
of the Gospel had failed to penetrate their homes
nnd hearts. They were all attached by duty, and
the majority of them by grateful affection, to the
reigning nobles, who allowed them a degree of re-
ligious freedom unknown in other countries. The
higher classes, onscious of their intellectual supe
36 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
riority, viewed with disdain the ignorant and tazy
monks, who droned away their lives ; or saw with
indignation the riotous waste in which the enormous
ecclesiastical revenues of the bishops and superior
clergy were squandered, while the natural indepen-
dence of a cultivated mind rose against their assump-
tions of a superiority, that on no grounds whatever
they could justly claim. The lower orders, where
the knowledge of God had not enabled them spirit-
ually to discern the utterly anti-Christian character
of the whole system, were yet shocked and disgusted
by the scandalous profligacy of life that seemed to
cleave as a badge to that order of men who, on the
plea of peculiar sanctity, arrogated to themselves
the right of lording it over their faith and con-
sciences. None among them were so universally,
or so deservedly despised, as the Romish clergy ; it
passed into a proverb : " I would rather be a priest
than do such a thing," was the most indignant form
of denial on the part of any person accused of a
criminal or disgraceful action.
This gave the clrrgy no trouble : their revenues
were safe, and all that money could command was
within their grasp. A due moasure of outward
respect was, of course, accorded to the bishop or
priest, monk or friar, when he appeared ; its object
being the office, not the man. When the Popes
were fighting men, and open unvarnished debau-
chees, it could not be expected that those who
formed the subordinate members where they were
IN THE TWELFTH jfiNTtTK". 37
the head, should strike into a different path. It
could not !> expected that the harlot, in the pride
of her power, glorying in her shame, her head
srowned with universal dominion, her forehead
branded with blasphemous mystery, her eyes glar-
Tg with drunken rnge, her cheeks burning with un-
holy fires, and her hand lifting high the golden cup
of abominations, should divest some of her limbs of
their purple and scarlet and gems, to clothe them in
linen outwardly white, if not pure, and by such con-
trast to heighten the horrors of her general aspect.
The inhabitants of those provinces had light enough
to see her as she was, and hated if they did not fear
her.
Oh for a record, a sketch, a fragment of history
pertaining to the Church of Christ in those days, and
in that region, unblotted by the foul pen of calumny
and triumphant revenge ! In vain do we sigh for
such a relic ; the besom of destruction swept too
effectually over the devoted tract ; and we have no
archives to search nothing but the book which an
enemy hath written, to guide us in tracing the foot-
steps of the flock through that dark valley of the
shadow of death.
Yet imagination can conceive without overstep-
ping the bounds of sober probability, what was the
daily life of a Christian family under the nominal
sway of Antichrist. Long neglect on the part of
the Roman Pontiffs, who were usually engaged in
more important conquests, or immersed in sensuality
4
33 fttE CtttfRCM Ofr CMtsT
beyond the power of rousing themselves, had pef i
mitted the Gospel to take deep root, to spread
widely, and to bear much fruit over a varied tract
of country. In high places, in the cathedrals and
parish-churches, all went on as usual. Images were
set in every niche, tapers lighted before their shrines,
votive gifts suspended round them ; and all the ser
vices of the Romish ritual duly celebrated. Here,
at stated hours, sat the priest in the confessional,
ready to dispense absolution to sinners on the accus-
tomed terms: there hung the pix, over the high al*
tar, containing a wafer, to which the special tidoni'
tion due to ' Saint Sacrament' might always be di-
rected : there the mass was sung, the censer smoked,
the holy water flew right and left, sprinkled by the
hand of priestly benediction : and there, at the accus-
tomed seasons, appeared the reigning count, with
his knights, burgesses, vassals, and a goodly assem-
blage of worshippers, all devoutly engaged, so far aa
externals went, in worshipping they knew not what.
No doubt, many prostrated themselves there who
secretly held a purer faith ; and who, if any of the
rulers had openly professed a scriptural belief in
Christ, would gladly have acknowledged him too,
but of these we cannot speak, otherwise than by a
reference to our Lord's emphatic warning, " Whoso-
ever shall confess me before men. him will 1 confess
also before my Father which is in heaven ; but who-
soever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny
before my Father v hich is in heaven."
Ifl THE TWELFTH cENTim?. 39
There were some who thus openly confessed their
crucified Lord, and they were numerous. These
gave no heed to the noisy chimes that summoned
them to a strange worship : they passed by the opon
doors of each conspicuous temple, rendering no hom-
age to the idol crucifix, taking no notice of the con-
secrated water, muttering no prayer to departed
saints, nor deeming that aught of holiness belonged
either to the building or to any of the uses to whith
it was applied. Quietly they pursued their way, the
father with his matronly partner on his arm, the
brother leading the sister, and the little ones of the
household treading with subdued looks in the foot-
prints of those who preceded them. We may fol-
low them, as they pass along, now jostled by the
giddy group who are hurrying to come in for a share
of the unmeaning services that speak neither to the
heart, nor to the conscience, nor to the understand-
ing ; nor can exert the slightest influence either of
direction or restraint, over the course of their wasted
lives- now smiled iipon by a passing friend, who knows
and respects their scriptural principles, but lacks
courage to turn and accompany them, -now greeted
by the whispered blessing of a neighbor, who hopes
ere evening's close to swell the hymn of praise that
will issue from their lips. On they go, grieving
over the desecrating frivolities, or the eager spirit of
worldly business, that perpetually break down the
barriers placed by the Lord around his day of rest ;
and which, strong as adamant, in the view of a be-
40 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
lievev, are regarded by the disciples of Rome as colv
web threads, intrusively thrown across their path.
Our Albigensic patriarch has now conducted his
little party beyond the utmost boundary of the vil-
lage town ; and very lovely is the landscape tha
opens to their eye, resting in that sweet Sabbath
repose which is breathed upon it neither from the
Bkies above, nor from the earth beneath, but from
the heart of him who contemplates it through the
medium of a divine ordinance. The sunbeam seems
to fall more broadly, the trees to spread more grace-
fully their welcome shade. The hills rise, as if as-
piring to an altitude that should bring them nearer
heaven ; the little flowers deck the earth as though
to brighten her Sunday robe ; and the streamlet as
il murmurs by, speaks of the bounteous hand that
bade it gush for man's refreshment. Far as the e}e
can reach, the vineyards stretch along the hilly slope,
spreading their clusters to the ray ; and then, on
the other side, a strip of level land is covered with
verdant pasturage, where the flock and the herd
browse unmolested, and for a time un watched ; for
the shepherd boy has asked and gained a few hours'
holiday, not that he may join in the gambols of some
thoughtless group, intent only on making themnelves
merry, but because he loves the company of those
who forsake not the assembling of themselves to-
gether for purposes congenial to the hallowed sea-
Bon.
D "wn in yonder shad id nook, where the broad
.N THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 41
chestnut spreads his venerable branches, and forms a
graceful canopy, an open shed stands, lightly thatch-
ed, and forming a shelter, in the grape season, for
f.ome of the operations connected with that branch
of agriculture. Here, on seats as rustic and as va-
rious as could well be collected together, are placed
a number of females of every age, generally, though
not exclusively, of humble station, who wait in so-
ber silence, or in pleasant converse on holy subjects,
the completion of their party. Men, youths, and
boys are scattered about ; some seated on the ground,
some leaning against the light pillars of the shed,
others pacing the green sward, in quiet, yet anima-
ted discourse on the things that belong unto then
peace. Our pedestrians take their accustomed sta-
tion, and shortly after their arrival, appears the pas-*-
tor of the expectant flock. He has no robing-room,
no sacristy, to screen his mysterious preparations
for the office whereunto the Lord hath called him.
Clad in the simplest habiliments of a travelling
dealer in miscellaneous wares, with manners as art-
less as his apparel is unstudied, and wearing as his
only badge of office, that crown of glory which a
hoary head found in the way of righteousness con-
fers on its possessor, he advances with looks of beam-
ing affection, and gives the salutation of " Peace be
to you," which every heart and every tongue re-
echoes with an application to himself.
He has been on an embassy, through many leagues
of territory, bartering his simple wares, and using
4*
42 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
the opportunities thus obtained for speaking the
Gospel of the grace of God in many a mansion
where such language was never heard before. He
has trod the stately halls of the proud chateau, and
while his fabric of home-made lace attracted the
eye of the courtly dame, he has filled her ear with
sounds most strangely new ; even that God so loved
the world as to give his own Son, to die for sinners
like her ; and that " the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanseth from ALL sin ;" and on that mighty " all "
he has expatiated, until the pilgrimages and pen-
ances, and purgatorial fires of Rome's lucrative fable
seemed as, what they are a mocking lie, to cheat
the soul of its free and full salvation. Many a sweet
tale has the missionary peddler to tell, of " seed sown
in desolate places;" and then they all kneel down,
and pray to Him that sitteth in the heavens, that He
will cause the gentle dew of His spirit to fall, and
fertilize the ground, until plants arise, and fruit ap-
pear, to His glory.
After this, songs of praise are sung : confession
of sin is made to Him who " willeth not the death
of a sinner ;" and many a sob of repentance is turned
into the prayer of believing hope, as the sure word
of promise is dwelt upon, and its balm applied to
the wounded conscience. They strengthen them-
selves in the Lord ; they build themselves up on
their most holy faith ; and with eager delight they
listen to the well-worn manuscript again produced
for their edification, where a portion of the inspired
IN TIIE TWELFTH CENTURV. 46
word was inscribed by the hand of a faithful copier,
who found the original document becoming illegi-
ble from constant use. This leads to exhoitation,
founded on the word ; and again they pray, again
they join their voices in a chorus of praise, that the
little hills around them seem delighted to adopt, re-
echoing it in half-breathed echoes of their own.
O
Much is said of the evils among which they dwell ;
much of the wolfish character of some who assume
the clothing of sheep. Words of warning are
spoken to the young ; words of encouragement to
all.
Perchance even in that little congregation some
unsuspected traitor might lurk, taking heed to what
was said, not for his soul's profit, but for the de-
struction of his companions. Some there might
also be, as yet sincere in their profession, who would
when the storm fell upon them, flee from the shel-
tering Rock to rest on a fleshly arm, and perish.
But to the Searcher of hearts alone, were the hearts
of the little assemblage laid open : only the eye of
Omniscience could descry their future path ; and as
they separated, to wend in groups, or singly, along
the diversified paths of that sunny landscape, they
looked as peaceful, and as fearless of approaching
harm, as the quiet goats that browsed on the hill-
side, and scarcely raised an eye to glance at the ap-
proaching wayfarers.
They passed a stone cr< ss, rudely constructed,
perhaps, with its attendant niche for the statue of
44 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
Jie Virgin. No hat was raised, no head or knee
was bowed ; no imaginary cross was figured on the
breast. What had they lo do with idols, who had
been worshipping the living God in the spirit, and
in the beauty of holiness '? They passed on, and
sought their several hvellings. Scattered over the
earth, of which they were the salt, they withstood,
in their quiet efficiency, the spreading of corruption,
Woe lo the land where such salt hath lost its
CHAPTER II.
ANTICHRIST.
WE now change the scene. No longer by the
mountain-side, or down into the valley, or through
green pastures and among clustering vines lies oui
secluded path : halls of grandeur, surpassing the
ordinary work of man, rich with Parian marble, in-
terspersed with ivory and alabaster ; sumptuous
hangings, where mouldings of burnished gold peep
forth amid the sweeping festoons of purple and
crimson ; tapestry, the rarest that could be culled
from Saracenic spoils ; and sculpture of unequalled
beauty, in every form that art might borrow from
creation's wonders, all this, and more than all that
modern fancy may body forth from the luxurious
shadows of antique magnificence, we shall encoun-
ter while pacing the wide saloons, and vaulted cor-
ridors, and mounting the broad marble stairs, all
studded with the trophies of a prostrate world, in
a thousand varied forms of costliness and grace
But among them we will not pause ; the foot falls
noiselessly now on carpets of delicate texture, a
luxury unknowji as y-t in many king's houses; and
46 ANTICHRIST.
we approach a retired apartment, A'here splendor
holds but the second rank, its prominent feature
being that of studious comfort and convenience, in
their most perfect manifestation. The mellow light
falls softly on a spacious board formed of some
precious wood, and covered with purple cloth, of
which the golden fringe nearly sweeps the ground ;
and this is piled with manuscripts, and documents
of various bulk, from the thick volume of Roman
and of Grecian lore, to the familiar letter, and its
half-completed ~eply now thrown aside for more im-
portant avocation.
And who is he, the presiding spirit of the stu-
dious, solitary sct-ne ? There is that in it and in
him which bespeaks him lord of the palace through
which we have trod ; master of the mighty accu-
mulation of wealth, and luxury, and voluptuous
gratifications. The guards who, in gorgeous at-
tire, passed and repassed before the stately portals
of this royal abode, were surely guarding him : the
throng of officials hovering about us as we came
along, were doing his will and waiting his com-
mands : the singing-men and singing-women, whose
melodious voices we heard in rehearsal of their eve-
ning's task, were preparing strains of harmony to
delight his ear : the glittering preparations of a ban-
quet fitted for an assemblage of eastern monarchs,
were surely made that he might feast, while the
tabret, and the viol, and the song, heightened the
sensual allurement* of the hour. There is nelhing
ANTICHRIST. 47
hat the lust of the flesh can crave, nothing to sati-
ate the lust of the eye, nothing that the haughtiest
pride of living man may grasp to elevate him on the
pinnacle of human greatness, and lap him in the
fullest enjoyment of mortal delights, but we have
traced it, spread within the beck of this man. Yet
his aspect is not that of a reveller ; the line traced
on a cheek still fresh with the bloom of young life,
has not been imprinted there by the finger of de-
bauchery ; the fire of the drunkard is not that which
flashes from his dark Italian eye ; and the tonsured
head, from which the silken cap is laid aside that
the soft breeze from yonder open casement may fan
its circle of raven locks, bespeaks a character of
elevated tone, deep thought, expansive intellect,
and a resolve that mocks the idle dream of opposi-
tion.
That man is Lotharius, Count de Signi, and his
ideed is all that we have described and surmised,
'his haughty palace, with all its magnificence is his;
ind at his command, every gratification that sense
jan crave is ready to surround him. But such is not
his choice ; he aims at a wider mark, and will seize
a, mightier prey.
Rudely sketched on a skin of vellum, according
to the imperfect knowledge of those days, there lies
beside him a chart of the world : and he will not
pause, nr slack his hand, while throughout its
boundaries there exists a state unconscious of hia
po wer, or diiring to raise an obstacle in the path of
48 ANTICHRIST.
his supreme will. Mark him, as with sternly placid
brow he bends over the paper spread before him,
and engrosses with steady energy the customary
commencement of a fulmination, at sight of which
some monarch shall quake upon his throne, " INNO-
CENT, servant of the servants of God." Few months
have passed since the triple tiara was placed upon
his head, and the forged keys committed to his reso-
lute grasp ; and already has he caused it to be felt
throughout Europe, that a master's hand has seized
the reins of spiritual dominion, with full purpose of
adding thereto the utmost stretch of temporal des-
potism. He is preparing for a vast campaign ; his
battle-field is the wide earth ; and knowing that by
the salt of the earth alone can the universal corrup-
tion that he purposes to establish be resisted ; his
preliminary work must be to remove that salt : his
opening war is a " War with the Saints."
Look again ; view him by the light of Holy Writ,
and the pleasant beam of day will fade upon your
eye, and the terrible fire of God's wrath will be seen
to wrap him round, as a cloak ; as the garment with
which he is girded. You see before you the Man
of Sin. the Son of Perdition, engaged in his fore-
shown work of opposing and exalting himself: one
whose coming is after the working of Satan ; and
whose office it is by all means to extinguish the light
that is hated by th: prince of darkness. In himself,
a weak, a dying man, how terrible, how " strong nx
ceedingly," he becomes, invested with the power,
ANTICHRIST. 49
and enthroned as the vicegerent of tne god of this
world ! He has passed from among the crowd of
common rebels to assume that fearful headship that
maintains a succession of men, as it were one man,
in that place where the dragon hath given him " his
power, and seat, and great authority." He holds
them now ; beneath him, and around him, swell the
seven hills of " that great city which ruleth over the
kings of the earth." The very demons to whom the
Pagans of ancient Rome burnt incense and 1 sacrificed,
are there upon their pedestals ; their titles only be-
ing changed, to those of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
his apostles, and the lowly virgin of whose mortal
substance his human body Avas made ; while an
honor no less idolatrous is still rendered to the
senseless blocks. There, where the river of mystic
Babylon, the Tiber, rolls sluggishly along, the cap-
tives of Judah sit and weep, in sorrow that the
lapse of nearly twelve centuries has not mitigated,
but rather increased ; for the sword of papal Rome
is keener, and her scourge more knotted, than when
the sanguinary heathen wielded them over the ex-
iled and afflicted people of the Lord. Neither in
name nor in nature, is Rome changed : the wolf's
milk seems yet to sustain the savage principle
within ; and the stain of fratricidal blood that moist-
ened her first foundations, yet stands, indelible as
the mark of Cain, perpetually renewed upon hef
orow.
But this man, this Innocent, what is he about f
5
50 ANTICHRIST.
Enthroned as the deputed minister of Satan, but
blasphemously assuming to be the representative of
Christ, he is about exercising the power of the Evil
One under the name of the Most Holy One. He
has glanced over the rough chart beside him, and
revolved in his penetrating, comprehensive mind,
the internal affairs of each several kingdom ; and he
perceives that, to carry out his ambitious designs,
he must unite the various sovereigns in some gen-
eral object, which, while in itself calculated to min-
ister to his ambitious purposes, shall also divert
their attention and withdraw their military force, if
not their personal superintendence also, from their
respective territories. The destined theatre of this
simultaneous movement is Palestine whitened as
its strickened plains and desolate mountains are with
the bones of former victims, immolated in the insane
crusades. Insane indeed they were, as regards their
ostensible object, held as real by the dupes who un-
dertook them ; but deeply politic as planned by those
who, while stirring up the minds of their unconscious
tools to the seemingly pious enterprise of rescuing
the holy city from its paynim lords, really aimed at
the triumphant establishment of Rome's supremacy
throughout the East, on the wrecks of the Grecian
Empire.
But to this man of sin, and of iniquitous mystery,
it would seem a small matter to arm another cru-
sade, however extensive and powerful, if, while the
princes gf Europe were employed, at the head of
ANTICHRIST. 51
their armaments, in extending the empire of the
mighty lie abroad, truth should continue to make
its quiet way among the homesteads of their several
domains. Innocent III. was not the man to over-
look the infancy of aught that might grow to a dan-
gerous form, if left to mature itself; he knew that a
single copy of the word of God, privately circulated
in a rural district, might shake the pillars of his
throne, and grind his gigantic power into dust. He
therefore determined that the first crusade under-
taken by his command, should be by each prince
against his own subjects, wheresoever the faintest
glimmering of a true faith had been detected through-
out his realms of darkness. Already had the flames
of martyrdom begun to light the sky, in places
where the number of suspected believers was very
small, and where they were easily marked out, and
arraigned on false charges, and put to death with-
out exciting either compassion or resentment in the
blinded multitudes around them. The German em-
peror had also placed in his hands an edict for the
destruction of those among his subjects in Italy,
who, under the name of Paterini, or Gazari, were
distinguished as dissenting in many points from the
creed of Rome ; and where, as in some instances it
occurred, the lords who ruled in the provinces
showed a disposition to protect this class of their
subjects, whom they had ever found the most
peaceful, loyal, and industrious, the crafty pontiff
neutralized their opposition by tempting their ava-
52 ANTICHEIST.
rice on the one hand, and on the other exciting
their fears. He consigned to them, as a legal for-
feiture, the entire possessions of all whom they should
destroy as heretics ; and he denounced against them
the penalty of excommunication in the event of their
favoring the escape of a suspected schismatic. Where
the bribe might have failed, the menace triumphed ;
for, howsoever lightly some of the barons might have
regarded the papal malediction in its sphitual char-
acter, they well knew that its promulgation would
authorize and ev.m enjoin every neighboring lord to
invade and depose, every vassal under their rule
to waylay and assassinate them.
So far successful, within the first year of Ins pon-
tificate, has the man now before us been ; and the
augury of future triumph sits upon his brow.
"Innocent, servant of the servants of God " is pre-
paring credentials for his chosen emissaries, now
about to depart for the province of Narbonne, which
has occasioned him some anxiety since the report of
numerous spies confirmed his suspicion that, the
truth had taken strong and deep root in that prov-
ince, and he has matured his plan for destroying it.
In that document, lengthening under his rapid pen-
manship, you might read the commission to be con.
ferred on his two delegates, the powers with which
he prepares to arm them ; the germ, in fact, of that
terrible after-growth, the Inquisition, of which he i
to be the actual author: and as he pauses for the ink
to dry up n its surface, he spares another momen-
ANTICHRIST. 53
tary glance to the world's outline, whereon his bound-
less lust of aggrandizement delights to expatiate;
where he thinks to change times and laws ; where he
will depose and create err pcrors, and play with regal
crowns as with nursery toys. The East he will
overrun and grasp it yet: the Germanic Empire
shall own no head but of his selecting : that little
speck, denoting England, he will curb its restless
spirit of independence, and render its trophied
crown a football for his legate. France, Spain,
Hungary, the whole circle of surrounding dominions,
shall be as a nest of unfledged eagles, upon which
the dark shadow of his vulture-power shall rest,
until he can say of the terrified inmates, " There
was none that peeped, nor moved the wing, nor mut-
tered."
Strange that a mortal man should possess, and
have permission to exercise, a power so vast and so
destructive ! It would appear yet more strange to us,
if we held not in our hands the solution of the mys-
tery ; his coming is after the working of Satan ; and
his is " the power, the seat, and the great author-
ity," held for the moment by that selected vicege-
rent. -We must recall the scene of conflict, when
our holy Lord Jesus was led of the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted of the Devil, and remem-
ber the magnificent bribe that was set before Him :
" All the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of
them," which were certainly, in a degree to us inex-
plicable, at the disposal of the Evil One, "the piince
5*
54 ANTICHRIST.
of this world," as our Lord himself designated him'
and still retaining such a mighty power and influence,
even after the triumphant resurrection and ascension
of his Conqueror, that the apostle could style him
"the gid of this world," and represent him as taking
captive at his will such as fell into his snares.
While, therefore, we contemplate the individual who,
as in the very wantonness of mockery, chose the
official appellation of " Innocent," in which to blaxon
forth his sanguinary guilt, let us remember that we
look upon an incarnation of Satan himself; one into
whom, as into Judas of old, the evil spirit had en-
tered, stimulating weak mortality to the almost un-
imaginable supremacy in crime, that could find in
the Creator and Redeem; r of the world, an object of
barter and sale. We are not to inquire, what could
Lotharius de Signi achieve ? but what could the
fallen archangel accomplish, when working in and
by a rare combination of those physical and intel-
lectual capacities which were originally fashioned in
divine perfection, to show forth the glory and the
majesty of Him in whose image man was created j
and which still, in the wreck that sin has reduced
them to, bear splendid marks of what they once
have been? What must that be in the fierceness
and pride of its unresisted power, over which in its
destined fall all heaven is summoned to rejoice !
There is an awful and a terrible interest in the
scene it can scarcely be called an imaginary one-
where we seem to linger. The gorgeousness of the
ANTICHRIST. 5ft
palace, he features of boundless voluptuousness
that every v hero prevail, save in the aspect of its
present lord, whose soul is surrendered to the rule
of sterner passions ; the utter absence of all that
might be construed into a semblance of pure and
undefiled religion ; the proud, glaring, gaudy con-
trast to the subdued, unworldly spirit of the doctrine
taught by Him who was meek and lowly of heart,
and by the simple, unlearned men whom He com-
missioned to make known to all the world the great
mystery of godliness : these things would strike the
mind as remarkable, even were Rome still pagan in
name, and the idols that she worships invoked by
their original names of Jupiter, Mars, Bacchus,
Venus, and the other obscene characters of a foul
mythology. But this is not so : the pride, the sen-
suality, the sloth, the unbounded wickedness that
surround us, are exhibited to the world as the ad-
juncts of Christianity ; yea, to such an extent, that
to question the Divine authority here assumed, to
doubt whether the remorseless homicide before us is
indeed the chosen and anointed delegate of Christ,
exercising the fulness of His power, and being head
over all things to His body the Church, is "heresy,"
punishable with a cruel death. Perchance some
wasted form may cross our path, some poor con-
science-stricken sinner, who tries to overcome the
tremblings occasioned by a fearful looking-for of
judgment and fiery indignation that awaits the trans-
gressor, by fastings and penances, and vigils that
Ob ANTICHRIST.
have dwindled his body to a shadow, but can bring
no ray of peace or hope to his despairing mind : yet
still he toils on, in the weary path, and beholds a
distant refuge in the promised absolution of this
pretender to heavenly powers. Alas! the victim is
perishing with a lie in his right hand.
The task is done : the pontiff rapidly skims over
it, and, resuming his cap, arranging his robe, and
gathering about him a dignity needful for the occa-
sion, gives a summons that is speedily obeyed by
the entrance of two ecclesiastics, who, with the low-
liest reverence that man can pay to a superior being,
approach within some paces of their brother of the
dust ; and there they stand, with heads bowed down
while the pontifical blessing is pronounced with that
impressiveness which a master mind will impart to
the action, albeit the spirit may have no part there-
in. After a pause, he bids them be seated ; and
conscious of their value in his eyes, as chosen emis-
saries in a somewhat difficult field of labor, they lay
aside the embarrassing sense of a presumed unap-
proachable distance, which probably they do not
feel, and listen while Innocent breathes forth the
paternal sorrows of his heart, over the wrongs in-
flicted on their holy religion by heretics who corrupt
the faith, and draw others aside from the right way.
In all his pious affliction, brother Guy, and brother
Regnier sympathize, declaring with what eagerness
they have obeyed his mandate, leaving the cloistered
solitudes of Citeaux, and all the peaceful privilege!
ANTICHRIST* 51
of monkish lite, to do his bidding as good sol-
diers of the cross, m the unsettled province of Nar-
bonne.
Then follow their instructions ; and marvellous it
fe, how soon the tones of pious lamentation strength-
ex: and deepen into those of most energetic com-
mand. The pontiff shows himself intimately ac-
quainted with the nature and the seat of the malady,
and most unflinchingly decided as to the mode of
care. They are to traverse the infected districts,
and by every means that power, craft, wealth, and
skill can supply, to discover the holders of hereti-
cal doctrines. They are to establish tribunals, the
most irresponsibly despotic that can be devised, be-
fore which the accused must be arraigned ; and to
carry out to the full whatever sentence is considered
advisable, they are invested with the plenitude of
authority enjoyed by the holy see an authority
that vaunts to inclose within its grasp not only
earth, but heaven and hell. No appeal is left : from
their decisions appeal is not permitted ; and on their
part, no appeal is required. Confiscation, imprison-
ment, torture, exile, and the stake are in their hands,
to wield against men's bodies ; and at the voice of
their excommunicating curse, the pit of perdition is
to unfold its jaws, and swallow up the condemned
soul. They are, moreover, to preach vehemently,
stirring up the rage of all true Christians agains*
their neighbors, and publicly to entangle in the subt-
leties of log'cal disputation such as may venture t*
59 ANTICHRIST.
avow the i opinions. They are o convict them, if
possible, of direct opposition to the mind and will
of the Church ; and to seize the moment of such
public exposure to exasperate against them the more
consistent upholders of that dreaded authority.
Many admonitions and suggestions, full of the wis-
dom that cometh not from above, but which in its
earthly, sensual, devilish subtlety, frequently over-
reaches and confounds the children of light, does
the pontifical instructor bestow on his eager listen-
ers ; who, with years and experience much beyond
his own, and with a full measure of learning and
talent, are far behind him in intellectual power, and
still further in that unshrinking spirit of fearless de-
termination that will openly and unwaveringly pur-
sue its one defined object, though the thrones of
monarchs, and the bodies and souls too of their
countless subjects, must be crushed under his ad-
vancing tread. A noble model for two aspiring
monks to study ! a bright example of the faith which
he is inciting them to maintain, and to establish by
espionage and dissimulation ; by lying sophistry and
suborned evidence ; by the fetter, the dungeon, the
rack, and the flame.
Nothing is left unsaid, to prepare them for this
work ; they are encouraged to propose questions, in
matters of imaginary difficulty possible to occur,
that he may solve them ; and to exhibit in their
most formidable aspect all supposable obstacles-!,
that he may instruct them, not only how to conquei
ANTtCttRtST, ftO
but how to turn them all to advantage. Never was
counsel more eagerly taken against the poor scat-
tered flock of the Lord's pasture, than while those
three men arrar.ged the cautious opening of a cam-
paign, that was to issue in exterminating warfare ;
and they leave at length that august presence, so
replete with thoughts, and schemes, and auguries of
triumph, that while they slowly retrace, side by side
the stately approaches to the scene of audience,
scarcely are they tempted to cast a wandering glance
on the marvels that surround them; their cowled
brows being bent still lower to smother the whis-
pered tones that mutually recount the heads of their
instructions, or prophecy of the probable events of
that long vista of dominion which the natural turn
of man's life opens to the vigorous mind and robust
constitution of Lothnrius de Signi. Perchance each
secretly carves out for himself a sway if less exten-
sive, equally despotic, over the provinces to which
they are now to repair; and, perchance, it is sug-
gested to their ambitious minds, that one of them
may yet live to snatch the powerful keys that hands
not less nervous than those recently uplifted to bless
them, have oft let fall under the operation of some
deadly draught. For, what other imerdon has the
> O O
apostate Church to offer to her unscrupulous offi-
cials, than the attainment of honors, and wealth,
and lordly sway, among the kingdoms of this world ?
Arriving at the outer portal of the Vatican, we
can hut look back upon its walls, and say, that, upon
dO A-NT-lCHftlS?.
earth, Satan never prevailed to frame so mighty a
laboratory of sin. The perfection of its machinery
is wonderful, even under the presiding influence of
spirits far inferior to that of Innocent III. In the
stupendous forgery there perpetually carried on,
every line and character of God's truth is parodied
with wonderful skill, that, the original destroyed, men
may receive the base fabrication, and believe, not to
the saving, but to the destruction of their sou.s. Its
devices are best seen in their public development :
and narrative, not declamation, must show them
forth : but of the pontiff in his closet, and of those
monks now winding their course through the streets
of the great city, and of the multitudes for whose
slaughtering career they go to prepare the way, we
can say, " These shall make war upon the Lamb,
and the Lamb shall overcome them ; for He is the
King of kings, and Lord of lords ; and they that are
with Him" even the poor harmless helpless ones
whom these go forth to destroy" are called, and
chosen, and faithful."
Gladly we turn from the pomp and pride of the
splendid city, on whose tall towers and columns of
ancient fame, and gigantic ruins of an empire less
mighty than that which, under a far different char-
acter, yet almost identically the same in principle
and in practice, has succeeded it, to explore again
the scene of future persecution, still wrapped in the
repose of presumed independence and short-lived
peace. The banners that float on the battlements
ANTICHRIST. 61
of thai princely abode are fanned by thj Pyrennean
breezes ; and the hands that planted them there are
lerved to defend them, as the ensigns of a freedom
the value of which is deeply felt, even when its full
extent is not rightly understood : they are guarded
oy those who have learned to think for themselves ;
and who, for the bare assumption of such unautho-
rized privilege, are already, though secretly, con-
demned as unpardonable rebels against the supre-
macy of Rome.
Wheresoever the Lord plants a vineyard, there
he also builds him a watch-tower. Sometimes a
diligent and faithful watchman is placed there, who
holds his post as a most sacred trust, for every par-
ticular of which he must deliver in a full detail to
the eternal King; and so he watches as one who
must give account, that he may be able to do it with
joy, and not with grief. Thus a God-fearing mon-
arch, as David, Josiah, Hezekiah, will rule his king-
dom ; thus a subordinate prince, his more confined
possessions ; thus a devout landholder his patri-
monial domain ; and a householder his family. We
speak not here of a spiritual surveillance ; not of
the vine-dresser or the grape-gatherer ; but of that
secular keeping which the ordinary course of this
world renders necessary for the preservation of land-
marks, and the repulse of foreign assailants, whoso
object it might be to rend and to trample down the
precious, but weak and fragile plants that constitute
Jit vineyard.
G
62 ANTICHRIST.
Sometimes, however, that which to man's eye ap-
pears the appointed watch-tower, is none other than
& lodging for wayfaring men, who come and go, in
pursuit of their own ends, having no more care or
thought for the security of the vineyard than their
temporary approximation begets in selfish minds.
If they stretch out a protecting hand on its behalf,
it is only because the wild boar who comes to tram-
ple it down, might, if unresisted, turn his formida-
ble tusks upon themselves, and become exceedingly
dangerous to them Or, at least, a feeling of local
attachment, of admiration for its beauty, apprecia-
tion of its value, and innate love of justice, may arm
their hands in that defence on which they cannot
but admit it has a claim. But the higher motive is
altogether wanting : their guidance to the spot in
danger's hour is indeed providential, like all other
things that affect the welfare of the Lord's Church ;
but they hold no recognized commission, they look
forward to no searching investigation of their pro-
ceedings ; and unhappy is he who leans upon them
in the hour of calamity.
In such cases, then, where is the true watchman
to be found ? Only the eye of faith can discern him ;
only the ear of faith can hear his encouraging voice,
saying, " The Lord himself is thy keeper : the Lord
is thy defence upon thy right hand."
Xo vineyard was there, perhaps, so extensive, so
Nourishing, so conspicuously visible, as in the prov-
ince of Toulouse ; and strange it would have sounded
ANTICHRIST. 63
in many ears to have denied to that stately castle (he
appellation of a watch-tower, or to Count Raymond
the title of a bold, a faithful watchman over the
plants so collected and so trained up within the
broad bounds of his ancient sovereignty. A sov-
ereign prince indeed he was, a man of war from his
youth, asserting and. maintaining a lofty independ-
ence, neither to be controlled by the monarch whc
received his nominal homage, nor by the neigh-
boring princes, who sought by frequent disputes,
and many hostile attempts, to humble his pride,
or to set narrower limits to his power. The former
remained unbent, the latter received continual ac-
cessions of strength ; for he gathered around him its
various elements, and nourished in the congenial at-
mosphere. The stately halls of Raymond's castle
echoed to the lays of the troubadours ; his revels,
divested of the coarser features of a barbarous <ige,
assembled together the fairest of one sex, and the
boldest of the other ; while the peculiar refinement,
and diffusion of that comparative light which science
sheds, so distinctive of the Provencal society, fos-
tered in every bosom a species of vain-glory highly
conducive to the popularity of the chief undei
whose auspices they flourished. To recruit his mil-
itary forces, he retained in his pay a considerable
body of Routiers, an organized banditti, in fact, frcm
the northern parts of Spain, whose habits of plun-
der he carefully restrained, so far as the general
population of the province was concerned, but left
64 ANTICHRIST.
them more at large among the ecclesiastics ; the
most despised order of men. Churches were forci-
bly entered, to be despoiled of their gold, and sil-
ver, and precious stones ; their rich vestments, and
costly draperies : and many a friar found himself
unexpectedly brought within the letter of his vow
of poverty, through the marauding exploits of those
desperate gangs, who held all religion in supreme
contempt: lut none sympathized with the sufferers ;
they stood as far beyond the pale of Proyencal re-
finement on the one hand, as on the other beyond
that of scriptural verity. Raymond upheld his in-
fluence, even over the mercenary Rentiers, at the
bast possible expense to his popularity in other
quarters. He dreamed not that the very order on
which he most disdainfully pressed his heel, was that
which should ere long arise and crush him. Alas
for him who ventures to tread among scorpions,
without having his feet first shod with the prepara-
tion of the Gospel of peace !
The dominion of Count Raymond extended over
the greater part of the territory already specified,
the respective lords owning to him a fealty that his
prowess compelled them to acknowledge, and, on
most occasions, heartily uniting with him in the re-
pulsion of any superior claimant. Like him, they
despised the lazy, useless, and ignorant order of ec-
clesiastics ; like him they tolerated, ?.nd many of
them opo :ily fostered, .the purer faith held by the
scattered j eople of God. But Toulouse, the im
ANTICHRIST. 65
mediate province so called, was where tl ese protest-
ers especially basked in the sunshine of patronage!
and the city itself was considered not less their head-
quarters than it was the seat of Raymond's govern-
ment. Fulcrand, Bishop of the place, made an ef-
fort to uphold the sinking credit of his order, but in
vain the very year before Innocent III. assumed
the tiara, an indignant historian describes the low
ebb to which ecclesiastical power had fallen, in these
terms: "The temples were deserted; the altar
itself wanted ministers ; and the Church, not find-
ing subjects sufficient to consecrate, was compelled
to have recourse to orders of men destitute of tiie
proper qualifications, who, by their ignorance and
corruption aided the heretics to accomplish the de-
struction of that authority with which the Catholic
religion had been for twelve centuries invested."
So rapidly was the man of sin, in those regions, con-
sumed with the breath of the Lord's mouth, that
there scarcely remained a tangible substance of the
body which is finally to be destroyed by the bright-
ness of his coming. But the set time had not yet
arrived ; and this, like many other of his deadly
wounds, was to be healed again.
Among the many classes who thronged Count
Raymond's presence-chamber, on a day of public au-
dience, there was not one in which a strong taint of
what Rome calls heresy might not be detected.
The feudal lords, his equal guests, who surrounded
his chair of state, or leaned upon his arm as he
6*
60 ANTICHRIST.
slowly paced the marble floor, were frequently
known, not only as the protectors, but as the open
patrons of avowed Albigenses, from among whom
they selected their counsellors and bosom friends.
Some of them had nobly braved the fearful menace
of excommunication, often paraded but as yet not
actually fulminated against them as enemies to the
faith: others, while making a show of compliance,
and ostensibly preparing to seize the persons and ef-
fects of the accused, had secretly warned them of
their danger, pointed out a more secure place of
abode, and supplied the means of immediate removal.
The military commanders, through all gradations of
rank, partook in this feeling ; for, where their own
minds were wholly unimpressed with the majestic
reality of truth, as embodied in the creed of their
Albigensic troops, their eyes could not be utterly
closed to the beauty of holiness, as displayed in those
men's daily walk. The living and moving principle
within might be veiled from their careless, carnal
sight ; but the fruits of the Spirit were as manifest in
them as were the works of the flesh in others ; and
good order, fidelity, sobriety, punctuality, with calm,
unflinching courage, were too well appreciated by
those who held command over them, to fail of ex-
citing a warm and generous sympathy, even if it
wx)n them not to investigate the origin of such con-
sistent effects. In this class, which in those warlike
days frequently comprised all the males of a prov-
ince, between boyhood and old age, there were also
ANTICHRIST. 67
wh) availed themselves of the sanction
oi their truly Christian comrades' example for neg-
recting the outward services of the nominal Church ;
and in so doing set themselves free from all restraint,
remaining utterly destitute of any religion, having
rejected the false without inquiring after the true
faith ; and thus, while incurring the brand of heresy,
they attached by their loose living, the stigma of
gross licentiousness to that in which they had nei-
ther part nor lot.
The substantial burgess, the humbler tradesman,
the artisan and the peasant, must all have pleaded
guilty to the charge of harboring within the circle of
his daily companionship, if not in his own home, or
in his own bosom, a portion of the pervading leaven.
Among the three last it was, perhaps, chiefly to be
sought for in its purity and lustre. Examples there
were, in every rank, of an elevated Christian walk
and conversation, compared with the prevalent char-
acter of the times, and the degraded state of nominal
religion ; and the noble army of martyrs had its
ranks thickly repfenished from the luxurious palace,
from the hall of study, from the comfortable home-
stead of the thriving gentleman, and other places
where the noble, the wise, and the mighty were
callod, and justified, and glorified ; but the poor in
this world were those among whom the riches of
faith chiefly abounded ; and from whom God chiefly
chose the heirs of the kingdom of heaven. These
ofien approached Count Raymond with their re-
H8 ANTICHRIST.
spectful statements of grievances, for the redress of
which they knew that he was appointed, and with
petition;?, that he was equally able and willing to
grant. Nor could the railing accusations that some
indignant ecclesiastic might pour forth against the
suppliant, as a notorious despiser of his gods and
goddesses, turn the current of justice in its even
course. The contrary was indeed often evident ; a
bias was given in favor of the denounced heretic by
the very denunciation that sought to crush him ;
and again, we must repeat, that, to the eye of man,
the proud turrets of Toulouse's regal castle would
appear to have belonged to a true watch-tower,
most effectually manned for the defence of the
Lord's vineyard.
But he whose coming is after the power of Satan,
had never yet put forth that terrible power against
the weak defences thus established. Man might
grapple with the strength of man, and deride his
threats, and maintain a disputed possession in tri-
umphant security ; but when the wrestling hereto-
fore sustained against flesh and blood alone, be-
comes a grapple with the unseen host of principali-
ties and powers : when the rulers of the darkness of
this world overshadow the field with their ominous
presence, and wicked spirits in high places assume
the conduct of the fray, nothing but the armor, the
\vhole armor of God, can enable an opponent to
stand : only the girdle of truth, the breasrp'ate of
v ighteousness, the sandals of peace, the shield of
ANTICHRIST. fi9
faith the helmet of salvation, the sword of the word,
all kept bright and serviceable by unceasing prayer,
can furnish a warrior for that day's battle.
Where now is Count Raymond, where his feudal
peers, and veteran knights of crusading renown ?
They have vanished from the scene like smoke : the
arm of flesh has withered, and is gone. Their pres-
ence may be as palpable, and their array as glitter-
ing, and their front as bold as it Avas erewhile, be-
neath the vaulted roof of that castellated palace,
which has lost none of its solidity, nothing of its im-
pregnable aspect : but as a watch-tower for the de-
fence of the Lord's vineyard, it is nothing; and
they, as guardians, are less than nothing. The will
remains, but the power that alone could now sustain
that will in effectual operation is wanting, because
it has never been sought. History, in all its ample
pages, does not contain a more instructive lesson of
the helplessness of man, than is furnished by the
memorial of Raymond VI., the powerful Count of
Toulouse.
It is customary to represent this chieftain as a
man of doubtful courage, of weak mind, and waver-
ing resolution ; but no warrant exists for so regard-
ing him. Raymond was an intrepid warrior, an un-
daunted upholder of his rights and possessions, his
partly by inheritance, partly by conquest, and the
rest in virtue of four marriages. His union with
the ,ister of our own royal fanatic, the lion-h .arted
Richard, ti insferred to him some of England's pos-
70
sessions in France ; and his last alliance Was ,1 most
politic one: just at the period when Innocent made
vehement appeals to the French king, on behalf of
the nominal Church, and when Raymond was nee*
essarily present to the minds of both these poten*
tates, as the principal offender, whom they must
unite to destroy, the count married the sister of
the king of Arragon, and so strengthened himself by
this alliance as to render his position one of tenfold
security. No, Raymond was neither, fearful nof
foolish, in the things of this world ; but he lacked
the wisdom that cometh from above, and which
alone could have armed him to withstand an onset
headed by the king of the bottomless pit.
When Regnier and Guy entered upon their mis-
sion, their first destination was Narbonne ; where
they prosecuted inquiries, made observations, and
framed reports for their master's eye, which fired
him to the utmost pitch of zeal for the instant sup-
pression of what he now saw to be an antagonist
power of formidable growth. Previously to dis-
patching them, he had sent other delegates into the
infected provinces, with full authority to destroy
whatsoever and whosever might be found in the at-
titude of opposition to Rome ; and these had com-
mitted several cruel murders, publicly burning first
a gentleman of consideration, whom they convicted
of holding heretical opinions ; and subsequently a
number of poor people in the villages where no
powerful arm could be uplifted in their defence, and
ANTICHRIST. 71
frhere terror and consternation paralyzed the simple
inhabit in ts. Beyond this, however, no impression
was made ; and the result of a close scrutiny on the
part of his two inquisitors, only tended to prove
how firmly the faith which they sought to destroy
had rooted itself. The pope, therefore, proceeded
to select three other legates ; Arnaud, abbot of
Citeaux, an ambitious, crafty, eloquent, and unscru-
pulous man ; Peter de Castelnau, a stern bigot,
fierce and unmasked, who openly panted to carry
fire and sword alike into palace and hovel, and who
could not even restrain the turbulence of his bit-
ter spirit when policy demanded it ; and Raoul, a
smooth, soft-spoken person, with much of the mod-
ern Jesuit about him : but neither the authoritative
temper of the first, nor the oily serenity of the last,
could obtain ascendency. The impetuous violence
of Castelnau bore all before him ; and his premature
exhibitions of ferocity retarded the success of their
mission, until they ended in his own destruction ;
an event that proved more serviceable than his pro-
onged life could have done.
While dispatching these legates, Innocent was
not unmindful of another weapon, placed, as he
conceived, at his sole command. Philip Augustus,
king of France, was the sovereign to whom apper-
tained the supreme lordship of Toulouse; and tc
him the pope addressed a letter that must not be
omitted, exhibiting as it does, at a glance, the char-
acter of its writer, and uttering so impressively the
72 ANTICHRIST.
dragon's roar, from under the horns of the lamb
It shows for what purpose, in the papal estimation,
kings are appointed ; and displays the fearful hypoc-
risy which is yet no real disguise ; the embroidered
veil of gossamer-tissue, so lightly thrown back by
the mother of harlots, exposing, in all their naked
hideousivess, the features of her branded face. Thus
runs the letter ; and a splendid composition it is, in
its original Latin :
" Sire,
"The Lord has established the dignity of pontiff,
and that of king, for the preservation of his church.
The first to nourish her children, the second to de-
fend them. That, to instruct docile souls, this to
subdue rebellious spirits. The pontiff must pray
for her most cmel enemies, and the king must draw
he sword to punish them. If these two powers are
agreed, in duly rendering their mutual service, then
the secular arm must chastise those whom the
church is unable to bring back to their duty. A
great monarch bears not the sword in vain ; God
has committed it to him for the service of the faith.
At the summons of the pontiff, he must hasten
wheresoever the faith is menaced. * * * *
In virtue of the power with which you are endued
from on high, compel therefore, the counts and bar-
ons to confiscate the goods of the heretics ; and ex-
ercise a goodly severity against such of these lords
as refuse to expel them from their own dominions. '
ANTICHRIST. 78
This stirring appeal to the French king, produced
no substantial effect : Philip Augustus was busied
in settling and strengthening his newly-recovered
possessions, the fruit of some successful wars ; and
be did not consider it expedient suddenly to embroil
limself with the powerful nobles of Provence, to
indulge the ardor of a fiery young pope. He ac-
cordingly transmitted empty promises to Rome, and
threats no less empty to Toulouse, both of which
were estimated at their real value. Innocent was
not beguiled ; neither were the troublers of his
peace alarmed.
Meanwhile, the three legates employed themselves
diligently in estimating first the state of the ecclesi-
astical body, whose degradation was so universally
conspicuous. Castelnau transmitted to Rome heavy
charges of incapacity, pusillanimity, and other of-
fences against the three bishops of Narbonne, Be-
ziers, and Toulouse ; all of whom they contrived to
displace; and by a characteristic stroke of policy
they chose for the vacant chair of Toulouse, a man
whose handsome person, joyous manners, liberal
mind, and brilliant wit, were especially calculated
to attract the refined Provencals. The bait took:
Fou'kes soon gathered around him an admiring con-
gregation ; the deserted catheral was once more
thronged with dt lighted listeners; and by his fasci-
nating eloquence, playful sallies of wit, and all the
charms of popular oratory, he seemed to have at-
tached them permanently to his ministry. He tLen
7
74 ANTICHRIST.
changed his tone, and gradually endeavored to lead
them back into the mazes of that sombre supersti-
tion from which they had emerged, some into the
pure sunshine of the Gospel, others into the dus-
zling glitter of human learning and human science ;
but all out of palpable darkness into comparative
light. The effect was astounding ; the congregation
a* once forsook their pastor, and bishop Foulkes
was left to descant on the power of the holy see
with all its appurtenances, and to recite his legends
of saints, long since consigned to oblivion by thos<
heretical Toulousians, with few auditors beyond the
baffled triumvirate of legates, who thus received a
more conclusive proof of the overthrow of papal
error than they were prepared to encounter. It so
disheartened Castelnau and Raoul, that they ab-
ruptly left the place, and were making all speed to
Rome, when they met a Spanish b>hop on his re-
turn to his diocese, who, after encouraging them in
language worthy a better cause, proved his sin-
cerity by dismissing his retinue, and on foot, with
only one attendant, joining himself to them as a
mendicant preacher, in which character he assured
them that they, like the apostles of old, must pur-
sue their mission if they desired to succeed. We
notice the incident chiefly because the bishop of
Osma's attendant, who, on this occasion, formed a
fourth in the party, was no other than that scourge
of the human race, Domin c, the founder of the mur-
derous InqiiHtion.
ANTICHRIST. 75
4
By such machinery, so arranged, so directed, so
promptly set in motion again after a temporary
check, was Satan prosecuting his designs against
the Lord's people. To make war with the saints,
when the time was come for crushing the infant
church ; the prince of darkness had found a general
every way suited, in Lotharius de Signi ; and see-
ing that he had now grasped the appointed viccge-
rency of the Dragon, all the powers of hell seem U
have been placed at his command for the execution
of his dreadful behests. We are too apt to dwell
exclusively upon the catastrophe, overlooking the
progress of events, the long, wary, wily, skilful
drawing of the net around the prey. It is unwise
so to do; for how know we that such enemies even,
now prowl about our path, and that in such a net it
is confidently anticipated that our feet also shall be
caught ? Nay, how can we look around us, and
mark the signs of the times, and doubt that even
so it is ?
When our Lord Jesus was led up by the Spirit
into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil, a
mighty panorama was opened to his view, by the
magic power of the wicked one, exhibiting at once
all the grandeur and the glory and the might of the
world's kingdoms : their hoarded wealth,- their vo-
luptuous beauty, the crushing force of their impetu-
ous chivalry. There were the fascinations of Greece
her poesy, her philosophy, her sculjture, and hei
76 ANTICHRIST.
innumerable blandishments ; there the chariots and
horses, and iron legions of Rome, holding the known
world in a fetter that none might break. To all
these could Satan point, and boldly assert, " All
this is mine, and to whomsoever I will, I give it."
The assertion was not denied ; on the contrary, if
\vas confirmed on numerous subsequent occasions,
when the kingship, the godship of the devil over
the whole world that lieth in wickedness, was em-
phatically recognized. He who wielded this tre-
mendous power ; he who occupied the seat of per-
mitted rule ; he who had authority to dispose at
will of what he vaunted to possess, is denominated
in the record of that awful scene " the devil ;" and
is addressed by our Lord as " Satan."
Again, in the Apocalypse we are told of a dragon,
whose enmity against the church is deadly, and his
incessant aim, her destruction : of this dragon it is
expressly said, he is " the Devil and Satan." Rev.
xx. 2.
And again, when a beast is described whose pecu-
liar work it is to make war with the saints, and to
overcome them, a beast every way identical with
papal Rome, it is said, "The Dragon (i. e. the Devil
and Satan) gave him his power, and his seat, and
great authority." Rev. xiii. 2.
It is really wonderful that, with 'hese solemn
truths of Holy Scripture before their eyes, histori-
ans of the past, or politicians of th^ present days
;an deal \vi*h this subje ~t as with any ordinarj
ANTICHRIST. 77
matter, where na ural causes produce natural effects.
The contest between Christianity and Popery is but
the predicted continuance of that which in the wil-
derness of Judea was held between Christ <jnd Sa-
tan. As on the former occasion, so in the latter,
we see the craft, the subtlety, and the plausibility
of the old serpent brought into action ; until, baffled
in these, he withdraws the veil, exhibits his tremen-
dous power, and boldly names the price at which
he will barter it ; that is, the recognition of his
sovereignty by an act that at once rejects the do-
minion of the Lord God, and pledges the wretched
victim forever to the active service of his infernal
master. We do not here pause to enter upon the
deeply interesting subject of advantages gained by
such compact on the part of the great adversary.
He knows his doom ; and during the limited time
that intervenes, he has a twofold object to accom-
plish : first, to involve in his own crime and pun-
ishment as many of God's creatures as he can se-
duce ; and secondly, to revenge the deadly wound
inflicted on his head by the woman's Seed, by bruis-
ing to the uttermost, where he cannot destroy, the
lowly members of the body of which the head is
Christ. Personally he encountered the Holy One 1
was conquered, and fled : by his human agents he
persecutes the saints, and maintains against them,
oftentimes, an actual war, which he, a disembodied
spirit, could not wag'; without the intervention of
human instruments, in one sense more powerful
78 ANT1CHR1S7.
than himself; for batan can only menace or allure ,
satanic men can ti-rture and destroy the bodies of
their fellow-men. The immateriality of the evil
spirit would be a bar to the acting out of his dia-
bolical desires, had he not succeeded in securing the
use of material bodies, capable of outraging in' de-
tail the letter of every divine law against which
he can himself only maintain a spiritual rebellion.
There is an awful magnitude, and yet a more awful
reality about these subjects that we too little heed ;
almost any branch of ordinary human science draws
forth the powers of the mind to investigate, to ana-
lyze, and to deduce conclusions, more readily t and
to a wider extent than these deep things of God.
Enthroned in the dragon's seat, and well content
to exercise the power and authority thereto belong-
ing to the full satisfaction of his invisible prompter,
Innocent kept an anxious eye on the scene of coining
war. The failure at Toulouse was calculated to ex-
asperate him ; and the angry spirit of Peter de Cas-
telnau failed not to keep alive the flame of papal
indignation. This impatient zealot could not long
brook the restraint that Diego's far-seeing policy
laid upon his violence ; or the wily deliberation of
Dominic's crafty plans ; and he soon broke away
from them to essay the powers of his fierce vituper-
ation on Count Raymond, to whom he repaired ; in-
sulting, menacing, and exasperating the haughty
noble, because he refused, at the dictation of the
legato, to niter ii to a doubtful compact with the
ANTICHHIST. 79
surrounded barons on the basis of a, general exter-
mination of the subjects whom he was resolved to
protect; and finding that his words excited in Ray-
mond only scorn and indignation, he proceeded to
cxcomm inicate the count ; laying his territories
undcT an interdict. This, as the act of a passionate
priest, would be lightly regarded ; he therefore ap-
pealed to the pope to confirm the sentence, who
forthwith wrote in his sternest, iftost withering style
to Raymond, and elicited from him a promise that
he would proceed to the work of separation and ex-
termination, pointed out as the sole price of such
mercy as the Romish church assumes to dispense in
spiritual matters ; between which and the deadliest
vengeance that she has temporal power to inflict, she
knows no medium. Raymond, however, made no
progress in his reluctant task ; a year passed on, and
herfsy flourished as before, notwithstanding some
warlike demonstrations against it, in semblance at
least on his part. Castelnau, who watched him
with the eye of a vulture following the caterer of
his destined repast of blood, could not brook his
tardy movements ; he sought Raymond out, it Sc.
Gilles, where he was engaged on some expedition,
and bitterly reproached him, as a hypocrite, a here-
tic, a traitor, and whatsoever else might most deeply
sting the pride of the regal chieftain ; reiterating,
at the close of his harangue, his former excommuni-
cation and interdict. On this occasion, Count Ray-
mond was so incensed as to utter words of menace
SO ANTICHRIST.
against the personal safety of the legate ; which he
presently recalled. They were, however, spoken ,
and they sealed his own doom. Castelnau and his
companion quitted t 1 e scene of this altercation in
great wrath, leaving the count and his military com-
panions no less excited. Having shortly afterwards
to pass the Rhone, not far from Saint Gilles, they
took up their quarters at a village inn, and here
they fell in with {^gentleman of Raymond's court,
a witness of the legate's outrageous conduct, and
sharing in the general resentment excited by it. As
the travellers issued from the church where they
had all attended morning mass, on the day after
their first encounter, the Toulousian engaged Castel-
nau in a disputation on the subject of heresy and its
due punishment. The fiery zealot on one hand, and
on the other a young soldier who had so recently
witnessed the insult put upon his prince-ly com-
mander, and heard the interdict pronounced which
involved m its deadly evil his own homestead, his
own kin, and his familiar friends, were not likely to
debate the point with temperance. The quarrel
ran high between them, and ere they parted, Peter
de Castelnau had fallen, a blood-stained corpse, be-
neath the poniard of his opponent.
This occurred in January 1208, ten years after
the first mission of Guy and Regnier from the Vati-
can. During that period, all possible rr.eans had
been used to prepare the way for what Innocent
was resolved to acomoHsh. Dissensions had been
ANTICHRIST 81
sown with lavish hund, throughout the once peace-
able and united community : preaching had been
resorted to, of ;v very popular style, vehement, cal-
culated to attract the notice, and to rouse the pas-
sions of the imaginative auditors. All Rome's pre-
tensions were anew set forth, sometimes under the
guise of deepest sanctity, by men whose wasted
forms and poverty-stricken asp'ect, bespoke their
voluntary surrender of all fleshly gratifications ;
sometimes with the pomp and pride, and overpow-
ering arrogance that often dazzle or dismay where
they cannot convince the reason. Especially was
the craft pursued of purchasing traitors and hiring
calumniators, who secretly poisoned the minds of
their neighbors against the harmless Christians,
who were, moreover, constantly drawn into public
disputation, on which their opponents were sure to
perplex their simple minds, by sophistry that puz-
zled and silenced them, though it left their faith
untouched ; and then, all who did not openly avow
themselves to be what the Church of Rome de-
nounced as heretics, condemned and accursed, were
ostentatiously included in the victorious party ; thus
insensibly rooting in their hearts a feeling of hostil-
ity against their neighbors, and a contempt for the
religion which they had learned to reverence, from
considering not the arguments that it could ad-
vance but the fruit that it perpetually bore before
their eyes.
But the time v as novi come for such an outburst
82 AN CHRIST.
of despotic violence as better suited the temper of
Innocent 111. than this dilator) 7 sapping and mining
He had, before the close of the preceding year, ful-
minated a string of pontifical bulls, addressed to the
king and the principal nobles of France, for the
effect of which he anxiously watched ; their purport
being to lay the foundation of a war of fanaticism
against those whom he represented as being worse
than the Saracens ; when tidings of Castelnau's
assassination, closely connected, of course, with the
angry threats of Raymond, and perpetrated by one
who had stood beside the count when he uttered
those threats, reached the pontiff in Rome. Every
bad, every vengeful, every merciless project, re-
ceived at once a mighty impetus, and a very plausi-
ble excuse. The brain of Innocent knew no repose,
his rapid pen never stayed its flight over the pages
that were taught to communicate his own irritated
feelings, and the pile so warily heaped up was kindled
at once into a blaze ; not of sudden, unpremeditated
character, but according to the deep-laid schemes of
many years, now brought to maturity by an event
the most opportune that could possibly have occur-
red, for the party on whom it seemed to fall as a
heavy calamity.
The crusades had long been found a powerful en-
gine in the hands of Rome. They extended h< r
temporal power ; filled her coffers ; fixed, beyond
any other means, the fetter of her spiritual despo-
tism; and, what was of primary importance, sup
ANTICHRIST: 33
plied a safety-valve by which the milituiy prowess
and resources of monarchs who might have proved
troublesome vassals to the papacy, were directed
into a distant region, to serve its ends ; while those
kings with their armies had their worst passions
perpetually kept alive, their ferocity untamed, their
thirst for blood and spoil encouraged, and all in sub-
ordination to the fanaticism which it behooved their
master to nourish, as their prevailing characteristic.
The nobles of Provence had of late been backward
in leading their forces to these "holy wars:" the
refinement of taste, manners, and feelings, and still
more, no doubt, the working of so much good leaven
in the mass, had indisposed them for the savage
scenes that desolated the f.air land of Palestine ;
while their own beautiful country constantly im-
proved under the reign of comparative peace, and
industry, and the happy influence that a race of resi-
dent lords will shed over a territory inhabited by
grateful and attached dependents. What a prey
was here for the spoiler's eye to rest upon ! How-
many powerful incentives moved his relentless spirit
to decide its doom !
Here was, first, a wealthy land, abounding in the
choicest fruits of the earth, and in the acquired
treasures that affluent ease had loved to accumulate.
Stately mansions, the castle that frowned defiance
on hostile arms ; the church of magnificent archi-
tecture and of costly endowments ; the palace where
luxur} spread her most gorgeous couch ; the wart-
84 ANTICHRIST.
house heaped with valuable merchandise; the man-
ufactory with its abundant productions in every
branch of industry within the reach of an ingenious
people. The sons of the soil, wel! fitted to enrich
by their labor any conqueror who might enslave
them, and its lovely daughters, a yet more tempting
prey in the eyes of those licentious savages whom
Rome delighted to train for her " holy wars," by
heaping fuel on every earth-born, every hell-born
flame that burnt within them.
Such was the prize : the incentives were many
and strong. That any nation should dare to exist in
a state approaching independence was not to be per-
mitted ; but when that growing independence might
be traced to the avowed prevalence of Gospel light
among the people ; when the yoke of superstition
sat loosely on their necks, and the thunders of the
Church rolled unheeded over their heads, it was in-
deed time for the sovereign pontiff to look to it. In
this very year, the daring contumacy of John pro-
voked the visitation of an interdict under which
England groaned for six years ; and the slight re-
g;ird paid by the king and nobles of France to Inno-
cent's vehement appeals against heresy, urged him
yet more to immediate action. He had besides, wit-
nessed a falling-off in the ardor of the Eastern cru-
saders, which could not be rekindled by any of the
arts that had first inspired it. The Saracens had
possession of Jerusalem, and were in little danger
of being driven thence by the nominal Christians
ANTICHRIST. 85
These last had found the length of the way, its
numberless perils, the formidable power of the ene-
my who resisted them, and, above all, perhaps, the
exhaustion of such" spoil as the country had once
offered to the grasp, more than a sufficient counter-
poise to the reversionary guarantee of a place in
paradise, which they knew could be purchased at
Rome on other and easier terms. Little remained
of the original spirit of the crusades, beyond the
sanguinary, licentious, plundering dispositions im-
planted and increased in the bosoms of the adven-
turers: and to give all these free course in a war
with the saints of God, was a thought worthy of the
vicegerent of Satan.
Shall we pace again the marble halls of his pal-
ace, and enter the apartment of the Man of Sin,
where, with ten added years upon his frowning
brow, years of ripened power, and pride, and malig-
nity, and hatred against Christ, he sits engaged in
the prosecution of what, in the wilderness of Judea,
his master began ? He is causing, in his vivid de-
scription, the honor, and the glory, and the beauty
of tiiose peaceful provinces to pass before the eyes
of some who will again and again renew their idol-
atrous worship of him in order to grasp them.' He
is putting heaven itself up to sale, as. the more
seemly prize for him, the pretended head of th:
church, to offer for services that are to repay them-
selves on the spot by an unlimited appropriation of
whatsoever they can wrest from the victim's grasp.
8
86 ANTICHRIST.
He sets forth, in that atrocious document, that tha
crime of holding a pure faith, based on the Holy
Scriptures, is far greater in the sight of the Most
High than those of the most depraved Pagans ; and
that the sin of withholding divine honors from them
which be no gods, equally exceeds the pollution of
holy places, heretofore held out as crying for ven-
geance, at the peril of their souls who should fail
to punish it. Accordingly, though in point of dis-
tance, of danger, of difficulty, such a crusade is not
worthy to be named in comparison with the former
expeditions, he proffers as high terms to all who
shall take the cross against Raymond of Toulouse, for
the purpose at once of deposing him, and of exter-
minating the people of the Lord sheltered under his
protection, as ever were granted to their fathers,
when setting forth to expel the Saracens from Pal-
estine. To all who engage in the enterprise, he
grants full remission of every sin against God and
man committed in the course of their lives : to all
who shall fall in the conflict he guarantees an im-
mediate welcome into the presence and to the throne
of God ; while for such as conquer, he has, in addi-
tion to these insubstantial prospects, a catalogue of
what they may seize and enjoy, sufficient to inflame
the coldest heart of sluggish man while he glances
over it. To those who, having a military force at
their disposal, be they crowned nings or lords of
some petty barony, shall hold back from the work,
ne speaks only mena( % s that embrace both time and
ANTICHRIST. 87
eternity. They also shall be given over to the same
deadly revenge, as abettors of God's enemies, and
traitors to the Church ; and hereafter their portion
shall be in the lake of unquenchable fire. True type
of the ruler of modern Babylon was the yet untamed
despot who set up his gigantic idol of gold on the
plains of Dura: "Who is that God or man that
shall deliver you out of my hand ?" But there the
resemblance ends ; Nebuchadnezzar, humbled under
the mighty hand of God, lived to glorify him, and
died in peace : Lotharius de Signi feared not, re-
pented not, and the measure that he meted out to
others, the mercy that he showed to the harmless
flock of Christ, must be the measure of God's ter-
rible dealings with his ruined soul.
Such, it may be objected, is not the language of
Christian charity : but it is the language of Chris-
tian truth, and who shall say that these two attri-
butes of our most holy faith may be separated ?
Charity is a Christian grace, and, as such, it cannot
stand in opposition to the holy/oot whence it pro-
ceeds : it cannot call evil good, or darkness light,
or put sweet for bitter. We, at least, will not incur
the responsibility of so doing. We find the " son
of perdition " at his appointed work, and we recog-
nize him, and shudder. It may be well here to
note in brief outline the plan on which Innocent
III. was bringing to bear all the powers alike of his
natural character, and of his acquired position.
In the first place, he prepares a bull, breathing
88 ANTICHRIST.
ill Jie vengeful hostility of his spirit against the
Count of Toulouse, as the presumed instigator of
Castelnau's assassination ; characterizing him as the
principal minister of the devil, and commanding a
public anathema to be pronounced against him in
every church throughout Southern Gaul, to the
princes and barons of which the manifesto was ad-
dressed, adding these words: "And as, following
the canonical sanctions of the holy fathers, we must
not observe faith towards those who keep not faith
towards God, or who are separated from the com-
munion of the faithful, we discharge by apostolical
authority, all those who believe themselves bound
towards this count, by any oath either of alliance
or of fidelity : we permit every catholic man, saving
the right of his principal lord, to pursue his person,
to occupy and retain his territories, especially for the
purpose of exterminating heresy." Moreover, he
laid under an interdict any and every place that
should afford a shelter to the murderers of Peter
Castelnau.
His next step was to stir up the fiery brotherhood
of Citeaux, Bernardines, to take the lead in the
movement against the Albigenses ; nominating their
abbot, Arnold Amalric, as his legate, and sending
them forth in a swarm to overrun the neighboring
provinces ; with a mission similar to that of Peter
the hermit in former days. He authorized them to
secure pardon and paradise to all who should take
up tb .1 cross against the hen tics ; and by this move-
ANTICHRIST. 89
ment insured the speedy assembling of such an army
as was needed to execute his designs. The zeal with
which these men of peace obeyed the sanguinary
command, fully justified the confidence placed in
them. He then established a new order, under the
leadership of Dominic, the Spanish monk, whose
business it was to go in pairs through all the towns
and villages of the condemned districts, preaching,
admonishing, and contending against the faith once
delivered to the saints. They were to preserve the
aspect of great sanctity, zeal, and self-devotion ; in
every way to wia the respect and confidence of such
as had not wholly cast off their allegiance to the
church, and while strengthening them in the ancient
errors, to draw from them all that they knew respect-
ing the persons, occupations, places of resort, and
other particulars connected with their Albigensic
friends ad neighbors. Foulques, the bishop, whose
early accomplishments as a troubadour had been
enlisted into the ecclesiastical service, and for a
time captivated the Toulousians, became an eminent
leader in this preaching order ; subsequently merged
in that horrible creation of Rome, the Inquisition.
What more has Innocent to do, after thus craftily
disposing all the means at his command to draw th
snare around his prey ? He looks with a satisfied
eye upon the well-digested scheme, and seizes once
more the pen to address those whose practised mili-
tary skill must consummate his design. Once more
be summons Philip Augustus to assume in person
8*
W ANTICHRIST.
the direction of the war; and with everj promise of
success, he also calls on the Duke of Bur '\rndy ; t 1w <
Count of Leicester, Simon de Montfort ; and other
nobles of high note, who were sure to hear from
the prelates of their various provinces^the continual
iteration of the pope's requisition. Some (ins may
elapse ere the vast machinery thus prepared can be
brought to commence working ; but never since
Rome's pagan myriads had revelled in the life-blood
of the earlier followers of Jesus within their ane.it.nt
colosseum, had so large a feast of martyr-blood been
catered for as that which now grew and flowed be-
fore the mental vision of Lotharius de Signi, as ho
planned the mighty havoc of a new crusade within
the secret chambers of <he Vatican. Well may
Rome emblazon and glory inkier appropriate mottOj
SEMPER KADEHL.
CHAPTER III.
THE CRUSADERS.
THE threefol 1 object of the aggressor was, first to
tC destroy by a violent and cruel death all such as
dared to obey God rather than man ; worshipping
with a holy worship, in spirit and in truth, the God
of the spirits of all flesh, who seeks spiritual wor-
shippers to do him Ijonor ; and drawing nigh unto
him by the living way, opened through the flesh of
his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. These must
be cut off; for the faith which they held, recom-
mended by practice no less pure, was ruinous to the
kingdom of Antichrist. Secondly, those who, with-
out embracing their doctrines had tolerated them,
and who were living in neighborly good- will with the
Lord's peaceful followers, must be, as far as possi-
ble, involved in their destruction ; both because of
the undiscovered extent to which the taint might
have secretly spread itself, and in order to quicken
others, in different places, to the work of immediate
extermination, whensoever they should discover the
entrance among them of that which was pregnant
with such direfu'. consequences to its fosterers.
8? THE CRUSADERS,
Thirdly, to subdue the dangerous spirit of indepen-
dence recently manifested among the nobles, who
could even dare to protect their own subjects from
the tyranny of the universal despot. To pass the
besom of indiscriminate destruction over the whole
suHace of the infected provinces, was the only cer-
tain method of accomplishing so extensive an end ;
and this it was resolved to do.
The instruments were worthy of the work. No
doubt there were among them some who believed
that the Moloch to whom Rome offered up her heca-
tombs, was indeed the God of heaven, and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ : and that in obeying her
sanguinary behests, they were doing him service ;
but the greater number were debauched despera-
does, who, having no relish for the gentler walks of
life, no disposition towards industrious pursuits, nor
talent to acquire the means of gratifying their ava-
ricious propensities otherwise than by plunder, were
ripe for this or for any other outrage. We must also
look deeper into the constitution of the army ; it
was composed of such as at Satan's own instigation
dime forward to enrol themselves under his banner;
renewing and prolonging the memorable combat in
the wilderness. How awful is the thought that the
evil spirit, yea, multitudes of the fallen angels who
acknowledge him as their prince and leader, should
have entered the abodes and the hearts of thousands
of nominal Christians, gathering them together to a
partial and preliminary battle against the Lord God
THE CRUSADERS. 93
Almighty preliminary to the last grand struggle
of the coming Armageddon, even as it was a sequel
to the first encounter in the desert of Judeai
It was " that old dragon, which is the devil and
Satan," who now, by the instrumentality of the
papal beast, made war upon the saints ; and all that
was his, the kingdoms of the world, their power
and glory, either swelled the advancing host, or fell
in prostrate submission before it.
It was a spectacle of pride for the arch-fiend to
contemplate, when the vast body of assailants was
assembled, and put in motion. They wore upon
their breasts the Nehushtan of the Christian dis-
pensation : the cross, by idolatrous perversion, ren-
dered a needless offence toman, and an abomination
before God. Not the cross in which Paul glo-
ried ; not the cross that crucified him to the world,
and the world to him ; not the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by which we understand his vicarious
death, undergoing a judicial curse on our behalf,
that so he might redeem us from the curse of the
law ; but the paltry representation of a Roman gib-
bet, on the original of which hundreds may have
suffered death before and after HIM whose precious
blood was shed for our redemption ; and the reten-
tion of which, as a thing to be venerated in the
Christian Church, is one of the inexplicable marvels
to which habit, not reason or religion, reconciles us
This cross, the c usaders of the East were wont to
wear upon the .houlder ; but, as if to show how
94 THK CRUSADERS.
much nearer to their hearts was trie work cf she<l
ding kindred blood, the invaders of Provence placed
it on their breast. On appearing in this badge,
equipped for the expedition, each hoary transgres-
sor, e.tch wild reckless boy, each savage freebooter
and remorseless manslayer, was entitled to receive
a full acquittance of his vast debt, past and to come,
to the justice, the purity of the Most High God.
He engaged to serve for forty days, destroying with
fire and sword whosoever and whatsoever was
pointed out to him as lying under the ban of Rome ;
and he, in return, had forgiveness of all his sins, and
a free entrance into the paradise of God, guaranteed
to him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Truly, the most wonderful part of the mystery 01
iniquity is the inconceivable length of Satan's daring,
when he ventured to offer to the rational creatures
of God a lie so enormous, so repulsive, and so gross
is this. We turn with horror from the scene, over
which the devil and his angels must have exulted
with amazement at their own success, to take a sur-
vey of the devoted regions the terrified population
on whom this torrent of cruelty was preparing to
burst.
And first for Count Raymond. Had he been par-
taker even in a very small measure of the like pre-
cious faith with those whom he had hitherto pro-
tected, the gathering of those war-clouds, and mut-
tering?; of the rising storm, would but have dri\ i
him more close to the shelter of the everlasting Rock,
THE CRUSADERS. 95
against which ths gates of hell rage in vain. He
would have strengthened himself in his God ; and
not feared what man could do unto him. Having
virtually admitted that the Church of Rome was &
false pretender to infallibility, and an usurper of
universal dominion, by openly encouraging those'
who renounced her worship and denied her au-
thority, he would have resolved to maintain his own
independence, his right, yea, his solemn duty to de-
fend the harmless and helpless flock of Christ, com-
mitted to his temporal keeping; and he would have
exerted his utmost influence among the nobles around
him, many of whom were already predisposed to the
same course ; assured that God would exert His
prerogative, and fu!61 His promise, making him, in
life or in death, more than conqueror. But such,
alas ! was not Raymond of Toulouse : he had re-
ceived the mark of the beast on his forehead, aYid in
his right hand : he professed the doctrines of Rome,
and had often wrought out her own unholy will, by
the power of his sword, and in the exercise of his au-
thority ; and now it was his choice, not to have this
mark washed away in the blood of the Lamb, but to
appeal to it as a defence against the vengeance of his
enraged tyrant. His own territories, he. well knew,
and his own person too, were marked for an especial
visitation : the death of Castlenau, in which he does
not appear to have been at all implicated, was laid
at his door; and on him was the first fierce outburst
of long- restrained enmity sure to expend itself. The
96 THE CRUSADERS.
pope had apjtointed Arnold Amnlric Abbot of Ci-
teaux, legate in that part of the countiy ; a man who
combined in his character every leading feature o*
the papacy itself. Fierce, implacable, unmerciful ;
inflated with pride, and envenomed by the bitterest
hatred against Christ's people ; without a touch ot
natural feeling, even towards those of his own com-
munion, as the event proved, this haughty priest
seems to have been an incarnation of some fallen
spirit, intent only on trampling down as much as
came within his reach of the glorious handiworks of
God. Raymond knew with whom he had to deal ;
and he quailed as a poor, unassisted mortal might be
expected to do, when brought into direct collision
with principalities and powers, the rulers of the dark-
ness of this world, and wicked spirits in high places.
He summoned his nephew, Raymond Roger, to his
sidte, and prepared to present himself with him be-
fore the arrogant legate at Aubenaz.
Raymond Roger differed in many points from his
uncle ; having been placed under more favorable cir-
cumstances. He was only ten years of age when
the fair patrimony of Alby, Bezieres, Carcassonne,
and Limouse, devolved on him at his father's death ;
and those who governed for him during a long mi-
nority, not only favored the persons, but appear
to have siincerely appreciated the doctrines of the
Albigenses. The young count was now four-and-
twenty ; with all the generous ardor of that age
fairly enlisted on behalf of those whom Rome had
THE CRUSA0ERS. 97
now coomed to utter destruction ; and surely he was
not himself very far from the kingdom of God.
The great day will reveal whether he attained to it,
through the " much tribulation" that he was des-
tined to endure for the cause, which grace was not
given him to identify himself with, in spiritual as
he did in temporal matters. He certainly stands
out in very bright and beatiful contrast to his un-
happy uncle.
At Aubenaz, enthroned in all the gaudy pomp of
sacerdotal vicegerency, sat the inflated Arnold ; and
around him were assembled those whose pitiable
distinction it was, to be nominated chiefs in this un-
holy war. The two counts sought an audience, and
were received with studied scorn and contumely by
the legate, who scarcely deigned to give ear to their
protestations of unshaken allegiance to the papacy.
The charge of holding any opinions by Rome branded
as heretical, they both repelled ; demanding a fair
trial to clear them from this aspersion, and also of
the false accusation of having been accessory to the
death of Castelnau. But the only reply thut they
could elicit from Arnold was a refusal to interfere,
with a haughty intimation, that if they sought any
mitigation of impending punishment, they must
carry (heir submission to Rome.
The terms of their submission were well under-
stood by the kinsmen, who retired to canvass the sub-
ject, on which they so differed as to part in mutual
warmth. The Count of Beziers saw, with indigua-
9
99 1HE CRUSADERS.
tion, tliit his uncle was prepared to purchase such
peace and safety as might be gained by the unqual-
ified surrender of his poor inoffensive Christian de-
pendents into the hand of their sanguinary foes :
that he was willing to become himself the execu-
tioner of every murderous decree against them, and
by force of arms to compel the nobles around, inclu-
ding Raymond Roger himself, into a like course of
purveying human victims for the shambles of Inno-
cent ill. He protested that rather than see the
crusading army enter the province of Toulouse, he
would turn his hand against his next of kin ; and
by the most zealous execution of all their behests,
conciliate the dreaded ecclesiastics, in whose hands
the fate of princes was placed. He resolved to ap-
peal for assistance in carrying out this plan, to Philip
Augustus of France, who was his cousin ; and to
Otho of Germany ; while his lowliest, most unre-
served submission .should be laid, by fitting ambas-
sadors, at the footstool of the papal throne. To the
young, generous, and partially enlightened Raymond
Roger, this sounded as the language of dastardly
fear, and cruel treachery : and the moi-e so as it di-
rectly menaced, not only the subjects of the Count
of Toulouse, but his own, and the whole body of
.the so called heretics throughout the region. He,
therefore, avowed his determination of putting his
territories into a state of defence, and of faithfully
preserving what was committed to his charge ; and
they took their sevei il ways, with feelings and pur-
THK CKUSADERS. 99
poses as dissimilar as those of any two men could
be wl o still outwardly wore the same badge of alle-
giance to the See of Rome.
It is difficult to decide what was the real tempei
of mind of the young count, on the important sub-
ject of religion. Probably he had no fixed views,
no serious impressions as yet, concerning it. Born
and reared in the very lap of Provencal refinement,
nurtured in poetry and romance, and full of the
spirit of chivalry, apart from all the stern fanati-
cism that had rendered it too generally a sangui-
nary scourge of the helpless, a hideous engine in the
hands of ecclesiastical tyranny, the youthful noble
had looked forward to the time when he should in
his own person become the mild and impartial ruler
of a loving people ; the fearless defender of his own
rights and .theirs ; the patron of literature and art ;
the promoter of a generous liberality, which he had
learned to admire in the guardians of his long mi-
nority. All this he might be without giving relig-
ion any prominent place in his regards : he might
deem it right, consistent, and expedient, to worship
externally where his long line of ancestors had wor-
shipped ; at the same time readily according toother
men their own free choice in the same matter. He
was lord of the temporalities of a wide domain ;
and he found another power claiming supremacy iu
spiritual things, including a very substantial proper.
fion of worldly wealth, by long- custom and by gen-
100 THE CRUSADERS.
era! consent, secured to them as the remuneration of
their sacerdotal labors.
With this order of things he did not feel himself
disposed to interfere ; and we must regard his pro-
fessions of unshaken fidelity to the papacy, as a
simple avowal of such acquiescence in the laws of
his country. Here lie drew tlie line ; he would be
the servant of Rome just so far; but to do her sav-
age bidding in the slaughter or even the abandon-
ment of his innocent people ; to stain his knightly
honor with perfidy so deep, and to purchase the
continued enjoyment of his princely birthright, at
the price of permitting a horde of ruffians to riot in
the bloodshed of his subjects, and the plunder of
his land, far from the bosom of Raymond Roger
was a thought so base as this! His honest profes-
sion of spiritual allegiance had been spurned : his
demand for a fair investigation into the matter of a
murder with which he was not even remotely con-
nected, was denied ; and he was insultingly told to
repair to the chief ecclesiastic at Rome, in the char-
acter of a criminal suing for a commutation of his
sentence. We may very well enter into the feelings
with which the young chieftain quitted the presence
of the legate, and subsequently parted in anger from
his cpwed and dishonored kinsman, without enroll-
ing him among the persecuted saints on whom the
war was about to burst. We can conceive him, ic
the honest pride of an authority never by him
abused, summoning around him his knights, and
THE CKUSADERS. 101
burgesses, and the bold youths who tiad grown up
with him in the peaceful luxury of his court; repre-
senting to them the contumacious wrong that he
had suffered at the hands of the pope's representa-
tive ; and kindling their indignation by the recital o
its effect on Raymond of Toulouse ; whose defection
from the cause of justice and independence, only
roused to a higher pitch their determination, un-
flinchingly to uphold it. The result was an imme-
diate application of all hands, to the work of forti-
fying the various towns and castles within his do-
minions ; and a bold resolve to be before-hand with
the Count of Toulouse in warlike demonstrations of
their intended line of conduct.
Military ardor, attachment to their young lord,
love of justice, impatience of oppression, and the
scorn that the ecclesiastics had generally brought on
their order, combined with a feeling of generous
sympathy and respect for their Albigensic compa-
triots, no doubt formed the chief ingredients in the
devotedness of Raymond Roger's followers to the
cause that he had so manfully espoused : but min-
gled with these there were the real objects of this
Satanic war, the children of God, who served him
in the Gospel of his Son. These wrought with their
neighbors on the ramparts, and the walls ; and aided
in every defensive work ; but they did it in the spirit
of the Jews who labored under Nehemiah upon the
rising bulwarks of Jerusalem. Though they used
every means to strengthen those earthly de'ences,
9*
102 THE -CRflSADERS.
the hope of thtir hearts spoke but one language,
" The God of heaven, lie will prosper us." Though
they furbished the shield, and sharpened the spear
and made fast the rivets of knightly mail, yet they
trusted in none of these, nor in the fidelity of the
noble Count himself to their cause : they sheltered
themselves behind the shield of faith ; the weapon
which alone they knew to be mighty was the word
of God, precious fragments of which they possessed,
each in itself a sharp sword, sufficient to hold the
enemy of their souls at bay. The whole armor of
God secured them from shafts that aimed to wound
their immortal spirits ; what they might suffer at
the hands of those who had power to kill the body.,
was to them no matter of deep concern ; they feared
only Him who can destroy both body and soul iri
hell ; and knowing the great love of God that had
not spared his own Son, but delivered him up as a
ransom for them, they also were filled with the per-
fect love that casteth out all tormenting fear. They
had two main objects of prayerful interest : their
own perseverance unto death in the profession of a
true faith, and the fate of their still unconverted but
generous and devoted countrymen rallying around
them in the hour of their darkest trial. No one can
say what multitudes were brought to God in the
course of that fearful struggle, what a harvest of
souls was reaped for heaven in those fields of blood ;
how many, long halting between two opinions, 01
unawakened to any feeling at all on the subject,
THE CRUSADERS. 103
wero won to C.'hrist by the conversation, by the faith,
patience, endurance of his tried servants. No one
can say, how, in the midst of his infernal exultation
over the writhing bodies of the martyrs, the fiend
was tortured by seeing heaven's golden portals
thrown wide to receive a host of contrite spirits,
called, justified, glorified, with the rapidity that
marked the dying malefactor's conversion on Cal-
vary, rendering the scene of his apparent triumph
one of aggravated loss, defeat, and shame.
These are among the secret things that belong to
God alone ; but that they do occur we have many
delightful intimations. " Except a man be born
again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Thi?
we know, and we watch for evidences of that new
birth into the heirship of heaven ; and we know
them by their fruits, who have thus passed from
death unto life. But the moment at which a soul is
so born, who shall determine ? It is some moment
known to the Father of spirits : it is some point of
time, when it can be said, " This thy brother was
dead, and is alive again ;" some moment when the
angels of God burst into a song of joy, because a
sinner has repented, believes, and is put in posses-
sion of everlasting life. It is done before man can
perceive any trace of it : Ananias, a just man, a be-
lieving, obedient servant of the Lord, favored with
revelation too, was utterly staggered when told to
go and greet Saul of Tarsus with a message of love.
He even 1 xpostulatt A ; but the answer was conclu-
104 THE CTHTSADERS,
sive, " Go thy way ; for he is a chosen vessel untc
me." Oh) the depth of the riches of redeeming
love !
We should stand amazed indeed, could we trace
all ,hat is wrought by it in the world around us;
and more, we should become careless, presuming,
neglectful of our own great work in using means
for the accomplishment of what the Lord has Avilied
to do. Yet it is a cordial, good in such seasons of
trial to our faith, as this to the melancholy details
of which we are reluctantly drawing nigh. It is
good to remember that the Lord's little nock had
been, as the testimony of their enemies abundantly
shows, disseminating the truths of the Gospel on
every side, among friendly listeners, who were able
to test the doctrine by the daily walk of those who
proclaimed it; and to whom it was now to be given
to witness the power of God in them, triumphing
over death and hell ; while that foul system against
which they had steadily protested, was made to
stand forth in the utmost hideousness of its naked
atrocity, a combination of all that was diabolical.
Alike the dying prayers of the innocent victims,
and the yells of their infuriated murderers, must
have spoken a language that few hearts could re-
eiot, " Come out of her, my people !"
Yes, many did come out of her, who died with a
rosary at their girdle, and a crucifix in their bosoms,
before they had time to cast them off. Many, and
we delight to believe that Raymond Roger was
THE CRUSADERS. 105
among them, learned in the darkness of a dungeon
o o
to rest in the bright beams of a Saviour's love.
These, had they survived, would have formed a
body of firm and fearless protesters against all the
abominations of the system from which they were
delivered ; but it was the will of God that in this
instance the beast, making war upon the saints,
should also overcome them in the sight of man ; for
they were delivered into his hand, and hence the
harvest was not allowed openly to ripen till the
sickle of death was prepared to be put in. We can
see, dimly and imperfectly, the outline of a very
mighty work ; we can comprehend how the garner
of heaven was replenished when the pleasant scene
of an earthly growth was laid waste, and trampled
down, and destroyed. God's work is too equal for
6ur unsteady eyes to follow close on its unwavering
line ; but the day is at hand when, in its magnificent
beauty, it shall be fully revealed, and our purified
vision shall be strengthened to gaze upon it : and
our lips shall be opened to utter with understanding
the predicted song of praise : " Marvellous are thy
works. Lord God Almighty : just and true are thy
ways. King of saints !"
If, among those who followed the profession of a
purer faith, were an}" who had forgotten the exhor-
tation to " cease from man," and had made flesh
their arm, by trusting in the favorable disposition
of the Count of Toulouse to uphold their cause,
they were coiivbced of theii sin, and made to r ealize
106 THE CRUSADEK&.
the fulness of their peril, on the 18th of June, 1209.
On that morning a pageant wound its way through
the public streets towards the church of St. Gilles,
comprising an extraordinary number of ecclesiastics
of every order and degree, habited in their goodliest
raiment, and exhibiting in ostentatious display the
pomp and the pride of that renovated power to
which all else was rapidly succumbing. There were
the Bernadines, the boasted directors of the terrible
movement that was to annihilate all opposition to the
papal see ; there were the few first followers of Do
minic, fearful in the infamy of their sanguinary brotl; -
erhood ; and their dark leader silently pondering,
as he strode along, the mechanism of his project for
a permanent tribunal of irresponsible, irresistible
powers of destruction. There were the lazy monkn,
the denizens of many a fat abbacy, and mendicant
friars, and parish priests, from the humble curate to
the pompous prelate, each in his due place, distin-
guished by the habit of his order. One character
pervaded the whole mass : it was that of an ovation.
Their step was a march of triumph ; and every eye
was lighted up with an exultation that no one strove
to repress. Conspicuous above all rode the legate
Milon, the confidential secretary of Innocent III.,
who had nominated him to the temporary dignity in
a show of compliance with Count Raymond's remon-
strances against being placed in the hands of Ar*
nold, whom he regarded as his personal enemy*
Milon was instructed to deal subtilly with this mis
THE CRUSADERS. 107
erable dupe, allowing the Abbot of Citeaux to di-
rect and to devise every tiling, while be wore only
the semblance of authority to deceive the Count.
Gorgeously apparelled, and tended with the rever-
ence due to the Pope's representative, the nominal
legate presided over the cavalcade; his stately mule
led by knights of noble birth, while his own hands
vrere uplifted to dispense among the kneeling crowd
such blessings as Rome's delegate can bestow.
So far the triumphant ecclesiastics ; and next af-
ter them came the conquered captive. "Bareheaded,
and barefooted, his shoulders also exposed, in read-
iness for the coming infliction, while a cord was
knotted round his neck, in token of such criminality
as would have incurred a public execution but for
the merciful disposition of his judges, walked the
mighty and warlike prince, Count Raymond of Tou-
louse, who had submitted to this disgraceful humili-
ation as part price of the papal absolution. Half a
dozen tonsured officials of the church came close
behind him, bearing the instruments of flagellation ;
while the penitent, with arms devoutly crossed, and
eves cast down to the ground, where his ignomini-
ous halter trailed, wore the aspect of profound sub-
mission, and self-upbraiding sorrow for his past con-
tumacious r Distance of the holy church. It was a
spectacle on which few could look unmoved, though
for the greater part the emotions excited were such
as men felt it needful to confine within their own
bosoms. Of avowed and consistent believers none
108 THE CRUSADERS.
were present; but there were mnny hundreds who
had virtually shaken off the fetters of the ptpncy,
and who, looking on the power of the ecclesiastical
order as a bygone thing, had accustomed themselves
to treat with undisguised scorn and derisioi. the very
men who were now setting their foot on the neck
of their chief. With bitter indignation, and stern
disdain, and struggling impatience of the yoke
which yet they knew not how to avert from their
unwilling shoulders, they beheld their fallen prince ;
and secretly- wished that his fall had rather been
into an honorable grave, that such an act of volun-
tary prostration under the heel of an usurpation that
he had long seemed to set at nought. But spies
were on every side ; accusers, who would make a
man an offender not only for a word but for a lock ;
and heads depressed, and brows bent, it might ap-
pear in submission or in devotion, were all that met
the scrutinizing gaze of the monks and their emis-
saries.
The church, of course, was filled with as many
of Raymond's knightly followers as could be sum-
moned to witness his shameful degradation. This
would answer the double purpose of alienating
them from a despicable chief, and of impressing
them with awful convictions of the church's power.
S'owly, and amid the chant of penitential psalms,
the culprit took his a way, in a long circuit through
the aisles of the church, offering homage at every
shrine, and exhibiting himself to each scattered por
THE CRUSADERS. 109
tinn of the breathless congregation. The legate
was duly enthroned : his sacerdotal brethren took
their stations, so as best to display their numbers
and the gaudiness of their changeable attire: and
gome preliminary mummeries having been per-
"ormed, Raymond, Count of Toulouse, the lordly
prince, the veteran commander, the man who had
been set for the defence of a persecuted flock now
cruelly abandoned, was led as near as possible to
the altar, and scourged by the willing hands of the
monks, till the vaulted roof re-echoed their strokes,
and the blood that he dared not to shed in a lawful
resistance against sin, flowed to appease the roused
vengeance of Satan's vicegerent.
This being done, and a violent harangue from the
pulpit having set forth in glowing colors the enor-
mity of his crimes, and the marvellous tenderness
of Rome in sparing his forfeit life; with a full enu-
meration of the concessions that he had made, in-
cluding the surrender of his seven principal castles
to the Pope, and his unreserved submission to what-
soever sentence might be pronounced upon him; an
absolution, not less deg;ading than the flagellation,
was declared by the legate ; and in final token of
his perfect reconciliation to the papal see, Count
Raymond was invested with the white cross, and
commanded to unite his forces with those then
about to attack his nephew ; he also, as best ac-
quainted with the territories and the resources of
the assailed noble, becoming their principal guide.
10
110 THE CRUSADEHS.
Disgusting and disgraceful as was the conduct of
Count Raymond, there is not at this hour a prince
or a warrior in Europe who would not act the same
part, at the beck of Rome, if but the Lord permit-
ted her to wield again the like authority, and re-
moved the restraining grace that alone keeps them
as yet from giving their power unto the Beast. Al-
ready, in England, we have our political Count Ray-
mond, pursuing the same career of degrading con-
cession to the demands of an alien usurpation, as
rapidly as the awakened Protestantism of the nation
will permit him to go on : and to " be beaten with
many stripes" will assuredly, sooner or later, be his
well-earned meed. Stripes that will but seal his ul-
timate condemnation with the brand of unrepentant
treachery.
The host whom the wretched Count was dis-
patched to join, consisted of three principal divisions,
of which the first had been chiefly collected at Ly-
ons, by Arnold the legate, and were subjects of the
Emperor Otho IV. The second division, subjects
of England, had been assembled by the archbishop
of Bordeaux ; and the third, who owed allegiance
to France, had the bishop of Puy for their leader.
Strange indeed does it sound, that men asserting
themselves to be ministers and preachers of the
everlasting Gospel, pastors of the Church of God,
should be named as generals leading an army to
battle : but so it was afore declared in the prophetic
word: " Tlid beast 1'iat ascenduth out <?f the bot-
THE CRUSADERS. Ill
tomless pit," the vivid type of the Roman papal
power, was to "make war with the saints, and to
overcome them."
The amount of the combined forces is very vari-
ously stated : but fifty thousand is the lowest esti-
mate of the regular troops ; and to these we must
add a large multitude of disorderly followers, who
joined them in order to share the plunder, the spoil,
and the blessing promised by the holy see to all par-
takers in the crusade. Raymond met them at Va-
lence, and became their guide, as had been ap-
pointed, to the town of Montpellier, where they
made a pause, the legate enthroning himself as usual,
in supreme authority, civil, military, and ecclesiasti-
cal. Young Raymond Roger, still solicitous to pre-
serve his subjects from this terrible flood of enemies,
now rolling onward to their doors, and bold in con-
scious integrity, here made a last effort to obtain
what he soon found to be unattainable in that quar-
ter, righteous judgment. Personally he appeared
before Arnold, and pleaded once more his unshaken
allegiance to the church, towards which he declared
he had never done or intended any wrong. He de-
nied having received or supported any heretics ; and
desired that if any officers or subjects of his had so
done, they, not he, might be held responsible ; add-
ing that these officers had governed his territories
up to the present time. He again professed himself
the servant of the church ; and in that character
demanded favor. Happily for him, as we trust, hia
112 THE CRUSADERS.
suit was rejected ; the legate told him to defend
himself as best lie might, for that no mercy would
be shown him. Once more the j'oung noble called
around him his attached followers, and communi-
cated the result of his appeal. It was probably
made at their instance ; for the spectacle of those
fierce and formidable troops, led on by the prelate of
a church from which not many had openly sepa-
rated ; and invested with a fictitious sanctity more
alarming to weak consciences than was their martial
prowess to an unequal force, might well cause the
bravest heart to shrink, when his own home, with
all its precious inmates, was the avowed object of
their sanguinary attack. The rejection, however,
of Raymond Roger's appeal, convinced them that
they had nothing to hope from concession ; that the
purpose of the papacy was to destroy, not to recon-
cile, those who had once dared to assume even the
semblance of independence ; and that their only al-
ternative now rested in a vigorous defence of such
posts as might be considered tenable, while others,
less favorably circumstanced, they must be content
to abandon to the advancing banditti. Where therf;
was no excuse for charging a community with the
existence of heretical taint, a weighty ransom in
gold was likely to be accepted ; and so it was at
Caussadi, St. Antonin, and one or two other places ;
two castles were left tenantless, and worthless to
either party : and c ne was burnt ; but all this in-
volved n<7 recorded mcrifice of life.
THE CRCSADEKS. 113
was the first fortress that offered a determined re*
sistance, and here was the work of martyrdom com-
menced.
It must be always borne in mind that our only in-
formants on the subject of these murderous expedi-
tions are the aggressors themselves. They, with
OO
their attention eagerly fixed on the grand object in
view, have passed lightly over what to them ap-
peared but minor events, to dwell with fuller em-
phasis on the achievements that gave whole prov-
inces into their hands. Of Chasseneuil they have
said very little, for it was only a step on the way to
Beziers and Carcassonne; but we are told that the
garrison made a vigorous defence, until obliged to
capitulate ; and we know in what array, and under
what circumstances the assailants advanced. Con-
sidering that the garrison was principally composed
of men who nominally held the Romish faith, and
whose laxity of devotion in the service of the
Church was the effect of enlarged intellect, not of
enlightened conscience ; who were born, and who
,'ully intended to die in her communion, and who, in
the midst of their preparations for defending their
lives and their property from an invading army, still
professed the most unshaken allegiance to the papal
see ; considering all this, we must marvel that the
sights and sounds most palpable among tbe advanc-
ing host, did not at once unman them all.
For there, sanctioning, and as he would fain have
it held, sanctifying the onset, rode consp.c-uously the
10*
114 THE CRUSADERS.
representative of the sovereign pontiff, surrounded
by all the paraphernalia of his sacerdotal assump-
tions. There, in impious mimickry of the ark of the
LORD, which did indeed by its presence both sanc-
tion and sanctify the marches of the Israelites of
old, was borne on high the deified wafer, before
which every knee had been taught to bow, not as
the representative, but as the actual living, divine
reality of Christ's glorified body : so that they who
planted it in their van, pretended, and by the great
bulk of their opponents were believed, to be under
the personal leadership of the Mighty God. The
banners that floated over their lines bore the im-
press of the cross, to fight against which was, in the
superstitious apprehension of unenlightened minds,
to fight against the Redeemer ; and in like manner,
the sounds that rose high above the clang of armor,
and the heavy tread of the compact legions, were
not those of martial clarion, not the mimic thun-
der of the drum, or the trumpet-call that rouses
alike the animal courage of the horse and his rider ;
no, these might accord with scenes of mere earthly
strife ; but this was the battle of hell, waged in the
name and in the seeming panoply of heaven ; and,
therefore, we are told by the Romish chroniclers of
Rome's bloody deeds, that the music of that march
was furnished by the deep, loud voices of the mul-
titude of priests, who, arrayed in their robes, and
surrounding the wafer-god of heir infatuated idola*
THE CKITSADERS. 115
try, pealed forth in mighty chorus the Latin hymn,
" VENT CKEATOR SPIRITUS."
Yes, they chanted forth, in loud and solemn fer-
vency, that really beautiful invocation to the Holy
(.ihost, often heard in the midst of our worshipping
congregations, who can join in it, without perhaps,
one aspiration of thankfulness to the Lord, that they
are by grace delivered from the grasp of that tre-
mendous lie which taught its votaries that He, the
Spirit of truth,
Whose blessed unction from above,
Is comfort, fire, and light of love,
was to be invoked to direct and preside over the
bloodiest deeds of cruelty, violence, and torturing
death, that men in the utmost frenzy of unbridled
ferocity could perpetrate against their defenceless
fellow-creatures. Oh, if we were to select one soli-
tary instance, whereby to prove the diabolical char-
acter of the Romish delusion, and to establish be-
yond a cavil its title to the distinguishing name of
the Antichrist, we would point to the crusaders,
rushing on their blood-stained way, with the tran-
substantiated wafer in their van, and the priestly in-
vocation A 3 the Holy Ghost, pealing in their ears
Mystery uf iniquity ! next after the depth of the
riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, surely
them, tremendous pit of Satanic darkness, art the
nost unsearchable of all things !
It is no marvel, that t lus assailed, the garrison of
116 TilE CHUSADERS.
Chassenueil made an unavailing stand. After -cnie
hard fighting, they capitulated; and obtained per-
mission to march out, with what they could 3arry
about them ; but no terms were listened to as res-
pected the unarmed inhabitants. It was known
that the Gospel leaven had found entrance there ;
that some few of the scattered saints who were the
real objects of this iniquitous war, and whom it was
Satan's purpose to root out, were mingled with the
population. Accordingly they were abandoned to
the merciless host, who permitted the soldiers to
depart, and then burst in upon the helpless citizens
It was their first prize ; the first fruits of their san-
guinary toils ; and whatsoever of unbounded crime
and cruelty the Evil Spirit could suggest, and the
Lord God of heaven saw meet to permit, that they
perpetrated. To select the followers of a true faith
from among the inhabitants, was not worth their
while : when nothing more remained for their vic-
tims to suffer but death, these wretched criminals
kindled fires wheresoever they could, and, amid the
applauding acclamations of the crusaders, and the
triumphant Te Deums of the priesthood, they hurled
them all into the flames.
It is one of the dreadful concomitants of war,
that a conquering army will use to the uttermost its
fearful power over a vanquished enemy.
The capture of a fortified place is followed by
scenes that humanity shudders to contemplate ; and
as, alas] cruelty is one of the vil dispositions of
THE CRUSADERS. 117
man's natural heart, very savage deeds of wanton
cruelty, revenging upon the innocent, real or imag-
inary offences committed by others, will stain, more
or less, the hands of men who are so permitted to
follow their own will. But we must carefully dis-
criminate the slaughter of the Albigensic victims,
throughout this impious campaign, from all that be-
longs to war in general. No man, ostensibly, slew
an Albigensic captive to avenge his own quarrel, or
to glut his own cruelty. It was done as an accepta-
ble service to God : it was regarded as an act of such
transcendent merit, that ev ;n to devote forty days to
the mere attempt was sufficient compensation for the
sins of a long life, and ample purchase-money for
heaven. The shouts that arose from the crusaders
as the naked bodies of those inoffensive sufferers
writhed, and blackened, and crackled in the flame,
were ascriptions of praise to the God of all mercy
that He had given into their hands those whom they
held it meritorious so to torture and to kill ; and if
there was one among them of a disposition naturally
tender and humane, who would rather have rescued
a fellow-creature from suffering than inflicted a need-
less pang, that person would score down to himself
a larger amount of merit, seeing that he had sacri-
liced inclination to duty, and become a tormentor
and a murderer for the love of God. The deeper
we explore these times and scenes, and the charac-
ters th-it figured in them, the more perfectly shall
We be enabled to id ntify all with the prophetic
118 THE CRIS.ADERS.
word that foretells with wonderful minuteness the
eventful history of the Church of God.
Henceforth the tale must be one of mourning
and lamentation, and woe, so far as the visible and
temporal things are concerned ; but, looking to the
things that are unseen and eternal, we may rind mat-
ter for a song of rejoicing praise, where fi'jsh can
only shudder, and humanity weep. For this great
onset upon the Church of Christ, Satan had all along
chosen his instruments with the craft and subtilty
that are peculiarly his ; and now he could look on a
widely-extended field of victims, of whom by far the
most pitiable were the shedders of innocent blood.
We count them happy who endured, even unto death,
the afflictions and persecutions whereof the Lord has
forewarned His followers ; but how terrible the dis-
covery to be made sooner or later by the persecu-
tors, that the master whose bidding they hastened
to do Avas indeed the prince of darkness ; and the
wages of their work, everlasting death ! Yet this
compassion has its limits too ; for the God of grace
and of mercy left not himself without such witness,
even in the few and mutilated fragments of scrip-
tural truth that were still retained in the system and
the services of Rome, as sufficed to condemn the san-
guinary, the licentious, the graspingly avaricious
cravings that were openly fostered and pandered to
in these infamous wars. A man may be belie\ed to
act conscientiously according to his views of duty,
however mistaken, whc famishes, lacerates, and oth-
THE CRUSADERS. 119
erwise mortities his body ; because there are seveial
passages in the New Testament very capable of be-
ing so wrested ; and he may, in the like sincerity of
error hold it meritorious to repeat long prayers, to
perform many superstitious acts, and to render undue
honor to those whom he believes to be divinely gifted
for his guidance in spiritual matters : but the con-
science must indeed be seared with a hot iron, and
given over to believe a soul-destroying lie, through
real, wilful disbelief of the most obvious truths, be-
fore the same individual can profess to believe in tho
Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world ;
can avow himself a follower of One who, as ho
knows, came not to destroy men's lives, but to savn.
and at the same time number among the most ac-
ceptable services to be rendered to that God and
Saviour, the cold-blooded slaughter of his fellow-
creatures ; the plunder of their possessions, and th
wanton, savage destruction of all that he cannot ren-
der subservient to his own selfish and sinful purpo-
ses. Such was ever the principle of papal rule;
such was solemnly declared and established as its
deliberate doctrine, at the very period of which we
write. The fourth Lateran Council, with its unre-
pealed decrees and murderous denunciations, placed
the fact beyond dispute, as we shall by and by see.
Chassenueil having fallen, and leaving nothing but
a blackened heap of ruins, sprinkled far and wide
with th ashes of the bodies that had been burned
in heaps within it, the next point of attack was Bo
120 THE CRUSADERS.
Hers. Here Raymond Rcger was known to hava
strongly fortified himself, with a garrison of chosen
knights, and devoted citizens, of whom a large pro-
portion were undoubtedly alienated from the idola-
tries of Rome, before the present revolting act of
aggression roused their spirit to resist her cruelty.
The proceedings in this place were so characteristic
of all parties, that they deserve as detailed an ac-
count as existing records will admit of.
The bishop of the diocese, Reginald of Montpey-
roux, employed himself in a diligent search after all
upon whom he could fasten any charge of heresy,
and having made out a list of every suspected family
and person, he used his official privilege to seek an
interview with the legate, who was now advancing
with the army ; placed the document in his hands,
and required in the name of their holy mother
church that the individuals so marked out should be
committed to the flames. Having executed this
sacred mission, he returned to his flock, as from a
mere compulsory visit of duty to the Pope's repre-
sentative, and magnified to the uttermost the dan-
gers that impended over them, describing in the
most alarming terms the numerical and physical
strength of the assailing bands. He wrought art-
fully upon the secret apprehensions that agitated
many bosoms when they found that their young
chief, after visiting Beziers, inspecting its fortifica-
tions and stores, and encouraging the garrison, in-
Btead of staying to superintend the defence in per
THE CRUSADERS. 121
fcon, withdrew to the stronger position oJ Carcas-
sonne v. hicli, in the event of their fall would be the
next to endure an assault. The bishop well knew
tlie disheartening effect of the young count's de-
pa! ture, and he made the most of it. Assembling
tin; citizens in the church of St. Nicaise, he ad-
dressed them from the altar ; and concluded an art-
ful harangue by offering them, in the legate's name,
favorable terms, provided they would only deliver
up those who were known among them as schis-
matics from the Romish communion. By so doing,
he assured them, they might, but in no other way
could they, preserve themselves, their wives and
children, from the horrors of such pillage and mas-
sacre as would follow t \ successful assault, and their
souls from the tremendous wrath of heaven and the
church. They paused, for the peril was imminent,
and very terrible indeed was the glittering array
that overspread every part of the surrounding coun-
try ; as, like a swarm of locusts, the crusaders ad-
vanced on their prey. They paused, but it was
only for a moment : the reflection of a purer light,
shining on them from the scattered few who them-
selves reflected the image of Christ, had dispelled
much of the darkness that broods where Popery
reigns. With a burst of noble enthusiasm, they
drowned the voice of the tempter, crying out, " No:
tell the legate that our city is good and strong ; that
in this our great necessity, the Lord our God will
be our succor ; and that, rather than commit the
11
122 THE CRTTRADERS.
treacherous act suggested to us, we will eat oui
own children."
The populati >n of Beziers, including garrison,
citizens, an 1 all classes, is stated by some to have
amounted to sixty thousand persons : others rate it
much lower. Stout hearts, strong hands, and a
righteous cause combined to encourage them against
the great and terrible armament that drew nearer
and nearer to their walls, spreading such a multi-
tude of tents and gay pavilions, and displaying so
formidable a host of warriors, as proved that the
description of their treacherous bishop, which they
would fain have regarded as an extravagant fable,
was not even an exaggeration of the reality. As
yet, the enemy was busily employed in forming and
strengthening a camp, from which it was probable
the host must carry on the operations of a protract
ed siege ; for Beziers was a powerful-looking place,
with its solid walls, and massive square towers,
crowning an abrupt height with a broad deep river
at its base. The citizens beholding these prepara-
tions, and seeing the abundant means provided for
effectually prosecuting the work when all should b
fitly arranged, considered it the most favorable mo-
ment for a sally : they formed in a body, and rushed
down, with impetuous courage, upon the foe. These,
however, had the advantage, in point of numbers,
ol ferocity, and of being long inured to deeds of
blood ; and th people of God had been given, for
THE CfttTSADRRS. 123
A time, into the hand of the Avicked ana cruel one
The infantry sustained the shock unmoved ; then
becoming the assailants, the}' speedily turned the
disheartened citizens, drove them hack, and in one
dense mass of pursuers and pursued, they all entered
the gates together. Beyers was in the hands of th0
Crusaders.
The great strength of this fortified town, had
drawn wilhin its Avails multitudes of the villagers,
and scattered inhabitants of a Avide surrounding
district. AH the rural population Avere assembled
there; and among them, undoubtedly, a large pro-
portion of those against whom the Avrath of the
dragon and of the beast was especially kindled-^-
the true worshippers of God, Avho served Him iu
the Gospel of his Son. There Avere, however, A r ery
many, Avhose allegiance to Rome could not be ques-
tioned, and who were fully bent to die as they had
lived, in her communion. This Avas known to the
knights, Avho had been accustomed in the miscalled
" holy wars" to discriminate carefully as to their A'ic-
tims. The butchery of Saracens, and, perhaps eA-en
more, that of God's ancient, afflicted people Israel,
was with them a matter of meritorious duty ; but to
imbrue their hands in the blood of such as bowed
duAvn to the same crucifix, and Avorshipped the same
wafer, and invocated the same dead saints with
themselves, Avould have appeared a departure from
their prescribed path. Accordingly, Avhen it was
ascertained that Beziers was in their hands, Jim)
lt>4 THE CnttSADERS.
that, of course, the heretics must fall, s:me of those
commanders came to the legate, Arn:;ld Amalric,
with the natural question of How they were to
distinguish the Catholics from the heretics ? The
reply of the Abbot has been recorded by his own
friends and followers, or it would scarcely be credi-
ble. He answered, " Kill them all ! the Lord will
know well those that are his !"
While this was going on, the poor devoted flock
crowded into the churches, as though any sanctuary
existed for them, which the wolves of Rome might
respect. There were in Beziers a great majority of
women and children, sent to those strong walls for
protection by husbands and fathers, who themselves
remained to garrison posts deemed less impregnable.
These, with the whole body of citizens and refu-
gees, took shelter in the places of worship, unless
when their feeble steps were overtaken by the mur-
derer's rapid stride, and their course cut short in
blood. The large cathedral church of St. Nicaise
was completely thronged : and the canons, minis-
ters as they were of the Romish religion, investing
themselves with the sacerdotal habit, which surely,
they thought, must be a sufficient protection against
the soldiers of their own faith, ranged themselves
round the altar. No voice could have been heard,
in supplication, amid the din, and the crash, and the
shrieks of that fearful scoe of blood ; but the poor
canons sounded the consecrated bells, in deep, and
melancholy, and appealing tolJ, hoping so to tour.h
THE CRUSADERS. 125
the hearts of the fierce assailants. In vain ! Rome
leaves her conscience-seared votaries with he.-irts no
less effectually seared into utter insensibility to the
pleadings of pity : the tide of cowardly massacre
rolled on ; cut down, and crushed beneath the armed
heel, and mangled with the spear, one after another
the victims fell, as the blood-stained fanatics ap-
proached the altar ; and there the canons also fell,
hurled upon the general heap, while the progress of
the work was marked by the ceasing of successive
bells, as the hands that tolled them fell powerless in
death ; and the silence that followed the last sad
note proclaimed the consummation of that fearful
massacre. The dead bodies that lay, bathed in
blood, on the pavement of one church, the Magda-
len, amounted to seven thousand. The babe at its
mother's breast, the aged man beneath his daughter's
arms, vainly uplifted to defend his silver locks, while
her own bright ringlets were dripping blood. Yes ;
they killed them all. !
There is a world into which the eye of living man
hath not pried, and of which the fearful secrets are
but dimly revealed in the parables of Him who made
all worlds. There is a place where the ungodly rich
man, " being in torments, lifted up his eyes, and
saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom."
How tremendously nwful is the solemn thought, the
assured fact, that of all who slew, and of all who
were slain, at the bidding uf Arnold Amalric and
his wretched confederates, not one has perished
11*
126 - A .rE CKUSADERS.
each and all are now in existence, awaiting the d<5
when they must stand before the judgment-seat of
Christ ! Centuries have passed, and their names
and their deeds are by-gone things ; but not one
among them, persecutor or persecuted, destroyer or
destroyed, lias ever known a moment's oblivion of
that scene. The people of the Lord, faithful unto
death, washed from every stain in the blood of the
Lamb, entered into rest, commencing the eternal
song of praise ; and looking forward to the great
day of final vengeance, when the enemies of Christ
shall forever be put under his feet. The spirits in
that dark and dreary prison, whence there is no
egress, save to final judgment and to public doom,
feel in the recollection of those dreadful deeds the
gnawings of a worm that dieth not, the kindlings
of a fire that cannot be quenched ; and Arnold
Amalric can reiterate with terrible meaning the
words of his blasphemous mock ; " The Lord will
know well those who are his!"
The massacre occupied a very short period:
where no resistance could be offered, and the vic-
tims were thronged within a limited space, the work
of cutting them down was easy and expeditious.
This being done, plunder was the next concern.
Such of the decrepit, the sick, and otherwise help-
less as had been unable to leave their dwellings, were
speedily butchered there, and all that could lonipt
the hand of rapacity, from the costly elegancies
of the palace, to the simple but treasured heir-
T11E CRUSADERS. 121
loom of the modest cottage, was grasped and appro-
priated, as if to perfect the antitype of that traitor
who also " was a thief, and bare the bag, and stole
what was put therein." So easy a conquest, so
sweeping a massacre, and so rich a booty, could not
bat tend greatly to encourage the invaders. Masses
were celebrated, and thinksgivings pealed forth by
thousands of voices, to the God of holiness, and
love, and peace ; while the blood of His saints, that
day shed like water on every side, coagulated upon
the spot where those vain worshippers stood ; and
the unburied corpses, with glassy stare fixed on the
sky, presented an appeal not overlooked by Him,
who has said, " Vengeance is mine, I will repay."
The closing act of this savage tragedy was to set
fire to the stately city in every quarter, consuming
with it the immense mass of its slaughtered inhab-
itants. So perfect was the work of destruction,
that not a single dwelling remained, nor aught that
fire could destroy, of that proud Beziers, in which,
next to Carcassonne, Raymond Roger and his sub-
jects placed their trust, as being able to hold at
bay, for an indefinite length of time, the crusading
army. These, it must be remembered, had only en-
gaged to serve for forty days ; and every hour was
rendered precious to the assailed, by the hope, that
a protiv.cted defence might reach to the termination
of this limited engagement. The dark volumes of
O O
smoke, and red glare of flame that rose from the
V>fty turrets of Beziers, told a tale of terror and dis-
128 THE CRTTSA: EKS.
may to the surrounding country. Every place wan
presently deserted, from the strong but isolated cas-
tle to the lowly shepherd's hut, and the vine-dress-
er's lodge. No hope of security remained for these
scattered ones, except within the walls of Carcas-
sonne, where Raymond Roger still encouraged hia
people to hold out ; cheering by his presence and
undaunted bearing their hearts, of which, perhaps,
none were sadder than his own. But the forest
depths, and mountain caves, and passes known only
to native feet, afforded a refuge to numbers who
either were unable to reach the fortress, or doubted
the issue of an assault upon it ; and who preferred
the perils and privations of such concealment, to
the issue of a siege. Perchance too, there were
among these some who scrupled to use the carnal
weapon in what they felt to be the battle of the
faith. It was no new page in the history of God's
church that they of whom the world was not wor-
thy, should be destitute, afflicted, tormented, wan-
dering about, in dens and eaves of the earth.
After the one day's deadly work at Beziers, the
exulting host set forward again, spreading over the
country, according to the information of the traitors,
chiefly ecclesiastics, who acted as their guides to the
castles of the nobles. These they found, indeed,
strongly fortified by nature and art, but altogethei
deserted by their inhabitants. More than a hun-
dred- of them they burned to "'he ground, desolating
the lands, destroying the vintage, and fulfilling to
THK CRUSADERS. 1J49
the uttermost of their power the type of the locust
army. It was on the first of August that they
found themselves within sight of Carcassonne.
Here, beside the Aube, they hastily encamped with-
out molestation, and prepared to assail it on the fol
lowing day.
The .eader in this attack was Simon de Montfort,
Earl of Leicester, whose character stands out in
frightful prominence, embodying all that was most
flagitious in perfidy, most grasping in avarice and
ambition, most pitiless in cruelty, and most grovel-
ling in the debasing superstition which, if he felt it
not, he at least assumed, as the divine warrant for
all his crimes. By the mother's side, his English
ancestry was noble, and distinguished, tracing its
root to royalty ; but his birth was French, and he
had devoted his life to the service of the nominal
church ; having especially made himself conspicu-
ous in the Eastern Crusades. Nothing could better
accord with the bent of this man's mind than the
present war with the Saints. Pie hated with deadly
venom the faith and the followers of Jesus, and
sweet to his spirit must have been the dying cries
that resounded through Beziers. Impatient to re-
new the scene, he led his troops to an attack on the
outlermost suburb of Carcassonne ; but he was met
by Raymond Roger, at the head of his gallant
knights and citizens, who, during a combat of two
o o
hours, repulsed the enemy. The subui b was, how-
>ver, weakly brtifiet 1 , in comparison with othei
130 THE CKUSADERS.
quarters, and at length its defenders abanJone, it,
retiring into the second suburb, which de Montfort
also attempted to carry, b it in vain. For the space
of eight days the young Viscount made good his
position, continually driving back, with considerable
loss, the besieging body. At the end of that time,
he deliberately fired the buildings that composed it,
so depriving the enemy of any advantage that they
might have derived from its possession ; and leav-
ing it a mass of smoking ruins, he retreated into the
city.
Imagination would fain picture the throng of
anxious faces that looked down from the rampart-
walls upon their gallant chief and his companions in
arms, while thus holding at bay the ferocious con-
querors of Beziers. There were many whose dear-
est earthly ties had there been cut asunder by the
Crusader's sword, without having even fallen under
the suspicion of disloyalty to Rome ; and many
others who were more than willing to shed their
own life-blood in testimony to the faith of the Gos-
pel, witnessing against her abominations. There
\va,s not one, perhaps, who did not feel a personal,
loving interest in the noble Raymond Roger; and it
would be little short of sinful unbelief, to doubt
that the supplications offered on his behalf, through
the alone Name of the all-sutricient Saviour, were
heard and answered n the revelation of the Son ol
God to his soul. On^e more, having abandoned the
useless suburb, Raymond found himself in the midst
THE CRUSADERS. 131
ftf his people ; and with full purpose of heart he
prepared to defend the stout ramparts of Carcas-
sonne.
But flesh and blood were not all against which he
had to contend : it was an hour when the powers of
darkness had permission to prevail against the Lord's
people, and against their honest-hearted protector.
Inured as we are to contemplate the dark deeds of
papal perfidv, glorying in its deepest shame, there
is still that in the villainy perpetrated against the
young Count that kindles afresh the flame of indig-
nation, extorting the apostrophe addressed to a mi-
nor criminal of old, " full of all subtlety and mis-
chief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all
righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the
right ways of the Lord !"
The sovereign to whom Raymond Roger had
vowed fealty, was Peter II., King of Arragon, who
was also his uncle ; and though a slave to the pa-
pacy in spiritual matters, still alive to the cruel in-
justice done to the young noble; and to the perfidy
of the Count of Toulouse, whose presence here and
at Bexiers must not be forgotten. The Spanish king,
repairing to the camp, addressed himself to this un-
happy nobleman, who had married his sister, and
un'ed him to unite in an effort on Raymond Roger's
J O
behalf, offering to act as mediator between the par-
ties. The legate, to whom of course the proposal
was communicated, gladly availed himself of such
unexpected means for obtaining information of what
132 THE CRUSADERS.
was going on within the city, accepted the good of-
fices of the king, and issued orders for the suspen-
sion of hostilities, while the royal negotiator was
engaged in his humane task. It was a spectacle
of moving interest to the harrassed sufferers, the
approach of their monarch. Walls and bastions,
turrets and platforms were thronged by eager gaz-
ers : the marksmen stood prepared, alert on the
watch to detect any movement of treachery in the
camp ; but all was quiet there. Carcassonne pre-
sented one living 'mass of anxious, yet trusting and
undismayed inhabitants, while the drawbridge
clanked heavily as it fell, the dark portcullis slowly
rose, the massive bolts of successive gates were
withdrawn, and the dense body of armed men fell
partially back, opening a sufficient space for the
king and his few attendants to pass on. The heart
of Pfter, already awakening to a sympathy with his
persecuted people which ultimately led him to yield
his life in the battle against Rome, now swelled as
he received their loyal greetings, and yearned with
paternal love towards the noble young man who
knelt at his feet in affectionate homage.
Having ascertained from the Viscount his willing-
O O
ness to submit to any fair and honorable terms of
capitulation, for the sake of the helpless multitudes
who had taken refuge there, and who must perish
in a protracted siege, as already they had begun to
do, under the presence of terror, sickness and pri'
vation, "but for whom," said Raymond, " I swear to
THE CRUSADERS. 133
your majesty, that I and my own people would
rather die of famine than surrender to the legate."
Peter returned to the camp ; and, strangely igno-
rant of the spirit of those with whom he had to
deal, endeavored, by representing the young noble's
extremity, together with his elevated self-devotion,
to kindle in the bosoms of Rome's delegates what
Rome never knew compassion for the afflicted, and
sympathy with the generous. Arnold Amalric, re-
joiced to have engaged so useful though unconscious
a tool for his iniquitous designs, heard the king out ;
then, as a matter of special grace to his majesty's
kinsman, yielded permission for Raymond Roger to
select twelve individuals, with whom he might quit
the city unmolested ; but the sacred cause of the
most holy Church demanded that, with this excep-
tion, all should be abandoned to her mercy !
Dark and sad was the brow of the kingly media-
tor as he re-entered the gates, flung wide with joy-
ous alacrity to admit his returning steps ; and sorely
did his royal spirit writhe beneath the fetter of
papal bondage, as he delivered to the Viscount the
mocking message with which he was charged. All
the generous ardor of Raymond Roger's charactet
was roused into a flame : he looked round on the
terrified multitude, who had too truly read in the
kind's countenance, the failure of his mission ; he
O
looked on the faithful companions who had fought be-
side him every day, and patiently held with him the
long night's watch ; and while the glow of iadigna-
12
134 Tttfi
tion mi.ntled his choek, he answered with Vehement
energy, " Rather will I submit to be flayed alive !
The legate shall not have at his mercy ;he least of
my companions ; of these who, for my sake, havfi
braved the dangers that surround us."
Instead of urging the acceptance of Arnold's in-
solent terms, the king of Arragon warmly applauded
his nephew's reply ; and then turning to the knights
and citizens, who gathered eagerly around him, he
exhorted them to defend themselves, as the only
alternative ; seeing what they had to expect in the
event of surrendering. Surely, as that monarch
repassed the drawbridge of Carcassoune, he must
have felt the iron of Rome's despotism entering his
very soul. So, sooner or later, will all do, who lend
their power to the Beast, or even suspend the re-
sistance on which depends their self-preservation.
The King of Arragon, as he bore back, with a forced
semblance of personal courtesy, that noble defiance
to the inflated priest, must have envied the exalted
position of the poorest citizen who had barred the
gate on his retreating steps. A fearful account have
those monarchs to render who connive at the spread,
or even at the existence of the papal usurpation over
souls committed to their parental charge !
Scarcely had the king quitted the legate's gor-
geous pavilion, making known what every one was
fully prepared to hear, ere a fresh and furious as-
sault was made upon the walls of Carcassonne.
With ferocious shouting* cheering on each othor to
THE CrJSADfiHS. 13d
the work, the army brought faggots, wl ich they
cast into the ditches, endeavoring so to fill the chasm,
and form a path to the ramparts. Very little oppo-
sition was offered, and they reached the walls, in-
tending to scale them ; when a sudden deluge ol*
water and oil, heated to a boiling pitch, with masses
of stone, bars of iron, and missiles of every descrip-
tion, were hurled upon them from above; and this
was repeated as often as they rallied to the charge,
until many lay slain, and serious discouragement man-
ifested itself in the host, who considered that their
stipulated work was to murder and to plunder, not
to wage equal war with men of courage and of
strength. Confident assurances of a miraculous in-
terposition had been spread among them, to heighten
their fanatic zeal ; recollection that their forty days'
engagement was well nigh expired, combining with
the spectacle of their slaughtered comrades beneath
the walls, began to operate so unfavorably, that the
crafty legate perceived he must strike a final blow,
or behold the escape of a prey that he could not
endure to lose. Employing the arts that rarely fail,
he so won over a gentleman in his retinue whom he
knew to be a kinsman and early friend of Raymond
Roger, as to induce him to become a decoy for that
noble-minded young man ; who, on his part, desired
nothing so much as to obtain for his companions the
amnesty which he was assured would be accorded
to them, could he but himself fairly plead a causu
that lie knew to be righteous and just. The legate'a
138 THE CRtTSADERS.
bait was, theiefore, presently taken: Raymond Ro-
ger asked and obtained a safe conduct for himself
and such companions as he should bring with him,
into the presence of the legate : and back to the
city if their negotiation failed. Solemn oaths con-
firmed the pledge, on the part of tke crusading
leaders, who all joined in the legate's guarantee ;
and, thus assured, the young lord of the desolated
Beziers placed himself at the head of three hundred
chosen knights, and marched forth lambs into an
assemblage of wolves ; unsuspecting birds Hying
into the snare of the fowler!
In the legate's pavilion all the principal leaders
were assembled ; and they masked their foul de-
sign, and gazed with concealed triumph on'their in-
nocent prey, while, in a speech full of the nobfest
sentiments of princely and chivalric devotion, if no
higher and holier principle was set forth in it, he de-
fended his own conduct, and pleaded the cause o{
his people. He censed, and awaited the legate's
reply : it was given, as Rome generally replies to the
plea of reason and conscience. In a moment the
overpowering rush of armed men decided the matter ;
Raymond Roger was disarmed, bound, and delivered
as a traitor to the custody of the dark and merciless
Simon de Montfort. His knights were in like man-
ner seized, and within sight of the agonized citizens
of Carcassonne, all weie led away in captivity; to
what fate mighi easily oe conjectured. The shout
of anticipated riumph, of unbounded vengeance,
THE CRUSADERS. 137
cse ..igh from the perfidious camp towards the
walls of the city that should on the morrow reek
with such blood, and blacken under such flames as
had recently swept through Beziers. But such was
not the Lord's will : an ancient subterranean passage
of several leagues in length existed, known but to a
few of the most trusty burgesses ; and wholly unsus-
pected by the enemy. In the darkness of evening,
the whole population entered this cavern, and closing
after them its secret mouth, they journeyed on ; in
darkness, and in silence, and in sorrow ; weeping the
fate of their beloved chief, and the rendering ot
many a fond tie never, to be re-united on earth : but
they went safely ; and the morning sun shone on
the deserted towers of Carcassonne, lisrhtinsr the
O o
ravenous eagle on his path, not to seize the prey,
and revel in his Avonted feast of blood, but to ascer-
tain that, by means wholly inexplicable, that prey
had escaped ; and the only vital streams he might
hope to drain were those of his noble, his betrayed
captives of yesterday.
No means wore neglected by Arnold Amalric to
make a fair show of what was universally felt as a
baffling arid mortifying discomfiture. He caused it
to be reported that he, acting in his irresponsible
capacity of spiritual leader, had seen good to permit
the secret evacuation of Carcassonne by the bulk of
its inhabitants, having first secured the person of
the contumacious Raymond Roger, and of a certain
12*
139 THE CKUSADEKS.
number of .suspected heretics, who would be immo
lated in the midst of the deserted city. He entered
its walls with the usual warlike pomp of his most
incongruous command ; took formal possession of all
the spoil in the name of the Church, and then pre-
pared the spectacle that was to gratify his san-
guinary band of fanatics.
In addition to the three hundred gallant knights
who had accompanied Raymond Roger, on the
strength of the legate's safe conduct, and who had,
with him, been treacherously overpowered and im-
prisoned, the scouts of the army had captured a
number of poor fugitives in the act of escaping by
mountain-passes, and through forest tiacts, from the
beleaguered city. Many of these were women ;
mothers with their infants, and maidens seeking to
rescue their still younger brothers and sisters from
the sword of slaughter, or hastening in silent panic
to hide themselves, after the terrific view obtained
from the walls, of that fierce band of violent and
cruel men. From all these, Arnold selected four
hundred and fifty individuals, as lying under just
suspicion of heresy, and condemned them to public
execution. To vary the spectacle, and as far as he
could to gratify the taste of his followers, he ordered
fifty of these to be hanged, while four hundred were
burnt alive. At Beziers, the work was a general
massacre ; this bore rr are of the aspect of a martyr-
dom. There the word was "Kill them all!" here,
from a limited number, entrapped by shameful fraud,
THE CRUSADERS. 139
or seized by cruel force, a selection was m?tde, and
every individual suffered as a Christian. We hum-
bly trust that all among them deserved the name;
that such as had not fled from the sorceries of Great
Babylon, and laid hold on the free mercies of God
in Christ Jesus, were enabled so to do, in that day
of calamity, and were made worthy of the martyr's
crown. The day is coming, that shall reveal all
these things ; and when the past is laid open to our
view, with all its horrors, when we see before us
those who were most cruelly tortured and slain for
the testimony of Jesus, we may comprehend some-
what of the spirit of that exulting apostrophe, " Re-
joice ! ye heavens, and ye holy apostles and prophets :
for God hath avenged vou of her!"
O '
The last emblem of the fading fires had died away,
and the suspended bodies waved, cold and rigid, in
every light breeze that swept over the lofty turrets
of Carcassonne, and none survived but the captive
in his lonely dungeon, of all who had peopled the
busy scene, and had owned its many habitations.
In their stead was to be seen a motley crew, gath-
ered from among all classes, and wearing the cos-
tume respectively of France, of England, Germany,
Italy, and the provinces. Innumerable, and active
beyond all others, were the swarms of priests and
friars, passing to and fro, kindling and keeping alive
the spirit of merciless bigotry in ihe bosoms of men
who regarded them as their only guides to heaven;
and who never paused to inquire how far the doc-
140 THE CRUSADERS.
trines taught, the example set, and the actions
prompted by them accorded with the unhersa-lly
admitted fact, that the God whom they professed
to represent is a God of holiness and mercy ; of
truth and love. But for these firebrands of Rome,
the flame of persecution against God's heritage had
never been kindled : under their rule it was likely
never to be quenched, while one mortal was sup-
posed to breathe, independent of the papal will.
Grouped together, in one of the open squares,
near which hung the ghastly forms of several of
Raymond Rogers's noble knights, might be seen
some warriors of lofty bearing, whose brows were
clouded, and their tones bespoke a swelling indig-
nation. They were lords of France, who, while
they saw the fairest scenes of their fertile country
desolated, and the life-blood of their countrymen
and countrywomen shed like water on every side
by the hands of a foreign banditti, while murder in
cold blood was the finale to every combat, and the
vilest were selected to butcher the noble and the
fair, had begun to ask themselves how far it con-
sorted with their knightly and national honor to
take part in such disgraceful scenes at the bidding
of a monk. Arnold Amalric could not remain in
ignorance of any whisper that was breathed touch-
ing the supreme power of Holy Church ; and this,
of course, speedily reached his ears. He therefore
prepared to meet the rising spirit of dissatisfaction,
by a new prize for the ambitious to grasp at. He
THE CRUSADERS. 141
called a council, and set before the assembled no-
bles the necessity of placing the conquered prov-
inces under the rule of some prince, whose martial
prowess should help forward the work, and his de-
votion to the Church prove a guarantee for his zeal-
ous co-operation in utterly exterminating heresy
The viscounties of Beziers and Carcassonne were
now at his disposal ; and he concluded by declaring
his intention of conferring them on the Duke of
Burgundy. That prince, however, much to the le-
gate's dismay, not only rejected the gift, but de-
clared that they had done Raymond Roger wrong
enough already, without also despoiling him of his
heritage. Language so accordant with their new-
ly-awakened feelings of compunction was eagerly
echoed by other princes : The Count of Nevers, and
the Count of St. Paul, to whom it was alternately
offered, expressed themselves to the same effect ;
and Arnold began to feel the perplexity of his situ-
ation ; and, to lighten the burden, took two bishops
and four knights into commission with himself, to
deliberate and decide on the fate of the desolated
provinces. They made sure of their man before
again subjecting their princely offer to a refusal.
Simon de Montfort, avaricious, ambitious, cruel,
and utterly without scruple as to the means by
which his evil propensities were to be gratified, was
not likely to decline the gift, or to shrink from tht
deed that would most effectually confirm it. Ha
accepted the lordship of his noble prisoner, Ray
142 THE CRUSADr,KS.
mond Roger ; and he sealed the contract by admin
istering to the Viscount, who, it will be remembered,
was committed to his safe-keeping, a dose of poison.
It was publicly announced, with all due manifes-
tations of regret, that Raymond Roger had died of
a severe epidemic, and only the suspicion that must
rest on such an event, at that juncture and under
those circumstances, could be brought to contradict
it ; but the master-spirit of all this iniquity, the pre-
siding Pope, has left it on record in his voluminous
correspondence, that Raymond Roger died a violent
death. In the Beast's wiir with the Saints, he thus
ft,'ll, firmly espousing and faithfully upholding the
cause of the saints : and we do trust, that the great
day of the Lord will reveal him, numbered with the
saints in glory everlasting.
But this assassination was not perpetrated until
the November following the siege, although we may
well believe that it formed part of the original plan.
The wretched Count of Toulouse was an eye-witness
to all that his cowardly perfidy had brought on his
noble nephew, and the many thousands of innocent
victims whose blood cried aloud from the ground.
But no hope could exist that the Viscount of Beziera
would ever so bend his neck beneath the yo'ke. Ex-
communication laving been fulminated against him,
followed by forcible deposition and imprisonment,
death only remained. He was no longer the lord of
I hose magnificent domains, but a private individual,
accused of heretical pravity. Nevertheless, the fact
THE CRUSADERS. 143
rfras plain, that he still reigned in the wannest affec-
tions of his people ; and it also became manifest that
his brother nobles entertained a strong feeling of
sympathy for his afflictions : they had come up to
fight against him : and, blinded by the sorceries of
Rome, they had connived at the infamous act by
which he was decoyed, betrayed, and captured.
Still, when they saw a comparative stranger, of char-
acter so repulsive as de Montfort, taking high state
upon him, and carrying on a war of extermination
against the refugees who were now his subjects,
as one by one he reduced the castles where they had
endeavored to fortify themselves, these nobles were
moved by a spirit of commiseration for the young
Viscount, that might ripen into something danger-
ous to Simon's ill-acquired power ; and hence the
execution of the last enormity the murder of the
imprisoned Raymond.
The expiration of the forty days had found de
Montfort embarrassed by his recent acquisition ; and
had all the crusaders then returned to their homes,
he might have sought in vain to make good his hold
on the prey : but though many withdrew, others
were found willing to prolong the term of their ser-
vice, in the prospect of farther blood and spoil.
Besides, they were now in some sort under the lead-
ership of him who assumed to be lord of the terri-
tory, and who would have it in his power to reward
with permanent advantages, such as might show
themselves zealous in assisting to establish his do*
144 THE CRUSADERS.
minion. Here we see the craft and sul tlety of Satan
and his agents : much of the fierce fanatic zeal that
led the army forth, had now been quenched in
blood ; many who seriously made the bargain with
God's pretended vicegerent, purchasing absolution
for all their sins at the regular price of forty days'
service in the cause of " the church," having fulfilled
their part of the compact, recognized no further
claim upon them. It was, therefore, needful to
prepare some new bait; and this was done, by
placing before them not only heretics to extirpate,
but rebels- to subdue : not only towns to sack, with
a general scramble for portable spoil, but broad
lands to be parcelled out, and fair portions to be be-
stowed by a sovereign prince, under whose banner
they were invited to enlist ; while he professed no
other object than that of doing the will of the
church, and conquering the whole country, that he
might lay it at the feet of the Pope, wholly purged
of whatsoever had dared to exalt the Gospel of
Christ above the bulls of the Vatican. Simon de
Montfort knew well his position ; he had withheld
his acceptance of his captive's possessions, until the
bishops publicly threw themselves at his feet, im-
ploring him to assume that authority in order to
avenge the quarrel of the Church, and to crush her
audacious enemies, whom they represented as being
too numerous, and through the countenance afforded
by the barons, too powerful, to be subdued without
the aid of the secular arm of military prowess
THE CRUSADERS. 145
The war from first to last, and in all us bearings,
was avowedly waged against those whom God de-
signates as his saints ; and Simon de Montfort miglrt
just as well have aimed to seize the crown of France
or of England, as the viscounties of Beziers and
Carcassonne, had he stood forward in any other
capacity than that of the champion of the Church,
warring against heretics.
Yet, with all these facts spread before us on the
page of history, recorded in the letters of Innocent
111., and chronicled by Peter de Vaux Cernay, the
exulting eye-witness of such atrocities as we have
noticed and have yet to notice with all this, it is
actually become a point of honor with some Protes-
tant writers, and ministers of religion too, in our
day, to vindicate the Church of Rome from the
charge of persecuting cruelty ; to deny that she has
ever made war upon the saints, or that they have
been delivered into her hand ! In too many cases,
this argument is pursued with a covert design of
ultimately bringing back to Home those who have
happily " come out of her ;" in others, it is adopted
to support a theory concerning the supposed futurity
of the revelation of Antichrist : but in either view
it is an unwarrantable denial of some of the plain-
est facts that can be pointed out in the page of his-
tory ; a closing of the eyes against the most striking
fulfilment of the prophetic word.
Yet worse, if possible : this argument can only
be sustained by assisting to perpetuate, and to cir-
13
146 THE CRUSADERS.
culate more widely, the shameful calumnies uttered
against Christ's little flock by their cruel destroyers.
The blessing was not attached to persecution only ;
there were other adjuncts, set forth by our Lord
Himself. "Blessed are ye when men shall revile
you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner
of evil against you, falsely, for my sake. Rejoice,
and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in
heaven ; for so persecuted they the prophets which
were before you." If this important mark of disci-
pleship had been wanting : if the servant had been
above his Lord, and the household had remained
with characters unassailed, where the Master of the
house had been called Beelzebub, we might indeed
find cause to hesitate, and to ask, Could these
be the saints ? But no such difficulty meets us :
charges the most foul, the most incredible ; charges
precisely similar to some that were brought by the
heathen against those who formed the very earliest
Church of Christ, were unsparingly heaped upon
the harmless Albigenses, so completing the picture
that in all its parts it was truly theirs. They were
" poor in spirit ;" humble, unobtrusive people, pur-
suing in quietness their lowly occupations. They
" mourned ;" not only the perpetual dishonor
brought on the name of Christ by those who as-
sumed lo be his followers and his ministers, while
living in the open practice of idolatry, and of every
moral transgression, but the heavy calamities brought
on a friendly pe opl by thwir sojourn among
THE CRUSADERS. 147
and the certain fate that awaited them and theirs,
gave them cause to mourn ; always sorrowful, though
always rejoicing. They were "meek ;" marvellous
are the instances of lamblike resignation, unresist-
ing submission to the hand that brandished I he
knife, heaped the faggot, or knotted the cord, that
should send them by a violent death into the pres-
ence of the Lord. We never hear of the Albigen-
ses, as such, taking up arms to defend themselves :
the price at which mercy might have been obtained
by the citizens of the assailed places, was that of
delivering them up to the will of their enemies.
Resistance on their part was never pre-supposed,
either in the proffer or in the refusal of such terms.
That they hungered and thirsted after righteous-
ness, was, in fact, the very ground work of the charge
against them : their anxious search after simple
truth, their rejection of all that militated against it;
their diligent use of the means of grace, exhorting
and confirming one another in the faith ; their as-
semblages for prayer and praise, and breaking of
bread ; all these things are notorious, as the hold
that their enemies took on them. Had theirs been
a religion of negatives, they might have lived safely
and quietly enough. That they were merciful, do-
ing wrong to no man ; that purity of heart was
evinced by i spotless life, is evident. The very
name by which they were known in Italy, Cath-
ari, expresses purity : and it was alleged against
them as an aggravation of .their heretical opinions,
148 THE CRUSADERS.
that they recommended them by such sanctity of
conduct as drew many to listen to them. Peace-
makers they were, in the fullest, highest sense of
the word ; for not only did they iead lives of exem-
plary peaceableness, but they spread on all sides the
Gospel of everlasting peace ; even that peace which
the blood of the cross makes between God and
man. Persecuted, and that for righteousness' sake,
they were, even to the death ; with the most savage
and sanguinary persecution that Satan could devise
and man carry out ; and here we have eight out of
the nine marks by which our Lord describes those
who are " blessed." But, on coming to the ninth,
it is found to form the pre-eminently distinguishing
feature of this afflicted Church ; and therefore "
fools and blind !" therefore the case is decided
against them, and sometimes too by men whose
office it is to remind the disciples of the Lord that
he has also said, " Woe unto you when all men
speak well of you ; for so did their fathers unto
the false prophets."
But, leaving out of the question the actual char-
acters of the Albigenses, let us turn to the vaunted
Church of Christ, and inquire how she fulfilled her
duty towards those whom she believed to be still in
fatal error. It is impossible for any searcher of
God's word to be in doubt as to the course indicated
for the Christian, whether lay or clerical, to take, in
reference to such as disbelieve or even oppose the
Gospel. " Knowing the terrors of the Lord, wo
THK CRTTSADEKS. 149
persuade n,en," not imfrison, torture, and burn
them. "Showing out of a good conversation your
works with meekness of wisdom " not with the
thunder of menace, and the violence of armed power.
Above all, in the instructions expressly given, by di-
vine inspiration, to one who was ordained to a high-
ly responsible office in the Christian church, and
through him to all who should hold the like author-
ity, we have these emphatic words : " The man of
God must not strive, but be gentle unto all men,
patient, in meekness instructing them that oppose
themselves, if God, peradventure, will give them
repentance unto salvation, that they may recover
themselves from the snare of the. devil, by whom
they are led captive at his will." The very worst,
most extravagant, most incredible charges brought
against the Albigenses and other victims of Romish
o o
persecution, could not, if fully proved, amount to
more than this that they were entangled in the
snares of the devil, and led captive by him at his
will. Where is the gentleness, where the patience,
where the meek instruction that the " man of God "
is commanded especially to bring into prominence
in such a case ? Shall we seek them in the annals
of Peter de Vaux Cernay, or in any annals, ecclesi-
astical or secular, of Papal Rome ? Seeking, shall
\ve iind aii"ht but the darkest, most fearful contrast
O
to what the Holy Spirit has traced as the duty, the
badge of Christ's Church ? Yet once again, " Breth-
ren, if one of you be overtaken in a fault, ye that
13*
150 Jifc CRUSADERS.
are spiritual restore such an one in 'Jic spiiit 01
meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be
tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so
fulfil the law of Christ." That loving law of Him
who came not to destroy men's lives, but to save
them ; who called on the sin-burdened pilgrim to
learn of Him, the meek and lowly-hearted Saviour,
that he might find rest unto his soul ; who bade to
bless, not to curse ; yea, to return cursing with bless-
ing, and hatred with love, and persecution with acts
of benevolent good will that law stands out in such
dazzling contrast to the blackness of darkness that
shrouds such deeds as we are compelled to recog-
nize as the authorized and vaunted deeds of Romish
cruelty throughout the blood-stained history of her
/ron rule, that we gaze with dismay upon the spec-
tacle, and reject, on the strength of God's own
word, the claim of the alien usurper to any part of
lot in the matter of our faith and hope " By theif
works ye shall know them."
CHAPTER IV.
THE CAVERN.
XT is now winter: heavy rains have swept over th
mountain-ridges the fallen honors of summer, and
O
accumulated in the narrow passes below a body of
humid obstructions, that render them well nigh im-
passable to unpractised steps. At intervals a nar-
row cave presents an opening, lately overhung with
the mingled festoon of tangled wild-flower and strag-
gling vine, the pleasant retreat of the weary travel-
ler or laboring hind, during the noontide hour, when
the rays of a vertical sun streamed down into the
little valley, but now steaming with unwholesome
damps, sufficient to repel any foot from their chasms,
however way-worn, and solicitous for momentary
repose. The continual drip from overhanging heights,
far above, and the frequent bursting of a miniature
cascade from some gully where the waters had ac-
cumulated, rendering these low passes so uninviting
during the wet season, that he who should have
chosen to shape his course through one of them,
must not calculate on meeting a fellow-man in their
anwholesome recesses. The neighboring peasants.
152 '. HE CAVERN.
and such as, in more genial seasons, would Iia7
preferred the sheltered glen, now took a more cir-
cuitous route, on firmer ground, and in a more ele-
vated region.
Yet here if; is that ve must search, if we woulil
meet with the scattered remnant of the Lord's ex-
hausted flock ; once so fairly pastured where none
made them afraid, under the kindly sway of Ray-
mond Roger, viscount de Beziers. WoundeJ and
torn, despoiled of the little all that once was theirs,
hunted f'om their houses, and sprinkled in their
flight with the life-blood of their nearest, dearest
connections, overtaken by the armed assassin's arm,
these forlorn beings would still persist in assembling
themselves together, for purposes of prayer, aud
praise, and mutual exhortation ; though to do so
they must brave danger in many forms, combining
the possibility of discovery where every nook and
corner was likely to be ransacked fora fresh victim,
with the more certain perils of that most unwhole-
some atmosphere, leaguing as it seemed to do with
merciless man for the destruction of the helpless.
Different indeed is the group that we shall now
encounter, from the peaceful little congregation
formerly assembled in a spot no less peaceful than
themselves. Not many aged pilgrims are here : the
tottering step ever proved unequal to escape the
powerful stride of pursuing hatred; and in many
instances the silver-haired Christian had offered him-
self more than willingly to death for the testimony
THE CAVKUN. 158
f Jesus. But there were many of middle age,
whose premature gray hairs bespoke a heaviei bur-
den of years than they had really borne, and whose
frames, bent with sorrow and privation, and habitual
crouching in low places for concealment, had lost
the elasticity belonging to them. Among these
were widowed wives, bereaved mothers, and men
whose utmost strength had been exerted in vain to
save their partners and their little ones from the
deadly grasp of Rome's vulture bands ; and who
had themselves escaped, they knew not how, or why,
save that it pleased the Lord they should yet a while
remain to glorify Him in the fires. There was youth
too, blooming and bright when the last summer's
flowers had bloomed ; but now scarcely less a blight-
ed wreck, as to outward things, than were the con-
fused and undistinguishable remains of those fair
Bowers beneath their feet. Tender childhood had
rarely survived the sweep of massacre, the toils and
terrors of the flight, and the pinching hunger that
wasted their half-clad bodies in those desolate
hiding-places; and few there were of these: but
infants had been born, even in the dens and caves
to which kindred love had contrived to bear the
mother; who now hushed in her sunken bosom the
feeble cry that might perchance arrest the attention
of some wandering foe. Sorrow, deep sorrow, was
graven on every countenance ; for they mourned the
vineyard of the Lord, trampled down and destroyed;
they mourned the gal 'ant. fa'rhful countrymen and
154 THE CA
fellow-citizens, who, though not partakers in the lik?
precious faith with themselves, had refused to pur-
chase security at the price of their lives, and had
fallen in the common defence. They mourned the
beloved Raymond Roger, of whom they knew no
more than that he was counted as dead, and his
lands and honors grasped by de Montfort, who now
sought them also that he might put them to a cruel
death ; and they mourned over Simon himself, and
his partners in crime, who were treasuring up for
themselves a harvest of eternal wrath. Imperfectly
as the Albigenses were acquainted with those Scrip-
tures which we possess in full, and can search
throughout, they had not all the encouragement
that we, in their circumstances, should have for
" rejoicing in tribulation ;" but they knew in whom
they believed ; and most assured they were that He
was able, yea, had promised, to keep that which
they committed unto Him, to the great day. Their
faith, too, had received a fearfully .strong confirma-
tion, by beholding the awful crimes perpetrated in
the name, and for the furtherance of that system
which they had rejected as unscriptural and unholy :
and as now thev gradually assembled, beneath the
arch of a somewhat larger cavern than the rest about
it, where the cold drip from the roof sent a frequent
shiver through their emaciated limbs, they freely
strengthened each other in their God, even on the
O
very ground of their terrible sufferings in the cause
f a denounced and persecuted aith
Tfi CAVERN. 155
But within this natural excavation was another,
formed by human hands. A grave was dug, in the.
further and drier part, and the soil heaped up beside
It. One who had suffered the loss of all tilings for
Christ, who had seen his wife dragged away from
his side, while he lay wounded and helpless, a fugi-
tive from Carcassonne, and forced back to the city
to swell the company of martyrs there; while, one
by one his tender little ones perished on the way,
had now himself been called to enter into rest; and
with that tenderness towards the mortal remains of
a believer which well becomes those who rightly un-
derstand the doctrine of the resurrection, his sur-
viving brethren had resolved to bury him in a se-
cure place. For it was a common practice on the
part of the warriors of the church to rend from their
silent resting-places such as had been br.mded when
alive with the stigma of heresy ; and to expose th< it
decaying remains to every species of savage indig-
nity. It therefore became an interesting duty, and
one of no trifling importance in the sight of the poor
flock, to insure for their departed brethren an undis-
turbed grave.
There was no funeral procession formed in thai
secluded valley: a few months ago, and the body
now about to be stealthily interred would have been
borne to the tomb with many simple honors by the
open-hearted citizens of Carcassonne ; for he was
kncwn and respected, and had moved in a rank
above the majority of those openly professing the
156 THE CAVERf,
same faith. But here it was different : the assembled
group looked anxiously forth from their hiding-place,
and when they saw a stout man, habited as a labor-
ing peasant, approaching with a common sack, heav-
ily filled, upon his shoulders, they drew back, and
hung their heads, and wept. Few things could
more touchingly realize their outcast, branded state,
than this sad contrast to what had been, when in
solemn array they were wont to chant their funeral
hymns beside the bier of a departed brother.
Gently, most gently, was the sack lowered from
its panting bearer to the ground; and reverendly did
many luuids assist to stretch the dead man's doubled
limbs upon its outspread surface : and to smooth his
ruffled hair, and restore as much as they could of out-
ward composure to the body whose immortal spirit
was resting and rejoicing before the throne of the
Lamb. This done, in the dim twilight of the cavern
they formed a circle round the corpse, and commenced
their whispered discourse, one well versed in scrip-
ture, quoting the words, " If in this life only we had
hope of Christ, we were of all men most mise ruble !"
a touching appeal to the recent experience of each
individual present, every one of whom had under-
gone such extremities of misery, in one form or
another, that the retrospection would scarcely have
been endurable but for the sweet assurance that all
had been encountered for Christ's sake ; and thai
having suffered, they should also vign with him.
" Ay," said a woman, whose household had been
THE CAVERN. 151
slaughtered in the cathedral of Btziers, "but we
have a better and a brighter iiope than this world of
sorrow holds forth to us. Here we must bear the
cross : there, we shall wear the crown."
Another remarked, " The Lord Jesus was juried
in a cave, and a great stone was rolled to the mouth
of the tomb, which a mighty angel moved away that
the Saviour might arise : our dear brother also will
have a cave for his resting-place ; but it will need no
angel to open his grave, for at the first sound of the
voice that awakens the dead, he will start, and arise,
and, like Lazarus, come forth to meet the Lord."
A murmur of gladness ran through the little band,
as one and another repeated, " We shall all be there :
we, and those who are gone before, and those
whom we leave behind. There will be no more
sorrow, nor crying : no fierce warriors, thirsting for
blood, no unholy priests to profane the Name of
the Lord, as though he had come to destroy and not
to save his believing people. There we shall look
back on all our sufferings, and rejoice exceedingly
that we were made worthy to endure them for His
dear sake. Oh that they who hate us, and pursue
us unto death, might have their eyes enlightened
and their hearts turned ! Oh that the blood of the
innocent which cleaves to their hands and to their
souls, might be wa>hed away by the blood shed
upon the cross." And the prayer increased in fer-
vency, as, kneeling round the corpse, they con-
trasted the happy lot of the believer with the dread-
14
158 THE CAVERN.
ful doom that awaits the persecutor : the wrath of
God revealed from heaven against the unrighteous
and cruel man.
While thus thev pleaded, and gave thanks to God
for his rich mercy to themselves, until the very gate
of heaven seemed opened to their view, and the real-
izing eye of faith rested on glories invisible to mor-
tal ken, a shadow darkened the mouth of the cav-
ern, but no one entered. It might have been the
overshadowing of a darker cloud, coming over the
mountain's brow ; but its movement, now advan-
cing, now retreating, and then suddenly withdrawn
altogether, proved it to be somewhat else. " We
are traced, or betrayed," whispered one of the par-
ty, when the prayer was concluded, but no farther
notice was taken ; and after a while they proceeded
to the work for which they were assembled, gently
drawing the lifeless body towards its shallow grave,
when, suddenly, the heavy tramp of many feet was
heard, and the too well-known clang of armor re-
sounded among the echoes, and voices stern and
hi'h commanded them to come forth from their
O
hiding-place, and surrender their arms to the pow-
ers of de Moritfort, and the authority of the Church
" We are not armed," was the quiet reply : " AVC
are met here to worship the Lord our Saviour, and
to bury our dead."
" Armed, or unarmed, accursed heretics ; come
forth !"
" Nay, brethn n, wherefore should you shed inno-
THE CAVERN. 159
cent blood ? We fear not, nor refuse to die, in the
cause of our most holy faith ; but we would net
that you brought this heavy condemnation on your-
selves, by slaying the helpless and the unoffending.
We are few in number ; we are stripped of all
things ; and what with sorrow, and toil, and cold,
and hunger, the brief span of our lives will soon be
cut short, without involving you in deeper guilt.
Leave us alone : we were praying for you, and
would fain see some token that our prayers are ac-
cepted."
A burst of laughter followed this appeal, and
several proposed to enter at once, and silence them
forever ; but a young knight, who had joined de
Montfort recently, and whose conscience was not
yet sufficiently seared by the hot iron of Rome,
urged the proffering of terms to the suppliants.
'They are a miserable handful," said he, "and
their feeble tones prove their bodily exhaustion.
Let them abjure their heresy, and swear fidelity to
the holy see ; and the Church will gain more than
by destroying them."
" Oh, by all means," said a veteran crusader, jeer-
ingly : " give them the opportunity of vaunting their
steadfastness in rebellion and apostasy, and so invest
them with the dignity of martyrs !"
But the young knight, who commanded the party.
r advanced to the very entrance of the cavern, ana
loudly said, " Unhappy wanderers from the only
true fold, will you renounce your deadly heresies,
160 THE CAVER!*.
humble yourselves at the footstool <f holy Church,
submit to the penances that your crimes have incur,
red, and henceforth serve her, in dutiful submission
to the righteous will of our sovereign pontiff, the
holy father Innocent, and his pious legate, our lord
Arnold Amalric ?"
" We will renounce whatever in our faith and
practice can be proved contrary to the will of God,
revealed to man in the blessed Scriptures : and we
will submit to the Church in all particulars wherein
it can be shown that she walks according to the
same rule. For the rest, we know what will come
upon us. Then welcome death ! welcome glory ev-
erlasting in the bosom of our God !"
A shout of rage and execration, a rush into the
little cavern, and the gleam of many weapons flash-
ing through its gloom, finished the tragedy. The
grave, with pious care dug for one believer, was
filled up, and concealed by a pile of slaughtered
bodies, all of whom fell unresistingly beneath the
murderer's hand. A rivulet of crimson hue tric-
kled slowly from the opening, as the perpetrators of
this butchery retreated ; and having shown itself, a
fearful testimony against their souls, it sank into the
humid soil, and was hidden till the great and dread-
ful day when earth shall disclose all her slain ; and
terrible then will be the revelation of what apostate
^ome hath wrought ! .
It was bj means si ch as we have described, pur-
suing, an/i with -rafty perseverance marking out
THt CAVERZX. 161
the fugitive prey, that Simon de Montfort CArricd
out the plan of the pontiff, who i.imed at no less
than the utter destruction of every individual who
had imbibed the slightest notions of liberty of con-
Kcie.nce ; or learned that there was a standard by
which the Church, every Church, must be tried,
He could not have employed a fitter instrument, for
de Montfort was naturally most cruel ; and po>ver
gained by fair means would have been a prize of
litile value in his sight, ambitious as he was. The
recital of such a massacre as we have described,
would kindle up a light in his gloomy eye ; and af-
fording him a new plea of special merit at the Vati-
can, it strengthened farther his hold on the fair pro
vince that became more emphatically his in propor
tion as it was laid desolate, and saturated with blood.
At present, this man was the sole link connecting
Jie successful past with the anticipated future, for
which active preparations were being ma-de through-
out Europe, by means as disgraceful to the name of
Christianity as could be imagined.
The monks of Citeaux, who most fully merit the
distinguishing title of the blood-hounds of the church,
had issued in swarms from their cells, or rather from
(heir cloisters and refectories, and had spread them-
selves in every direction, occupying the pulpits of
all nations, and preaching up a new crusade against
the Albigenses, as though there were no possible
access to heaven but through the blood of these in
nocent victims. With the eloquence and power of
14*
162 THE CAVEKN.
demoniacs these cowled recruiting officers set forth
the benefits to he derived, here and hereafter, by
bearing a hand in the work of slaughter ; and as
those whom they addressed were, cilas ! equally un-
der the power of the god of this world with them-
selves, their appeal was extensively responded to,
and their success prodigious. They never preached
in vain : the doctrine was too pleasingly accordant
with the worst corruptions of the natural heart, and
the prize set before their hearers was too tempting,
both in its temporal and spiritual aspect, to admit of
opposition. Under their unprincipled guidance, a
band was being organized wherever the Romish see
had a footing, and it seemed problematical whether
the devoted land of Provence, with all its neighbor-
ing districts where heresy was suspected, would be
sufficient for such a host to swallow up. The monks
were perfectly content to anticipate such mutual
slaughter as should thin the multitude to a number
suited to the extent of country : and more than con-
tent, if we may judge from their language and pro-
ceedings in urging on the terrible conflict.
It is utterly impossible to conceive what could
animate tlu-se men to such a work, unless we attrib-
ute it to direct Satanic influence. They knew the
land ; they knew it in its days of peace and plenty,
of security, and elegance, and ease. They knew
that the victims there, for whose blood they were
athirst, were alike free from a turbulent spirit, and
from the vices that eertainly prevailed among the
THE CAVEBTV. 163
voluptuous lords under whose sway they lived un
molested ; and that even in their religious observ-
ances they shunned all ostentatious display of their
dissent from Romish practices, and worshipped un-
obtrusively, according to their conscience. It is a
terrible spectacle of human depravity, this mission
of the preachers from Citeaux. In all ages we find
him that is born after the flesh persecuting him that
is born after the spirit ; and a Cain always hating
an Abel, because his own works are evil and his
brother's righteous ; but this was more ; this was a
flood poured out from the dragon's own mouth, to
overwhelm and destroy the only true Church of God.
Too successful were the efforts of the monks of
Citeaux. They speedily gathered together a fresh
band of maddened enthusiasts, whom they had in-
duced so implicitly to believe their audacious asser-
tions, that probably not one among them entertained
a doubt of being at once made clean from all his past
offences, and licensed to a new life of unblushing in-
O
iquity, with the positive certainty of gaining heaven
at last, at the easy price of marching for forty days
through a country already conquered and desolated,
and putting to death a few poor straggling fugitives,
to be dragged from their places of concealment.
Such was the aspect of the war in which the second
crusading army engaged ; for it was not until they
were on their way to join his standard that any thing
like a reverse seemed to menace de Montfort ; nor
was the discoui igement occasioned by a momentary
*04 THE CAVERN.
check sufficient to damp the ardor of that fearlesa
fanatic. Either through policy or some personal
good will, the Pope had listened with favor to Ray.
mond of Toulouse, when pleading his own cause in
the Vatican ; and it cost the legate no small tiou-
ble, eagerly as his efforts were seconded by the
fierce Bishop Foulquet, to render nugatory the ad-
vantages supposed to be gained by that unhappy
nobleman. Meanwhile the king of Arrno-on had
o o
broken off all negotiation with de Montfort, declar-
ing his hostile feelings so plainly as to infuse new
courage into the surrounding lords of the conquered
provinces. They combined in a general revolt, and
proved so successful in repelling the usurper that,
at the end of a few months, the two hundred cities
and fortified places in the hands of Simon were re-
duced to eight.
Most welcome, therefore, was the succor supplied
by the efforts of the preaching monks of Citeaux ;
and most appropriately was it headed : for these
troops, enlisted for the express purpose of wholesale,
indiscriminate massacre, by the exhortations of
priests, were led to the scene of their cruel exploits
by a woman. Alice de Montmorency, the wife of
de Montfort, headed the fresh host whose approach
gladdened the heart of her husband : and thus was
the frightful anomaly completed.
And now was the flood indeed poured forth :u
that devoted land ; now, indeed, war, in its fiercest,
fellest aspect, raged against the saints of God, and
THE CAVERN. 165
against nil who conspired to shelter them, and all
who hesitated to drag them forth to slaughter.
Again must we repeat that the details are those, and
thobc alone, left on record by the companions, the
eulogists of the aggressors; and therefore only are
they credible : not so much from the trustworthy
character of the witnesses, as because the exulting
tone of joy and thankfulness in which they are nar-
rated, exhibits a spirit of murderous bigotry suffi-
cient to account for the perpetration of what it were
else incredible that man should have committed
against his peaceful, unoffending brother man.
De Montfort cast his mental eye over the wide
territory ; and being well informed as to the num-
ber, position and strength of the fortresses which he
had to reconquer, and those still remaining to be re-
duced, he placed himself at the head of his impa-
tient levies, and commenced the fierce campaign.
One after another he attacked the castles on his
route, and having, by the impetuosity of the assault,
the terror that his name inspired, and the mysteri-
ous permission of Him who thus for a time delivered
over his poor flock into the hands of the merciless,
carried the place, he dragged forth the remaining
inhabitants, hanged them on gibbets in the most
conspicuous spots, dismantled or burned the fortress,
unless it was sufficiently important to justify his
leaving a garrison there, and marched on tc the
next post. In this way hd scoured the country with
wonderful rapidity ; and when, trusting in then
(66 THE
righteous cause, or rendered confidt a< t by the streflgth
of their bulwarks, the defenders of any place pro*
tracted their resistance, he revenged himself for thf!
temporary delay by the most horrible cruel ties.
Thus, Broin, having a very strong castle, occupied
him three days in reducing it ; and no sooner had
he captured it than he selected upwards of an bun*
dred of the inhabitants, whose eyes, with ferocious
barbarity, he tore out, cut off their noses, and hav-
ing left a single individual with one eye uninjured,
he commanded him to use his sight to guide the
wretched company of bleeding sufferers to the next
fortress, Cabaret, so to apprize its garrison of what
they must expect if they dared to oppose his prog-
ress. Death by strangulation on the gallows, or by
a blazing pile, was surely preferable to tortures such
as these, with the prospect of miserably perishing in
lingering helplessness : and thus the Church's cham-
pion calculated on immolating her victims at a less
expense of time and trouble and possible loss of life
to his own host. The castle of Alaric, however,
proved a great hindrance, and a severe disappoint-
ment too: it held out for eleven days, defying his
f ' * O
utmost efforts ; and when at length the place was
carried, and imagination already revelled in the
blood of the audacious defenders, thev were found
to have made good a retreat that phced them be*
yond his grasp. Only a small remnant remained foi
de Montfort to massacre. Beyond this, he passed
Unobstructed for many leagues : not a castle but bad
THE CAVERN. 167
*
been deserted, leaving little more than empty walla
to reward the plunderers' search. Still the poor
blood-stained country smiled in the beauty of its
rich fertility : vineyards mantled the hills, and the
1 1 ecious olive bore its wonted freight : in the ab-
sence of human victims, here was a field for wanton
devastation ; and the soldiers of the cross were dis-
persed on all sides, rending up by the roots those
beauteous vines, and hewing down with their gory
weapons the ancient olives, that promised to supply
many a succeeding generation. This was accepta-
ble work to the master whom they and their leader
alike served ; the Spirit who evermore works in the
children of disobedience, prompting rebellion where-
soever God has given a command. We find a gra-
cious and merciful prohibition recorded in scripture,
"When thou shalt besiege a city -a long time, in
making Avar against it to take it, thou shalt not de-
stroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against
them ; for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt
not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man'a
life) to employ them in the siege : only the trees
which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat,
thou shalt destroy and cut them down." Deut. xx.
19, 20.
Here we have the case of a people actually sent
forth by the Lord to execute his judgments on the
idolatrous and cruel heathens, requiring wood for
the necessary operations of a siege, yet strictly
prohibited from supplying their n<?ed by the de-
168 THE CAVEUN.
struetion of a single fruit-tree, even in an enemy's
country, because " the tree of the field is man's life :"
how dreadful, then, is the spectacle of a body of
men professing the religion of the Bible, employed
in destroying the whole rich produce of a country,
not to aid their hostile operations, not to supply their
own present necessities, but simply and avowedly
for the very reason assigned by the .Most High
Rgainst such an act, because " the tree of the field
is man's life." and some famishing wanderers might
find the table spread by God's hand in the wilder-
ness to support the life which He gave. Such deeds
have been done even in our day, and by men nomi-
nally protesting against the crimes of Rome : but it
is an awful thing thus to make light of what the
Lord our God hath commanded ; and the Evil One
who exulted in every step of de Montfort's terrible
career, is the leader in all such enterprises of cruelty
and wrontr-
O
We now arrive at a point in the narrative on
which the monk Peter has dwelt with more enthu-
siastic delight, than even on what he calls the
"miracle" that delivered up the innocent victims of
Beziers to the knife. Near Narbonne, perched on a
lofty rock, and surrounded on all sides by such prec-
ipices as rendered it seemingly inaccessible, stood
the magnificent castle of Minerva, or Menerbe, famed
o
no less for its natural strength than for the courage
and fidelity of its lord, Giraud, one of the bravest
and most loyal knights owning fealty to the visiount
THE CAVERN. 169
of Carcassonne. To Raymond Roger he had been
ardently attached ; and now that the grave had
closed over that champion of the oppressed, Giraud
indignantly rejected the assumed authority of his
murderer, and held the castle as a duteous vassal of
Raymond Trencavel, the infant son of the viscount,
and lawful inheritor of his possessions. The faith
of the Gospel was, perhaps, more extensively and
openly professed here than in any place that de
Montfort had yet assailed ; and the prize was, in
every point of view, a most tempting one, alike to
priest and warrior. The siege was commenced with
vigor, and seven weeks of unsuccessful assault had
not abated either the fury of the crusaders or the
constancy of the garrison ; but that which in one
aspect formed their greatest strength, in another
proved the worst disadvantage of the besieged.
Their rock repelled the enemy ; but it yielded no
water-spring to them ; their sole dependence was
on cisterns, which at length failed them ; and Gi-
raud under a flag of truce proceeded to the camp to
treat on the best terms that he could for capitula-
tion. De Montfort, dreading the diminution of his
host, from which at the end of every forty days
many withdrew, while he depended solely on the re-
cruiting brothers of Citeaux for adequate supplies in
their room, and exceedingly anxious to proceed on
his march, granted terms that satisfied Giraud ; and
the latter was about to make preparations for sur-
rendering, when the legate, who had been absent
J5
170 THE CAVERN.
during 1 he treaty, suddenly returned to the camp;
and de Montfort, alarmed by his own boldness, no
less suddenly announced that nothing agreed upon
during the absence of the legate could be binding
until ratified by him. We cannot but cite the lan-
guage of the monl? Peter, in describing the (rouble
of Arnold on being thus appealed to for the approval
of conditions comparatively just and rational. " The
abbot was much afflicted. In truth it was his desire
that every enemy of Christ should be slain ; but in
his character of monk and priest he could not under-
take to pronounce their condemnation himself."
Here we see, most clearly, the use to which the
Romish Church puts its miserable slaves ; among
whom were then numbered most of the kings and
mighty men of Christendom. With the full devel-
opments of the dragon's character upon it, still as a
nominally religious system it is compelled to assume
the lamblike aspect that prevents its tearing with its
own teeth the prey set apart for destruction. Won-
derful and fearful is the craft which, to meet the
difficulty, has brought such troops of wolves into
perfect subjection ; so that on a signal they obey,
(and count it meritorious obedience too,) no less
their own carnivorous propensities than the will of
their masked director !
Arnold Almaric immediately hit on a device for
the attainment of his object. Knowing that the
agreement entered into between the chiefs was as
yet only verbal he directed them to sit dowr ipait,
THE CAVERN. 171
and each 10 furnish him with a correct Britten state-
ment of every item in it. Of course, without a
miracle, some discrepancy would appear; and on
this the unprincipled legate founded a pretext for
declaring the whole agreement void, seeing that they
were not fully of the same mind as to the terms.
Giraud, anxious to succor his people, now suffering
from the extremity of thirst, offered to waive his
own version, and to accept that of de Montfort ; and
this again brought the council of war to a stand,
The articles of capitulation, as stated by Simon,
were read ; and, here another instance occurred of
the deadly spirit animating the breasts of those who
assumed the spiritual leadership of men's consciences,
as a sure means of commanding their unlimited sub-
O
mission in things temporal ; and of the utter oppo-
sition of that spirit to every thing that savors of the
Gospel of peace. The incident is related by the
monk of Vaux-Cernay, with admiring approval of the
holy zeal manifested. When that article was read
which provided for the safety of any of the Albi-
gensic professors who should renounce their faith, a
French nobleman, Robert de Mauvaison, mindful of
the terms on which his salvation was guaranteed by
the church, exclaimed that the pilgrims would never
consent to such a clause ; for they had taken the
cross, not to show mercy to heretics, but to exter-
minate them. He spoke, no doubt, the real feeling
of the whole host ; but one which it might be sup-
posed the ecclesiastical leaders would, for decency's
172 THE CAVERX.
sake, have appeared to disavow. Far from it: thfl
legate Arnold, immediately soothed the indignant
knight, not by representing to him the blessedness
of bringing wanderers back to the fold ; not by re-
minding him that our Lord has pronounced, " Bles-
sed are the merciful," but by bidding him not fear ;
for he was satisfied that very few of the heretics
would be converted ! This tacit approval on Ar-
nold's part of the agreement, together with the com-
fortable hope which it held out of no limit being
placed on the work of blood, decided the matter :
the articles were signed ; and with a heavy heart the
gallant Giraud delivered up his fortress to those who
thirsted for the slaughter of its defenders. They
entered with great solemnity, preceded by the cross
and the banners of de Montfort ; while the whole
army, led by the priestly choir who in full canonical
pomp formed their vanguard, chanted in grand and
overwhelming chorus the magnificent Te Dctim,
every sublime verse of which speaks condemnation
to those who could so fearfully misapply the lan-
guage of believing prayer and praise. Alas for
those, the light within whom is darkness ! how great,
how awfully great is that darkness !
Meanwhile, the servants of the Lord, who had in-
deed tasted the redemption afforded by his most
precious blood, and who knew that their happy lot
was to be numbered with his saints in glory ever-
lasting, abundantly verified the prediction of the
cruel legate N"ot one among them entertained a
THE OAVRRN. 173
thought of renouncing the faith of their Redeemer.
Calm and cheerful in the assured hope of meeting
again ere night should have closed upon the earth,
in that happy place where night never comes, hus-
bands embraced their wives, fathers their daughters,
sons their aged mothers, and brothers their bloom-
ing sisters, and parted; the males repaired to one
large mansion, the females to another; and thus
self-accused of their denounced faith, voluntarily
separated from their sympathizing fellow-townsmen,
prepared as sheep to the slaughter, they kneeled
down confessing their sins to the Most High, plead-
ing the all-prevailing merits of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and, with fervent thanksgiving for having^ been
O O O
brought to the saving knowledge of Him who of
God was made to them wisdom, righteousness, sancti-
fication and redemption, they besought the grace that
alone could keep them steadfast, immovable, faithful
unto death, and meet for the crown of everlasting life.
O
And now the heavy tramp, the loud clang of
mailed hosts, almost drowned in the thundering
hymn of such praise as must be an abomination to
the holy and merciful One, whose Name they dared
so to blaspheme, bespoke the approach of the drag-
on's progeny. First of the motley band of assail-
ants, came the Abbot Guy de Vaux Cernay, still
active in the fulfilment of that mission which he un-
dertook in the recesses of the Vatican seventeen
years before. He appeared as a preacher of the
faith to men who had fallen into " damnable here-
15*
174 THE CAVKUN.
sies," and commenced the formal exhortation which
the terms of the capitulation rendered necessary,
thundering forth the terrors of the church's ban on
all who dared to dispute her supremacy, and requir-
ing an instant recantation of what the Albigenses
held to be, as indeed it was, the dootrine of eternal
life. He was not allowed to proceed far in his ser-
mon : a general cry burst from the indignant hear-
ers, who felt that he was speaking blasphemy against
the holy Name whcreb} r they were called; "We
will have none of your faitli : we have renounced the
doctrines of your Roman Church. You labor in
vain to move us from the truth which we have em-
braced, and from which nothing either in life or in
death can move us." Satisfied that no victims would
escape from among these devoted believers, Guy
left them, and proceeded to the house where the fe-
males were in lil<e manner awaiting their fate ; and
here he was even more quickly and resolutely cut
short in his discourse: they would not hear him :
they were full of hope and joy, and eager to lay down
their lives for the Gospel. While this was going on,
de Montfort, fully partaking in the legate's assurance,
collected an immense quantity of firewood, piling it
in the most open space of the town. He then visited
in turn the two assemblies, addressing them more
briefly than the Abbot had done, in words that could
no be misunderstood. He pointed to the heap of
dry faggots, on which it was counted a sacred priv-
ilege for the noblest of the land to east an addi
TO CAVERN. 175
.ional stick, and in his usual dark, stern manner
said, ' Be converted to the Catholic faith, or ascend
this pile." Not one among his hearers flinched, or
quailed, or gave token of a hesitating thought ; fire
was applied to the heap, and a mighty conflagration
blazed up to heaven. Then might be seen the eager
rush of armed men, each hoping to seize some help-
less victim, and to propitiate GOD, yea even our own
GOD, by casting the struggling form of decrepit age,
or blooming youth, or terrified childhood into the
burning gulf but most of them were disappointed
in the hope ; for with light step all who could do
no glided by, and cast themselves into the fire as
into a glorious chariot provided to bear them tc
their bright and blessed home. With loud voices
they commended their souls to Him for whom they
counted it all joy to suffer this terrible martyrdom
and thus did a hundred and forty human bodies
perish from the sight of man, in a single pile of fire,
kindled from the materials of their own peaceful
homes. Yet three were left of the women : while
on their way to the fire, a noble lady, mother of the
lord of Montmorenci, had them forcibly arrested,
and held as lookers-on upon a scene, the horrors of
which were sufficient to deprive them of reason ;
while a forced or an unconscious assent to what was
demanded, enrolled them in the list of apostates,
from which, and not from the book of life, we must
fervently hope that their names were subsequently
Hotted out : for those were days when the word of
176 THE CAVERN.
our Lord was fulfilled to the uttermost extent of its
Hvvfui import ; " He that findeth his life shall losa it ;
and he that loseth his life for my saLe shall find it."
Such was the termination of the seven weeks'
siege, which had doubtless been protracted to ripen
many souls for glory. The smouldering fires died
away, and the undistinguishable ashes of what had
but an hour before been vigorous with life, and
bright in beauty, were borne on the winds of hea-
ven to be seen no more. The spirits, set free from
mortal fetters, went to the presence of their re-
deeming God, there to meet and to rejoice with the
multitude who had, like themselves, come out of
great tribulation, with robes washed white, not in
their own innocency, but in the blood of the Lamb;
with them to anticipate the day of reunion with
their purified bodies, changed by the power of ele-
mental fire into imperceptible dust : again to be
changed into the likeness of Christ's glorious body,
according to that mighty working, whereby He is
able to subdue even all things to himself. We la-
ment now their past sufferings ; we rejoice in their
present happiness : ere long we shall see them, a
magnificent army of glorified saints, descending with
their Lord to experience the literal fulfilment of a
too-much neglected promise, " The meek shall
inherit the earth."
The angels of God having borne his slaughtered
ones to His bosom, the spirits of darkness brooded
still over their wretched prey, who watched with
THE CAVERN. 177
horrible satisfaction the crumbling away of each
human cinder into dust, and raised again the mock-
ing hymn of praise, and looked forward to the mor-
row's march that should conduct them to new vic-
tims. And is this, again we ask with solemn ear-
nestness, ns in the presence of God, Is this Chris-
tianity ? We know no one, scarcely even among
the adherents of Rome in our day, who would dare
to answer Yes. They disown such deeds, as form-
ing any part of their religious system, attributing
them solely to the spirit of the barbarous age in
which they were perpetrated : yet examine a little
farther, and it will be found that, of this, the mid-
dle ages as it is called, not only Romanists, but
some who believe themselves to be Protestants,
habitually speak as of the most glorious era of the
Church ! There is a net of deadly texture fast
closing around us, and it behooves us narrowly to
examine the subtle meshes as they come in view.
The crusades were a legitimate carrying out, by a
party then powerful enough to do its bidding, of
the unchanged principles, the consistent doctrines,
and of the now existing laws of the papacy. As
we proceed, this may become more apparent ; but it
is a fact, the overlooking of which is at this moment
hurrying on a crisis that man cannot, perhaps, avert
but for which the Church of Christ must be pre-
pared, by arming themselves with the like mind as
their suffering Master ; and as their b~e;hren who of
old wore slain, u many more will b.
CHAPTER V.
THE LADY OF LAVAUR.
THE unsparing cruelty of the crusaders, their bar-
barous massacre, by the most painful and ignomini-
ous deaths, of such as were compelled to surrender to
them ; and the tortures that sometimes, as in the case
of the inhabitants of Brom, the victims were left to
linger under, all combined, with the consciousness
of a just and holy cause, to nerve the hands of those
who held the strong castle of Termes, a powerful
frontier fortress on the borders of Roussillon. This
was the next point of attack in the order of march
laid down for the great locust army, whose glory it
was to turn the comparative Eden of a most lovely
and smiling country into a waste howling wilderness,
defiled by blood, and deformed by every species of
savage outrage.
Raymond of Termes was a warrior no less brave
than Giraud of Minerve ; and warned by the fate of
that noble, he proved more inflexible, rejecting every
proposal for capitulation, even when the periodical
diminution of Simon's army rendered him desirous
of cb taining possession on terms really favorable to
THE LADY OF LAVAUR. 179
the besieged. The latter had witnessed too many
recent instances of the measure of faith that Rome
keeps with those whom she calls heretics, to believe
that any thing better than a snare could lurk be-
neath the fairest proffers of her emissaries. Termes,
therefore, held out for four months, baffling every
device, repulsing every attack, and rejecting every
offer of the enemy. During this period the army
underwent the usual mutations ; large bodies of
men, who had already satiated their cruelty and ra-
pine on Minerve, dispersed from before the Avails of
Termes, on the expiration of their forty days, to lay
uppn the idol-shrines of their false worship the
blood-stained trophies won in this unholy war.
Their places were supplied by others, from the still
unexhausted masses of fanaticism in France, from
Germany, from England, and many other places
where the preaching friars were displaying new
zeal, as the success of de Montfort inflated their
pride, and raised their hope of ultimately and ef-
fectually extinguishing the light of the Gospel. Of
these new levies, not a few fulfilled their stipulated
term of service before the walls, and left them still
unbroken ; but from every new reinforcement de
Muntfort swelled his band of permanent followers ;
men who, from innate love of slaughter, or from
greediness to share the spoils of a final conquest,
were willing to march under his standard to the end
of the war. A war waged by Satan himself against
the Lord's heritage ; but which de Mentfwt now so
180 THE LADY OK tAVAUR.
persevoringly prosecuted from motives of worldly
ambition.
Still Termes held out : the cisterns, their only re-
source, had been filled by the rains, while the heat
of summer operated prejudicially on the soft water
so collected. Nevertheless, the tainted beverage
was eagerly drank ; and again, before the winter
cold set in were the reseivoirs in like manner replen-
ished. It proved, however, the occasion of such se-
vere and fatal disease among the garrison, that while
their numbers daily decreased, the physical strength,
and with it, no doubt, the mental energy of the sur-
vivors rapidly failed. A longer defence was con-
sidered hopeless ; but the idea of yielding them-
se'.vcs to the pitiless conquerors was not to be tol-
erated. Their resolve was taken ; preparations were
cautiously and noiselessly made ; and in the dead of
a November's night, the exhausted company silently
abandoned their stout bulwarks, passed unobserved
the first line of intrenchment, and hastily separated,
seeking the mountain-passes into Catalonia. But
such a movement could not long remain undiscov-
ered : their flight was made known in the camp, and
instantly the crusaders rushed to arms. With mu-
tual exhortation they cheered each other on to the
pursuit : that enemies who, in addition to their crimes
against the Romish Church, had already cost them
so much personal toil and loss of time, should es-
oaue with their lives, would be a stigma at once on
their fidelity to the: faith and pn thsir military prgw-
THE LADY OF [,AVAUR. 181
ess. The army was quietly pressing on the foot-
stops of the disheartened fugitives, Ihe greater num-
ber of whom they overtook; and at once, men, wo-
men, and children were heaped in an indiscriminate
pile of slaughter, wheresoever the murderous wea-
pon could reach them. Raymond, the lord of
Termes, was captured alive, with some others, whom
they wished de Montfort to have the glory and the
high merit of burning, and otherwise torturing to
death. They had their desire with regard to the
inferior class ; but Raymond's sin had been top
grievous to be so speedily expiated. The merciless
Simon refused him the death that he would have
hailed as a boon, and remembering a deep dark
dungeon under a tower in Carcassonne, he conveyed
him thither, to endure years of hopeless captivity
in its most cruel form. Of him we know no more
than that he suffered for defending those who knew
and loved the truth ; and if that truth had also
made him spiritually free, his dungeon was a place
of liberty and light ; for Christ was there.
At this distance of time, and with nought to guide
us save such books as their murderous enemies have
written, we cannot form a correct judgment of indi-
vidual cises like this: but there is ground for irnny
a cheering hope concerning thousands of vict ms
who were not called to a voluntary martyrdom like
those of Minerve ; a hope which the great day of
revelation may abundantly confirm. Then, face to
face, they mus meet, the slayers and the slain ; and
16
182 THE LADY OF LAVAl/R.
lie who was present, marking all, discerning every
thought of every heart, and tracing every action to
i;s most secret spring, will award a judgment, the
tremendous issuis of which the heart of man may
well tremble to contemplate.
War in its most dreadful form had now raged
against the Albigenses for more than a year and a
half. It was in the Spring of 1209 that the first
army marched upon the territories of Raymond
Roger; and Termes fell in November, 1210. Far-
ther resistance seemed to be abandoned by the
wretched inhabitants of neighboring towns and cas-
tles : no sign of opposition was seen ; but on every
side helpless fugitives were vainly seeking to escape
the hands of the triumphant enemy, to whom it was
mere sport to pursue them, singly or in groups, and
to put them to death on the spot, or else to drag
them to the camp, to refresh their spirits, and reani-
mate the zeal of the assembled host, by the specta-
cle of a slow burning. All seemed to augur imme-
diate and utter destruction to the provinces ; even
the king of Arragon, attached as he had long been
to the cause, and nearly allied both to the Count of
Toulouse and to Raymond Roger, was beguiled by
the plausibility of de Montfort, and to a great ex-
tent, placed himself in his hands. Simon, however,
was too much inflated by pride, and too conscious of
the immense power that he wielded in the dail\ r aug-
menting host of fierce crusaders who poured in on
every s'de, to u ~>e his advantage prudently. Ho
THE LAI Y OF LAVAUR. 183
treated the king of Arragon and the Count of Tou-
louse with the same overbearing insolence : pro-
claimed them alike rebels against the supreme power
of Rome, and even attempted to place them under
arrest in the city of Aries, whither they had been
invited to negotiate with the lordly legate and the
usurping chief. This of course, renewed the spirit
of indignant opposition in the bosoms of the insulted
parties ; but de Montfort cared little for any show of
future resistance : the preaching firebrands of Citeaux
sent him in new levies ; and in all the pride of as-
sured success he marched, in the following spring,
on Cabaret, where a stout defence was anticipated ;
instead of which the citadel, hitherto impregnable
by hostile power, was thrown open to him, and
formed the first of a series of unresisted triumphs,
along the line of mountainous fortresses that frowned
upon the rugged passes connecting the province of
Carcassonne with that of Toulouse. Here, the wily
commander, feeling the value of such rapid advances
*upon a more important scene of action, restrained
the barbarity of his followers, and exhibited a show
of leniency to those who submitted, well calculated
to encourage the practice of unconditional surren-
der. It would be easy, when the mighty strong-
holds of truth were subdued, and no refuse left for
O
the scattered few, to return and execute vengeance
on all who shoxild retain even a semblance of relisj-
O
bus liberty.
Thus, - without hindrance and without loss, the
1^4 THE LADY OF LAVAUR.
dark unbroken m?-sses cf armed destroyers ap-
proached the populous city of Touloase, the favored
refuge of God's people ; the garden where no hand,
human or infernal, had yet succeeded in eradicating
tlie growth of plants watered from above, and yield-
ing the increase that God alone could give. It was
etill some leagues distant, and braving their advance
stood the solitary but massive castle of Laraur. This
was known to be in the possession of a woman, a
widow, whose timidity no doubt the crusaders ex-
pected speedily to overawe ; but the lady Guiraude
was an openly professing follower of the truth as it
is in Jesus ; a bold separatist from the authority and
from the errors of Home ; and she had made her
stout castle a place of refuge and security to as
many of her fellow-believers as it would contain.
She had also with her a brother, both in the flesh
and in the faith, a brave knight named Aimery de
Montreal, whose possessions had been seized by de
Montfort, while he with eighty other faithful knights,
happily escaped, and now assisted to man the walls
of Lavaur. In all the province, excepting its capital
city, there was not a place more confided in by the
persecuted flock than this castle. Immensely strong,
perfectly fortified on all sides, stored with abundance
of provisions, ammunition, and whatsoever could
contribute to its defence, while a people who openly
worshipped God in spirit and in truth kept watch
and ward within, it was a point of most thrilliug
inteiest to the flock around: of most sanguinary
THfc LADY OF LAVAUR, 1&5
eagerness 01. the part of the wolves that invaded
them. Thy very fact of its being the heritage of a
widow who served God, inspired confidence in the
bosoms of those who trusted in Him. But His way
is sometimes in the sea, and his path in the deep
waters, and his footsteps are not known,
Toulouse being so near, and Count Raymond again
in opan excommunication, and therefore naturally
looked to as preparing to defend himself and his
subjects from the agressor, application was made to
him for further supplies by the garrison of Lavaur ;
but the wretched man ventured not to afford them*
At the same time the infamous bishop of the place,
Fouquet, assembled the members of his own com-
munion, and in a fiery harangue represented to them
the vengeance they were bringing down on them-
selves by continuing so far undistinguished from th
heretics of the place. He ceased not until he had
enrolled a company of five thousand citizens of Tou*
louse, and marched them off as a reinforcement to
swell the enormous army already engaged in besieg-
ing Lavaur. This is one of the most fearful instances
of that positive thirst for human blood, for the blood
of compatriots, of neighbors and kinsmen, which
forms the most glaring feature of Popery during
which was its age of triumphant, uncontrolled do-
minion, and unrestrained development of its actual
character. That five thousand men should be found
within the walls of a city to volunteer their needless
aid in slaughtering their very brethren, around whom
16*
J0 THE LADY OF LAVAUR.
a host countless for multitude, and terrible in destruc-
tive might were swarming, and all for the merito-
rious piety of the deed, and the heavenly reward to
be reaped for it, invests this mystery of iniquity with
a hideousness that humanity can scarcely bear to
look on. And this was done in the name of Jesus !
This was done, with loud invocations of the Holy
Spirit ! Truly She who could bring such thirjgs to
pass, enlisting in the work men of every country,
had made all nations drunk with the wine of the
wrath of her fornication ; truly was she, and is she,
the Mother of abominations : and woe to those who
are partakers of her sins, and shall receive of her
plagues.
The siege of Lavaur proved a more arduous work
than the assailants had anticipated ; and its prog-
ress was also rendered remarkable by events that
then occurred. Raymond VI., the miserable slave
of cowardly superstition, was not ashamed again to
appear as a suppliant for Savor at the hands of the
two tyrants, Simon and Arnold ; but all his conces-
sions proved vain. Contempt, insult, and the avowal
of a determination to take possession -of his widt
and valuable dominions, so soon as their present en-
terprise should have terminated, were all that he
met in return for his advances : until the mere in-
stinct of self-preservation wrought on him to do what
he ought long before to have decided on upon far
nobler grounds. He ceased to wear the semblance
of that abject submission which had tendered him
Tttfi-LADV Of LAVATT".. 181
to wretchedly contemptible alike to friend and foe ;
and applying as chief of Toulouse to the indepen-
dent Iord8 of the surrounding provinces, of Cora*
tninges, Foix, Beam, Aquitaine, with others who
were involved in the charge of sheltering the Albi-
gensic believers, he formed a strong alliance with
them. The first overt act of rebellion upon which
he ventured consisted in an open prohibition, ad-
dressed to his own subjects, against furnishing sup-
plies to the besiegers' camp : and, thus committed,
he showed signs of returning resolution that cheered
many a drooping heart among the people whom he
had been heretofore so ready to sell to destruction
at the price of a little personal favor from the Court
of Rome.
It may be doubted whether de Montfort felt any
concern at this proceeding, which furnished him
with an additional pretext for shedding man's blood :
and the knowledge that six thousand fresh troops
were even then on the march from Germany to aid
his arms, and expected shortly to arrive before La-
vaur, increased his confidence. These troops, how-
ever, arrived not : between the Tarn and the Ga-
ronne their steps were arrested by an ambuscade of
chosen men, commanded by the gallant Count of
Foix; and they fell in one wide mass of slaughtei
beneath the arms of those whom they came to in-
vade, to despoil, and to massacre. This event,
combined with serious distress for provisions, arising
from Count Raymond's prohibition, exasperated de
IBfi Tttfi LAM OP LAVAtm.
Montfort and led him to renewed efforts for the ac-
complishment of what he had in hand. Machines,
long in use amon.? Eastern nations, but as yet un-
known to the peaceful dwellers of those European
Valleys, were brought to aid his operations. Simon
had no difficulty in directing their formation, well
practised as he was in the work of destruction as a
veteran crusader in the Holy Land, and surrounded
by knights and soldiers who had served there. In-
deed the original crusades were now nearly aban-
doned for the lighter service of a slaughtering ex-
pedition of forty days to so comparatively short a
distance from home : the same recompense being
guaranteed as for the distant, hazardous exploit of
a campaign in Palestine : that is to say, pardon of
sin, peace of conscience, justification before God,
and eternal life !
The machine with which these modern Romans
made the most fatal impression on the walls of La-
vaur was not much dissimilar from those used by
their pagan predecessors against the ancient city of
our God. A great wooden tower having been con-
structed in the camp, and cased in raw hides to
protect it from the action of fire, it was advanced
to the foot of the fortress ; and on opening it, per-
pendicularly a huge iron beam was projected by the
united strength of many men, the extremity of which
was furnished with great iron claws, resembling
those of a tiger or a cat, (from the latter animal it
took its name,) and these being applied with all
THE LADY OF LAVAUR. 189
possible force to the wall, the stones were seized,
separated, torn out, and in most cases a breach soon
effected. In the present instance, however, when
de Montfort had completed his " cat," and brought
it, under a formidable escort of armed men, to the
walls of the Protestant fortress, the width of the
ancient ditches was found so great as to baffle all
nis skill, defying the approach of those tremendous
iron claws. To obviate this, he employed all his
army in laboring to fill up the moat: they cast in
daily prodigious masses of earth, stones, and what-
ever might raise the level of the excavation : but
every night the defenders quietly issued from their
subterranean passages, clearing before daybreak the
accumulated rubbish. This siege greatly resembled
in some points that of Jerusalem in the days of
Titus ; and de Montfort seemed to take a lesson
from the records of that war ; for he had recourse
to the expedient of filling these communications
with smoke and flame, during the intervals of the
work ; thus driving back the besieged, and leaving
his own unhallowed labors unimpaired. By such
means he filled the ditches, formed a secure footing
for his infernal machine, and tore away enough of
the bulwarks to effect a practicable breach.
The prey was now within their grasp ; the pious
widow, and her injured brother, and all to whom
her castle had been a refuge were at their mercy
Such mercy! Arnold A malric, it appears, was ab-
sent ; for the bishop of C^urdien officiated as his
190 THK LADY OF LAVA JR.
representative: and assuredly the legate wo ild not
willingly have been away from such a feast of death.
This man, with all his fellow-bishops, priests, and
every ecclesiastic in the host, arrayed in the gor-
geous finery of their pontifical habits, formed a grand
procession, shouting forth, as the knights mounted
the breach, the famous hymn that, despite its high
intrinsic piety and poetry, their horrible prostitution
has almost rendered hateful to Christian ears : Veni
Creator Spiritus. Simon de Montfort meanwhile
earnestly entreated the furious assailants to restrain
their present vengeance and to take all alive, that
the priests of the living God might not be deprived
of their promised joys. He was obeyed : Aimery
was first dragged forth, with his faithful companions
in arms ; and de Montfort directed them to be forth-
with hanged upon a gallows already erected for that
purpose, but which, not being well fixed, gave way
with the weight of Count Aimery ; and to avoid the
delay of repairing it he commanded the other eighty
to be butchered at once on the spot, an order re-
ceived and obeyed with no little avidity by the sol-
diers of the Church. The lady Guiraude was then
brought, and received her sentence, to be cast into
a pit, or well, which was found in the place, and to
be buried under a heap of stones. The inhabitants
of the Castle were then collected ; and, says Peter
de Vaux-Cernay, " the pilgrims burned them alive
frith inexpressible joy."
Now, as it is so much the practice in our day
THE LADY OF LAVAtfK 191
amor.g learned scribes and reverend divines of a par
ticular school, not only to " sptak gently of our sis-
ter's fall," meaning Babylon the Great, but in an
especial manner, and for very special ends, to gloss
over and to eulogize the doings of the Romish
power, at the period of which we treat, blackening
without mercy the characters of God's persecuted
flock, and accusing all who present a fair and ungar-
bled statement of facts, of falsification and misquota-
tion, we shall just place before our readers the ex-
pressions used by the monk Peter, already so often
cited, and which we copy, verbatim et literatim, from
a copy of his famous book in our own possession,
bearing title, " Historia Albigensium, et sacri belli
in eos, Anno M.C.C.IX. duce et principe Simone a
Monteforti, deiu Tolosano comite, rebus strenue
gestis clarissimo. Auctore PETRO, coenobij Vallis
Sarnensis ord. Cisterciencis in Parisiensi dioecesi
monacho, cruceatse huius militiae teste oculato." It
bears date, 'Trecis,' 1615.
In the 52nd chapter, the monkish eye-witness,
who went as the special scribe and eulogist of Guy,
the abbot of his order, thus writes. " Mox eductus
est de castro Aimericus de quo supra tetigirnus que
fuerat domimis mentis regalis & alii milites usque
ad octoginta nobilis ante Comes proposuit, quod
oivmes pattibulo suspederetur, sed cum Aimericus
qui erat maior inter illos suspensus fuisset, cadenti-
bus furcis, quae prae nimia festim bene non fuerant
terne affixai, natione videns comes quod raora magna
192 THE LADT OF LAVAUR.
fieret, alios occidi prsecipit, ^uos peregrini anidis
sime suscipientes occiderunt citius in eodem loco.
Dominam etiam eastri quse erat Aimerici
& haeretica pessima, in puteum projeetam, cornea
lapidibus obtui fecit innumerabiles etiam hfereticos.
peregrini nostri cum ingenti gaudio eombusserunt.'
The revolting expression, which we have given in
the language of the original work, descriptive of the
joyous feelings that animated the so-called Chris-
tian host, while gazing on the tortures of their fel-
low-creatures, writhing in those burning flames, is
not of solitary occurrence in the narrative of the
Monk Peter ; who, being present on these occasions,
and writing under the direction of his patronizing
Abbot, Guy, may be held as carefully describing
the butcheries that he records, just as it was con-
sidered desirable that the world should view them.
He uses the same, or exactly similar epithets on
many other occasions, declaring that the pilgrims
burned the " heretics" with great joy : with the
utmost joy : with unspeakable joy : only varying
the phrases without altering the sense of the words ;
and perhaps representing occasionally a higher dt
gre of delight, as the number of victims was greater,
or their constant devotion to the faith which they
held more conspicuous than usual.
It is impossible to read the words without being
struck by the fearful accuracy of the inspired de-
scription of papal Rome, a shameless woman,
THE L ID'f OF LAVAttR. 103
DRUNKEN with the blood of the saints, and with the
blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Wluit but the mad-
ness of intoxication could produce so fiendish a joy ?
What but the frantic mirth of drunkenness give
veil to such a laugh, such a shout of wild exultation
as responded to the dying groan of the strong man,
the shriek of the tender woman, and the shrill, pierc-
ing cry of the agonized babe, as -each coiled up and
shrivelled amid the blazing fires or, more appalling
still, that yell of satanic delight, drowning the voice
of prayer and praise that in many, very many in-
stances issued from lips that could utter no groan,
no cry, on the very threshold of heaven, with all its
unutterable glories opening to their view ! Many
saw beyond the flames and smoke, obscuring as they
did the material firmament, that vision which burst
on Stephen amid the shower of stones : and the in-
tercessory prayer of the proto-martyr for his mur-
derers burst from many a tongue, parching in the
cruel fires, that were to be succeeded by the cool,
refreshing drops of the river that proceeds from the
throne of God and of the Lamb. Nowhere shall we
behold a more striking display of the Church of
Christ in the midst of the synagogue of Satan ; of
the Bride, the Lamb's wife, persecuted unto death
bv the great harlot who had dared to usurp he!
name and place, than by the side of a pile where
the bodies of the Albigenses crumbled into ashes,
while the followers of Rome stood round, and in the
17
194 THE LADY OK LAVATJR.
6erce excitement of spiritual drunkenness, mockeu
their dying- pangs.
The reduction of Lavaur was a very important
event : it must be borne in mind that the enor-
mous host who followed de Montfort were neither
.accompanied by a provisioning- department, nor did
they receive pay in any other shape than that most
intangible coin wherein Great Babylon carries on
her traffic in the souls of men. In this peculiar
branch of her commerce, she receives from them
what God lias, in an especial manner, laid claim to ;
they serve her with all the heart, all the mind, all
the soul, and all the strength ; a service including
the whole man, not only in his affections, intellec-
tual capacities, and spiritual devotedness, but also
with the muscular powers of the bodily frame, set
apart to do her bidding, and rendered wholly sub-
servient to her will. In return for this substantial
tribute, she gives her own verbal security for all
that the Lord God alone can dispense to His crea-
tures : she guarantees an oblivion of sin, a blotting
out of the record that is against the sinner, not with
the blood of Christ, but by means of some mysteri-
ous agent of her own invention and substitution ;
she shows a key, which she avers to be that of par-
adise, and passes her promise to admit by its power
the soul of her wretched customer to everlasting
communion with God and with His saints. What
more can they require? the very service demanded
of thea in this instance was the invasion of a pecu-
THE LADV OF LAV A OR. 195
liarly rich and fruitful country, and the slaughter ol
its inhabitants, by which their possessions would, of
course, fall into the hands of the victorious survnors;
and no marvel that a thought of military pay 01
magazines never entered the head of either party in
this transaction. Two objects alone occupied the
mind of the crusader: slaughter first; because that
was the stipulated price of his soul's salvation ; and
next plunder, without which his bodily wants could
_not be supplied. The whole system is one of fearful
sublimity in the wicked wisdom that cometh from
beneath : it caused an Apostle who had witnessed
the mightiest miracles that attested the truth of
Christianity, and who himself was largely gifted
with a miracle-working power, to wonder with great
admiration ; and well may it cause us to tremble
and to weep when we again behold it at our very
doors, spinning afresh its poisonous web, and grad-
ually inclosing in that coil of death those whom we
have known and loved, with whom we have taken
sweet counsel together, and walked to the house of
God in company ; but who now leave the pure wor-
ship of that house to prostrate themselves in abom-
inable idolatry before idols of wood and stone, and
gods of wheaten bread !
We must, however, return to Lavaur, as having
formed a most important step in the advance of the
invaders ; for, left as they at all times were to for-
age for themselves, lying before a fortress when tha
country all around had been exhausted of its supplies,
196 THE LADY OF LAVATTR.
and pillage could find nothing to grasp, was very
discouraging, In the present instance, Count Ray
mond's bold prohibition of the succors on which they
had confidently reckoned, as the natural result of his
notorious dread of Rome, almost led to mutiny in the
hungry camp ; and a r.ew series of reverses menaced
de Montfort. All was now at an end ; the garrison,
and all the inhabitants of Lavaur, were murdered ,
the place itself plundered of whatever remained, and
with fresh courage the destroying multitude moved
on to new outrages against the Lord's poor flock.
It was now that the storm so long gathering
round him, and so often averted at the expense of
every honorable and manly feeling, fell upon Count
Raymond. He had never yet experienced any direct
attack on his possessions, although the sentence of
excommunication so repeatedly renewed against him,
placed them within the grasp of any successful as-
sailant, and his life at the mercy of any bold assas-
sin. De Montfort, stung by the inconvenience that
he and his troops had lately suffered from Ray-
mond's refusal of supplies, marched them at once to
the castle of Montjoye, which belonged to the Count
of Toulouse personally. Defence not being deemed
practicable, the garrison forsook it ; and no other
gratification could the crusaders obtain here, than
the very insufficient one of demolishing stone walls.
They razed it to the ground ; but no hi; nan victim
appeared, to reward their eager quest for blood.
Next in their each stood another castle of Rav-
THE LADY OP LAVAVA. 197
/nond's- Cassero ; and this also was found indefen-
sible against the fierce multitude who surrounded
it ; but the inhabitants had no way of escape, and
they capitulated. No scruple of course was made
of seizing upon as many as would afford an accept-
able feast to the eyes of the conquerors : they took
some sixty, probably the greater proportion of all
whom the castle contained : and on the charge,
whether just or not, of holding the doctrines of
the Gospel, they cast them upon a blazing pile of
firewood: in the words of Peter the monk, "The
soldiers, seizing nearly sixty heretics, burned them
with infinite joy." Or, as the original stands, " sed
cum nee vinum convertere potuisset exierunt a cas-
tro, peregrini autem arripientes htereticos ferme sex-
aginta eos cum ingenti gaudio combusserunt." The
character given by our Lord to his disciples in this
world, is that of " lambs among wolves." Whose
disciples were these, so mysteriously and ferociously
enacting the part of wolves among lambs ?
The march proceeded ; castle after castle, and vil-
lage after village was swept down and overwhelmed
by this terrible flood. The latter, of course, like
the insulated cottages of those bright valleys and
fertile plains, fell at once beneath the murderous
blow ; the fortified places were surrendered with
the usual sanguinary consequences, unless their in-
mates found means of privately escaping during the
enemy's appioach. Spring had returned, and arth
would fain have put on her wonted beauties ; but
17*
IflS THE LADY OP LAVAffft,
all was forlorn ; the song of the husbandmati ^ad
ceased, and the vine-dresser's hand was mouldering
on the soil that once he loved to deck, or borne in
imperceptible ashes on the breeze that should fan
his cheek. Snring passed, and summer arrived,
only to make more plain the fearful change that had
passed over the land ; while, fired by the fame of
his deeds, and doubly assured of his final success,
a vast body of reinforcements, principally from Ger-
many, arrived to increase the terrors of the deso-
lating army ; and de Montfort resolved on seizing
the grandest prize that he had yet attempted, even
the magnificent capital of the country, the power-
ful, wealthy, and to all appearance impregnable city
of Toulouse.
Here, it will be remembered, the turbulent bishop,
Fouquet, had enrolled five thousand men for de
Montfort's service, during the siege of Lavaur.
They had not yet returned, but were summoned by
him to do so; and in the meanwhile he augmented
this " white company," as he called it, to a very
formidable body ; for the great bulk of citizens iff
Toulouse still professed allegiance to Rome, and wil-
lingly listened to the vehement asseverations of theii
bishop, that all the calamities which had fallen on
tlieir country, nnd which now menaced themselves,
were the righteous visitations of the Most High, in
punishment for their sinful connivance at the abode
of notorious heretics among them, and the indiffer-
ence with which tl ey regarded the daring rebellion
THE LADY OP LAVAVn. 199
of these reprobates ag linst the sovereign authority
of the Church. To this he failed not to add, that
the prince whom they served was himself lying un-
der the ban of that Church ; and thus he represented
to them the necessity of purging out from among
them the transgressors, and of bringing all things
once more into subjection to the pontiff. By such
means be organized a very considerable band of in-
fluential men, who having bound themselves by oath
to pursue all heretics to death, set up a tribunal, in-
dependent of lawful authority, where they acted
both as accusers and judges, the principal charges
on which they arraigned their victims being those of
heresy and usury. From judgment they proceeded
to execution ; and not venturing so far as formally to
take the lives of their fellow-citizens, they made the
levying of fines, or recovery of pretended damages,
an excuse for forcibly entering their houses, and
committing whatsoever acts of violence and robbery
they found opportunity for. No man was safe : all
who were pointed out as being defective in alle
giance to the Church ; all who were supposed to
favor them ; all who, by liberality in lending to
others had laid themselves open to the false accusa-
tion of making excessive profit by it, (and these, no
doubt, were such as the malicious bishop suspected
of what he called heresy, but was unable to prove
against them,) all were alike exposed to the invasion
of a fi >rce mob, composed of their own neighbors,
and pi course containing many individuals who
200 TRE LADY 6P
hem pei-son illy on the same grounds that Cain
hated Abel upon, and on which he that is "after
the flesh" ever has persecuted htm that is " after
the Spirit:" these men came armed with the pre-
tended authority of law, to execute judgment, while
they only perpetrated cruelty and wrong. Such
were the multiplied sufferings of the Church of
Christ in those days ! So fared it with the poor
sheep in the wilderness of this world.
But Toulouse possessed another class of citizens ;
men who, without actually separating from the Ro-
rnish communion, were heartily sick of the manifold
abominations that prevailed in it the pride, avarice,
cruelty, and dissoluteness of the priesthood, their
former dronish ignorance, now suddenly changed
into the most murderous zeal, and the horrible joy
with which they celebrated the wholesale butcheries
of their crusading companions : they were also indig-
nant at the daring contempt displayed of constituted
authority, and desertion of their ruler just when he
most needed, and certainly best deserved their help;
and no less at the inhuman persecution of the most,
harmless, blameless, and exemplary of their whole
population. Actuated by such feelings, they lost no
time in forming themselves into a protective society,
which they denominated "the black company," and
took such energetic measures for the suppression of
the bishop's party that the whole city was shortly
in a state of civil war. These hostile bands paraded
the streets, fully armed, with characteristic banners
THE LADY OF LAVAUR. 20]
displayed ; and alternately tliey attacked, took, and
destroyed portions of the fortifications which hap-
pened to be garrisoned by individuals of the adverse
badge. Thus were the defences of the place weak-
ened, and the way paved for an almost unresisted
entrance, whenever the crusaders should think fit to
attempt it.
But Raymond had thrown off the crushing yoke
of Rome, so far as regarded his temporal rights
and with it, howsoever burdened his conscience
might be with memoriesof the irrecoverable past, he
was rid of an immense weight of present guilt,
treachery, and servility. Once more he moved as
an independent lord among the multitudes with
whom he was still popular on many accounts ; and
feeling like a freed-man, both in body and mind, he
acted accordingly, with more wisdom and far greater
determination than he had exhibited for many a day.
Knowing that the return of the five thousand, fresh
from the massacre of Lavaur, would tend both to
feed the flame of enmity and to throw a great pre-
ponderance into the wrong scale, he watched for
their arrival, and addressed them in terms, the jus-
tice of which they well understood, having been wit-
nesses of the indiscriminate thirst for slaughter, fcr
plunder, and for the temporal aggrandizement of
their leader, that prevailed among the crusaders.
He set before them, and ultimately before the whole
company, th" certainty of general destruction to
which they we - e exposing themselves and their fami-
202 THE LADY OF 1 IVAUR
lies, by icndering the city an easy conquest t> thos*
who conquered only to annihilate : he implored tnem
to lay aside their differences for a time ; to unite in re-
pairing what had been injured of the defences, and to
restore what had fallen into dicay. So well did he
succeed with both parties, that a suspension of hos-
tilities took place ; and he had the satisfaction of
witnessing the first augury of a prosperous issue to
the contest, in the good will with which the adverse
companies betook themselves to that work that he
had pointed out. There can be no doubt that Fou-
quet, in arming them one against the other, had
acted on the usual principle of Rome ; by dividing
to overcome, and to reign over a depopulated coun-
try.
Count Raymond, from being so long the degraded
tool of Antichrist, was once more bearing the sword
as an appointed ruler, therefore the vicegerent of
God, over his people ; and the event was in just
accordance with such a change. Its first result
was not a little remarkable : Fouquet, abandoning
all hope of executing the behests of his masters,
summoned around him his multitude of priests, all
robed in canonical vestments, and denouncing the
city as having become the abode of all evil, through
the general excommunication tlut Arnold had ful-
minated against it from the camp, he had the wafer
elevated on high, and barefooted, chanting doleful
litanies, the whole company quitted the place, Fou-
quet marching at their head, to throw themselves
1HF. LADY OF LA VA CJR. 203
into the friendly arms of their crusading bicthren.
It was a happy day for Toulouse and for the ha-
rassed Raymond, Avhen these troublers took theii
departure : the whole population breathed m-ore
freely ; and, though there were not wanting many
to bewail aloud the state of their deserted shrines,
if all who in their hearts did not acknowledge it as
a good deliverance had been set apart from the rest,
they would have formed but a small company.
Cheerily and in good earnest the besieged now
tetook themselves to somewhat more than merely
defensive operations. Raymond, no longer the
craven and the crest-fallen, but once more the en-
terprising warrior of former days, was stimulated to
new achievements as he saw before the walls of his
magnificent capital the betrayer, the murderer of his
gallant kinsman, Raymond Roger, usurping the ti-
tles and possessions of the infant heir, and glaring
with the eager rapacity of a hungry wolf on the
rich prize that he hoped to seize, by disposing in
like manner of the uncle as he had done of the
nephew. - Moreover, Count Raymond had a long
score of dark offences to wipe out, committed, and
connived at, against the people and the cause of
God ; and against a multitude of innocent victims
whom his treachery had mainly sacrificed to their
inhuman foes. Thus excited, he placed himself at
the head of his troops and citizens, who were ena-
bled in the chieftain and prince to forget the flagel-
lated offender against papal insolence, and by a sues-
204 THE LADY OF LAVAUR.
cession of well-planned sallies equally judii ioxis as
bold, he thinned the forces, intercepted the supplies,
and so completely baffled all the plans of Simon,
that well knowing the expiration of the next forty
days would see a very Urge proportion of his
fatigued and discomfited host abandon him, the
haughty leader found it impossible even to remain
before the walls on which he had boasted his flag
should, long ere that period, float in triumph ; and
lie was compelled to quit the prey that of all oth-
ers he most longed to grasp.
Retreat was not to be thought of : the domains of
the Count of Foix offered the allurements of sup-
posed inadequacy of defence, with ripening vine-
yards, and all the luxurious fertility of a Provenca
summer. Thither he bent his steps, with such of
the crusaders as still clave to him ; and many a deed
of blood they wrought among the helplessin habi-
tants of a peaceful district. The SAVord was never
sheathed, nor did the smoke of burning cease to
ascend, so long as victims could be hunted out to
satiate their demands. In this work the runaway
priests of Toulouse were valuable auxiliaries : they
knew the country well ; and they could point out
not only rural dwellings, but whole villages that
might have escaped the stranger's unaided search.
Brother betraying brother, parents delivering up
their children to death, and pastors guiding the
wolf to the bosom of the fold, these were a few
of the horrors that accompanied that fearful war
THE I.ADV OF XAV.tCK. 203
against the saints. The undefended parts jf Foii
being thus desolated, de Montfort proceeded into
the next territory, Quercy ; and here he extorted
from the remnant of the slaughtered inhabitants, a
recognition of his usurped title, as prince of a country
which, lying under the ban of the Pope, became
the lawful perquisite of the Pope's chief exeui-
tioner.
As no affliction for the present seemeth joyous,
but grievous ; and as it cannot be but that the heart
of man will desire to see, if it be God's will, the
cup of bitter sorrow removed from before him, we
may feel assured that the persecuted people of God
hailed with gladness the hope which rose upon them
when their lawful rulers, the Counts of Toulouse, of
Foix, and of Comminges, the Viscount of Beam,
Savary de Mauleon, and others, prepared to assail
the invader, and to drive him from his prey. De
Montfort was in his turn besieged in Caste! naudery,
and for some time it appeared doubtful whether the
day of retribution had not arrived, and deliverance
dawned on the afflicted heritage of the Lord ; but
after some desperate encounters, the persecutor es-
caped this threatening danger, and found himself
reinforced by new levies. Still a measure of suc-
cess attended the union of those who desired to pro-
tect their Christian subjects ; and Simon found him-
self driven back from his advanced position, the
greater part of the castles which he had captured
1*
206 THE LADY OF LAVAUR.
retaken, his garrisons put to flight, or perishing ly
the sword that his unprecedented barbarities had
whetted against all who followed his banner ; and
his immense multitude of military auxiliaries dwin-
dled away to a very small band of personal adher-
ents. At the end of the year, such was his position,
and such it remained for the next six months ; not
through any slackening of the pace of those whose
feet were ever swift to shed blood ; but because it
had pleased the bishop of Rome to proclaim a new
crusade in Spain, whither a great multitude has-
tened to wash out their sins in the blood of the
Moors.
On this expedition, as being foreign to our sub-
ject, we do not dwell ; merely pausing to remark,
that the exploits performed in Spain were by no
means commensurate with the preparations made,
and the great demonstration of military strength
that the crusaders succeeded in displaying. The
most remarkable feature of the campaign was the
triumphant massacre of a whole population of inno-
cent and defenceless Jews in Castile. It seemed as
though, wherever a curse could be gathered, Rome
must even step out of her regular path to appro-
priate it ; and here for a little space, the lambs of
the Lord's fold were left unmolested, that by a mur-
derous attack on the poor lost sheep of the house of
Israel, the daring adversary of the Most High might
secure a claim to that awful promise, given respect-
ing th send of Abraham " I will curse them that
THE LAPY OF LAVAUR. 201
curse thee." In vain did the Spaniards of Castile,
at that time untainted with the desperate spirit of
hatred and cruelty afterwards manifested in Spain
against the ancient people of God, rally round the
Hebrew compatriots whom they had learned by ob-
servation and experience to love and respect, as did
the Provencals their Albigensic neighbors: their aid
was ineffectual, and Jewish blood dyed every gar-
ment among the ferocious soldiers of the cross.
After this meritorious work, they took their depart-
ure, alleging that the climate of Spain became too
uultry for them as summer advanced ; and return-
ing home they found fresh excitements to rejoin their
former banner under the Count de Montfort.
Military events had indeed been stationary in the
aouth of France, for an unusually long period ; but
the great wheels of the machinery, the ecclesiastical
department, had moved in a singular revolution.
We have seen in the case of Fouquet, Bishop of
Toulouse, with how fiery, how subtle, and how per-
severing a zeal the cause of Rome could be main-
tained by a prelate in what was regarded as the
very nest and nucleus of all heresy ; and doubtless
there were many others equally devoted with him-
self to that cause ; but the Papal policy is to ac-
count nothing of friendly intentions, even when
borne out by deeds, where others have shown them-
selves able to render more weighty service. The
monks of Citeaux, as we have all .along seen, were
the preat propelling power of the crusade, and their
208 THE LAiJY OF LAVAUK.
farther services must be secured, under the guise of
a recompense for the past ; all being made, of course,
subservient to tie high interests and honor of their
holy mother Church. To accomplish this, a pre-
text was made of great lack of zeal and activity
among the secular clergy of the invaded provinces ;
to their supineness were attributed the recent re-
verses of de Montfort ; and to their indiflerontism,
the alarming spread of deadly heresies in their re-
spective dioceses.
This was enough : all must be sacrificed to the
good cause : and as a matter of course the suspected
parties were removed, to make room for the more
zealous brethren of Citeaux. Guy, the famous ab-
bot of Vaux-Cernay, obtained the bishopric of Car-
cassonne, by the resignation (enforced, no doubt) of
its previous occupant ; but Arnold Amalric, the fe-
rocious legate, chief of the order of Citeaux, here
outdid himself, and somewhat damaged the cause,
by his unscrupulous and unblushing ambition. Not
content with the Archbishopric of Narbonne, he con-
trived, by a very characteristic manoeuvre, to add
thereto the temporal sovereignty of that rich prov-
ince : when he fulminated the sentence of excom-
munication against Raymond VI., instead of naming
a successor to the several states, he added a clause,
securing each lordship to whosoever should be first
to occupy the place. It only remained for him to
repair to Narbonne, which he did in the character
of Archbishop, and thereon grounded his daim
TH LADY OF LAV UJR. 200
entire sovereignty. Only six days elapsed between
his assumption of the archiepiscopal dignity, and his
demand for homage as the Viscount de Narbonne.
This step exceedingly enraged de Montfort ; who,
reasonably enough, supposed that his compact with
Rome, while it secured to her the blood of the in-
habititits, left the land and the gold, no less than
the spiritual recompense, to her warrior-execution-
ers. A rupture between two such leaders as the
Count and the Legate boded no good ; and a deeper
effect was produced, by convincing some, even of
the persecuting party, that these enthusiastic mis-
sionaries of Citeaux had somewhat of more tangible
value in prospect, while exercising their vocation to
the slaughter of so many thousand innocent fellow-
beings, than the canonization with which the Church
might perchance some day crown their memories.
The effect was widely felt, and perhaps it was a
stroke of policy on the part of Arnold to leave as he
did his new-found honors for a while, and volunteer
to accompany the crusade into Spain. We can pen-
etrate but a little way the mystery of iniquity in
these its dark and long-past workings, but whether
more or less be revealed to our gaze, we find it ever
the same, ever wily, active, inveterately liostile in ita
actings against God's truth and people ; but nevei
losing sight of the great object of temporal aggran-
dizement, whether as a whole, or in its several parts.
The relurn of midsummer found the devastated
provinces but little recovered from the wretched
18*
210 JflE LADY OF LAVAUR.
slate in which the destroyer had left them. The
land, indeed, was but too richly watered with the
blood that tended to fertilize it anew ; but hands
were lacking to dress the sprouting vine, and where
such were found, the hearts that should have cheered
thorn to the work were sad, and heavy, and full of
despondency. Too well they knew that the vulture
held his perch on their confines ; and that the diver-
sion which had for a short season kept him unaided,
would speedily be at an end. The extermination of
such as .dared openly to protest against any of
Rome's abominations, was, moreover, nearly com-
plete in those territories ; the life and strength-giv-
ing faith that had upheld the martyrs was only to
be found, scattered and obscured, beneath the low
roofs of distant cottages ; and little could be de-
scried beyond the melancholy inertness of a mass
who knew themselves doomed to temporal destruc-
tion, without enjoying the assured prospect of an in-
heritance reserved in heaven for them the purchase
and the gift of the Son of God.
Their anticipations were realized : the monks of
Citeaux, inflamed with new ardor by the substantial
marks of gratitude recently conferred on their order,
betook themselves to preaching in an enlarged
sphere, and with increased vehemence. De Mont-
fort's army was quickly swelled again to its wonted
extent : and as he renewed his advance, the intimi-
dated Toulousians were glad to abandon every for-
tress that ttey had retaken, saving by flight their
THE LADY OF LAVAUR. 211
crwn lives Occasionally the footsteps of the Church
of Christ were to be traced again, even over this worn-
out track, in vestiges of blood and scorching embers,
when some simple country hind, some vine-dresser,
or peasant girl, who had been captured by the scouts
of the crusading force, had witnessed a good profes-
sion, and endured the last fiery trial of a faith that
could not fail : but so well had the work been ac-
complished in the preceding years, that of all the
few castles which now dared a show of resistance,
two only, those of St. Antonin and of St. Marcel,
furnished a tolerable number of victims whom the
persecutors could put to death avowedly for the
truth's sake which they openly held. Many suffered
here.
At another place, Boissac, against which he pre-
vailed after a spirited defence, de Montfort could
not find a pretext for bringing the charge of heresy
against any of its inhabitants ; yet to allow them, as
then it was his policy to do, to capitulate, without
a massacre of some sort, would have been too severe
a trial for him : he therefore hit on an expedient
scarcely credible in our days. The people of Bois-
sac had been greatly aided in their defence by the
willing services of a body of routiers, who happened
then to be within their walls, to the number of three
hundred men. These rude soldiers, who knew noth-
ing of controversial matters, and lived merely by the
eword, wherever they could find employ, had ena-
bled the garrison not only to hold out so far, but to
212 THE LADY OF t,A\ 4L'R.
demand fair terms as the price of a surrender now,
The only terms that the ferocious conqueror would
grant were these that the citizens should suddenly
rise upon and massacre their unsuspecting and valu-
able fellow-helpers, the routiers. There was no alter-
native : the cold calculations of de Montfort were
always borne out by the event; and no hope, sare
for a short and uncertain respite, with a general de-
struction very certain to follow it, appeared to the
wretched citizens. That they were not true Chris-
tians is evident from the fact of their fulfilling the
terms of this infamous contract : that the routiers
were not accounted as belonging to the people of
Christ, is equally evident, from the Crusaders being
willing that any hands but their own should perpe-
trate the murder.
Toulouse and Montauban were now become the
only places of refuge for the terrified people : no
other was considered of strength sufficient to with-
stand the terrible siege of de Montfort, whose nat-
ural cruelty and thirst for blood seemed to have re-
ceived a new stimulus and to rage with tenfold
violence, since the defection of the legate, and his
subsequent inactivity during the Spanish crusade.
So rapid was his advance, and so alarming his suc-
cesses, that Count Raymond deemed it right to
hasten in person to the court of his sovereign, and
brother-in-law, Peter, King of Arragon, to claim as
a vassal that sovereign's aid against an invader who,
under pretence of more fully establishing the eccle
THE EADY OF LAVA ITS. 213
supremacy, which both the Count and the
King acknowledged, was wresting the temporal
possessions of the former from their rightful lord,
and bringing the dominions of the latter into sub-
jection to a foreign prince. For it was de Mont-
fort's care, wheresoever he established his authority,
to render every thing French : he issued formal de-
crees compelling, among other things, all widows
and heiresses to marry Frenchmen only, for the
space of the next ten years : thus most effectually
extinguishing the pride of those high Provencal
houses who had ever gloried in their unsullied de-
scent from the ancient Goths, or from the ancient
Romans ; thence deriving no small share of that
independence which led the most worldly among
them to espouse the cause of their humble Christian
compatriots, against what they regarded as an at-
tempt at foreign temporal usurpation.
We have already seen Peter of Arragon under
very favorable circumstances, as encouraging his
noble nephew, Raymond Roger, to maintain the
cause of his oppressed and persecuted subjects at
Carcassonne, and laboring on that injured young
man's behalf. He was, indeed, a man of generous
mind, and honorable temper; with a cultivated un-
dcrstanding, which raised him as far above the cie
dulky of Rome's few honest followers as his high
sense of honor did above the cunning craftiness of
Her many self-interested flatterers. That he was an
enlightened man : n spiritual things we cannot vcn
214 THE LADY OF
M
ture to hope: his name comes down to us as that
of a gallant warrior, actuated by the romantic spirit
of chivalry; an elegant, but frivolous poet; a king
who never willingly or knowingly acquiesced in the
oppression of his subjects for cjoscience' sake; and
one who was read}- to peril his life in defence of any
that he deemed a just cause. Beyond this, we can
ascertain nothing : he was greatly misled by habits
of flattering admiration towards women, and by the
general laxity then, and alas ! now, too character-
istic of regal courts. We can only look upon him
as a monarch called forth to defend the scattered
fragments of the riven Church, to prove how vain
was the help of man, when the Lord had permitted
the terrible Beast of prophecy to make war with the
saints, and for a time to overcome them.
The publication of Simon's tyrannical decrees,
issued from Pamiers at the time of Count Raymond's
visit to Arragon, greatly tended to the furtherance
of his suit. As lord of Beziers and of Carcassonne,
de Montfort would have been the subject of Peter,
and his first duty was to tender the homage of al-
legiance to his. rightful monarch; but so far from
doing this, he openly proclaimed himself a liege-
man of France, and with eager haste proceeded to
supplant whatever savored of ancient fidelity to the
rightful king. Pedro was considered to be in b'gh
favor with the Pope, who had always regarded him
with peculiar good will, and his intercession was
considered powerful enough to cope with the mighty
THE LADV OF LAVAUR. 215
influence of de Mont fort at Rome ; the more reason-
ably, as it could be plainly shown that in his san-
guinary progress the latter had made the well-being
of the so-called Church a very minor consideration
indeed ; being intent only on establishing his own
authority, and enlarging the kingdom of France, at
the expense of a dutiful son of that church, such as
Peter of Arragon had always shown himself to be.
No doubt his shutting himself up with a handful of
personal adherents to retain a grasp on the con-
quered Carcassonne, when Innocent himself had
sounded the alarm for a crusade beyond the Pyre-
nees, was kept in view ; and the fact, that, in the
last province which he had both invaded and devas-
tated, Agenois, no taint of heresy had been alleged
to prevail, all the inhabitants being professedly
Romanists, made exceedingly against the supposed
pious devotion of the Count. That any actual com-
punction visited the papal bosom, for the cruel suf-
fering of the innocent Albigenses, it would be hard
D CJ
to believe : that any softening of the opposing and
self exalting spirit which warreth against God and
his saints took place, would be to suppose that, for
a short season, Antichrist forsook his seat on the
seven-hilled city. We must refer all these changes
and mutations, overruled as they were and are, and
always shall be, by the sovereign power of the Most
High, to the wisdom that cometh from benea/h ;
earthly, sensual, devilish : always seeking the pre
yifi THE LADY OF LAVAUR.
eminence, and always thirsting for the blood of th
aiartyrs of Jesus.
One thing more must be kept in view : it appears
(i at Count Raymond had anew placed himself un-
der the unreserved and unlimited control of the
Pope : that he had offered a pledge to go to the
Holy Land, or whithersoever he might be com-
manded to go, leaving his son to inherit his posses-
sions, whose unshaken fidelity to the Roman pontifi.
cate was doubly guaranteed by the king of Arragon ;
and so far from weakening, the plan proposed was
calculated to strengthen the power of the Pope ;
who could not but feel that, with all his wonderful
daring, and all his most unrivalled craftiness, he was
often made individually of less account by his own
creatures than he was willing to admit. In the
present instance, he was incited to act a part rarely
ventured on by the occupant of Peter's feigned seat ;
to try the power of a Pope against the spirit of
Popery, to raise the voice of the Beast's image
against those who gave it life, and motion, and ut-
terance, and at whose command the world worship-
ped it. This experiment never yet succeeded ; the
sharp reprimands of Innocent III., addressed to the
fierce and arrogant prelate of Narbonne, and the
other usurped sees, were indeed received with all
mtwiird respect. : but when the council assembled
which he had commanded them to call together, for
the reparation of some of the many scandalous
wrongs, perpetrated during the crusades, against
THE LADY OF LAVADft. il7
such ;is held allegiance to Rome, and the restoration
of the Counts of Toulouse, Beam, Fbix, and other
excommunicate lords, to their rights, temporal and
spiritual, their every decree was in direct defiance
alike of the letter and of the spiiit of these public
instructions. They justified all that was there con-
demned; made doubly fast all that they were told
to unloose: renewed their insolent sentences of ex-
communication ; and, moreover, rendered to the Vat-
lean reasons so satisfactory for these proceedings, by
means of that subtle, ever-working machinery that>
making Rome its centre, has for many centuries con.
vulsed, and in a great measure governed the whole
world, that the wretched puppet of Satanic rule
again veered round, and granted a tacit confirmation
of all these iniquitous proceedings.
The relation of the war, in a military point of
view, becomes at this juncture exceedingly interest-
ing ; but with wars and fighting we have nothing to
do, except as they bear on the history of the perse-
cuted saints. The king of Arragon, justly exaspe-
rated at such double perfidy, no longer hesitated to
aid in person the aggrieved loi-ds : he chose out a
thousand knights, the flower of his army, long ac-
customed to battle against the Moors in Spain, nd
placing himself at their head, joined the forces of
the Languedocian nobles, now prepared to give bat-
tle to de Montfort, wheresoever he should choose
his ground. The recruiting brethren of Citeaux
were everywhere on the alert ; F *nee poured forth
19
2*8 THE LADY OF LAVAtJR.
ber chivalry, in bright and terrible legions of mail
clad horsemen, the great strength, in those days, of
a hostile force. Squadron after squadron, clad in
iron mail, and most formidably armed with every
weapon of destruction, while gold and silver and
gorgeous housings in every variety, added to the im-
posing magnificence of their army, were marshalled
on the plains. Seven bishops, in all the harlot
pomp and bravery of their apostate Church, had
joined to bless in solemn mockery, the various stand-
ards of this embattled host, which numbered in its
ranks but too many representatives from every coun-
try over which the idol crucifix bore sway : and then,
followed by shoals of priestly abettors, they pro-
ceeded on the wonted scent of blood. It was truly
a fearful war, of man against man ; of Papal vassals
defending the fair land bequeathed them by their
fathers against papal vassals, who sought, on any
pretext, to shed their blood, and to despoil them of
those possessions. They met near the town of Mu-
rct, three miles from Toulouse ; de Montfort was
victorious, the king of Arragon was slain by some
who had bound themselves to fight with none but
him ; but who, by surrounding and overpowering,
succeeded in completing what may well be called a
murder. For the rest of the routed host, not one
escaped whom the spear of the merciless victor
could pierce, or his mailed hands succeed in plung.
ing beneath the waters of the Garonne, which that
day ran r^d w ' ,h the blood of thousands.
CHAPTER VI
THE WEARING OUT.
u PRINCE of the kings of the earth " King of
kings, and Lord of lords ;" these are among the
tnany incommunicable titles of the Redeemer, the
Lord Jesus Christ ; and it cannot but be that the
enemy who usurps his power and authority over so
vast a portion of his nominal subjects, should lay
claim to these high, distinctive names. It has been
so, from the commencement of the reign of the de-
veloped " Man of Sin," even to our day, to this pe-
riod, when the ruler of the Vatican received from
the mighty Prince of Rosh, of Meahech and Tubal,
the feudal homage of kissing his ring ; and when
he denounced as sore rebellion against God, the
measures taken by the lofty Czar to curb the power
of Rome. In this world of change, it is really won-
derful to mark the unchanging features of that
/igantic imposture which has lorded it so long over
God's heritage ; and which is destined to fall at last
from a more fearfully daring height of wickedness
than it has ever yet attained.
In this usurped character of " Prince of the kinga
220 THE WEARING OTTT.
of the earth," did the papacy adjudge the gallant*
king of Arragon to be a traitcr, and to have justly
fallen in the act of rebellion against its power. In-
nocent, " servant of the servants of God," assuming
to dispose at will of the kingdoms of the world, ever
sought to place his heel on the neck of refractory
monarch s ; and the death of Peter, falling in battle
against the priest-led crusade: s, could not but be an
event highly favorable to his assumptions; nor did
they fail to represent it as a direct judgment from
above. The fact of the royal heir, Don Jayme, be-
ing actually in the hands of de Montfort, to whom,
in some moment of infatuation, his father had con-
fided him, increased the exultation of one party, and
the dismay of the other. But an appeal to Rome,
on the part of his subjects, vigorously supported,
and secretly, no doubt, aided by a growing jealousy
of de Montfort's immense power, proved effectual :
the prince was restored, and allowed to ascend his
father's throne. Meanwhile, though Muret was so
near Toulouse, that the perfect victory obtained
there seemed to decide the fate of the capital, it was
productive of no important results to the victors.
Satisfied with their achievements, and deeply dyed
in the blood of those who, if not themselves ac-
cused of heresy, were fighting in the heretical cause
of excommunicated princes, the crusaders quickly
dispersed themselves after the battle ; and whatever
advantages de Montfort m'ght have anticipated from
being the unresis'xl master of the field, and within
THE w SAB TNG cmt. 221
some half-hour's march of Toulouse, he was ren
dered unable to cany out his designs, by seeing his
legions melt away, until only a skeleton army re-
mained with him ; while the new legate appointed
to succeed Arnold proved a poor ally ; for he in-
stead of pursuing with fire and sword the lords of
Toulouse, of Foix, and others as did his prede-
cessor, persuaded them to take shelter under his
protection, and made peace between them and his
church, on terms exceedingly advantageous to the
latter ; ruinous and disgraceful to them, as inde-
pendent lords. This took place at Narbonne ; and
Peter, our great authority, characterizes it as a pious
fraud, by which the legate cajoled the heretical
leaders, while de Montfort, with a recruited army,
passed unresisted into Agenois, carrying on with
very little hindrance, the work of cruelty and blood.
Few victims, of the kind which they most panted
after, remained to glut their ferocious hatred : the
Lord's people had fallen by the sword, by famine,
and by the miseries of hopeless flight, for so many
days, that they seemed to be well nigh extinct.
Yet, occasionally, a company was collected, worthy
the martyrdom that awaited them, and who, instead
of being, like their less suspected countrymen,
merely slaughtered in an ordinary way, were burnt
alive with all the solemnity, and all the joy, that
such a spectacle was calculated to call forth. Mu-
rillac was one of the places so happily distinguished ;
and Peter do Vaux-Cernay thus records it. " I must
19*
222 THE WEARING OUT.
not omit to state that we found there seven heretics,
of the sect called Waldenses. Being conducted to
the legate, they confessed their unbelief; and weie
then seized by our pilgrims, and burned with un
epeakable joy."
This is the first instance of our finding the ancient
nnd truly apostolic Church of the Waldenses pro-
viding victims for the Alhigensic persecution. Dis-
tinct in their origin, their history, and their place of
abode, these were yet twin branches of the true
Vine ; holding one Lord, one faith, one baptism ;
and ultimately sharing one doom, of all that man's
most deadly cruelty could inflict on earth : all that
God has reserved for His dear children, the saints
and martyrs of Jesus, in heaven. Success appeared
to wait on the steps of the wretched man whose
whole life was devoted to this most awfully wicked
work of seeking to root out the Church of Christ
from the earth. He made it, indeed, notoriously
subservient to his selfish passions, his lust of plun-
der and of power ; hie natural cruelty and detesta-
tion of all that was good ; but though on many oc-
casions it was manifest that the dragon's vicegerent
understood the baseness of Simon's character as well
as the dragon himself understood his, he was too
able and too successful in the work of slaughter to
be discarded as a fitting tool. He, theiefore, re-
mained unchecked in his frightful career of blood
and rapacity ; to fall, in due time, beneath the aiua
of Almighty vengeance.
THE WEARING DOT. 2'<J3
But the flock of the Lord, the beautiful and
harmless flock that had so long been pastured in
those valleys, where now were, they ? Seven years
Irad elapsed since the first outrage was committed
b\ attacking Beziers ; and changed as was the face
of the once smiling country, far more changed was
its spiritual aspect. What the apostate Church
called heresy, could nowhere be found : the light
was extinguished ; the gates of hell had to all ap-
pearance prevailed against the Church of Christ
throughout the region where it had for so long a
period flourished in peace.
Behold that toil-worn traveller, who, in homely ap-
parel, and with a pack of humble wares slung from
his shoulders, is slowly and listlessly pursuing his
way along a path once well defined and frequented,
but now torn up, and well-nigh obliterated by con-
tinual alternations of the trampling march, and the
utter desertion that must needs follow, where those
who proceeded onward left not alive any human
being within reach of their grasp. He seems to
know it well, and keeps so correctly within its origi-
nal boundaries as to excite the attention of some
few scattered laborers, who have rebuilt their ruined
cots, and are tilling the deteriorated soil. These
had fled to the mountain caves, or otherwise con-
cealed themselves, while the destroying hosts swept
by ; and now they are again on the site of their
former houses, again engaged in rural occupation,
and one might h >pe that it is with them as ir. days
224 HIE WEARWO OUT.
past, when the candle of the Lord shone upon their
tabernacle. The traveller is one who formerly stood
conspicuous among the bold teachers of Gospel
truth, in that neighborhood, where pure religion waa
more openly countenanced, and the doctors of the
faithful Church more freely encouraged than in most
other places around it. He, the peddler, now bend-
ing less with age or bodily feebleness than with sor-
row, had there held many a disputation with the
assailants of the faith, and put to silence the subtle
sophistries with which they sought to beguile the
souls of his people. He had oft been the honored
guest of the feudal sovereign, who ruled that pro-
vince ; and well was he remembered when, in his
progress, but a few days since, he presented himself
at the castle gate that had always been fJung wide
at his approach ; but terror and dismay overspread
the countenances of those who so readily recalled
the voice and features of one concerning whom it was
doubtful whether he had perished in the flames, or
fallen by the sword or famine, or found a refuge in
some distant clime. Word was speedily brought to
the Count of the dangerous guest who stood with-
out ; and he, lately reconciled to Rome, and deliv
ered from the ban of excommunication on a pledge
of using his utmost efforts to root out every vestige
of heresy wheresoever he should detect it, was for a
moment in doubt whether to connive at the escape of
a teacher, to whom his masters would have adjudged
an abode in the deepest dungeon of the castle, with
THE WEARING OUT. 225
.10 means of prolonging life, even if that 1'fe were
not publicly sacrificed to Rome. A better feeling
prevailed ; remembrance of the happy past, f.ad the
knowledge that the victim of persecution was a l.oly
man, devoted to God in the Gospel of His Son, and
eminently fruitful in every good word and work, re-
strained the unhappy noble from adding to his own
sin, and to the sorrows of a helpless exile : he dis-
patched a knight who fully understood the mat-
ter, and participated in his feeling, to inform the
wanderer that the inmates of the castle had no
need of his merchandise, nor was it agreeable to
their lord's will that strangers of a doubtful aspect
should find admittance in these troublous times,
when some evil-disposed persons were supposed to
be creeping abroad, to unsettle the minds of the
people, and to shake their allegiance to their sove-
reign lord and ruler, the vicegerent of God, the most
holy and venerated pontiff.
All this was spoken, in a loud, a fierce, and a de-
cided voice, in the hearing of those who stood near ;
but there was that in the old knight's eye, as, with
face averted from the rest he kept it steadfastly
fixed on the pastor's, which bospoke a grief and a
sympathy strangely opposed both to the tenor and
the tone of his speech. Touched to his inmost soul,
the preacher meekly bowed submission ; and with
upraised t yes, silently invoking the blessing that ho
dared not tc utt r aloud, he turned from the frowu
220 THE WKAKIHG OtTt.
ing battlements, to seek a lowlier shelter in the vala
helovv.
The scattered huts among which he now passed
were occupied by a race altogether unknown to
him ; probably adventurers from France, placed
there by the wily de Montfort, to supply the lack
of inhabitants where his sword had cut off every
living thing. With these he sought and found a
supply of his present wants ; bartering the small
wares of his pack for their simple fare. But ere
long the scene changed, and he now finds himself
among familiar faces, though intermingled with
many perfectly strange. These latter were stanch
and vigilant adherents to the papacy, carefully scat-
tered about the land, to watch, and to give due no-
tice if a symptom appeared, in public or in private,
either of the retention or revival of heresy in any
form whatever.
With an overflowing heart does that beloved
teacher approach the objects of his former care ;
and quickly is he recognized, as the deep pantings
of many a bosom declare, while the brow perchance
is knitted, to discourage, and the lead bent or the
eye averted, to shun him. There is no sign of wel-
come, no whispering salutation of peace : nothing
but an evident dread, lest his presence should lead
to their destruction. By some, .he crucifix is
hastily displayed, as a token that, before rmm at
least, they know no better hope than such lying
vanities can impart ; and others, by a loud remark
THE WRARlMi OUT. 22?
to a neighboring assistant, convey the intimation
that, their creed is that which of old they abjured.
Meanwhile, a group of children, and very young
persons, gather around the traveller, demanding to
see the contents of his pack, which he readily
spreads before them ; gazing with wistful curiosity
in their blooming faces, touched as some among
them were with traces of earlv suffering, and more
than one or two exhibiting scars from the cuts of
a merciless sabre. Among those who bent over
the scattered treasures, he is struck by the counte-
nances of two lovely girls, twins, whose close resem-
blance to each other is scarcely greater than what
both bear to a peasant who was once the very flower
of his flock in that district ; and well he remembers
baptizing twin girls of hers some ten years pre-
viously, and sweet is the recollection of the season
of prayer and praise that marked the event. A
longing desire to hear of her, half subdued by fear
lest the, tale of apostasy should blight his once con-
fident hope in the firm faith of that devoted woman,
leads him to watch every movement of the lively
twins, until at length one of them, selecting an arti-
cle, holds it up, demanding its price. As she shakes
back the wild ringlet from her brow, the resemblance
becomes more striking ; and he answers her inquiry,
adding, " If your mother, young maiden, approves
the purchase, we shall not dispute about the price."
" What know you of her mother '?" asked a sinister-
looking young man who stood by : and the teacher.
22B THE WEARING OUT.
fearing for theso lambs of a broken Ud, replies, "I
know not even their names, or yov.fs, or any around
me : but the young should seek to be guided by pa-
rental wisdom, even in trifling things." " She haa
no mother, happily for her !" WAS the remark of sev-
eral of the bystanders : and the girl herself hastily
added, " My mother was burnt with fifteen other
heretics, by the holy pilgrims, four years ago."
" And we nre good Catholics, and hafe all heresy,"
said the other twin.
This little incident told a tale more comprehen-
sive, more heart-rending, than many a day's investi-
gation might have done. The children spoke, evi-
dently in some terror : and the very tone in which
their remarks were made proved them to have been
learned by rote. The peddler gathered his wares up,
after disposing of a few, and crossing in heavy silence
the vineyard, he perceived the father of the twins
engaged at his work. Resolved to discover some
ground of consolation here, he neither approached
him nor attracted his attention : but seeking present
rest in a secluded corner, awaited the close of day ;
then to seek the humble dwelling where his heart
told him he should find the wonted welcome.
He went : the father was seated in his hut, and
around him the few children left of a large family,
one of whom was crippled and helpless from the
effects of snvage cruelty. The teacher entered, and
threw off his slouching c*ip, and stood fully re-
realed, prepared to fold in a paternal embraco
TtfE U'RAUtN \ OtTT. 'J2J*
those objects of his solicitous care. Yhe father
sprang from his seat, and with frantic gesture, in
tones of wild, but smothered passion, exclaimed,
" Begone ! begone ! Is it not yet enough ? has not
the flame been fed ? has not the sword been glutted ?
has not the rack enjoyed its prey ? Come you here
to mark out 'the victims anew, to let loose the blood-
hounds the holy pilgrims the crusaders on a
ravaged district ? Begone to your concealment, be
it Avhere it may ; and God help you safe back to it !
but leave us, leave the place, we are changed now :
we are loyal to begone !"
It was enough : the pastor's cup of sorrow was
full. Farther search he deemed fruitless for any
good effect, and pregnant with peril to his lost
flock. He turned, prepared to retrace his steps to
the place of his distant refuge, where, in rocks and
caves, were hidden a smaller band of fugitives to
whose persevering entreaties, and almost violence,
he owed his own safety. Sad were the tidings he
must bear to them, of many whom he had seen
under circumstances that scarcely allowed a hope to
linger in his breast, as to their fidelity to the faith ;
but he cast himself on the firm rock of Christ's
word, in reference to such as were truly his sheep
" I give unto them eternal life, and none is able
to pluck them out of my hand ;" and thus, sorrow-
ful, yet alway rejoicing, he pursued the pathway
home.
Seldom indeed was any found sufficiently daring
20
230
to make, however disguised, such a pilgrimage ; fot
the terrors that had led perhaps not a few into open
apostasy from the faith in which they had been
brought up, prevailed with multitudes to whom that
faith was never more than an .object of careless
toleration or involuntary respect, to become vigilant
observers of, and eager informers against, suspected
characters. They were not generally actuated by
real hostility, but wrought upon by the unspeakable
dread that such horrors as they had recently wit*
nessed could not but inspire : and in some instances,
no doubt, regarding their teachers as the authors
of their calamities, they entertained a vindictive
feeling which their spiritual guides well knew how
to keep alive, and to turn to their own account.
Of the former class was he from whose abode the
pastor had been rudely expelled; and who well
knew that he was surrounded and watched by many
of the latter. One effect, and indeed the most fatal
of all, was the cessation of all scriptural instruction
in the families of those who themselves still cher-
ished in their hearts the love of the truth. Chil-
dren were too open and unguarded to be intrusted
with the perilous secret : they were carefully looked
after, and rigidly questioned by the priests and
friars who now ruled the land despotically ; and to
keep them in utter ignorance of their parents' senti-
ments, to help them to forget what they might
alread* have learned, and to inculcate implicit obe-
dience tc tl e papacy in all its branches, was ths
THE BEARING OtTT. 231
only resource of those who still looked forward to a
time when the Lord should arise on their behalf, and
restore to them the precious privilege of worshipping
Him according to the revelation of his will, and the
dictates of his Spirit. 80 far as outward appear-
ance went, true religion was utterly extinct among
them ; the most abject submission to Popish autho-
rity having succeeded liberty of conscience. The
reconciled lords set the example of scrupulous ob-
servance where their inmost souls scorned and de-
tested the puerile follies, unmeaning mummeries,
and burdensome restraints by which they were
shackled. The manliness of simple truth had won
their respect, and its fruits of straight-forward in-
tegrity had excited their admiration, contrasted as
they were with the marked opposites in the clergy
and the devotees of Rome : but they had not given
their hearts to God ; they were not personally par-
takers in the like precious faith with those whom
they had esteemed and protected : and when the
alternative alone remained to them of indeed losing
all, including probably their lives, for the Gospel's
sake, or of purchasing security in their possessions
at the price of a seeming submission in all tilings to
a powei whose yoke they had always professed to
wear, little hesitation could be expected. Their
subjects, seeing them ostentatiously forward in al!
acts of outward obsequiousness to the priesthood,
and all observances of Ron.ish superstition, felt that
no hope remained for them. The most devoted of
232 THE WKARlNtt OTTT.
the simple followers of Christ had perished in the
flames, on the gibbet, by the sword, or the rack ;
others, following the direction given to the early
Church, fled from the scene of their persecution lo
such places of refuge as they could find ; and the
remnant sank under the weight of calamities that
had left them a meiv handful, scattered up and
down in what was now an enemy's country. Public
teaching was of course unthought of, where men
dared not assemble three or four together for private
exhortation and united prayer, lest one of the num-
ber should prove a traitor. Ordinances ceased from
among them: all means of grace were withheld;
and the light of the Gospel faded away, and the
tree which the Lord had planted, withered and
drooped, and cast its leaves, a bare, desolate monu-
ment of what it once had been.
By such means has the great Mystery of iniquity
always prevailed in warring against the saints, where
power was permitted answerable to its wicked will,
Its dragon voice has been heard to the uttermost
bounds of the earth, saying to its agents, " Arise,
devour much flesh." It is only when some limit is
placed to its external working, that the lamb's horns
are exhibited in ostentatious meekness to a deceived
world, and the " servant of the servants of God"
ceases to fulminate decrees >f universal slaughter,
breathing out gentle tones of humility and peace.
We have se ;n, so far, its operations against the true
followers of ihe true Lamb : it will be our next step
THE WEAHINJ 01 T. 233
to show the actual embodying, the solemn ratifica
tion, the indelible stamping and sealing of Papal
Rome's most murderous principles, as acted out in
the twelfth century, in an unrepealed decree of the
infallible Church, now in full force all over the
world ; and even now, thanks to the desperate in-
fatuation of nominally Protestant rulers, in full
operation HERE, in Great Britain, the supposed for-
tress of Protestantism ; the chosen and favored, but,
alas ! not the faithful witness among all nations, of
those truths for which her noblest and her lowliest
children yielded with equal freeness their lives at
the stake, as a testimony against what their descend-
ants are warming and cherishing in their bosoms,
to give new vigor to the sting already aimed at their
immortal souls. The fourth Council of Lateran was
held during this pause of death, and we cannot
lightly pass it over.
The ostensible object of Lotharius de Signi in
assembling the twelfth General Council, the fourth
that met in the Lateran Palace, and thence derived
its name, was to revive the spirit of the Eastern ra-
ther than to forward the interests of the Western
crusade. The latter appeared to have done its
work : the voice of the Gospel had been silenced,
and the poor remnant of a torn and scattered flock
had tied, or soncealed themselves, or put on the
semblance of conformity with what they loathed,
to save themselves and t.heir ]ittle ones from the
20*
234 THE WEARING OUT.
butcher's knife. It was enough that Simon de
Montfort had fixed his vulture eye upon the terri-
tory, and extended as he could his grasp, in the
character of the church's champion. He alone was
now held sufficient to cope with all opposition in
that quarter ; and some danger appeared of an ap-
proaching pause, in which the enthralled monarchs
of Chistendom might have leisure to contemplate
their fetters, and possibly to devise a way of freeing
themselves from the galling yoke of Rome. It be-
hooved the haughty and subtle pontiff to avert such
a contingency : he therefore summoned this famous
Council to meet in the Great City which ruleth over
the kings of the earth ; and proudly did he look
down upon the glittering scene, where representa-
tives of every nation appeared, to own the vassal-
age in which their respective sovereigns were con-
tent to abide under the despotic rule of the self-
exalted Man of Sin. There were present in that
spacious edifice the patriarchs of Constantinople
and of Jerusalem, an ambassador from the patriarch
of Antioch ; seventy-four metropolitan primates,
three hundred and forty bishops, eight hundred
abbots and friars, and clergy generally of the higher
orders whose numbers defied calculation. These
formed the ecclesiastical portion of the assembly ;
while of crowned monarchs were seen the selected
representatives of the Emperor of Constantinople,
the kings of Jerusalem, of England, France, Hungary,
Arragon, and verj many others, who were there to
THE WEARING OUT. 235
yield the abject assent of their sovereigns to what-
ever this Italian despot might deem it right to dic-
tate. He did, in fact, alone and with despotic au-
thority, draw up the whole series of chapters, now
known as the decrees of that famous Council ; and
laid them before the assembled delegates, as the
mandate of one whose will was law. Some discon-
tent is reported to have been betrayed, on various
points, by certain of the members ; and, perhaps,
the pope's arrogant mode of proceeding stirred up
the resentment of some : but this man had now
for seventeen years wielded the destinies of west
and east, and was still in the vigor of active life,
not having completed his fifty-third year. To re-
sist the Sovereign Pontiff, and that Pontiff Inno-
cent III., in matters appertaining to the Church
of which he was justly accounted the pillar meet
pillar for such a Church ! would have been to raise
a storm that none cared to brave : therefore were
the decrees of the fourth Lateran Council silently
ratified, without discussion, and thenceforth they be-
came part and parcel of the laws of papacy ; as
such, distinctly recognized, and forever rendered im-
perative, by ths memorable Council of Trent, which
was the first General Council that ever embodied in
one form, and solemnly ratified by authority assum-
ing to be infallible, the vague, subtle, shifting and
evadible dogmas of the Romish Apostasy.
The decrees or canons of the Fourth Lateran
Coiinc 1 amounted to twenty, bearing on various sub-
230 THE WEAR TNG OUT.
jects, and ostensibly fran>ed for other pu-poses ; but
the third of those canons seems to hare breathed
the inmost feelings of Lotharius de Signi's hei.rt.
It is entitled " De Haereticis," and its object is to
put down, thenceforth and f irever, all opposition
to the system of Rome ; to pluck up and to destroy
every plant of God's planting that should peep
above the ground where the Great Harlot reigns.
A project vain as impious ; but with what craft and
subtlety dovised, and how kee^y poii.ted at the
bosoms of the poor Albigenses, a sMght examination
may assure us. At the same time, a consciousness
of being ourselves included in the class here treated
of, and of lying, bona fide, under the same sentence,
suspended only because the Romish arm has not
yet regained sufficient power to make war upon us,
and to crush us, such consciousness must add a
deeper interest to the perusal of this infamous canon,
which we will give entire.
" WE excommunicate and anathematize every her-
esy which exalteth itself against this holy, orthodox,
and catholic faith, which we have set forth above ;
condemning all heretics, by whatsoever names they
may be reckoned ; who have indeed divers faces,
but their tails are bound together, for they make
agreement in the same folly.*
" Let such persons, when condemned, be left to
. * This allusion to Samson's foxes, having their taiiS tied
together with firebrands, was a favorite figure of Pope Inno-
cent's, as applied to the nobles of Languedoc.
THK WEARING ODT. 237
the secular powers who may be present, to bo pun-
ished in a fitting manner ; those who are of the
clergy being first degraded from their orders : so
that the goods of such condemned persons, if they
shall be laymen, be confiscated ; but in the case of
clerks, be applied to the churches from which they
derived their stipends.
" But let those who are only marked with sus-
picion, be smitten with the sword of anathema, and
be shunned by all men until they make proper sat-
isfaction ; unless, according to the grounds of sus-
picion, and the quality of the person, they shall
have demonstrated their innocence by a proportion-
ate purgation. So that if they shall persevere in
excommunication for a twelvemonth, thenceforth let
them be conde'mned as heretics. And let the secu-
lar powers, whatever offices they may discharge,
be admonished and induced, and, if need be, com-
pelled by ecclesiastical censure, that, as they desire
to be reputed and accounted faithful, so, for the
defence of the faith, they publicly set forth on oath
that to the utmost of their power, they will, bona
fide, strive to exterminate from the lands subject to
their jurisdiction, all heretics pointed out by the
church ; so that wheresoever any person is advanced,
cither to temporal or spiritual power, he be bound to
Confirm this decree with an oath.
" But if any temporal lord, being required and
admonished by the church, shall neglect to cleanse
his country o' his heretical filth, let him be bound
238 THK WEARING OU7.
with the c'.ain of excommunication by the metro
politan and other co-provincial bishops. And if he
shall scorn to make satisfaction within a year, let
this be signified to the supreme pontiff ; that, thence-
forth, lie may declare his vassals absolved from their
fidelity to him, and may expose his land to be oc-
cupied by the Catholics, who, the heretics being ex-
terminated, may without contradiction possess it, and
preserve it in the purity of the faith : saving the
right of the chief lord, so long as he presents no
obstacle, and offers no hindrance in this matter : the
same law, nevertheless, being observed concerning
those who have not lords in chief.
" But let the Catholics who, having taken the
sign of the cross, have girded themselves for the
extermination of the heretics, enjoy the same indul-
gence, and be armed with the same holy privilege,
as is conceded to those who go to the assistance of
the Holy Land.
" But we decree also, that the believers, the re-
ceivers, the defenders, and abettors of the heretics,
lie under excommunication : firmly determining that
if any one, after he has been marked with excom-
munication, shall refuse to make satisfaction within
a twelvemonth, he is thenceforth of right in very
deed infamous, and be not admitted to public offices
or councils ; nor to elect any person for any thing
of the sort, nor to give evidence. Let him also be
intestable, so as neither to have power to bequeathe,
aor to siicc-.'gd to an inheritance.
"HE WEARING OUT. . 239
" Morrover, let no man be obliged to answer him in
any matter, but let him be compelled to answer oth-
ers. If haply he be a judge, let his sentence nave nfl
force, nor let any causes be brought for his hearing.
If he be an advocate, let not his pleading be admitted.
If a notary, let the instruments drawn up by him be
invalid, and be condemned with their damned author.
And we charge that the same be observed in similar
cases. But if he be a clerk, let him be deposed from
every office and benefice, that where there is the great-
er fault, the heavier vengeance may be exercised.
" But if any shall fail to shun such persons after
they have been pointed out by the church, let them
be compelled by the sentence of excommunication
to make fitting satisfaction. Let the clergy by no
means administer the sacraments of the Church to
such pestilent persons, nor presume to commit them
to Christian burial, nor receive their alms nor obla-
tions : otherwise let them be deprived of their office,
to which let them never be restored without the
special indulgence of the Apostolic See. In like
manner any regulars on whom also this may be in-
flicted, that their privileges in that diocese, in which
they shall have dared to perpetrate such excesses, be
not preserved.
" But because some, under the semblance of piety
but denying the power thereof, as the Apostle says,
Rssxime to themselves the authority of preaching,
when the same Apostle says, ' How shall they preach
9Jcept they be sent?' let all who, being prohibited
240 THE WKAK1NC I )T.
Or not sent, shall presume publicly or privately to
usurp the office of pleaching, be bound with the
chain of excommunication, and unless they immedi-
ately repent, they shall be smitten with other suita-
ble punishment.
" We Add, moreover, that every archbishop or
bishop shall either by himself, his archdeacon, or
other honest and suitable persons, twice, or at least
once every year, go round his own parish [diocese]
in which there shall be a report that heretics are
dwelling ; and there shall compel three or more
men of credible testimony, or if it shall seem expe-
dient, the whole neighborhood, to swear, that if any
one shall know any heretics there, or any persons
holding secret conventicles, or differing from the or-
dinary conversation, life and morals of the faithful,
he shall endeavor to point them out to the bishop.
But the bishop himself shall convoke the accused into
his presence, who, unless they shall clear themselves
of the crime alleged against them, or, if after hav-
ing cleared themselves they shall relapse into their
former perfidy, let them be punished according to
the canons. But if any of them, with damnable
obstinacy, rejecting the obligation of an oath, shall,
perhaj s, bo unwilling to swear, let them on that
very ground be reckoned as heretics.
" We will, therefore, and command, and in virtue
of obedience strictly enjoin, that for the due per-
formance of these things, the bishops shall diligently
watch throughout their dioceses, if they wish to es-
THE WEARING 007. 241
cape canonical vengeance ; for if any bishop shalj
have been negligent, or remiss, in purifying his dio-
cese from the leaven of heretical pravity, when it
shall appear by certain proofs, let him be deposed
from his episcopal office, and let another fit person
be substituted in his place, who may be bo.h willing
and able to confound heretical pravity."
The most cursory perusal of this document can
scarcely fail to excite astonishment at the masterly
skill with which it is framed in reference to the sin-
gle object in view : a more detailed examination will
reveal such deep thought, contrivance and perfection
of cruel craft as may rarely be met with in the com-
plicated machinery of human crime. Here we see
the quarry marked for destruction, surrounded on
all sides, pressed closer and closer together in the
helplessness of public exposure ; every possible av-
enue of escape barred up ; and the victims ready to
be singled out successively for destruction at the
will of their slaughterers. This canon was no newly-
devised plan of de Signi's ; he had acted upon it for
a long course of years, with deadly success ; and
now, as if conscious that his end was not far distant,
he endowed the Church with this rich device, that
Ihe mischief might survive him, and prevail against
the people of God even to the end of that anti-chris-
tian empire which still exists, and gathers daily fresh
supplies of vigor, preparing to reassert its terrible
dominion over us.
In the first clause of the canon, we find a refer-
21
242 THE WEARING OUT.
encc made to the faith as already set forth as ortho-
dox : lliis included the whole system of papal abom-
ination ; for though the doctrine of an actual change
in the substance of the bread and wine had for some,
time been enforced as an article of belief, it was this
Council that established the monstrous figment,
under the newly-coined name of Transubstantiation.
All who should question any point of the Romish
creed are here denounced as heretics, and at once
condemned to be left to the secular power ; that is
to say, to the common executioner. All the rest
provide for their discovery and seizure.
But some may be merely suspected, no proof be-
ing adducible of their heresy : these are, on any
vague charge or surmise of the sort, to be laid under
the curse of the Church, until they prove their in-
nocence or make their peace by some great gift,
proportioned to their means. One year is allowed
for this, after which they become subject to capital
punishment; and every prince, potentate, magistrate,
land-owner, all who hold property, or exercise offi-
cial power, must be bound by a solemn oath to use
every effort for the extermination of such heretics
within their respective jurisdictions. Temporal
lords, under which title are included all the kings
and emperors of Christendom, are placed under the
suiveillance of their metropolitans, to whom is com-
mitted the power of excommunicating them, should
they show any symptom of reluctance in this exter-
minating work ; if, at the year's end the tempo?'aj
THE WEARIJNfi OUT. 243
ruler has not given the required satisfaction, by
drawing the sword on his own subjects, he is to be
reported to the Pope, whose part it is to absolve
his people from their allegiance, and to make over
his territories to the first invader, who closes with
the pontiff's terms. In our day, this menace falls
but lightly on the ear : far different it was in the
times of the crusaders far different it will yet be,
if Rome pursues much farther her present unresisted
course of aggrandizement.
The temporal lords being thus assured of excom-
munication, deposition, and utter destruction, should
they fail in carrying out to the uttermost the san-
guinary will of the Church, we next find, after a
short clause assuring eternal life to all who shall
make war upon them, how suspected believers iu
the innocence, receivers and defenders of the per-
sons, and abettors of the deeds of God's people, are
to be dealt with. It is of great moment to mark
this : they always are, comparatively, a little flock
in the midst of an ungodly world, and their security,
humanly speaking, lies in the toleration extended to
them by the great mass who themselves are aliens
from God, naturally disposed to hate the righteous,
but restrained and providentially induced to offer
them no harm, or even to embrace their cause,
though not on scriptural grounds, when they are as-
sailed by persecution. Such was especially the case
with those against whom this atrocious decree was
directly pointed in its author's time ; and it is mar*
244 THE WEARING OUT.
vellous with what settled purpose, what consummate
management he provides against the contingency.
A brother, for instance, not himself walking in the
same good way, might feel loth to betray, to de-
nounce, to deliver up to torture and to death, the
companion of his infancy, his own mother's son:
should he fail to do it, what follows ? on the first
suspicion, excommunication ; and after a while, the
brand of infamy : suspension from every office, the
deprivation of every means of subsistence, inability
to bequeathe to his children what he may have, or to
avail himself of any inheritance that may fall to his
lot. In this matter we see the fierce persecuting
pope, like a bloodhound on the track, following up
his prey with a fiery eagerness that nothing can
control. The criminal, the wretch who shall dare to
screen his brother from the rack and flame, is to be
a spectacle and an abhorrence to all men. He is to
be compelled to pay whatever is demanded of him
by any profligate claimant, but he cannot sue in a
debt, however just ; if a judge, he may not sit ; if
an advocate, he may not plead ; if a notary, his in-
struments are void ; and so of whatsoever calling he
may follow. Starvation is his lot. Moreover, those
who shall fail to aid in thus heaping ruin on the
heads of the suspected defenders of suspected here-
tics, are to share their sentence of excommunication ;
to be denied the sacraments, without which they be-
lieve they cannot possibly be saved ; to have their
alms rejected, the purchase-money for heaven ; and
THE WEARING OUT. 245
when dead, to be cast out as dogs, denied what a
Romanist holds so indispensable Christian burial.
Surely the wit of man never devised a more perfect
system of frightful espionage. But more is in re-
serve : full well was the efficacy of a preached Gos-
pel known to its enemies, and so long as men were
allowed to set forth a crucified Saviour as the solr
hope of the sinner, so long would sinners be found
to lay hold on that hope, and to cast away the jug-
gling deceits of Rome. Accordingly, summary pun-
ishment was decreed, on a gross perversion of Scrip-
ture, to all such teachers : no year's probation being
here allowed, but "suitable," that is to say, capital,
punishment inflicted, unless they immediately re-
pented ; which, of course, could only be manifested
by a public recantation of all that they had taught.
Then comes the inquisitorial proceeding, soon after-
wards carried to such deadly perfection under Dom-
inic and his friars, who, together with the Francis-
cans, received the confirmation of their establish-
ment from this very council. Under the direction
of the prelates, a cordon of spies is drawn round
every spot where even by possibility heresy may
lurk ; and should any individual hesitate to swear
that he will become an informer against his own
flesh and blood, he is for that reason to be accounted
a heretic himself. One only possible hope seemed
to remain for the hunted victim, and that a very for-
lorn one ; but while it existed it must be provided
againiit. So great an anomaly as a merciful man in
21*
^46 THE WEARING OUT.
the office of a Romish prelate could scarcely be
looked for ; but if one who was capable of compas
sionate feelings should be there found, or if God in
his goodness touched the heart of a persecutor with
compunction, the work might experience some hin-
drance the escape of some forlorn believer might
be connived at. Accordingly, these higher orders
must be reminded that they themselves were but
the vassals of " the Servant of the servants of God,"
the meek and pious pontiff: and that any tiling
which he, on the report of those secret spies by
whom the other spies were surrounded, might con-
strue into negligence, would be visited by the thun-
ders, the terrors of which they well knew ; and in-
volve them in the fate of their appointed victims.
Such was, such IS, the law bequeathed as a legacy
by Lotharius de Signi to the Church of which he
was the head, and remaining in full force to this day.
The papacy considers as its lawful subjects all who
have been baptized into the Christian faith, whether
the profess allegiance to Rome or not : we, our
Queen, our nobles, our countrymen, are all regarded
as in a state of prosperous rebellion, fully amenable
to these laws, and to be visited with their direst
vengeance whensoever Protestantism becomes the
weaker party. Meanwhile, we will continue our
narrative, and endeavor to show with what fatal effi
cacy the system wrought its cruel purpose against
the half-reviving Church of Christ in the district
of J <angue<!oc. We left them, indeed, in a stat
THK WEARING OUT. 24"
of seeming extinction, but the wily Pope judged
rightly when he foresaw, in the dim future, new
spectres rising, and fresh victims ready to yield
their lives up for the testimony of Jesus ; and against
them, to the end of time, he thus prepared a ma-
chinery of destruction.
We have already noticed that, lamentable, .nd,
seemingly complete, as was the overthrow of the
Church of Christ in the country of the Albigeois, it
pleased God that a temporary revival should take
place, ere the light was utterly extinguished. The
Council of Lateran had, as we have seen, labored to
turn once more the torrent of crusading violence
towards Palestine, which, for various causes, was a
more convenient field whither to dispatch their vas-
sal-kings and armies. At the same time, they heard
and discussed an appeal from Count Raymond, who
urgently pleaded his cause, and besought the restitu-
tion of his rightful possessions. S6me favor was
shown to him, but de Montfort's usurpation of his
principal titles and dominions was confirmed ; thus
rendering the sanguinary conqueror doubly secure in
his position. It was to this, principally, that the re-
appearance of true religion in places whence it
seemed to have been wholly and finally exiled, might
be traced. De Montfort and Arnold renewed their
contest for the sovereignty of Narbonne, in the spirit
of men who have only to divide the spoil, fearing no
farthei bar to their acquisitions. The count forcibly
248 THE WEARING OUT.
planted his standard of authoi ty m Narbonne;
(he Archbisliop excommunicated him ; de Montfort
laughed at his ban, and threw down his fortifications ;
and in this way the several parties became so occu-
pied, and found so much for their respective followers
to do, that the persecuted church lifted up its head
again in the wilderness, which, spiritually at least, be-
gan to rejoice and to blossom as the rose, before the
divided enemy had leisure to cast a look towards it.
Such as were of the army, of course flocked round
the standards to which they were attached : the
warlike Archbishop did not lack adherents of this
caste ; nor was the excommunicated layman without
a zealous band of ecclesiastical partisans, some goad-
ed on by envy of Arnold's high exaltation, and re-
sentment at his intolerable pride ; others allured by
the good things that de Montfort held in his gift.
The disunion was general ; while the third party,
the rightful lords of what these robbers were fight-
ing over, secretly strengthened the hands of their
loyal retainers, prepared to take advantage of any
favorable turn in the current of events.
It was then that, filled with holy zeal, the teach-
ers who had been driven from their flocks returned
to look after ';hose few sheep in the wilderness who
had hitherto hidden themselves, but now ventured
to come forth at the shepherd's well-known voice.
Then mio-ht be seen the father of those fair twin
O
girls, the smile of pleasure on his lip, the tear of
fond regret, not unmixed with remorse, trembling in
THE WEARING OtTT, 248
fits eye, ami the lurking shade of watchful doubt yet
hugering on his countenance as the frequent, rapid
ht the en trance -door) listening with deep
to the pathetic exhortations of the now
welcomed preacher, as he set before the children
the preciousness of those truths for which their
mother had died. How changed is the expressicn
U those young faces, since they importuned the
Deeming pedler for a sight of his glittering wares!
Humble, thoughtful, earnest, and full of deepest
reverence, their countenances bespeak emotions that
the teacher confidently trusts have been excited by
the Holy Spirit ; and he doubts not but that, if tribu-
lation and persecution should again arise because of
the word, the rescued lambs before him, and their
heart-smitten father, will be found confessing before
men Him whom they were taught in earliest infancy
to love, as the gracious friend of little children, and
to whom they now come, with a better understand-
ing of the blessed privilege, to take his yoke upon
them, and to learn of him.
Many a lowly cottage displayed some similar
scene ; and in mansions of more lordly aspect ad-
mission was sometimes found for the wayfaring
instructor of former days, and more than connived
at by those in authority. The latter instances were,
however, less frequent : the principal work was car-
ried on in rural districts, or in the more obscure
quarters of such towns as were not occupied by the
enemjf 's 'orces. In every place, it appeared
250 THE WfcAHirsG OtTT.
God had still a remnant to be summoicd ovt of
Great Babylon, and wheresoever even in the sonl
of one of the humblest peasants or artisans a good
work had been begun, there, we well know, the Lord
would finish it. Kings and their mailed armies, pre-
lates with their far more formidable hosts of cowled
priests, were but unconscious instruments, carrying
out the ends that were of God appointed, and which
they especially labored to defeat ; even de Montfort
and Arnold Amalric were now uniting in the strange
work of reviving the Gospel, by attracting the atten-
tion and engaging the services of those who should
have been employed in watching against the dread-
ed heresy, instead of taking arms respectively on
behalf of the knight and the priest.
Sweet it was, and deeply, awfully solemn, the re-
assembling of some scattered little congregation in
their secret nook of meeting, around the teacher
whom they never again expected to see : some
scarcely even daring to desire it. There were va-
cant places in those assemblages the former occu-
pants of which had ascended from the blazing fires
of martyrdom to their prepared seats in heaven ;
and never had the union been so perfect, never had
the communion been so deeply realized between the
militant and the triumphant church, as now that the
father lifted his tearful eyes from the place where
formerly sat his listening child, the husband from
that where the wife of his bosom once reclined,
the loving daughter from the seat on which long
TttE WKAttMrt Offt. 251
rested her revered parent, to seek that heaven, that
holy city, the Ne\r Jerusalem, as yet too far above
the reach of mortal ken, there to recognize, as it
Were, the form so long beloved on earth ; with the
delicious assurance in their souls concerning them,
" They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any
more, neither shall the sun light on them nor any
heat. But the Lamb which is in the midst of the
throne shall feed them, and shall lead them to foun-
tains of living waters ; and God shall wipe away all
tears from their eyes."
It was thus that many a weak hand was strength*
ened, many a feeble knee confirmed, and many a
wandering foot brought back to the straight path of
sanctified suffering, leading to eternal glory. Some
there were, who, like Esau, might have been tempt-
ed to sell their heavenly birthright, if not for a f;iir
mess of the world's attractive pottage, yet for pres-
ent security from sufferings that flesh feels it very
hard to brave : these had the glorious reality of
unseen and eternal things so vividly set before them,
combined with the certainty that some whom they
had dearly loved were even then actually partaking
in the blessedness described, that it became a won-
der to themselves how they could ever have thought
of compromising or of concealing the faith wherein
they stood ; and martyrdom in any shape was a
welcome prospect seeing to what it formed the vis-
ta. It was the seed-time of a second harvest, which
the Lord prepared to gather into his garner.
252 THE WEARING OUT.
It may be asked by what means were the hated
heretics secured from the vigilant proceedings of
Ihose who had long lain in wait for them ? It must
be remembered that these harmless people of God
were in reality hated by none but the wolves of
Rome. Their neighbors and countrymen had al-
ways acted towards them with the utmost forbear-
ance, amounting indeed to open, unequivocal, en-
couragement ; and it was only by visiting these with
the most tremendous punishments for such conniv-
ance, that they were reluctantly induced to with-
draw their countenance from men whom they se-
cretly revered. They became spies only under the
consciousness that other spies surrounded them,
eager to make their supposed or presumed defection
a means of seizing on what little was lefi to them of
their native possessions ; if not of bringing their
lives into peril. They knew nothing experimentally
of the transforming power of the religion, the exte-
rior loveliness of which they could not but admire ;
nor saw any great harm in compelling its professors
to disguise their real principles, while their avowal
exposed both parties alike to danger. It was there-
fore, a friendly, and a half-reluctant coercion that
the class in question, the natives and citizens f the
provinces, exercised over the small company of be-
lievers still left among them ; and no marvel if they
speedily relaxed in their uncongenial employment,
when they saw the attention of the more dreaded
party the clergy, their retainers, and the strangers
THE WEARING O'JT. 253
brought into the land by the crusade, so completely
engiossed by the contest of de Montfort with the
Archbishop, as to leave them little leisure and less
inclination to trouble themselves with what they be-
lieved to be not only a conquered but an extermi-
nated foe.
By such means did the Lord revive his work in
the poor persecuted church of the Albigenses ; but
it was only for the bringing to glory of all his elect
in that place. He saw fit to deliver his saints into
the power of the Beast, and the present breathing-
time was but preparatory to the great sacrifice still
to be made to the papal Baal.
The first movement towards a renewal of the hor-
rors of war was made by the son of Count Raymond.
The Council of Lateran had conceded to these two
princes a portion of their ancient dominions, not in-
cluding Toulouse, which with other possessions to a
vast extent was confirmed to de Montfort. Young
Raymond conceived himself to have obtained at
parting the sanction of the pope to an attempt for
the recovery of his inheritance by reconquest ; nor
is it at all unlikely that the pontitf was heartily ac-
quiescent in the matter, for he saw the whole coun-
try in danger of being contested by two men, one
of whom, though the sworn champion of the Church,
was in arms against that branch of it located in h's
own territory ; and the other, albeit an ecclesias-
tic of most fanatic character, had become little
short of an open rebel agaiust Rome, in the eager
^54 THE WliAKlXG OUT.
pursuit of worldly aggrandizement. Innocent III,
could not fail to see how favorable to the exhausted
flock of Christ such a pause must be ; and since
the two Raymonds had made unbounded submission
to the Church, giving every possible guarantee for
their future obedience in whatsoever the Vatican
might decree, it could not but be desirable to see such
a third party in the field, to startle the others, and
revive their dormant zeal against heresy ; especially
as the pope well knew he could at pleasure crush
again the unhappy house of Raymond.
Thus encouraged, Raymond the younger, who
was then barely nineteen years old, took the field at
the head of an army which was raised as in a mo-
ment by his welcome summons ; and so successful
was his opening campaign, that de Montfort, roused
from his security, saw the peril at once. His expe-
rienced tactics, however, proved too much for the
ardent young commander, whom he prevailed on to
conclude a truce with him before he had heard the
tidings already communicated to de Montfort, that
Toulouse had thrown off the yoke of the usurper
openly proclaiming their lawful and still beloved
sovereign, Raymond VI., who, while his son en-
gaged the enemy at home, had raised an army in
the northern provinces of Spain, and was rapidly
marching at their head towards his ancient capital.
But Simon having so far outwitted the son, ad-
vanced with his whole collected force to meet the
father ; and Raymond, the newly-sworn bondsman
THE WEARING TOT. 255
of Rome, had not courage to face him : his army
dispersed themselves at once ; and de Montfort
marched on to take vengeance on Toulouse.
All the writers of that period, and of the Ro-
mish creed in general, agree in describing Toulouse
as the very hot- bed of heresy : and we have seen,
in the earlier part of this narrative, how openly,
generously, and firmly its citizens upheld the cause
of the assailed flock. Their treatment of Bishop
Fouquet, too, will be remembered : too well was it
remembered by that blood-thirsty priest on the
present occasion ! It appears probable that, from
motives of policy, de Montfort might have acted
with a show of forbearance towards this noble and
powerful city ; but Fouquet, as his own historians
boast, prevailed with his merciless counsels over the
dictates of a wiser policy ; and having gained his
point with the commander, he re-entered the city,
addressing the deluded people as a flock for whom
he tenderly cared ; and appealing to the Most High
in attestation of the perfect sincerity in which he
sought to insure their safety, he prevailed on a small
company of the most considerable citizens to repair
to the general, to make submission in the name of
the rest, and to promise allegiance for the future.
He positively guarranteed to them a favorable re-
ception and indulgent hearing; and thus assured
they went forth to the camp, where de Montfort, at
Fouquet's suggestion, had prepared heavy fetters of
iron, with which they were immediately loaded.
25B THE WEARING OUT.
The first party had not long been gone, when
Fouquet induced another, of equal rank, to follow,
for the purpose of seconding their plea. These
were in like manner loaded with chains ; and by the
crafty wickedness of this unprincipled man, above
eighty of the first nobles and gentlemen of Toulouse
had been delivered into de Montfort's merciless
hands, before the treachery was discovered. Satis-
fied that their embassy was successful, the citizens
proceeded in larger numbers to tender their submis-
sion, when they met a townsman who had escaped
before the irons could be placed on him, and thus
became acquainted with the infamous device. The
whole city flew to arms, determined to defend them-
selves to the last ; but a number of de Montfort's
soldiers had already gained entrance, no doubt by
Fouquet's means, into the city ; and every savage
excess that could be perpetrated against the most
defenceless class of its inhabitants had been carried
on in the more remote and least populous parts of
the town, to an appalling extent before any check
could be given to their atrocities. They were at
length put to the sword or driven forth ; and Simon
himself heading the flower of his mounted knights
was thrice repulsed with great slaughter in three
several attacks on as many bodies of the gallant
citizens. The threat, however, of putting to instant
death his eighty prisoners, produced a greater im-
pression .han his arms could do on the Toulousians:
and heie again Fouquet interposed, bringing with
THE WEARING OUT. 257
him another ecclesiastic of note, and both pledging
their most solemn oath before God, that if the citi-
zens yielded to the terms proposed by de Montfort,
their brethren should be restored to liberty, their
rights confirmed, and their personal safety seemed.
Little as was the reliance to be placed on the oaths of
such men, still as no possible hope existed of saving
their friends, cr, in the end, their city, from the terrible
vengeance of the great crusader, they at last agreed
to the terms, which included the laying down of
their arms, and delivering up every stronghold to
Simon's forces. This done, the faith was kept with
them that Rome boasts of keeping with herelics :
all their principal men were seized, fettered, and
sent, together with the former eighty victirro, to
perish miserably in the dungeons of various cities,
occupied by de Montfort. After execuiir/j or.ch
vengeance as his own cruel will, and the equally
savage bishop, suggested, on the disarmed and help-
less citizens, he laid on them a fine, which was sure
to reduce the wealthiest to indigence, and left them
with a menace, that if such imposition was not strictly
paid, their city should be given to the flames, and a
general massacre sweep its inhabitants from the
earth.
To what extent the Albigenses, as believers, suf-
fered in these transactions, we have no record ; but
as Fouquet was the presiding genius of the perse-
cution, we may be well assured that he selected fof
destruction as many as he could. Wheresoever the
82*
259 71IE WEARING ODT.
name of Christ was honored, and the dark apostasy
rejected, there he would certainly point the sword,
though it does not appear that on this occasion the
fires of martyrdom were rekindled. The Toulous-
ians were treated rather as rebels against Simon de
Montfort than against the Pope ; and the affair
proves how quickly de Montfort was merging the
character of the Church's champion in that of the
martial plunderer and temporal prince. Yet he
carefully maintained his claim to the former distinc-
tion ; and it was but a short time previous to these
events that he had made a progress, to do homage
to the king of France, during the whole of which,
little short of divine honors were paid him, alike by
kings and prelates, as the anointed leader and de-
fender of what they most impiously designated the
armies and the cause of the Lord of hosts.
CHAPTER VII
CONCLUSION.
THE events of several years succeeding that of
the memorable Council of Lateran, afford us no clue
by which to trace the footsteps of the flock, beyond
such glimmerings as we have noticed, of avi unex-
tinguished light existing amid the thick darkness.
Those years were marked by much stirring incident
m the world : the Eastern Crusades revived in all
their original enthusiasm, completely drawing off
public attention from the devastated provinces where
Simon de Montfort struggled to retain what his
cruel violence had grasped ; and where Fouquet and
his unprincipled associates still kept up the war-cry
of " Heresy," as a pretext for aiding the sanguinary
conqueror. The career of the latter, was, however,
near its close ; already had the terrible and wily
enemy of Christ's Church been called from the seat
of his supreme earthly dominion to appear before
that Jesus whom he had so fiercely persecuted, and
to render an account of his evil deeds. Innocent
III. was cut off in the prime and pride of life, leav-
ing to another, perhaps not les? willing, but cer-
200 CONCLUSION.
tainly less able hand, the ta^k of wearing out and
destroying the saints of the Most High ; and the
extinction of that master-spirit was felt throughout
the world, as an event that must needs change the
general aspect. To de Montfort, the pretendeJ ser-
vant of the papacy, who in reality served none but
himself, it mattered little who ruled in the Vatican,
so long as he had an army of good fighting men
under his command ; but there is no doubt tha-t the
removal of their pontifical oppressor produced an
exhilarating effect on the Languedocians, and on
their chiefs. The Count of Foix in particular was
strongly suspected of holding the doctrines that
Rome most abhors ; and his wife openly professed
them ; but the character of a religious war had
been well nigh lost sight of, nothing but ;he fanati-
cism of the ecclesiastics keeping alive its semblance.
Toulouse, exasperated by the perfidy and barbar-
ity it had recently experienced at the hands of Simon,
received once more its ancient lord, Raymond, with
a fixed determination of upholding his rights. It
was not long before powerful reinforcements were
poured into the city, headed by the principal chiefs
and nobles of the surrounding territories ; so that
Simon was compelled to hasten with all speed, in
his wonted assurance of being able to put down
every opposition by the strength of his arm. His
troops, however, contained many Avho had enrolled
themselves only to escape suspicion and consequent
destruction, and thtse immediately deserted him fol
CONCLUSION. 261
tii<; standards of their respective chiefs. Not o few
of his mercenary soldiers, panic-struck at tins unex-
pected turn of affairs, abruptly left him also ; and it
Wh.s with a diminished host, though partially
strengthened by a junction with his brother Guy,
tlat lie approached the walls of Toulouse, ere jet
the eager citizens had completed their rebuilding and
the repairs of their ruined fortifications. Against
them, de Montfort put in practice his utmost skill,
power, and persevering resolution, but in vain.
Many months were passed in pressing a hopeless
siege, and in making assaults that were always re-
pulsed with severe loss to the assailants ; until mat-
ters became so critical, that Fouquet hastened into
France to preach up a new crusade : and Simon,
dispatching his Countess to solicit aid from Philip
Augustus, himself made a very urgent appeal to the
Vatican. It was, indeed, become necessary to re-
kindle the old embers of religious persecution into
a blaze, in order to preserve to him the prize that
he had proudly thought his own
But before the result of these applications could
be known, the vengeance of God overtook the crim-
inal. With his usual show of pious zeal, he was 1
attending the service of the Church, on the 25th of
June, 1218, when news was brought to him there
that the besieged had made a sally and taken his
favorite machine, " the cat," which they were de-
stroying by fire. Mass was then being celebrated,
and he remained till the moment when the wafer
262 coNCLtstoN.
was elevated, to which the monstrous dog/tia of
transubstantiation had been formally affixed by the
Lateran Council ; then blasphemously perverting tho
language of Scripture, he loudly exclaimed, Lord,
" Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation ;" and with
this awful testimony to his idolatrous belief, he left
the church, to superintend the retaking of the mur*
derous machine. In this he succeeded ; but at the
same moment a ponderous stone cast from the walls,
smote the defyer of the living God on the forehead,
and laid him low in death.
It was not till after a month's protracted but
fruitless efforts to carry the siege to a successful
termination, that Amaury de Montfort took up his
father's corpse, and bore it over the blood-stained
track of his long advance, to that memorable spot,
Carcassonne, where the young and noble Count
Raymond Roger had been ensnared by treachery
and committed to the hands of one TV ho, after a long
and dreary imprisonment in a dungeon, ended by
murdering him. Hither the grim and ghastly body
was brought in all the mingled pomp and pride of
military and regal parade ; and when at the last day
of awful judgment the graves .ire opened, and earth
and sea yield up their dead, from the crumbling
fragments of Carcassonne will come forth tho
wretched Simon de Montfort.
His character and his career, were, indeed, most
fearfully pre-eminent in guilt. The wild enthusiasm
203
of the age that really thought to do God service by
slaying his saints, the chivalrous spirit that loved to
conquer for conquest's sake, and courted the plaudits
that formed the victor's proudest meed, these be-
longed not to de Montfort. Dark, stern, cold, self-
wh, calculating, and with that revolting peculiarity
which distinguishes some few beasts of prey, the
wanton prolongation of the victim's sufferings, while
the monster gloats over its pangs, he stood compar-
atively alone, supreme in cruelty, where all were
cruel ; and never was he known to yield his own sav-
age will, save when some prompter, like Fouquet, sug-
gested a refinement of treachery and barbarity be-
yond what he had himself conceived. The selection
of such a man to bear the title of the Church's most
trusted and most favored champion, speaks volumes
as to what that Church itself must have been ; while
imagination shrinks from pursuing the track of his
blood-stained course, rending, mangling, and destroy-
ing without mercy old and young, the gray-haired
sire of successive generations, and the helpless babe
f yesterday ; the true worshipper of God and the
oval slave of Rome who dared to cast a look of
compassion on his more enlightened brother ; aye,
und the undoubted devotee of that very religion for
which Simon professed to combat, if by including
him under the commor charge of heresy, the plun-
derer might destroy him, and seize on his inherit-
ance. We cannot follow such a wretch as this to
his final accovint : we can but ponder on the fearful
264 CONCLUSION.
truth that such, ir its unrestrained workings, is the
Mystery of Iniquitj ; such the character of that
Great Babylon on whom vengeance will ere long
fall ; and from the contemplation gather fresh en-
ergy for the reiterated call, " Come out of her, my
people ! be ye not partakers of her sins, that ye re-
ceive not of her plagues."
Amaury de Montfort, determined to retain what
his father had Avon, exerted himself effectually alike
at the Court of Rome and that of France, to obtain
the needful assistance for another crusade ; of course
on the old pretext of extirpating heresy, but in reality
to -attack and to slay the native possessors of a soil over
which he desired to reign supreme ; and who, though
perfectly sincere in their allegiance to the papacy,
still preferred the mild rule of their rightful and
half-enlightened lords to the sway of a bigot, dark,
fierce, and pitiless, as they had good reason to fear
a de Montfort must be. This expedition was headed
by Prince Louis of France, as a meritorious service
before God ; and very many were the lives sacri-
ficed of those whom we cannot number with the
saints, the. objects of the war made by the Beast, in
the person of Innocent III. The castle of Mar-
maude was an important post ; and to this the
crusaders laid siege, until the inhabitants offered
to capitulate, and Prince Louis willingly granted
them permission lo leave the place in safety, reject-
ing the council of the Bishop of Saintes, that he
shouk 1 seizo, burn, and otherwise slay the whole
CONCLUSION. 265
body, civil and military, as heretics and npos(ates.
But wha: the French prince could nut bring himself
to perpetrate, was done by hands more experienced
in the work of treachery and slaughter. While a
few of the principal chiefs and knights were going
through the form of surrendering themselves in the
tent of Louis, Amaury de Montfort, ftt the head of
his troops, privately entered the unguarded city,
wiiere of five thousand inhabitants, of all ages and
conditions, they left not one alive. Every man,
woman, and child, was butchered before Louis
could interpose to stay the work of death. He ex-
pressed displeasure ; but it was not for a mere
secular prince to condemn what had been done un-
der ecclesiastical sanction ; and leaving the reeking
heap of carnage to send up to heaven its fearful cry
against them, the crusaders prepared once more to
assault Toulouse. They were further encouraged to
this attempt by the publicly recorded oath of the
people's legate, who had solemnly sworn " that in
the said Toulouse should remain neither man, wo-
man, boy, nor girl, but that all should be put to
death, without sparing any, old or young ; and that
in all the city there should not remain one stone
upon another, but all should be demolished and
thrown down. This pious oath, by the immediate
representative of infallibility, infused new courage
into the crusaders, and excited no small dread in the
bosom of the miserable Count Raymond, who con-
tinued fast bound in the cHins of superstition, pjir-
23
266 CONCLUSION.
suing ..is anomalous course of unbounded submission
to the spiritual thraldom of Rome; and protection,
so far as it still existed to be protected, to what she
denounces it an unpardonable sin even to tolerate.
Still Raymond had many brave and faithful allies,
who threw reinforcements into the city in great
abundance ; while the dovotion of magistrates, bur-
gesses, and people to their hereditary ruler and his
son was unbounded. No sign of intimidation ap-
peared, but the boldest preparations for a vigorous
defence ; and after some able but fruitless attempts
to carry a part of the outworks, Prince Louis with
the remains of his army, gladly retired ; accompa-
nied not, only by the disappointed Amaury de Mont-
fort, but also by the legate, Bertrand, whose piou
vow was baffled as effectually as that of the devotees
of old, who were sworn " neither to eat or drink till
they had slain Paul."
But where, during this while, were those who in
life and doctrine were followers of Paul, even as he
followed Christ ? They were still scattered about
the provinces, taken advantage of the temporary di-
version of theii merciless foes' from the work of
direct persecution ; confirming each other in the
faith, and deriving new strength to resist alike the
allurements and the terrors of Rome, from if hat
they had beheld of the practical workings of that
cruelly fierce and anti-christian sprit, which stands
in every point opposed to the peace and love of the
Gospel. Gradually, the numbe* 'f those who had
CONCLUSION. 26T
still lingered in their native valleys decreased more
and more. A sylums were found in other lan.ds, where
compassion for their unparalleled sufferings, respect
for their blameless characters, and not unfrequentlj-
a happy curiosity to learn the particulars of a faith
that bore such fruits, inclined the inhabitants to re-
ceive and to shelter them. In this way was the
seed of divine truth spread far abroad, even by the
same wind that prostrated the parent tree on its
native soil ; and to the teaching of those expatriated
confessors of Provence may be directly traced the
germ that appeared in its maturity in the persons of
John Huss, and Jerome of Prague.
It was in 1219 that the last hope of Amaury de
Montfort was baffled before the walls of Toulouse :
and in the interval that succeeded, an appearance of
revival gladdened the hearts of many who had re-
mained at or returned to their former posts. It is
on record, that in 1222, a sort of convocation of the
Albigensic Church was held in Razez, where up-
wards of a hundred of their principal men assem-
bled, and in some measure re-organized the dis-
persed body, by again appointing preachers and in-
structors for the several departments, where the
flames of mai tyrdom had consumed together both
pastors and flocks ; a few fragments of the latter
only remaining to be now re-gathered into their be-
loved fold. Beyond this, we have no authority for
stating any particulars respecting the Albigensic
believers . if they left any written documents, thej
268 CONCLUSION.
would ultimately fall into the hands of the exter-
minating Inquisition, subsequently established in
that wretched country under the fierce followers of
Dominic ; and it is not to be supposed that sucli
dangerous papers would escape the flames kindled
for their authors. The opposite party, of course,
had nothing to tell, for they kiiew nothing ; or we
should have it before us in such exulting annals of
martyrdom as Peter de Vaux Cernay supplies up
to the death of his patron, Simon de Montfort, with
whose career his work closes. We can only in im-
agination follow the quiet course of those who had.
always found it right for the sake of their kind, tol-
erating neighbors, to worship in comparative se-
crecy ; and who now on their own account no less
than theirs, avoided all open manifestation of the
partial revival, beyond what was necessary for the
right ordering of their church. Most absurd re-
ports were circulaied, even on this slender founda-
tion ; even to the assertion that the heretics had, in
another kingdom, elected a pope of their own, in
opposition to him at Rome ; but to this no one can
give credit. Even at the comparatively numerous
convocations already alluded to, only three new
preachers were ordained, which, considering how
lamentably the number of teachers had been dimin-
ished by fire and the sword, starvation and exile,
Badly proclaims the yet more diminished state of
the iei:ovr,red flock.
Mat jrs wen* tn in this way for the spa:e of scv-
CONCLUSION. 269
eral years, even to 1226, beforj the t.rch of deso
lating war was rekindled in the unhappy provinces.
Long before that period Raymond VI. died : ex-
hibiting to the last the most servile devotion to Po-
pery ; sustaining the character of a broken-hearted
penitent towards the enemy who had so relentlessly
persecuted him ; and clearly proving how far he
was from having received the life-giving rays of
that light which, nevertheless, he had long protected
and favored. It must be said of him that he delib-
erately chose darkness rather than light ; for both
were before him ; the latter in its purest radiance,
shining amid the agonies of many cruel deaths ; the
former in the depth of its most hideous blackness,
with its unmasked horrors evermore crossing his
path.
Raymond VII. had exercised the powers of gov-
ernment in his father's name, for some time, before
death removed the old Count from the scene of vi-
cissitude and woe where he had long been a prom-
inent actor. This youthful prince showed himself
less conscientious towards his subjects than his fa-
ther had done : for not only were his protestations
of devoted fidelity to the Papacy constantly re-
newed ; but he reoeatedly declared his readiness to
seek out, to seize, and to punish with the utmost se
verity that Rome could desire, all who held the
better faith. It availed him little, however; for in
1226, at the head of fifty thousand horsemen, and
an altogethei innumeiable force, sanctioned by the
23*
?70 CONCLUSION.
Pope's blessing, accompanied by his legate, and by
the veteran traitor and homicide, Fouquet, bishop
of Toulouse, (oy the Toulousians themselves called
the Bishop of Devils,) we find the King of France,
Louis VIII., engaged in a vigorous crusade against
the heretics of Albigeois in reality, to deprive his
powerful vassal-counts of their possessions, and to
secure in his own grasp what had been the grand
prize aimed at by Simon de Montfort.
In the month of June, the king laid siege to the
splendid city of Avignon, pressing it with all his
forces, during three months unsuccessfully. He is
stated to have lost, by pestilence and the sword,
twenty thousand men in those three months ; and
when at last the place capitulated, it was on terms
such as had often been granted, but never be-
fore kept by conquering crusaders. In this case,
the articles were observed ; and the enormous sacri-
fice of life, including the hastening on of the king's
own death, brought no real advantage to the invad-
ers, although the verbal submission of all the Lan-
guedocian nobles was secured by the intimidation
produced. But the object of this holy war was well
nigh baffled altogether ; for not a single heretic could
be found throughout the country which they trav-
i-rsed, though Fouquet put forth all his energies,
and th r king all his zeal in the search. At length
they found at Cannes, near Narbonne, an aged
preacher of the Gospel, nimed Peter Isarn, whose
infirmities having disabled him from flight, he had
JONCUJSION. 271
ecreted himself until the diligence of Fouquet dis-
covered and dragged him forth. With exulting
ceremony, they brought the venerable minister to a
mock trial ; and publicly burned him as an accepta-
ble offering, if not to the God of heaven, to the foul
spirit that delights in making herself " drunk with
the blood of His saints."
From the wide battle-field so long deluged with
blood, the principal combatants had passed away.
Simon de Montfort mouldered on a spot defiled and
devastated by his crimes ; and the unburied corpse
of Raymond VI., for which no efforts, no supplica-
tions, no lowliness of submission on the part of his
son could obtain the privilege of burial from the vin-
dictive Church of Rome, presented a monument of un-
availing, because inconsistent, adherence to a better
O'
cause. Of the great army brought into Languedoc
by the French king, it might be said, as of the As-
syrians of old, that they
"Jntouched by the sword,
Had melted like snow at the breath of the Lord.
The monarch himself died .very shortly after his
parting exploit of committing to the flames the
hoary head, and palsied limbs of Christ's solitary
martyr, Peter Isarn ; and while another new occu-
pant was busied in settling himself on the throne of
the Vatican, and a light-minded, intriguing Queen
Regent took Tie re'gns of French government into
272
her unpractised hand, it might be supposed that
the drooping tree, of the Lord's planting among the
Provencals would once more revive, lift its head, and
extend its branches. But, alas ! the wild boar had
wounded it too deeply for such a revival to take
place ; and very few, and very feeble, and far-dis-
persed asunder, were the remnants of what had
once formed so fair and promising a Church. The
very pretext of seeking out heretics became scarcely
available ; and though Blanche, who now governed
for the youthful son of Louis, dispatched a fresh
armament against the Count of Toulouse, still nomi-
nally to extirpate heresy, it would have been diffi-
cult for them to give the semblance of a religious
crusade to the expedition, had not those two veteran
soldiers of the Evil One, Arnold Amalric and Fou-
quet, personally assisted in the campaign. The cas-
tle of Becede was taken ; the garrison put to the
sword ; and Fouquet had the -joy of discovering
within the conquered walls a faithful Albigensic pas-
tor, named Girard de la Mote, with a little flock gath-
ered about him. They would have fallen undistin-
guished in the general slaughter, but the bishop
rushed in to their rescue ; and when the work of
blood was finished, he proceeded to the still more
congenial work of fire. The whole party were sol-
emnly arraigned as heretics, condemned, and with
every ceremonial that could give additional zest to
the scene, burnt alive. Carried back in imagination
to those times, and looking, as it were, on the horri-
roN'ci.iistox. 273
bb cruelties perpetrated by men who made it their
brightest merit and highest glory to revel in the
death-throes of their unresisting victims, we must
feel the glow of natural indignation, heightened by
the knowledge that they did these things in the
name, and professedly by the authority, and to the
honor and praise of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom
they thus persecuted, and daily crucified afresh by
their enormous crimes ; but passing on from the past
to the present, remembering the awful fact, that
these murderers are even now in a state of real, con-
scious existence, and anticipating the final doom
which our own ears will hear pronounced upon them,
while our own eyes survey their forms, called forth
terrible thought ! to " the resurrection of damna-
tion ;" we may well merge all other feelings in that
of trembling adoration, as the question appeals to
our hearts, " Who made thee to differ?" On the
other hand, we know that the spirits of the martyra
are with Him who first suffered unto death for
them ; and while they stand rejoicing before his
throne, the language of their blessed experience is,
" Our light afflictions, which were but for a moment,
have wrought out for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory."
Very beautiful is the country where all these
scenes of blood took place. The hand of God had
decked it with mountain and valley, hill, grove, and
plain. Ri^h vineyards mantled the graceful slopes,
turning t^eir purple clurters to the ripening sun-
ii\ CONCLUSION.
beam ; golden harvests waved, ai d bright green
pastures stretched away where the open plain pro-
longed its level, waterc 1 by rivers, of which the
perpetual supplies came bubbling down the rocks,
and widened as they ran into new channels. Cas-
tles of gigantic size, throwing out their fortifications
to an immense extent, crowned by dark woods, while
their site, frequently, was on the summit of a pre-
cipitous rock, were in keeping with the grandeur ol
the natural scenery ; though, alas ! the jealous care
with which every part was rendered available for
defensive warfare, bespoke the constant expectation
of some outburst of man's enmity against his brother
man ; and told how far the kingdoms of this world
still were from having become the kingdom of our
God and of his Christ. Yet, overshadowed as they
were by the martial piles of their warlike lords, the
simple dwellings of the lowly wore an aspect of con-
scious security and peace. The twining flower-stem
threw its graceful arms around the rustic porch,
and climbed the roof, and laughed in at the little
casement ; its lesser kindred spread their many-col-
ored forms of beauty on the ground below, inter-
mingled with herb and vegetable, and fruit-bearing
bush, with scarcely the defensive precaution of a few
light stakes to mark the boundary where none were
expected to intrude. Nor was the peace, in numer-
cus cases, such as results from outward safety and
tranquillity alone : in very many of those rural hab-
itations dwelt tbe true son of a truo peace, such as
CONCLUSION. 275
the world has not to give such as the world can
never, in life >r in death, take away. That peace
rested on the heads and in the hearts of the cottage
dwellers, while they looked round on a landscape
radiant with smiles, and undreading the approach
of a hostile step. It rested there, when the land
that had been as the garden of Eden became a
waste wilderness ; when the protecting fortress was
dismantled, and turned to a heap of smoking, black-
ened ruins ; when the soil, uptorn and trampled
down again, became a pestilential admixture of cor-
rupting flesh and congealed blood, and decomposed
vegetable ruin : when the youthful son of many
prayers and hopes fell a mangled corpse before the
entrance of the dwelling which he vainly sought to
guard with his wounded body, and the crash of ruin
bespoke the utter demolition of that frail tenement
whence the son of peace was at length ejected ; but
how? and whither went he? Bound and fettered
and scourged along the hideous road, now foul with
death ; his matron partner, and his blooming daugh-
ter, with raiment torn, and hair dishevelled, and
shoulders laid bare to the quickening thong, drag-
ging their bruised limbs after him, the son of peace
proceeded on his way, satisfied that as was the Lord,
so must His people be in this world ; and neither
daunted nor discouraged on his path of sorrow,
sanctified as was every step thereof by the footprint
of the great Forerunner.
They have reached the camp ; and in a Icrdly
276 . 7O1S.'LUSION.
tent (>its the appointed vicegerent of him who murps
a throne in the nominal temple of God. A dense
company surround him, of bishops and priests, and
all the ecclesiastical orders of Rome, clad after the
pattern seen by John in the Apocalypse, in scarlet,
and gold, and gems of dazzling lustre, such as their
queen was decked in. An outer circle inclose this
mitred and cowled company, of fierce warriors,
whose burnished armor, Hashing back the licfht
o o
amid the wild and graceful confusion of silken scarfs
and waving plumage of every imaginable dye, add
grandeur to the terrors of the scene. Who else is
there ? The son of peace is there ; a most unwont-
ed guest in that gorgeous company ! The poor
peasant stands before the haughty prelate who
wields pontifical authority, defiled with dust and
blood, and pale with the anguish that cries out from
the overburdened heart, " Save me from this hour !"
yet calm in the inseparable adjunct, so dear to the
child of God, " Nevertheless not my will but thine
be done !" Close behind him, close as wanton
tyranny will permit them to press, stand the gentle
objects of his earthly love, endeared by the tie that
death cannot sever. He is questioned concerning
his hope : he declares it to be wholly centred in
Jesus who died upon the cross for sinners : he is
asked of his faith in the power of the so-called
church ; in the authority of her priests to absolve
from sin and to save a soul alive, or to bind that
soul in chains that Omnipotence, cannot break; h*
CONCLUSION. 27?
Is a&ked of his confidence in tlie n.erits awd inter-
cessory efficiency of dead women and dead men ;
and, fia illy, he is required to submit himself to the
Roman Church, as of divine authority ; to bow down
and adore a consecrated cake, as the very Jesus, the
all-sufficient Saviour whom he hast just confessed.
To each and all of these queries and demands, he
returns a calm, firm negative ; striving at the same
time to set forth the grounds of his scriptural dis-
sent ; but experience had taught the persecutors the
impoi : cy of suffering the truth to be heard ; and
with fL-rce clamor they condemn him to the burning
flames. A shorter interrogation suffices with the
women ; it is enough that his faith is theirs, his
hope, his joyous readiness to suffer ; and the son of
peace passes out, to ascend the burning pile already
prepared by eager hands, well accustomed to the
task, and perfectly aware that a victim once seized
was already condemned, even though proof should
fail that he had ever borne the brand of heresy.
The flames ascend ; the priests in awful mock-
ery of God chant their jubilate round the scene of
death ; and warriors clash their shields and wave their
banners in joyous accompaniment, while the curling
smoke ever and anon dividing, affords them a glimpse
of what is within. The son of peace is there : the
Prince, of Peace is there also, invisible to man, but,
oh, how sensibly present to His suffering, yet rejoic-
ing servants, now in the act of putting off the
scorched tabernacles of their mortal bodies, and to
24
278 CONCLUSION.
join the noble army of martyrs, resting in the abodes
of everlasting peace.
Persecution and affliction are not the necessary
portion either of a church or of an individual be-
liever. The Lord assigns the lot that He sees best
suited to the circumstances in which he has placed
them. Even under heathen rule, and in the midst
of many adversaries, there was a period of which it
could be recorded, " Then had the churches rest
throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria;"
and instead of any declension attending this peace-
ful state, we read, that they " were edified ; asd
walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort,
of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied." In like man-
ner, it sometimes pleases God to add outward pros-
perity, and domestic happiness, unalloyed by any
great drawback, to the spiritual blessings wherewith
he enriches his children ; until, perhaps, the doubting
soul makes a cross of the absence of crosses, asking,
" Can I be living godly in Christ Jesus, while I suffer
no persecution!" These are exceptions indeed to a
general rule, but they should excite no misgivings : it
often seems good to the Lord to try our faith, and
Immility, and love, by prosperity as well as by ad-
versity ; and perhaps it is the harder trial of the two.
A single believer in an ungodly, dissipated family ;
a pious man, obliged to abide among scoffers, as a
soldier in a regiment, or a sailor in a ship ; a little
flock of true Christians walking consistently with
their profesVon in a church where spiritual life is
CONCLUSION. 279
otherwise extinct, and where the rulers are not fnith-
ful to their trust ; these must indeed look for per-
secution as .severe as the restraining power of Prot'
estant toleration will allow ; and where the religion
of the Bible is gradually giving way to a religion of
forms and ceremonies, vain traditions and unwar-
ranted assumptions, we may be assured that the
hour is not far off when such toleration shall cease
to exist, together with the root that bears it. In
the case of the afflicted Albigenses, the sure word
of prophecy had foretold their delivery into the
power of the Beast, and his successful war upon
them ; but it is probable that very few among them
possessed, and fewer still applied to themselves,
what had been revealed to the apostle John. It
was enough for them that God had shown them
the all-sufficiency of the one great sacrifice offered
on the cross ; and the Holy Spirit strengthened
them to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ
had made them free, resisting unto death the entan-
glements of that yoke of bondage which would have
enslaved them to a system utterly opposed to the
truth of the Gospel a mystery of iniquity, the dire-
ful workings of which they beheld on all sides ; not
only in the profligate lives of its ministers, and the
hardened sinfulness of its votaries, but in the deeda
of blood and savage cruelty perpetrated under its
direct sanction, as a rendering unto God of most
acceptable service.
The land was no\i again thrown out of cultiva
280 CONCLUSION.
ticn ; for war lad once more burst upon its borders,
and it was well known that Blanche of Castille, the
q;ieen-mother of France, had promised to put a
finishing hand to the work of her predecessors.
The young Count Raymond was beforehand with
her; after the affair of Becede, which was all that
the last invasion had accomplished, he took the field
with a considerable army, met the enemy's forces,
obtained a decisive victory, and gave the most con-
clusive proof of the extirpation of what was called
heresy among his followers, by practising the most
barbarous cruelties on his prisoners, who were mu-
tilate 1 and tortured to death by the victors. A
seconi successful battle was followed by the same
atrocities, giving evidence that even the restraining
influence formerly exercised by the presence of true
Christians among the troops was withdrawn, and
that the spirit of revenge had taken place of that
noble devotion to a better cause which once charac-
terized the Toulousians. A thousand piles of burn-
ing faggots, heaped with martyred Albigenses,
would not have afforded to Rome such a triumph as
did these cruelties of a successful foe : in the former
case, she could but kill the body, and after that had
no more that she could do : in the latter, she saw
her own venom infused into the soul, and the vic-
tims were hers and the dragon's forever.
The signal punishment which followed these acts
en the part of men who could not plead ignorance
af beltei *.hin<rs. was a finishing blow to the wars
COJTCLTJSK N. 29j
of many years. Here again we meet wilh the inde-
fatigable emissary of Satan, Fouquet, who encour-
aged Humbert de Beaujeu, the commander over
whose troops Raymond had achieved these deeply-
tarnished conquests, to advance upon Toulouse with
& powerful reinforcement of crusaders, brought to-
gether by the strenuous efforts of the bishops and
preaching-brotherhood. Guilty and terrified, the
Languedocian troops threw themselves into their
ancient city, and prepared to defend it as best they
might ; but here again Fouquet triumphed by
means as contrary to the commandment of God as
they were odiously barbarous towards man. He
caused the crusaders to assemble each morning,
close under the walls of Toulouse, the better to at-
tract the attention of thoso. within ; and then, in-
stead of assailing its fortific?.tions, to disperse ; each
troop under its own leader, and each daily by a
new route, across the plains through the valleys,
over the mountains, deliberately cutting down, up-
rooting and utterly destroying the fruit-trees, and
every vegetable growth tln>t could give promise of
a future supply to the wre'ched proprietors and la-
borers of the soil. .Not ?. vestige did they leave of
aught that could yield harvest or vintage, or glean-
ing of any kind; wbih, so far as their ingenuity
could eft'eot it, the v^ry ground was rendered barren
and worthless Fr^ni their towers and walls the
people of TouVus^ looked forth upon this fearful
novelty in t l n ^j-fare to which they had been so
24*
282 CONCLUSION.
long accustomed ; for a novelty it was, because thfl
united energies of a large army were devoted exclu-
sively to the work, so long as there lay within
leagues around a spot wearing the aspect of present
or future fertility. The citizens dared not ven-
ture forth, well knowing their inability to cope with
the enemy, and the danger of leaving their gates
with a diminished guard. The garrison, recently
returned from the battle-field, was paralyzed with
conscious guilt : they had shown no mercy and could
but expect tenfold retribution from a foe to whom
for the first time they had given real cause of
offence. Three months thus passed, without a day';
cessation from the work of ruin, sufficed. Winter
had arrived, and no harvest was housed, no vintage
gleaned, no hope, for years to come, of that supply
without which the wealthiest among them must
perish. God's saints were the salt that preserved
the mass so long ; they were gone, and nothing
remained but natural corruption, eating its way
through the abandoned body.
Raymond VII. made the best terms he could ;
and tby were sufficiently hard. Among them, he
obliged himself to raze their walls, and to fill up the
formidable ditches of Toulouse, rendering it incapa-
ble of ever presenting a defensive front to any as-
sailant ; while a French garrison, occupying the
splendid Narbonnese Castle, would keep strict
watch over the proceedings of the citizens. An-
other article bound h m to set a price on the head
288
of evety sus])ected heretic, throughout his domin-
ions ; and a third to make war on his generous
faithful allies, the Count of Foix, and nil who yet
showed a disposition to preserve their independence.
But a more sure method of silencing forever the
voice of truth in those unhappy regions was adopted,
by the assembled prelates of the provinces, who
met in council at Toulouse for that purpose ; and
this was the introduction and- permanent settlement
of that master-piece of what is itself the master-
piece of Satan that most hideous child of a hide-
ous parent, the Inquisition, which had received the
fiat of its establishment, as a godly and useful meant)
of upholding the power of the papacy, at the fourth
council of Lateran, so infamously famous for its an-
tichristian decrees. If now a single sheep or lamb
of Christ's flock lurked among the blighted scenes
of former peace and prosperity, it was sure to be
discovered, brought forth, and immolated.
The treaty signed at Paris on the 12th of April,
1229, put a final close to the secular part of the
contest, which had been carried on for more than
twenty years, between the people and the princes
of Languedoc, on the one side, and the court of
Rome, aided by the armies of France, on the other.
That treaty has been justly termed, " the most ex-
traordinary that any sovereign had ever been re-
quired to sign. Each of its articles," says William
do Puy T/uvrens, "contained a concession which
284 CONCLUSION.
might alone lave sufficed for the ransom of tnr
count of Toulouse, had he been made prisoner in a
universal rout of all his army. Raymond neverthe-
less, did not hesitate to give his consent to it." *
By that treaty, he surrendered to the king all his
possessions in France, and to the legate of Rome,
all that he held in the kingdom of Aries. After
this universal renunciation, the king, as if by favor,
granted him, as a fief,, for the remainder of his life,
a part only of what he had taken from him, namely,
a portion of the diocese of Toulouse, of Albigeois,
and of Quercy, with the entire dioceses of Agenois
and of Rouergue. These provinces, which the king
restored to him, were, moreover, to form the por-
tion of his daughter Jane, then nine years of age,
whom he named his sole heiress, and whom he en-
gaged to deliver immediately into the hands of
Blanche, that she might bring her up under her
own eyes, and afterwards marry her to one of her
sons at her discretion. He also promised to pay
20,000 marks of silver in four years ; further en-
gaging, as we observed just now, to raze the walls
and fill up the ditches of Toulouse ; to receive a
French garrison into his castle ; to dismiss all his
mercenaries, or hired troops ; to make war upon all
who had been his faithful allies : and to offer and
pay a reward of two marks for every one of his own
subjects who might be arrested as a heretic.
This entire subjugation of the prince was followed
* Guill. de Pcxlio Laurentii, c. xxxix. j>. 691
CONCLUSION. 285
in Novemb3r of the same year, by the permanent
establishment of the Inquisition. In a council held
at Toulouse, composed of the archbishops of Nar-
bonne, of Bordeaux, and of Auch, with their suffra-
gans, it was provided that the bishops were to de-
pute into each province a priest, and two or three
laics, to seek after, (having first engaged themselves
by oath,) all the heretics and their abettors " Let
them visit carefully," says the first canon, " each
house in their parish, and the subterranean cham-
bers, which any suspicion shall have caused to be
remarked ; let them examine all the out-houses, the
retreats under the roofs, and all the secret places,
which we order them, besides, everywhere to de-
stroy: if they find there any heretics, or any of
their abettors or concealers, let them in the first
place provide that they may not escape ; then let
them, with all haste, denounce them to the arch-
bishop, the bishop, the lord of the place or his
bailiffs, that they may be punished according to their
deserts."
The providence of God has wonderfully ordered,
that we should learn, both the piety and constancy
of the persecuted saints, and the Satanic means em-
ployed for their extirpation, from Romish pens. A
work published by fathers Martine and Durand, of
the congregation of St. Maur, preserves to us the
instructions given to the Inquisitors, for the proper
discharge of their duty. These instructions com-
mence thus :
286
" In this manner the inquisitors proceed in (he
provinces of Carcassonne and Toulouse. Fhst, the
accused or suspected of heresy is cited ; when he
appears, he is sworn upon the holy Gospels, that he
will fully say all that he knows for a truth, respect-
ing the crime of heresy or Vaudoisie, as well con-
cerning himself as others ; as well concerning the
living as the dead. If he conceals or denies any-
thing, he is put in prison, and kept there until he
shall have confessed ; but if he says the truth, (that
is, if he accuses either others or himself,) his confes-
sion is diligently written down by a notary public.
. . . When a sufficient number have confessed to
make a sermon (thus they then called, what we at
this day name, from a Portuguese word, auto daft,)
the inquisitors convoke, in a suitable place, some
juris-consults, minor-brothers, and preachers, and the
ordinaries, (the bishops,) without whose counsel, or
that of their vicars, no person ought to be condemned.
When the council is assembled, the inquisitors shall
submit to it a short extract from the confession of each
person, but suppressing his name. They shall say,
for example, A certain person, of such a diocese, has
done what follows, after which the counsellors reply,
Let the inquisitor impose upon him an arbitrary pen-
ance, or let this person be immured, or in fine, let him
be delivered to the secular arm. After which they
are all cited for the following Sunday. On this day,
the inquisitors, in the presence of the prelates, the
abbots, the bailift's, and all the people, cause those
281
to be first called, who have confessed and persisted
in their confession ; for, if they retract, they are sent
back to prison, and their faults only are recited.
" They begin with those who are to have arbi-
trary penances : to them they give crosses, they im-
pose pilgrimages, greater or smaller, according to
their faults ; to those who have perjured themselves,
they give double crosses. All these having gone
out with their crosses, they recite the faults of those
who are to be immured, making them rise, one after
the other, and each remain standing whilst his con-
fession is read. When it is finished, the inquisitor
seats himself, and gives his sentence sitting, first in
Latin, then in French.
" Finally, they recite the faults of the relapsed,
and the sentence being pronounced, they are deliv-
ered. . . . Nevertheless, those who are delivered as
relapsed, are not to be burned the same day they
are delivered ; but, on the contrary, they ought to
be engaged to confess themselves, and receive the
eucharist, if they require it, and if they give signs
of true repentance, for thus wills the lord Pope."
Such was the external form observed. But the
same two Benedictine fathers have admitted us
somewhat farther into the interior of these pro-
ceedings. A later instruction, printed by them, is
as follows :
" Even he who is the most profoundly plunged in
heresy, may sometimes be brought back, by the fear
of death, or the hope that he shall be permitted to
219 CONCLUSION.
live, if he confess sincerely the errors which he has
learned, and if he denounce any others whom he
may know to belong to this sect. If he refuses
to do it, let him be shut up in prison, and given
to understand, that there are witnesses against him,
and that if he be once convicted by witnesses, there
will be no mercy for him, but he will be delivered
to death. At the same time let his food be les-
sened, for such fear and suffering will contribute to
humble him. Let none of his accomplices be per-
mitted to approach him, lest they encourage him, or
teach him to answer with artifice, and not to betray
any one. Let no other approach him, unless it be
from time to time two adroit believers, who may
advise him cautiously, 'and as if they had* compas-
sion upon him, to deliver himself from death, to
confess where he has erred, and upon what points,
and who may promise him that if he do this he
shall escape being burned. For the fear of death,
and the love of life, sometimes soften a heart, which
cannot be affected in any other manner. Let them
speak to him also in an encouraging manner, saying.
' Be not afraid to confess, if you have given credi 4
to these men when they said such and such things,
because you believed them virtuous. If you heard
them willingly, if you assisted them with your pro-
perty, if you confessed yourself to them, it was lie-
cause you loved all whom you believed to be good
people, and because you knew nothing 511 respecting
them. The same might happen to men much wiser
CONCLtSION.
than you, who might also b<3 deceived by ihern.
he begins then to soften, and to grant that he lias,
in some place, heard these teachers speak concern'
ing the Gospels or the Epistles, you must then ask
Lira, cautiously, if these teachers believed such and
uch things, for example, if they denied the exist-
ence of purgatory, or the e-fficacy of prayers for the
dead, or if they pretended that a wicked priest,
bound by sin, cannot absolve others, or what they
say about the sacraments of the church ? After-
wards, you must ask them, cautiously, whether they
regard this doctrine as good and true, for he who
grants this, has thereby confessed his heresy. . . .
Whereas if you had asked him bluntly whether he
believed the same things, he would not have an-
swered, because he would have suspected that you
wished to take advantage of him and accuse him as
a heretic. . . . These are very subtle foxes, and you
can only take them by a crafty subtilty."
We will add here a last instruction given by the
inquisitor, the author of this work, to his brother,
drawn from his personal experience. " Note," saya
he, " that the inquisitor ought always to siqjpose a
fact, without any proof, and only inquire after the
nix umstances of the fact. For example, he should
bay, How many times hast thou confessed thyself to
the heretics ? or, in what chamber have the heretic
slept in thy house? or similar things.
" In like manner the inquisitor may, from time tc
time, consult a book, as if lie had the life of the bet'
25
290 CONCLUSION.
etic written there, ar>d all the questions that he wn
to put to him.
" Likewise, when a heretic confesses himself tc
/iiiu, lie ought to impose upon him the duty of ac-
cusing his accomplices, otherwise he would not give
a sign of true penitence.
"Likewise, when a heretic either does not fully
confess his errors, or does not accuse his accom-
plices, you must say to him, in order to terrify him,
' Very well, we see how it is. Think of thy soul,
and fully renounce heresy, for thou art about to die,
and nothing remains but to receive with true peni-
tence all that shall happen to thee.' And if he then
says : ' Since I must die, I had rather die in my
own faith than in that of the church,' then it is cer-
tain that his repentance was feigned, and he may be
delivered up to justice."
The general plan was now entirely formed. Sub-
sequent councils, treaties, and papal edicts, filled up
the outline, in subsequent years, so as to leave DD
possible way of escape for even the suspected. In
April, 1233, a bull of Gregory the IXth confided
the work of the Inquisition especially to the Domin-
icans, while in his letters the Pope exhorted Louis
IX. to unite his zeal with that of the monks, and tc
inflict upon the relapsed heretics, convicted by the
inquisitors, their merited punishments. He also
recommended the Dominican monks to all the p-e-
lates in the kingdom, and to the nobles and bar oni
of Aquitaine, praying them to aid these monks in
291
the execution of their commission. The bishop of
Tournay, as legate of the holy see, named twc D*.
minicans at Toulouse, and two in each othe/ ally
of the province, to form the tribunal of the i lilli.
And Raymond, appearing inactive in the woik, was
summoned before the legate and the king at M.;lun,
where he subscribed new statutes, then demanded
of him, by which, (and they are now extant,) " he
engages to pursue and exterminate those who had
killed the persecutors of the heretics, and to reward
with a mark of silver, whoever should denounce, ar-
rest, or cause to be arrested, a heretic ; to cause
every house to be pulled down in which an asylum
had been offered to one of the proscribed, or even
where he might have found a burial : to confiscate
the goods of those who should have rendered them
any kind office ; to destroy every lonely cottage, every
grotto, every fastness, where they might find a re-
fuge : to take from the children of the heretics, and
confiscate, whatever property they might have inher-
ited from their parents ; to punish, by the confisca-
tion of all their goods, and that without prejudice
to corporal punishments, all those who, being called
upon by the inquisitors to assist in the arrest of a
heretic, should either refuse, or by design should
suffer the accused to escape." In these same stat-
utes, imposed upon Count Raymond, numerous ar-
ticles were added to the preceding, to leach these
who should endeavor, by quitting their hcnes, or
conveying their property by fictitious sales, or by
CONCLUSION.
other means, to escape from the rapacity of the
officers. These articles agreed on at Melun were
afterwards published at Toulouse, on the 18th cf
February, ] 234. A council held at Beziers, in the
same year, ander the presidency of the legate, added
still more to thL oppression, by permitting any of
the faithful to arrest every suspected person, \n
any place whatsoever, upon an accusation of here-
sy, and By threatening with the heaviest penalties
those who should in any way obstruct these private
arrests, as soon as the word heresy was pronounced.*
Two years after, in 1235, another council was
held at Narbonne the chief object of which seems
to have been, to multiply the cases in which, by a
fiction of law, they might apply the punishment of
relapse or revolt. The forms of procedure pre-
scribed by this circular are perhaps more important
than even the definition of the crimes. "As to
those you are to arrest," say the prelates, " we think
proper to add, that no man can be exempted from
imprisonment, on account of his wife, however young
she may be ; no woman, on account of her husband :
nor both of them on account of their children, their
relations, or those to Avhom they are most neces-
sary. Let not any one be exempted from prison,
on account of weakness, or age, or any similar cause.
... If you have not succeeded in arresting them,
hesitate not to proceed against the absent, as if they
were present; take particular care, in conformit?
* Labbe, v>l. xi. pp. 4-13, 452.
293
with the discerning will of the apost:lic see, not to
publish by word or sign, the names of the witnesses ;
and if the culprit pretends that he has enemies, and
that they have conspired against him, ask the names
of those enemies, and the cause of that conspiracy,
f jr thus you will provide for the safety of the wit-
nesses, raid the conviction of the accused. On ac-
count of the enormity of this crime, you ouglii to
admit, in proof of it, the testimony of criminals, ;f
infamous persons, and of accomplices. He who
persists in denying a fault, of which he may be con-
victed by witnesses, or by any other proof, must be
considered, without hesitation, as an impenitent hsre-
tic."*
It was hard for human nature to bear all this
rigor. A letter from the consuls of Narbonne to
those of Nismes, details the particulars of a quarrel
which took place between the civic authorities and
the Inquisitors. The consuls allege, that these
ecclesiastics, despising all the rules of justice, thought
of nothing but how to get possession of the prop-
erty of the rich, even when they were exposed to
no suspicion of heresy. They add, that when the
inquisitors had plundered them, sometimes they dis-
missed them without trial, and sometimes they caused
them to perish in prison, without pronouncing any
sentence upon them. They then proceed to give
examples of the interrogatories of the inquisitors, to
which it was impossible to reply without being cea-
* Labbe. vol. xi. p. 488, 501.
2.1*
OfU CONCMTS10U.
victed of heresy. The greater part of these quto*
tions are as improper to be repeated, as they were
incapable of being answered, being frivolous, cap-
tious, and indecent ; but they afterwards passed to
others of a somewhat different kind. " They de-
manded of these simple laics, if the host which tha
priest consecrated contains all the body of Jesil3
Christ ? If the laic answers that it contains the en-
tire body of Jesus Christ, the inquisitor directly re-
plies : You believe then that when four priests, who
are in one church, consecrate each of them a host,
as they ought to do, each of these hosts contains
the body of Jesus Christ ? If the laic replies thai
he believes so, You think then, replies the inquisitor,
that there are four Gods ? Then the affrighted laic
affirms the contrary/'*
Tyrannical, however, as was the conduct of the
Dominicans, their yoke could not be shaken off, nor
their main purpose defeated. " Heresy" was effect-
ually extirpated in those provinces, Yet was the
ancient maxim still shown to be true, that " the
blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."
Driven from their happy and peaceful abodes, the
" heretics" of Albi and Toulouse wandered far and
vide, and the history of Europe brings them to our
view, year by year, during a full century after, in
all parts of this quarter of the globe. No voice, 1:0
outward appearance announced the preaching of re-
form, or troubled the public tranquillity. Yet, thi
Hist, ile Nism -s, toin. i. liv. iii. p. 307.
29'i
proscribed Albigenses, who, far from their country,
had found an asylum in the cottage of the peasant,
or the poor artisan, whose labors they shared in
profound obscurity, had taught their hosts to read
ihft Gospel in common, to pray in their native tongue
without the ministry of priests, to praise God, and
gratefully submit to the chastisements which his
hand inflicted, as the means of their sanctification.
In vain did the inquisition believe that it had com-
pelled human reasuii to submission, and established
an invariable rule of faith. In the midst of the
darkness which it had created, it saw, all at once,
some luminous points appear where it would least
have expected them. Its efforts to extinguish,
served only to scatter them, and no sooner had it
conquered, than it was compelled to renew the com-
bat.
" Gregory IX., who had deemed the very soil of
Languedoc polluted, by its having produced so
many sectaries, and that the count of Toulouse
could not be innocent, whilst he had so many her-
etics amongst his subjects, all at once discovered,
with alarm, that even at Rome he was surrounded
with heretics. To give an example to Christendom,
be caused a great number of them to be burned be-
fore 'the gates of Santa Maria Majora ; he after-
wards imprisoned, in the convents of la Cava, ind
of the Monte Cassino, those who were priests or
clerks, and who had been publicly degraded, with
those that had given signs of penitence. At tbe
290 CONCLUSION.
tame time, he caused the Senators cf Rome to pro-
mulgate an edict, which determined the different
punishments to be assigned to the heretics, to thc.-e
who encouraged them, to those who should give
them an asylum, and to those who neglected to ac-
cuse them ; always dividing the confiscations be-
tween the spy who denounces, and the judge who
condemns, that the scaffolds might never be l; r t
without victims ; a combination which the Roruii
court has not renounced to this day. He sent the
senators' edict and his own bull to the archbishop
of Milan, to engage him to follow his example. He
afterwards profited by his recent reconciliation with
Frederic II., to announce to him, that Cathari, Pa-
terini, Poor of Lyons, and other heretics, formed in
the school of the Albigenses, had at the s;ime time
appeared in Lombardy and in the two Sicilies, and
to obtain from his friendship an edict which has
gained him the eulogium of the annalist of the
Church, and has been deposited in the pontifical ar-
chives. By this edict, the emperor commanded all
pcdestats and other judges, immediately to deliver
to the flames ever-y man who should be convicted of
heresy by the bishop of his Jiocese, and to pull out
the tongues of those to whom the bishop should
think it proper to show favor, that they might not
corrupt others, by attempting to justify themselves.
After having thus raged in Italy against the fugi-
tive Albigenses and their disciples, Gregory IX. did
Dot forget to pursue them in France. He \\ 'ote Lc
CONCLUSION. 207
the archbishop of Bourges, and to the bishop of
Auxerre, to exhort them to show themselves worthy
of the sacred ordination they had received, Ly com-
mitting to the flames all the heretics that had bet*
discovered at la Charite upon the Loire." *
Germany was soon found to be similarly infested.
The city of Stettin was reported to be filled with
heresy ; and Gregory addressed bulls to the bishops
of Minden, of Lubeck, and of Rochhasburg, to incite
them to preach up a crusade against the heretics.
The mandate was obeyed, and the Duke of Brabant
and the Count of Holland took the command of a
new army of the cross. The Romish annalists tell
us, that in the year 1233, " an innumerable multitude
of heretics was burned alive, through all Germany;
while a still greater number apostatized."! From
our own chronicler, Knighton, we learn, that many
of the Aquitanian fugitives escaped into England,
and that some of them were burned. Thuanus says,
that others migrated into Calabria, and some to Bo-
hemia and Poland. A few, it is certain, found a
peaceful refuge among the Valdenses of Piedmont ;
for a Romish missionary who visited the valleys of
Piedmont in A. D. 1405, states that he found then*
two distinct communities: one, of the ancient Vau-
dois, the other, a body of Albigeois, who had dweli
there ever since they had been driven from thfti*
nomes, in the crusades of the thirteenth century,
* Sismondi's Albigensic Crusade, pp. 235 237
f Lab* ;, torn. xi. p. 477.
298 CONCLUSION,
The history, then, of the extirpation o. this one*
flourishing church of Languedoc, presents, at one
view, the fulfilment of various promises and predic-
tions which we find in God's word. There is " a
threefold cord," which is "not easily broken."
1. We are warned by Daniel, that, during the
predicted reign of the Little Horn, that Antichris-
tian power should " wear out the saints of the Most
High;" which should be "given into his hand,"
until the completion of " a time and times and half
a time." This is the " WAR WITH THE SAINTS," ia
which, as the prophet was forewarned, the Little
Horn should " prevail against them." The very
same remarkable expression is adopted by St. John,
whose ten-horned beast made " WAR WITH THE
SAINTS ; and overcame them ;" and whose Great
Harlot, seated on that beast, is seen " drunken with
the blood of the saints ; and with the blood of the
martyrs of Jesus."
2. But our Lord himself forewarns and instructs
his disciples, what they should do, under these cir-
cumstances. He plainly told his followers, " Theu
shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall
kill you : and ye shall be hated of all nations for my
name's sake. And then shall many be offended,
and shall betray one another, and shall hate one
another. And many false prophets shall riss, and
shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall
abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But ki
CONCLUSION. 20V
that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be
saved." (Matt. xxiv. 9-13.)
And again :
" Ye shall be hated of all men for my name's
sake : but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Bat when they persecute you in this city, flee ye
into another : for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not
have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of
man be come." (Matt. x. 22, 23.)
And further :
"And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be
preached in all the world for a witness unto all na-
tions ; and then shall the end come." (Matt. xxiv.
14.)
3. The sure and supporting promise, howeve'r, on
which his persecuted people might rely, was given
to them at the very moment of his parting, when he
said, " Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, bap-
tizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost : Teaching them to ob-
serve all things whatsoever I have commanded you :
and, LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAY, EVEN UNTO THE END
OF THE WORLD." (Matt, xxviii. 19, 20.)
Thus, we observe, first, that for a certain allotted
period, the Man of Sin was to have dominion, was
to overcome the saints, and to become drunken with
their blood : secondly, that the Lord's people were
to be thus driven from one country to another, as-
sured of this, that amidst all their wanderings, they
would no; have completed their task of preaching
300 CONCLUSION.
the Gospel to every nation under heaven, until the
very moment of their Lord's approach. But, thirdly,
ander all these sufferings and discouragements,
" troubled on every side, but not distressed : per-
plexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not for-
saken, cast down, but not destroyed," they had the
last, the sure promise of Christ himself for their
perpetual consolation : "Lo, I am with you ALWAY,
even unto the end of the world."
Such is the infallible portraiture of the condition
and the destiny of the people of God during the
reign of Antichrist ; and most fully have we seen
it fulfilled in the history which we have now con-
cluded.
Yet, strange to say, there are still some to be
found not among Tractarians or secret Romanists
merely, but among sincere Christians, like the late
Dr. Arnold, and some of the Dissenters, who reso-
lutely shut their eyes to the leading facts of this
case. They admit the existence of much bigotry
and intolerance, but this, they add, you may find
in the days of Cyprian and Jerome, as well as in
the times of Hiidebrand or Innocent III. They ac-
knowledge, too, the existence of many corruptions,
in the middle ages; but the seminal principle of all
these corruptions, they add, was perceptible even in
apostolic days. Thus, by firmly closing their eyes
against the plainest facts of history, they arrive at
the conclusion, that there -was no APOSTASY, and no
" WAR WITH THE SAINTS."
CONCLUSION. 801
To render this view at all tenable, however, they
re forced to question the authenticity of the book
of Daniel, and to maintain that the Apocalypse
pictures forth either the events of the days of Nero,
or else the events of a period which has not yet even
commenced !
The simple-minded and humble student of God's
word, however, will only be repelled and alarmed
by these violent propositions. He finds Holy Scrip,
ture and the records of even Roman historians unit-
ing in the fullest harmony to establish the fact, that
from the commencement of the mystic 1260 years,
to its close, there was existing in Europe a Great
Spiritual Tyranny ; and that by this Tyranny " the
Saints," whether Paulicians, Cathari, Vaudois, Al-
bigeois, or Lollards, were uniformly " warred
against ;" and until the close of the allotted period
were " worn out," " prevailed against," and
APPENDIX.
OF the Albigenses, their purity of doctiine and of
life, and the last traces that remain of them, in the
page of history, the following records ought per-
haps to be added :
"A contemporary historian, after describing the
missionary efforts of Dominic and the Bishop of
Ozma against them, says, that these apostles of
Popery demanded of the inhabitants of those parts,
why they did not drive the heretics out of their
country ? To which the answer was, ' We cannot !
we have been brought up with them ; we have rela-
tions among them, and we see the goodness of their
lives.' " And thus," adds the historian, " does the
spirit of falsehood, only by the appearance of a pure
and spotless life, lead away these inconsiderate peo-
ple from the truth."
" In fine, the real state of the case, (allowing for
their own bias,) is truly described by two French
historians. Paradin, the annalist of Burgundy,
says :
" ' I have seen certain histories, in which both the
Albigenses and their princes stand excused of the
allegations so frequently brought against them. The
and errors ef Manicheisin, with which they
APPENDIX. 303
were said to be stained, were purely fictitious.
Through sheer malice, such enormities were imputed
to them by their enemies. They did none of the
things whereof they were falsely accused ; though they
did indeed, somewhat too freely, reprehend the vices
and corruptions of the prelates.'
" And Bernard Girard thus confirms this view :
" ' The Counts of Toulouse and Cominges and
Bigorree, and even the King of Arragon himself,'
says he, 'espoused the party of the Albigenses.
These sectaries were tainted with bad opinions ; but
that circumstance did not so much stir up against
them the hatred of the Pope and of the great prin-
ces, as the freedom of speech with which they cen-
sured the vices and the dissolute manners of the said
princes and ecclesiastics ; for they were accustomed
to reprehend the life and actions of the Pope him-
self. This was the chief matter which stirred up
an universal hatred against them ; and it moreover
was the cause that many nefarious opinions, from
which they altogether dissented, were fictitiously as-
cribed to them. The clergy of France, in short,
falsely accused the Albigensos of all sorts of here-
sies, merely because they exposed and reprehended
their vices.'*
" ' The fugitives of Languedoc scattered them-
selves over several of the kingdoms of Europe.
Knighton says, that many of them escaped into Eng-
land, and that some were burnt alive. Thuanus tell
The Church in the Middle Ages, pp. 337, 338.
804 APPENDIX.
us, that others migrated into Calabria, and some lo
Bohemia and Poland. That one portion, at least,
reached a quiet retreat in the valleys of Piedmont,
seems clear from the fact, that in A. D. 1405, Vin-
cent Ferrier, a Papist, visited these valleys for the
purpose of proselyting their inhabitants to Roman-
ism ; when he found there two distinct, though
friendly communities ; one being that of the ancient
Vaudois ; the other a body of Albigeois, who had
resided there ever since the extirpation of the
churches of Christ from Languedoc. Another cen-
tury or two probably commingled these two com-
munities together, but the fact, as existing in A.D.
1405, seems to be placed beyond a doubt.' "*
Of their great persecutor, perhaps the following
notice may possess some interest : A recent travel-
ler in the South of France thus writes :
" The feeble and vacillating Count Raymond of
Toulouse, the unhappy tool and slave of a spiritual
power, whose temporal tyranny he at times resisted,
and at times submitted to, died as he had lived, the
victim of superstition ; while he revolted from tern
poral oppression, he trembled at spiritual maledic-
tion.
" Unable to delight in the persecutions of bis un-
offending, pious subjects, he was accused by the in
quisitorial monks, and even accused himself, of sym-
pathizing with heretics : a devout belie.ver in the
* The Church in the Middle Ages, pp. 351, 352.
APPENDIX. 308
Church that stripped him of his lands and dignity,
he endured all the horrors that a state of excom-
munication can inflict, and remained on his knees
outside the churches which he was not allowed to
pollute by entering.
"As is usually the case with such minds, suffering
and misfortune only tended to deepen superstitious
feelings and terrors. He had assumed the order
cf St. John, and when speechless, before his death,
he was covered with the mantle of his order, and
seen to kiss it with the utmost devotion. Yet as
an early patron of the Provencal heresy, the perse,
cution of the Church continued even after his death ;
his body was not allowed to be buried ; nor could
his son even obtain leave to do so. His skull was
long preserved at Toulouse, and there I looked with
interest on his bust.
" The grave of Simon de Montfort, (if such it is,)
in the Cathedral of old Carcassonne, is nameless :
it is only a slab of red marble, without name or date.
I was looking at it with some of these thoughts in
my mind, when a young Frenchman approached,
and asked if I coulo. tell him where was the tomb
of a great saint, who had fought for the Christian!
several ages ago.
" I felt it strange to point down to the red slab,
and answer ' There ' Simon de Montfort, a great
saint, and fighting for the Christians !"*
Christian Lndy's Magazine, vol. ixii. pp. 30, 31.
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