set aside let them produce you another Was there therefore no Saints in these Ages Had they no Martyrs Why did they not invoke the Apostles that had newly received their Crowns Why did they then neglect the Intercession of the Virgin Was it that her Credit was not well established in Heaven at that time and that she wanted time to obtain the Empire which at this day she possesses But why have the Authors of this Age been so impudent to say that they adore God alone and that they adore none but He Justin Martyr says speaking of Jesus Christ He hath taught us that we must adore but one only God when he said This the great commandment thou shalt worship God and him only shalt thou serve Apol. 2. And a little after having quoted those other words of Jesus Christ Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods He adds 't is for this reason that we adore but one only God. And as to what concerns you we give you our Services with gladness in all other things Let not your Eyes be dazled by crafty Tricks upon the word Adore as if Justin Martyr spake of Soveraign Adoration which they give to none but God according to your Converters for you ought to be advertised that he serves himself of the word Proskunoumen which signifies all sorts of Worship and Religious Service A word which signifies properly to prostrate our selves and wherewith the second Council of Nice serves it self when it appoints the Worship of Images So the sense is We do not prostrate our selves we do not give any Religious Worship but to God. See if they can say so at this day in the Church of Rome Theophilus of Antioch and Author of the same Age says * Lib. 1. ad Autol. The King will not that they call those Kings which command under him For King is his name and it is not permitted to another to take it So it is not permited to adore any other but God. St. Ireneus Bishop of Lyons speaking of the God which gave the Law †Lib. 5. cap. 22. It is he alone to whom the Disciples of Jesus Christ ought to perform worship c. And a little after The Law commands us to praise the Creator and serve him alone But hear a Testimony which will instruct you sufficiently concerning the opinions and practice of that Age about it They are the Acts of the Martyrdom of St. Polycarpus Bishop of Smyrna After the death of this Holy Bishop ⸫ Euseb lib. 4. cap. 15. his Church writ to that of Pontus an excellent Letter which is one of the most precious monuments that we have of Primitive Antiquity In this Letter the Believers of Smyrna having reported all the circumstances of the death of Polycarpus their Bishop say that the Devil used endeavours that our Brethren might not obtain his body which many among us did very much desire to the end they might participate of that sacred body Some therefore suggested to Nicetas Father of Herod and Brother of Dalces to go find out the Proconsul to advise him not to give us the body for fear say they that having abandoned Christ the Christians may come to Worship him it was at the suggestion of the Jews and at their pressing sollicitation that these Men thus represented the matter For they were the Jews that observed our Brethren when they endeavoured to take the body from the Pile of Wood. Fools which know not that we can never forsake Jesus Christ who hath suffered death for all those that must be saved nor serve any other For we Adore him as the Son of God and as for the Martyrs we love them and are kind to them as Disciples and imitators of the Lord because of the great love which they have shewn to their King and Master and we wish to be their Associates and fellow Disciples The Centurion therefore seeing the obstinacy of the Jews caused the body to be burnt upon the place according to the custom After which we gathered together his Bones more precious than the most precious Stones and more pure than Gold and laid them up in a convenient place In which place if it be possible for us and God permit it we will hold our Assemblies to Celebrate with joy and gladness the Birth day of his Martyrdom in memory of those who have undergone this glorious Combat and to instruct and confirm our descendents by such an example The passage is altogether such as we would wish for we there see all which we search after and what was the Religion of the ancient Christians with respect to Relicks and Saints and from whence began the Superstition and Idolatry which after appeared in the World. First of all you see that in the second Age they served no other but God we serve no other but God. Secondly That the Worship given to the Martyrs was a Worship of love and simple imitation we love them and have a kindness for them These people had lost all sense not to have added and we pray to them if so be they had them prayed to the Martyrs Thirdly That they had no regard to the merits of Saints and Martyrs nor did they pray to God to make us partakers of them we wish to be their Companions and fellow Disciples They might as easily have said as they say now adays we desire to be made partakers of their merits Fourthly That they did not assemble at the Tombs of the Martyrs that they might invocate and serve them but only with design to celebrate the Birth-day of their Martyrdom and the memory of their Sufferings It is an amazing stupidity not to have added and to recommend our selves to their prayers and intercession if any such thing had been in use Fifthly That they did not rend the Bodies of Martyrs in pieces nor distribute their Bones to fill Reliquaire's For they took the bones of Polycarpus and laid them in a convenient place that is to say they laid them honorably in a Tomb. In all this we see the innocence of the worship of the ancient Christians But in that which follows we see the first bloomings from whence afterward proceeded Idolatry 1. We see here an excessive love which Christians did shew towards the bodies of Martyrs they say that they are more precious than the most precious Stones and more pure than the purest Gold. 2. They assembled upon their Tombs and their burying places served them as Temples not simply through necessity for they might have assembled more conveniently in Houses but because they believed those places more Holy and more proper to excite Devotion because of the memory of the Martyrs 3. They Consecrated certain days to remember the Passion day of the Martyrs Indeed they did not Invoke or Pray to them but nevertheless this was done in their honor as we Celebrate the Birth-day of a Prince to whom we give no kind of
flames before they gave up the ghost they were made to live by skill and art in the most cruel torments sometimes many days and sometimes many weeks together and never did one word of murmuring or impatience escape from them they prayed for their Hangmen they gave Thanks to God they sung his Praises and to their last breath called upon his Name When they tell you at this day If your Religion were true you would adhere more closely unto it answer them If our Religion had been false they had never had so invincible an Adherence to it and so strong a Passion for it nor had they ever suffered death for the defence of it or if there have been some heady persons that have maintained their Opinions with obstinacy even to punishment and death their pains and death hath not been accompanied with an humility so profound a patience so exemplary a love and sweetness so perfect a zeal so ardent a piety so pure and undefiled a submission so entire a joy so firm solid bright and shining The Spirit of Lies and Delusions doth not produce such effects These are the Characters of the Spirit of God they are the effects of Grace and of that Grace that is not given to Reprobates and Martyrs of falshood and imposture My Brethren these Objects are at a distance they are behind you and you will find some difficulty in reflecting on them but you will find none in considering those that are before your eyes they are sufficient to defend you against the scandal of that Facility wherewith they reproach you and wherewith they affirm that your Brethren have forsaken their Religion Oppose thereunto above one hundred thousand persons that have left the Realm within the space of one year last past without counting almost as many more that have forsaken it within twenty years that this Persecution hath continued tho not in its height and rage There are among them those that have forsaken all those things which are called Goods Honours Ease and the convenient Accommodations of Life certainly they did not find it a thing so easie to enter with a satisfied mind into the bosom of the Roman Church Oppose thereunto more than forty thousand Prisoners that are in the Goals and Cloisters of the Realm which chuse to suffer all sorts of miseries and calamities there rather than to embrace the Popish Religion Oppose thereunto Persons of Quality such are the Marquess of Bordage condemned to the Galleys and afterwards to perpetual Imprisonment the Marquess of Musse who every day expects the same condemnation the Marquess of Rochegade and the Gentlemen his Sons the Marquess of Cagni Monsieur Beringhen and all his Family the Marquess of Lunge the Marquess of the Isle of Gast who is in the Citadel of Anger 's and an infinite number of other Gentlemen who prefer the Galleys or a Prison before the pleasure to which the Bishop of Meaux invites them that is of rejoining themselves to that Church in which their Fathers served God. Oppose thereunto a considerable number of Martyrs and Confessors whereof some are in Dungeons that are really the Images of Hell they being deep obscure dark and a hundred feet under ground such are the Reformed of Diepe Haure and other places which are in the Prisons of Aumale of whom we shall be able to tell you particular stories at some other time Add to these more than six hundred persons that are now actually in the Galleys for their Religion This is no hyperbolical Computation but one made by a Roman Catholick a maritime Officer now living at Marseilles we have his Letter and without naming him we shall be able to produce it at a convenient season behold a line or two thereof at present Here are six hundred Gally-slaves of the Religion called Protestant who by their patience move compassion from the most hard-hearted and unpitiful of their Officers The number of them must needs be augmented since that time for the Letter was dated from Marseilles the 27th of June 1686. that is to say more than two months since and without doubt there are more arrived there 'T is newly reported that at this time there are to the number of two thousand some say four thousand in that miserable state and case The famous Monsieur Lewis of Marolles Advocate of Stemenehaud was not then arrived there for he parted not from Paris with the other Prisoners under the same condemnation with himself till the 20th of July and came not to Dijon till the 30th of the same Month from whence at last he arrived at Marseilles laden with a Chain of fifty pound weight about his neck and a violent Fever which never left him during the time of that sad Journey He is a Confessor of Jesus Christ which all Paris beheld at the ‖ Tournello loaden with Chains of an extraordinary weight A Court of Judicature in Paris and also a Prison and preaching in the midst of his Irons All France have their eyes turned upon him as on the greatest example of Courage Piety and tenderness of Conscience that this Age hath seen We shall one day give you the History of his Confession and make you to understand his Sentiments by his own Letters where you will see the Spirit and Character of the ancient Martyrs He is one of our most illustrious Confessors but he is not alone God raises up others every day as you shall learn hereafter The same Sea-Officer that wrote from Marseilles that there were already six hundred Gally-slaves of the Reformed Religion there adds 'T is fifteen days since that Monsieur de Lezan a Gentleman of Quality was condemned to the Gallies being accused and convicted of having been at a Meeting The day after many persons were put to the Rack to oblige them to accuse some men of Name These unhappy Wretches endured both the ordinary and extraordinary Rack with such a constancy as affrighted the Judges and softned the Spirit of the Hangman to that degree that the chief Magistrate was forced to stand over him with a Cane to oblige him to turn the Wheel Behold here truth in matters of fact which can never be doubted seeing they are attested by a person of a contrary Religion who is upon the place and in the Country where these cruelties are committed Behold Confessors which make it apparent that the Church of Rome does not find it a thing so facile as the Bishop of Meaux reports it to cause the Reformed to enter into their Communion Behold Examples of Constancy that are worthy of your most attentive Consideration Death is more easie to be endured than the ordinary and extraordinary Rack and those illustrious Confessors do well deserve the Title of Martyrs But will you oppose to that Facility which your Converters find and whereof they make an Argument to draw you into the Roman Religion will you I say oppose to your Seducers Martyrs in all forms Oppose to them Monsieur Teissier
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