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how fhall we glorify the Lord in the midst of Francis I. ,, Sufferings and Tribulations, if we deny him? 1544 Pope We must not, Brethren, look back, when once Paul III. ,, we have put our hand to the Plough, neither ,, muft we give ear to the Dictates and Inftiga,, tions of the Flefh, which moving and inticing ,,us to Sin, though it endureth many things in this World, yet it fuffereth Shipwreck in the Haven (a).

These pious Inftructions and Admonitions tended very much to the Strengthening and Confirmation of the most weak and infirm, and came in good Time for thofe, who were foon after harraffed and oppreffed with several Outrages and Cruelties; and even one of the Meffengers, who brought the faid Letters, was put to the neceffity of making use of them, namely, Peter Masson, who was taken at Dijon, where he was condemned to die as a Lutheran, that is, to be burnt. George Morel made his efcape with his Letters and Papers, and arrived fafe in Provence, where he fuccefsfully laboured to re-eftablish the Waldenfian Churches in their ancient Purity of Doctrine (b).

Some Member or other of them was daily fummoned before the Parliament of Aix, and were condemned either to be hanged or burnt, or difmifs'd with marks of Infamy in their Foreheads; until in the year 1540, when five or fix of the principal Perfons of Merindol being fummoned to appear, inftead of the rest of the Inhabitants, at the inftance and importunity of the King's Attorney, in the Parliament of Aix, and at the follicitation of the Archbishop of Arles, the Bishop of Aix and other Ecclefiaftical Perfons, Sentence

(a) All this is extracted out of Perrin's Hiftory, Book II. (b) Beze lib. i p. 36, 37, &c,

1544. Pope Paul III.

Francis I. Sentence was given against them; and that, the most exorbitant, cruel, and inhumane that was ever pronounced by any Parliament, resembling in all refpects the Edict of King Affuerus, given out at the requeft of Haman against the People of God, as we read in the Book of Efther. For not only the Perfons, fummoned to appear, were condemned by the faid Sentence, for their contumacy, to be burnt alive, and their Wives and Children to be banished; but it was moreover ordered, that the Country of Merindol should be laid wafte, and rendered wholly uninhabitable; the Woods cut down, and levelled to the Ground, for the compafs of two hundred Paces round about it: And all this without permitting them to be heard, or to fpeak in their own Defence. The King being informed of the rigour and feverity of that Sentence, fent his Orders to the Sieur DuLangeay, Governor of Piedmont, to inquire into the Manners and Religion of the Waldenfes; and having understood by the faid Lord, that those People had been charged with many things which they were not guilty of, he fent his Letters of Grace, not only for those who had offended by obftinacy and contumacy, but alfo for all the reft of the Inhabitants of Merindol, Cabrieres, &c. exprefly commanding and enjoining the Parliament not to proceed for the future fo rigorously in fuch cafes, as they had formerly done. Thefe Letters were fuppreffed. Thofe that were cited to appear in Perfon, defired leave to anfwer by a Proctor.

Francis Chai and William Ormand, appeared in the behalf of the reft of the faid People, defiring in their Names, that they might be informed wherein their Error lay, by the word of God; being ready to renounce and abjure all Herefy, if it could be made out and proved to them, that they were fallen into any. To that purpose they

I

delivered

Pope

delivered the Confeffion of their Faith in writing, Francis I. that if they found any thing therein worthy of 1545Reproof, when compared with the Holy Scrip- Paul III. tures, they might be inftructed what it was they were to abjure; or if the contrary, that they might not any more be disturbed and molefted by fo many Perfecutions, for fear, left, fuppofing that they made War only against Men, they should be found to oppofe God and his Truth, in the Perfons of thofe who maintained it.

All that they said, ferved only to fret and irritate them the more; for the Judges being prepoffefs'd with the opinion, that they were Hereticks, without taking the pains to fearch into the Truth of it, concluded all in favour of the Priefts, their Accufers. Nevertheless they remained unmolested during the Life of Prefident Chaffanée to the Year 1545, when d'Oppeda, who had fucceeded him, and was alfo Governor of Provence, in the abfence of the Count de Grignan, ftirred up, fays Mezeray, either by his Zeal, or by his refentment against one of his Farmers, who had fled into Cabrieres without paying his Rent (c), undertook to execute the abovefaid Sentence against the Merindolians and other adjacent Places.

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Daniel's

Impoture

Father Daniel fays, that D'Oppeda gave the Court notice of the new Disorders caufed by the Waldenfes, and affured the King that he knew from very good Hands that thefe Rebels had had on their a mind to furprife Marseilles: That the King account, fearing left a War of Religion fhould break out in his Dominions, as it had done in Germany, thought fit to put a stop to thefe Tumults, and at the Inftigation of Cardinal de Tournon, fent Or-ders to the firft Prefident to execute the Sentence given in 1540.

But

(c) Mezeray Abregé de l'Hift. de France. Vol. IV. p. 633. Thuani Hift. lib. vi. p. 189 Edit. Aurelian 1626.

1545. Pape

Francis I. But as Daniel pretends to have extracted his relation out of Mr. d'Auberry's Plea, and out of Mr. de Thou's Hiftory, let us fee if he hath dealt with us, with that impartiality which we have right to expect from an honeft and candid Hiftorian.

Paul III.

proved by

his crun Quotations.

I have not read, it is true, d'Auberry's Plea, but as he pleaded FOR and not AGAINST the Merindolians, &c. it is not likely that he had charged them with Rebellion as Daniel doth, there is not a word of it in Mr. de Thou. He obferves first that Mr. Du Langeay Governor of Piedmont having inquired into the Waldenfes Character and Morals, in confequence of the Orders he had receiv'd from the King, had found, that they were a very laborious People, averse to quarreling and disputing, charitable to the Poor; paying exactly and faithfully the Tributes to the Prince, and the Rents to their Lords; they worfhipped God by continual Prayers, and the Integrity of their Lives; but they enter’d very feldom into the Chappels of Saints, except when they went for trading fake, or other Bufinefs into fome neighbouring Town, and even then, they did not turn towards the Images of God, nor of the Saints; they did offer them no Taper or any other Gift: They did never defire the Priest to fay Mafs for them or for the Souls of the deceafed; they did not fign themselves with the Sign of the Crofs, as other People did; when it thunder'd, they did not fprinkle themselves with Holy Water, but lifting up their Eyes, they did implore God's Help and Mercy; they never did go on Pilgrimage; nor did pull off their Cap or Hat before the Croffes upon the Highway; they did perform Divine Service after another manner, and in the vulgar Tongue; finally, they did pay no refpect to the Pope or to the Bishops,

but

1545.

Pope

but they did chufe fome amongst themselves to Francis I
be their Paftors and Doctors.
Is this the Character of a Rebellious People? Paul III.
And why doth Daniel, who speaks of this Com-
miffion given to Mr. Du, Langeay, deprive us
of this genuine Confeffion? Why is he pleased to
include it under this frigid Expreffion, but upon
Mr. Du Langeay's Remonftrance, the Execution
was fuperfeded?

As to d'Oppeda's Letter to the King, according to Monfieur de Thou, he fent notice to his Majefty, that the Waldenfes having affembled fixteen thousand Men, intended to furprize Marfeilles, and hatched fome Innovation in Provence. Let us hear how Daniel hath rendered the Text: D'Oppeda gave the Court notice of the new Diforders caused by the Waldenfes, and certified to the King that he knew from good hands, that thefe Rebels had a mind to furprize Marseilles. Now let the Reader compare Monfieur de Thou's Account with that of Daniel, and fee, if this laft don't affirm as true, what the former fpeaks of only as a thing fuppofed by d'Oppeda, in order to engage the King to afford him an opportunity for gratifying his own revenge; I fay that Daniel affirms pofitively as true, what is a meer fuppofition in Monfieur de Thou. And to make every one fenfible of the Truth of this my afA sertion, here are his own words. D'Oppeda fait fçavoir à la Cour les nouveaux defordres que les Vaudois faifoient. Now Monfieur de Thou fays, Oppeda Francifcum per litteras certiorem facit, Valdenfeis res novas in Provincia moliri, &c. If Daniel had faid, D'Oppeda fait fçavoir à la Cour que les Vaudois caufoient de nouveaux defordres en Provence, he would have come nearer the meaning of Monfieur de Thou, which was, as it is evident by the fequel, to charge d'OpN°. I. peda

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