your Country in Sheeps Clothing being indeed a ravenous Wolf But according to the Hint given by our Lord we know him by his Fruits The Churches are without People People without Priests Priests without due Reverence and lastly Christians without Christ The Churches of Christ are looked upon as Synagogues the Sanctuary of God is denied to be holy Sacraments are no longer esteemed sacred holy Feasts are deprived of festival Solemnities Men die in their Sins Souls are frequently snatch'd away to appear before the terrible Tribunal who are neither reconciled by Repentance nor armed with the sacred Communion The Life of Christ is denied to Christian Infants by refusing them the Grace of Baptism nor are they suffered to draw near unto Salvation though our Saviour tenderly cries on their Behalf Suffer little Children to come unto me This Man is not of God who acts and speaks things so contrary to God and yet alas he is listned to by many and has a People that believe him O most unhappy People at the Voice of an Heretick all the Voices of the Prophets and Apostles are silenced who from one Spirit of Truth have declared that the Church is to be called by the Faith of Christ out of all the Nations of the World So that the Divine Oracles have deceived us the Eyes and Souls of all Men are deluded who see the same thing fulfilled which they read before to have been foretold which Truth though it be most manifest to all he alone by an astonishing and altogether Judaical Blindness either sees not or else is sorry to see it fulfilled and at the same time by I know not what Diabolical Art perswades the foolish and senseless People not to believe their own Eyes in a thing that is so manifest and that those that went before have deceived those that come after have been deceived that the whole World even after the shedding of Christ's Blood shall be lost and that all the Riches of the Mercies of God and the Grace of the Universe are devoted upon those alone whom he deceives Pope Eugenius finding things in this Posture names Albericus Bishop of Ostia for his Legat to the People of Tholouse and to the Count of St. Gilles Baronius in his Annals gives us an Account of this Henry the Disciple of Peter de Bruys and his Death in the Year 1147 which seems to be very exact because St. Bernard writ to the Count of St. Gilles to exhort him to drive Henry out of his Country where he preached his Doctrine very freely But the Earl died in the Holy Land having been poisoned there as it was said by the Queen Wherefore in the Year 1147 Henry suffered Martyrdom at the Sollicitation of St. Bernard Abbot of Clairvaux by the Cruelty of Albericus Bishop of Ostia Cardinal and Legate of Pope Eugenius II at Tholouse where he caused him to be burnt after they had brought him thither loaden with Irons Baronius sets down with great Care whatever he thought might blemish the Reputation of the Martyr He relates all that St. Bernard wrote against him to Aldephonsus Earl of St. Gilles He quotes St. Bernard who calls Henry an Apostate Monk and accuseth him of having made use of the great Talents he had in Preaching as a means to get Money to spend at Gaming and upon his Lusts He says that Henry was a Man defiled with Adulteries who for his frequent Crimes durst not appear in several Parts of France and Germany and who by Consequence was not to be indured in the Territories of the Count of St. Gilles but yet he doth not lay any thing of Manicheism to his Charge no more than Peter de Clugny and St. Bernard Nay Baronius does more for he formally distinguisheth him from those Hereticks whom St. Bernard opposed under the Name of Apostolicks in his 66 th Homily upon the Canticles How then could the Bishop of Meaux make a Manichee of him Perhaps the loose Life whereof St. Bernard accuseth him may be a Character of it But not to undervalue the Vanity of this loose Accusation without any Proof and proceeding from a sworn and cruel Enemy which was quite overthrown by the couragious Martyrdom of Henry At this rate the Clergy of the Church of Rome who were so generally guilty of Sodomy that St. Peter Damian writ a Book intituled Gomorrhaeus must have been Manichees and upon the same Ground Johannes Cremensis a Cardinal the Pope's Legate in England for abolishing the Marriage of the Priests must likewise have been a Manichee for the English Historians say that this Holy Cardinal having assembled a Synod at Westminster wherein he represented to the Priests that it was the worst of Crimes to rise from a Whore to consecrate the Body of Jesus Christ was himself surprized in Bed with a common Whore the same Day that he had said Mass Upon this Account also the Legats of Anacletus the Competitor of Eugenius II must have been Manichees for they are taxed with carrying Women along with them in Mens Habits probably to avoid the Inconvenience that Johannes Cremensis fell into in England for want of taking this Care before-hand They charge Henry with the same Heresies which they attributed to Peter de Bruys so that what I have already said concerning the Heresies of the Petrobusians I need not repeat here Baronius adds I confess that Henry had superadded to these Heresies this Proposition Additis irrideri Deum Canticis Ecclesiasticis That the Singing in Churches was but a mocking of God And accordingly Peter de Clugny refutes this pretended Heresy with a great deal of Earnestness But if I may speak my Opinion in this matter neither did this Proposition contain any great Crime For 1 st Singing in general was owned by Isidore as an Innovation It was about 70 Years before that the Popes had abolished the ancient Liturgies to substitute the Roman Liturgy The Gothick Liturgy which was used in the Diocess of Languedock and other neighbouring Diocesses which at that time depended on the Kings of Spain had been suppressed because it was not over-favourable to the Opinions of the Church of Rome 2 dly They had at the same time introduced a sort of riming Verses which they call Proses so ridiculous so foolish and so full of Novelties both as to the Worship of Saints and as to the fabulous Stories they contained that it was very difficult for those who looked for Wisdom in their Prayers not to take them for Profanations The Hymn composed by King Robert in Honour of Queen Constantia may give us an hint what sort of things they were O Constantia Martyrum c. And now let any one judg whether Henry was a Manichee because he condemned this sort of Profanations This also is what hath been owned by Mezeray in his Chronological Abridgment of the History of France printed at Amsterdam in 1673 where upon the Year 1163 he saith That there were two sorts of Hereticks
had reduced them to the single Canon which they pretended was the best Piece of the Mass where he proved that the Holy Supper of the Lord was not the Mass saying that if the Mass were the Lord's Supper there would be all after Consecration that there was before in the Lord's Supper Whereas said he in your Mass there is no Bread for by Transubstantiation the Bread vanisheth wherefore the Mass being without Bread cannot be the Supper of the Lord wherein all know there is Bread Jesus Christ brake Bread Saint Paul brake Bread the Priest breaks the Body not Bread therefore the Priest neither doth what Jesus Christ nor what St. Paul did As Arnaud was about to proceed in these Antitheses between the Lord's Supper and the Mass to prove that it was neither of Christ's nor of the Apostles Institution the Monks Bishops Legats and Priests thought fit to withdraw themselves being resolved to hear no more for fear they might fix Impressions on those that were by which might extreamly shake their Belief of the Mass The Monk of Vaux Cernay indeavoured to render this Action suspected in saying that when these heretical Judges perceived the Weakness of their Cause and the Misfortune of ingaging in such a Dispute they refused to pronounce any Judgment concerning it as likewise to restore us our own Writings for fear adds he they might come to be published but restored the Hereticks theirs But how could two of the Pope's Legats and so many Bishops Abbots Monks and Priests suffer themselves to be drawn into a Place there to be thus abused and trick'd The Monk himself saith in the same place that the Heads of the Hereticks came to meet with the Catholicks at the Castle of Montreal to dispute with them the Catholicks therefore were in Possession of the Castle there could be therefore no Opportunity of foul Play nor of any such Violence neither was it necessary that the Moderators should pronounce their Judgment in a Case of Dispute seeing they hold that no other Judgment is necessary but that of the Pope who cannot err Besides how could this Monk know that the Albigenses were overcome seeing that no Sentence was given Perrin could have given us a faithful Extract of this Conference because himself observes that it had been brought to him from the Albigenses by Mr. Rafur Minister of the Church of Montreal in an old Manuscript From whence though he doth not express it in so many Words I judg that he reduced the Points in Question between the Albigenses and the Church of Rome to six Articles I. Article The Doctrines which they asserted in opposition to the Church of Rome were That the Church of Rome was not the Holy Church nor the Spouse of Christ but that it was a Church which had drunk in the Doctrine of Devils the Whore of Babylon which St. John describes in the Revelations the Mother of Fornications and Abominations covered with the Blood of the Saints II. That the Mass was neither instituted by Christ nor his Apostles but a humane Invention III. That the Prayers of the Living are unprofitable for the Dead IV. That the Purgatory maintained in the Church of Rome is no better than a human Invention to satisfy the Avarice of the Priests V. That the Saints ought not to be prayed unto VI. That Transubstantiation is a human Invention and erroneous Doctrine and that the worshipping of the Bread is manifest Idolatry That therefore it was necessary to separate from the Church of Rome in which the contrary was said and taught because one cannot assist at the Mass without partaking of the Idolatry there practised nor expect Salvation by any other means than by Jesus Christ nor transfer to Creatures the Honour which is due to the Creator nor say concerning the Bread that it is God and worship it as such without incurring the Pain of eternal Damnation because Idolaters shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven For all these things therefore which they asserted they have been hated and persecuted to Death This Account of the Conference of Montreal which I have copied from Perrin is enough in my Judgment fully to refute any Scruple that might remain in the Mind of a Reader who reads in Roger Hoveden the Letters of Peter Cardinal of St. Chrysogon writ in the Year 1178 which testify that the Manichees of Tholouse had been convicted by the Confession which many of them had made of the greatest part of the Articles of that Heresy It is very visible that it was upon the Authority of these Letters or upon some Informations of this Nature that Alanus who was born at Lisle in Flanders and who had spent the greatest part of his time at the University of Paris has built his Catalogue of the Heresies which he refutes in his Treatise against the Albigenses whereof I have given an Extract in the foregoing Chapter So that it is necessary to suppose one of these three things Either that the Earl Raymond of Tholouse and those whom he protected were really Manichees as they are accused to be by the Pope's Legats by the Bishops and by Peter of Vaux Cernay who sets down this Accusation and the forced Confessions of the Albigenses who own themselves to be Manichees or that the Albigenses who were the Disciples of Peter de Bruys and of Henry that were no Manichees had gone over to that Sect towards the End of the 12 th Century and afterwards again become Petrobusians and Henricians at the Beginning of the 13 th as it plainly appears they then were from the Conference of Montreal where they freely proposed their Opinions intirely opposite to Manicheism or that the Legats and Monks that persecuted them with Fire and Sword were great Impostors in taking Advantage against them from some Confessions extorted from Manichees who were here and there scattered in those Diocesses and which they made use of to animate the People of the Roman Communion and to ingage the Princes and Bishops of all places to exterminate without Mercy a sort of People who utterly subverted all the Rules of Morality which is the Band of Society and all the Principles of both natural and Christian Religion CHAP. XVIII Reflections on the Convictions of Manicheism which were said to be proved upon the Albigenses ONE of the most plausible Objections that can be made against the Purity of the Faith of the Albigenses is the Testimony of the Inquisitors who have filled their Trials with plain Confessions which several Albigenses judged and condemned by them have made of sundry Errors of the Manichees I shall produce an Extract of the Acts of the Inquisition of Tholouse which are in the Hands of Mr. Wetstein Bookseller at Amsterdam as it was sent me out of Holland and which was made by a Man of great Reputation The Albigenses saith he held some Opinions in common with the Vaudois as That to a Christian all Oaths are unlawful that the Confession of Sins made
account he calls it the Truth of the Heavenly Sacrament We have a like Expression of Baptism alluding to the Passage of the Red-Sea in one of St. Augustin's Homilies upon Nicodemus's coming to Jesus Christ related by Paulus Diaconus In inventione S. Crucis and 't is the same we find also in several Passages of St. Caesarius We find that the word Transformation has perfectly charm'd him We therefore Lord keeping these Institutes and Precepts do most humbly beseech thee that thou wouldst be pleased to receive bless and sanctify this Sacrifice that it may be to us a true Eucharist in thy own and Son's Name and of the Holy Ghost that so there may be a Transformation of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ thy only Begotten c. And in a Marginal Note he observes that the same Word is made use of in this Liturgy That it may please thee to send down thy Holy Spirit upon these Solemnities that it may be to us a true Eucharist in thy own and Son's Name and of the Holy Ghost for a Transformation of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ thy only Begotten that it may bestow upon us who eat it eternal Life and the everlasting Kingdom to those that shall drink it And also That thy Blessing may come down upon this Bread and Wine for the Transformation of thy Holy Spirit that blessing thou may'st bless them and sanctifying thou may'st sanctify them c. And the like in other Missals as antient as this which he observes also in his Preface But this after all signifies nothing else but the Change which the Holy Ghost produceth in making the Elements after Consecration to become the Sacrament of the Body of Jesus Christ This is that which our Authors have fully justified by an infinite number of Examples borrowed from Baptism and other things consecrated by Prayer Boethius in his Books De consolatione Philosophiae saith Conversi in malitiam humanam quoque amisêre naturam Evenit ergo ut quem transformatum vitiis videas hominem existimare non possis Being turn'd into Malice they at the same time lose humane Nature So that if you see one transformed by Vice you cannot look upon him as a Man And Ratramnus in his Book of the Body and Blood of our Lord saith That Jesus Christ in former times could change the Manna and Water out of the Rock in the Wilderness into his Flesh and Blood the same Ratramnus that oppos'd Paschasius who was the first Publisher of the Doctrine of a real Change We find there the Notion of Vertere and convertere in carnem Beseeching that he who then changed the Water into Wine would be pleased now to change the Wine of our Oblations into his Blood And again Let us entreat him that he who as at this day by his Son turned the Species of Water into Wine would be pleased in like manner to change the Oblations and Prayers of us all into a Divine Sacrifice and to accept them as he did accept the Offering of Abel the Just and the Sacrifice of Abraham his Patriarch But the appearance of this seeming Difficulty we find in the following Leaf Besides that it is ridiculous to suppose the real Change of the Prayers of Believers into the Body and Blood of our Saviviour which is suppos'd of the Oblations We meet with an Expression which seems somewhat strange O Jesu Christ who in the Evening of the World wast made an Evening-Sacrifice on the Cross vouchsafe to us that we may become new Sepulchres for thy Body Tho indeed these Expressions plainly shew that they are only intended for the prefiguring the Death of Christ according to the Notion of Rabanus Maurus We find there frequently that the Sacrament is said to be a Remedy for the Body and an Expiation for the Soul but this doth no more suppose the carnal Presence or the Expiation which is the fruit of a Propitiatory Sacrifice than that which we find in the Roman Order in blessing a Grave that it may be a saving Remedy to the Party resting in it for the Redemption of his Soul In the same Liturgy they say to God Do thou therefore so come down into the present Oblation that it may afford Healing unto the Living and Refreshment unto those who are Dead But this regards only the Presence of Vertue as in the Roman Order they beg of God that he would afford his Presence and Majesty in Baptism There is mention likewise made of the Immolation of the Body of Jesus Christ but this is only said by way of Resemblance as St. Augustin explains it in his 23 d Epistle to Bonifacius for in other places this Liturgy speaks of Bread offered up There is also mention made of a Sacrifice But 1 st He gives that Name to the Eucharist which every-where throughout this Liturgy is termed a Sacrifice of Praises and Thanksgivings 2 ly It compares the Sacrifice with that of Melchizedeck wherein every one knows there was nothing of Transubstantiation This is that which Rabanus explains Lib. 1. de instit clericor cap. 31. Mabillon particularly triumphs when he takes notice of a Passage which is found in the 78 th Office He offer'd up himself first to thee a Sacrifice and first taught himself to be offer'd These words offer'd up himself seem to him to be applicable to the Act of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist but he must not take it ill if we tell him that it is not true that he then offer'd up any Sacrifice the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ consisting only in his Death on the Cross the Eucharist where he had only his Death before his Eyes was only the Memorial of his Sacrifice his Offering consisting only in his Death If he did offer up himself in the Eucharist then was he already dead which is a Notion attributed to Gregory Nissen but is refuted by the Divines of the Church of Rome as impertinent Some it may be will imagine that the Authors of the Gothick Liturgy take away all Equivocation when they say Let us receive that in the Wine which flow'd from thee on the Cross But indeed here we have reason to admire how far strong Prejudices will carry Men so as even to hinder common Sense from acting for really there can be no Notion more opposite to Transubstantiation since this Notion represents the State in which Christ was given to us that is a State of Death which is contrary to the Popish Notions by which they believe him alive in the Eucharist Besides it is absolutely false that Jesus Christ did after his Resurrection retake the same Blood which he lost on the Cross The Church of Rome pretends that she hath it in her keeping and it is shown in I don't know how many places This Expression is well known to be St. Augustin's whose Doctrine is vastly opposite to that of Transubstantiation as De
in his Notes upon Agobardus and is lately reprinted by the same Author The words of Odo Aripertus who relates the matter translated run thus The Peace therefore being severally ratified and sealed by the King and Earl with the Blood of the Eucharist Bernard Count of Tholouse came from Barcelona to Tholouse and did Homage to King Charles in the Abby of St. Saturninus near Tholouse Mabillon acknowledges that this was not a Fact without Example Now let any Man imagine if he can whether People that believe Transubstantiation would ever have been capable of such a Profanation of the Blood of Jesus Christ or whether the Monks in whose Abby the thing was done would ever have suffer'd it had the thing appear'd as horrible unto them as it must of necessity appear to those who defend the Opinion of the Church of Rome I shall conclude this Chapter with giving an account of that courageous Opposition which the Bishops of Aquitain and Narbon made in the year 876 in the Council of Pontyon against the Enterprizes of Pope John VIII who being back'd by the Emperor Charles the Bald had a mind to subject all the Bishops of France and Germany to Ansegisus Archbishop of Sens as their Primate but at the same time as to his Vicar that he might execute his Decrees and inform him of the most important Affairs of those Churches which he pretended ought to be decided and ended at Rome which if so would have abolished the Power of Synods and Metropolitans This was in a manner the last considerable Effort they ever made to preserve their antient Discipline for soon after the Popes knew to manage the Kings that stood in need of them in Italy so well that by little and little they at last gained the Point and so made themselves absolute the Synods and Metropolitans retaining only an empty Name without almost any Authority at all CHAP. X. The State of these Diocesses in the Tenth Century WE are now come to the Tenth Century in which Ignorance and Barbarism overwhelm'd well nigh all the West and the Church of Rome fell at the same time into such monstrous Corruptions that those who have wrote the History thereof do not mention it without Horror I don't intend to make any stop here in alledging Proofs for what I say from the concurrent Testimonies of Genebrard Baronius and other Doctors of the Church of Rome 'T is a thing not deny'd by any one that hath ever heard speak of the History of the Church and hath been particularly set forth by Gerbertus Archbishop of Rheims who was afterwards advanced to the Papacy But yet in the mean time whatever the Corruption may have been which was scatter'd elsewhere we have good ground to believe that it had not quite stifled the antient Doctrine and Religion of these Diocesses which may be easily made out by the following Observations 1. I own that we find in the Writings of Odo the first Abbot of Clugny who was born in Aquitain some Expressions which import that he inclin'd to the Opinions of Paschasius as appears in his Collations which might make one judg that this Notion began then already to be propagated in Aquitain whose Duke William was the Founder of Clugny But we must here take notice of two things The first is That the antient Customs of this Monastry do plainly show that when this Congregation was founded those who were the Authors of these Customs were not of Paschasius's Opinion This is evident from chap. 30. of the second Book and from chap. 28. of the third The second is That though Odo might have entertained this Opinion of Paschasius concerning the carnal Presence of Jesus Christ yet we may easily observe that he never owned the Consequences of it For we find in the Relation of the Death of this Odo who died at Rome in the year 942 that he received the Eucharist but there is no mention made of any Adoration that he paid at his receiving it 2. We are to observe that in this Description of Odo's Departure which was made by one of his Disciples we meet with neither Confession before the receiving of the Eucharist nor the receiving of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction which are sufficient Proofs that he knew nothing of these Sacraments 3. It appears by the Writings of Gerbertus who was educated in the Monastery of Aurillac what was the Faith of this Diocess He had been the Tutor of Robert Son to Hugh Capet who raised him to the Archbishoprick of Rheims in the year 991 in the room of Arnulphus who was deposed He hath writ an Apology for the Council which deposed Arnulphus wherein he gives full evidence what esteem he had for the Pope and how little he believ'd the Papacy necessary to the Church not only because of the Vices of the Popes of his time but also for several political Reasons which engage every Church not to subject themselves to a foreign Power Suppose saith he that by the warlike Incursions of barbarous Nations there be no way open for us to go to Rome or that Rome it self being become subject to some barbarous Prince be at his Pleasure made part of his Kingdom shall we in this case be reduc'd to the necessity of having no Councils at all or shall the Bishops of the World to the loss and ruin of their own Kings expect the Advice and Counsels of their Enemies for the Management of the Affairs of Church and State We may see another Assertion of his in a Letter to Seguinus Archbishop of Sens I do resolvedly affirm That if the Pope of Rome himself should sin against his Brother and being often admonished should not hear the Church that this same Pope of Rome ought to be look'd upon as a Heathen and Publican Whereupon Baronius exclaims Here is a Sentence indeed worthy only to proceed from the Mouth of some great Heretick or of some most impudent Schismatick which abrogates all sacred Councils at once cuts the Throat of Canons strangles Traditions and treads under foot all the Rights of the Church that it seems impossible that a Catholick should ever dream of such things much less so saucily utter and assert them We may also gather from the subsequent Words whether or no he conceiv'd Communion with the Church of Rome to be of absolute necessity If he the Pope of Rome do therefore judg us unworthy of his Communion because none of us will comply with him in his Anti-evangelical Sentiments yet he cannot separate us from the Communion of Christ seeing a Priest ought not to be removed from his Function except he have confest or be convict of the Crime laid to his charge especially when the Apostle faith Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ And again I am certain that neither Death nor Life c. And what greater Separation can there be than to debar any Believer from the Body and Blood of the Son
the Roman Catholicks nor the Priests themselves that it was not a Religious War as was pretended but a kind of Robbery under the Colour of Religion That he hoped God would be so favourable to him as to make his Innocence and the just occasion he hath had to defend himself sufficiently known That they must not hope now to have them surrender at Discretion since they had found that there was no other to be expected from them but that of killing all they met with That it had never been found good Policy to drive an Enemy to Despair wherefore if the Legate would be pleased to afford any tolerable Composition to the Earl of Beziers and his Subjects that Mildness would be a better Method to reduce the Albigenses to the Church of Rome than extream Severity and that he ought also to remember that the Earl of Beziers was a young Man and a Roman Catholick who might be very serviceable in reducing his Subjects who had so great Confidence in him to their Obedience to the Church The Legate told the King of Arragon that if he would withdraw a little they would advise what were best to be done The King being called in again the Legate told him That in Consideration of his Intercession he would receive the Earl of Beziers to Mercy and therefore if it seemed good to him he might come forth and eleven with him with his Goods and Baggage but that as for the People that were in the City of Carcasson they should only deliver to his Discretion of which they ought to have a very good Opinion he being the Pope's Legate and that accordingly they should come forth all stark-naked Men Women and Children without Shirts or any other Covering on their Bodies Also that the Earl of Beziers should be delivered into sure Hands and that all his Estate should be surrendred up to the future Lord of his Territories who should be chosen for Conservation of the same The King of Arragon having indeavoured to bring the Legate to easier terms for the young Earl the Legate told him that these Conditions were very favourable and yet what follows is still more infamous The Legate employes a Person of Quality to indeavour to draw the Earl of Beziers out of Carcasson and to bring him to him with Assurance under Oath that he would send him back to his City of Carcasson in case he should not be satisfied with the Legat's Proposals The Count of Beziers upon this Assurance comes to the Legate and represents to him That if he would think fit to treat his Subjects with more Kindness he would easily induce them to comply with his Desire and recal the Albigenses from their Error to the Church That the Terms which had been mentioned to him were shameful and undecent for those who were to keep their Eyes chaste as well as their Thoughts That he knew his People would rather die than see themselves reduced to so scandalous an Ignominy and therefore entreated him to come to easier Terms and that he did not question but to make his Subjects accept of any other more tolerable Conditions The Legate's Answer was That the People of Carcasson might consider what they had to do that he would concern himself no further since the Earl was his Prisoner and should continue so till the City were taken and his Subjects acknowledg their Duty When Simon Earl of Montfort was made General for the Church he was so careful to destroy the Albigenses that he seized upon all the places belonging to Popish Lords that lay convenient for him so that the King of Arragon was forced to complain to the Pope of these his Proceedings in some Letters yet extant to oblige him to make Restitution And for the merciful temper of this renowned Earl take but this one Instance of it After a Siege of six Months the City of Lavaur was taken by Storm and scaling of the Walls and all that were found in it were put to the Sword except fourscore Gentlemen whom the Earl caused to be hanged and strangled and Almericus was hanged on a Gallows higher than the rest The Lady of Lavaur was cast alive into a Pit and there stoned to Death The Conduct of the Pope and the Lateran Council in the year 1215 is worth taking notice of because it was nothing but a Confirmation of all these Proceedings Mezeray gives this Account of it Prince Lewis took upon him the Badg of the Cross to go against the Albigenses and assisted in the Expedition of Languedoc the Earl of Montfort met him at Vienne and the Legate at Valence when he was come to St. Gilles Montfort who accompanied him received Bulls from the Pope who pursuant to the Decree of the Council of Montpellier held some Months before had given him the whole Territory of Tholouse and all the rest he had conquer'd with his cross'd Pilgrims provided he could get Investiture from the King and would pay him the accustomed Homage So that we may say that the Pope nominated him to his Dignity and the King in compliance with the said Nomination conferr'd it upon him From thence Lewis went to Montpellier and then to Beziers where he gave order for the demolishing of the Walls of Narbon and Tholouse In the mean time the Council of Lateran notwithstanding the pitiful Remonstrances of the Earl of Tholouse who was present there in Person with his Son adjudged the Propriety of his Lands to Montfort reserving only the Lands he had in Provence for his Son and 400 Marks of Silver a Year for his own Subsistence and that too upon condition of his being obedient to the Church Afer this Montfort assumed the Title of Earl of Tholouse and came and received his Investiture from the King in the City of Melun I should never have done should I barely mention all the Cruelties and Barbarities which the Romish Party exercised for near twenty Years together by their continual Croisades against a People who were taken to be Hereticks as soon as they found a New Testament in the vulgar Tongue about them I shall conclude this Chapter with setting down the Laws which the King of France enacted in the year 1228 against the Albigenses Wherefore because the Hereticks have now of a long time spread their Poison in your Parts polluting our Mother the Church after several Manners we do in order to their utter Extirpation decree that all Hereticks deviating from the Catholick Faith by what Name soever they are called as soon as they are condemned of Heresy by the Bishop of the Place or by any other Ecclesiastical Person that hath Power to do it be without delay punished Ordaining also and firmly enacting That no Man do presume to harbour or protect the said Hereticks or favour or trust them and that if any one do presume to commit any thing contrary to these Premises he be made incapable of being a Witness or of any Honour whatsoever as also of making a
Will or inheriting any thing Moreover We enact That all his Goods real or personal be ipso facto confiscated never to return to him or any of his Posterity We also enact and command That all Barons of the Land and our Bailiffs and other our Subjects present and future be careful and diligent to purge the Land of Hereticks and heretical Contagion commanding them to be very industrious in searching them out and faithful in discovering them and as soon as they have found any of them to present them without delay before the Persons above named that so being convict in their Presence of Error and Heresy they may setting aside all Hatred Entreaties Rewards Fear Favour and Love give Sentence against them And that those who are diligent and careful in the searching for and seizing of Hereticks may not want the Encouragement of Honour and Reward We do enact will and command that our Bailiffs in whose Bailiwicks the said Hereticks shall be seized pay to the Taker for every Heretick two Marks in Silver for the Term of two Years and after that time expired one Mark only Hitherto we have taken a View of what was charged upon the Magistrates and Lords to whom the Execution of these Laws was committed Let us now consider what other means the Church of Rome made use of which was the erecting the Tribunal of the Inquisition the Maxims and Conduct whereof Pope Gregory XIII thought good to make known to the World by publishing the Directory for Inquisitors This Tribunal erected by the Popes for the Extirpation of the Albigenses is a Thing in it self so very horrid that it strikes the Papists themselves with Horror that are not us'd to it and yet such as it is it hath justly been esteemed and is still to this day thought to be the right Hand of the Church of Rome One may see from some of the published Registers of these Inquisitors and by some of their Trials of the Albigenses the horrid Impostures of these Inquisitors and the terrible Punishments they have inflicted upon the Albigenses in all Places where from Age to Age they have been able to discover them CHAP. XXII That the Doctrine of the Albigenses spread it self in England and continued there till the time of the Reformation HEnry Knighton tells us that the Albigensian Hereticks came over into England in the Reign of King John and that some of them were burnt alive But yet we must not think that their Doctrine by this means was wholly extinguish'd for we find the same appearing again in the Persons of the Lollards and Wicklefites I distinguish the Lollards from the Wicklefites as being more antient than they having appeared in Flanders and Germany from the beginning of the 14 th Century as appears from the Testimonies of Johannes Hoesemius and of the Abbot Trithemius though the same Name was afterwards given to the Wicklefites as is evident from the Writings of Walfingham and William Thorn They seem to have come from the Waldenses and Albigenses by what Kilianus tells us Lollardus quoque dicitur Hereticus Waldensis A Lollard is also called a Waldensian Heretick I need only therefore speak of their Numbers which as Knighton assures us covered all England but since they have been charged with most horrid Crimes because they spoke against the Images of the Saints and the rest of the Romish Superstitions as well as the Vices of the Clergy it will be absolutely necessary to clear them from these false Imputations in the most authentick Manner that may be Let us therefore examine the Calumnies charged upon them by Trithemius in his Chronicle of Hirsauge on the year 1316 as they were copied by Natalis Alexander a Jacobite Friar in his Ecclesiastical History The Heads of the Heresies which Trithemius reckons up are these I. That Masses were vain Things to which neither any Reverence was due nor were they of any use or profit II. That Lucifer with his Devils being unjustly driven out of Heaven should be restored to Bliss again and that Michael with all the Angels should be sentenc'd to everlasting Punishment and that all those that were not of their Sect should be damned after the same manner III. That the Blessed Virgin Mary if she continued a Virgin after her Delivery must have brought forth not a Man but an Angel IV. They boasted themselves to have twelve Apostles who every year visited the whole Empire and that two of these being Elders in Order and Profession did every year enter Paradise and there received from Enoch and Elias the Power of Binding and Loosing which they afterwards communicated to the other Professors of their Sect. V. They derided the Sacrament of Baptism saying If Baptism be a Sacrament then every Bath is a Sacrament and by consequence every Keeper of a Bath must be God VI. They shamefully abused the Sacrament of Penance by confessing their Sins not to Priests but Laymen and expressing them only in general and not in particular and yet they hoped by this their Confession to obtain full and perfect Forgiveness both of Guilt and Punishment VII The Sacrament of the Lord's Body they did not believe at all calling the consecrated Host a God made with Hands VIII They called the Sacrament of Matrimony that was sworn to Fornication IX They derided the Sacrament of Extream Unction and being examined what they thought of it they unanimously answered We believe that Herbs the more they are laid in Oil the better they are And they vilified all the Consecrations and Blessings used in the Church as so many vain and useless Ceremonies X. They blasphemously asserted That God neither knew nor punished any Sins that were committed under the Earth for which Reason they used to meet in Caves and Places under ground where Fathers committed Filthiness promiscuously with their Daughters and Brothers with their Sisters XI That the Church of Rome was not the Church of Christ but of infidel Heathens and they despised all Ecclesiastical Laws together with all the Bishops and Ministers of the Church XII Fasts they mocked at eating Flesh at all times Good-friday not excepted XIII They kept no Holidays but wrought even upon Easter-day XIV They deny'd that Perjury was a Sin XV. They deny'd that the Merits or Intercessions of the Saints could prevail with God for the Pardon of Mens Sins And he says that beside these they professed many other Errors which he omits for fear of being tedious to his Readers He adds also That this Heresy did so far prevail that in Austria Bohemia and the neighbouring Provinces there were above four-score Thousand Men who were sworn to the Profession of this Sect. From these Dregs of Heresy saith he Bohemia being then infected continues tainted with the same to this Day He subjoins that many of these Hereticks were at the same time burnt in divers places of Austria who all of them continued obstinately in their Heresy with great Chearfulness until Death Walter
a chief Man of that Sect was burnt at Collen in the Year 1323 as Trithemius tells us in his Chronicle of the Monastery of Hirsaugen in the Diocess of Spires Nothing can be imagined more horrid than these Calumnies and we need not doubt but they were supported by many pretended Convictions made by the Inquisitors of Germany but it is easy to demonstrate that there is scarce any ground for all these Accusations which therefore is a plain Proof of what I have elsewhere maintained concerning these persecuted Persons who used it for a Proverb in England He lies like a Monk We have an authentick piece of the Lollards which Roger Dimmock a Jacobite Friar hath confuted in a Manuscript whereof there are two Copies at Cambridg the one in the publick Library and another older than that in Trinity Colledg They presented this Confession of theirs to the Parliament which gave occasion to this Monk to insert it in English together with his Latin Translation into a Book which he dedicated to King Richard II. I need only set down the Original with the Latin Translation of Roger Dimmock which will be sufficient to confound all the Calumnies of the Inquisitors The Petition of the LOLLARDS NOS pauperes homines thesaurarii sive thesaurus Christi Apostolorum ejus denunciamus vobis Dominis Communibus praesentis Parliamenti certas Quaestiones Veritates pro Reformatione sanctae Ecclesiae Anglicanae quae caeca extitit leprosa annis plurimis per manutenentiam superbae praelaciae supportatae adulationibus privatarum religionum sive privatae religionis multiplicatae ad magnum onus est effectus populisonerosus in Anglia Secunda Conclusio hanc continet Sententiam Quando Ecclesia Anglicana incoepit delirare in possessione temporalium secundum novercam suam magnam Romanam Ecclesiam Ecclesiae mortificatae erant sive occisae per appropriationem diversorum locorum fides spes caritas coeperunt fugere extra Ecclesiam nostram quia superbia cum sua prole perversa peccatorum mortalium vendicabant Ecclesiam nostram titulo haereditario Ista quaestio est generalis probata ut dicunt experientia more ut audies in sequentibus Haec est secunda Quaestio Sacerdotium nostrum usuale quod incoepit in civitate Romana ficta altioris potestatis potestate Anglica non est Sacerdotium à Christo suis Discipulis ordinatum Probatur sic haec quaestio Sacerdotium Romanum fictum cum signis ritibus ac Episcoporum Benedictionibus est pravae virtutis nullibi in sacra Scriptura exemplatum quia Ordinalia sine rubricae Episcoporum pravae sunt fidei vel autoritatis in novo Testamento nescimus videre quod spiritus sanctus dat dona sua propter aliqua talia signa quia ipse nobilia dona sua stare non possunt cum peccato mortali in aliquâ unâ personâ Corrolaria hujus quaestionis est quod valde extraneum sive novum est pluribus hominibus sapientibus videre Episcopos ludere cum spiritu sancto in suorum ordinum collatione quia coronas conferunt in caracteribus loco servorum alborum illa est liberata Antichristi sive ejus signum in istam Ecclesiam introductum ad otium palliandum Tertia quaestio dolorosa est ista Lex continentiae sacerdotio annexa quae in praejudicium foeminarum fuit primitus introducta inducit Sodomiam in universalem sanctam Ecclesiam sed per Bibliam excusamus nos propter suspectum decretum quod dicit quia nemâ— non deberemus nominarâ—â—d peccatum ratio experientia hanc probat quaestionem quia deliciosi cibi potus Ecclesiasticorum requirit necessariam purgationem naturalem vel pejorem experientia occultae probationis talium ergo non habent delectationem in mulieribus cum talem repereris nota enim bene quia ipse estunus exillis Correlaria hujus quaestionis est quod dignum valde esset adnullare privatas religiones hujus peccati incoeptores sed Deus ex sua magna potestate de peccatis privatis manifestam sumat vindictam Quarta quaestio quae plus damnificat populum innocentem est quia fictum miraculum sacri panis inducitomnes homines paucis exceptis ad Idolatriam quia ipsi aestimant quod corpus Domini quod nunquam exibit Coelum virtute verborum sacerdotis sit in exiguo pane quem ipsi populo ostendunt sed utinam vellent credere quod Doctor Evangelicus dicit in suo Trialogo quia panis altaris est habitudinaliter corpus Christi quia supponimus quod isto momento potest quilibet vir foemina in lege divina conficere Sacramentum panis sine aliquo tali miraculo Correlarium hujus quaestionis est quod si corpus Christi sit dotatum gloria aeterna officium corporis Christi compositum per Sanctum Thomam non est verum depictum plenum falsis miraculis hoc non est mirum quia frater Thomas illo tempore tenens cum Papa voluit fecisse miraculum de ovo gallinae bene novimus quod quodlibet mendacium aperte praedicatum cedit illi in verecundiam injuriam qui semper est fidelis sine defectu Quinta quaestio est haec Exorcismi sanctificationes consecrationes sive benedictiones factae in Ecclesia sancta vini panis aquae olei salis cerei incensi sive thuris mensae altaris murorum Ecclesiae vestimentorum mitrae baculi pastoralis baculorum peregrinorum hujusmodi vera practica sunt Nigromanciae potius quam sanctae Theologiae Haec quaestio probatur sic per tales exorcismos consecrationes creaturae sunt oneratae esse altioris virtutis quam sunt ex natura propria nihil mutationis videâ—us in hujusmodi creaturis exorcizatis vel consecratis nisi per falsam fidem quae est principale in omni arte diabolica Correlarium si liber qui exorcizat aquam benedictam aspersam in Ecclesiam Dei esset totus verus nobis videtur veraciter quia aqua benedicta in sancta Ecclesia usitata optima esset medicina cujus contrarium experimur Sexta quaestio quae sustentat multam superbiam est quod Rex Pontifex in eadem persona Praelatus Judex temporalis causae Curatus Officiarius in servicio mundiali quod libet regnum reddit sine regula debita vel convenienti regimine Haec quaestio probatur sic potestas temporalis spiritualis sunt duae partes totius sanctae Ecclesiae in eo qui se uni eorum deputavit non deberet se interponere cum altero quia nemo potest duobus dominis servire nobis videtur quod Hermefodrita vel Ambidexter esset conveniens nomen talibus hominibus duplicis status Correlarium nos procuratores Dei in ista causa instamus prosequimur ac petimus in isto Parliamento quod omnesmodi curatores tam alti quam bassi