History of the Waldenses

The Waldenses were among the first of the people of Europe to obtain a translation of the Holy Scriptures. Hundreds of years before the Reformation they possessed the Bible in manuscript in their native tongue. They had the truth unadulterated, rendering 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, while others held fast to 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. Here, the light of truth was kept burning amid the darkness of the Middle Ages. Here, for a thousand years, witnesses for the truth maintained the ancient faith.