Battle of the Bibles - Present Truth

"Having continued his labours in Scotland thirty-four years, he [Columba] clearly
and openly foretold his death, and on Saturday, the ninth of June, said to his disciple
Diermit: "This day is called the Sabbath, that is, the day of rest, and such will it truly be to
me; for it will put an end to my labours" (Butler, "Lives of the Saints", Vol. 6 p 139).
The Historian Andrew Lang confirms the practice of Sabbathkeeping among the
Celtic Churches:
"They worked on Sunday, but kept Saturday in a sabbatical manner" (Lang, "A
History of Scotland", Vol. 1 p 96).'
Thinking readers may be perplexed at the thought of two of Rome's proclaimed
saints observing the Biblical seventh-day Sabbath [Saturday]. But the sobering facts are
that neither Patrick, Columba or the Celtic Churches in general, had any connection with
the Bishop of Rome. Wm. Catheart DD says: There is strong evidence that Patrick had
no Roman commission in Ireland. As Patrick's churches in Ireland, like their brethren in
Britain repudiated the supremacy of the popes, all knowledge of conversion of Ireland
through his ministry must be suppressed [by Rome at all costs]" ("The Ancient British
and Irish Churches" p 85).
As an adjunct to the footnote on the previous page, it's worthy to note B.G.
Wilkinson's astute observation:
"One is struck by the absence of any reference to Patrick in "The Ecclesiastical
History of England" written by that fervent follower of the Vatican the Englishman Bede,
who lived about two-hundred years after the death of the apostle to Ireland ... The
reason apparently is that, when this historian wrote, the papacy had not yet made up its
mind to claim Patrick" ("Truth Triumphant", p 88).
Perhaps no other name is more famous in the history of the Apostolic Church's
fight against the doctrines and dogma of the papacy than that of the Waldenses. Writers
sympathetic to the papacy have attempted to fix their origins to the time of Peter Waldo
of the late twelfth century. At the very best, this is a mistake, if not deliberate fraud.
Wilkinson reminds us that:
"The historical name of this people as properly derived from the valleys where
they lived, is Vaudois " ("Our Authorised Bible Vindicated", p 34).
He then proves his point:
"There remains to us in the ancient Waldensian language, "The Noble Lesson"
(La Nobla Leycon), written about the year 1100 AD, which assigns the first opposition of
the Waldenses to the Church of Rome to the days of Constantine the Great when
Sylvester was Pope" (ibid pp 34, 35).
Prior to seeking asylum in the Piedmont valleys of Northern Italy due to the
increasing hostility of the papacy, the Waldenses were part of the Apostolic Church living
around Milan. The reason for their falling out with Rome was due to their insistence that
they follow the Bible as their rule of faith. As we have already seen, this Bible was Itala.
Wilkinson refers to the historian Comba who makes this significant remark:
"It is held that the pre-Waldensian Christians of northern Italy could not have had
doctrines purer than Rome unless their Bible was purer than Rome's, that is, [their Bible]
was not of Rome's falsified manuscripts" (ibid p 31). ,
(This axiomatic statement by Comba is equally valid today and should be
remembered by every Protestant who bears the name seriously).
Helvidius is the name of a notable northern Italian scholar who opposed the
emerging papal style of church practices. He had studied under Auxentius, Bishop of
9