The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 73
they passed through great cities and penetrated to distant lands.
Everywhere they scattered the precious seed. Churches sprang up in
their path, and the blood of martyrs witnessed for the truth. The day of
God will reveal a rich harvest of souls garnered by the labors of these
faithful men. Veiled and silent, the word of God was making its way
through Christendom and meeting a glad reception in the homes and
hearts of men.
To the Waldenses the Scriptures were not merely a record of God’s
dealings with men in the past, and a revelation of the responsibilities
and duties of the present, but an unfolding of the perils and glories of
the future. They believed that the end of all things was not far distant,
and as they studied the Bible with prayer and tears they were the more
deeply impressed with its precious utterances and with their duty to
make known to others its saving truths. They saw the plan of salvation
clearly revealed in the sacred pages, and they found comfort, hope, and
peace in believing in Jesus. As the light illuminated their understanding
and made glad their hearts, they longed to shed its beams upon those
who were in the darkness of papal error.
They saw that under the guidance of pope and priest, multitudes were
vainly endeavoring to obtain pardon by afflicting their bodies for the sin
of their souls. Taught to trust to their good works to save them, they
were ever looking to themselves, their minds dwelling upon their sinful
condition, seeing themselves exposed to the wrath of God, afflicting
soul and body, yet finding no relief. Thus conscientious souls were
bound by the doctrines of Rome. Thousands abandoned friends and
kindred, and spent their lives in convent cells. By oft-repeated fasts
and cruel scourgings, by midnight vigils, by prostration for weary hours
upon the cold, damp stones of their dreary abode, by long pilgrimages,
by humiliating penance and fearful torture, thousands vainly sought to
obtain peace of conscience. Oppressed with a sense of sin, and haunted
with the fear of God’s avenging
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