earth, by the light of torches, the sacred Scriptures were written out,
verse by verse, chapter by chapter. Thus the work went on, the revealed
will of God shining out like pure gold; how much brighter, clearer, and
more powerful because of the trials undergone for its sake, only those
could realize who were engaged in the work. Angels from heaven surrounded
these faithful workers.

Satan had urged on the papal priests and prelates to bury the Word of
truth beneath the rubbish of error, heresy, and superstition; but in a
most wonderful manner it was preserved uncorrupted through all the ages of
darkness. It bore not the stamp of man, but the impress of God. Men have
been unwearied in their efforts to obscure the plain, simple meaning of
the Scriptures, and to make them contradict their own testimony; but like
the ark upon the billowy deep, the word of God outrides the storms that
threaten it with destruction. As the mine has rich veins of gold and
silver hidden beneath the surface, so that all must dig who would discover
its precious stores, so the Holy Scriptures have treasures of truth that
are revealed only to the earnest, humble, prayerful seeker. God designed
the Bible to be a lesson-book to all mankind, in childhood, youth, and
manhood, and to be studied through all time. He gave His word to men as a
revelation of Himself. Every new truth discerned is a fresh disclosure of
the character of its Author. The study of the Scriptures is the means
divinely ordained to bring men into closer connection with their Creator,
and to give them a clearer knowledge of His will. It is the medium of
communication between God and man.

While the Waldenses regarded the fear of the Lord as the beginning of
wisdom, they were not blind to the importance of a contact with the world,
a knowledge of men and of active life, in expanding the mind and
quickening the perceptions. From their schools in the mountains some of
the youth were sent to institutions of learning in the cities of France or
Italy, where was a more extended field for study, thought, and observation
than in their native Alps. The youth thus sent forth were exposed to
temptation, they witnessed vice, they encountered Satan's wily agents, who
urged upon them the most subtle heresies and the most dangerous
deceptions. But their education from childhood had been of a character to
prepare them for all this.

In the schools whither they went, they were not to make confidants