N20568:967
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.
THE pope, by being often near them at his seat at Avignon, heard occasionally many things concerning their differing from the church of Rome. His intelligence greatly exasperated him, and he determined to have them persecuted on account of their religious tenets. Proceeding to some extremities, under the sanction of his ecclesiastical authority, only without consulting the king of France, the latter became alarmed, and sent his master of requests, and his confessor, to examine into the affair. On their return, they reported that the Waldenses were not such dangerous or bad people as they had been represented; that they lived with perfect honesty, were friendly to all, hurt none, caused their children to be baptized, had them taught the Lord's prayer, creed, and ten commandments; expounded the scriptures with purity, kept the Lord's day sacred, feared God, honoured the king, and wished well to the state. Then, said the king, they are much better christians than myself or my catholic subjects, and therefore they shall not be persecuted: the king was as good as his word, and sent orders to stop the persecution accordingly.
SOME time after, the inhabitants of Merindol received a summons, that the heads of the families of that town should appear before the ecclesiastical court. When they appeared, and confessed themselves Waldenses, they were ordered to be burnt, their families outlawed, their habitations laid waste, and the woods that surrounded the town to be cut down, two hundred paces each way; so that the whole should be rendered desolate. The king, however, being informed of this barbarous decree, sent to countermand the execution of it; but his order was suppressed by cardinal Tournon, and the greatest cruelties were consequently exercised.
THE president of Opede sent several companies of soldiers to burn some villages that were occupied by protestants, which they performed; and, without the least respect to sex or […] murdered the men immediately, ravished the […], cut off the