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Which is to be understood of the BREADEN GOD in the mass.

The archbishop, therefore, was the cause why others still detained those goods in their possession, without any restitution; and although some particular persons were afterwards called to an account, Le Sieur de Montainer, De Rames, and others, yet they could never obtain any remedy.

In the year 1560, the Waldenses of Fraissiniere and Pragela had their churches supplied with pastors, who kept them up to the exercise of their religion, at the time when all the professors of the Reformation were persecuted unto death. The President Truction made a speech to the states of Provence, assembled the same year, on November 6, pressing them to exterminate the Waldenses of Fraissiniere and Pragela, saying, that it was expedient to purge the old heretical leaven, which would otherwise infect and sour the whole country of Dauphiny, if some course were not taken to prevent it. It was resolved thereupon by those states to extirpate them by open force, and to this end, commissions were given out to levy troops, and march into the said valleys: but so soon as the drum was beaten up, and the men were under arms throughout Provence, the unexpected death of King Francis II. gave a new turn to the design; and the said Waldensian Churches in Dauphiny continued in the same posture, by the singular favour of God.

CHAPTER IV.

The Waldensian Churches in Piedmont, and the persecutions which they endured.

THE Waldenses had famous churches in the valleys of Piedmont, Angrogne, La Perouse, the valley St. Martin, Lucerne, and other neighbouring places, time out of mind. It is held for certain among them, that they descended from the Waldenses of Dauphiny, Pragela, Fraissiniere, and other neighbouring places; and that in process of time, being so vastly multiplied and increased, that the country could not supply them with provisions, they were constrained to disperse themselves far and wide, where they could best settle themselves. And so dearly have they loved one another, like brethren, that notwithstanding they have been oppressed with continual troubles, yet they have ever relieved one another, with a most hearty love and charity, not sparing their lives and goods for their mutual conservation.

The first troubles that the Waldenses of Piedmont endured, were occasioned by the report of certain priests, sent thither by the Archbishop of Turin, who gave in information, that the people committed to their charge did not live according to the manners and faith of the Church of Rome, neither making any offerings for the dead, nor caring for masses or absolutions, or to redeem any of their relations out of the pains of purgatory, by any of the usual ways and methods.1 Thenceforward

1 Vignaux, Memorials. Fol. 7.

the archbishops of Turin persecuted them, as much as lay in their power, rendering them odious to their princes; who hearing of the good report that their neighbours gave of their mild and honest conversation, and that they were a simple people, fearing God, and of a good deportment, without deceit or malice, loving integrity and plain dealing, always ready to serve their princes; and that they very willingly and cheerfully yielded to them all dutiful obedience; being moreover in such favour and esteem with the people their neighbours, that they endeavoured to get the youth of Piedmont into their service, and to procure nurses among them to bring up their young children: the said princes hearing thus well of them, were resolved for a long time not to molest and disturb them; but the priests and monks, who were frequently amongst them, getting no handle from their belief and behaviour, charged them at length with an infinite number of forged calumnies; and whensoever they went into Piedmont upon business, they always apprehended the Christians, and delivered them into the hands of the inquisitors, and the inquisitors to the execu tioner, so that there was hardly any town or city in Piedmont, in which some of them were not put to death. Jordan Tertian was burnt at Suse; Hyppolite Ronsier at Turin; Villermin Ambroise was hanged at Meane; and also Anthony Hiun. Hugh Chiampe de Fenestrelles, being apprehended at Suse, was conveyed to Turin, where his entrails were torn out and put into a bason, and he himself afterwards was most cruelly martyred. Among which servants of God, there were some who maintained that truth which had been known for above two hundred and fifty years among them. But among all the rest, the constancy of Catelin Girard is worthy of our remembrance. Standing upon the block whereon he was to be burnt at Revel in the Marquisate of Saluces, he requested his executioners to give him a couple of stones, which they refused to do, fearing that he designed to fling them at somebody; but he protesting the contrary, at last they delivered them unto him; who having them in his hand, said unto them; When I have eaten these stones, then you shall see an end of that religion for which you put me to death;' and so cast the stones upon the ground.2

The fires were kindled till the year 1488, at which time they resolved to assault them by open force; because they perceived that the constancy of those whom they did publicly put to death, drew a great number of others to the knowledge of God; and that by this means they should never accomplish their design. Therefore they levied men to join with Albert de Capitaneis, commissioned by Popes Sixtus IV. and Innocent VIII. There were eighteen thousand soldiers raised, besides a great number of the inhabitants of Piedmont, who ran to the plunder from all parts. They marched all at once to Angrogne, Lucerne, La Perouse, St. Martin, Praviglerm, and Biolet, which is in the Marquisate of Saluces. They raised troops also in Vaucluson in Dauphiny, overrunning the valley of Pragela; to the end, that being obliged to defend themselves, they might not be able to assist their neighbours, the Waldensian Churches in Piedmont. All this was ordered by the singular providence of God, that they divided their troops into parties, rather out of pride, than for their better expedition. For notwithstanding the Waldenses were employed in their own defence, and could not succour one another, yet the enemy by this division did so

2 Vignaux, Memorials. Fol. 6.

lessen their forces, that they were everywhere beaten; but especially in the valley of Angrogne, where they made their most violent attack. As that levy of men could not be raised, without suspicion, that it was against themselves; so they according y made preparation for their reception, keeping themselves in the strait passes, where but few men were able to attack them; being also armed with long targets of wood, which wholly covered them, and whereon the arrows of their enemies struck without any damage to themselves. The foremost being thus armed and covered, the rest did good service with their bows and cross-bows un ier the said targets. As the enemy endeavoured to approach the passes, the women and children being spectators upon their knees, prayed in their o vn language, "O dio, aiutaci; O God, help us!" Whereat the enem es scoffing, among others, Captain Saquet, counterfeiting the said women, was slain and cast headlong from the mountain into a deep bottom, which is still called the Gulf of Saquet. At the same time, a captain, named Le Noir de Montdeni, as he cried out to the soldiers to put them to death, was killed with the shot of an arrow in the throat, which the soldiers perceiving, and also that they were covered with rocks, and themselves with stones and arrows, they all betook themselves to flight, and the greatest part of them threw themselves down from the rocks. The Walde.ses took notice of another effect of divine Providence; that the enemies approaching to their strongest place by nature, which is in the valley of Angrogne, called Le Pré de la Tour, where they might have fortified th mselves, and made themselves masters of the said valley, God sent so thick a cloud, and so dark a fog, that the enemies could hardly see one another, insomuch that they had no leisure or opportunity to know the strength of the place, or to stay there; whereupon the Waldenses taking heart, followed the pursuit so vigorously, that the persecutors being all dispersed, and not seeing which way they went, the greatest part fell headlong down the mountains; and betaking themselves to flight, discharged themselves of their arms and booty, which they had gotten at the entrance into the valley, where they had poured out the wine, and the corn, and loaded their servants with the most valuable moveables of the Waldenses.

It pleased God at length to touch the heart of their prince with some compassion towards those poor people. Philip VIII., duke of Savoy, and prince of Piedmont, declared that he would not have that people, who had been always most loyal, faithful, and obedient to him, to be so rigorously handled by way of arms; being contented that a dozen of the principal among them should come to Pignerol, where he was, to beg pardon for all the rest, for having taken up arms in their own defence, which he gave them to understand by a prelate whom he sent to Praisut.. They deputing the said embassy of twelve to do whatever his highness required of them, he kindly received them, and forgave them all that was past during the war, upon paying a certain sum of money for the charges of it. And whereas he had been informed, that their young children were born with black throats, and that they were hairy, and had four rows of teeth, he commanded some of them to be brought before him to Pignerol; and seeing them all fair and perfect creatures, he was much displeased with himself for being so easily imposed upon as to believe the report made to him concerning that people; declaring withal, his pleasure was, that thenceforward they should have the same liberties and privileges as formerly, and as all the rest of his subjects in Piedmont did enjoy.

Notwithstanding, the monks inquisitors sent out processes every day, against as many of them as they could apprehend. Especially they lay in ambush, in a convent near to Pignerol, whence they delivered them to the secular power. That persecution lasted till the year 1532, when they resolved to order their churches in such manner, that that exercise, which was before performed in covert, might be manifest to every one; and that their pastors should preach the gospel openly, without regard to any persecutions which might befall them upon that account.

His highness the duke was speedily advertised of this change, and much incensed thereat; so that he commanded Pantaleon Bersor to hasten into the valleys with his troops; which he so readily performed, that before the Waldenses were apprised of it, he had entered their valleys with five hundred men, part foot, and part horse, ransacking, pillaging, and laying waste whatever came in their way. The people leaving their ploughs and tillage, betook themselves to their mountain passes, and with their slings, charged their enemies with such a shower of stones, and with such violence, that they were constrained to fly, and leave their prey behind them; many of them being killed upon the spot. This news was presently brought to his highness, being likewise told what experience had taught them before, that it was not the way to reclaim and subdue those people by arms, the strength of their country so favouring them, and they being better acquainted with the straights and passes of the mountains, than the assailants; and that therefore there was no good to be done, when "the skin of one Waldensian must be purchased at the expense of the lives of a dozen of his other subjects." He thought it therefore not convenient to molest them any more by arms; but only that they should be apprehended one by one, as they came into Piedmont; and that exemplary justice should be inflicted upon them, if they changed not their faith; that thus they might gradually be destroyed, to the terror of all other inhabitants of the said valleys, and so their ruin might be procured insensibly, and without the hazard of any other of the prince's subjects.

All this did not hinder them from persisting in their resolution; and, to the end that all things might be done in order, all the heads of every family, with their pastors, assembled together, out of all their valleys, at Angrogne, on September 12, in the year 1535; where it was certified by one of them that their brethren, the Waldenses of Provence and Dauphiny, had sent George Morel and Peter Mascon, their pastors, into Germany, to confer with Ecolampadius, Bucer, and other servants of God, who there preached the gospel, concerning their faith, which had time out of mind been transmitted from father to son. He reported: That Ecolampadius and Bucer had found that God had been very merciful and gracious unto us, in that he had preserved us undefiled in the midst of so many idolatries and superstitions, which in the ages foregoing had infected all Christendom, under the tyranny of the antichrist of Rome that they encouraged us by holy admonition and persuasions, and exhorted us not to bury those talents which God had imparted unto us-and that they looked upon it as an evil thing that we have so long deferred the public profession of the gospel, by causing it to be preached in the ears, and to the knowledge of every one; leaving the event of things to God, to dispose whatsoever it shall please him should befall us in the promoting of his glory, and the advancement of his Son's kingdom. Afterwards, having read the letters of Ecolampadius and Bucer, which were sent to them, as well as to their brethren, the Waldenses of Provence and

Dauphiny, the propositions or articles following were ordered, read, and approved, and unanimously signed and sworn to by all the assistants, as what they would preserve, observe, believe, and inviolably retain among them, without any contradiction; and that this they would do, by the grace of God, as being agreeable to the doctrine which hath been delivered from father to son among them, and taken out of the word of God. 3

RULES OF FAITH AND PRACTICE ADOPTED BY ALL THE WALDENSES, WHO MET IN ONE ASSEMBLY AT ANGROGNE, SEPTEMBER 12, 1535.

Article I. Divine service cannot be duly performed, but in spirit and truth; for God is a spirit, and whosoever will pray unto him must pray in spirit.

II. All that have been, or shall be saved, were elected by God before all worlds.

III. They who are saved cannot miss of salvation.

IV. Whosoever maintaineth free-will, wholly denicth predestination, and the Grace of God.

V. No work is called good but that which is commanded by God; and none evil but that which he forbiddeth.

VI. A Christian may swear by the name of God without any contradiction to what is written in the fifth chapter of Matthew, provided that he who sweareth, taketh not the name of the Lord in vain. Now that person sweareth not in vain, whose oath redoundeth to the glory of God, and the good of his neighbour. A man also may swear in judgment, because he that beareth the office of a magistrate, be he Christian or infidel, derives his power from God.

VII. Auricular confession is not enjoined by God; and it is concluded according to the holy scriptures, that the true confession of a Christian consists in confessing himself to one only God, to whom belong honour and glory. There is another kind of confession, which is, when a man reconcileth himself to his neighbour, whereof mention is made in the fifth of Matthew. The third manner of confession is, when, as a man's sin is public, and exposed to the notice and censure of all men, so his confession and acknowledgment of the fault be as public.

VIII. We must rest or cease upon the Lord's day from all our labours, out of zeal for the honour and glory of God; for the better exercise of charity towards our neighbour, and our better attendance upon the hearing of the word of God.

IX. It is not lawful for a Christian to revenge himself on his enemy, in any case or manner whatsoever.

X. A Christian may exercise the office of a magistrate over Christians. XI. There is no ceitain time determined for the fast of a Christian; and it doth not appear in the word of God that the Lord hath commanded or appointed certain days.

XII. Marriage is not prohibited to any man, of what quality or condition soever he be.

XIII. Whosoever forbiddeth marriage, teacheth a diabolical doctrine. XIV. He who hath not the gift of continency is bound to marry.

This admonition or remonstrance given by Ecolampadius and Eucer, to Gegeor Morel and Peter Mascon, is in the Memorials of Morel, fol. 5.

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