A decorative rectangular headpiece features intricate floral and scrollwork patterns. Below it, a large ornamental drop cap "L" is decorated with leaves and fruit, marking the beginning of the first paragraph.

PREFACE.

The Preliminaries, which I have placed at the head of each Part of this Work, will sufficiently inform the Reader of the sources where I have drawn from, and the character of the Authors from whom I have derived the History and the Doctrines of MANICHAEUS original: MANICHÉE. Mani (c. 216–274 AD) was the Persian founder of Manichaeism, a major dualistic religion that once rivaled Christianity.. It is only a matter of accounting to him what prompted me to treat this subject, and the method I have followed. I will add a general idea of what is contained in this Work, an Apology Used here in the sense of a formal defense or justification of one's arguments. for certain passages that might seem a bit too free to some Readers, and a kind of Introduction to Manichaeism.

I would never have thought to write the Critical History of Manichaeus and his Errors without the occasion I am about to describe. As it is pleasant to know the origin of great events, I wished to research that of the Reformation, of which one finds attempts in some of those Christian Societies that separated themselves from the Bulk of the Greek Church and the Latin Church, or whom the violence of the Bishops tore away from them. There were two famous ones in the West: one is that of the WALDENSIANS original: VAUDOIS. A medieval movement that preceded the Protestant Reformation, emphasizing poverty and lay preaching., and the other that of the ALBIGENSIANS original: ALBIGEOIS. A religious group in Southern France often accused by the medieval Church of being Neo-Manichaeans..

The origin of the Waldensians is so hidden that one cannot surely mark its Epoch. The name of