confirm the authority of Ecclesiastical Doctrine The Apocryphal Books are as follow The third of Esdras the fourth of Esdras Tobie Judith Wisdome Ecclesiasticus Baruc with the Epistle of Jeremiah Esther from the tenth Chapter to the end the History of Susanna the History of the Dragon the first of Maccabees the second of Maccabees The Books of the New Testament The Gospel of St. Matthew of St. Mark St. Luke and St. John The Acts of the Apostles The Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans the first to the Corinthians the second to the Corinthians to the Galatians to the Ephesians to the Philippians to the Colossians the 1 to the Thessalonians the 2 to the Thessalonians the 1 to Timothy the 2 to Timothy to Titus to Philemon to the Hebrews the first Epistle of St. Peter the second Epistle of St. Peter the first Epistle of St. John the second Epistle of St. John the third Epistle of St. John the Epistle of St. Jude the Revelations of St. John IV. The foresaid Books teach this That there is one God Almighty all wisdom and goodness and who by his power has created all things who made Adam according to his own Image but by the malice of the Devil and the disobedience of Adam Sin entred into the World and that we are Sinners in Adam and by Adam V. That it was promised to the Fathers who received the Law that by the Law knowing their sins and their own defect of Iustice and their inability of keeping it that they should desire the coming of Christ to satisfie for their sins and to accomplish the Law in his own person VI. That Christ was born at the time ordained by the father viz. when all iniquity abounded and not for the good works of any for all were sinners VII That Christ is truth life justice peace our pastor advocate oblation sacrificer that he is dead for the salvation of all believers and that he rose for their justification VIII Likewise we firmly believe that there is no other advocate or mediator for us sinners to the Father but Iesus Christ and that the blessed Virgin was holy humble full of grace and the same we believe of all other Saints and that they expect in heaven the resurrection of the body at the dayf Iudgment IX Item We believe that after this life that there are but two places one for those that are saved which we call Paradice and another for those that ae damned which we call Hell totally renouncing the doctrine of Purgatory invented by Antichrist and his Ministers X. Item We have always believed that it was an abomination of which we ought not to speak in the presence of God and invented by men viz. the doctrine of Feasts and Vigils of Saints of Holy Water of abstinence from flesh and other meats upon certain days and above all the doctrine of the Mass. XI We have in abomination humane traditions as being Antichristian and of great prejudice to the liberty of the Spirit XII We believe that the Sacraments are the signs or visible forms of holy things believing that from time to time the faithful should make use of those holy signs or visible forms if they can but nevertheless we believe that the faithful may be saved if they never received the foresaid signs or visible forms when they could not have an opportunity of receiving them XIII We never knew of any other Sacraments than Baptism and the Supper of our Lord. XIV We owe honour to all superiour powers in paying them subjection obedience and tribute with alacrity It 's now 570 years since this confession of Faith was made by the Churches of Piemont at which time all other Churches were corrupted by the mixture of humane doctrine and Pagan Ceremonies the world at that time being overspread with an Aegyptian 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 eleventh age 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 for 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 Saviour 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 elect c. St. Peter 2 Ep. C. 2. 1 2 3. prophesied the same thing there has 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 by which 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 Piemont from the time of the Apostles to our time by a singular effect of his Goodness towards these poor people of the Vallys and has hindered that Satan by his false Doctors and Teachers could not sow the Cockle of their poysonous Doctrine in the mystical field of his Church Notwithstanding all their crafty endeavours God in spight 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 and 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 Apoc. 12 has prepared to keep and defend his Church in against the furious Attaques 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 Desart where the woman Apoc. 12. 6. cloathed with the Sun with the Moon under her feet crowned with twelve Stars made her retreat where God had prepared her a place where she might be nourished 1260 prophetical days which make 1260 years where God Almighty has kept her safe against all the storms raised by Satan without any effect till the year 1686 the term of the Prophecy of the eleventh Chapter of the Revelations was accomplished it was then that the Beast which rose out of the deeps vanquished them and killed
THE HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS WHEREIN Is shewn their Original how God has preserved the Christian Religion among them in its Purity from the time of the Apostles to our days The Wonders he has done for their preservation with the Signal and Miraculous Victories that they have gained over their Enemies how they were dispersed and their Churches ruined and how at last they were re-established beyond the expectation and hope of all the World By Peter Boyer a Minister of the Gospel Dedicated to the King of England and newly translated out of French by a Person of Quality LONDON Printed for Edward Mory at the Three Bibles in St. Paul's Church-Yard M DC XCII TO THE KING OF Great BRITTAIN SIR THE wonders that God has done by Your Ministry in England and Ireland makes me hope that the History of the Vaudois will not be unacceptable and makes me take the liberty of presenting Your Majesty with it You will in it as in a fine mirror clearly see the wonders God has done for the preservation the of Churches of Piemont and the calm they enjoyed from the time of the Apostles when they received the doctrine of the Gospel till the year 1488 that Pope Innocent the VIII caused the Croisade to be published against them The number of those that took upon them the Badge of the Cross were 18000 men of regular Troops and 8000 Voluntiers of Piemont which were all intirely defeated by a handful of Vaudois Ever since that time they have been continually persecuted and disturbed with cruel wars But as they fought the battel of God in defending his truth so it visibly appeared that the God of battel was with them and fought for them without whose aid it had been impossible for them to have performed such extraordinary exploits and gained so many victories over their Enemies who were often times twenty or thirty sometimes a hundred against one Your Majesty shall see the cruel persecutions that the Enemies of the Gospel have made them to undergo and the constancy with which the Martyrs have sealed this Celestial Verity with their Blood If the Enemies had any advantage over them it was only then in violating the Publick Faith which should be inviolably sacred among men In conclusion Your Majesty will be astonished how so few have been able to subsist in the Valleys of Piemont till the year 1686 being surrounded with such puissant Enemies cruel full of diabolical artifices without Faith without Law but if their subsisting be miraculous their return and re-establishment is no less One may see every where that it 's the work of God and not of men I could not Sir address this my Little Work better to any than to Your Majesty who has seen the God of Armies march before you as anciently he marched before the Camp of Israel and as he marched and yet marches before them who are the subject of this History You maintain as they Sir the Cause of God and you fight for his Truth and there is no doubt but that he is with you and fights for you and with you the happy success of Your Enterprizes puts it beyond all doubt I pray God with all my heart that he may preserve Your Majestys Sacred Person that he may give you a flourishing and happy Kingdom and bless all Your Just Designs to his Honour and Glory this is the Ardent Prayer of him who with the most profound respect is SIR Your Majesties Most Humble Most Faithful and Most Obedient Servant P. Boyer ADVERTISEMENT OF all the people that ever have been from the Creation of the world till our times there is none except the ancient people of the Jews whose History contains so many wonders as this of the Vaudois of Piemont for whether one consider their Perseverance in the profession of the holy doctrine of the Apostles or one reflects upon the wars they have maintained these 200 years to preserve among them the Purity of the Christian Religion one sees so many miracles of Wisdom Goodness and Power of God that it 's impossible not to confess that God has declared himself plainly to be the God of this people and that he is the Protector and Defender of their Persons as well as Religion We learn from the Holy Scripture that the people of the Jews whom God had chosen above all the people of the Earth to be his people and in favour of whom he had done so many miracles in Aegypt in the Red Sea and the Wilderness often fell into Idolatry and polluted thimselves with the abominations of the Heathens that dwelt round about them but we do not find that the Vaudois did ever fall into Idolatry after they were once planted in the field of the Church we likewise see that many Heresies were introduced into the Primitive Church by the craft of Satan as those of the Eutichians Nestorians and above all that of the Arians but we can never discover that any of these Heresies took footing in the Valleys of Piemont and when all the world ran after the Beast of the Apocalypse after the great Harlot with whom the Kings of the Earth have committed Whoredom and who with her wine made all the Inhabitants of the Earth drunk the Churches of Piemont only followed Iesus Christ and inviolably adhered to his Doctrine So the Valleys had antiently for their arms a Torch environed with thick Darkness with this Motto Lux lucet in tenebris Light shines in darkness and as all Aegypt was covered over with palpable Darkness only in the Land of Goshen shined a clear bright Light even so as long as the Christian world was covered over with the Darkness of Idolatry and Errors there were only the Churches of Piemont that were illuminated with the clear light of the Gospel Now how was it possible that this celestial verity should be preserved pure in these Valleys even to our times if God by his infinite power and adorable wisdom had not hindred Satan from sowing his Cockle in the mystical Field of his Church to corrupt as he had done in other places the good seed of his word by the mixture of humane Traditions and Pagan Ceremonies which have corrupted sound Doctrine and that which is the greatest cause of admiration is that these Valleys are scituated in Italy where the great Whore has her Seat and the Princes of Piemont are subject to her Empire As to the wars that the Vaudois have maintained against their Enemies who rose against them to destroy them and to extinguish the bright Lamp of the Gospel they are all full of Miracles where one may see a handful of men conducted by Chieftains of no military experience put to flight great Armies commanded by the most valiant and most experienced Captains of the Age their Enemies were 20 and 30 and sometimes 100 against one Now how was it possible they should have got so many signal victories if the God of Battle had not fought for them and
Pretorium 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 Piemont 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 did participate to others It it be true also that St. Paul performed his voyage into Spain as he designed Rom. 15. 24. he took Rome in his way it 's not to be doubted but that if he went by Land he passed through Piemont for it 's in the direct way from Rome to Spain And if he went by Sea it was not necessary that in going from Corinth to Spain he should pass by Italy but he was at Corinth when he writ he had a desire to go into Spain If he had passed through Piemont as in all appearance he did it 's certain he preached there for he preached every where where he came Since the Valleys of Piemont were enlightned with the bright Rays of the Gospel the Inhabitants of these Countries have conserved the purity of the Christian Religion without any mixture of humane traditions they never had any Images or Altars in their Churches they never invoked the Angels or Saints never believed in Purgatory they never acknowledged other mediator than Jesus Christ nor other merit than that of his Death One never heard them speak of the Mass of auricular Confession of Abstinence from certain sorts of meat of the Celibacy of Priests of the Doctrine of Transubstantiation they always held the H. 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 writ in their vulgar tongue in the Year 1100. called the 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 Lords prayer in the Year 1120. and an explication of the Apostles Creed with several passages of the H. Scripture explaining ever article to which is joyned an explication of the ten Commandments in short a little book entituled A Treatise of Antichrist These three Acts were made in the Year 1120. the last of these Treatises shews that all those are Antichrists that teach Doctrines contrary to the word of God They confute the doctrine 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 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 the Christian Religion had not been conserved in tehse Valleys of Piemont 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 purg'd out of the Churches of Piemont 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 these Acts were made In the ninth age about two hundred years before these acts were made lived Claudius of Turin Bishop of that City and the Valleys who writ sharply against the errors of the Church of Rome this Bishop condemned the Invocation of the Saints the worshipping of Images of Reliques 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 Diocess according to the writings of a learned man 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 Bishopricks the greatest stream of writers did strongly oppose it they did receive the Communion under both kinds they did not adore the Sacrament they read the Holy Scriptures and taught it 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 Piemont in the ninth age as it appears by the writings of Claudius of Turin there is no doubt to be made of its conserving it self so till the eleventh age 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 those Valleys in its purity without the allay of humane Traditions and Ceremonies and the greatest enemies of the Vandois for all their boasting are not able to shew the contrary But above all the purity of their Religion appeared by that excellent profession of their Faith made in the year 1120 more than 50 years before Waldo of Lyons The Articles are as follow I. We believe and firmly hold all that is contained in the twelve Articles of the Symbol of the Apostles holding for Heresie all doctrine thut doth not agree with the foresaid Articles II. We believe in one God Father Son and Holy Ghost III. We hold for Holy and Canonical Scriptures the Books of the Holy Bible the five Books of Moses which are Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth 1 Samuel 2 Samuel 1 of Kings 2 of Kings 1 of Cronicles 2 of Cronicles 1 Esdras Nehemiah Esther Job the Book of Psalms the Proverbs of Solomon Ecclesiastes the Song of Solomon Isaiah Jeremiah the Lamentations of Jeremiah Ezechiel Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonas Micah Nahum Habbakkuk Sophoniah Hagge Zachariah Malachiah After follow the Apocryphal Books which are not received by the Jews but we read them as Jerome says in his Preface to the Proverbs for the instruction of the people but not to
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 Lords Prayer the Ten Commandements 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 it 's 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 written by Iohn 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 publickly of this Celestial Doctrine they are by consequence the true Successors of the Apostles CHAP. III. Of the Ecclesiastical Government of the Churches of the Vaudois of Piemont and the Manners of the Vaudois BUT if they have succeeded the Apostles as to their Doctrine they likewise succeeded it as to the Order and Government of the Church In the Primitive Church Acts 20. The Apostles established for the government of it Elders Ephes. 4. 11. and Deacons as we may learn as well from the book of the Acts of the Apostles as from their Epistles Tit. 1. 5 6. the Pastors are likewise called Bishops and Elders 1 Tim. 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 edifie 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 laboured 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 Tim. 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 Piemont have always kept as one may see in their ancient Manuscripts translated out of their Language into French and treated of succinctly in the Cap. 31. of the First Part of the General History of the Churches of the Vaudois in which writing it 's 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 for to edifie others by their good Example There were Schools kept to breed up Youth in piety There was likewise a particular School for 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. Iohn 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 imployed 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 it 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 before the face of the World and in Chap. 7. of his Book he says the Vaudois are chast The President Du Thou commonly called Tuaanus in Chap 27. of his History says that the Vaudois observe the Ten Commandments of the Law which gives the rule of living holily and piously they give no entertainment to any sort of Vices in their Assemblies they have in horror and detest all sorts of unlawful Oaths Perjuries Wicked Imprecations Quarrels Seditions Debauches Drunkenness Whoring Inchantments Sacrileges Thest Usury Witchcraft and the like And Claudis 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 alledge many other authorities of the bitterest Enemies of the Vaudois which they give of their good life and conversation but the curious may find them in the General History of the Vaudois if they think these be not sufficient CHAP. IV. Of the great Calm the Vaudois Churches enjoyed many Ages WE cannot find in the Ecclesiastical Histories the Vaudois or Christians of the Valleys of Piemont were persecuted under the reigns of Nero Domitian or any other of the Pagan Emperors who so cruelly persecuted the Christians it 's therefore probable that during those cruel persecutions many faithful Christians retired unto 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 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 Rev. 12. described flying into the Wilderness from the fury of the Dragon And is there a more dreadful Wilderness than the Mountains of the Alpes which are covered with Snow eight or nine months of the year amongst which are these Valleys It 's said that in the Desart the Woman had a place prepared of God for her where she might be nourished 1260 days The Valleys have they not been the place which God has prepared to keep his Church safe in since the true Church has been always conserved here from the time of the Apostles even to our days without any interruption or want of succession that while the whole world ran after the Beast only the Inhabitants of these Valleys followed Jesus Christ c. walked according to the
to gain so many Victories over their enemies which were expert and tryed Souldiers as we have seen they have done to the 15th of July when they fought alone without the aid or assistance of any foreign help and that which is considerable they had to do with their Prince whom the emissaries of the Pope had armed against them only in hatred of their Religion Their Prince was assisted by the King of France and the D. of Bavaria of which the one was his Brother-in-law and the other his Cousin-geâ—…man The Vaudois were not the hundredth part of his Subjects and Estates The Prince and all his other Subjects were armed against them and notwithstanding they gained no advantage but on the contrary they were foyled and in most occasions most shamefully put to flight The Protestants of France hearing of the cruel Massacre that was committed upon their Brethren of Piemont made extraordinary prayers to God for them and large Collections to assist those that had escaped Some Provinces celebrated a Fast for them and that of Cevenne celebrated one by order of the Synod assembled at Sale in the month of June 1655. Upon the News that was divulged that those that had escaped the Massacre were re-entered into the Valley and defended themselves there couragiously many Officers and Soldiers of Cevenne and the lower Languedoc went to the succour of their Brethren who in little Companies by several ways got into the Valleys and so the Army of the Vaudois that had not been till the 14. or 15. of July above 600. men consisted of 1800. the 17th or 18th of July The Lord of Combies of the City of Anduse in Cevenne was of the number of those that went to succour their Brethren and because he had had considerable imploys in the Armys of the King of France he was by general consent chosen General of the Army after the example of those of the lower Languedoc and Cevenne many Soldiers out of the Delphinate came and joined them in the Vallies The Army being two thirds stronger than it was it was resolved in a council of War to go and force the Town and Fort of Tour they departed at night the 18th of Iuly for this expedition and they arrived the day following before day within a mile of Tour where they halted till day break and then Monsieur Combies sent some to view the Fortifications of the Fort and those that were sent made a report to the General that the place was impregnable against a greater Army upon which Monsieur Combies ordered to sound a retreat being apprehensive of ill success in his first design But Captain Bertin who was of a contrary opinion would not retreat with his Company but desperately assaulted the Town he was soon followed by the rest of the Vaudois and some two or three French men this Captain who was a Townsman of Tour knew all the weak places about it and presently broke through the Wall near the Convent of Capuchius before the Enemy took the Alarm made himself Master of the Borough and of the Convent which he burnt down to the Ground and there is no doubt to be made that if all the Army of the Vaudois had followed Captain Bertin but that they had taken the Fort notwithstanding the Succours that Maroles Governour of Lucerne brought as soon as he had News of the attempt Monsieur Combies having seen what Captain Bertin had done was much concerned that he had sounded a Retreat And here ends the War of the year 1655. which was followed by a cruel Massacre that was made of the Vaudois in the month of April in the same year but before we speak of Peace it 's necessary that we make some Reflections upon this War CHAP. XVI Reflections upon the War in the year 1655. and of the ensuing Peace made at Pignerol by the mediation of the Ambassador of France and the Ambassadors of the Protestant Cantons IT 's certain that the Duke of Savoy had no better nor more faithful Subjects than the Vuudois who always followed their Prince as well in his wars abroad as at home They never took up arms but when they would force their Consciences and deprive them of the free exercise of their Religion This appears in this that every time that war was made upon them they were commanded first to renounce their Religion and go to Mass and that they let alone in peace all those that obeyed and gave them several priviledges and immunities all the crime the Vaudois for which they were so severely handled was because they would not abandon their Religion which they had received from Father to Son from the time of the Apostles and was in every thing conformable to their Doctrine Those that escaped out of the Massacre had just reason to take up Arms the Enemies had unjustly murdered the Fathers and Mothers of some the Wives and Children of others some had lost their Brothers and Sisters and they would have done the same to them if they had fallen into the hands of these cruel Butchers So much Blood unjustly spilt cryed to Heaven for vengeance and God would make use of the hands of those that escaped to revenge it as the event shewed by the victories they gained over their Massacrers and by the great slaughter they made of them though they were inferior in number and that which is more they were driven from their own Houses Goods and Country against the Laws of Nature and Nations which orders that every one enjoy his own in quiet if he have committed no crimes that make him unworthy of it Now these poor people had committed no crime they were of the Religion they professed before the Dukes of Savoy had any thing to do with Piemont and besides it was confirmed to them by divers grants and priviledges If God had not been willing to re-establish them in their Country would he have given them courage to return without being recalled by their Prince after having been driven out by a cruel Massacre and a puissant Army When Captain Ianavel returned home which was about fifteen or twenty days after he was driven from Roras he had but about 200 men and they had established in the Valleys 1200 Irish all Soldiers there were besides that 3000 men of the old Troops of the Duke of Savoy and all the Inhabitants were Papists so that there were more than an hundred against one But though their Enemies were in so great a number and were Masters of the Country Ianavel notwithstanding returned and not barely content to make excursions but they carried away a good Booty from Lucernette which was a place full of the Enemies and scituate between the Towns of Lucerne and Bobiane where the Duke had strong Garrisons If God had not given the Vaudois courage how would they have undertaken the enterprize of St. Secundus where there were 800 Irish and 650 Piemonteses in garrison strongly fortified and intrenched and they were not
he marched before them and fought for them without which it had been impossible to have forced so many difficult Passes and gained such signal victories The King of England being informed of their design of returning unto their country blamed their enterprize as rash and ill grounded and looked upon those 900 Vaudois as lost men The States of Holland were of the same opinion and refused to assist them looking upon it as to no purpose but when they saw that contrary to the hopes of all the world that they subsisted in the Country last May 1690. they sent them Money and procured some of the French Protestants that were in Switzerland and the Elector of Brandenburgs Territories to go and assist them If the Vaudois had not been entred into their Country and had not generously defended themselves against their Enemies the D. of Savoy when he broke with France had not thought of setting at liberty those that were unjustly imprisoned nor of recalling those that were dispersed in Foreign Countries and the Allies would have contented themselves with the Dukes declaration for themselves and embracing their party without troubling their heads about establishing the Vaudois though driven out against all right and justice The conduct of God in the Re-establishment of the Vaudois is admirable and makes it evident that his divine providence has Judgment and ways incomprehensible surpassing all human understanding The King of France in the year 1686. pushed on the Duke of Savoy to compel the Vaudois to forsake their Religion and to take the same measures he had taken against the Protestants of France they joined their arms together to force them and to compass their design they violated not only the treaty made with the Predecessors of the Duke but likewise all Treaties Oaths and Promises made by their Generals took them Prisoners killed and massacred them violated their Wives and Daughters killed their little Children and made use of all sorts of Cruelty against these innocent people after they had laid down their arms and in the year 1690 God sent a Spirit of Division between the King of France and the Duke of Savoy insomuch that they strove who should first gain the Vaudois to their party and by this division the Duke of Savoy was forced to re-establish the Vaudois in their Rights and Priviledges and to set all at liberty that had been imprisoned and to recall all those that were dispersed in Foreign Countries And so the King of France who had been the principal cause of their ruine became against his will the cause of their Re-establishment by forcing the D. of Savoy by his Haughtiness to join with the Allies this shews that God mocks and derides the designs and councils of Princes when they are levelled against Jesus Christ and his Church and with the breath of his mouth makes all their enterprizes vanish in Smoak Oftentimes he makes use of the Enemies of his Church to protect and defend it Henry the 2d. King of France while he persecuted the Protestants of his own Kingdom succoured the Protestant Princes of Germany against the Emperor Charles the 5th Lewis the 13th did the same against the Emperor Ferdinand 2d. and Lewis the 14th while he did his best to ruine the Protestants in France succoured the Protestants of Hungary against the Emperor Leopold Henry the 3d. King of France when he was but Duke of Anjou gave advice in an Assembly that was held at St. Clou to commit the Massacre of St. Bartholomew and when he was King of France he emoloyed all his Forces to finish the destruction of those that remained after the Massacre but while he busied himself wholly and took the most probable measures to put in execution his wicked designs God stirred up the Duke of Guise against him who under the specious pretence of destroying the Protestants of France made a League against Henry and drove him out of Paris seized upon his Guards and constrained him to throw himself upon the Protestants and implore their aid and assistance without which he had been lost the Duke would have put him in a Cloister as Charles Martel did Chilperick the 3d. and seized upon his Crown Henry in acknowledgment of the Services that he had received of the Protestants began to be very favorable to them gave them places of security and many other Priviledges and appointed Henry de Borbon who was a Protestant his lawful Successor to the Crown And so God by a secret and unhop'd for way of a cruel and implacable Enemy of the Protestants made him against his will their Defender and Protector King Henry and the Duke of Guise were both in arms against the Protestants they jointly made war upon them and had equally sworn their ruin God permits they should be divided and by their division the one to destroy the other to deliver the Protestants who were sore oppressed and persecuted almost the same thing hapned in the delivery of the Vaudois God sent the Spirit of division between the King of France and the Duke of Savoy to punish them for the cruel persecution they had raised against the Protestants these two Princes were equally their Enemies and had resolved and vowed their destruction and when their malice was at the highest pitch against these poor innocent Creatures and all things seemed desperate God Almighty blasted their design and made them turn their arms the one against the other to destroy the one by the other as he destroyed the Duke of Guise by Henry whom he caused to be assassinated at Blois in the sight of all France assembled in the persons of those that composed the States general and after God had punished the Duke of Guise for the evils he had done to the Protestants he likewise punished Henry who was assassinated in the Castle of St. Cloy by a Fryer in the same Hall where the consult was held and the Massacre of St. Bartholomew was resolved on of which Henry and the Duke of Guise were the principal Counsellors and Ring-leaders of that horrible Butchery CHAP. XXVII Of the two Prophesies of the Scripture accomplished in the History of the Vaudois of Piemont the one contained in the 11th Chapter and the other in the 12th of the Revelation THE History of the Vaudois shews us clearly the accomplishment of two Prophesies of Scripture the one contained in the 11th and the other in the 12th Chapter of the Revelation of St. John We have made mention of the last when we shewed that the Churches of Piemont have conserved the Doctrine of the Apostles in its purity from the time of the Apostles even to our days and that the Roman Church was corrupted in adopting and receiving Pagan Doctrine and Ceremonies and communicated her Corruptions to the other Churches of the West only the Churches of Piemont were preserved pure and undefiled from whence it follows by a necessary consequence that these Mountains and Valleys were the places assigned by God Almighty