the intent of the ancient Church was herein Some alledge that that observance tended to an imitation of the miraculous Fast of the Son of God but it is evident from Evangelical History that the time of our Saviours Fast was previous to the Passover by the space of six Moneths proof sufficient that Antiquity had some other end and aim in the celebration of this Fast else doubtless they would have pitched upon a time coincident with that wherein our Saviour fasted behold then the true account There was an Order at that time established in the Church that the Feast of Easter approaching those who were obliged to do publick pennance should present themselves to be re-ingratiated and received into peace with her At the same time the Catechumenes were baptized for those Days were particulary appropriated to that work and for as much as those were things of great moment the Church proceeded therein with fasting and prayer besides that at the same time they behoved to prepare themselves for the Commemoration of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and for the solemn Communion upon the Easter-Day ensuing But to shew that this observance did depend upon the Liberty of the Church and not upon any peremptory imposed Law we must remark the diversification which attended that Custome for in some Churches this Fast lasted three Weeks in others seven Days only and in others forty Days and from this quarantine came the name of the Quadragesimal our Lent which was formerly called the Paschal Fast. Anno 160. c. NOw this Age was by reason of violent Persecutions which lasted along time after full of horrour all the Provinces of the Roman Empire being bedewed and all the Judicatoriâ—s therein over-glutted with Christian blood Torments exquisite terrour universal revolts frequent yea there were found amongst them who to palliate their infamous cowardize taught that martyrdome was but matter of meer indifferency reck'ning it extream folly and madness to suffer death for their profession The Sepulchres of Martyrs were loaded with reproaches and their memory with execrations for the rage and malice of their Enemies not satisfied with their Death extended the Persecution to their very Bones and that they might deprive Christians of the hope of a future resurrection one of the main Arguments of their constancy they frequently exposed their dead bodies to the hunger-bitten rage of ravenous Beasts placing guards and sentinels day and night to hinder any that might attempt to give them burial all that remained of them was burnt and the Ashes thrown into Rivers or scattered in the Air The Church then that they might enkindle zeal in the People and dispose them for the glory of Martyrdome presented them with new Incentives for excitation and encouragement The Grecians did yearly celebrate the memorial of their Heroes and such illustrious Persons as had died valiantly in defence of their Country and this solemnity was performed about their Tombes to the end that they might by so doing animate and encourage the surviving unto the like atchievments Christians judging this to be a very proper means to perswade many Persons to suffer death for the Gospel and to confirm others in such a magnanimous resolution did imitate their example Their main care then in the first place was to bury their Martyrs and where they could not recover the whole body they endeavoured carefully to gather up the very least fragments in case the fury of their Persecutors had left any remainder now those Reliques were honourably interr'd without any such custome as afterwards came to pass For although Martyrdome was reputed a most glorious thing and those blessed souls were very precious with the Church yet so it was that all the honour that they afforded their bodies was an honourable Interment nothing different from the common After this the custom was introduced of an anniversary commemoration of the combats and constancy of Martyrs upon the same days whereon they had suffered death called by them the Days of their Nativity in regard that upon them they were installed in another life and in the same place where they were buried from thence it came to pass that Cemeteries became the Ordinary places of their Assemblies for those anniversary days returned very frequently by reason of the great number of Martyrs by whose death most days of the year were renowned Upon those days then the whole Church assembled together in the same place where the Sepulchres of their valiant Champions were as if she meant to warm her Zeal at their Ashes and to spirit her self thereby for a more prompt Commemoration of their Martyrdome Publick Prayers and the Exposition of the Scriptures being finished they rehearsed in order the Names of those who had been upon that Day put to death for the Truth they likewise related the several conflicts by them sustained whose fierceness inhaunc'd their constancy their courage also was displayed in tearms full of applause and admiration their glorious Trophees and the rich Garlands propounded as the prize of their Victory finish'd the Panegyrick which consisted in thanksgiving to God for giving them the victory the whole action was concluded with the Celebration of the Eucharist Now the intent of those Solemnities was in the first place to shew that such as were dead in Christ are still alive both in God and in the memory of the Church and in the next place to animate and encourage the People unto the like sufferings This was the design of the primitive Christians for thus do they explain themselves We can never say they abandon Christ nor serve any other we adore Christ as the Son of God and we cherish the Martyrs as the Disciples and Followers of our Lord we solemnize the day of their nativity which is that of their death in remembrance of such as have conflicted for the Truth and in order to the exercising and exciting of others thereunto We hope to be made capable of the like graces and at last Compartners and Fellow-sharers in the same Glory Amongst the heads of Discipline observed in those times this was one of the most material Such as were convicted of any notorious crime were obliged to make confession of it publickly in the face of the whole Church to beg pardon and to undergo whatever should be imposed upon them which done they enjoyn'd them some kind of satisfaction whereby they behoved to manifest the sincerity of their repentance This they did to contain others in their duty as also to prevent the blame and reproach of the Christian Religion amongst Infidels as if it gave indulgence to Vice through silence under it Now they pretended not by this publick Repentance to make satisfaction to God to whom none can render the least compensation for the least offence committed but only to the scandaliz'd Church or to an injur'd Neighbour Anno 195. THis second Age we must needs conclude with a famous
Thummim that is to say to the Light of the Old Testament and to the Perfection of the New which shall conduct you to Him who liveth for ever and ever and to JESUS the Mediator of the New-Covenant whose Blood speaketh better things than that of Abel What Joy when God shall no more be as a Barbarian to you and they shall no more bespeak you in Latine a Language which the greatest part of you understand not yea a sign of Wrath threatened by God to his People as is recorded by the Apostle Paul in that excellent Chapter 1 Cor. 14. which may suffice wholly to subvert such a monstruous and faulty procedure With what abhorrency will ye then loath that cursed Tradition of Men which like that of the Pharisees taxed by our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel hath disannulled the Cōmandment of God Then shall ye soon acknowledg that from the beginning it was not so and that all those humane Observances bred in the night of Errour and Ignorance which are either taught or practised by you have not the least affinity with the simplicity and purity of the Ancient Christian Religion Herein the ensuing Treatise will be greatly subservient and advantagious to you which doth by way of Compend or Breviary present you with a true account of the Rise and Progress of so many fatal and unhappy Innovations to the end that ye may perceive and avouch that how specious soever they be yet there is not any thing more base and despicable But briefly if ye carefully traverse the Will and Testament of your Heavenly Father namely the holy Scriptures ye shall easily know and acknowledge how widely ye have deviated from that Canon of Truth besides or against which if a very Angel from Heaven should gospel unto you he ought to be with you accursed For this reason if ye will be perswaded to rank and enter your selves unto the society of those who wholly and precisely adhere thereunto owning and using it for the only Compass whereby they regulate both matters of Faith and the order of Divine Worship ye shall undoubtedly be constrained to say with the Patriarch Jacob Surely the Lord is in this place and we knew it not How dreadful is this place this is none other but the House of God! this is the Gate of Heaven may our feet stand within thy Gates O Jerusalem As for your Believers whom God hath vouchsafed to congregate already into the Sheep-fold of the Lord Jesus ratifie the truth and purity of that Doctrine which ye profess with holiness and integrity of life that those who obey not the Word may be won without the Word by your truly Christian Conversation Make it appear to them that ye are no enemies to good works which ye are wrongfully charged with since we teach that those are the products of the Holy Ghost by those God is glorified by those our neighbours are edified and those be infallible marks and testimonies of our Election and the way leading to the Kingdome of Heaven If we thus fruitfully trade the Talent received from the bounteous liberality of God our Soveraign Master he will superadd many more and crown in us the first fruits of our new graces and blessings and because he is faithful who also hath so promised will another day own and remunerate them with all his Heavenly Glory and the inexpressible Joyes of a blessed Immortality and that upon the account not of any merit of condignity but purely a compact of grace and mercy since of a truth as the ways of sin is death as the great Apostle and Doctor of the Gentiles hath taught us so the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now To the Father who hath from all Eternity appointed so great and glorious a Salvation for us in his Son To the Son who hath with his precious Blood merited and procured that Salvation And to the Holy Ghost who applieth the same sealing us up thereunto and giving us thereof infallible assurances To those Three glorious Persons of the thrice-holy and sacred Trinity one onely true God blessed for ever be Praise Honour and Glory Power Dominion and Kingdom henceforth even from everlasting to everlasting Amen Come Lord Jesus come Amen 1 Cor. 3. 12 13. If any man build on this Foundation Gold Silver Precious Stones Wood Hay Stubble every man's Work shall be made manifest for the Day shall declare it c. Tertullian in his Apologie for Christians chap. 6. TEll me where is your Religion where is that Reverence which is due from you to your Fathers whom ye are become so exceedingly unlike to in your habit in your course of life in your manners in your opinions and finally in your language Ye still applaud Antiquity and yet daily engross Novelties thus whilst ye as much as possibly ye can deviate from the laudable Institutions of your Ancestors ye plainly discover that of the things by them established ye retain only that which is of no value forasmuch as ye reject that which is A TREATISE OF Ancient Ceremonies THe desire of being inform'd by what means and degrees the Christian Religion is become degenerate from its ancient purity what Ceremonies have been introduc'd into it and upon what Foundations those have been raised wherein all the Romish Religion doth at this day consist is a piece of curiosity not less fruitfull than delightfull In pursuit of which setting aside many and divers particulars litigious Controversies fabulous Narratives and the vanity of spurious Books our purpose is to abridge and by way of succinct memorial to represent according to the genuine truth of History the original of the prime Ceremonies whic◠have been bred and broached from tim◠to time successively especially till abou◠six hundred years after the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ for from that tim◠forwards Superstition driving on with a ful◠Sail did so quickly and withall so generally spread it self that scarcely was there discernable the least tract of true Christianity When those grand Architects and Master-builders whom God had singled out to the Apostleship had built the Sanctuary upon that only Foundation and chief Corner-Stone Christ there was not in the whole Fabrick Bar nor Buckle which did not exactly correspond to the pattern shewed them from the Heavenly Mount The Declaration of the grace of God which bringeth salvation to all Men Worshipping of Him through one only Mediator Baptizing with Water unto the Remission of Sin Communicating in commemoration of the Lord's death under the two Signs of Bread and Wine singing of Hymns and Psalms of thanksgiving Reading of the Holy Scriptures in a known tongue c. was all the Ancient Religion Then was acknowledged no object of adoration other then God nor Intercessor than Christ nor Expiatory Sacrifice than that of his Death nor Justification other than through Faith There was not a word then of an Altar at the
the Resurrection of the Just But we shall see more fully hereafter in what tearms and with what intent they then prayed for the dead In the mean time let us take a view of some other Ceremonies then also broached The Pagans observed an infinite number of superstitions in their very ordinary converse Christians were intermingled and promiscuously conversant with them not only in the same City but in the same House at the same Table and in the same Bed so that there were frequently different Religions in one and the same Family This promiscuous converse notwithstanding they resolved to be known and acknowledged for Christians and for a proof of their Faith in the Crucified One they introduc'd the use of the Sign of the Cross and for as much as this Faith was judg'd reproachfull and ignominious they form'd that signal upon their fore-head in witness that they were not ashamed of the Cross of Christ at their entering into or coming out of their Houses or Baths sitting down at or rising up from their Table lying down in their Beds at Night or rising in the Morning they always marked their fore heads with the sign of the Cross which was afterwards received into Baptisme But this Sign was only a badg of their profession and a kind of implicite calling upon the name of Christ and the vertue attributed to the Cross was not extended to the Sign form'd in the Air but was appropriated to Christ only whose Name was tacitely invok'd by that signal We have mentioned the satisfactions whereunto Delinquents were obliged now this tearm ought to be safely understood for when the Ancients speak of satisfying God they pretend not that a Man may by that action redeem temporal punishments but that the Commandment of God enjoyning repentance and holding it equitable that the same be outwardly maniâ—ested is thereby satisfied Now those satisfactions were certain penalties or reparatory mulcts imposed upon Penitents wheâ—eof this was the form In case any one â—ad apostatized whether through errour oâ— infirmity or had fallen into some enormoâ—s crime the Church would not presently receive such an one into her Communon what repentance soever he did testifie but she appointed him a certain space 〈◊〉 time sometimes for some years togetheâ— within which he ought to give proofs oâ— true contrition She enjoyn'd him also to stand bolt upright in a distinct Corner â—f the Assembly which was the proper place â—f Penitents in a mournfull habit and visaâ— often with sackcloth and ashes with teaâ—â— and supplications to God and requests 〈◊〉 his Brethren that they would pray for â—im She appointed him likewise private fasâ— sometimes reducing him to Bread and Wâ—ter and thus it behoved him to accompâ—ish the prefixed time of his Repentance before ever he could be readmitted into tâ—e peace of the Church But for as much as it came 〈◊〉 pass that many were or at least it was feaâ—ed might be prevented by Death before â—hey had consummated or even â—efore eâ—er they had begun that prescrâ—bed time the Church taking the same â—nto consideration did provide accordiâ—gly for left they should be either hardned into an obstinacy or swallowed up of despair she frequently remitted of that severity so 〈◊〉 that if one had been condemned to a tâ—n years abstinence from the Communion she accepted of five sometimes also â—â—e penalty was commuted into some more tolerable consideration and this moderation they used not only towards those which were under the more immeâ—iate approach of death lest they should expire without a previous reconciliation to the Church but likewise towards suâ—â— as seem'd by a more than ordinary dâ—gree of contrition to compensate what â—as wanting of the prefixt tearm thereof This mitigation was managed by the pruâ—ence of the Church who weighing the â—ircumstances and quality of the offencâ—â— received such into her peace in whoâ— so ever she perceived sufficient testimonies of a serious repentance not expâ—cting till the period of time hereunto preâ—â—xt should elapse Such procedures were â—earmed Relaxations or Remissions A long time after that they gave them the title of Indulgences but in quite anotheâ— sense than what they are taken in at this day fâ—r this tearm signified no more in those Days than a discharge or an allay and mitigaâ—ion of Ecclesiastical censures and penalties with which the Church did by way of charitable Indulgency gratify Penitents Now we must note that for as much as Martyrdome was very honourable amongst Christians and those who were Prisoners for the Faith did by a frequent intercourse of Letters maintain a Correspondence with the Church who also highly esteem'd of those blessed Witnesses of and for the Truth affording them what Consolation they could the Penitents desirous of solace under that more rigid part of Discipline addressed themselves to those Martyrs soliciting them to intercede with the Church on their behalf as well knowing what credit they had with her and of what influence their Recommendation was the Martyrs hereupon made enquiry into the life and repentance of those Delinquents and in case they found them sincere and upright they imployed their utmost Intrest in interceding with the Church by Letter from Prison to this effect that she would please in favour of them to admit of such and such Persons into her Communion which they readily obtain'd of her and it is not to be forgotten how that those Penitents having frequently abused the facile nature of the Martyrs either through their mis-information or through over-importunate solicitations whereby they extorted from them that intercession the Church complained of that abuse which occasioned a breach of Discipline Now this is the only Intercession of Saints which was acknowledged in those days and how much it differs from that which was introduced afterwards is easie to determine Anno 240. c. ABout the Year 240 there happened a new kind of Devotion for whereas formerly they required the Martyrs whilst yet Prisoners to joyn their Supplications with those of other Christians and to pray here below for them and with them they began instead of that to admonish them that after their death they should be mindful of the living yea Christians did even mutually indent and covenant one with another that who ever should first exchange this life for another should remember the surviving and implore God in the behalf of them after their own decease Which howbeit it was but the particular zeal of some few yet served afterwards to pave the way to the Intercession of Saints Then also began the use of Confession to be partly restrained and partly enlarged beyond what it was formerly Penitents were the only Persons upon whom it was imposed it was never made but in publick in the face of the whole Congregation and even Malefactors failed not to discharge their Consciences into the hands of the Church before that themselves fell into those of the Executioner But for as much as
howbeit this was not universally observed for even till the year 950. we finde in the Catalogue of History throughout all the Provinces of Europe a great number of Ecclesiastick Persons married famous Doctors impugning the Law of Celibacy and which is yet more Roman Bishops descended of Ecclesiastical Parents who were married even during their Clerk-ship as was Boniface I. Felix III. and Gelasius I. thus many Ages passed before that this Decree was received Anno 400. c. WE now enter upon that time whereof St. Augustine complained saying that it was so universally stuffed with Ceremonial Observances that the condition of the Jews living under the servile Yoak of the Law was much more supportable than that of Christians under the Gospel as we shall see in good part Howbeit we shall omit divers Rites introduced in the fifth age which were never approved of by the Church of Rome as the burning of the superplus and remainder of the Sacrament after that all had communicated the sending of the Sacrament to new married couples to be by them joyntly received at home in their own Houses the thrusting of the same into the mouth of the dead a most prophane abuse We shall likewise forbear to mention all those innovations which having been commenced before were continued in after time and shall only note the progress of the same and the rise of such as followed thereupon each according to the order of time wherein they began to appear As therfore we have already seen in what respect Primitive Antiquity prayed for the dead in like manner we must know what was the intent of the Vigils which ensued upon that usage It was an ancient custome that as soon as any one had given up the Ghost they called some Ecclesiastick Persons who spent the whole night with the friends of the dead entertaining them with some serious and seasonable discourses grounded upon the Word of God for their instruction and comfort To this purpose they sung also Psalms disposed by way of Antiphonies or Versicles interchangeably answering one another and recommended the departed Soul to God to the end that pardoning its sins he would vouchsafe to preserve it from Hell and eternal Death Judge it in mercy upon the last day and give to its Body a glorious Resurrection but never to the end that he might deliver it out of Purgatory though that be the consequence drawn from thence at this day and indeed the Greek Church Prayeth for the Dead which yet never believed a Purgatory To those Funeral acts another Ceremony was added It was a Pagan custome that their Champions who had won the prize in wrastling were conducted to their Houses with Songs of Triumph and burning Torches in token of honour and congratulation this our Christians applied to their dead as those who after that they had fought the good fight had finished their course and obtained the Crown of Glory They then inter'd them with singing of Psalms by way of thanksgiving to God and consolation to the surviving as also with lighted Tapers in honour of the burial of the deceased for the reason of that Ceremony is thus expressed by S. Chrysostome who lived in the beginning of this Age. Tell me what mean the Lamps lighted up at Funerals Is it not because we accompany the dead as so many magnanimous Champions What mean the Hymns Is it not because we glorify God and render thanks to him for that he hath already crowned the defunct delivering him from all his toile and dolour Is it not for this very end that we sing Psalms and Hymns And why callest thou upon the Priests and Singing-men Is it not for comfort to thy self and for honour to the deceased The formalities observed by the Church in the reception of Penitents were likewise multiplied which in those Days were thus practised When any one who had incur'd excommunication petitioned that he might be released from that censure making protestation of repentance the Bishop who had excommunicated him and twelve Priests with him repaired to the Church-door where the Penitent presenting himself cloathed with Sack-cloath bare-footed with a dejected countenance his head covered with ashes weeping and sighing implored forgiveness and promised amendment of life for the future Then the Bishop taking him by the hand gave him entrance into the Church and admission to the Communion But in case he did again relapse into any crime he was no more capable of admission to Penance but dealt with as one relapsed so as that they never gave him the Sacrament save only at the very point of death Then also were Crosses received into Churches whereas formerly they were only represented upon Money and Military Banners but held only for meer memorials of Christs death and not for objects of adoration for so do the Christians of those times explain themselves therein It is further remarkable that theirs was only the simple form and figure of the Cross and that the Image of the Crucifix was not received into the Church till a long time after Authors of the same age make mention of a custome which was afterwards turned into Superstition As long as the gift of miracles are subjected in the Church she was endowed with an especial vertue of dispossessing and chasing away Devils but this gift being once antiquated and superseded they found no better expedient in the case than to conduct the possessed into the place of publick Assemblies to the end that the Church might pray for and over them and those Prayers frequently obtained deliverance for those poor Demoniacks But they afterwards constituted Exorcists under the notion of an Office to whom they attributed Jurisdiction over Devils empowering them to torment and chase away the same by vertue of their conjurations Now many had hitherto disputed about the state of Souls after death But Origen who lived about the year 230. and who may well be called the Origin of many Errours seems to have been the first that made way or entrance to the belief of Purgatory This Doctor taught that all Men the faithfull as well as the ubelieving shall pass through that Fire which shall consume the World upon the last day after the Resurrection which opinion was embraced by many but condemned by the Church nor can any thing be urged from hence in favour of Purgatory for that whereof Origen spake is not as yet kindled and is in every respect different from that of the Church of Rome But those controversies touching the condition and mansion of Souls departed beginning to multiply about the year 400. some certain Persons corrupted with the fabulous Narratives of Pagans conceited with them that they are purged and refined in some place or other before that ever they be received up into Heaven Those discourses were managed by way of probleme and not in form of a positive assertion and in this sense St. Augustine writes and resolves the whole question
rest of them whom God miraculously preserved till this present time in some parts of Provence and divers Valleys of Piedmont being joyned to our Churches from the very beginning of the Reformation They disowned as they do at this day Papal Authority Transubstantiation Purgatory the Invocation of Saints Images Merits Monastick Vowes and all other Opinions which were in like manner rejected by the Reformed Churches of those times they embraced for their only Rule both of Faith and Practice the Old and New Testament their course of life also was simple and unblamable by the very relation of Claudius de Seissel Bishop of Marseilles who in a Book written against them howbeit he terms them mis-led in matter of Doctrine yet nevertheless acknowledgeth that as touching Life and Manners they were without reproach amongst men giving themselves with all their might unto the observance of the Commandments of God And many other sober Writers howbeit their Adversaries also have yet likewise acquitted them though not from all yet at least from the more heinous accusations Amongst whom was the Monk of the Valleys Sernay and James of Riberia who lived in the time wherein the Count de Montfort fomented so cruel a War against them namely in the beginning of the 13th Century so that we might easily gather that as hath been said all the grudge they bore them all the horrid accusations which they devised on purpose to brand them and make them odious all those proceeded from no other cause than that they withstood the Pope and his Innovations and for their animating the people against them Hence also it was that the Popes to the end they might quite exterminate them published divers Croisades after the year 1208 till the year 1243 during which time terrible Massacres were committed there being by the relation of some Historians above two hundred thousand cut off Yet notwithstanding we cannot think that any man of Reason would once imagine that if their colours had been as black as those wherein Rome and the Monks do paint them Alphonsus King of Aragon Raymond Count of Tholouse the Prince de Bearn the Counts de Foix Bigorre St. Gilles Comings Carmain Villemur Vicount de Beziers and Carcassonne and many other Barons and Persons of Honour would ever have upheld and protected them especially the King of Aragon and the Vicount de Beziers who were of a contrary Religion nor that any others would ever have imbraced their Faith therby becoming the objects of publick hatred and exposing themselves to exile and misery Add moreover that the Legats of Pope Innocent III. attended with many Abbots and Doctors of the Romish Communion being assembled to hold a Conference with some of the Pastours of the poor Waldenses and Albigenses the only thing propounded at that Conference upon the part of the said Pastors was these three ensuing Positions 1. That the Masse with Transubstantiation was a meer humane Invention 2. That the Church of Rome was no Church of Christ but a Church of Confusion drunken with the blood of Martyrs 3. That the policy of the Romish Church was nor good nor holy nor over established by Jesus Christ. From whence it is evident that therein lay the very crise and sum of the controversie and the chief controverted points of their Belief which in the year 1281 as appears by an Extract of the Municipal Priviledges of Realmont in Albigeoise was still professed by a great number of persons throughout all those quarters and indeed this prov'd no unfruitful Seminary being that not only the City of Realmont but likewise the whole Province of Languedock and other adjacent places God having in the beginning of the last Century caused his Word as it were to regerminate and sprout afresh yeelded a more goodly and plentiful harvest than that of the other parts of this Kingdom Anno 1315. NOw in this year appeared that great person Arnauldus de Villa Nova Doctor in Medicine and Chancelour of the University of Montpellier well skill'd in the Latine Greek and Arabick tongues for his knowledge in the Liberal Sciences the very wonder of his Age who in many excellent Treatises by him composed doth mightily inveigh against the Errours of the Romish Church he said that he perceived the very face of Antichrist in the Papacy and the order of Monks That Divines have wickedly confounded Philosophicall Dreams with sacred Scripture that in the Sacrifice so denominated from the Altar the Priest offered nought to God and that the Masses did nothing avail either the quick or the dead that Papal Constitutions were no other than humane Traditions containing only the doctrines of humane works and he proved by the Prophet Daniel and many other Authorities that Antichrist should in the height of Tyranny persecute the Faithful For which Opinions he was by the Jacobins of Tarascon judged a Heretick and whilst the King of Sicily was sending him to the Pope he died at Genoua James King of Aragon in an Epistle written to the same King of Sicily his Brother gave him a very good testimony Anno 1371. JOHN VVICKLIFF Doctor and Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford a person of an exemplary life and conversation was at this time a strenuous Defender of the Truth of the Gospel zealously withstanding the corruptions and superstitions of Popery he was protected as long as King Edward III lived This Prince as also the Prince of Wales John Duke of Aquitany and of Lancaster his Brother the Earl of Salisbury the Baron of Cobham Lewis Clifford William Nevil and John Montaigue Knights Thomas Latimer Robert Ridgly Chancelour of the University of Oxford and many other Lords and persons of the prime Nobility and Clergy of England adhering to the Doctrine of the said Wickliff by the relation of Thomas of Walden and Croxton in his Chronicle who wrote against him But under the Reign of Richard II through the solicitation of the Pope and Monks he was banished afterwards being recalled from Exile he died peaceably in the year 1386 in the Parish of Luterworth where he had been Pastor But forasmuch as the Rage and Fury of the Adversaries doth exasperate them unto a Persecution of the Faithful not only to death but even to the very grave the Bones of this man of God were in the year 1451 at the instigation of the Court of Rome digged up and publickly burnt whose Ashes were in their time a Mystical Seed Anno 1414. JOhn Huss Batchelour in Divinity and Jerome of Prague Doctor of the Sorbonne persons of great Learning and no less integrity of Life who had from the year 1400 published the Truth of the Gospel in Bohemia having reap'd some first-fruits amongst the remnant of the Waldenses in those Countries and amongst some others that had professed the Doctrine of Wickliff they did so laboriously cultivate and improve the Lord's Field as that they left an abundant and excellent harvest behind them Now forasmuch
as the whole Kingdome of Bohemia was through means of their Preaching and Doctrine reduced from obedience to the Pope and the Ceremonies of the Romish Church the Council of Constance required King Wenceslaus to send the said Huss thither to whom the Emperour Sigismond gave very ample Letters of safe-conduct to the end that he might not scruple to surrender himself yet notwithstanding without any regard had thereunto he was within twenty six dayes after his arrival committed to Prison and after an hard and tedious incarceration most unjustly condemned to be burnt alive as an Heretick howbeit he had clearly demonstrated to them the truth of his Doctrine by the Word of God and the pregnant Testimonies of Christian Antiquity in pursuance whereof he maintained that the Church of Rome had departed from the Doctrine of the Apostles in pursuit of the riches and delights of the world hunting after Dominion and Primacy embezeling Church-goods which did of proper right belong tâ— the Poor in pomps and filthy and infamous expences confounding herewith the Ordinances of God or at leastwise guilty of a voluntary and deliberate contempt of the same That the Pope hath no such Authority as he challengeth over the Church and that Indulgences are null That the Bread and the Wine remain untransubstantiated in the Supper and that the Communion should be equally distributed to all under both kinds That there is no such thing as Purgatory That Saints departed ought not to be invoked nor Images worshipped and that all those things with their like appendants have no other foundation than that of the corruption and vanity of a humane spirit But forasmuch as the Truth doth ever purchase hatred from the Wicked as being naturally averse and adverse thereunto this was the cause of that cruel usage which he met withall from his Enemies which he endured with a truly Christian-Constancy rehearsing as he was going to the place of Execution or rather of Triumph diverse verses of the Psalms especially of the 31st and 51st and oftentimes these words taken partly out of the 31st I recommend my spirit into thy hands for thou hast redeemed me Lord Jesus thou God of Truth and as the Executioner was setting fire to the Faggots he said three times with a strong and loud voice Jesus Christ thou Son of the living God have mercy upon me Thus did this holy Martyr finish all his labours resigning his soul to God upon the 6th of July 1415. That other faithful Witness of the Truth Jerome of Prague did likewise seal the same with his blood upon the 30th of May 1416 after many sharp conflicts with his Adversaries whom he confounded and struck dumb with the same weapons namely the Word of God and the Testimonies of the ancient Doctors of the Church being endued with an admirable eloquence and vigour of spirit He encountred death with such an extasie of joy that when-as they began to kindle the Faggots he began to sing Divine Praises with a holy hymn which by the very relation of Aeneas Sylvius who was afterwards Pope called Pius II and of Pogius of Florence who was one of the Spectators he continued in the midst of the flames till that his blisfull soul took wing for Heaven there to bear a part in the harmonious new Song in the presence of its Saviour and the company of Angels and all the Saints and faithfull ones whose tears are all for ever wip'd away in that beatisick Sabbatism of Glory and eternal bliss But what shall we say more for the time would fail us should we instance in all who after those two saithful Witnesses espoused the defence of the same Truth which the greatest part of them have as they before them sealed with their blood We behoved to make mention of that great Assembly of persons at Doway in the year 1421 who held the Doctrine of the Waldenses of whom a great number as is reported by Monstrelet was sacrificed to the flames of William White and Alexander Fabrice English-men who in the year 1429 wrote in the defence of Wickliff's Doctrine which Reynauld Peacock Bishop of Chichester in like manner maintained in the year 1457. We behoved likewise to shew that George Poggebrach King of Bohemia together with his Subjects owned to the day of his death the profession of the Truth against the Determinations of Rome and that the King of Poland stood inclined to its defence Likewise that in the year 1480 John of Vessalia Basil of Groningue Stephen Bralfer and Paul Notary of Tubinge Doctors in Divinity did in like manner in Germany withstand the Doctrine of the Romish-Church for controlling of whose vanity and many corruptions Jerome Savonarole was burnt at Florence in the year 1498 notwithstanding which John Francis Picus Count of Mirandula failed not to write in his behalf and in like manner to reprehend the very same abuses That in the year 1505 Paul Scriptoris did in his Lectures in the University of Tubinge publickly declaim against Transubstantiation And that in the year 1507 Thomas More of Brockford an English-man was burnt at Norwich for preaching against the then prevailing Superstitions of the Church We behoved moreover to produce that goodly Confession presented in the year 1508 to King Vladislaus by the persecuted Waldenses in Hungary which was exactly conformable to that of the Protestant and Reformed Churches And likewise observe all that is recorded by that great Lawyer Charles du Moulin in his History of the French Monarchy on purpose to give the World to understand what reception the Doctrine and Life of those of Cabrieres and Merindol found with King Lewis XII which gave such ample satisfaction to that great Prince as that upon the report therein made to him of the same he swore that they had more goodness and worth in them than himself and all his subjects besides Finally we behov'd in like manner for the honour of that incomparable Monarch to add how that after the example of Philip the Fair one of his Predecessors he quell'd the sauciness and petulancy of Julius II who had excommunicated him having assembled a Council at Pisa in order to the reforming of the Church both in its Head and Members and caused batter the Golden Species with this Inscription PERDAM BABYLONIS NOMEN C A D. I will utterly destroy the name of Babylon and had not injurious Death suddenly snatch'd him away he had undoubtedly put an happy essay to a thorow Reformation But enough of that we being now arrived at Anno 1517. MArtin Luther together with those his Contemporaries whom God raised up for the same work did in this year strike that great blow which did so mightily shake the Papal Power and restore to Soveraign Princes who heretofore trembled under the Censures of Rome that lawful though controll'd Authority which they hold of none but God himself and this was so marvellous that after that time the greatest part of Germany the