In Etkicfy all classes of Csthari held thst an is "the lust after the created." The world, as the work of the evil one, is evil, and all contact with it leads to sin. Among mortal sins were wealth, war, killing of ani- mals (except fish), carnal connexion, whether in cr out of wedlock (inasmuch as it increases the number of fiillen souls). Purification from sin was to be ob- tained by renouncing the world and entering the Church of the Cathari, out of which salvation could not be had.
III. U$age$, — ^The various sects of Cathari agreed very generally in their usages, however they might differ in doctrine. There were two classes of mem- bers, the perfect (perfecti) and simple beUever* (cre- dentes). The former were admitted by the ** spirit- baptism," called the contolanuntum^ the ceremony be^ ing a simple imposition of hands. (\^'ater baptism was rejected.) By the imposition of hands the Holy Ghost was said to be imparted, and the recipient became one of the perfect. To this class belonged the authority of the Church ; they administered its rites, and governed it as successors of the apostles. A manuscript in the Romance language was discovered in 1851, and is now in the PalaiB de$ Arts at Lyons. It was published by Cunitz, Jena, 1862; also in the StroAurger Beitrdge z, d. theol, Wissentchaften, voL iv, 1852. It contains a short liturgy, beginning with the Lord's Prayer, the Doxology, and the first seventeen verses of St. John's Gospel in Latin. Then follow in Proven^ first, an act of confession ; secondly, an act of reception among the number of believers ; thirdly, an act of reception among the number of Christians or Perfects; fourthly, some special directions for the fiuthftil ; and, lastly, an
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act of consolation in cmse of sickness. The fbrmnla for the act of confession tenninates with the following prayer:
O thoo bolj and good Lord, an these tblngi vhlch happen to aa, ia oar senam and in onr thooghti, to thee we do mani- UtH thMOt holj Lord ; and all the multitude of sins we lay upon the mercy of God, and upon holy prayer, and upon the holy Gospel ; for many are onr sina. O Lord, Judge and coo- denm the vices of she flesh ; have no mer^ on the flesh bom of corruption, bat have mercy on the spirit plaoed in prison, find administer to us days and hoars, and genuflexions, and faiti, and orisons, and preachings, as is the custom of good Christians, ttiat ve may not be Judged nor condemned in the day of ju(^;ment with felons.
The first degree of initiation, or the act of reception into the nnmber of believers, is called ** the delivery of the orison," because a copy of the Lord's Prayer was given to the neophyte. It begins thus :
If a bdierer is in abstinence, and the Christians era agreed io deUver hfan the orison, lei them wash their hands, and the believers present likewise. And then one of the bona hamnu*^ tbe aoa that comes after the dder, is to make three bows to the elder, and then to prepare a desk (dese), then three more bcnrn, and then he is to put a napkin (touala) upon the desk, and tiien three more bows, and then he is to put the book upon the napkin, and then let him say the BenecUeite, pareiU noma. And then let tbe bdiever make his salute, and take the book from the hand of the elder. And the elUer must admonish him, and preach trcm fitting testimonies (that is, texts). And if the beUevei^s name is Peter, he is to say, *^ Sir Peter, yoo rooflt anderstand that when you are before the Church of Ood, TOO are before the Father, and the Boo, and the Holy Ghost For the Church is called ^assembly;* and where are the true Christiuis, there is tbe Father, tbe Son, and the Holy Ghost.'*
The final initiation, or comsolamentum^ \b called "the baptism of the Spirit.*' Here is an extract from the formula of its celebration :
Jems Christ says, in the Acts of the Apostles, that ^* John fardy baptised with water; but ye sbnll be baptized with the Holy Ghost** This holy bapdsm of imposition of hands wroogfat Jesus Christ, according as St lAike reports; and lie fill that his friends should woik it, as reports St Mark: ^They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall receive eood.** And Ananias wrought this baptism oo St Paul when be was converted. And afterwards Paal and Barnabas wrought It in rnnny places. And 8t Peter and St John wrouffht it on the Samaritans . . . This holy baptism, by which the Holy Spirit is given, the Church of God has had it from the apostles ontil now; and it has come down from boru homm$» to bott§ komnuAt and will do so to the end of the world.
The perfeeU were bound to special fiuting and absti- nence—from property, and fh>m marriage. They had signs by which their persons, and even their houses, could be recognised by the initiated. Rainerius (who apostatised fVom Catharism to the Church of Rome) estimated the number of "the perfect** at about 4000 in all Europe. The credeiUety or simple believers, were not subject to the special restrictions named above, but were bonnd to confession to their ministers, and to seek the con9olame$Uum before death, as essential to sal- vation unattainable by the great mass of mankind. With them, quite as much as with the Roman Catho- lics, salvation was made to depend upon adhesion to a given religious community ; and as the auditors gen- erally put off receiving the oomolamenihtM to the hour of deaUi, this ceremony became invested with a magi- cal virtue, like the sacraments of the dominant Churdi. Their religions services were entirely ttee ftufsa the pomp and (Usplay of the Established Church. The places of worship were destitute of ornaments, crosses, and images ; at one end was a simple table, covered with a cloth, on which lay the New Testament. Wor- ship consisted of reading the Scripture, exposition of it, and prayer. They rejected the baptism of the Church of Rome both because the hierarchy was not the true one, and because water was created by the evil god ; and yet, with some inconsistency, they sub- stituted the blessing and breaking of bread, without wine, for the Romish eucharist.