that ye may not think that this slipt from him through inadvertency Disputing against the same Heretick Marcion and upon the same Point he sites to him certain Words of Jeremy where according to the ancient Translation it is thus let us cast the Wood upon his Bread or let us cast the Bread upon the Wood He would prove that this Bread signifies the Body of Jesus Christ and that the Prophet had respect to his Passion in which they put the Body of Jesus Christ upon the Wood of his Cross and he adds speaking to Marcion So hath God revealed it in our Gospel calling the Bread his Body to the end that thou mayst understand that at this day he hath given in the Bread the Figure of his Body which the Prophet before had figured by Bread. The same Author says further That Jesus Christ did not reject the water of the Creator by which he washed those that were his own the Oil wherewith he did anoint them the Hony and the Milk which he causes them as Infants to take from the Bread by which he represents his Body Mark these words by which he represents his Body I know not whether a Disciple of Calvin could speak otherwise Hear Clemens of Alexandria an Author of the same Age. Expounding the words of Christ John 6. he saith That by the Flesh and Blood which Jesus Christ commands us to eat we must Allegorically understand Faith and the Promise It is the fame Author that says and maintains that that which Jesus Christ said Take drink this is my blood ought to be understood by way of Allegory and that it was true Wine Ye know well says he that he drunk Wine forasmuch as he was a Man and he blessed Wine saying Take drink this is my Blood the Blood of the Vine And the word signifies by Allegory the sacred blood of joy which was shed for many c. But that what he blessed was Wine he caused his Disciples to understand when he said to them I will drink no more of this fruit of the Vine until I drink it new with you in the Kingdom of my Father This good Doctor was openly a Disciple of Zuinglius and Calvin for he serves himself exactly with their Arguments St. Cyprian says That the Lord called his Body Bread kneeded and made up of many Kernels and his Blood Wine drawn from many Grapes He says not that he made but that he called He says that by the Wine is shewn or signified the Blood as by the Water which is mixed with the Wine is signified the People To conclude Origen in the same Age Writing on those words Matth. 15. That which enters into the mouth defileth not the Man. He makes a difficulty on this that it seems the Eucharist that enters into the Mouth doth not sanctifie the Man if so it be that what enters into the Mouth do neither sanctifie nor defile him To this he answers that the Bread which is sanctified by the Word of God and Prayer doth not of its own nature sanctifie him which makes use thereof for if it were so says he it would sanctifie him which eateth thereof unworthily He adds that there is advantage in eating the Bread of the Lord when we participate thereof with a clear Mind and a pure Conscience c. And at last concludes with these words If all that which enters into the Mouth goes into the Belly and be cast out into the draught this Bread which is sanctified by the Word of God and Prayer according to what it hath that is material goes into the Belly and from thence to the place of Excrements but in relation to the Prayers that have been made thereon it is profitable in proportion to a Mans faith which does illuminate the mind and make it attentive to those things which are profitable And it is not the matter of Bread but the Word which is pronounced over it which profits him that does not eat unworthy of the Lord. Behold thus much concerning the Typical and Symbolical Body Many things also may be said concerning the Word it self which was made flesh and which is become true food whereof whosoever shall eat shall live for ever No wicked man can eat thereof For if it were possible that he that perseveres in evil could eat the Word which was made flesh that is as it is the Word and the living Bread it would not have been wasted He which shall eat of this Bread shall live for over I know not whether Calvin could have written more clearly 1. That the Bread as to the matter thereof remains 2. That this matter suffers all that which other Aliments do suffer even to its descent into the draught 3. That it's Faith which makes us partakers of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament and that we eat in proportion to the Faith and Attention that we bring thither 4. That it is a symbolical Body of the Symbol of the Body of Jesus Christ 5. That no wicked Man or Unbeliever can eat Jesus Christ because he is not eaten but by Faith. I do profess unto you that I know not how these Mens Minds and Souls are made to maintain after these passages that they believed the Doctrine of the Real Presence and Transubstantiation in the third Age. It is some kind of pleasure to see how our Adversaries bestir themselves and sweat both Water and Blood over these passages Give attention my Brethren I do adjure you and call to mind also that notable matter of Fact practised in the third Age which we have proved unto you in the preceding Letter It was that the Father of the Family though no Priest Consecrated the Eucharist at the end of his Meal This continued in the Church of Africa till the time of St. Augustin Judge you whether ever private person had the power of doing this great Miracle that is to say of changing the substance of Bread into that of our Lord Jesus Christ and whether they would have permitted such a Profanation of the Son of God. Consider therefore 1. That in the third Age they spoke as clearly against the Real Presence as we do 2. That this ought to be the Rule of all the following Ages For when afterwards they produce unto me an hundred hard improper expressions on the subject of the Sacrament I am assured that they ought to be interpreted according to the Faith of the third Age for what reason Because none of the Ancients hath accused either Tertullian or Clemens of Alexandria or St. Cyprian nor Origen of Heterodoxy although they condemned without scruple many of their Opinions I have been longer upon the Eucharist of the third Age because it is important to understand well the Faith thereof for it being the last Age of the Purity of the Church it ought to serve as a Rule to Judge of those that follow I will finish this Letter by continuing the History of our Martyrs whereof we have made 3
of the Church did not change in the Point of the Real Presence and Transubstantiation This Article being long we shall divide it into two And we shall see at this time that the Fathers did believe as we do that the Sacrament of the Eucharist was nothing but an efficacious Figure of the Body and Blood of the Lord. As they persevered in the custom of calling the Sacrament of the Eucharist a Sacrifice and Oblation they continued also in a custom much more ancient since it descended from Jesus Christ and his Apostles that is to call the Bread and Wine of the Eucharist the Body the Flesh the true Flesh and the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said then that we eat the Flesh of our Lord Jesus that we really receive him that Jesus Christ hath given his Flesh to eat and his Blood to drink that it is truly his Flesh and truly his Blood that we may not doubt that Jesus Christ doth not give what he promised viz. his Flesh and his Blood nor that the Bread is not the Body of Christ that Jesus Christ who changed Water into Wine could easily change the Bread into his Body and the Wine into his Blood that we must communicate with a full certainty as in the Body of Jesus Christ that Jesus Christ who is the invisible Priest changes the visible Creatures into the substance of his Body and of his Blood. After all that which they quote unto you of most strength concerning the Article of the Eucharist for Transubstantiation and the Real Presence in the fourth and fifth Ages amounts to this But I pray you what doth all this signifie Is there any thing therein of more strength than that which Jesus Christ and his Apostles have said The Lord said My Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed this or this Bread is my Body St. Paul said The Bread which you break is our Communion in the Body of Jesus Christ That which is under debate is to know how they understood this and if we prove that Jesus Christ and his Apostles did understand that the Bread continueth Bread being nevertheless changed into the Body of Jesus Christ if we prove that they meant the Bread is the Body of Jesus Christ because it is the Sign the Sacrament and the Means by which the efficacy of his Death is applied unto our Souls it is certain that we have ruined all the advantages that can be drawn from these high Expressions In like manner if we can prove that the Fathers of the fourth and fifth Ages did understand that the Bread and Wine became the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and are changed into his Flesh and Blood because they are the Sacraments the Signs the Figures the Images and the Means by which God doth communicate the vertue of his Flesh and the efficacy of his Death without any change happening in the substance thereof if say I the Fathers of these Ages declare this plainly it is obvious that they cannot draw any advantage from all these Expressions how high soever they appear now I take it for granted that they could not declare themselves more plainly thereon than they have done as we shall hear hereafter And to the end that their Declarations may appear to us more express and significant it is necessary that you be acquainted with one thing of which your Converters are at an agreement with us and by consequence I need not prove unto you and 't is this in these Ages it was the custom to hide the Mysteries not only from Unbelievers but also from the Catechumens which had not as yet communicated This conduct had two Reasons or Foundations the first was the design to increase the respect which they desired Christians should retain for these Mysteries the second was an earnest passion to diminish the contempt which the Pagans had for a Mystery wherein nothing was seen but Bread and Wine These two Considerations obliged them never to speak of the Sacrament but in obscure and dark words They desired never to name the Bread and Wine as much as they could they served themselves of Periphrases saying sometimes that which you well understand sometimes that which the Priest takes sometimes the nourishment made of many Grains and the drink drawn from many Grapes or something of like sort This was in my opinion the meanest subtilty in the World. For in despight to all their Precautions every body knew that they took nothing but Bread and Wine in the Eucharist and they themselves said it oftentimes contrary to the design which they had of saying nothing concerning it But at last the design of hiding the matter of the Sacrament engaged them to speak nothing of it but in dark terms and always to serve themselves of the mystical terms of the Body the Flesh and the Blood of Jesus Christ and always to use these expressions and always to avoid those that were plain and without figure as much as they were able So that when it happens that they call the Signs by their name and to speak to things as they are indeed one only passage is more worth than a hundred where they speak figuratively and mystically For this mystical Language was among them a Language of necessity and duty which they had imposed upon themselves whereas when they spake of things plainly and nakedly 't was the Language of truth 't was the Language of the Heart and Soul which rescu'd it self from politick slavery and bondage It will not be therefore amazing if we find few passages in Antiquity where the truth of the opinion of the Fathers was plainly expressed Nevertheless we find so many of them and so plain that 't is not conceivable how prejudice hinders our adversaries from seeing the truth in this case First of all altho' we had no other passages of the Fathers but those where they call the Sacrament the Figure the Sign the Image the Symbols of the Body and Blood of the Lord these were enough Now of these there is almost an infinite number what other things do we say thereof than that the Sacrament is the Figure the Sign and the Symbol of the Body of Jesus Christ why did they say the same thing with us if they had not the same thoughts and conceptions with us St. Austin said (a) Cont. Ademas cap. 12. Our Lord made no scruple to say this is my Body The Author of the Book of Sacrament under the Name of St. Ambrose saith (b) Lib. 4. cap. 5. That the Oblation of the Eucharist is the Figure of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ St. Ephraim saith (c) Lib. De Nat. Dei non frut That our Lord taking Bread in his hands brake it and blessed it that it might be the Figure of his immaculate Body and that he blessed the Chalice and gave it to his Disciples to signifie his Blood. St. Cyril of Jerusalem from whom they bring you
that are called Brethren which are assembled on purpose to Pray earnestly to God both for themselves and for him that hath been illuminated or Baptised and for all others in all places to the end that we may be worthy to be found Disciples to the Truth and Observers of those things that are commanded and to converse in all good Works for the obtaining of eternal Salvation When Prayers are ended we mutually Salute each other by a Kiss After that they present to him of the Brethren which doth preside Bread and a Cup of Wine mingled with Water he takes it and pronounces over it praises to the Father of all things in the Name of the Son and by the Holy Spirit Afterwards he inlarges much in Praises for that it hath pleased him to give us these things And when he hath finished his Prayers and Praises the people that are present concur by their acclamations saying Amen Now Amen in the Hebrew Language signifies so be it When the President hath finished his Praises and Thanksgivings and the people have said Amen those which amongst our selves we call Deacons distribute to every one that are present of this Bread that hath been blest and of this Wine and Water and they carry thereof to the absent And this Aliment is called among us the Eucharist It is not permitted to any one to eat thereof unless he receive our Doctrine as true and hath been partaker in the washing of Regeneration for the remission of sins and lives according to the appointment and Laws of Christ Jesus To conclude we do not receive this Bread as common Bread nor this Drink as common Drink But as by the word of God Jesus Christ our Saviour was made Flesh and took Flesh and Blood for our Salvation So we have been taught that this Aliment upon which have been pronounced Praises and Thanksgivings are the Flesh and Blood of that Jesus that was made Flesh Behold what was the Worship of the Ancients and the Ceremonies with which they Celebrated their Mysteries 1. They caused him that was to be Baptised to confess and own the Name of Jesus Christ and his Doctrine 2. They obliged him to Fast and Pray and they Fasted and Prayed with him 3. After that they carried him into a place in which there was Water appointed for Baptism 4. The place was separate because then Baptism was performed by immersion and that they might not expose the Nakedness of Men and Women to the view of other Believers 5. He that was Baptised was plunged in the Water and they pronounced over him the Invocation of the Father Son and Holy Ghost i.e. they Baptised him in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost 6. Afterwards they brought him back to the full Assembly and there he was gathered and received into the number of the Faithful 7. All the Assembly continued their Prayers in which they Prayed for the Church for the person Baptised for the Powers in general and in particular 8. When Prayers were ended they prepared themselves for the Communion by a Kiss of Charity which they mutually gave each other 9. They presented to the President and to him that had Prayed common Bread made after the ordinary manner and a Cup in which there was Wine mingled with Water 10. The President uttered or pronounced some Prayers to the Glory of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost 11. He adds some Prayers and Thanksgivings to God that he hath been pleased to give to us the pretious Gift of the Flesh and Blood of his Son at the Holy Table 12. When he finished his Prayers all the people said Amen 13. In consequence whereunto the Deacons distributed to the People the Bread and Wine that had been Consecrated by Prayer 14. They carried it to the absent they Collected the Alms of the People they dismissed the Assembly and finished the business and exercise Observe first that which seems added to the Practice of the Apostles 1. They mingled Water with their Wine We do not observe that it was either Practised by the Apostolick Church or that any such thing was appointed by them 2. They carried the Consecrated Bread to the absent It doth not appear that this was Practised in the first Age. These are indeed small changes but nevertheless they ought to be observed for the better knowledge of those that followed But on the other side observe that we see not here 1. Either Oblation or Sacrifice 2. He speaks nothing of any Altar 3. That there was no Elevation made 4. That no signs of the Cross were seen there 5. That no Prayers were made but to God and no Intercessions made use of but those of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit 6. That he speaks nothing of Adoration 7. That it doth not appear that they Communicated upon their Knees 8. That they gave to the People the Communion under both Kinds 9. That the Service was performed in a Language understood by the People for they answered Amen to the Thanksgivings 10. That all that were present did partake in the Mysteries and not the Priest only We Conjure you my Brethren to give attention to all this and so if there be any thing therein that hath the least tast or savour of Sacrifice What a prodigious change must have happened since that time to compose and frame such a Worship as they call the Mass where a Priest covered with extravagant Garments which they say are Mysterious heaps one upon another in a Language that the People do not understand a multitude of Prayers some good and some bad all without order and without reason make Oblations signs of the Cross Elevations where the people Adore and Prostrate themselves before the Sacrament when it is lifted up where the Priest eats alone after he hath made a hundred Ceremonies on the Bread and Wine Ceremonies that signifie nothing but render the Celebration of the Mystery ridiculous Do not insist pertinaciously on what remains viz. That Justin Martyr calls the Bread and Wine of the Sacrament the Flesh and Blood of Christ Jesus So we call them our selves and so have the Writers of all Ages called them So our Lord Jesus and S. Paul calls them And it signifies no more in Justin Martyr than those words of our Saviour This bread is my body this cup is my blood Theophilus of Antioch who lived in the same Age with Justin Martyr acknowledges that 't is a Denomination not a Transmutation When Jesus Christ saith he said This is my body he called his Body Bread which is made of many Grains 'T is not common Bread saith Justin Martyr 't is the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ But 't is such Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ as nourisheth our Flesh and Blood according to him That is to say which is changed into our bodily Nourishment and passes through our Veins Now no Man ever believed or can believe that the true Flesh of Christ passes into the
they had no Altars Pattins Communion-Cloaths or holy Habits to remove from place to place The Mysteries were celebrated in a perfect Simplicity 4. Ordinarily the Sacrament was celebrated at ordinary and sober Meals where Christians came by invitation About the end of the Meal they brake Bread precisely with those Ceremonies which S. Paul describes in 1 Cor. 11. 5. The Sacrament of Baptism was also administred with the same simplicity they contented themselves with dipping persons in Water with the Invocation of the adorable Trinity As is seen in all the Baptisms spoken of in the Book of the Acts. 6. It had been an Abomination to have seen Images And those which have the confidence to shew at this day Images as made by S. Luke and from the time of the Apostles are impudent beyond all imagination Altho these Images should be things indifferent in Religion how is it that the Apostles should scandalize the Jews who had Images in that horror that they broke in pieces the Ensigns of the Roman Emperors How is it that the Jews which sought pretences against S. Paul to destroy him as an Apostate and Violater of the Law never objected to him that he proposed Images to be adored 7. In the Holy Places there was no Altar but to consecrate and communicate they serv'd themselves of the first Table that came to hand they sprinkled no Holy Water on those that entered their Churches they made no Sign of the Cross in the Celebration of the Mysteries 8. They spake and Preached in a Language understood by all the world they officiated in Greek throughout all Greece in Latin at Rome and in all the West to every one according to their Language 9. They gave the Communion to all under both kinds 10. Celebration without Communicants was a thing altogether unknown for the Eucharist was called a Supper or common Meal Now a Meal where one Man drinks and eats alone was never called a Supper or common Repast 11. The Pastors were equal amongst themselves Not to enter into the Controversie about the Difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter which is not at all necessary for you It is certain that all the Bishops of different Churches were all equal among themselves If we falsifie in any of these Articles your Converters shall do well to shame us but they will be obliged to do it by Holy Scripture For they and you must remember that we are upon the History and that we follow the Ages in their order and so it 's necessary that in the first Age they shew us all by the Writers of that Age which are the Apostles and their Disciples Seeing it is not at all in our Design to make a Treatise of Controversie upon the first Age no more than on those that follow this is sufficient for its History and we must pass to the second But forasmuch as we cannot at the present go very far in the second Age we will delay the History thereof to a following Letter and we will finish this with some Letters of our Confessors where you will see the Character of true Christianity and Martyrs you have already seen one Letter of a famous Confessor behold another of the same Author You will understand the Loveliness of this second Letter the better by reading that which was the occasion thereof which was an Answer to the first And therefore you shall have them both here May 27 1686. To our Dear Brother Monsieur de M Confessor and Martyr of Jesus Christ condemned to the Gallies at the Tournelle I Have received your Letter my dear Brother dated from the Tournelle It hath caused me more joy than if I had received one from the Pallace at Versailles or Louvre written by the Hand of the greatest King in the World. You do me much greater Honor than I do deserve to chuse me to whom you may impart the glorious advantages that God bestows upon you Another it may be would answer by condoling and complaining of the Evils that you suffer But as for me God forbid that I should look upon you as unhappy Your state is worthy of Envy your Chains are heavy and your Irons shameful according to the opinion of the world and if you bore them with any other Spirit than you do I should complain thereof But with the Courage and Piety which you seem to me to have I do not believe that there is a person in the world more happy and more glorious The Yoke of Christ is heavy to the Men of the World which are weak but it is sweet and easie to faithful Souls that bear it with patience Your Sentiments and Dispositions are Christian my dear Brother and worthy of emulation but beware of one thing that is Pride If you continue this glorious Work as you have begun it your name will be put in the Catalogue of holy Martyrs whose names yet live laden with Blessings God will distinguish you in his Rewards you shall be with Jesus Christ amongst the first raised from the dead which shall judge others But attribute the Courage that you have to the Grace of God which works this great Work in you so worthy of admiration Alas we have seen pillars broken by the wind of Temptation Men fall unhappily which we had called the Successors of the Martyrs but which have been found Successors to Peter who through weakness denyed his Master Who is it that hath sustained you among so many Falls but the Hand of the Almighty God who supports whom he pleaseth and permits to fall whom he will by the ununsearchableness of his Judgments What an Honor is it my dear Brother to have been willing to chuse you and make you an example of that holy perseverance which is so rare at this day Be of good courage in the name of our great God and most compassionate Saviour Jesus Christ and remember my dear Brother that you suffer for him who suffered for you and render to him that which you have received from him Remember that the loving Saviour offers you a Crown at the end of you Race and that he says to you Soldier of Jesus Christ be of good courage Fight the good fight he which overcomes I will cause to sit down on my throne as I also have overcome and am set down with my father in his throne Remember that the Angels are at present Spectators of your Combat that they wait the issue and that they prepare a place for your holy Soul in their holy Society Either you will continue in these Torments or you will surmount and escape them If this last happens as I very much hope how glorious will you be among your Brethren You will have right to say as S. Paul Let no man trouble me for I bear in my body the marks and scars of our Lord Jesus We shall kiss your wounds and we shall behold you with envy and admiration If you lose your life in your slavery and
Religious Worship and this is that which the Ancient Christians call here to communicate with the body of the Martyr that is to say assemble where he was buryed Pray to God and Celebrate the Mysteries of the Christian Religion in the same place and even over the Tomb of the Martyr In this there is nothing Criminal all is done with a good meaning Nevertheless we shall see how insensibly all did degenerate into Superstition It does not appear that either they Prayed to Polycarpus or that they Prayed for him on the day Consecrated to his memory but we shall see in the third Age they Prayed for the Martyrs and in the fourth Age they Prayed to them Give attention to this passage I earnestly intreat you As to what appertains to Images I think I shall do a thing of great advantage if I prove that the Christian Church had none in their Temples in the second Age for it will appear by the Ages following that they had all sorts of Images even out of Temples in the greatest abhorrence Fasts Lent Abstinence from certain Meats and other Mortifications of like kind which makes so great a part of the Roman Religion which dazle the Eyes of some of our New Converts were intirely unknown in the second Age. We there see and observe Prayers and Fasts very often but there is nothing Read which may make us suspect that they were affixed to certain days of the week or certain months of the year all the days of Prayer except the Lords day were almost always days of Fasting But it was by accident because the Fasting of the New Testament was often joyned with Prayer that the Ancient Christians made it a duty to Fast on days of Prayer But it was a thing unheard of precisely to make Devotion to consist of Fasting without any respect to Prayer and those that do affirm it was the use of the Primitive Church must prove it Now we are certain that they cannot find any proof thereof in the Writings of the second Age. And as to what remains as we shall make it appear by the clearest evidence that the Popish Fasts were unknown in the third Age it will appear by consequence that they were of no use in the second only it appears that they prepared for the Communion of Easter by a Fast of two days St. Ireneus writ to Victor Bishop of Rome on occasion of the Controversie touching the day on which they ought to Celebrate Easter * Euseb Hist Eccles lib. 5. cap. 24. is not only disputed concerning Easter-day but also concerning the form of the Fasts antecedent thereto for some think they ought not to Fast but one day others two others more and others measure their Fast-day by the space of twenty four hours night and day and this diversity in the observation of the Fast had not its being in our Age but hath begun from the time of our Fathers who by negligence simplicity and ignorance have suffered this custom to slip in Nevertheless they lived in peace with each other and we retain it to this day Observe well it is not Lent but the beginning and original thereof These forty hours of Fast are greatned and grown up to forty days So it is that the most innocent practices have been the original of Superstition so dangerous is it to make Innovations although they seem without hazardous consequence let them shew you other solemn Fasts besides this in the second Age. It remains that we speak a word concerning the Pope and the prodigious Authority he arrogates to himself It is a Capital affair in Popery he is the Principle of Unity he is the Centre unto which your Converters tell you you ought to be united if you will be saved God knows what they think of it but we defie them to shew you that the Church of Rome had then any Superiority over other Churches We may assure you without rashness that the most part of the Churches which were in the extreme Parts of Asia scarce knew whether there were any such thing as a Church of Rome they neither knew the name of its Bishop nor the form of its Government nor Customs and therefore were far enough from being subject to its Orders and Decrees We may also assure you there were also Christians in Persia and in the farthest parts of the East which knew not whether there were a Roman Church in the World. Send your Converters to the famous de Launy Doctor of the Sorbonne who makes appear with sufficient clearness and evidence the independence of other Churches and the few bonds and ties that they had with Rome by proving that the adherence they had to the Roman Seat was not accounted necessary in any Age of the ancient Church They produce to you in the second Age Victor who cut off from his Communion the Churches of Asia on occasion of the Controversie about Easter-Day But you ought to understand that this was an attempt without example and which had no effect but was despised of all the World. And besides this was no right that was particular to the Bishop of Rome for other Churches pretended to have that right of cutting off other Churches from their Communion as well as that of Rome Moreover the nearer the Churches of the World were to Rome the more respect and consideration they had for the Church which was there The Churches which were without the Bounds of the Roman Empire scarce knew that there was a Church at Rome The Provinces at a distance from Italy such were Asia and Africa beheld her so far off that they scarce knew either her Customs or her Doctrine nor did they think themselves under any obligation to be instructed in them or to follow them And therefore they continued a long time to celebrate Easter with the Jews and to rebaptize Hereticks without any regard to the Decisions of Victor and Stephen Bishops of Rome The Churches of France which beheld her near at hand had her in greater value and estimation because they were smitten and amazed not at the Majesty of the Church but at the Majesty of the Empire which had its Seat at Rome This is it which made Ireneus Bishop of Lions to say That it was necessary that the whole Church should travel to the Church of Rome because of its more powerful principality That is to say because it was the Seat of the Empire that all Nations come thither and that Christians were found there of all the Provinces of the Empire from whose Mouths might be learn'd what was that Faith which was scattered all over the Earth Behold what was the Christianity of the second Age. And behold the Additions that we find there which afterward was the Seed of Superstition and Idolatry First of all they mingled Water with the Wine in the Eucharist which was not used in the time of the Apostles 2. They carried the Sacrament to the absent which was not usual
to its ancient Simplicity And it is certain that these are Additions of the third Age. We must therefore know that the Christians of the second and third Age being disgusted at the Simplicity of the Apostolick Worship did blow up the Sacraments with Ceremonies that were added with intention to signifie the Grace that God did communicate and give there They caused the new baptised to eat Wine and Milk because they were the nourishments of Infants and they would signifie that Believers newly baptised ought to be as Children new born For which reason Tertullian makes the word infantare to design the Action by which they made the new baptised to taste Wine and Milk. They anointed them with Oil to signifie that spiritual Unction of Grace which Believers did receive they laid hands on them to signifie the Descent of the Holy Ghost The following Ages added Wax Candles and Torches to signifie spiritual Illuminations white Garments to represent the Innocence of the newly baptised and with the same intention many other Ceremonies But I know not how by an imagination which may be called rough and impolished in a little time after the Institution of these Ceremonies which were not instituted by the Church but to signifie Men came to believe they had the virtue to confer Grace And of the divers Graces which are confirmed to the Believers in Baptism they attribute one to the washing with Water another to Unction and another to Imposition of Hands They imagined that the Water in Baptism did precisely give the Remission of Sins that the Oil did bestow the spiritual Unction and that the Imposition of Hands gave the Holy Ghost This Divinity is found in Tertullian in the Book which he has left us concerning Baptism Where he proves the Imposition of Hands after Baptism causes the coming of the Holy Ghost and he does it thus 1. Because the Priests and Magicians of Paganism did cause malignant Spirits to come upon their impure Waters by a Ceremony much like unto it 2. Because by the Imposition of Hands Jacob drew down a Blessing upon the Children of Joseph 3. By the Figure of the Ark and Dove who brought an Olive Branch from the the midst of the Waters of the Deluge wherein this Dove was a Figure of the Holy Ghost which falls upon him that comes out of the Baptismal Waters S. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage who lived a little while after taught the same thing viz. that Baptism gives forgiveness of sins and that the Holy Spirit is communicated by the Imposition of Hands But let it not offend these great Men This Discourse signified nothing in their Age and a person may see that it is a Language which is descended from the Age of the Apostles and from those times in which extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit were communicated by the Imposition of Hands For will they say that Remission of Sins was given by the washing of Water and the Holy Spirit by the Imposition of Hands is it to be thought according to their opinion that sanctifying Grace and the Spirit of Regeneration are not at all given in Baptism No on the contrary S. Cyprian lays it down in express words That the Spirit is received by Baptism And in another place he does affirm that sanctifying Grace whole and entire is given in Baptism and that Men augment or diminish it afterwards by the good or evil use that they make of it there is therefore no need of a new Ceremony for the donation of the Holy Spirit He himself teaches us whence the Church took that custom of imposing Hands after Baptism 'T is from the Action of the Apostles Peter and John who laid Hands on the People of Samaria to the end that they might receive the Holy Ghost Which thing is done among us says he Those that are baptised present themselves to the Governors of the Church and receive the Holy Spirit by our Prayer and the Imposition of Hands and are compleated by the Seal of the Lord. The original of this Ceremony which S. Cyprian acknowledges ought to have made him confess the inutility thereof in his Age since they had no longer the power of communicating the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost This Imposition of Hands was an imitation of the Apostles ill understood and Unction was also a pure Addition in this Age the effect whereof they were very much perplexed to express They said indeed this Unction was designed to give Grace but what Grace since Baptism communicates it whole and entire It is necessary says S. Cyprian that he who is baptised should also be anointed to the end that having received the Chrism that is to say the Unction he might be the anointed of God and have in himself the Grace of Jesus Christ Now the Eucharist and the Oil which they make use of to anoint the baptised are sanctified upon the Altar It is clear by these words that Unction is nothing else but a Ceremony of Baptism and that the Donation of the Grace of Jesus Christ is not attributed to it but because 't is annexed to Baptism For to give the Grace of Jesus Christ is the proper effect of Baptism according to all the Ancients It seems by this Passage that the Oil wherewith they anointed the baptised was consecrated Oil for S. Cyprian says It was consecrated on the Altar But this is not all for the sanctification of the Oil upon the Altar signifies no more than what we have observed concerning the second Age. 'T was that Believers brought Bread Wine and Oil and placed them upon the Holy Table They consecrated these Oblations by Prayer and they served themselves of them for the Usages of the Church among others they served themselves of Oil for Lights when they assembled by night and for the Unction of the baptised As to what remains you may observe that in the third Age nothing was seen but one Unction in Baptism whereas we shall find two afterwards Behold the Alterations which have happened to the Sacrament of Baptism in this Age. Let us consider the Eucharist We have observed that in the second Age they had added the mixture of Water with Wine the Custom of sending it to the absent by the Deacons and above all they had there annexed the Oblation of those Gifts that Believers made on the Altar as a part of the Ceremony This had already given it the appearance of a Sacrifice and indeed gave the name to the whole Action We shall not need to doubt but this imagination increased with time Christians having a very great desire to give to their Worship some appearance of a Sacrifice to take away the scandal which the Pagans conceived against them For they perpetually said to Christians You have no Temples Statues Altars nor Sacrifices and by consequence you are impious There was nothing in the Worship of the Christian Religion which might be dressed up in the likeness of a Sacrifice but the Eucharist They
had that respect for the converted Pagans that they added as many innocent Ceremonies as they could to give to this Sacrament the appearance of a Sacrifice with the same intention they gave it the name with this intention to the first Oblation used in the second Age they added another And they began to present to God by Prayer the Bread and Wine they were about to consecrate and wherewith they made the Eucharist This is called Oblation and Sacrifice The Writings of the third Age are full thereof And 't is from thence that Popery would draw some advantage as if they found therein their Propitiatory Sacrifice for the Living and the Dead But this pretence is false for first of all it must be observed that the Fathers says expresly that 't is a Sacrifice of Bread and Wine we shall hear afterwards the Fathers of the fourth Age and those following At present we are to hear those of the third Clemens of Alexandria says that Melchisedec gave Bread and Wine as sanctified Provisions in Type of the Eucharist Which St. Cyprian explains in these words Our Lord hath offered to God the same Sacrifice that Melchisedec offered that is to say Bread and Wine viz. his Body and his Blood. We see says he farther the Sacrament of the Sacrifice of our Lord prefigured in the Priest Melchisedec according to what the Scripture testifies where it says Melchisedec brought forth Bread and Wine And a little below The Lord accomplishing and rendering perfect the image of his Sacrifice hath offered Bread and Wine Now who ever heard say that there were Propitiatory Sacrifices of Bread aad Wine All propitiation is in the effusion of blood and death of the Sacrifice 2. Moreover it is certain that the Fathers of the third Age called the Eucharist a Sacrifice because it is the commemoration of the Sacrifice of the Cross We make mention of the Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ in all our Sacrifices saith St. Cyprian 3. We have yet an invincible proof that the Fathers of the third Age did not look upon the Eucharist as a true Sacrifice from the manner in which they answered the Pagans upon the reproach which they continually offered to them because they had no Sacrifices In the second Age Justin Martyr said That the Prayers and Thanksgivings of Saints and Believers were the only Sacrifices which were perfect and acceptable to God and were the only Sacrifices which Christians have learnt to Offer even then when they celebrated the Eucharist In truth this Author had lost either his understanding or his memory if the Eucharist it self had been a Propitiatory Sacrifice Athenagoras who lived in the same Age answered also the Pagans after the same manner What have I to do with Sacrifices and Burnt Offerings since God cares not for them He demands an unbloody Sacrifice a reasonable Service Can any thing be more express and more lovely than that which Minutius Felix says in answer to a Pagan that objected to him The Christians have no Temples nor Altars do you think that we hide what we adore under pretence that we have no Temples nor Altars The Sacrifice that ought to be offered to God is a good Mind a pure Conscience a sincere Faith it is to live Innocently exercise Justice abstain from Evil and prevent his Neighbour from Perishing this is to Sacrifice a fat Victim these are our Sacrifices this is our Service Origen answers absolutely after the same manner to the Objection which was made by the Pagan Celsus If we read Clemens of Alexandria he expresses himself almost in the same words Arnobius producing the Objection of the Pagans How then will some say that you are under no obligation to offer Sacrifice And answers after a manner very exact We are not at all obliged thereunto Lactantius answers no otherwise than those which went before Now it is a prodigious blindness in these Men not to have answered the Pagans You deceive your selves we have a Sacrifice and the most glorious of all Sacrifices For we offer the Body of Jesus Christ as a Propitatory Sacrifice to God his Father I intreat you my Brethren press your Converters and demand of them whether they dare say to a Pagan we have no other Sacrifices than Prayers and Thanksgivings as for true Sacrifices we have no need to offer them To Conclude my Brethren give attention to this last proof that the Ancients of the third Age did not account the Eucharist a true Sacrifice It is that they Consecrated and Celebrated this Sacrament out of Churches in private Houses and at their Meals besides their solemn Communions which were made in publick Assemblies they Celebrated the Mysteries in private and among their Domesticks This we see in a Letter of St. Cyprian where he disputes against certain persons who out of Mortification and Abstinence from Wine especially in the morning will not Celebrate the Eucharist but with Water Let not any one says he flatter himself with this consideration that although in the mornings they offer with Water alone nevertheless when they come to Supper they offer the Cup mixed with Wine and Water For when we eat this Supper we cannot call together all our people to Celebrate this Sacrament in all its truth in the presence of all our Brethren His sence is these Water drinkers against whom he disputes did not satisfie the Commandment and Institution of Christ Jesus to Celebrate with Wine by these private Communions which were made in Houses in which they mingled Wine with Water because they ought to follow the Institution of Jesus Christ and to Celebrate the Sacrament in its purity and integrity in the presence of all the Brethren and in the midst of publick Assemblies It appears then from thence 1. That they Celebrated it in private Houses in the Evening when they Supped together 2. That they there Consecrated the Cup and that it was not brought from Elce where 3. That the Bread as well as the Cup was Consecrated at the same instant for why should they Consecrate the Cup if they had not power to Consecrate the Bread 4. To conclude these Communions were private amongst a few-persons and out of the presence of the people I do not doubt at all but it is of these private Communions whereof Tertullian speaks in Chap. 3. of his Book concerning The Soldiers Crown We take says he the Sacrament of the Eucharist at Meal-time as also at Morning Assemblies before day where we do not Communicate but at the hand of the Presidents It is a passage that Men do not or will not understand For the understanding of it we must know that Tertullian made this Book on the occasion of a Christian Soldier who would not set a Crown of leaves upon his Head because it was forbidden to Christians By this refusal he discovered he was a Christian and exposes himself to Martyrdom which he suffering many blamed him and said why did he refuse to bear his
Orders I come to the third kind such to whom they have presented death as present and certain and who have courageously offered themselves thereunto For 't is a divertisement that the Persecutors often give themselves and a kind of temptation which they have often exercised to declare to our Confessors that the Sentence of Death is pronounced against them and that they must die if they did not change their Religion immediately And we have not heard that any one has faln under this kind of tryal M. de Voutron a Gentleman in the Neighborhood of Rochel hath given us within a few days a great example of this kind of Constancy He indured for the space of a year the most cruel Imprisonment that could be imagined he suffered hunger and thirst he lay upon the ground with Irons on his feet in a Dungeon dark and deep without light without fire in the winter and without other nourishment than a little Bread and Water whereof oftentimes they did not give him the half of what was necessary for his nourishment At last in the end of the year the Governor of S. Martin de Re where he was Prisoner came to see him and told him that it was with extreme grief that he was constrained to tell him very unhappy news 'T was that the King had appointed that all those that were Rebels on the Subject of Religion should be put to death the Gentlemen were to be beheaded and the others hanged that he would very willingly have been excused from this Commission but could not avoid it that nevertheless he felt some joy in this that at this time he might be the Instrument whereof God might serve himself to rescue him from Heresie and the Precipice from which he was about to fall that he had but one step to make to deliver himself from it to gain Paradise to establish his Fortune and that of all his Family Our Confessor believed the thing in good earnest and it is not difficult to believe that they would prosecute their cruelty to the uttermost when they had continued it to an imprisonment so long and so barbarous But he was not moved thereby the least in the world unless by emotions of Joy. He answered Monsieur this news is so far from afflicting me that it rejoyces and comforts me since it will end all the troubles of my Imprisonment and I shall enjoy the sight of my God. I have made my choice and when it shall please you to cause me to mount the Scaffold I am ready The favour that I beg of you is that if you cause any one to die before me you will permit me to accompany him to his Execution Instead of executing the Threatning within two days after they drew him out of the Dungeon and gave him the Castle at large for his prison with liberty to see his Kindred and Friends We shall see how long this will last It is written also from Picardy that two Damosels of inferior Rank of Laon Seamstresses by their Profession saw the little that they had wasted without being moved or shaken after which they imprisoned them in places where they passed the whole Winter without fire or covering but one single Coat During the space of eight months they made use of all that which the craft and rage of Persecutors in these last days could invent to vanquish and overcome them They resisted all In conclusion they pronounced their Sentence which condemned them to death they carried on the Play to the last for they led them to the place of Execution and caused them to see a Pile of Wood inkindled to burn them Nothing struck them they persevered they undressed and prepared themselves to be bound to the Post The chief Magistrate laughed at what astonished all the world and said These are fools enough to suffer themselves to be burnt They released them and drove them out of the City they forbad all the world to entertain or feed them For my part I do not see why this may not be called Martyrdom seeing God regards the intentions and dispositions of the Soul much more than external actions we can't doubt that he doth not reckon those for Martyrs which have offered him their life and put it into his hands with so much resignation altho death did not follow as they expected and believed If we will have Martyrs according to the most perfect Rules and Laws the Constancy of our Brethren in Cevennes will not fail to furnish us with a very great number if we may believe some Letters that come from Nismes The Governor and Intendant have within a few days caused 75 Men and one Woman to be hanged at S. Hyppolite This Butchery appears to me so terrible that I am resolved not to give a full belief to it till further confirmation We may see in one of our precedent Letters the perseverance of these honest Men to assemble for Prayers to God notwithstanding the Punishments and Dragoons The severe Declaration of July 12. which condemns to death all those which exercise the Reformed Religion has not at all abated this heat and zeal For know that they assemble every day and that they cause them every day to suffer Martyrdom The publick News Printed at Amsterdam are sufficiently true and exact on this point because they are published from Memorials that come from persons that are upon the place These Memorials have told us that 40 persons were killed upon the place at an Assembly that they have seised on a very great number of other persons and that they have discovered and surprised these Assemblies That a young Gentleman of the House of M. Julian named M. de Frumey-rolle had his Head cut off and that he received death with a piety and constancy in nothing inferior to that of the greatest Martyrs His Brother the eldest of the House was sent to the Prison of Ayques Mortes They have hanged of Men and Women a number that can't be determined because the reports concerning it are something various But 't is certain that Executions are done every day and that they die with all the Characters of the Martyrs of God and of his Truth A favour for which we are to give eternal Praises to our dear Saviour The Martyrs of the Valleys of Piedmont alone would deserve a large Chapter But we must delay it till we can receive exact Memorials concerning them That which we know of them is that some of the Ministers made Prisoners by the Duke of Savoy were hanged Among others M. Leydet whose constancy did astonish and make the whole Court of the Duke to tremble the poor Prisoners suffered unheard of Cruelties in their Imprisonment The Duke's People have published abroad that they were very well treated and that they gave to them the same quantity of Provisions which they gave to their Soldiers that they oftentimes gave them fresh Straw that they suffered the sick to take the air and also that they gave
them Wine But the truth is they did all that could be done to destroy them that they might deliver themselves from the fear of seeing them in Arms and returning to their own Estates and Possessions They put Mortar in their Bread they gave them nothing to drink but stinking water and they let them die in their dung and ordure And they have been so successful in their design that there is a place where of 400 persons there are 250 dead nevertheless we have not heard that any one did renounce his Religion it were injustice to refuse both the Name and Glory of Martyrdom to those which have died in so constant and so difficult a Confession The Church hath put its Confessors one degree below Martyrs but in truth I do not find that they are much inferior to them I do openly avow that there are Confessors which I admire more than Martyrs It is in my opinion a more glorious Work to endure a terrible and furious Combat during the space of many months or years than to behold the face of death for a few moments And we may say with assurance that such persons have faln in a long Confession which would courageously have endured the sight of death Therefore my Brethren do honor to so many Believers which have suffered to afford you an example Remember how many righteous persons are in the Gallies laden in Chains but incircled with Glory We have there two which are very famous among many others who it may be are not inferior to them tho they be less known to us We have there M. de Marolles of whom we have spoken already and some of whose Letters we have communicated unto you We have there another Man of Learning and Merit called M. Le Feure of a considerable Family of Chastel Chinon in Nivernois of the Church of Corbigni This faithful Christian after he had avoided with a great deal of labor the occasions and seasons of Subscriptions by shifting hither and thither at length he puts himself on the way to go out of the Kingdom He was seised upon the Frontiers towards the beginning of the month of March he was conducted to Besancon where he was put into a Dungeon in which during the space of three months he experienced all the Severities which they put upon the greatest Criminals and he endured all the Temptations of Threatnings Promises and Disputes which the Persecutors are wont to make use of to vanquish the Constancy of the Saints By word of mouth and writing he caused all his Friends to know that they had no reason to fear on his behalf and all his Letters bore the Marks and Characters of true Christianity by the Humility Sweetness Piety and Patience which were manifested and displayed there After he had languished many months in Dungeons with a Body naturally weak and sickly he was condemned for ever to the Gallies They sent him in Chains to Dijon where he met with M. de Marolles which they brought from Paris So these two illustrious Confessors who already knew each other by the report of their Courage and Sufferings were joyned together to be a pair of eminent Witnesses to the Truth They had the same Fortune as they had the same Heart both were sick even unto death upon the way whilst they dragged their Chains after them both arrived at Marseilles and both are actually in the Gallies bearing their Chains both night and day by express order from the Court and both of them with the same courage pursue the glorious Race of their Martyrdom until it shall please God to grant them the Crown after which they breath Amongst the Confessions which are well worthy of Martyrs I cannot forbear to place that of a Gentlewoman of Poictou near St. Maixant about the Age of fifty or fifty five years whose name is slipt from us though there be many Witnesses of the same place who have informed and assured us with one consent of the truth of the following History She endured the first rage of the Dragoons that is to say the wasting of her Estate their Threatnings Blasphemies and other Evangelical means of our modern Converters Her Goods being wasted the Soldiers attacked her Person and there was not any kind of Torment Violence Blows or Reproaches which they did not offer to her They tied her to the post of a Bed where she remained a long time the object of the impudence and fury of the Soldiers who proceeded to commit all the outrages upon her that an honest Woman could suffer except Violation In conclusion one of these Wretches thought fit to tell her if you can suffer a living Coal upon your hand during the space of a Pater Noster we will let you go She consented very freely They then took the greatest and the most burning Coal that was in the Fire she had the Courage to stretch out her Hand and to hold it herself stretched out without complaint and to pronounce Our Father c. from the beginning to the end a Dragoon in the mean time blowing the Coal for fear it should go out which scorched her Flesh and Skin and made her Blood and Humours to bubble and boil when this as done one of the Soldiers raging and swearing said thou haft said the Pater Noster too quickly I will say it my self and if thou canst endure a light Coal of Fire on the other Hand whilst I repeat my Pater Noster we will give thee thy Liberty This poor Woman consented to this second proposition with the same chearfulness which she had manifested at the first this was done The Soldier takes the Coal she receives it and held up her Hand in the Air with the fire Coal which consumed it whilst the Soldier said his Pater Noster putting a great distance between word and word In conclusion another Soldier overcome by an example of Courage so extraordinary blamed him for repeating his Prayer so slowly and struck off the Coal from her hand and so they left her Behold say I in my Opinion a Confession well worthy of a true Martyr Praised be God that we have yet souls so inspired of God to overcome such punishments and so inflamed with his Love that they can surmount the burning Fire Jan. 1. 1687. The TENTH PASTORAL LETTER Two Articles the one of Antiquity the other of Controversie The Article of Antiquity The Faith of the Third Age about the Invocation of Saints Relicks Images Fasts Indulgences Human Satisfaction and Confession The Article of Controversie Concerning the Unity of the Church that 't is not included in the Church of Rome and that we are not excluded from it Dear Brethren in our Lord Grace and Peace be given to you from our God and Saviour Jesus Christ WE have already begun in the last Letters to give you a History of the Faith of the Church in the Third Age and the last thing upon which we staid was the Real Presence and Transubstantiation
is also a Spiritaal Romance made up of Stories which do no Honor neither to S. Anthony nor S. Athanasius nor in general to the Christian Religion I know not what Spirit of Fanaticism and Melancholy does mingle it self therein they had or they feigned themselves to have Visions the Devils appeared to them they tempted and sollicited them to fleshly Sins and when they could not prevail upon them they beat them cruelly The Abbot Serenus in Cassian says * Cass Collat. 7. cap. 23. As soon as we have formed a Convent of Eight or Ten Monks the fury of the Devil rages in such a manner against them that they experience his Assaults very frequently and in a plain and obvious manner for which reason they dare not sleep all together but whilst some sleep others watch To this may be joyned a Spirit of Superstition which produces Excesses some whereof are capable of horror and astonishment A Monk named Batteus * Sozom. lib. 6. cap. 34. mortified himself through Fasting to that degree and measure what Worms were bred in his Gums and came out of his Teeth another named Cyrus †Ibid. lived Seventy years without tasting any Bread. Another named Acepsemus * Theod. lib. 4. cap. 28. lived Sixty years shut up in a Cell never going out or being seen of any one One named Macarius ‖ Socrat. lib. 4. cap. 23. during the space of Twenty years lived by Bread and Water he did eat and drink by weight he fastened his Body by night to a Wall that he might not sleep Another called Dorotheus * Sozom. lib. 6. cap. 29. made it a thing necessary and a part of Devotion never to stretch out his Legs upon his Bed. Another called Didymus lived to the Age of Ninety years without speaking to or seeing any Person Another named Pior * Ibid. 6. having made a Vow never to see any Person his Sister after Fifty years passionately longed to see him and he was obliged by his Superiors to give her that satisfaction He came therefore and presented himself at the Door of his Sister he made himself seen to her but he shut his Eyes that he might not see her and after he had repeated certain Psalms he went his way Another Sirnamed Stilites * Evag. lib 1. cap. 13. because of the Pillar on which he lived spent Thirty Seven years thereon And many afterwards in imitation of him did the same things and obtained the Sirname of Stilites †Niceph. lib. 11. Amonius a Companion of S. Anthony being chosen Bishop cut off his Ear to the end that he might not be so and declared he would cut out his Tongue if they pressed him farther thereon A Monk named Thomas * Soz. lib. 6. an Inhabitant of Thebais lived Thirty years without speaking Another Monk named Paul †Ibid. in his Devovotions imposed a necessity upon himself of making three Hundred Prayers to God every day and that he might not miscount he had three Hundred little Flints whereof he threw one out of his Bosom at every Prayer that he made Behold what was the Character of the Monks of the Fourth Age and behold that which at this time men report to the Honor of these poor Ideots which did pass for great Saints or of these Hypocrites which did impose upon mankind But can a Man read without horror that which Evagrius reports concerning the customs and manner of Life of the Monks of Jerusalem in the time that the Empress Eudoxia Wife of Theodosius the younger went thither Some of them made a War upon themselves so cruel that oftentimes they remained upon the ground without appearance of Life and were taken for unburied Carcases others lodged themselves in Holes where they could neither lye nor stand others hid themselves in Caves and made it a piece of Devotion to live among wild Beasts others both Men and Women stript themselves naked covering only their shameful Parts and in this nakedness exposed themselves to be roasted in the Beams of the Sun from Morning to Evening in the Summer and in the Winter they continued in the same estate exposing themselves to the severest rigors of cold they ate nothing of what Men do use to eat they fed on Grass like Oxen they were also called Boscoi i. e. Eaters of Herbs and in time they became altogether like Beasts not preserving the very appearance of Men and human shape if they saw Men afar off they ran to hide themselves as from Bears in some Cave or they secured themselves upon Rocks with the swiftness of a wild Goat But all this is nothing in comparison of what Evagrius adds There are Monks who to make it appear that they had extinguished Concupiscence conversed in the World promiscuously Men and Women all naked they went into Brothel Houses into the most infamous places they lay together both Men and Women the Men bathed themselves with Women and Women with Men and all this in publick view without Shame and without covering their Faces Besides the Madness is there not Impudence in these Devotions and must not a Man have a depraved taste in matters of Piety to look on these Extravagancies with admiration as at that time they did Besides all this the Spirit of Lying and Error seized on these Men a Man may say truly that all the Depravations of the Christian Religion did take their Original from Monks In the Fifth and Sixth Age they became Anthropomorphites and Originists and those who have any knowledg of the History of the Church do know that they stirred up many Troubles there They maintained their Opinion and their Friends not only by Words and Clamors but by Blows Socrates reports that during the Controversies that Cyril Bishop of Alexandria had with Orestes Governour of Egypt * Soc. lib. 11. cap. 14. five Hundred Monks came from the Mountain Nitria to the City for the assistance of Cyril their Bishop They stirred up a Sedition against the Governour one of these Monks called Ammonius gave him a knock on the Head with a Flint whereby he lost a great deal of Blood. There are no Heresies or Superstitions of which they may not be called the Authors 't is they which introduced the Superstition of invocating Saints and adoring Relicks Eunapius a Pagan Author who lived at the end of the Fourth Age saith That in Egypt they appointed Monks in the Village Cannopus to worship Slaves so they called the Martyrs And S. Austin in the Book concerning the Work of Monks says That in his time a Swarm of Monks scattered themselves abroad every where and made Merchandise of the Bones of Martyrs It was they who brought Images into the Church and that Worship which gives so much Grief to Souls which are jealous of the Love of God and so much Scandal to Christians Also in the War between the Breakers of Images and the Worshipers of Images they were the principal
many passages to prove Transubstantiation says that (d) Mistagog 4. under the Figure of Bread is given to us the Body and under the Figure of Wine is given to us the Blood. And St. Gregory Nazianzen saith (e) Orat. 42. that we are made partakers of the Passover but always figuratively altho' our Passover be much more clear than that of the ancients for the legal Passover I dare say was a dark Figure of another Figure i.e. of the Eucharist St. Jerome saith (f) In Jerem. cap. 3. lib. 2. advers Jovin that the Figure of the Blood of Jesus Christ is made with Wine and elsewhere that Jesus Christ hath offered not Water but Wine for the Figure of his Blood. Theodoret saith (g) Dialog 3. 1. that the Eucharist is the Figure of the Passion and that the Sacred Nourishment is the Figure of his Body and his Blood. In these Passages the Ancients make use of the word Type which exactly signifies Figure They have also expressed the Nature of the Sacrament by the word Antitype which signifies an opposite Figure or a Figure that has respect unto the thing signified as one Pillar answers to another which is placed just over against it So the Author of the Constitutions attributed to the Apostles saith (a) Lib. 5. cap. 13. that our Lord gave to his Disciples the Mysteries which are the Figures answering to his precious Body and Blood and that we celebrate the Figures answering to the Body and Blood of our Lord. In the Liturgy ascribed to St. Basil 't is said (b) Lib. 6 29. we beseech thee by offering the Figures of the Body and Blood of thy Christ St. Cyril of Jerusalem saith (c) Mystag 5. that we taste the Figures answering to the Body and Blood of our Lord. Theodoret saith (d) Dialog 2. that the Divine Mysteries are the Figures answering to the true Body Can any thing be more express than all this unless it be what we see with our eyes In proper terms they tell us that the Sacrament in nothing but an Image Eusebius Bishops of Cesarea saith (e) Demonst lib. 8. That Jesus Christ commanded his Disciples to make the Image of his own Body Procopius upon Genesis saith (f) Cap. 49. that Jesus Christ gave to his Disciples the Image of his Body And Pope Gelasius or some Author of the same Age saith (g) Gelas de duabus nat certainly the Image or the Similitude of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is celebrated in the Mystery This therefore shews us plain enough what we ought to believe concerning Jesus Christ our Lord even that which we profess that which we celebrate and that which we receive in his Image I do not think that Zuinglius and Calvin have spoken more plainly and significantly To conclude they call the Bread and the Wine Symbols a word which every one knows signifies as much as the word Figure Eusebius saith * Demonst lib. 1. cap. 10. We have learnt to make a Memorial of this Sacrifice upon the Table with the Symbols of his Body and Bloud And St. Chrysostom ‖ Hom. 83. in Matth. If Jesus Christ be not dead of what are the consecrated things the Symbols And Theodoret * 1 Cor. c. 11. When we shall have the presence of our Lord we shall have no more need of the Symbols of his Body Nothing is so common in the Fathers as these Expressions To partake in the Symbols of our Lord to take the Symbols to burn the Symbols c. These same Fathers do give us the same Reasons of the Names Body and Bloud which are give to the Bread and Wine that we our selves give of them 'T is because they are the effectual Representations of the Flesh and Bloud of Jesus Christ If the Sacraments saith St. Austin †Epist 23. ad Bonifac. had no resemblance of those things whereof they are Sacraments they would be no Sacraments and 't is because of this Resemblance that they take the name of the things themselves as in the Sacrament of the Body of Jesus Christ the Sacrament of his Body and of his Bloud are in some sort his Body and Bloud It seems to me that a person must be prodigiously blind to believe that he which speaks thus does not think as we do The same St. Austin saith elsewhere * Serm. ad Infantes apud Bertram How is the Bread his Body and that which is in the Cup his Bloud My Brethren these things are called Sacraments because 't is one thing that is there seen and another thing which is understood that which is seen is a corporeal Species and that which is understood is a spiritual Benefit and Advantage To what end does he take this compass of discourse and why does he not answer without scruple 'T is because the Body of Christ Jesus is really there after the words of Consecration An Article of Controversie An Answer to the Prejudices which some persons have raised against our Separation from the Actions the Conduct and the Personal Qualities of the Authors thereof WE have finished our Answer to the Sophisms which they propose unto you on the subject of our Separation by making it evident to you that it does not hazard your salvation that it was necessary and that it was just But before we pass to other Questions which respect the Church we must say something concerning those who made this Separation for 't is the most fruitful Source and Fountain of Illusions and a Subject of perpetual Harangues and Declamations And this we owe especially to a Woman of Quality among those which are called new Converts who places the little Edification that our Reformers have given to the World or rather the Scandal which they have given to it by their Conduct and Divisions as one of the Reasons which hath most affected her and prevailed on her to embrace the Roman Religion 'T is a subject on which an infinite number of Books have been made to which I might send you were it not that Books are taken from you for the most part besides my designe being to spare you the labour of reading great Books I am to abridge and reduce what our Authors have said thereon to the compass and extent of a Letter Behold then the Accusations which they form against the Authors of the Separation which I have justified in my preceding Letters 1. That these pretended Reformers did no Miracles to support their extraordinary Mission and their new Gospel 2. That they led a scandalous life and such as had no conformity with the Spirit of a Reformed Gospel which they boasted to bring into the World. 3. That there appears in their Expressions a dark Malignity and an implacable Hatred against the Roman Church and that their Books are full of cruel Injuries both against the Roman Religion and against its Doctors a thing absolutely contrary to the Spirit of Charity 4.
whom they caused to serve in all those painful works in which they employed Turkish Slaves The Archbishop of Eberard eighty years old full of fire and rage in that age which naturally is of Ice took the pains to beat with blows by a Mallet those which had been brought into the fortress of that place and he had bruised and broken their limbs in such sort that the most part of them were not able to move themselves Others were employed in cruel labours under which he took pleasure to see them sweat even to Bloud But nothing is like to that which thirty nine Pastors suffered seventeen of the Confession of Ausburgh and twenty two of the Confession of Swiss which were conducted to Leopolstadt There were three which abandoned the Truth being overcome by the length and cruelty of their punishments The rest were given up to the rage of the Jesuit Nicholas Kellion the most cruel of all the Monsters of Lybia These poor men protesting their innocency before him one day he said to them I do indeed believe that the most part of you are not guilty of Rebellion against the King but you deserve all sorts of Punishments for your Rebellion against the Church This wicked Wretch takes them not from their dark Dungeons but to make them labour at those Employments which had killed the strongest men to carry horrible burthens to remove Earth and to make Fortifications about the Cittadel And because those Martyrs to whom they did not give of coarse black Bread a quarter so much as was necessary to nourish them and almost no Water could not lift up their hands nor set one foot before another he caused them to be beaten by blows with rods with staves with the butt-end of Muskets and with cords moistned and full of knots After these horrible pains he cast them into a dark Dungeon where lying among Rats Serpents and Toads they were not able to rest one moment So that 't is unconceivable how Bodies so wasted could be able to endure such long Torments If any one toucht with compassion did endeavour to give any refreshment to these Confessors they punisht them severely A certain Person attempting to give some Onyons to one of them the Jesuit caused both him that gave them and him that received them to be torn with the blows of a Whip by the hand of a Hangman And because a certain Woman had given them a little Bread and some other Provisions she was dragged through the City put in the Pillory and treated as they do publick Whores They gave them neither Shoes nor Cloaths insomuch that they went barefoot and scarce had they rags enough upon their Bodies to cover their more shameful parts Upon the least and smallest pretence they saw a Hangman come into their Dungeon who beat them with Rods till the Blood came We cannot express the horrible Violences that were done unto them to oblige them to adore the Host they dragg'd them because they would not go On Feast-days and on the Sabbaths the Jesuit Kellio came with a Troop of Soldiers who with kicks of his foot blows with the Musket and wooden Bars pusht forward these miserable Creatures to their Churches insomuch that they made them at one blow to leap a great heighth into the Air they fell back upon the Pavement bruised and broken and when they could not go they dragg'd them on the ground which they stained and tinctured with their Blood. The Jesuits one day beat two of these venerable old Men to that excess that they dyed a little after This Monster perceiving well that his Cruelties would do him injury even amongst those of his own Party towards the end of his Commission thought it advisable to treat them a little more kindly and afterwards by violence threatnings and evil treatments he drew from them a Testimonial by which they acknowledged that Father Kellio had permitted the Mony which was sent them by their Friends to be given to them That he had suffered them to eat the Provisions also which were sent them yea that he had granted liberty to their Friends and Neighbours to discourse with them And this vile Villain having formed this Confession and Testimony after his own pleasure immediately made it publick that he might dissipate the Reports which had been spread abroad concerning his Cruelty Nevertheless this was not the end of the Troubles and Afflictions of these Confessors They were condemn'd to be sent to the Gallies in Spain and on the 18th of March 1675. they were delivered to some Companies of Soldiers that had been raised in Austria and to the 36 which had been taken from Leopoldstadt they joyned five others who had been brought from Brenchstin We cannot express the Barbarities exercised against these forty Confessors They were to travel those long distances which are from Hungary to the Adriatick Sea on foot there Feet being laden with heavy Irons cross the Sands the Rocks Mountains and the Stones beaten with Cudgels and Bulls-pisles their Feet did crack and were wounded and you might follow them every-where by the tract of their own Blood which fell from all parts of their Bodies When they came to Tergeste they were in such condition that they could go no further with their Irons therefore there was a necessity that they must be broken off from their feet and this was not done without covering their feet with bloudy wounds and taking away some pieces of their Flesh They gave them not above twelve Ounces of coarse Bread by the day to live on Judge you if that could support these miserable Creatures in so tedious a travel At night they lodged them in Stables like Dogs where they could find no rest If there was any one not able to go whom they were forced to set on Horseback when the Beast did not go they beat him that sat thereon with great blows of Cudgels and Whips At Theate there remained six four whereof died of these horrible Journeys the two other were transported to Naples When they were arrived there they would have constrained them to be listed in the Spanish Troops which they refused they sold them to Masters of the Gallies of Naples at the price of 50 Rix Dollers a piece These poor miserable Pastors treated as they had been were in no condition to do any Service in the Gallies for which reason those which had bought them made no hast to pay for them whereupon the German Captains resolved to kill all these Gally-slaves but the Vice-Roy of Naples hindered them They were nine Months in these Gallies where they suffered all the Evils Reproaches and Outrages that can be imagined At last God sent them as by a Miracle Mr. Ruyter the Holland Admiral who rescued them from these horrible Miseries These are the Adventures of those Pastors that had been Imprisoned at Leopoldstadt There were yet twenty in the Prisons of Sarwar Capuwar Tergeste and Buccari in Dalmatia who were treated as those of