The Preaching Tours and Missionary Labours of George Müller (of Bristol)Müller, Susannah Grace Sanger
Religion
The Preaching Tours and Missionary Labours of George Müller (of Bristol)
Müller, Susannah Grace Sanger
Müller, George, 1805-1898
On May 31st, we left Milan for Turin; and after Mr. Müller had conducted
three services in that city, on Tuesday, June 3rd, set off for an
excursion through the Waldensian Valleys, which contain a Protestant
population of about 26,000, whereas Turin has only between 800 and 900
_Protestant_ inhabitants. The journey from Turin to Pignerola was
performed by rail; but at the latter place we took an open carriage, and
drove to Villa Sèche, a village inhabited principally by Protestants.
During the drive, we passed several mountain torrents, saw the distant
Alps, and drove for miles close to the river Chison, which was rushing
over its rocky bed with a loud noise, down a steep incline into the
Valley. The whole of this district is extremely interesting, because for
hundreds of years it has been inhabited by the Waldenses, who, in the
16th and 17th centuries, on account of their faithfulness to Christ,
were cruelly persecuted by the Papists; and, as their attachment to the
reformed faith brought many sufferings upon them, they were compelled to
flee from their beloved homes to any hiding place that afforded them a
refuge. The two principal Waldensian Valleys are St. Martin and Luzerne,
which contain 15 parishes; but the houses in them are scattered, and
being at a great distance from each other, the members of the little
Churches are obliged to walk many miles in order to attend the meetings.
These Waldensian Christians are generally very poor, and many of them
live in houses roofed with rough, flat stones loosely put together,
instead of slates or tiles. In the windows, too, of a few of their
abodes, paper occupied the place of glass. At Pomaret some of the people
were standing at their doors to gaze at us, because our visit was
expected; and as we drove along "Monsieur le pasteur Georges Müller" had
many respectful bows and salutations. At five o'clock we reached the
house of the pastor at Villa Sèche, and in the evening accompanied him
to his Church, a very ancient Vaudois place of worship, situated at a
great height upon a mountain, many hundreds of feet above his
residence. A steep, rugged, winding pathway, covered in places with
loose stones, led up this mountain towards the Church; and as some
rivulets streamed over the ascent, it was difficult to avoid getting
ankle-deep in water. The silence and solitude of the whole region, too,
were striking. At length, warm, tired, and almost breathless, we reached
the Church, a large, old-fashioned building, which was crowded with a
rustic congregation, who (the meeting having been announced for 5
o'clock, though circumstances did not allow of our getting there till 7)
had been sitting there two hours, patiently waiting our arrival. The
service, which was in French, was opened with singing and prayer, after
which Mr. Müller addressed the audience for an hour, throwing himself
heart and soul into their circumstances. At the close of the meeting we
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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