Note 445 — Chapter VI · GERMANY. (continued 2)

Index Error. Waldens. (Mag. Bib. Pat. XIII. 340).--Petri Herp Annal. Francofurt. ann. 1389 (Senckenberg Select. Juris II. 19).--Gudeni Cod. Diplom. III. 598-600.--Serrarii Hist. Mogunt. Lib. v. p. 707.--Hist. Ordin. Carthus. (Martene Ampl. Coll. VI. 214).--Modus examinandi Hsereticos (Mag. Bib. Pat. XIII. 341-2). John Wasmod subsequently wrote a tract against the Beghards which has been printed by Haupt (Zeitschrift fur Kirchengeschichte, 1885, pp. 567-76). Its chief interest lies in its attributing to the Beghards the tenets of the Waldenses. There is no allusion to pantheism, to union with God, to refusal of the sacraments, to the denial of hell and purgatory. Either he confounds the sects, or else the Waldenses concealed themselves under the guise of Beghards, or else there were among the Beghards a certain number who constituted a church separate from that of Rome without adopting the distinctive principles of Amaurianism. Wasmod tells us that they do not easily receive applicants, whose obedience they test by making them eat putrid flesh, drink water foul with maggots, etc., at the risk of their lives. One of their strongest arguments is found in the corruption of the Church, which is thus deprived of the power of the keys. Distinctively referable to Beghardism is the assertion that these heretics are greatly favored and defended by the magistrates of the cities; and not very flattering to Rome is the explanation that the bulls in favor of the Beguines were obtained by the use of money.