Note 455 — Chapter VII

The Histoire ecclésiastique, i. 22, while admitting that the Vaudois "had never adhered to papal superstition," asserts that "par longue succession de temps, la pureté de la doctrine s'estoit grandement abastardie." From the letter of Morel and Masson to Œcolampadius, it appears that, in consequence of their subject condition, they had formed no church organization. Their Barbes, who were carefully selected and ordained only after long probation, could not marry. They were sent out two by two, the younger owing implicit obedience to the elder. Every part of the extensive territory over which their communities were scattered was visited at least once a year. Pastors, unless aged, remained no longer than three years in one place. While supported in part by the laity, they were compelled to engage in manual labor to such an extent as to interfere much with their spiritual office and preclude the study that was desirable. The most objectionable feature in their practice was that they did not themselves administer the Lord's Supper, but, while recommending to their flock to discard the superstitions environing the mass, enjoined upon them the reception of the eucharist at the hands of those whom they themselves regarded as the "members of Antichrist." Œcolampadius, while approving their confession of faith and the chief points of their polity, strenuously exhorted them to renounce all hypocritical conformity with the Roman Church, induced by fear of persecution, and strongly urged them to put an end to the celibacy and itinerancy of their clergy, and to discontinue the "sisterhoods" that had arisen among them. The important letters of the Waldensee delegates and of Œcolampadius are printed in Gerdes., Hist. Evang. Renov., ii. 402-418. An interesting account of the mission is given by Hagenbach, Johann Oekolampad und Oswald Myconius, 150, 151.