A Brief Sketch of the Ancient Waldenses

The leading part of the notes (following) are extracts from the confessions of faith and other writings of the Waldenses, taken from Jones' church history. The first and second of these, appear to have been published about the year 1120 A. D., and the third in 1544 A. D.

"The Waldenses," says a late historian, "are, by all parties of protestants, considered to have been witnesses for the truth, through all the dark reign of superstition and error." And the Waldensian heresy, was, by the catholics, counted the oldest in the world, and the most formidable to the church of Rome. The papists accused the protestants of being a new sect; whose principles had no existence until the days of Luther. There was no alternative but to find a by-path through the land of the Waldenses. This circumstance induced many learned men of different communities, to investigate the history of this people, with more care and attention than it is any way likely they would otherwise have done. These researches have furnished us with important evidence, and it now appears plain, "that of all parties, the Baptists, have the best claim to the ancient Waldenses as their predecessors, as will be seen by the following extracts.

Luther, in 1533, published the confessions of the Waldenses, to which he wrote a preface. In this preface, he candidly acknowledges that "in the days of his popery, he hated the Waldenses, as persons who were consigned over to perdition. But having understood from their confessions and writings, the piety of their faith, he perceived that these good men had been greatly wronged. He adds "that among them, he found one thing worthy of admiration; that laying aside the doctrines of men, they meditated in the law of God, day and night - that they were well versed in the knowledge of the scriptures, and having read their confessions, he returned thanks to God, for the great light it had pleased him to bestow upon that people."

Theodore Beza says, "as for the Waldenses, I may be permitted to call them the very seed of the primitive and purer church. Time out of mind, they have opposed the abuses of the church of Rome. They still (1570) inhabit three countries at a great distance from each other, viz: Calabria, Bohemia, Piedmont, and the countries adjoining, where they dispersed themselves about two hundred and seventy years ago. As to their religion, they NEVER adhered to papal superstitions, for which reason they have been continually harassed by bishops and inquisitors, so that their continuance is evidently miraculous."

In 1530 Bullinger wrote as follows: "what shall we say, that for four hundred years and more in France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Bohemia and other countries throughout the world, the Waldenses, have sustained their profession of the gospel of Christ. In several of their writings as well as by continual preaching, they have accused the pope as the real Anti-Christ foretold by the Apostle John. They have constantly and openly given testimony to their faith by glorious martyrdoms, and still do so even to this day."

The great poet Milton, in a tract addressed to the British Parliament, says: "Those most ancient reformed churches, the Waldenses, if they continued not pure since the apostles' days, denied that tithes were to be given, or that they were ever given in the primitive church. Considering that the church of Christ was founded in poverty rather than revenues; stood purest, and prospered best without them, I persuade myself, that thence, the ancient Waldenses, whom I deservedly cite so often, held, that to endow churches is an evil thing."

Mosheim, speaking of Peter de Bruis, a celebrated Waldensian itinerant preacher, says: "It is certain, that one of his tenets was, that no persons whatever were to be baptized before they were come to the full use of their reason."

Dr. Wall, speaking of the Petrobrussians, whom he calls a sect of the Waldenses, says: "They did reckon infant baptism one of the corruptions of the church of Rome; and accordingly renounced it, and practiced only adult baptism."

Everninus says: "They do not believe infant baptism to be a duty, alleging that passage of the gospel, whosoever shall believe and be baptized shall be saved." Letter to St. Bernard, A. D. 1140.

Dr. Allix says: "Many of them were examined by Gerhard, bishop of Cambray and Arras, upon several heads, in the year A. D. 1025. Let things have been as they would, it is plain they were utterly against infant baptism."

"The true origin of that sect" says Mosheim, "which acquired the name of anabaptist, by their administering anew the rite of baptism to those who came over to their communion; and derived the name of Mennonites from the famous man to whom they owe the greatest part of their present felicity, is hid in the remote depths of antiquity. Before the rise of Luther and Calvin, there lay concealed in almost all the countries of Europe, persons who had adhered tenaciously to the principles of the modern Dutch Baptists."

"To speak candidly, what I think," says Limborch, "of all the modern sects of Christians, the Dutch Baptists, most resemble both the Albigenses and the Waldenses."

Dr. Charles Buck says: "There were Baptists among the Albigenses, Waldenses and the followers of Wickliffe." (Note: Wickliffe was born in Yorkshire, England, 1324. The reformation commenced by Luther, at Wittemburg, Saxony, in 1517.

A history of the Dutch Baptists was published at Breda, in 1819, by Dr. Ypeij (professor of Theology at Gronigen) and Rev. J. J. Dermot, (Chaplain to the King of the Netherlands), both learned pedobaptists, in which they say, "We have now seen that the Baptists, who were formerly called anabaptists, and in later times Mennonites, were the original Waldenses, and who long in the history of the church, have received the honor of that origin. On this account, the Baptists may be considered the only christian community that has stood since the days of the apostles; and as a christian society, which has preserved pure, the doctrine of the gospel through all the ages. At the same time it goes to confute the erroneous notion of the catholics, that their communion is the most ancient."

- Albert Moore, from the Introduction of "Ancient Landmarks; Being an Abridgement of the Century, or Philadelphia Confession of Faith," Nashville, 1848.

This is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last; He that was dead and is now alive for evermore.

If the Lord Jesus Christ is the one speaking here as the King James Bible and the Traditional Greek Texts read, then He is the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end, and He is Jehovah God Almighty.

Compare these titles to those Jehovah God gives us of Himself in the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah we read:

“Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts: I AM THE FIRST, AND I AM THE LAST; AND BESIDE ME THERE IS NO GOD.”
Isaiah 44:6

And in Isaiah 48:12 again we read:

“Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I AM THE FIRST, I ALSO AM THE LAST.”
Isaiah 44:12

In Revelation 1:8 the words “THE BEGINNING AND THE ENDING" are omitted by the new Vatican Versions including the RSV, NIV, NASB, ESV, ISV, Jehovah Witness New World Translation and Daniel Wallace’s NET versions.

They used to be in the Catholic Douay-Rheims of 1582 - "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end" and the Douay of 1950, but the more modern Catholic versions like the St. Joseph New American bible of 1970 and the New Jerusalem bible of 1985 omit these words by following the ever changing Critical (condition) texts of the United Bible Society/Nestle-Aland/Catholic/Evangelical Combine.

The latest Catholic Public Domain Version of 2009 has now put these words back into the text and it reads: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, THE BEGINNING AND THE END.", and so too has The Revised Douay-Rheims Bible 2012.

The words “the beginning and the ending” are found in several manuscripts like 205, 209, 1854, 2344, 2351, 2432, 2814 and are in the Old Latin copies ar, c, dem, div, gig, had, t, z the Latin Vulgate, Coptic Boharic and the Syriac Peshitta ancient versions.

The words “the beginning and the ending” were so quoted by Origen, Apringius, Andrew, Clement and Beatus.

Clement of Alexandria The Instructor Book I: Rightly, therefore, the Lord again promises milk to the righteous, that the Word may be clearly shown to be both, "the Alpha and Omega, beginning and end"

Lamsa's 1933 translation of the Syriac Peshitta reads in Revelation 1:8 - "I am Aleph and Tau, THE BEGINNING AND THE ENDING says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

There is no book of the Revelation in the Vaticanus manuscript, but the words were included in Sinaiticus original. Then they were removed, and then later on put back into the Sinaiticus mss. They are found in the Traditional Greek Text and in the modern Greek New Testament used by the Greek Orthodox churches all over the world today.

The Modern Greek Bible reads: "Εγω ειμαι το Α και το Ω, αρχη και τελος, λεγει ο Κυριος, ο ων και ο ην και ο ερχομενος, ο παντοκρατωρ."

And in the Modern Hebrew Bible - אני האלף ואני התו ראש וסוף נאם יהוה אלהים ההוה והיה ויבוא אלהי צבאות

The words: “THE BEGINNING AND THE ENDING" are included in Wycliffe 1395, Tyndale 1525, Coverdale 1535, the Great Bible 1540, Matthew’s Bible 1549 -”I am Alpha and Omega, the begynnynge and the endynge, sayeth the Lorde almyghty”, the Bishops’ Bible 1568, the Douay-Rheims 1582, the Geneva Bible 1587, the King James Bible 1611, the Beza New Testament 1599, the Bill Bible 1671, Mace’s New Testament 1729, Worsley Version 1770, Thomas Haweis N.T. 1795, the Clarke N.T. 1795, the Thomson Bible 1808, The Revised Translation 1815, Webster's translation 1833, the Morgan N.T. 1848, the Hewett N.T. 1850, The Commonly Received Version 1851, Julia Smith Translation 1855, The Revised N.T. 1862, The Smith Bible 1876, The Revised English Bible 1877, the Dillard N.T. 1885, Youngs 1898, The Living Bible 1971, the NKJV 1982, Green’s Literal 2005, the Third Millennium Bible of 1998 and the English Jubilee Bible 2010.

Other English Bibles that read: "I am Alpha and Omega, THE BEGINNING AND THE ENDING, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." are Interlinear Greek New Testament 1997 (Larry Pierce), the Lawrie Translation 1998, The Koster Scriptures 1998, the Worldwide English N.T. 1998, God's First Truth 1999, The Last Days Bible 1999, The Tomson N.T. 2002, The Apostolic Polyglot Bible 2003, The Evidence Bible 2003, The Resurrection Life New Testament 2005 (Vince Garcia), Bond Slave Version 2009, Hebraic Transliteration Scripture 2010, Holy Scriptures VW Edition 2010, Biblos Interlinear Bible 2011, The Work of God's Children Illustrated Bible 2011, The Orthodox Jewish Bible 2011, The Natural Israelite Bible 2012, The Voice 2012 (a Critical text version!), Interlinear Hebrew-Greek Scriptures 2012 (Mebust), Hebraic Roots Bible 2012, The Biblos Bible 2013 and the Modern English Version 2014.

Foreign Language Bibles

Among foreign language Bible they are found in the Afrikaans bible 1953 - "Ek is die Alfa en die Oméga, die begin en die einde, the Albanian Bible, the Dutch Staten Vertaling - “Ik ben de Alfa en de Omega, HET BEGIN EN HET EINDE”, the French le Bible de Geneve 1669, the French Martin 1744 and the French Ostervald 1998 - “Je suis l'Alpha et l'Oméga, LE COMMENCEMENT ET LA FIN,” Spanish Reina Valera of 1569, 1909, 1960 and 1995 - “Yo soy el Alpha y la Omega, PRINCIPIO Y FIN, dice el Señor, que es y que era y que ha de venir, el Todopoderoso.” Luther’s German Bible 1545 - “Ich bin das A und das O, der Anfang und das Ende, spricht der HERR”, the Italian Diodati of 1649 and the New Diodati of 1991 - “Io son l’Alfa, e l’Omega; IL PRINCIPE,E LA FINE”, the Portuguese Almeida Corrigida y Fiel version - “Eu sou o Alfa e o Ômega, O PRINCIPIO E O FIM, diz o Senhor”, the Polish Updated Gdansk Bible 2013 - "Ja jestem Alfa i Omega, początek i koniec" and the Tagalog Ang Salita ng Diyos 1998 - "Ako ang Alpha at Omega, ang simula at ang wakas."

the Modern Greek New Testament -"Εγω ειμαι το Α και το Ω, αρχη και τελος, λεγει ο Κυριος, ο ων και ο ην και ο ερχομενος, ο παντοκρατωρ."

Tertullian in Against Praxaes chapter 17 says:
Translated by Schaff:

Meanwhile, let this be my immediate answer to the argument which they adduce from the Revelation of John: I am the Lord which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty; [ Revelation 1:8 ] and from all other passages which in their opinion make the designation of Almighty God unsuitable to the Son. As if, indeed, He which is to come were not almighty; whereas even the Son of the Almighty is as much almighty as the Son of God is God.

Interestingly, this chapter is titled "Chapter XVII.—Sundry August Titles, Descriptive of Deity, Applied to the Son, Not, as Praxeas Would Have It, Only to the Father." One would think that if Tertullian was indicating that Jesus is God and has titles of deity, if "God" was there, he would certainly not overlook it.

Beatus of Liébana

Revelation 1:8 in Beatus of Liébana translated in 1915
Spanish theologian Beatus of Liébana (730 – 800), wrote a popular commentary on the book of Revelation titled, “Commentaria In Apocalypsin.” The date of Beatus’ readings may go as far back as 360 A. D. as Beautus relied on Tyconius' commentary on Revelation. It was hugely widespread in Europe and 31 manuscripts have survived. Considered together, the Beatus codices are among the most important Spanish medieval manuscripts and have been the subject of extensive scholarly and antiquarian enquiry. In the book "A new text of the Apocalypse from Spain. Extracted and translated from the Latin text of the Morgan ms. of the eighth century commentary of the Spanish presbyter Beatus, by E. S. Buchanan" which was translated in 1915, he has:

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

This is identical to how the King James Version translated this section.

Book of Armagh
Revelation 1:8 in the Book of Armagh. [3]. Revelation 1:8 in the Book of Armagh. [3]. Revelation 1:8 in the Printed Book of Armagh. [4]. Revelation 1:8 in the Printed Book of Armagh. [4]. The Latin Book of Armagh (Codex Ardmachanus, Liber Ardmachanus, Canon of Patrick) of 807 AD reads as does the Textus Receptus and King James Version: ego sum alfa et ω principium et finis.,.,., dicit dominus quiest et qui erat etuenit omnipotens ego (I) sum (am) alfa (Alpha) et (and) ω (Omega) principium (the beginning) et (and) finis (the ending) .,.,., dicit (saith) dominus (the Lord) quiest (which is) et (and) qui (which) erat (was) etuenit (and is to come) omnipotens (the Almighty) When translated, the reading is practically identical with the King James Version. The only difference being an omission "which" in the third part of the triadic declaration, which I am not sure is needed to convey the same meaning as the KJV.

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