Chapter 4—The Waldenses
Amid the gloom that settled upon the earth during the long period
of papal supremacy, the light of truth could not be wholly extinguished.
In every age there were witnesses for God—men who cherished faith
in Christ as the only mediator between God and man, who held the
Bible as the only rule of life, and who hallowed the true Sabbath. How
much the world owes to these men, posterity will never know. They
were branded as heretics, their motives impugned, their characters
maligned, their writings suppressed, misrepresented, or mutilated. Yet
they stood firm, and from age to age maintained their faith in its purity,
as a sacred heritage for the generations to come.
The history of God’s people during the ages of darkness that fol-
lowed upon Rome’s supremacy is written in heaven, but they have
little place in human records. Few traces of their existence can be
found, except in the accusations of their persecutors. It was the policy
of Rome to obliterate every trace of dissent from her doctrines or de-
crees. Everything heretical, whether persons or writings, she sought to
destroy. Expressions of doubt, or questions as to the authority of papal
dogmas, were enough to forfeit the life of rich or poor, high or low.
Rome endeavored also to destroy every record of her cruelty toward
dissenters. Papal councils decreed that books and writings containing
such records should be committed to the flames. Before the invention
[62]
of printing, books were few in number, and in a form not favorable for
preservation; therefore there was little to prevent the Romanists from
carrying out their purpose.
No church within the limits of Romish jurisdiction was long left
undisturbed in the enjoyment of freedom of conscience. No sooner
had the papacy obtained power than she stretched out her arms to crush
all that refused to acknowledge her sway, and one after another the
churches submitted to her dominion.
In Great Britain primitive Christianity had very early taken root.
The gospel received by the Britons in the first centuries was then un-
corrupted by Romish apostasy. Persecution from pagan emperors,
50