out of Paradise and by a Virgin we have found eternal Life 12. That he did not believe we ought to have recourse to the Intercession of Saints can be invincibly demonstrated from hence because he did not believe that the Faithful should see the Face of God before the Day of Judgment lib. 5. c. 3. 13. He plainly asserts that the Apostolical Succession is of no Consideration without the Truth of Doctrine Lib. 4. c. 43. so far was he from making it a bar to hinder Believers from examining the Doctrine propounded to them 14. He maintains that the Gates of Heaven were open'd to Jesus Christ because of the Assumption of his Flesh so far was he from believing that his glorified Body could penetrate Bodies Lib. 3. c. 18. lib. 4. c. 66. He asserts that Jesus Christ at his being born opened the Blessed Virgin 's Womb lib. 4. c. 66. which the Church of Rome condemns for divers Reasons And for as much as he holds the Holy Ghost to be the Food of Life lib. 4. c. 75. accordingly he maintains c. 2. lib. 5. that our Bodies are nourished by the Creatures of God received in the Eucharist and that they receive growth by them He distinctly asserts that the Sacrament of the Eucharist as to its Substance consists of Bread and Wine which are the Creatures of God which he receives as Oblations of a different kind from the Sacrifices of the old Testament and indeed in case he had otherwise conceived the matter he would have favoured the Opinion of the Gnosticks who pretending that the Work of the Creation was not the Work of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ could never have lighted upon a more comfortable Doctrine than that of Transubstantiation by means of which the Nature of Bread and Wine would be destroyed by Jesus Christ in the Sacrament and nothing left but the Accidents that is to say meer Fantomes without any thing of Reality L. 4. c. 34 57. In like manner we find him asserting lib. 5. c. 33. that what Jesus Christ gave to his Disciples in the Cup was the Generation or Product of the Vine 15. We see clearly from what Eusebius has preserved of St. Irenaeus that the Variety in observing a Fast before Easter was very great and that there was no Law of the Apostles or of Jesus Christ injoining it every one using it according to his own free Will and Devotion We find also that whatsoever Respect St. Irenaeus had for the Church of Rome he was no more inclined to be led by her sole Authority than St. Polycarp was whom he much commends and if he considered her as an Apostolick Church yet he never attributed to her any Authority over the other Flocks of the Lord. I will not dissemble that St. Irenaeus seems somewhat at a loss about the state of Believers after Death but to this it is sufficient to say 1. That we find in St. Irenaeus an Abridgment of the Faith almost in the same form that we find it in the Apostles Creed as it is called 2. That if we do not agree to all the Opinions of St. Irenaeus about the State of Souls after Death 't is certain that the Doctors of the Church of Rome do at least reject as many Articles as we do yea and more too From what I have said we may however perceive what was the State of the Christian Religion in Gaul a little after the middle of the second Century which is the time wherein St. Irenaeus lived and flourished I wish I could produce for the following Century as Authentick a Witness concerning the State of the Churches in this part of Gaul but indeed though there were diverse famous Writers whose Works are cited by St. Jerome yet there is in a manner nothing of them left to us I know there are some who believe that Victorinus was Bishop of Poictiers in the third Century but this is not found true for it is certain that he was Bishop of Passau Patavionensis and not Pictaviensis so that we must proceed to those who can inform us of the State of this part of Gaul during the fourth Century CHAP. III. The Faith of Gallia Aquitanica and Narbonensis in the Fourth Century ST Hilary Bishop of Poictiers a famous Confessor in the Persecution which the Arians stirr'd up against the Orthodox can afford us much Light concerning the State and Faith of these Diocesses This great Man was married as he who published his Works at Paris owns after the famous Baptista Mantuanus observing that the Law for the Celibacy of the Clergy was not yet introduced and that before that time as St. Jerom expresseth it they rather made choice of married Persons than unmarried because the former were judged more proper for the Functions of the Holy Ministry But this is not the only Article wherein he differ'd from Popery as well as the Church of Aquitain 1. He counts the Canonical Books as we do and plainly holds them for Apocryphal which we reject as we find in the Preface to his Commentary upon the Book of Psalms 2. He lays it down for an Error and piece of Impiety to look upon the Scripture as imperfect in Psalm 118. Lit. Vau. 3. He asserts that Ignorance is not capable of excusing Men seeing the Scripture is proposed to us as the Rule of our Faith and Manners Non habet veniam ignoratio voluntatis quia sub scientiae facultate nescire repudiatae magis quam non repertae scientiae est reatus Ob id enim longe à Peccatoribus salus quia non exquisierint Justificationes Dei Nam utique non ob aliud consignatae literis manent quam ut ad universorum scientiam notionemque defluerent Ignorance of the Divine Will gives no Excuse because to be ignorant when we may learn makes us guilty of rejecting Knowledg rather than missing of it For therefore is Salvation far from Sinners because they search not after that which justifies before God and which indeed is for no other reason preserv'd in Writing but that it might be derived to the Knowledg and Understanding of all This is a Stile and these are Maxims very different from those of the Church of Rome 4. He affirms that we are to be ignorant of whatsoever the Scripture doth not teach us and after having asserted that it is the Character of Hereticks to conceal the Holy Scripture fol. 204. he maintains that it is another Mark of Heresy to believe beyond what the Gospel teacheth us Tu qui ultra Evangelium sapis necesse est ut aliis alibi arcanorum doctrinis cognitionem Paterni nominis adeptus sis Thou who art wise beyond the Gospel it must needs be that thou hast elsewhere by other secret Doctrines attained the Knowledg of God the Father fol. 132. 5. He asserts that it was the Will of God that the Scripture should be plain and clear Quantae enim potuit Dominus verborum simplicitate
pretended to confirm them by Confessions which the Cruelty of their Tortures have forced from them Neither is it only in this Work of his that St. Irenaeus informs us what in his time was the Faith of these Churches planted in Gaul for he hath left us five Books and Eusebius has preserved for us some Epistles of that ancient Bishop altogether refulgent with the Purity of the Faith delivered by the Apostles 1. St. Irenaeus gives us this for one Character of the Gnosticks that they embraced Doctrines which were not to be found in the Writings of the Prophets or the Apostles Lib. 1. cap. 1. p. 33. And 't is with the same Spirit that he attributes to Hereticks the accusing of the Scripture for being unintelligible without the Help of Tradition whereas he maintains that that which had been preached was committed to Writing by the special Will of God to the end it might be the Ground and Pillar of our Faith Lib. 3. c. 1 2. And that it is to make the Apostles Hypocrites to suppose that they taught some things in publick and others in private whence it appears clearly that when he makes use of Tradition he only does it with respect to those scriptural Doctrines which the Hereticks opposed and whereof they pretended that the Apostles had left the contrary to those that succeeded them Lib. 3. c. 2. 'T is upon this occasion that he alledgeth the Testimony of the Church of Rome founded by the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul as of one that was most known Ad hanc enim Ecclesiam saith he propter potentiorem Principalitatem necesse est omnem convenire Ecclesiam hoc est eos qui sunt undique fideles in quo semper ab his qui sunt undique conservata est ea quae est ab Apostolis Traditio For to this Church because of its more powerful Superiority it behoves the whole Church to come that is the Believers of all Parts for as much as therein the Tradition from the Apostles has always peen preserved by the Believers of all parts It is apparent that whatsoever Design he may have had to raise the Authority of the Church of Rome he makes no other use of it than to make out that it was impossible those Doctrines which the Hereticks gave out for Apostolical should be really so seeing they were unknown to a Church which had had the Apostles and their Successors for her Guides more especially seeing that Church was placed in the very Seat of the Empire which continually drew to Rome a vast number of Believers from all the different places of the Empire from whence they brought not along with them a different Tradition from that which they found in the Bosom of the Church of Rome That St. Irenaeus had no other aim but this is owned by F. Quesnel in his Notes upon the tenth Epistle of St. Leo pag. 809. And this appears evidently because after all that Esteem which he had for the Church of Rome he was not afraid to write to her Bishop very censuring Letters upon the account of his having excommunicated the Churches of Asia that celebrated Easter the fourteenth of the Moon of March as also because he continued in the Communion of those Churches of Asia without being concerned at the Excommunication of the Pope of Rome 2. He reduces the whole Faith of Christians throughout the World to that which we call the Apostles Creed without mentioning so much as a Word of those Doctrines which the Church of Rome has superadded to it pretending to confirm them by Tradition Lib. 1. c. 2. 3. He maintains the Scriptures to be both clear and perfect Lib. 2. c. 47. 4. He rejects the Doctrines which the Hereticks grounded upon the Explication of some Parables maintaining that nothing ought to be established but upon clear and evident places of Scripture Lib. 2. c. 46. 5. It appears by his Writings that Penance at that time was publick without dispensing with Women that were overtaken with the Sins of Uncleanness by which means being exposed to extream Confusion it made some of them abjure Christianity Lib. 1. c. 9. 6. He makes it appear that Caelibat was not yet known in Asia whence these first Christians of the Gauls derived their Original which is acknowledged by the Fevardentius Lib. 1. c. 9. 7. He assigns to the Marcosians the custom of anointing those they received into their Communion with Balm Opobalsamo which shews that at that time extream Unction was not known And we may make the same Observation from his imputing to other Hereticks the anointing of Persons at the Point of Death with Oil and Water Lib. 1. c. 18. 8. He attributes to the Gnosticks the Imitation of the Heathens because they had the Images of Jesus Christ Lib. 1. c. 24. which makes it evident that the Christians had no Images much less that they gave to them any religious Worship And indeed we find him reasoning lib. 2. c. 6. after such a manner as shews that the Christians were yet in full Possession of a Right to reproach the Heathens with all those Absurdities that arise from the Use of Images The same may also be gathered from lib. 2. c. 42. where he divides the Law into two Tables in a manner very different from that of the Doctors of the Roman Church and altogether conformable to the Judgment of Josephus and other Jewish Doctors 9. He makes it appear that he knew nothing of the Separability of Accidents from their Subjects which is the sole Support of Transubstantiation lib. 2. c. 14. 10. He in plain terms â—ejects the Invocation of Angels instead thereof recommending that of our Saviour Jesus Christ lib. 2. c. 57. 11. He asserts that the Blessed Virgin had unseasonable Motions intempestivam festinationem John 2.3 so far was he from believing her wholly free from Sin lib. 2. c. 18. This shews that when he saith cap. 33. Quod alligavit Virgo Eva per incredulitatem hoc Virgo Maria solvit per fidem What the Virgin Eve bound up by her Unbelief that the Virgin Mary set free by her Faith he doth not own the Virgin for the Person that saved Men but his meaning is like that of Hesychius who said speaking of the Women to whom Jesus Christ appeared after his Resurrection Invenêre enim saith he mulieres quod olim amisere per Evam lucrum invenit ea quae damni occasionem praebuerat For the Women found what formerly they lost by Eve she found the Gain who had been an occasion of the Loss T. 15. B. P. p. 823. col 1. And this is the sense likewise of that other Passage of St. Irenaeus which we find lib. 5. c. 19. for though he calls the Virgin Eve's Advocate it plainly appears that he meant nothing else but what is express'd by St. Chrysostom in Ps 44. T. 3. p. 221. Virgo nos Paradiso expulit per Virginem vitam aternam invenimus A Virgin drove us
your Country in Sheeps Clothing being indeed a ravenous Wolf But according to the Hint given by our Lord we know him by his Fruits The Churches are without People People without Priests Priests without due Reverence and lastly Christians without Christ The Churches of Christ are looked upon as Synagogues the Sanctuary of God is denied to be holy Sacraments are no longer esteemed sacred holy Feasts are deprived of festival Solemnities Men die in their Sins Souls are frequently snatch'd away to appear before the terrible Tribunal who are neither reconciled by Repentance nor armed with the sacred Communion The Life of Christ is denied to Christian Infants by refusing them the Grace of Baptism nor are they suffered to draw near unto Salvation though our Saviour tenderly cries on their Behalf Suffer little Children to come unto me This Man is not of God who acts and speaks things so contrary to God and yet alas he is listned to by many and has a People that believe him O most unhappy People at the Voice of an Heretick all the Voices of the Prophets and Apostles are silenced who from one Spirit of Truth have declared that the Church is to be called by the Faith of Christ out of all the Nations of the World So that the Divine Oracles have deceived us the Eyes and Souls of all Men are deluded who see the same thing fulfilled which they read before to have been foretold which Truth though it be most manifest to all he alone by an astonishing and altogether Judaical Blindness either sees not or else is sorry to see it fulfilled and at the same time by I know not what Diabolical Art perswades the foolish and senseless People not to believe their own Eyes in a thing that is so manifest and that those that went before have deceived those that come after have been deceived that the whole World even after the shedding of Christ's Blood shall be lost and that all the Riches of the Mercies of God and the Grace of the Universe are devoted upon those alone whom he deceives Pope Eugenius finding things in this Posture names Albericus Bishop of Ostia for his Legat to the People of Tholouse and to the Count of St. Gilles Baronius in his Annals gives us an Account of this Henry the Disciple of Peter de Bruys and his Death in the Year 1147 which seems to be very exact because St. Bernard writ to the Count of St. Gilles to exhort him to drive Henry out of his Country where he preached his Doctrine very freely But the Earl died in the Holy Land having been poisoned there as it was said by the Queen Wherefore in the Year 1147 Henry suffered Martyrdom at the Sollicitation of St. Bernard Abbot of Clairvaux by the Cruelty of Albericus Bishop of Ostia Cardinal and Legate of Pope Eugenius II at Tholouse where he caused him to be burnt after they had brought him thither loaden with Irons Baronius sets down with great Care whatever he thought might blemish the Reputation of the Martyr He relates all that St. Bernard wrote against him to Aldephonsus Earl of St. Gilles He quotes St. Bernard who calls Henry an Apostate Monk and accuseth him of having made use of the great Talents he had in Preaching as a means to get Money to spend at Gaming and upon his Lusts He says that Henry was a Man defiled with Adulteries who for his frequent Crimes durst not appear in several Parts of France and Germany and who by Consequence was not to be indured in the Territories of the Count of St. Gilles but yet he doth not lay any thing of Manicheism to his Charge no more than Peter de Clugny and St. Bernard Nay Baronius does more for he formally distinguisheth him from those Hereticks whom St. Bernard opposed under the Name of Apostolicks in his 66 th Homily upon the Canticles How then could the Bishop of Meaux make a Manichee of him Perhaps the loose Life whereof St. Bernard accuseth him may be a Character of it But not to undervalue the Vanity of this loose Accusation without any Proof and proceeding from a sworn and cruel Enemy which was quite overthrown by the couragious Martyrdom of Henry At this rate the Clergy of the Church of Rome who were so generally guilty of Sodomy that St. Peter Damian writ a Book intituled Gomorrhaeus must have been Manichees and upon the same Ground Johannes Cremensis a Cardinal the Pope's Legate in England for abolishing the Marriage of the Priests must likewise have been a Manichee for the English Historians say that this Holy Cardinal having assembled a Synod at Westminster wherein he represented to the Priests that it was the worst of Crimes to rise from a Whore to consecrate the Body of Jesus Christ was himself surprized in Bed with a common Whore the same Day that he had said Mass Upon this Account also the Legats of Anacletus the Competitor of Eugenius II must have been Manichees for they are taxed with carrying Women along with them in Mens Habits probably to avoid the Inconvenience that Johannes Cremensis fell into in England for want of taking this Care before-hand They charge Henry with the same Heresies which they attributed to Peter de Bruys so that what I have already said concerning the Heresies of the Petrobusians I need not repeat here Baronius adds I confess that Henry had superadded to these Heresies this Proposition Additis irrideri Deum Canticis Ecclesiasticis That the Singing in Churches was but a mocking of God And accordingly Peter de Clugny refutes this pretended Heresy with a great deal of Earnestness But if I may speak my Opinion in this matter neither did this Proposition contain any great Crime For 1 st Singing in general was owned by Isidore as an Innovation It was about 70 Years before that the Popes had abolished the ancient Liturgies to substitute the Roman Liturgy The Gothick Liturgy which was used in the Diocess of Languedock and other neighbouring Diocesses which at that time depended on the Kings of Spain had been suppressed because it was not over-favourable to the Opinions of the Church of Rome 2 dly They had at the same time introduced a sort of riming Verses which they call Proses so ridiculous so foolish and so full of Novelties both as to the Worship of Saints and as to the fabulous Stories they contained that it was very difficult for those who looked for Wisdom in their Prayers not to take them for Profanations The Hymn composed by King Robert in Honour of Queen Constantia may give us an hint what sort of things they were O Constantia Martyrum c. And now let any one judg whether Henry was a Manichee because he condemned this sort of Profanations This also is what hath been owned by Mezeray in his Chronological Abridgment of the History of France printed at Amsterdam in 1673 where upon the Year 1163 he saith That there were two sorts of Hereticks
the one ignorant and loose who were a sort of Manichees the other more learned and remote from such Filthiness who held much the same Opinions as the Calvinists and were called Henricians or Waldenses though the People ignorantly confounded them with the Cathari Bulgarians c. Mezeray had spoken more exactly had he said That the People were abused by the Bishops and Clergy who purposely confounded the ancient Followers of Peter de Bruys and Henry with the Manichees and Cathari to make them odious CHAP. XV. That it doth not appear from the Conference of Alby that the Albigenses were Manichees HAving thus justified Peter de Bruys Henry and his Disciples from the Imputation of Manicheism which the Bishop of Meaux has endeavoured to fasten upon them We will yet further endeavour to clear this Point by examining the Conference of Alby from whence the Bishop thinks that he has drawn a solid Argument to confirm his Imputation Let us see how this Conference is related by Roger Hoveden in his Annals upon the Year 1176. It was in this Year that the Arian Heresy was condemned which had well nigh infected all the Province of Tholouse There were saith he certain Hereticks in the Province of Tholouse who called themselves the Good Men they were supported by the Militia of Lombez and preached and taught the People contrary to the Christian Faith professing themselves not to own the Law of Moses nor the Prophets nor the Psalms nor any part of the Old Testament nor the Doctors of the New Testament save only the Gospels and the Epistles of St. Paul with the seven Canonical Epistles the Acts of the Apostles and the Revelation Being question'd concerning their Faith proceeds he and concerning the Baptism of Infants and whether they were saved by Baptism and concerning the Body and Blood of our Lord where it was consecrated or by whom and who were those that received it and whether it were more or better consecrated by a good Man than by a wicked Man and concerning Marriage if a Man and Woman could be saved that knew one another carnally They answered That they would say nothing of their Faith nor of the Baptism of Infants neither were they obliged to say any thing of those Matters Concerning the Body and Blood of our Saviour they said That he who received it worthily was saved and that he who received it unworthily procured his own Condemnation Concerning Marriage they said that a Man and Woman join themselves together to avoid Fornication as St. Paul saith They also declared many things without being questioned as that they ought not to use any Oaths whatsoever as St. John said in his Gospel and St. James in his Epistle They said also that St. Paul had foretold that they ought to ordain Bishops and Priests in the Church and that if these Orders were not conferred upon such as he there commands that then they were neither Bishops nor Priests but ravening Wolves Hypocrites and Deceivers who loved the Salutations in the Market-places the first Places and the first Seats at Feasts who love to be called Masters against the the Commandment of Jesus Christ who wear white and shining Garments who wear Rings of Gold and precious Stones on their Fingers which their Master never commanded them Accordingly they maintained that since the Bishops and Priests were like to those Priests who betrayed our Saviour Jesus Christ they ought not to obey them because they were wicked After divers Reasons alledged on both sides in Presence of the Bishop of Alby they chose and setled Judges on both sides with Consent of the Bishop of Alby After this Roger Hoveden observes that the Prelates cited divers Authorities out of the New Testament for these Hereticks saith he would not be determined but by the New Testament and that afterwards the Bishop of Lions pronounced the definitive Sentence drawn from the New Testament in these terms I Gislebert Bishop of Lions at the Command of the Bishop of Alby and his Assessors do judg that they are Hereticks and I condemn the Opinions of Oliver and his Companions where-ever they are And we judg this from the New Testament I bring therefore for this Reason Proofs to confirm the Divinity of the Old Testament drawn from the New and thereby oppose these Hereticks because they owned that they received Moses the Prophets and the Psalms only in those Particulars which Jesus and his Apostles had by their Testimony approved and not in others whereupon he maintains with reason that if an Instrument or Testimony in Writing is allowed of in one part the whole must needs be owned or else wholly cast aside In the second place saith he We convict them and judg them to be Hereticks by the Authorities of the New Testament for we say that he has not the Catholick Faith who doth not confess it when he is required and when it is exposed to any Danger whence it is that our Lord in the Acts of the Apostles saith to Ananias speaking of Paul For he is to me a chosen Vessel to carry my Name c. These Hereticks also boast themselves that they do not lie whereas we maintain that they lie manifestly for there is Deceit in holding ones Peace as well as speaking wherefore also Paul boldly resisted Peter to his Face because he gave way to the Circumcised In the third place saith he We convict and judg them to be Hereticks by the Authorities of the New Testament for we say that God will have all Men to be saved c. After which he produces the Proofs for Infant-Baptism and solves the Objection taken from Infants wanting Faith without which it is impossible to please God We say that it is by the Faith of the Church or of their God-fathers as the Man sick of the Palsy was healed by the Faith of those who presented him and let him down thorow the Tiling of the House In the fourth place saith he We do convict and judg them as Hereticks by the Authorities of the New Testament because the Body of our Lord cannot be consecrated but by a Priest be he good or bad which he proves because Consecration is made by the Words of Jesus Christ Moreover he proves that the Consecration of the Body of our Lord must be celebrated in the Church and by the Ministers of the Church only whose Authority he asserts from Passages of Scripture Clerks therefore and Lay-men pursues he must be obedient for God's Sake to these Priests Bishops and Deacons be they good or bad according to what our Lord saith The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses's Chair whatsoever therefore they say do ye but do not according to their Works for they say and do not In the fifth place We convict and judg them to be Hereticks by the Authority of the New Testament because they will not own that Man and Wife if carnally joined can be saved and yet they are wont to preach in publick that
again subdivided into two parts the first and second as may be seen since the fourth Century It was needful at the entrance of this Discourse to give the Reader this short Draught of the Countries that went under the Name of Gallia to give him an Idea of that part of them where we intend to shew him the Continuation of that Church which gave birth to the Albigenses and furnished the West with Witnesses of so great weight against the Corruptions of the Romish Party and indeed though the Visi-Gothes who cut off these Provinces from the Roman Empire and afterwards the French who destroyed the Visi-Gothes in the time of Clovis made very great Changes in this Division of Gallia Narbonensis and Aquitain yet we may exactly observe that the Church of these Provinces hath well nigh always made a distinct Body by her Synods and Canons It is a matter of Difficulty precisely to fix the first Rise of these Churches I own that some Greek Fathers have believ'd that St. Luke and Crescens Disciples of St. Paul did preach the Gospel in Gallia but that which engaged them in this Opinion seems of little or no solidity And the Galatia mention'd by St. Paul in the second of Timothy doth not signify Gallia but a Province of the lesser Asia as the learned Petavius acknowledgeth Others have believed that St. Paul himself preached the Gospel in these Provinces as he passed through them in his way to Spain where the fourth Century took it for granted that he preached the Gospel but neither doth this seem grounded upon sufficient Authority and we do not find that the antient Authors of these Countries did ever maintain any such thing Should we indeed as to this Point give credit to the most part of the Romish Legends to which Baronius in his Annals pays too great a Deference it would be an easy matter to give to the most part of these Churches a most august Original We might suppose that St. Peter and St. Paul were the Founders of them by the Ministry of their Disciples or that Clement Bishop of Rome sent them thither almost immediately after the Martyrdom of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul They tell us that Paul was the first Bishop of Narbon Saturninus of Tholouse Martialis of Limoges Frontinus of Perigueux Vincentius of Daeqs Georgius of Puy Eutropius of Xaintes Much like as for some Ages since in most of the other Churches of France they suppose that the first Bishops were sent them by the same Apostles or by their first Successors But we meet with nothing but Falsities in these pretended Traditions and it is impossible to reconcile them with what Sulpicius Severus and Gregorius Turonensis tell us concerning the Rise of Christian Religion among the Gauls The former of these distinctly assures us that Gaule never had any Martyrs before the Empire of Aurelius Son of Antoninus Hist lib. 2. Sub Aurelio Antonini filio Persecutio quinta agitata ac tunc primum inter Gallias Martyria visa serius trans Alpes Dei Religione suscepta The fifth Persecution was carried on under Antonine's Son and then first were Martyrdoms seen among the Gauls the Divine Religion having been later entertained beyond the Alps. This single Period of Severus gives Sentence against all those pretended Martyrs wherewith the Churches of France have fill'd their Breviaries The latter tells us plainly that it was not till the Empire of Decius about the year 250 that the City of Tholouse had for her first Bishop Saturninus who was sent from Rome in company of six others into the Country of the Gauls to preach the Gospel to wit Gatian at Tours Trophimus at Arles Paul at Narbon Dionysius at Paris Austremoine at Clermont and Martialis at Limoges This is that which is clearly proved from the Acts of the Martyrdom of St. Saturninus cited by Gregory Bishop of Tours These Testimonies of two antient Authors the one of the 5 th Century and the other more antient viz. the same who wrote the Martyrdom of St. Saturninus have made such an Impression upon some of the Learnedest Men of the Roman Communion viz. upon Bosquet Bishop of Montpellier Sirmond and Launoy the famous Doctor of the Faculty of Paris as to make them with Scorn reject those Legends which ascribe more antient Founders to these Churches notwithstanding that they are the greatest Ornament of the Breviaries of the Gallican Church and that they cannot lose their Credit without shaking the belief of abundance of Miracles and the Authority of a great number of Devotions And indeed what reason is there to own a Tradition for authentick which we scarcely find back'd with any Witness for the space of above 700 years Besides don't we know that it was the Dispute about Precedency between the Churches in the 8 th and 9 th Century and which we find lasted till the 12 th that engaged the several Parties to devise this great Antiquity and boldly change that which before had been the current Belief of their Churches because it did not answer their Pretensions nor comport with their Vanity to substitute instead thereof fabulous Originals under whose shelter they might maintain a Dispute with more advantage against those that were on even ground with them But however it be difficult to fix the certain Original of these Churches for the Gothick Liturgy which was used in these Provinces assures us that St. Saturninus came from Smyrna from whence it should seem that the first Founders of the Churches of Lions and Vienna came likewise yet thus much we may assert that the Gospel soon took deep root there My Design is not to refute here what the Authors of the Legends have inserted in their fabulous Relations concerning the Establishment of the Christian Religion in these Provinces and the Character of the Piety of those first Founders of Christianity of their Precepts and of their Miracles Indeed there is reason to deplore either the boundless Impudence of the Pastors of the Roman Communion in obtruding such palpable Falsities or the prodigious Stupidity of the People of that Church who feed themselves with Stories more fabulous than those of Amadis of Gaul and make them the Subject of their Devotion We read in the Life of St. Martialis that after the Saint had converted Limoges he there consecrated Churches to the Honour of Jesus Christ of the H. Virgin and St. Stephen whose Cousin he was We read that he raised to Life the Priests of the Idol whom God had struck dead with a Clap of Thunder for their poisoning St. Martialis and that after their Resurrection he converted them We find that he admitted to the Vow of Virginity a Person called Valeria who some time after having had her Head cut off by order of the Duke of Guienne whose Courtship she had slighted immediately took up her Head and carried it to St. Martialis as he was saying Mass We find him there going to Rome to give an account to
be wholly uncertain Gregorius Turonensis who often mentions him as his Friend never gives him any other Title but that of Priest However it be it appears by his Writings that he was very far from Popery in these following Articles 1. He never in the Life of St. Martin attributes to that holy Man that upon any occasion he prayed to the Saints for the working of his Miracles This we may see in his Relation of St. Martin's raising a Child to Life 2. He looks upon all Bishops as the Vicars of St. Peter accordingly he saith to the Bishop of Metz Apparet Petri vos meruisse vices It appears you have deserved to be St. Peter's Vicar 3. We meet with nothing more commonly in the Epitaphs which he made than this Notion that deceased Believers are in Heaven from such Expressions as these Hunc tenet ulna Dei Inter Apostolicos credimus esse choros Non hanc flere decet quam Paradisus habet Accordingly also he maintains that Abraham's Bosom is the Heavenly Glory Lastly It appears from an Exposition he hath made on the Apostles Creed that he owned no Doctrines besides those contained in that ancient Formulary as Articles of his Faith because he makes no mention at all of those new Articles which the Church of Rome hath added to that Creed and which she imposeth on her People as another part of that which makes the Object of Faith It cannot be denied but that the Spirit of Superstition had already made a considerable Progress in all places we meet with an illustrious Example thereof in the Diocess of Marseilles which joined to Gallia Narbonensis The People there began to render a religious Worship to Images whereupon Serenus the Bishop of Marseilles was forced to follow the Method of St. Epiphanius in breaking the Images to pieces which drew upon him the Censures of Gregory I. who exhorts him to erect them again though he commends him for having opposed himself to their Adoration and exhorts him carefully to instruct the People to prevent their falling again into Idolatry And it is natural to conclude that this Excess of the People met with the same Checks in many other places CHAP. VII The State of the Diocesses of Aquitain and Narbon in the Seventh Century I am come to the Seventh Century of which I have two pieces of great Authority to produce The first concerns the Purity of these Diocesses in regard to their Faith There was a Council held at Toledo in the Year 633 whereat Silva Bishop of Narbon assisted in the Name of the Bishops of Gallia Narbonensis and they began the Synod with a Confession of Faith which shews beyond all Controversy that nothing was look'd upon by them as an Article of Faith that was not received for such in the Creed of the ancient Christians for there was not so much as one Word to be found there of all those Articles which the Church of Rome imposeth upon those of her Communion as an Addition to the primitive Faith The second regards the Practice of the publick Acts of Religion and that is the Gothick Liturgy which of a long time was used in these Diocesses wherefore to make a fuller Discovery of the Religion of these Provinces it will be of Importance to make some Remarks upon this Liturgy which was in use there It is not probable that all the Parts of it are of equal Antiquity as may be seen by the Office of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin in Soul and Body which was rejected in France as a thing uncertain towards the end of the 9 th Century according to the Testimony of Vsuardus One may make the same Judgment of divers other Offices which are found in this Gothick Liturgy the Barbarism which appears in all its parts sufficiently shows its Age In the mean time such as it is it does not want the Marks of a considerable Purity which it seems obliged Gregory VII to abolish and suppress it with all his Might 1. We find in it the Recital of the Apostles Creed as the only Profession of Faith which the Churches of these Provinces required of those who would be Partakers of her Communion 2. We don't find in it any Prayer address'd to Saints It supposeth all along from one end to the other that the Saints pray in general for the Church and on this Ground it is that therein they desire God to have regard to their Prayers and to receive their Intercession their Suffrages and so forth There is no greater stress laid upon the Power of the Blessed Virgin with God than on that of the Patriarchs and Apostles yea of the Anchorets and Virgins True it is that there is a solemn Commemoration of divers Saints but it may easily be perceived that it is only done out of a Design to glorify God by representing to themselves their Examples and forming or disposing themselves to imitate them This is done in the Office of St. Forrestus and Ferucio We find divers Confessions to God before the Liturgy but none at all made to Angels to the Blessed Virgin or Saints as at this day is done in the Romish Mass 3. We find there no particular Distinction for the Bishop of Rome only that the Bishop of the City of Rome is called the first of Bishops Mabillon in his Preface triumphs because of this Title but he is extreamly out in his account for hath the first Bishop any Jurisdiction over the second the second over the third We find there the Prayer for the Feast of St. Peter but with a Clause which Mabillon owns to be found in all the ancient Missals and is struck out of the Roman Liturgy in order to extend the Papal Monarchy over all the Earth We do not find therein the least Foot-step of Prayers for the Pope which shews that the Decree of the Council of Vaison wherein it was ordained that Prayers should be made to God for the Bishop of Rome was not observed throughout Gaul yea what is more the same Liturgy gives the Title of Head of the Church to St. Paul as well as to St. Peter We find therein no Adoration of the Cross on Good-Friday 4. We find therein an Office for St. Saturninus Bishop of Tholouse who is looked upon as come from the Eastern Parts in the place of St. Peter which shews that all the Bishops of France considered themselves as the Vicars of St. Peter as well as the Bishop of Rome Si quidem ipse Pontifex tuus ab Orientis partibus in urbem Tolosatium destinatus Roma Garonae invicem Petri tui tam Cathedram quam Martyrium consummavit For this your Bishop being sent from the East to Tholouse instead of Rome has now upon the Garonne filled the Chair and consummated the Martyrdom of your Peter 5. We find therein that the Confession of St. Peter was the Foundation of the Church and the Festival of his Chair is
therein referred to his Bishoprick Testis est dies bodierna Beati Petri Cathedra Episcopatus exposita in qua fidei merito revelationis mysterium filium Dei confitendo Praelatus Apostolus ordinatur In cujus confessione est fundamentum Ecclesiae nec adversus hanc Petram portae inferi praevalent St. Peter's Episcopal Chair which is shewn to this Day can testify this wherein by reason of his Faith when he confessed that Mystery that was then revealed even the Son of God he was ordained a Bishop In whose Confession is the Foundation of the Church neither shall the Gates of Hell prevail against this Rock 6. We read there that the Gates of Hell do not signify Errors as the Church of Rome will have it but the State of the Dead from whence the Faith which St. Peter hath professed delivers those who imitate him Let us pray saith he that the Souls of the deceased being brought up out of Hell the infernal Gates may not prevail over the Dead because of their Crimes which the Church believes are overcome by the Faith of the Apostle 7. We find there as in the Romish Mass an high Abjuration of the Doctrine of the Merit of Works And though we find the Word Merit often used in it yet we also meet with those necessary Explications of it as are sufficient to hinder any wrong Impression that may be made by a Word of an ambiguous sense 8. I do own that we find in it the Prayer for the Dead but there are a hundred other Passages which speak them to be in Peace in the Peace of God that they are at rest and other Expressions which very plainly import that they had not received the Notion of Purgatory no more than the Authors of the Roman Liturgy had at that time I know there are some Passages in it which seem to suppose the Souls departed to be in a place of Torment but I have two things to say to this Point the one is that those Missals whose Stile comes near to the Belief of the Church of Rome are of a later Date the other is that the ordinary Article pro pausantibus for those who are at rest imports nothing like a place of Torment To these two Considerations we may add That what is ordinarily requested for them is either that they may have a part in the first that is to say a more early Resurrection which is the same with the Opinion of the Millennium or that they may be written in the Book of Life or carried into Abraham's Bosom which shews that the State of Souls after Death was not more certainly determined by those who governed these Churches at this time than by the Members of the Catholick Church any where else We read that there are divers Flocks whereof each Bishop is the Pastor as well St. Cyprian as Cornelius Indeed we find that to every Bishop is given the Title of summus Pontifex and summus Sacerdos Grant unto us Lord who this Day are celebrating the Anniversary of the Decease of thy high Priest and our Father Bishop Martin We see there the manner of administring Baptism with the Unction or anointing called the Chrismation but we do not find that they made two Sacraments of them as the Church of Rome has since done We find there also the Consecration of Wax Tapers but yet without ascribing to them all those Virtues which the Church of Rome attributes to her consecrated Tapers in the Roman Order But I go on to that which is most considerable in this Liturgy Mabillon who hath published it in France according to the Copy printed at Rome pretends that it expresly shews that the Churches which made use of this Liturgy held the Doctrine of the Real Presence If instead of some Passages that he quotes we could find there a precise Order for adoring the Sacrament after Consecration as being become the Body of Jesus Christ which we do not find in any part of it there would indeed be some ground for his Pretension but there is not so much as a Word to this purpose which makes it evident that in these Diocesses they had not received this Doctrine nor the natural Consequences of it any more than in any other part of the Catholick Church for we find that as soon as ever this Opinion was entertained it was immediately followed with supreme Adoration Neither do we find any thing therein of the Sacrifice of the Mass any more than of the Adoration of the Sacrament which is another Consequence of the Real Presence We do not find any Masses there without Communicants St. Caesarius whom I have already cited would have accounted them ridiculous and a mere Profanation Lastly We do not find that the Communion under one kind was there thought to be a Consequent as it hath been in the Church of Rome of the Real Presence And yet one would think that the Fear of prophaning the Blood of Jesus Christ as being very subject to be spilt ought to have obliged them to take the same Precautions as the Church of Rome has since done to prevent such dreadful and yet such common Inconveniencies If Mabillon had well considered these essential Defects which a Papist cannot but naturally meet with in this Gothick Liturgy in all Appearance he would not have been so lavish of his Judgment But without making use of these just Anticipations upon the matter in hand let us consider a little whether the attentive Examination of the Liturgy be not sufficient to clear these Prejudices and oblige him to put another sense upon the Words which he hath wrested to confirm his Assertion The Characters we meet with in this Liturgy are these 1. It makes a great Distinction between that which is taken with the Mouth and that which is received by the Heart Grant O Lord that what we have taken with our Mouths we may receive with our Minds and that the temporal Gift may be to us an eternal Remedy This Observation is decretory for the Transubstantiators own that both Good and Bad receive the Body of Christ Goffridus Vindocinensis expresly asserts it notwithstanding that St. Augustin has rejected it as a great Absurdity 2. It supposeth likewise that Jesus Christ is above the Heavens and that he is no otherwise near to us than by the Communion of our Nature which he hath taken to himself Vt qui te consortem in carnis propinquitate laetantur ad summorum Civium unitatem super quos corpus assumptum evexisti perducantur That they who rejoice to see thee their Brother in the Nearness of thy Flesh may be brought up to the Unity of those highest Citizens above whom thou hast carried up thy assumed Body 3. It supposeth the Sacrament to be only a Commemoration We remember thy Suffering and thy Body broken for the Remission of our Sins Which is a plain Allusion to the Words of St. Paul
judging but with a necessity of believing which form the Apostle himself delivered saying Quench not the Spirit despise not Prophecies try all things hold fast what is good abstain from every Appearance of Evil. Which is absolutely false if an infallible Principle has continued in the Church whether in the Person of the Pope or in Councils or that we must of Necessity explain Scripture according to the Sense of the Fathers as the Church of Rome has defined 2. We see with what force he maintains the Canons of the Gallican Church against the Contempt which some cast upon them because they had been made without the Pope's Concurrence 3. We do not find that in his time they applied to the Blessed Virgin the Words of the first Promise by reading Ipsa tuum conteret caput She shall bruise thy Head for he reads Ipse tuum He shall bruise c. when he disputes against Felix Bishop of Vrgel 4. He maintains in the same place that the Notion of a Peoples being without Sin who yet confess themselves to be Sinners out of Humility is pure Pelagianism That if this is the Property of humble Saints why then doth John the Apostle say If we say that we have no Sin we deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us but if we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins Who if like you he had been inclined to have not mean but great Thoughts of himself he had whereof he might glory because he lay in the Bosom of his Lord and was beloved of him above the rest of his Disciples James the Apostle also saith In many things we offend all which if any shall imagine not to be spoke in Truth but by way of Humility let him know that therein he follows Pelagius 5. He plainly declares that our Communion in the Sacrament is the same with that of the Believers of old when he applies that Passage of the 1 st to the Corinthians chap. 10. ver 1 and 2. of the drinking of the Holy Ghost and maintains in these terms that there is no other Difference between the Believers of the Old and New Testament but this That the great Sacraments of Salvation which are wrought by the Mediator for us and for them save us as being already past but them as yet to come because we believe and hold what is past they believed and held what was to come they held them only in their Minds as Figures of future things but we in an open Profession Vows and Declaration of things past under the Signification of sensible Sacraments as those two who carried one Cluster of Grapes upon a Staff did indifferently do the same Work only that the one of them had it behind his Back and the other before his Face I should be obliged to transcribe his whole Book against Pictures and Images if I should go about to extract all that it contains in Opposition to the Opinions of the Church of Rome It will be sufficient for us to observe that the Romish Index Expurgatorius hath forbid this Book as well as the rest till its Errors be expunged and indeed it did deserve no less for it maintains according to the Doctrine of St. Augustin that we ought not to adore any Image of God but only that which is God himself even his eternal Son and that it is a piece of Folly and Sacriledg to vouchsafe any Worship to Images and to call them Holy as the second Council of Nice had done He refutes the Excuse of the Council of Trent which only considers those as Idolaters that attribute something of Divinity to the Image He maintains it to be mere Paganism to have Images for any other use than that of a Memorial and at the same time asserts that Images are of as little Use and Advantage as the Picture of a Mower or of some Hero in Armour can advantage a Mower or Souldier who looks upon those Pictures In a Word he speaks exactly like a true Iconoclast for after he had said that it was impossible any longer to bear with the Abuses against which he had taken Pen in hand he adds From whence we may plainly infer that if Hezekiah a Godly and Religious King brake the brazen Serpent made by God's express Command because the mistaken Multitude began to worship it as an Idol for which his Piety was very much commended much more religiously may and ought the Images of the Saints they themselves approving it be broken and ground to Pouder which were never set up by God's Command but are absolutely human Inventions But besides this there are four other Articles which are as disrelishing to the Church of Rome as these 1. He maintains that there is no other Mediator between God and Men save Jesus Christ God and Man which he proves by the Authority of St. Augustin de Civ Dei l. 9. c. 15. 2. He looks upon those as worthy to be anathematized and excommunicated from the Church of God who should undertake to dedicate a Church to the most excellent of Saints or Angels If any of us saith he should make a Temple of Wood or Stone to any though the most excellent of Saints we ought for doing that to be anathematized from the Truth of Christ and from the Church of God because by so doing we should give that Worship to the Creature which is only due to the Creator 3. Having given a Relation of the manner how the Faithful gathered up the Bones of St. Polycarp and interr'd them in a place where they intended to meet and celebrate his Memory to encourage Believers to imitate the constancy of that Martyr he declares that all manner of Worship or Honour done to them over and above this is unlawful religious Worship being due to God alone 4. He proves that his Judgment concerning these Points is founded upon the Example of the antient Doctors up-their Opinions and upon the Book of the Sacraments of the Church of Rome that it was the ground of the antient Doctors of the Church who rejected the Worship which the Arians gave to Jesus Christ as idolatrous tho they owned him to be no more than a Man The Reader needs not take much pains to apprehend why Rome thought fit to condemn these Books of Agobardus tho he may be at a loss how it comes to pass that notwithstanding all this he is at this day held for a Saint and publickly ador'd at Lions under the Name of St. Agobo This is a Riddle which has strangly perplexed the Learned Jesuit Theophilus Raynaldus as well as le Cointe in his Annals of the Church of France But he is not the only Person that has oppos'd the Belief and Worship of the Church of Rome and is publickly ador'd by her I have another Author to produce who gives us so clear an Idea of the belief of this Diocess wherein he was born
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
Feuardentius if he hath not out done him Why should any Man therefore think strange that the Church of Rome and her Adorers should take the same course against the Albigenses which she practis'd in our days and which she hath not yet left because she believ'd it would not fail of certain Success so prodigious is the Stupidity of the People of her Communion And truly the Managers for the Church of Rome were no less diligent to employ these devilish Artifices against the Albigenses than against us Here are some Instances of it for it is impossible to relate all I begin with some of the more general Articles 1. They accused them of Novelty sometimes supposing them to have been only known since the time of Peter de Bruis or of Henry his Disciple though the contrary be evident from the History of this Church as we have set it down and by the Publick Liturgy which the Papists themselves have published not long since 2. They accused them of being the Disciples of Peter Waldo and from thence rais'd this Accusation that they were only a Company of Lay-men without either Ministry or right to administer the Sacraments whereas it is certain that they had a lawful Ministry and indeed a thousand times more lawful than that of the Church of Rome 3. They accused them in general of being Manichees perhaps because formerly the Priscillianists who were a Branch of the Manichees had had a Party in that Province or near it as Philastrius tells us and of whom some were scattered through Languedock after the year 1010 though indeed the Albigenses disputed against them and solidly confuted them as we are informed by William Puylaurens 4. They endeavour'd to make them own the Opinions and Crimes that were proper to the Manichees by producing false Witnesses to convict them thereof We have an illustrious Example of this in the History of the Earls of Tholouse William Catel Counsellor for the King in the Parliament of Tholouse tells us that two Hereticks whereof the one was called Raymond the other Bennet having appear'd before the Pope's Legate it was witness'd against them that they had been heard to preach that there were two Gods the one good and the other evil that Priests could not consecrate the Holy Host that married Persons could not be saved if they had to do with their Wives that Baptism is not necessary to Infants and many other Heresies which they would never acknowledg notwithstanding all the Witnesses that appear'd against them but said they were false Witnesses and that they believed what the Catholick Religion engageth us to believe But notwithstanding these their solemn Protestations they further object against them all the Consequences of Manicheism as natural Inferences from the former Opinions of which they pretended that they had convicted them by Witnesses This probably was the rise of those fine Controversies we find in Alanus Magnus and other Polemical Writers who copied him 5. They have been charged with forswearing themselves before a Court of Justice without scruple though at the same time they are accused for maintaining that every Lie is a mortal Sin This is done by Alanus who falls upon them very heavily upon that account 6. They are accused of being Arians though Alanus distinguisheth them and that the Popish Priests ought rather to be accused of favouring Manicheism and Arianism than the Albigenses who subtilly disputed against these Heresies But it will be easy to refute these Calumnies by the Conference of Montreal in the year 1206 related by the Monk of Vaux Cernay It was offer'd to the Bishops by the Albigenses under certain Conditions That there should be Moderators appointed on both sides Men of Authority able to hinder any Tumult or Sedition Also that the Place where the Conference was to be might be free and safe for all those that should assist at it Moreover that the Subjects to be disputed upon should be agreed to by joint consent and not to be quitted till they were wholly discuss'd and that those that could not maintain their Opinions by the Word of God should be look'd upon as overcome The Bishops and Monks accepted of all these Conditions The Place they agreed upon was Montreal near Carcasson in the year 1206 the Moderators agreed on on both sides were B. of Villeneufve and B. of Auxerre for the Bishops and for the Albigenses R. de Bot and Anthony Riviere Arnoldus Hot the Pastor of the Albigenses accompanied with those that were thought fit for this Action appear'd first at the Place and Time assigned and afterwards came the Bishop of Ozma and the Monk Dominic a Spaniard with two of the Pope's Legats Peter Castel and Radulphus de Lust Abbot of Candets P. Bertrand Prior of Anterive as also the Prior of Palat and several other Priests and Monks The Theses propounded by Arnoldus were That the Mass and Transubstantiation were the Invention of Men and not the Ordinance of Jesus Christ or his Apostles That the Church of Rome was not the Spouse of Christ but the Church of Confusion drunk with the Blood of the Martyrs That the Polity of the Church of Rome was neither good nor holy nor established by Jesus Christ Arnaud sent these Propositions to the Bishop who demanded a Fortnight to prepare his Answer which was granted At the Day appointed the Bishop fail'd not to appear with a large Writing whereupon Arnaud Hot desired leave to be heard upon the Spot extempore declaring that he would answer all the Particulars contained in the said Writing desiring the Auditors not to be tired if he took up some time in answering so long a Discourse they promised he should be heard with Attention and Patience without the least Interruption He discoursed at several Hours for four days together with so much Admiration of the Assistants and Dexterity on his Part that all the Bishops Abbots Monks and Priests could have been willing to have been farther off for he deduced his Answer according to the several Points laid down in that Writing with so much Order and Perspicuity that he made his Auditors perceive that though the Bishop had writ much yet he had concluded nothing that could be made use of to the Advantage of the Church of Rome against these Propositions This done Arnaud demanded that since the Bishops and he stood ingaged to one another at the beginning of their Conference to prove their Assertions by the Word of God alone the Bishops and Priests might be commanded to prove the Authority of the Mass as it was sung in Churches piece by piece that it was instituted by the Son of God and sung in the same manner by his Apostles beginng at the Introit as they call it to the Ite missa est but the Bishops could not prove that any of those Parts had been instituted for that Purpose by Christ or by his Apostles Here it was that the Bishops were covered with Shame and Regret for Arnaud
had reduced them to the single Canon which they pretended was the best Piece of the Mass where he proved that the Holy Supper of the Lord was not the Mass saying that if the Mass were the Lord's Supper there would be all after Consecration that there was before in the Lord's Supper Whereas said he in your Mass there is no Bread for by Transubstantiation the Bread vanisheth wherefore the Mass being without Bread cannot be the Supper of the Lord wherein all know there is Bread Jesus Christ brake Bread Saint Paul brake Bread the Priest breaks the Body not Bread therefore the Priest neither doth what Jesus Christ nor what St. Paul did As Arnaud was about to proceed in these Antitheses between the Lord's Supper and the Mass to prove that it was neither of Christ's nor of the Apostles Institution the Monks Bishops Legats and Priests thought fit to withdraw themselves being resolved to hear no more for fear they might fix Impressions on those that were by which might extreamly shake their Belief of the Mass The Monk of Vaux Cernay indeavoured to render this Action suspected in saying that when these heretical Judges perceived the Weakness of their Cause and the Misfortune of ingaging in such a Dispute they refused to pronounce any Judgment concerning it as likewise to restore us our own Writings for fear adds he they might come to be published but restored the Hereticks theirs But how could two of the Pope's Legats and so many Bishops Abbots Monks and Priests suffer themselves to be drawn into a Place there to be thus abused and trick'd The Monk himself saith in the same place that the Heads of the Hereticks came to meet with the Catholicks at the Castle of Montreal to dispute with them the Catholicks therefore were in Possession of the Castle there could be therefore no Opportunity of foul Play nor of any such Violence neither was it necessary that the Moderators should pronounce their Judgment in a Case of Dispute seeing they hold that no other Judgment is necessary but that of the Pope who cannot err Besides how could this Monk know that the Albigenses were overcome seeing that no Sentence was given Perrin could have given us a faithful Extract of this Conference because himself observes that it had been brought to him from the Albigenses by Mr. Rafur Minister of the Church of Montreal in an old Manuscript From whence though he doth not express it in so many Words I judg that he reduced the Points in Question between the Albigenses and the Church of Rome to six Articles I. Article The Doctrines which they asserted in opposition to the Church of Rome were That the Church of Rome was not the Holy Church nor the Spouse of Christ but that it was a Church which had drunk in the Doctrine of Devils the Whore of Babylon which St. John describes in the Revelations the Mother of Fornications and Abominations covered with the Blood of the Saints II. That the Mass was neither instituted by Christ nor his Apostles but a humane Invention III. That the Prayers of the Living are unprofitable for the Dead IV. That the Purgatory maintained in the Church of Rome is no better than a human Invention to satisfy the Avarice of the Priests V. That the Saints ought not to be prayed unto VI. That Transubstantiation is a human Invention and erroneous Doctrine and that the worshipping of the Bread is manifest Idolatry That therefore it was necessary to separate from the Church of Rome in which the contrary was said and taught because one cannot assist at the Mass without partaking of the Idolatry there practised nor expect Salvation by any other means than by Jesus Christ nor transfer to Creatures the Honour which is due to the Creator nor say concerning the Bread that it is God and worship it as such without incurring the Pain of eternal Damnation because Idolaters shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven For all these things therefore which they asserted they have been hated and persecuted to Death This Account of the Conference of Montreal which I have copied from Perrin is enough in my Judgment fully to refute any Scruple that might remain in the Mind of a Reader who reads in Roger Hoveden the Letters of Peter Cardinal of St. Chrysogon writ in the Year 1178 which testify that the Manichees of Tholouse had been convicted by the Confession which many of them had made of the greatest part of the Articles of that Heresy It is very visible that it was upon the Authority of these Letters or upon some Informations of this Nature that Alanus who was born at Lisle in Flanders and who had spent the greatest part of his time at the University of Paris has built his Catalogue of the Heresies which he refutes in his Treatise against the Albigenses whereof I have given an Extract in the foregoing Chapter So that it is necessary to suppose one of these three things Either that the Earl Raymond of Tholouse and those whom he protected were really Manichees as they are accused to be by the Pope's Legats by the Bishops and by Peter of Vaux Cernay who sets down this Accusation and the forced Confessions of the Albigenses who own themselves to be Manichees or that the Albigenses who were the Disciples of Peter de Bruys and of Henry that were no Manichees had gone over to that Sect towards the End of the 12 th Century and afterwards again become Petrobusians and Henricians at the Beginning of the 13 th as it plainly appears they then were from the Conference of Montreal where they freely proposed their Opinions intirely opposite to Manicheism or that the Legats and Monks that persecuted them with Fire and Sword were great Impostors in taking Advantage against them from some Confessions extorted from Manichees who were here and there scattered in those Diocesses and which they made use of to animate the People of the Roman Communion and to ingage the Princes and Bishops of all places to exterminate without Mercy a sort of People who utterly subverted all the Rules of Morality which is the Band of Society and all the Principles of both natural and Christian Religion CHAP. XVIII Reflections on the Convictions of Manicheism which were said to be proved upon the Albigenses ONE of the most plausible Objections that can be made against the Purity of the Faith of the Albigenses is the Testimony of the Inquisitors who have filled their Trials with plain Confessions which several Albigenses judged and condemned by them have made of sundry Errors of the Manichees I shall produce an Extract of the Acts of the Inquisition of Tholouse which are in the Hands of Mr. Wetstein Bookseller at Amsterdam as it was sent me out of Holland and which was made by a Man of great Reputation The Albigenses saith he held some Opinions in common with the Vaudois as That to a Christian all Oaths are unlawful that the Confession of Sins made
to the Priests of the Church of Rome is wholly unprofitable and that neither the Pope nor any one else in the Romish Church can absolve any Man of Sin but that they have power to absolve all those from their Sins who will join themselves to their Sect by the Laying on of Hands This last Clause is also laid to the charge of the Vaudois viz. That they have Power from God alone as the Apostles had to hear Confessions both of Men and Women that believe them and of imposing Penance upon such as confess to them as Fasting and several Repetitions of the Lord's Prayer whereupon they absolve their Penitents and that this Absolution and Penance is as available to the Salvation of their Souls as if they had been confessed to their own Priest That here is some wresting or mutilation of the Opinion of the Vaudois is manifest from the Confession of a certain Woman who as we read declared her Faith to this purpose That God alone forgives Sin and that he to whom Confession of Sins is made gives only his Advice what the Person ought to do and so enjoins Penance which any wise and prudent Man may do whether he be a Priest or no. That the Opinions of the Albigenses that were proper to them were that there be two Lords the one Good and the other Evil That the Body of Christ is not in the Eucharist but only meer Bread That Baptism is of no use One of the Albigenses was said to believe that the Baptism of Water celebrated by the Church stands Infants in no stead because they did not consent to the Sacrament but cried at the receiving of it I believe saith he who examined these Acts that they denied Baptism to be the Instrument of Regeneration or perhaps they might be against Infant-Baptism That an external Anointing of the Sick with material Oil was of no use That the Orders of the Church of Rome had no Power of binding and loosing since they themselves who conferred them were great Sinners That Marriage is always join'd with Sin and never can be without Sin and that it could never have been instituted by the good God That our Lord did not assume a real humane Body and true Flesh of our Nature and that he did not truly but only in Likeness rise again in the same and perform the other Works of our Salvation and that he never really ascended to the right-hand of the Father They deny the Resurrection of the Body but in the Declaration of Petrus Anterius a chief Teacher amongst them this is more clearly and distinctly explained that they feign that certain spiritual Bodies and a certain internal Man should rise again in such sort of Bodies And elsewhere they express themselves that though the Souls of Men shall come to Judgment yet they shall not come in their own Bodies They said that the Souls of Men were Spirits which fell from Heaven for their Sins so that they seem to have believ'd the pre-existence of Souls Man they say must not worship what he eats Moreover it is ascribed to them that they believe Man is saved by the Laying on of Hands which they confer on their Believers and that by the same means all Sins are forgiven without Confession and Satisfaction That they can bestow the Holy Ghost for Salvation upon those whom they receive That the Virgin Mary never was a carnal Woman but their Church which they say is true Repentance and that this is the Virgin Mary The very Obscurity of these Words shews that this Opinion is wrested because it is better exprest in another place thus That God never entred the Womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary and that he only is the Mother Brother and Sister of God who keeps the Commandments of God the Father These are said to be the Doctrines of the Albigenses whereof none are ascribed to the Waldenses but others different from these whereof we find no mention made in the Opinions of the Albigenses and they are these That all Judgment is forbid by God and that it is contrary to the divine Prohibition for any Judg in any Cause whatsoever to judg or sentence any Man to Punishment or Death That Indulgencies granted by the Prelats of the Church of Rome are of no use or efficacy That there is no Purgatory for Souls after this Life and that consequently the Prayers and Suffrages of Believers for the Dead are of no use to them That the Soul when it departs from the Body goes either to Paradise or Hell That there are no more than three Orders in the Church of Bishops Priests and Deacons From these Acts it appears how much the Rites and Ceremonies of the Albigenses differed from those practis'd by the Vaudois Besides saith the Author of the Extract the Rites and Institutions of them both were very different Of the Albigenses there were two Sorts some who professed their Faith and Rites and they were called perfect or comforted others who had entred into a Covenant with the former Sort called Perfect which they call la Convenenza the Agreement that at the end of their Life they should be received by them into their Sect. This Reception is frequently called by them Exercise and is performed in this manner The Benedicite or the Blessing conferred upon one Molinerius when he was sick Bernard Goes one of the Albigenses held the Hands of the sick Person between his own Hands and besides held a certain Book over him wherein he read the Gospel of St. John In the Beginning was the Word and deliver'd to the sick Person a fine Thread to tie about him as a Mark that he was admitted into their Heresy upon some others it is said that they laid a white Linen Cloath and besides that many Genuflections were performed by the Bed-side This Reception was supposed to save the Soul of him who was received and was call'd a Spiritual Baptism or Consolation a Reception and a good End and sometimes a Melioration by means of which they believ'd that the Person was sanctified so that it was not lawful for a Woman to touch any one that was thus received Now because it might sometime happen that the Person thus received after his recovery might relapse into his former Defilements therefore they always deferr'd this Reception till the extreamest Weakness when there was no longer hopes of Life for fear they might afterward lose the Good they had received For which reason also some sick Persons amongst them though the Person who thus initiated them was already come yet were not received because they were not believed to be at the point of Death But they who were thus received in their Sickness were commanded to put themselves upon Hardship that is to hasten their own Death by abstaining from all Meat and there are several Examples of those who are said to have kill'd themselves not only with Fasting but by opening of a Vein wounding of themselves yea and
were frequent Disputes held with the Hereticks several times at Viride Folium and at Pamiers but the famous Disputation was at Montreal where two Noble-men were chosen Arbitrators Bernardus de Villa nova and Bernardus Arrensis and two of the Commons Raimond Godius and Arnoldus Ribera but they who were accounted Hereticks could not agree about any thing the Names of the chiefest of them were these Ponticus Jordanus Arnoldus Aurisanus Arnoldus Othonus Philibertus Casliensis Benedictus Thermus They all constantly affirmed that the Church of Rome was not the Holy Church nor the Spouse of Christ but a Church that had imbibed the Doctrine of Devils that she was that Babylon which St. John describes in the Revelation the Mother of Fornications and Abominations cover'd over with the Blood of the Saints That what the Church of Rome approved of was not approved by the Lord That the Mass was neither instituted by Christ nor by his Apostles but was meerly a human Invention The same hath been owned by Carolus Molineus the Glory of the Bar of France who declares that the Albigenses of Provence taught this very thing expresly in the Reign of Lewis XII which was afterwards taught by those of the Reformed Religion in France This Testimony is alledged by Camerarius in his Historical Account of the Brethren of Bohemia This obliged Vignier in his Historical Library to contemn all the Calumnies cast upon the Albigenses In his Account of the year 1206 he relates that a Gascon a Man of Reputation assured him that he had read one of their Confessions in the old Gascon Language which was preached before the late Chancellor de l' Hospital a little before the second Troubles of France which had not one word of these Opinions but only those Articles which we formerly ascribed to the Waldenses Amongst which they expresly declared that they received the Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament and that they rejected every Doctrine that was not grounded upon or authorized by them or was contrary to any one Point of Doctrine that may be found there According to which Maxim they confessed that they rejected and condemned all the Ceremonies Traditions and Ordinances of the Church of Rome which they declared to be a Den of Thieves and the Whore that is spoken of in the Revelation Upon which account also the Colloquies Disputes and Conferences which the Legats of the Pope and their Commissioners had together were only upon these Points as we shall prove by the Testimony of James de Ribera in his Book entituled His Collections about the City of Tholouse The third Thing that we are to observe is that this Conformity of Faith between the Waldenses and the Albigenses has made many People take them for the very same I suppose there is no Reader that is ever so little just but will allow me to make a very great difference between the Accounts of the Inquisitors and the Truth The Inquisitors make the Albigenses guilty of the Errors of the Cathari and Manichees as if they had been all one and that they had exactly answered the Description which is given us of them in the Directory of the Inquisitors by Emericus But we have other ways of knowing from their own Confessions of Faith that they were not at all polluted by Manicheism and the most part of those Authors that have writ with any degree of Honesty call them Waldenses because they held the same Faith and Opinions The same Authors acknowledg that it was against the Waldenses that St. Bernard preached in Languedock and that it is with them whom they promiscuously call Albigenses that those Conferences were held which the Bishop of Meaux owns to have been held with the Albigenses This is acknowledged by James de Ribera Counsellor of State in his Collections concerning the City of Tholouse that are set down in the Catalogue of the Witnesses of the Truth This is owned by Gretzer the Jesuit in his Prolegomena to the Authors who have written concerning the Sect of the Waldenses where he acknowledgeth that the Waldenses and Albigenses were the same and were called insabbatati because of their Shoes And that the Albigenses and Waldenses differ only in their Names Cardinal Hosius also had the fame Notion of them in his Book concerning the Sacrament of the Eucharist where he speaks of the Henricians and Petrobusians This was the Opinion of Andrew Favin in his History of Navarre where he saith that the Heresy of the Albigenses is otherwise termed the Heresy of the Waldenses Genebrard in his Chronology saith expresly that the Fathers of the Calvinists were the Petrobusians the Henricians and the Albigenses and it is well known that the Calvinists are no Manichees Catel in his History of Tholouse acknowledgeth that the Henricians were the Forerunners of the Albigenses and that they had not this Name till after the Council of Alby in the year 1178. CHAP. XIX Whether the Albigenses were Manichees because they accused the Pope of being the Antichrist AS one Day gives Light to another so the Bishop of Meaux hath at last discover'd that the Accusation charged upon the Pope by the Albigenses as being the Antichrist was a Character of Manicheism He thought fit to reveal this great Secret to the World in his History of the Variations and afterwards he makes it an express Character of Manicheism in his Explication of the Revelation But saving the Reverence due to this Prelate there is nothing falser nothing that seems more to be raving For 1. Hath he found this Character of the Manichees in the Writings of Archelaus Bishop of Mesopotamia which the late Mr. Bigosa hath communicated to the Publick or in St. Cyril of Jerusalem who confutes the Manichees in his Catechetick Lectures 2. Hath he found any thing like it in the Writings of St. Epiphanius who hath given us so large a Catalogue of their Heresies 3. Hath he found any thing to this purpose in St. Augustin who hath writ so many Books against these Mad-men or in St. Leo in his Epistle to Turribius Bishop of Tarracon 4. Hath he found any such thing in the Treatise of Predestinatus concerning Heresies published by Sirmondus 5. Hath he found this Character of the Manichees in any of those Authors that have written since as in Isidore of Sevill in Johannes Damascenus in the Catalogue of Heresies published by Cotelerius 6. Hath he found any thing to this purpose in Petrus Siculus who lived in the 9 th Century and who conversed and disputed at Tibrica with the Manichees whose Opinions he sets down All the Greek Authors which speak of the Manichees before and after the 9 th Century and all the Latin Authors without so much as excepting one only know of no such thing who could therefore discover this Character of Manicheism to the Bishop We must conclude that the Bishop who hath made a Discovery which none of the Antients no nor
as the same Chronicle acquaints us We ought naturally to observe that from the Year 1050 wherein Berengarius appeared at Rome where he maintained his Opinions with so much Courage that Leo of Ostia Abbot of Mont-Cassin owns that there was no Body able to oppose him until the Year 1080 in which the Council of Bourdeaux met the Church of Rome could not overthrow Berengarius's Party though she had imployed by turns both Councils and Violence which shows that there were amongst Berengarius's Followers a considerable Party of the Clergy and of those of Aquitain in particular Neither was it only this Difference in Point of Doctrine that strengthned the Berengarian Party but also the Regulations of Pope Nicholas II and his Successors and above all those of Gregory VII in the Council of Rome in 1074 and 1075. We may see the Effect of his prohibiting Matrimony to Priests as Sigebert has recorded it upon the Year 1074. Gregory the Pope saith he at a Synod held by him anathematiz'd all that came into Preferments by Simony and removed all married Priests from their Functions and forbad Laymen to assist at their Masses by not only an unheard-of Precedent but also as several People thought at that time by an inconsiderate Prejudice contrary to the Opinion of the Holy Fathers who have written that the Sacraments used in the Church to wit Baptism Chrism and the Body and Blood of our Lord have the self-same Efficacy by the secret Operation of the Holy Ghost be the Dispensers of them good or bad Wherefore then since they are quickned by the Holy Spirit so that they are neither amplified by the Worthiness of the good Dispensers nor lessened by the Sins of the Wicked whence is this Man that baptizes which thing hath given so great occasion of Scandal that never was the Holy Church rent with a more dangerous Schism at any time by a prevailing Heresy than it is now whilst some act for Righteousness others against it some openly are guilty of Simony others cover the Stain of Covetousness with an honest Name selling that under the Name of Charity which they pretend to give freely as Eusebius saith of the Montanists whilst under the Name of Offerings they more artificially receive Bribes By this means also things are brought to that pass that there are very few that practise Continence whilst some make only an hypocritical Shew of it for Gain and Boasting and others aggravate their Incontinence by forswearing themselves and by multiplied Adulteries Besides upon this occasion Laymen rise up in Rebellion against the Holy Orders of the Church shaking off the Yoak of Ecclesiastical Subjection Laymen prophane Holy Mysteries and dispute about them baptize Infants using the filthy Excrement of the Ears instead of the Holy Oil and Chrism on their Death-Beds they scorn to receive at the Hands of married Priests the Lord's Provision for their last Journey and the usual Service of Church-Burial The Tithes that are assigned to the Priests they consume with Fire and that by one horrid Profanation you may make an Estimate of the rest Laymen have been often seen to trample the Body of our Lord that had been consecrated by married Priests under their Feet and wilfully spill his Blood upon the ground and many such things against the Laws of God and Man are daily committed in the Church By this means also many false Teachers rise in the Church who by their prophane Innovations alienate the Minds of the common People from the Discipline of the Church This therefore was the great occasion that was given to many of the Clergy and People of Aquitain not to entertain any Communion with the Church of Rome or to submit themselves to the Yoak which she was preparing for all the Western Churches I have in my Remarks upon the History of the Churches of Piedmont given an Account of the Rise of the Opinion of those who believed that the Popes Excommunications deprived such as had been duly ordained of all Power to exercise their Functions and did incapacitate them to confer Orders upon other Ministers This was the true Reason that made all that maintained the Principles of the Church of Rome look upon the Bishops Priests and Deacons who had thus renounced the Roman Communion as a Company of Lay-men and to consider their Ordinations as null I need not repeat the same here it being sufficiently confirmed by the Passage of Sigebert which I just now quoted It appears therefore that the Discipline of the Albigenses was the same that had been practised in the Primitive Church They had their Bishops their Priests and their Deacons whom the Church of Rome at first held for Schismaticks and whose Ministry she at last absolutely rejected for the same Reasons that made her consider the Ministry of the Waldenses as null and void We find in Peter the Abbot of Clugny that he reproacheth the Petrobusians for being join'd with Schismaticks whereas they took the Name of Apostolical Men. See how he speaks to them Vos Magistri Errorum caeci duces caecorum faeces Haeresium reliquiae Schismaticorum O you Masters of Errors and blind Leaders of the Blind the Dregs of Hereticks and the Relicks of Schismaticks Who were these Schismaticks but the Berengarians It is manifest that Union with the Church of Rome being become impossible by reason of the Errors she had defined and the Tyranny she had usurped over the State and Church there was even before his time a Separation made of the greatest Part of the Diocesses of Narbon Tholouse Agen and other places and that Peter Bruys and his Disciples were of his Party appears from his 2 d Epistle which is considerable to this purpose In your Parts saith he the People are re-baptized the Churches profaned the Altars overthrown Crosses burnt and Flesh eaten on the very Day of our Saviour's Passion Priests are whip'd Monks imprisoned and forced by Terrors and Torments to marry The Heads of which Contagion you have indeed by the Divine Assistance and the Help of Catholick Princes driven out of your Country but the Members as I have already said remain yet amongst you infected with this deadly Poison as I my self lately perceived By which Passage we find that the same Disorders had happened in those Diocesses which he speaks of that Sigebert had before observed Bouchet in his Annals of Aquitain understands the thing after the same manner where he speaks thus of the Voyage of St. Bernard In the mean time whilst all these things were a doing Godfry Bishop of Chartres and Innocent's Legate in France and St. Bernard who were to employ'd purge the Schismaticks out of Aquitain or to reduce them to the Union of the Church went first to Nantes c. I have shewed how Henry opposed himself to the Abuses and Superstitions which the Church of Rome endeavoured to introduce into these Diocesses But whatever Efforts the Romish Party made use of to overthrow this happy Work
it seems that they could never attain their End We have a Letter writ by an Earl of Tholouse to the Abbot of Cisteaux and to the general Chapter of that Order in the Year 1177 which declares that the Clergy sided with the Party which he accuseth of Manicheism and that the Popish Churches were reduced to extream Desolation he himself being in no Condition to remedy it or to oppose himself against the Torrent most of the great Lords having declared themselves for them So far saith he hath this noisom heretical Infection prevailed that almost all closing with it believe that in so doing they do God good Service and the wicked one who is now exerting the Mystery of Iniquity in the Children of Unbelief doth so transform himself into an Angel of Light that the Wife separates from her Husband the Son from his Father and the Daughter-in-Law from her Mother-in-Law And O miserable has the Gold lost its Lustre amongst us to that Degree that it is trod under the Devil's Feet like Dirt for even the Priests are depraved with the Filth of Heresy and the ancient and once venerable Churches appointed for Worship are left desolate and lie in Ruins And now what shall I say there are none that consider with themselves and say in their Hearts What do we do for we see that these Men do a great deal of Mischief If we let them alone all Men will believe in them and he who hath swallowed down a River already will not wonder at it from the Boldness of his wicked Presumption if Jordan should flow into his Mouth For my part who am girt with one of the two divine Swords and who do own my self an Avenger of the divine Wrath and Minister of God appointed for that Purpose whilst I endeavour to set Bounds and put a Stop to this Infidelity do find that my Power is too weak to effect such and so great a Work because the most part of the Gentry of my Dominion having drunk of this Poison of Infidelity already are wasted away with its Contagion and together with them the greatest part of the common People fall'n from the Faith pines likewise so that I neither dare nor am able to undertake it Roger Hoveden sets down a Letter of Peter Cardinal Legate at Tholouse wherein he makes mention of the Albigensian Pastors Raymond Baimiac Bernard Raimond and some other chief Hereticks who came to speak with him under his and the Earl of Tholouse's safe Conduct and made profession of their Faith in a great Assembly in the Church of St. Stephen He afterwards gives us an account of a Letter of Henry Abbot of Clairvaux who lamenting the Corruption of Tholouse by these Arch-hereticks adds these Words Yea so far had this Plague prevailed in the Land that they had not only made to themselves Priests and Bishops but had also their Evangelists who having depraved and cancell'd the Truth of the Gospel had copied to themselves new Gospels and from their wicked Hearts preached to the deceived People new Doctrines I lie if there was not amongst them a Man of a great Age of a very plentiful Estate who had several Brethren and Friends and who had the Reputation of a great Man amongst the greatest of the City whom in Punishment for his Sins the Devil had so blinded that he declar'd himself to be John the Evangelist and he distinguished the Word that was in the Beginning with God from another Principle of things as from another God he was the head of these miserable Wretches and the Ring-leader of the Hereticks in this City who though a Lay-man and an Idiot and so knew nothing yet as a Fountain of diabolical Wisdom the bitter Waters of Perdition and Death flowed from him amongst them A Company of dark Owls associated to him at Nights where he sitting amongst them in a Garment like a Rochet and a Surplice over it seem'd like a King with his Army standing about him and was the Preacher to these Fools He had fill'd the whole City with his Disciples and Doctrine no Body daring to oppose him because of his Power and Riches Yea so great was the Licentiousness of these Hereticks that at our entrance into the Town as we passed through the Streets and Lanes they mocked us and pointed at us with their Finger calling us Apostats Hypocrits and Hereticks Peter Monk of Vaux Cernay owns that the Albigenses had their Teachers whom they called Bishops and Deacons He takes notice that the Earl of Tholouse who never went any whither without a New Testament had always with him some of these Ministers for his Instruction and Consolation We find in the Council of Montpellier in the year 1214 that there was some difference between the Hereticks that were the Pastors and the Believers that is to say the People as it is particularly taken notice of in the Preface and in the 29 th Canon of the Council of Gallia Narbonensis We find in Matthew Paris a Letter of the Bishop of Porto the Pope's Legate for this Business of the Albigenses written in the year 1223 to the Archbishop of Roan where he mentions one Bartholomew a Bishop of the Hereticks who had removed himself into the Country near Tholouse where he created Bishops and set Rules to the Churches of his Communion His Words are these Etenim de Carcassonâ oriundus vices illius Antipapae gerens Bartholomaeus Haereticorum Episcopus funestam ei exhibendo reverentiam sedem locum concessit in villâ quae Perlos appellatur seipsum transtulit in partes Tholosanas Iste Bartholomaeus in literarum suarum undique discurrentium tenore se in primo salutationis alloquio intitulat in hunc modum Bartholomaeus servus servorum sanctae fidei tali salutem Ipse etiam inter alias enormitates creat Episcopos Ecclesias perfide ordinare intendit For this Bartholomew the Bishop of the Hereticks Vicar to that Antipope originally of Carcasson paying him an unhappy Reverence yielded him his Seat and his Place in the Village called Perlos and removed himself into the Country near Tholouse this Bartholomew stiled himself Servant of the Servants of the holy Faith and in his Letters which he sent about amongst his Flock as also in his first Salutations of those who addressed themselves to him he always assumed that Character He also added to his other Crimes that of creating Bishops and perfidiously took upon him the Government of those Churches Lucas Tudensis speaks of one of their Bishops that was burnt William of Puylaurens in his Chronicle at the Beginning speaks of the great Respect that was given to these Ministers of the Albigenses whom he calls Waldenses because of the Holiness of their Lives Lastly We see in the Acts of the Inquisition of Tholouse several Names of those that were Pastors of the Albigenses and who had been ordain'd to the holy Ministry by Men of their own Communion This therefore was the
your Duty to drive out the Hereticks from those Places where they rejoice to have found lurking Holes not only by your Preaching but also if need be by armed Force of Lay-men The Council of Tholouse assembled in 1119 where Calixtus II was present gave occasion to these bloody Executions The third Chapter enjoins all Powers to repress the Hereticks and that those that favour them be subject to the same Condemnation In the year 1163 the Council of Tours assembled by Alexander III had ordained that the Bishops of those Provinces where any of them were found should not suffer any one to harbour or shelter them that no Commerce should be held with them about the things of common Conversation and order'd temporal Princes to imprison and condemn them and confiscate their Estates and Goods In the year 1179 the same Pope Alexander III renewed the same Orders forbidding also their being buried in Places set a part for the burial of Papists In 1181 Henry who from Abbot of Clairvaux had been made Bishop of Alby having as Legate gathered together some considerable Forces by his Preaching went to visit them with armed Force but they to avoid the Storm that threatned them pretended to abjure their Errors but no sooner was the Storm blown over but they liv'd as they did before So that the Contagion spread it self through several Provinces on both sides of the Loire and one of their false Apostles called Terric who had hid himself a long time in a Cave at Corbigny in the Diocess of Nevers was taken and burnt and many more suffered the same Punishment in several other places This was that Sweetness of the Church of Rome which the Bishop of Meaux so much boasts of and which she put in practice long before she came to Conferences which served only for a Prelude to the utter ruin of the Albigenses which the Popes had designed long before Accordingly Innocent III as Mezeray tells us in the History of Philip Augustus finding himself unable to reduce the Hereticks of Languedoc who had almost gained that whole Province resolv'd to make an Example of Raymond Earl of Tholouse because he was their chief Favourer and because he had caus'd Peter de Chasteauneuf a Cistertian Monk and the first that ever exercised the Function of Inquisitor to be put to Death He excommunicated the Earl absolved his Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance and gave his Lands to the first that should seize them yet so as without Prejudice to the Right of Soveraignty of the Kings of France Whereupon the Earl was so frighted that being come to Valence to meet with Milo the Pope's Legate he wholly submitted himself to him and gave eight strong Places for ever to the Church of Rome as a Security of his Conversion and the Year following to obtain Absolution he suffered himself to be lash'd with Rods before the Gate of the Church of St. Giles where Peter de Chasteau-Neuf was buried and afterwards to be dragg'd to the Tomb of that Monk by the Legate who put a wooden Yoak about his Neck before twenty Archbishops and an infinite multitude of People after this he took upon him the Croisade and the Year following joined himself with those that took his own Cities and those of his Confederates But it was not his Repentance that ingaged him to endure so dreadful a Disgrace but the Apprehension he had of a terrible Tempest that was just then breaking over his Head for the Pope turning his Torrent of Zeal against the Hereticks which push'd the People on to the Deliverance of the Holy Land had this same Year ordered the Croisade to be preached up against the Albigenses and a great number of Noblemen Bishops and common People had already listed themselves in that Service the King himself furnishing 15000 Men maintained at his own Charges It is worth our taking notice 1 st That Pope Innocent III to encourage the Lords and People to the Holy War granted a Plenary Remission of all their Sins to all those who took up the Badg of the Cross vouchsafing also the Protection of the Holy See to their Persons and Goods as may be seen in his Epistles He absolved the Cities that had sworn to the Earl of Tholouse from their Oath of Allegiance upon that excellent Principle of the Church of Rome That Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks because they do not keep theirs with God or the Church 2 dly That the Earl of Tholouse was not guilty of the Murder of Peter de Chasteau Neuf for we read that Earl Raymond went to meet King Philip to obtain of him Letters of Recommendation from the Pope that he might be fully acquitted of the Murder of the Monk Peter de Chasteau Neuf whereof they had most unjustly obliged him to confess himself guilty only because the said Murder had been committed in his Territories for which the Legate Milo had imposed upon him a most unjust and unheard of Penance From the Court of the King of France he went to Rome where he received Absolution immediately from the Hands of Pope Innocent III this being a Case reserved to him the Pope received him very civilly presented him with a rich Robe and a Ring of great Value and granted him plenary Remission and Absolution from the said Murder declaring that he look'd upon him as sufficiently cleared upon that Account In the Year 1209 the Army of these Cross'd Souldiers which consisted of no less than 500000 Men entred Languedock and attack'd the City of Beziers being one of the strongest Places the Albigenses had took it by Force and put all they found in it to the Sword so that above 60000 Persons were kill'd there as Mezeray informs us There happened one thing very remarkable at the taking of this City which was That the Zeal of these consecrated Souldiers was such that they put to the Sword all the Papists and Romish Clergy that were in the City The Earl of Beziers came out of the City and cast himself at the Feet of the Legate Milo begging his Grace in Behalf of his City of Beziers and intreating him that he would not involve the Innocent in the Punishment of the Guilty which would certainly come to pass in case the City should be taken by Force which would soon be done by such a great and powerful Army that was ready to scale the Walls in every Part round the whole City that it could not be otherwise but that in this Case much Blood would be spilt on both sides which he might prevent That there were in Beziers great Numbers of good Catholicks who would be involved in the same Ruin contrary to the Pope's Intention whose Design was only to chastise the Albigenses That if he did not think fit to spare his Subjects for their own sakes that at least he would be pleased to take pity of his Age and Profession since the Loss would be his who was under Age
the Roman Catholicks nor the Priests themselves that it was not a Religious War as was pretended but a kind of Robbery under the Colour of Religion That he hoped God would be so favourable to him as to make his Innocence and the just occasion he hath had to defend himself sufficiently known That they must not hope now to have them surrender at Discretion since they had found that there was no other to be expected from them but that of killing all they met with That it had never been found good Policy to drive an Enemy to Despair wherefore if the Legate would be pleased to afford any tolerable Composition to the Earl of Beziers and his Subjects that Mildness would be a better Method to reduce the Albigenses to the Church of Rome than extream Severity and that he ought also to remember that the Earl of Beziers was a young Man and a Roman Catholick who might be very serviceable in reducing his Subjects who had so great Confidence in him to their Obedience to the Church The Legate told the King of Arragon that if he would withdraw a little they would advise what were best to be done The King being called in again the Legate told him That in Consideration of his Intercession he would receive the Earl of Beziers to Mercy and therefore if it seemed good to him he might come forth and eleven with him with his Goods and Baggage but that as for the People that were in the City of Carcasson they should only deliver to his Discretion of which they ought to have a very good Opinion he being the Pope's Legate and that accordingly they should come forth all stark-naked Men Women and Children without Shirts or any other Covering on their Bodies Also that the Earl of Beziers should be delivered into sure Hands and that all his Estate should be surrendred up to the future Lord of his Territories who should be chosen for Conservation of the same The King of Arragon having indeavoured to bring the Legate to easier terms for the young Earl the Legate told him that these Conditions were very favourable and yet what follows is still more infamous The Legate employes a Person of Quality to indeavour to draw the Earl of Beziers out of Carcasson and to bring him to him with Assurance under Oath that he would send him back to his City of Carcasson in case he should not be satisfied with the Legat's Proposals The Count of Beziers upon this Assurance comes to the Legate and represents to him That if he would think fit to treat his Subjects with more Kindness he would easily induce them to comply with his Desire and recal the Albigenses from their Error to the Church That the Terms which had been mentioned to him were shameful and undecent for those who were to keep their Eyes chaste as well as their Thoughts That he knew his People would rather die than see themselves reduced to so scandalous an Ignominy and therefore entreated him to come to easier Terms and that he did not question but to make his Subjects accept of any other more tolerable Conditions The Legate's Answer was That the People of Carcasson might consider what they had to do that he would concern himself no further since the Earl was his Prisoner and should continue so till the City were taken and his Subjects acknowledg their Duty When Simon Earl of Montfort was made General for the Church he was so careful to destroy the Albigenses that he seized upon all the places belonging to Popish Lords that lay convenient for him so that the King of Arragon was forced to complain to the Pope of these his Proceedings in some Letters yet extant to oblige him to make Restitution And for the merciful temper of this renowned Earl take but this one Instance of it After a Siege of six Months the City of Lavaur was taken by Storm and scaling of the Walls and all that were found in it were put to the Sword except fourscore Gentlemen whom the Earl caused to be hanged and strangled and Almericus was hanged on a Gallows higher than the rest The Lady of Lavaur was cast alive into a Pit and there stoned to Death The Conduct of the Pope and the Lateran Council in the year 1215 is worth taking notice of because it was nothing but a Confirmation of all these Proceedings Mezeray gives this Account of it Prince Lewis took upon him the Badg of the Cross to go against the Albigenses and assisted in the Expedition of Languedoc the Earl of Montfort met him at Vienne and the Legate at Valence when he was come to St. Gilles Montfort who accompanied him received Bulls from the Pope who pursuant to the Decree of the Council of Montpellier held some Months before had given him the whole Territory of Tholouse and all the rest he had conquer'd with his cross'd Pilgrims provided he could get Investiture from the King and would pay him the accustomed Homage So that we may say that the Pope nominated him to his Dignity and the King in compliance with the said Nomination conferr'd it upon him From thence Lewis went to Montpellier and then to Beziers where he gave order for the demolishing of the Walls of Narbon and Tholouse In the mean time the Council of Lateran notwithstanding the pitiful Remonstrances of the Earl of Tholouse who was present there in Person with his Son adjudged the Propriety of his Lands to Montfort reserving only the Lands he had in Provence for his Son and 400 Marks of Silver a Year for his own Subsistence and that too upon condition of his being obedient to the Church Afer this Montfort assumed the Title of Earl of Tholouse and came and received his Investiture from the King in the City of Melun I should never have done should I barely mention all the Cruelties and Barbarities which the Romish Party exercised for near twenty Years together by their continual Croisades against a People who were taken to be Hereticks as soon as they found a New Testament in the vulgar Tongue about them I shall conclude this Chapter with setting down the Laws which the King of France enacted in the year 1228 against the Albigenses Wherefore because the Hereticks have now of a long time spread their Poison in your Parts polluting our Mother the Church after several Manners we do in order to their utter Extirpation decree that all Hereticks deviating from the Catholick Faith by what Name soever they are called as soon as they are condemned of Heresy by the Bishop of the Place or by any other Ecclesiastical Person that hath Power to do it be without delay punished Ordaining also and firmly enacting That no Man do presume to harbour or protect the said Hereticks or favour or trust them and that if any one do presume to commit any thing contrary to these Premises he be made incapable of being a Witness or of any Honour whatsoever as also of making a
they all sound for the Churches Gain 1. See what he saith of the Pope's Authority In Constantine's time the Priesthood was removed and it was not decreed that the Bishop of that Church should necessarily have a Primacy over all others as is here supposed Neither do I believe that any Catholick is so foolish as to believe that when Christ's Vicar writes Let it be done and he who spake the Word and all things were made doth not approve of it he hath any Right to command because of him alone it can be said with Truth So I will and so I command let my Will stand instead of Reason And accordingly he was condemned by the Council of Constance for believing That it is ridiculous to suppose the Pope to be the Highest Priest and that Christ never approved of any such Dignity neither in Peter nor in any one else 2. Of the Power which the Popes assume to themselves over the Temporalities of Kings Wicklef wrote a particular Treatise intituled De Civili Dominio to overthrow their Claims where he speaks thus In Civil Power there cannot be two Lords of equal Authority the one must be principal and the other subordinate We will not subject our King in this matter to him when he bestowing any Mortmain reserves to himself the capital Dominion 3. He did not believe the Pope's Infallibility The Pope may sin as Head of the Church He may sin by Nature having a capital Lord above him There is no doubt but that an Error may be committed in the Election of a Pope and yet more in his following Conversation He may err in Feeding the Churches or in Articles of the Faith Many Popes have been corrupted with heretical Pravity He believed it was probable That all the Bishops of Rome for 300 Years and more before his time were fully Hereticks 4. He made no Difficulty of saying that the Pope was the chiefest Antichrist 1. Wicklef informs us what his Thoughts were of the Church of Rome when he saith It is possible that the Lord Pope may be ignorant of the Law of Scripture and the Church of England may be far truer in her Judgment of Catholick Truth than the whole Church of Rome that is made up of the Pope and Cardinals 2. He maintains that the Church of Rome may err but that this doth not hinder but that the Purity of Doctrine may be preserved in the Catholick Church It is necessary says he That the Catholick Faith be in the whole Mother-Church 3. He did not believe that wicked Men were true Members of the Church and censures those who teach that Men who shall be damned are notwithstanding Members of the Church so joining Christ and the Devil They teachen together saith he that tho Men that shall be damned be Members of Holy Church and thus they wedden Christ and the Devil together he saith that unbelieving and ungodly Men are in the Holy Church by Body not by Thought by Name not by Deed in Number not by Merit As to the Doctrine of Justification it is very plain that he was not of the Opinion of the Church of Rome as these Words shew The Merit of Christ is of it self sufficient to redeem every Man from Hell 't is to be understood of a Sufficiency of it self without any other concurring Cause All that follow Christ being justified by his Righteousness shall be saved as his Offspring He rejects the Doctrine of the Merit of Works and falls upon those which say That God did not all for them but think that their Merits help Heal us Lord for nought that is no Merit of ours but for thy Mercy Lord not to us but to thy Mercy give thy Ioy. As for what concerns the Lord's Supper we find that this great Man did not believe Transubstantiation See how he expresses himself This Bread is fairly truly and really spiritually virtually and sacramentally the Body of Christ as St. John the Baptist was figuratively Elias and not personally As Christ is both God and Man at once so the consecrated Host is the Body of Christ and true Bread at the same time because it is the Body of Christ at least in a Figure and true Bread in its Nature or which signifies the same thing it is true Bread naturally and the Body of Christ figuratively He constantly affirmed that this Doctrine lasted in the Church for a thousand Years till Sathanas was unbound and the People blinded by Friars with the Heresy of Accidents without Subjects 1. He owned but two Sacraments as appears by the 45 th 46 th 47 th and 48 th Articles condemned at Oxford and in the Council of Constance 2. He was against the Use of Chrism in Baptism 3. He maintained that extream Unction was not a Sacrament If corporal Unction were a Sacrament as now is pretended Christ and his Apostles would not have been wanting to declare it to the World 4. His Opinion concerning Confirmation as it is practised amongst the Papists he expresseth thus As for the Oil wherewith the Bishops anoint Children and the linnen Coif that covers the Head it seems to be a vain Ceremony that can have no Foundation in Scripture and that this Confirmation being introduced without any Apostolical Authority is Blasphemy against God 1. He declam'd against the Use of Images with great Earnestness We ought to preach saith he against the Costliness Beautifulness and other Arts of cheating wherewith we impose upon Strangers rather to pick their Pockets than for the Propagation of Christ's Religion The Devil by his Falshood deludes many who sometimes suppose a Miracle to have been wrought when indeed it was nothing but a Cheat. The Poison of Idolatry lies hid in continued Imagination 2. One may see how he distinguisheth Sins Some Sins are called little Sins in comparison of greater and venial because God's Son forgives them 3. He did not own the Necessity of Auricular Confession Vocal Confession made to the Priest introduc'd by Innocent is not so necessary If a Man be truly contrite all outward Confession is superfluous and unprofitable to him 4. He wrote against the Doctrine of Satisfaction The present Pope has reason to blush for the modern Penance established by him without any Ground since it is not lawful for any Mortals no not for the Apostles themselves to make the Law of God difficult beyond what he himself hath limited 5. His Judgment concerning Pardons and Indulgences he expresseth in these Words It is a foolish thing to rely upon the Indulgences of the Pope and the Bishops 6. He gives this Rule concerning Fasting In Works of Humanity we must follow Christ by doing such Works as bear some Proportion with his We must fast 40 Days from Sin and as far as is possible to
speaking of the Power of St. Peter saith That the same is also granted to those who imitate him because all those that follow the Foot-steps of St. Peter can also lawfully bind and loose Lastly It is said in Malachy Chap. 2. I will curse your Blessings And in Ezekiel Chap. 13. Wo to those that quicken the dead Souls and who declare those dead that don't die If God say the Hereticks do curse the Blessing of wicked Pastors and declares that the Souls which they pretend to quicken do not live how can he communicate his Grace through their Channel The ninth Heresy is professed by the same Hereticks who maintain that it is neither the Office nor the Order but only the Merit of a good Life which confers the Power of binding and loosing of consecrating and blessing so that this is their Conclusion the Merit of a good and holy Life say they is of greater Efficacy to confer upon any one the Right of consecrating and blessing of binding and loosing than the Order or Office and therefore they have not received any Orders yet they believe themselves to be just and to have the Merits of the Apostles and so they take upon them to bless as the Priests do and say That they can consecrate bind and loose because it is the Merit and not the Office that confers this Power And because they pretend to be the Apostles Vicegerents they say that their Merit gives them this Charge In this it is that they chiefly oppose the Faith of the Church and declare themselves to be Hereticks But they endeavour to defend their Heresy by the Authority of Esicius who saith That the Priests do not bless by their own Authority but only because they represent Jesus Christ and that it is because Christ is in them that they can bestow their plenary Benediction And they say moreover that not only a Priest but every one that hath Christ in himself and represents him in his Life as Moses did has the Power of conferring Blessings The tenth Heresy is likewise taught by the same Hereticks who maintain that the Dispensations or Indulgences which a Bishop grants at the Consecration of a Church or upon any other occasion are not of any Value Their Reason is this Suppose say they that a Man be obliged to a Penance of three Years at the Consecration of a Church and one Bishop releases him of a third part of his Penance a second and third Bishop may do the like and thus for three Half-pence a Man shall be released of this three Years Penance And which is more these sorts of Dispensations are unjust for there is no Proportion between a Half-penny or a Crown and one whole Years Penance The eleventh Heresy is That the Prayers which are made for the Dead by those who are in any mortal Sin are unprofitable For say these Hereticks how can these Prayers do any Service to the Dead since they can do none at all to those who make them Can Prayers which are hurtful to them that make them be of any Advantage to the Person for whom they are designed Item in 3 q. in gravioribus it is said When a Judg is sollicited for his Favour to a Malefactor by any one that he hath no liking to it serves only to incense him so much the more and to make him pronounce a more severe Sentence So in like manner if any Man prays without Devotion it is the same thing as if he desired his own Condemnation for how can any Man whose very Prayer is Sin obtain by that Prayer any good thing for his Neighbour Or how can he whose Prayer deserves nothing at the Hand of God but Punishment pray profitably for another seeing God saith to the Sinner Psalm 49. What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes or why dost thou take my Covenant into thy Mouth They call also Reason to their Assistance When a Priest say they celebrates the Mass he being in mortal Sin the Action that he doth is evil and deserves eternal Punishment and by Consequence he cannot merit for another the Pardon of his Sins because it is impossible to merit Good and Evil Reward and Punishment by the self-same Action They quote the Canon-Law also which forbids us to assist at the Mass of a Priest who we are sure keeps a Concubine They prove likewise by another Authority that Men ought not to pray or sing Psalms in the Church as long as they are under mortal Sin The twelfth Heresy is of those who deny Purgatory and who say that it is a meer Invention of the Church to make the People give Alms and Offerings and to be at the charge of pompous Funerals for the Souls of the deceased or other things of that Nature I confess he does not mention the Albigenses by Name and that he confounds these pretended Heresies of the Albigenses with others that are much more hainous and some that were peculiar to some few Monks and that he attributes some of them in particular to the Vaudois as if they had been proper to them only But one may justly imagine that this Monk who compiled this Work from the Writings of other Monks or Doctors of the Church of Rome had his Eye upon the Albigenses because he acquaints us that he follows Alanus and that he copies his Arguments Now we know that Alanus wrote against the Waldenses and Albigenses as the manuscript Titles of his Books inform us though like the Author of the Fortalitium fidei he confounds them in his Treatise with the Arians Manichees and other pernicious Hereticks to render the Waldenses and Albigenses suspected of defending all those Heresies which he opposes It may be thought strange perhaps that this Monk did not imitate Alanus in attributing to the Albigenses the rejecting of Transubstantiation and the Consequents thereof but the Wonder will cease if we consider that he designed hereby to deprive the Jews against whom he disputes of an Advantage which they might reasonably draw from some Christians rejecting that Opinion though they owned Jesus Christ to be the Messiah and the Books of the New Testament to be of Divine Authority at the same time and therefore he rather chose to refute the Arguments against Transubstantiation as coming from the Mouths of the Jews than as Objections made by the Albigenses And indeed except the tenth Argument of the Jews against Transubstantiation which supposes the Christians who teach this Doctrine to be no better than brute Beasts as not having Sense enough to know that Jesus Christ being a Jew by Birth could not by the Circumstances of his Institution of the Eucharist intend any thing but a figurative meaning as opposed to a real and that his Apostles being Jews likewise could not form any other meaning in all this Ceremony but such as was figurative there is scarce any other which this Monk hath not borrowed from the Disputes which the Albigenses and Vaudois have held with those
a slanderous Imputation and because the Malice which appears in the wording of this Calumny is nothing but the effect of that Hatred wherewith Peter de Clugny was inflamed against these pretended Hereticks The second Article is visibly nothing else but a Consequence drawn from the Aversion the Petrobusians had for the Popish Churches because of the Idolatries there committed and of their Consecrations to the honour of Saints It is no such strange thing to see Men condemn Temples to be demolished which they believe to have been profaned by Idolatry Gregory I was one of the first that ever consecrated Pagan Temples into Meeting-Places for Christians whereas before the Emperors had ordered them to be shut up and caus'd some of them to be pull'd down It is very ordinary for those who detest the Idolatry reigning in Churches to be desirous to remove all the Objects of it at the greatest distance from those whose Salvation they endeavour to procure Lastly We know that the Petrobusians judg'd the Pope to be the Antichrist which might very well prompt them to so great an Aversion for these kind of Buildings in which Antichrist had his Throne as St. Hilary of Poictiers had distinctly foretold But let Men think what they please this Article has nothing of Manicheism in it The third Heresy of the Petrobusians hath still less of Manicheism than the former It is evident that this also is nothing but a popular Consequence against the Worship of the Cross which was then practised upon diverse occasions of which we have before seen an Example at the Death of a great Lord of that Country But whereas he supposeth that the Petrobusians did acknowledg that Jesus Christ hath endured the Cross and that he died upon it in so doing he fully acquits them of being Manichees since they did not own that our Lord Jesus Christ truly died upon the Cross Moreover it must be confess'd that no Man could better have renewed the Doctrine of St. Agobardus than Peter de Bruys when he maintained that neither Veneration Adoration nor Supplication were due to the Cross and that they were to be broken in case People were found to bestow any such Worship upon them For this was the Doctrine of Agobardus in his Discourse of Pictures The fourth Heresy is express'd in very odious terms and after the Popish manner who own nothing to be real in the Sacrament if the Flesh of Jesus Christ and his Blood be not there in Substance and who do not believe he is present in the Sacrament upon any other account but as he is offered up to God before he is eaten But yet here there is nothing in this double Article of Manicheism On the contrary we may assert that the Romish Opinion rather is a Branch of Manicheism than theirs for is not the Body of Jesus Christ in the Bread and doth not the Substance of the Bread become the Substance of Jesus Christ and the Priest or the Faithful when they digest it do they not restore the Body of Christ to Liberty in freeing it of its Bonds by which the Charm of Consecration tied it up The Act of Oblation which the Petrobusians blamed in the Mass is more clearly explained by their Disciples as we shall see hereafter In the mean time it is worth observing that they opposed the Change which then began to be made in the Church of Rome and which being accomplished produced that Addition in the Liturgy where they make the Priest say Et pro quibus tibi offerimus And for whom we offer up to thee whereas before the whole Offering respected only the People Qui tibi offerunt Who offer up unto thee in Allusion to that Custom of the People's offering the Bread and Wine which was used at the Communion As soon as the Faith of the Real Presence was once entertained they presently inquired what use might be made of it and they found that it might be offered up to God before it was offered to the People and when they were once confirmed in the Belief of this Custom they found it was necessary for the Priest to express a Sacerdotal Act whereas therefore the People before simply offered the Bread and Wine to God in order to celebrate the Communion with it after Consecration they thought good to substitute the Priests offering of them up for the People This was more distinctly practised in the thirteenth Century as Menardus the Benedictine informs us in his Discourse upon the Sacramentarium of St. Gregory though before that time we find some Footsteps of this Opinion The fifth Article which rejects Purgatory and maintains that the Living cannot help the deceased Believers by their Prayers Alms or good Works nor by any Masses designedly said for them has as little Manicheism as the former For as the Petrobusians cannot be said to be Manichees for condemning the Use of Infant-Baptism so neither can they be esteemed Manichees for denying Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead Let the Bishop of Meaux turn over as long as he pleaseth the Catalogue of Heresies he will no-where be able to find that the rejecting of Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead are Characters of Manicheism Is not the Bishop therefore think we very judicious in taking Peter de Bruys and his Disciples for Manichees whereas he ought to have taken notice of two things in Peter de Clugny The 1 st is that Peter de Bruys whom they accuse of having boiled Meat on Good-Friday with broken pieces of the Cross eat of it when he had done with those who assisted at that Execution The 2 d is that he maintained that Priests and Monks ought rather to marry than to live in a single State defiled with Impurity Coecius makes this Article one of the Heresies of Peter de Bruys One clearly sees what solid Grounds the Bishop of Meaux had to accuse Peter de Bruys of Manicheism Let us now see whether he hath any better Success with Henry the Disciple of Peter de Bruys The Burning of Peter de Bruys at St. Gilles did not stifle the Doctrine that he maintained it had taken too deep Root in these Diocesses On the contrary it encreased very considerably after it was once watered with the Blood of that Martyr The Opposition which the Disciples of Peter de Bruys made to the false Worship of the Church of Rome which they indeavoured to introduce into these Diocesses after that they had made them submit to her Yoak was very useful to awaken the People Pope Eugenius the Disciple of St. Bernard being then in France where he was more exactly informed of these Difficulties than the Roman Emissaries took the Alarm very hotly See here how St. Bernard describes the State of Affairs in a Letter of his to the Count St. Gilles How great Evils have we heard and known that Henry the Heretick hath done and does every Day in the Churches of God He wanders up and down in