Viguier of Durfort in Cevennes who was hanged in the borders or entrance into that Country some months since in a place called La Salle only because he had served God in a publick Assembly as also one named Gysot who was burnt alive at Nâ—rac This poor man was so weak as to sign an Abjuration of his Religion through fear and the persecution of the Dragoons or it may be through the weakness and infirmity of his Age for he was more than seventy and drew nigh to eighty years of age Being fallen sick God restored to him his Zeal and Courage that he might obtain the Crown of Martyrdom He refused to communicate after the manner of the Church of Rome and declared That he retracted that unhappy Signature that they had extorted and forced from him The Priest that he might execute the Law that ordains that at any rate whatsoever they must give the Holy Sacrament to the Sick forced him to receive the Host or consecrated Bread and put it into his mouth the old man according to his duty spit it out and therefore was condemned to be burnt alive in the fire He went to this horrible Punishment with the joy of the holy Martyrs He was bound to the Post without any appearance of commotion He sung the Praises of God in the midst of the Flames to his last breath This Constancy made so great an Impression upon the Spirits of all the Inhabitants of Nerac and gave so great an Astonishment to the Executioners that they have not proceeded to execute a like Sentence pronounced against one named Fabiores of the same City and of the same Country condemned also to be burnt alive for having as the former spit out the Host which by force was put into his mouth We have not yet heard that the Sentence hath been executed when 't is done we shall give you notice of it We have a Martyr of a more sublime and raised Order 't is Monsieur Rey of Mismes Student in Theology who after he had preached eight or nine months in Cevennes was taken arrested condemned to Death and executed at Beaucaire on the 7th of August The Circumstances of his Martyrdom his Courage his Answers his Piety are too eminent and peculiar to be wrap'd up and buried in a short Narration We do promise it you at large when we shall have collected from faithful Records all the parts of the holy History of this glorious Martyr Behold already my dear Brethren many things that you have to oppose to those Words of the Bishop of Meaux I do not wonder that you are returned in Troops and with so much facility to the Church But this is not all Set him matter of fact against this pretended Facility and assure him that for more than four months time there have been Assemblies almost every day in Cevennes and in the adjacent parts for the offering up Prayers and Supplications to God sometimes in Woods and at other times in Caves and Rocks and Dens of the Earth The Dragoons which almost always surprize them put them to the Sword according to their Instructions they Kill and Hang and drag them into Prisons but all signifies nothing they assemble nevertheless In the month of June last near the end thereof the Dragoons having surprised an Assembly near Nismes they killed many of them on the place and four they hung upon the trees The Hangmen withdrew supposing that they would have no great inclination to return again to that place But two hours after there was another Assembly in the same place on the dead bodies and in the view of the Carkasses that hung on the trees of the mountains There is not a week passes without like Assemblies and like Massacres They reckon more than sixty persons at an Assembly that was made between Uzes and Bagnol in the beginning of July some add That women were ravished and others ripped up But we reserve the particulars of these things till afterwards and you may reckon that we tell you nothing but what is true and câ—rtain for which reason we chuse rather to defer the edification that you might receive from the firmness and constancy of our Martyrs â—nd Confessors than to tell you any thing as certain that may prove false But this is enough at present to give the B. of Meaux and others of his spirit to understand that they have no great cause to triumph in our weakness and the facility they find in overcoming us It may be they have boasted too soon they are not yet where they thought they were We do already see the vanity of those Bravado's That in four months time there would not be any thing heard of a Hugonot in France These fine projects are shipwrecked and the difficulty is yet to come As for you my Brethren that which we shall say and the Objects that we shall set before your eyes ought to shame you If you have been so weak as to fall you ought to take courage and rise again and to redouble your strength if you have not had enough to support you hitherunto But let us continue to hear the Pastoral Letter of the Bishop of Meaux Not one of you hath suffered violence either in his Person or Goods Let them not bring you these deceitful Letters which are addressed from Strangers transformed into Pastors under the Title of Pastoral Letters to the Protestants of France who are fallen by the force of Torments These Letters concern you not any otherwise than as they are made by persons that could never prove their Mission So far have you been from suffering torments that you have not so much as heard them mentioned I hear other Bishops say the same But for you my Brethren I say nothing to you but what you may speak as well as I. You are returned peaceably to us you know it Behold one of those objects whereunto we have not been accustomed Maimbourg Varillas Brueys and multitudes of others have had the front to say that Conversions are made without violence On that subject they have been baffled in a manner sufficient to have covered impudence it self with confusion But 't is to wash the Blackmoor's skin These Gentlemen have Foreheads of Brass and can blush at nothing By this little judge of the fidelity of your Converters You that have seen your Goods wasted your Persons contained your Neighbours dragged to Prisons Women shaven and put into Convents Christians let down into Holes where putrified Flesh and Carrion had been thrown Others put into Prisons where the Water runs under their feet being supported by narrow planks upon which they are mounted night and day lest they fall as from a Precipice and perish Others have been burnt and roasted and others made fools by watching them without cessation or intermission All France hath seen it all Europe is witness of it and they dare affirm the contrary to what your eyes have seen Do you think that these Gentlemen dare not
amongst Forgers of Lies I admire the agreement of those Writers which lived two or three thousand years from one another who nevertheless have all conspired to deceive us according to our Moderns and there is neither Sorcerers nor Magicians nor Possessions nor Apparitions of Demons nor any thing like it 'T is much that these Gentlemen have not pushed on their confidence even to deny the truth of matters of Fact contained in the Scriptures which would be very convenient for them In the times that the Sacred Writers writ their Books there were all these things and where do we find that they ought to cease and that a time was to come in which Devils should no more deceive Men and in which he Heaven should speak no more Prodigies Because Historians have not been infallible must we believe they have been all Liars and in all things Can a Man for example honestly call in doubt the prodigies which Josephus reports to us as coming to pass a little before the final ruin of Jerusalem A Man walked round the City and its Walls perpetually crying Wo wo to the Temple City c. and in fine during the Siege as he was upon the Wall he added Wo to me aso that which he never did before and in the very moment a great stone coming from the Engines of the Besiegers knock'd him on the Brest and brake him in pieces A Sword of Fire passed over the City Jerusalem for a whole year together from East to West A Voice was heard in the Temple which said Let us go hence A brazen Gate in the Temple which eighteen or twenty Men could scarce open opened of it self It must be that Josephus had a design to prostitute his Reputation reporting such matters of Fact the falseness whereof he might be convinced of by a thousand Witnesses yet living if they were not true The Saviour of the World was willing to honor some mute presages altho he might well have passed them by since he had so many living Testimonies on his behalf 't was his pleasure that the Heavens should produce a new Star at his Birth or at least that the Air should produce a new Meteor that deserved that name And what shall we say of that great Miracle which was at the Pool of Bethesda where an Angel descended troubled the Waters and the first sick person that went into them after the action of the Angel was healed This marvel was not ancient and without doubt it had not continued long 'T is clear that this was done about the time that our Lord arrived at the age of thirty years and entered upon the Office of Mediator and 't was an admirable presage of the coming of him who is called A fountain opened to the house of Jacob for sin and for uncleanness whose Water that is to say whose Grace was to heal and cure all our Maladies I could bring you an infinite number of matters of Fact very well attested that is to say Visions Prophetick Dreams Signs seen in the Air and in the Heavens which have been Presages of Events little less considerable than those we see at present 'T is true that under color of Signs and Marvels an hundred and an hundred Fables have passed current in the World but all that we ought to conclude thence is that every wise Man will have great Securities before he will believe As soon as any event may have natural Causes it signifies nothing according to these Gentlemen as if God was not at all the Master of natural Causes and could not dispose them for the production of certain Effects when he would presage great Revolutions in the World. It seems to me that Earthquakes have their natural Causes and so have Famines Pestilences and Wars nevertheless Jesus Christ puts these things among those things which are to presage his coming Nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom there shall be famines earthquakes and pestilences in divers countries And why may we not interpret that which he adds of Eclipses of the Sun and Moon and of Signs which are seen in Heaven The Sun shall be turned into darkness and the Moon shall not give her light the Stars shall fall from Heaven and the powers of Heaven shall be shaken 'T is believed that this is a Description of what shall be at the last Day of Judgment but if this were a place for it I could prove that it is no such thing Not that I am persuaded all Eclipses and all Earthquakes are Presages but there are such Circumstances of time and place and concomitant Signs that a Man cannot as I think without rashness deny that the Providence of God doth dispense them to strike the minds of Men with astonishment and make them attentive to his Judgments What shall we say concerning the Bow in the Heavens It is made without doubt by natural Causes Nevertheless it has been the pleasure of God in all Ages of the World that it should be a Sign by Institution to assure Mankind that there should never be an universal Deluge upon the earth God granted to Gideon a Sign in Nature to assure him of the truth of his Mission Ezekias received one in the Sun at least in the shadow of the Sun on the Dial of Ahaz as a Sign of his restauration to life we may not therefore imagine that 't is contrary to the order of Providence to do extraordinary things in nature for the marking and noting extraordinary events in the World. Let us conclude therefore that the Credulity of our Ancestors hath caused many mischievous Tales to be received as faithful Histories but also that it hath been the cause that very faithful Histories do at this day pass for false Tales I could not refuse this little Prologue to the Year wherein we are presently to engage as abundant in Prodigies as any has been for a long time for on all sides we have heard speak of nothing but extraordinary Storms Fires falling from Heaven others coming out of the Earth of Signs speaking loud which have appeared in the Air of Insects of an unknown shape which have been believed to have fallen from Heaven The Writers of publick News have not been able to forbear remarking them and making their Reflections thereon I believe 't is the interest of the publick to make evident all these Events and there lies an Obligation on those that desire to fear God to give a very exact Relation concerning all these Prodigies if they intend to learn us any thing concerning them we intreat them that it be not on Reports and Hear-says yea that it be not on the report of persons whose fidelity is not very well known for we have no design to deceive either our selves or others this will be known by the manner wherein we shall report a matter of Fact that is to say the singing of Psalms in the Air which has been heard in divers places It is near a year since that
Church or to speak better that the Church shall never fall into any Error Not at all For if one say to a Prince I will take care that your Enemies shall never prevail upon you that will not necessarily signifie that the Enemy shall never have any Victory upon him or gain any considerable advantage against him Altho this Prince should lose some Villages yea and some Provinces yet if the gross and capital parts of his Empire always subsist notwithstanding he would have the accomplishment of the promise made unto him Provided therefore that the Church subsist in all Ages altho corrupt provided that the Fundamentals of Christianity remain throughout in their integrity the promise the gates of hell shall not prevail against it hath its accomplishment But your Converters will tell you these words signifie not so for they signifie that the Church can never fall into any Error Answer them That is the thing that is in question between you and me But who shall judge for us concerning the sense of these words It must not be you for you are a party and who can better judge than Scripture and Experience Now 't is clear by the Scripture that the sense of these words the gates of hell shall never prevail against the Church is not that the Church shall never suffer any considerable Errors in its Faith. All the Holy Scripture affirms the contrary It complains sometimes that the ancient Church was become idolatrous and had served other gods It foretels in express words that the Christian Church should corrupt it self That grievous wolves should enter into the fold not sparing the flock That there would be perilous times in which there would be an Apostacy from the Faith and seducing Spirits would teach Doctrines of Devils That Antichrist the son of perdition should sit in the Temple and in the Church of God. That the Church should be hid and as in a desart for the space of one thousand two hundred and sixty prophetick days that is one thousand two hundred and sixty years That when the Son of Man shall come he shall not find faith nor love among Men. That false Prophets and false Christs shall arise and deceive many To conclude for one Text by which it may be proved that the Church cannot err we can produce an hundred that do affirm that false Teachers should introduce Errors there-into Let us leave the Scriptures and pass to Experience and see whether the Church hath not actually erred It is proved clearly that she hath erred because she hath established a Worship directly opposite to that pure and simple Worship the Model whereof is found in the New Testament viz. of Images of Saints and Saintesses of a second sort of Mediators of Masses Sacrifices and a hundred other things that have not the least shadow of appointment there Let us return to our Text The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church It is disputed whether this Text doth signifie that the Church can never Err in any wise or whether it signifies that the foundations and fundamental verities of the Church can never be overturned In truth the last sense is that of Jesus Christ And all that can be granted to the Papists is that they are capable of the other But is it not very clear that we ought to chuse the latter seeing the Holy Scripture and experience determines us thereunto by a manner wholly invincible It is true and we see it that by a singular Providence God hath not permitted the Foundations of Christianity to be subverted in any of the Christian Communions all receive the Creeds of the Apostles Nice Constantinople yea even that attributed to St. Athanasius Behold therefore what our Lord would mean thereby But besides this we see that there is no Communion that hath continued pure all have embraced Errors and some of them such as are filthy shameful and mortal Therefore it is not that which our Lord Jesus Christ would say it is not a promise of absolute infallibility that is made to the Christian Church Without doubt he foretold what is come to pass and not that which never happened Behold my Brethren two general methods by which you may be able to rescue your selves from the Sophisms and fallacious Arguments which they call ways of Prescription till we can clear up those difficulties that you your selves cannot resolve about that submission that people ought to have for their Guides to the end that they may walk safely The second medium or argument wherewith all these Gentlemen serve themselves and whereof Monsieur de Meaux serves himself here to prove that they have a succession of Doctrine as well as a succession of Seats is the impossibility of insensible changes If the Invocation of Saints say they the worship of Images Masses without Communicants the taking away of the Cup had been newly introduced the Innovator would have been known and his name would have been branded with infamy as that of Arrius and Nestorius I do not think that ever any thing hath been done more opposite to reason and fidelity than the disputes these Gentlemen have thought fit to raise against insensible changes and alterations I say first it is opposite to fidelity For it is not possible that these Gentlemen can believe what they say when they tell us that we cannot determine the Authors nor the times of the principal Changes whereof we complain seeing on the contrary we observe to them the times the principal Authors and the noise that these Innovations made in the World. Does not every one know that the introduction of Images into the Church the taking away of the Cup and the establishment of the Papal Authority did make a terrible noise suffer great contraditions cause great troubles and even the shedding of much blood in the Church It is therefore notoriously to dispute against honesty and fidelity to deny that we are able to give any account of the most eminent and principal Innovations But is it not to dispute against reason and sound judgment to say as Monsieur de Meaux doth that if there had been any Innovators in the Church the spirit of Truth would have marked them and their names would have been infamous as those of Arrius Nestorius c. How could the names of these Innovators be infamous seeing their Innovations were received and entertained The Authors of Heresies and Superstitions which are rejected are indeed noted with infamy but those that are received are Canonized and adored Therefore those of the fourth Age which introduced the Invocation of Saints had no note of infamy put upon them because the beginnings of that unhappy Superstition were greedily imbraced The reason why those things in those Ages were not treated as Innovations and the Authors of them as Innovators was because they adopted and received them Had they assigned any note of infamy upon them they had condemned the worship which they admitted they had accused it of
credulous even to blindness to believe it Therefore if I can prove that the Scripture says nothing at all for the establishment of Popery I have gained my Cause at least for the first Age in which I now am and have proved sufficiently that Popery was then unknown Let us proceed to some of its Articles The Sacrifice of the Mass makes a great figure in the Roman Religion and holds a principal place there It is the Idol for which they have the greatest jealousie We cannot better understand what hath been the Opinion and Sentiment of the Church in all Ages concerning it than from the Ceremonies Actions and Words which have been practised in the Celebration of the Eucharist To search the Sacrifice of the Mass in the Old Testament as the Papists do is an extravagance that hath no example for the Old Testament speaks only of the Worship and Ceremonies of the ancient Religion To search it in other Texts of the New Testament than those which teach us the manner of its Celebration is to search it where naturally it ought not to be found It is therefore precisely in the Institution of that Sacrifice that we must find the Nature of it Now the Evangelists and St. Paul tell us with one consent that what Christ Jesus did in that memorable Action is there The night in which he was betrayed he took Bread he blessed it brake it and gave it to his Disciples saying take eat this is my Body Afterwards he took the Cup blessed it also and said this Cup is the New Testament in my Blood which is shed for you drink ye all of it take and divide it among your selves do this in remembrance of me In fine they sung a Hymn that certain Psalms according to the Custom of the Jews They arose and so the Ceremony was ended On that I beseech you my Brethren call to witness the Consciences of your Persecutors and Converters and enquire a little of them what there is in it that can have any resemblance with the Mass Where is the Gradual the Introit the Canon the Ite Missa est But you will say these are but indifferent Ceremonies which may be added It is a great question whether they might be added yea or no. Nevertheless let us let that Point alone at present Let them shew you at least what is essential therein Where is the Oblation Where is the Elevation Where is the Adoration Where is the Genuflection Where is the Sacrifice and presentation of the Victim Jesus Christ took Bread and gave it to his Disciples saying this is my Body In the Roman Church these words are not said to the Communicant they are said at the Consecration a long time before the Communion Jesus Christ gave Bread to his Disciples to be eaten without Cremony or Mystery They were sitting or rather lying upon Beds at a Table as the manner of the Ancients was It was a prodigious stupidity in the Disciples not to cast themselves on the ground and Adore the great Miracle of Transubstantiation and the Real Presence of Jesus Christ lying hid under the Species of Bread and Wine whilst they bore him in their own proper Hands These ignorant persons so prone to admiration who Adored Christ Jesus when he appeased a storm at Sea which was an action assuredly that a Spirit of a Nature infinitely inferior to God could do would they not have Adored him when he did a Work so great as the Creation of the World. But if the Disciples were so stupid as not to Adore this Mistery would Jesus Christ be so negligent as to suffer them in this state of impiety and indevotion It was that which the Disciples did or rather did not do Hath it any thing in Commune with the Service of the Roman Church with that Action by which the Host is lifted up that it may be Adored with that Worship that all the World give to it by kissing the ground at the sight thereof with the Custom of carrying it in Pomp about the Streets that it may be Adored Press your Converters and enquire of them did the Apostles Adore it If they say yea ask them why they continued sitting and why they never said one word of it If they confess that they did not Adore ask them why they will constrain you to do it Why do you desire that we should do more than the Apostles And as to the Oblation and Sacrifice where are they The Oblation of the Victim cannot be made till after the Transubstantiation after that the Body of Christ is made present by Consecration after these words This is my Body Now after these words Jesus Christ presented nothing to God he presented to his Disciples yea he did not pronounce those words This is my Body but as he was giving the Bread to his Disciples The Oblation therefore is not necessary the Sacrifice is not essential for Christ Jesus did not practise it Stay not there Press these Doctors to tell you whether Christ Sacrificed himself in the first Institution of the Sacrament of the Eucharist You will see them perplexed if they say that he Sacrificed himself Ask them why he Sacrificed himself upon the Cross the next day The first Sacrifice of his Body which he made by breaking the Bread was it not Propitiatory for the sins of the Living and the Dead Behold then the sins of Men expiated before his Death and therefore there was no need of his Death to make that expiation The Sacrifice of the Mass is at this day says Monsieur de Meaux a Sacrifice of Commemoration Now the Sacrifice which Jesus Christ offered in the first Eucharist was no Sacrifice of Commemoration for we do not Commemorate a future event and a thing which is not yet come to pass so that the Sacrifice which is at this day made is not the same thing with that which was made by Jesus Christ in the first Eucharist The Sacrifice of the Mass is the Sacrifice of the Flesh of our Lord bruised and his Blood poured out but in the first Eucharist the Flesh of Christ was not broken nor his blood spilt So that Christ Sacrificed that which yet was not and presented an Oblation under a relation under which he did not yet subsist There be certainly a thousand absurdities in saying that Jesus Christ Sacrificed himself in the first Eucharist many Papists have acknowledged it If your Converters have as much sincerity as many of their Doctors have had to confess that Jesus Christ did not Sacrifice in the first Eucharist demand of them by what right they Sacrifice at this day For they ought not to do any more than Christ did And he has not commanded them in saying do this to do any thing but what he himself did So that if he did not Sacrifice he hath not commanded them to Sacrifice afterward Therefore it ought to remain certain that in the first Age the Sacrifice of the Mass as well as
first Author of that Separation But 't is a ridiculous Chimera to imagine that they were out of the Essential Unity seeing that when they went away they carried with them the true Jesus the true Doctrine and the true Sacraments They were yet the Church they were Christians whatever St. Cyprian says of them and not only their Martyrs obtained the Crown of Martyrdom but their penitent Christians obtained Salvation although they died in Schism There are particular Unities and a general Unity Particular Unity consists in certain Bonds such as are common Ecclesiastick Government common Discipline and certain common Ceremonies You are not in particular Unity with the Episcopal Church of England with respect to Government But this Unity signifies nothing to Salvation he must be a mad man to damn Christians because they either have or have not Bishops The general Unity which consists in the three things which I have said is the only essential necessary and saving Unity If you agree with the Church in Government Discipline and Ceremonies and don 't agree with it in Opinions in Sacraments and Spirit you have no Communion with it if you differ in Government and Discipline and agree in Truths Sacraments and the same Jesus you are at Unity with it and with God. This Vnity of the Church whereof we have now discoursed makes me think of that unity of Souls which ought to prevail among the true Members of the Body of Christ It is the Character under which the Apostolick Church is described unto us They were all of one heart and one mind 'T is this holy Unity which draws down the holy Spirit for when the firy Tongues fell upon the Apostles they were all with one accord assembled in one place 'T is the absence of this holy Unity which in part hath drawn down those unhappy Effects of the Wrath of God under which we now groan Call to mind the Divisions the immortal Hatreds Jealousies Quarrels and Strifes which have been seen in the midst of you even on occasions and in things for which Peace and the Spirit of Charity were particularly requited One was of Paul another of Peter but not one for Jesus Christ Men made their own Passions and Interests to triumph and trampled under foot the Glory of God and the publick Edification The strictest friendships were always ready to break on the first transport of Passion The Spirit of Vengeance had no rest till it had revenged the Injuries it thought it had received and we knew not what it was to sacrifice a resentment to the Love of God and his Christ God has made these civil Wars to cease by a cruel and strange War. You have a common tye more than you have had you have had the same Faith the same Sacraments the same Churches and the same Holy Table besides you have at this day your common Affliction and your common Misfortunes 'T is certain that even in the World this makes a tye among Souls and it should do with far greater reason when men suffer the same grief for the same cause and for the same God. You ought mutually to love each other because you are afflicted for God and by consequence you ought to love those also who suffer for you they are your Confessors who have the glory to maintain in the Prisons those Truths with you have been so weak only to keep close in your Hearts having not the courage to shew them openly Among those which are in divers Prisons of the Realm for the Cause of God there are an infinite number that want all things these are Voices that cry against you to Heaven in a terrible manner and say What a shame is it that Jesus Christ is in Prison that he is Sick Hungry and Thirsty that he freezes with cold during the rigor of the Winter and that these Peters who grew pale at the word of a Servant don't go to visit him to give him Bread and Cloaths You know what will be the Sentence that the Lord will give to such think of it and partake-in the Bonds of your Brethren though they be at the utmost ends of the Kingdom Feb. 1. 1687. The TWELFTH PASTORAL LETTER AN Article of Antiquity The beginning of the History of Christianity of the Fourth and Fifth Ages Of the Original of Monks An Article of Controversie Of the Unity of the Ministry HAving finished the History of the Christianity of the Third Age we enter upon the Fourth We shall not distinguish that of the Fourth and Fifth they are so interwoven that they cannot be separated All the Superstitions false Worship and Corruptions of Discipline which are found established in the Fifth Age took their beginning in the Fourth We enter upon Ages in which the Church had entirely changed its Face it is no longer a persecuted Church it triumphs it reigns it ascends the Throne The Emperors becoming Christians drew along with them by their Authority and Examples an infinite number of Pagans who had that Complaisance and Civility for their Masters as to become Christians But the Church also on her part had the Complaisance to burthen Religion with vain Worship and Ceremonies borrowed from Paganism All that which she thought might be innocently taken from thence she took to draw them over to her The Bishops inrich'd by the Liberality of Constantine and his Successors became proud they would have a distinct Jurisdiction from the Civil they established for themselves Tribunals It appears by the Book of Constitutions falsely ascribed to the Apostles that the Bishops had Flatterers which said of them or rather they said of themselves many incredible proud and impertinent things * Vit. Const lib. 2. cap. 37 38. They set themselves above Kings they said that they must pay them Tributes and Tenths and that Men owed them greater Honors than Kings and that they had power to condemn to everlasting Fire Above all the Pomp and Pride of the Bishops of Rome that ruling City became such that they gave jealousie to the Chief Magistrates of the Empire They added to the Sacraments new Ceremonies an Unction before Baptism beside that which followed after it the Prayers and Ceremonies of the Liturgy of the Eucharist which they call at this day the Mass were much increased and augmented they made use of Holy Waters they consecrated Oyls and Chrism their Funerals were enriched with Ceremonies borrowed from Judaism or Paganism they had their Ninth day their Fortieth day and their yearly Obits or Prayers for the Dead they affixed Prayers to certain hours which at this day they call Canonical the Cock crowing Nine of the Clock Mid-day Three of the Clock and Vespers In these Ages they did essentially alter Divine Service by intermingling therewith the Service of Creatures A kind of Furie for Relicks seized on the Spirits of Men nothing was heard to be spoken of but Visions by which they had been discovered and Miracles which had been done by them they carried
a simple Historian in the 208th Page of the second Part of my Colection That this Father knowing what had been his first Employment counselled him to explain that Greek of Aristophanes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is expressed by another Proverb Let not the Shooemaker go beyond his Last Nevertheless Monsieur Soulier fears not to advance by the blackest Calumnie which can be imagined in the 678th Page of his Book That I have exceeded in that which is most gross what all the Protestant Writers have published against him Where is Faith where is Conscience The Father Mesnier which I have transcribed in the Chapter concerning Monsieur Soulier doing him the same favour in a multitude of heads wherein he is accused by this Father Is he a Protestant I could sooner have pardoned him if he had only dissembled that the Father Mesnier is the Author of the Evil which I have done him Dogs bite the Staff wherewithal we strike them But that he makes me the Eccho of the Protestants in the contempt which they put upon him when I plaid the good Husband in what concerned his Reputation by treating him less ill than those of our Religion which know him better than I this is that which cannot be endured I do nevertheless affirm Monsieur that I find my self all at once disarmed when I think that there is nothing of Merit or Honour to be gotten by such an Adversary He boasts at this day that he hath studied the business of Edicts thirty Years and in his Work of 1681 he confesses as Father Mesnier reproaches to him that he had never seen those that Henry the Fourth had granted to the Cities of the League whereof nevertheless he was willing to make use against the Syndicks and the Censors of the Diocess of the Kingdom Who will not despise an Adversary which proves that I have not the least knowledge of the Affairs of those of the Protestant Reformed Religion because I have quoted a National Synod held at Loudun And to maintain this false Accusation he says Page the 681 of his Book That if I had only read the first leaf of the Ecclesiastical Discipline of those of the Reformed Religion I should have found in the Table of the National Synods of those of that Religion that there war never any held at Loudun For if there were never any held at Loudun why did he write in the 63 Page of his New Bernard this which follows in express terms The twelfth Article of the National Synod held at Loudun the 5th of April 1596 c This was pitty but there is more in the case This Doctor in point of Tables of Books this man conversant in the matter of Edicts for these thirty Years knows not that in the Year 1659 there was a National Synod of those of the Reformed Protestant Religion held at Loudun by the permission of his Majesty A man is therefore Ignorant according to this unlearned Author because he knows that which is arid is not ignorant of it or because he doth not fain himself ignorant thereof as he doth After this is he to be believed when he says I have transcribed or copied him My Work contains 800 Pages and he accuses me to have Abridged the biggest and the most considerable of his Books in the fifteen first Never was falshood published with so little colour I make the Publick Judge thereof and if I have any thing wherewith to reproach myself it will be that I was not willing to see the faults of his Works that I might not be obliged to reprove them I have said for example in the twelfth Page of my Work that Peter Mengin was burnt at Meaux with thirteen of his Companions by a Decree of the Parliament of Paris he says in the ninth Page of his History of Edicts of Pacification that he was burnt with fourteen of his Companions which is contrary to the Decree which takes notice of no more but thirteen and those mentioned by their Names and Sirnames I could produce a hundred faults of like nature but to what good purpose would It be An Author like him who fears not to give the Lie to the Clergy of France and to some of its illustrious Members bears so visible a Character of Malice in the opinion of all honest men that if they would pray for him it is that the Clergy might double his Pension to put him to sitlence Behold the proof of what I affirm Authors of the Reformed Protestant Religion having maintained in their Works that the Edict of Nantes was granted to their Fathers as an acknowledgment of the Service they had done for the State Monsieur Soulier in his History of Calvinism says That it was the strangest Paradox that ever was published it being not true that they had obtained this Edict by their Services Nevertheless the General Assembly of France held at Paris in the Years 1655 and 1656 in a Session where Cardinal Mazarine sat President did acknowledge that King Henry the Fourth coming out of the bosom of Heresie * * Page 152 of the Verbal Process of this Assembly and being willing to acknowledge the Services which had been done him by those of that Party granted them the Edict of Nantes And the late Monsieur de Perefixe ††History of Henry the Great p. 223. of the Paris Edition in 1662. Archbishop of Paris speaks of him in these words Henry the Fourth with all his Prudence had scarce enough to govern himself in such manner that the Catholicks and the Pope might be content with his Conduct and that the Hugenots might have no cause of Fear or Division his Duty and Conscience inclined him to the assistance of the former but Reason of State and the great Obligations he had to the latter would not permit him to make them desperate Therefore to keep a necessary temperament he granted them an Edict larger than those which went before which is called the Edict of Nantes After this Monsieur will you not think me dispensed withal for answering more at large to the Dreams and Dotages of Monsieur Soulier 'T was six Years since that Father Mesnier reproacht to him That he understood not Latine and that he had scarce wit enough to Write and Read He ought at least to have applied himself thereto sine that time but he hath neglected to do it and labours himself to revive the old French Proverb 'T is a brave thing for a Priest to know how to Read and Write Behold some proofs thereof He writes in Page the 632 of his last Book Je plaidè ces affaires it ought to have been written Je plaidai at the 678 J ' y âjoutè j'en donnè instead of saying J ' y ajoutai j'en donnai the same place he hath written Plagieres instead of Plagiaires you will find a hundred of this kind But behold enough to justifie me against so feeble an Enemy Let him write till Dooms-day
double Adultery against Christ Jesus These are pitiful Declamations according to my apprehension To judge of the nature of these Actions we must know what were the Principles of those who did them Why should they observe Celibacy since they lookt upon it as a Yoak of which they desired to deliver the Clergy because it had produced a world of Impurities and Abominations so that a Deluge was not capable of purging them They have broken their Vows They were unlawful Vows made under a tyrannical Empire conceived in a false Religion unacceptable to God because they served as a Vail to an infinite number of Corruptions and at the same time to a debaucht and hypocritical life They forsook Babylon and it behoved them to forsake all the Badges thereof This kind of life which under an appearance of Piety hides such great Disorders is the true Character of the Beast These Monks are those Hypocrites whose Consciences are seared as with a hot Iron forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from Meats which God hath permitted which teach a Doctrine of Devils and serve as a Support to the Throne of the Beast So that these Reformers being delivered from the tyrannical Yoak of this unhappy Empire ought to return to the enjoyment of all their Rights and of all their Liberty and being put in the possession of it they may and ought to use it There needs but one thing to confound all these Calumniators who are willing to stain and blacken the Lives of the Authors of our Reformation What have these Reformers gained what have they gotten to do the work of Impostors Have they gained Riches Honours or great Dignities Have they left great Houses have they left Heirs and Children that were great Lords Never did persons despise their own Interests more than they did they never got wherewithal to be buried decently and scarcely got wherewith to live Their Zeal Firmness Constancy and Perseverance joyned with a contempt of their own Interest make up a Character very opposite to that of dishonest men If they had been debauched effeminate Lovers of Pleasure why did they go out of the Body of the Roman Clergy who enjoyed all the pleasures of the flesh even those which were most infamous with so much convenience and advantage These Gentlemen say that the principal reason which gave such success to the New Gospel was the licentiousness of the Church-men and the Monks of that Age. This is it which that same Lady does confess who makes the ill Conversation of the Authors of our Separation one cause of her return to the Church of Rome But this Confession and this Truth which is publickly known doth it not utterly ruine the Accusation which the Papists make against our Reformers Is there any probability that the great number of people which forsook the Roman Church being scandalized by the wicked Lives of its Guides should list themselves under the Ensigns of other wicked persons which were no better than those they had forsaken If they were not vicious and debaucht at least say they they were fierce proud Lovers of themselves passionate ambitious vain and violent These are stroaks striken in the Air and Accusations which make it evident they have nothing to say Concerning Ambition there doth not appear any footstep thereof in their Conversation And that which they call Pride and Fierceness is according to us Zeal and Vigour in the maintenance of Truth as we shall make it appear in examining the third Accusation The third Accusation is that it 's evident the Authors of our Separation were inspired with a dark Malignity against the Roman Church they vomited out against her say they flouds of Injuries and every-where is to be seen a Character of black Gholer which discharges it self both upon their Persons and Religion They support and strengthen this Accusation by the Confession of some Protestants who were of another frame and temper of mind and did not approve those methods of proceedure that were so full of flame and fire I answer That Grace which changes mens Manners does not change their Temper and Constitution but governs and serves it self thereof Although it should be true that there appeared a great deal of fire in the Authors of our Reformation that would be no sufficient cause to condemn them it being the temper of all Great men And this temper is of so great necessity for the execution of great things that without it 't is very difficult to carry on and prosecute great Designs and Enterprizes This is a thing unto which those men have too little regard which at this day do so highly commend and advance the Elogies of sweetness and moderation in Controversies and who perswade us to imitate other Great men who are of a quite contrary Character and temper of Mind If these honest men of this last Order that is to say these soft and moderate men had been born in the past Age and had been engaged in that great Work they had neither maintained nor carried it so far as did those men the heat of whose Temper they would fain make a Crime If Luther had not had a heart fearless and of inconceivable courage he had never been able to bear up against the Torrent of Contradictions and Oppositions that he met withal and repelled Father Paul the famous Venetian Divine who became famous on occasion of the Affair of the Interdict of that Republick knew assuredly the Corruption of the Roman Church at least as well as Luther He made no secret of it no eminent Protestant passed by Venice to whom he did not discover himself concerning it They often represented to him that he was obliged in Conscience to break with a Church the Impurity and Idolatry whereof he so well understood He had a thousand Reasons to offer on his own behalf sometimes that he separated the good from the bad sometimes that he was of use to a thousand persons that lay hid and had good sentiments at last when he was pressed hard he would say that God had not given to him the Heart and Spirit of Luther It is certain that if Father Paul had been of the Temper and Spirit of Luther Venice had been at this day what Geneva is And it is also certain that if Luther Zuinglius and Calvin had been of the Temper and Spirit of Father Paul all Europe had been yet what Venice is at this day It behoves us therefore to admire the great and profound Wisdom of God who chose for so great a Work men whose Temper was fit to maintain improve and exercise Zeal effectually To this Consideration add another the Authors of our Reformation have indeed spoken ill of the Church of Rome of its Priests of its High-Priest of its Monks and its Guides And why might they not speak ill of them I do maintain that they said nothing but what was true they could scarcely speak too much ill of Popery They said that the Church