History of the Waldenses

OF THE

MAP OF THE WALDENSIAN VALLEYS.
HISTORY
OF THE
WALDENSES.
BY THE Rev. J. A. WYLIE, LL.D. ,
AUTHOR OF “THE PAPACY,” “DAYBREAK IN SPAIN,” ETC.
Illustrated.
Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co. LONDON, PARIS & NEW YORK .
This work—​which is a reprint of the Sixteenth Book of the History of Protestantism—​is exclusively occupied with the subject of the Waldenses. It describes succinctly the conflicts they waged and the martyrdoms they endured in defence of their faith and their liberty, and is published in the present form to meet the requirements of those who take a special interest in this remarkable people.
Recent events in Europe have brought the Waldenses into prominence, and thrown a new light upon the grandeur of their struggle and the important and enduring issues which have flowed from it. To them, in a very particular manner, are we to trace the constitutional liberties which Italy at this hour enjoys. In the eventful year of 1848, when a new constitution was being framed for Piedmont, the Waldenses made it plain to the Government that there would not be standing-room for them within the lines of that constitution, unless it embraced the great principle of freedom of conscience. For that principle they had contended during five hundred years, and nothing short of it could they accept as a basis of national settlement, persuaded that any other guarantee of their liberties would be illusory. Their demand was conceded: the principle of freedom of conscience—​the root of all liberty—​was embodied in the new constitution, and thus the whole inhabitants of Piedmont shared equally with the Waldenses in a boon which the struggles of the latter had been mainly instrumental in securing.