HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS INHABITING THE VALLEYS OF THE ALPS, BROUGHT DOWN FROM THE PRIMITIVE, TO THE PRESENT TIMES.

CHAPTER -The Introduction, showing the true Original of the Vaudois, the purity of their Religion, and their Ecclesiastical Government and Manners. AS to the general idea of those two great witnesses to the truth of Christianity, the Vaudois and Albigeois; Mr. Perrin in his work has already given us a general view of the afflicted state of both those sister churches in the middle ages, and of their several dispersions through all the parts of Europe. My endeavors in the remaining parts of this history shall be spent in an account of their original, their religion, their government and manners, and their terrible conflicts and sufferings, so as to show them to have endured under the second beast, the Roman antichrist, ten persecutions, as to some of them not less great than the other ten, which the primitive Christians before them had undergone under the first beast, the pagan powers.

CHAPTER -The Original of the Vaudois. ONE cannot read the history of the Vaudois, without admiring the wonders God Almighty has done from time to time for their preservation and deliverance. Which are so great and so many, that we should not easily believe them, if they were not attested by eyewitnesses of indubitable credit.

They are called Vaudois, not that they descended of Peter Valdo of Lyons, but because they are original inhabitants of the valleys. For the word Vaudois or Valdenses comes from the word val, which signifies a valley.

So the protestants of Bohemia were at first called Picards, because they came out of Picardy, the place of their ancient habitation. The Taborites were likewise so called from the city of Tabor, the place of their ordinary residence; and the Albigenses were so called, because they inhabited the city of Albi, which was full of protestants, against whom his crusade, impiously called a “holy war,” the pope declared to destroy them. From the Vaudois of Piedmont are descended the Vaudois of Provence, where some of them took up their habitation, and sowed their doctrine, and from Provence they spread themselves into Languedoc, where they made a wonderful progress.

This shows that the Vaudois of Piedmont, did not derive themselves from Peter Waldo; for after Valdo or Waldo was driven out of Lyons by the archbishop, according to the order he received from the pope, he did not retire into Piedmont, but into Flanders, where he sowed the doctrine of the gospel, which spread itself into Picardy, which joins to Flanders. These poor people being persecuted by the king of France, retired into Bohemia, and for that reason were called Picards, because they came out of Picardy.

D’Aubigne in his Universal History says, that those of the remnant of Waldo, who fled into Picardy, did so increase and multiply, that to root them out, or at least to weaken them, Philip Augustus, king of France, destroyed three hundred gentlemen’s houses.

It is proved by authentic records and acts, that the Vaudois of Piedmont, had protested against the errors of the church of Rome seventy years before Waldo appeared in the world. For Waldo did not begin to preach against the Roman court till the year 1175, but the Vaudois in their own language, produce divers acts and monuments of affairs relating to the reformation done in the year 1100, and others in the year 1120, seventy or seventy-five years before Waldo. These acts were saved from the flames in that lamentable massacre, committed upon these poor people, in the year 1655, and the originals were put into the hands of Mr. Moreland, the English ambassador, and after sent to be kept in the university of Cambridge. Copies of them are in the general history of the churches of the Vaudois, written by J. Leger, minister of the Valleys; and it is not to be doubted, but that the Vaudois of Piedmont, had more ancient acts and records of their doctrine, which were buried in the ruins of their churches, by their enemies. In this book we shall only speak of the Vaudois of Piedmont. 1 CHAPTER -Religion of the Vaudois of Piedmont. THE Vaudois, or the inhabitants of the valleys of Piedmont, received the doctrine of the gospel, in the times of the apostles, either from the apostles themselves, or by those who immediately succeeded them.

Paul being carried prisoner to Rome, in the reign of Nero, sojourned there two years, during which space he had the liberty to go round the city, from house to house, dragging a chain after him,which was the badge of a criminal prisoner; and in the capital city, mistress of the world, he preached the gospel of Christ, and laid the foundation of a flourishing church; to which he wrote from Corinth, after his departure, that excellent Epistle of Paul to the Romans. During his imprisonment, he wrote many other learned Epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians: his fame and doctrine sounded high in the court of the emperor, as is clear from the Epistle that he then wrote from Rome to the Philipplans, where he says, Philippians 1:12 and 13, that what happened to him there proved the great advancement of the gospel, so that his bonds in Christ were become famous through all the Praetorium, which (as every body knows) was the court of the emperor, and all other places of Rome.

This great apostle having gained many disciples in this famous city, God made them instruments of planting the Christian religion in Italy, and in Piedmont, which is a part of Italy. For the history of the church tells us, that those whom God had illuminated with his holy doctrine, burnt with a desire of imparting the saving grace, of which they participated, to others, If it be true also that Paul performed his voyage into Spain, as be designed, Romans 15:24, he took Rome in his way; and it is not to be doubted, but that if he went by land he passed through Piedmont, for it is in the direct way from Rome to Spain. And if he went by sea, it was necessary, that in going from Corinth to Spain, he should pass by Italy; but he was at Corinth when he wrote that he had a desire to go into Spain. If he had passed through Piedmont, as in all appearance he did, it is certain he preached there, for he preached wherever he came.

Since the valleys of Piedmont were enlightened with the bright rays of the gospel, the inhabitants of these countries have conserved the purity of the Christian religion without any mixture of human traditions; they never had any images or altars in their churches; they never invoked angels or saints, never believed a purgatory; they never acknowledged other mediator than Jesus Christ, nor other merit than that of his death: they never owned the doctrine of the mass, of auricular confession, of abstinence from certain sorts of meat, of the celibacy of priests, of the doctrine of transubstantiation; but always held the holy Scriptures to be the perpetual rule of faith, and would never receive or believe any thing but what they taught; and their doctrine was always the same it is now. This is proved clearly from the acts that were preserved from the flames that reduced their churches and houses into ashes; among the which, there is one written in their vulgar tongue, in the year 1100, called the Noble Lesson, because it gives the rules of holy living and good works, besides a Catechism of the same year, where, in question and answer, are taught the principal mysteries of the Christian religion, according to the word of God, without any mixture of traditions; besides an explication of the Lord’s prayer, in the year 1120, and an explication of the apostles’ creed, with several passages of the holy Scripture explaining every article; to which is joined an explication of the ten commandments in short; also a little book entitled, A Treatise of Antichrist.

Those three acts were made in the year 1120, and the last of these treatises shows that all those are antichrists that teach doctrines contrary to the word of God. They confute the doctrines of prayers for the dead, purgatory, auricular confession, abstinence from flesh, and reject all traditions that are not in the word of God, and are not conformable to it.

When these acts were made the Christian doctrine was not corrupted every where, for there were then many persons in France, Germany, and England, who wrote against the errors which were by Rome and her doctors introduced into the church. If the purity of Christian religion had not been conserved in these valleys of Piedmont, from the time of the apostles, till the beginning of the eleventh age, in which these acts were made, how had it been possible for them to have made so many famous acts, in which the purity of the Christian religion is so clearly taught? if they had before received the errors of Rome, by whom, and when were these errors purged out of the churches of Piedmont? Who was the reformer? Where are the acts that speak of this reformation, that they may be produced? If there be none, then there was never any reform, and by a clear consequence the Christian religion has remained from the time that the Vaudois received it, such as is contained in those acts, till the time that the acts were made.

About two hundred years before the acts were made, lived Claudius of Turin, bishop of that city and the valleys, who wrote sharply against the errors of the church of Rome. This bishop condemned the invocation of saints, the worshipping of images, of relics, and the cross: he maintained the doctrine of St. Augustine concerning grace, and by consequence he rejected the merit of good works; he taught that the salvation of mankind doth wholly depend upon the merits and death of Christ; he condemned likewise pilgrimages made to Rome, which the monks brought into request.

His whole diocese, according to the writings of a learned man, 1 followed exactly his doctrine, the sheep lovingly following the shepherd. The doctrine of transubstantiation was not in his time received in France, except in some few bishoprics; the greatest stream of writers opposed it; they received the communion under both kinds; they did not adore the sacrament; they read the holy Scriptures, and taught them to their children; they made no direct prayers to saints, as they have done since; they attributed all to the grace and mercy of God.

The Christian religion being pure in Piedmont at this time, as it appears, by the writings of Claudius of Turin; there is no doubt to be made of its conserving itself so till the twelfth century, in which those acts, of which we have spoken, were made. So we cannot learn from any historian that those valleys were either before or after the time of this great bishop reformed; and we see clearly by indubitable acts, that two hundred years after, the same religion was in its purity, without the alloy of human traditions and ceremonies; and the greatest enemies of the Vaudois, for all their boasting, are not able to show the contrary.

But above all, the purity of their religion appeared by that excellent profession of their faith made the year 1120, more than fifty years before Waldo of Lyons. 2 It is now five hundred and seventy years since this confession of faith was made by the churches of Piedmont, at which time all other churches were corrupted, by the mixture of human doctrine and pagan ceremonies; the world at that time being overspread with an Egyptian darkness, and so the authors of both religions agree, in calling that age, the dark age.

This confession of faith being drawn from the writings of the holy apostles, and in every respect conformable to their doctrine, it follows, by a necessary consequence, that the religion of the Vaudois is the true and pure religion of the apostles, and that they have always kept it pure from the first receiving of it till the beginning of the twelfth century, and from thence till these times, since they now profess the same faith, and teach the same doctrine that was contained in that famous confession. All other churches, both of the east and west, being infected with divers heresies, Satan, to hinder the advancement of the reign of Jesus Christ, has from time to time stirred up false teachers, who have sown their cursed seed in the field of our Lord, and by their false doctrine, varnished over with a seeming piety, have corrupted the doctrine of the gospel: this is what our Savior foretold, saying to his disciples, that false Christs and false prophets would arise, and would do signs and wonders to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect; etc. St. Peter (2 Ep. chap. 2:1, 2, 3.) prophesied the same thing, there have been false prophets among the people, as likewise there will be among you false teachers, who shall privately introduce sects of perdition, and shall deny the Lord who hath redeemed them, bringing upon them sudden perdition, and many shall follow them, whereby the ways of truth shall be blasphemed: but O the wonderful works of God! who has conserved by his wise Providence, the purity of his religion in the valleys of Piedmont, from the time of the apostles, to our time, by a singular effect of his goodness towards these poor people of the valleys, and has hindered Satan’s false doctors and teachers from sowing the cockle of their poisonous doctrine in the mystical field of his church. Notwithstanding all their crafty endeavors, God, in spite of the devil and all his works, has kept among these mountains and deserts the bright light of his gospel, and has never suffered the candle to be extinguished. The great wonders that God has done from time to time, to keep his bright lamp always shining clear to these happy countries, makes it evident, that this is the place which God has prepared to keep and defend his church in, against the furious attacks of the infernal dragon, who gave his power and throne to the beast, to make war against the saints, and to vanquish them. For this is the true desert, whither the woman (Revelation 12:6.) clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, crowned with twelve stars, made her retreat, where God has prepared her a place, where she might be nourished one thousand two hundred and sixty prophetical days, which make one thousand two hundred and sixty years; where God Almighty has kept her safe against all the storms raised by Satan without any effect, till the year 1656, the term of the prophecy of the eleventh chapter of the Revelations was accomplished; and it was then that the beast which rose out of the deeps, vanquished them and killed them. In another place we shall speak of these two witnesses, where we shall show when it was that these poor people were driven out of their country, and when and how it was, that they were re-established by the Duke of Savoy, their sovereign prince.

The Vaudois, in the second article of their faith, hold the holy Scripture for the rule of faith, and teach that nothing is to be believed as an article of faith, that they do not prove by clear proofs of Scripture; and so in the tenth and eleventh articles they reject all human traditions as abominations, acknowledge only two sacraments, viz. baptism and the eucharist. In the thirteenth article they give us a scantling of their doctrine, where they say thus: the sacraments, according to St. Augustine, de Civitate Dei, is an invisible grace represented by a visible thing; and they say there is a great deal of difference between the sign and the thing signified. The first sacrament is called baptism, viz. a washing or sprinkling of water, which must be administered in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

In the Book of Antichrist, written in 1120, it is also said those things which are not necessary in the administration of baptism, are exorcisms, insufflations; the sign of the cross upon the head and breast of the infant, salt which is put in the child’s mouth, spittle into the ears and nose, the chrismatical unction upon the head, and all such like things consecrated by the bishops: they likewise teach that it is unnecessary to put a lighted torch in the child’s hand, or after baptism to put on it a white, garment, or to have god-fathers and god-mothers. All these things done in the administration of the sacraments, they say, are not of the substance of baptism, and by consequence unnecessary.

Furthermore, they say of the supper of our Lord, in the same book of antichrist; as baptism, which is taken visibly, and visibly administered, is as it were, an enrolling one in the company of the faithful, and obliges them to follow Jesus Christ, and observe his commandments, and to live up to the rules of the gospel; so likewise the holy supper and the holy communion of our Savior, the breaking the bread, and the giving of thanks, is a visible communion performed by the members of Jesus Christ. For those that take and break the same bread, are one body, and members one of another, planted in him, to whom they protest, and promise to persevere in his service even to the end, without leaving the faith of the gospel, or the union that they have all promised to God, and through and by Jesus Christ.

In the same book of antichrist, the eating of the sacramental bread is the eating of the body of Christ in figure only, “as often as ye do this, do it in remembrance of me:” for if it were not a spiritual eating, Christ would be obliged to be eaten continually; and he in truth eats Christ, who believes in him; and Christ says, that to eat him is to dwell in him.

From whence it follows, that the Vaudois did not believe transubstantiation, nor the oral and corporal eating of the body of Christ; but that the signs in the supper of our Lord remained the same in substance as before they were applied to this holy use; and that, as often as they received these visible signs by their mouth, they received, by faith, the virtue and efficacy of the body of Jesus Christ, broken, upon the cross, signified by the breaking of bread; and of his blood that was split, signified and represented by the pouring of the wine into the cup: and that by this action, thay celebrated the memory of the death of Christ, and obeyed his commandment, “do this in remembrance of me:” words that St.

Paul explains in this manner, “as often as you shall eat of this bread, and drink of this cup, you declare and commemorate the death of the Lord till he come.”

If the Vaudois have conserved the purity of the Christian religion, from the time of the apostles till the beginning of the twelfth century, 3 we have made appear by their confession of faith made at the beginning of that time: they have not kept it less pure from that time till our days, as we shall prove by another confession of faith, which they made in the year 1655; after the massacre, which all christendom has heard spoken of with horror and detestation, and of which we shall speak hereafter.

A SHORT CONFESSION OF THE FAITH OF THE CHURCHES OF PIEDMONT, PUBLISHED WITH THEIR. MANIFESTO, AFTER THE DREADFUL MASSACRES IN THE YEAR 1655.

Article I. We believe first, that there is but one only God, who is a spiritual essence, eternal, infinite, all mercy, all wisdom, all justice; in a Word, every way perfect; and that in his infinite and pure essence there are three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

II. That this God has manifested himself to men, by his glorious works, as well by his creation, as his continual Providence, and by his word revealed at first by his oracles in divers manners; afterwards reduced by writing into books, which we call the holy Scriptures.

III. That these holy Scriptures ought to be received, as we receive them, for divine and canonical, viz. for the rule of our faith, and the directions of our life, as they are contained in the books of the Old and New Testament: and that in the Old Testament there are only the following books to be received as of divine revelation, and which God only approved of and committed to the church of the Jews, viz. the five Books of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, the 1st and 2d of Samuel, the 1st and 2d of Kings, the 1st and 2d of Chronicles, the 1st of Esdras, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, the Psalms, the Proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, the four greater prophets, and the twelve lesser. The books of the New Testament are, the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans, two Epistles to the Corinthians, one to the Galatians, one to the Ephesians, one to the Philippians, one to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, 1st to Timothy, 2d to Timothy, one to Titus, one to Philemon, one to the Hebrews, one of St. James, one of St. Peter, three of St. John, one of St. Jude, the Apocalypse, or the Revelation of St.

John.

IV. That we acknowledge the divinity of these sacred books, not only by the testimony of the church, but principally by the eternal and indubitable truth of the doctrine contained in them, and for the excellent and divine majesty of them, and by the operation of the Holy Ghost, which makes us receive with reverence the testimony which the church gives of them, which opens our eyes to discover the rays of celestial light which shone in these sacred books, which rectifies our understanding to discern and rightly taste the divine things contained in them.

V. That God has made all things of nothing by his free will, and by the infinite power of his word.

VI. That he guides and governs all things by his Providence, ordering all things that happen to the world, without being the author or cause of evil that the creatures do; so that he is wholly without blame, and evil can in no manner be imputed to him.

VII. That the angels having been created pure and holy, some of them fell into sin, and irreparable perdition, but others persevered by an effect of the divine goodness, which assisted them, and confirmed them in grace.

VIII. That man who was created pure, holy, and after the image of God, by his own fault deprived himself of this happy state, giving his assent to the subtle and pernicious discourse of the devil.

IX. That man has lost by his transgression the justice and holiness he received, incurring the indignation of God, death and captivity under the power of him who hath the empire of death, viz. the devil, to that degree, that his free-will is become a servant and slave of sin; that so by nature all men, as well Jews as Gentiles, are children of wrath, dead in their sins, and by consequence incapable of having any good motion towards their salvation, nor to frame a good thought without grace, all their imaginations and thoughts being always evil.

X. That all the posterity of Adam were made guilty by his disobedience, infected with the same corruption, and fallen into the same calamity, even young children from the womb of their mother; which is termed original sin.

XI. That God withdrew out of this corruption and condemnation the persons that he has chosen by his mercy, in Jesus Christ his Son, leaving others by an irreproachable justice of his liberty.

XII. That Jesus Christ being ordained of God, in his eternal decree, to be the only Savior, and the only head of his body, which is his church, he has redeemed it with his own blood, in fullness of time, and communicates to it all his benefits and favors by the gospel.

XIII. That there are two natures in Jesus, the divine and human, truly in one person, without confusion, without division, without separation, without change, each nature keeping its distinct property; and that Jesus Christ is true God and man.

XIV. That God has so loved the world, that he has given his only Son to save us by his most perfect obedience, particularly by that he suffered the cursed death of the cross, and by the victories he gained over the devil, sin and death.

XV. That Jesus Christ having made an entire expiation of our sins, by a most perfect sacrifice of himself upon the cross, it neither can, nor ought to be reiterated, upon any pretense whatsoever.

XVI. That Jesus Christ having fully reconciled us to God, by his blood shed upon the cross; it is by this merit only, and not by our works, that we are absolved and justified before him.

XVII. That we have a union with Jesus Christ, and communion of his benefits by faith, which are promised us by his holy gospel.

XVIII. That this faith comes from the gracious and efficacious operations of the Holy Ghost, which illuminates our souls, and enables them to rely upon the mercy of God, to be applied by the merits of Jesus Christ.

XIX. That Jesus Christ is our only and true mediator, not only as to redemption, but also as to intercession; and that by his merits and mediation we have access to the Father, to invoke him with a holy confidence of being heard, without need of having recourse to any other intercessor than him.

XX. That as God doth promise regeneration in Jesus Christ, those that are united to him by a lively faith, should apply themselves with all their heart to do good works.

XXI. That good works are so necessary to the faithful, that they cannot come to the kingdom of heaven, without doing them. So that we must walk in the ways of justice and righteousness, fly all vices, and exercise ourselves in all Christian virtues, using fasting, and all other means that may conduce to so holy an end.

XXII. That though we cannot merit any thing by our good works, our Savior will notwithstanding recompense them with eternal life, by a merciful continuation of his grace, and in virtue of an immovable constancy of his grace and promises.

XXIII. That those who possess eternal life for their faith and good works, must be considered as saints, and glorified and praised for their virtues; imitated in all their excellent actions: but not adored or invocated, for no address of prayer must be made to any but God alone, through Jesus Christ.

XXIV. That God has gathered together a church in this world, for the salvation of mankind, but she has but one head and foundation, which is Jesus Christ.

XXV. That this church is the company of the faithful, who being elected by God, before the foundation of the world, and called by a holy vocation, are united together to follow the word of God, believing that which he teaches, and living in his fear.

XXVI. That this church cannot fail, or be quite destroyed, but that it will always remain.

XXVII. That every body must be a member of that church, and keep in her communion.

XXVIII. That God doth not only instruct us by his word, but that besides he has instituted sacraments to be joined to his word, as the means to unite us to Christ, and to communicate to us his benefits, and that there are but two common to all the members of the church under the New Testament, viz. baptism and the supper of our Lord.

XXIX. That he has instituted the sacrament of baptism for a testimony of our adoption; and that we are washed from our sins in the blood of Jesus Christ, and renewed in sanctity of life.

XXX. That he has instituted that of the Eucharist, or of his holy supper, for the nourishment of our souls, to the end, that by a true and lively faith, by the incomprehensive virtue of the Holy Ghost, eating effectively his flesh, and drinking his blood, and uniting us most inseparably to Christ, in him, and by him, we may have eternal life.

XXXI. That it is necessary that the church have pastors, well instructed and of good life, instituted by them that have the right to do it, as well to preach the word of God, as to administer the sacraments, and watch over the flock of Christ, following the rules of a good and holy discipline conjointly with the elders and deacons, according to the practice of the ancient church.

XXXII. That God has established kings and magistrates for the government of his people, and they ought to be subject and obedient to them in virtue of the said order, not only for anger, but for conscience, in all things that are conformable to the word of God, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords.

XXXIII. That we must receive the creed of the apostles, the Lord’s prayer, the ten commandments, as fundamental parts of our belief, and of our devotions.

We can likewise make it appear, even by evidence drawn out of the books of the adversaries of the Vaudois, that their doctrine is the same as is represented in this confession, and that it has always been so: those that have a mind to see those testimonies, may find them in the general history, by Leger.

The Vaudois having conserved from father to son, the purity of the doctrine of the apostles, from the time they received it, down to our days, and made a constant profession publicly of this celestial doctrine, they are by consequence the true successors of the apostles.

CHAPTER -Of the Ecclesiastical Government of the Churches of the Vaudois of Piedmont, and the manners of the Vaudois. BUT if they have succeeded the apostles, as to their doctrine, they likewise succeeded them as to the order and government of the church. In the primitive church, Acts 20, the apostles established for the government of it, elders, Ephesians 4:11, and deacons, as we may learn, as well from the Acts of the Apostles as from their Epistles, Titus 1:5,6. The pastors are likewise called bishops and elders. 1 Timothy 3. They are called pastors, because they are to feed the flock of Christ, which are his sheep, with the good word of God; they are called bishops, which signifies inspectors or watchers, because they are to watch and take care of the flock which is committed to their charge; they are called elders, because they ought to be sage and prudent, and edify those that are committed to them by their good life and conduct; and so there were two sorts of elders in the primitive church, the one labored in the government of the church only, and the other, besides the care they had of the affairs of the church, took also pains in preaching and explaining the word, 1 Timothy 5:17. The deacons had the care of the poor, and pastors, elders, and deacons altogether had the government of the church. This is the discipline that the churches of Piedmont have always kept, for in their ancient manuscripts it is said, the churches there have always had pastors, elders and deacons to govern them, as they had till the year 1686, when they were dispersed.

The pastors employed themselves to instruct and exhort the people to live well and holily; and the pastors, elders and deacons altogether watched over their flock, to banish all: vice and scandal It was requisite that the governors of the church should be of a good life and holy conversation, to edify others by their good example. There were schools kept to train up youth in piety: there was likewise a particular school to instruct those that aspired to the ministry, where was taught divinity. They made the young scholars learn by heart all the chapters of the gospels according to St.

Matthew, and St. John, and all the canonical epistles, and a good part of the writings of Solomon, David, and the prophets. There came to this school young men out of Bohemia, and other places where the people of God dwelt and retained the profession of the ancient verity, to be instructed in the ministry.

The Vaudois were not only pure, as to their doctrine, but likewise as to their manners; even their adversaries witness the same. Reynerus Sacco, who was one of the first inquisitors, employed by Rome against those of the valleys, speaks thus of them in his relation which he made of them to the court of Rome.

After he had told that court that the sect of the Vaudois was the eldest that had ever been, beginning in the time of the apostles, or at least of Sylvester; he adds touching their manners, that whereas all other sects did strike the hearers with horror of their many blasphemies against God, that this of the valleys made great demonstration of piety, for they live justly in the face of the world: and in chapter 7 of his book, he says the Vaudois are chaste. The president Du Thou, commonly called Thuanus, in chapter 27, of his history, not only relates from their confession that the Vaudois observe the ten commandments of the law, which gives the rule of living holily and piously; that they give no entertainment to any sort of vices in their assemblies, that they hate and detest all sorts of unlawful oaths, perjuries, wicked imprecations, quarrels, seditions, debauches, drunkenness, whoring, inchantments, sacrileges, theft, usury, witchcraft, and the like; but gives afterwards of his own accord that noble character of them, in words that deserve to be written in letters of gold. And Claudius de Seissel, Archbishop of Turin, in the book he wrote against the Vaudois, in the year 1500, confesses in formal terms, that as to their life and manners, they live in the world without reproach, observing with all their power the commandments of God. We could allege many other authorities given by the bitterest enemies of the Vaudois, of their good life and conversation.

CHAPTER -Of the great calm the Vaudois Churches enjoyed for many ages, and of the first Persecution which succeeded it, by way of Inquisition, from the year 1198, to the year 1400. WE cannot find in the ecclesiastical histories that the Vaudois, or Christians of the valleys of Piedmont, were persecuted under the reigns of Nero, Domitian, or any other of the pagan emperors, who so cruelly persecuted the Christians; it is therefore probable, that during these cruel persecutions, many faithful Christians retired into these valleys to escape persecution, and to save themselves from the bloody hands of those cruel butchers. As we saw in France, during the last persecution, that many of the reformed religion fled into the woods and mountains, and hid themselves in caverns and rocks, to save themselves from the hands of the cruel and pitiless dragoons, and to avoid, by their flight, the danger of renouncing their religion: so the church, which is represented by the woman, is at the same time, Revelation 12:described flying into the wilderness from the fury of the dragon. And is there a more dreadful wilderness than the mountains of the Alps, which are covered with snow eight or nine months of the year, amongst which are these valleys? It is said, that in the desert the woman had a place prepared of God for her, where she might be nourished one thousand two hundred and sixty days; and the valleys, have they not been the place which God has prepared to keep his church safe in, since the true church has always been conserved here from the time of the apostles, even to our days, without any interruption or want of succession? so that while the whole world ran after the beast, only the inhabitants of these valleys followed Jesus Christ, and walked according to the truth of the gospel. This was the true land of Goshen, which only was enlightened with celestial light, whilst the new Egypt was all covered with the thick and palpable darkness of ignorance and error; and accordingly they had for their arms a torch lighted surrounded with thick darkness, with this inscription, Lux lucet in Tenebris.

Thus far from Boyer, and it is thought a very just remark; but whereas he next tells us that these churches of the valleys have enjoyed a continual peace, and perfect repose, from the beginning of the first age that the papal empire began to erect its throne, till towards the end of the fifteenth age, viz. till the year 1487, that Pope Innocent the VIII. made, as they call it, a holy war upon them, to destroy them; I must crave leave to put in my exceptions, so as to date their first formal persecution some centuries higher, that is, from about the year 1198; from which time till 1440, they suffered very grievously by papal bulls and anathemas, and the executions by virtue of them, from the inquisitors commissioned and employed by the popes to harass and exterminate them, of which the reader has already had some account in Perrin’s first book, in the first and second chapters.

To which I shall here add a more ample account from Leger’s General history of the Vaudois, book 2:chapter 2. And surely the series of sufferings they underwent from papal inquisitions may very well be taken into the number of their persecutions, since as Leger observes, if he should undertake to give a full and particular account of all the persecutions which the people of the valleys have suffered until the end of the thirteenth, or the beginning of the fourteenth century, we should find them nothing but a continual execution. Indeed this being so signal a method of persecution, so very vexatious, tyrannical, and cruel, and running on concurrently with the others of crusades and massacres; I presume it may be of use to give a larger account thereof, which the reader may by pleased to have as it is described by that excellent historian.

It is true, says Leger, that the little flocks of Jesus Christ, in the valleys of Piedmont, and the neighboring ones; by reason of the small communication which they have with the rest of the world, because of the remoteness of their habitations, dwelling in the valleys among the Alps, and upon the tops of the mountains, and for other reasons, have had some respite for the space of several hundred years, and have also enjoyed some tranquillity after the almost general dispersion of the Vaudois of Lyons, and other parts and places of France; or at least that they have not for some time been harassed with persecution, unless it were some few particular persons, who, travelling far from their habitations, did from time to time fall into the hands of the inquisitors. But so soon as the second Apocalyptical beast had sufficiently strengthened his seat of iniquity, and had fully fortified himself in the power of the first beast, which it was to usurp, according to the prophecy of St. John; and so soon as it went about to compel the people “to drink the cup of its whoredom,” these good Nathaniels, who could never be induced to do it, did not for that reason fail to become the objects of its hatred, and to be at length exposed to the fury of the dragon, who came forth out of the pit of destruction. Yet still did they not fall immediately to fire and sword, and massacres; for as the beast mentioned in the Revelations hath the voice of the dragon, it hath likewise the horns of the lamb; his emissaries, although devouring wolves, were nevertheless first to appear in sheep’s clothing, according to the prediction of Jesus Christ in the gospel, to endeavor by mildness, flattery, and fair promises, to ensnare the souls of the simple. But this method not meeting with success, the aforesaid beast, as it hath the voice of the dragon, it was in the next place, to send forth the thunders of its vatican before it did proceed to further violence, and employ its utmost might and power, to exterminate and destroy them; its excommunications and anathemas being notwithstanding commonly accompanied with terrible decrees, bulls, patents, orders, and arrogant injunctions, as well as pathetical exhortations addressed to the kings, princes, and potentates of the earth, to oblige them to make use of all manner of means and artifices to drive those poor faithful either into apostacy, or else into such a terrible condition, that there should remain no hopes for them, but the extremity of despair.

Moreover, they caused them to be cast out from the society of the rest of mankind, depriving them of all commerce; proclaiming and crying them down every where, not only as persons altogether unworthy of the least office or dignity, but also of all manner of negotiation; nay, which is more, riot worthy to be buried among Christians; they also confiscated their goods, demolished their houses, cut down their trees, and as much as in them lay, ravished and robbed them of their dear children. For as it was by such excommunications, orders, and decrees, that Alexander III. ruined and dispersed the poor Vaudois of Lyons about the year 1180; it was thought fit, by the prudence of the council de propaganda fide et extirpandis haereticis, to try a second time, whether the same remedies, or rather the same poison, would have power enough upon their brethren, before they dyed the earth with blood of those innocents; not failing to intermix them with a great many instructions full of falsehood and cruelty, to the end, that those poor faithful might never find any security in the world without casting themselves into the bosom of the church of Rome; indeed we find a great many commands and injunctions, as rude and unmannerly as they were arrogant and urgent, which the sovereign pontiff laid even upon kings, princes, and potentates, and all sorts of magistrates, to give exact information of all the Vaudois that were found in their kingdoms, principalities, lands, and jurisdictions, to deliver them up into the hands of the inquisitors; even so far as to give express orders for that purpose every where to shut the cities, to the end, that not one of them might escape, assigning the third part of their goods to those who should give notice of the place of their habitation, and condemning to unheard of penalties all sorts of persons, of what quality or condition whatsoever, who should undertake to afford them in any manner, either directly or indirectly, counsel, aid, or refuge, or even who knowing the place of their retreat, should not give speedy notice of it, that those who out of an appetite of gain, and desire to enjoy and possess their spoils could not be induced to make themselves the instruments of their ruin, might at least be moved thereto by the apprehension of punishment. But at length, when these expedients were looked upon to be too mild and moderate, or at least did not expedite and hasten on the total execution of these undertakings; since this sort of persecution seemed only to encourage them the more, so that they did increase in the midst of torments and sufferings, as saffron does under hail, visibly multiplying, as if the ashes of those who were thus martyred, with the design to strike a terror into the minds of others, had been the divine seed which sprang up, and yielded increase a hundred fold.

Their pastors on the other hand never ceasing to instruct, comfort, and encourage them, and to preach with their usual zeal, that the pope was antichrist, the host an idol, purgatory a fable, as Reynerus the inquisitor doth still charge them in the book which hath been often already quoted.

Pope Innocent, the successor of Celestin, about the year 1198, resolved to take a more sure and expeditious course for their utter ruin and extirpation, root and branch, by ordaining inquisitors, on whom he conferred an entire, absolute, nay and sovereign authority; 1. To try them. 2. To deliver them up to the secular power, and cause them to be put to death without mercy: a damnable expedient, by which within a little time they filled christendom with horrid and lamentable spectacles of unheard of, and more than barbarous cruelty. And because the power of these inquisitors was so general, as we learn by the bulls with which they were fortified, as well as by their practices; and because also they were in such credit and esteem with the people, as to be able to gather them together by the sound of a bell, when, and as often as they pleased; and which is much more strange, they could proceed even against the bishops, who they thought had let slip the last opportunity of apprehending and putting any of those pretended heretics to death, and because they had power to imprison them themselves, and punish them at their discretion, there was not any extremity to which they did not proceed, no one daring to make the least opposition or resistance against them.

All manner of accusations were valid against these poor people, a murderer, a common strumpet, and every infamous person, was a witness more than sufficient to take away the goods and life of a poor Vaudois, without even (a horrid thing) so much as holding it necessary to confront the witnesses, nor to form the inquests, nor make examinations: nay, it was enough if a stranger had given in a bill, though it were not signed at all, or at least in an unknown and unintelligible manner. — If any one of the Vaudois had some small matter of goods and possession, there needed no more to convict him of heresy, and his goods never failed to be the means of his death, since they became the prize and reward of the accuser. No advocate durst undertake the defense of their cause, nor notary receive any act in their favor, lest he should render himself suspected of heresy, and be himself condemned as a heretic. He who was once entangled in the snares of this inquisition, was certain never to get out of it again; or if he was set at liberty, it was only quickly to be seized anew by those who having played with him as a cat does with a mouse, did at length crush his bones, and make him his prey. And as if it had been too little to take away their life; we can still produce several of the sentences which these bloody inquisitors pronounced even against the carcasses and the bones of the poor Vaudois already rotten, having caused several of them to be disinterred twenty-five and thirty years after their death, and burnt them in public places, only to have some color and pretense to confiscate their goods, which their children (in such case) though become papists, did not dare to possess any longer, to avoid the suspicion of heresy.

And to keep the people in greater fear and terror, it was the custom of these good fathers to lead some of these poor captives in triumph in all the processions which they made, compelling some to whip themselves, and others to wear red garments with great crosses, taking the name of Benedictines converted, that it might be believed by this means, that they were convinced in their consciences of the heresy of which they had been accused, and did acknowledge that they were justly chastised for the faults which they had committed; and others again were obliged to walk in their shirts barefoot and bareheaded, with a rope about their neck and boughs in their hands. In this miserable condition were all sorts of persons, of what rank or quality soever, forced to show themselves, to the great astonishment of the spectators. They still were not permitted to enter into the churches whilst the service was saying; and which is no less cruel, several of them were condemned to go on pilgrimage to the holy land; which journey they were to make at their own expense and charges, and this precisely within the time which was prescribed them; during which, the inquisitors themselves, the priests, and other good brethren, villanously abused their wives; of which, several instances might be produced. Besides all these practices, the inquisitors had also secret instructions, and exact formularies of the stratagems which they were to make use of in all their proceedings, as may be seen in the rules and maxims taken from the archbishopric of Ambrun, 1 which the divine Providence hath put into our hands, which show in what manner the children of darkness did first forge the instruments of the ruin of the poor Vaudois, before they went about the execution of their pernicious design.

Such were the rules and instructions which those children of hell had to follow, and which they have put in practice ever since the eleventh century, especially until the year 1228, during which time, they apprehended so great a number of Vaudois in divers places of Europe, especially in Dauphiny, Provence, and Languedoc, that the archbishops of Aries and Narbonne, who met at Avignon in the same year 1228, moved with compassion towards those poor miserable objects, told the inquisitors, that it was impossible for them to provide stone and mortar to build prisons enough to contain so great a number of captives, insomuch that they desired them to desist from seizing any more, till such times as they had acquainted the pope with it, and learned his holiness’ pleasure in this matter.

But if I should undertake, says Leger, to give a full and particular account of all the persecutions which this people of the valleys have suffered by the aforesaid method, ever since the eleventh, until the end of the thirteenth century, I should be led into a needless prolixity, since we find therein nothing but a continual execution of it; besides, says he, the public have already an account of it by Monsieur Vignaus, an ancient barb, or minister of the valley of Lucerne, in his Memoirs of the Vaudois, by the Sieur Peter Gilles, in the fourth chapter of his Ecclesiastical History; and by the Sieur Paul Perrin, in book 2 of his History of the Vaudois, chapter 3.

CHAPTER -Of the Second Persecution of the Vaudois by sudden and surprising Massacres, from the year 1400, till 1487, in order to exterminate them. THE first persecution of the Vaudois was, as you have now been told, by papal anathemas and bulls, and by the vexatious harassings and cruel executions of the inquisitors. The next method wherein they were attacked was, by the sudden irruptions and surprises of their bigoted neighbors, stirred up by the bloody inquisitors, whereby they endeavored all at once to destroy them. For those holy fathers of the inquisition finding it too tedious a way, could it be effectual, to extinguish those heretics, as they called them, by single persecutions, at length wrought up the laity also of their church, to an utter hatred of, and to have a bitter zeal against these holy men; so that about the year 1400, finding themselves in a condition to bring on a massacre, they thought fit to try their strength this way. And hereby they caused a dreadful desolation in the valley of Pragela, the poor people of this valley being assaulted unawares by their evil neighbors, the papists of the valleys of Oulz, Susa, Sesane, etc., just in the season of Lent, in the year aforesaid, and this after so furious and cruel a manner, that these poor creatures were forced to fly with a lamentable precipitation, carrying their aged and sick persons, and young children upon their backs, and to betake themselves to a high neighboring mountain, which hath ever since been called Albergan, from the Italian word ablergo, which signifies retreat or refuge, because this poor people retired thither at that time.

But this terrible and amazing flight could not be performed with so much diligence, but that these assassins and murderers seized upon a great number of these poor and faithful people, made a cruel slaughter and butchery of them; besides, that they carried several of them away prisoners; and again those poor souls of them that made their escape, being overtaken by the night upon the mountains, and in the midst of the snow, now wandering up and down in a miserable condition, tormented with hunger and cold, several had their hands and feet frozen, and some were found dead and stiff in the snow. Amongst others, fifty poor little infants were found frozen, some in their cradles, and others in the arms of their mothers, who were dead as well as they. This is not to be passed over, but must needs be reckoned in the number of their persecutions. The inhabitants of the valleys looking upon it as the most violent of those which their fathers related to them.

From that time forward the archbishop and the inquisitors of Turin, have never ceased to employ all their craft and power against the poor Vaudois of the other valleys of Piedmont, bordering upon that of Pragela aforesaid, and belonging to the same diocese: they induced some of those who fell into their hands, and had too great a value for their lives, to promise to change their religion to save them; but these new converts having not long continued in their apostacy, because of the remorse and continual trouble of their conscience; for fear of miserably falling a second time into the paws of those lions, fled some of them into Provence, and others into Calabria, which no sooner came to the ears of John Campesio, Archbishop of Turin, and of Andre de Aqua pendente, but they published most severe bulls, dated November 28th, 1475, both against them, and against all those of their faith. In pursuance of which, several of then were seized and cruelly martyred almost in all the cities and burroughs of Piedmont, insomuch that Jordan Tertian, a barb, or excellent pastor, was burnt alive at Suse, Hypolite Rousser at Turin, where Hugo Campo de Fenestrelles was also martyred, who was fastened alive to a stake, and in that condition had his belly ripped open, and his entrails plucked out.

CHAPTER -The Third Persecution of the Vaudois, of Piedmont, in way of Crusades, made against them by Innocent VIII. in the year 1487, and their condition from that time till the year 1535.

ALITTLE while after, the pope seeing that these particular persecutions, had not all the success that he expected from them; and whereas he had promised to himself, that if a cruel and severe punishment were inflicted upon a good number of these Vaudois, it would strike such terror into the minds of all the others, that they would easily be brought to renounce their pretended heresy; but on the contrary, finding they were so far from that, that they did always testify a greater constancy, he resolved to proceed to more general violence.

To this purpose he made Albertus de Capitaneis, Archdeacon of Cremona, his legate and commissary general in this enterprise, and did amply furnish him with bulls and patents, 1 addressed to all the dukes, princes, and potentates, in whose jurisdiction there were found any Vaudois; exhorting and expressly enjoining them to assist the aforesaid legate with all the necessary forces to exterminate as many of the Vaudois, as should be found within their territories.

This papal commissary assisted with the forces of the French king, the Duke of Savoy, and all the neighboring princes and potentates, which he was pleased to command, did after a strange manner harass and persecute the poor Vaudois in divers places; but especially in the valley of Piedmont, as a place which was in a special manner recommended to him, it lying in Italy, and the nearest to Rome. He went against them with an army composed of eighteen thousand men, besides an incredible multitude of volunteers out of Piedmont, being induced thereunto by the pope’s promise of a full and entire indulgence and remission of their sins; as also from the hopes they should have the pillage of these valleys, and the confiscated goods of those who should be dispossessed.

This army was divided into several squadrons, with a design to surprise them with more success and facility in several places at once; and accordingly he attacked them therewith in divers places unawares, and that with an enraged and bitter fury. But though the Vaudois were few in number in respect of their enemies, and by no means experienced in warlike affairs, yet they sustained with invincible firmness, the dangerous efforts of their enraged adversaries; so that they were, contrary to all hopes and human likelihood, almost miraculously dispersed and almost entirely defeated; the divine Providence having shown itself in the succor and defense of his poor, who faithful, invoked his aid, by striking a panic fear into the breasts of their persecutors. The broken remains of their army, which stayed on the frontiers, durst attack them no more amongst the rocks, but contented themselves almost a whole year, to make excursions upon them; and this they did sometimes on one side, and sometimes on another, to the great damage and detriment of these poor Vandois, who by this means were perplexed with continual alarms, and hindered from cultivating their lands, from which they drew subsistence for themselves and their families, being forced to do it frequently with their arms in their hand. Howsoever, this cruel and bloody army was at length reduced to such a condition, that it could not any longer do them much mischief; so that Philip VII. Duke of Savoy, and Prince of Piedmont, then reigning, was obliged to put an end to so pernicious and fatal a war to his subjects, and so little honorable to himself. And God also did so mollify his heart towards this poor people, that as a testimony of his regret, for having been obliged to undertake it against them, he openly declared, and often repeated it, that he had none so good, so faithful, and so obedient subjects as these Vaudois, and that he,would not for the time to come, suffer them to be so cruelly used and treated by force of arms. And as to what had passed, he ordered pro forma, that twelve of them should come to Pignerol, where at that time he kept his court, to ask his pardon for having presumed to take up arms against his servants; which they did; and his highness having very kindly and humanely received them, did at the same time grant to them a general act of grace, for all that had been transacted during the war, acknowledging withal, that he had received very wrong information, as to what relates both to their persons and