THE WALDENSIAN CATECHISM (1489) AND THE BOHEMIAN CATECHISM (1521).
The doctrinal affinity of the Waldenses and the Bohemian Brethren appears especially in their Catechisms, which are the most important of all their writings before the Reformation, and which prove their zeal for Christian education on the basis of the Scriptures. They bear such a striking resemblance to each other that the one must be in part a copy from the other. The Waldensian Catechism has a better claim to originality, and, although not nearly as old as was formerly supposed, [1087] must have been written before 1500; while the Bohemian, in the form in which it was presented to Luther, first appeared in print in 1521 or 1522, and was probably the work of Lucas of Prague (d. 1528), who had visited the Waldenses in Italy and France (1489). But both rest probably on older sources. Palacky brought to light (1869) a similar Catechism, which he derives from Hus before 1414. [1088]
The Waldensian Catechism, called 'The Smaller Questions,' [1089] intended for children, is a remarkable production for an age of prevailing popular superstition and ignorance. It consists of fifty-seven questions by the teacher (lo barba, i.e., uncle), and as many answers by the pupil (l'enfant). It embodies the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, and is divided into three divisions--Faith (Ques. 6), Hope (Ques. 32), and Love (Ques. 47). This division was suggested by St. Paul (1 Cor. xiii. 13) and Augustine (Enchiridion), and is followed also in the Greek Catechism of Mogila and the Russian Catechism of Philaret. Under the head of Faith we have a practical exposition of the Apostles' Creed and the Ten Commandments, showing their subjective bearing on a living faith. In the Second Part (Ques. 32), Love is defined to be a gift of the Holy Spirit and an intimate union of the human will with the divine will. In the Third Part (Ques. 48), Hope is defined to be a certain expectation of grace and future glory. The Catechism is directed against the idolatry and superstition of the anti-Christian Church, but the opposition is indirect and moderate. The characteristic Waldensian features are the distinction between a living and a dead faith (Ques. 8); the six evangelical commandments (Ques. 21); the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (Ques. 23); the distinction between the true or essential (invisible) Church (la gleisa de la part de la substancia), which consists of all the elect of God in Christ, known only to him, and the outward or institutional (visible) church (de la part de li menisteri), i.e., the ministers and the people subject to them (Ques. 35); and the rigid exposition of the second commandment against all forms of idolatry (Ques. 29). Of the sacraments it is said (Ques. 46): 'Two are absolutely necessary for all; the rest are less necessary.' This clearly indicates that the Catechism was written before the Reformation period, when the Waldenses rejected all but two sacraments.
The Bohemian Catechism is longer, having seventy-five questions and answers. It follows the "Waldensian in the general arrangement and first part, and introduces also (like the Greek catechisms) the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount (Ques. 31); it has more to say of idolatry, the worship of Mary, the saints and martyrs, and especially on the Lord's Supper; but these additions lack perspicuity, and are too long for the use of children.
The following specimen will give an idea of these Catechisms, and the relation they sustain to each other and to the Catechism ascribed to Hus:
The Waldensian Catechism. The Waldensian Catechism. The Bohemian Catechism. Las interrogacions menors. Translated. (von Zezschwitz, p.41) 1. Si tu fosses demandà qui sies-tu? Respont: 1. If thou art asked, Who art thou? Answer: 1. Was bistu? Antwort: Di. [1090] Yo soy creatura de Dio racional e mortal. I am a creature of God, rational and mortal. A. Ein vernunfftige schopfung Gottes vnd ein tötliche. 2. Dio perque te ha creà? 2. For what end has God made you? 2. Warumb beschüff dich Gott? Di. Afin que yo conoissa lui meseyme e cola e havent la soa gracia meseyme sia salvà. That I may know and serve him, and be saved by his grace. A. Das ich in solt kennen un liephaben vnd habende die liebe gottes das ich selig wurdt. 3. En que ista la toa salù? 3. On what rests thy salvation? 3. Warauff steht dein seligkayt? Di. En tres vertùs substantials de necessità pertenent a salù. On three fundamental virtues, which are necessary to salvation. Auff dreyen göttlichen tugenden. 4. Quals son aquellas? 4. Which are they? 4. Welche seints? Di. Fè, sperancza e carità. Faith, Hope, and Love. A. Der glaub, die lieb, die hofnung. 5. Per que cosa provarès aiczo? 5. How do you prove this? 5. Bewer das. Di. L'apostol scriv. 1 Cor. xiii.: aquestas cosas permanon, fè, sperancza e carità The Apostle writes, 1 Cor. xiii., 'Now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.' A. S. Paul' spricht, utzundt bleyben vns dize drey tugendt, der glaub, die lieb vnd die hofnung, vnd das gröst ausz den ist die lieb. 6. [Qual es la prumiera vertù substancial? 6. Which is the first fundamental virtue? 6. Welches ist die erst grundtfest deiner seligkayt? Di. La fè. Car l'apostol di: non possibla cosa es placzer a Dio senza la fè. Mas a l'appropiant a Dio conven creyre, car el es e serè reguiardonador de li cresent en si.] Faith; for the Apostle says, 'It is impossible to please God without faith: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him [Heb. xi. 6]. A. Der glaub. 7. Qual cosa es la fè? 7. What is faith? 7. Bewer das. Di. Segond l'apostol Heb. xi. es subsistencia de las cosas de sperar e argument de las non appareissent. [1091] According to the Apostle, Heb. xi., faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. [1092] A. S. Paul' sagt zu den Juden, es ist vnmüglich Gott zugefallen on den glauben, dann d'zünhenen [1093] will zu Gott, der musz gelauben das Gott sey, auch das er ein belöner sey der die in suchen. [1094]
8. De quanta maniera es la fè? [1095] 8. How many kinds of faith are there? [1096] 8. Was ist der glaub? Di. De doas manieras, czo es viva e morta. Two kinds, a living faith and a dead faith. A. S. Paulus sagt, der glaub ist ein grundfest der ding welcher man hat zuversicht, vnd ein bewerung der vnsichtigen. [Hus (third Ques.): Duplex est fides, altera viva, altera mortua.] 9. Qual cosa e fè viva? 9. What is living faith? 9. Welches glaubens bistu? Di. Lo es aquella, laqual obra per carità, testificant l'apostol Gal. v.; [czo es l'observancza de li comandament de Dio. Fè viva es creyre en Dio, czo es amar luy meseyme e gardar li seo comandament.] It is faith active in love (as the Apostle testifies, Gal. v. 6), that is by keeping God's commandments. Living faith is to believe in God, that is, to love him and to keep his commandments. A. Des gemainen christenlichen. 10. Qual cosa es fè morta? 10. What is dead faith? 10. Welches ist der? Di. Segond Sanct Jaques, la fè, s'ilh non ha obras, es morta en si meseyme; e dereco, la fè es ociosa sencza las obras. O fè morta es creire esser Dio, creyre a Dio, creyre de Dio, e non creire en Dio. [1097] According to St. James, faith which has no works is dead in itself; faith is idle without works. Or dead faith is to believe that God is, to believe about God, of God, but not to believe in God. [1098] A. Ich gelaub in Gott vatter almechtigen, etc. [The Apostles' Creed in full.] 11. De laqual fè siès-tu? 11. What is your faith? 11. Welcher unterschaid ist diser glaube? Di. De la vera fè catholica e apostolica. [1099] The true catholic and apostolic faith. [1100] Das ein glaub ist lebendig, der ander tod. 12. Qual es aquella? 12. Which is that? 12. Was ist der tod glauben? Di. Lo es aquella, la qual al conselh de li apostol es departià en docze articles. It is the one which at the Council of the Apostles was divided into twelve articles. [1101] A. Es ist zu glauben Gott den herrn zu sein, Gott dem herren, vnd von Gott dem herrn, aber nicht in Gott den herrn. [1102] 13. Qual es aquella? 13. Which is it? 13. Was ist der lebendig glauben? Di. Yo creo en Dio lo payre tot poissent. I believe in God the Father Almighty, etc. A. Es ist zu glaubn in Gott den vater, den sun, den heylig geyst. [Now follows the Apostles' Creed in full.]
[1073] Hus (i.e., Goose) and Hussites (from the Bohemian genitive Husses) is the correct spelling, followed by Palacky and Gindely, instead of Huss and Husites.
[1074] This name applies also to the members who emigrated to Moravia, Saxony, and Poland; but the name Moravian Brethren does not occur until the 18th century, when Zinzendorf incorporated into his own society (the Moravians, properly so called) the last survivors of the Bohemian brotherhood, who had come from Moravia to Saxony. See Gindely, Vol. I. p. 36. They were also called Waldenses, and in derision Picards (probably the same as Beghards) and Grubenheimer, Pit-dwellers (because they held divine service in pits and caves).
[1075] Another Bohemian version or revision of the New Testament was made from the Greek by Blahoslav, a member of the Unitas Fratrum and the author of a Bohemian grammar (d. 1571).
[1076] Gindely reports this from the scanty and conflicting sources, and adds the remark (Vol. I. p. 37): 'Es zeigt das Schwanken des Gemüths und den Zweifel an die Berechtigung der gethanen Schritte, dass die Brüder in ihren Schriften gleich nach der Wahl jede Differenz zwischen priesterlicher and bischöflicher Würde verwarfen, mil ängstlicher Gewissenhaftigkeit aber bei sich die letztere einführten.'
[1077] The last bishop of the old Unitas Fratrum was John Amos Comenius (or Komensky, a Czech, born in Moravia, 1592, died at Amsterdam, 1671), who acquired great celebrity by his new method of instruction by pictures and illustrations, and by his Janua Linguarum reserrata and his Orbis pictus. His nephew, D. E. Jablonsky, was elected and ordained bishop by a Synod of Bohemian Brethren in Poland, 1698, and he ordained David Nitschmann, the first bishop of the Moravians, 1735. See E. von Schweinitz, The Moravian Episcopate (Bethlehem, Pa., 1865; comp. his art. Moravian Church, in Johnson's Univ. Cyclop. Vol. III.), and Benham, Origin and Episcopate of the Bohemian Brethren (Lond. 1867). The Moravian episcopate depends on the Bohemian, and the Bohemian on the Waldensian episcopate, which in the thirteenth century did not claim to rest on apostolic succession. Comp. the quotations in Gieseler, Kirchengesh. Vol. II. Pt. II. pp. 640, 641.
[1078] Gindely, Vol. I. p. 2OO, and Von Zezschwitz, Lukas von Prag, in Herzog's Encyklop., Supplem. Vol. XX. pp 23 sqq., 31. Gindely, however, places no high estimate on the writings of Lucas, and charges him with great obscurity. They are mostly extant in manuscript.
[1079] The Dominican Stephen of Borbone says: 'Incepit hæc secta circa annum ab incarnatione Domini 1170 . . . Waldenses dicti sunt a primo huius hæresis auctore, qui nominatus fuit Waldensis. Dicuntur etiam Pauperes de Lugduno quia ibi inceperunt in professione paupertatis.' They were also called Leonistæ, from Leona, Lyons; Sabatati, from their wooden sandals (sabot); and Humiliati, from their humility.
[1080] Joachim Camerarius, in his Historica narratio de Fratrum orthod. ecclesiis in Bohemia (ed. by his grandson, Heidelb. 1605), gives a full account of two deputations of the Brethren to the Waldenses, one in 1467, and the other in 1497. See Herzog, pp. 290 sqq., and Gindely. Vol. I. pp. 88 sq.