The Missionary by S. N. Haskell

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 6, 1883

The Missionary.

By S. N. Haskell

A Visit among the Waldenses.

We have seen from the history of this people that they differed from all other Protestants in many respects. First, they had no desire to mingle with the mass of mankind; they preferred seclusion, where they could preserve their faith in its purity. Secondly, their system of education was different from any other class of Christians which lived during the dark reign of the papacy. Educating their children in the Scriptures, instructing them to memorize entire gospels, so that in neighborhoods the entire Bible would be committed to memory, was a peculiar characteristic. Also, from their babyhood, they were taught that martyrdom lay in their pathway, and that their mother should be their only confidant. Thirdly, their adherence to each other and their attachment to the valleys where they first settled was peculiar to them; and often at the present day, while they believe largely with other Baptist denominations, yet the Waldensian churches have an independent existence. They are found in different parts of Europe, more especially in Italy.

These characteristics, their integrity during the persecution, and their kindness toward their enemies, had begotten within us a desire to make a visit to their descendants, and to learn if they were not different from those living in other portions of Europe where the Scriptures were not held as sacred, and error and superstition were more general. We thought we should find that the descendants of this people were bearing the marks of divine favor; that it would be impossible for any people to instruct their children in the Scriptures from generation to generation, as they had done, and not find traces of the divine hand of God still existing with them. In this we were not disappointed. We found them an intelligent and hospitable people, such as we found among no other people in Europe, or even in America. We went among the common people of the Scandinavian countries, and Germany, Holland, Switzerland, France, and other portions of Europe; but there was a difference between this people and those of other portions of Europe which we could not present to the reader so that he would be able to appreciate it.

In southern Italy Catholicism has gone to seed. The Bible has been taken away from the common people, and they do not know what it contains. Said a missionary to me, in Naples, "I have printed portions of the gospel of Matthew and distributed them on the corners of the streets, and the people would take and read them, and wonder where such reading came from." They had no knowledge that it was a portion of the Scriptures. Dishonesty among the people is the order of the day. But not so among the Waldenses. We called upon many families who now live in the mountains, and some in the valleys. Hidden winding paths now lead to their houses where it would be impossible for any animal, unless it be a goat, to follow. Not unfrequently we would come to a rock where we would have to climb three feet, taking hold of some shrub and pulling ourselves up. They were attached to those places on the mountain-side, and it was there they had their vineyards and raised their corn. It was there their ancestors had suffered and died. The spot was sacred; God had blessed them there.

In one family which we visited we saw upon the table Greek books, and French, Italian, and English theological works, as well as the Bible in these different languages. The inmates of the house were away. After remaining a few minutes the mother and son came in. We had conversation with them on Bible doctrines. The son could speak Italian and French; the mother could speak Italian only. Bro. Gardner, who was with me, would translate what I had to say into French, and the son would put it in Italian for his mother. It is seldom that we have enjoyed a greater freedom in talking upon Bible doctrines than with this family. We finally bowed in prayer together. I prayed in English, Bro. Gardner in French, and the son and his mother in Italian. The sweet Spirit of God came into our midst, and each of us was melted in tears. Soon the father came in, and with him we had an interesting interview. He could speak English, and taught his children. We called upon a number of families, and we found every one of them deeply interested in conversation upon Bible themes, and when scriptures were read that conveyed to them new light, they would be so thankful to find that the Bible taught such precious things.

We appointed a meeting on Sabbath at the house of a Bro. Farañas, who was a Baptist missionary in Torre Pellice. Some fifteen or twenty were present. We drew around a large table and had a Bible-class. Some were there with their Italian Bibles, some with their French, and one or two with their English, and as we brought out connecting links of truth, and showed the love of Christ and the preciousness of his grace, such an interest I never before witnessed. Some individuals who sat in the back part of the room would become so intensely interested that they would sit forward in their chairs, and lean over, that they might catch every word; and as new ideas would present themselves, tears would roll down their faces for joy. Oh, how precious was the word to them! Could the readers of this paper have witnessed that intense interest manifested, we would have hundreds that would say, Let me labor among that people.

At the close of the forenoon meeting a hard-looking man, but with a soft heart, one who had been through the Crimean War, wanted to talk with me; so we walked up and down the road together; and such a plea I never heard, that we would send them some missionaries to labor for them. Said he, "Why don't you send us laborers—men that will come to our houses and eat with us, that will read the Bible to us, and pray with us, that will stop with us over night? Send us such men, and we will all keep the Sabbath. You live in a country of freedom. You have good men; why don't you send them here? We love the Bible, and we love God." It would have moved the hardest heart to have listened to his plea. I thought to myself as I heard him plead, and saw the intense interest manifested to learn the word of God, that if I ever again reached America I could present the wants of this people in a manner that would stir our young people to become missionaries to those starving for the word of life. I thought of individuals who have attended the Battle Creek College and had some understanding of the Italian language, and felt that I could move on them to fit themselves to labor among this class of people. There are many of this people that God will fit for his heavenly garner. Where are the laborers that will go and labor among this people? Said this man to me, when referring to the missions that were established by other denominations, "They do not come to our houses and talk and pray with us; but," said he, "we want some one that will stop with us over night; that will read to us the Scripture as you have read it to us, and then we will keep the Sabbath. How can we believe unless some one tells us what the truth is?"

Most of these people read and speak the French and Italian languages, for they live on the borders of northern Italy, near France. Every family on which I called, except one, either had children that they were educating for the ministry, or some who were ministers, or that had the ministry in prospect. This is the result of educating in the children not only a taste for religious things, but a knowledge of the word of God, and a true missionary spirit. If there was no other evidence of the divine authenticity of the Bible than the contrast that existed between these Waldenses who made the Bible their chief study for generation after generation, and those who had not had the privilege of even knowing what the Bible contained, it would be sufficient to convince the most thoroughly skeptical honest man that there was a divine power with the Bible, and that it would impart to those who made it their chief study, intelligence, enterprise, industry, and civilization. The Bible goes before civilization. Civilization is an outgrowth of the light as revealed in Scripture; and in proportion as men receive the sacred truths of God's word, in proportion as they have the Scriptures a part of their being, so they will become intelligent and useful in society. This is illustrated by this people.

S. N. HASKELL.