as the whole Kingdome of Bohemia was through means of their Preaching and Doctrine reduced from obedience to the Pope and the Ceremonies of the Romish Church the Council of Constance required King Wenceslaus to send the said Huss thither to whom the Emperour Sigismond gave very ample Letters of safe-conduct to the end that he might not scruple to surrender himself yet notwithstanding without any regard had thereunto he was within twenty six dayes after his arrival committed to Prison and after an hard and tedious incarceration most unjustly condemned to be burnt alive as an Heretick howbeit he had clearly demonstrated to them the truth of his Doctrine by the Word of God and the pregnant Testimonies of Christian Antiquity in pursuance whereof he maintained that the Church of Rome had departed from the Doctrine of the Apostles in pursuit of the riches and delights of the world hunting after Dominion and Primacy embezeling Church-goods which did of proper right belong tâ— the Poor in pomps and filthy and infamous expences confounding herewith the Ordinances of God or at leastwise guilty of a voluntary and deliberate contempt of the same That the Pope hath no such Authority as he challengeth over the Church and that Indulgences are null That the Bread and the Wine remain untransubstantiated in the Supper and that the Communion should be equally distributed to all under both kinds That there is no such thing as Purgatory That Saints departed ought not to be invoked nor Images worshipped and that all those things with their like appendants have no other foundation than that of the corruption and vanity of a humane spirit But forasmuch as the Truth doth ever purchase hatred from the Wicked as being naturally averse and adverse thereunto this was the cause of that cruel usage which he met withall from his Enemies which he endured with a truly Christian-Constancy rehearsing as he was going to the place of Execution or rather of Triumph diverse verses of the Psalms especially of the 31st and 51st and oftentimes these words taken partly out of the 31st I recommend my spirit into thy hands for thou hast redeemed me Lord Jesus thou God of Truth and as the Executioner was setting fire to the Faggots he said three times with a strong and loud voice Jesus Christ thou Son of the living God have mercy upon me Thus did this holy Martyr finish all his labours resigning his soul to God upon the 6th of July 1415. That other faithful Witness of the Truth Jerome of Prague did likewise seal the same with his blood upon the 30th of May 1416 after many sharp conflicts with his Adversaries whom he confounded and struck dumb with the same weapons namely the Word of God and the Testimonies of the ancient Doctors of the Church being endued with an admirable eloquence and vigour of spirit He encountred death with such an extasie of joy that when-as they began to kindle the Faggots he began to sing Divine Praises with a holy hymn which by the very relation of Aeneas Sylvius who was afterwards Pope called Pius II and of Pogius of Florence who was one of the Spectators he continued in the midst of the flames till that his blisfull soul took wing for Heaven there to bear a part in the harmonious new Song in the presence of its Saviour and the company of Angels and all the Saints and faithfull ones whose tears are all for ever wip'd away in that beatisick Sabbatism of Glory and eternal bliss But what shall we say more for the time would fail us should we instance in all who after those two saithful Witnesses espoused the defence of the same Truth which the greatest part of them have as they before them sealed with their blood We behoved to make mention of that great Assembly of persons at Doway in the year 1421 who held the Doctrine of the Waldenses of whom a great number as is reported by Monstrelet was sacrificed to the flames of William White and Alexander Fabrice English-men who in the year 1429 wrote in the defence of Wickliff's Doctrine which Reynauld Peacock Bishop of Chichester in like manner maintained in the year 1457. We behoved likewise to shew that George Poggebrach King of Bohemia together with his Subjects owned to the day of his death the profession of the Truth against the Determinations of Rome and that the King of Poland stood inclined to its defence Likewise that in the year 1480 John of Vessalia Basil of Groningue Stephen Bralfer and Paul Notary of Tubinge Doctors in Divinity did in like manner in Germany withstand the Doctrine of the Romish-Church for controlling of whose vanity and many corruptions Jerome Savonarole was burnt at Florence in the year 1498 notwithstanding which John Francis Picus Count of Mirandula failed not to write in his behalf and in like manner to reprehend the very same abuses That in the year 1505 Paul Scriptoris did in his Lectures in the University of Tubinge publickly declaim against Transubstantiation And that in the year 1507 Thomas More of Brockford an English-man was burnt at Norwich for preaching against the then prevailing Superstitions of the Church We behoved moreover to produce that goodly Confession presented in the year 1508 to King Vladislaus by the persecuted Waldenses in Hungary which was exactly conformable to that of the Protestant and Reformed Churches And likewise observe all that is recorded by that great Lawyer Charles du Moulin in his History of the French Monarchy on purpose to give the World to understand what reception the Doctrine and Life of those of Cabrieres and Merindol found with King Lewis XII which gave such ample satisfaction to that great Prince as that upon the report therein made to him of the same he swore that they had more goodness and worth in them than himself and all his subjects besides Finally we behov'd in like manner for the honour of that incomparable Monarch to add how that after the example of Philip the Fair one of his Predecessors he quell'd the sauciness and petulancy of Julius II who had excommunicated him having assembled a Council at Pisa in order to the reforming of the Church both in its Head and Members and caused batter the Golden Species with this Inscription PERDAM BABYLONIS NOMEN C A D. I will utterly destroy the name of Babylon and had not injurious Death suddenly snatch'd him away he had undoubtedly put an happy essay to a thorow Reformation But enough of that we being now arrived at Anno 1517. MArtin Luther together with those his Contemporaries whom God raised up for the same work did in this year strike that great blow which did so mightily shake the Papal Power and restore to Soveraign Princes who heretofore trembled under the Censures of Rome that lawful though controll'd Authority which they hold of none but God himself and this was so marvellous that after that time the greatest part of Germany the
the intent of the ancient Church was herein Some alledge that that observance tended to an imitation of the miraculous Fast of the Son of God but it is evident from Evangelical History that the time of our Saviours Fast was previous to the Passover by the space of six Moneths proof sufficient that Antiquity had some other end and aim in the celebration of this Fast else doubtless they would have pitched upon a time coincident with that wherein our Saviour fasted behold then the true account There was an Order at that time established in the Church that the Feast of Easter approaching those who were obliged to do publick pennance should present themselves to be re-ingratiated and received into peace with her At the same time the Catechumenes were baptized for those Days were particulary appropriated to that work and for as much as those were things of great moment the Church proceeded therein with fasting and prayer besides that at the same time they behoved to prepare themselves for the Commemoration of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and for the solemn Communion upon the Easter-Day ensuing But to shew that this observance did depend upon the Liberty of the Church and not upon any peremptory imposed Law we must remark the diversification which attended that Custome for in some Churches this Fast lasted three Weeks in others seven Days only and in others forty Days and from this quarantine came the name of the Quadragesimal our Lent which was formerly called the Paschal Fast. Anno 160. c. NOw this Age was by reason of violent Persecutions which lasted along time after full of horrour all the Provinces of the Roman Empire being bedewed and all the Judicatoriâ—s therein over-glutted with Christian blood Torments exquisite terrour universal revolts frequent yea there were found amongst them who to palliate their infamous cowardize taught that martyrdome was but matter of meer indifferency reck'ning it extream folly and madness to suffer death for their profession The Sepulchres of Martyrs were loaded with reproaches and their memory with execrations for the rage and malice of their Enemies not satisfied with their Death extended the Persecution to their very Bones and that they might deprive Christians of the hope of a future resurrection one of the main Arguments of their constancy they frequently exposed their dead bodies to the hunger-bitten rage of ravenous Beasts placing guards and sentinels day and night to hinder any that might attempt to give them burial all that remained of them was burnt and the Ashes thrown into Rivers or scattered in the Air The Church then that they might enkindle zeal in the People and dispose them for the glory of Martyrdome presented them with new Incentives for excitation and encouragement The Grecians did yearly celebrate the memorial of their Heroes and such illustrious Persons as had died valiantly in defence of their Country and this solemnity was performed about their Tombes to the end that they might by so doing animate and encourage the surviving unto the like atchievments Christians judging this to be a very proper means to perswade many Persons to suffer death for the Gospel and to confirm others in such a magnanimous resolution did imitate their example Their main care then in the first place was to bury their Martyrs and where they could not recover the whole body they endeavoured carefully to gather up the very least fragments in case the fury of their Persecutors had left any remainder now those Reliques were honourably interr'd without any such custome as afterwards came to pass For although Martyrdome was reputed a most glorious thing and those blessed souls were very precious with the Church yet so it was that all the honour that they afforded their bodies was an honourable Interment nothing different from the common After this the custom was introduced of an anniversary commemoration of the combats and constancy of Martyrs upon the same days whereon they had suffered death called by them the Days of their Nativity in regard that upon them they were installed in another life and in the same place where they were buried from thence it came to pass that Cemeteries became the Ordinary places of their Assemblies for those anniversary days returned very frequently by reason of the great number of Martyrs by whose death most days of the year were renowned Upon those days then the whole Church assembled together in the same place where the Sepulchres of their valiant Champions were as if she meant to warm her Zeal at their Ashes and to spirit her self thereby for a more prompt Commemoration of their Martyrdome Publick Prayers and the Exposition of the Scriptures being finished they rehearsed in order the Names of those who had been upon that Day put to death for the Truth they likewise related the several conflicts by them sustained whose fierceness inhaunc'd their constancy their courage also was displayed in tearms full of applause and admiration their glorious Trophees and the rich Garlands propounded as the prize of their Victory finish'd the Panegyrick which consisted in thanksgiving to God for giving them the victory the whole action was concluded with the Celebration of the Eucharist Now the intent of those Solemnities was in the first place to shew that such as were dead in Christ are still alive both in God and in the memory of the Church and in the next place to animate and encourage the People unto the like sufferings This was the design of the primitive Christians for thus do they explain themselves We can never say they abandon Christ nor serve any other we adore Christ as the Son of God and we cherish the Martyrs as the Disciples and Followers of our Lord we solemnize the day of their nativity which is that of their death in remembrance of such as have conflicted for the Truth and in order to the exercising and exciting of others thereunto We hope to be made capable of the like graces and at last Compartners and Fellow-sharers in the same Glory Amongst the heads of Discipline observed in those times this was one of the most material Such as were convicted of any notorious crime were obliged to make confession of it publickly in the face of the whole Church to beg pardon and to undergo whatever should be imposed upon them which done they enjoyn'd them some kind of satisfaction whereby they behoved to manifest the sincerity of their repentance This they did to contain others in their duty as also to prevent the blame and reproach of the Christian Religion amongst Infidels as if it gave indulgence to Vice through silence under it Now they pretended not by this publick Repentance to make satisfaction to God to whom none can render the least compensation for the least offence committed but only to the scandaliz'd Church or to an injur'd Neighbour Anno 195. THis second Age we must needs conclude with a famous
Thummim that is to say to the Light of the Old Testament and to the Perfection of the New which shall conduct you to Him who liveth for ever and ever and to JESUS the Mediator of the New-Covenant whose Blood speaketh better things than that of Abel What Joy when God shall no more be as a Barbarian to you and they shall no more bespeak you in Latine a Language which the greatest part of you understand not yea a sign of Wrath threatened by God to his People as is recorded by the Apostle Paul in that excellent Chapter 1 Cor. 14. which may suffice wholly to subvert such a monstruous and faulty procedure With what abhorrency will ye then loath that cursed Tradition of Men which like that of the Pharisees taxed by our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel hath disannulled the Cōmandment of God Then shall ye soon acknowledg that from the beginning it was not so and that all those humane Observances bred in the night of Errour and Ignorance which are either taught or practised by you have not the least affinity with the simplicity and purity of the Ancient Christian Religion Herein the ensuing Treatise will be greatly subservient and advantagious to you which doth by way of Compend or Breviary present you with a true account of the Rise and Progress of so many fatal and unhappy Innovations to the end that ye may perceive and avouch that how specious soever they be yet there is not any thing more base and despicable But briefly if ye carefully traverse the Will and Testament of your Heavenly Father namely the holy Scriptures ye shall easily know and acknowledge how widely ye have deviated from that Canon of Truth besides or against which if a very Angel from Heaven should gospel unto you he ought to be with you accursed For this reason if ye will be perswaded to rank and enter your selves unto the society of those who wholly and precisely adhere thereunto owning and using it for the only Compass whereby they regulate both matters of Faith and the order of Divine Worship ye shall undoubtedly be constrained to say with the Patriarch Jacob Surely the Lord is in this place and we knew it not How dreadful is this place this is none other but the House of God! this is the Gate of Heaven may our feet stand within thy Gates O Jerusalem As for your Believers whom God hath vouchsafed to congregate already into the Sheep-fold of the Lord Jesus ratifie the truth and purity of that Doctrine which ye profess with holiness and integrity of life that those who obey not the Word may be won without the Word by your truly Christian Conversation Make it appear to them that ye are no enemies to good works which ye are wrongfully charged with since we teach that those are the products of the Holy Ghost by those God is glorified by those our neighbours are edified and those be infallible marks and testimonies of our Election and the way leading to the Kingdome of Heaven If we thus fruitfully trade the Talent received from the bounteous liberality of God our Soveraign Master he will superadd many more and crown in us the first fruits of our new graces and blessings and because he is faithful who also hath so promised will another day own and remunerate them with all his Heavenly Glory and the inexpressible Joyes of a blessed Immortality and that upon the account not of any merit of condignity but purely a compact of grace and mercy since of a truth as the ways of sin is death as the great Apostle and Doctor of the Gentiles hath taught us so the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now To the Father who hath from all Eternity appointed so great and glorious a Salvation for us in his Son To the Son who hath with his precious Blood merited and procured that Salvation And to the Holy Ghost who applieth the same sealing us up thereunto and giving us thereof infallible assurances To those Three glorious Persons of the thrice-holy and sacred Trinity one onely true God blessed for ever be Praise Honour and Glory Power Dominion and Kingdom henceforth even from everlasting to everlasting Amen Come Lord Jesus come Amen 1 Cor. 3. 12 13. If any man build on this Foundation Gold Silver Precious Stones Wood Hay Stubble every man's Work shall be made manifest for the Day shall declare it c. Tertullian in his Apologie for Christians chap. 6. TEll me where is your Religion where is that Reverence which is due from you to your Fathers whom ye are become so exceedingly unlike to in your habit in your course of life in your manners in your opinions and finally in your language Ye still applaud Antiquity and yet daily engross Novelties thus whilst ye as much as possibly ye can deviate from the laudable Institutions of your Ancestors ye plainly discover that of the things by them established ye retain only that which is of no value forasmuch as ye reject that which is A TREATISE OF Ancient Ceremonies THe desire of being inform'd by what means and degrees the Christian Religion is become degenerate from its ancient purity what Ceremonies have been introduc'd into it and upon what Foundations those have been raised wherein all the Romish Religion doth at this day consist is a piece of curiosity not less fruitfull than delightfull In pursuit of which setting aside many and divers particulars litigious Controversies fabulous Narratives and the vanity of spurious Books our purpose is to abridge and by way of succinct memorial to represent according to the genuine truth of History the original of the prime Ceremonies whic◠have been bred and broached from tim◠to time successively especially till abou◠six hundred years after the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ for from that tim◠forwards Superstition driving on with a ful◠Sail did so quickly and withall so generally spread it self that scarcely was there discernable the least tract of true Christianity When those grand Architects and Master-builders whom God had singled out to the Apostleship had built the Sanctuary upon that only Foundation and chief Corner-Stone Christ there was not in the whole Fabrick Bar nor Buckle which did not exactly correspond to the pattern shewed them from the Heavenly Mount The Declaration of the grace of God which bringeth salvation to all Men Worshipping of Him through one only Mediator Baptizing with Water unto the Remission of Sin Communicating in commemoration of the Lord's death under the two Signs of Bread and Wine singing of Hymns and Psalms of thanksgiving Reading of the Holy Scriptures in a known tongue c. was all the Ancient Religion Then was acknowledged no object of adoration other then God nor Intercessor than Christ nor Expiatory Sacrifice than that of his Death nor Justification other than through Faith There was not a word then of an Altar at the
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
howbeit this was not universally observed for even till the year 950. we finde in the Catalogue of History throughout all the Provinces of Europe a great number of Ecclesiastick Persons married famous Doctors impugning the Law of Celibacy and which is yet more Roman Bishops descended of Ecclesiastical Parents who were married even during their Clerk-ship as was Boniface I. Felix III. and Gelasius I. thus many Ages passed before that this Decree was received Anno 400. c. WE now enter upon that time whereof St. Augustine complained saying that it was so universally stuffed with Ceremonial Observances that the condition of the Jews living under the servile Yoak of the Law was much more supportable than that of Christians under the Gospel as we shall see in good part Howbeit we shall omit divers Rites introduced in the fifth age which were never approved of by the Church of Rome as the burning of the superplus and remainder of the Sacrament after that all had communicated the sending of the Sacrament to new married couples to be by them joyntly received at home in their own Houses the thrusting of the same into the mouth of the dead a most prophane abuse We shall likewise forbear to mention all those innovations which having been commenced before were continued in after time and shall only note the progress of the same and the rise of such as followed thereupon each according to the order of time wherein they began to appear As therfore we have already seen in what respect Primitive Antiquity prayed for the dead in like manner we must know what was the intent of the Vigils which ensued upon that usage It was an ancient custome that as soon as any one had given up the Ghost they called some Ecclesiastick Persons who spent the whole night with the friends of the dead entertaining them with some serious and seasonable discourses grounded upon the Word of God for their instruction and comfort To this purpose they sung also Psalms disposed by way of Antiphonies or Versicles interchangeably answering one another and recommended the departed Soul to God to the end that pardoning its sins he would vouchsafe to preserve it from Hell and eternal Death Judge it in mercy upon the last day and give to its Body a glorious Resurrection but never to the end that he might deliver it out of Purgatory though that be the consequence drawn from thence at this day and indeed the Greek Church Prayeth for the Dead which yet never believed a Purgatory To those Funeral acts another Ceremony was added It was a Pagan custome that their Champions who had won the prize in wrastling were conducted to their Houses with Songs of Triumph and burning Torches in token of honour and congratulation this our Christians applied to their dead as those who after that they had fought the good fight had finished their course and obtained the Crown of Glory They then inter'd them with singing of Psalms by way of thanksgiving to God and consolation to the surviving as also with lighted Tapers in honour of the burial of the deceased for the reason of that Ceremony is thus expressed by S. Chrysostome who lived in the beginning of this Age. Tell me what mean the Lamps lighted up at Funerals Is it not because we accompany the dead as so many magnanimous Champions What mean the Hymns Is it not because we glorify God and render thanks to him for that he hath already crowned the defunct delivering him from all his toile and dolour Is it not for this very end that we sing Psalms and Hymns And why callest thou upon the Priests and Singing-men Is it not for comfort to thy self and for honour to the deceased The formalities observed by the Church in the reception of Penitents were likewise multiplied which in those Days were thus practised When any one who had incur'd excommunication petitioned that he might be released from that censure making protestation of repentance the Bishop who had excommunicated him and twelve Priests with him repaired to the Church-door where the Penitent presenting himself cloathed with Sack-cloath bare-footed with a dejected countenance his head covered with ashes weeping and sighing implored forgiveness and promised amendment of life for the future Then the Bishop taking him by the hand gave him entrance into the Church and admission to the Communion But in case he did again relapse into any crime he was no more capable of admission to Penance but dealt with as one relapsed so as that they never gave him the Sacrament save only at the very point of death Then also were Crosses received into Churches whereas formerly they were only represented upon Money and Military Banners but held only for meer memorials of Christs death and not for objects of adoration for so do the Christians of those times explain themselves therein It is further remarkable that theirs was only the simple form and figure of the Cross and that the Image of the Crucifix was not received into the Church till a long time after Authors of the same age make mention of a custome which was afterwards turned into Superstition As long as the gift of miracles are subjected in the Church she was endowed with an especial vertue of dispossessing and chasing away Devils but this gift being once antiquated and superseded they found no better expedient in the case than to conduct the possessed into the place of publick Assemblies to the end that the Church might pray for and over them and those Prayers frequently obtained deliverance for those poor Demoniacks But they afterwards constituted Exorcists under the notion of an Office to whom they attributed Jurisdiction over Devils empowering them to torment and chase away the same by vertue of their conjurations Now many had hitherto disputed about the state of Souls after death But Origen who lived about the year 230. and who may well be called the Origin of many Errours seems to have been the first that made way or entrance to the belief of Purgatory This Doctor taught that all Men the faithfull as well as the ubelieving shall pass through that Fire which shall consume the World upon the last day after the Resurrection which opinion was embraced by many but condemned by the Church nor can any thing be urged from hence in favour of Purgatory for that whereof Origen spake is not as yet kindled and is in every respect different from that of the Church of Rome But those controversies touching the condition and mansion of Souls departed beginning to multiply about the year 400. some certain Persons corrupted with the fabulous Narratives of Pagans conceited with them that they are purged and refined in some place or other before that ever they be received up into Heaven Those discourses were managed by way of probleme and not in form of a positive assertion and in this sense St. Augustine writes and resolves the whole question
Prayer and thanksgiving for the Church prayed for the believing and unbelieving for Magistrates for friends and foes for present and absent for Penitents for Demoniacks and in general for the whole World Now that they might excite the People to the greater fervency in Prayer the Pastour used this Exhortation Sursum corda Lift up your hearts on high whereunto they gave this only Answer Habemus ad Dominum We yield them to the Lord for in the whole action they invoked none other than God In this age were likewise introduced as we have said Letanies or Rogations first in the Eastern Church and afterwards in the Western the Pestilence at Constantinople and the Earth-quakes at Lyons and adjacent places administring the occasion hereof From thence they were extended upon the like occurrences throughout the whole both East and West now behold the Form of the same They digested into certain Articles the publick calamities and necessities praying for the peace from on high and the salvation of Souls for the prosperity of Gods holy Churches for both Clergy and People for higher Powers and the peace of the whole World for that Province and City for the fruitfulness of the Earth for health for such as were engaged in a journey or voyage for the sick for the imprisoned c. every one of those Articles being pronounced with a loud voice by the Pastour the People answered to each thereof Kyrie Eleison Lord have mercy upon us They afterwards added other clauses but the Invocation of Saints had no place in those Letanies One Peter Gnapheus or Foulon Patriarch of Antioch was the first that foisted the same into the Prayers of the Church about the year 470. And we must note that this Person was corrupted with the Eutychian Heresie for which he was condemn'd by the fifth General Council thus did Superstition which at first was only private become publick at last and the Commemoration of Saints was changed into Invocation insomuch that in stead of addressing their discourse to the living in order to their imitating of the Saints they now direct it to the Saints in the behalf of the living howbeit this same Invocation of Saints was at the beginning used only by the Greeks for the Latine Church received it not till above an hundered and twenty years after as we shall also see in due time and place Anno 490. LEt us conclude this fifth Century with an observation which offered it self about the same time It hath been said that many had at the celebration of the Eucharist introduced the custome of soaked or dipt Bread for the benefit of such as could not use the Cup. This usage was condemned by Julius Bishop of Rome about the year 340. Howbeit in the Church of Rome the Priest doth still dip a moiety of the Hoste in the Wine of the Chalice adding at the same time that this immersion conduceth to eternal life in the receivers This expedient so generally used carries in it a demonstrative evidence that Antiquity gave the Communion under the two species chusing much rather in an exigence wherein they could no better order it to give soak'd or steep'd Bread then to administer the Sacrament under that only species Now about the year 440. the Manichees who held Wine in abomination as the Turks do at this day attempted to introduce the Communion under one only species And whereas there were many in the Church tainted with that heresie they were discerned by this token that they made some hesitation about receiving of the Chalice This superstition was suppressed towards the year 490. by Pope Gelasius who ordained that they should either receive the Sacrament whole and entire or else wholly abstain from and forbear it conformably to what was decreed by Leo his Predecessour who impeached of Sacriledge all those who repulse the Cup of redeeming blood an Ordinance which condemns the mutilation of the Sacrament introduced in after-time by the Romish Church Anno 500. c. WE are now arrived at the year 500. The Historical use of Images was received into Churches which was the only use that Christians applyed them to for above an hundred years after their first introduction but now the People began to degenerate into abuse herein and Images were advanced from contemplation to veneration Many Bishops willing to suppress this Idolatry caused them to be broken into pieces within their several Diocesses but the popular torrent prevailing over their zeal this same abomination inforced by custome was in fine authorized by those whose part it was to reform it but a long time after as we shall shew in its proper place Let us take a view of some innovations which came to pass at the same time Anno 528. AMongst the many other Miracles practised in the Church in the time of the Apostles the anointing of the sick was one by vertue whereof they recovered bodily health Now howbeit the gift of Healing was together with other Miracles become antiquated yet did some Hereticks affect to retain the use of this same Vnction though now vacated of its pristine efficacy addressing it to another end for about the year 180. the Valentinians anointed their sick with Oile when ever they perceived them to be under the approach of death adding thereunto certain Prayers pretending that the same did conduce to soul-salvation This superstition found no entertainment save amongst some certain Hereticks the Church ever having it in detestation But about the year 528. Felix IV. Bishop of Rome instituted extream Vnction which was afterwards amplified with Ceremonies and received in the quality of a Sacrament Now from what source it sprung is no hard matter to determine Anno 535. TOwards the year 535. Agapet I. ordained Processions before Easter Feast for which they give this goodly reason For as much say they as after the Resurrection of our Lord the Angels said to the Women Tell the Disciples that he goeth before you into Galilee Now from this Procession of Easter those of the Sabbath-Days did afterwards proceed Anno 536. VIgilius his Successour ordained that those that celebrated the Mass should direct their Faces towards the East and from thence it came to pass that Altars for the most part were all turned Eastwards To this Vigilius is likewise attributed the Feast of Purification or Candlemass whereof they give this account The Pagans were wont in the beginning of February to celebrate the Feast of Proserpina with burning Tapers now for a diversion from this piece of Pagan-impiety they instituted the same day and the same thing in honour of the Virgin Mary Anno 600. COrruption was now become universal and nothing is henceforth to be seen but horrour we shall only run over the more principal The most notable change that befell Religion came to pass towards the year 600. This time was very dark the Sun of Truth over-clouded and the brightest Stars fell from Heaven Then was
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