(A) CONSTITUTION AND ORDERS
§ 1. ATTITUDE TO ROMAN CATHOLICISM

A movement which claimed to be a revival, and even a survival, of primitive Christianity would not be likely to frame its constitution and orders upon the lines of a Church which it regarded as hopelessly corrupt, and which subjected it to pitiless persecution; any likeness between the two would be due merely to the claim or fact that they were derived from a common source. The Roman Church had three Orders—Priests, Deacons, and Sub-deacons; the Catharists also had three Orders—Majors, Presbyters and Deacons; but the difference was fundamental, for whereas the Roman Orders were sacramental, the Catharist were merely executive. Apostolic Succession was not confined to commissioned officers, but included the rank and file. It was proved not by ecclesiastical pedigrees, but by personal experience and responsive conduct. For it was the direct gift of the Holy Spirit to the individual, and was not mediated through man. These Spirit-filled persons composed the true Church. It is less true to say that the heretics were "praecisi ab ecclesia"[52] than that they deliberately repudiated and left the Church because it had forfeited its status by quenching the Holy Spirit, {66} as was shewn by its corruptions and persecutions. The loss of the Holy Spirit involved the loss of its power to excommunicate. Only those were successors of the Apostles who copied their life.

As life is in the whole body and in every member of the body, so the Holy Spirit was in their Church and in every member of the same. Hence, too, every local Church possessed the authority of the whole to elect its officers, whose authority, again, was not limited to such local Church, but could be exercised anywhere. Nor, when once conferred, was this authority regarded as a personal charisma. They did not say: "Ego te absolvo," but "Deus tua peccata tibi dimittat."[53]

The Waldenses, however, were less uncompromising in their attitude towards Roman Orders. Thus Raymond, the Waldensian Deacon, in his inquisition at Languedoc, declared that their Majors did not have the keys of the kingdom of heaven, but did have the same powers of Absolution as Bishops of the Roman Church, and that their Presbyters had equal powers with the priests of the Roman Church, "quia idem sunt in fide et in credulitate." On the other hand, Raymond Valsiera of Ax, described as a Manichee, and a pupil of the intransigeant William Autéri, in his confession, denied to the prelates and priests of the Roman Church any power to absolve, because they were the enemies of the Holy Faith.
§ 2. CREDENTS

Adherents were divided into Credents and Perfects, the latter being the more advanced. A movement exposed to constant persecution and espionage would exercise the greatest care in admission to its membership, and only after the most searching examination and most {67} solemn promises were its doors thrown open to applicants. Initiation into membership was called by enemies "heretication," and was of a more elaborate character with the Catharists than with the Waldenses. According to Peter de Vaux-Sarnai in his "Historia Albigensium," the Waldenses, of whom he held a higher opinion than of other heretics,[54] had an initiatory rite which involved a total renunciation of their Roman baptism and Creed. "When any one joins the heretics, he who receives him says, 'Friend, if you wish to be of us, you ought to renounce the whole Faith which the Roman Church holds,' He answers, 'I do renounce it.' 'Therefore receive the Holy Spirit from good men,' and then he breathes seven times on his face. Then he says to him, 'Do you renounce that cross which the priest made on you in your baptism on breast and shoulders and head with oil and chrism?' He answers, 'I do renounce it.' 'Do you believe that water works salvation for you?' He answers, 'I do not believe it.' 'Do you renounce that veil which the priest placed on your head for you when you were baptized?' He answers, 'I do renounce it.' Then he receives the baptism of the heretics. All then place their hands upon his head and kiss him and clothe him in a black robe, and from that hour he is one of them." This catechism confirms the statement of Ermengard, who wrote a tract against the Waldenses (although he does not mention them by name) that the sacrament of Baptism was unprofitable, unless a person answered with his own mouth and from his heart. Imposition of hands was substituted for affusion of water, the kiss of peace for the oil of chrism, so that the charge of Anabaptism cannot be maintained.

We are better served in our information of Catharist {68} ritual since the publication by L. Cledat in 1887 of the New Testament,[55] which was translated in the thirteenth century into Proven?al, and to which is appended the Catharist ritual preserved in folio 235 of MS. 36 of the MSS. in the Library of St. Peter's Palace at Lyons.

The Credents had first of all to make their confession in these words: "We confess our sins before God and you, and before the ordinances of Holy Church, that we may receive pardon and penance for all sins in thought and word and deed, and for all offences in the sight of the Father, the Son and the honoured Holy Spirit and of the honoured holy Apostles, by prayer and faith and by the salvation of all the loyal glorious Christians and blessed ancestors asleep and the brethren here present, and before you, holy Lord, that you may pardon all that in which we have sinned. Benedicite, parcite nobis. And whereas the holy word of God instructs us, as also the holy Apostles, and our spiritual brethren tell us that we should renounce all the lusts of the flesh and all impurity, we confess that we have not done so. Benedicite, parcite nobis." (Other sins are also confessed, and each confession ends with "Benedicite, parcite nobis").

"The Credent must then fast, and when the Christians agree to deliver to him the orison (Lord's Prayer) they shall wash their hands, and the Credent shall do likewise. Then one of the Good Men, who is next unto the Elder, shall make three bows (révérances) to the Elder, and then prepare a table, and having made three more {69} bows, shall place a cloth upon it, and having made three more bows, shall place the book upon the cloth, and shall say, 'Benedicite, parcite nobis.' Then the Credent shall make his melioramentum,[56] and take the book from the hand of the Elder, who shall then admonish him and preach to him with suitable proofs (témoignages). And if the Credent is called Peter, he shall say: 'Peter, you must understand that you are before the Church of God, you are before the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. For the Church means union, and where are true Christians, there are the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (St. Matt. xviii. 20; St. John xiv. 23; 2 Cor. vi. 16, 18; xiii. 2; 1 Tim. iii. 14, 15; Heb. iii. 6). The Spirit of God is with the faithful of Jesus Christ, and Christ dwells in them [as stated] in St. John xiv. 15-18; St. Matt. xxviii. 20; 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17; St. Matt. x. 20; 1 St. John iv. 13; Gal. iv. 6. For God's people separated themselves of old from their Lord God. And they separated themselves from the counsel and will of their Holy Father by the deceit of evil spirits and by yielding to their will. And for these and many other reasons they were made to understand that the Holy Father wishes to have mercy upon His people, and to receive them into peace and concord by the advent of His Son, Jesus Christ, and this is your opportunity. For you are here before the disciples of Jesus Christ in the place where spiritually dwell the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as we have shewn above, to receive the holy orison which Jesus Christ has given to His disciples in order that your orisons and prayers may be granted by our Holy Father. This is why you ought to understand, if you wish to receive this holy orison, that you must repent of all your sins and forgive all people. (St. Matt. vi. 15).... It follows that you purpose to {70} keep this holy orison all your life, if God give you grace to receive it, according to the custom of the Church of God, with chastity and truth and all other virtues which God shall please to give you. This is why we pray to the good Lord Who has given to the disciples of Jesus Christ the virtue to receive this holy orison with stedfastness, that He may give you also the grace to receive it with stedfastness, both to His honour and your salvation. P.N.'

"Then the Elder says the orison, and the Credent repeats it. Then the Elder says: 'We deliver this holy orison in order that you may receive it of God and of us and of the Church, and have power to say it all your life, day and night, alone and in company, and that you never eat or drink without first saying this orison.' And he shall say, 'I receive it of God and of you and of the Church.' He shall then make his melioramentum and give thanks, and then the Christians shall make a 'double avec veniae' (? 'Benedicite, parcite nobis,' twice), and the Credent shall say it after them.

And if he ought to be 'consoled'[57] on the spot, the Credent must make his melioramentum, and take the book from the hand of the Elder. And the Elder shall admonish him and preach to him with suitable proofs and such words as are appropriate to his consolamentum,[57] and say thus: 'Peter, you wish to receive spiritual baptism whereby is given the Holy Spirit unto the Church of God, with the holy orison, with the imposition of the hands of the Good Men. Of this baptism our Lord speaks (St. Matt. xxviii. 19, 20; St. Mark xvi. 15; St. John iii. 5; i. 16, 17; St. Mark iii. 11; Acts i. 5). This baptism by the imposition of hands has been instituted by Jesus Christ (St. Mark xvi. 18; Acts ix. 17, 18), and afterwards Paul and Barnabas practised it in several {71} places. This holy baptism by which the Holy Spirit is given the Church has kept since the Apostles until now, and it has come from the Good Men to the Good Men until now, and will be unto the end of the world. And you must understand that power is given to the Church of God to bind and loose, to forgive and retain sin, as Christ said (St. John xx. 21; St. Matt. xvi. 18, 19; xviii. 19, 20 [18, 19]; x. 8; St. John xiv. 12; St. Mark xii. 17; St. Luke x. 19). And if you wish to receive this power, you must keep all the commandments of Christ and the New Testament according to your power. And know that He has commanded that man shall not commit adultery, or murder, or lie; that he shall not swear any oath; that he shall not seize or rob; he must pardon and love his enemies; pray for his calumniators; if one strike him on one cheek, turn to him the other also; must hate the world and the things that are in the world (1 St. John ii. 16, 17; St. John vii. 7; Book of Solomon [Eccles.] i. 14; St. Jude, brother of St. James, 23).' And he shall say: 'I have this will: pray to God for me that He will give me His power.' And then one of the Good Men shall make his melioramentum with the Credent to the Elder and say, 'Parcite nobis. Good Christians! we pray you by the love of God that you grant this blessing, which God has given you, to our friend here present.' And the Credent shall make his melioramentum and say, 'Parcite nobis. For all sins I ask the pardon of God and the Church and you all.' And the Christians shall say, 'By God and us and the Church they have been forgiven you. And we pray God that He will forgive you.' And then they shall console him. And the Elder shall take the book and place it upon his head and the other Good Men shall each take his right hand, and say the 'parcias' and 'adoremus' three times, and then: 'Holy Father, {72} receive Thy servant into Thy righteousness and put Thy grace and holy spirit upon him,' And then they shall pray to God with the orison, and he who directs the service ought to say in a low voice the 'sixaine,' and then the 'adoremus' three times and the orison once in a loud voice, and then the Gospel. And when the Gospel is said, they ought to say 'Adoremus' three times and the Gratia and the Parcias.

Before a Credent was admitted to membership he had solemnly to promise to submit to the "Abstinence" or discipline of the Church which comprised certain rules of conduct, and the Church had to satisfy itself that the applicant was of sufficient moral strength to discharge his obligations. Thus, if a Christian comes into a place of danger he shall pray the Gratia. If anyone mounts a horse he shall observe the double (i.e. says the orison twice). If he goes on board ship, or enters a town, or passes over a plank or a dangerous bridge, he shall say the orison. If he finds anything on the road, he must not touch it, if he knows the owner. If he knows the owner, but cannot overtake him, he must leave the article on the road. If he wishes to drink or eat he must say the orison twice before and twice after doing so. Christians must visit sick Christians, and inquire into their life. Christians must pay their debts, and shall not be received into membership until they have done so, but if they cannot pay, they are not to be repelled on that account. They must promise to hold their heart and their goods, both present and future, at the disposal of God and the Church. If an applicant for membership agrees to all this, the Good Men answer: "We impose on you this Abstinence that you may receive it of God and of us and of the Church, and may you keep it all your life. For if you observe it well, with the other things which you have to do, we have hope that your soul will have {73} life." And he shall answer: "I receive it of God and of you and of the Church."

The rite of initiation was called Consolamentum, but fur............