And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. Hebrews 11:36-40
I hope and pray everyone is doing well. It has been on my heart lately, to try and post some of our Baptist History on this blog. There seems to be so much that can be forgotten about our brothers and sisters in the faith, who have gone on before us. I will try to put up little stories when I have the opportunity, of those who have suffered and ultimatley gave their lives for the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ. Below you will find one such story. Please take some time and read about those who fought the good fight to the end.
A.D. 1229 Persecutions in the south of
France drove the Waldenses into various countries early in the thirteenth century, and in 1229, they had spread themselves in great numbers throughout
Italy.
Mr. Orchard tells us that in the year 1233, an innumerable multitude of Waldenses were burned alive in
Germany.*
Persecutions, like a hot blasting wind, now swept over the entire Christian world, and all the Waldenses suffered a common fate, without regard to age, sex, or station.
I quote from Jones’ Church History as follows: “About the year 1400, a violent outrage was committed upon the Waldenses inhabiting the
valley of
Pragella, in
Piedmont, by a Catholic party residing in the neighborhood.
The attack, which seems to have been of the most furious kind, was made towards the end of December, when the mountains were covered with snow, and thereby rendered so difficult of access, that the peaceable inhabitants of these valleys were wholly unapprised that any such attempt was meditated, and the persecutors were in actual possession of their caves ere the owners seem to have been apprized of any hostile design against them. In this pitable strait, they had resource to the only alternative which remained for saving their lives—they fled, though at that inauspicious season of the year, to one of the highest mountains of the Alps, with their wives and children; the unhappy mothers carrying the cradle in one hand, and in the other, leading such of the offspring as were able to walk. Their inhuman invaders pursued them in their flight, until darkness obscured the objects of their fury. Many were slain before they could reach the mountains. Overtaken by the shades of night, these afflicted outcasts wandered up and down the mountains covered with snow; destitute of the means of shelter from the inclemency of the weather, or of supporting themselves under it, by any of the comforts which Providence has destined for that purpose; benumbed with cold, some fell asleep, and became an easy prey to the severity of the climate; and when the night had passed away there were found in their cradles, or lying upon the snow, fourscore of their infants, deprived of life, many of the mothers also lying dead by their sides, and others just at the point of expiring.
During the night their enemies were busily employed plundering their houses of everything that was valuable, which they conveyed away to
Susa. A poor woman belonging to the Waldenses, named Margaret Athode, was next morning found hanging to a tree.” *
*Orchards Baptist History
This was taken from the book: A Compendium of Baptist History by J. A. Shackelford
