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
is to be the Seat of Antichrist What I say now deserves to be considered because in the Year 1516 December the 19 th in the 11 th Session of the Lateran Council under Leo X in whose time Luther began to preach we find that there was a Prohibition against handling the Question of Antichrist in the Pulpit though under the Pretence of advancing some new Revelation concerning it without having obtained leave from the Holy See or from the Bishop The Words of the Canon which oblige all those who should ever undertake to preach on this Subject are these And we command all who bear this Charge or who shall bear it for the future that they preach and explain the Evangelical Truth and the Holy Scripture according to the Exposition and Interpretation of those Doctors whom the Church or long Tradition has approved and has hitherto allowed to be read or which shall be so for time to come without adding any thing that is contrary to or disagreeing from the proper sense of them but that they always insist upon such Matters as do not disagree with the Words of the Scripture nor with the Interpretations of the foresaid Doctors Neither let them presume to fix in their Sermons any certain time of the Evils to come of the coming of Antichrist or of the Day of Judgment forasmuch as Truth assures us that it is not for us to know the Times and Seasons Moreover if the Lord should be pleased to reveal to any of them in the Church of God future things by some Inspiration as he hath promised by the Prophet Amos and seeing the Apostle Paul saith Despise not Prophecying c. we will not have such as these reckoned amongst Impostors and Liars or that they shall be any ways hindred But because it is a matter of great Moment and that we are not upon light Grounds to believe every Spirit but are to try them whether they be of God we command that by a constant Law any such asserted Inspirations before they be published or preached to the People be henceforward understood to be reserved to the Examination of the Apostolical See but in Case this cannot be done without the Danger of too long a Delay or that urgent Necessity should otherwise perswade then observing the same Order it may be signified to the Ordinary of the place who taking along with him three or four learned and grave Men and diligently examining the matter with them if they see it expedient which we charge upon their Consciences they may grant them Liberty but whosoever presumes to commit any thing contrary to the Premises shall incur Excommunication from the which he shall not be absolved but by the Pope himself that so by their Example others may be deterred from presuming to do any such thing for which Reason we decree that they be for ever made incapable of the Office of Preaching any Priviledges whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding c. 'T is not our Business to examine the Question whether the Bishop of Meaux hath exactly followed the Rules that this Canon prescribes in his Explication of the Scripture and especially about the matter of Antichrist though they be Rules by which Bishops are no less bound than the meanest Divines It may be the Church of Rome finds the Bishop's new System so much for her Interest that it inclines her to suspend the Severity of her Canons in Favour of a Person who has so dexterously pluck'd a Thorn out of her Foot which hath troubled her so long and which hath always caused new Pains to her as oft as any of her Doctors have indeavoured to pluck it out But I fear I have insisted too long upon so vain a Conjecture and which scarce deserved to be confuted There are able Men of the Church of Rome who have taken the Pains to refute the Conjecture of some Papists who would needs have Mahomet to be the Antichrist This was the Chimaera of Annius of Viterbo a Monk famous for his Impostures this likewise was the Whimsy of Fevardentius and some others whom Pererius the Jesuit hath refuted so solidly as that he has put the Bishop of Meaux to the trouble of inventing a new System to oppose the Protestants I hope his System will meet with the same Destiny amongst his own Party that so the Protestants may not be put to the trouble of giving it a formal Confutation For indeed though the Politicks of the Church of Rome do bear with several Opinions that differ from the common Hypotheses of their Society yet the Divines of that Party are not patient enough to dissemble the Dislike they have to see their old Opinions which have been maintained for several Ages trod under-foot The Bishop himself has an Example hereof which he cannot well have forgot in the Person of Cardinal Capizucchi who having given his Approbation to the Exposition of the Romish Faith made by the Bishop of Meaux in which he sweetens the Worship of Images so very much for Fear of incensing the Protestants whom he designed to bring over to his own Side was not wanting some Years after to publish a Treatise wherein he shews that he gave that Approbation only upon the Account of Reason of State and not because he sincerely approved the way which the Bishop had taken to make the Worship of Images appear more tolerable to the Protestant Party CHAP. XX. Of the Morals of the Albigenses and of their Ecclesiastical Government HAving thus justified the Albigenses as to their Doctrine and Worship it is time now to proceed to shew the Regularity of their Discipline by representing the Nature of their Church-Government and Conduct of those Churches in matters that related to their Manners This will not be a matter of any Difficulty for it is easily conceived that these Diocesses being stored with People who maintained the Doctrine of Berengarius as the Abbot of Tron tells us they had a great Party of the Clergy at the Head of them I do not say this without good Grounds for 1 st We see that in the Councils held against Berengarius there were very great Contests about this Matter and that the opposite Party carried their Point only by down-right Violence 2 dly That according to the Testimony of Sigebert if many Persons wrote against Berengarius many also wrote in favour of him and who can doubt of their being Church-men 3 dly That his own Bishop Bruno Bishop of Anger 's where he was Archdeacon declared himself for him 4 thly That in Aquitain in the Year 1075 Giraldus Legat of Pope Gregory VII was obliged to call a Council at Poictiers where Berengarius narrowly escaped being murthered as we are assured by the Chronicle of St. Maixant the Circumstances whereof there set down they that published it took care to leave out 5 thly That five Years after they were obliged to convocate another Council at Bourdeaux where Berengarius gave an Account of his Faith
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
REMARKS UPON The Ecclesiastical History OF THE Antient Churches OF THE ALBIGENSES By PETER ALLIX D. D. Treasurer of the Church of Sarum IMPRIMATUR August 3. 1691. Z. Isham R. P. D. Henrico Episc Lond. Ã Sacris LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCXCII TO THE QUEEN May it please your Majesty THIS Defence of the Albigenses the Antient and Illustrious Confessors who some Ages ago enlightned the Southern Parts of France is laid down at your Majesty's Feet for Your Protection as well as their Successors do now fly into your Dominions for Relief That Charity which moves your Majesty to protect them by your Gracious Favour and support them by your Royal Bounty makes me presume to offer this Historical Apology to your Sacred Majesty Their Faith was in most things the same with that which our Reformers taught in opposition to the Church of Rome and after all the Endeavours that have been used to blacken them by the most horrid Calumnies as well as to destroy them by the cruellest Inquisitions and Croisades the Innocency of their Lives and the Exemplariness of their Deaths makes them to be justly gloried in as the true Authors of the Reformation It was from them that this Church now so happy in your Majesty receiv'd the first Beams of that heavenly Light which it now enjoys and which it of late maintained with such vast Advantages that it is deservedly esteemed the chief Body as well as the justest Glory of the whole Reformation The Persecutions of those earliest Restorers of the Doctrine of Jesus Chirst drove them out of their Country and forced many to fly into this Kingdom for shelter who brought with them the first Seeds of those Truths which have since yielded so plentiful an Encrease There is nothing in this History that will either strike or charm Those true Disciples of their crucified Master were considerable for nothing but the Purity of their Doctrine the Innocency of their Lives and the Patience as well as the Constancy of their Sufferings But the Glories of this World which surround your Majesty do not darken or lessen in your Esteem these distinguishing Characters of the Religion of Christ our Saviour and of those his Suffering Members in whose Afflictions you are pleased to take so great a share that you do very much diminish their own sense of them and make them so much the easier by those vast Supports you give them May that God who has raised up your Majesty to support Religion and protect its Confessors in their lowest Circumstances and who has so miraculously preserved and prospered the King and your Majesty in Opposition to the Enemies and Persecutors of his Truth still pour down the richest of his Blessings upon your Majesties May You perfect what You have so gloriously begun May You be Long Great and Happy here and infinitely Greater and Happier for ever These are the daily Wishes and most earnest Prayers of May it please your Majesty Your Majesties most Dutiful most Faithful and most Obedient Subject PETER ALLIX THE PREFACE IT was no hard matter for us to justify the Waldenses from the Accusation of Schism which the Bishop of Meaux thought fit to charge upon them for by shewing the Antiquity Purity and Succession of those Churches I have made it appear that what the Bishop calls Schism ought in Justice to be look'd upon as a vigorous Opposition to the false Worship and Usurpations of the Romish Faction and by consequence that there is no more reason to call the Waldenses Schismaticks because of their refusing Subjection to the Pope and rejecting the Errors of the Church of Rome than there is to call the Church of England Schismatical for the same Reasons But it is so long since the heads of the Church of Rome have founded their Design of an Universal Monarchy and so have fitted their Stile to their Pretensions that it is now become a very familiar thing with them to treat those as Rebels and Schismaticks who will not submit to their Authority so that we need not wonder if they who have espoused the Interest of the Church of Rome and who defend her against the Protestants do boldly charge those with Schism against whom they write without giving themselves the trouble of proving their Charge Nay perhaps we are to think our selves obliged to the Bishop of Meaux who raising himself a little above the common Method of the Doctors of his own Communion has limited himself to accuse the Waldenses of Schism only whereas he might with as much reason have charg'd them with Heresy if he had followed the Writers of Controversy of his own Party or the Legends of the Saints of his Communion For it is certain that the Writers of Controversy in the Church of Rome and those who have writ the Lives of those Inquisitors that have been canoniz'd have never look'd upon the Waldenses as any other than Manichees so thorowly rooted is the Spirit of Calumny in the Members of that Church the Character of Father of Lies being very necessary to support that of Murtherer honourably whereof they have been in Possession so very long I cannot tell whether the Bishop of Meaux has forgiven himself for his Tenderness towards the Waldenses whom he only treats as Schismaticks For seeing one Day informs another and that thus Men come to refine their Notions to the utmost who knows but the Bishop who when he writ his Book of Variations had only obscurely hinted that to accuse the Pope of being Antichrist was a Character of Manicheism who knows I say but that now he sees so clearly that the Waldenses have formally declared that the Pope is Antichrist he will not a-new make them Manichees once more the better to accommodate himself with the Maxims of his New System If he should not do it himself to avoid the shame of being guilty of a Variation at least it 's very obvious to believe that some of those who are engaged with him in the same Cause will not fail of taking that Course and therefore I am glad I have prevented him by showing that the Waldenses were no Manichees though they took the Pope to be Antichrist Be it as it will I hope it will not be harder for us to justify the Albigenses from the Accusations brought against them by the Bishop of Meaux He uses his utmost Endeavours to maintain a most abominable Calumny raised by his Predecessors and strives by representing the Albigenses as a People who had revived the Errors of the Manichees to make them equally odious to those of the Church of Rome and the Protestants of France whom his Violence together with that of his Colleagues have forc'd to take upon them the external Profession of Popery The Jews built the Tombs of those Prophets whom their Fathers slew process of Time having cur'd them of their Fury that enrag'd their Forefathers against the Ambassadors of Heaven
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
Man and Wife cannot be saved if they know one another carnally by striving to preach up the Study of Virginity saith he they seem to derogate from the State of Marriage and to condemn it which he refutes by the common Proofs In the sixth place saith he We convict and judg by the Authorities of the New Testament that they are Hereticks and separated from the Unity of the Church for we say that the Lord hath given the Power to St. Peter of binding and absolving saying Whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound c. and St. James says If any one among you be sick let him call for the Priests of the Church c. and again Behold I send unto you wise Men and Scribes but as our Lord saith All Men cannot comprehend this Saying Moreover We say that they ought to have stood up in Answering and Disputing concerning the Gospel because all Christians stand when the Gospels are read now if we ought to stand when they are read much more ought we to stand when they are read and expounded together Neither ought they to have sat down after that they had once chosen to stand Besides We have many Authorities by which it plainly appears that we ought to be standing when the Gospel is reading as that where it is said And Jesus stood in the Plain and again Jesus stood and cry'd saying and again There stands one in the midst of you whom ye know not Moreover Jesus was in a standing Posture when after his Resurrection he confirmed his Disciples and preached unto them as it is written Jesus stood in the midst of his Disciples and said Peace be with you And as for them saith the Bishop they have no right to judg but only to answer for the Lord ought to sit to whom all Judgment is committed by the Father But as for them they judg not but are judged and it is not permitted to them to preach in the Churches These Hereticks are such as St. Paul foretels of when he saith that there shall be wicked Men and Seducers who will go on to grow worse and worse deceiving and being deceived for the time shall come that they will not bear sound Doctrine but will turn their Ears away from the Truth to Fables And again From which some going astray have given themselves to vain things who desiring to be Teachers of the Law understand not what they say or affirm He maintains that they ought to punish the Disobedience of those Hereticks and to give them publick Correction according to St. Paul's saying That Sinners should be reproved openly in the Presence of all for their Amendment St. Paul also speaking to Bishops saith Being always ready to reprove every Disobedience and having Power to confute those that gainsay and again Exhort rebuke and reprove with all Authority and again I have delivered them to Satan c. Moreover Being absent I have already judged c. And lastly Who ever shall preach any other thing let him be accursed In the seventh place the said Bishop questioned them concerning Repentance whether it were saving when performed at the last Gasp or whether Souldiers mortally wounded may be saved if they repent at last or whether every one ought to confess their Sins to the Priest and Ministers of the Church or to some Lay-man or to those of whom St. James says Confess your Sins one to another To which they answered that it was sufficient for those that were sick to confess to whom they would As for Souldiers they would answer nothing because St. James there speaks only of the Sick It was also asked them whether one single Act of Contrition of Heart and one Confession of the Mouth were sufficient or whether Satisfaction were necessary after Penance had been enjoined in deploring their Sins by Fasting Alms and Affliction if they had opportunity To which they answered saying that St. James said Confess your Sins one to another that you may be healed so that by these Words they knew that the Apostle did not enjoin any thing else but only to confess to one another and that so they should be saved and that they would not be better than the Apostle by adding any thing thereto of their own as the Bishops do The Hereticks added besides that the Bishop who pronounced Sentence was an Heretick and not they and that he was their Enemy and a ravening Wolf a Hypocrite and an Enemy of God and that he had not judged rightly and that they would not answer any thing concerning their Faith because they mistrusted him as our Lord had commanded them in the Gospel Beware of false Prophets who come unto you in Sheeps Clothing but inwardly are ravening Wolves And that he was their malicious Persecutor and they were ready to make it appear from the Gospels and the Epistles that he was not a good Pastor neither he nor all the rest of the Bishops and Priests but rather Hirelings The Bishop answered That the Sentence had been duly pronounced against them and that he was ready to verify the same either in the Court of Ld. Alexander the Catholick Pope or in the Court of Lewis King of France or of Raimond Earl of Tholouse or of his Wife who was present or in the Court of Frenkwel who was there present that he had passed a right Judgment and that they were evidently Hereticks and branded as such He promised also that he would indict them for Heresy and that he would denounce them to be such in all Catholick Courts The Hereticks seeing themselves convicted and confounded turned themselves towards all the People saying Good People the Faith which we now confess we confess for your Sakes The Bishop answered You say That you speak for the Sake of the People and not for God's Sake And they said We believe that there is one only God in three Persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and that the Son of God hath taken our Flesh upon him that he was baptized in Jordan that he fasted in the Wilderness that he hath preached our Salvation that he suffered died and was buried that he descended into Hell that he rose again the third Day that he ascended into Heaven that he sent the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost that he shall come at the Day of Judgment to judg both the Quick and the Dead and that All shall rise again We know also that what we believe with our Heart we ought to confess with our Mouth We believe that he is not saved who doth not eat the Body of Jesus Christ and that the Body of Jesus Christ is not consecrated but in the Church and by the Priest be he good or bad and that it is no better consecrated by a good than by a bad one We believe also that none can be saved but those that are baptized and that little Children are saved by Baptism We believe also that Man and Wife are saved
same Charity which we commonly make use of when we speak of the Ancienest Fathers of the Church But this will some object respects only the Lollards of England and cannot be extended to the justifying of the Lollards of Germany who might have been guilty of the Crimes whereof they are accused To this Objection I answer 1 st That since the Lollards according to the Testimony of Kilianus reported by M. du Cange were the same with the Waldenses the Bishop of Meaux hath already drawn up their Apology by maintaining that they differed only in a very few things from the Papists 2 dly That if one should reject the Bishop's Opinion yet sufficient Matter for their Justification may be found in the Writings of the more honest Authors of the Romish Communion such as Aeneas Sylvius and some others without speaking of their own Writings or Apologies whereof we have some few Remnants printed Be it as it will to return to our English Lollards Fox in his Acts and Monuments gives us a Bull of Pope Boniface IX directed to John Bishop of Hereford to oblige him to put King Richard II upon persecuting of them As likewise the Bull sent to King Richard on the same Subject which imports that he had commanded the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to prosecute them with the utmost Rigor and Severity and afterwards sets down the Commission of Richard II for the Trial of one Walter Brute one of that Party He hath also given us the History of the Manner of their being hang'd and burnt by the King's Order in 1414. But because it will be of moment to acquaint the Publick in what Points they chiefly differ'd from the Church of Rome and because there is come into my Hands a Register of some of the antient Bishops of Salisbury wherein are contained many Trials of these antient Christians I thought it necessary to add some of those Trials at the end of this Book faithfully copied from the Original There is no doubt but that there are many of them in the Registers of Canterbury of York and of several other Sees which could demonstrate that the Romish Clergy have never till the very Reformation omitted their utmost Endeavours towards the Extirpation by Fire and Fagot of all those that rebuked them for their Vices and for the Corruption of their Doctrine CHAP. XXIII Of the Doctrine of Wicklef and his Disciples in England BUT whether the Lollards maintain'd the Doctrine of the Albigenses in England or no certain it is that it received new Lustre from the Learning of Wicklef and those who joined with him in the defence of the Truth against the Friars and Court of Rome My Design is not to examine the whole History of Wicklef and of his Disciples to the bottom The Bishop of Meaux hath done his Endeavours to blacken them and to load them with the foulest Calumnies I only say in short that the Bishop did not take the pains to consult what Mr. Wood hath writ on this Subject in his History of the Vniversity of Oxford where he cites the Registers of the University which refute the greatest part of those Slanders that the Romish Party have published against Wicklef However thus much is evident that John Wicklef was the most renowned Man of that Age both for Learning and Piety He had been Educated at the University of Oxford where Scholastical Divinity had establish'd its Empire by the Care of Robert Grosthead John Duns Occam Richard of Armagh and divers others He there publickly profess'd Divinity and was at last made Rector of Lutterworth in Leicestershire where he died peaceably after great and long Troubles which he suffered for the defence of the Truth The Pope had at this time usurped almost the whole Royal Authority and more especially in England where after King John had made himself a Vassal of the Church of Rome under Innocent III the Popes commanded the Kings of England at pleasure We see by the Writings of Herveus Brito who wrote at Paris about the Beginning of this Century where he was Professor that the temporal Power over all the World was directly attributed to the Pope neither did any Kings oppose themselves against it It is well known that the Canonists who had then the Reputation had no other Song in their Mouths but that of the Pope's Divinity his Succession to the Rights of Jesus Christ and consequently his absolute Empire over all the World This we meet with in all their Writings and more especially in those who writ in defence of the Popes against the Emperor Lewis of Bavaria The Friars Mendicants whom Cardinal Albizi did very truly call the Pope's Souldiers had usurped all the Rights of the Secular Clergy and advanc'd their Conquests for the Pope to that Degree that the Authority of the Princes and Bishops signified nothing any longer in England except only when they acted in favour of the Monks From the time of Matthew Paris who gives us so strange a Description of their Insolence and of their Attempts against the Authority of the Clergy things were carried to that height that nothing was any longer able to oppose them Without doubt there was great need of Courage as great as Wicklef's was and Learning too as vast as his to stop so impetuous a Torrent This great Man set himself against it and carried on his Design after such a manner that the Effects and Consequences of it continued to the very Reformation It would take up a Volume to give a particular Account of what he wrote in the Reigns of Edward III and Richard II. I shall content my self to take notice only of some few Particulars and I shall afterwards treat of his Doctrine which diffus'd it self through Germany and brought about a great Reformation there 1. He publickly oppos'd in his Professor's Chair several Errors of the Church of Rome which the Monks and Popes by their Authority endeavour'd to maintain and countenance in which Undertaking he was always back'd by the Body of that University where he had taught so long time 2. He maintain'd his Doctrine by the Favour of the Court and the most illustrious and learned Members thereof and with so great a Satisfaction of the People that Knighton is obliged to acknowledg that one half yea the greater Part of the People owned his Doctrine 3. He had made so great Progress amongst the Clergy that he writes himself that above a third Part of the Clergy were ready to defend his Doctrine with the hazard of their Lives Accordingly he appeared boldly at the Synod of the Archbishop of Canterbury in February 1377 to give an account of his Doctrine where he defended himself with that Vigor that none durst gainsay him He appeared there again the same Year in May neither durst the Archbishop then decide any thing against him And when in the year 1382 they in his Absence condemned some Articles which he maintain'd yet he was there defended by the