Facts and Documents Illustrative of the History, Doctrine and Rites of the Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses

gave rise to it. I am aware that I might have made my cause more convincing by giving the work a more systematic form—that is, by categorizing the testimonies of writers and selecting, under each head, just the words that suited my purpose. This would, in a great measure, have saved the reader the trouble of thinking, remembering, and judging—which, to tell the truth, are exactly the things I wish to encourage, and for which I have endeavored to provide materials. By the chronological arrangement I have adopted, the subject will gradually open before the reader; he will see how far each extract confirms or contradicts the preceding one, and will be better able to judge the value of each testimony, taking it as a whole and considering it alongside its circumstances, than he would be if it were broken into parts and dispersed throughout the volume.

I could not discover any disadvantage sufficient to outweigh these obvious benefits, but I am not insensitive to one evil, which I have attempted to remedy. The same points are naturally addressed by various writers, and therefore necessarily lie scattered in various places, so