effect, than "The Congregation of the Priests of Foreign Missions," and "The Parisian Seminary for the Missions abroad," both of which were established in France, in the year 1663, and from which hundreds of Jesuits and friars were sent forth to convert the world.

7. A third means employed by the Roman Church to sustain and increase its authority, consisted in the better regulation of its internal

concerns.

The revolutions which had happened in Europe, and the increase of knowledge and refinement, rendered a degree of reformation essential. Of this the popes were themselves conscious. Accordingly, the laws and procedures in the courts of inquisition were revised and corrected; colleges and schools of learning were established; youth were trained up in the art of disputing, and in defending the doctrines of the Catholic Church; books of a pernicious tendency were revised or suppressed; and high and honorable distinctions were conferred on the most zealous defenders of the faith. In short, every plan which ingenuity could suggest, or which wealth and influence could carry forward, was adopted to maintain the authority of the Roman pontiffs, and to increase the number of their votaries.

8. A fourth plan adopted by the Roman Church, in aid of the same purpose, was their persecution ofthe Protestants. A full development of the calamities caused by the Papists, even in a single country, would greatly exceed our limits. We must content ourselves with observing, that scarcely a country, in which Protestants were to be found, was exempted from cruelties, which equalled, and often exceeded in severity, those which had been experienced, at an earlier day, under Nero and Domitian. During these persecutions, it has been computed that not less than fifty millions of Protestants were put to death. The countries which suffered most severely, were Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, France, parts of Germany, and England.

The principal engine employed by the Catholics against the Protestants, was the Inquisition, though war, in several instances, was directly waged against them.

ITALY. The inquisition was early introduced into Italy; and though its proceedings in that country were more secret than in some other countries, its victims were not much less numerous. From the year 1550 to the end of the century, it was the great object of the popes to extend and confirm its power. And with such effect did it pursue the objects of its institution, that popish historians, as Dr. McCrie remarks, “do more homage to truth, than credit to their cause, when they say, that the erection of the inquisition was the salvation of the Catholic Church in Italy."

No sooner was this engine of tyranny and torture erected, than those, who had rendered themselves obnoxious to it by the previous avowal of their sentiments, fled in great numbers from a country, in which they could no longer look for protection from injustice and cruelty. The prisons of the inquisition were every where filled with those who remained behind, and who were subjected to grievous tortures. as the means of subduing them to the faith of Rome, and of preventing the apostasy of others.

Of the calamities which resulted from these persecutions, the Waldenses, in various parts of Italy, many of whom had adopted the Protestant faith, experienced their full share. During the first years of the reformation, they had in a great measure escaped the fury of Rome; the pontiffs being too much occupied in watching the progress of events, to notice them. But, when the reformation was in a degree established, the Waldenses, in common with other Protestants, experienced the wrath of the now more highly exasperated friends of the papacy.

One of the most affecting accounts of the sufferings of the Waldenses, which has been transmitted to us, is that of the inhabitants of Calabria, a province in Italy, lying on the Mediteranean, in the year 1560. At this time, they had formed a junction with Calvin's church, at Geneva; and several pastors were sent from the latter place, to

settle among them. "It seems probable that this circumstance had contributed to revive the profession in Calabria, or at least had brought the Waldenses more into public notice than they had hitherto been; and it spread an alarm among the Catholics, which reached the ears of Pope Pius IV. Measures were, therefore, immediately taken for wholly exterminating the Waldenses in that quarter, and a scene of carnage ensued, which in enormity has seldom been exceeded. Two monks were first sent to the inhabitants of St. Xist, who assembled the people, and by a smooth harangue, endeavored to persuade them to desist from hearing these new teachers, whom they knew they had lately received from Geneva; promising them, in case of compliance, every advantage they could wish; but, on the other hand, plainly intimating that they would subject themselves to be condemned as heretics and to forfeit their lives and fortunes, if they refused to return to the church of Rome. And at once to bring matters to the test, they caused a bell to be immediately tolled for mass, commanding the people to attend. Instead of complying, however, the Waldenses forsook their houses, and as many as were able fled to the woods, with their wives and children. Two companies of soldiers were instantly ordered out to pursue them, who hunted them like wild beasts, crying, Amassa, Amassa; that is, kill, kill! and numbers were put to death. Such as reached the tops of the mountains, procured the privilege of being heard in their own defence. They stated, that they and their forefathers had now for several ages been residents of that country-that during all that period their lives and conversation had been irreproachable-that they ardently wished to remain there, if they should be allowed to continue unmolested in the profession of their faith; but if this were denied them, they implored their pursuers to have pity on their wives and children, and to permit them to retire, under the providence of God, either by sea or land, wherever it should please the Lord to conduct them-that they would very cheerfully sacrifice all their worldly possessions rather than fall into idolatry. They, therefore, entreated, in the name of all that was sacred, that they might not be reduced to the necessity of defending themselves, which, if they were compelled to do, must be at the peril of those who forced them to such extremities. This expostulation only exasperated the soldiers, who immediately rushing upon them in the most impetuous manner, a terrible affray ensued, in which several lives were lost, and the military at last put to flight.

The inquisitors, on this, wrote to the viceroy of Naples, urging him to send them some companies of soldiers, to apprehend certain heretics of St. Xist and de la Garde, who had fled into the woods; at the same time apprising him, that by ridding the church of such a plague, he would perform what was acceptable to the pope and meritorious to himself. The viceroy cheerfully obeyed the summons, and marched at the head of his troops to the city of St. Xist, where, on his arrival, he caused it to be proclaimed by sound of trumpet, that the place was condemned to fire and sword. Proclamation was at the same time made throughout all the kingdom of Naples, inviting persons to come to the war against the heretics of St. Xist, and promising, as a recompense, the customary advantages. Numbers consequently flocked to his standard, and were conducted to the woods and mountains whither the Waldenses had sought an asylum. Here they chased them so furiously, that the greater part were slain by the sword, and the rest, wounded and destitute, retired into caverns upon the tops of the rocks, where they perished by famine.

Having accomplished their wishes on the fugitives from St. Xist, they next proceeded to la Garde, and apprehended seventy persons who were brought before the inquisitor Penza, at Montauld. This merciless bigot caused them to be stretched upon the rack, with the view of extorting from them a confession of adultery and other abominable practices, too filthy to be mentioned; in no one instance of which did he succeed, though their tortures in many instances were so violent as to extinguish life.A person of the name of Marson was stripped naked and beat with rods, and then drawn through the streets and burnt with firebrands. One of his sons was assassinated, and another led to the top of a tower, where a crucifix was presented to him, with a promise, that if he would salute it his life should be spared. The youth replied, that he would rather die than to commit idolatry, and as to their threats of casting him headlong from the tower, he preferred that his body should be dashed in pieces on the earth, to having his soul cast into hell for denying Christ and his truth. The in

quisitor, enraged at his answer, commanded him instantly to be precipitated, "that we may see," said he, "whether his God will preserve him."

Bernardine Conde was condemned to be burnt alive. As they led him to the stake, a crucifix was put into his hands, which he threw to the ground. The enraged inquisitor sent him back to prison, and, to aggravate his torture, he was first smeared over with pitch and then committed to the flames. The same inquisitor Penza caused the throats of eighty of them to be cut, just as butchers slaughter their sheep; their bodies were afterwards divided into four quarters, and the public way between Montauld and Castle Viller, for the space of thirty miles, was planted with stakes, and a quarter of the human frame stuck upon each of them. Four of the principal inhabitants of la Garde, viz. James Fermar, Anthony Palcomb, Peter Jacio, and John Morglia were, by his order, hanged, in a place called Moran; but they met their deaths with surprising fortitude. A young man, of the name of Samson, defended himself dexterously, for a length of time, against those who came to apprehend him; but being wounded, he was seized and led to the top of a tower, where he was commanded to confess himself to a priest then present, before he was cast down. This, however, he refused, adding that he had already confessed himself to God, on which he was cast headlong from the tower. The following day the viceroy, walking at the foot of the tower, saw the unhappy youth still alive, but languishing in tortures, having nearly all his bones broken. The monster kicked him on the head and said, "Is the dog yet alive? Give him to the hogs."

This is only a specimen of the brutal outrages that were carried on at this time against the Waldenses in Calabria; but the reader will, probably, think it quite sufficient. Pope Pius IV. was so resolutely bent upon ridding the country of them, that he afterwards sent the marquis of Butiane to perfect what was left undone, with a promise, that if he succeeded in clearing Calabria of the Waldenses, he would give his son a cardinal's hat. He, indeed, found but little difficulty in effecting it; for the inquisitorial monks and viceroy of Naples had already put to death so many, transporting others to the Spanish galleys, and banishing all fugitives, selling or slaying their wives and children, that not much remained for the marquis to accomplish.

Of their pastors, Stephen Megrin was imprisoned at Cossence, and literally starved to death. Lewis Pascal was conveyed to Rome, and there condemned to be burnt alive. As this man had been remarkable for his zeal, and the confidence with which he had maintained the pope to be antichrist, he was reserved as a gratifying spectacle for his holiness and the conclave of cardinals, who were present at his death. But such was the address which Pascal delivered to the people, from the word of God, that the pope would have gladly wished himself elsewhere, or that Pascal had been dumb and the people deaf! The account that is given us of his dying behavior, can scarcely fail to remind one of the case of the martyr Stephen; and his ardent zeal in the cause of Christ, added to his fervent supplications to the throne of grace, deeply affected the spectators, while the pope and cardinals gnashed their teeth through rage.

Such was the end of the Waldenses of Calabria, who were wholly exterminated: for if any of the fugitives returned, it was upon the express condition, that they would in all things conform themselves to the laws of the Church of Rome.*

In other parts of Italy, also, the Waldenses, and other friends of the reformation, experienced the most bitter persecution. From this time, the valleys of Piedmont were repeatedly the theatre of a bloody carnage, particularly in the years 1655 and 1686.

The persecution during the former period, was conducted by Andrew Gastaldo, who, acting under authority of the duke of Savoy, issued an edict, requiring the departure from the country, within three days, of all who would not renounce the Protestant religion for that of the Catholic Church. This edict bore date January 25, 1655.

It is not easy to conjecture the distress and misery consequent upon a compliance with such an order as the above, and more especially in such a country as Piedmont, and at such a season of the year. "Thousands of families, comprehending the aged and infirm, the sick and afflicted, the mother advanced in pregnancy, and the one

*Perrin's Hist. of the Waldenses, b. ii., ch. 7.

scarcely raised up from her confinement-the delicate female and the helpless infantall compelled to abandon their homes in the very depth of winter, in the country where the snow is visible upon the tops of the mountains, throughout every month in the year. All this surely presents a picture of distress sufficient to rend the heart.

On the first issuing of the edict, the Waldenses sent deputies to the governor of the province, humbly representing to him the unreasonableness and cruelty of this command. They stated the absolute impossibility of so many souls finding subsistence in the places, to which they were ordered to transport themselves; the countries scarcely affording adequate supply for their present inhabitants. To which they added, that this command was expressly contrary to all their rights as the peaceable subjects of his highness, and the concessions which had been uniformly granted them, of maintaining, without molestation, their religious profession: but the inhuman governor refused to pay the least attention to their application. Disappointed in this, they next begged time to present their humble supplication to his royal highness. But even this boon was refused them, unless they would allow him to draw up their petition and prescribe the form of it. Finding that what he proposed was equally inimical to their rights and consciences, they declined his proposal. They now found that the only alternative which remained for them, was to abandon their houses and property, and to retire, with their families, their wives and children, aged parents, and helpless infants, the halt, the lame, and the blind, to traverse the country, through the rain, snow, and ice, encompassed with a thousand difficulties.

But these things were only the beginnings of sorrow to this afflicted people. For no sooner had they quitted their houses, than a banditti broke into them, pillaging and plundering whatever they had left behind. They next proceeded to raze their habitations to the ground, to cut down the trees and turn the neighborhood into a desolate wilderness; and all this without the least remonstrance or prohibition from Gastaldo.

About the 20th of May, an account of the duke of Savoy's proceedings against the Waldenses reached England: and, to use the words of Sir Samuel Morland, it no sooner came to the ears of the protector, than "he arose like a lion out of his place," and by the most pathetic appeals to the Protestant princes upon the continent, awoke the whole Christian world, exciting their hearts to pity and commiseration. The providence of God had so disposed events, that our great poet MILTON filled the office of Latin secretary to Oliver Cromwell at this critical juncture. Never was there a more decided enemy to persecution, on account of religion, than Milton. He appears to have been the first of our countrymen, who understood the principles of toleration, and his prose writings abound with the most enlightened and liberal sentiments. The sufferings of the Waldenses touched his heart, and drew from his pen the following exquisite sonnet.

ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN PIEDMONT.
Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold;
Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old,
When all our fathers worshipt stocks and stones

Forget not in thy book record their groans

Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese that rolled
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans

The vales redoubled to the hills, and they

To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow
O'er all th' Italian fields, where still doth sway
The tripled tyrant; that from these may grow

A hundred fold, who, having learned thy way,
Early may fly the Babylonian woe.

But this was a small portion of the interest which he took upon this affecting occasion. It devolved upon him by office to address the heads of the different Pro

The office which Milton filled under the Protectorate, was much the same as that which, at the present time, is called "Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs." See Dr. Seymour's Life of Milton, p. 319.

testant states in Europe, with the view of interesting them in the affairs of the Waldenses; and his letters deserve to be handed down to the remotest ages of the world, as a noble instance of a benevolent and feeling mind, worthy of the author of PA RADISE LOST.

One of the first of Cromwell's measures was, to appoint a day of fasting and prayer, to seek the Lord in behalf of the melancholy condition of this afflicted people; a public declaration of their state was also issued, calling upon the inhabitants throughout the land to join in free and liberal contributions towards their succor and support, in which the protector himself set them a noble example, by commencing the subscription with a donation of TWO THOUSAND POUNDS, from his own private purse. And that no time might be lost, in testifying his good-will towards the Waldenses, on the 23d of May, Sir. S. Morland received orders to prepare for setting off with a message from the English government to the duke of Savoy, beseeching the latter to recall the merciless edict of Gastaldo, and to restore the remnant of his poor distressed subjects to their homes and the enjoyment of their ancient liberties.

On the 26th of May, Mr. Morland took his departure for the continent, being charged, on his way to Piedmont, with a letter from the protector to the French king, relating to the Waldenses, in whose recent murder, as the reader will have already noticed, some French troops had been employed.

The king of France lost no time in returning a very complaisant and satisfactory answer to this letter, in which he assures the protector, that the manner in which his troops had been employed, by the duke of Savoy or his ministers, was very far from meeting with his approbation-that they had been sent by him into Italy, to assist the duke of Modena, against the invasion, which the Spaniards had made upon his coun try-that he had already expostulated with the court of Savoy, for having employed them in an affair of that nature, without his authority or command-and that he had sent to the governor of his province of Dauphiny, requesting him to collect as many of the poor exiled Waldenses as he could, to treat them with gentleness, and afford them every protection they might stand in need of.

Having delivered the protector's letter to the king of France, Sir Samuel Morland pro ceeded to Turin, at that time the court of the duke of Savoy, to whom he delivered the lord protector's letter. In reply, the marquis of Pionessa, who represented the duke, attempted to cast the whole blame upon the innocent Waldenses, whom he rep. resented to be a rebellious and disobedient people.

The efforts of Cromwell in behalf of the persecuted people were, however, not altogether lost. And to these efforts he and his English subjects added the large amount of more than thirty-eight thousand pounds, which was collected in the various English churches and chapels, and which was applied to their relief, by Sir Samuel Morland, who, for the purpose of carrying into effect the liberality of the English people, was ordered to take up his residence at Geneva, a city contiguous to the val leys of Piedmont, where he continued about three years.

In the summer of 1658, he returned to England, where he published an account of the Piedmontese churches. He thus affectingly closes his narrative: "It is my misfortune, that I am compelled to leave these people where I found them, among the potsherds, with sackcloth and ashes spread under them, and lifting up their voice with weeping in the words of Job-'Have pity on us, have pity on us, O ye ou friends, for the hand of God has touched us.'-To this very day they labor under most heavy burdens, which are laid upon them by their rigid taskmasters of the church of Rome-forbidding them all kind of traffic for their subsistence-robbing them of their goods and estates-banishing the pastors of their flocks, that the wolves may the more readily devour the sheep-violating the young women and maidens murdering the most innocent as they peaceably pass along the highways— by cruel mockings and revilings-by continual threats of another massacre, sevenfold more bloody, if possible, than the former. To all which, I must add that, notwithstanding the liberal supplies that have been sent them from England and other places, yet so great is the number of these hungry creatures, and so grievous are the oppressions of their popish enemies, who lie in wait to bereave them of whatever is given them, snatching at almost every morsel that goes into their mouths, that even to this day some of them are almost ready to eat their own flesh for want of bread.