The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 77
truth. But the words he had left behind could not be destroyed. They
were doing their work in the hearts of men; the blessed results will be
fully known only in the judgment.
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
76