Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1868-03-06
THE WALDENsEs, :.
By REV. THOMAS LAURIE, Did.

- .
The Waldenses have always boon
regarded with peculiar interest by
Protestants. Centuries Of cruel op-
preston have made them tho objects
Of our tcnderest sympathy, and now
that this passed, they arc not less in-
teresting ON account Of their free
activity to-day.
In many things they bear striking
resemblance TO tho mountain Ncsto-
rians. L.ko them tLoy havc been
sent up for ages in the rcccsscs of i'm
plssible mountains, for though the
lower valleys Of the Cottain Alps arc
moro fertile than those of Tairy and
Tehoma; tho higher gleas will chal-
lenge competition with the widest
and most savage among Tho peaks of
Jclu: Like them, too, they were dri-
ven into their mountain prison By
riorci loss and protracted pcrse culion.
The Papal church did for tho one
what Tamerlano and Lis successors
did for the other. Their numbers,
also arc nearly tho samo, each being
Estimated at not far from twenty
thousand. Their houses, too, greatly
resemble each other. Built Of rough
stones they are long ard low, gcncr-
ally two stories on ono sido and one
on the other, owing TO tho s'oring
surface on Which they stand. The
furniture in both cases is Of tho ru-
deet description, and the rough..ear,h-
Gu floors render rcatnsss-to say the
least-cxceedi"gly difficult. Even
the custom Of shetoring men ard
cattle under the same roof, is found in
the higher valleys here as we'll rs in
Kardietan.
Formerly, they were not allowed to
purchase property outside of their
own valleys, which continually be-
came less able to c"1por! :.,c incrcas-
ing p"pulat.c". NV tho same po-
!:ncal changes tl.at have opened Italy
TO their missionary labors, have dc
livered then f ON oprre,si ms Of
which this restriction 10 oAly an IL
lustrution.
During the struggle for Italian
liberty they showed tho same loyalty
for which their ancestors were so dis
tinguished during the hottest pcrsc
eution. From their twenty two thou
sand went forth moro than q thou
sand soldiers, and as these were not
organized into companies by them
selves, and their character, both as
intelligence and good conduct, was
much superior to that Of their Papal
c"mratriots, very largo proportion
Of 1h9m were promoted from the
ranks. One third Of those who went
from La Tour received this testimon
Of their good behavior, and eomc OF
the lay delegates to the last annual
Synod worn the uniform of commits
STONED officers
Evory village has its school, the
teachers seem well qualified for their
work, and the printed registers ap-
pear to be Italian translations Of our
common school registers in Massa-
chusetts: 1t sounded homelike to
hear tho children sing con amore sucl,
auch hymns as "Io sono un< agnollno,
Trovato dei' Pastorc.:" q was wan
dcring sheep, and so forth,) to the
tuncof ~ want to bc an angel" and
to hsee them answer questions about
scripture history anl doctrine, as
promptly and intrl'issRtly a. tho Chill
dren of our own best sabbath schools
Formerly they were dependent or
Switzerland for tho education Of Their
clergy. Somo Of their ordained min
i.ters to day received their education
IN Edlnburs, Scotland, but now they
tavo q good Latin schooi-in Pomare9
a college, and normal school at l.;
Tonr, and theological, seminary al
Florence. In, the libraries Of thes
last institutions are a good proportion
of: English books with professors VIII
know how to use them, fof sevcra
several of the professors bo,lr Mt Il
Tour and at Florence, speDk- Englis
with great fuency and 2correctnet
Besides tho college at La. Tour is
worry Furnishing Female seminary
which attracts some students eve
from England. There are also .seyc,
al sabbath schools in different part
of-the parish; ono very iiteres,in
one under the care of Prof b. sTror
numbers $50 pupils. In addition t
those iastitutions for education at L
Tour, there is also hospital and OF
phan asylum, under the eare Of iadi;
whose spirit and IN etAods ope Of Mi
Lysn- and q. her 'coadjqtofssat soul
llallcy. .ssa,-- =: -; - -. -.
Thelapguage ofthe ,ysdssnsss IS
great hindrance to their progress {;
while the inhabitants t1se i rudepato
among thomsefves their. religious &c
vicos are conducted in sEronch. or
their mis- .ionary, ,iabors in Italv i, I,