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The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

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    V. The Waldenses and the Reformation

    But returning to the narrative, we find that the passing of time brought other voices into the chorus of dissent. The troubadours of the Middle Ages joined with the Waldenses in condemning the iniquities of the church. 69McCrie, op. cit., p. 20. The Joachimites and their offshoots denounced the corruptions of the ecclesiastics, and Dante added his voice. It is curious that the early gleams of the revival of letters in the time of Petrarch shone on Calabria, one of the sections of Italy where the Vaudois had found an asylum. 70Ibid., p. 14. Whatever we may think of the argument for a Waldensian origin of Wyclif’s doctrines 71Acland, op. cit., p. xliv it is certain that the seeds sown broadcast in Germany helped to prepare the way for the spread of the Reformation, and that the Bohemian evangelical faith owed a great debt to the Waldenses.PFF1 853.1

    1. THE WALDENSIANS AND THE BOHEMIAN BRETHREN

    Comenius, a Bohemian bishop, tells how, about 1450, before the Reformation, certain Hussite separatists, followers of Peter Chelcicky, in their anxiety to have their pastors ordained by those who had continued in purity from the apostles, sent three preachers to Stephen, a bishop of the Vaudois. And Stephen, with others officiating, conferred the vocation and ordination upon three Bohemian candidates by the imposition of hands. Although there was no organic affiliation with the main body of Waldenses, there was a fusion of Waldensian elements in these Bohemian and Moravian Brethren. They were spoken of as Picards, Waldensian Brethren, or simply Waldensians, by their contemporaries, both friends and foes, and even mentioned the commonly known terms by way of identification in some of their own publications. 72Comba, op. cit., pp. 79, 80; Josef Mueller “Bohemian Brethren,” The New Schaff-Herzog, vol. 2, p. 214; see Catholic documents in Dollinger, Beitrage, vol 2, nos. LIX, LXI, pp. 635-641, 661-664; Martin Luther foreword to a work by these Brethren entitled Rechenschaft des Glaubens, der Dienste und Ceremonien der Bruder in Bohmen and Mahren, in Dr. Martin Luthers Sammtliche Schriften (Walch ed), vol. 14, cols. 334, 335 and footnote. In the full title of this last-named work, given in the footnote, these “brethren in Bohemia and Moravia’ add the fact that they are also called, by some, Picards or Waldenses.PFF1 853.2

    The Waldenses were repeatedly recognized as connecting links between the early and the Reformation churches by both the Reformers and the pre-Reformation leaders. This line of transmission has been epitomized in this way:PFF1 853.3

    “Thus in the Valleys of Piemont, Claudius Arch-Bishop’of Turin, and he to his Disciples, and they to their succeeding Generations in. the ninth and tenth Centuries: in another part of the World, Bertram to Berengarius, Berengarius to Peter Brus, Peter Brus to Waldo, Waldo again to Dulcinus, Dulcinus to Gandune arid Marsilius, they to Wickleif, Hus and Jerome of Prague, and their Schollars the Thaborites to Luther and Calvin.” 73Morland, op. cit., sig. Acv.PFF1 853.4

    When the Lutheran Reformation broke upon the world, the Waldenses, who had been virtually hounded from the face of Europe, and remained only in the Alps in any number, awoke from their sleep and stretched out their hands to their comrades in other lands. Now they could come forth openly and complete their break with Rome. They wrote to the Reformers, giving account of themselves and asking questions.PFF1 853.5

    “When the sun of the Reformation arose, the Waldensian light was shining still, if not as brightly, at least as purely as in the past; but in the presence of the new sun, it might well appear to have grown paler., Morel testifies to this with childlike simplicity, and an ingenuous joyful expectation, which recalls that of the prophets of old: ‘Welcome! blessed be thou, m’ Lord,’ he writes to the Basle reformer; `we come to thee from a far off country, with hearts full of joy, in the hope and assurance that, through thee, the Spirit of the Almighty will enlighten us.’ 74Comba, op. cit., p 159.PFF1 854.1

    2. CHAMFORANS CONFERENCE OF WALDENSES AND REFORMERS

    Upon learning of the progress of the Reformation in Switzerland and Germany, the Vaudois of Piedmont rejoiced in the returning of this large group to the Word of God, and hastened to gather information concerning them. In 1526 they sent Barbe Martin, of Luserna, who brought back certain printed books of the Reformers. 75Monastier, op. cit., p. 141. In 1530 they deputed other barbes, including Georges Morel and Pierre Masson, to visit and confer with the Reformers at Basel and Strasburg, and to present in Latin a statement of their beliefs and practices. 76Morland op. cit, p. 185 See Georges Morel, Letter to Oecolampadius, in A Wilh. Dieckhoff, die Waldenser in Mittelalter, pp. 363-369. For a discussion of the letters of Georges Morel and Pierre Masson to Oecolampadius and Bucer, and their replies, see J. H. Todd, The Books of the Vaudois, pp. 8-20. They had several long conferences with Oecolampadius, Bucer, and others, asking many questions on the positions of the Reformers, and rejoicing in the evangelical answers given.PFF1 854.2

    In 1532, two years after the Augsburg Confession, a great six-day synod, or assembly, was held at Chamforans, in the Piedmontese valley of Angrogna, attended by representatives of the Vaudois of Italy and France, and by the French Switzerland representatives, Farel, Olivétan, and Saunier, who rejoiced that the Israel of the Alps had proved faithful to their trust. 77Adeney, op. cit., p. 668; Wylie, op. cit., vol. 2, pp. 447, 448. This meeting of the two churches—the old and the new—brought new life and hope to the Waldenses.PFF1 854.3

    3. FRENCH BIBLE T’HEIR GIFT TO REFORMATION

    During this synod the Waldenses drew up a short “confession ‘of’ faith,“ to supplement their older confessions. 78Monastier, op. cit., pp. 146-148; Wylie, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 448; Leger, op. cit., book 1, p. 95. Examining Vaudois manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments in the vernacular Rornaunt, the Reformed representatives urged that the whole Bible be made available in French through a printed translation. To this the Vaudois agreed, as their own books were only in manuscript 79Perrin, op. cit.,. p. 82. Pierre Robert, called Olivétan—one of the delegates from Switzerland-was appointed to superintend the translation. For this he retired to a remote village in the valleys. The preface bears date of the seventh of February, 1535, and is sent forth “from the Alps.” This Bible, printed in Gothic characters at Neucha^tel, Switzerland, and costing the Vaudois 1,500 golden crowns, was their gift to the Reformation 80Muston, op. cit, vol. 1, pp. 100, 101.PFF1 854.4

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