eing themselves exposed to the wrath of God, afflicting soul
and body, yet finding no relief. Thus conscientious souls were bound by
the doctrines of Rome. Thousands abandoned friends and kindred, and spent
their lives in convent cells. By oft-repeated fasts and cruel scourgings,
by midnight vigils, by prostration for weary hours upon the cold, damp
stones of their dreary abode, by long pilgrimages, by humiliating penance
and fearful torture, thousands vainly sought to obtain peace of
conscience. Oppressed with a sense of sin, and haunted with the fear of
God's avenging wrath, many suffered on, until exhausted nature gave way,
and without one ray of light or hope, they sank into the tomb.

The Waldenses longed to break to these starving souls the bread of life,
to open to them the messages of peace in the promises of God, and to point
them to Christ as their only hope of salvation. The doctrine that good
works can atone for the transgression of God's law, they held to be based
upon falsehood. Reliance upon human merit intercepts the view of Christ's
infinite love. Jesus died as a sacrifice for man because the fallen race
can do nothing to recommend themselves to God. The merits of a crucified
and risen Saviour are the foundation of the Christian's faith. The
dependence of the soul upon Christ is as real, and its connection with Him
must be as close, as that of a limb to the body, or of a branch to the
vine.

The teachings of popes and priests had led men to look upon the character
of God, and even of Christ, as stern, gloomy, and forbidding. The Saviour
was represented as so far devoid of sympathy with man in his fallen state
that the mediation of priests and saints must be invoked. Those whose
minds had been enlightened by the word of God longed to point these souls
to Jesus as their compassionate, loving Saviour, standing with
outstretched arms, inviting all to come to Him with their burden of sin,
their care and weariness. They longed to clear away the obstructions which
Satan had piled up that men might not see the promises, and come directly
to God, confessing their sins, and obtaining pardon and peace.

Eagerly did the Vaudois missionary unfold to the inquiring mind the
precious truths of the gospel. Cautiously he produced the carefully
written portions of the Holy Scriptures. It was his greatest joy to give
hope to the conscientious, sin-stricken soul, who could see only a God of
vengeance, waiting to execute ju