concerning the Eucharist that the Papists have never been able to return any pertinent Answer to it save only this that the Passage we quote is supposititious The Person we speak of is Christianus Druthmarus Monk of Corbie whom it seems God was willing to oppose to the corrupt Notions of Paschasius Radbertus his Abbot The Passage is this And as they were at supper Jesus took Bread and blessed it and brake it After that he had fulfilled the Command concerning the old Passover and put an end to the old Shadows he makes a beginning of new Grace and of a new Sacrifice He took Bread which strengthens the Heart of Man and which doth most of all support Mens Bodies and in it placeth the Sacrament of his Love but much more doth that spiritual Bread fully strengthen and comfort all sorts of Creatures because in him we move and have our Being First he blessed it because in himself who was Man he blessed all Mankind for having taken humane Nature upon him from the Blessed Virgin he thereby demonstrated that the Blessing and Power of the Divine Immortality was really therein He brake the Bread himself because he voluntarily offer'd up himself to suffer and that he might fill and satisfy us he made no difficulty to break the Mansion of his Soul as himself said I have Power to lay down my Life and have Power to take it up again And gave it to his Disciples and said Take eat this is my Body He gave to his Disciples the Sacrament of his Body for the Remission of Sins and Preservation of Charity that they remembring this Act of his might always perform that in a Figure which he was now about to do for them and might not forget that This is my Body that is in the Sacrament And he took the Cup and gave Thanks and gave it to them saying Forasmuch as amongst all sorts of Food Bread and Wine are found to be the most effectual to strengthen and refresh our weak Bodies he with good reason thought fit by these two to ratify and confirm the Ministry of his Sacrament for Wine not only exhilarates but also encreases Blood and therefore is the Blood of Christ very properly typified thereby because whatsoever comes to us from him doth enliven us with a true Joy and encreaseth all our good And lastly As when a Person that is to take a far Journey leaves to his Friends that love him some Pledg or Token of his Love upon this Condition that they use it every day that they may not forget him So likewise hath God commanded us having spiritually changed his Body into Bread and the Wine into Blood by these two to remember what he hath done for us with his Body and Blood and not to be unthankful to his most endearing Love and Charity And because Water is mingled with the Sacrament of his Blood it represents his People for whom he was pleased to die And neither is the Wine without Water nor the Water without Wine because as he died for us so must we die for him or for our Brethren that is for the Church Wherefore also Water and Blood came forth from his Body And whereas he saith This is my Blood of the New Testament this is added in contradistinction to that of the Old Testament which by the Blood of Goats could not purge away Sin from those who were still in bondage to Sin But I say unto you I will not drink henceforth of this Fruit of the Vine until that day when I shall drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom The Vine is Judaea the Wine that of the Patriarchs Prophets and other Elect. For till that time Judaea had brought forth Clusters of Grapes from whence Wine flowed forth that is Works done in Faith but from the Death of our Lord wild Grapes only until the time that Enoch and Elias shall carry them up into the Kingdom that is the Church of Christ at the end of the World Or else more simply the Words may be thus taken That from the hour of his supping with his Disciples he would drink no more Wine until he was become immortal and incorruptible after his Resurrection Whereas also he was pleased not to administer the Sacrament of his Body and Blood to his Disciples till after they had supp'd and that we are not commanded to take it Fasting this may be the reason the Lord had a mind to shew that the figurative Testament was only commanded till the true was come and he had now put an end to the Old Testament and instituted a New One and therefore it was that he celebrated the Old before the New The Apostles also for a long time continued the same Custom and after their other Food took this by the Lord 's Appointment but afterwards when many Jews came to communicate it was enjoined in a Synod that every one if he was cleansed from other Sins should first take the Repast of Spiritual Bread before he took that of the Temporal This place which contains an exact Commentary upon the Institution of the Holy Supper has much enrag'd the Papists and they have wrested it into all Senses to avoid the threatning Blow Sixtus Senensis tells us that in another Copy after the words This is my Body that is in a Sacrament was added truly subsisting But this Copy was never yet produc'd though they who reprinted the Work of Druthmarus in the Bibliotheca Patrum of the Cologne Edition have been pleas'd to put this Falsification of Sixtus Senensis in the Margent Cardinal Perron who was as able as any Man of France to justify the fair dealing of Sixtus Senensis in the business of this Manuscript of Lions but did not care to concern himself about it hath boldly maintained that he might with the more ease slip his Neck out of the Collar that this Passage of Druthmarus had been corrupted by the Protestants But it hath already shewn that the Edition published in 1514 by Wimfelingius before Luther begun to write against Leo X. of which the Reverend Dr. Tenison hath a Copy in his Library with the Priviledg of the Emperor Maximilian and the Arms of Pope Leo X. contains this Passage whole and entire So that it is obvious to judge that Druthmarus who was born in Aquitain taught nothing at Corbie but what he had learned from his Infancy and that which was the common Doctrine before Paschasius had undertaken to publish his Extravagancies which he did not till the year of our Lord 835. We ought also here to take notice of an Action that hapned in this Century concerning the Eucharist In the year 844 Bernard Earl of Barcelona and Duke of Septimania made a Treaty with King Charles the Bald near the City of Tholouse in the Abby of St. Saturninus where they mingled the Blood of the Eucharist with some Ink to sign the Treaty they had agreed upon The thing has been published by the famous Baluzius
Baptism We may observe likewise that as he recommends to Believers the consideration of these Words sursum Corda at the Moment of their receiving these Mysteries so he doth not own that any receive the Body of Christ besides those that fear him and who by Faith are made the Sanctuary of God thus he argues in his Commentaries upon Psal 21 132. As for Faustus Bishop of Riez whatever Contests he had with those who defended the Doctrine of St. Augustin in the matter of Grace which made Pope Gelasius condemn his Writings yet certain it is that France has always had the highest esteem for him possible and his Name is registred in the Catalogue of her Saints in the Roman Martyrology till it was expunged by Molanes in the last Century Neither hath this hindred but that to this Day he is honoured and prayed unto as a Saint in the Diocess of Riez His Doctrine is as follows 1. He rejects the Merits of good Works and Works of Supererrogation as particularly as if he had had an Eye to the Papists Wherefore saith he though we endeavour with all Labours of Soul and Body though we exercise our selves with all the might of our Obedience yet nothing of all this is of sufficient Worth to be rendred or offer'd up by us as a deserving Recompence for Heavenly-good Things No temporal Obedience whatsoever can be equivalent to the Joys of Eternal Life Though our Limbs may be wearied with Watchings and our Faces discolour'd with Fastings yet when all is done the Sufferings of this time will never be worthy to be compared with that Glory which shall be revealed in us He discourseth much at the same rate concerning Grace and Free-will 2. We see clearly that he did not own the Existence of the Body of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist in the manner of a Spirit because he maintains all Creatures to be corporeal and that the Soul is distinctly in a certain place because if it were otherwise we must conclude it to be every where That which is very strange is that Mamertus who hath refuted him doth yet more directly thwart this Doctrine of Rome by the various Hypotheses which he proposeth when he confutes this Faustus Bishop of Riez But this Century hath detain'd me too long I proceed now therefore to consider the State of these Diocesses in the Sixth Century CHAP. VI. The State of these Diocesses in the Sixth Century WE do not find so many Authors of these Diocesses in the Sixth Century as we have had in the foregoing but however those we have of them are sufficient to inform us what their State was I begin with St. Caesarius Bishop of Arles who assisted at the Council of Agde in the year 502 and died in 542 so that he reach'd almost the middle of this Century This great Man fully represents the Notion that he had of the Eucharist when he shews that in Baptism there is the same Change and the same Presence of the Blood of Jesus Christ which he owns in the Eucharist as appears in his 4 th and 5 th Homily But in his 7 th Homily he speaks in such a manner as needs no Commentary And therefore since he was now about to withdraw his assumed Body from our Eyes and carry it up to Heaven it was needful that the same day he should consecrate for us the Sacrament of his Body and Blood that he might continually be remembred by the Mystery which was once offer'd up for our Redemption that so seeing his Intercession for the Salvation of Man was daily and continual the offering up of our Redemption might be perpetual also that this everlasting Sacrifice might live in our Memory and be always present by Grace 2. Though he speaks of the Eucharist as changed into the Body of Jesus Christ by the Power of God yet he maintains that it is by Faith and by the Acts of Understanding that we can partake thereof See how he speaks to a Christian who hath been regenerated by Baptism Wherefore as without any bodily feeling having laid aside what before thou esteemedst advantageous thou art suddenly become clothed with a new Dignity and as it is not thy Eyes but thy Understanding that persuades thee that God hath healed what was wounded in thee blotted out thy Sins and wash'd away thy Stains so when thou goest up to the venerable Altar to be satisfied with Food thou may'st see the sacred Body and Blood of thy God by Faith admire it with Reverence reach it with thy Mind receive it with thy Heart and above all take it in with thy Soul 3. He expresly asserts that the Body which the Priest distributes is as well in a little Part as in the Whole which agrees only with the Sacrament and not with the natural Body of Jesus Christ 4. He maintains that the Oblation of the Bread and Wine made by Melchizedeck did typically signify the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ which is absolutely false if it be true that the Consecration destroys the Nature of the things offered as the Church of Rome believes Hear what he saith He therefore in Melchizedeck whose Genealogy or Original was unknown to those of that time by the offering of Bread and Wine did foreshew this Sacrifice of Christ of whom the Prophet pronounceth Thou art a Priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedeck And Blessed Moses also speaking of this Mystery signifies the Wine and Blood with one Word Long before pointing at the Lord's Passion in the Blessing of the Patriarch he shall wash his Garment in Wine and his Clothes in the Blood of the Grape Mark how evidently it appears that the Creature Wine is called the Blood of Christ Consider what thou art further to enquire concerning this twofold Species seeing the Lord himself witnesseth Except saith he you shall eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood ye have no Life in you which Testimony is a most evident and strong Argument against the Blasphemies of Pelagius who impiously presumes to maintain that Baptism ought to be conferred upon Infants not to obtain Life but to attain the Kingdom of Heaven For by these Words of our Lord pronounced by the Evangelist You shall not have Life in you is plainly understood that every Soul that hath not been baptized is not only deprived of Glory but Life also Lastly In the same Sermon he saith in Conformity with the Notion of St. Cyprian about the Mixture of the Water with the Wine in the Chalice that by the Water is represented the Figure of the Nations and by the Wine the Blood of the Passion of our Saviour which supposeth the Subsistence of the Wine as well as of the Water and utterly overthrows the Doctrine of Transubstantiation 2. He overturns the Notion of the Romish Purgatory and follows here also the Sentiments of those of the Ancients who removed Purgatory to the last Day of Judgment
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
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
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
and an obedient Servant of the Pope as having been educated in the Church of Rome in the which he was resolved to live and die That if he was offended that such Persons as were Enemies to the Pope had been tolerated in his Territories that this ought not to be imputed to him because he had no other Subjects but such as his deceased Father had left him and that in this his Minority and during the short time that he had been Master of his Estate he had neither been able by reason of his Incapacity to discern the Evil or to suit a Remedy to it though indeed this was his Intention and that he hoped for the time to come to give all manner of Satisfaction to the Pope and the Church of Rome as became an obedient Son of both The Pope's Legat's Answer was That all his Excuses should be of no Use to him and that he might shift for himself the best he could The Earl of Beziers being returned to the City called the People together and represented to them that after having submitted himself to the Pope's Legate he had interceded for them without being able to obtain any thing but a Pardon upon condition that those who professed the Faith of the Albigenses should abjure their Religion and promise to live according to the Laws of the Church of Rome The Roman Catholicks beseeched them to give way to this extream Violence and not to be the cause of their Death because the Legate was resolved not to pardon one of them except they all unanimously resolved to live under the same Laws To which the Albigenses answered That they would never forsake their Faith for the base Price of this frail Life That they were well assured that God could protect them if it seemed good unto him but withal neither were they ignorant that if he rather chose to be glorified by the Confession of their Faith it would be an exceeding Honour to them to die for Righteousness sake That they had much rather displease the Pope who could only destroy their Bodies than offend God who could destroy Body and Soul together That they detested the Thought of being ashamed of or denying that Faith by which they had learn'd to know Christ and his Righteousness and for fear of eternal Death to imbrace a Religion which intirely takes away the Merit of Jesus Christ and destroys his Righteousness that therefore they might make the best terms for themselves they could without promising any thing that was contrary to the Duty of true Christians As soon as the Roman Catholicks understood this they sent their Bishop to the Legate to beseech him not to comprehend them in the same Punishment with the Albigenses they having always adhered to the Church of Rome and of whom he who was their Bishop had good Knowledg judging also that the rest had not gone so far from the ways of Repentance but that they might be reduced by a Sweetness well becoming the Church which takes no Delight in shedding Blood The Legate being enraged at this with horrible Threats and Oaths protested That except all that were in the Town did acknowledg their Fault and submit themselves to the Church of Rome they should all be put to the Sword without any regard had to Catholicks to Sex or Age but that all should be exposed to Fire and Sword and immediately commanded the City to be summoned to surrender at Discretion which being refused he commanded all the warlike Engines to play and to discharge their Instruments and to cast Stones ordering them at the same time to give a general Assault and to scale the City round so that it was impossible for those within to sustain the shock for being press'd upon by above 100000 Pilgrims they at last saith the Compiler of the Treasure of Histories discomfited those within the City and entring in all at once killed vast numbers of all sorts and afterwards putting Fire to the City they burnt it to Ashes When the Town was taken the Priests Monks and Clerks came in Procession out of the great Church of Beziers called St. Nazari with the Banner Cross and Holy Water bare-headed clothed in their Ecclesiastical Vestments singing Te Deum in token of their rejoicing for the City's being taken and purged of the Albigenses But the Pilgrims who had received an express Order from the Legate to kill all rushed in amongst this Procession cutting off the Heads and Arms of the Priests striving who could do most till they were all cut to pieces These Cruelties exercised upon the City of Beziers upon the Papists themselves yea and upon their very Clergy having opened the Earl of Beziers his Eyes to see that the Pope under the Pretence of Religion had a mind to ruin the Earl of Tholouse his Uncle as well as himself he shut up himself in his City of Carcasson with a Resolution to defend it against the Legate and his Pilgrims The King of Arragon his Kinsman having discoursed with him the Earl plainly declared That he knew this to be the Pope's Design because when he was treating for his Subjects of Beziers he refused to receive his Catholick Subjects into his Favour nay would not so much as spare the Priests who were all cut in pieces in their Sacerdotal Ornaments under the Banner and the Cross that this Example of cruel Impiety joined with what they exercised upon the Village of Carcasson where they had exposed all to Fire and Sword without any Distinction of Age or Sex had fully convinced him that there was no Mercy to be look'd for from the Legate or his Pilgrims and that accordingly he would choose rather to die with his Subjects defending themselves than to be exposed to the Mercy of an inexorable Enemy such as he had found the Legate to be and though there were in the City of Carcasson many of his Subjects of a Belief contrary to that of the Church of Rome yet that they were Persons that had never done any Injury to any one that they had always assisted him in time of need and that for this their good Service he was resolved never to abandon them as they on their Parts had promised him to hazard Life and Estate in his Defence That he hoped that God who is the Reliever of those who are oppressed would assist them against this great Multitude of ill-advised Men who under the Pretence of meriting Heaven had quitted their own Habitations to come and burn pillage ravage and murder in the Habitations of others without either Reason Judgment or Mercy The King of Arragon returned with this Remonstrance to the Legat who assembled a great number of Lords and Prelats to hear what he had to say who declared to them that he had found the Earl of Beziers his Ally extreamly scandalized at their inhuman Proceedings against his Subjects of Beziers and of the Village of Carcasson and that he was fully perswaded seeing they had neither spared
speaking of the Power of St. Peter saith That the same is also granted to those who imitate him because all those that follow the Foot-steps of St. Peter can also lawfully bind and loose Lastly It is said in Malachy Chap. 2. I will curse your Blessings And in Ezekiel Chap. 13. Wo to those that quicken the dead Souls and who declare those dead that don't die If God say the Hereticks do curse the Blessing of wicked Pastors and declares that the Souls which they pretend to quicken do not live how can he communicate his Grace through their Channel The ninth Heresy is professed by the same Hereticks who maintain that it is neither the Office nor the Order but only the Merit of a good Life which confers the Power of binding and loosing of consecrating and blessing so that this is their Conclusion the Merit of a good and holy Life say they is of greater Efficacy to confer upon any one the Right of consecrating and blessing of binding and loosing than the Order or Office and therefore they have not received any Orders yet they believe themselves to be just and to have the Merits of the Apostles and so they take upon them to bless as the Priests do and say That they can consecrate bind and loose because it is the Merit and not the Office that confers this Power And because they pretend to be the Apostles Vicegerents they say that their Merit gives them this Charge In this it is that they chiefly oppose the Faith of the Church and declare themselves to be Hereticks But they endeavour to defend their Heresy by the Authority of Esicius who saith That the Priests do not bless by their own Authority but only because they represent Jesus Christ and that it is because Christ is in them that they can bestow their plenary Benediction And they say moreover that not only a Priest but every one that hath Christ in himself and represents him in his Life as Moses did has the Power of conferring Blessings The tenth Heresy is likewise taught by the same Hereticks who maintain that the Dispensations or Indulgences which a Bishop grants at the Consecration of a Church or upon any other occasion are not of any Value Their Reason is this Suppose say they that a Man be obliged to a Penance of three Years at the Consecration of a Church and one Bishop releases him of a third part of his Penance a second and third Bishop may do the like and thus for three Half-pence a Man shall be released of this three Years Penance And which is more these sorts of Dispensations are unjust for there is no Proportion between a Half-penny or a Crown and one whole Years Penance The eleventh Heresy is That the Prayers which are made for the Dead by those who are in any mortal Sin are unprofitable For say these Hereticks how can these Prayers do any Service to the Dead since they can do none at all to those who make them Can Prayers which are hurtful to them that make them be of any Advantage to the Person for whom they are designed Item in 3 q. in gravioribus it is said When a Judg is sollicited for his Favour to a Malefactor by any one that he hath no liking to it serves only to incense him so much the more and to make him pronounce a more severe Sentence So in like manner if any Man prays without Devotion it is the same thing as if he desired his own Condemnation for how can any Man whose very Prayer is Sin obtain by that Prayer any good thing for his Neighbour Or how can he whose Prayer deserves nothing at the Hand of God but Punishment pray profitably for another seeing God saith to the Sinner Psalm 49. What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes or why dost thou take my Covenant into thy Mouth They call also Reason to their Assistance When a Priest say they celebrates the Mass he being in mortal Sin the Action that he doth is evil and deserves eternal Punishment and by Consequence he cannot merit for another the Pardon of his Sins because it is impossible to merit Good and Evil Reward and Punishment by the self-same Action They quote the Canon-Law also which forbids us to assist at the Mass of a Priest who we are sure keeps a Concubine They prove likewise by another Authority that Men ought not to pray or sing Psalms in the Church as long as they are under mortal Sin The twelfth Heresy is of those who deny Purgatory and who say that it is a meer Invention of the Church to make the People give Alms and Offerings and to be at the charge of pompous Funerals for the Souls of the deceased or other things of that Nature I confess he does not mention the Albigenses by Name and that he confounds these pretended Heresies of the Albigenses with others that are much more hainous and some that were peculiar to some few Monks and that he attributes some of them in particular to the Vaudois as if they had been proper to them only But one may justly imagine that this Monk who compiled this Work from the Writings of other Monks or Doctors of the Church of Rome had his Eye upon the Albigenses because he acquaints us that he follows Alanus and that he copies his Arguments Now we know that Alanus wrote against the Waldenses and Albigenses as the manuscript Titles of his Books inform us though like the Author of the Fortalitium fidei he confounds them in his Treatise with the Arians Manichees and other pernicious Hereticks to render the Waldenses and Albigenses suspected of defending all those Heresies which he opposes It may be thought strange perhaps that this Monk did not imitate Alanus in attributing to the Albigenses the rejecting of Transubstantiation and the Consequents thereof but the Wonder will cease if we consider that he designed hereby to deprive the Jews against whom he disputes of an Advantage which they might reasonably draw from some Christians rejecting that Opinion though they owned Jesus Christ to be the Messiah and the Books of the New Testament to be of Divine Authority at the same time and therefore he rather chose to refute the Arguments against Transubstantiation as coming from the Mouths of the Jews than as Objections made by the Albigenses And indeed except the tenth Argument of the Jews against Transubstantiation which supposes the Christians who teach this Doctrine to be no better than brute Beasts as not having Sense enough to know that Jesus Christ being a Jew by Birth could not by the Circumstances of his Institution of the Eucharist intend any thing but a figurative meaning as opposed to a real and that his Apostles being Jews likewise could not form any other meaning in all this Ceremony but such as was figurative there is scarce any other which this Monk hath not borrowed from the Disputes which the Albigenses and Vaudois have held with those