feripture; which letter was tranfmitted to Charles the great in the name of the bishops and other great men of the kingdom. Even in Italy (8) the council of Forojulio prefcribed the ufe of no other creed but that of the apoftles, fo that they had no conception of the neceffity of fo many additional articles, as have fince been made by pope Pius IV, and received by the church. Some even of the Italian bifhops affifted at the council of Francfort before mentioned, and particularly Paulinus bishop of Aquileia bore a principal part in it. t Popery prevailed ftill more in the ninth century, but yet not without confiderable oppofition. Not only (9) the emperors of the eaft, Nicephorus, Leo Armenius, Michael Balbus, Theophilus, and the emperors of the weft, Charles the great, and Lewis the pious, but also feveral prelates and ecclefiaftics, oppofed the abfolute power and fupremacy of the pope, together with the worship of images, and invocation of faints and angels. The capitularies and edicts of Charles the great and Lewis the pious (1) injoining the reading of the canonical fcripture as the fole rule of faith, without any regard to human traditions or apocryphal writings. Private maffes and pilgrimages, and other fuch fuperftitions (2) were forbidden by the fame capitularies. Lewis the pious held a council at Paris in the year 824, which (3) agreed with the council of Francfort in rejecting the fecond council of Nice, and forbidding the worship of images. Agobard, archbishop of Lyons, in his book againft pictures and images, maintains, that we ought not to adore any image of God, but only that which is God himself, even his eternal Son; and that there is no other mediator between God and men, fave Jefus Chrift God and man: fo that it is no wonder that this book is condemned in (3) Tom. 7. Concil. p. 1002, Allix's Remarks upon the ancient churches of Piedmont. Chap. 8. Spanhem. ibid. Cap. 9, 10. hem. Hift. Chriftian. Sect. IX. Cap. Sect. (9) Fred. Spanhemii Hift. Chrif- (3) Spanhem. ibid. Cap. 9. tian. Sæc. IX. Cap. 9. Mifcell. Sa- 3. Cap. 12. Se&t. 2. Hift. Imag. Sect. re Antiq. Lib. 6. Hift. Imag. 7, 8, 9. 9. Allix's Remarks upon the ancient (1) Capit. Aquifgranens. Span- churches of the Albigenfes, Chap. 9. the Index Expurgatorius of the church of Rome. It was in this century, that the doctrin of tranfubftantiation was -firft advanced here in the west by Pafchafius Radbertus abbat of Corbie in France; but it was ftrenuously oppofed by Rabanus Maurus, Bertramus, Johannes Scotus, and many other bifhops and learned men of that age. Rabanus Maurus, archbishop of Mentz, (4) paffes this cenfure upon the novelty of the doctrin; Some, fays he, of late not rightly conceiving concerning the facra'ment of the body and blood of our Lord, have affirm"ed that this is the very fame body of our Lord, which ' was born of the virgin Mary, and in which our Lord himfelf fuffered, &c.; which error we have opposed to the utmost of our power, &c.' He thus (5) expreffes his own fentiments; Qur Lord would have the facrament of his body and blood be taken and eaten by the faithful, that by a visible work an invifible effect might appear. For as the material food outwardly nourishes and refreshes the body, fo alfo the word of God inwardly nourishes and ftrengthens the foul.' Again; the facrament is reduced into the nourishment of the body, but by the virtue of the facrament eternal life is obtained.' Bertramus or Ratramnus as he is otherwife called, a monk of Corbie, wrote a book of the body and blood of our Lord, which he infcribed to the emperor Charles the bald. The emperor (6) had inquired of him, (4) Quidam nuper de ipfo facramento corporis et fanguinis Domini non recte fentientes, dixerunt hoc ipfum corpus Domini quod de Maria virgine natum eft, et in quo ipfe Dominus paffus eft, &c.; cui errori quantum potuimus, &c. Lib. Poenitent. Cap. 33. Spanhem. Hift. Chriftian. Sec. IX. Cap. 10. Sect. 4. (5) Maluit Dominus corporis et fanguinis fui facramenta fidelium ore percipi, et in partem [al. paftum] eorum redigi, ut per vifibile opus invifibilis oftenderetur effectus. Sicut enim cibus materialis forinfecus nutrit corps et vegetat, ita etiam verbum Dei intus animam nutrit et roborat. Sacramentum in alimentum corporis redigitur, virtute autem facramenti 3 æterna vita adipifcitur. Inftitut. Cleric. Lib. 1. Cap. 31. et de Univerfo Lib. 5. Cap. 11. Uffer. de Chriftian. Ecclef. fucceffione et ftatu. Cap. 2. Sect. 16. (6) Ubi quærenti imperatori utrúm ipfum corpus quod de Maria natum eft et paffum, mortuum et fepultum, quodque ad dexteram Patris confideat, fit quod ore fidelium per facramentorum myfterium in ecclefia quotidie fumitur refpondet Bertramus difcrimen inter utrumque effe tantum, quantum eft inter pignus, et eam rem pro qua pignus traditur; quantum inter imaginem, et rem cujus eft imago; et quantum inter fpeciem et veritatem. Uffer. ibid. Sect. 17. whether hether the fame body, which was born of Mary, and ffered, and was dead and buried, and which fitteth the right hand of the Father, is what is daily taken the mouth of the faithful by the mystery of the faament in the church :' and Bertram anfwers, that the erence between them is as great as between the edge, and the thing for which the pledge is delivered; great as between the image, and the thing whofe age it is; as great as between the reprefentation, nd the reality. He fays (7) in feveral places, that e bread and wine are figuratively the body of Chrift, iritually not corporally, in figure, in image, in myftery, ot in truth, or real exiftence, or prefence of the fubance.' Johannes Scotus, the famous Irifhman, for the h were the Scots of those times, (8) wrote alfo a book he eucharift by the command of Charles the bald: and rein he afferted, that the facrament of the altar is ot the true body, nor the true blood of our Lord, but nly the memorial of the true body and of the true lood.' He was after this invited into England by g Alfred, was preferred by him, and honored with title of martyr after his death; which is at least a ong prefumption, that the church of England had not that time received the doctrin of tranfubftantiation. Italy itself (9) Angilbertus, archbishop of Milan, uld not acknowledge the fupremacy of the pope, nor I the church of Milan fubmit to the fee of Rome till o hundred years afterwards. But no one was more ling, as indeed no one of that age was more able to m the torrent of fuperftition than Claud bishop of rin, in his numerous writings and comments upon ipture. He (1) afferted the equality of all the apof 1. 7) Ibi fusè Bertramus, Panem umque figuratè corpus Chrifti exe; fpiritualiter, non corporaliter; gura, in imagine, in myfterio; non veritate, fua reali exiftentia, vel fentia fubftantia, &c. Spanhem. 8) Sacramentum altaris non effe um corpus, nec verum fanguinem pin. IX. Siecle. Chap. 7. Cave. Hift. Litt. Ann. 858. p. 45. Vol. 2. Collier's Ecclefiaft. Hift. B. 3. p. 165. (9) Sigon. de Regn. Ital. Lib. 5. Ann. 844. Spanhem. ibid. Cap. 9. Sect. 1. (1) See thefe points proved by quo tations and extracts from his works in Dr. Allix his Remarks upon the an tles with St. Peter, and maintained that Jefus Chrift was the only head of the church. He overthrew the doctrin of merit and all pretences to works of fupererogation. He rejected traditions in matters of religion, held the church to be fubject to error, and denied the ufe of prayers for the dead. He propofed the doctrin of the eucharift in a manner totally different from Pafchafius Radbertus, and entirely conformable to the fenfe of the ancient church. He oppofed with all his might the worfhip of faints, of relics, of images, together with pilgrimages, penances, and other fuperftitions of the like kind. He may in a manner be faid to have fown the feeds of the Reformation in his diocese of Turin; and his doctrins took fuch deep root efpecially in the valleys of Piedmont, that they continued to florifh there for fome centuries, as the papift themfelves acknowlege. The tenth century even the writers of the Romish communion lament and defcribe as the moft debauched and wicked, the moft illiterate and ignorant age fince the coming of Chrift. Genebrard (2) fays This is called the unhappy age, being deftitute of men famous for wit and learning, as alfo of famous princes and popes; in which fearce any thing was done worthy of the memory of pofterity.' He fubjoins, But chiefly unhappy in this one thing, that for almoft 150 years about 50 popes totally degenerated from the virtue of their ancestors, being more like apoftates than apof'tles.' Baronius himfelf (3) denominates it an iron, a leaden, and obfcure age: and declares that Chrift was then, as it appears, in a very deep fleep, when the fhip I' (2) Infelix dicitur hoc fæculum, exhauftum hominibus ingenio et doctrina claris, fic etiam claris principibus; et pontificibus; in quo nihil tere dignum memoria pofteritatis geftum fit-Hoc vero uno infelix, quod per annos fere 150 pontifices circiter 50 a virtute majorum prorfus defecerint, Apotactici Apoftaticive potius quam Apoftolici. Genebrard. Chron. Lib. 4. In initio X Sæc. Uffer. de Chritian. Ecclef. fucceffione et ftatu. Cap. 2. Sect. 34. Spanhemii Hift. Chriftian. Sac. X. Cap. 3. Sect, 1. (3) En novum inchoatur fæculum, quod fui afperitate ac boni fterilitate ferreum, malique exundantis deformitate plumbeum, atque inopia fcriptorum appellari confuevit obfcurum. Baron. ad ann. 900. Dormiebat tunc planè alto (ut apparet) fopore Chriftus, cum navis fluctibus operiretur: Et quod deterius videbatur, de erant qui Dominum fic dormientem clamoribus excitarent difcipuli, ftertentibus omnibus. Ibid. ad ann. 912. Uffer. ibid. Spanhem. ibid. was was covered with waves; and what feemed worfe, when the Lord was thus afleep, there were wanting disciples who by their cries might awaken him, being themfelves all faft afleep.' It is not to be wondered, that in fo long and dark a night as this, while all were asleep, the futtle enemy fhould fow his tares in great abundance. However there were fome few like lights fhining in a dark place, who remonftrated against the degeneracy and fuperftition of the times. The refolutions and decrees of the councils of Franckfort and Paris againft the worship of images (4) had ftill fome force and influence in Germany, in France, in England, and other countries. In the former part of this century, in the year 909, a council (5) was held at Trofly, a village near Soiffons in France: and having made feveral wife and good regulations, they concluded with a profeffion of the things, which Chriftians ought to believe and practife: and in that profeffion are none of thofe things which conftitute the fum of popish doctrin, nothing of the pope's being head of the church, nothing of the daily facrifice of the mass, or of purgatory, or of the worship of creatures, or of com-, mentitious facraments, or of confeffion to the priest, but of pure and fincere confeffion to God: fo much did this' council differ from the fpirit and principles of the council of Trent. Many churches (6) ftill retained the ufe of the fcriptures in the vulgar tongue: and in England particularly Athelstan caufed them to be tranflated into the Anglo-Saxon idiom, Great oppofition (7) was alfo nrade in feveral countries to the celibacy of the clergy; and feveral councils were held upon the controverfy between the monks and the fecular clergy, and particularly in England, where Elfere earl of Mercia expelled the monks out of the monafteries in that province, and introduced the clergy with their wives. Many too even in this age denied the doctrin of transubstantiation. IIe (4) Spanhem. ibid. Cap. 6. Sect. &. Hift. Imag. Sect. 9. (5) Tom. 3. Concil. Galliæ. Spanhem. ibid. Cap. 8. Sect. 3. Dupin. X. Siecle. Chap. 3. (6) Spanhem. ibid. Cap. 6. Sect. 2 et 10. Scripturas divinas verti fecit in Anglo-Saxonicum idioma. Wilh. Malmef, et Belæus. (7) Spanhem. ibid. Sect. 5. Spel. manni Concil. Brit. Vol. 1. Collier's Ecclef. Hift. B. 3. p. 199. R3 riger |