truly persecuted which you may perceive I can do no other way but by shewing that they suffer for Righteousness-sake for Religions sake for the Truths of the Gospel and in defence of the Gospel-Laws The case is really with them as it was with the Apostles and Primitive Christians they are under a necessity of disobeying the Supream Authority in not conforming to the Gallican Church because the Doctrine and Worship of it are plainly inconsistent with the Doctrines of the Gospel and the Evangelical Worship of God As for example the Gospel hath commanded us not to worship Angels as in Coloss 2.18 Let no man saith the Apostle deceive you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels And Rev. 19.20 when S. John fell at the Angel's feet to worship him See saith the blessed Spirit thou do it not for I am thy fellow-servant But the Gallican Church like all the rest of the Papal Communion Teacheth and Practiseth the worshipping of Angels and maketh solemn Invocations not only of the Angels and Archangels in general but of this and that Angel by their proper Names The Gospel plainly forbiddeth praying in an unknown Tongue because he that speaketh in a Tongue unknown to the People speaketh not unto man as the Apostle argues but unto God and the Air and he that so speaketh is a Barbarian unto the People because they know not the meaning of his voice yet notwithstanding all that is so expresly written upon this matter 1 Cor. 14. the Gallican Church useth Latin-offices and their publick Worship is all in Latin which the People do not understand The Gospel teacheth that as there is but one God so there is but one Mediator betwixt God and Man the man Christ Jesus to whom alone we must pray to make intercession for us to God but the Gallican Church prays to * Dom. quintâ post Epiph. ad poscenda suffragia Sanctorum Oratio in octavâ Sancti Steph. ut pro nobis Intercessor existat Saints and Angels and above all to the ‖ De Sanctâ Mariâ oratio in all their Masses ut qui verè eam genitricem Dei credimus ejus apud te intercessionibus adjuvemur Oratio in circumcisione Domini ut ipsam pro nobis intercedere sentiamus blessed Virgin to make intercession for them So that if her prayers were in the Mother-tongue the People could not joyn in Her worship without committing Idolatry against God and Blasphemy against Jesus Christ The Gospel assureth us that Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven and there sitteth at the right hand of God to make intercession for us and that he was once offered up for all and by one offering of himself perfected for ever them that are Sanctified but the Gallican like all other Popish Churches teacheth that he is bodily present and bodily offered up in the Sacrifice of the Masse and that his real flesh and bones are eaten when the consecrate Wafer is eaten and that the Hostie as they call the great Wafer which they expose and carry about is the * Urbanus VIII in his Preface before the Missal begins thus Si quid est in rebus humanis planè divinum quod nobis superni cives si in eos invidia caderet invidere possent id certè est SS Missae Sacrificium cujus beneficio sit ut homines quâdam anticipatione possideant in terris coelum dum ante oculos habent manibus contrectent coeli terraeque conditorem very Christ This they keep in a Box on purpose and on ‖ Especially the two Corpus Christi days called by the Gallican Church Festes de Dieu the Feasts of God solemn days carry it in Procession as the Pagans did their Idols to be adored and where ever it is met there the People must fall down and worship and wheresoever the Priest makes a stand there must prayers be offered up unto it as unto the very Christ The Heathens were never guilty of more gross and absurd Idolatry than this The worshipping of a Leek or an Onion or an head of Garlick as the Egyptians did is not more against common Sense and Reason than the worshipping of a Wafer the work of a Baker or Confectioners hand And then as to the Elements to be received in the holy Eucharist the Gospel saith expresly that at the Institution of it our Lord took bread and brake it and gave it to his Disciples saying Take eat this is my body likewise that he took the Cup saying Drink ye all of this for This is related in the same manner by S. Paul 1 Cor. 11. where he also saith Whosoever eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself Accordingly the Primitive universal Church administred it exactly after Christ's Institution as is evident out of * Ad Philadelph 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignatius ‖ Apol. 2. Justin Martyr c. And all succeeding Ages followed this Primitive practice and still doth follow it throughout the * Cassand do Sacra Com. universal Church except the Church of Rome which began above Five Hundred years since to take away the Cup from the People for fear O superstitious Souls that they should spill the Bloud Yet the Gallican Church for all her fine pretences to Liberty still continues so strictly Popish that she deprives her People of the Cup although the Saviour she pretends to worship Proleptically speaking of this holy Sacrament saith Whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath Eternal Life What shall I say of the abominable Doctrines of Supremacy Infallibility and Purgatory which she alloweth with all the practices that follow thereupon and of her Image-worship and Cross-worship Crucifix worship not to mention her Ceremonies which for their number are intolerable and for their nature such as vilifie pollute and deprave the worship of God These are the things which make our French Brethren dissent from the publick establishment There is a plain opposition betwixt the Doctrines and Worship set forth in the Gospel and the Doctrines and worship of the Gallican Church They cannot conform unto it nor live in the Communion of it and be true to the Gospel nor obey their Prince in this particular because Obedience unto him would be Disobedience unto God They have no quarrel at the Church because it is Episcopal but because it is Popish for * Calv. ad Sadol If the Bishops would so rule as to submit themselves to Christ then if there shall be any that shall not submit themselves to that Hierarchy reverently and with the greatest obedience that may be there is no kind of Anathema whereof they are not worthy id instit l. 4. c. 4. ss 4. Beza de divers grad contr Sarav c. 21. Melancthon ad camer an 1530. Confess Aug. de Eccles potest Apol. Confess Aug. ad art 14. Princeps Anbalt in concion super Matth. 7. Bogerman President of the Synod of Dort Nay Blondel
THE TRUE NOTION OF Persecution Stated IN A SERMON PREACHED At the Time of the Late CONTRIBUTION FOR THE French Protestants By GEORGE HICKES D. D. Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Lauderdale and Vicar of Alhallows-Barkin London Published at the earnest request of many that heard it Preached 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. ad Rom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. ad Cor. Ep. 11. LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-Head in S. Paul's Church-Yard M DC LXXXI 2 COR. iv 9. Persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed The precedent Verse is this We are troubled on every side yet not distressed we are perplexed but not in despair Persecuted but THESE words are spoken by S. Paul not of the Christians in general but of the Apostles who above all other Christians were so obnoxious to sufferings because they preached the new Doctrine of the Gospel which was the destruction of all other Religions throughout the Jewish and Gentile world But because the Disciples or Lay-professors of Christianity have in all Ages and Governments suffered in proportion with the Preachers of it I shall consider the words in general as they regard the whole body of any Christian Communion that suffer in any common Persecution The Pastors with their Flocks the Teachers with their Hearers the Clergy with the Laity For it often so happens that all that will live Godly shall suffer Persecution and that the professors of Christianity be they Ministers or People must through many Tribulations and Afflictions enter into the Kingdom of God For Christianity is a suffering Religion and above all others exposeth its professors to persecution because when the Supream Power happens to be Infidel Idolater or Heretick and so sets it self against the Gospel in general or any particular truth of it it becomes the duty of all Christian Subjects to suffer if they will not fly There 's no mean in the Gospel betwixt these two extreams denying the Faith or * Just Mart. Apol. 2. p. 64. edit par 1615. dial cum Tryph. p. 236 323 363. fighting in the defence of it being equally damning sins for as it is written Whosoever denieth me before men him will I deny before my Father which is in Heaven So it is as plainly written Whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation And that we should in no exigence do the one nor the other but * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just Mart. dial cum Tryph. p. 323. chearfully suffer or save our selves by flight it is also written That every one who shall forsake Houses or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands or lose his Life for Christ's sake and the Gospels shall receive an hundred fold and inherit Everlasting Life and that they are blessed who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of God Accordingly hath it been the practice of all good Christians to suffer or fly for so we are used to speak not that flight is not one sort of suffering for it implies forsaking of House Relations Lands and Country but that it is the custom of all Languages to speak of the lesser evil as of a good and so flight is if it be compared with Death Slavery or bodily Torments which are more emphatically called sufferings though really in it self it is also a great degree of suffering for which the person so flying from persecution shall be rewarded with Everlasting Life I say it hath been the inviolable practice of all good Christians to suffer or fly and never to resist so the Primitive Christians did under Pagan Arrian and Apostate Emperors the Waldenses under Pagano-Christian or Popish Powers our own Ancestors in the days of Queen Mary and now our poor Brethren of the Reformed French Communion who are fled hither in assurance of his Majestie 's protection and his Protestant Subjects Charity to whom he as it becomes so great a Patron of the Protestant Cause hath most affectionately recommended them commanding us to stir you up to so good a work which I have chosen to do in a Discourse upon these words upon which I shall proceed in the following method First I shall shew what Persecution is or when Christians are truly said to be Persecuted Secondly I shall shew that our Brethren of the French Church are under a true Persecution or truly Persecuted Thirdly I shall shew you to what a degree they are Persecuted And Lastly I shall shew you that it is our indispensable duty to help and assist them that now they are Persecuted they may not be destitute nor quite destroyed though they be cast down Persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed I. First I shall shew what Persecution is which is very necessary for me to do because the true notion of Persecution is generally mistaken men often miscalling that by the odious name of Persecution which is nothing but the Execution of just and sometimes of necessary and wholesom Laws Thus the Modern Jews in their writings speak of themselves as of a People that are Persecuted by the seed of Esau throughout the whole world The Papists those in the British Dominions especially complain that they are persecuted by the Hereticks and besides them there are yet many other sorts among us who make bitter out-cries against Persecution when their sufferings if tried by the true test of Persecution would not I am confident appear to be such Therefore that I may lay down the true notion of it I must desire you to observe that the Original words in the Old and New Testament as likewise the Latin word for Persecution and to Persecute properly signifie to pursue or run after another to stop him or get before him and from this Agonistical acceptation of the words they are translated into a Tropical sence to signifie to prosecute pursue or attach by Law I confess sometimes they signifie to pursue after another to kill him and so come to be taken in a Military sence to prosecute by the Sword but because I am resolved to confine my Discourse to Legal or pretended Legal Persecution I shall take no notice of Sword-persecution further than it happens to the Subjects from the Magistrate by virtue of the Law To make this which is the first step of my Discourse as plain as I can I tell you again that the Scripture-words for to Persecute signifie to prosecute or pursue by Law And by Law I here understand Law in the largest sence for the Will and Pleasure of the Supream Authority whereby the People that live under it are commanded to do or not to do otherwise to do or forbear doing such and such things Now because in the several times wherein the several Books of the Old and New Testament were written as well as in the Ages since good men were often prosecuted and pursued by Authoritative orders for
much as they please they are not persecuted but justly punished for disobedience to the Supream Power They suffer not for God's sake but their own they suffer not as Martyrs and Confessors but as Malefactors This consideration made S. Peter in his First Epistle general distinguish so carefully between suffering as a Malefactor and suffering as a Christian Chap. 4. 14 15. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ happy are you But let none of you suffer as * Oraet Lucii Mart. ad Vrbicium Praefect Just M. Apol. 1. a Murderer or as a Thief or as an evil-doer or as a busie-body in things that belong not unto him yet if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but glorifie God on this behalf In the 2d Chap. 13. ver he charged them to submit themselves to every Ordinance of man whether it were to the Emperor or his subordinate Magistrates for the Lords sake as free indeed in a spiritual sence from many yokes but not to use their Christian freedom as a cloak for their malignity but as the servants of God Then from Subjects he proceeds to the Servants or Slaves who you may be sure suffered much from Jewish and Heathen Masters upon the account of the Christian Religion and he tells them that it was * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cod. Alex. acceptable to God if a man for conscience towards God endured grief suffering wrongfully And in the 3d. Chap. after he had charged all Christians as being the best way to avoid sufferings to refrain their tongues to eschew evil to do good and seek peace Who is he saith he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good but if notwithstanding all this you chance to suffer for righteousness-sake happy are ye and be not afraid of their terror neither be troubled and lastly in the 4th Chap. he resumes the argument again in the words which I cited above concluding that they that so suffered according to the will of God should commit the keeping of their Souls unto him as unto a faithful Creator Accordingly there 's scarce any one place of the New Testament where sufferings or persecution are mentioned but it is with respect to the Christian Religion as Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil of you falsely for my sake Whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospels the same shall save it Verily verily I say unto you that there is no man that hath left Houses or Brethren or Sisters or Father or c. for my sake and the Gospels but he shall receive an hundred fold now in this time with persecutions and in the world to come Eternal Life From which places it is evident that Persecution consists in suffering for Christ's sake or for the sake of the Christian Religion or any truth of it or for obeying God in any particular of it after the same manner that the Prophets or holy men of old used to suffer under the Law or Jewish Oeconomy as our Saviour said Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you c. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you Accordingly Acts 5.41 't is said that the Apostles departed from the presence of the Counsel where they were beaten rejoycing that they were counted worthy to suffer for his Name To put all this together Persecution from the Civil Magistrate for to that I chiefly restrain my Discourse consists in inflicting or suffering any sort of evil or to any degree for righteousness-sake for Religions sake for Christ's sake for the Gospels sake for Christ's Name sake for Christianities sake in a word to suffer as the Prophets and Apostles did of old who in all their sufferings were reduced to this sad necessity of disobeying God or the Civil Authority as Peter and the other Apostles answered and said to the Sanhedrim the second time when they commanded them to preach no more in the Name of Jesus We ought to obey God rather than man The general notion of Persecution and of Christian persecution withal being thus stated we may easily perceive that a man can be persecuted but upon two accounts for matters of professed Faith or principles or matters of practice Upon the former account a man is truly Persecuted when he is prosecuted for teaching or professing any Truth or true Doctrine which he is bound by God to teach or profess or for disowning or denying any Error or false Doctrine which he is bound by God to disown or deny I have made this distinction between owning of true and disowning of false Doctrines with respect to the several ways in which men are wont to express their minds in affirmative or negative propositions although both ways of speaking virtually and really are the same thing As he that asserts Jesus to be Christ doth virtually deny this blasphemous proposition Jesus is not Christ and he that denieth this blasphemous proposition Jesus is not Christ doth virtually assert that Jesus is Christ Thus in all things the affirming of Truth is a virtual denying of the opposite Error and the denying of the opposite Error an affirming of the contrary Truth and great is the number of Martyrs who have been truly Persecuted upon these accounts So Socrates was persecuted to death by the Laws and Magistrates of Athens for asserting the true God or denying the false He asserted that there was but one God and Father of all who made Heaven and Earth that the Gods whom the Athenians worshipped were dumb Idols the work of mens hands For this reason Justin Martyr represents him in part as a * Apol. 1. p. 48. Christian and among those whom ‖ Apol. 2. p. 55. wicked men by the instinct of the Devil persecuted for righteousness-sake He died a Martyr for Natural Religion in the defence of a Doctrine which God had taught him by the Light of Nature was not only true but such a truth as was his duty to propagate and maintain So likewise the Primitive Christian professors were persecuted both by the Jews and Gentiles for teaching and professing the Doctrines of the Christian Religion and for denying the obligation or validity of the Law of Moses and the Pagan Idols to be true Gods So much for Persecution upon matters of Faith or Principles and Persecution for matters of Practice is likewise twofold for matters of Divine worship which concern the First Table or for matters of Justice and Charity which concern the Second With respect to the former a man is Persecuted either upon a negative account for not denying of God or secondly for not worshipping a false God in opposition to him as the three Children in Daniel were persecuted for not worshipping the Golden Image of Nebuchadnezzar the Primitive Christians for not * Eccl. Smyrn Epist