the World with a specious Title Hearken then no more to their dangerous Discourses Call not any longer that horrid Schism which hath desolated Christianity a Reformation and turn against the Enemies of Re-union the abhorrence with which they would inspire you against us For is there any thing more worthy of Horrour than to make you hate the Church Than to represent as Babylon her who carries in her Forehead the name of JESVS CHRIST and who puts her Confidence in him alone Than to make her the Mother of Idolatries and Prostitutions who from the beginning of Christianity even unto our days hath not ceas'd to send her Children throughout the whole Earth and even to the most unknown Regions to cause the one only and True God the Father Son and Holy Ghost to be there Adored It is not we then My Brethren who deserve this just horrour which all of us have of Idolatry 't is those who accuse us falsely Those who bear false and scandalous Witness against an Innocent Person are condemned to the same punishment which the crime of which they bear Witness did deserve had it been found true So those who accuse us of Idolatry whilst we confess with so much Purity the name of God deserve before Men that horrour which is due to Idolatry and shall receive the just punishment thereof in the sight of God But above all what horrour are they worthy of who cast this Accusation upon the whole Church and also on the Church of the first Ages It is a long time my Brethren since the Ministers acknowledge That during the Fourth Century the Church desired the Prayers of Martyrs and Honoured Reliques And Vigilantius opposing himself to this Ancient and Universal Practice was so smartly reprehended by the Writings of St. Hieronymus that he remain'd single and alone in his Opinion If it be then an Idolatry to request the Prayers of Saints and to Honour their Relics this Illustrious Fourth Age yea this Age wherein the Prophecies of the Kingdom of JESVS CHRIST were accomplish'd more manifestly than ever wherein the Kings of the Earth till then Persecutors of the Name of JESVS became according to the ancient Oracles his Adorers this Age I say served the Creature the Prophecies of the Kingdom of JESVS CHRIST extended over Idolaters were accomplish'd in it by leading them into a new Idolatry the Ambroses the Augustines the Hieroms the Gregories of Nazianze the Basilius's and the Chrysostomes whom all Christians have respected even till now as the Doctors of Truth were not only the Followers but also the Teachers and Masters of an Impious Worship from which only Vigilantius kept himself pure So ill founded was Christianity of so little concern was the Name of the Church of JESVS CHRIST even in the First Ages Can you endure my Brethren the Ministers who by such Reproaches dishonour the Christian Religion This is not the only Outrage they commit against the Church and without going further than this pretended Pastoral Letter to those who are fallen thro' Torments you shall there find this Blasphemy Thus in the first Ages we see the Church fall into an Apostacy like yours after having tasted the charming Sweets of the Reign of Constantine the Great Oh Prodigy unheard of among Christians The Holy Fathers reproach'd Heretics with Apostacy in separating themselves from the Church But that the Church her self has apostatiz'd he that hears it without horrour is no Christian and you cannot look upon those as Pastors who have uttered such a Blasphemy But this Blasphemy is inseparable from the Pretended Reformation To be able to say with any colour that you must go out of the Church as out of Babylon they must say That the Church her self had before apostatiz'd If they had reproach'd her with less Crimes than Idolatry they would not have been able to rout out of the Hearts of the Faithful the Veneration they had for her and it was only by such Excesses that a Breach could come Detest it then my Brethren and come with all your Hearts to our Unity Begin by the Confession of your Sins that you may receive Penance and Absolution according to these Words Receive ye the Holy Ghost whose sins you remit they shall be remitted to them and whose sins you retain they shall be retained Believe not that to fulfil this Saying it is sufficient to have the Remission of Sins announced to you in general as the Ministers do seeing JESVS CHRIST said not Announce but Remit and that it suffices not to pronounce only in general since it is ordain'd the Priests should make a Judgment and Retain as well as Remit But we need not wonder that False Pastors dare not act according to the Terms of the Commission which JESVS CHRIST has given to his True Ministers Consider my dear Brethren what kind of Reformation this is where they Reform the Commission given by JESVS CHRIST himself and where together with Confession and the Censure of the Priests they take away the very Sinews of Discipline and the Bridle to Licentiousness It is no less Attempt to have retrench'd from the Church the Imposition of Hands by which the Holy Ghost is given to the Faithful This Sacrament is prov'd by these express Words of the Acts When the Apostles who were at Jerusalem had understood that those of Samaria had received the word of God they sent unto them Peter and John who being come prayed for them to the end they might receive the Holy Ghost For he was not as yet descended on them and they had been only baptized in the Name of our Lord JESUS But they forthwith laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost It hath pleas'd the New Reformers to decide by their own Authority and without any Testimony of Scripture That this Sacrament tho administred in all Ages and according to the Practice of the Apostles reserv'd to the Bishops their Parish to Parish to give you necessary Counsels and Instructions For the rest we require not extraordinary Perfections Provided you come to the Eucharist with a firm Faith an innocent Conscience and a holy Fervour we will bear with the remains of your infirmity Remembring that Passover of Ezechias whereof we have spoken at the beginning of this Instruction Many of those who were returned from the Schism had not been sanctify'd so much as was requisite to keep the Passover But Ezechias prayed for them saying The Lord who is good will have Mercy on those who seek with all their Heart the God of their Fathers and will not impute to them this that they are not enough purify'd and the Lord heard him and was appeas'd to his People Provided then that being returned to God with all your Heart you will serve him in the same Spirit as your Fathers in the Church where they served him that which is wanting to your Faith as yet weak will be supply'd by the Mediation of JESVS CHRIST of
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
We can say without fear of being reprehended that they Cannot shew any change in the Catholick Church unless in those matters of Ceremony and Discipline which from the first Ages have been alwayes held for indifferent As for those insensible changes which they accuse us to have introduc'd in Doctrine in that they call them insensible it is enough to convince you that there are none marked out and that they cannot shew an innovation by any one positive matter of Fact But what they cannot shew us we are ready to shew to all those who have forsaken us There has not been any Interruption of the Antient Doctrine in any patt of the Christian World but is known the date of the Innovation and Seperation no Person is ignorant of If there had been such changes among us the Authors would have been named the Spirit of Truth which is in the Church would have noted them and their Names would have been infamous as that of Arius Nestorius Pelagius Dioscorus and Berengarius So that all they have told you of these insensible changes in Doctrine of which they have not produc'd one example in the Christian Church is no other but an empty Accusation without any matter of Fact-to support it and seeing you understand the Doctrine which I declare to you and that which the other Catholick Bishops also declare to you you ought by no means to doubt but that you hear in our Discourse those who first preach'd the Gospel and in them the Apostles and in the Apostles him who said Go Teach and Baptize and behold I am with you even to the end of the World So when your Ministers told you You needed not trouble your selves about the Succession of Chairs and Pastors provided you kept the Right Doctrine and true Understanding of the Scripture they separated that which JESUS CHRIST hath been pleas'd to render inseparable And it is in vain they boasted of understanding the Scriptures when in the mean while they rejected the Means by which it hath pleas'd God to transmit it It was his Will that it should come to us from Pastor to Pastor and from Hand to Hand without the least suspicion or appearance of Innovation By this means we come to know what hath always been Believ'd and by consequence what ought always to be Believ'd It is as I may say in this always that the force of Truth and the Promise is evidenc'd and the whole is lost if an Interruption be found but in one only Point Those things which thou hast heard from me says St. Paul before many witnesses commit thou to faithful men who shall be fit to teach others also To seperate the wholesome Doctrine from this Chain of Succession is to separate the River from the Channel And to vaunt themselves of the Understanding of the Scripture when they acknowledge they have lost the Stream of Tradition in their Pastors is to vaunt of having preserv'd the Waters after the Pipes are broken Do not therefore hearken My Well-beloved to the Word of Falshood and suffer not your selves to be seduc'd by these Pretended Pastoral Letters which they address to you from so many Parts and in such different Forms That which hath for its Title A Pastoral Letter to the Protestants of France who are fallen through Torments is not the better for being full of Words which that great Bishop and Martyr St. Cyprian address'd to the Faithful of Carthage to exhort them to Penitence and Martyrdom Those who dare imitate the True Pastors and who use the Language of St. Cyprian ought to consider whether they can from so good a Title attribute to themselves the Pastoral Authority But let them consult this Holy Martyr he will teach them That the Church is One That Episcopacy is One That to possess it lawfully it is necessary to ascend by One continual Succession even to the Source of Unity that is to say even to the Apostles and even to him to whom only JESUS CHRIST hath said that he might found his Church upon Unity Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I Build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it and I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven c. and also after his Resurrection Feed my Sheep The same St. Cyprian will teach them That from this Source of the Apostles rising from perfect Unity all the Pastors have issued That from hence Episcopacy is One not only in all Places but also in all Times That the Church like a Sun spreads her Rayes through the Universe but that it is the same Light which extends it self on all Sides That she spreads her Branches and causes her Streams to run through the Earth but that there is but one Source one Chief one Common Beginning one self-same Stock and finally one self-same Mother rich in the Fruits she brings forth from her Fruitful Womb. And least We should imagine some Cases might happen in which it might be Lawful to separate from the Unity of the Church or reform her Doctrine he adds these excellent Words which I beseech you my Brethren to consider The Spouse of JESUS CHRIST can never be an Adultress she cannot be corrupted and her Chastity is inviolable He that separates himself from the Church to joyn himself with an Adulteress thus he treats the Sects that are separated from the Unity of the Church hath no part in the Promises of JESUS CHRIST he is a Stranger he is Profane he is an Enemy He cannot have God for his Father since he has not the Church for his Mother 'T is in vain that he pretends to break the Holy Unity which is founded on the Unity of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost And can they believe pursues he that the Vnity which is Built on so firm a Foundation can ever be dissolv'd He that keeps not this Vnity of the Church keeps not the Law of God he hath not the Faith of the Father and the Son he hath not Life and Salvation Do not you perceive My Bretheren how opposite the Method which they use in your pretended Churches is to that of St. Cyprian Your Ministers tell you without ceasing That to believe the Church without examining is without examining to believe Men subjects to Errour and that to know the True Church which one may beleive one must by a discussion of particular Questions know before hand the True Faith taught by the Scriptures But you see that St. Cyprian takes quite another Method To confound by an easie and compendious Argument as he propos'd to himself all Heresies and Schisms he alledges the Authority of the Church He knew nothing more manifest and so far was he from suffering them to inquire after the Church by examining into her Doctrines that he would have them know her first and hold it for certain that they cannot enjoy either the Law of God or Salvation or Life
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