Waldenses
63
The Waldensian missionaries were invading the kingdom of Satan,
and the powers of darkness aroused to greater vigilance. Every effort to
advance the truth was watched by the prince of evil, and he excited the
fears of his agents. The papal leaders saw a portent of danger to their
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cause from the labors of these humble itinerants. If the light of truth
were allowed to shine unobstructed, it would sweep away the heavy
clouds of error that enveloped the people; it would direct the minds
of men to God alone, and would eventually destroy the supremacy of
Rome.
The very existence of this people, holding the faith of the ancient
church, was a constant testimony to Rome’s apostasy, and therefore ex-
cited the most bitter hatred and persecution. Their refusal to surrender
the Scriptures was also an offense that Rome could not tolerate. She
determined to blot them from the earth. Now began the most terrible
crusades against God’s people in their mountain homes. Inquisitors
were put upon their track, and the scene of innocent Abel falling before
the murderous Cain was often repeated.
Again and again were their fertile lands laid waste, their dwellings
and chapels swept away, so that where once were flourishing fields
and the homes of an innocent, industrious people, there remained only
a desert. As the ravenous beast is rendered more furious by the taste of
blood, so the rage of the papists was kindled to greater intensity by the
sufferings of their victims. Many of these witnesses for a pure faith
were pursued across the mountains, and hunted down in the valleys
where they were hidden, shut in by mighty forests, and pinnacles of
rock.
No charge could be brought against the moral character of this
proscribed class. Even their enemies declared them to be a peaceable,
quiet, pious people. Their grand offense was that they would not
worship God according to the will of the pope. For this crime, every
humiliation, insult, and torture that men or devils could invent was
heaped upon them.
When Rome at one time determined to exterminate the hated sect, a
bull was issued by the pope [
Innocent VIII., A. D. 1487.
] condemning
them as heretics, and delivering them to slaughter. They were not
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accused as idlers, or dishonest, or disorderly; but it was declared that
they had an appearance of piety and sanctity that seduced “the sheep
of the true fold.” Therefore the pope ordered “that the malicious and