History of the Rise of the Huguenots, Vol. 1Baird, Henry Martyn
History
History of the Rise of the Huguenots, Vol. 1
Baird, Henry Martyn
Huguenots
The document that called forth these expressions and was the occasion of
more important commotions in the sequel, had so direct and potent an
influence upon the fortunes of the Reformation in France that it cannot
be passed over without a brief reference to the general character of its
contents. It began with a solemn address: "I invoke heaven and earth in
testimony of the truth, against that proud and pompous papal mass,
through which (if God remedy not speedily the evil) the world will be
wholly desolated, destroyed, and ruined. For therein is our Lord so
outrageously blasphemed and the people so blinded and seduced, that it
ought no longer to be suffered or endured." Every Christian must needs
be assured that the one sacrifice of Christ, being perfect, demands no
repetition. Still the world has long been, and now is, flooded with
wretched sacrificing priests, who yet proclaim themselves liars,
inasmuch as they chant every Sunday in their vespers, that Christ is a
priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. Wherefore not only every
man of sound understanding, but "they themselves, in spite of
themselves, must admit that the Pope and all his brood of cardinals,
bishops, monks, and canting mass-priests, with all who consent
thereunto, are false prophets, damnable deceivers, apostates, wolves,
false shepherds, idolaters, seducers, liars and execrable blasphemers,
murderers of souls, renouncers of Jesus Christ, of his death and
passion, false witnesses, traitors, thieves, and robbers of the honor
of God, and more detestable than devils." After citing from the book of
Hebrews some passages to establish the sufficiency of Christ, the writer
addresses his opponents: "I demand then of all sacrificing priests,
whether their sacrifice be perfect or imperfect? If imperfect, why do
they deceive the poor people? If perfect, why need it be repeated? Come
forward, priests, and reply if you can!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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