Let us now turn to Vigneaux, who was well qualified to judge of Vaudois morals, having been forty years a pastor among them, and having made a large collection of their ancient writings, which he translated: from his work "On the Lives, morals, and religion of the Vaudois," I extract the following, "They are a people of fidelity in their promises, of irreproachable lives, and are great enemies to vice;" and of his own time he adds, "We in these valleys of Piémont live in peace and concord with the others, but we do not connect ourselves in marriage with the Catholics. For the rest, our manners and morals are so approved by them, that they prefer taking servants from among us to themselves;* and some come from a great distance to choose nurses for their children, considering them more faithful than their own."
The order of the French government, in 1592, to M. de Birague, governor of Saluces, to massacre the Vaudois, drew forth the following testimony from one of the council of that town: "That his majesty must assuredly have been misinformed as to these poor people, who were good men, and did him honourable and faithful service, living peaceably with their neighbours; with whom indeed there was no fault to find, except their religion." To all these testimonies there is one other to be added, of still more weight, namely, that of all the edicts which have been _successively_ published by the court of Turin against the Vaudois; in no one is the smallest reproach to be found on the score of probity, good faith, or morals. This silence becomes an invaluable avowal from those who eagerly sought some pretext to give a colour to the horrible persecutions they authorized.
Is it not astonishing, after this, to find the Vaudois calumniated by Albert de Capitaxis, Rubis, &c. as the first Christians were by the Pagans? Paradin* and Girard, however; may be cited in reply. They assert that the Vaudois were not guilty of any of the horrible crimes of which they were accused; but only of having freely inveighed against the corruption and vices of the priests and friars, and thus excited their mortal hatred....
* Annales de Bourgogne, par Guillaume Paradin, Lyons, 1566.
But we may well despise this slander, and consider what has been the cause of their real purity of manners. The ecclesiastical discipline, which has always been in great vigour, may be assigned as the cause, as it has induced the continual study of, and meditation upon the sacred writings. And here I must be pardoned another extract from an ancient author. "All the people," says he, "of either sex, and of whatever age, cease not to learn and teach; the labourer at his daily task either teaches his comrade or learns of him, and the evening is spent in the same instructions, even without books. He that has learnt for one week teaches others for the next, and if any one excuses himself from want of memory, he is told that even one word every day will amount to many sentences at the end of a year, which in many years will form a fund of knowledge." "I have heard with my own ears," says this author, "one of these poor peasants repeat the whole book of Job by heart, without missing one word; and there are others who have the whole of the New Testament at their fingers' ends. Do any of them lead an evil life? they are sharply rebuked, according to their discipline, and told the Apostles lived not thus, nor must we who imitate them." Reynerus Sacco again confirms this by saying, "The Vaudois know the whole of the New Testament by heart, and much of the Old, (in their own language,) nor will they hear any thing else," saying, "that all sermons which are not proved by the Scriptures are unworthy of belief."