I want to call your attention to Hebrews chapter 11 for a text. I'm not going to preach on the text, of course, but I want to read it because I know of no scripture that better introduces the subject of the Waldenses than Hebrews chapter 11. While you're turning there, let me acknowledge the kind introduction. I appreciate Brother Justice greatly, and I appreciate the open door here to speak, appreciate the work of the Church, appreciate the brethren whose messages we've already heard. You didn't prepare these things overnight. Hebrews chapter 11, and I'm going to read the forgotten part of Hebrews 11, beginning in the middle of verse 35. And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And as you read the Waldensian history, it is uncanny how nearly every item in that list came to pass in one way or another, in one generation or another, of the Waldenses. The world hated them. The world, even the religious world, murdered them. But the world was not worthy of them. The faith and sufferings of the Waldenses mirror that of the Old Testament saints indeed. Now, I am literally going to read, because if I start chasing the rabbit trails, I'll never get this material finished, and I really want to do that if I can. In pre-Reformation church history, perhaps no name is more familiar than that of the Waldenses. For over a thousand years they were, as their famous motto states, a light shining in the darkness. Their name became a synonym for New Testament Christianity, and they rightly deserve to be remembered and honored by us today. In 1861, C. H. Spurgeon, in a sermon entitled The True Apostolical Succession, said, quote, We, known among men in all ages by various names, such as Donatists, Novatians, Paulicians, Petrobruscians, Cathari, Arnoldists, Hussites, Waldenses, Lollards, and Anabaptists, have always contended for the purity of the Church. And that truly encapsulates the issue, generation after generation, the purity of the church, believers only, regenerate church membership. Spurgeon goes on, I'm sorry, I interjected that. Her distinctness and separation from human government, this is what our forefathers stood for, they were men inured, that means accustomed to hardships, and unused to ease. They present to us, their children, an unbroken line which comes legitimately from the apostles, not through the filth of Rome." Most everyone claims the Waldenses as their ancestors, including Protestants, Baptists, and Seventh-day Adventists. In the more distant past, even some Romanists claimed them when it was expedient to gloss over their numbers and influence. Historians agree I'm sorry, historians disagree on many of the specifics concerning the Waldenses. It makes the job of a historian very difficult, and I don't claim to be a historian, but it has made my job difficult. Even the Baptist histories are far from uniform. The enigma of the Waldenses is probably solved by understanding that the name came to describe a variety of people at various stages of doctrinal and practical development over a lengthy period of time. And so it's very difficult to paint with such a broad brush and say, the Waldenses. One of the brothers stated earlier that they had various minor disagreements, maybe median-sized disagreements even among themselves. They were one in the gospel, they were one in the ordinance of baptism, they were one in rejecting the errors of Romanism, they were one in liberty of conscience. The enigma of the Waldenses is probably solved. I said that. The fact that many of their own writings did not survive, while the false and malicious accusations of their enemies did survive, further complicates our task. We must be as honest as we can with history and avoid revisionist history either from the enemies of the Waldenses or the friends of the Waldenses. In all fairness, we ought not to imagine that all our spiritual ancestors were just like us in every detail. We must be content to find enough agreement in the basics of the Christian faith to be considered their heirs, and that is exactly what we do find. Let me deal first of all with their origin, name, and location. Modern historians say that the Waldenses, or if you prefer, Waldensians, originated with and derived their name from Peter Waldo, a merchant from Lyons or Leon, France, who became a Christian in 1160. Peter Waldo was certainly a godly and influential man. He was committed to translating and distributing the Bible. He gave all he had to the poor. After separating from Romanism, he and his followers fled for their lives. Some of them moved into the valleys occupied by the Waldenses and exerted some good influence on them. But there is no certainty that Waldo himself ever lived there. He settled in Bohemia. Even if the name came from Peter Waldo, he did not introduce New Testament Christianity to the region. Just as the giraffe was a giraffe before Adam gave it the name, even so the Waldenses were biblical Christians before Waldo appeared. It may well be, and I found more than one historian that took this position, that he received his name Waldo from associating with the Waldenses, not vice versa. The name Waldensian was most certainly derived from the location where these people lived. And it's not just Baptist histories that say that. Many, many Protestant histories say the same. The Latin word for valley is valis, or valdes, and thus the Italian term valdensian simply means a valley dweller. The French term Val d'Eau derives from the same Latin root. The valleys that we're talking about are in the southwestern Alps, running through the region of Italy and northern Italy called Piedmont, that form the natural boundary between Italy and France and Switzerland. They are rich, fertile valleys, well-fed by rivers, described by Orchard as an earthly Eden. Many writers, including the great Congregationalist Jonathan Edwards, take these valleys to be the provision spoken of in Revelation 12.6, a place in the wilderness prepared by God where his people should feed. Andrew Fuller, one of the brothers mentioned his commentary on Revelation. Fuller and many others also identified the Waldenses and Albigenses. as the two witnesses of Revelation 11. Now, I don't ask you to agree with that, but that's just a fact of history that you need to know. Biblical Christianity is known to have flourished in this region from the early days of church history, during the pre-Constantinian persecutions. This is before Christians were persecuting Christians, when it was fully pagan Roman persecution before Constantine, Christians fled to the mountains of the Alps and the Pyrenees to survive. The Waldenses themselves said their ancestors had been in the valleys since the days of the apostles. Now, I'm going to quote quite a few non-Baptist historians, that way no one will accuse us of feathering our own cap, I trust. The Presbyterian historian Robert Baird says, quote, the Waldensian churches never belonged to Rome. Again, Jonathan Edwards says, quote, they never submitted to the Church of Rome. And in every age of this dark time, and he's referring to the dark ages, there appeared particular persons in all parts of Christendom who bore a testimony against the corruptions and tyranny of the Church of Rome. God was pleased to maintain an uninterrupted succession of many witnesses through the whole time." That's not a Baptist, that's a Congregationalist speaking. End of quote. Muston in Israel of the Alps affirms that it is not they who separated from Catholicism, but Catholicism which separated from them in modifying the primitive worship. In 1819, two historians appointed by the King of the Netherlands reported to him, quote, We have now seen that the Baptists, who were formerly called Anabaptists, and in later times Mennonites, were the original Waldenses, and who have long in the history of the Church received the honor of that origin." Now, these are Dutch Reformed historians saying this. The quote goes on, The Baptists may be considered as the only Christian community which has stood since the days of the Apostles, and as a Christian society which has preserved pure the doctrines of the gospel through all ages." And all of the references will be included in the congressional record, Mr. Speaker, I trust. Okay. The antiquity of the Waldenses is further testified by many who were not at all favorable to their cause. Caecilius, the Romanist Archbishop of Turin, at the time of the Reformation, maintained that the Waldenses originated in the Alps with a man named Leo in the days of Constantine. A monk named Belvedere said that the heresy, and I use that in quotation marks, what they call heresy we call the worship of the Lord, but Belvedere said that the heresy of the Waldensians had always been in the valleys. Rainerius, and that's a name that you will find in practically every discussion of Waldensian history, he was in the 1200s a Waldensian. for seventeen years. He apostatized and became a Romanist and became probably the most fierce opponent and persecutor of the Waldenses that they ever had. Rhaenarius said, Among all sects that either are or have been, there is none more detrimental to the Roman Catholic Church than that of the Leonists." And that was his word for Waldenses, the men of Lyons, or Leon, where Peter Waldo came from. His quote continues, they're the most detrimental to Romanism, and that for three reasons. Now listen to his three reasons why he so disliked the Waldenses, or why they were such a threat to Rome. The first is, because it is the sect that is of the longest standing of any. For some say it has existed continually since Pope Sylvester. Now, Sylvester was the Bishop of Rome at the time of Constantine. Whereas others say that they were there since the time of the apostles. The second reason is because it is the most general of all sects, for scarcely is there any country to be found where this sect has not been embraced. The third is, because while all other sects frighten their hearers by the abominable nature of their blasphemies against God, this sect has a great appearance of godliness, since they live righteously before all men. And he had lived among them for seventeen years. And he says they lived a holy life. And he viewed that as a threat to Rome. Moshon, the Lutheran historian, writes, the true origin of the Anabaptists or Mennonites is hidden in the depths of antiquity, and is of consequence extremely difficult to be ascertained. And to that I say amen. They are not entirely in an error when they boast of their descent from the Waldenses, Petrobrussians, and other ancient sects, who are usually considered as witnesses of the truth in times of general darkness and superstition. Before the rise of Luther and Calvin, there lay concealed in almost all the countries of Europe, particularly in Bohemia, Moravia, Switzerland, and Germany, many persons who adhered tenaciously to the following doctrine, which the Waldenses, Wyclophites, and Hussites had maintained." William Wordsworth, a famous English poet in the 1800s, wrote in his Ecclesiastical Sonnet No. 12, But whence came they who for the Saviour Lord have long borne witness as the Scriptures teach? Now listen to the words carefully. Ages ere Waldo raised his voice to preach in Gallic ears the unadulterated word, Their fugitive progenitors explored subalpine vales in quest of safe retreats, and so on. I'm not going to read the whole sonnet, but it will be in the congressional record. We may truly say that the Waldenses never needed reformation. I pass on to the beliefs and practices of the Waldenses. In the core of their beliefs, they were one with the Novatians, Donatists, and other primitive Christians. The two oldest documents which testify to their beliefs date from the early 1100s, and I like to get as near to the original sources as we can, and these are the two oldest that I have been able to find, and anyone has been able to find as far as I know. In fact, I'll be glad to furnish a copy to anyone who is interested. I brought a few of them with me. I put together here the 1120 Confession of Faith, as well as what is called the Noble Lesson from the early 1100s. And I'll be glad to give you that or send you one if we run out of copies. though some have challenged the accuracy of the 1120 date for that confession of faith. We should not brush off lightly the fact that historians like Samuel Moreland, in whose history these documents may be found, who was commissioned by Oliver Cromwell to research and give aid to the suffering Waldenses, He himself was convinced of the authenticity of the year 1120 as the date for that confession. And the Noble Lesson, in its own text, states that it has been about 1100 years since the time of Christ and the Apostles. This is the nearest to ancient original documents that we can find. And as you read those documents, it's very clear that the most basic foundation of their beliefs was the authority and sufficiency of Scripture. No bishop or council or tradition could trump the Holy Scripture. Many Waldenses memorized the four Gospels and the Epistles, as well as large portions of the Old Testament. John Christian in his history says that some memorized the whole Bible. Selah. How's your scripture memory coming? What Bible did they memorize? Brother Max Nunley wrote a scholarly article years ago about the origins of the Waldensian Bible, showing it was the italic Old Latin from the traditional text, or Textus Receptus, and I'll be glad to furnish you a copy. In fact, it's included at the back of these other two old documents that I'll be glad to give you. The documents that I've mentioned, the 1120 and the Noble Lesson, proved without a doubt that the Waldenses were sound in the basics of the doctrine of the Trinity and in the Gospel. They held tenaciously to the necessity of regeneration before baptism and church membership. They held that Roman Bishop Sylvester, under Emperor Constantine, opened the floodgates of worldliness into Christianity. They nicknamed Sylvester, Heresyarch. heresy arc. They opposed all the superstitions that Rome had added, and Mr. Cramp in his history has some excellent material. I have one paragraph here, and I'm not even going to read all of it. Let me just read part of it. They held the Pope to be the Antichrist, and they regarded the Church of Rome as the mystical Babylon spoken of in the book of the Revelation, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. They maintained that the true church consists only of believers. They pleaded for the translation of the scriptures into all modern languages that men might read in their own tongues, the wonderful works of God." He goes on and lists many of the heresies of Rome that they did not believe, and he ends up saying, in a word, they acknowledged no authority in the church but that of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they refused to obey any laws relating to religion which were not to be found in the New Testament." End of quote. Now, one very interesting story from their history in the late 1400s, according to Perrin and his history, Bishop Vesembesius, a Romanist, before resorting to violence against the Waldenses, sent a monk to convince them of their errors. Now I'm quoting Mr. Perrin, but the priest withdrew in confusion, saying he had never in the whole course of his life made such progress in the Holy Scriptures as he had done in those few days that he had conferred with the Waldensians. So the bishop sent a whole group of doctors to confound them with hard questions. And I'm quoting again from Perrin, but one of them upon his retreat openly acknowledged he had learned more doctrine necessary to salvation by hearing the answers of the little children of the Waldenses in their catechism than by all the theological disputes which he had ever had in Paris. End of quote. Parents, are we teaching our children? Are we catechizing them in the truth of the scriptures? Some debate has arisen over the question of infant baptism among the Waldenses. This confusion is due to two things. Number one, the fact that some who remained in the established church to avoid persecution were in their own minds sympathetic to the believer's only position of the Waldenses. And secondly, the fact that the post-Reformation Waldenses began to adopt the practice of infant baptism due to Protestant influence, and later Protestant historians seem to have assumed that that had always been the case. However, many careful historians have proven that the Waldenses immersed believers only. I would especially encourage you to take a look at William Jones' church history for an excellent refutation of that false charge of being Paedo-Baptist or Paedo-Rantist, which is the more proper term. I am going to chase a rabbit trail here for just a moment. Paedo-Baptists are those who immerse babies. Paedo-Rantists are those who sprinkle babies. We shouldn't even let them use the term Baptist in that context, if they're going to sprinkle. There is a Greek term for sprinkle, it's rantizo. Okay, I feel much better now. Besides these history books, the most ancient documents, those two from the 1100s, speak with clarity on this issue, even, I mean, understand, the persecution of the Romanists against them over and over was largely due to the fact that they would not have their children baptized. In the doctrine of salvation, or soteriology, some writers, such as Hassell, say that the Waldenses were of the free will bent. there is much evidence to show that they had some concept of sovereign grace. I appeal to the two most ancient documents that we have. Article 7 of the 1120 Confession states that Christ, quote, died for the salvation of all those that believe, end of quote, wording which no free willer ever used, at least around me. In the Noble Lesson, the closing lines read, quote, May it please the Lord which formed the world that we may be of the number of his elect to dwell in his court forever. Praised be God. Amen. End of quote. A Dutch Reformed theologian, Wilhelmus Abrakel, in the 1600s, refers to the Romanists who declared that prior to the time of Zwingli and Luther, There had been very many who adhered to the same doctrine, which they refer to as heresy, and that Zwingli, Luther, and Calvin had by renewal brought this doctrine to light. Unfortunately, Brockle doesn't tell us what doctrine in particular he had in view, but there's more. William Jones quotes Lindanus, a Catholic bishop in the mid-1500s, who accused Calvin of being, quote, the inheritor of the doctrine of the Waldenses. Gerald quotes A. A. Hobbes, the Presbyterian, saying, quote, the Lollards, another name for the Waldenses, the followers of Wycliffe in the 14th century, were all of the general school of St. Augustine. End of quote. And finally, James Durham, Scottish Presbyterian, in his exposition of Revelation, published in 1658, shows that the Romanists claimed that, quote, the Calvinists now are the same called Waldenses before. End of quote. So I'm sure that There's more to be investigated and learned on this subject, but at least we should not hastily write off the Waldenses as Armenians. In some non-essentials, the Waldenses held some peculiar ideas. And I'm not going to take any precious time to talk about some of the peculiar secondary ideas, but I'll just say this, they would probably think some of our ideas are kind of peculiar. And so we look for agreement in the major areas of the Christian faith. In practice, the Waldenses were eminently holy. Their bitterest enemies bore witness to their piety, as we've quoted Ranerius, for example, previously. But these enemies often charged them with the grossest of evils, knowing that these accusations were false, in hopes of stirring up local opposition and keeping others from joining their ranks. Of course, they could not substantiate these outlandish charges. The Waldenses held one another to a high standard of holiness and exercised Church discipline when necessary, especially against pastors who fell into sin. Luther said he at first hated the Waldenses, until he understood the piety of their faith. had only heard all of the false accusations against them from Rome. When he got closer to them and saw how holy and godly they lived, he no longer hated them. Let me mention briefly the outreach of the Waldenses. They were committed to the Great Commission. Their influence stretched all over Europe. They eagerly circulated Bibles and read them to the illiterate. Ramirius, their apostate, became enemy, described the typical Waldensian peddler who, after selling articles to people in splendid homes, tells them about a more precious jewel, the Word of God, which he would open and read as occasion permitted. These men, these Waldensian missionaries, travelled Strictly for the purpose of spreading the gospel. They were not trying to raise business and make themselves rich. They went to simply stay under the radar so they could preach the gospel, spread the scriptures. The Waldenses' enemies charged them with, quote, going up and down the world, preaching. Today, one can visit some old stone an old stone building in one of the valleys known as the College of the Barbs, where many of these missionaries were prepared, especially in memorizing scripture and sermons. They were sent out in pairs, an older experienced missionary training a younger one. Some of them reached as far as Oxford, England. Some were discovered and martyred on their first journey. The success of their labors speaks for itself in the large numbers of converts and in the drastic measures taken by the Romanists to stop them. Now, just a word about their suffering. The Waldenses suffered deprivation, often living in poor conditions and worshipping in caves to avoid persecution. and persecution repeatedly came from the powers subjected to Rome. Some of the persecutions shortly before and after the Reformation were especially cruel. For example, in the Inquisition of the 1200s, false accusers were encouraged to come forward being promised one-third of the property of anyone they implicated who was convicted of the crime. Knowing that justice would never be done and that some of the accused would even be denied a trial, these accusers took evil advantage and their false accusations ran rampant. For example, prostitutes made false accusations and enriched themselves thereby. So vicious was the rage against the believers Anyone giving them even a drink of water was subject to arrest. Moreland's history, and by the way, if you read anything on the Waldenses, make sure you read Samuel Moreland's history. Moreland's history includes graphic illustrations of some of the physical violence against the Waldenses in a post-Reformation massacre of 1655. Of that barbarian butchery, John Milton, the great English poet in the 1600s, wrote Sonnet No. 18 on the late massacre in Piedmont. Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold, even them who kept thy truth so pure of old. And so on. I'll not read the whole thing, but it will be in the record. Only eternity will reveal the vast number who sealed their faith with their blood. Of the fifty million martyrs in the Dark Ages mentioned by Plumer and Carroll, at least tens of thousands were of Waldensian stock. But like the bush that Moses saw burning, they were not consumed. God always preserved his 7,000 in Israel that did not bow the knee to Baal. Now we turn a dark corner. Their corruption. Those who wear the name of Waldenses today are a far cry from their faithful and courageous ancestors. They are a mere shell of what once was. Now, Brother Royce may know of some exceptions to that, and thank God for those exceptions, but I'm speaking generally now. What happened to the Waldenses? On the eve of the Reformation, they were greatly reduced and weakened by persecutions. The majority joined with the German Anabaptists. Those who remained in the valleys assimilated into the Reformation. In 1531, they asked for advice from Busser and Ecclempadius in Basel, who influenced them to embrace infant rantism, or maybe it was baptism, I'm not sure what Ecclempadius' view of that was, and what Overdyne calls the hybrid church-state ecclesiology. About 1560, they began receiving aid from Calvin and Beza, and what gains they may have made in soteriology, or the doctrine of salvation, were offset by losses in ecclesiology, or the doctrine of the Church. The loss was irrevocable. Over time, the Waldenses compromised, step by step, to become what their forefathers would have repudiated. As Orchard put it, quote, alas, how is the gold become dim? So it is with the pre-Reformation Waldenses that we identify. Now let me just say a few words here. I think I have a few minutes left. In conclusion, We can say with the psalmist, thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name. We are heirs to a rich legacy. We should learn much from these ancestors, these pre-reformation giants. Let me mention a few things. First, let us be unbending in our loyalty to the word of God. Let us truly be people of the book, both in doctrinal fidelity and in practical obedience. Secondly, let us, like the Waldenses, give ourselves to the propagating of true religion up and down the world. If we're just sitting in our comfortable sanctuaries waiting for God's elect to come in and identify themselves to us and beg for us to show them the way of salvation, we really can't call ourselves the heirs of the Waldenses. They went out and they preached and they spread the word. Thirdly, let us be very cautious with the help that comes from Geneva. We must maintain pure ecclesiology as well as soteriology. Error in one will eventually impact the other. Fourthly, let us be ready to suffer for the sake of Christ our Savior. We must not simply like Christianity when it walks in its silver slippers, but also when it has a noose about its neck and faggots at its feet. Finally, let us be humble, I tell you this, studying this history has been a very humbling experience for me. We hear much in these days about the greatest generation. Who's the greatest generation? Well, only the Lord can make that assessment, but I think I know who it's not, and it's not us. We are pygmies among the giants in our history. We pale in comparison to these humble people. who generation after generation walked with God. They lived simply. Sometimes they wore sheepskins and goatskins, literally. But their influence was great. Perhaps we should be preparing to shine their shoes in heaven. That would be a happy task, wouldn't it? To get to shine their shoes in heaven. May their mantle fall on us. Where is the God of the Waldenses? But where are the Waldenses of God? They were men subject to like passions as we. Therefore let us rise to the occasion that is before us, and the occasions that are yet to come, and serve our own generation by the will of God. May God help us not to squander our spiritual legacy, but to be heirs of whom our forefathers would not be ashamed.