The Waldensian missionaries were invading the kingdom of Satan , and the powers of darkness aroused to greater vigilance . Every effort to advance the truth was watched by the prince of evil , and he excited the fears of his agents . The papal leaders saw a portent of danger to their cause from the labors of these humble itinerants . If the light of truth were allowed to shine unobstructed , it would sweep away the heavy clouds of error that enveloped the people . It would direct the minds of men to God alone and would eventually destroy the supremacy of Rome . The very existence of this people , holding the faith of the ancient church , was a constant testimony to Rome ' s apostasy , and therefore excited the most bitter hatred and persecution . Their refusal to surrender the Scriptures was also an offense that Rome could not tolerate . She determined to blot them from the earth . Now began the most terrible crusades against God ' s people in their mountain homes . Inquisitors were put upon their track , and the scene of innocent Abel falling before the murderous Cain was often repeated .
Again and again were their fertile lands laid waste , their dwellings and chapels swept away , so that where once were flourishing fields and the homes of an innocent , industrious people , there remained only a desert . As the ravenous beast is rendered more furious by the taste of blood , so the rage of the papists was kindled to greater intensity by the sufferings of their victims . Many of these witnesses for a pure faith were pursued across the mountains and hunted down in the valleys where they were hidden , shut in by mighty forests and pinnacles of rock . No charge could be brought against the moral character of this proscribed class . Even their enemies declared them to be a peaceable , quiet , pious people . Their grand offense was that they would not worship God according to the will of the pope . For this crime every humiliation , insult , and torture that men or devils could invent was heaped upon them .
When Rome at one time determined to exterminate the hated sect , a bull was issued by the pope , condemning them as heretics , and delivering them to slaughter . ( See Appendix .) They were not accused as idlers , or dishonest , or disorderly ; but it was declared that they had an appearance of piety and sanctity that seduced " the sheep of the true fold ." Therefore the pope ordered " that malicious and abominable sect of malignants ," if they " refuse to abjure , to be crushed like venomous snakes ." --Wylie, b . 16 , ch . 1 . Did this haughty potentate expect to meet those words again ? Did he know that they were registered in the books of heaven , to confront him at the judgment ? " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren ," said Jesus , " ye have done it unto Me ." Matthew 25:40 .
This bull called upon all members of the church to join the crusade against the heretics . As an incentive to engage in this cruel work , it " absolved from all ecclesiastical pains and penalties , general and particular ; it released all who joined the crusade from any oaths they
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