is it we see so few Saints called upon in the Fourth Age Why did they not call upon S. Peter S. Paul and all the Apostles Is it not clear from thence that neither the Apostles nor the Apostolick Church did institute this Worship Why did they forget all the Saints of the Old Testament and almost all those of the first and second Ages of the Church 't is evident that it was Mens Superstition for Relicks which gave birth to this Superstitious Invocation and that then they invoked only those whose Relicks they believed they had as I shall make appear in what follows Behold a third demonstrative Proof of the Novelty of this religious Invocation of Saints 'T is that in the same Age in which they invoked Saints they formally condemned the Invocation of Angles Theodoret is assuredly one of those Authors of the fifth Age where we see the most express Invocation of Saints †Lib. 8. De curandis Graec. affect nevertheless the same Author condemns the Invocation of Angels in a manner so express that one knows not what to answer to it 'T is in his Commentary on those Words of the second Chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians Let no man persuade you through humility to the Worship of Angels Those which were for the Law says Theodoret persuaded Men also to the Worship of Angles saying that the Law was given by Angels and this Superstition continued a long time in Pisidia and Phrygia for which reason a Synod assembled at Laodicea the Metropolis of Phrygia made a Law to hinder the Invocation of Angels Behold the most ridiculous and fantastical Conceit that ever was It is certain by the Scripture and the consent of all Christians that Angels are administring Spirits sent forth for those which shall inherit Salvation they are in our Churches they assist at our Assemblies and by consequence hear and understand us moreover they give an account to God of their conduct they know what we do they hear our Prayers whereas according to the Opinion of the Doctors of the Fourth and Fifth Ages it was very uncertain whether the dead Saints did hear the Prayers of the Living and yet more uncertain whether God gave them any Commission or Charge with respect to us nevertheless they look'd upon it as an impious folly to adore Angels but were willing it should be accounted a reasonable Worship to invoke a Saint What a fantastical Imagination is this And is it not clear that this savors of Superstition in its birth which hath as yet no Principles and which guides it self by the practice of the People and establishes it self upon popular Errors We have yet some invincible Proofs of the Novelty of this Worship but we will reserve them for the following Letter An Article of Controversie An Answer to the Reasons of the New Converts on the Subject of Schism and Separation AT the end of the preceding Letter we heard the Reasons which the New Converts offer to themselves to abide peaceably in the Estate where Violence hath placed them Behold exactly the Disposition of these Gentlemens minds they find some difficulty to resolve to acknowledge that there is Idolatry in the Church of Rome or rather they find it difficult to confess it for at the bottom we may believe they are convinced thereof But this Point being excepted they do confess that there are all sorts of Corruption in the Roman Church that the Real Presence and Transubstantiation are Errors that the Sacrifice of the Mass established only upon this Transubstantiation is therefore a false Sacrifice that Adoration which is a consequence of the real Presence as they pretend is superstitious that Masses without Communicants are contrary to the Institution of Jesus Christ that the Privation of the Cup is criminal that Purgatory is a dream that Service for the Dead Masses Penances and Indulgences are Superstitions that the Invocation of Saints the Worship of Hyperdulia which is given to the Blessed Virgin the Service of Images Veneration for Relicks are loathsome Additions made to Christianity and that they pollute and dishonour it that the Latin Tongue to very ill purpose hath been preserved in the Publick Worship to rob the People of that Edification which they might find by understanding what was said that the Government is tyrannical that the Pope usurps a Power which appertains not to him and that it may be he is Antichrist that the Church of Rome is so far from being Infallible that she hath erred in a Hundred and a Hundred things Behold say I exactly the Idea which these Gentlemen form of Popery Nevertheless they prove by Reasons which we have heard that they may continue there Now upon this supposition let us hear them speak and examin their Opinions one after another 'T is said That we must suffer and not separate from the Vnity of the Church My dear Brethren who seek to deceive your selves hear me What is this Unity of the Church according to your Principles from which we must not separate Do you believe that this Unity of the Church is the Unity of the Roman Church If it be so according to you there is no Church out of the Roman Communion if there be no Church out of the Roman Communion there is then none among the Christians of the East which are out of the Communion of the Pope and the Latin Church If there be no Church out of the Roman Communion there is no Salvation out of it and if no Salvation it follows that you damn all those Men which are in those Christian Communions some whereof are far less corrupt than the Roman Church But that is not all in the Church where you have lived hitherunto and where your Fathers died there hath been no Church for what reason Because these Assemblies according to you were out of the Vnity of the Church Nevertheless you do acknowledg that the Assemblies of your Fathers had a Christianity more pure without Mass Images Invocation of Saints Purgatory a barbarous Language in the Worship of God and other Superstitions and that the Roman Church hath all these so that you will put the Church and Salvation in a Society where Christianity is altogether corrupt according to you and you will take it from a Society where in your own opinion Christianity is intirely pure Are not these foolish Errors and such whereof you will be ashamed my Brethren as soon as you shall duly consider them It comes from this that you are willing to reconcile the Form of the Communion in which you are entered with those sentiments of Truth which you have preserved in your Hearts They inculcate these Maxims to your Ears continually Unity must not be broken you must not go our of it There is but one Church you ought to keep in it to separate is to go out of the Unity These miserable Juggles have some probability whilst we suppose as the Roman Church doth that the Church is
and Theodoret and you will find that they all generally express this that they went to the Shrines and Memories of the Martyrs so they called the places where they had put the Reliques that there they performed their Devotions that they recommended themselves to the intercession of the Martyr that they expected from him miraculous deliverances But not one will tell you that they invocated the Saints in their Closets or in Churches where their Reliques were not Now who does not see that this is an extravagance If the Invocation of Saints be good why is it not as good in a Closet as in a Church Why not in a Church where there are no Bones nor Ashes of a Martyr as well as in one where they are But this practice was founded upon a vulgar opinion that the Souls of Saints were not found but near their Tombs and that they loved their Ashes as St. Jerome tells us And behold the reason why 1. They did not invocate Angels whilst they did invocate Martyrs 't was because the worship of Saints began with that of Reliques and Angels having left no Reliques here below their invocation did not make the same progress 2. 'T is for the same reason that they invocated only Martyrs and not other Saints 't was because they had recollected with care only the bones and ashes of the Martyrs and for others they suffered them to rest in their Graves because their flesh had not been honoured by the Cross of Christ 3. 'T is the reason also why they did not invocate all Martyrs but only those of whom they had Reliques 4. To conclude 'T is for the same reason that they began so lately to invocate the Virgin. They had no Reliques of her they knew not where her Tomb was and this was it that gave occasion to the Fable of the Assumption of her Body into Heaven Her other Reliques her Shifts her Slippers her Girdles her Vails her Hair her Milk all these were not invented and produced till a long time after This is a point upon which you will do well to press your Converters Desire of them that they will shew you in the fourth or fifth Age those Reliques of the Virgin which are at this day the object of the Piety of the Devote's Those believers were very negligent in not searching after the Milk of the Virgin whereof at this day the World is full And 't is wonderful that among the Reliques which gave occasion to invocate the Martyrs in the fourth and fifth Ages they did not reckon those old Clothes and Rags which have since been put among the precious moveables of the Devote's There was nothing but Ashes and Bones which did then pass for true Reliques and such as were worthy of veneration Gather together I intreat you my Brethren all these things and make reflection upon them About the end of the fourth Age men began to invocate Saints But 1. They did not invocate all Saints no not the Apostles themselves 2. They prayed only to the Martyrs nor did they invocate all the Martyrs themselves and those which they did invocate they did not invocate in all places but only where their Reliques were 3. They did not invocate Angels who are much more worthy of honour and invocation than the Saints 4. They did not invocate the Virgin who is above all Saints and Angels Is it not plain that this was an unformed Worship a Worship in its birth a Worship which as yet had no Principles to establish it upon and which had for all its foundation a popular superstition for the ashes of those who had suffered Martyrdom Last of all to convince you that indeed this Superstition was as yet a Religion in its birth without Form and without Principles give attention to this which follows 't is that this Devotion was without form in its Doctrine as well as in its Worship All Religious Worship is founded in some Doctrine The Worship of Saints is established upon the opinion that they know our Needs hear our Prayers and see the Face of God with whom they can intercede Now in the fourth and fifth Ages all men were in doubt concerning these things They knew not whether the Saints did hear the Prayers of Men yea or no. Gregory Nazianzen in his Funeral Oration for his Sister Gorgonia speaks to her but knew not whether she heard him If thou hast any regard says he to her to the Honours that we give thee if holy Souls receive from God the gift of knowing things kindly accept our Discourse St. Ambrose in the Book concerning the Death of his Brother Satyrus says that God had withdrawn him from the World to the end that he might not see the miseries of the age and speaking to him says Considering the compassion which your holy Soul had for those which belonged unto you if now you know that Italy is oppressed by an enemy so near unto it how will you sigh how much grief will you feel by reason of it It seems to me that this supposes that the dead know not what is done below St. Jerome who speaks often of the dead speaks always of them as not knowing what the living suffer He says concerning Nepotian that he saw not what was done here and that we could not speak unto him He says to Demetrius to comfort her concerning the death of her Father that he is happy in that he did not see the desolation of his Countrey We see that 't is Nature that speaks and St. Jerome in these passages deserves much more to be believed than when he tells us that the Souls of Saints move about their Tombs 'T is a thing very observable that St. Austin was very unquiet and uncertain in this matter whereby we discover also the uncertainty of the Divines of his age This is seen chiefly in the Book which he writ concerning Care for the Dead Paulinus Bishop of Nola had consulted him about the Devotion of a Woman who wisht that her Son had been buried near the Tomb of St. Felix the Martyr formerly Bishop of Nola. This gave him occasion to handle the Question how the Dead knew our Necessities He durst not deny that the Martyrs did help and assist us because of so many Miracles that were done says he near their Remains But he doubted very much whether they heard us and knew our wants Afterwards he proceeds beyond doubt and lays down and proves plainly and strongly that they do not hear us * Cap. 13. De cura pro mort Afterwards he says that Souls may know not all but part of that which is done here below either by the report of Angels or by that of the Dead or by some immediate Revelation †Cap. 14. But at last it may be seen apparently that he enclines to believe that Souls have no knowledge of our Prayers and that they are Angels which do Miracles in the name of Saints yea that altho' the Souls of
We have nothing more to say about the Article of Purgatory than what we have said concerning it on the Subject of Oblations and Sacrifice for the Dead we will only add that Origen a Man of great sense in that Age and also of great boldness who among many bold and rash Opinions advanced that of a temporary Hell that is to say properly of Purgatory of a Fire in which the Wicked ought to be purified that they may be saved after some Ages of Torment And 't is of this temporary Hell jumbled with the separate state of Souls that the Purgatory of the Roman Church is at last formed and made We therefore pass to Worship Adoration and Invocation of Creatures of Saints of the Blessed Virgin of Angels of Relicks and of Images This is a place of Triumph for the Truth and Confusion for Error Ask my Brethren ask and be you never weary thereof bid them shew you Tertullian Cyprian Clemens of Alexandria Minutius Foelix Gregory Thaumaturgus Arnobius Lactantius and Origen of whom we have so many Writings let them shew you them I say recommending the Worship of the Virgin the Invocation of Saints and the Adoration of Relicks Their Silence suffices to make it known that then men knew not what this unhappy Superstition was and if their Silence be not enough remember that which we have proved unto you 't is first that then they prayed for all Saints in general both Apostles and Martyrs now it is inconsistent to pray to a Saint and for him as your Converters will acknowledge seeing to pray to a Saint supposes him glorified and to pray for a Saint or Martyr supposes him not glorified Secondly Remember also that in those Ages the prevailing Opinion was That the Martyrs themselves and Apostles were not yet in Heaven and by consequence did not see the face of God so that they could neither learn from God the necessities of the Living nor intercede for them before him After this know That in this Age as well as that preceding Christians made open Protestations That they did not serve adore nor invoke any other but God. Tertullian said * Scorpiac cap. 4. That 't is appointed that I call upon no other God that I may no more make another God by my tongue than by my hand 'T is ordained that I adore or worship no other after what manner soever it be besides the One God which commands this in his Law. * Ad Scapul cap. 2. We serve but one only God which you naturally know whose Thunder and Lightnings you fear and from whom you receive Blessings with great joy He serves himself of the Words Venerate and Serve and they are general words Where is the Papist that will say That he gives no Worship but to God alone Clemens of Alexandria saith †Strom. lib. 6. The Greeks ought to learn from the Law and the Prophets to serve but one only God who is truly Almighty Origen repeats the same thing in a hundred places That Christians worship and serve God alone But if this be not enough hear Origen after he had said in express words ‖ Lib. 5. cont Cels That we ought to address all Prayer Supplication Request and Thanksgiving to the Supream God Lord of all things by the Eternal Word God the High Priest who is above all Angels after that say I he excludes by name Angels from the number of those which ought to be invoked To the end saith he that Angels may be propitious to us and that they may do all things for us it suffices in the first place that we be very closely united to God and disposed to imitate Angels who imitate God c. That 't is best to trust in God and to beg of him all the aid and all the succour which can come to us from good Angels c. For 't is saith he a thing altogether unreasonable that we should invoke Angels seeing we know nothing of their service or knowledge because it is above men Although we should grant that their knowledge which is admirable and secret may be understood this same knowledge which we have of their Nature and of the thing over which every one of them presides would hinder us from daring to invoke any other but the Lord who is over all things and sufficient for all 'T is certain that Origen had lost his Understanding if at that time they invoked Angels and if they did not invoke Angels how could they invoke the Saints departed Do we not learn from Scripture that Angels are round about us and by consequence that they hear us Do we not know that God hath committed to them the care and preservation of his Children we know nothing of all this concerning Saints so those which did not invoke Angels certainly never did invoke Saints As for Relicks my Brethren ask your Converters ask their Proofs that men took them from their Tombs that they put them in Boxes that every one carried his part thereof in great Devotion that they wrought Miracles that Men went in Pilgrimage to the Tombs of Martyrs where Relicks were laid that they kissed them and fell on their knees before them If they cannot prove this let them confess that this Worship was perfectly unknown in the third Age. Mr. Demabis a revolted Minister confesses clearly enough that in the first Ages they gave not this external Honor to Relicks because says he the state in which they were did not permit it Is not this a miserable defence They say 't was a time of Persecution I confess it but it was the more easie for them to get the Ashes and Bones of Martyrs for they made them every day 't is true that in some places the Pagans hindred the Christians from taking their Bodies but in many others they left them on the Dunghil to him that would first take them and all their rigour could not hinder them from getting some one of their Bones from the flames as did the Believers of Smyrna those of Polycarpus The Persecution did not hinder Christians from kissing these Bones on their knees in their private Houses and Oratories As to what concerns Images I cannot resolve to make an Article thereof although I had intended it for I do not think that there is any learned man among your Converters who hath the impudence to maintain that there were Images in Churches during the time of the third Age and that men worship'd them after we have proved unto them that in that Age Painters and Statuaries were accounted infamous and that they drove them from the Communion of the Church as they did Comedians Bauds and other instruments of Wickedness and beastly Pleasures and that there the Christians scoffed at the Pagans which prostrated themselves before Images of Wood Copper Stone Gold and Silver which might be stoln and carried away in the mouths and ears whereof Mice made their Habitations and upon which Birds laid their Ordure They
Hundred and sixty Years Justin Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus Ireneus Cyprian Eusebius Athanasius Hillary and so many others should not speak one word of this religious Worship of Creatures if it had been then in use Besides this negative Proof we make use of all those positive Proofs which we have proved from the Second and Third Age by which it appears that the Primitive Christians invoked none but God and that they did not invoke even Angels 'T is that which Origen hath plainly told us and 't is that which Ireneus had said before him * Iren. lib. 2. cap. 58. That the Church doth nothing by the Invocation of Angles nor by any other wicked Curiosity but by Addressing purely plainly and openly her Prayers to the Lord the maker of all things Among these positive Proofs we have seen some of them which formally tell us that the Church neither worships invokes nor adores Martyrs such is the Epistle of the Christians of Smyrna about the Martyrdom of Polycarpus Is it not therefore an amazing boldness in your Converters to mantain to you that there was no change in the Doctrine and Practice of the Church thereon in the Fourth Age 'T is clear that Men did not invoke Saints in the Third Age it is clear that they began to do it about the end of the Fourth it is therefore clear that a Change did happen But they will say where is the Author of this Change Where is the Innovator This Question is absurd 'T was not one single Person that introduced this alteration in Worship 't was the superstitious People the great respect which the People saw Men had for the Tombs of Martyrs carried some Dotards to advance that the Souls of Martyrs were about their Tombs And 't is apparently according to the conjecture of Albespinus that which the Thirty fourth Canon of the Council of Eliberis hath respect unto * Albasp Annot in Concil Eliberitan That we ought not to light up Torches in the day time in the Coemetaries lest we disturb the Spirits of the Saints They imagined that these Spirits fluttering about their Tombs might suffer inconvenience by the Smoak of Torches and Candles Is not this a pleasant Imagination S. Jerome writing against Vigilantius doth also say That the Souls of Martyrs love their Ashes hover about then and are always present with them We know that the Vulgar are naturally inclined to Superstition and 't is easie to conceive how the People instructed in such an Opinion should conceive an extraordinary respect for those places where were the Bodies and Souls of Martyrs And conceiving that these Souls which conversed about their Tombs had also the liberty of flying back to Heaven when they thought good it was very easie for ignorant People to fall into a perswasion that it was very good to recommend themselves to their care and intercession There was therefore no need of an Innovator or a new Preacher nothing more was needful but to let the People do as they pleased Mark this well all Heresies have been introduced by Doctors for there is need of Wit and Knowledg to innovate in Opinions but all Superstitions have been introduced by the People For nothing more is needful to become superstitious than Sottishness Simplicity and Ignorance therefore the Authors of Innovation in Doctrine may be observed for they are ordinarily single Persons but we cannot observe the first Innovators in matter of Superstition because they are the People But it will be said why did not the Doctors oppose themselves to the Superstition of the People First it is not true that the Doctors did not oppose themselves to Superstitions at their birth S. Austin and S. Jerome himself blamed the Superstitions which began to take place in their Age and which afterwards overcame all Contradiction But nevertheless 't is true that they did not oppose them as they ought to have done yea that they suffered themselves to be carried away with them as others did because that these Superstitions were established by little and little and that the beginnings which the Doctors did easily suffer because 't was but a small matter gave place to the toleration of that which was introduced afterwards which nevertheless was altogether intolerable To conclude 't is of little importance to us how and why the Doctors suffered themselves to be carried into Errors and popular Superstitions The matter of Fact is certain and ought to be indisputable by the proof that we have made thereof and by that which we shall make thereof in what follows Our Second Proof of the novelty of this Worship in the Fifth Age is that then Men did not invoke all the Saints as 't is done at this day yea they did not invoke those Saints which are most eminent such were the Apostles excepting S. Peter and S. Paul whose Relicks were believed to be at Rome others had no Churches Temples Memorials nor Persons devoted to them S. Basil the most ancient of all those which speak of the Invocation of Saints celebrates the Memory only of the Forty Martyrs that of Julitta and the Martyr Mamas In this Homily upon Julitta the Martyr there is nothing that teaches us they did invoke her In the Homily upon the Forty Martyrs he says indeed that Persons fled to them for refuge and that the pious Wife prayed there for her Children that she there desired the return of her absent Husband and his Health when he was sick First it appears that this was the Devotion of Women who are inclined to Superstition Secondly 't is not very clear that these Prayers were addressed to Martyrs for in the beginning these Prayers are addressed to the God of Martyrs with respect to the Merits and Sufferings of Martyrs to whom God would do Honour by Miracles 'T is true that in the Homily on the Martyr Mamas the Invocation of the Saint appears more express But observe that this Julitta this Mamas and these Forty Martyrs were obscure Saints and of little Reputation in comparison of the Apostles concerning the Invocation of whom S. Basil speaks not one word This is a strange thing and that whereof they know not how to give us a reason Make the same observation upon the Passages of S. Austin which they quote unto you for the Invocation of Saints He there speaks of the Invocation of S. Protais and of S. Garvais Good God! what Saints are these in comparison of S. Matthew and S. John. 'T is true that this Father speaks of the Invocation of S. Stephen the first Martyr But however eminent this great Saint was he was but a Deacon and we ought not to make him equal with the Apostles Nevertheless there appears no Invocation of the Apostles in the Writings of S. Austin I call not this a simple Proof 't is a Demonstration of the Novelty of this superstitious Worship If the Worship and Invocation of Saints were ancient if they were from the time of the Apostles why
Saints are said to appear 't is not they which return 't is the Angels which appear and speak for them Behold I pray you how unformed and floating this Theology is But there is more than this in these same ages when they prayed to Martyrs at one time they prayed for them at another They prayed say I for the Martyrs and for the Apostles yea for the blessed Virgin and this is a new Proof of the Novelty of this Superstition This appears by the Liturgies of that time In that of St. Chrysostom we read We offer to thee this reasonable Service for those which rest in the Faith of our Ancestors our Fathers the Patriarchs the Prophets the Apostles the Preachers the Evangelists the Martyrs the Confessors the Continents and for all the Spirits which were initiated in the Faith principally for the most holy immaculate and blessed above all Women our Lady Mary Mother of God and always a Virgin. And in that which is attributed to Cyril of Jerusalem O God have mercy on our Fathers on our Brethren which are at rest whose Souls are acceptable unto thee give them repose and remember also all the holy Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors Evangelists and all the Spirits of the Just which are dead in the Faith and principally the holy and the glorious Mary Mother of God always a Virgin. It would be at this day the greatest of all absurdities to pray for a dead man and pray to him at the same time Indeed if he be in a condition of doing us good if he see God if he be with him he hath no need of our Prayers The inconsistency of these two Worships which nevertheless were both used at the same time is a demonstrative proof that the Invocations of Saints was a Novelty Prayers for the Martyrs were found in the ancient Liturgies out of respect to Antiquity they were left there but the torrent of Novelty added unto them Prayers unto the Martyrs without taking notice that these latter were inconsistent with the former To conclude I do maintain that those who will not give attention to these Demonstrations which prove the Novelty of the Invocation of Saints in the 4th Age have an insensible and seared Conscience and so I think it unprofitable to dispute any more against them I well understand that the New Converts who are willing to be content with their change will yet find two Fortifications for their security They will say that this Worship of Saints was then new but that it was not evil and that therefore the Church might introduce it as a pious Custom and proper to incline the minds of men towards Devotion But let these Gentlemen have a little patience Monsieur de Meaux in that which follows will give us occasion to make it plain to you that this Worship and this Invocation is Paganism renewed and that it is in nothing better than the Invocation of Angels and Hero's which the Pagans practised in their Devotions we will make them see that 't is a true Idolatry The other Fortification is the Antiquity of this Worship However it be say they you do confess that the Invocation of Saints hath more than one thousand two hundred Years on its head Does this put you to no troubles Have you no respect for so goodly a piece of Antiquity and how can you believe that God hath left his Church under Idolatry for so many Ages We answer That we cannot have respect for Antiquity without Truth and in this we are of the Religion of St. Cyprian We add That we are not astonisht to see an Idolatry so aged in the Church because it hath been expresly predicted to us The Prophet St. John calls Idolatrous Christians Pagans and the Spirit saith to him * Revel 11. cap. 12. I have given up the outward Court of the Church to the Pagans that they may tread it under foot for forty two Months These are the thousand two hundred and sixty Days in which the Woman i. e. the Church ought to be hidden as in a Wilderness for the space of these thousand two hundred and sixty Days And the two Prophets which prophesied in Sack-cloth i. e. the Truth published by a small number of Witnesses and those under the Cross ought to continue under the oppression of Idolatry the same number of Days i. e. a thousand two hundred and sixty Now these thousand two hundred and sixty Days are so many Years according to the stile of the Prophets who denominate Years by Days We shall have it may be in what follows an opportunity to prove it to you It must be therefore that Idolatry Rule in the Christian Church one thousand two hundred and sixty Years It hath done so almost for that space of time it is therefore near its end But we ought not to be amazed that it hath continued so long An Article of Controversie A Continuation of the Answer to the Illusions that the New Converts put upon themselves WE take up again the Continuation of the Controversie at the place where we left the Illusions of the New Converts The common Faith say you is a kind of Agreement to live under the same Ministery without being accountable for all the Abuses that have slipt into the Church By this fine reasoning we may live in safety among the Turks we believe as they do that there is one GOD one Paradise one Hell and that Jesus Christ is the greatest Prophet which ever came into the World. This common Confession of Faith will be an Agreement to live together safely under the same Ministery And we will leave to the Turks their prophane Abuses and their absurd and impious Doctrines Believe me such an Agreement resembles that of Pilate and Herod who agreed to despise and put to death Christ Jesus When the Ministery introduces small Corruptions this may be granted but when Corruption goes to the heart of Religion the Agreement signifies nothing and lays no obligation all is deadly either by itself or by its neighbourhood or contagion Provided that we Adore the same God and Profess the same Fundamentals of Christianity all the rest is not imputable to private persons Above all then when there is a necessity of joyning ourselves to this first Christian Society and when we cannot find any publick Worship more pure and edifying This is the Continuation of your Apology There are two words therein Provided and above all which destroy you Provided that we profess the same Fundamentals I have made it appear already that this provided is insufficient You must add Provided that fundamental Errours be not added to the Foundations Now Popery hath added to the Foundations of Christianity Tyranny Superstition and in one word Antichristianism So behold yourselves thrown out of your Fortification Provided that The Above all is no better Above all when there is a necessity of joyning ourselves There is no necessity of joyning ourselves to a Communion which we acknowledge
in these Countries they know GOD no better and it may be a great deal worse than in Turky The sacred Histories are utterly unknown to them they know nothing of Christianity but what we find thereof in their Catechism mingled and confounded with the Errours and Superstitions of Popery Instead of the true Gospel what do they preach in those places that are under the Dominion of Popery And what have they preacht in the times when it did Rule and prevail without contradiction They did there preach 1. Corrupt Morality according to which a man might commit Murder to save a Crown to defend his Honour and secure himself from some small Affront according to which a man might Rob when a person did not think himself sufficiently recompensed for his labours according to which a man might exercise Usury and infamous Monopolies according to which a man might keep Concubines and abandon himself to Sodomy without mortal Sin according to which a man might Lye by Equivocation and mental Reservations according to which he might live all his life without the Fear of God without performing one act of Contrition or the Love of God to his death and he might be Dispensed with that at the point of death provided he exercised an act of the fear of Hell when he receives the Sacrament of Penance Popery hath produced this detestable Morality it hath taught it where it could inspired it into private persons and suffered it where it durst not teach it For Holy History instead of the pious and sacred Histories of the Scripture which might turn mens minds towards Devotion they entertain the people with Fabulous Legends Instead of speaking to them of the Miracles and Greatness of Jesus Christ they speak of the Greatness of the Virgin they say that she was conceied without sin that her Father and her Mother had been advertised of her Birth by an Angel that at her Birth the Angels assembled together and formed a Quire and Consort in the Air that this Celebration of the Birth of the Holy Virgin is repeated every year on the same day that many Saints have heard them in the Air that this Holy Virgin was bred and brought up in the Temple and in the most holy Place called the Sanctuary that when she conceived Jesus Christ it was by three drops of her Bloud which the holy Spirit took from her heart that after she had lived most holily she died in the presence of all the Apostles whom the Holy Spirit brought in the Air from all parts of the World whither they were gone to preach the Gospel that three days after she rose again and was carried up into Heaven with charming Musick made by the Voices of Jesus Christ and the Angels and that she was set very near to Jesus Christ above all the Seraphims After the Assumption of the Virgin into Heaven they made her do a thousand and a thousand ridiculous Miracles upon Earth sometimes she appeared to a Monk sometimes to a Pilgrim sometimes to some one of her devoted Servants she kisses them she makes them kiss her she opens her bosom to them she gives them suck from her breasts she appoints them to build a Chappel to her in such a place and that they should perform such or such Devotions to her she fixes herself in certain places and there makes her choice to dwell and do Miracles All those which come thither for Sickness Blindness Palsie loss of Bloud Deafness loss of Members return thence safe and sound when one of her Houses formerly frequented ceased to be so she transported it beyond the Seas and fixed it in another Country to draw thither new Servants to her Devotion she forgets nothing that may favour those which serve her In one Convent she takes the place office and figure of a debauched Nun which ran to the places of Prostitution because this Nun when she was going did devoutly commit the Convent into her hand In another place because an Abbess did most devoutly commend herself to her when she had polluted herself with her Domesticks she delivered her in private of her great Belly and restored her Virginity in such sort that those who had accused her remained ashamed and confounded Instead of entertaining the people with the Miracles and Vertues of true Saints as were the Apostles to oblige them to an imitation of them Popery hath substituted unto them new Saints which were Fools and wicked Fools too St. Francis St. Dominick St. Hyacinth St. Vincent Ferrerius or imaginary Saints as St. Christopher and the eleven thousand Virgins or modern and unknown Saints such as St. Milorus St. Alldem St. Colganus and a thousand others To which they attribute ridiculous and impertinent actions for Vertues and such sottishnesses for Miracles as are unworthy of those little Demons called Hobgoblins One to testifie his Humility made himself to be tossed in a Sieve by little Children another to draw upon himself contempt counterfeited the Fool and the Ideot another fouled the Bed of his Host that he might be despised of him another kept company with Beasts Wolves and Swallows another preached to Fishes or Birds another stripped himself naked and in that condition exposed himself to publick view another made himself Women of Snow and embraced them to cool and extinguish his Lust another through great Mortification lay with the fairest Women without touching them another made himself a Bed of Stones and Sticks and crowns of Nails and Girdles of Iron another thrust Thorns into his Body washed his hands in quick Lime and covered his face with an eating Powder which made the flesh thereof one intire Ulcer Behold a small part of the Idea that Popery gives us of the Vertue of its Saints As to Miracles they produce to the people faithful Chronicles as they say by which it appears that some of these Saints for their parts have raised fifty two dead persons another thirty another twelve another six three or four They have healed desperate Diseases raised Dogs Parrots and other Animals from the dead The Water in which they washed their hands cured all sorts of Diseases the clippings of their Hair and the parings of their Nails put into the craks of Walls closed them up again and have made Houses ready to fall firm and strong When these Saints preached to the Birds these Animals reached out their bills and clapt their wings when they preached to the Fishes they gathered together on the top of the Water that they might hear when they pleased they drove away not only evil Spirits which troubled them but also living Creatures which interrupted their Discourse They made Angles serve them not only at Mass but also they used them as Grooms to dress their Horses They caused themselves to be carried by the Devil to places whither they would go they made him hold the Candle till he burnt his fingers therewith if the Devil turned himself into a Cat they put him into such distress that
she is visible in this old age an corruption as she was visible in her youth and purity so that neither her youth nor her old age neither purity nor corruption signifie any thing to Visibility The case is the same concerning the Perpetuity of the Ministery the Ministery is perpetual therefore 't is incorruptible Deny that consequence without scruple for 't is false but some will say Does not the Lord teach with those Pastors which follow one another in the order of Ages Answer Ye because these Pastors teach the three Creeds conformably to the Holy Scriptures Jesus Christ teaches with them and they with Jesus Christ But because they teach beyond the three Creeds Idolatrous and superstitious Doctrines they teach against Jesus Christ My Brethren that which I have said unto you in this and the preceding Letter is sufficient to make you understand what is the perpetual Visibility of the Church Read it and read it again until you understand and possess it very well and you will easily answer the two Sophisms which your Adversaries put upon you The first is That if the Church hath not been always visible the Pagans for a thousand or twelve hundred years before Luther's Reformation had no door open to their conversion For how should they be converted and how should they find the Church if she were invisible Now 't is a prodigy contrary to all reason and probability that God for the space of so many Ages should hold the door of the Church close and hidden Besides this is contrary to History and Experience which learns us that the most part of the Northern Nations Sweden Denmark Poland and many Provinces of Germany did not receive the Christian Faith till since the eighth Age i. e. since the time that Antichristianity was mixed with the Christian Doctrine For the Roman Church began according to us to be Antichristian before the sixth Age. This is a difficulty which they propose to you to which you ought to answer That according to what we have told you we do not teach that the Church became invsible by the Antichristianity which is entered there she is corrupt but she continues visible Christianity hath not failed to continue its integrity in Popery therefore the Church remains intirely there I have told you that Christianity and the Church are the same thing This Christianity continuing visible in the Books of the Old and New Testament and in the three Creeds which the providence of God hath preserved in Popery the door of conversion hath been always open to the Pagan Nations for Jesus Christ crucified and his true Mysteries have not failed to preserve their force and efficacy in despight to all the Darkness which the bastard Mysteries of Antichristianity have brought in thither There hath been Conversion and Perversion and Perversion in the Pagan Nations which have joyn'd themselves to the Church of Rome since the eighth Age. There hath been Conversion for they have entertained one God in three Persons one God Creator of Heaven and Earth one Jesus the Eternal Son of God the Word made Flesh who died and rose again for the Sins of Men who will come to Judge the Living and the Dead and having raised men from their Graves will send some men to everlasting Torments and some to the Kingdom of Heaven This is Christianity by receiving this they became Converts to Jesus Christ There hath been Perversion also for by receiving a Vicar of Jesus Christ a Vice-God upon Earth a Soveraign to all the World a Master of Kings as of Subjects of Crowns as of Shepherds Crooks by adoring Bread Angels Saints Reliques and Images they have done nothing else but changed their ancient Paganism for a new one But however it be their Perversion has not hindered their Conversion and that they have entertained Antichristianity hinders not that they have not embraced also the Christian Doctrine So that the Gate of Conversion to Christianity was never shut But the question is Whether this Gate be saving whether these Conversions be profitable or whether we ought to say of the Missionaries of the Roman Church what Christ Jesus said of the Pharisees That they compass sea and land to make Proselites whom they made twofold more children of hell than themselves The question is Whether the Antichristianity which they have embraced hath more power to destroy them than the Christianity which they have received hath to save them It behoves you to answer that these People who are joyned to the Church of Rome since the eighth Age have some portion and lot with her ancient Members that God doth nothing in vain that he hath not converted so many men to Christianity to destroy them all though it be a corrupt Christianity which in the times when there were no Churches which were not very corrupt as well as the Church of Rome it may be granted that God did preserve unto himself children in these corrupt Societies that in these Pagan Nations which are joyned to the Church of Rome God had his Elect and that he found means to save these Elect from among the Nations by the Christianity which they had embraced and that he gave them the grace to separate the Antichristianity and not to be hurt or injured thereby How this was done is not for us precisely to determine These are the depths of the ways of God. We will say the same concerning the Conversions which the Roman Church hath made in the Indies that God saves his Elect from among these Nations by the Christianity which the Missionaries cause them to embrace and defends them from the wounds and hurts which the Antichristianity that is joyned unto it might do unto them by ways known to his profound Wisdom We might believe this say I were it not that according to the report that the Papists themselves make unto us of the Christianity which the Jesuites teach the Indians and the Chinesees is not so much as an honest Paganism This is it which must be answered to the first Difficulty Behold the second If you confess say they that the Church is visible and always visible the Church of Luther and Calvin cannot be the true Church for it was not visible two hundred years agon having no existence in the World. When you shall have made a dissection of this Difficulty you will find it the most pittiful one that ever was made Know then my Brethren that when we say the Church was visible and always visible we understand the Church Universal and not any particular Church By the Universal Church must be understood Christianity dispersed through all Nations in the East West North and South in all places where they retain the Books of the Old and New Testament with the three Greeds which are the Abridgment of them This Church is always visible for God cannot permit that she perish wholly nor yet that it be wholly hidden but the particular Churches of which the Universal Church is made
of the Roman Doctors They oppress you with Sophisms to convince you that there ought to be a Judge an infallible Interpreter of Scripture a Church that cannot err Answer them in one word Although all this which you say should be true it would be no advantage to you we must seek this Church and this infallible Interpreter elsewhere for 't is certain you have erred I come to the second sence viz. That the Scripture makes a Light which renders the Church visible because it shews with the Finger the Roman Church as the true Church to the exclusion of all others Now this is a Falshood sensible to all the World the Holy Scripture speaks not one word of the Church of Rome or of her Infallibility 'T is true there is an Epistle addressed to the Church of Rome but St. Paul so little thought of her as infallible that he speaks to her as a Church that would fall or at least as one that might be cut off from the true Olive and from the root of Jesus Christ There remains only the third sence in which your Converters can say that the Scripture forms a Light which makes the Church of Rome visible 'T is that the Doctrine of the Scripture is found perfectly conformable to that of the Church of Rome That is it which they must say if they will say any thing that is solid for the truth is that there is not any mark of the Church but this viz. Her conformity to the Holy Scripture Let alone therefore all this pretended heap of Marks of the Church which are either false or equivocal and keep you close to this alone Tell your Converters if you will make your Church visible to me let me see it conformable to the Scripture and 't is there you will reduce them to Extremities 'T is here that we have an evident proof that Popery is an Antichristian Religion Behold a proof to which all the subtilty of Hell can never oppose any thing we say then every Society and every Religion which hath nothing conformable with the Law of Jesus Christ is not the true Religion now Popery hath nothing conformable to the Law of Jesus Christ therefore it hath nothing of Christianity I intreat you to give attention to this If a Sect of the Turks calling themselves Mahometans had nothing among them like to the Alcoran which is the Law of Mahomet would you not tell them that they lie If the Jews calling themselves Jews should re-establish a Worship which hath nothing like the Worship prescribed by Moses would any one endure that they should say they were of the Religion of Moses Every Religion hath its Books and every Sect to shew that 't is of such a Religion ought to prove its conformity with those Books Common sence say thus If therefore Popery have nothing at all like the Writings of Christians 't is clear that 't is not Christianity Now this is it which we take for granted and which we are ready to prove before all sorts of Judges even Jews and Pagans viz. That Popery hath no conformity with the Scripture which is the common Law of Christians To be convinced of this my Brethren first separate Christianity from Popery in the Roman Church and don 't suffer yourselves to be blinded by what your Converters say unto you Are not we Christians Do we not believe one God in three Persons one Jesus crucified for the sins of men one Resurrection one Paradise and one Hell Does not the Scripture teach all this Is not our Religion therefore conformable to Revelation Answer them thereon Yea you are Christians in all that you believe with us but you are Antichristians in that wherein you believe without us These points whereof you speak are in the Scripture 't is true but 't is my Religion rather than yours 't is Christianity whereof 't is true I acknowledge you have preserved the Fundamentals But this makes nothing for your Religion which is Popery it makes nothing for Purgatory Invocation of Saints Adoration of Images and Reliques the Sacrifice of the Mass the Adoration of the Sacrament the Latine Tongue in the Worship of God a Communion without the Cup a Head of the Church besides Jesus Christ Behold Popery and 't is that which we maintain hath no conformity with the Scripture Indeed when your Converters will prove their Doctrines by the Scripture it seems they have renounced common Sence as well as Faith and Honesty To understand this there is no need to examine any Books of Controversie as they would fain perswade you there needs no more but eyes to open and read them For Example When they endeavour to prove the Pope is the Soveraign Head of the Church the Center of Unity the Mouth that utters Oracles and him to whom we must adhere if we will be saved and they produce to us for the whole proof these words Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not feed my sheep When say I they produce this and produce nothing else to prove the most important point of Popery which is the Authority of the Pope I do maintain that he must be stricken with a Spirit of Blockishness to regard it as proof He must I dare say be abandoned to a Spirit of Reprobation to suppose that the Scripture that tells us of Pastors and Teachers as Guides of the Church should not speak one word of this great Office of Pope and Soveraign Pastor When for the Sacrifice of the Mass propitiatory for the living and the dead they produce to us as proof from the holy Scriptures these Texts Melchizedeck offered bread and wine they shall offer to my Name a pure sacrifice from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same Soveraign wisdom hath prepared her victuals and mingled her wine We have an Altar of which they have no right to partake which serve the Tabernacle Do this in remembrance of me When say I they produce these passages for the intire proof of the Sacrifice of the Mass are you not tempted to believe they do not speak in good earnest for nothing seems more opposite to sound sense To prove that we must invocate Saints they refer us to those words of Jacob The Angel which delivered me from all evil keep the lads and those of Eliphaz to Job And to which of the Saints wilt thou turn thy self that is to say of the Saints which are upon Earth and those of Daniel Have mercy upon Israel for the sake of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. To prove that we must prostrate our selves before Images and worship Reliques they produce those words of God to Moses Pluck off thy shoes for the place where thou standest is holy ground and those of David Worship before his footstool and those of St. Paul to Timothy From thy childhood thou hast learnt the holy Scriptures Here is nothing to be laught at
from Judaism but bred up in the Schools of the Greeks having suck'd the Spirit of Fables and Lies wherewith those two Nations are justly reproached forged the Oracles which he attributes to the Sybils he caused to enter there as Oracles of those ancient Prophetesses all that which he believed proper to support the Christian Religion and render it plausible to the Pagans The better to persuade the Greeks he there mingled their Fables and to please the Philosophers he entered their Dreams there making himself all things to all Men that he might gain some Among other Philosophick Dreams he inserts two in his Work The first was drawn from the Platonick Philosophy 'T was that there was a certain separate place into which he pretended the Souls of the Faithful were carried after death and where they were lodged till the Day of Judgment without enjoying the happy vision of God. The other was this that at the end of the World there would be a great Fire through which all Men must pass that should be saved An imagination which seems to have some likeness to the Stoick Philosophy which teaches that the World would be burnt after which it would return into the State wherein it was at the beginning and in a continual vicissitude pass through the same Revolutions and Changes Or rather 't is taken from what the Holy Scripture says that the World at last must be burnt by Fire We are not able to say how these two Opinions the one concerâ—â—ng the separate state of Souls and the other concerning the Torrent of Fire through which they ought to pass did readily diffuse themselves among those which had any Learning and read any thing besides the Sacred Volumes The Ancients good Men and credulous being ravished to find Books under the name of Pagan Prophesies which foretold the coming of Jesus Christ his Names his Passion the Circumstances of his Birth of his Life Death and Resurrection much more clearly than the true Prophets embraced with greediness what they found in these false Prophesies Justin Martyr who wrote well nigh in the same time that these false Oracles were forged falls into the persuasion that Souls after death are in a separate place where even in some sort they are subject to the Power and Persecution of the Devil From thence it comes to pass that he said it was the Devil that caused the true Samuel to ascend by the Charms of the Witch of Endor ‖ Dial. cum Tryph. For which reason says he when a person is near death you ought to pray that his Soul don't fall under such a power S. Ireneus Bishop of Lyons the most considerable Writer of this second Age was of the same opinion concerning this separate place where all Souls must be inclosed until the Day of Judgment without seeing the Face of God. * Advers Haeres lib. 5. He calls this place Paradise whither Enoch and Elias were transported but he also calls it Hades Hell and a place invisible Note that this Opinion is universally at this day rejected by the Papists and passes among them for an Error Pope John XXII having been accused to be of this Persuasion there was a terrible noise about it and he was forced to retract it Now this Opinion is the original of Purgatory For as we shall see afterward this place changes by little and little its-nature until at length they made of it a place of Torments and Punishments for the purging of Souls This separate state produced a little while after Prayer for the Dead which we shall see had its original about the beginning of the third Age. But whereof nevertheless we see nothing in the second unless it be towards its end On the contrary Justin Martyr tells us that we must pray for dying Souls to the end that in the place of their Separation they fall not under the Power of Devils He would not have failed to have added that we must pray for Souls after death to the end that we might draw them from under the power of Devils if Prayers for the dead had then been in use On the Subject of this praying for the Dead whereof they make such great boasts in Antiquity tell them these three things 1. That it was not in use in the first and second Age. 2. That the Reason why they began to pray for the Dead is very different from that which causes Prayers for them at this day At this day 't is to draw them from Purgatory then it was to the end that in the terrestrial Paradise or other place of Separation where they were God would increase their rest and joy for it was believed that they were there in the beginning of Happiness 3. To conclude tell them that these Prayers for the Dead are no important business in Religion and that they are not the Reason of our Separation After that press them to shew you in the second Age the least footsteps of this place of Torments whither penitent Souls must go after Death to pay the remainder of those punishments which they could not satisfie during their life Demand proofs from them that in this Age the Church prayed for Souls that they might quickly get out of torment and you will see them forced to confess that there are none I come to the Worship and Adoration of Creatures such as are Relicks Images the Blessed Virgin Saints and Angels They treat this as a small business we shall have occasion to prove to you one day that without running into any extravagance 't is a Pagan Idolatry But for the present we will content our selves to shew you that we do not find the least footsteps of these worships in the second Age wherein we now are If they did invoke Saints the Blessed Virgin and Angels if they had Images if they did kiss and adore Relicks let them shew it you let them cause you to read one Author that speaks of it Bellarmine hath the impudence to produce the words of Justin Martyr to prove the Worship of Angels We adore and venerate the Father and the Son which is come to us from him who hath taught us both us and others which follow him and the Army of good Angels by the Spirit of Prophecy c. Apol. 2. He refers the word we adored to that of Angels as if the design of Justin Martyr had been to say that they adored Angels Whereas he ought to refer Angels to the word teach his Sense being that Jesus Christ hath taught the Angels as well as us the Mystery of the Gospel according to what S. Paul says To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God Eph. 3.10 It is so clear that this is the Sense of S. Justin that at this day none of your new Doctors dare quote these words to prove that they worshiped Angels in the second Age. This passage being
set aside let them produce you another Was there therefore no Saints in these Ages Had they no Martyrs Why did they not invoke the Apostles that had newly received their Crowns Why did they then neglect the Intercession of the Virgin Was it that her Credit was not well established in Heaven at that time and that she wanted time to obtain the Empire which at this day she possesses But why have the Authors of this Age been so impudent to say that they adore God alone and that they adore none but He Justin Martyr says speaking of Jesus Christ He hath taught us that we must adore but one only God when he said This the great commandment thou shalt worship God and him only shalt thou serve Apol. 2. And a little after having quoted those other words of Jesus Christ Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods He adds 't is for this reason that we adore but one only God. And as to what concerns you we give you our Services with gladness in all other things Let not your Eyes be dazled by crafty Tricks upon the word Adore as if Justin Martyr spake of Soveraign Adoration which they give to none but God according to your Converters for you ought to be advertised that he serves himself of the word Proskunoumen which signifies all sorts of Worship and Religious Service A word which signifies properly to prostrate our selves and wherewith the second Council of Nice serves it self when it appoints the Worship of Images So the sense is We do not prostrate our selves we do not give any Religious Worship but to God. See if they can say so at this day in the Church of Rome Theophilus of Antioch and Author of the same Age says * Lib. 1. ad Autol. The King will not that they call those Kings which command under him For King is his name and it is not permitted to another to take it So it is not permited to adore any other but God. St. Ireneus Bishop of Lyons speaking of the God which gave the Law †Lib. 5. cap. 22. It is he alone to whom the Disciples of Jesus Christ ought to perform worship c. And a little after The Law commands us to praise the Creator and serve him alone But hear a Testimony which will instruct you sufficiently concerning the opinions and practice of that Age about it They are the Acts of the Martyrdom of St. Polycarpus Bishop of Smyrna After the death of this Holy Bishop ⸫ Euseb lib. 4. cap. 15. his Church writ to that of Pontus an excellent Letter which is one of the most precious monuments that we have of Primitive Antiquity In this Letter the Believers of Smyrna having reported all the circumstances of the death of Polycarpus their Bishop say that the Devil used endeavours that our Brethren might not obtain his body which many among us did very much desire to the end they might participate of that sacred body Some therefore suggested to Nicetas Father of Herod and Brother of Dalces to go find out the Proconsul to advise him not to give us the body for fear say they that having abandoned Christ the Christians may come to Worship him it was at the suggestion of the Jews and at their pressing sollicitation that these Men thus represented the matter For they were the Jews that observed our Brethren when they endeavoured to take the body from the Pile of Wood. Fools which know not that we can never forsake Jesus Christ who hath suffered death for all those that must be saved nor serve any other For we Adore him as the Son of God and as for the Martyrs we love them and are kind to them as Disciples and imitators of the Lord because of the great love which they have shewn to their King and Master and we wish to be their Associates and fellow Disciples The Centurion therefore seeing the obstinacy of the Jews caused the body to be burnt upon the place according to the custom After which we gathered together his Bones more precious than the most precious Stones and more pure than Gold and laid them up in a convenient place In which place if it be possible for us and God permit it we will hold our Assemblies to Celebrate with joy and gladness the Birth day of his Martyrdom in memory of those who have undergone this glorious Combat and to instruct and confirm our descendents by such an example The passage is altogether such as we would wish for we there see all which we search after and what was the Religion of the ancient Christians with respect to Relicks and Saints and from whence began the Superstition and Idolatry which after appeared in the World. First of all you see that in the second Age they served no other but God we serve no other but God. Secondly That the Worship given to the Martyrs was a Worship of love and simple imitation we love them and have a kindness for them These people had lost all sense not to have added and we pray to them if so be they had them prayed to the Martyrs Thirdly That they had no regard to the merits of Saints and Martyrs nor did they pray to God to make us partakers of them we wish to be their Companions and fellow Disciples They might as easily have said as they say now adays we desire to be made partakers of their merits Fourthly That they did not assemble at the Tombs of the Martyrs that they might invocate and serve them but only with design to celebrate the Birth-day of their Martyrdom and the memory of their Sufferings It is an amazing stupidity not to have added and to recommend our selves to their prayers and intercession if any such thing had been in use Fifthly That they did not rend the Bodies of Martyrs in pieces nor distribute their Bones to fill Reliquaire's For they took the bones of Polycarpus and laid them in a convenient place that is to say they laid them honorably in a Tomb. In all this we see the innocence of the worship of the ancient Christians But in that which follows we see the first bloomings from whence afterward proceeded Idolatry 1. We see here an excessive love which Christians did shew towards the bodies of Martyrs they say that they are more precious than the most precious Stones and more pure than the purest Gold. 2. They assembled upon their Tombs and their burying places served them as Temples not simply through necessity for they might have assembled more conveniently in Houses but because they believed those places more Holy and more proper to excite Devotion because of the memory of the Martyrs 3. They Consecrated certain days to remember the Passion day of the Martyrs Indeed they did not Invoke or Pray to them but nevertheless this was done in their honor as we Celebrate the Birth-day of a Prince to whom we give no kind of