Although Rome has obliterated the records and calumniated the character of these Christian folk (and many other genuine Christian sects as well) by lies, falsification and/or destruction of documents and historical records, many earlier historians such as J. Leger, Comba, and Nolan have reached the same conclusions as Gilly and Allix. The immediate question before us is: how could the lineal predecessors of the Waldenses have had such a pure Biblical doctrine1 so unlike the Romish church to pass down to the Vaudois as mentioned in the preceding quote from Gilly? Obviously the pre-Waldensian Christians of northern Italy could not have held doctrines purer than Rome unless the text of their Bible was purer than that of Rome; that is, theirs was not produced from Rome's corrupted manuscripts.2
THE ORIGINAL TEXT PRESERVED HISTORICALLY THROUGH THE TRUE CHURCH
Constantine's Hexapla based version was met by God through a powerful chain of churches, few in number compared with the manifold congregations of an apostate Christendom but, enriched by the presence of the Holy Scriptures and able scholars, it stretched from Palestine to Scotland.3 Rome was thus not only unable to obliterate in her own land the testimony of the Apostolic Scriptures but even far less so in the Greek speaking world of the hostile East.
The Greek version of the Bible adopted by Constantine (taken from Origen's Hexapla and his edited N.T. by Eusebius) was produced at a time when Bibles were scarce due to the fury against the Christians and their "book" by the Roman Emperor Diocletian (reigned 284-305 A.D.). Strangely, at a time when imperial favor meant so much, the version disappeared from popular use in only one generation as if it had been "struck by some invisible and withering blast."4 Why did this happen?
The Textus Receptus or Greek Vulgate (i.e., commonly used or current) had been the Bible of the Greek Empire, the countries of Syrian Christianity, northern Italy, Southern France and the British Isles in the second century. This was more than a full century before Vaticanus and Sinaiticus came to see the light of day under the direction of Eusebius and Pamphilus. When the Roman Church began to send out missionaries in later centuries, they found these people already using the Textus Receptus.5
Moreover, the Textus Receptus was the Bible of early Eastern Christianity, subsequently being adopted as the official text of the Greek Orthodox Church. Hort himself conceded this.6 We also have the witness of the great Syrian Church, the Waldensian Church of northern Italy, the Gallic Church in France, and the Celtic Church in Scotland and Ireland as to the authenticity and apostolicity of the Received Text.7 The ancient records of the first believers in Christ Jesus in these lands unmistakably reveal that they were first penetrated by missionaries from Palestine and Asia
1 McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1867), Vol. X, p. 855 ("Waldenses"). Among theses doctrines are: that the Holy Scriptures are the only sources of faith and religion without regard to the authority of the fathers or tradition; rejection of all the external rites of the Roman church (i.e.: images, crosses, pilgrimages, worship of holy relics, etc.) except the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's supper; rejection of the papal doctrine of purgatory and masses or prayers for the dead; rejection of indulgences and confession of sin to a priest for forgiveness; denial of transubstantiation in the communion; rejection of the notion that the pope has any God-given authority over other churches; and that the marriage of the clergy is lawful and necessary, etc.
2 Comba, History of The Waldenses of Italy, op. cit., p. 188.
3 Wilkinson, Our Authorized Bible Vindicated, op. cit., p. 41. Wilkinson is once again the primary source under this heading.
4 Ibid., p. 23.
5 Ibid.
6 Westcott and Hort, Introduction, op. cit., p. 143.
7 Wilkinson, Our Authorized Bible Vindicated, op. cit., p. 24.
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