account which does honour enough to the Spirit and Wit of him that made it Would to God he would take as exact an account of his own Heart Our Sheet being full you shall have no Answer to these Juggles till the following Letters March 15. 1687. The FIFTEENTH PASTORAL LETTER AN Article of Antiquity The Birth of the religious Worship of Creatures in the Fourth and Fifth Ages The proofs of the Novelty of this Worship An Article An Answer to the Reasons of the new Converts on the Subject of Schism and Separation Dear Brethren in our Lord Grace and Peace be given to you from our God and Saviour Jesus Christ SInce we entred into the Fourth Age we found there three great Innovations Monnachism General Councils and the Hierarchy The fourth important Change which altered the form of the Church happening in the Fourth and Fifth Ages is the Worship of Creatures the Adoration of Relicks and the Invocations of Saints If there be any thing certain in the World it is that this Worship was wholly unknown in the preceding Ages and no man can give attention to those few Proofs that heretofore we have made thereof without being convinced of it 't is certain that we have seen the Occasions and if I may so say the Blossoms thereof in that excessive respect which they had for the Persons of their Confessors in the regards which they had for their Intercessions and in the care that they took to collect their Bones and to bury their Bodies honourably and this is it which gave occasion to the Pagans of accusing the Christians for worshiping their Martyrs as we have seen that the Jews of Smyrna did accuse the Christians thereof on the occasion of the Body of Polycarpus which they hindred from being given unto them This is that which caused the Pagans under the Persecution of Dioclesian to dig up the Bodies of those two Martyrs Dorotheus and Gorgonius and throw them into the Sea For fear saith Eusebius * Lib. 8. Hist Eccl. cap. 6. that if they continued in their Tombs they should be adored and taken for Gods according to the Opinion they had concerning us We have seen how the Christians of Smyrna and Eusebius who transcribes their Epistle did refute this calumny Moreover Eusebius saith in this last Passage According to the Opinion that they have concerning us This makes it appear that the Opinion was false They had therefore in the beginning of the Fourth Age a very great respect for the Tombs of Martyrs but 't was a thing unheard of to open them take out their Bones and put them in Chests and Boxes to the end that they might be scattered over all the World yea long before in the fourth Age St. Anthony being about to dye declared that it was his Will that his Body should be buried and not kept upon a Bed after the manner of the Egyptians Because says he 't is an affront and a Violation of the Laws not to bury the Bodies of the Dead how holy soever they might be These were the last Words of dying Truth for afterwards Men began to search all Places and to disinterr the Bodies of Saints The deceit of Priests the Innocence of the People and the malice of the Devil advanced this unhappy Superstition Persons ran about in the search of Relicks nor would they build any Temple or Church without them they feigned Visions and devious Dreams which revealed unto them where the Bodies of Saints were laid and they took the pretended Bodies of Apostles and Martyrs from their Tombs three hundred and four hundred Years after their Death As it was impossible that this foolish Superstition should not soon degenerate into Idolatry so it did not fail to come to pass for these Relicks drawn from their Tombs wrought Miracles these Miracles were ascribed to the Saints whose Relicks they were Men could not fail of invoking those Saints which they believed did work Miracles in favour of those who did venerate and honour their Relicks We see no sensible marks of the Invocation of Saints till after the year of our Lord 360 and the most ancient Authors that speak thereof are St. Ambrose and St. Basil not that we are not persuaded that the People the Authors of this Superstition did not practise it a long time before as in the time of St. Austin we observe the Worship of Images to have taken its birth by the Superstition of some ignorant People notwithstanding the generality of the People and Pastors did not suffer themselves to be carried away to this unhappy Idolatry till a long time after In like manner it may not be doubted but that from the beginning of the Fourth Age there were some ignorant Persons among the People who ran into excess in the respect which they gave to the Ashes of the Martyrs But the practice did not become universal till the Fifth Age and the Doctors and Teachers began not to be born down thereby till about the end of the Fourth And yet there was but little of it for in all the former part of the Fourth Age we see very few Monuments or Footsteps thereof in the Authors of those times but in the Fifth Age this Torrent ran with a prodigious swiftness in such a manner that in less than Fifty Years this Superstition became as it were the reigning Religion of the People Behold then a matter of Fact which we dispute not with the Papists 't is that about the end of the Fourth Age some Examples of the Invocation of Saints are seen and a great many more in the Fifth so that it is to no purpose that they quote to us Passages from S. Austin S. Basil Chrysostom and Theodoret to prove the Invocation of Saints in that Age for 't is a Point we do not dispute with them But we do maintain these Two things 1. That the Worship of Saints took its original from that of Relicks and that Men only invoked the Martyrs whose Relicks they had 2. That this Worship was new in that Age and that it was unknown in the Ages preceding The first Point will serve in what follows for a proof of the second which is the important Point we have to prove viz. The novelty of this Worship in the Fourth and Fifth Ages 1. We prove the novelty of this Worship by the silence of Christian Authors during the space of three Hundred or four Hundred Years 'T is a thing impossible that so many Writers having so much occasion to speak of the Martyrs and Saints and having said so much concerning them did never find it convenient to speak one word concerning the Worship and Honour that was to be given them after their death The lesser Doctors among the Papists such is that from whom Mr. Pelisson produces a Latin Fragment treat this negative Argument with Contempt but no Man of good Sense will treat it so and no wise Man will ever perswade himself that for the space of three
answered to all these people with firmness and an admirable presence of mind which touched them with admiration and compassion a sentiment which is not ordinary with persons of this Character when they are Persecuting true Christians They saw well that seeing the Monks were touched with his Discourses they might produce the same effect upon others for which reason they forbad all persons to see him A few days after they took him from the Prison of Alez to remove him to that of Nismes Those that had been hindred from seeing him when he was in Prison were willing to recompence the loss which they had sustained an incredible multitude of people of all Ages and Sexes pouring out tears followed him on the Road accompanying him with their Prayers and good wishes he returned them blessings and added vehement Exhortations to rise speedily from their fall and to glorifie God as he did by their Sufferings Whilst he was in Prison at Alez there were no ways imaginable which were not employed to oblige him to change his Religion The Ecclesiasticks served themselves of ways of Seduction the Judges with that of Authority They promised him not only impunity for what was past but all kinds of Favours and Advantages He equally resisted all and with the same courage surmounted these different temptations Whilst they carried him From the Prison of Alez to that of Nismes approaching the place of his Nativity and that where his Father and Kindred dwelt he felt some movings of his Bowels which made him fear lest that should be the place where he was to endure the strongest temptations through the softness and tenderness of nature He earnestly desired of the Judges that they would not let him see neither his Father nor his Relations Therefore he did not see them but was content to let them know that they might be assured of his stability of his constancy and perfect resignation to the will of God. They kept him but a few days in the Prison of Nismes the Monks and Ecclesiasticks of that City engaged him in new Combats but 't was with as little success as those that went before They had no intention to put him to death at Nismes because that City was full of Men of the Reformed Religion They feared either some emotion or at least that the beholding the Martyrdom of this young Man and his Constancy should waken the Conscience of a great many People who preserving the truth in their Heart hid it under the veil of Dissimulation They carried him therefore from Nismes to Beaucaire a Village where all the People are of the Roman Religion 'T was there his Process was to be made and he to receive the Crown of Martyâ—dom 'T was there also he was to sustain the most terrible Assaults The Intendent was present who began by Engines of Sweetness and Promises adding thereunto all that which is most terrible in death But to his Promises he answered I love not the world nor the things of the world I esteem all those advantages whereof you speak as dung I tread them under my feet Unto the threatnings of punishment he said My life is not at all dear to me if so be I may finish my course with joy and gain Jesus Christ whatsoever death is prepared for me it will be always glorious if I suffer it for God and for the same cause for the which my Saviour died An incredible company of other people came to see him in the Prison all to the same end and nothing was forgotten of all that which might soften the mind and weaken the firmness of his courage All these means being unsuccessful in conclusion the Intendent proceeded to his condemnation He appeared at the Bar when he was there the Intendent said to him Mr. Rey there is yet time for your preservation Yea my Lord answered he and for that reason I will employ the time that remains in endeavouring my salvation He replyed to him But you must change and you shall have life Yea saith he I must change but 't is to go from this miserable world and go to the Kingdom of Heaven where a happy life attends me which I shall speedily enjoy don 't promise me the present life I am intirely disengaged from it death is much more eligible If I had been afraid of death you had not seen me here God hath caused me to understand his truth and does me the honor to die for it Speak no more to me of the good things of the world they have no savour or taste with me for all the Treasures of the Earth I will not renounce that which I expect in Heaven When the Judges saw him thus firm and stedfast they gave over vexing him about his Religion and proceeded to make his Process He answered to all their Questions with a respect sweetness and moderation which melted all the Auditors When they were ready to pronounce his Sentence they solicited him anew to have pity on himself and not by an unhappy obstinacy sacrifice a Life which was given him to preserve I am no more says he in condition to advise about what I am to do I have made my choice here is no farther place for bargains I am ready to die if God hath so appointed it All the promises which can be made will never be able to shake me nor hinder me from rendering what I owe to my God. Therefore they read his Sentence by which he was condemned to be hanged and put to the Rack before he was led to the Gibbet He heard his Sentence read without any commotion and when it was ended he said They treat me more gently than they treated my Saviour in condemning me to so easie a death I had prepared my self to be broken on the wheel or be burnt And lifting up his eyes to Heaven he added I give thee thanks Lord of Heaven and Earth for all the Blessings that thou hast bestowed upon me I give thee thanks that thou hast found me worthy to suffer for thy Gospel and die for thee I give thee thanks also for that thou hast called me to suffer so easie a death after I had prepared my Heart to suffer the most cruel death for thee In execution of the Sentence he was put upon the Rack he suffered it without any complaint or one word of murmuring answering no other thing but that he had said all and had nothing more to answer And when he was taken from the Rack turning to the Judges he told them I have not suffered the pain which you would have made me suffer I believe that you have suffered more than I I have had no sense of pain I do profess before you 'T is an extraordinary effect of Grace for altho we should not give credit to those relations which tell us that the Rack was so violent that it was believed that he could not have made use of his Legs to go to execution it is nevertheless certain that
M. de Meaux I was tempted to believe that the Reformed of his Diocess had all fallen only under the fear of evil for I was not able to imagin that any one should write falsely concerning a matter of Fact whereof there are thirty or forty thousand Witnesses But behold the Letters which teach us what we ought to believe concerning it There are others by which it appears that all those Violences have been done in the Diocess of Meaux which have been committed elsewhere It is also known by an Eye-witness that M. de Meaux himself made use of the Kings Declaration to prevail with a sick person to Communicate which Declaration appoints that those who do not Communicate in their sickness shall be sent to the Gallies if they recover their health These things which precede are not reported but accidentally for we do not make it our duty to report to you the Violences and Cruelties that have been done and which shall be done if it be not in such degree and measure as shall be necessary to give you example of the courage and strength of our Martyrs For the design that we have in these Letters is not to irritate and provoke you against your Persecutors but to comfort and edifie you by the constancy of those which Suffer Upon this consideration and with this intention we will report some Histories which have been communicated to us which will learn you that thanks be to God our Enemies have not accomplished the cruel design which they had formed against us which was to hinder us from having Martyrs We ought not to refuse this Name and Honor to those which after they had been so weak as to sign I know not what form of Abjuration of our Religion have had the courage to raise themselves and to persevere even unto death in the profession of the Truth We owe also the same honor to those which are dead amidst the torments which the Dragoons and Persecutors have inflicted on them and which have persevered even to the last breath in the bold profession of the Truth To conclude it seems to me that without extending the signification of the word Martyr too far we may give it to those who after suffering long and cruel torments have seen death as very near them and have beheld it as certain without being the least shaken thereby So that without reckoning those that are dead by the hand of the Hangman or by the Sword of the Soldier formerly for the sake of Religion behold three sorts of Martyrs whereof we ought to have some estimation and of every one of these three Orders we will repoot unto to some Examples which have been writ unto us An Eye-Witness hath written to us that in a Village of Poictou called Gods Town Dannai an honest Man called M. Palmenteir after having suffered all the first violences by the Dragoons to wit Blasphemies Threatnings Plundering of all his Goods and other things of like nature not yielding was treated as you shall understand and in conclusion dyed amidst the torments The Archbishop of Bourdeaux returning from the Assembly of the Clergy at Paris about the end of the month September in the year past comes into the House of the said Palmenteir and asked the Dragoons why they had done their duty no better and whether there were no fire to warm this Gouty old Man After he had given this order he went up the Chamber on high and the Dragoons dragged the weak old Man out of his Bed full of the Gout for many years They dragged him on the floor they applied an Iron Plate red hot to the bottom of his Feet and to his Hands In this torment he uttered dreadful cries the Archbishop in the Chamber above laughed at it and diverted himself with it The Wife of the said Palmenteir came to the succour of her Husband they knocked her down with blows of their Daggers and the butt end of their Pistols she fell-into a Swoon In this estate they bathed her with two or three Buckets of Water This punishment being indured a long time this poor Man was so weak not to Abjure his Religion but to promise to use means for his instruction and information The Archbishop desired at least that he would sign this promise but the condition his hands were in not permitting him to move them the Archbishop signed for him and sent the writing to the Bishop of Poicters intreating him to send Missionaries to Convert this Family This poor sick person had no sooner consented to this Signature but he retracted it and caused a person to write to the Bishops that he had no need of instruction and would dye in his Religion In the mean time the Wounds of his burning wherewith he was covered all over grew to inflammation and resisted all remedies a Fever joyns it self thereunto and he dyed within a few days after bewailing without ceasing his weakness and repeating every moment those words of Psalm 51. God be merciful to me a sinner and repelling couragiously the temptations of a Carmelite and a Jesuite which persecuted him to the last breath I see no reason why we should refuse the honor of Martyrdom to this Man since he dyed confessing the name of God amidst the cruel Wounds that had been given him because he would not abjure it We ought not to refuse a place in the Catalogue of our Martyrs to M. de Villiers a younger Brother of the House Juigne a Family sufficiently known This Gentleman was arrested at Francy near to Bolonia indeavouring to save himself by flight They carried him to Calice from whence the Intendant sent him to Paris by the Provost where he was put in prison in Bishop-Fort there he continued from Jan. 8. till the 22. of August last During the whole time of his Imprisonment he preached by his actions and words after a manner the most efficacious in the world He was both Learned and Pious that he confounded all the Converters after a manner that edified the other Prisoners which suffered for the same Cause The chief President took the pains one day to come and see him They entered into Discourse but there was found that inequality betwixt him and Monsieur de Villiers that he was constrained to leave him saying what formerly a Cardinal said to Ariosto on occasion of his Poem called Orlando Furioso Oh God! where have you gotten so much Roguery An Answer well worthy the Gravity of a chief Magistrate about so serious an Affair M. de Villiers had to do with all sorts of persons Men of the Church and Men of the Sword assaulted him and he disingaged himself from all their Attacks always with an admirable success The inconveniences of the Prison caused him to fall into a Bloody Flux whereof he died at the end of six weeks During his Sickness they denyed him all commerce with the other Prisoners of his own Religion he saw none but Persecutors and Tempters But nevertheles
year on the day of the Death of a Martyr Oblations for the dead saith Teruillian Behold from whence comes Masses for the dead and the shadow of resemblance with what is done in the Church of Rome is capable of dazling ye But observe these great Differences The first is that the Sacrifices that were offered for the dead so they call them were not accounted true Sacrifices much less propitiatory Sacrifices 2. That they did not beg of God deliverance from the pains of Purgatory For Purgatory was not known at that time The third is that they did not commemorate Saints and Martyrs as they do at this day to have part in their Merits or to offer their Merits to God. First of all it is indisputable that the Church of the third Age did not think that Prayers for the dead joyned to the Sacrament of the Eucharist were a true Sacrifice I will not repeat the proofs those that please may see them in the preceding Letters For since we have proved that they did not at all account the Eucharist in general a true Sacrifice altho they gave it that name t is clear that they could not account as a true Sacrifice the Prayers which were joyned to the Eucharist for the repose of the dead So that the Ancients did not call that part of their Worship which they called Oblations for the dead Sacrifice for any other reason than because the Offerings which were consecrated upon the holy Table were there placed on the behalf of the dead either by their order or according to their will and intention And because these Prayers for the dead were joyned to the Sacrament which is a Sacrifice of Praise and the Commemoration of the propitiatory Sacrifice of the Cross Secondly we say that the end for which they make mention of the dead in the Celebration of the Eucharist was not for deliverance from Purgatory whereof no Discourse had been yet heard To be assured thereof there needs no more than to hear the Ancients concerning it 1. At the beginning they were only simple Commemorations of the dead to give thanks that they died in the Lord and in the fear of God. 'T was wholly to this end that they made mention of the Martyrs S. Cyprian speaking of two Men of War who had suffered death says that they were true and spiritual Soldiers of Jesus Christ and that in overthrowing the Devil by the Confession of the name of Jesus Christ They had by a generous suffering been worthy to receive the Palms and Crowns of the Lord. Now you may remember says he that we offer Sacrifices for them Observe the S. Cyprian says expresly that these two Martyrs were crowned in Heaven Nevertheless he says that they offered Sacrifice for them therefore it was not to fetch them from Purgatory How could it be that S. Cyprian and the Ancients should offer a Sacrifice to fetch the Martyrs from Purgatory when they believed they were in a state of Blessedness 'T was to do an injury to Martyrs to pray for them say they according to that saying so much known among the Ancients Injuriam facit Martyri qui orat pro Martyre For 't was to doubt of his happiness The same S. Cyprian says in another place Observe well the days on which they died speaking of the Martyrs to the end that we may remember them when we celebrate the Memories of the Martyrs Altho Terullian our most faithful and devout Brother hath written to us and doth write to inform us of the days in which our blessed Brethren which were in Prison passed to a glorious immortality to the end that we may here celebrate Oblations and Sacrifices for their Memory expecting that with the help of God we shall celebrate them with you That which he calls in the beginning Remembring the Martyrs he calls afterwards Oblations and Sacrifices for the memory of them But if to the Commemorations that is to say to the Praises which they gave to God for the glorious death of the departed they added some Prayers to God it was with respect to the Opinions then prevailing touching the state of Souls after death And these Opinions were such as had their Birth in the end of the second Age and was almost generally established and received in the third 1. That Souls did not enter into the Heavenly Paradise till after the Resurrection 2. That they remained in a separate place and state till that day 3. That they might go thence sooner or later by a quicker or slower Resurrection for they thought that the Resurrection was not accomplished in a day but continued the space of a thousand years at many and divers times 4. That at the day of Judgment the Souls pass through that fire which shall consume the World. 5. That in conclusion they present themselves in the day of Judgment either to be Absolved or Condemned There is not a learned and upright Man which doth not acknowledge this was the Divinity of the third Age yea and of those that follow So that with respect to these Opinions then prevailing they begged of God for the Dead 1. That he would fix them in the place of Repose which they call locus refrigerii or the Bosom of Abraham 2. That he would increase their happiness in that place and moderate the desire they have to go from thence 3. That they may go early thence and partake in the first Resurrection 4. That they may pass through the fire at the last-day without receiving and damage 5. And to conclude that they may be Absolved when they present themselves before the Throne of God all this was not expressed in the Prayers of the Church On the contrary they were conceived in general terms it was the intention of those which made Prayers for the Dead But to what purpose is it to dispute farther whether they offered Masses for the repose of Souls in Purgatory at that time since we have ancient Liturgies where we may see what they begged of God for the Dead There are two Liturgies of which one bears the name of St. James the other of St. Mark. We shall do them a great honor if we put them among the Writings of the third Age. The Liturgy attributed to St. James says Lord God of the Spirits of all flesh remember the Orhtodox of which we have made mention and whereof we have made none from Abel the Righteous unto this day cause them to rest in the Land of the Living in the Bosom of Abraham Isaac and Jacob in thy Kingdom in the delights of Paradise And that of St. Mark Cause the Souls of our Fathers and of our Brethren which are dead in the Faith of Christ Jesus to rest c. Cause them to rest in the Tabernacles of thy Saints and give them the Kingdom of Heaven That Composition which is called the Constitutions of the Apostles is a Work of the fourth and it may be of the fifth Age. Nevertheless we
Hundred and sixty Years Justin Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus Ireneus Cyprian Eusebius Athanasius Hillary and so many others should not speak one word of this religious Worship of Creatures if it had been then in use Besides this negative Proof we make use of all those positive Proofs which we have proved from the Second and Third Age by which it appears that the Primitive Christians invoked none but God and that they did not invoke even Angels 'T is that which Origen hath plainly told us and 't is that which Ireneus had said before him * Iren. lib. 2. cap. 58. That the Church doth nothing by the Invocation of Angles nor by any other wicked Curiosity but by Addressing purely plainly and openly her Prayers to the Lord the maker of all things Among these positive Proofs we have seen some of them which formally tell us that the Church neither worships invokes nor adores Martyrs such is the Epistle of the Christians of Smyrna about the Martyrdom of Polycarpus Is it not therefore an amazing boldness in your Converters to mantain to you that there was no change in the Doctrine and Practice of the Church thereon in the Fourth Age 'T is clear that Men did not invoke Saints in the Third Age it is clear that they began to do it about the end of the Fourth it is therefore clear that a Change did happen But they will say where is the Author of this Change Where is the Innovator This Question is absurd 'T was not one single Person that introduced this alteration in Worship 't was the superstitious People the great respect which the People saw Men had for the Tombs of Martyrs carried some Dotards to advance that the Souls of Martyrs were about their Tombs And 't is apparently according to the conjecture of Albespinus that which the Thirty fourth Canon of the Council of Eliberis hath respect unto * Albasp Annot in Concil Eliberitan That we ought not to light up Torches in the day time in the Coemetaries lest we disturb the Spirits of the Saints They imagined that these Spirits fluttering about their Tombs might suffer inconvenience by the Smoak of Torches and Candles Is not this a pleasant Imagination S. Jerome writing against Vigilantius doth also say That the Souls of Martyrs love their Ashes hover about then and are always present with them We know that the Vulgar are naturally inclined to Superstition and 't is easie to conceive how the People instructed in such an Opinion should conceive an extraordinary respect for those places where were the Bodies and Souls of Martyrs And conceiving that these Souls which conversed about their Tombs had also the liberty of flying back to Heaven when they thought good it was very easie for ignorant People to fall into a perswasion that it was very good to recommend themselves to their care and intercession There was therefore no need of an Innovator or a new Preacher nothing more was needful but to let the People do as they pleased Mark this well all Heresies have been introduced by Doctors for there is need of Wit and Knowledg to innovate in Opinions but all Superstitions have been introduced by the People For nothing more is needful to become superstitious than Sottishness Simplicity and Ignorance therefore the Authors of Innovation in Doctrine may be observed for they are ordinarily single Persons but we cannot observe the first Innovators in matter of Superstition because they are the People But it will be said why did not the Doctors oppose themselves to the Superstition of the People First it is not true that the Doctors did not oppose themselves to Superstitions at their birth S. Austin and S. Jerome himself blamed the Superstitions which began to take place in their Age and which afterwards overcame all Contradiction But nevertheless 't is true that they did not oppose them as they ought to have done yea that they suffered themselves to be carried away with them as others did because that these Superstitions were established by little and little and that the beginnings which the Doctors did easily suffer because 't was but a small matter gave place to the toleration of that which was introduced afterwards which nevertheless was altogether intolerable To conclude 't is of little importance to us how and why the Doctors suffered themselves to be carried into Errors and popular Superstitions The matter of Fact is certain and ought to be indisputable by the proof that we have made thereof and by that which we shall make thereof in what follows Our Second Proof of the novelty of this Worship in the Fifth Age is that then Men did not invoke all the Saints as 't is done at this day yea they did not invoke those Saints which are most eminent such were the Apostles excepting S. Peter and S. Paul whose Relicks were believed to be at Rome others had no Churches Temples Memorials nor Persons devoted to them S. Basil the most ancient of all those which speak of the Invocation of Saints celebrates the Memory only of the Forty Martyrs that of Julitta and the Martyr Mamas In this Homily upon Julitta the Martyr there is nothing that teaches us they did invoke her In the Homily upon the Forty Martyrs he says indeed that Persons fled to them for refuge and that the pious Wife prayed there for her Children that she there desired the return of her absent Husband and his Health when he was sick First it appears that this was the Devotion of Women who are inclined to Superstition Secondly 't is not very clear that these Prayers were addressed to Martyrs for in the beginning these Prayers are addressed to the God of Martyrs with respect to the Merits and Sufferings of Martyrs to whom God would do Honour by Miracles 'T is true that in the Homily on the Martyr Mamas the Invocation of the Saint appears more express But observe that this Julitta this Mamas and these Forty Martyrs were obscure Saints and of little Reputation in comparison of the Apostles concerning the Invocation of whom S. Basil speaks not one word This is a strange thing and that whereof they know not how to give us a reason Make the same observation upon the Passages of S. Austin which they quote unto you for the Invocation of Saints He there speaks of the Invocation of S. Protais and of S. Garvais Good God! what Saints are these in comparison of S. Matthew and S. John. 'T is true that this Father speaks of the Invocation of S. Stephen the first Martyr But however eminent this great Saint was he was but a Deacon and we ought not to make him equal with the Apostles Nevertheless there appears no Invocation of the Apostles in the Writings of S. Austin I call not this a simple Proof 't is a Demonstration of the Novelty of this superstitious Worship If the Worship and Invocation of Saints were ancient if they were from the time of the Apostles why
being made by men Behold an admirable Divine which believes that a man can make a God and do a Miracle if I may so say that exhausts all the Divine Power To conclude to these three or four words of St. Austin That none eats the flesh of Jesus Christ before he hath adored it we ought to oppose what he says in the third Book concerning the Christian Doctrine †De Doctr. Christ lib. 3. cap. 9. That every one knows the Sacrament of Baptism and the celebration of the Body and Bloud of our Lord that 't is well known whereunto they have respect and that they are reverenced not by a servitude i.e. after a carnal manner but by a spiritual liberty Here St. Austin desires that we give to Baptism the same honour as to the Sacrament of the Eucharist We must confess if St. Austin did adore the Sacrament we ought to make no scruple therein we owe him this complaisance for that he hath spoken as absolutely concerning it as our selves For during the space of two hundred years past there hath not been either Zuinglian or Calvinist which hath spoken more boldly or more clearly against the Real Presence and Transubstantiation If this suffice not to know what kind of Worship was given to the Eucharist we must learn it from the History of matters of fact We learn from Mr. de Valois in his Notes upon Eusebius ‖ Euseb lib. 7. cap. 9. Hist Eccles That the Believers which were to communicate approached the Altar and there received the Body of Jesus Christ from the hand of the Priest standing upright and not on their knees as at this day The Author has passed for a good Roman Catholick he is learned and he is a Modern Writer so that he wants nothing to give him an authority in the hearts of the New Converts who refer themselves much more concerning Religion to what their new Authors speak of it then to what is said thereof by those that are more ancient And indeed how could they communicate otherwise than standing since they prayed standing on the Lords day and the fifty days which are from Easter to Whitsontide in memory of the Resurrection When they were ready to consecrate they put out the Catechumens i.e. well nigh half the Christians is it probable that they would deprive them of the comfort of adoring their Saviour if it had been then the custom of adoring him in the Sacrament In those Ages they did communicate Infants and how could they exact Adoration before the Manducation since Infants are not capable of performing an Act of Adoration I may also reckon amongst those Articles concerning which there was no change in the fourth and fifth Ages that of Purgatory For the opinion of a separate place where Souls were to be kept till the day of Judgment without seeing the face of God but without suffering any thing there was the Opinion of the greatest men of those Ages of St. Ambrose St. Chrysostom St. Hillary St. Jerome and under names so great it may not be doubted but it was the prevailing Opinion 'T was the third place of the Christians that then were but as yet there were but few footsteps of a fourth place seen 'T is true that in these Ages a man may shew you some passages of Gregory Nyssen and even some of St. Jerome which speak of a Purgation of Sins which ought to be made after death by the means of a Penal Fire But this is not the Purgatory of Popery 't is that of Origen according to whom we have seen that all intelligent Creatures without excepting Devils and wicked men who die impenitently ought to be recovered and re-established Originism did not die with Origen and many famous Fathers of the fourth Age were infatuated with it Those which know the History of the Quarrels between St. Chrysostom and Epiphanius are not ignorant thereof I think indeed that few men did then dare to maintain the Opinion of Origen crude as he left it touching the future salvation of the Devils and the damned But many endeavoured to soften and smooth it and said at least Christians who died in the profession of the Faith but without Holiness and Repentance would one day be recovered 'T is without doubt that this Opinion mitigated and softned was one step which made the Church fall into the Error of Purgatory For after they had restrained those that were to be purged by a Penal Fire to such as died without Holiness and Repentance by little and little they restrained them to such who dying without Repentance had not satisfied the Canonical Penances of the Church St. Austin was not of the opinion of those who believed that ill Christians dying without repentance were to be purged by fire nevertheless he thought it probable * Enchir. cap. 67 that those who had too much affection for temporal good things during the space of this Life after death would be afflicted with grief for the loss of them and that this would serve them for a Castigation Nevertheless he proposes this but as a doubtful conjecture It is not incredible says he †Enchir. cap. 69. but that something of like nature happens after death and it may be disputed whether it be so that some Believers shall be saved sooner or later by a purging fire according as they have more or less loved these perishing good things By this Purgative Fire or Purgatory he understands nothing but the grief of being deprived of these perishing things And this is that which he means in the same Book ‖ Enchir. cap. 109. That during the whole space of time between a mans death and the last Resurrection Souls are in hidden Receptacles according as they are worthy of repose or misery with respect to what they have been during this life A man cannot deny but this is Purgatory in its birth but it was not as yet believed and received of all the Church nor hath it been received nor perfected any where but in the Latin Church Behold that which I have to tell you concerning the changes happening in Doctrines and Worship I will not pass on to the following Ages because 't is not my design to give you a compleat History of all the changes which have happened in the Church for 1700 years I only desire to confound the boldness of Monsieur de Meaux and such-like which dare to affirm that Christianity in their hands is in the same estate in which it was when it passed from the Apostles to their immediate Successors and that time hath changed nothing that is essential in the Doctrine and Worship of the Church that insensible changes whereof some men speak to you are but Dreams Behold say I enough to ruine these rash affirmations of your Converters for from this short History which I have given you of the Doctrine and Worship of the Church for the space of 500 years it appears 1. That during these five Ages
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