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Chapter 5 Walking Through the Wilderness Hold Fast Till I Come (Rev. 2:25) During the dark ages a faithful remnant never lost the Gospel and its attending miracles. God continued to sustain his people through truth and power. Their names varied (Waldenses, Leonists, Vaudous, Anabaptists and others) but their spirit and messages were constant and Christ centered. The documented origin of the Waldenses is lost in the night of centuries. Their traditions assert that they were driven from southern Italy, in the time of the second and third centuries. They resorted to the alpine valleys, where they have ever since lived and kept the faith of Jesus Christ. The Waldenses with others persevered in spite of torture, cold, destitution, and loss of life. They were burned -- cast into damp and horrid dungeons, and smothered in mountain caverns. Their suffering extended to mothers and babes, old men and women together. Whole towns were exiled on winter nights, unclothed and unfed, to climb the snowy mountains. Some were hurled over the rocks or their heads were used as footballs. Cherished homes and lands were taken from them, as their little children were stolen to be educated in the religion they abhorred. Yet, they would not submit to Rome's pontiff, worship the communion wafer, seek absolution from priests, or to give up the Bible. Long before the German Reformation the Waldenses were an Evangelical people. They loved the Bible above all things, which they translated into the common tongue and spread abroad into Bohemia, Germany, France, Italy, and much of Europe. They taught their children to memorize whole chapters, so that if their written copies were lost, large portions of it might be secure in the memories of their youths and maidens. In the night they traveled to their secret meetings barefooted, or with shoes bound with rags, so that they might not be heard in passing. It was their custom to listen to the Gospels recited in turn by the young, each one responsible for a certain portion. 13 Offspring of the Apostles An Inquisitor and enemy, Reinerius Sacco, in the thirteenth century, called them the Leonists, said: "There is not one of the sects of ancient heretics more pernicious to the Church than that of the Leonists; first, because it has been of longer continuance, for some say it has lasted from the time of Pope Sylvester, others from the time of the apostles; second, because it is more diffused, for there is scarcely any land in which this sect exists not; and third, because the Leonists have a great semblance of piety, inasmuch as they live justly before men, and believe, together with all the doctrines contained in the creed, every point respecting the Deity. But they blaspheme the Roman Church and clergy." 14 ----------------------------------- 13.ibid., pp. 1-11 14ibid., pg. 8-12 (This is a condemnation given in comparison to the Catholic monks that hide themselves away in monasteries and pray much. Protestant's later criticize these monks for not sharing the gospel and generally contributing noting to society. Christ never told us to leave the world and hide the Gospel.) _____________________________ Fruit of Righteousness The good living of the Waldenses even shined through the slander of their enemies. "The Waldenses heretics 'are the worst and most wanton of mankind," says an Inquisitor. "They are known by their manners and their words. They are composed and modest; they admit no pride of dress, holding a middle position between the expensive and the squalid. In order that they may be better avoid lies, and oaths, and trickery, they dislike entering into business, but by the labor of their hands they live like ordinary workmen. Their teachers (Pastors) are mere artisans. Riches they seek not to multiply, but are content with things necessary. In meat and drink they are temperate. They resort neither to taverns, nor to dances, nor to any other vanities. From anger they carefully restrain themselves. They are always engaged either in working, or in learning, or in teaching, and therefore they spend but little time in prayer. This paradoxical race, so wicked, and yet so practiced in all the Christian graces, made converts among the noble and the great. A wondering missionary, with a pack, like any other merchant, would knock at the great doors of a castle, and be admitted to the presence of the beautiful castellana. When he had shown his rings, and robes, and other wares, he would say, 'Lady, I have jewels far more precious than these, which I will give you if you will secure me against the priests.' The promise given, he said, 'I poses a brilliant gem from God himself, for through it man comes to the knowledge of God; and I have another which casts out so ruddy a heat that it forthwith kindles the love of God in the heart of the owner.' The 'vagabond' then rehearsed parts of the New testament, and often won the lovely lady of the castle to the 'religion,' as it was called, even as if there were no other religion."15 St. Bernard, the enemy of the Albigenses, described them thus: 'If you ask them of their faith, nothing can be more Christian, nothing more irreprehensible then their conversation, and what they say they confirm by their deeds. They attack no one; they ensnare no one; they defraud no one. Their faces are pail with fasting; they eat not the bread of idleness.' Yet, 'mark the fox,' says Bernard, as he proceeds to enumerate the some of the popular false accusations, forgetting that this good fruit could not grown upon an evil tree. 'They submitted joyfully and triumphantly to martyrdom, rather than apostatize from what they held to be the true faith of the Gospel.' During the reign of King Louis XII, the ways of his Vaudous subjects from Val Louise was so upright that had to admit; "These heretics are better Christians then we'."15 --------------------------------- 15 A Short History of The Italian Waldenses Who Have inhabited the Valleys of the Cotton Alps From Ancient Times to the Present, -- Sophia V. Bompiani, 1897, p.44 _________________________ People of God, People of Power The Waldenses believed in the miraculous gift of healing. In 1431 Johnnias Lukawitz recorded the Waldenses' confession of faith. He said, "Therefore, concerning this anointing of the sick, we hold it as an article of faith, and profess sincerely from the heart, that sick persons, when they ask it, may lawfully be anointed with the anointing oil, by one who joins with them in praying that it may be effective to the healing of the body, according to the pattern and end and effect mention by the Apostles: and we profess that such an anointing, performed according to the Apostolic pattern and practice, will be healing and profitable."16 ---------------------------------- 16. Suppressed Evidence, -- Thomas Boys, pp. 56-57 __________________________ Gift of Miracles The name Waldenses became synonymous with Divine intervention. After a massacre in 1655 a war ensued. The historian Leger left marvelous descriptions of God's support. Leger describes the turn of events as a "Miraculous deliverance," and a "Most miraculous deliverance." The enemies of the Waldenses often lamented that the weather seemed to change at their command. Waxed Valiant in Fight In 1476 during one Crusade against the Waldenses, they were nearly overcome on the heights of San Giovanni or Saint John. The enemy was seen advancing against their natural fortress, where they had taken their families for refuge. Seeing the enemy mounting step by step, and drawing their ranks closer, the women, children, and old men fell on their knees, fervently crying out together, "O our God help us! O God, give us our strength! O God, save us!" "My men shall give you the answer," cried one of the chiefs of the invaders scorning their prayers. He raise his visor at that moment, to prove how little fear he had of these poor people. Suddenly, this new Goliath was struck between the eyes and killed by a stone from the hand of Pierre Revel of Angrogna. The Waldenses, seizing the moment of panic drove their attackers down the mountain. Their enemy was vanquished and disbursed to the plain. Then on the mountain they fell to their knees and thanked God for an outstanding victory. Their enemies were soon persuaded that God fought with the heroic mountaineers. The next day a new expedition advanced by another road. However, a fog suddenly arose just as they entered the most difficult and dangerous paths. Unacquainted with the roads, and marching single file by rocky precipices, they fell back as soon as the Waldenses began to resist. Those in front fell back hastily upon the others as disorder followed. The retreat became a flight and the flight a catastrophe. Many fell over the slippery precipices that the fog hid from view. Some were lost in the ravines, and a few only succeeded in escaping. The captain Saguet de Planghere also fell over the rocks and the place he fell now carries his name. In 1655 Janavel defeated the army of Piannezza while attempting to protect his native town Rora. Janavel drove back the enemy without revealing the smallness of his own force. He had sixteen men, six armed with guns and ten with slings. With these few men he repulsed a second attack and pursued the terror-stricken army. Years later in Geneva, the old exile Janavel said, " We were few, but the stones from the slings of those ten boys, were effective on the retreating enemy." When a third attack came Janavel witnessed the burning and sacking of Rora. Therefore, with an ardent prayer to the God of armies he led his little troop of seventeen men to a place where he all but destroyed the enemy. Janavel and his men knelt on the grass and prayed, "O God, we bless Thee for our preservation. Protect us in these calamities and increase our faith." Hebrews 11:34 "Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." Escaped The Edge Of The Sword "In July, divers of these Waldenses went out into the county to reap their harvest, and in sundry places were all taken prisoners, not knowing of each other's calamity. But God so wrought, that miraculously they all escaped out of prison, to the great astonishment of their adversaries. At the same time also, others, who had been long in prison and longed for nothing but death, through God's providence were delivered after a wonderful sort." 17 One writer says that the Waldenses were proven to be God's "elect of his faithful flock, to demonstrate, by prodigies (miracles) beyond the course of nature, or natural strength of man, that they live in that religion in which He would have all the redeemed to live, to serve, and honor him Amen."18 -------------------------- 17 ibid. p. 61, Clarke's General Martyrologie, London 1677 p. 91 18 ibid., p. 61, Authentic Details of the Valdenese, London 1827 pp. 387-388 __________________________ Although God kept the Waldenses through many centuries, finally, the words of Jesus were fulfilled. After faithfully preserving the Gospel of Jesus their enemies nearly annihilated them. "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." Matthew 24:9 In response to the Reformation the persecution of the Waldenses greatly increased but not a hair of their heads perished beneath the martyrs crown. Many thousands sealed their faith with their blood and passed their message to an unnumbered multitude in our generation. Their faith now lives in today's Evangelicals and Spirit filled PENTECOSTALS. God shall never be left without a witness!
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