stormed at them violently,
snatched a dagger from one of them, and ran furiously to the chapel,
where, finding Stanislaus at the altar, he plunged the weapon into his
heart. The prelate immediately expired on the 8th of May, A. D. 1079.

CHAPTER IV.

PAPAL PERSECUTIONS.

Thus far our history of persecution has been confined principally to the
pagan world. We come now to a period, when persecution under the guise
of christianity, committed more enormities than ever disgraced the
annals of paganism. Disregarding the maxims and the spirit of the
gospel, the papal church, arming herself with the power of the sword,
vexed the church of God and wasted it for several centuries, a period
most appropriately termed in history, the "dark ages." The kings of the
earth, gave their power to the "beast," and submitted to be trodden on
by the miserable vermin that often filled the papal chair, as in the
case of Henry, emperor of Germany. The storm of papal persecution first
burst upon the Waldenses in France.

_Persecution of the Waldenses in France._

Popery having brought various innovations into the church, and
overspread the christian world with darkness and superstition, some few,
who plainly perceived the pernicious tendency of such errors, determined
to show the light of the gospel in its real purity, and to disperse
those clouds which artful priests had raised about it, in order to blind
the people, and obscure its real brightness.

The principal among these was Berengarius, who, about the year 1000,
boldly preached gospel truths, according to their primitive purity.
Many, from conviction, assented to his doctrine, and were, on that
account, called Berengarians. To Berengarius succeeded Peter Bruis, who
preached at Thoulouse, under the protection of an earl, named
Hildephonsus; and the whole tenets of the reformers, with the reasons of
their separation from the church of Rome, were published in a book
written by Bruis, under the title of ANTI-CHRIST.

By the year of Christ 1140, the number of the reformed was very great,
and the probability of its increasing alarmed the pope, who wrote to
several princes to banish them from their dominions, and employed many
learned men to write against their doctrines.

A. D. 1147, Henry of Thoulouse, being deemed their most eminent
preacher, they were called Henericians; and as they would not admit of
any proofs relative to religion, but what could be deduced from the
scr