But if neither in our Tribulations we bless God nor redeem our Sins by good Works we shall so long abide in that Purgatory till all our lesser Sins be consumed like Wood Hay and Stubble But some body may say What matter is it how long I stay there so I may but at last pass through into eternal Life Let no Man say so most dear Brethren for as much as this Purgatory Fire is more painful than any thing that can be thought seen or felt in this World And seeing it is writ of the Day of Judgment that it shall be one Day how can any one know whether he may be Days Months or even Years in passing through it 3. In his 12 th Homily he exhorts the People not to go out of the Church on Sundays before the Celebration of the Eucharist and makes the Prayers of the Priest to appear ridiculous when there are no Communicants to receive To whom saith he shall the Priest say Sursum corda But we are especially to observe that when he presses the Greatness of the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Adoration due to the Sacrament he says never a Word of what some Popish Orator would represent to us on the like Occasion 4. In the 20 th Homily he exhorts the Country People to read the Scriptures and removes all Excuses which they might make to avoid this Duty with as much Earnestness as those of the Church of Rome express'd when they would disswade their Auditors from the reading of it 5. The 38 th Homily is a Collection of several places of Scripture treating of the means by which Remission of Sins is granted to us He reckons up there twelve several means where we are to take notice 1 st That he doth not speak one Word of confessing to a Priest nor of the Power God hath bestowed on them to pardon Sins as Judges which at present is the great and only mean to obtain the Pardon of Sin those other whereof St. Caesarius speaks being of no use without the Pardon 's pronounced by the Priest in the Tribunal of Confession That which is here peculiar is that tho he has said a very great deal about the Efficacy of Contrition for the Remission of Sins in his 29 th Homily he has not been able to avoid the cautè lege of the Romish Censors as we may see in the Bibliotheca Patrum of the Paris Edition 2 dly We are to observe that whereas the Church of Rome pretends to find the Sacrament of Extreme Unction and Auricular Confession in the 5 th Chapter of St. James's Epistle Caesarius discovers nothing there but the Christian Duty of praying one for another proceeding from the Charity we owe to our Neighbour Ruricius was Bishop of Limoges from the Year 535. in which he assisted at the first Council of Auvergne He assisted also at the 4 th Council of Orleans in 541. and at the 5 th in 549. We have nothing left us of this Prelate save his two Books of Epistles though even there we can inform our selves about several very important Matters which demonstrate what the Faith was that was then received and imbraced in Aquitain 1. He takes for granted that dying Persons are immediately taken up into Heaven so far is he from mentioning Purgatory See in what manner he comforts Namacius and Ceraunia for the Loss of their Son Indeed you have reason to take a great deal of Comfort from the Will of Christ since untimely Death was his Lot that he has been pleased to take him away in that State to which he pronounceth the Kingdom of Heaven to belong that at the same time you might have a Patron instead of a Son and leave off deploring him as lost whom you see the Lord hath taken to himself And in another place Wherefore let your Faith wipe off your Tears since we believe that those who are dear to us do not lose their Life but change it they leave this World full of Sorrows and hasten to the Region of the Blessed and take their leave of this painful Pilgrimage that they may arrive at the Land of Rest 2. He supposeth Abraham's Bosom and Heaven to be the same thing when he brings in a young Woman that enjoyed the Glory of Heaven speaking after this manner Wherefore my loving Parents rather bewail your own Sins and seriously think of redeeming your own Crimes that if you love me in Christ you may be thought worthy to be admited into the Patriarch's Bosom where the Lord acording to the Purity of my Innocence and his great Kindness has placed me c. 3. He exhorts a Lady of his Acquaintance to the reading of Holy Scripture when he sent her a Painter But saith he you ought to look for more perfect and great Instruments in those Divine Writings from whence these are taken if ever you desire to perfect what you have begun or attain what is promised you If you thus seek the Lord will give you both Knowledg and Strength to understand what you read and keep what you understand St. Ferreolus Bishop of Vzez must not be forgot by us he was chosen in the Year 553. and died in 581. We find in the Rule that he writ for Monks that he setled in his Diocess an uncommon Strain of Piety 1. We do not find him to demand the Approbation of this his Rule at Rome as has been done for some Ages since He sends to the Bishop of Die to desire his Advice and afterwards published it with the Approbation only of that Bishop without troubling himself about any other Authority 2. He orders his Monks to work with their Hands that they might not be chargeable to the Publick as all the Orders of Mendicants are at this time 3. He receives none but such as are come to Mens Estate and will have them tried before they be admitted whereas St. Bennet ordained that those whom their Parents had presented to a Monastery should from their Infancy be received and abide there 4. He will have the great Employment of the Monks to be the reading of the Psalms which he will have them go through every Week 5. He will have them on Anniversary Days of the Martyrdom of the Saints to read the Acts of their Martyrdom for a worthy Celebration of the Memory of their Passion but not a Word of incouraging the Monks to offer up Prayers to them on these solemn Days 6. Above all he requires of every Monk daily to read the Scripture and not to dispense with it upon any Pretence or because of any other Business whatsoever Fortunatus was born in Italy but coming into France in the Year 575. he stayed there in the Service of St. Radegunda and was ordained Priest at Poictiers where he lived in great Reputation till the end of that Century Some will have him to have been raised to the Episcopal Dignity in the same City but this appears to
1 Cor. 11.24 and shews that the Authors of this Liturgy did understand them of the Cross and not as the Church of Rome doth of the Eucharist The Ambrosian and Gallican Liturgies have followed the Sense of the Gothick Liturgy which deserves some Observation We meet with the same thing again Thou didst command by Moses and Aaron thy Servants that the Passover should be celebrated by the offering of a Lamb for ever until the Coming of Christ and hast commanded the same Custom to be observed for a Memorial 4. It supposeth that we receive the Body of Jesus Christ spiritually Let us dearest Brethren who have been fed with the Food of Heaven and refreshed with the Cup of the Eternal Wine render never-ceasing Praises and Thanks to our God begging of him that we who have spiritually receiv'd the Sacred Body of our Lord Jesus Christ being freed from fleshly Vices may deserve to be made Spiritual What it means by the word Spiritual is very plain where it calls the Dove that appeared at the Baptism of Jesus Christ Spiritalis Columba And the spiritual Dove descending upon his Head by the Holy Ghost that camest thy self Thus it calls the Eucharist spiritual Sacrifices He hath refreshed us with the Heavenly Bread and the Spiritual Cup. 5. It takes for granted that the Believers of old did eat the same Living Bread which Jesus Christ gives us For he himself is the living and true Bread that came down from Heaven and always dwells in Heaven who is the Substance of Eternity and the Food of Power For thy Word by which all things were made is not only the Bread of humane Souls but of the very Angels themselves By the Nourishment of this Bread thy Servant Moses was enabled to fast 40 Days and Nights when he received the Law and abstained from carnal Food that he might be the more capable of tasting thy Sweetness living on thy Word Let this living and true Bread which came down from Heaven that he might give Food to the Hungry yea that he himself might be the Food of the Living become to us such Bread as that our Hearts may be strengthned thereby that so in the Power of this Bread we may be enabled to fast these 40 Days without any impediment from Flesh and Blood 6. It calls the Sacrament Gifts laid upon the Altar Be pleased to sanctify O Lord these Gifts which we offer upon thy Altar offering immaculate Sacrifices upon the Holy Altar Let us beseech the Almighty through his only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ who hath vouchsafed to bless and sanctify these Gifts by the offering up of his Body and Blood that he would be pleased also to bless the Gifts offered by his Servants 7. It calls the Sacrament Salutiferam Dominicae immolationis effigiem in sacrificio spiritali Christo offerente transfusam The salutiferous Representation of our Lord 's offering up of himself transfused into the spiritual Sacrifice whereof Christ himself is the Sacrificer or Offerer 8. We find there a Prayer whose Title is A Collect for the Breaking of the Bread after Consecration Which scarce proves that they were persuaded that the Substance of the Bread was destroyed by the Consecration 9. The same which in some Places it calls the Body of Christ it elsewhere calls the Sacrament of the Body 10. It reduceth all to the virtue of the Eucharist Keep within us Lord the Gift of thy Glory and let us by the Virtue of the Eucharist which we receive be armed against all the Pollutions of the World 11. It supposeth that the Body of Jesus Christ abides within us and prays that it may continue there incorruptible Hear the Prayers of thy Family Almighty God and grant that these holy Things which we have received of thy Gift we may by thy Gift keep incorrupted within us And again let us with unanimous Prayer entreat the Divine Mercy that these saving Sacraments being received into our inward Parts may purify our Soul and sanctify our Body and confirm our Hearts and Minds in the hope of heavenly Things 12. It calls the Eucharist Holy Bread Bearing in mind the most glorious Passion of our Lord and his Resurrection from the lower Parts of the Earth We offer up unto thee O Lord this unspotted Sacrifice this holy Bread and this saving Cup beseeching thee c. 13. It calls the Sacrament Holy Mysteries in several Places These many Instances one would have thought might have obliged Mabillon to believe that the Authors of this Liturgy did speak figuratively in some other Places where they seem to speak more strongly and to give us another Notion especially considering the manner of their expressing themselves when they speak of the Feast of St. John Baptist It it worthy and just equal and saving for us always to give Thanks to thee Almighty and merciful God and in this Banquet of thy Sacrament to join the Head of thy Martyr by an Evangelical Commemoration and to offer it upon thy Propitiatory Table as in a Dish of shining Metal And we may add several others upon each of those Passages which seem the most likely to deceive us If we had the Canon of this Liturgy which these Gentlemen did not think fit to give us we should there easily find the Solution of these Difficulties for it is very probable it was like that of the Ambrosian Liturgy where it was so clearly specified that the Bread was the Figure of the Body of Jesus Christ as that it put an end to all manner of Cavillings on the Point Indeed these Words The Figure or Representation of the Sacrifice of our Lord do plainly shew that this was their meaning But we must make a shift to help our selves with what they have been pleased to give us It is easy to judg what those Passages were which Mabillon judg'd to be most favourable to his Cause for he hath caus'd them to be Printed in great Characters that no Body might pass them by Thus the word Truth seem'd to him to determine the Question of the Real Presence the Words are these We beseech thee Almighty God that like as we do now perform the Truth of the Heavenly Sacrament so we may cleave to the Truth of the Body and Blood of our Lord. But this learned Benedictine has suffer'd himself to be overtaken by his own Prejudice The Author of the Liturgy distinguisheth two times the one before the Death of Jesus Christ which was only an obscure Image of a Thing that was to come this is that which is exprest in these Words Or that the Living Bread by denying of himself should not afford Life but for the Redemption of his Possession and the Praise of his Glory what before he vouchsaf'd in a Parable he may now vouchsafe in Truth The other wherein the Death of Jesus Christ hath authoriz'd the Signification of the Eucharist upon which
effusionem sanguinis sui arcâ operientur inclusi inde exire non poterunt Thou supposest him to be dead and therefore thou blasphemest Read the Gospel I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob he is not the God of the Dead but of the Living But if they be alive say you they ought not to be shut up in such narrow Prisons and you own that the Souls of the Apostles and Martyrs have taken up their abode either in the Bosom of Abraham or in a Place of Refreshment or under the Altar of God and they cannot be present at their Tombs or where-ever they please for by your account they are Persons of the first Quality and so ought not to be shut up amongst Murtherers in a filthy Dungeon but to enjoy a free and honourable Custody in the fortunate Islands and the Elysian Fields Thus you limit and set Laws to God and bind the Apostles in Chains and keep them in custody till the Day of Judgment so that they cannot be with their Lord of whom it is written that they follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes Now seeing the Lamb is every where they who are with the Lamb must be supposed to be every-where also and when the Devil and Spirits do wander throughout the whole World and by their over great Nimbleness are present every-where shall we say that the Martyrs after the shedding of their Blood are shut up in their Coffins without being able to stir from thence These fine Reasonings of St. Jerom against Vigilantius have two Characters The 1 st is that they are contrary to the Sentiments of most of the Antients The 2 d is that they have been despised by St. Austin And in fine have displeased all the Schoolmen so that it is not worth while to contradict them St. Jerom handles the rest of his Matter much at the same rate Dicis in libello tuo quod dum vivimus mutui pro nobis orare possumus postquam autem mortui fuerimus nullius sit pro Deo exaudienda oratio praesertim cum Martyres ultionem sui obsecrantes impetrare non quiverint You say in your Book That whilst we are alive we may mutually pray for one another but that after we are once dead no Man's Prayer can be heard for another and the rather because even the Martyrs themselves begging of God that he would avenge their Blood have not been able to obtain their request What is it St. Jerom answers to this he saith That if the Saints when alive procured Favours for others they may obtain them much rather now when they are with Christ seeing they are not dead but asleep as the Scripture tells us As to the wax Tapers the use of which is blamed by Vigilantius St. Jerom tells us something that will not over-well agree with the Church of Rome Cereos autem non clara luce accendiâ—us sicut frustra calumniaris sed ut noctis tenebras hoc solatio temperemus vigilemus ad Lumen ne tecum dormiamus in tenebris Quod si aliqui propter imperitiam simplicitatem saecularium hominum vel certè religiosarum feminarum de quibus vere possumus dicere confiteor Zelum Dei habent sed non secundum scientiam hoc pro honore Martyrum faciunt quid inde perdis Causabantur quondam Apostoli quod periret unguentum sed Domini voce correpti sunt neque enim Christus indigebat unguento nec Martyres Lumine Cereorum tamen illa Mulier in honore Christi hoc fecit devotioque mentis ejus recipitur quicunque accendunt cereos secundum fidem suam habent mercedem dicente Apostolo Vnusquisque suo sensu abundet Neither do we light wax Tapers at Noon-day as you causlesly complain but only to allay the Darkness of the Night with the help of Candles and to be kept waking by the Light of them lest being in Darkness we should fall asleep as well as you But and if some out of Ignorance and Simplicity amongst the Lay-men or devout Women of whom we may truly say that they have a Zeal for God but not according to Knowledg should do this in honour to the Martyrs what is the loss or hurt of all this So the Apostles also murmur'd of old that the Woman made waste of her Ointment but were reproved by our Lord himself neither did the Lord want the Ointment any more than the Martyrs stand in need of Wax Tapers and yet because the Woman did it in honour to Christ her Devotion is accepted of and so they who light wax Tapers receive a reward according to their Faith for the Apostle tells us Let every one abound in his own Sense One cannot avoid taking notice how St. Jerom abuseth this Passage of St. Paul and the Pretence he gives for adjudging Rewards to all sorts of Superstition however we must acknowledg that in this Article St. Jerom hath many more Approvers than Vigilantius Vigilantius call'd them Idolaters who by lighting Wax Tapers by Day-light did imitate the Customs of the Heathens How does St. Jerom answer him First He tells him that what was done of this kind to Idols was detestable but that the same thing when done out of respect to the Martyrs is very commendable 2 ly That the Eastern Churches lighted Candles at the reading of the Gospel though there be no Relicks of the Martyrs 3 ly That Jesus Christ assigns to the wise Virgins Lamps lighted 4 ly He opposeth to Vigilantius the Example of the Bishop of Rome who celebrated the Mass upon the Tombs of the Apostles as upon an Altar I fear I should tire the Patience of my Reader should I go about to examine this Piece of St. Jerom's throughout this Specimen may suffice to judg of the whole Work I shall therefore only reduce to some few Articles what I have further to add in order to the full clearing of this Question 1. I affirm that the Bishop of Meaux had no reason to say that Vigilantius opposed himself against the Honours done to Saints St. Jerom does not accuse him of it in any part of his Works he only blames him because he was not for giving them so great Honour as other Men did Quid necesse est tanto honore non tantum honorare sed etiam adorare illud nescio quid What necessity is there not only to honour but even to adore and worship I know not what with so very great Honour 2. 'T is for the Bishop of Meaux to tell us whether he believes with St. Jerom that Vigilantius was an Heretick for denying that the Souls of Saints are present at their Graves and whether St. Jerom doth solidly prove that we ought to believe them to be every-where where Jesus Christ is because it is said in the Revelations that the Virgins follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes 3. The truth is Vigilantius stretch'd the Point too far in maintaining that after
we are dead the Prayer of any one for another cannot be heard Probably also he might be too rigid in refusing to enter into the Churches of the Apostles and Martyrs to signify his Aversion to the Superstition which then began to be introduc'd as St. Austin complains De moribus Eccles cap. 34. 1. But it is false that because Vigilantius found fault with the Adoration of Relicks therefore St. Jerom maintain'd the same to be lawful he was so far from that that he upbraids Vigilantius with calumniating the Church by this his Accusation Quis O insanum caput aliquando Martyres adoravit Quis hominem putavit Deum Who ever O foolish Man adored the Martyrs Who ever took a Man to be God It is evident that St. Jerom takes Adoration to be an Act due to God alone and which he does not divide in two sorts as the Church of Rome does at this day which indeed makes three different sorts of it 2. It is false that St. Jerom maintains that the Church prayed to Saints whereof Vigilantius accuseth those against whom he had writ He agrees with Vigilantius that the Saints ought not to be prayed to even as Friends to Christ and Intercessors with God Ne ut Amici quidem Dei comprecatores ad Deum Is it not manifest that the Bishop of Meaux abuses the World when he quotes St. Jerom in favour of the Church of Rome which prays to Saints on both these accounts which are so expresly rejected by St. Jerom and when he upbraids the Protestants for following of Vigilantius in an Article which St. Jerom owns as well as he and the whole Church at that time But to speak the truth The whole of Vigilantius his Crime consists 1 st In that he was willing to bring the Discipline of the Council of Elvira in force again which was assembled at the beginning of the 4 th Century the Constitutions whereof were undervalued towards the end of the same Age after the Christian Religion began to bear down all its Opposers under the Reign of Constantine and his Children 2 ly Because he attributes to the Church some Customs which were not all of them authorized though they were already generally received and maintained by the Ignorant and Superstitious sort of People 3 ly Because he opposed some Customs as general which were capable of being explained in a tolerable Sense But indeed at the bottom St. Jerom and Vigilantius were very well agreed upon the Point we condemn in the Church of Rome neither do we find that the Church to which Vigilantius did belong did ever except against him Thus it is evident that the Protestants may look upon Vigilantius as a zealous Defender of the Christian Purity and one of those who oppos'd themselves against Superstition in its first rise CHAP. V. The State of the Churches of Aquitain and Narbon in the Fifth Century THis Age furnisheth us with several considerable Witnesses St. Jerom whom the Bishop of Meaux has endeavour'd to represent as our Antagonist is the first of them He saith speaking of Exuperius Bishop of Tholouse that this holy Bishop carried the Eucharist in a Wicker-Basket a way by no means agreeable to the Custom of the Church of Rome where it is accompanied with quite different Ceremonies 1 st Because it is made the Object of Adoration and that in the very Streets 2 ly Because People dare not touch the least Crumb of it as being persuaded that the Body of Jesus Christ which is in the Host multiplies according to the number of the Crumbs into which the Host may be broken 3 ly Because by this means it might come to be trod under foot or lost upon which a thousand Inconveniencies must follow It is worth observing here concerning this Custom of carrying the Eucharist about which was in use in the 2 d Century as appears from the Writings of Justin Martyr that it differ'd very much from what we find in the Romish Church since the 12 th Century For indeed since that time Rome has taken great care to obtain Laws whereby all that walk in the Streets whether Jews Heathens or Christians might be compelled to adore what she looks upon as her God But we find nothing like this in any Law of the Emperors or Christian Princes in favour of the Adoration of the Eucharist The 2 d Witness whom we may consult about the State of these Diocesses is Sulpitius Severus Monk of Primuliacum in Guienne And since he wrote at a time when the Zeal for that kind of Life did transport the best Men we need not wonder that he hath inserted so many Fables in the Books we have of his though setting those aside nothing was finer in that Age than his Writings But after all it is certain that notwithstanding all this leaven of a Monastick Spirit we find many Characters of a very pure Divinity in his Books this will appear from the following Observations whence it is obvious to conclude that he was not engaged in Popish Maxims 1. He maintains That it was Jesus Christ that wrestled with Jacob which Passage the Doctors of the Church of Rome corrupt to have an occasion thence to conclude that a meer Angel had blessed Jacob Pridie saith he quam inter se fratres convenirent Dominus humanâ specie assumptâ colluctatus cum Jacob refertur Et cum adversus Dominum praevaluisset tamen non esse mortalem non ignoravit benedici sibi ab eo flagitabat The day before the Brothers met the Lord is said to have wrestled with Jacob in a humane Form and though he prevailed against the Lord yet he knew him not to be mortal and desired to be blessed by him 2. He owns the second Commandment and distinguisheth it from the first Non erunt tibi Dii alieni praeter me Non facies tibi Idolum Thou shalt have no other Gods but me Thou shalt not make to thy self a Graven Image Neither doth he split the last Command into two as the Church of Rome does at present for he concludes the Decalogue in this Manner Non falsum testimonium dices adversus Proximum tuum Non concupisces quidquam Proximi tui Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy Neighbour Thou shalt not covet any any thing that is thy Neighbours 3. He was so little persuaded that the Name of Catholick was a solid Character of the true Church that he confesses that Arianism had infected all the World See how he expresseth himself Eoque his certaminibus processum ut istiusmodi piaculis orbis terrarum implicaretur nam Italiam Illyricum atque Orientem Valens Vrsacius caeterique quorum nomina edidimus infecerant And these Contests proceeded so far that the whole World became involv'd in this Wickedness for Valens and Vrsacius with the rest whose Names we have mentioned had infected Italy Illyricum and the East 4. He minded the Pope's Power of suppressing Heresy so little that he
account he calls it the Truth of the Heavenly Sacrament We have a like Expression of Baptism alluding to the Passage of the Red-Sea in one of St. Augustin's Homilies upon Nicodemus's coming to Jesus Christ related by Paulus Diaconus In inventione S. Crucis and 't is the same we find also in several Passages of St. Caesarius We find that the word Transformation has perfectly charm'd him We therefore Lord keeping these Institutes and Precepts do most humbly beseech thee that thou wouldst be pleased to receive bless and sanctify this Sacrifice that it may be to us a true Eucharist in thy own and Son's Name and of the Holy Ghost that so there may be a Transformation of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ thy only Begotten c. And in a Marginal Note he observes that the same Word is made use of in this Liturgy That it may please thee to send down thy Holy Spirit upon these Solemnities that it may be to us a true Eucharist in thy own and Son's Name and of the Holy Ghost for a Transformation of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ thy only Begotten that it may bestow upon us who eat it eternal Life and the everlasting Kingdom to those that shall drink it And also That thy Blessing may come down upon this Bread and Wine for the Transformation of thy Holy Spirit that blessing thou may'st bless them and sanctifying thou may'st sanctify them c. And the like in other Missals as antient as this which he observes also in his Preface But this after all signifies nothing else but the Change which the Holy Ghost produceth in making the Elements after Consecration to become the Sacrament of the Body of Jesus Christ This is that which our Authors have fully justified by an infinite number of Examples borrowed from Baptism and other things consecrated by Prayer Boethius in his Books De consolatione Philosophiae saith Conversi in malitiam humanam quoque amisêre naturam Evenit ergo ut quem transformatum vitiis videas hominem existimare non possis Being turn'd into Malice they at the same time lose humane Nature So that if you see one transformed by Vice you cannot look upon him as a Man And Ratramnus in his Book of the Body and Blood of our Lord saith That Jesus Christ in former times could change the Manna and Water out of the Rock in the Wilderness into his Flesh and Blood the same Ratramnus that oppos'd Paschasius who was the first Publisher of the Doctrine of a real Change We find there the Notion of Vertere and convertere in carnem Beseeching that he who then changed the Water into Wine would be pleased now to change the Wine of our Oblations into his Blood And again Let us entreat him that he who as at this day by his Son turned the Species of Water into Wine would be pleased in like manner to change the Oblations and Prayers of us all into a Divine Sacrifice and to accept them as he did accept the Offering of Abel the Just and the Sacrifice of Abraham his Patriarch But the appearance of this seeming Difficulty we find in the following Leaf Besides that it is ridiculous to suppose the real Change of the Prayers of Believers into the Body and Blood of our Saviviour which is suppos'd of the Oblations We meet with an Expression which seems somewhat strange O Jesu Christ who in the Evening of the World wast made an Evening-Sacrifice on the Cross vouchsafe to us that we may become new Sepulchres for thy Body Tho indeed these Expressions plainly shew that they are only intended for the prefiguring the Death of Christ according to the Notion of Rabanus Maurus We find there frequently that the Sacrament is said to be a Remedy for the Body and an Expiation for the Soul but this doth no more suppose the carnal Presence or the Expiation which is the fruit of a Propitiatory Sacrifice than that which we find in the Roman Order in blessing a Grave that it may be a saving Remedy to the Party resting in it for the Redemption of his Soul In the same Liturgy they say to God Do thou therefore so come down into the present Oblation that it may afford Healing unto the Living and Refreshment unto those who are Dead But this regards only the Presence of Vertue as in the Roman Order they beg of God that he would afford his Presence and Majesty in Baptism There is mention likewise made of the Immolation of the Body of Jesus Christ but this is only said by way of Resemblance as St. Augustin explains it in his 23 d Epistle to Bonifacius for in other places this Liturgy speaks of Bread offered up There is also mention made of a Sacrifice But 1 st He gives that Name to the Eucharist which every-where throughout this Liturgy is termed a Sacrifice of Praises and Thanksgivings 2 ly It compares the Sacrifice with that of Melchizedeck wherein every one knows there was nothing of Transubstantiation This is that which Rabanus explains Lib. 1. de instit clericor cap. 31. Mabillon particularly triumphs when he takes notice of a Passage which is found in the 78 th Office He offer'd up himself first to thee a Sacrifice and first taught himself to be offer'd These words offer'd up himself seem to him to be applicable to the Act of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist but he must not take it ill if we tell him that it is not true that he then offer'd up any Sacrifice the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ consisting only in his Death on the Cross the Eucharist where he had only his Death before his Eyes was only the Memorial of his Sacrifice his Offering consisting only in his Death If he did offer up himself in the Eucharist then was he already dead which is a Notion attributed to Gregory Nissen but is refuted by the Divines of the Church of Rome as impertinent Some it may be will imagine that the Authors of the Gothick Liturgy take away all Equivocation when they say Let us receive that in the Wine which flow'd from thee on the Cross But indeed here we have reason to admire how far strong Prejudices will carry Men so as even to hinder common Sense from acting for really there can be no Notion more opposite to Transubstantiation since this Notion represents the State in which Christ was given to us that is a State of Death which is contrary to the Popish Notions by which they believe him alive in the Eucharist Besides it is absolutely false that Jesus Christ did after his Resurrection retake the same Blood which he lost on the Cross The Church of Rome pretends that she hath it in her keeping and it is shown in I don't know how many places This Expression is well known to be St. Augustin's whose Doctrine is vastly opposite to that of Transubstantiation as De
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
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
is to be the Seat of Antichrist What I say now deserves to be considered because in the Year 1516 December the 19 th in the 11 th Session of the Lateran Council under Leo X in whose time Luther began to preach we find that there was a Prohibition against handling the Question of Antichrist in the Pulpit though under the Pretence of advancing some new Revelation concerning it without having obtained leave from the Holy See or from the Bishop The Words of the Canon which oblige all those who should ever undertake to preach on this Subject are these And we command all who bear this Charge or who shall bear it for the future that they preach and explain the Evangelical Truth and the Holy Scripture according to the Exposition and Interpretation of those Doctors whom the Church or long Tradition has approved and has hitherto allowed to be read or which shall be so for time to come without adding any thing that is contrary to or disagreeing from the proper sense of them but that they always insist upon such Matters as do not disagree with the Words of the Scripture nor with the Interpretations of the foresaid Doctors Neither let them presume to fix in their Sermons any certain time of the Evils to come of the coming of Antichrist or of the Day of Judgment forasmuch as Truth assures us that it is not for us to know the Times and Seasons Moreover if the Lord should be pleased to reveal to any of them in the Church of God future things by some Inspiration as he hath promised by the Prophet Amos and seeing the Apostle Paul saith Despise not Prophecying c. we will not have such as these reckoned amongst Impostors and Liars or that they shall be any ways hindred But because it is a matter of great Moment and that we are not upon light Grounds to believe every Spirit but are to try them whether they be of God we command that by a constant Law any such asserted Inspirations before they be published or preached to the People be henceforward understood to be reserved to the Examination of the Apostolical See but in Case this cannot be done without the Danger of too long a Delay or that urgent Necessity should otherwise perswade then observing the same Order it may be signified to the Ordinary of the place who taking along with him three or four learned and grave Men and diligently examining the matter with them if they see it expedient which we charge upon their Consciences they may grant them Liberty but whosoever presumes to commit any thing contrary to the Premises shall incur Excommunication from the which he shall not be absolved but by the Pope himself that so by their Example others may be deterred from presuming to do any such thing for which Reason we decree that they be for ever made incapable of the Office of Preaching any Priviledges whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding c. 'T is not our Business to examine the Question whether the Bishop of Meaux hath exactly followed the Rules that this Canon prescribes in his Explication of the Scripture and especially about the matter of Antichrist though they be Rules by which Bishops are no less bound than the meanest Divines It may be the Church of Rome finds the Bishop's new System so much for her Interest that it inclines her to suspend the Severity of her Canons in Favour of a Person who has so dexterously pluck'd a Thorn out of her Foot which hath troubled her so long and which hath always caused new Pains to her as oft as any of her Doctors have indeavoured to pluck it out But I fear I have insisted too long upon so vain a Conjecture and which scarce deserved to be confuted There are able Men of the Church of Rome who have taken the Pains to refute the Conjecture of some Papists who would needs have Mahomet to be the Antichrist This was the Chimaera of Annius of Viterbo a Monk famous for his Impostures this likewise was the Whimsy of Fevardentius and some others whom Pererius the Jesuit hath refuted so solidly as that he has put the Bishop of Meaux to the trouble of inventing a new System to oppose the Protestants I hope his System will meet with the same Destiny amongst his own Party that so the Protestants may not be put to the trouble of giving it a formal Confutation For indeed though the Politicks of the Church of Rome do bear with several Opinions that differ from the common Hypotheses of their Society yet the Divines of that Party are not patient enough to dissemble the Dislike they have to see their old Opinions which have been maintained for several Ages trod under-foot The Bishop himself has an Example hereof which he cannot well have forgot in the Person of Cardinal Capizucchi who having given his Approbation to the Exposition of the Romish Faith made by the Bishop of Meaux in which he sweetens the Worship of Images so very much for Fear of incensing the Protestants whom he designed to bring over to his own Side was not wanting some Years after to publish a Treatise wherein he shews that he gave that Approbation only upon the Account of Reason of State and not because he sincerely approved the way which the Bishop had taken to make the Worship of Images appear more tolerable to the Protestant Party CHAP. XX. Of the Morals of the Albigenses and of their Ecclesiastical Government HAving thus justified the Albigenses as to their Doctrine and Worship it is time now to proceed to shew the Regularity of their Discipline by representing the Nature of their Church-Government and Conduct of those Churches in matters that related to their Manners This will not be a matter of any Difficulty for it is easily conceived that these Diocesses being stored with People who maintained the Doctrine of Berengarius as the Abbot of Tron tells us they had a great Party of the Clergy at the Head of them I do not say this without good Grounds for 1 st We see that in the Councils held against Berengarius there were very great Contests about this Matter and that the opposite Party carried their Point only by down-right Violence 2 dly That according to the Testimony of Sigebert if many Persons wrote against Berengarius many also wrote in favour of him and who can doubt of their being Church-men 3 dly That his own Bishop Bruno Bishop of Anger 's where he was Archdeacon declared himself for him 4 thly That in Aquitain in the Year 1075 Giraldus Legat of Pope Gregory VII was obliged to call a Council at Poictiers where Berengarius narrowly escaped being murthered as we are assured by the Chronicle of St. Maixant the Circumstances whereof there set down they that published it took care to leave out 5 thly That five Years after they were obliged to convocate another Council at Bourdeaux where Berengarius gave an Account of his Faith
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
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
Johannis de Wyndsour nova per supra scriptos Augustinum Stere Henricum Benet Willielmum Brigger Richardum Hignell Willielmum Priour Richardum Goddard xxviii die mensis Januarii anno Domini millesimo cccc nonagesimo praesentibus tunc ibidem venerabilibus viris magistris Laurencio Cokks Edmundo Martyn Johanne Mayhowe decretorum doctoribus Daye sacrae theologiae professore Radulpho Hethcote Canonico Ecclesiae Cathedralis Sarum Willielmo Thynlawe Vicario perpetuo Ecclesiae praefatae Briano Willielmo Birley artium magistris Thoma Clerke in legibus baccalareo Johanne Wely scriba Registrario per dictum Reverendum Patrem in hac parte assumpto multis aliis Quibus quidem die loco idem Reverendus Pater injunxit praefato Augustino Stere in parte poenitentiae suae quod ipse Augustinus nudus tibias pedes caput corpore toga camisia ac foemoralibus lineis tantummodo indutus unum fasciculum sive fagotum super humerum suum unum facem anglicè a bronde in manu ejus gestans diebus locis infra scriptis viz. die sabbati xxix die mensis Januarii anno praedicto circa mercatum ville de Wyndesour nova ubi quando fuerit populi multitudo die dominica extunc sequenti viz. ultimo die mensis ejusdem circa Ecclesiam parochialem beatae Mariae Rading die Sabbati quinto die Februarii circa mercatum de Newbery die dominica extunc sequenti circa Ecclesiam parochialem ibidem die dominica prima quadragesime in Ecclesia Cathedrali Sarum die martis extunc sequente circa mercatum ibidem caeterisque diebus diversis per loca scil per Monasteria de Serne Milton Abbottesbery Abyndon Shirborn necnon circa Mercatum ibidem Sarum Diocaeseos coram processionibus circa Ecclesias Monasteria loca praedicta aut in eisdem locis prout aeris temperies permiserit ut moris est faciendis more humilis poenitentis incederet finitisque hujusmodi processionibus vel cum ab aliquo Curatorum hujusmodi Ecclesiarum sive locorum proceditur ad pulpitum quibusdam literis in Anglico scriptis errores opiniones dampnabiles praedicti Augustini ipsius Abjuracionem in se continentibus lectis declaratis per ipsum Augustinum alta intelligibili voce sua declarando exponendo recitando ac confitendo publicè prout in eisdem literis continetur de qua quidem poenitentia per ipsum Augustinum bene fideliter peracta prout sibi mandatum fâ—erit per curatos alios de quibus supra sit mencio praefatus Reverendus Pater Dominus plenarie sufficienter fuerit certificatus unde postea idem Reverendus Pater in tempore certificationis hujusmodi sibi factae in complementum poenitentiae suae injunxit quod singulis diebus vitae suae coram Ymagine crucifixi genuflectendo diceret devote quinquies oracionem Dominicam quinquies salutationem Angelicam semel Symbolum Apostolorum quod injuncto die parassephes vigiliis beatae Mariae per unum annum integrum immediate sequentem in pane aqua Item quod lapso termino ...... dierum per dictum Reverendum Patrem assignato ad villam de Newbery vel ad aliquem locum situatum infra septem milliaria à villa de Newbery praedictâ non accideret nisi ex licentia praefati Reverendi Patris petita primitus obtenta FINIS Books lately printed for Richard Chiswell THE fifteen Notes of the Church as laid down by Cardinal Bellarmin examined and confuted by several London Divines 4 to With a Table to the whole The Texts which the Papists cite out of the Bible for Proof of the Points of their Religion examined and shew'd to be alledged without Ground In twenty five distinct Discourses by several London Divines with a Table to the whole and the Authors Names The Lay Christian's Obligation to read the Holy Scriptures By Dr. Stratford now Lord Bishop of Chester Some Remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of Piedmont By Peter Allix D. D. 4 to Reflections upon the Books of the Holy Scripture to establish the Truth of the Christian Religion In two Parts 8 vo By the same Author The Judgments of God upon the Roman Catholick Church from its first rigid Laws for universal Conformity to it unto its last End With a Prospect of these near approaching Revolutions viz. 1. The Revival of the Protestant Profession in an eminent Kingdom where it was totally suppressed 2. The last End of all Turkish Hostilities 3. The general Mortification of the Power of the Roman Church in all Parts of its Dominions Geologia Or a Discourse concerning the Earth before the Deluge wherein the Form and Properties ascribed to it in a Book intituled The Theory of the Earth are excepted against And it is made appear That the Dissolution of that Earth was not the Cause of the Universal Flood Also a new Explication of that Flood is attempted By Erasmus Warren Rector of Worlington in Suffolk 4 to The present State of Germany or an Account of the Extent Rise Form Wealth Strength Weaknesses and Interests of that Empire The Prerogatives of the Emperour and the Priviledges of the Electors Princes and Free Cities adapted to the present Circumstances of that Nation By a Person of Quality 8 vo Memoirs of what past in Christendom from the War begun 1672 to the Peace concluded 1679. 8 vo V. CL. Gulielmi Camdeni illustrium virorum ad G. Camdenum Epistolae Cum Appendice varii Argumenti Accesserunt Annalium Regni Regis Jacobi I. Apparatus Commentarius de Antiquitate Dignitate Officio Comitis Marescalli Angliae Praemittitur G. Camdeni vita Scriptore Thoma Smitho S. T. D. Ecclesiae Anglicanae Presbytero Euseb l. 4. c. 20. Praefat. in Zechariam T. 7. B. P. pag. 170. Pag. 173. Pag. 210. Pag. 211. Pag. 212. Pag. 219. cap. 8. Ibid. cap. 9. Pag. 234. Dial. c. 1. Pag. 235. Dia. c. 3. ad finem Pag. 253. Pag. 254. Ibid. T. 4. B. P. pag. 72 73. Pag. 78. cap. 39. Ibid. Pag. 79. c. ante penult Ibid. Institut Caenob lib. 4. cap. 10. Ibid. lib. 7. cap. 1. Lib. 7. cap. 16. Collat. 8. cap. 3. Inst Caenob l. 5. cap. 14. Ibid. lib. 5. cap. 34. De incar lib. 7. cap. 4. Collat. 20. c. 8. Collat. 21. cap. 30. Lib. 3. pag. 64. T. 5. B. P. Ibid. pag. 68. Pag. 72. Lib. 6. pag. 103. Lib. 5. pag. 94. Lib. 8. pag. 125. Lib. 7. pag. 114. Pag. 142. ad Ec. Cath. Lib. 1. Pag. 148. ad Ec. Lib. 2. Comment de Ordine Rom. pag. 139. B. P. T. 1. pag. 134. Pag. 141. Pag. 147. Pag. 157. Pag. 153. Cod. 54. T. 1. disp 91. cap. 11. Dimid Temp. cap. 6. Vpon Psal 120. T. 2. B. P. pag. 148. Rom. 8. Book 2. chap. 4. Pag. 726. Lib. de Creat Pag. 598. Pag. 278. Homil. 8. pag. 282. T. 3. B. Patr. pag. 381. Ep. 3. ad