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CHAPTER 16
THE CHURCH OF THE WALDENSES
The Vaudois (Waldenses) are in fact descended from those refugees from
Italy, who, after St. Paul had there preached the gospel, abandoned their
beautiful country and fled like the woman mentioned in the Apocalypse, to these
wild mountains, where they have to this day handed down the gospel from father
to son in the same purity and simplicity as it was preached by St. Paul.1
THE preceding chapter brought the story of the Waldenses up to the work
of Peter Waldo. He gave a new impetus to this church, and forged a new weapon
for evangelicals who refused to walk with Rome, in that he provided popular
editions of the word of God in the vernacular. As is always the case when the
Bible is circulated among the laity, the believers became imbued with the spirit
of evangelism. Thus Peter Waldo can be credited with contributing to the
increase in numbers and influence of the Waldenses throughout the world.
However, it was not long before he felt the wrath of the Papacy. When
persecuted, he withdrew to the north of France. Pursued, he fled to Bohemia.
When the anger of persecution turned from him to his converts, great numbers
then hastened to the Waldensian valleys in Italy.
The passing of Waldo into east central Europe and the migration of large
numbers of his followers into surrounding mountainous terrain were in the
providence of God. The seeds of truth sown in previous centuries were beginning
to grow into a large harvest. In the twelfth century there was a longing
throughout Europe to return to that type of religion which Jesus pointed out
when He said, "All ye are brethren." Churches with pomp and
ceremonies, which had put so great a gulf between priest and people and which
had graded the clergy into ascending ranks with titles of honor, were growing in
disfavor. Enforcement of doctrines by law had brought rebellion. The Scriptures
were now more largely circulated. Bible principles were contrasted with
hierarchical canons. Multitudes, becoming aware of a more excellent Christianity
shorn of ecclesiastical accretions, drew together to form large bodies. They had
been called such names as Albigenses, Cathari, and Passagians. But the former
multiplicity of names bestowed upon them began to disappear as they took the
general name of Waldenses.2
On the other hand, the priests who had allied themselves with kings,
generals, and world officials were determined to hold what temporal power they
had acquired and to possess the seat of absolute authority. Their aggressions
were so plainly visible and their harsh, domineering spirit so keenly resented
that the masses could no longer link heresy with vice. The attempt to dub people
as criminals for freedom of belief, brought growing resentment. Therefore, the
name Waldenses was found more on the people's lips, a title that was to be
synonymous in Europe with the Christianity set forth by Christ and the apostles
in the New Testament.
How dreadfully the Waldenses suffered under persecution is a well-known
story in all histories. Their steadfastness and their victory was nothing short
of miraculous. Much of the liberty, enlightenment, and advance of civilization
today can be attributed to the faithfulness of the Church in the Wilderness, and
especially to the courageous Waldenses because of their valiant and triumphant
efforts to maintain the principles of democracy. Their Records Destroyed
Persecution was not the only way of waging war against the
evangelicals. Their records were systematically destroyed. In the empires of
antiquity a new conqueror often followed up his purging of the preceding dynasty
by the destruction of all writings telling of its past, even to the extent of
chiseling annals from stone monuments. In like manner the noble and voluminous
literature of the Waldenses, whether of the Italian, French, or Spanish
branches, was almost completely obliterated by the rage of the Papacy.3 Only
fragments remain. For the rest, one must use the tirades written to vilify them,
the accounts of papal inquisitors, the reports of investigators to their
prelates, and the decrees and sentences pronounced by emperors, papal councils,
and the Inquisition against them to aid in reconstructing their history. Learning of the Waldenses
The Waldensian pastors and teachers were well trained. To refute the
reproach sometimes cast on them, the following quotations are given. Alexis
Muston writes: Gilles
says, 'This Vaudois people have had pastors of great learning...versed in the
languages of the Holy Scriptures...and very laborious...especially in
transcribing to the utmost of their ability, the books of Holy Scripture, for
the use of their disciples."4
S. V. Bompiani states: Unfortunately
many of these books were lost during the persecutions of the seventeenth
century, and only those books and ancient documents sent to the libraries of
Cambridge and Geneva by Pastor Leger were preserved. The papists took care after
every persecution to destroy as much of the Waldensian literature as possible.
Many of the barbes were learned men and well versed in the languages and science
of the Scriptures. A knowledge of the Bible was the distinctive feature of the
ancient, and is now of the modem Vaudois... .Deprived for centuries of a visible
church, and forced to worship in caves and dens, this intimate knowledge of
God's word was their only light. Their school was in the almost inaccessible
solitude of a deep mountain gorge called Pra del Tor, and their studies were
severe and long-continued, embracing the Latin, Romaunt, and Italian languages.5
Alexis Muston also writes: Superstition,
obscuring the moral and religious perceptions, casts its shadows equally over
all the regions of human intelligence; as, on the other hand, also, the light of
the gospel...elevates, augments, and purifies all the powers of the mind. Of
this, the Vaudois themselves are a proof, for they had taken their place,...at
the head of modern literature, having been the first to write in the vulgar
tongue. That which they then used was the Romance language, for all the early
remains of which we are indebted to the Vaudois. It was from this language that
the French and Italian were formed. The religious poems of the Vaudois still
continue to be the most perfect compositions belonging to that period; and they
are also those in which the rays of the gospel shine with the greatest
brightness.6
The idea engendered and fostered by Rome that the Waldenses were few in
number, without much organization or learning, and dependent upon Rome for their
Bible and culture is dispelled by abundant trustworthy and scholarly testimony.
Much proof can be produced to show that in some places the nobility were members
of the Waldensian churches; that among them were the greatest scholars and
theologians of the age; that among them were leaders in language, literature,
music, and oratory.
Their missionary endeavors were widespread. How powerful their influence
was upon the Reformation is well expressed in the following quotation: Seemingly
they took no share in the great struggle which was going on around them in all
parts of Europe, but, in reality they were exercising a powerful influence upon
the world. Their missionaries were everywhere, proclaiming the simple truths of
Christianity, and stirring the hearts of men to their very depths. In Hungary,
in Bohemia, in France, in England, in Scotland, as well as in Italy, they were
working with tremendous, though silent power. Lollard, who paved the way for
Wycliffe in England, was a missionary from these Valleys.... In Germany and
Bohemia the Vaudois teachings heralded, if they did not hasten, the Reformation,
and Huss and Jerome, Luther and Calvin did little more than carry on the work
begun by the Vaudois missionaries.7
The extent to which the doctrines of the Waldenses or Albigenses had been
accepted by the nobility may be seen by the following quotation from Philip
Mornay: Many
great and noble men joined unto them as namely, Raymund Earle of Toulouse and of
S. Giles, the king's cousin, Raymund Roger Vicount of Besiers and of Carcasonne,
Peter Roger Lord of Cabaret, Raymund, Earl of Foix, near kinsman to the king of
Arragon, Gasto Prince of Beam, the Earle of Bigorre, the Lady of the Vaur, the
Earl of Carman, Raymund de Termes, Americ de Montreuil, William de Menerbe, and
infinite others, both Lords and Gentlemen, men truly of that rank that no man of
sound judgment will think, they would have exposed to manifest danger their life
fortunes and honor for the defense of vices and errors so execrable as they were
charged with all.8
After early schooling it was not uncommon for the Waldensian youth to
proceed to the seminaries in the great cities of Lombardy or to the University
of Paris.9 A People of the Bible
It is indeed gratifying that this branch of the Church in the
Wilderness was a Bible people. No subsequent Protestant church reverenced the
Holy Scriptures more than did they. Their obedience to the book of God was at
once the cause of their incomparable success, as it was also the offense which
they gave to their enemies. Through the long night of the Dark Ages these people
were a sanctuary for the Holy Scriptures. They were the ark in Europe which
safely carried the Bible across the stormy waters of medieval persecution.
Since the Waldenses existed from the early Christian centuries, it would
naturally be expected that their first Bible in their own tongue would be in
Latin. Diligent research has proved that this is so. They early possessed that
beautiful Latin version of the Bible called the Itala, which was translated from
Greek manuscripts.10 This is proved by comparing the Itala version with the
liturgy, or fixed form of divine service, used in the diocese of Milan for
centuries, which contains many texts of Scripture from this Itala.11 H. J.
Warner says: "The version current among the Western heretics can be shown
to be based upon the Greek and not upon the Vulgate."12 When the fall of
the Roman Empire came because of the inrush of the Teutonic peoples, the Romaunt,
that beautiful speech which for centuries bridged the transition from Latin to
modem Italian, had become the mother tongue of the Waldenses. They multiplied
copies of the Holy Scriptures in that language for the people.13 In those days
the Bible was, of course, copied by hand.14
The Bible formed the basis of the congregational worship, and the
children were taught to commit large portions of it to memory.15 Societies of
young people were formed with a view of committing the Bible to memory. Each
member of these pious associations was entrusted with the duty of carefully
preserving in his recollections a certain number of chapters; and when the
assembly gathered round their minister, these young people could together recite
all the chapters of the Book assigned by the pastor.16 It thus can be seen how
naturally their pastors, called "barbes," were a learned class.17 They
were not only proficient in the knowledge of the Bible in Latin and in the
vernacular, but they were also well schooled in the original Hebrew and Greek,
and they taught the youth to be missionaries in the languages which then were
being used by other European peoples.
Thus through these people has been handed down to the present generation
the Bible of the primitive church, which found a permanent influence in the
translation of the Authorized Version. Persecutions of the Waldenses
There were persecutions before the thirteenth century against those
considered as Waldenses, who perhaps went under other names. For hundreds of
years, wars of extermination were waged in order to destroy every vestige of the
writings of these different bodies. No artifice, no exertion, no expense, was
spared by their enemies to efface all the records of the ancient Waldenses from
the face of the earth.
There was no village of the Vaudois valleys but had its martyrs. The
Waldenses were burned; they were cast into damp and horrid dungeons; they were
smothered in crowds in mountain caverns, mothers and babes and old men and women
together; they were sent out into exile in a winter night, unclothed and unfed,
to climb the snowy mountains; they were hurled over the rocks; their houses and
lands were taken from them; their children were stolen to be indoctrinated with
the religion that they abhorred. Rapacious individuals were sent among them to
strip them of their property, to persecute, and to exterminate them.
"Thousands of heretics, old men, women, and children, were hung, quartered,
broken upon the wheel, or burned alive, and their property confiscated for the
benefit of the king and Holy See."18
So many books have been written relating these circumstances and
picturing these heart-rending scenes that further enumeration is unnecessary. It
is sufficient to say that the Waldenses remained true to the truth. When the
Reformation dawned, under Luther, Zwingle, Calvin, and others, they were ready
to receive a delegation from the new movement of Reformers who came to inquire
of their beliefs. There were enough of them left in 1550, according to W. S.
Gilly, so that eight hundred thousand souls in the Alpine provinces continued to
refuse to accept the beliefs and practices of the Papacy.19 Truth Planted in Many Lands
Urged on by the power of truth triumphant, the Waldenses went forth
to Europe. How widespread was the work of this noble people may be seen in the
words of Samuel Edgar: The
Waldenses, as they were ancient, were also numerous. Vignier, from other
historians, gives a high idea of their populousness. The Waldenses, says this
author, multiplied wonderfully in France, as well as in other countries of
Christendom. They had many patrons in Germany, France, Italy, and especially in
Lombardy, notwithstanding the papal exertions for their extirpation. This
sect, says Nangis, were infinite in number; appeared, says Rainerus, in nearly
every country; multiplied, says Sanderus, through all lands; infected, says
Caesarius, a thousand cities; and spread their contagion, says Ciaconius,
through almost the whole Latin world. Scarcely any region, says Gretzer,
remained free and untainted from this pestilence. The Waldensians, says Popliner,
spread, not only through France, but also through nearly all the European
coasts, and appear in Gaul, Spain, England, Scotland, Italy, Germany, Bohemia,
Saxony, Poland, and Lithuania. Matthew Paris represents this people as spread
through Bulgaria, Croatia, Dalmatia, Spain, and Germany. Their number, according
to Benedict, was prodigious in France, England, Piedmont, Sicily, Calabria,
Poland, Bohemia, Saxony, Pomerania, Germany, Livonia, Sarmatia, Constantinople,
Philadelphia, and Bulgaria.20
Some have claimed that the Albigenses were different from the Waldenses.
However, the truth is that they did not differ in belief. They are called
Albigenses only because of Albi, the French city which was their headquarters.
But the decrees of the popes have condemned them as Waldenses; papal
"legates made war against them as professing the beliefs of the Waldenses;
the monks Inquisitors, have formed their Proces and Indictments as against the
Waldenses: the people have persecuted them as being such.... Many
historiographers call them Waldenses."21
How the Waldenses or Albigenses made converts among Bulgarians the
following quotation from Philip Mornay will show: Matthew
Paris saith further, That they spread themselves so far as into Bulgaria,
Croatia, and Dalmatia, and there took such root, that they drew unto them many
bishops: and thither came one Bartholomew from Carcassone in the country of
Narbon in France, unto whom they all flocked...and he created bishops, and
ordained churches.22 Protestantism a Glorious Fruit of Waldensianism
In 1517, the dawn of the Protestant Reformation came to Europe.
Protestantism was not so much a separation from the Church of Rome as it was a
revival of apostolic doctrines so long held by the Waldenses. Protestantism was
a spiritual expansion of the Church in the Wilderness. Of the remaining
evangelical churches which had come down from the days of the apostles, the
Waldenses were the purest and the most prominent. James D. McCabe writes
concerning the delegates of early Reformers sent to a synodal assembly of the
Waldenses: Thus
the time passed on until the Reformation dawned upon the world. The Vaudois were
well pleased at this general awakening of the human mind. They entered into
correspondence with the Reformers in various parts of Europe, and sent several
of their Barbas to them to instruct them. The Reformers on their part, admitted
the antiquity of the Vaudois rites and the purity of their faith, and treated
the mountain church with the greatest respect. On the twelfth of September,
1532, a Synodal Assembly was held at Angrogna. It was attended by a number of
deputies from the Reformed Churches in France and Switzerland. Among them was
William Farel of France.... He manifested the greatest interest in the
manuscript copies of the Bible which the Vaudois had preserved from the earliest
times, and at his instance, the entire Bible was translated into French, and
sent as a free gift from the Vaudois to the French Church.23
The simplicity and purity of their lives was the result of the simplicity
and purity of their doctrines. They followed the command of the apostle John
that no man should add to, nor take from, the word of God. This attitude was a
great defense against error, and constituted the divine rule for success in
missionary enterprises. Even their enemies admitted that their beliefs were like
those of the early Christians. An enumeration of these beliefs sounds like the
preachings of Vigilantius in the fourth century and of Claude in the eighth.
Antoine Monastier shows in the following words some of the errors that they
rejected: The
ancient Vaudois constantly rejected doctrines that were based on authority and
human tradition; they repelled, with holy indignation and horror, images,
crosses, and relics, as objects of veneration or worship; the adoration and
intercession of the blessed Virgin Mary and the saints; they consequently
rejected the feasts consecrated to these same saints, the prayers addressed to
them, the incense and tapers that were burned in their honor; they likewise
rejected the mass, auricular confession, purgatory, extreme unction, and prayers
for the dead, holy water, Lent, abstinence from meat at certain times and on
certain days, imposed fasts and penances, processions, pilgrimages, the celibacy
of the clergy, monkery, etc., etc. Their declaration on these points is as
explicit as it is strong.24
Reinerius Saccho, their enemy, was obliged to admit that they were a
commandment-keeping people: Concerning
their manners, he [Reinerius] writes, they were modest, simple, meddling little
with bargains or contracts.... That the first rules and instructions which for
rudiments they gave unto their children was the Decalogue of the law, the Ten
Commandments.25
It was to be expected that persecutions, isolation, and desperate
circumstances would tear away many of the people from some of their beliefs; and
that at times there would be a certain amount of conformity to papal practices.
Furthermore, when the Reformation, manifesting extreme liberalism in many
things, swept over Europe, it had a great influence upon the ancient churches
which had long suffered for many of the doctrines to which the Reformers turned.
These ancient churches possessed in many points identical beliefs with those
announced by the Reformation. Unfortunately, in their joy over the Reformation
they conformed to certain shortcomings of the Reformers. The Reformation was a
mighty influence for good as far as it went; but it is widely recognized that it
did not go far enough.26 Others than the pioneer Reformers were obliged to labor
for the further restoration of primitive Christian beliefs and practices in the
churches that were sincerely following the Master's precepts. Did the Early Waldenses Keep the Sabbath?
Before taking up the specific cases of the observance of the Sabbath
by the ancient Waldenses, it would be profitable to glance at the status of
Sunday observance at the end of what is usually reckoned to be the first period
of church history, terminating in the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325).
Constantine, who was the first Christian ruler of the Roman Empire at the
time when the church and the state were coming together in perfect union, issued
his now-famous Sunday law (A.D. 321). A comment upon this by a leading Roman
Catholic journal states the case clearly: The
emperor Constantine after his conversion to Christianity, made the observance of
Sunday a civil duty, and the law which commanded it is found in the Roman code.
'Let all judges and people of the town rest, and the trades of various kinds be
suspended on the venerable day of the sun. Those who live in the country may,
however, freely and without fault apply to agriculture, because it often happens
that this day is the most favorable for sowing wheat and planting the vine, lest
an opportunity offered by divine liberality be lost with the favorable moment.'
Now we can scarcely conceive that Constantine would have excepted agricultural
labor, if the church had from time immemorial strictly forbidden among
Christians that kind of work which it prohibited at a later period.... Hence it
has been the unanimous doctrine of divines, from time immemorial, that cessation
from servile work is not only a point of discipline liable to change but it can
be dispensed with by ecclesiastical authority whenever a reasonable cause
presents itself.27
There is ample evidence to show that the above quotation does not reveal
any incidental condition or anything unusual in the observance of Sunday in the
fourth century. This was not only the custom of the state church in general, but
it can be proved that the same church claimed that she had power enough to
institute Sunday in the beginning, and also to say how much work should or
should not be done on that day. As evidence, another quotation from the same
journal is given: To
place the subject in a clearer light, we may state that, according to many
learned writers it was not strictly commanded to abstain from work on Sunday
during the first ages of the church. This day was undoubtedly viewed by
Christians as a day of joy, of triumph, and of gratitude to God; and they
convened in the church to offer their homage to the Almighty; but there is no
evidence to show that cessation from work was considered obligatory; probably
because there might have been some danger of Judaism in this cessation from
work, and perhaps also because practice, in the time of persecution, would have
greatly exposed the professors of Christianity. It was deemed sufficient to
substitute public prayer for the Jewish Sabbath, particularly as the latter was
observed by many of the faithful.28
Thus it can be seen that Sunday in the early Christian centuries was not
a holy day of divine appointment, but was, rather, appointed by man, and
physical labor was carried on. From the quotations of church historians which
follow, it will be seen that in the churches of the East as well as in all the
churches of the West, except Rome, the Sabbath was publicly observed by those
who were courageous enough to withstand the rising tide of those endeavoring to
appease a sun-worshiping heathen world which gave special prominence to Sunday.
In contrast to the questionable beginnings of Sunday, consider the
seventh-day Sabbath at the same time. The following two quotations have been
given before, but are worthy of repetition. Socrates, a church historian of the
fourth century, wrote thus: "For although almost all the churches
throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the Sabbath of every
week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient
tradition, have ceased to do this."29
Another quotation from the church historian, Sozomen, who was a
contemporary of Socrates, declares: "The people of Constantinople, and
almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day
of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria."30
The substance of these two quotations reveals that the Christianity of
the Greek Church was a Sabbathkeeping Christianity; and that the Christianity of
the West, with the exception of the city of Rome and possibly Alexandria, was
also a Sabbathkeeping Christianity.
However, there is more specific information regarding the observance of
the Sabbath before 325 when one considers the history of Spain. Spain had the
good fortune to escape for centuries any marked influence of the church at Rome.
Its church history is divided into two periods: first, that which covered the
time up to 325; and secondly, the period between 325 and 1200. For the study of
the first four centuries it is more than fortunate that the eighty-one church
resolutions or canons passed by the council held at Elvira, Spain (c. A.D. 305),
still exist.
The records of the Council of Elvira reveal three things: first, up until
the time of that council, the Church of Spain had adopted no creed, and
certainly not the creed later adopted at Nicaea;31 secondly, punishment of
faulty members by the church did not go farther than dismissal, for there was no
appeal to civil law; thirdly, up to the time of the Council of Elvira, movements
toward a union of the church and the state had made no progress, but it was
evident that attempts were being made along this line.
When it is a matter of inquiry as to what was the attitude of Christians
in Spain on Sabbath observance, the evidence is clear. Canon 26 of the Council
of Elvira reveals that the Church of Spain at that time kept Saturday, the
seventh day. "As to fasting every Sabbath: Resolved, that the error be
corrected of fasting every Sabbath."32 This resolution of the council is in
direct opposition to the policy the church at Rome had inaugurated, that of
commanding Sabbath as a fast day in order to humiliate it and make it repugnant
to the people.33
What connection is there between these facts and the early Waldensians?
It is this: that while for centuries Christianity in Spain was one, yet when the
encroachments by Rome on these primitive Christians in Spain began, the people
of the Pyrenees separated themselves from the errors that crept in upon them.
Robert Robinson writes that the people living in the valleys in different
countries became known as the "valley dwellers," or Vallenses. In
fact, this author states his belief that the inhabitants of the Pyrenees were
the true original Waldenses.34 The original word is the Latin, vallis. From it
came "valleys" in English, Valdesi in Italian, Vaudois in French, and
Valdenses in Spanish.35 Resolution 26 of the Council of Elvira having revealed
that the early church of Spain kept the Sabbath, and history having proved that
the Waldenses of north Spain existed at that time, these connections prove the
keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath by the early Waldenses in Spain.
It is a point of further interest to note that in northeastern Spain near
the city of Barcelona is a city called Sabadell, in a district originally
inhabited, in all probability, by a people called both "Valdenses" and
Sabbatati."36 Could not this name, Sabadell, have originated from the
expression, "dell of the Sabbathkeepers"? It is also shown that the
name Sabbatati comes from the fact of their keeping the Sabbath. There are still
in the vicinity of Sabadell archaeological remains of these ancient peoples.37
Many centuries later when the Papacy rose to dominion in Spain, and
persecution fell upon these dwellers in the valley, they often would go over to
northern Italy where they were welcomed and given a home among the Waldenses of
the Alps.38 The Waldenses, a Bible People
The stronger the church at Rome grew, the greater was the emphasis
placed upon Sunday. On the other hand, the churches which continued in apostolic
Christianity clung as long as possible to the day which Jesus Christ and the
apostles sanctified.
The Waldenses were so thoroughly a Bible people that they kept the
seventh-day Sabbath as the sacred rest day for centuries. Two centuries after
Pope Gregory I (A.D. 602) had issued the bull against the community of
Sabbathkeepers in the city of Rome, a church council which disclosed the extent
of Sabbathkeeping in that peninsula was held at Friaul, northern Italy (c. A.D.
791). Friaul was one of the three large duchies into which the Lombard kingdom
had been originally organized. This council, in its command to all Christians to
observe the Lord's Day, testified to the wide observance of Saturday as follows:
"Further when speaking of that Sabbath which the Jews observe, the last day
of the week, which also all peasants observe."39 About one hundred years
later (A.D. 865-867), when the sharp contest between the Church of Rome and the
Greek Church over the newly converted Bulgarians and their observance of the
Sabbath came to the front, the question again entered into the controversy, as
can be seen in the reply of Pope Nicolas I to the one hundred six questions
propounded to him by the Bulgarian king.40
Peter Allix, speaking of an author who was discussing the doctrines of
the Waldenses, writes: "He lays it down also as one of their opinions; that
the Law of Moses is to be kept according to the letter, and that the keeping of
the Sabbath, circumcision, and other legal observances, ought to take
place."41 However, the accusation that they practiced circumcision has been
repeatedly proved to be false. Writing of the Passagians, who are taken to be a
branch of the Waldenses, David Benedict says: The
account of their practicing circumcision is undoubtedly a slanderous story
forged by their enemies, and probably arose in this way. Because they observed
the seventh day, they were called, by way of derision, Jews, as the Sabbatarians
are frequently at this day; and if they were Jews, it followed of course, that
they either did or ought to circumcise their followers. This was probably the
reasoning of their enemies; but that they actually practiced the bloody rite, is
altogether improbable.42
Adam Blair says: Among
the documents we have by the same peoples, an explanation of the Ten
Commandments, dated by Boyer 1120. It contains a compend of Christian morality.
Supreme love to God is enforced, and recourse to the influence of the planets
and to sorcerers, is condemned. The evil of worshiping God by images and idols
is pointed out. A solemn oath to confirm anything doubtful is admitted, but
profane swearing is forbidden. Observation of the Sabbath, by ceasing from
worldly labors and from sin, by good works, and by promoting the edification of
the soul through prayer and hearing the word, is enjoined.43
In spite of the fury of the oppressors, the protecting hand of Christ was
on His commandment-keeping people. They grew in numbers. But it was not until
the twelfth century that the bishop of Rome became terrified over the growth of
the Waldenses. The so-called heretics in southern France were in reality the
western portion of the Waldenses, and were usually referred to as Albigenses
because of the great numbers in the large city of Albi. The province in which
Albi attracted attention was in alliance with the king of France, though not
incorporated legally into that realm. The Papacy was allied with the French
kings. A synod of "heretics" was held in 1167 in the district of
Toulouse at which were present Cathari from Lombardy and Italy, as well as from
France. Nicetas, the Paulician leader or bishop at Constantinople, attended by
request and presided.44 Yet the Paulicians, as Adeney indicates, disregarded
Sunday and sanctified Saturday.45
In order to meet the new economic conditions in which the Roman Church
found itself and to combat the threat of heresy, two orders of monks were formed
- the Franciscans and the Dominicans. As one author writes: "It has been
affirmed that the orders of the Franciscans and Dominicans were instituted to
silence the Waldenses."46
As to the persecutions suffered by the Waldenses for Sabbathkeeping, the
following is found in the decree of Alphonso, published about 1194: Alphonse,
king of Aragon etc., to all archbishops, bishops, and to all others:... We
command you in imitation of our ancestors and in obedience to the ordinances of
the church, that heretics, to wit, Waldenses, Insabbathi and those who call
themselves the poor of Lyons and all other heretics should be expelled away from
the face of God and from all Catholics and ordered to depart from our kingdom.47
The use of the term "Insabbathi" in the previous quotation,
designating those who should be expelled from Spain, leads to a consideration of
Spanish Sabbathkeepers in medieval times. That the Insabbatati were Waldenses is
proved by the statement of Bernard Gui, famous program builder of the
Inquisition, that "Ensavates [Insabbatati] was the name given to the
Vaudois."48 Abundance of evidence can be produced to show that these
Sabbathkeepers were interchangeably called Waldenses and Insabbatati.49
There are two items of interest which throw light upon the term "insabbathi"
used in the decree of King Alphonso (A.D. 1195) as given above. The first item
is that there was a Gothic Spanish liturgy.50 It was very different from that of
Rome, and was not abolished until 1088. 51 The following quotation from Michael
Geddes will help to show the interrelationship of the facts: "The papal
supremacy was a thing not known in the ancient Gothic Catholic Church: So that
the popish doctrines of transubstantiation, and of purgatory, and of praying to
angels and saints, and of adoring images, and of auricular confessions, etc.
were as little known in her; may, I conceive, easily be proved from her records,
which are extant."52 Then the author goes on to say in the same paragraph
that the faith in the ancient Spanish Gothic Church was the same as that of the
ancient British Church. The reader needs only to refer to former chapters in
this book to be able to rehearse the evidences there given that the ancient
British or Celtic Church sanctified the seventh day as the Sabbath of the fourth
commandment. This constitutes another link in the chain of evidence that the
term Insabbatati refers to the keeping of the seventh day as the Sabbath.
The second item of interest is worthy of special note. The decree of King
Alphonso of Aragon was given in the year 1194. This indicates how late in the
middle ages the Waldenses were keeping the Sabbath in Spain. That papal authors
in Germany, Italy, and France about the same time as the above decree were
putting forth their writings against the Sabbatati, or Insabbatati, discloses
how many and widespread were these people. There is an abundance of reference to
"heretics" under the name of Sabbatati, or Insabbatati, in the records
of the Inquisition. Explanations of their belief, however, are scarce because,
as Robert Robinson writes: "It was a maxim with the catholics to avoid the
mention of heresy in their synods, lest it should create a desire in any to know
what it was. They forbad preachers to quote even their good arguments lest the
people should entertain a favorable opinion of the authors."53
These terms Sabbati, Sabbata, Insabbatati refer to keeping the seventh
day as the Sabbath. The historian Goldast says of those who were called
Insabbatati, "They were called Insabbatti, not because they were
circumcised, but because they kept the Sabbath according to Jewish law."54
Shortly after the decree of King Alphonso against the Insabbatati there
flourished a fervent papal writer in Spain who has subsequently obtained
considerable notoriety. This was Lucas of the city of Tuy, generally known as
Lucas Tudensis. His writings make it clear how strong and how numerous were the
Insabbatati in Spain about 1260. Lucas died about seventy-five years before the
appearance of Wycliffe, "Morning Star of the Reformation." A splendid
summary of his writings is given as follows: Those,
who will take the trouble to read this work, and observe how fondly Lucas dwells
upon the presumed opinions of Isidore, the Spanish saint, how he laments that
Spanish enthusiasm should be cooled, and should not burst out in arms against
the enemies of the Catholic faith - how he declaims against heretical
conventicles - the public disputations of heretics - their profanation of the
parish churches - the arrival of Arnald in Spain and the transactions at Leon, -
will perceive that the mind of Lucas was occupied by the consideration of
Spanish and not of Albigensian, or foreign nonconformity.55
The following testimony concerning the Sabbath was given by a Waldensian
prisoner before the Inquisition (probably in Freiburg, Germany): Barbara
Von Thies testified... That on the last Saint Michael's day concerning
confession as it is administered by the priests she has nothing to do with it.
As to that which has to do with the Virgin Mary, on that she has nothing to
answer. Concerning Sunday and feast days she says: 'The Lord God commanded us to
rest on the seventh day and with that I let it be; with God's help and His
grace, we all would stand by and die in the faith, for it is the right faith and
the right way in Christ."56
The blessing of Christ upon these, His persecuted children, was so great
that they entered into many lands. Mosheim declares that, prior to the age of
Luther, there lay concealed in almost every country of Europe-especially in
Bohemia, Moravia, Switzerland, and Germany - many persons in whose minds were
deeply rooted the principles of the Waldenses, the Wycliffites, and the
Hussites.57
The Sabbath of the fourth commandment was observed among these peoples in
obedience to the moral law. How high was the standing of Sabbatarians among
lords and princes may be seen from the following quotation of Lamy: All
the counselors and great lords of the court, who were already fallen in with the
doctrines of Wittenburg, of Augsburg, Geneva, and Zurich, as Petrowitz, Jasper
Cornis, Christopher Famigall, John Gerendi, head of the Sabbatarians, a
people who did not keep Sunday, but Saturday, and whose disciples took the names
of Genoldists. All these, and others, declared for the opinions of Blandrat.58
There is an abundance of testimony to show the harmonious chain of
doctrine extending from the days of the apostles down to the Reformation and
later, including the beliefs held by the believers of northern Italy, the
Albigenses, the Wycliffites, and the Hussites. Andre Favyn, a well-known Roman
Catholic historian, who wrote in French, traces the teachings of Luther back
through Vigilantius to Jovinianus, claiming that Vigilantius gave his doctrines
to "the Albigenses, who otherwise were called the Waldenses," and that
they in turn passed them on to the Wycliffites and the followers of Huss and
Jerome in Bohemia.59
Inspired by the Redeemer, the Waldenses were always going forth in
missionary labors. Because of this, they were in some places at certain times
called Passaginians. Thus Gilly writes (in Waldensian Researches, page
61, note 2): "Passagii and Passagini, or the inhabitants of the passes,
from the Latin word passagium, is one of the names given by ancient
authors to the Waldenses."
A large proportion of the Waldenses, whether called by that name or by
other names, believed the observance of the fourth commandment to be obligatory
upon the human race. Because of this they were designated by the significant
title of Insabbati, or Insabbatati. Farmers or townsmen going on Saturday about
their work were so impressed by the sight of groups of Christians assembling for
worship on that day that they called them Insabbatati. The term
"Sabbath" was almost never applied to Sunday. Speaking of
Constantine's Sunday law of 321, Robert Cox writes: "No evidence has been
adduced, that before the enactment of this law there was Sabbatical observance
of the Lord's Day in any part of Christendom."60
That the Waldenses would be committed to Saturday as the Sabbath can be
seen in these words: "They hold that none of the ordinances of the church
that have been introduced since Christ's ascension ought to be observed, being
of no worth; the feasts, fasts, orders, blessings, offices of the church and the
like, they utterly reject."61 This is said of them in Bohemia. Erasmus
testifies that even as late as about 1500 these Bohemians not only kept the
seventh day scrupulously, but also were called Sabbatarians.62
Thus, from historical statements, from unquestioned historical evidence
that under various names and designations the Waldenses kept the Sabbath, as
well as from their being called Sabbatati, Insabbatati, and other forms of this
name, it is plain that one of the fundamental teachings and practices of the
larger part of the Waldenses was that of observing the seventh day as the sacred
day of the fourth commandment. The Waldenses and the Reformation
Although the reformed churches transformed the face of Europe, they
failed to reject certain Latin practices which arose later to plague them.
Pastor Robinson, in his farewell address to the Pilgrims departing from the
shores of Holland to seek a new world, said that it was impossible for churches
(referring to the Reformers) which had lately come out of such thick
anti-Christian darkness to have received all the light.
Perhaps, if the churches of the Piedmont, in their joy and boundless
feelings of fraternity toward the new army of Protestants, had been able to
continue to hold to their ancient purity, the question concerning the modern
Waldenses' tallying with the accounts of their primitive and medieval brethren
would not now be raised. The answer is found in the events of 1630. The
descendants of the Waldenses who lived shut up in the valleys of Piedmont, were
led by their proximity to the French and Genevans to embrace their doctrines and
worship. Yet they retained not a few of their ancient rules of discipline, so
late as the year 1630. But in this year the greatest part of the Waldenses were
swept off by pestilence; and their new teachers, whom they obtained from France,
regulated all their affairs according to the pattern of the French Reformed
Church.63
Although the Waldenses were one in essential doctrines with the churches
of the Reformation, they did not lose their separate organization. The reformed
churches grew in power to such an extent that in countries like Germany and
England, they were free from Rome's persecutions. This, however, was not the
case of the Waldenses, still under the rule of Italy.
After a synod when a delegation of Reformers met with them, they vowed to
witness publicly more boldly than ever before. January 21, 1561, the day after
delegates from their churches had sworn eternal friendship upon the snowy
summits of the Alps, a decree from their enemies was published ordering all
Waldenses to attend mass. After warlike attempts to drag them to the galleys,
the stake, the prison, and the gallows, they developed such resistance and
endurance that the duke of Savoy, influenced by his Protestant wife, granted
them amnesty.
The persecution which raged from 1655 to 1689 was most terrible. It all
but extinguished this evangelical people, Horrible massacres, incredible acts of
perfidy, burning of villages, children tom from their mothers to be dashed
against the rocks, hosts of fugitives driven across the borders - such revolting
acts as these followed one another. Half of the Waldenses were driven into exile
for three and a half years. Concerning the persecutions of this period, one
authority states: "In 1655 the persecution raged again, and if all the
Protestant powers of Europe had not interposed, a complete annihilation of the
Waldenses would have been the result."64 In 1689, their pastor and hero,
Henri Arnaud, led nine hundred of their warriors from Switzerland to the border
town of Balsille. All winter they resisted an army of ten thousand. When all
seemed lost the duke of Savoy joined the Protestant prince of Holland, and they
were permitted to return in peace to their valleys. This great exploit is called
the "Glorious Return." By the time the 1260-year period had run out,
this faithful branch of the Church in the Wilderness had secured religious
toleration.
The persecution of the Waldenses led John Milton to write his famous
sonnet, "On the Late Massacre in Piedmont."
Avenge, O Lord, Thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold,
Ev'n them who kept Thy truth so pure of old
When all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones.
Forget not: in Thy book record their groans
Who were Thy sheep and in their ancient fold
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese that rolled
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they
To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow
O'er all the Italian fields where still doth sway
The triple tyrant: that from these may grow
A hundredfold, who having learned Thy way,
Early may fly the Babylonian woe. A World-Wide Awakening to Bible Prophecies
Protestantism was largely an abundant fruitage of the Church in the
Wilderness. Protestantism rejected the development theory, an important and
essential doctrine of Romanism. Through this theory the Papacy claims innate
power to go on developing the teachings of the apostles. Through it Rome went on
in its development of doctrine until it brought forth teachings contrary to the
Bible. Cardinal Gibbons writes, "The Scriptures alone do not contain all
the truths which a Christian is bound to believe."65
Protestantism was a return to the Bible. It emphasized a more and more
conscientious and enlightened application of scriptural troths. Protestantism
grew mightily, and as it went on in expanding Bible study, its churches awoke in
the eighteenth century to the urgent necessity of heeding the warnings wrapped
up in Bible prophecies. Intensive study was applied to the great prophetic time
periods. Thus John Wesley cried out in 1756 concerning the two-horned beast of
Revelation 13: "He has not yet come, though he cannot be far off; for he is
to appear at the end of the forty-two months of the first beast."66
The 1260-year period of prophecy had become the concern of all. This led
to a closer study of the seventy weeks of Daniel 9 in which the date of Christ's
crucifixion was a determining factor. The time was near for the church to come
up out of the wilderness. This led to prayerful and learned consideration of the
longer 2300-day period of Daniel 8. Bible societies sprang into existence;
missionary associations were formed. Missionaries departed into all lands to
announce that "the time of the end" had come. The centuries of
faithfulness seen in the history of the Church in the Wilderness were succeeded
by the period of the Remnant Church who would "keep the commandments of
God, and the faith of Jesus."(Revelation 14:2.) |