true religion is this,--"to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep ourselves unspotted from the world." Allow me to exhort you to search for the knowledge of this divine religion, only in the sacred writings, which ought alone to be the rule and invariable compass of our course. Thus you will bring back all the Christian sects to the standard of the gospel, and inflame all hearts with that charity and philanthropy which form the essence of Christianity. Thus you will render this simple but useful maxim more dear to all mortals;--To do unto others as we would they should do unto us. By this means you will destroy all factions, because each member of a state will be happy, that all those who are not enemies of the government, should thus enjoy the same privileges. By this means you will contribute to restore to Christianity all its splendour and its power; you will be the benefactors of your family, of your country, of the world. The wicked man, the bigot, and the false devotee, will hate, nay, even persecute you; but you have only to retire beneath the shadow of your own conscience, to render all their machinations abortive. The calm satisfaction which this will afford you, will amply make amends for the momentary pangs which calumny and injustice may excite in your breasts, and if ever mankind shall recognise true merit, it is to you alone they will erect statues. Utrecht, 4th October, 1794. NOTES TO PREFACE. The principal passages where the fundamental truths of Christianity are expressed with the greatest clearness, are the following. Gospel of St. John, chap. iii. ver. 36.; iv. 25, 26, 29, 39, 42; vi. 69; x. 24, 26; xx. 30, 31; xi. 27. Gospel of St. Luke, chap. xxiv. Acts of the Apostles, chap. ii. 22; iii. 18; iv. 10,12; v. 29, 32; viii. 5, 12, 37; ix. 20, 22; x. 42,43; xi. 14; xv. 7, 19; xvii. 1, 9; xviii. 4, 6, 27,28; xxvi. 22. There can be no other fundamentally essential articles of the Christian faith, or any of which the belief is necessary to the being a good Christian, except those of which Jesus and his apostles required the belief from the persons they received into the bosom of Christianity. All that has been added since, is nothing more than alloy, as impure in itself, as pernicious in its effects. This Preface has been translated literally, with the omission of one or two passages, of little interest to those ignorant of the author's family and connections. HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS. PART THE FIRST. CHAPTER I. DESCRIPTION OF THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS