when they are out of her Unity This great Man hath alwayes follow'd the same Method For when Antonian one of his Colleagues in the Episcopal Dignity was loath to condemn Novatian and would first be infirm'd of his Doctrine St. Cyprian makes him this grave Answer As for that which concerns the Person of Novatian since you desire to be inform'd what Heresy he has introduc'd you must know my dear Brother before all things that we need not curiously enquire what he has taught since he hath taught out of the Church let it be what it will it is not Christian since it is not in the Church of JESUS CHRIST So when Men separate themselves from the Unity and after the Example of Novatian send new Apostels to establish their new Institutions and their new Doctrines in a word to build a new Church tho' they vaunt like him of Reforming the Church and of reducing it as well to a Purer Doctrine as to a more Regular Discipline they are so far from being admitted to prove theirs to be the True Church because of the True Doctrine which they pretend to teach that on the contrary they are convinc'd that they cannot have the True Doctrine when they are not in the True Church and when they would Build a new one Let these False Pastors who boast of their being extraordinarily sent to Build the Church anew fallen into Ruine and Desolation hear St. Cyprian Let them remember on what Maxims he founded his Episcopacy And since they cannot shew us a Mission like his let them cease to imitate the Language of so great a Bishop and to assume to themselves his Authority You have often heard them say That you need not trouble your selves where the Church was since JESUS CHRIST hath pronounced That in whatsoever place two or three Persons shall meet together in Name he is there in the midst of them It is a long time that the Hereticks and the Schismaticks have abused this Passage They serve themselves of the times of St. Cyprian to Authorize the Assemblies which they hold a part But this Holy Martyr confounds them by the foregoing Words where JESUS CHRIST speaks in this manner If two of you shall agree together on Earth as touching any thing that they shall ask it shall be done for them of my Father which is in Heaven where at first sight it is manifest that these two who agree together ought to be in the Body and Christian Unity in Common Fraternity If two says he of you that is as St. Cyprian understands If two or three Children of the Church two or three who are together in Communion shall Assemble themselves in the Name of JESUS CHRIST he will be in the midst of them and will hear their Prayers Secondly says this Holy Doctor It is necessary that these two or three be united And continues he how can they unite themselves with any one when they are not united with the Body of the Church and with all the Fraternity How can two or three be Assembled in the Name of JESUS CHRIST if it be apparent at the same time that they are separated from JESUS CHRIST and from his Gospel FOR WE HAVE NOT SEPARATED OUR SELVES FROM THEM BUT THEY HAVE SEPARATED THEMSELVES FROM US And since that Heresies and Schisms are alwayes posteriour to the Church as they have formed different Conventicles and diverse Assemblies they have forsaken the Head and the Origine of Truth Lend an Ear my Brethren to this Decision of St. Cyprian He points at those who came after those who separate themselves from the Church which they found Established those who make themselves New Assemblies who upon that account are incapable of Assembling in the Name of JESUS CHRIST and so far are they from being permitted to justifie their Separation and their New Assemblies upon this ground because they Preach the Gospel and because JESUS CHRIST is with them that it is manifest on the contrary according to the Doctrine of St. Cyprian That they are separated from JESUS CHRIST and from the Gospel in as much as they separate themselves from the Church and account themselves obliged to form a new one And to the end they may the better understand of what Church this Holy Martyr would speak it is of the Church which acknowledges at Rome the Head of her Communion and in the place of Peter the Eminent Degree of the Sacerdotal Chair which there acknowledges the Chair of Peter and the Principal Church from which the Sacerdotal Vnity hath taken its Original Finally which there acknowledges a Bishop endow'd with so Eminent a Priest-Hood that the Emperour who assumed among his other Titles that of Pontifex Maximus or High Priest could no more endure him in Rome then he could a Caesar in the Armies disputing the Empire with him Why do not these Coyners of Pastoral Letters who to adorn their deceitful Discourses catch up Fragments of St. Cyprian take all his Doctrine intire Why do not they tell you with him That there can be no Martyr out of the Church that since they are separated from its Vnity it is in vain they shed their Blood for the Confession of the Name of JESUS CHRIST that the stain of Schism cannot be washed out by Blood nor the crime expiated by Martyrdom That there can be no Charity out of the Church and so whatsoever Torments they endure out of Her Bosom they are of that kind of which St. Paul said If I deliver my Body even to be burned if I have not Charity all this will avail me nothing If then these pretended Pastors will speak the Language and attribute to themselves the Authority of the true Pastors let them shew us the Original of their Ministry and like St. Cyprian and the other Orthodox Bishops let them make us see that they are descended from any Apostle let them shew us the Eminent Chair where all the Churches preserve the Unity where principally shines the Concord and Succession of Episcopacy Open your selves my Brethren the Books which you call your Ecclesiastical History 't is Beza that has Composed it Open the History of these salse Martyrs whose unhappy number they would have you to augment you will find that the first who model'd the Churches in France which you call Reform'd were of Laicks made Pastors by the Laicks and by consequence alwayes Lay-men who dar'd at all times to take the Law of God in their Mouth and without Power Administer the Holy Sacraments Call to your Remembrance Pierre le Clerc a Wooll-Carder I do not speak it in scorn of his Profession or to revile an Honest Trade but to tax the Ignorance the Presumption and the Schism of a Man who without having Predecessor or Pastor to ordain him bolts out of his Shop to preside in the Church It is He who carved out the Pretended Reform'd Church of Meaux the first hatch'd in this Kingdom
profitable or indifferent in other Countries should strike you with horrour only when you see them practised by your fellow Subjects and in the Catholick Church In effect they aim at nothing else but to cast Venom upon all that we do I shall have other occasions to instruct you concerning the Service in the Vulgar Tongue and I have often done it already by word of Mouth But what would this furious Minister mean by these words Accustome not your selves to this Barbarous Language which robs the Peoples Ears of Religion and only leaves something for the Eyes Is not this a visible Calumny to asperse the Catholick Church that she would conceal from the People her Mysteries after the Council of Trent hath made this Decree That least the Sheep should be without nourishment and that there may be alwayes some Person ready to give to the little ones the Bread which they ask the Pastors shall explain to them during the celebration of Mass especially on Sunday's and Holy days some Point of what is there read and some one of the Mysteries of this most Holy Sacrifice It is not then the Intention of the Church to hide from you the Mysteries but on the contrary to Expound to you every Day some part with so much care as to render them known and familiar to you The Books which they have put into your Hands explain all to you and those who persuade you that we would take from you the knowledge of the adorable secrets of Religon aim at nothing else but to fill you with gall and bitterness against your Brethren But behold the great grievance We make you adore Bread I have already professed to you that I will not enter into Controversies but I will only tell you that this Reproach is like that which the Socinians cast upon us and which heretofore the Disciples of Paulus Samosatenus objected to us they denying the Divinity of JESUS CHRIST accuse us of being Idolaters and imagine they have a purer Worship than ours because they render not Supreame Honour to a Man But whilst they glory in being more Spiritual than we and of paying to the Divinity a purer Adoration they are in effect Carnal and Gross because they follow nothing but their Sence and Humane Reason which persuades them that a Man cannot be a God They would make you Spiritual after the same manner they boast of purifying your Worship in obliging you to beleive it is only Bread which you see upon the Holy Table and that the Body of JESUS CHRIST which you see not there is not also there neither can it be there What do you also in this but follow Flesh and Blood But if after the Example of Catholics you would raise up your minds if you would render your selves capable of believing that JESUS CHRIST hath power to vail himself under the Figure of Bread to excercise our Faith what could hinder you from understanding these words This is my Body as literally as these The Word was God and the Word was made Flesh Formerly you were taught that it was an Inhumane Action and contrary to Piety to eat Mans Flesh with the Mouth of the Body and especial the Flesh of ones Father This Title of Anthropophagi and Cannibals which the Ministers gave us made us pass for Brutes in the Opinion of their blind followers and there is no sort of violence they did not think themselves oblig'd to us the Words of JESUS CHRIST rather than own a Sense so Barbarous Now that Men's Minds are more calm'd and they have acknowledged in favour of the Lutherans that this Manducation of the Flesh of our Lord which was look'd upon with such detestation has no poison in it that it contains nothing either repugnant to Piety or to the Honour of God or to the good of Men insomuch as the Lutherans who believe and practice it as well as we are thought worthy to partake of the Holy Table and to be true Members of JESUS CHRIST What reason have you to strain the Words of JESUS CHRIST and by force introduce a Figure of which not one Example is found in Scripture But if we are Idolaters because we adore JESUS CHRIST in the Eucharist What are the Lutherans It is not true tho they tell you so that they do not adore JESUS CHRIST in the Blessed Sacrament If you consult them they will tell you that believing JESUS CHRIST to be there only when he is receiv'd they adore him there only when they do receive him and that 't is to adore him in receiving him that they receive this Holy Sacrament on their Knees But tho they did not render him any exteriour Adoration who knows not that it is not in this Exteriour the Service do's consist The Acts of Faith Hope and Charity addressed to JESUS CHRIST as present is not this a perfect Adoration they render to him And if it be an Idolatry to Adore JESUS CHRIST in the Sacrament of the Supper can he that Adors him there Interiourly exempt himself from being an Idolater How then can he have part at the Table of JESUS CHRIST and in the Celestial Heritage Weight my Brethren weigh this so solid and also so intelligible a Reason you will see how they connive at all the Lutherans do but are outragious against all that we practice aiming at nothing but to inspire you with anun just horrour against our Worship Finally If it be an Idolatry to Adore JESUS CHRIST in the Blessed Sacrament where have the true Adorers been for so many Ages Deceive not your selves my Brethren The Adoration of JESUS CHRIST in the Eucharist is as ancient as the Church Her self But not to tell you only those things which we our selves are agreed upon This Adoration as all acknowledge was at least established in the Church and constantly there decided ever since Berengarius's time that is to say above Six hundred Years ago Hath Hell prevailed during so many Ages And that which was alwayes to subsist even to the end of the World according to the Word of JESUS CHRIST hath it suffered so considerable an Interruption And that you may not think I would amuse you with a nice discussion of the History of passed Ages Where were the true Adorers when Zuinglius and Calvin came into the World For as for Luther it is manifest that if he changed any thing in the Adoration it was very late Nevertheless where were these true Adorers at the first starting up of Luther and in the begining of the New Gospel You presently betake your self to the Seven Thousand unknown to the Prophet Elias who had not bowed their Knees to Baal But these Seven Thousand sure would have declared themselves at least when they saw the Reformers appear I have pressed Monsieur Claude to Name but one who joyning himself to these Pretended Reformers did say to them I have alwayes believ'd as you do I never adhear'd to the Roman Faith nor
to the Mass nor to the Real Presence nor the Adoration of JESUS CHRIST in the Eucharist To this so precise a Demand to this Matter of Fact so clearly laid down what has this Minister so full of subtilties answered Do's Monsieur de Meaux says he imagine that the Disciples of Luther and Zuinglius are oblig'd to make formal Declarations of all they thought before the Reformation and that they are bound to insert these Declarations in their Books You see that he had not a Man to name and this Answer may pass for a solemn Acknowledgment that in effect he knows not one Person who has made such a Declaration It is a manifest Illusion to say That these things are not committed to Writing and that notwithstanding it was objected on all Sides and in all Books to the Pretended Reformers That the Doctrine which they taught was unknown when they first appear'd yet it never entred into their Minds to tell us That the greatest number of those that follow'd them had always believ'd as they believ'd Moreover tho' the World has been fill'd with Letters Histories and Treatises and that a thousand and a thousand times they have endeavour'd to satisfie the World concerning the Novelty which we imputed to them they never yet nam'd these Comerades which they suppose they had among us and even at present Monsieur Claude cannot find them tho' he be pressed to name at least some one But in stead of satisfying this Demand he alledges to us the sudden Progress of the Reformation Which shews us says he that the Matter was extraordinarily dispos'd As if the desire to free themselves from Vows from Fasts from Continance from Confession from the Mysteries which transcended our Senses from Subjection to Bishops who were in so many Places Temporal Princes as if the Sweetness of Church Revenues the Disgust taken against Ecclesiasticks who were alas too Ignorant and too Scandalous thee deceitful Charm of Railleries and Invectives and that of a Turbulant and Seditious Eloquence the Power given to Princes and Magistrates to decide Matters in Religion and to all Men of rendring themselves Judges of their own Faith and of believing nothing but the Dictates of their own Sence in short as if Novelty it self had not been the alluring Bait to draw in Troops into the New Reformation whole Cities Princes People and even Priest themselves and Apostate Religious Now whilst Catholicks alledg'd to the Reformers and their Disciples these causes of their Revolt this was the time to Answer it was not of Yester-day they had these Thoughts nay they ought to have explicated this even before that time For in fine they have supposed in their New Pastoral Letters that according to the Doctrine of St. Paul It is not enough to believe with Heart unto Righteousness but that we ought also to confess with the Mouth unto Salvation and glorifie God with the Body and the Spirit because he is the Redeemer of them both 'T is thus the Letter addressed to them who are fallen speaks and that which is Written to the Oppressed by Babylon do's not explain it self in less formal terms Know that it is enough to hate these things with the Heart but they ought to be condemn'd with the Mouth Why do they not then shew us those whom they suppose to have Confessed before the Reformation the Doctrine which is taught Nevertheless they cannot shew us any one So true is it that there were none at all And it appears on the contrary that the first Reformers Priests and Religious for the most part had been Consecrated in the Faith which we profess as we have already seen and those whom they draw into their Rebellion looked on them as extraordinary Men who taught them a New Doctrine Where then in the Name of God were those who believ'd aright since all the World and as well the Reformers as those that follow'd them believ'd as we do Take heed my Dear Brethren that you look not upon this Question as unprofitable or curious The intent is to verifie the Promises of the Gospel Monsieur Claude acknowledges that in Vertue of these Promises of JESUS CHRIST Teach and Baptize I will be always with you Successors was establish'd in the Church but for a time Under pretext that the Holy Ghost descends visibly no more they pretend that he descends no more at all and that this Ceremony is useless They might have pretended with as much reason That because Satan afflicts no more as in former times visibly in their Flesh those whom the Church deliver'd to him she has lost the Power of delivering them to him by her Censures Believe them not my Brethren and be not more wise than all Antiquity Learn diligently of your Pastors what is the Effect of this Sacrament and of the holy Chrism which we bless after the Example of our Fathers from the very beginning of Christianity You should already have demanded of us with ardour a Sacrament so necessary to fortifie your Infant-Faith Come my Brethren come and receive it from our hands Come you that are near desire it ye that are far off and I will come and bring you this Heavenly Gift But above all prepare your selves to Communicate at Easter and to receive the Adorable Flesh of the Lamb without Spot who takes away the sins of the World What is there more to be desired than to exercise the Right belonging to the Spouse to enjoy the Sacred Body of the Heavenly Bridegroom to deliver him your own to be Sanctified by him to be united to him Body to Body Heart to Heart Spirit to Spirit to the end we may be made perfect in one with him that we may be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh and finally two in the same flesh and also in the same spirit with JESUS CHRIST It is not only the Spirit but the Body also which we must prepare for the Body of JESVS For since the Word was made Flesh the Body which he took is the Means to unite us to his Divinity and to consummate the Mystery 't is also by uniting himself to our Body that the Son of God makes this Grace and his Vertue pass into our Souls Run eagerly then to the Body of our Saviour What have you more to desire when you have there found with the Divinity and the whole Person of JESUS CHRIST the Source also of Grace and Life He has said Whoso Eateth me shall live by me He has said Whoso Eateth of this Bread shall have eternal Life He has said The Bread which I will give you is my Flesh which I will give for the Life of the World What other Grace could they receive with the precious Blood And who sees not that the one and the other and both together have but one and the same Vertue Ought you not to be content to Communicate as Pious Antiquity Communicated the Sick as St. Ambrose