(A.D. 1520 TO A.D. 1536.)
The great events of the Reformation, the report of which was fraught with such dismal consequences in Calabria and in Provence, could not remain without influence on the Vaudois valleys, from which the evangelical churches of these countries had originated in former times. Let us contemplate the condition of Catholicism, of the Reformation, and of the Vaudois at that period.
The first Christian churches founded by the apostles were religious societies, united to one another by the bonds of faith and charity, but independent in their organization. Hence, the particular churches could remain long united to the universal church, without renouncing that liberty of conscience which belonged to them in their individual capacity. The Vaudois Church is an instance in point; and the long strife which the Papal Church had to maintain, in order to reduce the greater part of other churches under its authority, affords a more general, but a certain proof that they were not from the first subject to it. The word church then signified no more than a simple assembly; and the distinctive characteristic of the Christian assemblies was that they were churches of brethren.
Catholicism, in its first establishment, changed the meaning of all these words; it desired to have dominion over the world, and availed itself for this purpose of the elements of that Paganism which had recently been supreme. Setting up again the fragments of its broken altars--restoring, for the sake of their imposing character, its old abandoned pomps--it connected the recollection of idolatrous festivals with altered names and new legends; in a word, it adopted the forms of Paganism in order to attract the Pagans to itself; and this it called converting them! The grandeur of Catholicism arose, therefore, entirely from the grandeur of the religions which preceded it; but, at the same time, it stifled the Christian spirit beneath the magnificence of these borrowed externals; spiritual worship gave place to a worship consisting in spectacles, and whilst there was no intention of renouncing the gospel, the gospel was supplanted. The invasions of the barbarians had just overthrown the Roman empire, and Catholicism was nothing else than the result of a hideous combination of corrupt Paganism with the savage barbarism which destroyed the ancient civilization. Then was this church seen to grow up to all the height of that edifice of past times which had been cast down; and, like a building spared in a great inundation, stood alone for centuries within a level but darkened horizon, amidst the ruins of the ancient world gradually disappearing or undergoing change.
Its pride increasing with its strength, Popery now aimed at subjecting the temporal powers to the spiritual power, of which it arrogated the name to itself; and thus did it unconsciously proclaim the superiority of mind over matter, even whilst it had, so to speak, wedded itself to matter in its wholly material worship. The human mind awoke, and protested against a worship so unworthy of itself; the dawn of restored letters cast its first rays upon the Bible, which also gave forth its protest; all generous hearts gathered around it, with the ardour of life, to destroy in its name the carnal forms of a monument of death; and, as two chords in unison vibrate in response to one another, notwithstanding the distance which separates them, the sensation at once produced in the Vaudois Church by the Reformation, gives evidence of the secret harmony which existed between them, and which alone could account for the feeling of mutual affection with which the hearts both of the Vaudois and the Reformers were suddenly moved. The Vaudois hastened to send to the Reformers some of their Barbas, George Morel, of Freyssinières, and Peter Masson, to whom in Latin documents is given the name of Latomus.
"It is not without surprise," said they to OEcolampadius, "that we have learned the opinion of Luther with respect to freewill. All creatures, even the very plants, have properties peculiarly their own; and we would suppose that such is the case with men also, to whom God has given strength to do good, to some more, and to some less, as the parable of the talents appears to teach. And as to predestination, we are much troubled about it, having always believed that God created all men for eternal life, and that the reprobate only become so by their own fault; but if all things take place of necessity, so that he who is predestinated to life cannot become reprobate, nor those who are destined to condemnation attain salvation, of what use are sermons and exhortations?" They came afterwards to understand that the Divine foreknowledge has nothing to do with man's prudential arrangements, and that the will itself is a gift of the grace of God, from whom all things derive their life, motion, and being, and the heart of man its willing and its doing according to his good pleasure. On this point, as on many others, the Reformers of Switzerland and of Strasburg gave the Vaudois evangelical replies, which filled them with joy.
As they returned with their treasure, and passed through Dijon, on their way home to Dauphiny, their pious conversation revealed them to be Lutherans. This was crime enough in that inhospitable city.
France, however, had preceded Germany and Switzerland in a reforming movement, which was evidently destined either to revive or to destroy the Catholic Church. Nowhere had the imperious ambition of Popery been more energetically repressed than by the French nation. The sister of the reigning monarch, Margaret of Valois, Duchess of Alençon, had become a convert to the gospel under the learned and unpretending instructions of a professor of the Sorbonne, and a bishop of Meaux.[2] But in France, also, a reaction displayed itself so much the more strongly, as the avowal of Bible doctrines had been made with greater reserve.
The Vaudois delegates, returning from Strasburg to the valleys, were arrested, as we have seen, at Dijon. The particulars of this event are not known, but the issue was that George Morel succeeded in making his escape, with the precious packet of letters and religious instructions which he bore to his compatriots; but, as if no other price than that of a martyrdom would have been proportionate to their worth, Peter Masson sealed them with his blood, dying on the 10th of September, 1530, with the calmness of a Christian who feels that he is redeemed.
The glorious news had already resounded amongst these mountains that Popery was falling to ruins, and that the everlasting gospel was rising again as a sun of life to shine upon a renovated world. In 1526, a pastor of Angrogna, named Gonin, had been in Germany, and had brought back the publications of Luther.
Several conferences were held, to discuss the explanations given by the Reformers. It was necessary that their minds should be brought to harmony, even as their hearts were harmonious already. Finally a synod was held in the commune of Angrogna, to which representatives of all the Vaudois parishes repaired, not only from the valleys, but also from Calabria, Saluces, Provence, and Dauphiny. This solemn assembly was held in the open air, at the hamlet of Chanforans, in presence of all the people.[3] It met on one of those shady pieces of level ground situated half-way up the mountains, in a verdant amphitheatre, shut in like an arena for giants by the distant slopes of the Pra du Tour, then crowned with sparkling snows.
Already a rapid change of opinions and relations had taken place all around the Vaudois valleys; many persons who until then had remained indifferent to the gospel, had begun to seek after it. The seigneurs of Miradol, Rivenoble, and Solaro, appeared at the council of faith and liberty. Some of the Reformers of Switzerland also came thither. Farel came mounted on a white horse, with that noble demeanour which belongs to persons of high birth. Saulnier accompanied him, and all thronged around the steps of these illustrious but unassuming men, who came to seal the compact of brotherhood between the successors of the primitive church and the promoters of a new era of evangelization. The Synodal Assembly met at Angrogna, on the 12th of September, 1532, and lasted for six days.
"The Reformers," says one who was present at that meeting, "were greatly rejoiced to see that people, who had ever proved faithful--that Israel of the Alps, to whose charge God had committed for so many centuries the ark of the new covenant--thus eager in his service. And examining with interest," says he, 'the manuscript copies of the Old and New Testaments in the vulgar tongue which were amongst us"--it will be perceived that it is a Vaudois who speaks--"correctly copied with the hand at a date beyond all memory, they marvelled at that favour of Heaven which a people so small in numbers had enjoyed, and rendered thanks to the Lord that the Bible had never been taken from them. Then, also, in their great desire that the reading of it might be made profitable to a greater number of persons, they adjured all the other brethren, for the glory of God and the good of Christians, to take measures for circulating it, showing how necessary it was that a general translation should be made of it into French, carefully compared with the original texts, and of which large numbers should be printed." All the Vaudois applauded the design, and, according to the author just quoted, joyfully agreed to the work proposed;[4] so that it is to the existence of these ancient Vaudois manuscripts, the first in which the Bible was ever presented in the vulgar tongue (being what was then called the Romance tongue), that the Christian world was afterwards indebted for the first complete translation of the Bible printed in French.[5]
This preliminary decision of the Vaudois Synod was not, it is evident, one of the least important. They proceeded then to the discussion of the articles upon which there existed some diversity of opinion between the Vaudois and the Reformers.
The first question which was examined related to the subject of oaths. Jesus Christ says, "Let your yea, be yea, and your nay, nay. (Matt 5:37) The Christian must never lie. When an oath is tendered to him, is it lawful for him to swear? The assembly decided in the affirmative.
The second question received the following answer:--"No works are to be called good but those which God has commanded, and none are to be called evil but those which he has forbidden." This doctrine, which seems to imply the possibility of things indifferent in the life of man, is a slight modification of the ancient opinions of the Vaudois, according to which everything in us, without exception, is either good or evil.
In the third place, auricular confession was rejected, as contrary to Scripture; but mutual confession and secret reproof were maintained.
The next question is deleted in the contemporary manuscript from which these particulars are derived, but these are the words of it: "Does the Bible forbid us to work on Sabbath?--Conclusion: Men may not engage on that day in any works but those of charity or of edification."
Afterwards we read: "Articulate words are not indispensable to prayer; genuflections, beating of the forehead, trembling and agitation, are things superfluous. It was decided that Divine service ought to be carried on in spirit and in truth."
"Is the imposition of hands necessary?" Both this question and the answer to it are deleted in the manuscript, but the words can still be read, as follows:--"The Apostles made use of imposition of hands, as also did the Fathers of the church; but it is an external thing, in which everyone is left at liberty."
The thirteenth question bears that marriage is prohibited to no one. The fifteenth, that to attempt to impose vows of celibacy is an antichristian thing and work.
The last eight articles are these:--
"18. Every kind of usury is forbidden in the word of God." (By usury was then understood the receipt of any kind of interest for money lent.) This sentence is also effaced; but there remains after it a statement that loans ought to be made and granted in mere and entire charity.
"19. All the elect have been specially chosen before the foundation of the world.
"20. It is impossible that those who are appointed unto salvation should not be saved?
"21. Whosoever asserts freewill denies completely the predestination of God.
"22. The ministers of the word of God ought not to wander about, nor to change their residence, unless it shall be for the good of the church.
"23. They are warranted to have, for the maintenance of their families, other revenues besides the fruits of apostolical communion."
There is then, also, something said of the sacraments, which according to the Holy Scriptures are reduced to two, Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Hence it appears that questions the most diverse, relating to worship, discipline, and doctrine, were discussed in this interesting meeting. It was terminated by words full of brotherly kindness and prayer:--"Since it has been according to the good-will of the Most High," we read in the account already quoted, "to permit us to assemble in this place so large a number of brethren, we have with one consent agreed to the present declaration. The spirit which animates us being not of men, but of God, we implore Him that, according to the directions of his love, nothing may henceforth divide us; and that when we are far separated from one another, we may always remain united in the same mind, whether for the teaching of these doctrines, or for expounding to others the Holy Scriptures." Such was the declaration signed by the greater part of those who were present. However, this agreement was not unanimous; for there were, says Gilles, a number who dissented, and two pastors having refused to sign, withdrew from the Synod. Thus, although based upon the gospel, these first articles of faith, framed by the breath of men, became the cause of the first schism which ever broke out in the Vaudois Church. It must be observed, however, that the two dissenting pastors did not belong to the valleys, but to Dauphiny.
They proceeded to Bohemia, to the brethren of that country, who maintained, though by rare intercourse, a constant connection with the Vaudois churches, amongst which their spiritual guides came to receive instruction in the word of God. The Barbas whom they found officiating there, had therefore also passed sometime in the valleys in their youth. But the report of the crusade which had been raised against them in 1487, had caused the Bohemians to take for granted the entire destruction of these beloved and primitive churches of the Alps. The two ministers who then arrived amongst them from these churches, re-assured them therefore on this point; but they complained bitterly that foreign doctors had brought amongst them new doctrines, which the Synod of Angrogna had too readily adopted. Thereupon the churches of Bohemia wrote a fraternal letter to those of Piedmont, entreating them not to lay aside their ancient customs, and, above all, to be very circumspect in the matter of doctrine.
The Dauphinese ministers brought back this letter to the valleys, eight months after they had left them. A new synod was held at Pral, on the 14th of August, 1533. The communication from the brethren of Bohemia was there considered, to which it was replied that no doctrine had been nor would be received in the Vaudois Church on the authority of human doctors, but only on that of the Bible. This synodal assembly approved also of the resolutions of the preceding year. The foreign pastors, persisting in their dissent, retired from the valleys; but a fact less excusable than their dissent, was the abstraction of several ancient manuscripts and papers concerning the history of the Vaudois, of which they took possession before they went away.
Whilst the dissenters were signalizing themselves in a manner so little to their credit, the strict and devoted body of the Vaudois clergy steadfastly pursued the paths of that faith which worketh by love, preparing with the utmost diligence the translation of the Bible, which the Synod of Angrogna had resolved to print.
Ten years before, the four gospels had already been published in French, by Lefebvre D'Étaples.[6] The remainder of the New Testament, and thereafter some fragments of the Old, appeared at Antwerp, from 1525 to 1534. Olivétan, who was appointed to superintend the Vaudois version, doubtless profited by these labours; but it must be believed that other Vaudois likewise assisted him, for the preface to the Bible which bears his name is dated from the Alps, this seventh of February, 1535. It is a large folio volume, of somewhere about 2000 pages (for the sheets are not numbered). It is printed in Gothic characters, in two columns, with remarkable neatness, and bears the following title: La Bible qui est toute la saincte escripture, en laquelle sont contenus le Vieil Testament et le Nouveau, translatés en françoys, le Vieil de Lebrieu et le Nouveau du Grec.[7] Then follows this motto, from the prophet Isaiah: Écoutez cieulx, et toi terre preste laureille, car Leternel parle.[8] The name of the prophet quoted is written Isaiah, which recalls, better than the modern French orthography [Ésaïe], the Hebrew pronunciation. The date of this publication is noted at the end of the volume, in these terms: achevé d'imprimer en la ville et comté de Neufchastel, par Pierre de Wingle, dict Pirot, l'an 1535, le 4e jour de Juing.[9] This Bible cost the Vaudois 1500 golden crowns; and it would be surprising that a people so few in number should be able to make such very considerable sacrifices, if we did not know that faith makes the greatest works possible, and that the feeblest can do all things when Christ strengthens them.
This undertaking, originated through the influence of Farel, himself a Frenchman, was also prosecuted with a special regard to the Reformed Church of France. The Vaudois, who address that church as a sister, say to her in the preface--calling to remembrance the refuge which the disciples of Valdo had sought amongst them-- "The poor people who make you this present were driven forth and banished from your company more than three centuries ago; they are the true people of patience, who, in faith, and hope, and charity, have silently vanquished all the assaults and efforts which their enemies have been able to make against them." "They are the people of joyous affection and of constant courage," replied the churches of France by one of their synods; "their name is the little flock; their kingdom is not of this world; their motto is piety and contentment; they are a church which has endured conflicts, and is embrowned and sun-scorched without, but fair and of goodly appearance within; whose footsteps the greater part amongst us have failed to follow; for religious zeal exists only in the monuments of history, and in the ashes of our fathers, which are still warm with their ardour for the propagation of the gospel." These admirable sentences, so true at that period, but much more true in our days, are extracted from a little work composed by order of the Synod of Briançon, held from the 25th to the 30th of June, 1620. It is entitled, A Brief Account of the Persecutions which have in these days befallen the churches of the Marquisate of Saluces.[10]
These churches likewise belonged to the great Vaudois family; and of them we shall presently come to treat. But before bringing this chapter to a dose, I must still speak of the Vaudois minister of the parish within which was held the Synod of 1532, the Barba Martin Gonin, pastor of Angrogna, who, in order to complete the work of instruction and of renovation set on foot by that synod, undertook to go in person to Geneva, to procure the religions publications necessary for his countrymen. He had formerly visited the churches of Provence, and he was now to visit those of Switzerland. This Christian mission, which the enemies of the gospel rendered very perilous, was undertaken in 1536. The Bible of the Vaudois had been published in 1535; so that, a year after having diffused through the world the book of books, this people, as eager to be instructed as to teach, demanded in return from the world, the tribute of that enlightenment for which it was indebted to the Bible.
Gonin had already, in 1526, made an excursion amongst the Reformers, and had brought back a great number of books. The worthy Barba left the valleys again, ten years after, at the conclusion of winter, because the roads being then more difficult and less frequented, were also less closely watched. Another Vaudois, by name John Girard, accompanied him to Geneva, where he intended to found a printing establishment, specially with the view of providing for the wants of his own countrymen. He did actually found it, and it fell to his lot afterwards to print the narrative of the first persecutions undertaken against the Vaudois in the 16th century. As for Barba Martin Gonin, after having made choice of the books which he was commissioned to procure, he set out again for the Vaudois valleys, in the month of March, 1536.
The Duke of Savoy was then at war with the king of France, who had just seized upon Bresse, Savoy, and great part of Piedmont. The Bernese took advantage of these circumstances to re-assert their claim to the right bank of the Leman, which the Duke of Savoy still possessed. It was at this time that they seized upon the Pays de Vaud, and that they embraced the Reformation. They had carried their invasions as far as Chablais and the Pays de Gex.
To shun these scenes of conflict, Martin Gonin was obliged to take a different road from that by which he had formerly travelled; he went through France, and as he traversed the Champsaur in order to reach the Gapençois, and thence to gain the Vaudois valleys of Dauphiny, he incurred the suspicion of being a spy of the Duke of Savoy, and was arrested. He was conducted to Grenoble, where he was examined by some members of the Parliament, and obliged to reply to their interrogatories; but they, being persuaded of his innocence, commanded him to be set at liberty. The jailer, before giving effect to this decision, and with the intention unquestionably of robbing his prisoner of any valuables which he might find about him, took upon himself to search him, under pretext of making him free of all possible suspicion. Having set about this odious proceeding, he thought that he discovered papers concealed under the lining of his dress. These were no other than the brotherly letters of Farel, Saulnier, and other ministers of Geneva, which these worthy servants of Christ had sent to their Christian brethren in the valleys, by the hands of their pastor. The jailer took possession of these writings, and to justify himself to the judges, perhaps to gain credit for his bad action, he delivered them to the provost, who commanded him to convey Gonin back to prison.
Two days after, the captive was summoned to a new examination, as a person accused of Lutheranism. Being called upon to reply, he said, "I am not a Lutheran, for Luther did not die for me, but Jesus Christ only, whose name I bear." "What is your doctrine?" "That of the gospel." "Do you go to mass?" "No." "Do you acknowledge the authority of the pope?" "No." "Do you acknowledge that of the king?" "Yes; for the powers that be are ordained of God." "But the pope is also one of the powers that be." "Only by the support of the devil." At these last words the judges, in a fury, instead of proceeding further with the examination of the accused, who demanded to be allowed to prove all his beliefs from the Bible, commanded him to be silent, declared him a heretic, and condemned him to death.
But Grenoble was a city of more enlightenment than Dijon. The new light had penetrated to it. The seigneurs of Bonne, Villars, Mailhet, and Bardonanche, with other families of high descent, had already in some measure imbibed those doctrines which made them, in the contests that soon followed, strenuous defenders of the Reformation. It was dreaded that the evangelical language of the Vaudois Barba might excite too much sympathy; it was thought proper, therefore, that his execution should not be public, "for fear," as the narratives say, "that his engaging manners and fair speech should create some commotion amongst those that should be present." Accordingly, it was resolved that he should be strangled by night, and that his corpse should then be cast into the Isère.
Meanwhile, the humble martyr prayed for the advancement of the kingdom of God, for his afflicted family, for his church, and his fellow-countrymen. "O Lord!" he cried, from the depths of his dungeon, "be pleased to hasten that happy time when there shall be only one flock and one Shepherd!" He sought consolation in the present from the hope of the future, and the Lord answered his prayer, by hastening his own entrance into the felicity of heaven. On the 26th of April, 1536, about three o'clock in the morning, unaccustomed feet were heard on the damp stair of his prison. The light of a dark lantern fell upon its dismal steps. The door was opened, and the executioner and his assistants appeared on the threshold. "I see plainly what you come for," said the pastor, prepared to die; "but do you think to deceive God?" "In what?" inquired they. "You intend to throw me into the river, when there is nobody to see; but will not God see you?" "Get your ropes ready," said the executioner to his men, without replying to the Christian martyr. "And you, poor sinners," said Gonin to the other prisoners, "remember that there is pardon in one only, that is in Jesus Christ; and were your souls red even as crimson, he could make them white as snow." "What is the meaning of this talk?" said his companions in misfortune. "The stains most indelible, even according to human laws," he replied, "can be washed out by Him. Repent, and be converted, for the kingdom of God is at hand."
"Are the ropes ready?" said the executioner, interrupting him. The assistants stepped forward, and proceeded to carry into effect what was called human justice. They bound the hands of the martyr. They then conducted him to the banks of the Isère. There the executioner, having tied a rope to one of his feet, allowed him to kneel and to pray to God; afterwards he put a small rope round his neck, and passing a stick through it, twisted it in such a way as to tighten it more and more. No longer able to breathe, Gonin fell upon the ground. Here the strangulation was finished, and when they saw that he was motionless, they cast him into the river. But the coolness of the water restored the doomed man to life: his body quivered, his limbs moved--would he then survive that execution? No; the executioner, with foresight of such a possibility, retained hold of the rope which he had attached to the foot of the victim. He kept the convulsed and dying body floating until its agonies were ended. The movements communicated through the cord became more and more feeble, and when the last quiverings had ceased in that double suffocation by rope and by water, the line was cut, and the river bore away the body of the Vaudois martyr, whilst his soul winged its flight to heaven.
Notes: