The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 65
But of those who resisted the encroachments of the papal power, the
Waldenses stood foremost. In the very land where popery had fixed its
seat, there its falsehood and corruption were most steadfastly resisted.
For centuries the churches of Piedmont maintained their independence;
but the time came at last when Rome insisted upon their submission.
After ineffectual struggles against her tyranny, the leaders of these
churches reluctantly acknowledged the supremacy of the power to which
the whole world seemed to pay homage. There were some, however,
who refused to yield to the authority of pope or prelate. They were
determined to maintain their allegiance to God and to preserve the
purity and simplicity of their faith. A separation took place. Those
who adhered to the ancient faith now withdrew; some, forsaking their
native Alps, raised the banner of truth in foreign lands; others retreated
to the secluded glens and rocky fastnesses of the mountains, and there
preserved their freedom to worship God.
The faith which for centuries was held and taught by the Waldensian
Christians was in marked contrast to the false doctrines put forth from
Rome. Their religious belief was founded upon the written word of
God, the true system of Christianity. But those humble peasants, in
their obscure retreats, shut away from the world, and bound to daily toil
among their flocks and their vineyards, had not by themselves arrived
at the truth in opposition to the dogmas and heresies of the apostate
church. Theirs was not a faith newly received. Their religious belief was
their inheritance from their fathers. They contended for the faith of the
apostolic church,—“the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”
Jude 3. “The church in the wilderness,” and not the proud hierarchy
enthroned in the world’s great capital, was the true church of Christ,
the guardian of the treasures of truth which God has committed to His
people to be given to the world.
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