by a may be Thus the first Doctrine concerning Purgatory was problematical only not Dogmatical or matter of faith till a long-time after that as we shall see in its proper place Nevertheless for the Readers satisfaction we shall hear subjoyn the testimony of two Fathers amongst the many of the first Antiquity to the end that it may appear what the belief of the Primitive Church was touching the state of Souls departed St. Justine Martyr who lived in the 130. year of our Lord speaketh of it thus After the dissolution of the Body saith he there is immediately a separation made of the just and of the unjust for they are conducted by the Angels to places worthy of them namely the Souls of the just to Paradise where they enjoy the society of Angels and Arch-Angels yea and the very Face of our Saviour Jesus Christ himself but those of the unjust to the infernal mansions St. Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons in the year 160. The Preachers saith he who are the Disciples of the Apostles affirm that those who are translated from hence are transported into Paradise that being prepared for just Men and such as have the spirit the place whither St. Paul was caught up where he heard things unutterable and that they should continue there till the consummaâ—ion and end of the World seeing incorruption And thus Erasmus in his animadversions â—pon that Father observeth and good â—eason he had De purgatorio nulla mentio â—hat there is no mention made by him of â—urgatory justly acknowledging that that â—ious Author spoke as one wholly unacquainted with any such Fable and for this reason it was ordered by the Expurgatory Index both of Spain and of the Low-Countries that that note of Erasmus should be quite obliterated Anno 450. c. IT hath been already observed when how and by what degrees the publick Confession of Penitents was changed into a private one in the Greek Church only But about the year 450. the same alteration did likewise befall the Western Churches which had ever till then retained the use of publick Confession Christian liberty also in matter of Fasts was maintained till about this time The Doctors that flourished in this age having taught that Christ never commanded 〈◊〉 to imitate his Fast of forty days that Fasting is the last and lowest of vertues that true Fasting consists in abstinency from sin that Fasting indeed is commanded in the Scriptures but as touching the particular days of Fasting nor Christ nor his Apostles did ever enact any Ordinance that it is matter of freedom and indifferency to fast upon some certain Days that the choice and distinction of meats is not matter of Religion c. We have likewise seen how that Fasts were diversly observed both as to their time and manner and that they abstained not only from flesh but from Wine also and we may yet further observe how much the Fasts of the first differed from those of modern ages in that the Lent of the ancients did ever begin upon the Sabbath which followed immediately upon that of Whitsuntide But the liberty of the Church herein was through the Laws of new Councils and multiplicity of Fasts at length suppressed For Leo I. Bishop of Rome did about the year 460. ordain the observance of four Solemn anniversary Fasts namely Lent Whitsuntide the seventh and tenth Months not denying but that the two last were in imitation of Judaisme There be some Authors who speaking of the Fast of the four times or four Weeks of Ember or Imber-days and of the Institution thereof give this reason for the same Pope Gelasius had decreed that the Ordination of Priests and Deacons should be performed upon those Days now for as much as that action was after the example of the Primitive Church Acts 13. 14. managed with Fasting and publick Prayer the Fast of the four times was hereupon introduced and notwithstanding those Ordinations were not performed any more at that time yet was the custome of of Fasting afterwards continued In like manner as touching the Vigils of Saints the name indeed was retained but the use of them quite changed for the Wakes upon the Night preceding the solemnity of any Saint were turned into Fasts howbeit the name of Vigil remained The Fast of Rogations came to pass soon after for there happening in several places in Lyonoise in France divers Earth-quakes Conflagrations and many dangers incur'd through wild Beasts those publick calamities moved Mamert Bishop of Vienne in Daulphinoise to ordain that upon some certain Days every year there should be publick Prayers made with Fasting and acts of repentance Thus were the Rogations instituted which reached even to Forreign Provinces as we shall see streight Anno 470. c. WEe have seen some seeds and beginnings of the Invocation of Saints towards the end of the preceding age It was not used in the Church but only amongst some private Persons and that as yet with some hesitation They began then to conceive new opinions touching the Martyrs to rely upon their Intercession and to attribute vertue to their Sepulchres St. Augustine tells us that the stronger and better Christians had no such custome but the weaker sort only and those too by way of Indulgence This abuse prevailed so much as that the transportation of Reliques the resorts of People the honours conferred upon Saints which at the beginning were tollerable were now advanced to an excess The Body of Chrysostome being transported to Constantinople the Emperour Theodosius kneeled down before it praying it to forgive his Parents who had persecuted it whil'st living But against this Superstition the Fathers of this age like as their Predecessours before them remonstrate after this manner The Souls of the dead intermedle not with the affairs of the living The Saints are not our Mediatours We applaud the Martyrs as those who have fought in the defence of the truth and maintained the purity of the Faith we worship them not build them no Churches offer them no Sacrifice But to what purpose then are those solemnities To the end that we may thereby glorifie God because of their victory and encourage our selves to follow their example that we may share in their Crown and reward But that we may attain thereunto must the Saints be invoked In no wise but we will only implore aid from the true God himself who made them both Men and Martyrs This then was the Language of the Church and we must remember that for as much as in the Assembly before the Communion they celebrated the memorial of the Saints St. Augustine speaking of that Commemoration informs us that the names of the Martyrs were then rehearsed in rank and order as the servants of God who had overcome the World through the Confession of their Faith but that they were not invoked which is at this day verified by the more ancient Liturgies and set Forms of publick
Leo the Second changed this symbole of reconciliation into a superstitious vanity instituting that Plate of Silver or Copper which after Consecration is presented to be kissed And in this very particular one may perceive how much the antient Ceremonies have been either diverted or perverted through successive alterations therein Anno 790. BUt behold the Idolatry which under the vail of darkness was propagated in the Church even to the very Sanctuary Images were only as so many memorative objects in Churches yet did the vulgar begin to exhibit honour to them whereupon disputes were commenced In this difference reasons of State offered themselves which are to be seen in History for upon other accounts are Images pretended in subserviency to their interest The Latines and the Greeks and afterwards the Greeks amongst themselves took occasion from hence of much altercation one while demolishing and breaking down the Images another while re-erecting of them Finally Irene Empress of Constantinople a Pagan both by Nation and Religion a Woman of many notorious enormities assembled a Council at Nice excluding from it the best Doctors and employing menaces violence and all manner of artifice whereby she might compass her design Thus this Conventicle moulded and model'd according to her own mind producing instead of offers of reason nothing but impertinencies in behalf of the Images concluded upon adoration contrary to the judgment of all solid Antiquity and the opposition then generally made to a piece of such palpable impiety For at the same time the Emperour Charles the great converted a Council at Frankefort wherein that of Nice was condemned being declared false and abusive and the Decree touching Images incassated and made null thus was their resolved Adoration suppressed But being that Images were always continued in Churches this Superstition whereunto the People were strongly inclined did at last recover it self and prevail This second Council of Nice was held towards the year 790. Anno 880. POpe Adrian was the first that advised the Canonization of Saints imitating herein the Apotheoses or Consecrations used amongst the Romans under Paganism a thing which till then was unheard of in the Church The Authority of canonizing Saints was afterwards confirmed by Decree as we shall see in its proper place Anno 965. POpe John IV. baptized the great Bell of St. John Lateran in Rome nameing it after his own name Thence came the custome of baptizing Bells and giving them names Anno 1000. c. FRom the time above mentioned till about the year 1000. those corruptions were not only continued but likewise gradually multiplied To the consecration of Churches they added sprinkling of holy Water with a Nose-gay of Hyssop pronouncing these words of the Psalmist Attollite portas c. Lift up your Gates c. the Bishop in the mean time rapping at the Gate with his Pastoral-staff the mingling of the Ashes and Water of the Salt and the Wine of Exorcisme of painted and graven Characters and certain confused Prayers Finally the anniversary Feast of every Church in memory of the day of its dedication And like as the Sacrament of the Eucharist was changed into a Sacrifice even so the Priests which were called to preach the Gospel were then ordained to sacrifice they began to create them with these words Accipe potestatem c. Receive thou power to offer sacrifice to God to celebrate Masses as well for the living as for the dead Anno 1003. POpe John xix instituted the Feast of All-Souls appointing it to be celebrated upon the Morrow after All-Saints Anno 1050. BUt behold the summe of the whole matter That they might defend the Sacrifice which they pretend to offer in the Mass they behoved to deny the whole Essence of the Sacrament and falsify and bely all that ever Antiquity hath believed in the case whose sense and several judgments therein do here ensue S. Ignatius Bishop of Antioch and a Disciple of the Apostles in the 72 d. year of our Lord expresseth himself thus There is one only Flesh of our Lord Jesus and one only blood which was shed for our sins one only Bread also was broken for us and one only Cup was distributed to us Could he possibly make a more manifest opposition between the Body of Christ broken upon the Cross and the Bread broken in the Supper Justin Martyr towards the year 130. Our Christ hath vouchsafed to make and use the Sacramental Bread in Commemoration of his Body formed for such as believe in him for whose sake he became passible the Cup also he ordained to be made and used with thanksgiving in Commemoration of his Blood Ireneus Bishop of Lyons in the year 160. When once the Chalice being fill'd and the Bread being broken hath received the benedictive word of God it becomes the Sacrament of the Blood and Body of Christ whereby the substance of our flesh is augmented and compounded Certainly none can say that our flesh is augmented nor compounded of the real flesh and blood of Christ but only of the substance of the bread which this Father plainly acknowledgeth to continue in the Eucharist even after the Consecration of the same Clemens Alexandrinus in the year 190. Christ took of the Wine and blessed the Wine saying take drink This is my blood the blood of the Vine denominating by way of Allegory the Word which shed his blood for the remission of sins a sacred liquor of joy and gladness c. Now that that which he blessed was true Wine he further sheweth saying to his Disciples I will drink no more of the fruit of the Vine c. This very same reason do we urge to prove that they drank Wine at the Supper Briefly it is remarkable that he disputes against the Encratites who held the drinking of Wine to be unlawfull alledging for their conviction the example of Jesus Christ who drank Wine at the Supper which were a ridiculous Argument if so be Wine had ceased to be Wine after that Christ had drank thereof Tertullian in the year 205. doth thâ—s explain the words of Jesus Christ This is my Body that is to say the Figure of my Body Moreover Jesus Christ called Bread his Body to the end that thou might'st thereby understand that he appointed Bread to be the Figure of his Body Cyril Bishop of Jerusalem in the year 320. declares to us that The Flesh is now absent and that that which we are commanded to tast of is the Figure of his Body and Blood Eusebius Bishop of Cesarea saith that our Lord hath taught us to serve him with Bread as a sign of his Body Gregory Bishop of Nazianze in the year 350. in his second Oration concerning Easter speaketh thus of Sacramental participation We partake indeed of the Christian Pass-over in a Figure albeit more clearly than at the ancient Pass-over for the ancient Pass-over I dare say so was a more obscure figure of a Figure Macairus the
Egyptian speaking of those who lived before Jesus Christ It never entered into their hearts that there should be a Baptisme of Fire and of the Holy Ghost and that they should offer in the Church Bread and Wine as a Figure of his flesh and of his blood and that those who partake of the Bread which is visible should feed spiritually upon the Flesh of our Lord. Ephraim of Syria in the year 360. in his Treatise against the curious Inquisitours into the nature of the Son of God Observe heedfully how that taking the Bread into his hands he blesseth and breaketh it in Figure of his immaculate Body and blesseth the Cup in figure of his precious Blood Ambrose or the Author of the Book of Sacraments See that this offering turn into an acceptable and reasonable account to us which is the figure of the body and blood of our Lord. Gaudentius Bishop of Bress in his second Treatise upon Exodus The figure of Christs body is received in the bread Moreover the blood of the Lamb is fitly represented under the species of Wine Chrysostome Bishop of Constantinople in the year 386. in an Epistle to Cesarius the Monk doth thus unfold this great Mystery Before that the bread be sanctified we name it bread but it being once by Divine grace sanctified it is certainly freed from the appellation of bread and is dignified with the name of the Lords body howheit the true nature of bread doth still continue therein Turrianus and Gregory of Valence both Jesuits perceiving themselves to be wonderfully racked and puzled with this passage do most groundlesly aver that it was none of Chrysostome's but of one John of Constantinople which is confession sufficient since that it bears the mark of its antiquity This Epistle hath been seen by many in a Manuscript in the Bibliotheque of Florence by which if not stifled by our Adversaries the common fate of what ever is contrary to themselves it may be easily verified to be of a truth the genuine testimony of the great Chrysostome But it is high time that we hearken to holy Augustine who flourished in the year 410. behold how he explains himself in his 12 th Chapter against Adimantus The Lord doubted not to say this is my body when as he gave the sign of his body and upon the third Psalme The Lord admitted Judas to the Banquet at which he recommended and gave to his Disciples the figure of his body and blood The same Father upon the 98. Psalme wherein he expoundeth these words of our Lord If yee eat not the flesh of the Son of Man ye shall not have life brings in our Saviour speaking thus Vnderstand spiritually that which I have told you ye shall not eat this body which ye see neither shall ye drink that blood which my Crucifiers shall shed I have recommended to you a sacred signe which being spiritually understood shall give you life And in the third Book of Christian Doctrine Chap. 16. When the Lord saith if ye eat not the flesh of the Son of Man and drink not his blood ye shall have no life in your selves he seems to command an impiety or great crimâ—â— This then is a Figure whereby he enjoyneth us to communicate in the Lords death and Passion and delightfully and profitably to remember that his Flesh was crucified and bruised for us And in his first Treatise upon the first of St. John The Lord comforteth us who can no longer feel him with the Hand but only by the touch of faith And in the 53d Sermon upon the words of our Lord Every one almost calls that the body of Christ which is a sacred sign thereof Theodoret Bishop of Cyre in the year 420. in his first Dialogue entitled the Immutable speaking of these words This is my body saith the Lord hath dignified the visible signes with the appellation of his own body and blood not changing of their nature but adding grace to nature a little before he had said the Lord hath confer'd upon the sign the name of his own body And in the second Dialogue entitled The Inconfused The Divine Mysteries are signes of the true body And a little after he brings in an Eutychian Heretick maintaining Transubstantiation to whom he answereth in these words Thou art caught in a Net of thine own twisting for even after Consecration the mystical signes change not their nature but remain for subâ—â—â—nce form and figure the same as before Cyril Bishop of Alexandria in the year 440. Christ gave to his Disciples morsels of bread saying take eat this is my body He saith also that the faithfull believe that though he be absent from us in the body yet are all things and even our selves governed by him Again though he be absent in the Body appearing before his Father and sitting at his right hand yet nevertheless he is present in his Saints by his Spirit The same Father speaking of Nestorius Hath he not turn'd saith he our mystery into an Anthropâ—phagy that is to say a manducation of Man's flesh through an irreligious entangling of the spirits of the faithfull through vain conceits and attempting to subject to humane ratiocinations things which surpass all manner of scrutiny save that of faith only Gelasius himself Bishop of Rome about the year 590. speaketh thus Certainly the Sacraments which we receive of the body and blood of Christ are a Divine thing whence also we are by them made partakers of the Divine nature yet nevertheless the substance or nature of the â—read and the Wine doth uncessantly continue such and the Image and resemblance of the body and blood of Christ is infallibly celebrated in the exhibition of those mysteries Facundus an African Bishop who in the 550th year of our Lord wrote in defence of the three heads or points of the Council of Chalcedon The Sacrament of Adoption to wit Baptisme may be called the Adoption upon the very same account that we call the Sacrament of Christs body and blood which consists in the consecrated Bread and Cup his own body and own blood Not that the Bread is indeed his body and the Cup his Blood in proper speech but hecause that the mystery of his body and blood is contained therein Dionysius falsely surnamed the Areopagite an Author of whom we know not certainly in what time he lived howbeit to procure the greater Authority to his writings he assumed the name of Dionysius the Areopagite mentioned in the Book of Acts chap. 17. vers 34. But divers reasons move us to believe that he flourished about the end of the fourth Age others make him more ancient whoever he was he doth more than ten times in one Chapter tearm that which is given to us in the Supper Images Signes and Symboles and saith that the Communion of Bread and Wine is a commemoration of that most Divine Supper at which the signes of things therein celebrated were first of all instituted
model and example of that of Rome whereupon the same Author tells us that there were many Bishops and Priests who would not in the least acknowledge him calling him the author of lyes a disturber of the Christian Peace and a corrupter of the Faith of Christians Anno 840. RAbanus Maurus Arch-bishop of Mayence and Disciple to Alcuinus whom he esteemed the most knowing person of all the Learned of those times in his Book of the Institution of Clerks speaking of the Sacrament of the Supper saith that when we are commanded to eat the flesh and to drink the blood of our Lord it is a figurative locution and that this mystery is spiritual And for this reason Thomas of Walden in an Epistle to Pope Martin V. who came to the Popedom in the year 1417 holds that he sens'd the holy Sacrament amiss and ranks him with Hereticks Anno 849. BErtram a Preacher of great fame as well by reason of his profound knowledge of the holy Scriptures as for his inculpableâ—life in a Treatise entituled Of the Body and Blood of our Lord which he addressed to the Emperour Charles the Bald upon that Emperours demanding of his Judgement touching the many Controversies moved about that Doctrine did in resolution to what was propounded to him plainly demonstrate by the Authority of Scripture of St. Augustine and the ancient Doctors that there is no such thing as Transubstantiation in the Supper but that the Bread and the Wine remain in their first substance under and by which the Body Blood of Jesus Christ are in an invisible and spiritual maner distributed and apprehended by faith alone That there is a spiritual body in this mystery that it is a mystical and spiritual comprehension of him and not that very Body which he assumed in the womb of the blessed Virgin He sticks not to say that the Body of Christ is therein for as much as the Spirit of Christ is there that is to say the power and efficacy of the Word of God which doth not only nourish but also purgeth and purifieth the soul. We find not that this great man was ever reprehended or reckoned an Heretick because of this Doctrine Anno 869. AT this time flourished John Erigine or Erwine otherwise a Scots-man skill'd in the Greek Arabick and Chaldaick Tongues a most famous and incomparable Divine all which by the relation of Antoninus himself Arch-Bishop of Florence Vincent of Beauvais Sabellicus Volateran and Platina was accompanied with singular holiness of life He was likewise so greatly endeared to Charles the Bald King of France and Emperour that he was by him detained in France where he received from him very honourable entertainment Occasion then offering it self for his declaring of his judgement touching the Doctrine of the Eucharist he expressed himself therein in a Book bearing the very same Title with that of Bertram wherein in like manner by the authority of the Divine Scriptures and of pious Fathers especially of St. Augustine he establisheth and confirms the truth of the same Faith which that learned Bertram had taught a little before In fine by reason of his great renown it came to pass that Alfred King of England having founded the Colledge now University of Oxford gave him an invitation to the Presidency thereof Anno 950. IT is recorded by William of Malmsbury that the belief both of the reality and of the conversion of Signes which were by degrees foisted into this Age of Ignorance and Barbarism was vigorously opposed and that divers Questions touching the same were agitated in England one party explaining it one way the other quite another Those who held the Affirmative part that they might the more dextrously proselyte their Adversaries obtruded Prodigies and Miracles averring that in the room of the Species they saw a comely little Infant which was thrust into the mouths of the Communicants instead of Bread that there was Blood found in the Chalice that a devout Ass worshiped the Hostie and abundance of such Miracles â—ut so gross ridiculous as that the bare mentioning of them may suffice to discover their impertinency and forgery Whereupon Gabriel Biel in his 51 Lesson oâ— the Canon of the Mass observed not aâ—iss that those apparitions of flesh blood wâ—â—rwith they entertained the people might happen through Diabolical delusion for deceiving of the simple God permitting it so to be Anno 292. THere was a Synod or Council of all the Churches in France held at Rhemes wherein Arnulphus Bishop of Orleans the learnedst and most eloquert person of those times was set apart for the conduct and managery of affairs It appears by the Acts of that Synod that this famous Bishop cognoscing upon matters therein agitated represents to that reverend Assembly that all the Poâ—es of this Age were branded with Notoriâ—us Crimes Murders and Tyrannies Monsters of men full of Infamy devoid of all Knowledg both Divine and Humane who else saith he think ye that man is who sitteth upon a high and lofty Throne glittring with Gold and Purple but the Antichrist infallibly sitting in the Temple of God whose Marbles c. are as fit to be consulted as himself He adds further that iâ— were much better to require the judgmenâ— of the Bishops of the Low-Countries and 〈◊〉 Germany than of that City which is at thâ—â— day exposed to sale and weighs Judgmeâ—â—s in the unjust ballance of filthy lucre c. That therefore Assemblies might be held without his privity since that the Canon of Nice acknowledged by the Church of Rome in all Councils and Decrees enjoyneth no such thing as that regard should be had to the authority of the Bishop of Rome that her Ministers are those of Antichrist who seems to be near at hand that the Mystery of Iniquity doth already work since that which should let to wit the Roman Power is already removed that that Man of Sin which opposeth and exalteth himself above the Name and Service of God begins to be revealed Religion exposed to ruine the Name of God trampled under foot with iâ—punity and Religious Worship vilified even by the chief Priests themselves this being all the care that Rome takes of others 〈◊〉 of her self Anno 1050. BErenger Archdeacon of Angiers did profoundly confute the real presence and other abuses ushered into the Doctrine of the Lord's Supper True it is that in the year 1059 having made his appearance before the Lateran Council whither he was cited out of fear of some cruel usage he signed a Confession contrary to his judgment mentioned below in its proper place but after his return into France he retracted the same and confirmed his Proselytes which were so numerous that William of Malmsbury in his 3d Book of the History of England doth attest that all France was full of his Doctrine which is confirmed by Matthew of Westminster who adds that not only the French but also greatest part of the Italians and English embraced
as the whole Kingdome of Bohemia was through means of their Preaching and Doctrine reduced from obedience to the Pope and the Ceremonies of the Romish Church the Council of Constance required King Wenceslaus to send the said Huss thither to whom the Emperour Sigismond gave very ample Letters of safe-conduct to the end that he might not scruple to surrender himself yet notwithstanding without any regard had thereunto he was within twenty six dayes after his arrival committed to Prison and after an hard and tedious incarceration most unjustly condemned to be burnt alive as an Heretick howbeit he had clearly demonstrated to them the truth of his Doctrine by the Word of God and the pregnant Testimonies of Christian Antiquity in pursuance whereof he maintained that the Church of Rome had departed from the Doctrine of the Apostles in pursuit of the riches and delights of the world hunting after Dominion and Primacy embezeling Church-goods which did of proper right belong tâ— the Poor in pomps and filthy and infamous expences confounding herewith the Ordinances of God or at leastwise guilty of a voluntary and deliberate contempt of the same That the Pope hath no such Authority as he challengeth over the Church and that Indulgences are null That the Bread and the Wine remain untransubstantiated in the Supper and that the Communion should be equally distributed to all under both kinds That there is no such thing as Purgatory That Saints departed ought not to be invoked nor Images worshipped and that all those things with their like appendants have no other foundation than that of the corruption and vanity of a humane spirit But forasmuch as the Truth doth ever purchase hatred from the Wicked as being naturally averse and adverse thereunto this was the cause of that cruel usage which he met withall from his Enemies which he endured with a truly Christian-Constancy rehearsing as he was going to the place of Execution or rather of Triumph diverse verses of the Psalms especially of the 31st and 51st and oftentimes these words taken partly out of the 31st I recommend my spirit into thy hands for thou hast redeemed me Lord Jesus thou God of Truth and as the Executioner was setting fire to the Faggots he said three times with a strong and loud voice Jesus Christ thou Son of the living God have mercy upon me Thus did this holy Martyr finish all his labours resigning his soul to God upon the 6th of July 1415. That other faithful Witness of the Truth Jerome of Prague did likewise seal the same with his blood upon the 30th of May 1416 after many sharp conflicts with his Adversaries whom he confounded and struck dumb with the same weapons namely the Word of God and the Testimonies of the ancient Doctors of the Church being endued with an admirable eloquence and vigour of spirit He encountred death with such an extasie of joy that when-as they began to kindle the Faggots he began to sing Divine Praises with a holy hymn which by the very relation of Aeneas Sylvius who was afterwards Pope called Pius II and of Pogius of Florence who was one of the Spectators he continued in the midst of the flames till that his blisfull soul took wing for Heaven there to bear a part in the harmonious new Song in the presence of its Saviour and the company of Angels and all the Saints and faithfull ones whose tears are all for ever wip'd away in that beatisick Sabbatism of Glory and eternal bliss But what shall we say more for the time would fail us should we instance in all who after those two saithful Witnesses espoused the defence of the same Truth which the greatest part of them have as they before them sealed with their blood We behoved to make mention of that great Assembly of persons at Doway in the year 1421 who held the Doctrine of the Waldenses of whom a great number as is reported by Monstrelet was sacrificed to the flames of William White and Alexander Fabrice English-men who in the year 1429 wrote in the defence of Wickliff's Doctrine which Reynauld Peacock Bishop of Chichester in like manner maintained in the year 1457. We behoved likewise to shew that George Poggebrach King of Bohemia together with his Subjects owned to the day of his death the profession of the Truth against the Determinations of Rome and that the King of Poland stood inclined to its defence Likewise that in the year 1480 John of Vessalia Basil of Groningue Stephen Bralfer and Paul Notary of Tubinge Doctors in Divinity did in like manner in Germany withstand the Doctrine of the Romish-Church for controlling of whose vanity and many corruptions Jerome Savonarole was burnt at Florence in the year 1498 notwithstanding which John Francis Picus Count of Mirandula failed not to write in his behalf and in like manner to reprehend the very same abuses That in the year 1505 Paul Scriptoris did in his Lectures in the University of Tubinge publickly declaim against Transubstantiation And that in the year 1507 Thomas More of Brockford an English-man was burnt at Norwich for preaching against the then prevailing Superstitions of the Church We behoved moreover to produce that goodly Confession presented in the year 1508 to King Vladislaus by the persecuted Waldenses in Hungary which was exactly conformable to that of the Protestant and Reformed Churches And likewise observe all that is recorded by that great Lawyer Charles du Moulin in his History of the French Monarchy on purpose to give the World to understand what reception the Doctrine and Life of those of Cabrieres and Merindol found with King Lewis XII which gave such ample satisfaction to that great Prince as that upon the report therein made to him of the same he swore that they had more goodness and worth in them than himself and all his subjects besides Finally we behov'd in like manner for the honour of that incomparable Monarch to add how that after the example of Philip the Fair one of his Predecessors he quell'd the sauciness and petulancy of Julius II who had excommunicated him having assembled a Council at Pisa in order to the reforming of the Church both in its Head and Members and caused batter the Golden Species with this Inscription PERDAM BABYLONIS NOMEN C A D. I will utterly destroy the name of Babylon and had not injurious Death suddenly snatch'd him away he had undoubtedly put an happy essay to a thorow Reformation But enough of that we being now arrived at Anno 1517. MArtin Luther together with those his Contemporaries whom God raised up for the same work did in this year strike that great blow which did so mightily shake the Papal Power and restore to Soveraign Princes who heretofore trembled under the Censures of Rome that lawful though controll'd Authority which they hold of none but God himself and this was so marvellous that after that time the greatest part of Germany the