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
of the Sun as they suppose in producing those words this is my body our fear would have no foundation To defend us against this prejudice Monsieur de Meaux produces the false fear of the Arrians and the Disciples of Paulus Samosatenus who feared lest they should be made to worship a Man an Infant a Creature however perfect and highly priviledged he were Let not Monsieur de Meaux be displeased behold a shred of Antiquity ill placed and disposed for a person that prides himself of knowledg It supposes that the Arrians and Samosatenians have heretofore refused to adore Jesus Christ under pretence that he was a Creature a Man an Infant just as we refuse at this day to adore the Sacrament under pretence that it is but Bread. I would be very glad that he would a little shew us those places in the Ancients where the Arrians refused to adore Jesus Christ because he was nothing else but Man. First of all they did not say he was a mere Man they acknowledged he was God of God and Light of Light and that he was before Abraham but they said he was a God created before all Ages and afterwards incarnate And as for the adoration they so little refused to give it to Jesus Christ that all the Fathers made it their Crime and convinced them of Idolatry because supposing Jesus Christ was a Creature they nevertheless adored him It is good my Brethren that you observe this passage and that you conclude that these-Gentlemen know not how to quote the Ancients without impressing some footsteps of their falsness and perfidiousness on those quotations They ought to find an example about vain fear in Antiquity like unto ours they can find none and therefore it is expedient to make one But although it were true that the Arrians did refuse to adore Jesus Christ for fear that they should adore a Man an Infant they had been mistaken and we shall have reason to be unwilling to adore the Sacrament for fear of adoring Bread. For the Orthodox did invincibly prove to the Arrians that this Man was the Eternal Son of God but the Papists will never prove that the Sacrament is the true Body of Jesus Christ Your Reformers have done nothing but renew the Controversies ended six hundred years since when Berengarius moved them And if you call in doubt the judgment that was given against him others with as much reason will doubt concerning preceding Councils and behold us then obliged to examine anew all which hath been Decreed as if we began to be Christians and that all that our Fathers have determined is good for nothing It is not true that we have done nothing else but renew Controversies ended six hundred years ago We acknowledge no Authority in an Antichristian Church such was that in which Berengarius lived to determine Controversies It hath no right to determine them or at least we have right to have no regard to her decisions It is precisely that which our Arrians do now at this day say unto us your Divines and Schoolmen have done nothing else but renew Controversies already determined more than twelve hundred years ago in the Councils of Tyre Jerusalem Millan and Ariminum The date is a little older and the Authority in my opinion a little greater For the Church of the Arrians was much more pure than that of the Man of Sin. It had been a great marvel if Monsieur de Meaux had neglected to bring into this short Letter the Sophisms about the Judge of Controversies These Gentlemen have nothing else to say it is their only Rampart it is necessary they always return thither If it be permitted us to reject the Councils that have condemned Berengarius behold us under a necessity to examine anew all the Councils which have decided the Controversies against the Arrians Nestorians c. This signifies nothing neither according to my Principles nor those of Monsieur de Meaux Hath Monsieur de Meaux forgotten that according to his Principles no Councils are infallible but those that are General Wherefore then doth he demand the same submission for the Councils that condemned Berengarius as for those that condemned Arrius Nestorius and Eutyches These last are considered as Oeconomical and by consequence as Infallible in the Church of Rome But a Council of Tours of Verseille a Council of Rome which have condemned Berengarius were but particular Councils Therefore they were not Infallible Some of them had the Pope for their Head yea but according to Monsieur de Meaux a great friend of the Theology of the Gallican Church the Pope is not Infallible nor can he communicate it to any one Let these Gentlemen fix their Principles or let them not delude us by comparing Councils which can err to Councils which according to them are Infallible and cannot be mistaken If this be worth nothing according to the Principles of Monsieur de Meaux it is worth less according to mine These Gentlemen will not take it amiss if we have mote veneration for Councils held in the fourth Age where they judged by the word of God than for Councils of the eleventh Age held in a time in which the Church was plunged into an abyss of Corruption according to the confession of Baronius and others like unto him Therefore one may doubt of the truth of decisions of the Councils of that Age and not doubt of those of all the preceding Councils But because we are willing to have some submission for the decisions of the Councils of the fourth Age must we therefore pluck out our Eyes Must we cease to see that they did decide conformably to the Scripture Must we cease to build the submission that we have for Councils principally upon the conformity of their decisions with the Holy Scriptures Behold us obliged to examine all anew as if we began to be Christians Behold us obliged to examine all anew yea every one for himself And does not every one of us begin to be Christian when he begins to live and to make use of his reason Monsieur de Meaux is at agreement that when a Man begins to be a Christian he has right to examine Societies and Confederate Churches do not always begin to be Christians and therefore it is not always necessary that they examine And when once they have formed their Confessions upon the word of God it is not necessary that they repeat it at least unless it be made appear that they have erred and be mistaken But every particular person begins to be a Christian he hath therefore right to examine And so behold the right of single persons re established by the reasoning of Monsieur de Meaux We will not touch the rest of the private Letter of Monsieur de Meaux at this time because what he adds concerning the Judge of Controversies and the reflections which we have to make thereon will fall in very well with what follows in his Pastoral Letter
Non-elect and Reprobates so that it is absurd that God should cause his Gospel to be preached to a herd of Reprobates among which there is not one person on whom the Word can produce its effect It will be therefore in vain that God should preserve Christians in all the East and South for these Christians being out of the saving Unity will be damned just in the same manner as if they were Pagans Fourthly The Schism of the Ten Tribes gives us a convincing Proof that in Schismatical Churches every single Person is not in a state of Damnation Jeroboam separated ten Tribes from the other two he would not suffer them to go up to Jerusalem but engaged them in a formal Schism nevertheless God there preserved both Prophets as Elijah and Elisha and a multitude of Persons which he affirmed to be his own because they had not bowed the knee to Baal There is therefore no particular Church that has reason to boast it self of having Unity alone to the prejudice of all other Churches Fifthly The truth is that on one side the Jews converted to Christianity in the time of the Apostles and on the other side the Pagan Converts lived in a true Schism for these Jewish Christians would have no Communion with the converted Pagans nevertheless they did not mutually damn each other therefore we ought not to damn those which live in Schism whatever it be The converted Jews had considerable Errors they observed the Law and would retain Circumcision with all their might Things incompatible with Christianity as S. Paul declares so positively as to say If any one be circumcised Christ should profit him nothing nevertheless God suffers and saves them with considerable Errors It is not therefore true that the Church is shut up in one sole Communion and that every Error damns when we separate from a Society that is justly called the Church but it 's true that remaining in a Society bearing that Name we may nevertheless be damned when there are mortal Errors there as there are in the Church of Rome Sixthly Ask your Converters who would oblige you to return to the Church of Rome on pain of Damnation under pretence that Unity is in that Church alone ask them I say whether they would pronounce that all the Greek Christians of whom there are millions are damned for this only reason because they will not adhere to the Roman Church who alone has Unity in her possession If they have the front to say yea ask them if they acknowledge the Greeks for Christians They will also also answer you yea pursue and press them by asking how God can abandon to eternal Damnation an infinite number of Christians who according to the Church of Rome hold no Capital Errors and are only mistaken in things of small consequence If the Papists boast of the consent of all Christians of other Communions and particularly of the Geeks in the Invocation of Saints in the Adoration of Images in the Doctrine of Transubstantiation the real Presence and Adoration they do therefore hold all that the Church of Rome esteems necessary to Salvation why therefore will they damn them for little things and for this alone that they will not live in this pretended Unity To compleat the confusion of your Converters by themselves on the subject of this Unity out of which we are departed Ask them if this Unity be not a certain circle in which the true Church is enclosed They will answer you yea proceed to ask them Whether this certain Circle of Unity has not its Centre that is to say a certain eminent Church to which all the rest ought to have their Relation to the end that they may be within the ciâ—cle of Unity they will also answer you yea and they will add that the Pope or Bishop of Rome is this centre of Unity Monsieur de Meaux finds a way to secure himself from the Thunders of Rome by frequent repeating this and indeed this Supposition according to their Hypothesis is of absolute necessity for if this Circle of Unity have no Centre of Adherence it vanishes immediately a man will always be able to say with good reason To what Church would you that I should adhere is it to that of Paris or that of Toledo These are particular Churches which may err if therefore the Pope be ruined if the necessity of Adherence to the Pope be removed the circle of Unity perishes with him which they call the centre of Unity Now observe that at this day the Divines of the French Church your Converters ruine the Pope from head to foot they take away the centre of Unity and by destroying the centre they destroy the circle 'T is to this that so many modern Writings of Maimbourgh Gerbas Noel Alexander made after the Kings Declarations and the Definitions of the Bishops on this Subject or in prospect of them do tend But the Gallican Church never spake so openly as she hath done but a little while fince by the Pen of a Doctor of the Sorbonne called Elias Pin touching the ancient Discipline of the Church Those among you my Brethâ—en which do not understand the Latin Tongue may consuâ—t those that do and they will inform you that in this Book may be read 1. That the Bishop of Rome had originally no power over other Churches 2. That in the first Institution of Patriarchs he had no power but over the Suburbicane Provinces that is to say those near to Rome 3. That the Popes by little and little ruined the Rights of the Metropolitan Bishops and by Usurpation ascribed them to themselves 4. That the Pope has no right to review and finally judge the Causes determined by the Bishops 5. That the Priviledges which the See of Rome at this day enjoys are not by divine Right but either by Usurpation or the Concession of Councils 6. That to be a good Catholick and a good Christian it is in no wise necessary in many Occurrences to adhere to the See of Rome 7. That the Primacy of the Church which the Pope possesses appertains not to him but by a tolerated Usurpation or as a Priviledge granted by Councils This gives him no character of Infallibility nor the right of judging finally and above Councils Behold exactly the Divinity of the Gallican Church at this day for this man in the view of the Court had not written thus without its Order Behold also the centre of Unity intirely subverted and so subverted as it was by Calvin and Luther This being so why do these Gentlemen everlastingly beat upon your ears about their Unity and the centre of Unity There is no more Unity in the Church of Rome since there is no centre of it there for since adherence to the Pope is no farther necessary to be a true Christian you are not departed from Unity and Christianity by departing from the Communion of the Pope observe therefore thereon that Monsieur de Meaux and your
hath erred therefore it can err You will put your Converters in their turn into some kind of perplexity For there will be a necessity either that they hold their peace and say nothing but absurdities or else that they endeavour to prove by discussion of Opinions that the Church of Rome has not erred and 't is a Head of Discourse where I am in no fear or concern for you for how little soever you are instructed in the Word of God you will easily dismount the most able Sophisters when you endeavour to prove that neither Transubstantiation nor the Worship of Images nor the Invocation of Saints nor the Adoration of the Eucharist nor the Mass nor Purgatory are in the Scripture There needs no greater ability for that than for a Man to prove that a Chamber is empty when there is nothing in it They object unto you that the Scripture has not said all but 't is a sensible absurdity that the Scripture should be given to instruct us concerning what we ought to adore and it should forget three fourth parts of the objects of our Adoration It speaks not to us but of the Adoration of God and nevertheless Religious Worship must be given to Saints to Images to Reliques and to the Sacrament of the Altar Are you so filly as to be taken in so pitiful a snare The Scripture has not said all let it be granted with respect to the Ceremonies and Orders of Discipline which are not of the Essence of Religion but to believe that the Scripture has not told us all which is of the Essence of the Christian Religion is ridiculous I do maintain that he ought to have lost all shame that shall advance it and to permit himself to be persuaded thereof he must have lost all reason and be degenerated to a Beast Was it agreeable to the Wisdom of God imperfectly to instruct the Apostolick Church and to leave to posterity the charge of adding those essential parts which were wanting But provided you can draw your Converters from these Methods of Prescription which are the true Snares of the Devil invented as his last Remedies I shall not fear or be concerned for you altho they should batter you with the Arms of Tradition and tho they should tell you an hundred times the Scripture has not said all Tradition adds the rest For you will always have an infallible Refuge in the Scripture and you will be able to say if Tradition may add to the Scripture at least it ought not to destroy and teach or command that which the Scripture condemns After which it will not be difficult to prove that not only the Scripture says nothing of Transubstantiation or the taking away of the Cup or the Sacrifice of the Mass of Purgatory or the Worship of Images or the Invocation of Saints c. but that the Scripture does formally condemn them Behold the first general method for ruining the fallacious Arguments on the behalf of Infallibility Behold another the most sensible proof and that unto which you will be obliged to have regard when they would prove that you ought to have a blind submission to the Church of Rome is Texts of Scripture 'T is for example that which our Lord Jesus said Matth. 16. That he hath built his Church upon S. Peter in such sort that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it That which S. Paul says in 1 Tim. 3.15 That the Church is the pillar and ground of truth There 's that which is their strength But first of all demand of these Gentlemen whether the Church of Rome be mentioned there Say I grant that Text signifies that the Church is infallible and that the Devil never can introduce any Error but how shall I know that 't is the Roman Church to whom this glorious promise of Infallibility is made The Greek Church that of the Nestorians Jacobites or Eutychians are very great Communions in the East which call themselves Christians upon as good a Title as the Church of Rome The Apostles certainly founded the Eastern Churches it is without peradventure and it is apparent that Jesus Christ hath left the privilege of being infallible to them Why should he cause it to pass from the East to the West To that they will say you see that 't is to the Church of S. Peter that the promise of Infallibility is made Upon thee will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it Now the Roman Church is the Church of S. Peter Upon that demand that they prove by the Scripture these two Articles First That this promise was not made but to the Church of S. Peter Secondly That S. Peter is the Founder of the Church of Rome The first thing is impossible to be proved 'T is a prodigious absurdity that of the twelve Apostles to whom Christ Jesus said that they ought to found Churches he should have no regard but to S. Peter and to the Church which he ought to found 'T is more clear than the day that that which our Lord promised he promised to the twelve Apostles and to other Churches But your Converters will have yet more trouble to prove by the Scripture that the Roman Church is the Church of S. Peter There appears not any Footstep thereof in the whole New Testament on the contrary 't is clear there was a Church at Rome before S. Peter and S. Paul had been there It may be one may prove that S. Peter was never at Rome At least it may be proved that he never resided there in the Quality of Bishop For S. Paul says expresly that S. Peter was the Apostle or Bishop of the Jews or Circumcision and that he was the Bishop of the Gentiles Therefore S. Peter in the Quality of the Bishop of the converted Jews ought to have his Seat either at Jerusalem or Babylon in the Confines whereof was the main body of the dispersed Jews Moreover he writ and dated his Epistles from Babylon You may therefore hold your selves there and say I am well content that there be an infallible Church on earth but when I see with all my eyes that the Roman Church has erred you shall permit me to search an infallible Church elsewhere and to keep me where I am expecting till I sind it You may I say keep you there but don't do it move on further and tell your Converters Gentlemen I perceive that these words the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church may have two senses For they may signifie that the Devil shall never introduce any error into the Church of what nature soever it be Or it may signifie that the Devil shall never ruin the Church that he shall never entirely destroy it by ruining its Foundations i. e. it s fundamental Verities Tell me do these words signifie necessarily the first that is to say that the Devil shall never introduce any capital or considerable Errors into the
Words of Tertullian ill understood learn from the Example of St. Cyprian who lived in the same Age That Tradition was at that time a proof whereof Men made use according to the diversity of their Apprehensions and their Interests Tertullian seems to make great account of it and St. Cyprian laughs at it when on the subject of Hereticks which he would re-baptize contrary to the Practice of the Church they objected to him Tradition Custom ancient Usage and antique Practice he rejected these Proofs with Contempt and Scorn Stephen had written to him Let nothing be innovated in Tradition Where is this Tradition answers he ‖ Epist 74. is it in the Gospels in the Acts or in the Epistles An ancient Custom without truth is nothing but an old Error And in another Epistle he saith * Epist 63. Since we must hear none but Jesus Christ we need not examine what those that went before us have done but that which Jesus Christ hath done before all for we must not follow the Custom of Men but the Truth of God. To conclude they endeavour to put Scruples in your minds on the Question of the pretended Primacy of the Bishop of Rome and the Roman Church by certain Passages of Tertullian and St. Cyprian either corrupted or ill expounded But that is a business the discussion whereof is too long to be handled at this time yea 't is above the capacity of most of you only know that 't is so far from truth that they did acknowledge the Sovereign Authority of the Pope in that Age that Tertullian makes no scruple to scoff at the Pretensions of the Bishop of Rome and to call him in Raillery the Bishop of Bishops because of some kind of Primacy which he began to pretend to For even in that time the Mystery of Iniquity began to work St. Cyprian despises the Excommunications of Stephen Bishop of Rome and opposes himself to the attempt of those who would appeal to Rome about matters determined in the Provinces of Africa This is that St. Cyprian to whom some Persons attribute the Acknowledgment of the Primacy of the Bishop of Rome who said on the Question of the Baptism of Hereticks and of the Admission of Bishops which had lapsed and fallen †Epist 72. In which case we will do violence to no man nor will we give Law to others observing that every Bishop may use the Power given him according to his Will in the Government of the Church being under no Obligation to give an account thereof to any one but the Lord. 'T was to Stephen Bishop of Rome that he spake thus Judge you whether he acknowledged him for his Superior Hear how the same Cyprian speaks in the face of a Council assembled at Carthage in the Year 258. Let none of us call himself Bishop of Bishops or endeavour to force his Collegues to a necessity of Obedience by a tyrannical fear and terror seeeng every Bishop is Master of himself and cannot be judged by another Bishop nor can he judge other Bishops 'T was also with respect to Stephen Bishop of Rome that he spake thus Has any one the front to say That speaking thus he acknowledged him for his Superior Observe that it was no small Affair that was now under debate 't was about the Baptism of Hereticks a Question which had made a great noise and which Stephen would have decided with too much Authority The Bishop of Meaux after a hundred others of his Communion to prove the Primacy of the Pope by S. Cyprian quotes a Passage from his fifty second Epistle which proves that these Gentlemen do not fear to make themselves ridiculous provided they may seem to say somewhat 'T is a Passage where he pretends S. Cyprian says That the Roman Emperor did suffer in Rome a Priest which was his Rival with more impatience than he suffer'd a Caefar in his Armies which disputed the Empire with him That is to say that the Roman Emperors did impatiently suffer that the Bishop of Rome should be called High Priest to the prejudice of that Dignity which the Emperors assumed unto themselves So that according to this reckoning they were jealous of the Bishops of Rome and look'd upon them as their Rivals in the High Priesthood In truth this is more ridiculous than if one should say The King of England who calls himself Head of the English Church were jealous of the Curate of the Parish of St. Martin in London The Christians certainly were not above one in a hundred in Rome and the Bishops of Rome at that time made less Figure in the World than an Incumbent of five hundred Crowns per annum makes at this day for besides that they were Poor they were also humble What Agreement could the Emperor in quality of a Pagan High-Priest have with this pretended High-Priest of the Christians To be his Rival he must aspire to the same thing I should rather have chosen to have said That the Mufâ—i looks on the Patriarch of Constantinople as his Rival The meanest Scholar knows that the Word Aemulus which signifies Rival signifies also Enemy and 't is clear that S. Cyprian means that that cruel Persecutor the Emperor Decius beheld with more Indignation a Priest that opposed his Religion than he would have look'd upon an Enemy that had disputed the Empire with him To conclude although St. Cyprian should have intended to compare the Bishop of Rome with the Pagan High-Priest it would not follow that the Bishop of Rome was Head of all the Christians in the World for the Roman Priest was not Head but of the Religion of the City of Rome and not of the whole Empire 'T is true that St. Cyprian corrupted the Idea of the Church and opened a door to the most cruel Doctrine that ever was advanced he made a false Idea of the Unity of the Church which he encloses in one only external Communion And because the Unity of one visible Head was not yet invented he imagined I know not what Unity of Episcopacy which all the Bishops did individually possess whereof nevertheless they all administred but a part This inconsistent Imagination gave place afterwards for the Substitution of one single Head to the end that a visible Head might be given to the Unity of the visible Communion which might be the centre thereof This suffices to give you an Idea of the Christianity of the Third Age and by this History you may observe what was altered in Doctrine or Worship 1. They introduced the use of the Sign of the Cross at least in private for we find it not as yet in the publick Acts of Religion We have said nothing to you concerning it as yet because it is a little thing about which we should never make Complaints against any one provided they be not superstitious in the use of it 2. The Liturgy of the Sacrament of the Eucharist was augmented and increased exceedingly by many Prayers
same place or in another 'T is a matter of Fact which our Adversaries cannot deny In the 20th of the Acts the Apostle speaking to the Presbyters or Elders of the Church of Ephesus calls them Bishops and in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus where he speaks sometimes of a Bishop he speaks more frequently of Elders and by Elders he understands the very same which he had called Bishops In the Cities where the Churches were great there were many Presbyters one of them did preside over the rest not by turn but by a privilege which did always appertain to him St. Paul speaks of this President The Elder which rules well is worthy of double honor This presiding Presbyter in the beginning of the second Age arrogates to himself the name of Bishop which before was common to his Collegues so that there was no other but the President of the Presbytery who call'd himself Bishop He attributed to himself also the right of imposing hands as well on those which were received as Pastors as on the Penitents and those which were received to the Communion of the Mysteries In all this there was as yet no Hierarchy no Dependence no Appeals no Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Every Bishop with his College of Presbyters was Sovereign in his District and in his Church and this Church was not dependent of any other You may remember how S. Cyprian in our Eleventh Pastoral Letter hath told us in express words * Epist 74. Every Bishop may use his Authority in the Government of his Church according to his own Will being under no obligation to give an account thereof to any but the Lord. And elsewhere †Concil Carth. Anno 258. That every Bishop is Master of himself and cannot be judged by another Bishop as he also cannot judge other Bishops All honest men are agreed at this day therein The Divines themselves of the Gallican Church maintain it and at this time they lend us their Studies and Illuminations to refute the Flatterers of the Papal Tyranny who would find in the three first Ages of the Church Proofs of the Primacy i. e. of the Principality of the Bishop of Rome over all the Churches of the World. The Defenders of this Antichristian Power quote to us the Action of Victor Bishop of Rome who about the end of the Second Age excommunicated the Churches of Asia because they would not keep Easter precisely the same day that he did and from thence they conclude That the Pope was even then the Prince of all Churches But to this your own Converters do answer for us that in this Victor exercised no Right but what was common to all Bishops and that the Bishops of Asia might exercise it on Victor as he had exercised it on them that this Excommunication of Victor was a separation from his Communion that the Bishops did communicate one with another by Letters which they called Letters of Communion formed Letters c. When they were angry or discontented one with another they did no longer write these Letters of Communion to those of whom they believed the Church had reason to complain and they received no more from them that this is it which Victor then did and that all Bishops have Right by custom to do the same thing The Flatterers of Popes quote to us also the Words of Irenaeus who speaking of the Church of Rome says * Lib. 3. cap. 3. That it was necessary all other Churches should have recourse to this Church because it was the principal and the most potent But the French Roman Catholick Doctors answer for us that the sense is That the Roman Church because the City of Rome was the Capital City of the Empire and because of its grandeur might be a sufficient Witness of Apostolical Tradition because Christians came thither upon business from all Parts of the World and that coming thither they might there be Witnesses of the Faith of all Churches scattered throughout all the Empire and that so the Roman Church made up and formed of all Nations might be a Witness of the Faith of all the Churches in the World. They object to us also That it appears by the Works of St. Cyprian that Bishops condemned and deposed in Africa had recourse to the Bishop of Rome for their re-establishment But the French Doctors answer with us That by the same Letters of St. Cyprian it appears also that these Attempts were disallowed and condemned and that they gave the Bishop of Rome to understand that he had nothing to do to receive the Complaints of any of the Ecclesiasticks of the African Church So that these Gentlemen acknowledge with us that in the three first Ages of Christianity there was no Principality no subordinate Jurisdiction nor no dependence of one Church upon another not excepting the Church of Rome it self But we do also maintain unto them That from the Third Age the Churches that had their Seats in those Cities which are called Metropoles i. e. Heads of the Provinces did obtain a certain Superiority upon the lesser Churches that were in the little Villages of the Neighbourhood because of the need they had of them The Metropolitan Cities were the dwelling places of the Governors of the Provinces the Courts of Justice were there 't was thither they carried their Tributes so that all the Provinces had business there besides the Bishops of these Cities were ordinarily more able than those of little Cities for it has always been the ordinary custom to choose the ablest men for the conduct of the most important Churches and such as were most exposed to the Temptations of human Authority Besides this there were in these Cities many Presbyters which assisted the Bishop and who with him made a Senate able and knowing in matters of Faith and Discipline For these Reasons the Churches of the Country and such as were Provincial addressed themselves to the Churches of the Metropolitan Cities in all their doubts and in all their necessities sometimes to obtain Pastors sometimes to know how they should suppress Hereticks and those which were scandalous and sometimes in other cases and on other occasions This was the reason that the Churches of the Metropolitan Cities obtained by consent a kind of Superintendence over others They confirmed by imposition of hands Pastors in vacant Churches after the People of those Churches had made an Election of them This is the estate in which the Government was found in the beginning of the Fourth Age. Before that time the Names of Arch-Bishops Primates Exarchs Patriarchs and every other Name of Power and Dignity were wholly unknown in the Church But the Emperors becoming Christians Pride introduced it self into the Ecclesiastical Government and in the space of an 150 years or thereabout that Hierarchy was seen to be born and to establish it self which certainly made way for the birth of the Antichristian Empire of Rome and behold how it came to pass Constantine the Great
valid and even to extend these Canons very far beyond their intention They have been willing to perswade First That they have right to receive Appeals whereas the Council of Sardis grants them nothing but the right of appointing a review which is very much different from it Secondly And above all they would make us believe that they have this Power by Divine Right and from the Apostles whereas they have it not but by the Canons of this Council of Sardis In the Year 383 that is to say about Sixty Years after the Council of Nice and Thirty six after that of Sardis was held the first Council of Constantinople which is reckoned for the second of those which are called General altho it were made up of an Hundred and fifty Fathers and no more and tho there were none at all of all the West This Council enlarges and confirms the Hierarchy But it did not yet establish the Patriarchs i. e. the four Seats which pretend to have Dominion over all the Churches of the World On the contrary in the second Canon it ordains 1. That the Bishops of one Diocess i. e. of one Province for then a Diocess did not signifie the particular Church of one Bishop 't was a Collection of many Bishops under one Exarch It appoints say I That the Bishops of one Province should not intermeddle in the Affairs of another and this without excepting the Bishop of Rome 2. It appoints That the Bishop of Alexandria administer only the Affairs of Egypt 3. That the Bishops of the East i. e. of Syria govern their Churches preserving to the Bishop of Antioch the Preheminence that had been given him by the Council of Nice 4. That the Bishop of Asia whereof Ephesus was the Head govern the Diocess of Asia without being subject to Antioch Constantinople or Rome 5. That the Churches of Thrace be governed by the Bishops and Synods of the Province without any other Superior 6. That the Churches amongst the barbarous Nations govern themselves according to the custom of their Fathers without Patriarchs and without Pope There is no footstep of any Papal Authority nor even of any Patriarchal and Universal In the following Canon we read these words That the Bishop of the City of Constantinople hath the Privileges of Honor after the Bishop of Rome because it is new Rome A Canon which gives to the Bishop of Rome nothing but Privileges of Honor and Presidence and grants them to be enjoyed by New Rome in the second Place For this reason the Bishops of Constantinople would no longer sit below the Bishops of Antioch and Alexandria because the City of their Seat was the Imperial City This makes it appear that the Bishops had no Preheminence one before another but by reason of the Cities where they had their Seats and not by any divine Right The Case is the same with the Bishop of Rome That Bishop gained nothing by all this as is evident nevertheless the truth is he always grew higher according to the measure that the Hierarchy advanced For the Exarchs assumed unjust Rights over those which were merely Bishops The Bishops of the Four first Seats Rome Constantinople Alexandria and Antioch raised themselves by little and little above the Exarchs and at last subjected and swallowed them up Particularly he of Constantinople whose Ambition was not inferior to that of the Bishop of Rome made himself Judg of the Exarchates of Pontus and Asia and that of the Barbarian Churches with that of Thrace which he had already 'T was in the Fourth Oecumenical Council held at Calcedon in the Year 451. where it was ordained that * Can. 28. The Church of Constantinople should enjoy the same Priviledges and Honours in Ecclesiastical Matters seeing the City of Constantinople in Temporal Matters did enjoy the same Priviledges and Honors with ancient Rome But if Constantinople did then exalt it self Rome did not do it less in proportion Already the Bishops of Rome began to Lord it over all the West Leo I. was placed in that Seat a Man who had great Parts but of great Pride who played the Master in the Church He declared that a Man is not of the Church when he does not obey it he proceeded so far as to say That Jesus Christ intended that all his Gifts should run down from the Chair of S. Peter as from the Head on all the Body of the Church and that he which dared to separate himself from the Chair of S. Peter ought to understand that he is excluded from the divine Mysteries i. e. from the Church This was the Leo that obtained a Law from the Emperor Valentinian by which he was established Sovereign Judg of all other Bishops for which reason we take this Episcopacy of Leo for the first Point of the birth of the Antichristian Empire This is enough for my end which is not to give you a History of the Hierarchy and after that of the Papal Tyranny in all their Progressions but only an Abridgment of the History of their birth in the Fourth and Fifth Ages That which I have to observe for the conclusion of this Article whereunto you ought to give good attention is that the brief History that I have given you is perfectly agreeable to the Spirit of the Gallican Church at this day She maintains 1. That the Church of Rome is no more but a particular Church as others are 2. That S. Peter had nothing but a Primacy of Order and Presidence above the Apostles 3. That S. Peter could give to his Successors over other Bishops no more but that Primacy which he had over the Apostles 4. That the Bishop of Rome originally and by divine Right had no power over the Universal Church 5. That he did not receive Appeals in the first Ages of the Church 6. That he had no Right to assemble General Councils 7. That he could take cognizance of the Affairs of no other Province but his own no not by Appeal 8. That he had no Right to take knowledge of Matters of Faith to make Decisions therein which should oblige the whole Church 9. That before the Council of Nice and after he had no inspection over other Churches but those which were in the Neighborhood of Rome 10. That he could no excommunicate other Bishops any otherwise than the other Bishops could excommunicate him 11. That a Man might separate himself from the Bishop of Rome without being a Schismatick and out of the Church 12. That the Pope had no Right over other Bishops 13. That the Council of Sardis is the Fountain of that Right of receiving Appeals which the Pope claims 14. That the Rights which the Pope hath at this day excepting his Primacy are by human Law and because he hath assumed them to himself or because they have been conceded to him 15. To which they add he is not Infallible nor superior to Councils nor Master of the Temporalities of Kings Behold the
some times keeping Whores sometimes a Sodomite some times a Sorcerer sometimes a Murderer and a Paracide sometimes an Adulterer and Corrupter of Wives and Women sometimes like a Bloud-sucker devouring Provinces swallowing up Kingdoms exhausting their Substance and drawing Tributes from all the Earth He hath been seen Cheating Deceiving making false Oaths violating Treaties stirring up Seditions moving to Wars He has been seen to make an horrible Traffick of Sins selling Pardon for Sodomies for having lain with Sister and Mother and even with a Beast for having killed his Father his Benefactor and even his King He himself hath been seen killing poysoning robbing exercising rage ambition and dreadful robberies I do profess that he must be fallen to a reprobate sense to call such a man the Vicar of Jesus Christ and to imagine that such a See is the seat of the Church After you have lookt upon the Head if you consider the Members of Popery you will see great Lords Lovers of the World who call themselves the Princes of the Church who being oftentimes nothing but the dregs of the People dispute place with Soveraigns They keep Houses and the Train of Princes they have magnificent Equipage stately Lodgings sumptuous Furniture and delicate Tables They are the Councils and the Senate of the Pope they are the Cardinals which call themselves the Pillars of the whole World upon which the Church stands These are the Ministers of Jesus Christ who said to his Disciples That he who will be greatest among you let him be your servant Verily verily I say unto you That if you humble not yourselves as a little child you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven Below these Prince-ministers of the Antichristian Empire we see Bishops another sort of secular Princes Governours of Diocesses i. e. the Provinces of the Pope who call themselves Bishops Archbishops c. by the Grace and Favour of the Holy See after the same manner that the Govournours of the Provinces of a Kingdom take the Title of their Dignity by the Favour of their King These men possess a great Revenue which was appointed by the Donors to nourish the Poor but serves nevertheless to maintain the best Table in the Province a great number of debaucht and unruly Servants Cooks that are most expert in the Art of making curious Meats and Sawces Coaches with six Horses paeks of Hounds and oftentimes a race of prostituted Whores These men cause themselves to be called my Lord in the World and treat their Inferiours like Pages and Foot-boys These have not the least grain of that which is called the Spirit of the Gospel but are animated by the Spirit of the World that of Disorder Debauchery Ambition and Avarice They watch not over their Flocks but after some Benefice greater than their own after which they gape always like Wolves after their Prey Below these Superiours are seen an inferiour Clergy composed either of Cannons appointed to sing Vespers and Mattins in Cathedral Churches whose repose ease good chear long sleep drunkenness sloth fat and plumpness have always served and do serve still for matter of Satyrs and Jests or they are Curates who are not only for the most part the dregs of the Clergy but dregs of the People excepting those of great Cities who put themselves to the labour of instructing themselves at the least in the way to live like the World the rest are ignorant brutish drunken Whore-masters given to the basest most shameful Vices And besides this the Clergy is made up of an infinite number of little Priests which are above all in Italy and Spain as they were heretofore every-where Ministers of the filthiest pleasures and of the most criminal attempts Are these the Guides of Jerusalem or the Builders of Babel My Brethren look not upon the Clergy of Paris who are better governed consider that during the space of seven or eight hundred years the Popish Clergy were of this make in all the Roman Church look upon Spain and Italy where it is publickly known that the Clergy are yet thus formed and fashioned Consult those which have seen Rome a little near at hand Learn from them that Religion there is an Interlude and that all the Ecclesiasticks are Comedians which do not believe in God. An honest man came a little while since from Italy and told us from his own observation That when they are at their Devotions they commit Indecencies and make such noise there that honest men in France would not do at play Judge whether it be likely that God hath permitted so horrible a Corruption of Manners in a Church pure and infallible From the Clergy i. e. from the Priests pass to the Monks which are the holy part of Popery where are found the Reverent Fathers the seraphical and angelical Doctors Draw the Curtain from their Hypocrisie and you will see an Abyss of Impurities men who under pretence of long Prayers devour Widdows Houses Wolves gaping after a prey which compass about the Beds of the sick and dying to obtain great gifts and presents men who think Gain to be Godliness who dress Religion like a Play that they may draw Spectators who in their Houses perform Paganish Devotions and such as are ridiculous and worthy of the Theatre to draw the crowd of people and to obtain Offerings who by this means obtain those Alms which belong to the Poor who by these Alms maintain themselves in a criminal sloth and idleness without being of any use to Church or State who behind their own Walls and Curtains abandon themselves to the utmost Extreamities of Wickedness who eat and drink and sleep like Hogs who go not without the Walls of their Cloisters but to run after strange Flesh who corrupt Wives and Daughters and to that end serve themselves 〈◊〉 all the most hideous and diabolical â—â—rts The pretence of Religion Sacraments arâ— the most holâ— things are employed therein You will see Houses of sacred Virgins so they call them which are the Lodgings of Impurity the Houses of â—rostitutes the places of those that are Debauched Behold those who are the principal and the most illustrious Members of Popery during the space of seven or eight hundred years by the confession of all the World and what they are yet to this day in an infinite number of places unto which the Reformation has not come 'T is by this that you ought to look upon the Members of Popery and not by some Reformed Societies which are in France whereof they let you see nothing but the out-side Judge whether the true Church and the true Religion could permit and suffer such horrible Disorders Are these the Pastors of Jesus Christ or the false Pastors of him who in the last times was to teach a Doctrine of Devils by men whose Consciences were seared with a hot Iron forbidding to Marry and abstaining from Meats which God hath created to be received by Believers IN our seventeenth Letter you may
Church be he Priest Bishop or Guide thereof Make Reflections in this place on the monstrous Doctrines of your Converters of whom the most part will tell you that to be a true Member of the Church it suffices to make profession of the Faith and to adhere to lawful Pastors So that Priests that are Sorcerers and Sodomites which you have oftentimes seen burnt at Paris were the true Members of Jesus Christ This is capable of making a man tremble with horrour They will say to you thereon if they were not true Members of the Church and of the Body of Jesus Christ they could not be the Guides thereof Such a one is an evil Man he is nevertheless a true Bishop he must therefore be a true Member of Jesus Christ and of his Body Answer to this that which one of the Writers of Port Royal says somewhere That oftentimes those which Build Jerusalem and Guide it are the Citizens of Babylon Tell them that to be a lawful Pastor and Guide of the Church to be able to administer the Word and Sacraments with Authority it s enough to be a Member of the external and visible Society it is not necessary to be a Member of the true Church to be in the hand of God an Instrument of his Work. A King may administer Justice and administer it very well by a wicked man who hath inwardly all sorts of inclinations to Injustice It will be said a man cannot be the Head and Guide of a Body without being a Member thereof for the Head is one of its principal Members It must be answered That false Pastors are true Members of the visible Society of the Church and that they are also true Heads of that Society whereof they are true Members but they are neither Heads nor Members of the principal and invisible part of the Church who are true Believers and truly righteous persons They are not therefore true Heads but of that part whereof they are true Members and that sufficeth them for the external Administration of the Word and Sacraments for the truely Righteous receive the Word and Sacraments in quality of the Members of the external Society They will press you further and tell you You do confess the Church is visible because she hath a Body which is an external Society But is it always visible Although you should answer That it is not necessary that the Church be always visible they would not be able to convince you of the contrary by reason For a man who is visible by his body may be sometimes hidden and by that means be invisible May not the external Society of the Church which is visible have been at sometimes and in some seasons hidden through the Persecution of Pagans or Hereticks But confess to them that the Church hath been always visible and will be to the end of the World. 'T is true that the Persecutions under the Pagan-Emperours were very great but they never proceeded so far as utterly to destroy all Assemblies of the Church to that degree that there were no visible Society of Christians the Christians were well known under the Persecutions seeing they knew where to find them to make Martyrs of them the Church was visible in the midst of the flames She remained visible in the Heretical Assemblies of the Arrians for those that held the Truth in those Assemblies themselves were more numerous than those that erred concerning it If there were any place where the Church were become invisible it was in the Papism for never was there a Church so corrupt and drowned in Superstitions as that Nevertheless the Church continued there visible because that Christianity and the Fundamentals of the Christian Religion did abide there I do not say that they did remain there in their Integrity but the contrary nevertheless it sufficeth that they did continue there 't is necessary therefore that you know that where-ever Christianity fore that you know that where-ever Christianity remains sensible and visible the Church remains visible for it is Christianity that makes the Church If a Sect become so corrupt that Christianity is no longer visible in it such are the Mahumetans and the Socinians who have rejected the Foundations the Church is no longer visible among them unless it be as a dead man remains visible but it is also visible that he is dead without life and without soul so in the Sects which have rejected the Foundations the Church remains visible but it 's also visible that such Churches are without life without soul without salvation In the Sects which preserve Christianity although they have added very many things thereunto and even such things as overturns the Foundations thereof the Church doth not fail to remain visible because Christianity both is there and is seen there If therefore they do inquire of you Where was your Church before Luther and Calvin Answer them She was in the Christian Societies that were in Aethiopia in those which were in Aegypt and in Africa in those which are and were in Asia in the Greek Church that was at Constantinople and Antioch in Muscovy and the Churches of Russia and she was even in the Church of Rome itself If they ask of you Was the Church visible in these Societies or were the Members thereof hidden Answer them That the Church was visible in these Societies forasmuch as Christianity and the Creed of the Apostles in the true sence thereof explained in the first six General Councils were visibly preserved there Add you that the true Members of Jesus Christ and of the Church were hidden and not visible because those that sincerely and truly adhered to this true Christianity contained in the Creeds of the Christian Church were not known by name but that these Believers were hidden was not at all peculiar to these corrupt Churches because of their Corruption for the case is the same in the purest Churches the true Members of Jesus Christ and of his body are hidden because we do not certainly know those which adhere to the Christian Faith in sincerity and with the heart Behold a pure and native Explication of the true Visibility of the Church and of the Perpetuity of that Visibility The Bishop of Meaux and your other Converters will seem to you very well pleased in this that you confess the Church is visible and always visible Behold they will say one point gained For if the Church be always visible 't is of necessity that there be a Succession in the Ministry a train of legitimate Pastours There will always be Teachers with whom Jesus Christ will teach and the true Teaching will never cease in the Church These are Monsieur de Meaux that great Converter's own words That is to say from the perpetual Visibility of the Church he draws these three conclusions 1. That pure and true Teaching hath never ceased in the Church 2. That there will always be a series and train of legitimate Pastours 3. That Jesus Christ
't is that for which we ought to pour out tears of bloud that Christians should fall into so prodigious a Stupidity and into so great a want of Reason that if the Mahometans should fall into one like it and would prove their Religion after this manner by their Alcoran we should take them for mad men They ought not to tell you I dissemble their principal proofs drawn from Scripture for those points whereof we speak unto you for they have no other and the case is the same in all other Articles of Popery without excepting their Faith concerning the Eucharist For these words this is my Body although they should signifie a real Presence do not signifie Transubstantiation by any means in the World. 'T is a truth so evident that Cajetan and many other Doctors after him have confessed it Is it not a shame that on an Article so important as is the Adoration of the Sacrament when they should produce proofs from Scripture they cannot produce so much as one but these words this is my Body which do not speak one word concerning Adoration When they ought to prove the Power which is given to the Church to take away the Cup again they quote this is my Body This is in propriety of speech to mock men being not willing to confess plainly that which is truth i. e. our Religion hath no conformity to the Holy Scripture My Brethren that I may compleatly possess you of this truth that Popery hath no kind of Bond Union or Conformity with the Scripture observe these two things First That Popery treats the Scripture as a declared Enemy It disputes against its perfection its clearness its sufficiency and its authority It makes vast Volumes to prove it is obscure that 't is a Nose of Wax that 't is a Sword with two edges that it hath been an occasion by its obscurity of all Heresies that it contains not half the things that are necessary for salvation that it hath no authority without the testimony of the Church that it must be interpreted according to the Voice of the Church and her Practices that she contains a hundred things capable of raising scruple and giving scandal You have heard of the famous Cardinal Perron who collected together all that seems ridiculous to the profane in the Scripture as the Jaw-bone of Sampson's Ass and other like things to make it lose its authority They add that the Scripture is maimed and half lost corrupted by the Jews or Hereticks and as the top of all the Popes the Councils the Doctors the Inquisitors and the Parliaments have even forbidden the reading of it to the People as a dangerous Book Is not this to declare themselves and to act as enemies to the Scripture The other Reflection which I wish you would make is that the Church of Rome looks on the Scripture as her Enemy Popery is always on its guard against the Holy Scripture always prepared to give a Push always drawing back and recoiling always answering always distinguishing sometimes distinguishing Sacrifice into bloudy and unbloudy sometimes Adoration into Dulia and Latria sometimes the Head of the Church into Principal and Ministerial sometimes the Essence of the Body of Jesus Christ into natural and sacramental sometimes Mediators into Mediators of Intercession and of Redemption always to repel the Scripture and always to serve themselves of it Is it not therefore very clear that Popery is at a perfect opposition with the Scripture It attacks it as an Enemy by a hundred false Accusations it defends it self against it as against an Enemy by a hundred and a hundred imaginary distinctions to ward off the blows the Scripture gives it To attack and defend is all that Enemies do to one another Observe well my Brethren in the Instructions which your Converters give you in these late times the Scripture doth not enter among them They are ashamed of the proof which their Doctors have heretofore drawn from the Scripture to support their Doctrines At this day they beat and press upon you by nothing but the pretended Authority of the Church and Passages of the Fathers which you never read From all this I conclude that Popery in the quality of true Religion and the Church of Rome in quality of the true Church are by no means visible seeing they are destitute of that Light which alone can make the true Church visible viz. Conformity with the Holy Scripture An INDEX for the first Year OF THE PASTORAL LETTERS 1 LEtter A Refutation of what M. de Meaux says in his Pastoral Letter concerning the Manner of Conversions A Letter of M. de Meaux to M. D. V. 2 Letter Concerning the Right of Persecutors A Letter of Queen Christiana about Persecution The Use of the Sword of Princes extends not itself over the Conscience They do all that is necessary to assure themselves of the Damnation of the New Converts A Letter of M. P. M. a Confessour condemned to the Gallies 3 Letter Against the Necessity of a living and speaking Authority Against Successions of Seats Assemblies in Gevennes 4 Letter Advice to those which frequent the Sermons of Papists A History of many Assemblies in Cevennes The Martyrdom of the Blessed Teyssier of Burfort and Fulcran Rey in Languedoc 5 Letter The Form of Christianity in the first Age. A Letter to M. de M. a Confessour and his Answer 6. Letter What was the Form of Christianity in the second Age. 7 Letter Concerning Singing and Voices heard in divers places 8 Letter The Christianity of the third Age. M. de Monceaux Doctor in Physick of La Ferte Au-Coll his Confession M. de Juigne of Villiers a Confessour his Death in Prison M. Palmentier of Ville Dieu l'Aunay his Martyrdom Mademoiselle Carquett Vicountess of Novion and M. Chenevix drawn to the Dung-hill 9 Letter The Christianity of the third Age. M. de Voutron with two Damsels of Laon their Confession The Massacre of the Christians in Cevennes M. de Toumeyrol his Martyrdom M. le Feure a Confessor of Niuernois Mademoiselle de Chalmot indured the burning of her hand her Confession 10 Letter The Christianity of the third Age. Concerning the Unity of the Church we are not gone out of that Unity 11 Letter The Christianity of the third Age. A Continuation of the matter concerning Unity 12 Letter Concerning the Original of Monks Advice to persons which are in Convents Concerning the Unity of the Ministry A Letter from Geneva concerning the Christians of Piedmont 13 Letter Concerning the Original of Oecumenical Councils Seven Reasons against their Infallibility The true Idea of Schism 14 Letter Concerning the Original of the Tyranny of the Popes and the Hierarchy Concerning Schism Although the Corruption of the Church of Rome were not extream it would not be allowed us to return thither 15 Letter Concerning the Original of the Invocation of Saints in the fourth Age Three Proofs of its Novelty An Answer to a New Convert about Schism The
entertained However it be these Gentlemen persuade their Disciples that it is not the Spirit of the Roman Church that doth cause this Persecution Nothing must be imputed to any Religion but what it appoints to be believed The Church never serves it self of force for it hath no other Arms but such as are Spiritual There is among the Doctors of the Roman Church on the one hand an impudence and hardness of Face which is inconceivable and on the other hand there is in their Disciples an abyss of credulity that is incomprehensible Can hardiness and shamelesness be greater than to say that Persecution is not of the spirit of the Roman Church One of our * See the Letter of Doctor Sonstelle Brethre hath written concerning it a little while since with so much brevity that every one may read it and with so much strength as to convince them of the falshood thereof We prove that the Persecution is of the spirit of the Church of Rome by its Principles its Doctrine and its Practice I do not know whether there can be any other source or fountain of proofs when we treat of matters of Fact. The Principles of the Roman Church are that all those that are separate from their Church are damned eternally It s Doctrine is that the Secular Power with Fire and Sword may be employed for the extirpation of those that she calls Hereticks The Council of Constance which France esteems as the most Authentick that hath been these thousand years hath so determined and so it practised For it caused John Lous and Jerome Osprague to be burned The Albigenses Waldenses Bohemians and many others were not Massacred but by order of Councils and Popes who published Crusadoes against them and gave Indulgences and promised Pardon of sin to those that should destroy them The Tribunal of the Inquisition which burns all those that are either suspected or Convicted of Heresie is a Tribunal of the Church established and maintained thereby and it is looked on by the Popes as the great Rampart and Defence thereof Never were there any Massacres committed which were not either Commanded or Approved by Popes They are matters of Fact notoriously known and no body dares to dissent unto them Rome hath sung Te Deum that is We praise thee O God c. and given thanks to him for the Persecution of France Nothing is more proper to make known what is the Spirit of the Roman Church than the Conduct of the Court of Rome We have said that the Pope publickly commends what hath been done in France and hath caused Te Deum to be sung for it In the mean time it is certain that all Men of good sense in the Court of Rome do both detest and scoff at the Conduct of France Whence comes it then that this Court seems to approve in publick that which it condemns in private It is not to flatter the King for they have no respect or regard for him in that Country and every one knows the indignation that they have against him But it is because that Rome dares not declare against the Principles of their Religion If the Pope should condemn ways of violence against pretended Hereticks he would mutiny his whole Church against himself and make himself worthy of deposition He would condemn his Councils he would reproach the memory of his Predecessors he would overturn his own Principles from top to bottom So that the publick approbation which he gives to Persecution is the Sacrifice which he makes of his Conscience to his duty in quality of a Pope But like a Man of good sense he reserves the right of condemning in private all that which he publickly approves The Letter of the Queen of Sueden which hath been made publick in the News of the Republick of Learning hath conjectured discreetly concerning it For it is not to be believed that Queen Christina would dare so openly to declare her self against the Sentiments of the Court of Rome if that Court had approved of this manner of Conversions Behold a second Letter of the same Queen which tells us something more exact concerning the Sentiments which prevail in the Country where she is A Letter of Queen Christina to M 'T IS with astonishment that I have seen my Letter made publick in your Parts I do not understand how it is come to pass and I do assure you that it is not I my self that have published it Nor do I believe that he to whom it was written would so far disoblige his Master as to be willing to do me that pleasure However it be I do not repent that I wrote it for I do not fear any man. I pray God with all my heart that this false Joy and Triumph of the Church do not one day cost her true tears and sorrows In the mean time it must be known for the honour of Rome that all those that are men of merit and understanding here and animated with true Zeal do no more lick up the Spittle of the French Court in this case than I do They behold as I also do with pity all those things which pass in the World where there is given so much reason both of grief and laughter to those that are the Spectators thereof Our only consolation is that God will not abandon his Church but give a glorious issue to all its Calamities which are far greater than are imagined but it behoves us to adore God and the incomprehensible dispositions of his holy providence in every thing that betides us I heartily wish you prosperity From Rome May 18. 1686. Christina Alexandra It behoves us to speak as the case is the Court of Rome disapproves the conduct of the King because it is his Enemy The Persecution is of no value because 't is he that doth it However it be we are in no condition in France to make use of the moderate Sentiments of Italy For the Galican Church hath renounced this moderation She pays Men of Learning to prove that ways of Violence are permitted At this day all the Realm is full of Writers which labour to justifie compel them to come in They quote S. Augustin they report his opinions concerning the Persecution that was raised against the Donatists 'T is notorious that the Clergy of France have been the Authors of the Persecution They cannot deny that they have drawn up all the Edicts and that they have sollicited the execution of them so that we cannot comprehend how the Converters can endure that their Disciples should say That we ought not to impute any thing to a Religion but that which it appoints to be believed and practised and that the Roman Church doth not appoint any Violence to be practised against Hereticks But the Bishop of Meaux finds a very pleasant means to justifie her the Church never serves it self with force by it self says he that is to say it calls to her succour the secular Power to cut
off Heads to hang and burn therefore it ought not to be imputed to her A Sovereign Magistrate contents himself to be Judg and to condemn to Death but he doth not execute he leaves that to the Hangman by consequence if he condemn the Innocent and cause them to die it ought to be imputed to the Hangman and not to him The Church doth a very fine honour to Magistrates she makes them her Hangmen she herself doth not kill but she constrains Princes to kill and burn She constrains I say by Excommunications Censures Exhortations Seductions Sollicitations and the end thereof is she would be able to say The Church dips not her hand in Blood the Church by it self never makes use of force Did the Devil ever cheat after a more impudent and frontless manner I will not say after a more fine and subtil manner for it is to lye without any hope to deceive the Snare is so broad and so ridiculous It were better without Craft to take the way that the Bishop of Meaux takes at last and to maintain that Christian Princes as such have right to punish pretended Hereticks with Death Understand you says he That Princes who are Sons of the Church never ought to make use of the Sword to abuse the Enemies thereof Do you dare to say contrary to the opinion of your Doctors which have maintaind by so many Writings that the Republick of Geneva had power and right to condemn Servetus to the Fire for having denied the Divinity of the Son of God It must be avowed that these Gentlemen are admirable in their confidence Do you dare to say Yes we dare to say it since we say it with most part of the Ancients and with the wisest and most understanding of the Moderns We dare say that the Doctrine which the B. of Meaux maintains here is bloody and cruel and that the Church ought to leave it in share to him who was a Liar and Murderer from the beginning Servetus was burnt at Geneva therefore it is lawful to burn Hugonots and the Calvinists God forgive these unhappy men which have the Cruelty to compare us with Servetus This man was not only an Enemy of the Divinity of Jesus Christ but he was an Enemy of all Divinity he was impious he was a Blasphemer And although he made profession of believing one God the irreverent manner wherewith he speaks of Holy Mysteries makes it plain enough that he had renounced all Religion as well as all Shame It ought to be permitted us to quit our hands of such men They object unto us the Sentiment of our Doctors I answer Our Doctors never did believe that we ought to persecute and burn men that confess God and Jesus Christ according to the three Creeds They never put Papists to Death for the sake of their Religion But although some of our first Writers should have gone too far in speaking concerning the punishment of Hereticks it ought to be known that our Authors are not our Teachers we have but one only Teacher and that is Jesus Christ speaking by his Prophets and Apostles We swear to no mans words but to those of God. And without serving my self of the Examples and Authority of your Doctors tell me in what place of Scripture Hereticks and Schismaticks are excepted from the number of those Malefactors against whom S. Paul hath said that God hath armed Kings and Princes It appertains not to us to shew you that Hereticks are not of the number of those against which God hath put a Sword in the hands of Princes 'T is for you Gentlemen Persecutors to prove to us that they are comprehended there For we have sense reason piety and humanity on our side and besides we have the consent of sound Antiquity for more than four hundred years How could the Church be able to put the Sword in the hand of Magistrates for the punishment of her Enemies in a time when the most scrupulous Christians found it difficult to consent to the Death of those Criminals that disturbed the publick peace and that of particular persons and did maintain that Christians without exception never ought to dip their hands in Blood. In what Dictionary hath Monsieur de Meaux found that evil thinkers and evil doers are the same thing Princes have right to punish evil doers with Death therefore they have also right to punish evil thinkers with Death They have right to punish those whose Crimes are apparent to the publick ruine therefore they have right to burn men whose Crime is in the Conscience the Empire whereof appertains only to God. If the Church have right to call in the Secular Power for the punishment of Hereticks why did S. Paul say simply A man that is an Heretick reject after the first and second admonition Why did he not say Deliver him to the secular Power that he may be burnt Did he not know that in a few Ages Princes would become Christians and have the Sword in their hands Did he only give Precepts for the present time and state Hath this Cruelty of Massacring honest well-meaning but mistaken Persons any affinity with the Precepts of Jesus Christ which commands us to serve our selves with Sweetness Humanity Prayers Exhortations and reasons for the reduction of them It is then permitted to Massacre the Jews for there are none greater Enemies to the Church than they are Is that the Spirit of the Gospel which promises a return and conversion to that Nation How shall they return if they be destroyed Will men never be ashamed of this Antichristian Barbarity Will they never know that it is the Beast in the Revelations who makes himself drunk with the Blood of Saints devours their Flesh makes War upon them and overcomes them and is therefore called Beast Lion Bear and Leopard For he must have renounced reason and humanity and be transformed into a Savage Beast that behaves himself towards Christians as the Church of Rome behaves it self towards us Monsieur de Meaux affirms that what they do against us at this day is nothing but a lawful exercise of the Power that Princes enjoy by Authority from God for the punishment of Offenders And I will prove to him in three words that it is false 1. Princes in the use of the Sword against Malefactors design their ruin that publick Societies be no more troubled with them 'T was the end that was heretofore proposed in Persecutions for Religion 'T was the end that Charles the Ninth pretended to have in the Massacre of S. Bartholomew 'T is the end of the Inquisitors who burn all those that are suspected of Heresie It hath been the end of all Persecutors in past Ages But this is not their end at this day they intend not the Destruction of the pretended Hereticks but their Conversion Therefore although it should be true that Hereticks are not eccepted out of the number of those Malefactors against whom God hath armed Princes this will
many passages to prove Transubstantiation says that (d) Mistagog 4. under the Figure of Bread is given to us the Body and under the Figure of Wine is given to us the Blood. And St. Gregory Nazianzen saith (e) Orat. 42. that we are made partakers of the Passover but always figuratively altho' our Passover be much more clear than that of the ancients for the legal Passover I dare say was a dark Figure of another Figure i.e. of the Eucharist St. Jerome saith (f) In Jerem. cap. 3. lib. 2. advers Jovin that the Figure of the Blood of Jesus Christ is made with Wine and elsewhere that Jesus Christ hath offered not Water but Wine for the Figure of his Blood. Theodoret saith (g) Dialog 3. 1. that the Eucharist is the Figure of the Passion and that the Sacred Nourishment is the Figure of his Body and his Blood. In these Passages the Ancients make use of the word Type which exactly signifies Figure They have also expressed the Nature of the Sacrament by the word Antitype which signifies an opposite Figure or a Figure that has respect unto the thing signified as one Pillar answers to another which is placed just over against it So the Author of the Constitutions attributed to the Apostles saith (a) Lib. 5. cap. 13. that our Lord gave to his Disciples the Mysteries which are the Figures answering to his precious Body and Blood and that we celebrate the Figures answering to the Body and Blood of our Lord. In the Liturgy ascribed to St. Basil 't is said (b) Lib. 6 29. we beseech thee by offering the Figures of the Body and Blood of thy Christ St. Cyril of Jerusalem saith (c) Mystag 5. that we taste the Figures answering to the Body and Blood of our Lord. Theodoret saith (d) Dialog 2. that the Divine Mysteries are the Figures answering to the true Body Can any thing be more express than all this unless it be what we see with our eyes In proper terms they tell us that the Sacrament in nothing but an Image Eusebius Bishops of Cesarea saith (e) Demonst lib. 8. That Jesus Christ commanded his Disciples to make the Image of his own Body Procopius upon Genesis saith (f) Cap. 49. that Jesus Christ gave to his Disciples the Image of his Body And Pope Gelasius or some Author of the same Age saith (g) Gelas de duabus nat certainly the Image or the Similitude of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is celebrated in the Mystery This therefore shews us plain enough what we ought to believe concerning Jesus Christ our Lord even that which we profess that which we celebrate and that which we receive in his Image I do not think that Zuinglius and Calvin have spoken more plainly and significantly To conclude they call the Bread and the Wine Symbols a word which every one knows signifies as much as the word Figure Eusebius saith * Demonst lib. 1. cap. 10. We have learnt to make a Memorial of this Sacrifice upon the Table with the Symbols of his Body and Bloud And St. Chrysostom ‖ Hom. 83. in Matth. If Jesus Christ be not dead of what are the consecrated things the Symbols And Theodoret * 1 Cor. c. 11. When we shall have the presence of our Lord we shall have no more need of the Symbols of his Body Nothing is so common in the Fathers as these Expressions To partake in the Symbols of our Lord to take the Symbols to burn the Symbols c. These same Fathers do give us the same Reasons of the Names Body and Bloud which are give to the Bread and Wine that we our selves give of them 'T is because they are the effectual Representations of the Flesh and Bloud of Jesus Christ If the Sacraments saith St. Austin †Epist 23. ad Bonifac. had no resemblance of those things whereof they are Sacraments they would be no Sacraments and 't is because of this Resemblance that they take the name of the things themselves as in the Sacrament of the Body of Jesus Christ the Sacrament of his Body and of his Bloud are in some sort his Body and Bloud It seems to me that a person must be prodigiously blind to believe that he which speaks thus does not think as we do The same St. Austin saith elsewhere * Serm. ad Infantes apud Bertram How is the Bread his Body and that which is in the Cup his Bloud My Brethren these things are called Sacraments because 't is one thing that is there seen and another thing which is understood that which is seen is a corporeal Species and that which is understood is a spiritual Benefit and Advantage To what end does he take this compass of discourse and why does he not answer without scruple 'T is because the Body of Christ Jesus is really there after the words of Consecration An Article of Controversie An Answer to the Prejudices which some persons have raised against our Separation from the Actions the Conduct and the Personal Qualities of the Authors thereof WE have finished our Answer to the Sophisms which they propose unto you on the subject of our Separation by making it evident to you that it does not hazard your salvation that it was necessary and that it was just But before we pass to other Questions which respect the Church we must say something concerning those who made this Separation for 't is the most fruitful Source and Fountain of Illusions and a Subject of perpetual Harangues and Declamations And this we owe especially to a Woman of Quality among those which are called new Converts who places the little Edification that our Reformers have given to the World or rather the Scandal which they have given to it by their Conduct and Divisions as one of the Reasons which hath most affected her and prevailed on her to embrace the Roman Religion 'T is a subject on which an infinite number of Books have been made to which I might send you were it not that Books are taken from you for the most part besides my designe being to spare you the labour of reading great Books I am to abridge and reduce what our Authors have said thereon to the compass and extent of a Letter Behold then the Accusations which they form against the Authors of the Separation which I have justified in my preceding Letters 1. That these pretended Reformers did no Miracles to support their extraordinary Mission and their new Gospel 2. That they led a scandalous life and such as had no conformity with the Spirit of a Reformed Gospel which they boasted to bring into the World. 3. That there appears in their Expressions a dark Malignity and an implacable Hatred against the Roman Church and that their Books are full of cruel Injuries both against the Roman Religion and against its Doctors a thing absolutely contrary to the Spirit of Charity 4.
That they are divided into three Sects of which Zuinglius Calvin and Luther made themselves the Heads That if the Spirit of God had sent them to Reform the Church he would also have united them in this great design and have inspired them with the same thoughts and the same apprehensions 5. To conclude they say that they have rent and torn each other by transports of Passion which are the true Characters of false Pastors and false Christians As to the first Objection I cannot avoid baptizing it by its own name and calling it an Impertinence Why should our Reformers work Miracles and why were they obliged thereunto When Jehu reformed the Church of Israel pull'd down the Temples of Baal broke in pieces his Statues rooted out his Prophets and abolished his Worship did he work Miracles or had he any need thereof Was it any spot to that Holy Reformation that Josiah made when he re-established the Service of God which was almost wholly under a heap of forreign Idolatries that he wrought no Miracles When Theodosius the Great reformed the Christian Church and drove away Arianism which was become the reigning Religion did he do Miracles or had he any need thereof There is no need to work Miracles but when men bring a new Religion and a new Revelation For that reason the Apostles wrought Miracles because they had a new Revelation to propose to the World. They brought a Gospel unknown to Jews and Gentiles and opposite to the prejudices of the one and the other We brought no new Gospel into the World we propounded the Old and the New Testament the one and the other were received without contradiction by all those Christians which we desired to reform When it shall please God to convert the Jews to Christianity according to his promises there is much probability that he will send them some Prophets which will work Miracles and that will be necessary For although the Gospel-Revelation be already manifested and we have the Books of the Evangelists and the Apostles nevertheless this is nothing with respect to the Jews because they do not esteem our Books Canonical but believe the Apostles to be Cheats and Impostors There is therefore need of new Miracles to recover them from their prejudices and oblige them to give attention to the truth But as for us it was in no wise necessary to work Miracles to establish that Book whereof we served our selves Otherwise as often as the Kings of Judah produced the Law of Moses to make Reformation in their Church they had been obliged to work Miracles They had nothing else to do but to produce the Book and make it evident that the Abominations which had been introduced into Religion were either forbidden or not commanded there Behold all that they had to do behold all that we have to do and 't is to misunderstand the Conduct of God and the Spirit of the Gospel to imagine that the truth cannot be commended to Unbelievers but by Miracles How many millions of men have been converted to Christianity since the days of the Apostles and the cessation of the gift of Miracles Miracles are designed to deliver men from their evil prejudices and to endue them with such as are good that they may hearken to the truth Men that believe not the Christian Religion but only for the sake of its Miracles are very ill-Christians And among those which became Converts by the preaching of the Apostles those who had no other reason to embrace this New Religion but the Miracles which they saw done by those which preacht it were very miserable Converts such persons are the seed of Apostacy and adhere to the Church but by a very feeble root We ought to adhere to it for the love of truth now 't is the knowledge of the truth and not the sight of Miracles which gives birth to the love thereof If Miracles be not necessary for the Conversion of Unbelievers with far greater reason they cannot be of necessity for the bringing back of wandring Christians to the right way For there needs no more but to shew them the holy Scripture which so exactly marks out the path in which they ought to walk As to what they say that those who will establish a new Ministry must have Miracles for the support of it 't is an Affair to be treated on elsewhere We have already said something concerning it and we shall have yet farther occasion to speak of it and shew that we have no more established a new Ministry than we have introduced a new Gospel Where there is no new Revelation there is no new Ministry our Ministry is that of the Apostles because our Doctrine is theirs The second Accusation which they make against the Authors of our Seperation is their Scandalous Life There is no probability say your Converts that God should suffer so strange an Alliance as that would be of a great abundance of the Spirit of Light on the one part and of so great disorders of Manners on the other And thereon they publish a hundred ugly stories to cry down the Memory of Luther Zuinglius Calvin Martyr Beza c. First we say that truth is truth without any dependance on those who declare it Your Converters have said somewhere That the Citizens of Babel may sometimes build Jerusalem 'T is a truth so certain that to deny it a man must be ignorant and false For in all Ages there have been very Evil men who have defended the part of truth and who have even maintained it against Hereticks whose Conduct and Manners have been very regular and oftentimes more edifying than that of the Orthodox We must not form a prejudice against the Doctrine upon the ill Conduct of those which preach it we must judge of Truth by it self So that although it should be true that our Reformers were such as they report them nevertheless it would behove us to see whether these Citizens of Babel were not the Builders of Zion But God forbid that we should have no other fortification to defend our selves We have made to appear the innocence of the Lives of the Authors of our Separation by Apologies of so much strength that their Calumniators have been covered with Confusion and the most part of our most resolved Enemies have been obliged to renounce them The Bolsacs the Bertheliers the Florimond de Raymonds and other like Calumniators ought to be the Horror and Execration of all Honest men The Author of the Legitimate Prejudices against the Calvanists and other like Authors who are willing to preserve themselves in the Esteem of Honest men fortifie and establish themselves upon notorious matters of fact such is for example Marriage of Priests Persons who have made a Vow of Chastity say they and who were obliged to celibate by so many Oaths have violated their Vows in the face of the Sun they have opened Cloysters to take Wives from thence and so have committed a