N20568:936
The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being…
The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being Fox's Book of martyrs, revised and corrected, with additions and great improvements. : Containing an authentic account of the lives, persecutions and sufferings of the holy martyrs; and the many dreadful persecutions against the Church of Christ in all parts of the world, by pagans, Jews, Turks, papists, and others, from earliest ages of the church to the present period. ... The whole forming at once a general Christian martyrology, and a complete history of persecutions. / By the Rev. Mr. John Fox, M.A. late of Magdalen College, Oxford. ; Now revised, corrected and improved, with many additional articles, relating to the acts and monuments of the church. By Paul Wright, D.D. ; Embellished with forty elegant copper plate engravings. ; In two volumes. Vol. I[-II].The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being Fox's Book of marytrs, revised and corrected, with additions and great improvements. : Containing an authentic account of the lives, persecutions and sufferings of the holy martyrs; and the many dreadful persecutions against the Church of Christ in all parts of the world, by pagans, Jews, Turks, papists, and others, from earliest ages of the church to the present period. ... The whole forming at once a general Christian martyrology, and a complete history of persecutions. / By the Rev. Mr. John Fox, M.A. late of Magdalen College, Oxford. ; Now revised, corrected and improved, with many additional articles, relating to the acts and monuments of the church. By Paul Wright, D.D. ; Embellished with forty elegant copper plate engravings. ; In two volumes. Vol. I[-II].
New-York: printed by William Durell, 1794
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Volume 1 › Chapter 3 › An Account of the PERSECUTIONS of the WALDENSES, in FRANCE.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
PETER Waldo was a man eminent for his learning, piety, and benevolence; so that his doctrines were admired by great numbers, and he was followed by multitudes. The bishop of Lyons taking umbrage at the freedom with which he treated the Pope and the Romish clergy, sent to admonish him to refrain, in future, from such discourses. To which message Waldo returned this reply:— "That he could not be silent in a cause of such importance as the salvation of men's souls; wherein he must obey God rather than man."
WALDO'S principal accusations against the Pope and popery, were, that the Roman catholics affirm the church of Rome to be the only infallible church of Christ upon earth; and that the Pope is its head, and the vicar of Christ; that they hold the absurd doctrine of transubstantiation, insisting, that the bread and wine given in the sacrament, is the very identical body and blood of Christ which was nailed to the cross: that they believe there is a place called purgatory, where the souls of persons, after this life, are purged from the sins of mortality; and that the pains and penalties here inflicted may be abated according to the masses said by, and the money paid to the priests: that they teach, the communion of one kind, or the receiving the water only, is sufficient for the lay-people, though the clergy must be indulged with both bread and ⟨p. 100⟩wine: that they pray to the Virgin Mary and saints, though their prayers ought to be immediately to God: that they pray for souls departed, though God decides the fate immediately on the decease of the person: that they will not perform the service of the church in a language understood by the people in general: that they place their devotion in the number of prayers, and not in the intent of the heart: that they forbid marriage to the clergy, though God allowed it; and that they use many things in baptism, though Christ used only water.