THE FIRST COLPORTEURS
Waldenses Colporteurs in Europe
The first literature evangelists were the apostles who secretly shared the gospel in perilous times. During the Middle Ages, Christians sold the writings of the Reformers and newly translated Bibles. A French word was coined to describe their efforts - "colportage", as conducted by the colporteurs. "The Vaudois Christians carefully concealed their real character. To have made known the object of their mission would have ensured its defeat. Every minister possessed a knowledge of some trade or profession, and the missionaries prosecuted their work under cover of a secular calling. They were welcomed as merchants where they would have been spurned as missionaries. They secretly carried about with them copies of the Bible, and whenever an opportunity was presented, they called the attention of their customers to these manuscripts. With naked feet and in garments course and travel- stained, as were those of their Master, they passed through great cities and penetrated to distant lands. Everywhere they scattered the precious seed. Churches sprang up in their path, and the blood of martyrs witnessed for the truth. The day of God will reveal a rich harvest of souls garnered by the labors of these faithful men. To the Waldenses, the Scriptures were not merely a record of God's dealings with men in the past, and a revelation of the responsibilities and duties of the present, but an unfolding of the perils and glories of the future. They believed the end of all things was not far distant, and as they studied the Bible with prayer and tears, they were the more deeply impressed with its precious utterances and their duty to make known to others the saving truths." [GC 71-72]"Wycliffe lived to place in the hands of his countrymen the most powerful of all weapons against Rome - to give them the Bible. The art of printing being still unknown, it was only by slow and wearisome labor that copies of the Bible could be multiplied. The preachers whom he had sent out circulated the Bible, together with the Reformer's writings, and with such success that the new faith was accepted by nearly one half of the people of England." [TGL 65]"Luther completed his translation of the New Testament, and the gospel was soon after given to the people of Germany in their own language. Seeing the favor with which the New Testament was received, Luther immediately began the translation of the Old and published it in parts as fast as completed. Luther's writings were welcomed alike in city and in hamlet. What Luther and his friends composed, others circulated. Monks who had left their convents, and who had no other means of support, traversed the country, selling Luther's works, which were thus rapidly circulated throughout Europe. They were convinced of the unlawfulness of monastic obligations and desirous of exchanging a long life of slothfulness for one of active exertion. Too ignorant to proclaim the word of God, they traveled through the provinces, visiting hamlets and cottages, where they sold the books of Luther and his friends. Germany soon swarmed with these bold colporteurs." [GC 194-5, LS 305]
"With the assistance of other exiles, the writings of the German Reformers were translated into the French language, and together with the French Bible, were printed in large quantities. By colporteurs these works were sold extensively in France. They were furnished to the colporteurs at a low price, and thus the profits of the work enabled them to continue it." Colportage work was one of the most efficient means of spreading the light then, and so it will prove now." [GC 230-31, LS 305]
Writings of Luther circulated
