Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	church_n	faith_n	teach_v	4,044	5	6.3549	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28933	The history of the Vaudois. Wherein is shewn their original; how God has preserved the Christian religion among them in its purity, from the time of the Apostles to our days; the wonders he has done for their preservation, with the signal and miraculous victories that they have gained over their enemies; how they were dispersed, and their churches ruined; and how at last they were re-established, beyond the expectation and hope of all the world. / By Peter Boyer ... ; and newly translated out of French by a person of quality.; Abrégé de l'histoire des Vaudois. English	Boyer, P. (Pierre), 1619-ca. 1700.; Boyer, Abel, 1667-1729.; Person of quality.	1692 (1692)	Wing B3918A; ESTC R5697	97,378	276

confirm the authority of Ecclesiastical Doctrine The Apocryphal Books are as follow The third of Esdras the fourth of Esdras Tobie Judith Wisdome Ecclesiasticus Baruc with the Epistle of Jeremiah Esther from the tenth Chapter to the end the History of Susanna the History of the Dragon the first of Maccabees the second of Maccabees The Books of the New Testament The Gospel of St. Matthew of St. Mark St. Luke and St. John The Acts of the Apostles The Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans the first to the Corinthians the second to the Corinthians to the Galatians to the Ephesians to the Philippians to the Colossians the 1 to the Thessalonians the 2 to the Thessalonians the 1 to Timothy the 2 to Timothy to Titus to Philemon to the Hebrews the first Epistle of St. Peter the second Epistle of St. Peter the first Epistle of St. John the second Epistle of St. John the third Epistle of St. John the Epistle of St. Jude the Revelations of St. John IV. The foresaid Books teach this That there is one God Almighty all wisdom and goodness and who by his power has created all things who made Adam according to his own Image but by the malice of the Devil and the disobedience of Adam Sin entred into the World and that we are Sinners in Adam and by Adam V. That it was promised to the Fathers who received the Law that by the Law knowing their sins and their own defect of Iustice and their inability of keeping it that they should desire the coming of Christ to satisfie for their sins and to accomplish the Law in his own person VI. That Christ was born at the time ordained by the father viz. when all iniquity abounded and not for the good works of any for all were sinners VII That Christ is truth life justice peace our pastor advocate oblation sacrificer that he is dead for the salvation of all believers and that he rose for their justification VIII Likewise we firmly believe that there is no other advocate or mediator for us sinners to the Father but Iesus Christ and that the blessed Virgin was holy humble full of grace and the same we believe of all other Saints and that they expect in heaven the resurrection of the body at the dayf Iudgment IX Item We believe that after this life that there are but two places one for those that are saved which we call Paradice and another for those that ae damned which we call Hell totally renouncing the doctrine of Purgatory invented by Antichrist and his Ministers X. Item We have always believed that it was an abomination of which we ought not to speak in the presence of God and invented by men viz. the doctrine of Feasts and Vigils of Saints of Holy Water of abstinence from flesh and other meats upon certain days and above all the doctrine of the Mass. XI We have in abomination humane traditions as being Antichristian and of great prejudice to the liberty of the Spirit XII We believe that the Sacraments are the signs or visible forms of holy things believing that from time to time the faithful should make use of those holy signs or visible forms if they can but nevertheless we believe that the faithful may be saved if they never received the foresaid signs or visible forms when they could not have an opportunity of receiving them XIII We never knew of any other Sacraments than Baptism and the Supper of our Lord. XIV We owe honour to all superiour powers in paying them subjection obedience and tribute with alacrity It 's now 570 years since this confession of Faith was made by the Churches of Piemont at which time all other Churches were corrupted by the mixture of humane doctrine and Pagan Ceremonies the world at that time being overspread with an Aegyptian darkness and so the Authors of both Religions agree in calling that age the dark age This confession of Faith being drawn from the writings of the holy Apostles and in every respect conformable to their Doctrine it follows by a necessary consequence that the Religion of the Vaudois is the true and pure Religion of the Apostles and that they have always kept it pure from the first receiving of it till the beginning of the eleventh age and from thence till these times since they now profess the same Faith and teach the same Doctrine that was contained in that famous confession All other Churches both of the East and West being infected with divers Heresies Satan for to hinder the advancement of the Reign of Jesus Christ has from time to time stirred up false Teachers who have sown their cursed Seed in the field of our Lord and by their false Doctrine varnished over with a seeming Piety have corrupted the doctrine of the Gospel This is what our Saviour foretold saying to his Disciples that false Christs and false Prophets would arise and would do signs and wonders to deceive if it were possible the elect c. St. Peter 2 Ep. C. 2. 1 2 3. prophesied the same thing there has been false Prophets among the people as likewise there will be among you false Teachers who shall privately introduce Sects of perdition and shall deny the Lord who hath redeemed them bringing upon them sudden perdition and many shall follow them by which the ways of Truth shall be blasphemed But O the wonderful works of God! who has conserved by his wise Providence the purity of his Religion in the Valleys of Piemont from the time of the Apostles to our time by a singular effect of his Goodness towards these poor people of the Vallys and has hindered that Satan by his false Doctors and Teachers could not sow the Cockle of their poysonous Doctrine in the mystical field of his Church Notwithstanding all their crafty endeavours God in spight of the Devil and all his works has kept among these Mountains and Deserts the bright light of his Gospel and has never suffered the candle to be extinguished and the great wonders that God has done from time to time to keep his bright Lamp always shining clear to these happy countries makes it evident that this is the place which God Apoc. 12 has prepared to keep and defend his Church in against the furious Attaques of the infernal Dragon who gave his power and throne to the Beast to make war against the Saints and to vanquish them For this is the true Desart where the woman Apoc. 12. 6. cloathed with the Sun with the Moon under her feet crowned with twelve Stars made her retreat where God had prepared her a place where she might be nourished 1260 prophetical days which make 1260 years where God Almighty has kept her safe against all the storms raised by Satan without any effect till the year 1686 the term of the Prophecy of the eleventh Chapter of the Revelations was accomplished it was then that the Beast which rose out of the deeps vanquished them and killed

Pretorium which as every body knows was the Court of the Emperor and all other places of Rome This great Apostle having gained many Disciples in this famous City God made them instruments of planting the Christian Religion in Italy and in Piemont which is a part of Italy For the history of the Church tells us that those whom God had illuminated with his holy doctrine burnt with a desire of imparting the saving grace of which they did participate to others It it be true also that St. Paul performed his voyage into Spain as he designed Rom. 15. 24. he took Rome in his way it 's not to be doubted but that if he went by Land he passed through Piemont for it 's in the direct way from Rome to Spain And if he went by Sea it was not necessary that in going from Corinth to Spain he should pass by Italy but he was at Corinth when he writ he had a desire to go into Spain If he had passed through Piemont as in all appearance he did it 's certain he preached there for he preached every where where he came Since the Valleys of Piemont were enlightned with the bright Rays of the Gospel the Inhabitants of these Countries have conserved the purity of the Christian Religion without any mixture of humane traditions they never had any Images or Altars in their Churches they never invoked the Angels or Saints never believed in Purgatory they never acknowledged other mediator than Jesus Christ nor other merit than that of his Death One never heard them speak of the Mass of auricular Confession of Abstinence from certain sorts of meat of the Celibacy of Priests of the Doctrine of Transubstantiation they always held the H. Scriptures to be the perpetual rule of Faith and would never receive or believe any thing but what they taught and their Doctrine was always the same it is now This is proved clearly from the Acts that were preserved from the Flames that reduced their Churches and houses into Ashes among the which there is one writ in their vulgar tongue in the Year 1100. called the Lesson because it gives the rules of holy living and good works besides a Catechism of the same Year where in question and answer are taught the principal mysteries of the Christian Religion according to the word of God without any mixture of Traditions besides an explication of the Lords prayer in the Year 1120. and an explication of the Apostles Creed with several passages of the H. Scripture explaining ever article to which is joyned an explication of the ten Commandments in short a little book entituled A Treatise of Antichrist These three Acts were made in the Year 1120. the last of these Treatises shews that all those are Antichrists that teach Doctrines contrary to the word of God They confute the doctrine of Prayers for the dead Purgatory Auricular Confession Abstinence from Flesh and reject all traditions that are not in the word of God and are not conformable to it When these acts were made the Christian doctrine was not corrupted every where there were then many persons in France Germany and England who wrote against the errors which were by Rome and her Doctors introduced into the Church If the purity of the Christian Religion had not been conserved in tehse Valleys of Piemont from the time of the Apostles till the beginning of the Eleventh age in which these Acts were made how had it been possible for them to have made so many famous acts in which the purity of the Christian Religion is so clearly taught If they had before received the errors of Rome by whom and when were these errors purg'd out of the Churches of Piemont Who was the Reformer Where are the Acts that speak of this Reformation that they may be produced If there be none then there was never any reform and by a clear consequence the Christian Religion has remained from the time that the Vaudois received it such as is contained in those Acts till the time that these Acts were made In the ninth age about two hundred years before these acts were made lived Claudius of Turin Bishop of that City and the Valleys who writ sharply against the errors of the Church of Rome this Bishop condemned the Invocation of the Saints the worshipping of Images of Reliques and the Cross he maintained the doctrine of St. Augustine concerning grace and by consequence he rejected the merit of good works he taught that the Salvation of mankind doth wholly depend upon the merits and death of Christ he condemned likewise Pilgrimages made to Rome which the Monks brought into request His whole Diocess according to the writings of a learned man followed exactly his Doctrine the Sheep lovingly following the Shepherd The doctrine of Transubstantiation was not in his time received in France except in some few Bishopricks the greatest stream of writers did strongly oppose it they did receive the Communion under both kinds they did not adore the Sacrament they read the Holy Scriptures and taught it their children they made no direct Prayers to Saints as they have done since they attributed all to the grace and mercy of God The Christian Religion being pure in Piemont in the ninth age as it appears by the writings of Claudius of Turin there is no doubt to be made of its conserving it self so till the eleventh age in which those acts of which we have spoken were made So we cannot learn from any Historian that those Valleys were either before or after the time of this great Bishop reformed and we see clearly by indubitable acts that two hundred years after the same Religion was in those Valleys in its purity without the allay of humane Traditions and Ceremonies and the greatest enemies of the Vandois for all their boasting are not able to shew the contrary But above all the purity of their Religion appeared by that excellent profession of their Faith made in the year 1120 more than 50 years before Waldo of Lyons The Articles are as follow I. We believe and firmly hold all that is contained in the twelve Articles of the Symbol of the Apostles holding for Heresie all doctrine thut doth not agree with the foresaid Articles II. We believe in one God Father Son and Holy Ghost III. We hold for Holy and Canonical Scriptures the Books of the Holy Bible the five Books of Moses which are Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth 1 Samuel 2 Samuel 1 of Kings 2 of Kings 1 of Cronicles 2 of Cronicles 1 Esdras Nehemiah Esther Job the Book of Psalms the Proverbs of Solomon Ecclesiastes the Song of Solomon Isaiah Jeremiah the Lamentations of Jeremiah Ezechiel Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonas Micah Nahum Habbakkuk Sophoniah Hagge Zachariah Malachiah After follow the Apocryphal Books which are not received by the Jews but we read them as Jerome says in his Preface to the Proverbs for the instruction of the people but not to

defended them If God had not given them a most singular Courage and had not confounded their Enemies and struck them with a pannick fear but that which is the fullest of miracles and the greatest cause of Astonishment is that neither so many wars raised by their Enemies during the space of 200 years nor so many Battels they have fought during those long and bloody wars nor the cruel Persecutions they have endured nor the diabolical artifices of the Emissaries of Antichrist have been able to destroy or to dissipate these poor Churches till the year 1686. when Perfidiousness and Treachery triumphed over their Innocence If the subsistence of the Vaudois in th●…s●… Valleys during so long a space of time and among so many obstacles be full of wonders their return and re-establishment is not less miraculous The King of France and the Duke of Savoy who were leagued together to destroy them and drive them out of the Valleys joyned together to oppose their return and re-establishment Nine hundred Vaudois and some Refugees of France pass the Lake of Geneva enter into Savoy cross an Enemies Country of 14 or 15 days journey force many difficult passes and defiles guarded with a Force far greater than theirs and in spight of all those rubs they repossessed themselves of their Country and while that these two Princes who are the bitterest and cruelest Enemies of the Vaudois and breathed nothing but their extirpation and ruine were joining their arms to execute their project God blasts their designs and reduces all into Smoak he sows a great division betwixt those two great Friends they become great Enemies and turn their arms one against the other In conclusion in despight of their intrigues God established the Vaudois in their own Country even by order of their Prince who excused himself to them for intreating them so ill and imputed the cause of it to the King of France and of those the Duke designed for destruction he has made his principal Rampart against France The surprising wonders that God has done for them and the surprising changes and chances that have hapned to them are in short and truly represented in this Book in which we speak first of all of their Original Secondly Of their Religion which they have preserved pure from the time of the Apostles even to our times Thirdly Of the great calm they enjoyed during many Ages even to the 15th Age. Fourthly Of the Croisade made by Innocent the 8th for to destroy them in the year 1488. Fifthly Of the wars of the Dukes of Savoy and the Princes of Piemont from Philip the 8th to Charles Emmanuel the 2d. Sixthly Of the Massacre which was made of them by surprize in our days and were not averred by ey●… witnesses of indubitable credit They are called Vaudois not that they are descended of Peter Valdo of Lyons as some Historians have thought but because they are original Inhabitants of the Valleys For the word Vaudois or Valdenses comes from the word Val which signifies a Valley So we see the Protestants of Bohemia were at first called Picards because they came out of Picardy the place of their ancient habitation The Taborites were likewise so called from the City Tabor the place of their ordinary residence and the Albigenses were so called because they inhabited the City of Albi which was full of Protestants against which the Pope declared as they most impiously phrased it a holy War to destroy them From the Vaudois of Piemont are descended the Vaudois of Province which is near Piemont Where some of them took up their habitation and sow'd their doctrine and from Province they spread themselves into Languedoc where they made a wonderful progress This shows that the Vandois of Piemont did not derive themselves from Peter Waldo for after that Valdo or Waldo was driven out of Lyons by the Archbishop according to the order he had received from the Pope he did not retire into Piemont but into Flanders where he sow'd the doctrine of the Gospel which spread it self into Picardy which joyns to Flanders These poor People being persecuted by the King of France retire into Bohemia and for that reason were called Picards because they came out of Picardy this we learn from D' Aubigni in his universal History where he says that those of the remnant of Waldo who fled into Picardy did so increase and multiply that to root them out or at least to weaken them Philip Augustus King of France quite destroyed three hundred Gentlemens houses And what is more and makes the thing evident beyond any doubt it 's proved by authentical Records and Acts that the Vaudois of Piemont had protested against the errors of the Church of Rome seventy Years bofore Waldo appeared in the world For Waldo did not begin to preach against the Roman Church till the Year 1175 but the Vaudois in their own Language produce divers acts and monuments of affairs relating to the Reformation done in the Year 1100 and others in the Year 1120. 70. or 75. Years before Waldo These Acts were saved from the Flames and lamentable Massacre committed upon these poor people in the Year 1655. and the originals were put in the hands of Mr Moreland the English Ambassador and after sent to be kept in the University of Cambridge One may find Copies of them in the general History of the Churches of the Vaudois written by J. Leger Minister of the Vallies printed at Lcyden 1669 and it 's not to be doubted but that the Vaudois of Piemont had more ancient Acts and Records of their doctrine which were buried in the ruines of their Churches by their Enemies In this Book we will only speak of the Vaudois of Piemont and not of the descendants of Peter Waldo CHAP. I. Of the Religion of the Vaudois of Piemont THE Vaudois or the Inhabitants of the Vallies of Piemont received the Doctrine of the Gospel in the time of the Apostles either from the Apostles themselves or by those who immediately succeeded them St. Paul being carried Prisoner to Rome in the Reign of Nero sojourned there two Years during which space he had the Liberty to go round the City from house to house dragging a Chain after him which was the Badge of a criminal Prisoner and there in the capital City Mistress of the world he preached the Gospel of Christ and laid the Foundation of a flourishing Church to which he writ from Corinth after his departure that excellent Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans during his Imprisonment he writ many other learned Epistles to Galatians Ephesians Philippians and Colossians His fame and doctrine sounded high in the Court of the Emperor as it 's clear from the Epistle that he then wrote from Rome to the Philippians where he says Phil. 1. 12. 13. that what hapned to him there proved the great advancement of the Gospel so that his Bonds in Christ were become famous through all the

defend themselves against so many subtilties and crafty policies of their Adversaries of the Propagation if God who holds the hearts of Princes and Kings in his hand had not changed the heart of Charles Emanuel the Second to favour the Vaudois This Prince having examined the conduct of all their doings began to know that it was without any good ground that the Vaudois were made so odious and calling to mind the great zeal they had testified on divers occasions for his service and particularly in 1638 and 1640 when the greatest part of his Estate was revolted against him and that the Cardinal of Savoy and Prince Thomas his Unkle had made themselves Heads of the Revolt being assisted by the Troops of Spain had seized almost all Piemont and even of the City of Turin it self and besieged Madam Royal his Mother in the Cittadel whither she had fled to save her self and that without the succours of Lewis the XIII his Unkle by the Mothers side and the help of the Vaudois it was probable that this Prince had been deprived of all his Principality In the year 1672. the Duke of Savoy made War upon the Genoeses and the Vaudois served him with so much zeal and courage that this Prince was not content only to praise their Conduct Courage and Fidelity by a Letter which he writ to them the fifth of November the same year but he gave them many sensible marks of his esteem and good-will towards them even to his death which hapned towards the end of the year 1678. Madam Royal his Widow treated them likewise not only with a great deal of sweetness and goodness but she also engaged her self to the Protestant Cantons by a Letter writ the 28th of Ianuary 1679. to maintain the Vaudois in the free exercise of their Religion and in all other priviledges and immunities CHAP. XX. The Ninth War against the Vaudois by Lewis the XIV King of France and Victor Amadeus II. Duke of Savoy with the perfidious treacheries of their Enemies which was the cause of the ruine and dispertion of these poor Churches THE sweetness of peace which the Vaudois enjoyed after the war against Genoua till the death of Charles Emanuel II. and after the death of this Prince under the Regency of Madam Royal his Widow till the year 1685. made them hope to enjoy a durable tranquility under the reign of Victor Amadeus II. who is at present Duke of Savoy and that which flattered them with this hopes was the considerable services they had done him in the year 1684. in the war against those of Mondovi in which they had signalized their courage and zeal for his service This very Prince had given them authentical assurances of his great satisfaction by a Letter that he writ to them on this occasion But they quickly lost their hopes when the Governour of the Valleys made Proclamation about the end of the year 1685 That no Stranger should come and stay in the Valleys above 3 days without his permission and that any that should entertain them any longer should be most severely punished The Vaudois had intelligence of the great violences that were made use of in France to force the Protestants there to change their Religion they had likewise news that that King had cancelled the Edict of Nants and they judged very well that the prohibition that was made them of giving a safe retreat to their Brethren of France was of a dangerous consequence but they did not foresee all the misery that hapned to them since nor all the evils that were prepared for them They were strangely surprized when there was published in the Valleys an order of the Duke of Savoy on the 31st of Ianuary 1686. which did generally forbid the exercise of the Protestant Religion under pain of death and confiscation of all their Goods and their Churches to be demolished and all their Ministers to be sent into banishment all Infants born hereafter to be baptised and brought up in the Roman Religion under penalty of condemning their Fathers to the Gallies it 's impossible to express the grief and fears of the Vaudois at the sight of so surprizing vigorous and unjust order so contrary to their rights and priviledges the for●…er orders only tended to the restraining them in narrower bounds but the Ordinance of the 31st of Ianuary entirely deprived them of the exercise of their Religion and liberty of Conscience In this sad condition into which they were plunged by the malice of their Enemies they had recourse to submissions and supplications according to their custom they addressed the Duke of Savoy four times to revoke the Order but they could obtain nothing but some delay that he might be the better prepared to execute the order they saw their misfortune was without remedy and of this they were the more certain when they understood that the King of France who for reasons of state and interest had always protected them and had declared himself the Warrantee of the Patents of 1655 and 1664. had now not only obliged the Duke to pass this Order but had also made his Troops advance towards Piemont for to see the execution of the Order performed The Protestant Cantons being informed of this Order and of the measures that were taken for the execution of it thought themselves obliged not to forsake a people persecute●… upon the score of Religion and that they ought to appear on their behalf on this occasion as well as they had done on the former therefore they resolved in an Assembly held at Basil in the month of February 1686. to send a splendid Embassy to the Duke of Savoy to interceed for the Vaudois These Ambassadors arrived at Turin the beginning of March and made to the Duke their Proposals for the revoking of the late Orders of the 31st of January they shewed the Duke that they were interested in this affair not only as Brethren of the Vaudois making profession of the same Religion but because also the Patents of 1655 and 1664. which this last Order destroyed was the fruits of their former Mediation and they supported their demand with many strong and solid considerations The Court of Turin did not impugn these reasons but thought it was sufficient to tell the Ambassadors that the engagements that the Duke had entred into with the King of France opposed the success of their negotiation This Answer obliged the Ambassadors to give in a Memorial to the Duke to this purpose That the Predecessors of his Royal Highness having engaged their Royal Word to many Soveraign Princes and particularly to the Protestant Cantons for the due observing of the Patents granted the Vaudois such formal and authentical engagements ought to stand good for that the Patents were not meer tolleration for a time but perpetual grants and irrevocable Laws and besides the Patents were granted at the intercession of many Soveraign Princes and according to the Laws of Nations they are eternal