Waldenses
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faith of the apostolic church,—“the faith which was once delivered
unto the saints.”
Jude 3
. “The church in the wilderness,” and not the
proud hierarchy enthroned in the world’s great capital, was the true
church of Christ, the guardian of the treasures of truth which God has
committed to His people to be given to the world.
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Among the leading causes that had led to the separation of the
true church from Rome was the hatred of the latter toward the Bible
Sabbath. As foretold by prophecy, the papal power cast down the truth
to the ground. The law of God was trampled in the dust, while the
traditions and customs of men were exalted. The churches that were
under the rule of the papacy were early compelled to honor the Sunday
as a holy day. Amid the prevailing error and superstition, many, even of
the true people of God, became so bewildered that while they observed
the Sabbath, they refrained from labor also on the Sunday. But this
did not satisfy the papal leaders. They demanded not only that Sunday
be hallowed, but that the Sabbath be profaned; and they denounced in
the strongest language those who dared to show it honor. It was only
by fleeing from the power of Rome that any could obey God’s law in
peace. (See Appendix.)
The Waldenses were among the first of the peoples of Europe to
obtain a translation of the Holy Scriptures. (See Appendix.) Hun-
dreds of years before the Reformation they possessed the Bible in
manuscript in their native tongue. They had the truth unadulterated,
and this rendered them the special objects of hatred and persecution.
They declared the Church of Rome to be the apostate Babylon of the
Apocalypse, and at the peril of their lives they stood up to resist her
corruptions. While, under the pressure of long-continued persecution,
some compromised their faith, little by little yielding its distinctive
principles, others held fast the truth. Through ages of darkness and
apostasy there were Waldenses who denied the supremacy of Rome,
who rejected image worship as idolatry, and who kept the true Sabbath.
Under the fiercest tempests of opposition they maintained their faith.
Though gashed by the Savoyard spear, and scorched by the Romish
fagot, they stood unflinchingly for God’s word and His honor.
Behind the lofty bulwarks of the mountains—in all ages the refuge
of the persecuted and oppressed—the Waldenses found a hiding place.
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Here the light of truth was kept burning amid the darkness of the