Baptist History, Heritage & Distinctives – The Waldenses – People of the Book – Baptist Peculiarity Two Continued – Part 4

Thomas E Kresal Admin · 2 hrs February 19, 2020

Baptist History, Heritage & Distinctives – The Waldenses – People of the Book – Baptist Peculiarity Two Continued – Part 4

Once more: We introduce the testimony of a minister who had been pastor of one of the “Waldenses churches for forty years; his name is Vignaux. He says of the Waldenses: “That the Holy Scriptures contain all that is necessary to our salvation, and that we are called to believe only what they teach, without any regard to the authority of man; that nothing else ought to be received by us except what God hath commanded.” (Jones Church History, p. 264) And it is an interesting fact, that the ancient Waldenses were mighty in the Scriptures; they surpassed all others in Bible knowledge.

Mr. Jones quotes Thuanus, an eminent Catholic historian, as making the following admission concerning the Waldenses: “They can all read and write. They know French sufficiently for the understanding of the Bible and the singing of psalms. You can scarcely find a boy among them who can not give you an intelligent account of the faith which they profess.’^ Contrasting the Waldenses with Luther, Calvin, and others, Jones remarks that: “The reformers, with all their zeal and learning, were babes in spiritual knowledge when compared with the more illiterate Waldenses, particularly in regard to the nature of the kingdom of Christ and its institutions, laws, and worship in general.” (Jones Church History, p. 251)

Many other testimonies could be introduced, showing that the Waldenses not only professed to regard the Bible as their standard, but they were eminently a Bible people in point of knowledge. We regard the point fully established in history that the Waldenses possessed the Baptist peculiarity of holding the Bible alone as their rule of action in matters of religion, and therefore, in this respect, they were Baptists.

Peculiarity Two will be Continued Tomorrow

Presented by Thomas E. Kresal from: “Baptist Succession” by D.B. Ray, 1871 Edition, pg. 351-52