so that it became very long whereas it was plain and short in the first and second Age. 3. There they added particularly Oblations and Prayers for the Dead 4. To Baptism they added Unction whereof hath been made a Sacrament by it self they added there also Milk and Honey which they gave to the newly baptized and some other unprofitable Ceremonies 5. They appointed two days of Fasting and Regular Prayers every week in some Places Wednesdays and Fridays and in other Places Thursdays and Saturdays and 't is from thence the two Fish-days came viz. Friday and Saturday according to the use of the Roman Church 6. They increased their rigor of Discipline on the one hand ordaining long Penances to Sinners and 't is from thence that the Doctrine of Humane Satisfactions had its birth 7. On the other hand they loosened the rigor of this Discipline with respect to some single persons by reason of the value they had for the Letters of Intercession written by the Martyrs and 't is from thence that Indulgences have their original and the application of the merit of Saints to those who have not enough of their own 8. They began to put a value upon Tradition and from thence came insensibly a contempt of the Holy Scripture 9. They introduced a false Idea of the Church and its Unity by which they put out of the Communion of Jesus Christ not only Hereticks erring in the Foundation but all Societies bespotted with Error though never so little this is that which has produced so many bloody Divisions so many Anathema's unjust Excommunications Hatreds and Quarrels Add all these Alterations to those which we have already observed in the second Age and you will see that the exterior face of Worship was already wholly changed although the interior had not yet received any considerable Alteration but this change in the exterior part did afterwards wholly ruine the interior in such a manner that we cannot deny but from the Third Age Christianity hath received a considerable Alteration When they had dressed up the Eucharist after the manner of a Sacrifice it was not difficult to fall into a persuasion that it was one indeed When they had introduced the words Merit and Satisfaction they soon after changed the first sense and meaning of them When they had established Prayers for the Dead it was a good step leading to the Opinion of Purgatory When they had clothed the Sacrament with so many pompous Ceremonies that did insensibly dispose mens minds to search more than Bread in the matter of it An Article of Controversie Reflections on a Writing newly sent to the Churches of France A continuation of the matter concerning the Vnity of the Church HAving finished our Article of Antiquity it were convenient to engage in that of Controversie and we should have done it without any delay if we had not met in our way a Writing Intituled Charitable Advice to comfort the Conscience of those that are obliged to conform themselves to the Worship of the Roman Church taken from the Letter of a private Person to his Friends This dangerous Letter hath a design exactly opposite to ours we would awaken you this would lay you to sleep and persuade you that the Superstitions they oblige you to practise cannot hurt you yea that they may serve you provided that you make them means of uniting your selves to God. That which makes the Poison of this Writing the more dangerous is That there is mingled in it a character and appearance of Humility Piety and Devotion We are informed That Persons who to make themselves acceptable at Court do design to bring you to a Submission to your Persecutors have sent you many Copies thereof so that we have all sorts of reason to fortifie you against the peril unto which this pernicious Writing may thrust Persons who have already too much inclination to flatter and lay themselves to rest It shall not be by refuting the Reasons of this Author that we will defend you against him it shall be by making him known unto you That will suffice to learn you what credit you ought to give to the Principles of such a Doctor you must know therefore that he is none of your ancient Pastors that hath thus written to you 'T is true that the Author of this Letter had sometimes this Character but he renounced it many years since to put himself in the Arms of a certain Hypocondriack Woman called Anthoniette de Bourignon This Woman conceiving there was not already Sects enough amongst Christians had it in her Head to make another And moreover Persons of her Sex having not been accustomed to be Foundrâ—sses of Religions she thought that hers would make her considerable in the World by the singularity of its Original With great appearance of Devotion which is seen in all hypocondriack and doting persons she puts her self upon Preaching to the World by eighteen or twenty Volumes of Writings which she either caused to be printed during her Life or left to be printed after her Death In these Works besides Christian Verities and particularly what appertains to Morality which she hath adorned happily enough in some Particulars she puts off a thousand paradoxical Visions and a thousand empty Dreams against the Truths which are received by Divines Mr. P. Author of the Writing of which we are now discoursing more through weakness of Mind than corruption of Heart put himself into this Sect and is become the Head thereof Thirteen Volumes of his may be seen which without doubt do explicate and much promote the mysteries of his Mistress It will suffice to learn you what is the character of these Gentlemen by giving you some draughts of their Religion drawn from that very Writing which hath been sent unto you First of all Their Opinion is to have nothing to be fond of no body to entertain among them Papists Lutherans Remonstrants the Reformed Socinians Mennonites Anabaptists All are there welcome without being obliged either to change their Opinions or Practices if they think fit to retain them But also their Religion is to practise nothing externally They go neither to Sermons nor to Mass they perform no exercise of Religion neither publick nor private They have no Assemblies as other Sects among Christians If the humor takes them they will go this day to Mass and to morrow to the Church of the Reformed but that doth not happen it may be once in a year nor peradventure once in all their Life for they do profess a very mean opinion and a great indifference for the exercises of Piety looking on them as things without which are of no use any further than the intention and manner of using them to rectifie the Mind and Conscience makes them profitable yea they do more hurt than good because they draw the Soul out of it self I believe that they have in this a great correspondence with the Followers of Dr. Molini whom they call Quietists and
be only a power granted to punish them not to endeavour their Conversion by Torments 'T is an abominable means of Conversion which only makes Hypocrites 'T is sufficiently known that reason cannot be gained thereby The purging of Societies is the end of the Sword but Persecution at the rate that it is at this day managed will corrupt and ruine Societies by filling them with secret Hereticks who will disperse their Venom in a manner by so much the more dangerous by how much it is more private and secret What is there therefore of likeness between their treatment of us Is the lawful use of the Sword against Malefactors Do not lightly pass over what I have now said but give attention thereunto If that which Monsieur de Meaux hath said to prove that Heretiques are not excepted out of the number of those Malefactors that Princes are appointed to punish seem a little to startle you tell him that is not the question it is not debated whether obstinate Hereticks may not be punished with Death his Catholick Authors do affirm it But we would learn whether they ought to extort Subscriptions Confessions Communions profane and sacrilegious because joyned with Hypocrisie and Incredulity by Force Plunder Violence and all kind of Torments Now that is it which all the World with one accord condemn and is abominable according to the Principles of the rigid Inquisition as well as our own 'T is that which the Clergy of France have lately invented and practised and 't is that which will render their present conduct the horror of all future Ages 2. The use of the Sword that God hath put into the hands of Princes hath Justice and Righteousness for the reason and foundation of it for it is for the exercise of it and secondly Fidelity and Faithfulness for it is to preserve and maintain it But that which is perpetrated upon us at this day is an uninterrupted course of Iniquities Acts of injustice violence fraud falshood breach of Promises contradiction of Edicts violation of Oaths and of all things that can be imagined most horrid and affrightning Doth not this well resemble the Sword of good Princes armed against Sins and Crimes 3. To conclude the use of the Sword for the preserving and avenging the rights of God preserves also the rights of Men. It hath for its end the honour of God and the salvation of Souls For Justice is exercised for the salvation of the Souls of the wicked by the punishment of their Bodies But in the present Persecution they neither respect or regard the rights of God or the salvation of the Soul but only the Honour of the King. They labour plainly not for the salvation but damnation of Souls and they take all imaginable care to make it sure There is no man that is not ignorant of what is done to whom what I have said will seem an extravagance and excess of discourse But behold the proof thereof The Dragoons come into a Town or Village and without any antecedent instruction demand in the Name of the King from all the Inhabitants thereof Subscription and Abjuration on penalty of wasting their Goods beating imprisoning and torturing their Bodies with all other evils except Death All the People faint and fall they own the Romish Religion without believing it they sign the Condemnation of their own they anathematize and damn Luther Calvin and all the Reformers He goes to Confession he goes to Mass he communicates he adores the Bread he assists at the invocation of Saints and outwardly consents to that Worship that they give to Images He believes none of all this but abhors it at his Heart In the mean time they are content they have all that they desire and they demand no more Now what have they made They have made Hypocrites that say one thing and think another prophane persons that hate what they adore Idolaters that worship what they account Creatures and the workmanship of mens hands Behold what they have done and what they have desired to do For to say that by the Dragoons they desired the Calvinists to renounce their Heresie is the most foolish of all extravagances 't is well enough known that they are no proper Arguments to perswade Therefore they intended and desired to make Hypocrites profane sacrilegious persons abuses of Sacraments and Idolaters Now if these men be not in the high way to Damnation I know not who are So therefore plainly the end of these Persecutions 't is to damn men But behold farther I do maintain that they take all kinds of security to be certain of the damnation of the new Converts when they die This appears by the Declaration of the nineteenth of April 1686 by which it is appointed That if any of our Subjects of either Sex which have abjured the pretended Reformed Religion happening to be sick do refuse to receive the Sacrament of the Church from the Curates Vicars and other Priests I do declare that they will persist and die in the pretended Reformed Religion In case the said sick persons do recover their health Process being made against them by our Judges they shall be condemned if they be Men to make honorable satisfaction and to the Gallies for ever with confiscation of their Goods and if they be Women or Daughters to make honorable satisfaction and be imprisoned with confiscation of their Goods This is the Declaration that the Priests make to a person that thinks himself on his Death-bed when he refuses to communicate There is no Man so sick but he may recover He that at first according to his own conscience refuses to communicate after the manner of the Romish Church at length begins to think that if he recovers he must away to the Gallies these thoughts affright him and as the Disease of the Body increases the weakness of his mind he falls under the fear of that hideous punishment that must last as long as life He communicates again he abjures the Truths which are in his heart he adores that which he believes to be but Bread he is profane in hating an holy thing he is sacrilegious in usurping the Sacraments he is an Idolater in worshiping a Creature The Priest which hath seen him in these Conflicts in these long Oppositions in his Refusals to communicate in Acts of Incredulity and Aversion for these Miseries constrains him by fear and the Declaration of the King. Thereby he gains an assurance of the damnation of this wretch and makes him dye in the most fearful dispositions in which a person can die These are no far fetched consequences to discern them their needs neither Natural nor Artificial Logick This is to cause him to renounce God before Death hath stabbed him at the Heart All the World were struck with horror by the Declaration of the twelfth of July last which condemned all those that should make any use of the Reformed Religion to death They cryed out that at this stroke the
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
from Judaism but bred up in the Schools of the Greeks having suck'd the Spirit of Fables and Lies wherewith those two Nations are justly reproached forged the Oracles which he attributes to the Sybils he caused to enter there as Oracles of those ancient Prophetesses all that which he believed proper to support the Christian Religion and render it plausible to the Pagans The better to persuade the Greeks he there mingled their Fables and to please the Philosophers he entered their Dreams there making himself all things to all Men that he might gain some Among other Philosophick Dreams he inserts two in his Work The first was drawn from the Platonick Philosophy 'T was that there was a certain separate place into which he pretended the Souls of the Faithful were carried after death and where they were lodged till the Day of Judgment without enjoying the happy vision of God. The other was this that at the end of the World there would be a great Fire through which all Men must pass that should be saved An imagination which seems to have some likeness to the Stoick Philosophy which teaches that the World would be burnt after which it would return into the State wherein it was at the beginning and in a continual vicissitude pass through the same Revolutions and Changes Or rather 't is taken from what the Holy Scripture says that the World at last must be burnt by Fire We are not able to say how these two Opinions the one concerâ—â—ng the separate state of Souls and the other concerning the Torrent of Fire through which they ought to pass did readily diffuse themselves among those which had any Learning and read any thing besides the Sacred Volumes The Ancients good Men and credulous being ravished to find Books under the name of Pagan Prophesies which foretold the coming of Jesus Christ his Names his Passion the Circumstances of his Birth of his Life Death and Resurrection much more clearly than the true Prophets embraced with greediness what they found in these false Prophesies Justin Martyr who wrote well nigh in the same time that these false Oracles were forged falls into the persuasion that Souls after death are in a separate place where even in some sort they are subject to the Power and Persecution of the Devil From thence it comes to pass that he said it was the Devil that caused the true Samuel to ascend by the Charms of the Witch of Endor ‖ Dial. cum Tryph. For which reason says he when a person is near death you ought to pray that his Soul don't fall under such a power S. Ireneus Bishop of Lyons the most considerable Writer of this second Age was of the same opinion concerning this separate place where all Souls must be inclosed until the Day of Judgment without seeing the Face of God. * Advers Haeres lib. 5. He calls this place Paradise whither Enoch and Elias were transported but he also calls it Hades Hell and a place invisible Note that this Opinion is universally at this day rejected by the Papists and passes among them for an Error Pope John XXII having been accused to be of this Persuasion there was a terrible noise about it and he was forced to retract it Now this Opinion is the original of Purgatory For as we shall see afterward this place changes by little and little its-nature until at length they made of it a place of Torments and Punishments for the purging of Souls This separate state produced a little while after Prayer for the Dead which we shall see had its original about the beginning of the third Age. But whereof nevertheless we see nothing in the second unless it be towards its end On the contrary Justin Martyr tells us that we must pray for dying Souls to the end that in the place of their Separation they fall not under the Power of Devils He would not have failed to have added that we must pray for Souls after death to the end that we might draw them from under the power of Devils if Prayers for the dead had then been in use On the Subject of this praying for the Dead whereof they make such great boasts in Antiquity tell them these three things 1. That it was not in use in the first and second Age. 2. That the Reason why they began to pray for the Dead is very different from that which causes Prayers for them at this day At this day 't is to draw them from Purgatory then it was to the end that in the terrestrial Paradise or other place of Separation where they were God would increase their rest and joy for it was believed that they were there in the beginning of Happiness 3. To conclude tell them that these Prayers for the Dead are no important business in Religion and that they are not the Reason of our Separation After that press them to shew you in the second Age the least footsteps of this place of Torments whither penitent Souls must go after Death to pay the remainder of those punishments which they could not satisfie during their life Demand proofs from them that in this Age the Church prayed for Souls that they might quickly get out of torment and you will see them forced to confess that there are none I come to the Worship and Adoration of Creatures such as are Relicks Images the Blessed Virgin Saints and Angels They treat this as a small business we shall have occasion to prove to you one day that without running into any extravagance 't is a Pagan Idolatry But for the present we will content our selves to shew you that we do not find the least footsteps of these worships in the second Age wherein we now are If they did invoke Saints the Blessed Virgin and Angels if they had Images if they did kiss and adore Relicks let them shew it you let them cause you to read one Author that speaks of it Bellarmine hath the impudence to produce the words of Justin Martyr to prove the Worship of Angels We adore and venerate the Father and the Son which is come to us from him who hath taught us both us and others which follow him and the Army of good Angels by the Spirit of Prophecy c. Apol. 2. He refers the word we adored to that of Angels as if the design of Justin Martyr had been to say that they adored Angels Whereas he ought to refer Angels to the word teach his Sense being that Jesus Christ hath taught the Angels as well as us the Mystery of the Gospel according to what S. Paul says To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God Eph. 3.10 It is so clear that this is the Sense of S. Justin that at this day none of your new Doctors dare quote these words to prove that they worshiped Angels in the second Age. This passage being
set aside let them produce you another Was there therefore no Saints in these Ages Had they no Martyrs Why did they not invoke the Apostles that had newly received their Crowns Why did they then neglect the Intercession of the Virgin Was it that her Credit was not well established in Heaven at that time and that she wanted time to obtain the Empire which at this day she possesses But why have the Authors of this Age been so impudent to say that they adore God alone and that they adore none but He Justin Martyr says speaking of Jesus Christ He hath taught us that we must adore but one only God when he said This the great commandment thou shalt worship God and him only shalt thou serve Apol. 2. And a little after having quoted those other words of Jesus Christ Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods He adds 't is for this reason that we adore but one only God. And as to what concerns you we give you our Services with gladness in all other things Let not your Eyes be dazled by crafty Tricks upon the word Adore as if Justin Martyr spake of Soveraign Adoration which they give to none but God according to your Converters for you ought to be advertised that he serves himself of the word Proskunoumen which signifies all sorts of Worship and Religious Service A word which signifies properly to prostrate our selves and wherewith the second Council of Nice serves it self when it appoints the Worship of Images So the sense is We do not prostrate our selves we do not give any Religious Worship but to God. See if they can say so at this day in the Church of Rome Theophilus of Antioch and Author of the same Age says * Lib. 1. ad Autol. The King will not that they call those Kings which command under him For King is his name and it is not permitted to another to take it So it is not permited to adore any other but God. St. Ireneus Bishop of Lyons speaking of the God which gave the Law †Lib. 5. cap. 22. It is he alone to whom the Disciples of Jesus Christ ought to perform worship c. And a little after The Law commands us to praise the Creator and serve him alone But hear a Testimony which will instruct you sufficiently concerning the opinions and practice of that Age about it They are the Acts of the Martyrdom of St. Polycarpus Bishop of Smyrna After the death of this Holy Bishop ⸫ Euseb lib. 4. cap. 15. his Church writ to that of Pontus an excellent Letter which is one of the most precious monuments that we have of Primitive Antiquity In this Letter the Believers of Smyrna having reported all the circumstances of the death of Polycarpus their Bishop say that the Devil used endeavours that our Brethren might not obtain his body which many among us did very much desire to the end they might participate of that sacred body Some therefore suggested to Nicetas Father of Herod and Brother of Dalces to go find out the Proconsul to advise him not to give us the body for fear say they that having abandoned Christ the Christians may come to Worship him it was at the suggestion of the Jews and at their pressing sollicitation that these Men thus represented the matter For they were the Jews that observed our Brethren when they endeavoured to take the body from the Pile of Wood. Fools which know not that we can never forsake Jesus Christ who hath suffered death for all those that must be saved nor serve any other For we Adore him as the Son of God and as for the Martyrs we love them and are kind to them as Disciples and imitators of the Lord because of the great love which they have shewn to their King and Master and we wish to be their Associates and fellow Disciples The Centurion therefore seeing the obstinacy of the Jews caused the body to be burnt upon the place according to the custom After which we gathered together his Bones more precious than the most precious Stones and more pure than Gold and laid them up in a convenient place In which place if it be possible for us and God permit it we will hold our Assemblies to Celebrate with joy and gladness the Birth day of his Martyrdom in memory of those who have undergone this glorious Combat and to instruct and confirm our descendents by such an example The passage is altogether such as we would wish for we there see all which we search after and what was the Religion of the ancient Christians with respect to Relicks and Saints and from whence began the Superstition and Idolatry which after appeared in the World. First of all you see that in the second Age they served no other but God we serve no other but God. Secondly That the Worship given to the Martyrs was a Worship of love and simple imitation we love them and have a kindness for them These people had lost all sense not to have added and we pray to them if so be they had them prayed to the Martyrs Thirdly That they had no regard to the merits of Saints and Martyrs nor did they pray to God to make us partakers of them we wish to be their Companions and fellow Disciples They might as easily have said as they say now adays we desire to be made partakers of their merits Fourthly That they did not assemble at the Tombs of the Martyrs that they might invocate and serve them but only with design to celebrate the Birth-day of their Martyrdom and the memory of their Sufferings It is an amazing stupidity not to have added and to recommend our selves to their prayers and intercession if any such thing had been in use Fifthly That they did not rend the Bodies of Martyrs in pieces nor distribute their Bones to fill Reliquaire's For they took the bones of Polycarpus and laid them in a convenient place that is to say they laid them honorably in a Tomb. In all this we see the innocence of the worship of the ancient Christians But in that which follows we see the first bloomings from whence afterward proceeded Idolatry 1. We see here an excessive love which Christians did shew towards the bodies of Martyrs they say that they are more precious than the most precious Stones and more pure than the purest Gold. 2. They assembled upon their Tombs and their burying places served them as Temples not simply through necessity for they might have assembled more conveniently in Houses but because they believed those places more Holy and more proper to excite Devotion because of the memory of the Martyrs 3. They Consecrated certain days to remember the Passion day of the Martyrs Indeed they did not Invoke or Pray to them but nevertheless this was done in their honor as we Celebrate the Birth-day of a Prince to whom we give no kind of
upon this folly and be ashamed thereof Be assured that every hand which gives you the true Doctrine is good in that respect the saving Remedy of Truth heals from whomsoever it comes Where is this pretended Unity of the Roman Ministry Where was this Ministry and this Unity of Ministry during the space of a hundred and fifty years in the Tenth Age and half the Eleventh a time in which Baronius and all the Roman Doctors do confess to us that the Popes were Monsters Ungodly Wicked Adulterers Magicians Poisoners Simoniacks and Blasphemers 'T is the Popish History it self which teacheth us this Was not this a very fine centre of Unity The Lines which proceed from this Centre to the Circumference were they not very clean The Rays which beam from such a Star do they not pour down benign Influences These were the Successors of the Apostles Blessed Successors They left what they did receive they gave one another an infamous Mission irregular and against the Canons by the Ministry of two Whores which ruled at Rome Behold the brave Vnity and Succession of this pretended Ministry What became of this glorious Unity of the Ministry in the time of the Western Schism when we saw for the space of fifty years a Pope at Rome and another at Avignon which damned one another of which one was the Vicar of Jesus Christ and the other of Antichrist who not only mutually damned each other but also thousands of millions of Men which lived in the different Obedience of Avignon and Rome What a fine thing was this to see two Centres of Vnity How finely at ease would Mr. de Meaux and his Collegues have been at that time they who speak so much to us of the centre of the Unity of the Ministry instead of one only centre to have had two Confess my dear Brethren that this Unity of Ministry is a foolish dream in it self yea vain in the Church of Rome who find it no more there than elsewhere The Church as all Societies in the World in its progress suffers a thousand changes in its form We may not imagine that the Ministry of the first Ages of the Church was constituted as that of this Age. The Bishops were neither Worldlings nor great Lords nor Plenipotentiaries nor Tyrants in the Church They were the first Presbyters and the perpetual Presidents of the Elders or Presbyteries who were of the same Order with themselves 'T is the Pride and Vanity of Man which hath made this distinction between the Bishop and the Presbyter 'T is the mystery of Iniquity which began to work even in the times of the Apostles The Presbyters were then so little distinguished from the Bishops that even the Clergy were not essentially distinguished from the People Remember my Brethren that which you have read in the eighth Pastoral Letter that in the time of Tertullian all the Laicks were accounted Presbyters and that it was permitted even to them to celebrate the Eucharist in private and in their Families So that this Unity of the Ministry could not depend upon I know not what external form for this external form hath changed perpetually until at length it degenerated into this Antichristian Power which is seen in the Roman Hierarchy This Unity is no more in Succession For we cannot find a Church which hath not suffered Interruption in its Ministry either by the Violences of Persesecutions or by the intrusion of false Pastors or by the Crimes and Vices of wicked Bishops If Mr. Bossuet were obliged to prove the Unity of his Ministry without interruption from Mr. St. Faron to himself he would it may be have something of trouble therein In what then consists the Unity of the Ministry In the Unity of Doctrine and Religion If the Bonzes of China and the Brachmans of India did preach the same crucified Jesus with my self and the same Christianity pure and without corruption they would have the same Ministry with me It would signifie very little with me from whence they derived their Succession whether from St. Thomas the Apostle or from another Thomas a Nestorian Heretick God has not tied Salvation to such and such hands nor hath he obliged us to a necessity of receiving the Gospel from some certain men rather than from others But enough concerning this Article of the Unity of the Ministry because 't is a matter which must be handled again when we come to dissipate the cheats and juggles by which your Converters endeavour to perplex you about the Character and Mission of those from whom we have received the Reformation If we would see a lamentable Desolation we must behold the Province of Languedoc Persons worthy to be believed lately arrived from thence do represent unto us this Desolation as one of the most hideous and frightful Objects which ought to have place in the Histories of these days It can never be well understood how the fury of false zeal should transport the Court to make a horrible Desart of one of the most lovely Territories of the Kingdom Cevennes and lower Languedoc are cover'd with Troops which find means to live where Turks would have died of Famine more than six months since after the Plunder Extortions and Wastes that have been made there that is to say after these miserable People had suffered those Oppressions which had drawn from them that little Blood that did remain so that Paleness Fear and Death may be seen written and engraven upon their countenances There are Villages and Towns wholly depopulate The Inhabitants that could not flee are guarded by Dragoons which carry them to Mass with Muskets and Swords in their hands and who at their coming out of the Church put them into Files that they may number them and see whether any be wanting yea or no. There are a great number that lye in Woods which have no other places of Refuge but Rocks no other Houses but Caves neither Nourishment but Roots of the Field because whereof they do better resemble Carkasses than Men. The City of Nismes have had experience of new Severities They have banished to the Islands and I know not whither beyond the Seas four hundred of its Inhabitants and they have hanged eleven and sent Prisoners the Heads of the chief Families M. Baudan la Cassaigne and others all eminent Persons to Carcassoon and Pierre An Cise Who can doubt but this is a just Castigation of that unworthy Action which the Country suffered to be extorted from them France did oblige a great number of men to give under their own hand that from henceforward they would do all the duty of good Roman Catholicks that they would be found no more at Conventicles that they would discover their Relations and Friends that they would Communicate and that if they failed in any of these things they intreated the King to chastise them severely for it Who doubts but such an Action as this is capable of bringing down the most terrible Judgments of
other Torches there There are also Mr. Guirant and Mr. Martin both of Nismes which are not less Illustrious for their Perseverance and their Piety having never made any Defection from the Faith. Mr. Serre of Montpellier Mr. Guy of Bederieux a Widdow named Madam de Bosc and her Sister Mademoiselle de Cavaille with Mr. Martin also of Mompellier two Sisters of Mr. Anauld Minister of Vaunert are also of this number There are also Gentlemen and Persons of Quality which we will not name unto you until we are perfectly assured thereof Behold a Letter from one of these honest Men which will acquaint you with the disposition of Mind in which they are on the Subject and in the prospect of this new kind of Punishment Feb. 12 th 1687. From Aigue-Mortes from the Tower of Constace I Have thought my dear Mother that before I am removed into another World as they threaten us it is my Duty to inform you of my State and to acquaint you with the true sentiments of my Soul Oh how happy are you and my dear Sisters whom GOD by his infinite Mercy hath preserved so long in your Retirement and preserved from the Snares that have been so often laid for you but more especially in that he hath led you in so miraculous a manner out of this sad and unhappy Kingdom that you may taste his Divine Consolations in Holy Assemblies with all the liberty that can be desired Be never forgetful of Benefits so great if you do desire that GOD should continue his Belssings and Mercies upon you and yours Pray continually for the Liberty of Zion for all our poor Brethren that have unhappily fallen and for the Prisoners of Jesus Christ. You have begun gloriously but all that is nothing if you don't persevere to the end therefore give up yourselves to Divine Providence and be assured that God will give you all that is necessary in this life and that which is to come if so be you offer unto him that acceptable Sacrifice of your Goods your Families and even of your Lives Never turn your face back again through Trouble and regret for what you have forsaken don 't do as the Wife of Lot least you partake in the same Punishment I do acknowledge that there is need of extraordinary Endeavours and very great Grace to surmount our Natural Affections and that Tenderness and Natural Compassion which does so strongly bind us to eath other but when the Glory of God and our own Salvation is discoursed on we ought not to stagger one moment from following our Duty for he which loves Fathor or Mother Husband Wife or Children more than his Saviour is not worthy to be called his Disciple Wherefore my dear Mother and Sisters make appear to your last breath the difference you make between Earth and Heaven betwixt the perfect love which we have for our Divine Redeemer and that which we have for the things of the World and let us assure ourselves of his Protection and Favour if we persevere to the end The death of my Father hath extreamly edified and comforted me his Patience and Perseverance hath given a joyful and certain Assurance of his Happiness that 't is so far from afflicting me that I desire to be dissolved as he is to be with Christ Jesus which is much better I reserve my Tears for the sad and deplorable State of the Church and for the fatal hard-hartedness of my poor Brethren for whom I pray unto God night and day that he would cause them to return from their wandrings and shew them Mercy and Grace This is that true Affliction which eats up my Soul and sadly overwhelms my Spirit for my own part I was never more content and at rest than I find myself at present So that after having exactly considered the World and all its Vanities I esteem with St. Paul that all things duely reckoned the Sufferings of the present World are not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be Revealed So that my dear Mother I am fully resolved to do my Duty even to my last moment They have already conducted to Marseille a hundred Prisoners and the seventeenth of this Month we being Seventy in number departed from Montpellier thither They have brought from Sommieres twenty four Maids or Wives and to morrow they bring forty more from thence 't is the general Randevouze I know not what will be the eevent of all this nevertheless all are perfectly resolved for this long Voyage Monsieur de Cross is always here who is shortly to be embarqued with his own Daughters and four of Monsieur Audemard's who never changed their Religion Whatever be our fate we shall always be under the Eyes of God and his Protection Pray for us as we do for you and let all our Friends and all your Churches redouble their Prayers for those poor unhappy Persons which are carried away it may be to the Shambles God be with you my dear Mother and dear Sisters be assured that I shall be Faithful to my God to my last breath in whatsoever place I shall remain This last kind of Punishment has stricken men with more horrour than all the preceding whilst persons remain in their Country they endure the labours of flight the uneasiness of sojourning in Woods Famine Thirst Prison and the Gallies in some hopes of change and alterations but to see their Entrails torn from their bosoms the half of ones self a Wife a Husband Children unmercifully forced into another World exposed to the rage of the Sea to the dangers of a long Voiage and at the end of all to a cruel Slavery upon barbarous or unknown Shores where they live without any Communion which those that are their own without Consolation in the Rigours of a very calamitous Servitude This is the new kind of Punishment say I which puts the Patience of the most Confirmed to a period But nothing does more discover the temper of the Devil of Persecution It does not suffice to lay waste the Kingdom after a hundred manners to put to flight an infinite number of Men and to make Wildernesses of Countries heretofore well Peopled they will Depopulate the State and Transport the best of its Inhabitants into barbarous Countries Poor Slaves remember that God is every-where and that the Gates of Heaven are open in all places Be you perswaded that Canada will rejoyce to see your Constancy and that the Voice of your Confession will pass the Seas and come even to us but above all that it will pierce the Heavens and arrive even at the Throne of God where you will find favour and it may be your Enemies will find displeasure and wrath for the Voice of your Suffering will sollicite Divine Vengeance and hasten their Punishment the Lord have pitty on them and convert them they ought to be the Objects of our Compassion rather than those of our Wrath. Whilst they emptie the Cittadels on one side they