rch, and with them the true worshipers
also were driven out; and nothing remained in the public view except the
great company of profane idolaters already referred to. The same is
referred to in a subsequent chapter as the flight of the true church
into the wilderness, where, hidden from sight, she had a place prepared
of God for twelve hundred and sixty days. So after all, God had a true
church during the Dark Ages--a people that stood in opposition to the
abounding corruption and iniquity of the church of Rome; a people that
rejected the established hierarchy and gave heed to the Word and Spirit
of God. But their numbers were so few, comparatively, that the
operations of the two witnesses were greatly limited; hence they are
represented as being clothed in sackcloth, a symbol of melancholy and
mourning.

Among those who opposed the teachings of that apostate church were the
Cathari, Poor Men of Lyons, Lombards, Albigenses, Waldenses, Vaudois,
etc. The name Waldenses and Albigenses have frequently been loosely
applied to all the bands of people that passed under various titles in
different countries and that opposed the doctrines and ecclesiastical
tyranny of Rome. Speaking of the twelfth century, Bowling says: "There
existed at that dark period, when 'all the world wondered after the
beast,' a numerous body of the disciples of Christ, who took the New
Testament for their guidance and direction in all the affairs of
religion, rejecting the doctrines and commandments of men. Their appeal
was from the decisions of councils, and the authority of popes,
cardinals, and prelates, to the law and the testimony--the words of
Christ and his holy apostles." History of Romanism, p. 272. Egbert, a
monkish writer of that age, speaking of them, says that he had often
disputed with these heretics, "a sort of people," he adds, "who are very
pernicious to the Catholic faith, which, like moths, they corrupt and
destroy. They are armed," says he, "_with the words of Scripture_ which
in any way seem to favor their sentiments, and with these they know how
to defend their errors, and to oppose the Catholic truth. They are
increased to great multitudes throughout all countries, to the great
danger of the church [of Rome]."

For lack of space, an extensive history of these interesting people can
not be given; but a few references to them by their most inveterate
enemies, the Papists themselves, are of such importance that I can not
pass them