when they are out of her Unity This great Man hath alwayes follow'd the same Method For when Antonian one of his Colleagues in the Episcopal Dignity was loath to condemn Novatian and would first be infirm'd of his Doctrine St. Cyprian makes him this grave Answer As for that which concerns the Person of Novatian since you desire to be inform'd what Heresy he has introduc'd you must know my dear Brother before all things that we need not curiously enquire what he has taught since he hath taught out of the Church let it be what it will it is not Christian since it is not in the Church of JESUS CHRIST So when Men separate themselves from the Unity and after the Example of Novatian send new Apostels to establish their new Institutions and their new Doctrines in a word to build a new Church tho' they vaunt like him of Reforming the Church and of reducing it as well to a Purer Doctrine as to a more Regular Discipline they are so far from being admitted to prove theirs to be the True Church because of the True Doctrine which they pretend to teach that on the contrary they are convinc'd that they cannot have the True Doctrine when they are not in the True Church and when they would Build a new one Let these False Pastors who boast of their being extraordinarily sent to Build the Church anew fallen into Ruine and Desolation hear St. Cyprian Let them remember on what Maxims he founded his Episcopacy And since they cannot shew us a Mission like his let them cease to imitate the Language of so great a Bishop and to assume to themselves his Authority You have often heard them say That you need not trouble your selves where the Church was since JESUS CHRIST hath pronounced That in whatsoever place two or three Persons shall meet together in Name he is there in the midst of them It is a long time that the Hereticks and the Schismaticks have abused this Passage They serve themselves of the times of St. Cyprian to Authorize the Assemblies which they hold a part But this Holy Martyr confounds them by the foregoing Words where JESUS CHRIST speaks in this manner If two of you shall agree together on Earth as touching any thing that they shall ask it shall be done for them of my Father which is in Heaven where at first sight it is manifest that these two who agree together ought to be in the Body and Christian Unity in Common Fraternity If two says he of you that is as St. Cyprian understands If two or three Children of the Church two or three who are together in Communion shall Assemble themselves in the Name of JESUS CHRIST he will be in the midst of them and will hear their Prayers Secondly says this Holy Doctor It is necessary that these two or three be united And continues he how can they unite themselves with any one when they are not united with the Body of the Church and with all the Fraternity How can two or three be Assembled in the Name of JESUS CHRIST if it be apparent at the same time that they are separated from JESUS CHRIST and from his Gospel FOR WE HAVE NOT SEPARATED OUR SELVES FROM THEM BUT THEY HAVE SEPARATED THEMSELVES FROM US And since that Heresies and Schisms are alwayes posteriour to the Church as they have formed different Conventicles and diverse Assemblies they have forsaken the Head and the Origine of Truth Lend an Ear my Brethren to this Decision of St. Cyprian He points at those who came after those who separate themselves from the Church which they found Established those who make themselves New Assemblies who upon that account are incapable of Assembling in the Name of JESUS CHRIST and so far are they from being permitted to justifie their Separation and their New Assemblies upon this ground because they Preach the Gospel and because JESUS CHRIST is with them that it is manifest on the contrary according to the Doctrine of St. Cyprian That they are separated from JESUS CHRIST and from the Gospel in as much as they separate themselves from the Church and account themselves obliged to form a new one And to the end they may the better understand of what Church this Holy Martyr would speak it is of the Church which acknowledges at Rome the Head of her Communion and in the place of Peter the Eminent Degree of the Sacerdotal Chair which there acknowledges the Chair of Peter and the Principal Church from which the Sacerdotal Vnity hath taken its Original Finally which there acknowledges a Bishop endow'd with so Eminent a Priest-Hood that the Emperour who assumed among his other Titles that of Pontifex Maximus or High Priest could no more endure him in Rome then he could a Caesar in the Armies disputing the Empire with him Why do not these Coyners of Pastoral Letters who to adorn their deceitful Discourses catch up Fragments of St. Cyprian take all his Doctrine intire Why do not they tell you with him That there can be no Martyr out of the Church that since they are separated from its Vnity it is in vain they shed their Blood for the Confession of the Name of JESUS CHRIST that the stain of Schism cannot be washed out by Blood nor the crime expiated by Martyrdom That there can be no Charity out of the Church and so whatsoever Torments they endure out of Her Bosom they are of that kind of which St. Paul said If I deliver my Body even to be burned if I have not Charity all this will avail me nothing If then these pretended Pastors will speak the Language and attribute to themselves the Authority of the true Pastors let them shew us the Original of their Ministry and like St. Cyprian and the other Orthodox Bishops let them make us see that they are descended from any Apostle let them shew us the Eminent Chair where all the Churches preserve the Unity where principally shines the Concord and Succession of Episcopacy Open your selves my Brethren the Books which you call your Ecclesiastical History 't is Beza that has Composed it Open the History of these salse Martyrs whose unhappy number they would have you to augment you will find that the first who model'd the Churches in France which you call Reform'd were of Laicks made Pastors by the Laicks and by consequence alwayes Lay-men who dar'd at all times to take the Law of God in their Mouth and without Power Administer the Holy Sacraments Call to your Remembrance Pierre le Clerc a Wooll-Carder I do not speak it in scorn of his Profession or to revile an Honest Trade but to tax the Ignorance the Presumption and the Schism of a Man who without having Predecessor or Pastor to ordain him bolts out of his Shop to preside in the Church It is He who carved out the Pretended Reform'd Church of Meaux the first hatch'd in this Kingdom
We can say without fear of being reprehended that they Cannot shew any change in the Catholick Church unless in those matters of Ceremony and Discipline which from the first Ages have been alwayes held for indifferent As for those insensible changes which they accuse us to have introduc'd in Doctrine in that they call them insensible it is enough to convince you that there are none marked out and that they cannot shew an innovation by any one positive matter of Fact But what they cannot shew us we are ready to shew to all those who have forsaken us There has not been any Interruption of the Antient Doctrine in any patt of the Christian World but is known the date of the Innovation and Seperation no Person is ignorant of If there had been such changes among us the Authors 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 Arius Nestorius Pelagius Dioscorus and Berengarius So that all they have told you of these insensible changes in Doctrine of which they have not produc'd one example in the Christian Church is no other but an empty Accusation without any matter of Fact-to support it and seeing you understand the Doctrine which I declare to you and that which the other Catholick Bishops also declare to you you ought by no means to doubt but that you hear in our Discourse those who first preach'd the Gospel and in them the Apostles and in the Apostles him who said Go Teach and Baptize and behold I am with you even to the end of the World So when your Ministers told you You needed not trouble your selves about the Succession of Chairs and Pastors provided you kept the Right Doctrine and true Understanding of the Scripture they separated that which JESUS CHRIST hath been pleas'd to render inseparable And it is in vain they boasted of understanding the Scriptures when in the mean while they rejected the Means by which it hath pleas'd God to transmit it It was his Will that it should come to us from Pastor to Pastor and from Hand to Hand without the least suspicion or appearance of Innovation By this means we come to know what hath always been Believ'd and by consequence what ought always to be Believ'd It is as I may say in this always that the force of Truth and the Promise is evidenc'd and the whole is lost if an Interruption be found but in one only Point Those things which thou hast heard from me says St. Paul before many witnesses commit thou to faithful men who shall be fit to teach others also To seperate the wholesome Doctrine from this Chain of Succession is to separate the River from the Channel And to vaunt 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 preserv'd the Waters after the Pipes are broken Do not therefore hearken My Well-beloved to the Word of Falshood and suffer not your selves to be seduc'd by these Pretended Pastoral Letters which they address to you from so many Parts and in such different Forms That which hath for its Title A Pastoral Letter to the Protestants of France who are fallen through Torments is not the better for being full of Words which that great Bishop and Martyr St. Cyprian address'd to the Faithful of Carthage to exhort them to Penitence and Martyrdom Those who dare imitate the True Pastors and who use the Language of St. Cyprian ought to consider whether they can from so good a Title attribute to themselves the Pastoral Authority But let them consult this Holy Martyr he will teach them That the Church is One That Episcopacy is One That to possess it lawfully it is necessary to ascend by One continual Succession even to the Source of Unity that is to say even to the Apostles and even to him to whom only JESUS CHRIST hath said that he might found his Church upon Unity Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I Build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it and I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven c. and also after his Resurrection Feed my Sheep The same St. Cyprian will teach them That from this Source of the Apostles rising from perfect Unity all the Pastors have issued That from hence Episcopacy is One not only in all Places but also in all Times That the Church like a Sun spreads her Rayes through the Universe but that it is the same Light which extends it self on all Sides That she spreads her Branches and causes her Streams to run through the Earth but that there is but one Source one Chief one Common Beginning one self-same Stock and finally one self-same Mother rich in the Fruits she brings forth from her Fruitful Womb. And least We should imagine some Cases might happen in which it might be Lawful to separate from the Unity of the Church or reform her Doctrine he adds these excellent Words which I beseech you my Brethren to consider The Spouse of JESUS CHRIST can never be an Adultress she cannot be corrupted and her Chastity is inviolable He that separates himself from the Church to joyn himself with an Adulteress thus he treats the Sects that are separated from the Unity of the Church hath no part in the Promises of JESUS CHRIST he is a Stranger he is Profane he is an Enemy He cannot have God for his Father since he has not the Church for his Mother 'T is in vain that he pretends to break the Holy Unity which is founded on the Unity of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost And can they believe pursues he that the Vnity which is Built on so firm a Foundation can ever be dissolv'd He that keeps not this Vnity of the Church keeps not the Law of God he hath not the Faith of the Father and the Son he hath not Life and Salvation Do not you perceive My Bretheren how opposite the Method which they use in your pretended Churches is to that of St. Cyprian Your Ministers tell you without ceasing That to believe the Church without examining is without examining to believe Men subjects to Errour and that to know the True Church which one may beleive one must by a discussion of particular Questions know before hand the True Faith taught by the Scriptures But you see that St. Cyprian takes quite another Method To confound by an easie and compendious Argument as he propos'd to himself all Heresies and Schisms he alledges the Authority of the Church He knew nothing more manifest and so far was he from suffering them to inquire after the Church by examining into her Doctrines that he would have them know her first and hold it for certain that they cannot enjoy either the Law of God or Salvation or Life
in the Year 1546. It is he who hath erected a Prophane and Sacrilegious Chair against the Successor of St. Faron and St. Sainctin Those who founded the other Churches have nothing more to brag of all are Lay-Men created Pastors by the Laity contrary to all the Examples of Antiquity against the Universal practice of the Christian Church where they have never seen a Pastor who was not ordain'd by other Pastors and contrary to the Authority of the Scriptures where the Holy Ghost neither prescribes nor shews us any but this means to perpetuate the Ecclesiastical Ministry Behold my Brethren the Original of the Ministry under which you were But if a Luther a Bucer a Zuinglius a Peter Martyr if other Priests and Religious Lawfully Ordain'd in the Catholick Church made themselves Ministers of the Erring Multitude without mentioning other Reasons which condemn their Rashness to exercise this New Ministry they were oblidg'd to Apostatize from the Faith of those who Consecrated them They made them Priests in saying to them that they gave them Power to transform by their Holy Benediction the Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of JESUS CHRIST and to offer them in Sacrifice for the Living and the Dead They were Consecrated in this Faith but were forc'd to renounce it before they could be qualify'd to exercise their New Ministry so they carry in their Fore-Head the Mark of Innovation and the separating Herds so little acknowledged their Ordination and Mission which they receiv'd in the Church that this weak Bishop of Troy I do not Name him so of my self 't is the Ecclesiastical History of Beza which gives us this Idea after having embraced the Pretended Reformation obtained not without trouble and much entreaty that they would permit him to be a Minister so unprofitable did they believe all that which he had before receiv'd So all these Founders of the Pretended Churches are People without Authority and without Mission It is from thence that they who composed these Pastoral Letters are descended and for all that forsooth they set up for Cyprians and Athanasius's But their Error is manifest and altho' they endeavour to counterfeit the Language of the Holy Bishops yet since they have neither Succession nor Authority nor Doctrine you cannot look upon them but as false Apostles and deceitful Workers transform'd as St. Paul says into Apostles of JESUS CHRIST Thus you see nothing in the Writings which they address to you but a Bitter Zeal passionate Sentiments and a manifest abuse of the Word of God The Author of the Letter to the Protestants fallen through fear of Torments treats those who have rendered themselves as he calls it before the Combate that is to say without being Tormented as a People for whom there is no Mercy and applying to them a Passage of St. Paul from whence there is nothing left them but Despair he vouchsafes not so much as to exhort them to Repentance Another gives his Letter this Title To our Brethren who groan under the Captivity of Babylon And renews by this only Title all the as vain as injurious Applications of the Apocalypse which they are ever making to render the Church odious to you All the rest is of a piece and the whole answers the furious Title He speaks to you of nothing but the horrour you ought to have of Popery To the end you may be preserv'd as he speaks in this just horrour of Popery such as it deserves Forget not pursues he continually to fix your Eyes upon all its Deformities have a care of looking upon it through those Qualifications which the Doctors of Lies cast before our Eyes of late You understand well this Language you know it to be the same Spirit which told your Ministers That the Exposition of the Catholick Doctrine which I publish'd altho' it was taken Word for Word out of the Council of Trent and that for this Reason so many Bishops so many Cardinals so many Doctors all the Clergy of France the Pope himself and finally the whole Church had approved it was not our true Doctrine but a deceitful Softning and Dissembling it where the whole Church and the Pope himself were entred into a Conspiracy with me to circumvent you What Prodigy cannot Men believe when they believe such things as these But those who would seduce you have no other means but this to preserve the Horrour which they breath'd into you against us since the begining of the Pretended Reformation If they had not disguis'd our Sentiments to you they had wanted means to improve into Schism the Aversion to the Church which they would creat in you A Hatred so violent cannot be entertain'd but by continuing the same Calumnies and when they exhort you to reject the Qualifications of Popery by considering without ceasing all its Deformities if you understand their Language 't is as much as to say That you must judge of our Sentiments not by the Public Profession which we make but that which our declar'd Enemies impute to us and that you ought not to know our Religion but in their Calumnies Without this perceive you not that they would not dare to say as do's this furious Author That our Religion was the Religion of the Devil a Religion of Brutes fill'd up with Idolatary and Jewish and Pagan Ceremonies Open your Eyes My dear brethren acknowledge the Malice and bitter Zeal of those who from the begining would make you Martyrs of the Schism I do not pretend here to enter into Controversies But with what Conscience can they Write to you That you are made to say the Litanies in a Barbarous Language to the Honour of the Creatures and to the Dishonour of the Creator Read these Litanies since you have them in your Hands not only in the Latine Tongue which these furious Men mean by Barbarous but also in the French Is it to say the Litanies to the Dishonour of the Creator to say at first Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Christ hear us Christ graciously hear us God the Father Eternal God the Son Redeemer of the World God the Holy Ghost have mercy upon us Holy Trinity One God have mercy upon us Having laid this Foundation of our Hope is it to speak to the Honour of the Creature and to the Dishonour of the Creator to say Holy Mary pray for us Holy Mother of God pray for us Ye Holy Angels pray for us St. Peter pray for us And the rest Do's not this manner of naming the Saints in the Litanies visibly place them rather in the number of those that Pray than of those that are Pray'd to as all our Doctors have taught But how profitable soever their Prayers appear to us our Devotions stop not there We return presently after to JESUS CHRIST whom we conjure by all his Mysteries and by all the Names which he has taken to assure us of his Goodness to deliver us
whom Ezechias was a Figure and the Holy Eucharist will be your strength In the mean time my dear Brethren frequent the Instructions and Catechisms send your Children thither Let me hear no more that there is any among you who absents himself Lest as the Apostle says not finding you such as I would I be found of you such an one as ye would not Answer me my Brethren What will ye shall I come to you with a Rod or in Love and in the Spirit of Meekness If you have any scruple remaining come to us with Confidence at all Hours we shall be ready to hear you and to deliver to you not only the Gospel of God but also our own Souls because you are become most dear unto us Thus you will be my Consolation and my Joy on Earth and you will be my Crown at the Day of our Lord Jesus I know that some Artful Spirits secretly endeavour to inspire you with Dissention and Prophecy to you changes and imaginary Victories of the Religion which you have forsaken In defect of any real Appearance the Apocalypse is not wanting to them and they make credulous Persons find what is agreeable to their Fancies in those Obscurities But without pretending to be a Prophet I dare be bold to tell you Such an unexpected Change as this in the whole Kingdom has too much the Hand of God in it not to be maintain'd and the Piety of the King who is visibly Protected by God will put an end to this great Work The Work of a Re-union shall be finish'd the Work of Charity and Peace which shall convert the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers that is to say which shall cause the Faith of our Fathers to live again in their Children so long separated from an Union with them and recal the Children to the Church where their Fathers have served God where their Bodies rest in Peace and where they expect the Resurrection of the Just Given at CLAYE Sunday March 24. 1686. †J. BENIGNE E. de MEAUX By my Lords Command LEDIEU FINIS A Catalogue of Books Printed for Henry Hills Printer to the King 's most Excellent Majesty for his Houshold and Chappel 1686. And are to be Sold next door to his House in Black-fryers at Mr. Richard Cheese's REflections upon the Answer to the Papist Mis-represented c. Directed to the Answerer Quarto Kalendarium Catholicum for the Year 1686. Octavo Papists Protesting against Protestant-Popery In Answer to a Discourse Entituled A Papist not Mis-represented by Protestants Being a Vindication of the Papist Mis-represented and Represented and the Reflections upon the Answer Quart Copies of Two Papers Written by the late King Charles II. Together with a Paper Written by the late Dutchess of York Published by his Majesty's Command Folio The Spirit of Christianity Published by his Majesty's Command Twelves The first Sermon Preach'd before their Majesties in English at Windsor on the first Sunday of October 1685. By the Reverend Father Dom. P. E. Monk of the Holy Order of S. Benedict and of the English Congregation Published by his Majesty's Command Quarto Second Sermon Preached before the King and Queen and Queen Dowager at Their Majesties Chappel at St James's November 1 1685. By the Reverend Father Dom. Ph. Ellis Monk of the Holy Order of S. Benedict and of the English Congregation Published by his Majesty's Command Quarto The Third Sermon Preach'd before the King and Queen in their Majesties Chappel at St. James's on the third Sunday in Advent Decemb. 13. 1685. By the Reverend Father Dom. Ph. Ellis Monk of the Holy Order of St. Benedict and of the English Congr Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty Published by His Majesties Command Quarto Sixth Sermon Preach'd before the King and Queen in their Majesties Chappel at St. James's upon the first Wednesday in Lent Febr. 24. 1685. By the Reverend Father Dom. Ph. Ellis Monk of the Holy Order of St. Benedict and of the English Congregation Publish'd by his Majesty's Command Quarto An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholic Church in Matters of Controversie By the Right Reverend James Benigne Bossuet Counsellor to the King Bishop of Meaux formerly of Condom and Preceptor to the Dauphin First Almoner to the Dauphiness Done into English with all the former Approbations and others newly published in the Ninth and Last Edition of the French Published by His Majesties Command Quarto A Sermon preach'd before the King and Queen in Their Majesties Chappel at St. James's upon the Annunciation of our Blessed Lady March 25. 1686. By Jo. Betham Doctor of Sorhon Published by His Majesties Command Quarto An Abstract of the Douay Catechism for the Use of Children and Ignorant People Now Revis'd and much amended Publish'd with Allowance Twentyfours The Answer of the New Converts of France to a Pastoral Letter from a Protestant Minister Done out of French and Publish'd with Allowance Quarto I. Obligation to Communicate at Easter Luc. 22. 15. â— Chro. 30. Ibid. 5 6. seq Ibidem 10 11. 2 Thess 2. 3. Osea 1. 11. Ibidem 6. II. That the Pastors of the Catholick Church are the only true Pastors Mat. 28. 19 20. 2 Tim. 2. 2. III. That the Author of the false Pastoral Letter to those who are fallen imitates in vain the Language of St. Cyprian whose Doctrine condemns him aâ— a false Pastor Cypr. l. de â—nit Eccl. Matth. 16. 18. 19. John 21. 17. Id. init lib. de Unit. Eccl. Epist 51. ad Anton. Ibidem Conf. of Faith Art 31. IV. How often the Heretics abuse this Passage of the Gospel If two or three are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst of them The Explication of this Passage by St. Cyprian and the Conviction of Pastors without Mission Cypr. lib. de Unit. Eccl. Ibid. Epist 31. ad Anton. Epist 54. ad Coâ—â— Epist 51. ad Anton. Lib. de Unit Eccl. 1 Corinth 13. 3. Pontific de Ordin Anton. Caracciol Beza Hist Eccles lib. 2 6. 2 Cor. 11. 13. V. That the Pretended Pastoral Letters are full of Passion and an intollerable bitterness against us To those who groan under the Captivity of Babylon Horrible Calumny touching the Litanies Prayers to Saints 1 Thess 5. 25. Rev. 8. 3 4 5. VI. The same Author's Calumnies upon account of Images That the Accusations they bring against us in this matter proceed from Ignorance and Superstitious Fears Exod. 20. 4. Ibid. 5. Isa 44. 17. Ibid. 18. 19. Cat. Dim 23. Advert to the Expos Rom. 14. 4. Aug. Ep. 119. ad Jan. cap. 19. VII Vnjust Reproaches touching Ceremonies the Service in Latin and the Adoration of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist That the Pretended Reform'd are gross carnal not we as they accuse us Jam. 5. 14. 15. 1 Tim. 2. 8. Conc. Tri. Sess 22. Ch. 8. Mat. 26. 2â— John 1. 1 14. VIII That they cannot accuse us of Idolatry without Blaspeming against JESUS CHRIST the promises made to the Church A remarkable Passage of M. Claude Conser Reflect 13. p. 460 461. Répons aâ— disc de M. de Condom pag. 362. â—bidem Rom. 10. 10. Matth. 〈◊〉 19 â—â— 1 Cor. 5. 5. Joan. 17. 23. Eph. 5. 30. 1 Cor. 6. 16 17. Joan. 6. 52. 58. 59. See the Treatise of the Communion under both Kinds p. 9. 23. Ibid. p. â—1 Ibid. p. 223. Répoâ—se au Disc de M. de Cond q. 4. p. 102. Ibid. p. 10â— Ibid. p 109. Ibid. p. 129. Ibid. p. 130. â—â—â—qu Rèspons au disc de M. de Condom p. 106. p. 109. p. 333 c. IX The Blasphemies of the pretended Pastoral Letters against the Catholic Church yea and against the Primitive Church also X. An Exhortation to the New Converts to invite them to the Sacraments above all to the Holy Eucharist That to Communicate under one kind is sufficient Testimonies of M. Claude and of other Ministers John 20. 22 23. Acts 8. 14. 2 Chron. 30. 18 19. 2 Cor. 12. 20. 1 Cor. 4. 21. 1 Thess 2. 8. Ibid. 19. 20. Malac. 4. 6.
A PASTORAL LETTER FROM The Lord Bishop of MEAVX TO THE NEW CATHOLICKS OF HIS DIOCESS Exhorting them to keep their EASTER And giving them Necessary Advertisements against the False Pastoral Letters of their Ministers WITH REFLECTIONS upon the PRETENDED PERSECUTION Translated out of French and Publish'd with Allowance Printed 1686. A PASTORAL LETTER FROM The Lord Bishop of MEAVX TO THE NEW CATHOLICKS OF HIS DIOCESS James Benigne By Divine Providence Bishop of Meaux To the New Catholicks of our Diocess Greeting and Blessing in our Lord. AT the approach of the Holy Day of Easter you ought to be touch'd with a pious desire of Communicating with your Brethren It is JESUS CHRIST himself who invites you to this Bancquet of Peace and you ought to believe what he says to you by my Mouth With desire have I desired to Eat this Passover with you For although he desires always to keep the Passover with his Disciples that the Dining-room and the Great-Hall where he will keep this Feast be alwayes ready the Church always open and the Table always furnish'd Nevertheless it is chiefly upon these Holy Dayes he calles his Children to his Banquet and you my Dear Brethren are those whom of all his Children he most desires to see at his Table since 't is there you will give the last mark of your sincere Union with his Church Call to your remembrance the Holy King Ezechias and the Solemn Passover which he celebrated in Jerusalem He was not only content to call thither all those of Juda that is to say those who alwayes liv'd in Unity with the People of GOD in the Worship of the Sanctuary and in submission to the true Priest-hood which God had established by Moses But he resolved with the consent of the Sanhedrim and all the People of Jerusalem to send Messengers to the Ten Schismatical Tribes who from the time of Roboam had separated themselves from Juda and from the Temple and he sent them Letters to the end that being converted with all their Heart to the God of their Fathers they would omo with their Brethren whose Communion they had forsaken to celebrate the Passover at the place which the Lord had chosen As the Messengers of this Pious Prince went diligently from City to City the greatest part scoffed at them and every one that acquiesc'd to the Councel of Ezechias and the sweet Invitation of their Brethren went to Celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem at the place of Unity and Peace This my Brethren is the Treatment which the Church approves Since this unhappy Defection of the foregoing Age since this deplorable Apostacy which hath torn from the Church whole Nations and which seems to prepare the Way for the Kingdom of Anti-christ according to the Prediction of the Apostle we have not ceased to put our Erring Brethren in mind of those most happy Dayes in which our Fathers did Eat together the Bread of Life and according to the Precept of St. Paul did guard the Sacred Band of Christian Fraternity But the greatest part being prepossessed with the Blind hatred which their Ministers had inspired them with made a Mock of us and every one that calls to mind our Antient Unity whereof they carry an Impression in their Breast through Baptism are returned to Jerusalem that is to say to the Catholick Church where God has established his Name and the Profession of Christianity for ever Finally the Grace of God hath abundantly manifested it self in our Dayes A King as Religious and as Victorious as Ezechias has invited the Trangressors of Israel to return to the Unity of Juda that is to say the Erroneous and the Schismaticks to return to the Peaceable and the Orthodox and we have seen something of that which is Written in the Holy Prophet Osea At that time the Children of Judah and the Children of Israel shall Assemble themselves together and shall set over them one Head that is to say the Catholicks and the Schismaticks should with one accord acknowledge the Chief whom God had given them JESUS CHRIST in the Heavens and on Earth St. Peter who lives in his Successors to Govern the People of God according to his Word So the Separatists of whom it was said Call ye those for whom there is no Mercy are come in as great number as the Sand of the Sea to the end they may receive Mercy and instead of what was said to them ye are not my People they are called the Children of the living God I do not marvel my dearest Brethren that you are returned in Troops and with so great ease to the Church where your Ancestors have served God The same Foundation of Christianity and as I have already said the Character of Baptism has secretly recall'd you thither NOT ONE OF YOU HATH SUFFERED VIOLENCE EITHER IN HIS PERSON OR GOODS Let them not bring you these deceitful Letters which are addressed from Strangers transform'd into Pastors under the Title of Pastoral Letters to the Protestants of France who are fallen by the force of Torments These Letters concern you not otherwise than as they are made by People who could never prove their Mission So far have you been from suffering Torments that you have not so much as heard them mention'd I hear other Bishops affirm the same But for you my Brethren I say nothing to you but what you may speak as well as I. You are returned Peaceably to us you know it When I Preach'd the Holy Word the Holy Ghost made you perceive I was your Pastor I have seen you crowding about our Pulpit with the same earnestness as the rest of my Flock The wholesome Doctrine entred into your Hearts as you heard it Expounded clearly to you and the Doubts which Custome more than Reason had form'd in your Minds yielded by little and little to the Truth Nothing could hinder you from acknowledging that I was in the place of those who planted the Gospel in these Countries You have reverenc'd them in my Person though unworthy I have not Preach'd to you any other Doctrine than that which I have receiv'd from my Holy Predecessors as every one of them hath followed those who went before them so have I done the same Look upon all the Bishops who round about you and even through the whole extent of this Kingdom We have all the same Glory which We will not suffer to be taken from us In this Succession a double Language has been never heard The Bishops that separate from our Unity such as are they of England Suedeland and Denmark at the moment of their Separation manifestly renounced the Doctrine of those who had Consecrated them It is not so among us united alwayes to the Chair of St Peter where from the beginning of Christianity We have acknowledged the Band of Ecclesiastical Unity We have never condemned our Predecessors and we leave the Faith of the Churches such as we found it