Lay-people shall take example by those Images and figures of the liues of Saints it is most certaine that it is impossible For the Virgin Mary was an example of humility pouerty and chastity and they adorne her Image rather with vestments of pride then humility So that the Lay-people doe not reade in their habits humility but pride and auarice if they conforme themselues to the said Bookes corrupted and ill written For the Priests and the people in these dayes are couetous proud and luxurious and therefore they cause their Images to be pictured like themselues And therefore saith Dauid Thou thinkest foolishly that I am like vnto thee Obiect But there are others that say We worship the visible Images in honour of the inuisible God Answer This is false For if wee will truly honour the Image of GOD by doing good vnto men we serue and honour the Image of GOD For the Image of GOD is in euery man but the resemblance or likenesse of God is not in all but onely in those where the thought is pure and the soule humble But if we will truly honour God wee giue place vnto the truth that is to say wee doe good vnto men that are made after the Image of God we doe honour vnto God when we giue meate to those that hunger drink to those that thirst cloath to those that are naked And therefore what honour doe wee giue vnto God when we serue him in a stock or a stone when we adore idle Figures without soules as if there were some diuinity in them and contemne man who is the true Image of God Saint Chrysostome vpon Mathew saith That the Image of God cannot be painted or pictured in gold but figured in man The Money of Caesar is gold but the money of God is man And therefore if the Iewes were commanded vnder the Law that they should destroy all the figures and Images and addict themselues to one onely God as it is written in the first Booke of the Kings But Samuel said to all the House of Israel If you turne vnto the Lord with all your heart and remoue from you all your strange Gods and keepe your heart vnto the Lord and serue him onely he will deliuer you from the hands of the Philistines Much lesse then ought Christians to depend vpon such signes and Images which the Iewes did not but they ought rather to lift vp their affections vnto Christ who sitteth at the right hand of God An Exposition of the 3. Commandement Tu ne prendras point le nom du Seigneur ton Dieu en vain c. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine c. IN this Commandement we are forbidden to sweare falsly vainely and by custome as it is written Leuit. 19. The man that is accustomed to sweare shall bee filled with iniquity and the plague shall not depart from his house An oath confesseth God to know the truth and it is to confirme a thing doubtfull for an oath is an act of Gods seruice and therefore they that sweare by the Elements doe sinne This is the reason why Christ Iesus forbiddeth vs to sweare by any thing neither by the heauen nor by the earth or any thing else but that our speech bee Yea yea and No no and whatsoeuer is otherwise is sinne And Saint Iames in the fift Chapter of his Epistle saith Aboue all things my brethren sweare not neither by heauen neither by the earth neither by any other oath lest ye fall into condemnation An Exposition of the 4. Commandement Souuienne toy du iour du repos c. Remember thou keepe holy the Sabbath day c. THey that will keepe and obserue the Sabbath of Christians that is to say Sanctifie the day of the Lord must be carefull of foure things The first is to cease from all earthly and worldly labours The second not to sinne The third not to be idle in regard of good workes The fourth to doe those things that are for the good and benefit of the soule Of the first it is said In sixe dayes shalt thou labour and doe all that thou hast to doe but the seuenth is the Sabboth of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt doe no manner of worke and in Exodus it is said Keepe my Sabbath for it is holy he that polluteth it shall die the death and in the Booke of Numbers we reade that one of the children of Israel being seene to gather stickes vpon the Sabbath day hee was brought vnto Moses who not knowing what course to take therein the Lord said vnto Moses This man shall die the death all the people shall stone him with stones and he shall die God would that his Sabbath should be kept with such reuerence that the children of Israel durst not to gather Manna therein when it was giuen them from heauen The second thing which we are to obserue is to preserue our selues from sinne as it is said in Exodus Remember to sanctifie the day of rest that is to obserue it by keeping thy selfe carefully from sinne And therefore saith Saint Augustine It is better to labour and to dig the earth vpon the Lords day then to bee drunke or to commit any other sinnes for sinne is a seruile worke by which a man serues the deuill Againe he saith that it is better to labour with profit then to range and roame abroad idly For the day of the Lord was not ordained to the end that a man should cease from worldly good workes and giue himselfe vnto sinne but to the end he should addict himselfe to spirituall labours which are better then the worldly and that hee repent himselfe of those sinnes he hath committed the whole Sabbath throughout for idlenesse is the Schoole-master of all euill Seneca saith It is a sepulchre of a liuing man The fourth thing is to doe that which may be good and profitable to the soule as to think on God deuoutly to pray vnto him dilligently to heare his Word and Commandements to giue thankes vnto God for all his benefits to instruct the ignorant to correct the erroneous and to preserue our selues from all sinne to the end that saying of Esay might bee accomplished Repent you of your sinnes and learne to doe good for rest is not good if it bee not accompanied with good workes An Exposition of the 5. Commandement These Commandements tell vs how we are to carry our selues towards our neighbours Non sentend tant solament de la reuerentia de fora c. Honour thy father and thy mother c. WEe are not to vnderstand these words as if the question were onely touching outward reuerence but also concerning matter of complement and things necessary for them and therefore wee are to doe that which is enioyned in this Commandement for that honour which is due vnto fathers and mothers for we receiue from them three excellent gifts that is to say our Being our
de Chateauneuf was slain in this busines and for that canonized for a Saint Dominique continued in his persecution of the Waldenses both in deed and word This Monke seeing himselfe to bee in authority Moynes qui mandient instituted an Order of begging Monkes who after his name were callad Dominicans and the said Monke was canonized and his Order confirmed by Pope Honorius being warned saith hee to doe it by a dreame For it seemed to him that the Church of Rome was falling and that Dominique vpheld it with his shoulders in recompence whereof the said Pope commanded that the said Order should haue the first place among the Mendicants Mandians It is said of this Monke The Martirologe in the life of Dominique that his mother when shee went with childe with him shee did dreame that shee had in her wombe a dogge that cast out flames of fire out of his throat His followers interpret this to his aduantage as if hereby we were giuen to vnderstand that hee should be that dogge that should vomit out that fire which should consume the Heretikes But on the contrary they whom hee euery day deliuered vnto death might well say that hee was the dogge that had set on fire all Christendome and that the flames that came out of his throat doe note vnto vs those fiery and infernall sentences which he pronounced against the Christians Howsoeuer hee caried himselfe so well in these affaires that before hee died he built many goodly houses in Languedoc Prouence Dolphine Spaine and elswhere by which hee had obtained great reuenewes either from the liberality of those that affected his Order or the Confiscations of the Waldenses by which the Count Simon of Montfort gaue him great priuiledges and almes as cutting large thongs of another mans leather He laboured in the Inquifition as the chiefe with such contentment to the Popes that from that time forward the Monkes of his Order haue been alwaies imployed in the Inquisition The power giuen to these Monkes Inquisitors was without limits For they could assemble the people whensoeuer it pleased them by the sound of a bell proceed against the Blshops themselues and send out proces if there were need to imprison and to open the prisons without controle All manner of accusations was auailable enough A Sorcerer a Harlot were sufficient witnesses without reproch in the fact of pretended heresie It was no matter who did accuse or whether by word of mouth or by tickets cast in before the Inquisitor for without any personall appearance or confronting one another the the proces were framed without party without witnesse and without other law then the pleasure of the Inquisitor To be rich was a crime neere vnto heresie and he that had any thing to lose was in the way to bee vndone either as an Hereticke or at the least as a fauourer of heretikes One bare suspition stopped the mouthes of fathers and mothers and kinsfolke that they durst not intercede for punishments to come and he that did intreat for the conuey of a cup of cold water or a little straw to lye vpon in some stinking dungeon was condemned for a fauourer of Heretickes and brought to the same or worse extremities There was no Aduocate that durst vnder take the defence of his nearest kinsinan or friend or Notary that durst receiue any act in his fauour And that which was more after that a man was once intangled within the snares of the Inquisition he could neuer liue in any assurance for hee was alwaies to beginne againe For if any man were set at liberty it was only for a time till they might better consider of it Death it selfe made not an end of the punishment for they haue left vnto vs certaine coppies of their sentences against the bones of the dead to dis-interre and to burne them yea thirty yeeres after the decease of the party accused They that were heires had nothing certaine for vpon any accusation of their fathers or kindred they durst not vndertake the defence of their owne right or possesse their owne inheritance without the crime or suspition of Heresie and that they rather inherited their bad faith and opinions then their goods The people yea the most mighty and richest amongst them were constrained in a manner to adore these Monkes the Inquisitors and to bestow vpon them great Presents for the building of their Couents and dotations of their houses for feare to bee accused of Heresie and not to be estemed zealous for the faith of those holy fathers And the better to entertaine men with an apprehension of these things they sometimes made shewes and brauadoes of their prisoners leading them in triumph at their Processions some being enioyned to whip themselues others to goe couered after the manner of St. Benedicts that is to say with certaine red Cassockes with yellow crosses to signifie that they were such as had been conuinced of some errour and that at the first offence they should afterward commit they were already condemned for Heretickes Others appeared in their shirts bare-foote and bare-headed with a with about their neckes a torch in their hands that being thus prepared and furnished they might giue terror to the beholders to see such persons of all estates and sex brought to so miserable a condition being all forbid to enter into the Church but to stay in the porch or to cast an eye vpon the Hoste when it was showed by the Priest vntill it was otherwise determined by the Fathers the Inquisitors And for the full accomplishment of the contentment of the said Fathers their accused were exiled for a penance into the holy Land or enrolled for some other expedition against the Turkes or other Infidels leuied by the command of the Pope to serue the Church for a certaine time at their owne charge and in the meane time the said holy Fathers tooke possession of the goods of the poore Pilgrims and that which was worst of all at their returne they must not enquire whether the said Monkes had in their absence any priuate familiarity with their wiues for feare lest they should be condemned for back-sliders impenitent and altogether vnworthy of any fauour Now these violences being executed from the yeer a thousand two hundred and six which was baout the time that Dominique erected his Inquisition to the yeere one thousand two hundred twenty eight there was so great a hauock made of poore Christians that the Archbishops of Aix Arles and Narbonne being assembled together at Aingou in the said yeere 1228 at the instance of the said Monkes the Inquisitors to confer with them about diuers difficulties in the execution of their charge had compassion of the misery of a great number that were accused and kept in prison by the said Monkes the Inquisitors saying It is come to our knowledge See the Catal. of the Test of the truth pag. 53â— that you haue apprehended so great a number of the Waldenses
therefore they should consult with themselues to cast their eyes vpon some one of the Lords of the Crosse to whom the conquered Countries might be committed and the care for the direction of this holy warre vntill it might be otherwise determined by the Pope This charge was first offered to the Duke of Burgongue afterwards to the Earle of Enneuers and to the Earle of St. Paul who did all refuse it Which the Legat seeing and perceiuing it would be a difficult matter to agree in the nomination of a Captaine with one mutuall consent they named two Bishops with the Abbot of Cisteaux Legat of the Apostolike Sea and foure men of Armes to whom they gaue power to choose him that hereafter should leade the Armie of the Church They named the Earle Simon of Montfort neere Paris notice whereof being giuen vnto him hee excused himselfe alledging his incapacitie and vnhabilities but in the end he accepted of it after that the Abbot of Cisteaux had laid his commandement vpon him enioyning him by vertue of obedience to accept of the said nomination The Treasure of Histories in the Treat of Albingenses whereupon hee promised saith the Compiler of the Treasure of Histories to doe his best endeauour to vex the enemies of our Lord for so they tearme the Albingenses The Earle Simon of Montfort being Generall of the Armie of the Church made his abode at Carcassonne with foure thousand of his Pelerins which as yet remained of that great Leuy of three hundred thousand men Montreal Fauiaux and Limons contributed great summes of money for the Garison For they were not to harbour those Pilgrims that were not bound to any seruice their time of fortie daies being expired but such Souldiers as were well affected for the guard of that place In this meane time the Earle Remond of Toulouze went to King Phillip Dieu-donne to get his letters of Commendation to the Pope to the end he might bee fully cleered and iustified touching the death of the Monke Frier Peter de Chasteauneuf of the which hee was iniustly forced to confesse himselfe guilty onely because the murder was committed within his territories for which the Legat Milon had imposed an vniust penance vpon From the Court of the King of France he trauelled to Rome where he did immediatly receiue his absolution of Pope Innocent the third as if it had beene ready and prouided for him The Pope receiued him with all the curtesie that might be giuing him for a present a rich Cloke and a Ring of great price and granting vnto him full remission and absolution touching the said murder and declaring that he held him in this regard sufficiently instified The Earle of Beziers being prisoner at Carcassonne dyed shortly after the Earle Simon of Montfort was put in possession of his Lands not without great suspition of poison The Earle Simon made shew to be much grieued therewith and caused him to be interred in the great Church of Carcassonne with great pompe and with his face vncouered to the end that none of his Subiects might afterwards doubt of his death Presently after he made challenge to the inheritance and whole estate of the said Earle by vertue of those donations which the Legat of the Pope had conferred vpon him and that charge that was laid vpon him for the Church In pursuit whereof hee demanded of the King of Aragon the inuestiture of the Earledome of Beziers and the Citie of Carcassonne The King of Aragon would not yeeld thereunto bewraying much discontent to see this house ouerthrowne vnder a pretence of Religion The like discontent did the Duke of Bourgongue shew at what time the charge of the Generall was offered vnto him saying Chassag pag. 126. That hee had Lands and Lordships enough without the accepting of those of the Earle of Beziers and the spoiling him of his goods adding therewithall that he had alreadie suffered wrong enough All the bordering neighbours of the Earle Simon began to feare him vpon a report which he gaue forth that at the spring following he would haue a great Armie of Pelerins at his command and that then hee would chastise those which had not acknowledged the authoritie wherein the Church had placed him Castres sent vnto him the Keyes of their Citie by some of their Bourgesses The Castle of Pamies was yeelded vnto him euery one submitted themselues to his command round about Carcassonne and the Vicountie of Beziers But he receiued a back-blow in the middest of his prosperitie which was a presage vnto him of some euill For the King of Aragon keeking secretly the Gentlemen of the Vicountie of Beziers in breath encouraged them to bring vnto equall termes this petty-tyrant who was brought in for the good of another saying That if he were not constrained to haue alwaies a world of Pilgrims for his conquests he would abuse this his rest to take heart to inuade the goods of all those that are neere adioyning vnder a pretence of that charge hee hath from the Pope but if he once knew how dangerous it would be for him to want his Souldiers of the Crosse hee would be better aduised considering that it is not possible that he should alwaies haue so great a number of Pilgrims that should alwaies make him fearefull for there must be time for the leuying of them time for the conducting of them from farre Countries and if he should make no vse of them within fortie daies of their arriuall hee would be more weake than before after the expiration of their Pilgrimage That to hurt and hinder him there can be no better course taken than to keepe themselues locked vp in their Garrisons at the comming of the Pilgrims and at their departure when they were weake to set vpon him on euery part that at the last he will be so weary of his great trauels that he will thinke he hath bought at a deare rate the good which he beleeued he had gotten by the title of a Donation of those that had nothing to giue The King of Aragon added hereunto that he had neuer heard of any so vniust a vsurpation for if this war were made to take away the goods and liues of the Albingensens by what title had the Legat confiscated the goods of the Earle of Beziers who had alwaies liued and also died in the beleefe of the Church of Rome That he therefore perceiued that the greatest crime they could finde in the said Earle was that they found him to be young and no way powerfull That if God gaue him life he would make it appeare that he loued the Earle of Beziers and that he was his Kinsman and would likewise shew himselfe a true friend to those that had any feeling of those wrongs and outrages that were offered him Those hopes to be succoured by the King of Aragon gaue heart and courage vnto those that with great impatiency bare the dominion and power of the Earle Simon of Montfort
armes he had recourse to his ordinary wiles and subtilties hoping to worke his ruine vnder a pretence of amitie He caused therefore the Legat Bonauenture to write vnto him that he had compassion on him for that he was so obstinate in so great a warre to his great charge and the losse of the bloud of his Subiects which if he would he might end in a short time by taking his iourny to Rome declaring his innocency to the Pope that he would giue him his best assistance as far forth as possibly he could to procure the restitution of all his Lands But yet it was very necessarie that the Church should haue some gages of his fidelitie that is that he should deliuer into his hands the Castle of Foix the one onely meanes to take away all shadow and shew of false play and that incontinently after his returne turne it should be restored vnto him with the rest of his houses He suffered himselfe to be cheated and gulled by these promises deliuered vnto him the Castle of Foix and tooke his iourney to Rome but if he went a foole thither a foole he returned For the Legat had written to Rome to the Conclaue and to the Pope that the Earle of Foix was one of the most dangerous Heretiques that was amongst the Albingenses a man of great courage and valiant and most to be feared that if he were subdued the Earle of Toulouze would be much weakned that he had gotten from him the meanes to doe any hurt by obtaining by faire words those places which the Church would neuer haue gotten by armes namely the Castle of Foix and that they were to take heed that they made no restitution of his lands which if they did it would bee impossible that the Church should euer bring the Albingenses to their vtter ruine The Pope was willing enough to ioyne in his ouerthrow but because hee came vnto him with submissions he feared least it might bee a meanes to hinder others from euer putting any confidence in the Pope He was prodigall of his Crosses his Bulls and his Words but in effect he commanded his Legat that he should not restore vnto him those places vntill hee had giuen good proofes of his obedience and iustification Presently vpon his returne hee addressed himselfe to the Legat to enioy the effect of his faire promises The Legat gaue him to vnderstand that his hands were bound by the Pope because there were some clauses in his Bulls that did binde him to a new proceeding and to know in good earnest what his innocency was but yet he should assure himselfe of his affection and that he should not attribute to him if he receiued not his full content and that he would doe his best endeuour to make loue and friendship betwixt the Earle Simon and himselfe The Earle of Foix by little and little with-drew himselfe fearing to be arrested walking about the fields and houses of his Subiects as for his owne they were all in the hands of the Earle Simon There he cursed his owne facilitie to suffer himselfe to be gulled by a Priest bites his singers for anger to see himselfe so blockishly abused after so many trickes and stratagems plaid against him The Earle of Toulouze and the King of Aragon resolue to make a leuy of their Subiects and presently to build a Fort at Montgranier a place very strong by nature In a few daies they made it a place of defence by the means labours of their poore subiects who bewailing their own miseries their Lords trauelled day night very willingly to bring the work to an end This place being built he put therin a garison left there his son Roger. The Earle Simon besieged it in the end took it by famine The cōposition was that Roger should not beare armes for one whole yeare against the Church An Article that troubled much this valiant Lord. For he withdrew himselfe for the same yeare into a house where he counted the moneths and the daies till the time was expired wherein he might either die valiantly in fight or vanquish his enemies And to this purpose he many times conferred with the sonne of the King of Aragon lately slaine how he might carrie himselfe to finde a meanes to be reuenged of his Fathers death The Legat Bonauenture in the meane time vseth the same subtletie with the Earle Remond of Toulouze He perswadeth him to goe to Rome to determine his affaires with the Pope more peaceably than with the Earle Simon The Monke of the Valley Sernay Chap. 133. especially because he was charged with the death of his owne Brother the Earle Baudoin taken in the Castle d'Olme in the Country of Cahors because he had there borne Armes against him an action that had made him odious both to God and men and which his enemies did exaggerate to the end they might stirre vp the Pilgrims to take vengeance on him saying That at the very point of death they had denied him a Confessor and that the said Bodoin prayed vnto God that he would raise vp some good Christians to reuenge the wrong done vnto him by his brother as by another Caine. The son of the Earle of Toulouze named also Remond vnderstanding that his Father was to take his iourney to Rome he went with letters from his Vncle the King of England to the Pope intreating him to doe iustice to his brother in Law The young Lord had beene brought vp vntill then in England where he could no longer spend time seeing his Father oppressed with warres and continuall trauels he therefore resolued to vse his best endeuours for his deliuerance either by composition or by armes The cause of the Earle Remond was debated before the Pope There was a Cardinall that maintained Idem Chap. 152. that great wrong had beene offered those Lords who had many times giuen of their best lands to the Church to witnesse their obedience The Abbot of St. Vberi also tooke their part with great courage and resolution The Earle Remond likewise defended his owne cause charging the Bishop of Toulouze with many outrages and that if hee had beene constrained to defend himselfe he must accuse those that had driuen him to that necessitie for had he not made resistance he had long agoe beene vtterly ouerthrowne That the Bishop of Toulouze had many times caught vnto him the fairest of his reuenewes and being neuer satisfied did still continue to vex him parting his goods with the Earle Simon of Montfort and that their onely auarice had beene the cause of the death of ten thousand men of Toulouze and of the pillage of that faire and great Citie a losse which could neuer be repaired The Charterie of Lion did also shew vnto the Pope that the Bishop of Toulouze had alwaies kindled the fire and warmed himselfe at the flame Arnaud de Villemur did also present himselfe before the Pope demanding Iustice for that the
so is it the duty of all the faithfull to have a true compassion of the calamities of those who remain and are banisht for the cause of Christ to implore God's assastance by supplications and prayers for their preservation and deliverance and finally to communicate their goods to them for their relief Indeed as we are all members of one and the same body and oblig'd to be sensible of the evills of one another we ought above all to be lively toucht by the afflictions of those faithfull witnesses of Jesus who have suffared for his sake to maintain his truth and for the profession of his Gospell It had been easie for them all to preserve their goods and to acquire new possessions if they had been willing to make a shipwrack of their faith If the Spirit of Christ dwell in us that same Spirit who quickens us all and hath fortified those faithfull sould in their sufferings of disgraces and losses for God ought also to move us to succour them with all our power What they humbly desire of us is neither to enrich themselves nor to make us beggars They beg onely a small part of our abundance not to imploy it in excess or riot but in the preservation of their lives which they are in danger to lose through want If we have a true horrour of the cruelty of their bloody enemies how can we refuse them what Christ doth ask of us for their consolation Who fails in so just a duty instead of shewing himself a friend to Christ and to his Saints persecuted for him declares himself half their enemy and seems to embrace the party of their Persecutors in their detestable cruelty For if those inhumaue Papists have unjustly spoyl'd them of all their goods we should approve what they have done in not affording them what 's necessary for their subsistence If as 't is very true they have sinned against our Brethren through malice and rage let us beware to make our selves guilty towards them through our hardness and want of compassion If they have stript them and almost starv'd them shall we who by Gode grace are well cloathed and fed leave them both naked and hungry If their Enemies have wounded them may we not pass for their false Friends if we give them no salve but see and suffer them bleeding without binding their wounds and applying some remedies If these cruel Murtherers have taken away the lives of many shall we refuse to preserve theirs who remain after that great slaughter Yea in refusing to help the living are we minded to make their condition worse than that of their dead friends for it is certain that it is a greater cruelty to make a man languish in misery and to starve him than to kill him outright I hope that all faithfull Christians and Saints of this Country being lively touch'd by the sad and lamentable condition of those poor fugitives who are persecuted for righteousness sake will open them their bowels of mercy and will give them liberally such portion of their goods as may satisfie their hunger and help them to subsist So they shall have in their conscience the joy and comfort to have contributed to the restauration of those poor Churches which God hath rais'd and preserv'd miraculously so many Ages together Those Sanctuaries they shall revedifie will without intermission offer their prayers to God for their Benefactors prosperity and salvation Those members of Christ will bless them for their sense of their misery Gods Angels will rejoyce for their effectual compassion and God himself having as it were smelt the sweet odour or savour of the sacrifice of their Alms will now recompence them with all his temporal and spiritual blessings and hereafter will crown them in Heaven with glory and immortality A Briefe Apologie in the behalfe of the Reformed Churches in the Valleyes of Piedmont With a Narrative of what hath happened in the execution of the Arrest issued against them the 25 th of January 1655. WHereas we are forewarned by the word of God in the Apocalyps that the rage and cruelty of the infernall Dragon towards the latter end of the world would be in no wise abated but seeing his time of persecuting the Saints to be but short be the more vehemently incensed against them the Reformed Churches in severall parts especially those next unto us in Piedmont have very often heretofore as well as now had sad experience of the truth of this particular For notwithstanding that the Duke of Savoy who is Soveraign Prince of the Vallies of Piedmont after a most tedious and chargeable Application made unto him did by an edict expresly promise that he would confirm unto them an enjoyment of the liberty of Religion and of those Priviledges granted to them by his predecessors Dukes of Savoy yet through the powerfull perswasion of the Congregation as it is called for propagation of the Faith and extirpating of Hereticks erected at Turin or rather by vertue of that Authority which they usurpe over Princes he soon forgot his promise and beyonnd all mens expectations one Gastald was sent with a Commission who calls himself Conservator Generall of the Catholick Faith against the Reformed Professors affirming that he hath received instructions from the Prince wherby Command is given touching all of the Reformed Profession within the severall Towns and Precincts of Lucerne Lusernette St. John La Tour Campiglion Fenil Bobiane Bricheras and St. Second both inhabitants and strangers that in case they will not within three daies imbrace the Popish Religion they must for ever bid farewell to their Native Country their Houses their Lands and Possessions adding moreover that it should be death without mercy if after that space of time any of them were taken in those places Hereupon no sooner was the time limited over-past but immediately the Missionary Monks and Popish Priests sent in upon them a world of Cut-throats and Villains who not only gape after the prey like hounds and hunt for the precious life of these miserable Exiles but also discharge their rage and fury against their houses and Lands by cutting down and rooting up the very Trees In the mean time these our poor brethren knew not where to complaine of these injuries and lay open their Cases nor to whom being deprived of all possibility of making any addresse to the Prince and if any offer to present Petitions in their behalfes they are presently snap't and sent away to the Congregation for propagating the Faith and extirpation of Hereticks that is to their Adversaries the Arch-Bishop of Turin the Prince's Confessor the Abbot de la Monta the Prior of Rorene and some others who are politick Pensioners to the Pope Now as touching this Persecution against the Protestants whereby they are made to depart within three daies upon pain of death into such desolate places as are hardly sufficient to receive and sustain the Native inhabitants the iniquity and injustice of the proceeding appears
of a confirmation and observation of their ancient Edicts Charles Emanuel now reigning by the grace of God being come to his Majority the Reformed presently after demanded of him in all humility the confirmation of their antient priviledges He granted them the same in 1649. with some small restriction yet the Reformed not having hoped any thing better were willing and desired to have the same confirmed by the Ducal Chamber They had promise that so it should be done having received the Decree and agreed about the money and kept the whole businesse in suspence untill his Royall Highnesse because the valleyes had refused him some houses to have the Masse said in them in such Commonalties where there were no Romish Catholicks should have seized on such as he pleased ex Officio as saith his order of 1650 as Master of the Lands This being done the said Chamber granted them in June and September 1653 and in May 1654 not onely the confirmation of their antient Concessions to be as they were in use as speak the Decrees aforesaid formerly passed but as they had been in use under his Predecessors as they were found in their Decrees without adding or diminishing And there by he restored them to the ability of bearing publick charges and the right of habitation of the Commonalty of Campiglion and of the Borrough of Bobiane from whence they had been expelled But when the confirmation of these new Decrees hath likewise been granted and the money disbursed at the time appointed when they should have received it a Patrimonial Advocate was raised up who alledged that the Congregation de propagandâ side ought to be aquainted with it The said Congregation then opposed the foresaid confirmation The Reformed applied themselves again to his Royall Highnesse who referred them to the said Congregation but they refused the same as being their adversarie parties They were referred to the Marquisse de Piannesse the head of the said Congregation they appeared before him as being chief Ministers of State to his Royall Highnesse but he declared unto them that they should never expect audience unlesse they should first passe a procuration promising to accept and yield to whatsoever should be ordained They answered that ever they had dealt with their Princes by humble requests and Petitions and never by Procurations He replyed that without such Procuration no Petition would be received therefore they dressed such a procuration unto two Deputies whereby they grant them full power to accept of and to promise whatsoever should be ordained saving only their Consciences and their Concessions He refused to see the same or to receive it with that restriction and on the 13. of January of this present year 1655. he drew or caused to be drawn an order by the Delegat Gastaldo who published the same on the 25. of that Month bearing that those of Lucerne Bobiane and Fenil who formerly had been molested and S. John la Tour and S. Second should within three daies forsake their houses under pain of death unlesse within twenty daies they would go to the Masse That rigorous order much surprised them yet those of the plaine to avoid the violence of their bad neighbours presently obeyed the same and altogether made their protestations before the Delegat and demanded again that they might apply themselves to his Royal Highnesse and to have an act how they had appeared It was denyed them all the proofes they offered of their just title of habitation in those places rejected without being examined In the mean while their neighbours pillaged plundered and ruined their houses pluckt up the young Trees and cut off the tallest They complained of it and had this answer returned unto them that if these exiled persons would watch and give notice of those that were guilty they would be brought to punishment therupon some of them went down to keep their houses Presently they were declared Rebels and therefore not a word more of addresses petitions or supplications must be heard of they were left to sleep for a while In the mean time by meanes of the Auricular Confession afore Easter all the Piedmont is disposed to fall on them upon a day appointed The Father knows nothing of the Son nor the Brother of his Brother and yet the twelfth of April without any gathering of Souldiers or any foregoing preparation all is found ready All men able to bear Armes in Piedmont with all the Clergy came to the Rendezvous Printed Bils were distributed among them bearing a pleniary Indulgence all pardon besides the booty to all those that would goe and fight against the pretended Hereticks To the Army of Piedmont that of the French was presently joined which before quartered in Dauphine and was made to come over the Alpes All these Troopes and Souldies did wholly waste and burn the Plain where the interdicted places mentioned in the aforesaid order were situated That done the Marquesse de Pianess quartered in the Monastery of the Franciscan Friers at la Tour who as well as the rest of their Brothers in Piedmont are all Spaniards There he called the Deputies of Angrogn Villar and Boby of the Vale de Lucerne he much flattered them and told that as to them they were in the limits which his Royal Highnesse was resolved to tolerate that no harm would be done unto them if only they would receive a Regiment of Foot and a Troop of Horse in each Commonalty engaging his word and with oath promising the word of his Royal Highnesse But threatning them in case of refusal that they should be declared Rebels The Deputies not having leave to confer about it and seeing the French Forces with all the Piedmont ready to fall on them and hoping that the word engaged to them would be performed and that his Highness would not wholly destroy those places they consented thereunto came up with those Forces and forbad the Reformed to shoot at them But they were no sooner in those strong places but the rest of the Army fell on on all sides seized on the tops of the Mountaines put to the sword and fire whatsoever they met in their way and did practise there the cruelties whereof the Pattern may be seen in the here annexed papers Thus was Vale Lucerne destroyed From thence they came to Vale Berouse and St. Martin an Order was sent them either to go to Masse or to be gone out of the Country within twenty four hours under pain of death and forfeiture of their estates They thereupon forsook their houses and fled into the King of France's Country and thereby all gave obedience except a very little number of small people who turned Papists but notwithstanding their retreat their houses were burned to ashes and all the Country made waste as the Vale Lucerne having thereby wholly rooted out the Reformed Religion in the valley of Piedmont not one Temple nor one house neither man nor beast having been left there onely for the Romish Catholikes
A third Apologie for the said Churches against the Calumnies falsly imputed to them REceiving Information from a friend touching the Answer made at Turin I perceive those enemies of the truth the Vassals of the Court of Rome who contrived it with no Iesse Art then malice do follow their old course and after the example of him who is both a murtherer and a liar yea the Father of lies cover and so encrease their cruelty by false Calumniations For whereas they would not seem to be unjust in this banishment forced upon the Reformed Waldenses they endeavor to asperse them with fictious and Imaginary Crimes and yet dare not charge them expresly with any one Particular in writing for fear lest the Parties accused should disprove it which they know might easily be done For when the Protestants had made Answer to such Accusations as were brought against them by Gastald before the Duke's Deputy he ingenuously confessed those Crimes were objected against them without cause to wit those pious frauds or officious lyes spred abroad by the Monks and Priests to draw an Odium upon the Protestants Si accusasse sufficiat quis erit innocens If it be sufficient to accuse who then can be innocent If an accuser only in general termes say a man is wicked what Answer can be made in order to a Purgation The Protestants for their parts call God Angels and men to witnesse that they are most injuriously charged with those things Yea they humbly pray intreat and beseech they may be brought to a Trial that if any be found guilty he may be severely punished But here the Romish Clergy interpose endeavouring with their Scare-crow of Excommunication and threats of everlasting damnation so to terrifie their seduced people that no Papist dare give any Testimony though in things most evidently known to cleare the innocency of Protestants for fear lest he should be thought a favourer of Hereticks And hereupon those Monks and Priests the Contrivers of those Officious lies presuming upon their own power through the terror of Excommunication and knowing very well that no Papist will dare to give in any evidence for the refelling of their Impostures doe with a brow of brasse most audaciously devise and object whatever they please against the Reformed Professors But if the difference in Religion and consideration of parties were set aside and the whole cause brought to a hearing before impartial Judges without respect of persons and if witnesses might have liberty to give in their Testimony according to truth without fear of Excommunication all the Calumnies of the Adversaries against the Protestants would soon come to nothing They made no scruple to render them odious to the Prince by accusing them of Rebellion but the thing it selfe is clear enough to the contrary For those Protestants that were suddenly driven out of their ancient Inheritances lived some of them quiet and secure in their Cottages others wandring about in divers Countries being scattered farre distant from each other dwelt in many places but a few of them among great numbers of Papists minding nothing else but their Plough and tillage of the ground At that time they had no Meetings nor Commerce with one another Every one of them with his poor family rested in peace under his own Vine and his own fig-tree until they were driven out by Gastald the Dukes Commissioner without allowing them the benefit of any legal Protestation and Appeal What universal conspiracy then can be fastened upon all those men who were dispersed up and down 〈◊〉 Towns Villages and Fields That they lived in the seats of their Fathers and their ancient Possessions and that they had not attempted any alteration of affairs nor in any wise exceeded the Bounds and limits see and prefixed to their habitation they are able to prove by undoubted Arguments and infallible Witnesses from the very place it self We understand indeed by Letters onely of two Crimes objected against certain Protestants of which the one was a foolish childish exploit of certain Boies both Protestant and Popish at la Tour who upon occasion of a marriage between two persons of unequal years brought out an Asse belonging to the Bridegroom to mock the Bride and make mockery of the Weddings Whercupon the Monks took occasion to wrest the matter against the Protestants as intended by them to the disgrace and reproach of their Masse but upon a hearing of the businesse by the Prince's Commissioner before whom the Protestants made their defence he acquitted them as innocent in this Particular and proinised that in time to come no further mention should be made of it Neverthelesse the Monks are up with it ever and anon in other Places where the falshood of their Calumnies is not known The parents of those wanton Boies ought not to suffer for their childish doings much lesse ought that whole Church and the Protestants of other Chruches and if they deserve Banishment for this the same punishment ought also with as much reason to be inflicted upon those Papists whose children were in the same transgression The other crime objected is indeed more grievous but very wrongfully put upon the Protestants and that is the Murther of a certain Priest of Fenil whereas it is generally known to the meanest persons there that not a drop of that blood can be aspersed upon the Reformed Churches And if the Magistrate had thought any of the Protestants of Fenil in the least wise guilty of that bloodshed he would not I suppose have banished them with the rest but rather have cast them into prison that they might have been punished according to the heynousnesse of the fact◠And therefore when all the Protestants of Fenil were promiscuously commanded by Gastald to depart and let go without taking notice of any man for so horrible a Crime he thereby gave sufficient testimony to the innocence of the Protestants in this matter And truly in the Decree of banishment he makes not the least mention of that herrid businesse but by declaring those persons should be exempted from banishment that would abjure the Reformed Religion he sufficiently sheweth that the turning them out of all in the midst of winter at three daies warning upon pain of death was resolved and executed to this end and purpose that the men being reduced to harship and misery might by this means be compelled to a renouncing of their Religion But put case that any man among the Protestants of Fenil had committed that wickednesse it cannot be concluded therefore that the rest of them in Fenill much lesse that those of the same Religion in Lucerne Lusernette Bobiane St. John la Tour Bricheras and St. Second ought in justice to be thrust out of their ancient possessions For the guilt of this murther though it had been committed by a Protestant it could by no means be imputed to these or to any of the inhabitants of other Towns and Corporations that are farre distant from them As by the
Law of God and common Justice so also by several Decrees of the Dukes of Savey made in favour of the Protestants September 29. 1603. and June 4. 1653. it is prohibited that the innocent should not suffer for the guilty so the Professors of the Reformed Religion do not desire to hinder but make it their humble and earnest Request that such as are guilty may be brought to punishment From hence then it is obvious enough to any man upon what account it is that the enemies of the Reformed Churches have not onely driven very many of them out of their native Countrey and ancient dwellings into banishment but goe on stil to persecute them by a most cruel and bloody war which they have cause to believe is not carried on against them by the proper inclination and direction of the Prince himselfe but through the perswasion and instigation of the Congregation for propagating the Faith and extirpation of Hereticks who have usurped the cognizance of this Controversie being the onely persons that have hindred the Protestants from being heard by the Prince when they have presented their Petitions or made any Addresses to his Royal Highnesse But yet they so ordered the matter that they directed divers Courtiers their creatures to feed the poore Protestants with hope that the eares of the Prince being wearied out with continued Petitions they might at length obtaine the favour to have their businesse brought to a triall before competent Judges while in the mean time they prepared Forces underhand with which they make it their businesse to fall upon them unawares and oppresse and destroy them It is against this unjust violence that the Protestants endeavour to defend themselves They struggle not against their Prince but with the said Congregation for extirpating Hereticks who as in the hearing and judging of this Cause so also in the bloody execution of their sentence by the sword have for the covering of their injustice made use of the name and Authority of the most illustrious Prince Moreover they with the like injury blame those Churches in the Valleys of Piedmont about those Letters of intercession written on their behalf to the Duke of Savoy by forrein Magistrates of the Reformed Religion as if they applied themselves to States Princes abroad for protection whereas those Letters are no more but friendly offices writtten without the privity of those Churches much lesse upon their intreaty and sent by those Magistrates of their own accord induced thereto by a Pious and Zealous affection and out of a brotherly commiseration of that most grievous calamity which might have moved even stocks and stones and whereof they had sufficient notice from other Parts seeing the turning of so many men women children Infants and sick persons out of dores to the wide world in the midst of winter at three daies warning upon pain of death was become a most notorious businesse which cried out aloud of it self and by reason of the wandring of those miserable Exiles who were forced to rove up and down like vagabonds to beg their bread Nor could they be ignorant how unjustly those their Protastant brethren of the Valleys of Piedmont were oppressed by their Adversaries in the Congregation for propagating the Faith who had openly arrogated to themselves the judging of the Cause of those our brethren in the Archbishop of Turin's house contrary to all the Rules of judicial proceeding and abused the Authority of the Duke of Savoy to oppresse and destroy them An Appendix to the foregoing Apologie AS we are informed by severall Letters the ruine long intended by the enemies of the truth of the Churches of Piedmont by the permission of God being angry because of our sinnes is now executed Indeed they had put off the execution by fained shewes and hopes of reconciliation that they might the while provide all necessaries to compasse their ends But against our expectation upon the 16. of April 1655. the Army made up of the Forces of the Duke of Savoy and of the King of France amongst which were some Irish Regiments fell upon the Churches of the Valley of Lucerna and with them the Militia of Piedmont and a crew of banished theeves felons and other malefactors let on purpose out of prison and from all parts flocking together in hope of prey whose incursions in an hostile manner the Reformed mistrusting at first and fearing to be crushed ere they could be heard when all means of approach by supplication to his Highnesse the Duke of Savoy was taken from them they withdrew themselves into the mountaines But the Commander of that Army the Marquesse of Pianesse sewing the Fox skin to that of the Lyons feigned he had no other intention then to intreate the Reformed that they would approve to the Prince their faith and obedience not by bare words but by reall facts viz. by quartering onely for three daies three Regiments of the Army viz. one at Angrogne another at Villars and a third at Boby which if they did he faithfully promised that no harme to them or theirs should be done which when it was granted by the Reformed and they had received the three Regiments presently the whole Army rushed upon them no difference made of men women children or sucking babes dashing them against stones some laying hold on them by the legges and either dismembring them or hurling them headlong into precipices with such fury that the very rocks were wet bloody with their brains and that in sight of the mothers who after the murther committed upon their children were themselves likewise murthered as it was done in the Borrough of Villars and Boby with such horrible butchery that some appeared to be indeed partakers of the crosse of Christ by being nailed to trees and put to imgring deaths am ongst whom one Paul Clement a man of a very upright life who being nailed the head downward did undergoe with great constancy the butchery and continued in holy prayers to God to the very last others especially of the weaker age and sex striving to flie from the fury of the souldiers being driven through Precipices into the mountaines full of snow died of cold and of other accidents as the numerous family of the L. Scipion Bastia In the Countries of St. John and la Tour they fell with fire and Sword upon Churches and private houses this holy fire being kindled by a Priest and a Franciscan Frier thereby to prove himselfe a Seraphin with his St. Francis to whom his Disciples give the seat of Lucifer This disaster being made in the Churches of Lucerne the Commander of the neighbour Valleys under the Duke of Savoy namely in that of Perouse St. Martine and Rupelate as glorying at the thing done commanded the Inhabitants of those places in case they did not turn Papists to leave the Countrey Whereupon those who perferred the richesses of Christ and Heaven to the earthy Country chearfully went out carrying his shame and followed him
in huge numbers The names of the banished who persevered in the faith and how many they be are not yet known to us for those of Lucerne having been overwhelmed unawares they made an escape and fled where they could Of many thousands a very few have carried any thing with them whereby they might for some daies preserve life Those that remaine doe by the bowels of Christ beseech all godly men to open their hearts unto them that they may receive of him a greater reward and may reap so much the greater harvest that the field of God to receive seed is the greater An Abstract of a Letter writen from the Vale of Perouse the 17 of April 1655. Describing the beginning of the murders and cruelties committed on the said Reformed OUr teares which are no longer of water but of blood and doe not onely offuscate our sight but doe also suffocate our poor hearts and cause us to hold our pens with a trembling hand as they are led by braines not onely dulled by the blowes they just now received but also extreamly troubled by the new alarms and assaults made on us doe hinder us from framing such Letters as we could wish and such as the strangenesse of our desolations should require But we doe intreate you to excuse us and to gather from among our sobbings the sense of what we should be willing to expresse unto you Notwithstanding the reports spred abroad that we would not stoope to make our addresses to his Royal Highnesse about the molestations raised against us whereof you have had notice Yet we never ceased from writing petitioning and sending of Deputies But all the while as formerly wee have been referred sometimes to the Counsell de propagandâ fide sometimes to the Marquis de Pianness The three last times they were flatly refused audience under pretence they had not Letters of atturney sufficiently authorising them to promise and accept of whatsoever his Royal Highnesse should be pleased to offer And especially at the instigation and by means of the Romish Clergy an Army of five or six thousand men was secretly raised who unexpectedly fell upon St. John and la Tour being encouraged by the presence of the said Marquis de Piannesse who having seized on the said places was presently reinforced not onely by all such among our neighbours as were able to bear armes but by the whole Piedmont where it having been spred abroad that our goods were given to be plundered they came all upon us with such an impetuous fury and chiefly a crue of banished rogues prisoners and guilty persons upon hope of saving their own souls and filling their pockets It was not all that they might the better oppresse us five or six regiments of the French Army were sent against us besides the Irish to whom they say our country is given to possesse it and other forces that are coming up daily towards us under pretence of taking quarters and refreshing themselves in the Valleya That innumerable number of men together with the licentiousnesse of the Marquis de Piannesse being stirred up by the Monks and led and set on by our bad neighbours hath so surprized us on all sides and with such violence you and with such a dreadful treason specially in Engrogne Villar and Boby to whom the said Marquis had engaged his word that if they would but quarter for three daies a regiment in each place or Commonalty they would have no harme that in a moment all hath been brought to confusion and the Inhabitants having done somewhat towards the saving of their Temples a little lower from the fury of the Boutefence were forced to flie for saving their Wives and children not onely those of the plaine who were retired into the Mountains but also the Inhabitants of the said Mountains themselves seeing they were betraied and surprized at the back door Yet they could not use such diligence but that many of them were overtaken in several places as among the rest at Villar and Boby where they were kept in without any possibility of saving their lives the enemies having possessed themselves of the Fort of Mirebouc to hinder them from saving of themselves and an horrid massacre was done on them In a certain place or corner they villanously tormented one hundred and fifthty women and small children and having cut off their heads they dashed others against the Rocks and the prisoners they took who were firthteen years of age and upwards who would not yeild to go to 〈◊〉 were â—â—â—â—ed by them or nailed to some 〈◊〉 the feet upwards which torments they couliantly and resolutely endured We hear that those of quality have been carried to Turin as among the rest one of our poor Brethren Mr. Gros Minister and part of his family In the vale of Luserne there is neither booty nor cattel left What hath been saved from the plunder is very little the rest hath furnished several Towns of the enemies in Piedmont As to the moveables they have all been lost also There are some whole Commonalties as those of St. John and la Tour where not one house hath escaped the fire nor their Temples neither the firing of them all hath been managed by a Franciscan Fryer and a Priest Among those desolations the mother hath lost her childe the husband his wife the richest are brought to beggery and in great sorrow and are so much the farther from being comforted that some Churches being yet left untouched in the vale of Perouse and St. Martin which was a refuge to those that were persecuted this day they have received a command to be gone out of hand under pain of death namely those that are within the dominions of his Royal Highnesse having no longer time but to be gone immediately However these our fine florishing and ancient Churches are lost without ressource except God be pleased to work wonders for them Our time is come our measure was full But take pitty of the ruines of Jerusalem and lament for the wound of the poor Joseph but above all have a real compassion opening your bowels to many thousands of persons brought to poverty and beggery for having been desirous to follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes Sirs and most deare Fathers and Brothers you have ever been as a sacred anchor to whom after God our poor Churches have had recourse in their afflictions take pitty on them for Gods sake at this time when they have not felt the rod but the Iron barre in doing and procuring some good both to the Pastors and to the sheep who are scattered working for them according to your wisdome and that as speedily as you can or think fit We expect that grace from your goodnesse commending our selves and our poor scattered flocks to your holy prayers praying to God that he might be pleased to preserve you and to prosper your holy Labours Lyon the 8th of May 1655. THe persecutors at the first assault having lost most of their