Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. I.djvu/389

Rh persons, I became acquainted with the latest history of the Waldenses and their present life.

Allow me, my R——, to sketch for thee here a few traits of this history, in the hope of creating in thy heart a desire to know more; because, whilst it affords an episode in the history of a Christian people, which ought to be known by all and repeated from father to child, from one generation to another, in evidence of God's providence over a faithful and heroic people, it embraces that of “the Israel of the Valleys,” as the Waldenses deserve to be called.

But little, and that indefinite, is known of the first commencement of the Waldenses church, and the learned disagree at the present time about the origin of their name. That which is certain is, that from the earliest period, when the light of history begins to fall upon the region between Mont Cenis and Monte Viso, by the sources of the Po, it is spoken of as being inhabited by Christians, “who in many respects are separated in faith, ecclesiastical customs, and government,” from that, which, under the power of the Pope, became dominant in the rest of Italy. The evangelical apostles extended their travels, very early, across the Cottian Alps, to convey the glad tidings of the Saviour to the shores of the Rhone and the Rhine.

Historians relate, that Christians of the Theban legion fled from persecutions on account of their faith, during the second century, to the foot of Monte Viso to the sources of the Po. In the fourth century, mention is made of a man, by name Vigilanti, who, after having vehemently protested against the worshiping