An Inquiry into the History and Theology of the Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses

whose claim may be more satisfactory, lest, otherwise, the promises of Christ himself should seem to have failed in their accomplishment.

2. Accordingly, the Church which I would produce is that of the Vallenses or Valde or Vaudois The Waldenses, a medieval Christian movement originating in the Alpine regions..

From the apostolic age itself down to the present, that venerable Church has been seated in the Valleys of the Cottian Alps A section of the Alps on the border of France and Italy.. There it has never ceased to profess one and the same unvarying Theological System, thus faithfully reflecting the sincere, unadulterated Gospel of primitive Christianity; and there, both ecclesiastically and morally, the practice of its members has happily corresponded with their religious profession. This very remarkable Church forms, in the first instance, the chain of connection between the Primitive Church and the Church of the Albigenses A Cathar group in southern France, historically associated with the Waldenses by some scholars.; for the rise of the Albigensic or Paulician Church A medieval sect that arose in the Byzantine Empire. was itself not earlier than about the middle of the seventh century; and, in the second instance, it similarly forms the chain of connection between the Primitive Church and the Reformed Churches of the sixteenth century.

Thus, in a Visible Church, the promises of Perpetuity and Purity, as made by our blessed Saviour,