482 Outlines of Europe an History H eresy The Walden- sians The Albi- gensians arose who declared that no one ought any longer to rely upon the Church for his salvation ; that all its elaborate ceremonies were worse than useless ; that its Masses, holy water, and relics were mere money-getting devices of a sinful priesthood and helped no one to heaven. Those who questioned the teachings of the Church and pro- posed to cast off its authority were, according to the accepted view of the time, guilty of the supreme crime of heresy. Heretics were of two sorts. One class merely rejected the practices and some of the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church while they remained Christians and endeavored to imitate as nearly as possible the simple life of Christ and the apostles. Among those who continued to accept the Christian faith but refused to obey the clergy, the most important sect was that of the Waldensians, which took its rise about 1 1 7 5 . These were followers of Peter Waldo of Lyons, who gave up all their property and lived a life of apostolic poverty. They went about preaching the Gospel and explaining the Scriptures, which they translated from Latin into the language' of the people. They made many converts, and before the end of the twelfth cen- tury there were great numbers of them scattered throughout western Europe. On the other hand, there were popular leaders who taught that the Christian religion itself was false. They held that there were two principles in the universe, the good and the evil, which were forever fighting for the victory. They asserted that the Jehovah of the Old Testament was really the evil power, and that it was, therefore, the evil power whom the Cath- olic Church worshiped. These heretics were commonly called Albigensians, a name derived from the town of Albi in southern France, where they were very numerous. It is very difficult for us who live in a tolerant age to under- stand the universal and deep-rooted horror of heresy which long prevailed in Europe. But we must recollect that to the orthodox
