is true that in his Book of Prescriptions from the 15th Chapter to the 22th he proves that we may not dispute against Hereticks by the Scripture but by the Tradition of the Churches And he returns to it again in the 37th and 38th Chapters thereof But if the new Converts which have written to us and do send us to that Book had read it with some wisdom and attention of mind they would have seen that it neither doth nor can concern us 1. The Hereticks concerning whom the question is there were no Christians they were Magicians Disciples of Simon Magus who retained the Name of Christian and no mâ—â—â— Besides Tertullian says plainly * Chap. 37. That we must 〈◊〉 them at a distance from the Scriptures because being no Christians they did not belong to them 2. These Hereticks did not acknowledg the Authority of the Scriptures they rejected them or received only some pieces of them cut off from the rest and which were wholly corrupt and falsified And when the Catholicks quoted to them the Holy Scripture they derided it as a fabulous Writing How then could any man dispute with them from a Book whose Authority they did not acknowledge there was a necessity of having recourse to another sort of proofs 2. That which was good in the time of Tertullian is not good at this time of day I do maintain that it was then very easie and very convenient to dispute against Hereticks by Tradition It was then not above an hundred years since the last of the Apostles died There was nothing more easie than to learn what had been their Doctrine by their Successors It is about a hundred and fifty years since the Reformed Church of Geneva had its existence If the Doctrin of Calvin were now under dispute nothing were more easie than to prove without Book that his Doctrine passed without alteration even to those that now teach in that Church and School But is it the same thing when there are 1200 1500 and 2000 years past By what way can we search so far and ascend so high through an infinite number of Men of whom not one hath retained the Doctrine that he did receive in the same estate in which it was delivered to him Behold a very fine Comparison 3. Add to this that Tertullian sends us to the Testimony of those Churches which were founded by the Apostles because those Churches had the Authentick Letters as he calls them that is to say the Original Writings of the Apostles so that to send the Hereticks to the Churches and to their Testimony by reason of those Authentick Letters was to sâ—â—d them to the Scripture it self 4. Besides let thes◠〈◊〉 â—nd She Converts which have been seduced by the reading of this Book read it from the 22 to the 32 Chap. and they will see that the Doctrine which Tertullian would have us search in Tradition is the same which was contained in the Writings of the Apostles and not an unwritten Word and certain Doctrines which the Apostles did commit to the Ears and the Memories of their Successors The Hereticks would not acknowledge the Authority of the sacred Volumes Go to says Tertullian to them lay by the Holy Bocks and let us lay hold of Tradition let us see what the Bishops have taught since the Apostles and I will prove that 't is precisely the same Doctrine with that which is written in our Books which you reject Read you that have suffered your selves to be abused read I say the 22 Chap. and those that follow to the 27 and you will see that the Hereticks spake exactly the same Language which your Converters do that we must not apply to nor support our selves by the Writings of the Apostles * Tertull. de Prescrip c. 25. That the Apostles indeed might know all and agree in the things which they did preach but they did not reveal all things to all that they said certain things publickly and to all but that there were other things which they said in secret and to a few and that is it which St. Paul means when he saith to Timothy O Timothy keep that good thing which was committed to thee Behold exactly the Doctrine of your Converters and that of the ancient Hereticks 'T is that which Tertullian opposes proving that the Apostles delivered nothing by Tradition but that which is written 5. Poor silly Fools which have suffered your selves to be seduced by I know not what shadows and appearances and who put your selves to judge of Antiquity without knowing any thing thereof If you knew against what Hereticks Tertullian disputed you would see that the Contrversie was not about things that were not in the Holy Scriptures These Hereticks denied that Jesus Christ was God and that he was a true Man They said that he had no true Flesh and that his Passion was nothing but a Tragedy and an appearance of a great many Phantoms they denied the Resurrection of the Flesh Was there any need to recur to Tradition to prove such things as these Doth not the Scripture contain those Truths that are opposite to these wicked Imaginations as clearly as Tradition And do you not see that Tertullian forsakes the Scriptures on this Subject only because the Enemies against which he disputed had forsaken them and had no reverence for their Authority 6. To conclude If there be any hard terms in this Book attribute them in the first place to the heat of Dispute which always carries Men too far secondly to the Genius and African manner of Tertullian's Expressions and learn that according to the same Author * Lib. Prescrip c. 15. One cannot prove any thing which respects the Faith but by those Letters and Writings which are the Rule thereof Learn by this excellent Passage of Tatian who was then the Judge of Controversies and the Source and Fountain of Instruction 't is to that he refers the manner of his becoming a Christian †Tatian Orat. in Graec. As I sought every where with care I happened on some Books of the Barbarians so the Pagans call the Books of Christians and Jews and I sound them as to time much more ancient than the Philosophy of the Greeks and much more venerable if we consider the Errors which are in the Grecian Books I gave credit to these Books because their style was simple and yet magnificent because there was nothing affected in them because the Discourses were not obscure and many things to come were predicted in them I was affected with them because of the greatness of the Promises and because they learn'd me that there was but one Moâ—â—rch in the Vniverse This Ancient knew not as yet the Divinity of Monsieur de Meaux that the first Article of Faith is I believe the Church and that we ought not to believe that the Scripture is Divine but because the Church says so And as to Tradition you which suffer your selves to be dazled by the
Novelty and by consequence the Authors thereof of boldness and temerity seeing it is an opinion that hath always prevailed that it is a Criminal enterprise to Innovate in Religion And so the Superstitions of the fifth Age were well content to suffer posterity to believe that the Invocation of Saints and the Adoration of Relicks were more ancient than the preceding Age. To conclude about insensible changes whereof the possibility is denied I beseech you my Brethren observe the spirit and temper of your Converters and tell me what name ought to be given to them We prove to them the changes that are happened in the Church by proofs more clear and evident than the light of the Sun. For example we shew them that in such an Age there was no Invocation of Saints or Angels We shew it them I say not only by negative proofs as we use to speak that is to say by the silence of the Writers of such an Age but by positive proofs and because the opinions of the Writers and the practice of the Church then were wholly opposite thereunto Afterwards we shew them the first beginnings the original and the progress of Error Superstition and Idolatry In one Age we see plainly that such worship was not practised in the Age following it is as plain that it was practised I do maintain that a Man must have renounced all shame to say as these Gentlemen that from such an Age to the following there was no change and the foundation of this impudence is because no single person is found whose name is known that did arise and laboured to introduce such or such an Error or Superstition which met with great opposition but at length surmounted them all They that please to make use of their understandings and consult with History may find that this affirmation hath no truth nor place but in changes that happen at a push and all together the Novelty whereof doth affright and stir up opposition but in Customs and Opinions that prevail gradually and by little and little it is not so The Invocation of Saints and the Worship of Images were not established by one single person nor at one single heat A whole people by a false Devotion permitted themselves insensibly to fall into certain practices that seemed very Innocent and it may be they were not very Criminal They which came after thrust forward this Superstition and in fine it came to Idolatry I will say yet once more I know not how a Mans mind and spirit must be made to say that such manner of changes are impossible These Gentlemen cannot deny that the Worship of the Church of Rome at this day is very much different from that of the Apostolick Church Take it for granted my Brethren that there is no Roman Catholick Doctor who will not acknowledge that the Liturgy of the Mass at this day is more compounded and less simple than it was in the days of St. Paul. Were these additions made in a sensible manner Were not these changes introduced by little and little The more sincere of these Gentlemen as Monsieur Baluzius and the Author of the Dialogues against the Iconoclasts of the Sr Maimbourg do acknowledge that in the first three Ages of the Church there were no Images and we do affirm that in the fifth and sixth Age there were many We cannot name the first Author of this attempt and of the introduction of Images into Churches Will Monsieur Baluzius therefore affirm that from the time of the Apostles there were Images in Churches But What It is to small purpose to speak these Gentlemen persevere to maintain that no change hath been made in the Doctrine and Worship of the Church and that none can be made and we do maintain it can be made because it hath been made We have precisely the same thing to say which we said concerning the infallibility of the Church the Papists say it hath not erred for it is infallible and we say it is not infallible for it hath erred Also they say there has been no change made in the Doctrine of the Church for it was impossible any should be made there and we say it is very possible changes should happen there for so it is come to pass Who is it that reasons best That depends only on the question in matter of Fact. We must see whether changes have actually happened in the Doctrine and Worship of the Church Now it is my design to make it apparent that changes have arrived there this is necessary for the dissipation of an unhappy illusion wherewith they serve themselves to blind you It is Antiquity Tradition Conformity with the Religion of St. Augustin St. Chrysostom and St. Ambrose I shall therefore undertake to give you a short History of the changes which have happened in the Church at least for the first five Ages thereof It is the surest method to shew you how false the impossibility of insensible changes is and this will be the surest remedy to lessen the charm of false Antiquity by which they endeavour to deceive you This shall be the matter of our following Letters where we will set before your Eyes the State of Christianity and the changes which are arrived there during the space of five hundred years ☜ To finish this Letter my dear Brethren I will set before your Eyes an example which ought to shame the most of you If you confess God it is in secret if you sigh it is in your own Bosom the most part of you dare not give any publick mark though never so little bright and shining of the Sentiments that are in the bottom of your Soul. Learn the Conduct of our poor Brethren the Inhabitants of Cevennes The Edict of Nantes was made void the year past on the month of October the Pastors were chased away and all exercise of Religion forbidden upon great penalties expressed by the Declaration But these Inhabitants of the Mountains began their private Assemblies from the month of November following And God raised up from among them persons that without Study and without Learning put themselves at the head of these Assemblies for their Edification I will not tell your their names lest I should put them in hazard and danger There was a private person of the place called V. to whose word God gave so much efficacy that after some Assemblies where there were but a few persons one night he had the pleasure of comforting many hundreds And these Assemblies continuing almost every day one day a little before night there were found more than eight hundred persons upon the Mountain of Brion near to Caderles They had there the consolation of hearing two excellent Prayers and one Sermon after all those that had the courage to resist temptation did partake in the Sacrament of the Supper of our Lord. Many of those which had fallen with a great many fears desired the Communion among others a Woman of Quality was
Sollicitations of those who have the conduct of his Conscience See a new Systeme on the Apocalypse p. 224 225. They are the Priests and Clergy which have raised this Holy War against the Reformed 't is they that have blown the fire and sounded the Alarm to this Persecution and 't were a wonder that there should be a Persecution and superstitious Priests and Clergy have no hand therein One of the sharpest Persecutions that was ever raised against the Primitive Christians was promoted and encouraged by the Pagan Priests as Sozomen I think relates The best things corrupted are the worst profane Priests and Clergy-men without Conscience perpetrate and encourage the greatest Villanies in the World. 9. Though this Persecution be mostly if not wholly owing to the Clergy of France yet I do not think them all equally guilty therein Mr. Arnold in his Preface to the Defence of the Perpetuity of the Faith of the Church against Mr. Claude speaks more humanely concerning those of the Reformed Religion in France Vid. Preface in the beginning and professes a great unwillingness to disturb their outward Tranquillity and Peace or to diminish any thing of their temporal Enjoyments and Advantages He desires which all his heart he says that they might be won over to the Church by all sorts of Charity Softness and Goodness but abhors all violent means and endeavours for their Conversion And I am willing to hope that there may be others of the same spirit and temper of this learned Man. 10. But Mens Sentiments alter and what is sound Doctrine at one time is hardly so at another The same learned Man since the Persecution grew high in France hath written sundry piqued Books with bitterness and gall enough against the Reformed and thereby hath sufficiently countenanced and encouraged their Enemies against them The Bishop of Meaux late of Condum is a gentile Man a florid Orator and usually smooth in his Discourses and Conversation Vid. Serm. but has been a great Zealot though more secretly than others in promoting the ruine of what he calls Heresie and no man needs farther proof thereof than to read that fulsome Sermon of his preach'd at the Funeral of the late Queen of France insomuch that I am sometimes under a temptation to say of them all in the words of the Prophet The best of them is as a briar Mich. 7.4 the most upright is sharper than a thorn-hedge 11. I speak not these things with desire to exasperate the Government against the Roman Catholicks in England Let us but be secured that we may enjoy our own Religion in Peace and I am content that they have the private Liberty of their own If they will hear what the Learned Men of our Church have to say for the Doctrine of the Reformation and against the Doctrines which are properly and peculiarly Popish and can be argued out of the one into a belief of the other I should very much rejoyce therein 12. Those Doctrines which are peculiar to the Church of Rome are evidently Novel and by degrees introduced upon primitive and simple Christianity This hath been irrefragably proved by the Divines of our own Church against the late Pamphlets and Pretences of the Romanists See the Council of Trent examined by Catholic Tradition by D. Stilling fleet as well as by the Famous and Learned Monsieur Jurieu in his Pastoral Letters Christianity is invariable what it was in the days of the Apostles and Primitive Churches it is at this day all Additions that have been made thereunto are either needless or false and such are all the Novelties of the ROMAN Church 13. But if those of the Church of Rome cannot be argued out of their Religion and become Proselytes to the Protestant Doctrine and Discipline they must remain where they are The Churches of the Reformation have not learned from their great Master to Dragoon Men into their Communion and it seems to them to be utterly contrary to the Gentleness Softness and Kindness of Christianity It accords well enough with Mahometanism and the Alcoran to proselyte Men by drawn Swords and Pistols for there is but little Argument See Memoirs of P. Mornay vol. 1. pag. 25 26. Reason or Demonstration can be produced to persuade a Faith therein and where Men cannot be converted by Arguments they must make use of Clubs if they will gain any Proselytes Christianity is furnished with so many of the one that it has no need of the other 14. Whatever Provocations those of the Church of Rome may have given to the Church of England to treat them with Severity and Rigor I would by no means that they should use them They are Men and partake with us in the same common Nature and I would not have them treated like Beasts If care be taken that they do us no hurt I should never desire that any Violence be offered unto them let them sit under their Vines and their Fig-trees and let no man make them afraâ—d 15. I should be sorry that the Church of England should repay the measure to the Roman Catholicks that the Reformed have suffered in France The great Author of our Religion has learn'd us other Doctrine and I hope we shall never depart from the Faith and Practice thereof He hath taught us to do good for evil to pray for them that curse us Matth. 5.44 and bless them that persecute and despitefully use us We are willing to live peaceably with all men as much as in us lies Roman 12.18 19 20. we will not avenge our selves we will leave that to God to whom Vengeance belongs If they hunger we will feed them if they thirst we will give them drink and by doing thus heap coals of fire upon their heads 16. I am as jealous and suspicious of the Gentlemen of the Roman Persuasion as any Man and hope that all care will be taken that it shall not be in their power to do us hurt and when that is secure I wish they may be treated with all the kindness that Christianity requires of us I am sure the Christian Religion is most full of Love Sweetness and Obligations and there is nothing in the World that commends it more to the Acceptation of Men and none do it more Honor and more advance its Reputation than those that delight in Kindness and scatter their Obligations upon all sorts of Men herein they do like the Majesty of Heaven Matth. 5.45 who causes his Sun to rise upon the good and the bad and his rain to descend upon the just and unjust 'T is a thing of no great difficulty to treat those with Kindness that oblige us but to shew Love to our Enemies and an Affection for those that hate and destroy us is a more difficult Lesson and worthy of the Christian Religion which teaches Men those heights of Perfection which cannot be learn'd any where else 17. The Author of these following Letters
overwhelm it Herein is the strength of the Church and 't is a Miracle and on the occasion thereof we ought to say 'T is the Finger of God. Without putting you upon Inquiries and Disquisitions consider whether it be likely that God who hath permitted so many depths in the Scriptures and that from thence have arrived so many Schisms among those that profess to receive and believe them hath not left some means in his Church to quiet and determine them Is it likely that there should be no remedy for Divisions but that every one may believe according to his own fancy and the minds of Men be thence led insensibly to an indifference in Religions which is the greatest of all Evils Is not this what I said but even now To discourse in the air against known matters of Fact and against such Truths as all the World confess and avow Let us say with Monsieur de Meaux it is not probable that God should leave so many depths in the Holy Scriptures from which so many Divisions might arise and not leave to his Church some means to put a period to them Behold the Principle And who can deny so plausible a Maxim But behold my Conclusion Therefore there have been never any Divisions about the sense of Scripture which the Church hath not found means to determine Therefore it hath well and easily determined the Divisions which continued well nigh the space of four hundred years about the Sense of those Words The Father is greater than I. Therefore it quieted the Difference about the Sense of those other Words The word was made flesh And 't is not true that there are millions of Christians in the East Nestorians and Eutychians that have not agreed with the Church of Rome about the meaning of them for 1200 years passed Therefore it hath raised the Divisions about the Sense of those Words of Jesus Christ to S. Peter Feed my Sheep And it is not true-that all the Greek Church is at a Schism with the Latin Church thereon and are not of the mind that they mean that the Bishop of Rome ought to be universal Pastor of all Churches They say and 't is believed that the Latin Church hath been divided almost two hundred years about the Sense of those Words This is my body The Lutherans give one sense the Calvinists another and the Romanists a third sense concerning them But that is not true 't is a popular Error and an illusion It is not probable that God should not leave any means to his Church to quiet the Differences that should arise about the Sense of Scripture A Man would think these Gentlemen had a design to scoff and deride Mankind they form an Eutopia a world made at pleasure out of their own imaginations and tell us that the present world is so made and that we are in it and very well and safe there 'T is in vain that we deny it and say 't is not so we see the contrary the world is not made as you report it They answer us you deceive your selves you are blind Buzzards and see nothing you seem indeed to see the contrary but nevertheless it can be no otherwise than we say and we will demonstrate it by reason My Brethren you may there perceive the falseness and illusion of the method of your Converters Learn from hence in three words what is the proper method of confuting them have recourse to experience and tell them you will prove that it ought to be so and I see with my eyes the contrary to what you say ought to be It is not therefore true that God hath given a sure and easie means to quiet the Differences which may arise about the Sense of Scripture God will save his select but he will abandon his Enemies to blindness T is his pleasure that there be Difficulties in the way of Faith and Salvation but he hath filled the Holy Scriptures with Light to dissipate these Darknesses with respect to his Elect. And as for the Reprobates he permit this spiritual darkness which hinders them from seeing the sparkling and lightsome Truths which are in the Scripture to remain upon their Hearts God hath not left certain means to prevent and pacifie Divisions we are convinced of that by experience For Divisions do continue among Christians and have done so for fifteen Centuries what means soever have been used to heal them But he hath left means sufficiently certain for the conduct of his Children to eternal Life by the way and path of Truth 'T is his Holy Word together with the direction of his Spirit which conducts infallibly not whole Societies but all that are his in particular in all the Truths that are necessary to Salvation and preserves them from all those Errors that are mortal to their Souls Think think of that Mr. hearken to your own reason and not to the subtleties of your Ministers Think think of that my Brethren consult both your reason and your sense attend to that which your eyes report and don 't hearken to the vain reasonings of Men who discourse not upon that which is but upon that which ought to be according to their imaginations Behold that which we have to say at present about this important matter which Monsieur de Meaux touches in his private Letter We must now return to his Pastoral Letter and see how he proves the Title of his second Article The second Article has for its Title in the Margin That the Pastors of the Catholick Church are the only true Pastors He proves it by two Mediums The first is That the Pastors of the Church of Rome alone have the advantage of mutual succession in place and feat one to another Monsieur de Meaux maintains that he is in the place af those that planted the Gospel in hit Diocess And all other Bishops he says have the same Glory The second proof is that they have also a succession of Doctrine 'T is well when these two things go together for otherwise to glory of a Succession of Seats without a Succession of Doctrine is in my opinion the most pitiful glory that any one can ascribe to himself The Patriarch of Constantinople who according to Monsieur de Meaux is a Schismatick he and all his Predecessors for above 800 years is also in the place of those who planted the Gospel in those Countries Nevertheless the Bishop of Rome hath anathematized him an 100 times and doth anathematize him every year on Good Friday in the Bull De Coena Domini The Arrian Bishops did hold the place of the Apostles in the East and at this day the Bishops of Denmark Sueden and England are also in the place of them which planted Christianity in those Countries Monsieur de Meaux perceives well that the Glory of Succession can do him no great good without Doctrine and therefore does very fairly renounce it To separate sound Doctrine from the Chair of Succession is to
separate a stream from the Channel says he 'T is true the Channel remains in the Church of Rome we agree with them in that from the first Bishop of Rome to the last we see no considerable interruption either History is not to be credited or Bishops have succeeded one to another Behold the Channel mark'd and noted But by misfortune they have separated the River from the Channel and in this Succession of Bishops there has succeeded a dirty and impoisoned River to pure water and to a clean and clear River Monsieur de Meaux is very happy therefore in his comparison in this small Paragraph but he is not so altogethet in that which follows And to vaunt says he themselves of the understanding of the Scripture when they acknowledge they have lost the stream of Tradition in their Pastors is to vaunt of having preserved the Waters after the Pipes are broken Surely if the Waters were no where but in the Channel Monsieur de Meaux and his Brethren had some reason on their side but 't is happy for us and mischievous to them that the Water is in the Fountain before it can be in the Channel The Channels may be broken the Bishops Successors of Seats may become Antichristian The Fountain of the Gospel-Doctrine continues always pure in the Holy Scripture It had been very fine if they had reason'd so at the time when Jesus Christ came into the World. The Pharisees and Doctors of the Law were in Moses's Chair and as such Jesus Christ commanded to hear them but according to the new Philosophy of our Doctors our Lord should have done otherwise for instead of thundering against the vain Ceremonies and false Glosses of these Doctors which corrupted the Law he ought to have followed them and caused his Disciples to do so to For to boast of understanding the Scripture when they acknowledge they have lost the stream of Tradition in their Pastors is to vaunt of having preserved the Waters after the Pipes are broken The Pipes that is the Doctors were broken but did not the purity of the Law remain in the Books of Moses as in his Fountain Let that be remembred therefore and never be forgotten The Gospel-Church in this regard is in no better condition than the ancient Synagogue This had its Pharisees and false Priests in the Chair of Moses that hath its false Bishops in the Chair of the Apostles and Founders of Christianity Let it be remembred also that when the Pipes are broken and the Rivers corrupt we have the Fountain Jesus Christ had recourse thither he said From the beginning it was not so Frankly therefore 't is to delude and ridiculously to delude when they speak of a Succession of Chairs at least unless it be proved that Truth hath remained in them and that Infallibility hath always been placed there and that in matters of Doctrine there have been made no Innovation And thither Monsieur de Meaux comes at last The Doctrine and understanding of Scriptures says he is come even to him without any change or alteration And it has been the pleasure of God that it should come to us from Pastor to Pastor and from hand to hand without any appearance of Innovation This is easily said but I do not understand how persons that write in an Age so knowing and illuminated as ours is should have the impudence to advance such a thing that since S. Paul to the Bishop of Meaux the Doctrine is come down without any Innovation My Brethren 't is an important point 't is an Article about which they do miserably blind you 't is a voice that founds perpetually in your ears and does almost make you deaf Antiquity Tradition constant Succession and Perpetuity of Faith and how do they prove it to you They tell you the Church is infallible therefore it can't err nor turn aside from sound Doctrine Secondly Monsieur de Meaux tells you If there had been such changes among us the Authors thereof would have been named the Spirit of Truth which is in the Church would have noted them and their Names would have been infamous as that of the Arrians and Nestorians c. So that all which has been told us concerning insensible changes in Doctrine whereof they do not produce any example in the Christian Church is nothing but a vain accusation Thirdly To conclude they take up certain Shreds of the Fathers which they set to be seen with Glosses and in a false light and afterwards tell you boldly behold the Conformity of the Fathers with us behold the Succession of the same Opinions in the same Seats There has happened no change or alteration This say I deserves that we stay on it a little for 't is the fountain of Illusions by which they have seduced and made some new Converts Concerning the first of these three Proofs which is drawn from the Infallibility of the Church we hope at some time to shew you the absurdity of that pretension We will prove that all that which M. Nicholas and M. Pelisson have advanced to prove the necessity of this infallible Authority without which according to them truth cannot be found is a Contexture of Fallacies which lead Men directly to impiety But in expectation thereof my dear Brethren we intreat you to give attention to what we are about to say concerning this sovereign and infallible Authority of the Church of Rome I will give you two general methods by which without any great difficulty you may be able to quit your selves of the Fallacies of your Converters First tell me is there any reason can hold good against experience The Church of Rome can't err I 'll prove it say they by just proofs and demonstrations because the Church can't be left without a Guide because private and particular persons can't understand the Scriptures because there is a necessity that an Interpreter which ought to guide others cannot himself be deceived Behold that which is the most stately and magnificent reasoning in the world But by blowing upon these pompous Reasons of Right I will make them vanish by one sole Proof and Demonstration of Fact. 'T is that the Roman Church hath erred an hundred times by introducing Images into Churches and establishing the Invocation of Saints in taking the Cup from the Laity and in causing a Sacrament to be adored c. Call to mind my Brethren the Man to whom the Philosopher proved by subtleties which he could not answer that there was no such thing as motion After having long labored under the weight of his Fallacies he rose up briskly and walkd about the Room You find your selves often perplexed with the Sophisms invented to support the ways of Prescription and to prove the blind submission which ought to be had for the Church of Rome I do not doubt but you are oftentimes in some perplexity in this respect But go briskly out of that perplexity and always come to this The Church of Rome
Elevate nor Adore we should have nothing to do but to produce a hundred places where it is clear that they gave the Communion under both Kinds without ever speaking of Elevation or Adoration This Communicating of Infants which is not disputed and by consequence we have no need to prove it is a thing worthy of observation for it is an addition of the third Age which makes it appear 1. That the Church is not Infallible by the confession of our Adversaries For the Church of the third Age and those that followed it hath erred according to them in judging that the Eucharist was necessary to little Children as well as Baptism therefore she is not Infallible in the interpretation of the Holy Scripture for the hath misinterpreted those Words If any one eat not my flesh and drink not my blood he cannot have everlasting life Since she hath believed that Children could not be Saved without Communicating 2. That Custom makes it appear that the Church is capable of introducing considerable Innovations and those Universal and of long duration Your Converters grant that it was no Apostolick Tradition that at the beginning it was not so nevertheless it was an important Innovation as it is clear for according to us It is no less than to prophane a Sacrament which requires self examination by giving it to persons that cannot prepare themselves and according to the Roman Doctors it is to expose the true Body of Jesus Christ to horrible indignities by putting it in the mouth of an Infant of some few days or months old And that which cannot fail to happen is that the Body of Jesus Christ was oftentimes spit out upon the floor For Children do not fail to reject whatsoever does not please their Palat. Moreover this important Innovation was so Universal that the whole Church embraced and entertained it and of so long duration that we find examples thereof many Ages after the fourth 3. Learn from this Custom that in those Ages they were not obliged to Adore the Sacrament before they cat it for Children could not perform any act of Adoration Therefore press your Converters vigorously with this Example and ask them if the Church cannot Innovate in other Articles of importance since it hath plainly Innovated in this and if we may not Correct Ancient and Universal Customs since the Church of Rome hath rescinded practices where were introduced but one Age after the Apostles Behold thus much for Worship and Practice As to Opinion do not suffer your selves to be persuaded that any change in Doctrine touching the Sacrament of the Eucharist did happen during the third Age. The proofs that your Converters bring thereof unto you are very pittiful For they are passages where the Fathers of that Age called the Bread and Wine of the Eucharist The Body the Flesh and the Blood of the Lord. Behold verifying proofs What is to be said concerning them since it is the language of Jesus Christ himself and of his Apostles The question is not what they said but that we are to know is in what sence and after what manner the Fathers of the third Age understood that the Bread of the Eucharist was the Flesh of Jesus Christ Now I do maintain that your Converters must be either Fools or Knaves beyond all imagination that dare to say that according to the Fathers of the third Age that the Bread of the Eucharist was the Body of Jesus Christ by way of Reality and Transubstantiation for the Fathers of that Age spoke as plainly and clearly concerning it as we do Hear then Tertullian who lived in the beginning of that Age among other Hereticks with a sort of impious Villains who said that our Lord Jesus Christ had no true Body Thus he reasons against them Our Lord having taken Bread and distributed to his Disciples made it his Body saying this is my Body that is to say the figure of my Body Now this had not been a Figure if he had not had a true Body That is to say if the Figure had no relation to the true Body For an empty thing as is a Phantasm is not capable of having a Figure Another Author of the same Age whose Work is ascribed to Origen Disputing against the same Hereticks called Marcionites says If as these pretend our Lord were destitute of Flesh and Blood of what Body of what Flesh of what Blood has he given us the Signs and the Images viz. The Bread and the Cup by which he has commanded his Disciples to preserve and renew his memory These Men had lost their Reason to speak in this manner if they believed the Real Presence above all in disputing against those which denyed that Jesus Christ had a true Body They say Jesus Christ was no Phantasm he had a true Body for he gave us in the Eucharist the figure and Image thereof Now Phantasms have no Images they themselves being Images and no more These Men say I had lost their wits for they should have said Jesus Christ was no Phantasm he had a true Body for he gives this true Body to us to eat every day Since at this day he has a Body and we eat thereof with great reason it may be affirmed he had one when he was upon Earth The first Reason taken from the Image and Figure is of some weight I do acknowledge But this taken from the Reality in the Eucharist had been a hundred time better and according to the Opinion of the Church of Rome is an argument altogether invincible So that we must suppose these Authors did betray and abandoned the Cause of the Church by making use of feeble Arguments against the Marcionites when she had furnished them with one that was utterly impregnable For after all it is not wholly true that Phantasms can have no Figures or Images It is a reflection that you ought to make to discover the vanity of the Sophistry wherewith your Converters serve themselves to answer to those passages and an hundred others without Hyperbole where the Fathers of the seven first Ages called the Eucharist the Figure the Type the Image the Symbols the Signs the Antitypes of the Body and Blood of the Lord it is say they because there are two things in the Eucharist There is Figure and Reality Figure because of the Accidents of Bread and Wine which are the Figures of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ Truth and Reality because of the Real Presence of the Flesh inwardly contained under the Species Now the Fathers sometimes respected the Sacrament on its external part that is to say by the Species in this respect they have called it Figure It it be so at least the Ancients ought not to consider the Sacraments on the side of the Figure when it was necessary for the Cause which they defended to consider it on the side of the Reality as it was in the disputes against the Marcionites Hear yet the same Tertullian to the end
the Severity of Discipline which the Church granted at the request of the Martyrs At this day they call Indulgence the relaxation of the Justice of God which he grants as they suppose in considerations of the Merits and Sufferings of the Martyrs who suffered more than was necessary for themselves To conclude they have changed the Consideration and Respect which they had for the Intercessions of Confessors and Martyrs into Merits and Works of Supererogation The Church did retard the rigor of her Law against Sinners because of the esteem which she had for those that suffered for the Name of Jesus Christ At this day they grant Indulgences by the application of the Merit of those which have suffered too much either by involuntary Persecutions or by chosen and voluntary Mortifications But hear how the same S. Cyprian speaks very aptly concerning one of these Confessors named Lucian who carried himself too haughtily and desired too earnestly that they should have respect to his Letters of Intercession * Epist 34. The Lord Jesus Christ hath said that we must Baptize Nations in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and that all Sins past are forgiven in Baptism But this man that is to say the Confessor Lucian knowing neither the Law nor the Commandments commands that we give Peace and pardon Sins in the Name of S. Paul not considering that they are not the Martyrs who make the Gospel but that it is the Gospel which makes the Martyrs Therefore at that time they did not alledge the Threats of S. Paul S. Peter the Martyrs and Confessors as the reasons for which they granted Indulgences that is to say the relaxation of the Discipline of the Church In the same Age that is to say the third they will produce unto you the word Confession and the terms of being on their knees at the feet of their Priests And they will not fail to find for you there the Auricular Confession practised at this day but there is nothing more false For those which dazle your Eyes thereby do very well know that the Greek word which signifies Confession was not at that time any secret Confession But the whole Act or Actions of publick Penance were so called And if at that Age Penitents were seen at the feet of Papists this was not done in secret and in a place appointed for the receiving Confessions where they acknowledged all their Sins in the Ear of the Priest But in Churches and in publick that they might be admitted by Prayer and imposition of hands either to Penance or to the Peace of the Church It was so certainly a publick Action that the Pagans took occasion from thence to accuse the Christians of adoring the shameful parts of their Priests This Confession was made in publick with Sack-cloth Ashes and Tears begging the Prayers and Assistance of all Christians This may be seen fully explicated in the Ninth and Tenth Chapters of Tertullian's Book of Repentance A Point of Controversie Concerning the Vnity of the Church that it is not in the Church of Rome and that we are not departed from it WHen a City is besieged and assaulted of all sides those that have a desire to defend it would be every where at the same time but they cannot which is their trouble My Brethren we have the trouble at this day you are besieged you are attack'd at an hundred places they batter you by a thousand wicked Reasons we would be every where and defend you on all sides but whilst we endeavour to defend you on one side they deceive and ruine you on another The rash and bold adventure of the Bishop of Meaux who hath told you in his Pastoral Letter That from the Apostles days to his no alteration has happened in the Doctrine of the Church hath engaged us that we may confound him to make you perceive the essential Changes which have been introduced both in its Doctrine and Worship at least in the first five Ages to the end that from thence you may judg of all the rest But whilst we pursue this design which cannot presently be executed I understand that they seduce you by the Sophisms of the Church of its Unity Visibility and the horror of Schism And that which grieves us most is that by the Letters which come or are communicated to us we see that the most part of you who are willing at any rate whatsoever to be at ease and rest where they are do also endeavour to possess themselves of and obstinately to maintain these wicked Reasons and it may be that one of you will know himself in the following words All the World reasons concerning Religion agreeably to their own Light and Passions But the Questions which do most trouble and confound it are these 1. The positive separation which our Fathers made 'T is said that we ought to suffer without separating from the Communion of the Church that the Abuses introduced by Governors may not be imputed to Believers But the Scriptures that make mention of the Heresies that must arrive in the Church do not command Separation for the sake of them On the contrary they exhort us mutually to bear with one another they say that Wood Hay and Stubble may be built on that foundation which is Christ Jesus and that he alone will separate one from the other that the good Grain and the Chaff shall be separated at the last day but we must let them grow together till then Behold exactly the Religion 1. Of our revolted Ministers There has been sent unto us an Account of a Conference which Cheyron an Apostate Minister of the City of Nismes had with the famous Confessor called Mr. Matthew an Advocate of Duras who is in the Town of Constance at Aggues-Mortes that which this Wretch says is the same with what hath been written and you have read 2. 'T is also the Religion of all those which have any understanding or illuminations they cannot but see that the Church of Rome is extremely corrupt But the question is say they whether we ought to separate from it because of its Corruptions yea they say we ought to bear them and add further after all there is but one true Church and although it be corrupt it is nevertheless the Church and we must endure its Diseases and Imperfections The Poyson of this illusion is so eating and dangerous that we have reason to fear that it continues long upon your Minds it will penetrate into them and totally corrupt them and so whilst we are pursuing other Subjects your hearts will be poysoned by this mischievous Sophism in that manner and to that degree that you will never recover This is it which obliges us to return to the Bishop of Meaux's Letter sooner than we intended Nevertheless without forsaking the subject matter we are upon for we will endeavour to intermix things in such a manner that in every one of our following
Corruption because it is a state of Violence and against Nature Now how can we recover the Church from this Corruption but by separating our selves from it You will say we ought to continue in it and remonstrate against its Corruption But you know well that this is impossible you know that they burnt our Fathers because they made remonstrance against it By continuing and remonstrating against Idolatry and Superstition should we not be immediately seized by the Inquisition or by the Bishops and secular Judges where there are no Inquisitors Should we not be put in Prison hanged and burnt Therefore it is necessary that we go out or remain there in silence Now behold what kind of loosness is this to know that we are in a very corrupt Communion and which is it may be Antichristianity and to keep and continue there without saying any thing If this state of Corruption be violent to the Church if it be contrary to the nature of it certainly the intention of God cannot be to leave her always in it for the intention of God is that when things are at a distance from their own natural state they should return unto it as soon as may be Now with what means can God serve himself for the Reformation of the Church Certainly he ought to serve himself of Men for it is not his ordinary method of proceeding to send Angels to preach upon earth Now how can these Men reform the Church if they do not represent unto her her Corruption and if they do not break with her in case she do not reform If separation be not granted Reformation will never happen For a Church perswaded that she is pure and even Infallible takes no care to renounce those Doctrines and Worships for which she produces to you a possession of many Ages and a Title of Infallibility Tell me a little I intreat you my Brethren what will you do to reform the Roman Church by continuing in it If you speak freely saying that her Worship Innovations and Adorations of Creatures are true Idolatries they will send you the Dragoons and peradventure hang you If you hold your peace will your secret Sighs and Groanings reform the Church Will God send from Heaven a secret and immediate Inspiration for Reformation though no body speak one word of it And this in the favour of whom Either the ancient Catholicks who are plunged in Superstition or in favour of many ancient illuminated Papists and those that are re-united to them who both one and the other are loose Dissemblers which retain the Truth of God in unrighteousness You ought to understand at present my Brethren that we shall never attain the end of reforming the Roman Church unless we have right to go out of it because she will never stir for Complaints and Counsels experience has made it plain enough And therefore the temper of your Soul ought to be such as this rather than move our selves and trouble our repose 't is better that we suffer the Church to perish and be overwhelmed with Corruption This say I is the most wicked sentiment which can enter into the Mind of an honest Man and much more of a Christian But let us continue the examination of your Illusions Abuses introduced by Governours may not be imputed to private Christians you tell us This is it which we will refute in that which follows at present we go on All the holy Scripture which makes mention of Heresies doth not command Separation How dare you say this Do you not read that Passage so express Go out of Babylon my People for fear lest by partaking in its Sins you partake in its Plagues This Babylon is a false Church which says of her Church I am a Queen and shall see no sorrow I am the Church which cannot fail It imports not at present where this Church is but do you not see that God commands those that are there to go out of it Wherefore doth S. Paul say to his Disciples A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject How can a Person shun any one and stand at a distance with him without Separation from him Doth not S. Paul say to the Corinthians Put from among you that wicked person will you restrain these wicked Persons to the vicious and except the Hereticks See how the same Apostle describes those Hereticks that denied the Resurrection he says * 2 Tim. 2. That as to the faith they made shipwreck thereof that their words eat like a gangreen that they have proceeded even to impiety and that they are vessels of dishonour These are therefore wicked Wretches and by consequence ought to be cast out Do you not remember the same Apostle saith to the Galathians That if any none preach to you any other Doctrine besides that which you have received let him be to you Anathema Do you believe that it is allowed you to adhere to those which you ought to have in execration and to whom you ought to say Anathema The Scripture on the contrary exhorts us to a mutual support of each other And where is it that you find this It exhorts you to support the weak but about what About the distinction of Meats about the use of some Ceremonies of little importance Behold the things about which St. Paul commands that we bear with each other * Rom. 14. Now as to him which is weak in the Faith receive him to you but not to doubtful disputations one believes that he may eat all things another that is weak eateth herbs But where do you find that we must tolerate Heresies which ruine the Worship of the true God and oppress and sink Christianity under a heap of Superstitions But I will confound you with your own Weapons If it be the Spirit of Christianity and of the true Church to tolerate Abuses and Corruptions you are not in the true Church for that Church will allow no Toleration she burns and condemns to Death If we are obliged to suffer her in her Corruptions at least she is obliged to bear with us in our Complaints and Admonitions If we ought to hear with her when she speaks false with much more reason she ought to bear with us when we tell her the Truth She hath no Charity she is cruel erroneous and raging in her Error See if you can have Communion with such men The Scripture says that we may build upon the foundation which is Christ Wood Hay and Stubble Do you understand that this Wood Hay and Stubble which we may safely build are Idolatries Superstitious Doctrines Depravations in Morality monstrous and enormous Opinions such as are found in the Roman Church Is that it which you think But to persuade our selves into the belief of so great a Paradox we must have either Authorities of Reasons For Reasons have you any which can persuade you that the Invocation of Saints by which are given to the Blessed Virgin all
That they are divided into three Sects of which Zuinglius Calvin and Luther made themselves the Heads That if the Spirit of God had sent them to Reform the Church he would also have united them in this great design and have inspired them with the same thoughts and the same apprehensions 5. To conclude they say that they have rent and torn each other by transports of Passion which are the true Characters of false Pastors and false Christians As to the first Objection I cannot avoid baptizing it by its own name and calling it an Impertinence Why should our Reformers work Miracles and why were they obliged thereunto When Jehu reformed the Church of Israel pull'd down the Temples of Baal broke in pieces his Statues rooted out his Prophets and abolished his Worship did he work Miracles or had he any need thereof Was it any spot to that Holy Reformation that Josiah made when he re-established the Service of God which was almost wholly under a heap of forreign Idolatries that he wrought no Miracles When Theodosius the Great reformed the Christian Church and drove away Arianism which was become the reigning Religion did he do Miracles or had he any need thereof There is no need to work Miracles but when men bring a new Religion and a new Revelation For that reason the Apostles wrought Miracles because they had a new Revelation to propose to the World. They brought a Gospel unknown to Jews and Gentiles and opposite to the prejudices of the one and the other We brought no new Gospel into the World we propounded the Old and the New Testament the one and the other were received without contradiction by all those Christians which we desired to reform When it shall please God to convert the Jews to Christianity according to his promises there is much probability that he will send them some Prophets which will work Miracles and that will be necessary For although the Gospel-Revelation be already manifested and we have the Books of the Evangelists and the Apostles nevertheless this is nothing with respect to the Jews because they do not esteem our Books Canonical but believe the Apostles to be Cheats and Impostors There is therefore need of new Miracles to recover them from their prejudices and oblige them to give attention to the truth But as for us it was in no wise necessary to work Miracles to establish that Book whereof we served our selves Otherwise as often as the Kings of Judah produced the Law of Moses to make Reformation in their Church they had been obliged to work Miracles They had nothing else to do but to produce the Book and make it evident that the Abominations which had been introduced into Religion were either forbidden or not commanded there Behold all that they had to do behold all that we have to do and 't is to misunderstand the Conduct of God and the Spirit of the Gospel to imagine that the truth cannot be commended to Unbelievers but by Miracles How many millions of men have been converted to Christianity since the days of the Apostles and the cessation of the gift of Miracles Miracles are designed to deliver men from their evil prejudices and to endue them with such as are good that they may hearken to the truth Men that believe not the Christian Religion but only for the sake of its Miracles are very ill-Christians And among those which became Converts by the preaching of the Apostles those who had no other reason to embrace this New Religion but the Miracles which they saw done by those which preacht it were very miserable Converts such persons are the seed of Apostacy and adhere to the Church but by a very feeble root We ought to adhere to it for the love of truth now 't is the knowledge of the truth and not the sight of Miracles which gives birth to the love thereof If Miracles be not necessary for the Conversion of Unbelievers with far greater reason they cannot be of necessity for the bringing back of wandring Christians to the right way For there needs no more but to shew them the holy Scripture which so exactly marks out the path in which they ought to walk As to what they say that those who will establish a new Ministry must have Miracles for the support of it 't is an Affair to be treated on elsewhere We have already said something concerning it and we shall have yet farther occasion to speak of it and shew that we have no more established a new Ministry than we have introduced a new Gospel Where there is no new Revelation there is no new Ministry our Ministry is that of the Apostles because our Doctrine is theirs The second Accusation which they make against the Authors of our Seperation is their Scandalous Life There is no probability say your Converts that God should suffer so strange an Alliance as that would be of a great abundance of the Spirit of Light on the one part and of so great disorders of Manners on the other And thereon they publish a hundred ugly stories to cry down the Memory of Luther Zuinglius Calvin Martyr Beza c. First we say that truth is truth without any dependance on those who declare it Your Converters have said somewhere That the Citizens of Babel may sometimes build Jerusalem 'T is a truth so certain that to deny it a man must be ignorant and false For in all Ages there have been very Evil men who have defended the part of truth and who have even maintained it against Hereticks whose Conduct and Manners have been very regular and oftentimes more edifying than that of the Orthodox We must not form a prejudice against the Doctrine upon the ill Conduct of those which preach it we must judge of Truth by it self So that although it should be true that our Reformers were such as they report them nevertheless it would behove us to see whether these Citizens of Babel were not the Builders of Zion But God forbid that we should have no other fortification to defend our selves We have made to appear the innocence of the Lives of the Authors of our Separation by Apologies of so much strength that their Calumniators have been covered with Confusion and the most part of our most resolved Enemies have been obliged to renounce them The Bolsacs the Bertheliers the Florimond de Raymonds and other like Calumniators ought to be the Horror and Execration of all Honest men The Author of the Legitimate Prejudices against the Calvanists and other like Authors who are willing to preserve themselves in the Esteem of Honest men fortifie and establish themselves upon notorious matters of fact such is for example Marriage of Priests Persons who have made a Vow of Chastity say they and who were obliged to celibate by so many Oaths have violated their Vows in the face of the Sun they have opened Cloysters to take Wives from thence and so have committed a
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
up and formed neither have nor can have this priviledge of being always necessarily visible For Experience makes us see that God permits that they perish wholly For Example the great Churches of Africa of Carthage and Numidia c. where were the Cyprians the Augustines the Saintes Fulgentii that is to say the prime Lights of the Church These Churches say I are not at all therefore they are not visible and perpetual Visibility was not affixed unto them At present consider you that the defect of Visibility may be found in a particular Church for one of these two reasons either because she is no longer or because she is not yet the Churches of Africa are invisible because they are no more and the Protestant Churches were invisible two hundred years ago because they were not yet Understand I intreat you the folly of the Objection which they make unto you by this The true Church is always visible the Church of St. Austine and St. Cyprian is no longer visible therefore the Church of St. Cyprian and St. Augustine was not the true Church Can any thing be more foolish and ridiculous than this You very well understand what you ought to answer when the Church of St. Austine was in the World it was visible and it was then the true Church but after it was extinct and abolished by the Invasions of the Saracens and the Moors how can you wish or desire it should be visible So when they tell you The true Church is always visible now the Church of Luther and Calvin was not visible two hundred years ago therefore it is not the true Church You can answer that a man can say nothing more absurd and that a Church is far enough from being visible when as yet it is not Ah on that occasion they will say to you the novelty of your Church is a proof of the falseness thereof For a new Church cannot be a true Church Another Absurdity The Church of China erected by the Roman Missions is about a hundred years since I reason against that as they reason against us A new Church which was not visible a hundred years since cannot be a true Church for the Church is ancient and always visible now the Church of China is new and was not existent a hundred years ago therefore it is not a true Church I desire that they would tell me the difference unless it be that the Church of China newly came out of the bosom of Paganism and that ours is newly come out of the bosom of Antichristianism He must be a little cracked in the crown not to perceive by this example that the new erection of a particular Church ought to be no prejudice unto it Nothing can prejudice it but new Doctrine If a new Society which teaches a new Doctrine doth arise then in a new Church and in that case is worth nothing But they will say Behold exactly your own state and case you are a new Church that teach new things That 's the question that 's it which we deny and which must be examined to know whether we teach new things We must therefore come to the Foundation to see if we teach the ancient Religion of Christ and his Apostles and not ridiculously amuse our selves in wrangling about circumstances concerning a new Church of new Establishment of perpetual Visibility c. for if we teach the true and ancient Religion of Jesus Christ all that they say of these things are Illusions And if on the contrary our Doctrine be not that of Jesus Christ and his Apostles though we were as old as the World and had been always as visible as the Sun we should be nevertheless a false Church This is that therefore which I will stand to that we are not to search the character of perpetual Visibility in any particular Church forasmuch as it agrees only to Christianity in general and the Church Universal Before our Reformation the Church was not visible in our Society which did not yet exist but it was visible in the Greek Church in the Armâ—nian Cophti Abyssin and Aethiopian Churches because all these preserved Christianity intire in the three Creeds When we came into the World the Church became visible in our Society as it was before in others with this difference that the Church and Christianity were visible before our Reformation as the Egg whereof we have spoken was visible in the midst of that dirty unclean and filthy water in which it swam and that in our Church Christianity and the Church are there visible as the Sun dis-engaged from dark clouds and fogs My Brethren if you take pains to read and meditate deeply and more than once upon what I have said unto you I tell you frankly I shall no more fear on your behalf the Sophism concerning perpetual Visibility WHatsoever desire we have to give you the News of our Martyrs for this time they must give place to certain Prodigies more significant than any ever happened before The first shall be that which is come from St. Malo attested by a Letter from the Vicar-General of that Bishoprick The Copy of a Letter from Monsieur Simon Doctor of the Sorborn Arch-deacon of Rinan Channon Penitentiary and Vicar-General of the Bishoprick of St. Malo the sixth of July 1687. I Wrote to you the last Post my dear Monsieur but how can I forbear to tell you of a late Accident which you will hear of by the publique Relations Behold a small Extract of it which I draw in haste Upon Thursday last being the third of this Month the Thunder after a very small noise in the borders of this City fell upon our Church by the Steeple killed a young Man which toll'd the Bell in the Belfery fell into the Seat of the Quire or Singing-men broke all the lower part of the Crucifix in divers pieces and left the Image hanging by its hands it fell among the Musicians which sung and answered at a Mass in Musick that Monsieur de Sales celebrated at the Altar of St. Julien it smote down the said Sieur de Sales with the Deacons and Sub-deacons who were some time without knowledge overturned the consecrated Calice which stood upon the Altar on the Ground and on the Garments of the Priests The same thing happened at the Altar of St. Peter at the entrance of the Quire A Priest being at the Post-communion saw in an instant in a Chalice which fell not one part of the Blood of our Lord consumed the rest sprinkled upon the Ornaments of the Priests and upon the Linnen of the Altar Monsieur Lagons being at the Credo of the Mass at the Altar of St. Malo was thrown upon his back and there the Sacrifice ceased The Thunder broke many parts of the Vestrie burnt the Altar-cloaths and left a mark upon the Pattin as if it had been shot with a Pistol it left many other marks upon the edge of the Chalice In the Quire one named
to have been done by the Reliques of St. Stephen in Africa those of St. Martyn in France and those of the Anacorites in Egypt and Syria Not to enter into a long dispute on the subject of this pretended mark of the Church of Rome I answer three or four things briefly to which I pray give attention 1. That this pretended fountain of light fit and proper to make the Church of Rome visible is not for the simple and unlearned For to see the bottom and solidity thereof they must examine the History of the pretended Miracles which were done in the fourth and fifth Ages They must see what we have said in opposition to it they must examine circumstances and see if there be not reason to believe that all these stories of Miracles are either frauds or fictions They must also examine by History whether these pretended Prodigies of Sanctity be not either Fables or the disorders of sick and melancholick minds They must therefore be able to understand Latin and Greek and to read great and large Volumes To offer this as a light sutable to the capacity of the weak and unlearned is to scoff and deride them 2. I say that the Miracles of the Apostles which are certain and the Prodigies of the Sanctity of the three first Ages does not appertain by right of succession to the Church of the fourth and fifth Age but as far as she inherits the Doctrine of the Apostles These Miracles were good to prove the Divinity of the Christian Religion to Pagans But they are worth nothing to prove Novelties as are the Invocation of Saints and the Worship of Reliques which are purely Pagan Practices With far greater reason the Church of Rome hath no right by succession to the Miracles of the Apostles to prove her Worship her Idolatries and Superstitions We have as much right as she to these Miracles They are truly and properly our Miracles They are good for us all in common against the ungodly and against Infidels to prove that there is one God in three Persons that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and the true Redeemer of the World. But they are nothing to prove our Additions our Corruptions and our Alterations if it be so that either the one or the other of the Christian Sects whether Popery or Calvinism have introduced them into the Church This is clear the Miracles of the Apostles appertain not to us but as far as we have and do inherit their Doctrine 3. As to the Miracles of the fourth and fifth Age which were done in the times when they prayed to Saints and worshipped Reliques we say that they were false Miracles It is to be observed that from the death of the Apostles until the end of the fourth Age nothing was spoken of Miracles in the Church or so little and in so doubtful a manner that it doth not deserve to be reckoned for any thing but when the Devil desired to set up the Worship of Creatures he poured out a Spirit of Lying and a Spirit of Credulity which began to entertain discourses of Miracles 'T is a thing of importance press your Converters thereon Why did these Miracles cease for the space of well nigh two hundred Years or at least why were they so rare And why did they begin again exactly at the time when the Worship of Reliques grew famous Do we not see clearly that 't is a Wile of the Devil Hath God any interest to serve by Bones and Ashes was it necessary that he should begin again to do Miracles at that time And if it were of use to perswade the truth of the Religion which the Martyrs declared to the Pagans why did not God work Miracles by the Bones of the Martyrs for the first three Ages This had been much more profitable than when Paganism was rampant and the Church persecuted and oppressed Wherefore did not the Bones of Polycarpus of whom the believers of Smyrna speak with so much love work miracles Why did not so many Martyrs whose Reliques they had and whose Anniversaries they observed in the time of St. Cyprian work signs and wonders your Converters will never be able to answer this be you therefore perswaded that these pretended Miracles done by the Reliques of St. Stephen St. Gervais St. Protais St. Martyn c. were Illusions of the Devil whom God permitted to work false Miracles or the Cheats of Villains and lewd Superstitionists or to conclude Stories of the Vulgar and Fables which honest men received as Truths upon hear-say And as to the Miracles which are ascribed to the Anacorites of Aegypt and Syria I know not how Mr. Nicholas is not ashamed to draw from them a Light to make his Church visible They are Fables for the most part so gross that the Falseness of them stares in the face of the most Ignorant The Lives of St. Paul the Hermite of Hilarion and others written by St. Jerome that of St. Antony composed as they say by Athanasius are written with so little modesty and judgment that a man ought to be ashamed of them The judicious Readers that would preserve respect for the Authors of those Lives say that the Fathers composed them not as Histories but as pious Romances to divert Christians from reading the Pagan Fables We see in the Lives of those solitary persons of the Desart such as found Centaurs in the Woods Satyrs Men half Horses and half Goats who spake to them and prayed them to intreat the common Saviour to have pitty on them and to give them part in the common Salvation with them We see Hermites-which were in perpetual contests with the Devil always tempted and often beaten by him We see them which herded among the Beasts We there read in one word almost all the Impertinencies of our new Legends This makes it evident that the Fabulous Spirit entred into Christian Religion as soon as the Spirit of Superstition and Idolatry 4ly I say that although it should be true that these Miracles wrought in the Age of the establishment of the Worship of Saints and Reliques should be true Miracles it would not be a Light for the Roman Church any more than for the Greek who also worship Saints and Reliques 'T is therefore needful that we have Miracles from the Church of Rome since she was separate from the Greek Church and that it appear this Gift of Miracles is departed from all other Churches to affix itself to the Church of Rome Now the Greek Schismaticks have their Saints their Legends and their Miracles as well as the Latine Church Besides we do maintain that all the Miracles of the Church of Rome those of St. Bernard as well as others are Legendaries Tales or Illusions of the Evil Spirit 5ly To conclude I do maintain that every person who hath no other support of his Faith but Miracles is a false Believer I have said it elsewhere Miracles are not designed principally to prove Truth they are appointed above