The Waldenes were among the first of the people of Europe to obtain a translation of the Holy Scriptures. Hundreds of years before the Reformation they possessed the Bible in manuscript in their native tongue. Here the light of truth was kept burning amid the darkness of the Middle Ages. Here, for a thousand years, witnesses for the truth maintained the ancient faith.

Contents Translator's Note Preface Part I An Unexpected Letter Memories Paula Arrives Paula's Treasures Louis' Watch In the Midst of Darkness Catalina's Illness The Five-Franc Piece A Little Glimpse of Heaven In the Country The Cat Mother A Treasure Restored The School Teacher and Her Brother Part II Some Years Later The Breton Saved! The Young Schoolmistress The Night School The House of God In His Presence Preface I hope and trust that the young people who read this book will have as much joy in the reading of it as I have had in its writing. Paula's Savior wishes to be your Savior, too. Paula was by no means perfect, but she did love God with all her heart and her neighbor as herself. This simple country girl, young and strong, yet so tender-hearted and forgetful of self, appears to me sometimes like one of the clear brooks of my beloved land-pure and fresh, slipping noiselessly between flowered banks of forget-me-nots. It was by love that she "conquered"-as we shall see! If some day you should come to my country, do not forget that I would have great joy in seeing any of those who have read this book. I live in the little town of Villar at the bottom of the valley, where on every side there are hills and mountains as far as the eye can reach. To me it is the loveliest country in the world and I am sure that Paula thought so too. And so goodbye, dear young reader! I must not keep you any longer, for I am sure you have a great desire to know about Paula; and anyway, I suppose you will have done what I would have done at your age, namely, read the story first, and left my poor preface to the last-for which I have already pardoned you! And now, may God bless you, Paula dear, as you walk among these my young friends who read about you! My prayer is that you may shed over them the same sweet ray of celestial light that you have already shed over others. Eva Lecomte Villar-Pellice, France.

The Poor of Lyons, whom their detractors called 'Waldensians' - after the name of their founder Waldo (or Vaudès) - first emerged around 1170 and formed in common with other groups of the period a sect which embraced evangelism, prophecy and poverty. By challenging their prohibition by the lay clergy, and by following the Scripture to the last letter, they suffered excommunication and were condemned as heretics. Forced underground and dispersed widely, they nevertheless managed to maintain contact across Europe, through an established network of itinerant preachers, in Provence and Dauphiné, Calabria and Piedmont, Austria and Bohemia, Pomerania, Brandenburg, Silesia and beyond. The Poor of Lyons constituted the only medieval heresy to have survived to the dawn of the so-called 'modern' period. Their tale of simple devotion mixed with a fierce tenacity serves to illuminate aspects of religious belief that have persisted to the present day. This book was first published in 1999.

Several hundred years after the apostle John wrote of a beautiful woman facing a fierce dragon in the last book of the Bible, the Waldenses fled from before Satan and his followers to find a refuge in the wilderness. Here is the story of the true church of Jesus, branded as heretics and pursued relentlessly in a Holy War to extinguish by intrigue, lies, betrayal and persecution, those keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

A much neglected field of study has been opened by the research of the author into the history of the Christian church from its apostolic origins to the close of the eighteenth century. Taking as his thesis the prominence given to the Church in the Wilderness in Bible prophecy, and the fact that “‘the Church in the Wilderness,’ and not the proud hierarchy enthroned in the world’s great capital, was the true church of Christ,” he has spent years developing this subject. In its present form, Truth Triumphant represents much arduous research in the libraries of Europe as well as in America. Excellent ancient sources are most difficult to obtain, but the author has been successful in gaining access to many of them. To crystallize the subject matter and make the historical facts live in modem times, the author also made extensive travels throughout Europe and Asia. The doctrines of the primitive Christian church spread to Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. As grains of a mustard seed they lodged in the hearts of many Godly souls in southern France and northern Italy — people known as the Albigenses and the Waldenses. The faith of Jesus was valiantly upheld by the Church of the East. This term, as used by the author, not only includes the Syrian and Assyrian Churches, but is also the term applied to the development of apostolic Christianity throughout the lands of the East. The spirit of Christ, burning in the hearts of loyal men who would not compromise with paganism, sent them forth as missionaries to lands afar. Patrick, Columbanus, Marcos, and a host of others were missionaries to distant lands. They braved the ignorance of the barbarian, the intolerance of the apostate church leaders, and the persecution of the state in order that they might win souls to God. To unfold the dangers that were ever present in the conflict of the true church against error, to reveal the sinister working of evil and the divine strength by which men of God made truth triumphant, to challenge the Remnant Church today in its final controversy against the powers of evil, and to show the holy, unchanging message of the Bible as it has been preserved for t hose who will “fear God, and keep His commandments” — these are the sincere aims of the author as he presents this book to those who know the truth. MERLIN L. NEFF.