Letters you will find one Article concerning Antiquity and another concerning the Questions of the Church as you will find in this And forasmuch as these Letters ought to be instead of Sermons to you we will joyn unto them some words of Exhortation as often as we can We return therefore to the Letter of Monsieur de Meaux one of the Bishops of Rome We are considering the third Article of his Pastoral Letter This third Article and that which follows will give us an occasion to confute the Sophisms which they make or you make for your selves about the Church The Bishop of Meaux in his Pastoral Letter does six things 1. He endeavours to establish the Idea and Unity of the Church principally upon the Testimony of S. Cyprian and in consequence thereunto the Unity of the Ministers 2. He proves * Page 12. There is none allowed to separate from the Church and that all separate Assemblies are in a state of Damnation †Page 14. so that a Martyr which dies for the Faith of the Church out of this Unity is nevertheless damn'd 3. ‡ Page 13. That we must not examin Opinions to know whether such an Assembly be the Church ‖ Page 14. But we must know if an Assembly be the Church and judg from thence concerning the truth of Opinions 4. He endeavours to answer to that Text Where two or three are gathered together in my Name I will be in the midst of them A Text that proves wherever is Truth there is a True Church and then comes to his Chimera that all Separation ruins Unity a Chimera which he supports by the Testimony of the great S. Cyprian who is indeed his only Author 5. * Page 17. By the same S. Cyprian he proves that the Church with whom we must preserve Union is the Church of Rome or the Chair of S. Peter 6. In conclusion he falls on the common place of the invalidity of the Call of our first Reformers he proves their Vocation invalid because they were either Laicks or Renegado Priests which had renounced the Ministry The first never having Mission the last having it no longer cannot be lawful Pastors This is the Abridgment of a great number of Volumns which have been made to seduce you within twenty years last past concerning which we do intreat you to be attentive to these invincible Arguments which we have to produce for the subversion of these wicked Engins Although we do not account it a Duty to follow precisely the order of the Articles of the Bishop of Meaux Nevertheless seeing he begins with the Unity and Visibility of the Church we will begin there also and we will make you understand 1. What is the true Unity of the Church 2. What is the Unity of its Ministry 3. What is its perpetual Visibility 4. That to separate from a corrupt Church is not to break the Unity thereof 5. That there is such a degree of Corruption that obliges to separation and that the Church of Rome is corrupt to that degree First My Brethren it is necessary that you make to your selves a just and ligitimate Idea of the Unity of the Church They tell you that there is but one Catholick Church and that there cannot be many This is true there is but one Church universal and even the Word Universal that is added thereunto makes it apparent that there can be but one Just after the same manner that the word Universe by which is signified the World signifies also that there is but one for if there were another World besides this ours would not be the Universe seeing it would not comprehend totally all But the Bishop of Meaux and those that are like unto him give you a pleasant Idea of its Unity and Universality both together The Church of Rome say they is this universal and only Church it is universal and yet nevertheless out of it and separate from it there are many other Churches This is just as if I should say our World is the Universe nevertheless there be many other Worlds besides it Is not this absurd But it will be said that these Propositions are not alike nor the same for we mean thereby all other Churches besides the Roman Churches are false Churches This is another absurdity altogether alike as if a person or a man should say 'T is true there are many Worlds besides ours nevertheless ours is the Universe because all the rest are false Worlds If they Church of Rome did say Indeed I am but part of the Church Universal but I am the only sound and entire part the others are sick and diseased where a man cannot be saved If it should speak thus say I it would speak false but it would speak nothing absurd or contradictory and there would be reason to examin its pretensions to the bottom to know if indeed it be the only Church that is sound and without Errors But it must have renounced common sense to avow that out of her Bosom there are many Churches and nevertheless call her self the Church universal However it be her pretension is that the Unity of the Church consists in a certain Communion characterized and distinguished from all others by certain limits and boundaries and under certain Pastors out of which Communion whether you believe in Jesus Christ or not whether you have considerable Errors or no you are always out of the Church and hopes of Salvation altho you should believe and maintain all the truths of the Gospel from the beginning to the end tho you should be Orthodox as S. Paul retaining all the Articles of the Christan Faith yea of the Faith of the Church of Rome if nevertheless you live in separation with this certain Seat and this certain Church which is the Church Catholick you must be certainly damned I intreat you my Brethren before you go further propose a Question to your Converts Tell them I am content to grant there is a certain particular Church in which is that Unity from which we must never separate But how shall I know that this Church in which is that Unity to which we ought to adhere is the Church of Rome for I have heard say that there are many other Churches among others it hath been told me there is a Church in the East called the Greek Church which hath six Patriarchs that is to say for Popes the Bishops of Constantinople Antioch and Alexandria and these do all in like manner Anathematize the Pope of Rome Propose to them say I this difficulty and press it home and you will see them brought into such streights that they can say nothing but impertinences and absurdities They will tell you that Rome is the seat of S. Peter it is to her that this Priviledg was granted all those which separate from her depart from Unity So that the Greek Church and the three Popes whereof we have spoken are out of the Unity Can there be a
Saints are said to appear 't is not they which return 't is the Angels which appear and speak for them Behold I pray you how unformed and floating this Theology is But there is more than this in these same ages when they prayed to Martyrs at one time they prayed for them at another They prayed say I for the Martyrs and for the Apostles yea for the blessed Virgin and this is a new Proof of the Novelty of this Superstition This appears by the Liturgies of that time In that of St. Chrysostom we read We offer to thee this reasonable Service for those which rest in the Faith of our Ancestors our Fathers the Patriarchs the Prophets the Apostles the Preachers the Evangelists the Martyrs the Confessors the Continents and for all the Spirits which were initiated in the Faith principally for the most holy immaculate and blessed above all Women our Lady Mary Mother of God and always a Virgin. And in that which is attributed to Cyril of Jerusalem O God have mercy on our Fathers on our Brethren which are at rest whose Souls are acceptable unto thee give them repose and remember also all the holy Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors Evangelists and all the Spirits of the Just which are dead in the Faith and principally the holy and the glorious Mary Mother of God always a Virgin. It would be at this day the greatest of all absurdities to pray for a dead man and pray to him at the same time Indeed if he be in a condition of doing us good if he see God if he be with him he hath no need of our Prayers The inconsistency of these two Worships which nevertheless were both used at the same time is a demonstrative proof that the Invocations of Saints was a Novelty Prayers for the Martyrs were found in the ancient Liturgies out of respect to Antiquity they were left there but the torrent of Novelty added unto them Prayers unto the Martyrs without taking notice that these latter were inconsistent with the former To conclude I do maintain that those who will not give attention to these Demonstrations which prove the Novelty of the Invocation of Saints in the 4th Age have an insensible and seared Conscience and so I think it unprofitable to dispute any more against them I well understand that the New Converts who are willing to be content with their change will yet find two Fortifications for their security They will say that this Worship of Saints was then new but that it was not evil and that therefore the Church might introduce it as a pious Custom and proper to incline the minds of men towards Devotion But let these Gentlemen have a little patience Monsieur de Meaux in that which follows will give us occasion to make it plain to you that this Worship and this Invocation is Paganism renewed and that it is in nothing better than the Invocation of Angels and Hero's which the Pagans practised in their Devotions we will make them see that 't is a true Idolatry The other Fortification is the Antiquity of this Worship However it be say they you do confess that the Invocation of Saints hath more than one thousand two hundred Years on its head Does this put you to no troubles Have you no respect for so goodly a piece of Antiquity and how can you believe that God hath left his Church under Idolatry for so many Ages We answer That we cannot have respect for Antiquity without Truth and in this we are of the Religion of St. Cyprian We add That we are not astonisht to see an Idolatry so aged in the Church because it hath been expresly predicted to us The Prophet St. John calls Idolatrous Christians Pagans and the Spirit saith to him * Revel 11. cap. 12. I have given up the outward Court of the Church to the Pagans that they may tread it under foot for forty two Months These are the thousand two hundred and sixty Days in which the Woman i. e. the Church ought to be hidden as in a Wilderness for the space of these thousand two hundred and sixty Days And the two Prophets which prophesied in Sack-cloth i. e. the Truth published by a small number of Witnesses and those under the Cross ought to continue under the oppression of Idolatry the same number of Days i. e. a thousand two hundred and sixty Now these thousand two hundred and sixty Days are so many Years according to the stile of the Prophets who denominate Years by Days We shall have it may be in what follows an opportunity to prove it to you It must be therefore that Idolatry Rule in the Christian Church one thousand two hundred and sixty Years It hath done so almost for that space of time it is therefore near its end But we ought not to be amazed that it hath continued so long An Article of Controversie A Continuation of the Answer to the Illusions that the New Converts put upon themselves WE take up again the Continuation of the Controversie at the place where we left the Illusions of the New Converts The common Faith say you is a kind of Agreement to live under the same Ministery without being accountable for all the Abuses that have slipt into the Church By this fine reasoning we may live in safety among the Turks we believe as they do that there is one GOD one Paradise one Hell and that Jesus Christ is the greatest Prophet which ever came into the World. This common Confession of Faith will be an Agreement to live together safely under the same Ministery And we will leave to the Turks their prophane Abuses and their absurd and impious Doctrines Believe me such an Agreement resembles that of Pilate and Herod who agreed to despise and put to death Christ Jesus When the Ministery introduces small Corruptions this may be granted but when Corruption goes to the heart of Religion the Agreement signifies nothing and lays no obligation all is deadly either by itself or by its neighbourhood or contagion Provided that we Adore the same God and Profess the same Fundamentals of Christianity all the rest is not imputable to private persons Above all then when there is a necessity of joyning ourselves to this first Christian Society and when we cannot find any publick Worship more pure and edifying This is the Continuation of your Apology There are two words therein Provided and above all which destroy you Provided that we profess the same Fundamentals I have made it appear already that this provided is insufficient You must add Provided that fundamental Errours be not added to the Foundations Now Popery hath added to the Foundations of Christianity Tyranny Superstition and in one word Antichristianism So behold yourselves thrown out of your Fortification Provided that The Above all is no better Above all when there is a necessity of joyning ourselves There is no necessity of joyning ourselves to a Communion which we acknowledge
she is visible in this old age an corruption as she was visible in her youth and purity so that neither her youth nor her old age neither purity nor corruption signifie any thing to Visibility The case is the same concerning the Perpetuity of the Ministery the Ministery is perpetual therefore 't is incorruptible Deny that consequence without scruple for 't is false but some will say Does not the Lord teach with those Pastors which follow one another in the order of Ages Answer Ye because these Pastors teach the three Creeds conformably to the Holy Scriptures Jesus Christ teaches with them and they with Jesus Christ But because they teach beyond the three Creeds Idolatrous and superstitious Doctrines they teach against Jesus Christ My Brethren that which I have said unto you in this and the preceding Letter is sufficient to make you understand what is the perpetual Visibility of the Church Read it and read it again until you understand and possess it very well and you will easily answer the two Sophisms which your Adversaries put upon you The first is That if the Church hath not been always visible the Pagans for a thousand or twelve hundred years before Luther's Reformation had no door open to their conversion For how should they be converted and how should they find the Church if she were invisible Now 't is a prodigy contrary to all reason and probability that God for the space of so many Ages should hold the door of the Church close and hidden Besides this is contrary to History and Experience which learns us that the most part of the Northern Nations Sweden Denmark Poland and many Provinces of Germany did not receive the Christian Faith till since the eighth Age i. e. since the time that Antichristianity was mixed with the Christian Doctrine For the Roman Church began according to us to be Antichristian before the sixth Age. This is a difficulty which they propose to you to which you ought to answer That according to what we have told you we do not teach that the Church became invsible by the Antichristianity which is entered there she is corrupt but she continues visible Christianity hath not failed to continue its integrity in Popery therefore the Church remains intirely there I have told you that Christianity and the Church are the same thing This Christianity continuing visible in the Books of the Old and New Testament and in the three Creeds which the providence of God hath preserved in Popery the door of conversion hath been always open to the Pagan Nations for Jesus Christ crucified and his true Mysteries have not failed to preserve their force and efficacy in despight to all the Darkness which the bastard Mysteries of Antichristianity have brought in thither There hath been Conversion and Perversion and Perversion in the Pagan Nations which have joyn'd themselves to the Church of Rome since the eighth Age. There hath been Conversion for they have entertained one God in three Persons one God Creator of Heaven and Earth one Jesus the Eternal Son of God the Word made Flesh who died and rose again for the Sins of Men who will come to Judge the Living and the Dead and having raised men from their Graves will send some men to everlasting Torments and some to the Kingdom of Heaven This is Christianity by receiving this they became Converts to Jesus Christ There hath been Perversion also for by receiving a Vicar of Jesus Christ a Vice-God upon Earth a Soveraign to all the World a Master of Kings as of Subjects of Crowns as of Shepherds Crooks by adoring Bread Angels Saints Reliques and Images they have done nothing else but changed their ancient Paganism for a new one But however it be their Perversion has not hindered their Conversion and that they have entertained Antichristianity hinders not that they have not embraced also the Christian Doctrine So that the Gate of Conversion to Christianity was never shut But the question is Whether this Gate be saving whether these Conversions be profitable or whether we ought to say of the Missionaries of the Roman Church what Christ Jesus said of the Pharisees That they compass sea and land to make Proselites whom they made twofold more children of hell than themselves The question is Whether the Antichristianity which they have embraced hath more power to destroy them than the Christianity which they have received hath to save them It behoves you to answer that these People who are joyned to the Church of Rome since the eighth Age have some portion and lot with her ancient Members that God doth nothing in vain that he hath not converted so many men to Christianity to destroy them all though it be a corrupt Christianity which in the times when there were no Churches which were not very corrupt as well as the Church of Rome it may be granted that God did preserve unto himself children in these corrupt Societies that in these Pagan Nations which are joyned to the Church of Rome God had his Elect and that he found means to save these Elect from among the Nations by the Christianity which they had embraced and that he gave them the grace to separate the Antichristianity and not to be hurt or injured thereby How this was done is not for us precisely to determine These are the depths of the ways of God. We will say the same concerning the Conversions which the Roman Church hath made in the Indies that God saves his Elect from among these Nations by the Christianity which the Missionaries cause them to embrace and defends them from the wounds and hurts which the Antichristianity that is joyned unto it might do unto them by ways known to his profound Wisdom We might believe this say I were it not that according to the report that the Papists themselves make unto us of the Christianity which the Jesuites teach the Indians and the Chinesees is not so much as an honest Paganism This is it which must be answered to the first Difficulty Behold the second If you confess say they that the Church is visible and always visible the Church of Luther and Calvin cannot be the true Church for it was not visible two hundred years agon having no existence in the World. When you shall have made a dissection of this Difficulty you will find it the most pittiful one that ever was made Know then my Brethren that when we say the Church was visible and always visible we understand the Church Universal and not any particular Church By the Universal Church must be understood Christianity dispersed through all Nations in the East West North and South in all places where they retain the Books of the Old and New Testament with the three Greeds which are the Abridgment of them This Church is always visible for God cannot permit that she perish wholly nor yet that it be wholly hidden but the particular Churches of which the Universal Church is made
all to awaken mens minds to oblige them to give attention to Truth Mr. Nicholas to the Miracles and Prodigies of Sanctity of the Ancients which make the Church of Rome according to him visible joyns also the Sanctity of the present Church of Rome her Reformed Orders her great Men the Nuns de Trap c. and concludes That although a man should have regard to nothing but the Sanctity of the Manners of the Church of Rome she is even thereby distinguished from all other Societies and that she hath in persons of eminent Piety sensible Characters of the Spirit of God which will animate and inspire her to the end of the World. Mr. Nicholas speaking of all preceding Ages did always joyn Miracles with Sanctity At present he lays by Miracles and why is this He well knows his Church pretends as yet to have the Gift of Miracles And there is not a place eminent for Devotion as are the famous Ladies of Arsillieres of Montferrat of Loretto where they do not pretend to see Miracles The Father de Aviano ran all the World over to make it evident that the Gift of Miracles did not dye with the Apostles He dares not produce to us that as a Light he perceives very well that all these Miracles are suspected Plainly he himself hath not much Faith for them And so by this silence Mr. Nicholas doth tacitly consent that at this day the Roman Church doth no Miracles If it be so I would very willingly know why the Roman Church worke no more Miracles at this day when she had never more need thereof to convert so many ill converted Hereticks and which cry out so loudly of the Violence which they have suffered by the sending of the Dragoons The Miracles whereof they tell us as done at present may very well be Juggles or Fables according to what Mr. Nicholas lets us think by saying nothing of them for what reason may not all those of the Ages past for seven or eight hundred years particularly be very well also accounted Impostures These Miracles of the Church of Rome and of Popery do very well deserve that we should make larger Reflections on them and an occasion thereof will be presented to us elsewhere But in the mean while I pray give attention to this It is if they reckon the Miracles which are found in the Legends from the fifth Age wrought expresly to support the Invocation of Saints Adoration of Reliques Worship of Images and of Purgatory it will be found that God hath wrought without Hyperbole a thousand times more Miracles for the establishment of these false Doctrines these wicked Worships than he hath wrought to confirm the Christian Religion We have told you long since that a Monk for his part raised two and fifty dead persons and others in proportion Now judge if it were probable that these new Doctrines supposing they were true should be so important that to confirm them God should work a thousand and a thousand times more wonders than he hath wrought to establish the Faith of the greatest Mysteries of the Christian Religion As to the Article of the Holiness of the Church of Rome at this day whereof Mr. Nicholas and Mr. Arnold make an evidence for her I can destroy it by making appear the enormous Corruptions which are yet seen in her most considerable parts of Spain and Italy I can prove the disorders of her Clergy and of her Monks I can prove that these prodigious Austerities which they produce to us as the effects of the Spirit of God are but the effects of the Spirit of Hypocrisie or Fanaticism But to the end that I may not trouble those that pride themselves of the Virtue and Piety in the Roman Church I will say that if there be Piety in some of the Members of that Church they owe it not to Popery and Antichristianism but to the remainders of Christianity which continue in that Communion I come to the third Light by which Mr. Nicholas would make the Church visible It is the Holy Scripture To conclude behold him come to the only place from whence the true Light can be drawn It is false saith he that this Author hath believed that the point concerning the Church cannot be proved by the Scriptures and that the proofs are not accommodated to the capacity of the Vulgar We have shewn Mr. Nicholas how much there is of Absurdity in what he says here that a man may prove the point concerning the Church by the Scripture after a manner that is fitted to the capacity of the Vulgar and yet we know not how to prove the other Articles of Faith which are controverted after the same manner It hath been made evident that the Controversie concerning the Church is the most difficult of all It hath been represented to him that to deside this Controversie by the Scripture according to the method which he hath imployed against us it is necessary that an ignorant man should be able to compare the Translations with the Originals and by consequence that he should understand Greek and Hebrew that he may be able to read the Commentaries of the Ancients and the Moderns and by consequence that he should be able to understand Latine All this is as necessary to determine one single Controversie as to determine a hundred We have proved unto him that it is false to say that a man may very well prove by Scripture the Soveraign Authority of the Church but that he cannot prove thereby the Trinity or Incarnation and on that subject he is reduced to an eternal silence For which reason we shall not press him farther on an Article which he grants us by his silence But it is necessary to acquaint you that his Affirmation is intirely false and rash viz. That the Holy Scripture furnishes sufficient Light to the Vulgar to make them see that the Roman Church is the true Church Either these Gentlemen mean that by the Scripture they can easily prove that there ought to be always a visible and infallible Church upon Earth or they mean that the Holy Scripture shews with its finger the Church of Rome and makes it known for the true Church to the Exclusion of all other Sects of Christians or to conclude they mean the Holy Scripture forms a Light to make the Roman Church visible because it contains includes and teaches all the Doctrines and Worship which this Church doth authorize and command As to the first sence although it should be true Popery would gain nothing thereby although they should prove even by the Scripture that there ought always to be a visible and infallible Church upon Earth this would not prove that this must be the Church of Rome For the Greek Church pretends to be that Church which is built upon the rock and against which the gates of hell cannot prevail to the exclusion of the Latine Church and 't is that in which we ought to observe the perpetual Illusion
neither in the Apostolick Church 3. They undertook a custom of bringing Offerings and Alms not in Silver but in Merchandize Bread Wine Corn Raisins Fruits c. And of that they offered on the Holy Table those things which might be of use in the publick Service whereas in the Apostolick Church we see no other Alms but such as were gathered by the Hands of the Deacons either at the end or beginning of their Assemblies 4. Of these Alms of the Believers they made Oblations to God consecrating them by Prayer 5. At the end of their Prayers before the Communion they added the mutual kiss which was not of Apostolick Institution and was afterwards abolished 6. Many persons entertained an opinion of the separate state for Souls after death a third place which was utterly unknown to the Apostles 7. They conceive an excessive Love for the Bones of the Martyrs nevertheless without giving them any kind of Worship or Religious Homage This excessive love for Bones was not reasonable nor was it of the Apostolick Age. 8. About the end of the second Age they appointed Feasts to celebrate the memories of the Martyrs which was not neither of Apostolick Institution 9. They appointed a day or two for Fasting before Easter Behold the principal Innovations in the second Age in which there is nothing almost that can be blamed considered in it self and separated from the Fruits and Consequences thereof To conclude to the end that you be not abused by false Authors you ought to know that we entertain none for the Writers of the second Age but these S. Clement the Disciple of S. Paul who writ an Epistle to the Corinthians S. Ignatius of whom we have many Epistles concerning which the Learned doubt with reason but we will nevertheless receive them in the present Affair S. Polycarp who wrote an Epistle to the Philippians the Epistle of the Church of Smyrna concerning the Martyrdom of S. Polycarp Justin Martyr whose Works ought to be distinguished for there are many among them which are falsly attributed unto him Athanagoras the Athenian of whom we have an Apology for the Christians and a Discourse concerning the Resurrection Theophilus of Antioch of whom we have three Books written to Autolycus Tatian of whom we have a Discourse in Defence of the Christian Religion and against that of the Pagans And in fine S. Ireneus Bishop of Lyons of whom we have a considerable Work against the Heresies of his Times If they quote unto you the Liturgies of S. Mark of S. James of S. Peter the Works of Dionysius the Areopagite the Canons of the Apostles and other like Discourses you ought to reject them as being false and forged in the opinion of all the Learned who have any thing of sincerity November 15 1686. THE SEVENTH PASTORAL LETTER CONCERNING Songs and Voices which were heard in several places in the Air. Dear Brethren in our Lord Grace and Peace be given to you from our God and Saviour Jesus Christ IN the last of our Letters we engaged our selves to communicate unto you certain notable matters of Fact which some of our Brethren have thought adviseable to impart unto us Amongst these matters of Fact I do not think there 's any one that better deserves to be examined than that which hath been reported to us That in many places where there have been formerly Churches Voices have been heard in the Air so perfectly like to our singing of Psalms that they could not be taken for any thing else If this be true 't is a wonder which very well deserves the labor of our attention We shall think our selves very ungrateful to the Divine Goodness if we should suppress so illustrious a Testimony of his Approbation He must be bold in this Age that dares speak of Prodigies Marvels Presages and other such like things There are times in which Men believe every thing in this wherein we now are they believe nothing I think there is a mean to be chosen we may not believe every thing but surely something ought to be believed For this Spirit of Incredulity and this Character of a brave Spirit is good for nothing and I have not as yet discovered the use thereof 'T is true Credulity hath destroyed Religion and introduced a thousand Superstitions for these unhappy Tales of Miracles done at the Tombs of Saints these Apparitions of Souls these pretended Visions of Spirits that come from the other World these say I have produced the Invocation of Saints the Adoration of Images Purgatory Masses the Prayers of the living for the dead For which reason I am content that Men stand upon their Guard when any thing is debated and reported concerning wonderful and pious Histories The generality of those which are called honest Men are come so far from thence that they have cast themselves on the other extreme and believe nothing 'T is to expose a Man's self and to be turned into Ridicule to maintain that there have been Miracles and that there may yet be they mock at Presages and have no Faith for that which they call Prodigies Nevertheless whither goes this and what will be the Issue of it 'T is to deny Providence 't is to make our selves believe God does not intermeddle in the Affairs here below and to ruine all the Principles of human Faith and by consequence to cast our selves on a perfect Scepticism which is peradventure a disposition of mind the most dangerous to Religion of any in the World. By doubting all matters of Fact which have any appearance of extraordinary they tell us they have no intention to extend it any farther than the History of the World. But we don't perceive that we insensibly entertain a habit of doubting which extends it self to every thing There is a God we all consent thereto There is a Providence we all profess and avow it Nothing comes to pass without him Is it possible that God should so hide himself behind his Creatures and under the veil of second Causes that he should never at any time tho never so little draw aside the Curtain If we have taken a resolution to deny the truth of all extraordinary matters of Fact what shall we do with History both sacred and profane Can we persuade our selves that the Historians of all Ages intended to deceive us by making us believe that the great Revolutions which have happened in the Societies of Men and the Church have been preceded by extraordinary Events such as Earthquakes Signs in Heaven and Prodigies on Earth They will say the most part of these Histories are Fables it may be so but if the most part be Fables there have been some which have been true If there had never been any true Prodigies they would not have reported those that were false for falshood is an imitation of Truth He must have a hardness and impudence that I understand not that can put all Historians in one rank and range them all together
who make a very great noise in Italy They reproach the Pastors excessively and under an appearance of Zeal there is nothing which they do not say to make odious and contemptible both the publick Ministry and those that exercise it in the one and other Religion This may be seen in the Writings of their Foundrâ—ss Anthoniette de Bourignon They perform no private Exercises of Devotion in their houses at least which are visible for Mr. P. himself hath made known to the Publick that Madam Meiselle de Bourignon had no Prayers in her Family unless it were at Table and yet he observes that that also was done with a low Voice not that they do not permit the use of Prayers to such as will as they permit them to go to Sermons or to Mass indifferently but those which are perfect among them do not concern themselves about it And one of the Principles of Mr. P. is That Desires Prayers Elevations of Heart towards God and Meditation are perfectly contrary to the Spirit of perfect Christianity and hinder the descent of the holy Spirit and the coming of his Grace According to him the only estate proper to draw down the holy Spirit is that which he calls a state of Inaction by which in a privation of Prayers Desires and Motions a man lets himself fall into nothing And this annihilation of all the Faculties is that acceptable Sacrifice to God which causes a descent of the Holy Spirit They have perpetually those Words in their mouth Let all Creatures keep silence and let God speak by which they signifie not only that we ought to impose silence on our Passions that we may hear God which is very true but also that we ought to shut the doors to all external Objects and to lay all our internal Faculties asleep to procure a kind of Extasie which whilst it continues God speaks to the Heart immediately and by himself Behold one of the Dreams of this Sect whereof you will see some footsteps scattered here and there throughout the whole Letter for this is the meaning of those Humiliations Annihilations and internal acts of Adherence to God which you are there exhorted to make Behold another Dream of these diseased Minds which is read also in this Writing in the fourth Page thereof and the second Column Moreover says he it must be remembred that 't is said in the Gospel That all things are possible to him that believes That Faith can remove Mountains and that Jesus Christ always said to Men Be it unto you according to your Faith. So that if those which officiate and assist at the Celebration of the Eucharist do believe that Jesus Christ is present there this Faith is ratified by God and it engages him beyond his Word and his Promises to make himself present as it is believed and this is a Conception so clear that I do not doubt but you will comprehend the force thereof Must not he have a besotted mind to call this a clear Conception I will explain it to you One of the Opinions of this mysterious Cabala is that originally God created Man master of all things in the literal signification of the Words so that he was able to stop the Sun in his course to remove the Globe of the Earth to remove Mountains c. and the Instrument by which he doth this or could do it is his Faith for all things are possible to him that believes without any Figure or Exceptions The state of Perfection to which Christ calls us is that of Faith which makes all things possible to us so that at this day to overturn the order of the World you have no more to do but to believe that you can do it and it shall be done for 't is precisely in the literal sense that they would have us understand the words of Christ If you had Faith but as a grain of Mustard-seed you should say to this Mountain be thou removed and cast into the Sea and it would be done And that it was not a Priviledge of the Apostles but for all Believers Behold that admirable Conception which he tells you is so clear that it is impossible you should not understand the force thereof If you don't understand its strength at least you will understand the convenience of it for when it shall please you to believe that Christ is corporeally present in your Andiron and in the Mantle-tree of your Chimney it will be so and by that means without going out of your Chimney-corner you will go to Mass and every one of you by his Faith will consecrate and transubstantiate all the Utensils of his House In the same Writing you will find another Dream which to me seems yet more ridiculous 'T is in the sixth Page and the second Column on the Subject of Purgatory Then when it happens that a Soul departs this Life in the love of God having nevertheless some impurities and evil habits in it self the Blood of Jesus Christ or the purifying Grace of Jesus Christ which comes after death into this Soul to purifie it or to finish its purification from all sin finding there as yet more or less of the remainders of Evil and of evil Habits and Inclinations fights with them that he may expell them this Combat of the purifying Grace of Jesus Christ against the evil which is in a Soul very sensible which he would cleanse from all the remainders of Sin is not done nor can be without great and sensible sorrows Is not this very singular That when a Soul is separated from his Body the blood of Jesus Christ should thrust it self in there like Sand to scour to cleanse this Soul which is an occasion of quick and pungent Sorrows Surely Mr P. could not have done better to excite the curiosity of the Publick than to give us this little spark of his Mysteries This also will be worth something to his Printer for I am assured that the Curious of France would at any rate whatsoever see a compleat Systeme of this admirable Theology However it be it is not without a particular Providence that it happens that in a Writing otherwise apt enough to flatter the minds of our Nicodemites the Author hath sufficiently discovered himself and made known what he is After this my Brethren judge what credit you ought to give a man who gives you an Idea of Piety according to which the Israelites might worship the Golden Calf without fault because they believed it to be God according to which a Man may be a Turk and adore even Cabages provided he makes use of them as a means of uniting him to God and to excite his Love. These Gentlemen desire of us to leave them in peace let them leave us so then and let them not intermeddle to give Advice to our Congregations being not called thereto With all my heart I am willing to leave them at rest for I take no pleasure to trouble any body
That the Body of Christ which Believers receive doth not loose its sensible substance and remain inseperable from the intelligible Grace as Baptism being made intirely spiritual preserves the property of its sensible substance i. e. of Water This man had lost all sense to speak thus if he had believed Transubstantiation or unavoidably he believed that a Transubstantiation was made in Baptism In the same sixth Age Facundus Bishop of Hermiane doth very neatly express wherein this change consists (c) Lib. 9. We call says he The Sacrament of the Body and Bloud which is consecrated in the Bread and the Cup the Body and Bloud of Jesus Christ not that the Bread is properly his Body and the Cup his Bloud but because they contain the Mystery of his Body and Bloud and thence it comes to pass that the Lord himself did call the Bread and the Cup which he blessed and gave to him Disciples his Body and Bloud In what kind of frame of mind must a man be to say after this That Facundus believed Transubstantiation and the real Presence It must be confessed that we owe something to the Heresie of Eutyches who confounded the two Natures in Jesus Christ For 't is in refuting this Error and for the confutation of it that Theodoret Gelasius and Facundus made use of the example of the Eucharist and have explained the change which is made there with such clearness that our own Divines never did it more plainly 'T is in disputing against these Hereticks that Theodoret says this That a man would believe it had been transcribed from the Books of a Calvinist (d) Dialog 1. Our Saviour saith he did make a change of Names he gave to his Body the name of the Symbol and as he named himself a Vine so he also called the Symbol his Blood c. Tell us in good earnest whereof think you that the holy Element is a Sign and Figure Is it of the Divinity of Jesus Christ or of his Blood 'T is evident that 't is of those things whereof they take their names For the Lord having taken the Sign says not this is my Divinity but this is my Body and this is my Blood. My Brethren as a matter of Fact tell your Converters that those passages which we produce unto you are not the tenth part of what we are able to produce to the same sence and importance To conclude when the Ancients please to express plainly and without circumlocution the manner how we feed on Christ Jesus they say exactly the same things that we do 'T is a strange thing that being of such contrary sentiments as they are supposed they should have expressions so very much alike Behold a Calvinistical Paraphrase upon the sixth Chapter of St. John taken from Eusebius Caesariensis he makes Jesus Christ to speak thus * Theod. Ecclesiast contra Marcel lib. 3. cap. 12. Do not think I speak of the Flesh wherewithal I am enclosed as if it were necessary that you should eat it nor do not think that I appoint you to drink sensible Blood but know that the words which I speak to you are Spirit and Life For they are my Words and my Discourses which are this Flesh and this Blood in which whosoever does always partake shall be a Partaker of Eternal Life as being nourished with Bread from Heaven 'T is pitty that St. Athanasius so great a Defender to the Truth against the Arrians should have also been a Calvinistical Heretick After he had quoted these words of our Lord Doth this offend you c. He adds ‖ Our Lord ‖ Hom. On That whosoever shall speak a word against the Son c. speak of the one and of the other i. e. of his Flesh and of his Spirit And he distinguished his Spirit from his Flesh to the end that not beleiving only that which was visible in him but also that which was invisible in him they might learn that the things which he spake were not carnal but spiritual For to how many persons must his Body serve as Meat to become the Nourishment of all the World 'T is for that reason that he makes mention of the Ascention of the Son of Man into Heaven that he might withdraw them from all corporeal thoughts and learn them that the Flesh whereof he had spoken to them was a heavenly Meat and a spiritual Nourishment which He must give them from on High. 'T is a thing very surprizing that the Arrians who watched the steps of Athanasius so very warily and made faults of every thing did not accuse him for being estranged from the Faith of the Church As to St. Austine he is upon thâ— matter more a Calvinist than Calvin himself And if the Jesuites have degraded him because he is a Jansenist in the matter of Grace I know not why they should treat him with more civility in this Case 'T is he that saith ‖ Lib. 3. de Doct. Christiana cap. 16. That Jesus Christ seems to command a Crime when he says If ye do not eat my Flesh and drink my Blood you have no life in you but 't is a Figure which commands that we communicate in the Passion of our Lord and that we do gratefully and profitably remember that his Flesh was wounded and crucified for us 'T is he which saith also * Seâ—â— 33. de Verhis Domin Do not prepare the Throat but the Heart Why do you prepare your Teeth and you Belly Believe and you will eat him You Converters my Brethren are not ignorant that we could easily make a Book of like passages of this Father for he speaks often of the Eating of the Flesh of Jesus Christ and never speaks otherwise thereof He says that this eating is by Faith and that the Wicked the Unbelieving and Unworthy Communicants have no part therein I conjure you my Brethren to consider whether any thing solid can be opposed to Testimonies so plain and express What can the Harshnesses of St. Ambrose the Rhetorications of St. Chrysostome and the perplext Ratiocinations of St. Hillary do against this Can it hinder that the Testimonies which we have heard do not make a clear and convincing Deposition against the Real Presence I enquire of you Whether if we must explain one by the other it be just to explain those which speak simply clearly and without ambiguity by those who speak like Orators or in a mystick Stile that they may not be understood by Infidels and Catechumens Besides is it not just to explain an Author by himself Are not five or six passages of St. Chrysostome where he speaks in plain terms and discourses of things as they are in themselves more than sufficient to give the Reader a true understanding of the sence and spirit of this Author Where are the Christian Orators with whom a man may not find Heresies if he will thus take them at advantage And in the Books of Protestant Meditations may not a man