syllabis nec in veteri nec in novo instrumento tradantur de iis tamen ut utroque fundatis inter omnes semper convenit Christianos demptis tantummodo paucis quibusdam haereticis quorum in religione haud major habenda est ratio quam monstrorum in naturâ Sic etiam Infantes sacro Baptismate abluendos esse sponsores ad illud Sacramentum adhibendos dominicum sive primam per singulas septimanas feriam religiosè observandam esse Passionis Resurrectionis Ascensionis Domini ad Coelum nec non Spiritûs Sancti adventûs commemorationem per singulos annos peragendam Ecclesiam ubique per Episcopos à Presbyteris distinctos iisque Praelatos administrandam esse Haec per mille quadringentos ab Apostolis annos in publicum Ecclesiae usum ubique recepta fuerunt nec ullam intra illud tempus invenire est Ecclesiam in ea non consentientem adeò ut quasi communes sint notiones omnium ab origine Christianorum animis insitae non tam ex ullis particularibus Scripturae locis quam ex omnibus ex generali totius Evangelii scopo tenore ex ipsâ religionis in eo stabilitae natura proposito atque ex constanti denique Apostolorum traditione qui Ecclesiasticos hujusmodi ritus generales ut ita loquar Evangelii interpretationes per universum terrarum orbem unà cum fide propagarunt Alioquin enim non credibile imò vero impossibile prorsus esset ut tam unanimi consensione ubique semper ab omnibus reciperentur Vid. etiam Cassandri defensionem officii pii viri adversus Calvinum Catholick principle for what part of Christianity for what Gospel Doctrine they suffer or in obedience to what Gospel Law for 't is no matter how much they are perswaded in their own Consciences and to what degree they suffer but do you enquire after their opinions and then try if they are any part of Christianity and if upon trial they be not found to be so their clamour and noise about persecution must be unjust and vain As for example there is now a loud cry among the Papists of the persecution of the Catholicks as they mis-call themselves and of the persecuting Laws against the Catholicks in England but suppose all our Laws were executed against them for what Article of the Creed for what Gospel-doctrine or Precept for what Catholick principle or for what part of Christianity would these Pseudocatholicks suffer are these Gospel-truths or Catholick principles that the Bishop of Rome is Christ's Vicar General and that he is Supream above all other Bishops of the Catholick Church Can they prove either by the Scriptures or by universal Tradition that he is infallible either in the Chair or out of it and that there is no Salvation to be had without the Pale and Communion of his Church Are these not to mention Transubstantiation Image-worship the Invocation of Saints and Angels Praying in an unknown Tongue c. any parts of the Christian system or did the Primitive Christians or so much as one Church of Primitive Christians know or profess these things No! they are not Articles of Faith nor Gospel-doctrines nor common notions of Christianity but contradictions to all these and the Doctrines and Traditions of men In like manner not to mention the late * Mitckel King Kid Hackston c. Malefactors in Scotland our dissenting Brethren here have made grievous cries about Persecution and their writings are full of reflections upon the persecuting Laws of invectives against the makers of the Law for Uniformity but for what Gospel-truth or Precept for what Catholick principle or for obedience to what Law of Jesus Christ did they ever yet suffer or can they suffer by those Laws Is this a Gospel-doctrine or Catholick principle that the original Government of the Church was Presbyterian and that the Government of it by Bishops above Presbyters and distinct from them is an alteration of the original Government and an usurpation over the Church of God If it be let them shew us when this disparity of Bishops from Presbyters began Let them assign the time of this universal Aberration and Apostasie from the Primitive platform whether it was done in the time of the Apostles or in the times next unto them If it was done in their time let them tell us whether it was done with their consent or without it or if in the times next unto them let them tell us the names of those Diotrepheses who did first attempt or atchieve it let them shew us so much as one Record that doth make mention of it or let them tell us how so great an alteration was made both over the Presbyters and over the Church and yet not one Church or Presbyter assert its right Or how it came to pass for example that Ignatius an holy Martyr Presbyter of Antioch should so early usurp the Ecclesiastical Government of * Ad Rom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syria at a time when there were such vast multitudes of Christians in it and elsewhere that ‖ Epist ad Trajan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tyberianus President of Palestine told the Emperor Trajan under whom he suffered that he was wearied with punishing and killing the Galileans and * Neque enim civitates tantum sed vicos atque etiam agros superstitionis istius contagio porvagata est satis constat propè jam desolata templa Pliny Propraetor of Bithynia told the same Emperor that the Christian Religion had so infected the Cities Towns and Villages in his Province that the Heathen Temples were become desolate and unfrequented or if Bishops then had not many particular Congregations under their inspection how should the same holy Martyr in his Epistle to the Church of Smyrna distinguish between personal Communion with the Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and with another Minister licensed by him and disallow all other Communions but such In like manner is it a Gospel doctrine or Catholick principle that Book-forms of prayer are unlawful or that God cannot be so worthily worshipped by them or in so spiritual a manner as by extemporary prayers Is there one place in the Bible that prefers extemporary before prescribed Forms of Prayer Doth the practice of the Catholick Church prefer those before these Or is there any thing in Scripture or Antiquity to shew that it is a sin for a Minister to wear a Linen garment when he officiates in the Church Are National Churches unlawful or inconsistent with the progress of the Christian Religion or the notion of Christian Union and Communion Doth either the Gospel or any thing in Christianity teach us that the use of Ceremonies is unlawful in Divine worship or that the Sign of the * Clem. Alex. Strom. l 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tertul de resur Caro abluitur caro signatur De corona Ad omnem frontem Crucis signaculo terimus
Cross is now become unlawful in the Office of Baptism Are these Christian Doctrines or Precepts that the People have a right to chuse their own Ministers that no Power upon Earth at least no Secular Power can silence or suspend a Minister that Infant-Baptism is unlawful or that the Scripture is the Adequate Rule of Conscience and Practice or that nothing ought to be instituted in the Service and Worship of God which he hath not commanded or approved in his Word Are any of these not to mention others Articles of Faith or Gospel-doctrines or Catholick principles If they be how came they to lye so long undiscovered and never to be found out but by a few particular men among us some about an hundred and some about thirty and forty years ago What were all Christian Doctors before Popery and all since the Reformation from it but a few Dissenters of these Countries blind that they could never yet discern these Doctrines in the Scriptures neither in express terms nor in the scope and tenor of them these Doctrines which would make the professors of them now separate from all National establishments of the Protestant Religion as well as ours and which must have obliged them had they lived in the first and best Ages of Christianity to have separated from all the Churches in the world For there were * As Jaemes at Jerusalem and S. John the Apostle at Ephesus both which as a sign of the High-Priesthood for S. Clemens compares the Bishop to the High-Priest c. 40. ep ad Cor. wore the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Pontifical Crown or Frontlet wherein was written holiness to the Lord. Euseb lib. 5. c. 24. Epiphan in haer Nazar in haer 78. Marc at Alexandria who also is said to have wore the Pontifical Frontlet Vales not ad b. 5. c. 24. Eus not to mention Clemens Caius Archippus Onesimus Euodias Timothy Titus Ignatius c. who were all such Bishops according to Catholick Antiquity Bishops over several Congregations superior to and distinct from Presbyters in the Apostles times and the Christian writers of the next Age to them upon whose Authority we take the Books of the New Testament to be their writings did teach and believe the office of such a Bishop to be the Ordinance of God And in those pure and Virgin-times of Christianity they worshipped God by Forms of Prayer used Ceremonies in his worship united into * Euseb l. 3. c. 23. Can Ap. 34. Conc. Antioch c. 9. Metropolitan which answer to our National Churches used the Sign of the Cross at all sorts of Devotion received their Ministers from their Bishops at whose Election it is true they used to signifie their approbation as the People were wont to do at our King's Coronation but they never poll'd at them nor properly speaking gave any vote In those days also in the pure and Virgin Ages of Christianity while the Disciples of the Apostles governed the Church the Bishops silenced and deposed Presbyters who were not so much as to ‖ Ignat. ad Smyrn Philadelp Trull Can. Apost 39. Tert. de baptismo c. 17. Concil Ancyr c. 13. Concil Laod. c. 56. Hier. advers Lucifer preach or administer any Sacrament without their leave and consent They then also used and instituted many Ceremonies of which we have no account neither Precept nor Example in the Word of God Shall I mention some They always mixed * Just Mart. Apol. 2. Conc. sext in Trull c. 32. Conc. Carth. Can. 40. water with the Sacramental Wine to signifie that the Bloud of Christ had a cleansing virtue in it which mystery was also as they believed represented by the water which flow'd with the bloud from our Saviour's side They sent ‖ Just Mart. loc cit portions of the Sacramental Bread to the sick and absent to signifie that they were partakers of the same Sacrifice and belonged to the same Altar and they worshipped God towards the * Resp ad quaest 118. ad Orthodox East They gave ‖ Tertull. Clemens Alexand. forsan Barnab Epist p. 223. Edit Isaac Voss Milk and Hony to drink unto Baptized persons to signifie that they were like new-born Babes who ought to desire the sweet and sincere milk of the Word They sung Psalms * Plin. cit Epist alternately at the holy Eucharist They stood up in all their Devotions from ‖ Resp. ad quaest ad Orthod 115. Easter till Whitsuntide to signifie that Christ was risen from the dead They observed the four Apostolical Holidays the Passion Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord and the descent of the Holy Ghost Nay even in the Apostles days they * Rom. 6.4 dipt baptized persons over the head and let them remain a little space under water to signifie that they were buried with Christ in Baptism They also then had ‖ 1 Cor. 11. Love-feasts joyned with the holy Eucharist the * 1 Cor. 16.20 1 Thess 5.26 Just Mart. Apol 11. salutation of the holy Kiss and observed the Jewish custom of saying the Hebrew word ‖ 1 Cor. 14.16 Just Mart. Apol. 11. Amen at the conclusion of every Prayer These were the general besides the particular Ceremonies of particular Churches and in one word there was never any separation made or thought of in any of the Primitive Ages of Christianity upon the account of Ceremonies and therefore since the belief and practice of God's universal Church in the first and best Ages are contrary to the Doctrines and Precepts by which our dissenting Brethren in vain attempt to justifie their separation How can they be Doctrines and Precepts of the Gospel How can they be Catholick principles or parts of Christianity and how can they be persecuted in the defence thereof No! they are no parts of Christianity no Laws nor Doctrines of the Gospel but meer humane inventions meer humane fancies and opinions and most of them modern opinions too Primitive Christianity never heard nor thought of such things and notions but they have been invented and advanced to justifie the Schismatical practices of some Men who have not brought their Works to the Rule but the Rule I mean the Gospel to their Works In a word they are all Novelties or renewed Errors all Impious False or most uncertain Notions and those that Teach them be who they will Teach for Doctrines of God the Traditions and Opinions of Men. II. But this is not the case of our poor Brethren of the French Church 't is not for these nor any such Opinions as these that they suffer but for professing such true and denying such false Doctrines as God hath obliged them to profess and deny and for disobeying their King in doing or not doing of those things which God hath commanded them to do or not to do This is the second part of my Discourse wherein after having stated the true Notion of Persecution I told you I would prove they are
truly persecuted which you may perceive I can do no other way but by shewing that they suffer for Righteousness-sake for Religions sake for the Truths of the Gospel and in defence of the Gospel-Laws The case is really with them as it was with the Apostles and Primitive Christians they are under a necessity of disobeying the Supream Authority in not conforming to the Gallican Church because the Doctrine and Worship of it are plainly inconsistent with the Doctrines of the Gospel and the Evangelical Worship of God As for example the Gospel hath commanded us not to worship Angels as in Coloss 2.18 Let no man saith the Apostle deceive you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels And Rev. 19.20 when S. John fell at the Angel's feet to worship him See saith the blessed Spirit thou do it not for I am thy fellow-servant But the Gallican Church like all the rest of the Papal Communion Teacheth and Practiseth the worshipping of Angels and maketh solemn Invocations not only of the Angels and Archangels in general but of this and that Angel by their proper Names The Gospel plainly forbiddeth praying in an unknown Tongue because he that speaketh in a Tongue unknown to the People speaketh not unto man as the Apostle argues but unto God and the Air and he that so speaketh is a Barbarian unto the People because they know not the meaning of his voice yet notwithstanding all that is so expresly written upon this matter 1 Cor. 14. the Gallican Church useth Latin-offices and their publick Worship is all in Latin which the People do not understand The Gospel teacheth that as there is but one God so there is but one Mediator betwixt God and Man the man Christ Jesus to whom alone we must pray to make intercession for us to God but the Gallican Church prays to * Dom. quintâ post Epiph. ad poscenda suffragia Sanctorum Oratio in octavâ Sancti Steph. ut pro nobis Intercessor existat Saints and Angels and above all to the ‖ De Sanctâ Mariâ oratio in all their Masses ut qui verè eam genitricem Dei credimus ejus apud te intercessionibus adjuvemur Oratio in circumcisione Domini ut ipsam pro nobis intercedere sentiamus blessed Virgin to make intercession for them So that if her prayers were in the Mother-tongue the People could not joyn in Her worship without committing Idolatry against God and Blasphemy against Jesus Christ The Gospel assureth us that Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven and there sitteth at the right hand of God to make intercession for us and that he was once offered up for all and by one offering of himself perfected for ever them that are Sanctified but the Gallican like all other Popish Churches teacheth that he is bodily present and bodily offered up in the Sacrifice of the Masse and that his real flesh and bones are eaten when the consecrate Wafer is eaten and that the Hostie as they call the great Wafer which they expose and carry about is the * Urbanus VIII in his Preface before the Missal begins thus Si quid est in rebus humanis planè divinum quod nobis superni cives si in eos invidia caderet invidere possent id certè est SS Missae Sacrificium cujus beneficio sit ut homines quâdam anticipatione possideant in terris coelum dum ante oculos habent manibus contrectent coeli terraeque conditorem very Christ This they keep in a Box on purpose and on ‖ Especially the two Corpus Christi days called by the Gallican Church Festes de Dieu the Feasts of God solemn days carry it in Procession as the Pagans did their Idols to be adored and where ever it is met there the People must fall down and worship and wheresoever the Priest makes a stand there must prayers be offered up unto it as unto the very Christ The Heathens were never guilty of more gross and absurd Idolatry than this The worshipping of a Leek or an Onion or an head of Garlick as the Egyptians did is not more against common Sense and Reason than the worshipping of a Wafer the work of a Baker or Confectioners hand And then as to the Elements to be received in the holy Eucharist the Gospel saith expresly that at the Institution of it our Lord took bread and brake it and gave it to his Disciples saying Take eat this is my body likewise that he took the Cup saying Drink ye all of this for This is related in the same manner by S. Paul 1 Cor. 11. where he also saith Whosoever eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself Accordingly the Primitive universal Church administred it exactly after Christ's Institution as is evident out of * Ad Philadelph 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignatius ‖ Apol. 2. Justin Martyr c. And all succeeding Ages followed this Primitive practice and still doth follow it throughout the * Cassand do Sacra Com. universal Church except the Church of Rome which began above Five Hundred years since to take away the Cup from the People for fear O superstitious Souls that they should spill the Bloud Yet the Gallican Church for all her fine pretences to Liberty still continues so strictly Popish that she deprives her People of the Cup although the Saviour she pretends to worship Proleptically speaking of this holy Sacrament saith Whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath Eternal Life What shall I say of the abominable Doctrines of Supremacy Infallibility and Purgatory which she alloweth with all the practices that follow thereupon and of her Image-worship and Cross-worship Crucifix worship not to mention her Ceremonies which for their number are intolerable and for their nature such as vilifie pollute and deprave the worship of God These are the things which make our French Brethren dissent from the publick establishment There is a plain opposition betwixt the Doctrines and Worship set forth in the Gospel and the Doctrines and worship of the Gallican Church They cannot conform unto it nor live in the Communion of it and be true to the Gospel nor obey their Prince in this particular because Obedience unto him would be Disobedience unto God They have no quarrel at the Church because it is Episcopal but because it is Popish for * Calv. ad Sadol If the Bishops would so rule as to submit themselves to Christ then if there shall be any that shall not submit themselves to that Hierarchy reverently and with the greatest obedience that may be there is no kind of Anathema whereof they are not worthy id instit l. 4. c. 4. ss 4. Beza de divers grad contr Sarav c. 21. Melancthon ad camer an 1530. Confess Aug. de Eccles potest Apol. Confess Aug. ad art 14. Princeps Anbalt in concion super Matth. 7. Bogerman President of the Synod of Dort Nay Blondel
with it and when from this diffusive spirit of charity which actuates all the parts of the truly Catholick Church those that have riches and live at ease will contribute to those that are poor and in distress The testimony of a good Conscience is a great cordial because it results from considering that we suffer for Righteousness-sake and so are conformed unto Christ in his sufferings and thereby have a comfortable title to all those mighty promises which he hath made unto them that forsake Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Lands and Country nay and lay down their lives for his and the Gospels-sake This consideration made the Apostle glory and rejoyce and take pleasure in his infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions and in distresses for Christ's sake And I question not but our suffering Brethren the Confessors of the French Communion are supported in their present miseries by these comfortable reflections and rejoyce in spirit that they are counted worthy to suffer for his holy Name The comforts and joys of the Holy Spirit consist in those gracious irradiations by which God is wont in an extraordinary manner to affect the Souls of true sufferers in such measures as their condition requires From this principle I conceive it was that Paul and Silas after they had received many stripes sang at midnight in the innermost Prison with their feet fast in the Stocks and that so many Martyrs have smiled upon their Tormentors and broiled in the Flames with little or without any sense of pain In such cases it seems reasonable to conclude that their natural is strengthned with infused courage and that they are also rendred more or less senseless because they are rendred Ecsttatick with the secret assurance of Gods favour which in 1 Thess 1.6 is called joy in the Holy Ghost I cannot say that our suffering Brethren generally speaking are yet in such a condition as to stand in need of supernatural assistance but when ever it shall please God to call them or us to such a degree of Persecution that we shall be killed all the day long and be counted as sheep for the slaughter I question not but he will assist us in it and in all these things make us more than conquerors through Jesus Christ our Lord. But besides the comforts which the suffering members of Christ receive from their own Consciences and the Spirit of God they are to receive support and comfort from the Brotherhood from their fellow-members in Jesus Christ Thus 2 Cor. chap. 8 9. we find the Apostle exhorting the Corinthians after the example of the Churches in Macedonia to a liberal contribution for the poor distressed Saints at Jerusalem Thus also Acts 11. the Disciples of Antioch as soon as they understood by the Prophet Agabus that there would be a Dearth throughout all the World which is the Scripture-phrase for all Judaea they determined to send relief unto the Brethren of Judaea by the hands of Barnabas and Paul For the Universal Church is but one Body whereof Christ is the Head one Family whereof he is the Master one Temple or Spiritual-building whereof he is the chief Corner-stone and this strict relation we have to one another as members of the universal Church is such that if one member of it suffer all the members ought to suffer with it and therefore a Soul void of pity and compassion a Soul that cannot sympathize with his suffering Brethren though as to outward appearance he may be a Christian yet he hath not the Spirit of Christ that Spirit of Love which informs all his members as the Soul doth all the parts of the Body and makes them sensible of one anothers harms By this saith Christ shall all men know that you are my Disciples if ye love one another And if we love one another saith S. John God dwelleth in us and this Commandment have we from him that he that loveth God love his Brother also Therefore my Brethren God by his Providence hath now brought you to the Test to try every one of you whether you are true member of Christ or no It is Christ that hath sent these his poor members to beg relief of you and in as much as you do it or not do it to one of these little ones remember that you do it or not do it to him But besides the obligation you have from Christian charity Christian equity also obligeth you to do it For whatsoever you would that men should do unto you in any condition that you are bound by the Gospel to do unto them and therefore as you would desire or expect to be dealt with in a time of Persecution so it is your duty now to deal with them The times of performing some Gospel-duties seldom occur but when they happen and they always happen by God's special Providence we ought to look upon such accidents as providential calls to the vigorous and exemplary performance of them and who knows whether God hath brought this evil upon our Brethren not only for the trial of their Faith and Patience but of our Love Pity and Compassion and of our willingness to minister unto the Saints Therefore let us now acquit our selves like loving Brethren towards them who are true Sons of that Mother Church to which they belong and from which they never yet departed from the beginning of the Reformation under the endless pretence of setting up purer Congregations and enjoying purer Ordinances and purer Worship but from the beginning have kept the unity of Spirit in the bond of peace Let us not be backward to Good and distribute among them for with such Sacrifices God is well pleased Let your abundance as the Apostle speaks be a supply for their want and who knows but that God seeing our readiness to relieve them in Persecution may be so well pleased as to deliver us from Persecution and all the Judgments which we fear If they have the benefit of our Money our Church shall have the benefit of their Prayers they will be obliged by our Charity to beseech God to make up our Breaches and heal our Divisions to unite us into the Primitive Apostolical Government and Communion that our Jerusalem may be as a City that is compact together and once more become as she formerly hath been the glory of all Reformed Churches and terrible as an Army with Banners to her Enemies of Rome Therefore let every one of you be merciful unto them after his power if thou hast much give plenteously if thou hast little do thy diligence to give of that little for if there be first a willing mind it is accepted by God according to what a man hath and not according to what he hath not Only I charge you who are rich in this world that you be ready to give and glad to distribute unto them laying up in store for your selves a good foundation against the time to come that you may attain Eternal Life which God of his infinite mercy grant us all through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen FINIS
Seats and more costly Pews are ordered to be pulled down Formerly Papists were allowed solemnly to renounce their Religion in the Protestant Temples and scarce a Lords-day passed in the places where they were * As at Charenton La-Rochelle Montpellier Nismes numerous but some Converts might be seen so to renounce but now all Papists are forbidden to turn Protestants under pain of death or the penalty of an infamous sort of Penance called L' amando honorable in which the recanting person only in his Shirt with a Torch in his hand and a Rope about his neck and the Hangman standing behind him begs pardon of God and man for having renounced the Catholick as they mis-call the Romish Religion and is afterwards punished with Banishment if not with confiscation of Goods On the contrary Protestants have all imaginable encouragement to turn Papists Pensions Honours Offices and Preferments and to secure them after they have once declared the forementioned severity as I have been informed is the punishment of a relapse The Magistrates of the place have Authority to go with the Priest and what other company they please to visit sick Protestants and turn their Friends and Attendants out of the Room and discourse with them about their Religion and if either hopes of reward or a delirous condition or impatience or any other cause make them speak any thing in favour of the Romish Religion then they presently take witness that they turned Papists After which if the sick persons die they are to be buried as Papists and if they left Children behind them they also are to be bred Papists but if they recover they are obnoxious to the Law against a relapse Their Ministers cannot without great danger and difficulty visit Protestants which lye sick in Popish Houses but every pitiful Sacrificulus every ignorant busie Priest hath Authority to go into Protestant Houses and visit the sick as often as they please and when their Women are in travail like the Hebrew-women in the time of hardned Pharaoh they must have Popish Egyptian Midwives which is a far greater terror to many of them than the pains of Childbirth it self Formerly they were capable of the Magistracy in Cities and Burghs where they lived but now they are incapacitated Formerly they were to sit in their Courts of Justice as the Chambers of the Edict so called from the Edict of Nantes by which they were erected in favour of Protestants and the Party-Chambers of the Provinces where half the Judges are Protestants and half Papists but now they are deprived of that priviledge So that for want of Judges of their own Religion they have little or no benefit of the Law when a Catholick is their Antagonist but when both parties are Protestants if one change or promise to change his Religion he is usually sure to gain the Cause And as they are banished from the Bench so are they banished from the Bar and Faculties For no Protestant can be Councellor Atturney Notary Chirurgeon Apothecary Midwife c. In one word they are made utterly uncapable of all employments Civil or Military and by that means are deprived of all Honours and better conveniences of life of all the comfortable means of subsistence and well-being which the Papists enjoy in their Offices at Court and in the Country in Peace and in War and in the Armies both by Sea and Land This is their miserable condition and what is yet worse their Children have liberty at Seven years of Age to chuse their own Religion and if to prevent the mischief that may follow upon this they send them away they must forfeit a years revenue of their Estates if they do not produce them within a year but if they do not produce them within two then they must forfeit the whole But in case they have no visible Estates then they are subject to Arbitrary valuations and to Arbitrary Fines imposed thereupon If their Children upon this liberty happen to change their Religion as many will do rather than endure wholsom Discipline their Parents are bound to maintain them as they do their other Children or else to allow them a Pension for their maintenance and their Daughters so changing may leave their Parents and go into Nunneries when they please This is the complement of all their other miseries and to avoid so great a mischief it is that they fly in flocks to Protestant Countries that they may save the Souls of their own bowels and not have them bred up in Popish darkness and the regions of the shadow of death Some have slipt away by night with their Families and driven without intermission till they have got out of their imperious Princes Dominions and others as is credibly reported have shipt off their little Ones pack'd up in Bales of Merchantable Goods As for their Ministers they upon any pretended crimes are banished fined or imprisoned on purpose to make them forsake their Flocks and discourage the People from putting their Children to the study of Divinity Nay they are in an especial manner obnoxious to the barbarous cruelties and insults of the Souldiery who have free Quarter upon the poor Protestants whom they abuse to what degree they please In some * As Poictou Xaintonge and about Rochelle Provinces they trail them like dogs by the neck to Masse torture them till they renounce their Religion and most inhumanely misuse or murder those whom God enables to resist unto bloud and though these tyrannical and arbitrary outrages be not done by open order yet it may be presumed they are done upon connivance and according to the secret will of the Supream Authority since those that do them are neither punished nor restrained notwithstanding the complaints which the sufferers daily make at Court These barbarous insolencies added to the severity of the Royal Edicts you may be sure adds wings to their haste and makes them fly in great hurry and confusion into foreign Countries and the providence of God hath cast many of them like ship-wracked men on our Coasts and expects that we should shew them no little kindness but receive them courteously and do good unto them in an especial manner as unto them that are of the houshold of Faith They are Persecuted but we must not forsake them they are grievously cast down but in such an exigence as this we must not let them be destroyed IV. And therefore I proceed in the last place to shew that it is our duty to help and assist them to encourage and support them in this time of calamity to refresh their bowels and minister unto their pressing wants For there are but three ways by which the spirits of persecuted men can be supported by the testimony of a good Conscience the comforts and joys of the Holy Ghost and the charitable assistance of their Brethren when as the Apostle speaks the members have the same care one for another and if one member suffer all the members suffer