of thine have accordingly effected the same not doubting but that this light Manual may prove amongst us like the Manna amongst the Jews grateful to every palate but what is tainted and fore-stalled with the Babylonish Cup Yet for the better prevention of mistakes and mis-apprehensions which might happily arise from anything herein related or asserted let it suffice and remember that I am not Author but Translator only save in a few explicatory verbal Additions either noted with an Asterism in the Margent or else included within a Parenthesis in the body of the Treatise Tho. Douglas The PREFACE AS touching the benefit dear Reader which may accrue from what is presented to thee in this Treatise and the Additions made thereunto by a person desirous of thy welfare If so be that God hath vouchsafed thee deliverance from Superstition and Error by perusal hereof thou shalt be confirmed in the profession of the Truth but in case thou art still envassalled under the Yoke of Popery thou shalt hereby be given to understand how far thou art enslaved in that bondage thou shalt see that the opiniative adherence of the Jews to Legal Ordinances the invincible Obstinacy of Pagans in pursuit of their superstitious Ceremonies the vain-curious arrogancy of their Philosophers who have affected at the same time to embrace Christianity and to profound by Humane Reason the more sublime Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven and to discourse the same according to their own carnal sense and apprehension have been the persons that laid the Foundation of external Pomp and of those many Heresies which have molested and do still molest the Church of God Add hereunto that proportionably to the encrease of Ignorance and Barbarism through the inundation of Goths and Vandals and I know not what other Barbarous Nations who quite destroyed all good Literature and the constitution of that savage People wholly consisting either of Pagans or Arrians there ensued hereupon a horrid Medley in Religion But which is yet matter of greater wonder during the time that those Barbarians made havock of the Roman Empire and sack'd it in the West the Bishop of Rome to the end that he might proselyte and bring over to himself the former to wit the Pagans permitted them to intermingle many of their own Superstions with Christianity content that they should only change the names of their false Deities into those of the blessed Apostles or those of the Martyrs or Confessors of the Truth it being ever proper to Error readily to entertain what-ever hath any resemblance or affinity with it self and forasmuch as that Pagan People had an extream Veneration for their Prelates this Bishop who had already attain'd to a great sway partly because of the dignity of the City wherein he had his residence as being esteemed the Head of the Empire and partly in regard of the Title of ARCH-BISHOP acquired in the time of Constantine the Great that he might more firmly keep the hold that he had got assumed to himself not only the proud-swelling Title of Pope but likewise that nothing might be wanting to the accomplishment of Prophetick Predictions his Habits of Purple and Scarlet and Ornaments of Gold and Pearl by the relation of Cardinal Baronius himself Clouis the first Christian King sent a Crown of Gold to Pope Hormisda an 514. and ever from that time forwards their Ambition became illimited the conjuncture of Times the impotency and weakness of the Western Emperours and their own particular Civil Interests having greatly contributed to the erection of Papal Authority And for this reason did that Parracide Phocas who murdered the Emperour Mauritius whereupon he usurped the Empire so frankly conferre upon Boniface III. the title of Oecumenick or Universal Bishop to the end that he might maintain his Authority in Italy by recommendation of this same Ecclesiastical Power which was held with the people by reason of their gross Ignorance and Superstition in marvellous esteem This Pope hereby declaring that he made but slight account of the saying of Gregory the Great his Predecessor mentioned in this Treatise namely That He who should assume to himself the title of Universal Bishop should be the Fore-runner of Antichrist that that name of Blasphemy saith he elsewhere ought to be far from the heart of Christians which robs those who possesse the Priesthood of the honour of the same when another doth vainly affect to challenge it to himself that if we be accessary to the maintaining hereof we by so doing corrupt the Faith of the whole Church because as he adds if there be one only Bishop called Universal the whole Church must needs be ruined in the ruine of that one Universal But the Popes were never tardy in closing with offered advantages nor in engrossing of them upon such fair emergent opportunities their Interests being as hath been observed interwoven and twisted with those of Secular Princes Such was the liberality of Pepin and of the Emperour Charles the Great who upon other considerations bestowed upon them the Lieutenancy of Ravenna and the City of Rome that they were in process of time by them effectually promoted to Temporal Monarchies and Principalities In this so horrible a confusion the title of Archbishop which was given to none but those of Rome Constantinople Alexandria Antioch and Jerusalem as will appear hereafter was assumed by the Bishops of the Metropolitan Cities as succeeding therein to the Pagan Arch-Priests like-as Inferiour Bishops to to their Priests aswell in this that they wore after their example a white Mitre enriched with Gold and Pearl as in that they conform'd to them in the exercise of an exorbitant Power for we blame not herein a lawful and well regulated Title nor yet an external Badge of dignity in the Heads of Order so it be free from worldly pomp and vanity and onely used as matter of Order and Decency according to which the Apostle exhorts that all things be done in the Church But contrariwise so far were they from containing of themselves there that nothing might be wanting to a total depravation their shaven and unmarried Priests have affected to imitate those of the Goddess Cybelleo or those of the Goddess Jeses the Religious have in a manner succeeded the Vestal Virgins their holy Water to the Lustral and it is not improbable that their Purgatory according to the description which those of the Romish Church give us of it hath been likewise devised according to the model of that described by Virgil in the 6th Book of his Aeneides and to the great disparagement of the Christian Religion which we cannot mention without extream condolency have the Images of Saints been substituted in the room of Pagan Idols which in imitation of them they array with sumptuous apparel crown with garlands kiss offer incense to present with Tapers and burning Lamps and after the same example carry about upon their shoulders Insomuch that in stead of
shall therein preside and exercise a Soveraign and Absolute Dominion demeaning himself as if he were God But let us see how the great and famous Lights of Antiquity have expressed themselves in reference hereunto behold how S. Chrysostom speaks in the Temple of God not that which is in Jerusalem but in the Temple of the Churches And Theodoret more particularly The Apostle calls the Temple of God the Churches wherein Antichrist shall possess himself of the first and chief place commanding that he be therein acknowledged for a God But S. Augustin instrusts us herein yet farther Shall his seat be saith he upon the ruines of the Temple of Solomon or rather shall it not be in the Church for the Apostle would never have called the Temple of God the Temple of a Devil and therfore some conceive Antichrist to be a Prince with a great company of attendants and judge that it were more proper to pronounce in the Latin as it is in the Greek into the Temple of God and not in the Temple of God in that he shal be seated as if himself were the Temple of God himself the Church What will this be other then to expel our Lord Jesus Christ his Chair and to deny that he is come in the flesh to be King and Head of the Church to vilify his Priesthood and to deride his sacred Doctrine with a no less then Diabolical Impudency This moreover should be a sign of his coming namely that ten Kings shall begin to reign at the same time having all one and the same Counsel and shall give their Power and Authority to the Apocalyptick Beast which is represented to us drunk with the blood of the Saints and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus and in all probability it is not without some special import that the Holy Ghost doth so plainly distinguish the Witnesses of the Truth into two Bands but that we are to understand by the one those whose blood was shed under the Pagan Emperours by the other those whose blood should be in like manner spilt and poured out under the Tyranical Reign of the grand Enemy of Jesus Christ. His Residence is also noted to be in the great City scituated upon seven Mountains which in St. John's time reigned over the Kings of the Earth which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified in the person of his members and spiritual Babylon which God exhorts his People to come out of lest being partakers of her sins they might likewise receive of her plagues We are informed also that that great Whore should be arrayed with Purple and Scarlet and deck'd with Gold and precious stones having upon her head a name written MYSTERY whereby is insinuated to us that there should be nothing in her but what is altogether secret and mysterious or at least pretended to be such The number of his name 666. is another Riddle in the Mystery of Iniquity which we leave to be read by any that list to undertake it whatever the interpretation of it be whether what Irenaeus others gather from the numeral value and signification of the Greek Characters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Latine or somewhat else Finally This Mother of Fornications is represented to us having in her hand a Golden Cup full of Abominations and filthiness of her Fornication for our further instruction namely that she should propound and obtrude such Doctrines as carried with them some outward decorum a gilded and specious outside and of such an enchanting quality and influence as that all the Kings and People in the Earth shall run after her to drink of this her envenomed Cup And that which obliegeth us to stand more strictly upon our guard is Jesus Christ's prediction that many should come in his Name and say Lo here is Christ or lo there is Christ but that we should not believe it that those Impostors should aspire to teach in his Name and make ostentation of their extraordinary gifts mock-miracles and Exorcisms in casting out of Devils by his Authority to whom notwithstanding he should infallibly say to their everlasting confusion in that great day whereon he is to judg the quick and the dead I never knew you depart from me ye workers of iniquity But behold an Advertisement well-worthy of our most serious consideration which the Spirit of God hath given us in these terms Now the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter times some shall depart from the Faith giving themselves up to seducing Spirits and doctrines of Devils speaking lies in hypocrisie having their consciences cauterized forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created for them which believe and know the Truth to be received with thanksgiving Henceforth a Believer should be greatly deficient to his duty should he not narrowly examine all those Circumstances and Marks of that grand Apostacy and Defection whereof God hath given so accurate and exact an enumeration and arm himself with matter both of Caution â—nd Confidence where-ever he shall chance to meet with them resolving to shun the company of all that bear those Marks in their foreheads or bear any cursed conformity thereunto Christians as many of you as embrace the Faith of a stranger if ye belong indeed to the Flock of the Lord Jesus hearken to the Voice of that good Shepherd and know that his Prophetick Spirit hath not declared those things unto us in vain take occasion from hence to glorifie God who hath made known unto us his Counsels in his Word wherein whatsoever is contained was written for our instruction that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope There be who conceal the truth of those Oracles of God fomenting in you malicious prejudices against such as do in strictness adhere thereunto They tell you that the Word of the living God is no more than a dead letter whereas it is no less than the very Power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth that it is obscure notwithstanding what the Royal Prophet hath taught us namely that it is a lamp to our feet and a light unto our paths and that Man after God's own heart hath employed the greatest part of his Divine Hymns in magnifying of those Celestial Rayes and that Admirable Splendour which is universally refulgent in all its parts They presume moreover to taxit of Imperfection and Insufficiency notwithstanding those glorious surpassing Elogies given it by the great Apostle of the Gentiles S. Paul namely that it is inspired of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction and for Instruction in Righteousness that the man of God may be perfect and thorowly furnished to every good workâ— They alledge that it is not the common peoples part to reade it albeit our Lord Jesus Christ hath said in express terms Search diligently the Scriptures
reproach and obloqâ—y did commonly attend those whose faults were thus displayed to the open view of the whole World they therefore ordered that Delinquents should in the first place consult their Pastor who cognoscing upon the nature of the offence should consider whether it were convenient to declare the same in publick or only to mention it in general without specification of the crime it self There were many also who out of shame shun'd publick confession It came to pass likewise about the Year 260. that when as such as had abandoned themselves to the Apostacy which fell out under the Persecution stir'd up by Decius required to be re-admitted into the Church there were many who withstood their reception alledging that they were not longer capable of re-admission into Her and under that pretence many did separate themselves which made way to the Schisme of the Novatians It was therefore found expedient for avoiding of scandal accrewing to many from publick confessions to change the same into private ones and to that purpose it was decreed that out of their many Pastors they should choose one of a good Conversation a prudent Person and capable of a secret to whom that charge should be committed from thence came the Penitentiaries Howbeit this change happened only at the beginning in the Greek Church for the Western Church retained the Custome of publick confession until the time of Leo Bishop of Rome about the Year 450. Finally whereas publick confession was only of more notorious and enormous Crimes the same being once changed into particular they began to recommend it to practice exhorting the People to confess their very least escapes and defects from the beam to the mote and that more frequently then they were well able to do Now this confession was not of Divine Right nor did Antiquity ever believe it to be such for afterwards to wit about the Year 396. upon occasion of a scandal arising from it it was abolished by Nectorius Bishop of Constantinople that which he would never have attempted had they believed that it was of Divine Institution Neither did it consist in a scrupulous enumeration of all thoughts words and actions which might be accounted faulty for in the Church of Constantinople which was one of the most populous amongst them there was of the whole Clergy but one only Person whose charge it was to receive Confessions which had not been sufficient for so great a multitude had every one been obliged to repair to confession and to render a particular account of all his actions It was not therefore judged needful for obtaining of remission of sin but useful for instruction of the ignorant for consolation to the afflicted for reforming of sinners for resolving of such difficulties as might ripen into a case of Conscience and lastly for counsel to the perplexed Authors of the same Age make mention also of certain Virgins who consecrated themselves to God whereof this is the original The then reigning Persecutions obliged Christians to involve themselves as little as might be in the affairs of the World Now for as much as the liberty of that Profession is frequently fetter'd and infringed with the incumbrances which attend a married state there were many Virgins who with the concurrent advice and consent of their Parents resolved to live in perpetual continency and to joyn themselves with greater strictness then ordinary to Jesus Christ They presented themselves therefore to the Church who with Solemn Prayer recommended them to God and the care of the Poor to them whom they were to succour in their sickness and relieve in their necessities for it was unto such deeds of charity that they devoted themselves But as touching the Vow of Celibacy it was in their own liberty to relinquish that condition when ever it seemed good to them and in case they conceived that they could serve God with greater integrity in a state of Marriage than in that of Virginity the Vows of Continency also were not as yet esteem'd irrevocable We have said that they carried the Eucharist to the Sick and that they administred the same afterwards even to little Children but for as much as those either through infirmity of Body or through tenderness of years could not conveniently receive the Cup they therefore sometimes dipped the Bread in the Wine that so they might receive the whole Sacrament entire for the People both Men and Women did promiscuously communicate under both Signes Now albeit this expedient of soaking or dipping the Bread in the Wine was never practised but in such extraordinary cases yet notwithstanding many affected to make it a general custome introducing it into the ordinary communion of the Church of which usage some Tracts were continued in after time as we shall shew in its proper place Anno 300. c. ABout the Year 300. and afterwards there were many Ceremonies introduced Persecution continued even til then Now behold Emperours who submit their Scepters to Christ's Sheep-hook and throw their Crowns at the Foot of his Cross The Church sprung out of the Ashes of her own Children as yet of a sanguine complexion is received into savour with the great Constantine and hence forth reposing her self under the shade of his Lawrel doth as it were renew her youth she is removed from the Wilderness into Cities from Caves into Palaces from Deserts into Churches and from poverty into plenty and pompous abundance This prosperous change produced divers effects People repaired to the Church in crowdes But yet the simplicity of Christianity did dis-relish many who had still before their Eyes the pomp and magnificence of Paganisme they therefore judg'd it necessary to re-attire Religion with the more splendid and ornamental Ceremonies to the end that through the splendour of her Ornaments she might become the more august and acceptable and like as they had done formerly in compliance with Jews and Gentiles whose only talk was of Sacrifices our Christians gave the Supper the Title of Sacrifice and the Table the Name of Altar Howbeit the Language used then was not meant in that sense which was put upon it afterwards for when ever they mention the Altar they understand the Table which was placed in the midst of the Assembly whereupon they laid the Offerings that were presented by the Faithfull And thus they explain themselves when they speak of the Eucharist Now one of the first occupations that Christians under their respite from persecution busied themselves in was this The Bodies of many of their Martyrs were buried in the wide open Fields or else exposed to the High-ways and their Graves covered with filth and nastiness they began therefore to drag their Bodies out of the places where they were interred and to transport them into Cities in order to a more honourable Sepulture which transportation was performed with some solemnity the whole Church assisting thereat with Singing of Psalms the Coffin covered with a rich Cloath after
notwithstanding the Law-givers themselves the Councils likewise and the most eminent Writers of that Age when they declare the sense of the Church therein affirm that Fasts are matters arbitrary that they appointed certain particular times of Fasting only for order-sake that the reason why some certain meats were forbidden was only to the end that by such austerity they might be the better disposed for the service of God that some being permitted to eat flesh and others prohibited namely such as might by eating scandalize others that prohibition was not as yet framed under pain of a mortal sin or damnation and in effect during the Fast of Lent the Church refrained not only from Flesh but from Wine also which yet many authorize by the example of the Nazarites and consequently this were to urge a rigid Judâ—ical observance But in brief the diversity observed in those days in point of Fasting is considerable for some abstain'd only from the flesh of Land-beasts but did eat of Birds others refrained even from Bread others again would not tast any fruit coming of Trees As touching the times from Easter till Whitsuntide there was not any one Fast day In Greece and Alexandria Lent continued six weeks at Rome only three moreover there were two Days in every week whereupon they did not fast at all to wit Saturday and the Sabbath-Day In other places this Fast lasted but five or six days in some Churches it was alternative and interchangeable they fasting only one week in two now the very diversity used in such observances was a proof of their indifferency which yet was afterwards turned into a necessity and what progress it made we shall quickly see Anno 325. LEt us in the mean time consider what passed in the grand Council of Nice which afforded many Constitutions subservient to the sequel of this History That they might the better preserve a due union amongst the many Churches dispersed into so many several places they found it expedient to reduce them all under certain General Prâ—cincts to which purpose they setled Metropolitans in the more eminent Cities each of whom ought to supervise the Churches within his own respective Jurisdiction Thus the Bishop of Alexandria was entrusted with those of Egypt Lybia and generally of all Affrique the Bishop of Rome with the neighbouring Churches and afterwards with all those of the West those of Antioch and Jerusalem with the adjoyning Provinces This preheminency was conferr'd upon them by reason of the dignity of those Cities wherein they exercised their several Episcopacies Insomuch that Rome being the capital City of the Empire the Bishop thereof did hereupon challenge precedency to all the rest notwithstanding he held his own Diocess and Jurisdiction apart by himself The institution of those Patriarchs founded only upon Custome this Council authorized by Decree whereby they ordained that that Order should be continued consulting therein the maintaining of that dignity to the Metropolitan which they had acquired by Custome To those four a fifth was added afterwards namely he of Constantinople for as much as that City was the Imperial Seat and the Council of Chalcedon held about the year 450. decreed that he should hold the second place as being Bishop of New-Rome that the Bishop of Rome should have the precedency that being the Capital City but that the Bishop of Constantinople should enjoy the same respective primacy and equal Prerogatives for as much as that City had the same Senate the same Badges of honnourary and equal Rites and Privileges with old Rome which we here remark by way of anticipation since it will be needfull that we mention it hereafter In the mean time we must note that in this and succeeding Ages many general Councils were held wherein the Bishop of Rome was never President proof sufficient that the other Metropolitans did not acknowledge him for their Superiour that the name of Pope was common to all Bishops as appeares by divers writings of those times whence it is that amongst Grecians and Germains to this day Priests are called Popes that is to say Fathers according to the ancient signification of the name that all the Patriarchal Churches as having been dignified with the Residence of the Apostles themselves were named Apostolical which Title that of Rome hath ever since retained though common to her with the rest for we must know that the Chair of Antioch in that St. Peter resided there and that of Jerusalem possessed by S. James were entitled Apostolick Seats as well as that of Rome This Council of Nice determined the difference concerning the Feast of Easter and Decreed that all the Churches should Celebrate the same upon one and the same Day namely the Sabbath-Day after the full Moon or middle of March Now for as much as the use of Ephemerides was not so common as it is at this day and Astrology was best known in Egypt they therefore gave it in charge to the Bishop of Alexandria that he should yearly publish to the other Churches the time of Easter-Feast by express Letters which were by them tearmed Paschal Epistles and afterwards for the same purpose the Golden Number was invented howbeit in the judgment of many Mathematicians there be frequent abuses in that Calculation In the same Council there was a Question moved touching the â—elibacy or the unmarried state of Ecclesiastical Persons which many affected to introduce Certain it is that till then marriage was ever reckoned allowable in persons of that capacity only some few there were who soon after the death of the Apostles began to reject the same which yet was no sooner by them attempted than suppressed But about the year 308. in some Provincial Councils the first Laws touching Celibacy were enacted whereof this was the Form They demanded of such as desired to be prefer'd to any Ecclesiastick charge whether they would refrain from marriage or not if they answered yes they were never afterwards permitted to marry but in case they replyed no they allowed that after their Election they might marry but then the Election was for some time defer'd to the end that if possible they might find out some or other who could content himself to live unmarried Now this they did not that they thought marriage was inconsistent with the Clergy but because of the poverty of the Churches as not having means sufficient for the maintenance of the Families of their Pastours and thus they passed to a peremptory prohibition of the same to the end that Church goods might not be distributed amongst their Wives and Children or else lest natural affection to their own flesh and blood might happily hinder or interfere with the functions of their charge This is the only account by their own confession which their Legislatours could ever give hereof which yet hath hitherto been judg'd impertinent since that by the same reason it would follow that all who have Parents or Brothers
rest of them whom God miraculously preserved till this present time in some parts of Provence and divers Valleys of Piedmont being joyned to our Churches from the very beginning of the Reformation They disowned as they do at this day Papal Authority Transubstantiation Purgatory the Invocation of Saints Images Merits Monastick Vowes and all other Opinions which were in like manner rejected by the Reformed Churches of those times they embraced for their only Rule both of Faith and Practice the Old and New Testament their course of life also was simple and unblamable by the very relation of Claudius de Seissel Bishop of Marseilles who in a Book written against them howbeit he terms them mis-led in matter of Doctrine yet nevertheless acknowledgeth that as touching Life and Manners they were without reproach amongst men giving themselves with all their might unto the observance of the Commandments of God And many other sober Writers howbeit their Adversaries also have yet likewise acquitted them though not from all yet at least from the more heinous accusations Amongst whom was the Monk of the Valleys Sernay and James of Riberia who lived in the time wherein the Count de Montfort fomented so cruel a War against them namely in the beginning of the 13th Century so that we might easily gather that as hath been said all the grudge they bore them all the horrid accusations which they devised on purpose to brand them and make them odious all those proceeded from no other cause than that they withstood the Pope and his Innovations and for their animating the people against them Hence also it was that the Popes to the end they might quite exterminate them published divers Croisades after the year 1208 till the year 1243 during which time terrible Massacres were committed there being by the relation of some Historians above two hundred thousand cut off Yet notwithstanding we cannot think that any man of Reason would once imagine that if their colours had been as black as those wherein Rome and the Monks do paint them Alphonsus King of Aragon Raymond Count of Tholouse the Prince de Bearn the Counts de Foix Bigorre St. Gilles Comings Carmain Villemur Vicount de Beziers and Carcassonne and many other Barons and Persons of Honour would ever have upheld and protected them especially the King of Aragon and the Vicount de Beziers who were of a contrary Religion nor that any others would ever have imbraced their Faith therby becoming the objects of publick hatred and exposing themselves to exile and misery Add moreover that the Legats of Pope Innocent III. attended with many Abbots and Doctors of the Romish Communion being assembled to hold a Conference with some of the Pastours of the poor Waldenses and Albigenses the only thing propounded at that Conference upon the part of the said Pastors was these three ensuing Positions 1. That the Masse with Transubstantiation was a meer humane Invention 2. That the Church of Rome was no Church of Christ but a Church of Confusion drunken with the blood of Martyrs 3. That the policy of the Romish Church was nor good nor holy nor over established by Jesus Christ. From whence it is evident that therein lay the very crise and sum of the controversie and the chief controverted points of their Belief which in the year 1281 as appears by an Extract of the Municipal Priviledges of Realmont in Albigeoise was still professed by a great number of persons throughout all those quarters and indeed this prov'd no unfruitful Seminary being that not only the City of Realmont but likewise the whole Province of Languedock and other adjacent places God having in the beginning of the last Century caused his Word as it were to regerminate and sprout afresh yeelded a more goodly and plentiful harvest than that of the other parts of this Kingdom Anno 1315. NOw in this year appeared that great person Arnauldus de Villa Nova Doctor in Medicine and Chancelour of the University of Montpellier well skill'd in the Latine Greek and Arabick tongues for his knowledge in the Liberal Sciences the very wonder of his Age who in many excellent Treatises by him composed doth mightily inveigh against the Errours of the Romish Church he said that he perceived the very face of Antichrist in the Papacy and the order of Monks That Divines have wickedly confounded Philosophicall Dreams with sacred Scripture that in the Sacrifice so denominated from the Altar the Priest offered nought to God and that the Masses did nothing avail either the quick or the dead that Papal Constitutions were no other than humane Traditions containing only the doctrines of humane works and he proved by the Prophet Daniel and many other Authorities that Antichrist should in the height of Tyranny persecute the Faithful For which Opinions he was by the Jacobins of Tarascon judged a Heretick and whilst the King of Sicily was sending him to the Pope he died at Genoua James King of Aragon in an Epistle written to the same King of Sicily his Brother gave him a very good testimony Anno 1371. JOHN VVICKLIFF Doctor and Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford a person of an exemplary life and conversation was at this time a strenuous Defender of the Truth of the Gospel zealously withstanding the corruptions and superstitions of Popery he was protected as long as King Edward III lived This Prince as also the Prince of Wales John Duke of Aquitany and of Lancaster his Brother the Earl of Salisbury the Baron of Cobham Lewis Clifford William Nevil and John Montaigue Knights Thomas Latimer Robert Ridgly Chancelour of the University of Oxford and many other Lords and persons of the prime Nobility and Clergy of England adhering to the Doctrine of the said Wickliff by the relation of Thomas of Walden and Croxton in his Chronicle who wrote against him But under the Reign of Richard II through the solicitation of the Pope and Monks he was banished afterwards being recalled from Exile he died peaceably in the year 1386 in the Parish of Luterworth where he had been Pastor But forasmuch as the Rage and Fury of the Adversaries doth exasperate them unto a Persecution of the Faithful not only to death but even to the very grave the Bones of this man of God were in the year 1451 at the instigation of the Court of Rome digged up and publickly burnt whose Ashes were in their time a Mystical Seed Anno 1414. JOhn Huss Batchelour in Divinity and Jerome of Prague Doctor of the Sorbonne persons of great Learning and no less integrity of Life who had from the year 1400 published the Truth of the Gospel in Bohemia having reap'd some first-fruits amongst the remnant of the Waldenses in those Countries and amongst some others that had professed the Doctrine of Wickliff they did so laboriously cultivate and improve the Lord's Field as that they left an abundant and excellent harvest behind them Now forasmuch