L'Histoire Des Vaudois. J. Bresse
Vaudois to 1601, and it is now extremely rare; it contains many valuable documents, which would be sought for in vain elsewhere, as the author was allowed to examine the manuscripts of the Synod of the Vallies. He was a minister of the church at Lyons.
P. Gilles, pastor of the Vaudois church at La Tour, is the author of "Histoire Ecclesiastique des églises reformées recueillies en quelques vallées du Piémont autrefois appellées églises Vaudoises," chez de Tournes, 1648, 1 vol. 4to.; this comprises the period from 1160 to 1643; containing interesting annals of the persecutions in the author's time; but the style is still less agreeable than that of Perrin.
Jean Leger's history is entitled "Histoire generate des églises évangeliques de Piémont ou Vaudoises," printed at Leyden, 1669, 1 vol. folio, goes as far as A.D. 1664; it is full of learning and piety, giving many facts to be found no where else; and the interest is increased from the circumstance of his having himself taken an important part in the events he describes. Still he enters into those tiresome details, for which the taste of that age is so much to be blamed.
The work of Henri Arnaud is the "Histoire de la rentrée glorieuse de nos ancetres dans leur patrie," in 1 vol. 8vo. without date. The event he relates occurred three years after the expulsion of the Vaudois, that is in 1690. This is a most precious and interesting little work, for the author himself was at the head of his countrymen, and the vivacity and force of his narrative render it very attractive to the lovers of truth, though it must be confessed that his style, as he says himself, in his dedication to Queen Anne, is wanting in that polish which is so much admired in these times. This work was originally composed in two parts, of which the latter must have contained an account of the war between Piedmont and France, in which the Vaudois were actively engaged; this last part was unhappily never printed, and the manuscript remains undiscovered; any information respecting it would be very important to the completion of the third part of my work. Henri Arnaud died in Wirtemberg, where this manuscript probably would be found.
The last of the Vaudois histories is by Boyer, under the title of Abrégé de l'Histoire des Vaudois, 1 vol. 12mo., La Haye, 1691; it goes down to 1690, and though written with judgment, is defective in many points, both in the historical parts, and with regard to the doctrine and manners of the Vaudois.
* The author here states his obligations to Mons. Certon of
Rotterdam, pastor of the reformed church, and to some
others, from whom he had received manuscripts. He then gives
some other particulars, not interesting to the general
reader, and proceeds as above.—T.
I pass over other histories of the Vaudois, in English and Dutch, as well as other references to them in more general works, as for instance, Gekendorf in his history of the reformation, Ruchat Basnage, &c. &c. as they are probably derived from the above sources, and are only more or less carefully compiled. …
Though I must not repeat here the evidences of the antiquity of the Vaudois, I cannot refrain from remarking that it is from the vallies of the Vaudois that the first sparks of that reformation have arisen, which has drawn back a great part of Europe to the purity of the gospel. It is extremely probable, that Calvin himself was of Vaudois origin, for there are still several families of this name in the vallies, from whence we believe his to have emigrated to Picardy. It is certain, that in the preface which this great reformer prefixed to the first French bible ever published; he acknowledges himself bound by the ties of kindred to the translator, one of our most celebrated "barbes," or pastors, named Olivetan, which makes it probable that Calvin had obtained from the Vaudois the doctrine which he afterwards preached at Geneva, and elsewhere. It is equally certain, that long before the reformation there were many persons who followed the doctrine of the Vaudois in Germany, Hungary, Bohemia, &c.; indeed the Vatïtiois of this last country, as well as those of Alsace, sent their youth into our vallies to be educated as pastors. It is known also that the celebrated Lollard who laboured with such zeal to diffuse the Vaudois doctrines in England, was not only a native of our vallies, but preached in them for a length of time with great success.* We may also assert that it is by means of the Vaudois that the reformation was introduced in the United Provinces.
* The Lollard tower in London takes its name from one of the
disciples of Lollard, who in the age of intolerance was
confined there.
The Vaudois of Provence, Languedoc, and Dauphiné also, originally sprang from our val-lies, and when their numbers had increased greatly at Lyons, they were persecuted by the Archbishop of that city, Jean de Belle Maison, about 1180, and retired into Picardy, under Peter Valdo, where they received the name of Picards. Here Philip Augustus, king of France, resolving to extirpate them, caused 300 gentlemen's houses to be razed to the ground, because the owners had embraced the tenets of the Vaudois. Forced again to leave their newly found country, these Picards, or Vaudois of Lyons, (also called poor of Lyons,) retired principally into the United Provinces of Holland, and there spread the knowledge of the truth. It was in the Low Countries that the Vaudois first took the name of Walloons, and that the first confession de foi (articles of belief) was drawn up by the celebrated martyr Guido Brez. This confession was first printed in 1561, addressed to Philip II. of Spain, in 1562; it was confirmed by the synod of Anvers, 1585, and finally adopted by that of Dordt. The above is sufficient to prove that the Vaudois church is the parent of all those which have arisen in Protestant Europe, and particularly of the churches of the United Provinces, as well Dutch as Walloon. Why do the Roman Catholics and the Protestants mutually hate each other? Why do they look upon each other with harshness and severity? It is, because instead of going to the source of their religion, the gospel itself, they content themselves with examining those streams, of which the waters have been rendered impure, by the admixture of human opinions: it is because they appeal to the confessions of faith of the heads of their sect or party, instead of seeking what really constitutes the essence of the Christian faith, and what ought to be the rule of our faith and practice, by means of the specific declarations of Jesus Christ and his apostles. It is because they generally adopt self-interest for their guide, instead of shielding themselves under that universal spirit of charity, without which there can be no real Christianity, and because they entirely forget that religion does not consist in words, but in virtue.
The nature of my employments, and the interest of the great cause which I serve, have often called forth my reflections on the evils it has been my task to describe; and however earnestly I have searched for remedies, as well as for the discovery of their origin, my meditations have continually brought me back to the same point. Let it be remembered that it is a Vaudois who speaks, a Vaudois, who, like his countrymen, absolutely recognizes no other religion than that of Christianity, and who believes that the unhappy distinctions of Catholics, Lutherans, Reformed, Calvinists, &c. &c., have done a thousand times more harm to the cause of the gospel, than all the manouvres of the wicked and unbelieving.
The thing is evident as to natural religion, for in examining history, we find that in no case has any one ever attempted to prescribe rules of belief to others, but that each receives what nature hath taught him, and nothing more.
Nor is there more obscurity in the point, as to revealed religion; not that religion of which opposing sects have given such different descriptions, but that which is to be found in the beautiful lessons of Jesus and his apostles. It is from these alone, we must judge of Christianity. And every one who is willing to undertake this important examination, without prejudices, will allow that nothing is more simple, more easy, than Christianity; and that the great truths which form its basis, are clear enough to be within the reach of the most confined understandings.
We must therefore conclude that many of the opinions which have so long sown discord, and still continue to produce dissensions among Christians, are by no means founded on points essential to Christianity; nay, the traces of several of them are scarcely to be found in the sacred writings.
What then are the fundamental articles of our faith, of which the belief is necessary to the character of a true Christian? Read the discourses of Jesus and the apostles to their converts, and you will have a full answer to the question. (See the quotations at the end of the Preface.) These articles of