The Waldenses and the Reformation.
By S. N. Haskell
AFTER the terrible persecution that came upon the Waldenses at the close of the fifteenth century, and the defeat that the Piedmontese army received, by God's interposing in behalf of these Christians, there came a respite. Says Leger, the historian, "God turned the heart of their prince towards this poor people." He sent an ambassador to their valleys to assure them of his good will, and to secure their's; and to intimate to them a wish to receive their deputies. They chose twelve men who were venerable with age and noted for piety, to visit Turin. They were admitted into the duke's presence, and gave such an account of their faith that he testified that he had been misled, and had done them wrong. He assured them that he would not again suffer such wrongs to be inflicted upon them, and several times he said that he had not so virtuous, so faithful, and so obedient subjects as the Vaudois. He manifested a desire to see their children, whereupon twelve mothers with their infants were straightway sent to visit the prince, and they presented themselves before him. He examined them narrowly. The historian says: "He found them well formed, and testified his admiration of their healthy faces, clear eyes, and lively prattle. He had been told, he said, that the 'Vaudois children were monsters, with only one eye placed in the middle of the forehead, four rows of black teeth, and other similar deformities.'" The young prince, Charles II., confirmed the privileges and immunities of the Vaudois, and dismissed them with his promise that they should be unmolested in the future. But still in the absence of the armed crusader, the Catholic missionary and inquisitor assailed them. Some were seduced, others were kidnapped and carried off to the holy office; but this in a more private manner. These annoyances, while outwardly peace was offered them, and no war declared against them, were unfavorable for their integrity and piety. A desire for repose made many conform outwardly to the Romish Church. Says Monastier, in his history of the Vaudois: "In order to be shielded from all interruption in their journeys on business, they obtained from the priests, who were settled in the valleys, certificates or testimonials of their being Papists." To obtain this it was necessary for them outwardly to attend the Romish chapel, to confess, and go to mass, and have their children baptized by the priests. This dissimulation on their part was the entering wedge to lead them to renounce their purity of faith, and to receive into their hearts a worse foe than the sword and the bow. The old true vine of piety seemed to be dying. It was about this time that the Reformation broke out, although up to this time they had heard nothing of it in their secluded spot. The policy of conforming in their habits and in their customs to secure favors of the world, brought upon themselves a weakness from which, as a people, they were never able to recover. The Reformation was making progress at this time, and when the intelligence was announced, the Vaudois "were as men who dreamed." In 1526 they sent forth Pastor Martin, of the valley of Lucerna, on a mission of inquiry. He found churches of Reformers in Switzerland, Germany, and France. He received books from the Reformers in Germany, containing their views. In 1530 George Morel was commissioned to visit the Reformers of Switzerland and Germany, and bring them word touching their doctrine and manner of life. At that time there were Protestants in Neuchâtel, Morat, and Bern. They had interviews with Berthold Haller and William Farel. They visited Basle, and presented to Œcolampadius a document in Latin containing a complete account of their ecclesiastical discipline, worship, doctrine, and manners. They were anxious to learn if these reformed churches would accept them, and if not to inform them where the defect was, and to specify in what points of faith they were not sound, and to what an extent. This gave unspeakable joy to the Reformer of Basle. For years these churches of the Waldenses had been in the fire, and yet had not been consumed, and now the seed which they had sown was bearing fruit; and they presented themselves before this great Reformation as suppliants to ask them to correct their faith and give them the true light wherein they had erred. "We render thanks," said Œcolampadius in his letter, Oct. 13, 1530, to the churches of Province, "to our most gracious Father that he has called you into such marvelous light, during ages in which such thick darkness has covered almost the whole world under the empire of antichrist. We love you as brethren." The Reformers saw that they had already begun to decline from their original faith, and thus they wrote, "As we approve of many things among you, so there are several which we wish to see amended. We are informed that the fear of persecution has caused you to dissemble and to conceal your faith. . . . There is no concord between Christ and Belial. You commune with unbelievers; you take part in their abominable masses, in which the death and passion of Christ are blasphemed. . . . I know your weakness, but it becomes those who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ to be more courageous. It is better for us to die than to be overcome by temptation." Thus was the Reformation a source of strength, by giving a sharp, faithful,393and brotherly rebuke to those who had sought to conform to the Papists, that they might save themselves from so much inconvenience. The commissioners visited other Reformers at Strasburg, Germany. They were received with congratulations wherever they went. The Reformers willingly permitted their elder sister the benefit of their own wider views. Says a writer, "If the men of the sixteenth century recognized the voice of primitive Christianity speaking in the Vaudois, the latter heard the voice of the Bible, or rather of God himself, speaking in the Reformers, and submitted themselves with modesty and docility to their reproofs. The last had become first." In many respects these two churches found their creeds not to be twain, but one. They find that they have both of them drawn their doctrine from the word of God; they are not two churches, they are one. They were the elder and younger members of the same glorious family; the children of the same Father. One of the deputies, on his return, was thrown into prison, and ultimately condemned and burned; but his fellow deputy, George Morel, bearing the letters of the Reformers, happily arrived in safety to Province. Imagine the feelings of this ancient church when the contents of the letters were read. The news touching numerous bodies of Christians now appearing in many lands, so full of knowledge, and faith, and courage, was literally astounding. They thought that they were alone in the world; but, like one anciently, they found 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal, or yielded to his requirements. They who had fought the battle were not to have the honor of the victory. There were others who came into the field ready to assist them and hold up their hands. A great majority of the Vaudois were of the opinion that they ought to listen to other Reformers, but a small minority, as at the present day, were opposed to being taught by the new disciples, and allowing them to dictate to those who were older. They went back to the Reformers for advice, and after repeated interchange of views it was finally resolved to convene a synod in the valleys, at which all the questions of differences between the two churches might be debated, and the relations which they were to sustain towards each other determined. The representatives from all parts of Europe met on the 12th of October, 1532. Two years earlier was the Augsburg Confession. A year before, Zwingle had died on the field of Cappel. The Reformation was beginning to be illustrated by the heroic deaths of its children. Calvin had not at this time become prominent, but he was already under the Protestant banner. This synod sat for six consecutive days. They drew up seventeen articles of faith, called a "Short Confession of Faith," made by the pastors and heads of the families of the valleys of the Piedmont, the chief of which, says Wylie, are the "Moral inability of man;" "Election to eternal life;" "The will of God, as made known in the Bible, the only rule of duty;" and "The doctrine of two sacraments only, baptism and the Lord's Supper." This revived the old spirit of the Waldenses. They ceased to practice those dissimulations; and yet they had lowered and compromised some of the faith that had characterized them years before this. Their meeting-houses had been destroyed, and the Waldenses had feared to rebuild them lest they should bring down upon themselves a new storm of violence and blood. Caves were selected as places of meeting; and when the weather was fine, they would assemble on the mountain-side under the great boughs of their ancestral trees. But in a short time, strengthened by the fellowship and counsels of their Protestant brethren, churches arose, and the worship of God was reinstituted. Crowds flocked to the preaching, and not a few came from the plains of Piedmont, and other remote parts of their valleys, to drink of these living waters, again flowing in their land. There was a new translation of the Scriptures into the French tongue about this time. The Vaudois wished the privilege of having it done at their sole expense, and it was considered as their gift to the churches of the Reformation. What a noble gift! The Bible had been their study for years and years, and now they give it to the churches of the Reformation. It was printed in folio, in black letter, at Neuchâtel in the year 1535. The entire expense was paid by the Waldenses, and the cost of it was 1500 crowns of gold, a large sum for a people so poor. This was the result of their counsels in this first great ecclesiastical assembly of modern times. The church of the Alps now had peace for twenty-eight years, and it was a time of great prosperity. Victory attended their efforts to spread the truth. George Morel states that at this time there were more than eight hundred thousand persons of the religion of the Vaudois. Their exemption from persecution, however, was not absolute, but comparative. The luke-warm were seldom molested, but the zealous and devoted brought with their quickened zeal a revival of the persecutor's malignity, though it did not find vent in violences so dreadful as the tempests that had lately smitten them.