that time to treat the Albigenses as Manichees and to confound them with those Hereticks whereas their Faith was very opposite to that of the Manichees for in his Refutation he huddles them altogether without almost any Distinction though their Principles were very different It seems he made use of this way that he might make use of his common places the better or else he did it to avoid frequent Repetitions In the first place therefore Alanus refutes the Manichees who asserted that there were two Principles whereof the one was Good the other Evil and maintained that the evil God had created the World of whom also some affirmed that the Souls of Men were Apostate Angels who should be saved after their Abode in humane Bodies and that the Souls of the Patriarchs had no share in the Salvation of Jesus Christ They held likewise that Jesus Christ did not take upon him a true Body and that he never eat or drunk They believed that the Body of Man was the Workmanship of the Devil and that it should not rise again and they seemed to think that Souls perished with their Bodies He refutes some who though they believed the Flesh of Jesus Christ yet denied him to be the Son of God others who maintained that Jesus Christ had taken a celestial Body that the Virgin had been created in Heaven and had neither Father nor Mother He takes up the first 34 Chapters of his first Book in confuting these Opinions Afterwards in his 35 th Chapter he refutes the Opinion of those who pretended that the Law of Moses was published by the Devil and that the Fathers of the Old Testament were all damned As to the Sacraments whereof he treats from the 39 th Chapter he owns that some of those Hereticks whom he opposeth in general absolutely rejected Baptism these were Manichees that others denied the Efficacy of it to Infants denying Original Sin that others again believed it unprofitable to Children and only useful for those of riper Years and he disputes against every one of these Opinions In Chapter 45 he disputes against those who denied Baptism to be useful without the Imposition of Hands Afterwards he confutes those that maintained that we ought not after having obtained the Pardon of our Sins in Baptism hope to obtain the same Grace a second time by Repentance which obliged them to excommunicate those who relapsed into their Sins after Baptism which they proved from the 6 th and 10 th Chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews and because Penance was no more to be reiterated than Baptism or Orders It seems that these Albigenses had a Discipline like that which prevailed in the Church before the Council of Carthage in Tertullian's time where they never admitted to the Communion those who had committed any great Crimes after their Baptism In the 50 th Chapter he attacks other Hereticks who asserted that Penance did not procure Remission of Sins because it is God alone that can pardon Sins One sees plainly enough what they meant especially because he adds that they believed it was sufficient to confess their Sins to God which they proved by the Authorities of St. Ambrose St. Maximus and St. Chrysostom He says that these Hereticks denied Transubstantiation 'T is worth observing to see with what Force and Subtilty they disputed against this Doctrine I shall produce the Arguments themselves of the Albigenses which Alanus endeavours to confute Et hoc sic probare conantur Si singulis diebus panis in corpus Christi mutaretur illud in infinitum augeretur Quaerunt etiam utrum ille panis desinat esse si desinit esse adnihilatur ita etiam corrumpitur Item quaerunt quomodo corpus tantae quantitatis intrat per os hominis Item si corpus Christi comeditur dentibus atteritur ita in partes dividitur Item panis fit corpus Christi ergo erit corpus Christi ita aliud quam sit Item panis fiet corpus ergo de pane fiet corpus Christi sic de pane erit materia corporis Christi Item post Transubstantiationem remanent accidentia ergo in alio subjecto vel in Aēre sed si in Aëre aliqua pars Aëris est rotunda sapida secundum quod illa forma defertur per diversa loca mutant accidentia subjectum Item in eadem parte Aëris manent illa accidentia illa soliditas est in Aëre cum illa sint solida sic Aër solidus est Ex his videtur quod accidentia illa non sint in Aëre sed nec in corpore Christi sunt nec est assignare aliquid corpus in quo sint ergo non videntur remanere accidentia Item cum forma illa sub quâ latet corpus Christi dividatur in partes sub illa formâ desinit corpus Christi quomodo ergo sub singulis portionibus illius Hostiae datur corpus Christi Item si corpus Christi latet sub illâ exiguá formâ ubi est Christi caput vel pes Et ita indistincta sunt membra illius Item Christus dedit suum corpus discipulis ante Passionem sed dedit eis mortale vel immortale si immortale dedit sed tunc erat mortalis ergo quando erat mortalis immortalis erat quod est impossibile Item ponatur quod aliquis celebraverit divina tempore passionis Christi corpus existens Romae passum fuisset Romae quia ubicunque erat patiebatur tempore passionis sic non patiebatur tantum in Hierusalem sed in multis aliis locis Item ponatur quod mus accedat ad Pyxidem in quâ est Christi corpus mus aliquid comedit ergo Aëra vel accidens vel corpus sed quòd comedat Aëra vel accidens absurdum est magis absurdum quod comedat corpus Christi Item cum sanguis Christi glorificatus sit nec faciat localem distantiam videtur quod Calice repleto sanguine alius liquor possit infundi Item Christus ait in Evangelio Omne quod in os intrat in secessum emittitur Ergo Christi corpus non intrat quando ad manducandum datur nec in secessum emittitur And this they endeavour to prove thus If the Bread every Day should be changed into the Body of Christ it would be infinitely increased They inquire also whether the Bread cease to be If it ceaseth to be then is it annihilated and so it is spoiled Also they ask How a Body of so great a Bulk can enter into the Mouth of a Man Whether the Body of Christ be eaten chew'd with Teeth and consequently divided into parts Whether the Bread becomes the Body of Christ because then it will be the Body of Christ that is to say something else than it is Whether the Bread becomes the Body and if so then Bread is the Body of Christ and so Bread will be the matter of Christ's Body Also after Transubstantiation the Accidents do
to the Priests of the Church of Rome is wholly unprofitable and that neither the Pope nor any one else in the Romish Church can absolve any Man of Sin but that they have power to absolve all those from their Sins who will join themselves to their Sect by the Laying on of Hands This last Clause is also laid to the charge of the Vaudois viz. That they have Power from God alone as the Apostles had to hear Confessions both of Men and Women that believe them and of imposing Penance upon such as confess to them as Fasting and several Repetitions of the Lord's Prayer whereupon they absolve their Penitents and that this Absolution and Penance is as available to the Salvation of their Souls as if they had been confessed to their own Priest That here is some wresting or mutilation of the Opinion of the Vaudois is manifest from the Confession of a certain Woman who as we read declared her Faith to this purpose That God alone forgives Sin and that he to whom Confession of Sins is made gives only his Advice what the Person ought to do and so enjoins Penance which any wise and prudent Man may do whether he be a Priest or no. That the Opinions of the Albigenses that were proper to them were that there be two Lords the one Good and the other Evil That the Body of Christ is not in the Eucharist but only meer Bread That Baptism is of no use One of the Albigenses was said to believe that the Baptism of Water celebrated by the Church stands Infants in no stead because they did not consent to the Sacrament but cried at the receiving of it I believe saith he who examined these Acts that they denied Baptism to be the Instrument of Regeneration or perhaps they might be against Infant-Baptism That an external Anointing of the Sick with material Oil was of no use That the Orders of the Church of Rome had no Power of binding and loosing since they themselves who conferred them were great Sinners That Marriage is always join'd with Sin and never can be without Sin and that it could never have been instituted by the good God That our Lord did not assume a real humane Body and true Flesh of our Nature and that he did not truly but only in Likeness rise again in the same and perform the other Works of our Salvation and that he never really ascended to the right-hand of the Father They deny the Resurrection of the Body but in the Declaration of Petrus Anterius a chief Teacher amongst them this is more clearly and distinctly explained that they feign that certain spiritual Bodies and a certain internal Man should rise again in such sort of Bodies And elsewhere they express themselves that though the Souls of Men shall come to Judgment yet they shall not come in their own Bodies They said that the Souls of Men were Spirits which fell from Heaven for their Sins so that they seem to have believ'd the pre-existence of Souls Man they say must not worship what he eats Moreover it is ascribed to them that they believe Man is saved by the Laying on of Hands which they confer on their Believers and that by the same means all Sins are forgiven without Confession and Satisfaction That they can bestow the Holy Ghost for Salvation upon those whom they receive That the Virgin Mary never was a carnal Woman but their Church which they say is true Repentance and that this is the Virgin Mary The very Obscurity of these Words shews that this Opinion is wrested because it is better exprest in another place thus That God never entred the Womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary and that he only is the Mother Brother and Sister of God who keeps the Commandments of God the Father These are said to be the Doctrines of the Albigenses whereof none are ascribed to the Waldenses but others different from these whereof we find no mention made in the Opinions of the Albigenses and they are these That all Judgment is forbid by God and that it is contrary to the divine Prohibition for any Judg in any Cause whatsoever to judg or sentence any Man to Punishment or Death That Indulgencies granted by the Prelats of the Church of Rome are of no use or efficacy That there is no Purgatory for Souls after this Life and that consequently the Prayers and Suffrages of Believers for the Dead are of no use to them That the Soul when it departs from the Body goes either to Paradise or Hell That there are no more than three Orders in the Church of Bishops Priests and Deacons From these Acts it appears how much the Rites and Ceremonies of the Albigenses differed from those practis'd by the Vaudois Besides saith the Author of the Extract the Rites and Institutions of them both were very different Of the Albigenses there were two Sorts some who professed their Faith and Rites and they were called perfect or comforted others who had entred into a Covenant with the former Sort called Perfect which they call la Convenenza the Agreement that at the end of their Life they should be received by them into their Sect. This Reception is frequently called by them Exercise and is performed in this manner The Benedicite or the Blessing conferred upon one Molinerius when he was sick Bernard Goes one of the Albigenses held the Hands of the sick Person between his own Hands and besides held a certain Book over him wherein he read the Gospel of St. John In the Beginning was the Word and deliver'd to the sick Person a fine Thread to tie about him as a Mark that he was admitted into their Heresy upon some others it is said that they laid a white Linen Cloath and besides that many Genuflections were performed by the Bed-side This Reception was supposed to save the Soul of him who was received and was call'd a Spiritual Baptism or Consolation a Reception and a good End and sometimes a Melioration by means of which they believ'd that the Person was sanctified so that it was not lawful for a Woman to touch any one that was thus received Now because it might sometime happen that the Person thus received after his recovery might relapse into his former Defilements therefore they always deferr'd this Reception till the extreamest Weakness when there was no longer hopes of Life for fear they might afterward lose the Good they had received For which reason also some sick Persons amongst them though the Person who thus initiated them was already come yet were not received because they were not believed to be at the point of Death But they who were thus received in their Sickness were commanded to put themselves upon Hardship that is to hasten their own Death by abstaining from all Meat and there are several Examples of those who are said to have kill'd themselves not only with Fasting but by opening of a Vein wounding of themselves yea and
dead with the triumph of Merits but they are not to be ador'd with Divine Worship for that very reason because it is Divine Worship Seeing therefore saith he that God alone is to be worshipp'd the Martyrs and all other Saints are rather to be venerated than worshipped as we have said before in this Book And the same thing we meet with also cap. 28. towards the end 6. It appears clearly from what he saith concerning the means whereby we obtain Remission of Sins that he own'd no other Sacraments of the Church besides Baptism and the Eucharist for indeed he mentions only these two 7. He was so far from owning either the Infallibility of the Pope or of a Council which the Pope hath approved that he maintains it was a piece of Folly to look upon the 2 d Council of Nice as universal and calls it a Council of one Part of the Church only and he afterwards censures the Fathers of that Council for giving it the Title of Universal whereas it had been conven'd without the Participation and Consent of many Catholick Churches This Remark made such an Impression upon the Learned Jesuit Sirmondus that he seems not to own the second Council of Nice as a general Council 8. The Fathers of the second Nicene Council having made a Comparison between the Eucharist and Images and used these following Expressions which are not to be found at present in the Copies of that Council As the Body of our Saviour passeth from the Fruits of the Earth into an excellent Mystery so Images formed by the Industry of Artificers pass to the Veneration of those Persons according to whose Likeness they have been wrought Charlemain doth censure those who had made a Parallel between Images and the Eucharist in such a manner as shews that he knew nothing of Romish Transubstantiation He saith That the Eucharist is made by the Hand of the Priest and by calling upon the Name of God both Priest and People joining their Prayers in the Consecration thereof whereas Images stand in no need of Consecration but are made at the Discretion of the Painter He saith that Melchizedeck did not present an Image as a Type of the Body and Blood but Bread and Wine that Moses commanded a Lamb to be eaten as a Type of our Saviour wholly rejecting the Custom of worshipping Images That the Psalmist who sang that Men should eat the Bread of Angels that is Jesus Christ hath also declared that the Makers of Images are like unto the Images they have made That the Sacrament is of Divine Institution whereas the insolent Use of Images is not only without Scripture but also directly contrary to the Writings of the Old and New Testament That our Saviour never instituted the Memory of his Suffering to be kept up by the Works of Artificers and worldly Arts but by the Consecration of his Body and Blood that he was not willing that his Faith and his Confession should be express'd by Pictures but by the Mouth and the Heart We are carefully to take notice that the Authors of this Book who desired to exalt the Sacrament of the Eucharist with all their Might never give the least hint that Jesus Christ had instituted it to make it an Object of Adoration They say that the Eucharist according to the Judgment of St. Paul is preferable almost to every other Sacrament that it is made invisibly by the Spirit of God and consecrated by the Priest who calls upon God that it is carried by the Hands of Angels and laid upon the Altar of God in Heaven that it can neither increase nor be diminished that it is confirmed by the Old and New Testament that it is the Life and Nourishment of Souls that by its Manducation it leads to the Entrance of the Heavenly Kingdom that it can never be abolished no not in the time of Persecution and that no body can be saved without receiving of it Whereas Images are visibly made by the Hand of the Workman painted by the Art of the Painter placed on the Walls by the Hands of Men that by them if Men inconsiderately abuse them Sins are increased that they can increase and diminish in Beauty according to the Ability of the Workman that Age spoils them that they only feed the Eye that they only bring to remembrance things past by looking upon them that they may be spoiled by taking wet that they who keep to the true Faith are saved without having any Regard to Images And to exaggerate the Folly of their Anathema's pronounced against those that did not worship them they conclude that this Anathema strikes at the Saints of old of whom we never read that they adored them that the same was levell'd at the Martyrs who from the Baptismal Font passed immediately to the Kingdom of Heaven without any Adoration of Images and lastly that it is darted against little Infants who cannot worship them and of whom notwithstanding the Son of God saith Suffer little Children to come to me c. I own that Charlemain censureth Gregory Bishop of Neocaesaria for giving to the Eucharist the Name of the true Image of Jesus Christ For after having made out that no Artificer can form a true Image of Jesus Christ he adds when he speaks of the Eucharist That Jesus Christ did not offer up to God the Father for us in Sacrifice any Image or Prototype but himself and that he who of old had been foretold by visible Resemblances under the Shadow of the Law in the Immolation of the Lamb and in some other things as being the Sacrifice that was to be offered by truly accomplishing the things that had been prophesied of him in the Oracles of the Prophets did offer up himself to God the Father for a saving Sacrifice and bestowed upon us the Shadows of the Law being past away not some imaginary Sign but the Sacrament of his Body and of his Blood For the Mystery of the Blood and Body of our Lord must not now be called an Image but the Truth not the Shadow but the Body not a Type of things to come but that whith had been prefigured by the Types of old For now according to the Song of Songs the Day is risen and the Shadows are gone now Jesus Christ the End of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believes is come he hath now fully accomplished the Law Now upon those who sat in the Region of the Shadow of Death a great Light is risen Now the Vail is taken off from the Face of Moses and the Vail of the Temple being rent hath opened to us all Secrets and Things hid Now the true Melchizedeck Christ the King of Righteousness and King of Peace hath bestowed upon us not Sacrifices of Beasts but the Sacrament of his Body and of his Blood and hath not said This is the Image of my Body and of my Blood but This is my Body which shall