The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

V. Witness of the Medieval Waldenses of Piedmont

The medieval Waldenses, dwelling for centuries in the Piedmont Alps of northern Italy, were both the spiritual descendants of the early evangelicals and the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. From generation to generation they sallied forth from their Alpine valley retreats to carry the light of the purer gospel to every quarter of bedarkened Europe. CFF2 26.1

Known under various names, ²⁶ they spread their gospel message among the nations, protesting the corruptions of the Roman Church, proclaiming the evangelical faith, and calling men out of the Roman communion. The Italian Waldenses long antedated the French Waldensian Peter Waldo, and always existed independently of Rome. ²⁷ They claimed to be the spiritual link that united Protestantism with the Early Church, back at least to the time of Sylvester and Constantine. CFF2 26.2

Their antiquity is established (1) by the admissions of their papal enemies, ²⁸ (2) by the claims of their most scholarly leaders, as well as (3) by the concurring testimony of the early Protestant Reformers. They were clearly the Nonconformists of northern Italy between the fourth and fourteenth centuries, and later. In 1658, Sir Samuel Morland suggested the evident generation-to-generation transmission of the “Lamp of their Doctrine,” from their valley-dwelling days onward, in the characteristic spelling and phrasing of the time: CFF2 26.3

“Thus in the Valleys of Piemont, Claudius Arch-Bishop of Turin, and he to his Disciples, and they to their succeeding Generations in the ninth and tenth Centuries: in another part of the World, Bertram to Berengarius, Berengarius to Peter Brus, Peter Brus to Waldo, Waldo again to Dulcinus, Dulcinus to Gandune and Marilius, they to Wickleif, Hus and Jerome of Prague, and their Schollars the Thaborites to Luther and Calvin.” ²⁹ CFF2 27.1

The Waldenses ever claimed to be the continuators of the true church, preserving the pure faith, with a valid ministry and church organization. And that they exerted a definite influence on the evangelical beliefs of Wyclif, Huss (who even visited their valleys), and Luther is an established fact of history. Their chief mission was to evangelize. So they spread out in every direction, their evangelists traveling two by two on their missions, under the guise of merchants, artisans, physicians, students, and “pedlars” of jewels. Indeed, the Romanists complained that they had poisoned all Europe with their “heresies,” since everywhere they went they distributed tractates and portions of Scripture, duplicated by scribes in the Romaunt vernacular, placing them principally among the higher classes. CFF2 27.2

They witnessed against the corruptions of Rome. They permeated not only Italy but Austria, Switzerland, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Moravia, and Bohemia. The Alpine valleys, however, continued to be their home and operating base. They constantly pointed out the contrast between the true and the false churches and doctrines. They repudiated not only the Mass but particularly Purgatory, prayers for the dead, and the invocation of saints, doctrines involving the nature of man. CFF2 28.1

This persistent exposure of Catholic departures from the primitive faith, and condemnation of the iniquities of the Roman Church, made challenge by Rome inevitable, with persecution following as a matter of course. In fact, Rome sought to blot them out of existence under recurring waves of persecution. But in the face of prison, fire, and sword, their rule of faith was ever the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, without the apocryphal additions. They were well versed in the Word, to which they made inevitable appeal in all arguments and conflicts with their enemies. CFF2 28.2

In common with the Paulicians—their counterpart of the East, likewise separated from the Roman communion—they did not believe in Purgatory, they would not invoke saints, and they had no prayers for the dead. And in various groups the pagan-papal doctrine of consciousness in death had no place in their teaching. While not all so held, nevertheless among them were those who contended for Life Only in Christ, with sleep in death, and immortality bestowed at the resurrection. There is no single complete treatise thereon, but portions and expressions scattered through their major writings so attest. The major issue, against which all were united, was the papal dogma of Purgatory and its involvements. CFF2 28.3

1. EARLY HISTORIC BACKGROUNDS IN SURVEY

During the early centuries of the Christian Era the archdiocese of Milan, situated in the midst of the plains of Lombardy, at the foot of the Cottian Alps, and extending westward to embrace the mountains and valleys of the Piedmont, was nearly as important as Rome to the south, and was virtually independent of its spiritual control. Beginning with the powerful bishopric of Ambrose, it became a haven for those seeking to preserve purity of faith and worship. CFF2 29.1

A struggle then began that continued until the eleventh century, when Milan was forced to capitulate to Rome, but not without bloodshed, at which time many dwellers of the plains fled from the lowlands to the mountain fastnesses and valleys of the Piedmont Alps. ³⁰ These valleys then became a mountain fortress for the maintenance of their independence, and were believed by the Waldenses to be a citadel fashioned by Providence (Revelation 12:14, 16) for the preservation of their faith. There the training school for their bards was located and their synods were held. CFF2 29.2

In the sixth century Pope Pelagius I complained that the bishops of Milan did not come to Rome for ordination as others did, and added that this refusal was an “ancient custom” of theirs. ³¹ In 590 several bishops of northern Italy refused to accept the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon and the communion of the pope, and reaffirmed their independence of the Roman Church. ³² CFF2 29.3

In the ninth century Claudius, bishop of Turin (d. 839), with the same northern community as part of his diocese, fought the advancing papal encroachments and did much to delay the final capitulation of his churches to Rome, with its authority of tradition, prayers for the dead, supremacy of the pope, and image worship. And his diocese remained independent of Rome. But a century or two later all were subjugated save those who fled to the mountain fastnesses. CFF2 29.4

2. RECOGNIZED IDENTITY OF ANTICHRIST AND HIS PERVERSIONS

The Waldenses were discerning students of Bible prophecy, as several of their treatises indicate, and knew where they were in God’s predictive outline of the centuries. And they held to a sound eschatology. They knew they were living in the period of the domination of the papal Antichrist, or Beast, Babylon, and Man of Sin, portrayed repeatedly by Daniel, Paul, and John, as they affirmed. ³³ They recognized the relentless conflict between the woman in scarlet, the great Roman apostasy (of Revelation 17), and the woman “clothed with the sun” (of Revelation 12). And they recognized themselves as embraced within the scope of this symbolic, persecuted woman-church of Revelation 12, being oppressed by the symbolic apostate church of Revelation 17. CFF2 30.1