of Six Thousand Foot and Three Hundred Horse the others Ex veteri Instituto according to the Ancient custom being formed only of Five Thousand Foot and two Hundred Horse This great Author in all probability was better informed in the Roman Customs than the Author of the Passion of the Thebean Souldiers For the Legions having been raised to Five Thousand Men in the Roman Wars against Carthage Polybius observes that to his time they still retained the same number of Five Thousand Foot and Three Hundred Horse It cannot be deny'd but the number of the Legionary Souldiers increased under the Emperours since at the time of the Emperour Tacitus the Legions were of Six Thousand One Hundred and Twenty Foot and of Seven Hundred and Sixteen Horse which is a Remark of Modestus in the Treatise he addresses to him of the Terms used in the Military Art Vegetius who Dedicated his Book to the Emperour Valentinian tells us likewise that in his time the Legions were of the same number So that it would be an obligation to the Publick to prove by good Authors that at the time of Dioclesian and Maximian in which it is supposed that the Thebean Legion suffered Martyrdom the Legions were of 6666 or 6600 Men as 't is said in the Copies both of Surius and Chifflet CHAP. X. That in the Editions both of Surius and Chifflet a Miracle is related which hath all the appearance of a feigned Story IN the Acts of the Agaunian Martyrs there is a Miracle set down that deserves our consideration This Miracle hapned on the occasion of a man who in Surius's Original was a Gold-smith by Trade and in that of Chifflet a Black-smith or a Carpenter 'T is said in these Acts that all the Christians of Agaunum being Assembled at Church upon a Sunday this Man who was a Pagan stayed alone in the new Church which was then a Building to the Honour of the Thebean Souldiers Whereupon the Saints appearing to him in a bright and glorious Apparel dragg'd him from the place where he was stretched him as it were upon a rack and having banged him soundly reproached him with his absenting himself from the Church on the Lords-day and that he being a Pagan had been so bold as to work upon a Church which was Erecting to them It is incredible that a grave Author as St. Eucherius was should have made the Blessed Martyrs to speak such Nonsense For it is an easie thing to infer from their discourse that the Pagans themselves were obliged even as Pagans to observe the keeping of the Lords-day and this is a Tenet which one can't by any means admit For if the Fourth Commandment had obliged the Heathens as well as the Jews as the other Commandments of the Decalogue did 't would be a certain proof that the Duty enjoyned by the fourth Precept concerning the Sabbath-day is a Duty Essentially Moral of a Natural and inviolable Rectitude and it would be a very intricate difficulty to justifie the Apostolick Church about the translation of the Sabbath to the Day of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ When we dispute against the Sabbatarians one of the strong Reasons we bring against them is that the distinctive Character of the Laws Essentially Moral is their extension and universality that is that they bind all sorts of Persons at all times in all places and under both Covenants So that we conclude that the observance of the Seventh Day is not a Moral Duty since the fourth Commandment did not oblige the Gentiles and I do not know if the same thing may not be said of our Sunday which hath suceeded to the Rights of the Sabbath 'T is true that after Nature hath taught Men the existence of a God it may teach them further the reasonableness of Consecrating a setled time to his Service But it can lead them no further and will leave the choice of that time to their Liberty Let it be the Fourth the Sixth or the Seventh Day 't is all one in the main And to render the Pagans guilty in not keeping the Sabbath either according to the Jewish or Christian Institution the Sabbath ought to be one of those Duties that are as well known to us as the first Principles inbred in our very Nature at our coming into the World and ingraved by the Hand of God in the Hearts of all Men. The Agaunian Saints were much in the wrong to use a Pagan so scurvily under pretence of his not observing the Sunday They ought first to have instructed him to have set before him the excellency and Holiness of the Christian Religion and shewed him how just and reasonable it is to Consecrate the Sunday to the glory of Jesus Christ the Mediator and High-Priest of this new Law And after this had he been stubborn and Rebellious to their Charitable instructions and admonitions then in Gods Name let him fall under the Censure But to knock him down out of hand this is a way of Conversion only known and practised in our Days in France and which cannot be attributed to Saints without a great offence to their Charity It was an ordinary thing indeed at that time to see the Pagans drag the Christians by force to their profane Sacrifices but not one Example of those times can be produced of any Christians in places where they had the power to do to it tormenting the Pagans and compelling them to come and joyn with them in their Worship Nay it seems that in those former times they made some scruple of admitting Infidels into the places where their Holy Mysteries were Celebrated For otherwise to what purpose should the fourth Council of Carthage have Ordered the Bishops to suffer the Pagans the Jews and other Hereticks to enter their Churches and hear the Word of God 'T is true that it is added in that Canon that they shall not be suffered to stay but to the Mass for the Catechumens so that after the Sermon and Prayer for the Catechumens the Infidels were obliged to withdraw before the Celebration of the Holy Sacraments Another circumstance against the credibility of it is that the Agaunian Saints do reproach this Pagan for his boldness in working upon the Church which was a Building for them Is it possible than an Author so wise and knowing as Sr. Eucherius was should have put in the Mouth of his Saints such unbecoming reproaches Saints are not certainly so nice as this comes to I am sure God himself is not For when Solomon was Building him a Temple it does not appear that he found fault with him for sending for Wood and Stones from Heathenish Countries And according to St. Austin he would not have taken it ill though all the Timber of his Temple had been cut down in the Groves Consecrated to Idols ex lucis alienorum Deorum When we reflect on the the prodigious number of Workmen who were employed in the Building of the
Christians did now no longer with Joseph of Arimathea frequent the Sepulchre of our Lord. The Death of Christ was to them an old Story and grown out of date and new Objects were then required to excite the Zeal and Devotions of Christians Hence it was that from time to time some Thebean Souldier or other was digged out of the Ground and proposed to their Veneration The Citizens of Pignerol make their boast of having there in the Abbey of our Lady the Corps of St. Tiberius In the Diocess of Saluces are shewed the Tombs of Constantius and Theophredus or Jafredus and a new Inscription clapt thereon causeth them to be worshipped as Souldiers of the Thebean Legion Some Years ago passing by Fossano I had the curiosity to go and view the Place where according to the Tradition of that Town Alverius and Sebastianus Thebean Souldiers are said to be Buried Garnier in his History of St. Alexander saith that the Bodies of Cassius Severinus Licinius and Secundus lye deposited at Como in the Milanese Crantzius tells us that at Brunswick they believe that they have some Martyrs of Agaunum The City of Colen vaunteth to have a great number of them But above all the Town of Turin brags of having been enrich'd with their Spoils In the Abbey of St. Solutor are kept some Reliques with this Title Reliquiae Sancti Benigni Thebensis They shew in the same Abbey a Manuscript wherein are recorded the Lives of Solutor Adventor and Octavius set off with all those incidents and flourishes which generally adorn the common Legends The Jesuites of Turin have made a sudden discovery all at once of Ciro John Cacusat Chrysogon Cyriacus Felix Fortunatus and Achilles as they inform us in the History which they have published of the Holy Martyrs Abondius and Abondantius When you have passed the Bridge of Turin and taken your way towards the Mountain that leads to Chiers you find on the side of the River Pô a little Chappel where there is an Inscription which I had amongst my Papers but by mischance it hath been almost blotted out however here is the remainder of it D. O. M. Beatae Virgini Mariae Thebaeorum Martyrum .... Ex vetustate labentem Aediculam ampliorem .... Divinoque Ministerio eptiorem Comes Gregorius Johaninus ..... a Solo excitavit .... an 1654. I remember that the Names of two Theb. Souldiers are to be seen there And it is certain that if in travelling through Italy One would be at the trouble to take information of the Saints of every particular Place and to read both the printed and manuscript Lives of Saints that are kept in the Archives of the Cathedral Churches there would great numbers of Theb. Souldiers start up from behind the bushes who had no other being but what they received from the Monks of the last Ages in order to serve their turns and promote the Trade they made of the poor People's superstition However it be as the case stands I have in this Dissertation struck of from the Romish Church 6666 Saints as the learned Father Sirmond with one dash of his Pen had taken lately from them eleven thousand For having met with these Words in an Old Martyrology S S Vrsula Vnde ci milla V. M. i. e. Vndecimilla Virgin and Martyr he shew'd the shameful blunder of those who imagin'd that Vnde ci milla with the V and M had been an abbreviation to express eleven thousand Virgins Mr. de Launoy had both the honesty and courage to publish what he thought of St. Bruno and several other Saints and might he have enjoy'd the protection either of the Court or Clergy he would have been a great instrument of Reformation in the Roman Worship I was told That this Mr. de Launoy being once at dinner with the Curate of a Country Parish in the Diocess of Mans on the Festival of the Chief Saint of that Village desired the Curate to tell him the Name of that Saint You must excuse me for that answered the Curate for should you once go about to pull down my Saint as you have done so many others I should be undone and my Boors would find themselves without a Patron Mr. de Valois saith that the Life of St. Catharine Virgin and Martyr is but a Fabulous Legend from the beginning to the end and likewise that of St. Eustachius Patron of the biggest Parish in Paris and as for what is related of St. Lazarus of St. Martha of Mary Magdalen and of the St. Baume he added credant qui volent as for me I shall never believe a Word of it and I hold their arrival into France to be one of the most Fabulous things in the World Mr. Menage in his Book of Learned Women having enumerated amongst them St. Catharine takes Notice That Baronius suspected it to be but a Fable And it is material to observe by the by that Baronius's suspition was grounded upon the silence of Eusebius which we have also alledged against the Agaunian Martyrs Moreover Mr. Menage tells us that Francis de Harlay Arch-Bishop of Paris having chosen some of the most understanding Men of his Clergy in 1680 to revise and reform the Breviary for the use of the Church of Paris these Doctors thought fit to expunge the Life of St. Catharine looking upon the Acts of her Martyrdom as a meer Fiction The Bishops of St. Pons in the year 1684 took from the Calendar of his Diocess about sixty Holy-days amongst which were St. Amarante the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary the Chair of St. Peter St. Ignatius Loyola c. He is a Prelate who has very much distinguished himself both by his Learning and Piety but who had the misfortune to incur the hatred of the Jesuits as being a Disciple of the famous Bishop of Alet and also to displease the Court for refusing to persecute the Protestants of his Diocess and not following Cardinal Bonzi and the Bishops of his Cabal in Voting in the States of Lauguedoc the Subsidies that were demanded by the French King Therefore the Jesuites looking for an occasion to bring him into Trouble the Abbot of Aulergues his Archdeacon devoted himself to serve their Revenge So that if an Archdeacon is call'd in the Canons of the Church Oculus Episcopi it may be well said that here the Light of the Body became darkness This Abbot appealed from his Bishop against the Reformation of his Calendar to the Parliament of Toulouse The Jesuites who cared but little for the other Saints but resented very much the disgrace put upon their St. Ignatius procured an Order from the Court to that Parliament that they should favour the Abbot's Cause without further delay I was then at Toulouse where I was oblig'd to stay during the Months of July August and September at which time the Cause was Pleaded I was present at the hearing and the Kings Attorney broke into a furious passion against
good foundation I don't see why she might not as well have put an Arrian Creed into her Liturgy with a warning to her Children to follow her Intentions and give an Orthodox sense to that Heretical-Creed It would prove a hard matter to reduce to an Orate pro nobis that Prayer used at the Consecration of their Altars Sanctify O Lord this Stone to thine Honour to the Honour of the Virgin Mary and to the Honour of all Saints You see here the Saints and the Blessed Virgin joyn'd equally with God Mons de le Habespine Bishop of Orleans hath laboured in vain to justify this Prayer And from hence we must necessarily conclude that the Romish Church pays to the Saints a Religious Worship of the same nature with that which she gives to God For otherwise Bellarmine does not argue well when he proves from the Form of Baptism that the Holy Ghost being joined therein with the Father and the Son ought therefore to be esteemed God as well as the Father and the Son Go and Baptise all Nations in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost But what can the Romish Church reply when it is objected that she prays to Saints who never had any being as St. Christopher St. Catharine the eleven thousand Virgins and the Souldiers of the Theb. Legion Let these Prayers be reduced as much as they please to the general Spirit of the Church yet she cannot justify them and therefore she must confess that she hath erred and is yet in error Thirdly They of the Church of Rome to excuse the Worship they pay to the Saints say That they pray to them in the same manner as we pray our living Brethren to intercede for us But had they not thus explain'd their meaning by the Bishop of Meaux's Pen we would hardly believe that they were in good earnest What! Is there then no difference between the Prayers which the Sick Protestants desire to be made for them in their Churches that God would comfort and relieve them in their several necessities and those which the Papists direct to their Saints When the Protestants desire these Offices of Charity of their Brethren do they ask them after the same manner and in the same order as the Romish Church implores the Intercession and Assistance of her Saints Do they consecrate Holy-days and Altars to them Build them Churches Make Vows and Pilgrimages to their Honour Do they light Wax-candles before their Images Approach them with Censers Present them with Offering And make Processions and Confraternities in honour of their Memories Quite contrary Our Brethren are there present with us where they see our necessities with their own Eyes and we desire them to joyn with us in Prayer We don't look upon them as if they were of a superior Order to us but as Fellow Labourers subject to the same weaknesses and infirmities as we are and thereby ingaged to compassionate our sufferings Our practice is authorized by the Example of the Faithful of all Ages and by the express command of the Apostle St. James who exhorteth us to Pray one for another But the Romish practice is very far from having a Title to any of these advantages Under the Old Testament no Prayers were ever made to the deceased Saints though the Faithful prayed one for another as we do Notwithstanding they had at that time Saints whose Holiness could not be call'd in question since God himself had if I may so speak canonized Elias and Enoch All these Answers are solid and good But how can they apply this Or what other Answer can they make when we charge them with praying to such Saints as never were in the World such as St. Christopher St. Catharine the eleven thousand Virgins and the Souldiers of the Theb. Legion seeing these Saints were only meer fictions and the invention of Legend-Writers They cannot sure answer that they Pray to these after the same Manner as we do to our living Brethren and therefore they ought to confess that they have erred and do remain still in error The Fourth Evasion of the Romish Church is to have recourse to the equivocal Sense of the Terms Worship and Adoration They say that there is a Supream Worship and Adoration of Latria and that God alone deserves this Worship and Adoration but that there is an inferiour Worship and a Service of Dulia which we ought to pay to Angels and Saints But this Distinction is not in nor is it grounded upon Scripture For St. Paul makes use of the Term Dulia when he speaks of the Supream Worship telling the Thessalonians That they turn'd to God from Idols to serve the Living and True God And the Septuagint have used it in the same Sense 1. Sam. c. 7. v. 3. and Ps 11. v. 11. and on the contrary they have expressed by that of Latria the Services which Men do one to another in that Threatning which God makes to his People That they should servetheir Enemies which God would send against them in hunger and in thirst and in nakedness But besides this Distinction is very insignificant for let the Terms be never so Equivocal yet the things expressed by them are not so For Churches Festivals Altars Vows Offerings Lights and Processions are not Equivocal things but determined to the highest sort of Religious Worship To prove this let an Indian or a Chinese go into a Popish Church tell him That this Temple is consecrated to Francis of Assise that this is his Holy-day and that they are going to make a Procession to his Honour That the Image which he seeth adorned with so many flowers and illuminated with so many Torches is his Representation And let him see afterwards all the People prostrating themselves before it in order to the Addressing their Prayers to it And then ask him what this People is a doing He will answer that they adore St. Francis or his Image the simple Notions of Nature leading him to that Answer because all the Actions of this People are determined to Religion which being taken altogether are the formal and distinct Signs of the Supreme Worship And therefore it is in vain for them to endeavour to palliate the Matter by a pretended equivocal use of Words Had the Romish Doctors been pleased to express themselves more clearly there would have been no wrangling about the Terms We acknowledg that the Acts of Religion are not all of the same Weight and Importance The first are those that are call'd Elicite and Immediate which are referred only to God The second are grounded upon the reference or relation which certain Things and Persons have to Religion In this Rank we place the reverence due to Pastors to Churches Holy Vessels to the Elements of the Sacraments to Saints to Angels to the blessed Mother of God That is That there are some Degrees of respect due to each of these in proportion to the Rank
which they hold in Religion and to the Account which God makes of them The last Sorts of Religious Acts are those that are commanded by Religion it self as for Example the Submission and Honour we owe to Parents and Magistrates But if these Controversies were fairly manag'd all the Dispute would be about the first Sort of these Acts of Religion which are call'd in the Language of the Schools Elicite and Immediate and such as God reserves peculiarly to himself with exclusion of the noblest and most exalted Rank of Created Beings such for instance as Invocation Psal 50. v. 15 Trust and Affiance Jer. 17. v. 17. Vows Isa 19. v. 21. Worship Sacrifice and Adoration Exod. 20. v. 50. Act. 10. v. 26. Apocal. 19. vers 10. These are the Acts of Religion which we accuse the Roman Church of giving to the Saints Those amongst them who pretended to devotion make Vows to the Saints upon every occasion though St. Thomas hath said that a Vow is an Act of Latria But however this be the Equivocal Sense of the term Adoration can do them no service where they are accused of paying a Religious Worship to Supposititious Saints such as St. Christopher St. Longine St. Catharine the eleven thousand Virgins and the Souldiers of the Theb. Legion They cannot pretend that they pay these Saints only a Worship of Dulia Honours much inferior to the Supream They ought therefore to confess that they have erred and do still persist in their error Fifthly the Roman Church speaking by the Mouth of the Bishop of Meaux saith that she instructeth her Children to make a great deal of difference between the affections that accompany the Prayers they make to Saints and the Zeal Piety and profound Humility they ought to be possessed with when they direct their Devotions immediately to God himself But to this have not we just reason to reply that God alone knows the Affections of the Heart and that we cannot judge of them but by Mens Words and Actions We don't pretend to usurp the Prerogative of God and should be very unwilling to pass a rash Judgment upon Men. Moses hath taught us that secret things belong to the Lord our God and Christ hath told us that we shall know Men by their Fruits that is by their Words and Actions This way of passing Judgment upon Mens Hearts is so common a notion and so universal a Principle that all Men in the World do follow it in the judgments they make of others So that it is very unjustly done by those of the French Clergy who accuse us of calumny in finding fault with their Church for its paying to Saints a prohibited Worship since our Accusation is founded upon their Words and Actions For let them say what they please that they do not form the same Idea of the Saints as they do of an Infinite and Supream Being and that their Prayers to God are accompanied with Affections far more lively ardent and humble than those they address to the Saints This is known to none but God and discernable only by his all-seeing Eye And all that we see and hear of their Performance towards the Saints as Prayers Temples Festivals Illuminations Burning of Incense Processions Prostrations all these things I say are the proper and formal Characters of the Supream Worship which God hath in a peculiar manner reserved to himself Are we then in the wrong to conclude that they carry the honours they render to the Saints too far The Jansenists in that Book of theirs intituled the imaginary Heresie charged the Jesuites with making the Pope a God by their Tenet that the Pope is infallible because Infallibility is a property belonging only to God But we have yet more reason to reproach the Roman Church for dealing with Saints as if they were Gods not only upon account of the external Worship she pays to them but also because of the good things she asks of them which suppose that they know the Hearts of Men are present every where and have an unlimited power all which are Properties belonging only to the Supream being But after all suppose it should be true that the Romish Church puts a great difference between the Thoughts that accompany the Prayers to God and those addressed to the Saints we leave every wise Man to consider whether this distinction in the Thoughts does not raise in the Mind troublesome Scruples and hinder its due application and adherence to God These Theological Principles leave one always unquiet and uneasie for fear of going beyond or stopping short of the Mark. Thus far in their Opinion the Worship is lawful and right but to go ever so little further is Idolatry When those who repeat after the Priest the Confession of Sins at the beginning of the Mass hear him say I confess to God Almighty they must mind to do an Act of Latria but when he adds and to the Blessed Virgin they must take care to descend lower to Hyperdulia and when he goes on saying to the Angels and to the Saints to the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul c. it would be a Crime should they offer to them any of the Two former kinds of Worship and therefore they must pass to that of Dulia If an Image be presented to them they are to offer but a relative honour to it but let it be a little piece of the true Cross they may go as far as the indirect Latria And because these different Worships are often mix'd in the same Service and Litanies we leave it again to Wise Men to consider whether all those who are present at these Church-Services have in that instant of time all these distinctions present in their Minds whether they be all capable of these nice and refined subtilties of the Schools and whether all this be proper to raise the heart and to inflame true piety At least our Religion hath this advantage above theirs that God alone being proposed to us as the Object of our Worship and Prayers we need not busie our Minds about any of these Distinctions no scruple arises to disturb our Zeal we embrace the Divine Object with all our Heart and with all our Soul free from fears and danger of running beyond the Mark But after all this difference of Thoughts in their Prayers will do them no Service as to the worship which they render to Saints that never existed such as St. Christopher St. Catharine the Eleven Thousand Virgins and the Souldiers of the Thebean Legion These being mere Chimeras and groundless fancies which deserve not any the least respect they who pay any sort of Religious Worship to them ought to confess that they have been and are yet in Error The Sixth Subterfuge of the Roman Church is that they make great difference between Christ's Mediation and that of the Saints For say they Christ is a Mediator of Redemption and the Saints are only Mediators of Intercession But in answer to this
they had been actually alive But however the Veneration they had then for them came nothing near to the Worship which the Romish Church pays to them now adays Gregory the First who died in the Seventh Century began in his time to innovate in the publick Worship of the Church by inserting in the Litanies the Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary those of the Saints having not been introduced till a long time after And we defy the Doctors of the Church of Rome to shew us that the Worship which they render to Saints is mentioned in any of the Ecclesiastical Writers who lived before the Year of our Lord 350. Martin Perez Hiala Bishop of Cadiz confesses that they cannot justify by ancient authority the Invocation and Intercession of Saints before the time of Cornelius who lived towards the end of the Third Century And this good Prelate would have descended yet a Hundred Years lower had he seen the Reasons which Blondel alledges to prove that that which is cited of Cornelius is meerly spurious Had the Invocation of Saints been in use in the times of St. Athanasius and St. Hilary we must confess that the Arrians had but very little wit when it being objected as it was by these Fathers to them that they were down-right Idolaters in praying as they did to Christ whom they thought to be but a Creature they did not reply that this Accusation ought to rebound on their Adversaries also since notwithstanding they did not believe their Saints to be Gods yet they made Prayers and Supplications to them But how is it possible to believe that in those first Ages of Christianity the Christians made their Addresses to the deceased Saints seeing they were of Opinion that the Souls of the Faithful did not enjoy the Beatifick Vision before the general Resurrection of the Dead If we ask Cardinal Bellarmine why the Saints were not invoked under the Old Testament he answers Because the Souls of the Just were then in Limbo and did not yet behold the Face of God For which very Reason we may likewise conclude that the Christians of the first Ages did not pray to Saints since they believed that their Souls were not to be admitted into the presence of God till the General Resurrection Which Opinion of theirs hath forced Cardinal Richlieu to make this Confession That several Fathers in the First Ages held for certain that the Souls of the Faithful deceased in the Grace of God those of Martyrs only excepted should not enjoy the Beatifick Vision till after the Resurrection of the Dead and therefore ' its no wonder that they spoke in those times of the Veneration and Invocation of Saints with more caution and wariness than it hath been done since it hath been commonly believed that the Souls of the Faithful who have departed this Life in the fear of God did not wait till the Resurrection for the enjoyment of the Beatifick Vision In the Church of the first Ages they observed another Practice inconsistent with that Worship which the present Church of Rome renders to the Saints For now a days the Living Pray to the Dead whereas formerly the Living pray'd for them Cardinal Richelieu as you have seen in the place above quoted hath excepted the Martyrs from the general Rule but in this case there was no exception made of any for according to the Liturgy ascrib'd to St. Mark the Christians us'd to say Remember O Lord Our Ancestors the Patriarcks the Prophets the Martyrs and all the Spirits who are perfect in the Faith of Jesus Christ and grant that their Souls may rest in the Sanctuary of thy Saints This practice of praying for all the Saints was yet in use in Hinkmar's time And in the Rubrick upon the Decretals at the Title of the Celebration of Masses ch 6. sect Oratio quae dicitur c. we find this curious Remark in the Gloss on the Margent It was formerly said Grant O Lord that this Prayer may be profitable to the Soul of thy Servant Leo But now it is said Grant that this Prayer may be profitable to us by the Intercession of thy Servant Leo. So little distinction was made in those times between the Martyrs and the Saints of the first Order That they used to pray even for the Blessed Mother of God For in the Liturgy attributed to St. Chrysostom we find these Words Let us pray to the Lord for all those who have heretofore administred and fulfilled the Duties of Priesthood for the eternal remission of their Sins and for the memory of all those who are deceased in hope of the Resurrection Forgive them O Merciful Lord. And we offer also this reasonable Service unto thee for our Ancestors who rest in the Faith the Fathers the Patriarâ—s the Prophets the Apostles the Martyrs and especially for the most Blessed and Immaculate Mary After this do ye think it well done of the Romanists to accuse us of condemning the Primitive Church and all the Ancient Fathers because we condemn the Worship which they pay in our days to the Saints Certain it is that in this we don 't condemn Origen who wrote thus against Celsus We ought not to pray to Creatures who have as much need to make Prayers and Supplications for themselves and do therefore rather by their calling upon him admonish us to make our addresses to God only and not to debase our selves before them by dividing between God and them the honour of Prayer God forbid that we should follow Celsus's advice who would have us to pray to Angels We ought to pray to none but God who is the Paramount Lord of aâ—l things We do not condemn St. Austin who saith That were St. Paul and the other Apostles our Mediators we should have many of them but then this Apostle had not been in the right who saith that there is but one God and one Mediator between God and Man who is Jesus Christ. And he declares in another place That in offering the Sacrifice mention was made of the Martyrs as of Men of God who by the Confession of his Name had triumphed over the World but that they were not invocated We don't condemn Ignatius a Disciple of the Apostles who recommended this to the Christians to have none before their Eyes when they pray but Christ Jesus and his Father We do not condemn St. Irenaeus that Holy Bishop of Lions who had framed himself both upon the Lessons and Examples of Polycarp and who saith That the Church does not mix in her Service either the Invocation of Angels or any other criminal Curiosity but does direct her Prayers meerly purely and openly to God the maker of all things by calling upon the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ We do not condemn Tertullian who giving an Account of the Faith and Hope of the Christians before the Roman Emperors saith That they do Invocate none but the true
God and do pray for the prosperity of the Emperor but that they ask it of him whom they know alone to be able to grant it Nor do we condemn Lactantius who declares That those who pray to deceased Saints do Sin both against Reason and Piety revolt against God break all sorts of Laws and in Worshiping dead Men do commit an unpardonable Fault But if the Romish Church does side with those Ancient Hereticks who as Theodore◠informs us held That whosoever will have a free Access to God ought first to endeavour to secure to himself the Favour of Angels and if we find fault with that Church for doing the same we leave it to our Readers to examin whether we do condemn also that Ancient Doctor who answered these Hereticks That it is but a pitiful subterfuge to say that we make our addresses to the Creatures only upon the account of making by their means our Approaches to God as they are us'd to do who desire to be introduced to the King by making first their Application to his Officers True it is that to be admitted to the audience of a King and to be promoted by him it is necessary first to speak to and court those who do attend him because a King being but a Man cannot of himself know whom to trust with the administration of his Affairs but as he receives information from those that are about him But that we may approach God who is Omniscient there is no need of imploring the Patronage of Men. It is enough if we have a sincere and upright heart and a religious mind for God will answer in any place of the Vniverse whosoever speaks to him in that holy disposition How unjustly then are we condemned by the Romanists for holding Opinions contrary to those of the Ancient Church concerning the Saints since in conformity to that Church of the first Ages we do not address our Prayers to any but God through Jesus Christ We do as she did honour the Saints and reverence their memory we propose their Examples to our Imitation we applaud their Triumph and do Crown them with praise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Imitation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Praise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Commemoration were all the duties which the Piety of the Primitive Christians pay'd to the Saints And if we do restrain our selves within the same bounds we have for us the most Authentick Acts of Antiquity as the 34. and 57. Epistles of St. Cyprian wherein this blessed Martyr speaks of the Commemoration which the Church made of Martyrs and the 3. ch of the Book Corona militis by Tertullian in which are mentioned the Oblations which in those times were offered for the dead especially for Relations and Friends But chiefly we have on our side the Declaration of the Ancient Church of Smyrna concerning St. Polycarp's Body related by Eusebius and in the Acts of this Blessed Martyr Printed byVsserius and which are quoted by Mr. de Valois in his Notes It is a very memorable Fact and which happened about the year of Our Lord 167 and is as follows The Jews being unwilling that the Christians should have the comfort of burying their Polycarp represented to the Pagan Magistrates that if the Christians were permitted to keep the Body of that Holy Martyr they would soon forsake their Master to serve his Disciple not knowing said the whole Church of Smyrna That it is impossible we should leave Christ who hath suffered for the Redemption of all those who are saved through the whole World and that we should pay a religious Worship or address our Prayers to any other but him For as to Christ we adore him as being the Son of God whereas we love the Martyrs as the Disciples and Imitators of the Lord. And certainly this is nothing but what is very just considering the Zeal and fervent Love they had for their own King and Master God grant that we may so imitate their Piety that we may be partakers of their Glory Which discourse of the Church of Smyrna as it is our Apology so it is a condemnation of the Worship which the Romish Church renders now a days to Saints And if the Ancient Church speaks thus of true Martyrs we may easily judge how it would have behaved it self towards false and supposititious ones such as are the Souldiers of the Theb. Legion Tenthly Father Malbranche is without contradiction one of the greatest Wits of our Age did he not too much affect to be an Original His System concerning the Worship of Saints and the way he takes to defend the Practice of his Church is as follows First he lays down for a Foundation that all our good things come from God and that he is the only cause and dispenser of them Secondly He saith That when we receive from him any thing that is good Christ is the occasional Cause thereof God by an Eternal Law having decreed not to communicate any Good to Mankind but at Christ's Desire and Request Which Tenet of his is set forth more largely both in his Christian Meditations and his Treatise of Nature and Grace Thirdly He declares That it is not in the Power of the Saints to impart any of these Goods unto us and that we ought not so much as to say That they are the occasional Causes of them it being a Privilege that belongs to none but Christ as he is the Mediator of the New Covenant and the High Priest of Things Eternal It is at the Desire of Christ and not at those of the Saints that God by an Eternal Law hath bound himself to communicate his Graces Fourthly Nevertheless he adds that the Saints do excite and incline the Desires of Christ toward us in which chiefly he makes the force of their Intercession to consist Fifthly and lastly He believes that they have the Power to heal Sicknesses and to bless with fertility our Fields because the Order of the Universe seems to require that inferior things be made Subject to the Power of the Superior Beings I know not how Father Malbranche with all the Sagacity and Sharpness of his Wit can reconcile these Principles of his both with the Doctrine and Practice of his Church For having Established in the First That God is the only Dispenser of all good things hence it follows that the asking the Saints for Graces which come only from the hand of God is down-right Idolatry And when he saith secondly That God does not dispense his Graces but at the Desire of Christ who is established by him the Mediatour of the New Covenant and the High-Priest of Things Eternal and that he alone can make Intercession for us to his Father in determining and contracting by his desires the general Laws of God's Mercy to some particular Sinners whom he hath more kindness for we may easily conclude that the imploring the Mediation of Saints and asking them to pray directly and
ever made bold with his Manuscript The Acts of the Agaunian Souldiers having no such thing in them as Gifts to Monks and Monasteries 't was no hard matter to find them corrected in some Old Manuscripts But I question much whether any such Manuscript can be produced as will serve to rectifie the Acts of the Council of Agaunum wherein so many considerable Revenues are bestowed on the Monks of that place Let any Body read Mr. Dodwel's Dissertation upon the small number of Martyrs and he will see there what stress one ought to lay upon the Acts and the Manuscripts from whence they were taken 'T is true that Theodore Ruinart in the Edition he hath lately put out at Paris of the Acts of some Martyrs prefixes a long Preface wherein he opposes Mr. Dodwels Opinion concerning the small number of Martyrs but at the same time he confesses that they who gathered their Acts have often added to or cut off from them what they listed One may see in the same Preface that the Acts of most of the Martyrs having perished either by the ravage and burnings made by the Barbarians or by the Orders of Heathen Magistrates others were substituted in their place but such as have not the Authority of the former and much less can they pretend to the same sincerity and exactness These Acts have been by the Monks of the last Ages so disfigur'd and stuffed with so many Fables that the honester and more ingenuous of the Church of Rome have been ashamed of it and have publickly expressed their Sorrow for it Lewis Vives and Melchior Canus have grievously complained that Diogenes Laertius has Written the Lives of the Pagan Philosophers with more integrity and Wisdom than the Christians have done those of their Martyrs Confessors and Virgins When it was first given out that Lippomanus Bishop of Verona was upon correcting the Acts and Old Legends of Saints all good Men of the Romish Church were very glad at the News hoping that he would have purged them from all the gross lies which Metaphrastes Comestor and Jacobus de Voragine had left behind them But Lippomanus and Surius made all things worse instead of mending them For before this the Acts and Lives of Saints were look'd upon as pious Romances and a production of the ill-regulated zeal of the Legend-Writers But then they were esteemed quite another thing after they had been Revised by Surius Lippomanus and Junius Mombritius who contented themselves with taking away only the most palpable and obvious falsities retaining those which they thought were not so offensive and then protesting that they had gone up to the head and had consulted the best Manuscripts Rosweidus Bollandus Godfrey Henschenius and Papebrochius who are come after thinking to do some Service to the Learned by gathering all whether good or bad have not given us a truer account of the Acts of Martyrs and Saints but only have incumbred Mens Studies with their huge and bulky Volumes 'T is not that we believe that the Doctors of the Romish Communion are willing to countenance lyes and Forgeries We do them more justice than so They would undoubtedly have all this silly stuff taken out of their Church Service Breviaries and Martyrologies but they know not how it can be done They fear to give some advantage to the Protestants and to furnish them with Weapons against the infallibility of their Church And the Learned amongst them are afraid to bring upon themselves the hatred and persecution of Monks and Fryers who make a Trade of these Impostures amongst silly Women and the more ignorant sort of People 'T is known all over France what troubles they brought upon the Bishop of St. Pons one of the most worthy Prelates of that Kingdom for taking out of the Calendar of his Diocese several Saints whose Saintship might be called in question and whose Suffrages he did not so much esteem This is the reason why most of those who are sufficiently convinced of these abuses are contented to bewail them in secret not having the Courage to undertake the redressing of them There are some others who thinking it unsufferable that their Religious Worship should seem to have no other ground than the false Legends of Saints and Martyrs have indeed taken away from the Story what was most fictitious but yet have kept still the Essential part of it Father Chifflet was perhaps one of these and therefore he found just in time a Manuscript of the Passion of the Agaunian Martyrs more accurate and truer than the Manuscripts of Surius and Baronius Finally we might add that Manuscripts as well as other Books are subject to the rigour of the Index Expurgatorius And how should they stick at maiming them when they fear they will give any advantage to the Protestants since they make no scruple sometimes of suppressing them wholly We are not willing to set down here the Story of the Edition of Anastase Published by the Jesuits of Mayence in 1602. in which they cut off what we read in the Manuscript of Heydelberg about Pope John and of the trick they put us upon Marquardus Freherus who had discovered it to them Fabrotus in his new Edition of that Author Printed at Paris in the Year 1649. hath been so sincere as to own the expunging that passage but at the same time was not so ingenuous as to restore it Every Body knows the Story of St. Chrysostom's Letter to Cesarius the Monk and of Theodoret's Commentary upon the difference that arose between St. Paul and St. Peter the which as not favouring Transubstantiation and the Authority and Infallibility of the Pope they have endeavoured to stifle and to suppress Mr. Alix having discovered this Mystery of iniquity acquainted the Publick with it in his excellent Letter to Mr. Hambden But after all Peter Francis Chifflet is not the first Writer who to extricate himself out of a difficulty or to purchase the glory of some curious discovery hath taken an occasion to find a Manuscript 'T is not of late Years that there have been Annius's of Viterbo and Varilla's especially amongst the pretenders to Antiquity and Compilers of Anecdota or Secret Histories But though these Remarks may not perhaps seem unseasonable yet we have no need of them for clearing the matter of Fact now in question Father Chifflet's Manuscript hath not brought us to such straits as to reduce us to meer guesses and conjectures For admitting his Manuscript to be both as Ancient and Correct as he pleases the Thebean Souldiers would not be a jot the better for it We shall in the conclusion examine their cause without any regard to the Manuscripts and Acts of their Passion and shall deduce from the very circumstances of their Martyrdom such Arguments as will demonstrate the falsity of it And we must own our obligation to Father Chifflet that we shall now Fight no longer in the Dark without either seeing or knowing our Adversary
Beatitude the History which I have written of the Passion of our Martyrs I feared least the Memorable Events of their glorious Martyrdom should have been buried in Oblivion both by long tract of time and the negligence of Men. I have endeavoured to know the truth from those who are able to inform me of it who have assured me that they had the thing from Isaac Bishop of Geneva much after the same manner as I have related it And I believe these things came to the knowledge of Isaac by the means of the most Blessed Bishop Theodorus who lived in the former Ages Viro anterioris temporis And now whereas others from divers places and even from the remotest Provinces offer Gold Silver and several other things to the Honour of our Saints we present them with our writings if so be you vouchsafe to approve of them and I beg for their sakes the remission of all my sins and for the future the continual assistance of my perpetual Patrons Remember us likewise in your Prayers when you come before God and do attend the Services of the Saints There are several things very observable in this Letter First that he who wrote it saith that he is the Author of the Passion of the Agaunian Souldiers Secondly that the Monastery of Agaunum was Built a long time before and was in great repute in the World since Offerings were sent thither from all parts Thirdly that this Theodorus who is called there a Man of the former Ages is in all probability the same Theodorus Bishop of Sion whereof we have spoken on the occasion of the Council of Agaunum which shews this Letter was written at least in the Seventh Century since that otherwise this Theodorus could not be called Vir anterioris Temporis Fourthly that it mentions one Isaac Bishop of Geneva who is not to be found in the Catalogue which Leti and Mr. Spon have made of the Bishops of that place and which they have taken out of an Ancient Bible of that City Fifthly that whereas in the Bibliotheca Patrum Printed at Lions this Letter is placed immediately after the Passion of the Martyrs of Agaunum the Editors who have taken care to advertise the Readers that the Passion written by Surius was not altogether Authentick do not give the least caution about this Letter which is visibly later by some Ages than St. Eucherius Sixthly that this Letter is inserted at full length by Baronius in his Annals as an irrefragable proof that St. Eucherius is the Author of the Acts of the Agaunian Martyrs seeing it is brought there to serve as a Preface to it Seventhly that after you have read this Letter when you come to the Acts of the Thebean Martyrs you cannot perceive any difference You find there much the same Matters Style and way of Expression in both of them Eighthly that this Letter in all the Editions of the St. Eucherius's Works is prefixed as a Dedication to the Commentaries on Genesis which have been composed by the Monks two Hundred Years after St. Eucherius as appears by some places of the Morals of Gregory the Great being inserted in them Ninthly that the Author of the Commentaries upon Genesis and the Book of Kings is very probably the Author of this Letter And that he who wrote the Letter composed likewise the Passion of the Agaunian Martyrs Which leads us to this Observation that perhaps we seek abroad for what we may find at home I mean that perhaps the Acts of the Thebean Legion may be the growth of this Land and the Work of some English Writer See how the pretended St. Eucherius speaks in his Commentary upon the Book of Kings The Blessed Pope Gregory Armed with an Evangelical Eloquence governed then in our days the Romish Church when the most Reverend Fathers Austin and Paulinus and their Companions came into England and Preached the word of God to a People who had been Infidels for so many Ages These words have given occasion to the Learned Jesuite Andreas Schottus to think that the Author of these Commentaries I mean the pretended St. Eucherius was not a French but an Englishman I do not know but one might strengthen yet this Conjecture by an Expression which we have observed in the Acts of the Agaunian Martyrs 'T is said there that Mauricius who commanded the Thebean Legion exhorted the Senators of the Souldiers to suffer Martyrdom Senatores militum For though this Office is not altogether unknown and strange in the Roman Militia and that St. Jerom speaks of it in his Letter to Pammachius nevertheless you will hardly find it in those Authors who write about military employments Whereas this Expression was common then amongst the English who used to give it to those persons who held the first rank not so much in consideration of their Age as for their Wisdom and merit One may see in Mr. du Cange the Examples he alledges of it taken from the Laws both of King Edward the Confessor and of Kenulphus King of the Mercians CHAP. IX That in Father Chifflet's Copy as well as in that of Surius the Commander of a Legion is called by a Name not then in use and that there is a fault in the number of the Legionary Souldiers BUT it matters not much to know whether the Author of the Passion of the Thebean Souldiers was English of French These two Warlike Nations will scarcely fall out with one another for the Honour of having given him to the World We must pass now to other Remarks 'T is not only the difference in the Style which shews that the Acts of the Martyrdom of the Thebean Legion are not of the true St. Eucherius but there are yet other manifest proofs of it It appears from the Instructions which St. Eucherius gave to his Son Salonius that this Father knew the use and propriety of Hebrew but if he was the Author of the aforesaid Passion he must needs have been very ignorant even of Latin terms though his Letter upon the contempt of the World shews that he was a great Master of it In the Edition of Surius and of Chifflet St. Mauricius who Commanded the Thebean Legion is called Primicerius Legionis Can one imagine that the true St. Eucherius did not know that the Commander of a Legion was called Praefectus Legionis Let any Body examine carefully all the Old Tombs and Monuments which can give us any light into the Names and Titles of Military Offices from Augustus's time to that of Justinian let any Body read the Notitia Imperii with Pancirole's Notes let any Body turn over the Codes of Theodosius and of Justinian in which there are so many Laws concerning the Civil as well as the Military Offices of the Empire let any Body look over all the Inscriptions of those times which are commonly so full of Titles and you will no where find that the Commander of a Legion was ever called Primicerius
Temple we cannot but conclude that many of the Infidel Neighbour Nations were also employed in it and so much the rather because the Jews apply'd themselves more to Husbandry than to other Mechanick Arts. It was by God's Order that the Gold and Silver of the Idolatrous Jericho were put into the Sacred Treasury Those Tables and Precious Vessels and the other rich Presents which Ptolomy Philadelphus and Queen Helena sent to the Temple at Jerusalem were no doubt of the Gentiles making nevertheless they were accepted of by the High-Priests and Consecrated to the Service of the God of Israel In what School then did the Thebean Souldiers Learn that piece of Morality that it was not allowable in a Pagan to help in the Building of Christian Churches Certainly the Romish Church must think that Saints have now-a-days much abated of the severity of their Morals and are grown much more humane and tractable since in the Cathedral in Rome a Brazen St. Peter is seen which formerly was a Statue of Jupiter and in whose Hands the Keys were put instead of the Thunder-Bolt and fiery Arrows that they held before and since the Pantheon which was the Temple Dedicated to all the Heathen Gods is now a Church Consecrated to the Blessed Mother of our Lord. CHAP. XI In which the thoughts and dispositions for Martyrdom which are attributed to those Saints in the Acts of Agaunum are Examined VVE must not forget that the Historian of the Thebean Souldiers represents them all possessed with a burning Zeal for Martyrdom He saith that they were all inflamed with a Noble desire to die for Jesus Christ and that the Ministers of the Emperour being arrived to put his barbarous Orders in Execution the Thebean Souldiers made not the least resistance or endeavour to escape but â—endered their Necks of their own accord to the Executioners This was not set down without some design the Author had a mind to answer before hand a difficulty which might be objected by the Readers He fore saw that it would not well go down with some considering Men that a whole Legion well Armed had suffered their Throats to be cut without making the least opposition and that these brave Souldiers who fought like Lions in so many Battels should have permitted themselves to be led as Lambs to the Slaughter But now he thinks he hath removed the difficulty by saying that they were possessed with a fiery heat and a kind of fury for the glory of Martyrdom as appears especially in that Victor whose Death is related towards the end of the Acts of the Martyrs of Agaunum who sought for Death and brought it upon himself by his own indiscretion For being invited by some Pagan Souldiers to come and make merry with them with the spoils of the Thebean Souldiers he returned their kindness with a Thousand Imprecations and Curses and declared without necessity that he himself was a Christian But these things are not perhaps so certain as to leave no manner of suspicion behind them 'T is true that we find in Eusebius Sulpitius Severus and Lactantius many fine things said upon the Noble Ardour of Christians in the primitive Ages for Martyrdom It cannot be denyed neither but in the Church History there are particular Examples of some who had more zeal than knowledge and who in the time of Persecution when they might have made their escape or hidden themselves chose rather to run into the hands of their unmerciful Judges and Tormenters But here the case is otherwise for we are not speaking of some simple ignorant People whom a blind zeal might carry too far in the first heats of Christianity but of a whole Legion which they suppose had been well instructed by a Bishop of Jerusalem and confirmed in the Faith by Pope Marcelline Amongst these were a great number of Officers who no doubt had a competent share of Learning and were sufficiently instructed in Christian Morality as not being Christians by their Birth and Education but by choice In the Archives of the Metropolitan Church of Turin is kept a Manuscript-life of St. Second one of the Thebean Souldiers wherein it is said that he was of one of the best Families of the Province of Thebaide brought up in all the best accomplishments and by his extraordinary Merit raised to a considerable Office in the Imperial Palace Now if notwithstanding all these fine qualifications this St. Secundus was left out in the Acts of Agaunum we may well think that Mauricius Candidus Exuper Ursus and Victor who are mentioned there ought to have been Men of transcendent Parts and Ability Nevertheless the Acts of their Passion do attribute to them such Thoughts as are quite contrary to the Principles and Morals of Christianity If the Author of these Acts was of opinion that they should have offended God by endeavouring to flye from the Orders and Cruelty of the Emperour we need no other premises to conclude that the true St. Eucherius is not the Author of this Relation This Holy Bishop well knew that Christ did suffer his Disciples when they were persecuted in one place to flee to another He knew undoubtedly very well that true Religion strengthned the Saints against dangers but that it forbad 'em to stay for them or to go meet them A man that is throughly convinced of the truth of Gods promises and hath experienced the Comforts of 'em will certainly without any change or being in the least daunted look upon a fiery Furnace but yet he will not run himself head-long into it As we ought not to be afraid of Death so neither are we to grow weary and prodigal of Life Ignatius and Albina may serve as Patterns to Christians of both Sexes but not Cato and Lucretia The Crown of Martyrdom comes from the hand of God we ought to wait for it without anticipating the time said St. Cyprian the great Panegyrist of Martyrdom the Thebean Souldiers had an excellent Model in St. Paul to frame themselves upon who being chosen by God to â—reach the Gospel to the Gentiles feared neither Tribulation nor Anguish nor Persecution nor Hunger nor Nakedness nor Peril nor Sword he challenged Life and Death Angels Principalities Powers things present and things to come the heighth the depth and all the Creatures together to shake his unmoveable steadiness and fidelity But withal he never faced the dangers whenever it was in his Power to decline them and made no scruple to turn aside when he foresaw some great mischief in the way An instance of which was his going out of Damascus as you see in the 9. Ch. of the Acts. This was also a known Practice in the time in which 't is supposed that the Thebean Legion suffered Martyrdom Let one but look over the Collection of Penitential Canons by Peter of Alexandria who was in great esteem about the time of the Persecutions of Dioclesian This Bishop does there Censure those obstinate Martyrs who having
Legion be of more Weight and Consideration then that of a whole Army Secondly Sulpitius Severus speaking of the persecution which Marcus Aurelius rais'd against the Christians saith That that was the first time that Martyrs were known to have suffered in Gaule Christianity having been received somewhat late beyond the Alpes From which words we may very reasonably infer That it is not likely that when Dioclesian admitted Maximian to a Partnership in the Government the Christians were so numerous as to form an Army But if to destroy this consequence and the Authority of Sulpitius Severus it be reply'd that there is no likelyhood that the Gospel was preached so late in France a Country so near adjoining to Italy since in the time of Marcus Aurelius the Apostles and their Disciples had published it in the most distant parts of the World we will oppose nothing to this Answer that may any way detract from the Antiquity of the French Churches For besides that this would carry us too far beyond our purpose the Persecution which their unworthy Posterity have raised against us shall never lessen that high and just respect and veneration we have always had for the first Churches of the Gauls But suppose it were True that St. Luke St. Philip St. Paul Crescent and some other Disciples of Christ did Preach the Gospel in Gaule and let it be suppos'd likewise That it is not without ground that Vienna Lions Aix Narbonne Sens Paris Reims Limoges and Toulouse do boast of having received the Christian Religion from the Apostles and Apostolical Men yet all this would not suffice unless we should also further suppose that these first Preachers left there both Successors and very great numbers of Converts Nay indeed it ought to be made out That their Preaching proved very effectual and made considerable progress every where But if none but well approved Acts must be trusted this matter will prove of greater difficulty than may at first be imagined The Assembly of the French Clergy having ordered all the Bishops to send Memoirs to the Messicurs of St. Marthe concerning the Foundations and Antiquity of the Churches of their Dioceses these learned Men made to these Memoirs several Additions and Discoveries of their own and at last caused those large Volumes of theirs of Christian France to be Printed 'T is true we find in them that the Christian Religion was Preached in Gaule very early by the Apostles and their Disciples and we believe That in that respect the Titles of the Gallican Churches are as good as those of many other Churches that flatter themselves with the like belief of their having been honoured with the Presence and the Preaching of some or other of the Apostles who came there in Person But if you strictly and impartially consider the Works of Messicurs de St. Marthe after the Apostolick Age you fall into a kind of Wilderness a large waste of almost 250 years fill'd up with nothing but fabulous Legends and uncertain Traditions except the Relations of some few Martyrs as those of Lions who shine as Stars in so profound and long a Darkness all the rest being made up of nothing but groundless Suppositions or Acts that may easily be proved to be spurious I have by me the Original Copy of the Memoirs which Artus de Lion Bishop of Gap sent to Mrs. de St. Marthe written by himself and signed with his own hand Where he proves that St. Demetrius Disciple of the Apostles was Bishop of Gap and gives two Reasons for it the First is That before the Protestants had pull'd down the Episcopal Palace in the year 1577 there were seen upon the Walls of the great Hall the Images of the Bishops of Gap and that St. Demetrius was at the head of them with these Words Saint Demetrius the First Bishop of the Church of Gap and Disciple of the Apostles And that by the Grace of God they had yet an Eye Witness of it in their Chapter namely Mr. Paul of Bauvais who when he wrote these things was in the hundredth year of his Age. The other Authority he produces is taken out of a Berviary which Bertrand of Champeaux Bishop of Gap caused to be Printed in the year 1499 where St. Demetrius is placed in the Calender on the 26th of October with the Character of Bishop and Martyr and the Word totum Duplex which according to the use of the Church of Gap signifies the same as according to the use of the Council of Trent Duplex primae Classis which is proper to the Festivals of Patrons and Titulars of Churches After these so special and convincing proofs who would venture now to deny that St. Demetrius Disciple of the Apostles did plant the Faith in the Diocess of Gap That Breviary of Gap Printed in the Year 1499. is a curious Piece indeed We read there in the. 8th Lesson of St. Demetrius's Office speaking of the Etymology of that Saint's Name that Demetrius ex eo dictus quia de Medio id est de Mundo triumphavit And in the fourth Lesson that the City of Gap having been taken by the Sarazens Count William beat them out of it and gave the half thereof for the Redemption of his Soul to God and to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Year of our Lord 86 on the Kalends of January in the fifth Indiction Though it is well known to every body that the use of the Indictions did not begin till three Hundred Years after Christ and that the Sarazens did not make Inruptions into Gaule till several years after Should we come to Examine narrowly the traditional Origins of most Gallican Churches we should not I think find much more solidity in any of them And especially we may observe that after the First Age there happened to that kind of Traditions such an Eclipse or Discontinuation that they do'nt appear again till after the time of the General Persecution And yet notwithstanding if we believe Mezeray and take his Anonimous Writer's bare word for it the Christians made a figure great enough at that time in Gaule to raise whole Armies against the Emperours However there is no need of straining very much for to preserve to the Churches of France their Antiquity and to Sulpitius Serverus the Authority he deserves in a matter of this nature For though the Apostles and their Disciples had preached the Christian Religion in Gaule very early yet this blessed Seed as well as that in the Parable was soon after choak'd by thorns and sprung not up again till a long time after so that it was very late before it came to any considerable Maturity there Gregory of Tours gives us this way of saving both the Authority of Sulpitius Severus and the Antiquity of the Gallick Church who saith that about the Year 250 under the Reign of Decius the City of Toulouse had Saturnine for its Bishop and that he came from Rome with six others to preach