J. Bresse

“ It is not the gospel which they teach; it is the various opinions of commentators, and heads of sects, on different passages of the sacred writings. Is this to conform to the spirit of religion? is it not, on the contrary, to engage one's self in that pretended wisdom, that futile science it so much reproves? Let me be allowed freely to say, that I consider the manner in which the Christian religion is taught and learnt in our days, as the principal obstacle to its progress. The gospel has no need of all this paraphernalia of science, to affect the feelings or judgment. ”

“ But if the precepts of Christianity tend to recommend to us the love of God and of our brethren, it follows that the Inquisitors and their adherents, have been Christians in name only, and that their conduct has tended to the discredit of true religion and greatly injured the cause of Christ; for light and darkness are not more different than a true Christian, and a bigoted fanatic. I have more than once remarked, in the course of my history, that we should rather accuse the Inquisition, than the House of Savoy of the atrocities committed on the Vaudois. ”

“ He who shrinks from this test bears it not, is not a Christian. "He is nothing," to use the words of the Apostle.
It is upon these principles that I beg all that I have advanced in the history of the Vaudois may be judged. If I have expressed myself warmly against their enemies, it is only when they have violated the first duties of Christianity; then I neither wish or ought to spare them, for truth, in the judgment of an honest man, is one and immutable. He ought to purchase it, to use the words of the gospel, to publish and defend it, at the price of all he has in the world. ”

“ What a touching and sublime spectacle do these people present to every kind heart and good understanding which contemplates them! They are good husbands, good fathers, kind friends, and good citizens, and have always, even in the midst of their persecutions, shown the greatest fidelity to their princes. Nay, even have, after an interval of a few days only, turned in their defence those arms which they had used against them, in the preservation of their lives and religion. ”

“ 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. ”

“ By this means you will destroy all factions, because each member of a state will be happy, that all those who are not enemies of the government, should thus enjoy the same privileges. By this means you will contribute to restore to Christianity all its splendour and its power; you will be the benefactors of your family, of your country, of the world. The wicked man, the bigot, and the false devotee, will hate, nay, even persecute you; but you have only to retire beneath the shadow of your own conscience, to render all their machinations abortive. ”

“ If this whole people, by drawing daily nearer to the Eternal One, should ever render themselves worthy to have it said of them—"This is the patience of the faithful, behold them who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." ”

“ Every Christian must render an account of his belief to God alone, and it is his duty to found that belief solely of the express declarations of the gospel, without attending to the subtleties with which men have endeavoured to obscure them. The most crafty theologian cannot find one single line in the holy scriptures, which could give to any person or council upon earth, a right to impose a formula of belief on others. ”

“ Before the days of Wickliffe, and other reformers, we can trace the Vaudois by their sufferings; they were branded and burnt as heretics, because they would not conform to the doctrines of men, and the edicts of the Roman pontiffs: their steady adherence to the principles of their own faith, and obedience to the will of their Creator, rendered them instrumental to the reformation, which afterwards took place, and by which, in this country, the pure religion of our ancestors was restored. ”

“ To all these testimonies there is one other to be added, of still more weight, namely, that of all the edicts which have been successively published by the court of Turin against the Vaudois; in no one is the smallest reproach to be found on the score of probity, good faith, or morals. This silence becomes an invaluable avowal from those who eagerly sought some pretext to give a colour to the horrible persecutions they authorized. ”

“ The sun may well have withdrawn his light in horror, when he first illuminated the dark and bloody walls of this abominable tribunal! And they dare to assert that it is established for the propagation of the Christian faith. What a horrible blasphemy is this! We may ask of the most ardent partizans of the Propaganda,* whether Jesus had recourse to an Inquisition? if the Apostles used such a means of extending their doctrine, or proving the faith of their brethren? Did the first preachers use tortures to force men to adopt their creed? ”

“ 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. ”

“ An English monk, quoted by Boxhornius, also gives an example of the purity of Vaudois manners, in the answer of a young woman to the solicitations of her lover; "God forbid, O young man, that I should love thee so much as to become eternally miserable for the gratification of thy wishes."
This admirable purity is still respected in the valleys, and, notwithstanding the corruption of the age, we must look through a long series of years to find one or two females who have not observed it. Those who have fallen are become the objects of universal contempt. ”

“ CHAPTER V. MANNERS OF THE VAUDOIS
In religion, theory is nothing without practice, and of all species of knowledge none requires less speculation than that of the Gospel. Its Divine Author has declared, that the religion which he came to announce to us consists not in words, but in virtues, which important declaration at once defines the spirit of Christianity, in placing charity even above faith. ”

“ What we can loudly proclaim is, that still in all Europe there does not exist a people of such good faith, simplicity, frankness, and kind-heartedness, as the Vaudois of the present day. They preserve a respect for religion, a love for their duties, and a purity of opinions and morals which may in vain be sought for among other nations called Christian ”

“ Confined amidst the mountains of Piedmont, adjoining Dauphiné, they have there preserved the Christian doctrine and worship in evangelical purity and simplicity, whilst the most profound darkness covered the rest of Europe. It is from the Apostles or their immediate successors, that they have received the gospel, and from that time their faith has never changed; it is now the same as it was before the reformation. The existence of these few thousand Vaudois is therefore most interesting to all Christian nations. ”

“ We rejoice that the Supreme Being has deigned to choose our country, to preserve there the torch of truth, and that it has been the beacon to which other nations have come to seek the light that has enlightened them.* We are proud of never having been reformed; but that it is at our school that the reformers have been instructed, as they themselves avow. ”

“ Inevitable death must be placed before his eyes, if he refuses to confess and renounce his heresy. If he answers—"If I must die, then, I prefer to die in my own faith," his execution must be hurried on as much as possible, and mercy never shewn. ”

“ So that no instance is to be found, in their history, of a defenceless enemy having been ill used, or of their having violated their promises, even while treated with systematic perfidy. Nor have they ever shed blood, except when their absolute safety obliged them. If so many virtues, so many good qualities, are sometimes mingled with weaknesses, we must attribute it to the imperfection of human nature; observing that it is only some individuals who are worthy of reproach, and that the mass of society is (humanly speaking) irreproachable. ”

“ The Vaudois," says he, in another place, "are so called from their residence among the valleys and fastnesses of the Alps, and may well be considered as the remains of the purest primitive Christian church. Nor has it been possible to draw them within the pale of the Roman communion, notwithstanding the horrible persecutions exercised against them. At this time they have churches flourishing, as well in doctrine as in examples of a truly innocent life. I speak particularly of those of the Alpine valleys, of whom some are subjects of the king of France, and others of the Duke of Savoy." ”

“ No attempt should ever be made to convince heretics by the Scriptures, for they pervert them with such dexterity, as often to confound the most learned men, who attempt to answer them, and thereby they become more hardened.
A heretic must never be answered categorically; and in an interrogatory several questions should always be given at a time; so that in whatever way he may answer, he may be replied to, to his confusion.
If there are any who protest they never were guilty of the Vaudois heresy, they must be admonished, that there are proofs sufficient to convict them ”

“ There can be no other fundamentally essential articles of the Christian faith, or any of which the belief is necessary to the being a good Christian, except those of which Jesus and his apostles required the belief from the persons they received into the bosom of Christianity. ”

“ 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 celebrated Peter Valdo, a rich inhabitant of Lyons, openly professed the Vaudois doctrine in 1175. He abandoned all his possessions, gave himself up entirely to the promulgation of the gospel, had the bible translated into the vulgar tongue, and instructed the people publicly in the streets, commencing with the thesis, that we must obey God rather than man. He refused submission to the Pope and his bishops; exposed the scandalous lives of the monks; and refuted the doctrine of the mass, purgatory, adoration of images, and prayers for the dead. ”

“ Violation, mutilation, and impalement were mere common atrocities; many were roasted by slow fires; others cut in pieces while alive, or dragged by mules, with ropes passed through their wounds; some were blown up by gunpowder placed in the ears and mouth; many rolled off the rocks, with their hands bound between their legs, among precipices, where they were abandoned to a lingering death ”

“ In the eleventh century, Lambertus, a Catholic and friend of Gregory VII. writes thus: "The court of Rome has so completely stifled all charity and Christian simplicity, that almost all good and just men believe that the reign of Antichrist, of which St. John speaks, is already commenced." John the Fifth, who reigned before this period, has been called by cotemporary writers, the most wicked of men. In these unhappy times the Vaudois did not venture to preach any where but in the woods and highest mountains, except in their most remote villages, such as Macel and Pral, &c. ”