Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1847-02-18
6tstorttQI.
Dr. Cheever's Letters on the Weaknesses

Dr. CheeyeF'S Letters on the Weaknesses
THEIR NAME, LOCALITY, RELIGION, AND SCENERY
Christian mind always takes great delight
in studying the providence of God in reference
to his church. But great part of ecclesiasti.
cal history, so called, is occupied in tracing the
synagogue and church of Satan Ecclesiastical
history, for more than thousand years, is al.
most KY occupied ''''t' ~ r~,~'-r -7' ~n'ic,
of the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition while
the history of the church of Christ is written in
fire and blood, at the stake and with the sword
or lies open only to the eye of the Great Shep
herd of Israel, who has followed his little flock
on mountains, in deserts, in wildernesses, in dens
and caves of the earth, in sheep skins and goat
skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented
Now, there is no portion of this little flock
the history of which can be pursued back into
antiquity so far and so distinctly as that of the
Waldenses nor any in regard to which the prov
licences of God are so great, so remarkable, SC
conspicuous 1t is both instructive and inter
estng to bring those providences out into the
light, to see in them the fuIfment of the divine
promises, and to ask, What does God intend tC
do with flock so miracuously guarded and pre-
served, perpetualy prosecuted yet not exterml
mated, wasted but not destroyed, cast down but
not in despair, and having so many seals by which
the Lord knoweth them that are his, and by which
even the world may know that he is keeping
them? They are the bush burning but not con
sumed. Does not God mean still to keep il
burning, but still unconsumed, and by it to kin
die great light in the darkness?
1t is one of the most astonishing things in the
world, that directly at the doors of the Romisl
Court, beneath the reverberating thunders of the
Vatican there has always existed an unconquer
ed community of Protestant Christians. They
are dwelIcrs of the lips; the light of the gospe
has never gone out amongst them, and, from
time mmemoriaI, the inhabitants of one of the
valleys have borne on their coat of arms the
emblem of a torch surrounded with darkness
with the Latin inscription, Luz Mcci in tenbri.
Tile light shincth in darkness. The name o
the valley itself, Lacerne, originated from h
fact. This people are the Waldenses
This appellation of Waldenses is taken from
their locality to the valleys, and signifies valley
men, from the Latin ratfs or the Italian valh
whence the word Valenses in Latin, and Val
lesi or Vadesi in Italian, inhabitants of the val
legs The term Vaudos in French signGe
the same thing and this is the term by whic
the Waldenses signify their own church, or tn
Church of the Vaudols, a name entirely disnc
from that of Canton de Vaud in Switzerland
The old historian l.egcr, the learned Bcza, Be
mard of FontecaUd, Ebrardus de Bethune, ia
Der, Gilly, Henderson, and others, have demon
strated this to be the origin Of the name, an
not Waldo, as has sometimes, by great mis-
take, been asserted Ebrardus de Bethune, VIII
wrote against the Wadenses, says that they ca
themselves Vallenses, because they dwell in tn
Valley of tears. Bernard said that they wei
called VaIdcnses, from deep valley, Ia rai
dcnSa,) because of the dense errors in whc
they were involved. Leger, Beza, and other
have derived the name of Waldo himself or Va
do, from the Waldenses, as given him, becaus
he received his own doctrines from them. I'll
term Waldenses is now used exclusively of II
inhabitants of the valley of Piedmont Fabe
in his admirable work on the ancient Vapns
and the Albigenses, restricts himself to the ter
Vallenses
The mountains inhabited by this extraordm
ny people, are called the Cottan Alps, a nan
which begins with liberty, as lucerne does wi
light; for when the great warrior Of the Rom,
world conquered all other chiefs Of Cisalpil
Gaul, Cottlus, defended by rugged and inacce
sibe deies of those mountains, babe deGan
to Caesar and his legions, and reigned as Kin
:. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem,
> the Lord is about his people; and these same
10 files have constituted, in all ages, a fortress
h living truth, which all the power of Rome h
% never been able to subdue.
W This region is one of great magn6cence a
N beauty. 1t comprehends on the SUBMITS of
lie mountains some of the grandest points of lar
3h scape scenery in all Europe In this range
tn Cottian Alps, from Mount Viso on the south
he Mount Gems on the north, there are three +
ne ers, the Pc, the PeIice, and the CIusone.
y, Shortly alter quitting lie mountsias, the Pei
I'd runs into the Ciusone, and the Clusone into
ty Pc, which then waters the very rich and bea,
e. full plains of which the charming city of Tu
of is the capital, 1t is along these two tributar
a of the Pc that the valleys lie, which from ii
wv mmemoria have been the dwelling place Of
pt Wadenses. On the Pelice lies the valley
eir Lucerne on the Clusone lies that of Peror
he with that of ST Martin and on the Augrogni
VI" torrent which runs into the Pelice, lies the
de ley Of Augrogna The valley of Lucerne
of about twenty miles in length, that OF Pero
in is about fifteen. and that Of st. Martin alb