Page 41 - 04 The Waldenses

shut in by mighty forests and pinnacles of

rock.

No charge could be brought against the moral

character of this proscribed class. Even their

enemies declared them to be a peaceable,

quiet, pious people. Their grand offense was

that they would not worship God according

to the will of the pope. For this crime every

humiliation, insult, and torture that men or

devils could invent was heaped upon them.

When Rome at one time determined to

exterminate the hated sect, a bull was issued

by the pope, condemning them as heretics,

and delivering them to slaughter. (See

Appendix.) They were not accused as idlers,

or dishonest, or disorderly; but it was

declared that they had an appearance of piety

and sanctity that seduced “the sheep of the

true fold.” Therefore the pope ordered “that