same place or in another 'T is a matter of Fact which our Adversaries cannot deny In the 20th of the Acts the Apostle speaking to the Presbyters or Elders of the Church of Ephesus calls them Bishops and in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus where he speaks sometimes of a Bishop he speaks more frequently of Elders and by Elders he understands the very same which he had called Bishops In the Cities where the Churches were great there were many Presbyters one of them did preside over the rest not by turn but by a privilege which did always appertain to him St. Paul speaks of this President The Elder which rules well is worthy of double honor This presiding Presbyter in the beginning of the second Age arrogates to himself the name of Bishop which before was common to his Collegues so that there was no other but the President of the Presbytery who call'd himself Bishop He attributed to himself also the right of imposing hands as well on those which were received as Pastors as on the Penitents and those which were received to the Communion of the Mysteries In all this there was as yet no Hierarchy no Dependence no Appeals no Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Every Bishop with his College of Presbyters was Sovereign in his District and in his Church and this Church was not dependent of any other You may remember how S. Cyprian in our Eleventh Pastoral Letter hath told us in express words * Epist 74. Every Bishop may use his Authority in the Government of his Church according to his own Will being under no obligation to give an account thereof to any but the Lord. And elsewhere †Concil Carth. Anno 258. That every Bishop is Master of himself and cannot be judged by another Bishop as he also cannot judge other Bishops All honest men are agreed at this day therein The Divines themselves of the Gallican Church maintain it and at this time they lend us their Studies and Illuminations to refute the Flatterers of the Papal Tyranny who would find in the three first Ages of the Church Proofs of the Primacy i. e. of the Principality of the Bishop of Rome over all the Churches of the World. The Defenders of this Antichristian Power quote to us the Action of Victor Bishop of Rome who about the end of the Second Age excommunicated the Churches of Asia because they would not keep Easter precisely the same day that he did and from thence they conclude That the Pope was even then the Prince of all Churches But to this your own Converters do answer for us that in this Victor exercised no Right but what was common to all Bishops and that the Bishops of Asia might exercise it on Victor as he had exercised it on them that this Excommunication of Victor was a separation from his Communion that the Bishops did communicate one with another by Letters which they called Letters of Communion formed Letters c. When they were angry or discontented one with another they did no longer write these Letters of Communion to those of whom they believed the Church had reason to complain and they received no more from them that this is it which Victor then did and that all Bishops have Right by custom to do the same thing The Flatterers of Popes quote to us also the Words of Irenaeus who speaking of the Church of Rome says * Lib. 3. cap. 3. That it was necessary all other Churches should have recourse to this Church because it was the principal and the most potent But the French Roman Catholick Doctors answer for us that the sense is That the Roman Church because the City of Rome was the Capital City of the Empire and because of its grandeur might be a sufficient Witness of Apostolical Tradition because Christians came thither upon business from all Parts of the World and that coming thither they might there be Witnesses of the Faith of all Churches scattered throughout all the Empire and that so the Roman Church made up and formed of all Nations might be a Witness of the Faith of all the Churches in the World. They object to us also That it appears by the Works of St. Cyprian that Bishops condemned and deposed in Africa had recourse to the Bishop of Rome for their re-establishment But the French Doctors answer with us That by the same Letters of St. Cyprian it appears also that these Attempts were disallowed and condemned and that they gave the Bishop of Rome to understand that he had nothing to do to receive the Complaints of any of the Ecclesiasticks of the African Church So that these Gentlemen acknowledge with us that in the three first Ages of Christianity there was no Principality no subordinate Jurisdiction nor no dependence of one Church upon another not excepting the Church of Rome it self But we do also maintain unto them That from the Third Age the Churches that had their Seats in those Cities which are called Metropoles i. e. Heads of the Provinces did obtain a certain Superiority upon the lesser Churches that were in the little Villages of the Neighbourhood because of the need they had of them The Metropolitan Cities were the dwelling places of the Governors of the Provinces the Courts of Justice were there 't was thither they carried their Tributes so that all the Provinces had business there besides the Bishops of these Cities were ordinarily more able than those of little Cities for it has always been the ordinary custom to choose the ablest men for the conduct of the most important Churches and such as were most exposed to the Temptations of human Authority Besides this there were in these Cities many Presbyters which assisted the Bishop and who with him made a Senate able and knowing in matters of Faith and Discipline For these Reasons the Churches of the Country and such as were Provincial addressed themselves to the Churches of the Metropolitan Cities in all their doubts and in all their necessities sometimes to obtain Pastors sometimes to know how they should suppress Hereticks and those which were scandalous and sometimes in other cases and on other occasions This was the reason that the Churches of the Metropolitan Cities obtained by consent a kind of Superintendence over others They confirmed by imposition of hands Pastors in vacant Churches after the People of those Churches had made an Election of them This is the estate in which the Government was found in the beginning of the Fourth Age. Before that time the Names of Arch-Bishops Primates Exarchs Patriarchs and every other Name of Power and Dignity were wholly unknown in the Church But the Emperors becoming Christians Pride introduced it self into the Ecclesiastical Government and in the space of an 150 years or thereabout that Hierarchy was seen to be born and to establish it self which certainly made way for the birth of the Antichristian Empire of Rome and behold how it came to pass Constantine the Great
very desirous thereof weeping and professing that she would never go to Mass but it was refused her until they should receive greater marks of the sincerity of her return and repentance A few days after there was another Assembly in a Desart under the covert of a Barn in the Parish of St. Martin de Carcones where there were full out sixteen hundred persons It was in the night and continued until two hours before day Two days after there was another Assembly in the Parish of St. John de Gardoningue where there were seven or eight hundred persons The day after on the Lords day in the Parish of St. Cross de Caderles there was another where there were about fourteen hundred persons from all the Neighbouring Villages They had knowledge of this Assembly The Intendant and Judges sent an Advocate named Joly to inform them concerning it all their diligence went no further than to discover three or four persons there was so much fidelity among those that made up these Assemblies They took one which they threatned with death he seemed to comply and promised to tell what he knew But whether indeed he knew no body or was not willing to name them he discovered at first but two persons Nevertheless those of the Village of St. John who believed that they had been all discovered by the persons that had been taken fled and saved themselves in the Woods This flight discovered them and the way with which they serve themselves to force confessions learnt the Persecutors almost all those which had assisted at these Assemblies But they found the number of them so great that it forced them and also constrained them to cease these Persecutions seeing that they must depopulate the Country if they proceeded rigorously against the accused They therefore resolved to send them back upon promise that they would return thither no more reserving nevertheless liberty to themselves of chastising those which they called Heads of these undertakings These threatnings and these Persecutions could not oblige the faithful to give over and a few days after without more delay they had another Assembly in a Meadow in the same Parish of St. John where there were near two thousand persons There was Prayer Preaching and the Communion As they were in the middle of this exercise a voice was heard to say that the Dragoons drew near upon which he that performed the Office of a Pastor cryed out La those that fear depart but not one person stirred every one prepared himself to suffer Martyrdom The Dragoons came not on the place until the day after They saw the Grass trodden and thereupon the Priest which accompanied them said that the Devil had kept his Sabbath there the day before They made Prisoners some of the Peasants of the neighbouring Villages and carried them to Montpellier where they took their Depositions and released them These methods of proceeding were designed to affrighten them but they prevailed nothing for the Monday following there was another Meeting or Assembly of two thousand persons in another place of the same Parish An unhappy Apostate of the Town of Caderles named Mazel went and accused and discovered them to the Curate of the Village of St. John who went thither the day after with some Officers of Justice that he might repair to Bebe which was the place where the Assembly was held they must pass over Precipices and Rocks which made them think it was impossible that they should pass that way by night and the Curate said in a Language common enough with those honest Men I do not know how these Devils could pass here in the night I would my Brethren that you should compare your tenderness with this unwearied Zeal This is nothing to what you will see afterward but it is nevertheless enough to shew you that God hath chosen the weak things of the World to confound the strong These poor Inhabitants of the Mountains with their ignorance and rusticity will rise up in judgment agaiest you We hear that you run in troops to the Popish Churches to hear their Sermons It is not there that you ought to seek the word of God. You will not find it there but corrupt and mingled with human Traditions and although some Preachers should affect and chuse to Preach nothing but Morality unto you nevertheless there will be danger in going to hear them But we intend to discourse you more at large on this subject till when we recommend you to the Grace of God. October 1. 1687. The FOURTH PASTORAL LETTER TO THOSE That frequent the Popish Churches Assemblies of Christians in Cevennes The Martyrdom of many Christians of that Country and particularly of Sr Fulcran Rey Student in Theology My dearly beloved Brethren in our Lord Jesus Christ Grace and Peace be given to you from our God. WE will begin our Letter where we ended the precedent We have learn'd that those among you which have not yet been prevailed on to go to Mass do nevertheless fill the Popish Churches at the hours of Service and worship particularly in great Cities as Paris You intend thereby to satisfie your Persecutors in part you think by this means to turn away or at least delay the violence wherewith they threaten you that they may force you to go to Mass and communicate And besides you imagine that yon do no evil because you go to hear Men that preach the Word of God tho not in a manner so pure as you desire it and you think your selves sufficiently able to separate the good from the bad Moreover among Preachers you chuse those that out of complaisance and kindness to you speak little of Controversie and with very much moderation and entertain you for the most part of the time with Truths which are common to us with the Church of Rome and Duties of Morality the necessity whereof is acknowledged by all Christians It is better say you to hear the Word of God in this manner than not to hear it at all Behold these are your Excuses But I pray my Brethren give heed to what I am about to say You do not perceive whither this conduct will lead you 1. In frequenting constantly the exercises of Devotion of the Romish Religion and being often in the Popish Churches you will insensibly abate in the aversion you ought to have for those places of Devotion which Superstition hath rendred entirely profane You enter without indignation into those places in which the great God jealous of his Honor is provoked to jealousie by Idolatry You accustom your selves to see Images before which men prostrate themselves and to which they give Religious Honor contrary to the express Commandment of that Law which was given in the midst of Thunders to signifie that the Transgressors thereof should be smitten with the just Thunders of the Divine Vengeance You behold without emotion those Altars where that unhappy Sacrifice is offered which is so great a shame to the
admonishing us of our duty by these heavenly Voices who melodiously sung those holy Hymns which we were wont to sound forth in our Church which was then laid wast and destroyed I protest before God that these things are so as I have reported them and I am very glad to make known these truths for the Edification of all those that fear the Lord. In Testimony whereof I subscribe my self at Amsterdam September 4. 1686. V. Deformalagues I do maintain that a Testimony such as this though it were alone is capable of putting the spirit of incredulity to distress for what that is reasonable can be said against it It will be said this is the Testimony of a Woman but by being a Woman hath she renounced all Honor Shame and Conscience in the matter of Testimony She must have renounced all those things to attest with an Oath a matter of Fact with so many circumstances She is but a Woman but she is not a Woman that reports some Visions of the night or particular Revelations she is a Woman that reports things that happened in publick and whereof she hath for witnesses with her self many hundreds of persons Though she be a Woman it does not follow but she may be endued with good understanding now she must have lost all sense to advance such a falsity and to expose her self to be overwhelmed with shame as a maker of Fables to conclude she is a Woman but she speaks of a thing happened not above seven days ago if I may so say To conclude behold a Memorial of Monsieur de Brassalay a Gentleman of Honor and acknowledged such by all that know him Some days before the Interdiction of the Churches of Bearn there were many persons that heard the singing of Psalms in the Air in the City of Orthez The first that heard it was Lichigaray Brunier a Lawyer revolted some years since the most malignant of the Persecutors and who continually stirred up troubles to those of the Reformed Religion He rose from his Bed to go tell the Curate that there was an Assembly of people that sung Psalms without the City he also went to a Serjeant named Gowlan to conduct him to the place where he thought to surprize them but this Popish Serjeant having laid his Ear to the Window answered him there was nothing to be done for he well perceived the singing was in the Air. Afterward it was heard from time to time more than a month by divers persons sometimes at night and sometimes by day among others Lichagaray Canneille an Elder of the Church of Orthez protested and told me that sitting upon the bank of the River a thousand Paces from the City reading in a Book he heard a great singing of Psalms on that side the Church stands which is in the midst of the City and not doubting at all that is was an ordinary Assembly that were met together at Evening Prayers which was then very numerous because of the hazardous conjuncture and consisted at the least of two or three thousand souls he hasted to go thither and always heard a great singing of Psalms till he was entered into the City but having found the doors of the Church shut the Neighbours told him that it was not yet the hour of Prayer It is to no purpose to say they sung in some Cavern or Cave for there is nothing but Houses and the parts adjacent to Orthez are Vineyards Meadows and Fields it has been a long time since forbidden to sing Psalms in Houses and no body has dared to venture thereon and least of all would they think thereon in a time when they every hour feared the Interdiction of their Church and when they advised by all sorts of methods to defend themselves from it Moreover this Elder hath assured me that he never heard more lofty singing in the Church This he told me being in Bearne about sixteen months since in the presence of very many honest Men. After the Church of Orthez was razed to the ground this singing of Psalms was heard no more for some time but about the months of September and October last it was heard by most part of the people of Orthez and many others of the Country which tarried till night before they went home on Market-days those of the Suburbs as well as those of the City heard it every one in his Quarter ordinarily at the same hour viz. between eight and nine at night some heard the words others heard the Tune of the Psalms and there is not it may be a House in Orthez of which some one of the Family hath not heard it The said Lichiguray Bruneir went one night he and two others to that part where they heard this singing without the City and they all three heard the singing for a long time over their Heads the Tune of the 138. Psalm whereof they could not hear distinctly but these words Toward thy holy Temple I will look and worship thee and praised in my thankful mouth thy holy name shall be even for thy loving kindness sake and for thy truth withal for thou thy name hast by thy word advanced over all Du Faur a Physician and Magistrate of the City another Papist heard it divers times but their malice made them say they were Sorcerers and Devils A young Damosel of the Suburbs of Moncade which is near the Castle the ancient Habitation of the Lords of Bearn heard this singing being in her Bed she rose and caused more than fifty persons to go out who having heard it fell on their Knees and wept through the joy they conceived to hear so incomparable a Melody in the Air which continued more than half an hour And it must be known that it was in a place much raised above the City even as a very high Mountain and the people heard this singing over their Heads as if it had been in the Clouds I have heard an honest Man who was one of the Spectators make this relation who poured out Tears then when he spake of it the same thing I have heard from other places To conclude it is impossible to doubt of a truth which the far greatest part of the Inhabitants of Orthez are able to certifie The Parliament of Pau and the Intendent of Bearn have also given their Testimony thereto by a Decree which forbids Men to go hear these Psalms and to say they have heard it on the forfeiture of five hundred Crowns and by another Ordinance which forbids the same thing under the forfeiture of two thousand Crowns The Consuls of Orthez did publish these Ordinances in their City I do not as yet very well understand what can be opposed to the Testimony of Monsieur Brassalny Those that know him as we do know that he is not of a temper to impose upon any one nor to suffer himself to be imposed upon by any one whoever he be Those things which he reports are not hear-says at a great distance for
greater Absurdity than to answer by that which has been under dispute It is not true that Rome is the Chair of S. Peter we shall it may be have occasion to prove it to you in some other place But although it should be true where is it said that the Priviledg of Unity ought to be affixed to the Chair of S. Peter The Pope of Constantinople says I am in the Chair of S. Andrew who was an Apostle The Pope of Antioch says 'T is I who am in the true Chair of St. Peter for according to Tradition St. Peter was seven years Bishop of Antioch before he was Bishop of Rome so that it is the first Chair sounded by the chief of the Apostles The Pope of Alexandria saith I am in the Chair of St. Mark who was an Evangelist and had the Spirit of Infallibility as well as St. Peter Behold three Popes against one three Churches against one three Apostles or Evangelists against one wherefore then Gentlemen Converters would you that I should esteem you as only in the rightful possession of Unity to the prejudice of Persons which pretend to have as good a Title to it as your selves Press these false Babylonish Teachers on this point and you will see such confusion and such a multitude of Words in their Discourse which will discover to you the falseness of their pretensions After this we will consider the Proposition in it self The Vnion that is necessary to Salvation is included in the Church of Rome alone out of it there is neither Salvation Faith Grace Remission of Sins nor the True Church so that every man which is separate from it by Schism alone without Heresie dies eternally I do maintain That this Proposition is the most foolish but withal the most cruel and barbarous that ever was asserted and I do beseech you my Brethren to be attentive to the proofs that I shall make thereof First According to the Scripture Fathers and Evidence of Reason the Unity of the Church ought to contain Universality in it self that is to say That Church which is One ought to be universal and extended through all the World it ought to comprehend all Christians I will not prove this for it 's clear and also confessed 't is a truth so known among the Ancients that they look on certain Schismaticks of the fourth and fifth Age called Donatists as Fools These People in the beginning of the fourth Age separated themselves from the rest of the Church of Carthage and all Africa this Separation was caused by the Election of a Bishop of Carthage This hath always been one of the most fruitful Sources of Division These Donatists said precisely that which the Church of Rome says at this day * Aug. de Agone Christi Cap. 28. All the Church is fall'n into Apostasie and is only preserved in the Communion of Donatus upon which St. Augustine thus cries out Oh proud and wicked Tongue Certain other Schismaticks called Luciferians fell into the same dotage That the Church was perished and continued not but in Sardinia and some Mountains near Rome where they had Followers and Disciples St. Jerome treats them on that Subject as men that had lost their Understanding †Jerome Dialog adv Lucifer If it be so says he Jesus Christ died only for the Peasants of Sardinia Where then is the accomplishment of that word of the Father Ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance Behold exactly the folly of the Papists the Church is perish'd throughout the World except at Rome and in the West but we with the Scriptures and the Fathers say Let the North give up and let not the South keep back All the parts of the World shall bring forth Children to God and the Church ought to be extended to all places where the Gospel is Now the Church of Rome is not at Constantinople nor in Muscovy Asia Egypt Africa or Ethiopia where nevertheless there are multitudes of Christians it is not in England Holland Sweden Denmark nor in a great part of Germany The Church of Rome reacheth not to all the Countries and Kingdoms for 't is ridiculous to say that 't is dispersed throughout the World because there are some Jesuits at London in the Low Countries Sweden Constantinople and in the East and some Latines hid here and there where they have small Congregations but little known and as it were under ground I might as well say that Calvinism is extended through all Italy because there are some of the Reformed scatter'd here and there in it Secondly According to the Hypothesis of the Church of Rome every one that errs though never so little that is to say who goes off from that which the Romanists determine is out of the Unity of the Church and without hopes of Salvation Behold how ill this agrees with that notable Passage whereof those of ours that are weak and fearful make great use 't is that of St. Paul 1 Cor. iii. 11. where the Apostle says For other Foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ Now if any man build upon this Foundation Gold Silver precious Stones Wood Hay Stubble every mans work shall be made manifest c. and the fire shall try every mans work c. And if any mans work be burnt he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved Without taking notice of what may be difficult in this Passage 't is clear That those which build are Teachers that the Gold Silver and precious Stones are sound Doctrines that the Wood Hay and Stubble are such as are unsound and false 't is also clear that they which teach these false Doctrines may be saved and with greater reason they which are seduced by them It follows not from thence as our perverted People pretend that a person may be saved in the practice of that Worship which ruines the Foundation as they do in the Church of Rome but it follows at least that a person may be saved that teaches Doctrines opposite to Truth provided that they subvert not the Foundation and by consequence the Church of Rome is ridiculous as well as cruel to damn all those which are out of her Communion for Errors that are light and trifling for having pronounced Anathema against those which deny for example that Infants dying without Baptism are damned Mr. Nicholas makes no difficulty to condemn all those which do not believe the sovereign and absolute necessity of Baptism Thirdly We have a third proof of the falseness of this Pretence that the Roman Church is in possession of that Unity out of which there is no Salvation in this That God preserves the Ministry of his Word in many Places and in many Churches which do not submit to the Latin Church The Word of God never returns without effect The Wisdom of God will not permit that he should preserve the Ministry in places where there are none but
the Author of the Policy of the CLERGY and of the Answer to the Calvinism of Maimburgh We only know concerning this Author by report that he hath a great Contempt for Soulier and his Works so that if he make Books expresly to vex him he may set his heart at rest for he will never obtain his end The Ninteenth PASTORAL LETTER An Article of Antiquity The Original of Images An Article of Controversie A Continuation of the Matter of Schism The Corruption of the Roman Church was so great that we were forced to a Separation A notable Letter concerning the Confessours carried to America Dear Brethren in our Lord Grace and Peace be given unto you from God and our Saviour Jesus Christ WE have been obliged to interrupt the subject of our Pastoral Letters to refute a heinous Calumny cast upon one of our Synods and which reflects upon the whole Body At this time we take again our matter and our order we remember that the last Article of Antiquity which we handled was that of the Invocation of Saints which took its birth in the fourth and fifth Age 'T is the fourth change which altered Christianity in those Ages the first was the Original of Monkery the second was the Establishment of the Hierarchy the third was Oecumenical Councils and the fourth was the Invocation of Saints and the Worship of Reliques Behold a fifth 't is the Introduction of Images into Churches The Worship and Adoration of Images did not come so soon and we do not see the spreading thereof till the sixth Age But in the fourth and fifth Ages men began to bring Images into some Chappels consecrated to the Memory of Martyrs And 't is a thing that could not fail to happen One depth calleth to another and when men fell into Idolatry to men they were not far from Idolatry to Images for 't is very natural to represent those men which we Invoke and to give Honour to their Images For which reason I am amazed that the second Part of Paganism viz. The Adoration of Images came so slowly after the Worship and Adoration of Saints But the aversation which the first Christians had for Idols held firm as yet for some time after the Birth of the Superstitious Worship of the Martyrs and their Reliques It is therefore true that in some Provinces about the end of the fourth Age a person may shew you Historical Representations in the Churches they began to paint the Histories of the Bible It appears by a passage of Gregory Nissen * Greg. Niss Orat. de Divin filii Sp. S. that the History of the Sacrifice of Abraham was painted in some Church And by another Homily of the same Gregory Nissen †Orat. in Theodor. Martyr it appears that they began also to paint the Histories of some Martyr or Martyrs in their Temples The Painter says he hath expressed the Flowers of his Art drawing on a Table the great Actions of the Martyr his Resistance his Combates the savage and bruitish Assaults of Tyrants the flaming Furnace and the happy Consummation of the Martyr and a Table in which was Jesus Christ in Humane shape over-looking the Combate If we were of the mind of your Convertors we would hide such things as you might very well be ignorant in but we are sincere in our Confessions as we are willing to be in our Defence and Allegations 1. For first we do maintain That in the fourth Age the Church had as yet a horrour for all Worship of Images They begun to introduce them into Churches only for Ornament And if your Convertors do produce to you any thing of these Ages which seems to signifie that they Adored Images hold it for certain that they are false passages or taken from false and suppositious Books 2. We do maintain That the use of painting Historical Tables in Churches did not begin till about the end of the fourth Age And before Gregory Nissen of Capadocia who lived about the Year 380 we do not find any mention thereof among the Ancients 3. In the third place you ought to know That this Custom was then very rare and that we cannot discover any Churches but those of Cappadocia in Asia and a certain Church in Italy where Images were seen in their Temples 'T is true some quote a passage of St. Basil taken from his Homily upon the Martyr Barlaam by which they would prove that in the Chappel of this Martyr they had set the History of his Martyrdom for St. Basil there invites the Painters to represent magnificently the Combates of the Martyr But it is certain that the Painters to whom he speaks are Orators which he exhorts to represent well in their Discourses the glorious Sufferings of Barlaam But although it should be to Painters without Figure that Basil speaks as the City of Cesarea whereof he was Bishop was in Cappadocia this would serve to fortifie that which we maintain viz That this dangerous Custom of introducing Images into Churches was not any where else but in the Province of Cappadocia for no Author of this Age speaks of it but the Bishops of that Country unless it be Paulinus Bishop of Nola who tells us That he caused the Representation of the Sufferings of St. Faelix the Martyr to be put in the Chappel that was dedicated unto him Now 't is to be observed that this Paulinus Bishop of Nola fells us also two considerable things First That the Custom of placing of Pictures in Churches was very rare The second That that which put him upon doing it was a design to represent to the Eyes of the Country People those Combates the painting whereof would make more impression upon them than Descriptions made by the mouths of Orators Some peradventure will demand of me Faulinus Bibliothec Pat. Tom. 14. Edit Lugdu says he what was the reason which occasioned me to resolve to make the Figures of Animate Creatures to be painted in Sacred Houses seeing the Custom thereof is very rare And he adds That it was to try whether the sight of these enameld and raised Shadows of Colours would not make some impression upon the gross and stupid minds of the Vulgar He says also in the same place That his end was to employ these Dregs of the People in the Contemplation of these Figures on Feast days to the end that they might spend the less time in Debauchery Observe thereon that then it was very rare to see Pictures in Churches therefore they did not expose them to the Adoration of the People For Objects of Adoration and Worship ought to be known by all besides they were put there only for the use of the Vulgar 't was not therefore to give any Worship to them for they are not only Country People which are obliged to Religious Worship To conclude Paulinus says expresly That it was only for Commemoration and not for Worship 'T is therefore from this good but superstitious man
they have taken away half thereof they give but one part of the Sacrament and by so doing give nothing They have made private Masses contrary to the Institution of Jesus Christ and the custom of all sound Antiquity To conclude What have they not done to disfigure the Worship of God How many vain and ridiculous Ceremonies and of no use How many signs of the Cross holy Waters Exorcisms Agnus Dei's and other Toys And above all they cover this with the Vail of an unknown Tongue they speak Latine to the Peasants of France Germany and Spain who are edified by what is said as much as if they spake Arabick Behold my Brethren a very short but very true Picture of Popery After this will you think that our Separation was unjust You will yet say that we must bear many things and that 't is a Religion in which a man may conveniently enough be saved In the Name of God do not say that this Picture is extravagant and that you do not see all this therein For 't is a true Description of Popery such as it hath been in France as well as elsewhere for more than seven or eight hundred years There is no man that knows any thing of Antiquity that can dissent from it 't is yet at this day the Popery of Italy Spain Portugal and all Countries where the Reformation hath not been tollerated Yet at this day do the people of Spain and Portugal know any thing of God and of Jesus Christ but the Names The Object of their Devotion is an Image which works Miracles on the top of a Mountain or in some Church of a Monastery and their Piety spends itself in Foolish and Pagan Processions in which there are mingled all those things which may render a Show ridiculous and Devotion impious We wish you could hear those which being banished from this Country a while since by the order of the Court of France are again returned hither The Bible is imprisoned in those unhappy Countries An illustrious Fugitive carried one of them thither the Inquisition who laid hands on him seized it and kept it as you keep a dangerous Enemy and never could that illustrious Exile get it out of their hands till he came out of the Country then they permitted this dangerous Book to carry its poyson elsewhere God grant that you may give attention to all this to the end that you may remain fully perswaded that your Fathers were obliged to separate from the Church of Rome and that you cannot return thither without Damnation WE shall now give you that which we omitted in our last Letter 't is the History of some Cruelties exercised at Valence by Rapine which deserve to be consecrated to the memory of all Ages of the Church First you shall know how he treated the Daughters of that illustrious Martyr Monsieur d'Cross and thereby at the same time you will learn after what manner he labours in the Conversion of all others When these Gentlewomen were arrived and delivered into his hands he separated them and put them in differing Dungeons filled with Dirt and Ordure he took away their Cloaths and Linnen and sent them to an Hospital to enquire for Shifts which had been many Weeks and sometimes many Months upon Bodies covered with the Itch Ulcers and Carbuncles full of matter and putrefaction after this manner he cloathed the Daughters of Monsieur d'Cross This Villain gives them nothing to support their Lives but a little Water and Bread which Doggs would not eat Rapine visits them many times in the day with his Lacques by whom he strips them and gives them many blows with a Bull 's Pisle and he himself beats them with his Cane on the body and upon the very face itself in such a manner that they have nothing of humane shape remaining he breaks them with so many blows that they are not able to set one foot before another nor lift their hand to their mouth nor move their arms besides this he causes them to be plunged many times in a day in a deep Mire moistened with stinking water he draws them not from thence till they have lost all sense and knowledge at last they faint under these Torments which have no example in the History of the most barbarous Pagans after which they were exported to a Convent where they are having neither form nor figure covered with wounds from head to foot This we have received from an honest Man who saw them in this frightful state Mademoiselle d'Farelle of Nismes is at this day in the hands of this Villain with many other Gentlewomen The Parliament of Greenoble a little while since sent him twenty five or twenty six persons both men and women to be converted by these ways and methods Monsieur the Baron d'Faugere of Languedock whose Fidelity is known to all those who know his person met the Rector of the Jesuites of Nismes at S. Esprit who told him he was going to Valence to labour in the Conversion of an obstinate Hugenot who had resisted all the means that they had made use of And a few days after meeting the same Gentleman told him That he could prevail nothing and that he had said to Rapine that no body but he could be successful therein and that he ought to labour in it So that this poor Gentlewoman with many others have without doubt passed the ingenious Cruelties of this famous Hangman We may very well boast that he has given us an example of Courage and Constancy which may dispute it with all the ancient and modern Martyrs 'T is the famous Monsieur Menurett an Advocate of Montlimar he was eminent throughout his Conversation for an exemplary Life and Devotion when the Missionary Dragoons were sent into Dauphine and to Montlimar he strengthened all persons about him by his Exhortation and Example The Governour of Montlimar caused him to be arrested they put him three Months into something like a Chamber where he had nothing to lye on but a sorry Matt. After these three Months they put him into a hideous Dungeon He went thither full of joy comforting his Friends who wept and bewailed him as they accompanied him thither He told them they ought to rejoyce that God did him the favour to suffer for his Name He was six months in this noisome Dungeon and there became Dropsical They drew him from thence to carry him to Valence and put him into the hands of Rapine which is the last tryal to which they put the Faith of the Martyrs of that Country Rapine drew near to him with the countenance of a Lyon and with words like roaring concluding We will see whether thou wilt be so obstinate in my hands He put him into the entry of a Chamber under which ran all the sinks of the Hospital even those of the Bogg-houses and Jaques and for a bed they gave him a Plank This place was opposite by another little entry to the Chappel
mouth because he sees some Fruits useful for nourishment swim in this slime can he live thereby Yea suppose that he eats of these Fruits if at the same time he eats this corrupt slime will he die e're a whit the less If this man finds an Art to separate the slime from the nourishments which swim there so that he take nothing but the nourishments I do confess that he may live In like manner if a Christian can live in the Roman Communion and separate the good from the bad he may be saved But this is that which we do maintain to be impossible at this time for the adult These corrupt and dirty Communions are therefore saving to those alone who partake in Christianity without any participation in the corruption thereof For example We ought not to call in doubt the salvation of Infants which die in the Church of Rome for they have eaten the Egg God hath communicated to them his Grace by their Baptism or their Birth because they were born within the borders of Christianity As for the adult if they can eat the Egg and not swallow the Dung if they can partake in pure Christianity without taking part in its corruption they may I do confess live and be saved in that Communion But this is the difficulty or rather impossibility Who is he that can live in the Roman Communion without assisting at the false Sacrifice of the Mass without worshipping Bread consenting to the Invocation of Saints and the Worship of Images This is enough at present to disabuse our unhappy Indifferents who would very falsly perswade themselves that they may be saved in the Estate wherein they are FOR News we give you this day a Letter which will teach you the Constancy of some of our Confessors of Dauphine We have yet in Dauphine some Illustrious Persons which maintain the Cause of God in the midst of their Enemies There is Mr. de l' Alo of the House of Epheluche a Counsellor in the Parliament of Dauphine who being at Paris in 1685. and refusing to change his Religion was banished with Madam his Wife into a paltry Village where he could not get so much as one person that would serve him for his money After that they had been kept there some months Madam de l'Alo fell into very great indispositions they sent her into Dauphine and removed Mr. de l'Alo to the Castle of Trompette where he was confined within four Walls without suffering him to have any other society than that of a Monk who went every day to torment him after a thousand ways and when he could gain nothing he left him and said to him He must make himself ready to be transported to the Pyrenees This is it that he wrote to one of the Gentlemen his Brethren about six months since testifying to him That he reckoned all that he had suffered as nothing or any thing that he could suffer and that he would never abandon the Faith which he had professed to that moment Monsieur the Marquiss of Pierre also a Counsellor in the Parliament of Grenoble is one of our most Illustrious Confessors he was extreamly famous in his Religion as well as in his Employ so that his Zeal went an equal pace with his Knowledge and both the one and the other hath gained him great Reputation among his Brethren The Court which fear'd he might confirm them if he were suffered among them commanded him to render himself at Paris by a Letter under the Privy Sign which they sent him a little before the Dragoons came into that Province This Lord who was not conscious to himself of any fault and who had long before prepared himself to suffer not only the loss of his Office and of all his Goods and to beg from door to door with Madam his Wife and the Gentlemen his Sons but also to lose his Head upon a Scaffold yea to be burnt alive rather than betray his Saviour yea to be burnt alive rather than betray his Saviour as he said in these very words to a Pastor of his Province It was to him who gave us this Intelligence about three weeks before he received that Letter under the Privy-Sign He was in that generous resolution when he went for Paris in the month of August with one of the Gentlemen his Sons Arriving at Paris he addressed himself to the Ministers of State to know the cause of that Summons that they had given him But they said nothing to him He abode at Paris about six months without having any thing said to him at the last they proposed to him to change his Religion he refused it They took from him Monsieur his Son who was all his comfort and said to him that the King would have him brought up in the Roman Catholick Religion This was the most smart stroak of all the rest He resolved to depart from Paris he went thence with Mr. de Vic and some other Gentlemen They were arrested at Laudrecy the other for â—ear changed their Religion Mr. de la Pierre would not do so There was an Order from the King to convey him to the Citadel of Cambray and thither he was conveyed A Counsellor of the Parliament of Tournay had a Commission to examine him and to make his Process He answered him always with a perfect freedom of mind and unmovable firmness The Commissary told him that he deserved the Gallies for attempting to go out of the Realm without leave and that he could not hinder his condemnation He answered him That he was ready not only to go to the Gallies but also to death We have not yet learnt that he hath been condemned He continues a Prisoner but always stout and firm We must put in the Rank of our Illustrious Confessors Madam de Bardonnanche Wife of a Counsellor in the Parliament of that Name and Vicountess of Trienes in Dauphine This Lady who was formerly distinguished by her great Knowledge above all in Piety and by her Eminent Vertues as well as by her great Quality is now distinguished after another manner in these last Tryals About four years since she saw that revolt of her Husband which she testified by a great Grief Since that they took from her one of her Daughters to bring her up in the new Religion of her Father she was more wounded for this then for the loss of her Husband In fine she saw the last and great Desolation of our Churches But all this hath not the least moved her nor frighted her in any sort When that the Dragoons had put all into Dispair in her Country and the rest of the Province she boldly exhorted every one to be firm and as a Pastor of her acquaintance it was he who wrote her Story bad her to think of departing out of the Kingdom because she saw her self unprofitable there the Edict of Nantes was not revoked She wrote to him that she must not be one of those Mercenaries who seeing
the Woolf coming fled away and he alledging his own Exemple she said that she would not depart out of the State at least till the King commanded her and that she hoped that God would give her the Grace to surmount all and abide firm After that they had subverted all the Churches of that Country The Intendant Le Bret M. le Camus Bishop of Grenoble and at this time Cardinal the Marquess de la Trousse Commander of the Troops in Dauphine went to see her in her Castle du Monotier of Clermont they disputed against her they made Requests to her with Promise and Threats she defended her self vigorously against all their Attaques and in the end they left her Some days after they sent to take her away by the Dragoons to confine her in a Covent at Grenoble Seeing she was always the same they threatned to send her to Valence and to put her into the hands of Rapine she answered that she would go whether they pleased even to the Fire but not to the Mass In the end they executed one part of the said threatning upon her sending her to Valence but not to the Butchery of Rapine they put her into a Convent of the Religious with a prohibition to permit her to speak to any of them which they call the New Converts This Lady suffered her Removal and her Imprisonment in that Cloister with so much patience and sweetness that 't is said she abated the rage and fury of her Persecutors She entertained the Religious with so much Decency and spake to them such handsome things of our Religion that she won at first their Heart and almost perswaded them to be Christians The Intendant and the Bishop of Valence understanding that this Prisoner triumpht over her Goalers gave order that she should be fetcht from the Convent where she was put and be removed into another which was done and Madam de Bardonnanche behaved her self there after the same manner there she made also the same Progress upon the Spirits of her new Hostesses They took her also from that Convent and confined her in another in the same place with a Command not to speak to her nor to â—uffer her to speak to any body Since we have lâ—arnt by one of our Brethren well worthy of Credit who came lately from that Province that there hath been a new Order to remove her into another Convent at Vif a Town which is not above two leagues from Grenoble I could increase these Relations with divers Circumstances and with others like them as that of Monsieur de Sainct Cross the Son of a Counsellor of the Parliament of Grenoble who hath been at Pierre Size these five Months because he would not change that also if the three Pastors of Orange Mr. Chion Mr. Gondran Mr. Petit and Mr. Onet Pastor of Courteson near Orange who have long been kept in the Prisons of Valence and who are now at Pierre Size though they be not able to reproach them for having done any thing against the King in whose State they lived not and who testifie an admirable Constancy although very many did yield before their Eyes That of Monsieur de Beauregard Burgess of St. Anthony near to St. Marcelin in the same Province who after he had seen all his Goods devoured which were very great hath suffered the most cruel torments in his Body until they had hardened and shrunk up the Nerves of his Legs by the violence of the approaching Fire and had laid him upon a pile of wood saying unto him that he should be burnt alive in one word whom they had tormented till he lost his Reason who being at length set at liberty is happily retired out of the Kingdom into Switzerland That of Monsieur Delis a Gentleman of Trienes in Dauphine who chose rather to suffer Martyrdom and hath actually suffered it in the Month of January 1686 at Grenoble rather than change But of this enough for this time News from Nismes written June 17th 1687. EVery day they bring Prisoners from Lions into this City and once or twice in a Month they condemn to the Gallies those which had abjured and communicated and afterward were taken attempting to get out of the Kingdom As for them which neither have nor will abjure they condemn them to America The Prisons and the Tower of Vennatiere which is a kind of Prison are always full of these poor miserable Creatures They are very much relieved by those in this City which have done what they would never do it is not known why God has left them here without it be for the relief of those Confessors of Christ which would dye else by Famine in Prisons About eight days since they carried twenty one Persons some Women and some young Girls that were condemned to Marseille viz. nineteen for America and two for the Gallies on whom they bestowed great Charity Every Month we make a contribution for the General Hospital which is established in this City in the Church and in the Houses adjoyning which belong to the Consistory every one according to his Ability Since the eighth of May we have had the Regiment of Vivonne on which day they begun to work upon the Cittadel tho' that were Ascension-day and they take great pains therein They have enclosed from the form of Paulian unto the Wall of the City drawing a Line from the Tower of Corconne unto the Watch-Tower at the end of the Tennis-Court Two days since there was a Detachment of five Companies to go to Valeraube where there was a numerous Assembly in the Presence of the Priest of the place and before the Sermon the Priest would dispute with him that was to Preach and after that he would hear his Sermon We know not yet what was the issue of that Affair In this City whilst M. the Intendant was here they say there are Assemblies notwithstanding all the ill Treatment with which they have been continually exercised They say that the Daughters of Mr. Ducros and of Andemar are out of the hands of Rapine since their fall through their ill treatment But Mrs. Parelle persists with an incredible constancy When her cruel Hangman said to her Madam I am astonisht that you can suffer such Miseries She answered him again As for me I suffer nothing this is nothing Jesus Christ hath suffered much more for me Since the writing of this Letter we are informed of two faithful Persons which have suffered Martyrdom in the said City of Nismes the 26th of the last Month the name of the one is Mr. Manuel the other is called Iloque You shall have the History of their Martyrdom some other time We could also give you the News of our Brethren of Metz if this Pastoral Letter could contain the Copy of that which was written from that place In the mean time cease not to pour out your Prayers in the presence of the Great God for the Consolation of these afflicted Persons July
renews his Excommunications the Sword-men take Arms Aelius commands all the Portugese to go out of the Province whereof he was Governour they came to blows The Party of the King and the Jesuits was the stronger Aelius was slain Simeon the Metropolitan was taken whom they beheaded they made a great Butchery among the People but Jamanaxus was pardoned Behold already how much Bloud hath been shed by Popery But things will not continue there The Jesuits and their King puft up with the success of their Victory proceed to a new Reformation The Prince forbad them the observation of the Saturday-Sabbath and commanded that they should labour on that day upon the penalty of confiscating their Goods for the second Offence 'T is indeed an affair sufficiently small about which it were very possible to have given a tolleration but Popery understands not the meaning of that word they severely chastised for an Example one named Buc a person very eminent in the Kingdom for his Military Employments This new severity gave occasion of a revolt to one named Jonael Vice-Roy of Bageindra All the Court the women and the Favourites interposed in this affair a little to soften and bend the Spirit of the King but the Jesuits prevailed upon him He would not comply with their Perswasions So they came a second time to war Jonael was beaten many times and withdrew from the Kingdom This did not affright others Those of the Province of Damos took Arms for the ancient Religion The Hermites which are there in great abundance were willing to signalize themselves in this Holy War. Nevertheless their Party was beaten but there was great effusion of Bloud on both sides Behold the ordinary Methods by which Popery arrives at Empire After these repeated Victories which cost the King of Aethiopia great part of his Subjects he accomplished his design The Jesuites by his Authority intirely overturned the Religion and Church of the Abyssines all gave way either to seduction or violence They swore Fidelity and Obedience to Urban the Eighth the Pope sent there a Roman Patriarch all those who would not obey were severely chastised The new Patriarch passed through the Kingdom baptizing and confirming an infinite number of persons They established Seminaries of the Children of the Abyssines and Portuguese In one word Popery by its ordinary ways which are violence and the sword became master of all Abyssinia One named Tecla Georgius another Son-in-law of the King put himself at the head of the Malecontents which were in great number but the fortune of the Jesuites did yet accompany the King in this Affair Tecla Georgius was slain and his Sister hanged on a Tree because she had spoken a little too freely against the Rites of the Latine Church The Patriarch Alphonsus Mendez a Jesuit knew not how to use his good Fortune but believing that henceforward he might abandon himself without constraint to that spirit of Tyranny which hath its seat at Rome ill intreated all the great Men of the Court excommunicated the prime Officers of the Kingdom for things which were not Ecclesiastical he domineer'd over all with so much insolence that at length the King himself and all the Courtiers opened their eyes upon the conduct of these new Tyrants Rebellions were renewed in most part of the Provinces Battels were fought and blood spilt under the Authority of the King who was still abused by Popery But a certain person called Ras Seelax a great Favourite of the King 's and a great Protecter of Popery having lost his Reputation the Affairs of the Jesuites and Popery sunk and fell into decay thereby The King being tired by the Troubles which these new Evangelists brought to him every day by their Rigours and seeing that the Hydra of Rebellion after it lost one head found a hundred began very much to abate of his rigour and granted liberty to whosoever would use it to preserve and observe the ancient Religion This goodness of the Prince which agreed very well with natural Equity displeased these imperious Masters they made violent opposition thereunto but favour continued no longer on their side the same Prince which had abolished the ancient Religion doth re-establish it or rather permits that it should be re-established after ten or twelve years interruption Susneus dies a little while after This Protector of the Religion newly established being dead Popery tumbled with haste and violence towards ruine They repaid to the Jesuites the cruelty they had used they took away their Churches and Goods and drove them out of the Kingdom They tried all ways they set their Friends and Creatures on work they intreated they desired the help of Arms and Souldiers from Goa for their Defence but all to no purpose The Patriarch Alphonsus Mendez was put into the hands of the Turks from whence he was redeemed with Money but his Companions the Jesuites Almeyda Father Hyacynthus Lewis Cardyra and many others were hanged as Disturbers of the publick Peace The Congregation for the Propagation of Faith were willing to attempt the Recovery of this brave Kingdom which they had lost they send six Capuchines to try if they could pass once again into Aethiopia but two of them died by the hand of the Cafres two were stoned in Aethiopia the other two returned without doing any thing In conclusion three other Capuchines were willing to make another attempt they came ashore at Suaquene a Port of the Red-sea possessed by the Turks from thence they wrote to the King of Aethiopia as if it had been a thing grateful to him that they were there ready to pass into his Country as soon as he should furnish them with necessary Accommodations For answer Basilides who was then King of Aethiopia after his Father Susneus writ to the Turkish Bassa who commanded the place that he would do him the kindness to send him the Heads of those three Franks This was done they cut off their heads they flead off their skins which they filled with Hay and sent them to Basilides So these poor miserable Wretches bore the punishment of all the Blood which the Jesuites and Popery had shed in the Kingdom of the Abyssines This History as it seems to me is very proper to shew that in all places as well as in all Ages the spirit of Popery is the occasion of Trouble Confusion Tyranny and Persecution and God did permit that Popery should prosecute its usual methods in Aethiopia as elsewhere to hinder the Abyssine Church from continuing under the Papal Tyranny For if these Emissaries of the Court of Rome had proceeded with more Moderation and spared Blood and offered no Violence to the Consciences of men without doubt Popery had this day been regnant among the Abyssines The Liberty of the Reformed Churches of Hungary was established upon very good Foundations the Kings of that Country had granted to the Protestants divers Declarations by which the exercise of the Reformed Religion was permitted in all places On
the year 1606 was made the Treaty called the Pacification between Rodolphus Emperour and King of Hungary and Stephen Bothskey Kis-ma-ria The first Article whereof grants That the Reformed Hungarians should not in any thing be troubled in the exercise of their Religion and that all the Churches taken from them during the Troubles should be restored to them All the Kings of Hungary which have been since Matthias Ferdinand the Second and Ferdinand the Third have confirmed these Priviledges by their Declarations To conclude the present Emperour in the year 1655 when he was crowned King of Hungary confirmed by an express Declaration all that his Predecessours had done The eleventh Article of that Declaration concedes That for the Conservation of Peace amongst all the Orders and States of Hungary the business of Religion shall remain free without receiving any Disturbance according to the Constitution of Vienna and the Articles published before the Coronation in such sort that the exercise of Religion shall be entirely free for the Barons Lords Nobles free Citizens and generally for all Estates and Orders of Hungary as also for the Towns and Villages which will embrace it so that no person of what estate or condition soever may be hindered by his Majesty or other Temporal Lords in any manner or under any pretence whatsoever from the free use and exercise of the said Religion Things were in this estate in the year 1671 when a Jesuite named George Barze Titular Bishop of Warradine calling himself Counsellour to his Imperial Majesty published a Book with this Title Truth declared to all the World which makes it appear by three Arguments that his Imperial Majesty is not obliged to Tollerate the Lutheran and Calvinist Sect in Hungary It is easie to understand what a Work of this Title that has a Jesuite for its Author doth contain The design thereof was to justifie the Persecutions which had been already made against the Protestants of Hungary as well as those they were preparing to make For already a long time before the publication of this Writing some particular Lords had set up for cruel Persecutors Among others Francis Nadasti Paul Esthersiazy and many others at the instigation of the Priests and Jesuites had employed both fire and sword they had massacred the Reformed in their Churches hanged them up on the bars of their Church-doors and many others they had thrown head-long from Turrets The Arch-bishops Bishops and Popish Gentlemen had thus used them and also pulled down the Churches in the Countries which held and depended on them The free Cities and those who depended only on the Emperour were exempt from this storm but they shall have their turn on the occasion following Many great Hungarian Lords of the Popish Religion as the Nadasties the Serinies the Frangipanes joyn themselves to Francis Rakotsqui and took Arms against the Emperour for private Quarrels The Troops of Austria on this occasion entred into Hungary on the year 1670 and defeated these Rebels The Arch-bishops Bishops and Jesuites of Hungary thought they must not let slip the opportunities they now had to persecute the Protestants They served themselves of these insolent victorious Troops in all the free Cities to do the same Violences which had been done by particular Lords against the Reformed Without form of Process they took away their Churches they banished the Ministers they put them in Prison they massacred a great number they charged the People and even the Nobility with Taxes Souldiers and Garisons they offered a thousand and a thousand Violences to oblige people to change their Religion All the Ecclesiasticks every one by himself acted like unbridled Furies The Prisons were filled with these miserable Wretches the Churches were razed every-where in the most places there were horrible Massacres and even whole Villages burnt because they were wholly inhabited by Protestants they hung the Ministers at the Doors of their Churches There was one named John Baki a Minister of the Church of Comana who was burnt At Cassovia and Posonium they put to death a great number of persons of all Sexes of all Ages and all Qualities They banished all those whom they dare not kill In one word all Hungary became a place like Hell for the Reformed where death punishments and torments presented themselves every-where before their eyes To give some colour of Justice to these Violences they established a Chamber at Posonium made up of all such as were found most cruel Enemies to the Protestants They summon'd the people before they summon'd their Pastors hoping that they would fall the more easily by the Temptation and that fear would cause them to change their Religion those which appeared and supported themselves on their innocency were cast into Prisons oppressed with Fines persecuted after a hundred manners and constrained at last to change their Religion To those which had courage enough not to renounce the Truth they presented a Writing to be subscribed by which they made them promise they would forsake their Pastors that they would not protect them and that they would not oppose the Priests in taking possession of their Churches On which Condition they promised to let them live in peace in hope and expectation that the Spirit would enlighten and Convert them Some fell and made their subscriptions others perished through misery famine and torments in the prisons When they had thus subdued and abused the people they turn themselves to their Pastors they established three Chambers of Justice the one at Tinew and two at Posonium before whom they summoned at first a small number of Pastors of the Confession of Ausburgh They appeared to the number of thirty two or thirty three the 25th of September 1673 they presented them a Writing to be subscribed importing That it was their will and pleasure that they should say that to escape the sentence which might be pronounced against them for their Rebellion they did consent to one of these three things Either to Renounce all exercise of their Office for ever and to live as good Subjects privately in the Realm or to go voluntarily into Exile with promise never to return again into the Estates of the Emperour or to embrace the Catholick Religion in which case they might remain in the Kingdom and enjoy all sorts of Advantages there The providence of God permitted this unjust and altogether unrighteous procedure to the end that these poor accused persons might have an opportunity to justifie themselves from the Crime of Rebellion whereof they were accused Is it so that men used to proceed against those that are Traytors And has it been usual to punish them with a voluntary Exile or by a simple Renunciation of their Offices and Charges They did all that they could to oblige the Pastors to subscribe this Writing and the most part of them fearing death did subscribe confessing themselves culpable though they were innocent and went voluntarily into Banishment Section This attempt having succeed sufficiently well
to the Persecutors the year following in the Month of February 1674 they summon'd before their Tribunals generally all Ministers Regents Professors and Masters of Schools of the Reformed Religion in Hungary as well those of the Confession of Ausburgh as those of the Confession of Switzerland part of them refuse to appear others fled and others tarried at home under the protection of their Lords who were Protestants Nevertheless there were to the number of two hundred and fifty which had the courage to appear at the day appointed These were they which God had appointed to be the Objects of the most cruel Rage that ever was exercised Of these two hundred and fifty they chose out six to answer in the name of all to the Accusation which was thus formed against them That renouncing the fear of God and Men they had accused all the Members of the Catholick Kingdom of Hungary and by consequence the King himself of being Idolaters that they had spoken insolently in their Sermons against the Blessed Virgin the Saints departed and against their Images and those of Jesus Christ that they had violated the Oath of Fidelity made to their Prince given Succours to his Enemies opened the way to the Turks to the end they might possess themselves of the Kingdom of Hungary and by consequence that they were guilty of Treason against GOD and Man and worthy to lose both their Goods and Lives The first part of the Accusation was an Affair purely of Religion and 't was that alone for which these poor afflicted persons suffered Persecution For the fault of Rebellion there was not the least ground to suspect them guilty of it their Judges themselves justified them therein and Forgatz the President of the Chamber said to some that did sollicite him In the Name of God trouble me no more for before God I myself am in no security for if I speak but one word on their behalf they will accuse me of Rebellion and cast me into Prison But in truth they were ready to discharge them of the punishments which these horrible Crimes deserved and whereof they were accused provided they would sign the Writing which others had signed confess themselves guilty and go into voluntary Exile Yea they offered to give them Money to conduct them whithersoever they would go There is a great deal of probability that persons who had caused the Turk to enter into the Country should be permitted to quit it by a voluntary Banishment Moreover this Accusation seems so absurd that I can see no reason why they should choose it for a pretence 'T is a hellish Wickedness to determine Banishment to persons only for Religion and yet make them confess a Fault of which every one knows they were innocent to the end they might have opportunity to say that they were punished for a Crime against the State. 'T is the Spirit that hath always reigned among Persecutors The Pagans made the Christians suffer horrible punishments only for their Faith Nevertheless to deprive them of the glory of Martyrdom they would make them confess these enormous Crimes whereof they were accused On this pretended Crime or to speak better upon the refusal of these Hungarian Pastors to quit their Ministery their Churches and their Country on the fourth of April 1674 they were condemned to dye And happy had they been if the Sentence had been executed upon them since never were Martyrs and Confessors under the first ten Persecutions of the Pagans exposed to such cruel tryals and temptations Leopold of Colonitsch Bishop of Newstadt the Jesuite Nicholas Kellion Monsters of barbarity and cruelty were the chief Ministers of those horrible torments which they caused these glorious-Confessors of Jesus Christ to suffer whereof we shall give you a very short Abridgement They had no design to put them to death according to the sentence pronounced against them that had been to deliver them too soon and it 't was in their design to make them pass through a thousand deaths successively Some of them they put into Irons giving liberty to others thereby to oblige them to renounce the truth through fear of the Chastisement which they saw fall upon their Companions For the space of eight whole Weeks they employed all sorts of Artifice to get them to sign the Writing and to go voluntarily into Banishment confessing themselves guilty But seeing they encouraged each other to bear the tryal they separated them and put the Ministers of the Confession of Ausburgh by themselves Many fell subscribed confessed themselves guilty and went into Exile There was forty six which refused and were cast into prisons and a few hours after they fetched them thence and transported them some by Waggon and some by the Danube into divers Fortresses of the Kingdom They carried twenty to Comarine eight to Sawarine eight to Berenstchine and nineteen to Leopolstadt all of them laden with Chains and Irons They gave for Conductor to those nineteen carried to Leopolstadt a Hangman which carrying Halters in his hand throughout the whole Journey threatned to hang them on the first Gibbet if they did not yield to what he demanded of them The Reformed Pastors of the Confession of Switzerland had more courage than the most part of the Lutheran Pastors for except two they all resolv'd to suffer all things rather than sign that Writing by which it was intended they should sully their innocence by confessing a pretended Rebellion and that they should renounce their Ministry Upon their refusal they distributed them as the others to divers Cittadels of the Kingdom They carried seven of them to Sawarine as many to Kapuwarin six to Eberard-Castle and the twenty one that remain were sent to Leopolstadt they were all chained and put into deep and dark Dungeons In all these places they received unheard of Treatments those which were conducted to Berentschin were coupled two and two as they yoke Oxen. They put Irons on their feet all filled with Nails which passed through their shoes and stockings and pierced their very flesh The Prison where they were put was as dark as Hell 't was a low stinking Dungeon full of Excrements Mud Man's Dung Serpents and Toads into which they could not enter but on their hands and knees The Governour of the Cittadel having represented to Colonitsch the Bishop of Newstadt that these Prisoners had not strength enough to suffer such torment and that they would die under it 'T is no matter said the Bishop when they be dead earth enough will be found in the Fields to cover them They took them not thence but to make them carry Wood for the use of the Cittadel and to draw Water from a deep Well Of those which had been conducted to Comorin the most part having suffered the most horrible Prison during the space of many months were so weak as to suffer themselves to be overcome and abandon their Confession There were not in this place above three Confessors that persevered