Facts of Faith

Further Destruction

In 1686 another terrible edict was issued against them, and an army raised to exterminate them. And again it was the same story of treachery. Gabriel of Savoy himself wrote them: FAFA 133.2

“‘Do not hesitate to lay down your arms; and be assured that if you cast yourselves upon the clemency of his royal highness, he will pardon you, and that neither your persons nor those of your wives or children shall be touched.’” — “Israel of the Alps,” Alexis Muston, Vol. I, p. 445. FAFA 133.3

The Waldenses accepted the official document in good faith and opened their entrenchments. But the Catholic officials, true to the nature of their church doctrines, rushed in and butchered men, women, and children in cold blood. Unspeakable tortures were inflicted on the innocent people, while a few escaped to the mountains. All the towns of the valleys were smoldering and charred ruins. Rome had at last quenched the ancient lamp. “The school of the prophets in the Pra del Tor is razed. No smoke is seen rising from cottage, and no psalm is heard ascending from dwelling or sanctuary.... and no troop of worshippers, obedient to the summons of the Sabbath bell, climbs the mountain paths. “History of the Waldenses” Wylie, p. 173. FAFA 133.4

As these exiled Waldenses fled from country to country, they were persecuted and harassed, but they sowed the seeds of truth as they went. Let us now consider the experiences of other branches of the apostolic church that were scattered by persecution and by early missionary endeavors to the outskirts of civilization. FAFA 133.5