Valued Principles of Truth

They valued principles of truth more than houses and lands, friends, family, and even life itself. They taught the youth from earliest childhood to consider the claims of God's law as sacred. Copies of the Bible were rare, so they committed its precious words to memory. Many were able to repeat large portions of both the Old and the New Testament.LF 32.2

They were educated from childhood to endure hardship and to think and act for themselves. They were taught to bear responsibilities, to guard their words, and to understand the wisdom of silence. One careless word in the hearing of their enemies might endanger the lives of hundreds of believers, for like wolves hunting prey, the enemies of truth pursued those who dared to claim freedom of religious faith.LF 32.3

The Waldenses worked for their living with unwavering patience. Every spot of tillable land among the mountains they carefully improved. They taught their children to practice economy and self-denial. The work was hard but wholesome, just what fallen human beings need. The youth were taught that all their powers belonged to God, to be developed for His service.LF 32.4

The Vaudois^{*Vaudois [vo-DWAH] is the French word for the Waldenses and is often used for them.} churches resembled the church in the time of the apostles. Rejecting the supremacy of popes and bishops, they taught that the Bible is the only infallible authority. Their pastors, unlike the lordly priests of Rome, fed the flock of God, leading them to the green pastures and living fountains of His Holy Word. The people gathered, not in magnificent churches or grand cathedrals, but in the Alpine valleys, or, in time of danger, in some rocky stronghold, to listen to the words of truth from the servants of Christ. The pastors not only preached the gospel, they visited the sick and worked to promote harmony and brotherly love. Like Paul the tentmaker, each learned some trade so that he could provide for his own support if necessary.LF 32.5

The youth received instruction from their pastors. The Bible was their chief study. They committed the Gospels of Matthew and John to memory, as well as many of the Epistles.LF 32.6

With persistent effort, sometimes in the dark caverns of the earth, by the light of torches, they wrote out the Sacred Scriptures, verse by verse. Angels from heaven surrounded these faithful workers.LF 33.1

Satan had urged the Roman priests and bishops to bury the Word of truth beneath the rubbish of error and superstition. But in a remarkable way it was preserved uncorrupted through all the ages of darkness. Like the ark on the rolling seas, the Word of God outrides the storms that threaten it with destruction. Like a mine that has rich veins of gold and silver hidden beneath the surface, the Holy Scriptures have treasures of truth that only the humble, prayerful seeker will find. God designed the Bible to be a lessonbook to all mankind as a revelation of Himself. Every truth that we see is a fresh disclosure of its Author's character.LF 33.2

Some youth were sent from their schools in the mountains to institutions of learning in France or Italy, where there was a wider field for study and observation than in their native Alps. These youth were exposed to temptation. They encountered Satan's agents who urged subtle heresies and dangerous deceptions on them. But their education from childhood prepared them for this.LF 33.3

In the schools where they went they were not to confide in anyone. Their clothes were designed specifically to conceal their greatest treasure—the Scriptures. Whenever they could they cautiously placed some Scripture portion where those who seemed open to receive truth would find it. In this way they won converts to the true faith in these institutions of learning, and frequently its principles spread throughout the entire school. Yet the papal leaders could not trace the so-called corrupting “heresy” to its source.LF 33.4