# Their Views In Regard To The Oath.

14th century (source section) · Historical source

Source: Martyrs’ Mirror. Original heading: THEIR VIEWS IN REGARD TO THE OATH.

Century of containing source section; exact event date not assigned

As regards the oath, the papists charged them
with holding that perjury is no sin. “But,” says
A. Mellinus, “let us examine these false articles a
little more closely.” Coming to the article of the
oath, he speaks as follows, in order to demonstrate
the falsity of this accusation: “How should they
have considered perjury no sin, when the papists
themselves (in the History of the Waldenses) declare
of them, that they were so loth to swear an oath,
desiring that they should be believed on their yea
and nay, in order to avoid all lying, slandering,
perjury, and frivolous swearing?” Thus far. Mellinus,
in the 2d book of the Hist., fol. 479, col. 1, 2.

Hence, these people sought to avoid not only
false oaths, but all manner of swearing, desiring on
this account, to be believed on their yea and nay,
in accordance with the teaching of Christ: “Let
your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for
whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”
Matt. 5:37.

The same year as above, A. D. 1315.—At this
time, Pope John XXII., issued a papal decree
against some apostate (?) Minorites, in which he
accuses them of the following points:

“Firstly, that they asserted, that there were two
churches; the one, carnal, abounding in the riches,
luxuries and lusts of this world, polluted with all
manner of sin and shame, and governed by the Pope
of Rome and the prelates. The other, spiritual,
temperate, pure, virtuous, honorable, and poor; to
which latter they and their adherents alone belong.

“Secondly, that they declared the priests of the
church, and all her ministers, divested of the jurisdiction
and authority of their order, so that they
could give neither sentence nor advice, nor administer
the sacraments, nor teach the church under
them; thus depriving them of all their ecclesiastical
power, and that, on the other hand, they boasted
that all ecclesiastical authority rested with them
alone, since they ascribed the holiness of the spiritual
life only to themselves.

“Their third error,” as the Pope says, “agrees
with the error of the Waldenses; since they both
maintain that men ought in no case to swear, teaching
that it is a sin unto death to swear an oath.”

The fourth supposed error, the Pope acknowledges,
likewise to proceed from the Waldenses:
“That the priests who are confirmed or ordained
legally, according to the form or order of the church
(as he calls it), if they are laden with any crimes or
sins unto death, cannot prepare, nor administer, the
sacraments of the church.”

The fifth error, as the Pope says, was, that they
said that the gospel of Christ, which hitherto had
been covered, nay, almost entirely extinguished,
was, at this time, fulfilled in them alone. In explanation
of this article, the Pope adds that they said
that they ascribed the promise of our Lord, concerning
the sending the Holy Ghost, to themselves
in such a manner as to exclude the general (the
Roman) church from the general apprehension and
observance of the holy Gospel.

311

“But see,” says A. Mellinus, who has recorded
this, “how the Pope perverts the meaning of these
people; for they never denied that the Holy Ghost,
according to Christ’s promise, was poured out
richly upon the apostles; but they denied that the
Popes of Rome, who called themselves apostolic, and
successors of the apostles, had part or lot in the
sending of the Holy Ghost.” Second book of the
Hist., fol. 480, col. 1, 2.

Besides these five articles, the Pope imputed additional
errors to these pious people, though he did
not mention them all. Hence, it appears that they
concurred for the most part with the belief of the
Waldenses; and that their belief was opposed, not
only to the swearing of oaths, but also to infant baptism,
revenge, the sacrament of the altar, the mass,
and other superstitions of popery, has already been
more than sufficiently shown.

A. D. 1319.—At this time, Pope John XXII.,
through his inquisitors, raged mightily against the
Waldenses, who made the above-cited confession,
which corresponds with that of the Anabaptists. Of
their sufferings and end we shall speak afterwards, in
the proper place. Concerning this, see Bzov. Annal.,
A. D. 1319, art. 10, ex M. S. Bibl. Vaticane. Also
A. Mell., fol. 480, col. 3.

A. D. 1330.—At this day said Waldenses were
greatly oppressed by the inquisitors, in the Kingdoms
of Bohemia and Poland (see the large Book
of Christian Martyrs, fol. 483, col. 1); which is a
proof that the defenders of the above confession existed
then not only in France, but also in Bohemia
and Poland. Yea, Matthias Flaccius Illyricus professes
to have the inquisitorial books of the proceedings
held at that time by the inquisitors, in Bohemia
and Poland, under King John, against the Waldenses.
Catalog. Test. Verit., l. 16, art.: The
Waldenses.

Note.—In Jacob Mehrning’s History of Baptism
we read, p. 609: “I have in my possession the inquisition
which, A. D. 1330, in the time of King
John, was held, in Bohemia and Poland, against the
Waldenses.”

A. D. 1365.—The author of the books of the
Persecutions and Martyrs, records the following for
the year 1365: “As there were everywhere throughout
France innumerable Beghards and Beguines (in
the second book, page 479, at the foot of the fourth
column, he calls them Waldenses), who scattered
their heresy, as the papists called it, far and wide,
Pope Urban VI., A. D. 1365, charged all the prelates
of France, and the inquisitors of the faith in
that country, by an express bull, that they should
not suffer the heretics to live with impunity, but
should exterminate the erring spirits (thus the Pope
calls the true believers), together with their errors,
with the sickle of ecclesiastical discipline. Second
book of the History of the Persecutions, fol. 488,
col. 1, from Bzov., A. D. 1365, Art. 8.

A. D. 1370.—“At this time,” writes Jacob
Mehrning and others, “John Wickliffe, a teacher
in England, and pastor at Lutterworth in the
bishopric of Lincoln, taught, among other things,
that baptism is not necessary to the forgiveness of
original sin; thereby sufficiently opposing, or, as
H. Montanus says, rejecting, infant baptism, which
is founded upon the forgiveness of original sin. On
this account, forty-one years after his death, his
bones, by order of the Pope, were exhumed, burnt,
and the ashes thrown into the water.” J. Mehrn.,
B. Hist, pp. 737, 738, H. Mont. Nietigh., p. 87.
Also Thom. Waldens., Tom. 2, c. 96. Bellarm.,
Tom. 3, lib. 1, de Sacr. Bapt., cap. 4, Vicecom.
de Observat. Eccles., lib. 2, cap. 1.

Note.—Further explanation.—That the above
words of John Wickliffe are to be understood in no
other way than as having reference to the rejection
of infant baptism, and not of baptism upon faith, is
confirmed by the fourth article, extracted from
Wickliffe’s Trialogue, by William Widefort, a
Minorite, and quoted by A. Mellinus. It reads as
follows: “Those who say,” says John Wickliffe,
“that the children of believers, which die without
baptism, are not saved, are much too presumptuous
and bold.” A. Mell., 2d book, fol. 494, col. 3.

Moreover, that John Wickliffe opposed not only
infant baptism, but also oaths sworn to men, is testified
to in the forty-second article of his confession,
delivered in the council of Constance, and condemned
there. It reads thus: “Oaths sworn in civil
contracts and commercial transactions are unlawful.182
Colon. apud Orthun. Grat. A. Mell., 2d book,
fol. 496, col. 1.

This article relative to the swearing of oaths, from
the confession of John Wickliffe, is stated by some
as follows: “An oath sworn for the purpose of confirming
human contracts and proper transactions, is
not appropriate.” Seb. Franck, Chron., der Rom.
Kett., fol. 105, col. 1, letter J., John. Also
P. J. Twisck, Chron., p. 720, col. 1, 2. Tract.
Kort Verhael van den Loop der Werelt, by
F. H. H., p. 99.

P. J. Twisck and others write that John Wickliffe,
having fled from England to Bohemia, propagated
his doctrine there jointly with the Waldenses,
who, for the most part, agreed with it.

Wickliffe also taught that the substance and essence
of the bread and wine remain in the sacrament
of the altar after the consecration.

That Christ is not bodily in the sacrament. That
the mass is not instituted by Christ, but is the devil’s
obedience and word. That confirmation, fasts, consecrations
of priests, the baptizing of temples, and
bells, are retained by the Pope and the bishops only
from the desire for gain.

That universities, studies, doctorates, colleges,
grades, and masterships, are things which we have
inherited from the heathen, and are altogether of as
much use to the church as the devil. An improper
oath is, etc.

Merula and others state that Wickliffe wrote full
two hundred books, and diligently instructed, and
turned from popery, John Huss (see A. D. 1415
and 1416), when the latter was still young, together
with many others. P. J. Twisck, Chron., p. 720,
col. 1, 2, from Leonh., lib. 6. Hist. Andr. Junii,
312
fol. 45. Jan. Crespin., fol. 354. Guil. Merula,
fol. 886. Toneel. Niclaes, fol. 119. Zegh., fol. 119.

Note.—That John Huss (though the Calvinists
would like to claim him, as well as John Wickliffe),
was opposed to the swearing of oaths, and had
other articles in common with the Waldensian
Anabaptist brethren, and that he learned this from
John Wickliffe, and Wickliffe from said Waldensian
brethren, we hope to make clear in its proper place.

As to the article which Wickliffe was said to have
taught, namely, that everything happens by an absolute
or unavoidable necessity, on this D. A. Mellinus,
a Calvinistic preacher, remarks: “We suspect
that this has been unjustly put on Wickliffe, by the
malicious enemies of the truth” (2d book, fol. 495,
col. 4). Afterwards, explaining it still further, he
says that “This is a wanton slander and devilish lie,
fabricated from nothing, and cast into the face of
innocent John Wickliffe.” Fol. 496, col. 1.

Thus it is evident, that John Wickliffe, even according
to the testimony of the Calvinists, did not
maintain the article of precise predestination, as
some before him, though wrongly, have believed.

Note.—If John Wickliffe did not hold the article
of predestination or unavoidable necessity, as one
of the Calvinistic teachers here asserts and holds as
truth, what, then, did he retain, in the matter of his
belief, that accords only with the Calvinistic church?
Certainly nothing.

A. D. 1372.—John Tylius, in his Chronicle of
the Kings of France, writes, for the year 1372, concerning
certain people whom he terms Turilupins,
and, in papistic manner, very contemptuously calls
a superstition, as follows: “The superstition of the
Turilupins (a kind of Waldenses), who took their
surname from the poverty common to them all,
were this year condemned as heretics, together with
their writings, books and clothes.” J. Tyl., Chron.,
Reg. Gall. A. Mell., fol. 497, col. 3. Of their
faith we shall presently speak.

A. D. 1373.—Vignierus writes concerning these
people called Turilupins, and their doctrine, that
they were pronounced heretics at Paris, by the inquisitors,
and their books publicly burnt, together
with one of their women. Hist. Eccles., A. D. 1373,
ex Guil. de Nangis. A. Mell., same place. More
anon.

Note.—A fuller account of the death of this
woman will be given in its proper place, in the
history of the martyrs.





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