established themselves at the Balsi, a lofty rock rising by three different terraces, on the top of which was a plateau, where a sort of barracks was excavated in the ground. This place had been so carefully fortified by Arnaud with palisades, parapets, and loop-holes, and fur

be faithful and true to each other, and never to separate | throughout this campaign, after the Waldenses had or disunite, even though their numbers should be reduced to three or four, until their sacred mission should be accomplished. On the following day they marched to attack Villario; upon which, those who garrisoned that place fled as soon as the Waldenses approached, and took refuge within the walls of a convent. This build-nished with piles of stones to hurl down upon the ing was immediately invested, and would soon have been starved into surrender, but for the approach of a strong force to its relief; and the Waldenses, after several skirmishes, in which they inflicted severe losses upon the enemy, were obliged, on the morning of the 7th of September, to raise the siege, and retreat from the valley of Lucerna to the fastnesses of San Martino. Nothing could be now, apparently, more hopeless than the condition of this devoted band, in the course of their retrograde movement. Their original number of eight hundred had been considerably reduced, by sickness and the sword; eight thousand French soldiers, and twelve thousand Piedmontese, had been collected, for the purpose of crushing them; and while their retreat was followed by numerous detachments of the enemy, with whom they were almost incessantly engaged in combat, the country was so effectually wasted of provisions, that they were obliged for several days to subsist entirely upon fruits and vegetables. But even under these trying circumstances, not a word was mentioned of flight or surrender. When they were driven from one strong point, by hunger or the enemy, they established themselves upon another; and for several weeks, the only provisions and ammunition they possessed was that which they captured from the enemy. In the numerous combats which, in such a warfare, they were obliged to sustain, whether collectively or in small bands, their knowledge of the rugged country, and admirable skill as marksmen, were of essential service: they attacked when they were least expected, and if overpowered, they retreated to places where they could not be followed; while they inflicted | such havoc upon their pursuers by this plan of action, that at length whole troops would fly in disorder at the sound of a single Waldensian musket. Of the dangers which they encountered in this campaign, from the nature of the country, one instance will be sufficient. On their retreat from the valley of Lucerna to San Martino, their path lay by a way so difficult, that even sure-footed mountaineers would not have attempted it by day-light; and yet this was to be surmounted by a midnight march. The darkness was so intense that the guides, in order to be seen, were obliged to wear the whitest linen upon their shoulders; and in this fearful route the Waldenses lost the whole of their baggage among the rocks and precipices. They reached the Balsi in safety; but when they looked back with day-light, and saw the dangers they had surmounted, they shuddered. "Those who have not seen such places," says Arnaud, in his narrative, "can form no notion of the danger; and those who have, may be inclined to discredit this statement. It is, nevertheless, = perfectly true; and, moreover, many who performed this dangerous exploit have since visited the scene by day, and were struck with horror at the recollection that they passed in-darkness over spots which they never would have traversed in light."

|

enemy, that access to these fortifications, which was only practicable on one side, was rendered dangerous and difficult; and although, at the close of the winter's campaign, the number of the defenders was reduced to less than four hundred, they resolved to make good their post against the united forces of France and Savoy. Incessantly did their enemies attack this place of refuge, and with overwhelming numbers; but the indomitable garrison on every occasion repelled them with great slaughter. It was then hoped that the Waldenses would be reduced by famine, during the severe months of winter; but here the good providence of God had provided for his faithful witnesses in an unexpected manner. On their first return to their native valleys, they had found an abundant harvest either ripened or already reaped, for their present sustenance; after which, however, a heavy fall of snow completely buried the standing crop, and seemed to destroy their hopes of a future supply. But this alarming event, so far from being ruinous, was the cause of their safety. Had the whole crop been gathered, it would have been destroyed with the magazines and barns which the enemy burnt, when they raised their first siege of the Balsi, and retired into winter quarters; but during the season of frost and snow, the buried corn was recovered in good condition, so that it served for the sustenance of the garrison. One incident which we will mention, affords an idea of the nature of this warfare, and the heroism with which the Waldenses were inspired. The besiegers having learned that the mill at Macelle was unprotected, and that some persons of the garrison might be surprised while grinding their corn there, sent a detachment of not less than five hundred men, to break up the mill, and apprehend a few stragglers. In this chivalrous expedition, they managed to encounter three of the Protestants, who were French refugees ; two of whom they shot, and took the third prisoner. On the soldiers returning with their trophies to headquarters, it was resolved by the commandant to hang their captive, with which cruel decision the humane Juge du Pays interfered; but with this interposition the military officer was so enraged, that he threatened to hang both victim and intercessor. The prisoner's last prayer before he suffered was expressed in language so simple and touching, and so full of pious fervour, that even those who assisted at the execution could not refrain from tears. As he ascended the ladder, he addressed the judges and bystanders, expressing his readiness to die in so just a cause, and for so pure a religion as his own, while he reproved them for their hopes of being soon able to subdue and extirpate the Waldenses. Their situation, he added, was by no means so hopeless as was imagined: they had plenty of bread, corn, salt, and gunpowder; and, instead of one man who was now lost to the good cause, many would be raised up by the arm of God. Such a spirit showed that the people might be destroyed, but could

We shall not trace the various incidents that followed not be subdued.

During the spring a desperate effort was to be made upon the Balsi, and the troops of France and Piedmont, to the number of twenty thousand, were concentrated, on the 30th of April, upon the neighbourhood of this obnoxious rock. As it was accessible only by one difficult path, formed by a torrent that ran at the foot of the precipice, it became a question who should first attempt this pass of peril, the French and the Piedmontese mutually conceding it to each other. At length the best regiment of the former, consisting of five hundred picked men, advanced, protected by the fire of their main body; while their officer, pointing to the barracks upon the summit, exclaimed, "My lads, we must sleep there to-night!" This detachment rushed on with their national vivacity, until they gained the first barricade composed of trees; and while they were vainly endeavouring to remove them, the Waldenses, at only the distance of a few yards, opened upon them such a tremendous fire, that the greater part of the assailants bit the dust; after which the besieged, bursting from their entrenchments, cut down the rest, except ten or twelve men who escaped to the main body. | This sudden and singular success was obtained by the Waldenses without the loss of a man; and the besiegers, confounded at the result, fell back on Macelle and the Champ de Salsa. After taking rest for a few days, the enemy returned to the attack; and, on the evening of the 10th of May, the Balsi was completely surrounded by five encampments, so that not a man of the besieged could appear without being struck down by a shower of bullets. Nearer and nearer the besiegers carried their approaches, and the summons to surrender was repeatedly issued, while a reward of five hundred louis was offered to every man who would yield. But these tempting offers were only answered by the Waldenses with midnight sorties, in which they displayed their resolution to hold out to the last, and inflicted heavy losses upon the assailants. At length, all things being in readiness for a decisive assault, it was made on the 14th of May. The cannon of the assailants soon crumbled the feeble walls of the garrison, which were only calculated to resist musket-shot; and the Waldenses, after endeavouring to resist with fusils and stones, were driven back to their innermost entrenchThey saw that their post was no longer tenable; and as a heavy fog had arisen at night, under which the numerous watch-fires of the enemy burned dimly, they resolved to evacuate it. This they did down a ravine full of dreadful precipices, sliding upon their backs, and holding by the branches of trees or twigs, while they groped their way in the dark with their feet, having laid aside their shoes for the purpose. On the morning, the besiegers advanced with great confidence to storm the barracks; but they were confounded to find nothing but empty huts-their victims had escaped, but how they could not conjecture. On the day previous, the French were so confident of triumph, that they had invited, by sound of trumpet, ail who wished to see the end of the Waldenses to come to Pignerol on the morrow, where they would behold them hung up two by two. But instead of this regale, they could furnish nothing but the spectacle of their own encampment broken up, and the waggons filled with their wounded.

ments.

own.

their late escape, was still critical. They were obliged
to traverse a hostile country; and even a succession of
triumphs would soon have been sufficient to destroy
them, although, as hitherto, they might have inflicted a
loss of twenty men upon the enemy for every one of their
But one of those interpositions of Providence
occurred, by which the great Ruler of kingdoms makes
even the wrath of men to praise him. Louis XIV.
and Victor Amadeus II., who had hitherto been leagued
together for the destruction of the Waldenses of Pied-
mont, suddenly became enemies, and commenced against
each other a rancorous warfare; but in such a contest
the dukedom of Savoy would have been an unequal
match for a kingdom like France, now at the height of
its prosperity and power. It was then that the gallant
exiles showed to the whole world what patriotism true
religion can inspire. They forgot their injuries and
sufferings, and remembered only their sovereign and
their country, to the defence of which they now
hurried with their wonted alacrity and courage. Splen-
did offers, indeed, were made to them on the part of
France, to win them over as auxiliaries. They were
promised a safe re-establishment in their native valleys,
and the free exercise of their religion, but they would
not compromise their native land by accepting such a
boon from a national enemy. With Arnaud at their
head, they united themselves to the troops of Savoy;
and the good service which they did on this occasion
subdued the heart of their sovereign, as well as the
arms of the foes whom they encountered. At an inter-
view, therefore, with the leaders of the exiles, Amadeus
thus affectingly addressed them:-"You have only
one God and one prince; serve them faithfully. Hitherto
we have been foes; henceforward we must be friends.
To strangers are your misfortunes to be attributed;
but if, as is your duty, you expose your lives for me,
I will also expose mine for you; and as long as I have
a morsel of bread, you shall have your share.”

We have thus seen the return of the exiles, and their settlement in their own country, after a campaign which has no parallel in the annals of military history. Perhaps we cannot better conclude this hasty narrative than by adopting the language of Arnaud himself, in which he thus impressively sums up the chief events of the expedition :

"Reader, your attention has been directed to events scarcely to be imagined. But, with the Vaudois, you will impute them only to the providence of God, who, to render his presence more visible, chose for his chief instrument in this wonderful struggle a man ignorant of arms or of war, excepting with Satan.

"Is it not wonderful that such a person, after escaping the pursuit of those who sought to deliver him to the flames at Constance, should have been able to effect a passage through Savoy, taking as his prisoners the nobles and gentry of the land, to be witnesses of the valour and discipline of the Vaudois? Was the victory of Salabertrann less than miraculous, where eight hundred men, most of whom had never handled a musket, routed two thousand five hundred regular troops, killing six hundred, with a loss on their side of only fifteen?

"To what other than a Divine cause can be attributed the fear which, on the approach of the Vaudois,

The case of the intrepid handful, notwithstanding caused the disgraceful flight of the usurpers of their

THE

CONDUCTED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF MINISTERS AND MEMBERS OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH.

WHY DID OUR LORD TEACH IN PARABLES?
BY THE EDITOR.
PART I.

beauty that no paraphrase can heighten, a perspi-
cuity that renders all interpretation needless, and
a force which every reader not totally insensible
must feel.

A PARABLE is a figure taken from natural objects | to instruct us in the knowledge of things spiritual. Such a mode of instruction has been always prevalent in rude ages and nations, and its origin is, therefore, probably to be sought in those general There is no disadvantage which more obviously habits of mind to which the peculiar circumstances presents itself as arising from abstract reasoning, of uncivilized life have given rise. But in investi- than the vague and undefined influence which it gating the reasons on which our blessed Lord exercises even over intelligent minds. How often founded his preference of parables, as the means of does it happen, that understandings, the most imparting spiritual information, we must obviously exalted, rest in vague speculations, and take no consider not only the general condition of mind to trouble in reducing them to practice. The innuwhich such figures are adapted, but also the pecu- merable cases in which the principle is applicable, liar circumstances in which they were employed. seem to operate as preventives to its application Such, therefore, is the plan of the present article. in any. By parabolic instruction, however, this In impressing upon the great body of mankind disadvantage is obviated. The teacher exhibits any grand moral truth, or in urging them to a the truth to be illustrated as operating in one case, holy walk and conversation, we must never lose and that commonly an extreme one; and thus sight of the great springs of human conduct, while we are taught the great extent to which the those general laws by which our thoughts and principle may go, we are also furnished with an actions are uniformly regulated. When an im- interesting example of its operation. These reportant moral doctrine, for example, is stated and marks might be illustrated by a reference to the applied, if addressed only to the understanding of parable of the good Samaritan. ordinary men, it will fail to actuate their lives. The whole system of Christianity, indeed, seems admirably adapted to overcome our hostility to speculative reasoning, by embodying the attributes of Deity in varied and impressive scenes of interesting action. The love of God, for instance, that principle so consoling to guilty man,-adorns every page of the inspired volume; and what principle can more certainly elicit the tenderest affections of the human soul? But when this gloriousness the melancholy spectacle of a human being feature of the Divine character is pourtrayed in such a beautifully glowing scene as that of the prodigal son, when God is represented as an affectionate parent beholding from afar his penitent child, running eagerly to meet him, falling on his neck and embracing him, it speaks to the heart, and even to the understanding, with a power which the most forcible statements or the most cogent reasonings would in vain attempt to equal. That simple yet touching tale, has a No. 147. OCTOBER 23, 1841.-1fd.]

In addition to the strong aversion which prevails in ordinary minds to abstract reasoning, there is also a natural deep-rooted hostility to the great subject, for the illustration of which these parables were delivered. That the carnal mind is enmity against God, is a position which it requires no great extent of observation or experience to prove. Unless this mind, naturally alienated from God, becomes the subject of a spiritual change, we wit

growing up from youth to manhood, and, it may be, from manhood to age, without God, and therefore without hope in the world. Amid the countless host of thoughts and feelings which compose the history of that man's mind, not one can be selected which has for its immediate object the Being who created him, the character he holds in the view of the great Searcher of hearts, or the grand realities of an eternal world. By what avenue shall you gain access to that man's heart ? [SECOND SERIES. VOL. III.