IN every branch of study we meet with famous Italians. Dante, Raphael, Michael Angelo, Verdi, Galileo, Vespucci, Cavour and Garibaldi, only head the long lists of other famous Italian poets, painters, sculptors, musicians, astronomers, navigators, statesmen and heroes. But we are here going to rise to a still higher sphere, to the sphere of faith.
The following are but a few sketches of Gospel testimony in Italy, chosen from as widely different and representative classes as possible, in order to illustrate the various aspects of Christian life and testimony in that land, and to prove interesting and helpful to workers in various spheres.
What a list of Gospel witnesses in Italy could be compiled! What volumes could be written of their conversion, persecution, suffering and victory!
These brief sketches are real, taken from the original sources of information. They are not written in any party spirit, nor intended as an offensive arm against Rome.
In the very narration of this Gospel testimony a certain element of protest against error and oppression necessarily enters, but it has been our endeavor to keep this within the limits of the narratives. We have always cherished a sincere regard for those who as sincerely differed from us; and we are reminded at the outset that the witnesses for Christ in Italy, of whom we now write, were formerly devout Roman Catholics, who protested sincerely against the evangelical protestant faith. Their protest was sincere; according to their light they were protestants, while hating the very name. They were not indifferent nor “disobedient unto the heavenly vision " (Acts 26:1919Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: (Acts 26:19)); and Christ fulfilled in them His promise: " If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God " (John 7:1717If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. (John 7:17)).
From the Apostolic age down to our own, God has had His witnesses in Italy. The New Testament Scriptures mention many Italian Christians among the early disciples. They appear later among the “fathers " of the Church. In the dark ages their testimony was bright. The early Waldensians carried forward the Gospel torch, and during the Reformation hundreds of Italian believers worshipped God in spirit and in truth. The Inquisition made them its special object of deadly persecution. To-day united Italy, freed from the papal temporal power, grants religious liberty to all, and from the Alps to Sicily there are many Italian Christian Churches offering to their one Lord the praises of redeemed hearts and lives.