2 May 1690 A.D. A narrow escape for 300 Waldensians from 4000 French papist dragoons.
2 May 1690 A.D. A narrow escape for 300 Waldensians from 4000 French
papist dragoons.
The story is
told by Dr. Rusten. Rusten, E. Michael and Rusten, Sharon. The One Year Christian History. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House
Publishers, 2003. Available at: http://www.amazon.com/The-Year-Christian-History-Books/dp/0842355073/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393302630&sr=8-1&keywords=rusten+church+history
Backstory.
Peter
Waldo was a rich 12th century merchant from Lyons, France—the silk
business. He was moved by Mark 10.21 to give up his goods and preach.
Mark 10:21
1599
Geneva Bible (GNV)
21 And Jesus looked upon
him, and loved him, and said unto him, One thing is lacking unto
thee. Go and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou
shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me, and take up the cross.
He
did not intend to start a movement, but it happened. His followers went out 2 by 2. Sections of the Scriptures were translated
into the local dialect. Rome did not like the vernacular Scriptures nor
Scriptures in the hands and mouths of laymen.
That was their province of authority.
Various
engagements with the Papacy resulted in their flight from Languedoc in southern
France into the Italian Alps of Lombardy in northern Italy.
Seen by the Romanists as unorthodox, the Waldensians were
formally declared heretics by Pope Lucius III, 1184 at the Synod of Verona and by Pope Innocent III at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. In 1211, more than 80
Waldensians were burned as heretics at Strasbourg, beginning several centuries of persecution
that nearly destroyed the movement.
Waldensians held a number of things as Bible readers.
Some of these were:
1. The atoning death and justifying righteousness of Christ
2. The Godhead
3. The fall of man
4. The incarnation of the Son
5. They denied purgatory and said it was the “invention of the Antichrist.”
7. Temporal offices were not meant for ministers of the Gospel
8. Relics were simply rotten bones and pilgrimages served no end.
9. Relics and pilgrimmages impoverished people and enriched ecclesiastics.
11.
Some viewed Romanism as the
harlot of the Apocalpyse.
By
the time of the Reformation, many became Calvinists. The Swiss and French
Reformed churches sent William Farel and Anthony Saunier to attend the meeting of Chanforan.
It convened on 12 October 1532.
Farel invited them to join the Reformation and to leave secrecy. A
French Reformed Confession of Faith was crafted and the Waldensians accepted
it.The French Bible translated by Pierre Robert Olivétan with Calvin’s help. It was published at Neuchâtel in 1535. The cost of its publication was defrayed by the churches in Waldensia who collected the sum of 1500 gold crowns for this purpose.
By
1689, with much water under the bridge, the French were assailed by Romanist
authorities. The French Huguenots fled
to the Italian Alps and joined them.
They
took a covenant called the Covenant of Sibaud:
“God by his grace, having brought us back happily to the
heritages of our fathers, to re-establish there the pure service of our holy religion—in
continuance and for the accomplishment of the great enterprise which this great
God of armies hath hitherto carried on in our favor—
“We, pastors, captains, and other officers, swear and promise
before the living God, and on the life of our souls, to keep union and order
among ourselves; and not to separate and disunite ourselves from one another,
while God shall preserve us in this life, if we should be reduced to three or
four in number…
“And we, soldiers, promise and swear this day before God to
be obedient to the orders of our officers, and to continue faithful to them,
even to the last drop of our blood…
“And in order that union, which is the soul of all our
affairs, may remain always unbroken among us, the officers swear fidelity to
the soldiers, and the soldiers to the officers;
“All together promising to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
to rescue, as far as it be possible to us, the dispersed remnant of our
brethren from the yoke which oppresses them, that along with them we may
establish and maintain in these valleys the kingdom of the gospel, even unto
death.
“In witness whereof, we swear to observe this present
engagement so long as we shall live.”
On
2 May 1690, the Waldensians were
entrenched in the mountains. Beneath
were 4000 French dragoons led by Marquis de Feuquiere. They attacked including an artillery barrage
during a snow storm. The Waldensians
scrambled higher. A thick fog set
in. The Waldensians escaped to live for
another day.
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