truly persecuted which you may perceive I can do no other way but by shewing that they suffer for Righteousness-sake for Religions sake for the Truths of the Gospel and in defence of the Gospel-Laws The case is really with them as it was with the Apostles and Primitive Christians they are under a necessity of disobeying the Supream Authority in not conforming to the Gallican Church because the Doctrine and Worship of it are plainly inconsistent with the Doctrines of the Gospel and the Evangelical Worship of God As for example the Gospel hath commanded us not to worship Angels as in Coloss 2.18 Let no man saith the Apostle deceive you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels And Rev. 19.20 when S. John fell at the Angel's feet to worship him See saith the blessed Spirit thou do it not for I am thy fellow-servant But the Gallican Church like all the rest of the Papal Communion Teacheth and Practiseth the worshipping of Angels and maketh solemn Invocations not only of the Angels and Archangels in general but of this and that Angel by their proper Names The Gospel plainly forbiddeth praying in an unknown Tongue because he that speaketh in a Tongue unknown to the People speaketh not unto man as the Apostle argues but unto God and the Air and he that so speaketh is a Barbarian unto the People because they know not the meaning of his voice yet notwithstanding all that is so expresly written upon this matter 1 Cor. 14. the Gallican Church useth Latin-offices and their publick Worship is all in Latin which the People do not understand The Gospel teacheth that as there is but one God so there is but one Mediator betwixt God and Man the man Christ Jesus to whom alone we must pray to make intercession for us to God but the Gallican Church prays to * Dom. quintâ post Epiph. ad poscenda suffragia Sanctorum Oratio in octavâ Sancti Steph. ut pro nobis Intercessor existat Saints and Angels and above all to the ‖ De Sanctâ Mariâ oratio in all their Masses ut qui verè eam genitricem Dei credimus ejus apud te intercessionibus adjuvemur Oratio in circumcisione Domini ut ipsam pro nobis intercedere sentiamus blessed Virgin to make intercession for them So that if her prayers were in the Mother-tongue the People could not joyn in Her worship without committing Idolatry against God and Blasphemy against Jesus Christ The Gospel assureth us that Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven and there sitteth at the right hand of God to make intercession for us and that he was once offered up for all and by one offering of himself perfected for ever them that are Sanctified but the Gallican like all other Popish Churches teacheth that he is bodily present and bodily offered up in the Sacrifice of the Masse and that his real flesh and bones are eaten when the consecrate Wafer is eaten and that the Hostie as they call the great Wafer which they expose and carry about is the * Urbanus VIII in his Preface before the Missal begins thus Si quid est in rebus humanis planè divinum quod nobis superni cives si in eos invidia caderet invidere possent id certè est SS Missae Sacrificium cujus beneficio sit ut homines quâdam anticipatione possideant in terris coelum dum ante oculos habent manibus contrectent coeli terraeque conditorem very Christ This they keep in a Box on purpose and on ‖ Especially the two Corpus Christi days called by the Gallican Church Festes de Dieu the Feasts of God solemn days carry it in Procession as the Pagans did their Idols to be adored and where ever it is met there the People must fall down and worship and wheresoever the Priest makes a stand there must prayers be offered up unto it as unto the very Christ The Heathens were never guilty of more gross and absurd Idolatry than this The worshipping of a Leek or an Onion or an head of Garlick as the Egyptians did is not more against common Sense and Reason than the worshipping of a Wafer the work of a Baker or Confectioners hand And then as to the Elements to be received in the holy Eucharist the Gospel saith expresly that at the Institution of it our Lord took bread and brake it and gave it to his Disciples saying Take eat this is my body likewise that he took the Cup saying Drink ye all of this for This is related in the same manner by S. Paul 1 Cor. 11. where he also saith Whosoever eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself Accordingly the Primitive universal Church administred it exactly after Christ's Institution as is evident out of * Ad Philadelph 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignatius ‖ Apol. 2. Justin Martyr c. And all succeeding Ages followed this Primitive practice and still doth follow it throughout the * Cassand do Sacra Com. universal Church except the Church of Rome which began above Five Hundred years since to take away the Cup from the People for fear O superstitious Souls that they should spill the Bloud Yet the Gallican Church for all her fine pretences to Liberty still continues so strictly Popish that she deprives her People of the Cup although the Saviour she pretends to worship Proleptically speaking of this holy Sacrament saith Whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath Eternal Life What shall I say of the abominable Doctrines of Supremacy Infallibility and Purgatory which she alloweth with all the practices that follow thereupon and of her Image-worship and Cross-worship Crucifix worship not to mention her Ceremonies which for their number are intolerable and for their nature such as vilifie pollute and deprave the worship of God These are the things which make our French Brethren dissent from the publick establishment There is a plain opposition betwixt the Doctrines and Worship set forth in the Gospel and the Doctrines and worship of the Gallican Church They cannot conform unto it nor live in the Communion of it and be true to the Gospel nor obey their Prince in this particular because Obedience unto him would be Disobedience unto God They have no quarrel at the Church because it is Episcopal but because it is Popish for * Calv. ad Sadol If the Bishops would so rule as to submit themselves to Christ then if there shall be any that shall not submit themselves to that Hierarchy reverently and with the greatest obedience that may be there is no kind of Anathema whereof they are not worthy id instit l. 4. c. 4. ss 4. Beza de divers grad contr Sarav c. 21. Melancthon ad camer an 1530. Confess Aug. de Eccles potest Apol. Confess Aug. ad art 14. Princeps Anbalt in concion super Matth. 7. Bogerman President of the Synod of Dort Nay Blondel
de Polycarp Mart. swearing by the Emperor and his Genius for not ‖ Omnes Dei cultores sacrificare vel mori cogebat Martyrium Ignat. sacrificing to Idols and the Emperors * Epist ad Trajan l. 10. 97. Statue And the Albigenses for not worshipping of Saints and Angels and the Host as the Papists call their Breaden God or thirdly For worshipping of him in an undue manner whether it be positively so as the Primitive Christians were persecuted by the Jews for not worshipping of God according to their manner after it was abrogated or naturally so as the Protestants are persecuted for not worshipping of him according to the corrupt manner of the Papists which is polluted with the worship of Creatures and with many Sacrilegious Idolatrous and truly superstitious Rites and Ceremonies which utterly deprave and defile the Religious offices to which they belong Or secondly upon a positive account for worshipping the true God as Daniel was persecuted for worshipping of God as afore-time after the decree of Darius was made not to ask any petition of God or man for thirty days except of the King So likewise with respect to matters of Justice and Charity a man is also persecuted upon two accounts either for not doing of something which is unjust or uncharitable as the Egyptian Midwives were in danger of being persecuted by Pharaoh for not murdering the Hebrew Infants and many of the Primitive * Clem. ad Cor. Epist c. 54. p. 114 Edit Oxon 1677. Rom. 16.4 Christians for not betraying or delivering up their Brethren into the hands of the persecutors or for doing some just or charitable action which ought to have been done as many of the Primitive Christians and Protestants have been persecuted for harbouring and relieving their distressed Brethren and many of his Majestie 's loyal Subjects for harbouring relieving and assisting of him These are all the cases for which a man ordinarily speaking can be persecuted it must be for matters of Faith or matters of Practice for matters of Divine worship which belong to the first or matters of Justice and Charity which belong to the second Table of the Law All righteousness or matters of Religion for which a man can be truly persecuted are reducible I say to Faith or Practice and all matters of Faith are either such as are necessary to be known that they are revealed and they are but few or that are necessary to be believed when they are known and they may be very many and all matters of practice in short are such as God hath made it either absolutely necessary or in such circumstances for man to do or not to do But if men will believe things to be Articles of Faith which God never made so and also make rules for matters of Christian practice and Communion which God never made if they will believe false or impious or uncertain Doctrines to be certain and true and set up new notions which Primitive and Virgin Christianity never understood or professed and revive old Errors and Heresies which were condemned by the Catholick Church In a word if they will impose upon their own and other mens Consciences and teach for Doctrines of God the Traditions or Inventions of private men let them suffer never so much or be never so much perswaded in their own Consciences of the truth of them yet they cannot be persecuted for them though when they are honestly minded with their erroneous Consciences and their errors do not tend to the publick disturbance nor thwart the common fundamentals of Christianity they may be too severely used I say men that coine new Doctrines and Rules and Precepts for Christian Practice and Communion which God never made let them suffer never so much from Authority in the defence of them yet they are not persecuted but rightfully punished and suffer not as Christians but as Criminals and though God will be merciful to their mistakes when they proceed not from an ill mind and pardon their ignorance when it is not wilful and affected yet they can neither suffer as Confessors nor Martyrs nor shall they receive the promised reward for their sufferings in the world to come No! whosoever is truly persecuted must suffer for Doctrines and Laws which God hath given us for the common principles of Christianity not for private fancies and inventions and therefore when you hear men cry out of persecution consider for what Scriptural Truth for what Article of the Creed for what * Because I have here made mention of the common principles of Christianity which I call Catholick principles I shall here explain my self in the words of the most Learned Dr. Beverege who hath deserved so well of the Church Catholick in his Prooemium before his Codex Canonum Vindicatus Si praegrande hoc omnium cujusque seculi Christianorum corpus quod Catholica sive universa Ecclesia vulgo appellatur ut ubique semper constitutum attenti perlustremus certa quaedam quasi communia in eo deprehendemus principia quae totum percurrunt omnesque illius partes sibi invicem capiti connectunt Equibus primum illudque è quo catera oriuntur est Sacram Scripturam sive vetus novúmque Testamentum Divinitùs esse inspiratam Verum enimvero haec sacra Scriptura etiamsi in iis quae ad cujusque salutem absolutè sunt necessaria praeceptis clarissima sit omnibus manifesta quantum tamen ad doctrinam spectat externam Ecclesiae disciplinam ea pro ipsâ suâ altitudine non uno codémque sensu ab omnibus accipitur ut observavit olim Vincent Lirinensis ex haereticis schismaticis satis supérque constat qui nempe singuli pravas suas opiniones praxésque è sacris Scripturis suo modo interpretatis cliciunt In hujusmodi itaque rebus si non errandi nec offendendi certi esse velimus imprimis procul omni dubio cavendum est nè privatis nostris aliorum opinionibus aut conjecturis pertinaces nimis adhaereamus sed nobiscum potiùs recolamus quid universa Ecclesia vel maxima saltem pars Christianorum de istis senserint in cá acquiescamus sententiá in quam Christiani per omnia secula consenserunt quemadmodum enim omni in re consensus omnium vox naeturae est ut ait Cicero sic etiam in hujusmodi rebus consensus omnium Christianorum vox Evangelii meritò habeatur Multa autem sunt quae licet in sacris Scripturis expresse ac definitè non legantur communi tamen omnium Christianorum consensione ex iis eruantur Ex. gr Tres distinctas in sacrosanctá Trinitate Personas venerandas esse Patrem Filium Spiritum Sanctum hósque singulos verum esse Deum tamen unum tantummodo esse Deum Christum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 esse verè Deum ac verè hominem in unâ eâdemque personâ Hac similia quamvis totidem verbis ac
THE TRUE NOTION OF Persecution Stated IN A SERMON PREACHED At the Time of the Late CONTRIBUTION FOR THE French Protestants By GEORGE HICKES D. D. Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Lauderdale and Vicar of Alhallows-Barkin London Published at the earnest request of many that heard it Preached 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. ad Rom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. ad Cor. Ep. 11. LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-Head in S. Paul's Church-Yard M DC LXXXI 2 COR. iv 9. Persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed The precedent Verse is this We are troubled on every side yet not distressed we are perplexed but not in despair Persecuted but THESE words are spoken by S. Paul not of the Christians in general but of the Apostles who above all other Christians were so obnoxious to sufferings because they preached the new Doctrine of the Gospel which was the destruction of all other Religions throughout the Jewish and Gentile world But because the Disciples or Lay-professors of Christianity have in all Ages and Governments suffered in proportion with the Preachers of it I shall consider the words in general as they regard the whole body of any Christian Communion that suffer in any common Persecution The Pastors with their Flocks the Teachers with their Hearers the Clergy with the Laity For it often so happens that all that will live Godly shall suffer Persecution and that the professors of Christianity be they Ministers or People must through many Tribulations and Afflictions enter into the Kingdom of God For Christianity is a suffering Religion and above all others exposeth its professors to persecution because when the Supream Power happens to be Infidel Idolater or Heretick and so sets it self against the Gospel in general or any particular truth of it it becomes the duty of all Christian Subjects to suffer if they will not fly There 's no mean in the Gospel betwixt these two extreams denying the Faith or * Just Mart. Apol. 2. p. 64. edit par 1615. dial cum Tryph. p. 236 323 363. fighting in the defence of it being equally damning sins for as it is written Whosoever denieth me before men him will I deny before my Father which is in Heaven So it is as plainly written Whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation And that we should in no exigence do the one nor the other but * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just Mart. dial cum Tryph. p. 323. chearfully suffer or save our selves by flight it is also written That every one who shall forsake Houses or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands or lose his Life for Christ's sake and the Gospels shall receive an hundred fold and inherit Everlasting Life and that they are blessed who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of God Accordingly hath it been the practice of all good Christians to suffer or fly for so we are used to speak not that flight is not one sort of suffering for it implies forsaking of House Relations Lands and Country but that it is the custom of all Languages to speak of the lesser evil as of a good and so flight is if it be compared with Death Slavery or bodily Torments which are more emphatically called sufferings though really in it self it is also a great degree of suffering for which the person so flying from persecution shall be rewarded with Everlasting Life I say it hath been the inviolable practice of all good Christians to suffer or fly and never to resist so the Primitive Christians did under Pagan Arrian and Apostate Emperors the Waldenses under Pagano-Christian or Popish Powers our own Ancestors in the days of Queen Mary and now our poor Brethren of the Reformed French Communion who are fled hither in assurance of his Majestie 's protection and his Protestant Subjects Charity to whom he as it becomes so great a Patron of the Protestant Cause hath most affectionately recommended them commanding us to stir you up to so good a work which I have chosen to do in a Discourse upon these words upon which I shall proceed in the following method First I shall shew what Persecution is or when Christians are truly said to be Persecuted Secondly I shall shew that our Brethren of the French Church are under a true Persecution or truly Persecuted Thirdly I shall shew you to what a degree they are Persecuted And Lastly I shall shew you that it is our indispensable duty to help and assist them that now they are Persecuted they may not be destitute nor quite destroyed though they be cast down Persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed I. First I shall shew what Persecution is which is very necessary for me to do because the true notion of Persecution is generally mistaken men often miscalling that by the odious name of Persecution which is nothing but the Execution of just and sometimes of necessary and wholesom Laws Thus the Modern Jews in their writings speak of themselves as of a People that are Persecuted by the seed of Esau throughout the whole world The Papists those in the British Dominions especially complain that they are persecuted by the Hereticks and besides them there are yet many other sorts among us who make bitter out-cries against Persecution when their sufferings if tried by the true test of Persecution would not I am confident appear to be such Therefore that I may lay down the true notion of it I must desire you to observe that the Original words in the Old and New Testament as likewise the Latin word for Persecution and to Persecute properly signifie to pursue or run after another to stop him or get before him and from this Agonistical acceptation of the words they are translated into a Tropical sence to signifie to prosecute pursue or attach by Law I confess sometimes they signifie to pursue after another to kill him and so come to be taken in a Military sence to prosecute by the Sword but because I am resolved to confine my Discourse to Legal or pretended Legal Persecution I shall take no notice of Sword-persecution further than it happens to the Subjects from the Magistrate by virtue of the Law To make this which is the first step of my Discourse as plain as I can I tell you again that the Scripture-words for to Persecute signifie to prosecute or pursue by Law And by Law I here understand Law in the largest sence for the Will and Pleasure of the Supream Authority whereby the People that live under it are commanded to do or not to do otherwise to do or forbear doing such and such things Now because in the several times wherein the several Books of the Old and New Testament were written as well as in the Ages since good men were often prosecuted and pursued by Authoritative orders for
much as they please they are not persecuted but justly punished for disobedience to the Supream Power They suffer not for God's sake but their own they suffer not as Martyrs and Confessors but as Malefactors This consideration made S. Peter in his First Epistle general distinguish so carefully between suffering as a Malefactor and suffering as a Christian Chap. 4. 14 15. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ happy are you But let none of you suffer as * Oraet Lucii Mart. ad Vrbicium Praefect Just M. Apol. 1. a Murderer or as a Thief or as an evil-doer or as a busie-body in things that belong not unto him yet if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but glorifie God on this behalf In the 2d Chap. 13. ver he charged them to submit themselves to every Ordinance of man whether it were to the Emperor or his subordinate Magistrates for the Lords sake as free indeed in a spiritual sence from many yokes but not to use their Christian freedom as a cloak for their malignity but as the servants of God Then from Subjects he proceeds to the Servants or Slaves who you may be sure suffered much from Jewish and Heathen Masters upon the account of the Christian Religion and he tells them that it was * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cod. Alex. acceptable to God if a man for conscience towards God endured grief suffering wrongfully And in the 3d. Chap. after he had charged all Christians as being the best way to avoid sufferings to refrain their tongues to eschew evil to do good and seek peace Who is he saith he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good but if notwithstanding all this you chance to suffer for righteousness-sake happy are ye and be not afraid of their terror neither be troubled and lastly in the 4th Chap. he resumes the argument again in the words which I cited above concluding that they that so suffered according to the will of God should commit the keeping of their Souls unto him as unto a faithful Creator Accordingly there 's scarce any one place of the New Testament where sufferings or persecution are mentioned but it is with respect to the Christian Religion as Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil of you falsely for my sake Whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospels the same shall save it Verily verily I say unto you that there is no man that hath left Houses or Brethren or Sisters or Father or c. for my sake and the Gospels but he shall receive an hundred fold now in this time with persecutions and in the world to come Eternal Life From which places it is evident that Persecution consists in suffering for Christ's sake or for the sake of the Christian Religion or any truth of it or for obeying God in any particular of it after the same manner that the Prophets or holy men of old used to suffer under the Law or Jewish Oeconomy as our Saviour said Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you c. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you Accordingly Acts 5.41 't is said that the Apostles departed from the presence of the Counsel where they were beaten rejoycing that they were counted worthy to suffer for his Name To put all this together Persecution from the Civil Magistrate for to that I chiefly restrain my Discourse consists in inflicting or suffering any sort of evil or to any degree for righteousness-sake for Religions sake for Christ's sake for the Gospels sake for Christ's Name sake for Christianities sake in a word to suffer as the Prophets and Apostles did of old who in all their sufferings were reduced to this sad necessity of disobeying God or the Civil Authority as Peter and the other Apostles answered and said to the Sanhedrim the second time when they commanded them to preach no more in the Name of Jesus We ought to obey God rather than man The general notion of Persecution and of Christian persecution withal being thus stated we may easily perceive that a man can be persecuted but upon two accounts for matters of professed Faith or principles or matters of practice Upon the former account a man is truly Persecuted when he is prosecuted for teaching or professing any Truth or true Doctrine which he is bound by God to teach or profess or for disowning or denying any Error or false Doctrine which he is bound by God to disown or deny I have made this distinction between owning of true and disowning of false Doctrines with respect to the several ways in which men are wont to express their minds in affirmative or negative propositions although both ways of speaking virtually and really are the same thing As he that asserts Jesus to be Christ doth virtually deny this blasphemous proposition Jesus is not Christ and he that denieth this blasphemous proposition Jesus is not Christ doth virtually assert that Jesus is Christ Thus in all things the affirming of Truth is a virtual denying of the opposite Error and the denying of the opposite Error an affirming of the contrary Truth and great is the number of Martyrs who have been truly Persecuted upon these accounts So Socrates was persecuted to death by the Laws and Magistrates of Athens for asserting the true God or denying the false He asserted that there was but one God and Father of all who made Heaven and Earth that the Gods whom the Athenians worshipped were dumb Idols the work of mens hands For this reason Justin Martyr represents him in part as a * Apol. 1. p. 48. Christian and among those whom ‖ Apol. 2. p. 55. wicked men by the instinct of the Devil persecuted for righteousness-sake He died a Martyr for Natural Religion in the defence of a Doctrine which God had taught him by the Light of Nature was not only true but such a truth as was his duty to propagate and maintain So likewise the Primitive Christian professors were persecuted both by the Jews and Gentiles for teaching and professing the Doctrines of the Christian Religion and for denying the obligation or validity of the Law of Moses and the Pagan Idols to be true Gods So much for Persecution upon matters of Faith or Principles and Persecution for matters of Practice is likewise twofold for matters of Divine worship which concern the First Table or for matters of Justice and Charity which concern the Second With respect to the former a man is Persecuted either upon a negative account for not denying of God or secondly for not worshipping a false God in opposition to him as the three Children in Daniel were persecuted for not worshipping the Golden Image of Nebuchadnezzar the Primitive Christians for not * Eccl. Smyrn Epist
Cross is now become unlawful in the Office of Baptism Are these Christian Doctrines or Precepts that the People have a right to chuse their own Ministers that no Power upon Earth at least no Secular Power can silence or suspend a Minister that Infant-Baptism is unlawful or that the Scripture is the Adequate Rule of Conscience and Practice or that nothing ought to be instituted in the Service and Worship of God which he hath not commanded or approved in his Word Are any of these not to mention others Articles of Faith or Gospel-doctrines or Catholick principles If they be how came they to lye so long undiscovered and never to be found out but by a few particular men among us some about an hundred and some about thirty and forty years ago What were all Christian Doctors before Popery and all since the Reformation from it but a few Dissenters of these Countries blind that they could never yet discern these Doctrines in the Scriptures neither in express terms nor in the scope and tenor of them these Doctrines which would make the professors of them now separate from all National establishments of the Protestant Religion as well as ours and which must have obliged them had they lived in the first and best Ages of Christianity to have separated from all the Churches in the world For there were * As Jaemes at Jerusalem and S. John the Apostle at Ephesus both which as a sign of the High-Priesthood for S. Clemens compares the Bishop to the High-Priest c. 40. ep ad Cor. wore the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Pontifical Crown or Frontlet wherein was written holiness to the Lord. Euseb lib. 5. c. 24. Epiphan in haer Nazar in haer 78. Marc at Alexandria who also is said to have wore the Pontifical Frontlet Vales not ad b. 5. c. 24. Eus not to mention Clemens Caius Archippus Onesimus Euodias Timothy Titus Ignatius c. who were all such Bishops according to Catholick Antiquity Bishops over several Congregations superior to and distinct from Presbyters in the Apostles times and the Christian writers of the next Age to them upon whose Authority we take the Books of the New Testament to be their writings did teach and believe the office of such a Bishop to be the Ordinance of God And in those pure and Virgin-times of Christianity they worshipped God by Forms of Prayer used Ceremonies in his worship united into * Euseb l. 3. c. 23. Can Ap. 34. Conc. Antioch c. 9. Metropolitan which answer to our National Churches used the Sign of the Cross at all sorts of Devotion received their Ministers from their Bishops at whose Election it is true they used to signifie their approbation as the People were wont to do at our King's Coronation but they never poll'd at them nor properly speaking gave any vote In those days also in the pure and Virgin Ages of Christianity while the Disciples of the Apostles governed the Church the Bishops silenced and deposed Presbyters who were not so much as to ‖ Ignat. ad Smyrn Philadelp Trull Can. Apost 39. Tert. de baptismo c. 17. Concil Ancyr c. 13. Concil Laod. c. 56. Hier. advers Lucifer preach or administer any Sacrament without their leave and consent They then also used and instituted many Ceremonies of which we have no account neither Precept nor Example in the Word of God Shall I mention some They always mixed * Just Mart. Apol. 2. Conc. sext in Trull c. 32. Conc. Carth. Can. 40. water with the Sacramental Wine to signifie that the Bloud of Christ had a cleansing virtue in it which mystery was also as they believed represented by the water which flow'd with the bloud from our Saviour's side They sent ‖ Just Mart. loc cit portions of the Sacramental Bread to the sick and absent to signifie that they were partakers of the same Sacrifice and belonged to the same Altar and they worshipped God towards the * Resp ad quaest 118. ad Orthodox East They gave ‖ Tertull. Clemens Alexand. forsan Barnab Epist p. 223. Edit Isaac Voss Milk and Hony to drink unto Baptized persons to signifie that they were like new-born Babes who ought to desire the sweet and sincere milk of the Word They sung Psalms * Plin. cit Epist alternately at the holy Eucharist They stood up in all their Devotions from ‖ Resp. ad quaest ad Orthod 115. Easter till Whitsuntide to signifie that Christ was risen from the dead They observed the four Apostolical Holidays the Passion Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord and the descent of the Holy Ghost Nay even in the Apostles days they * Rom. 6.4 dipt baptized persons over the head and let them remain a little space under water to signifie that they were buried with Christ in Baptism They also then had ‖ 1 Cor. 11. Love-feasts joyned with the holy Eucharist the * 1 Cor. 16.20 1 Thess 5.26 Just Mart. Apol 11. salutation of the holy Kiss and observed the Jewish custom of saying the Hebrew word ‖ 1 Cor. 14.16 Just Mart. Apol. 11. Amen at the conclusion of every Prayer These were the general besides the particular Ceremonies of particular Churches and in one word there was never any separation made or thought of in any of the Primitive Ages of Christianity upon the account of Ceremonies and therefore since the belief and practice of God's universal Church in the first and best Ages are contrary to the Doctrines and Precepts by which our dissenting Brethren in vain attempt to justifie their separation How can they be Doctrines and Precepts of the Gospel How can they be Catholick principles or parts of Christianity and how can they be persecuted in the defence thereof No! they are no parts of Christianity no Laws nor Doctrines of the Gospel but meer humane inventions meer humane fancies and opinions and most of them modern opinions too Primitive Christianity never heard nor thought of such things and notions but they have been invented and advanced to justifie the Schismatical practices of some Men who have not brought their Works to the Rule but the Rule I mean the Gospel to their Works In a word they are all Novelties or renewed Errors all Impious False or most uncertain Notions and those that Teach them be who they will Teach for Doctrines of God the Traditions and Opinions of Men. II. But this is not the case of our poor Brethren of the French Church 't is not for these nor any such Opinions as these that they suffer but for professing such true and denying such false Doctrines as God hath obliged them to profess and deny and for disobeying their King in doing or not doing of those things which God hath commanded them to do or not to do This is the second part of my Discourse wherein after having stated the true Notion of Persecution I told you I would prove they are