CHAPTER III. ANTIQUITY OF THE VAUDOIS FAITH
We find in St. Paul's epistle to the Romans, written from Corinth, chapter xv. verse 24, that it was the intention of the apostle to go into Spain, and to pass through Italy on his way. Now if St. Paul afterwards performed this journey, he must necessarily have passed through the valleys, as they lay on his road to Spain at that time, and he would have preached the gospel in them, as he did wherever he went. From this, it is fair to conjecture that the Vaudois have received their doctrine from St. Paul himself; and if this is thought too bold an assertion, we have reason to suppose that his doctrine may have reached them during his lifetime, as it seems to have been propagated by his followers throughout Italy, before he left Rome; for in concluding his epistle from Rome, to the Hebrews, he says, "Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all saints, they of Italy salute you." He does not say they of Rome, as the number of Christians rapidly augmented in the capital, and they were nearly all dispersed by the persecutions under Nero and Domitian, it is extremely probable that some parties of this host of fugitives should have taken refuge among our mountains, in the time of the immediate successors of the apostles.
But to descend to a period of greater certainty, it is allowed by all that the whole of Italy embraced Christianity in the time of Constantine,* and therefore the Vaudois doctrines may be considered the same as those of the Universal Church, by which we do not find any superstitious rites or customs to have been adopted till the sixth century; nor are the dangerous and revolting dogmas of the court of Rome, and its flagitious practices to be traced before the end of the eighth. All that belongs to the doctrine and practice of the modern Roman communion was until then unknown, as is clearly proved by the testimony of Juellus Daitlè, Dumoulin, &c., and indirectly by the partizans of Rome, Baronius, Enuphius, Platina, &c.
These innovations, and particularly the adoration of images,** were loudly condemned by the churches of England, France, Germany, and the east.
* St. Augustine relates, that Constantine sent a band of troops, after his victory over Maxentius, to destroy the statue of Jupiter Peninus, in the temple of Mont S. Bernard, (now the site of the modern convent,) and gave them his golden thunderbolt as a reward.--T.