of the Fourth and Fifth Ages The Original of Oecumenical Councils Seven Reasons against their Infallibility drawn from their Original An Article of Controversie The true Idea of Schism All those which are called Schismaticks are not out of the Church Dear Brethren in our Lord Grace and Peace be given to you from our god and Saviour Jesus Christ IN our preceding Letter we began the History of the Novelties which appeared in Christianity during the Fourth and Fifth Ages and the first which we found there was the Original of the Monastick Life The Second thing considerable to the Original whereof we ought to give attention in the Fourth and Fifth Ages are the Councils called General or Oecumenical Not as to the Original of a thing evil in it self but as to a thing of which ill use hath been made and of which they make a snare at this day for ignorant and feeble Minds The pretended Infallibility of the Church is the great Illusion by which they endeavour to deceive the new Converts They know not where to fix this Infallibility sometimes they fix it in the Pope and sometimes in a Council But the French Church by the Authority of the King hath declared her self boldly a little while since for the Infallibility of Councils against the Infallibility of the Pope for which reason 't is expedient that you here learn in a few words the History of the Birth of General Councils that you may understand the absurdity of the Principle upon which your Converters build You must therefore know my Brethren that the French Church not knowing assuredly where to place the Infallibility of the Church distinguisheth Councils into Diocesan Provincial National Oecumenick or General Diocesan Councils are those which the Bishop assembles where he reads his Ordinances to his Curates Provincial Councils are Assemblies of the Suffragan Bishops of one and the same Metropolitan National Councils are those where the Bishops of one or more Nations are Assembled They have not been so bold as to ascribe Infallibility to any one of these Assemblies but there are Councils of an higher Order which it pleases these Gentlemen to call Oecumenical or General Councils to which they ascribe Infallibility they are say they those in which the whole Vniversal Church is assembled When we ask them where is the Institution of these Assemblies in the Holy Scripture they cannot find the least foot-steps thereof I say the least 't is true they there find Assemblies of Believers of Pastors and Elders who considered Matters that were disputed We see one among others in the 15th Chapter of the Acts Some of the Apostles Elders and Brethren which were at Jerusalem assembled to advise about means to determin the Controversie which the Pharisees had raised in the Church concerning the necessity of observing the Law of Moses But it would be ridiculous to call a very small Assembly and very private a General Council where there appeared but three Apostles of thirteen and only the Clergy which happened to be then at Jerusalem When we continue to ask these Gentlemen where we must then take the Original of Oecumenical Councils they answer us in the Fourth and Fifth Ages of the Church and indeed they have reason for it The First of those Councils which bears this Name is that of Nice assembled by the Authority of Constantine in the year 325 to determine the Controversie of the Divinity of the Son against Arrius The Second was assembled by Theodosius the Elder in the year 381 to determine against Macedonius who denied the Divinity of the Holy Spirit The Third was called together at Ephesus under the Empire of Theodosius the Younger in the year 431 against Nestorius who affirmed two Persons in Jesus Christ The Fourth was assembled in the year 451 by the Authority of the Emperour Martian against the Heresie of Eutyches who confounded the two Natures Behold four in 125 years or little more before this Men knew not what a General Council meant Now I intreat you my Brethren give attention to six or seven short Reflections which I shall make thereon that you may understand the great absurdity of affixing Infallibility to these kind of Assemblies this is at this time of the greatest importance to you You must throw to the ground this Phantome of Infallibility which serves as a support to all the Errors of Popery Now this Phantome knows not where to fix its foot and when you shall have forced it out of this last Entrenchment where your Converters have placed it you will see it vanish and disappear 1. Make reflection upon the silence of the Holy Scripture concerning it and see if there be any probability that the design of God was to establish a seat of Infallibility in certain Assemblies and that he should never speak a word thereof It must be granted that there is nothing in the World more important in Religion than this It is not enough that the Scripture hath established the Infallibility of the Church in general as they pretend for it would be in vain for God to say the Church is Infallible if we know not what this Church is where the seat of this Infallibility is placed and by what Mouth she ought to give her Oracles 'T is true they send you to Tradition for all that whereof the Scripture says nothing But this cannot be a Point for which we are to be sent to Tradition for this is the Foundation of Tradition it self Tradition is the consent of the Ancients and this consent is found in Councils All the Authority of Tradition is nothing at least before the Infallibility of Councils is established The Infallibility of Tradition is not in the testimony of single Persons of S. Austin S. Chrysostom c. for these single Persons were not infallible and as yet it has not been thought advisable to make them so 'T is therefore the Infallibility of Councils which alone can make Tradition certain Now Tradition is the second Rule of Faith equal in Authority to the Holy Scripture 't is therefore necessary at least that the Scripture hath given credential Letters to these Oecumenical Councils that their Authority and that of Tradition may be confessed and acknowledged This is not say I an Affair for which we are to be sent to Tradition as well because it is the most important Point of Christianity on which the Faith of the rest depends as because this were to send to Tradition to prove the Authority of Tradition it self which is absurd it is not absurd in the Scripture to have recourse to the Scripture it self to prove the Authority of the Scripture because it is the highest Principle and because there is nothing beyond it it must be that it prove it self But the Scripture is above Councils and Tradition and by consequence it is necessary that the Scriptures establish the Authority both of Tradition and Councils 2. I intreat you to observe that the Church continued three Hundred
same place or in another 'T is a matter of Fact which our Adversaries cannot deny In the 20th of the Acts the Apostle speaking to the Presbyters or Elders of the Church of Ephesus calls them Bishops and in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus where he speaks sometimes of a Bishop he speaks more frequently of Elders and by Elders he understands the very same which he had called Bishops In the Cities where the Churches were great there were many Presbyters one of them did preside over the rest not by turn but by a privilege which did always appertain to him St. Paul speaks of this President The Elder which rules well is worthy of double honor This presiding Presbyter in the beginning of the second Age arrogates to himself the name of Bishop which before was common to his Collegues so that there was no other but the President of the Presbytery who call'd himself Bishop He attributed to himself also the right of imposing hands as well on those which were received as Pastors as on the Penitents and those which were received to the Communion of the Mysteries In all this there was as yet no Hierarchy no Dependence no Appeals no Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Every Bishop with his College of Presbyters was Sovereign in his District and in his Church and this Church was not dependent of any other You may remember how S. Cyprian in our Eleventh Pastoral Letter hath told us in express words * Epist 74. Every Bishop may use his Authority in the Government of his Church according to his own Will being under no obligation to give an account thereof to any but the Lord. And elsewhere †Concil Carth. Anno 258. That every Bishop is Master of himself and cannot be judged by another Bishop as he also cannot judge other Bishops All honest men are agreed at this day therein The Divines themselves of the Gallican Church maintain it and at this time they lend us their Studies and Illuminations to refute the Flatterers of the Papal Tyranny who would find in the three first Ages of the Church Proofs of the Primacy i. e. of the Principality of the Bishop of Rome over all the Churches of the World. The Defenders of this Antichristian Power quote to us the Action of Victor Bishop of Rome who about the end of the Second Age excommunicated the Churches of Asia because they would not keep Easter precisely the same day that he did and from thence they conclude That the Pope was even then the Prince of all Churches But to this your own Converters do answer for us that in this Victor exercised no Right but what was common to all Bishops and that the Bishops of Asia might exercise it on Victor as he had exercised it on them that this Excommunication of Victor was a separation from his Communion that the Bishops did communicate one with another by Letters which they called Letters of Communion formed Letters c. When they were angry or discontented one with another they did no longer write these Letters of Communion to those of whom they believed the Church had reason to complain and they received no more from them that this is it which Victor then did and that all Bishops have Right by custom to do the same thing The Flatterers of Popes quote to us also the Words of Irenaeus who speaking of the Church of Rome says * Lib. 3. cap. 3. That it was necessary all other Churches should have recourse to this Church because it was the principal and the most potent But the French Roman Catholick Doctors answer for us that the sense is That the Roman Church because the City of Rome was the Capital City of the Empire and because of its grandeur might be a sufficient Witness of Apostolical Tradition because Christians came thither upon business from all Parts of the World and that coming thither they might there be Witnesses of the Faith of all Churches scattered throughout all the Empire and that so the Roman Church made up and formed of all Nations might be a Witness of the Faith of all the Churches in the World. They object to us also That it appears by the Works of St. Cyprian that Bishops condemned and deposed in Africa had recourse to the Bishop of Rome for their re-establishment But the French Doctors answer with us That by the same Letters of St. Cyprian it appears also that these Attempts were disallowed and condemned and that they gave the Bishop of Rome to understand that he had nothing to do to receive the Complaints of any of the Ecclesiasticks of the African Church So that these Gentlemen acknowledge with us that in the three first Ages of Christianity there was no Principality no subordinate Jurisdiction nor no dependence of one Church upon another not excepting the Church of Rome it self But we do also maintain unto them That from the Third Age the Churches that had their Seats in those Cities which are called Metropoles i. e. Heads of the Provinces did obtain a certain Superiority upon the lesser Churches that were in the little Villages of the Neighbourhood because of the need they had of them The Metropolitan Cities were the dwelling places of the Governors of the Provinces the Courts of Justice were there 't was thither they carried their Tributes so that all the Provinces had business there besides the Bishops of these Cities were ordinarily more able than those of little Cities for it has always been the ordinary custom to choose the ablest men for the conduct of the most important Churches and such as were most exposed to the Temptations of human Authority Besides this there were in these Cities many Presbyters which assisted the Bishop and who with him made a Senate able and knowing in matters of Faith and Discipline For these Reasons the Churches of the Country and such as were Provincial addressed themselves to the Churches of the Metropolitan Cities in all their doubts and in all their necessities sometimes to obtain Pastors sometimes to know how they should suppress Hereticks and those which were scandalous and sometimes in other cases and on other occasions This was the reason that the Churches of the Metropolitan Cities obtained by consent a kind of Superintendence over others They confirmed by imposition of hands Pastors in vacant Churches after the People of those Churches had made an Election of them This is the estate in which the Government was found in the beginning of the Fourth Age. Before that time the Names of Arch-Bishops Primates Exarchs Patriarchs and every other Name of Power and Dignity were wholly unknown in the Church But the Emperors becoming Christians Pride introduced it self into the Ecclesiastical Government and in the space of an 150 years or thereabout that Hierarchy was seen to be born and to establish it self which certainly made way for the birth of the Antichristian Empire of Rome and behold how it came to pass Constantine the Great
well where they are as if they rejoyned themselves to the other Christians of the East provided they be endowed with a Spirit of Charity If they be so rash as to condemn the rest therein they sin but the Greeks which condemn them are not less guilty than they although they descend directly from the Catholick and Orthodox flock and the others be only a separate branch And this helps to shew you that although a Schism were criminal in its Original and headily and rashly made nevertheless it is not always necessary under pain of eternal Damnation to return from whence we came From whence I confirm the Thesis which I laid down at the beginning of this Question that the Idea which they make to you about the horror of Schism is a Dream and that tho it should be true that our separation from the Church of Rome in the beginning of the past Age were rash the People which followed it in the simplicity of their Hearts would not hazard their Salvation thereby they that made it were to account for it and at the most those which do maintain it So my Brethren you would be in safety and only we in danger But I very well perceive that this is not enough to calm the Perturbations which your Converters and your own Thoughts may give you about it For you will say supposing that our separation from the Church of Rome in the last Age were unjust and rash 't is true that we who did not make the Schism shall not suffer thereby Our Fathers when they went out of the Church of Rome carried the Church and Christianity with them and this Christianity may nourish and save us maugre the Separation Nevertheless on this supposition we do no ill yea we shall do well to re-unite our selves to the Church of Rome We shall heal a Wound which being open renders the Church deformed Peace is to be preferred before Division This is without doubt the descendants which acknowledg that their Ancestors did wrongfully separate from a certain stock do well to re-unite themselves thereto for edification although it were not absolutely necessary to their Salvation Therefore that we may come nearer to the case in which you are at present with the Church of Rome we must suppose a Separation which was made for reasons of some worth and value i. e. because of Corruption in Doctrine and Worship This is the case in which you are and on this supposition we will shew you in what follows that you cannot return to the Church of Rome March 1. 1687 The FOUTEENTH PASTORAL LETTER AN Article of Antiquity The Original of the Hierarchy and the Antichristian Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome An Article of Controversie A Continuation of the matter of Schism Although the Corruption of the Church of Rome were not extreme it would not be lawful for us to return thither Some Objections of the new Converts concerning it Dear Brethren in our Lord Grace and Peace be given to you from our God and Saviour Jesus Christ SInce we have been upon the History of the fourth and fifth Ages we have found there two great Novelties which have had very unhappy effects in the following Ages They are the Monastick Life and the Councils that are called Oecumenick Behold a third of them 't is the Original of the Hierarchy which hath given birth to the Antichristian Tyranny This Word signifies sacred Rule or Government and thereby is understood that Subordination of Pastors which hath been seen in the Church for a 1000 or 1200 years In this Subordination are seen the lowest Orders in the lowest Seats above these lowest Orders are seen Priests subdivided into Curates Deans rural Deans c. Above the Priests are the Grand Vicars above the Grand Vicars are the Bishops above the Bishops are the Arch-Bishops or Metropolitans above the Arch-Bishops are the Primates above the Primates are the Exarchs above the Exarchs are the Patriarchs and above all these is seen a Head which was framed insensibly and by little and little and placed there this is it which is called the Pope All this is a new Invention with respect to the Apostles and this Hierarchy was unknown before the Fourth Age. We have the Happiness at this day to have the French Church that is to say your Converters for testimonies of this Truth They do maintain That the Apostles established no precise form of Government that they contented themselves to preach the Gospel to send persons to do so and to place in every Church a Bishop to govern it They say that it is not certain that S. John the eldest of the Apostles i. e. he which lived longest did give to the Churches of Asia amongst whom he died any form of Government that it was in the Fourth Age that the Hierarchical form of Government was given to the Church that therein they followed no divine Right or Institution of the Apostles who determined nothing concerning it but the Polick Order and Form of Government found in the Roman Empire As this Empire was divided into Provinces Metropolitical Cities and Prefectures i. e. Governments so they also divided the Churches into Metropolitan Provincial and National And indeed from the time of the Apostles there was no Principality nor so much as any Primacy in the Church The Apostles by an Authority which they received immediately from Jesus Christ governed the Church without Subordination and without Division The Spirit which guided them being one and poured out on them all they were always at agreement it what concerned the Edification of the Churches but they did not leave any Successor that had the same Authority with themselves It is not true that St. Peter was their Prince it does not appear that he had any Primacy of Order above the rest 't is true he is often named first but that doth not prove that he was the first or the President of the Apostolical College We see that the other Apostles treated with him after such a manner as makes it apparent that they did not acknowledge in him any kind of Preheminence which should advance him above them We see that they sent him to Samaria it would have appertained to him to send and not be sent if he had been the Prince of the Apostles We see that after he had preached the Gospel to Cornelius and some other Pagans they made great complaints thereon We see that S. Paul rebuked him to the face and even in publick because in the presence of the Jews he warped and used some dissimulation with respect to the use of indifferent things forbidden by the Law of Moses Men do not use to deal so with their Prince The Successors of the Apostles left in all Churches Presbyters or Bishops to preach the Word and administer the Sacraments but in the beginning the Presbyter and the Bishop were not distinguished Those which S. Paul calls Bishop in one place he calls also Elders or Presbyters in the
't is Soulier the Priest a man the most given up to the Spirit of Calumny that ever was in the World the most desperate and frontless Lyer that Popery ever bred up and to make his Elogy in one word Bipedum nequissimus the greatest of Knaves This man publishes in the year 1682. a furious Libel against the Reformed under the Title of The History of the Edicts of Pacification in which amongst other Proofs of our lewd and Criminal Conduct prosecuted and carried on to the end he makes use of this Act drawn up says he by the Synod of Montpazier in the form and words in which it is here seen The Pastors and Elders of the Churches of Lower Guyenne Assembled in the Synod at Montpazier the first of July 1659 and some days following UPON the report made by Mr. Ricottier The first was the Minister of Clairac the other of Nerac of the Care that he hath taken with Mr. Vignier now absent at the desire of some of the Society to obtain that our Brethren of England should concern themselves in the preservation of our Liberties which they endeavour every day to destroy wherein they think he hath laboured happily by the interposition and assistance of Mr. Daret And having learnt from the Mouth of Mr. Daret and seen by Letters which have been written to him and whereof he had given a Copy to the said Mr. Ricottier that to maintain us in our Priviledges and prevent the dissipation of our Flocks they offer not only to interceed for us but also in case of refusal to bear Arms into this Province if we promise them Cromwell was yet alive and give them assurance to put into their hands all the Cities and places whereof we can dispose The Society approving the Care of the said Messieurs Ricottier and Vignier after having all promised by Oath made to God not to reveal a Secret of this importance return Thanks to the said Mr. Daret for what he had already done to make it successful and do intreat him to go assoon as he can and know what assurances they desire and promise on our part that we shall give all those that are possible and as a Pledge thereof they have drawn up the present Act which shall be dispatcht to him to this end and purpose and the Original put into the hands of the said Vignier to be secretly and faithfully kept there until the business can be executed to the Glory of God and the Comfort of our poor Afflicted Flocks c. The Original is Signed by the President the Assistants and the Register of the Synod This Imposture caused all those that saw it to tremble and the Reformed stirred all that they could to justifie themselves from this Calumny but this was no time to succeed in an Enterprise of Justification for Persons whom they had resolved to destroy after the most cruel manner in the World and whom by consequence they would look upon as Criminals Nevertheless the Synod of the Province of Guyennâ— did what they could and took the Resolution expressed in the Act of the last Synod held in the Province and I think she last Synod that was held in France Behold the Act faithfully printed according to the Copy Signed by the Secretary himself An Extract from the Legier Book of the Acts of the Synod of the Reformed Churches of Lower Guyenne held in the City of the upper Thonneins by the Permission of the King the ninth of December and some days following in the year 1683. ARTICLE the Sixth THE Deputies of the Church of Burdeaux having represented to the Society that in a Book made by Mr. Soulier the Priest printed at Paris 1682 Intituled A History of the Edicts of Pacification the said Soulier in the 393 page of that Book and in that which follows it hath reported an Act which he pretends to be made by the Synod of Monpazier to give thanks to Mr. Ricottier and Vignier both Ministers for the Care they had taken to engage the English in the Interests of the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom with these two Circumstances noted in the Margin of that Book the one that the said Mr. Ricottier was Minister of Clairac the other that Cromwel was yet alive then and at the time of the said Act adding that the Original thereof had been put into the hands of the said Vignier and taken in his Closet after his Death by Mr. Monier Minister of Nerac that this Act was put into the hands of Monsieur the late Bishop of Agen and whereas this Act is a suppositious piece and injurious to the Honour of the Synod and to the Memory of the said Ricottier who was then Minister of the Church of Burdeaux they account themselves particularly concerned to make the Calumny of this Act appear and also their inviolable Fidelity to the Service of the King therefore they represented the said Book and likewise the said Legier Book of the Synod held at Montpazier the first of July 1659 desiring the Commissioners to view the said Book in the page marked and quoted and likewise the Legier Book of the Synod of Montpazier but the Gentlemen the Commissaries said it was no part of their Commission to examine Books or Papers of preceeding Synods that it appertained to the Society to look to their justification where and as they should think good that for their parts they pretended not to take any cognizance thereof Whereupon the Society after they had reflected upon the Importance and meaning of the said Act and having examined it together with the Legier Book of the Synod held at Montpazier the first of July 1659 it appeared by comparing these two pieces that the aforesaid Act printed in the Book of Soulier is not in the said Papers of the Synod and moreover that the falseness of this pretended Act is clearly proved by two Circumstances in matter of Fact one whereof is that by the Table of the said Legier Book of the Synod of Montpazier it appears that the late Mr. Ricottier was not Minister of the Church of Clairac the other Circumstance is this that 't is certain that Oliver Cromwel died the thirteenth of September 1658 and so it was impossible that the Churches of this Province could have any Correspondence with him in the year 1659. After which the Society resolved that humble Remonstrances should be made to his Majesty to assure him of the inviolable Fidelity that the said Churches had preserved and should always preserve for his Service and to desire that he would be pleased to appoint that the said Soulier should be Condemned to make them such satisfaction as he should judge fit with prohibition both to him and all others that for the time to come they injure them no more by Calumnies of that nature The present Extract is taken from the Papers of the Act of the Synod held at the City of the Upper Thonniens the ninth of September and some days
Nourishment of our Members The same Justin which calls the Eucharist Flesh and Blood calls it Bread and Wine after the Consecration and at the time of the Distribution They give says he to all those that are present Bread and Wine over which Praises and Thanksgivings have been made Because he hath said that 't is not common Bread we must not conclude that 't is not Bread at all if it be not thought fit that we say a great Man is no Man because it hath been said that he is no ordinary or common Man. I must also give you notice in this place my Brethren that you beware of a snare that they compose or make of several Passages of the Fathers of this Age where they make you read the words Altar Oblation and Sacrifice on the Subject of the Eucharist and by these Words and Terms they endeavour to perswade you that the Sacrifice of the Mass was then known The word Altar is not found in the Authors of the second Age whose Writings are indisputable 'T is found in the Canons attributed to the Apostles and in the Epistles of S. Ignatius But 't is known that their Writings are not owned by all the World. Nevertheless I am inclined to believe that from that time they called the Table of the Eucharist Altar For why should they make any scruple of using the word Altar seeing they made use of the words Oblation and Sacrifice when they spake of this Sacrament But you must know 1. That 't was an Innovation in the Terms and that in the Writings of the Apostles you never find the words Altar Oblation or Sacrifice on that Subject Read the History of the Institution of the Eucharist the Acts of the Apostles where the breaking of bread is often spoken of that is the Celebration of the Sacrament of the Supper Read the tenth and eleventh Chapters of the first Epistle to the Corinthians where much is said of this Sacrament you do not see these Terms there 2. You must know that these terms Altar Oblation and Sacrifice took their originals from the custom that Christians had in those times of bringing their Offerings of Bread and Wine and other things necessary for the Service of the Church and the maintenance of its Pastors and setting them as an Offering to God on the Communion Table Yea they offered them to God by certain Prayers the Forms whereof are still found in the ancient Liturgies 3 To conclude you ought to hold for certain that these Oblations these Sacrifices c. of the second Age had no relation to the consecrated Signs or Elements For no Oblation was made to God of the Signs or Elements of Bread or Wine after their Consecration Observe that in the passage of Justin Martyr immediately after the Consecration of Bread and Wine the distribution was made and no Oblation between them And for an undoubted proof thereof observe that they are the Believers that make these Oblations and not the Priests alone Hear S. Clement Romanus the Disciple and Companion of S. Paul Those says he who make their Oblations at appointed times are acceptable and happy for in following the Commandments of God they commit no sin By this we do not intend to affirm that afterwards the Priest don't bless these Oblations and present them to God. But learn from S. Ireneus what 's understood by these Oblations and what they were Jesus Christ says he hath given advice to his Disciples to offer to God the first Fruits of his Creatures not that he hath any need of them with respect to himself but to the end they might not appear with respect to themselves ungrateful and unfruitful he took Bread which is a Creature and gave thanks thereon saying This is my body c. And he hath taught us a new Oblation of the New Testament which the Church receiving from the Apostles offer as the first Fruits of his Gifts to God which gives us food and nourishment You very well see that the Church offers not Jesus Christ the Creator to God but Bread which is the first Fruits of his Creation You see well that this Oblation is presented to God as a Thanksgiving because he has given us the Nourishments of Bread and Wine and not transubstantiated Bread for a propitiatory Sacrifice Hear how he speaks yet of these Oblations They are not Sacrifices that sanctifie the Man but it is the Conscience of him that offers sanctifies the Sacrifice c. seeing then that the Church offers with simplicity 't is but Justice that its Oblation pass for a pure Sacrifice before God. Behold an undoubted Blasphemy according to the Principles of Popery The Eucharist is a Sacrifice but the Sacrifice of the Body of Jesus Christ doth not sanctifie the Man on the contrary 't is the Conscience of him that offers who sanctifies the Sacrifice of the Body of our Lord in the Mass There is say I a Blasphemy in all shapes and forms Acknowledge therefore that nothing is debated there but the Offerings that Believers set upon the holy Table And that ye may have a perfect knowledge of what was then done in the Celebration of the holy Supper add from S. Clement and S. Ireneus that which was wanting in S. Justin 1. 'T is the Believers brought Bread Wine Wax Oil and other things necessary in the Church And as for Fruits and Animals Apples and Pulse necessary for the maintenance of life they carried them to the Bishops House 2. These things set upon the Table were consecrated to God by Prayer 3. Of the Bread and Wine which had been thus offered they took one part for the Celebration of the Eucharist and the rest was spent by the Ministers of the Church and divided among them for their support and maintenance Behold the only Oblation that was then made and 't is nothing nevertheless from thence is come an Innovation in the Terms and from thence insensibly is come the Sacrifice of the Mass Behold the meaning of the third the fourth and the fifth Canons attributed to the Apostles The third forbids that they present upon the Altar Hony Milk Birds Beasts and Pulse The second permits to offer Ears of Corn Raisins Oil for the Lights and Incense And the fifth ordains that they carry their Fruits to the Bishops and Presbyters to be distributed among them and their Deacons In the Margin of these Canons the Roman Doctors set these Words The Sacrifice of the Mass appointed by our Lord. What shameless Foreheads have they Do Men sacrifice Oil and Incense in the Sacrifice of the Mass In the second Age where we now are nothing is found of that which is called Confirmation which is one of the Popish Sacraments But it doth not appear that the Primitive Christians even to the end of the second Age did employ any Unction for the giving the Holy Spirit and for the Confirmation of those that had been baptised 'T is true they imposed Hands on
Protector Richard by the Officers of the Army in which they complain 1. That they were not paid 2. That they blasted their Reputation by blaming all which they had done under Cromwell as faulty and against the Laws 3. That the Officers which had served the King had their Cabals and Assemblies in divers places of the three Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland from whence it may be judged say they that the publick Safety of the State is in such ill condition that 't is in danger of being destroyed Was not the Militia in very good state to be transported to make an Irruption into a foreign Kingdom beyond the Sea At the same time Richard being displeased with this Parliament who would have reduced his Authority to a very little thing dissolved them in the beginning of the Month of May and three days after on the fifth of the same Month he published a Proclamation by which he appointed all suspicious persons to go out of London in three days and to come no nearer to it that within twenty Miles Immediately after the Parliament which the Protector had assembled on the Month of February was dissolved on the second of May the old long Parliament assembled and began to sit on the seventeenth of the same Month This old Parliament pulled down Richard and appointed that Monarchical Government should be abolished together with the House of Lords It caused also the Effigies of Cromwell which was at Westminster to be taken away Fearing say they least it should give occasion to some popular Commotion in this Conjuncture and change of Affairs This is plainly the time when the Protestants of Guyenne promised to introduce the English into the Realm for the circumstance of Affairs was altogether favourable to them as they had nothing to do among themselves so they might succour their good Friends every-where else On the twenty second of May old Stile the Officers of the Army agreed with the old Parliament to abolish all Title of King and Protector and to establish the three Nations in a Government intirely Free. On the twenty fourth the Parliament appointed That no other Seal should be farther made use of but that on the two sides whereof were engraven the Arms of England and Ireland and caused the Seal which Oliver Cromwell made use of to be broken They named for the space of many days thirty one persons to make up a new Council of State 'T was at this very time i. e. upon the beginning of the Month of June in the Year 1659 that they forced the Protector Richard to remove from Whitehall Behold then the three Kingdoms in a perfect Anarchy Without doubt it was in this happy and tranquil Estate that the English made offer to the Protestants of Guyenne to succour them provided they would deliver to them all the places whereof they could dispose To speak seriously 't is unavoidable that the Forgers of this Piece were the most ignorant Bruits that were in the World or that their Brains were disordered to that degree that there was never any thing like it Let not Monsieur Soulier be displeased at all this He hath neither Science nor Knowledge of the matters of the World nor common Sense for if he had one grain of Understanding or good Knowledge he would never have engaged in so durty a Business Let us go on for this is not all After we have considered the State of Affairs in England let us consider those of France This Kingdom was in an Estate of Prosperity with respect to Affairs abroad which would have taken away all thoughts from troublesome persons of making any Commotions at home although there should be such which had it in design and purpose 'T is the very Year of the Peace of the Pyreneans and of the Marriage of the King. In the beginning of the Summer in the Year 1659 a Suspension of War by Sea and Land was signed that nothing might cross the Negotiations of Peace which were already advanced very far Marshal Turenne was gone to execute the Orders of the King on the subject of this Suspension Cardinal Mazarine at the same time that this pretended Conspiracy was made in Guyenne passed through the Province to go to the place where the Peace was to be concluded He arrived the twelfth of July at Libourne on the nineteenth at Cadillac and at the same time their Majesties parted from Fountainbleau to begin their Journey towards the Frontiers of Spain Must it not be confessed that the Ministers and Elders of Guyenne are very cunning at Confederations and Conspiracies that they know admirably well how to take their time and that no circumstances could be chosen more favourable to Embroil a Kingdom within than a time of general Peace which leaves the King in a condition to fall with all his power upon the Conspirators To conclude Hath Soulier no Shame and will he never cover himself with wholsome and salutary Confusion If you don't think him sufficiently sunk and overwhelmed take pains to follow me a little farther The fourth Argument of Falshood Soulier convinced of Jugling in his Answers We brought for a fourth Argument the evident Falshood that is in the name and in the person of Daret This is the man says the Act of Soulier which negotiated this Affair and treated with the English to engage them to enter into France This Daret is a man unknown a phantasm and if without saying any thing else we had obliged Soulier to find out his Monsieur Daret we had reduced him to the utmost difficulties but happily for this Historian-Priest a Conjecture was made which was thought sure that the Impostors having heard say that there was in the Province a Minister born a Subject of the English named Monsieur Durel they might very well choose this person to make of him a Negotiator with those of his own Nation Soulier ravished to find this passage open to go out of this dirty place hath stooped thereto Yes says he 't is Durel the Copy which was taken from the Original was ill transcribed they took an a for an u and a t for an l and whereas Daret in the first Act was nothing else but a Negotiator between the Ministers and Elders of Guyenne and the English in the second Edition he becomes Assistant-Moderator and is subscribed E. Durel Here is a heap of Juggles and Lies so pressed uppon each other that 't is a difficulty to rang them into order first 't is certain by the Table of the Synod of Montpazier the Acts whereof ought to be in the Office of Monsieur Chastean-neuf that Monsieur Durel was not Assistant-Moderator at this Synod 't was one named Monsieur Dorde Minister of Montpazier itself And we do intreat the honest men of Paris that they may be assured hereof to go and consult the Original hereof in the Office if they will not believe four living and speaking Witnesses which were at the said Synod
of Answering him This makes a man smile and he can hardly forbear to remember the Lesson which his Master Father Mesnier gave him Let every one meddle with his own Trade Ne Sutor ultra Crepidam Let not the Cobler go beyond his Last I never knew those Authors which took it for an Honour to have such an Antagonist First a Lacque secondly a sorry Mechanick thirdly a small Missionary though in the last place he be Monsieur the Abbot for men ascend by a criminal Ability more easily than by a true Merit But let us go on since we have begun and see what he says to prove the truth of his Act. If those saith he which are accused to have Signed this Act find themselves as Innocent as this Author would perswade us how comes it to pass that they have not attempted it since the time that my Book appeared in the World We have already answered to this How and before whom could they provide for the maintenance of their Innocencie seeing there was no Judge to receive their Complaints nor Notary who dared to receive their Protestations nor even a Bailiff that dare signifie the least thing on their behalf Soulier the Priest knows this the thing is of publick Notoriety and he hath the boldness to draw advantage from a Silence forced and which was impossible to be broken Therefore these Gentlemen speak when they can speak and I pray take the pains to hear them in the following Act UPon this day being the 24th of April 1687 the Gentlemen Joseph Asimont James Brun Isaac Goyon and James Philipot all Minsters fled to this City were personally present before me Henry Ram publick Notary admitted thereto by the Noble Court of Holland residing in the City of Amsterdam and in the prefence of the Witnesses under-named who at the desire of him to whom it appertains have said and do declare to be true and certain under Oath offered to them and made by them And first Monsieur Asimont alone saith That yesterday he received a Letter by which he is Summon'd and Adjur'd to speak the Truth on the subject of a pretended Act of the Synod held at Montpazier in Perigort in the Year 1659 which Monsieur Soulier has produced in his History of Calvinism at p. 552 of the Paris Edition containing in substance That the Ministers and Elders of Lower Guyenne assembled in Synod at the said Montpazier had made an Act to call the English to their Help and sollicite them to Arms for the Defence of their persecuted Churches Upon which Monsieur Joseph Asimont after he had read and considered exactly the Tenour of the said Act did say That indeed he remembers that he was chosen to draw up the Acts of the Synod of Montpazier but at the same time doth Protest and that with an Oath before GOD who searches the Hearts and as if he actually stood before the Tribunal of JESUS CHRIST who must Judge the Living and the Dead That he the first Deponent never drew up nor signed the said Act and that he never heard any thing spoken of it till since the said Soulier inserted it in his Writings and that therefore it is a Piece forged by a Spirit of Lies and he calls the GOD of Truth to be both Witness and Judge of this Imposture which bears in its own Characters the marks of its Falshood forasmuch as the said Act is said to be Signed by Durel Assistant which is notoriously false as may be seen by the Papers of the Acts of the Synod which were put into the hands of Monsieur de Villefranche de Vivans who assisted there on the behalf of the King and which Monsieur de Villefranche sent to the King's Council according to the Custom And afterwards the other Witnesses upon the same Summons did declare That they remembered that they assisted in the Synod of Montpazier in the Year 1659 from the beginning to the end that Monsieur de Villefranche was there sole Commissary of the King and that Monsieur Durel Minister to the Duke de la Force was not Assistant to the Moderator there but Monsieur Dorde Minister of the said Montpazier In this manner they did protest by Oath which they made to God That they heard nothing there of the Act alledged by Soulier in the said History of Calvinism in the 552 Page and that since that time they never heard any Minister or Elder speak of it nor any private person of the Reformed Religion but on the report which Monsieur Soulier hath made thereof alledging for reasons of their knowledge That they assisted at the Synod held at Montpazier from the beginning to the end and consequently what is above-said must be well known unto them This thus passed and done faithfully in the City of Amsterdam in the presence of John Hoekeback and Marcus Bauelaer called as Witnesses thereunto which I Testifie Henry Ram. WE Burgomasters and Governours of the City of Amsterdam do make known and certifie for Truth by these Presents That the Gentlemen Joseph Asimont James Brun Isaac Goyon and James Philipot all Ministers fled for Protection to this City did appear before us who at the desire of him to whom it appertains by solemn Oath have said declared affirmed and deposed the Contents of the Attestation and Affirmation abovesaid for all and every one of them did declare and affirm it to be true and certain after the reading of it unto them by the Secretary under-written So help them GOD. In Testimony whereof we have Sealed these Present by the Common Seal of this City the 25th of April 1687. The place of the Seal Pelters As to the Form nothing can be found to object against this Protestation It was received not only by Notaries but by the chief Magistrate of the most considerable City of the Country and is sealed with the Common Seal thereof As to the Sincerity of those who protest and attest it he must have renounced all Modesty ' who shall call it in doubt They are persons that are in a place of security who have almost nothing more to hope or fear from France it cannot be conceived that men would damn themselves by such an Oath as this for the maintenance of a Falshood If the Accusation were true why do they not permit Soulier and his Book to pass without saying any thing to it What great good can come to them hence forward when they shall have obliterated in the minds of the Publick the opinion that there was a true Conspiracy at Montpazier If the Affairs of the Reformed were in sound and good condition in France they might say That by this false Oath they have been desirous to prevent the Evils that such a thing if it were believed might draw upon the whole Body and also every single Member of it but at present when the business of our Ruine is consummate must he not have the Soul of a Devil and be willing to damn himself out of