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
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
that though even the Church should fall into Idolatry we cannot be saved if we separate from it And I say although even the Church of Rome should have Reason at the bottom and were not Idolatrous and that we were out in our Separation we should not hazard our Salvation by continuing as we are Men are every where well where they have Christianity and the marrow and substance of it and 't is a folly to imagine that the Salvation of men depends upon the humor of their Guides It may be therefore that Luther and Calvin were mistaken i. e. That the corruption of the Church of Rome was not great enough to oblige the Faithful to go out of her let us suppose they had done better to leave things as they were I do nevertheless maintain that at this day you do not in any wise hazard your Salvation by continuing where they have placed you because however it be you have Christianity in its integrity you have it wholly pure and uncorrupt In every Society where that is found a man may be saved after whatsoever manner it be formed The Idea which men have formed of Schism for many Ages past is the most false that can be imagined but besides the falshood of it 't is the most dangerous and cruel Chimera that could be found Every Society would be Catholick Church to the exclusion of all others The Church of Rome pretends thus far for her self The Greek Church makes no less pretence thereto He that goes out of this Church breaks the Unity and he that breaks it is no longer in the Church Now he who is no longer in the Church is no longer in a state and way of Salvation whatever he say and whatever he do Behold what they say behold the Chimera We must therefore rectifie this Idea of Schism according to the Unity which we have given you The Unity of the Universal Church does not subsist within the bounds of one certain Communion nor in adherence to certain Pastors to the exclusion of all others but in the Unity of Spirit Doctrine Sacraments and Evangelical Ministry in general i. e. of Pastors declaring the Truth of the Gospel What must be done then to make a Schism with respect to the Church Universal He must renounce the Christian Doctrine the Sacraments of the Church and the Gospel Ministry that is to say He must be an Apostate or an Heretick But every Society that goes out of another and greater Society of which it was a part makes no Schism with respect to the Church Universal whilst it retains the Doctrine the Sacraments and the Ministry of the Gospel it goes not out of the Church because it carries the Church with it and it carries the Church with it because it carries Christianity with it It carries say I the Church with it in such a manner nevertheless that it leaves it in the Society which it leaves for leaving true Christianity there it leaves the true Church there also And the advantage of being the Church and of having Christianity is a Privilege which may be possessed intire and without prejudice to other Christian Societies We must therefore know that there is an Vniversal and Particular Schism Particular Schism is a Separation from a particular Church a Universal Schism is a Separation from the Universal Church Universal Schism consists in the Renunciation of the Universal Church by renouncing her Doctrine Sacraments and Ministry For example If the one half of Christians should separate from the other and set up a new Gospel according to which Moses should be set side by side with Jesus Christ the legal Ceremonies re-established the Evangelical Ministry should be changed into the Ministry of Priests after the Order of Aaron the Sacraments of the Church should be joyned to the Sacraments of the Old Testament it were certain that this would be a true Schism for these Men would renounce the Doctrine the Sacraments and the Ministry of the Gospel The Mahometans without renouncing Jesus Christ and calling him false Prophet have set up a Prophet superior to him and receive the Impostures of Mahomet admit Circumcision and reject Baptism have made a Religion truly and essentially different from that of Christ's 'T is therefore a true universal Schism The Socinians who have renounced almost all the Fundamentals of the Christian Religion who despise and neglect the Sacraments by going out of the Church are become Schismaticks and true Schismaticks with respect to the Church Universal for they have not carried the Church with them because they have not carried Christianity with them According to this Idea Universal Schism or Schism with respect to the Universal Church doth not essentially differ from Heresie and Apostacy Particular Schism is when a Man separates from a particular Church be it for some Point of Doctrine be it for some quarrel about Discipline be it for some personal Differences of the Guides among themselves Of this sort of Schisms there is an infinite number of Examples In the Second Age there was a Schism between the Church of Rome and the Church of Asia about a controversie of Ceremonies about the day on which Easter ought to be observed The Churches of Asia maintained that the Christian Passover ought to be observed on the same day that the Jews observed theirs and they said they held it as a Tradition from St. John. The Church of Rome on the contrary said that Christians ought to observe Easter on the Lord's-day following the Jewish Passover And for the sake of this goodly Controversie Victor Bishop of Rome was so rash as to separate the Churches of Asia from his Communion This Schism continued not only until the Council of Nice but a very long time after for mention is made of the Quartodecimani in the General Council of Ephesus against Nestorius in the year 431. So they called those who celebrated Easter with the Jews on the 14th day of the Month of March. In the Third Age Novatian formed a considerable Schism about a Point of Discipline viz. Whether we ought to receive those who fell in times of Persecution to the Peace of the Church This Schism continued a long time We find this Schism continuing amidst all the great troubles that were betwixt the Arrians and the Orthodox the union of Opinions that was between the Novatians and the Catholicks with respect to the Doctrine of Arrius did not put a period unto it In the same Age the Donatists made another Schism in Africa about the choice of a Bishop of Carthage Two Parties being formed about it a Division was made it spread through all Africa and continued many Ages There happened another in the beginning of the Fifth Age by one named Nestorius Bishop of Constantinople who taught there were two Persons as well as two Natures in Christ Another was made a little while after by Eutyches Abbot of a Monastery in Constantinople who desiring to oppose Nestorius who distinguished two Persons
in Christ Jesus confounded the two Natures that he might not separate them and these two Schisms have continued for 1200 years and do continue to this day In the Tenth Age happened the great Schism of the Greek Church from the Latin. The Church of Rome it self has had an infinite number of Schisms in her own Bowels occasioned by her Anti-Popes And the greatest which may serve for a Rule for all was the great Schism of Popes and Anti-Popes whereof the one sat at Rome and the other at Avignon This Schism divided the West into two different Parties under two distinct Heads To conclude in these last times a great Schism is happened in the Latin Church which is divided into three great Bodies the Papists the Lutherans and the Reformed I pass by an infinite number of little Schisms which have been in the East between Church and Church and oftentimes among the Members of the same Church Two Bishops were seen for a long time at Antioch the Party of one of them was called Milesians the other Party Eustathians this was in the Fourth and Fifth Ages These are say I particular Schisms And it may be said that not one of these Schismatical Parties did separate from the Universal Church because not one of them abandoned Christianity they returned and carried it with them Now the Illusion in this matter comes from hence that we confound these two sorts of Schisms those that are Universal with those which are particular and we ascribe to particular Schisms that which belongs only to Schism universal viz. Exclusion from Salvation For 't is true that he who makes a Schism from the Universal Church by renouncing her Doctrine Sacraments and Ministry is utterly out of the Church and without any right to eternal Life But 't is false that particular Schism either from the Church of Rome or from the Greek Church or Schism of the Church of Rome in it self doth exclude from Salvation This folly proceeds from another and that is that every particular Church looks on herself as the Catholick and Universal Church and her particular Doctrines as the Universal and Fundamental Doctrines of Christianity In such manner that those who separate themselves from her and renounce her Doctrines she looks on them as being separate from the Universal Church and as having renounced the Universal Doctrine of Christianity But no Church hath carried this folly to that degree of extravagance as the Church of Rome hath done for she calls herself the Catholick and Universal Church to the exclusion of all others And she would fain that the Doctrines which are peculiar to her as the Supremacy of the Pope Transubstantiation Purgatory c. should be accounted the Universal Truths of Christanity Thence it comes to pass that she considers as Schismaticks and damned all those which separate from her and renounce the most inconsiderable Doctrines which she hath consecrated by her Anathema's To make this foolish Pretension vanish and disappear no more is to be done but to make more evident the true Idea of Schism which the Disputes of these last Ages and the Prejudices of the Ancients have strangely perplexed and confounded To this end it will be useful to consider divers of those Schisms of which we have spoken and see what we ought to judge concerning the Salvation of those who lived in them First there have been Schisms which have been made without any Controversies about Doctrine or Discipline only upon personal Quarrels between Bishop and Bishop such was that furious Schism of the Donatists in Africa which was made only upon the occasion of the choice of a Bishop of Carthage Afterwards the Donatists espoused the Opinion of S. Cyprian about the Nullity of the Baptism of Hereticks and it may be some other Opinions of little importance that they might the more easily maintain and continue their Schism with the Catholicks But the true foundation of the Schism was nothing but a particular Quarrel The Donatists held all the Opinions of the Catholick Church they had the same Sacraments the same Discipline and the same Ministry This being so he must be very cruel that will damn an infinite number of private Persons who followed their Guides as the Inhabitants of Jerusalem followed Absalom in the simplicity of their Hearts I say nothing concerning the Authors of the Schism nor of those who did maintain it as they violated the Laws of Charity and troubled the Peace of the Church we leave them to the Judgment of God We say nothing neither of the Circumcellians a sort of People which arose among the Donatists and offered an Hundred Violences to the Orthodox I speak of those plain People who in the simplicity of their Heart do without Dissimulation believe in Jesus Christ according to the Creed explicated according to the sense of the Church Universal who believe all the Christian Doctrine from the first Article to the last and besides labour with great diligence in the practice of Holiness and Devotion to condemn these Men say I only because they do not communicate with the Pastors of the Catholick Church is a foolish and a barbarous Doctrine of which I do not think there is a Man in the World throughly perswaded although there be a Thousand and a Thousand pretend so to be There are other Schisms which were made about Controversies in Doctrine such is the Schism of the Nestorians and that of the Eutychians who continue at this day and comprehend an infinite number of Christians in the East I believe that Nestorius designed to reduce the Opinion of Paulus Samosatenus to another form which Opinion is that of our Socinians who make Jesus Christ a mere Man. But we must judg otherwise of their Successors At this day the Nestorians and the Eutychians embrace the Apostles Creed and that of Constantinople as do the Greeks and the Latins they believe in Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God God himself dead and raised again for the Salvation of Men and the Disputes which they have with the rest of the Church are at present nothing but Questions about Words and differing manners of expression To damn these Millions of People because of the rashness of a single Man who had the boldness a Hundred and twenty years ago to teach contrary to the manner after which we ought to conceive of the Incarnation of the Word is a Cruelty founded in a most prodigious Error and Mistake 'T is evident that we ought to range them with the rest of the Eastern Church which is not much more pure than that of the West and to leave their Salvation to the judgment of God who alone knows how far his Patience will proceed These two Schisms were without doubt criminal in their Original But time hath changed the state of things and at this day those Christians which are called Jacobites and follow the Schism of Eutyches supposing they embrace all Christian Truths necessary to Salvation are as
THE PASTORAL LETTERS Of the INCOMPARABLE JURIEU Directed to the Protestants in France Groaning under the BABYLONISH TYRANNY TRANSLATED Wherein the Sophistical Arguments and Unexpressible Cruelties made use of by the PAPISTS for the making Converts are laid open and expos'd to just Abhorrence Unto which is added a brief Account of the Hungarian Persecution LONDON Printed for T. Fabian at the Bible in St. Paul's Church-yard a corner Shop next Cheapside and J. Hindmarsh at the Golden Ball over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1689. MVNIFICENTIA REGIA 171â— GEORGIVS D. G. â—AS BR PR ET 〈…〉 D. J.P. sc TO HIS HIGHNESS THE Prince of ORANGE GREAT SIR IT would be hard to find out Reasons which might justifie the boldness of this Dedication did not the Subject of the Book direct it to Your Highnesses feet Whither can Religion and Truth fly for refuge from foul Superstition back'd with hellish Fury but to the Protection of that fortunate Arm to which already so many Nations owe the enjoyment of their Religion their Liberty and whatsoever is dear to Men and Christians By Your Heroick Courage and more than human Conduct it is that Our Selves are not the Subject of a like lamentable History and that we read the salvage Barbarities of these Bigots in a Translation Few Years it was hop'd would have pass'd before our own Country might have been the Scene of their Villanies and what we now upon reading can hardly believe we should then have seen and felt But the God of Heaven of his infinite Mercy check'd their Progress forbad the proud Waves and set bounds to their Insolence Accept therefore Mighty PRINCE this humble Dedication of the best and fittest Offering can be made to Your Illustrious Name by us the Fellow-Sharers in that great Deliverance which Providence by your Highnesses means has wrought for us Your Highness's Most humbly devoted Servants THE Translator's Epistle TO THE READER 1. 'T IS sufficiently known by those who have read the History of France that Liberty for the exercise of the Reformed Religion was established by Law See Mr. de Serres Hist p. 842. The Edict of Nantes which allowed them that Liberty was signed by Henry IV. in April 1598. which Edict contained a Narration of the former Edicts of Pacification and of the Troubles occasion'd in France about matters of Religion 2. 'T is true the Parliament of Paris were something unwilling to confirm this Edict and some others made great opposition to it The Bishop of Modena who was Pope 's Nuncio in France and Berthier one of the Agents for the Clergy made many Petitions to the King and did greatly importune the Lords of the Council very seriously and deeply to consider the matter Ibid. 843 844. After the King had heard what was to be said on both sides he was satisfied of the Wisdom and Justice of what he had done as well as of the Necessity thereof for the establishment of the Peace of France which had been almost ruined by the Wars that had been made by reason of Religion And thereupon the King addresses himself by a Speech to the Parliament of Paris and told them that he desired and expected they should establish the Edict that he had granted to them of the Reformed Religion and in brief tells them I have made it and will have it observed and his Will should serve for Reason which is never demanded of a Prince in such an obedient state After this Discourse they confirmed the Edict in February following 3. This Edict the Reformed accounted their great Security for the free exercise of their Religion and it really was so in great degree for many years See also a new Systeme of the Apocalypse p. 219 220. How many Violations were offered thereunto in the Reign of Lewis XIII I shall not enumerate in this place Those that have been offered thereunto by the present French Monarch before its utter Repeal may be read in a little Book written some seven or eight Years since called the Policy of the Clergy of France to destroy the Protestants of that Kingdom to which you may add a second called The last Efforts of Afflicted Innocence 4. And the truth is their Practice is agreeable to their Doctrine they do affirm that no Faith is to be kept with Hereticks and that all Promises made to them are void of all Obligation as in the famous Instances of John Husse and Jerom of Prague more Instances of their Perfidiousness might easily be produced Vid. Chronic. German Bucholt p 313. Florimond de Ralemond in Hist of Heresie p. 407. but 't is done so frequently by our own Authors in the English Tongue that I think there is no need thereof 5. I do not think all those of the Catholick Religion equally false and perfidious Vid. Jesuits Morals p. 46 47 c. I do believe that there is something humane in many of them that as an Antidote does preserve them from the venom of their own Doctrine and that they may be morally trusted as other Men. But after so many Experiments as we have had of their Falseness I think they are bold people that will run the hazard thereof 6. What Cruelties have been exercised against the Reformed in France both before and since the Repeal of the Edict of Nantes See Mr. Juâ—ieu Advice to all Christians prefixed to his Accomplishment of Prophesies may be learn'd in part from the following Letters of the Learned Monsieur Jurieu concerning which I think I may say that instances of greater Barbarity can hardly be found in the Histories of the Primitive Persecutions by Heathen Emperors and yet Court Flatterers would persuade the World that there is no Persecution in France but that all the numerous Conversions made there have been by methods of sweetness favour and mercy and by the same methods of softness and indulgence how many throughout Europe may be made Turks in a short space of time is not hard to conjecture 7. I wonder with what front these Men can impose such notorious Falsehoods upon the World France entertains Ambassadors from all the Courts in Christendom Vid. Jurieu ibid. and is full of forein Travellers and Merchants they see with their eyes and hear with their ears the Miseries Calamities the Groans and Cries of the Reformed We our selves have seen thousands of them forsaking their Houses Lands Friends and Estates and coming over to us to find Bread in a strange Land and it was never yet known that Men should forsake Plenty at home upon the hopes of finding Cloaths to cover their nakedness and Bread to keep them from starving in a forein Country Those that can believe these Men are not persecuted must disbelieve their Senses in more things than the Doctrine of Transubstantiation 8. The persecuted French themselves do acknowledge that their great Monarch is not bloody they impute all these Severities that have been exercised upon them to the
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
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
one without entering into the other You cannot worship God without partaking in the Worship of Idols You cannot partake in the Heavenly Sacrament of Jesus Christ without participation in a false and corrupt Sacrifice and without prostrating yourselves before the Idol of Bread. You cannot confess Jesus Christ Head of the Church without adhering to a false Head to the Head of a Body which is altogether Antichristian You cannot call upon God in publick Worship unless at the same time you call upon Creatures It remains therefore that we prove unto you that Popery so confounded and mixt with Christianity is mortal impure and intollerable The second general Advice which I have to give you is That well to understand Popery you must not look upon it in the Books of your Convertors in the Explications of the Catholick Doctrine or other painted Tables which disguise to you the Religion into which they force you to enter Discharge yourselves also from this wicked imagination That we ought to attribute nothing to Popery but what is ordained by its Councils For there is nothing more false and more distant from truth then that the Councils have not expressed in their Decisions all those frightful Excesses into which Popery is fallen therefore they are not to be imputed to her 'T is a wicked consequence all that is done in a Church be it by order of her Councils be it by use and common custom ought to be imputed to her 'T is true that St. Austine in a passage which we quoted above would not grant that the Manichees should impute certain Superstitions which the People practised to the Church but 't was because there were few persons in comparison to others that fell into them And the Teachers condemned them instead of supporting and maintaining them But we impute nothing to Popery but Extravagances universally practised and defended by their most famous Doctors I will give you yet a third Advice 'T is that for the true understanding of Popery and all its Deformities you must not look on it in certain places and at certain times For Example At this day in France they shew you the Popish Religion in a smooth and polished condition with respect to the Authority of the Pope they tell you that to speak properly he is no more than the first Bishop he is not the Vicar of JESUS CHRIST that he is not the true Head of the Church nor the true Center of Unity that he is not Infallible that he has no more Power over the Bishops than the Bishops have over him they speak to you with great indifference concerning the Worship of Images as a thing esteemed not very necessary they do extreamly mollifie the Invocation of Saints reducing it to a small matter The Bishops give order that little of those popular Devotions which are capable of giving you scandal be practised in their Diocesses I do declare to you that it is not by the small Country of France nor by this little space of present time that you ought to look on Popery to know and see all its Deformities In what follows we shall have occasion to shew you that all these Reformations are nothing that they are fictitious and that although they should go further than I know not what appearances it would not suffice but in expectation of that I advise you at present my Brethren that for a true understanding of Popery it behoves you to look on it every-where and in all times You must behold it in Italy and Spain as we as in France and Germany you must look on it in all preceeding Ages at least in the seven hundred or eight hundred Years which went before our Reformation observing these three Rules 1. That you look on Popery such as it is in itself distinct from Christianity 2. That you look on it in its practice and universal usage 3. To conclude that you look on it above all in Spain and Italy as well as elsewhere and that you look on it in all those times which preceeded the Reformation If you do thus say I I do maintain that you cannot behold the Deformitie of Popery without horrour First you will there see a Head which calls himself the most Holy Lord his Holiness and the Vicar of Jesus Christ who bears on him all the Characters of Antichrist He sits in the Temple of God as if he were God he makes himself to be adored as God he has his seat at Rome the City upon seven Hills he hath ten Kings under him which give Obedience to him he is clothed in Scarlet as the Whore in the Revelations he bears a Triple Crown he has upon his Forehead the names of Blasphemy calling himself God on Earth the Vicar of Jesus Christ the Spouse of the Church the Mouth which pronounces infallible Oracles he sits upon a Beast i. e. on an Empire viz. the Roman Empire which he hath raised up again He makes the Image of the Beast to speak and be adored he hath established in the Church the true Image of the Roman Empire and causes this Image to be adored on pain of Death he hath two Horns two Powers as a Lamb the Temporal and Spiritual speaks like a Dragon and is the Protector of Lies and Falshood He works false Signs and Wonders to support his false Religion his Teachers make profession of Austerity Celibate Abstinence and Fasting and refuse Marriage He hath his seat in Babilon that City of Merchandize where all things are sold and where they make Merchandize even of the Souls of Men He causes his Mark to be born i. e. his Profession upon the hands and upon the forehead The name of Latine Church and Latine Pope contain exactly 666 which is the number of the Beast This Pope this pretended Vicar of Jesus Christ is seen under a Canopy or Cloth of State in pomp and in magnificence he is seen trampling crowned Heads under his Feet making himself to be carried on the shoulders of Emperours causing Princes to kiss his Feet He hath been seen as a furious Lion in all Ages covering the Earth with Blood dethroning Emperours pulling off their Crowns Absolving Subjects from the Oaths of Fidelity given to their Kings and thereby putting a Sword into their hands from whence have followed cruel and barbarous Civil Wars He has been seen encouraging the Father against the Son and the Son against the Father Subjects against their Kings and stirring them up to run their Swords into the Bowels of their Soveraigns He has been seen putting all Europe into a flame and carrying confusions blood and disorder every-where by his Ambition He hath been seen fighting with Competitors called Anti-popes conducting Armies shedding Bloud dispeopling Cities and laying wast Fields by Fire and Sword He has been seen with his Arms in his hands like a mad man filling the World with Horrour and Desolation to maintain his pretended Succession to the Inheritance of Christ Jesus He has been seen