Confidence in the Spirit of Prophecy

Confidence in the Spirit of Prophecy

Dr.David Pennington

Since the spiritual gift of prophecy is proclaimed by Seventh-day Adventists to be manifest in the writings of Ellen White, it is reasonable to conclude that defending attacks against her writings is a legitimate role of the church, rather than the reverse. Despite good intentions, the recent widespread airing of supposed errors of history in her works have not increased confidence in the Spirit of Prophecy amongst lay people. One would hope that our scholars might have made a more robust defense of her integrity than seems to have occurred. More the pity, since good scholarship and in depth research reveals that most, if not all the criticisms being made have very poor foundations.

There are two particular areas of recent concern, where it is claimed that Ellen White wrote in error concerning the Waldenses and the Sabbath, and a claim of historical inaccuracy in the life of John Huss. The first of these concerns is addressed in Part One of this two-part article.

The Waldenses and the Sabbath

It is being claimed, and promulgated on the internet, that Mrs White’s reference in Great Controversy p. 65, “Through ages of darkness and apostasy there were Waldenses who denied the supremacy of Rome, who rejected image worship as idolatry, and who kept the true Sabbath.” is in error, because the internet author has read the official history 1 of the Waldenses, and he could find no reference to Sabbath-keeping.

If the extent of his research was only that, then the research is thin indeed. The Waldensian Church still exists, and its official history is the history of a Protestant, Sunday-keeping church which became an organised group under the leadership of Peter Valdes (Waldo) about 1173, ie well before the Reformation. It is no surprise that a Sunday-keeping church should not mention a reference in their past to Sabbath-keeping. The Roman church takes a similar stance. But there is great disagreement amongst scholars as to what is meant by the term “Waldenses”. The Catholic position is that it was the church formed under Peter Valdes, as they are not willing to admit that the loose group of non-conformist churches that existed for centuries before, going back at least to the time of Bishop Ambrose of Milan, were commonly known as Waldenses. This is well described by Wilkinson in his scholarly book “Truth Triumphant” (hereinafter abbreviated to TT)….2

“What connection is there between these facts and the early Waldenses? It is this: that while for centuries Christianity in Spain was one, yet when the encroachments by Rome on these primitive Christians in Spain began, the people of the Pyrenees separated themselves from the errors that crept in upon them. Robert Robinson writes that the people living in the valleys in different countries became known as the “valley dwellers,” or Vallenses. (p258) In fact, this author states his belief that the inhabitants of the Pyrenees were the true original Waldenses.[1] The original word is the Latin, vallis. From it came “valleys” in English, Valdesi in Italian, Vaudois in French, and Valdenses in Spanish.[2] Resolution 26 of the Council of Elvira having revealed that the early church of Spain kept the Sabbath, and history having proved that the Waldenses of north Spain existed at that time, these connections prove the keeping of the seventhday Sabbath by the early Waldenses in Spain. [1] Robinson, Ecclesiastical Researches, page 299.   [2] Ibid., page 302.” Truth Triumphant, Ch. XV

In fact, there is abundant evidence that this group of valley-dwelling Christians was widespread throughout southern Europe, spoke a common language, and worshipped on the seventh day at least six centuries before the time of Peter Valdes. They were known by several names, perhaps explaining some of the confusion about just who were the Waldenses. To officers of the Inquisition, they were often referred to as Leonists, after Vigilantius Leo, the fourth century Christian who is probably more deserving of the name of leader of the Waldenses than Peter Valdes. Vigilantius came from the Pyrenees, of southern France, where the term for valley-dwellers was “Valdenses” (the “V” pronounced as a “W”). He became firmly opposed to the idolatry and monasticism of the Roman church, and was driven into the Cottian Alps by persecution instituted by the Catholic theologian, Jerome and the pope of the day.

If we are looking for a history of the Waldenses to confirm their antiquity, what better than the testimony of an enemy, or that of a neutral, even an atheist, historian?

Seven centuries before the 1974 “official” history of the Waldenses, the following was written in 1250 AD by Reinerius Saccho, an officer of the Inquisition, charged with the extirpation of “heresy” by the Roman hierarchy. He was referring to the Leonists, one of the names given to the early Waldenses,

“First, because it is of longer duration; for some say that it hath endured from the time of Pope Sylvester; others from the time of the apostles” 3

This testimony is all the more believable because Reinerius Saccho was a former Waldensian pastor, who capitulated to Catholicism, and became a persecutor. He would have been well aware of the history of the group to which he previously belonged.

Another testimony which would be considered unbiased is given by the atheist French philosopher and revolutionary, Voltaire,

“Those who were called Manichaeans, and those who were afterward named Albigenses, Vaudois, Lollards, and who appeared so often under different names, were remnants of the first Gaulish Christians, who were attached to several ancient customs, which the Church of Rome thought proper to alter afterward.”  4

The reason for establishing the antiquity of the Waldenses is the fact that the earlier we go back in Christian history, the more likely do we find Sabbath-keeping to be the norm. For example, well after the Roman church had abandoned Sabbath for Constantine’s “venerable day of the sun”, the diocese of Milan in Northern Italy, the very area where the Waldenses were found, kept Sabbath, rather than Sunday. Their famous Bishop, Ambrose, coined the phrase “when in Rome, do as the Romans do”, by his compromising of Sunday for Sabbath when visiting Rome.

That the papacy has long attempted to limit the antiquity of the Waldenses to the group led by Peter Valdes is no secret,

“The most noted papal antagonist of the Waldenses who has endeavored to brand them as
originating at that date is Bishop Jacques Benigne Bossuet. Bossuet, the brilliant French papist, is reckoned by some to be one of the seven greatest orators of history. With almost undetectable shrewdness he analyzed every item of history which he thought might give the Waldenses an early origin, and then drew his false conclusions. Of him Mosheim says: ‘This writer certainly did not go to the sources, and being influenced by party
zeal, he was willing to make mistakes. – Mosheim, Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, b. 3, cent. 9, pt. 2, ch. 5, par. 4, note 5.’ “  Wilkinson, citing Mosheim  5

If we look for a progenitor of those modern critics of Ellen White who “do not go to sources” and are “influenced by party zeal”, we may look no further than this famous apologist for the papacy.

Now let us examine the disputed words of Ellen White in Great Controversy, p. 65. She states that “…there were Waldenses…. who kept the true Sabbath…” Now if Mrs White meant to say that the entire Waldensian church kept the Sabbath, she would surely use a different phraseology from “there were Waldenses who… kept the true Sabbath”. For example, if I were to say “there are SDAs who go to the cinema”, I am hardly stating that this is a universal practice of SDAs, nor am I stating that this is an official position of the church. I am merely saying that there are some who go to the cinema, without qualifying a number, percentage, or any such thing. Likewise Ellen White was precise in her language, not leaving an impression that all Waldenses kept the Sabbath.

Furthermore, if she wanted to state that the Waldensians were generally Sabbath-keepers, surely, Mrs White would only have to write, “the Waldensians…kept the Sabbath”. But she did not. Mrs White very carefully wrote “there were Waldenses who….kept the true Sabbath”. Only a person with limited English grammar, or one who wished to misinterpret her words, would conclude anything other than she meant some of the Waldensians were Sabbath-keepers.

That a considerable numbers of Christians classified as “Waldenses” were Sabbath-keepers is attested to by many reputable historians.

“These terms Sabbati, Sabbata, Insabbatati refer to keeping the seventh day as the Sabbath. The historian Goldast says of those who were called Insabbatati, ‘They were called Insabbatti, not because they were circumcised, but because they kept the Sabbath according to Jewish law.’ ” Wilkinson, TT, p. 253, quoting Goldast – Quoted by Dr. Jacob Gretzer, Opera Omnia, vol. 12, pt. 2, p. 11. 55.

And further, on p. 255, Wilkinson states…

A large proportion of the Waldenses, whether called by that name or by other names, believed the observance of the fourth commandment to be obligatory upon the human race. Because of this they were designated by the significant title of Insabbati, or Insabbatati. Farmers or townsmen going on Saturday about their work were so impressed by the sight of groups of Christians assembling for worship on that day that they called them Insabbatati. The term “Sabbath” was almost never applied to Sunday. Speaking of Constantine’s Sunday law of 321, Robert Cox writes: ‘No evidence has been adduced, that before the enactment of this law there was Sabbatical observance of the Lord’s Day in any part of Christendom.’ “  citing Cox, The Literature of the Sabbath Question, vol. 1, p. 257.

Recently, claims have been made that the term “insabbati” and “insabbatati”, are not references to Sabbath-keeping, but mean “the wearing of sandals”, an alleged reference to certain wooden shoes supposedly worn by Waldenses.

“That the Insabbatati were Waldenses is proved by the statement of Bernard Gui, famous program builder of the Inquisition, that “Ensavates [Insabbatati] was the name given to the Vaudois.” Wilkinson, TT. P. 252

The original reference to this notion again goes back to a papist writer, Eberhard de Béthune, who provides no evidence, other than a claim that the word “insabbati” means “wearing sandals”. The language of the church of the day was Latin, so presumably this was a Latin word for “sandals”. A personal search of two printed and four Internet Latin dictionaries failed to find the words “insabbati” or “insabbatati”. A search for the word “sandals” brought up two Latin words, “solea”, which is also the Latin word for “sole” and refers to indoor sandals and “crepida”, the outdoors variety.  6

It is claimed that a French word “sabot” also refers to sandals and has a common etymological origin. The Concise Oxford dictionary defines “sabot” as a “shoe hollowed out from one piece of wood”. We would describe that as a “clog”, the traditional footwear of the people of the Low Countries (Holland, Belgium). That type of footwear is the very opposite of what would be needed in the mountainous areas of Southern Europe, as it is designed for flat, wet ground. Such shoes would be extremely dangerous on the rocky pathways of the Alps and would likely contribute to the early demise of the Waldenses! The historian Robertson long ago proved this link to sandals was false, and lays the blame at apologists for the papacy  7

Joseph Milner tells us that the Waldenses were in Italy called ‘Insabbattha’s’ because they rejected the feasts of the holy days.  8

If we go further down the etymological road, we find that the invariable meaning of  words related to the Latin “Sabbatum” is the seventh day of the Roman week, or Saturday. In Greek it is “sabbaton”  In languages derived from Greek and Latin it is invariably a version of these words. For example, in Portuguese it is “sabbado”, in Spanish, “sabado”, in Rusian “subbota” and so on. Even more remarkably, similar words have been used for the seventh day in remote and ancient languages of the east. For example, in ancient Persian it was “shambid” and in Armenian it is “shappat”, in Bengali it is “shani-bar” and in Mongolian “sa-ni tsar”.

That “Saturday” and some of the other words in other languages refer to the “day of Saturn” in no wise diminishes its reference to the seventh day. For the planet Saturn was recognized by the ancients as the seventh heavenly body, and was synonymous with the number seven. 9

It is remarkable that, in a world dominated through history by paganism, God has preserved the name of the Sabbath and the seven-day week in virtually all cultures and languages.

Those who wish more up-to-date research on these issues (Truth Triumphant was first published around 60 years ago) should consult the 2004 research of Dutch Pastor Jan Voermann.  10

A selected quote from his articles is included below:

“There is clear evidence that in the north of Italy the true sabbath was kept in 796. In the Synod of that year it is stated in canon 13 that the farmers there kept Saturday as their sabbath.
(“Synode zu Friaul unter Paulinus im J. 796… Canone 13. Die Feier des Sonntags beginnt am Abende des Samstags. Es wird eingeschärft, den Sonntag und die kirchlichen Feste heilig zu halten. Die Bauern feierten vielfach den Samstag.”  (Conciliengeschichte, Carl Joseph Hefele, Dritter Band, seite 850.)

Several sources tell us that the Passagians, who mainly lived in northern Italy and who were identified as a Waldensian branch, kept the Jewish Saturday-sabbath.
(The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, Vol. VIII, p. 362.  Lexicon für Theologie und Kirche, Band VII, s. 1000.  John de Soyres, Montanism and the Primitive Church, Cambridge 1878, p. 119. Soyres discusses on this page the Cathari and Waldenses and in footnote 1, he refers to Bonacursus who attributes to them: “quod Mosaica lex sit ad litteram observanda, et quod sabbatum et circumcisio et aliæ legales observantiæ adhuc habere statum debeant…” [Bonacursus was bishop of the Cathars in Mailand in the twelfth Century, but returned to the Catholic Church round 1190.]
Real-Encyklopädie, Band XI, s. 130.  J. L. Mosheim, Kerklyke Geschiedenissen, Vierde deel, p. 398. [Mosheim informs us also that the Latins usually call all opponents of the pope Waldenses and Albigenses. Vierde deel, p. 372

We are informed in a report of the inquisition about Waldensian heretics that surely not a few celebrate the Sabbath with the Jews. (Ignaz von Döllinger, Beiträge zur Sektengeschichte des Mittelalters, Dokumente vornehmlich zur Geschichte der Valdesier und Katharer, Band II, s. 661, Summarium impiae et pharisaicae Picardorum raligionis. (Cod. Viennens. Cat. 967), [Nonnulli vero cum Judaeis sabbatum celebrant…”p. 662], See also page 327.

Valère Gros, the Waldensian teacher of St. Martin, Piedmont, Italy, was accused in May 1615 of being a Jew, because he kept holy the sabbath day and no other days. It seems clear that he kept the Saturday-sabbath, for if he kept the Sunday sabbath, that would be no reason to call him a Jew. (Schetsen van de Geschiedenis der Waldenzen, Van der Meer & Verbruggen, 1851, p. 120, 138.

Michiel Rovillart of Arras, who was burned in 1563 on the market place of Doornik, Tournai, Belgium, near the French border, defended that it was not necessary to keep Sunday and other days of the church holy, since it is commanded to keep the day of rest according to God’s example, Who rested and hallowed the seventh day and Michiel explained “how the Sabbath was changed into Sunday and why.”
Adrianus Haemstedius, Historie der Martelaren, p. 804. “

Surely it isn’t necessary for intelligent Seventh-day Adventists to succumb to the revision of history which has long been the practice of supporters of the papacy. There is ample evidence that Ellen White was perfectly correct, not only in her statements concerning the Waldenses, but also in her selection of historians to support what she already had been shown in vision.