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
them in pomp they kissed them and built Churches to them They prayed unto Saints they relyed upon their Intercession they put themselves under their protection To conclude as the time of the manifestation of the Man of Sin drew near and Christianity to be established all things moved to wards it with prodigious speed There was nevertheless a profound divine Providence which appeared then and deserves to be admired and to which we can never give sufficient attention Antichristianity which then advanced it self was not to ruine Christianity nor overturn the Foundations thereof It was to be built upon those Foundations which were to remain entire from Age to Age. To set these Foundations of Christian Religion in security God permitted that they should be violently assaulted by Hereticks and zealously defended by the Orthodox The Arrians denied the Eternal God-head of the Son the Macedonians that of the Holy Spirit the Nestorians gave him two Persons as well as two Natures that is to say they renewed the Heresie of Paulus Samosatenus and Photinus who made a simple or mere Man of Christ Jesus This is a thing which some Persons at this time have not well considered who excuse Nestorius and his Heresie It seems to me that 't is easie to comprehend that he which places a human Person in Christ makes of him a mere Man For if the joyning the Divine Nature be not made in a personal Union it can be no more than a Union of Grace and Assistance such as is that of inspired Men. The Eutychians by an opposite Error confound the two Natures All these Heresies gave opportunity for the clearing these matters and setting the Foundations of the Christian Religion in great light and in lovely order and fortifying them with the consent of all Christians This is it which produced divers Creeds besides that of the Apostles which is too general If Providence had not taken this care and precaution Antichristianity which came a great pace had entirely ruined the Christian Religion for besides these Fundamentals whereof God had taken care and set them in safety in three or four Ages their remained nothing else sound in the Church We will not therefore busie our selves in reckoning all the Changes which happened in Religion during these Ages that would carry us too far and would not be peradventure very profitable for you we will stay our selves only on the most considerable Innovations For example we ought not to forget that it was in the Fourth and Fifth Age that Monastick Life had its Original Those among the Doctors of the Roman Church which will grant us nothing make it descend from Elijab the Rechabites John the Baptist and the Apostles but this Opinion is so difficult to be maintained that I do not know whether at this day any Men of Learning which make any pretence to sincerity will deny that this kind of Life had Paul and Anthony for its first Authors who during the Persecutions of Dioclesian in the beginning of the Fourth Age or about the end of the Third withdrew themselves into the Desart of Thebais and were followed thither by many Men and there began that which they call the Eremetick Life It must be that this truth is plain in History since many Doctors of the Roman Religion notwithstanding the Interest they have to maintain the antiquity of this Institution do confess that it is but of the Third and Fourth Age. 'T is a long while since that * Polid. Virg. lib. Invent. 7. cap. 1. Polidore Virgil Bishop of Vrbin proved it and in our days Mr. d' Auteserre Professor of Law at Tholouse not only confesses it but proves it by the Testimonies of S. Hierome †Ascet lib. 1. cap. 7. Athanasius Chrysostome Cassian and Sozomon and indeed he must be ignorant in Antiquity or very knavish that will not own it and you may reckon this as a thing certain since 't is confessed by Popish Authors â—t this day and by S. Hierome who lived in the Age when Monkery had its original and who was one of the most zealous Lovers of Monastick Life that ever was 'T is true that in the preceding Ages the Fathers tell us of Virgins consecrated to God yea and of Men who preserved their Virginity and lived in a chaste Celibate to the end they might serve God with greater freedom but this hath nothing common with the Life of the Monks and Nuns of the present Age. These young Damosels were not cloystered it appears by S. Cyprian * Cyprian Epist 72. that they might marry when they pleased that they lived with their Friends or in their own Houses And even in the time of S. Jerome the most part of them were so little restrained that they made and received Visits they went to Weddings they were found at Feasts they went to the Baths they adorned themselves with the same Pride and the same Excess as did the Daughters of the World. Paul and Anthony having been driven by Persecutions into the Desarts did there first establish the Hermetick Life Afterwards they formed there some kind of Convents and Societies So they instituted in the Desart a kind of Cenobitick Life but this kind of Life received its most perfect Figure about the end of the Fourth Age by three Bishops whereof two were Hereticks and the third Orthodox one of these Hereticks was Marathon * Socr. lib. 2. cap. 3. Bishops of Nicomedia an Arrian and a Macedonian The other Heretick was Eustachius of Sebaste in Armenia a semi-Arrian deposed by the Arrians the eldest of all those who made Rules for the Cenobitick Life †Sozom. lib. 3. cap. 14. The Orthodox was S. Basil Bishop of Cesaria in Capadocia This last drew the Monks from the Desart under pretence of confuting the Arrians he formed Societies of them near Cities and gave them Rules 'T is he which the Greek Monks at this day acknowledg for their Author and there are no Monks of any other Order in the East but of that of S. Basil whereas in the West there is an infinity of Orders We doubt not many of those and these who in the beginning engaged themselves in this kind of Life did do it with a good intention yea and there led a Life eminently Holy But as God does not bless Institutions which respect Religion which are but humane we may observe that the Spirit of Darkness and we may say a Spirit of Malediction fell upon this Institution even from its beginning It was not above a hundred years after there had been discourse of Monks and Nuns but the Spirit of Fables and Legends had seized on their Societies S. Jerome hath left us the Life of Paul and Hilarion two Founders of the Monastick Life These Lives are written in good Latin but with so little judgment and truth that we may be ashamed thereof for the sake of so great a man. There is the Life of S. Anthony attributed to Athanasius which
he left behind him a matter which infected the Air When Birds were roasted and set upon the Table with signs of the Cross they made them fly away Another nourished a Child in a Desart by making him suck the clapper of a little Bell another hung his clothes upon the shaddow of a Tree or on a ray of the Sun as upon a Peg another made whole again a Basket of Eggs that had been broken another made a golden Cup of a pound of Butter another by sucking a leprous person drew from his Navel three great lunchions of fat matter whereof he made so many Ingots of Gold To conclude there are no Impeâ—tinencies nor ridiculous things which Popery doth not make its Saints to do and behold the History which they put in the place of the Evangelical Story As to what concerns Doctrine they speak but little of the August Misteries of Religion to the People such as are those of the Divine Attributes the Persons of the Trinity the Incarnation and Redemption of Christ Jesus These Misteries were laid by and neglected or if they spake any thing of them 't was after a Scholastical manner and method 't was by mingling with it a barbarous Philosophy of entities and quiddities with obscure and unintelligible distinctions 't was by raising foolish questions on the subject of the most venerable Mysteries For example Whether God could make matter without form whether he could command sin whether this proposition God is a Beetle or a Gourd could be as true as this God is a Man whether the number of three Persons in God ought to be referred to the first or second intentions whether the second Person in the Trinity could take the nature of a Devil or of an Ass as he took the nature of Man The Books which contain these fine questions are not yet destroyed At least they entertain people with the false Doctrines of Popery Instead of speaking to them of the efficacy of the venerable Sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the Cross they speak nothing to them but of the greatness and utilities of the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar called the Mass It was good for every thing for the sound and for the sick to cure all diseases for Travellers for those who undertook great things to find Silver Horses Asses and Hogs that were lost 'T was good for the Dead as well as for the Living 't was excellent to fetch Souls from Purgatory or to abate their Sufferings for which reason they could not tell how to say too many for that purpose 100. 200. 300. 1000. 2000. 3000. 4000. and all with design to draw by this practice Maintenance for a million of Sluggards who have nothing to live upon but these Masses Instead of exalting the divine Vertue of the Bloud of Jesus Christ they spoke nothing but of Purgatory of a certain Fire which was to burn Souls after Death but of what sort of Men of those who had not made pious Foundations who had not left great Revenues to Convents and who had not left great Alms to the Monks to say Masses And upon this account they had always some Soul in pickle which came from Purgatory bringing News from thence who desired Masses and Suffrages and who complained lamentably that his Friends had forsaken him Amongst the means of appeasing the wrath of God true repentance which consists in contrition and amendment of life was passed over very lightly But they insisted mightily upon Satisfactions Mortifications Whippings hair Cloaths and Pilgrimages they advanced the value of these things they spake of them with prodigious Excesses and ascribed Salvation wholly to them And because all the World were desirous to be saved but few were capable of these hard penances they found out ways more easie and commodious If you give money to a Monk he will whip himself for you and you shall go to Heaven for him If you give great Alms to a Convent of the Frior Minors or the Preachers or the Augustines or the Carmelites if you take the Cord-girdle or the Rosary of the Fraternity and bestow great bounty and liberality on them and get the Letters of Adoption of St. Francis or St. Dominick by these means you partake in the merit i. e. in all the scourgings and macerations of the Monks of that Order scattered all the World over For greater security they have established a lovely good and inexhaustible Treasure of Indulgencies made up of all the superabundant scourgings of the good Monks mingled with the infinite merit of the passion of Jesus Christ And from this Treasure the Bishops and the Popes as Soveraign Dispensers fetch Indulgencies and Remission for all Sins for 40000 years for a 100000 years for 500000 years and all this by paying well for it So that if a man had committed so many enormous Crimes that they could not be expiated under less than 500000 years pennance he becomes discharged of them in a moment by his Money And there was no distinction of Sins Incests Adulteries Paricides Sodomies Brutalities all fell under the grace of Indulgencies Instead of abasing man before God by speaking nothing to him but of Grace and the forgiveness of sins instead of saying to him perpetually you are saved by Grace through Faith which is the Gift of God instead of making him understand that his good Works could merit nothing before God because they were very imperfect instead say I of doing all this they endeavoured to fill man with himself they spake nothing to him but of the merits of his Works and of the profitableness of humane satisfactions They made him believe that above all in matter of satisfactions he could do more than he was obliged unto that he had merit remaining and that he did works of supererogation and there are found even in this age devout persons so foolish and proud as to say to their Friends that they will give them their Merits They never speak any thing to them but of their power of their free will of their good works of their merits of the crowns which are prepared for them above others And above all these works to which they affix these Crowns are not prayers devotions severe Morals or holy lives Charity and alms to the poor But they are sack-cloaths and hare-cloaths 't is to shut themselves up in Covents and there make vow of Virginity 't is to abstain from certain Meats 't is to live in Retirement without seeing or speaking to any one 't is to wear a Frock without a Shift With this Furniture of good Works these men look on Heaven as an Inheritance by full Right and according to all the Laws and Rigour of Justice And for other men these pretended righteous persons full of pharisaical pride lookt on them with a great contempt by saying Come not near me for I am Holy. Instead of instructing men in the true way of possessing and uniting ourselves to Christ Jesus they have invented a carnal and corporeal
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
Banville the best Voice of our Church whose back was near the Crucifix remained there as dead and was there a long time without feeling sight or knowledge it is not known whether he can be recovered for they say to day that all his back is burnt and that he vomits his entrails The Gentlemen of the Chapter take all possible care of him As it was the first Thursday of the Month immediately after the Mass of the Sacrament the Church was extreamly full very many swoon'd and were carried off without knowledge The Church appeared for sometime all on a fire and filled with a thick black smoak and a very stinking savour It would take more time than I have to make you an exact Picture of our Misfortunes I was in the Chapter-house upon the Tower close by the place where the Thunder fell I thought it necessary to write to my Lord of St. Malo at Beignon five Leagues from hence to have his Orders and Advice upon this whole matter Our Express went thither in a few hours and my Lord came hither on Horse-back with two or three only of his men where a great and famous Procession was prepared against the Afternoon at which all the body of the Religions were to attend at three of the Clock Behold the Advertisements which God has given us which afford fair occasion for Reflections Adieu I am wholly yours About two hundred years ago the Thunder fell nigh the same place It is not safe in this Age to entertain the Publick with Prodigees and yet much less to draw Consequences and Presages thence nevertheless this speaks so loud that he must be as deaf as a rock that hears not The Thunder almost without any Tempest falls into the Church attacks the Images breaks the Crucifix goes directly to three Priests saying Mass at three different Altars burns the Ornaments of the Altars consumes the Blood of Jesus Christ as they call it in one of the Chalices overturns the other imprints the mark of a Pistol-shot on the Pattin kills the most famous Singer fills the Church with a most horrible stink Behold enough it needs no Commentary Mr. Simon had reason to say that these are Advertisements from God which give fair occasion for Reflections We desire these Gentlemen at the same time to do so upon that which happened at Paris upon Corpus-Christi day which we will report also as it hath been written by an infinite number of persons The last Corpus-Christi day in this Year 1687. in most places it was as calm as any Summer-day could be On the contrary it was very tempestuous almost throughout all France they could not make their Processions at Montpellier and other places of Languedoc because of the Rain And the same Tempest was also at Paris The Sacrament being brought out of the Church of St. Saviour had not gon far when the Wind or a Blow from Heaven smote down the Pix or Box in which the consecrated Host was carried to the ground It fell into the Water and Dirt the Vessel opened and the Host fell out and mingling with the Dirt was confounded and moistened by it And all the care which they could take to restore it by taking away the Dirt the Water and pieces of the Ground that stuck to it could not hinder it from suffering the utmost indignities Let him that please make Reflections I cannot forbear observing it as a visible Judgment from God and as a Presage In the greatest of the Popish Festivals in the greatest City where Bread-worship reigns in the going out of a Church which bears one of the Names of Jesus Christ and which ought not to be given to any thing but himself the Idol of Bread fell with its face on the ground and was buried in the Mire Behold a third Matter of Fact which is not less notorious it is the burning of the great Church of Rochel this Church was formerly the great Church of the Reformed They took it away from them after the Siege and taking of the City Every one knows that the day on which the Inhabitants made a Bon-fire the fire took hold on this large and fair Church none knows how nor where and that it was consumed the Lead was melted and all the Vaults burnt without being able to quench it there is something singular in the event the day and the occasion and 't is impossible not to see the finger of God therein God grant that it may signifie that the Life and Health of the King may not be so favourable to the Persecutors as they hope If you would have Matters of Fact like that of St. Malo behold here are some There happened one at God-derville in the Country of Caux upon Corpus-Christi day as the Inhabitants discharged their Muskets to the Honour of the Sacrament the fire took hold of some Houses and ran in such a manner that there was more than 80 burnt down On the third day of July the very same day that the Thunder fell upon the Church of St. Malo at Seven of the Clock at Night the Thunder likewise fell upon the Church of a Place called Pouille situated in Normandy carried away the Weather-cock from the Steeple entered into the Church and burnt all the Altars It also fell at Bâ—yeux in Lower Normandy upon a Steeple where it killed twenty five persons In the Suburbs of St. Gervas of Roan It carried away the Roof of a Garden-house belonging to the Curate of the Parish It must be confessed that the Thunder hath done much this Year to Churches and all things belonging thereunto After these notorious Matters of Fact which speak so loud it may be permitted us to report two others contained in a Memorial which was sent us from Poictou by a very honourable person The Memorial AT Jaseneuil in Poitou there happened this which follows while Mr. Marillac did such mischiefs in the said Province A Peasant by Name Bardon married to a Wife of the Roman Catholick Persuasion who pressed him vehemently to change his Religion meeting the Curate of the place in the Field suffered himself to be persuaded to go to Mass and to change his Religion Which when he had done he immediately repented thereof greatly as he said to one of his Neighbours whom he found as he returned home and being come to his House while his Spirit was in disorder instead of opening his Lock he hampered it in such sort that he was forced to send for a Locksmith to take it off when the Door was open he saw all the Chamber on fire and he crying out Fire five or six of his Neighbours ran with his Wife and altogether saw this miraculous Fire which filled all the Chamber and burnt nothing and in the end disappear'd This Man some days after fell sick praying God without ceasing that he would give him the grace that he might never return to the Mass and to this purpose that he would take him out of the World and
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
Martyrdom of M. Charpentier of Rufac in Angoulmois 16 Letter Concerning the Invocation of the Blessed Virgin It s Original and in what Age. An Answer to the New Converts about Schism The Martyrdom of M. Barbut at Nismes Confessours sent to the Western Isles A Letter of M. Guirant Confessor of Nismes The Martyrdom of M. Mollieres A false Alarm about a Massacre at Nismes 17 Letter Three Proofs of the Novelty of the Invocation of Saints An Answer to the New Converts about Schism The Martyrdom of M. du Cross Other Confessours M. Chantguion and Chemer Martyrs and Confessors of Vassey A Letter of Madam de V. The Confession of Jane Balle in the County of Charollois 18 Letter An Answer to Soulier the Priest about a pretended Conspiracy at Montpazier 19 Letter Concerning the Original of the Worship of Images The Corruption of the Head and Members in Popery did force and constrain our Separation M. Matthew de Durass a Confessor M. the Baron of Verliac and Madam his Wife sent to America and drowned A Letter from Cadez concerning the Confessours sent to the Islands 20 Letter Concerning the Sacrifice of the Mass in the fourth and fifth Ages A Description of the Corruption of Popery A Confession of M. de Cross his Doughters The famous Martyrdom of M. Menuret The Cruelties of Rapine The young Women Whipt 21 Letter The Faith of the fourth and fifth Ages about the Eucharist An Apology for our Reformers Father Paul the Venetian his Reasons why he did not break with the Church of Rome 22 Letter The Faith of the fourth and fifth Ages about the Eucharist Concerning the perpetual Visibility of the Church M. de Lalo M. de la Pierre M. de Saint Cross M. de Beauregard M. de Bardonnanche Confessors of Dauphine M. de Lis a Martyr of Dauphine 23 Letter The Sacrament was not Adored in the fourth and fifth Ages An Answer to the Confequences of the perpetual Visibility of the Church A Letter of the Vicar-General of St. Malo concerning the Effects of the Thunder which fell into the Church An Accident happening to the Host on Corpus Christi Day at Paris The Burning of the great Church at Rochel Thunder falling on divers Churches Confessours drowned at Martinique 24 Letter The Church of Rome hath neither Tradition nor Conformity with the Scripture which make it visible to the Vulgar Aug. 15th 1687. AN APPENDIX Containing A NARRATION OF THE WARS and SLAUGHTERS Occasioned by the Jesuits and Missionaries in Aethiopia FOR THE Promoting and Establishing their Religion there AND Some brief ACCOUNT OF THE Late Persecution in Hungary IN the beginning of the precedent Age James Alvarez a Priest of Portugal brought Letters from David the King of Aethiopia to Pope Clement the Seventh He found him at Bolonia with the Emperour Charles the Fifth and gave him those Letters which promised Obedience to him on the part of the King of Aethiopia This Promise of Homage coming from the South was very acceptably received by Clement the Seventh who saw all the West ready to revolt and shake off the Yoak of the Roman Church The Letters of King David to the Pope which are certainly very submissive are yet to be seen but at present the Aethiopians pretend that James Alvarez was an Impostor and a Cheat who falsified the Civilities of the Emperour and interpreted his Letters wholly otherwise than they signified in the Original because Obedience to the Pope and the Terms wherein they are expressed were utterly unknown in Aethiopia at that time John Bermudes came to Rome at the same time to desire assistance from the Pope against the Inhabitants of the Kingdom of Adel. The Pope received and treated him with great kindness and furnish'd the Abyssines which were at Rome with what was necessary for their entertainment and to imprint Bibles and Littanies in their own Language All these Civilities were so many Snares to make them fall by an intire submission to the Bishop of Rome and oblige them to embrace the Romish Religion Ignatius Loyola the Founder of the Order of Jesuits earnestly sollicited a Commission to go and labour in what they call the Conversion of this Great Empire He could not obtain it but it was given to John Barrett a Jesuit with the title of Patriarch of the Abyssines This Barrett took or received for a Companion Andrew Oviedo with the title of Bishop They both embarqued in Portugal for the Indies to the end that they might pass from thence into Aethiopia King Claudius had succeeded to David his Father The Patriarch and his Suffragan Bishop would not venture themselves with this new King without knowing of what spirit and humour he was They sent three Jesuits James Dias Goncal Rodrighes and Friar Fulgentius Freyra to get intelligence concerning him they came and were received with sufficient kindness by the King of Aethiopia But he learnt that the King of Portugal sent him these men and prepared others to instruct him and his people in the Roman Religion this affrighted him He stood in doubt a long time betwixt the fear that he had that these new Evangelists and Converters should trouble both Church and State and that of offending the King of Portugal of whose friendship he thought he had need He had divers Conferences with them the sum whereof on the part of the Portugese was That if the Abyssines would be saved they must acknowledge the Pope for the Vicar of Jesus Christ and submit to him under that Character and Title But the Abyssines answered That it was an Affair which could not be concluded without consulting the other Patriarchs At last King Claudius permitted that the other Priests of Portugal should come and promised to receive them kindly The Patriarch John Barrett nevertheless durst not hazard his Patriarchal Dignity upon the Word of the King. He continued in the Indies and sent the Bishop Andrew Oviedo accompanied with five Priests of that Society The King of Aethiopia received them very civilly and permitted them to perform Divine Offices according to the Roman Church yea it was permitted to all to joyn themselves to the Communion of the Church of Rome But Oviedo not content with that was very importunate with the King to oblige him to submit himself to the Pope He answered That his Ancestors had never acknowledged other Superiour in holy things than the Successors of St. Mark that is to say the Patriarch of Alexandria This is worthy of observation and makes it apparent that Alvarez exceeded his Commission when he came to yield obedience and submission to the Pope in the name of David the Father of Claudius For the Son could not have said that his Ancestors had never acknowledged any other than the Successors of St. Mark if very lately his Father had designed to submit to the Bishop of Rome and did actually do it Oviedo presses the business Claudias obstinately refuses At last he consented to Conferences in which the Jesuits had great