Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/349

Rh W A L W A L 325 Lutheran teaching about freewill and predestination, for they had held that men did good works through natural virtue stimulated by God s grace, and they thought of predestination in no other way than as a part of God s foreknowledge. (Ecolampadius gave them further instruction, especially emphasizing the wrongfulness of their outward submission to the ordinances of the church: &quot;God,&quot; he said, &quot;is a jealous God, and does not permit his elect to put themselves under the yoke of Antichrist.&quot; The result of this intercourse was an alliance between the Vaudois and the Swiss and German Reformers. A synod was held in 1532 at Chanforans in the valley of the Angrogne, where a new confession of faith was adopted, which recognized the doctrine of election, assimilated the practices of the Vaudois to those of the Swiss congregations, renounced for the future all recognition of the Roman communion, and established their own worship no longer as secret meetings of a faithful few but as public assemblies for the glory of God. Thus the Vaudois ceased to be relics of the past, and became absorbed in the general movement of Protestantism. This was not, however, a source of quiet or security. In France and Italy alike they were marked out as special objects of persecution, and the Vaudois Church has many records of martyrdom. The most severe trial to which the Vaudois of Piedmont were subjected occurred in 1655. The Congregation de Propaganda Fide established, in 1650, a local council in Turin, which exercised a powerful influence on Duke Charles Emmanuel II., who ordered that the Vaudois should be reduced within the limits of their ancient territory. Fanaticism took advantage of this order; and an army, composed partly of French troops of Louis XIV., partly of Irish soldiers who had fled before Cromwell, entered the Vaudois valleys and spread destruc tion on every side. They treated the people with horrible barbarity, so that the conscience of Europe was aroused, and England under Cromwell called on the Protestant powers to join in remonstrance to the duke of Savoy and the French king. The pen of Milton was employed for this purpose, and his famous sonnet is but the condensation of his state papers. Sir Samuel Morland was sent on a special mission to Turin, and to him were confided by the Vaudois leaders copies of their religious books, which he brought back to England, and ultimately gave to the university library at Cambridge. Large sums of money were contributed in England and elsewhere, and were sent to the suffering Vaudois. By this demonstration of opinion peace was made for a time between the Vaudois and their persecutors ; but it was a treacherous peace, and left the Vaudois with a hostile garrison established among them. Their worship was prohibited, and their chief pastor, Leger, was obliged to flee, and in his exile at Leyden wrote his Histoire Generate dcs Eglises Vaudoises (1684). The revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685 began a new period of persecution, which aimed at entire extermination. This was found so difficult that the remnant of the Vaudois, to the number of 2600, were at last allowed to withdraw to Geneva. P&amp;gt;ut the love of their native valleys was strong among the exiles, and in 1689 one of their pastors, Henri Arnaud, led a band of 800 men to the reconquest of their country. His first attempts against the French were suc cessful; and the rupture between Victor Amadeus, duke of Savoy, and Louis XIV. brought a sudden change of fortune to the Vaudois. They were recognized once more as citizens of Savoy, and in the war against France which broke out in 1696 the Vaudois regiment did good service for its duke. The peace of Utrecht saw the greater part of the French territory occupied by the Vaudois annexed to Savoy, and, though there were frequent threatenings of persecution, the idea of toleration slowly prevailed in the policy of the house of Savoy. The Vaudois, who had undergone all these vicissitudes, were naturally reduced to poverty, and their ministers were partially maintained by a subsidy from England, which was granted by Queen Anne. The 18th century, however, was a time of religious decadence even among the Alpine valleys, and the outbreak of the French Revolution saw the Vaudois made subjects of France. This led to a loss of the English subsidy, and they applied to Napoleon for an equivalent. This was granted, and their church was organized by the state. On the restora tion of the house of Savoy in 1816 English influence was used on behalf of the Vaudois, who received a limited toleration. From that time onwards the Vaudois became the objects of much interest in Protestant countries. Large sums of money were collected to build hospitals and churches among their valleys, and they were looked upon as the possible centre of a Protestant church in Italy. Especially from England did they receive sympathy and help. An English clergyman, Dr Gilly, visited the valleys in 1823, and by his writings on the Vaudois Church attracted considerable attention, so that he was enabled to build a college at La Torre. Moreover, Dr Gilly s book (A Visit to the Valleys of Piedmont), chanc ing to fall into the hands of an officer who had lost his leg at Waterloo, Colonel Beckwith, suggested an object for the energies of one who was loth at the age of twenty- six to sink into enforced idleness. Beckwith visited the valleys, and was painfully struck by the squalor and ignorance of a people who had so glorious a past. He settled among them, and for thirty-five years devoted himself to promote their welfare. He married a Vaudois peasant girl, lived amongst the people, and established no fewer than 120 schools. Moreover he brought back the Italian language which had been displaced by the French in the services of the Vaudois Church, and in 1849 built a church for them in Turin. He lived in La Torre till his death in 1862, and the name of the English benefactor is still revered by the simple folk of the valleys whom he did so much to civilize. According to the latest official returns the Waldensian Church had, in 1886-87, 43 churches and 38 mission stations throughout Italy. The ordained pastors num bered 37, evangelists 6, and male and female teachers 56, the total number of salaried agents being 124. The church had 4005 members, and the day schools were attended by 2206 scholars, the Sunday schools by 2482. The total income, about three-fourths of it contributions from the United Kingdom and other Protestant countries of northern Europe, amounted to upwards of 10,000. The literature on the subject of the Waldensian and other sects is copious. For their rise the most important authorities are to be found in Moncta, Advcrsus Catharos et Waldcnscs ; D Argentre, Collectio Judiciorum de Novis Erroribus ; Alanus, Advcrsus Hxre- ticos ; D Achery, Spicilcgia, vol. i. ; Gretser, Opera, vol. x. ; Lini- borch, Historia Inquisitionis, at the end of which is the Liber Scntcntiarum of the Inquisition of Toulouse from 1307-1322. Of modern books may be mentioned Schmidt, Ilistoire dcs Catharcs ; Hahn, Gcschichte dcr ncu-manichdiscJtcn Kctzcr ; Dieckhoff, Die Valdcnsicr in Miticlaltcr ; Pregcr, Beitrdge zur Gcschichtc dcr Waldcsicr ; Cantu, Gli Erctichi in Italia ; Comba, Storia delta Iliforma in Italia, and Histoire dcs Vaudois cf Italic ; Tocco, L Ercsia ncl Media E-xo ; Montet, Historic litteraric dcs Vaudois ; Lea, History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages. Amongst books dealing with the more modern history of the Vaudois specially are Leger, Histoire dcs TEgliscs Vaudoises ; Arnaud, Histoire de la llcntree dcs Vaudois : Pen-in, Histoire dcs Vaudois ; ilonastier, Histoire de VEglise Vaudoisc ; Musten, L Israel d-cs Alpes ; Gilly, Excursion to the VaJlcj/s of Piedmont, and Researches on the JValdcnsians ; Todd, The Wahlcnsian Manuscripts ; Melia, The Origin, Persecution, and Doctrines of the Waldcnsians. (M.C.) WALDO, VALDO, or VALDEZ, PETER. See p. 323 siqwa. WALES. See ENGLAND.