OF

Fox's Book of Martyrs,

No. 16.

CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL.

Printed and Published by W. E. ANDREWS, 3, Chapter Price 3d. house-court, St. Paul's Churchyard, London.

EXPLANATION OF THE ENGRAVING. The subject of this cut speaks for itself. The piety of our ancestors was conspicuously displayed in the beautiful architecture and embellishments of their religious temples; the vandalic fury of the deformers of religion in the sixteenth century destroyed most of those monuments of taste, skill, and devotion, and little now is left to bear testimony of the superiority of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, commonly called the "dark ages," over the eighteenth and nineteenth, in the erection of churches for the worship of the living God.

AddCONTINUATION OF THE REVIEW.

Not a date, nor an authority, is here given as a voucher for the correctness of this story, but all, as usual, is bare assertion; yet overcharged and false as it evidently is, how many are there that have credited these atrocious calumnies? We have shewn by dates in our last number, that Waldo began his preaching forty years before the origin of the inquisition, and St. Dominic, according to the Rev. A. Butler, was not born till ten years after Waldo turned deformer, namely, in the year 1170, at Calarmaga, in Old Castile. St. Dominic was of noble parents, but renounced worldly grandeur to become a servant of God. He was famed for his proficiency in learning and knowledge of the holy scriptures, and his life, as given by the ancient and best writers of it, that is, F. Theodoric, of Arolda, Constantine, bishop of Orvieto, Bartholomew, bishop of Trent, F. Humbert, and Nicholas Trevet, is represented as one of charity and self-denial, and that he had no more to do with

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the origin of the inquisition than John Fox had.—But mark the accuracy of Fox's account. He says, that "when the pope found that these "cruel means (the proceedings of the inquisition) had not the desired effect, he determined to try others of a milder nature: he therefore "sent several learned monks to preach among the Waldenses, and in"duce them to change their opinions. Among these was one Dominic, "who appeared extremely zealous in the cause of Popery." That St. Dominic was zealous in the cause of true religion cannot be denied ; but Fox has here transformed the Albigenses into the Waldenses, for it was against the former heretics that St. Dominic preached, and not against the latter, as we have shewn by a comparison of dates. Neithercould the pope have tried the cruel means stated by Fox before he sent the learned monks to preach, for St. Dominic died on the 6th of August, 1221, and the project of the first court of inquisition was formed in 1229. It is true that some authors make the legate Peter of Castelnau, the first inquisitor, in 1204; this is the legate that was murdered "by a gentleman," and the Bollandists, in a long dissertation, endeavour to shew that St. Dominic was the first inquisitor; but, writes the Rev, A. Butler, in a note to the life of this saint, "Touron observes, (ch. 13, p. 88.) that the Albigenses in Languedoc neither were, nor could be "the object of such a court as an inquisition while St. Dominic preached there; far from being occult, they were armed, preached publicly, and had the princes in their interest. He, secondly, takes notice that "St. Dominic is never mentioned by the original authors of his life to "have employed against the heretics any other arms than those of in"struction and prayer, in which they descend to a very particular de"tail."-William of Pay-Laurens, chaplain to Raymund VII. count of Toulouse, in his Chronicle, (c. 43.) and Bernard Guidonis, relate that pope Gregory IX. in 1233, that is, twelve years after the death of St. Do minic, nominated two Dominican friars in Languedoc the first inquisitors. That St. Dominic was the founder of the monastic order of Do minicans is undoubted, and that monks of this order were employed in the inquisition is not to be denied; that some of them may have been guilty of excesses and cruelties we do not pretend to dispute; but that the crimes and offences of individuals are to be charged to the whole body, is neither just nor liberal; and as well might Catholics charge the Protestants of this day with the horrid atrocities committed by the Huguenots and "Protestant-ascendency" in the sixteenth century, as the "few plain Christians" attempt to fix the excesses which took place in the south of France in the thirteenth century on the Catholics of the nineteenth or their religion.

As Fox has given us a pretended account of the artifices and cruelties of St. Dominic, and represented his order as blood-thirsty inquisitors, it is no more than justice that the public should be informed that if they are stated in the Book of Martyrs to have been mercenary and unprincipled tormentors of heretics, other writers shew they were also the civilizers and instructors of the savage race of barbarians.—Mr. Butler says, St. Dominic made frequent missionary excursions; and founded convents at Bergamo, Brescia, Faenza, and Viterbo, and vi"sited those he had already founded. He sent some of his religious into Morocco, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, and Ireland; and brother

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"Gilbert with twelve others into England, who established monasteries "of this order in Canterbury, London, and Oxford. The holy patriarch "in his second general chapter, held at Bologna in 1221, divided his "order into eight provinces, and sent some of his religious into Hungary, Greece, Palestine, and other countries. Among these missiona "ries F. Paul of Hungary founded in Lower Hungary the monasteries " of Gever and Vesprim, converted great numbers of idolaters in Croa tia, Sclavonia, Transylvania, Valachia, Moldavia, Bosnia, and Servia; " and leaving the churches which he had there founded under the care " of other labourers, preached with like success in Cumania, the inha*bitants of which country were most savage and barbarous. He báp, "tized among them a duke called Brut, with his vassals, and one of "the chief princes of the country name Bernborch, Andrew the king "of Hungary and father of St. Elizabeth, standing godfather. This " zealous apostle of so many nations suffered a glorious martyrdom "with ninety religious friars of his order, dispersed in those parts; some being beheaded, others shot with arrows, stabbed with lances, or burnt by the Tartars in 1242, in their great irruption in those "countries. Bishop Sadoc, with forty nine religious of this order, were butchered for the faith by these barbarians in a second irruption ❝in 1260, at Sendomir in Poland, and are honoured on the second of "June."

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The truth of this statement can be verified by the histories of the countries named, and we think it forms a complete contrast to the ran→ dom tales of Fox. While he is charging the pope and the Dominicans with being the authors of all the cruelties, real or imaginary, practised upon the Albigenses, we see the brightest members of this same order, with the holy founder at their head, engaged in converting infidels to the faith of Christ, with no other means than the force of persuasion and the holiness of their lives, and, like the primitive Christians, suffering martyrdom for their faith with meekness and fidelity. How unlike is this conduct to that pursued by John Fox's "reformed people ;" the one converting ruthless savages into pious Christians by the mild and persuasive truths of the Catholic faith; the other brutalizing the ignorant multitude by their impious notions, and exciting commotion in every society by the practice of the most indecent and outrageous actions.

After giving many other incredible tales, unaccompanied with the least authority, he concludes his account of the surrender of the earl of Toulouse, with stating some conditions which the earl was compelled, he says, to enter into. He then adds, "After these cruel conditions, (spurious ones) a severe persecution took place against the Albigenses, many of whom suffered for the faith; and express orders were "issued that the laity should not be permitted to read the sacred writings!” Though this statement is given as coming from Fox, we have no doubt that it is an invention of his modern editors, intended to suit the taste of the present bible-reading age. But, reader, if you only look to the period when this supposed order was made, it will at once strike you, that there could be no necessity for making it, because at that day scarcely any of the people could read, and as printing was not then invented, copies of the sacred writings were scarce, and chiefly in the

hands of the clergy, the only persons capable of reading them, who regularly expounded the most important parts to the people.

The editors then go on,-" From this period we find no further ac"count of the Albigenses till the commencement of the seventeenth "century; but although they are not distinctly mentioned, they suffered "in common with their Protestant brethren, at various times; and in "1620, a cruel persecution was commenced against them." And this statement is sufficient to gain credit with the enlightened people of this country! At least so think the "few plain Christians," or, we take it for granted, they would not have made it. We, however, have a better opinion of our countrymen, though they have long been the victims of delusion and hypocrisy. The first period alluded to by the editors must be the thirteenth century, and if history make no mention of them till the seventeenth, where have they been stowed during the intervening four hundred years? Is it not strange that history should all at once become silent on these pretended interesting victims of persecution? Then again, they are not distinctly mentioned even in the seventeenth century, and yet it is boldly averred that they suffered in common with Protestants. Then the Albigenses were not Protestants, though they are stated to be brethren. Now is not this likewise somewhat strange? If the Albigenses were right the Protestants must have been wrong; for two varying creeds could not both be true. It is an unerring principle of the Catholic faith, that it is always one and the same. Never changing or dividing, but indivisible, and therefore true. Here, however, we have two distinct appellations of religionists, both represented as suffering indiscriminately for their faith, and ranked of course as martyrs, though the one must have condemned the other as holding erroneous opinions, since both could not be right. Such is the inconsistency of man when he deviates from the true path, and seeks his road in the wilderness of error.

Before we quit this part of the Book of Martyrs, we must offer a few words on what is laid to the charge of St. Dominic and the Papists.— Fox says, that "if a man on his death-bed was accused of being a fol"lower of Waldo, his estates were confiscated, and the heir defrauded of "his inheritance." Supposing this statement, for the sake of argument, to be true, what is this compared to the cruelties of the penal code invented by "Protestant-ascendency" against the followers of the ancient faith? not, observe, new and vague and impious notions, but the old Catholic faith derived from the apostles. We have only to refer to the statute book, since the reign of the young pope Edward VI. and we shall find that laws have been passed twenty times more unjust than any here laid to the charge of the Dominicans. In the time of Elizabeth neither age nor sex was spared; forged letters were introduced into the houses and on the persons of Catholics, in order to form a plea for seizing their persons and property. Informers the most infamous were employed to swear away the lives of the most innocent; and a son, by turning Protestant, was legally empowered to rob his Catholic father of his estate, and his brothers and sisters of their inheritance, without waiting till he or they were on their death-bed. And are the Catholics of England and Ireland, while such horrible and unjust decrees continue to disgrace the statute-book of this Protestant country, to be reproached

with abuses that may, and we will say have, crept into the jurisprudence of foreign countries, because the people of those countries happen to profess the same faith? Were indeed those abuses to be sanctioned by the principles of their church, then they would deserve censure and execration; but as this is not the case, the conduct of those who endeavour to mislead and deceive the ignorant for the purpose of exciting hatred and abhorrence of their fellow subjects, richly merits the loathing and detestation of every friend to justice and good faith.

To shew the gullibility of some persons, when Catholicism or Popery, as the "plain Christians" call it, is the theme of declamation and slander, we will here insert an account given under a head entitled "CRUÉLTY OF THE BISHOP OF AIX." Fox, or his modern editors, says, "The "bishop of Aix being at Avignon, with some priests, they were one "day walking along the streets with some courtesans, and seeing a man "who sold obscene pictures, they purchased several, and presented them to the women. A bookseller, who had a great number of bibles "in the French language for sale, lived at hand. The bishop stepping ་ up to him said, 'How darest thou be so bold as to sell French mer"chandize in this town?' The bookseller replied with a kind of sneer, "My lord, do you not think that bibles are as good as those pictures 66 which you have bought for the ladies?' Enraged at the sarcasm, the bishop exclaimed, I'll renounce my place in paradise if this fellow " is not one of the Waldenses. Take him away, take him away to pri"son.' These expressions occasioned him to be terribly used by the rabble; and the next day he was brought before the judge, who, at "the instigation of the bishop, condemned him to the flames. He was "accordingly burnt, with two bibles hanging from his neck, the one "before and the other behind."

Such is the first part of the story, and we beg the reader particularly to remark, that this bishop is not specially named but generally; neither is there a single date by which we can trace the truth or falsehood of the statement. But will any one believe that in those days, or in these, the clergy would be so callous to decency as openly to walk the streets with courtesans and purchase obscene prints? Then as to the French bibles, and the boldness of the bookseller, is it probable, if the bishops and priests were such characters, that the bookseller would thus accost them? Besides, in the time of the Waldenses printing was unknown, and bookseller's shops were of course not in existence. It is therefore clear that the man was not burnt with his two bibles, and we dare be bound that the reader will think with us, that this part of the story is a bungling attempt at lying.

The tale goes on, "The principal persecutor of the Merindolians was "this bishop of Aix, who persuaded the president and counsellors of "the court of parliament to send a great army through all Provence, " in order to destroy those who professed the reformed religion. These poor people, on seeing the army, recommended themselves to God, "and prepared for death. While they were in this grievous distress, "mourning and lamenting together, news was brought that the army was retired, and no man knew at that time how, or by what means "but it was afterwards known that the lord of Alenc, a wise and good man, declared to the president of Cassanée, that he ought not to pro

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