outrides the storms that threaten it with destruction . As the mine has rich veins of gold and silver hidden beneath the surface , so that all must dig who would discover its precious stores , so the Holy Scriptures have treasures of truth that are revealed only to the earnest , humble , prayerful seeker . God designed the Bible to be a lesson book to all mankind , in childhood , youth , and manhood , and to be studied through all time . He gave His word to men as a revelation of Himself . Every new truth discerned is a fresh disclosure of the character of its Author .
The study of the Scriptures is the means divinely ordained to bring men into closer connection with their Creator and to give them a clearer knowledge of His will . It is the medium of communication between God and man . While the Waldenses regarded the fear of the Lord as the beginning of wisdom , they were not blind to the importance of a contact with the world , a knowledge of men and of active life , in expanding the mind and quickening the perceptions . From their schools in the mountains some of the youth were sent to institutions of learning in the cities of France or Italy , where was a more extended field for study , thought , and observation than in their native Alps . The youth thus sent forth were exposed to temptation , they witnessed vice , they encountered Satan ' s wily agents , who urged upon them the most subtle heresies and the most dangerous deceptions . But their education from childhood had been of a character to prepare them for all this .
In the schools whither they went , they were not to make confidants of any . Their garments were so prepared as to conceal their greatest treasure--the precious manuscripts of the Scriptures . These , the fruit of months and years of toil , they carried with them , and whenever they could do so without exciting suspicion , they cautiously placed some portion in the way of those whose hearts seemed open to receive the truth . From their mother ' s knee the Waldensian youth had been trained with this purpose in view ; they understood their work and faithfully performed it . Converts to the true faith were won in these institutions of learning , and frequently its principles were found to be permeating the entire school ; yet the papal leaders could not , by the closest inquiry , trace the socalled corrupting heresy to its source .
The spirit of Christ is a missionary spirit . The very first impulse of the renewed heart is to bring others also to the Saviour . Such was the spirit of the Vaudois Christians . They felt that God required more of them than merely to preserve the truth in its purity in their own churches ; that a solemn responsibility rested upon them to let their light shine forth to those who were in darkness ; by the mighty power of God ' s word they sought to break the bondage which Rome had imposed . The Vaudois ministers were trained as missionaries , everyone who expected to enter the ministry being required first to gain an experience as an evangelist . Each was to serve three years in some mission field before taking charge of a church at home . This service , requiring at the outset selfdenial and sacrifice , was a fitting introduction to the pastor ' s life in those times that tried men ' s souls . The youth who received ordination to the sacred office saw before them , not the prospect of earthly wealth and glory , but a life of toil and danger , and possibly a martyr ' s fate . The missionaries went
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