Jane Louisa Willyams

“ The Vaudois themselves maintained, in all their appeals made at various times to their sovereigns, that the religion they followed had been preserved from father to son, and from generation to generation, "from all time, and from time immemorial." [2] Most of their historians support the same opinion. "The Vaudois of the Alps," writes one of the latest, "are, according to our belief, the primitive Christians, and heirs of the primitive Church, preserved in these valleys secure from the alterations introduced successively by the Roman Catholics into the evangelical faith." ”

“ It is assumed by the author that the Vaudois, who, as we have already stated, once inhabited a much larger extent of territory than they now possess, formed a portion of the primitive Christian Church planted in Italy, and remained attached to the same as long as she herself continued true to her original faith. There are abundant proofs given in yet existing manuscripts of the long fidelity to the Bible, and constant protestation against encroaching error, of the bishops of Milan and Turin, commencing as early as the fourth century, and continuing still unsilenced in the ninth. ”

“ It is surely more probable that the "men of the valleys," shepherds and husbandmen, should retain the truth, as it was first delivered to them, than that they should be able to discover it amidst the darkness of the twelfth century, when all Christendom was departing farther and farther from the light, under the false teaching of subtle schoolmen, and ambitious and licentious hierarchs. ”

“ Ambition and luxury seduced the great ones of the earth, and the lonely Church of the Valleys became the sole witness of the West - the enduring, not seceding Church of Christ.
In addition to the authorities already quoted, we may bring forward the valuable testimony of a modern Piedmontese historian, and a Roman Catholic, for the assumption that the separation of the two churches took place not long subsequently to the death of Claude. "This Bishop of Turin," writes the Marquis Costa de Beauregard, [11] "a man of eloquence and austere manners, had a great number of partisans. ”

“ Whether the Protestant inhabitants of the valleys on each side of the Alps, between the great mountain ranges of Mount Cenis and Mount Viso, can be proved by documentary evidence to derive their Christianity from primitive times or not, this is certain, that from very remote periods there has been a Christianity in this region, different from that of Rome, in the dark, mediæval, and modern ages ”

“ On the worship of images he asks, "Why adore images? but here is what the miserable sectarians say, 'It is in memory of the Saviour that we worship and adore the painted cross erected to His honour.' Nothing pleases them in our Lord but what delighted even the impious - the opprobrium of His passion, and the ignominy of His death ”

“ The faith and discipline of these Alpine Christians may, at times, have been more or less true to the gospel rule; but their creed and church government have always contained articles opposed to the pretensions and errors of Rome, as far as we can judge from documents that can be traced up to the fourth century at least. ”

“ God commands one thing, these men another. God commands to bear the cross, not to adore it. These persons would adore it, while they bear it neither corporeally nor spiritually. To serve God in this manner is to forsake Him. ”

“ These persons, anathematized by the Pope, and persecuted by the lay princes, were chased from the open country, and forced to take refuge in the mountains, where they have kept their ground from that time, always checked, but always endeavouring to extend themselves. ”