'BARTHOLOMEW HECTOR was born at poictiers. having become acquainted with the gospel, he retired to geneva with his wife and children. being settled there, in order to earn a living for his family, he went from place to place, selling copies of the Holy Scriptures. he had come to piedmont in the month of july, 1555 and had already disposed of a large number of bibles in the hamlets of the vaudois valleys...
he... resolved to proceed from the alp of infernet to that of laouzoun and thence to the valley of st. martin. but on his way down he was arrested at rioclaret, by the segneurs of the place, named truchet, who had him conveyed to pignerol, from which a catalogue of his books was forwarded to the senate of turin.
after having left him to suffer and to pray for seven months,forgotten in the prisons of pignerol, they thought fit at last to take steps in his case. his first examination took place on the 8th of march, 1556.
-"you have been caught selling heretical books, they said to him.
*if the bible contains heresies in your estimation, in mine it contains the truth.
-but they make use of the bible to keep people from going to mass.
*if the bible keeps them from it, it is because God does not approve of it; for the mass is a piece of idolatry.
this last reply made his position a great deal worse in the eyes of the defenders of the state worship, which owned no salvation apart from itself.
*out of Christ, said the colporteur, i grant that there is no salvation and by His grace i will not forsake Him.
his examination was resumed next day. he endeavoured to set forth the doctrines of the gospel.
-we will hold no discussions with error, said the court.
*but judges are appointed to discern between error and truth: permit me then to prove that i am in the truth.
-if you are not in the Church, you are not in the truth.
*i am in the Chrurch of Christ and i prove it by the gospel.
-return to the church of rome, if you would save your life.
*Jesus says, 'he who would save his life shall lose it, and he who shall lose his life for my sake, shall live forever'.
-think of the abjuration
(renounce, repudiate, retract)
which is required of you; it is the only means left you of saving yourself.
*what about the saving of my body, if i lose my soul?
the urgency and threats employed to get him to abjure, thus remaining without effect, he was sent to turin.
he appeared before new judges, who were much inclined to lenity. but the strength of his convictions could bend to no compromise.
-if you are resolved not to abjure your faith, they said to him, at least you may retract your former declarations.
*prove to me that they are erroneous.
-it is not proving that is in question, but living.
*my life is in my faith..it is it which has made me speak.
the judges..came to a decision..to remit the case to the inquisitors...
...he..manifested a celestial resolution and mildness in the midst ..
*i have said the truth..how can i change my words and make a retractation? can a man change the truth as he would change his garment?
further delay was..granted him to reflect and abjure; but the more he reflected, the more he was convinced...the law was express; the penalty was death...this sentence was passed on the 19th of june, 1556..when the sentence was read to him in the prison, he exclaimed,
*glory be to God, for that He has thought me worthy to die for His name!
at the place of execution..upon the unexpected intelligence of a pardon which it would have been so easy for him to have secured, instead of replying to the messenger, fell on his knees and said,
*o Lord! give me grace to persevere unto the end; pardon those whose sentence is now to separate my soul from my body; they are not unjust but blind. o Lord! enlighten by Thy Spirit this people who are around me, and bring them very soon to the knowledge of the truth.
TRINGALET VERNOUX
...they again left geneva for the valleys, accompanied by two friends, named batailles and tauran, and by a third named tringalet, who had no intention to follow them any further than the frontiers of the genevese territory, but who, being a most intimate friend of anthony laborie, could not bring himself to leave him at the appointed time of separation.
*i will go with you to these vaudois valleys, which have preceded our blessed reformation in the way of salvation.
the vau have never been reformed, said another, they are still primitive christians, witnesses of the apostolic church.
*you increase my impatience to see them..it is of the Lord; i am resolved not to leave you.
having passed through a part of savoy, they arrived at faucigny, where they received a mysterious warning that they would need to be upon their guard. they turned aside from the great roads and took the mountain paths. ..in the gorges of the col tamis they were descried by soldiers (an armed police) of marechaussee, who laid hold of them. being carried prisoners to chambery, they made no attempt to conceal their faith, and received many solicitations to renounce it. ..
on the 10th of july, 1555, after a long conference, in which he vainly attempted to convince them of heresy, the judge who conducted the examination exclaimed,
-of what use is all this? do you not know that you will be put to death as heretics, if you do not relinquish your errors?
*yes, replied the pastor vernoux, the first thing which we learned from our master was, that whosoever will follow Him must expect persecution.
-but Jesus does not command you to die?
*He tells us that as many as will walk in His steps must take up his cross; and He bore His own cross to calvary.
_you are very young men: think upon the life that is before you.
*the which is before us is in the heavens and far from extinguishing our hope, you give us more impregnable assurance of it.
- is it possible that men can speak in this way of a condemnation to death?
*it is by death that our souls attain to the fulness of their life.
and in spite of all which the judges could do to obtain some concession of their part, nothing could triumph over the heroic firmness of these..blessed are the pastors whose lives correspond to such deaths!
..(when suddenly, unexpectedly receiving the news with pastor laborie of the fate which awaited them) ..'pastor vernoux, more sensitive, and liable to be moved by unexpected impressions, could not help being seized with an involuntary agitation. a cold sweat covered his temples; he fell into a nervous trembling; his resolution seemed about to fail. but all at once he found himself inwardly strengthened, the soul reinvigorated the body, the hand of God sustained him.
*my brethren, said he, with humble firmness, i pray you be not scandalized at my weakness, for i have experienced within myself the most terrible conflict which could possibly be endured. but glory be to God, who by His spirit has overcome the flesh! let us go forward! i can co all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
and his saviour did not abandon him. for the executioner having laid hold of him to fasten him first to the pile, he demanded a moment for prayer, and it being granted him, these words proceeded from his dying lips, breathing the assurance of his heart:
*o Lord God, eternal and Almighty Father, i confess before Thy holy majesty that i am nothing but a poor sinner, incapable of myself doing any good. be pleased, then, to have compassion upon me, O God of all goodness, the Father of mercy and to pardon my sins for the love of Jesus Christ Thy Son, my only redeemer!
LABORIE
..being declared guilty of heresy, the two pastors, vernoux and laborie, who were already numbered amongst the clery of the vau churches, and their three travelling companions, were delivered over to the secular tribunals. by a first sentence, of ..the 21st of august, 15555, they were only condemned to the galleys, but the kings procurator appealed..and the case had to be tried anew. the respect felt for them appears to have increased as their case proceeded. so, when lab refused to take oath upon a crucifix, they brought him a bible, which was contrary to all ordinary practice, for popery had proscribed it everywhere. again, after his examination, the president kindly laboured to show him that he might live in peace and serve God as freely in his own proper place of abode as at geneva. lab who preferred to live in exile along with fellow believers, rather than in his native country, where the gospel did not yet prevail, mildly replied,
*the primitive christians called one another brethren, and awakened christians must still have brethren.
-but, said the president, it is not serving God to withdraw in a scandalous manner from the church.
*the scandal is owing to those who have abandoned the purity of his worship and not to those who return to it.
thereupon the president, assailing him on the subject of his doctrines, endeavoured to prove to him by the holy scriptures, that man was not predestinated from all eternity, either to evil or to good; that a great many of the catholic ceremonies, although superfluous, were nevertheless tolerable, as the gospel did not condemn them, and as st. paul himself had circumcised timothy, although he made so great an opposition to circumcision.
it was a thing so rare at that time for a catholic judge to condescend to enter the arena of discussion with the bible in his hand, that i have thought it necessary to mention it. this dealing with scripture, moreover, making him familiar with evangelical doctrine, could not fail also ere long to create in his own mind some misgivings on the subject of heresy.
the accused frankly declared their opinions. circumcision, they said, was founded upon a commandment of God, whilst the popish superstitions had no other origin than the errors of men. not being able to convince their prisoners, the judges entreated them, with almost paternal earnestness, to return of their own accord to the Church and not to compel them unwillingly to pronounce an inevitable condemnation. they even added, that they themselves desired a true reform in the Church, but not out of the Church.
*would to God, gentlemen..that all the ecclesiastics of france thought as you do, for we would very soon be of one mind; and if i am a heretic, my lord president is not far from being like myself.
-the councillors smiled; and one of them replied, nay, you must become like him and not he like you.
after this sitting they separated lab from his companions, and finding himself alone, he prayed earnestly to God that he would not suffer him to fall.
*thus i continued..praying and meditating till two o'clock in the morning.
next day he adjured his judges, by the regard they had for their immortal souls, not to put away from them the knowledge of salvation which was offered them. he represented to them the duties of their office and told them that being appointed defenders of the truth, they ought not to condemn the truth.
*if we are not in the truth, prove it; if we are, acquit us; for you have to judge the cause of Jesus in our persons, and you cannot be amongst those who judge in ignorance, for has given you much light. they listened to me, he says, for about an hour without interruption and i saw that some of the younger ones wept'.
-did not God enjoin moses to punish heretics? said one of the most skillful.
*i granted him that, says laborie...and even cited the case of sevetus, who had endured the penalty of his crime at geneva; but only take heed, said i, that you do not treat the true children of God as heretics!
-ah well! my friend, said one of the judges, give us a simple retractation of your heresies, without specifying any of them.
*it would be as base in me to make a half-abjuration of the truth, as to recant it altogether'.
-this will commit you to nothing in respect of the future; and your life may still be useful, even to your own cause.
*i should serve it ill, if i were to begin by betraying it.
-you will do it still less service when you are dead.
*the death of the faithful is a seed of life, which remains behind them longer than their works would have done.
on the 28th of august, all the five were condemned to be burned alive...
the prisoners at chambery still remained ignorant of the day when their execution was to take place. one morning they were brought forth from the prison; they supposed that they were to be led to some new examination; but a friend found means to acquaint them on the way of the fate which awaited them.
*let us give thanks to God, said laborie, that He has thought us worthy to be martyrs for Himself!'..
laborie stepped upon the pile with firmness of manner and a joyful countenance, as if he had been going to a festival. and that triumph of these regenerate souls was indeed a festival. isaac may have groaned upon mount moriah; but behold! the christian pastor offers himself for a holocaust with joy in his heart and a smile upon his lips. how mighty the power of that faith which works such wonders!
NICOLAS SARTOIRE
in the same year (1558), a young man, who was born at quiers, a chort distance from the vau valleys, happening to be at aosta, on good friday, heard a preacher who said that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was renewed daily in the sacrifice of the mass.
*Christ has only died once, murmured the young man, and He is now in heaven, from which He will not come agin until the last day.
-you do not, then, believe in His corporal presence in the host? demanded a clerk, named ripet.
*truly, God forbid! do you know the creed?
-yes, but what of that?
*is it not there said that Jesusu is now seated at the right hand of the Father?
-yes
*well, then, He is not in the host.
not being able to reply to this argument, they imprisoned him who used it.
he was 26 years of age..his friends contrived to secure his escape by night; he then left the town of aosta, the ancient augusta praetoria, a place full of ruins and supersititions, and as he had already dwelt at lausanne, he took the way by they st. bernard, to take refuge in switzewrland. but at the village of st. remy, the last which he would have had to pass through before crossing the frontier, he was arrested anew, and brought back to prison. his friends of aosta then wrote to those whom he had at lausanne, that they should apply to the authorities of berne, who might demand him, as an inhabitant of that country. these attempts were made, but without effect. necolas..was tortured.
-retract your errors!, said the ecclesiastical judge.
*prove to me that i have errors.
-the Chrurch condemns you.
*but the bible acquits me.
-you incur the punishment of death by your obstinacy.
*he who shall persevere unto the end shall be saved.
-you wich, then, to die?
*i wish to have eternal life.
and torments, as well as soliciitations, were without effect.
after the rack, he was made to endure the strapado, but his courage did not forsake him. 'and for his obstinacy, says the sentence, he was condemned to be burned alive'. his friends implored him to retract; assured, they said, of being able still to obtain his pardon.
*the pardon which i desire, he replied, i have already obtained from my God.
MATHURIN AND WIFE
it was in the town of carignan that the executions commenced. a french fugitive, named mathurin, was the first seized. the commissioners enjoined him to abjure his religion if he would escape death. he preferred to die.
-we give you three days to reflect, said they, but after that time you will be burned alive if you refuse to come to mass'.
the family of mathurin were more distressed than himself. he had married a vau woman. his wife applied to the commissioners for leave to see him. provided that you do not harden him in his errors, said they. i promise you, she replied, that i will not speak to him except for his good. the commissioners never thought of any greater good than life, and conducted the young woman to the prisoner, in the hope that she would persuade him to prolong his days by a recantation.
but the courageous daughter of the martyrs dreaded, on the contrary, that her husband might be induced to follow that course out of affection for her, or through human weakness, and the good which she wished to do him was to confirm him in his resolution. accordingly, says our old chronicler, she exhorted him, in presence of the commissioners, as earnestly as possible, steadfastly to persevere in his religion, without putting the death of the body, which is of brief duration, in the balance against the eternal salvation of his soul. the commissioners, transported with rage, on hearing language so different from what they expected upon her part, loaded her with reproaches; but she, unmoved and earnest, continued to address her husband, saying to him, with a firm and gentle voice,
*let not the assaults of the wicked one make you abandon the profession f your hope in Jesus Christ.
-exhort him to obey us, or you shall both be hanged, cried the magistrates.
*and let not the love of this world's possessions make you lose the inheritance of heaven! said the christian woman, without pausing in her calm exhortations.
-heretical she-devil!, they exclaimed, if you do not change your tone, you shall be burned tomorrow.
*would i have come to persuade him to die rather than to abjure, she replied, if i could myself seek to escape death by apostasy?-you should fear, at any rate, the torments of the pile.
*i fear Him who is able to cast both body and soul into a more terrible fire than that of your billets.
-hell is for heretics; save yourselves by renouncing your errors.
*where can the truth be if not in the words of God?
-this will be the destruction of you both, said the magistrates..
*blessed be God! said the woman to her husband, because having united us in life, He will not separate us in death!
-instead of one, we shall have two of them to burn, sneeringly muttered the executioner's satellites.
*i will be thy companion to the end, the heroic woman simply added.
-will you come to mass and have your pardon? asked the magistrates again.
*i would much rather go to the pile and have eternal life.
-if you do not abjure, mathurin shall be burned tomorrow, and you three days after.
*we shall meet again in heaven, replied she, mildly.
-think of the delay that is still granted you.
*the length of it is of no consequence, for my resolution is for life.
-say, rather, it is for death.
*the death of the body, but the life of the soul.
-have you nothing else to say to us, you damned obstinate wretch?
the two martyr spouses had a last evening of prayer and meditation to spend together..
ANOTHER..
two men were arrested at st. frons.
-to what place do you belong?
*to these mountains.
-are you vaudois?
*we all are.
-abjure the heresty.
*when it has been proved to us.
it was not proved, but the two christians were thrown into prison. two others were arrested in another place, and likewise declared themselves vaudois. the one belonged to praviglelm, and the other to oncino.
*none of our people will abjure, said they to the inquisitors.
the marchioness of saluces then aremed 200 men and caused them to march towards the mountains. the greater part of the inhabitants fled to barges with their cattle, but some were taken and cast into prisons. their trial having been finished, and tortures not spred, five of them were condemned to death on the 24th of march, 1510.
ANOTHER..
the prelate having arrived in the beginning of the month of february, had taken up his abode in the palace of the counts of lucerna. after having held some private conferences with the count and the governor, he began by causing all the heads of protestant families residing in lucerna to be summoned into his presence.
'there were a good number of them, says gilles, and these among the principal families of the country, who had always dwelt in it from time immemorial'. his royal highness, thy were told, was resolved not to suffer two religions in that town, 'and he has sent us to you, said the prelate and the governor, for your own good, that you may make up your minds to live as good and faithful catholics, which if you do not, you will be obliged to sell your goods and leave the country.
of course these insinuating speeches did not remain unanswered; but more energetic language was next employed.
-you cannot resist the orders of your sovereign without being accused of reellion, and then you will be treated as rebels; whilst if you return to your duty, (that is to say to the church of rome), not only will you save all your property, but you will be largely rewarded.
*if it is a duty, replied the more resolute ones firmly, why speak of reward?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment