We concluded our last amidst the gladness of heart which filled the souls
of myriads to whom social progress, political freedom, and evangelical
truth were precious. Our object now is to recount the fruits of that
enlargement accorded to the Vaudois; and in order to do this we must take a
retrospect of their religious condition for some few years before the
arrival of that grand epoch. At that period the state of things in the
valleys was far from satisfactory. Not to recount, as among the causes,
those political disabilities to which reference has been previously made, I
will refer to some additional circumstances of a vexatious and depressing
character. One was the hindrances to the obtaining the most indispensable
religious books, such as Bibles, catechisms, hymn-books. With each parcel
of Bibles and New Testaments, the moderator was obliged to sign a formal
undertaking that not a single copy should be sold, nor even lent to a Roman
Catholic. Again, in all the communes of the valleys, where nearly all the
proprietors were Protestants, and scarcely a Roman Catholic could be found
who was not either living on alms or employed as a daily labourer, the law
required that the _majority_ of the members of the communal council should
be always and necessarily composed of Romanists.
As regards primary education, the valleys were more favourably
circumstanced than other parts of the kingdom. Out of a population of some
twenty thousand, nearly four thousand attended school, at least during the
winter months. However, it will be seen that the real work of education was
not in so satisfactory a condition as the above statement, in a superficial
point of view, might imply. To show this we will descend to details as to
the schools, their kind, structure, fittings, and teachers.
First, then, we take the HAMLET SCHOOLS, about one hundred and twenty in
number. They were carried on generally in a _stable_, and the place was
neither remarkable for space nor cleanliness; so that on one side, in a
narrow division, would be thirty or forty children, separated from the
sheep or the goats by so slender a space that not infrequently the heads of
the children and the animals would combine in a way more grotesque than
effective for educational purposes.
The amount of didactic efficiency to be expected in the teacher may be
surmised from the circumstance of his salary being sometimes less than the
munificent sum of threepence-halfpenny per day! With such machinery we may
feel it was an achievement to be grateful for, if by the end of the
winter's session the children had learnt to read, write, and cipher
moderately, and could repeat by heart a prayer for morning and evening, the
Lord's Prayer, the Decalogue, and the Apostles' Creed.
Second. There were also the PARISH SCHOOLS, open ten months in the year,
and attended during the winter by a large number of children, the majority
of whom had to leave on the advent of spring to work in the fields. Those
not so required remained in the district or hamlet schools. The buildings
in which the parish schools were conducted were not exactly stables, but
yet entirely destitute of the light, air, fittings, and furniture requisite
for school-work. The only reading-books were a French Bible and Italian
acts of parliament. So much, then, for the primary schools. The condition
of the _secondary or grammar schools_ was not much more encouraging. The
institution was migratory, and aimed to teach fifteen or twenty pupils,
divided into five classes, under one teacher, not always very competent,
and badly paid, as much Latin and Greek as would secure their admission as
students in the academies of Strasbourg, Lausanne, or Geneva. But we pass
from schools to things religious and ecclesiastical. Morals were
comparatively pure; there was a respect for religion; a frequent attendance
on public worship; a deep attachment to their ancestral faith; a
disposition to endure everything rather than deny it; and affection and
esteem for their pastors. As regards the pastors, they were, almost without
exception, faithful to the ancient evangelical orthodoxy.
But there was that which both pastors and flocks were very imperfectly
acquainted with, viz., on one side the aim and mission of the church, and
on the other the true nature of the fruits intended to be produced by the
preaching of the gospel. In a word, there was a lack of true spiritual
energy, a realization of the need and preciousness of salvation. There was
the outward shell of orthodoxy, but the living soul of godliness was
wanting. Jesus Christ was present in name, but absent in reality.
In the administration of the church there were many serious defects. The
meeting of the synods was very difficult, partly because of the suspicions
of the government, and partly from the unwillingness of the communes to
bear the expense connected therewith. Again, the synods themselves answered
but imperfectly to the design of their institution, and their influence on
the spiritual state of the church very small. The Table, in its turn,
forgetting that its duties were essentially religious, sunk insensibly into
a kind of higher tribunal for secular affairs. The same tendency showed
itself in the bosom of the consistories.
However, amidst these deep shades some gleams of light, the heralds of
better things, began to show themselves. The first of these hopeful signs
was due to the liberality, as regards its beginning, of Madame Geymet, who
in the year 1826 laid the foundation of a hospital for the poor Waldensians
at La Torre. Madame Geymet was encouraged warmly by Pastor La Bert, the
then moderator of the Waldensian Church, and Pastor Cellerier, of Geneva,
who made a collection in aid of the object. The Count Waldburg Truchsesse,
Prussian ambassador at Turin, obtained help from Prussia; Dr. Gilly, by
means of the committee in London, sent large help from this country.
Holland, France, and Russia also joined in the effort; so that at length
the brave projector had the satisfaction of seeing _two_ hospitals grow out
of her once ridiculed scheme. The second hospital was erected at Pomaret,
for the especial benefit of the valleys of San Martino and Pragela.
Another means of awakening at this time arose from the arrival of some
young ministers, who had just left the foreign academies, especially that
of Lausanne, where the influence of a spiritual revival had been
particularly felt. A visit paid to the different parishes of the valleys in
1826 by Felix Neff and Pastor Blanc, of Mens, resulted in much spiritual
fruit.
These were but streaks of morning light, however. Long years had to pass,
and many painful struggles to be engaged in, before the Sun of
Righteousness shone clearly with His beneficent rays on the thick woods and
the shady corners of these lovely valleys. Among those who have been the
means of promoting the revival of true religion in the Waldensian Church
stand out conspicuously the names of Dr. Gilly and General Beckwith. The
former paid his first visit to the valleys in 1823. As that visit became
the germ of so much blessing to the Vaudois, it is not unimportant to
recall the providential circumstance which led to that visit. Referring to
the doctor's own narrative,[I] he says, "I happened to attend a meeting of
the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge on a day when a very
affecting letter was read to the board, signed Ferdinand Peyrani, minister
of Pramol, 'and requested that some aid might be sent, in books or money,
to the ancient Protestant congregation in the mountains of Piedmont, who
were struggling hard against poverty and oppression.'" The society voted
forty pounds' worth of books, including those mentioned as specially needed
for use in their churches. But from the date of this incident Dr. Gilly
sought after fuller information respecting the Vaudois, and determined on
visiting their valleys. This purpose he carried into effect early in the
year 1823, and on his return home the next year he published an account of
his journey, his object being to excite an _immediate_ interest on behalf
of these people. How largely he succeeded, so as to entitle him to be
reckoned among their chiefest benefactors, we shall have occasion to remark
later on. But, apart from the formation of a large and influential
committee in London, by which considerable sums of money were raised "to
assist the Vaudois in maintaining their ministers, churches, schools, and
poor," he was the means of invoking the sympathy and aid of one who
consecrated his life, strength, and means in one almost unbroken series of
efforts for their amelioration--I mean General Beckwith. This distinguished
philanthropist was born at Halifax, Nova Scotia, October 2nd, 1789. He was
baptized by the names of John Charles, and entered the 95th Regiment in the
year 1803. His first years as a soldier were spent in Hanover, Denmark, and
Sweden. In 1809 he was engaged in the Peninsular War, being present at the
disastrous retreat from Corunna and the sieges of Salamanca and Toulouse.
For his services at the last place he received a gold medal and the rank of
major, March 3rd, 1814. During these campaigns he was never wounded,
although exposed to great danger. One morning, among others, his old
servant had scarcely reached the skirts of a forest in which the enemy had
an ambuscade than his master's horse was killed by a ball, and the rider
overthrown. The servant thought it was all over with his master, but the
sad thought had hardly entered his mind when Beckwith sprang up and cried
out, "All right, John," and by a quick movement escaped beyond reach of
the enemy's fire.
On the return of Napoleon from Elba, Beckwith rejoined the standard of
Wellington, and took a prominent part in the battle of Waterloo. On this
day he had four horses killed under him, but received no personal injury
until he was struck by a cannon ball in the left leg from the retreating
fire of the French. After three months' unsuccessful treatment amputation
was declared necessary. This random shot, like the bow drawn at a venture
in an ancient battle, was pregnant with mighty consequences, not only to
Beckwith personally, but to that interesting people to whom as yet he had
never given a thought.
Beckwith, though only twenty-six years of age, was made a
lieutenant-colonel on the field of battle, and received the silver medal
struck to commemorate the victory. Had he not lost his leg he would
probably have risen to the highest distinction as a soldier. But if so he
might never have become the instrument of such extensive blessings to the
Vaudois as was destined in the providence of God.
The first foundation stone, so to speak, on which was to be erected the
spacious superstructure of his after benevolence began at the time of his
retirement to the chateau of Mont St. Jean, during the period of weakness
resulting from his wound at Waterloo. The owner of the mansion had a little
girl, six years of age, who was a most attentive nurse to him. She hardly
ever left his bedside, and by her childish prattling, innocent
pleasantries, and tender sympathy, won his regard, and spread a charm over
a time of pain and depression; so much so, indeed, that when the time of
separation came it greatly distressed him, and in after life he never spoke
of her without evident emotion.
But it was in this way God led him first to that benevolent interest in the
young which afterwards became so marked a feature of his character.
But up to this time, whilst Beckwith was not a sceptic, yet his faith was
not of an operative kind, he was taken up with those pursuits which
belonged solely to time. The means employed by God to awaken him to a
knowledge of the real aim of life was a copy of His own Word. This treasure
had lain unused at the bottom of his portmanteau until he lay wounded at a
little village near Courtray, in Belgium. Then he began to read with an
interest not previously felt, and it became to him the word of life. When
he was questioned about the circumstances of his conversion, he used to
reply, in his graphic way: "The good God said, 'Stop here, you rascal!' and
He has cut off my leg, and I think I shall be the more happy without it."
Of Beckwith's character as a soldier one of his former companions writes
thus: "I always regarded Beckwith as an officer of very brilliant promise,
for he embodied all the requisites of a great commander: remarkable
quickness in conception, imperturbable coolness in the time of action,
admirable power of organization, with indomitable courage. When he was
major he always left a position of safety to mix in the thick of the fight,
and I remember meeting him in the breach of Ciudad Rodrigo at the head of
an attacking column when he might have been in the rear." The same person
also testifies to Beckwith's care of his men, extending even to minute
particulars about clothing. Also, that he was a great favourite with his
brother officers on account of his intelligence and amiability. After
recovering somewhat from his wound he returned to England, and visited
America during this time. Shortly after his arrival in England from the
latter place he sought out his old companions in the army, and among others
he called on the Duke of Wellington.
It was while calling at Apsley House on one of these occasions he was shown
into the library, and whilst waiting a short time for the duke his eye fell
upon a number of new books, including _Dr. Gilly's Visit to the Vaudois_.
On leaving he obtained a copy of the book. The result was that he
determined to visit the valleys himself, which event happened in the autumn
of 1827.
Owing to the weather he stayed only a few days, but returned the following
year, and continued his visits to the valleys year after year, until, in
1833, a severe illness obliged him to remain in England. In the autumn of
1835 he returned, and lived in the valleys with Pastor Bonjour, at St.
John's, for the next five years. Again, after an interval of two years, he
returned to the valleys, living at the ancient castle of La Torre. In 1836
the Vaudois Table had his portrait painted, and engravings distributed
through the valleys. In 1844 the synod presented him with a cup of honour,
also Dr. Gilly and the Count Waldburg Truchsesse. In 1846 he was promoted
to the rank of major-general in the English army, and also received the
dignity of a Knight of St. Maurice and Lazarus from the king of Sardinia.
In 1850 he married a Vaudoise. In 1862 he dies among the people he had so
long loved and served, and is buried at La Torre, amid the profoundest
grief and deepest veneration of the whole population.
FOOTNOTES:
[I] _Narrative of an Excursion to the Mountains of Piedmont in the year
1823._ By WILLIAM STEPHEN GILLY. 2nd Ed. C. and J. Rivington.