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. However this great truth may be forgotten by many of the Christians of these days, or rendered nugatory by the pretensions of their teachers, it is not the less incontestable at the tribunal of reason and revelation, and let us hope, for the good of humanity, that it will soon prevail over the vain phantoms which have been substituted for it throughout the greatest part of Europe. Yes, indeed! I delight in believing that the march of knowledge is a guarantee of this, and that we are approaching that happy time when a man will not be required to prove he is a Christian, merely by repeating, like a parrot, the articles of belief, which have been drawn up by the chiefs of the sect to which he belongs, when it will not suffice alone coldly to admit some Evangelical truths, but when those who call themselves Christians will acknowledge—"That pure religion is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep themselves unspotted from the world."* It cannot be too often repeated, that this is real Christianity.

And such have ever been the sentiments of the Vaudois, never have they been known to waste, in pernicious disputes or useless discussions that time which might have been employed in good works; and thus, by a natural consequence, they have formed a Christian society of virtuous conduct and irreproachable morals.

We have above quoted that remarkable passage of the Inquisitor Reynerus Sacco, in which he has borne witness in favour of our ancestors. We will add the testimony of Claude de Seyssel, who affirms that, "for their lives and moral behaviour, the Vaudois are without reproach before men, and do their utmost endeavours to keep the commandments of God." The respectable French historian, De Thou, says that "the Vaudois keep the commandments of the decalogue, and allow among them of no wickedness, detesting perjuries and imprecations, quarrels, seditions, and all debaucheries, usury, &c. &c."

The Cardinal Baronius bears witness to their chastity, and Thuanus (also a Catholic historian) adds to this, "that they are such scrupulous observers of honour and chastity, that their neighbours, though of a contrary faith, intrusted them with the care of their wives and daughters, to preserve them from the insolence of the soldiery."

This occurred in 1560, when the troops of Count de la TrinitÉ were quartered at La Tour, and the Vaudois had retired to the mountains. It was then also that a young girl, to escape the pursuit of a soldier, preferring her honour to life itself, precipitated herself from the summit of a rock. 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. The very children point at them, and a whole life of virtue is scarcely sufficient to obtain for them the oblivion of their fault. Compare this with the manners of other Christian nations.

Let us now turn to Vigneaux, who was well qualified to judge of Vaudois morals, having been forty years a pastor among them, and having made a large collection of their ancient writings, which he translated: from his work "On the Lives, morals, and religion of the Vaudois," I extract the following, "They are a people of fidelity in their promises, of irreproachable lives, and are great enemies to vice;" and of his own time he adds, "We in these valleys of PiÉmont live in peace and concord with the others, but we do not connect ourselves in marriage with the Catholics. For the rest, our manners and morals are so approved by them, that they prefer taking servants from among us to themselves;* and some come from a great distance to choose nurses for their children, considering them more faithful than their own."

The order of the French government, in 1592, to M. de Birague, governor of Saluces, to massacre the Vaudois, drew forth the following testimony from one of the council of that town: "That his majesty must assuredly have been misinformed as to these poor people, who were good men, and did him honourable and faithful service, living peaceably with their neighbours; with whom indeed there was no fault to find, except their religion." 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.

Is it not astonishing, after this, to find the Vaudois calumniated by Albert de Capitaxis, Rubis, &c. as the first Christians were by the Pagans? Paradin* and Girard, however; may be cited in reply. They assert that the Vaudois were not guilty of any of the horrible crimes of which they were accused; but only of having freely inveighed against the corruption and vices of the priests and friars, and thus excited their mortal hatred....

But we may well despise this slander, and consider what has been the cause of their real purity of manners. The ecclesiastical discipline, which has always been in great vigour, may be assigned as the cause, as it has induced the continual study of, and meditation upon the sacred writings. And here I must be pardoned another extract from an ancient author. "All the people," says he, "of either sex, and of whatever age, cease not to learn and teach; the labourer at his daily task either teaches his comrade or learns of him, and the evening is spent in the same instructions, even without books. He that has learnt for one week teaches others for the next, and if any one excuses himself from want of memory, he is told that even one word every day will amount to many sentences at the end of a year, which in many years will form a fund of knowledge." "I have heard with my own ears," says this author, "one of these poor peasants repeat the whole book of Job by heart, without missing one word; and there are others who have the whole of the New Testament at their fingers' ends. Do any of them lead an evil life? they are sharply rebuked, according to their discipline, and told the Apostles lived not thus, nor must we who imitate them." Reynerus Sacco again confirms this by saying, "The Vaudois know the whole of the New Testament by heart, and much of the Old, (in their own language,) nor will they hear any thing else," saying, "that all sermons which are not proved by the Scriptures are unworthy of belief."

This then has been the foundation of Vaudois morality, they knew no other rule of faith than the Gospel, and, as far as possible, adapted their sentiments and conduct to it. The sacred duty of an historian compels me to allow, that the effects of human frailty have sometimes shown themselves among them. Leger, who wrote more than a century ago, thus allows also, that "the Vaudois, his cotemporaries, no longer possessed that great sanctity and detachment from the world which distinguished their ancestors. But I must add," he continues, "that, compared with other reformed nations, there is none which surpass them in zeal for the word of God and constancy to their faith, at the peril of their lives and fortunes; as well as in simplicity, innocence, sobriety, and industry. For they abstain from cards, dice, gambling, and swearing, and have a horror of drunkenness, and even of dancing. So that if any one falls into a vicious life, he is esteemed infamous. Law-suits have been from time immemorial unknown among them; but, according to Thuanus, the first took place in the 16th century, owing to the litigious disposition of a young man, who had gained a smattering of law at the college of Turin, and sued his neighbour for having suffered some goats to browse among his cabbages."

However much it may cost me to avow it, I must in my turn allow that the Vaudois have degenerated since the days of Leger; law-suits are beginning to become common among them, and luxury and card playing are insensibly introduced; nay, there are even some families who live without labour, a thing formerly unknown.* The zeal for religion has also cooled in those parishes adjoining PiÉmont. But these blots in the morals of my compatriots are perhaps inevitable to human weakness, which cannot approach perfection: perhaps, too, we are carried away by the common mania of believing our ancestors ever better than ourselves. I remark this both for Leger and myself.

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; and these virtues are joined to so much modesty, that they appear perfectly natural, and never ostentatious. 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.

During the long course of persecutions they have sustained, notwithstanding the perfidy with which they were treated, and the horrible tortures which they underwent, they have never given way to vengeance, and have contented themselves with repelling force by force. 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. It would, perhaps, be possible to clear off these faint stains, if the ancient ecclesiastical discipline was again enforced; and it is in aid of this object that we have consecrated the next chapter to its description. Happy, thrice happy should I be, if this, or any part of my work, should tend to draw any of my countrymen (still more than at present) into the path of life. 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."

Note.—Having had the opinion of my friends, the commissioners of the Walloon Synod, upon my MS. and this having been thought too bright a picture of the Vaudois morals by one of those gentlemen who had never visited the valleys, I thus replied to one of them:—"I am not surprised that my picture of the manners of my countrymen should appear to you too highly coloured. But if you had lived some years among these excellent people, as I have done, and then in a country where the corruption of manners is as great as it is here, and in the towns in Switzerland, you would not think so. For, although we may be degenerated from the purity of our ancestors, I protest to you, that it is only those parishes immediately adjoining to PiÉmont which have incurred this reproach. In all the rest, their kindness of heart, frankness, benevolence, and zeal for religion, would enchant you. I have more than once visited all the parishes, and have resided in most of them, being acquainted with a great many of their inhabitants; and, by all this experience, I am confirmed in the belief that there does not exist, in our days, a people in morals so pure, life so irreproachable, and piety so exemplary, as the Vaudois."*