FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS CHAPTER IV
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FOX'S
BOOK OF MARTYRS
CHAPTER
IV
Papal Persecutions
Thus far our history of persecution has been confined
principally to the pagan world. We come now to a period when persecution, under
the guise of Christianity, committed more enormities than ever disgraced the
annals of paganism. Disregarding the maxims and the spirit of the Gospel, the
papal Church, arming herself with the power of the sword, vexed the Church of
God and wasted it for several centuries, a period most appropriately termed
in history, the "dark ages." The kings of the earth,
gave their power to the "Beast," and submitted to be trodden on by
the miserable vermin that often filled the papal chair, as in the case of
Henry, emperor of Germany. The storm of papal persecution first burst upon the
Waldenses in France.
Persecution of the Waldenses in
France
Popery having brought various innovations into the Church,
and overspread the Christian world with darkness and superstition, some few,
who plainly perceived the pernicious tendency of such errors, determined to
show the light of the Gospel in its real purity, and to disperse those clouds
which artful priests had raised about it, in order to blind the people, and
obscure its real brightness.
The principal among these was Berengarius, who, about the year 1000, boldly
preached Gospel truths, according to their primitive purity. Many, from
conviction, assented to his doctrine, and were, on that account, called
Berengarians. To Berengarius succeeded Peer Bruis, who preached at Toulouse,
under the protection of an earl, named Hildephonsus; and the whole tenets of
the reformers, with the reasons of their separation from the Church of Rome,
were published in a book written by Bruis, under the title of
"Antichrist."