Ellen White on the Waldenses: Guardians of Truth

Ellen White describes the Waldenses as a faithful and God-fearing people who served as a vital link in the preservation of truth during the darkness of the Middle AgesGC88 65.2+1.

Purity of Faith and Scripture

The Waldenses held the Bible as their only supreme, infallible authority, rejecting the supremacy of the pope and the traditions of the Roman churchGC 67.1. They conscientiously studied the Word of God and lived up to the light they received, valuing principles of truth above lands, friends, and even life itselfGC 67.1+1. Because copies of the Bible were rare, they committed large portions of the Old and New Testaments to memory, specifically focusing on the Gospels of Matthew and JohnGC 67.1. In their secluded mountain retreats, they carefully copied the Scriptures by hand, sometimes working in deep caverns by torchlight to preserve the revealed will of GodGC 67.1+1.

Character and Education

• Simple Piety: Their religious life resembled the purity and simplicity of the apostolic church, and they were recognized even by their enemies as a peaceable and pious peopleGC 67.1+1.

• Training Children: Parents taught their children that life was a discipline and that their needs were to be supplied through personal labor, faith, and economyGC 67.1+1.

• Intellectual Culture: While they were inured to hardship and toil, the culture of the intellect was not neglected; students were taught that all their powers belonged to God and should be developed for His serviceGC 67.1.

• Higher Education: Waldensian youth often entered the higher colleges of the land to gain a wider field for observation and to secretly sow seeds of truth in the minds of the educated classes1MCP 354.1+1.

Missionary Spirit and Methods

The Waldenses possessed a deep missionary spirit, believing they had a responsibility to let their light shine to those in darknessGC88 70.1. Every minister was required to serve three years in a mission field before taking charge of a home churchGC88 70.1. To avoid detection, missionaries often traveled as merchants or peddlers, carrying choice silks and jewelry to find entrance where they would otherwise be repulsedGC88 70.1+1. While engaging in trade, they carried hidden portions of the Scripture and sought opportunities to share the "bread of life" with seeking soulsGC 73.1+1. They pointed people away from human merit and toward the merits of a crucified and risen Savior as the only foundation of faith John 3:14-15GC 73.1.

Persecution and Endurance

Because their existence was a constant testimony against the apostasy of Rome, the Waldenses were subjected to terrible crusades and inhuman butcheryGC 76.2+1. They were hunted like wild beasts and driven to the mountain heights, where they suffered from hunger, cold, and nakedness1T 371.1+1.

• The 1487 Bull: Pope Innocent VIII issued a papal bull against them, ordering that this "abominable sect" be crushed like venomous snakesGC 685.4+1.

• Martyrdom: Thousands were thrust off high precipices or smothered to death in caves by their pursuersHS 240.1+2.

• Faithfulness: Despite these horrors, they endured with a patience and constancy that honored their Redeemer, singing praises to God from the rocky cliffs even when pursued by armiesGC88 65.2+2.

Historical Significance

The Waldenses witnessed for God centuries before the birth of Luther, planting the seeds of the Reformation that began with WycliffeGC88 76.4+1. For a thousand years, these witnesses maintained the ancient faith behind the lofty bulwarks of the mountainsGC88 65.2. Though the spirit of their descendants eventually began to slumber due to religious declension and compromise, their history remains a powerful example of sacrifice and self-denial for modern believers to imitateGW92 347.1+2. In the final judgment, the history of their sufferings and their unwavering fidelity to the law of God will be fully revealedEGWSRGES 60.6+1.

Jesus' words apply directly to the treatment of these faithful ones: "Inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me" Matthew 25:40. Like the ancient Waldenses, we are encouraged to be true to duty as the needle to the pole5T 406.1+1.