¦

mMRL -BECKWITH:
IfrHJEAND LABOWKSAHOHG TBS
aBEisE&fff -HEBitoirT. mm

: [7:^ismmae

*

(MMM

*

¦,/:''"'

tj;~;;:s~;ss;:s:r

f^L, 

fS8J£_

.LIFE AND LABOURS

GENERAL BECKWITH.

GENERAL BECKWITH:
HIS LIFE AND LABOUES
AMONG THE WALDENSES OF PIEDMONT.

J. P. MEILLE,
PASTOIt OF THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH AT TURIN.

WITH AN INTEODDOTORY NOTICE BY THE REV. WILLIAM ARNOT.

LONDON :
T. NELSON AND SONS, PATEENOSTEK KOW ;
EDINBURGH ; AND NEW YORK.
1873-

<afo Jttiss fflhsrlottc Owfetoith.

|ADAM, — At your first entrance into life
a great trial awaited you : your illus
trious and venerated father, whom your
birth would have filled with joy, and who would
have made your happiness his constant occupation,
was no longer alive.
One of the ends I proposed to myself in compos
ing this volume was, as far as might be, to sweeten
this trial, by collecting and rearranging the scattered
elements of that noble existence, which I, more for
tunate in this than you, was privileged to contem
plate so near at hand, and for such a length of time.
Of the success of my efforts I cannot but have
painful doubts.
Yet if, notAvithstanding the imperfection of the
pages which I take the liberty to offer you, you

U DEDICATION.
should one day tell me, when you are old enough to
appreciate their contents, that, thanks to them, you
know in some measure the eminent man whose
daughter you have the honour and the happiness to
be ; and if the reading of them inspire you with an
affection such as he felt for the Church to which he
devoted himself with so much ardour, — then my satis
faction will be complete in this respect, whatever re
ception the public may think fit to give my work.
Eeceive, madam, and beg your dear and worthy
mother, for whom my affection equals my respect, to
receive the assurance of my warmest feelings in
Jesus Christ. J. P. MEILLE, Pastor.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

VENTURE to recommend earnestly this
biography in its English dress to Eng
lish-speaking readers both in the United
States and in the British islands and colonies. It
exhibits and illustrates alike the prescient care of
Divine providence and the great power that lies in
one human life, quickened by the Spirit, and per-
severingly devoted to a specific object.
In the early summer of 1815 there were two
objects under the sun and on the earth, each inter
esting indeed in itself, but far apart in place and
utterly unconnected in character — two objects whose
union either for good or evil lio human foresight
could have deemed possible ; — these were Charles
Beckwith, a vigorous young officer of the British
army, and the long persecuted and at length almost

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

crushed group of congregations and pastors in the
Valleys of Savoy that inherited the name and the
place of the Waldensian Church. ' Beekwdth was a
dashing, ambitious soldier : he had passed with hon
our through several campaigns, and had fought out
the terrible day of Waterloo unhurt till the sun was
setting and the French army in full retreat. A
bullet from the flying foe then received its commis
sion, and the young soldier's leg was irretrievably
shattered. During his illness, in an hospital near
the battle-field, he found a Bible, and in it found
Christ. Incapable of serving any more as a soldier
under Wellington, he found employment under
another Captain. A field too was provided, and he
was led to occupy it through a chain of circum
stances that compel the reader to mark in the ar
rangements the hand of God.
While these preparations were going on Avith the
individual in one place, the Church of the Waldenses
in another place had fallen to a very low ebb. They
were poor and dispirited. Through a series of cala
mities they had even lost the use of the Italian
language. They neither possessed the power nor
the hope of doing evangelistic work for their native

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

land. The design of Providence, as interpreted by
the event, was to prepare and commission Beckwith
as the apostle of the Waldensian Church. Through
his personal services and wise persevering exertions
that singular community was revived, and prepared
for their peculiar mission in Italy. Long before the
door was opened by the political revolutions of our
day, the pastors and people of the Waldensian com
munity were, by a general elevation of their con
dition and an improved educational apparatus, and
especially by the re-acquisition of the Italian tongue,
prepared as evangelists to break in upon the southern
plains like a flood.
The study of Beckwith's life and work is espe
cially attractive and useful to all who take an inter
est in Italy, politically emancipated, but as yet, for the
most part, spiritually enthralled. It is most appro
priate, moreover, that the life of the English general
should have been written by an Italian pastor. It is
an exact reproduction in modern times of the senti
ment recorded in the gospel narrative, " He loveth
our nation, and hath built us a synagogue." It is
well that one of that nation, to whose benefit his life
and talents and means were devoted, should tell the

VI INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
story of his romantic, yet solid, sober, and successful
mission, to the great Christian community scattered
throughout the world.
The translation of the memoir into English is a
labour of love by members of a family in Scotland
who knew and appreciated General Beckwith's work
while it continued, and who join with others like-
minded in carrying it forward now to its results.
The whole of this mission and its attendant circum
stances, exhibiting a greater than usual measure of
personal idiosyncrasy and individual effort, consti
tute one of the most interesting and instructive
episodes of Church history in modern times.
WILLIAM ARNOT.

PREFACE.

SHOULD those who knew Beckwith per
sonally find him faithfully reproduced in
these pages ; should those who did not
know him be- enabled to imagine him as he was ;
and should all who read these pages be filled with
a profound admiration for him, and an ardent desire
to follow in his footsteps, and to continue the work
he has left unfinished, — our ambition will be fully
satisfied, and we shall consider our efforts more than
rewarded. Though the life of a man like BeckAvith may be
said to be written for the whole world, since all
have need of the great lesson it teaches, yet we are
bound to say that this volume has been penned
chiefly with a view to the Vaudois Valleys and their
population. This may serve to excuse us for having

Vlll PREFACE.
entered into many details which can only have interest
for the Vaudois, — but, for them, a very great and
real interest. It may also serve as an excuse for the
number of quotations, which may seem too great,
considering the rapidity of the narration.
It seemed to us that no word was better fitted to
describe the character of Beckwith than that of
benefactor. If we have not dwelt sufficiently on
his labours in this sense, it has been for want of
materials, Beckwith having scrupulously destroyed
all manuscripts which" could have revealed the secret
of his prodigious activity in this department. Of the
vast correspondence regarding his work, which, for
more than thirty years, he must have kept up with
all sorts of persons, and of his journal of expenses,
which would have told us much regarding his innu
merable bounties, nothing has been found,* everything
having been destroyed by him as soon as possible.
For the letters with which we have been able
to enrich our narrative, we have to thank the per
sons in whose hands these letters were found, and
who had the kindness to communicate them to us.

* Except the book of charges for the building of the churches at La Tour uua
Turin.

PREFACE. IX
And now may He, under whose eye, and for whose
glory, we have undertaken this work, deign to let
His blessing rest upon it, and to use it, however im
perfect it may be, as a means of doing some little
good in the midst of this Church, our spiritual mother,
to whose restoration and prosperity Beckwith dedi
cated such a remarkable portion of his existence.
Pka, on the Shores of the Mediterranean.

CONTENTS.

Chop. PuS0
I. ORIGIN, CHILDHOOD, AND MILITARY CAREER OE BECKWITH, 1789
TO 1827, . . .  .13
II. THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS IN 1827, . . . . . . . .24
III. BECKWITH'S ARRIVAL AND FIRST APPEARANCE IN THE VALLEYS £,
—HIS HABITS OE LIFE — GENERAL VIEW OF HIS WORK FROM
1827 TO 1853  34
IV. BECKWITH AND PRIMARY EDUCATION,  45
V. BECKWITH AND SECONDARY INSTRUCTION, . . . . .75
VI. BECKWITH AND SECONDARY INSTRUCTION, . . 09
VII. BECKWITH AND ECCLESIASTICAL BUILDINGS : CHURCHES AND
PARSONAGES,  112
VIII. BECKWITH AND WORKS OF CHARITY, . . . . . . 129
IX. BECKWITH AND ECCLESIASTICAL QUESTIONS,  142
X. BECKWITH AND ECCLESIASTICAL QUESTIONS, . . . . . 175
XI. BECKWITH AND THE WORK OF EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY, 193

Xll CONTENTS.
XH. BECKWITH AS AN AUTHOR AND EDITOR, .. . ..229
XILT. LAST YEARS OF THE LIFE OE BECKWITH — 1854-1862, . . . . 243
XIV. THE QUALITIES WHICH BECKWITH DISPLAYED IN HIS WORK,
AND THE SOURCE FROM WHICH THAT WORK PROCEEDED, . 279
APPENDIX,  306

GENERAL BECKWITH.

CHAPTER I.

ORIGIN, CHILDHOOD, AND MILITARY CAREER OF BECKWITH,
1789 TO 1827.
j HE family of Beckwith — the last male de
scendant of which is to form the subject
of the following pages — is one of the
most ancient in England. It was not originally
known by this name, however, but by that of Malby,
or Malebisse (from the Latin mala bestia) ; borne,
most probably, by one of those bold Normans whom
the thirst for booty and the love of adventure brought
to the British Isles in the train of William the Con
queror. In 1226, under Henry II., Hercules Malby,
third son of Sir Simeon Malby, having been united
in marriage to Lady Anne Beckwith-Bruce, changed
his original name of Malby to that of Beckwith, and
(390J %

14 BIRTH AND PARENTAGE.
thus became the head of a new family, which seems
to have inherited the warlike nature of its ancestors.
Of the five sons of General John Beckwith, grand
father of the subject of these pages, four followed a
military career, and attained the rank of general ;
one only was in business through life, though he
also had begun it as a soldier. He had aban
doned the military profession on his marriage to
Miss Mary Haliburton, sister of the supreme judge
at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, He was called John
after his father, and was the eldest of the family.
John Beckwith was said by those who knew him
intimately to be a man of reserve and good sense.
His wife was a woman of remarkable beauty and
cultivation of mind, and looked well after the affairs
of the household. They had fourteen children, four
of whom died in infancy. Of the three boys and
seven girls, ten in all, who grew up, and lived to an
advanced age, all were married except one.
The eldest of this patriarchal family was born at
Halifax on the 2nd October 1789, and received in
baptism the name of John Charles, He became the
Colonel, and afterwards the General with the wooden
leg, whose name will last as long as that of the
Church to the restoration and welfare of which he
devoted so much of his life.
John Charles Beckwith, while still a child, was

EARLY YEARS. 15
quite an oracle among his brothers and sisters, who
all swore by him. His fertile brain was ever active
in producing songs and marvellous stories for their
amusement. He had a great taste for theatrical
performances, and composed little plays, which he
acted with his brothers and sisters. Their theatre
was an old two-stalled stable, for which John Charles
painted the. scenes.
When, at the age of fourteen, he quitted Halifax
to join the army in England, his departure was a
severe blow to his young friends. One of them thus
describes the leave-taking : "It was a cold winter
morning ; the ground was covered with snow ; every
one wept, but most of all the old negro George."
Up to his eighteenth year Beckwith was very
short of stature, so much so, that an old soldier of
the 95 th Regiment, in which he served, relates that
when they had to ford any stream he always had to
cany him across on his' shoulders. He sketched,
for the amusement of his family, a portrait of him
self, Avith his head haughtily thrown back, command
ing a company of soldiers twice as tall as himself.
After this he grew rapidly, and at the age of twenty-
five he was " one of the handsomest men to be seen."
His first campaign was in Hanover. In 1807
he took part in the expedition against Denmark ;
and, in 1808 in that against Sweden, In 1809 he

16 - MILITARY CAREER.
followed Lord Wellesley, afterwards Duke of Wel
lington, to the Spanish Peninsula ; and was present
at the disastrous retreat from Corunna, where Sir
John Moore, the commander, lost his life. During
the five following years there was no action of im
portance at which he was not present, from Pombal
and Fox d'Afona, to Salamanca, Orthez, and Toulouse;
at which latter place he received the gold medal*
and the rank of Major (March 3rd, 1814).
During all these campaigns he was never wounded,
though frequently in danger. One morning, in par
ticular, at the outskirts of a wood in which the
enemy lay in ambush, his horse was killed under
him by a cannon-ball, and both master and horse
fell to the ground. " I thought for a moment my
master was gone," said his faithful old servant ;
" but just then he rose to his feet, exclaiming, ' All
right, John ; ' and, by a prompt retreat, placed him
self out of reach of the enemy's fire."
When peace was proclaimed after the abdication
and banishment of Napoleon to Elba, Beckwith went
to spend some time with his family, who had now
left Nova Scotia and come to reside in England.

* This medal bears round the edge the following inscription : Major Ch. Beck
with, 95 Regt., Asst. Mr.-Gl. ; on one side, Victory seated on her car, with a lion
at her feet and a laurel crown in her hand ; on the other, the simple inscription
Toulouse, surrounded by a laurel wreath. Entering the service in 1803, Beck
with was made sub-lieutenant in May 1804 ; lieutenant, 8th April 1805 ; captain,
28th June 1808 ; and major, 3rd March 1814.

HOME LIFE. 17
There, as at Halifax, he was the children's best
friend, always ready to join in their sports without
fear of hurting his dignity. " Do you remember,"
writes of him the same friend whom we have already
quoted, " how he used to roll on the grass with you
and Robert? One day, after breakfast, while he
was writing, you were making a dreadful noise.
He called out to you, ' Children, do not go away ;
stay here with me.' ' But, Charles,' said his mother,
' if you wish to read or write, do not keep the chil
dren here ; they will disturb you.' ' I know that
very well,' was his reply ; ' and I only told them to
stay because I knew that was the best way to make
them go away.' "
During his stay in England, wishing to acquire a
knowledge of music, he practised on the piano every
day for a fixed time with great diligence. He was
also anxious to learn the game of whist, "against
the time when he should be a general," he laughingly
said ; but at each new attempt he lost courage, and
threw down the cards, exclaiming, " It's of no use !
I know I shall never learn it ! "
By the return of Napoleon from Elba, and the
sudden recommencement of hostilities occasioned by
it, the young officer was hastily called away from the
amenities of domestic life, to take his place on the
field of Waterloo.

J 8 . WOUNDED AT WATERLOO.
The result of that terrible battle is well known,
the last of that long series, which, begun in 1793,
and lasting till 1815, had physically and morally
devastated Europe, and caused the death of millions.
Beckwith's heroic bearing on the memorable day
of Waterloo is sufficiently shown by the fact that
four horses were killed under him during the en
gagement. In spite of this he himself remained
unhurt, until one of the last shots fired by the
retreating enemy broke his left leg. After three
months of painful waiting amputation was found
necessaiy. What hidden results, undreamt of by the
hand that aimed it, lay hidden in that bullet — the
restoration, nay, almost the resurrection, of the Vau
dois Church, was, by God's design, enclosed within it!
But for this trial, which put an end, in one sense,
to his military career, Beckwith, already a lieutenant-
colonel* at the age of twenty-six, would probably
have become a renowned general, possibly com
mander-in-chief of the British army, and might thus
most brilliantly have served his country. But then
he would never either have sought or found the
Vaudois Valleys. He would never have thought of

* He was promoted to this rank on the battle-field itself, and also decorated
with the medal struck in remembrance of this memorable victory. The Water
loo medal is silver, and bears, on one side, England holding a palm-branch in
one hand and an olive-bough in the other, with the motto 15th June 1815 at the
foot of the medal, and at the top the name of Wellington. On the other side is
the effigy of the Prince Regent, with the inscription George P. Regent.

CONVALESCENCE. 19
recalling to a sense of its mission under Providence
that Church, which now lay so crushed by physical
suffering that its spiritual life had grown, feeble
indeed. And if the small beginning of evangeliza
tion by the Vaudois Church be indeed the grain of
mustard-seed destined to grow into a great tree, who
can tell the connection between that stray cannon-
ball and the religious and social regeneration of
Italy !' Be this as it may, Beckwith' s sufferings,
which were not small, prepared for him incalculable
spiritual blessings, in view of which we cannot doubt
the blow had been dealt. His convalescence, though
long, was sweetened by many tranquil enjoyments.
In the solitude of the chateau of Mont Saint-Jean,
where he had been received, he found, in the little
daughter of the owner of the chateau, a child of six
years of age, the most attentive and devoted nurse ;
she rarely left his bed-side, and, by her childish
prattle, innocent wiles, and tender sympathy, spread
such a charm over the saddened life of the wounded
officer, that his separation from her was a real grief
to him, and even after many years he never spoke
of her without grateful emotion.
There, too, he listened to the voice of God, im
pressing on his heart and soul things which, till
now, had only obtained his passing attention, but
which were one day to form the grand interest of

. 20 CONVERSION.
his life. Beckwith himself informs us that he had
never been either a sceptic or an infidel ; and we
may believe him. But his faith had long been of
that too common kind, a faith without works, which
is dead. The love of glory, with the sense of duty common
to every British soldier, had hitherto been his motive
of action; but this heavy, unexpected trial led him
to seek more earnestly than he had ever yet done
for the true aim of existence. A Bible, which had
somehow fallen into his hands while quartered in a
village near Courtray in Belgium, was now drawn
from his portmanteau ; it was carefully studied, and
the margin of its pages was covered with notes and
references. " I was carried away by the love of
glory,'' he said one day in his expressive way to
some friends who were asking about this period of
his life; "but a good God said to me, ' Stop, rascal!'
and he cut off my leg ; and now I think I shall be
the happier for it."
One of Beckwith's brother-officers, who also became
a general, thus characterizes him as an officer : "I
always thought Beckwith the officer in our division
who gave the most brilliant hopes for the future ;
for he possessed all the qualities requisite for the
command of an army, great promptitude of concep
tion, imperturbable coolness on the field of battle,

brother-officer's OPINION. 21
an admirable power of organization, and undaunted
courage. Although a staff-officer, he was always
ready to quit his safe position, and throw himself
into the thick of the fight ; and I remember once
seeing him upon the breach at Ciudad-Rodrigo, at
the head of the attacking column, though his place
ought to have been in the rear of the army.
" A very remarkable trait in him was the care
which he took of the soldiers when he held the post
of major of brigade^ No matter how bad the
weather, or how great his own fatigue, he never
dismounted until he had seen every one lodged and
supplied with every comfort possible in the circum
stances. I once heard him advising the soldiers to see
that their flannel waistcoats were put on perfectly
dry. While not disdaining to attend to such details
as these, his fine character, ready wit, and cultivated
mind, made him a favourite at the officers' table
and among his companions in arms. I always
thought that if he had followed out his career, he
might have become commander-in-chief, for which
few were as well qualified as he."
Returning to England, Beckwith occupied his
time in carrying on the education which had been
broken off at an early age, on his entering the army.
Theology, history, political economy, and agricul
ture successively occupied his attention ; and the

22 VISIT TO AMERICA.
profound study which he devoted to each of these
branches explains the variety of information which
lent such a charm to his conversation.
About this time, either with a view to complete
his studies by practical observation, or to revisit the
haunts of his childhood, he sailed for America, where
he spent several years, passing from one part of the
United States to another, studying with care the
institutions and resources of the country, and pene
trating even to the haunts of the wild Indians, whose
customs and ideas aroused in his thoughtful mind
the deepest interest. On his return from America,
he was anxious to aid the work-people at Spittal-
fields ; but his designs being crossed by narrow-
minded, though well-iheaning people, had no prac
tical result.
While resident in London, Beckwith was in the
habit of meeting with his former mess-mates, and
also with his General, the Duke of Wellington.
On going to visit the latter at his residence in
Hyde Park one day in the summer of 1827, he
was- shown into the library. Being alone in the
room for a few minutes, his eye was attracted by a
volume on the table, entitled, " Narrative of an
Excursion to the Mountains of Piedmont, and Re
searches among the Vaudois or Waldenses, Protestant
Inhabitants of the Alps." The author of this book

READS DR. GILLY'S BOOK. 23
was Dr. Gilly, afterwards Prebendary of Durham
Cathedral, who had drawn up with great literary
power, and an irresistible vein of sympathy, this
account of a tour he had made in the Vaudois Val
leys. The few pages of this work which Beckwith
read so surprised and touched him, that he ordered
a copy for himself on the way home. The more he
read, the more he wondered and felt interested in
the population who had withstood the cruel per
secutions of centuries, and who had evidently been
appointed by God to hold aloft on the classic
ground of the Papacy the standard of a pure gospel.
Having finished the book, he was seized with a
desire to behold with his own eyes that which the
good Doctor had so attractively described ; and
accordingly, the following autumn, he left London in
a post-chaise, " most anxious," as he himself expressed
it, "to see the country which he imagined to be
peopled by angels, yet where," he maliciously added,
"he had also found some devils."
While he is on his way thither, let us endeavour
to form an exact idea of the state of the Vaudois
Valleys at this time, towards the end of 1827, in
their social, intellectual, and religious aspect. This
will be the best means of estimating the importance
and the difficulty of the work, in many respects so
remarkable, on which Beckwith was about to enter.

CHAPTER II.
THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS IN 1827.
||OCIALLY and politically speaking, the
state of the Vaudois Valleys in 1827 was
as sad as might be, and so different from
their present condition, that it is not easy to believe
that but little more than forty years have elapsed
since that period.
Not only had the general liberties obtained by the
Vaudois after the French Revolution been suddenly
and violently suppressed, but all the ancient edicts
concerning that people, embodying the most vexatious
regulations, had been one by one exhumed from
their dust, and, under the influence of the Jesuitical
spirit then predominant in the councils of Sardinia,
put in force with a severity which went on increas
ing year by year, until it reached a climax, when
the force of circumstances rendered it no longer
practicable. The Government of the King (not of his own

STATE OF THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS. 25
accord, be it understood, but under the tyrannical
and degrading influence of the clergy *) still insisted
on the strict observance of certain of these edicts f
as late as 1841 — on the eve, as it were, of the pro
clamation of the liberties we now enjoy. All
Vaudois, simply because they were such, were for
bidden to possess or even to farm any property, or
to practise any industry whatever, beyond the
narrow limits of their valleys. % The liberal pro
fessions also, which, within their own boundaries at
least, they ought to have been allowed to exercise
freely, were equally prohibited, as soon as they re
quired the degree of doctor for their exercise ; and
the office of notary itself, for which this degree was
not absolutely indispensable, was only accessible to
them within the narrowest restrictions. §
According to a series of regulations, remarkable
for their intolerance and injustice, the observance of
public worship was subjected to the most arbitrary
* A letter of 12th April 1841, from the Procurator-General of His Majesty,
Count Stara, communicating to the prefect of Pignerol the order " to suspend
at once the execution of the measures ordained by the Government, regarding
mixed marriages, and the acquisition of property made on the territory of
Lusernette {beyond the limits) and elsewhere," contained this recommendation :
to act so that the ecclesiastical authority might not perceive this suspension or
revocation of measures determined on." See Bert, 'I. Cristiani Valdesi," p. 303.
t Edicts of 1602, 1603, 1610, and 1622.
X Edict of 1822. An injunction of the judge of Pignerol of the year 1827,
on the occasion of the letting of heritable property to the Vaudois in that
town, gave an order to all the Vaudois established there for commerce to take
their departure within the next four-and-twenty hours. See A. Bert, "I. Val
desi," pp. 265, 266.
§ Edict of 2nd June 1653: "There may be six heretical notaries within the
tolerated limits, for the sole service of the Vaudois."

26 INTOLERANCE AND OPPRESSION.
restraints ; as also the introduction into the kingdom
of even the most indispensable religious books, such
as Bibles, catechisms, and hymn-books.* Besides
this, in districts like those of the Vaudois Valleys,
where almost all the property is in the hands of Pro
testants, and where, at that time in particular,
nearly all the resident Roman Catholics were either
beggars or servants — it was required by law, that
the majority of the common council should be
necessarily and constantly composed of Catholics. -f
Lastly, there were two other equally barbarous
and immoral laws, which were often appealed to by
the authorities even long after the period we have
to do with ; the one, compelling the young woman
whom wrong had made a mother, either to part
from her child by casting it out into the street, or
to promise before a magistrate that she would bring
it up in the Roman Catholic faith ; J the other,
authorizing any boy of twelve, and any girl of
ten years of age, to abandon the parental roof,
without the parents or guardians having any
right to bring them back, provided the motive of
* At every consignment of Bibles and New Testaments, the Moderator had to
sign before the Reviser-in-Chief a declaration, bearing a formal engagement that
not one of these books should be sold, or even lent, to a Roman Catholic.
t Edict of 1653 : "In places where all are not heretics [it would have been a
difficult matter in any place where there were no Catholics !] the number of the
Protestant magistrates and councillors must always be exceeded by .that of the
Catholic ones."
t Letter from the Advocate-General of 18th June 1S3S, quoted by Bert, "I.
Valdesi," p. 285.

STATE OF EDUCATION. 27
flight were to obtain salvation by joining the Romish
Church.* The only advantage which their nation
ality gave to the Vaudois, was the right (a right
which Jews did not then enjoy) of shedding their
blood for the defence of their country. In all other
respects, their lot would have been infinitely better
if, instead of being the subjects of His Sardinian
Majesty, they had been those of any other power,
whether Catholic or Protestant. -J-
With regard to education, particularly that which
was elementary, although the condition of the Vau
dois Valleys at this period was much better than
that of most other parts of the kingdom, and
though out of a population of 20,000, about 4000
children attended school at least in winter, yet such
a state of things was bad enough to require great
amelioration. «
What, then, were the hamlet or quarter schools,
which were at this time about a hundred and twenty
in number ? They were generally taught in small
and ill-lighted stables, where, for from four to five
months in the winter, fifteen to perhaps forty chil-
* Edict of 1655 : "The children of Protestants maybe taken away from them
if they wish to embrace the Roman Catholic religion, when the boys are up
wards of twelve years old, the girls upwards of ten." See on this subject, "I.
Valdesi," by M. A. Bert, pp. 286-289, where facts are related which would be
incredible if they were not confirmed by the most authentic documents.
t The authorization, among other things, to possess, and consequently to buy,
fixed property of all kinds, and in whatever part of the states of His Majesty,
whilst strictly denied to the Vaudois, was, from the year 1822, granted to the
Prussians, Dutch, Saxons, Wurtembergers, <&c. See Bert, "I. Valdesi," p. 209.

28 QUARTER SCHOOLS.
dren were huddled together in the small space
unoccupied by the cattle, and where the heads of
sheep or goats, constantly intruding among the heads
of the children, caused an interruption to the lessons
which by no means displeased the latter. As for
the teacher, what was to be expected from a man
whose salary did not always amount to ten francs
a month, or rather less than thirty-four centimes
a day ? His knowledge was too apt to keep pace
with his salary ; and all his notions of teaching
seemed to be concentrated in a huge birch-rod, with
which he mercilessly tortured the hands and knees
of the unfortunate children whom it was his duty to
imbue with sound moral principles. A few winters of
such tuition were considered amply sufficient, if the
children were thus rendered able to read, write, and
reckon indifferently, and to repeat by heart a morn
ing and evening prayer, the Ten Commandments, the
Lord's Prayer, and the Creed.
The parochial schools, open for ten months of the
year, and frequented in winter by the elder children,
and in summer, when the other schools were closed,
by all who did not work in the fields, were not much
more successful than the others. The buildings in
which they were taught, though not exactly stables,
were dark and ill- ventilated. They were worse pro
vided than even the poorest school at -the present

PARISH SCHOOLS. 29
day. No sloping desks, no black board, no slates,
no maps. The only reading-books in use were, in
French, the Bible ; and in Italian, which was but
little taught, some manuscript chronicles of business
transactions, utterly devoid of any elevated thought
or sentiment to brighten the intelligence or move the
heart of the child who was compelled to decipher them.
The discipline exercised in the parochial as well as
the hamlet schools was that of the rod, commonly
called the horse or the chestnut, according to the
gravity of the case and the part of the individual on
which the strokes of this educating instrument fell.
The teachers, among whom were men of surpris
ing merit, considering that there were no normal
schools to educate them, could, notwithstanding the
zeal and devotion with which many of them applied
themselves to their task, prevail little against such
a state of things.
Such was the state of primary education ; and
that of secondary, or classical education, was not
more encouraging. The so-called Latin school was
a nomadic institution, finding shelter here and there
according to circumstances. It generally had from
fifteen to twenty pupils, divided into five classes,
who learned from one neither competent nor well-
paid teacher enough of Latin and Greek to admit
them by sufferance, as students of the classics,

30 RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE VAUDOIS.
into the academies of Lausanne, Strasbourg, or
Geneva. In a religious and ecclesiastical point of view, was
the state of the country any better 1 We would
fain answer this question in the affirmative, but we
cannot do so with truth. The condition was not
one of unmixed evil ; it would be unjust to say so.
Many traces of the old state of things, which had
won for the Vaudois Church its ancient renown,
were still visible. A comparatively pure morality,
respect for religion, diligent attendance at public
worship, a profound attachment to the faith of their
fathers, a readiness to suffer anything rather than
renounce their profession, affection and respect for
their pastors, — all these, at this period, formed dis
tinctive features in the character of the Vaudois.
The pastors, with some trifling exceptions, were
faithful to the old evangelical orthodoxy. Yet
there was one thing which pastors and people
alike wanted — namely, a knowledge, on the one
hand, of the object and mission of the Church ; and,
on the other, of the benefits that should result from
preaching. A fuller realization of the reign of God
upon earth, and of the necessity and inestimable
importance of the salvation of souls, — this was far
from occupying, as it ought to have done, the atten
tion either of the shepherds of souls or of their flocks,

CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 31
who yet never failed to attend their ministrations.
There was something lurking in the shadow of those
religiously-guarded ecclesiastical forms, and in the
folds of that irreproachable orthodoxy ; and that
something was formalism, with all its inevitable and
deplorable consequences. Jesus Christ was present
in name, but absent in reality ; and the fruits of his
grace, so easily discerned when present, and causing
such an irreparable want when absent, only existed
in the hearts of a few.
Church government was equally noted for its de
fects. The holding of the Synods was rendered a
difficult matter : on the one hand by the Govern
ment, which regarded with suspicious irritability
these wholly representative assemblies ; on the other
by the boroughs, which, on' aeeoijnt of the expense
thence resulting to themselves, never failed to retard
the meetings of the Synods as much as possible.
These bodies thus but imperfectly carried out the
object of their institution, and their influence on
the life of the Church was small indeed. The
Table,* too, forgetting its -essentially spiritual char
acter, had insensibly sunk to the rank of an upper
office for the transaction of common business. The
Consistories showed the same tendency to lose sight
[* The Table is the representative and administrative authority of the Vau
dois Church, sits from Synod to Synod, and is composed of five members— three
ministers and two laymen. — Tr.]

32 DAWN OF A BETTER DAY.
of the spiritual side of their mission, and to attend
only to the temporal. The Church existed still, but
the symptoms within it of that life from above,
which is the first and highest end of its existence,
were few and far between. Some dawnings of better
days began, however, to dissipate the darkness here
and there. By the generosity of a widow named
Madame Geymet, powerfully encouraged by the then
Moderator, Pastor Bert of La Tour, an hospital for
the poor Vaudois had been founded.* Several young
ministers also, just arrived from foreign universities,
especially from Lausanne, brought with them some
thing of that awakening influence with which they
had there been surrounded, and endeavoured to rouse
their fellow-countrymen to strive for better things.
A visit paid to the Valleys in 1826, by one justly
named the Apostle of the High Alps, Felix Neff,
and his friend, Pastor Blanc of Mens, had cast the
seeds of conversion into many a heart, where they
had not failed to spring up and bear fruit. But
these were only gleams of the early dawn. Many
a year had yet to pass, many a struggle to be made,
ere the full splendour of the Sun of Righteousness
should shine on the wooded slopes and shady dells
of our beautiful valleys.

* In the Echo des ValUes of 1869 and 1870, very interesting details are to be
found of the origin of this institution, which began to act in 1826.

GENERAL VIEW. 33
We find, then, a people intimidated by suffering,
and suddenly cheated of its fancied liberty — caught
in a network of cruel edicts that confined its move
ments ; a people desirous of repose above every
thing, and looking on freedom from persecution as
the height of happiness — no sense of having a mis
sion to work out, or an influence to exert — on the
contrary, the feeling of being aliens on their own
soil ; the inveterate habit, which is not yet quite
overcome, of trusting to others instead of to their
own energy and exertions ; public instruction yet in
its infancy ; religious and moral life languishing
and enervated. Such was the state of things which
greeted Beckwith on his arrival in the Valleys —
such was the arid soil he had to cultivate — such
were the obstacles he had to remove, ere he could
accomplish the work which Providence had assigned
to him, the performance of which demanded nothing
less than a cast of character as rare as his, and that
faith of which it is written, that " it can remove
mountains ! "

CHAPTER III.
BECKWITH'S ARRIVAL AND FIRST APPEARANCE IN THE VALLEYS
 HIS HABITS OF LIFE — GENERAL VIEW OF HIS WORK
FROM 1827 TO 1853.

EFORE introducing the hero of this history
upon the scene of action, a serious diffi
culty arose in our mind, of which we
must here say a few words.
Shall we, we asked' ourselves, preserve a strict
chronological order in this narration, where striking
events are so few, and, on the other hand, activity
is as many-sided and complicated as can be ima
gined? Or, on the other hand, after devoting a
chapter to Beckwith' s arrival and first appearance
in the Valleys, and to some general remarks upon
his work, shall we, in as many distinct and, as it
were, parallel chapters, take up the several aspects
of his unwearying activity ?
Such is the question which we have put to our
selves, debated long, and, we fear, but imperfectly
solved. The first of these two methods seemed to us

FIRST VISIT TO THE VALLEYS. 35
undoubtedly the more natural, and we should have
adopted it at once, had it not, after due considera
tion, seemed to present two difficulties : first, that
it would hinder rather than help the progress of the
narrative ; and second, that it would allow us only
a very limited use of what to us seems by far the
most interesting and useful part of this work —
namely, the correspondence of the General himself.
These considerations, particularly the latter, decided
us to take the opposite course. Not but that
it too has its defects, and, especially in a literary
point of view, exposes itself to just criticism. Yet
we are nevertheless convinced that our object, in
making the Vaudois Church well acquainted with
the remarkable man whom God raised up for her
restoration, will be more surely attained by the
second method than by the first.
It was then, as above stated, in the autumn of
1827 that Beckwith, then only thirty-eight years
of age, first set foot on the soil of the Vaudois
Valleys. Unfortunately the weather was very bad when
he arrived, so that, as it was his intention to winter
in the south of Italy, he only remained three or four
days in the Valleys at this time, reserving a longer
visit -for a future period. During these few days
spent at La Tour, he had several conversations

36 ILLNESS AT LA TOUR.
with Pastor Bert, which increased the interest he
had felt in the people since reading Dr. Gilly's
book. He returned the next and the two follow
ing years, until at last his arrival in the October
of each yfear began to be looked forward to as
a regular occurrence. He generally remained till
the month of May, when the heat began to grow
intense. The fourth or fifth of these visits, during the
winter of 1832—33, threatened to be the last. Re
siding, as usual, in the charming family of the pastor
at Sainte-Marguerite, near La Tour, he was seized,
towards the spring of 1833, with an illness so severe,
that his end seemed near at hand. He was not un
conscious of his danger, as is shown by a letter
written from his sick-bed to M. J. P. Bonjour, then
chaplain to the Protestant Legation at Turin, con
taining directions " in case anything should happen
to him."* Instead of being alarmed at such a
prospect, he remained perfectly tranquil. " Do
not be afraid," he said one night, when at the
worst, to his anxious attendant ; " if it be God's
will that I recover, he will surely show the doctors
how to cure me ; if not, he will blind them, and all

* This letter, so touching in its simplicity, and by the solicitude it shows for
all sorts of things and persons, was written at two separate times, the 6th and
15th of April 1833; in the latter part, the writing is much more altered than in
the former.

FIXES HIS ABODE AT SAINT-JEAN. 37
will be over. After all, it is no great hardship to
go to heaven ! "
After his recovery, he said of this illness : "It
has been very useful to me ; it has shown me how
precious my faith is, and convinced me that I had
not built on the sand." The remainder of this year
and the winter of 1833-34 were spent by Beckwith
in England, in order to re-establish his health, which
had sustained a severe shock from this illness.
During the interval, Pastor Bert having died,*
and the moderatorship having passed from the hands
of Pastor Rostaing, of Villeseche, to those of M. J.
P. Bonjour, who had become pastor of the parish of
Saint-Jean, f Beckwith, on his return to the Valleys
in the autumn of 1834, fixed his abode in the house
of the latter, and remained there till the spring of
1839, when he left for England, there to spend two
years. On his return at the end of that time, he
took up his residence in the old counts' palace at
La Tour, where he continued to reside during the
rest of his stay in the Valleys, which lasted till
1851. As it is well known to all who were acquainted
with his character, how little his actions were de
termined by personal considerations, we may con
clude that Beckwith' s motive for residing succes-
* In August 1833. t At the Synod of 1SS3.

38 ADVANTAGES OF PERSONAL INTERCOURSE.
sively under the roofs of two of the most influential
of the Vaudois clergy was governed by the highest
considerations respecting his work. One of the
first conditions of success in the work he was about
to undertake, was as accurate a knowledge as
possible of the surroundings over which he was
to use his influence, and any false step in this
respect might have involved the most lamentable
consequences. What means, then, could have been
more suited to impart to him this knowledge,
than daily, almost hourly, intercourse with two men
equally endowed with exquisite tact and superior
intelligence, and, by their position, more fitted than
any others to furnish him with every information
regarding both the people and their institutions,
that could throw fight and security on his path ?
Another equally important task for Beckwith was
to remove from the minds of both people and clergy
all suspicion that he was governed by any other
motive than the good of the Church. What better
security could they have for this, than that he was
acting with the co-operation of the leaders and
guardians of that Church itself?
Let us now glance at the mode of life which
Beckwith adopted at the beginning of his residence
in the Valleys, and faithfully continued to the end.
He rose about eight in the morning, and invariably

DAILY LIFE IN THE VALLEYS. 39
used cold water for his ablutions. At nine he
breakfasted, and after breakfast he would stand for
a few moments admiring the view from his balcony.
It was a magnificent sight on which his eye rested,
whether at the house at Sainte-Marguerite or at the
parsonage of Saint-Jean, and he loved particularly
to gaze on the vast plain, in which he already seemed
to discern the future scene and, as it were, the great
end of his activity. Returning then to his room,
he worked there incessantly till nearly two o'clock.
The objects of his in-door labours were as manifold
as those of his outward activity. At first it was
the continuation of the studies begun in London ;
then his correspondence, the circle of which was
ever widening. Lastly, when the time arrived, it
was the preparation of plans and estimates of all
kinds — schools, churches, parsonages; or sketches of
various writings more or less directly connected
with his work, which he composed with the greatest
care, and to which, in his own mind, he attached
great importance.
At two o'clock, he came down to the dining-room,
took a morsel of bread and a little wine, exchanging
a few words with any one who happened to be pres
ent ; then, with a walking-stick in one hand, and
an umbrella in the other, he invariably set out to
walk, whatever the weather might be, not returning

40 DAILY LIFE IN THE VALLEYS.
till five or six o'clock. In this way he travelled
over great distances, and not always without diffi
culty, owing to his infirmity and the quantity of
snow or mud which often covered the roads. He
frequently stopped to converse with acquaintances,
or to listen to the complaints of the poor, who were
always sure of obtaining relief from him.
On returning from his walk, he dressed for dinner,
of which he generally partook at seven ; then went
into the drawing-room, where he read the newspapers
while tea was being prepared. He then read till near
midnight when alone — a circumstance which rarely
happened ; or conversed on many subjects with
persons of various ages and conditions, whom he
invariably possessed the power of attracting and
putting at their ease. With the farmer, he talked
of turnips and hay; with the young girl, of knitting
and sewing ; with the schoolmaster or mistress, of
education ; with the theologian, of election and free
will ; — expressing striking and often original views
on all these subjects, and regarding all that he thus
learned as so much gained for his work.
It was impossible for this work to< present itself
to his mind from the first in the exact form in which
he afterwards undertook and carried it out. The
nature, and in great measure the extent, of his work,
depended on the observations which he might make.

DISCOVERS THE TRUE STATE OF AFFAIRS. 41
These soon revealed to him, on the one hand, the
extremely uneasy state in which, in some districts
in particular, many of the population existed ; and,
on the other, such a general and complete moral
prostration, that there seemed no longer to exist
among the Vaudois either a sense of duty to be
done or of influence to be exerted. As for the most
urgent temporal necessities, Beckwith endeavoured
to supply them as well as he could by abundant boun
ties. The purely spiritual needs he could not better
satisfy than by instruction based on gospel truth.
Hence the reason that, besides his visits to the dif
ferent parishes, of which he soon knew the temporal
and spiritual state better than many of the Vaudois
themselves ; besides these, and some publications in
the Vaudois patois, his activity during the first five
or six years of his residence in the Valleys was
almost exclusively directed towards the schools, par
ticularly those of the hamlet or quarter.
But as the Italian proverb says, — Da cosa nasce
cosa, one want supplied creates another, and this a
third, and so you go on much further than you at
first intended., until at last you are, as it were,
bound hand and foot in an arena, with no chance of
escape until you have fought long and valiantly.
And this is exactly what happened to Beckwith.
From a visit of a few days to the Valleys, he was

42 GRADUAL ENLARGEMENT OF AIMS.
led on to spend the better half of his active life in
their service. Thus it was that the very partial
and -circumscribed work which he probably had in
view on his arrival- gradually became transformed
into the multitude of varied and important works
which are to be described in these pages — works
executed in the midst of obstacles and difficulties of
which we can now form no idea, and which, besides
a great part of his wealth, demanded all his time
and strength, and the constant and energetic exer
cise of his noble faculties.
And while his sphere of action was widening, time
was hastening on ; a breeze of liberty had passed
over the peninsula from end to end, and under the
influence of its reviving breath the old despotism in
some degree melted away, and made room for other
constitutions more or less liberal The kingdom of
Sardinia, which, of all the Italian States, was thought
to be the one most irrevocably bound to the past,
had also begun, led by its monarch, to tread the path
which was to conduct it to such glorious destinies.
Beckwith was one of the first to discern the close
connection between these events and the future of
the Vaudois Church. What had hitherto only
dawned upon him at moments now became clear to
his mind, — that this Church had been spared by
Providence that it might be the means of evan-

MISCELLANEOUS EVENTS. 43
gelizing Italy. The rest of his active life, from
1848 to 1853, was almost exclusively devoted to
this object.
During the interval of more than twenty-six
years between 1827 and 1853, the following few
events beyond his usual life of self-denial deserve
particular mention : —
In 1836 a subscription opened by the Table
among the Vaudois population, to have an oil-
painting of their venerated benefactor executed on
canvas, and lithographic copies of it made for dis
tribution. In 1837,* his promotion from the rank of lieuten
ant-colonel to that of colonel.
In 1844, the presentation by the Synod of a cup
of honour to Beckwith and to the two men who,
each in his own way, had most ably seconded him
in his work, — Dr. Gilly and the Count Waldburg-
Truchsess, plenipotentiary of the King of Prussia at
the court of Turin.
In 1846,"f" his promotion from the rank of colonel
to that of major-general.
In 1848, his nomination by King Charles Albert
to the rank of knight of the order of Saints Maurice
and Lazarus.*
* January 10th. t November 9th.
t The royal diploma conferring this title bears the date of 15th December 1848
and is conceived in the most flattering terms. See Appendix, letter B,

44 MISCELLANEOUS EVENTS.
In 1850,* his marriage to Miss Caroline Voile,
of the Vaudois Valleys, whom Beckwith, in his cor
respondence with his friends, frequently described
by a word that expresses everything — My blessing
of a wife.
Lastly, in 1851, his establishment at Turin, with
a view to his following more closely the progress of
the important work on which, chiefly at his instiga
tion, the Vaudois Church had entered, — the evange
lization of Italy.
And now, according to the plan we have laid
down, we will take up one by one, in detail, the
various aspects of that prodigious activity with which
this chapter has made us slightly acquainted.
* On the 20th June.

CHAPTER IV.
BECKWITH AND PRIMARY EDUCATION.
] HE profound and general feeling of the
Vaudois population towards Beckwith has
led us to give to primary education the
place of honour in this biography. This feeling.
leads them to look on Beckwith as, above all, the
ardent and devoted champion of education among
the masses, and as .entitled, for this reason in par
ticular, to their veneration and gratitude.
Two reasons,' in particular, led him to fix his at
tention in this quarter. First, Beckwith was a
layman, and as such, in accordance with the feeling
prevalent in the English Church, he did not con
sider himself entitled to encroach on what to him
seemed the exclusive domain of the clergy, — that
of curing the spiritual maladies of a community.
Secondly, Beckwith knew very well that ignorance
is one of the chief causes of human misery, whether
moral or physical ; and that, consequently, the surest
(390) 4

46 PRIMARY EDUCATION.
method of remedying this misery with success is to
attack ignorance. It is, consequently, no matter of
surprise that Beckwith began with the quarter schools
rather than with the parochial ones, although the latter
may seem to be of greater importance. For Beck
with' s mind was an eminently practical one, and to
begin thus was to do so in the most economical
way, and yet in a way amply sufficient for an ex
periment. Was not this also the most fitting and
reasonable means of arriving at the wished-for
result ?
Before he had resided long in the Valleys, .he had
found out two things : — 1st, That the so-called
hamlet or quarter school is the true school of the
Vaudois population, to which they owe most of the
instruction they acquire ; 2nd, That the stimulus
once given here, it would be comparatively easy to
extend it, as far as should be necessary, in other
directions. It was for these reasons that the
humblest of the elementary schools first became the
objects of his attention and solicitude. But in
order to obtain good results from these schools,
and raise them from the sad condition to which
we have seen that they were reduced, what course
was to be pursued ? To begin by asking assist
ance from persons who were perfectly contented
with the present state of things, would have been

REBUILDING OF THE QUARTER SCHOOLS. 47
lost labour. Beckwith felt this, and the first
new schools were erected entirely at his own ex
pense, without other help from the inhabitants than
the giving up of the old locale, where there was one,
and the grant of a site for the new edifice. But
when these first efforts had attracted some atten
tion, and the people of the Valleys began to see
what a great improvement there was in the health
and progress of their children, since they- had met in
well-aired, well-lighted rooms, instead of the dingy,
unwholesome stables in which they had before been
huddled together, they began to wish for new schools
in every part of the country, and numerous requests
to this effect were addressed to the generous philan
thropist. " I agree to your request," was his invariable
answer to the petitioners, "on one condition ; namely,
that we work together, each doing what is in his
power. You, my friends, will provide the site and
the building materials, and I the money to pay the
workmen." This arrangement was too easy not to
be accepted at once, which it generally was. Thus,
within a very few years, the hundred or hundred
and twenty dismal dens, which had hitherto served
as quarter schools, were replaced by as many neat
buildings, well situated at a short distance from the
dwellings of the people. Each of these had a well-

48 THE colonel's schools.
aired, well-lighted ground floor ; and some had an
upper story to accommodate the teacher. The country
people never call them anything but the Colonel's
schools ; and with truth, for not only was it he who
led to their being built, and bore a great part of the
expense, but he also provided them with all the in
dispensable material, and, on more than one occa
sion, supplemented from his own purse the scanty
salary of the schoolmaster. There are, perhaps, not
ten of these hundred or hundred and twenty schools
of which he did not himself mark out the site, visit
ing the spot for this purpose, and deterred neither
by the inaccessibility- of the situation nor by his
lameness, which limited him to the use of one leg.
Had Beckwith done nothing for us but this, this
alone, which we have just mentioned, would have
been such a blessed remembrance of him, as to cause
his name to be pronounced among us only -with the
deepest veneration and gratitude. But what for
many others would have been the limit of their
charities, was for him only a starting-point, whence
¦- to enter on a long course of charitable action, which
unfolded itself, year by year, in the most varied
directions. The improvement in the state of the quarter
schools had for one of its results the discovery of the
sad state, both as to the school houses and the teach-

IMPROVEMENT OF PARISH SCHOOLS. 49
ing, into which the parish schools had fallen. The
need of improvement in this direction began to be
generally felt.
Here, too, as in the case of the other schools, re
course was had to the beneficent generosity of the
English Colonel; and Beckwith, far from drawing
back from overtures such as these, encouraged and
often even provoked them.
" You need a new school, and a good lodging for
your schoolmaster," he would say, now to one, now
to another of the magistrates.
" True, Colonel," the answer would be ; " but how
procure them ? This would be far too great an ex
pense for us !"
" Of course you cannot bear the expense alone,"
replied the generous benefactor ; " but by a united
effort the thing may not be impossible. Procure
me so many thousand francs [sometimes it was four,
sometimes five thousand], and I, for my part, will
give you the school complete."
When the authorities were wise enough, and
sufficiently desirous of the public good, to accept
such a proposal, the money was voted, and the
rest of the sum required — in some cases the half,
in others two-thirds, or even more — was supplied
by the Colonel himself. He also generally himself
drew up the agreement with the builder, and super-

50 NEW PARISH SCHOOLS.
intended the progress of the building until it was
finished. And thus by degrees, year by year, there arose in
almost all the parishes in the Vaudois Valleys hand
some edifices, resembling the new quarter schools,
only on a larger scale. They consisted of a sunk
flat ; a ground floor, in which was a large hall en
tered by a vestibule ; and an upper flat, containing
a commodious dwelling for the teacher and his
family. The hall was well lighted, and had a good
stove, a black board, printed sheets for reading, and
frequently geographical maps. There were enough
of tables and forms to accommodate from sixty to
eighty children. Here, too, the difference was great
between the old buildings — narrow, dark, and ill
ventilated — and the new ones which had taken their
place. And how great the influence which these
buildings, so well adapted to their purpose, might,
in future years, exert over the whole population !
Yet the construction of these new schools would
have been of small advantage indeed without good
teachers. And how were such to be procured at
such a low rate of salary as had hitherto been given,
ranging from 300 to 400 francs a year? The first
reform, then, urgently demanded a second — the aug
mentation of these salaries. But how was this to
be effected? Voluntary subscription, even in the

MODERATOR BONJOUR AIDS BECKWITH. 51
present improved state of things, produces little,
and it would have been vain to resort to it then.
The only other means then available was taxation.
But how could Beckwith, as a stranger, induce
the municipal authorities, who were neither of the
best disposed nor of the most intelligent, to impose
considerable taxes on themselves and those under
their jurisdiction, and all for an object which they
could not possibly learn to understand correctly ?
Fortunately, Beckwith did not stand alone in
this difficult undertaking. The post of Moderator
of the Vaudois Church had, in 1833, passed into the
hands of a man of great merit, able, more than any
other in the Valleys, to understand Beckwith, and
to enter into and aid intelligently and vigorously the
prosecution of his plans. This was Pastor Bonjour,
who, along with his colleagues, members of the Table,
addressed a circular, dated 18th November 1835,
to all the Consistories in the Vaudois Valleys,
urgently requesting them to use all the influence
they possessed over their subordinates, to induce
them to meet the demands of the Colonel with the
favour they deserved. The circular closed with an
invitation to send one of their number as a repre
sentative to a meeting fixed for the 3rd December
at Saint-Jean, to confer on this important matter.
Beckwith, on his part, addressed a circular, some

52 schoolmasters' salaries.
days later, on the 24th November, not to the con
sistories, but to the municipal corporations, inviting
them also to send representatives to the meeting.
In this circular, after showing that, at the present
rate of salary, it would become increasingly difficult
to obtain good teachers, and proving by calculations
that each Vaudois contributed, on an average, not
more than one franc yearly to public education, the
Colonel added : — ¦
"It is because of the difficult position of the
population in this country, and the obstacles against
which education has had to struggle, that foreigners
have combined to assist the country in this matter.
But the most benevolent and philanthropic charity
would soon lose courage and fail in its efforts, unless
seconded by good-will and readiness to contribute
something, on the part of the inhabitants. If
parents make no sacrifices for their children, they
cannot expect to be beloved by them, and cannot
look for either their gratitude or their aid ; of both
of which, in course of time, they are sure to stand
in need. Besides, in bringing children into the
world, parents are bound, before God and men, to
give them a religious education, and the means of
gaining their livelihood in any position where
Providence may place them. It is well known
how families increase, how lands are divided and

letter to the corporations. 53
re-divided, and how it yearly becomes a greater
necessity either to emigrate or to resort to commerce
and the occupations of large towns. But how
succeed in these without education ? The fortune
of some consists of their hands and their time ;
others . have only their intelligence and industry ;
but, for all, good conduct is requisite, and this is
only to be learned from the Christian religion.
" He who addresses these lines to you is your
sincere friend. His only aim is your good and
that of your children. He beseeches you to listen
to his voice. He has already thought and laboured
much in your service ; he knows your wants, and
has well considered what things will contribute
most to your temporal and spiritual interests. He
demands only a slight sacrifice from you ; or rather,
points out a means by which, every ten years, the
profit will greatly exceed the outlay."
The meeting took place on the appointed day.
The augmentation of schoolmasters' salaries, warmly
advocated first by Beckwith, and then by the
Moderator and other members of the Table, gained
a complete triumph. Before the meeting separated,
the delegates of the corporations and consistories, in
the name of their respective colleagues, undertook to
raise to 600 francs a year the salaries of the school
masters of Saint-Jean, La Tour, Angrogna, Villar,

54 raising of the salaries.
Boby, and Prarustin ; those of the schoolmasters at
Pomaret, Ville-Seche, Pramol, Saint-Germain, and
Rora, to 500 francs; those of the schoolmasters of_
Massel and Praly to 400 francs ; and those of the
schoolmasters of Rodoret and Maneille to 300 francs.
The Table having hastened to obtain from the pro
vincial authorities the necessary sanction of the pro
posed tax, the new measures regarding the emolu
ments of schoolmasters were put in force on the 1st
January 1837.
But good salaries alone are not sufficient to
procure good teachers. The position of a teacher
cannot be properly filled without special training,
conducted by special men well versed in all that
regards education. There was at Lausanne, at this
time, near the academy frequented by most of the theo
logical students from the Valleys, a normal school,
justly renowned. It was conducted by the aged pas
tor, Gauthey, a man famed for his piety and zeal, after
wards director of the normal school at Courbevoie,
near Paris. From the scholastic authorities of the
canton of Vaud, the Moderator obtained permission
for several of our best teachers to follow the course
of instruction in this school during a period of some
months.* The first group sent thither was soon
succeeded by a second, and this by a third ; so that,
* The first group set out for Lausanne in May 183S.

OTHER MEASURES. 55
before long, nearly all the parochial teachers had
been to Lausanne. They returned to the Valleys, if
not so fitted for their noble profession as might have
been wished, yet made aware of their deficiencies,
and put in the way of supplying them speedily.
The cost of all these successive journeys was de
frayed by Beckwith. To complete this measure, and
insure its result, another measure was adopted, pro
visionally, at first, by the Table, and afterwards
definitively by the Synod of. 1839, — namely, that
henceforward no one might exercise the functions of
parochial schoolmaster in the service of the Vaudois
Church, unless provided with a certificate of ability
delivered to him by the Table, declaring him to be
possessed of all the intellectual and moral qualities
requisite for the discharge of this office. Beckwith
set a seal, as it were, to this portion of his work, by
founding, at his- own expense, a certain number of
girls' schools — in addition to those which, since the
visit of Gilly to the Valleys, had been founded there
by the London Committee.
As for the spirit in which these changes were
undertaken and effected, and the lofty aim which
floated before the eyes of their ardent promoter, we
shall find them best expressed by himself in an
extract from his all too rare correspondence : —
"I have sent you," he writes on the 24th March

56 ANTICIPATIONS.
1834, to Pastor Muston of Boby, "besides the rent
and the salary of the schoolmistress, the sum of
twenty francs, to be laid out in procuring working
materials for the use of the girls in school. I beg
you to make use of it for this purpose. I hope you
will see that a tenth part at least, of these ninety
young girls, turns out well. I shall thus be sure of
nine wise and sensible young women ; from these
will come nine more, and from those yet other nine.
Thus we shall have twenty-seven virtuous women,
as in the Book of Proverbs ; then thirty-six, and so
on ; so that, before the end of the century, God
willing, I shall have peopled all the parish with wise
and prudent women. The money I have devoted to
this work will then be well-spent money indeed."
" It is certain," he writes to the same, so early as
1831, "that, sooner or later, your population will
be more widely spread through Piedmont than it is
at present. Girls brought up in the true religion,
able to read, write, sew, &c, will be looked upon as
a sort of miracle in the plain, and, whether as
domestic servants or as the wives of Vaudois
husbands, they will exert, whenever circumstances
admit of it, a very great influence over the progress
of the truth."
" As for me," he writes from London, 6th Janu
ary 1840, "if in the other world I find among the

VALUE OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 57
Bubiarels (inhabitants of Boby) an old woman and
two little children who shall have profited by the
seed I have sown, and the patois I have written, I
shall consider myself rewarded for all the sacrifices I
have made on behalf of these universities of goats,
where the little that is taught is perfectly true and
good, being founded on repentance towards God,
and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ."
He then adds the following reflection, which is
striking and true, though somewhat paradoxical in
form : —
" If you reflect for an instant on all the heap ot
follies and absurdities which have perplexed the
brains of so many unfortunates, even under the
clear sky of Italy, you will, perhaps, think with me
that if one had to choose between Padua * and La
Ferriere,-]" these would be much to say in favour of
the latter."
Several years later, on the 28th August 1848, he
wrote thus to the Moderator of the Vaudois
Church : — ¦
" Turn your attention more particularly to your
quarter schools ; for on them, in great measure,
depends the welfare of your children. Into these
nursery-gardens are cast the first seeds of great
w One of the most celebrated universities" of Italy.
t One of the most solitary and miserable hamlets in the parish of Boby,
where Beckwith had founded a school.

58 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION.
truths, unknown to either Socrates or Plato. It is
there that on these tender shoots is grafted the im
mutable word which declares ' Jesus Christ cruci
fied to be the sole Mediator between God and men'
— the word of Him who is ' the way, the truth, and
the life ' — of Him without whom ' no man cometh to
the Father ' — ' whose blood cleanseth from all sin,'
and who has declared that 'he that confesseth with
his mouth and believeth in his heart that Jesus is
the Son of God, shall be saved' — theology capable
of saving a world ! "
But, in order to understand more thoroughly
what the General thought of those schools, the
amelioration of which had become the chief interest
of his life, we must read the following letters, in
which the wounded veteran of Waterloo, the
brilliant officer, of whom it had been said that he
might have become generalissimo of the British
Army, replied, in a style as simple and as child-like
as he could make it, to the humble epistles ad
dressed to him, either by the young girls of the
school at Boby, or, on two occasions, by the children
of the parish school at Angrogna, in which they
strove to express their gratitude to him : —
" My dear children," he wrote to the former from
Saint- Jean, on the 7th April 1835, "I thank you

LETTER TO THE SCHOOL GIRLS OS BOBY. 59
sincerely for all the good feeling you have shown
towards me. Gratitude to men is not only praise
worthy but useful, as it naturally leads us to feel
ings of gratitude and love to the good God who
loads us with His benefits. All the good that we
receive, and ' every good and perfect gift, cometh
from above, from the Father of lights ' (James i. 17);
and the desire to do good, the means of doing it,
and gratitude in those who are the objects of it, all
flow equally from the Author of all good. Among
the many gifts which our heavenly Father showers
unceasingly upon our heads, a good education is one
from which we may derive the greatest advantages,
when it is properly directed, so as to lead us to love
God and our neighbour. You are still too young to
know the full value of it, but you may form some
idea of this by looting at those who have been, un
fortunately, deprived of this blessing. The true
value of education does not consist entirely in the
things that are learned ; for there are persons who,
though uneducated, have a true and intelligent re
ligious character, and by fulfilling the humblest
duties with diligence and perseverance, are useful to
men and accepted by God. We must be on our
guard against being puffed up with pride on account
of our superior knowledge, for we are all ignorant ;
' now we see through a glass darkly.' But the true

60 LETTER TO THE SCHOLARS OF BOBY.
use of education consists in the happy effect of wise
discipline, habits of order and regularity ; in the
exercise of the mind, the judgment, and the memory ;
in patience and perseverance ; — all of which are
qualities absolutely necessary in the conduct of the
affairs of this world as well as of those of religion.
" The discipline of school trains us to bear the
trials and crosses which we shall meet with in
life, and which are absolutely necessary to form our
characters and to prepare us for a future state. It
is in childhood that this restraint is least felt, for at
this period impressions are quickly received ; and if
we wish to command, we must first learn to obey.
It is true that ' no chastisement for the present
seemeth joyous, but rather grievous ; ' but we can
not deny its salutary effects, since our merciful
Father himself says to us, — ' My son, despise not
thou the chastening of the Lord, neither faint when
thou art rebuked of him ; for whom the Lord
loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth.' So our parents and teachers are
quite right in punishing us when we deserve it.
" A habit of order in the mind, and in the regu
lation of all the affairs of life, is of great importance :
the constitution of our minds, the wants of our
nature, the flight of time, and the succession of the
seasons, all impose it as a necessity, and point out

LETTER TO THE SCHOLARS OF BOBY. 61
its good effects. Regular attendance at school, and
constant attention while there, will be a wonderful
means of facilitating all our studies, and will tend
greatly to the success of all that we undertake. In
submitting patiently to discipline, in following day
by day the instructions of those to whom Providence
has assigned the difficult task of instructing us, we
attain, step by step, the excellent virtue of patience,
which religion makes perfect ; and such persever
ance assures us of the reward of our efforts. When
education has done all that it can do to form the
good habits which are so essential to our well-being,
we are then called upon to put in practice what we
have learned ; and, first of all, to apply to the ordi
nary affairs of life the qualities which have been
developed and exercised in us, and the knowledge
which we have acquired. It is by the religion of
Jesus Christ alone that we can restrain our passions,
and give to our existence its true aim ; but it is by
reason — that great gift of Him who has created us,
and given us the torch of the gospel to enlighten it
— by education and experience, that we succeed in
regulating our conduct in temporal affairs. A
Christian woman is gentle, humble, patient ; she
loves her husband and children, manages the house
well, helps her husband to the best of her ability in
all that he does for the good of the family; and,
(390) 5

62 LETTER TO THE SCHOLARS OF BOBY.
above all, she uses all her influence to attract those
around her to true religion, and takes care to bring
up her children in the fear of the Lord. Cleanliness
in her person, in her own and her children's clothes,
in her house, furniture, linen, kitchen utensils ;
order and regularity in the household, where every
thing is in its place — these are the outward signs
whereby we recognize the woman of whom the
wisest man on earth has said : ' Her price is far
above rubies ; the heart of her husband doth safely
trust in her ; she layeth her hands to the spindle,
and her hands hold the distaff She stretcheth out
her hand to the poor ; yea, she reacheth forth her
hands to the needy. Her husband is known in the
gates. Strength and honour are her clothing.
She eateth not the bread of idleness. Favour is
deceitful, and beauty is vain ; but a woman that
feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.' " (Pro v.
xxxi.) His first letter to the children at the school of
Angrogna, written some months before the preced
ing (8th January 1835), is as follows : —
" My Dear Children, — Your letter of the 6th
instant gave me great pleasure, as a mark of your
kind feelings towards me, and as proving the regard

LETTER TO THE CHILDREN OF ANGROGNA. 63
you entertain for those whose only desire or pur
pose regarding you is to make you good children
and good Christians. It is true, my children, that
we have built you a school where you have every
advantage for your education ; but the principal
thing, as you have the good sense to acknowledge,
is that we have taken care to give you a teacher
capable of imparting to you all the ordinary ele
ments of instruction, and also of leading you in the
paths of both temporal well-being and eternal
wisdom. Listen to his voice ; be attentive to his
admonitions ; submit patiently when he is obliged
to reprove you, for your own good, with the rod of
authority ; be diligent and persevering ; learn to
fix your attention, without distraction, on what is
being taught. You know, my children, that the
ground is tilled to prepare it for the corn ; and then
the husbandman waits with patience for the harvest.
So it is with youth : you are the ground ; the
master is the husbandman ; but God alone gives
the increase. Pray then to God to give you grace
to submit to His will in all things ; address your
prayers to Him through Jesus Christ, (without whom
you can do nothing,) that He would deign to bless
your feeble efforts to obey your fathers and mothers ;
to be attentive to your pastor and teacher; to be dili
gent, honest, humble, and in all respects good children.

64 LETTER TO THE CHILDREN OF ANGROGNA.
Attend carefully to the teaching of your pastor ; for
he can impart to you the most solid instruction.
When he tells you of the fall of man, read the third
chapter of Genesis ; when he speaks of the death of
Abel, read the fourth ; when he relates the story of
the deluge, read the sixth, seventh, and eighth.
Follow with him the history of Abraham in Genesis,
and of Joseph and Moses in Genesis and Exodus.
You will thus be enabled to comprehend your pas
tor, and to answer his questions. When you reach
that part of the catechism which treats of the truths
of the Christian religion, fix your attention on the
Apostles' Creed, and you will there find the summary
of your faith. If you act thus, you will daily be
come wiser unto salvation ; your good name will be
everywhere well known ; you will become obedient,
wise, sober, prudent, discreet, hard-working, and re
ligious. Your fields being well cultivated by in
telligence, temperance, and perseverance, will yield
abundant fruits : your souls, well imbued with the
truths of the gospel, will do the same : and, hon
oured by men, and blessed by your God and Saviour,
you will live contented in this world, and receive
the reward of your faith in the world to come.
Yet, my children, do not forget, that even after
you have learned all that can be taught to you,
your knowledge is but very small. Whether rich

LETTER TO THE SCHOLARS OF ANGROGNA. 65
or poor, great or small, we are all of us poor,
ignorant creatures. Yet God has graciously revealed
to us those things which it is good for us to know ;
— that we are born in sin ; children of wrath ;
dead in trespasses and sins ; but redeemed by the
precious blood of Christ. For this we offer fer
vent thanks to our Redeemer, and strive to please
Him and keep His commandments. And if our Lord
Himself learned obedience, how much more are we
called upon to submit to all those who are in
authority over us ? and if we cannot love God
without loving our neighbour, be assured that we
cannot obey God without having learned to obey a
fellow-creature. Be resolute, but not implacable ;
firm, but not severe ; hospitable, but without ex
cess ; just, yet merciful ; bear one with another,
and do all that is true, honest, just, pure, lovely,
and of good report. The God of peace be with you
all. — Your sincere friend,
"Ch. Beckwith.
" To the Pupils of the Parish School,
ANGROGNA."
The second letter, written seven years later,
January 10, 1842, from La Tour, is no less interest
ing than the preceding one ; and those who know
the particular circumstances of this locality, will
admire with us the tact with which Beckwith,

66 SECOND LETTER TO CHILDREN OF ASGROGNA.
without appearing to touch upon it, endeavoured to
forewarn the children against what then was, and
still is, one of the most to be regretted caprices of
many even among their parents : —
"La Tour, 10th January 1842.
" My Dear Children, — I thank you heartily
for the kind letter you addressed to me on New
Year's Day. He who loves his neighbour loves his
God ; he who obeys man is capable of obeying God;
he who is thankful to men, is capable, of feeling
gratitude towards God. In all things, show your
faith by your works. What can it profit you, my
children, to say ' Lord, Lord,' if you do not the
will of your heavenly Father ? Do you believe that
you can honour God with your lips, if you honour
not your fathers and mothers upon earth ? Do you
believe that you can be justified and made fit to
live with Jesus Christ, if you are unjust to each
other ? How can you be forgiven, if you do not
forgive those who do you wrong ; if, every time
that a difference arises about a foot of around, a
path, or a drop of water, you run to a court of
justice to avenge yourselves, and thus strive to ruin
your adversaries, your families, and yourselves ? Is
this what Jesus Christ has commanded us in his
gospel ? Hear what he says to us in the fifth

SECOND LETTER TO CHILDREN OF ANGROGNA. 67
•
chapter of Matthew at the thirty-eighth verse : ' Ye
have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an
eye, and a tooth for a tooth : but I say unto you,
That ye resist not evil : whosoever shall smite thee
on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
And if any man will take away thy coat, let him
have thy cloak also.' You are not forbidden to
make use of the laws to protect your persons and
property from the hands of wicked men, but you
are instructed how, and in what spirit, you are to
act towards all men; — never to be guided by malice;
never to be governed by passion or by vengeance :
for if ye do these things, ye are not the children of
God, but of the wicked one. I need not, at your
age, warn you against avarice ; but if, in course of
time, you are led astray by gambling, avarice will
soon step in, and make you take the property of
others, and dissipate your own fortune. You will then
begin to frequent public-houses ; and, in the effort
to stifle the voice of religion and conscience, you
will soon become drunkards, and thus unfit to enter
into the kingdom of God. Having then become
quarrelsome, avaricious, drunken, your soul and
body ruined, your honour, reputation, money all
gone, you will spend the rest of your miserable
lives despised and hated by God and men. And as
you very well know, that all of us, rich and poor,

68 SECOND LETTER TO CHILDREN OF ANGROGNA.
great and small, must appear before the judgment-
seat of Christ, to receive the reward of the things
done in the body, you may well look forward to
being condemned by this terrible Judge to the
punishment which you shall have so" justly deserved
by your wickedness and folly. Yet this good God,
though terrible in His judgments, has no pleasure in
the death of the sinner, and has sent His own well-
beloved Son to save you. He has given you pastors
to instruct you in His Word. He has given you the
Bible, and teachers to show you how to read and
understand it. He has given you friends to build
schools for you, and to send you books. He has
provided you with every means of knowing His holy
will. Do this will ; be obedient, good, diligent, at
tentive, patient, persevering. Pay attention to the
instructions of your pastor. Be regular in your at
tendance at school and at church. Read your
Bibles ; and do not neglect morning and evening
prayer. The house where all this is done is blessed
by God, and is sure to prosper. Do not forget that
it is not enough to pray, to sing, and to go to reli
gious meetings, if you do not carry religion into the
daily business of life. If you are not honest in
money matters, and in all your dealings with men,
then you are not honest towards God. He is a God
of justice ; and if you are unjust upon earth, you

SECOND LETTER TO CHILDREN OF ANGROGNA. 69
will be incapable of living with Him in heaven ; He
will banish you from His presence. But if, on the
contrary, you are good children here below, if you
ask God for Jesus Christ's sake to give you His
Holy Spirit, He will come with His Son to dwell
with you, and make your bodies temples of the true
God; and you will be filled with good thoughts, good
words and works, and you will be loved by God
and by His Son. And when you shall have finished
your work on earth, He will grant you eternal hap
piness in heaven, and you will hear the voice which
has been already heard on earth, saying to you;
' Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the king
dom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world.' — Believe me, my dear children, your sincere
friend, " Charles Beckwith, Colonel.
" To the Scholars of she School oe St. Laurent,
Angjjogna."

The letter to the children was accompanied by a
short note to the master himself, which we here
transcribe, chiefly on account of the request with
which it terminates, which shows us what import
ance Beckwith attached to the interchange of senti
ments, and what a different thing this was to him
from a mere exchange of polite phrases : —

70 LETTER TO THE SCHOOLMASTER OF ANGROGNA.
" My Dear Chambeaud, — I thank you for your
letter, and for those which you enclosed to me from
the teacher of the auxiliary school, and from your
own scholars of the parish school All these have
given me great pleasure. They have shown me
that my labour has not been in vain, and opened up
an encouraging prospect for the future. My answer
to the letter from your scholars accompanies this
missive. I beg you to read it aloud to the school,
and to give a copy of it to any who may wish for
one. — Yours sincerely, "J. Charles Beckwith, Colonel."
How precious is the piety which pervades these
letters, and how noble was the idea cherished by
their author of what the education of the masses
ought to be, and the end which it has principally in
view !
Such vigorous efforts, made with such elevation
of aim, could not pass unfelt by the people on whose
behalf they were made. They soon saw the desir
ability of giving Beckwith some special mark of
gratitude ; and a list of subscriptions was set on foot
by the Table in 1836, with the view of having
portrayed on canvas by a distinguished artist the
venerated features of their benefactor. A large
number of signatures was soon obtained. These

GRATITUDE OF THE VAUDOIS. 71
marks of esteem, which could not but be grateful
to him who was the object of them, were soon
followed by several others from another quarter.
One of those which Beckwith felt most deeply, was
a joint -letter addressed to him by the Vaudois
students at Lausanne and Berhn in the spring of
1837, in which the ingenuous and enthusiastic
expression of their admiration and gratitude ter
minated in a promise which must have been par
ticularly precious to the Colonel's heart : " Let us,
above all, assure you," they wrote, "that the seeds
which you have placed in the earth, and which are
to bear fruit for others besides the inhabitants of
the Valleys, shall not perish by our fault ; but that,
encouraged by your example, we too, when called
to it, will carry on with all our might the work
which you have so nobly begun." Beckwith' s
answer is so beautiful, and completes so thoroughly
the idea of his views, both on the important sub
ject of the education of the masses and on the whole
of his work, that, in spite of the length which this
chapter has already reached, we cannot resist the
temptation to transcribe it word for word : —
" Saint- Jean, 28th June 1837.
" My Dear Young Friends, — The expression of
your kindly feelings towards me has given me much

72 LETTER OF THANKS TO THE STUDENTS.
pleasure ; for it is easy to see that, at your age, they
come straight from the heart.
"It is true that I have, for some years, been
striving to improve public mstruction in your
country, and that we have succeeded in finding
some means which may, in time, be more or less
successful. But the work is as yet only begun ;
many steps have still to be taken ere we arrive at
the moment of victory. The greatest obstacle to
the success of our efforts, is the feeble and languish
ing state of religious and moral feeling. The
difficulty consists in this, that we have to struggle
against an inert mass of ignorance and indifference.
" Several persons, actuated by the best feelings,
instead of frankly joining those who have no other
means of showing their good intentions than by
their actions, have separated themselves from them,
and thrown discredit upon efforts which are mani
festly calculated to produce a better state of things.
It is to you then, my young friends, students at
Lausanne, that I look with hope, and in you that I
expect to find able champions. Out of your midst,
God willing, we shall receive pious pastors, good
teachers, good fathers of families, who will wisely
and conscientiously train children in the fear of
God ; true citizens and honest men ; and, lastly,
Christians well grounded in the faith — sober, liberal,

LETTER TO STUDENTS. 73
charitable, peaceable, seeking the salvation of others,
and building their Christian life upon the Rock of
Ages. Now is the time wh.en your characters must
be formed and fitted to engage in the combat that
awaits you in life. A good education does not con
sist in variety of information, but in the develop
ment of solid qualities of the heart and mind ; in
patience, perseverance, in clearness and precision of
ideas, and, above all, in sustained attention to the
subjects before you. These are the things that make
one man different from another ; and without these,
nothing great has ever been done. An education
conducted on these principles is sure to have good
results, and to form men fit for everything ; but it
is to religion alone that we must trust to give the
right direction to qualities which, without it, will fall
far short of thevreal object of our present existence.
" To lay hold upon truth as a whole, make it our
own in all its details, and in all its forms, and to
identify it in our own persons, — this is the great
business which demands all our attention. Power
of mind, knowledge, art and science, must all be in
connection with this great object. A divine phi
losophy, based on the foundation-stone of Christian
principles, and enlightened by sound reason ; exact
and rational knowledge of the history of man ; a
just application of all the great known truths,

74 LETTER TO STUDENTS.
physical and moral, will serve powerfully to develop
in you that character which will make you men
indeed, fitted to honour your religion, your families,
and your country. Go forward, then, with a firm
and sure step. Be patient and persevering. Learn
to obey ; for, without this, you will never be able
to rule. Do not forget that you are called to take
the lead in the regeneration of your country ; that,
for this purpose, it is imperatively requisite that
you should have sufficient light, integrity, prudence,
good-nature, disinterestedness, and all the qualities
for which a good man and a minister of the gospel
are distinguished. Be simple and true in your lan
guage, in your conversation, and in all your com
munications with men. Lastly, 'if there be any
virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. '
"Pardon me, my friends, if I have written to
you somewhat in the strain of a Mentor ; but you
are my Telemachi, and I cannot conceal from you
the ardent wish of my heart, that you may rise to
the height of your mission, and uphold worthily the
name of Vaudois.' — Your sincere and affectionate
friend, " Charles Beckwith, Colonel."

CHAPTER V.
BECKWITH AND SECONDARY INSTRUCTION.
THE COLLEGE.

T the beginning of this chapter on second
ary instruction, and all that Beckwith
did for its advancement in the midst of
us, another name naturally rises before us — that
of the Rev. Dr. William Stephen Gilly, Prebendary
of the Cathedral of Durham in England.
This man, no less remarkable in his own way
than Beckwith was in his — endowed with eminent
talent as a writer, brilliant imagination, exquisite
tact, but, above all, with warm and deep-felt piety
— possessed of unbounded benevolence, and of a con
stancy of affection that nothing could destroy, — is
so closely connected with the work of Beckwith,
that it may justly be said of these two men, that
God made them for each other. To separate them
would be a violation of truth, as well as an injury
to that friendship and confidence which they mutu-

76 EFFECTS OF DR. GILLY's BOOK.
ally reposed in each other from the first day of their
meeting. Gilly's first visit to the Valleys took place in
1823, and his account of that visit was published,
in a thick octavo volume, in 1824—25. This
book, in which, thanks to the fine imagination
and charitable judgment of the author, the Val
leys and the Vaudois Church appear in the most
favourable light, was, to many of his fellow-country
men, nothing less than a revelation. It excited,
amid all ranks of society in England, the most
lively interest in the little band of Bible Christians,
whom the most atrocious persecutions, lasting through
centuries, had not availed to annihilate, and who,
dwelling on the ground of the Papacy itself, raised
the most eloquent protest against its doctrines.
We have already remarked that the reading of
this book, humanly speaking, gave to the Vaudois
Church, in Beckwith, its most illustrious benefactor.
Others, too, were induced by it to show their interest
in a practical way. Gilly watched over, and strove
to fan and increase, the fire he himself had kindled.
Gifts for this sorely tried Church poured in on all
sides, and among them was a legacy of £4000
sterling (100,000 francs), which was intrusted to
his, disposal. Gilly, as he afterwards wrote, had
returned from the Valleys more than ever convinced

GILLY's PROPOSAL TO FOUND A COLLEGE. 77
that one of the principal causes of the decay of
religious life in our Church was to be traced to the
"system which condemned the students of theology
to an expatriation of eight, ten, or even twelve years,
to the great peril of their morals and religious prin
ciples ; a system," he adds, " which at the same time
is insufficient for the instruction of the Vaudois
youth who are destined for various professions." *
Moved by this twofold idea, he did not long
hesitate as to the disposal of the 100,000 francs
which had been intrusted to him ; but decided that
the sum should be devoted to the foundation of a
superior educational institution. This institution,
while giving wider scope and a more definite object
to the Latin school (the only then existing institu
tion for secondary instruction), was to serve at the
same time for the training of pastors, professors,
schoolmasters, &c.f That is to say, it was to in
clude all that is now understood by the term pre
paratory college or gymnasium, upper college or
lyceum, normal school for teachers, and theological
school for ministers of the gospel.
The special advantage which he thus proposed to
gain was, that the young men intended for the
pastoral office should either not study abroad at all,
* Extract from Plan for the Foundation of a College, proposed by Dr. Gilly to
the Table and Body of Pastors, August 18th, 1829.
t Extract from the same.
(390) 6

78 OBJECT OF THE COLLEGE.
or, if they must do so, only for a very short period ;
and this not till after they should be so confirmed
in the faith as to have nothing to fear from the
hurtful influences of Socinianism and Rationalism,
or, to speak plainly, from that latitudinarianism with
which more than one of the theological faculties of
both France and Switzerland were unfortunately
tinctured. The foundation of what was afterwards termed
the College was of such importance in the eyes of
Gilly, and to such an extent his chief interest, that
the Vaudois having stated, in the introduction to
the regulations for this institution, prepared in
1839, that "the object of the college was to carry
on young men up to the point when they should be
admitted into the academies, there to continue their
studies in philosophy," Gilly exclaimed in the most
indignant way against what seemed to him a depar
ture from his original aim.
" I desire," he wrote, " to repeat once more what
I have already said several times : the object of the
college is not merely to carry young men on to a
certain point, and to stop there ; but the final and
chief end of the institution is to provide such means
of instruction in the Valleys, that it may not be
absolutely necessary for the young Vaudois to
repair to foreign academies for the completion of

PLAN OF THE COLLEGE. 79
their education. It is to prevent this expatriation,
so dangerous to the morals and rehgious principles of
the Vaudois, that I have sought to give such an
extent and direction to the institution, that it may
suffice for the entire education of pastors and teachers
of schools. If the Vaudois continue to send their
sons to Switzerland  the college will become
comparatively useless, and the hopes of its founders
will be frustrated." *
The branches of instruction — besides writing,
arithmetic, geography, and sacred music — were to
be : history (that of the Vaudois in particular) ; the
French, Italian, Latin, and Greek languages ; ele
mentary geometry and algebra, philosophy and
theology. Three professors were to suffice for the
teaching of all these branches. The first was to
preside over the higher section of Latin and Greek,
the classics, geometry, algebra, philosophy, and
theology. The elements of Greek, continuation of
Latin, the French and Italian languages, geography,
and history, were to be the province of the second.
The third was to teach writing, arithmetic, sacred
music, and the elements of Latin.
How such an extensive plan could be carried out
by so few people ; how, in particular, a single pro
fessor could be competent to teach the literatures of
* Letter to the Table, 23rd December, 1839.

80 DIFFICULTIES.
the French, Latin, and Italian languages, besides
mathematics, philosophy, and theology in all its
branches, — these are not questions to be answered
here. Facts can prove much more clearly than
words can do, how much self-deception was con
cealed in those hopes, which the good Doctor con
sidered quite capable of realization.
It seems to us now that all might have been
most easily arranged without giving rise to dispute
or hesitation of any kind, if, on the one hand, it
had been decided to amalgamate the new institution
with the already existing Latin school, and, on the
other, to fix on La Tour as the place best suited for
the new institution. These two things, however,
which now seem so natural to us, since the force of
circumstances has ended in bringing them about,
appeared then in a very different light, though not
to all, yet to a large number of the most influential
men of the period.
As for the first point — the combination of the old
Latin school with the new college — it was not till
1 838, if we remember rightly, that the venerable Wal
loon Committee, which had the Latin school under its
jurisdiction, would consent to hear it mentioned in the
remotest way. The honourable members of this com
mittee wrote to Dr. Gilly, who had tried to propitiate
them by asking their advice, in the following terms : —

RIVALRIES OF THE VALLEYS. 81
" We wish our Latin school to remain on its pres
ent footing, quite independent of your seminary,
with which we, on our part, have no intention of
intermeddling. As we cannot, therefore, co-operate
with you in the execution of your project, it would
ill become us to communicate to you our opinion of
the scheme itself. We have not, nevertheless,
thought it right to withhold this from the officers
of the Table, who have done us the honour of ask
ing our advice."*
And as to the site to be occupied by the future
institution, it were hard to believe, if we had no
palpable proof of it in the records of the Table, how
many rivalries were roused by the discussion of this
question, what struggles and contentions arose, first
between valley and valley, and then between parish
and parish ; and what perseverance, long-suffering,
and imperturbable good-nature the excellent Doctor
was obliged to exercise, lest he should be diverted
from his project by the petty antagonism of those
who ought to have been the first to facilitate its
execution. The opposition of the valley of Saint-
Martin yielded, however, to the generous offer of Dr.
Gilly to found at Pomaret, at the entrance of thir
valley, a Latin school, which was to be the counter-

* Letter from the Walloon Committee to Dr. Gilly, dated Rotterdam, De.
ccrubcr 8th, 1829.

82 FOUNDATION OF THE COLLEGE AT LA TOUR.
part of the one which (after leading a migratory
existence between one valley and another) had finally
been fixed at La Tour, in the valley of Luzerne.*
But the rivalry between Saint-Jean and La Tour,
the two parishes which disputed the honour of be
coming the seat of the new institution, lasted much
longer, and did not entirely cease till May 1834,
when, after hesitations and changes of fortune which
it would take too long to relate, it was definitely
fixed to erect the new college at La Tour.-f-
The foundation was laid on the 10th August of
the following year, in presence of a large assemblage. \
The new institution received on this occasion, at the
request of Dr. Gilly, the name of College of the
Holy Trinity. "This title," said the Doctor in a
letter to the Table, " will mark the character of the
institution, make it more to be respected in the eyes
of your neighbours of the Romish Church and of
foreign Christians, and, at the same time, it will
serve to show the adhesion of the Vaudois of to-day

* This school, opened on the 1st of May 1830, had for its first rector M. Rod.
Peyran ; who, at his death in 1837, was succeeded by M. Combe of Pramol ; and
he, in his turn, was succeeded by M. P. Lantaret, who afterwards became pastor
of Pomaret and Moderator of the Vaudois Church.
t Resolution of the Table, May 27th, 1834.
t A resolution of the Table of this date bears that "This very day — in pre
sence of Messieurs Pierre Monastier, secretary, and Parise, lay officer of the
Table, Arnaud, geometer, member of the commission of the Upper School, and
a good many notable persons — M. Bonjour, Moderator and President of the
Commission, assisted by his son Auguste, laid the foundation-stone at the north
west angle of the building ; the plan for which was furnished by the geometer
Roland, and the oversight intrusted to M. E. Gastaldi of Biella."

TWOFOLD OPPOSITION. 83
to the faith of their ancestors."* Up to this time
it had hardly been expected that the college would
be inaugurated at all. Since the 1st March 1831
nine from among the elder pupils of the Latin school,
having at their head Pastor Jean Revel, the first,
and for some time the only, professor of the new
institution, had been solemnly installed in the house
of Brezzi, at La Tour, there to form what, in the
meantime, bore the modest title of the Upper Latin
School. But the studies had hardly commenced before a
double opposition, coming from two opposite direc
tions, from the Walloon Committee in Holland on
the one hand, and from the Government on the
other, threatened to put a stop to them altogether.
The first of these, maintaining either that its
rights had been usurped, or itself treated with
neglect, by the procedure of the administration, in
promoting, without its previous sanction, the more
advanced pupils of the old Latin school into the
new, had bitterly complained of this to the Table,

* Of the 31,890 francs, 10 centimes, the estimated cost of the projected building,
15,398 francs, 10 centimes were to be furnished by the parishes, in proportion to
their population and their greater or less distance from the institution, which,
according to a rate of division fixed upon as early as 1832 by the Table, Colonel
Beckwith, and Pastor Bonjour of Turin, amounted to a share of 3793 francs for
La Tour ; 4498 for Saint-Jean ; 1826 fo* Villar ; 1762 for Angrogna ; 1078 for
Prarustin, &c. Five thousand francs had been offered by Dr. Gilly in addition
to the £4000, the interest of which additional gift was to serve for the mainte
nance of the professors. To raise the 11,500 francs still required, collections
were to be made.

84 DISAPPEARANCE OF OPPOSITION.
demanding in the most formal and peremptory
manner that everything should be replaced on the
old. footing. The Government, declaring the opening
of the new school (it was not yet called college) to
be a manifest infringement of the existing laws,
and an act of rebellion against the political autho
rities, ordered it to be closed immediately.* This
twofold opposition fortunately did not last long.
That of the Walloon Committee fell before expla
nations freely asked and as freely given. That of
the Government, owing principally to the media
tion of Count Waldburg-Truchsess, plenipotentiary
of His Majesty the King of Prussia at Turin, was
not long in disappearing ; and by the 1st of May of
the same year the Moderator of the Vaudois Church
was informed by Government that the prohibition of
little more than two months before had been with
drawn. The general satisfaction resulting from this
measure was, however, modified by certain restric
tions. The studies were to be confined to classical
subjects, and the number of the students was not to
exceed twelve, or fifteen at the most ; no book was
to be placed in the hands of the students without
having first been submitted for revision to the in-
tendant of the province, who was also to be appealed
* The letter from the Table announcing to Dr. Gilly what had taken place,
bears the date of 16th March 1831. The new school had thus not been open
for even a fortnight.

GOVERNMENT RESTRICTIONS. 85
to for his final approval of the professor chosen by
the Table. This magistrate was also entitled to
visit the college as often as he thought fit, to make
sure that the conditions imposed on it at its founda
tion were strictly observed.*
However plainly these restrictions may show the
meanness of the Government which was not ashamed
to impose them, they could not prevent an institu
tion which was to have such great influence over
the future of the Vaudois Church, from being defini
tively and legally founded. The seed had been
placed in the earth ; the greater or smaller sphere
to be occupied by the tree that should grow from it,
was a thing to be left to the future, to circum
stances, and to Him who rules over all things.
In the events just related, what part are we to
assign to the subject of this biography ? Seemingly
a very small one ; but, in reality, and when we go
a little below the surface of things, a very great one,
— so great that it is very doubtful whether, without
the presence of Beckwith in the Valleys during this
long phase of infancy which we have recorded, the
plan of the good and pious Doctor would ever have
reached its full and complete realization. And how,
indeed, can we doubt that a man of a character
like Beckwith' s, placing his chief interest in all that
* Letter from the Intendant Novellis to the Moderator Rostaing, 31st May 1831.

86 beckwith's interest in the college.
could contribute to the progress of education in the
Valleys, and spending the greater part of the year
under the same -roof as the Moderator, could have
listened every day to debates of such grave interest
as those which were going on around him, without
taldng the most active part in them, and bringing
to the solution of these questions, not only the aid
of his purse, but also of his high intelligence, his
quick, sure glance, and his indomitable energy?
Even although the official documents of the period
showed no trace whatever of his co-operation in this
important work, we might take such a thing for
granted. Yet the means of transforming this sup
position into certainty are by no means wanting.
As early as the year 1832, Beckwith, writing to the
Table, says among other things : —
" I am already in correspondence with Dr. Gilly
with regard to the college ; and as soon as I have
anything new to communicate on this subject, I will
not fail to inform you of it."*
In the month of March of the same year we find
him a member of the commission charged with the
regulation of the taxes to be imposed on the different
communes for the building of the college. The
same year, or the following, he caused to be con
structed, at his own expense, at the western extre-
* Letter of 27th January 1832.

gilly's opinion of his services. 87
mity of La Tour, a hall destined to serve as a fixed
abode for the Latin school, which had hitherto
met here and there, according to circumstances.*
From a deliberation of the Table, dated March 15,
1835, it appears that the plan of the new building
had been made by the geometer Roland, according
to the instructions of Colonel Beckwith; and that
the same Colonel Beckwith, to prevent further de
lays occurring in the beginning of the work, had
offered to advance from his own purse the sum
of 10,000 francs, while the dues imposed on the
communes were as yet unpaid : a double circum
stance, which caused Dr. Gilly to write thus to the
Moderator : — ¦
" We cannot value too highly the wise counsels
and indefatigable zeal of Colonel Beckwith. How,
indeed, can we sufficiently thank him for this last
proof of his generosity and devotion to the good
cause ?"f
Some weeks later, in the course of July, Beck
with being in England, the good' Doctor wrote
again : —
" I have seen Colonel Beckwith, and we have
had a very interesting conversation. I recognize
* The Table, in informing the Walloon Committee of this, in a letter of May
23, 1833, fearing, perhaps, lest the news should not be agreeable, take care to
say that they "have learned indirectly that the English Colonel Beckwith has
had built, at his own expense, a hall for their Latin school."
t Letter from Dr. Gilly of 20th April 1835.

88 SUPERINTENDENCE OF THE BUILDING.
the hand of God working for His Church, by dis
posing in its favour such upright and generous
hearts as that of the worthy benefactor of the
Vaudois."* In the early autumn of this year, when the new
edifice had already begun to rise from the ground,
Beckwith returned to the Valleys, and from this
moment till the time when the whole building was
completed, he never quitted his post for an instant,
inspecting and controlling everything, correcting
and altering what required it, and in spite of the
extreme summer heat, which he felt so trying, tra
versing daily the distance of nearly three miles be
tween Saint-Jean and La Tour, to see with his own
eyes that all was being done at the right time and
in the best manner. And when the edifice was
quite completed, and the pupils for whose good it
had been erected were installed there with their
professors, f he still continued to watch with the most
touching solicitude over its welfare, It was he who,
from the beginning, provided it with a library, and
all the necessary furnishings ; he it was who, fore
seeing what importance the teaching of Italian would
shortly acquire, caused, at his own expense, one of
the professors to be sent to Florence to qualify him-
* Letter of 27th July 1835.
t M. B. Malan had, by deliberation of the Table of 10th September, been as.
sociated with M. J. ReveL

WATCHFUL CARE. 89
self for the teaching of that language ;* and he too
it was who was frequently seen passing through the
different halls in the college, encouraging by his
very presence as much as by his words both pro
fessors and pupils, and attending at the examinations
with a perseverance and interest hardly to be met
with in an official inspector. And when, the exa
minations over, the happy pupils, with the professors
at their head, repaired, before dispersing for the
holidays, to the flowery summit of La Vachere,
there to spend one of those days which can never
be forgotten, the good Colonel did not disdain to
join the party himself, enhancing by his presence the
pleasure of the holiday.
All that Beckwith did for the college at La Tour
did not prevent his watching, at the same time, over
another educational establishment, the Latin school in
the valley of Saint-Martin. The foundation of this
school has been mentioned above, as a means de
vised by Dr. Gilly to overcome the opposition of this
valley to the establishment of the college at La
Tour. But the salary of its only professor was
small and uncertain ; and, like its elder sister in the
Luzerne valley in former times, it had no shelter
under which to abide permanently, thus forming
a double subject of anxiety to him who seemed
* Professor Malan, in the course of 1836.

90 EFFORTS IN THE VALLEY OF ST. MARTIN.
to have set himself the task of supplying all
wants. " We are also occupied," he writes from London,
August 21, 1839, speaking of Dr. Gilly and him
self, " in trying to induce the Propaganda* to in
crease the salary of the rector of Pomaret to £60
sterling ; but with the view of placing an ecclesiastic
there. If we succeed in obtaining a building also, we
shall have laid the foundation-stone of education in
the valley of Saint-Martin." The efforts here alluded
to were crowned with complete success : the salary
of the professor was augmented to the sum required :
as for the building, he had hardly returned to the
Valleys when it was begun under his own super
intendence ; and before the year 1842 was over,f
a most suitable building, reproducing on a small
scale what the college at La Tour exhibited on a
much larger one, was placed at the disposal of the
Table, to serve as an abode for the school.:]: The
" foundation-stone of the education of the valley of
St. Martin," to quote the words written by Beck
with three years before, was thus duly laid ; and

17 An English society for the propagation of the evangelical faith.
t September 1, 1842.
X The building raised by Beckwith having become insufficient, Dr. Stewart,
minister of the Free Church of Scotland at Leghorn — another indefatigable
benefactor of the Vaudois Church, and its principal supporter in the work of
evangelization — caused another to be built, much more elegant than the first,
about a stone-cast distant from it, leaving the former building to be appropriated
to classes and to the library.

EXTENSION OF THE COLLEGE. 91
the number of young people in this valley who, by
means of this school, have been gained over to a
studious career, and to the Christian ministry in
particular, is the most striking proof of the prophetic
truth of these words.
But the college at La Tour had begun, by the
force of circumstances, to be in want of addi
tional help, and Beckwith' s other interests did not
render him insensible to this. During the first
years of its existence, this college, it may be remem
bered, had possessed only two professors, one of
whom was also the rector of the Latin school.
Afterwards there had been three ; but even this
number had not pushed the studies beyond the
belles lettres. In 1849 a generous individual, a
Vaudois, offered anonymously to the Table to charge
himself for three years, by way of experiment, with
the payment of the salaries of two professors of
Philosophy, if it were thought desirable to extend
the range of the studies so far. The Table, after
obtaining the royal* sanction, eagerly accepted the
offer ; and on the expiry of the three years, sug
gested a means of rendering permanent what had
at first been merely temporary.
The consolidation of the new institution had thus
* The letter containing the offer bears the date of 25th November 1849, and
the resolution of the Table, declaring the two chairs open to competition, is dated
the 4th February 1850. See Records of the Table.

92 ERECTION OF PROFESSORS' HOUSES.
exceeded the fairest hopes. One thing, however,
was yet wanting to it — and this, in the eyes of
Beckwith, who in all his plans laid great stress
on the material and tangible, was most important
— namely, a suitable dwelling for each of the pro
fessors. It was a difficult matter to obtain this, for
the expense could not possibly be under 100,000
francs. Beckwith made it a subject of reflection
and consultation. More and more convinced that
of all the means for giving solid durability to the
college this was one of the most efficacious, he set
to work, and in the spring of 1847, on a piece of
ground nearly opposite the college, laid the founda
tions of those six delightful dwellings which have
become one of the ornaments of La Tour, and, as it
were, the beginning of a new and more picturesque
town on the mountain-side.
As for the school of theology, which the Synod
of 1854 declared to be a necessity imposed on our
Church by its work of evangelization, and which
was opened provisionally in 1855, and permanently
in 1856, if it was not, like the college and the
Latin schools, the object of the direct pecuniary
co-operation of the General, it was not because he
did not take a lively interest in this crowning
part of the building. The way in which he ex
presses himself, in two letters, written at an in-

THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL. 93
terval of some years, may be taken as a proof of
this. " I propose," we read in one of the letters ad
dressed in 1855 from Turin to the then Moderator,
Professor J. P. Revel, " to discuss with you the
subject of the theological school lately established
at La Tour, in order to be enlightened on a subject
the very elements of which are unknown to me 
An inconvenience which, I should suppose, will be
difficult to remedy  is the absence of books writ
ten in Itahan ; for I suppose that books treating of
theology in the Protestant sense are for the most
part written either in French, German, or English.
The library of La Tour contains a good many such.
 I believe there are a good many works on
ecclesiastical history. The Fathers also are there
represented, thpugh I do not think the collection of
them is complete. There are also some dogmatical
and polemical writings, and exegesis is not quite
wanting." After this exordium, which reveals much less
ignorance of the matter than he chooses to profess,
Beckwith adds, entering into the spirit of the ques
tion : —
" It is evident, Moderator, that if our only con
cern were to form a ministry for a French Church,
the best course would be td leave things as they are;
(390) 7

94 ESTIMATE OF THE VAUDOIS CLERGY.
and nothing but the present position of your Church
can justify the creation of a theological faculty on
this side of the Alps. The weak side of your clergy
at present is their exclusively French culture, which
fails to fit them for the task which the events of late
years have devolved upon them. Their education,
their views,' habits, ideas, language, nay, their very
prejudices, are all suited to a Church formed upon
models which are not adapted to the work to be
done. Their total separation from Piedmontese*
society can ill prepare them to act their part in Pied
mont ; and every effort which does not aim at re
establishing the natural relations between your people
and their fellow-countrymen is sure to fail. The
first necessary condition for realizing the object you
have in view is to form men who can be presented
to the different classes of Piedmontese society, and
who will feel at home in the towns of their native
country. To men thus formed, it will be easy to
impart the knowledge necessary to a theologian ;
but with men placed under the existing influences,
you will never have anything but workmen who
will reap little advantage from their knowledge, who
will think of nothing but how they are to settle

* Beckwith used the word "Piedmontese," because ancient Piedmont was the
only part of Italy then accessible to the preaching of the gospel. Later, in
1860, but still more surely in 1866, he would have said, instead of " Piedmontese,"
Italian.

USES OF THEOLOGICAL STUDY. 95
in the Valleys, and only do their work by
halves."* Later still (14th July 1.857), he writes from
Paris to the Moderator of the day, Pastor Malan of
La Tour : —
" I had already perused the article in the Buona
Novella on theological studies, and I certainly
think that if these courses of lectures are assisted
by serious and connected reading, they cannot fail
to form men fitted for the ministry ; and, surely,
men who have undergone such intellectual dis
cipline can . never be found unequal to the task
to which they are called  I hope that in
giving them facilities for embracing the whole
history of the Church and of ecclesiastical life
properly so called — which is so necessary to enable
them to form sound judgments on the systems of all
kinds which have been at work during the past and
present centuries, and thus tp- preserve them from
those extreme views which have troubled the best
understandings and the most sincere piety — you will
not cease to remind them constantly of the extreme
simplicity of the principle laid down, and the true
way of applying it; and to tell them that these
studies are rather a necessity imposed by the per
versity of men, and would have worn an entirely
* Letter to, the Moderator, J. P. Revel, Turin, 11th October 1855.

96 CLEAR-SIGHTEDNESS.
different aspect, had the majority of those who have
furnished the elements of them, animated by a spirit
of wisdom and obedience, been able to render their
words and actions instructive and edifying, rather
than to make us waste our precious time in unravel
ling their errors, their folly, and obstinacy."
The style apart (of which we must not take
account with regard to one who wrote in a foreign
language), what clear-sightedness and justness of
appreciation are shown in the words which we have
just transcribed ! And how happy for the Vaudois
Church that an influence which, with regard to the
number and importance of the services rendered by
Beckwith, was to be very great, was also most bene
ficial, and marked, even to the smallest details, with
the seal of perfect conformity to the Word of God !
To return to the college properly so called, and
to terminate what we have to say of this establish
ment, in the erection of which Beckwith took such
an active part. It was in the following affectionate
and touching words that, only a few months before
his death (on the 18th February 1862), he ad
dressed the students, who on the preceding evening,
on the occasion of the anniversary of the emancipa
tion of the Vaudois, had come as a deputation
to express to him their respect and gratitude.
These words were written after having been present,

ADDRESS TO STUDENTS. 97
sword in hand, at the procession of hundreds of
children who were that day assembled in the new
church at La Tour.
" Thirty years ago," he said, " several friends of
the Vaudois busied themselves in founding the College
of the Holy Trinity. You were not born then. Most
of the founders have passed away. Yesterday, how
ever, I received, in the testimony which you were
pleased to offer me, a proof of the respect and grati
tude in which you hold the memory of those good
and benevolent men, who planted in your country a
vine bearing good fruit, and destined ,J am sure, to
yield more and more goodly branches. I was yes
terday present at a sight which might well have
raised from their peaceful tombs the heads of those
excellent men who planted this vine at the foot of
the Alps, those mountains which have served as a
bulwark to the always militant faith of your fore
fathers. You have taken up arms for the defence of
your country, and yesterday you made use of them
to honour the little children. The fatherland, with
its women and children, is the true war-cry of every
good soldier. Strength is sanctified when it pro
tects weakness. Persevere in the honourable career
of knowledge and of duty which is marked out for
you by the institution of which you are the soul
and the stay. Be assured of an honourable life on

98 ADDRESS TO STUDENTS.
earth, and a most blessed eternity, beyond the trials
and sufferings of our condition here below. Your
fate is in your own hands. Put your hands boldly
to the plough, without looking back. — Your sincere
friend,
"Ch. Beckwith."

CHAPTER VI.
BECKWITH AND SECONDARY INSTRUCTION.
THE BOARDING-SCHOOL.
ECKWITH had now amply provided for
the education of the masses in elementary
schools, whether parochial or belonging

to a district. The college and the Latin school at
Pomaret were sufficient for the wants of young men
destined for commerce or for study at the universities.
But, up to the year 1837, no means had been pro
vided for giving anything more than a merely ele
mentary education to young girls who might be
desirous of something more. This was certainly a
great blank, and could not escape the sagacity of
such a man as Beckwith ; who, as soon as the want
was perceived, would not fail to make the strongest
efforts, even at the expense of great sacrifices, to
supply it. The most suitable means of doing this
seemed to him to be the establishment of a girls'
school at La Tour. This school was to be under the

100 GOVERNMENT SANCTIONS THE BOARDING-SCHOOL.
charge of a capable person from Switzerland, and
young girls of the middle class were to receive in it,
for as moderate a price as possible, along with the
instruction suited to their future position, a careful
and strictly Christian education. The first step was
to secure the approval of the Government, which,
though uncertain, was a necessary condition to the
taking of any other step whatever. With the assist
ance of Count Waldburg-Truchsess the Table made
the attempt to obtain this, and with much greater suc
cess than could have been expected. The petition
containing this request bore the date of 1 9th August
1837, and so early as the 2nd September of the
same year the Moderator received an answer entirely
favourable. The next task to be achieved was
equally difficult — namely, the choice of a teacher,
in all respects such as the nature and end of the
institution imperatively demanded. To whom should
this duty be intrusted? Beckwith, remembering
that " to go is better than to send," and that " two
eyes are better than one," decided to go himself to
Switzerland, accompanied by his faithful and intelli
gent fellow-labourer in this as in other works, the
Moderator, J. P. Bonjour. They resolved not to
return until they had found the right person.
This errand accomplished, they had still to choose
a suitable building, and to buy the necessary furni-

DIFFICULTIES WITH SUPERINTENDENTS. 101
ture. But these preparations did not occupy much
time. A perfectly suitable place was found by
Beckwith in the ancient palace of the Counts of La
Tour, now the property of a widow named Vertu.
Before the furniture and other requisites for the
wants of twenty young girls, not to mention the
superintendent and the servants, could be procured
and arranged, a few weeks only had elapsed. Not
later than the beginning of November 1837, the
governess and pupils were in their places, and the
school was solemnly inaugurated by the Moderator,
in presence of Beckwith and the parents of the
pupils. The institution, in its early stages, was by no
means exempt from trials. The superintendent, par
ticularly in the department of teaching, soon gave
signs that she was incompetent for the task confided
to her. A change was therefore necessary after a
very short time. But as a change of persons is
often only a change of faults, so it was in this
instance. The second superintendent was no better
than the first, and, for want of a third, the first was
tried again. But this was not for long ; the old
faults seem to have increased rather than diminished
during the interval, and a second separation was
necessary. The annoyance and vexation which all
this caused to the old officer, who had turned philan-

102 PERSEVERANCE.
thropist, may easily be imagined. Yet he does not
give it up, and it is he who, far from being down
cast, encourages those who are beginning to despond.
Writing from London in August 1838 to the Mo
derator, he says, with regard to the boarding-school,
— "We must try to carry it on, at least until the
expiry of our lease. By what has been done, our
end has evidently been attained ; for most of these
young girls would have been without religion had
they not been at this school, where the good seed
has been sown in their hearts. Even though we
should be obliged to give it up at the end of three
years, rest assured that the money which I have
dedicated to this object has been well spent 
and that I shall in this way have done much to
spread abroad the religion of Jesus Christ."*
A year later, in 1839, he was still so entirely of
the same opinion, that he insisted that the college
should be placed on the same footing as the board
ing-school, f Later still, he announces to the Mode
rator that, in case he should fail, he had left in the
hands of Dr. Gilly £200 sterling for the purpose of
carrying on this work for at least three years longer,
and adds : —
" Continue the same course of action with regard

* Letter to M. J. P. Bonjour, 1st August 1838.
t Letter to the same, dated 1st October 1839.

DIRECTIONS TO THE SUPERINTENDENT. 103
to the girls' school ; it is the only Arm ground we
possess ; all the rest is uncertain."
Not content with corresponding on this subject
with the ecclesiastical authorities, he does so with
the superintendent herself, sparing neither advice
nor directions.
" Mile. V  will have explained to you in detail,"
he says, " my intentions with regard to the board
ing-school. My object is not so much to have the
young girls taught what is customary, as to subject
them to discipline, and teach them habits in which
they are deficient. Order and cleanliness in the
house and in their persons will do much to give
them the qualities they want. You have no doubt
acquainted yourself with the rules of the institution.
I am most desirous that they should all be minutely
observed, and that the young girls should under
stand perfectly the management of the house in all
its details, even with regard to expenses. The great
difficulty with the Vaudois is to fix their attention,
and to teach them to follow anything that is con
nected and well arranged. Great regularity in the
ways of the household and in their studies will have
this effect. I need not direct your attention to re
ligion as the foundation-stone of the establishment.
For inculcating the truths of the Bible, you should
use the liturgy and books of devotion. I cannot

104 KINDNESS TO THE GIRLS.
abide dissent, and I beg you not to form any meet
ings, or do anything beyond the regular order of the
National Church. It is not the post of teacher which
you are principally called to fill ; your chief task is
to prepare the foundation-stones of a rehgious nation,
to spread abroad religion, good manners, the gospel,
and eternal life."*
When, in the autumn of 1841, after two years'
absence, Beckwith again took up his abode in the
Valleys, he fixed his dwelling in the same palace of
the Counts of La Tour in which, three years before,
he had estabhshed the boarding-school During
four years of close neighbourhood, his kindness, soli
citude, and paternal interest in all the young girls,
can only be imagined by those who witnessed or
were the objects of these cares. Every day,-without
fail, he went the round of the classes, where his
presence alone was almost as great an encourage
ment as the words, seldom severe, and almost always
livery and playful, which he addressed to the pupils.
Once or twice a week, a certain number of them
were invited by turns to his table ; which he did
chiefly with the object of curing them of the awk
wardness which was natural to most of them, and
accustoming them to the ways of the world in all
that is good and praiseworthy. On Sunday even-
* Letter to Mile. D  , London, 4th October 1838.

CORRESPONDENCE. 105
ing, they were invariably invited into his sitting-
room, with the superintendent, and the ladies and
gentlemen who chose to visit him on such occasions ;
and he never dismissed them until worship had
been held, either preceded or followed by the sing
ing of some beautiful hymns. He thus became
thoroughly acquainted with each one of these young
girls. He soon read their nature to its depths ; and,
in the conversations he often had with them, he was
able to direct their attention to the weak or defec
tive points in the character of each.
What he did by his conversation with these young
girls while at school, he continued by means of cor
respondence after they had left it. What a touching
spectacle it was to see this former aide-de-camp of
the Duke of Wellington, this man of vast and pro
found conceptions, long accustomed only to corre
spond with his equals, all at once making himself
not only a child, but almost a young girl, in order
to address to such the language which they could best
understand, and to say to each what was best adapted
to her circumstances !
" Every period of our career," he wrote to all the
pupils so early as 1839, "has its special duties ; and
yours are obedience, diligence, and respect towards
those to whom Providence has intrusted the task of
guiding you in the path of religion and virtue. We

106 LETTER TO PUPILS.
may thank God, who, since the commencement of
our institution, has inclined your hearts to work
with us towards the attainment of our object and
the advancement of His kingdom. And I have full
confidence that we shall always have reason to ex
press our thankfulness to our kind Heavenly Father,
for the help which He will not fail to grant us, if we
use our feeble efforts to do His will, and conform our
selves to His easy and just commandments, submit
ting ourselves, at the same time, to the easy yoke
He has imposed on us for our good alone. But re
member, my dear children, that we can do nothing
of ourselves. It is through Jesus Christ alone that
we can approach the throne of grace. Through Him
alone we are pardoned ; by Him we can understand
the will of God, and find the needed strength to do
the tilings which are required of us. By faith you
can do all things. Work, persevere ; love your
parents, your brothers, your sisters ; love your
teacher ; love each other ; and some years hence,
when I hear of a young Vaudois maiden who is
good, amiable, prudent, discreet, and rehgious, I
shall have for reward the inexpressible pleasure of
saying to myself that it is a young girl brought up
at the boarding-school of La Tour."*
Three years later, he wrote to a young girl 'placed
* Letter to the pupils of the establishment, dated Saint-Jean, 3rd January 1339.

LETTER TO A GIRL. 107
amid surroundings peculiarly unfavourable to re
ligion : —
"Go on in the same way, my dear E — — -. Occupy
yourself usefully. Repress by religion all the move-
merits of your heart and mind which are contrary to
it. Be moderate in your pleasures. Be true and
simple, frank and loving. You have nothing to con
ceal. Seek the society of the good ; avoid the un
godly, but be kind to them, and try to make them
better when you are placed in contact with them.
When you have once bestowed your confidence and
friendship, continue to do so ; be slow to give them,
and slow to withdraw them again. Unfortunately
many circumstances in your native land tend at
present to make society what it ought not to be ;
but women have nothing to do with this. The Eng
lishwomen who are now prisoners in Afghanistan
have been able to conciliate, by their dignified con
duct, the esteem and consideration of the savages
around them. It is equally in your power to make
the men of this country feel the superiority of your
character, of your ideas, your religion, your educa
tion, and of all that tends to ennoble and elevate
the human character."
" Let us live in honesty and liberality of heart,
my dear E  ," he wrote again to the same young
person ; " and let us direct our attention constantly

108 LETTER TO A GIRL.
towards all that is noble and generous. Let us be
nobly religious, without pride ; let us think nobly
and act nobly towards every one, in all ¦ humility.
Let us nobly sacrifice our interests, our inclinations,
and, above all, our caprices, to the good of others ;
let us forget ourselves, and nobly direct our efforts
towards the good of all with whom Providence has
placed us in contact. There is no need to mount on
horseback to do all this ; common life will offer us a
field wide enough for the exercise of all the virtues.
The career of a man demands more energy and ac
tivity than that of a woman ; but that of the latter
is wide enough to enable her to enter upon the finest
and most useful enterprises. A well-ordered house
hold is a centre of religion, civilization, and good
manners. All this depends on the character of the
woman. If she be sensible, gentle, loving, active,
the house will soon become a paradise, and all sorts
of good will issue from it, as from a fountain of liv
ing waters spreading fertility over the most arid
plains. The means toward this end are very simple.
On rising in the morning, we should, first of all,
pray to Him who is the Author of all that is good,
noble, and useful; and then accept each occupation,
as it offers itself to us, in its turn— doing all with
attention, precision, and order. Men differ from
each other chiefly in this, that some fix their atten-

LETTER TO A GIRL. 109
tion on what occupies them at the time, and others
do not. To learn obedience is the great end of ex
istence. Will you disobey God ? it is madness ;
your parents ? it is ingratitude ; your superiors and
teachers ? it is folly. Guard against much speaking,
for in the multitude of words there is sin. Preserve
always that quiet and sedate manner which so well
befits a young lady, and which is the outward sign
of that firmness and sobriety of mind which is the
best preservative of all virtue. I do not wish to
weary you ; but the confidence that I have in your
docility induces me to present to you these subjects
of reflection, which you may make use of when you
feel inclined. There is a time for all things, even
for pleasures, particularly that of friendly intercourse
with society. The work of every day, domestic de
tails religiously treated, constitute a part of our re
ligion, and have each their relative importance.
Uprightness, meekness, affection, are three cardinal
virtues for women Charity sets a seal on all the
others, and diffuses that inexplicable charm which
shows you to be angels of peace, and true blessings.
The great Friend of women upon earth was One who
was born of a woman. Repair to Him in all your
trials. Do all with the aim and firm intention of
submitting to Him in all things; and be persuaded
that He will love you always, and cause you to be
(390) 8

110 CHANGES IN THE GIRLS' SCHOOL.
loved by all those who shall have the good fortune
to be placed under your happy influence."
But to return to the boarding-school. Two cir
cumstances regarding it deserve particular mention
The first was the construction of a building ex
clusively appropriated to this institution. This
Beckwith undertook in 1844, at the western ex
tremity of the towm of La Tour, and incorporated
with it the hall previously built for the Latin school,
and become useless since the amalgamation of that
school with the college. The second was the daily
increasing predominance of day -scholars over boarders,
until, at last, the boarding-school disappeared alto
gether, to make way for an upper girls' school.
This transformation, far from injuring the prosperity
of the establishment, only increased it. Many young
girls to whom a boarding-school had been a thing
unattainable, and who, notwithstanding, whether
from a desire to learn, or from the prospect of a
career they wished to enter upon, felt the want of
more advanced studies than those of a mere element
ary school, were able to profit by the institution in
its altered form. The number of the pupils, from
fifteen or sixteen, as it was at first, went on daily
increasing, until it now exceeds that of the pupils
in the college, in spite of the absence of the numer
ous and important bursaries which the latter enjoy.

USEFULNESS OF THE INSTITUTION. Ill
The former, on the contrary, are, by a wise arrange
ment of the directors, obhged to pay a yearly sum
of sixty francs.* A considerable number of young
girls, whether from the Valleys, the Plain of Pied
mont, or elsewhere, have, after enjoying the advan
tages of this institution, left it to become school
mistresses in the country itself, or governesses abroad.
And if the generous founder of this institution showed
himself to be something of a pessimist when he called
it " the only sure footing on which he could stand in
the Valleys," it was, on the other hand, with much
greater truth than he himself believed, that he de
clared the sums dedicated to this work to be most
usefully spent, and that it would one day be found
that he had by this means, much more efficaciously
than by many others advanced the interests of the
gospel and the cause of Christ in our beautiful native
land.-f * Another regulation, equally just, exempts from this tax the daughters of
poor parents, who, from the distance 'of their homes from La Tour, are obliged
to board them from home.
t The following is a list of the superintendents, nearly all natives of the Can
ton of Vaud, who have successively been at the head of this institution : — Miles.
Vuilliamoz, Degallier,Vuilliamoz {recalled), Genand, Bornand (died in the work),
Begr§, Appia, Ducloux, Herminjard, Dalgas.

CHAPTER VII.
BECKWITH AND ECCLESIASTICAL BUILDINGS : CHURCHES
AND PARSONAGES.
IF, before the arrival of Beckwith in the
Valleys, scholastic buildings had either
been wanting or had only existed in the
most miserable state, almost as much may be said
of ecclesiastical buildings in general, and more par
ticularly of the churches. Not that they did not
exist, for there was one at least in each parish ; but
what churches ! With one or two exceptions, they
were more like sheds or barns than churches ; if by
this word we are to understand a building combin
ing with order and decency (which are nowhere so
completely in their place as in the house of God),
a style of architecture indicative of its purpose.
The principal causes of such a state of things are to
be found partly in the total absence of security,
which has for centuries been, as it were, the normal
condition of the Vaudois Church, and partly in the

DILAPIDATED CHURCHES. 113
misery and poverty which inevitably resulted from
this state. When an entire population is hourly
liable to see its villages steeped in blood, its fields
devastated, and its houses reduced to ashes ; and
when, under the weight of these calamities, which
might be called periodical, misery, excessive misery,
has become the condition of all, we are not to ex
pect that they will be tempted to erect at great cost,
and at the price of sacrifices beyond their strength,
buildings which to-morrow may be only a mass of
ruins. Such are the principal causes, but they are not
the only ones. In strict adherence to truth, we
must mention two others, which, equally with, and
perhaps more than the first, have contributed, and
still contribute, to the result which we deplore.
These are, on the one hand, the habits of carelessness
and disorder which have set their stamp on most of
the dweiling-houses in the Vaudois Valleys, and
which we are therefore not surprised to see reflected
even in the places of worship ; and, on the other
hand, that lamentable disregard of form which is one
of the peculiarities of much of our Continental Pro
testantism, and which, when found in public wor
ship, cannot fail to impress painfully those who
have not been accustomed to it from childhood.
The churches have a gloomy and dilapidated air;

114 PLEA FOR GOOD CHURCHES.
the approaches to them are overgrown with weeds ;
the interior is scarcely more decent than the ex
terior ; the singing is discordant ; the Word of God
is read in such a way as to cause weariness and im
patience, instead of edification : and all this produces
in our places of worship such an oppressive atmos
phere, that even the most animated preaching can
not always counterbalance its somnolent effects. We
do not mean to affirm that elegant buildings, con
structed according to the best principles of art, are
absolutely indispensable to that adoration in spirit
and in truth which is the only real worship. Far
from it. We, too, are aware that in one sense the
place of worship is nothing; and that, when circum
stances demand it, God may be as well and better
served in the meanest temple, nay, even in an upper
room or in a barn, than in the most splendid ca
thedral. We agree equally that art, when not
joined with the utmost simplicity, instead of being
an aid to devotion and spirituality, runs a great
risk of leading to something entirely opposite. But
is this to say that spirituality should be estimated
in the inverse ratio of order and decency, and that
the state of affairs with regard to these, in many
evangelical churches, is not extremely deplorable ?
At the time when the Colonel arrived in the
Valleys, the greater part of our churches, but more

BUILDING OF THE CHURCH OF RODORET. 115
especially those of Rodoret, at the extremity of the
Valley of Saint-Martin, and of Rora, in. the Valley
of Luzerne, were in the most miserable state that
could be imagined. Such being the case, how could
such a sight fail to impress painfully a man like
Beckwith, accustomed to a very different state of
things in his own country ; where, if there be any
thing to blame in this respect, it is perhaps a ten
dency to the opposite extreme. It was therefore
almost before his principal work, the furthering of
public education, appeared to him so far advanced
as no longer to claim all his efforts, that he began
to fix his attention on the churches, and, first of all,
on that of Rodoret. In a letter, dated March 8th,
1843, Beckwith offers to charge himself with the
entire construction of this building — on condition,
however, that the plan being once fixed upon in con
cert with the Tasble, he shall have nothing more to
do with any one, whether engineer or inspector, but
solely with the pastor of the locality and his col
league of the neighbouring parish of Massel. This
condition having been accepted,* Beckwith imme
diately began the work ; and although, in these high
regions, the season suited to the work of building is
very short, it was only two years after he had com
municated his resolution to the Table (9th March
» See the deliberation of the Table on this subject, 28th March 1843.

116 PARSONAGE OF RODORET.
1845) that a most gracefully constructed church
was solemnly inaugurated by all the pastors of the
Valley of Saint-Martin, part of those of the Valley
of Luzerne, and a numerous assemblage of their
flocks. But the poor parish of Rodoret had no parsonage.
The one which it formerly possessed had, about seven
weeks before, become a heap of ruins. On the night
of the 15th January 1845, towards morning, while
the snow had been falling much more heavily than
usual, a horrible crash had suddenly been heard. It
was the poor little parsonage, which, shaken by the
breath of an avalanche, had sunk under the weight
of the snow which covered its roof, burying amidst
its debris the young pastor, his wife and child, and
their servant.* Now, if a healthy and commodious
dwelling is - one of the first necessities of existence,
how much more so is it in these rocky Valleys, with
their winter of six months and their immense heaps
of snow, compelling you to remain almost all the
time captive in your dwelling, and allowing an exit
only when absolutely necessary ? Beckwith did not
fail to meet this new want, and in less than two
years a charming little parsonage, which he strove
* The names of the victims of this calamity are as follows : — M. Daniel Buffa,
of Angrogna, aged twenty-nine years ; his wife, Mile. Nancy Caffarel, of Turin,
aged twenty-three years ; their son, Auguste, aged five months ; and their ser
vant, Jeanne Benech, of Angrogna, aged thirty years. The only living creature
that escaped was the pastor's dog.

A YOUNG CONTRIBUTOR. 117
to make as comfortable as possible, was erected close
to the church.*
The second church which the General set his
hand to was that of Rora. The building of it was
already occupying his attention during a stay in
England in 1843. Being one day on a visit to
some friends, he led the conversation to this subject.
One of the children of the house, a little boy of six
or seven years of age, had paid more attention to
the conversation than would have been expected of
one so young. Suddenly he disappeared, but re
turned immediately, and timidly approaching the
General, —
" Sir," he said to him, " do you think this could
help you to build your church ?"
And so saying, he held out to him a penny, which
was all his little fortune. Beckwith received it with
delight, and taking on his knee the child who had
made him this offering, said to him, —
" Yes, my little friend, I will build my church
with what you have given me ; and your penny, en-
* Although the initiative was here taken by Beckwith himself (as is shown by
his letter to the Table, of the 14th May 1845), yet it was not only, nor even prin
cipally, at his cost that the building was erected. Rodoret contributed as a
parish, 1568 francs, and as a consistory — devoting to it a trust of its property,
and the products of gifts formerly received — 5805 francs, 24 centimes. Dr.
Stewart of Leghorn contributed 1149 francs, 90 centimes ; the Rev. Mr. Sillery
of Dublin, 1904 francs, 50 centimes ; and some American friends, 1000 francs.
The total cost seems to have amounted to about 13,000 francs. (See in the
Archives of the Table the account of expenditure regarding this building, May
19th, J868.)

118 ERECTION OF A CHURCH AT RORA.
chased with your name, set in the corner-stone, shall
tell every one that you were the founder of it."
Scarcely returned to the Valleys, and before the
church at Rodoret was finished, Beckwith hastened
to lay the foundation of a church similar to it in
architecture, but of larger proportions, and the build
ing of which, thanks to the intelligent inspection of
the pastor, M. H. Rollier, made such rapid progress,
that so early as the 6th January 1846, the new
edifice was solemnly dedicated to public worship.
Beckwith had thus accomplished, within three or
four years, the construction of two churches and a
parsonage, without counting, during the same period,
the building of four parish schools and the boarding-
school. And this is not all : even before the build
ings just mentioned were finished, we find him al
ready preparing the plans for three others ; namely,
that for the houses of the professors, of which we
have spoken above ; that of the parsonage of Praly ;
and lastly, that of a parish church for La Tour, to
be placed at the western extremity of this important
borough. The parish of Praly, which much re
sembles in climate that of Rodoret, was, like the
latter, in urgent need of a parsonage. The ava
lanche had not, indeed, destroyed the present one ;
it was still standing ; but how poor and miserable
it looked ! Beckwith, who invariably felt the suf-

PARSONAGE OF PRALY. 119
ferings of others more than his own, could not bear
the idea of this privation being added to all the
others which are inseparable from the work of the
ministry in this mountainous country. He began,
therefore, to rebuild the old parsonage from its very
foundations, and succeeded in less than two summers
(1849 and 1850) in transforming a cold, unhealthy,
and dark dwelling into one which, if not elegant
and comfortable, was at least sufficient for the neces
sities of life in this rude climate.
The borough of La Tour, which, by its college,
normal and boarding schools, its important industrial
establishments, its easy access, charming environs,
and situation in the centre of the principal Valley,
is naturally considered as the capital, presented, until
the year 1852, the singular anomaly of being almost
entirely inhabited by Vaudois, and yet possessing no
church for their worship. A small church of still very
modest appearance — even after, thanks to the gener
osity of a compatriot of Beckwith, the wife of
General Molyneux- Williams, it had been restored —
was all the town as well as the neighbouring country
could boast.* It was situated at about a mile from
La Tour, at a place called Les Coppiers, at the foot of
* This worthy and generous friend of the Vaudois, who took a special interest
in the institution at Les Coppiers, then conducted by Mad. D'Espines, and to
which the Artigianelli Valdesi owe their foundation, restored not only the
church at Les Coppiers, but also that at Angrogna, and devoted to these repairs
the sum of more than £240.

120 PLAN OF A CHURCH FOR LA TOUR.
the hill. Every attempt to hold regular evangelical
worship, even in the least obtrusive way, within the
limits of the town itself, had been, until 1847, re
pressed by edicts which ought long before to have
fallen into disuse. As early as 1847, the reforms,
which were the following year to modify to such a
great degree the political conditions of the ancient
kingdom of Sardinia, were already beginning to cast
their shadows before. Beckwith, always attentive
to the signs of the times, immediately occupied him
self in putting a stop to a state of things as unfavour
able to piety as it was humiliating and vexing to
the population. He therefore formed the project of
building, a few yards from the town, almost opposite
the college, and close to the houses which he was
about to build for the professors, a church propor
tioned in size and architecture to the growing im
portance of the place.* A year or two more had
elapsed, however, before the plan was definitely fixed
upon and the work begun, under the care and direc
tion of Beckwith himself, f This charming edifice is
semi-Roman in style, of a most pleasing exterior,
measuring inside 92 feet, 8 inches in length, by 50
* The deliberation of the Table, by which it accepts the offer of the General
to build the church at La Tour, is of the 28th August 1847.
t This church, in common with almost all the other buildings undertaken by
Beckwith, including the church at Turin, was built by the master-builder Gas-
taldi, a man in whose intelligence and honesty the General had always great
confidence.

CHURCH AT LA TOUR. 12]
feet, 9 inches in breadth. It has a triple nave,
formed by a double row of pillars in stucco, of mixed
order. The middle nave, slightly raised, terminates
in an open chancel, in which the pulphV stands ; and
in the aisles are double galleries. This church was
entirely finished towards the spring of 1852, and
solemnly consecrated for public worship on the 1 7th
June of the same year.
At the time when the dedication took place, Beck
with had, for more than a year, ceased to reside in
the Vaudois Valleys. The great events of this
period, and the profound changes which, in a legis
lative point of view, had resulted from it, had dis
covered to him the possibility of the Vaudois Church
at last devoting itself to the work of Itahan evan
gelization ; for which end he, with many others,
believed it to have been providentially preserved.
He had also decided to fix his residence at Turin,
where, some months before, a Vaudois preacher had
settled, and was working with fewer obstacles and
greater success than could have been expected in a
place where, not more than three years before, the
celebration of evangelical worship had been abso
lutely forbidden, except within the walls of an Em
bassy.* Beckwith had scarcely established himself
» See below Chapter XL, entitled, "Beckwith and the Work of Evangelization
in Italy."

122 CHURCH AT TURIN.
here when great schemes began to present themselves
to his mind, and to occupy him completely. The
construction of a Vaudois church, beyond the limits
of the Vaudois Valleys, not in the provinces even,
but in the capital of the kingdom itself, seemed to
him a daring stroke of policy, whether in order to
feel in some sort the pulse of the Government upon
the important and hitherto ill-explained points of
liberty of conscience and of worship, or as a more
efficacious means than many others of overcoming
the innumerable prejudices which ignorance and bad
faith entertained in Italy against evangelical doctrines
and their adherents. And precisely because, by
means of this temple, the Vaudois Church, exiled
till now amidst its mountains, and little known in
Italy, was in some sort about to make its appear
ance on the classic ground of fashion and of art,
Beckwith felt it to be indispensable that, besides the
essential conditions of sufficient dimensions, salubrity,
solidity, and good acoustics, the building he dreamed
of raising should possess such an architecture as to
make it an ornament to the town within which it
was to stand.
With this idea duly matured in his mind, Beck
with was now wholly absorbed in devising the means
for preparing and securing its realization. This de
manded four things— namely, the sanction of the

OPERATIONS AIDED BY MESSRS. MALAN AND REVEL. 123
Government ; a convenient site ; a plan answering
in all respects the end proposed ; and, lastly, the
necessary funds for its execution. The plan for the
work, though it bears the name of the late architect,
Louis Formento, was in reality the work of the
General himself, aided, in the technical part, by the
advice and directions of that architect. In the
other part of his undertaking, he was powerfully
seconded by two men, to whom, though on vastly
different grounds, the Vaudois Church is infinitely
indebted ; M. J. Malan, banker, and for a long
time Deputy ; and Dr. J. P. Revel, then Moderator,
and pastor of the parish of Boby.* Thanks to the
position of the former, to his influence as Deputy,
and to his intimate connection with Count Cavour,
who cherished the greatest esteem for him ; thanks,
also, to his long experience in business, and to his
unbounded generosity, not only was the indispens
able authorization obtained, the site found and ac
quired, but a third of the purchase-money, stipulated
at more than £4000, was immediately covered. -f-
A journey undertaken by Dr. Revel, to collect for
* How little we thought, while writing these lines, that before they were
printed, the eminent man to whom they allude would have been taken from us,
and that our school of theology in Florenoe would have lost in him her most
j ustly esteemed professor, and the work of evangelization her most devoted and
indefatigable ohampion. It was on Sunday the 11th June 1871, three weeks after
his return from the Synod, and only a few days after having given his last lecture,
that M. Revel gave up his soul to the Lord, leaving behind him, in the midst of
the Vaudois Church, a blank which can only with difficulty be supplied.
t Another third of this sum was furnished by Beckwith himself.

124 SANCTION OF GOVERNMENT OBTAINED.
this object in Germany, Scotland, and Holland,
where his name had already attained great popu
larity, was attended with such an amount of suc
cess as to allow, without imprudence, the immediate
commencement of the work.
The most difficult point to gain had been the
authorization of the Government, and that is not
hard to. understand. Liberty of conscience and of
worship being not yet formally inscribed in the Con
stitution (which, on the contrary, maintains on these
points restrictions of more kinds than one), the Gov
ernment might very well, by keeping to the letter
of the law, have refused the demand made upon it
without being liable to the accusation of illegality.
Happily for the Vaudois and the country in general,
the liberties of which would have received a severe
blow from such a decision, the contrary view of
the question carried the day. Under the influence
of that eminently and frankly hberal man, Count
Cavour, then President of the Council of Ministers,
the authorization was granted. This was obtained,
nevertheless, not without great struggles ; and the
attempts to have it revoked, even after it had ob
tained the royal sanction, were so numerous, and
the means employed for this end so powerful and
so irresistible, that it required nothing short of the
proverbial loyalty of the Sovereign and the immov-

OPPOSITION OF COUNT SOLARO. 125
able firmness of his Ministry to prevent their suc
cess. The last and supreme effort towards this end
was made by a man whose name remains among us
as an incarnation of the old school of administra
tion, Count Solaro della Margherita, who, under
the reign of King Charles Albert, had for many
years held the helm of the State with a hand en
tirely devoted to the Jesuits. Unable to walk,
he was carried into the very presence of the suc
cessor of his old master, and falling on his knees
before him—" Sire," he said, " do not refuse to
one of the most faithful servants of your dynasty
the last favour which he will have the power to
ask of you before leaving this world, — do not
permit your good and loyal city of Turin to
have the sorrow and shame of seeing arise within
her walls an edifice consecrated to the preaching of
heresy." It was only by sheltering himself behind his
character as a constitutional monarch, and referring
the suppliant to his Ministers, that the King was
able to resist this violent demand. The Ministers
having no idea of retracting their decision, the work
was immediately begun, and the first stone was
solemnly laid on the 29th of October 1851, in pre
sence of delegates from the Vaudois Table, of the
Consistory of Turin, of all the Protestant members
(390J 9

126 VARIED LABOURS FOR THE CHURCH AT TURIN.
of the diplomatic body,* and of a numerous concourse
of the curious and the faithful. If this ceremony
was performed with a certain pomp and an unaccus
tomed solemnity, it was because, in the laying of
the first stone of this church, was seen the dawn of
a new era, — that of religious liberty in Italy. The
work of building, which lasted a little more than
two years, was, from beginning to end, directed and
inspected by Beckwith himself ; who, that he might
not lose sight of it for an instant, never left Turin
even during the hot season, however hurtful this
might be to his health, already somewhat shaken.
But it was not only his time and his solicitude
that Beckwith devoted to the erection of this build
ing. The sums collected in England, Scotland,
Holland, and elsewhere, along with that which the
country itself had furnished, were far from reaching
the amount of the estimate ; and besides, additions
were constantly being made to the original plan,
with the view of perfecting it. It was only by
drawing on his own purse, or by having recourse to
other private means, that Beckwith was able to
meet this surplus, f In spite of this, it may be said
* Messrs. Abercromby, for England ; De Roedern, for Prussia ; Baron de Pirch,
for Holland ; Kinney and Magoun, for the United States of America ; and
Charles Murset, for Switzerland. (See the Register of the Deliberations of the
Consistory of Turin, which contains the minutes of this ceremony. )
t England and Scotland together contributed the sum of 124,869 francs ; Hol
land, 46,731 francs ; the Vaudois Valleys and Turin, 46,495 francs ; Germany, 3000
francs ; Switzerland, 220 francs ; America, 8262 francs ; — total, including 2403

DEDICATION OF THE CHURCH AT TURIN. 127
that he neglected nothing to make this first church
built beyond the precincts of the Valleys a monu
ment of Christian and Protestant art, able to bear
comparison with the most beautiful ecclesiastical
buildings in the capital.
The church was dedicated on the 15th December
1853 with great solemnity, in presence of a large
concourse of people of all ranks, among whom were
most of the members of the diplomatic corps residing
at Turin, the senators, the deputies, and a delegation
of the national guard of the town, with the officers
at the head of it. The chancel, in the centre of
which stood the pulpit, was occupied by most of the
Vaudois pastors in their pastoral robes. The dedica
tion prayer* was composed by Beckwith himself, who
was desirous of the honour of giving the formula of
the first prayer to be addressed to God within this
church, which had been the object of so much soli
citude and so many sacrifices on his part. This
was one of the brightest days in the General's life ;
and those who had the happiness of being present
at this ceremony will remember his radiant coun
tenance, and the firm hope which it expressed that
francs of interest paid by the treasurer, M. J. Malan, 231,598 francs. The total
cost of the building, including the site, had been more than 345,000 francs ; so
that the sum furnished or procured by the General himself would be more than
113,000 francs. (Notes furnished to the author by M. J. Malan, or extracted from
the book of charges for the building of the church. )
* See the prayer in the Appendix, letter C.

128 LAST CHURCH BUILT BY BECKWITH.
the work, to accomplish which he had laboured and
struggled so long, had at last become independent of
his efforts, and was about to bear, for the good of
Italy, those fruits which, for many years, he alone
had seen in the distant future. But the course of
affairs in this world is a strange one. This church,
the most important of all that Beckwith had under
taken to build, was likewise the last. And not only
this, but by a course of circumstances which we
shall afterwards relate, at the very moment when he
seemed about to press forward with more ardour
than ever in his career, he suddenly stopped short ;
and henceforward from that time the work which
he had constantly indicated to the Vaudois Church
as his principal work received from him no assistance
beyond that sympathy which he would on no account
have withdrawn from it.

CHAPTER VIII.
BECKWITH AND WORKS OF CHARITY.

NOUGH has already been said of the ex
traordinary man whose history we are
relating, to prepare us for the contents
of this chapter. To conceive, undertake, and exe
cute, in the spirit in which he did it, such a series
of various good works as we have enumerated, re
quired more than high-mindedness and generosity of
character ; it required a heart open to every impulse
of charity. And how could Beckwith, with such a
heart, have remained insensible to the sufferings of
such a large portion of the Vaudois population ?
The people of the Valleys thought at one time that
it was in order to relieve their temporal wants that
he had come to live among them, so numerous and
abundant were the alms which he distributed on all
sides, not only to the Vaudois, but also to Catholics.
The time very soon came when he could no longer
take his daily walks without being constantly

130 ANECDOTE OF THE COAL-CARRIER.
stopped by supphants for his bounty. At other
times it was he himself who constrained the suf
ferer to reveal his distress and accept relief. One
day, on the way from Sainte-Marguerite to Villar,
he met a man, well known in the district, who
earned a scanty livelihood by carrying small coal
and wood from the hill, by means of an ass. The
poor man, who was that day without the animal,
was weeping hke some one under the weight of a
great misfortune.
" What is the matter, my friend ?" said Beckwith,
approaching him.
" Ah ! sir," replied the good man, in a mixture
of French and Piedmontese (he was a Catholic),
" they are going to take away my ass, and without
it my family and I must die of hunger."
And here he related to the Colonel, with many
details, how one of his creditors, whom he had been
unable to satisfy, had seized his ass, intending to
put it in his own stable. Beckwith was touched
by the story, and inquired as to the amount of the
debt. When told, he said, —
" Well, my friend, would you object to sell me
your ass, and pay your creditor with the money I
give you for it ? "
The man was perfectly pleased with this arrange
ment.

THE COLONEL'S ASS. 131
"In that case," said Beckwith, " bring the animal
to me to-morrow at Sainte-Marguerite, and you shall
receive your money."
The owner of the ass came punctually to the
rendezvous ; the money was counted out to him ;
and when, with a heavy heart, he was preparing to
go and leave his ass behind, —
" Oh," said Beckwith, " you may take the ass
with you for the present, and make use of it until
I claim it ; only, you must understand that the ass
is mine, and that I can allow no one to seize it
under any pretext whatever."
The surprise and joy of the good old man, when
he heard these words, can be better imagined than
described. As for the animal itself, this incident
made it quite famous in the neighbourhood ; and
henceforward, instead of being called Bontalon's
ass (the owner's name), it went by the name of
the Colonel's ass.
His commerce with God,* as he used to call his alms,
was often carried on upon a much larger scale. In the
spring of 1 8 3 3, for instance, wishing to show his grati
tude for a recovery from illness, f he distributed
among the poor of the different parishes (Protestants
and Catholics alike) an abundant supply of provisions.^
* Allusion to Matthew x. 42. t See Chapter III., p. 36.
t Notice of Beckwith, published by Pastor A. Bert in the journal Pidti et
Chariti for 15th February 1863.

132 VARIOUS CHARITIES.
In 1840, also, he sent from London, where he was
then residing, the sum of 1000 francs, to be con
verted into maize for the inhabitants of Rodoret,
whose harvest had been destroyed by the frost.
But his largesses were not confined to material
things ; he gave also, in more than one instance,
food for the soul. Having ascertained that in each
of the parishes there was a large number of families
who had either no Bible or only fragments of it,
he distributed, on two separate occasions, in 1841
and 1842, five hundred to six hundred Bibles at a
time, having first received from the Table permission
to do so.
But amid all the objects of charity with which he
was surrounded, none roused his sympathy or called
forth his liberality to such an extent as the hospitals
of the Vaudois Valleys, and particularly that of La
Tour. This charitable institution, the founding of
which has been mentioned previously,* was most
humble in its beginning ; which fact, instead of
being an evil, might have proved a blessing, had
it continued to improve with years. But it was ex
actly the contrary that happened, and in the begin
ning of 1846, twenty years after its foundation, it
was as far from realizing the true idea of an hospital
as it could well be. A doctor held the double
" Sec Chapter II., p. 32.

STATE OF THE HOSPITAL AT LA TOUR. 133
office of physician and manager ; tho managing
committee, composed of five members dispersed
throughout the country, did not think it necessary
to meet oftener than once in three months ; a male
and female attendant, both inexperienced, and as
much in the service of the doctor's family as of the
sick ; an extreme scarcity of linen, bedding, and
household utensils ; carelessness, dirt, disorder every
where ; — such was the picture presented at this
period by the hospital at La Tour. Beckwith fre
quently took his daily walk thither. " Such a state
of things cannot last," he said ; " it must be reme
died." But how?
The institution of the deaconesses of Echallens (now
Saint-Loup), in the canton of Vaud, founded by Pastor
Germond, was then beginning to attract favourable at
tention. Beckwith thought of confiding the internal
management of the hospital to one of these women ;
and having deliberated and fixed on the project in his
own mind, he tried to gain the consent of the managing
committee. This was a hard matter. The correction
of abuses, always difficult, is particularly so in a
narrow sphere hke that of the Vaudois Valleys. In
a small sphere, questions of principle easily become
personal questions. An abuse is no sooner vigor
ously attacked, than clamours and recriminations
arise from some one directly interested in perpet-

134 DEACONESS APPOINTED SUPERINTENDENT.
uating it ; and to these are added those of an im
mense troop of relations, friends, acquaintances, who
would fancy themselves wanting in the duties of
relationship and friendship, if they did not oppose
the reforms as effectually as possible.
The opposition aroused by the mere mention of
Beckwith' s plan became truly terrible when, by an
express resolution of the committee, the Colonel's
plan became a reality, and a deaconess from Echal
lens had been installed in the hospital at La Tour,
in place of the manager.* All that a mean and
intriguing spirit could do, was done to make the
position of this person as irksome as possible. But,
fortunately, it was all in vain. The Colonel watched
with redoubled activity against the machinations of
the opposing party. The deaconess charged with
the accomplishment of this revolution was in every
respect equal to her task, but particularly so by her
firmness and courage. Mile. Henriette Helmf (for
* This deliberation, dated November 6th, 1845, bears that " The committee,
feeling the need in the establishment of a person specially devoted to the care
of the sick, resolves, on the proposal of Colonel Beckwith, a constant friend of
the Vaudois, to call to the Valleys such a person, and to attach her to the ser
vice of the hospital at La Tour ; and to request the Joint-Moderator, M. Revel,
to take the necessary steps for carrying out this resolution."-
t Arrived at La Tour, January 3rd, 1845. She was replaced, after some
months, by Sister Elise Lochar, who, after about four years' residence in the
Valleys, devoted herself to a missionary career in the East Indies. The names
of the deaconesses of Saint-Loup who succeeded these two are the following : —
Sister Fauohette-Pasteur, 1851-52 ; Sister Rosalie Mathey, 1852-56, died in office ;
Sister Louise Fatio, 1856-59 ; Sister Julie Ruchonnet and Sister Rosine Albrccht,
1859-61 ; Sister Louise Reymond and Sister Jenny Delessert, 1862-64 ; Sister
Jenny Delessert and Sister Eugenie Gaillard, 1864-68 ; Sister Jenny Delessert and
Sister Julie Delessert, 1868-70.

DEVOTEDNESS OF SISTER HENRIETTE. 135
that was her . name) was determined that, even
though she sank under the effort, she would do
what was expected of her. And she did so most
thoroughly. After a most vigorous resistance, the
abuses were obhged to give way.
But the other alternative was also unfortunately
accomplished. Her health having broken down
under the excessive effort, Sister Henriette was
obliged to return to Echallens, where, some months
later, she calmly resigned her soul to Him in whose
service she had lived. Her departure was a great
grief to Beckwith, who was more capable than any one
of appreciating her noble qualities, and in whom a
character of such a stamp naturally called forth the
deepest sympathy. Moved by gratitude for what
she had been, as well as by interest for the work
itself, he kept constantly and unswervingly at the
side of each of the deaconesses who successively took
the place of their departed sister, advising and en
couraging them, and defending them, when neces
sary, against the more or less calumnious accusations
to which they were exposed. This formed one of
his occupations from the latter part of 1846. Some
time before, he had devoted a considerable sum of
money to reproviding the hospital with linen, bedding,
and kitchen utensils, including an economical stove,
which was procured from Switzerland on purpose.

136 CALUMNIOUS ACCUSATIONS.
It seemed to him, and justly, that so many sacri
fices, if they had not quite disarmed malevolence,
might at least have put a httle oil on the wheels.
Not at all, however ; the slanderous stories main
tained their ground, and facts most innocent in
themselves were, the day after, transformed into
real enormities committed by the deaconesses. One
of these accusations, believed in by one of the clerks
of the administration, a respectable man, and re
ported by him to the Colonel, was the drop of water
which caused the cup to overflow. Twenty-four
hours had not elapsed ere he received from Beck
with the following letter : — - " La Toub, 7th August 1846.
" My Dear N  N  , — The affair of which
you spoke to me yesterday proceeds from the irregu
larity and general disorder which characterize your
people. The wife of the sick man came to ask
leave to see her husband, and, as a question arose
between her and the deaconess, on the subject of
bringing food to the sick man, the woman made as
if she were going away, but in reality went up by
another stair to see her husband. It is not known
what passed, but finally the patient asked for his
clothes, and wished to leave. I think that it would
be better not to give refractory patients their clothes

LETTER OF REMONSTRANCE. 137
in such circumstances. But the means of coercion
are so weak, and the person in charge is so little
disposed to maintain the necessary order and dis
cipline, that any institution in this country becomes
next to impossible. The people expect to have
liberty to go out and come in from five o'clock in
the morning till eight in the evening ; to bring to
the sick what they choose ; to remain with them as
long as they think fit; and if you try to restore
order, you are met by resistance, and sometimes
by violent and scandalous conduct. Every one has
been crying out against the bad management of the
hospital, and none more than you ; and now that
an attempt at order is being made, every one rises
against it.
" The daily visits, of a few minutes each, made by
doctors occupied with their own practice, can have
but little influence on the management of an hos
pital. All that these doctors can reasonably expect,
is that their orders shaU be obeyed, and their pre
scriptions followed. They have no influence over
the internal management of the house, and can take
no part in it. It is the same with the committee ;
they make quarterly resolutions, and then they go
away. Who, then, is expected to attend to the
details of the management during twenty-three
hours out of the twenty-four? Formerly there

138 LETTER OF REMONSTRANCE.
was nothing to do. The patients, abandoned to
the care of two ignorant, brutal servants, were
without hnen, without proper food, without reme
dies ; — such was the hospital in those days. And
how have they tried to remedy all that? With
good-for-nothing words and fault-finding. And,
supposing the same state of things to exist still,
will you do me the favour of pointing out the
means and the persons most fitted to amend it?
To make an hospital what it ought to he, the fol
lowing things are needed : —
" 1. Conscientious and scientific medical skill.
" 2. The assiduous services of domestics, intelli
gently directed by a superior.
" 3. Abundance of good and well-kept linen.
" 4. Clean beds.
" 5. Good and carefully prepared victuals and
drink. " 6. Careful attention to the doctors' prescrip
tions. " 7. Cleanliness throughout the whole house.
" 8. Order and honesty in money matters.
"9. The control of the provision merchants.
" If you wish to do us a real service, ascertain
the facts regarding these different heads ; point out
to us wherein the hospital is still deficient, and we
wiU try to remedy the deficiencies. But do not

LETTER OF REMONSTRANCE. 139
join in the clamours of a careless public, who will
not even take the trouble to learn the facts, and
who would leave the hospital to go to ruin without
so much as holding out their little finger to save it.
You, as one of the principal witnesses of it, cannot
deny the bad state in which the establishment was
formerly. Now that we are trying to place it on a
good footing, it is your duty to help us. If you
have complaints to make, you must also have justice
and patience to prove their truth. A spirit of
hostihty towards a woman is useless ; nothing can
be done against such an enemy. We, as men, are
called upon to act with coolness, and upon a know
ledge of facts. Our mode of action is very simple : we
have to take the facts one by one ; to weigh them in
a balance ; to arrange them ; to maintain good order ;
and to second the efforts of those who are called
upon to struggle against the want of good sense and
uprightness in those individuals who, if left to them
selves, would keep up perpetual disorder in every
possible way.
" At present the service and furnishings of the
house are considerably improved ; neither money nor
trouble is being spared to supply all the still exist
ing wants ; and this is the moment chosen for crying
out against those engaged in the work ! But I have
had too much experience of men and business in

140 LETTER TO THE MODERATOR.
this country to be discouraged ; and I will face it
all, and persevere in spite of all the world. — Beheve
me always, my dear N  N  , yours very
sincerely, &c, " Charles Beckwith, Colonel."
Three days later, Beckwith addressed to the
Moderator of the Vaudois Church a no less deter
mined and energetic letter than the preceding one,
which concluded in the following words, with which
we will also conclude the chapter : —
" I am by no means frightened or discouraged by
all this opposition. It is entirely by the success of
these efforts, made in the interest of the poor, the
Church, and the nation, that I shall henceforward
regulate my conduct. The proper application of
public money, and the care of the sick poor, are
among the first duties of a community ; and if a
Christian community has not physical and moral
energy enough to fulfil this duty to its own country,
it is not worthy of the name. I have no doubt
that I shall receive from the Table all the assistance
necessary. I am sure that that body will under
stand ail that passes, and will weigh in a just
balance all questions as they arise from time to
time. The present deaconess is active, intelligent,

RESULTS. 141
economical, and unfailing in the performance of
duty. She is necessarily often brought into contact
with a spirit which delights in disorder ; but it is
eminently for the interest of the establishment to
have a person capable of combating dispositions
equally hurtful to the sick themselves and to those
who nurse them. — Believe me, Mr. Moderator, always
your sincerely affectionate " Charles Beckwith, Colonel."
Twenty-four years have passed since these lines
were penned, and if any one who had seen the in
stitution in its former state were to visit it now,
the sight of the perfect order and prosperity now
visible in every part of the establishment, could not
fail to make him bless, from the bottom of his heart,
the man who, by his patient continuance in well
doing, was the principal agent in this transfor
mation.

10

CHAPTER IX.
BECKWITH AND ECCLESIASTICAL QUESTIONS.
THE MODERATOR FOR LIFE.

SHE ecclesiastical questions which occupied
the attention of Beckwith, during the
period of his beneficent activity in the
midst of the Vaudois Church, were two in number,
— viz., that of Moderator for life, and that of the
Liturgy. In the first place — chiefly for the sake of
those of our readers who are not acquainted with the
constitution of the Vaudois Church — let us give
some explanation of the nature of the office of
Moderator. In the various Presbyterian Churches
of France, Scotland, Ireland, and we beheve also, of
America, this title is given to the President of the
General Assembly, or Synod, of each of these
Churches. The name is taken from the office, which
is to direct, or, more hterally, to moderate, the
debates. In the Vaudois Church, on the contrary,
the functionary designated by this title is the Presi-

THE VAUDOIS MODERATORSHIP. 143
dent of the executive power, or Table,* which is
charged, from one Synod to another, with the general
administration of church affairs.
Another detail which it is essential to mention,
with regard to this office, is, that the Moderator in
the Vaudois Church was only nominated, and still is,
for the time which elapsed between one Synod and
another, which, up to 1848, was a term of five years.
At the expiration of this term, the retiring Moderator
might be re-elected, and sometimes was ; but if, as
generally happened, the Assembly decided on a new
nomination, they might — according to a system of
equilibrium, which plays a great part in the ad
ministrative history of the Vaudois Church — take
the new Moderator from another valley than that to
which his predecessor belonged ; from the Valley of
Saint-Martin, for instance, supposing the last in office
to have been chosen from the Valley of Luzerne, or
vice versd. How little such a system was likely to
be to the taste of an Episcopalian and a soldier like
Beckwith, it is not hard to understand. Add to
this, the way in which this system unfortunately
worked for years under his eyes was by no means

* Composed of five members, three of whom are ecclesiastics, and two lay
members. Very probably the title of Moderator was given to the President of the Table
because, for many years, and up to the Synod of 1848, which modified this state
of things, this functionary held both the office of President of the Administration
and that of President of the Synod.

144 PERMANENT MODERATORSHIP.
calculated to render him friendly to it. And besides,
the satisfaction which he felt, when the man at the
head of affairs was found to be capable of under
standing and taking part in his projects, and in all
respects worthy of his confidence, must have made
him look with distrust on every prospect of seeing
such a one replaced by a man possessed, perhaps, of
none of the qualities which he so valued in the
actual holder of the office.*
Thus it was that, in 1837, while his reforming
activity was at its height, and while M. J. P. Bonjour
was Moderator, there arose in the mind of Beckwith
the idea of a Moderator for life, no longer chosen
because he lived in one valley rather than another,
but chosen from any locality, no matter where, pro
vided he were the best man to be found. He
must have no cure of souls, so as to be able to de
vote himself entirely to the general interests of the
Church ; a Moderator combining, it must be owned,
under thoroughly Presbyterian and democratic exter
nals, the principal attributes of a genuine bishop.
Other considerations still, of a more essentially re
ligious nature, had their share in urging Beckwith

"There is no one here who understands business ; and I have a particular
interest in wishing the management to remain in the present hands. This is of
the greatest importance to me, as all that has yet been done is merely sketch-
work, and requires for its completion the same intellectual means, used in the
same way, by the same will." — Letter from Beckwith to Pastor J. P. Bonjour,
Moderator, dated 12th September 1838.

INFLUENCE OF FOREIGN COLLEGES.

145

on in the way just indicated. Fully agreed on this
point with the venerable Dr. Gilly, his fellow-
labourer and fellow-countryman, Beckwith could not
but view with extreme apprehension the influence
which the theological faculties of France and Switzer
land threatened to exercise over the future of the
Vaudois Church, as it was to these countries that
the students of the Valleys went to prosecute their
studies. Ecclesiastically speaking, this influence Was,
in his eyes, that of disorder and anarchy ; dogmati
cally, it was that of Socinianism and Rationahsm.
For want of making a great enough distinction, in
this last respect particularly, between Geneva and
Lausanne, and between Strasburg and Montauban,
his judgments on these different faculties did not
sufficiently bear the impress of that justice and im
partiality, which were, notwithstanding, distinctive
traits in his character.* To combat this influence

* The following fragment of a letter from Beckwith to the Moderator will
leave no doubt of the truth of our assertion. Although dated July 14th, 1857, it
expresses none the less clearly the sentiments which, even at that time, he cher
ished on this subject: —
" It has never been possible to make you accept your true mission. Dr. Gilly
and I were the only Vaudois ; all the others were French Calvinists. Seven cen
turies of well-confirmed traditions have not had the smallest effect on your
minds. Geneva was written in large letters on the moral standard which you
unfurled in Piedmont, and you must bear the consequences. You have evaded
and mistaken your descent. Legitimate children of apostolic times, you have
abjured your descent and your rights as children of the soil, to attach your
selves to strangers and innovators. Your war-cry is ' Calvin/ while the name of
Claude would have overthrown your adversaries, and gained for your cause the
intelligence, the respect, and affection of Piedmont."
As for Gilly, the notes which follow prove that we have been equally far from
deceiving ourselves with regard to him.

1 46 COUNTERACTIVES.
by every lawful means, in order to substitute for it
another which he deemed much more beneficial to
the Vaudois Church, was the constant effort of Beck
with, from the day on which the raising up of the
Vaudois Church became the object of his life.
Various measures of considerable importance,
adopted between the years 1833 and 1839, such
as the foundation at La Tour of a college, where
the Vaudois students for the holy ministry might
complete their studies, without the need of repairing
to foreign universities ; * the composition of a Liturgy,
for the exclusive use of the Church in the Valleys ; -f-
the revived use, at the Synod of 1839, of the Con
fession of Faith of 1655, which had more or less
fallen into disuse ; J the consecration of candidates
* The last and most important object of the "foundation of the college is to
furnish such means of instruction in the Valleys, that it may no longer be ab
solutely necessary for the young Vaudois to go to foreign academies to finish
their education. It is, in a great measure, to prevent this expatriation, so
dangerous to the manners and religious principles of the Vaudois, that I have
extended the institution so far in this direction," &c. — Letter from Dr. Gilly to
the Table, dated December 23rd, 1839.
In another he insists that "the religious instruction given at the college shall
be perfectly conformable to the old Catechism or formulary of the Vaudois doc
trine, dated the year 1100, and to the Confession of Faith of 1655."
The title of College of the Holy Trinity is given by him (as we have seen) to-
the establishment which he has just founded, in the hope that "this title will
mark the character of the institution, and make it more to be respected in the
eyes of your neighbours, of the Romish Church, and of foreign Christians ; at
the same time that it will serve to attest the adhesion of the Vaudois churches of
to-day to the faith of their ancestors." — Letter to the Table of February 23rd, 1835.
t The funds for the printing of a double edition of this Liturgy (one for
churches, printed at Edinburgh in 1837, the ojher for families, printed at Lau
sanne in 1842) were, for the most part, procured by Dr. Gilly. With the excep
tion of a ritual for the burial of the dead, somewhat like that of the Anglican
Liturgy, this Liturgy scarcely differs from that of the Reformed Churches of
Switzerland. t Regarding the resolutions of this Synod, the following was written by Dr.

COUNTERACTIVES.

147

for the holy ministry (which had long been left
to the academies where they studied) restored to
the body of pastors of the Church, who might only
proceed to it with the greatest circumspection, and
at the close of a profound examination upon the
religious and ecclesiastical views of the candidate ;
and lastly, the choice of three of the most highly
gifted young Vaudois, to be sent to study theology
in an English university ; * — all these resolutions,
and others besides, in the adoption of which Beck
with and Dr. Gilly both took a considerable part,
were only successive steps in the direction and
towards the goal which we have already pointed
Gilly, 12th September 1839 : "When I compare the grave deliberations of your
Synodal assembly, on subjects of such vast importance, with those of other
ecclesiastical conferences, held by certain Reformed Churches, I am proud of
my relations with the Waldensian Church of Piedmont. By your Synodal acts
you have raised yourselves to a more respectable position than ever."
"I hope," (Gilly wrote on this subject, August 13th, 1840), "that I am not pre
sumptuous in attributing this act in a certain measure to the influence of those
friends of the Vaudois, who have tried to make your churches independent of
those of Switzerland. "
Beckwith wrote in his turn, July 20th, 1640 : " I have seen with pleasure that
your proposal concerning the consecration has had effect, and I firmly believe
that our long conversations by the fireside have borne fruit."
* These young men were Messrs. Henri Muston of La Tour, Charles Vincon
of Pramol, and Joseph Monastier of Angrogna. In the letter, dated from Saint-
Jean, April 28th, 1839, which Beckwith addressed to the Table, to ask that Dr.
Gilly might be authorized to cause these young men to study at the University
of Durham, offering to conduct them thither himself, he adds the following :
"As I have no share of the responsibility, and only take charge of the young
people for the sake of the friendship I feel for them and their families, I desire
that the authorization may be granted to Dr. Gilly. " It was granted by a resolu
tion of the 30th April. Another letter from Beckwith, dated London, 14th
June, 1838, on the subject of these young men, says, that "they have aroused a
general interest ;" and. expresses the hope that "this undertaking will have a
result rnost favourable to the interests of the Valleys." It is well known that
this hope was not realized, and that not one of these young men ever took his
place among the Vaudois' clergy.

148 ANGLICAN INFLUENCES.
out. Moreover, it must be acknowledged that
Beckwith was Anglican, not only by birth and
education, but from the deepest convictions of
his heart. The Episcopal constitution was, in
his eyes, if not the only truly Biblical one (he
probably did not go so far as to maintain this),* at
least the one which, better than any other, impressed
on the action of the Church the double character of
authority on one side, and union on the other, which
are the indispensable conditions of its influence.
And is it to be wondered at, that he wished to
endow the Vaudois Church — for which he had such
an affection — with an organization realizing in his
eyes such precious advantages ? Yet, large-hearted
and large-minded as he otherwise was, and as he
showed himself to be by living for nearly thirty
years in the communion of a Church so different
from his own, it is more than probable that he
would not have attempted this, if other considera
tions had not been added to those which we have
just mentioned.
And, in the first place, who are the Vaudois, and
whence do they come? -J- Beckwith, like many of
* " Episcopal consecration is not a sine qud non for the valid exercise of the
duties of the presidential or episcopal office. Saint Jerome is of the opinion,
grounded on several passages of Scripture, that a preshyter and a bishop are on
the same footing as to their sacerdotal character." — Letter to M. J. P. Bonjour,
2&th August 18M.
t See the numerous articles on this question published in the Buona Novella
of 1851, the materials for which had been furnished by Beckwith,

ORIGIN OF THE VAUDOIS. 149
those who have directed their attention to this dif
ficult historical problem, saw in them the remains of
the primitive Church of Christ in Piedmont — mem
bers of the great Latin Church, abandoned by their
bishops, when, at the beginning of the twelfth cen
tury, the influence of the Papacy, long held in check
in the diocese of the North of Italy, had begun to
preponderate there, as in the rest of Christendom.
He regarded them, in consequence, as the spiritual
children of that illustrious Claude, Bishop of Turin,
who, in those times of profound religious ignorance,
was like a lamp, dissipating, to a great distance, the
thick darkness in which the whole world was then
plunged. To return to a more or less Episcopal
organization, was not this, then, for the Vaudois,
simply to return to their origin?
In the second place, although it was then only
1836 or 1837, and the great events which have
since disturbed and so completely transformed the
Peninsula were then but very vaguely foreseen by
a small number, Beckwith' s mind and heart were
already preoccupied by great designs and under
takings in connection with the Vaudois Church —
designs and undertakings for which great pecuniary
resources were indispensable. And from whom were
these resources to be obtained, but from his com
patriots and those who professed the same religion ?

150 PROSPECT OF ITALIAN EVANGELIZATION.
And this being so, would not his task be greatly
facilitated, if, in appealing to them for help, he could
show them, in the Vaudois Church — his client — not
an anarchical Church (as Presbyterian Churches are
in the eyes of many Anglicans), but a Church, if
not frankly Episcopal, yet possessing at least a good
,many of the advantages of this system ?
Lastly, in an ecclesiastical organization a httle
less removed from that of the Romish Church than
the present organization of the Vaudois Church,
Beckwith saw a point of contact with Italy, upon
which that Church would be called, sooner or later,
to exercise her influence.
"Y Such, then, were the circumstances and precon
ceptions under the influence of which the subject
placed at the head of this chapter was deposited, as
it were, in the mind of Beckwith ; and after a time
of reflection, more or less prolonged, produced itself,
in the autumn of 1837, under the form of a mani
festo to the body of pastors, intended to gain them
over to the same way of thinking. In this unde
niably able document — as remarkable for the piety
it breathes as for the elevation of the sentiments and
thoughts contained in it — Beckwith hardly puts
forward any of the motives we have enumerated,
except those connected with the administration of
the Church itself,

MANIFESTO TO THE CLERGY. 151
" I present myself before you," he says in the
beginning of it to the pastors, " with the entire con
fidence of a man who knows that he enjoys your
esteem and friendship, to discuss with you sub
jects of great interest to the churches and the popu
lation of the Vaudois. When I shall have shown
you the present state of public affairs, I would fain
beheve that there will no longer be any difference
of opinion on the necessity of introducing some modi
fications in the way of administering them ; and my
task will be to reconcile differences of opinion,
whether among yourselves, or between you and
those who are called to make the sacrifices necessary
for bringing about the changes which shall be
thought expedient. What I am about to say to
you comes from myself. No one has influenced me.
I am a free agent, and I present myself before free
men, freely to discuss measures which are conceived
entirely for the public interest, without mental re
servation, and without any other object than the
welfare of all."
To these introductory remarks, well fitted to gain
the hearts and minds of those to whom they are
addressed, Beckwith adds an enumeration, as com
plete as possible, of the duties of all kinds which
even then belonged to the office of Moderator, and
which were very soon to become more numerous

152 PROPOSAL OF A MODERATOR FOR LIFE.
and more important. The inference which he draws
from this is, that it is absolutely impossible for a
Moderator, having a cure of souls, to perform ade
quately the duties of his charge. Beckwith there
fore proposes " the nomination of a Moderator exempt
from the duties attaching to the care of a parish."
But here a difficulty presents itself to block up
the way. It may be objected, that, when a pastor
has been removed from his flock, and had the
general care of the whole Church confided to him
for a period of years, it will be next to impossible,
when he resigns the charge, to restore him to his
former functions, when, in the interval, another
pastor shall have taken his place. Not only is
Beckwith undeterred by this difficulty, but he
avails himself of it to reach with one bound his
wished-for conclusion— namely, the nomination of a
Moderator, not for a time, as hitherto, but for life.
The considerations by which he supports his pro
position are as follows : — 1. It will be infinitely
more easy — among the fifteen pastors who compose
the Vaudois clergy* — to find one really capable man
every twenty years (supposing this to be the average
term of duration of one Moderator's charge), than
four during the same space of time, as the present
* The number of pastors properly so called, which was then only fifteen, was
increased after 1848 to sixteen, in consequence of the constitution of the Pro
testant community of Turin into the sixteenth parish of the Vaudois Church.

REASONS FOR THE CHANGE. 153
organization would require. 2. If the system which
it is proposed to abandon offers — thanks to the fre
quent elections which result from it — a larger number
of opportunities for making a good choice, it in
creases, at the same time, the opportunities for doing
the contrary, and (aided by the passion which is so
natural to the heart of man) for committing errors of
judgment, against which one is the less fortified the
more one trusts to the frequency of the elections to
repair their hurtful consequences. 3. A Moderator
for life would acquire, by the mere fact of his per
manency, experience, tact, and consequently autho
rity, such as could never fall to the lot of a pastor
just called away from his parish, and obliged to re
turn to it in a short time, at the very moment when
he is beginning to be equal to his charge. 4. Lastly,
this system would strengthen considerably, instead
of weakening, the sentiment of personal responsi
bility, which is for every functionary, no matter of
what order, the most powerful motive for, as well as
the surest guarantee of, a conscientious and efficient
performance of duty.
"Besides," he adds, as if to anticipate the objec
tion which he feels will be the strongest of all, " as
your constitution assures you of the means of retrac
ing your steps, you have only to weigh the ad
vantages and disadvantages of the present state of

154 REASONS FOR THE CHANGE.
things, compared with those of the change proposed
to you."
Then, returning to the principal reason why, in
the present state of the Vaudois Church, this change
seems to him absolutely necessary, he adds : —
" For some years past, the attention of your
fellow-Protestants has been drawn towards you, and
means have been placed at your disposal, which it
depends on you to apply suitably. We think that
the development and application of these means
will be very difficult, if not impossible, unless we
have at hand a person thoroughly acquainted with
business, and well known to all those with whom he
will frequently come in contact. We are of opinion
that a Moderator domiciled in his own parish — in
the Valley of Saint-Martin, for instance (which will
not fail to happen) — will be very much isolated;
that our communications with him can be but rare ;
and that he will not be able properly to oversee and
develop the institutions which will arise from our
efforts. The time seems favourable for advancing
the interests of your churches. You understand
perfectly your political and religious stand-point ;
you have some idea that possibly, nay, probably, a
time may come when you shall no longer be aided
and supported as you are to-day. I beg you, there
fore, to act with that manly intelligence and those ex-

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 155
panded views which, laying aside all lesser consider
ations, look to the result alone. If, then, the Vau
dois accept the proposal we make to them, to appoint
a Moderator for life, we, in our turn, will undertake
to furnish him with a proper salary, and to build
him a house at La Tour.
" Such, gentlemen, are our views and opinions ;
it is for you to judge of them. We are not in the
least disposed to be conceited about them, nor to
press you to accept them. If we see that they are
not generally approved of, we are perfectly willing
to withdraw1 them, and to wait patiently for better
days. Yet we would remind you that these ideas
have sprung up in our minds while watching, step
by step, the progress of your affairs for the last ten
years ; and that we believe them to be eminently
adapted to your present position, and fitted to
consolidate your churches, and thus to spread the
principles and the doctrines' of the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ."
In spite of the incontestable logic of the docu
ment we have just analyzed ; in spite of the truth
of its complaints against the vacillating and uncertain
progress of affairs in the midst of the Vaudois
Church ; in spite even of the kind of threat with
which it closes, — -its almost universal effect was to
stir up opposition. As for the Table, its opinions

156 OPPOSITION.
were divided ; but those of the people were gener
ally and thoroughly adverse.
That the organization of the Vaudois Church had
long ago been more or less Episcopal was no reason,
it was said, why now, when times and the needs of
men had altered so much, the Church should return
to what she had abandoned centuries before. Besides,
it was added, if our Church, as it is at present
organized, has unmistakable defects, yet it is with
this organization that we have traversed, without
sinking, the most stormy periods of our history ;
and who will answer for it that the one which it is
proposed to substitute for it will be able to do as
much for us, and that it, too, may not have its defec
tive points, which, though less seen outwardly, will
be neither less numerous nor less to be regretted ?
It is true, it was also said, that, in the present
system, the men intrusted with the administration
of the Church are, in general, only for a short time
in office. And yet there is nothing in this system
to prevent their charge being prolonged indefinitely,
so often as this shall be thought beneficial for the
interests of the Church ; and at the same time there
is this great advantage, which the opposite system
would forcibly exclude, that an appointment, of
which there might be just cause to repent, cannot
be made irrevocable. Lastly, not to omit any of the

PROTEST OF THE STUDENTS. 157
elements which constituted this opposition, the idea
of a Moderator for life, with special functions, a
residence, and a salary* of his own, superior to
those of any of the pastors, his colleagues, could not
fail to meet with the most active opposition in a
centre so thoroughly democratic as the Vaudois Val
leys, where authority in every shape is irksome, and
where personal and family interests, the more power
ful the narrower the sphere in which they move, act
a most important part.
The most marked protests against the project in
question were thus not wanting. They came from
far and near. The theological students at Lausanne
and Berlin thought it necessary, for the sake of their
Church, to enter their protest also.
" Touched with admiration and gratitude," they
wrote to the Colonel, f " for the benefits which you
pour unceasingly upon out,neople, we felt ourselves
impelled, last year, to testify to you our feelings for
your person and your work ; and you deigned to
receive the expression of our gratitude with kind
ness and condescension. To-day we come, inspired
by the same sentiments, to express to you, with all
* The inorease of salary was only to come later, as the following fragment of
a letter from Beckwith will show: — "You may tell Poetti that I hold myself
responsible for the house, and for £60 sterling a year. It is better to begin with
an income equal to that of the pastors, so as not to excite jealousy." — Letter
from Beckwith to M. Bonjour, from Saint-Jean, 12th September 1838.
t Among the number were M.t afterwards Dr., Revel, M. Lantaret, the present
Moderator of the Vaudois Church, and the author of these lines.
(390) 11

158 PROTEST OF THE STUDENTS.
humility and frankness, the ideas aroused in us by
the proposal you have made to the Valleys,' suggest
ing a change in our ecclesiastical organization ; and
we are fully persuaded that this expression of our
sentiments will meet with as kind a reception from
you as the preceding one."
After having admired the kindness of intention
which had led Beckwith to bring forward this plan,
and agreed with him as to the faultiuess and need of
improvement in the present organization of the Vau
dois Church ; after reservations with regard to their
competence (considering their age) to pronounce an
opinion on questions of such importance, — they come,
"in their quality of Vaudois," exposed, hke all
who profess the same religion, to the lamentable
consequences which the scheme in question might
entail, to protest, with all the others, against its
adoption. " First," they said, " because we do not think it
can be proved that the proposed organization is more
in harmony with the Bible than that for which it
would be substituted ; secondly, because it does not
appear to us more useful, but, on the contrary, much
more dangerous in its possible consequences ; lastly,
because we trust to the integrity of a state of things
which has been transmitted to us by our ancestors,
and which, by its existence for more than six cen-

ANSWER TO THE PROTEST. 159
turies in the midst of the most adverse circumstances,
has become to each one of us the object of unbounded
respect." In conclusion, they adjured Beckwith at
least to postpone this scheme, if he could not resolve
to abandon it ; declaring, with the bold petulance of
youth, " that, as for them, they would hold them
selves in conscience bound to oppose it, even after it
should have been adopted."
The Colonel's answer, dated 30th April 1838,
exhibits more clearly than ever the idea which had
presided at the birth and development of his project.
Beckwith reminds them that the college was founded
and endowed* with a sum of money bequeathed
with the view of advancing the interests of Pro
testantism on the Continent, and destined by the
testamentary executors for the Vaudois Church. But
the sacrifices hitherto made were far from sufficient ;
others must be made.
"As experience," says Beckwith, "had clearly-
shown us the insufficiency of the present adminis
tration, to inspect establishments which require
daily attention, we proposed to have a Moderator
for life. Our aim in this was, first of all, to have
a man who would have time to improve himself,
and to benefit those under his charge by the fruits
of his experience ; a man protected from the caprices
* See tho chapter concerning the college, p, 75.

160 ANSWER TO THE PROTEST.
of the public ; a man well known to all with whom
he might have to do — a thing absolutely indispens
able for those who, not residing in the country, are
notwithstanding annually called upon to make great
sacrifices : in short, a man having authority. We
also wished to be better assured of the conscientious
outlay of the sums confided to us. The Vaudois
have not thought fit to agree to our proposal, and
they have, in duty and in conscience, rejected it.
We, too, have our duty and our conscience, which
are, unfortunately, not in harmony with yours. We
cannot, then, proceed further for the present."
After having thus justified himself, Beckwith, in
his turn, makes a vigorous attack. Setting out
from the declaration of the students, that even after
the project should have been adopted, they would
hold themselves in conscience bound to oppose it, —
" I believe," he says to them, " that you have
not well weighed such a declaration, which would
render society based on such principles impossible.
But, unfortunately, this is the moral plague of your
community. You cannot distinguish between men
and principles. You lose sight of the latter, and of the
advantages that you might derive from them, for the
sake of purely personal considerations ; and thus
you are totally misguided. A principle once laid
down, men must be left to act according to the laws

ANSWER TO THE PROTEST. 161
which govern its application, and to 'submit to it
rehgiously. At present you are young, full of hope,
good intentions, and high aspirations ; but if you
do not learn to obey the law and those who have to
enforce its application, you will prepare for your
selves a future of regrets and inconsistencies, with
shame for its result. Your ripe reflections are vain.
Fruit does not ripen in spring. A time will come
when you will understand that the governed too may
have their errors, as well as those who govern ; and
that no one can form a just judgment of their
mutual obligations who has not had experience -of
their respective duties. You will soon find your
selves in presence of men, and of the system which
guides the operations of society in your country ;
and, some years hence, I shall have the pleasure, or
rather the pain, of comparing our opinions. You
will then be pastors, fathers of families, administra
tors — you will have had time to realize your inten
tions ; but I much fear, that, instead of facts, you
will give me reasons which it is not hard to imagine
beforehand. You will tell me that the good are in
the minority ; that the indifferent are many ; that
the wicked are bold, active, and enterprising ; that
you have not succeeded because you have not been
helped ; that means have failed you ; that you have
been put aside because, wishing to do what is right

162 ANSWER TO THE PROTEST.
and necessary, you came in contact with a majority
which overthrew you, as it had overthrown your
predecessors, and as it will overthrow all who come
after you ; that you have not even undertaken that
which appeared necessary, because you felt that it
would be useless, seeing that you had neither the
time requisite for carrying out your projects, nor the
means of justifying your failure before the public.
Thus I shall find .you crushed beneath the weight
of your own system, and reduced to that impotence,
inactivity, and want of energy, which are the faults
of your country  No one among you to inspect,
no one to lead, no one who dares reprove the wicked
and encourage the good ; not a soul that will brook
the shadow of authority, unless brute force go with
it. Kissing the hand which strikes them on the
part of others, your people proudly lift their head
against the authority of their own choice ; that
authority which they ought rather to be led to re
spect and love, by honour, by devotion, by religion,
and by the close bond that unites those who suffer
under a common misfortune. You yourselves will
be the victims of such a state of things. You will
be called upon to remedy it, and you will sink be
neath the task, as so many have done. You will
then see, with sorrow, that (in the question of which
we treat) you have been satisfied with words, that

CHARACTER OF THIS ANSWER. 163
you were incapable of judging of facts, that you had
not understood your position, that -the conclusions
you drew were not just, and that you formed your
decision without knowing the reason for it."
Allowing even the greatest latitude to the exag
geration contained in these reproaches, they must
be admitted to contain still greater truth ; and we
are convinced that not one of those to whom this
letter was addressed, when he reached manhood,
and was called in his turn to the management of
public affairs, did not acknowledge that Beckwith
had been right in many things which he had said
twenty years before ; and that, in particular, obedi
ence to rule and authority is no more now than it
was then the dominant and characteristic virtue of
the members of the Vaudois Church. This same
question of the Moderator for life forms the main
point of Beckwith's correspondence with the then act
ing Moderator, M. J: P. Bonjour, during the autumn
and winter of 1838, which he spent in England.
Even in the presence of the almost unanimous op
position raised by his scheme, Beckwith is not dis
couraged ; and is so convinced of its perfect suit
ability to the present needs of the Vaudois Church,
that he never wearies of the subject, and goes on
recommending its acceptance in the most pressing
wav.

164 LETTER TO MODERATOR BONJOUR.
" P  is right," he writes on September 12th,
"in taking advantage of this assembly (the Synod
which was shortly about to meet) to place this mat
ter before the eyes of the public. For the present,
humanly speaking, its success is not probable ; but
the principle is so solid, that I am persuaded God
will give the scheme success if He judges it to be a
suitable one."
" Our children," he writes, some days later (20th
September) of the three young Vaudois taken by
him to Durham for the purpose of studying for the
ministry, " are in very good health, and making
much progress. They are good specimens of the
Vaudois, and will be of great use in enabling them
to obtain a footing in the University of Durham,
and afterwards, I hope, in others also. Is it not of
unspeakable importance to strengthen and develop
views so useful and profitable to your clergy and
your people ? If the Vaudois are sensible enough
to walk frankly with their true friends, they will
reap much advantage from it, without being com
promised or called to make great sacrifices. You
have a deserved reputation ; but it is time to show
yourselves worthy of your fathers. You have, for
many years, done nothing to maintain and advance
the interests of the Protestant religion. Those of
your true friends who, favoured by circumstances,

LETTER TO MODERATOR BONJOUR. 165
have broader views and means, which they will
place at your disposal, are now showing you the
right way, and you ought to listen to them. They
are not seeking either to domineer or to encroach
on your rights. All that they ask is an adminis
tration so organized as to make the application of
the sums they are disposed to furnish much more
efficacious than it is at present. If the Vaudois
refuse, I can foresee a long time of inaction, weak
ness, and material losses for the clergy and the young
men. It is to secure your own interests, as well as
theirs, that the English demand a change in your
opinion. That is all ! We are ready, as far as we
are concerned ; and you have only to decide."
" We understand," he says in the same letter,
"your interests better than you do yourselves 
Our horizon is wider, our experience greater, our
knowledge more practical, our energy more exer
cised, our progress less interrupted. Standing, as
we do, outside the sphere of personal influences, we
look on things with coolness, and have thus every
facility for forming a sound judgment. I repeat
once more : if the Vaudois decide on yielding to our
arguments, they will open a new career to their
children, and will end by taking their true posi
tion among the Catholic Churches of Christ. But
if they do not, they will continue to walk, as they

166 TACIT REJECTION OF THE PROPOSAL.
have long done, with a feeble and halting step, tor
mented by the meanness and cavillings of their
enemies  Follow, then, the good advice which is
given you, and the time will come when you will
walk with your heads erect ; when you will be in
dependent, and call no one your master but Christ.
That is what we seek after."
Such were the sentiments with which, a month
later, he returned from London. The Synod, which
he hoped would be the means, if not of causing his
views to be adopted, yet of diffusing them among
the people, met on the 23rd or 25th April of the
following year (1839.) Among the subjects which
came up for consideration by this assembly, were
the co-ordination and union into one whole of the
various elements composing what it had been agreed
to call The Discipline of the Vaudois Church. No
better opportunity could have offered for introduc
ing the change regarding the Moderatorship, had
there been any inclination in the assembly to do so.
There was none, however. When the meeting
closed, many important resolutions had been passed;
but on the question of the Moderator for life, not a
word had been said. This clearly showed that the
opposition to this project had rather increased than
otherwise. Beckwith understood this, and set out
for London with a bleeding heart, not intending, as

TEMPORARY RETIREMENT TO LONDON. 167
hitherto, to re-appear in winter, but (though of this
we can scarcely be certain) probably with the reso
lution never to return. He had often said that the
final rejection of his project would be to .him a proof
that his work among the Vaudois could no longer
be carried on. However, though in body he be in
London, Beckwith's mind and heart are in the Val
leys still. Nothing can be more touching than the
sohcitude shown in his correspondence, during more
than two years spent in England (from May 1839
to October 1841), regarding all, whether far or near,
that might affect the welfare of that population,
which, notwithstanding, had caused him so much
pain. His faithful feUow-labourer, Pastor Bonjour
of Saint-Jean, having been dangerously ill, Beck
with wrote him a letter, in which his first care is to
thank God with all his heart for having had " the
goodness to spare your life, which is so necessary to
us for many reasons."*
Another letter, in which the question of the Latin
school at Pomaret and the college is debated at length,
concludes with these touchingly simple and cordial
words: "My friendly regards to N  and N  ;
indeed to all, rich and poor, great and small, not for
getting either Ghitouna or Madeleine, or even Azor."-f
* Letter to M. J. P. Bonjour, June 29th, 1839.
t The servants and the flog at the parsonage, the latter having been his in-
separable companion in his walks.

VARIOUS CHARITIES.

It was during this stay in England that he sent
to the parish of Rodoret a sum of money, as before
mentioned, to be converted into provisions.* The
supply of Bibles was also sent at this time ; f and
having discovered that there was a want of cate
chisms, he got an edition of four thousand copies
printed in London. \ Yet, in the midst of all these
charities, the long debated question is not lost sight of.
" My dear B  ," he writes, on the 1st October
1839, to his habitual correspondent on this subject,
" I abide by our long discussions, our way of turn
ing the question, and facing it on every side. I can
see no omission— nothing to regret. If I had to go
over the whole of our course of action again, I should
alter nothing that has been done. That was the
seal of our work ; but we have not succeeded in
setting the seal to it, and I am much troubled."
The trouble he speaks of was considerably aug
mented by the feelings of animosity and irritation
with which — in consequence of the religious struggles
which had taken place in his country — a great part
of the members of the Anglican Church regarded all
dissenting Churches, and consequently the Vaudois
Church, as belonging to this category.

* Letter to the Table, from Wyndham Club, St. James* Square, December
1840. t Letter to the Table, August 5th, 1841.
X Letter to M. J. P. Bonjour, April 9th, 1840.

ANXIETIES. 169
" The Presbyterian Churches of all kinds," he
writes, on July 20th, 1840, "have latterly mani
fested such marked opposition, and such a furious
it.
determination to overthrow our Church, that your
cause, and those who are attached to it, meet with
but little favour here. The principles and prejudices
of our Church lead us to regard all that happens in
the Protestant world, at present, as an immense re
bellion ; and perhaps you are the only Church whom
we except from this condemnation."
" Here is our present position," he writes on the
same subject in another letter (December 1839). "We
wished to give your churches a character of homo
geneity and nationality such as they do not possess ;
and, instead of being regarded as Waldenses of the
parent root, you are merely looked upon as Swiss
Presbyterian Churches. When we would speak of
you to those of your own communion, they will not
listen ; if we address those of the Anglican Church,
they draw back. At first, every request on behalf
of the children of the ancient Vaudois was antici
pated ; now, men turn their backs on you. All
who remain to you are Dr. Gilly and myself. Think
what a burden we have to bear ! "
But his anxiety does not proceed entirely from
outward circumstances such as these ; it proceeds
also occasionally from himself, and from the im-

170 SENSE OF CONSISTENCY.
possibility of harmonizing principles which, some
times at least, appear perfectly irreconcilable.
" My mind," he writes in a remarkable letter of
the 22nd August 1840, which we would fain quote
word for word, " becomes clearer every day as to
the nature of the relations between us, as members
of two Churches with views and systems so opposed ;
and I see the necessity of explaining to the best
thinkers among you our true mutual position. Having
attentively reviewed my motives, words, and actions
with regard to you, I have found nothing either to
regret or to change ; and (setting aside human weak
ness) I think I have acted with prudence and energy
in the right direction. My opinions and convictions
of to-day are those of the year 1828. I regard the
subject from the same point of view. I have laid
down my principles ; I have acted upon them, and
I do not repent of it. If then we do not understand
each other," he asks, " whence does this arise ? "
And to this question he replies, " From the simple
nature of things, without bad faith or bad intention
on either side."
" In short," he continues, becoming animated,
" who are we, and who are you ? We are members
of a monarchical Church, based on the principle of
authority, and with an organization which you re
pudiate. You, on the contrary, belong to a repub-

ECCLESIASTICAL DIFFERENCES. 171
lican Church, founded on the will of the people, with
an ecclesiastical organization which we should call
illegal. How can two such societies enter into
mutual relations, without producing dissension, dis
trust, hatred, animosity, &c. ? We are, in your eyes,
tyrants and abettors of despotism ; you are, in our
eyes, anarchists and children of rebellion and schism.
We wish to attain obedience by obedience ; you, by
disobedience. To you our system appears only
tyranny and slavery ; yours appears to us obstinacy
and licence. Either our principles are ill laid down,
and have taken a wrong direction, or it is yours
that have done so."
Beckwith draws from all this the inference, that
people acting on different principles cannot possibly
act together ; and, applying this reasoning to him
self, he concludes that it is impossible for him to
resume his interrupted work among the Vaudois.
But Beckwith wrote and thought in vain, for the
conclusions of his essentially logical mind were more
than once contradicted by his noble, generous heart,
which was far larger than his ideas ; and all that
was truly and thoroughly Christian in his character
could not fail, sooner or later, to silence what was
too narrow and exclusive in his ecclesiastical theories.
Beckwith had only pursued this project from the
wish to do good ; the guardians of the Vaudois

172 RETURN TO THE VALLEYS.
Church had only resisted it because they feared to
compromise their principles. They were thus equally
ruled by conscience ; and, where this is the case,
dissension can never last long, and causes for union
are soon found to be much stronger than any that
could exist for separation. And thus it happened
in this instance : the motives which induced Beck
with to resume his work in the Valleys were stronger
than those which advised another line of conduct ;
and so, one fine day in October 1841, the well-
known post-chaise — which, however, had not been
seen for two years — again rolled over the pavement of
La Tour, bringing Beckwith back to his work, and to
the Church which, in spite of all that had happened,
had never ceased to regard him as her most constant
and devoted benefactor.
And now, as for the question which has occupied
this long chapter, here, without evasion or reserve,
is our view of the matter :• — The slightest doubt
with regard to the perfect purity and integrity of
the motives which led Beckwith to bring forward
his plan of appointing a Moderator for life, would
be so great a wrong to the memory of such an estim
able man, that we hope that no Vaudois, worthy of
the name, has ever for a moment harboured such
a doubt in his bosom. The accusation of having
wished, by this project, to make the Vaudois Church

CRITICAL ESTIMATE. 173
in some sort a vassal of the Anglican Church, is
equally unfounded. Beckwith merely wished, by
giving the Vaudois Church a form somewhat akin,
it is true, to Episcopacy, to impart to it more co
hesion and unity, and thus to make it capable of
acting more energetically than it had hitherto done ;
but he never had the least idea of making that
Church Anglican.*
Now, as to the end proposed, was Beckwith
wrong ? No one can venture to say so. The
method he adopted to attain his end was what, in
our view, he went wrong in. A change in an
ecclesiastical system, the passing of a Church from
a Presbyterian and democratic constitution (espe
cially when this has lasted for centuries) to a consti
tution more or less Episcopal and monarchical, is a
thing too formidable — even supposing it to be pos
sible — not to bring with it the most painful
consequences. Habits formed with regard to re
ligion are doubly powerful and tenacious. Whether
good or bad, it is extremely difficult to give them
up ; and this is an idea which ought to be ever
present to the minds of those who preside among
us over the work of evangelization, and over the
organization of the communities which arise from
* He himself thus characterized the object in view : "To have an Episcopal
Church with a Presbyterian constitution." — Letter to M. J. P. Bonjour, 2Sth
August 1844.
(300) 1 2

174 CONCLUSIONS.
that work. Besides, was not the evil which Beck
with justly deplored due rather to the defective
working of the existing system than to that system
itself? According to us, every ecclesiastical system is
legitimate, and capable of bearing good fruits, if it
guarantee to society two elements essential to
existence, stability, and prosperity — viz, order and
liberty. Where these exist, and the system is un
successful, the fault is in- the manner of its applica
tion ; in the want of skill, energy, uprightness, dis
interestedness, and perseverance, on the part of those
who have the practical charge of it, and who are
chiefly accountable for its failure. Such was the
work to be done, if Beckwith had but known it.
If, leaving the system as it was in itself, and as
time and circumstances had made it, he had confined
his efforts to amending it as far as possible, and
above all, to improving its practical side, what
sufferings would have been spared, how many seeds of
vexation, which afterwards bore but too much fruit,
would have been nipped in the bud !

CHAPTER X.
BECKWITH AND ECCLESIASTICAL QUESTIONS.
THE LITURGY.

HE Vaudois Church, in Beckwith's eyes, had
other defects besides its ecclesiastical con
stitution, to prevent its undertaking with
success the great and noble mission appointed to it
by Providence — namely, the evangelization of Italy.
This long-cherished conviction grew stronger within
him, as the moment approached for the beginning of
this great undertaking. If, by her means, many
souls were to be brought from the darkness of
Romanism into the marvellous light of the gospel,
the Vaudois Church, organized as she was, and with
the Liturgy she used, could but very imperfectly,
thought Beckwith, offer them the shelter and nourish
ment they required. Under the power of this con
viction, which we will not comment upon, the first
attempts at evangelization had scarcely been made,
when the question of the Liturgy seized on Beck-

176 PUBLICATION OF A LITURGY.
with's mind with peculiar force, and became for many
years the constant subject of his thoughts, and the
object of the most active steps to render it popular
and acceptable.
The first of these steps, in the order of time, as
well as by its own importance, was the publication
by him, in 1850, of a volume in 16mo, of 438
pages, entitled : Saggio di Liturgia, secondo le
Dottrine della Santa-Scrittura, ad uso de' semplici*
" The object of this Liturgy," it is said in the pre
face, " is to teach- what are the dogmas and doctrines
of the Christian religion. It begins by proclaiming
the commandments of God, exhorting men to ac
knowledge and confess that they have violated them ;
it shows them how they can escape the terrible con
sequences of their disobedience, and incites them to
sing, in the words of the Psalmist, the praises of
God for such a great deliverance. The minister then
reads passages of Holy Scripture for the instruction,
encouragement, and consolation of the people — to
make fhem understand and experience the Word of
God to be the true bread of life. Prayers are then
offered for their own wants temporal and spiritual, and
for those of all men, of whatever condition. Lastly,
the minister is invited to preach, in order to teach men
the moral and religious duties which proceed from
* Printed at Pignerol by Cluantore.

PURPOSE OF THE LITURGY. 177
the doctrine of Christ. Ritual observances, in as far
as they are conformable to the spirit of Scripture,
are a great help to sanctification, on condition that
they are engaged in with a pious heart and an enlight
ened mind. They may, in this way, be combined
in such a manner as to form an abridgment of doc
trine by means of the Scriptures, and to direct men,
from their infancy, towards all things ' profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction
in righteousness : that the man of God may be per
fect, throughly furnished unto all good works.' "
This Liturgy is much the same in substance as
that of the Enghsh Church, but considerably abridged
and modified in certain details : all that could have
the slightest resemblance to Romanism has been
banished from it with the greatest care. It does not
pretend to be a complete Liturgy, but, as the title indi
cates, an experiment, intended by Beckwith to embody
his thoughts on this important subject. It was
also meant, in some degree, to open the way in which
he would desire to see the Vaudois Church walking,
if not for her own sake, as the Church of the Val
leys, yet at least for the sake of the congregations
whom her evangelists, with a blessing from on high,
hoped to raise from the midst of the Italian people.*
* This Saggio contains, besides the preface, a portion of which we have tran
scribed, the calendar, with the morning and evening lessons for every day in the
year ; the psalms, so arranged as to be read through once a month ; the order ot

178 PAMPHLET.
This publication having failed to produce the
desired effect, and having called forth neither praise
nor blame on the part of the official representatives
of the Vaudois Church, Beckwith, extremely vexed
by this apathy and silence with regard to a question
which he held to be so important, tried to draw at
tention to the subject by another puhhcation the
year after. This was a pamphlet, in the form of a
letter to the Moderator of the Vaudois Church, in
which the reform which he had so much at heart
was still more clearly and vigorously advocated.
"Among the number of questions," we here read,
" which will engage the attention of the Synod
about to meet, that of an Itahan ritual and a Liturgy
adapted, with regard to form, to the times and circum
stance's in which we are placed, is certainly not one of
the least important." " With regard to form," Beck
with says on purpose; " for," he continues, " the ques
tion of a written Liturgy being resolved by the fact of
the adoption of the formulary now in use in the
Vaudois Church, and its being guaranteed, in letter
as well as in spirit, by the Confession of Faith, the
only thing- to be ascertained is, whether the present
morning and evening prayer for the Sundays and holy-days ; the order of morn-
ing and evening prayer for every day in the year ; prayers and thanksgivings
upon several occasions ; collects for every Sunday in the year ; the liturgy of
the communion, and public baptism for children ; the short catechism, to be
learned by every one before he be confirmed. The liturgy of confirmation,
matrimony, and burial, as also of the consecration of ministers and the installa
tion of ciders, is entirely wanting.

FAULTS OF THE VAUDOIS LITURGY. 179
formulary, or that which it is proposed to adopt,
possesses most advantages."
The first fault which Beckwith points out in the
present Liturgy is, that it is rather a manual of piety
than a body of Scriptural doctrines, so arranged as
to furnish instruction to the people. It begins, in
deed, with an orthodox confession of sins, but it
does not announce clearly enough the remission of
these sins through justification by faith ; and besides,
it does not, in a sufficiently connected manner, direct
the attention of the faithful to the dogmas and doc
trines of the Gospels and Epistles. A second fault
of this Liturgy, and in his eyes the principal one, is,
that Holy Scripture is not incorporated into it.
" The reading of the latter," he says, " is abandoned
to the discretion of a layman before the worship,
properly so called, has begun ; and the result is, that
while the Church ^proclaims the Word of God to be
the only rule of its faith, to the exclusion of every
other, the reading of this Word does not even enter
into the duties of him who conducts the worship."
A third reproach with which Beckwith assails the
formulary then in use is, that if " the prayers are
long enough, the time devoted during worship to
prayer and the praise of God is not sufficiently pro
longed ; the mind is not sufficiently exercised in
them to make it diligent and persevering, and time

180 ADVANTAGES OF A LITURGY.
fails it for that holy contemplation which tends to
produce and develop in man habits of reverence
and piety in adoration."
The same remarks which Beckwith has just made
on the Liturgy he finds applicable to those who take
part in the worship : —
" A Church," he writes, " which does not possess
a ritual placed in the hands of the people, which
none can dispense with, is without the means of
edification for the absent, and presupposes far too
great an amount of knowledge in the majority of
the members. Instruction by the parents, family
worship, and the reading of the Word of God
in the family, may be recommended by the Church,
but she cannot enforce them as a habit. The cate
chism, public worship, and preaching, are her prin
cipal resources. The first is an isolated act, exer
cising its influence only for a season ; the pastors
can best judge of its real value. The Holy Scrip
tures, preaching, and the administration of the
sacraments, bring the soul into the presence of its
Saviour. But a Liturgy formulates the dogmas, the
teachings, the moral of these means of salvation and
sanctification. It is a monument harder than brass,
on which is inscribed the confession of faith of a
Church ; a fountain whence life-giving waters daily
flow ; the chart of its Christian liberty, which no

ADVANTAGES OF A LITURGY. 181
one has the right either of adding to or of taking
from ; a lighthouse which points it out as a harbour
of refuge for aU those tempest-tossed ones who seek
a place where they may cast anchor : lastly, it is the
code of a visible Church, which permits every one to
judge of the community from which it emanates, and
thereby either to join them or to depart from them."
Other advantages still, according to him, proceed
from such a Liturgy as he proposes, and this in par
ticular, " That it guarantees the rights of conscience,
both of the pastors and people : of the pastors, by
determining the general character with which their
preaching is to be invested, and by giving them full
liberty to reveal all the counsel of God ; of the
people, by the certainty which it gives them that
the instruction imparted to them will always be in
harmony with the confession of faith."
But an indispensable condition for the production
of all the good results just indicated is, that the
clergy and the people worship all together, and that
the form of it is such that the people cannot avoid
taking an active part in the worship — " an end
which can easily be obtained," says Beckwith, " by
the simple introduction into the present formulary
of sentences and verses repeated alternately by the
clergy and people, and the Psalms of David divided
so as to be read through every month in the year.

182 ADVANTAGES OF A LITURGY.
This simple change," he continues, " would induce
the congregations to make use of a book, the want
of which would in this way be constantly felt ; and
while the use of this book would make them more
and more famihar with the doctrines of their Church,
it would also have the precious result of sanctioning
their morality. There are none," he says in con
clusion, " not even the indifferent and inattentive,
who would not gain by this change ; for the con
stant repetition of Scripture sentences which the
Liturgy would contain would store their memory
with all sorts of precious words, which, with the
help of the Spirit of God, might be of great use to
them in the various circumstances of life."
When the Church should thus have placed in the
hands of her members, first the Word of God, and
then a ritual containing all the fundamental truths,
along with a Scriptural manual of piety ; when,
besides this, she should have addressed them
by preaching and exhortations of all kinds, — " she
would," according to Beckwith, " have done all that
it was in her power to do : she would have given
precept upon precept,, line upon line, here a little,
and there a little ; she would have discharged her
obligations towards them ; her doctrines would
distil, according to the words of the prophet, hke
1 the latter and former rain upon the earth.' "

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 183
Very different results from these are pointed out to
him, in the case of a rival Church, which, beginning by
great attention to forms, has ended by substituting
them entirely for the Word of God. Beckwith does
not deny this danger — he admits it ; but as this sub
stitution, though a very grave fault, is not a neces
sary result of the adoption of forms, instead of feel
ing at all enfeebled by this objection, he makes use
of it to defend his own side of the question. " With
an erroneous rule of faith," he says — " with worship
and observances in many respects contrary to the
Word of God — assailed on all sides, this Church yet
holds her ground, thanks to the strength she receives
from the ritual. Now how much more surely, if
she do not neglect the means, can a Church like the
Vaudois Church, founded on the Rock of Ages, count
on the richest and fairest future, when, in order to
rally to the standard of Zion the scattered members
of the flock of Christ, she has only to present to men
a means of confessing with their mouth the faith
which they have in their heart ! "
" Render then," he says in conclusion, " render
to your Church — which holds her place as a visible
Church — her just attributes. Let grace be poured
into her lips, for God hath blessed her for ever.
Let her ride prosperously because of truth and
meekness and righteousness ; for ' the King's

184 LETTER TO PASTOR BONJOUR.
daughter is all glorious within : her clothing is of
wrought gold.' 'Then many people shall go and
say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of
the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob ; and he
will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his
paths : for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.' "
On the eve of the Synod at which he wished to
bring forward this discussion he wrote to Pastor
Bonjour a very long letter, in which a slight tinge
of severity is perceptible ; which is not to be wondered
at, considering the disappointment from which he
was suffering.
" I see," he says, " that nothing can be done for
the ritual. If the alternate repetition of the psalms
by the minister and people be not introduced into
the Italian Liturgy, it will be impossible to place it
in the hands of the people ; and my ideas on this
subject are either erroneous or incapable of realiza
tion. But, indeed, I cannot conceive how the
Presbyterian principle can be injured by giving the
people a share in Scriptural worship  No one, I
suppose, would think of being immovable, unchang
ing, and infallible, in the matter of a visible Church ;
but it looks extremely like this, when people refuse
to conform to what is demanded by the times, by
circumstances, and by human weakness and ignor-

IN ADVOCACY OF THE LITURGY. 185
ance. People hold up to me as an objection," he
continues, " the example of the Presbyterian Church
of Scotland, which has no Liturgy ; but that Church
has made no proselytes from Romanism, and if she
has prospered hitherto, it is less owing to the good
ness of her principles, than to the bold, energetic,
temperate, and persevering character of her people
on the one hand, and to her spirit of opposition to
the Established Church on the other."
The Anglican Church, he maintained, has a ritual,
thanks to which she has formed her members to
habits conformable to the confession of faith ; also,
though furiously attacked by dissent without and
apostasy within (for the hour of temptation has come
for her as for all), never "have the strength and
worth of her customs shown themselves in such a
victorious manner." The Greek Church, the hetero
dox Romish Church, have lived, by force of habit,
for centuries ; while, " for want of habits, all the
Evangelical Churches on the Continent are in a de
plorable state of weakness."
The formation of new churches in the plain, con
stituted as they naturally will be, is, according to
Beckwith, a new element, which it would be danger
ous to overlook. " You cannot," he says on this sub
ject, "do violence to the habits of Protestants. Very
well. But have you a greater right to do violence

186 ADVOCACY OF THE LITURGY.
to the habits of Catholics ? Would this be a better
action in one sense than in another ? The former have
been brought up according to Protestant habits and
ideas, and you say that they need no other form of
instruction. I agree. But as for those who have
neither the one nor the other, and who, notwith
standing, feel this to be a great want, will you do
nothing for them ? You tell me that the Word of
God will do all this ; but the application of the
Word of God to individual souls is not the question :
the question is how to give church habits to the thou
sands who will join you, and who have all their
Christian life to form, and their Christian career to
pass through. Now, the Bible does not point out
these things, and it is for the leaders of the Church
to arrange them in such a way that the Church
may do its work, according to the letter and spirit
of the Epistle to the Ephesians 
" The Protestant Churches of Europe have hardly
made any proselytes from Romanism since the Re-
•formation, and it is doubtful whether they ever will.
If you have the energy and good sense to present a
Church to those fugitives from Romanism, perhaps
they will accept it ; if, instead of that, you only
present them with a Bible, you will perhaps have
Christians, but you will not have members of the
Church, and these youthful Christians will go to

TACIT REJECTION OF HIS PROPOSALS. 187
seek shelter elsewhere  The practical way to
retain them, is to present to them, along with the
Bible, a Liturgy so compiled as to teach them what
the Vaudois Church is, and to use this Liturgy
habitually, directing the congregation to take an
active part in it 
" I know," says Beckwith in conclusion, " how
difficult it is for a layman to address ecclesiastics on
subjects which do not properly belong to his sphere
of action ; but I do not hesitate to take upon my
self the odium of such an interference, in the hope
of arousing debates on important questions, which,
according to me, are at the present time questions
of life and death."
But these debates did not take place. All the
other expressions of his ideas on this important
subject were treated with the same icy silence and
want of attention with which his first attempt at
a Liturgy and his letter to the Moderator had been
received. And why ? Was there in the theories
of Beckwith, which we have striven to reproduce
as faithfully as possible, no vulnerable side by which
his opponents (if they had consented to enter into
discussion with him, as he wished) might easily have
gained the day ? And was it, consequently, the
impossibility of refuting his arguments, when at
the same time they were resolved not to accept

188 POSSIBLE CAUSES OF THIS REJECTION.
them, which made them choose to remain silent ?
Not so : there were weak sides which could not be
concealed ; they were mentioned, discussed, and
triumphed over in private conversation. Or was it
that what Beckwith proposed with regard to the
Liturgy was of too little importance to be considered,
or that the criticisms which he made upon the existing
formulary were so unfounded, that to try and refute
them, and to submit them to a profound and con
scientious examination, was to be regarded as a use
less and superfluous task? Neither was this the
case. It is impossible, without self-deception, to deny
that many of his remarks are true, and that if they
had had justice done them, the ritual would have
been considerably improved. We cannot deny, for
example, what Beckwith affirms, that in the present
liturgical form the Holy Scriptures — instead of
occupying in the worship the place of honour which
they ought to have in an Evangehcal Church— hold
the second place, and are theoretically, if not prac
tically, considered as a digression. It cannot be
denied, that in our present form of worship, and in
that of many other Evangehcal Churches on the
Continent and elsewhere, there is an excessive pre
ponderance of instruction over adoration, which
occupies comparatively httle space.

TRUTH OF BECKWITH'S STRICTURES. 189
Again, we cannot deny, what Beckwith likewise
affirms, that the liturgical formula at present in use,
and which, as a simple manual of piety, could not
be better — whether because of what it is in itself,
or because of the way in which it is used — is en
tirely incapable of forming those religious habits,
which, though they are not life, and can in no case
take its place, yet have an unmistakable conservative
power over all that belongs to the visible Church.
Lastly, it cannot be denied, that, with the exception
of the singing and some other bodily postures, the
existing form gives the people no directly active
part in the observance of public worship. This pro
duces the singular anomaly of a Church most demo
cratic in its government, and- yet most aristocratic
in its mode of celebrating public worship.
And if all these things are true ; if the circum
stance that two or three times, of late years, the
Synod has appointed commissions to revise the
Liturgy, proves -that the existing form of it does
not give entire satisfaction, — then was not the task
proppsed by Beckwith a noble and a sacred one,
worthy of the enlightened and pious men to whom
it was proposed ? In seeking to remedy the exist
ing defects, without falling into the opposite ones of
excessive length and fastidious repetition, the pas
tors and other ecclesiastics would have performed a
(MP) 13

190 HIS AFTER CONDUCT.
great duty towards their Church. But they would
also have given just satisfaction to that noble heart,
to whom the interests of the Vaudois Church were
more precious than his own, and who, by bis in
numerable benefits, and the many sacrifices he had
made for more than twenty years of his tastes and
preferences in Church matters, should certainly have
merited more regard than he received in this in
stance. *
And how did Beckwith, in his turn, receive the
silence, which, for many reasons, he might have felt
to be an pffence ? By devoting for more than two
years (we have already mentioned this in the chap
ter on " Ecclesiastical Buildings ") his time, strength,
health, fortune, and all his faculties, to the building
of the church at Turin, — the first Vaudois church
built beyond the limits of the Valleys.
"We Enghsh," he said one day to a group of
friends with whom he was conversing, " we are not,
like the French, people who have inany ideas at a
time. Generally, we have but one ; but we do not
easily give it up. And this," he continued, " is a
result of the education we receive. At twelve years
of age we are thrown into a boat, and told, You
are to sail to such a place. The passage is difficult;
* This reproach, which the author has permitted himself to address to his
colleagues in the ministry, is as directly addressed to himself, as he did no more
than they did, at the time, and in the' matter in question.

EFFECTS OF THE REJECTION.

191

we advance, retire, turn to the right, and then to
the left. Sometimes it lasts a very long time, a
day and a night, if necessary ; but, in the mean
time, the passage is made, and we go on our way."
What Beckwith said to his friends on that occasion,
is what he practised constantly during all the time
of his beneficent and reforming activity in the midst
of the Vaudois Church, and more particularly in his
efforts regarding the Liturgy. He tried to advance
in the way which appeared to him the right one.
He could not do it ; but what he could not do
either yesterday or to-day, he may do to-morrow.
He waits for experience, which, he says, is a great
teacher, and ne counts on its lessons to gain over to
his way of thinking those who are opposed to it.
But when the churchy at Turin, his favourite
work, was at last*" consecrated to public worship,
and he saw all that he had done in this respect
fully accepted, except his Liturgy, or, failing his
Liturgy, something that might show a willingness
to enter on the path he had marked out, then there
took place in Beckwith something which had never yet
happened even in the midst of all his preceding vexa
tions, and his heart received from this circumstance a
wound, which, for many years, seemed incurable.
He who had spent body and soul in the restoration
of the Vaudois Church ; who had loved it with the

192 EFFECTS OF THE REJECTION.
most tender and compassionate love ; who, for more
than twenty consecutive years, had imposed silence
on his education and his Anglican habits in order to
make himself as much a Vaudois and a Presbyterian
as possible, and, during all that time, had constantly
partaken of the Lord's Supper in the midst of this
Church  suddenly, he no longer felt himself at
liberty to do so ; and, no Anglican form of worship
then existing at Turin, he was seen, each time that
he wished to approach the holy table, performing
the long journey from Turin to Genoa. This con
tinued until the not very distant day, when, regard
ing his work, though unfinished, to be no longer
possible for him, he suddenly broke it off ;— and this
time to resume it no more.

CHAPTER XI.
BECKWITH AND THE WORK OF EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY.
ONG ere the evangelization of Italy was
even dreamt of as a possibility, Beckwith
foresaw it, and looked forward to it as

the object of all his efforts. Thus, while he joyfully
hailed every indication of the realization of his
hopes, he viewed with anxiety and suspicion every
measure which seemed destined to frustrate them.
When, in the beginning of 1846, he learned that
the Municipal Council- of Turin had at last done
justice to the Protestants of the capital by acceding
to their request for a suitable and convenient burying-
ground — " Ah ! " exclaimed Beckwith, " they have
at last decided to grant a place to the dead ! That
is good. The time is not far distant when they
will also be obliged to grant one to the living ! " *
But when, as a corrective, under the influence
and at the instigation of Monseigneur Charvaz, the
* The inauguration of this cemetery took place on the 15th January 1846.
See the records of the Vaudois parish of Turin.

194 ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSION.
most hostile to the Vaudois of all the bishops of
Pignerol, a mission, having the avowed end of con
verting that people to Catholicism, had been set on
foot in the very heart of the Valleys, in the borough
of La Tour,* Beckwith was much distressed, and
wrote from London, where he then was, to his usual
correspondent, the pastor of Saint-Jean, a letter,
betraying his anxiety in every line. " I do not
know," he says, " from what point of view I am to
look at what they are going to do at La Tour. The
so-called missionaries will be so many gaolers, plot
ting against the people. Those at Pignerol, having
no heresy to repress, will apply themselves to their
creature comforts ; but those at La Tour, having
nothing to do but the business in hand, and finding
it impossible to make much of that, cannot fail
to become more or less hurtful. However, it is
evident that they now consider Protestants to be of
more importance than they have hitherto done, and
their success depends entirely on your people. The
latter, it 'is true, expose themselves only too freely —
by their ignorance, their idleness, their carelessness,
and their want of religion — to the efforts of those
who would pervert them. On the other hand, they
will perhaps be more on their guard, and more alive
* The solemn installation of this mission, at which Monseigneur Charvaz had
induced the King to appear in person, took place on the 25th September 1844,
but its actual beginning dates from 1840.

LETTER TO THE TABLE. 195
to a sense of their danger, when they find them
selves engaged in a struggle against Romish tyranny;
but in the main, the relative position of the two
parties is unchanged, only you will have a nest of
vipers on your threshold, and if you would succeed
in trampling them under foot, you must be shod
with the preparation of the gospel of peace." *
The anticipation of a rapidly approaching struggle,
which must be prepared for with discretion and
energy, makes itself felt throughout the remark
able letter which he addressed, on the 10th April
1844, to the Table; on the occasion of the Synod's
presenting him with a cup, as a mark of gratitude
for his many benefactions.
" The Table/' he saysj " has an exact knowledge
of all that has been done — of the results arrived at,
and the actual position of the Church in presence
of her formidable adversary. The principles of Pro
testantism are well established : they are proclaimed
in her institutions ; their object is well defined ; all
that remains to be done is to realize and to develop
them. More exposed to outward attacks and to
individual temptations, the Vaudois Church will
perhaps be called to endure trials in which all her
energy and all her faith will be put to the proof. I
rejoice in the belief that she has arms in her posses-
* Letter to M. J. P. Bonjour, 9th July 1840.

196 LETTER TO THE TABLE.
sion which she can bravely wield on the field of
battle ; that those young soldiers of the faith, who
stand ready in the distance, will not fail when they
are face to face with danger, and that they wiU
maintain untarnished the ancient reputation of their
forefathers, who loyally shed their blood for the
true liberties of the human race. The path is clear
before you. The eternal Word of the living God has
been confided to your Church, and she has bound her
self religiously neither to add to it nor to take away
from it ; she has been called to bear through centuries
the torch of the gospel, and to make its light to shine
in the midst of darkness. ' If God be for us, who can
be against us ? ' You want for nothing else : you
have your Bibles, your ministers, your churches,
your liturgy, your confession of faith, your schools,
your libraries, your intelligence, your friends —
everywhere. Your arsenal is well furnished with
the arms of the gospel. Sharpen, then, the swords
of your spirits, and steep them in that Spirit which
shall be given to you liberally, if you apply your
selves like men to your duty. If you make use of
all the means which Providence has placed in your
hands — with patience, perseverance, and charity —
administering the Word with meekness and wisdom,
in all integrity of heart, and keeping unblemished
the precious trust which has been committed to you

LETTER TO THE TABLE. 197
for centuries, as Trpeo-fivrepoi of the ancient Church
of Christ in Piedmont, — ' then thy light shall shine
as the morning, and thou shalt be hke a watered
garden, and like a spring of water which faileth not ;
and thou shalt be called the repairer of breaches,
and he who repairs the roads, that the land may be
inhabited.' ' When Joab saw that the front of the
battle was turned against him behind and before, he
took of the choicest of Israel, and ranged them
against the Syrians.' 'Go thou and- do likewise.'
Let the Vaudois Church rally around her banner her
old men and her little children. March with boldness
right upon the enemy, and the God of armies will
place himself at your head, and your adversaries will
disappear like the dew of the morning. One more
effort, and the conflict of ten centuries is ended.
' Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with
truth, and having on the breastplate of righteous
ness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the
gospel of peace ; above all, taking the shield of
faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the
Spirit, which is the Word of God.' Thus you will
go on from strength to strength. All that is good,
truly noble and great upon earth, will render you a
worthy testimony ; and you will have a sure reward
in Him who has said, — ' They shall not labour in
vain ! ' "

198 POLITICAL REFORMS OF 1847.
When the first political reforms took place in Oc
tober 1847, very soon to be followed by the promul
gation of the Statuto* and the edict of the eman
cipation of the Vaudois, the imagination of Beckwith
was strongly impressed by these events. It was
even more than he had expected. His dream of so
many years was on the way to realization ; and
what he alone had so long foreseen, formed from that
time the subject of transports of joy to a whole
people, f The joy which Beckwith felt was, how
ever, mingled with many anxieties ; chief among
which was the fear that the Vaudois Church was
not equal to the task which had so suddenly de
volved upon her, and that when brought to the light
of day, to which she would now be exposed, this
might tend to her confusion rather than to her glory.
On the 4th January 1848 he wrote to the Rev.
M. Lantaret : " Our friends swarm on all sides ; our
enemies retire into the shade. It is striking. How-
* The name of Statuto is given in Italy to what is elsewhere called a Charter
or Constitution. The Constitution was promulgated on the 29th January 1848.
t Though bearing the date of 17th February 1848, this edict, the promulga
tion of which is chiefly due to Marquis Robert d'A2eglio, only appeared in the
official gazette of the 25th. On the evening of that day the palaces of the Eng
lish and Prussian Ambassadors at Turin were brilliantly illuminated, as well as
the houses of most of the Protestants. The news of this happy event reached
the Valleys soon enough to allow of hundreds of bonfires being lighted on all
the hills, and even on the heights covered with snow ; and thus to the joyous
demonstrations of the Protestants in the capital were united those of their breth
ren of the mountains. The Advocate-General, Count Sclopis, called by his posi
tion to give his opinion on this measure, recommended strongly its adoption, giving
as his chief reason that it was shown by the criminal papers that, in the course of
above a century, " no other people of the State could be compared to the Vaudois
for moral and social virtue." See "I. Valdesi," by A. Bert, p. 335 and after.

LETTER TO MR. LANTARET. 199
ever, we are only at the beginning of the end, and
everything yet remains to be done. Although your
fate is far from being decided, you are virtually eman
cipated, and you have a large share in all that is going
on. With energy, the feeling of your duty, and a de
termined will, you may arrive at great things ; but it
depends entirely on yourselves. If each of the Vau
dois had the English nation at his side, it would not
advance his cause in the least. You are required
now to combat individually your fellow-countrymen
of Piedmont, to rule them, or to place yourselves on
a level with them.
" If you have independent force, you will succeed ;
if not, you will remain concealed among the crowd,
and nothing more will be heard of you. Your career
— if your torpid existence . since the Reformation
deserve such a name — is closed. Old things are
passed away, and new ones are beginning to dawn.
Hencefoewaed eithee you aee MISSIONARIES, OE
you aee nothing. Your first duty is to assert
your civil rights, for it is on the existence and the
reahzation of them that your future depends ; and
all your future usefulness depends on the place
which you will take in Piedmontese society, and on
the moral and religious attitude which you will be
able to maintain in that society. Do not deceive
yourselves ; the foreigner will no longer aid you.

200 LETTER TO MR. LANTARET.
He cannot do so. Either you must remain hidden
in your obscurity, or you must draw the eyes of
men upon you. You must stand firm, or you will
not be able to bear the light of your own candle.
There is no medium. Either act efficiently, struggle,
persist, arrive at the goal, or be altogether set aside.
Your past position has created in the midst of your
population bad habits of acting, speaking, and think
ing. You must put a stop to all that. You must
put yourselves in contact with men, and be in a
position to maintain the conflict with men and with
things. You must have a conviction of the great
ness of your cause, and boldness to march straight
forward in the path of civil and religious liberty,
without looking back, with probity and persever
ance ; if not, you will be disowned and eclipsed,
and your name blotted out. Either you become a
reality, or nothing at all. I confess that I am very
uneasy. There are, undoubtedly, some intelhgent
people here and there, but they are without influ
ence over the masses. The majority of the people
are not equal to the position ; there is no apparent
possibility of assembling either Gideon's three hun
dred or the flying company of Janavel.* This,
* One of the bravest of the Vaudois captains, who distinguished himself par
ticularly in the persecution of 1686, and who, having taken refuge in Switzerland
like the others, but being unable, on account of his age, to accompany his
brethren on their return in 1689, was, however, the real leader of that memo
rable expedition.

POLITICAL DEMONSTRATION. 201
Lantaret, is the sad truth ; and it is only by ' erasing
the past that you can inscribe your names on the
annals of the future.' "
The declaration of Beckwith at the beginning of
this letter, that the Vaudois had no longer any
enemies, and that all had become their friends, was
proved in a most striking manner, never to be for
gotten by those who witnessed it, when, at the first
great assembly in the capital, deputations from all
the provinces arrived to thank the King for the Con
stitution he had granted them. The Vaudois had
arrived in great numbers, and formed, with the Pro
testant strangers resident in that city, a column of
more than six hundred individuals grouped round a
magnificent banner of Savoy, on which were em
broidered in silver, in large characters, the simple
but expressive words : "To King Charles-Albert,
the grateful Waldensians. " At the moment
when the immense procession, composed of at least
fifty thousand persons, was about to move, a depu
tation from the central committee advanced to the
place where the Vaudois deputation was assembled.
" Vaudois ! " they said, " until now you have been
the last ; to-day let justice be done, and march you
at our head ! " And so they did. The Vaudois
column, preceded by its banner, and surrounded by
a dozen children in the Italian costume of the six-

202 POPULAR RECOGNITION OF WALDENSIAN RIGHTS.
teenth century, opened the procession. And then
a spectacle, unheard of in the annals of Piedmont,
was given to the capital, and through her to the
kingdom : in all the streets through which the pro
cession had to pass, wherever the banner of the per
secuted Church appeared] hands were clapped, hand
kerchiefs waved, and hats — sometimes even that of
a priest — thrown into, the air. Shouts of "Evviva ai
Valdesi, evviva V emancipazione !" burst from a thou
sand hps ; and it frequently happened that some of
the spectators, stepping out of the ranks, came and
threw themselves upon the neck of some one in the
Column, accompanying this act, sufficiently eloquent
in itself, with words most touching and fraternal.
The enthusiasm was indescribable. What a con
trast between the acclamations of that day and the
cries of " Death to the heretics ! " with which, in
other times, these same streets had so often re
sounded, on the occasion of a confessor of the
gospel being conducted to execution ! What sign
of the times could be better fitted to give an over
powering confirmation to Beckwith's prognostica
tions ?
But if there be a time for festivals, it is not by
rejoicings only, or even chiefly, that either a nation
or a Church arrives at the accomplishment of its des
tinies. After the rejoicings, action, intense and full

LANGUAGE OF THE VAUDOIS. 203
of energy, deriving its strength from faith in the
promises of God, — such was the duty too plainly im
posed on the Vaudois Church by these circumstances
for her ever to dream of withdrawing from it. But
there was one very essential condition of success in
this enterprise, of which she was almost entirely
destitute, and this was a knowledge of the Italian
language. Although the Vaudois were in all respects Italians
— Italian by origin, by geographical position, by
character, Italian still more by the form and con
stitution of their patois, which has much more
affinity with Italian than with._French — it is not
the less true that, for more than two centuries, they
spoke hardly anything but this latter language, and
had almost forgotten that of their own country.
The terrible plague of 1630, by carrying off all the
pastors, except two, had rendered it necessary to pro
cure foreigners as their successors ; and the necessity
of learning to understand these new-comers having
commenced this deviation, the monstrous tyranny
to which the Vaudois had been subjected during so
many ages had continued it, Seeing, then, that no
Vaudois was allowed to attend a university, or to
aspire to any liberal profession, or any employment
under Government — that the acquisition of land be
yond then own narrow limits was formally for-

204 IGNORANCE OF ITALIAN.
bidden them, and commercial pursuits were hardly
tolerated — that, consequently, to acquire more educa
tion it was necessary to go to some foreign country,
and that their only prospect of an earthly future
lay in expatriation, — what matter for surprise can
we find in the fact that they had abandoned their
mother tongue ? Surely to impute this to them as
a crime, as has sometimes been done, is an act of the
most crying injustice.
However this may be, the language which, along
side of the patois, was generally spoken in the
Valleys was not Italian, but French. Not that
Italian was not understood by people of a certain
degree of culture, but no one — even among the
clergy^-could speak it fluently and without mis
takes. So great an obstacle as this must be re
moved as soon as possible, if they did not wish to
sink at the very moment of weighing anchor, Beck
with set himself to do so at once ; and in less than
six months after the promulgation of the edict of
emancipation, he had provided the means for four
professors of the college * to travel to Tuscany, with
the express understanding that they were to pass at
least eight months there, " spending whatever money
was necessary for the purpose of learning as much

* They were the Rev. Messrs. Bartholomew Malan, B. Tron, F. Gay, and the
present writer.

SERVICE IN ITALIAN.

205

Italian as should be possible within that time. One
of these, Professor Malan, who returned to the
Valleys some weeks before his colleagues, preached
a sermon in Italian (the first for centuries) in the
Church of Saint-Jean ; which afforded to the
excellent General one of the greatest and sweetest
enjoyments which his noble heart had ever experi
enced. " Malan," he writes on this subject from La Tour,
on the 9th May 1849, " made a brilliant dibut last
Sunday at Saint-Jean by a service in Italian. Never
did I see the people of Saint-Jean so attentive ; and,
with the exception of about a dozen words, I am
persuaded that they mastered the sense quite as well
as they could have done that of a French sermon.
I hope, before long, to have the pleasure of hear
ing the thunders of the Vatican from your hps,
and from those of the brave , Tron. i Sunday was for
me truly a day of Pentecost. After twenty-two
years of expectation, it was a sweet consolation to
hear the voice of a missionary in a Vaudois church,
and to have the prospect of raising up the Church of
Christ in Piedmont anew to a position such as it
enjoyed in the person of the illustrious confessor
Claude." But Italian learned by a few men was not suf
ficient to lead the entire Church into the path upon
(390) 14

206 ITALIAN INTRODUCED INTO THE SCHOOLS.
which Beckwith was so desirous to see it enter.
What was wanting with a view to this end was to
famiharize the rising generation with Itahan. But
how was this to be managed ? Beckwith's plan was
soon resolved upon, Scarcely had the four pro
fessors who had been sent into Tuscany returned,
than, in concert with the Table and the parochial
authorities, he summoned to La Tour all the school
masters of the Valleys, and allowed them, in addition
to their salaries, thirty francs a month. He then,
during three months, by the aid of masters who
had been prepared for it beforehand, made them
take in, from morning to night, as much Italian as
they possibly could ; and sent them back, at the end
of that time, to their respective schools, so well
qualified in this respect, that for the future there
was not in all the villages a single school where
Italian had not a place.*
And while this instrument was being prepared
and sharpened in the way we have just described,
other events were occurring which allowed its being
turned to account without delay. The Protestants of
the town of Turin, who, up to this time, had only en
joyed the privilege of regular worship through the pro
tection which they received from Protestant powers,'
* The deliverance of the Table 'calling the schoolmasters to La Tour is dated
16th June 1849, and bears that they must remain there from 16th July to 18th
October.

SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL IN TURIN. 207
whose Ambassadors resided in' that town, had asked
and obtained leave from the Table to form themselves,
taking advantage of the liberties proclaimed by the
Constitution, into the sixteenth parish of the Vaudois
Church. This was a very valuable point gained, of
which the administration of the Church did not fail
to take advantage, by decreeing, almost within a
year, that once a month a sermon should be preached
in Italian in this parish. This was the first begin
ning of a work destined to assume considerable pro
portions. Six or eight months later, in June 1850, other
events, particularly significant, announced to the Vau
dois Church that the moment had arrived for her "to
lengthen her cords, and to enlarge the borders of her
tent." The seed of the gospel whien^many years
before Mile. Calandrini, from Geneva, a woman of
noble and generous, but above all of a Christian heart,
had planted in Tuscany, the birth-place of her ances
tors, had not been lost. Many persons belonging to
the better class — advocates, literary men, and among
them Count Pietro Guicciardini, a descendant of the
illustrious historian of that name — had received the
good seed into honest and good hearts, where it had
sprung up and promised an abundant harvest. This
movement, seconded by the excellent Drouin, pastor
of the Swiss chapel at Florence, had widely spread,

208 SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL IN TUSCANY.
and the want of fit men to strengthen and carry it
on was now felt. As no such men were to be
found at the time in Tuscany, the eyes of these new
brethren were naturally turned to the Church of the
Valleys, as the primitive, and at the same time, the
national Church, to instruct, to edify, to strengthen
them in the faith, and afterwards, when the propitious
moment should have arrived, to organize them as a
congregation or parish, according to the rights and
discipline of the Vaudois Church. The Table,
" blessing God that a door was thus opened for the
preaching of the gospel, and that He had condescended
to call her, in so direct a manner, to co-operate in
the accomplishment of His merciful designs," hastened
to fulfil this desire, by giving up to the brethren of
Tuscany the Rev. Mr. B. Malan, Professor in the
College of La Tour, who immediately repaired to his
post. This was the second step taken by the Vaudois
Church in the path thus mercifully opened up to her.
A third, and still more important step than the
two preceding ones, was not long in following. A
short time after the departure of the deputation
from Tuscany, two English merchants, who were
also true Christians, and in whose hearts the ad
vancement of the kingdom of God occupied a still
larger place than their commercial affairs — Messrs.
Ambrose Brewin of Tiverton, and Milson of Lyons —

ENGLISH GENEROSITY. 209
arrived in the Valleys, merely for the purpose of
paying them a visit. The Church at that time
was occupied more than ever with the subject of
evangehzation, and, in particular, was in the act of
exchanging the monthly preaching at Turin for a
regular Sunday service, with a view to founding in
that town an evangelistic station. What passed on
the occasion of this visit, what interchange of ideas
and sentiments took place between Beckwith and
his two countrymen, is not exactly known to us.
What we know is, that hardly had these two
brethren left La Tour when Beckwith addressed the
following letter to the authorities of tHS" Ghjrrch : —
"La ToOr, 16th September 1850.
"Mr. Moderator, — Two English gentlemen, — the
first called Mr. Brewin, of Tiverton, Devon, England ;
and the other Mr, Milson, of Lyons, — have charged
me to acquaint you that in the event of the Table
being disposed to appoint Mr. Meille as missionary
at Turin, they will engage to pay a sum of 1500
francs a year, in the proportion of 1000 francs from
Mr. Brewin, and 500 from Mr. Milson," from the
date of Mr. Meille' s appointment, and that for three
years consecutively. — Your sincere servant,
"John C. Beckwith." *
* These two excellent men who are mentioned in this letter, have both entered
into their rest — Mr. Brewin sixteen or seventeen years ago, and Mr. Milson two

210 APPOINTMENT OF M. MEILLE.
The generous offer made in this letter responded
too fully to their own thoughts for the Table, hav
ing at that time Dr. Revel as Moderator, not to
recognize in it a powerful call to go on courageously
with the work which they had undertaken ; and by a
resolution of 19th September 1850, they invited
the author of these lines, then a Professor in the
College of La Tour, to give up that post, and go
to Turin to occupy that of an evangehst, charged
with regular preaching every Sunday in the Itahan
languagej and with the work of evangelization in
the capital and neighbourhood. Beckwith, in com
municating the tidings to him, added on his own
part these words : " Go, by all means, and I shall not
be long in joining you." In fact, the first regular ser
vice in Itahan took place at Turin on the first Sunday
of November 1850; and from the beginning of 1851,
Beckwith, quitting the Valleys, came to fix his abode
also in the capital, ready to aid, by all the means
in his power, a work which he had urged on
more than any one, and which had his fullest
sympathy.# The beginning of the work was uncertain and

years ago — and remained to the end devoted friends of the Vaudois Church. The
same interest which Mr. Brewin took in this Church, was continued by his ex
cellent widow, who, not to speak of many other acts of generosity, gave up en
tirely to the work of evangelization of the Vaudois Church in Italy the credit
df 30,000 francs which her husband had advanced for the building of the pastor's
house at Turin.

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 211
difficult, as it might well be, considering the cir
cumstances in which it was undertaken. Would
the Government leave it alone, or oppose it ? This
was the question which suggested itself at every
step, and to which the slightly ambiguous text of
the Constitution on the head of liberty of con
science permitted the most contradictory replies.*
Thus, slowly and prudently, yet surely, the work
advanced. The services, begun without ostenta
tion, and with a very limited number of hearers,
were more numerously attended from Sunday to
Sunday. Many came from curiosity, some possibly
from hostile motives, but others came to seek after
the truth in aU sincerity. With these the pastors
ere long formed a connection, and began to hold
small meetings in their houses.
A kind of assistance by which the Church of
Christ has profited in every age, fell also to the lot
of the new work at Turin, in the arrival of a small
number of Tuscan brethren, whom persecution had
driven from their own country in the spring of
1851. The labours of the Vaudois evangelist at
* The first article of the Constitution is as follows : " The Catholic Apostolic
Roman religion is the only religion of the State. Other forms of worship are
tolerated conformably to the laws." But what laws? The existing laws, or the
laws yet to be made ? The minister who would have replied according to the
wishes of the clerical party, " The existvng laws," whilst remaining faithful to the
letter of the Constitution, would have completely denuded it of its spirit, and
would have sapped to its foundations the great principle of liberty of conscience.
Happily the other interpretation was given by the illustrious Cavour, thus open
ing up a way in which all succeeding ministers have followed.

212 PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL.
Turin had not been altogether fruitless. In several
parts of the town, small meetings had been quickly
organized, where the gospel was read and explained
to an audience which was daily becoming more
numerous and more eager to hear. In the begin
ning of September 1850, the Consistory of the
Swiss Church, at the instigation of its President,
Pastor Drouin, had decided that an Itahan service
should be held twice a month in his chapel. The
object of this decision, said the deliverance, was " to
provide for the spiritual wants of the Grisons con
nected with that Church ; " and such an impulse
was given by this means to the work in Florence,
that very soon the chapel could not contain the
crowds that flocked to it, half of whom at least
were Italians.*
The first fortnight of December witnessed the ar
rival of M. P. Geymonat, from the Theological Hall
of Geneva, who had been sent by a committee of
that town to unite his efforts with those of M.
Malan. This happy circumstance enabled the
number of meetings to be increased, and greatly
advanced the work, which, by Christmas of the
same year, had acquired so much stability, that a

* "I heard M. Malan preach yesterday at Florence in Italian. The chapel
was as full as an egg, and a good half of the congregation were new converts." —
Letter from Professor Rollier, dated Pisa, 2nd December 1850. Records of the
Table.

PERSECUTION. 213
considerable number of the new converts were ad
mitted to partake of the Lord's Supper in the Swiss
chapel. Such a decided step had naturally disturbed
" Paolottism," * and along with it, and through it,
the Grand-Ducal Government. The latter, after
having tried in vain every means of intimidation
— which, without creating too much alarm, might
have succeeded in the end proposed, namely, to
stifle the preaching of the gospel at its birth — had
at last determined to make the attack, by sending the
two Vaudois evangelists over the frontier. M.
Geymonat, in particular, was sent off in the most
brutal manner between two soldiers, and chained
like a malefactor ; while seven of the Christians,
whom the police had surprised in the act of reading
and meditating on the Bible in a private house, -
were sentenced to exile for a year.-f-
This sentence, the forerunner of one much more
severe, which was pronounced about a year later
upon the Madiai, £ had not only secured to the

* The Paolotti are the members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in
Italy; a society which, under the cloak of benevolence, does a work exactly
similar to that of the Jesuits.
t These were Messrs. Guicciardini, Betti, Magrini, Guarducci, Borsieri,
Solaini and Guerra. The first six chose exile, and came at first to Turin.
X June 8th, 1852. The sentence was : To Francesco Madiai, fifty-six months'
hard labour at Volterra; and to Rosa Madiai, forty-five months' imprisonment,
besides all the expenses of the law-suit. The principal accusation was, — ¦" Im
piety shown by proselytism to the so-called evangelical or pure gospel confes
sion."

214 PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL.
mission-station at Turin the help of another able
workman, M. Geymonat, to whom the Table had
intrusted this field of labour, but, by the presence
in that town of those well-known exiles for the faith
who had found an asylum there, had quickened and
intensified the interest which many had for some"
time felt in the preaching of the gospel. The meet
ings, already numerous, which, before that time,
had been held from house to house, increased in
number still more, and the services in the church
were still more fully attended.
The laying of the foundation-stone of the Vaudois
Church* in Turin, in October 1851, while it fur
nished a most convincing proof of the respect of the
Government for religious liberty, gave, in some mea
sure,' the freedom of the city to the gospel, upon that
very soil from which it had been for ages so piti
lessly banished. It formed also a powerful encour
agement 'to evangehstic work in this town, by
drawing the attention of all classes towards it.
Beckwith wrote the following to the Moderator of
the Vaudois Church in November 1852 (and what
he then said was equally true a year before, when
only the foundations of the church were as yet
laid) :—
" You have no idea of the immense help which
* See the chapter on "Beckwith and Ecclesiastical Buildings," p. 112.

THE BUONA NOVELLA. 215
has been given to our cause by the mere walls of
the new church. Perpetual crowds of people
of all classes, and discussions and disputes without
end, on the subject of rehgion, have been caused
simply by the appearance of the bricks of this
church in the capital. I am convinced that these
walls and the Buona Novella have published Jesus
Christ where one could never have expected to find
Him." The Buona Novella, to which Beckwith alludes,
was a weekly journal of sixteen pages large octavo,
commenced at Turin in OetobeT"T851, with the
view of assisting, by the pen3 the work begun by
preaching. Beckwith had himself written for this
journal, on the controverted question of the Origin
of the Vaudois Church, a series of nineteen articles,
in which he maintained that this Church was simply
the remains of the old Church of Christ in Pied
mont, abandoned in the beginning of the twelfth
century by her bishops, when the resistance which
the diocese of North Italy had for centuries offered
to the pretensions of the Papacy had been at last
overcome.* On the evening of the day when the foundation-

* This journal, which was published for ten years at Turin, and for two years
at Florence, has been superseded by the Eco della Verita, edited at first by Dr.
Revel, then for some years by Dr. De Sanctis, and after his death, by M. Auguste
Meille.

216 PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL.
stone of the material temple had been laid at Turin,
the first reception of catechumens took place. These
were ten in number, and among them was the
Neapolitan advocate, Bonaventura Mazzarella, who
was afterwards an earnest evangelist, a member of
Parliament, and a judge of the Court of Appeal in
Genoa. Thus on the same day was also laid, as it
were, the foundation-stone of that spiritual building
which was to be raised at Turin to the glory of the
Redeemer and of His all-sufficient grace.* Two
other events, which filled with joy and consolation
all who took part in them, were, a second admission of
members a month after the first, and the celebration
at Christmas of the Lord's Supper in Itahan, in which
all were partakers who had before that time been
received into the Church. Thus did the gospel spread;
and souls in ever increasing numbers, some snatched
from superstition, some from unbelief, were translated
from darkness to marvellous light. And while these
things were going on in the capital, the Lord was pre
paring the way for a similar work in Genoa, the second
city of the kingdom, and the centre of Mariolatry.
On the 24th November of the same year, 1851,
Captain, afterwards Admiral Pakenham, of the
British Navy, who, having himself been banished

* See Appendix, letter D, — the formula of engagement signed, in the mission-
station at Turin, by the catechumens who desired admission into the Church.

MISSION WORK IN GENOA. 217
from Tuscany, had found refuge in Genoa, wrote to
one of his friends, that having begun in this town
meetings which were every day more numerously
attended, he stood much in need of the help of a
Vaudois minister, under whose direction and help he
might carry on what he had been permitted to un^
dertake.* The minister required not being to be
found at once, and prudence rendering the greatest
discretion necessary in all the proceedings of the
Church directors, they confined their efforts in the
meantime to establishing a temporary mission, by
means of which they might become fully acquainted
with the nature and extent of the movement, with
a view to furthering it in every possible way. This
mission, confided successively to MM. Geymonat and
Malan, both of whom had been banished from Tus
cany a year before, led to a petition being addressed to
the Table, in July 1 8 5 2, by sixty persons, asking that
they might have evangelical worship in the town of
Genoa, conducted by a pastor of the Vaudois Church, -f-
Such a request being entirely in accordance with
Beckwith's views, he determined to use every effort
to obtain a favourable answer.
" You know better than I do," he writes on this
subject to the Moderator, on the 6th August 1852,
* Letter from Admiral Pakenham to the author.
t This letter bears the date of 28th July 1852. See the Records of the
Table.

218 LETTER TO THE MODERATOR.
" the present position of affairs in Genoa. I have
asked M  to desire Malan not to leave the town
till he has received a communication from you. I
would impress on you the great importance of doing
your utmost to aid this mission, losing sight, for the
moment, of every other consideration.
" It is evident to me, that if churches are to be
formed outside the Valleys, we must aim at the ex
clusively Catholic element." (Beckwith had a very
poor opinion, in view of this object, of the Vaudois
and Protestant element in general.) " Now it is only
at Turin or Genoa that we can hope to make a be
ginning which may lead to a tangible result, and go
on in its own strength. Genoa offers even greater
facilities for this than Turin. A church formed in
Genoa would not only be capable of maintaining
itself, but also of assisting churches which may be
formed in the country.* Though you can hardly
expect support from the higher classes, yet it is of
the last importance that you should have a certain
number of manufacturers and head-workmen, who
are in a position to give work to those who, for the
sake of religion, have lost their situations, and to re
new by this means, so to speak, the broken links of
the social chain.
" I look upon it as a matter of life and death to
* We regret to say that neither of these hopes has yet been realized.

M. GEYMONAT SENT TO GENOA. 219
strike the iron at Genoa while it is hot. Overthrow then
all the obstacles which either yourself or others may
raise to this work. Aim straight at this capital point.
Two citadels, placed at the two extremities of the
kingdom, will offer a place of refuge for the weak and
a rallying-point for the strong. The ramparts once
manned, we shall have ammunition and inexhaustible
supplies, which will enable the garrison to resist the
attacks of the world, the flesh, and the devil."*
The result of this letter was a resolution by the
Table, ten days later — -17th August 1852 — to send
M. Geymonat from Turin to Genoa, to be stationed
permanently there. By the blessing of God on his
labours, and with the help of Signor Mazzarella, who
was soon sent by the Table to his assistance, a
prosperous Church was speedily established.
And, by a remarkable coincidence, on the very-
day when this resolution was taken, a letter was de
spatched to the Table from Geneva, containing a
matter of the greatest importance. The proposal it
contained was destined, not only to fill the place
left vacant in the important station of- Turin by the
departure of M. Geymonat, but also to give to the
cause of Italian evangelization one of her most able
champions. We need not inform our readers who
M. De Sanctis was, nor by what series of providential
* See this letter in the Records of the Table.

220 DR. DE SANCTIS.
dispensations he had been led from Rome, where he
held the brilliant position of Vicar of Santa Maria
Maddalena, and Theologian of the Inquisition, first
to Malta, and thence to Geneva. In the latter place
he had remained for nearly three years, occupied
with the evangelization of his countrymen who were
settled there, and with the composition of his
numerous polemical writings, which have contributed
so powerfully to the progress of the gospel in Italy,
and have gained for their author so great a celebrity.*
It was, then, on the 1 7th of August, the very day
that the Table had decided to translate M. Geymonat
from Turin to Genoa, that M. De Sanctis addressed
to that body a letter which, on account of its
special importance, we shall here give entire : —
" Geneva, 17th August 1S52.
" To the Members composing the Table of
the Vaudois Church.
" Honoured Fathers and Brethren in Jesus
Christ our Lord, — It is now nearly five years
since I abandoned the Romish faith; and, from that
moment my desires have always been directed to-

* It was, as he relates the story himself, on the 10th September 1847, that he
left Rome to go to Malta, where he spent about two years ; where, towards the
end of 1849, he wrote his treatise on Confession; and whence he went in 1850 to
Geneva, — called by the Italian committee of that town, having at its head the
venerable Colonel Tronchin. — See "Biography of Dr. De Sanctis," by Dr. Chieti,
Advocate, of Pisa.

DR. DE SANCTIS' APPLICATION TO THE TABLE. 221
wards the Church of the Valleys, because in her I
recognize the true, primitive, apostolic Italian Church.
During the five years that I have spent among
Christians, i% has been several times proposed to me,
even with the prospect of temporal advantage, that
I should join some Church ;~ but I have always re
fused, considering that an Italian who seeks sincerely
the good of his countrymen should belong to no
other than the ancient Itahan Church. In this way I
have spent nearly five years, waiting for a favourable
opportunity of asking for admission into this Church.
After much prayer that the will of God might be
made known to me, it seemed to me that to remain
longer isolated, without belonging to a visible Church,
was, to say the least, an abnormal state. I therefore
feel that I ought not to delay another instant in
asking to be admitted into your Church. I come,
therefore, by this letter, humbly to pray the Table
to admit me as a member of the ancient Italian
Church, known by the name of the Vaudois Church.
And as, since I abandoned the Romish Church, my
occupation has been the evangelization of the Itahans,
either by writing or by preaching, I beheve that,
for the glory of God, I ought to continue to evan
gelize. It is for this reason that I venture to
ask the Table for the imposition of hands, and or
dination to the holy ministry : not that I believe
(390) 15

222 DR. DE SANCTIS' APPLICATION.
that the imposition of hands can communicate
any virtue to me, admitting as I do that the call
ing comes from God, and not from the Church ;
but because I believe that the calling of God ought
to be recognized, and I may almost say legahzed,
by the Church to which we belong. Further : in
order that the Table may form a judgment regard
ing me, I lay before it the following original docu
ments : —
"1. Diploma of Doctor in Theology, 11th April
1834. " 2. Diploma of Professor of Philosophy and
'Theology, 23rd April 1834.
" 3. Pontifical Nomination as Theologian of the
Inquisition, 9th June 1837.
" 4. Diploma of the Academy of the Catholic
Rehgion, 9th February 1837.
"5. Diploma of Preacher in Rome, 4th August
1838. "6. Diploma of Priest in Rome, from 1 5th Feb
ruary 1840 till my departure from that city, 11th
September 1847.
" 7. Nomination to the office of Prosynodal Ex
aminer for the Diocese of Velletri, 3rd March
1847. " 8.' Regular pontifical passport, to show that I
have not fled from Rome.

DR. DE SANCTIS' APPLICATION. 223
"9. Certificate of the Cardinal-vicar for my de
parture, and Certificate of my superior.
" 1 0. Two autograph letters of Cardinal Ferretti,
then Secretary of State, which he wrote to me
after my departure from Rome, to induce me to re
turn. " To avoid the expense of postage, I shall not
send all these documents, which are in my hands,
nor a number of others also in my possession ; but
I shall bring them with me, if it please you to
grant me the favour which I ask.
"As my affairs, however, do not permit of-Trry
being long absent from Geneva, I beg you, in the
event of your granting my request, to be so good
as to fix the day of my examination, and, if pos
sible, to allow me to preach my sermon on the same
day. "I must also request that you will have the
goodness to keep silence, as far as you can, on the
subject of this letter, as I would rather not have
this matter made public until it is decided.
" I have nothing more to add but the earnest en
treaty, by the bowels of divine mercy, that you
would grant me the favour I ask. — I have the
honour to be, sirs, your very humble and devoted
servant, " Luigi De Sanctis."

224 APPOINTMENT OF DR. DE SANCTIS.
The acquisition of so distinguished a member for
the Vaudois Chuich, and so able a labourer for its
field of evangelization, was too pleasing a prospect
not to be at once accepted by the Table. Accord
ingly, on the 1st September following, they in
formed M. De Sanctis of their full acceptance of his
proposal. At the close of a conference with the
body of pastors, he expressed his deep attachment
to evangelical doctrines, and his love for the Vaudois
Church, whose confession of faith and .discipline he
declared himself ready to sign ; and who, in her
turn, held out to him, in the person of her pastors,
a friendly hand, and acknowledged him as one of
her members.
The Table, seeing in M. De Sanctis a new labourer
whom the Lord had raised up in answer to the
prayers of those who felt the importance of the sal
vation of souls, and specially of the work now being
carried on at Turin, appointed him, by a resolution
of 12th October 1852, to the office of evangelist in
that town, as fellow-worker with M. Meille, in all
that concerned the advancement of the kingdom of
God in that town and neighbourhood.* The
arrival at this station of a man like De Sanctis —
who to a spotless reputation and extensive know-
* See Appendix E, for the text of the resolution of the Table concerning Dr.
De Sanctis' coming to Turin.

PROSPERITY OF THE TURIN MISSION. 225
ledge united the zeal of a convert, and the prestige
of a brilliant position, which he had given up for
the gospel — gave a most powerful impulse to the
progress of the work to which he had devoted him
self. The meetings, already well attended, became
still larger ; and within a few months of his arrival,
the names of no fewer than eighty persons — men
and women — were inscribed in the roll of catechu
mens, who attended with the utmost regularity the
private teaching which was given them preparatory
to their admission into the Church,
" Our affairs here," wrote Beckwith to the Mode
rator, 10th November 1852, "appear to prosper.
The meetings are very numerous, and the Itahan
congregation is almost too large for the chapel. In
cluding Sunday, there are twelve services in the
week. Those who attend these meetings are cer
tainly animated by the best intentions ; for with
the greater part of them there can be no unworthy
motive. There is, without doubt, already a con
siderable leaven of evangelization in Piedmont, and
the Scriptures are daily becoming more widely
circulated. The progress already made is cer
tainly greater than could reasonably have been
expected." Could a brighter prospect, or "one more full of en
couragement, have been offered to the wondering

226 CO-OPERATION IN MISSION WORK.
eyes of the friends of the gospel then at Turin?
And no one rejoiced in it more than Beckwith.
While he watched, day by day, the progress of the
church, of which he superintended the building, he
also did all in his power to further the spiritual
work. He held conferences with the evangelists
as to the best means of attaining this end ; conversed
in the evening in his drawing-room, up to a late
hour, with men of every degree of rank and educa
tion, who gladly sought his counsel ; and besides all
this, he composed for publication various writings —
of which we shall speak afterwards — in connection
with this work of evangehzation, labouring at them
with an ardour and a perseverance scarcely to be
expected even in a young man. The church, mean
while, the erection of which was to work a new era
in the history of religion among the Vaudois, was
progressing • daily. On the 26th December 1853,
it was (as we have already stated*) solemnly dedi
cated to the Lord, in presence of an immense
concourse of people. For Beckwith, it was the
happiest day in his life ; the day which began, so
to speak, the realization of his dearest hopes.
We have already related by what a mysterious
dispensation of Providence, that which, for many
reasons, might have been considered the real start-
* See the close of Chapter X.

SCHISM AT TURIN. 227
ing-point of his labours, was in reality the means
of drawing them to a close. Neither could it have
been imagined that, less than a year after an event
so full of promise as this, the young Church at
Turin would be rent asunder by a painful schism.
The instrument of this schism — for we cannot (and
never could) call him the author of it — was he
whose admission, a year before, into the Vaudois
Church, had been a subject of so much joy and
thanksgiving. Now commenced an era of strifes
and divisions, which, passing from the capital to
Genoa, in which place also the work had gone on
peacefully, gradually spread in all directions, and
became for the work'' of Italian evangelization a
source of great weakness — a withering simoom,
blasting that rich harvest which the Lord had
sown! But the work of Beckwith, in spite of this inter
ruption, was nevertheless of the greatest import
ance. Without him, indeed, — without the efforts
of every kind by which he had not only prepared
and rendered possible, but had made secure the be
ginnings of the work, — it would almost certainly
never have been accomplished. And if, as Chan
cellor Oxenstiern said, "between the wisdom of
God and the folly of men the Church advances," —
if, in spite of all the follies by which imprudent

228 beckwith's place in Italian evangelization.
friends have compromised the work of God in the
Peninsula, that work still progresses and gains
ground, bringing with it spiritual freedom for the
individual, and regeneration and political stability
for society, it is to Beckwith, under God, that Italy
is chiefly indebted for this great service.

CHAPTER XII.
BECKWITH AS AUTHOR AND EDITOR.

HE man whose remarkabkv-existence we
have traced so far, was too much a man
of his time and of his country, and knew
too well the inestimable value of the press in relation
to both of these, not to feel himself impelled to add
this means of action also to those he had already
employed. One part of his publications, consisting
of reprints, or translations, goes back as far as the first
years of his residence in the Valleys. On his first
glance at the schools after his arrival, two things struck
him in particular : first, the absence of reading-books
accessible to all the children ; and in the second place,
that the French language — though spoken and read
in schools and families, and though used in public
worship — was scarcely intelligible to the greater part
of the children.
The first of these wants Beckwith sought to supply
by publishing in one small volume, for the special use

230 EDITORIAL LABOURS.
of schools, an edition of the two books of the Bible
which seemed to him to condense in the most ele
mentary and the most complete form the substance
of the Christian faith. From the Old Testament he
chose the book of Genesis ; and from the New, the
Gospel of Luke. The service which he rendered by
this publication (notwithstanding the contrary opin
ion which theorists may have on this question) was
very great, and became still more so in proportion
to the increase among us of Sunday schools, for
which the existence of this little book became a great
treasure. The numerous editions of it which have
been pubhshed — first in England, then in Italy, (last
of all in Florence) — speak more eloquently than words
of ours can do, of the great usefulness of this little
volume, and the happy inspiration which led Beck
with to publish it.
The means by which he strove to remedy, the
second of the defects mentioned, was the translation
into Vaudois patois, and then into Piedmontese,
with the French text opposite, of the Gospels of St.
John and St. Luke, and the Catechism of Osterwald
(then in use in the Vaudois Church) ; and after
wards the translation into Piedmontese* of the entire
* The translation into Vaudois patois of the Gospels according to St. Luke
and St. John, and of the Catechism of Osterwald, is the work of M. Pierre Bert,
formerly Moderator, and pastor of La Tour j and these two publications bear the
date of London, 1832.
The translation into Piedmontese of these same writings, as well as that of the

TRANSLATIONS INTO PATOIS. 231
New Testament and the Book of Psalms. But these
translations had not the happy practical results that
might have been expected. As the patois of each
parish in the Valleys was different from that of
every other parish, the effort made by the translator
to modify and amalgamate the various dialects had
the inevitable result of making them all incompre
hensible. And besides, the reading of patois being
in all countries much more difficult than that of
living languages, it was found that the same chil
dren who, after one or two years at school, could
read French or Italian very tolerably, failed com
pletely in reading patois. The assistance which
Beckwith had hoped to give, by this translation,
towards a more complete understanding of the two
languages, was thus reduced to nothing, or next to
nothing. He was quite right when he wrote in one of his
letters, — '' The Romanists have their Latin ; the
Vaudois have their French ; in fact, they are both
on the same footing." He was right again, perfectly
right, when, in the same letter, he complained — he,
the most assiduous attendant at the catechisings — •
entire New Testament and the Book of Psalms, does not bear the name of any
author, but is due to the pen of M. le Chevalier Henri Geymet, of the Vaudois
Valleys, then resident at Luzerne, in the employment of Government, and a
particular friend of Beckwith. These last were ail published in London. The
New Testament — in large 8vo, with 480 pages — is of the year 1834. The two Gos
pels — in large 8vo, 232 pages — of the year 1838 ; the Catechism — in 12mo, 239
pages — year 1839 ; and the Psalms, 1840.

232 TRANSLATIONS INTO PATOIS.
that " he never yet had heard the catechism properly
taught ; " and when he declared that if the pastors
would not take the trouble of making themselves
intelligible by having recourse, if necessary, to the
use of the patois, their hearers would soon give up
listening to sermons which they could not compre
hend, and go to hear the discourses of the Romish mis
sionaries preached in Piedmontese, which they could
understand easily. But he was wrong in flattering him
self that the printing, at great expense, of books in
patois, would be an efficient remedy to oppose to this
evil. The reform of schools which were to be the means
of imparting to the masses a more familiar knowledge
of French or Itahan, or both, — this was the true
direction in which progress was to be made. And
to this Beckwith applied himself with even more
energy than to the other reform, so that its good
effects are already beginning to be felt, and are in
creasing day by day.
But besides publications hke those of which we have
spoken, in which he performed only the part of editor,
Beckwith had early employed himself in publica
tions of a totally different nature, — original works,
intended to supply wants peculiar to the Valleys
themselves, or to the state of evangelization in
general. "Had I foreseen," he writes in 1834, "that this

STUDIES IN AGRICULTURE. 233
winter would have been so mild, I should perhaps
have passed it in the Valleys. But, all things con
sidered, I think I have employed my time more
usefully here. I have finished the edition of the
Four Gospels in Piedmontese, and I have made some
progress in a work on agriculture for the small pro
prietors of the Valleys, and even of the plains ; for
I do not pretend to teach ladies and gentlemen, — I
take in hand only the lower orders. I am at
present working at an article on thevine, and when
I go to occupy my corner at the fireside of the
parsonage of Boby, I shall require to be enlightened
by the pastor as to the present state of agriculture
in his parish ; the measures in use, and the way of
employing them ; the culture of the vine, of cereals,
of vegetables, and of fruit-trees ; the nature of the
soil ; the kind of rocks ; the way of making wine ;
the quantity of the produce, either by acres, or as a
whole ; the acknowledged defects caused by circum
stances, by . ignorance, by prejudice, or even by
laziness  The experiments made by both French
and English on these matters will form the basis of
my book ; but the Piedmontese custom must be
placed in comparison with these, in order to obtain
a result applicable to the present state of agriculture
in this country." *
* Letter to Pastor Muston of Boby. London, 25th March 1834.

234 PAPERS ON THE ORIGIN OF THE VAUDOIS.
We cannot tell why this book, which he here
describes as already so far advanced, has never seen
the light ; but the very fact of such a plan having been
conceived by Beckwith, is an additional proof that
his mind was ever open to all that was good and
useful. Religious subjects, however — more especially
those which were bound up with the work of evan
gelization — were those which, in preference to any
others, urged him to the use of his pen. We have
spoken in its place, * and at sufficient length not to
return to it, of one of these publications, — the Saggio
di Liturgia ad uso dei semplici, compiled and
printed in 1850, with a view , to the work of evan
gelization which was about to begin. We have
also said a word upon the series of nineteen articles
on the Origin of the Vaudois Church, published in
the Buona Novella in the course of the year
1851. These were, so to speak, a commentary,
written beforehand, on the inscription which Beck
with had already chosen for the facade of the church
which he was preparing to erect in the capital :
" Stand ye in the way's, and see, and ask for the
old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein,
and ye shall find rest for your souls " (Jer. vi. 1 6). f
Four other publications, all sufficiently important,

* See Chap X., on the Liturgy.
t This inscription is to be read, in Italian, over the entrance to the church.

TREATISE ON THE RULE OF FAITH. 235
on very different subjects, appeared successively be
tween the years 1852 and 1856 : the Regula Fidei,
in 1852 ; the Horae Apocalypticae, in 1853 ;
L'Esistenza di Dio, una Vita Avvenire, Pene e
Ricompense, in 1856, and the Messia Redentore,
also in 1856. The first of these treatises, we are
told by the author, aims at establishing the true
nature of an ecclesiastical faith ; the second is ad
dressed to persons who have attained to faith ; the
two last are for those who, though without professing
to be believers, are well-disposed towards the truth,
and wish to know it, or at least the arguments on
which it is founded. ^
" I consider it as an acknowledged fact," he writes
with regard to the first, the Regula Fidei, " that if
there be in reality documents and testimonies proceed
ing from the apostles by oral means, then Christians
are bound to accept them as equally inspired with
the books of the New Testament. But a question
here arises : Do such documents really exist ? Yes,
replies the Romish Church, and points- to the writ
ings of the Fathers of the Church. But have these
writings the value which is attributed to them by
such a supposition ? That which is called the
tradition of the Fathers, is it in reality an apostolie
tradition, having a right to the same unquestioning
belief on our part as the inspired writings, and con-

236 THE RULE OF FAITH.
sequently forming equally with these an integral
part of our faith ? Such is the question which
this book seeks to examine and to decide. And
this is the conclusion at which the author arrives
after a learned and honest disquisition, first on the
Fathers, and then on the Holy Scriptures : —
" The Councils and the Fathers having frequently
fixed on opposite meanings, and the authenticity of
their writings being not only often equivocal, but
in many instances evidently altered by interpola
tions, it is impossible either to give them credence,
or to trust to the opposite interpretations, from
which many different and irreconcilable opinions
have arisen. And as these passages are not inspired
by a direct and miraculous interposition of the Holy
Ghost, as is the case with the writings of the
Apostles, it is clear that these writings can never
serve as a rule of faith. When we are convinced
that we possess an authentic and distinct testimony
of the will of God in a written revelation, we must
make it the absolute rule of our hfe : " For this
commandment which I command you this day, it is
not hidden from thee, neither is it far off... but the
word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy
heart, that thou mayest do it" (Deut. xxx. 11-14).
This volume, translated, along with the others,
into very good Italian by a distinguished literary

TREATISE ON THE APOCALYPSE. 237
man, and written with much force of reasoning, was
sufficiently approved of, notwithstanding its essen
tially learned character, to be put through a second
edition (Florence, 1867), now also completely ex
hausted. The Horae Apocalypticae, ossia le Profezie di
Daniele e dell' Apocalisse di San Giovanni, is one
of a series of attempts to explain the only prophetic
book of the New Covenant. The different systems
of interpretation in the Apocalypse, says the author
in his introduction, may be reduced to three. 1st,
That of the Preterists — the principal representative
of whom is Bossuet, who applies this book almost
exclusively to the past, and who endeavours to con
fine the sense of the prophecy to the fall of the
Jewish nation and of the ancient Roman Empire.
2nd, That of the Futurists — originated towards the
end of the sixteenth century by the Jesuit Ribera,
who, with the exception of the First Vision, and the
Epistles to the Seven Churches, applies the whole of
the Apocalypse to distant events ; that . is to say,
to the second coming of Christ. 3rd, That of the
Protestants — who consider the Apocalypse as the book
in which are foretold all the principal events relating
to the Church and to Christianity, from the time of
St. John until the end of the world. After refuting
the first two of these systems, Beckwith proposes
(300) 16

238 THE APOCALYPSE.
to develop the third, and prefaces the study of the
Apocalypse by that of the Prophecy of Daniel, which
stands in the closest connection with the Revelation
of St. John.
The revelations contained in the Apocalypse are,
says the author, divided by the Lord himself
(Rev. i. 9) into two parts ; the things which are,
and the things which shall be. In the first part
are comprehended the Epistles to the Seven Churches ;
a faithful picture of what then existed. The second
part, separated from the preceding by a new voice.
a new blast of the trumpet, an entirely new scene,
and new accessories, contains the events relating to
the future of the Church and of the world. This
second division, which — setting aside the first five
chapters, to which the author devotes only a few
pages — embraces the entire book, is subdivided into
six parts, of which only four and a part of the fifth
are commented on, as bearing on events already
accomplished. The first of these six parts — unfolding chapters vi.
and vii. — makes us eye-witnesses of the transitory
greatness, the decline and fall, of Pagan Rome,
in presence of the growing power of Christianity.
The second — bearing on the eighth, and the first
twenty verses of the ninth chapter — displays to us the
punishment and the ruin of Christian Rome, — which,

THE APOCALYPSE. 239
as a penalty for her apostasy, is occupied in the West
by the Goths, in the East by the Saracens, and
afterwards by the Turks. The third part — having
for its text the last verses of chapter ix. , the whole
of chapter x. , and the first twelve verses of chapter
xi. — relates to us the history of the reform which
appeared towards the middle of the period when
the mystery of the sixth trumpet was accomplished.
In the fourth part — which contains an explanation
of chapters xii. , xiii. , and xiv. , excepting verses
6th to 8th — is related the history of the origin and
character of the Papacy, and of its temporal dominion,
preceded by the irruption of the barbarians into
Western Europe. The fifth part relates to events
accomplished only in part : the fall of the Papacy
and of its temporal power, ^ader the vials of God's
wrath successively poured out. The passages relating
to this period are the last five verses of chapter xi.,
verses 6th to 8th of chapter xiv., chapters xv. and
xvi., verses 1—12. The rest of the book, from verse
13th to the end of chapter xvi., has not been made
the subject of any remarks by our author, as the
predictions therein contained relate, according to
him, to events not yet accomplished, and on which it
would consequently be rash to pronounce an opinion.
This publication, for the composition of which
Beckwith had drawn largely upon the larger work

240 THE APOCALYPSE.
of the Rev. E. B. Elliot on this subject, was written
in a simple form, and with all the clearness neces
sary to the subject it treats of. It appeared so new
and fascinatmg to those among whom it made its
appearance, that in less than two years the first
edition was completely exhausted, making it necessary
to publish a second — which has also in turn dis
appeared. Rome, as may well be imagined, is in
no way spared in this book. It is the papal author
ity that figures as the Beast of the Apocalypse ; as
identical with the " little horn of the beast with ten
horns," described by Daniel (Dan. vii.); with "the
man of sin " of St. Paul (2 Thess. ii.) ; and, finally,
with the " Antichrist " of St. John himself in his
epistles (1 John ii). To induce, by the most urgent
solicitations, those who are within its pale to come
out of it, and to participate no longer in its iniquities,
if they do not wish to be overwhelmed in its ruin, —
" such is," says the author, " the end which has in
duced him to use his pen, and which he has con
stantly had in view while writing, and the realization
of which would be his best reward."
The two other writings of which we have given
the titles — that on The Existence of God, a Future
Life, Punishments and Rewards, and the other on
Messiah the Redeemer — although excellent in them
selves, have not had the same success as their pre-

TREATISE ON THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 241
decessors, probably from their eminently philosophical
and argumentative character, which is much beyond
the intelligence of ordinary readers, and which can
only be followed by minds accustomed to abstraction,
and more or less familiarized with this branch of
study. Of the fifteen sections of which the treatise
entitled The Existence of God is composed, three-
are devoted to tracing the causes of atheism ; five
others to proving the contradiction which this system
presents to a host of the most clearly demonstrated
facts, both in physical and moral science. The four
following contain the enumeration and development
of the proofs which the various sciences, successively
and seriously investigated, furnish of the existence
and activity of a Supreme Being. The fourteenth,
with .the same end in view, treats of final causes ;
the fifteenth, and last, is devoted to the explanation
of the thesis that our comprehension of the divine
nature can in no case proceed from our own progress in
knowledge, but must come directly to us by revelation*
The treatises on A Future Life and on Pun
ishments and Rewards are a purely philosophical
and rational demonstration of the majesty and
reality of a future life, as well as of the rewards and
punishments which must necessarily accompany it.
* This treatise is less a composition than a collection of fragments, extracted
from the works of several eminent writers, English and German, on the subjects

242 TREATISE ON THE MESSIAH AS REDEEMER.
As for The Messiah as a Redeemer (II Messia
Redentore) — which we may define as a philosophy of
redemption, as taught in the gospel — the object of
this composition is to demonstrate the total insuf
ficiency of natural religion to explain truly the rela
tion between God and man, and to satisfy conscience
in that respect ; and the perfect conformity between
reason and the Christian revelation, which has for
its fundamental truth " God becoming man in Christ
Jesus, to work out, by means of a perfect satisfaction
of His justice, the reconciliation of man to Himself,
and to restore him to obedience and happiness."
Otherwritings — a series of Discourses upon Genesis,
a treatise on Justification by Faith and A Collec
tion of Scripture Passages on the principal doctrines
of the Gospel — were found among Beckwith's papers,
ready for publication. Like the preceding ones,
they show their author to have been possessed of a
strong faith, a humble and entire submission to the
Word of God, and the most fervent love for perish
ing souls. Such unwearied activity on the part of
one who, whether from his already advanced age, or
from the events of his past career, might so
easily have persuaded himself that this task did not
concern him, is not this a most touching spectacle,
and a noble example of the testimony which every
believer should bear to the truth ?

CHAPTER XIII.
LAST YEARS OF THE LIFE OF BECKWITH — 1854-1862.
E have endeavoured in the preceding pages
to give our readers as complete an idea
as possible of the active life of Beck
with — espeoially that part which relates to his con
nection with the Vaudois Church. Two things yet
remain to be done ere our task is completed : first,
to relate the history of the latter period of his noble
existence, from the day when, so to speak, it was
eclipsed, and withdrew into the shade, until the
time when, weary and worn, it sank peacefully to
rest, within the precincts of those Valleys which
were studded far and near with the proofs of his
benevolence, In the second place, we have to dwell
upon the eminent qualities which Beckwith displayed
in the accomplishment of his task, and more par
ticularly on the source whence alone such virtue
could proceed. We must fix on the day following

244 CLOSE OF HIS ACTIVE CAREER.
the dedication of the church at Turin, as the date
when the active career of the General came to an
end. The motive for this we have already explained.
Not that he returned from Turin at this time (on
the contrary, he remained there two years longer),
nor that he ceased for a single instant to take an
interest in whatever was going on in that city, or
anywhere else, in regard to the advancement of the
kingdom of God in Italy ; but he no longer showed,
in this respect, either any initiative or co-operative
energy ; and this cessation of activity was the
more complete, as it was with him a matter of
conscience. The following reply to an invitation of a very
pressing and cordial kind, addressed to him by the
Moderator, to be present at the Synod* of 1854,
will prove that we do not exaggerate in speaking as
we have done. 7
* "You know that your presence would be a joy and blessing to all the members
of Synod. Professor Rollier and his wife have begged me to express to you the
happiness it would give them if you would take possession of what rooms you
require in the house which they occupy, thanks to your inexhaustible liberality.
I earnestly beg you, in the name of the Table, not to deprive us of one of the
greatest gratifications which we shall obtain from our approaching Synod, — that of
seeing you, and of feeling that you approve by your presence of what we have
hitherto been permitted to do for the advancement of the kingdom of God in this
country. This, however, is much more your work than ours." — Letter of the
Moderator, Mr. J. P. Revel, of the 16th May 185 k.
t More than any letter from the pen of Beckwith, have we been obliged to
alter this one, as to construction, to make it as near French as possible ; but we
certainly declare (and this declaration applies to whatever we have produced
in this volume, either letters or fragments of letters of the General's), that as
far as the intention or meaning is concerned, it has been in no way modified or
altered, and that the text which we have given always expresses Beckwith's
meaning in the most exact manner.

LETTER TO DR. REVEL. 245
" Tdrin, Stnd May 185U.
" My Dear Moderator, — Your honoured letter
of the 16 th is' expressed in that spirit of cordiality
which has always characterized any personal relations
I have had with you, Moderator, and with the Table
of which you are the president. Everything in this
world must at last draw to a close. As long as
your Church had no libe$y of action, I was happy
in being able to help it in the unequal struggle it
had to maintain ; but being now emancipated from
the trammels which impeded its progress, and being
in a position to make the best of its principles and
its efforts, it is no longer necessary for me in any '
way to interpose. My object was to establish the
ancient Church of Piedmont in the metropolis of its
country. Providence has granted my prayers, and
given a happy issue to our efforts. The sacrifice
which this task demanded of me, was to impose
silence on my judgment, my opinions, 'my prejudices
and my habits. I accepted that task, which had
for its reward the success of all my material efforts.
As for the moral results, they were entirely in other
hands, over which I had no influence. Opinions
were different, and one party could not accept the
arguments and conclusions of the other. The
aims had not been so adjusted as to hit the same

246 LETTER TO DR. REVEL.
mark. Even though one listened with patience and
deference, there existed notwithstanding an insur
mountable barrier, and an inevitable distrust, which
placed in rehef the respective parts to be enacted,
and obhged one of the parties to perform a purely
material task. This inferior part I have faithfully
performed ; but my means are exhausted, and I can
continue it no longer. But even had I the power,
I. should not use it ; and beyond this sphere there
is no longer any possibility of action for me. All
communication with the excellent men who exercise
the ministry in the Church of Turin is out of the
question. Guided by different opinions, by other
views, by other sentiments, and with other principles
and other duties imposed upon them by their Church
and by their position, they could not, in the special
case in question, listen to the words of one who is a
stranger, without any special vocation. They would
even be wrong in so doing ; and he who addresses
these lines to you will be very careful not again to
begin a career which has already cost him so many
unhappy hours. No man can bring his opinions to
bear on others, unless he has a right to proclaim
them ; and if I have consented to occupy this false
position, in order to induce you to accept the means
which I deemed the best for facilitating the preach
ing of the Word of God, it would be labour lost to

DEATH OF DR. GILLY. 247
occupy it any longer, especiaUy as it is now out of
date. " I shah therefore, Moderator, not attend the Synod
of the 29th May. I hope that its dehberations will
have the effect of consolidating the Churches of Genoa
and of Turin. I beg you to present my affectionate
greetings to the other members of the Table ; to
thank M. Rollier for his offer of hospitality ; and to
beheve that I have always been grateful for the
attention which you have shown me on every
occasion. " Charles Beckwith."
Nothing particular marked the rest of this year
1854, and the greater part of 1855 ; but towards
the end of September of the latter year, a blow fell
simultaneously on an honourable family, on the
whole Vaudois population, and on Beckwith him
self. We speak of the unexpected death of the
venerable Dr. Gilly. This most true friend, who
had devoted to the Vaudois Church an ever increas
ing affection — who bore it, as it were, in his heart
— had visited the VaUeys during the month of June
of the same year, accompanied by his excellent
wife and his eldest son ; and he had spent several
weeks there, making himself not only useful but
agreeable, — so much so, that he, a prebendary of

248 LETTER TO THE TABLE.
Durham, did not disdain to walk about a mile every
morning, to give an English lesson to the young
ladies of the upper school. Before quitting the
VaUeys, he several times expressed the hope that
he might speedily return thither. But, alas ! this
hope was not to be realized. Scarcely arrived in
England, Dr. GiUy took to his bed, and after a few
days' Illness, gave up his soul to God, on the 10th
September 1855. The news of his death, which
was quite unlooked for, feU hke a heavy blow on
the strong but tender heart of the General.
"Venerable and dear friends," he writes on this
occasion to the Table, "Dr. GiUy's son had already
communicated to me the event which has plunged
us aU in mourning, only one day before the re
ceipt of your letter, and on the day fbUowing that
on which I learned that our friend was iU. Judge,
therefore, of my consternation at the announcement
of this unexpected blow ! That benevolent and
gentle spirit reposes now on the breast of his
Saviour and his God. It is not now the hour of
consolation, but that of resignation and faith ; the
hour of prayer on behalf *of those who are the most
afflicted and broken-hearted — his poor widow and
his children. When peace and religion shaU have
regained their dominion over suffering humanity,

LETTER TO THE TABLE. 249
then wilL be the time to gird up our loins to con
tinue the work to which he has put his shoulder for
so many years."
And laying aside, with a view to this work, the
reserve to which he had condemned himself for two
years —
" You have," he continues with the accent of
former days, " the knowledge and understanding of
what your task is : you are young ; the path of
your duty is clearly marked out for you ; your
brethren in rehgion are beside you to aid and en
courage you. But I lay it upon you always to vin
dicate your independence ; to appeal to your energy ;
to act like men speciaUy charged with the interests
of the Church of Christ in these countries ; to dis
charge the debt contracted by you towards our
Saviour for the long years of preservation, of pro
tection, of encouragement, and of blessing that have
been accorded to you, and towards that host of de
voted friends who have assisted and sustained you
in so many difficult circumstances, and who have
finally conducted you to the metropolis of your
country, after so many long centuries of exile and
persecution. " Whatever may be your personal piety, it is as
a people and as a Church that you have been borne
on the Everlasting Arms, and placed in sight of the

250 LETTER TO THE TABLE.
whole world ; it is as a people and as a Church
that you are caUed upon to proclaim the truth. In
a former letter, you exhorted me to make a sacrifice
of opinions and prejudices which were not in har
mony with the actual state of "things, or with your
mode of action. I, in my turn, exhort you to use
aU possible self-abnegation with regard to those
amongst whom recent events have placed you ; to
take into account their antecedents, their ignorance,
their weaknesses, and the power of their habits ;
and aU this without seeking your own satisfaction.
" I think this is the lesson you may learn from
the character, the career, and the example of the
friend you have just lost. Neither nature, nor even
rehgion, has endowed me with that gentleness which
was a distinguished feature" in the character of the
man who has just descended to the grave; but I feel
profoundly the beauty of this virtue. Thoroughly
acknowledging the moral worth of St. Peter, I yet
think that St. John was the disciple of his Divine
Master. United in the bond of peace, may we pass
the rest of this our earthly career in rendering to
each other aU sorts of good offices. — Your affectionate
' ". Charles Beckwith."
Notwithstanding the decided and firm tone of
this letter, the wound inflicted on Beckwith's heart

ILLNESS. 251
by this unexpected event was painful and deep. In
the death of GiUy, he mourned not only the
friend of thirty years' standing, whom he was never
again to see here below, but stiU more the intel
ligent and devoted feUow-labourer who had stood
firm when he had felt himself almost inclined to
give way, and whose removal was an irreparable
loss to the Vaudois Church, The dread of having
entered upon a work contrary to the true interests
of this Church, by leading her, feeble as she was,
into undertakings beyond her strength, took posses
sion of his mind, to such an extent as to trouble him
and imbitter his sorrow still more. Was it then to be
wondered at that his health, already shaken by age,
and by the wounds which he had received, was un
able to hold out against such violent shocks. To
wards the beginning of December of this year Beck
with took to his bed, and in a very short time the
malady had made such progress that the doctors quite
despaired of his recovery. These were sad and weary
days for aU those who surrounded him, and most of
aU for the young wife, who never left his bedside.
The dehrium was incessant, but its character only
proved stiU more how strong and loving was the in
terest he felt in that Church, to the restoration of
which he had devoted his life.
In the VaUeys, anxiety and consternation fiUed

252 PRESENTATION OF AN ALBUM.
every heart. Everywhere, in the churches and in
famihes, at the invitation of the Table, fervent
prayers were offered up to implore the Almighty
to restore him to health. And when these prayers
were heard, and Beckwith might be said to be con
valescent, the desire of giving expression to the joy
which every one felt at this happy event, occasioned
a manifestation which was touching in its simpli
city. An album was presented to him, richly
bound, having on the cover his initials exquisitely
embroidered in gold, and containing a coUection of
detached leaves, on which one and the same idea —
the happiness felt by the Vaudois Church at the
restoration to health of their dear and venerable
benefactor — was expressed in every variety of form,
by hundreds of persons of aU ages and conditions.
Beckwith was extremely touched by these proofs of
sincere affection.
"The marks of affection and consideration," he
writes to the Moderator on the 14th May 1856,
"of which I have been the object, on the part of
the entire Church, have seldom been accorded to a
man who, hke myself, is without any recognized
position in that Church, The value of this mani
festation consists in the proof it offers of the moral
and religious condition of the clergy and the people.
At the same time, it is a proof that the prayers and

LETTER OF THANKS TO THE TABLE. 253
efforts of thirty years have been heard and crowned
with success by Him who is the giver of aU grace.
So precious a leaven wiU end by leavening the
whole lump ; and we may look forward to those
happy days when all shaU know the Lord, — which is
the end of aU our aspirations. I beg of you, Moder
ator, to present to the Table, to the Clergy, and to
the Churches, my thanks and the expression of my
gratitude for the public prayers which have been
offered up for my recovery, and to assure them that
I shaU aU my hfe remember an act which honours
equaUy those who performed it and him who was
the object of it."
The letter to the ladies who had been deputed to
present the album to him, written some weeks later
(13th March 1856), when his health had consider
ably improved, is one of the most touching and
beautiful that ever came from his pen : —
" Ladies, — It is the prerogative of your sex to
be the messengers of peace and affection. God has
created you to maintain and promote peace on earth
and good-will towards men.
" I am persuaded that you undertook this mission
with joy, and that your hearts have outstripped the
locomotive in its rapid course.
(390) 17

254 LETTER TO THE LADIES.
" The album which you have brought me is laden
with the sacrifices, the cares, the joys and the sorrows
of thirty years : but this load does not bind it to
the earth ; it mounts towards the skies on the wings
of angels, whose mission it is to present to our
heavenly Father the sweet incense of sincerity and
gratitude." After this introduction, foUowed by some general
considerations upon the result of his labours,
and passing in review the different classes of
persons who had aided in the composition of this
album : —
"Do not forget, young people," he says, "that
the Scriptures are given us to instruct us in right
eousness, in order that the man of God should be
perfect. ' Justum et tenacem,' is the golden ode of
the poet. Receive this doctrine into an honest
heart. Our faith should be sincere; 'Honesty is the
best policy,' says the English proverb. Exercise
scrupulously the cardinal virtue of obedience. He
who is caUed upon to teach it to others, ought above
aU other things to know it himself, by submitting to
a severe discipline.
" And you, amiable young girls, be always attired
in the purity of a sweet and peaceful spirit, in order
to win souls to Christ.
" I need not exhort my old friends, the teachers,

LETTER TO THE LADIES. 255
to patience ; you are the patterns of this virtue,
' Be instant in season, and out of season ; reprove,
rebuke, and exhort , be vigUant, endure afflictions,
and do the work of an evangelist.'
" And you, young aspirants to that career of patience
and self-denial, train yourselves courageously for the
most useful, the most honourable task, and also the
most fuU of immediate and future results which it is
given to men to fulfil ; imitate those who have preceded
you in this career, and those instructresses who lead
young girls to Christ, in the paths of chastity and of
conjugal love ; — and may the prayers of the orphan
ascend to the throne of Him who hears their cry and
that of the widow.
"FinaUy, students of theology, ponder weU the
high destiny which awaits you. You lay the foun
dations of that knowledge which wiU make you
princes in Israel. You are about to receive a mouth
and wisdom, which no one shaU be able to gainsay
or resist : the future of your Nation and of your
Church is in your hands. Labour to render your
selves approved of God, as workmen without re
proach. Guard weU the good treasure intrusted to
you by the Holy Spirit.
" I make no appeal to the venerable pastors who
have kindly shown their affection for me in contri
buting to fiU this album. Without their concurrence,

256 LETTER TO THE LADIES.
God's blessing would have been wanting, which has
been conveyed by their means.
" Long years employed in preaching Christ cruci
fied, and in declaring the means of sanctification,
call for gratitude and respectful sUence. It would
not be wise to clothe in words sentiments that he
hidden in the depths of the heart.
"To you once more I express my gratitude,
honoured mothers of famihes, and to you, amiable
young women, for your trouble in putting together
this expression of the feelings of so many hearts.
" I pray earnestly for the young persons who
have contributed to this offering; and "for aU those
to whom, by reason of their more advanced age, I may
give the title of friends.
" I pray for the spiritual and temporal welfare of
aU the Vaudois population; and I append to this a
signature which, I am sure, wiU not be forgotten by
them long after I have descended to the tomb.
" John Charles Beckwith. *
" Turin, 18th March 1856."
The happiness which Beckwith felt at this time
was so real and profound, all that he had before
suffered was so completely forgotten, that he wished,
when spring came, and before quitting Piedmont, as
* This letter was addressed to Mesdames Caroline Vertu, Amelie Muston,
Fanny Parise, and Mdlle. Louise Appia.

LETTER TO THE AUTHOR. 257
he had intended doing, to return for some time to
the VaUeys, to steep himself, as it were, physicaUy
and moraUy, in the soothing influence of an affection
as strongly felt as it was simply expressed.
After having remained some time longer at Turin,
he went to Paris, where his worthy spouse soon re
joined him, and where a letter addressed to his
particular friend, the deputy — -M. Joseph Malan — in
forms us that he has been instaUed since the 25th
October in an apartment at No. 4, Avenue Matignon,
" better in body and mind," he writes, " than he had
been for many long years."
"Absence from Piedmont," he writes a little after
this, to the author of this book, "was for me a
positive necessity. Whether it was the climate, or
an excessive strain on the mind, I know not ; but,
both moraUy and physicaUy, my health was com
pletely shaken. I think, too, that some root of
bitterness had taken possession of me which deserved
a severe chastisement. God had withdrawn his
Spirit from me, and I had a feeling of being, as it
were, paralyzed in body and mind ; so much so, that
I felt myself reduced to a state the very reverse of
my normal condition. Suffering, prayer, and the
ministry of two Anglican clergymen, have cauterized
my wounds ; the services of my Church and the hand
of my heavenly Father have brought me to a state

258 LETTER TO THE AUTHOR.
of convalescence ; I am regaining my strength, though
weakened, and I am again conscious of inward life
and of bodily strength."
Towards the end of this letter, with regard to the
news M. De Sanctis had given him of the progress
made at Turin, Genoa, and other places, by the Free
Church, which that minister had joined on leaving
the Vaudois Church, Beckwith adds : —
" This is an additional reason for strongly organ
izing the Vaudois. Church at Turin ; for, in fact,
since the days of St. Paul the Church has always
been in an ecclesiastical state. But this," he in
sinuates, " would lead us to a ground fertile in dis
putes, which wiU in the end be solved, but in which
experience has proved to me the uselessness of taking
any part."
Now this ground, fertile in disputes, of which
Beckwith only says a passing word, occupied not
withstanding a large portion of his thoughts; a proof
of which wiU be found in the fragments of several
letters which foUow, addressed by him from Paris
to several persons.
" I went yesterday," he writes to M. Joseph
Malan, in the letter already quoted, " to see a
French colonel who had come to caU upon me.
He showed me a Protestant chapel with a con
gregation of from six to seven hundred members,

LETTER TO MR. JOSEPH MALAN. 259
the greater number of whom were converts from
Catholicism. " The neighbouring faubourg might also, it would
appear, have had its congregation, but for the op
position made by the Minister of Public Worship,
acting under the influence of the cure. Notwith
standing, I see quite weU that if the Protestants
had an organization capable of contending with
these difficulties, — if they had the good sense, the
judgment, the perseverance and the disinterestedness
which are requisite, — if they knew how to sacrifice
their own opinion to the interests of Jesus Christ,
and condescended to excuse the weaknesses of Roman
Catholics, the obstacles would only be so many
directions given to their efforts, and so many means
of stimulating their energy. But in aU this they
are utterly wanting. We have miserable preachers.
Everyone seeks privately to put himself forward, to
advance his interest, and thinks of nothing but of
giving pre-eminence to his own peculiar opinions.
With such a state of matters aU union becomes
impossible — in fact, there is not one Protestant
Church, there are multitudes and hordes, in the
midst of which the clergy themselves are the great
cause of separation." *
" My task," he writes later, upon the same subject,
* Letter to M. Joseph Malan, 25th October 1856.

260 LETTER TO THE MODERATOR.
to the Moderator elected in place of Dr. Revel —
Pastor Malan of La Tour — •" was to found a visible
Church in Piedmont for the protection of Catholics,
and not of foreign Protestant-Calvinists ; to set
up as a standard the ancient Church, with her x his
tory, her traditions, her rights, her faithfulness, her
martyrdom, aU to witness in her favour ; to sum up
in a liturgy in the vulgar tongue, her rule of faith, its
letter, spirit, and character ; to place in the hands
of aU classes of society her confession of faith, and
at the same time a manual of her dogmas, her
doctrines, and her worship ; to furnish her ecclesi
astics with a method of pointing out with precision,
day by day, within four walls, what are the truths
of the gospel ; to exercise a certain authority, and
as it were a moral coercion, over those who are
obstinately perverse, iU-informed, presumptuous, vain,
indifferent and irreverent ; to supply the deficiency
which exists in aU Protestant Churches — that is to
say, the absence of direct influence over the members
of the flock outside the waUs of the church, — a want
more particularly felt in regard to Roman Cathohc
converts ; . . .in short, to lay the foundation of a reason
able obedience to men in the institutions of Christ,
in order by this means to prove the obedience which
they profess to have towards God, and thus, as it
were, to stem the torrent of personal pretensions, of

QUESTION OF THE LITURGY.

261

arguments without end, aU tending to this same
result, viz., that one is to do exactly as he pleases, and
never in anything to yield to any authority which
does not perfectly coincide with his own ideas." *
The question of the liturgy, that question which
had occupied so much of his thoughts, and caused
him so much suffering, and of which he here merely
says a word in passing, is resumed more at length
in a letter addressed by him two years later to a
friend in England : —
" What you say in regard to the liturgy is perfectly
true, but no one would now lend an ear to your
views. A church has no direct action upon its
members except within its own waUs ; and certainly
the end for which a church is instituted— that is to
say, the sanctification of man — is more surely attained
by a church which, hke the Anglican Church,
obliges its members to take an active part in its
worship, and fixes their attention upon the dogmas
and the doctrines of the gospel by constant repetition,
from childhood to old age.
" A stranger may frequent the Vaudois service for
a whole year, without ever obtaining, during that
period, the smaUest knowledge of the distinctive
character of the Vaudois Church, and without having

* Letter to the pastor, M. B. Malan, Moderator, dated from Paris, 14th July
1857.

262 USES OF A LITURGY.
discovered any reason for attaching himself to that
particular communion. I have insisted upon the
necessity of giving to the Roman Cathohcs of Turin
some means by which they might know what a
Protestant Church reaUy is, and at the same time
of placing in their hands a descriptive summary of
the outward profession of faith which they are
caUed upon to adopt, which might equaUy serve
as a catechism, a rule for themselves, and a means
of communicating to others the reasons for which
they had separated themselves from their Church.
This could only be done publicly by a liturgy with
the responses in Itahan : because the Vaudois liturgy,
not being in the hands of the congregation, is con
sequently useless ; as the congregation remains
standing before the officiating clergyman, and has
neither the time, nor is it obhged, to look at
the book. But according to modern ideas, — any
addition to the operations of the Holy Spirit being
dangerous or blamable, — my views could not be
accepted." *
These thoughts are not, however, the only ones
with which his correspondence shows him to have
been occupied at this period ; others are disclosed,
of a more personal, more familiar, and, we are almost
tempted to add, a more peaceful character. For
* Letter to Mr. G. II. Lake; dated from Calais, 27th January 1S60.

CHARACTERISTICS OF LOW CHURCH PREACHING. 263
instance, in regard to the discourses he heard at
Paris, in the chapel of his own communion, he
writes : —
" I have remarked in my Church a certain modifi
cation in the style of the sermons, even of those
who incline to the Low Church, and who rest upon
grace as a fundamental principle. The preachers
attend chiefly to the spiritual condition of their
auditors, to a sort of review of their past conduct,
to the possibility of their being led astray by
employing themselves actively in the rehgious
works most in vogue, by inteUectual activity in
the discussion of aU sorts of doctrines and differ
ences which disturb the Christian world, by fre
quenting the services of the church, and even by
prayers which might not proceed from an anxious
regard for the spiritual hfe, or from self-denial in
moments of trial and temptation, — thus substituting
things external for hfe itself. They refer to the doc
trines of grace quite in their absolute sense. But
in what way, they take care to add, do you profit
by them ? Are you upright in spirit ? They en
deavour to awaken and alarm your conscience, to
bring before you your conduct, your words, your
actions, and their general consequences in this world,
with the inevitable result of a future judgment.
They treat their subjects, one at a time, in a concise

264 ministers' supplement.
and somewhat rapid manner; the subject is exhausted
in twenty-five minutes, and they leave the congrega
tion iU at ease, sUent, and dissatisfied with them
selves, — directing their attention solely to personal
salvation, offering no resistance to the arguments and
subterfuges, which people seize upon with eagerness,
to escape the reproaches of conscience, thus putting
to flight that dishonesty of spirit which is the great
scourge of the Christian as weU as of the heathen
world." *
The generous initiative taken by one of his
countrymen — Mr. G. H. Lake — with a view to pro
curing supplemental salary for the most necessitous
of the pastors of the VaUeys, is a subject which
appears more than once in his correspondence at this
time. "I think," he writes in regard to this, from
Paris, on the 30th April 1857, "that your capital
and your annual subscription wiU justify your pro
ject of fixing an aUowance of £12 a year on five
ministers ; and it is a great matter to be able to
assist five ministers, with large families, and without
private means."
And one month only after this— on the 2nd of
May 1857 — in replying to a letter in which Mr.
Lake had asked him for the support of his name to
* Letter to the author, dated 5th January 1857.

LETTER TO MR. LAKE. 265
carry out this undertaking, " My dear sir," he says,
" people in England generally think that a military
man ought to command his regiment, and ought not to
meddle in church matters ; however, if you think by
using my name you will attract more fish to your
net, put me down for £10. I have given so much
to the Vaudois, that now the time has come to give
to my own Church, during the short time that
remains to me. As for my letter, I have no objec
tion that it should be printed in the same manner as
your circular. Only I do not wish it to be put in
the public papers. The world is tired of the Vaudois,
and it would be very imprudent for us, who have
never been very much admired "either by the High
or the Low Church, to run the risk of a hostile para
graph." After some further advice as to the destination of
the sums coUected, or to be collected, Beckwith adds :
"You are, however, perfectly competent to manage
this matter, and the advice of an old man should be
taken for what it is worth. The business of life is
the work of the young."
The three foUowing letters, addressed, with an
interval of a year between each, to the author of
these hnes, contain detaUs and sketches regarding
this period of his life, and his views upon the general

266 LETTER TO THE AUTHOR.
political and religious condition of Europe at that
time. They are sufficiently interesting to make us
think we should not deprive our readers of them.
The first, written at Paris, and dated the 15th
January 1858, is thus expressed : —
" My Dear M  , — Your obliging letter of the
3 Oth December has given me much pleasure. It is true
that the Protestant citadel has cost much, but the
result is not to be despised, and I doubt whether
your undertakings would have succeeded, had they
not been protected as they are. For myself, I have
spent the past year in my usual way; but your letter
found me very lame, and I continue so stiU. The
fact is, that winter, and my seventy years, begin to
make themselves felt, and my poor body suffers in
consequence. My mind, however, does not suffer;
and I am so weU taken care of by my blessing of a
wife, that I get along very pleasantly, with now and
then an oh ! and an ah !
" Last night we were on the point of losing our
Emperor. I do not know how it happens, but I hear
this morning that no one has been arrested. If we
had lost' the Emperor, I think we might as weU have
been at Lucknow. This Paris is the worst residence
in Europe, and I have an idea of leaving it in due
time ; for the possibilities are too serious to contem-

LETTER TO THE AUTHOR. 267
plate, and one would have to submit to consequences
which neither courage, management, nor foresight
could avert. I trust that Providence wiU help
you through your clerical trials, as it has done in the
case of Belgium. It is true that the grade of your
electors is inferior to that of your constitutional sister ;
however, you have enough of stuff in you to make
us hope better things for the future. As for your
administration, nothing on earth can be more theo
retical ; and your actual wants have always to be
satisfied by some project which is never carried into
execution. I am firmly convinced that our friend
N  N  wiU get over his trials in the course of
this year, and that his hfe wiU be like a mirror, which
a breath may tarnish for an instant, but which is
soon restored to aU its brightness. ' Integer vitce,'
that is the true ground in which the Spirit takes root."
" I am leading an Anglican life at present ; how
ever, I go in the morning with my wife to her
Presbyterian church, and accommodate myself wonder-
fuUy weU to the rehgion of Grandpierre. We see
quite as little of the sun as in England, but it is
not cold : we have no snow, and, above aU, we have
not to endure those extremes of heat and cold to
which we are exposed in Piedmont. When summer
comes, I propose taking my wife to England, to com
plete her education in the matter of fog and damp."

268 LETTER TO THE AUTHOR.
"However, she does not appear to mind the misty
life very much which we lead here. It is true that
we are not so weU off in regard to friends and
acquaintances as we were at Turin ; stiU we have
some, and from time to time we have some of
our relations staying with us, so that our life goes
on weU enough. Our kind regards to Madame and
to Paul, to Bert and his wife, and to the members
of the former Table and of your Consistory. A good
new year to every one. Grace, health, and peace of
mind. We Enghsh are worked in a thousand ways ;
for we have to bear the burden of civilization and of
the gospel for the benefit of others. If our shoulders
bend under the weight, I know not very well
who could take it up and walk upright. I think,
however, we shall not give way. England, Belgium,
and (who could have thought it ?) Piedmont shaU
walk together in the front ranks. — Adieu, M 
" Charles Beckwith."
The second letter, of the 4th January 1859, is
from Calais, whither Beckwith had some months
before transported his household gods : —
"My Dear M  , — The good wishes and blessings
of a minister of the gospel are of great importance to
him who is the object of them. I thank you with

LETTER TO THE AUTHOR. 269
aU my heart ; and in this my wife joins me. My
idea is realized in what you teU me of the probable
progress of the gospel in Piedmont. My opinion is
that neither Protestantism nor its ecclesiastical forms
wiU take root in Italy ; and that the movement wiU
go on increasing secretly, until it bursts forth poli-
ticaUy and religiously under the pressure of circum
stances. I also think that if you had had the clear
sightedness to adopt larger views, and more in keep
ing with the necessities of your position, than those
which you have been taught, your Church might have
placed herself at the head of this movement : but
the occasion has been lost, and it wiU be the Roman
Catholics who wiU charge themselves with this office.
The defect and the capital weakness of Protestants
is their having entirely disregarded and lost sight of
the principle of obedience. Their very piety makes
this an obligation of conscience. There wiU be ter
rible judgments required to put them right on this
score. " I do not suppose there is good sense or honesty
enough to reconstitute a Table which has the intel
ligence and the consciousness of its authority, and
at the same time the firmness of will sufficient to
make them effective. In the Revel Table you had
all this; and for that very reason it was set aside."
" I have returned into the bosom of my Church,
(390) 1 8

270 LETTER TO THE AUTHOR.
and I occupy myself with my profession — that of arms.
My position is more natural, and I am consequently
more peaceful... My wife lives in darkness here, for
we rarely see the sun. But otherwise Calais is not
a bad residence ; and I am only four and a half hours
distant from London, where I have always a house open
for my reception, and inteUectual resources at my dis
posal. I find, besides, my Anglican Church weU
kept up here. I have good health ; I want nothing.
That God's blessing may rest on you and on your
children, is the fervent prayer of
"Charles Beckwith."
The third letter, written like the preceding from
Calais, and dated 9th January 1860, runs thus : —
"My Dear M  , — Your letter has pleased me
much, because it is full of good-natured gossip ; for aU
that regards little chUdren, women and girls, is infinitely
preferable to big words upon transcendental matters,
of the real meaning of the why and the wherefore of
which we are ignorant. ' What is the most useful of
aU knowledge ? ' asks the old catechism. Who has
ever understood this question? and above all, who has
ever answered it ? This, however, has not hindered
many exceUent people from passing their life under
the influence of the Spirit of God, to faU asleep peace-

LETTER TO THE AUTHOR. 271
fully on His bosom. As for myself, my wife has
taught me religion, from morning tiU night, since
the happy day of our union; and this without preach
ing me a single sermon, and regularly going to sleep
whenever I did so to her, after the fashion of the
day. Also, I have (thanks to her) discovered
the difference that exists between httle affairs per
formed during the course of the day with patience
and affection, and theological discussions, the theory
of which I had already acquired, but the practice of
which was wanting in my system. She has filled
up the gap.
"What are we to do with the Pope ? Good Catholics
with us say many things on this subject which are
quite true, but they forget that aU these things ought
to have been said and put into practice ten centuries
ago. Be it wisdom or foUy, the days of the Papacy
are numbered. Bonaparte has given it the coup
de grace, and now it knows not to what saint to
address itself. England and the Protestants have
nothing to do with it. The Emperor of Austria,
his concordat and the Pope, wiU aU go to the wall
together. A httle sooner, or a httle later, my
Apocalypse wiU be realized to the entire satisfaction
of every one, except the Archbishop of Genoa. *
* Monseigneur Charvaz, formerly Bishop of Pignerol, and a great enemy of
the Vaudois, against whom he had written much.

272 LETTER TO THE AUTHOR.
" My wife has gone to hear a French Methodist,
for want of some one better, although it is Monday.
She is neither carried away by the Anglicanism of
her husband nor by Dissent ; but she goes in the
cold from the pure spirit of docihty. She begs me
to present to you her affectionate remembrances as
well as to Madame. You did not mention Paul ;
was he under the table ? May the Almighty bless
your ministry, and support and enlighten the brave
Piedmontese Major and his wife ; which he undoubt
edly will. As for us, we have our heads full of line-of-
battle ships, fortifications, and carbines : aU indis
pensable things in the present condition of affairs,
so thoroughly bungled, that half-a-dozen congresses
would not be able to set us right. If this evil
spreads to us you will not see me so soon in the
street ' Principe Tommaso.' — Your affectionate
" Charles Beckwith."
Fortunately for those who, regretting his absence
from Piedmont, sighed for his return, Beckwith was
deceived in his calculations as to the prolongation of
his absence, for in httle more than a year afterwards,
in the spring of 1861, he left Calais, and with his
wife and servants returned to the Vaudois VaUeys.
When he arrived there, the Synod of the Church
was assembled, and holding its sittings in the church of

RETURNS TO THE VALLEYS. 273
St. Jean, at a short distance from the country-
house of Major Peyrot, where he went on his arrival.
A deputation of the assembly, headed by the pre
sident, was immediately commissioned to pay their
respects to him, and to welcome him on his return
among his grateful friends. Beckwith gave a most
cordial reception to the deputation. Whilst he ex
pressed his happiness at finding himself amongst
" his own " people, he yet excused himself from
returning amongst them, " as he was now a man
not fit for anything." " Were it otherwise," he
added, " I should not for one moment hesitate to
take up my work at the point where I had left it,
and in. applying myself to it with the same ardour
as formerly ; but I reaUy cannot do it." The
foUowing day, when he went to the Synod, the
whole assembly, by a spontaneous movement, rose
at his entrance, and the dehberations were for a
moment suspended.
The joy, however, which was felt by every one at
seeing him again, was not without a mixture of
sorrow, occasioned by the evident symptoms of
weakness portrayed on his features and general
appearance. That which had, however, in no way
changed was the loving, tender heart, which, under
an outward austerity, was always open to any good
work. His habits also remained the same. Every

274 EVENING OF LIFE.
day he took his accustomed long walk, alone on
foot, stopping every now and then, either to admire
what he saw or to speak to those he met with on
his way. Every evening, also, he received in his
drawing-room people of every age and rank, " who
were kind enough," as he expressed it, " to come and
shorten his evenings." On Sundays, no matter
what the weather was, he attended regularly at
church, not only the principal service, but also the
Sunday school, — which he attended regularly to the
end. To hear the Scriptures explained to httle chU-
dren had a peculiar charm for him ; and in order to
have the pleasure of hearing it explained in this way,
(as he could not have walked four times a day the
distance between the church and Major Peyrot' s) he
spent the whole interval between the services in the
church, reading his Bible or meditating, only leaving
it to refresh himself at a neighbouring house with a
glass of water and a mouthful of bread.
Winter approaching, he left the country, and fixed
his abode at La Tour, in a house which he himseff
had got built for the use of the professors, and which
the Table had hastened to place at his disposal. The
symptoms of weakness, already very visible when he
re-entered the VaUeys, became every day more percep
tible. Soon his long walks had to be replaced by shorter
ones ; but what he was most tenacious about was his

SYMPATHY WITH THE YOUNG. 275
taking them alone and without the company of any
one who might be supposed to take charge of him.
Never had his sympathy for the suffering appeared
more touching than since he had become one of them
himself-; and above aU, when he had occasion to
show this sympathy to children. WeU or HI, however,
children were to the end the principal interest of his
existence, and nothing gave him greater enjoyment
than to assemble a number of them around his own
table, and to witness their dehght at the sight of the
good things presented to them. One day when a
particularly good cake was served, " Which piece
wiU you have ? " he asked a little girl, who with
eager eyes was devouring the tempting prospect—
"The largest!" she answered, without hesitating;
and the good General laughed most heartily at this
charming naivete'.
Amongst the surprises prepared to amuse him, few
succeeded so weU as that of a choir formed under
his windows, towards night-faU, by the coUege
students ; or the sudden arrival of a troop of young
girls in his drawing-room, old pupils of his school,
who would thus come to spend a part of the evening
with their kind old friend. How weU, notwithstand
ing his seventy-two years, he knew how to suit
himself to them, and to enter fuUy into all their in
terests and occupations ! What a charm there was in

276 BEGINNING OF THE END.
his conversation ; into which, in the midst of mirth and
gaiety, he could introduce so well a wise or grave word !
But the time came, towards the beginning of
summer, when even these enjoyments were no longer
permitted ; when, instead of his usual walk, he could
only pass a portion of the day in his arm-chair, at
the corner of his garden, and where the torpor of his
faculties caused an almost constant inclination to
sleep. But what even then stiU survived in him was
his tender interest in the schools, which were to him
a constant subject of concern. " You should give
particular attention to two things," said he to a
young schoolmistress, who, in passing, had inquired
after him : " these are, reading and arithmetic. By
reading, your young girls wiU become acquainted
with the most important of books — the Bible ; and
arithmetic, by unfolding their intelligence, and by
giving them habits of exactitude, wiU make them,
later, good mothers of families." — "Never lose sight,"
he said to another, " of the end you ought always to
have in view ; that is, to lead souls to Christ."
Towards the 1 5 th of July his weakness so increased
that he could no longer leave his bed. Evidently
the end was rapidly approaching, but gently, peace
fully, and without any great suffering. Now
and then a few words spoken of eternity, with
those friends who came to see him, proved to the

DEATH. 277
last the reahty and firmness of his hope. At last,
on the 19 th, which was a Saturday, at a quarter
to six in the evening, the noble old man, like a
labourer worn out by a long day's work, feU gently
asleep in the arms of his Saviour ; not being aware,
nor his wife either, that he was leaving behind
him a dear child, whose birth, had it happened in
his life-time, would have filled him with joy, but
who only entered the world six months after the
author of its days was laid in the tomb.
The news of his death spread hke wildfire through
out the parishes of the Vaudois villages, and, though
long foreseen, awakened everywhere the deepest
sorrow. From aU parts crowds hastened to look for
the last time on the venerated features of him whose
appearance on the soU of the VaUeys had been to
them, through the influence of the Holy Spirit, like
a resurrection from the dead. On Monday, the day
appointed for the interment, thousands of persons,
men, women, and children, followed the coffin silent
and sad, as one might expect from people who had
suffered so great a loss. Good Christian words,
pronounced over the grave by Professor Jean Revel,
while recalling once more to mind how much the
Vaudois population owed to him whose mortal
remains had just been committed to the earth,
directed with power the hearts and thoughts of

278 MONUMENT.
those present towards that eternal world, where aU
those who, hke Beckwith, have placed their trust
in Jesus, and who have sought to " turn many to
righteousness, shaU shine hke the stars for ever and
ever." (Dan. xii. 3.) A simple but elegant monument,
erected in great part at the cost of the Vaudois popula
tion, indicates the spot where he sleeps, in the cemetery
of Torre-PeUice. The four foUowing inscriptions are
inscribed on its four sides.
On the front : —
TO THE VENERATED MEMORY
OE THEIR ILLUSTRIOUS AND CONSTANT BENEFACTOR,
£HL-xjf>t-®iMttil Ctharks gBfcktoiih,
BY THE GRATEFUL VAUDOIS CHURCH.
On the opposite side : —
Born at Halifax, in America, the 2nd October 1789. Came for the
first time to the Valleys in September 1827. Died at La Tour, the 19th
July 1862.
On the west side : —
" I have laboured in my generation ; it is for those who sliall come
after me to carry on the work I have begun, and to transmit it in a still
more advanced state to their successws."
(Beckwith's own words, extracted along with the
foUowing from his correspondence.)
On the east side : —
" If in the world to come I meet a poor old woman and two little
children who have benefited by the seed I have sown, I sliall feel rewarded
for all the sacrifices I have made for tlmse schools, where the little that is
taught is really true and really good, being founded on repentance toward
God and faith in Jesus Christ."

CHAPTER XIV.
THE QUALITIES WHICH BECKWITH DISPLAYED IN HIS WORK,
AND THE SOURCE FROM WHICH THAT WORK PROCEEDED.
IND now, from the brink of the newly closed
grave, let us throw a retrospective glance
on the past, and endeavour to estimate
the qualities which Beckwith more particularly dis
played in his work, and the source from which pro
ceeded aU the good it was given him to do : this
wiU be the best method of extracting from this
history the valuable lessons which may be learned
from it.
One great quality, which we perceive if we at
tentively consider his work, is the wisdom and
prudence which Beckwith constantly displayed in
all his relations, either in regard to the authority of
the Church the advancement of which was the object
of his labours, or in regard to the pohtical author
ities of the country. Had Beckwith not always
worked in the most perfect harmony with the

280 PRACTICAL WISDOM.
Vaudois Church, had he not on aU occasions treated
it with the most perfect consideration, had he not
always given it the foremost place, whatever might
really be the moral worth of those who represented
it, who can teU what suspicions he might have
aroused, or how many susceptibilities he might have
awakened, susceptibilities and doubts which might
have been great obstacles to his work ?
And as for the pohtical authorities, with a govern
ment such as existed in Piedmont during the greater
part of Beckwith's active career, suspicious beyond
expression, distrustful of thought above everything,
and in anyone who dared to feel and act a httle
differently from the common suspecting at once a
conspirator against whom it was necessary to guard
itself ; above aU, with a government so entirely under
the dominion of the priesthood, that nothing could
be done without their permission or through them, —
had Beckwith not proceeded with the utmost circum
spection, how could ¦ he, a stranger as he was, with
out any official mandate, alone and without support,
have dared do a fourth part of the things he ac
complished, without being sent twenty times to the
frontier ? But if there was any project to be carried
out, that Beckwith was at the bottom of it, every
one knew ; it was he who counted the cost and pre
pared the plans — he above aU who put his shoulder

PRACTICAL SAGACITY. 281
to the wheel. But those only who appeared on the
scene, as though everything originated with them,
were either the municipal councils, or the Table,
or the consistories — that is to say, the parties to
whom, even with the worst wiU possible, the right
to take part in affairs which were entirely their own,
and to work within their own jurisdiction, could not
be refused.
*f" And this same wisdom, how it showed itself in
the method he took to secure to himself, little by
little, the concurrence of the Vaudois population in
the accomplishment of the successive reforms which he
had conceived! To have asked at the very first from
this population all that he wished, and all that he
succeeded eventually in obtaining, in the way of pecu
niary sacrifices, would have been a sure way of meeting
with a refusal. On the other hand, to have asked for
nothing, to have done all for them, and without them,
would have been, not only to encourage a disposition
which is unfortunately too deeply rooted amongst the
Vaudois — that is, to allow others to take charge
of their affairs — but it would have been doing
a work with no durable foundation, which, on the
disappearance of the man who had consecrated his
life to it, would have fallen to pieces.
Beckwith proceeded quite differently. As long as
certain faults were not felt, he did everything himself;

282 METHOD OF GIVING AID.
and he was obliged to do all this, because, in these
circumstances, to ask assistance from others would
have been a useless work. But whenever — thanks
to certain wants being satisfied — others began to
make themselves felt, and to caU for similar satisfac
tion, Beckwith only came forward on condition that
he should not be left alone, and that, to the assist
ance he was willing to give towards the object re
quired, aid should be furnished by them in a pro
portion more or less considerable according to the
requirements of those who appealed to his benefi
cence. This was the line of conduct from which he
never departed; and, thanks to it, he not only ob
tained, in the way of cooperation, much more than
he could have expected, but founded his work on a
durable basis. " Ah ! had the Vaudois suspected,
when I came among them," we heard him laugh
ingly say one day, " aU the money which in time I
should succeed in obtaining from them, instead of
receiving me as they have done, they would have
pelted me away with stones !"
Another quality which stands out not less
strongly than the preceding, in the work which
he accomplished, is the promptitude and correct
ness of his conceptions, and the unalterable firmness
with which he carried them out. With the excep
tion of one or two instances in his long career, where

FIRMNESS OF PURPOSE. 283
his judgment appears to have been at fault (not,
however, in the main point, nor with regard to the
real nature of the evil which he sought to remedy,
but rather as to the means which he employed to
carry out the remedy), Beckwith conceived aU his
projects with most astonishing judgment, adapting
always most perfectly the means to the end he had
in view, and generally succeeding beyond aU expec
tation. And if the exactness of his conception
was remarkable, his firmness of intention and his
determination to carry out at any price that which
he had proposed, were also qualities which yielded
in nothing to the others. Neither the apathy
of some, nor the iU-will of others, nor the annoy
ances of all kinds to which, from the nature of
the work he had imposed on himself, he was ex
posed, prevented him for one moment from bringing
to a happy issue what he had planned, so long as
he had not to contend with difficulties reaUy insur
mountable. But that which, in Beckwith, and the work he
had for so many years pursued, strikes one even
more than all the different qualities we have enu
merated, is the spirit of self-denial and self-sacrifice
which shines out everywhere, and which in fact is the
foundation of it all. In truth, whilst with many men
the difficulties and annoyances which arise in a

284 SELF-DENIAL.
work constitute in their eyes a reason for with
drawing from it, with Beckwith these were the very
things which induced him to undertake it. " There
is nothing," we remember him saying, "which I
detest more than grammar — above aU, German gram
mar ; therefore I decided upon beginning each day
with an hour of it. Nothing prepares us better," he
adds, "for aU the annoyances of the day, than to
begin it with something for which one feels a dislike."
And indeed his whole life, from the first day that he
put his foot upon the soil of the VaUeys, until, his
years at an end, he feU asleep in the bosom of his
God, was a life of continual trial and sacrifice under
one form or another.
What self-denial was it, in fact, for such a man
— who, from his social position, his culture,
the refinement of his manners, and the exquisite
amiability of his temper, might have been an orna
ment to London society — to come during the six
dreariest months of the year — sometimes for an entire
year — and bury himself, as it were, in the abode of
a Vaudois minister of the VaUeys, having no other
society but what the place afforded, — pastors, pro
fessors, schoolmasters, simple agriculturists, with their
wives and daughters ; no other amusement than their
conversation and smaU news, which could not be
very varied, to cheer his fireside during the long

SELF-DENIAL. 285
evenings ! What a sacrifice this was few can under
stand who have not witnessed the comforts of an
English home — thus to pass long years in a humble
dwelling, where there was neither carpet, nor sofa, nor
even a stuffed chair, and where only an old cook and
a housemaid composed the whole domestic .establish
ment. What a sacrifice for a mind like his, capable
of amusing himself with the higher speculations of
science — a mind finding pleasure in high and deep
studies — to renounce all these almost entirely, in
order to occupy himself whoUy, frdih~morning tiU
night, and often a part of the night itself, with plans
and estimates of all kinds — for waUs, benches, tables,
wooden beds, linen, and crockery, and a hundred
other things, none of them more intellectual than
those we have just mentioned !
But above aU, what a sacrifice (that of money
we shaU not mention, however considerable it was,
because so smaU in comparison with others) — what
a sacrifice was that which probably no one amongst
those who were the objects of it has ever taken into
consideration, or duly weighed : the daily and con
tinual sacrifice, during thirty years, of his habits, his
tastes, his preferences, and his most rooted and
dearest convictions as an Englishman, strongly
attached to his Church, in a country in every
way different from his own, in the midst of a
(390) 19

286 SELF-DENIAL.
Church with the organization of which he had but
little sympathy, and with appliances which were
often very far from what he would have desired ;
frequently obliged to give his assent to measures
which he deemed defective, whilst others, from which
he had promised himself the happiest results, were
neutralized and rendered impotent by the effect,
sometimes, it is true, of opposite convictions, but
more frequently by that inveterate indolence which
is the greatest and most insurmountable barrier to
all progress !
What self-denial for a mind so convinced, and by
nature so resolute, as his, to bend every day, and
during long years, to minds and wills so very much
less enlightened and intelligent than his own ; and,
when he could not bend them to his views, yielding
to theirs, with a view to secure in part at least the
good which he wished to accomplish, and which a
rupture might have resulted in making for ever
impossible. What self-denial, so much the more
admirable in times like ours, when, under the
name of fidelity to principle, there is no species 01
egotism or presumption which does not claim suffer
ance ; when people think themselves in no way
obhged to make any concession, or defer to the
advice of others ; when divisions and quarrels are
counted as nothing, when things the most important

BASIS OF BECKWITH'S CHARACTER. 287
and vital — such as the peace and unity of the Church
— are pitilessly sacrificed to some opinion that has
been adopted, even though it has reference to some
thing quite secondary in point of truth !
But, acknowledging these qualities, what, we
again ask, was the principle which produced them ?
from what source did Beckwith derive them, so as to
be able first to project and then to execute such
a work as we have just related ? Is the secret of
this wonderfuUy beneficent activity to be found
simply in human virtue ? or was there in the motive
which gave Beckwith power to accept and pursue
his task something which came from a higher source
than anything human, and which finds in God alone
its real and complete explanation ? In other words,
was Beckwith's work simply that of a philanthropist,
or must we view it mainly as that of a Christian ?
As regards ourselves, this question has long been
solved. When one has had the rare privilege of
living and working side by side, so to say, with this
remarkable man, one feels, without doubting for an
instant, from what divine heights flowed this fertiliz
ing spring, displaying itself in efforts of every
variety, and producing the blessed fruits which we
have just portrayed.
Yes, Beckwith was more and better than a simple
phUanthropist. He was a Christian ; and it is be-

288 beckwith's Anglicanism.
cause he was such a sincere and thorough Christian,
that he accomplished what he did, and was favoured
even in his life-time with such a measure of success
as seldom falls to the lot of those who engage in
labours of that kind. By nature and deep-rooted
conviction, not less than by birth, Beckwith belonged
to the Anglican Church. The preceding chapters
have furnished us with sufficient proof of this.
But to which of the three great parties into which
that Church is divided would he from preference
have attached himself? We think we may answer,
To none. Not certainly to the Broad or Lati-
tudinarian Church, from which his belief, in all
points coinciding with the old and wholesome ortho
dox evangelical doctrine, would have withheld him.
Neither was it to the High Church, the attachment
of which to ritual would certainly have had for him
a considerable attraction. But its exaggeration on
many points inspired him with distrust ; and this
whole party had, in his eyes, the double fault — first,
of giving to tradition in matters of faith an import
ance which Beckwith attached to the Bible alone ;
second, of driving onward almost inevitably to
Romanism by exaggerating the value of episcopal
ordination. But he by no means attached him
self to the Low Church party, although their
doctrines were identical with his own, and though

ANGLICANISM. 289
they numbered amongst them many of his best
and most faithful feUow-labourers. Certain customs
peculiar to numbers of that party, otherwise
so exceUent, — that of their fondness for prayer-
meetings, where the greatest approval is often given
to discourses neither of the wisest nor always of the
most truthful nature, and where truth is frequently
sacrificed to make the subject patronized for the
time more interesting ; — these customs, and others
besides, were peculiarly repugnant to his expansive
and strong character, and became stiU more so when
they related to religious matters. A slave of
the truth, even in the smallest details, he had
such a horror of seeming better than he was, that
the anxiety which many display to conceal their
faults made him as open in showing his own.
None, therefore, of these three parties which we
have just named could claim Beckwith as properly
belonging to them. A pure and open Anglicanism
was his sole standard of a visible Church and of
ecclesiastical organization. But, above aU, Beck
with was a Christian — not after the fashion of
modern innovators, who pretend to the name when
they have long abandoned the reality of it, but a
Christian after the fashion of the apostles and the
reformers ; a Christian by the nature of his belief, not
less than by the strict consistency which in every-

290 HIS BELIEFS.
thing he endeavoured to maintain between his
convictions and the most trivial detaUs of daily life.
That, in reviewing his behef, we have in no way
exaggerated or attributed to our hero opinions and
doctrines which were not his own, let the foUowing
fragment serve as proof, which we have extracted
from the kind of manifesto which, as we have seen,
he compiled in 1837, with the view of pleading
before the body of pastors the cause of the "Mode
rator for life." Speaking of "truth itself," which
the Vaudois pastors were commissioned by God to
announce to their countrymen, here is the idea which
he had of it, and the elements of which, according
to him, it is constituted : —
" He has caUed you," he says to them, " to pro
claim, with a loud voice, original sin, life and im
mortality ; to announce to aU men the free pardon
of their sins ; to publish the advent of Jesus Christ,
the God-man, sole Mediator between God and man ;
to revive in the heart of man the lost image of God;
to preach Christ crucified ; justification by faith in
Jesus Christ, which shows itself in works — that
justification which wiU plainly prove to men how
unjust they are, and how impossible it is to justify
themselves before the Judge of the universe ; sancti-
fication by the Holy Ghost, who wiU reveal to each
one his impurity, and wiU show him his inability to

ESTIMATE OF THE SCRIPTURES. 291
purify himself otherwise than by the precious blood
shed for him. God has chosen you to spread the
gospel ; to teach men to hve justly and soberly in
this world ; to sanctify the Sabbath ; to obey the
authorities estabhshed by God ; to honour fathers
and mothers ; to love their neighbours as them
selves ; and to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit,
which are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance."
If we wish to know, in regard to the particular
subject of God's Word, what that Word was to him,
and the place that it held in his system of doctrine,
let us read the two foUowing fragments, extracted
from his correspondence, and there can be no further
doubt on this subject : —
" The Word of God," he writes, " wiU give us an
entire victory. It is in the rule of faith that our
strength lies. Our minds once enlightened on its
true nature and on that of the visible Church, it is all
over with Rome  Has God spoken ? and what has
He said ? That is the question. We must have Jesus
Christ in person or in word. The reports of the
Fathers or others, in regard to the oral traditions 01
the apostles, signify nothing. We have not verbal
tradition, we have not their words ; and even if we
had them, we should have to confront them with
the Word of God. It is useless to say that we can-

292 BIBLE AS A RULE OF FAITH.
not understand this Word. And why should it be
more difficult to understand the Word of God than
the word of man? Aristotle and Laplace knew
quite weU how to teach their science ; and why
should the Almighty not know how to teach His ?
The first are obhged to address men's minds as they
find them ; but God supplies at . once the science
and the means of receiving it. Let us always at
tach ourselves with more tenacity to that Word, an
attachment which is the distinctive attribute of the
servants of Jesus Christ. Let us guard with fidelity
the precious gift which has been-confided to your an
cestors and to yourselves for long centuries. Subscribe
on your banner the Logos ; and unfurl this sacred
banner on the highest of the towers of your Zion. " *
" All that regards rehgion, which is not written in
the Bible," he wrote to a young lady, " is more or less
uncertain, and you can trust to no other guide as a
rule of faith. There you have positive truth. It
is God who speaks there, and God who dictates
what is there. You may be told that you cannot
understand it yourself; but the gospel is the power
of God, and is preached by the Holy Spirit sent
from heaven, to every heart. You wiU be told that
you cannot arrive at the true sense of the Scriptures,
and it is certain that you cannot understand the
* Letter to Pastor Lantaret, dated La Tour, 23rd January 1845.

RELIGIOUS LIFE. 293
whole of them. But we are not saved by - our
knowledge, but by faith in Jesus Christ. You can
quite weU beheve in your heart, and with your
mouth confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
and you wiU be saved."*
This idea, that the interpretation of the Bible is
of the Holy Ghost, as we have just written, is often
repeated in his correspondence ; and the gracious
words with which the Apostle John encouraged the
faithful of his day, by reminding them that they
had " received the grace of the Spirit," was one of
those passages on which he loved most to dwell.
And, to pass from his behef, properly so caUed, to
the application of it to his daily hfe, was not the
reahty of Beckwith's Christianity in this respect
more than abundantly demonstrated by the proof of
what he accomplished ? The foUowing quotations,
borrowed from his correspondence, may suffice to
put this beyond aU doubt. What a sweet gospel
perfume breathes throughout the advice which he
gives to young married people just beginning life !
" Attach yourselves," he says to them, " always
more and more to Him who alone can serve as a
solid basis for your conjugal love. Walk uprightly
before him, in all integrity of heart. Think of
others ; and if you have neither gold nor silver, do
« Letter to Miss Emilie Bottino, dated La Tour, May 1844.

294 LETTER TO PASTOR BONJOUR.
not spare the words of life. Above aU, exhort
others by a hfe of hohness. Assemble your chUdren
around you, teach the Scriptures, preach Christ
crucified, reprove the wicked, support one another,
persevere without being discouraged, and you will
see that the aspect of your home will always become
more smiling, your heart will expand, your under
standing wiU yield itself more and more to the truth,
and joy and wisdom wiU establish themselves amongst
you. Become like httle children, and you wiU be
wiser than the sages."*
What powerful words were used by this noble
wounded hero of Waterloo — become a soldier of
Jesus Christ — to incite those who surrounded him
to fight valiantly the battles of his Master ! — " We
are witnesses, B  ," he writes, in 1844, to the
venerable pastor of Saint-Jean, " posted at the foot of
Mont Viso, to render testimony to the truth : ' Lux
lucet in tenebris.' j Let us carry the torch which
God has confided to us ; and if he thinks right to
lay upon us His cross, let us bear it likewise with joy
and gratitude. Events proceed with rapid steps, and
will soon speak loudly. Let us gird up our loins ;
Christ is at the door. Let us be prepared to open; for
He shall come at an hour when He is not expected. " +
* Letter to Pastor Lantaret, dated from La Tour, 3rd January 1844.
t ["The light shineth in darkness" — the motto of the Waldensian Church. — TV.]
t Letter to Pastor Bonj our of Saint- Jean, dated from London, 24th October 1844.

CHRISTIAN COUNSELS AND EXPERIENCE. 295
" Your strength is immense," he writes, about a
year later, to another minister of the gospel. " The
God of Israel ' marches before you. Let there be no
delay, no indifference. Do not lose courage. Sure
of your path, you shaU go from strength to strength.
In vain wiU formidable adversaries try to stop your
way ; in vain wiU clouds of darkness surround you.
The star of the gospel, with its gentle splendour,
wiU go before you, lighten your tottering steps, and
never stop until it shines on the abode inhabited by
Jesus."* What treasures of tenderness and, at the same
time, of Christian experience in these lines which he
addressed from London, in 1839, to him who had
been, more particularly, his feUow-worker in the
great things that he had, up to that time, under
taken and accomplished, and who was then just re
covering from a severe illness, from which it had
not been expected he would recover ! — " My dear
B  , I have returned thanks with all my heart
to God, who has graciously preserved your life,
which is in every way so necessary to us. It is
always my idea that a long illness is a noble thing
to make us feel exactly of what stuff we are made.
It marks a crisis, an epoch, in our lives from which
to start afresh. It brings us to the door of the
* Letter to Pastor Lantaret, dated the 23rd January 1845 — already quoted.

296 ADVICE TO A MOTHER.
sanctuary, and lifts the veU which hides the interior.
It makes us measure our stature, and puts many
things before us in their true hght. Let us, then,
thank anew our gracious Father, who has granted
unto us so many blessings ; and let us entreat Him
to grant us strength to turn all these things to His
glory and to our profit."*
What elevation of sentiment, and what wisdom
drawn from the true Source, are revealed in the fol
lowing advice, given to a mother who had consulted
him on the subject of her daughter's marriage : —
" Experience must already have taught you, madam,
the complete nothingness of everything that does
not contribute to our salvation, and the smaU satis
faction afforded by the poor advantages which may
fall to our lot in this world. We could not be
greater than a king or a queen. The king torments
his body and agitates his mind ; and I do not think
that the queen is very happy. A few balls, a few
soirees, a few entertainments, a few ornaments, — and
then it is over. If your daughter, refusing more
brilliant offers from religious and conscientious mo
tives, chooses, in calm deliberation, what she con
siders the surest means of insuring perseverance in
the gospel of Jesus Christ, she wiU infaUibly have

* Letter to Pastor Bonjour of Saint-Jean, dated Windham Club, St. James'
Square, London, 20th June 1839.

ADVICE TO A YOUNG LADY. 597
her reward ; and never, in the most trying circum
stances, wiU she be abandoned by Him to whom she
has given this proof of obedience."
What sound Christianity is that which he recom
mends to a young person, formerly a pupil at his
school, and placed, from family circumstances, in a
circle almost exclusively Catholic ! — " Let us live in
all openness and Uberty of heart, my dear E  ;
and let us constantly direct our attention to that
which is noble and generous. Let us be nobly re
ligious, without pride ; let us think nobly and act
nobly towards every one, in aU humility. Let us
nobly sacrifice our interests, our inclinations, and,
above aU, our caprices, for the good of others ; let
us nobly forget ourselves, and direct our efforts to
the good of those with whom Providence has placed
us in contact. We need not soar very high to effect
this. Daily life offers us a much wider field for
this purpose."*
How touching — especiaUy on the part of a man
who had done so much, and was gifted with a mind so
superior and so cultivated as his — the modesty which
is expressed in the following words, extracted from
a letter addressed to the author of the " Israel of the
Alps : " — " My studies," he says, " were under two
learned professors, the adjutant and the sergeant-
* Letter to Miss Emilie Bottino— already referred to in p. 293.

298 LETTER TO SIR W. NAPIER.
major, and I do not pretend to teach men. But if
twenty years hence it is admitted that I have done
something for the religious instruction of children, I
shall be satisfied."*
In fine, what humble but firm faith in prayer is
manifested in the following short words, — short, but
so eloquent in their brevity, — addressed to a friend
under trial : — " You have done weU to pray ; if we
went down upon our knees more frequently, we
should not have to suffer as we' do." -f"
But the document which, in our opinion, brings out
Beckwith's faith at once most characteristieaUy and
most completely, whether from a practical or a
doctrinal point of view, and with which for that
reason we wish to close these extracts, is the letter
which he, in 1840, addressed from London to one
whom he knew to be a stranger to theT;ruth, Golonel
Sir WiUiam Napier, his old comrade-in-arms in the
Peninsular war, on the occasion of his pubhshing
his exceUent History of that campaign. " London, 20th April 181,0.
" My dear Napier, — Many thanks for your kind
letter, which gave me much pleasure. I shall apply
to Boon, and as soon as I am in possession of
a house of my own, I shaU have a copy of the
* Letter to Pastor Alexis Muston, dated Saint-Jean, 10th January 1835.
t Letter to Pastor Bonjour of Saint-Jean, dated 1st October 1S39.

LETTER TO SIR W. NAPIER. 299
"Peninsular War" gorgeously bound and gilt, and
shaU give it a prominent place amongst my household
gods. I know not what furrows, according to
Malebranche, my own ideas, or those of others, may
have traced on my brain ; but old age proceeds with
his work on the outer man, and now a spring, and
now a spoke is amissing, thus seeming to denote that
aU is not exactly as it ought to be, and that one day
or another my locomotive wiU refuse to go up the
incline. My mind, however, seems to accommodate
itself to these external changes which my machinery
must necessarily undergo ; and I go on my way,
marching steadUy onwards, under the influence of
circumstances whieh, in the eyes of many, may ap
pear least capable of giving the happiness which
even this life may offer. I attribute this to clear
and distinct views as to the end and object of exist
ence, and to quiet perseverance in an inferior class
of duties, which are more within reach of our capacity
than others of a more brilliant kind. To love truth
for its own sake, and to put it in practice, seems to
me man's whole duty. I have no means of assur
ing myself of the truth, but by a direct revelation
from God ; and the fact of this revelation once
acknowledged, I accept its manifestations, and I
use it according to the directions which are given
me. I have found great advantage in studying this

300 LETTER TO SIR W. NAPIER.
science; and by patient reasoning from the known
to the unknown, I have attained that opinion of
the subject, which is in reality a knowledge of it,
and which simple perception could never give. It is
not, however, a difficult operation, for no one ac
complishes it so weU as women and httle chUdren.
Evil is disobedience ; good is obedience : every good
soldier desires to obey his general A voluntary,
joyful obedience, inspired by affection, is the duty
and the interest of whoever loves his country and
his companions-in-arms ; it is the noble sentiment
which enabled the Forty-third to throw themselves,
in the most perfect order, into the thick of the battle,
and to fasten the sacks of powder on the gates of
Ghuznee! But how much more is obedience due to
that glorious Being, author of all that can adorn or
ennoble human nature ; to Him who, having formed
the universe, takes care of little children ! This
great Being descended amongst us in human form,
to place the fact of His existence beyond aU doubt ;
to make known to us the exact state of our rela
tions with Him ; to show us our real condition ; and
to point out to us the way of attaining that happy
immortality which is the natural desire of aU;
whilst to prove to us with clearness, that repentance
for past faults is unavailing for our salvation, He has
taken the burden upon Himself, and He has done for

LETTER TO SIR W. NAPIER. 301
His chUdren, as a heavenly Father, that which ex
ceeds the power of an earthly one. The laws and
systems of philosophy only multiply our difficul
ties, and only help to prove more clearly the utter
futility of conforming to their directions. This is what
He declares in the clearest terms, and He promises to
do for us that which we are utterly incapable of doing
for ourselves : ' Beheve only what I tell you, and this
faith wiU restore you to your original state, and will
place you once more in a close relation with Me;
for you can have no existence independent of my
power.' No one can desire a higher place than to
be the servant, and even the friend of the Almighty.
No one can ask from human sympathy that same
mercy which is to be found with Him who knows of
what we are made, and who is united to us by the
sentiment of eternal unity. No one will sacrifice
his life for us ; but God has done so. Our own
nature induces us to provide for our salvation ; re
ligion saves us by its own power : the one enjoins
us to do what none of us can do ; the other works
in us what no one can do for himself. There is no
end of making many books, and too much study is
a ' weariness of the flesh ; ' and there is a talent of
more value, and a wisdom more profound, in one
line of a child's catechism, than there is in all the
united volumes of Spinoza. Men may confuse and
(390) 20

4
302 LETTER TO SIR W. NAPIER.
upset the truths which respond equaUy to the wants
and wishes of aU; but it is not given to human folly
to measure the mercy and wisdom of God : from one
single portion of God's truths taking root in the
heart may spring forth a fountain of truly inteUeetual
life, and fear and love of the Author of aU truth.
Write no more books ; let worldly men devise their
own plans ; and avoid, at the same time, men and
things that can but irritate and annoy noble minds,
and that produce no good fruit in the latter years
of our existence. Women and children will experi
ence more true religion in a minute, than men will
be able in the course of a year to extract from their
irritating controversies. One day or another we
must all lay down our arms : it is on our part true
wisdom to do so in time. Sitting on the shore in
the rays of the setting sun, let us contemplate it
with tranquillity and calmness, as it descends be
neath the horizon into the clouds of the night which
must close upon us. But as twilight faUs, do not
let us forget that our day-star may rise again upon
regions much more brilliant, and that there its eter
nal splendour may shine for ever on our heads. I
am sorry I did not know your whereabouts when
here, otherwise I might easUy have put myself in
communication with you. I heard with much plea
sure news of your amiable son, and I trust that your

CONCLUSION. 303
daughters also may reward your affection. I am
sure it wiU be so. Present my compliments to Mrs.
Napier ; thank her for the pleasure I experienced
in her society when I visited Freshford. God bless
you ! — Always affectionately yours,
" Charles Beckwith."
Such was Beckwith on his nobler side. The
faith of Jesus Christ manifested in the flesh, suf
fering for the sins of the world, and recalling us to
God by the sacrifice of Himself; the Word of God
the supreme and absolute rule of our belief; the
Holy Ghost applying to the soul of the believer the
promises which are there contained, — such was his
belief. And this faith, which was the foundation of
his hope, and the source of his peace, was also the
secret of his strength and of his success in the work
which he had undertaken. May those who, like
him, wish to perform here below a work which wiU
never pass away ; and, above all, may those for whom
he has laboured, think on this, and foUow his ex
ample !

APPENDIX.

A.
Halifax, 23rd December 1803.
My Dear Charles. — Inclosed in this you will find an order
for three guineas on Messrs. Coutts and Co. You may put two
of them in your own pocket, and the third you may divide
between your cousins, my dear sons, on your first visit to
Hampstead. Charles, you are just about to lose the society of your dear
parents, and to go into a foreign country, which will be to you
a land of strangers. You are young, my dear boy, but not too
young to take from one who loves you sincerely a few words of
good advice on the occasion of your departure. I write in haste,
and shall therefore not weary you with a long letter.
Call to mind, Charles, the years you have passed under your
father's roof, and remember with what pains and anxiety that
excellent man has endeavoured to impress upon your tender
heart the invaluable principles of religion and morality. Re
member the care and devotion of your most amiable and excel
lent mother, and try never to forget a single syllable of her advice;
for there are few people who possess such excellent judgment
combined with such integrity of heart. Remember also, Charles,
that you have here a grandfather and a grandmother, to whom
you owe much more than your young mind can as yet under
stand. What excellent advice they gave you, to which, when
still quite a child, you listened attentively (and such impressions
are lasting) ! and what an example they were to you of virtue,

306 APPENDIX.
honour, and religion, and of everything, in short, which consti
tutes respectability of character ! You have here also other good
friends and relations ; do not forget them, Charles. May their
virtues be always present to your mind, and, I need not say,
to your affectionate heart. May their faults be forgotten ; for
there is no one perfect here below.
On your arrival in the great and happy country where you
are going, be on your guard against the numerous temptations
which in all probability will assail you ; for great and happy as
is that country above all others, you will still find that vice and
wickedness are spread everywhere, and that the staff and buckler
of religion are perhaps still more necessary for your protection
there than here in this primitive colony, where there are not so
many temptations.
You intend to embrace the profession of arms. Be submis
sive as well as brave ; and avoid in your manner all that has
the least appearance of boasting. Be loyal to your king
(God bless him !) ; and in the happy days of prosperity, as well
as in the dark ones of adversity, open the good Book which ac
companies this letter, as the most worthy object of your atten
tion, and the chief source of consolation. Health and happiness
be with you, my dear boy. May that good God, whom I hope
you will continue to serve faithfully, be your guide in the diffi
cult path of life ; and may He give to those who take an interest
in your welfare, and to your dear parents in particular, the in
expressible joy of seeing in you one who is an honour to us all.
— My dear Charles, yours very affectionately,
James Stewart.

B.
Charles Albert, by the grace of God, King of Sardinia, Cyprus, and
Jerusalem, Duke of Savoy, Mont Serrat, and Genoa, Prince
of Piedmont, and General Grand Master of the Military Order
of Sts. Maurice and Lazarus, &c.
Major-Genbral Beckwith, having for more than twenty
years fixed his residence at Torre di Luzerne, with the sole

APPENDIX. 307
view of benefiting the population of these Valleys, consecrating
his person and his substance to the relief of the poor, to the
comfort of the infirm, and the furthering of elementary instruc
tion, with such noble zeal and elevation of feeling, that in dif
fusing his benevolence he pays no regard to the difference of
religion, but only to the need he feels of succouring suffering
humanity ;
Filled with just admiration towards a person of such generous
spirit, we are pleased to testify to him our approval by decorating
him with the Cross of the Order of the Knights of Sts. Maurice
and Lazarus. Therefore in this present, signed with our own
hand, with perfect knowledge and with royal and magisterial
authority, we have nominated and named the said Major-
General Beckwith a Knight of the said sacred Military Order,
according to the royal magisterial patent of 9th December 1831,
with all the honours thereto belonging, commanding all the
knights of the Grand Cross, the commanders and knights, and
whomsoever it regards, to acknowledge, and to cause trim to
be acknowledged, as a knight created by us ; for this is our
will. Dated at Turin, the 15th December, the year of our Lord
eighteen hundred and forty-eight, and of our reign, the
eighteenth. C. Albert.
C.
Prayer offered up at the consecration of the Waldensian Evangeli
cal Church at Turin, 15th December 1853.
0 Lord, our God, to whom heaven and earth belong — thou
who hast been, art, and wilt be to the end of time, the Bock of
our salvation, the sole hope of thy people — we bless thee, be
cause thou hast been pleased to preserve in thy sanctuary the
light of thy Word, and to allow it to remain among us in the
most calamitous times, when the faith of many was shaken.
We bless thee, because after having instructed, blessed, consoled,
and saved our fathers by thy Word of truth, thou permittest us

308 APPENDIX.
miserable sinners, their descendants, to dedicate a house as »
new sanctuary to thee, and to put in it, for the edification of
thy people, the light of thy Holy Word.
O God of mercy, there is none other like thee in heaven or in
earth. Thou hast preserved the covenant of mercy to thy ser
vants, who walk before thee with all their hearts. Thou hast
been with our fathers, and now thou fillest us with thy mercies,
so that we their children can publish triumphantly the Word
in the midst of our dear country, and set apart for thee a church,
in which thou mayest be adored in spirit and in truth.
Is it indeed true, O Lord, that thou wilt deign to dwell in the
midst of us 1 The heavens and earth cannot contain thee, and
how much less this house, which the hands of men have built ?
Yet thou hast said hy the mouth of thy Divine Son, that where
two or three are met together in thy name, there thou art in
the midst of them. Oh, wilt thou then be in the midst of thy
people who will meet to pray in this church, and to adore thee?
It is by faith in this thy holy Word that we invoke to-day thy
holy presence in the midst of us, and that we beseech thee to
select this place, that it may be the place of thy dwelling, and
the footstool of thy throne of mercy in our dear Italy. Let
thine eyes be open day and night upon this church ; put thy
name upon it, and hear and answer the prayers which will be
offered in it by thy servants. Hear, O Lord, the supplications
of this people, and of their pastors, when they shall pray unto
thee ; answer them from the place of thy holy habitation ; send
down upon us grace and pardon.
When any of us shall sin (and who can present himself pure
in thy sight), and with contrite and humble heart shall cast
himself at thy feet, resting all his hope on Jesus Christ, the only
Saviour whom thou hast given us, then, 0 Lord, answer and
forgive. When an afflicted family shall arise in the hour of
their sorrow, and shall come into this place to seek consolation
in prayer for their desolate hearts, do thou then, O Lord, answer
and console them. When any scourge shall send desolation into
this town, when famine shall cause tears of sorrow to be shed,

APPENDIX. 309
and when thy people, truly humbled, shall come into this place to
acknowledge their sin, and to invoke thine aid, do thou then,0
Lord, hear them, and open thy hand freely to give. When our
country is in danger, and when our enemies and thine shall plot its
ruin, when thy people shall meet to pray thee for the prosperity
and the peace of the country, and for the welfare of the king, for
concord among the powers of the State, for the preservation and
increase of our liberty, do thou then, O Lord, answer our prayer,
and hear us from the throne of thy mercy. And when we pray
to thee for -our benefactors, for our brethren in Jesus Christ,
who are persecuted for the sake of the gospel, and for our infirm
and afflicted ones, do thou spread over them, from the temple of
thy glory, all thy consolations.
Bless, O Lord, this church, and let it be a city set upon a,
hill, which cannot be hid ; let it be the beacon which shall show.
to our countrymen the truth of the gospel ; let it be the grain
of mustard seed which grows to a great tree ; let it be the
source of every blessing to our dear country. And whatever
prayer is offered in it unto thee by any one, or by thy people
assembled together, answer it, and send down thy blessing upon
the suppliants.
Hear also the stranger, who is not of thy people, and when
he shall come into this place to beseech thee, do thou grant his
request, that the stranger may know that thou art the only true
God ; and that thy name may be invoked in this temple. May
there always be preached in it thy pure Word, and nothing but
thy Word ; and therefore bless the pastors who publish it, that
they may teach this generation the same holy doctrine which
Paul, the apostle of thy Divine Son, preached in our Italy, so
that the faith of the sons of Italy may be known as an example
in all the world. Never allow in this temple dedicated to thee
anything to be proclaimed but thy Word. Let it never be pro
faned by human doctrine, or by superstitious practices, which
are not of thy teaching. Send down thy Holy and Divine
Spirit that He may dwell in it, according to the promise of thy
Son, when thy gospel shall be preached in it ; let thy Spirit

310 APPENDIX.
quicken thy ministers, and lead them into all truth ; and open
thou the hearts also of those who listen, that the holy seed of
thy Word may strike deep roots and bear fruit, and that our
Bedeemer may live and reign in us. And now, O Lord, we
beseech thee, let thine eyes be lifted upon us, let thine ears be
attentive to our prayer, and answer us according to thy promise.
Arise, O Lord, and come into thy dwelling-place that we have
prepared, offered, and consecrated to thee. Let thy ministers
be clothed with righteousness, and thy saints leap for joy.
Hear our prayer, in the name of thy beloved Son, our Saviour
Jesus Christ, to whom, and to the Father, and to the Holy Ghost,
be glory, praise, and blessing, for ever and ever. Amen.

D.
We, the undersigned, having acquired the conviction that the
Church in which we were born and educated, in consequence
of its having wandered very far from the teaching of God as
found in the Holy Scriptures, cannot be held by us to be the
true and lawful spouse of Jesus Christ ;
Having, on the other hand, recognized in the Evangelical
Vaudois Church, which from time immemorial has maintained
in this Piedmont a strict conformity in doctrine and practice to
the teaching of Jesus Christ and the apostles ;
Convinced that to abandon error, when once recognized, with
a view to embrace and profess the truth which God has revealed
to us, is the sacred duty of every one who has a conscience, and
that to neglect such a duty would not only be a grave offence,
but give occasion to the greatest dangers :
For these reasons, of our own free will, moved by the sole
desire of bringing peace to our souls, and giving to Jesus Christ,
who has redeemed us by His precious blood, that testimony
which we are all bound to give Him, we declare that we abandon
to-day externally, as we have already done spiritually, the
Church, whose members we were by birth, to return to the
Church of Jesus Christ and of the apostles, the Church of the

APPENDIX. 311
gospel ; and to become members of that part of the Church
which is called Waldensian, to whose doctrine and discipline we
fully adhere, praying all those who profess the same faith to
receive us as brethren, and members with them of the same
body, whose head is Jesus Christ ; assuring them of our firm
resolution in the Lord to employ ourselves with them, as well
by our words as by our actions, in promoting the growth of the
Church and the glory of God, making this the supreme aim of
all our proceedings. All this in the name and in the presence
of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for ever
more. Amen.

E.
This day, the 12th October 1852, the Table having met in
the usual hall of meeting, to the number of those undersigned,
resolved as follows : — In reference to the letter of Dr. Louis
Desanctis, dated Geneva, 17th August 1852, in which that Chris
tian, distinguished by his profound knowledge and his lively
and active piety, manifests a desire to be received as a member
of the Vaudois Church, and addresses a formal request to the
Table to that effect, and desires to receive from it the imposition
of hands that he may be regularly called to continue the work
which he has already prosecuted for about five years — viz., the
evangelization of the Italians ;
And considering the letter of the Table of the 1st September
following, in which, gladly acceding to the first of these requests,
and pointing out to him the steps necessary for this end, it pro
posed to M. Desanctis to come and occupy the post left vacant
at Turin by M. Geymonat, who had just been sent to Genoa ;
And considering the letter of 15th September, announcing to
the Table M. Desanctis' departure for the Valleys, and his
having resolved in the presence of the Lord to follow His guid
ance, ready to work where he can for the glory of God and the

Considering also the last letter of the said M. Desanctis,
dated Turin, 9th October current, in which be accepts without

312 APPENDIX.
reserve the proposal made to him by the Table in its previous
letter, that, he should unite with Brother Meille in the work of
evangelization which had been carried on, with God's blessing,
during the past year in the capital ;
Considering that a numerous meeting of Vaudois ministers —
to whom M. Desanctis evidenced his deep attachment to evan
gelical doctrine, and his love for the Vaudois Church, whose
Confession of Faith and Church Discipline he has declared him
self willing to sign — that these ministers have given him the
hand of fellowship, and have received him as a real and living
member of this Church ;
Preserving a sweet remembrance of the following words,
which this new brother pronounced on this occasion, "Even if
the representatives of the Church should refuse to admit me
into her bosom, I^eel that I should be none the less one of her
members, for my feelings and the voice of God inwardly assure
me that I am one ;"
And seeing in M. Desanctis a new worker whom the Lord
in His faithfulness has granted to the prayers of all those who
understand the importance of the salvation of souls, and in
particular of the work going on at Turin, the Table decrees : —
1. M. Desanctis is appointed as evangelist at Turin, in the
service of the Vaudois Church, and charged to cooperate with
the Rev. M. Meille in all that concerns the advancement of the
kingdom of God in that town as well as in its neighbourhood ;
2. He shall be allowed a salary of 3500 francs from the 1st
October current, besides an allowance for the expenses of
removal and travelling, to be determined on by the Table when
M. Desanctis hands them a note of his expenses; 3. A copy of this
will be given to M. Desanctis and his fellow-worker, M. Meille.
The members of the Table : — J. P. Revel, Moderator;
P. Lantaret, Joint-Moderator;
Durand Canton, Secretary.

kelsons' j^ri UBitt-^Mooks.
AN ENTIRELY NEW SERIES OP EIRST-CLASS AND RICHLY ILLUSTRATED
WORKS ON PHYSICAL SCIENCE.
EDITED AND TRANSLATED BY W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS.

"This Series of "Works has done much to advance the popularizing
of Science." — Daily Telegraph.

VTATURE ; or, The Poetry of Earth and Sea. From the French of
Xl Mme. Michelet. "With upwards of Two Hundred Illustrations drawn
specially for this "Work by Giacomelli {Illustrator of "The Bird"), and En
graved by the most eminent French and English Artists. Imperial 8vo, cloth,
richly gilt. Price 12s. 6d.
The Times. — " Of Giacomelli's designs it is impossible to speak too highly, for
thevr grace, their tenderness, their variety. Mme. Michelet writes like a cultivated
woman; she worships Nature and loves Literature."
THE BIRD. By Jules Michelet, Author of " History of France,"
&c. Illustrated by Two Hundred and Ten Exquisite Engravings by Gia
comelli. Imperial 8vo, full gilt side and gilt edges. Price 10s. 6d.
Westminster Review. — " The translation seems to be generally well executed ;
and in the matter of paper and printing, the book is almost an ouvrage de luxe.
The illustrations are generally very beautiful."
THE MOUNTAIN. From the French of Jules Michelet, Author
of "The Bird," &c. With upwards of Sixty Illustrations by Percival
SKELTONand Clark Stanton. Imperial 8vo, cloth, richly gilt. Price 10s. 6d.
The Times. — " Well worth a translator's trouble; for its prose is not less
pictorial than the landscapes by Percival Skelton; which make it a valuable book."
THE MYSTERIES OF THE OCEAN. From the French ot
Arthur Mangin. By the Translator of "The Bird." With One Hun
dred and Thirty Illustrations by W. Freeman and J. Noel. Imperial 8vo, full
gilt side and gilt edges. Price 10s. 6d.
Pall Mall Gazette. — "It is an account, complete in extent and tolerably
full in detail, of the Sea, and is eminently readable .... The illustrations are
ultogether excellent."
THE DESERT "WORLD. From the French of Arthur Mangin.-
Translated, Edited, and Enlarged by the Translator of "The Bird," by
Michelet. With One Hundred and Sixty Illustrations by W. Freeman, Fotjl-
quier, and Yan D'Argent. Imperial 8vo, full gilt. Price 10s. 6d.
British Quarterly Review. — " A charming and very attractive book."
EARTH AND SEA. From the French of Louis Figuier. Trans
lated, Edited, and Enlarged by W. H. Davenport Adams. Illustrated
with Two Hundred and Fifty Engravings by Freeman, Giacomelli, Yan
D'Argent, Prior, Foulquier, Riou, Laplante, and other Artists. Im
perial 8vo. Handsomely bound in cloth and gold. Price 10s. 6d.
Saturday Review. — " This is another of those handsome and popular science
manuals, profusely and beautifully illustrated. Physical geography has not often
been so picturesquely treated, and the English publishers are to be congratulated
m this volume. "

T. NELSON AND SONS, LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK.

P?ke ypxizt J&cibrarp ot ^Biisftotg ant) pjrabtl.

iVew Volume of Travels, Beautifully Illustrated.
SPAIN AND ITS PEOPLE. A Record of Recent Travel. From
the French of M. Poitou. With Historical and Topographical Notes. One
Hundred and Fifty Original Illustrations by V. Foulquier. 8vo, handsomely
bound in cloth, gilt edges. Price 10s. 6d.
" M. Poitou has written frankly, but brightly; and hiss pages are not less dis
tinguished by French vivacity than by French lucidity. They are eminently read
able; and if they pretend to no great depth of reflection, they sketch the present
condition of Spain — they delineate its landscapes, they cull the choicest episodes of
its history, and touch upon the more conspicuous features of the Spanish character
¦ — with unfailing good sense, quick discrimination, and considerable felicity."

KANE'S* ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS : The Second Grinnel Ex
pedition in Search of Sir John Franklin. With Eight Steel Plates and
Sixty Woodcuts. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt edges. Price 6s.

MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE IN MANY LANDS. A Book
for the Family. By H. L. L., one of the Authors of "Hymns from the
Land of Luther," &c. New and Enlarged Edition. With Eight Illustrations.
Crown 8vo, cloth. Price 5s.

M

AURY'S PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA. With
Thirteen Charts, printed in Colours. 8vo, cloth. Price 5s.

HISTORY OF BRITISH INDIA. By Hush Mukkay, Esq.;
F.E.S.B. With Continuation. Crown 8vo, cloth. Price 6s. 6d.

COLLIER'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. To which is ad^ed the
History of our Colonial Empire. Crown 8vo, .cloth. Price 7s. 6d.

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. By the late Rev. James Mackenzie.
"With Numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth. Price 7s. 6d.

PICTURES FROM SICILY. By W. H. Bartlett, Author of
"Jerusalem Revisited," " The Pilgrim Fathers," &c. A New Edition, Re
vised and Brought Down to the Present Time. With Eight Steel Plates and
Forty-eight Engravings on Wood. Crown 8vo, cloth. Price 3s. 6d.

HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. With a Special
View to the Delineation of Christian Faith and Life. (From A.D. 1 to a.b.
313.) By the late Rev. Islay Burns, D.D., Glasgow. Crown 8vo, cloth.
Price 3s. Gd.

BIBLE HISTORY, in Connection with the General History of the
World. With Notices of Scripture Localities and Sketches of Social and
Religious Life. By the Rev. W. Q. Blaikie, D.D. 12mo, 470 pages, with Maps
Price 3s.

T. NELSON AND SONS, LONDON, EDINBURGH AND NEW YORK.

^licoks of Iplvitbel aitb J3£b ben hire
FOR BOYS.

BY W. H. G. KINGSTON.
ON THE BANKS OF THE AMAZON : A Boy's Journal of his
Adventures in the Tropical Wilds of South America. With One Hundred
and Twenty Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt edges. Price 6s.
The Times. — " Will be as welcome to boys as ice in December. It resembles
' In the Eastern Seas,' ' In the Wilds of Africa,' and the other works with which,
year by year, this most prolific of authors strengthens his hold on the hearts of his
readers. He never fails with details and local colouring; and strings his incidents
cleverly together."
IN THE EASTERN SEAS ; or, The Regions of the Bird of Para
dise. A Tale for Boys. With One Hundred and Eleven Illustrations.
Crown 8vo, cloth, richly gilt. Price 6s.
TN THE WILDS OF AFRICA. With Sixty-Six Illustrations.
J. Crown 8vo, cloth, richly gilt. Price 6s.
ROUND THE WORLD: A Tale for Boys. With Fifty-two
Engravings. Crown 8vo, cloth extra. Price 5s.
OLD JACK : A Sea Tale. With Sixty Engravings. Crown 8vo,
cloth extra. Price 5s.
MY FIRST VOYAGE TO SOUTHERN SEAS. With Forty-
two Engravings. Crown 8vo, cloth extra. Price 5s.
BY W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS.
THE FOREST, THE JUNGLE, AND THE PRAIRIE; or,
Scenes with the Trapper and the Hunter in many Lands. By W. H.
DAVENi"feT Adams. With Seventy Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt
edges. Price 6s. BY R. M. BALLANTYNE.
THE YOUNG FUR-TRADERS: A Tale of the Far North.
With Illustrations. Post 8vo, cloth. Price 3s.
UNGAVA : A Tale of Esquimaux Land. With Illustrations.
Post 8vo, cloth. Price 3s.
THE CORAL ISLAND : A Tale of the Pacific. With Illustra
tions. Post 8vo, cloth. Price 3s.
ARTIN RATTLER ; or, A Boy's Adventures in the Forests of
Brazil. With Illustrations. Post 8vo, cloth. Price 3s.
THE DOG CRUSOE AND HIS MASTER : A Tale of the Western
Prairies. With Illustrations. Post 8vo, cloth. Price 3s.
THE GORILLA HUNTERS : A Tale of Western Africa, With
Illustrations. Post 8vo, cloth. Price 3s.
THE WORLD OF ICE; or, Adventures in the Polar Regions.
With Engravings. Post 8vo, oloth. Price 3s.

M

T NELSON AND SONS, LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK.

^Sfccto ~^MTovkB anb ^ieto Ofbititms.

SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY. By Chaeles Hodge, D.D.,
Princeton. Volume 1  648 pages, Royal 8vo, cloth. Price £0 12 6
Volume II  750 pages, Royal 8vo, cloth. Price 0 14 0
Volume III  880 pages, Royal 8vo, cloth. Price 0 15 6
*** Vol. III. extends to 150 pages more than was expected, and the price has
therefore been slightly increased beyond that of VoL II.
British Quarterly Review. — " If we were called to name any living writer
who, to Calvin's exegetical tact, unites a large measure of Calvin's grasp of mind
and transparent clearness in the department of systematic theology, we should
point to this Princeton Professor. He possesses, to use the words of an English
critic, the power of seizing and retaining, with a rare vigour and tenacity, the
great doctrmal turning-points in a controversy; while he is able to expose with
triumphant dexterity the various subterfuges under which it has been sought to
elude them. "
The Scotsman. — " If Dr. Hodge finish this work as he has begun it, it will un
doubtedly place him in the front rank of systematic theologians.. ..Even in so
doubtful a science as systematic theology, brains will tell. And accordingly they
tell in the work before us, which is a very great advance upon any work of the
kind we know of in the English language  There is manifest throughout the volume
the presence of ample knowledge. There is no book bearing on any of its vast range
of subjects which the learned author would not appear to have read, and also,
with more than ordinary success, digested. Hegel himself is not too subtle for
his apprehension ; Huxley not too trenchant and logical for his dialectic to face ....
The book is the most excellent we know of its kind"

THE PSALMS : Their History, Teachings, and Use. By William
Binnie, D.D., Professor of Theology. 8vo, cloth. Price 7s. 6d<^

THE CHILDREN'S CHURCH AT HOME ; or, Family Services
for the Lord's Day. Containing a Service for each Sunday of the Year.
By the Rev. John Edmond, D.D., Highbury, London. New Edition, complete
in One Volume. With Frontispiece and Vignette. Crown Svo, cloth. Price 5s.

HANDY BOOK: OF MEDICAL INFORMATION AND AD
VICE. By a Physician. Post Svo. cloth. Price 4s. Gd.
The British Medical Journal. — "It embodies in a few words and very
clearly an indication of the symptoms and nature of common maladies, with
judicious suggestions as to treatment and general management. It is a kind of
book well fitted to be helpful to students and young practitioners; constituting, in
fact, a handy book, to which they may turn, and from whicli they may in a feiv
'minutes learn the substances of what it would require much reading in the more
extensive and formal treatises to acquire. It gives a great deal of the kind of
information which students and young practitioners find it hard to acquire; and
it is free from the old womanish notions which too often pervade books of this
class."

T. NELSON AND SONS. LONDON. EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK.

3 9002

,'i'-->;^.W^^^a;;;;v.i;V';V

mmirwiiiiilH niKiBlilill nun ¦lllniiilinnnl|i

MMMWi

lllill