46 A History of the Waldensian Church.
with all their power to the observance of the commandments of God.” St. Bernard, compelled, in spite of his hatred of their “heresy,” to acknowledge the purity of their lives, charges even this on them as the acting of falsehood. “If you ask”—such are his remarkable words—“What is their faith? nothing is more Christian; if you ask, What is their manner of life? nothing is more irreproachable.” The testimony of the Inquisitor Rainier reminds us of the forced acknowledgment of the possessed.“The heretics,” he writes, “may be known by their manners and their language, for they are well ordered and modest in their manners; they avoid pride in their dress, the materials of which are neither expensive nor mean. They live by their labour as artisans; their men of learning are likewise mechanics. They do not amass wealth, but content themselves with what is necessary. They are chaste, and temperate in eating and drinking. They do not frequent taverns and dances, and are not addicted to other vanities—they labour constantly—they study and teach. They may be known by their concise and modest discourse, in which they guard against indulging in jesting, slander, and profanity.”
Such a testimony from the pen of their enemy and active persecutor, induces us to echo the confession of the good king Louis xii., when a similar one was brought to him of his Vaudois subjects of Val Louise: “These heretics are better Christians than we.” It is in truth a lovely picture—why should it be a dissolving one? We trust it is not and quote in confirmation of that hope, and our own experience, the testimony of a modern writer, who, in referring to the present Vaudois community, remarks, “Indeed, the Vaudois, be it the result of their religion, their poverty, their meekness, or the persecutions to which they have been
