The Vaudois of Piedmont: A Visit to Their ValleysWorsfold, J. N. (John Napper)
History
The Vaudois of Piedmont: A Visit to Their Valleys
Worsfold, J. N. (John Napper)
Waldenses
But whilst I desire to evoke the sympathy of English-speaking Christians
everywhere on behalf of the Italian mission-work of the Waldensian Church,
my chief object in sending out this little volume has been to call
attention to some wants of the Vaudois in their own home-field. It is
delightful to an English visitor to those valleys to recount the long lines
of deserved connection between his own country and this Goshen of the
Alps--a line reaching from the days of our first Charles, strengthening
visibly during the time of Cromwell, revived under William and Mary, and
Ann, continuing still through the time of the Georges; though suspended for
awhile by the interference of European warfare, yet again rekindled by the
energy and eloquence of Gilly, expanded and deepened by the devotedness of
Beckwith, and other benefactors following in his train too numerous for us
to register, but not one of them ignored or forgotten by the grateful
valley-men benefitted by their Christian kindness. Apart from the
institutions to which I have already adverted, there is another which meets
the eye of the visitor at La Torre, as he turns up the Val Angrogna. This
is the Vaudois Orphan Asylum and Industrial School, established by the
British Ladies' Association, the secretary of which is Miss Hathaway,
Cheltenham. As the title indicates, the orphans are taught useful
industries, such as straw-hat plaiting, lace and needle-work. Articles thus
made are disposed of for the benefit of the institution, which provides a
home for sixty children. Very great was the need of such a place in the
valleys, and deeply encouraging have been the fruits of this work of faith
and labour of love. Not to extend my little book too far beyond its
original design, viz., that of a "handy-book on the valleys brought down to
date," I can only add that it seems to me that the chief wants of the
church in her own valleys are--first, a better sustenance for her pastors;
the very circumstance that those pastors are now expected to take their
places side by side with the foremost men of other churches in the
Continent of Europe for the defence and spread of God's truth justifies
this plea, if it were otherwise weak, which it is not.
Secondly, help in the restoration of her ancient sanctuaries, and one or
two additional ones. One thing that struck me as a painful void was, the
absence of any public monument of the past events of the wonderful history
of the Vaudois. It is true, in one sense, that the whole place is a museum
of relics; that every rock has some thrilling tale, every mountain slope
and hill-side graven upon it the memory of saints and martyrs. Yet I
confess that those who do remember what has passed, and that those who wish
that generations yet to come may know the history of these valleys, may
well desire that some external tokens stood out to impress the passer-by
with suitable emotion. I had this feeling most strongly as I reached the
Shiloh of the valleys--the Pra del Tor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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