be given for you and this is my Blood which shall be shed for many for the Remission of Sins But it is plain that Charlemain understands by the Word Image a Prototype like the Shadows of the Law with respect to which it is true what many of the Fathers have said that the Sacraments of the New Testament are the Body and the Truth though otherwise considered as Sacraments they are sacred Signs which cannot be confounded with the things signified by them without renouncing the Light of common sense Moreover we are to observe that Charlemain never said that the Eucharist is properly the Body of Jesus Christ If he denies Jesus Christ to have said concerning the Eucharist this is the Image of my Body taking the Word as a Prototype and a Shadow of things to come yet he always holds that it is his Body in a Sacramental Sense for he never speaks of the Eucharist as the Body of our Lord without adding the Restriction of Sacrament or of Mystery If saith he he hears the Mystery of the Body and of the Blood once mentioned and twice together he hath bestowed upon us the Sacrament of his Body and of his Blood And lastly the Mystery of the Body and of the Blood cannot be called an Image Now the Word Mystery according to the constant Use of the Church properly signifies the Symbol the Figure the sacred Sign of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Lastly We ought to observe that though he says that the Sacrament is the Body of Jesus Christ yet he never saith that it ought to be adored Indeed he ought to have drawn up an Impeachment against these Worshippers of Images upon this Article and a very important one too because it is very evident that the Greek Worshippers of Images did not adore the Eucharist but gave only a simple Veneration to it like to that which they bestowed upon the Cross the Altar and the Gospel as one of their Authors tells us in a Book which they call An Invective of the Orthodox against the Opposers of Images printed at the Louvre in 1685. in the Collection of Authors who have writ since Theophanes CHAP. IX The Faith of the Churches of Aquitain and Narbon in the Ninth Century CHarlemain that great Man who lived till the Year 814. maintained the Spirit of Opposition against the Errors and Superstitions of the Church of Rome that espoused the Interest of the Image-Worshippers by approving the second Council of Nice This Council having established the Authority of Tradition as being a necessary Principle to support the Worship of Images we find that the Churches of Aquitain and Narbon kept themselves firmly to the Authority of the Scriptures grounding their Faith thereon and regulating their Worship according to the same Of this we have an illustrious Example in the Council of Arles assembled in the Year 813 by the Order of Charlemain whereat the Arch-bishop of Narbon assisted with his Suffragans For the Fathers of this Council thought fit to begin it with a Profession of their Faith which is nothing but an Extract of that Creed which bears the Name of Athanasius and this is that which they ordain should be preached to the People for the Catholick Faith without so much as mentioning one Word of those Articles of Faith that the Church of Rome now imposeth Charlemain had ordered a Collection of Homilies to be made out of the Works of Origen St. Ambrose St. Chrysostom St. Jerom St. Augustin St. Leo St. Maximus St. Gregory and Bede which he caused to be published in these Diocesses as well as the rest of his Empire now these Homilies do so strongly oppose the most part of those Novelties which were then endeavoured to be introduced that this Book for a long time served as a Bar to hinder People from leaning too much towards those things that incline Men to Superstition There is no Protestant in the least versed in the Matters of Controversy who seeing the Names of those ancient Doctors comprized in this Collection will not remember how much these Fathers have opposed themselves to a Multitude of Corruptions which prevailed at last by the factious Endeavours of some of the latter Popes wherefore I may excuse my self from making an Extract of this Collection choosing rather to produce other Witnesses which the same Diocess affords us concerning the Faith of these Diocesses in the ninth Century I can only produce three or four but to recompense the smallness of their Number they are Men against whose Authority the most contentious Adversaries will have nothing to oppose In the first place it is certain that as the Bishops of Aquitain and Narbon had set themselves against the Superstition and Idolatry of the Greeks and the Pope in the matter of Images at the Council of Francfort so their Successors imitated their Zeal and Vigor in the Synod at Paris in 824 upon the same Question where they determin'd that Pope Adrian who had writ an Answer to the Book of Charlemain and therein undertaken the Defence of the second Council of Nice had made use of in the said Reply superstitious Testimonies and not at all to the purpose answering what he thought fit and not what was agreeable And besides they drew up a new Collection of great Numbers of Arguments against this superstitious Worship to recal Pope Paschal and those of his Party from their doating on Images We can shew further that the same Zeal was continued in this Diocess Baluzius hath acknowledged and so has Massonus before him that the Book of Agobardus Arch-bishop of Lions concerning Pictures expresseth no more than the general Opinions of the Bishops of France and Germany concerning this Point But it may not be amiss to quote it in particular not only to shew what were the Opinions of the Churches of Aquitain and Narbon because though he was born in Spain yet he had continued for a long time in Aquitain whither he was invited because of the general Esteem he had gained to be the Coadjutor to Leidradus Arch-bishop of Lions to whom he succeeded but also because it appears by his Works that the most illustrious Bishops of Gallia Narbonensis carefully consulted him in Matters of Difficulty as their Master being indeed a most famous Doctor able to instruct and inform them 1. He declares as St. Augustin did before him that we can never equalize the Authority of any Interpreter whatsoever to that of the Apostles Concerning Expositors also St. Austin hath delivered That we are to hold far otherwise than you do whom not only in his Book which he hath writ against Faustus the Manichee concerning those who have been blamed by the Doctors yea the best of them speaks thus which sort of Writings that is to say Expositions are not to be read with a Necessity of believing but with a Liberty of judging for those Books only that are of Divine Authority are to be read not with a Liberty of
again subdivided into two parts the first and second as may be seen since the fourth Century It was needful at the entrance of this Discourse to give the Reader this short Draught of the Countries that went under the Name of Gallia to give him an Idea of that part of them where we intend to shew him the Continuation of that Church which gave birth to the Albigenses and furnished the West with Witnesses of so great weight against the Corruptions of the Romish Party and indeed though the Visi-Gothes who cut off these Provinces from the Roman Empire and afterwards the French who destroyed the Visi-Gothes in the time of Clovis made very great Changes in this Division of Gallia Narbonensis and Aquitain yet we may exactly observe that the Church of these Provinces hath well nigh always made a distinct Body by her Synods and Canons It is a matter of Difficulty precisely to fix the first Rise of these Churches I own that some Greek Fathers have believ'd that St. Luke and Crescens Disciples of St. Paul did preach the Gospel in Gallia but that which engaged them in this Opinion seems of little or no solidity And the Galatia mention'd by St. Paul in the second of Timothy doth not signify Gallia but a Province of the lesser Asia as the learned Petavius acknowledgeth Others have believed that St. Paul himself preached the Gospel in these Provinces as he passed through them in his way to Spain where the fourth Century took it for granted that he preached the Gospel but neither doth this seem grounded upon sufficient Authority and we do not find that the antient Authors of these Countries did ever maintain any such thing Should we indeed as to this Point give credit to the most part of the Romish Legends to which Baronius in his Annals pays too great a Deference it would be an easy matter to give to the most part of these Churches a most august Original We might suppose that St. Peter and St. Paul were the Founders of them by the Ministry of their Disciples or that Clement Bishop of Rome sent them thither almost immediately after the Martyrdom of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul They tell us that Paul was the first Bishop of Narbon Saturninus of Tholouse Martialis of Limoges Frontinus of Perigueux Vincentius of Daeqs Georgius of Puy Eutropius of Xaintes Much like as for some Ages since in most of the other Churches of France they suppose that the first Bishops were sent them by the same Apostles or by their first Successors But we meet with nothing but Falsities in these pretended Traditions and it is impossible to reconcile them with what Sulpicius Severus and Gregorius Turonensis tell us concerning the Rise of Christian Religion among the Gauls The former of these distinctly assures us that Gaule never had any Martyrs before the Empire of Aurelius Son of Antoninus Hist lib. 2. Sub Aurelio Antonini filio Persecutio quinta agitata ac tunc primum inter Gallias Martyria visa serius trans Alpes Dei Religione suscepta The fifth Persecution was carried on under Antonine's Son and then first were Martyrdoms seen among the Gauls the Divine Religion having been later entertained beyond the Alps. This single Period of Severus gives Sentence against all those pretended Martyrs wherewith the Churches of France have fill'd their Breviaries The latter tells us plainly that it was not till the Empire of Decius about the year 250 that the City of Tholouse had for her first Bishop Saturninus who was sent from Rome in company of six others into the Country of the Gauls to preach the Gospel to wit Gatian at Tours Trophimus at Arles Paul at Narbon Dionysius at Paris Austremoine at Clermont and Martialis at Limoges This is that which is clearly proved from the Acts of the Martyrdom of St. Saturninus cited by Gregory Bishop of Tours These Testimonies of two antient Authors the one of the 5 th Century and the other more antient viz. the same who wrote the Martyrdom of St. Saturninus have made such an Impression upon some of the Learnedest Men of the Roman Communion viz. upon Bosquet Bishop of Montpellier Sirmond and Launoy the famous Doctor of the Faculty of Paris as to make them with Scorn reject those Legends which ascribe more antient Founders to these Churches notwithstanding that they are the greatest Ornament of the Breviaries of the Gallican Church and that they cannot lose their Credit without shaking the belief of abundance of Miracles and the Authority of a great number of Devotions And indeed what reason is there to own a Tradition for authentick which we scarcely find back'd with any Witness for the space of above 700 years Besides don't we know that it was the Dispute about Precedency between the Churches in the 8 th and 9 th Century and which we find lasted till the 12 th that engaged the several Parties to devise this great Antiquity and boldly change that which before had been the current Belief of their Churches because it did not answer their Pretensions nor comport with their Vanity to substitute instead thereof fabulous Originals under whose shelter they might maintain a Dispute with more advantage against those that were on even ground with them But however it be difficult to fix the certain Original of these Churches for the Gothick Liturgy which was used in these Provinces assures us that St. Saturninus came from Smyrna from whence it should seem that the first Founders of the Churches of Lions and Vienna came likewise yet thus much we may assert that the Gospel soon took deep root there My Design is not to refute here what the Authors of the Legends have inserted in their fabulous Relations concerning the Establishment of the Christian Religion in these Provinces and the Character of the Piety of those first Founders of Christianity of their Precepts and of their Miracles Indeed there is reason to deplore either the boundless Impudence of the Pastors of the Roman Communion in obtruding such palpable Falsities or the prodigious Stupidity of the People of that Church who feed themselves with Stories more fabulous than those of Amadis of Gaul and make them the Subject of their Devotion We read in the Life of St. Martialis that after the Saint had converted Limoges he there consecrated Churches to the Honour of Jesus Christ of the H. Virgin and St. Stephen whose Cousin he was We read that he raised to Life the Priests of the Idol whom God had struck dead with a Clap of Thunder for their poisoning St. Martialis and that after their Resurrection he converted them We find that he admitted to the Vow of Virginity a Person called Valeria who some time after having had her Head cut off by order of the Duke of Guienne whose Courtship she had slighted immediately took up her Head and carried it to St. Martialis as he was saying Mass We find him there going to Rome to give an account to
Fruit of the Vine at the Lord's Supper and mentions not so much as one Word of Transubstantiation in a place where he particularly explains the Institution of the Eucharist Can. 30. in Matth. To speak the Truth how could he have any other Thoughts who maintains that Jesus Christ is no longer on the Earth in respect of his Body because it is impossible for a Body to be in more places than one Adest enim cum fideliter invocatur per naturam suam praesens est spiritus enim est omnia penetrans continens non enim secundum nos corporalis est ut cum alicubi adsit absit aliunde sed virtute praesenti se quâcunque est porrigenti cum replente omniae ejus spiritu in omnibus sit tamen ei qui in eum credat adsistit For he is present by his Nature when he is call'd upon with Faith he being a Spirit penetrating and containing all things for he is not like us corporeal so as that when he is in one place he should be absent from another but he is in all places by the Presence of his Power which extendeth it self where-ever he is and his Spirit that filleth all things yet he is in a more peculiar manner with him that believes in him 21. He was so far from approving the Romish Inquisition that he calls the Emperor Constantius Antichrist for persecuting those that were not of his Opinion lib. in Constant August Yea he judg'd all Force to be so contrary to the Spirit of the Christian Religion that he maintains that there can be no Religion where Force is made use of Lastly He was so far from believing that the Antichrist whereof St. John speaks was already come that he maintains that he would be revealed in the Churches that were then possessed by the Arians and that the Faith being thus attack'd the true Believers would be forced to look out for Shelter amongst the Mountains in Woods and Caves leaving the Antichrist Master of the publick Places consecrated to the Worship of God This is the Sum of what may be gathered from the Writings of St. Hilary I make no mention of some Errors of this great Man because Claudianus Mamertus having confuted them about the end of the fifth Century has made it appear that they were only some particular Opinions of this great Confessor and that we cannot look upon them as the common Faith of the Diocess where he was setled But the same cannot be said of the Articles I have noted Claudianus is so far from blaming them that he approves them by his Silence and shews that his Doctrine in this Respect was the Doctrine of the Church of Gaul We have nothing left us of the Works of Rhodanius Bishop of Tholouse who was contemporary with St. Hilary But it appears clear to us that this Holy Confessor having been sent into Banishment with St. Hilary after the Council of Beziers by the Cabal of Saturninus Bishop of Arles Favourer of the Arians we are to consider Rhodanius as a Defender of the same Faith and an illustrious Witness of the Belief of his Diocess And we ought to make the same Judgment of Phaebadius Bishop of Agen who was so much engaged in the same Quarrel and who acquired so great a Name by the vigorous Opposition he made against the Errors of Arius But Providence has preserved us none of his Works In effect this great Man who wrote in the Year 357. as appears by his Book against the Arians gives us sufficiently to understand what his Faith was in divers Articles and what was the Doctrine of the Diocess 1. He maintains that the Catholick Faith is found with those who speak according to the Holy Scripture and not amongst those who only make use of Prejudices After having quoted several places of Scripture to prove against the Arians the Eternity of the Son he concludes in this manner B. Patr. T. 4. p. 174. Volentes igitur à Patre Filium scindere infra Deum ponere de Evangelio praescribunt Those therefore who would rend the Father from the Son and place him below God give Law to the Gospel He expresseth himself yet more strongly to this purpose towards the end of his Book ib. p. 180. Hoc credimus hoc tenemus quia hoc accepimus à Prophetis hoc nobis Evangelia locuta sunt hoc Apostoli tradiderunt hoc Martyres in passione confessi sunt in hoc mentibus fidei etiam haeremus contra quod si Angelus de Coelo annuntiaverit Anathema sit Ergo ut supra diximus praejudicatae opinionis authoritas nihil valebit quia contra semetipsam ipsa consistit This we believe this we hold fast because 't is this we have received from the Prophets this the Gospels have declared to us this the Apostles have left us this the Martyrs in their Sufferings have confessed and to this we adhere with our Minds by Faith so that if an Angel from Heaven should preach contrary to this let him be accursed Wherefore as was said before the Authority of a prejudicate Opinion can be of no force because it stands against it self 2. He makes it appear that the Name of Catholick was not sufficient to be a true Christian when he represents that Arianism had so far seized the Minds of all the World that it was necessary to espouse the Arian Heresy to procure the Name of being Catholicks ib. p. 169. Sed quia aut Haeresis suscipienda est ut Catholici dicamur aut verè Catholici non futuri si Haeresin non repudiamus ad hanc tractatûs conditionem necessitate descendimus But because we are either to become Hereticks that we may be called Catholicks or cease to be Catholicks indeed by becoming Hereticks we are necessitated to write this Treatise 3. He asserts that the Revelation of Holy Scripture is so perfect with respect to the Divinity of our Saviour that Anathemas are to be pronounced against all those that advance any other Doctrine This appears from the great number of Passages which he quotes from thence p. 173 178. to which he joins the Anathema whereof I have already spoke before 4. He observes expresly that the same Honours rendred to Jesus Christ in the Liturgy as to God do demonstrate his Equality with God p. 174. Quod si ita est saith he quotidie blasphemamus in gratiarum actionibus oblationibus sacrificiorum communia haec Patri filio confitentes c. If it be so we blaspheme daily in our Thanksgivings and Offerings of Sacrifice in confessing these things common to Father and Son Thus doth he implicitly overthrow the first Principles of the Church of Rome viz. the Imperfection of the Holy Scripture in Matters of Faith the Authority and Necessity of Traditions which are the compleating of it and other such like Doctrines We should now proceed to examine what the State of these Diocesses was in the following Century
Power into Spain to examine those that were Hereticks and being found such to take away their Lives and Estates Neither was it to be doubted but that this Storm would have reach'd the greatest part of Believers because of the small Distinction made between them and the other for then they judged Persons only by the Eye esteeming them Hereticks from their pale Looks or Habit rather than by their Faith He afterwards shews the Horror that St. Martin had conceived against these kind of Proceedings There was nothing he was more concerned about Illa praecipua cura ne Tribuni cum jure gladiorum ad Hispanias mitterentur Than to prevent the Tribunes being sent into Spain with the Power of the Sword He renounced Communion with these sanguinary Bishops but not long after to avoid a greater Mischief he was obliged to give up that Point though he still refused to subscribe to the Condemnation of the Priscillianists Hujus diei communionem Martinus iniit satius aestimans ad horam cedere quam his non consulere quorum cervicibus gladius imminebat veruntamen summâ vi Episcopis nitentibus ut communionem illam subscriptione firmaret extorqueri non potuit Martin communicated with them at that time thinking it better for a while to give way to them than not to provide for their Safety who had the Sword hanging over them But yet though the Bishops used their utmost Endeavours to make him ratify his communicating with them by his Subscription they could never bring him to it If we consult Vincentius Lirinensis and Cassian they will afford us much Light as to the State of these Diocesses Vincentius a Priest of the Monastery of Lerins is one of those who can best inform us what was esteemed Orthodox in these Churches Indeed we find all the peculiar Doctrines of the Church of Rome are condemned in the Maxims that he solidly asserts in the 28 th Chapter of his Commonitorium where he maintains that the Church may every day make a further Progress in the Knowledg of Truth and all this without making any Innovation Crescat igitur oportet multum vehementerque proficiat tam singulorum quam omnium tam unius hominis quam totius Ecclesiae aetatum ac saeculorum gradibus intelligentia scientia sapientia sed in suo duntaxat genere in eodem se dogmate eodem sensu eademque sententia The Understanding Knowledg and Wisdom as well of every singular Person as of the whole Church ought to grow and greatly increase according to the several Degrees of Times and Ages but every one in his own way that is to say in the same Doctrine in the same Sense and the same Judgment 2. He in the same place exclaims against all new Doctrines and new Names and yet owns that the Church acquires daily more Light in matters of Religion Sed ita tamen ut vere profectus sit ille fidei non permutatio But yet so that this is really an Advancement not a Change of Faith 3. He reduces all that we ought to believe to the Rule of Faith and declares what is the true use and the true Authority of the Doctors of the Church Quae tamen antiqua sanctorum Patrum consensio non in omnibus divinae legis quaestiunculis sed solum certè praecipuè in fidei regula magno nobis studio investiganda est sequenda Quibus tamen Patribus hâc lege credendum est ut quicquid vel omnes vel plures uno eodemque sensu manifestè frequenter perseveranter velut quodam consentiente sibi magistrorum consilio accipiendo tenendo tradendo firmaverint id pro indubitato certo ratoque habeatur But yet this primitive Consent of the Holy Fathers is not to be inquired after and followed as to the lesser Questions of Divine Law alike but especially if not only in the Rule of Faith Which Fathers we may give full Credit to on this Condition that whatsoever all or the most of them do in the same sense manifestly frequently and constantly maintain as in a Council of Masters agreeing together by their receiving holding and delivering the same that ought to be esteemed unquestionable certain and firm 4. He lays down a Method how we may dispute with the Church of Rome about the Errors she has drawn from Antiquity by reducing the whole Dispute to the Scripture Atque ideo quascunque illas antiquiores vel Schismatum vel Haereseωn profanitates nullo modo nos oportet nisi aut sola si opus est Scripturarum authoritate convincere aut certe jam antiquitus universalibus Sacerdotum Catholicorum Conciliis convictas damnatasque vitare Wherefore we are no other way to convict all ancient Errors of Schism or Heresy but either if need be by the sole Authority of Scripture or else to avoid them as already condemned by the universal Councils of Catholick Priests 5. He excellently explains the Use of Tradition without derogating any thing from the Sufficiency of Scripture Diximus in superioribus hanc fuisse semper esse hodieque Catholicorum consuetudinem ut fidem veram duobus istis mediis adprobent primum Divini Canonis authoritate deinde Ecclesiae traditione non quia Canon solus non sibi ad universa sufficiat sed quia verba Divina pro suo plerique arbitratis interpretantes varias opiniones erroresque concipiant atque ideo necesse sit ut ad unam Ecclesiastici sensus regulam scripturae coelestis intelligentia dirigatur in iis duntaxat praecipuè quaestionibus quibus totius Catholici dogmatis fundamenta nituntur We have said before that this hath been and still is the Custom of Catholicks to prove the true Faith two ways 1 st by the Authority of the Divine Canon And 2 dly by the Churches Tradition not as if the Canon were not of it self sufficient but because most Men interpret Scripture according to their own private Fancy which has given occasion to various Opinions and Errors Wherefore it is needful that the Understanding of Holy Scripture be regulated by one single Determination of the Church and particularly in those Questions on which the Foundations of all Catholick Doctrine rest Lastly He desires that universal Consent may be taken only from such a Tradition as he authorizeth Item diximus in ipsa rursus Ecclesia universitatis pariter ac antiquitatis consensionem spectari oportere ne aut ab unitatis integritate in partem schismatis abrumpamur aut à vetustatis religione in Haereseωn novitates praecipitemur We have said also that in the Church we are to have an Eye to the Consent of Universality and Antiquity that wee be not rent from the entire Union into a Schism or be cast headlong from the Religion of the Ancients into the Novelties of Heresy There needs little more than these Maxims to secure a Church where they are taught from those Corruptions into which the Church of
in France and Germany he might be look'd upon as the Apostolical Vicar and so by his means the Decrees of the Apostolical See might be made known to the Bishops and on the other hand that any Matters of importance might by him be communicated to the Apostolick See and that all Affairs of moment and difficulty might by his Suggestion be recommended to the Apostolick See to be cleared and determined Whereupon the Emperor demanded of the Bishops what Answer they designed to return to these Apostolical Letters who answer'd to this effect That saving the Right and Priviledges of each Metropolitan according to the sacred Canons and the Decrees of the Popes of the See of Rome promulg'd from the said sacred Canons they would obey the Apostolical Commands of Pope John And when the Emperor and the Apostolical Legats had done their utmost Endeavours to perswade the Bishops to an absolute Answer that they would obey without reserve in accepting of Ansegisus for their Primate as the Pope had written yet could they never draw from them any other Answer Then the Emperor commanded a Chair to be set above all the Bishops of his Cisalpine Kingdom next to John Bishop of Tusculanum who sat at his Right-hand and commanded Ansegisus to take place of all the Bishops that had been ordained before him and to sit down in that Chair the Archbishop of Rheims protesting against it in the hearing of them all as a thing directly contrary to the sacred Canons In like manner the day before the Ides of July the same Letter concerning the Primacy of Ansegisus was read a second time at the Emperor's Command and the Bishops Answer demanded thereupon Whereupon the Archbishops answered severally for themselves That as their Predecessors had been regularly obedient to his Predecessors so would they be to his Decrees So likewise at the Command of the Apostolical Legats that the Bishops should meet the 17 th day before the Kalends of August the Emperor entred the Synod at nine a Clock in the Morning being accompanied by the Apostolical Legates and all took their Places as before Then Johannes Aretinus read a certain Paper which had neither Reason nor Authority Afterwards Odo Bishop of Beauvais read some Articles set down by the Apostolical Legats and by Ansegisus and Odo without the Knowledg of the Synod between containing nothing to the purpose and besides void of all Reason and Authority which for that reason are not here added And then again a Motion was made concerning the Primacy of Ansegisus who after all could obtain no more this last time than he did at the first day of the Synod From which account it is most evident that notwithstanding all the pains Charles the Bald took to oblige the Pope whose Friendship he had occasion for and whose Ambition he maintain'd by trampling upon the Ecclesiastical Laws and the Rights of the Prelats of France yet the Bishops continued firm in their Judgments and would not suffer themselves to be enslaved as the Pope would fain have had them This hapned in the year 876. In particular we may justly observe concerning these Parts where the Albigenses have appear'd with the greatest lustre 1 st That the greatest part of these Diocesses being rent off from the Empire after the year 409 when Alaric made Tholouse the Seat of the Kingdom of the Visi-Goths it continued so divided till it was again reduc'd under the Power of the French by Clovis in the year of our Lord 507. 2 dly That since that time we find that these parts of France have been almost always united with the Churches of Spain as appears from the Subscriptions of the Synods held in Spain 3 dly That they were never to speak properly re-united with the Body of the Churches of France till the Reign of the Emperor Charlemain 4 thly That the Power of the Popes in France hath been so very inconsiderable that a Legat of the Pope having undertaken to consecrate a Chappel in Anjou by the Duke's Order but without consent of the Bishop Radulphus Glaber who relates this History could not forbear exclaiming against this Encroachment Baronius on the other hand storms against Glaber but the one of them writ what those of his time thought and spoke concerning it whereas the other gave himself entirely up to the Power of Prejudice and followed the Design he had undertaken of accommodating antient History with the Interest of the Court of Rome on which he had his Dependance But we are especially to observe that the Popes never began to exercise their absolute Power there till they had setled their Legats in those Parts and had brought all Causes to be tried at their Tribunal Thus Paschal II. appointed Girard Bishop of Angoulesm to be his Vicar in the Provinces of Bourges Bourdeaux Tours and Britain in the year 1107 as appears by the Commission granted by Paschal II. to Girard Bishop of Angoulesm published by D' Achery Thus the Legantine Power in the Diocess of Ausch was given after the year 1102 to William Archbishop of Ausch as De Marca shews on the Council of Clermont What I have just now observed is so certain that Mezeray hath publickly own'd it in his Chronological Abridgment From the time of the 8 th Century the Popes found ways to lessen the Power of Metropolitans by obliging them by the Decree of a Council held at Mentz by St. Boniface which forced them to receive the Pallium at Rome and to subject themselves and be canonically obedient in all Points to the Church of Rome which Profession was afterwards changed into an Oath of Fidelity under Gregory VII They also attributed to themselves excluding all others the Power of annulling the Spiritual Marriage which a Bishop contracts with his Church and to give him the liberty to espouse another They had extended their Patriarchal Jurisdiction all over the West by obliging the Bishops to take Confirmation from them for which they paid certain Dues which in process of time were changed into what they call Annates and by taking cognizance of those things which belonged to the Bishops only Nay what is more they had in a manner wholly abolished the Provincial Councils in taking away their Soveraignty by nulling of their Decrees so that these Assemblies were at last wholly left off as useless because they afforded nothing to those who assisted at them save the Displeasure of frequently seeing their Determinations made void at Rome without once hearing their Reasons Gregory VII established it for a Rule of Common Right that no Body should dare to condemn any Person who had appeal'd to the Holy See But they never made a greater Breach upon the Liberties of the Gallican Church than when they introduced this Opinion that no Council could be assembled without their Authority and when after several Attempts to establish perpetual Vicars in Gaul they found the way of having their Legats received there To this purpose they
REMARKS UPON The Ecclesiastical History OF THE Antient Churches OF THE ALBIGENSES By PETER ALLIX D. D. Treasurer of the Church of Sarum IMPRIMATUR August 3. 1691. Z. Isham R. P. D. Henrico Episc Lond. Ã Sacris LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCXCII TO THE QUEEN May it please your Majesty THIS Defence of the Albigenses the Antient and Illustrious Confessors who some Ages ago enlightned the Southern Parts of France is laid down at your Majesty's Feet for Your Protection as well as their Successors do now fly into your Dominions for Relief That Charity which moves your Majesty to protect them by your Gracious Favour and support them by your Royal Bounty makes me presume to offer this Historical Apology to your Sacred Majesty Their Faith was in most things the same with that which our Reformers taught in opposition to the Church of Rome and after all the Endeavours that have been used to blacken them by the most horrid Calumnies as well as to destroy them by the cruellest Inquisitions and Croisades the Innocency of their Lives and the Exemplariness of their Deaths makes them to be justly gloried in as the true Authors of the Reformation It was from them that this Church now so happy in your Majesty receiv'd the first Beams of that heavenly Light which it now enjoys and which it of late maintained with such vast Advantages that it is deservedly esteemed the chief Body as well as the justest Glory of the whole Reformation The Persecutions of those earliest Restorers of the Doctrine of Jesus Chirst drove them out of their Country and forced many to fly into this Kingdom for shelter who brought with them the first Seeds of those Truths which have since yielded so plentiful an Encrease There is nothing in this History that will either strike or charm Those true Disciples of their crucified Master were considerable for nothing but the Purity of their Doctrine the Innocency of their Lives and the Patience as well as the Constancy of their Sufferings But the Glories of this World which surround your Majesty do not darken or lessen in your Esteem these distinguishing Characters of the Religion of Christ our Saviour and of those his Suffering Members in whose Afflictions you are pleased to take so great a share that you do very much diminish their own sense of them and make them so much the easier by those vast Supports you give them May that God who has raised up your Majesty to support Religion and protect its Confessors in their lowest Circumstances and who has so miraculously preserved and prospered the King and your Majesty in Opposition to the Enemies and Persecutors of his Truth still pour down the richest of his Blessings upon your Majesties May You perfect what You have so gloriously begun May You be Long Great and Happy here and infinitely Greater and Happier for ever These are the daily Wishes and most earnest Prayers of May it please your Majesty Your Majesties most Dutiful most Faithful and most Obedient Subject PETER ALLIX THE PREFACE IT was no hard matter for us to justify the Waldenses from the Accusation of Schism which the Bishop of Meaux thought fit to charge upon them for by shewing the Antiquity Purity and Succession of those Churches I have made it appear that what the Bishop calls Schism ought in Justice to be look'd upon as a vigorous Opposition to the false Worship and Usurpations of the Romish Faction and by consequence that there is no more reason to call the Waldenses Schismaticks because of their refusing Subjection to the Pope and rejecting the Errors of the Church of Rome than there is to call the Church of England Schismatical for the same Reasons But it is so long since the heads of the Church of Rome have founded their Design of an Universal Monarchy and so have fitted their Stile to their Pretensions that it is now become a very familiar thing with them to treat those as Rebels and Schismaticks who will not submit to their Authority so that we need not wonder if they who have espoused the Interest of the Church of Rome and who defend her against the Protestants do boldly charge those with Schism against whom they write without giving themselves the trouble of proving their Charge Nay perhaps we are to think our selves obliged to the Bishop of Meaux who raising himself a little above the common Method of the Doctors of his own Communion has limited himself to accuse the Waldenses of Schism only whereas he might with as much reason have charg'd them with Heresy if he had followed the Writers of Controversy of his own Party or the Legends of the Saints of his Communion For it is certain that the Writers of Controversy in the Church of Rome and those who have writ the Lives of those Inquisitors that have been canoniz'd have never look'd upon the Waldenses as any other than Manichees so thorowly rooted is the Spirit of Calumny in the Members of that Church the Character of Father of Lies being very necessary to support that of Murtherer honourably whereof they have been in Possession so very long I cannot tell whether the Bishop of Meaux has forgiven himself for his Tenderness towards the Waldenses whom he only treats as Schismaticks For seeing one Day informs another and that thus Men come to refine their Notions to the utmost who knows but the Bishop who when he writ his Book of Variations had only obscurely hinted that to accuse the Pope of being Antichrist was a Character of Manicheism who knows I say but that now he sees so clearly that the Waldenses have formally declared that the Pope is Antichrist he will not a-new make them Manichees once more the better to accommodate himself with the Maxims of his New System If he should not do it himself to avoid the shame of being guilty of a Variation at least it 's very obvious to believe that some of those who are engaged with him in the same Cause will not fail of taking that Course and therefore I am glad I have prevented him by showing that the Waldenses were no Manichees though they took the Pope to be Antichrist Be it as it will I hope it will not be harder for us to justify the Albigenses from the Accusations brought against them by the Bishop of Meaux He uses his utmost Endeavours to maintain a most abominable Calumny raised by his Predecessors and strives by representing the Albigenses as a People who had revived the Errors of the Manichees to make them equally odious to those of the Church of Rome and the Protestants of France whom his Violence together with that of his Colleagues have forc'd to take upon them the external Profession of Popery The Jews built the Tombs of those Prophets whom their Fathers slew process of Time having cur'd them of their Fury that enrag'd their Forefathers against the Ambassadors of Heaven
pretended to confirm them by Confessions which the Cruelty of their Tortures have forced from them Neither is it only in this Work of his that St. Irenaeus informs us what in his time was the Faith of these Churches planted in Gaul for he hath left us five Books and Eusebius has preserved for us some Epistles of that ancient Bishop altogether refulgent with the Purity of the Faith delivered by the Apostles 1. St. Irenaeus gives us this for one Character of the Gnosticks that they embraced Doctrines which were not to be found in the Writings of the Prophets or the Apostles Lib. 1. cap. 1. p. 33. And 't is with the same Spirit that he attributes to Hereticks the accusing of the Scripture for being unintelligible without the Help of Tradition whereas he maintains that that which had been preached was committed to Writing by the special Will of God to the end it might be the Ground and Pillar of our Faith Lib. 3. c. 1 2. And that it is to make the Apostles Hypocrites to suppose that they taught some things in publick and others in private whence it appears clearly that when he makes use of Tradition he only does it with respect to those scriptural Doctrines which the Hereticks opposed and whereof they pretended that the Apostles had left the contrary to those that succeeded them Lib. 3. c. 2. 'T is upon this occasion that he alledgeth the Testimony of the Church of Rome founded by the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul as of one that was most known Ad hanc enim Ecclesiam saith he propter potentiorem Principalitatem necesse est omnem convenire Ecclesiam hoc est eos qui sunt undique fideles in quo semper ab his qui sunt undique conservata est ea quae est ab Apostolis Traditio For to this Church because of its more powerful Superiority it behoves the whole Church to come that is the Believers of all Parts for as much as therein the Tradition from the Apostles has always peen preserved by the Believers of all parts It is apparent that whatsoever Design he may have had to raise the Authority of the Church of Rome he makes no other use of it than to make out that it was impossible those Doctrines which the Hereticks gave out for Apostolical should be really so seeing they were unknown to a Church which had had the Apostles and their Successors for her Guides more especially seeing that Church was placed in the very Seat of the Empire which continually drew to Rome a vast number of Believers from all the different places of the Empire from whence they brought not along with them a different Tradition from that which they found in the Bosom of the Church of Rome That St. Irenaeus had no other aim but this is owned by F. Quesnel in his Notes upon the tenth Epistle of St. Leo pag. 809. And this appears evidently because after all that Esteem which he had for the Church of Rome he was not afraid to write to her Bishop very censuring Letters upon the account of his having excommunicated the Churches of Asia that celebrated Easter the fourteenth of the Moon of March as also because he continued in the Communion of those Churches of Asia without being concerned at the Excommunication of the Pope of Rome 2. He reduces the whole Faith of Christians throughout the World to that which we call the Apostles Creed without mentioning so much as a Word of those Doctrines which the Church of Rome has superadded to it pretending to confirm them by Tradition Lib. 1. c. 2. 3. He maintains the Scriptures to be both clear and perfect Lib. 2. c. 47. 4. He rejects the Doctrines which the Hereticks grounded upon the Explication of some Parables maintaining that nothing ought to be established but upon clear and evident places of Scripture Lib. 2. c. 46. 5. It appears by his Writings that Penance at that time was publick without dispensing with Women that were overtaken with the Sins of Uncleanness by which means being exposed to extream Confusion it made some of them abjure Christianity Lib. 1. c. 9. 6. He makes it appear that Caelibat was not yet known in Asia whence these first Christians of the Gauls derived their Original which is acknowledged by the Fevardentius Lib. 1. c. 9. 7. He assigns to the Marcosians the custom of anointing those they received into their Communion with Balm Opobalsamo which shews that at that time extream Unction was not known And we may make the same Observation from his imputing to other Hereticks the anointing of Persons at the Point of Death with Oil and Water Lib. 1. c. 18. 8. He attributes to the Gnosticks the Imitation of the Heathens because they had the Images of Jesus Christ Lib. 1. c. 24. which makes it evident that the Christians had no Images much less that they gave to them any religious Worship And indeed we find him reasoning lib. 2. c. 6. after such a manner as shews that the Christians were yet in full Possession of a Right to reproach the Heathens with all those Absurdities that arise from the Use of Images The same may also be gathered from lib. 2. c. 42. where he divides the Law into two Tables in a manner very different from that of the Doctors of the Roman Church and altogether conformable to the Judgment of Josephus and other Jewish Doctors 9. He makes it appear that he knew nothing of the Separability of Accidents from their Subjects which is the sole Support of Transubstantiation lib. 2. c. 14. 10. He in plain terms â—ejects the Invocation of Angels instead thereof recommending that of our Saviour Jesus Christ lib. 2. c. 57. 11. He asserts that the Blessed Virgin had unseasonable Motions intempestivam festinationem John 2.3 so far was he from believing her wholly free from Sin lib. 2. c. 18. This shews that when he saith cap. 33. Quod alligavit Virgo Eva per incredulitatem hoc Virgo Maria solvit per fidem What the Virgin Eve bound up by her Unbelief that the Virgin Mary set free by her Faith he doth not own the Virgin for the Person that saved Men but his meaning is like that of Hesychius who said speaking of the Women to whom Jesus Christ appeared after his Resurrection Invenêre enim saith he mulieres quod olim amisere per Evam lucrum invenit ea quae damni occasionem praebuerat For the Women found what formerly they lost by Eve she found the Gain who had been an occasion of the Loss T. 15. B. P. p. 823. col 1. And this is the sense likewise of that other Passage of St. Irenaeus which we find lib. 5. c. 19. for though he calls the Virgin Eve's Advocate it plainly appears that he meant nothing else but what is express'd by St. Chrysostom in Ps 44. T. 3. p. 221. Virgo nos Paradiso expulit per Virginem vitam aternam invenimus A Virgin drove us
out of Paradise and by a Virgin we have found eternal Life 12. That he did not believe we ought to have recourse to the Intercession of Saints can be invincibly demonstrated from hence because he did not believe that the Faithful should see the Face of God before the Day of Judgment lib. 5. c. 3. 13. He plainly asserts that the Apostolical Succession is of no Consideration without the Truth of Doctrine Lib. 4. c. 43. so far was he from making it a bar to hinder Believers from examining the Doctrine propounded to them 14. He maintains that the Gates of Heaven were open'd to Jesus Christ because of the Assumption of his Flesh so far was he from believing that his glorified Body could penetrate Bodies Lib. 3. c. 18. lib. 4. c. 66. He asserts that Jesus Christ at his being born opened the Blessed Virgin 's Womb lib. 4. c. 66. which the Church of Rome condemns for divers Reasons And for as much as he holds the Holy Ghost to be the Food of Life lib. 4. c. 75. accordingly he maintains c. 2. lib. 5. that our Bodies are nourished by the Creatures of God received in the Eucharist and that they receive growth by them He distinctly asserts that the Sacrament of the Eucharist as to its Substance consists of Bread and Wine which are the Creatures of God which he receives as Oblations of a different kind from the Sacrifices of the old Testament and indeed in case he had otherwise conceived the matter he would have favoured the Opinion of the Gnosticks who pretending that the Work of the Creation was not the Work of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ could never have lighted upon a more comfortable Doctrine than that of Transubstantiation by means of which the Nature of Bread and Wine would be destroyed by Jesus Christ in the Sacrament and nothing left but the Accidents that is to say meer Fantomes without any thing of Reality L. 4. c. 34 57. In like manner we find him asserting lib. 5. c. 33. that what Jesus Christ gave to his Disciples in the Cup was the Generation or Product of the Vine 15. We see clearly from what Eusebius has preserved of St. Irenaeus that the Variety in observing a Fast before Easter was very great and that there was no Law of the Apostles or of Jesus Christ injoining it every one using it according to his own free Will and Devotion We find also that whatsoever Respect St. Irenaeus had for the Church of Rome he was no more inclined to be led by her sole Authority than St. Polycarp was whom he much commends and if he considered her as an Apostolick Church yet he never attributed to her any Authority over the other Flocks of the Lord. I will not dissemble that St. Irenaeus seems somewhat at a loss about the state of Believers after Death but to this it is sufficient to say 1. That we find in St. Irenaeus an Abridgment of the Faith almost in the same form that we find it in the Apostles Creed as it is called 2. That if we do not agree to all the Opinions of St. Irenaeus about the State of Souls after Death 't is certain that the Doctors of the Church of Rome do at least reject as many Articles as we do yea and more too From what I have said we may however perceive what was the State of the Christian Religion in Gaul a little after the middle of the second Century which is the time wherein St. Irenaeus lived and flourished I wish I could produce for the following Century as Authentick a Witness concerning the State of the Churches in this part of Gaul but indeed though there were diverse famous Writers whose Works are cited by St. Jerome yet there is in a manner nothing of them left to us I know there are some who believe that Victorinus was Bishop of Poictiers in the third Century but this is not found true for it is certain that he was Bishop of Passau Patavionensis and not Pictaviensis so that we must proceed to those who can inform us of the State of this part of Gaul during the fourth Century CHAP. III. The Faith of Gallia Aquitanica and Narbonensis in the Fourth Century ST Hilary Bishop of Poictiers a famous Confessor in the Persecution which the Arians stirr'd up against the Orthodox can afford us much Light concerning the State and Faith of these Diocesses This great Man was married as he who published his Works at Paris owns after the famous Baptista Mantuanus observing that the Law for the Celibacy of the Clergy was not yet introduced and that before that time as St. Jerom expresseth it they rather made choice of married Persons than unmarried because the former were judged more proper for the Functions of the Holy Ministry But this is not the only Article wherein he differ'd from Popery as well as the Church of Aquitain 1. He counts the Canonical Books as we do and plainly holds them for Apocryphal which we reject as we find in the Preface to his Commentary upon the Book of Psalms 2. He lays it down for an Error and piece of Impiety to look upon the Scripture as imperfect in Psalm 118. Lit. Vau. 3. He asserts that Ignorance is not capable of excusing Men seeing the Scripture is proposed to us as the Rule of our Faith and Manners Non habet veniam ignoratio voluntatis quia sub scientiae facultate nescire repudiatae magis quam non repertae scientiae est reatus Ob id enim longe à Peccatoribus salus quia non exquisierint Justificationes Dei Nam utique non ob aliud consignatae literis manent quam ut ad universorum scientiam notionemque defluerent Ignorance of the Divine Will gives no Excuse because to be ignorant when we may learn makes us guilty of rejecting Knowledg rather than missing of it For therefore is Salvation far from Sinners because they search not after that which justifies before God and which indeed is for no other reason preserv'd in Writing but that it might be derived to the Knowledg and Understanding of all This is a Stile and these are Maxims very different from those of the Church of Rome 4. He affirms that we are to be ignorant of whatsoever the Scripture doth not teach us and after having asserted that it is the Character of Hereticks to conceal the Holy Scripture fol. 204. he maintains that it is another Mark of Heresy to believe beyond what the Gospel teacheth us Tu qui ultra Evangelium sapis necesse est ut aliis alibi arcanorum doctrinis cognitionem Paterni nominis adeptus sis Thou who art wise beyond the Gospel it must needs be that thou hast elsewhere by other secret Doctrines attained the Knowledg of God the Father fol. 132. 5. He asserts that it was the Will of God that the Scripture should be plain and clear Quantae enim potuit Dominus verborum simplicitate
judging but with a necessity of believing which form the Apostle himself delivered saying Quench not the Spirit despise not Prophecies try all things hold fast what is good abstain from every Appearance of Evil. Which is absolutely false if an infallible Principle has continued in the Church whether in the Person of the Pope or in Councils or that we must of Necessity explain Scripture according to the Sense of the Fathers as the Church of Rome has defined 2. We see with what force he maintains the Canons of the Gallican Church against the Contempt which some cast upon them because they had been made without the Pope's Concurrence 3. We do not find that in his time they applied to the Blessed Virgin the Words of the first Promise by reading Ipsa tuum conteret caput She shall bruise thy Head for he reads Ipse tuum He shall bruise c. when he disputes against Felix Bishop of Vrgel 4. He maintains in the same place that the Notion of a Peoples being without Sin who yet confess themselves to be Sinners out of Humility is pure Pelagianism That if this is the Property of humble Saints why then doth John the Apostle say If we say that we have no Sin we deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us but if we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins Who if like you he had been inclined to have not mean but great Thoughts of himself he had whereof he might glory because he lay in the Bosom of his Lord and was beloved of him above the rest of his Disciples James the Apostle also saith In many things we offend all which if any shall imagine not to be spoke in Truth but by way of Humility let him know that therein he follows Pelagius 5. He plainly declares that our Communion in the Sacrament is the same with that of the Believers of old when he applies that Passage of the 1 st to the Corinthians chap. 10. ver 1 and 2. of the drinking of the Holy Ghost and maintains in these terms that there is no other Difference between the Believers of the Old and New Testament but this That the great Sacraments of Salvation which are wrought by the Mediator for us and for them save us as being already past but them as yet to come because we believe and hold what is past they believed and held what was to come they held them only in their Minds as Figures of future things but we in an open Profession Vows and Declaration of things past under the Signification of sensible Sacraments as those two who carried one Cluster of Grapes upon a Staff did indifferently do the same Work only that the one of them had it behind his Back and the other before his Face I should be obliged to transcribe his whole Book against Pictures and Images if I should go about to extract all that it contains in Opposition to the Opinions of the Church of Rome It will be sufficient for us to observe that the Romish Index Expurgatorius hath forbid this Book as well as the rest till its Errors be expunged and indeed it did deserve no less for it maintains according to the Doctrine of St. Augustin that we ought not to adore any Image of God but only that which is God himself even his eternal Son and that it is a piece of Folly and Sacriledg to vouchsafe any Worship to Images and to call them Holy as the second Council of Nice had done He refutes the Excuse of the Council of Trent which only considers those as Idolaters that attribute something of Divinity to the Image He maintains it to be mere Paganism to have Images for any other use than that of a Memorial and at the same time asserts that Images are of as little Use and Advantage as the Picture of a Mower or of some Hero in Armour can advantage a Mower or Souldier who looks upon those Pictures In a Word he speaks exactly like a true Iconoclast for after he had said that it was impossible any longer to bear with the Abuses against which he had taken Pen in hand he adds From whence we may plainly infer that if Hezekiah a Godly and Religious King brake the brazen Serpent made by God's express Command because the mistaken Multitude began to worship it as an Idol for which his Piety was very much commended much more religiously may and ought the Images of the Saints they themselves approving it be broken and ground to Pouder which were never set up by God's Command but are absolutely human Inventions But besides this there are four other Articles which are as disrelishing to the Church of Rome as these 1. He maintains that there is no other Mediator between God and Men save Jesus Christ God and Man which he proves by the Authority of St. Augustin de Civ Dei l. 9. c. 15. 2. He looks upon those as worthy to be anathematized and excommunicated from the Church of God who should undertake to dedicate a Church to the most excellent of Saints or Angels If any of us saith he should make a Temple of Wood or Stone to any though the most excellent of Saints we ought for doing that to be anathematized from the Truth of Christ and from the Church of God because by so doing we should give that Worship to the Creature which is only due to the Creator 3. Having given a Relation of the manner how the Faithful gathered up the Bones of St. Polycarp and interr'd them in a place where they intended to meet and celebrate his Memory to encourage Believers to imitate the constancy of that Martyr he declares that all manner of Worship or Honour done to them over and above this is unlawful religious Worship being due to God alone 4. He proves that his Judgment concerning these Points is founded upon the Example of the antient Doctors up-their Opinions and upon the Book of the Sacraments of the Church of Rome that it was the ground of the antient Doctors of the Church who rejected the Worship which the Arians gave to Jesus Christ as idolatrous tho they owned him to be no more than a Man The Reader needs not take much pains to apprehend why Rome thought fit to condemn these Books of Agobardus tho he may be at a loss how it comes to pass that notwithstanding all this he is at this day held for a Saint and publickly ador'd at Lions under the Name of St. Agobo This is a Riddle which has strangly perplexed the Learned Jesuit Theophilus Raynaldus as well as le Cointe in his Annals of the Church of France But he is not the only Person that has oppos'd the Belief and Worship of the Church of Rome and is publickly ador'd by her I have another Author to produce who gives us so clear an Idea of the belief of this Diocess wherein he was born
who upon several Attaques maintained the Interest of Truth against Paschasius and his Followers it will be our Business to represent how far these Disputes were serviceable in hindring the Opinions of Paschasius from getting the upper-hand in the Diocesses of Aquitain and Narbon and how this prepar'd their Minds for a Separation from the Church of Rome Never was any Man so often condemned as Berengarius never was any Man more back'd than he nor ever did any Man give more trouble to those who endeavour'd to crush him than he did An Author of the 12 th Century hath writ a Book Concerning Berengarius 's manifold Condemnation and Mabillon hath taken care to collect the Names and the Times of all those Assemblies wherein he was condemned but withal we may assert that the Reasons and Authorities he produc'd gave his Enemies a terrible deal of Trouble His Adversaries have employ'd their utmost Efforts to abolish the Memory of his Works but a sufficient part of them have been preserv'd by their own care to enable us to judg of the Injustice of their Calumnies against him and of the Purity of his Faith in the Matter of the Eucharist And for as much as he was of considerable use to the Albigenses in their opposing of the Doctrine of the Carnal Presence which the Faction of Paschasius and his Followers endeavoured to introduce and establish under the shelter and favour of that gross Ignorance which reigned at this time I suppose I may affirm that his Works whereof Lanfrank hath given us an Extract were of no small Service to oblige those who undertook his Defence to separate themselves from the Communion of the Pope or rather to hinder him from subjecting them to his Yoak seeing it was at this very time that the Popes began to make them selves Masters of the Churches of the West It will be of great moment to prove that the Popes had not as yet made themselves absolute Masters of this Part of the Church which was always careful to maintain its Rights against their Encroachments and Usurpations My intent therefore is to employ the following Chapter upon this Subject before I proceed to enquire how the Faith was preserved in these Diocesses in the next Age when they refused to submit themselves to the Authority of the Popes of Rome CHAP. XII That these Diocesses continued independent of the Popes until the Beginning of the Twelfth Century I Acknowledg that were the business to be decided by the modern Pretensions of the Popes of Rome to the Empire of all the Churches of the World and in particular to a Patriarchate over all the Churches of the West we should be forced to own that they had been subject to them ever since the time that the Gospel was first preached in Gaul in both these respects They have made it their business to persuade Mankind that the whole World is but the Pope's Parish and that more particularly the Churches of the West which have been founded by their Ancestors who sent them the first Preachers of the Gospel do belong to their Patriarchate as if these Envoys of the antient Popes in their Endeavours to propagate the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the World had design'd to establish the Papal Empire over all the New Conquests that they acquired to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ But notwithstanding all these new-found Claims and Pretensions of the Popes we can prove that nothing can be imagin'd more vain or more destitute of any Ground or Foundation than they are For it is not true that those Churches which have received the Gospel from another are therefore subject to it as we can demonstratively evince by the Examples of the Churches of Vienna and Lions which were founded by Persons sent from the Churches of Asia upon which account it was that St. Irenaeus sent them a Relation of the Persecution they suffered Neither is it true that the antient Popes how careful soever otherwise they might be to promote their own Authority did ever pretend to be the Patriarchs of all the West or of Gaul in particular This is a Truth we can unanswerably prove by the Testimony of the first Council of Nice which assigns no other Jurisdiction to the Pope save that which he enjoyed in those which Rufinus calls the Suburbicarian Regions and which the Learned Men of the Church of Rome at present own to have been comprehended within the ten Provinces of Italy to which the Papal Ordination did belong as we see it was under Honorius and which were distinguish'd from the Diocess of Italy properly so called that is to say the seven Provinces which constituted the Diocess of Milan This Canon therefore looks upon it as a thing not to be questioned that Gaul was a Diocess distinct from that of the Popes having its Authority within it self governed by its own Synods without having the Ordination of its Clergy the Determination of its Affairs or the Authority of its Assemblies subjected to the Pope's Authority as their Superiour If we had not this Canon of the first Council of Nice which distinctly determines the Pope's Diocess yet would it be very easy to prove it by other Arguments such as these 1. We find that the Churches of Gaul convocated a Synod upon the contest about Easter towards the end of the 2 d Century without receiving any Orders from Pope Victor for so doing 2. We find that when the Donatists were condemned by the Pope they desired the Emperor that they might be judged by the Bishops of Gaul and accordingly we find that Marinus Bishop of Arles presided in the great Council of Arles in the year 314 at which were present 83 Bishops twenty One of Italy eleven of Spain eleven of Africa five of Britain and thirty five of Gaul Since the Council of Nice we find the Churches of Gaul governing themselves with the same Independency under the Conduct of their several Metropolitans We are to observe in general that these Churches had their peculiar Code of Canons made by themselves and that these Canons continued to have the force of a Law till the 8 th Century when their Discipline began to receive a great Alteration by the cares of Bonifacius Bishop of Mentz and his Successors This is amply proved by Justel in the Preface to his Collection of the antient Canons Now it is visible that a Church which had its particular Rules could not be dependent on the Pope whose Diocess had its own particular Rules and Canons We can truly affirm that the Bishops of Gaul were so far from acknowledging the Pope as their Patriarch that his Name was not so much as ever recited in the Churches of Gaul till the year 529 as may be clearly collected from the Council of Vaison where it was first determin'd that the Pope should be mention'd in their publick Prayers And indeed if we enquire into the constant Conduct of the Bishops of Gaul throughout
the one ignorant and loose who were a sort of Manichees the other more learned and remote from such Filthiness who held much the same Opinions as the Calvinists and were called Henricians or Waldenses though the People ignorantly confounded them with the Cathari Bulgarians c. Mezeray had spoken more exactly had he said That the People were abused by the Bishops and Clergy who purposely confounded the ancient Followers of Peter de Bruys and Henry with the Manichees and Cathari to make them odious CHAP. XV. That it doth not appear from the Conference of Alby that the Albigenses were Manichees HAving thus justified Peter de Bruys Henry and his Disciples from the Imputation of Manicheism which the Bishop of Meaux has endeavoured to fasten upon them We will yet further endeavour to clear this Point by examining the Conference of Alby from whence the Bishop thinks that he has drawn a solid Argument to confirm his Imputation Let us see how this Conference is related by Roger Hoveden in his Annals upon the Year 1176. It was in this Year that the Arian Heresy was condemned which had well nigh infected all the Province of Tholouse There were saith he certain Hereticks in the Province of Tholouse who called themselves the Good Men they were supported by the Militia of Lombez and preached and taught the People contrary to the Christian Faith professing themselves not to own the Law of Moses nor the Prophets nor the Psalms nor any part of the Old Testament nor the Doctors of the New Testament save only the Gospels and the Epistles of St. Paul with the seven Canonical Epistles the Acts of the Apostles and the Revelation Being question'd concerning their Faith proceeds he and concerning the Baptism of Infants and whether they were saved by Baptism and concerning the Body and Blood of our Lord where it was consecrated or by whom and who were those that received it and whether it were more or better consecrated by a good Man than by a wicked Man and concerning Marriage if a Man and Woman could be saved that knew one another carnally They answered That they would say nothing of their Faith nor of the Baptism of Infants neither were they obliged to say any thing of those Matters Concerning the Body and Blood of our Saviour they said That he who received it worthily was saved and that he who received it unworthily procured his own Condemnation Concerning Marriage they said that a Man and Woman join themselves together to avoid Fornication as St. Paul saith They also declared many things without being questioned as that they ought not to use any Oaths whatsoever as St. John said in his Gospel and St. James in his Epistle They said also that St. Paul had foretold that they ought to ordain Bishops and Priests in the Church and that if these Orders were not conferred upon such as he there commands that then they were neither Bishops nor Priests but ravening Wolves Hypocrites and Deceivers who loved the Salutations in the Market-places the first Places and the first Seats at Feasts who love to be called Masters against the the Commandment of Jesus Christ who wear white and shining Garments who wear Rings of Gold and precious Stones on their Fingers which their Master never commanded them Accordingly they maintained that since the Bishops and Priests were like to those Priests who betrayed our Saviour Jesus Christ they ought not to obey them because they were wicked After divers Reasons alledged on both sides in Presence of the Bishop of Alby they chose and setled Judges on both sides with Consent of the Bishop of Alby After this Roger Hoveden observes that the Prelates cited divers Authorities out of the New Testament for these Hereticks saith he would not be determined but by the New Testament and that afterwards the Bishop of Lions pronounced the definitive Sentence drawn from the New Testament in these terms I Gislebert Bishop of Lions at the Command of the Bishop of Alby and his Assessors do judg that they are Hereticks and I condemn the Opinions of Oliver and his Companions where-ever they are And we judg this from the New Testament I bring therefore for this Reason Proofs to confirm the Divinity of the Old Testament drawn from the New and thereby oppose these Hereticks because they owned that they received Moses the Prophets and the Psalms only in those Particulars which Jesus and his Apostles had by their Testimony approved and not in others whereupon he maintains with reason that if an Instrument or Testimony in Writing is allowed of in one part the whole must needs be owned or else wholly cast aside In the second place saith he We convict them and judg them to be Hereticks by the Authorities of the New Testament for we say that he has not the Catholick Faith who doth not confess it when he is required and when it is exposed to any Danger whence it is that our Lord in the Acts of the Apostles saith to Ananias speaking of Paul For he is to me a chosen Vessel to carry my Name c. These Hereticks also boast themselves that they do not lie whereas we maintain that they lie manifestly for there is Deceit in holding ones Peace as well as speaking wherefore also Paul boldly resisted Peter to his Face because he gave way to the Circumcised In the third place saith he We convict and judg them to be Hereticks by the Authorities of the New Testament for we say that God will have all Men to be saved c. After which he produces the Proofs for Infant-Baptism and solves the Objection taken from Infants wanting Faith without which it is impossible to please God We say that it is by the Faith of the Church or of their God-fathers as the Man sick of the Palsy was healed by the Faith of those who presented him and let him down thorow the Tiling of the House In the fourth place saith he We do convict and judg them as Hereticks by the Authorities of the New Testament because the Body of our Lord cannot be consecrated but by a Priest be he good or bad which he proves because Consecration is made by the Words of Jesus Christ Moreover he proves that the Consecration of the Body of our Lord must be celebrated in the Church and by the Ministers of the Church only whose Authority he asserts from Passages of Scripture Clerks therefore and Lay-men pursues he must be obedient for God's Sake to these Priests Bishops and Deacons be they good or bad according to what our Lord saith The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses's Chair whatsoever therefore they say do ye but do not according to their Works for they say and do not In the fifth place We convict and judg them to be Hereticks by the Authority of the New Testament because they will not own that Man and Wife if carnally joined can be saved and yet they are wont to preach in publick that
Hierosolymis adorabitis Patrem Sed venit hora nunc est quando veri adoratores adorabunt in Spiritu Veritate Item Si locus facit ad Orationem cur Heremitae antiquitus in locis abditis habitantes Ecclesias non habebant Cur etiam Sacramenta effectum suum habent etsi non celebrantur in loco qui dicitur Ecclesia Item quid operantur Parietes ad supplicandum ei qui ubique est cum in uno loco non magis sit quam in alio Christum etiam in montibus locis desertis legimus orasse non in locis orationi dedicatis Item estne fructuosior oratio quae fit in Templo quam illa quae fit in agro si par fuerit devotio There be some who affirm that the Church is not a material Place but an holy Assembly of Believers for say they Place is not of any concern to Prayer because as God is every where so he may every where be worship'd and pray'd to This they endeavour to prove by the Authority of Christ saying to the Samaritan Woman Woman believe me the hour comes when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor at Jerusalem worship the Father but the hour comes and now is when the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth Again If the Place be any furtherance to Prayer why had not the Hermits of old who liv'd in desert Places their Churches to pray in Or how can the Sacraments be of any efficacy when they are not celebrated in the Place call'd a Church Again What do Walls help us to pray to him who is every where and not more in one Place than he is in another We read also that Christ went aside to Mountains and desert Places to pray and not to Places appointed for Prayer Again Is the Prayer that is perform'd in the Church of more efficacy than that which is offer'd up in the Field supposing the Devotion of both to be alike Against the Prayers that are made to Saints they objected as follows Dicunt etiam Heretici quidam Orationes Sanctorum non prodesse vivis nec vivorum orationes mortuis probare etiam videntur quod Sancti non orant pro vivis qui sciunt qui sint salvandi vel damnandi pro illis autem quos sciunt salvandos non orant quia superflua esset eratio quia sive orent sive non salvabuntur Si vero orarent pro damnatis non assequerentur quod petunt ita beati non essent beatus enim est cui omnia optata succedunt Item Quilibet judicabitur secundum opera sua non aliena merita nec pro alienis meritis reddetur ei ideo orationes Sanctorum non prosunt vel quantum ad meritum vel quantum ad praemium quia non augent merita vel praemia Item Sancti non sunt in loco merendi sed recipiendi ergo orationibus nec aliis bonis merentur sibi vel aliis Item In Evangelio Lucae legitur Quod Abraham dixit animae Divitis quae erat in inferno Magnum Chaos firmatum est inter nos vos ubi Chaos nihil aliud vocavit nisi dissimilitudinem bonorum malorum tantam ut etiam sancti damnatis non compatiantur Si vero non compatiantur nec orant pro eis Some Hereticks also assert that the Prayers of Saints are of no use to the Living nor those of the Living to the Dead That the Saints do not pray for the Living they prove thus Because the Saints knowing who shall be saved and who damned they can not pray for those they know shall be saved since their Prayers would be superfluous seeing whether they pray or no they will be saved but should they pray for those that shall be damned they would not obtain what they pray for and so would not be happy for he is only happy who has all his Desires Again Every one shall be judged according to his Works and not according to the Merits of another neither shall any Man receive according to the Merits of other Men and therefore the Prayers of the Saints profit nothing either in regard of Merit or Reward because they cannot encrease either a Man's Merit or Reward Again The Saints are not in a Place where they can merit but only where they receive and therefore by their Prayers or other good Works can neither merit any Good for themselves or for others Again We read in the Gospel of St. Luke that Abraham said to the Soul of the rich Man that was in Hell There is a great Gulf fixed between us and you where by Gulf he means nothing else but the Disagreement there is between the Good and the Wicked which is so great that the Saints are neither sensible nor have any compassion for the Damned now if so neither can we suppose that they pray for them At last He attributes to some of them the Belief that it is unlawful to eat Flesh upon very ridiculous Grounds but such as have nothing common with the Doctrine of the Manichees It seems to me to be evident from this Book of Alanus 1 st That he owned there were several sorts of Hereticks in the Country of the Albigenses Manichees or Cathari who rejected the principal Articles of the Christian Religion 2 dly Another sort of People who renounced all the chief Doctrines of the Romish Religion which the Protestants rejected afterwards And since he quotes no Author in particular it is obvious to judg that he made but small Distinction of the Nature of the several Objections which he pretends to refute and which he had frequently assigned to the Albigenses in general which without doubt ought not to be attributed but to some of them and which possibly and very probably too was only taken up from the Mouths of the common People amongst them by those who had a Design to expose them CHAP. XVII The Calumnies raised against the Albigenses refuted by the Conference at Montreal THose who will reflect a little upon the Innocence of the Primitive Christians and the horrid Slanders cast upon them will not be much surpriz'd to see the Innocence of the Albigenses attack'd after the same manner The Devil having found this Method succeed in the first Beginnings of Christianity was not so careless of his Interest to forget to employ the same against those who opposed themselves to the Corruptions which he had introduced and which he was willing to substitute instead of the Religion of Jesus Christ He made use of the same Method against those of the Reformed Religion Whoever reads the Writings of the Jesuits shall find that they have accused our Reformers of the same Heresies which the Devil rais'd to put a stop to the progress of Christianity The Jesuit Gauthier alone may be a sufficient Witness hereof in his Chronological Table and we may well say that in this Point he hath at least equaliz'd the Impudence of
Feuardentius if he hath not out done him Why should any Man therefore think strange that the Church of Rome and her Adorers should take the same course against the Albigenses which she practis'd in our days and which she hath not yet left because she believ'd it would not fail of certain Success so prodigious is the Stupidity of the People of her Communion And truly the Managers for the Church of Rome were no less diligent to employ these devilish Artifices against the Albigenses than against us Here are some Instances of it for it is impossible to relate all I begin with some of the more general Articles 1. They accused them of Novelty sometimes supposing them to have been only known since the time of Peter de Bruis or of Henry his Disciple though the contrary be evident from the History of this Church as we have set it down and by the Publick Liturgy which the Papists themselves have published not long since 2. They accused them of being the Disciples of Peter Waldo and from thence rais'd this Accusation that they were only a Company of Lay-men without either Ministry or right to administer the Sacraments whereas it is certain that they had a lawful Ministry and indeed a thousand times more lawful than that of the Church of Rome 3. They accused them in general of being Manichees perhaps because formerly the Priscillianists who were a Branch of the Manichees had had a Party in that Province or near it as Philastrius tells us and of whom some were scattered through Languedock after the year 1010 though indeed the Albigenses disputed against them and solidly confuted them as we are informed by William Puylaurens 4. They endeavour'd to make them own the Opinions and Crimes that were proper to the Manichees by producing false Witnesses to convict them thereof We have an illustrious Example of this in the History of the Earls of Tholouse William Catel Counsellor for the King in the Parliament of Tholouse tells us that two Hereticks whereof the one was called Raymond the other Bennet having appear'd before the Pope's Legate it was witness'd against them that they had been heard to preach that there were two Gods the one good and the other evil that Priests could not consecrate the Holy Host that married Persons could not be saved if they had to do with their Wives that Baptism is not necessary to Infants and many other Heresies which they would never acknowledg notwithstanding all the Witnesses that appear'd against them but said they were false Witnesses and that they believed what the Catholick Religion engageth us to believe But notwithstanding these their solemn Protestations they further object against them all the Consequences of Manicheism as natural Inferences from the former Opinions of which they pretended that they had convicted them by Witnesses This probably was the rise of those fine Controversies we find in Alanus Magnus and other Polemical Writers who copied him 5. They have been charged with forswearing themselves before a Court of Justice without scruple though at the same time they are accused for maintaining that every Lie is a mortal Sin This is done by Alanus who falls upon them very heavily upon that account 6. They are accused of being Arians though Alanus distinguisheth them and that the Popish Priests ought rather to be accused of favouring Manicheism and Arianism than the Albigenses who subtilly disputed against these Heresies But it will be easy to refute these Calumnies by the Conference of Montreal in the year 1206 related by the Monk of Vaux Cernay It was offer'd to the Bishops by the Albigenses under certain Conditions That there should be Moderators appointed on both sides Men of Authority able to hinder any Tumult or Sedition Also that the Place where the Conference was to be might be free and safe for all those that should assist at it Moreover that the Subjects to be disputed upon should be agreed to by joint consent and not to be quitted till they were wholly discuss'd and that those that could not maintain their Opinions by the Word of God should be look'd upon as overcome The Bishops and Monks accepted of all these Conditions The Place they agreed upon was Montreal near Carcasson in the year 1206 the Moderators agreed on on both sides were B. of Villeneufve and B. of Auxerre for the Bishops and for the Albigenses R. de Bot and Anthony Riviere Arnoldus Hot the Pastor of the Albigenses accompanied with those that were thought fit for this Action appear'd first at the Place and Time assigned and afterwards came the Bishop of Ozma and the Monk Dominic a Spaniard with two of the Pope's Legats Peter Castel and Radulphus de Lust Abbot of Candets P. Bertrand Prior of Anterive as also the Prior of Palat and several other Priests and Monks The Theses propounded by Arnoldus were That the Mass and Transubstantiation were the Invention of Men and not the Ordinance of Jesus Christ or his Apostles That the Church of Rome was not the Spouse of Christ but the Church of Confusion drunk with the Blood of the Martyrs That the Polity of the Church of Rome was neither good nor holy nor established by Jesus Christ Arnaud sent these Propositions to the Bishop who demanded a Fortnight to prepare his Answer which was granted At the Day appointed the Bishop fail'd not to appear with a large Writing whereupon Arnaud Hot desired leave to be heard upon the Spot extempore declaring that he would answer all the Particulars contained in the said Writing desiring the Auditors not to be tired if he took up some time in answering so long a Discourse they promised he should be heard with Attention and Patience without the least Interruption He discoursed at several Hours for four days together with so much Admiration of the Assistants and Dexterity on his Part that all the Bishops Abbots Monks and Priests could have been willing to have been farther off for he deduced his Answer according to the several Points laid down in that Writing with so much Order and Perspicuity that he made his Auditors perceive that though the Bishop had writ much yet he had concluded nothing that could be made use of to the Advantage of the Church of Rome against these Propositions This done Arnaud demanded that since the Bishops and he stood ingaged to one another at the beginning of their Conference to prove their Assertions by the Word of God alone the Bishops and Priests might be commanded to prove the Authority of the Mass as it was sung in Churches piece by piece that it was instituted by the Son of God and sung in the same manner by his Apostles beginng at the Introit as they call it to the Ite missa est but the Bishops could not prove that any of those Parts had been instituted for that Purpose by Christ or by his Apostles Here it was that the Bishops were covered with Shame and Regret for Arnaud
same Charity which we commonly make use of when we speak of the Ancienest Fathers of the Church But this will some object respects only the Lollards of England and cannot be extended to the justifying of the Lollards of Germany who might have been guilty of the Crimes whereof they are accused To this Objection I answer 1 st That since the Lollards according to the Testimony of Kilianus reported by M. du Cange were the same with the Waldenses the Bishop of Meaux hath already drawn up their Apology by maintaining that they differed only in a very few things from the Papists 2 dly That if one should reject the Bishop's Opinion yet sufficient Matter for their Justification may be found in the Writings of the more honest Authors of the Romish Communion such as Aeneas Sylvius and some others without speaking of their own Writings or Apologies whereof we have some few Remnants printed Be it as it will to return to our English Lollards Fox in his Acts and Monuments gives us a Bull of Pope Boniface IX directed to John Bishop of Hereford to oblige him to put King Richard II upon persecuting of them As likewise the Bull sent to King Richard on the same Subject which imports that he had commanded the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to prosecute them with the utmost Rigor and Severity and afterwards sets down the Commission of Richard II for the Trial of one Walter Brute one of that Party He hath also given us the History of the Manner of their being hang'd and burnt by the King's Order in 1414. But because it will be of moment to acquaint the Publick in what Points they chiefly differ'd from the Church of Rome and because there is come into my Hands a Register of some of the antient Bishops of Salisbury wherein are contained many Trials of these antient Christians I thought it necessary to add some of those Trials at the end of this Book faithfully copied from the Original There is no doubt but that there are many of them in the Registers of Canterbury of York and of several other Sees which could demonstrate that the Romish Clergy have never till the very Reformation omitted their utmost Endeavours towards the Extirpation by Fire and Fagot of all those that rebuked them for their Vices and for the Corruption of their Doctrine CHAP. XXIII Of the Doctrine of Wicklef and his Disciples in England BUT whether the Lollards maintain'd the Doctrine of the Albigenses in England or no certain it is that it received new Lustre from the Learning of Wicklef and those who joined with him in the defence of the Truth against the Friars and Court of Rome My Design is not to examine the whole History of Wicklef and of his Disciples to the bottom The Bishop of Meaux hath done his Endeavours to blacken them and to load them with the foulest Calumnies I only say in short that the Bishop did not take the pains to consult what Mr. Wood hath writ on this Subject in his History of the Vniversity of Oxford where he cites the Registers of the University which refute the greatest part of those Slanders that the Romish Party have published against Wicklef However thus much is evident that John Wicklef was the most renowned Man of that Age both for Learning and Piety He had been Educated at the University of Oxford where Scholastical Divinity had establish'd its Empire by the Care of Robert Grosthead John Duns Occam Richard of Armagh and divers others He there publickly profess'd Divinity and was at last made Rector of Lutterworth in Leicestershire where he died peaceably after great and long Troubles which he suffered for the defence of the Truth The Pope had at this time usurped almost the whole Royal Authority and more especially in England where after King John had made himself a Vassal of the Church of Rome under Innocent III the Popes commanded the Kings of England at pleasure We see by the Writings of Herveus Brito who wrote at Paris about the Beginning of this Century where he was Professor that the temporal Power over all the World was directly attributed to the Pope neither did any Kings oppose themselves against it It is well known that the Canonists who had then the Reputation had no other Song in their Mouths but that of the Pope's Divinity his Succession to the Rights of Jesus Christ and consequently his absolute Empire over all the World This we meet with in all their Writings and more especially in those who writ in defence of the Popes against the Emperor Lewis of Bavaria The Friars Mendicants whom Cardinal Albizi did very truly call the Pope's Souldiers had usurped all the Rights of the Secular Clergy and advanc'd their Conquests for the Pope to that Degree that the Authority of the Princes and Bishops signified nothing any longer in England except only when they acted in favour of the Monks From the time of Matthew Paris who gives us so strange a Description of their Insolence and of their Attempts against the Authority of the Clergy things were carried to that height that nothing was any longer able to oppose them Without doubt there was great need of Courage as great as Wicklef's was and Learning too as vast as his to stop so impetuous a Torrent This great Man set himself against it and carried on his Design after such a manner that the Effects and Consequences of it continued to the very Reformation It would take up a Volume to give a particular Account of what he wrote in the Reigns of Edward III and Richard II. I shall content my self to take notice only of some few Particulars and I shall afterwards treat of his Doctrine which diffus'd it self through Germany and brought about a great Reformation there 1. He publickly oppos'd in his Professor's Chair several Errors of the Church of Rome which the Monks and Popes by their Authority endeavour'd to maintain and countenance in which Undertaking he was always back'd by the Body of that University where he had taught so long time 2. He maintain'd his Doctrine by the Favour of the Court and the most illustrious and learned Members thereof and with so great a Satisfaction of the People that Knighton is obliged to acknowledg that one half yea the greater Part of the People owned his Doctrine 3. He had made so great Progress amongst the Clergy that he writes himself that above a third Part of the Clergy were ready to defend his Doctrine with the hazard of their Lives Accordingly he appeared boldly at the Synod of the Archbishop of Canterbury in February 1377 to give an account of his Doctrine where he defended himself with that Vigor that none durst gainsay him He appeared there again the same Year in May neither durst the Archbishop then decide any thing against him And when in the year 1382 they in his Absence condemned some Articles which he maintain'd yet he was there defended by the
Deputies of the University of Oxford who gave a publick and authentick Testimony of his Piety and his Purity in the Faith 4. The University of Oxford had espoused his Quarrel with the Church of Rome so far that after his having been attack'd by a Council at London in 1382 and after having maintain'd his Doctrine from the year 1367 with publick applause his Writings continued recommended by a Decree of the University to all the Students both in the Publick Schools and Colledges and were not forc'd from them till after his Condemnation which happened at the Council of Constance 28 years after his Death We see the Esteem Wicklef had in that University by the Testimony they gave in 1406 against those that endeavour'd to blemish the Memory of this great Man for after they had spoken of his Piety and Probity as of a Thing known to all Men after they had declared that he was a couragious Defender of the Faith they add Qui singulos mendicitate spontaneâ Christi Religionem blasphemantes sacrae Scripturae sententiis catholicè expugnavit That he had in a Catholick Way by Texts of Scripture overthrown all those who by a voluntary Poverty blasphemed the Religion of Christ And since the Romish Party had not at that time a more formidable Enemy than Wicklef they were not wanting to muster all their Forces in order to suppress his Doctrine In the Year 1396 William Woodeford a Cordelier was chosen by Thomas Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury to write against Wicklef's Trialogue which he did accordingly refuting 18 Articles of his Doctrine This Book is printed in the Fasciculus In the Year 1411 Thomas Walden an English-man deputed to the Council of Constance dedicated his Doctrinal to Pope Martin V against Wicklef where he accuseth him of above 800 Errors This Monk as able as he was was really one of the most passionate Disputers that ever writ but withal it is true also that to follow his Measures we can scarcely imagine a more particular Discussion of the Errors Superstitions and false Suppositions which the Church of Rome makes use of to maintain her Errors and false Worship than that which Wicklef made use of In the Account that Walden gives of it we meet with a great Knowledg of Holy Scripture and great Skill in Antiquity whose Authority he makes use of to confound the Romish Novelties we discover there a great strength in his way of reasoning and an extraordinary Method in his Consequences so that he seems to have fully penetrated the Weakness of the Romish Cause and overthrown its whole Foundations One may plainly discover this by running over the Titles of the Doctrinal of Thomas Walden upon Matters of Faith upon the Sacraments upon those which he calls sacramental things or that belong to Sacraments for we scarcely meet with any Articles controverted between the Church of Rome and the Protestants which Wicklef hath not touched and handled and that with sufficient Exactness too This hath obliged the Papists with so much Care to reprint Walden's Works against Wicklef as containing a Body of their Controversies against the Protestants I am not ignorant that Walden objects some very harsh and impious Opinions to him and that the Council of Constance has mingled several of that Nature amongst the 45 Articles of Wicklef which are there condemned But here I must desire my Reader to call to mind four things 1 st That Woodeford hath objected no such thing to Wicklef which shews that he never taught any like Doctrine but that they are only Consequences drawn by a scholastical Divine who was used to carry things too far 2 dly That Walden wrote at a time when the Popish Party had the upper-hand in the Court of Henry V who had condemned the Wicklefites as guilty of high Treason which Walden takes notice of in his Dedication to Martin V. 3 dly That it is very probable that this Catalogue of 45 Articles was drawn up by Walden himself who was present at the Council of Constance on purpose to promote Wicklef's Condemnation 4 thly That the Council of Constance was the first where by publick Consent that Maxim That Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks was ever put in Practice Now let any one judg what Equity or Truth can be expected from Villains of such profligate Principles who think it an Honour to act in every thing according to them After all this I might well excuse my self from setting down the Opinions of Wicklef or from saying any thing for his Justification but I am willing to do both the one and the other for the Honour of this great Man and for the Readers Satisfaction The Opinions of Wicklef with relation to the Doctrine of Protestants are these CHAP. XXIV Of the Calumnies that have been unjustly charged upon Wicklef by the Papists 1. WIcklef owns but 22 Canonical Books of Scripture excluding all the rest which he calls Apocryphal 2. He teaches that the Scripture contains all things necessary to Salvation Forasmuch saith he as in Scripture all Truth is contained it is evident that all Disputes that take not their Rise thence are prophane We are not to admit any Knowledg or Conclusion which hath not its Testimony from Scripture 3. He affirms that every well-disposed Christian may understand the Holy Scripture God hath appointed the common sensible Scripture to the comprehending of the Catholick Sense whereof God can never be wanting because he always enlightneth some particular Men to which Illumination Holiness of Life conduceth very much and it is the Duty of Divines to continue it in our Mother the Church which ought to keep within her Bounds so that it is not lawful for Divines to frame strange Doctrines besides the Faith of Catholick Scripture For which End he lays down several Rules for the Understanding of the Scriptures 4. He asserts that the Scriptures ought to be translated into the vulgar Tongue The Truth of God saith he is not more confined to one Language than to another Jesus Christ delivered the Lord's Prayer in a known Language Why then may not the Gospel and other parts of Scripture be writ in English The Clergy ought to rejoice that the People know the Law of God It was for this Reason that he translated the whole Bible whereof several Copies are still to be found in the King's Library and in several other Libraries in England We may easily know what he thought of Tradition from these Words We have a perfect Knowledg of all things necessary to Salvation from the Faith of Scripture Decrees Statutes and Rites that are added according to humane Traditions are all inseparably sinful because they make the Law of God more difficult to be kept and hinder the Course of God's Word Traditions are hateful to God and the Church except only so far as they are grounded on Scripture Mens own Inventions are chiefly to get Money
they all sound for the Churches Gain 1. See what he saith of the Pope's Authority In Constantine's time the Priesthood was removed and it was not decreed that the Bishop of that Church should necessarily have a Primacy over all others as is here supposed Neither do I believe that any Catholick is so foolish as to believe that when Christ's Vicar writes Let it be done and he who spake the Word and all things were made doth not approve of it he hath any Right to command because of him alone it can be said with Truth So I will and so I command let my Will stand instead of Reason And accordingly he was condemned by the Council of Constance for believing That it is ridiculous to suppose the Pope to be the Highest Priest and that Christ never approved of any such Dignity neither in Peter nor in any one else 2. Of the Power which the Popes assume to themselves over the Temporalities of Kings Wicklef wrote a particular Treatise intituled De Civili Dominio to overthrow their Claims where he speaks thus In Civil Power there cannot be two Lords of equal Authority the one must be principal and the other subordinate We will not subject our King in this matter to him when he bestowing any Mortmain reserves to himself the capital Dominion 3. He did not believe the Pope's Infallibility The Pope may sin as Head of the Church He may sin by Nature having a capital Lord above him There is no doubt but that an Error may be committed in the Election of a Pope and yet more in his following Conversation He may err in Feeding the Churches or in Articles of the Faith Many Popes have been corrupted with heretical Pravity He believed it was probable That all the Bishops of Rome for 300 Years and more before his time were fully Hereticks 4. He made no Difficulty of saying that the Pope was the chiefest Antichrist 1. Wicklef informs us what his Thoughts were of the Church of Rome when he saith It is possible that the Lord Pope may be ignorant of the Law of Scripture and the Church of England may be far truer in her Judgment of Catholick Truth than the whole Church of Rome that is made up of the Pope and Cardinals 2. He maintains that the Church of Rome may err but that this doth not hinder but that the Purity of Doctrine may be preserved in the Catholick Church It is necessary says he That the Catholick Faith be in the whole Mother-Church 3. He did not believe that wicked Men were true Members of the Church and censures those who teach that Men who shall be damned are notwithstanding Members of the Church so joining Christ and the Devil They teachen together saith he that tho Men that shall be damned be Members of Holy Church and thus they wedden Christ and the Devil together he saith that unbelieving and ungodly Men are in the Holy Church by Body not by Thought by Name not by Deed in Number not by Merit As to the Doctrine of Justification it is very plain that he was not of the Opinion of the Church of Rome as these Words shew The Merit of Christ is of it self sufficient to redeem every Man from Hell 't is to be understood of a Sufficiency of it self without any other concurring Cause All that follow Christ being justified by his Righteousness shall be saved as his Offspring He rejects the Doctrine of the Merit of Works and falls upon those which say That God did not all for them but think that their Merits help Heal us Lord for nought that is no Merit of ours but for thy Mercy Lord not to us but to thy Mercy give thy Ioy. As for what concerns the Lord's Supper we find that this great Man did not believe Transubstantiation See how he expresses himself This Bread is fairly truly and really spiritually virtually and sacramentally the Body of Christ as St. John the Baptist was figuratively Elias and not personally As Christ is both God and Man at once so the consecrated Host is the Body of Christ and true Bread at the same time because it is the Body of Christ at least in a Figure and true Bread in its Nature or which signifies the same thing it is true Bread naturally and the Body of Christ figuratively He constantly affirmed that this Doctrine lasted in the Church for a thousand Years till Sathanas was unbound and the People blinded by Friars with the Heresy of Accidents without Subjects 1. He owned but two Sacraments as appears by the 45 th 46 th 47 th and 48 th Articles condemned at Oxford and in the Council of Constance 2. He was against the Use of Chrism in Baptism 3. He maintained that extream Unction was not a Sacrament If corporal Unction were a Sacrament as now is pretended Christ and his Apostles would not have been wanting to declare it to the World 4. His Opinion concerning Confirmation as it is practised amongst the Papists he expresseth thus As for the Oil wherewith the Bishops anoint Children and the linnen Coif that covers the Head it seems to be a vain Ceremony that can have no Foundation in Scripture and that this Confirmation being introduced without any Apostolical Authority is Blasphemy against God 1. He declam'd against the Use of Images with great Earnestness We ought to preach saith he against the Costliness Beautifulness and other Arts of cheating wherewith we impose upon Strangers rather to pick their Pockets than for the Propagation of Christ's Religion The Devil by his Falshood deludes many who sometimes suppose a Miracle to have been wrought when indeed it was nothing but a Cheat. The Poison of Idolatry lies hid in continued Imagination 2. One may see how he distinguisheth Sins Some Sins are called little Sins in comparison of greater and venial because God's Son forgives them 3. He did not own the Necessity of Auricular Confession Vocal Confession made to the Priest introduc'd by Innocent is not so necessary If a Man be truly contrite all outward Confession is superfluous and unprofitable to him 4. He wrote against the Doctrine of Satisfaction The present Pope has reason to blush for the modern Penance established by him without any Ground since it is not lawful for any Mortals no not for the Apostles themselves to make the Law of God difficult beyond what he himself hath limited 5. His Judgment concerning Pardons and Indulgences he expresseth in these Words It is a foolish thing to rely upon the Indulgences of the Pope and the Bishops 6. He gives this Rule concerning Fasting In Works of Humanity we must follow Christ by doing such Works as bear some Proportion with his We must fast 40 Days from Sin and as far as is possible to
speaking of the Power of St. Peter saith That the same is also granted to those who imitate him because all those that follow the Foot-steps of St. Peter can also lawfully bind and loose Lastly It is said in Malachy Chap. 2. I will curse your Blessings And in Ezekiel Chap. 13. Wo to those that quicken the dead Souls and who declare those dead that don't die If God say the Hereticks do curse the Blessing of wicked Pastors and declares that the Souls which they pretend to quicken do not live how can he communicate his Grace through their Channel The ninth Heresy is professed by the same Hereticks who maintain that it is neither the Office nor the Order but only the Merit of a good Life which confers the Power of binding and loosing of consecrating and blessing so that this is their Conclusion the Merit of a good and holy Life say they is of greater Efficacy to confer upon any one the Right of consecrating and blessing of binding and loosing than the Order or Office and therefore they have not received any Orders yet they believe themselves to be just and to have the Merits of the Apostles and so they take upon them to bless as the Priests do and say That they can consecrate bind and loose because it is the Merit and not the Office that confers this Power And because they pretend to be the Apostles Vicegerents they say that their Merit gives them this Charge In this it is that they chiefly oppose the Faith of the Church and declare themselves to be Hereticks But they endeavour to defend their Heresy by the Authority of Esicius who saith That the Priests do not bless by their own Authority but only because they represent Jesus Christ and that it is because Christ is in them that they can bestow their plenary Benediction And they say moreover that not only a Priest but every one that hath Christ in himself and represents him in his Life as Moses did has the Power of conferring Blessings The tenth Heresy is likewise taught by the same Hereticks who maintain that the Dispensations or Indulgences which a Bishop grants at the Consecration of a Church or upon any other occasion are not of any Value Their Reason is this Suppose say they that a Man be obliged to a Penance of three Years at the Consecration of a Church and one Bishop releases him of a third part of his Penance a second and third Bishop may do the like and thus for three Half-pence a Man shall be released of this three Years Penance And which is more these sorts of Dispensations are unjust for there is no Proportion between a Half-penny or a Crown and one whole Years Penance The eleventh Heresy is That the Prayers which are made for the Dead by those who are in any mortal Sin are unprofitable For say these Hereticks how can these Prayers do any Service to the Dead since they can do none at all to those who make them Can Prayers which are hurtful to them that make them be of any Advantage to the Person for whom they are designed Item in 3 q. in gravioribus it is said When a Judg is sollicited for his Favour to a Malefactor by any one that he hath no liking to it serves only to incense him so much the more and to make him pronounce a more severe Sentence So in like manner if any Man prays without Devotion it is the same thing as if he desired his own Condemnation for how can any Man whose very Prayer is Sin obtain by that Prayer any good thing for his Neighbour Or how can he whose Prayer deserves nothing at the Hand of God but Punishment pray profitably for another seeing God saith to the Sinner Psalm 49. What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes or why dost thou take my Covenant into thy Mouth They call also Reason to their Assistance When a Priest say they celebrates the Mass he being in mortal Sin the Action that he doth is evil and deserves eternal Punishment and by Consequence he cannot merit for another the Pardon of his Sins because it is impossible to merit Good and Evil Reward and Punishment by the self-same Action They quote the Canon-Law also which forbids us to assist at the Mass of a Priest who we are sure keeps a Concubine They prove likewise by another Authority that Men ought not to pray or sing Psalms in the Church as long as they are under mortal Sin The twelfth Heresy is of those who deny Purgatory and who say that it is a meer Invention of the Church to make the People give Alms and Offerings and to be at the charge of pompous Funerals for the Souls of the deceased or other things of that Nature I confess he does not mention the Albigenses by Name and that he confounds these pretended Heresies of the Albigenses with others that are much more hainous and some that were peculiar to some few Monks and that he attributes some of them in particular to the Vaudois as if they had been proper to them only But one may justly imagine that this Monk who compiled this Work from the Writings of other Monks or Doctors of the Church of Rome had his Eye upon the Albigenses because he acquaints us that he follows Alanus and that he copies his Arguments Now we know that Alanus wrote against the Waldenses and Albigenses as the manuscript Titles of his Books inform us though like the Author of the Fortalitium fidei he confounds them in his Treatise with the Arians Manichees and other pernicious Hereticks to render the Waldenses and Albigenses suspected of defending all those Heresies which he opposes It may be thought strange perhaps that this Monk did not imitate Alanus in attributing to the Albigenses the rejecting of Transubstantiation and the Consequents thereof but the Wonder will cease if we consider that he designed hereby to deprive the Jews against whom he disputes of an Advantage which they might reasonably draw from some Christians rejecting that Opinion though they owned Jesus Christ to be the Messiah and the Books of the New Testament to be of Divine Authority at the same time and therefore he rather chose to refute the Arguments against Transubstantiation as coming from the Mouths of the Jews than as Objections made by the Albigenses And indeed except the tenth Argument of the Jews against Transubstantiation which supposes the Christians who teach this Doctrine to be no better than brute Beasts as not having Sense enough to know that Jesus Christ being a Jew by Birth could not by the Circumstances of his Institution of the Eucharist intend any thing but a figurative meaning as opposed to a real and that his Apostles being Jews likewise could not form any other meaning in all this Ceremony but such as was figurative there is scarce any other which this Monk hath not borrowed from the Disputes which the Albigenses and Vaudois have held with those
first made use of a Canon of the Council of Sardica which gave them Power to send Legats into the Provinces to examine the Processes and the Depositions of any Bishops in Cases where any complaint was made After that they had thus accustomed the French Bishops to admit their Legats in this Case they by little and little gain'd another Point when the Princes were weak which was to send some amongst them without any Complaint or Appeal at all and at last after they had submitted to the Yoak Alexander II. established it as a Rule that the Pope ought to have the Government and Administration of all Churches Of these Legats some had a whole Kingdom under their Jurisdiction others some part only they came thither with full Power to depose Bishops yea the Metropolitan himself when ever they pleased to assemble the Councils of their District and to preside therein with the Metropolitan but taking place of him to make Canons to send the Decision of those Matters to the Pope to which the Bishops would not give their Consent as likewise all the Acts of the Council whereof he disposed at his Will and Pleasure And it is to be observed that their Suffrages outweigh'd those of all the Bishops together and that oftentimes by their simple Authority they judg'd and determin'd the Causes of the Elections of Bishops of Benefices of the Excommunications of Lay-men and the like Insomuch that these Assemblies which before were so Sacred and so Soveraign for the supporting and maintaining of Discipline having no Power any longer were to speak properly rather Councils to authorize and ratify the Will and Pleasure of the Pope than any lawful or free Councils So that it was not till the Papacy of Alexander II. and Gregory VII that the Churches of Aquitain saw themselves in danger of losing their Liberty by submitting to the Papal Yoak as well as the rest of the French Churches We are now to see how they avoided this Yoak which was thus imposed upon them in some measure CHAP. XIII Of the Opposition that was made by a Part of these Churches to the Attempts of the Popes and of their Separation from the Communion of Rome before Peter Waldo IT is difficult precisely to set down the Year wherein a considerable Part of these Diocesses rejected the Power of the Pope's Legats and lowdly condemned the Errors which they would have introduced under the Name of Councils which the Popes had so often assembled against Berengarius But we have great reason to conclude that it happened under Gregory VII when he undertook to oblige the Bishops of France to swear an Oath of Fidelity to him in much a like Form as Vassals swear to the Lords of the Fee for in reality it is the very same this strange Piece of Novelty which at one Blow destroy'd all the Rights of the Church excited both Pastors and People to defend their Liberties and to reject this imperious Yoak Then it was also that he endeavour'd to change the Common Service of the Church by striking out all that was not agreeable to the Roman Service which was very proper to inflame the Minds of the People and make them more watchful for the Preservation of the Doctrine and Ceremonies of Religion which they had received from their Ancestors For instance It is certain that in the 11 th Century they changed the Collects which concern'd the Prayer for the Dead We have an Example of it that was inserted in the Decretal of Gregory IX 'T is an Answer of Innocent III. to John de Beauxmains Archbishop of Lions who at that time was retired in the Abby of Clairvaux It contains the Question which that Archbishop who was the Persecutor and Condemner of Peter Waldo propounds to Innocent III. together with the Pope's Answer Your Brothership has enquir'd why there was a Change made in the Service of Saint Leo so that whereas the antient Books express the Prayer thus Grant to us Lord that this Offering may be of advantage to the Soul of thy Servant Leo in the modern Books it is exprest thus Grant to us O Lord we beseech thee that by the Intercession of St. Leo this Offering may be of advantage to us To which we answer saith the Pope That since the Authority of Scripture assures us that he doth an Injury to a Martyr who prays for a Martyr we are by a Parity of Reason to judg the same of other Saints because they need not our Prayers as being perfectly happy and enjoying all things according to their Wishes but it is we rather that stand in need of their Prayers who being miserable are in continuable trouble by reason of the Evils that surround us Wherefore such Expressions as these That such an Offering may be of advantage to this or that Saint for their Glory and Honour which we meet with in most Prayers are thus to be understood That it may conduce to this end that he may be more and more glorified by the Faithful here on Earth Though most suppose it a thing not unworthy of the Saints to assert that their Glory is continually encreased until the Day of Judgment and therefore that the Church may in the mean time lawfully wish for the encrease of their Glorification But whether in this Point that Distinction may take place which teacheth us that of those who are dead some are very good others very bad others indifferently good and others indifferently bad and therefore whether the Suffrages of Believers in the Church for the very good are Thanksgiving for the very bad Comforts to the Living for those who are indifferently good Expiations and for the indifferently bad Propitiations I leave to your Prudence to enquire Moreover the Popes Nicholas II and his Successors undertook to defend the Celibacy of the Clergy by which means a great many Pastors were depriv'd of the Functions of their Ministry which obliged also a vast number of them to separate themselves from the Communion of the Pope whose Creatures after the Decree was past for authorizng Celibacy look'd upon the married Clergy to be no more than simple Lay-men not to mention now that the Multiplicity of Schisms and Anti-popes had reduc'd most of the Diocesses of France into a strange Confusion some holding for one Pope others for another But though we cannot assign the precise Epocha of the beginning of this couragious Opposition to the See of Rome which had no other Original but the just Defence of their Liberties and the Desire of preserving their antient Truths yet thus much seems to be certain as far as we can gather from the poor Remainder of Records which the Barbarity of the Inquisitors hath suffer'd to come down to us 1. That this publick Opposition against the Efforts of Popery was made about the beginning of the 12 th Century 2. That without great Ignorance both in History and Chronology it cannot be supposed that the Albigenses were the Disciples of