A buy and sell decree

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A "Buy and Sell" Decree

Revelation 13:17

The footnotes are in the original book which is in my library.

A statement by Pope Clement VI 1342 – 1352

“Since we are informed that of late certain folk have again come up of themselves [offshoots], and, without the consent of the holy catholic church, have held meetings and gatherings … a matter contrary to the God of heaven, against the holy church and the Christian faith, contrary to the person of every good man, a matter out of which much turmoil and civil disquiet is likely to come … Therefore we give orders that no man, whosoever he may be … shall sustain, lodge, supply with food or water, in any way whatsoever, nor converse with these or allow themselves to be converted to their fellowship by them – on pain of ten years banishment.”[1]

[The author continues:]

Here we hear the words of a man who, like the Constantine of old, is concerned with the religious uniformity because in his sacralist way of thinking [he believes in a universal church/state combination] it [uniformity] is the sine qua non of [a necessity for] tranquility on the streets. He is against the Wincklerpredigt [independent illegal readings from the Bible] because of the threat it poses to the sacralist scheme of things.

From the above it will be apparent that it was far from easy to be a Winckler [someone who meets in an out-of-way place for religious purposes]. In fact, it was frightfully hard. If you cannot buy or sell, if it is virtually suicidal for anyone to give you food or drink or any other comfort, then you are in a bad way indeed; you have been read out of the society of men; open season has been declared on you. Small wonder that men of Winckler habits [holding religious meetings without permission of the ruling church] were tempted to attend the activities of the fallen Church feignedly and then to patronize the Winckler gatherings as a means to express their real religious selves. This duplicity was very common. It came to be known as Nicodemitism,[2] a name derived, of course, from the Biblical character who was one thing in the daylight and another thing at night.

By Leonard Verduin, in “The Reformers and their Stepchildren”, pages 171-72, published 1964.

[1] For details concerning the Flagellantes [the Wincklers] see Corpus, the indexes, under Kruisbroeders and Geeselaars.

[2] It was common practice among medieval “heretics” to frequent the services of the prevailing Church often enough to escape detection and the Church’s vengeance. [See Revelation 2:24] This policy has led many investigators astray. It has been alleged, for example, that the Waldensians remained “good Catholics” – because they allowed themselves to be seen once in a while in the gatherings of the Catholics. But this does not at all imply that they were as yet not estranged; it only goes to show that they were prudent. What kind of “good Catholics” the “heretics” were may be gathered from the fact that one of them was heard to mutter as he entered the cathedral, “Caverne des brigandes, que dieu te confondel!” (Den of robbers, may God confound you!).

oooOooo

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