well where they are as if they rejoyned themselves to the other Christians of the East provided they be endowed with a Spirit of Charity If they be so rash as to condemn the rest therein they sin but the Greeks which condemn them are not less guilty than they although they descend directly from the Catholick and Orthodox flock and the others be only a separate branch And this helps to shew you that although a Schism were criminal in its Original and headily and rashly made nevertheless it is not always necessary under pain of eternal Damnation to return from whence we came From whence I confirm the Thesis which I laid down at the beginning of this Question that the Idea which they make to you about the horror of Schism is a Dream and that tho it should be true that our separation from the Church of Rome in the beginning of the past Age were rash the People which followed it in the simplicity of their Hearts would not hazard their Salvation thereby they that made it were to account for it and at the most those which do maintain it So my Brethren you would be in safety and only we in danger But I very well perceive that this is not enough to calm the Perturbations which your Converters and your own Thoughts may give you about it For you will say supposing that our separation from the Church of Rome in the last Age were unjust and rash 't is true that we who did not make the Schism shall not suffer thereby Our Fathers when they went out of the Church of Rome carried the Church and Christianity with them and this Christianity may nourish and save us maugre the Separation Nevertheless on this supposition we do no ill yea we shall do well to re-unite our selves to the Church of Rome We shall heal a Wound which being open renders the Church deformed Peace is to be preferred before Division This is without doubt the descendants which acknowledg that their Ancestors did wrongfully separate from a certain stock do well to re-unite themselves thereto for edification although it were not absolutely necessary to their Salvation Therefore that we may come nearer to the case in which you are at present with the Church of Rome we must suppose a Separation which was made for reasons of some worth and value i. e. because of Corruption in Doctrine and Worship This is the case in which you are and on this supposition we will shew you in what follows that you cannot return to the Church of Rome March 1. 1687 The FOUTEENTH PASTORAL LETTER AN Article of Antiquity The Original of the Hierarchy and the Antichristian Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome An Article of Controversie A Continuation of the matter of Schism Although the Corruption of the Church of Rome were not extreme it would not be lawful for us to return thither Some Objections of the new Converts concerning it Dear Brethren in our Lord Grace and Peace be given to you from our God and Saviour Jesus Christ SInce we have been upon the History of the fourth and fifth Ages we have found there two great Novelties which have had very unhappy effects in the following Ages They are the Monastick Life and the Councils that are called Oecumenick Behold a third of them 't is the Original of the Hierarchy which hath given birth to the Antichristian Tyranny This Word signifies sacred Rule or Government and thereby is understood that Subordination of Pastors which hath been seen in the Church for a 1000 or 1200 years In this Subordination are seen the lowest Orders in the lowest Seats above these lowest Orders are seen Priests subdivided into Curates Deans rural Deans c. Above the Priests are the Grand Vicars above the Grand Vicars are the Bishops above the Bishops are the Arch-Bishops or Metropolitans above the Arch-Bishops are the Primates above the Primates are the Exarchs above the Exarchs are the Patriarchs and above all these is seen a Head which was framed insensibly and by little and little and placed there this is it which is called the Pope All this is a new Invention with respect to the Apostles and this Hierarchy was unknown before the Fourth Age. We have the Happiness at this day to have the French Church that is to say your Converters for testimonies of this Truth They do maintain That the Apostles established no precise form of Government that they contented themselves to preach the Gospel to send persons to do so and to place in every Church a Bishop to govern it They say that it is not certain that S. John the eldest of the Apostles i. e. he which lived longest did give to the Churches of Asia amongst whom he died any form of Government that it was in the Fourth Age that the Hierarchical form of Government was given to the Church that therein they followed no divine Right or Institution of the Apostles who determined nothing concerning it but the Polick Order and Form of Government found in the Roman Empire As this Empire was divided into Provinces Metropolitical Cities and Prefectures i. e. Governments so they also divided the Churches into Metropolitan Provincial and National And indeed from the time of the Apostles there was no Principality nor so much as any Primacy in the Church The Apostles by an Authority which they received immediately from Jesus Christ governed the Church without Subordination and without Division The Spirit which guided them being one and poured out on them all they were always at agreement it what concerned the Edification of the Churches but they did not leave any Successor that had the same Authority with themselves It is not true that St. Peter was their Prince it does not appear that he had any Primacy of Order above the rest 't is true he is often named first but that doth not prove that he was the first or the President of the Apostolical College We see that the other Apostles treated with him after such a manner as makes it apparent that they did not acknowledge in him any kind of Preheminence which should advance him above them We see that they sent him to Samaria it would have appertained to him to send and not be sent if he had been the Prince of the Apostles We see that after he had preached the Gospel to Cornelius and some other Pagans they made great complaints thereon We see that S. Paul rebuked him to the face and even in publick because in the presence of the Jews he warped and used some dissimulation with respect to the use of indifferent things forbidden by the Law of Moses Men do not use to deal so with their Prince The Successors of the Apostles left in all Churches Presbyters or Bishops to preach the Word and administer the Sacraments but in the beginning the Presbyter and the Bishop were not distinguished Those which S. Paul calls Bishop in one place he calls also Elders or Presbyters in the
its Ceremonies were intirely unknown As to what appertains to other Sacraments as is that of Marriage and Penance he must have a mind blinded by prejudice beyond all imagination to believe they may be found in the Scripture Marriage and Penance are indeed found there but there is not one word which does establish them as sacred Ceremonies designed to seal the Covenant of Grace and to confer forgiveness of sins Confirmation is found there i. e. the custom of laying on of hands for the giving the Holy Spirit and that of Anointing the Sick to recover them from Diseases Some of the Proselytes of these Gentlemen make a great business of it and have said to us as a great reproach that we have taken away Confirmation and Extreme Unction It is a great pity that minds which seem inlightned should stumble at trifles And is it not clear that this Imposition of Hands and Extreme Unction was designed for doing of Miracles which are long since ceased But they say that the following Ages did nevertheless practise it That we shall see afterward The Invocation of the Holy Virgin and Saints the Worship of Relicks Adoring of Images and the Service of Creatures in Popery is an affair so considerable that it fills almost all Nevertheless the Scripture of the New Testament says nothing of it Nor is it possible that Men well Educated can persuade themselves that these are Apostolical Traditions when we see not the least footsteps of them in the Writings of the Apostles It is a blindness which cannot be understood As to matter of Fact we can have no dispute with Papists concerning it They must acknowledge that the Apostles and Evangelists speak not one word either of the Invocation of Saints and Angels nor of the Veneration of Relicks nor of the Adoration of Images As to matter of Right if the Church has power to introduce these new Worships let it be proved and put past doubt and Controversie for I do affirm that he must be smitten with a spirit of blockishness that maintains that we may Religiously invoke creatures without the Authority of God and order of his Apostles Plainly it will be said that the Apostles have appointed the Invocation of Saints and that they themselves have practised it but they have left nothing written concerning it I do affirm that he must have a Forehead made of Brass who shall say such a thing And the new Converts who can be persuaded of it make no use of their reason It will never enter into the mind of a reasonable Man that the Apostles have appointed Invocation of Saints and said nothing of it in their Writings Purgatory which they would have pass for a little thing is nevertheless a very great one For Prayers for the dead publick and private Masses and almost all the Roman Worship is founded thereon So that the Holy Spirit could not let it slip If there be a Purgatory it must be in the Scripture or there is none .. I take it for granted and 't is to scoff People to go search this pretended Fire in the prison whence we must not go out till we have paid the utmost farthing in the fire that ought to try all things at the end of the world in the prison where are the Spirits to which Noah preach'd If Heaven and Hell were no other ways revealed in the Scripture the profane would have a fair opportunity to laugh at us The Authority of the Pope is the last of those Articles of Popery that I have represented 'T is an Affair about which there can be no Controversie which has any foundation in the World. Ask your Converters where-is the Pope in the Scriptures they will quote to you the Words of Jesus Christ to S. Peter Thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my church Call a Turk a Jew or any other Man that hath common sense and ask him whether he sees therein that God hath established a Man at Rome with full authority to guide the whole Church to damn to save to judge of all Differences to determine without Appeal to excommunicate Kings Princes and Sovereigns he will believe you laugh him to scorn The new Converts which see therein the Apostolick Chair from S. Peter to Innocent the Eleventh have very good Eyes I beseech you my Brethren take your Converters a little to those Texts of Scripture where S. Paul enumerates the Officers of the Church He has given some to be Pastors Teachers Apostles Evangelists Bishops Deacons Elders and Prophets in those places where he declares the Duties of those who enjoy the Offices of the Church Press them say I and demand of them whether they dare say that the Apostle hath omitted the first of all Offices an Office alone in its kind infinitely superior to all others Ask them if they do believe in good earnest that S. Paul declared the Duties of Bishops in general and that he said nothing for the Regulation of the Bishop of Bishops I am persuaded if you press them earnestly thereon they will blush in your Faces Behold I do maintain that I have said enough already for the History of the first Age. The silence of the Scripture about all the Articles of Popery is an indisputable proof that then it was wholly unknown But there is much more you have an hundred positive Proofs that then the Christian Religion was wholly opposite to Popery Against the Real Presence you have all those Passages where the Eucharist is called Bread and a Commemoration of the Death of our Lord all those where 't is said our Lord is on high and not here below Against the Sacrifice of the Mass you have all the Epistle to the Hebrews Against the Worship of Creatures you have the Decalogue and a thousand other Commandments which do appoint that you adore and invoke God alone Against the taking away the Cup and the Adoration of the Eucharist you have the History of its Institution Against Purgatory you have an hundred Texts which tell you that after this life Believers go to Heaven Against the Pope you have all those places where our Lord and the Apostles forbid the Domination of Church-Men both over their Flocks and one another This is not a place to engage in a long Controversie by the Scripture we compose a History not a Disputation Know therefore historically in the following Articles what was the Primitive Christianity Behold what was the form of the Apostolick Church 1. Christians having as yet no Churches assembled where they could for the Service of God and it was almost always from House to House This is apparent both in the History of the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of S. Paul. 2. In the Assemblies they preached and declared the Word of God. This is also certain and read in divers Texts in the Book of the Acts. 3 They brake Bread from House to House the Sacred Scripture says so expresly that is to say
off Heads to hang and burn therefore it ought not to be imputed to her A Sovereign Magistrate contents himself to be Judg and to condemn to Death but he doth not execute he leaves that to the Hangman by consequence if he condemn the Innocent and cause them to die it ought to be imputed to the Hangman and not to him The Church doth a very fine honour to Magistrates she makes them her Hangmen she herself doth not kill but she constrains Princes to kill and burn She constrains I say by Excommunications Censures Exhortations Seductions Sollicitations and the end thereof is she would be able to say The Church dips not her hand in Blood the Church by it self never makes use of force Did the Devil ever cheat after a more impudent and frontless manner I will not say after a more fine and subtil manner for it is to lye without any hope to deceive the Snare is so broad and so ridiculous It were better without Craft to take the way that the Bishop of Meaux takes at last and to maintain that Christian Princes as such have right to punish pretended Hereticks with Death Understand you says he That Princes who are Sons of the Church never ought to make use of the Sword to abuse the Enemies thereof Do you dare to say contrary to the opinion of your Doctors which have maintaind by so many Writings that the Republick of Geneva had power and right to condemn Servetus to the Fire for having denied the Divinity of the Son of God It must be avowed that these Gentlemen are admirable in their confidence Do you dare to say Yes we dare to say it since we say it with most part of the Ancients and with the wisest and most understanding of the Moderns We dare say that the Doctrine which the B. of Meaux maintains here is bloody and cruel and that the Church ought to leave it in share to him who was a Liar and Murderer from the beginning Servetus was burnt at Geneva therefore it is lawful to burn Hugonots and the Calvinists God forgive these unhappy men which have the Cruelty to compare us with Servetus This man was not only an Enemy of the Divinity of Jesus Christ but he was an Enemy of all Divinity he was impious he was a Blasphemer And although he made profession of believing one God the irreverent manner wherewith he speaks of Holy Mysteries makes it plain enough that he had renounced all Religion as well as all Shame It ought to be permitted us to quit our hands of such men They object unto us the Sentiment of our Doctors I answer Our Doctors never did believe that we ought to persecute and burn men that confess God and Jesus Christ according to the three Creeds They never put Papists to Death for the sake of their Religion But although some of our first Writers should have gone too far in speaking concerning the punishment of Hereticks it ought to be known that our Authors are not our Teachers we have but one only Teacher and that is Jesus Christ speaking by his Prophets and Apostles We swear to no mans words but to those of God. And without serving my self of the Examples and Authority of your Doctors tell me in what place of Scripture Hereticks and Schismaticks are excepted from the number of those Malefactors against whom S. Paul hath said that God hath armed Kings and Princes It appertains not to us to shew you that Hereticks are not of the number of those against which God hath put a Sword in the hands of Princes 'T is for you Gentlemen Persecutors to prove to us that they are comprehended there For we have sense reason piety and humanity on our side and besides we have the consent of sound Antiquity for more than four hundred years How could the Church be able to put the Sword in the hand of Magistrates for the punishment of her Enemies in a time when the most scrupulous Christians found it difficult to consent to the Death of those Criminals that disturbed the publick peace and that of particular persons and did maintain that Christians without exception never ought to dip their hands in Blood. In what Dictionary hath Monsieur de Meaux found that evil thinkers and evil doers are the same thing Princes have right to punish evil doers with Death therefore they have also right to punish evil thinkers with Death They have right to punish those whose Crimes are apparent to the publick ruine therefore they have right to burn men whose Crime is in the Conscience the Empire whereof appertains only to God. If the Church have right to call in the Secular Power for the punishment of Hereticks why did S. Paul say simply A man that is an Heretick reject after the first and second admonition Why did he not say Deliver him to the secular Power that he may be burnt Did he not know that in a few Ages Princes would become Christians and have the Sword in their hands Did he only give Precepts for the present time and state Hath this Cruelty of Massacring honest well-meaning but mistaken Persons any affinity with the Precepts of Jesus Christ which commands us to serve our selves with Sweetness Humanity Prayers Exhortations and reasons for the reduction of them It is then permitted to Massacre the Jews for there are none greater Enemies to the Church than they are Is that the Spirit of the Gospel which promises a return and conversion to that Nation How shall they return if they be destroyed Will men never be ashamed of this Antichristian Barbarity Will they never know that it is the Beast in the Revelations who makes himself drunk with the Blood of Saints devours their Flesh makes War upon them and overcomes them and is therefore called Beast Lion Bear and Leopard For he must have renounced reason and humanity and be transformed into a Savage Beast that behaves himself towards Christians as the Church of Rome behaves it self towards us Monsieur de Meaux affirms that what they do against us at this day is nothing but a lawful exercise of the Power that Princes enjoy by Authority from God for the punishment of Offenders And I will prove to him in three words that it is false 1. Princes in the use of the Sword against Malefactors design their ruin that publick Societies be no more troubled with them 'T was the end that was heretofore proposed in Persecutions for Religion 'T was the end that Charles the Ninth pretended to have in the Massacre of S. Bartholomew 'T is the end of the Inquisitors who burn all those that are suspected of Heresie It hath been the end of all Persecutors in past Ages But this is not their end at this day they intend not the Destruction of the pretended Hereticks but their Conversion Therefore although it should be true that Hereticks are not eccepted out of the number of those Malefactors against whom God hath armed Princes this will
is true that in his Book of Prescriptions from the 15th Chapter to the 22th he proves that we may not dispute against Hereticks by the Scripture but by the Tradition of the Churches And he returns to it again in the 37th and 38th Chapters thereof But if the new Converts which have written to us and do send us to that Book had read it with some wisdom and attention of mind they would have seen that it neither doth nor can concern us 1. The Hereticks concerning whom the question is there were no Christians they were Magicians Disciples of Simon Magus who retained the Name of Christian and no mâ—â—â— Besides Tertullian says plainly * Chap. 37. That we must 〈◊〉 them at a distance from the Scriptures because being no Christians they did not belong to them 2. These Hereticks did not acknowledg the Authority of the Scriptures they rejected them or received only some pieces of them cut off from the rest and which were wholly corrupt and falsified And when the Catholicks quoted to them the Holy Scripture they derided it as a fabulous Writing How then could any man dispute with them from a Book whose Authority they did not acknowledge there was a necessity of having recourse to another sort of proofs 2. That which was good in the time of Tertullian is not good at this time of day I do maintain that it was then very easie and very convenient to dispute against Hereticks by Tradition It was then not above an hundred years since the last of the Apostles died There was nothing more easie than to learn what had been their Doctrine by their Successors It is about a hundred and fifty years since the Reformed Church of Geneva had its existence If the Doctrin of Calvin were now under dispute nothing were more easie than to prove without Book that his Doctrine passed without alteration even to those that now teach in that Church and School But is it the same thing when there are 1200 1500 and 2000 years past By what way can we search so far and ascend so high through an infinite number of Men of whom not one hath retained the Doctrine that he did receive in the same estate in which it was delivered to him Behold a very fine Comparison 3. Add to this that Tertullian sends us to the Testimony of those Churches which were founded by the Apostles because those Churches had the Authentick Letters as he calls them that is to say the Original Writings of the Apostles so that to send the Hereticks to the Churches and to their Testimony by reason of those Authentick Letters was to sâ—â—d them to the Scripture it self 4. Besides let thes◠〈◊〉 â—nd She Converts which have been seduced by the reading of this Book read it from the 22 to the 32 Chap. and they will see that the Doctrine which Tertullian would have us search in Tradition is the same which was contained in the Writings of the Apostles and not an unwritten Word and certain Doctrines which the Apostles did commit to the Ears and the Memories of their Successors The Hereticks would not acknowledge the Authority of the sacred Volumes Go to says Tertullian to them lay by the Holy Bocks and let us lay hold of Tradition let us see what the Bishops have taught since the Apostles and I will prove that 't is precisely the same Doctrine with that which is written in our Books which you reject Read you that have suffered your selves to be abused read I say the 22 Chap. and those that follow to the 27 and you will see that the Hereticks spake exactly the same Language which your Converters do that we must not apply to nor support our selves by the Writings of the Apostles * Tertull. de Prescrip c. 25. That the Apostles indeed might know all and agree in the things which they did preach but they did not reveal all things to all that they said certain things publickly and to all but that there were other things which they said in secret and to a few and that is it which St. Paul means when he saith to Timothy O Timothy keep that good thing which was committed to thee Behold exactly the Doctrine of your Converters and that of the ancient Hereticks 'T is that which Tertullian opposes proving that the Apostles delivered nothing by Tradition but that which is written 5. Poor silly Fools which have suffered your selves to be seduced by I know not what shadows and appearances and who put your selves to judge of Antiquity without knowing any thing thereof If you knew against what Hereticks Tertullian disputed you would see that the Contrversie was not about things that were not in the Holy Scriptures These Hereticks denied that Jesus Christ was God and that he was a true Man They said that he had no true Flesh and that his Passion was nothing but a Tragedy and an appearance of a great many Phantoms they denied the Resurrection of the Flesh Was there any need to recur to Tradition to prove such things as these Doth not the Scripture contain those Truths that are opposite to these wicked Imaginations as clearly as Tradition And do you not see that Tertullian forsakes the Scriptures on this Subject only because the Enemies against which he disputed had forsaken them and had no reverence for their Authority 6. To conclude If there be any hard terms in this Book attribute them in the first place to the heat of Dispute which always carries Men too far secondly to the Genius and African manner of Tertullian's Expressions and learn that according to the same Author * Lib. Prescrip c. 15. One cannot prove any thing which respects the Faith but by those Letters and Writings which are the Rule thereof Learn by this excellent Passage of Tatian who was then the Judge of Controversies and the Source and Fountain of Instruction 't is to that he refers the manner of his becoming a Christian †Tatian Orat. in Graec. As I sought every where with care I happened on some Books of the Barbarians so the Pagans call the Books of Christians and Jews and I sound them as to time much more ancient than the Philosophy of the Greeks and much more venerable if we consider the Errors which are in the Grecian Books I gave credit to these Books because their style was simple and yet magnificent because there was nothing affected in them because the Discourses were not obscure and many things to come were predicted in them I was affected with them because of the greatness of the Promises and because they learn'd me that there was but one Moâ—â—rch in the Vniverse This Ancient knew not as yet the Divinity of Monsieur de Meaux that the first Article of Faith is I believe the Church and that we ought not to believe that the Scripture is Divine but because the Church says so And as to Tradition you which suffer your selves to be dazled by the