N20568:954
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.
THESE proceedings of Waldo, and the reformed, occasioned the first rise of Inquisitors; for pope Innocent III. authorized certain monks inquisitors to inquire for, and deliver over, the reformed to the secular power. The monks greatly abused this authority; for, upon the least surmise or information, they delivered over the reformed to the magistrate, and the magistrate delivered them to the executioner; for the process was short, as an accusation was deemed adequate to guilt, and a candid trial was never granted to the accused.
THESE proceedings of Waldo, and the reformed, occasioned the first rise of Inquisitors; for pope Innocent III. authorized certain monks inquisitors to inquire for, and deliver over, the reformed to the se•ular power. The monks greatly abused this authority; for, upon the least surmise or information, they delivered over the reformed to the magistrate, and the magistrate delivered them to the executioner; for the process was short, as an accusation was deemed adequate to guilt, and a candid trial was never granted to the accused.
THE pope finding that these cruel means had not the intended effect, determined to try others of a more rational and mild nature. To this end he sent several learned monks to preach among the Waldenses, and to endeavour to argue them out of their opinions. Among these monks was one Dominic, who appeared extremely zealous in the cause of popery. This Dominic instituted an order, which, from him, was called the order of Dominican friars; and the members of this order have ever since been the principal inquisitors in the various inquisitions in the world. The power of the inquisitors was unlimited; they proceeded against whom they pleased without any consideration of age, sex, or rank. Let the accusers be ever so infamous, the accusation was deemed valid; and even anonymous informations sent by letter were thought sufficient evidence. To be rich was a crime equal to heresy; therefore many who had money were accused of heresy, or of being favourers of heretics, that they might be obliged to pay for their opinions. The dearest friends or nearest kindred could not, without danger, serve any one who was imprisoned on account of religion. To convey to those who were confined, a little straw, or give them a cup of water, was called favouring of the heretics, and they were prosecuted accordingly. No lawyer dared to plead even for his own brother, or notary register any thing in favour of the reformed; the malice of the papists, indeed, went beyond the grave, and the bones of many Waldenses, who had been long dead, were dug up in order to be burnt, as examples to the living. If a man on his death-bed was accused of being a follower of Waldo, his estates were confiscated, and the heir to them defrauded of his inheritance; and some were even obliged to make pilgrimages to the Holy Land, while the Dominicans took possession of their houses and property, and when the owners returned would often pretend not to know them.