Letters you will find one Article concerning Antiquity and another concerning the Questions of the Church as you will find in this And forasmuch as these Letters ought to be instead of Sermons to you we will joyn unto them some words of Exhortation as often as we can We return therefore to the Letter of Monsieur de Meaux one of the Bishops of Rome We are considering the third Article of his Pastoral Letter This third Article and that which follows will give us an occasion to confute the Sophisms which they make or you make for your selves about the Church The Bishop of Meaux in his Pastoral Letter does six things 1. He endeavours to establish the Idea and Unity of the Church principally upon the Testimony of S. Cyprian and in consequence thereunto the Unity of the Ministers 2. He proves * Page 12. There is none allowed to separate from the Church and that all separate Assemblies are in a state of Damnation †Page 14. so that a Martyr which dies for the Faith of the Church out of this Unity is nevertheless damn'd 3. ‡ Page 13. That we must not examin Opinions to know whether such an Assembly be the Church ‖ Page 14. But we must know if an Assembly be the Church and judg from thence concerning the truth of Opinions 4. He endeavours to answer to that Text Where two or three are gathered together in my Name I will be in the midst of them A Text that proves wherever is Truth there is a True Church and then comes to his Chimera that all Separation ruins Unity a Chimera which he supports by the Testimony of the great S. Cyprian who is indeed his only Author 5. * Page 17. By the same S. Cyprian he proves that the Church with whom we must preserve Union is the Church of Rome or the Chair of S. Peter 6. In conclusion he falls on the common place of the invalidity of the Call of our first Reformers he proves their Vocation invalid because they were either Laicks or Renegado Priests which had renounced the Ministry The first never having Mission the last having it no longer cannot be lawful Pastors This is the Abridgment of a great number of Volumns which have been made to seduce you within twenty years last past concerning which we do intreat you to be attentive to these invincible Arguments which we have to produce for the subversion of these wicked Engins Although we do not account it a Duty to follow precisely the order of the Articles of the Bishop of Meaux Nevertheless seeing he begins with the Unity and Visibility of the Church we will begin there also and we will make you understand 1. What is the true Unity of the Church 2. What is the Unity of its Ministry 3. What is its perpetual Visibility 4. That to separate from a corrupt Church is not to break the Unity thereof 5. That there is such a degree of Corruption that obliges to separation and that the Church of Rome is corrupt to that degree First My Brethren it is necessary that you make to your selves a just and ligitimate Idea of the Unity of the Church They tell you that there is but one Catholick Church and that there cannot be many This is true there is but one Church universal and even the Word Universal that is added thereunto makes it apparent that there can be but one Just after the same manner that the word Universe by which is signified the World signifies also that there is but one for if there were another World besides this ours would not be the Universe seeing it would not comprehend totally all But the Bishop of Meaux and those that are like unto him give you a pleasant Idea of its Unity and Universality both together The Church of Rome say they is this universal and only Church it is universal and yet nevertheless out of it and separate from it there are many other Churches This is just as if I should say our World is the Universe nevertheless there be many other Worlds besides it Is not this absurd But it will be said that these Propositions are not alike nor the same for we mean thereby all other Churches besides the Roman Churches are false Churches This is another absurdity altogether alike as if a person or a man should say 'T is true there are many Worlds besides ours nevertheless ours is the Universe because all the rest are false Worlds If they Church of Rome did say Indeed I am but part of the Church Universal but I am the only sound and entire part the others are sick and diseased where a man cannot be saved If it should speak thus say I it would speak false but it would speak nothing absurd or contradictory and there would be reason to examin its pretensions to the bottom to know if indeed it be the only Church that is sound and without Errors But it must have renounced common sense to avow that out of her Bosom there are many Churches and nevertheless call her self the Church universal However it be her pretension is that the Unity of the Church consists in a certain Communion characterized and distinguished from all others by certain limits and boundaries and under certain Pastors out of which Communion whether you believe in Jesus Christ or not whether you have considerable Errors or no you are always out of the Church and hopes of Salvation altho you should believe and maintain all the truths of the Gospel from the beginning to the end tho you should be Orthodox as S. Paul retaining all the Articles of the Christan Faith yea of the Faith of the Church of Rome if nevertheless you live in separation with this certain Seat and this certain Church which is the Church Catholick you must be certainly damned I intreat you my Brethren before you go further propose a Question to your Converts Tell them I am content to grant there is a certain particular Church in which is that Unity from which we must never separate But how shall I know that this Church in which is that Unity to which we ought to adhere is the Church of Rome for I have heard say that there are many other Churches among others it hath been told me there is a Church in the East called the Greek Church which hath six Patriarchs that is to say for Popes the Bishops of Constantinople Antioch and Alexandria and these do all in like manner Anathematize the Pope of Rome Propose to them say I this difficulty and press it home and you will see them brought into such streights that they can say nothing but impertinences and absurdities They will tell you that Rome is the seat of S. Peter it is to her that this Priviledg was granted all those which separate from her depart from Unity So that the Greek Church and the three Popes whereof we have spoken are out of the Unity Can there be a
included in her Communion that she is Infallible that out of her there is no Salvation But this Language becomes a frightful Gibberish in the mouth of Men which are convinced as you are 1. That the other Communions of Christians which do not adhere to Rome are nevertheless as much Christians or more than she 2. That your Fathers doing ill in separating nevertheless did well in purging Christianity and that their Christianity is intirely pure 3. That the Communion of our Reformers was not dangerous and that a Man might be saved therein yea much more easily than in that of the Roman Church because he would not have the trouble of making a Separation in his Mind of true Opinions from false ones 4. That the Roman Communion is corrupt 5. That in separating from it a Man separates from the Corruption without separating from the Christianity seeing that he carries that which is Christian along with him Behold say I that which you think and that which the exact account of your Illusions speak being formed by one of your selves Now see how this agrees with this Unity and with separation from that Unity whereof you speak For if the Church be out of the Communion of Rome I may go out of that Communion without going out of the Church and by consequence without separating my self from the Unity where the Church is there is the Unity If the Roman Church be corrupt as you confess by separating from that which is corrupt in her a Man does not separate from the Unity seeing that Unity is not in Corruption it is in Christianity If a Man may be saved out of the Roman Communion as you do fully believe not concluding us damned we are not out of the Unity for whoever is out of the Unity is out of a state of Salvation because Salvation is not found but in the Church which is one and which alone possesses Unity In the Name of God my Brethren learn by this Example not to speak without understanding what you say to please your Converters and above all your own Self-Love But let us return and retake the same Opinion 'T is said that we must suffer without separating from the Vnity of the Church I intreat you my Brethren how far must this Toleration go Set me the Bounds unto which my Toleration must proceed that I may continue in this pretended Unity Are you of the opinion of M. Nicholas and of M. Ferrand That though the Roman Church were Heretical and Idolatrous yet we ought not to separate from it by a positive Separation all that we are obliged unto is not to communicate in its Heresies and Idolatries I do very well perceive that the inclinations of your own Hearts would carry you even thither and indeed that is needful to set you in full security For whilst you say if the Church of Rome be not Idolatrous although she be very corrupt we ought nevertheless to continue there you will never have your Hearts at case and liberty and you will never be without Fears lest the Invocation of Saints Worship of Images and the Eucharist should be Idolatry The Heart finds it difficult to rest upon an it may be the Roman Church is not it may be Idolatrous so that to procure that false Peace which you seek after you must disenthral your selves and say with your Converters That though the Roman Church were Heretical and Idolatrous we ought not to separate from it My Brethren I knock hard at the door of your Consciences awake you that sleep and behold the horror of this Proposition If it be true we know not reasonably how to give any bounds to this toleration for the Errors of the Church If we ought to continue there though she become Idolatrous and Heretical we must continue there if she embrace the Heresie of the Manichees who believed two Gods and two Principles if she embrace the Error of the Socinians who destroy the Trinity and Incarnation who deny both the Resurrection of the Body and Immortality of the Soul. We must continue there though she embrace Mahametism and adore the Sun and Moon provided she continue to worship Jesus Christ and bear the Name of Christian Are ye able to stand firm against these frightful Consequences Every Church which is not Infallible but may err and be corrupt may ascend to the highest degree of Corruption For who is it that shall stay it in the midst of its descent from a Precipice or hinder it from tumbling to the bottom Tell me do you believe that a Society which becomes indeed Heretical and Idolatrous can continue at the same time the true Church and the true Body of Jesus Christ Is there any thing more opposite to Christianity than Idolatry How will you reconcile this It is true that God who is rich in means and ways of bringing Men to Salvation may save some Persons in Idolatrous Communions This is that which we shall consider and therein we shall follow the order of your Ratiocinations But doth it follow from thence that therefore we must tolerate Idolatry and Heresie without separating from it This is that which we shall see hereafter My Brethren make a third Reflection upon this unhappy Principle We must suffer the Corruption of the Church rather than separate from its Vnity And give me leave to tell you that in the apprehensions wherein you now are there are the loosest Dispositions of mind which can happen to Men of Honor such as you make profession to be for you are not of opinion that the Corruption of the Church extends it self only to Manners and Discipline you confess that it extends to all things you do not believe that her Errors and Superstitions are light and small and how can your Conscience be otherwise than dead and past all feeling to have Churches full of Images before which Men offer Prayers Incense Supplications Adorations and Homages to Creatures to Saints and Saintesses to have withdrawn the Cup made a false Sacrifice covered a hidden divine Service under a barbarous Language to amuse the People with Relicks Bones Indulgences Stations Jubilees c. How say I are you able not to perceive that this is not an extreme Corruption But what need have I to sollicit your Conscience thereon Your mouths speak and your selves tell us though the Pope he Antichrist we may not separate from him This is that which I call the loosest Opinion that can be imagined to perceive that a Man is in a Communion so corrupt that it may well be Antichristianity and to say that we may not separate our selves from it Tell me I pray you is the state of Corruption in which you find the Roman Church is it say I the natural state of the Church Is it well in this condition You will answer me no If your Answer be true and sincere is it not true that 't is my Duty to do all that I can to recover the Church from this state of
Church be he Priest Bishop or Guide thereof Make Reflections in this place on the monstrous Doctrines of your Converters of whom the most part will tell you that to be a true Member of the Church it suffices to make profession of the Faith and to adhere to lawful Pastors So that Priests that are Sorcerers and Sodomites which you have oftentimes seen burnt at Paris were the true Members of Jesus Christ This is capable of making a man tremble with horrour They will say to you thereon if they were not true Members of the Church and of the Body of Jesus Christ they could not be the Guides thereof Such a one is an evil Man he is nevertheless a true Bishop he must therefore be a true Member of Jesus Christ and of his Body Answer to this that which one of the Writers of Port Royal says somewhere That oftentimes those which Build Jerusalem and Guide it are the Citizens of Babylon Tell them that to be a lawful Pastor and Guide of the Church to be able to administer the Word and Sacraments with Authority it s enough to be a Member of the external and visible Society it is not necessary to be a Member of the true Church to be in the hand of God an Instrument of his Work. A King may administer Justice and administer it very well by a wicked man who hath inwardly all sorts of inclinations to Injustice It will be said a man cannot be the Head and Guide of a Body without being a Member thereof for the Head is one of its principal Members It must be answered That false Pastors are true Members of the visible Society of the Church and that they are also true Heads of that Society whereof they are true Members but they are neither Heads nor Members of the principal and invisible part of the Church who are true Believers and truly righteous persons They are not therefore true Heads but of that part whereof they are true Members and that sufficeth them for the external Administration of the Word and Sacraments for the truely Righteous receive the Word and Sacraments in quality of the Members of the external Society They will press you further and tell you You do confess the Church is visible because she hath a Body which is an external Society But is it always visible Although you should answer That it is not necessary that the Church be always visible they would not be able to convince you of the contrary by reason For a man who is visible by his body may be sometimes hidden and by that means be invisible May not the external Society of the Church which is visible have been at sometimes and in some seasons hidden through the Persecution of Pagans or Hereticks But confess to them that the Church hath been always visible and will be to the end of the World. 'T is true that the Persecutions under the Pagan-Emperours were very great but they never proceeded so far as utterly to destroy all Assemblies of the Church to that degree that there were no visible Society of Christians the Christians were well known under the Persecutions seeing they knew where to find them to make Martyrs of them the Church was visible in the midst of the flames She remained visible in the Heretical Assemblies of the Arrians for those that held the Truth in those Assemblies themselves were more numerous than those that erred concerning it If there were any place where the Church were become invisible it was in the Papism for never was there a Church so corrupt and drowned in Superstitions as that Nevertheless the Church continued there visible because that Christianity and the Fundamentals of the Christian Religion did abide there I do not say that they did remain there in their Integrity but the contrary nevertheless it sufficeth that they did continue there 't is necessary therefore that you know that where-ever Christianity fore that you know that where-ever Christianity remains sensible and visible the Church remains visible for it is Christianity that makes the Church If a Sect become so corrupt that Christianity is no longer visible in it such are the Mahumetans and the Socinians who have rejected the Foundations the Church is no longer visible among them unless it be as a dead man remains visible but it is also visible that he is dead without life and without soul so in the Sects which have rejected the Foundations the Church remains visible but it 's also visible that such Churches are without life without soul without salvation In the Sects which preserve Christianity although they have added very many things thereunto and even such things as overturns the Foundations thereof the Church doth not fail to remain visible because Christianity both is there and is seen there If therefore they do inquire of you Where was your Church before Luther and Calvin Answer them She was in the Christian Societies that were in Aethiopia in those which were in Aegypt and in Africa in those which are and were in Asia in the Greek Church that was at Constantinople and Antioch in Muscovy and the Churches of Russia and she was even in the Church of Rome itself If they ask of you Was the Church visible in these Societies or were the Members thereof hidden Answer them That the Church was visible in these Societies forasmuch as Christianity and the Creed of the Apostles in the true sence thereof explained in the first six General Councils were visibly preserved there Add you that the true Members of Jesus Christ and of the Church were hidden and not visible because those that sincerely and truly adhered to this true Christianity contained in the Creeds of the Christian Church were not known by name but that these Believers were hidden was not at all peculiar to these corrupt Churches because of their Corruption for the case is the same in the purest Churches the true Members of Jesus Christ and of his body are hidden because we do not certainly know those which adhere to the Christian Faith in sincerity and with the heart Behold a pure and native Explication of the true Visibility of the Church and of the Perpetuity of that Visibility The Bishop of Meaux and your other Converters will seem to you very well pleased in this that you confess the Church is visible and always visible Behold they will say one point gained For if the Church be always visible 't is of necessity that there be a Succession in the Ministry a train of legitimate Pastours There will always be Teachers with whom Jesus Christ will teach and the true Teaching will never cease in the Church These are Monsieur de Meaux that great Converter's own words That is to say from the perpetual Visibility of the Church he draws these three conclusions 1. That pure and true Teaching hath never ceased in the Church 2. That there will always be a series and train of legitimate Pastours 3. That Jesus Christ
prove the Church to the weakest by Scripture In the second That a man may prove the Church to the most weak by Tradition And in the third That the Church of Rome is not unfurnished with exterior marks which make her known to be the true Church to the weak Behold three Sources of visibility for the Roman Church 1. Tradition 2. Exterior Marks 3. The Scripture As this is one of the Books which your Converters put into your hands I do intreat you to give attention to what I have to say to you thereon I begin with Tradition They understand by Tradition the Testimony of the Fathers Councils and Authors of all Ages therefore the meaning is they can prove the Church of Rome is the true Church by the testimony of the Greek and Latin Fathers and by the Councils of the Greek and Latin Church And at first this is a contradiction that stares you in the face It may be proved says he to the weak by the Fathers and the Greek and Latin Councils that the Church of Rome is the true Church And how can a man prove to the weak a truth by the testimonies of the Greek and Latin Fathers To those which understand neither Latin nor Greek or who have neither means nor time to turn over the Leaves or read and examine these great Volumes Behold the way nothing more remains than to employ these two means the first is a Principle founded on a Rule of St. Austin that all Customs that are found universally established whose original and beginning we know not may be very justly ascribed to the Apostles The second means is included in this Syllogism which Mr. Nicholas makes The Scripture and Tradition teach that there hath been always in the World one Church visible and successive and that this Church is infallible for the instruction of believers in the truths of Faith. Now the Church of Rome is this only visible Church Therefore the Church of Rome is the infallible Church and to her alone it belongs to instruct men in the truths of Faith. And behold how Mr. Nicholas forms a light upon the first medium which makes the Church of Rome visible to the weak All the Traditions which the Hereticks dispute saye he have their certain Epoche's or beginnings which are not disputed by them The Calvinists agree that in the fourth Age men called upon Saints adored Reliques and observed Lent that in the seventh Age they worshipped Images in the eleventh they believed Transubstantiation The weak have no need to assure themselves of this matter of fact by way of examination for 't is confessed on both sides Apply the Principle of St. Austin that all Customs found universally established in one Age and whose beginning we know not may be justly attributed to the Apostles Now the customs of invoking Saints adoring Images observing Lent and worshipping the Sacrament are found generally established in some Ages as the Calvinists confess and we know not where to find the original of them therefore they ought to be referred to the Apostles A man cannot tell how many Illusions there are therein which are unworthy of an honest man yea a man of a good understanding First 't is to scoff at mankind to say 't is a light proper to make the Church visible to the weak For this method of reasoning doth necessarily suppose 1. That a person must know that this pretended Rule on which they support themselves is St. Austin's 2. That the Ministers consent to the truth of this rule 3. That they confess that upon certain times the customs of adoring Images praying to Saints c. were generally received 4. That from thence it follows that these customs generally established in some Ages ought to be referred to the Apostles All this is disputed and there are large Books written on the Subject which the weak cannot read and this requires an examination which is above the capacity of those which are not men of learning This is that which we have proved invincibly in our Answer to Mr. Nicholas * System of the Church l. 2. c. 16. Secondly It is to be observed that this fine Principle upon which this pretended Evidence is founded viz. the Rule of St. Austin is false especially if it be applied to all Ages It hath been observed that the Fathers of the fourth Age were very much inclined to support the Novelties crept into the Church upon the authorities of the Apostles and to make all things pass for Apostolick the beginning whereof the People were not then able to see It is therefore false that all Customs which are found establish'd in a certain Age although we be not able to find the beginning of them in a distinct manner ought to be ascribed to the Apostles For example The custom of adoring the Sacrament of the Eucharist was not generally established in the Latin. Church till the twelfth Age. Although we could not find the original of this Idolatry it were an impiety to attribute it to the Apostles There are certain Practices which are insensibly established by little and little the first point of whose original cannot be precisely observed It doth not follow therefore that we must ascribe the original to the Apostles We must attribute nothing to the Apostles but what is in their Writings 3. I observe that there is a faulty and shameful falseness in the application of the Rule Mr. Nicholas pretends that the Customs which are found generally established in certain Ages ought to be referred to the Apostles and that for this reason the custom of falling prostrate before Images must be referred to them because this custom is found generally established in the eighth Age. I do maintain that Mr. Nicholas does basely betray his conscience in this example for he is perswaded as well as I and all those Roman Catholicks in France which are men of knowledge and understanding do know that the Apostles did not establish Image-worship and these Gentlemen do not refuse to confess it when they are not in dispute Fourthly I say that this reasoning supposes a thing which is altogether false 't is that we are not able to find the original of those Customs which are generally established in certain Ages this is false the custom of praying to Saints is found established in the fifth Age. In our preceding Letters we have shewn the original and birth thereof In like manner we find in all the following Ages the birth of the Worship of Images of Purgatory the Sacrifice of the Mass the Real Presence and Transubstantiation They make a wrangling with us about it unworthy of honest men Shew us say they who was the first Heretick that taught either the Invocation of Saints or the Worship of Images or those other false Worships which you condemn I answer that I have no need to name their Author seeing I have shewn the Age of their birth I prove for example after a manner invincible that they did
not invocate Saints in the three first Ages of the Church I find afterwards the Invocation of Saints about the end of the fourth Age. Is not this to observe the point of its birth what does the name of the first Author signifie in this case Besides superstitious and idolatrous Practices had not one single Author they had many 't is the sottish and ill instructed people who introduce Superstitions and who introduce them insensibly and by little and little But for speculative Heresies 't is the learned which give them birth for which reason 't is easie to mark both their Authors and the precise time of their original Fifthly To conclude I observe in this light which Mr. Nicholas forms to us to make the Church of Rome visible there is no more of sound judgment than of honesty For although even all that he says were solid and his method would prove the Invocation of Saints the Adoration of Reliques Lent c. were Apostolical Traditions this would not prove that which ought to be proved here viz. that the Church of Rome is the only true Church For it must be known that the Greek Church which according to the Papists is schismatical and which a man cannot secure his salvation do also invocate Saints worship Images and observe Lent. 'T is therefore necessary to find in Tradition a proof which makes it evident that the Church of Rome is the true Church with exclusion to all other Sects and this is it which the reasoning of Mr. Nicholas doth not prove neither directly nor indirectly The other Source from whence Mr. Nicholas will draw a light by Tradition to make the Church of Rome visible to the weak is yet more dark and obscure 'T is a ratiocination which supposes 1. That Tradition teaches that there hath been a visible and infallible Church in the World. Tradition doth not teach it and although it should teach it a plain weak man which cannot read the Greek and Latin Fathers the Councils and the Opinions of the Doctors would not be in a condition to assure himself thereof 2. This reasoning supposes in its second Proposition that the Church of Rome is this only visible infallible Church And this is that which must be proved that is that which is obscure and must be made plain to the eyes of the weak Is it not therefore very absurd to pretend to make a light for the weak to render the Roman Church visible of that which is denied and contested by all the World yea although it should be true that there is one visible and infallible Church it would not follow that this were the Church of Rome for three fourth parts of Christians dispute this priviledge with her Mr. Nicholas hath found an admirable secret to draw the weak out of this difficulty It is not needful as he insinuates to make known to the weak that there be other Sects as ancient as the Church of Rome who pretend to be the Church Nothing more is necessary than to make them see the new Sects of Lutherans and Calvinists in opposition to the Church of Rome For they will easily see that this visible Church which ought always to be in the World cannot be that of Luther and Calvin and they will not be so much as tempted to search any other Church but that of Rome I think I have pressed Mr. Nicholas thereon after such a manner as to cover him with a confusion out of which he will never escape For I have made him see that it is properly to cheat the weak to let them believe there is no other Church in the World but the Roman and the Protestant The Protestant Church not having the marks of perpetual visibility since she was not till about two hundred years ago the weak without inquiring further believe that the Roman Church is the only true Church on supposition that she is the only ancient Church Mr. Nicholas confesses that this supposition is false for he acknowledges the Greek Church is as ancient as the Roman But nevertheless according to him 't is expedient to permit the weak to believe this false supposition as if it were true that they be not tempted to search any other Church but the Roman On this matter of fact and about all the rest of the Book against Mr. Nicholas we do declare to him that his silence is look'd upon as a conviction They write that he prepares an Answer to the first Part of the System of the Church where the Nature of the Church is spoken to If it be so we declare to him that that is not the capital Controversie between him and me 'T is about the impossibility of examination of particular Controversies 't is about the Authority of the Church which he ought to answer and to which he will never answer the 2d light which Mr. Nicholas forms to make the Church of Rome visible is drawn from the external marks which make her known for the true Church to the weak and ignorant These external marks according to him may be reduced to two they are Miracles and Sanctity Now this Sanctity and these Miracles which must make the Roma Church visible are either those of the present or those of past Ages Mr. Nicholas searches the visibility of the Church of Rome more in the Miracles of the first Ages than in those of this And behold how he reasons the Church of the two or three first Ages had marks sufficiently evident of the Divine Spirit wherewithal she was animated the miraculous Holiness of her Members and the Miracles which were done there made her sufficiently visible and sufficiently supported her authority If the Church of the three first Ages had this character both of authority and evidence we cannot refuse it to the Church of the fourth Age for 't was the same Church She possessed all the advantages of the three first Ages That is to say her Miracles and her Prodigies of Sanctity which appertained to her by right of succession and she had those which were her own and which were not inferiour to them For she had her Martyrs her Prodigies of Sanctity and her Miracles and these Miracles were done in that same Church where by the confession of the Ministers they prayed to Saints and worshipped Reliques These Prodigies of Sanctity and these Miracles did yet continue in those Ages in which the Ministers do confess that they had Images and believed Transubstantiation For example in the Age of St. Bernard which is the 12th This St. Bernard wrought Miracles and taught all that which is believed in the Church of Rome Follow on from Age to Age and you will come even to the Church of the present Age who hath right to attribute to her self not only the Miracles of the Apostles but all those which have been wrought since and above all those which were done by the Reliques of Saints in the fourth and fifth Ages As the Miracles which St. Austin reports
pains God will prepare for you in the Heavens a Glory distinct from others for you must believe the Crown of Martyrs is more rich and illustrious than that of ordinary Believers Say them All things well considered this light and transient Affliction is not worthy to be compared to the Glory which is to come and which shall be revealed in me Would to God I could depaint before you the Glory of Heaven the Joy of Souls which see God and possess him the Satisfaction of the Blessed which are plunged in an Ocean of Delights the Transports of Saints which embrace their Divine Saviour which are in the glorious Society of the Patriarchs which sing the Praises of God with Angels and are full of Joy which exceeds all understanding In the name of God dear Brother lift up your eyes that way and let that grand object support you Take heed of the perilous Temptations to which the World and your own Heart may expose you 1. Your Heart may peradventure say the Difference which is between the Roman Religion and mine is so little that 't is not worth the while to suffer Martyrdom for it Say thereon Get thee behind me Satan thou art an offence unto me Rome is that spiritual Babylon concerning which God has said Go out of her my people The Church of Rome is the Court trod under foot by the Gentiles for the space of twelve hundred and sixty days The Papists are the Gentiles which tread under foot the Church of God and oppress it their Images are the Idols of the ancient Pagans and their Saints are in the place of the false Gods of Antiquity The Sacrament which they appoint to be adored is an Idol which cannot be adored without stirring up the holy Jealousie of the true Jesus Christ Remember my dear Brother that our Truths are not less important than they were an hundred and fifty years ago when our Fathers went joyfully to death in defence of them They deserved that they should die for them then they deserve that we should suffer for them at this day Take head of another very grievous Temptation Your Heart will say What must I condemn to Hell all those persons that have fallen through weakness which go to Mass by constraint Without doubt God will shew them mercy and save them He will do the same by me I will follow their example I shall have the same lot with them To that remember the Precept of Jesus Christ Judge not that ye be not judged Leave the Brethren that are fallen to the Judgment of God. We do hope that God will shew them mercy that is to say that he will give them Repentance of their great fault but in the name of God be not tempted to imitate them Is it not certain that the state in which they are is at least doubtful And is not yours certain Will it not be then a madness to quit a state and way which certainly leads you to the Greatest Glory of Paradise to put your self in a way which may lead you to ruine and damnation this is the best that you can think of it Moreover my dear Brother you ought to remember that where much hath been given much will be required the Favours which God hath bestowed upon you hitherto are so great that you can never make sufficient acknowledgments for them He hath given you a courage and resolution that hath few Examples Oh! how precious is the Talent that you have received But also how faulty will your laziness be if you go dig and hide it When a person falls at the beginning of his Race it will be said he was not fit for so long a Course and Men will excuse him But if he run vigorously within two steps of the end and having his hand already upon the Crown lets it go and loses it all Men will blame him and treat him as wretched and sloathful Run you therefore the race that is set before you with patience and perseverance seeing you are encompassed with so great a Cloud of Witnesses Look to that Cloud of holy Martyrs of Jesus Christ which have gone before you which have been Burnt Tortured torn with Pincers sometimes whole years together which have seen their Bowels fall out in the Fire before they gave up the Ghost The Chain which you wear about your neck is fifty pounds but it is more supportable than flames of Fire Say therefore We have not yet resisted unto blood fighting against sin How glorious is the Chain that you bear about your neck It is more precious than if it were of Gold and Diamonds Being coloured with your sweat and sometimes with your blood it may one day prove if it pleases God the most precious of your moveables and you will say behold there the Carcanet and Collar that my Divine Spouse hath given me Behold the Nuptial Jewel wherewith he hath honoured me He hath done me the honor to make me conformable to him in his Sufferings that I may be conformable to him in his Glory In the name of God my dear Brother do not suffer your self to be softned by the memory of your Wife and Children God who is rich in Mercy the Father of the Fatherless and Husband of the Widow will take care of her and them and not leave them without all Consolation He that loves Father or Mother Wife or Children more than me is not worthy of me We ought not to love any thing but God and for the love of God this good God will be to us in the stead of all things and will comfort us effectually The moment of time in which you leave the Prison to go to the Galleys to which you are designed will be a terrible moment to you but in the name of God fortifie your self against the horrors of it and say I follow Jesus Christ my Saviour he went forth of the Judgment-Hall bearing his Cross and I go out of my Prison bearing my Chains I shall arrive at my Calvary but I shall also arrive at the Mount of Olives at the Mountain of Peace and at last I shall ascend up into Heaven to my God and dear Redeemer In your Journey you will bear your Chain by the Roads but it will sparkle with glory and whereas the shame and infamy wherewithal Galley-Slaves are laden is usually the heaviest part of their burthen on the contrary you will be laden with glory and your Enemies themselves will admire you I praise God for the moderation with which you speak of your Persecutors therein I observe a proof that you are a true Martyr of Jesus Christ Continue to bless and pray to God for them When Men suffer for an ill Cause it is always with impatience and fury against those that are the cause thereof But the true Religion inspires this spirit of sweetness and kindness So that without going further than your own Heart you may there find evidences of the truth of the Religion that
Non-elect and Reprobates so that it is absurd that God should cause his Gospel to be preached to a herd of Reprobates among which there is not one person on whom the Word can produce its effect It will be therefore in vain that God should preserve Christians in all the East and South for these Christians being out of the saving Unity will be damned just in the same manner as if they were Pagans Fourthly The Schism of the Ten Tribes gives us a convincing Proof that in Schismatical Churches every single Person is not in a state of Damnation Jeroboam separated ten Tribes from the other two he would not suffer them to go up to Jerusalem but engaged them in a formal Schism nevertheless God there preserved both Prophets as Elijah and Elisha and a multitude of Persons which he affirmed to be his own because they had not bowed the knee to Baal There is therefore no particular Church that has reason to boast it self of having Unity alone to the prejudice of all other Churches Fifthly The truth is that on one side the Jews converted to Christianity in the time of the Apostles and on the other side the Pagan Converts lived in a true Schism for these Jewish Christians would have no Communion with the converted Pagans nevertheless they did not mutually damn each other therefore we ought not to damn those which live in Schism whatever it be The converted Jews had considerable Errors they observed the Law and would retain Circumcision with all their might Things incompatible with Christianity as S. Paul declares so positively as to say If any one be circumcised Christ should profit him nothing nevertheless God suffers and saves them with considerable Errors It is not therefore true that the Church is shut up in one sole Communion and that every Error damns when we separate from a Society that is justly called the Church but it 's true that remaining in a Society bearing that Name we may nevertheless be damned when there are mortal Errors there as there are in the Church of Rome Sixthly Ask your Converters who would oblige you to return to the Church of Rome on pain of Damnation under pretence that Unity is in that Church alone ask them I say whether they would pronounce that all the Greek Christians of whom there are millions are damned for this only reason because they will not adhere to the Roman Church who alone has Unity in her possession If they have the front to say yea ask them if they acknowledge the Greeks for Christians They will also also answer you yea pursue and press them by asking how God can abandon to eternal Damnation an infinite number of Christians who according to the Church of Rome hold no Capital Errors and are only mistaken in things of small consequence If the Papists boast of the consent of all Christians of other Communions and particularly of the Geeks in the Invocation of Saints in the Adoration of Images in the Doctrine of Transubstantiation the real Presence and Adoration they do therefore hold all that the Church of Rome esteems necessary to Salvation why therefore will they damn them for little things and for this alone that they will not live in this pretended Unity To compleat the confusion of your Converters by themselves on the subject of this Unity out of which we are departed Ask them if this Unity be not a certain circle in which the true Church is enclosed They will answer you yea proceed to ask them Whether this certain Circle of Unity has not its Centre that is to say a certain eminent Church to which all the rest ought to have their Relation to the end that they may be within the ciâ—cle of Unity they will also answer you yea and they will add that the Pope or Bishop of Rome is this centre of Unity Monsieur de Meaux finds a way to secure himself from the Thunders of Rome by frequent repeating this and indeed this Supposition according to their Hypothesis is of absolute necessity for if this Circle of Unity have no Centre of Adherence it vanishes immediately a man will always be able to say with good reason To what Church would you that I should adhere is it to that of Paris or that of Toledo These are particular Churches which may err if therefore the Pope be ruined if the necessity of Adherence to the Pope be removed the circle of Unity perishes with him which they call the centre of Unity Now observe that at this day the Divines of the French Church your Converters ruine the Pope from head to foot they take away the centre of Unity and by destroying the centre they destroy the circle 'T is to this that so many modern Writings of Maimbourgh Gerbas Noel Alexander made after the Kings Declarations and the Definitions of the Bishops on this Subject or in prospect of them do tend But the Gallican Church never spake so openly as she hath done but a little while fince by the Pen of a Doctor of the Sorbonne called Elias Pin touching the ancient Discipline of the Church Those among you my Brethâ—en which do not understand the Latin Tongue may consuâ—t those that do and they will inform you that in this Book may be read 1. That the Bishop of Rome had originally no power over other Churches 2. That in the first Institution of Patriarchs he had no power but over the Suburbicane Provinces that is to say those near to Rome 3. That the Popes by little and little ruined the Rights of the Metropolitan Bishops and by Usurpation ascribed them to themselves 4. That the Pope has no right to review and finally judge the Causes determined by the Bishops 5. That the Priviledges which the See of Rome at this day enjoys are not by divine Right but either by Usurpation or the Concession of Councils 6. That to be a good Catholick and a good Christian it is in no wise necessary in many Occurrences to adhere to the See of Rome 7. That the Primacy of the Church which the Pope possesses appertains not to him but by a tolerated Usurpation or as a Priviledge granted by Councils This gives him no character of Infallibility nor the right of judging finally and above Councils Behold exactly the Divinity of the Gallican Church at this day for this man in the view of the Court had not written thus without its Order Behold also the centre of Unity intirely subverted and so subverted as it was by Calvin and Luther This being so why do these Gentlemen everlastingly beat upon your ears about their Unity and the centre of Unity There is no more Unity in the Church of Rome since there is no centre of it there for since adherence to the Pope is no farther necessary to be a true Christian you are not departed from Unity and Christianity by departing from the Communion of the Pope observe therefore thereon that Monsieur de Meaux and your
and I will leave them in their Retirement very peaceably provided they put themselves into a state of Inaction as well in respect to us as to God but if they continue to trouble us the Dispute may have an Issue which will not turn to their honor This Digression which hath been longer than I could have wished will be the cause that we cannot proceed far in the Article of Controversie We are on the true Idea of Unity The last part of our preceding Letter was employed in refuting the false Idea of Unity We have made it appear that 't is a foolish and cruel Opinion to shut up Salvation in any single Communion and that of all the Sects of Christianity that of Rome has the least right to pretend to it The Bishop of Meaux brags much of four or five Passages of St. Cyprian to prove this cruel Paradox This ancient Doctor goes so far as to say * Lib. de Vnitate That there can be no Martyr but in the Church that when a man is separated from its Vnity 't is in vain that he sheds his blood for the Confession of Christ Jesus This Maxim in a large signification may be endured for indeed there may be Hereticks who confessing the Name of Jesus Christ but on the other side ruining the Foundations of the Christian Religion may dye for the Religion of Jesus Christ to no advantage but the Application which S. Cyprian makes thereof is one of those faults over which wise men ought to draw a Curtain He proceeds so far as to apply it to the Novatians Now it must be known these Novatians were good Christians a thousand times better than are the Papists seeing they did not ruine any of the Foundations but retained and believed all the Christian Verities only they were something severe in Discipline and would not receive those that fell in times of Persecution to the Peace of the Church Was not this a great crime Was not this a fine occasion to say as Cyprian did That a Novation was no Christian Was not this a very fine Foundation for that terrible and cruel Sentence That a Novation dying a Martyr for Jesus Christ was nevertheless damned Of what make and constitution are the Doctors of the Roman Church that make use of these Excesses which ought to be hid out of Honor to those great men which fell into them These are Scars remaining in their Flesh to the end that we should not exalt them too much by reason of their great Virtues Behold my Brethren the eye wherewith Mr. de Meaux looks on you he for your sakes makes use of the eyes which St. Cyprian had for the Novatians concerning whom he said A Novatian is out of the Church he is no Christian So says Mr. de Meaux concerning you The Calvinists are out of the Church and are no Christians And why then Gentlemen do you address to us Pastoral Letters Why do you call us your wandring Brethren Will you dare to say that we are no Christians Let these Writers of Pastoral Letters says Mr. de Meaux who shrowd themselves with some shreds of S. Cyprian take all his Doctrine entire Go to Mr. you may say unto him If you find the Doctrine of S. Cyprian so good why don't you take it whole and entire Why don't you say that all the Greeks and all the Christians of the East are not Christians Dare you say that all the Greeks which have been martyred by the Turks and Saracens since the Tenth Age are damned and that they did not suffer Martyrdom although they suffered for Jesus Christ For my part I am persuaded that if you press your Converters on this Subject with their Passages of St. Cyprian they will blush on both Cheeks Remember therefore with respect to St. Cyprian that the love which he had for the Peace of the Church and the horror that he had for Schism ran him into that excess to believe or say That out of that I know not what exterior Unity of the Church a man could not be saved 'T was in this Age that men began to corrupt the Idea of the Church as I have already observed To what will all this come and what profit will you draw thence my Brethren 'T is that thereby you will prove to your Converters the falseness of this Doctrine That the Unity of the Church is included in the Roman Church that out of this Church or in any other private Communion there is no Salvation and thereby you will convince them that they are not infallible for if this Article be false That the Roman Church alone possesses that Vnity she hath erred and that in an important and capital Affair You will also thereby convince them That the Roman Religion is the most cruel and the most damnable of all the Sects of Christianity forasmuch as it condemns the most men For by defming that she alone possesses saving Vnity and by condemning all those that are not in this Vnity she damns three fourth parts of the Christian World. And to conclude you will establish your selves in a holy confidence that by being or having been out of the Roman Communion you have not bâ—en out of the Vnity and you have not shut the door of Salvation upon your selves since Salvation is not included precisely in the Roman Communion and that saving Vnity is not shut up within the circle of any certain Communion On the Subject of this Vnity you will desire me without doubt that I will furnish you wherewithal to answer the Question which your Converters will put to you In what then does the Vnity of the Church consist if it does not consist in adherence to such and such Pastors Answer them my Brethren That this Vnity consists 1. In the Vnity of Spirit forasmuch as God and the Spirit are the Soul of all Christian Communions which do retain the fundamental Truths 2. In the Vnity of Doctrine which is one through all the World where Jesus Christ is purely taught 3. In the Vnity of Sacraments which are the same every where where they have been preserved and not corrupted Let Churches be separated and set at a distance one from another as far as the Antipodes are from us let them have no knowledge one of another They will not cease to be one by this triple Vnity of Spirit Doctrine and Sacraments If there were a pure Church in the farthest part of Ethiopia or in the utmost part of China we should be one Church with them though we had never heard any thing said one of another It is not therefore the Unity of Ceremonies of Worship Discipline and Pastors which makes the Essential Vnity that 's an accidental Unity which a man may break without going out of the true Unity So the Novatians which were separated from the Church for a little unhappy point of Discipline were in the wrong no doubt and greatly in the wrong and Novatian above all who was the
of the Fourth and Fifth Ages The Original of Oecumenical Councils Seven Reasons against their Infallibility drawn from their Original An Article of Controversie The true Idea of Schism All those which are called Schismaticks are not out of the Church Dear Brethren in our Lord Grace and Peace be given to you from our god and Saviour Jesus Christ IN our preceding Letter we began the History of the Novelties which appeared in Christianity during the Fourth and Fifth Ages and the first which we found there was the Original of the Monastick Life The Second thing considerable to the Original whereof we ought to give attention in the Fourth and Fifth Ages are the Councils called General or Oecumenical Not as to the Original of a thing evil in it self but as to a thing of which ill use hath been made and of which they make a snare at this day for ignorant and feeble Minds The pretended Infallibility of the Church is the great Illusion by which they endeavour to deceive the new Converts They know not where to fix this Infallibility sometimes they fix it in the Pope and sometimes in a Council But the French Church by the Authority of the King hath declared her self boldly a little while since for the Infallibility of Councils against the Infallibility of the Pope for which reason 't is expedient that you here learn in a few words the History of the Birth of General Councils that you may understand the absurdity of the Principle upon which your Converters build You must therefore know my Brethren that the French Church not knowing assuredly where to place the Infallibility of the Church distinguisheth Councils into Diocesan Provincial National Oecumenick or General Diocesan Councils are those which the Bishop assembles where he reads his Ordinances to his Curates Provincial Councils are Assemblies of the Suffragan Bishops of one and the same Metropolitan National Councils are those where the Bishops of one or more Nations are Assembled They have not been so bold as to ascribe Infallibility to any one of these Assemblies but there are Councils of an higher Order which it pleases these Gentlemen to call Oecumenical or General Councils to which they ascribe Infallibility they are say they those in which the whole Vniversal Church is assembled When we ask them where is the Institution of these Assemblies in the Holy Scripture they cannot find the least foot-steps thereof I say the least 't is true they there find Assemblies of Believers of Pastors and Elders who considered Matters that were disputed We see one among others in the 15th Chapter of the Acts Some of the Apostles Elders and Brethren which were at Jerusalem assembled to advise about means to determin the Controversie which the Pharisees had raised in the Church concerning the necessity of observing the Law of Moses But it would be ridiculous to call a very small Assembly and very private a General Council where there appeared but three Apostles of thirteen and only the Clergy which happened to be then at Jerusalem When we continue to ask these Gentlemen where we must then take the Original of Oecumenical Councils they answer us in the Fourth and Fifth Ages of the Church and indeed they have reason for it The First of those Councils which bears this Name is that of Nice assembled by the Authority of Constantine in the year 325 to determine the Controversie of the Divinity of the Son against Arrius The Second was assembled by Theodosius the Elder in the year 381 to determine against Macedonius who denied the Divinity of the Holy Spirit The Third was called together at Ephesus under the Empire of Theodosius the Younger in the year 431 against Nestorius who affirmed two Persons in Jesus Christ The Fourth was assembled in the year 451 by the Authority of the Emperour Martian against the Heresie of Eutyches who confounded the two Natures Behold four in 125 years or little more before this Men knew not what a General Council meant Now I intreat you my Brethren give attention to six or seven short Reflections which I shall make thereon that you may understand the great absurdity of affixing Infallibility to these kind of Assemblies this is at this time of the greatest importance to you You must throw to the ground this Phantome of Infallibility which serves as a support to all the Errors of Popery Now this Phantome knows not where to fix its foot and when you shall have forced it out of this last Entrenchment where your Converters have placed it you will see it vanish and disappear 1. Make reflection upon the silence of the Holy Scripture concerning it and see if there be any probability that the design of God was to establish a seat of Infallibility in certain Assemblies and that he should never speak a word thereof It must be granted that there is nothing in the World more important in Religion than this It is not enough that the Scripture hath established the Infallibility of the Church in general as they pretend for it would be in vain for God to say the Church is Infallible if we know not what this Church is where the seat of this Infallibility is placed and by what Mouth she ought to give her Oracles 'T is true they send you to Tradition for all that whereof the Scripture says nothing But this cannot be a Point for which we are to be sent to Tradition for this is the Foundation of Tradition it self Tradition is the consent of the Ancients and this consent is found in Councils All the Authority of Tradition is nothing at least before the Infallibility of Councils is established The Infallibility of Tradition is not in the testimony of single Persons of S. Austin S. Chrysostom c. for these single Persons were not infallible and as yet it has not been thought advisable to make them so 'T is therefore the Infallibility of Councils which alone can make Tradition certain Now Tradition is the second Rule of Faith equal in Authority to the Holy Scripture 't is therefore necessary at least that the Scripture hath given credential Letters to these Oecumenical Councils that their Authority and that of Tradition may be confessed and acknowledged This is not say I an Affair for which we are to be sent to Tradition as well because it is the most important Point of Christianity on which the Faith of the rest depends as because this were to send to Tradition to prove the Authority of Tradition it self which is absurd it is not absurd in the Scripture to have recourse to the Scripture it self to prove the Authority of the Scripture because it is the highest Principle and because there is nothing beyond it it must be that it prove it self But the Scripture is above Councils and Tradition and by consequence it is necessary that the Scriptures establish the Authority both of Tradition and Councils 2. I intreat you to observe that the Church continued three Hundred
to the decisions of Bishops those which came after and above all Councils might very well correct them After which he adds * De Bapt. cont Donat. lib. 2. cap. 3. And even the Councils which are held in every Country and in every Province do without difficulty give place to full Councils which are assembled from all the Christian World and these full Councils so he calls Oecumenical Councils may be corrected by those which follow when that which was hid is discovered and by some experience men come to know what they were ignorant in Observe that the thing under debate was not a matter of Discipline only as they will tell you but to know whether the Baptism of Hereticks were of any value 'T was a Point of Doctrine if there were ever and such 7. To conclude I conjure you my Brethren give yet attention to this 't is that although the Dream of your Converters should have some foundation and that the Church Universal assembled in a Body by its Guides were Infallible the Church of Rome would have no part in this Privilege nor would it extend it self to the Councils since Berengarius which they desire you should look upon as the Rules of your Faith. For these Councils were never Assemblies of the Church Universal since the Schism of the Greeks they are at most but Councils of the Latin Church but the Latin Church say they is become the Universal and Catholick Church excluding all other Christian Communions which are separate from her and by consequence her Councils are those of the Church Universal This is the most foolish of all Pretensions That the Roman Church should be the only Church excluding all the Communions of Asia Africa and Europe We have shewn the extravagance of this Pretence in our former Letters for which reason at present we may well suppose it as indisputable viz. that the Church of Rome for 800 years past hath had no Oecumenical Councils in the sense that she her self understands the Word from whence you may conclude that she hath had no Infallible Councils Furthermore 't is necessary to oblige you to give attention to this Original of Oecumenical Councils in the fourth and fifth Ages because without doubt it was one of the means which the Devil made use of to establish the Empire and Domination of Antichrist Not that the first Councils called Oecumenical were not assembled with good intention and were not very useful at that season and in that time But it happens to this good thing as to the most part of others which have been introduced with a good intention the Devil hath taken occasion from thence to bring in either Opinions or Practices which have destroyed the Church Martyrdom is an excellent work yet from thence men have taken occasion to introduce the Opinion of Merits and Works of Supererogation Respect for the Martyrs is very just and very reasonable yet that hath made way for Indulgences the Invocation of Saints Adoration of Relicks and Images The use of Oecumenical Councils hath been found good upon several occasions The Bishops coming from all Parts have appeared not as Judges but as Witnesses of the Faith of their Churches and this unanimous consent in the Faith hath produced a very good effect for the establishing of Points fundamental But the Spirit of Lies hath nevertheless made use thereof afterwards as a means to build that Universal Empire over the Church an Empire which is one of the characters of Antichrist At the beginning it was the Emperors which assembled these Councils These Assemblies were made by their Authority the Bishops of Rome were of the number of those called to them he must have renounced all Sincerity that doth not agree unto it after he hath read Eusebius Socrates Zozomon and Theodoret. When the Roman Empire was ruined in the West the Emperors having no Authority and longer to call Assemblies of the whole Church because they were no longer Masters of it the Popes who advanced according to the measure that the Emperors declined were willing to lay hold of this Right They endeavoured to re-unite under their Authority all the Provinces which had formerly been united under the Emperors in which they were successful and thereby formed the second Roman Empire which is the Empire of the Boast and of Antichrist These Oecumenical Assemblies were of great use to them in this at the head of which Assemblies they placed themselves in the quality of the first Patriarchs The custom which the Councils took in the Fourth Age of adding Anathema's to their Decisions did also serve them afterwards to possess men with a Chimera of their Infallibility I have not been able to find that Councils did anathematize any one before the Council of Nice We have the Council of Carthage reckoned for the third in the Collection of Father Labbeus held under Cyprian in the year 258. Zonarus holds it for the most ancient of all the Councils he means whose Decisions we have It seems to me we have therein the form of the ancient Councils Every one there speaks his Opinion modestly that which had the plurality of Voices passed but they there made no Decrees nor Anathema's We do not see that in the first two Ages they held Councils for the deciding matters of Faith and Doctrine There was one held about the Controversie concerning Easter that is to say Whether they ought to celebrate the Fourteenth of the Month of March but this was a Point of Discipline There was in those times an infinite number of Hereticks as appears by the Book of Irenaeus but I have not observed that they did assemble Councils against them before the third Age nevertheless if they had look'd upon Councils as Infallible it would have been necessary to prevent Seduction and to secure the Faith of Christians An Article of Controversie The true Idea of Schism That those which are called Schismaticks are not out of the Church AFter having spoken of Vnity and confuted the Sophism which they draw from this Vnity in the preceding Letters we must answer the Sophism which is drawn from the Schism which ruines this Unity 'T is a Point which your Converters do continually repeat and beat upon you Schism say they is a hideous crime Schismaticks are out of the Church there is no Salvation for them and although the Church of Rome it self were corrupt you ought not to break with her Their modern Writers which seem willing to soften the Maxims of the Roman Church do nevertheless observe no measure on this Subject and on this Point They proceed so far as to maintain That although it should be true that even the Church of Rome should be fallen into Idolatry we ought not to forsake her and could not justly set up Altar against Altar We must return to these Gentlemen not Paradox for Paradox but Truth for Lies but a Truth which is opposite to their Falshood as our Antipodes are opposite to us They say
that though even the Church should fall into Idolatry we cannot be saved if we separate from it And I say although even the Church of Rome should have Reason at the bottom and were not Idolatrous and that we were out in our Separation we should not hazard our Salvation by continuing as we are Men are every where well where they have Christianity and the marrow and substance of it and 't is a folly to imagine that the Salvation of men depends upon the humor of their Guides It may be therefore that Luther and Calvin were mistaken i. e. That the corruption of the Church of Rome was not great enough to oblige the Faithful to go out of her let us suppose they had done better to leave things as they were I do nevertheless maintain that at this day you do not in any wise hazard your Salvation by continuing where they have placed you because however it be you have Christianity in its integrity you have it wholly pure and uncorrupt In every Society where that is found a man may be saved after whatsoever manner it be formed The Idea which men have formed of Schism for many Ages past is the most false that can be imagined but besides the falshood of it 't is the most dangerous and cruel Chimera that could be found Every Society would be Catholick Church to the exclusion of all others The Church of Rome pretends thus far for her self The Greek Church makes no less pretence thereto He that goes out of this Church breaks the Unity and he that breaks it is no longer in the Church Now he who is no longer in the Church is no longer in a state and way of Salvation whatever he say and whatever he do Behold what they say behold the Chimera We must therefore rectifie this Idea of Schism according to the Unity which we have given you The Unity of the Universal Church does not subsist within the bounds of one certain Communion nor in adherence to certain Pastors to the exclusion of all others but in the Unity of Spirit Doctrine Sacraments and Evangelical Ministry in general i. e. of Pastors declaring the Truth of the Gospel What must be done then to make a Schism with respect to the Church Universal He must renounce the Christian Doctrine the Sacraments of the Church and the Gospel Ministry that is to say He must be an Apostate or an Heretick But every Society that goes out of another and greater Society of which it was a part makes no Schism with respect to the Church Universal whilst it retains the Doctrine the Sacraments and the Ministry of the Gospel it goes not out of the Church because it carries the Church with it and it carries the Church with it because it carries Christianity with it It carries say I the Church with it in such a manner nevertheless that it leaves it in the Society which it leaves for leaving true Christianity there it leaves the true Church there also And the advantage of being the Church and of having Christianity is a Privilege which may be possessed intire and without prejudice to other Christian Societies We must therefore know that there is an Vniversal and Particular Schism Particular Schism is a Separation from a particular Church a Universal Schism is a Separation from the Universal Church Universal Schism consists in the Renunciation of the Universal Church by renouncing her Doctrine Sacraments and Ministry For example If the one half of Christians should separate from the other and set up a new Gospel according to which Moses should be set side by side with Jesus Christ the legal Ceremonies re-established the Evangelical Ministry should be changed into the Ministry of Priests after the Order of Aaron the Sacraments of the Church should be joyned to the Sacraments of the Old Testament it were certain that this would be a true Schism for these Men would renounce the Doctrine the Sacraments and the Ministry of the Gospel The Mahometans without renouncing Jesus Christ and calling him false Prophet have set up a Prophet superior to him and receive the Impostures of Mahomet admit Circumcision and reject Baptism have made a Religion truly and essentially different from that of Christ's 'T is therefore a true universal Schism The Socinians who have renounced almost all the Fundamentals of the Christian Religion who despise and neglect the Sacraments by going out of the Church are become Schismaticks and true Schismaticks with respect to the Church Universal for they have not carried the Church with them because they have not carried Christianity with them According to this Idea Universal Schism or Schism with respect to the Universal Church doth not essentially differ from Heresie and Apostacy Particular Schism is when a Man separates from a particular Church be it for some Point of Doctrine be it for some quarrel about Discipline be it for some personal Differences of the Guides among themselves Of this sort of Schisms there is an infinite number of Examples In the Second Age there was a Schism between the Church of Rome and the Church of Asia about a controversie of Ceremonies about the day on which Easter ought to be observed The Churches of Asia maintained that the Christian Passover ought to be observed on the same day that the Jews observed theirs and they said they held it as a Tradition from St. John. The Church of Rome on the contrary said that Christians ought to observe Easter on the Lord's-day following the Jewish Passover And for the sake of this goodly Controversie Victor Bishop of Rome was so rash as to separate the Churches of Asia from his Communion This Schism continued not only until the Council of Nice but a very long time after for mention is made of the Quartodecimani in the General Council of Ephesus against Nestorius in the year 431. So they called those who celebrated Easter with the Jews on the 14th day of the Month of March. In the Third Age Novatian formed a considerable Schism about a Point of Discipline viz. Whether we ought to receive those who fell in times of Persecution to the Peace of the Church This Schism continued a long time We find this Schism continuing amidst all the great troubles that were betwixt the Arrians and the Orthodox the union of Opinions that was between the Novatians and the Catholicks with respect to the Doctrine of Arrius did not put a period unto it In the same Age the Donatists made another Schism in Africa about the choice of a Bishop of Carthage Two Parties being formed about it a Division was made it spread through all Africa and continued many Ages There happened another in the beginning of the Fifth Age by one named Nestorius Bishop of Constantinople who taught there were two Persons as well as two Natures in Christ Another was made a little while after by Eutyches Abbot of a Monastery in Constantinople who desiring to oppose Nestorius who distinguished two Persons
Foundation upon which we at this day exhort you to make to your selves no longer a frightful Phantome of the Authority of the Pope Surely the Gallican Church in all this takes great steps in your favour and you are obliged unto them for it But yet there remains one without which all the rest are absolutely nothing and that is to break with the Pope We are preparing a Work in which we pretend to make it plain to these Gentlemen that they cannot dispense with themselves from finishing that which they have begun and that in the Estate in which their Divinity concerning it is at this day they ought to consider the Pope as the greatest and the most hateful Usurper A Point of Controversie A Continuation of the matter of Schism Although the Corruption of the Roman Church were not extreme yet it would not be lawful for us to return thither Objections of the new Converts about it MY Brethren in the preceding Letter we have made it appear that although we had been in the wrong in our Separation and that the Church of Rome had not been corrupt you would not wholly hazard your Salvation by continuing out of it I am at present to make it appear that the Church of Rome being corrupt with far greater reason you need fear nothing by not returning thither again But for the greater illustration of this matter let us suppose two sorts of corruption the one in some sort tolerable and the other wholly intolerable Let us argue upon the first and suppose that Persons separate themselves from a Church which hath Errors in Doctrine which nevertheless retains the Fundamentals in their Integrity which hath Superstitions and those very great in its Worship but which is no formally Idolatrous Those which separate from such a Church had done better if they had made no Separation They ought to have attempted all sorts of methods to have reformed their Church Those Remedies not succeeding but exasperating the evil they ought to exercise Patience and to expect a more favourable time for Reformation But supposing that whilst these men employ methods of Softness matters insensibly grow warm and fierce by the Contentions of Men a thing which happens almost always and necessarily supposing say I that the fierceness and heat of the one and the other Party thrust on things to an entire Rupture and Schism do you believe that the Party which separates it self from the main Body and embraces a Religion more pure than that which it left is obliged to return to the corrupt Party from which it is separated Not at all It may and ought to say If things had proceeded otherways 't is true we could have born for a while those Corruptions which are in some sort tolerable but things by the Providence of God happening thus we will stay where we are and keep our selves in that Purity which we have chosen and not return to the corruption which we have forsaken I do maintain that this separated Church had reason and were not obliged to return It were not obliged to return for Salvation for having carried Christianity with it yea having purged it it would be sure that a man might be saved in its Communion It will not be obliged for Edification for 't is not for Edification that being in a pure Church we should joyn our selves to another Church which we believe impure and is really so I go farther and maintain That such a separate Church were obliged not to return to its corrupt stock For when God hath separated us from corruption although this corruption be not extreme we are obliged to keep far from it 'T is true that Preservation of Peace is worth much but 't is a good thing which must not be purchased at the price of Truth Schism which is making and in action makes a great noise and gives great scandal for which reason I have said that when the corruption of a Church is in some sort tolerable it were better to suffer it than to make a violent Separation but the continuation of a Separation is not of the same scandal Custom reconciles us to every thing and the scandal of such a continuation is not so great that we should sacrifice important Truths for the sake thereof Let us at present apply these Reflections to the Subject that we are debating and do the Church of Rome that favour to suppose for one moment as true that which is very false viz. that her corruption is in some sort tolerable that she hath Errors but doth not ruine Fundamentals that she is Superstitious but not Idolatrous Let us suppose also that for this reason our Fathers did not do ill in continuing for some time in the Roman Church and exercising Patience therein But let us consider at the same time that things did not take this course there that the Providence of God did otherwise dispose thereof Our Fathers did their duty in demanding a Reformation they were obliged thereunto altho the corruption were in that degree where we suppose it i. e. tolerable But whilst the one demanded Reformation with Zeal and the other refused it with Passion a Separation is made There came Anathema's from Rome and Thunders from the Temporal Powers with Fires and Gibbets c. which took from us the liberty of remaining there It signifies nothing who had right or wrong in the manner of Separation however it were behold it done Now I maintain my Brethren the thing being done neither Edification Conscience Honour nor your Salvation can suffer you to re-enter into the Roman Church although you should suppose that her corruption is not extreme but in some sort tolerable First of all your Edification will not permit it You suppose that the Worship of Images the Invocation of Saints the Adoration of the Eucharist c. are at least great Superstitions how doth the Edification of the Church permit you to partake in all these things The Edification of the Church obliges you to do all that you can to purge it from these Superstitions and your returning to a Union with the Roman Church is a proper means to confirm all Men in them Conscience will not permit it neither for being convinced that they are Superstitions although you believe them in some sort tolerable you ought to have no more part in them 'T is a kind of Sin against the Holy Ghost to sin against Conscience and the Illuminations which God gives to you and that which would be a small fault in a state of Ignorance and Error becomes a great crime when 't is committed against knowledge so although the Invocation of Saints were but a little fault in an ignorant and a prejudiced Papist it is certain that in you 't is a heinous crime because you know the evil thereof Don't say that you do not invocate Saints for you do invocate them in the publick Service wherein you do partake and that is enough I add that neither will Honour
permit this re-union with the Roman Church even on supposition that her corruption is not extreme for 't is a shameful cowardize and unworthy of an honest man to betray his own Sentiments and to give to a Church which he believes impure that homage which is due only to a Church that is clean and undefiled To conclude I say that your Salvation will not permit you to put a period to your Separation from the Roman Church even supposing that her corruption is in some sort tolerable for that corruption which might not destroy your Soul when you were there having been educated brought up and instructed therein from your Infancy becomes mortal when you receive it not having been born brought up nor instructed therein The difference is clear and the reason thereof is evident It is certain that there is a Superstition ungrateful to God which he tolerates in an ignorant Person but he will not suffer nor endure it in a Man of Knowledge and Understanding for a Person which practises a considerable Superstition against his Conscience makes appear therein an Abyss of Perverseness contempt of God his Laws and Truth and such a love of the World and the interests of the Flesh which put him absolutely out of the state of Salvation Behold already something advanced to deliver you from those vain horrors which they would thrust upon you for your Separation under the name of Schism for 1. Although the Schism or Separation had been rash you would have no reason to be afraid of your Salvation 2. Although the corruption of the Roman Church had been in some sort tolerable and although there had been something of Precipitation in the Separation nevertheless you would have no Obligation to return to the Roman Church but you would be obliged to the contrary And here we shall find an occasion to answer to the Fallacy which the new Converts as they call them put upon themselves and which we have mentioned in our Tenth Pastoral Letter and which is one of the most effectual means by which they lay themselves to sleep in that unhappy state where they are There is in it a Question of Right and another of Fact. The matter of Fact is to know whether indeed the Roman Church be corrupted to that degree that we report it The Question of Right is Whether supposing the Roman Church very corrupt we may separate our selves from it and persevere in that Separation to this day We will first handle the Question of Right because 't is thereby that they enchant you and thereby that the most part of you do quiet and calm your selves 't is thereby say I that they do enchant you for your Converters following the Principles of the Author of the Legitimate Prejudices against the Calvinists and Mr. Ferrand's Treatise concerning the Church tell you * Book of Prejudices p. 147 148 c. That although the Church of Rome were Idolatrous and Heretical the Calvinists had no right to separate themselves from it and to set up other Churches and another Ministry 'T is also thereby that those which would be at rest in the Roman Church do lull themselves asleep for this Proposition that though the Roman Church were Heretical and Idolatrous you ought not to separate from it in the Writings of your Converters Mr. Nicholas and Mr. Ferrand is nothing but a false Supposition to make you see the more clearly the necessity of Adherence to the Church of Rome and the horror of Schism And if they found themselves pressed too hard on this spot of ground they might be able always to retrench themselves behind and say Now it is not true that the Church of Rome is Heretical and Idolatrous But at this day one part of these new Converts from a false Supposition draw a very solid Conclusion They receive the Supposition as true That the Church of Rome is very corrupt and maintain this Thesis That nevertheless they ought not to separate from it and that Men may or ought to return to it We have heard the Reasonings of one of these Men in our Tenth Letter we must hear it once more for he says all that these Men think Speaking of the Questions which perplex the New Converts First says he on the positive Separation which ous Fathers made we say that we ought to suffer many things rather than separate from the Vnity of the Church that the Abuses introduced by the Governors thereof may not be imputed to the Faithful that all Scripture which makes mention of Heresies doth not command Separation for the sake of them on the contrary it commands us to bear them It says that we may build upon the Foundation which is Christ Wood Hay and Stubble that Jesus Christ only will make Separation the one from the other that the good Grain and the Chaff will be separated at the last day but that they must grow together till then After he adds some Reflections on a Conjecture of the Author of the Accomplishment of Prophesies which 't is not necessary to report here because they will have their place elsewhere And he concludes this Points with these Words And although the Pope should be Antichrist that would not infallibly hinder Christians from being saved in the Roman Church The Letter contains another Article on the Question Whether the Roman Church be Idolatrous in worshiping the Eucharist or Jesus Christ in the Eucharist This also shall have its place elsewhere Afterwards he adds At last they conclude two things the first That all the Fundamental Truths of Christianity being confessed by the Roman Church we are obliged to continue united with it without making a positive Separation which is against all the duties of Charity and which instead of bringing back those which err produces nothing but an eternal Distance and Animosity In the second place they do maintain That we do not necessarily partake in the Errors of a Communion in which we are the common Confession of Faith ought to be esteemed as an agreement to live under the same Ministry but we are not therefore responsible for all the Abuses which may be or can be introduced into the Ministry Provided we adore the same God and profess the same Fundamentals of Christianity the rest cannot be imputed to single Persons above all when there is a necessity of joyning our selves to this first Christian Society and we cannot find any publick Worship more pure and more edifying The Examples of our Fathers before the Reformation prove clearly That we may secure our Salvation in the Roman Communion even in adhering to the publick Worship Whatever Men say it is inconceivable that Men born and brought up in a Religion who never heard speak of any other Doctrine and who lived and died without protesting against the Opinion of their Church should not partake in the Worship thereof Behold an exact account of all the Illusions which these new re-united Persons put upon themselves and an
one without entering into the other You cannot worship God without partaking in the Worship of Idols You cannot partake in the Heavenly Sacrament of Jesus Christ without participation in a false and corrupt Sacrifice and without prostrating yourselves before the Idol of Bread. You cannot confess Jesus Christ Head of the Church without adhering to a false Head to the Head of a Body which is altogether Antichristian You cannot call upon God in publick Worship unless at the same time you call upon Creatures It remains therefore that we prove unto you that Popery so confounded and mixt with Christianity is mortal impure and intollerable The second general Advice which I have to give you is That well to understand Popery you must not look upon it in the Books of your Convertors in the Explications of the Catholick Doctrine or other painted Tables which disguise to you the Religion into which they force you to enter Discharge yourselves also from this wicked imagination That we ought to attribute nothing to Popery but what is ordained by its Councils For there is nothing more false and more distant from truth then that the Councils have not expressed in their Decisions all those frightful Excesses into which Popery is fallen therefore they are not to be imputed to her 'T is a wicked consequence all that is done in a Church be it by order of her Councils be it by use and common custom ought to be imputed to her 'T is true that St. Austine in a passage which we quoted above would not grant that the Manichees should impute certain Superstitions which the People practised to the Church but 't was because there were few persons in comparison to others that fell into them And the Teachers condemned them instead of supporting and maintaining them But we impute nothing to Popery but Extravagances universally practised and defended by their most famous Doctors I will give you yet a third Advice 'T is that for the true understanding of Popery and all its Deformities you must not look on it in certain places and at certain times For Example At this day in France they shew you the Popish Religion in a smooth and polished condition with respect to the Authority of the Pope they tell you that to speak properly he is no more than the first Bishop he is not the Vicar of JESUS CHRIST that he is not the true Head of the Church nor the true Center of Unity that he is not Infallible that he has no more Power over the Bishops than the Bishops have over him they speak to you with great indifference concerning the Worship of Images as a thing esteemed not very necessary they do extreamly mollifie the Invocation of Saints reducing it to a small matter The Bishops give order that little of those popular Devotions which are capable of giving you scandal be practised in their Diocesses I do declare to you that it is not by the small Country of France nor by this little space of present time that you ought to look on Popery to know and see all its Deformities In what follows we shall have occasion to shew you that all these Reformations are nothing that they are fictitious and that although they should go further than I know not what appearances it would not suffice but in expectation of that I advise you at present my Brethren that for a true understanding of Popery it behoves you to look on it every-where and in all times You must behold it in Italy and Spain as we as in France and Germany you must look on it in all preceeding Ages at least in the seven hundred or eight hundred Years which went before our Reformation observing these three Rules 1. That you look on Popery such as it is in itself distinct from Christianity 2. That you look on it in its practice and universal usage 3. To conclude that you look on it above all in Spain and Italy as well as elsewhere and that you look on it in all those times which preceeded the Reformation If you do thus say I I do maintain that you cannot behold the Deformitie of Popery without horrour First you will there see a Head which calls himself the most Holy Lord his Holiness and the Vicar of Jesus Christ who bears on him all the Characters of Antichrist He sits in the Temple of God as if he were God he makes himself to be adored as God he has his seat at Rome the City upon seven Hills he hath ten Kings under him which give Obedience to him he is clothed in Scarlet as the Whore in the Revelations he bears a Triple Crown he has upon his Forehead the names of Blasphemy calling himself God on Earth the Vicar of Jesus Christ the Spouse of the Church the Mouth which pronounces infallible Oracles he sits upon a Beast i. e. on an Empire viz. the Roman Empire which he hath raised up again He makes the Image of the Beast to speak and be adored he hath established in the Church the true Image of the Roman Empire and causes this Image to be adored on pain of Death he hath two Horns two Powers as a Lamb the Temporal and Spiritual speaks like a Dragon and is the Protector of Lies and Falshood He works false Signs and Wonders to support his false Religion his Teachers make profession of Austerity Celibate Abstinence and Fasting and refuse Marriage He hath his seat in Babilon that City of Merchandize where all things are sold and where they make Merchandize even of the Souls of Men He causes his Mark to be born i. e. his Profession upon the hands and upon the forehead The name of Latine Church and Latine Pope contain exactly 666 which is the number of the Beast This Pope this pretended Vicar of Jesus Christ is seen under a Canopy or Cloth of State in pomp and in magnificence he is seen trampling crowned Heads under his Feet making himself to be carried on the shoulders of Emperours causing Princes to kiss his Feet He hath been seen as a furious Lion in all Ages covering the Earth with Blood dethroning Emperours pulling off their Crowns Absolving Subjects from the Oaths of Fidelity given to their Kings and thereby putting a Sword into their hands from whence have followed cruel and barbarous Civil Wars He has been seen encouraging the Father against the Son and the Son against the Father Subjects against their Kings and stirring them up to run their Swords into the Bowels of their Soveraigns He has been seen putting all Europe into a flame and carrying confusions blood and disorder every-where by his Ambition He hath been seen fighting with Competitors called Anti-popes conducting Armies shedding Bloud dispeopling Cities and laying wast Fields by Fire and Sword He has been seen with his Arms in his hands like a mad man filling the World with Horrour and Desolation to maintain his pretended Succession to the Inheritance of Christ Jesus He has been seen
some times keeping Whores sometimes a Sodomite some times a Sorcerer sometimes a Murderer and a Paracide sometimes an Adulterer and Corrupter of Wives and Women sometimes like a Bloud-sucker devouring Provinces swallowing up Kingdoms exhausting their Substance and drawing Tributes from all the Earth He hath been seen Cheating Deceiving making false Oaths violating Treaties stirring up Seditions moving to Wars He has been seen to make an horrible Traffick of Sins selling Pardon for Sodomies for having lain with Sister and Mother and even with a Beast for having killed his Father his Benefactor and even his King He himself hath been seen killing poysoning robbing exercising rage ambition and dreadful robberies I do profess that he must be fallen to a reprobate sense to call such a man the Vicar of Jesus Christ and to imagine that such a See is the seat of the Church After you have lookt upon the Head if you consider the Members of Popery you will see great Lords Lovers of the World who call themselves the Princes of the Church who being oftentimes nothing but the dregs of the People dispute place with Soveraigns They keep Houses and the Train of Princes they have magnificent Equipage stately Lodgings sumptuous Furniture and delicate Tables They are the Councils and the Senate of the Pope they are the Cardinals which call themselves the Pillars of the whole World upon which the Church stands These are the Ministers of Jesus Christ who said to his Disciples That he who will be greatest among you let him be your servant Verily verily I say unto you That if you humble not yourselves as a little child you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven Below these Prince-ministers of the Antichristian Empire we see Bishops another sort of secular Princes Governours of Diocesses i. e. the Provinces of the Pope who call themselves Bishops Archbishops c. by the Grace and Favour of the Holy See after the same manner that the Govournours of the Provinces of a Kingdom take the Title of their Dignity by the Favour of their King These men possess a great Revenue which was appointed by the Donors to nourish the Poor but serves nevertheless to maintain the best Table in the Province a great number of debaucht and unruly Servants Cooks that are most expert in the Art of making curious Meats and Sawces Coaches with six Horses paeks of Hounds and oftentimes a race of prostituted Whores These men cause themselves to be called my Lord in the World and treat their Inferiours like Pages and Foot-boys These have not the least grain of that which is called the Spirit of the Gospel but are animated by the Spirit of the World that of Disorder Debauchery Ambition and Avarice They watch not over their Flocks but after some Benefice greater than their own after which they gape always like Wolves after their Prey Below these Superiours are seen an inferiour Clergy composed either of Cannons appointed to sing Vespers and Mattins in Cathedral Churches whose repose ease good chear long sleep drunkenness sloth fat and plumpness have always served and do serve still for matter of Satyrs and Jests or they are Curates who are not only for the most part the dregs of the Clergy but dregs of the People excepting those of great Cities who put themselves to the labour of instructing themselves at the least in the way to live like the World the rest are ignorant brutish drunken Whore-masters given to the basest most shameful Vices And besides this the Clergy is made up of an infinite number of little Priests which are above all in Italy and Spain as they were heretofore every-where Ministers of the filthiest pleasures and of the most criminal attempts Are these the Guides of Jerusalem or the Builders of Babel My Brethren look not upon the Clergy of Paris who are better governed consider that during the space of seven or eight hundred years the Popish Clergy were of this make in all the Roman Church look upon Spain and Italy where it is publickly known that the Clergy are yet thus formed and fashioned Consult those which have seen Rome a little near at hand Learn from them that Religion there is an Interlude and that all the Ecclesiasticks are Comedians which do not believe in God. An honest man came a little while since from Italy and told us from his own observation That when they are at their Devotions they commit Indecencies and make such noise there that honest men in France would not do at play Judge whether it be likely that God hath permitted so horrible a Corruption of Manners in a Church pure and infallible From the Clergy i. e. from the Priests pass to the Monks which are the holy part of Popery where are found the Reverent Fathers the seraphical and angelical Doctors Draw the Curtain from their Hypocrisie and you will see an Abyss of Impurities men who under pretence of long Prayers devour Widdows Houses Wolves gaping after a prey which compass about the Beds of the sick and dying to obtain great gifts and presents men who think Gain to be Godliness who dress Religion like a Play that they may draw Spectators who in their Houses perform Paganish Devotions and such as are ridiculous and worthy of the Theatre to draw the crowd of people and to obtain Offerings who by this means obtain those Alms which belong to the Poor who by these Alms maintain themselves in a criminal sloth and idleness without being of any use to Church or State who behind their own Walls and Curtains abandon themselves to the utmost Extreamities of Wickedness who eat and drink and sleep like Hogs who go not without the Walls of their Cloisters but to run after strange Flesh who corrupt Wives and Daughters and to that end serve themselves 〈◊〉 all the most hideous and diabolical â—â—rts The pretence of Religion Sacraments arâ— the most holâ— things are employed therein You will see Houses of sacred Virgins so they call them which are the Lodgings of Impurity the Houses of â—rostitutes the places of those that are Debauched Behold those who are the principal and the most illustrious Members of Popery during the space of seven or eight hundred years by the confession of all the World and what they are yet to this day in an infinite number of places unto which the Reformation has not come 'T is by this that you ought to look upon the Members of Popery and not by some Reformed Societies which are in France whereof they let you see nothing but the out-side Judge whether the true Church and the true Religion could permit and suffer such horrible Disorders Are these the Pastors of Jesus Christ or the false Pastors of him who in the last times was to teach a Doctrine of Devils by men whose Consciences were seared with a hot Iron forbidding to Marry and abstaining from Meats which God hath created to be received by Believers IN our seventeenth Letter you may
That they are divided into three Sects of which Zuinglius Calvin and Luther made themselves the Heads That if the Spirit of God had sent them to Reform the Church he would also have united them in this great design and have inspired them with the same thoughts and the same apprehensions 5. To conclude they say that they have rent and torn each other by transports of Passion which are the true Characters of false Pastors and false Christians As to the first Objection I cannot avoid baptizing it by its own name and calling it an Impertinence Why should our Reformers work Miracles and why were they obliged thereunto When Jehu reformed the Church of Israel pull'd down the Temples of Baal broke in pieces his Statues rooted out his Prophets and abolished his Worship did he work Miracles or had he any need thereof Was it any spot to that Holy Reformation that Josiah made when he re-established the Service of God which was almost wholly under a heap of forreign Idolatries that he wrought no Miracles When Theodosius the Great reformed the Christian Church and drove away Arianism which was become the reigning Religion did he do Miracles or had he any need thereof There is no need to work Miracles but when men bring a new Religion and a new Revelation For that reason the Apostles wrought Miracles because they had a new Revelation to propose to the World. They brought a Gospel unknown to Jews and Gentiles and opposite to the prejudices of the one and the other We brought no new Gospel into the World we propounded the Old and the New Testament the one and the other were received without contradiction by all those Christians which we desired to reform When it shall please God to convert the Jews to Christianity according to his promises there is much probability that he will send them some Prophets which will work Miracles and that will be necessary For although the Gospel-Revelation be already manifested and we have the Books of the Evangelists and the Apostles nevertheless this is nothing with respect to the Jews because they do not esteem our Books Canonical but believe the Apostles to be Cheats and Impostors There is therefore need of new Miracles to recover them from their prejudices and oblige them to give attention to the truth But as for us it was in no wise necessary to work Miracles to establish that Book whereof we served our selves Otherwise as often as the Kings of Judah produced the Law of Moses to make Reformation in their Church they had been obliged to work Miracles They had nothing else to do but to produce the Book and make it evident that the Abominations which had been introduced into Religion were either forbidden or not commanded there Behold all that they had to do behold all that we have to do and 't is to misunderstand the Conduct of God and the Spirit of the Gospel to imagine that the truth cannot be commended to Unbelievers but by Miracles How many millions of men have been converted to Christianity since the days of the Apostles and the cessation of the gift of Miracles Miracles are designed to deliver men from their evil prejudices and to endue them with such as are good that they may hearken to the truth Men that believe not the Christian Religion but only for the sake of its Miracles are very ill-Christians And among those which became Converts by the preaching of the Apostles those who had no other reason to embrace this New Religion but the Miracles which they saw done by those which preacht it were very miserable Converts such persons are the seed of Apostacy and adhere to the Church but by a very feeble root We ought to adhere to it for the love of truth now 't is the knowledge of the truth and not the sight of Miracles which gives birth to the love thereof If Miracles be not necessary for the Conversion of Unbelievers with far greater reason they cannot be of necessity for the bringing back of wandring Christians to the right way For there needs no more but to shew them the holy Scripture which so exactly marks out the path in which they ought to walk As to what they say that those who will establish a new Ministry must have Miracles for the support of it 't is an Affair to be treated on elsewhere We have already said something concerning it and we shall have yet farther occasion to speak of it and shew that we have no more established a new Ministry than we have introduced a new Gospel Where there is no new Revelation there is no new Ministry our Ministry is that of the Apostles because our Doctrine is theirs The second Accusation which they make against the Authors of our Seperation is their Scandalous Life There is no probability say your Converts that God should suffer so strange an Alliance as that would be of a great abundance of the Spirit of Light on the one part and of so great disorders of Manners on the other And thereon they publish a hundred ugly stories to cry down the Memory of Luther Zuinglius Calvin Martyr Beza c. First we say that truth is truth without any dependance on those who declare it Your Converters have said somewhere That the Citizens of Babel may sometimes build Jerusalem 'T is a truth so certain that to deny it a man must be ignorant and false For in all Ages there have been very Evil men who have defended the part of truth and who have even maintained it against Hereticks whose Conduct and Manners have been very regular and oftentimes more edifying than that of the Orthodox We must not form a prejudice against the Doctrine upon the ill Conduct of those which preach it we must judge of Truth by it self So that although it should be true that our Reformers were such as they report them nevertheless it would behove us to see whether these Citizens of Babel were not the Builders of Zion But God forbid that we should have no other fortification to defend our selves We have made to appear the innocence of the Lives of the Authors of our Separation by Apologies of so much strength that their Calumniators have been covered with Confusion and the most part of our most resolved Enemies have been obliged to renounce them The Bolsacs the Bertheliers the Florimond de Raymonds and other like Calumniators ought to be the Horror and Execration of all Honest men The Author of the Legitimate Prejudices against the Calvanists and other like Authors who are willing to preserve themselves in the Esteem of Honest men fortifie and establish themselves upon notorious matters of fact such is for example Marriage of Priests Persons who have made a Vow of Chastity say they and who were obliged to celibate by so many Oaths have violated their Vows in the face of the Sun they have opened Cloysters to take Wives from thence and so have committed a
there has happened very considerable and essential alterations since that in this time men have overwhelmed Religion by an infinite multitude of vain Ceremonies which have degenerated into Superstitions that they have introduced the criminal Worship of Creatures that they have established the distinctions of Powers and Tribunals which at last have destroyed the true Authority of the Holy Scripture 2. It appears by that which we have shewn to you that far greater changes have yet happened since the fifth Age than had happened before for seeing that in these Ages men knew neither Transubstantiation nor the Real Presence nor the Adoration of the Sacrament nor the Worship of Images nor Purgatory nor the Sacrifice of the Mass nor the Communion under One Kind nor the Soveraign Authority of the Pope all these points being at this day fundamental Articles of Popery 't is unavoidable that since that time there have happened great changes and alterations And to prove the truth thereof against the illusion of the impossibility of insensible changes you have nothing to do my Brethren but to serve your selves of the Proofs which we have put into your hands and say In the fifth Age the Real Presence was not believed 't is believed at this day they did not adore the Sacrament they adore it now they did not worship Images they do worship them at present therefore a change is happened To convince your Converters of the possibility of changes in things that are essential serve your selves only of the Example of Masses without Communicants They will not dare to deny that this is not a thing wholly unknown to all Antiquity And I dare tell you that if they had seen a Priest communicate alone in the Mysteries they would have believed the Spirit of Reprobation were fallen upon the whole Assembly * Canon 10. of Apost decret de Gratian de consecrat Dist 2. Canon per acta distinct 1. Canon Episcopus It was not so much as permitted to assist when they did not communicate and the Regulations thereof are yet found in their Canon-Law nevertheless 't is an important affair if there be any such in Popery For 't is a frightful difference that a Feast instituted to be eaten in common by all the Believers should be changed into a Spectacle where all the Devotion of the People consists in seeing without eating and without understanding Besides thereon depends the question concerning the Sacrifice of the Mass for if it be a true Sacrifice they have some reason to say that 't is not always necessary that the Faithful eat thereof But that the Ancients did never permit any to assist at the Mysteries without participation in them is an evident proof that they did not then look on them as a Sacrifice the efficacy whereof depends upon the Oblation but as a Sacrament the whole efficacy whereof depends upon the reception An Article of Controversie An Examination of the two last false Consequences which the Papists draw from the perpetual Visibility of the Church IN our preceding Letter we have explained how the Church is Visible and always Visible and we have refuted one of the Consequences which the Converters draw from thence behold another of them unto which it behoves us to answer The Church say they is always Visible therefore 't is necessary that she should always have had a Succession of lawful Pastours This is designed to make you confess 1. That the Pastours of the Church of Rome are lawful Pastours and always have been so 2. And by consequence that we are separated from lawful Pastours and a lawful Ministery To this answer That from this that the Church is always Visible it doth indeed follow that there hath always been true Preaching in some points i. e. in fundamental Articles in like manner that it doth follow that there hath been always true Pastors in some things and in some respect but it doth not follow that the Ministery which is legitimate in some things is so in every thing for you must know that the Ministery depends only upon the Doctrine If the Christian Doctrine be wholly corrupt and annihilated in a Society the Ministery is null'd nor is there any thing lawful there If the Doctrine be pure and Christian in all its parts the Ministery is intirely legitimate in all respects To conclude if the Doctrine be partly Christian and partly Antichristian the Ministery is partly lawful and partly unlawful This is the condition of the Ministery of the Church of Rome in that Church there is Christianity and Antichristianity Christianity in the Creeds and Antichristianity in the superstitions and Idolatrous Additions The Pastors of that Church receive Commission to preach both Christianity and Antichristianity the Ministery is legitimate in that they receive Commission to preach Christianity their Ministery and their Mission is wholly illegitimate in that they receive Commission to preach Antichristianity 'T is null for we can do nothing against the Truth If you well understand this you will easily answer the question proposed unto you Why do you Separate from a true and lawful Ministery Answer we do not separate from the Ministery of the Roman Church in that which it teaches of Truth in the preaching of the three Creeds nor in that which it hath of Lawful In this respect we are united for we are in the same Doctrine and by consequence in the same Ministery We are not separate from the Ministery of the Church of Rome but with respect to the Commission she gives her Pastors to make the Body of Jesus Christ and teach Idolatry now this part of her Ministery is null vain criminal and illegitimate The third false consequence which your Converters draw from the perpetual Visibility of the Church is That Jesus Christ will always teach with these visible Pastors If Monsieur de Meaux and those like him understand thereby that Jesus Christ ought to guide them by a Spirit of Infallibility the supposition is false and there is no necessity of adding any thing to make the Falseness thereof appear For I have proved that perpetual Visibility doth not signifie that the Church by remaining always visible must necessarily be always pure and infallible This is true in its Pastors as well as in its other Members for the Pastors have no priviledge of being infallible any more than the other parts of the Church If you desire that I should add something thereon it shall be only this 'T is that the Church is as a Man who after he hath been young and sound becomes old and diseased This Man is visible with his gray Hairs and his rotten Teeth and Wrinkles just as he was when he had his complexion fresh his colour lively the air of his countenance brisk vigorous In like manner the Church hath been young sound and pure in the Ages next to the Apostles by little and little she is grown old and at last is become deformed through corruption but
she is visible in this old age an corruption as she was visible in her youth and purity so that neither her youth nor her old age neither purity nor corruption signifie any thing to Visibility The case is the same concerning the Perpetuity of the Ministery the Ministery is perpetual therefore 't is incorruptible Deny that consequence without scruple for 't is false but some will say Does not the Lord teach with those Pastors which follow one another in the order of Ages Answer Ye because these Pastors teach the three Creeds conformably to the Holy Scriptures Jesus Christ teaches with them and they with Jesus Christ But because they teach beyond the three Creeds Idolatrous and superstitious Doctrines they teach against Jesus Christ My Brethren that which I have said unto you in this and the preceding Letter is sufficient to make you understand what is the perpetual Visibility of the Church Read it and read it again until you understand and possess it very well and you will easily answer the two Sophisms which your Adversaries put upon you The first is That if the Church hath not been always visible the Pagans for a thousand or twelve hundred years before Luther's Reformation had no door open to their conversion For how should they be converted and how should they find the Church if she were invisible Now 't is a prodigy contrary to all reason and probability that God for the space of so many Ages should hold the door of the Church close and hidden Besides this is contrary to History and Experience which learns us that the most part of the Northern Nations Sweden Denmark Poland and many Provinces of Germany did not receive the Christian Faith till since the eighth Age i. e. since the time that Antichristianity was mixed with the Christian Doctrine For the Roman Church began according to us to be Antichristian before the sixth Age. This is a difficulty which they propose to you to which you ought to answer That according to what we have told you we do not teach that the Church became invsible by the Antichristianity which is entered there she is corrupt but she continues visible Christianity hath not failed to continue its integrity in Popery therefore the Church remains intirely there I have told you that Christianity and the Church are the same thing This Christianity continuing visible in the Books of the Old and New Testament and in the three Creeds which the providence of God hath preserved in Popery the door of conversion hath been always open to the Pagan Nations for Jesus Christ crucified and his true Mysteries have not failed to preserve their force and efficacy in despight to all the Darkness which the bastard Mysteries of Antichristianity have brought in thither There hath been Conversion and Perversion and Perversion in the Pagan Nations which have joyn'd themselves to the Church of Rome since the eighth Age. There hath been Conversion for they have entertained one God in three Persons one God Creator of Heaven and Earth one Jesus the Eternal Son of God the Word made Flesh who died and rose again for the Sins of Men who will come to Judge the Living and the Dead and having raised men from their Graves will send some men to everlasting Torments and some to the Kingdom of Heaven This is Christianity by receiving this they became Converts to Jesus Christ There hath been Perversion also for by receiving a Vicar of Jesus Christ a Vice-God upon Earth a Soveraign to all the World a Master of Kings as of Subjects of Crowns as of Shepherds Crooks by adoring Bread Angels Saints Reliques and Images they have done nothing else but changed their ancient Paganism for a new one But however it be their Perversion has not hindered their Conversion and that they have entertained Antichristianity hinders not that they have not embraced also the Christian Doctrine So that the Gate of Conversion to Christianity was never shut But the question is Whether this Gate be saving whether these Conversions be profitable or whether we ought to say of the Missionaries of the Roman Church what Christ Jesus said of the Pharisees That they compass sea and land to make Proselites whom they made twofold more children of hell than themselves The question is Whether the Antichristianity which they have embraced hath more power to destroy them than the Christianity which they have received hath to save them It behoves you to answer that these People who are joyned to the Church of Rome since the eighth Age have some portion and lot with her ancient Members that God doth nothing in vain that he hath not converted so many men to Christianity to destroy them all though it be a corrupt Christianity which in the times when there were no Churches which were not very corrupt as well as the Church of Rome it may be granted that God did preserve unto himself children in these corrupt Societies that in these Pagan Nations which are joyned to the Church of Rome God had his Elect and that he found means to save these Elect from among the Nations by the Christianity which they had embraced and that he gave them the grace to separate the Antichristianity and not to be hurt or injured thereby How this was done is not for us precisely to determine These are the depths of the ways of God. We will say the same concerning the Conversions which the Roman Church hath made in the Indies that God saves his Elect from among these Nations by the Christianity which the Missionaries cause them to embrace and defends them from the wounds and hurts which the Antichristianity that is joyned unto it might do unto them by ways known to his profound Wisdom We might believe this say I were it not that according to the report that the Papists themselves make unto us of the Christianity which the Jesuites teach the Indians and the Chinesees is not so much as an honest Paganism This is it which must be answered to the first Difficulty Behold the second If you confess say they that the Church is visible and always visible the Church of Luther and Calvin cannot be the true Church for it was not visible two hundred years agon having no existence in the World. When you shall have made a dissection of this Difficulty you will find it the most pittiful one that ever was made Know then my Brethren that when we say the Church was visible and always visible we understand the Church Universal and not any particular Church By the Universal Church must be understood Christianity dispersed through all Nations in the East West North and South in all places where they retain the Books of the Old and New Testament with the three Greeds which are the Abridgment of them This Church is always visible for God cannot permit that she perish wholly nor yet that it be wholly hidden but the particular Churches of which the Universal Church is made
up and formed neither have nor can have this priviledge of being always necessarily visible For Experience makes us see that God permits that they perish wholly For Example the great Churches of Africa of Carthage and Numidia c. where were the Cyprians the Augustines the Saintes Fulgentii that is to say the prime Lights of the Church These Churches say I are not at all therefore they are not visible and perpetual Visibility was not affixed unto them At present consider you that the defect of Visibility may be found in a particular Church for one of these two reasons either because she is no longer or because she is not yet the Churches of Africa are invisible because they are no more and the Protestant Churches were invisible two hundred years ago because they were not yet Understand I intreat you the folly of the Objection which they make unto you by this The true Church is always visible the Church of St. Austine and St. Cyprian is no longer visible therefore the Church of St. Cyprian and St. Augustine was not the true Church Can any thing be more foolish and ridiculous than this You very well understand what you ought to answer when the Church of St. Austine was in the World it was visible and it was then the true Church but after it was extinct and abolished by the Invasions of the Saracens and the Moors how can you wish or desire it should be visible So when they tell you The true Church is always visible now the Church of Luther and Calvin was not visible two hundred years ago therefore it is not the true Church You can answer that a man can say nothing more absurd and that a Church is far enough from being visible when as yet it is not Ah on that occasion they will say to you the novelty of your Church is a proof of the falseness thereof For a new Church cannot be a true Church Another Absurdity The Church of China erected by the Roman Missions is about a hundred years since I reason against that as they reason against us A new Church which was not visible a hundred years since cannot be a true Church for the Church is ancient and always visible now the Church of China is new and was not existent a hundred years ago therefore it is not a true Church I desire that they would tell me the difference unless it be that the Church of China newly came out of the bosom of Paganism and that ours is newly come out of the bosom of Antichristianism He must be a little cracked in the crown not to perceive by this example that the new erection of a particular Church ought to be no prejudice unto it Nothing can prejudice it but new Doctrine If a new Society which teaches a new Doctrine doth arise then in a new Church and in that case is worth nothing But they will say Behold exactly your own state and case you are a new Church that teach new things That 's the question that 's it which we deny and which must be examined to know whether we teach new things We must therefore come to the Foundation to see if we teach the ancient Religion of Christ and his Apostles and not ridiculously amuse our selves in wrangling about circumstances concerning a new Church of new Establishment of perpetual Visibility c. for if we teach the true and ancient Religion of Jesus Christ all that they say of these things are Illusions And if on the contrary our Doctrine be not that of Jesus Christ and his Apostles though we were as old as the World and had been always as visible as the Sun we should be nevertheless a false Church This is that therefore which I will stand to that we are not to search the character of perpetual Visibility in any particular Church forasmuch as it agrees only to Christianity in general and the Church Universal Before our Reformation the Church was not visible in our Society which did not yet exist but it was visible in the Greek Church in the Armâ—nian Cophti Abyssin and Aethiopian Churches because all these preserved Christianity intire in the three Creeds When we came into the World the Church became visible in our Society as it was before in others with this difference that the Church and Christianity were visible before our Reformation as the Egg whereof we have spoken was visible in the midst of that dirty unclean and filthy water in which it swam and that in our Church Christianity and the Church are there visible as the Sun dis-engaged from dark clouds and fogs My Brethren if you take pains to read and meditate deeply and more than once upon what I have said unto you I tell you frankly I shall no more fear on your behalf the Sophism concerning perpetual Visibility WHatsoever desire we have to give you the News of our Martyrs for this time they must give place to certain Prodigies more significant than any ever happened before The first shall be that which is come from St. Malo attested by a Letter from the Vicar-General of that Bishoprick The Copy of a Letter from Monsieur Simon Doctor of the Sorborn Arch-deacon of Rinan Channon Penitentiary and Vicar-General of the Bishoprick of St. Malo the sixth of July 1687. I Wrote to you the last Post my dear Monsieur but how can I forbear to tell you of a late Accident which you will hear of by the publique Relations Behold a small Extract of it which I draw in haste Upon Thursday last being the third of this Month the Thunder after a very small noise in the borders of this City fell upon our Church by the Steeple killed a young Man which toll'd the Bell in the Belfery fell into the Seat of the Quire or Singing-men broke all the lower part of the Crucifix in divers pieces and left the Image hanging by its hands it fell among the Musicians which sung and answered at a Mass in Musick that Monsieur de Sales celebrated at the Altar of St. Julien it smote down the said Sieur de Sales with the Deacons and Sub-deacons who were some time without knowledge overturned the consecrated Calice which stood upon the Altar on the Ground and on the Garments of the Priests The same thing happened at the Altar of St. Peter at the entrance of the Quire A Priest being at the Post-communion saw in an instant in a Chalice which fell not one part of the Blood of our Lord consumed the rest sprinkled upon the Ornaments of the Priests and upon the Linnen of the Altar Monsieur Lagons being at the Credo of the Mass at the Altar of St. Malo was thrown upon his back and there the Sacrifice ceased The Thunder broke many parts of the Vestrie burnt the Altar-cloaths and left a mark upon the Pattin as if it had been shot with a Pistol it left many other marks upon the edge of the Chalice In the Quire one named
because that he well saw that his only Son would be forced to follow that Religion in which he began to be engaged he prayed God to take his Son out of the World and that he might see him die before he died himself Two days after the Son fell sick and in two days he died in the presence of his Father and the Father himself died the day after rendring a thousand Thanks to God that he had heard his Prayer and that he had taken them both out of this World to give them a better Life I learnt this Story from St. Maixent the 10th of August 1684. from two persons worthy of credit viz. the Husband and Wife who had a Child nursed by the Wife of the said Bardon he which made me the Report of this Matter is called Mr. Lavergnac Master of the Grange of the Village of Luzignan in Poitou a person of good credit and full of zeal for Religion his Wife also being present In the Year 1685. the 20th of January a Woman of Jonzac in Saintonge called Susan de Lisle the Wife of Boynard a Glover being with Child as she was in her House sitting upon a Settle by the Window rising up she felt that her Child stretcht it self in her Womb and at the same time she heard it utter a very extraordinary cry and a little after this Infant having again moved it self cried out about a quarter of an Hour with the true Voice of an Infant whereupon the Mother was much frighted and called some persons to help her she having then no body with her but her own Daughter about nine Years old who having plainly heard this cry said to her Mother my little Brothâ—r crys in in your belly this Child was born three Months and nineteen Days after this it was baptized at Linieres by Mr. Couyer Pastor of the said place and was a very vigorous Child and grew in six Months time twice as much as it ought to do We have learnt this story from Liniers from the mouth of the Mother of this Woman and from the Daughter which was present and from the Husband of the God-mother of the Child From Martinique the 24th of May 1687. MOnsieur Poysonnel who commanded a Frigate from Marseille which had taken two hundred Maids and Women and almost as many Gally slaves to bring hither was lost three days since as he was coming into this Town The whole number of persons which were on board the Vessel were 320 and were all drowned as 't is said excepting 30 of the Soldiers and Mariners This was by the imprudence of the Pilots God hath given rest to these poor miserable Creatures This Note teacheth us the sad and glorious end of the Confessors which we spake of to you Others write that this Shipwreck was by command because the Wind was very fair to bring them into the Haven of the Isle and that all the Soldiers and Mariners were saved As for me I will not prejudice the Spirits of men concerning this Fact it being an Action so enormous This is certain that God was pleased to deliver these blessed Confessors and snatch them from the cruel slavery which they had prepared for them August 1. 1687. The Twenty fourth PASTORAL LETTER That the Church of Rome is not visible and that she has no mark which makes her visible A confutation of those Means whereof Mr. Nicholas pretends to serve himself to make his Church visible Dear Brethren in our Lord Grace and Peace be given to you from our God and Saviour Jesus Christ BEfore we pass to another part of the Controversie about the Church and leave the Question concerning its perpetual visibility and after examination of the visibility of the Church in general 't is needful that we take cognizance of the visibility of the Roman Church in particular 'T is needful that you say to your Converters since 't is so that the Church is always visible and that you are the Church help us to see her in and by what is the Roman Church visible If they shew you great Churches full of Men that pray and adore which hear Vespers and Mattins who prostrate themselves before Wafers and Images you will answer this is not to shew me the Church For if I were at Constantinople a Turk would shew me his Mosques all full of Worshippers which cry there is but one God and Mahomet is his Prophet Tell them If you please to go to London I will shew you the Church in England as you shew it me in France I will shew you great Churches full of men which pray and adore which prostrate themselves before God who pray and understand what they pray for 'T is unavoidable therefore that you shew me not Men and heaps of Stones which are called Churches but sensible and visible marks that Popery is the true Religion of Jesus Christ and that the Church of Rome is the true Church Add to this that the marks which they give you ought to be suitable to your capacity i. e. the capacity of plain persons and without learning For the space of twelve or fifteen Years the Popish Doctors of France have changed the Controversie this way The business is not to instruct the learned 't is acknowledged on both sides that the multitude and greater part of the Church is composed of men without learning and of plain people which must be saved as well as the more able From henceforth therefore it is necessary to furnish a means to the common people to inform them of the truth in matters of controversie and a means altogether suitable to their weakness Particularly in this Controversie Whether the Church of Rome hath certain and evident marks of her truth which make her visible For 't is an important Affair and which the weakest ought to understand It is certain that a Church cannot be visible in quality of a Church by any other means than what they call her marks of this we are at an agreement We must therefore see whether the Church of Rome hath those marks which may make the weakest perceive she is a true Church I will not here ingage you in that Labyrinth of Disputes which the Doctors of the Church of Rome have formed about the marks of that Church 'T is their manner to bury the truth under a prodigious heap of useless words and obscure questions I will not examine the sixteen marks which Bellarmine has given nor the forty which others have produced You cannot read those Books nor are they those which they put into your hands and since that time they are become more able in Sophistry Mr. Nicholas who is the last that hath laboured on this Subject has employed three Chapters to prove that the Church of Rome is very visible even to the most weak and plain In the first of these three Chapters he says * Chap. 17 18 19 of the 1st Book The Reformed convinced of Schism That a man may
all to awaken mens minds to oblige them to give attention to Truth Mr. Nicholas to the Miracles and Prodigies of Sanctity of the Ancients which make the Church of Rome according to him visible joyns also the Sanctity of the present Church of Rome her Reformed Orders her great Men the Nuns de Trap c. and concludes That although a man should have regard to nothing but the Sanctity of the Manners of the Church of Rome she is even thereby distinguished from all other Societies and that she hath in persons of eminent Piety sensible Characters of the Spirit of God which will animate and inspire her to the end of the World. Mr. Nicholas speaking of all preceding Ages did always joyn Miracles with Sanctity At present he lays by Miracles and why is this He well knows his Church pretends as yet to have the Gift of Miracles And there is not a place eminent for Devotion as are the famous Ladies of Arsillieres of Montferrat of Loretto where they do not pretend to see Miracles The Father de Aviano ran all the World over to make it evident that the Gift of Miracles did not dye with the Apostles He dares not produce to us that as a Light he perceives very well that all these Miracles are suspected Plainly he himself hath not much Faith for them And so by this silence Mr. Nicholas doth tacitly consent that at this day the Roman Church doth no Miracles If it be so I would very willingly know why the Roman Church worke no more Miracles at this day when she had never more need thereof to convert so many ill converted Hereticks and which cry out so loudly of the Violence which they have suffered by the sending of the Dragoons The Miracles whereof they tell us as done at present may very well be Juggles or Fables according to what Mr. Nicholas lets us think by saying nothing of them for what reason may not all those of the Ages past for seven or eight hundred years particularly be very well also accounted Impostures These Miracles of the Church of Rome and of Popery do very well deserve that we should make larger Reflections on them and an occasion thereof will be presented to us elsewhere But in the mean while I pray give attention to this It is if they reckon the Miracles which are found in the Legends from the fifth Age wrought expresly to support the Invocation of Saints Adoration of Reliques Worship of Images and of Purgatory it will be found that God hath wrought without Hyperbole a thousand times more Miracles for the establishment of these false Doctrines these wicked Worships than he hath wrought to confirm the Christian Religion We have told you long since that a Monk for his part raised two and fifty dead persons and others in proportion Now judge if it were probable that these new Doctrines supposing they were true should be so important that to confirm them God should work a thousand and a thousand times more wonders than he hath wrought to establish the Faith of the greatest Mysteries of the Christian Religion As to the Article of the Holiness of the Church of Rome at this day whereof Mr. Nicholas and Mr. Arnold make an evidence for her I can destroy it by making appear the enormous Corruptions which are yet seen in her most considerable parts of Spain and Italy I can prove the disorders of her Clergy and of her Monks I can prove that these prodigious Austerities which they produce to us as the effects of the Spirit of God are but the effects of the Spirit of Hypocrisie or Fanaticism But to the end that I may not trouble those that pride themselves of the Virtue and Piety in the Roman Church I will say that if there be Piety in some of the Members of that Church they owe it not to Popery and Antichristianism but to the remainders of Christianity which continue in that Communion I come to the third Light by which Mr. Nicholas would make the Church visible It is the Holy Scripture To conclude behold him come to the only place from whence the true Light can be drawn It is false saith he that this Author hath believed that the point concerning the Church cannot be proved by the Scriptures and that the proofs are not accommodated to the capacity of the Vulgar We have shewn Mr. Nicholas how much there is of Absurdity in what he says here that a man may prove the point concerning the Church by the Scripture after a manner that is fitted to the capacity of the Vulgar and yet we know not how to prove the other Articles of Faith which are controverted after the same manner It hath been made evident that the Controversie concerning the Church is the most difficult of all It hath been represented to him that to deside this Controversie by the Scripture according to the method which he hath imployed against us it is necessary that an ignorant man should be able to compare the Translations with the Originals and by consequence that he should understand Greek and Hebrew that he may be able to read the Commentaries of the Ancients and the Moderns and by consequence that he should be able to understand Latine All this is as necessary to determine one single Controversie as to determine a hundred We have proved unto him that it is false to say that a man may very well prove by Scripture the Soveraign Authority of the Church but that he cannot prove thereby the Trinity or Incarnation and on that subject he is reduced to an eternal silence For which reason we shall not press him farther on an Article which he grants us by his silence But it is necessary to acquaint you that his Affirmation is intirely false and rash viz. That the Holy Scripture furnishes sufficient Light to the Vulgar to make them see that the Roman Church is the true Church Either these Gentlemen mean that by the Scripture they can easily prove that there ought to be always a visible and infallible Church upon Earth or they mean that the Holy Scripture shews with its finger the Church of Rome and makes it known for the true Church to the Exclusion of all other Sects of Christians or to conclude they mean the Holy Scripture forms a Light to make the Roman Church visible because it contains includes and teaches all the Doctrines and Worship which this Church doth authorize and command As to the first sence although it should be true Popery would gain nothing thereby although they should prove even by the Scripture that there ought always to be a visible and infallible Church upon Earth this would not prove that this must be the Church of Rome For the Greek Church pretends to be that Church which is built upon the rock and against which the gates of hell cannot prevail to the exclusion of the Latine Church and 't is that in which we ought to observe the perpetual Illusion
of the Roman Doctors They oppress you with Sophisms to convince you that there ought to be a Judge an infallible Interpreter of Scripture a Church that cannot err Answer them in one word Although all this which you say should be true it would be no advantage to you we must seek this Church and this infallible Interpreter elsewhere for 't is certain you have erred I come to the second sence viz. That the Scripture makes a Light which renders the Church visible because it shews with the Finger the Roman Church as the true Church to the exclusion of all others Now this is a Falshood sensible to all the World the Holy Scripture speaks not one word of the Church of Rome or of her Infallibility 'T is true there is an Epistle addressed to the Church of Rome but St. Paul so little thought of her as infallible that he speaks to her as a Church that would fall or at least as one that might be cut off from the true Olive and from the root of Jesus Christ There remains only the third sence in which your Converters can say that the Scripture forms a Light which makes the Church of Rome visible 'T is that the Doctrine of the Scripture is found perfectly conformable to that of the Church of Rome That is it which they must say if they will say any thing that is solid for the truth is that there is not any mark of the Church but this viz. Her conformity to the Holy Scripture Let alone therefore all this pretended heap of Marks of the Church which are either false or equivocal and keep you close to this alone Tell your Converters if you will make your Church visible to me let me see it conformable to the Scripture and 't is there you will reduce them to Extremities 'T is here that we have an evident proof that Popery is an Antichristian Religion Behold a proof to which all the subtilty of Hell can never oppose any thing we say then every Society and every Religion which hath nothing conformable with the Law of Jesus Christ is not the true Religion now Popery hath nothing conformable to the Law of Jesus Christ therefore it hath nothing of Christianity I intreat you to give attention to this If a Sect of the Turks calling themselves Mahometans had nothing among them like to the Alcoran which is the Law of Mahomet would you not tell them that they lie If the Jews calling themselves Jews should re-establish a Worship which hath nothing like the Worship prescribed by Moses would any one endure that they should say they were of the Religion of Moses Every Religion hath its Books and every Sect to shew that 't is of such a Religion ought to prove its conformity with those Books Common sence say thus If therefore Popery have nothing at all like the Writings of Christians 't is clear that 't is not Christianity Now this is it which we take for granted and which we are ready to prove before all sorts of Judges even Jews and Pagans viz. That Popery hath no conformity with the Scripture which is the common Law of Christians To be convinced of this my Brethren first separate Christianity from Popery in the Roman Church and don 't suffer yourselves to be blinded by what your Converters say unto you Are not we Christians Do we not believe one God in three Persons one Jesus crucified for the sins of men one Resurrection one Paradise and one Hell Does not the Scripture teach all this Is not our Religion therefore conformable to Revelation Answer them thereon Yea you are Christians in all that you believe with us but you are Antichristians in that wherein you believe without us These points whereof you speak are in the Scripture 't is true but 't is my Religion rather than yours 't is Christianity whereof 't is true I acknowledge you have preserved the Fundamentals But this makes nothing for your Religion which is Popery it makes nothing for Purgatory Invocation of Saints Adoration of Images and Reliques the Sacrifice of the Mass the Adoration of the Sacrament the Latine Tongue in the Worship of God a Communion without the Cup a Head of the Church besides Jesus Christ Behold Popery and 't is that which we maintain hath no conformity with the Scripture Indeed when your Converters will prove their Doctrines by the Scripture it seems they have renounced common Sence as well as Faith and Honesty To understand this there is no need to examine any Books of Controversie as they would fain perswade you there needs no more but eyes to open and read them For Example When they endeavour to prove the Pope is the Soveraign Head of the Church the Center of Unity the Mouth that utters Oracles and him to whom we must adhere if we will be saved and they produce to us for the whole proof these words Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not feed my sheep When say I they produce this and produce nothing else to prove the most important point of Popery which is the Authority of the Pope I do maintain that he must be stricken with a Spirit of Blockishness to regard it as proof He must I dare say be abandoned to a Spirit of Reprobation to suppose that the Scripture that tells us of Pastors and Teachers as Guides of the Church should not speak one word of this great Office of Pope and Soveraign Pastor When for the Sacrifice of the Mass propitiatory for the living and the dead they produce to us as proof from the holy Scriptures these Texts Melchizedeck offered bread and wine they shall offer to my Name a pure sacrifice from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same Soveraign wisdom hath prepared her victuals and mingled her wine We have an Altar of which they have no right to partake which serve the Tabernacle Do this in remembrance of me When say I they produce these passages for the intire proof of the Sacrifice of the Mass are you not tempted to believe they do not speak in good earnest for nothing seems more opposite to sound sense To prove that we must invocate Saints they refer us to those words of Jacob The Angel which delivered me from all evil keep the lads and those of Eliphaz to Job And to which of the Saints wilt thou turn thy self that is to say of the Saints which are upon Earth and those of Daniel Have mercy upon Israel for the sake of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. To prove that we must prostrate our selves before Images and worship Reliques they produce those words of God to Moses Pluck off thy shoes for the place where thou standest is holy ground and those of David Worship before his footstool and those of St. Paul to Timothy From thy childhood thou hast learnt the holy Scriptures Here is nothing to be laught at
't is that for which we ought to pour out tears of bloud that Christians should fall into so prodigious a Stupidity and into so great a want of Reason that if the Mahometans should fall into one like it and would prove their Religion after this manner by their Alcoran we should take them for mad men They ought not to tell you I dissemble their principal proofs drawn from Scripture for those points whereof we speak unto you for they have no other and the case is the same in all other Articles of Popery without excepting their Faith concerning the Eucharist For these words this is my Body although they should signifie a real Presence do not signifie Transubstantiation by any means in the World. 'T is a truth so evident that Cajetan and many other Doctors after him have confessed it Is it not a shame that on an Article so important as is the Adoration of the Sacrament when they should produce proofs from Scripture they cannot produce so much as one but these words this is my Body which do not speak one word concerning Adoration When they ought to prove the Power which is given to the Church to take away the Cup again they quote this is my Body This is in propriety of speech to mock men being not willing to confess plainly that which is truth i. e. our Religion hath no conformity to the Holy Scripture My Brethren that I may compleatly possess you of this truth that Popery hath no kind of Bond Union or Conformity with the Scripture observe these two things First That Popery treats the Scripture as a declared Enemy It disputes against its perfection its clearness its sufficiency and its authority It makes vast Volumes to prove it is obscure that 't is a Nose of Wax that 't is a Sword with two edges that it hath been an occasion by its obscurity of all Heresies that it contains not half the things that are necessary for salvation that it hath no authority without the testimony of the Church that it must be interpreted according to the Voice of the Church and her Practices that she contains a hundred things capable of raising scruple and giving scandal You have heard of the famous Cardinal Perron who collected together all that seems ridiculous to the profane in the Scripture as the Jaw-bone of Sampson's Ass and other like things to make it lose its authority They add that the Scripture is maimed and half lost corrupted by the Jews or Hereticks and as the top of all the Popes the Councils the Doctors the Inquisitors and the Parliaments have even forbidden the reading of it to the People as a dangerous Book Is not this to declare themselves and to act as enemies to the Scripture The other Reflection which I wish you would make is that the Church of Rome looks on the Scripture as her Enemy Popery is always on its guard against the Holy Scripture always prepared to give a Push always drawing back and recoiling always answering always distinguishing sometimes distinguishing Sacrifice into bloudy and unbloudy sometimes Adoration into Dulia and Latria sometimes the Head of the Church into Principal and Ministerial sometimes the Essence of the Body of Jesus Christ into natural and sacramental sometimes Mediators into Mediators of Intercession and of Redemption always to repel the Scripture and always to serve themselves of it Is it not therefore very clear that Popery is at a perfect opposition with the Scripture It attacks it as an Enemy by a hundred false Accusations it defends it self against it as against an Enemy by a hundred and a hundred imaginary distinctions to ward off the blows the Scripture gives it To attack and defend is all that Enemies do to one another Observe well my Brethren in the Instructions which your Converters give you in these late times the Scripture doth not enter among them They are ashamed of the proof which their Doctors have heretofore drawn from the Scripture to support their Doctrines At this day they beat and press upon you by nothing but the pretended Authority of the Church and Passages of the Fathers which you never read From all this I conclude that Popery in the quality of true Religion and the Church of Rome in quality of the true Church are by no means visible seeing they are destitute of that Light which alone can make the true Church visible viz. Conformity with the Holy Scripture An INDEX for the first Year OF THE PASTORAL LETTERS 1 LEtter A Refutation of what M. de Meaux says in his Pastoral Letter concerning the Manner of Conversions A Letter of M. de Meaux to M. D. V. 2 Letter Concerning the Right of Persecutors A Letter of Queen Christiana about Persecution The Use of the Sword of Princes extends not itself over the Conscience They do all that is necessary to assure themselves of the Damnation of the New Converts A Letter of M. P. M. a Confessour condemned to the Gallies 3 Letter Against the Necessity of a living and speaking Authority Against Successions of Seats Assemblies in Gevennes 4 Letter Advice to those which frequent the Sermons of Papists A History of many Assemblies in Cevennes The Martyrdom of the Blessed Teyssier of Burfort and Fulcran Rey in Languedoc 5 Letter The Form of Christianity in the first Age. A Letter to M. de M. a Confessour and his Answer 6. Letter What was the Form of Christianity in the second Age. 7 Letter Concerning Singing and Voices heard in divers places 8 Letter The Christianity of the third Age. M. de Monceaux Doctor in Physick of La Ferte Au-Coll his Confession M. de Juigne of Villiers a Confessour his Death in Prison M. Palmentier of Ville Dieu l'Aunay his Martyrdom Mademoiselle Carquett Vicountess of Novion and M. Chenevix drawn to the Dung-hill 9 Letter The Christianity of the third Age. M. de Voutron with two Damsels of Laon their Confession The Massacre of the Christians in Cevennes M. de Toumeyrol his Martyrdom M. le Feure a Confessor of Niuernois Mademoiselle de Chalmot indured the burning of her hand her Confession 10 Letter The Christianity of the third Age. Concerning the Unity of the Church we are not gone out of that Unity 11 Letter The Christianity of the third Age. A Continuation of the matter concerning Unity 12 Letter Concerning the Original of Monks Advice to persons which are in Convents Concerning the Unity of the Ministry A Letter from Geneva concerning the Christians of Piedmont 13 Letter Concerning the Original of Oecumenical Councils Seven Reasons against their Infallibility The true Idea of Schism 14 Letter Concerning the Original of the Tyranny of the Popes and the Hierarchy Concerning Schism Although the Corruption of the Church of Rome were not extream it would not be allowed us to return thither 15 Letter Concerning the Original of the Invocation of Saints in the fourth Age Three Proofs of its Novelty An Answer to a New Convert about Schism The
will attempt to deceive you Among others they make use of the Discourses and Writings of the Bishop of Meaux of Petisson the great Converter and Monsieur Nicholas They oblige you perpetually to read over the Exposition of the Catholick Faith written by that Bishop to paint and colour the Popish Religion Some months since the same Prelate published a Pastoral Letter to the new Converts of this Diocess with the same design and intention that is to seduce you and withdraw from your eyes the Deformity and Ugliness of the false Religion They never cease to commend unto you the mischievous difficulties of Monsieur Nicholas his Book intituled The pretended Reformed convinced of Schism There 't is proved to you that by the way of Examination and Inquiry 't is impossible to find out truth and that you will never hit on it but by submitting to the Authority of the Church Monsieur Petisson hath revived the same difficulties in a late new Book And 't is one of those Books to which those that have been seduced do send us as one of the Sources from whence they have derived their Illuminations These Books shall be the subject matter of these Letters not that I intend to examine and confute them line by line but only to expose and lay open the falsity of these Teachers the imposture and gullery of their Sophisms and the unfaithfulness of all their advances and progressions but we will not confine our selves within the bounds of Controversie We will take care to acquaint you with all things that are most considerable in this Persecution we will inform you in those passages of the Life Death and Behaviour of our Martyrs and Confessors which are most proper for your establishment and edification For which reason we do intreat all those that know any thing that is certain therein that they will inform us concerning it that we may make it publick for the benefit and advantage of the weak We will begin with the Pastoral Letter of the Bishop of Meaux to the new Catholicks of his Diocess We shall pass by his Prologue and engage with him in the matter of his Letter by reflections on the manner whereby the Reformed have been brought to their pretended Change and Conversion In the mean time I cannot forbear to stay one moment on the Title thereof The Pastoral Letter of my Lord the Bishop of Meaux to the new Catholicks of his Diocess 'T is one of the pretended Successors of the Apostles which causes himself to be Printed under the Name and Title of my Lord. These Gentlemen are well advanced since the Authors and Founders of Christianity who called themselves plainly by their own names without any other Title than that of Servants of Jesus Christ and Apostles of our Lord. My Lords St. Peter and St. Paul had forgotten to set the character of their Grandeur on the front of their Pastoral Letters or Epistles If the corruption of the World proceed so far as to authorise the custom of calling Bishops Lords methinks their vanity should not be so great as to give themselves that appellation 'T is not very edifying to see the marks of pride and wordly vanity on the front of a Pastoral Letter I do not observe this to give any offence to the Bishop of Meaux in particular my dear Brethren 't is to make you sensible of that Religion whereinto they would initiate and engage you 't is a Religion the soul whereof is Pride and the principal members and heads thereof are monsters of Emptiness and Vanity Christian Humility displays its Characters upon all things but the false Religion carries Pride to its utmost height and leaves the footsteps thereof on all things wherewith it hath any conversation We shall one day have occasion to make you see it in points of much more importance than this which nevertheless is not so light but that it deserves that we take some notice of it Do not suffer your selves to be abused by those that tell you That in some Protestant States the Bishops retain the same Honours The Bishops of England have this to say for themselves That they are Peers of the Realm to which state and condition the Name and Title of My Lord doth appertain and belong but besides I am persuaded that the wiser of these Gentlemen will willingly sacrifice these Titles which do not sufficiently bespeak the humility of a Minister of Jesus Christ to a general Reformation in the Church when it shall be received On the contrary Pride is so very much of the essence of Popery that it will forsake all rather than renounce it I come to the manner how Conversions are made in France according to my Lord of Meaux I do not marvel my dearest Brethren that you are returned in Troops Pastoral Letter pag. 3. and with so much ease to the Church where your Ancestors have served God. The foundation of Christianity and as I have already said the Character of Baptism hath secretly called you thither These Gentlemen rejoyce at the Facility they have found in bringing back the Protestants to their Church that is to say in forcing Subscriptions from an infinite number of Persons who have conceded either to their threatnings or the fear of losing their Estates or the torments and persecution of the Dragoons 'T is true there have been seen examples of weakness therein which have been strange and prodigious and we know that they make a great prejudice and rock of Offence thereof they tell you If it were the true Religion would not those that profess it adhere more closely to it Some of our Brethren have wrote expresly to satisfie you against this Scandal They have shewed you that things have happened much after the same manner in the ancient Persecutions and that Defections have fallen but little short of being general In those times men ran in Troops to offer Incense to Idols as in our days they have been seen running to make Signatures and Subscriptions At all times there have been few persons capable of suffering torments Martyrs are chosen Vessels upon whom God pours out an extraordinary measure of his Grace to strike with Astonishment the Enemies of the Truth to shame and confound the weakness of those that fall and to support the Faith of the infirm These are Miracles but if they were frequent and ordinary they would not be so If the view and consideration of so many Persons as have conceded to Violence or the fear of Sufferings doth scandalize and offend you look not that way but behold and consider the stability and courage of your Ancestors which established the Reformation in the last Age. Consider the number of our ancient Martyrs behold their Constancy their Christian Kindness and the Blessings that they gave to those that burnt them Consider the strength which ennabled them to bear the most horrible Punishments and Tortures They were burn'd by a slow fire they saw their Bowels drop out in the
lye about the Ages past when they speak to you of Tradition and of things said and done a thousand and twelve hundred years agone when they have no regard to present Truths in matters of Fact whereof there are as many Witnesses almost as there are persons alive in this part of the World. In the name of God think of it when they forbid you all tryal and examination of Doctrines and tell you that you must believe the Church that is to say false Teachers which affirm that you must believe things without taking any knowledge of them See I say whether there be any confidence or trust to be put in such men which have consecrated themselves to Lying and have renounced all modesty and shame The Bishop of Meaux hath heard all the Bishops say that no violence was used in their Diocesses We ought to understand how these Gentlemen do define Violence and what 't is they call Torments Among the Bishops he of Autun will find difficulty to say so and Monsieur de Meaux that those of his Diocess had not so much as heard of Torments He went accompanied with the Hangman to Madam de S. Andrew Montbrun Widow of a famous General which had the Honor to command in chief the Armies of the King and those of the Venetians with a great deal of Glory This Bishop I say with the Missionaries accompanied with the chief Magistrate and the Magistrate taking two or three Hangmen with all the Instruments of Torture went thus to endeavour her Conversion If this be false they will do well to convince the Men and Officers of her House which have seen said it and writ it But the Bishop of Meaux hath done nothing nor seen nothing of like nature in his Diocess We have good testimony that violence hath been committed there as well as elsewhere But altho what he says should be true behold a great marvel whereof he hath great reason to rejoice Paris and the Country round about it were last of all attacked All France had been covered with Fear Tears and Blood. Paris and the Brie saw nothing round about but bloody Troops and Emissaries loaden with the Spoils of the Reformed and red with their Blood. 'T is a great Miracle that these Objects without drawing nearer have anquished and overcome them As if the fear of an Evil which one sees within four steps of him were not as capable of doing violence to the mind as the Evils which are felt immediately On the contrary a person has fallen under fear which hath resisted pain and torment The Dragoons of Bearn of Guienne of Poictou of Languedoc of Normandy had laboured for the Bishop of Meaux After that let him glory if he can of the Facility of Conversions But I am weary of confuting these impudent Boldnesses by matters of fact which our Persecutors dispute and by Witnesses which they reproach Let us see if Monsieur de Meaux will reproach and object against himself He wrote his Pastoral Letter in the Month of April last a little before Easter to invite and prepare the new Converts for the approaching Communion 'T is precisely on the same time that he wrote to one of his Diocess which was fled the Letter following From Meaux April 3 1686. MONSIEUR I Continue to write to you notwithstanding the Answer you made to my former Letter I have there observed a Character and Style too much of a Minister to attribute it to you In a word I apprehend that it does not proceed from a Spirit such as yours But altho it be so I shall not cease to invite you to return I have seen in a Letter which you wrote to Mademoiselle of U. that the true Church does not persecute What understand you by that Sir Do you understand that the Church by her self never makes use of force That is very true since the Church hath no other Arms but spiritual Do you understand that Princes which are Sons of the Church never ought to make use of the Sword which God hath put into their hands to abase the Enemies thereof Do you dare to say contrary to the opinion of your own Doctors who have maintained by so many Writings that the Republick of Geneva had power and right to condemn Servetus to the Fire for denying the Divinity of the Son of God. And without serving my self of the Examples and Authority of your Doctors tell me in what Text of Scripture Hereticks and Schismaticks are excepted from the number of those Malefactors against which S. Paul says God hath armed Kings and Princes And altho you will not permit Christian Princes to take vengeance of such great Crimes because they are injurious to God can they not take vengeance on them because they cause trouble and sedition in States Do you not see clearly that you build upon a false Principle And if it were true they were the Arrians Nestorians and Pelagians which had reason of complaint against the Church since it was they that were the persecuted and banished and Catholick Princes those that persecuted and banished them And at present also the Catholicks which are punished with death in Sueden and so many other Kingdoms would have reason to complain of those that are called the Reformed and every one in his turn would have right and wrong right in one place and wrong in another and Religion would depend altogether upon uncertainties But this is enough on this Subject to convince so good a Spirit as yours Only know that when it pleases God to abandon us to our own thoughts and imaginations the best Spirits are touched and affected by the least appearances The fear that you have that they will make you adore Bread hath much appearance of truth through your prejudice and prepossession Consider in the mean time without entring into that Controversie which passes the Bounds of a Letter consider I say that it was a fear of like nature which made the Arrians and Disciples of Paulus Samosatenus that they would not give divine Honors to a Man an Infant a Creature how perfect and how great soever his privileges might be 'T was human reason 't was sense 't was prejudice which inspired them with these vain fears Take heed lest your Religion after their example do not too much call in Reason and human Sense to its succour and that your trouble and difficulty do not proceed from the custom of following them However it be you see that your Reformers have done nothing else but renew Controversies ended six hundred years ago when Berengarius moved them And if you call in doubt the Judgment which was given against him others will doubt with as much reason concerning all preceding Councils and then behold us under an obligation to examine anew all that hath been decreed as if we began to be Christians and all that our Fathers had resolved serve for nothing In one word the meaning is if Christians when they are not of an
opinion concerning the Sense of Scripture will not acknowledge a living speaking Authority to which they must submit the Christian Church is assuredly the weakest of all Societies that are in the World the most exposed to remediless Divisions the most abandoned to Innovators and factious persons This is that to which your Ministers with all their subtleties have never been able to find an Answer and they content themselves with bringing Examples where they pretend that Councils have not always determined well All these Examples are false or ill alledged In one quarter of an hours time you which are a Man of Sense will be convinced thereof and you do receive things with too much credulity without ever putting your self on the labor to examine them But without putting you upon these Disquisitions consider only whether it be likely that God who hath permitted so many depths in the Scripture and from thence have arisen so many Schisms amongst those that profess to receive it hath not left some means to his Church to quiet and pacifie them in such manner that there is no remedy for Divisions but to let every one believe according to his fancy and thence insensibly to carry Men to an indifferency in Religion which is the greatest of all Evils Think Master think of it hear your own reason and not the subtleties of your Ministers who at what rate soever will defend their Prejudices and not pass for Teachers of Lies Think of these things excuse those Expressions which may seem a little dark and disordered it is much better that you attend to the simplicity of a Brother that endeavours to gain a Brother than a polite and studied Discourse Come and assure your self that I will do all for you whom I esteem and who are dear to me and that I am cordially Yours c. Thus Signed J. Benigne E. de Meaux Forasmuch as we have imposed a necessity upon our selves not to go beyond a Sheet we pass by our Reflections on this Letter till another Letter which we shall give you in a few days for this serves only as a Preface In the mean time we recommend you to the Grace and Mercy of God. Amen Sept. 1 1687. The SECOND PASTORAL LETTER IN WHICH What Monsieur de Meaux says concerning the right of Persecutors for submission to Councils is confuted A considerable error of the same Gentleman about a matter of Fact in Antiquity Dear Brethren in our Lord Grace and Peace be given to you from our God and Saviour Jesus Christ THE necessity of concluding hindered us in our former Letter from adding our reflections upon that which the Bishop of Meaux wrote to one of his Diocess that was escaped by flight At present we entreat both you my Brethren and all reasonable Men in the World to compare these two Letters together the Pastoral Letter that is publick and this which is private and particular Will any one find the Bishop of Meaux here Are they two persons or is it but one Himself in publick and the same person in private According to Monsieur de Meaux's Writing and Printing for the new Converts of his Diocess neither he nor the other Bishops have ever heard any speech of Dragoons and Torments According to himself writing in his Closet to a particular person the Case is not the same It is true there is a Persecution for the sake of Religion but it is just it is allowed it is authorised by our example by that of the Ancients and by Divine and Human Laws Good God! How do these Men govern themselves And what do they think Could the Bishop of Meaux ever hope that his Printed Letter should never fall into the hands of him to whom this written Letter was addressed I would fain know what will be answered thereunto If Monsieur de Meaux hath right and reason on his side in his Letter to Monsieur Dev. why doth he say that himself and other Bishops have not heard any speech of Persecution It is a pleasure and an advantage to us to see these Gentlemen deny this Persecution and thereby against publick knowledge and notoriety charge themselves with falshood It is an homage that they pay to Truth It is a confession intelligible enough that violence and the means that they employ are contrary to the spirit of Humanity and that of the Gospel But what a shame is it for them to contradict themselves to confess in private what they deny in publick and acknowledge themselves false Witnesses by their own peoples declarations However it be behold us carried from matter of Fact to that of Right It is no longer debated whether there be a Persecution but whether they have right to Persecute for the sake of Religion It is a question on which so much hath been lately written that nothing new can be said concerning it Nevertheless having Printed the Letter of the Bishop of Meaux and because there is somthing that is dazling and apt to deceive in his manner of writing we think our selves obliged to Print also a refutation thereof we will therefore repeat his words and examine them one after another I have seen in the Letter that you wrote to Mademoiselle de V. that the true Church doth not Persecute what understand you by that Monsieur Do you understand that the Church by it self never makes use of force That is true since the Church hath no other Arms but those that are Spiritual What means this little Paragraph of Gibberish which is formed and contrived on purpose to impose upon the simple They are willing that it should mean that it is not the Church of Rome that raises the present Persecution nor is it according to the Principles thereof For it is that which they persuade the new Converts It is by this means that they take away the scandal that the new Papists take at the Conduct of their Church It is the King say they that doth it it is not the Church for it serves it self only of Spiritual Weapons if what is done be disapproved it ought not to be imputed they say to their Religion which neither appoints nor advises it That which was written to us not long since by one of their most illustrious and best satisfied Converts comes to this I do not answer says she to all that which you have said concerning the ways that are made use of to gain Converts I believe that nothing is to be imputed to any Religion but what it appoints to be believed and practised This answer is very Gentile and worthy of a Lady that thinks herself obliged to answer to nothing But it ought to be rememembred that there is a Tribunal where answers must be made one day without any regard to the difference of Sexes where no evasions will be permitted us and that we shall be punished there for having been unwilling to attend to those things which might have made us understand the nature of that Religion that we had newly
entertained However it be these Gentlemen persuade their Disciples that it is not the Spirit of the Roman Church that doth cause this Persecution Nothing must be imputed to any Religion but what it appoints to be believed The Church never serves it self of force for it hath no other Arms but such as are Spiritual There is among the Doctors of the Roman Church on the one hand an impudence and hardness of Face which is inconceivable and on the other hand there is in their Disciples an abyss of credulity that is incomprehensible Can hardiness and shamelesness be greater than to say that Persecution is not of the spirit of the Roman Church One of our * See the Letter of Doctor Sonstelle Brethre hath written concerning it a little while since with so much brevity that every one may read it and with so much strength as to convince them of the falshood thereof We prove that the Persecution is of the spirit of the Church of Rome by its Principles its Doctrine and its Practice I do not know whether there can be any other source or fountain of proofs when we treat of matters of Fact. The Principles of the Roman Church are that all those that are separate from their Church are damned eternally It s Doctrine is that the Secular Power with Fire and Sword may be employed for the extirpation of those that she calls Hereticks The Council of Constance which France esteems as the most Authentick that hath been these thousand years hath so determined and so it practised For it caused John Lous and Jerome Osprague to be burned The Albigenses Waldenses Bohemians and many others were not Massacred but by order of Councils and Popes who published Crusadoes against them and gave Indulgences and promised Pardon of sin to those that should destroy them The Tribunal of the Inquisition which burns all those that are either suspected or Convicted of Heresie is a Tribunal of the Church established and maintained thereby and it is looked on by the Popes as the great Rampart and Defence thereof Never were there any Massacres committed which were not either Commanded or Approved by Popes They are matters of Fact notoriously known and no body dares to dissent unto them Rome hath sung Te Deum that is We praise thee O God c. and given thanks to him for the Persecution of France Nothing is more proper to make known what is the Spirit of the Roman Church than the Conduct of the Court of Rome We have said that the Pope publickly commends what hath been done in France and hath caused Te Deum to be sung for it In the mean time it is certain that all Men of good sense in the Court of Rome do both detest and scoff at the Conduct of France Whence comes it then that this Court seems to approve in publick that which it condemns in private It is not to flatter the King for they have no respect or regard for him in that Country and every one knows the indignation that they have against him But it is because that Rome dares not declare against the Principles of their Religion If the Pope should condemn ways of violence against pretended Hereticks he would mutiny his whole Church against himself and make himself worthy of deposition He would condemn his Councils he would reproach the memory of his Predecessors he would overturn his own Principles from top to bottom So that the publick approbation which he gives to Persecution is the Sacrifice which he makes of his Conscience to his duty in quality of a Pope But like a Man of good sense he reserves the right of condemning in private all that which he publickly approves The Letter of the Queen of Sueden which hath been made publick in the News of the Republick of Learning hath conjectured discreetly concerning it For it is not to be believed that Queen Christina would dare so openly to declare her self against the Sentiments of the Court of Rome if that Court had approved of this manner of Conversions Behold a second Letter of the same Queen which tells us something more exact concerning the Sentiments which prevail in the Country where she is A Letter of Queen Christina to M 'T IS with astonishment that I have seen my Letter made publick in your Parts I do not understand how it is come to pass and I do assure you that it is not I my self that have published it Nor do I believe that he to whom it was written would so far disoblige his Master as to be willing to do me that pleasure However it be I do not repent that I wrote it for I do not fear any man. I pray God with all my heart that this false Joy and Triumph of the Church do not one day cost her true tears and sorrows In the mean time it must be known for the honour of Rome that all those that are men of merit and understanding here and animated with true Zeal do no more lick up the Spittle of the French Court in this case than I do They behold as I also do with pity all those things which pass in the World where there is given so much reason both of grief and laughter to those that are the Spectators thereof Our only consolation is that God will not abandon his Church but give a glorious issue to all its Calamities which are far greater than are imagined but it behoves us to adore God and the incomprehensible dispositions of his holy providence in every thing that betides us I heartily wish you prosperity From Rome May 18. 1686. Christina Alexandra It behoves us to speak as the case is the Court of Rome disapproves the conduct of the King because it is his Enemy The Persecution is of no value because 't is he that doth it However it be we are in no condition in France to make use of the moderate Sentiments of Italy For the Galican Church hath renounced this moderation She pays Men of Learning to prove that ways of Violence are permitted At this day all the Realm is full of Writers which labour to justifie compel them to come in They quote S. Augustin they report his opinions concerning the Persecution that was raised against the Donatists 'T is notorious that the Clergy of France have been the Authors of the Persecution They cannot deny that they have drawn up all the Edicts and that they have sollicited the execution of them so that we cannot comprehend how the Converters can endure that their Disciples should say That we ought not to impute any thing to a Religion but that which it appoints to be believed and practised and that the Roman Church doth not appoint any Violence to be practised against Hereticks But the Bishop of Meaux finds a very pleasant means to justifie her the Church never serves it self with force by it self says he that is to say it calls to her succour the secular Power to cut
to mark here the Character of sweetness and Christian patience which is peculiar to those that suffer for the Truth his modesty hinders us from naming him but in seeing him behind his Curtain you will learn from him after what manner we ought to suffer all things for the Truth and to suffer with patience as our Lord has given us example The Grace of God be with you all Septemb. 15. 1686. The THIRD PASTORAL LETTER AND Confutation of what Monsieur de Meaux says to establish the necessity of a living speaking Authority concerning a Succession of Chairs without a Succession of Doctrine General Methods for making good the Sophisms and Fallacies concerning the Authority and Infallibility of the Church My Dear Brethren in our Lord Grace and Peace be unto you from God and our Saviour Jesus Christ YOur Temptations which increase every day do also redouble our grief and cause us to desire with the greater passion to give you assistance and succor for which reason we prosecute what we have begun 'T is to furnish you with Lights for the dispelling of that Darkness wherewith they endeavour to obscure those Truths which you have learned from your childhood Among other things they make great and prodigious attempts to take you off from that adherence that you give to the holy Scriptures and to oblige you to forsake those living Fountains and to run after the broken Cisterns of Egypt which will hold no water The last periods of Monsieur de Meaux his private Letter and the second Article of his Pastoral Letter look that way They are these Periods and this Article upon which we shall make our Reflections and we do beseech you to give attention to them Behold then how Monsieur de Meaux prosecutes his Letter to Monsieur de V In a word the meaning is if Christians when they cannot agree upâ—n the sense of Scripture do not acknowledge a living speaking Authority to which they do submit the Christian Church is certainly the weakest of all Societies in the World the most exposed to remediless Divisions and most abandoned to factious Innovators This is it to which your Ministers with all their Subtleties have never been able to find an Answer In truth 't is to put great confidence in the Credulity of Men to tell them with so much impudence that the Ministers have not been able to find an Answer to this Sophism I do not think that there is any which hath been rejected with more force and more success And we do defie Monsieur de Meaux and Monsieur Nicholas to answer any thing that 's reasonable to what hath been said against the Infallibility of this pretended living speaking Judge in the Answer which hath been lately made to the Book of M. Nicholas intituled The pretended Reformed convinced of Schism We have there answered it and will answer it again But this is no place to answer to it at large We will content our selves to intreat you my Brethren to make two general Reflections thereon First That Remedy can never be good which never produces the effect which Men say it doth always produce M de Meaux pretends that this certain living speaking Authority is an infallible Remedy against Divisions and Heresies For without it says he the Church would be of all Societies most abandoned to Divisions Innovations and Factions If this Remedy be so good why hath it never produced its effect Was not this living speaking Authority in the world was it not say I from the times of the Apostles and the first Ages of Christianity Why therefore have we seen from the beginning swarms of Heresies and Hereticks Simonians Corinthians Basilidians Marcosians Valentinians Marcionites Manicheans and multitudes of others Wherefore in the fourth and fifth Ages of the Church was it torn in pieces by Arrians Nestorians Eutychians Photinians Why do they account to the number of two or three hundred Heresies Why did this brave Remedy against Divisions permit the Schism of the Donatists more than three hundred years That of the Eutychians more than twelve hundred That of the Nestorians as long Why doth not this excellent Remedy put an end to the Schism of the Greeks after the duration of near eight hundred years Was it this living speaking Authority which suppressed the Waldenses and Albigenses or the Fire and Sword of Simon de Montfort and his Villains Why hath this living and speaking Authority permitted the Latin Church to be torn in pieces in these latter Ages Behold in truth a fine Remedy good for nothing and which over and above is established upon inconsistent Principles as hath been proved an hundred times The other general Reflection which I desire you would make is on the great inconvenience that Monsieur de Meaux finds in acknowledging That the Church is the weakest of all Societies in the World. I do profess that it appears very uneasie to me as well as to him and I am not without all inclination to reason with him and say There is no appearance or probability that the Church should be the most impotent of all Societies under the Heavens and by consequence 't is not likely that it should have been the Tennis Ball of Persecutors of Tyrants of malignant Spirits of Schismaticks of Hereticks of factious Innovators and vitious corrupters of the Truth and Worship of God. And so all that hath been said of Persecutions Punishments Heresies Seditions happening in the Church Strife among Bishops their Quarrels and Divisions of the fury of Schisms of the horrible corruption of Manners that hath been seen in some Ages and is seen in this all these things say I are false For 't is impossible that the Church should be the weakest of all Societies which it would be if what hath been said yea and what our eyes see be true So that it must needs be that all Histories be Romances and all Objects that we see Illusions and that there be a Wall of Fire about the Church that hinders all sorts of Evils from approaching it 'T is a Prodigy in my apprehension that Men should be found that will destroy truths in matter of fact sense and experience by Discourses in the air These Gentlemen do never enter into the depths of God's ways they do not perceive nor understand that 't is indeed by the order of his Providence that to the apprehension of sense the Church is the most feeble of all Societies most given up to the will and lust of Persecutors and Men of Faction and Innovation Where is the Society that hath been given up and exposed to so many Schisms Divisions and Persecutions as the Church But the Power of God and the Stability of the Church consists in this that it subsists in despite to all Assaults and that God preserves in the midst of those Schisms and Divisions Errors and Superstitions those fundamental Truths and Precepts of Morality by which the Elect are preserved notwithstanding the general corruption that doth involve and
overwhelm it Herein is the strength of the Church and 't is a Miracle and on the occasion thereof we ought to say 'T is the Finger of God. Without putting you upon Inquiries and Disquisitions consider whether it be likely that God who hath permitted so many depths in the Scriptures and that from thence have arrived so many Schisms among those that profess to receive and believe them hath not left some means in his Church to quiet and determine them Is it likely that there should be no remedy for Divisions but that every one may believe according to his own fancy and the minds of Men be thence led insensibly to an indifference in Religions which is the greatest of all Evils Is not this what I said but even now To discourse in the air against known matters of Fact and against such Truths as all the World confess and avow Let us say with Monsieur de Meaux it is not probable that God should leave so many depths in the Holy Scriptures from which so many Divisions might arise and not leave to his Church some means to put a period to them Behold the Principle And who can deny so plausible a Maxim But behold my Conclusion Therefore there have been never any Divisions about the sense of Scripture which the Church hath not found means to determine Therefore it hath well and easily determined the Divisions which continued well nigh the space of four hundred years about the Sense of those Words The Father is greater than I. Therefore it quieted the Difference about the Sense of those other Words The word was made flesh And 't is not true that there are millions of Christians in the East Nestorians and Eutychians that have not agreed with the Church of Rome about the meaning of them for 1200 years passed Therefore it hath raised the Divisions about the Sense of those Words of Jesus Christ to S. Peter Feed my Sheep And it is not true-that all the Greek Church is at a Schism with the Latin Church thereon and are not of the mind that they mean that the Bishop of Rome ought to be universal Pastor of all Churches They say and 't is believed that the Latin Church hath been divided almost two hundred years about the Sense of those Words This is my body The Lutherans give one sense the Calvinists another and the Romanists a third sense concerning them But that is not true 't is a popular Error and an illusion It is not probable that God should not leave any means to his Church to quiet the Differences that should arise about the Sense of Scripture A Man would think these Gentlemen had a design to scoff and deride Mankind they form an Eutopia a world made at pleasure out of their own imaginations and tell us that the present world is so made and that we are in it and very well and safe there 'T is in vain that we deny it and say 't is not so we see the contrary the world is not made as you report it They answer us you deceive your selves you are blind Buzzards and see nothing you seem indeed to see the contrary but nevertheless it can be no otherwise than we say and we will demonstrate it by reason My Brethren you may there perceive the falseness and illusion of the method of your Converters Learn from hence in three words what is the proper method of confuting them have recourse to experience and tell them you will prove that it ought to be so and I see with my eyes the contrary to what you say ought to be It is not therefore true that God hath given a sure and easie means to quiet the Differences which may arise about the Sense of Scripture God will save his select but he will abandon his Enemies to blindness T is his pleasure that there be Difficulties in the way of Faith and Salvation but he hath filled the Holy Scriptures with Light to dissipate these Darknesses with respect to his Elect. And as for the Reprobates he permit this spiritual darkness which hinders them from seeing the sparkling and lightsome Truths which are in the Scripture to remain upon their Hearts God hath not left certain means to prevent and pacifie Divisions we are convinced of that by experience For Divisions do continue among Christians and have done so for fifteen Centuries what means soever have been used to heal them But he hath left means sufficiently certain for the conduct of his Children to eternal Life by the way and path of Truth 'T is his Holy Word together with the direction of his Spirit which conducts infallibly not whole Societies but all that are his in particular in all the Truths that are necessary to Salvation and preserves them from all those Errors that are mortal to their Souls Think think of that Mr. hearken to your own reason and not to the subtleties of your Ministers Think think of that my Brethren consult both your reason and your sense attend to that which your eyes report and don 't hearken to the vain reasonings of Men who discourse not upon that which is but upon that which ought to be according to their imaginations Behold that which we have to say at present about this important matter which Monsieur de Meaux touches in his private Letter We must now return to his Pastoral Letter and see how he proves the Title of his second Article The second Article has for its Title in the Margin That the Pastors of the Catholick Church are the only true Pastors He proves it by two Mediums The first is That the Pastors of the Church of Rome alone have the advantage of mutual succession in place and feat one to another Monsieur de Meaux maintains that he is in the place af those that planted the Gospel in hit Diocess And all other Bishops he says have the same Glory The second proof is that they have also a succession of Doctrine 'T is well when these two things go together for otherwise to glory of a Succession of Seats without a Succession of Doctrine is in my opinion the most pitiful glory that any one can ascribe to himself The Patriarch of Constantinople who according to Monsieur de Meaux is a Schismatick he and all his Predecessors for above 800 years is also in the place of those who planted the Gospel in those Countries Nevertheless the Bishop of Rome hath anathematized him an 100 times and doth anathematize him every year on Good Friday in the Bull De Coena Domini The Arrian Bishops did hold the place of the Apostles in the East and at this day the Bishops of Denmark Sueden and England are also in the place of them which planted Christianity in those Countries Monsieur de Meaux perceives well that the Glory of Succession can do him no great good without Doctrine and therefore does very fairly renounce it To separate sound Doctrine from the Chair of Succession is to
hath erred therefore it can err You will put your Converters in their turn into some kind of perplexity For there will be a necessity either that they hold their peace and say nothing but absurdities or else that they endeavour to prove by discussion of Opinions that the Church of Rome has not erred and 't is a Head of Discourse where I am in no fear or concern for you for how little soever you are instructed in the Word of God you will easily dismount the most able Sophisters when you endeavour to prove that neither Transubstantiation nor the Worship of Images nor the Invocation of Saints nor the Adoration of the Eucharist nor the Mass nor Purgatory are in the Scripture There needs no greater ability for that than for a Man to prove that a Chamber is empty when there is nothing in it They object unto you that the Scripture has not said all but 't is a sensible absurdity that the Scripture should be given to instruct us concerning what we ought to adore and it should forget three fourth parts of the objects of our Adoration It speaks not to us but of the Adoration of God and nevertheless Religious Worship must be given to Saints to Images to Reliques and to the Sacrament of the Altar Are you so filly as to be taken in so pitiful a snare The Scripture has not said all let it be granted with respect to the Ceremonies and Orders of Discipline which are not of the Essence of Religion but to believe that the Scripture has not told us all which is of the Essence of the Christian Religion is ridiculous I do maintain that he ought to have lost all shame that shall advance it and to permit himself to be persuaded thereof he must have lost all reason and be degenerated to a Beast Was it agreeable to the Wisdom of God imperfectly to instruct the Apostolick Church and to leave to posterity the charge of adding those essential parts which were wanting But provided you can draw your Converters from these Methods of Prescription which are the true Snares of the Devil invented as his last Remedies I shall not fear or be concerned for you altho they should batter you with the Arms of Tradition and tho they should tell you an hundred times the Scripture has not said all Tradition adds the rest For you will always have an infallible Refuge in the Scripture and you will be able to say if Tradition may add to the Scripture at least it ought not to destroy and teach or command that which the Scripture condemns After which it will not be difficult to prove that not only the Scripture says nothing of Transubstantiation or the taking away of the Cup or the Sacrifice of the Mass of Purgatory or the Worship of Images or the Invocation of Saints c. but that the Scripture does formally condemn them Behold the first general method for ruining the fallacious Arguments on the behalf of Infallibility Behold another the most sensible proof and that unto which you will be obliged to have regard when they would prove that you ought to have a blind submission to the Church of Rome is Texts of Scripture 'T is for example that which our Lord Jesus said Matth. 16. That he hath built his Church upon S. Peter in such sort that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it That which S. Paul says in 1 Tim. 3.15 That the Church is the pillar and ground of truth There 's that which is their strength But first of all demand of these Gentlemen whether the Church of Rome be mentioned there Say I grant that Text signifies that the Church is infallible and that the Devil never can introduce any Error but how shall I know that 't is the Roman Church to whom this glorious promise of Infallibility is made The Greek Church that of the Nestorians Jacobites or Eutychians are very great Communions in the East which call themselves Christians upon as good a Title as the Church of Rome The Apostles certainly founded the Eastern Churches it is without peradventure and it is apparent that Jesus Christ hath left the privilege of being infallible to them Why should he cause it to pass from the East to the West To that they will say you see that 't is to the Church of S. Peter that the promise of Infallibility is made Upon thee will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it Now the Roman Church is the Church of S. Peter Upon that demand that they prove by the Scripture these two Articles First That this promise was not made but to the Church of S. Peter Secondly That S. Peter is the Founder of the Church of Rome The first thing is impossible to be proved 'T is a prodigious absurdity that of the twelve Apostles to whom Christ Jesus said that they ought to found Churches he should have no regard but to S. Peter and to the Church which he ought to found 'T is more clear than the day that that which our Lord promised he promised to the twelve Apostles and to other Churches But your Converters will have yet more trouble to prove by the Scripture that the Roman Church is the Church of S. Peter There appears not any Footstep thereof in the whole New Testament on the contrary 't is clear there was a Church at Rome before S. Peter and S. Paul had been there It may be one may prove that S. Peter was never at Rome At least it may be proved that he never resided there in the Quality of Bishop For S. Paul says expresly that S. Peter was the Apostle or Bishop of the Jews or Circumcision and that he was the Bishop of the Gentiles Therefore S. Peter in the Quality of the Bishop of the converted Jews ought to have his Seat either at Jerusalem or Babylon in the Confines whereof was the main body of the dispersed Jews Moreover he writ and dated his Epistles from Babylon You may therefore hold your selves there and say I am well content that there be an infallible Church on earth but when I see with all my eyes that the Roman Church has erred you shall permit me to search an infallible Church elsewhere and to keep me where I am expecting till I sind it You may I say keep you there but don't do it move on further and tell your Converters Gentlemen I perceive that these words the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church may have two senses For they may signifie that the Devil shall never introduce any error into the Church of what nature soever it be Or it may signifie that the Devil shall never ruin the Church that he shall never entirely destroy it by ruining its Foundations i. e. it s fundamental Verities Tell me do these words signifie necessarily the first that is to say that the Devil shall never introduce any capital or considerable Errors into the
Christian Religion and doth expose it to the reproach of Infidels who reproach Christians as Furies and mad Men that offer their God in Sacrifice every day and eat him when they have done You account this nothing We see the Images and Altars of the Roman Church you say without indignation but we have no Faith or Veneration for their Mysteries and in this respect we are at the same distance that ever we were Alas how ill are you instructed in the windings and turnings of the Heart of Man The Devil serves himself of every thing by diminishing the aversion that you have had for the places where this Worship is performed you will insensibly lose your aversion for the Worship it self After you have beheld without any emotion of mind the Altars on which they sacrifice by little and little you will accustom your selves to be Spectators thereof and in conclusion you will soon come to partake therein Believe me you can never be too much on your Guard against Error and Superstition They will gain upon you at such places where your Guard is weak and with much more ease will they find means to enter into you by ways so sensible and so open A Christian that hath any tenderness of Conscience grows into some passion when he goes into a Mosque or into a Pagan Temple A tender person cannot behold those places wherein his Parents or Friends have received violent outrages without some commotion of Spirit And how can you without any turning of your Bowels enter into those places in which a Worship is practised by which God is offended and dishonored and for which hitherunto you have no kindness or adherence Do you not remember that your Fathers were burnt torn in pieces and quartered because they would not meddle with this false Worship and that they sacrificed them to those Idols of Jealousie that are before your Eyes The memory of the outrages offered to the Blood that runs in your Veins should preserve a just resentment thereof in your minds Consider moreover that thereby you do not only accustom your selves to the places of Superstition but you do also habituate your selves to behold the Romish Religion on its best and fairest side They preach to you the fundamental Truths of Christianity they display with great pomp the moral Precepts of Jesus Christ In a little while you will come to say yea you do say it already that the Romish Religion is not so bad as it hath been described our Ministers have deceived us Unhappy people who labor to deceive your selves Have we ever said that there was nothing of Christianity in the Romish Religion Why have we received its Baptism if there be nothing in it that is Christian But doth that which it hath of good hinder it from having an infinite number of things that are evil 'T is an Idol's Temple built upon the Christian Religion but 't is an Idol's Temple for all that 'T is a part of the Church but 't is that part where the Son of Perdition sits according to the express Prophecy of Saint Paul That the son of perdition ought to sit in the temple of God. Doth the good Morality that they preach hinder it from being true that there are persons tolerated there that teach that we may commit sins without offending God but in a venial manner That we may kill to preserve our Honor entire and without spot That we may steal with impunity That we may continue in the habits of sin when we cannot free our selves of it That simple Fornication is no great sin That Repentance is not necessary during life That we may be saved without having exercised one single act of love to God all the days of our life That we may kill Kings when we are persuaded that they are become Tyrants We do not say that these Men are tolerated but that they tolerate others for they are far the greatest number They do not shew you Popery on that side nor on the side of its Idolatries Images Saints and Saintesses which they have set so near to God that they cause them to partake with him in his Glory nor on the side of its Pilgrimages and the Reliques which it adores and a thousand other Superstitions notwithstanding it is certain that by accustoming your selves to like and fancy the Preachers of the Popish Church you will soon come to like all that they shall please to preach and teach you When an object hath two faces the one fair and the other foul and deform'd to the end that we preserve in our selves that just aversion that we ought to have for it 't is necessary that we always look on it on the ill-favoured side The way to Hell hath its Roses bus 't is the way to Hell for all that If you look not on it but on the side of its Flowers you will forget that there are Thorns wherewith your Souls will be pierced and wounded with wounds incurable Once more my Brethren run not to those Sermons where that which is good cannot please without diminishing the hatred that you ought to have for the evil that is found there This is not all by going to these Sermons you fill those Churches where they celebrate those unhappy Mysteries for which you ought to have a very great aversation and there you are at the very hour that those Mysteries are celebrated I understand that from seven in the morning you fill these Churches to hear a Sermon which is not preached till nine or ten And in the mean while in the Chappels round about you they say Mass they elevate and adore the Host and you call that no going to Mass because you have not your eyes precisely turned towards the Priest that celebrates and are not obliged to change your posture in the moment of Elevation because you are removed at some distance from it But good God! do you think that he whose Eyes are so pure and Spirit so clear will approve a conduct so faulty Is it not a consent to Idolatry to be found in the same place with Idolaters They are there for the Mass and you are there for the Sermon But in expectation of a Sermon don't you assist at the Mass You see it at a distance but you will accustom your selves very shortly to behold it nearer hand And is it not to this very end and purpose that at present they leave that which they call the Holy Sacrament always exposed in their Churches that you may not be able to enter there without seeing persons prostrate at the Feet of the Altars of Superstition and being your selves constrained to bear a part in that criminal Worship To conclude you assist at the Sermons of these Popish Preachers with a great deal of diligence are you assured of what they will tell you At the beginning they affect to speak nothing to you but things that will not affright you but very shortly they will take the liberty to set
neither in the Apostolick Church 3. They undertook a custom of bringing Offerings and Alms not in Silver but in Merchandize Bread Wine Corn Raisins Fruits c. And of that they offered on the Holy Table those things which might be of use in the publick Service whereas in the Apostolick Church we see no other Alms but such as were gathered by the Hands of the Deacons either at the end or beginning of their Assemblies 4. Of these Alms of the Believers they made Oblations to God consecrating them by Prayer 5. At the end of their Prayers before the Communion they added the mutual kiss which was not of Apostolick Institution and was afterwards abolished 6. Many persons entertained an opinion of the separate state for Souls after death a third place which was utterly unknown to the Apostles 7. They conceive an excessive Love for the Bones of the Martyrs nevertheless without giving them any kind of Worship or Religious Homage This excessive love for Bones was not reasonable nor was it of the Apostolick Age. 8. About the end of the second Age they appointed Feasts to celebrate the memories of the Martyrs which was not neither of Apostolick Institution 9. They appointed a day or two for Fasting before Easter Behold the principal Innovations in the second Age in which there is nothing almost that can be blamed considered in it self and separated from the Fruits and Consequences thereof To conclude to the end that you be not abused by false Authors you ought to know that we entertain none for the Writers of the second Age but these S. Clement the Disciple of S. Paul who writ an Epistle to the Corinthians S. Ignatius of whom we have many Epistles concerning which the Learned doubt with reason but we will nevertheless receive them in the present Affair S. Polycarp who wrote an Epistle to the Philippians the Epistle of the Church of Smyrna concerning the Martyrdom of S. Polycarp Justin Martyr whose Works ought to be distinguished for there are many among them which are falsly attributed unto him Athanagoras the Athenian of whom we have an Apology for the Christians and a Discourse concerning the Resurrection Theophilus of Antioch of whom we have three Books written to Autolycus Tatian of whom we have a Discourse in Defence of the Christian Religion and against that of the Pagans And in fine S. Ireneus Bishop of Lyons of whom we have a considerable Work against the Heresies of his Times If they quote unto you the Liturgies of S. Mark of S. James of S. Peter the Works of Dionysius the Areopagite the Canons of the Apostles and other like Discourses you ought to reject them as being false and forged in the opinion of all the Learned who have any thing of sincerity November 15 1686. THE SEVENTH PASTORAL LETTER CONCERNING Songs and Voices which were heard in several places in the Air. Dear Brethren in our Lord Grace and Peace be given to you from our God and Saviour Jesus Christ IN the last of our Letters we engaged our selves to communicate unto you certain notable matters of Fact which some of our Brethren have thought adviseable to impart unto us Amongst these matters of Fact I do not think there 's any one that better deserves to be examined than that which hath been reported to us That in many places where there have been formerly Churches Voices have been heard in the Air so perfectly like to our singing of Psalms that they could not be taken for any thing else If this be true 't is a wonder which very well deserves the labor of our attention We shall think our selves very ungrateful to the Divine Goodness if we should suppress so illustrious a Testimony of his Approbation He must be bold in this Age that dares speak of Prodigies Marvels Presages and other such like things There are times in which Men believe every thing in this wherein we now are they believe nothing I think there is a mean to be chosen we may not believe every thing but surely something ought to be believed For this Spirit of Incredulity and this Character of a brave Spirit is good for nothing and I have not as yet discovered the use thereof 'T is true Credulity hath destroyed Religion and introduced a thousand Superstitions for these unhappy Tales of Miracles done at the Tombs of Saints these Apparitions of Souls these pretended Visions of Spirits that come from the other World these say I have produced the Invocation of Saints the Adoration of Images Purgatory Masses the Prayers of the living for the dead For which reason I am content that Men stand upon their Guard when any thing is debated and reported concerning wonderful and pious Histories The generality of those which are called honest Men are come so far from thence that they have cast themselves on the other extreme and believe nothing 'T is to expose a Man's self and to be turned into Ridicule to maintain that there have been Miracles and that there may yet be they mock at Presages and have no Faith for that which they call Prodigies Nevertheless whither goes this and what will be the Issue of it 'T is to deny Providence 't is to make our selves believe God does not intermeddle in the Affairs here below and to ruine all the Principles of human Faith and by consequence to cast our selves on a perfect Scepticism which is peradventure a disposition of mind the most dangerous to Religion of any in the World. By doubting all matters of Fact which have any appearance of extraordinary they tell us they have no intention to extend it any farther than the History of the World. But we don't perceive that we insensibly entertain a habit of doubting which extends it self to every thing There is a God we all consent thereto There is a Providence we all profess and avow it Nothing comes to pass without him Is it possible that God should so hide himself behind his Creatures and under the veil of second Causes that he should never at any time tho never so little draw aside the Curtain If we have taken a resolution to deny the truth of all extraordinary matters of Fact what shall we do with History both sacred and profane Can we persuade our selves that the Historians of all Ages intended to deceive us by making us believe that the great Revolutions which have happened in the Societies of Men and the Church have been preceded by extraordinary Events such as Earthquakes Signs in Heaven and Prodigies on Earth They will say the most part of these Histories are Fables it may be so but if the most part be Fables there have been some which have been true If there had never been any true Prodigies they would not have reported those that were false for falshood is an imitation of Truth He must have a hardness and impudence that I understand not that can put all Historians in one rank and range them all together
we first heard any speech concerning it and they told us that these Singings had been heard in Bearne the first Province whither the Dragoons were sent Behold our Witnesses every one will judge of what worth they are Monsieur Magendie Pastor of the Church of Orthez having been questioned concerning this Affair hath interrogated divers persons according as it appears by his Certificate I do declare that Monsieur de Bazin a younger Brother and an Inhabitant of Orthez in Bearne hath told me that walking with some of his Friends after mid-day near the City of Orthez he heard Voices which sung Psalms and as he imagined that it might be some Women that washed Linnen in a certain River which passed through Orthez he ran to them to demand of them whether it were they that sung they told him that it was not they and that they themselves for a long time had heard the same singing of Psalms This happened some months before the Interdiction of our Church The said Monsieur Bazin is a very honest Man very judicious and of great integrity 2. I add that Mademoiselle de Casenaue of Orthez said to persons worthy of credit that being not able to believe that which was said concerning this singing of Psalms a Woman said to her that if she had the curiosity to hear them sing she would come and take her at her own House at a time convenient which she did for this Woman being at eleven of the clock at night in the uttermost part of the City with multitudes of other persons to hear these Voices which sung in the Air the Praises of God having heard this singing of Psalms she ran to Mademoiselle de Casenaue who immediately gets out of her Bed causes one of her Neigbours to rise and they ran to that quarter of the City which was far removed from her House where they found multitudes of persons who were ravished with that pleasant Melody which they heard in the Air they themselves returned to their Houses with this great consolation to have heard those Psalms sung in the Air which they could no more sing in their Church which had been interdicted for some months past and they added that it seemed to them that they heard them sing after the same manner which they used to sing in their Church and that after the singing had ceased there was a Voice which spake but after a manner inarticulate and confused so that they could not distinguish what was said This Gentlewoman is very well worthy of Credit 3. I say moreover that an infinite number of the persons of Orthez do say that they have heard the singing of Psalms which they call the singing of Angels and that they exhorted each other on the day to be present in the night in certain places of the City to satisfie this holy Curiosity which was the reason that the Magistrates of Orthez published an Ordinance whereby they forbad all persons from going out of their Houses or assembling themselves by night for hearing these Voices which filled this poor afflicted people with joy and extraordinary consolation This is it which has been told me concerning this singing of Psalms to which In find no difficulty to give a full consent because the persons that have reported it are of great sincerity Given at Amsterdam Novemb. 23 1686. Signed Magendie heretofore Minister of Orthez in Bearne M. Garsin another Minister of the said Church of Orthez declares this which follows concerning the singing of Psalms which had been heard at Orthez for a long time I whose Name is underwritten heretofore Pastor of the Reformed Church of Orthez in Bearne do certifie to all those whom it may concern that my Brother-in-law De Roux a Lawyer told me that between the hours of eleven and twelve at night being on the back side of his House in the City of Orthez he heard a singing of Psalms above him and that a little after he heard the same singing come from a place at a greater distance After that he was fully convinced of the truth of this singing of Psalms so much discoursed of all the World over Moreover he thought that sometimes during the whole night when his Gout hindered him from sleeping that he heard the same singing after a manner less distinct and intelligible I am informed by Monsieur Clavier a Lawyer of the same City of Orthez that the Curate of the place and a certain Priest called Dufau and Monsieur Lichigarai another Lawyer as also a Brother of the Curate called Monsieur De la Roque sent to search out a certain Popish Damosel of Moncade to know of her if it were true that she had said that she had heard this singing of Psalms and that she told them yea And having demanded of her how she knew it was the singing of Psalms she told them it was because she had heard the same thing at such time as they sung in the Church of those of the Reformed Religion And having further asked her how she had heard the singing of Psalms in the Church she answered them she had been once there at a Baptism but that going to a certain Fountain she had often heard this singing as she passed by the Church at the hours of Preaching and Prayer After this Monsieur Clavier told me that the Curate and others strictly forbad her to say any more that she had heard the said singing of Psalms Given at Amsterdam September 23. 1686. Signed Garsin Minister I whose Name is underwritten certifie to all whom it may concern that in the year 1685 about the Month of August or September I heard in the Air the singing of Psalms with different Voices and very melodious and this at two several times the first time before the House of Poey where I was lying upon a Bank half asleep I was awakened by this singing of Psalms which continued almost half an hour Afterwards I went into the House of Monsieur du Poey a Merchant Draper with whom I wrought at that Employment Having told this to Mademoiselle du Poey and her Daughters they were much offended at me that I had not given them notice of it at the time I heard the said singing The second time I and many others about an hour after midnight having gone on purpose to a place most high and raised in the City near to Moncade named the Posterle I heard many Voices in the Air sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other withdrawing my self a little I found Mademoiselle des Pagnou Daughter of Monsieur Dombideau Merchant of Oleron Wife to Monsieur des Pagnou Merchant-Tanner accompanied with many other Women of the Neighborhood I asked them from whence they came They told me they came from the Bank of a River called Le Gaur which passes by the City near a Mill which they call the New Mill. I asked them if they had heard the singing of Psalms They answered me Yea. I asked them from what side they
admonishing us of our duty by these heavenly Voices who melodiously sung those holy Hymns which we were wont to sound forth in our Church which was then laid wast and destroyed I protest before God that these things are so as I have reported them and I am very glad to make known these truths for the Edification of all those that fear the Lord. In Testimony whereof I subscribe my self at Amsterdam September 4. 1686. V. Deformalagues I do maintain that a Testimony such as this though it were alone is capable of putting the spirit of incredulity to distress for what that is reasonable can be said against it It will be said this is the Testimony of a Woman but by being a Woman hath she renounced all Honor Shame and Conscience in the matter of Testimony She must have renounced all those things to attest with an Oath a matter of Fact with so many circumstances She is but a Woman but she is not a Woman that reports some Visions of the night or particular Revelations she is a Woman that reports things that happened in publick and whereof she hath for witnesses with her self many hundreds of persons Though she be a Woman it does not follow but she may be endued with good understanding now she must have lost all sense to advance such a falsity and to expose her self to be overwhelmed with shame as a maker of Fables to conclude she is a Woman but she speaks of a thing happened not above seven days ago if I may so say To conclude behold a Memorial of Monsieur de Brassalay a Gentleman of Honor and acknowledged such by all that know him Some days before the Interdiction of the Churches of Bearn there were many persons that heard the singing of Psalms in the Air in the City of Orthez The first that heard it was Lichigaray Brunier a Lawyer revolted some years since the most malignant of the Persecutors and who continually stirred up troubles to those of the Reformed Religion He rose from his Bed to go tell the Curate that there was an Assembly of people that sung Psalms without the City he also went to a Serjeant named Gowlan to conduct him to the place where he thought to surprize them but this Popish Serjeant having laid his Ear to the Window answered him there was nothing to be done for he well perceived the singing was in the Air. Afterward it was heard from time to time more than a month by divers persons sometimes at night and sometimes by day among others Lichagaray Canneille an Elder of the Church of Orthez protested and told me that sitting upon the bank of the River a thousand Paces from the City reading in a Book he heard a great singing of Psalms on that side the Church stands which is in the midst of the City and not doubting at all that is was an ordinary Assembly that were met together at Evening Prayers which was then very numerous because of the hazardous conjuncture and consisted at the least of two or three thousand souls he hasted to go thither and always heard a great singing of Psalms till he was entered into the City but having found the doors of the Church shut the Neighbours told him that it was not yet the hour of Prayer It is to no purpose to say they sung in some Cavern or Cave for there is nothing but Houses and the parts adjacent to Orthez are Vineyards Meadows and Fields it has been a long time since forbidden to sing Psalms in Houses and no body has dared to venture thereon and least of all would they think thereon in a time when they every hour feared the Interdiction of their Church and when they advised by all sorts of methods to defend themselves from it Moreover this Elder hath assured me that he never heard more lofty singing in the Church This he told me being in Bearne about sixteen months since in the presence of very many honest Men. After the Church of Orthez was razed to the ground this singing of Psalms was heard no more for some time but about the months of September and October last it was heard by most part of the people of Orthez and many others of the Country which tarried till night before they went home on Market-days those of the Suburbs as well as those of the City heard it every one in his Quarter ordinarily at the same hour viz. between eight and nine at night some heard the words others heard the Tune of the Psalms and there is not it may be a House in Orthez of which some one of the Family hath not heard it The said Lichiguray Bruneir went one night he and two others to that part where they heard this singing without the City and they all three heard the singing for a long time over their Heads the Tune of the 138. Psalm whereof they could not hear distinctly but these words Toward thy holy Temple I will look and worship thee and praised in my thankful mouth thy holy name shall be even for thy loving kindness sake and for thy truth withal for thou thy name hast by thy word advanced over all Du Faur a Physician and Magistrate of the City another Papist heard it divers times but their malice made them say they were Sorcerers and Devils A young Damosel of the Suburbs of Moncade which is near the Castle the ancient Habitation of the Lords of Bearn heard this singing being in her Bed she rose and caused more than fifty persons to go out who having heard it fell on their Knees and wept through the joy they conceived to hear so incomparable a Melody in the Air which continued more than half an hour And it must be known that it was in a place much raised above the City even as a very high Mountain and the people heard this singing over their Heads as if it had been in the Clouds I have heard an honest Man who was one of the Spectators make this relation who poured out Tears then when he spake of it the same thing I have heard from other places To conclude it is impossible to doubt of a truth which the far greatest part of the Inhabitants of Orthez are able to certifie The Parliament of Pau and the Intendent of Bearn have also given their Testimony thereto by a Decree which forbids Men to go hear these Psalms and to say they have heard it on the forfeiture of five hundred Crowns and by another Ordinance which forbids the same thing under the forfeiture of two thousand Crowns The Consuls of Orthez did publish these Ordinances in their City I do not as yet very well understand what can be opposed to the Testimony of Monsieur Brassalny Those that know him as we do know that he is not of a temper to impose upon any one nor to suffer himself to be imposed upon by any one whoever he be Those things which he reports are not hear-says at a great distance for
Crown on his Head where is the Text of Scripture that forbids it Tertullian answers that though it was not written nevertheless the Soldier had done well because when we dispute concerning Customs Tradition without Scripture is sufficient to Establish them and he proves it by the Trine Immersion in Baptism which was more commended as also by the Milk and Hony that they gave to the new Baptised Among the observances which had not been commanded and in which they did a little deviate from the first institution he puts the Custom of receiving the Eucharist in the Morning in Assemblies before day as St. Cyprian calls them And he pretends that the Custom of taking the Eucharist at Meal-time is that alone which Jesus Christ hath commanded that is to say hath Authorized by his Example from whence it is clear he makes two sorts of Celebration of this Mystery the one Solemn which was done in their night Assemblies the other private that every Family did in their own House Now it is to be observed That in these Domestick Eucharists it was the Master of the House or of the Feast that did Celebrate that did Consecrate and Distribute This is clear by a passage of Tertullian where endeavouring to prove second Marriages unlawful to all sorts of persons and not only to Priests and Ministers of the Altar he says that all Believers are Priests that all Celebrate that all Baptise and by consequence they are obliged by the Law which forbids second Marriages to Priests and Presbyters We deceive our selves very much says he if we imagin that what is forbidden to Priests is permitted to Laicks for are they not all Priests It is written he hath made us Kings and Priests to God his Father It is the Authority of the Church which hath put a difference between the Clergy and â—he People and which hath established this sacred honor for the body of the Clergy this is so true that when there â—s no Clergy-man in a place thou dost Celebrate thou dost Baptise and thou art to thy self a Priest now where there are three there is a Church though they be Laicks for every one lives by his own Faith and God has no regard at all to persons Here are divers things which are contrary to false Principles that have been established some time since First of all In this time it was not believed that the distinction of Laity and Clergy and with much more reason that of Priest and Bishop was by Divine right It was the Church and positive Law made this difference 2. Every one for himself and for those that were his might exercise the Ministry 3. And above all All might Baptise and Consecrate and Administer the Sacrament of the Eucharist Offers tingis you Laicks Administer the Eucharist and you do also Baptise that is to say in private Houses For as to publick Assemblies which met before day Tertullian tells us that they did not Communicate in them but from the hand of the Presidents that is to say from the hand of Bishops or Priests which were present In which he insinuates clearly enough that out of these publick Assemblies they Communicated by the hand of Laicks And I my self do not doubt but that this Custom continued in some places even till St. Austins time who assures us that in his time they Communicated after Supper the Thursday before Easter although on all other days of the year they thought it necessary to Communicate in the morning and before they had eaten And it was the Head of the Family that Administred the Sacrament on that day in memory of the first Communion where Jesus Christ as Father of the Family distributed the Holy Bread to his Disciples The same thing was done also in the Churches near to Alexandria and in Thebais according to the Testimony of Socrates We conclude at present from hence two things 1. That in the third Age they did not look upon the Eucharist as a true Sacrifice for would they have permitted every private person to Communicate among themselves whilst they were eating at the Table amongst their Domesticks Sacrifices are not offered but in Temples and upon Altars 2. That according to the Christians of the third Age Oblations Liturgies and other Ceremonies were not considered but as parts of Decency and by no means as things that were of the Essence and of necessity in the Sacrament of the Eucharist for in these Domestick Communions all this was omitted they practised nothing but Consecration Fraction and Manducation of the Bread it was nevertheless a true Eucharist 3. We conclude a third thing by the way it is that there is no need of Mission nor Vocation for the Administration of Holy things and by consequence those people who trouble us so violently about the Vocation of the Reformers and our own have no foundation for it in any Law Divine or Apostolick We will here conclude what we are willing to say at this time concerning the Christianity of the third Age we will add divers things for your Edification and Instruction ☞ First of all it has been judged convenient to let you understand what is the fidelity and honesty of M. de Meaux and your Converters on the Subject of the means wherewith they serve themselves to Convert you It has been thought fit I say to inform you that we have received Letters from the Diocess of Meaux which do fully confute what the Bishop of the Diocess has dared to publish in his Pastoral Letter viz. That the Reformed of that Country had not heard of any torments There is a Letter dated Decemb. 15. 1685. that says We are in confusion Pray to God for us the Dragoons are at Meaux after they had caused all the Country of Claye to change their Religion nothing stands before them behold the pitiable state whereunto our sins have brought us In another Letter of January 3. it is thus In the confusion wherein we are what shall I say to you I am not able to speak to you but with tears of blood the Dragoons have made all to change by force in the Provinces of Meaux and Soissons Another Letter of Jan. 6. from the Diocess of Meaux makes mention of the violences that were offered to a venerable old Man de la Ferte au Col of the Age of seventy eight years called M. de Monceaux Dr. in Physick The Archers came to carry him away in the midst of Winter and without giving him one days respite they carried him away by force When he was in the middle of the Woods he fell into so great weakness and faintness that he resolved to cast himself down in the mire and dye there but they would not do him the favour to let him dye in peace They tempted him by all sorts of methods and in conclusion being able to again nothing upon him they chose to imprison him with very many others I do profess that reading the Pastoral Letter of
year on the day of the Death of a Martyr Oblations for the dead saith Teruillian Behold from whence comes Masses for the dead and the shadow of resemblance with what is done in the Church of Rome is capable of dazling ye But observe these great Differences The first is that the Sacrifices that were offered for the dead so they call them were not accounted true Sacrifices much less propitiatory Sacrifices 2. That they did not beg of God deliverance from the pains of Purgatory For Purgatory was not known at that time The third is that they did not commemorate Saints and Martyrs as they do at this day to have part in their Merits or to offer their Merits to God. First of all it is indisputable that the Church of the third Age did not think that Prayers for the dead joyned to the Sacrament of the Eucharist were a true Sacrifice I will not repeat the proofs those that please may see them in the preceding Letters For since we have proved that they did not at all account the Eucharist in general a true Sacrifice altho they gave it that name t is clear that they could not account as a true Sacrifice the Prayers which were joyned to the Eucharist for the repose of the dead So that the Ancients did not call that part of their Worship which they called Oblations for the dead Sacrifice for any other reason than because the Offerings which were consecrated upon the holy Table were there placed on the behalf of the dead either by their order or according to their will and intention And because these Prayers for the dead were joyned to the Sacrament which is a Sacrifice of Praise and the Commemoration of the propitiatory Sacrifice of the Cross Secondly we say that the end for which they make mention of the dead in the Celebration of the Eucharist was not for deliverance from Purgatory whereof no Discourse had been yet heard To be assured thereof there needs no more than to hear the Ancients concerning it 1. At the beginning they were only simple Commemorations of the dead to give thanks that they died in the Lord and in the fear of God. 'T was wholly to this end that they made mention of the Martyrs S. Cyprian speaking of two Men of War who had suffered death says that they were true and spiritual Soldiers of Jesus Christ and that in overthrowing the Devil by the Confession of the name of Jesus Christ They had by a generous suffering been worthy to receive the Palms and Crowns of the Lord. Now you may remember says he that we offer Sacrifices for them Observe the S. Cyprian says expresly that these two Martyrs were crowned in Heaven Nevertheless he says that they offered Sacrifice for them therefore it was not to fetch them from Purgatory How could it be that S. Cyprian and the Ancients should offer a Sacrifice to fetch the Martyrs from Purgatory when they believed they were in a state of Blessedness 'T was to do an injury to Martyrs to pray for them say they according to that saying so much known among the Ancients Injuriam facit Martyri qui orat pro Martyre For 't was to doubt of his happiness The same S. Cyprian says in another place Observe well the days on which they died speaking of the Martyrs to the end that we may remember them when we celebrate the Memories of the Martyrs Altho Terullian our most faithful and devout Brother hath written to us and doth write to inform us of the days in which our blessed Brethren which were in Prison passed to a glorious immortality to the end that we may here celebrate Oblations and Sacrifices for their Memory expecting that with the help of God we shall celebrate them with you That which he calls in the beginning Remembring the Martyrs he calls afterwards Oblations and Sacrifices for the memory of them But if to the Commemorations that is to say to the Praises which they gave to God for the glorious death of the departed they added some Prayers to God it was with respect to the Opinions then prevailing touching the state of Souls after death And these Opinions were such as had their Birth in the end of the second Age and was almost generally established and received in the third 1. That Souls did not enter into the Heavenly Paradise till after the Resurrection 2. That they remained in a separate place and state till that day 3. That they might go thence sooner or later by a quicker or slower Resurrection for they thought that the Resurrection was not accomplished in a day but continued the space of a thousand years at many and divers times 4. That at the day of Judgment the Souls pass through that fire which shall consume the World. 5. That in conclusion they present themselves in the day of Judgment either to be Absolved or Condemned There is not a learned and upright Man which doth not acknowledge this was the Divinity of the third Age yea and of those that follow So that with respect to these Opinions then prevailing they begged of God for the Dead 1. That he would fix them in the place of Repose which they call locus refrigerii or the Bosom of Abraham 2. That he would increase their happiness in that place and moderate the desire they have to go from thence 3. That they may go early thence and partake in the first Resurrection 4. That they may pass through the fire at the last-day without receiving and damage 5. And to conclude that they may be Absolved when they present themselves before the Throne of God all this was not expressed in the Prayers of the Church On the contrary they were conceived in general terms it was the intention of those which made Prayers for the Dead But to what purpose is it to dispute farther whether they offered Masses for the repose of Souls in Purgatory at that time since we have ancient Liturgies where we may see what they begged of God for the Dead There are two Liturgies of which one bears the name of St. James the other of St. Mark. We shall do them a great honor if we put them among the Writings of the third Age. The Liturgy attributed to St. James says Lord God of the Spirits of all flesh remember the Orhtodox of which we have made mention and whereof we have made none from Abel the Righteous unto this day cause them to rest in the Land of the Living in the Bosom of Abraham Isaac and Jacob in thy Kingdom in the delights of Paradise And that of St. Mark Cause the Souls of our Fathers and of our Brethren which are dead in the Faith of Christ Jesus to rest c. Cause them to rest in the Tabernacles of thy Saints and give them the Kingdom of Heaven That Composition which is called the Constitutions of the Apostles is a Work of the fourth and it may be of the fifth Age. Nevertheless we
Elevate nor Adore we should have nothing to do but to produce a hundred places where it is clear that they gave the Communion under both Kinds without ever speaking of Elevation or Adoration This Communicating of Infants which is not disputed and by consequence we have no need to prove it is a thing worthy of observation for it is an addition of the third Age which makes it appear 1. That the Church is not Infallible by the confession of our Adversaries For the Church of the third Age and those that followed it hath erred according to them in judging that the Eucharist was necessary to little Children as well as Baptism therefore she is not Infallible in the interpretation of the Holy Scripture for the hath misinterpreted those Words If any one eat not my flesh and drink not my blood he cannot have everlasting life Since she hath believed that Children could not be Saved without Communicating 2. That Custom makes it appear that the Church is capable of introducing considerable Innovations and those Universal and of long duration Your Converters grant that it was no Apostolick Tradition that at the beginning it was not so nevertheless it was an important Innovation as it is clear for according to us It is no less than to prophane a Sacrament which requires self examination by giving it to persons that cannot prepare themselves and according to the Roman Doctors it is to expose the true Body of Jesus Christ to horrible indignities by putting it in the mouth of an Infant of some few days or months old And that which cannot fail to happen is that the Body of Jesus Christ was oftentimes spit out upon the floor For Children do not fail to reject whatsoever does not please their Palat. Moreover this important Innovation was so Universal that the whole Church embraced and entertained it and of so long duration that we find examples thereof many Ages after the fourth 3. Learn from this Custom that in those Ages they were not obliged to Adore the Sacrament before they cat it for Children could not perform any act of Adoration Therefore press your Converters vigorously with this Example and ask them if the Church cannot Innovate in other Articles of importance since it hath plainly Innovated in this and if we may not Correct Ancient and Universal Customs since the Church of Rome hath rescinded practices where were introduced but one Age after the Apostles Behold thus much for Worship and Practice As to Opinion do not suffer your selves to be persuaded that any change in Doctrine touching the Sacrament of the Eucharist did happen during the third Age. The proofs that your Converters bring thereof unto you are very pittiful For they are passages where the Fathers of that Age called the Bread and Wine of the Eucharist The Body the Flesh and the Blood of the Lord. Behold verifying proofs What is to be said concerning them since it is the language of Jesus Christ himself and of his Apostles The question is not what they said but that we are to know is in what sence and after what manner the Fathers of the third Age understood that the Bread of the Eucharist was the Flesh of Jesus Christ Now I do maintain that your Converters must be either Fools or Knaves beyond all imagination that dare to say that according to the Fathers of the third Age that the Bread of the Eucharist was the Body of Jesus Christ by way of Reality and Transubstantiation for the Fathers of that Age spoke as plainly and clearly concerning it as we do Hear then Tertullian who lived in the beginning of that Age among other Hereticks with a sort of impious Villains who said that our Lord Jesus Christ had no true Body Thus he reasons against them Our Lord having taken Bread and distributed to his Disciples made it his Body saying this is my Body that is to say the figure of my Body Now this had not been a Figure if he had not had a true Body That is to say if the Figure had no relation to the true Body For an empty thing as is a Phantasm is not capable of having a Figure Another Author of the same Age whose Work is ascribed to Origen Disputing against the same Hereticks called Marcionites says If as these pretend our Lord were destitute of Flesh and Blood of what Body of what Flesh of what Blood has he given us the Signs and the Images viz. The Bread and the Cup by which he has commanded his Disciples to preserve and renew his memory These Men had lost their Reason to speak in this manner if they believed the Real Presence above all in disputing against those which denyed that Jesus Christ had a true Body They say Jesus Christ was no Phantasm he had a true Body for he gave us in the Eucharist the figure and Image thereof Now Phantasms have no Images they themselves being Images and no more These Men say I had lost their wits for they should have said Jesus Christ was no Phantasm he had a true Body for he gives this true Body to us to eat every day Since at this day he has a Body and we eat thereof with great reason it may be affirmed he had one when he was upon Earth The first Reason taken from the Image and Figure is of some weight I do acknowledge But this taken from the Reality in the Eucharist had been a hundred time better and according to the Opinion of the Church of Rome is an argument altogether invincible So that we must suppose these Authors did betray and abandoned the Cause of the Church by making use of feeble Arguments against the Marcionites when she had furnished them with one that was utterly impregnable For after all it is not wholly true that Phantasms can have no Figures or Images It is a reflection that you ought to make to discover the vanity of the Sophistry wherewith your Converters serve themselves to answer to those passages and an hundred others without Hyperbole where the Fathers of the seven first Ages called the Eucharist the Figure the Type the Image the Symbols the Signs the Antitypes of the Body and Blood of the Lord it is say they because there are two things in the Eucharist There is Figure and Reality Figure because of the Accidents of Bread and Wine which are the Figures of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ Truth and Reality because of the Real Presence of the Flesh inwardly contained under the Species Now the Fathers sometimes respected the Sacrament on its external part that is to say by the Species in this respect they have called it Figure It it be so at least the Ancients ought not to consider the Sacraments on the side of the Figure when it was necessary for the Cause which they defended to consider it on the side of the Reality as it was in the disputes against the Marcionites Hear yet the same Tertullian to the end
offered I say a thousand Reproaches to the Pagans about their Statues all which might be retorted against the Christians if they had had any themselves and to expose themselves to these Replies it must be said that they had lost both Memory and Sense I would very willingly know what Clemens of Alexandria would have said had he seen Images in Churches who said concerning Women that beheld themselves in Glasses * Pedag. lib. 3. c. 2. If Moses did for bid Men to make any Image which represented God how can these Women be innocent who by a fictitious Representation make Images of themselves Read therefore Tertullian Arnobius Minutius Foelix Lactantius Clemens of Alexandria and Origen And if ye be not qualified my Brethren for the reading of them ask your Converters if what we have said above be not true they will not have the impudence to deny it 't is a matter of Fact which is confessed by the more honest of the Roman Religion amongst others by Baluzius in his Notes upon Lactantius concerning the Death of Persecutors In the Third Age they began to give Rules concerning days of Fasting The African Church besides the Lords Day had two other days in the week consecrated to Prayer that is to say Wednesday and Friday Instead of Friday the Roman Church set apart Saturday to that end and use According to the Discipline of the Ancient Church it was not permitted to fast on the Lords Day and for that reason she set apart two other days in the Week to join Prayer with Fasting and called those days Stations They were reckoned for half Fasts because they fasted no longer than till three hours after Noon whereas in compleat Fasts they abstained from eating till the Sun were set At this day instead of half Fasts as they call them they ought to call them Fasts less than half for they fast not but from six in the Morning until Noon in the Church of Rome a great Mortification to make so great account on These half Fasts were accompanied with publick Prayers For the Christians assembled together continued in Prayer at the Church until three hours after Noon and as it was the custom of that time to communicate in all publick Assemblies they concluded these Stations or half Fasts with the celebration of the Eucharist They did not communicate in the Morning in the beginning of their Assembly because those days were accounted days of Fast and they then believed that the Bread and Wine of the Eucharist did break their Fast for as yet they were not instructed in the method of withdrawing the Substance and leaving nothing but Accidents there To conclude Lent and the other Fasts of this day were then wholly unknown They fasted in this Age as they did in the second the Passion-day and that which followed it but no more And because the Montanists a sort of Hereticks amongst which Tertullian listed himself towards the end of his life would consecrate two Weeks in the Year to fast in The Catholick Church made a great stir about it and that which is remarkable is that then the Church served it self exactly of the same reason against the Montanists which we make use of against the Fasts of the Papists * Tertul. Lib. de Jejun c. 15. particularly they made use of those words of S. Paul who said That false teachers should come who should command to abstain from meats which God had permitted to believers that we must not observe days and months and years that we must eat of every thing and at all times without asking questions for conscience sake We must suppose an extravagance of mind without excuse to believe that men who disputed thus against the Montanists about two Weeks Fasting should themselves have and observe five or six Nevertheless you must hold this for certain that these two Weeks of Fasting of the Montanists were the beginning of Lent for a little while after the Church was ashamed to see it self surpassed with Mortifications by persons they accounted Hereticks and therefore she was willing to out-bid and out do them My Brethren they make you extracts from S. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage a great Man and a very holy Martyr in which you oftentimes read the words Satisfactions and Indulgencies But let this example teach you not to suffer your selves to be seduced by a similitude of terms and words for those Satisfactions and Indulgencies have no alliance or cognation with those of the Church of Rome Then the Discipline of the Church was extremely severe upon mens Faults and Crimes against which the Romish Confessors at this day do oftentimes appoint but very gentle Penances and no forbearance from the Sacrament But they commanded Sinners the forbearance of many years together with many long and tedious Fasts and Mortifications Those who had accomplished their years of Penance and Forbearance were said to make and have made Satisfaction But First They did not then imagin that these Satisfactions were intended to excuse them from the pains of Purgatory as hath since been believed Secondly These Satisfactions were properly made to the Church and its Discipline and not to the Justice of God. 'T is true that S. Cyprian speaks sometimes of Satisfying God but these words with him signifie no more than to appease God with Prayers and Humiliations Those Christians which fell through the violence of Persecution did owe to the Church very rough and severe Penances according to the Rules of her Discipline All were not capable of bearing the trouble of long Penances therefore they desired that they would remit the whole or some part of it and receive them to the Peace of the Church To obtain which they made their applications to their Martyrs and Confessors which were in Prison for the Cause of Jesus * Cypr. Epist 10 11 12 c. These Confessors wrote Letters of intercession addressed to the Bishop Presbyters and People to the end that they might receive these Sinners to the Peace and Communion without causing them to pass through the rigor of their Discipline They had so great a respect to the Confessors of the Name of Jesus Christ that they could deny them nothing So that at their Intercessions they admitted Sinners without Penance and this was called Indulgence this is it whereof S. Cyprian complains in many of his Epistles I intreat you my Brethren to observe in this place how the Devil takes occasion from things the most innocent to establish Opinions and Practices greatly faulty and criminal For behold the first original of application to the Intercession of Saints Indulgences and Merits of Supererogation From Saints who were in Prison for the Name of Jesus Christ they ascended to the Saints who are in Heaven At first they prayed the Holy Martyrs that were on earth to intercede for them with the Church Afterwards they came to pray the same Martyrs in Heaven to intercede with God for them They called Indulgences the relaxation of
the Severity of Discipline which the Church granted at the request of the Martyrs At this day they call Indulgence the relaxation of the Justice of God which he grants as they suppose in considerations of the Merits and Sufferings of the Martyrs who suffered more than was necessary for themselves To conclude they have changed the Consideration and Respect which they had for the Intercessions of Confessors and Martyrs into Merits and Works of Supererogation The Church did retard the rigor of her Law against Sinners because of the esteem which she had for those that suffered for the Name of Jesus Christ At this day they grant Indulgences by the application of the Merit of those which have suffered too much either by involuntary Persecutions or by chosen and voluntary Mortifications But hear how the same S. Cyprian speaks very aptly concerning one of these Confessors named Lucian who carried himself too haughtily and desired too earnestly that they should have respect to his Letters of Intercession * Epist 34. The Lord Jesus Christ hath said that we must Baptize Nations in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and that all Sins past are forgiven in Baptism But this man that is to say the Confessor Lucian knowing neither the Law nor the Commandments commands that we give Peace and pardon Sins in the Name of S. Paul not considering that they are not the Martyrs who make the Gospel but that it is the Gospel which makes the Martyrs Therefore at that time they did not alledge the Threats of S. Paul S. Peter the Martyrs and Confessors as the reasons for which they granted Indulgences that is to say the relaxation of the Discipline of the Church In the same Age that is to say the third they will produce unto you the word Confession and the terms of being on their knees at the feet of their Priests And they will not fail to find for you there the Auricular Confession practised at this day but there is nothing more false For those which dazle your Eyes thereby do very well know that the Greek word which signifies Confession was not at that time any secret Confession But the whole Act or Actions of publick Penance were so called And if at that Age Penitents were seen at the feet of Papists this was not done in secret and in a place appointed for the receiving Confessions where they acknowledged all their Sins in the Ear of the Priest But in Churches and in publick that they might be admitted by Prayer and imposition of hands either to Penance or to the Peace of the Church It was so certainly a publick Action that the Pagans took occasion from thence to accuse the Christians of adoring the shameful parts of their Priests This Confession was made in publick with Sack-cloth Ashes and Tears begging the Prayers and Assistance of all Christians This may be seen fully explicated in the Ninth and Tenth Chapters of Tertullian's Book of Repentance A Point of Controversie Concerning the Vnity of the Church that it is not in the Church of Rome and that we are not departed from it WHen a City is besieged and assaulted of all sides those that have a desire to defend it would be every where at the same time but they cannot which is their trouble My Brethren we have the trouble at this day you are besieged you are attack'd at an hundred places they batter you by a thousand wicked Reasons we would be every where and defend you on all sides but whilst we endeavour to defend you on one side they deceive and ruine you on another The rash and bold adventure of the Bishop of Meaux who hath told you in his Pastoral Letter That from the Apostles days to his no alteration has happened in the Doctrine of the Church hath engaged us that we may confound him to make you perceive the essential Changes which have been introduced both in its Doctrine and Worship at least in the first five Ages to the end that from thence you may judg of all the rest But whilst we pursue this design which cannot presently be executed I understand that they seduce you by the Sophisms of the Church of its Unity Visibility and the horror of Schism And that which grieves us most is that by the Letters which come or are communicated to us we see that the most part of you who are willing at any rate whatsoever to be at ease and rest where they are do also endeavour to possess themselves of and obstinately to maintain these wicked Reasons and it may be that one of you will know himself in the following words All the World reasons concerning Religion agreeably to their own Light and Passions But the Questions which do most trouble and confound it are these 1. The positive separation which our Fathers made 'T is said that we ought to suffer without separating from the Communion of the Church that the Abuses introduced by Governors may not be imputed to Believers But the Scriptures that make mention of the Heresies that must arrive in the Church do not command Separation for the sake of them On the contrary they exhort us mutually to bear with one another they say that Wood Hay and Stubble may be built on that foundation which is Christ Jesus and that he alone will separate one from the other that the good Grain and the Chaff shall be separated at the last day but we must let them grow together till then Behold exactly the Religion 1. Of our revolted Ministers There has been sent unto us an Account of a Conference which Cheyron an Apostate Minister of the City of Nismes had with the famous Confessor called Mr. Matthew an Advocate of Duras who is in the Town of Constance at Aggues-Mortes that which this Wretch says is the same with what hath been written and you have read 2. 'T is also the Religion of all those which have any understanding or illuminations they cannot but see that the Church of Rome is extremely corrupt But the question is say they whether we ought to separate from it because of its Corruptions yea they say we ought to bear them and add further after all there is but one true Church and although it be corrupt it is nevertheless the Church and we must endure its Diseases and Imperfections The Poyson of this illusion is so eating and dangerous that we have reason to fear that it continues long upon your Minds it will penetrate into them and totally corrupt them and so whilst we are pursuing other Subjects your hearts will be poysoned by this mischievous Sophism in that manner and to that degree that you will never recover This is it which obliges us to return to the Bishop of Meaux's Letter sooner than we intended Nevertheless without forsaking the subject matter we are upon for we will endeavour to intermix things in such a manner that in every one of our following
greater Absurdity than to answer by that which has been under dispute It is not true that Rome is the Chair of S. Peter we shall it may be have occasion to prove it to you in some other place But although it should be true where is it said that the Priviledg of Unity ought to be affixed to the Chair of S. Peter The Pope of Constantinople says I am in the Chair of S. Andrew who was an Apostle The Pope of Antioch says 'T is I who am in the true Chair of St. Peter for according to Tradition St. Peter was seven years Bishop of Antioch before he was Bishop of Rome so that it is the first Chair sounded by the chief of the Apostles The Pope of Alexandria saith I am in the Chair of St. Mark who was an Evangelist and had the Spirit of Infallibility as well as St. Peter Behold three Popes against one three Churches against one three Apostles or Evangelists against one wherefore then Gentlemen Converters would you that I should esteem you as only in the rightful possession of Unity to the prejudice of Persons which pretend to have as good a Title to it as your selves Press these false Babylonish Teachers on this point and you will see such confusion and such a multitude of Words in their Discourse which will discover to you the falseness of their pretensions After this we will consider the Proposition in it self The Vnion that is necessary to Salvation is included in the Church of Rome alone out of it there is neither Salvation Faith Grace Remission of Sins nor the True Church so that every man which is separate from it by Schism alone without Heresie dies eternally I do maintain That this Proposition is the most foolish but withal the most cruel and barbarous that ever was asserted and I do beseech you my Brethren to be attentive to the proofs that I shall make thereof First According to the Scripture Fathers and Evidence of Reason the Unity of the Church ought to contain Universality in it self that is to say That Church which is One ought to be universal and extended through all the World it ought to comprehend all Christians I will not prove this for it 's clear and also confessed 't is a truth so known among the Ancients that they look on certain Schismaticks of the fourth and fifth Age called Donatists as Fools These People in the beginning of the fourth Age separated themselves from the rest of the Church of Carthage and all Africa this Separation was caused by the Election of a Bishop of Carthage This hath always been one of the most fruitful Sources of Division These Donatists said precisely that which the Church of Rome says at this day * Aug. de Agone Christi Cap. 28. All the Church is fall'n into Apostasie and is only preserved in the Communion of Donatus upon which St. Augustine thus cries out Oh proud and wicked Tongue Certain other Schismaticks called Luciferians fell into the same dotage That the Church was perished and continued not but in Sardinia and some Mountains near Rome where they had Followers and Disciples St. Jerome treats them on that Subject as men that had lost their Understanding †Jerome Dialog adv Lucifer If it be so says he Jesus Christ died only for the Peasants of Sardinia Where then is the accomplishment of that word of the Father Ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance Behold exactly the folly of the Papists the Church is perish'd throughout the World except at Rome and in the West but we with the Scriptures and the Fathers say Let the North give up and let not the South keep back All the parts of the World shall bring forth Children to God and the Church ought to be extended to all places where the Gospel is Now the Church of Rome is not at Constantinople nor in Muscovy Asia Egypt Africa or Ethiopia where nevertheless there are multitudes of Christians it is not in England Holland Sweden Denmark nor in a great part of Germany The Church of Rome reacheth not to all the Countries and Kingdoms for 't is ridiculous to say that 't is dispersed throughout the World because there are some Jesuits at London in the Low Countries Sweden Constantinople and in the East and some Latines hid here and there where they have small Congregations but little known and as it were under ground I might as well say that Calvinism is extended through all Italy because there are some of the Reformed scatter'd here and there in it Secondly According to the Hypothesis of the Church of Rome every one that errs though never so little that is to say who goes off from that which the Romanists determine is out of the Unity of the Church and without hopes of Salvation Behold how ill this agrees with that notable Passage whereof those of ours that are weak and fearful make great use 't is that of St. Paul 1 Cor. iii. 11. where the Apostle says For other Foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ Now if any man build upon this Foundation Gold Silver precious Stones Wood Hay Stubble every mans work shall be made manifest c. and the fire shall try every mans work c. And if any mans work be burnt he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved Without taking notice of what may be difficult in this Passage 't is clear That those which build are Teachers that the Gold Silver and precious Stones are sound Doctrines that the Wood Hay and Stubble are such as are unsound and false 't is also clear that they which teach these false Doctrines may be saved and with greater reason they which are seduced by them It follows not from thence as our perverted People pretend that a person may be saved in the practice of that Worship which ruines the Foundation as they do in the Church of Rome but it follows at least that a person may be saved that teaches Doctrines opposite to Truth provided that they subvert not the Foundation and by consequence the Church of Rome is ridiculous as well as cruel to damn all those which are out of her Communion for Errors that are light and trifling for having pronounced Anathema against those which deny for example that Infants dying without Baptism are damned Mr. Nicholas makes no difficulty to condemn all those which do not believe the sovereign and absolute necessity of Baptism Thirdly We have a third proof of the falseness of this Pretence that the Roman Church is in possession of that Unity out of which there is no Salvation in this That God preserves the Ministry of his Word in many Places and in many Churches which do not submit to the Latin Church The Word of God never returns without effect The Wisdom of God will not permit that he should preserve the Ministry in places where there are none but
first Author of that Separation But 't is a ridiculous Chimera to imagine that they were out of the Essential Unity seeing that when they went away they carried with them the true Jesus the true Doctrine and the true Sacraments They were yet the Church they were Christians whatever St. Cyprian says of them and not only their Martyrs obtained the Crown of Martyrdom but their penitent Christians obtained Salvation although they died in Schism There are particular Unities and a general Unity Particular Unity consists in certain Bonds such as are common Ecclesiastick Government common Discipline and certain common Ceremonies You are not in particular Unity with the Episcopal Church of England with respect to Government But this Unity signifies nothing to Salvation he must be a mad man to damn Christians because they either have or have not Bishops The general Unity which consists in the three things which I have said is the only essential necessary and saving Unity If you agree with the Church in Government Discipline and Ceremonies and don 't agree with it in Opinions in Sacraments and Spirit you have no Communion with it if you differ in Government and Discipline and agree in Truths Sacraments and the same Jesus you are at Unity with it and with God. This Vnity of the Church whereof we have now discoursed makes me think of that unity of Souls which ought to prevail among the true Members of the Body of Christ It is the Character under which the Apostolick Church is described unto us They were all of one heart and one mind 'T is this holy Unity which draws down the holy Spirit for when the firy Tongues fell upon the Apostles they were all with one accord assembled in one place 'T is the absence of this holy Unity which in part hath drawn down those unhappy Effects of the Wrath of God under which we now groan Call to mind the Divisions the immortal Hatreds Jealousies Quarrels and Strifes which have been seen in the midst of you even on occasions and in things for which Peace and the Spirit of Charity were particularly requited One was of Paul another of Peter but not one for Jesus Christ Men made their own Passions and Interests to triumph and trampled under foot the Glory of God and the publick Edification The strictest friendships were always ready to break on the first transport of Passion The Spirit of Vengeance had no rest till it had revenged the Injuries it thought it had received and we knew not what it was to sacrifice a resentment to the Love of God and his Christ God has made these civil Wars to cease by a cruel and strange War. You have a common tye more than you have had you have had the same Faith the same Sacraments the same Churches and the same Holy Table besides you have at this day your common Affliction and your common Misfortunes 'T is certain that even in the World this makes a tye among Souls and it should do with far greater reason when men suffer the same grief for the same cause and for the same God. You ought mutually to love each other because you are afflicted for God and by consequence you ought to love those also who suffer for you they are your Confessors who have the glory to maintain in the Prisons those Truths with you have been so weak only to keep close in your Hearts having not the courage to shew them openly Among those which are in divers Prisons of the Realm for the Cause of God there are an infinite number that want all things these are Voices that cry against you to Heaven in a terrible manner and say What a shame is it that Jesus Christ is in Prison that he is Sick Hungry and Thirsty that he freezes with cold during the rigor of the Winter and that these Peters who grew pale at the word of a Servant don't go to visit him to give him Bread and Cloaths You know what will be the Sentence that the Lord will give to such think of it and partake-in the Bonds of your Brethren though they be at the utmost ends of the Kingdom Feb. 1. 1687. The TWELFTH PASTORAL LETTER AN Article of Antiquity The beginning of the History of Christianity of the Fourth and Fifth Ages Of the Original of Monks An Article of Controversie Of the Unity of the Ministry HAving finished the History of the Christianity of the Third Age we enter upon the Fourth We shall not distinguish that of the Fourth and Fifth they are so interwoven that they cannot be separated All the Superstitions false Worship and Corruptions of Discipline which are found established in the Fifth Age took their beginning in the Fourth We enter upon Ages in which the Church had entirely changed its Face it is no longer a persecuted Church it triumphs it reigns it ascends the Throne The Emperors becoming Christians drew along with them by their Authority and Examples an infinite number of Pagans who had that Complaisance and Civility for their Masters as to become Christians But the Church also on her part had the Complaisance to burthen Religion with vain Worship and Ceremonies borrowed from Paganism All that which she thought might be innocently taken from thence she took to draw them over to her The Bishops inrich'd by the Liberality of Constantine and his Successors became proud they would have a distinct Jurisdiction from the Civil they established for themselves Tribunals It appears by the Book of Constitutions falsely ascribed to the Apostles that the Bishops had Flatterers which said of them or rather they said of themselves many incredible proud and impertinent things * Vit. Const lib. 2. cap. 37 38. They set themselves above Kings they said that they must pay them Tributes and Tenths and that Men owed them greater Honors than Kings and that they had power to condemn to everlasting Fire Above all the Pomp and Pride of the Bishops of Rome that ruling City became such that they gave jealousie to the Chief Magistrates of the Empire They added to the Sacraments new Ceremonies an Unction before Baptism beside that which followed after it the Prayers and Ceremonies of the Liturgy of the Eucharist which they call at this day the Mass were much increased and augmented they made use of Holy Waters they consecrated Oyls and Chrism their Funerals were enriched with Ceremonies borrowed from Judaism or Paganism they had their Ninth day their Fortieth day and their yearly Obits or Prayers for the Dead they affixed Prayers to certain hours which at this day they call Canonical the Cock crowing Nine of the Clock Mid-day Three of the Clock and Vespers In these Ages they did essentially alter Divine Service by intermingling therewith the Service of Creatures A kind of Furie for Relicks seized on the Spirits of Men nothing was heard to be spoken of but Visions by which they had been discovered and Miracles which had been done by them they carried
this reason that in the true Church there be so many Scandals so much Negligence so much Indevotion so many Debaucheries so much Luxury so little Reformation of Life and so little Zeal for the conversion of those which go astray and wander 'T is for the same reason that he permitted the Reformers to have their faults that they did not agree together and that they intermingled humane Passions in their conduct and on the other side for the same reason God permits that in Churches the most corrupt both in Doctrine and Worship there be Souls that seem to seek seriously their Salvation who have at least the appearance of Christian Virtues and it may be good Intentions If the true Doctrine were always accompanied by a holy life and an edifying conduct in those that follow it and that on the other hand Error and Superstition were never found without disorder and an ill life the choice would be too easie Where would be the difficulty Where would be the snares Where would be the danger of wavering Therefore God who will lead his Elect to his end by obscure ways that they may have recourse to him for his light by rough Paths that they may support themselves on him suffers this mixture and confusion of good and evil of evil Doctrine and good Manners of good Doctrine and evil Manners 'T is his pleasure by this profound conduct to oblige us to regulate our Faith not by Prejudices but by his holy Rules and Word 4. In the fourth place once more though I condemn no Person in particular nevertheless I conjure you my Brethren and Sisters to stand at a defiance with Hypocrifie 't is a grand Comedy and an inexhaustible Fountain of Illusions 't is the Character of Persons that live in Convents and a Character that has prevailed for a great number of Ages I could produce to you Witnesses concerning it against which nothing can be said Arnald d' Villeneve Nicholas de Clemangis Arch-deacon of Bayeux and an infinite number of other Popish Authors have made descriptions of the humble and devout Appearances of Monks and Nuns which hid and disguised an Abyss of Pride and Impurity Do you think my dear Sisters which are in Convents that you see the inward part of the Houses where you are and of the Souls with whom you converse Do you not think in the first place that the Persons with which you are placed have order to shew themselves to you on the fairest side and that they do not take care of letting you see their Faults their Jealousies their Quarrels their Hatreds their Lusts their Mirths if they have any Besides this Do not you apprehend that they have chosen the Houses which they know to be best governed to lodge you in and that you ought not to judge of all Convents by those in which you are If you read the Relations of those which have travelled in Italy and Spain they will inform you That in those Countries those Houses that are called Religious are infamous Places where the most criminal Debaucheries are exercised with Impunity Those of France are less irregular but so it is that we do not at all know the inside of them but when the curtain is drawn never so little we see that 't is there almost as 't is elsewhere The Business of the Nuns of St. Claire and of Provence against the Cordeliers of the same place which was pleaded a little more than twenty years ago informs us thereof and makes it apparent That at that time all the Convents of Nuns under the Government of the Cordeliers in what place of France soever they were were places of Prostitution This is of no ancient date Behold the original of Monks which have caused so many Evils An Article of Controversie concerning the Vnity of the Ministry WE having refuted in our two preceding Letters the Fallacy which your Converters take from the Unity of the Church Before we leave the matter of Unity we must say something of the Unity of the Ministry for that also is another source of the Illusions of your Converters The Ministry of the Church is one and only one say they it hath proceeded from Jesus Christ and his Apostles they have delivered to their Successors that which they received from the Lord these delivered it to others at length this only Ministry is come to us and he that hath not Communion with us hath no Communion with Jesus Christ of whom we are the only legitimate Successors and Ambassadors Is it possible that men should be capable of suffering themselves to be cheated by so great a Chimera Certainly if we did not see this we could not believe it That men of good sense should be capable of believing that God hath tied Salvation to a Succession of men which hang upon each other and are fastened tail to tail like Sampson's Foxes in such a manner that out of this file of men there is no Salvation whatever a man does or says These men make us a cruel God who damns Christians only because hazard birth and a thousand other accidents hindered them from being born and living under this thread or chain of certain Doctors which call themselves the Successive Bishops from Jesus Christ even to us That is to say that in the Bishoprick of Meaux for example there hath been no Salvation but for those who have been precisely under the Pastoral Staff from Mr. St. Faron unto Mr. Bossuet who shall be also one day Mr. St. Bossuet if the Gods which rule at Rome favour him In the extent of the whole World he who hath not lived under the long Succession of those Bishops which have sat at Rome from St. Peter to Innocent the XI is damned as certainly as the Devil be it that he that been chaste as Joseph patient as Job zealous as St. Peter orthodox as St. Paul pure as the Virgin for there is but one Ministry and out of this Ministry all are in a state of Perdition The Greeks have a Ministry they have Bishops and those true Bishops According to Mr. de Meaux they hold all the Doctrine of the Church they believe Transubstantiation it self for we have good testimonies that they have been well paid for it in these last days but that signifies nothing they are all damned because they are separated from him who is the centre of the Unity of the Ministry they are not under that one Ministry which alone is saving I do maintain that the time will come when we shall no more believe that which we see at this day It will be said you would fain make us believe it you would persuade us that the men of past Ages have lost their sense yea I do maintain they must have lost it to suffer themselves to be deluded with such Imaginations It must be that the Medicine be given thee by such a hand if thou wilt be healed else it will poison thee Ah! my Brethren open your eyes
years without having one word of General Councils she passed without them during all that time Nevertheless she had never more need of them supposing them to be infallible means of ending Controversies and suppressing Heresies For in the first three Hundred years the Church was plagued with near Fifty differing Heresies Now judg you whether it be likely that God should appoint an infallible Judg to his Church and a sure way of knowing the Truth and that he should deny her the use of this means for the space of well near two Hundred and fifty years that is to say from the death of S. John the last of the Apostles till the Council of Nice So that in the Ages of greatest purity it will be found that the Church did not derive this purity from any other Fountain but from the simple and pure word of God it makes it evident that the Church may be pure without an infallible Judg in the midst of her Now if the Church may continue pure for the space of two Hundred and twenty five years without a General Council that is to say without an infallible Judg why may she not continue pure three four or five Hundred years For my part I call this a Demonstration that the Church may very well make a shift without those Judges that are called Infallible Let them answer it when they please Observe also that the Church was tormented with Fifty horrible Heresies which thought to have overwhelmed and sunk her and having no Councils she was then left to a Spirit of Error in those times that she had greatest need of a Guide for she had no other Rule but the Writings of the Apostles which according to our Adversaries are Medals with two Faces which may be looked on in a various manner and which all men expound in favour of their own Perswasions It is not amiss to bring hither Tertullian's Book of Prescriptions of which they make use with such success to deceive those that are weak among us It appears by this Book that the Orthodox were in the greatest distress in the World to convince and stop the mouths of Hereticks The Hereticks gave themselves to expound the Scripture after their own manner and in a sense contrary to the truth Tertullian complains thereof and says That false Interpretations do as much injury to Truth as the boldness of those that corrupt the Scriptures He adds That the weak find themselves confounded seeing Hereticks as well as Catholicks dispute from the Scripture To get out of this perplexity he recurs to the Succession of Bishops by whom it might be proved that they taught nothing but what the Apostles had taught before them he found no other way of escape this man had a Mind very much straitned or he was very ignorant Why did he not think of General Councils who are the only infallible means of knowing the sense of the Scriptures Neither he nor any of the Writers of this Age and of that which followed it had any knowledg of them Nevertheless as it is said it was a means established and appointed by God and yet for the space of two Hundred years it must be acknowledged that God hid this means from the whole Church and that he left her in a streight given up to the Humors of Hereticks and to their lewd and false Interpretations No reasonable Man will ever swallow such a Prodigy 3. I intreat you my Brethren to consider if it be likely that God should place Infallibility in Assemblies whose Original was wholly casual and accidental The occasion which gave birth to General Councils was the Conversion of the Roman Emperors to Christianity and the great extent of that Empire For if the Emperors had continued Pagans Councils from all parts of the Empire had never been assembled the Emperors would have looked upon it as a Conspiracy and would never have permitted it Besides if the Roman Emperors by becoming Christians had lost half the Provinces of the Empire there had never been any General Councils neither For the divers Princes which had possessed themselves of the Provinces of the Empire would not have permitted their Subjects to assemble with those who continued under the Rule of the Romans for fear lest these Conferences should be designed to search out ways of returning under the Government of their first Masters Now judg if a Tribunal which in the purpose of God was to be the Fountain of the Oracles of the Church in all Ages ought to owe its birth to a concourse of Affairs and Mundane Circumstances that were wholly and purely so Ought not God to have established this Tribunal without dependance on the World and the Affairs thereof as from the beginning he established Presbyteries so S. Paul calls the Assemblies of Pastors is every City and in every particular Church He must have a very obdurate Mind I think who is not moved and touched with this Discourse and Reason 4. What may be the assurance that a Man may have of such an Article of Faith which is founded on a Matter of Fact notoriously false 'T is that the Councils of the Fourth and Fifth Ages were assembled from the whole Universal Church That say I is notoriously false there were not above three Hundred and eighteen Fathers in the Council of Nice the most ancient and the most venerable of all the Councils What are three Hundred and eighteen Bishops for the whole vast extent of the Roman Empire where there was an infinite number of them It does not appear that all the Churches did depute their Bishops thither nor that all the Provinces of the Roman Empire did assemble to choose some one out of their Body who should carry their Counsel and Advice Constantine called together all the Bishops in general those that could and those that would appeared there none appeared there but those of the Eastern Church there were not Twelve of the Latin Church there out of all Spain none were seen but Hosius Bishop of Corduba out of all France none but Nicasius Bishop of Die or Dijon Besides this there were Churches out of the Roman Empire it may be there were Churches even in the Indies at least those which tell us that S. Thomas carried the Gospel thither ought to believe so 'T is certain at least that there were large Churches in Persia Ecclesiastical History speaks of a great Persecution which was raised at that time against the Christian Churches of Persia by the Impudence or ill guided Zeal of Maruthas a Bishop who burnt one of the Temples which the Persians had consecrated to the Honor of the Fire These Churches of Persia were not called to this Council nor did they appear there All the World are at an Agreement that the first Council of Constantinople held under Theodosius the Great was not General There were none but Eastern Bishops there yea two Hundred years after in the time of Gregory the first Bishop of Rome the Western
Church did not as yet receive the Canons thereof So that frankly and openly 't is to scoff Men to call them General Councils in the sense which is given to the Word at this day 'T is true that these first Councils called themselves so but why and in what sense It was according to the Stile which was then in use The Roman Empire was then called Orbis the World Universal the Greeks called it Oikoumene the habitable part of the Earth the Emperors thereof were called the Universal Emperors the Vanity of the Emperors occasioned this the great ones always blow up their Titles The extent of the Roman Empire was great indeed but as if they had been Masters of the whole Earth they caused themselves to be called Masters of the World Universal A General Council in this sense signifies no more than a Council assembled from all parts of the Roman Empire 5. I intreat you to give attention to that which is necessary according to these Gentlemen to make a Council Oecumenical Is it necessary that there be Bishops from all parts of the Church by no means for then the Council of Constantinople were not Oecumenick The Pope was not there either by himself or his Legates and it is not known that there was any of the Western Bishops there Nevertheless 't is Oecumenick but why because that all the Church consented to it at last for its Canons were not received at Rome more than two hundred years after The Church Universal say I hath approved it not by Subscriptions and a formal Consent but by a Consent which they call tacit and implicite and this is indeed the Opinion of the Doctors of France That to make a Council Oecumenick 't is enough that it be afterward approved That is the reason why the Canons of the Council of Antioch which is generally believed to have been an Arrian Council are at this day seen in the Code of the Universal Church That is the reason why many men are willing the Council of Sardis should be Oecumenical 'T is because though there were none but Western Bishops there yet the most part of the Bishops of the East subscribed it afterwards Now I intreat you observe the Absurdity which I am about to make you sensible of Behold a Council for example the first Oecumenical of Constantinople which in its form is but a particular Council and by consequence cannot be Infallible nevertheless because God foresaw that the Council would be approved by all the Church he presides there by a Spirit of Infallibility against all the Rules which he hath establish'd for his own Conduct with respect to Councils So that when God foresees that a Council which is particular in its Composition will one day be accounted Oecumenical because of a consent that will be given to it either by Subscriptions sent and separately made or by a tacit consent he there pours out a Spirit of Infallibility But if he foresees that this Synod will be neglected as a particular Synod he lets it pass for as much as 't is worth and doth not make it Infallible Is not this to play with the Spirit of God and the Reason of Men Who sees not by this example that the Character of an Oecumenical Council doth in no wise depend upon a Spirit of Infallibility which presides there but on the consent of men which persuade themselves right or wrong that such an Assembly hath happily hit on the truth 6. I pray judge whether it be probable that these Assemblies called Oecumenical were infallible Judges of Controversies without knowing it At this day when the Pope assembles an Oecumenical Council this Council believes it self to be Infallible it acts and speaks as such Let them demonstrate to us this Character in the first Councils let them shew us that they acted as infallible and that they spoke as such If I should make a Book whereas I am only making a Letter I could shew you a hundred circumstances of these ancient Councils which will make it evident that this Dream never crept into the minds of any of the Members of those Assemblies that they were there as Infallible Judges But in this case 't is not we that are obliged to prove 't is the Papists for they are those which do affirm Press them say I about it and ask them their Proofs that the Ancient Councils believed themselves Infallible Go farther and ask them Whether it be possible that these Councils should be Infallible and that not one of the Divines of those Ages should doubt of it and that in their Disputes with Hereticks they should make no use of this Authority St. Hilary St. Ambrose St. Austin St. Gregory Nazianzen and St. Athanasius had great Disputes against the Arrians but they never thought fit to oppose unto them the Authority of the Council of Nice as Infallible Where were their Wits Why did they not tell them God hath promised That when two or three are gathered together in his name he will be in the midst of them 'T is a Promise of Infallibility belonging to General Councils The Council of Nice was assembled in the Name of God held in all its forms and assembled from the whole Church it is therefore Infallible and by consequence you are obstinate not to submit unto it Thus they reason against us and 't is thus that men ought to reason naturally when they are of the Opinion and Principles of Popery We do not see one word of this in the Authors of the fourth and fifth Ages On the contrary St. Austin tells the Arrians Let us lay by the Council of Nice on my part and the Council of Ariminum on your part and let us dispute from the Scripture * Cont. Maxim. lib. 3. cap. 14. confessing the one and the other of these Assemblies might err although it be very certain that the Council of Nice did not actually do so 'T is as if I should say to a Mahometan Let us lay by my H. Scripture and your Alcoran as supposing it possible that both the one and other of them may be false It must be granted that I were wicked or a fool to speak thus if it were not upon those Suppositions which are called false and whereof we sometimes serve our selves to draw an Adversary to an absurdity Behold then a Prodigy which passes all imagination the Christians had among themselves infallible Judges and knew nothing of it but behold much more St. Austin not only knew not that he had right to oppose the Authority of the Council of Nice as Infallible to the Arrians but he even confesses to the Donatists that no Authority of Council was supreme and without Appeal The Donatists to prove to him that the Baptism of Hereticks was worth nothing brought him the Testimony of St. Cyprian He answers without ceremony That he acknowledged no Testimony sure and certain but that of the Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament that as
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
same place or in another 'T is a matter of Fact which our Adversaries cannot deny In the 20th of the Acts the Apostle speaking to the Presbyters or Elders of the Church of Ephesus calls them Bishops and in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus where he speaks sometimes of a Bishop he speaks more frequently of Elders and by Elders he understands the very same which he had called Bishops In the Cities where the Churches were great there were many Presbyters one of them did preside over the rest not by turn but by a privilege which did always appertain to him St. Paul speaks of this President The Elder which rules well is worthy of double honor This presiding Presbyter in the beginning of the second Age arrogates to himself the name of Bishop which before was common to his Collegues so that there was no other but the President of the Presbytery who call'd himself Bishop He attributed to himself also the right of imposing hands as well on those which were received as Pastors as on the Penitents and those which were received to the Communion of the Mysteries In all this there was as yet no Hierarchy no Dependence no Appeals no Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Every Bishop with his College of Presbyters was Sovereign in his District and in his Church and this Church was not dependent of any other You may remember how S. Cyprian in our Eleventh Pastoral Letter hath told us in express words * Epist 74. Every Bishop may use his Authority in the Government of his Church according to his own Will being under no obligation to give an account thereof to any but the Lord. And elsewhere †Concil Carth. Anno 258. That every Bishop is Master of himself and cannot be judged by another Bishop as he also cannot judge other Bishops All honest men are agreed at this day therein The Divines themselves of the Gallican Church maintain it and at this time they lend us their Studies and Illuminations to refute the Flatterers of the Papal Tyranny who would find in the three first Ages of the Church Proofs of the Primacy i. e. of the Principality of the Bishop of Rome over all the Churches of the World. The Defenders of this Antichristian Power quote to us the Action of Victor Bishop of Rome who about the end of the Second Age excommunicated the Churches of Asia because they would not keep Easter precisely the same day that he did and from thence they conclude That the Pope was even then the Prince of all Churches But to this your own Converters do answer for us that in this Victor exercised no Right but what was common to all Bishops and that the Bishops of Asia might exercise it on Victor as he had exercised it on them that this Excommunication of Victor was a separation from his Communion that the Bishops did communicate one with another by Letters which they called Letters of Communion formed Letters c. When they were angry or discontented one with another they did no longer write these Letters of Communion to those of whom they believed the Church had reason to complain and they received no more from them that this is it which Victor then did and that all Bishops have Right by custom to do the same thing The Flatterers of Popes quote to us also the Words of Irenaeus who speaking of the Church of Rome says * Lib. 3. cap. 3. That it was necessary all other Churches should have recourse to this Church because it was the principal and the most potent But the French Roman Catholick Doctors answer for us that the sense is That the Roman Church because the City of Rome was the Capital City of the Empire and because of its grandeur might be a sufficient Witness of Apostolical Tradition because Christians came thither upon business from all Parts of the World and that coming thither they might there be Witnesses of the Faith of all Churches scattered throughout all the Empire and that so the Roman Church made up and formed of all Nations might be a Witness of the Faith of all the Churches in the World. They object to us also That it appears by the Works of St. Cyprian that Bishops condemned and deposed in Africa had recourse to the Bishop of Rome for their re-establishment But the French Doctors answer with us That by the same Letters of St. Cyprian it appears also that these Attempts were disallowed and condemned and that they gave the Bishop of Rome to understand that he had nothing to do to receive the Complaints of any of the Ecclesiasticks of the African Church So that these Gentlemen acknowledge with us that in the three first Ages of Christianity there was no Principality no subordinate Jurisdiction nor no dependence of one Church upon another not excepting the Church of Rome it self But we do also maintain unto them That from the Third Age the Churches that had their Seats in those Cities which are called Metropoles i. e. Heads of the Provinces did obtain a certain Superiority upon the lesser Churches that were in the little Villages of the Neighbourhood because of the need they had of them The Metropolitan Cities were the dwelling places of the Governors of the Provinces the Courts of Justice were there 't was thither they carried their Tributes so that all the Provinces had business there besides the Bishops of these Cities were ordinarily more able than those of little Cities for it has always been the ordinary custom to choose the ablest men for the conduct of the most important Churches and such as were most exposed to the Temptations of human Authority Besides this there were in these Cities many Presbyters which assisted the Bishop and who with him made a Senate able and knowing in matters of Faith and Discipline For these Reasons the Churches of the Country and such as were Provincial addressed themselves to the Churches of the Metropolitan Cities in all their doubts and in all their necessities sometimes to obtain Pastors sometimes to know how they should suppress Hereticks and those which were scandalous and sometimes in other cases and on other occasions This was the reason that the Churches of the Metropolitan Cities obtained by consent a kind of Superintendence over others They confirmed by imposition of hands Pastors in vacant Churches after the People of those Churches had made an Election of them This is the estate in which the Government was found in the beginning of the Fourth Age. Before that time the Names of Arch-Bishops Primates Exarchs Patriarchs and every other Name of Power and Dignity were wholly unknown in the Church But the Emperors becoming Christians Pride introduced it self into the Ecclesiastical Government and in the space of an 150 years or thereabout that Hierarchy was seen to be born and to establish it self which certainly made way for the birth of the Antichristian Empire of Rome and behold how it came to pass Constantine the Great
the first Christian Emperor assembled a Council in the City of Nice to determine the Controversie which Arrius had unhappily raised about the Divinity of the Son of God. The Council after it had determined those matters which respected Faith were willing also to regulate matters of Discipline and made twenty Canons concerning it in which they caused those Practices which were then in use to pass into Laws supposing it may be that they were much more ancient than indeed they were For example it found that the Churches had yet preserved this mark of mutual Dependence that is to say not to make void the judicial Sentences of one the other and not to suffer that a person excommunicated in one Church should have recourse to another to be re-established in its Communion It made a Law thereof in the fifth Canon As to those that are separated from the Communion be it that they are Layicks be it that they are of the body of the Clergy let the Bishops of every Province observe this agreeably to the Canon that says Let those that are rejected by one not be received by others But finding also that it was a custom that in difficult matters respecting Faith or Discipline when it happened that any Persons were excommunicated or deposed the neighbouring Churches were wont to assemble to judge thereof of that also it made a Law in the same Canon and ordained that for the examination of Causes determined by particular Churches a Synod should assemble twice a year in every Province to the end that the Bishop of the Province being assembled might examine these sort of Questions As the Chymera of the Sovereign Authority of General Councils was not yet born so the Fathers of the Council of Nice contented themselves to ordain That Provincial Councils should be held but gave no advice for the appointing General Councils from ten Years to ten as lately the Council of Constance did The Bishops assembled at Nice also found that by custom the Churches that had their Seats in Metropolitick Cities and entertained some superintendency over the Churches of the lesser Cities of the Province they confirmed this usage and made a Law thereof in the sixth Canon Let the ancient Customs say they be observed that is that the Bishop of Alexandria have power over the Churches of Egypt of Lybia and Pentapolis because t is so also that the Bishop of Rome has been accustomed to have In like manner at Antioch and in the other Provinces let the Priviledges of other Provinces be preserved There is nothing that has less foundation than the pretence of most part of the Doctors of the Roman Church who imagin that here is the establishment of those Seats which were afterwards called Patriarchal Neither the Name nor Power of Patriarchs were known at that time And the Council of Nice had no other design but to confirm by a Law that which it found established by custom that is to say that the greater Churches should have some superintendency over the lesser There were then three great Governments in the Roman Empire Rome for Italy Alexandria for the South and Antioch for the East The Churches which were in these three principal Cities of the Empire had arrogated some preheminence over the neighbouring Churches The Council confirms to them this preheminence But we may not imagin as the Roman Doctors would perswade us that the Council did then divide the whole Church into three Patriarchates Rome Alexandria and Antioch as if all the other Churches had been subjected to these three These three Churches are named but for example because they were the principal Besides it is added Likewise let the Priviledges be preserved to other Churches that is to say let the Churches which by custom have obtained a superintendency over their Neighbours as lesser Churches preserve that Preheminence So the Church of Asia which is not named in this Canon is one of those which had Preheminence over her Neighbours to whom this Priviledge was preserved for some time At that time therefore by custom and by the Law of the Council of Nice Alexandria had inspection over the Churches of Egypt Lybia and Pentapolis the Bishop of Rome had inspection over the suburbicarian Churches that is to say the Cities which were either of the Government of the Vicarship of the City of Rome and no more Now the Vicarship of Rome was so far from extending it self to the whole Empire that it extended to but about half Italy on the side of Naples the other part of Italy which is on the side of Milan was of another Vicarship that is to say of another Government whereof the City of Milan was Capital and the Bishop of Rome had nothing to do there The Bishop of Antioch had inspection over the Churches of Syria and no more The other Churches in the Roman Empire were independent of these three Seats and had their Metropolitan Churches under which they ranged themselves for the assembling of their Synods so that in the Canon of Nice nothing is found of the Institution of Patriarchs but only a Confirmation of the Priviledges that the Churches of the Metropolitan Cities had obtained by consent from the lesser Churches round about them It is nevertheless true that soon after the Metropolitan Bishops of these three Cities Rome Antioch and Alexandria began to play the Masters and to claim Right over the neighbouring Churches much beyond the ancient use and intentions of the Council of Nice They took advantage from this that these three Cities were the three great Cities of the Empire and because they alone were named in the Canon of the Council they made use thereof say I to extend their Jurisdiction as we see But it must be observed that this Council of Nice having found that by custom the Metropolitan Bishops had inspection over other less considerable Cities by contributing their assistance and their Care to establish Bishops there did confirm also this Priviledge by the same sixth Canon This must remain certain says the Council that he who hath been made Bishop without the Advice of the Metropolitan the Great Synod declares that he ought to be no Bishop but if Two or Three through Obstinacy and a Spirit of contradiction oppose themselves to an Establishment made by a reasonable common consent and according to the Ecclesiastical Canons let the plurality of Voices prevail against them This second part of the Canon makes it appear sufficiently plain that in the first part thereof nothing is handled concerning the Establishment of the pretended Rights of Patriarchs but only of the Priviledges of the Metropolitan Cities without which the Council will not suffer that any Ordination of Bishops be made in the Cities of the Province The Bishops of these three Cities Rome Alexandria and Antioch making use of the Canon of the Council began to raise themselves above all others In the same time Byzantium which had not been hitherto any other than a very
obscure Church subject to the Metropolitan of Heraclea a City of Thrace sees her self honored by the presence of the Emperors Constantine carried thither the Sâ—at of the Empire and called it Constantinople after his own Name and obtained for it the Name of New Rome Then the Bishop of Constantinople began also to make use of an Advantage by the Dignity of the City where he was So that instead of three Tyrants in the Church which aspired to make themselves Masters of the Flocks there are found four the Bishop of Rome he of Alexandria he of Antioch and he of Constantinople But as Rome always preserved a Character of Greatness and Preheminence over other Cities because it was the stock and root of the Empire they allowed a Primacy of Order to the Bishop of that city without contradiction And this by so much the more easily as the Spirit which built the Mystery of Iniquity had universally established the Opinion that S. Peter accounted the chief of the Apostles had placed his Episcopal Seat at Rome where he established Successors in such a manner that all Bishops in the World did silently consent to grant this Primacy of Order and of Presidence to the Church of Rome for these two Reasons the first that the City of Rome was the Capital of the Universe the second that the chief of the Apostles had had his Seat there so the Bishop of Rome was acknowledged for the first in order in their Assemblies but without any kind of Power or Jurisdiction over others In the mean time the rest of the Hierarchy was formed after the Model of the Government of the Empire The Rome Empire in the East was divided into Five principal Governments 1. That of the East whereof the Metropolis was Antioch and which extending it self over Syria is called East by distinction from the other Oriental Provinces 2. That of Egypt whose Head was Alexandria 3. That of Pontus whereof the Capital was Caesarea 4. That of Asia whereof the Capital was Ephesus 5. That of Thrace whereof the Metropolis was Constantinople So that these five Cities Antioch Alexandria Caesarea Ephesus and Constantinople were the places where the five great Governors of the Oriental part of the Roman Empire had their abode The Bishops of the same Cities advanced themselves also above the other Bishops of the Provinces and formed five Exarchates i. e. five sorts of Patriarchates independent the one from the other in every one of these Exarchates or Patriarchates there were many Bishops and even many Metropolitans in the sense that the Word is taken at this day The Exarchs of Antioch of Alexandria of Ephesus of Caesarea and of Constantineple every one in his Exarchate was above the Bishops in Government whether they were Metropolitans or simple Bishops so it was in the West also There was in Italy two principal Governments under the Name of Vicarships the Government of Rome and that of Milan for which reason the Bishops of these two Cities imitating the Civil Government advanced themselves also in the Ecclesiastick above the other Bishops of Italy The Bishop of Rome had therefore at that time a Primacy of Order and Presidence as we have observed because of the Preheminence of the City and the false Opinion that had obtained that S. Peter had been Bishop there But he exercised no Act of Jurisdiction or Superiority over others It was not permitted him to receive Appeals nor to make void the Decisions of other Bishops They were not the Bishops of Rome that called General Councils they were the Emperors it was not they that determined Controversies of Faith they were the Councils they could not send out their Interdicts nor Excommunications against other Churches or constrain them to Obedience by any Censure If the Bishops of Rome did separate other Churches from their Communion other Churches also kept themselves separate from their Communion adherence to the Bishop of Rome was of no necessity to obtain the esteem of an Orthodox and Catholick Church and there were Churches in those Ages which continued many Years in separation and without any Communion with the Church of Rome without ever being esteemed either Hereticks or Schismaticks Nevertheless it was in the Fourth Age that the Bishop of Rome did sow the Seeds of his Tyranny and took upon himself to judg those which other Bishops had already censured And this happened chiefly on the occasion of the Troubles which the Heresie of Arrius raised in the Church The Arrians became Masters in the East and drave the Orthodox Bishops from their Seats as Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria Paul Bishop of Constantinople c. These Bishops unjustly deposed and driven away retired themselves into the West where Arrianism had made far less Ravages The Bishops of Milan Rome and the principal Seats of Italy continued Orthodox S. Athanasius and others came into Italy and to Rome to implore the Succour of the Bishop thereof and other Bishops of the West to the end that by their Credit and Authority as well with other Bishops as principally with the Emperors they might be re-established in their Seats The Bishop of Rome receives them treats them as Bishops and declares that he had no regard for the unjust and violent Decisions of the Arrians yea he did all that was in his power to re-place them in their Seats At this time i. e. in the heat of these Controversies stirred up by the Arrians the Bishops of the West which were Orthodox held a Council at Sardis in the Year 347. there to judge the Cause of Athanasius and Paul Bishop of Constantinople In this Council the Bishops of the West observing that the Violences which the Orthodox Bishops of the East had suffered from the hands of Heretick Bishops were without remedy whilst these Heretical Bishops should be absolute Masters they thought fit to make three Canons or Ecclesiastical Rules according to which when a Bishop found himself oppressed by unjust Judgment he might have recourse to Rome that the Bishop of Rome should have power to appoint a review of the Process and for that reason send Deputies on his part which should cause a Synod of the Province to assemble and re-judg the matter a second time that in expectation of this second Judgment the Affairs should remain in suspence and the place of the deposed Bishop should not be filled Behold exactly the fatal Point of the first conception of this tyrannical Power which hath since swallowed up the Church The truth is that the Council of Sardis was made up of Western Bishops which had no power to make Laws for the Eastern Church It is also true that the Churches of the East have always scoffed at the Canons of Sardis and never would receive them It is also true that in the West it self these Canons were not received but very lately and a long time after But 't is also true that since that time the Bishops of Rome have never ceased to make
Corruption because it is a state of Violence and against Nature Now how can we recover the Church from this Corruption but by separating our selves from it You will say we ought to continue in it and remonstrate against its Corruption But you know well that this is impossible you know that they burnt our Fathers because they made remonstrance against it By continuing and remonstrating against Idolatry and Superstition should we not be immediately seized by the Inquisition or by the Bishops and secular Judges where there are no Inquisitors Should we not be put in Prison hanged and burnt Therefore it is necessary that we go out or remain there in silence Now behold what kind of loosness is this to know that we are in a very corrupt Communion and which is it may be Antichristianity and to keep and continue there without saying any thing If this state of Corruption be violent to the Church if it be contrary to the nature of it certainly the intention of God cannot be to leave her always in it for the intention of God is that when things are at a distance from their own natural state they should return unto it as soon as may be Now with what means can God serve himself for the Reformation of the Church Certainly he ought to serve himself of Men for it is not his ordinary method of proceeding to send Angels to preach upon earth Now how can these Men reform the Church if they do not represent unto her her Corruption and if they do not break with her in case she do not reform If separation be not granted Reformation will never happen For a Church perswaded that she is pure and even Infallible takes no care to renounce those Doctrines and Worships for which she produces to you a possession of many Ages and a Title of Infallibility Tell me a little I intreat you my Brethren what will you do to reform the Roman Church by continuing in it If you speak freely saying that her Worship Innovations and Adorations of Creatures are true Idolatries they will send you the Dragoons and peradventure hang you If you hold your peace will your secret Sighs and Groanings reform the Church Will God send from Heaven a secret and immediate Inspiration for Reformation though no body speak one word of it And this in the favour of whom Either the ancient Catholicks who are plunged in Superstition or in favour of many ancient illuminated Papists and those that are re-united to them who both one and the other are loose Dissemblers which retain the Truth of God in unrighteousness You ought to understand at present my Brethren that we shall never attain the end of reforming the Roman Church unless we have right to go out of it because she will never stir for Complaints and Counsels experience has made it plain enough And therefore the temper of your Soul ought to be such as this rather than move our selves and trouble our repose 't is better that we suffer the Church to perish and be overwhelmed with Corruption This say I is the most wicked sentiment which can enter into the Mind of an honest Man and much more of a Christian But let us continue the examination of your Illusions Abuses introduced by Governours may not be imputed to private Christians you tell us This is it which we will refute in that which follows at present we go on All the holy Scripture which makes mention of Heresies doth not command Separation How dare you say this Do you not read that Passage so express Go out of Babylon my People for fear lest by partaking in its Sins you partake in its Plagues This Babylon is a false Church which says of her Church I am a Queen and shall see no sorrow I am the Church which cannot fail It imports not at present where this Church is but do you not see that God commands those that are there to go out of it Wherefore doth S. Paul say to his Disciples A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject How can a Person shun any one and stand at a distance with him without Separation from him Doth not S. Paul say to the Corinthians Put from among you that wicked person will you restrain these wicked Persons to the vicious and except the Hereticks See how the same Apostle describes those Hereticks that denied the Resurrection he says * 2 Tim. 2. That as to the faith they made shipwreck thereof that their words eat like a gangreen that they have proceeded even to impiety and that they are vessels of dishonour These are therefore wicked Wretches and by consequence ought to be cast out Do you not remember the same Apostle saith to the Galathians That if any none preach to you any other Doctrine besides that which you have received let him be to you Anathema Do you believe that it is allowed you to adhere to those which you ought to have in execration and to whom you ought to say Anathema The Scripture on the contrary exhorts us to a mutual support of each other And where is it that you find this It exhorts you to support the weak but about what About the distinction of Meats about the use of some Ceremonies of little importance Behold the things about which St. Paul commands that we bear with each other * Rom. 14. Now as to him which is weak in the Faith receive him to you but not to doubtful disputations one believes that he may eat all things another that is weak eateth herbs But where do you find that we must tolerate Heresies which ruine the Worship of the true God and oppress and sink Christianity under a heap of Superstitions But I will confound you with your own Weapons If it be the Spirit of Christianity and of the true Church to tolerate Abuses and Corruptions you are not in the true Church for that Church will allow no Toleration she burns and condemns to Death If we are obliged to suffer her in her Corruptions at least she is obliged to bear with us in our Complaints and Admonitions If we ought to hear with her when she speaks false with much more reason she ought to bear with us when we tell her the Truth She hath no Charity she is cruel erroneous and raging in her Error See if you can have Communion with such men The Scripture says that we may build upon the foundation which is Christ Wood Hay and Stubble Do you understand that this Wood Hay and Stubble which we may safely build are Idolatries Superstitious Doctrines Depravations in Morality monstrous and enormous Opinions such as are found in the Roman Church Is that it which you think But to persuade our selves into the belief of so great a Paradox we must have either Authorities of Reasons For Reasons have you any which can persuade you that the Invocation of Saints by which are given to the Blessed Virgin all
Woman fearing God more than Men resisted all their Temptations and constantly refused to participate in this false Mystery which would have deprived her of true Communion with Jesus Christ After her Death the Justice seized on her Body and before Sentence was pronounced against her they plucked out her Eyes they cut off her Nose pulled out her Tongue they cut off her Fingers and Toes her Lips and Ears and committed those kind of Indignities on this poor Body which we dare not name Good God! What Spirit is this what kind of fury And of what Persons did the Holy Spirit speak if it be not of these men when it said Even the Sea-monsters draw out the breast they give suck to their young ones but the Daughter of my People is in the hands of cruel and barbarous persons like the Ostriches in the Wilderness So some translate the Words We will place here a matter of Fact which we had determined to have acquainted you with long since but could not find a convenient place for it And eye-witness hath sent us the Relation of the Martyrdom of one called Monsieur Charpentier of the Village of Rufac in Angoulmois who died in the midst of Torments about the time that the Edict of Nantes was revoked We shall pass by the ordinary Violences committed by the Dragoons on the Goods of this poor Man. These mischievous Villains fell on his Person they lighted up many Candles and caused him to dance round about them until he had lost both Sense and Breath They hindred him from sleeping which having heated his Blood put him into a malignant Fever the Dragoons seeing him in this condition forsook him and he was carried from his own House to that of one of his Relations When he was there the Dragoons of Pinsone came to Rufac they soon learn'd the House where the sick Man was thither they went and at first contented themselves to keep guard about his Bed offering him a thousand Outrages accompanied with Threatning and Blasphemies At last seeing this did not shake him they caused him to drink down twenty great Glasses of Water and his Daughters drank as many more to excuse their Father This prevailing nothing as yet they caused melted Grease to drop down upon his Eyes for a whole Night together He lost his Sight and his Eyes never opened more He lost his Life also and died in those Torments without the least appearance of Weakness confessing the Truth couragiously to his last Breath April 1. 1687. The Sixteenth PASTORAL LETTER An Article of Antiquity A Fourth Proof of the Novelty of the Invocation of Saints in the Fifth Age They did not Invoke the Blessed Virgin And Article of Controversie A Continuation of the Answer to the Illusions of the New Converts about Schism Dear Brethren in our Lord Grace and Peace be given to you from our God and Saviour Jesus Christ. IN our preceeding Letter we have confessed to your Converters that the Invocation of Saints began to be practised about the end of the Fourth Age and in the Fifth But we have offered to you three Proofs that that Worship was New. Behold a Fourth proof of the Novelty thereof 't is that in the Fourth and Fifth Ages nothing was known concerning the Invocation of the Blessed Virgin. We know what difference Popery puts at this day between the blessed Virgin and other Saints She is vastly preferred before them her Worship is called Hyperdulia and the Worship of others simple dulia For one Prayer addressed to other Saints there are a hundred to the blessed Virgin where St. Paul hath one worshipper she hath a hundred The Titles which are given to the holy Virgin are a thousand times more pompous and great than those which are given to the greatest Apostles And there is some reason for it For surely the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ ought to have greater Priviledges than his Servants If then the Invocation of Saints be an Apostolick Tradition we ought to Invocate the holy Virgin Mother of God in the first place and as the Head of our He and She Mediators of the second Order The Second Age ought to have known this Worship or if any politick reason had hindred the Invocation of Saints from manifesting itself in the Third Age certainly the Invocation of the Virgin ought to have appeared in the front of the Fourth Age amongst others like the Sun among the Stars What folly what a humour was it then to Invoke St. Mamas St. Julitta and forty Soldiers which suffered Martyrdom in the beginning of the Fourth Age and not to Invoke the Virgin Mother of God. As to matter of fact we do maintain that the blessed Virgin was not prayed unto till near 100 Years after the first birth of that Worship And you may my Brethren boldly defie your Converters on that subject Whil'st there were Churches consecrated to St. Stephen St. Mamas St. Julitta to the forty Soldiers to St. Gervais St. Protais and many others which they shew unto you there was not so much as a little Chappel for our Lady Nothing was then spoken of but Miracles done by the Martyrs Mothers desired of them the recovery of their Husbands and of their Children the blind went to them to recover their sight and the paralitick to be restored to strength and soundness they took them for Protectors in their Voyages And as a mark of the acknowledgment of the miraculous Deliverances they had received from them they inriched their Churches with precious and invaluable Treasures This we learn from Theodoret who writ about the Year 450. And all this while nothing is said of the Miracles of the Virgin who nevertheless afterwards wrought many more than all the other he and she Saints together except only that Zozomen says by the by that about the time whereof we speak it was believed at Constantinople that the Virgin appeared there and wrought Miracles in the Church of the Resurrection called Anastasia But he does not say that they prayed unto her in that Church The Martyrs had not only their Churches but they had also their Feasts in the Third Age in which mention was made of their grievous sufferings The Virgin had then no Feasts At this day she has seven but the most ancient of them is not above 800 or 900 years old 'T is true that that which at this day is called Candlemas which the Greeks call Hypapante is more ancient But at the beginning it was celebrated in the honour of the Lord Jesus Christ and not of the Virgin. 'T was the Presentation of Jesus Christ in the Temple and not the Purification of the Virgin. It was called Hypapante which signifies meeting because of the meeting of Simeon and Anna the Prophetess who went before the Child and both concurred to prophesie concerning the Wonders of this new-born Infant To conclude that which is found most ancient for the Invocation of the Virgin is what Nicephorus Calistus saith *
St. Chrysostom and St. Austin Sermons or Works that are none of theirs and a man needs but indifferent Learning and little Sincerity to be convinced thereof But Father Crasset who has neither the one nor the other neither Skill nor Science takes and gives all for good In the Fifth Age he quotes Cyril of Alexandria who is surely one of the first which gave occasion to the Religious Worship of the Virgin. For by opposing Nestorius who would not suffer Mary to be called the Mother of God he passed unto the other extreme and advanced as far and as high as he could the praises of the Virgin Mary Nevertheless this might be reduced to Apostrophes Figures of Oratory and great Elogies but there is nothing of Invocation therein No Author of the Fifth Age speaks more expresly nor vehemently of the Invocation of Martyrs and of the Worship which is given to the Reliques than Theodoret. Nevertheless in the passage which Father Crasset quotes from him in his Commentary on the words of Solomon's Song My beloved is one there is nothing that favours the Worship of the Virgin in the least He applies these words My Dove my only one to the Virgin and that were the place to speak of the honour which ought to be given to her if ever there were any But all that he says concerning her is that she is the Mother of God a pure Virgin that all Nations call her blessed that she is the Dove and the only one which brought Christ Jesus into the World that in Charity she surpasses the Cherubims and Seraphims That were the place to have said that we ought to commend ourselves to her Charity and invoke her as our Mediatrix To conclude let these Gentlemen find us in the Fourth and Fifth Ages Chappels and Oratories consecrated to the Virgin as they find them consecrated to the Martyrs unless it be about the end of the Fifth age Now this being supposed I dare say that a man must have renounced all honour all modesty all sincerity and all judgment not to confess that here is an indubitable evidence that Invocation of Saints was a Novelty in the Fourth and Fifth Ages For these men had been fools not to have invoked the Virgin in those times when they invoked St. Protais and St. Gervais if they established Invocation upon the merit the dignity and the reputation that these Saints might have with God. I would fain know if those two Giants which suffered Martyrdom under Decius were in condition to intercede with God with so much efficacy as this Virgin-Mother to the Saviour of the World This false Worship had its birth from that foolish love which men had for Reliques And as they had no Reliques of the blessed Virgin so they consecrated no Churches or Chappels to her and in consequence thereof they did not call upon her We shall bring you yet in what follows new Proofs of the Novelty of this Worship An Article of Controversie A Continuation of the Answer to the Illusions of the New Converts LEt us take up again at present what follows of the Illusions which the New Converts make for themselves who endeavour to lay their Consciences asleep They conclude two things 1. That all the fundamental Truths of Christianity being Confessed by the Church of Rome they are obliged to remain with her so you go on These fundamental Truths which Popery hath preserved are the Articles of the Three Creeds that of the Apostles that of Niece or Constantinople and that which is call'd by the name of St. Athanasius 'T is true that the Church of Rome hath retained these but to conceive how you cheat yourselves I intreat you to suppose Christians which receive these three Creeds and who nevertheless Adore the Sun the Moon the Earth and almost all the Idols of Paganism you will say that these things are inconsistent But you deceive yourselves for there is nothing more possible than that that a man should believe God is the Creatour of Heaven and Earth that Jesus Christ is his eternal Son and the Creatour of the World that he was Born that he Died that he was Crucified that he will come to Raise and Judge the Living and the Dead and nevertheless that he should believe that we may Adore the Earth the Trees the Sun and Moon because God does animate and fill them The Greed says not that we must Worship none but God yea it says not that we must Worship him So that a Religion may receive the Creed in good earnest in the sence of the Universal Church and adore every thing but God Why may not men be capable of Adoring the Stars because God fills them since they Adore Bread under a supposition that Jesus Christ is there after a manner invisible precisely as God is in the Stars and Elements It is therefore a particular Providence that Christians who Adore the Eucharist are not fallen so far as to Adore the Sun Moon and Stars for I do maintain that the Papists may be carried to Adore a Stone as naturally as they are carried to Adore the Bread in the Eucharist on supposition that Jesus Christ is included under it Suppose you that they were come so far would you yet say Since all the fundamental Truths are Confessed by this Communion which Adore the Sun and Moon yea Stones we are obliged to continue with it Learn you therefore that we may retain the fundamental Truths of Christianity and build thereon Dung Poison and all sorts of Impurities The spirit of Man is capable of reconciling those things that are molt irreconcileable Behold another thing whereof you ought to be advertised that you ought to distinguish fundamental Truths from fundamental Errours You imagine that to retain all the fundamental Truths and to have no fundamental Errours is the same thing and because we do confess the Roman Church retains all the fundamental Truths you think that we confess to you that she has no fundamental Errours In this you are much mistaken a person may retain the fundamental Truths of Christianity and add thereunto fundamental Errours I gave you an Example in men who might believe the Creed in good earnest in the sence of the Church and which might add under a hundred false pretences of Devotion Pagan Idolatries I do maintain that a man may adopt into the Religion of Christians almost all the Abominations of the Bonzes of Japan and the Brachmns of India without any formal Renunciation of the Doctrine of the Christian Faith. I demand if whilst men retain the fundamental Truths they do not add fundamental Errours by espousing these Pagan Worship 'T is exactly that which the Church of Rome has done upon the Foundations of Christianity she hath built a thousand Superstitions which are purely Pagan Popery is Paganism renewed and built upon Christianity 't is an Idol Temple raised upon the Temple of Jesus Christ. A fundamental Errour is therefore an Errour or Practice which
in itself is inconsistent with the Foundation I say in itself and by itself for men find ways of reconciling all things Impiety and Religion Piety and Superstition But we may not conclude That all that which men do joyn together is in itself reconcileable and compatible The Roman Church hath a hundred Errours and Practices of this sort her Worship of Saints Images Reliques and of the Sacrament is not by any means reconcileable with the Worship of the true God and with true Faith in Christ Jesus There is yet a third Advice which I have to give you on this subject 't is that to be able to say as you do That the Church of Rome confesses all fundamental Truths 'T is necessary not only that she hold the fundamental Truths of the Christian Religion but also those of Natural Religion 'T is a Fundamental of Natural Religion that we ought to Worship God the Church of Rome retains this Fundamental 'T is another Fundamental of Natural Religion that there is but one God and that we must Worship none but him Popery has ruined and rejected this Fundamental for it Adores a many other things beside God So that to speak properly we cannot say that the Church of Rome retains all Fundamentals We might yet observe other Fundamentals which flue receives not Don't flatter yourselves therefore my Brethren any more by this wicked Illusion The Roman Church confesses all fundamental Truths therefore we may continue there in safety For that reasoning is no better than this This Wine retains all the substance the strength the tast and the spirits of Wine therefore we may drink of it with safety though it be mingled with Poison Idolatry Errours and Superstition take away from the Doctrines of Christianity all that which is saving in them We are obliged to continue in Union with the Roman Church rather than make a positive Separation which is contrary to all the Duties of Charity and which instead of bringing back those which Err produces nothing but an eternal Distance and Animosity This is that which your Apologist says concerning which you ought to know That Christian Truths are Friends and do not desire that we should sacrifice one for the other We must not sacrifice Faith and Truth for Charity 'T is a false Charity which makes those that are re-united to the Church speak thus 't is indeed self-love and the love of ease If they could find means to cast off the Popish Superstitions which are uneasie to them from Religion without prejudice to their own Advantages it is sure that they would do it without having any regard to Charity and without concerning themselves about the scandal of Separation and the trouble of their Country-men For which reason while the King permitted every one to live peaceably without offering Violence to his Conscience Separation did not appear scandalous unto them I intreat you my Brethren to know and examine yourselves thereon do not suffer the Devil and Self-love to illude you and disguise himself into Charity and an Angel of Light. Charity demands Toleration I confess it but it hath its bounds For it is not expedient that you imagine that we ought to suffer all things under pretence of Charity Popery is Anti-christianity you can't doubt it without blinding yourselves Popery hath fundamental Errours to conclude Popery hath spoiled the Efficacy of those fundamental Truths which it hath preserved and by consequence is in no condition to require or expect Toleration Instead of bringing back those that Err Schism produces nothing but an eternal Distance and Animosity say you Do you think that this lead Complaisance which you are willing to have for those that Err is capable of reducing them Will you not confirm them in their Errours by living with them communicating with them and by partaking in their false Mysteries But let us hear what you have farther to say to us In the second place you say we do maintain That persons do not necessarily partake in the Errours of a Communion in which they are This is that you told us in the beginning of this Writing Abuses introduced by Governours cannot be imputed to the Faithful You add The common Confession of Faith ought to be esteemed as an Agreement to live together under the same Ministery but we are not therefore accountable for all the Abuses which may be or can be introduced into this Mnistery My Brethren this second thing which you tell yourselves and one another is no better than the former Where have you found that Abuses introduced by Governours may not be imputed to the Faithful Do you not very well know That there are no Abuses in the Church which have not been introduced either by the Malice or by the Ignorance of Governours They are the Doctors and Teachers which frame Heresies Were not those private persons seduced by Arrianism culpable because that Heresie was introduced by the Bishops Are you obliged to follow your Governours without examination Have you not a reasonable Mind as well as we And ought you not to make a good use of it And if you fail therein do you think that God will fail to take an account of you for it If we mull give no account of the Abuses introduced by Governours when the People of Israel suffered themselves to be seduced by a false Pastor to commit Idolatry were they not therefore culpable Nevertheless you see how God on such occasions thunders against both People and Governours When the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch saith our Lord. He did very ill to speak so according to your Principles there was no body but the first blind man that lead the way who ought to fall into the Ditch Jesus Christ said to the Jewish Doctors You compass sea and land to make a Proselite and when you have gained him you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourself And why so why doth this poor Proselite become a-Child of Hell since he follows his Governours yea Governours which had a lawful Call and were Pastors of the Church If Truth be the only way to Heaven it concerns you much how you go out of it be it of your own inclination or by the instigation of another you will always fill short of Heaven Whether you go to Hell or whether another leads you thither what difference will it make will you not be certainly there Discharge yourselves therefore of this pernicious Chimera That you are not at all accountable for Abuses introduced by your Guides But you say Me do not partake necessarily in the Errours of a Communion where we are How do you understand that whilst you subscribe these Errours and practise these Idolatries There are Errours of Speculation and Errours of Practice the means of not partaking in Errours of Speculation is openly to disavow them without Scruple or Hesitation The means of not partaking in Errours of Practise which are Superstitions and Idolatries is to
other Torches there There are also Mr. Guirant and Mr. Martin both of Nismes which are not less Illustrious for their Perseverance and their Piety having never made any Defection from the Faith. Mr. Serre of Montpellier Mr. Guy of Bederieux a Widdow named Madam de Bosc and her Sister Mademoiselle de Cavaille with Mr. Martin also of Mompellier two Sisters of Mr. Anauld Minister of Vaunert are also of this number There are also Gentlemen and Persons of Quality which we will not name unto you until we are perfectly assured thereof Behold a Letter from one of these honest Men which will acquaint you with the disposition of Mind in which they are on the Subject and in the prospect of this new kind of Punishment Feb. 12 th 1687. From Aigue-Mortes from the Tower of Constace I Have thought my dear Mother that before I am removed into another World as they threaten us it is my Duty to inform you of my State and to acquaint you with the true sentiments of my Soul Oh how happy are you and my dear Sisters whom GOD by his infinite Mercy hath preserved so long in your Retirement and preserved from the Snares that have been so often laid for you but more especially in that he hath led you in so miraculous a manner out of this sad and unhappy Kingdom that you may taste his Divine Consolations in Holy Assemblies with all the liberty that can be desired Be never forgetful of Benefits so great if you do desire that GOD should continue his Belssings and Mercies upon you and yours Pray continually for the Liberty of Zion for all our poor Brethren that have unhappily fallen and for the Prisoners of Jesus Christ. You have begun gloriously but all that is nothing if you don't persevere to the end therefore give up yourselves to Divine Providence and be assured that God will give you all that is necessary in this life and that which is to come if so be you offer unto him that acceptable Sacrifice of your Goods your Families and even of your Lives Never turn your face back again through Trouble and regret for what you have forsaken don 't do as the Wife of Lot least you partake in the same Punishment I do acknowledge that there is need of extraordinary Endeavours and very great Grace to surmount our Natural Affections and that Tenderness and Natural Compassion which does so strongly bind us to eath other but when the Glory of God and our own Salvation is discoursed on we ought not to stagger one moment from following our Duty for he which loves Fathor or Mother Husband Wife or Children more than his Saviour is not worthy to be called his Disciple Wherefore my dear Mother and Sisters make appear to your last breath the difference you make between Earth and Heaven betwixt the perfect love which we have for our Divine Redeemer and that which we have for the things of the World and let us assure ourselves of his Protection and Favour if we persevere to the end The death of my Father hath extreamly edified and comforted me his Patience and Perseverance hath given a joyful and certain Assurance of his Happiness that 't is so far from afflicting me that I desire to be dissolved as he is to be with Christ Jesus which is much better I reserve my Tears for the sad and deplorable State of the Church and for the fatal hard-hartedness of my poor Brethren for whom I pray unto God night and day that he would cause them to return from their wandrings and shew them Mercy and Grace This is that true Affliction which eats up my Soul and sadly overwhelms my Spirit for my own part I was never more content and at rest than I find myself at present So that after having exactly considered the World and all its Vanities I esteem with St. Paul that all things duely reckoned the Sufferings of the present World are not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be Revealed So that my dear Mother I am fully resolved to do my Duty even to my last moment They have already conducted to Marseille a hundred Prisoners and the seventeenth of this Month we being Seventy in number departed from Montpellier thither They have brought from Sommieres twenty four Maids or Wives and to morrow they bring forty more from thence 't is the general Randevouze I know not what will be the eevent of all this nevertheless all are perfectly resolved for this long Voyage Monsieur de Cross is always here who is shortly to be embarqued with his own Daughters and four of Monsieur Audemard's who never changed their Religion Whatever be our fate we shall always be under the Eyes of God and his Protection Pray for us as we do for you and let all our Friends and all your Churches redouble their Prayers for those poor unhappy Persons which are carried away it may be to the Shambles God be with you my dear Mother and dear Sisters be assured that I shall be Faithful to my God to my last breath in whatsoever place I shall remain This last kind of Punishment has stricken men with more horrour than all the preceding whilst persons remain in their Country they endure the labours of flight the uneasiness of sojourning in Woods Famine Thirst Prison and the Gallies in some hopes of change and alterations but to see their Entrails torn from their bosoms the half of ones self a Wife a Husband Children unmercifully forced into another World exposed to the rage of the Sea to the dangers of a long Voiage and at the end of all to a cruel Slavery upon barbarous or unknown Shores where they live without any Communion which those that are their own without Consolation in the Rigours of a very calamitous Servitude This is the new kind of Punishment say I which puts the Patience of the most Confirmed to a period But nothing does more discover the temper of the Devil of Persecution It does not suffice to lay waste the Kingdom after a hundred manners to put to flight an infinite number of Men and to make Wildernesses of Countries heretofore well Peopled they will Depopulate the State and Transport the best of its Inhabitants into barbarous Countries Poor Slaves remember that God is every-where and that the Gates of Heaven are open in all places Be you perswaded that Canada will rejoyce to see your Constancy and that the Voice of your Confession will pass the Seas and come even to us but above all that it will pierce the Heavens and arrive even at the Throne of God where you will find favour and it may be your Enemies will find displeasure and wrath for the Voice of your Suffering will sollicite Divine Vengeance and hasten their Punishment the Lord have pitty on them and convert them they ought to be the Objects of our Compassion rather than those of our Wrath. Whilst they emptie the Cittadels on one side they
Saints are said to appear 't is not they which return 't is the Angels which appear and speak for them Behold I pray you how unformed and floating this Theology is But there is more than this in these same ages when they prayed to Martyrs at one time they prayed for them at another They prayed say I for the Martyrs and for the Apostles yea for the blessed Virgin and this is a new Proof of the Novelty of this Superstition This appears by the Liturgies of that time In that of St. Chrysostom we read We offer to thee this reasonable Service for those which rest in the Faith of our Ancestors our Fathers the Patriarchs the Prophets the Apostles the Preachers the Evangelists the Martyrs the Confessors the Continents and for all the Spirits which were initiated in the Faith principally for the most holy immaculate and blessed above all Women our Lady Mary Mother of God and always a Virgin. And in that which is attributed to Cyril of Jerusalem O God have mercy on our Fathers on our Brethren which are at rest whose Souls are acceptable unto thee give them repose and remember also all the holy Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors Evangelists and all the Spirits of the Just which are dead in the Faith and principally the holy and the glorious Mary Mother of God always a Virgin. It would be at this day the greatest of all absurdities to pray for a dead man and pray to him at the same time Indeed if he be in a condition of doing us good if he see God if he be with him he hath no need of our Prayers The inconsistency of these two Worships which nevertheless were both used at the same time is a demonstrative proof that the Invocations of Saints was a Novelty Prayers for the Martyrs were found in the ancient Liturgies out of respect to Antiquity they were left there but the torrent of Novelty added unto them Prayers unto the Martyrs without taking notice that these latter were inconsistent with the former To conclude I do maintain that those who will not give attention to these Demonstrations which prove the Novelty of the Invocation of Saints in the 4th Age have an insensible and seared Conscience and so I think it unprofitable to dispute any more against them I well understand that the New Converts who are willing to be content with their change will yet find two Fortifications for their security They will say that this Worship of Saints was then new but that it was not evil and that therefore the Church might introduce it as a pious Custom and proper to incline the minds of men towards Devotion But let these Gentlemen have a little patience Monsieur de Meaux in that which follows will give us occasion to make it plain to you that this Worship and this Invocation is Paganism renewed and that it is in nothing better than the Invocation of Angels and Hero's which the Pagans practised in their Devotions we will make them see that 't is a true Idolatry The other Fortification is the Antiquity of this Worship However it be say they you do confess that the Invocation of Saints hath more than one thousand two hundred Years on its head Does this put you to no troubles Have you no respect for so goodly a piece of Antiquity and how can you believe that God hath left his Church under Idolatry for so many Ages We answer That we cannot have respect for Antiquity without Truth and in this we are of the Religion of St. Cyprian We add That we are not astonisht to see an Idolatry so aged in the Church because it hath been expresly predicted to us The Prophet St. John calls Idolatrous Christians Pagans and the Spirit saith to him * Revel 11. cap. 12. I have given up the outward Court of the Church to the Pagans that they may tread it under foot for forty two Months These are the thousand two hundred and sixty Days in which the Woman i. e. the Church ought to be hidden as in a Wilderness for the space of these thousand two hundred and sixty Days And the two Prophets which prophesied in Sack-cloth i. e. the Truth published by a small number of Witnesses and those under the Cross ought to continue under the oppression of Idolatry the same number of Days i. e. a thousand two hundred and sixty Now these thousand two hundred and sixty Days are so many Years according to the stile of the Prophets who denominate Years by Days We shall have it may be in what follows an opportunity to prove it to you It must be therefore that Idolatry Rule in the Christian Church one thousand two hundred and sixty Years It hath done so almost for that space of time it is therefore near its end But we ought not to be amazed that it hath continued so long An Article of Controversie A Continuation of the Answer to the Illusions that the New Converts put upon themselves WE take up again the Continuation of the Controversie at the place where we left the Illusions of the New Converts The common Faith say you is a kind of Agreement to live under the same Ministery without being accountable for all the Abuses that have slipt into the Church By this fine reasoning we may live in safety among the Turks we believe as they do that there is one GOD one Paradise one Hell and that Jesus Christ is the greatest Prophet which ever came into the World. This common Confession of Faith will be an Agreement to live together safely under the same Ministery And we will leave to the Turks their prophane Abuses and their absurd and impious Doctrines Believe me such an Agreement resembles that of Pilate and Herod who agreed to despise and put to death Christ Jesus When the Ministery introduces small Corruptions this may be granted but when Corruption goes to the heart of Religion the Agreement signifies nothing and lays no obligation all is deadly either by itself or by its neighbourhood or contagion Provided that we Adore the same God and Profess the same Fundamentals of Christianity all the rest is not imputable to private persons Above all then when there is a necessity of joyning ourselves to this first Christian Society and when we cannot find any publick Worship more pure and edifying This is the Continuation of your Apology There are two words therein Provided and above all which destroy you Provided that we profess the same Fundamentals I have made it appear already that this provided is insufficient You must add Provided that fundamental Errours be not added to the Foundations Now Popery hath added to the Foundations of Christianity Tyranny Superstition and in one word Antichristianism So behold yourselves thrown out of your Fortification Provided that The Above all is no better Above all when there is a necessity of joyning ourselves There is no necessity of joyning ourselves to a Communion which we acknowledge
whose Depositions we shall suddenly see in good form and method I hope that in the third Edition of the Act of Montpazier Monsieur Soulier the Priest will tell us they took the o in Dorde for an u that they transposed the d and set it at the end and made thereof an l so we shall find Dorde in Daret and Durel as good Etymologists in plat do find chopine A new Falshood Monsieur Durel had no name which began with E 't were expedient that it were Etienne or Elijah or Esay but by misfortune for Monsieur Soulier his name was John at least 't is the name which he gave himself in the Thesis which he maintained at Saumur 't is the name that he hath set in the front of a Book called Vindiciae Ecclesiae Anglicanae i.e. A Vindication of the Church of England To conclude 't is the name that the Approbator of the Translation which he made of the Liturgie of the Church of England into French hath given him I have read the French Version of the English Liturgie of Mr. John Durel and I have found it in all things agreeable to the original English Signed George Stradling S. T. P. Chaplain to Gilbert Bishop of London from the Savoy April the sixth 1663. Therefore I know not what we shall do with this capital E. in this Act of Soulier the Priest unless we make an F. of it to find Frier John there But by misfortune Mr. Durel was never a Monk. Another misfortune for Soulier much greater than the former is That Mr. Durel was never Pastor in the Province of Guyenne nor Deputy in any Synod he was only Minister to Monsieur the Duke de la Force he preached indeed at la Force when the Duke was there but he was properly affixed to his person and his Family for which reason he followed him every-where and did not belong to the Synod of any of the Provinces 'T was one named Mr. Barte who as then Minister of the Church de la Force a Member of the Province and lawful Deputy to the Synod 'T is true that Mr. Durel appeared at the Synod of Montpazier and was therein favour of one named Mr. Hesperien who was his Friend and had business there And Mr. Betoule Minister of Duras who was Plaintiff against Mr. Hesperien seeing Mr. Durel in the Assembly said to him What do you here you are no Pastor of the Lower Guyenne nor Deputy to the Synod To whom Mr. Durel answered in these very words I am no fixed Minister in any Province but in all Provinces where the Duke is I have the honour to assist at the Synods which are held during the time of his residence there The Synod took this Remonstrance into consideration and granted to Mr. Durel no decisive Voice but only Session among them and a deliberative Voice The said Mr. Durel was never seen in any of the Synods of Guyenne but only at this time and never was seen there afterwards Behold a subject well chosen to make him Assistant-moderator of a Synod and the Negociator in a great affair of a Synod say I of which he was no Member where he was no Deputy where he had no decisive Voice and where he had never appeared before Behold therefore a new Errata of the third Edition of the Act of Montpazier It may not be doubted that the Art of Soulier which hath made him find Durel in Daret will also make him find Dorde in Durel But we do advertise him that this new Correction will be of no service to him for when Durel shall be taken away and Dorde put in the place thereof all his Engine will be overturned we shall have no Englishman proper to negociate with the English no man unfixed from any Church and by consequence fit to employ his time in Negotiations no man which was oftentimes in Paris and in Normandy places proper to entertain Gorrespondence with the English All this was found in Mr. Durel for which reason they judged it fit to make him the Negociator and afterwards Assistant-moderator But poor Mr. Dorde was a Minister of the Province serving in a little Town or Village of Perigort very far from the Sea without Commerce without all advantage to entertain Correspondencies not stirring from his place affixed to a Congregation made up of persons very unfit to furnish means of Negociating Treaties In good earnest behold a heap of cross Accidents for Mr. Soulier Is not a man very unhappy when he would edifie the Church by a pious Deceit to find so many stumbling-blocks in his way To strengthen this Argument we added a matter of fact notorious to all those who had never so little knowledge of Mr. Durel viz. that there was not a man amongst the English who had a greater hatred for the Parliament than he So that it was to lose all sense to chuse this person to treat with them of a Conspiracy against France This matter of Fact is notorious and 't is known by all the English Church that the King of England lookt upon him at his return as one that had suffered exile for his sake and recompensed him not only with the Deanary of Windsor but with many other Benefices which he had given him before that To this the Priest Soulier answers A very fine thing 't is that Cromwel was then dead and that though Durel were an Enemy to Cromwel it doth not follow that he was an Enemy to his Son and to those that then ruled among the English That is to say that Mr. Durel who had a general indignation against the Enemies of his King reconciled himself to them as soon as they had lost their Head and joyned another party to them to betray another King into whose Country he was fled for refuge This is very well contrived He adds to this a Letter from Mr. de Vane a Gentleman belonging to the Queen Dowager of England who says That the Deanary of Windsor was not given to Mr. Durel to recompense his fidelity but to discharge a Debt of 2000 l. Sterling which was owing to him by my Lord of Manchester As we have not the honour to know Mr. de Vane so we shall leave his Testimony to signifie according to its worth We shall only say that the Deanary of Windsor is at the Nomination and Disposal of the King and not in the Disposal of the Counts of Manchester and that 't is not probable that the King at the sollicitation of the Lord Manchester should give a Benefice of that importance to a man who was not known to be a zealous Friend to the Royal Family Seeing we are now shewing the Falshoods of this Act and the ignorance of those who framed it we must not forget that these men make Ricottier the Minister of Clairac By consulting the Table of the names of those who appeared at this Synod of Montpazier it may be seen that Ricottier being Minister of Bourdeaux and not of
humour by engaging the name of God and those which bear his Image upon Earth to maintain a Lye which he knows to be a Lye and a Lye from which very little good can come in comparison of the evil The pleasure of making Soulier pass for an Impostor is not I think great enough to be willing to purchase it by Perjury When Soulier and his Companions Forged this Act they were supported in their Crime by the consideration of the great advantage which was to come according to them to the Catholick Church by hastning the Ruine of the Hereticks in France But behold men who commit a crime by an horrible Perjury without being suported by the consideration of any profit or interest Can this enter into the mind of any man of sound sense and understanding Behold then four irreprovable Testimonies who assisted at the Synod of Montpazier who attest the Falshood of the History in all its parts who say that Durel or Daret were no Assistants in this Synod that Saint Blancard was not Commissary but Villefranche of Vivans that nothing of like nature did pass in the Synod against the Service of the King But behold in particular this Monsieur Asimont who was Secretary to the Synod he who by consequence must be privy to the business who must have digested the pieces that were drawn up and who did really Sign the Act as the Priest Soulier pretends 't is this Asimont to whom Soulier addresses himself in particular As to what respects the Signatures and the Subscriptions of the Minister Asimont and the Secretary Meyzonet saith he I know them so well and they are so conformable to other Acts which they have signed that I assure myself they will not dare to disavow it However it will be very easie for me to convince them by other Acts which they have signed the Minister Asimont may remember the Conference that we had in the City of Eymet in the Diocess of Sorlat in the Year 1657 and that the Original signed by him at the foot of all his answers is remaining in my hands If any honest men have a desire to compare the Signature of the Act of Montpazier with the true Signatures and Subscriptions of Monsieur Asimont they will see them very true and very well attested and till then seeing the Priest Soulier appeals to the Conscience of the Minister Asimont and to the Conference of Eymet I am of opinion we ought to hear Monsieur Asimont himself in particular The Letter of Monsieur Asimont I Never was of the humour to detain the Truth in Unrighteousness on the contrary I have always taken a great freedom to declare it as far as Charity doth permit it and I have had great joy in seeing it triumph over Lyes and Falshood As you labour vigorously to make it victorious and triumphant over its Enemies I received with respect the Adjuration you have given me in your Letter to bear Testimony to that Truth which Monsieur Soulier doth engage and combate in his History of Calvinism I have shewn your Letter to the Gentlemen the Pastors of the Province of Guyenne who can give Testimony concerning it with myself and I have sent you their and my Declaration upon the subject of the Act of the Synod of Montpazier with the Affirmation upon Oath which we made before our Lords the Soveraign Magistrates of this City My Brethren have thought that we ought to note the name of the Assistant to the Moderator of the Synod to prevent the Impostures of this Wrangler for my part I have not expressed it in my Deposition for fear least it should make a new wrangle about the names of Dorde and Durel and least he should say that the Transcriber by this allusion of names putting Dur for Dor and al for de in imitation of the great Etymologist who derived the Latine word panis from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And how so Why by changing saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into pa and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into nis Make what use of them you judge fit As to what concerns me in particular as Soulier attributes to me the Subscription of this pretended Act and says that he knows my Subscription because of a Conference about Religion which we had by Writing in the City of Eymet so I heartily wish I could recover an Original of the said Conference which I have among my Papers in France to make it appear that he has the gift of Impudence in the highest degree and cannot forbear Lying since he there gives himself the Lye by a gross and manifest Contradiction but I fear this Writing was burnt with many others as well as my Books But for want of this Piece which would render him unworthy of all Belief I can say to justifie myself from the Accusation by which he charges me to have signed an Act of secret Correspondence with the Enemies of the State That I have been so far from being suspected of Unfaithfulness to the King that some of my Brethren grew jealous of me in their own minds by the very close adherence which I testified to his Service in the Civil Wars and by reason of a Letter under the Great Seal which his Majesty caused to be written to me in the Year 1654 to assure me That he took in good part my Fidelity and Zeal with assurance of Recompence according to my Merits when occasion should be offered to him By the Grace of God I never desired nor caused it to be requested of him although occasions thereof presented themselves unto me This Letter could not protect me from divers Decrees of Imprisonment which the Parliament of Guyenne did afterwards grant against me for the cause of my Religion nor from the Decree of the Intendant of Agesseau for preaching in forbidden places by the order of the Synod nor from the Imprisonment and Quartering of Souldiers appointed by the Intendant of Ris because going from Bergerac I wrote to one of my Friends That I went away because I would not see the Abomination of Desolation which was about to fall upon this Church God hath bestowed on me the Mercy of escaping happily out of these troublesome Affairs by manifesting the Integrity of my Conduct and the Sincerity of my Intentions 'T is true at last perceiving I could not serve two Masters in France who were of such contrary Sentiments viz. GOD and the Most Christian King I desired of him in the Year 1683 three Pass-ports for myself and two Sons both Ministers by Monsieur of Corbichet heretofore the Steward of the Duke de la Force and who was then in the Service of Monsieur the Prince of Condy who obtained them with great ease to allow me the liberty of going out of the Kingdom From whence I reason thus against Soulier If the King having been informed of the pretended Act of Montpazier had given credit to the Accusor would he so easily have granted my Pass-port
the Author of the Policy of the CLERGY and of the Answer to the Calvinism of Maimburgh We only know concerning this Author by report that he hath a great Contempt for Soulier and his Works so that if he make Books expresly to vex him he may set his heart at rest for he will never obtain his end The Ninteenth PASTORAL LETTER An Article of Antiquity The Original of Images An Article of Controversie A Continuation of the Matter of Schism The Corruption of the Roman Church was so great that we were forced to a Separation A notable Letter concerning the Confessours carried to America Dear Brethren in our Lord Grace and Peace be given unto you from God and our Saviour Jesus Christ WE have been obliged to interrupt the subject of our Pastoral Letters to refute a heinous Calumny cast upon one of our Synods and which reflects upon the whole Body At this time we take again our matter and our order we remember that the last Article of Antiquity which we handled was that of the Invocation of Saints which took its birth in the fourth and fifth Age 'T is the fourth change which altered Christianity in those Ages the first was the Original of Monkery the second was the Establishment of the Hierarchy the third was Oecumenical Councils and the fourth was the Invocation of Saints and the Worship of Reliques Behold a fifth 't is the Introduction of Images into Churches The Worship and Adoration of Images did not come so soon and we do not see the spreading thereof till the sixth Age But in the fourth and fifth Ages men began to bring Images into some Chappels consecrated to the Memory of Martyrs And 't is a thing that could not fail to happen One depth calleth to another and when men fell into Idolatry to men they were not far from Idolatry to Images for 't is very natural to represent those men which we Invoke and to give Honour to their Images For which reason I am amazed that the second Part of Paganism viz. The Adoration of Images came so slowly after the Worship and Adoration of Saints But the aversation which the first Christians had for Idols held firm as yet for some time after the Birth of the Superstitious Worship of the Martyrs and their Reliques It is therefore true that in some Provinces about the end of the fourth Age a person may shew you Historical Representations in the Churches they began to paint the Histories of the Bible It appears by a passage of Gregory Nissen * Greg. Niss Orat. de Divin filii Sp. S. that the History of the Sacrifice of Abraham was painted in some Church And by another Homily of the same Gregory Nissen †Orat. in Theodor. Martyr it appears that they began also to paint the Histories of some Martyr or Martyrs in their Temples The Painter says he hath expressed the Flowers of his Art drawing on a Table the great Actions of the Martyr his Resistance his Combates the savage and bruitish Assaults of Tyrants the flaming Furnace and the happy Consummation of the Martyr and a Table in which was Jesus Christ in Humane shape over-looking the Combate If we were of the mind of your Convertors we would hide such things as you might very well be ignorant in but we are sincere in our Confessions as we are willing to be in our Defence and Allegations 1. For first we do maintain That in the fourth Age the Church had as yet a horrour for all Worship of Images They begun to introduce them into Churches only for Ornament And if your Convertors do produce to you any thing of these Ages which seems to signifie that they Adored Images hold it for certain that they are false passages or taken from false and suppositious Books 2. We do maintain That the use of painting Historical Tables in Churches did not begin till about the end of the fourth Age And before Gregory Nissen of Capadocia who lived about the Year 380 we do not find any mention thereof among the Ancients 3. In the third place you ought to know That this Custom was then very rare and that we cannot discover any Churches but those of Cappadocia in Asia and a certain Church in Italy where Images were seen in their Temples 'T is true some quote a passage of St. Basil taken from his Homily upon the Martyr Barlaam by which they would prove that in the Chappel of this Martyr they had set the History of his Martyrdom for St. Basil there invites the Painters to represent magnificently the Combates of the Martyr But it is certain that the Painters to whom he speaks are Orators which he exhorts to represent well in their Discourses the glorious Sufferings of Barlaam But although it should be to Painters without Figure that Basil speaks as the City of Cesarea whereof he was Bishop was in Cappadocia this would serve to fortifie that which we maintain viz That this dangerous Custom of introducing Images into Churches was not any where else but in the Province of Cappadocia for no Author of this Age speaks of it but the Bishops of that Country unless it be Paulinus Bishop of Nola who tells us That he caused the Representation of the Sufferings of St. Faelix the Martyr to be put in the Chappel that was dedicated unto him Now 't is to be observed that this Paulinus Bishop of Nola fells us also two considerable things First That the Custom of placing of Pictures in Churches was very rare The second That that which put him upon doing it was a design to represent to the Eyes of the Country People those Combates the painting whereof would make more impression upon them than Descriptions made by the mouths of Orators Some peradventure will demand of me Faulinus Bibliothec Pat. Tom. 14. Edit Lugdu says he what was the reason which occasioned me to resolve to make the Figures of Animate Creatures to be painted in Sacred Houses seeing the Custom thereof is very rare And he adds That it was to try whether the sight of these enameld and raised Shadows of Colours would not make some impression upon the gross and stupid minds of the Vulgar He says also in the same place That his end was to employ these Dregs of the People in the Contemplation of these Figures on Feast days to the end that they might spend the less time in Debauchery Observe thereon that then it was very rare to see Pictures in Churches therefore they did not expose them to the Adoration of the People For Objects of Adoration and Worship ought to be known by all besides they were put there only for the use of the Vulgar 't was not therefore to give any Worship to them for they are not only Country People which are obliged to Religious Worship To conclude Paulinus says expresly That it was only for Commemoration and not for Worship 'T is therefore from this good but superstitious man
Paulinus that this leud saying hath taken its original That Images are the Books of the Ignorant 4. The fourth thing to which you ought to give attention is That then they did not set in Churches any Figure Image or Statue of a single person but Historical Representations in large Tables where many persons and many actions were represented This makes almost an infinite difference for it never entred into the mind of Man that Historical Tables whereon were some times represented the Devil tempting Jesus Christ oftentimes Hang-men pblucking off the flesh of a Martyr with Pincers were placed there for Worship For so men would Worship the Devil as well as Jesus Christ and the Hangmen as well as the Martyr Indeed when the Idolatry of Images was brought into the Church 't was by Pictures or Statues which represented but one or two of the Saints Now 't is certain say I that about the end of the fourth Age those which gave themselves liberty of introducing Images into Churches placed nothing there but Historical Pictures and Tables To prove the contrary to you they may produce a passage of Gregory Nazianzen where he complains of this That some would destroy the City of Diocesarea raze the Temples and pull down the Statues thereof * Epist ad Olympium Our greatest grief says he is not that the Statues are pluckt down although that be troublesome too Because immediately before he was speaking of the Ruine of Temples some it may be will serve themselves of that to perswade you that Statues were in their Temples But that is false and 't is certain that he speaks of Statues which were in their publick places Our grief is says he that with the Statues they pull down and destroy an ancient City And to the end that you may not be able to delude your selves thereby be advertised That the Greeks would never suffer Statues in their Churches and that yet to this day they Adore nothing but Images or plain and flat Pictures and by a humour sufficiently pleasant they accuse the Latines of being Idolators because they Adore Statues As if their Images of Mosaick Work were much more worthy of Adoration than Embossed Figures However it be this demonstrates that Gregory Nazianzen could not speak of Statues which were in Churches 5. To conclude the last thing whereof you are to be advertised about the Original of Images is That in the time that this mischeivous Custom of putting Images in Churches began in some places the good Bishops opposed themselves thereto with Zeal and treated it as an Abomination It were convenient that you should read thereon a passage of Epiphanius Bishop of Salamina in Cyprus who lived about the year 375 that is to say exactly in the same time that Gregory Nissen suffered Pictures in the Churches of Cappadocia I came one day says Epiphanius into a Village which is called Anablata 't was a Village in Palestine * Epiphan in Epist ad Joh. Jerus having seen there as I passed by a burning Lamp I enquired what place it was I learnt that it was a Church and being entred there to Pray I found on the Door of the Church a died Vail hanging there having an Image painted on it as it were of Christ or some Saint for I do not remember in good truth whose Image it was having therefore seen that contrary to the Authority of the Scripture they had hung the Image of a Man in the Church I rent the Vail and advised the Sexton of the place to employ it rather to wrap up the body of some poor dead person to carry him to his Grave John Patriarch of Jerusalem took it ill that Epiphanius had attempted such an Action in a Diocess where he had no Jurisdiction but he did not condemn the Action in itself This passage is without reply and your Seducers will never have any thing to answer to it It appears that the use of introducing Images into Churches was so rare and so little received that he which undertook to put one in the Church of Anablata did not dare to put it any farther then the Door At this day men have the insolence to set them upon Altars And even Epiphanius a little while before in the Church where this Image was lookt upon the attempt as the Violation of the Law although it were even the Image of Jesus Christ for he supposes it might be the Image of our Lord nevertheless he made not the least scruple to rend it and hated not the attempt ever the less Notwithstanding 't is very probable that after St. Epiphanius the Custom of so placing Pictures and Tables in the Churches of the Martyrs did continue and increase The People which naturally fall into Superstition did not tarry long ere they abused those Images which were placed for them in the Sepulchres of the Martyrs 't is from the People that the Worship of Images came as well as the Invocation of Saints that could not stay long after this for when they adored men which might be painted 't is natural to make Images of them So St. Austine learns us that in his time the Invocation of Saints passing from the People to the Pastors the People running much father began to Adore the Pictures of the Martyrs But behold how he speaks of it The Manichees heaped together all the popular Superstitions and all the Actions of private Persons to make Crimes of them against the Church and upon that St. Austine tells them * Lib. 1. de-Moribus Eccl. c. 34. Do not collect those who making profession of being Christians have nothing which answers to their Profession do not joyn yourself to the croud of ignorant People who being on the side of true Religion are superstitious c. I know there are many which Worship Pictures and Sepulchres Unto the middle of the fifth Age nevertheless few Images were seen in Churches after the year 450 many of them were seen there 'T was not only those of the Martyrs that were placed there they put also those of the Bishops in the Churches of their Diocesses The Image of Thomas Bishop of Apamea was set on the top of the Church †Evag. lib. 4. cap. 26. Theodorus Lector tells us That in the Reign of Anastatius * Lib. 2. Macedonius Bishop of Constantinople caused his Images to be set in Churches and that Timothy who was put in his place some time after would not perform Divine Offices in any Church before he had caused the Images of Macedonius to be removed It cannot be imagined these Images were set there for Adoration for no man makes his own Images to be adored But that in the fourth and fifth Ages men did not give any Religious Worship to Images by the publick Authority and Approbation of the Pastors is a truth which cannot be disputed by those who have any remains of Conscience and Honour This appears by the Testimonies of Authors of that time
by the Deed of Epiphanius which we reported touching the Image which he found in Anablata and by another passage of the same St. Epiphanius cited by the Council of Constantinople against Images in the Reign of Constantine Copronimus and reported by that Image-worshipping Council of Nice †Evag. l. 4 c. 26. Take heed to yourselves says Epiphanius retain the Traditions which you have received turn not from them to the right hand nor to the left Remember also that you put no Images in Churches nor in the Dormitories of the Saints c. nay put them not even in your own Houses St. Chrysostome saith in a passage alledged by the same Council * Synod 7. Act. 6. We have the presence of Saints by the Scriptures and not by Images Amphilochius †Synod ib. Bishop of Iconium Contemporary of St. Basil also saith We take no care to paint the fleshly Countenance of Saints with Colours upon Tables but we immitate their Life and Conversation by Piety and Vertue St. Austin upon the 123 Psalm doth expresly deny That among the Movables and Ornaments of the Church there were any Images that had Mouths and spake not and Eyes that saw not This appears also by the Fact of Serenus Bishop of Marseilles and of Gregory the First Bishop of Rome which was not till the end of the sixth Age Serenus had broken the Images of his Church because the People adored and fell down before them as those of which St. Austine speaks Gregory blames him for breaking the Images and praises him that he hindered men from worshipping them which makes it evident it was not then believed generally that they might be adored 'T is true nevertheless that in the fifth Age the brutish and superstitious People in some places began to believe that the Images of the Saints had some Vertue in them For Theodoret in the Life of Simeon Stylites reports That it was said that at Rome men set the Images of Simeon Stylites at the entrance of all their Shops to obtain some Protection and Security from them But besides that this was but a report apparently false 't was a popular Superstition in which the Church was not concerned An Article of Controversie A continuation of the matter of Schism that the great Corruption of the Roman Church forced us to a Separation HItherunto in speaking of Schism we have reason'd upon one or other of these two suppositions either that our separation was not established upon good Reasons or at least that the corruption of the Church of Rome was not at the highest degree and therefore it was in some sort tolerable We have proved in our thirteenth Pastoral Letter that although our Fathers had done ill in their Separation nevertheless you do not hazard your Salvation by continuing in the Protestant Communion Afterwards we made it appear that supposing the Church of Rome very corrupt although the Corruption were not wholly intollerable you cannot return thither at this day without destroying yourselves because the Providence of God hath drawn you thence by a Miracle in the persons of your Fathers And we have dispersed the Illusions which you put upon yourselves therein and which some amongst you have communicated to those which are fled for Protection into these Countries But at present let us no longer suppose any thing which is false let us consider things as they are i. e. let us consider the Corruption of the Church of Rome in its utmost extent and reason upon it It is the third Supposition according to which I will shew you that you cannot with a good Conscience return to Popery If the Corruption of the Church of Rome be extream if she be Idolatrous if she be Impure if she be Antichristian if she have introduced true Paganism into the Church we must necessarily Separate from her as soon as we can and the Separation being made to re-unite ourselves unto her is a Crime for which we can expect no Mercy There can be nothing of doubt in this kind of reasoning but the Supposition viz. That the Corruption of the Church of Rome is extream and wholly unsufferable So that this is the only thing which remains to do about the matter of Schism to justifie our Separation and prove to you that you cannot return to Popery without Damnation this we shall do in this and the following Letter To give you a true and natural Idea of the Corruption of Popery by a short Discription 't is necessary at first That you discharge yourselves of those vain Charms and false Appearances wherewithal they dress and present it to your Eyes First you may not consider Popery by the Christianity upon which 't is built for 't is thither that you turn your Eyes immediately 'T is a Religion say you where the true God is worshipped and the true Jesus where the Holy Trinity is believed the Incarnation of the Son of God Redemption by the Death of Christ Jesus the last Judgment the Resurrection of the Flesh everlasting Life and everlasting Death How can such a Christianity be ill Distinguish my Brethren in the Popish Church Christianity from Popery That which I would have you consider and which I have told you is Christianity But that which I will describe unto you the ugliness whereof I will set before you in an abridgement is quite another thing 't is that which hath been added to Christianity 't is Popery Say not it sufficeth us that Christianity doth continue in the Roman Church that is false it is not sufficient 'T is not enough that the Substance doth continue in poysoned Wine to make it safe and wholsom Do not you imagine that this is only a plain Comparison 't is an example that doth demonstrate and prove Wine as good and excellent as it is is not more spoiled by the Mortal Poyson mingled with it then Christianity in the Church of Rome is spoiled by the Popery added thereto Have you never read any where that the Roman Church is like a great double Temple whereof the lower part is consecrated to God and the superior part to an Idol This is a Comparison which hath all the force of Examples to prove and demonstrate Do you believe that a man after he had worshipped in the Church below consecrated to the true God should ascend into the Church above and adore Idols Do you believe say I that such a man were in a good and safe way 'T is true Christianity remains in the Roman Religion 't is the Church below but they have built upon it the Idol Church and that is Popery Do not you imagine therefore that you can Worship only in the Church below or live in the Christianity of the Roman Church without partaking in Popery This cannot be these two parts of the Roman Church are not built together as two Churches whereof the one is below and the other above By an unhappy Art of the Devil you cannot enter into the
double Adultery against Christ Jesus These are pitiful Declamations according to my apprehension To judge of the nature of these Actions we must know what were the Principles of those who did them Why should they observe Celibacy since they lookt upon it as a Yoak of which they desired to deliver the Clergy because it had produced a world of Impurities and Abominations so that a Deluge was not capable of purging them They have broken their Vows They were unlawful Vows made under a tyrannical Empire conceived in a false Religion unacceptable to God because they served as a Vail to an infinite number of Corruptions and at the same time to a debaucht and hypocritical life They forsook Babylon and it behoved them to forsake all the Badges thereof This kind of life which under an appearance of Piety hides such great Disorders is the true Character of the Beast These Monks are those Hypocrites whose Consciences are seared as with a hot Iron forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from Meats which God hath permitted which teach a Doctrine of Devils and serve as a Support to the Throne of the Beast So that these Reformers being delivered from the tyrannical Yoak of this unhappy Empire ought to return to the enjoyment of all their Rights and of all their Liberty and being put in the possession of it they may and ought to use it There needs but one thing to confound all these Calumniators who are willing to stain and blacken the Lives of the Authors of our Reformation What have these Reformers gained what have they gotten to do the work of Impostors Have they gained Riches Honours or great Dignities Have they left great Houses have they left Heirs and Children that were great Lords Never did persons despise their own Interests more than they did they never got wherewithal to be buried decently and scarcely got wherewith to live Their Zeal Firmness Constancy and Perseverance joyned with a contempt of their own Interest make up a Character very opposite to that of dishonest men If they had been debauched effeminate Lovers of Pleasure why did they go out of the Body of the Roman Clergy who enjoyed all the pleasures of the flesh even those which were most infamous with so much convenience and advantage These Gentlemen say that the principal reason which gave such success to the New Gospel was the licentiousness of the Church-men and the Monks of that Age. This is it which that same Lady does confess who makes the ill Conversation of the Authors of our Separation one cause of her return to the Church of Rome But this Confession and this Truth which is publickly known doth it not utterly ruine the Accusation which the Papists make against our Reformers Is there any probability that the great number of people which forsook the Roman Church being scandalized by the wicked Lives of its Guides should list themselves under the Ensigns of other wicked persons which were no better than those they had forsaken If they were not vicious and debaucht at least say they they were fierce proud Lovers of themselves passionate ambitious vain and violent These are stroaks striken in the Air and Accusations which make it evident they have nothing to say Concerning Ambition there doth not appear any footstep thereof in their Conversation And that which they call Pride and Fierceness is according to us Zeal and Vigour in the maintenance of Truth as we shall make it appear in examining the third Accusation The third Accusation is that it 's evident the Authors of our Separation were inspired with a dark Malignity against the Roman Church they vomited out against her say they flouds of Injuries and every-where is to be seen a Character of black Gholer which discharges it self both upon their Persons and Religion They support and strengthen this Accusation by the Confession of some Protestants who were of another frame and temper of mind and did not approve those methods of proceedure that were so full of flame and fire I answer That Grace which changes mens Manners does not change their Temper and Constitution but governs and serves it self thereof Although it should be true that there appeared a great deal of fire in the Authors of our Reformation that would be no sufficient cause to condemn them it being the temper of all Great men And this temper is of so great necessity for the execution of great things that without it 't is very difficult to carry on and prosecute great Designs and Enterprizes This is a thing unto which those men have too little regard which at this day do so highly commend and advance the Elogies of sweetness and moderation in Controversies and who perswade us to imitate other Great men who are of a quite contrary Character and temper of Mind If these honest men of this last Order that is to say these soft and moderate men had been born in the past Age and had been engaged in that great Work they had neither maintained nor carried it so far as did those men the heat of whose Temper they would fain make a Crime If Luther had not had a heart fearless and of inconceivable courage he had never been able to bear up against the Torrent of Contradictions and Oppositions that he met withal and repelled Father Paul the famous Venetian Divine who became famous on occasion of the Affair of the Interdict of that Republick knew assuredly the Corruption of the Roman Church at least as well as Luther He made no secret of it no eminent Protestant passed by Venice to whom he did not discover himself concerning it They often represented to him that he was obliged in Conscience to break with a Church the Impurity and Idolatry whereof he so well understood He had a thousand Reasons to offer on his own behalf sometimes that he separated the good from the bad sometimes that he was of use to a thousand persons that lay hid and had good sentiments at last when he was pressed hard he would say that God had not given to him the Heart and Spirit of Luther It is certain that if Father Paul had been of the Temper and Spirit of Luther Venice had been at this day what Geneva is And it is also certain that if Luther Zuinglius and Calvin had been of the Temper and Spirit of Father Paul all Europe had been yet what Venice is at this day It behoves us therefore to admire the great and profound Wisdom of God who chose for so great a Work men whose Temper was fit to maintain improve and exercise Zeal effectually To this Consideration add another the Authors of our Reformation have indeed spoken ill of the Church of Rome of its Priests of its High-Priest of its Monks and its Guides And why might they not speak ill of them I do maintain that they said nothing but what was true they could scarcely speak too much ill of Popery They said that the Church
find a hundred passages which Posterity may abuse after the same manner that they abuse those of St. Chrysostome to establish the Perpetuity of the Faith of the Eucharist in the sence of the Roman Church I will stop here and take it for granted that the Faith was not changed in this Article neither in the fourth nor fifth Ages nor in the three that followed them There happened neither any change in the Administration of the Sacrament under both Kinds And we boldly defie all your Converters to give us any proof or any example of any Communion celebrated in those Ages under the Species of Bread alone Monsieur de Meaux who writ last on this subject hath found no other example but that of St. Ambrose concerning whom the Author of his Life says That he died as soon as he had swallowed the Body of Jesus Christ A fine proof that they did not also give him the Blood As if it were not known that the whole Sacrament were not often expressed by the Flesh or the Body of Jesus Christ And as if there were any Figure more common than that of signifying the whole by a part I will not stay on this Article to prove that no Change happened therein in the fourth and fifth Ages for 't is a thing notorious and not disputed by our Adversaries themselves All that they say is That it was also permitted to communicate der one Kind although the Custom then was to communicate under both But that they can-never prove Monsieur de Meaux could not have made a Book which would have done him less Honour than that which he hath made on this subject It will never be believed that a man speaks sincerely when he charges himself with Falseness in a thing so publickly known as this is 'T is that for the space of four hundred or five hundred Years the Custom of Communicating under one Kind was wholly unknown An Article of Controversie An Answer to the fallacious Arguments drawn from the Visibility of the Church I Thought that I had finished telling you what was necessary you should know to dis-intangle your selves from the Sophisms which are drawn from the Unity of the Church and from that Schism which breaks this Unity We have employed Eleven Articles on that Subject in the Eleven Letters which are from the 9th to the 21th We shall at this time open a second Fountain of the Illusions of your Converters on the Subject of the Church 't is that of her Visibility 'T is a long time since that one of our most illustrious Confessors desired of me some Elucidations thereon not so much for himself as for many plain persons which they had ruffled and perplext But it was not possible for us to come at it sooner for if we had sooner left off our Discourse about its Unity and Schism we should have omitted something essential Behold after what manner they form the Sophism drawn from the visibility of the Church 'T is necessary they tell you that the Church be always visible for she is a City set upon a Hill and cannot be hid How could it be that the Pagans in all Ages should be able to come over to the Church if she had been hidden The Gate of Conversion had been shut upon them Your hidden Believers are Chimera's Besides 't is necessary that the Ministry of the Church be always visible For you will never perswade us that the Ministry hath intirely failed so that it was needful as your Confession of Faith says that God should extraordinarily raise up Men to re-establish it Besides 't is of the essence of the Church to be visible your Church cannot be the true Church for it was not visible 200 years ago it was not visible say I since it was not at all Concerning this in the first place Don't you engage yourselves to maintain that the true Church is Invisible as if this point were necessary to defend your Cause and our Church that was hidden before the Reformation Your Converters quote many places of Scripture as Monsieur de Meaux has done in his Instructions to Mademoiselle de Duras to prove to you that the Church is a visible Society Tell them that is to no purpose for we are at an Agreement therein with them They may quote unto you many of our Doctors who have maintained that the true Church was Invisible But know my Brethren that this is nothing but a Dispute about Words and that we are at an accord with them in the sence of the thing Our Divines mean that the true Members of the Church are Invisible and not that the Society in which the true Members of the Church are is Invisible This is true the true Members of the Church are Invisible for there are none but true Believers that are true Members of the Church If you hear my voice then are you my Disciples indeed Now true predestinated Believers are visible as Men but they are not visible as Believers for no body sees true Faith 't is in the heart and the actions which appear without may be equivocal But the Society where these true Members are is visible for 't is a Society of Men that serve God according to his Word and Laws this is visible Understand this by the example of a Man he hath a body and a soul but the body in which this soul is is visible True Believers are the soul of the Church that is invisible the body of the Church is the external Society and that is visible Therefore as you may say of a Man that he is visible and invisible invisible with respect to his soul visible with respect to his body so it may be said concerning the Church that she is visible and invisible invisible with respect to her soul which is true Faith and true Believers visible with respect to the Society in which this soul i.e. these true Believers are enclosed This is so clear and evident that your Converters cannot dis-allow it Behold already one point of Sophistry made void The Church is visible be it so as a Man is visible After this if they inquire of you Is this visible Church the Body of Jesus Christ Distinguish and tell them She is the Body of Jesus Christ forasmuch as she contains in herself truly righteous persons and true Believers but not because she encloses wicked hypocritical and vitious persons For 't is impossible that these persons should be the Body of Jesus Christ otherwise Jesus Christ would have rotten and stinking Members otherwise Dogs Swine c. would be in the Communion of Jesus Christ Now this is absurd for if any one have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his and there can be no communion between light and darkness Christ and Belial So that a Christian which hath nothing but a simple Profession and neither Vertue nor Charity a Lover of the Word in the Christian Society is no true Member of Jesus Christ or his
will always teach with these Pastours i.e. they must be Infallible I intreat you my Brethren to attend to what I shall say concerning these three Consequences 1. These Gentlemen suppose that the Church cannot be perpetual and perpetually visible without being pure and without continuing pure and exempt from corruption in the Faith. The Church is always visible therefore pure preaching must always remain there Can a man argue more pitifully 't is just as if I should say Whilst Man hath a Soul in his Body he must be always sound and hail as if Health were inseparable from Life Where have they found that Purity with respect to Faith is in separable from Visibility And because the Church is always visible doth it follow that she is always sound if the nature of the Church consisted in an indivisible point and in that certain state of purity of Faith in which there was no kind of Errors t is true the Church would perish cease to be and by consequence to be visible as soon as the Christian Doctrine should come to be mingled with any Doctrine that is strange and forreign thereto And indeed 't is the supposition of your Converters But 't is the most foolish Dream that ever entered into the mind of Man the most contrary to the Word of God and Experience that ever was asserted The most contrary to the Scripture for the Scripture says That there shall be in the Church thorns and thistles mingled with the good grain Wolves will creep in and destroy the flock That there must be heresies That men will build upon the foundation wood bay stubble And that even the Son of perdition will sit in the Church and Temple of God. The most contrary to Experience for for the space of 1300 or 1400 years which way soever we cast our Eyes we behold Christianity every-where spoiled by false and strange Doctrines Lay down this therefore as a thing indisputable that the Church must be always visible that she must always subsist but not that she must always subsist pure and underfiled The Church began to be corrupt considerably in the fourth Age and in two Ages the Corruption became such that Antichristianity which is the highest degree of the corruption of Christianity proceeded and came out from thence But in the midst of this great Corruption Christianity nevertheless preserved it self it remained very visible and by consequence the Church also continued visible for yet once more the Church remains every-where where Christianity remains and the Church remains visible every-where where Christianity remains yisible Remember-therefore that Popery is a very high and extream Corruption of Christianity but 't is not the Annihilation of it for we must well distinguish betwixt Annihilation and extream Corruption of it If the Church of Rome had rejected the Foundations as the Turks and the Socinians have done she would have been no more visible than as a dead Body is visible But because she hath only added an infinite number of false Doctrines superstitious and idolatrous whilst she hath retained Fundamentals she hath only corrupted Christianity But Christianity in the midst of these Corruptions hath not failed to remain visible to those which search after it with diligence and attention Imagine you an Egg not broken which swims in dirty and stinking water 't is the perfect Emblem of the Roman Religion The Egg whole and not broken is the Christian Creed preserved in its integrity in the sense of the Church The filthy and stinking Water where this Egg swims is the heap of Superstitions Errors and Idolatries of Popery The Egg remains visible in the midst of this filthy Water and even the opposition of the blackness of the Mire to the whiteness of the Egg make it in some sort more visible The Body of Christianity is also visible in the heap of Popish Errors and to him that will give attention thereunto it may be said that the true Christianity which doth continue in the Roman Religion serves to discover and make the ugliness of Popery more horrible The Mud and the stinking Water which encompasseth this Egg is visible as well as the Egg. 'T is the light of the day which manifests the one and the other The Corruption introduced by Popery in the Roman Religion is visible as well as Christianity 'T is the light of the day i.e. the light of the Word of God which manifests both for the Word of God manifests Christianity in the Romish Religion by the fair conformity of the three Creeds that of the Apostles that of Nice and of Athanasius with the Revelation This same word manifests Antichristianity the Mud and the Dirt of Popery by the frightful dissimilitude and unlikeness which is between Popery and Revelation It seems to me that he must be very blockish not to perceive all this and not to see that the Church may always endure and always be even visible although it be not necessary that she always continue in perfect Purity But nevertheless there is in the first consequence of your Converters some truth which serves for a foundation to that gross Illusion which they would put upon you They say The Church is always visible therefore pure Preaching must always continue there If the meaning be 't is of necessity that something of pure Preaching do always remain there yea and that the essential parts of true Preaching remain there 't is true for if the Fundamentals and essential parts of Christianity were not there there were no Church there Moreover 't is true that in Popery in the Religion of the Greeks in the Oriental Communions the Cophtis the Nestorians and the Armenians pure Preaching doth continue as to the Fundamentals of the Creed which make the Essence of Christianity But it doth not follow at all that Preaching must necessarily remain there wholly pure and incorrupt Not being able to proceed at this time to the examination of the two last consequences which your Converters draw from the perpetual visibility of the Church I will conclude by answering a Question which they put unto you and which it may be you put unto your selves Can a man be saved in Communions which you compare to a great Bason full of Dirt and stinking Water in which swims a good Egg clean and in its integrity This respects those who desire to save themselves in the Roman Church because she retains the Egg the Creed of Christians in its perfection You may well think that we should have a great many things to say to them if we would say all and were willing to repeat what we have said concerning it in our Seventeenth Letter But in this place I shall only answer to them That it does not follow that a man may be saved in a Communion which retains the Egg of Christianity whilst he swims in the Dung which compasses the Egg and nourishes himself with it a man plunged in a hideous Mire which receives the stinking dirt by his
to have been done by the Reliques of St. Stephen in Africa those of St. Martyn in France and those of the Anacorites in Egypt and Syria Not to enter into a long dispute on the subject of this pretended mark of the Church of Rome I answer three or four things briefly to which I pray give attention 1. That this pretended fountain of light fit and proper to make the Church of Rome visible is not for the simple and unlearned For to see the bottom and solidity thereof they must examine the History of the pretended Miracles which were done in the fourth and fifth Ages They must see what we have said in opposition to it they must examine circumstances and see if there be not reason to believe that all these stories of Miracles are either frauds or fictions They must also examine by History whether these pretended Prodigies of Sanctity be not either Fables or the disorders of sick and melancholick minds They must therefore be able to understand Latin and Greek and to read great and large Volumes To offer this as a light sutable to the capacity of the weak and unlearned is to scoff and deride them 2. I say that the Miracles of the Apostles which are certain and the Prodigies of the Sanctity of the three first Ages does not appertain by right of succession to the Church of the fourth and fifth Age but as far as she inherits the Doctrine of the Apostles These Miracles were good to prove the Divinity of the Christian Religion to Pagans But they are worth nothing to prove Novelties as are the Invocation of Saints and the Worship of Reliques which are purely Pagan Practices With far greater reason the Church of Rome hath no right by succession to the Miracles of the Apostles to prove her Worship her Idolatries and Superstitions We have as much right as she to these Miracles They are truly and properly our Miracles They are good for us all in common against the ungodly and against Infidels to prove that there is one God in three Persons that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and the true Redeemer of the World. But they are nothing to prove our Additions our Corruptions and our Alterations if it be so that either the one or the other of the Christian Sects whether Popery or Calvinism have introduced them into the Church This is clear the Miracles of the Apostles appertain not to us but as far as we have and do inherit their Doctrine 3. As to the Miracles of the fourth and fifth Age which were done in the times when they prayed to Saints and worshipped Reliques we say that they were false Miracles It is to be observed that from the death of the Apostles until the end of the fourth Age nothing was spoken of Miracles in the Church or so little and in so doubtful a manner that it doth not deserve to be reckoned for any thing but when the Devil desired to set up the Worship of Creatures he poured out a Spirit of Lying and a Spirit of Credulity which began to entertain discourses of Miracles 'T is a thing of importance press your Converters thereon Why did these Miracles cease for the space of well nigh two hundred Years or at least why were they so rare And why did they begin again exactly at the time when the Worship of Reliques grew famous Do we not see clearly that 't is a Wile of the Devil Hath God any interest to serve by Bones and Ashes was it necessary that he should begin again to do Miracles at that time And if it were of use to perswade the truth of the Religion which the Martyrs declared to the Pagans why did not God work Miracles by the Bones of the Martyrs for the first three Ages This had been much more profitable than when Paganism was rampant and the Church persecuted and oppressed Wherefore did not the Bones of Polycarpus of whom the believers of Smyrna speak with so much love work miracles Why did not so many Martyrs whose Reliques they had and whose Anniversaries they observed in the time of St. Cyprian work signs and wonders your Converters will never be able to answer this be you therefore perswaded that these pretended Miracles done by the Reliques of St. Stephen St. Gervais St. Protais St. Martyn c. were Illusions of the Devil whom God permitted to work false Miracles or the Cheats of Villains and lewd Superstitionists or to conclude Stories of the Vulgar and Fables which honest men received as Truths upon hear-say And as to the Miracles which are ascribed to the Anacorites of Aegypt and Syria I know not how Mr. Nicholas is not ashamed to draw from them a Light to make his Church visible They are Fables for the most part so gross that the Falseness of them stares in the face of the most Ignorant The Lives of St. Paul the Hermite of Hilarion and others written by St. Jerome that of St. Antony composed as they say by Athanasius are written with so little modesty and judgment that a man ought to be ashamed of them The judicious Readers that would preserve respect for the Authors of those Lives say that the Fathers composed them not as Histories but as pious Romances to divert Christians from reading the Pagan Fables We see in the Lives of those solitary persons of the Desart such as found Centaurs in the Woods Satyrs Men half Horses and half Goats who spake to them and prayed them to intreat the common Saviour to have pitty on them and to give them part in the common Salvation with them We see Hermites-which were in perpetual contests with the Devil always tempted and often beaten by him We see them which herded among the Beasts We there read in one word almost all the Impertinencies of our new Legends This makes it evident that the Fabulous Spirit entred into Christian Religion as soon as the Spirit of Superstition and Idolatry 4ly I say that although it should be true that these Miracles wrought in the Age of the establishment of the Worship of Saints and Reliques should be true Miracles it would not be a Light for the Roman Church any more than for the Greek who also worship Saints and Reliques 'T is therefore needful that we have Miracles from the Church of Rome since she was separate from the Greek Church and that it appear this Gift of Miracles is departed from all other Churches to affix itself to the Church of Rome Now the Greek Schismaticks have their Saints their Legends and their Miracles as well as the Latine Church Besides we do maintain that all the Miracles of the Church of Rome those of St. Bernard as well as others are Legendaries Tales or Illusions of the Evil Spirit 5ly To conclude I do maintain that every person who hath no other support of his Faith but Miracles is a false Believer I have said it elsewhere Miracles are not designed principally to prove Truth they are appointed above
of Rome was mystick Babylon that she was a famous Harlot that she was a debaucht Adulteress that her Pastors were Dogs and Swine This was true There was nothing in the World so corrupt as the Roman Clergy Rome is Babylon and all her Members are the Inhabitants of Babel Was this a time to speak things by halves What reason had they to flatter Rome Ought they not to paint her in all her Colours that they might make her odious If it had been possible to exceed in the description of her that had been more pardonable than the tenderness of those who abate her ugliness by their smooth and soft Pencils It was then expedient to awaken men who were in so deep a sleep and in order thereunto 't was necessary to speak loud And after all these Gentlemen have but little reason to reproach us with the Violences and Injuries of Luther and Calvin against the Church of Rome that is little in comparison with the Rage which that Church has exercis'd against us The Calvinists call the Papists Idolaters and Swine and the Papists returning a thousand Injuries more severe add thereunto Cruelties unknown to Pagans and the most barbarous Nations They burnt them by a slow fire they hanged and quartered them they caused them to die in Prisons by unheard-of punishments they hunted after them as after Lions and Bears Although there should have been something humane in the heat of our first Reformers had it been very surprizing that men whom they burnt which they rent and tore in pieces should grow into some little choler against their Persecutors Let the present Conduct of those who at this day would form a prejudice in the minds of the New Converts on the occasion of the transport and heat of our Reformers be lookt into and examined These Gentlemen have addressed Pastoral Letters unto us with a Quill dipt in Gall and afterwards have sheathed their Swords in our breasts and bowels They condemn to death those who exercise any other Religion but that of Rome They drag the Bodies of those to the Dung-hill who die refusing to embrace their Doctrine They send those to the Gallies who will not submit unto it They cause those who will not subscribe to their Superstitions to be burnt torn in pieces eaten up and devoured by their Dragoons Those who resist them by the Weapons of the Word of God they sent for Slaves into the other World. And after this they tell you your pretended Reformers were violent and passionate persons they could not be the Messengers of God for God is Love and Kindness Tell them on this subject you cannot be the Ministers of God for you do the Work of the Devil and the Father of Lies who was a Lyer and a Murderer from the beginning But behold a new Accusation founded on this that the Authors of our Separation poured out their Gall not only against the Roman Church but also against their own Brethren The Popish Authors of all Orders take a great deal of pleasure in heaping together all the injuries which the Lutherans and Calvinists have said against each other and they have found therein the marks of Reprobation On this subject we have answered That we condemn these transport that we acknowledge them opposite to a Spirit of Charity We say that the Authors of our Separation did not utterly strip themselves of all that was Humane that they did retain some tinctures of Popery from whence they came which were blemishes and spots in their conduct and conversation Impatience fury and transport against those who oppose themselves to their sentiments and contradict them is the Spirit of Popery and particularly that of the Monks This is certain for which reason the Romish Church treats all her Enemies as Devils damned reprobate excommunicated Hereticks Let a man read the History of Popery and he will see these furies reigning every-where let him observe what bloody and cruel Tragedies the Monks stirred up a little before the Reformation on subject of the form of their Hoods and of the Question concerning the property of those Commodities and Goods which the Friers Minors spent The thing proceeded even to fire for the Popes caused some of these poor Monks to be burnt who obstinately maintained that what the Minors spent was not their own What is the injustice of the Inquisition against those who are guilty of the least contradictions to the sentiments of Rome Let a man read the Furies of the Popes when they had Opposites and Antipopes Let him read the frightful Bulls of Excommunications against Kings Princes States and persons who had the boldness to oppose themselves against the torrent of Corruption and the attempts of Tyranny 'T is from thence that the impatience and passion into which the Reformers fell against one another in the maintaining their sentiments did derive 'T is from the same tincture of Popery that some of them took those harsh methods of procedure which they believed they might take against Hereticks So that if these transports and this impatience of suffering with respect to their Brethren hath been in our Reformers a mark of Reprobation 't is unavoidable that the Roman Church is reprobate and the Synagogue of Satan for 't is she that inspired this Spirit into those which came out of her bosom We say also that in all Ages men have been made much after the same fashion they have grown into heat and transport one against another upon very light occasions even to the making of scandalous Schisms The Bishops assembled in the Council of Nice to condemn the Doctrine of Arrius tore one another and gave Libels to Constantine to ruine each others reputation Constantine to reconcile them thought it convenient to throw their Papers into the fire without reading them We learn from the Writings of Athanasius that the Orthodox who agreed in the sence of the Doctrines against Arrius disagreed among themselves about the words Substance Persons and Hypostasis some being willing it should be said there were three Hypostases in the Deity others saying That it was an Heresie because it was to make three Gods. The Luciferians who with all the Church were enemies to the Arrians suffered themselves to run into the highest passions against those who were willing to receive the Arrian Bishops and permit them in their Sees after their repentance The Controversies of St. Cyril of Alexandria and St. Chrysostome who called each other Traytors and Judases have been already quoted to these Gentlemen Examples of this sort taken from the most happy Ages and such as were nearest to the fountain of Charity have been quoted to them as the transport of Stephen Bishop of Rome who treated St. Cyprian as a false Christ a false Apostle and a deceitful Worker St. Cyprian and Firmilian the Adversaries of St. Stephen on the oother hand said concerning him That he was wicked obstinate presumptuous proud inhumane bold insolent schismatical foolish inept blind and smitten