Hierosolymis adorabitis Patrem Sed venit hora nunc est quando veri adoratores adorabunt in Spiritu Veritate Item Si locus facit ad Orationem cur Heremitae antiquitus in locis abditis habitantes Ecclesias non habebant Cur etiam Sacramenta effectum suum habent etsi non celebrantur in loco qui dicitur Ecclesia Item quid operantur Parietes ad supplicandum ei qui ubique est cum in uno loco non magis sit quam in alio Christum etiam in montibus locis desertis legimus orasse non in locis orationi dedicatis Item estne fructuosior oratio quae fit in Templo quam illa quae fit in agro si par fuerit devotio There be some who affirm that the Church is not a material Place but an holy Assembly of Believers for say they Place is not of any concern to Prayer because as God is every where so he may every where be worship'd and pray'd to This they endeavour to prove by the Authority of Christ saying to the Samaritan Woman Woman believe me the hour comes when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor at Jerusalem worship the Father but the hour comes and now is when the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth Again If the Place be any furtherance to Prayer why had not the Hermits of old who liv'd in desert Places their Churches to pray in Or how can the Sacraments be of any efficacy when they are not celebrated in the Place call'd a Church Again What do Walls help us to pray to him who is every where and not more in one Place than he is in another We read also that Christ went aside to Mountains and desert Places to pray and not to Places appointed for Prayer Again Is the Prayer that is perform'd in the Church of more efficacy than that which is offer'd up in the Field supposing the Devotion of both to be alike Against the Prayers that are made to Saints they objected as follows Dicunt etiam Heretici quidam Orationes Sanctorum non prodesse vivis nec vivorum orationes mortuis probare etiam videntur quod Sancti non orant pro vivis qui sciunt qui sint salvandi vel damnandi pro illis autem quos sciunt salvandos non orant quia superflua esset eratio quia sive orent sive non salvabuntur Si vero orarent pro damnatis non assequerentur quod petunt ita beati non essent beatus enim est cui omnia optata succedunt Item Quilibet judicabitur secundum opera sua non aliena merita nec pro alienis meritis reddetur ei ideo orationes Sanctorum non prosunt vel quantum ad meritum vel quantum ad praemium quia non augent merita vel praemia Item Sancti non sunt in loco merendi sed recipiendi ergo orationibus nec aliis bonis merentur sibi vel aliis Item In Evangelio Lucae legitur Quod Abraham dixit animae Divitis quae erat in inferno Magnum Chaos firmatum est inter nos vos ubi Chaos nihil aliud vocavit nisi dissimilitudinem bonorum malorum tantam ut etiam sancti damnatis non compatiantur Si vero non compatiantur nec orant pro eis Some Hereticks also assert that the Prayers of Saints are of no use to the Living nor those of the Living to the Dead That the Saints do not pray for the Living they prove thus Because the Saints knowing who shall be saved and who damned they can not pray for those they know shall be saved since their Prayers would be superfluous seeing whether they pray or no they will be saved but should they pray for those that shall be damned they would not obtain what they pray for and so would not be happy for he is only happy who has all his Desires Again Every one shall be judged according to his Works and not according to the Merits of another neither shall any Man receive according to the Merits of other Men and therefore the Prayers of the Saints profit nothing either in regard of Merit or Reward because they cannot encrease either a Man's Merit or Reward Again The Saints are not in a Place where they can merit but only where they receive and therefore by their Prayers or other good Works can neither merit any Good for themselves or for others Again We read in the Gospel of St. Luke that Abraham said to the Soul of the rich Man that was in Hell There is a great Gulf fixed between us and you where by Gulf he means nothing else but the Disagreement there is between the Good and the Wicked which is so great that the Saints are neither sensible nor have any compassion for the Damned now if so neither can we suppose that they pray for them At last He attributes to some of them the Belief that it is unlawful to eat Flesh upon very ridiculous Grounds but such as have nothing common with the Doctrine of the Manichees It seems to me to be evident from this Book of Alanus 1 st That he owned there were several sorts of Hereticks in the Country of the Albigenses Manichees or Cathari who rejected the principal Articles of the Christian Religion 2 dly Another sort of People who renounced all the chief Doctrines of the Romish Religion which the Protestants rejected afterwards And since he quotes no Author in particular it is obvious to judg that he made but small Distinction of the Nature of the several Objections which he pretends to refute and which he had frequently assigned to the Albigenses in general which without doubt ought not to be attributed but to some of them and which possibly and very probably too was only taken up from the Mouths of the common People amongst them by those who had a Design to expose them CHAP. XVII The Calumnies raised against the Albigenses refuted by the Conference at Montreal THose who will reflect a little upon the Innocence of the Primitive Christians and the horrid Slanders cast upon them will not be much surpriz'd to see the Innocence of the Albigenses attack'd after the same manner The Devil having found this Method succeed in the first Beginnings of Christianity was not so careless of his Interest to forget to employ the same against those who opposed themselves to the Corruptions which he had introduced and which he was willing to substitute instead of the Religion of Jesus Christ He made use of the same Method against those of the Reformed Religion Whoever reads the Writings of the Jesuits shall find that they have accused our Reformers of the same Heresies which the Devil rais'd to put a stop to the progress of Christianity The Jesuit Gauthier alone may be a sufficient Witness hereof in his Chronological Table and we may well say that in this Point he hath at least equaliz'd the Impudence 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
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
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