endowed by the State, had become morally corrupt, and no longer
possessed the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. For this reason they
utterly despised the Roman priests; and contended that, being
worldly men of bad character, they were qualified neither to
administer the sacraments nor to hear confessions. At this point we
lay our finger on the principle which led to the foundation of the
Moravian Church. What ideal, we ask, did the Waldenses now set
before them? We can answer the question in a sentence. The whole
object the Waldenses had now in view was to return to the simple
teaching of Christ and the Apostles. They wished to revive what
they regarded as true primitive Christianity. For this reason they
brushed aside with scorn the bulls of Popes and the decrees of
Councils, and appealed to the command of the New Testament
Scriptures. For them the law of Christ was supreme and final; and,
appealing to His teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, they declared
that oaths were wicked, and that war was no better than murder. If
the law of Christ were obeyed, said they, what need would there be
of government? How long they had held these views we do not know.
Some think they had held them for centuries; some think they had
learned them recently from the Taborites. If scholars insist on
this latter view, we are forced back on the further question: Where
did the Taborites get their advanced opinions? If the Taborites
taught the Waldenses, who taught the Taborites? We do not know.
For the present all we call say is that the Waldenses in a quiet
way were fast becoming a mighty force in the country. They
addressed each other as brother and sister; they are said to have
had their own translations of the Bible; they claimed a descent from
the Apostles; and they are even held by some (though here we tread
on very thin ice) to have possessed their own episcopal succession.