pretended to confirm them by Confessions which the Cruelty of their Tortures have forced from them Neither is it only in this Work of his that St. Irenaeus informs us what in his time was the Faith of these Churches planted in Gaul for he hath left us five Books and Eusebius has preserved for us some Epistles of that ancient Bishop altogether refulgent with the Purity of the Faith delivered by the Apostles 1. St. Irenaeus gives us this for one Character of the Gnosticks that they embraced Doctrines which were not to be found in the Writings of the Prophets or the Apostles Lib. 1. cap. 1. p. 33. And 't is with the same Spirit that he attributes to Hereticks the accusing of the Scripture for being unintelligible without the Help of Tradition whereas he maintains that that which had been preached was committed to Writing by the special Will of God to the end it might be the Ground and Pillar of our Faith Lib. 3. c. 1 2. And that it is to make the Apostles Hypocrites to suppose that they taught some things in publick and others in private whence it appears clearly that when he makes use of Tradition he only does it with respect to those scriptural Doctrines which the Hereticks opposed and whereof they pretended that the Apostles had left the contrary to those that succeeded them Lib. 3. c. 2. 'T is upon this occasion that he alledgeth the Testimony of the Church of Rome founded by the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul as of one that was most known Ad hanc enim Ecclesiam saith he propter potentiorem Principalitatem necesse est omnem convenire Ecclesiam hoc est eos qui sunt undique fideles in quo semper ab his qui sunt undique conservata est ea quae est ab Apostolis Traditio For to this Church because of its more powerful Superiority it behoves the whole Church to come that is the Believers of all Parts for as much as therein the Tradition from the Apostles has always peen preserved by the Believers of all parts It is apparent that whatsoever Design he may have had to raise the Authority of the Church of Rome he makes no other use of it than to make out that it was impossible those Doctrines which the Hereticks gave out for Apostolical should be really so seeing they were unknown to a Church which had had the Apostles and their Successors for her Guides more especially seeing that Church was placed in the very Seat of the Empire which continually drew to Rome a vast number of Believers from all the different places of the Empire from whence they brought not along with them a different Tradition from that which they found in the Bosom of the Church of Rome That St. Irenaeus had no other aim but this is owned by F. Quesnel in his Notes upon the tenth Epistle of St. Leo pag. 809. And this appears evidently because after all that Esteem which he had for the Church of Rome he was not afraid to write to her Bishop very censuring Letters upon the account of his having excommunicated the Churches of Asia that celebrated Easter the fourteenth of the Moon of March as also because he continued in the Communion of those Churches of Asia without being concerned at the Excommunication of the Pope of Rome 2. He reduces the whole Faith of Christians throughout the World to that which we call the Apostles Creed without mentioning so much as a Word of those Doctrines which the Church of Rome has superadded to it pretending to confirm them by Tradition Lib. 1. c. 2. 3. He maintains the Scriptures to be both clear and perfect Lib. 2. c. 47. 4. He rejects the Doctrines which the Hereticks grounded upon the Explication of some Parables maintaining that nothing ought to be established but upon clear and evident places of Scripture Lib. 2. c. 46. 5. It appears by his Writings that Penance at that time was publick without dispensing with Women that were overtaken with the Sins of Uncleanness by which means being exposed to extream Confusion it made some of them abjure Christianity Lib. 1. c. 9. 6. He makes it appear that Caelibat was not yet known in Asia whence these first Christians of the Gauls derived their Original which is acknowledged by the Fevardentius Lib. 1. c. 9. 7. He assigns to the Marcosians the custom of anointing those they received into their Communion with Balm Opobalsamo which shews that at that time extream Unction was not known And we may make the same Observation from his imputing to other Hereticks the anointing of Persons at the Point of Death with Oil and Water Lib. 1. c. 18. 8. He attributes to the Gnosticks the Imitation of the Heathens because they had the Images of Jesus Christ Lib. 1. c. 24. which makes it evident that the Christians had no Images much less that they gave to them any religious Worship And indeed we find him reasoning lib. 2. c. 6. after such a manner as shews that the Christians were yet in full Possession of a Right to reproach the Heathens with all those Absurdities that arise from the Use of Images The same may also be gathered from lib. 2. c. 42. where he divides the Law into two Tables in a manner very different from that of the Doctors of the Roman Church and altogether conformable to the Judgment of Josephus and other Jewish Doctors 9. He makes it appear that he knew nothing of the Separability of Accidents from their Subjects which is the sole Support of Transubstantiation lib. 2. c. 14. 10. He in plain terms â—ejects the Invocation of Angels instead thereof recommending that of our Saviour Jesus Christ lib. 2. c. 57. 11. He asserts that the Blessed Virgin had unseasonable Motions intempestivam festinationem John 2.3 so far was he from believing her wholly free from Sin lib. 2. c. 18. This shews that when he saith cap. 33. Quod alligavit Virgo Eva per incredulitatem hoc Virgo Maria solvit per fidem What the Virgin Eve bound up by her Unbelief that the Virgin Mary set free by her Faith he doth not own the Virgin for the Person that saved Men but his meaning is like that of Hesychius who said speaking of the Women to whom Jesus Christ appeared after his Resurrection Invenêre enim saith he mulieres quod olim amisere per Evam lucrum invenit ea quae damni occasionem praebuerat For the Women found what formerly they lost by Eve she found the Gain who had been an occasion of the Loss T. 15. B. P. p. 823. col 1. And this is the sense likewise of that other Passage of St. Irenaeus which we find lib. 5. c. 19. for though he calls the Virgin Eve's Advocate it plainly appears that he meant nothing else but what is express'd by St. Chrysostom in Ps 44. T. 3. p. 221. Virgo nos Paradiso expulit per Virginem vitam aternam invenimus A Virgin drove us
Fruit of the Vine at the Lord's Supper and mentions not so much as one Word of Transubstantiation in a place where he particularly explains the Institution of the Eucharist Can. 30. in Matth. To speak the Truth how could he have any other Thoughts who maintains that Jesus Christ is no longer on the Earth in respect of his Body because it is impossible for a Body to be in more places than one Adest enim cum fideliter invocatur per naturam suam praesens est spiritus enim est omnia penetrans continens non enim secundum nos corporalis est ut cum alicubi adsit absit aliunde sed virtute praesenti se quâcunque est porrigenti cum replente omniae ejus spiritu in omnibus sit tamen ei qui in eum credat adsistit For he is present by his Nature when he is call'd upon with Faith he being a Spirit penetrating and containing all things for he is not like us corporeal so as that when he is in one place he should be absent from another but he is in all places by the Presence of his Power which extendeth it self where-ever he is and his Spirit that filleth all things yet he is in a more peculiar manner with him that believes in him 21. He was so far from approving the Romish Inquisition that he calls the Emperor Constantius Antichrist for persecuting those that were not of his Opinion lib. in Constant August Yea he judg'd all Force to be so contrary to the Spirit of the Christian Religion that he maintains that there can be no Religion where Force is made use of Lastly He was so far from believing that the Antichrist whereof St. John speaks was already come that he maintains that he would be revealed in the Churches that were then possessed by the Arians and that the Faith being thus attack'd the true Believers would be forced to look out for Shelter amongst the Mountains in Woods and Caves leaving the Antichrist Master of the publick Places consecrated to the Worship of God This is the Sum of what may be gathered from the Writings of St. Hilary I make no mention of some Errors of this great Man because Claudianus Mamertus having confuted them about the end of the fifth Century has made it appear that they were only some particular Opinions of this great Confessor and that we cannot look upon them as the common Faith of the Diocess where he was setled But the same cannot be said of the Articles I have noted Claudianus is so far from blaming them that he approves them by his Silence and shews that his Doctrine in this Respect was the Doctrine of the Church of Gaul We have nothing left us of the Works of Rhodanius Bishop of Tholouse who was contemporary with St. Hilary But it appears clear to us that this Holy Confessor having been sent into Banishment with St. Hilary after the Council of Beziers by the Cabal of Saturninus Bishop of Arles Favourer of the Arians we are to consider Rhodanius as a Defender of the same Faith and an illustrious Witness of the Belief of his Diocess And we ought to make the same Judgment of Phaebadius Bishop of Agen who was so much engaged in the same Quarrel and who acquired so great a Name by the vigorous Opposition he made against the Errors of Arius But Providence has preserved us none of his Works In effect this great Man who wrote in the Year 357. as appears by his Book against the Arians gives us sufficiently to understand what his Faith was in divers Articles and what was the Doctrine of the Diocess 1. He maintains that the Catholick Faith is found with those who speak according to the Holy Scripture and not amongst those who only make use of Prejudices After having quoted several places of Scripture to prove against the Arians the Eternity of the Son he concludes in this manner B. Patr. T. 4. p. 174. Volentes igitur à Patre Filium scindere infra Deum ponere de Evangelio praescribunt Those therefore who would rend the Father from the Son and place him below God give Law to the Gospel He expresseth himself yet more strongly to this purpose towards the end of his Book ib. p. 180. Hoc credimus hoc tenemus quia hoc accepimus à Prophetis hoc nobis Evangelia locuta sunt hoc Apostoli tradiderunt hoc Martyres in passione confessi sunt in hoc mentibus fidei etiam haeremus contra quod si Angelus de Coelo annuntiaverit Anathema sit Ergo ut supra diximus praejudicatae opinionis authoritas nihil valebit quia contra semetipsam ipsa consistit This we believe this we hold fast because 't is this we have received from the Prophets this the Gospels have declared to us this the Apostles have left us this the Martyrs in their Sufferings have confessed and to this we adhere with our Minds by Faith so that if an Angel from Heaven should preach contrary to this let him be accursed Wherefore as was said before the Authority of a prejudicate Opinion can be of no force because it stands against it self 2. He makes it appear that the Name of Catholick was not sufficient to be a true Christian when he represents that Arianism had so far seized the Minds of all the World that it was necessary to espouse the Arian Heresy to procure the Name of being Catholicks ib. p. 169. Sed quia aut Haeresis suscipienda est ut Catholici dicamur aut verè Catholici non futuri si Haeresin non repudiamus ad hanc tractatûs conditionem necessitate descendimus But because we are either to become Hereticks that we may be called Catholicks or cease to be Catholicks indeed by becoming Hereticks we are necessitated to write this Treatise 3. He asserts that the Revelation of Holy Scripture is so perfect with respect to the Divinity of our Saviour that Anathemas are to be pronounced against all those that advance any other Doctrine This appears from the great number of Passages which he quotes from thence p. 173 178. to which he joins the Anathema whereof I have already spoke before 4. He observes expresly that the same Honours rendred to Jesus Christ in the Liturgy as to God do demonstrate his Equality with God p. 174. Quod si ita est saith he quotidie blasphemamus in gratiarum actionibus oblationibus sacrificiorum communia haec Patri filio confitentes c. If it be so we blaspheme daily in our Thanksgivings and Offerings of Sacrifice in confessing these things common to Father and Son Thus doth he implicitly overthrow the first Principles of the Church of Rome viz. the Imperfection of the Holy Scripture in Matters of Faith the Authority and Necessity of Traditions which are the compleating of it and other such like Doctrines We should now proceed to examine what the State of these Diocesses was in the following Century
Power into Spain to examine those that were Hereticks and being found such to take away their Lives and Estates Neither was it to be doubted but that this Storm would have reach'd the greatest part of Believers because of the small Distinction made between them and the other for then they judged Persons only by the Eye esteeming them Hereticks from their pale Looks or Habit rather than by their Faith He afterwards shews the Horror that St. Martin had conceived against these kind of Proceedings There was nothing he was more concerned about Illa praecipua cura ne Tribuni cum jure gladiorum ad Hispanias mitterentur Than to prevent the Tribunes being sent into Spain with the Power of the Sword He renounced Communion with these sanguinary Bishops but not long after to avoid a greater Mischief he was obliged to give up that Point though he still refused to subscribe to the Condemnation of the Priscillianists Hujus diei communionem Martinus iniit satius aestimans ad horam cedere quam his non consulere quorum cervicibus gladius imminebat veruntamen summâ vi Episcopis nitentibus ut communionem illam subscriptione firmaret extorqueri non potuit Martin communicated with them at that time thinking it better for a while to give way to them than not to provide for their Safety who had the Sword hanging over them But yet though the Bishops used their utmost Endeavours to make him ratify his communicating with them by his Subscription they could never bring him to it If we consult Vincentius Lirinensis and Cassian they will afford us much Light as to the State of these Diocesses Vincentius a Priest of the Monastery of Lerins is one of those who can best inform us what was esteemed Orthodox in these Churches Indeed we find all the peculiar Doctrines of the Church of Rome are condemned in the Maxims that he solidly asserts in the 28 th Chapter of his Commonitorium where he maintains that the Church may every day make a further Progress in the Knowledg of Truth and all this without making any Innovation Crescat igitur oportet multum vehementerque proficiat tam singulorum quam omnium tam unius hominis quam totius Ecclesiae aetatum ac saeculorum gradibus intelligentia scientia sapientia sed in suo duntaxat genere in eodem se dogmate eodem sensu eademque sententia The Understanding Knowledg and Wisdom as well of every singular Person as of the whole Church ought to grow and greatly increase according to the several Degrees of Times and Ages but every one in his own way that is to say in the same Doctrine in the same Sense and the same Judgment 2. He in the same place exclaims against all new Doctrines and new Names and yet owns that the Church acquires daily more Light in matters of Religion Sed ita tamen ut vere profectus sit ille fidei non permutatio But yet so that this is really an Advancement not a Change of Faith 3. He reduces all that we ought to believe to the Rule of Faith and declares what is the true use and the true Authority of the Doctors of the Church Quae tamen antiqua sanctorum Patrum consensio non in omnibus divinae legis quaestiunculis sed solum certè praecipuè in fidei regula magno nobis studio investiganda est sequenda Quibus tamen Patribus hâc lege credendum est ut quicquid vel omnes vel plures uno eodemque sensu manifestè frequenter perseveranter velut quodam consentiente sibi magistrorum consilio accipiendo tenendo tradendo firmaverint id pro indubitato certo ratoque habeatur But yet this primitive Consent of the Holy Fathers is not to be inquired after and followed as to the lesser Questions of Divine Law alike but especially if not only in the Rule of Faith Which Fathers we may give full Credit to on this Condition that whatsoever all or the most of them do in the same sense manifestly frequently and constantly maintain as in a Council of Masters agreeing together by their receiving holding and delivering the same that ought to be esteemed unquestionable certain and firm 4. He lays down a Method how we may dispute with the Church of Rome about the Errors she has drawn from Antiquity by reducing the whole Dispute to the Scripture Atque ideo quascunque illas antiquiores vel Schismatum vel Haereseωn profanitates nullo modo nos oportet nisi aut sola si opus est Scripturarum authoritate convincere aut certe jam antiquitus universalibus Sacerdotum Catholicorum Conciliis convictas damnatasque vitare Wherefore we are no other way to convict all ancient Errors of Schism or Heresy but either if need be by the sole Authority of Scripture or else to avoid them as already condemned by the universal Councils of Catholick Priests 5. He excellently explains the Use of Tradition without derogating any thing from the Sufficiency of Scripture Diximus in superioribus hanc fuisse semper esse hodieque Catholicorum consuetudinem ut fidem veram duobus istis mediis adprobent primum Divini Canonis authoritate deinde Ecclesiae traditione non quia Canon solus non sibi ad universa sufficiat sed quia verba Divina pro suo plerique arbitratis interpretantes varias opiniones erroresque concipiant atque ideo necesse sit ut ad unam Ecclesiastici sensus regulam scripturae coelestis intelligentia dirigatur in iis duntaxat praecipuè quaestionibus quibus totius Catholici dogmatis fundamenta nituntur We have said before that this hath been and still is the Custom of Catholicks to prove the true Faith two ways 1 st by the Authority of the Divine Canon And 2 dly by the Churches Tradition not as if the Canon were not of it self sufficient but because most Men interpret Scripture according to their own private Fancy which has given occasion to various Opinions and Errors Wherefore it is needful that the Understanding of Holy Scripture be regulated by one single Determination of the Church and particularly in those Questions on which the Foundations of all Catholick Doctrine rest Lastly He desires that universal Consent may be taken only from such a Tradition as he authorizeth Item diximus in ipsa rursus Ecclesia universitatis pariter ac antiquitatis consensionem spectari oportere ne aut ab unitatis integritate in partem schismatis abrumpamur aut à vetustatis religione in Haereseωn novitates praecipitemur We have said also that in the Church we are to have an Eye to the Consent of Universality and Antiquity that wee be not rent from the entire Union into a Schism or be cast headlong from the Religion of the Ancients into the Novelties of Heresy There needs little more than these Maxims to secure a Church where they are taught from those Corruptions into which the Church of
be given for you and this is my Blood which shall be shed for many for the Remission of Sins But it is plain that Charlemain understands by the Word Image a Prototype like the Shadows of the Law with respect to which it is true what many of the Fathers have said that the Sacraments of the New Testament are the Body and the Truth though otherwise considered as Sacraments they are sacred Signs which cannot be confounded with the things signified by them without renouncing the Light of common sense Moreover we are to observe that Charlemain never said that the Eucharist is properly the Body of Jesus Christ If he denies Jesus Christ to have said concerning the Eucharist this is the Image of my Body taking the Word as a Prototype and a Shadow of things to come yet he always holds that it is his Body in a Sacramental Sense for he never speaks of the Eucharist as the Body of our Lord without adding the Restriction of Sacrament or of Mystery If saith he he hears the Mystery of the Body and of the Blood once mentioned and twice together he hath bestowed upon us the Sacrament of his Body and of his Blood And lastly the Mystery of the Body and of the Blood cannot be called an Image Now the Word Mystery according to the constant Use of the Church properly signifies the Symbol the Figure the sacred Sign of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Lastly We ought to observe that though he says that the Sacrament is the Body of Jesus Christ yet he never saith that it ought to be adored Indeed he ought to have drawn up an Impeachment against these Worshippers of Images upon this Article and a very important one too because it is very evident that the Greek Worshippers of Images did not adore the Eucharist but gave only a simple Veneration to it like to that which they bestowed upon the Cross the Altar and the Gospel as one of their Authors tells us in a Book which they call An Invective of the Orthodox against the Opposers of Images printed at the Louvre in 1685. in the Collection of Authors who have writ since Theophanes CHAP. IX The Faith of the Churches of Aquitain and Narbon in the Ninth Century CHarlemain that great Man who lived till the Year 814. maintained the Spirit of Opposition against the Errors and Superstitions of the Church of Rome that espoused the Interest of the Image-Worshippers by approving the second Council of Nice This Council having established the Authority of Tradition as being a necessary Principle to support the Worship of Images we find that the Churches of Aquitain and Narbon kept themselves firmly to the Authority of the Scriptures grounding their Faith thereon and regulating their Worship according to the same Of this we have an illustrious Example in the Council of Arles assembled in the Year 813 by the Order of Charlemain whereat the Arch-bishop of Narbon assisted with his Suffragans For the Fathers of this Council thought fit to begin it with a Profession of their Faith which is nothing but an Extract of that Creed which bears the Name of Athanasius and this is that which they ordain should be preached to the People for the Catholick Faith without so much as mentioning one Word of those Articles of Faith that the Church of Rome now imposeth Charlemain had ordered a Collection of Homilies to be made out of the Works of Origen St. Ambrose St. Chrysostom St. Jerom St. Augustin St. Leo St. Maximus St. Gregory and Bede which he caused to be published in these Diocesses as well as the rest of his Empire now these Homilies do so strongly oppose the most part of those Novelties which were then endeavoured to be introduced that this Book for a long time served as a Bar to hinder People from leaning too much towards those things that incline Men to Superstition There is no Protestant in the least versed in the Matters of Controversy who seeing the Names of those ancient Doctors comprized in this Collection will not remember how much these Fathers have opposed themselves to a Multitude of Corruptions which prevailed at last by the factious Endeavours of some of the latter Popes wherefore I may excuse my self from making an Extract of this Collection choosing rather to produce other Witnesses which the same Diocess affords us concerning the Faith of these Diocesses in the ninth Century I can only produce three or four but to recompense the smallness of their Number they are Men against whose Authority the most contentious Adversaries will have nothing to oppose In the first place it is certain that as the Bishops of Aquitain and Narbon had set themselves against the Superstition and Idolatry of the Greeks and the Pope in the matter of Images at the Council of Francfort so their Successors imitated their Zeal and Vigor in the Synod at Paris in 824 upon the same Question where they determin'd that Pope Adrian who had writ an Answer to the Book of Charlemain and therein undertaken the Defence of the second Council of Nice had made use of in the said Reply superstitious Testimonies and not at all to the purpose answering what he thought fit and not what was agreeable And besides they drew up a new Collection of great Numbers of Arguments against this superstitious Worship to recal Pope Paschal and those of his Party from their doating on Images We can shew further that the same Zeal was continued in this Diocess Baluzius hath acknowledged and so has Massonus before him that the Book of Agobardus Arch-bishop of Lions concerning Pictures expresseth no more than the general Opinions of the Bishops of France and Germany concerning this Point But it may not be amiss to quote it in particular not only to shew what were the Opinions of the Churches of Aquitain and Narbon because though he was born in Spain yet he had continued for a long time in Aquitain whither he was invited because of the general Esteem he had gained to be the Coadjutor to Leidradus Arch-bishop of Lions to whom he succeeded but also because it appears by his Works that the most illustrious Bishops of Gallia Narbonensis carefully consulted him in Matters of Difficulty as their Master being indeed a most famous Doctor able to instruct and inform them 1. He declares as St. Augustin did before him that we can never equalize the Authority of any Interpreter whatsoever to that of the Apostles Concerning Expositors also St. Austin hath delivered That we are to hold far otherwise than you do whom not only in his Book which he hath writ against Faustus the Manichee concerning those who have been blamed by the Doctors yea the best of them speaks thus which sort of Writings that is to say Expositions are not to be read with a Necessity of believing but with a Liberty of judging for those Books only that are of Divine Authority are to be read not with a Liberty of
Deputies of the University of Oxford who gave a publick and authentick Testimony of his Piety and his Purity in the Faith 4. The University of Oxford had espoused his Quarrel with the Church of Rome so far that after his having been attack'd by a Council at London in 1382 and after having maintain'd his Doctrine from the year 1367 with publick applause his Writings continued recommended by a Decree of the University to all the Students both in the Publick Schools and Colledges and were not forc'd from them till after his Condemnation which happened at the Council of Constance 28 years after his Death We see the Esteem Wicklef had in that University by the Testimony they gave in 1406 against those that endeavour'd to blemish the Memory of this great Man for after they had spoken of his Piety and Probity as of a Thing known to all Men after they had declared that he was a couragious Defender of the Faith they add Qui singulos mendicitate spontaneâ Christi Religionem blasphemantes sacrae Scripturae sententiis catholicè expugnavit That he had in a Catholick Way by Texts of Scripture overthrown all those who by a voluntary Poverty blasphemed the Religion of Christ And since the Romish Party had not at that time a more formidable Enemy than Wicklef they were not wanting to muster all their Forces in order to suppress his Doctrine In the Year 1396 William Woodeford a Cordelier was chosen by Thomas Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury to write against Wicklef's Trialogue which he did accordingly refuting 18 Articles of his Doctrine This Book is printed in the Fasciculus In the Year 1411 Thomas Walden an English-man deputed to the Council of Constance dedicated his Doctrinal to Pope Martin V against Wicklef where he accuseth him of above 800 Errors This Monk as able as he was was really one of the most passionate Disputers that ever writ but withal it is true also that to follow his Measures we can scarcely imagine a more particular Discussion of the Errors Superstitions and false Suppositions which the Church of Rome makes use of to maintain her Errors and false Worship than that which Wicklef made use of In the Account that Walden gives of it we meet with a great Knowledg of Holy Scripture and great Skill in Antiquity whose Authority he makes use of to confound the Romish Novelties we discover there a great strength in his way of reasoning and an extraordinary Method in his Consequences so that he seems to have fully penetrated the Weakness of the Romish Cause and overthrown its whole Foundations One may plainly discover this by running over the Titles of the Doctrinal of Thomas Walden upon Matters of Faith upon the Sacraments upon those which he calls sacramental things or that belong to Sacraments for we scarcely meet with any Articles controverted between the Church of Rome and the Protestants which Wicklef hath not touched and handled and that with sufficient Exactness too This hath obliged the Papists with so much Care to reprint Walden's Works against Wicklef as containing a Body of their Controversies against the Protestants I am not ignorant that Walden objects some very harsh and impious Opinions to him and that the Council of Constance has mingled several of that Nature amongst the 45 Articles of Wicklef which are there condemned But here I must desire my Reader to call to mind four things 1 st That Woodeford hath objected no such thing to Wicklef which shews that he never taught any like Doctrine but that they are only Consequences drawn by a scholastical Divine who was used to carry things too far 2 dly That Walden wrote at a time when the Popish Party had the upper-hand in the Court of Henry V who had condemned the Wicklefites as guilty of high Treason which Walden takes notice of in his Dedication to Martin V. 3 dly That it is very probable that this Catalogue of 45 Articles was drawn up by Walden himself who was present at the Council of Constance on purpose to promote Wicklef's Condemnation 4 thly That the Council of Constance was the first where by publick Consent that Maxim That Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks was ever put in Practice Now let any one judg what Equity or Truth can be expected from Villains of such profligate Principles who think it an Honour to act in every thing according to them After all this I might well excuse my self from setting down the Opinions of Wicklef or from saying any thing for his Justification but I am willing to do both the one and the other for the Honour of this great Man and for the Readers Satisfaction The Opinions of Wicklef with relation to the Doctrine of Protestants are these CHAP. XXIV Of the Calumnies that have been unjustly charged upon Wicklef by the Papists 1. WIcklef owns but 22 Canonical Books of Scripture excluding all the rest which he calls Apocryphal 2. He teaches that the Scripture contains all things necessary to Salvation Forasmuch saith he as in Scripture all Truth is contained it is evident that all Disputes that take not their Rise thence are prophane We are not to admit any Knowledg or Conclusion which hath not its Testimony from Scripture 3. He affirms that every well-disposed Christian may understand the Holy Scripture God hath appointed the common sensible Scripture to the comprehending of the Catholick Sense whereof God can never be wanting because he always enlightneth some particular Men to which Illumination Holiness of Life conduceth very much and it is the Duty of Divines to continue it in our Mother the Church which ought to keep within her Bounds so that it is not lawful for Divines to frame strange Doctrines besides the Faith of Catholick Scripture For which End he lays down several Rules for the Understanding of the Scriptures 4. He asserts that the Scriptures ought to be translated into the vulgar Tongue The Truth of God saith he is not more confined to one Language than to another Jesus Christ delivered the Lord's Prayer in a known Language Why then may not the Gospel and other parts of Scripture be writ in English The Clergy ought to rejoice that the People know the Law of God It was for this Reason that he translated the whole Bible whereof several Copies are still to be found in the King's Library and in several other Libraries in England We may easily know what he thought of Tradition from these Words We have a perfect Knowledg of all things necessary to Salvation from the Faith of Scripture Decrees Statutes and Rites that are added according to humane Traditions are all inseparably sinful because they make the Law of God more difficult to be kept and hinder the Course of God's Word Traditions are hateful to God and the Church except only so far as they are grounded on Scripture Mens own Inventions are chiefly to get Money
alio p. 33. l. 22. r. Ecclesiae Catholicae cap. 34. p. 37. l. 24. r. being ill advised p. 39. l. 7. from the bottom for That great Emperor r. Maximus the Emperor Page 47. l. 19. after mentem add Nam taliter ferme omnes agunt ut eos non tam putes antea poenitentiam criminum egisse quam postea ipsius poenitentiae poenitere nec tam prius poenituisse quod male vixerint quam postea quod se promiserint bene esse victuros Novum prorsus conversionis genus licita non faciunt illicita committunt Temperant à concubitu non temperant à rapina Quid agis stultae persuasio Peccata interdixit Deus non Matrimonia non conveniunt studiis vestris sactae vestra non debetis esse amici criminum qui dicitis vos sectatores esse virtutum Who under a shew of Religion are Slaves to the Vices of this World who having taken upon themselves a Title of Holiness after the Reproaches and Scandals of former Crimes do not alter their Lives by a new Conversation but change their Names by a new Profession and thinking that the Sum of the Worship of God lies more in their Clothes than their Actions they have only changed their Garments not their Minds for they do almost all things c. P. 62. l. 4. from bott for the Prayer r. Prayers p. 69. l. 3. r. use of again p. 70. l. 4. r. find solved in P. 78. l. 32. once mentioned should be in Italick p. 81. l. 19. from concerning Expositors to which sort of Writings must be struck out and these Words put in The blessed Father Augustin has told us that we ought to have quite another Opinion of Expositions than that which you hold who in his Book against Faustas the Manichee speaks not only of those which have been blamed by Learned Men but also of those which have been approved of after this manner Which sort of Writings c. P. 88. l. 11. dele giving that account of p. 113. l. 18. r. continual p. 141. l. 5. dele of p. 156. l. 18. f. Hours r. Times p. 180. l. 7. r. the conduct p. 183. l. 13. r. Heresies p. 206. col 1. l. 17. for Anglicâ which seems to be a Mistake either in the Copy or in the Original MS. r. Angelicâ l. 26. f. sine r. sive p. 208. col 1. l. 5. f. enim r. eum p. 227. l. 15. dele P. 248. l. 10. r. Stere of **** THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. COncerning the Original of the Churches of Gallia Narbonensis and Aquitain Page 1 CHAP. II. The Faith of the Church of the Gauls in the Second Century Page 7 CHAP. III. The Faith of Gallia Aquitanica and Narbonensis in the Fourth Century Page 14 CHAP. IV. An Examination of the Opinions of Vigilantius Page 21 CHAP. V. The State of the Churches of Aquitain and Narbon in the Fifth Century Page 35 CHAP. VI. The State of these Diocesses in the Sixth Century Page 53 CHAP. VII The State of the Diocesses of Aquitain and Narbon in the Seventh Century Page 60 CHAP. VIII The Opinion of the Churches of Aquitain and Narbon in the Eighth Century Page 72 CHAP. IX The Faith of the Churches of Aquitain and Narbon in the Ninth Century Page 79 CHAP. X. The State of these Diocesses in the Tenth Century Page 89 CHAP. XI The Beginning of the Manichees in Aquitain and the State of those Churches as to Religion in that Age Page 95 CHAP. XII That these Diocesses continued independent of the Popes until the Beginning of the Twelfth Century Page 102 CHAP. XIII Of the Opposition that was made by a Part of these Churches to the Attempts of the Popes and of their Separation from the Communion of Rome before Peter Waldo Page 112 CHAP. XIV Of the Opinions of Peter de Bruis and Henry and their Disciples and whether they were Manichees or not Page 121 CHAP. XV. That it doth not appear from the Conference of Alby that the Albigenses were Manichees Page 131 CHAP. XVI The Albigenses justified by a Conference whereof we have an Account written by Bernard of Foncaud Page 140 CHAP. XVII The Calumnies raised against the Albigenses refuted by the Conference at Montreal Page 153 CHAP. XVIII Reflections on the Convictions of Manicheism which were said to be proved upon the Albigenses Page 160 CHAP. XIX Whether the Albigenses were Manichees because they accused the Pope of being the Antichrist Page 173 CHAP. XX. Of the Morals of the Albigenses and of their Ecclesiastical Government Page 180 CHAP. XXI Concerning the Persecutions which the Albigenses have suffered from the Pope and his Party Page 190 CHAP. XXII That the Doctrine of the Albigenses spread it self in England and continued there till the time of the Reformation Page 201 The Petition of the LOLLARDS Page 205 CHAP. XXIII Of the Doctrine of Wicklef and his Disciples in England Page 222 CHAP. XXIV Of the Calumnies that have been unjustly charged upon Wicklef by the Papists Page 227 CHAP. XXV That the Doctrine of the Albigenses was propagated in Spain and that it continued there till the Reformation Page 237 CONCLUSION Page 245 Extracts of several Trials of some pretended Hereticks in the Diocess of Sarum Taken out of an old Register Page 248 REMARKS UPON THE Ecclesiastical History OF THE Ancient Churches OF THE Country of the Albigenses CHAP. I. Concerning the Original of the Churches of Gallia Narbonensis and Aquitain BEfore the Gauls were entirely reduc'd by Cesar under the Power of the Roman Empire and after that under the said Emperor Gallia was commonly divided into two Parts whereof the one was called Braccata the other Comata Gallia Braccata contained not only that part of Italy which is beyond the Alps and was named Cisalpina but also Gallia Narbonensis whereof Vienna was the Capital City The other to wit Gallia Comata was divided into three parts the first whereof was called Belgica the other Celtica and the third Aquitain But Augustus being absolute Master of Gaule made some Alteration in this Division for he extended the Bounds of Aquitain by restraining those of Celtica and distinguished Aquitain into three Provinces whereof the first and second were on this side of the Garonne and reached to the Loyre the third reached from the Garonne to the Pyrenean Mountains Bourges and Bourdeaux were the Mother-Cities of the first and second of these Provinces and Eulse or Eaulse was the Metropolis of the third which City having been destroyed by the Wars Ausch succeeded her in that Dignity As for Gallia Narbonensis which at first was only a Province whereof Vienna was the Capital City Augustus was pleased to take that Honour from her to bestow it upon Lions which seemed to him more commodious to be made the Seat of Government This Province was afterward changed by being divided into four Parts viz. into Narbonensis Viennensis the Maritime Alps and the Greek Alps. And after this Division Narbonensis was
evangelicam fidem locutus est in tantum ad intelligentiam nostram sermones aptavit in quantum naturae nostrae ferret infirmitas non tamen ut quicquam minus dignum naturae suae majestate loqueretur The Lord hath express'd the Faith of the Gospel in the greatest Simplicity of Words he could and so far accommodated his Speech to our Understanding as the Weakness of our Nature would bear yet so as not to speak any thing unbecoming the Majesty of his Nature 6. He there also confirms the Fulness of Scripture after a most Authentick manner Lib. 8. de Trin. Non est humano aut seculi sensu in Dei rebus loquendum In the things of God we are not to speak according to a humane or worldly sense and meaning And a little after Quae scripta sunt legamus quae legerimus intelligamus tunc perfectae fidei officio fungemur Let us read what is written and understand what we read so shall we discharge the Duty of perfect Faith So likewise lib. 5. p. 46. Non est de Deo humanis Judiciis sentiendum neque in nobis ea natura est ut se in coelestem cognitionem suis viribus efferat à Deo discendum est quid ex Deo intelligendum sit quia non nisi se authore cognoscitur We must not think of God according to humane Judgment for neither is our Nature such to be able to raise it self by its own Strength to Heavenly Knowledg we must learn of God whatsoever is to be understood of him because he is not to be known any further than as he is the Author of our Knowledg And a little after Loquendum ergo non aliter de Deo est quam ut ipse ad intelligentiam nostram de se locutus est Wherefore we are no otherwise to speak of God than as he in Compliance with our Understanding hath spoke to us concerning himself 7. He owns no other Foundation of the Church besides the Confession of the Divinity of our Saviour made by St. Peter instead of referring it to the Person of St. Peter or to the Functions of his Apostleship lib. 2. Vnum igitur hoc est immobile fundamentum una haec est foelix fidei Petra Petri ore confessa Tu es filius Dei vivi This is the only immoveable Foundation this is the only happy Rock of Faith confess'd by the Mouth of Peter Thou art the Son of the living God And so likewise lib. 6. p. 77. Super hanc igitur Confessionis Petram Ecclesiae aedificatio est Wherefore upon the Rock of this Confession the Church is built 9. He overthrows all the Exceptions of the Church of Rome in favour of the Adoration of Angels by maintaining that the Angel who appeared to Abraham was Jesus Christ de Trin. lib. 4. lib. de Synodis contra Arianos 10. He was so little of the Belief that the Faith of the People depends upon that of their Pastors that he asserts and proves in his Book against the Arians or Auxentius that the People may continue Orthodox under Heretical Pastors 11. He overthrows all Worshipping of Creatures which is practised by the Church of Rome by maintaining that if any should worship Jesus Christ believing him to be a Creature he would be accursed Lib. 12. de Trinit 12. He dream'd so little of the Infallibility of the Pope which a great part of the Church of Rome owns as the greatest Article into which the Faith of all Christians must be resolved that he pronounces many Anathema's against Liberius because he had subscribed to an Arian Confession of Faith as may be seen in the Fragments of St. Hilary published by Pithaeus 13. He lays it down for a Maxim that Jesus Christ alone was without Sin in his Discourse upon Psalm 58 and 138. 14. He owns God only to have the Power of forgiving Sins Can. 8. in Matth. so far was he from attributing this Power to Ministers as the Church of Rome doth at this day 15. He formally asserts that the good Works of one Man are of no avail to deliver another from Punishment which overthrows the great Foundation of Satisfactions and Purgatory after the manner that the Church of Rome makes use of them Can. 27. in Matth. The wise Virgins tell the foolish that they cannot give to them of their Oil Quia non sit forte quod omnibus satis sit alienis scilicet operibus meritis neminem adjuvandum quia unicuique lampadi suae emere oleum sit necesse Lest perhaps there might not be enough for them all to intimate that no Body can be helped by the Works and Merits of another because it is necessary for every one to buy Oil for his own Lamp 16. He was so far from believing the Merit of Works as the Church of Rome at present doth that he discourseth thus upon Psal 118. lit Coph In operibus quidem Bonitatis totus perfectus est sed satis esse hoc sibi non putat ad salutem nisi secundum miserationem Dei judicia miserationem consequatur He is indeed wholly perfect in all the Works of Goodness but he doth not think this sufficient for his Salvation except according to the Mercy of God and his Judgments he obtain Mercy And it is the same Notion he gives us speaking of the Parable of the Labourers upon Psal 130. Mercedem non operis sed misericordiae undecimae horae operarii consequuntur 17. We cannot deny but that St. Hilary believed a Purgatory but yet in that Point he differed much from the Church of Rome He owns a Baptism of Fire after this Life but such a Baptism as was to be conferred at the last Day viz. the Day of Judgment Matth. Can. 2. And that which must needs greatly scandalize the Papists is that St. Hilary maintains that all Believers without excepting so much as the Blessed Virgin must endure the Fire which he expresly affirms on Psal 118. 18. If we have a Mind to know whether he allowed the Notion of the Church of Rome which believes that we can perfectly fulfil the Law of God we may easily be resolved by his manner of treating the young Man who boasted himself before Jesus Christ as if he had done it He accuses him of Insolence in several places of his Works for pretending to be justified by his Works De Trinit lib. 9. Can. 19. in Matth. Lib. de Patris Filii unitate 19. He overturns the common Notion of the Church of Rome which is that when Jesus Christ entred in to his Disciples the Doors being shut he had not lost the Solidity of his Body and consequently that there was a Penetration of Dimensions St. Hilary rejects this Notion as absurd accounting this Penetration of Dimensions impossible lib. 3. de Trinit 20. He asserts that the Eucharist is celebrated in breaking of Bread and that the Disciples of Jesus Christ did drink of the
two things very clearly 1 st That at that time they kept the Bread of the Eucharist in a Casket or Coffer so far were they from making it an Object of their Adoration 2 d That the mingling only of the Bread that was consecrated before with the Wine that was not consecrated made them look upon the Wine though not consecrated by the Words of Jesus Christ as the Blood of Jesus Christ which is the most extravagant and sensless Notion in the World if we suppose that these Fathers were season'd with the Doctrine of Transubstantiation which attributes to the Words of Christ only the Virtue of changing the Substance of the Wine into the Substance of the Blood of Christ Allatius takes a great deal of pains to avoid this Argument which shews that the Greek Church that believes the same cannot be of the Faith of the Church of Rome In the mean time the thing is certain and Mabillon has ingenuously acknowledged that this is the true sense of that Canon And indeed there are many Proofs that make it evident that both the Greek and Latin Fathers were of this Opinion Salonius one of the most famous Bishops of Gallia Narbonensis owns no other Doctrine but that of the Old and New-Testament Drink Waters out of thine own Cistern and running Waters out of thine own Well S. By Cistern he means the Catholick Doctrine that is that of the Old and New-Testament and by the Well he understands the Depth and Height of the same Catholick Doctrine that is the various meanings of holy Scripture For in these Words he teacheth us to beware of the Doctrine of Hereticks and to attend to the reading of Holy Scripture He will have the Author 's Meaning and not Tradition to be the Explication of Scripture Do not remove the antient Land-marks or Bounds which thy Fathers have set S. By the antient Bounds he understands the Bounds of Truth and Faith which Catholick Doctors have plac'd from the beginning He would have no Man therefore receive the Truth of Holy Faith and Gospel-Doctrine any otherwise than it hath been handed down to them by the Holy Fathers and likewise commands that no Man interpret the Words of Holy Scripture otherwise than according to the Intention of each Writer He doth not own the Apocrypha How many Books did Solomon publish S. Three only according to the number of their Titles Proverbs Ecclesiastes and Canticles V. What doth Solomon say in the Proverbs or what doth he teach in Ecclesiastes and his Songs He assigns but two Places whither the Soul goes immediately For by the Tree Man is understood because every Man is as it were a Tree in the Wood of Mankind by the South which is a warm Wind is signified the Rest of Paradise and by the North which is cold is signified the Pain of Hell and the meaning of it is Wheresoever Man prepares a Place for his future abode if to the South when he falls that is dies he shall abide to all Eternity in the Rest of Paradise and the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven He makes it the greatest Absurdity that a Man should eat his own Flesh which yet follows from the Doctrine of Transubstantiation But that Expression He eats his own Flesh is spoke by an Hyperbole V. What is an Hyperbole S. When any thing is exprest that is incredible V. How is this exprest hyperbolically he eats his own Flesh S. Because it is incredible that any Man should eat his own Flesh but to aggravate the slothfulness of this Fool he saith that he eats his own Flesh to shew that a Fool rather desires his Flesh should waste by Hunger and be consumed by the Misery of Want than to support it by the labour of his Hands These are all Maxims concerning divers important Articles very different from the present Maxims of the Church of Rome I grant that Prosper who was a Native of Aquitain was no more than a Lay-man but he was in so great a Reputation that there were but few Bishops of his time that have shewn more Knowledg or exprest more Zeal for the defence of Truth than he did This Testimony is given of him by Cassiodorus Photius and Vasquez Wherefore his Testimony concerning the Faith of his Country must be of great weight with us Would we know the Opinion of the Church of this Diocess He tells us of a small part of the Body of Jesus Christ thereby meaning the Eucharist or the Sacrament which was given in little Bits And it is in the same sense that he speaks of a small part of the Sacrifice Expressions that are utterly inconsistent with the Notion of the Church of Rome concerning the carnal Presence And indeed it is plain in all his Writings that he follows the steps of St. Augustin in his Expressions and Judgments of things which are contrary to those of the Church of Rome This we may see in his Extract of the Sentences of St. Augustin where he repeats what that Father had said upon Psalm 33. upon occasion of these Words of the vulgar Version which says that David ferebatur in manibus suis in the presence of Achish Where it clearly appears that he understood those Words as well as St. Augustin did of the Sacrament of his Body which may be called his Body in some sense that is to say by way of Likeness as St. Augustin expresseth himself concerning it I cite nothing here from those other Works which are attributed to him because indeed they are none of his I shall only observe two things The first is that in his Epistle to Demetrius he plainly shews that he knew nothing of the Doctrine of the Church of Rome concerning the Necessity of the Ministers Intention for the Validity of the Sacraments for there he attributes all to the Work of God and not to that of the Minister according to the Doctrine of St. Augustin upon the Question of the Validity of Baptism conferred by Hereticks The other is that as he follows St. Augustin in the Matter of Free Grace as one may see in his Poems gathered from the Opinions of St. Augustin and his Sentences so he rejects the Doctrine of Merit and Works as a pure Pelagian Doctrine in several Places of his Writings Lastly We must join with these Authors Arnobius the Rhetorician since it is very probable that he lived in Gallia Narbonensis because he has dedicated some of his Works to Leontius Bishop of Arles to the Bishop of Narbonne and Faustus Bishop of Riez who died about the year 485. Arnobius explains his Belief in the Matter of the Eucharist after this manner We have received saith he upon the 4 th Psalm Wheat in the Body Wine in the Blood and Oil in Chrisme So likewise on Psal 104. he saith of Jesus Christ that he administers not only the species of Bread but also of Wine and Oil. Thus it is he describes the Eucharist and
be wholly uncertain Gregorius Turonensis who often mentions him as his Friend never gives him any other Title but that of Priest However it be it appears by his Writings that he was very far from Popery in these following Articles 1. He never in the Life of St. Martin attributes to that holy Man that upon any occasion he prayed to the Saints for the working of his Miracles This we may see in his Relation of St. Martin's raising a Child to Life 2. He looks upon all Bishops as the Vicars of St. Peter accordingly he saith to the Bishop of Metz Apparet Petri vos meruisse vices It appears you have deserved to be St. Peter's Vicar 3. We meet with nothing more commonly in the Epitaphs which he made than this Notion that deceased Believers are in Heaven from such Expressions as these Hunc tenet ulna Dei Inter Apostolicos credimus esse choros Non hanc flere decet quam Paradisus habet Accordingly also he maintains that Abraham's Bosom is the Heavenly Glory Lastly It appears from an Exposition he hath made on the Apostles Creed that he owned no Doctrines besides those contained in that ancient Formulary as Articles of his Faith because he makes no mention at all of those new Articles which the Church of Rome hath added to that Creed and which she imposeth on her People as another part of that which makes the Object of Faith It cannot be denied but that the Spirit of Superstition had already made a considerable Progress in all places we meet with an illustrious Example thereof in the Diocess of Marseilles which joined to Gallia Narbonensis The People there began to render a religious Worship to Images whereupon Serenus the Bishop of Marseilles was forced to follow the Method of St. Epiphanius in breaking the Images to pieces which drew upon him the Censures of Gregory I. who exhorts him to erect them again though he commends him for having opposed himself to their Adoration and exhorts him carefully to instruct the People to prevent their falling again into Idolatry And it is natural to conclude that this Excess of the People met with the same Checks in many other places CHAP. VII The State of the Diocesses of Aquitain and Narbon in the Seventh Century I am come to the Seventh Century of which I have two pieces of great Authority to produce The first concerns the Purity of these Diocesses in regard to their Faith There was a Council held at Toledo in the Year 633 whereat Silva Bishop of Narbon assisted in the Name of the Bishops of Gallia Narbonensis and they began the Synod with a Confession of Faith which shews beyond all Controversy that nothing was look'd upon by them as an Article of Faith that was not received for such in the Creed of the ancient Christians for there was not so much as one Word to be found there of all those Articles which the Church of Rome imposeth upon those of her Communion as an Addition to the primitive Faith The second regards the Practice of the publick Acts of Religion and that is the Gothick Liturgy which of a long time was used in these Diocesses wherefore to make a fuller Discovery of the Religion of these Provinces it will be of Importance to make some Remarks upon this Liturgy which was in use there It is not probable that all the Parts of it are of equal Antiquity as may be seen by the Office of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin in Soul and Body which was rejected in France as a thing uncertain towards the end of the 9 th Century according to the Testimony of Vsuardus One may make the same Judgment of divers other Offices which are found in this Gothick Liturgy the Barbarism which appears in all its parts sufficiently shows its Age In the mean time such as it is it does not want the Marks of a considerable Purity which it seems obliged Gregory VII to abolish and suppress it with all his Might 1. We find in it the Recital of the Apostles Creed as the only Profession of Faith which the Churches of these Provinces required of those who would be Partakers of her Communion 2. We don't find in it any Prayer address'd to Saints It supposeth all along from one end to the other that the Saints pray in general for the Church and on this Ground it is that therein they desire God to have regard to their Prayers and to receive their Intercession their Suffrages and so forth There is no greater stress laid upon the Power of the Blessed Virgin with God than on that of the Patriarchs and Apostles yea of the Anchorets and Virgins True it is that there is a solemn Commemoration of divers Saints but it may easily be perceived that it is only done out of a Design to glorify God by representing to themselves their Examples and forming or disposing themselves to imitate them This is done in the Office of St. Forrestus and Ferucio We find divers Confessions to God before the Liturgy but none at all made to Angels to the Blessed Virgin or Saints as at this day is done in the Romish Mass 3. We find there no particular Distinction for the Bishop of Rome only that the Bishop of the City of Rome is called the first of Bishops Mabillon in his Preface triumphs because of this Title but he is extreamly out in his account for hath the first Bishop any Jurisdiction over the second the second over the third We find there the Prayer for the Feast of St. Peter but with a Clause which Mabillon owns to be found in all the ancient Missals and is struck out of the Roman Liturgy in order to extend the Papal Monarchy over all the Earth We do not find therein the least Foot-step of Prayers for the Pope which shews that the Decree of the Council of Vaison wherein it was ordained that Prayers should be made to God for the Bishop of Rome was not observed throughout Gaul yea what is more the same Liturgy gives the Title of Head of the Church to St. Paul as well as to St. Peter We find therein no Adoration of the Cross on Good-Friday 4. We find therein an Office for St. Saturninus Bishop of Tholouse who is looked upon as come from the Eastern Parts in the place of St. Peter which shews that all the Bishops of France considered themselves as the Vicars of St. Peter as well as the Bishop of Rome Si quidem ipse Pontifex tuus ab Orientis partibus in urbem Tolosatium destinatus Roma Garonae invicem Petri tui tam Cathedram quam Martyrium consummavit For this your Bishop being sent from the East to Tholouse instead of Rome has now upon the Garonne filled the Chair and consummated the Martyrdom of your Peter 5. We find therein that the Confession of St. Peter was the Foundation of the Church and the Festival of his Chair is
therein referred to his Bishoprick Testis est dies bodierna Beati Petri Cathedra Episcopatus exposita in qua fidei merito revelationis mysterium filium Dei confitendo Praelatus Apostolus ordinatur In cujus confessione est fundamentum Ecclesiae nec adversus hanc Petram portae inferi praevalent St. Peter's Episcopal Chair which is shewn to this Day can testify this wherein by reason of his Faith when he confessed that Mystery that was then revealed even the Son of God he was ordained a Bishop In whose Confession is the Foundation of the Church neither shall the Gates of Hell prevail against this Rock 6. We read there that the Gates of Hell do not signify Errors as the Church of Rome will have it but the State of the Dead from whence the Faith which St. Peter hath professed delivers those who imitate him Let us pray saith he that the Souls of the deceased being brought up out of Hell the infernal Gates may not prevail over the Dead because of their Crimes which the Church believes are overcome by the Faith of the Apostle 7. We find there as in the Romish Mass an high Abjuration of the Doctrine of the Merit of Works And though we find the Word Merit often used in it yet we also meet with those necessary Explications of it as are sufficient to hinder any wrong Impression that may be made by a Word of an ambiguous sense 8. I do own that we find in it the Prayer for the Dead but there are a hundred other Passages which speak them to be in Peace in the Peace of God that they are at rest and other Expressions which very plainly import that they had not received the Notion of Purgatory no more than the Authors of the Roman Liturgy had at that time I know there are some Passages in it which seem to suppose the Souls departed to be in a place of Torment but I have two things to say to this Point the one is that those Missals whose Stile comes near to the Belief of the Church of Rome are of a later Date the other is that the ordinary Article pro pausantibus for those who are at rest imports nothing like a place of Torment To these two Considerations we may add That what is ordinarily requested for them is either that they may have a part in the first that is to say a more early Resurrection which is the same with the Opinion of the Millennium or that they may be written in the Book of Life or carried into Abraham's Bosom which shews that the State of Souls after Death was not more certainly determined by those who governed these Churches at this time than by the Members of the Catholick Church any where else We read that there are divers Flocks whereof each Bishop is the Pastor as well St. Cyprian as Cornelius Indeed we find that to every Bishop is given the Title of summus Pontifex and summus Sacerdos Grant unto us Lord who this Day are celebrating the Anniversary of the Decease of thy high Priest and our Father Bishop Martin We see there the manner of administring Baptism with the Unction or anointing called the Chrismation but we do not find that they made two Sacraments of them as the Church of Rome has since done We find there also the Consecration of Wax Tapers but yet without ascribing to them all those Virtues which the Church of Rome attributes to her consecrated Tapers in the Roman Order But I go on to that which is most considerable in this Liturgy Mabillon who hath published it in France according to the Copy printed at Rome pretends that it expresly shews that the Churches which made use of this Liturgy held the Doctrine of the Real Presence If instead of some Passages that he quotes we could find there a precise Order for adoring the Sacrament after Consecration as being become the Body of Jesus Christ which we do not find in any part of it there would indeed be some ground for his Pretension but there is not so much as a Word to this purpose which makes it evident that in these Diocesses they had not received this Doctrine nor the natural Consequences of it any more than in any other part of the Catholick Church for we find that as soon as ever this Opinion was entertained it was immediately followed with supreme Adoration Neither do we find any thing therein of the Sacrifice of the Mass any more than of the Adoration of the Sacrament which is another Consequence of the Real Presence We do not find any Masses there without Communicants St. Caesarius whom I have already cited would have accounted them ridiculous and a mere Profanation Lastly We do not find that the Communion under one kind was there thought to be a Consequent as it hath been in the Church of Rome of the Real Presence And yet one would think that the Fear of prophaning the Blood of Jesus Christ as being very subject to be spilt ought to have obliged them to take the same Precautions as the Church of Rome has since done to prevent such dreadful and yet such common Inconveniencies If Mabillon had well considered these essential Defects which a Papist cannot but naturally meet with in this Gothick Liturgy in all Appearance he would not have been so lavish of his Judgment But without making use of these just Anticipations upon the matter in hand let us consider a little whether the attentive Examination of the Liturgy be not sufficient to clear these Prejudices and oblige him to put another sense upon the Words which he hath wrested to confirm his Assertion The Characters we meet with in this Liturgy are these 1. It makes a great Distinction between that which is taken with the Mouth and that which is received by the Heart Grant O Lord that what we have taken with our Mouths we may receive with our Minds and that the temporal Gift may be to us an eternal Remedy This Observation is decretory for the Transubstantiators own that both Good and Bad receive the Body of Christ Goffridus Vindocinensis expresly asserts it notwithstanding that St. Augustin has rejected it as a great Absurdity 2. It supposeth likewise that Jesus Christ is above the Heavens and that he is no otherwise near to us than by the Communion of our Nature which he hath taken to himself Vt qui te consortem in carnis propinquitate laetantur ad summorum Civium unitatem super quos corpus assumptum evexisti perducantur That they who rejoice to see thee their Brother in the Nearness of thy Flesh may be brought up to the Unity of those highest Citizens above whom thou hast carried up thy assumed Body 3. It supposeth the Sacrament to be only a Commemoration We remember thy Suffering and thy Body broken for the Remission of our Sins Which is a plain Allusion to the Words of St. Paul
sets down his Opinion and he doth it in the self-same Terms us'd by St. Augustin But I keep my self within the Bounds of what concerns those Diocesses whose History I am upon I shall only take leave to add one thing which is that tho Gerbertus seems in his 26 th Letter which contains his Confession of Faith to make an Allusion to some of the Opinions of the Manichees yet we may be sure that he did not express himself in this manner to show that he held nothing of their Tenets no he had other Reasons for it which it is not necessary to unfold here Besides it is notorious that the Manichees did not spread themselves in Aquitain till he was a very old Man at least it is true that Ademarus doth not make them to appear in Aquitain till the year 1011 and that the first Synod held against them did not meet at Tholouse till the year 1019 that is to say 16 years after his Death which hapned in 1003. CHAP. XI The beginning of the Manichees in Aquitain and the State of those Churches as to Religion in that Age. THere appeared in Lombardy and in France some Manichees chased from the East by the Emperors of Constantinople Ademarus Cabannensis Monk of St. Eparque at Limoges says that they first were taken notice of in Aquitain a little after the Year 1010. and he afterwards speaks of a Council assembled at Charoux against them The Bishop of Meaux makes no Question but that this gave rise of the Albigenses and to evidence the Solidity of his Conjecture he accuseth besides some Writers of the 11 th Century the Canons whom Robert caused to be burnt at Orleans to have been the first Disciples of these Manichees supposing all this while that the Albigenses derive themselves from the same source and that they defended the same Opinions Now because it is a matter of small Importance to the History of the Albigenses whether the Canons of Orleans were Manichees or not I might very well excuse my self from entring upon that Enquiry They may have been Manichees and yet the Churches of Aquitain and Narbon not the least concerned in the matter Neither do I think my self obliged to repeat here what I have already delivered concerning the differing Opinions of the ancient and modern Manichees in the 15 th 16 th and 17 th Chapters of my Remarks upon the History of the Churches of the Vallies of Piedmont supposing that my Reader may easily have Recourse to them Our Business is to see what was the Faith of these Diocesses and question not but we shall make it appear in the Sequel that those whom the Bishop pretends to convict of Manicheism are falsly charged therewith the Romish Party having bestowed that Name upon them only to make them the more execrable to those of their Communion Nevertheless because Ademarus Cabannensis testifies that these Canons of Orleans had been instructed not by a Woman come from Italy as their History records the Story but by a Country-fellow as some MS. Copies of Ademarus tell us of Perigueux I am not unwilling to enquire a little into the Authority of this History Glaber relates it Lib. 3. cap. 8. pag. 308. but besides his Relation D' Achery hath given us though not the very Acts of the Synod that condemned them but the account of a private Man of Chartres who professeth that he set down in Writing what pass'd in that Synod which seems to be of sufficient Authority Be it as it will they suppose from these Proofs that these Canons were Manichees and I own they are very like them in the Relation that is given of this Synod as well as in Ademarus But yet after all there are several things which seem to give us ground to doubt of the Truth of this whole Relation 1 st It scarcely seems probable that a Woman who was a Stranger or a Peasant should have been able in so short a time to make so many Proselytes amongst the Canons and Citizens of Orleans as to be able to form secret Conventicles amongst them and to propagate such monstrous Doctrines as those of the Manichees were Neither can we with any appearance of reason suppose that one of these Canons who formerly had been Confessor to the Queen was so stupid a Fellow as all on a sudden to fall into the Enthusiasm of the Manichees 2 dly It is evident that in perusing these pretended Acts we find that all the Witnesses which are produc'd against them are reducible to one only and he too of no credit because himself had been engag'd once of their Communion I say all their Proceedings were founded upon the Depositions of one single Man and then afterwards they make the Men once executed speak what they please It will be objected perhaps that the Interrogatories were made in publick in the Presence of the People but then let us consider that all this was writ after the Death of Robert to justify so bloody an Execution 3 dly We do not find in these Acts the same Accusations one accuseth them of one thing and another of another though it be evident that the Design of all these Authors is equally to defame them and make them execrable 4 thly We find in those Acts that these pretended Manichees justify themselves against the capital Accusations of Manicheism chiefly upon the Article of the Creation 5 thly We find that they exprest at their Martyrdom a Hope directly opposite to the Principles of Manicheism 6 thly Their very Enemies themselves are oblig'd to give them a most illustrious Testimony as to the Sanctity of their Lives and Manners It is certain that the accusing them of denying Transubstantiation and rejecting Baptism cannot justly be look'd upon as a Badg of Manicheism if we consider on the one hand that the Question Whether the Bread be changed into the Body of Jesus Christ hath no relation to the Doctrine of the Manichees but respects only those novel Doctrines which Paschasius had introduc'd and on the other hand that the Church of Rome accuseth all those for being Enemies to Baptism who in that Point do not espouse all the Opinions she teacheth in holding as she did at that time the absolute necessity of that Sacrament And as for their being charged with celebrating horrible Festivals full of Incest and Abominations we know that the same hath been imputed to some Hereticks of old but falsly It was laid to the charge also of the Waldenses but was never prov'd to be other than a meer Calumny Our first Reformers have been accused of the same but with an Impudence for which the Church of Rome ought still to blush if that were a possible thing In a word I find nothing in all this Relation that makes it look probable but only two or three Characters which agree with the barbarous Maxims of the Church of Rome The first is That it attributes to Queen Constance an unusual Action that with a
who upon several Attaques maintained the Interest of Truth against Paschasius and his Followers it will be our Business to represent how far these Disputes were serviceable in hindring the Opinions of Paschasius from getting the upper-hand in the Diocesses of Aquitain and Narbon and how this prepar'd their Minds for a Separation from the Church of Rome Never was any Man so often condemned as Berengarius never was any Man more back'd than he nor ever did any Man give more trouble to those who endeavour'd to crush him than he did An Author of the 12 th Century hath writ a Book Concerning Berengarius 's manifold Condemnation and Mabillon hath taken care to collect the Names and the Times of all those Assemblies wherein he was condemned but withal we may assert that the Reasons and Authorities he produc'd gave his Enemies a terrible deal of Trouble His Adversaries have employ'd their utmost Efforts to abolish the Memory of his Works but a sufficient part of them have been preserv'd by their own care to enable us to judg of the Injustice of their Calumnies against him and of the Purity of his Faith in the Matter of the Eucharist And for as much as he was of considerable use to the Albigenses in their opposing of the Doctrine of the Carnal Presence which the Faction of Paschasius and his Followers endeavoured to introduce and establish under the shelter and favour of that gross Ignorance which reigned at this time I suppose I may affirm that his Works whereof Lanfrank hath given us an Extract were of no small Service to oblige those who undertook his Defence to separate themselves from the Communion of the Pope or rather to hinder him from subjecting them to his Yoak seeing it was at this very time that the Popes began to make them selves Masters of the Churches of the West It will be of great moment to prove that the Popes had not as yet made themselves absolute Masters of this Part of the Church which was always careful to maintain its Rights against their Encroachments and Usurpations My intent therefore is to employ the following Chapter upon this Subject before I proceed to enquire how the Faith was preserved in these Diocesses in the next Age when they refused to submit themselves to the Authority of the Popes of Rome CHAP. XII That these Diocesses continued independent of the Popes until the Beginning of the Twelfth Century I Acknowledg that were the business to be decided by the modern Pretensions of the Popes of Rome to the Empire of all the Churches of the World and in particular to a Patriarchate over all the Churches of the West we should be forced to own that they had been subject to them ever since the time that the Gospel was first preached in Gaul in both these respects They have made it their business to persuade Mankind that the whole World is but the Pope's Parish and that more particularly the Churches of the West which have been founded by their Ancestors who sent them the first Preachers of the Gospel do belong to their Patriarchate as if these Envoys of the antient Popes in their Endeavours to propagate the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the World had design'd to establish the Papal Empire over all the New Conquests that they acquired to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ But notwithstanding all these new-found Claims and Pretensions of the Popes we can prove that nothing can be imagin'd more vain or more destitute of any Ground or Foundation than they are For it is not true that those Churches which have received the Gospel from another are therefore subject to it as we can demonstratively evince by the Examples of the Churches of Vienna and Lions which were founded by Persons sent from the Churches of Asia upon which account it was that St. Irenaeus sent them a Relation of the Persecution they suffered Neither is it true that the antient Popes how careful soever otherwise they might be to promote their own Authority did ever pretend to be the Patriarchs of all the West or of Gaul in particular This is a Truth we can unanswerably prove by the Testimony of the first Council of Nice which assigns no other Jurisdiction to the Pope save that which he enjoyed in those which Rufinus calls the Suburbicarian Regions and which the Learned Men of the Church of Rome at present own to have been comprehended within the ten Provinces of Italy to which the Papal Ordination did belong as we see it was under Honorius and which were distinguish'd from the Diocess of Italy properly so called that is to say the seven Provinces which constituted the Diocess of Milan This Canon therefore looks upon it as a thing not to be questioned that Gaul was a Diocess distinct from that of the Popes having its Authority within it self governed by its own Synods without having the Ordination of its Clergy the Determination of its Affairs or the Authority of its Assemblies subjected to the Pope's Authority as their Superiour If we had not this Canon of the first Council of Nice which distinctly determines the Pope's Diocess yet would it be very easy to prove it by other Arguments such as these 1. We find that the Churches of Gaul convocated a Synod upon the contest about Easter towards the end of the 2 d Century without receiving any Orders from Pope Victor for so doing 2. We find that when the Donatists were condemned by the Pope they desired the Emperor that they might be judged by the Bishops of Gaul and accordingly we find that Marinus Bishop of Arles presided in the great Council of Arles in the year 314 at which were present 83 Bishops twenty One of Italy eleven of Spain eleven of Africa five of Britain and thirty five of Gaul Since the Council of Nice we find the Churches of Gaul governing themselves with the same Independency under the Conduct of their several Metropolitans We are to observe in general that these Churches had their peculiar Code of Canons made by themselves and that these Canons continued to have the force of a Law till the 8 th Century when their Discipline began to receive a great Alteration by the cares of Bonifacius Bishop of Mentz and his Successors This is amply proved by Justel in the Preface to his Collection of the antient Canons Now it is visible that a Church which had its particular Rules could not be dependent on the Pope whose Diocess had its own particular Rules and Canons We can truly affirm that the Bishops of Gaul were so far from acknowledging the Pope as their Patriarch that his Name was not so much as ever recited in the Churches of Gaul till the year 529 as may be clearly collected from the Council of Vaison where it was first determin'd that the Pope should be mention'd in their publick Prayers And indeed if we enquire into the constant Conduct of the Bishops of Gaul throughout
of all affects us which is that the Catholick Faith is extreamly shaken in this our Diocess and St. Peter's Boat is so violently tossed by the Waves that it is in great danger of sinking Now since Lewis VII died in the year 1180 having reigned ever since the year 1137 it appears clearly that Languedoc was full of the Disciples of Peter de Bruis and Henry a long time before ever Waldo or any of his Disciples had begun to preach We may gather the same from what is related by Henry Abbot of Clairvaux in the Annals of Hoveden Anno 1178 where he saith That this Plague was come to such a Head in that Country that they had not only made themselves Priests and Popes but also had their Evangelists I own that Hoveden seems to suppose that the Faith of these Albigenses came from Italy by his calling them Paterines for as for the name of Publicans it was like that of Cathari given them on purpose to blacken them and is the same with that of Bulgarians and Paphlagonians all relating to the Original of the Manichees who came out of those Countries at first 3 dly It appears from the Edicts quoted by Hoveden that they were made against People of a more antient standing than the Disciples of Waldo Wherefore because the damnable Perversness of those Hereticks whom some call Cathari others Publicans others Paterines and others by other Names is encreased in Gascoin the Country of Alby and other Places so far that they do no more now as in other Places exercise their Impiety in private but manifest their Errors publickly Stephen of Tournay is an unquestionable Witness to the same Truth he wrote a Letter to Johannes de Beauxmains Bishop of Poictiers in the year 1181 to persuade him to comply with the Election of those of Lions who desired him for their Archbishop and lays before his Eyes the notorious Infidelity of the Diocesses of Languedock Gascoin and Septimania and the general Desolation of the Churches of the Romish Party in those Parts Far be it Father saith he from your Clemency that you should have any Inclination for the Barbarity of the Gothes the Levity of the Gascoins or for the cruel and savage Manners of those of Septimania where Infidelity is above Faith Famine above Fame Treachery and Trouble more than can be conceived I lately saw in my Passage when the King sent me to Tholouse a terrible Image of Death frequent and fervent in that Country the Walls of Churches half demolished sacred Buildings half burnt down their Foundations digged up and where there were formerly the Dwellings of Men now nothing but the Habitations of Beasts I confess I shak'd and trembled when I heard you were invited to those Parts in which tho you might chance to be a Bishop yet you might easily be so without any Advantage We have the concurrent Testimony of the Archbishops and other Prelats assembled at Lavaur against the Albigenses who declare in their Letters to Innocent III that this Heresy had been sown in these Countries long before in these Terms For whereas the Heretical Pestilence which of old time hath been sown in those Parts was now grown to that height that Divine Worship was scorned and derided and the Hereticks on one hand and the Robbers on the other harassed the Clergy and the Churches Revenue and that both Prince and People being given over to a reprobate Mind swerved from the true Faith now by means of your Armies by which you have most wisely designed to purge away the Infection and Noisomness of this Pestilence and their most Christian Leader the Earl of Montfort an undaunted Warriour and unconquered Fighter of the Lord's Battels the Church which was so miserably ruinated begins again to lift up her Head and both Enemies and Errors being for the most part destroyed the Land which hath so long been wasted by the Followers of these Opinions will at length accustom it self again to the Worship of God Lastly The same thing appears by the Testimony of Peter a Monk of Veaux Cernay in the first Chapter of his History In the Province of Narbon where formerly the Faith flourished the Enemy of the Faith has begun to sow his Tares The People there are distasted with the Sacraments of Christ who is the Savour and Wisdom of God being become profane and unwise by forsaking the Wisdom of true Godliness And after having represented how the Monks Petrus de Castro Novo and Radulphus the Pope's Legats had forced those of Tholouse to abjure their Faith for fear of Punishments but that soon after they returned again to their former Opinions he adds For being perjured and relapsing into their former Calamity they conceal'd the Hereticks that preached at Midnight in their Conventicles O how difficult a thing it is to pluck up a deep-rooted Custom This treacherous City of Tholouse from its very first Foundation as 't is said hath seldom or never been clear of this detestable Plague this Poison of Heretical Pravity and superstitious Infidelity having been successively diffused from Father to Son Wherefore she also as a due Vengeance for so great Wickedness has endur'd the Effects of avenging Hands and the Ruin of a just Desolation Yea what is more she has suffered this Heretical Nature and home-bred Heresy after it had been driven out by a well-deserved Severity to return again upon her being desirous to imitate her Ancestors and refusing to degenerate By the Example of whose Neighbourhood as one rotten Grape taints another and as a whole Herd of Swine are infected by the Scabbiness of a single Hog so the neighbouring Cities and Towns having once had these Arch-hereticks rooted amongst them are become wonderfully and miserably infected with this Plague by the springing Shoots of their Infidelity The Barons of the several Lordships in these Provinces being almost all of them become the Defenders and Entertainers of Hereticks loving them sincerely and defending them against God and the Church very warmly One needs only to reflect upon what I have here produced concerning the time of the Promotion of Johannes de Beauxmains to the Archbishoprick of Lions and to recollect that it was he that persecuted Peter Waldo to make us acknowledg that we cannot suppose the Albigenses to have been the Disciples of this Peter Waldo CHAP. XIV Of the Opinions of Peter de Bruis and Henry and their Disciples and whether they were Manichees or not WE find that tho some Manichees setled themselves in Languedoc yet it seems they have only serv'd to give the Papists a colour to accuse those whom their Errors and their false Worship obliged them to look upon as an Antichristian Church This will appear yet more clearly by the account we are about to give here of the Opinions of Peter de Bruis of Henry and of their Disciples whom the Bishop of Meaux would willingly have thought to have been Manichees Baronius was not so
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
the one ignorant and loose who were a sort of Manichees the other more learned and remote from such Filthiness who held much the same Opinions as the Calvinists and were called Henricians or Waldenses though the People ignorantly confounded them with the Cathari Bulgarians c. Mezeray had spoken more exactly had he said That the People were abused by the Bishops and Clergy who purposely confounded the ancient Followers of Peter de Bruys and Henry with the Manichees and Cathari to make them odious CHAP. XV. That it doth not appear from the Conference of Alby that the Albigenses were Manichees HAving thus justified Peter de Bruys Henry and his Disciples from the Imputation of Manicheism which the Bishop of Meaux has endeavoured to fasten upon them We will yet further endeavour to clear this Point by examining the Conference of Alby from whence the Bishop thinks that he has drawn a solid Argument to confirm his Imputation Let us see how this Conference is related by Roger Hoveden in his Annals upon the Year 1176. It was in this Year that the Arian Heresy was condemned which had well nigh infected all the Province of Tholouse There were saith he certain Hereticks in the Province of Tholouse who called themselves the Good Men they were supported by the Militia of Lombez and preached and taught the People contrary to the Christian Faith professing themselves not to own the Law of Moses nor the Prophets nor the Psalms nor any part of the Old Testament nor the Doctors of the New Testament save only the Gospels and the Epistles of St. Paul with the seven Canonical Epistles the Acts of the Apostles and the Revelation Being question'd concerning their Faith proceeds he and concerning the Baptism of Infants and whether they were saved by Baptism and concerning the Body and Blood of our Lord where it was consecrated or by whom and who were those that received it and whether it were more or better consecrated by a good Man than by a wicked Man and concerning Marriage if a Man and Woman could be saved that knew one another carnally They answered That they would say nothing of their Faith nor of the Baptism of Infants neither were they obliged to say any thing of those Matters Concerning the Body and Blood of our Saviour they said That he who received it worthily was saved and that he who received it unworthily procured his own Condemnation Concerning Marriage they said that a Man and Woman join themselves together to avoid Fornication as St. Paul saith They also declared many things without being questioned as that they ought not to use any Oaths whatsoever as St. John said in his Gospel and St. James in his Epistle They said also that St. Paul had foretold that they ought to ordain Bishops and Priests in the Church and that if these Orders were not conferred upon such as he there commands that then they were neither Bishops nor Priests but ravening Wolves Hypocrites and Deceivers who loved the Salutations in the Market-places the first Places and the first Seats at Feasts who love to be called Masters against the the Commandment of Jesus Christ who wear white and shining Garments who wear Rings of Gold and precious Stones on their Fingers which their Master never commanded them Accordingly they maintained that since the Bishops and Priests were like to those Priests who betrayed our Saviour Jesus Christ they ought not to obey them because they were wicked After divers Reasons alledged on both sides in Presence of the Bishop of Alby they chose and setled Judges on both sides with Consent of the Bishop of Alby After this Roger Hoveden observes that the Prelates cited divers Authorities out of the New Testament for these Hereticks saith he would not be determined but by the New Testament and that afterwards the Bishop of Lions pronounced the definitive Sentence drawn from the New Testament in these terms I Gislebert Bishop of Lions at the Command of the Bishop of Alby and his Assessors do judg that they are Hereticks and I condemn the Opinions of Oliver and his Companions where-ever they are And we judg this from the New Testament I bring therefore for this Reason Proofs to confirm the Divinity of the Old Testament drawn from the New and thereby oppose these Hereticks because they owned that they received Moses the Prophets and the Psalms only in those Particulars which Jesus and his Apostles had by their Testimony approved and not in others whereupon he maintains with reason that if an Instrument or Testimony in Writing is allowed of in one part the whole must needs be owned or else wholly cast aside In the second place saith he We convict them and judg them to be Hereticks by the Authorities of the New Testament for we say that he has not the Catholick Faith who doth not confess it when he is required and when it is exposed to any Danger whence it is that our Lord in the Acts of the Apostles saith to Ananias speaking of Paul For he is to me a chosen Vessel to carry my Name c. These Hereticks also boast themselves that they do not lie whereas we maintain that they lie manifestly for there is Deceit in holding ones Peace as well as speaking wherefore also Paul boldly resisted Peter to his Face because he gave way to the Circumcised In the third place saith he We convict and judg them to be Hereticks by the Authorities of the New Testament for we say that God will have all Men to be saved c. After which he produces the Proofs for Infant-Baptism and solves the Objection taken from Infants wanting Faith without which it is impossible to please God We say that it is by the Faith of the Church or of their God-fathers as the Man sick of the Palsy was healed by the Faith of those who presented him and let him down thorow the Tiling of the House In the fourth place saith he We do convict and judg them as Hereticks by the Authorities of the New Testament because the Body of our Lord cannot be consecrated but by a Priest be he good or bad which he proves because Consecration is made by the Words of Jesus Christ Moreover he proves that the Consecration of the Body of our Lord must be celebrated in the Church and by the Ministers of the Church only whose Authority he asserts from Passages of Scripture Clerks therefore and Lay-men pursues he must be obedient for God's Sake to these Priests Bishops and Deacons be they good or bad according to what our Lord saith The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses's Chair whatsoever therefore they say do ye but do not according to their Works for they say and do not In the fifth place We convict and judg them to be Hereticks by the Authority of the New Testament because they will not own that Man and Wife if carnally joined can be saved and yet they are wont to preach in publick that
though they be carnally joined and that every one must repent with his Mouth and Heart and be baptized in the Church by a Priest and that if they could show them more from the Gospels and Epistles they would believe and own it The said Bishop told them also That if they should swear they would be obliged to keep the Faith and if there were any thing else that they ought to confess it because before they had maintain'd wicked Opinions and had spoken ill They answered That they could not swear at all because in so doing they should sin against the Gospel and the Epistles Whereupon they produced against them Authorities out of the New Testament and after they had been cited and heard on both sides one of the Bishops standing up past his Judgment in this manner I Gozelin Bishop of Lodeve by permission and command of the Bishop of Alby and his Assessors do judg and declare openly That these Hereticks are in a wrong Opinion concerning the matter of Oaths they must swear if so be they desire to be received for in Matters of Faith Men ought to swear and forasmuch as they are infamous and stain'd with Heresy they must clear their Innocence and returning to the Unity of the Church they must confirm their Faith by an Oath as the Catholick Church holds and believes that so the weak ones that are in the Church be not corrupted and that the infected Sheep may not spoil the whole Flock Neither is this contrary to the Gospel or to the Epistles of St. Paul for though it be said in the Gospel Let your Communication be yea yea nay nay and thou shalt not swear neither by the Heaven nor by the Earth c. yet it is not forbidden to swear by God but only by the Creatures for the Heathens worshipped the Creature and if it were permitted to swear by Creatures we should give to the Creatures the Respect and Honour which is due to God alone and thus Idols and Creatures would be ador'd as God After several Arguments to prove the Lawfulness of Swearing he added Or it may be those Expressions in the Gospel and the Epistle of St. James are only by way of Advice and not by way of Precept because if Men did not swear they would not be forsworn and whatsoever is more than these cometh of Evil that is of Sin or of the Devil who persuades Men to swear by Creatures Finding therefore that they were convicted in this Point also they said that the Bishop of Alby had agreed with them that he would not force them to swear which the Bishop of Alby denied and standing up said I confirm the Sentence which Gozelin Bishop of Lodeve hath pronounced which was given by my Order and I give notice to the Militia of Lombez not to protect them This was sign'd by the nine Bishops Clerks Abbots and Laymen with this Conclusion We approve this Sentence and we know they are Hereticks and we reject their Opinion This is the Substance of what past at the Conference of Alby according to the Relation of Roger Hoveden One sees that he represents to us these three Things 1 st The Accusations laid to the charge of the Albigenses they are accused of several Articles which are pure Manicheism 2 dly The Arguments they brought to convict them 3 dly The Confession of Faith of the Albigenses in opposition to their Accusations As for their Accusations we are to observe that they are only Consequences of their being look'd upon as Hereticks such as they pretended had been long since condemned in the Councils held against the Manichees and accordingly they make a Recapitulation of the Errors either defended by the Cathari or commonly attributed to them and with these they charge the Albigenses without further Ceremony They produce indeed some Witnesses who accuse them and maintain That they have heard some of them maintain Manichean Propositions But the manner of their justifying themselves confounds this Accusation and these Witnesses 1. They declare That the Silence they kept was like that of Jesus Christ who sometimes held his Peace without answering the Questions of the Pharisees 2. They call'd the Persons appointed to confront them false Witnesses and Impostors in as handsom a Manner as could be shown to Persons of their Quality who appeared against them 3. They propound their Confession of Faith in Terms wholly Orthodox addressing themselves to the People who had been Witnesses of these horrid Accusations Probably some will say Here is a Company of Men actually accus'd of abominable Heresies and here are Persons produc'd to prove it really upon them To this I have three things to answer 1. That we have this Conference from the hand of their Enemies only 2. That what is insisted on concerning the Authority of their Witnesses is overthrown by a very natural Reflection which is That the Integrity of the Waldenses was so well known and their Adversaries so much noted for their Inclinations to Calumny that the Princes and all the People favoured them This is observed by Puylaurens in his Chronicle and it is taken notice of by Ribera in his Antiquities of Tholouse and yet their Enemies have still gone on to accuse them of Manicheism CHAP. XVI The Albigenses justified by a Conference whereof we have an Account written by Bernard of Foncaud WHat I have here represented in general might be sufficient to clear the Albigenses from the charge of Manicheism which the Bishop of Meaux after so many Ages hath improv'd against them but that we have something more to say This Bishop who makes the Waldenses only Schismaticks from the Church of Rome though he looks upon them as another sort of Schismaticks than the Donatists hath pretended to prove this business infallibly by the Conference whereof Bernard Abbot of Foncaud hath given us the Relation and which was held in Presence of Bernard Archbishop of Narbon He observes therefore that it appears from the said Conference that those against whom the Dispute was maintain'd differ'd from the Church of Rome only in the following Articles The Dispute saith he chiefly concern'd the Obedience that is due to Pastors which we find that the Waldenses denied and that notwithstanding all Prohibitions to the contrary they believ'd they had power to preach both Men and Women and since this their Disobedience could not be grounded but upon the Unworthiness of the Pastors the Catholicks in proving Obedience to be due unto them prove it to be due even to those that are wicked and that whatsoever the Channels be Believers do not fail of receiving Grace through them For the same reason they shew that this speaking against of their Pastors whence the pretence of disobeying them was taken is forbidden by the Law of God Afterwards they confute the Liberty that Lay-men took to themselves of Preaching without leave of their Pastors and indeed in opposition to their Prohibitions and they shew that this seditious kind of
casu dixit quod non Inquisitus si Rex Franciae qui nunc est comburit vel facit comburi aliquem pro crimine Haeresis vel facit suspendi aliquem pro aliquo crimine peccet respondit quod peccat nec est ei licitum facere vindictam nec justitiam Item requisitus si vult credere Sacramenta Ecclesiae Romanae sicut nos credimus sicut Ecclesia Romana praedicat observat respondit quod nihil aliud crederet nisi quod superius dixit Haec deposuit Tholosae coram fratre Laurentio Aurelianensi dicto fratre Johanne Vigoroso Inquisitore in praesentiâ testimonio fratris Arnaldi Del Gras fratris Bertrandi Jacobi fratris Raymundi Navarrii ordinis fratrum Praedicatorum Juliani Vasconii publici Tholosae Notarii qui haec scripsit In the Year of our Lord 1283 the 8 th of the Ides of July William of Maunhaco formerly the Son of William Arloyer of Maunhaco of the Diocess of Anecy being brought out of the Prison of the Inquisitors and set in the Presence of Brother John Vigorosus of the Order of Preachers an Inquisitor of heretical Pravity being demanded by the said Inquisitor to swear by the Holy Gospels that he would declare the Truth concerning his Faith he answered that he would not swear Being demanded whether it were lawful for him to swear upon the Holy Gospels he answered No. Being demanded whether Lord Martin the present Pope of the Church of Rome hath the Power of binding and loosing he answered No. Being demanded whether the Church of Rome over which the Pope presides be the Head of the Faith he answered That neither the Pope nor the Church he presides over is Head of the Faith or of the Christian World neither doth he own or believe that any carnal Man can be Pope but only Jesus Christ Being demanded whether Archbishops Bishops and other Prelates of Churches ordained by the Church of Rome were true Prelates and whether they have the Power of binding and loosing he answered No. Being demanded whether if any one be baptized the Baptizer saying I baptize thee in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen whether this be of Efficacy to the Party baptized and whether by such Baptism he can obtain Remission of his Sins he answered That he did not believe that any carnal Man can baptize but God alone Being demanded whether the Sacrament of Confirmation which the Bishop confers be of any Use to the Person confirmed he answered That it was of no Use at all neither is it a Sacrament neither is he who confers it a Bishop nor hath the Power to do any thing Being demanded whether the Sacrament of extream Unction be of any Use to the Sick when it is administred to him by a Priest he answered That he did not believe that it did him any good or that it is a Sacrament Being demanded whether the Sacrament of Orders conferred by the Bishop were of any Use and whether it be a Sacrament he answered That it is of no Use neither is it a Sacrament neither can a Bishop confer any Sacrament Being demanded whether the Bread which the Priest holds in his Hands whilst he celebrates after he hath pronounced the Words of Consecration This is my Body still remains Bread he answered That it was Bread before and continued Bread still and that it was a great Injury to God to say that the Bread is changed into the Body of Christ Being examined whether the Words of a Priest whereby he absolves one that hath confessed his Sins saying I absolve thee of all thy Sins be of any Use to the Party confessed he answered That they were of no Use neither is it a Sacrament Being examined whether it be lawful to swear upon the Holy Gospels of God in any Case he answered No. Being examined whether the King of France that now is by burning or causing any one to be burnt for the Crime of Heresy or by hanging any other Criminal doth Sin he answered He doth and that it is not lawful for him to execute Vengeance or do Justice Also being examined whether he was willing to believe the Sacraments of the Church of Rome as we believe and as the Church of Rome preaches and observes he answered That he believes nothing but what he had said before These things he deposed at Tholouse before Brother Laurence of Orleans and the foresaid Brother John Vigorosus the Inquisitor in the Presence of the Witnesses Brother Arnold Del Gras Brother Bertrand James and Brother Raymond Navarr of the Order of Friars Preachers and of Julian Vascon publick Notary of Tholouse who wrote this The Letter which Mr. G. writ to my Friend concluded with these Words I must not forget to tell you that according to my Copy the Albigenses said of themselves that they were de illis qui non reddebant malum pro malo of those who did not render Evil for Evil that boni homines good Men were their Ministers The Formality they observed when they made a Proselyte was this Haereticaverunt eum ponentes librum manus super caput ejus interrogantes eum si volebat se reddere Deo Evangelio They made him a Heretick by laying a Book and their Hands upon his Head and asking him whether he were willing to surrender himself to God and the Gospel I have observed from several Passages that on this occasion they were used to read more particularly the Gospel according to St. John and that after these Solemnities the Proselytes adorabant dictos bonos homines flexis ter genibus dicendo Benedicite Haereticis respondentibus Deus vos benedicat Paid their Reverence to these good Men by thrice bending of the Knee saying Give us your Blessing the Hereticks answering God bless you The Inquisitors call the Proselytes and those that are born Albigenses Hereticks It is easy to judg by this Specimen that it is almost impossible to give any Credit to the Deposition of Inquisitors concerning the Matters which they say they have made the Albigenses confess and that therefore this pretended Conviction of the Albigenses by the Registers of the Inquisitors is absolutely null The second thing that I am to represent to the Reader is that the Testimony of the Inquisitors cannot be set against the contrary Confessions of the Albigenses which those who have read find very conformable to the Faith of the Protestants This is that which Paradin affirms in his Annals of Burgundy where he confesses that he has read some Histories which excuse the Albigenses with their Princes and Lords of all those Crimes which many have cast upon them affirming them to be wholly innocent as having never done any thing else but reprove the Vices and Abuses of the Prelats of the Church of Rome This is also acknowledged by James de Ribera in his Collections concerning the City of Tholouse In these times there
your Duty to drive out the Hereticks from those Places where they rejoice to have found lurking Holes not only by your Preaching but also if need be by armed Force of Lay-men The Council of Tholouse assembled in 1119 where Calixtus II was present gave occasion to these bloody Executions The third Chapter enjoins all Powers to repress the Hereticks and that those that favour them be subject to the same Condemnation In the year 1163 the Council of Tours assembled by Alexander III had ordained that the Bishops of those Provinces where any of them were found should not suffer any one to harbour or shelter them that no Commerce should be held with them about the things of common Conversation and order'd temporal Princes to imprison and condemn them and confiscate their Estates and Goods In the year 1179 the same Pope Alexander III renewed the same Orders forbidding also their being buried in Places set a part for the burial of Papists In 1181 Henry who from Abbot of Clairvaux had been made Bishop of Alby having as Legate gathered together some considerable Forces by his Preaching went to visit them with armed Force but they to avoid the Storm that threatned them pretended to abjure their Errors but no sooner was the Storm blown over but they liv'd as they did before So that the Contagion spread it self through several Provinces on both sides of the Loire and one of their false Apostles called Terric who had hid himself a long time in a Cave at Corbigny in the Diocess of Nevers was taken and burnt and many more suffered the same Punishment in several other places This was that Sweetness of the Church of Rome which the Bishop of Meaux so much boasts of and which she put in practice long before she came to Conferences which served only for a Prelude to the utter ruin of the Albigenses which the Popes had designed long before Accordingly Innocent III as Mezeray tells us in the History of Philip Augustus finding himself unable to reduce the Hereticks of Languedoc who had almost gained that whole Province resolv'd to make an Example of Raymond Earl of Tholouse because he was their chief Favourer and because he had caus'd Peter de Chasteauneuf a Cistertian Monk and the first that ever exercised the Function of Inquisitor to be put to Death He excommunicated the Earl absolved his Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance and gave his Lands to the first that should seize them yet so as without Prejudice to the Right of Soveraignty of the Kings of France Whereupon the Earl was so frighted that being come to Valence to meet with Milo the Pope's Legate he wholly submitted himself to him and gave eight strong Places for ever to the Church of Rome as a Security of his Conversion and the Year following to obtain Absolution he suffered himself to be lash'd with Rods before the Gate of the Church of St. Giles where Peter de Chasteau-Neuf was buried and afterwards to be dragg'd to the Tomb of that Monk by the Legate who put a wooden Yoak about his Neck before twenty Archbishops and an infinite multitude of People after this he took upon him the Croisade and the Year following joined himself with those that took his own Cities and those of his Confederates But it was not his Repentance that ingaged him to endure so dreadful a Disgrace but the Apprehension he had of a terrible Tempest that was just then breaking over his Head for the Pope turning his Torrent of Zeal against the Hereticks which push'd the People on to the Deliverance of the Holy Land had this same Year ordered the Croisade to be preached up against the Albigenses and a great number of Noblemen Bishops and common People had already listed themselves in that Service the King himself furnishing 15000 Men maintained at his own Charges It is worth our taking notice 1 st That Pope Innocent III to encourage the Lords and People to the Holy War granted a Plenary Remission of all their Sins to all those who took up the Badg of the Cross vouchsafing also the Protection of the Holy See to their Persons and Goods as may be seen in his Epistles He absolved the Cities that had sworn to the Earl of Tholouse from their Oath of Allegiance upon that excellent Principle of the Church of Rome That Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks because they do not keep theirs with God or the Church 2 dly That the Earl of Tholouse was not guilty of the Murder of Peter de Chasteau Neuf for we read that Earl Raymond went to meet King Philip to obtain of him Letters of Recommendation from the Pope that he might be fully acquitted of the Murder of the Monk Peter de Chasteau Neuf whereof they had most unjustly obliged him to confess himself guilty only because the said Murder had been committed in his Territories for which the Legate Milo had imposed upon him a most unjust and unheard of Penance From the Court of the King of France he went to Rome where he received Absolution immediately from the Hands of Pope Innocent III this being a Case reserved to him the Pope received him very civilly presented him with a rich Robe and a Ring of great Value and granted him plenary Remission and Absolution from the said Murder declaring that he look'd upon him as sufficiently cleared upon that Account In the Year 1209 the Army of these Cross'd Souldiers which consisted of no less than 500000 Men entred Languedock and attack'd the City of Beziers being one of the strongest Places the Albigenses had took it by Force and put all they found in it to the Sword so that above 60000 Persons were kill'd there as Mezeray informs us There happened one thing very remarkable at the taking of this City which was That the Zeal of these consecrated Souldiers was such that they put to the Sword all the Papists and Romish Clergy that were in the City The Earl of Beziers came out of the City and cast himself at the Feet of the Legate Milo begging his Grace in Behalf of his City of Beziers and intreating him that he would not involve the Innocent in the Punishment of the Guilty which would certainly come to pass in case the City should be taken by Force which would soon be done by such a great and powerful Army that was ready to scale the Walls in every Part round the whole City that it could not be otherwise but that in this Case much Blood would be spilt on both sides which he might prevent That there were in Beziers great Numbers of good Catholicks who would be involved in the same Ruin contrary to the Pope's Intention whose Design was only to chastise the Albigenses That if he did not think fit to spare his Subjects for their own sakes that at least he would be pleased to take pity of his Age and Profession since the Loss would be his who was under Age
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
they all sound for the Churches Gain 1. See what he saith of the Pope's Authority In Constantine's time the Priesthood was removed and it was not decreed that the Bishop of that Church should necessarily have a Primacy over all others as is here supposed Neither do I believe that any Catholick is so foolish as to believe that when Christ's Vicar writes Let it be done and he who spake the Word and all things were made doth not approve of it he hath any Right to command because of him alone it can be said with Truth So I will and so I command let my Will stand instead of Reason And accordingly he was condemned by the Council of Constance for believing That it is ridiculous to suppose the Pope to be the Highest Priest and that Christ never approved of any such Dignity neither in Peter nor in any one else 2. Of the Power which the Popes assume to themselves over the Temporalities of Kings Wicklef wrote a particular Treatise intituled De Civili Dominio to overthrow their Claims where he speaks thus In Civil Power there cannot be two Lords of equal Authority the one must be principal and the other subordinate We will not subject our King in this matter to him when he bestowing any Mortmain reserves to himself the capital Dominion 3. He did not believe the Pope's Infallibility The Pope may sin as Head of the Church He may sin by Nature having a capital Lord above him There is no doubt but that an Error may be committed in the Election of a Pope and yet more in his following Conversation He may err in Feeding the Churches or in Articles of the Faith Many Popes have been corrupted with heretical Pravity He believed it was probable That all the Bishops of Rome for 300 Years and more before his time were fully Hereticks 4. He made no Difficulty of saying that the Pope was the chiefest Antichrist 1. Wicklef informs us what his Thoughts were of the Church of Rome when he saith It is possible that the Lord Pope may be ignorant of the Law of Scripture and the Church of England may be far truer in her Judgment of Catholick Truth than the whole Church of Rome that is made up of the Pope and Cardinals 2. He maintains that the Church of Rome may err but that this doth not hinder but that the Purity of Doctrine may be preserved in the Catholick Church It is necessary says he That the Catholick Faith be in the whole Mother-Church 3. He did not believe that wicked Men were true Members of the Church and censures those who teach that Men who shall be damned are notwithstanding Members of the Church so joining Christ and the Devil They teachen together saith he that tho Men that shall be damned be Members of Holy Church and thus they wedden Christ and the Devil together he saith that unbelieving and ungodly Men are in the Holy Church by Body not by Thought by Name not by Deed in Number not by Merit As to the Doctrine of Justification it is very plain that he was not of the Opinion of the Church of Rome as these Words shew The Merit of Christ is of it self sufficient to redeem every Man from Hell 't is to be understood of a Sufficiency of it self without any other concurring Cause All that follow Christ being justified by his Righteousness shall be saved as his Offspring He rejects the Doctrine of the Merit of Works and falls upon those which say That God did not all for them but think that their Merits help Heal us Lord for nought that is no Merit of ours but for thy Mercy Lord not to us but to thy Mercy give thy Ioy. As for what concerns the Lord's Supper we find that this great Man did not believe Transubstantiation See how he expresses himself This Bread is fairly truly and really spiritually virtually and sacramentally the Body of Christ as St. John the Baptist was figuratively Elias and not personally As Christ is both God and Man at once so the consecrated Host is the Body of Christ and true Bread at the same time because it is the Body of Christ at least in a Figure and true Bread in its Nature or which signifies the same thing it is true Bread naturally and the Body of Christ figuratively He constantly affirmed that this Doctrine lasted in the Church for a thousand Years till Sathanas was unbound and the People blinded by Friars with the Heresy of Accidents without Subjects 1. He owned but two Sacraments as appears by the 45 th 46 th 47 th and 48 th Articles condemned at Oxford and in the Council of Constance 2. He was against the Use of Chrism in Baptism 3. He maintained that extream Unction was not a Sacrament If corporal Unction were a Sacrament as now is pretended Christ and his Apostles would not have been wanting to declare it to the World 4. His Opinion concerning Confirmation as it is practised amongst the Papists he expresseth thus As for the Oil wherewith the Bishops anoint Children and the linnen Coif that covers the Head it seems to be a vain Ceremony that can have no Foundation in Scripture and that this Confirmation being introduced without any Apostolical Authority is Blasphemy against God 1. He declam'd against the Use of Images with great Earnestness We ought to preach saith he against the Costliness Beautifulness and other Arts of cheating wherewith we impose upon Strangers rather to pick their Pockets than for the Propagation of Christ's Religion The Devil by his Falshood deludes many who sometimes suppose a Miracle to have been wrought when indeed it was nothing but a Cheat. The Poison of Idolatry lies hid in continued Imagination 2. One may see how he distinguisheth Sins Some Sins are called little Sins in comparison of greater and venial because God's Son forgives them 3. He did not own the Necessity of Auricular Confession Vocal Confession made to the Priest introduc'd by Innocent is not so necessary If a Man be truly contrite all outward Confession is superfluous and unprofitable to him 4. He wrote against the Doctrine of Satisfaction The present Pope has reason to blush for the modern Penance established by him without any Ground since it is not lawful for any Mortals no not for the Apostles themselves to make the Law of God difficult beyond what he himself hath limited 5. His Judgment concerning Pardons and Indulgences he expresseth in these Words It is a foolish thing to rely upon the Indulgences of the Pope and the Bishops 6. He gives this Rule concerning Fasting In Works of Humanity we must follow Christ by doing such Works as bear some Proportion with his We must fast 40 Days from Sin and as far as is possible to
of the Romish Party We cannot but look upon Petrus Oxoniensis a Doctor of Salamanca in the Year 1479 as a Disciple of the Albigenses in divers Points especially those nine Conclusions which this Author was forced to retract by Sixtus IV th's Order who authorized the Archbishop of Toledo to condemn them Any Man that reads these nine Propositions which Caranza sets down would think that it was only these Opinions that offenced the Archbishop of Toledo but if we will but read the Bull of Sixtus IV which has been published by Alphonsus à Castro we shall find that this Doctor opposed many other Points of Popery The Pope's Words which are very remarkable are these Et alias propositiones quas propter earum enormitatem ut illi qui de eis notitiam habent obliviscantur earum qui de eis notitiam non habent ex praesentibus non instruantur in eis silentio praetermittendas duximus And there are other Propositions which are of so foul a Nature that we think it convenient to pass them over in silence that so those who know them may forget them and those that do not know them may not be instructed in them by these our Letters CONCLVSION THese are the Remarks I thought fit to make upon the History of the Churches of the Albigenses I suppose the Reader will own that I have deduced their Succession from the Apostles and their Independence on the See of Rome with care enough tho the Barbarity of the Enemies of the Truth has done its utmost Endeavours to abolish all the Monuments which these illustrious Witnesses of it had left in these Diocesses Neither do I believe that the Bishop of Meaux will have any pretence for the future to accuse them of Manicheism nor to reproach the Protestants that they can find no other Predecessors in Antiquity but a parcel of Men whose Doctrine and Lives were equally execrable Nothing but a Spirit animated with such a Rage and Fury as produc'd those Crusades can obstinately maintain such horrid Calumnies after all that we have here alledged for their Justification I might perhaps have been more particular in the Accounts which I have given of the bad Construction the Inquisitors have put upon their Belief but besides that I have sufficiently discovered the Injustice of these Ministers of Hell who is there amongst the Protestants nay amongst the very Papists themselves that is not fully convinc'd of the Iniquity and profound Malice of these Hearts of Tygers who under the name of Defenders of the Christian Faith have rack'd their Brains to blacken the most innocent Lives of the most religious Christians and who have made it their Diversion to exterminate them by the most dismal Torments The Bishop of Meaux may write as long as he pleases to maintain these diabolical Calumnies I am persuaded that if any equitable Members of his Communion will take the pains to compare the Carriage of the Heathens towards the Primitive Christians with the Behaviour of his Church under Innocent III and Gregory IX against the Albigenses and the Patience of the Albigenses slandered and persecuted by the Church of Rome with the Condition of the Primitive Church persecuted and slandered by the Heathens they will find it as difficult to look upon the Church of Rome as the Daughter of the Primitive Church as it will be easy for them to acknowledg the Albigenses as the genuine Off-spring of those Primitive Christians I did not think it necessary for my Design to tie my self Step by Step to every particular which I might justly have found fault with in the Book where the Bishop of Meaux handles the History of the Albigenses It is an endless Labour to trace a Man that follows false Guides and who hath nothing new besides the Art and turn of Expression and because the naked Truth hath always the better of Works of this nature it is sufficient to set it in a clear Light for the extinguishing that false Lustre which Men bestow upon Lies by Ornaments put upon them only to hide their Deformity And it is my Hope after all that as God hath illustriously displayed the Care of his Providence in raising the Church of Piedmont from those Ruins under which the Spirit of Persecution thought for ever to have buried it so he will be pleased to vouchsafe the same Protection to those desolate Flocks whom the Violence of the Romish Party hath constrain'd to dissemble their Faith by making a Show of embracing the Roman Religion to avoid the Extremities of their Persecution One would think that that God who hath wrought so many Wonders for their Preservation so many Ages together and who even then when they seem'd reduc'd to nothing by the bloody Vigilance of the Inquisitors who Age after Age have gleaned this Field after the barbarous Rage of the Crusades was over should be unwilling to suffer this oppressed Light to be wholly extinguished but that he will make these his Witnesses rise from their Graves now after the Church of Rome has signaliz'd her Joy for their Death and Destruction God of his great Mercy be pleased to restore to these afflicted Flocks the same Joy and the same Comfort which their Ancestors felt at the time of the Reformation when they gave such publick Evidence of their Zeal and entred by Crowds into the Bosom of the Reformed Church whose Principles they had maintained so many Ages before the Reformation and to open the Eyes of their Persecutors giving them Grace to acknowledg that they fight against God whilst they strive to force Mens Consciences and to engage the People to own that Religion as Divine which is only the Product of human Policy the very Sink of the Corruptions of these last Times and the Off-spring of the Spirit of Error EXTRACTS OF Several Trials OF SOME Pretended Hereticks in the Diocess of SARVM Taken out of an old Register IN the Name of the Holy Trinite Fadir Son and Holy Goste his blessed Modir and al the Holy Compeny of Hevyn We Austyn Stere of Herry Benette of Spene William Brigger of Thachum Richard Hignell William Priour and Richard Goddard of Newbery and every of us severally in the Diocess of Sarum gretely noted defamed detecte and to you Reverend Fadir in God Thomas by God's Grace Bishop of Sarum our Iugge and Ordinarie denownced for untrew belevyng Men and also that we and every of us shold hold afferme teche and defende openly and prively Heresies Errours singular Opinions and false Doctrines contrarie to the commen Doctrine of our Modir Holy Church and with Subtilites eville soundyng and deceyveable to the Ere 's of true sympille understanding Cristen People which be to us and every of us severelly nowe by your Auctorite procedyng of Office promoted judicially objected First That I Augustyn Stere have hold affermed and seyd that the Church of Criste is but a Sinagoge and an House of Marchandise and that Pristis be but Scribis
and Pharisais not profyting the Christen People but disseyvyng them Item I have hold affermed taught and beleved that in the Sacramente of the Auter is not the very Body of Criste Farthermore shewing and seying that Pristis may bie xxx suche Goddis for one Peny and will not selle one of them but for two Penys Item I have misbeleved and to dyvers manyfestly shewed that Ymages of Seynts be not to be worshipped aftir the Doctrine of a Boke of Commandments which I have had in my keping wherein is wreten that no Man shall worship eny thing made or graven with mannys Hand attending the Words of the same litterally and not inclynyng to the sense of the same Item I have spoken and diverse tymes shewed that Pristis be the Enemies of Christe Item I have belevyd said and taught that St. Petir was never Priste but a little before his Deth Ferthermore shewing that Simeon Magos geve hym his Tonsure of Prysthode and in Spyte of hym Goddis Vicar contempnyng hys Power called hym a Panyer Maker Fyrst That I Herry Benett have hold and kepte this Opinion that Pilgremaggis be not to be made moeved for this Cause for only God is to be warsshyped and so not themmagis of Sayntis insomoch that I wold never goo a Pilgremage but onys and I have oftyn tymes reproved such as wold spend their Money in Pilgremage doyng seing thei myght better spend hit at home Item I have not belevyd stedfastly in the Sacrament of Thauter seying of hit this wise that if there were thre Hostys in one Pikkis one of theim consecrate and the odir not consecrate a Mowse woll as well ete that Hoste consecrate as the odir twayn unconsecrate the which he myght not if there were the very Body of Criste for if there were the Fadir Son and Holy Goste he myght not ete theym Fyrste That I William Brigger have erred and mysbeleved in the Sacramente of the Auter seyng and holdyng that there shuld not be the very Body of Criste so taught and enformed in this same grete Errour and Heresie by one Richard Sawyer late of Newbery Item I have spoke and hold ayenste the Sacramente of Pennance seing in this wise If I have take a Manis Goode or stole his Cowe and be sory in Harte I may as well be saved as though I were shreven thereof for it is inowe to be shryve to God Item I have held and seyde ayenste the Doctrine of Prystys affermyng of them that all Prystes techeth a false and a blynd way to bryng us all in to the Myer Ferthermore addyng herto and seyng howe may it be that blynde William Harper may lede anodir blynde Man to Newbery but both fall yn to the Dyche so dothe all thes Pristis to bryng us alle to Dampnacion Fyrste That I Richard Hignel have hold and mysbeleved of long tyme in the Sacramente of the Auter seyng that Christe offer'd to Simeon is the very Sacramente of Thauter so meanyng and belevyng in myn Opinion that the Sacramente in form of Brede shuld not be very Godde but only Criste hymselffe in Hevyn is the Sacramente and none odir and so I have mysbelevyd and continewed in this Errour and Heresie unto this tyme of Examnacion Item I have be adherente and associat with Hereticks abjured by whos Doctrine I have erred as I have afore spoken Fyrste That I William Priour have said and hold ayenst the Auctorite and Power of Pristis callyng theim Scribis Pharisies and thenmyes of Criste not teching but disseyving the Cristen People Item I have belevyd and divers tymes shewid that Ymagis of Seynts be not to be wurshyped nether Oblacions to be made unto theim seyng and holding no such thing to be wurshipped that is graven or made with manys Hande I Richard Goddard in long tyme here before have had grete dought howe God myght be in forme of Brede in Thauter amoste syn the Yeres of Discrecion and nowe in fewe Yeres thought and utterly beleved that inasmoch as God is in Hevyn he shuld not be in the Sacramente of Thauter and so in this Errour have continewed unto the tyme of this my present Abjuracion Thes Articules and every of them afore rehersed and to us Austyn Stere Herry Benet William Brigger Richard Hignell William Priour and Richard Goddard and to every of us severelly by you judicially objected we and every of us singulerly openly knowlege our selffe and confesse of our fre Wille to have hold lerned and belevyd and so have taught and affermyd to odir which Articules and every of theim as us concerneth severelly we and every of us understand and beleve Heresies and contrary to the commen Doctrine and Determination of the universalle Church of Criste and confesse us and every of us here to have be Heretikes Lerners and Techers of Heresies Errours Opinions and false Doctrines contrarie to the Cristen Feith And forasmoch as it is so that the Lawes of the Churche of Criste and Holy Canons of Saynts be grounded in Mercy and God wol not the Deth of a Synner but that he be converted and seve And also the Church closeth not her Lappe to him that woll retorne We therefor and every of us willing to be Partiners of this forseid Mercy forsake and renounce all thes Articules afore rehersed as us concerneth particularly and confesse theim to be Heresies Errours and prohibite Doctrine And nowe contrite and fully repentyng theim all and every of theim judicially and solemply theim forsake abjuxe and wilfully renownce for evermor and not only theim but all odir Heresies Errours and dampnable Doctrines contrary to the Determination of the universall Church of Criste Also that we and every of us shall never herafter be to eny such Persons or Persons Favorers Counselers Mainteners or of eny such prively or openly but if we or eny of us knowe eny such herafter we and every of us shall denownce and disclose theim to you Reverend Fadir in God your Successors or Officers of the same or els to such Persons of the Church as hath Jurisdiction on the Persons so fawty so help us God and all Holy Evangelis submyttyng us and every of us openly not coacte but of our fre Wille to the Payn Rigour and Sharpness of the Lawe that a Man relapsed owght to suffre in suche case if we or eny of us ever do or hold contrarie to this our presente Abjuracion in parte or the hole therof In witnesse whereof we all and every of us severally subscribe with our Hands makyng a Cross and requir all Cristen Men in generall her presente to record and witnes ayenst us and every of us and this our presente Confession and Abjuracion if we or eny of us from this Day forwards offende or do contrarie to the same and ye Masters her presente ....................... Lecta facta fuit ista Abjuracio coram Reverendo in Christo Patre Domino Thoma permissione divina Sarum Episcopo in Ecclesia parochiali Sancti
Rome is fallen by her continual Practice of the contrary as well in respect of the Doctrines of Faith as of religious Worship Cassian a Priest the Disciple of Chrysostom hath writ much concerning the Institutes of Monks and accordingly we find in his Writings several Instances of their Folly and Pride He saith the young Monks observed the Rules prescribed to them so exactly Vt non solum non audeant absque Praepositi sui scientia vel permissu non solum cellâ progredi sed ne ipsi quidem communi naturali necessitati satisfacere suâ authoritate praesumant That without leave obtained from their Abbot they dare not only not stir out of their Cells but what is more not so much as satisfy the common Necessities of Nature He shews that Covetousness began already to reign amongst the Monks of his time Tertius saith he nobis est conflictus adversus Philargyriam quam nos amorem pecuniarum possumus appellare peregrinum bellum extra naturam nec aliunde in Monacho sumens principium quam de corruptae torpidae mentis ignaviâ plerumque initio abrenuntiationis male arrepto erga Deum tepido amore Our third Conflict is with the Love of Money a foreign and unnatural War and which arises in Monks from the Sluggishness from a corrupt and benumm'd Mind and very oft is grounded upon an inconsiderate Entrance upon a Self-denying Life and a luke warm Love towards God He cannot bear the Impudence of those covetous Monks who defended themselves with those Words of Jesus Christ It is more glorious to give than to receive He censures the impertinent Interpretation which some Monks put upon these Words of Christ Whosoever doth not take up his Cross and follow me is not worthy of me Quod quidam districtissimi Monachorum habentes quidem Zelum Dei sed non secundum scientiam simpliciter intelligentes fecerunt sibi Cruces ligneas easque jugiter humeris circumferentes non aedificationem sed risum cunctis videntibus intulerunt Which some of the strictest Monks having a Zeal for God but not according to Knowledg taking too literally made themselves wooden Crosses and by carrying them about upon their Shoulders instead of edifying provoked those that saw them to Laughter 2. He informs us that the Monks of Egypt were no scrupulous Observers of their Fasts and that they made no Difficulty of breaking them in order to discharge some Duty which appeared of more Importance to them Cassian tells us he was surprized at it but one of the eldest Monks returned him this excellent Answer Jejunium semper est mecum vos autem continuò dimissurus mecum jugiter tenere non potero Et Jejunium quidem licet utile sit ac jugiter necessarium tamen voluntarii muneris est oblatio opus autem charitatis impleri exigit praecepti necessitas To fast is always in my power but you being ready to depart I cannot have you always with me Besides to fast though it be useful and always necessary yet it is but a Free-Will-Offering whereas Acts of Charity are required of us upon the account of their being commanded 3. It appears that they did not believe the Scriptures to be so obscure as at this day they are supposed to be We may see what Abbot Theodorus thought of this matter as we find it set down by Cassian Monachum ad scripturarum notitiam pertingere cupientem nequaquam debere labores suos erga commentatorum libros impendere sed potius omnem mentis industriam intentionem cordis erga emundationem vitiâ—rum carnalium detinere quibus expulsis confestim cordis oculi sublato velamine Passionum sacramenta scripturarum velut naturaliter incipient contemplari Siquidem nobis non ut essent incognita vel obscura sancti spiritûs gratiâ promulgata sunt sed nostro vitio velamine Peccatorum cordis oculos obnubente redduntur obscura quibus rursum naturali redditis sanitati ipsa scripturarum sanctarum lectio ad contemplationem verae scientiae abunde etiam sola sufficiat nec eos commentatorum institutionibus indigere That a Monk who desires to attain to the Knowledg of Scripture ought not to spend his time upon Commentators but rather bend and apply his utmost Industry and Attention to the purging himself from fleshly Lusts which if they are once expelled then immediately the Eyes of the Heart upon removing of the Vail of Passions will as it were naturally begin to contemplate the Mysteries of Scripture since we may be sure that the Grace of the Holy Spirit never gave them forth that they should continue unknown or obscure but they are darkned by our own Fault because the Vail of Sin covers the Eyes of the Soul which when once restored to their natural Soundness the very reading of the Holy Scripture is alone abundantly sufficient for their Contemplation of true Knowledg neither do they further need the Instructions of Commentators 4. It is evident that he did not believe Transubstantiation because he saith Nemo in terris situs in coelis esse potest No body placed on the Earth can be in Heaven 5. We find that he did not own Auricular Confession no more than Chrysostom his Master because where he gives an account of the means whereby we may obtain the Forgiveness of Sins he doth not mention one Word of it True it is that he speaks indeed of a Confession of Sins but of such an one as is to be made to God alone Nec non saith he per peccatorum confessionem eorum abolitio conceditur dixi enim ait pronuntiabo adversum me injustitiam meam Domino tu remisisti impietatem peccati mei And also by the Confession of Sin their Forgiveness is granted for saith he I said I will confess my Transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the Iniquity of my Sin 6. He acknowledges that the Fast of Lent was no Apostolical Law Sciendum sanè hanc observationem quadragesimae quamdiu Ecclesiae illius primitivae perfectio illibata permansit penitus non fuisse Verum cum ab illa Apostolica devotione descendens quotidie credentium multitudo suis opibus incubaret nec eas usui cunctorum secundum Apostolorum instituta divideret sed privatim impendiis suis consulens non servare tantum sed etiam augere contenderet Ananiae Sapphirae exemplum non contenta sectari id tunc universis sacerdotibus placuit ut homines curis saecularibus illigatos penè ut ita dixerim continentiae vel compunctionis ignaros ad opus sanctum Canonica indictione revocarent We are to know that as long as the Perfection of that Primitive Church remained untainted there was no such Observation of Lent But when the Multitude of Believers daily declining from that Apostolical Devotion set their Hearts upon their Riches not distributing them for the use of all according to the